"What's Jane gotten them into now!" VanPelt laughed, a humorous smile playing across her lips. "They've been gone most the day."
"Cho has been playing along with Jane a lot lately," Rigsby shook his head and chuckled.
"I think Jane helps Cho lighten up. I remember how stiff he was when I first got here," VanPelt remarked.
"Grace," Rigsby rose an eyebrow. "You were a stiff one!"
"Yeah, yeah," Lisbon interrupted. "Jane has helped us open our eyes and see the world a bit differently; he's a good guy in the long run. Now get back to work! I'll give Cho and Jane half an hour then they better report in with a lead." Lisbon sighed, "This guy is tricky, and we need to find Kelly soon; her parents have already contacted Virgil asking for updates five times today."
"I hate kidnappings," VanPelt sighed, eyes glued to her computer, back into serious work-mode.
Lisbon glanced at her phone clock, just as she'd done two minutes ago, and five minutes ago, and 10 minutes ago... It had been an hour since she had first decided the allotted amount of time she would give Cho and Jane. This was like Jane, without a doubt, but even when in Jane's presence, Cho always checked in.
She bit her lip; an unease was starting to settle over her. Something in her gut felt off. She cleared her throat, and Rigsby and VanPelt turned their attention away from their screens and faced her. "I'm going to call Cho."
Ringing. Ringing. Ringing. Voicemail. Lisbon swiftly punched in Jane's number and waited, hoping for a different result.
"Jane?" she queried.
"Oh," he sounded surprised. Odd for Jane, Lisbon thought. "Hi."
"Jane where have you two been? Did you check out the house on Amblewood?"
"Oh yeah we just decided to go to-" Jane's voice went silent.
"Hello? Hello, Jane?"
"Yeah," he answered. Lisbon's eyebrows furrowed. That didn't sound good, she thought, not at all. She listened as he cleared his throat. "Sorry, yeah I'm here, bad connection." She treaded over to VanPelt and Rigsby, phone in hand, and she pressed speaker. "We just decided to try the neighbors around there and see if they had anything much to say." He was silent once more but before Lisbon could interject, Jane uttered, "Bye I have to go now." And the line went dead.
Lisbon looked at the other two agents. "Uh, did that sound strange to you?" she wondered. "Did you hear, just before he said bye, the pause? How silent it was?" They both nodded. "Seemed like we were muted. Earlier in the conversation, he was about to tell me where they were going to go, but he was cut off by what I think was the mute button."
"Was it just me or when Jane was talking about the neighbors did it sound like he was slurring a bit?" VanPelt asked.
Lisbon was starting to feel anxious. She picked up the phone again and clicked redial. "Straight to voicemail," she told them.
Jane struggled to breath, in-out, in-out, in-out, he told himself. He touched the left side of his forehead and let a moan escape. His finger lifted up sticky, warm blood. The kidnapper- as Cho and Jane now knew- had forced Jane's head into the brick wall pretty darn well.
Lisbon had called, he was going to tell her something random, somewhere unrelated to the current case or even their current location, but in a way so that she would know something was up, in a way so that she would be able to locate them. But just as the words were about to leave his lips, the kidnapper decided Jane could not be trusted on the phone. The man pressed mute and whipped Jane's head into the wall, letting him know that he was not allowed to say anything that the man didn't tell him to say. Jane was able to talk to Lisbon a little more, and he cursed himself for not figuring another way to let her know they were trapped. The throbbing in his head was just distracting enough to prevent him from thinking. The kidnapper muted them a last time and told Jane it was time to say goodbye. Which wasn't the worst thing ever, Jane was barely aware of what he was saying or what was going on at that point.
Jane groaned at his luck. At least the kidnapper had gone away for the time being, he thought. He scanned his surroundings: everything was dark. He shifted his position leaning against the bricks. His hand brushed against flesh, and he flinched.
"Cho!" Jane exclaimed. The agent was laying on his tummy, eyes closed, adjacent him. Jane wracked his head; Cho was here, with him, so he was with him earlier, he thought. They had been checking up on the lead on Amblewood Street, the house of Mark Jenks, a storeowner of the local 7-11 by Kelly's house. He'd been associated, but never charged with, disappearances of two minors, however both boys, not like Kelly. They'd discovered that behind the 7-11 was a common hangout place for Kelly and her friends. Jane recalled the past events...
Cho and he sauntered up to the house, knocking politely. No one answered. "Let's check out the back," Jane told Cho. They had just gone through the fence, and Jane was only a few paces ahead when he heard a loud thud followed by softer thud. He whipped his head back and was dumbfounded as he looked down at Cho's limp form. He'd raised his head, and he came face to face with the assaulter, and another man was behind him, each clad with ski masks.
"Oh, hello there, we were just admiring your lovely backyard." Jane feebly attempted a smile.
He didn't protest when he was forced into the white van along with Cho, who seemed to be just about to come back around. The kidnappers told Jane they knew all about him, and they knew who Cho was too. They told him that he would die slowly soon. Cho woke just in time to hear. They laughed at the agent and the consultant.
"I don't think you know what you're doing," Cho told them. "We are federal agents."
"You are," one of the men corrected him.
"The point is, this is a federal crime. We can talk, you can take us back to the station, and we can help you."
The man laughed and shoved a rag over Cho's mouth, and he was soon slumped over once again. Jane exhaled as he watched the sight. "What's wrong?" the taller of the two men asked him. "Want in on the action?" He stood and kicked Jane right in his gut. He hadn't eaten much so he had nothing to puke or he was sure he would have covered his assaulters in digested food. The man did it again but this time Jane pretended to be passed out, secretly wishing he actually was. His method mostly worked; he received a final blow to his chest and was then left alone, pretending to be unconscious, nearly there anyway but not quite.
He let himself be dragged, over gravel he observed, and up a set of stairs. He nearly laughed, weren't hostages normally taken down stairs? Not up?
Jane shook his head. This was surely a different experience. He rolled Cho over on his back and proceeded to slap the agent's cheeks. "Cho," Jane whispered. "Cho, I need you, wake up!"