CHAPTER 1: In the Dark
A sudden noise. It must have been a noise that had woken him, at least that was the only thing Danny could remember in the moments his mind wasn't foggy. He felt a painful throbbing sensation in his head, something like a major headache after a long night spend in the clubs of New York. But Danny couldn't remember having gone clubbing the day before.
He tried to lift his head, but a nauseate feeling caused by major dizziness forced him to keep still. Danny tried to wake up, to fight the gaps in his memory and to get full consciousness of where he was. He realized his body wasn't in its normal position on a Wednesday morning, he was in contrast sitting up straight.
Danny breathed slowly for a minute trying with all his strength to think of what was going on. His breaths made white clouds in the dark sky, and although the young CSI couldn't see it, he definitely felt the cold, wearing only a light jacket and a pear of jeans. The cold had started to creep under his skin and he shivered. "Relax Danny" he told himself in a whisper trying to calm down, while trying to open his eyes. Slowly his heavy eyes obeyed the repeated commands to open. Darkness. Danny closed his eyes again, the experience was exactly the same. Open again. Darkness with a little ray of light right under his left eye. Danny's mind was racing to understand what was going on. Going over all the experiences, the headache, the dizziness, the darkness and the odd position it suddenly hit him. A panic spread through his body and Danny, filled with a terrifying feeling which he hoped would prove false, tried hard to make both his arms and legs obey the commands his mind was giving them. Almost instantly Danny realized this was a battle his limbs couldn't win. A cold feeling reached both his wrists and he could clearly hear a familiar sound, the sound of something he was used to hearing, the sound of his own cuffs.
Danny sighed and tried to lift his head again, ignoring the pain and nausea. He inhaled the cold fresh air and sat there for a moment with his head tilted back, motionless, cuffed and blindfolded, realizing he'd probably made some huge mistake the night before. Clearing his mind and trying to understand what had happened, he suddenly heard the same loud noise again, that woke him up several minutes before. In terror Danny lowered his head immediately, but instantly regretted doing that, for he felt the entire room spinning around him and the overwhelming nausea almost made him throw up. Luckily Danny wasn't quite unfamiliar with feelings of terror and nausea, he had gone over the theory of how to react in a terrifying situation, many times. This was different however, he couldn't imagine what he might have done the day before that would end up like this.
The noise again. Danny tried hard to recognize it, when suddenly a loud bang close by broke the silence in the room he was in. A door was opened and shut with a huge amount of force. The next thing Danny could hear were slow and heavy footsteps on what sounded to him like a wooden floor. 'This person must be a really big guy, being able to make a sound like that' Danny thought with a frightened feeling growing inside.
The unidentified person stopped somewhere close to Danny making no noise besides his loud breathing. Danny felt his heart increasing its speed with the growing uneasiness he was in. Waiting for what was going to happen he tried not to let the man know he was awake. Danny had put his head back down, his chin resting on his chest which gave him an aching pain in his overstretched neck, but he wasn't going to give in to the pain. After what seemed like hours two bright flashes blinded Danny and unintended made him move his hands, making a loud sound with the cuffs in the quiet room. He hold still immediately afterwards, but he couldn't stop his heart from pounding loudly, he felt as though the sound of his heartbeat could be heard a mile away. The guard, however, didn't seem to notice either the sudden movement of his 'unconscious' victim's hands or the beating of Danny's heart, and he left soon after the flashes with the same loud footsteps, closing the door a little more subtle this time. Leaving Danny all alone again. Alone in the cold January temperatures, without giving any hints to him about where he was.
CSI
Lindsay hesitated, she had been wanting to go to Mac earlier but decided it wasn't the best move to ask it already at 10 AM. She stood right next to the coffee machine, with an extra-large cappuccino in her hand, stirring slowly staring at one spot right in front of her.
"Girls who stare are in love!" Flack's happy voice sounded loud and clear on the early Wednesday morning in the overly quiet CSI lab. He walked towards Lindsay, taking his coat off, swinging it over his arm. "Get that smirk of your face Don" Lindsay replied with a tiny smile on her face. Although Flack wasn't really her kind of guy, he could always make her laugh at the most surprising moments. "What's up" he asked while looking for his wallet to pay for the coffee he poured from the machine. Lindsay couldn't help her face turning away from the tall detective. "Nothing" she said flatly "Just a bit tired I guess". Flack pushed the buttons on the coffee machine without looking at Lindsay, "Oh, been clubbing?". Lindsay almost chuckled at his remark, the thought of her going clubbing in a city she barely knew was almost as ridiculous as telling Flack why she really acted the way she did. "Naah" she replied "Neighbors were having a party… A private party" she added quickly when she saw Flack's smirk returning. "Too bad" he said while taking a sip from his coffee "You really should try to integrate in the city you know. Hang out with some guys, enjoy life a little." Lindsay smiled uncomfortably "I'm fine" she said "er, I should really get to work, Mac wouldn't want us to talk all day long" and with these words she turned and walked towards the lab leaving Flack all alone with his coffee.
Walking towards one of the labs made Lindsay realize it was probably for the best to either tell someone about her worries or to ask her boss for an explanation. She passed Mac's office and hesitated, her face to the floor to prevent making eye contact with whomever was in Mac's office. She sighed, turned and decided to ask anyway, there was nothing to loose.
A silent knock on the glass door marked her entrance in Mac's office. The senior CSI seemed to have spend the night in the office, based on the fact that he looked up from his paperwork with a certain fatigue look in his eyes. "What is it?" he asked directly. Lindsay hesitated again, but stepped into his office, closing the door behind her. "Do you have any idea where Danny is? Did he call in sick or something?" she asked as lightly as she could. She certainly didn't want Mac to suspect that her feelings for the young male were more than just a colleague friendship. Mac leaned back in his chair and surveyed Lindsay for a moment. "I haven't heard from him since he left the office yesterday, just as usual, why?" he asked in return. Lindsay started to move her hands uncomfortably, realizing Mac, watchful as he was, would probably notice instantly. "Well, it's passed 10 AM now" Lindsay started "usually he's here at 9, I just thought he might have called in sick. It's not that I cannot work on that case alone" she added hastily "I'm just, I don't know, curious why Danny's not here yet" she ended. Mac leaned forward again bending over his paperwork "He'll be fine, he probably overslept and will be here in about an hour." He said to comfort the girl "It's nothing unusual, Danny has a habit of not hearing his alarm clock at times he's supposed to." Mac got a few files from his desk and opened them "In the meantime, I want you to take a look at this case" he said while handing the file over to Lindsay "it isn't a new case, but I thought you might want to take a look at it, since you're new here. Maybe you have some new, fresh ideas about it". Lindsay reluctantly got the file from Mac's hands and opened it, her eyes were immediately drawn to the horrifying pictures of the victim. She closed the file again and looked at Mac once more. "Don't worry about Danny, he'll be here in no time, now get to work" the senior CSI said. Lindsay reluctantly obeyed and walked out of the office carrying the old file.