Chapter 2

"Women." Danny sighed as Mac pulled the car out into traffic. "I just don't get it. Can they not accept even a LITTLE bit of chivalry anymore?"

Mac smiled. "Let it go. They'll learn eventually that we're not doing it because we think they're weaker or defenseless." He swerved in and out of the city traffic in a rush to get back to the lab. The case had hardly started and already it was eating away at him. He turned to look at this passenger.

"Danny had you noticed that this vic was very similar to the other case that you're working on..."

Forty five minutes later they were finally done. The body was gone- all that was left to even indicate that a crime had occurred was Lindsay's small mountain of evidence bags. Once that was removed, the alley would transform back into just another city passageway smelling of rotting garbage and filled with stale dust.

"Here, let me give you a hand with that." Stella reached down and filled her arms with evidence collection bags.

"Thanks." Lindsay grabbed an armful and stood up to walk it across the street to the trunk of Stella's open SUV. Dashing through seemingly suicidal traffic, Lindsay gently placed the clear bags in the vehicle. She turned around and darted back out into the street. A taxi honked its horn at her as she ran in front of it.

"Sorry!" Lindsay muttered as she finished crossing the street. Stella was bent over looking at her camera's photos.

"Stell?"

"Yeah- I'm coming. It's just- these cases are starting to look more and more similar. Something is wrong, Lindsay. I can feel it." Stella straightened and turned the camera off. There was nothing more that could be done at the scene.

"Let's take a look once we get back to the lab. I'm sure that Mac and Danny are already working on it."

The women crossed the street, taking a detour around a large shipping truck waiting for the stoplight to turn green. Stella pulled her keys from her pocket, opened the driver's door just wide enough for her to slip in without hitting the large truck, and got inside. She placed the camera between the two front seats as she waited for Lindsay, who was putting more evidence in the back.

"MMPH!" A muffled cry came from the back of the SUV. Stella whipped her head around and saw Lindsay, eyes wide in horror, being pulled down by a masked man. His large hand was over her mouth and he held a gun at her side. Another man was stuffing the evidence bags into a large duffel.

"Hey!!" Stella was out of the SUV before she could even comprehend where her feet were taking her. She pulled her gun out and started to aim...her body crashed into the pavement as another man tackled her. She gave a furious shout as the man tried to take her gun. She was NOT going down without a fight. She punched the man hard in the jaw and he loosened his grip for a slight second. The gun flew out of the man's grasp and under the large truck. Stella tried to get up, but her attempt proved futile. The man grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth. Stella kicked and twisted, but the man was too strong. She dropped to the ground, deadweight, but that didn't slow his progress at all. Before she knew it, Stella was thrown into the back of a black van. She landed hard and let out a cry as her head made sickening contact with the hard floor.

Mac and Danny had returned from the crime scene over an hour ago. They had unloaded the body from the ME's van and accompanied it up to the autopsy wing. They now found themselves standing over the five clear evidence bags lying in front of them. Two fibers, an unknown particle of somekind, and two hairs. Not much to work with. They needed Lindsay's evidence. Danny checked his watch for the umpteenth time as he waited for his "Montana" to walk through the door with arms full of evidence.

"Danny, you know what to do. Start processing this evidence and I'll go give Stella and Lindsay a call. They should've been back by now." Mac pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Stella. The familiar tone on her end of the call rang and rang before being picked up by voicemail. "This is Stella Bonasera. Leave a message." The familiar soothing voice echoed over the call.

"Stella. It's Mac. Give me a call when you get this. Danny and I are waiting back at the lab for your evidence. Where are you?"

Mac hung up and immediately dialed Lindsay. Her phone rang repeatedly and then transitioned into voicemail. Mac sighed and left a similar message for her. He opened the glass door to his office and found his feet carrying him to his desk chair. He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair as he waited for a return call.

The van pulled out onto the street as if it was just another vehicle trying to navigate the maze of New York traffic. In the back, one of the men held a gun at the two women as another pulled rope out of a plastic grocery bag. The man untwisted the stained rope and reached for Stella's feet. She kicked. Hard. The man dodged her feet and smiled menacingly.

"Fine...if that's the way it's going to be." He reached for Stella's arm and painfully twisted it behind her back. Stella blinked back tears as she gasped at the pain that shot through her body.

"Now, you listen here, detective. The two of you had better cooperate if you ever want to get back to your precious lab. We won't hesitate to-" he laughed, "-remove you from this situation."

Stella gasped as he pulled her arm tighter. "Okay, okay!"

The man pushed her back to the floor of the van and picked up the rope. He bound her ankles and wrists and then moved on to Lindsay. She resisted but when the man picked up his gun and and clicked it off of safety she relented. Thoughts of Danny played through her mind as she felt the rope grow tighter and tighter around her.

"Now, sit back and enjoy the ride, ladies." The driver laughed as he punched the gas pedal...