Thank you so much to everyone who left such encouraging reviews - I truly appreciate every single one! Like I said, I was more than a little apprehensive about posting this, given the combination of Calleigh and this particular subject, but all of your kind words have made this feel so much less daunting. So thanks again, and I hope you all continue to enjoy! :)
/2/
The motion was all but excruciating, but somehow Calleigh managed to pry her eyes open, fighting against the pounding ache in her head. Her vision was blurry; images did little more than swirl together, creating a mix of colors and light that left Calleigh's stomach churning with nausea. The urge was there, to simply close her eyes and fall back into the dazed emptiness from which she'd just awoken, but somewhere deep beyond the fuzzy thoughts at the front of her mind, Calleigh knew that wasn't an option.
She felt almost as though she were floating – an absurdity, given that her limbs felt so heavy that she could barely move them. Or maybe that was because of something else. Experimentally she tried moving her arms, but it was of no use – her hands were tightly bound behind her back. And that was enough to have the sinking sensation of fear settling into her stomach, its bitter taste burning at the back of her throat.
Her eyes flitted restlessly around the darkened room, but she was unable to focus on much of anything. She couldn't tell where she was; couldn't remember how she had gotten there. Wracking her aching brain, Calleigh struggled to find her last memory, though all that came to her was a fuzzy recollection of herself stepping out of her Hummer. But why? Had she been at a scene? Had she had any backup, or had she been alone?
She couldn't remember any of it. Her normally pristine memory was tarnished, and Calleigh couldn't suppress the feeling of helplessness that rose up within her. Hands bound and mouth covered tightly, and with no memory of where she was or how she had gotten there – it was difficult to ignore the blinding fact that she had very little control, if any at all.
And she wasn't given enough time to think of a way to regain that control. Calleigh had barely had time to clear even a little of the fog from her mind when a door to the far side of the room came open, the slight creak followed by an almost painfully loud slam echoing through the warehouse. Calleigh blinked slowly, using the sudden burst of light to her advantage as she furtively allowed her eyes to canvass her surroundings, feeling just the slightest twinge of relief as her vision slowly began to clear. Whatever she'd been drugged with – chloroform, if she was remembering her recent cases correctly – was finally beginning to wear completely off, but Calleigh still felt lost in a deep haze.
Her eyes widened slightly as she realized she hadn't been completely alone after all – merely a few feet away lay a body, but Calleigh paid only a sliver of attention to that as she was approached by two men, their footsteps echoing loudly in her ears. Her thoughts were racing as quickly as the pounding of her heart – if the willingness of these two men to let her see their faces was any indication, she was going to make it out of this warehouse in the same shape as the body on the ground.
But before she could linger any longer on that, her eyes caught the glimmer of metal in the first man's hands – unmistakably a gun. His eyes glinted evilly as he leisurely took a seat, knowing she'd seen it. The second man remained standing, waiting for the order that would quickly come. When it did, the voice was nothing but cold, laced with malicious intent, and Calleigh couldn't help but stiffen as his accomplice – Tommy, as she would later learn - approached her quickly, no intention of ignoring Seth's harsh command. "Pick her up."
Tommy's grasp was rough – yet oddly hesitant – as he tightly gripped her arm, jerkily pulling her body upward as he tugged the gag from her mouth with his free hand. The motion was abrupt, and though Calleigh had known it was coming, she still couldn't fight the sudden burst of nausea that washed over her at the quick, forced change of position.
For the briefest moment, her shielded eyes locked with Seth's hungry ones, sending the blood draining from Calleigh's face. Between the look in his eyes and the gun in his hand, there was no denying the fear that washed over Calleigh, even though years of hiding her emotions made it easier to keep her face passive, her eyes cold. She couldn't control her heartbeat, though, and it was pounding against her ribcage as the realizations flashed through her mind.
They were going to kill her.
But before that, they were going to make her wish she were dead.
Swallowing hard, Calleigh lowered her eyes to the ground below, fighting the urge to struggle against Tommy's grasp. "What do you want from me?" she asked coldly, the words leaving her lips only when she was certain there would be no accompanying tremor.
The answer came quickly, as did the icy block of dread that plummeted straight to her stomach. His words were calm, almost as though rehearsed, and suddenly Calleigh knew that they both had this entire encounter planned out – from the details of her abduction, all the way to the last breath she would ever take.
"We wanna solve a crime with Calleigh."
..
"Turn down this street, right here."
Ever mindful of the gun at her temple, Calleigh did little more than what her captor expressly told her to do. Her mind was reeling, shuffling rapidly through flashback after flashback, the images which had haunted her sleep for weeks after her abduction. She'd thought she'd finally managed to leave those memories behind, but as her captor's directions took her through the brightly lit streets of Miami and over the darkened strip of the causeway illuminated only by streetlights, she couldn't stop the rush of recollection which raced over her memory with the same speed as the car that carried her. She hadn't dealt with the aftermath at all; she'd simply buried it away, hoping and praying that one day it would finally dissolve into little more than wispy shadows in the back of her mind.
For weeks after the abduction, Calleigh had sacrificed countless hours of sleep, secretly terrified of the images she might see upon closing her eyes. More often than not, after sheer exhaustion had forced her into a restless state of sleep, Calleigh had awoken in the middle of the night, soaked with sweat, her trembling body clammy, her heart racing so quickly that she feared it might give out on her. But by morning's first light, she'd always been able to talk herself down. As the sun would rise in the eastern sky, Calleigh had been able to banish the nightmares to the deepest, most secure crevasse of her mind, hiding them away until the next night when once more they would be unlocked by the keys her subconscious possessed.
She'd had a job to do. She'd had the daily stresses of her own life to deal with. At the time, she'd had Jake's whereabouts to worry about; she'd had her ever-strengthening feelings for Eric to focus on reining in. There had simply been no time to devote to the flashbacks and the memories, and if Calleigh were completely honest with herself, that was something she was grateful for. She wasn't Eric – she wasn't the kind of person who sat down in front of a complete stranger, doctor of psychology or not, and divulged her deepest secrets, her greatest fears.
She wasn't the kind of person who let those secrets and fears be voiced at all. Calleigh had her own way of working through issues – her strategy was locking them away and forgetting about them. And with time, she had always been able to forget and move on. But yet, here she was more than a year after her abduction, and the visions plaguing her mind were as clear as they'd been that very first night – the only difference was that instead of having the comfort of Eric's arms to turn to, all she had was the fear that she'd put a bullet into Eric's shoulder – or worse, perhaps his chest – gnawing angrily at her stomach.
The memories had taken such a firm hold upon her mind that it was almost impossible to separate the past from the present, the visions from reality. Her captor's few words swam through her head, sometimes in Seth McAdam's voice; sometimes in her captor's voice but coming from the vision of Seth in her mind.
And if anything, it was the inability to separate the two that frightened her most of all. If she couldn't control her own mind, how could she possibly find any control over the situation she found herself in? Her hands gripped the wheel with a white-knuckled grasp; her heart pounded frantically against her ribcage, and the heated flush of anxiety covered her skin. If not for the blessed ability to steady her breathing, Calleigh was certain that one quick motion, one sudden jerk of the gun at her temple would be enough to send her over the edge.
Almost as if on cue, there was a quiet buzzing from the backseat, though Calleigh was able to hold her reaction to little more than a flinch – her physical composure, it seemed, was much more easily held than her cracking emotional resolve. That gave her a bit of hope; if she didn't crack physically, it would be harder to detect her emotional distress, and therefore harder for her captor to use it to his advantage. It was a small comfort, given where she currently found herself, but at the moment, it was all she had.
Behind her, the Russian shuffled about, one-handedly retrieving his vibrating phone. Glancing at the display, he gave a quiet chuckle before leaning forward once more. "Keep driving," he breathed, and Calleigh couldn't help but sigh imperceptibly in relief as the feel of cool metal disappeared finally from her skin. "Nothing funny, you got that? Drive straight through the next light, then turn right at the stop sign. Then just keep going until I tell you otherwise." With that, he sat back rather leisurely, answering his phone in a tone Calleigh might describe as perfectly conversational – that is, if she'd had a clue what he was saying as he lapsed into Russian.
But before he'd drifted into that breathless string of Russian words, Calleigh's ears had picked up on one detail. She wasn't sure how much it would help her, but even so, she locked it away within her mind for safekeeping. Vadim, he had said, and Calleigh had immediately recognized it as a name from one of the many leads that she and Ryan had chased just earlier that afternoon. But that was all her tired, frantic mind could recall – just the name itself, nothing else about it.
All she knew was that there was something about the name that drove shivers down the length of her spine.
Easing her foot onto the brake, Calleigh came to a slow halt at the stop sign, having passed through the previous traffic light with no difficulty. The forced steadiness of her breathing was finally paying off; as the moments ticked by, Calleigh could feel herself calm just the slightest bit. Her eyes traveled discreetly around as she drove, making the right turn that Vadim had instructed of her. If there was one constant that could always offer Calleigh that extra sense of control, it was the recognition of familiarity, and as Calleigh's eyes scanned the area, she realized immediately where they were. Another turn would put them on Ocean Drive, which, along with the rest of South Beach, Calleigh had driven through numerous times before. She knew the area like the back of her hand, and while it relieved her that he hadn't taken her somewhere where she'd be completely out of her element, it also left her feeling ridiculously helpless. She knew where she was, but that was little help to her in the long run if she had no possible way of getting a message to the rest of the team.
Even knowing this, her mind still secretly catalogued the little details – landmarks they had passed, mile markers, street names, hotel names…anything that might serve as a clue in the near future. Even without her phone, she'd been able to get discreet messages to the team before – she could only hope that this time would be the same.
Her stomach gave a sickening lurch, though, as the dark disparities between the two abductions were made suddenly clear to her mind. The first time, she had been sent on a call-out to a scene, phony though it might have been - it was still a scene, and there had been a log of her actions. This time, Ryan had sent her home to get some rest. It would be several dark hours before anyone realized that something wasn't quite right, especially since she currently had no one at home to notice that she never arrived.
Her thoughts once more drifted to Eric. Once more she saw his eyes; once more she heard the vindication in his argument – he was set on doing the right thing, and very little was going to stop him from that. And now, because of his unwavering trust, he was missing. Possibly dead – because of her. Her heart ached for him, but before Calleigh had the chance to linger on the pain any longer, Vadim had leaned forward again, breathing his quiet instructions into her ear.
"We're almost there," he murmured, the quiet glee in his voice sending a shiver through Calleigh's body. "Next hotel on the right. I want you…" He paused, grinning slightly, "to pull into the parking garage. Stop in front of the elevator on the first floor. Put the car into park right there, and blink your lights twice." Making sure her purse was emptied of all but her wallet, he slipped it slowly back into the front passenger seat. Her gun and her handcuffs were safely tucked into his own small briefcase, far out of reach of the blonde in the driver's seat. Following the plan at hand, Vadim tucked Calleigh's cell phone into the pocket on the back of her seat.
Just as he'd instructed, the car came to a slow stop inside the garage. Calleigh hesitated for only a moment before blinking the lights, her mind frantically scanning during that one fleeting moment for any way out. For now, though, she had nothing. Hands off the wheel, Calleigh clenched her fists in her lap to fight off the trembling. "What do you want with me?" she asked coldly after a few agonizing seconds of silence had passed. Each and every breath that entered and left her body was governed by steady, disciplined commands within her mind. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. It was the only way she could keep her breathing steady – the only way she could hold her composure when the rest of her body was threatening to betray her.
Vadim chuckled. Such a loaded question she had asked; the answers were quite endless. "You'll find out soon enough," he breathed after a moment, drawing a knuckle slowly along her cheek. "But don't you worry your pretty little head about it – I have no intentions of killing such a beautiful creature…"
Calleigh swallowed hard, feeling a distinct chill as her blood seemed to turn to ice, right in her veins. "Some – some things are worse than death, though," she bit out, her voice steady despite the fear that coursed through her. Of course some things were worse than death; they were such things as she'd escaped from once. And now, it seemed she was right back in the clutches of such things, unable to escape. She couldn't be that lucky twice, after all.
"Worse than death?" he simpered, letting his touch drift lightly into the softness of Calleigh's blonde locks. When he spoke again, Calleigh felt his breath against her skin, a sensation that grew more and more sickening each and every time she felt it. "Hardly. How can something that I promise you'll enjoy every second of possibly be worse than death?"
Calleigh closed her eyes, biting hard at the inside of her cheek. "I'm sure your idea of enjoyment differs greatly from mine."
The amused chuckle that issued from behind her left goosebumps rising along Calleigh's bare arms. "You've got an attitude. I like that," he smirked, tracing a thumb over her lips. "Sometimes, that is…"
Jerking her head to the side, Calleigh effectively shook his touch away. "Don't touch me," she growled, finding her edge once more within a burst of anger.
"That's okay – I'll touch later," he breathed, overly amused at how easy it was proving to rile the pretty blonde in the front seat. Before she could reply, Vadim quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, his eyes catching a sudden flash of motion from within the shadows. "Here we go," he muttered, completely dropping the would-be playful tone he'd adopted through the previous conversation. The motion continued, and Calleigh's heart skipped a beat as her eyes too caught it. Suddenly, the possibilities were spiraling through her mind just as quickly as the flashbacks had – was she merely a pawn in some greater scheme by the Russian mob? A bargaining chip? Was she to be surrendered as an exchange for something else – drugs, weapons, both? If Vadim had no intention of killing her, what about the shadowy figure whose footsteps were bringing him close to the car?
Did they have Eric?
Was capturing her their way of getting something out of Eric, something he'd been unwilling to give up? Which would he choose in that situation, the safety of some very sensitive information, or the safety of the woman with whom he dreamed of settling down and starting a family?
Calleigh gave an intense shudder. That might not even be the case at all – there was always a chance that Eric would never have to make that choice. There was always a chance that instead he was already dead, that Calleigh had killed him herself – the thought suddenly left her glad for the hand that covered her mouth; otherwise, she was certain the nausea would not have been fought back.
Outside, the dark figure continued its approach. "You stay right here," Vadim muttered quickly. "Don't touch anything. Don't try anything stupid – I'll know if you do. You just sit here quietly and wait like a good girl." He waited for Calleigh's nod – forced by him though it was – before removing his hand from over her mouth. Without another word, he swiftly stepped out of the car, greeting the dark figure in Russian.
There was nothing that irritated Calleigh more than being left out of the loop – she liked to know what was going on at all times. It was a knowledge that truly gave her power, and without that knowledge, she was little more than helpless. English was her first language, but she was fluent in Spanish and possessed a vast understanding of French, but in her life she had only very rarely encountered Russian. The only times she'd ever heard it in any abundance were quite recently – throughout the cases that involved the Russian mob, and during a few more…more personal moments.
Her cheeks tinted lightly. In those moments, the breathy, whispered Russian words didn't leave her frightened and lost in confusion. It was one of her few weaknesses that Eric had discovered rather quickly, and as Calleigh closed her eyes, she could almost hear his voice lapsing into Russian as he lavished her flushed skin with slow, shivery kisses, leaving her trembling and whimpering beneath his sweet, teasing torment.
He'd always been so attentive with her, so sweet, so wonderful. Calleigh had never been with anyone quite like him before; he was truly one of a kind. The very thought that she might never see him again, that he might never leave her feeling so completely happy – even loved – ever again was enough to bring the sting of tears back to her eyes. Resolutely though she blinked them away, steadying herself once more with a few deep breaths.
Lost in her thoughts, Calleigh gave a startled jump as her door was suddenly wrenched open. She drew in a sharp breath as Vadim reached across her, deftly unsnapping her seatbelt. "Time to go, princess," he muttered, grasping her upper arms with a grip rough enough to potentially bruise. Forcefully he pulled her from the car, clasping his hand over her mouth at her yelp of surprise. "Keep your mouth shut," he growled, his dark eyes boring into hers as he set her unsteadily on her feet, holding her tight against his side. "Remember, I have your gun as well as mine." Lifting his eyes to his accomplice – Nikolai, if Calleigh had heard correctly – Vadim extended his free hand. "Key, please."
Nikolai gave a slow smile, his dark eyes raking unhurriedly over Calleigh's body. "I know we had an agreement, but we can always change the terms, no?" His gaze flickered to Vadim before locking coldly with Calleigh's emerald eyes. "I'll still give you the room key, but…maybe I want her instead of the car…" Stepping forward, Nikolai had the audacity to reach out, drawing a cold knuckle over Calleigh's cheek. "I sure wouldn't mind me a piece of that…"
"Back off, Nikolai," Vadim growled, shoving the other man's hands away. "We had a deal. And a plan that we have to follow." He grinned. "Besides, she's mine," he added, rather possessively.
Nikolai shrugged, then turned his eyes to the car. "I suppose this isn't too bad of a parting gift, then," he murmured, drawing his palm over the roof of the car. "Very nice ride…"
Vadim gave a deep sigh – his patience was quickly running low. "Key, please," he repeated, the warning in his tone unmistakable. "And while you're at it, get her bag for me."
Rolling his eyes, Nikolai quickly produced a key card from his pocket. "Room 1224. Damn nice suite. You should find it quite acceptable," he said, slipping into the driver's seat of Calleigh's car. "Maybe even as nice as this car," he added, leisurely tossing Calleigh's purse to the pavement.
Lightly, Vadim jabbed his elbow into Calleigh's side. "Pick it up and put it on your shoulder. Nothing else," he murmured, his eyes scanning the area for anyone who might've been watching the entire exchange. As Calleigh slowly bent to retrieve her purse, Vadim turned to Nikolai with a grin. "She's all yours," he said, patting the roof of the car. "Have fun, but remember the plan."
Nikolai flashed his eyes to Calleigh once more. "Somehow, when it comes to remembering the plan, I don't think I'm the one we need to worry about," he retorted, a knowing flicker in his dark eyes as he quickly closed the door. Turning the key in the ignition, the engine quickly came to life, and Calleigh was unable to do any more than watch as her car was carefully backed out of the garage. The lights blinked once, and then with a squeal of the tires, her car was gone, speeding along the street outside.
"Sorry about that," Vadim sneered without an ounce of remorse in his voice. Pulling Calleigh closer to him, he ignored the way her body stiffened. "Can't have your car parked in the garage here – they would track you down in no time. Besides, you would've just had it taken away anyway – it would've been towed for not having a parking permit."
Anxiously, Calleigh bit at her lip. Eric had mentioned it, and Horatio had warned the entire team – the Russians were smart. They were capable of thinking of almost anything; thinking about it, and working their plans around it. Calleigh had been counting on having her car towed – security would canvass the parking garage, searching for cars without displayed permits, and upon finding hers, they would take down the license number and call the towing company. By that time, Calleigh had assumed that her car might've been flagged, and regardless of whether the car was towed or not, there would be a record of where her car had been. But it seemed that Vadim had thought of that long before she had, and now her slim hope was quickly degenerating once again.
Her cell remained in the car too, so tracking her by GPS would lead someone on a wild goose chase. She was still so close to the lab, still well within the boundaries of Dade County. But by the time anyone realized that she was missing and thought to search for her phone or her car, there was a fair possibility that both might be well out of the state. Calleigh was just going to have to figure out something else.
"We're going inside now," Vadim interrupted her thoughts, his lips brushing against Calleigh's temple in a slow stroke that left her skin crawling. "And you are going to keep your head down and your mouth shut. One word, and it'll be your last – and believe me, you're not the only one who doesn't want that," he added, his thick accent adopting a would-be seductive tone. But to Calleigh, it did nothing but churn her stomach, leaving her able to do little more than nod in response. "Hands in your pockets, sweetheart," he purred, leading her quickly through the doorway. "Can't have you leaving your pretty little prints for your boyfriend to find, now can we, hmm?"
It was the first verbal acknowledgment that Vadim truly knew who she was, and as he rather gently led her into the elevator, Calleigh shuddered, realizing what this entire operation was really about. The enhanced disdain in his voice had given it away immediately – this was about Eric. Eric had gotten himself involved in the business of the Russian mob – something Calleigh wasn't entirely sure of, but she'd had her suspicions. He'd meddled, and now he was missing.
But that was what left Calleigh confused. Was he missing because the Russians had him? Or was he missing because he had escaped? And where did Calleigh fit in the grand scheme? It left her head aching even more than it already was, and Calleigh shook her head in an effort to clear it, knowing she didn't know nearly enough to lead her anywhere other than a scrambled web of possibilities, each just as reasonable as the next.
It was the jumble of possibilities which plagued her until Vadim was leading her into the secured hotel room. As soon as the door was closed behind them, he immediately dropped the saccharine, false gentlemanly act he'd adopted in the lobby and in the hallway to avoid attracting any attention at all. Grasping her upper arm once more, he ignored Calleigh's whimpered protest of pain as he tugged her through the darkened room. "The games are over," he growled, ripping her purse from her shoulder and tossing it blindly to the side. Spinning her to face him, Vadim shoved Calleigh onto the bed, satisfied at the muffled yelp of surprise she gave as her body hit the mattress.
This was it. Her body tensed immediately as she realized what was coming next. Every hypothetical situation that she'd sworn never to find herself in – and then never to find herself in again – was now a reality. All of her assertions that she'd be much too strong for this, they all meant nothing now. Here in this darkened hotel room, while no one even knew she was missing, Calleigh was going to become one in a long line of victims which she'd sworn never to become.
The realization was enough to shatter her physical control. Suddenly she was unable to breathe; unable to transport the necessary oxygen to her brain. The calculated, well-thought breaths she'd relied on until now abruptly failed her, leaving her without anything to grasp hold of. Her heart pounded madly; she felt the sweat break upon her forehead. Her body trembled uncontrollably as the darkness spiraled around her, the shadows in the darkened room flitting around like the monsters she'd stopped believing in at the age of four.
Vaguely she felt the dip of the mattress beneath Vadim's added weight; felt him hovering above her, felt his breath against her cheek. Calleigh closed her eyes, biting hard at the inside of her cheek in trepidation, knowing what was to come.
Roughly he wrapped his fingers around her wrist, wordlessly tugging her arm toward the head of the bed. Almost as though the sound were echoing over a long distance, Calleigh heard the light jingle of metal, a sound that was despairingly recognizable to her ears. In seconds she felt the accompanying coldness clamp around her wrist – he had her handcuffs, and though she couldn't see in the dark, Calleigh had a very good idea as to what the other link of the cuffs was being attached to. She swallowed hard, forcing back the bitter taste of vulnerability – he was rendering any defense she might have useless.
Squeezing her eyes tightly shut again, Calleigh waited, knowing there was very little she could do, especially if she wanted to live. A moment passed, then another, then yet another, and nothing happened. Nothing.
And then, as light as a feather, she felt his fingertips softly caressing her cheek, lightly tracing her jawline. Her eyes snapped open in surprise, though she still could see nothing. She could hear, though, and the sound of the bed creaking as Vadim rose from it seemed almost deafeningly loud, almost as loud as the confused static that commenced in her head. What was he playing at?
Almost as if hearing her thoughts, Vadim snickered. "Don't you worry, Calleigh," he murmured, verbalizing her name for the very first time, unaware of the shudder that coursed through her body as she heard it. "We'll have plenty of time for some fun later; believe me, I can't wait for that." He grinned, though knowing that Calleigh wouldn't see it. Leaning over her, he pressed a kiss to her cheek, only smirking as Calleigh turned her face defiantly away from him. "For now, though, I have to go – but I'll be back before you know it." Reaching out, he lightly rattled the handcuffs with his fingers. "Don't go anywhere, princess."
Laughing at his own joke, Vadim swiftly turned and crossed the room. As he opened the door, a faint sliver of light from the hallway filled the room, momentarily chasing back the shadows before once more they were allowed to take hold as the door closed once more with a slam of finality. Suddenly, the light was gone, Vadim was gone, and Calleigh was left behind. Confused, frightened, helplessly cuffed to the bed, and so completely alone.
Alone in the dark, with only her dreaded memories and the fear of what was to come to keep her company.
And that was worse than the nightmares she'd refused to deal with over a year ago.
