Happy Friday! Here's the next installment - it's a little longer than the last one :)

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Chapter 3

Erin stumbled down the two flights of stairs that she was being forced to walk down while blind. She could tell that it was cold, and suspected that whoever was moving her around was taking her to a basement. Her hands were tied behind her back, and she had no gun. I'm screwed, she realized.

Seconds later, she was pushed into an open area as the sack was lifted off of her head. She stumbled and hit the floor, her hands still tied, as her eyes attempted to adjust to the small amount of light coming from the small window. Sunrise was only just beginning, from what she could tell.

As she managed to get up and examine her surroundings, she tossed her head a couple of times to get the hair out of her face. As she looked to her right and saw multiple bottles of water sitting on a small table, next to a metal bucket, she heard a grunt behind her. She looked to who had released her into the room, a different man from the one who had thrown the sack over her head. He pointed to the water, and she replied back silently by moving her fingers behind her back. After hesitating for a few seconds, the guy stepped forward and said, "Don't cause trouble." After he finished talking, he pulled out a small knife and cut the cloth tying Erin's wrists together. "You need to be somewhat healthy bait, right?" he said in a mocking tone, exiting the room and locking the door.

As Erin sat drinking a few sips of water, she realized what the guy had meant by her being bait. She had completely forgotten to think about what would happen if she sacrificed herself on Jay's behalf. He would freak out and come to find her; the gang would offer her in exchange for him; he would most likely pretend to agree and then an Intelligence ambush would ensue, which would be an attempt to get both Jay and Erin out, but it wouldn't necessarily be successful. She sat down next to the metal bucket on the far wall and put her head against the wall. It was cold, hard concrete, and she closed her eyes for a second as she said, "What the heck, Erin?" out loud.

They'll find me. They'll find me. Jay will find me, Erin attempted to reassure herself. But then, she began to worry about Jay. He would probably be scared out of his mind when he found her gun outside the front door. Erin then began to believe that she was an idiot for putting herself in danger like she had done, but a voice inside her was trying to soothe her. You did it for Jay, the voice said, he would have done the same for you.

I sure hope so, was Erin's next thought. Thoughts began to refill her mind about Jay. She had tried to be smart, but it appeared that she had fallen into their trap. They had wanted to take her and use her to draw Jay in. They had obviously figured out that she was a sure way of getting to him. Oh Jay, she silently prayed, please rescue me, but don't lose your common sense.

As she put the one opened water bottle on the floor, the basement door opened again and a much taller man with many tattoos and a gold necklace strolled in with a creepy smile on his face. She tried not to show her fear, but it was visible to him anyway. He chuckled as he got closer to her, and just as Erin stood up to prepare for a fight he wrestled her and turned her around, so her chest was against the wall. He re-tied her hands, and pushed her around again to face him. His eyes were now inches from hers, and Erin was beginning to feel extremely scared.

"Scared now, honey? There's no need…if you tell me where Halstead is," he finally spoke.

Erin gritted her teeth and replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Liar," the leader replied, punching Erin in the ribs, causing her to cry out in pain, "My guy tells me that you were with Halstead at the bar two days ago when he tried to kill him. But you pushed Halstead out of the way before any damage could be done."

"Why wouldn't I have?" Erin replied on a whim. She received another blow to the ribs, as well as more pressure from the hand that was holding her hands behind her, pushing her closer into the wall. She whimpered in fear and pain, and said, "Two cops are allowed to be friends, right?"

"So you know him," the ring leader concluded.

"I didn't say that," Erin spat.

"Girl, you might want to just tell me where Halstead is right now. Because your only ticket out of this hellhole is telling me where he is so we can kill him. And when you do get out of here, it won't be alive," the ring leader threatened. He waited a few seconds to see if Erin would reply, and when she did, it wasn't what he wanted.

"I'm not going to tell you a thing," Erin declared. As she finished the last word of her sentence, the ring leader pushed her sideways, letting her fall to the floor and hitting her head in the process. He then pulled out a short tether and after attaching it to a small ring that Erin hadn't seen before, he attached the other end to the tie around Erin's wrists. He then proceeded to take all the bottles of water out with him. He exited the room, and just when Erin thought that she was in trouble, he stormed back in and leaned over her, his face inches from hers again.

"You listen to me, you can either talk, or you can go to hell." He kicked her in the ribs and stormed out, the door locking behind him as Erin began to cry.