Chapter 4

…

The cold concrete floor was the first thing that registered in Hannah's mind as she slowly opened her eyes, her head pounding, and her wrists burning. She tried to move only to find herself handcuffed to a railing above her head. The only light to be seen was from a small gap in the door at the other end of the room; she shivered as a cold breeze hit her back. She tried to adjust her eyes, blurriness evident from her head injury. She looked around to see she was in some kind of cellar or lock up, all the walls were grey brick. She gasped when she saw something small skittering along the far away wall; she saw the long tail and red eyes. Rats were one of her worst fears, after her fear of fire. She froze when she heard a key turn in the door; her whole body began to shake from fear. When the door opened she saw a tall, dark figure walking slowly towards her. Her kidnapper wore dark jeans and a black hoodie which covered most of his face, the only thing she could make out was a small scar on the underside of his face. As she looked at it, something clicked with her…she's seen that scar before; it was familiar to her in her daily life. Her mind ran like crazy as she tried very hard to remember why it was so familiar. As her kidnapper got closer to her, a familiar scent invaded her nostrils. If she hadn't been sure before she was more than certain now that the person who had taken her on her way home was someone she knew fairly well.

"Please…whoever you please…let me go." She cried. "I'll do anything you want."

Hannah tried to push herself back as the man knelt before her and slowly removed his hood, at first she was terrified to even look this man in the eye for fear of what he'd do. She took a few steady breathes before she finally got the courage to look up at the man, the blurriness in her eyes slowly cleared as she took in the man's appearance. She gasped as she finally saw his face, he looked a little ragged, hadn't shaved in a few days but there was no denying who he was.

"Hello Hannah." He responded, his tone gruff.

She tried to speak but her fear got the better of her, tears falling from her eyes.

"It's polite to say hello back, you girls are all alike…stuck up little rich girls. Never having to do anything for your self, always relying on Mommy and Daddy for everything…it's pathetic."

"You can't do this…you can't keep me here, the police will…."

"The police will do nothing, they haven't got a clue where you are or who has you."

"Please, please I'm begging you…let me go."

"How far are you willing to go to please me Hannah…how far?"

She let her head fall as he threw a bottle of water at her side.

"That's what I thought." He sneered as he got back up and left the room, the door slamming behind him. The only sound to be heard was Hannah's cries.

…

Elle was sitting with Buzz as he showed her the footage of the last 3 victims, Clara, Connie and Jessica. As they watched the screens Elle spotted the same dark green sports car where each girl was taken.

"Hey that green car, have you managed to trace the owner of it?" Elle asked.

"We could only get a partial plate, there are over 2,000 names and it's taking forever to get through the list with the resources we have."

"Give me the partial; I'll get our tech analyst to give it a go."

"Yeah?"

"Sure."

Buzz wrote down the plate and handed it to Elle who got up and called Penelope.

"Your favourite tech analyst at your service…hit me."

"Hey Garcia, its Elle…are you busy."

"Never too busy for you my love, what do you need?"

"If I give you a partial plate can you run it, see what you get."

"No problem honey, go for it."

Buzz watched as Elle ran off the plate to Garcia, filling her in on the kind of person who might own that pacific type of vehicle, his possible age, marital status. As he listened he was amazed at the way profilers dug deep into a person's lifestyle.

"Okay Garcia, let me know when you have something."

Elle hung up and joined Buzz back at his station, a smile on her face.

"Sorry about that." She smiled.

"That was amazing."

"What?"

"They way you guys think, I mean already you have a rough idea of the type of person we're looking for. You make it look so easy."

"Years of training."

"Do you enjoy your work?"

"Yeah I guess, it has its good and bad points. Sometimes this job can get personal; I guess the same can be said for the job the LAPD do as well."

"We have our moments."

"Where's the coffee machine, I think we're gonna need it?"

"Down the hall and to your right."

"I'll be back."

…

Sharon and Gideon walked in to the elevator as the made the way to the next floor so that Gideon could have a talk with Hannah's parent. They remained quiet on the ride down, Gideon glancing at Sharon every few minutes to see her preoccupied.

"Are you okay?" He asked with concern in his voice.

"Mmm, I'm fine."

"Your husband, sorry I'm invading your privacy…we barely know each other."

"No…it's alright, the thing is I filed for divorce. Jack and I have been separated for over 15 years; to be honest I'm not sure why it took me this long to do it. Jack has always assumed I'd always be here, that he can just drop by my condo when he's in town and make himself at home but…things have changed. I have Rusty now, by adopted Son and a new life which doesn't include him and he doesn't like it. That phone call earlier that you over heard was him begging me to rethink the divorce."

"He won't accept it's finally over."

Sharon looked up at him, her eyes glistening with a few tears.

"He just…he has always taken me for granted and I just don't want to deal with all his problems anymore you know. This time of my life is for me, I'm Captain of Major Crimes, I have Rusty, my son Ricky and my daughter Emily and I'm happy and I don't….I'm sorry, I' don't know why I'm telling you all this, we barely know each other."

"It's okay…sometimes talking to a stranger helps."

"Thank you, really." She smiled as she stepped out when the elevator doors opened.

They walked along the corridor and came to the break room where Andy had got Hannah's parents settled in. Gideon looked through the glass, the blonde woman crying as her husband held her in his arms.

"They've been here all night." Sharon said softly.

"Do they know about the other girls?"

"They do, they don't know how the other girls were found though. I didn't see any reason for them to know."

"Shall we?" He half smiled, holding the door open for her.

Sharon walked in as Gideon followed closely behind her, Hannah's parents looked up as Gideon grabbed a seat from one of the other tables and sat down next to her, Sharon stood at Gideon's side as began to introduce himself to them.

"Mr and Mrs Duns, my names Jason Gideon…I'm from the Behavioural Analysis Unit in Quantico."

He gave them a warm smile to try and get them to open up to him.

"Behavioural Analysis Unit? What is that." Hannah's mom sniffed.

"We're profilers; we try to get into the mind of the person who took your daughter, to try to understand why they're doing this."

"Why they're doing this…because they're sick, mentally." Hannah's father stated.

"You gave Captain Raydor and her team a description of what Hannah was wearing the night she was taken, is there anything else you can tell us."

"Such as?" Her father asked.

"Was she having troubles in school, was there anyone who she felt threatened by, was there anyone who took a special interest in your daughter outside of school. Who are her friends, was she seeing anyone?"

"Hannah was a good girl; she was focused on her studies. She didn't have time for boyfriends."

"Can you perhaps give me a list of her friends, people she was close too."

"They won't be able to tell you anymore than we can."

"Please don't take this the wrong way Mrs Duns but girls your daughters age don't always tell their parents everything that is going on in their lives."

"What are you saying…Jake what's he trying to imply?"

"It's okay Sophie; they're just trying to help."

"Sophie, Agent Gideon is just trying to get a better idea of who Hannah was as a person, her close friends are the ones that know her. If they're anything like my daughter was then they must spend a vast amount of time together."

"That's true Captain, Hannah's closet friends are Sarah Miles and Katie Bryan. They're joined at the hip most of the time."

"If you could write down their addresses for me, I'd really appreciate that." Gideon said.

Hannah's father grabbed a pen and began writing the names and addresses down on the piece of paper before handing it to Gideon.

"I think this is what you need Agent Gideon."

"Thank you Mr Duns, we'll let you know when we have any developments."

Gideon got up as Sharon followed him to the door.

"Agent Gideon…"

He turned and looked back at Mrs Duns to see the tears falling from her eyes.

"Please…find my daughter."

"We'll do all we can, you have my word on that." He offered a sympathetic smile before leaving the room.

Gideon stopped walking when he heard the clicking of Sharon's heels suddenly stop behind him.

"Are you alright Captain?"

"I'm fine, you were brilliant in there. You've built a trust already and you were only there for a few minutes."

"We're trained to act fast, to build up a trust as quickly as possible. Their daughter's life depends on it."

"Do you think we'll find her alive?"

"Honestly…I don't know. All we can do is work hard and pray someone's looking down on her."

Sharon nodded as Gideon turned and walked back to the elevator, Sharon following him inside.

…

To Be Continued…