A/N: Sorry for the delay…I didn't really like my last chapter and I kinda lost confidence after that. Plus, this particular chapter was pretty difficult to write too. I'll try not to mess up again. Once again, sorry guys.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
It seemed to Flack that no sooner had he settled on one of the couches in the break room and closed his eyes, that he was being shaken awake by Hawkes once again. But a quick glance out the windows revealed that it was already afternoon so he must've slept for a pretty long time now. Hawkes had a huge ecstatic grin on his face as he shook Flack's shoulder.
"I think I have one of them." He said excitedly. A whine came up from between them as Fido looked up at the doctor inquiringly, wondering why he was disturbing their rest time. Flack woke up immediately and sat up on the couch, waiting expectantly for Hawkes to start.
"Mac," Hawkes turned to wake his boss up.
"Hold on Hawkes," Flack grinned suddenly, pulling out his phone. Mac was still dozing lightly, Stella's head on his shoulder and his resting on top of hers. This was great stuff to show Danny and Lindsay when they found them, plus it'd make great blackmail material. With a devious grin, he snapped a picture with his phone.
"What was that for?" Hawkes asked.
"I got a bet going with Messer, on when these two plan to get together." Flack explained. "If I phrase it just right, I might be able to convince him that I won that bet."
"Is it similar to the one you have with Stella about Danny and Lindsay?"
"Pretty much," Flack grinned, "Did you want to join in? It's still not too late."
"Leave me out of this." Hawkes held up his hands, "I don't want to be caught in the crossfire when they all find out you have a bet going on all of them." He turned back to the sleeping detectives. "Mac, Stella, I think I got a lead."
They were up so quickly that Flack wondered nervously if they had actually heard any of his conversation with Hawkes. "What do you have Hawkes?" Mac asked.
"I managed to trace the account that transferred funds into our lawyer's account to a Bill Crichton. He's a big guy, and James Gallaghan identified him to be the man who was accompanying the guy who paid them." Hawkes announced triumphantly, pulling out a photo for them to see. "I cross-checked his name with your list of names Flack. He was the brawns behind a drug-smuggling scam that Danny brought down a few years back. The ringleader was convicted at last about a month or so ago but there wasn't really enough evidence to bring down his right-hand men and partners too."
"Mr. Gallaghan also was able to identify the man who paid them," Hawkes gave them another picture. "You're looking at Colin Jackal. Bill Crichton works with him a lot. He's a nasty piece of work. Highly intelligent and very sadistic, a classic sociopath on all counts. He was a partner of the ringleader Danny put away and he probably holds a grudge, but I think he's just taking that as an excuse to fulfill his sadistic pleasures. Several informants have all stated that he likes to torture his victims…all in the same shack in the middle of nowhere."
"So it's very likely that he brought them there." Mac surmised. "Good job Hawkes. Do we know where it is?"
"We know the general area Mac. No one could or would give us the exact location."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Stella stood up and ran her fingers through her hair. "Let's form up a search party and go bring them home."
"All right, all right," Danny was chuckling over their makeshift lunch. "It was one of those annual department dinner things, you know. And they really went over the top with it this time. I mean it was really extravagant they way they did everything. It was like one of those high-society balls us poor losers always hear about. It was amazing. You know, normally we rent limos and tuxes to events like that but that year, it didn't feel enough. The tux I had felt so cheap compared to what they had already splurged on the decorations."
"I think I get the idea Danny." Lindsay's tone was impatient.
"So we were just getting started on the party, the dancing and everything, when this bunch of guys, about a dozen of them, busted the door in. They had a couple of automatics in their hands and one of them fired at the ceiling. They started yelling things like, 'Everybody get down! Do as we say and no one gets hurt!' The whole place was silent for like ten seconds, then everybody in the room pulled out their guns and those two idiots gave up." Danny waved his arms around as he narrated his story. "And later while the entire precinct was laughing and booking them for trying to crash a police party, they were asked what gave them that crazy idea."
"And what did they say?" Lindsay asked with a chuckle.
Danny grinned to himself, obviously trying to hold in his laughter. He waited until Lindsay had just put a spoonful of beans into her mouth and then he said, "They said they'd been hired to do it, 'cos as it turns out, the robber act was a part of their routine…as strippers!"
Lindsay nearly choked on her food and ended up hacking and coughing while Danny laughed. "What?" She demanded as soon as she could catch her breath.
"It's true." Danny said, crossing his heart with his fingers, "They were strippers hired by a couple of high class socialites for their bachelorette party…which was the next day."
Lindsay laughed along with Danny at the sorry predicament of the strippers. There was nothing much for them to do here in the middle of nowhere since they couldn't really go anywhere. They had fed their former captors, though Danny had suggested simply letting them starve to death. Lindsay had to agree that they probably deserved it but they couldn't really be responsible for their deaths. With all that time left to themselves, Lindsay and Danny had gotten around to holding long conversations and they had recently come on the topic of the funniest things they had ever seen.
"That's nothing." Lindsay grinned challengingly, "My partner and I were chasing down a suspect through a grassy field. I tackled him to the ground and then kept my boot on him until my partner came to snap the cuffs on him. The whole time, the guy was screaming, 'Lady, hey lady!' I finally asked him, 'What?' I was expecting him to say something like we had the wrong guy or my foot was digging into a sore spot or something."
"So what was it?" Danny leaned close.
Lindsay blushed slightly but she said, "He said, 'Lady, your shoe's covered in crap!'"
Danny howled with laughter and Lindsay joined in, a bit embarrassed this time. "So he had your footprint on his back, all covered in shit?"
"Cow crap too." Lindsay made a face, "That stuff stinks terribly. I threw those shoes away after that incident and spared myself the trouble of trying to clean the gunk off it." Danny collapsed into helpless laughter again.
An audible crunch reached their ears and their laughter stopped abruptly as they strained to hear more. Was it an animal of some kind, or a human? Wait…was that the sound of a dog barking? "It must be the canine patrols, following our scent." Lindsay said excitedly as she stood up.
"Let's hope so." Danny said, standing up too. His hand reached for his gun that he now kept in his pocket and he squinted at the surrounding trees, hoping to catch a glimpse of the newcomer despite his blurry vision. Footsteps became louder and so did that barking. Leaves rustled and Lindsay stepped forward warily.
She caught a glimpse of a tall head peeking over some bushes before a voice called ahead, "Hey Colin, I got your message. That detective who spoiled our business is your new victim huh? Mind if I join in?"
Both detectives froze, their hearts sinking like stones. They hadn't thought that Checkers had more friends. Danny grabbed Lindsay by the arm and moved her behind him. Just as they were silently debating their options, the voice rang out again, much harsher this time. "Get them boys!"
"Oh shit," Danny swore quietly as the barking became very frantic. A pack of four dogs came crashing out of the underbrush and charging towards the two detectives. "Run!" He yanked at Lindsay's arm and they both started running blindly into the woods, the dogs nipping at their heels.
"Don't let them get away!" The voice yelled again and the unmistakable sounds of gunshots rang over their heads. They ducked their heads instinctively, making as small a target of themselves as possible. The dogs continued to chase after them, growling ominously and snapping whenever they seemed to get just close enough.
Danny made a growling kind of sound in the back of his throat and pulled out his gun, turning around slightly to get a clear look at the dogs. Lindsay pushed his gun away. "You can't shoot them." She said between gasps.
"I'm not gonna shoot them. I just wanna scare them off." Danny said, struggling to run and aim at the same time. It was a bit more challenging because Lindsay kept pushing his gun away from the dogs.
"And when you use up all your bullets, all we have left for defense will be my knife." Lindsay argued reasonably.
"Then what do you suggest we do? We gotta find some way to get 'em off our ass." Danny demanded, jumping just in time as one of the dogs chomped down on where his ankle had been mere seconds before. "Humans can't outrun dogs forever Montana."
"You think I don't know that?" Lindsay was thinking as quickly as she could for a way to lose the dogs without hurting them. Climbing up a tree would be the best option, but with someone also on their tail, armed with a gun, that would only push them into a corner. Besides, Lindsay wasn't sure if Danny had ever climbed a tree in his life.
The sounds of rushing water reached Lindsay's ears. "Danny, do you hear that?" She asked.
Danny strained to concentrate on the faint noise and avoid the snapping dogs at the same time. For some reason, they seemed to be homing in on him. What, did these dogs have a sense of chivalry or something? Shouldn't at least one of them be trying to snapping at Lindsay's legs? Not that they should, because that would be really bad but really, it just seemed a little bit unfair. "Sounds like water." He said at last.
Lindsay nodded, "I think I got an idea. Follow my lead." She changed direction abruptly, heading straight for the source of the water. The dogs stumbled for a moment at the sudden change. One of them even tripped as it tried to turn around and run at the same time. The sound of rushing water became louder and louder until they saw it, a small rushing stream. Without a second thought, Lindsay plunged into its deep waters. Danny hesitated but one look at the dogs catching up on them and he jumped in too. The current swept them downstream, leaving the dogs barking from the bank.
He found them barking madly at the small but fast-moving stream. When they saw him, they turned and began to paw at him, panting heavily and wagging their tails furiously. "Down boys," He said easily, "So they jumped in to get away huh? Pretty smart…" He patted each of them on their heads. "Don't worry, we'll find them later. They can't go far… not in a place like this. First, we need to see to Bill and Colin. Then we'll look for our runaways."
I'm sorry it's so short. Again, this was a pretty difficult chapter to write. I'll try to do better for the next one. And I'll upload it as soon as I can, which is hopefully in a week's time. With any luck, it might be sooner but I'll try to keep it to one week.