Here again, a new chapter. I hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides Antoine Henry, Justin Wyatt and Ann Evans, as well as Ryan's family as portrayed here

WARNING: There's mentions of stronger violence and mutilation in this chapter as well as some swearing.

Chapter 13

After Henry was set free and Horatio had ordered every patrol in the city to shadow him, Ryan had only one thing left to do, which was bringing Ann home. She sat in the passenger's seat in his car, staring into the great wide nothing.

Ryan watched her out of his eye corner, "I'm sorry it went wrong. And about your finger."

"It's okay. I…" She started crying silently, "I'm so scared of what they'll do to Ron now. They'll hurt him. I know that… Ryan, I want him back…" She wiped the tears away. "I… I don't know what to do, I just feel so helpless… I… I… I know I should have told him before… but I thought, I mean…. He's just… you know how he is, about his freedom and stuff, and I thought he… he wouldn't want a g-g-g-girlfriend, so I didn't tell him… and now it's maybe too late…"

Ryan pulled the car over to the side of the road and looked in his pockets until he found a hanky. He gave it to Ann, "You really do love him, don't you?"

She nodded, "More than I can tell. He's… he's such a wonderful man, and he gave me so much."

Ryan smiled a bit, "So he did to me." He laid his arm around Ann's shoulder and pulled her head to his shoulder. "We'll find him, Ann. You have to believe. Every single cop in this town is looking out for him."

She cried even more on his shoulder, "What if…?"

"Don't even think of this, Ann. He'll be alright. We still have what they want. That toxin. They're not gonna kill him as long as we have it…"

"So what? Do you think they're gonna leave him unharmed? And some things are so much worse than death…" Her voice broke when she sobbed uncontrollably.

Ryan nodded, "I know. But we just have to believe it's gonna be alright. Ron is a strong man. He can handle a bit of…" He closed his eyes, for even to him it was too terrible to think of what they could do to Ron. So he just let Ann cry until she couldn't anymore. He gave her a light smile, "You're ready to go home?"

She smiled back, "I suppose. And you look as if you could need some sleep…"

"Maybe, but I can't sleep…"

"Neither can I…. How about you come to my place? We could have a cauldron of coffee."

Now Ryan laughed, "Sure. How about I tell you some stories about Ron? So that you know whom you're going to tell about your feelings when he comes back?"

She wiped the last of her tears away, "I'd love that very much."

--

Ryan was woken up by his cell phone. He looked around, still a bit dizzy. It took him a second to remember where he was. On Ann's couch, with a pillow and a blanket. Ah right. They'd been talking till 4 a.m. and after that had decided to go to bed and try to sleep at least a few hours. He cursed a bit and answered the call.

"Wolfe?... I'm at Ann's… What? Oh no. Yeah, I'll be right over." He hung up. "Oh god dammit! How could this happen again? I knew it, I knew it would go wrong. I'm gonna need to explain this… Oh damn. Stop talking to yourself, Ryan, this doesn't make you look any saner…" He raced over to the kitchen table. Ann was still lying in bed, so he left her a note, saying he would call her as soon as he knew something. Then he left the flat in a rush.

--

It must have been the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen in his life. When he arrived at the beach, he was greeted with the largest crime scene ever in Miami. Nine dead bodies, not including the gruesome looking remains of Antoine Henry. Alexx was sitting next to the terrorist. When Ryan approached, he had to swallow. It was hard to even determine if it was Antoine Henry. His face was mutilated. But Ryan recognized the clothes he was wearing. They had to give them back to him when he had been set free. The rest of Henry was nothing but a bloody mess. He sat down next to Alexx.

"He looks like he had quite a hard time…"

"He had a hard time alright. I cannot even imagine in how much pain he was before God finally took over."

"I might have an idea about it… At least when it comes to this…" He pointed at the empty eyeholes. "That must have hurt like hell…"

"Yeah… scratched them out."

"You have an idea how he died?"

"I can't tell you for sure until after the autopsy. But my guess is they literally beat him to death. There's blood in his mouth. A broken rib might have punctured his lung. I know more once I have him on the table."

Ryan nodded and then looked around, "How about the others?"

"Gun shot wounds. At least eight of them before they could do anything. But the ninth one… Let's just say… Poor guy."

Ryan bit his lip, "At least we have some bullets now." He walked over to the first dead body. It was the one Alexx had named 'poor guy'. He indeed was. His face was mutilated. "I might repeat myself, but this must have hurt."

Alexx came to his side, "Yeah, indeed. I thought it was an urban myth."

"The Glasgow smile? No…" He had read about it. The assailant cut the edges of the victim's mouth right up to the ears, and then made it scream, so that the wound would be ripped further open. "You think he bled to death from it?"

"Possibly. Even though the wounds don't seem too deep. He surely fought not to scream too hard…"

Yeah, Ryan had figured it out too. That guy must have had one hell of composure. But there was something else about him that made Ryan suspicious. No, not about him. About him and the others. The haircut. 6mm, 3 mm. Military haircut. And four more dead bodies with the exact same haircut. Ryan had to grin. He couldn't mind his own business now, could he? He put his gloves on and started opening the man's shirt. He found what he was looking for. Dog tags. And he didn't have to check the other to know what this was about. He took the dog tags into his hand- and froze. Even through the gloves he could feel they were warm. "Alexx? Did you assistant checked the vitals of this guy?"

"I guess so, why?"

"Well, cause he's still alive…."

--

Ryan waited outside the E.R. until the doctors told him they had been able to save the man. Ryan could interview him as soon as he was conscious and ready to talk. It took him another two hours of waiting until he got the go ahead. The victim, whom he knew was called Justin Wyatt, was lying on the bed, face bandaged, looking pale, but his eyes were clear and attentive.

Ryan sat down at his bedside, "Mr Wyatt, I'm Ryan Wolfe, from the Miami Dade Crime Lab. How are you feeling?"

Wyatt muttered, "I'm sorry if I can't talk properly, but you can guess why…" Then he eyed Ryan, "Wolfe, you said? You're Duke's son…."

"It was his idea, right? That you and your friends were there?"

Wyatt nodded, "He didn't want to leave it in the hands of the cops."

"I should have guessed. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Duke called yesterday afternoon and told us what to do. I'm originally from Boston, so that's how I know him. A great man. When I moved to Miami, we still kept writing each other. So he knew where to call when he had trouble here. Of course, we immediately agreed on helping him, and followed the guy."

"How were you discovered?"

"I don't know. It happened so fast…" He swallowed. "Suddenly there were gun shots. They must have seen one of the guys… Of course, we immediately got out of our cover and fired at them, but… well, you've seen what happened. There were too many of them… I thought they'd shoot me too, but they only knocked me down. When I was conscious again… They forced me to watch what they were doing to this guy. He screamed like hell. I've never heard such screams before, and I was at some really bad places in this world. When he was dead- finally, I have to say- they turned to me. Did this thing with my face. And then they left me there…"

Ryan nodded, "I see… Did they tell you why they didn't kill you?"

"Yes… but I'm only supposed to talk to… Annie Something."

"Ann Evans?" Wyatt nodded. "Mr Wyatt, let me tell you one thing. You're going to talk to me. Not to Miss Evans." Whatever the message for Ann was, he wouldn't let her hear it before he knew what it was about. The way she'd cried for Ron had deeply moved him. And he wouldn't put this on her.

Wyatt shrugged, "Well, if you want it. The guy told me to tell Miss Evans that if they wouldn't get what they want, they would do to her partner what they did to the guy, and to the woman what they did to me…. I… I understand the woman must be your mother?"

"Yes… Okay, let me ask you: Is there anything you remember about those guys?"

Wyatt shook his head, "No. Only that their leader spoke with a French accent, and he smelled of Vanilla."

"Nice… I'm going to take your clothes to the lab. Maybe there's transfer. Is there anyone I could call for you, family or so?"

Now Wyatt smiled a bit, "Would you want your family to see you like this?" The pain on his face was obvious.

Ryan smiled back, "No, probably not." He got up from the chair. "I thank you for your cooperation. I'm really sorry for what you've been gone through…"

"I'm happy it was me who had to suffer, not my men."

"That's honourable. Good bye." Ryan opened the door, got out of the room- and bumped into Duke. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard what happened. Where is Justin?"

"He's in there. But I gotta tell you, it's not a pretty sight…"

"I've seen worse. What happened?"

Ryan pondered if he should tell his father the whole truth, or just the necessary facts. He decided to do the truth. "One of your guys was discovered by the terrorists. Eight men are dead. Justin survived, but… well, he brought a message. They threat to kill Ron and… well, once you see Justin, you can imagine what mom will look like if they don't get that toxin…"

Duke looked at him and then glanced through the window at Justin. "The Glasgow smile." He leaned against the wall and slid down on the floor. He rested his face on his hands. "And one off my guys fucked it up?"

Ryan looked down at his father and said, "Justin didn't know for sure… He said 'one of the guys'… I figured he didn't mean one of my guys."

Duke nodded a bit, "That was not what I wanted. That was not at all what I planned. And now, if they hurt my wife, it's my fault." He slammed his fist against the floor.

Ryan had to swallow. "Hey… it's… it's gonna be alright. We still have the toxin. I mean, what they think is the toxin. I'm gonna talk to Ann… she'll do it. And this time, we won't risk a thing."

"You mean I'm not going to ruin everything? Come on, just tell me what you think. I know you don't have a high opinion of the military."

"That's not true. I do think highly of them. It's just not what I wanted for myself. I'm happy as it is. And I know from experience things can go wrong. I've screwed up things a few times. It's was just a bad coincidence. It could have happen to anybody of us."

"Yeah, but if I hadn't called my people, it probably would not have happened. Who knows if they actually planned on killing Henry? Maybe they saw my guy and thought Henry was involved with them, had run over to the police to save his ass."

Ryan had to admit Duke made a point. But seeing his father down like this, beating himself up… it hurt him more then when his father was beating him up. Ok, he might have been right, and the whole thing had gone bad because of his guy fucking it up. But…

"It's gonna be okay, Sir. We're gonna get them back. Trust me. They'll be back with us very soon."

"And what if not? Then it's my fault my wife has to… to life with that scar. I don't wanna be guilty for any more traumatic experience than I am already…"

"Sir, that's really…"

"How am I gonna explain to Justin's wife? How am I gonna explain to Justin? Do you think he's getting over this?"

Ryan almost had to laugh. And here he had thought his father felt guilty for the 'traumatic experiences' Ryan had to live with. But of course, no. He nodded, "You're gonna find a way…. Listen I have to bring Justin's clothes over to the lab for processing. You might wanna… get in there. He sure needs some company right now…"

"I'll do. Good luck." Duke turned around and opened the door. Ryan watched him through the window as he walked over to the bed. He sat down on it, opened his arms and hugged Justin. A bitter smile appeared on Ryan's face. He knew how silly it was, but right now, he would have given anything to be in Justin's place right now. Never mind the scars.