Title: Complicated
Chapter 14 – A Life in the Balance
A/N: A special thanks to 'Runner043' for picking up the mix-up in the timeline. Yes the team is going to wait for Reed and Mira for the shower but sorry that won't be this weekend (for them in fanfic land lol) and will happen then whey are back. Sorry about that (Alice blames RL) and thanks for reading. Most appreciated!
"Where is…" Mac tries in an angry tone, trying to yank his arm free but also trying to see where Levi had gotten to. "Damn bring me back…where is the boy!"
Mac continues to resist the first man pulling him deeper into the shadows but is quickly overpowered by the second, who dazes him by offering him a hard blow to the back of the head. The first man pulls out a harsh plastic zip-tie and captures Mac's wrists in front before bodily shoving him into the back of the darkened sedan; the second man in the front seat, Levi on the floor of the front seat.
"Jedź!" [Drive.] The first man, now in the back with Mac's slightly dazed form, orders. The sedan pulls away from the back of the lab; Mac's dazed and captive frame slumped in the backseat, the frightened and crying baby boy in the front.
XXXXXXXX
"Should be right on time," Stella muses as she looks at her watch and then hurries into the front entrance of the lab. The elevator ride up afforded her the opportunity to think on a nice surprise for Mac for their adult date night tomorrow night. She had to admit that she had been the most testy this week and if it wasn't for Mac's constant loving reassurance, things might have been more strained than they already were. But the news from Reed seems to have put both of them in a better mood and she hopes that maybe tonight they'll both be able to sleep a bit better than the past few nights. She quickly stows her evidence kit and then heads for her office to get her purse.
Just as Stella nears the door she watches Aubrey exit the evidence room and pause before Mac's office doorway. Trying to push back any negative or jealous urgings she puts on a brave face and slowly heads toward her, her ringed finger already hidden away.
"Dr. Hunter," Stella greets politely.
"Detective Bonasera," Aubrey returns the formal hello.
"Are you looking for Mac?" Stella asks as Aubrey looks into Mac's office once more. "I think he already left."
"Yeah I saw him downstairs; him and the baby he's supposedly trying to take care of."
"Why do you sound so negative when you say that?" Stella asks in surprise. "I'm sure Mac will be a great father if that's what he wants."
"Well just seems kinda irresponsible to me that he would want to just hand the baby to me, a stranger to the baby and it's mother and go off with two of his male friends."
"What? Mac would never do that."
"I just saw him downstairs. He asked me to take…I can't remember his name…"
"Levi," Stella corrects.
"Right Levi while he went and did something. I'm sorry Stella, but does this woman know what she's gotten into?"
"What friends?"
"How should I know?" Aubrey shrugs and Stella mentally kicks herself; her panic starting to take hold of her normaly rational brain.
"What did these two men look like?"
"Two men. Look you can cover for your partner all you want but…"
"Where did they go?"
"Back alley and then…"
"Did you ask them where they were going?"
"No. But one of them had a foreign accent when he mentioned the baby was crying. Okay so I know it sounds cold of me but how can I just take someone else's kid…" her voice trails off. "Stella?"
"Damn it!" Stella growls as she turns on her heel and races toward Adam's lair; her mind now in a panic that Dominik has indeed fooled them and arrived early, taking Levi and anyone else with him. Mac! "Don, Mac and Levi have been kidnapped."
"What how do you know this?"
"A…source, just don't ask," Stella laments. But despite Aubrey's less than forthcoming cooperation, the fact that she had told Stella what happened was enough to ensure that now Stella was on their tail and they wouldn't have Mac or the scared baby boy for very long. But she also knows that it only takes a few seconds for things to go from bad to worse and a scared and screaming baby could cause someone to panic. Oh Mac I just hope you have Levi.
"I'm almost there. Where can I meet you?"
"Adam's desk," she hangs up and then gives Adam directions to pull up the security feed from the lobby to their own building. Her mind wants to fume at Aubrey, but she knows that Aubrey's jealous anxiety kept her from wanting to help Mac or seeing that he was asking because he wanted to keep the baby boy safe. But it could have been worse, her brain reminds her. And Stella had to acknowledge that. If she had missed Aubrey then it might have been at least a good hour or more before she realized that Mac was missing and by that time…her thinking stops. Pondering the thought of her getting to her husband and adopted son when it was too late wasn't an option. She wasn't going to lose either Mac or Levi. She was their only hope now.
Hold on Mac, I'll find you. Just take care of Levi.
"Okay I got...something," Adam breaks her thoughts, pulling her eyes immediately to the screen; the time about half hour ago.
XXXXXXXX
Mac's pounding head finally starts to jolt him back awake, his eyes rapidly blinking as he tries to shift his cramped frame. The man beside him grabs a handful of his coat and jerks him upright.
"Również nie zatrzymują się łóżeczka wołając!" [The baby won't stop crying.]
"Właśnie koncentrować się na drogach!" [Just concentrate on the road.]
"Where are we going?" Mac demands in anger as he yanks his arm free of the man holding him, his wrists still tightly bound together with the hard plastic zip-tie. The two men, however, ignore him, driving further into the night; all the while the helpless baby in the front seat continues to cry for comfort.
"He's scared. I need to hold him," Mac tries again; his head pounding from the hit and Levi's cries.
"Zamknieni!" [Shut up!] The man in the front seat growls.
"Look he just needs…"
"He said to shut up," the man beside him demands. Mac eyes the gun for a split second, his mind racing at the thought of over powering the man in the backseat to distract the man in the front. However, it could cause a car crash and Levi wasn't belted in. His own life he could take more cavalier chances with but not Levi's; he was helpless and innocent and mixed up in an ugly game not of his doing. For that reason alone, Mac held back.
"The child belongs with its parents," Mac tells them angrily. "Kidnapping is a felony charge. The US has extradition rights with Poland to…"
"Shut up or I gag you!" The man beside Mac orders, forcing Mac to shoot him an angry, narrow eyed glare but say nothing further.
But Levi's insistent crying was starting to irritate the man in the front, so much so that he finally pulls the blanket off Levi's frame and places it over his face; hampering his breath.
"What the hell?" Mac shouts as he lunges forward, his bound wrists wanting to tug the blanket off Levi's face so he can breathe again. The man beside Mac gives him a hard punch to the side and tries to pull him back, finally wrapping an arm around his neck and pushing his gun into his cheek.
"He needs…air…" Mac gasps. "If the boy…dies…"
"Startu generalne!" [Take off the blanket!] The man beside Mac orders.
The man in front complies, tossing the blanket to the floor; the three adult men forced to listen to a few soft gasps for air before the small baby boy starts to cry once more.
"And you…no being hero," the man beside Mac warns. "Next time…I shoot you and be done with it," he nods and Mac lapses back onto the seat.
Mac swallows hard and can only pray that somehow Stella will realize he's missing. He doubts Aubrey will have said anything helpful to his wife and wonders if he'll get to hold Levi again; even just to comfort him once more. They near the turnoff for the airport and Mac's panic starts to rise. Was he now out of time?
Stella, you have to hurry.
XXXXXXXX
"Adam what is taking so long?" Stella groans as she nervously paces the space behind Adam's desk.
"They must be nearing the airport, the have jamming towers...hold on," frowns, his eyes fixed on the computer screen before him, his mind frantic to find his missing boss and the baby boy.
"These bastards played us," Flack curses as he looks at Stella with a heavy frown.
"Each time he nears a cell tower…wait hold on another second."
"You got it?"
"One more sec and…yeah okay I got a trace on Mac's phone," Adam pipes up, breaking Flack and Stella from their serious conversation. Adam had shown them that Dominik was still scheduled to arrive tonight as planned but now they had figured out it was a rouse, a distraction to keep them occupied while the real nightmare took place.
"They are heading for JFK," Flack states as he pulls his phone.
"Don, we'll never make it in time, look they are almost there," Stella moans as she looks at Adam with a desperate frown. "Once they get there Mac is…"
"Adam can you…I don't know jam the street lights or something?"
"I uh…could stall…them…" he ponders out loud.
"How?" Stella asks in haste just before her and Don turn and head for the door to leave.
"They have to fly…" Adam mumbles as he turns back to his computer screen. "How about a computer glitch that will ground all the planes from flying?"
"A hack?" Flack raises his brows in amusement.
"They can't drive the baby to Poland," Stella argues in return. "We just need to stall them…"
"Long enough for us to get there," Flack adds.
"So am I going to hac…" Adam looks at them in uncertainty.
"Yes!" Both Flack and Stella chime at once as they rush for the door.
"Yes," Adam echoes as both Stella and Flack rush out of the room, leaving the brilliant young computer technician alone with his plan to hack into the airport system and cause the computers to malfunction; thus grounding all flights. "Oh I am so getting fired for this," Adam groans.
Hold on Mac, I'm coming. Please let Levi be okay, Stella's mind races with panic.
XXXXXXXX
As the dark sedan nears the empty airplane hangar, Mac's panic starts to increase. "I need to hold him," Mac tries once more; Levi's insistent cries still drawing angry curses from the man in the driver's seat.
"I know you both speak English," Mac starts in a softer tone. "You take the boy and you'll have Interpol hunting for you and sending you back to the US to stand trial for kidnapping."
The driver quickly looks up into the rearview mirror, drawing Mac's gaze upward and then to his right as he notices the man beside him give a sharp glare to the man in the front; hence no action was taken.
"How much is he paying you?"
"You will offer more?" The man beside Mac counters.
"I can offer you a deal."
"What kind of deal?" The driver asks.
"Zamknieni!" [Shut up!]
"A deal that will reduce your jail time. I told you kidnapping, especially a child, is a felony offense."
"No deal. We get lots of money at home."
"You have to get that boy through security first," Mac warns as he feels the car starting to slow.
"We have papers," the driver offers.
"Czyż mówią nic więcej! To American próbuje trick nas. Trzymać się plan!" [Don't say anything more! This American is trying to trick us. Stick to the plan!]
"Liste…" Mac tries only to end up being struck in the side of the temple with the butt end of the gun. His head snaps back and he knows that one more argument could result in him being silenced so wasn't about to risk it. Instead he leans back on the seat and waits for another opportunity to try to reason with his unyielding captors.
He feels the car starting to slow even more but just as they near the hangar all three men look toward the air traffic control tower that now has its emergency lights flashing.
"Co to takiego potępienia jest grane?" [What the hell is going on?] The man in the front asks in a panic as he quickly stops the car.
Levi's cries had subsided to some dull whimpers, mostly due to the rhythm of the moving vehicle, but once the car stops, he starts to cry again, looking up into the angry face of his captor who only offers an angry scowl in return.
"Idź dowiedzieć się. Ja znajdą pobyt chłopca z oraz amerykańskiej. Jednak że!" [Go find out. I'll stay with the boy and the American. But hurry!]
Mac looks at the flashing lights and hope that Adam had something to do with it; hoping it's enough to delay any departures and buy him and Levi some more time for Stella to arrive. Mac feels his body shift when the man in the front gets out of the sedan; the man to his right quickly redrawing his gun.
"I'm just shifting," Mac growls in frustration as he tries to lean over the edge to look at Levi. "I can make him stop crying."
The man quickly gets out of the back seat, pulls open the front door and grabs Levi from his car seat. Levi had mostly wiggled himself out of his warm wrappings so was easier to retrieve than when Mac first bundled him in.
"Here. Just keep him quiet for now. We give him drugs for the flight."
"Drugs you can't gi…" Mac starts only to the gun pressed up against his forehead to show his captors meant serious business.
"Keep him quiet," the man orders as he shoves Levi's trembling body into Mac's bound grasp.
"Can you undo these?" Mac offers up his bound wrists.
The man just offers a mock smirk before he shakes his head no and slams the door shut, trapping Mac and Levi inside the sedan.
With his wrists bound it was a tougher ordeal to try to comfort the restless baby boy but Mac knew that he had to get Levi to try breathe normally; the small baby was close to hyperventilating. His face was more than flushed, tear soaked and his body temperature was high. He was scared and it was showing.
"Shhh Levi," Mac tries to soothe as he arranges him on his lap so that Levi was facing upward. Mac's fingers touch Levi's neck, feeling the heat and his mind starting to race with ways to cool him down. However, he knows he also can't just undress him because he might then do other harm, such as making him catch a cold. He was in effect – stuck.
"I know Levi, I'm scared too," Mac offers softly, his fingers brushing away tear after tear as Levi's body continues to writhe and tremble. "We just need to wait for Stella, she's on her way and then we'll be going home soon. Okay?"
Levi looks up at Mac with a teary narrowed gaze but his lips continue to offer tormented cries, his face going redder by the minute. He tries to hum Levi a tune that he has played a few times on his guitar and for a few brief, blissful seconds it works. Until the second man looks back in the window and Levi starts up once again. Mac shoots an angry glance outside and his startled captor actually pulls back, muttering to himself about Mac's stubbornness; heading for the front of the car to light up a cigarette.
Mac looks back at Levi and offers a warm smile, trying to tell him a story to get him to calm down but cursing the fact that he was unable to hold the baby boy in his dire time of need; when he needed comfort the most, Mac was unable to offer it.
"Hurry Stella," Mac whispers as he wonders where the first man had gotten to.
"Look you don't seem to understand," one of the ground air traffic controllers tries to explain. "There is a computer glitch and all outgoing flights are grounded and all incoming are temporarily being rerouted."
"We fly private."
"You leave this hangar in anything that is a fixed wing aircraft and F-14's will have orders to shoot you down," the man warns firmly. "We don't know the cause and as of right now are taking it as a terror threat. Just be patient, you'll be free to leave as soon as we are given the go-ahead."
"Grzywny." [Fine.] He mutters as he walks away, giving the air traffic controller the finger.
"Asshole," air traffic guy offers in return. "Guess you'll be leaving last," he states in sarcasm as he turns and heads back to his ground control tower.
Mac watches the second man return and then start to confer with the first man for a few minutes. He watches them exchange heated and angry sentences and figures that neither of them are very pleased with the untimely delay. He can only hope that his team had something to do with it and knows that if Adam gets into trouble, he'll rally Sinclair into going to bat for the young man; a young child's life was at stake.
Both of them finally return to the car and get in; this time both of them in the front seat.
"If we are going anywhere he needs to be in his car seat," Mac mentions in haste.
"We don't go far," the first one turns around and aims his gun at Mac. "We have to wait. You keep him quiet until then."
"He's scared and I can't hold him," Mac complains as he tries to hold onto Levi's struggling frame as they near a darkened corner of the large airplane hangar.
"I don't care," the man growls as he turns around, figuring Mac was no threat because he had to watch the baby. For a split second Mac considers placing Levi on the seat beside him and trying to take out at least the driver. But with his hands firmly bound in front, and them with guns, and Levi a moving target, he can do little more than wait patiently for the car to at least stop.
It finally does and Mac watches as the two men get out and open both back doors at once, the driver grabbing at Mac while the other man firmly yanks Levi from his grasp.
"Give him…back!" Mac growls as he struggles to break free. However, the driver merely pulls on his jacket and succeeds in pulling Mac from the backseat onto the ground, depositing Mac onto the hard surface on his knees and bound wrists. He then grabs the back of Mac's coat and hauls him upright, dragging him over to a small alcove.
Mac continues to watch the first man, Levi still roughly in his grasp and merely curses when he watches him nearly fling the now screaming baby onto his shoulder. Mac is shoved into a nearby chair, the gun retrained in his face; but his eyes on the first man. Then much to his horror he watches as the evil captor roughly deposits Levi's flailing body onto the top of a crate and then pulls out a small needle with milky liquid inside it.
"What the hell?" Mac asks in shock. Putting aside his own welfare, Mac brings his bound wrists up toward the gun, pushing it aside and dropping his shoulder, sending the driver to the ground on his side. He then races for the first man who is now trying to reclaim his gun.
Mac's body slams into the man about to stick Levi with the hypodermic needle, taking them both to the floor in a jumble of arms and legs. Mac's bound wrists furl into tight balls and slam into the man's jaw, snapping his head back; Mac then hits him again, all the while, Levi's body starts to roll dangerously close toward the edge.
The second man recovers and rushes toward his fallen comrade, grabbing the tail end of Mac's coat and yanking it backward, forcing Mac to stumble back to his knees and then his side, all three of them now breathing hard.
"Levi!" Mac shouts in horror just as he looks up to see Levi's small writhing frame perched preciously on the edge.
"Idioty! Będa też chłopcu!" [Idiot get the boy!] The second man, the one in charge, demands of the hapless driver.
The driver catches Levi just in time; gathering him into his clutches before he was able to fall to the ground and really hurt himself.
"And you!" The man wrestling with Mac shouts in anger as he pushes himself upright and glares down at Mac. "I need you only to keep an eye on the boy. Then you die. Give him the drugs."
"NO!" Mac shouts as he tries to get back up, refusing to give up or in, his mind racing with panicked thoughts that even a mild sedative would harm the child in his restless state. But for the next few seconds, time slows right down for Mac as he held as a captive spectator to a terrible act of child endangerment.
The driver places Levi's helpless little frame, now wracked with sweat and overheating; back onto the top of the crate and takes the drug filled needle from the man now covering Mac with a loaded and ready to fire the gun. The sounds of Levi's cries seem to intensify as the needle nears his pink skin and then contact is finally made.
"Oh god…no…" Mac hears his own words heavy in his throat. His own heart starts to race at a dangerous level as he watches as the small amount of the liquid sedative is pumped into Levi's veins, rendering the baby quiet in a matter of sixty seconds.
"Damn it!" Mac curses once more as time finally catches up; Levi's arms fall to his side and the needle is merely tossed aside. Levi's thrashing all but stops and all he's left to offer them are muted whispers.
"What the hell did you give him?" Mac shouts only to receive a harsh backhand to the right cheek. But Mac's head simply snaps back in defiance, his eyes narrowed in hatred at the men before him. "WHAT!" He yells once more.
"He will not die. Only keeps him quiet."
"Damn bastards!" Mac curses once more. Come on Stella, where are you, his mind laments. "What the hell did you give him?" Mac demands once more.
"A sedative. Now SHUT UP!" The second man, the one who had been guarding Mac shouts impatiently.
"A sedative. He's eight months old!" Mac snaps angrily, too wound up to care about their actions to stop him.
Mac leans back on his chair, the noises outside still telling them that it was chaos to do anything but just sit where they are and wait. But he wouldn't have to wait for very long.
"Psiakrew! NIENAWIDZĘ tego oczekiwania. Jak długo nie uczynił nie mówią przed będziemy mogli latać? Nie chcę by dać innym chłopca igłą." [Damn it! I hate this waiting. How long did they say before we could fly? I don't want to give the boy another needle.]
"Człowiek nie wiedziała. -Powiedział wtedy dalszy powiedz nam podczas będziemy mogli pływać. NIENAWIDZĘ oczekiwania zbyt. Co robimy z nim?" [The man didn't know. He said thye'd tell us when we could fly. I hate waiting too. What do we do with him?]
"Wziąć go do tyłu i go zabili. Ale czy to spokojnie." [Take him to the back and kill him. But do it quietly.]
When he was growing up his father would tell him about Polish solider chanting 'zabili' or kill and Mac knows that his time is running short. He watches the driver, the first man, start to attach a silencer to the weapon he was holding and wastes no time in pushing himself from his chair and darting for the nearest bulkhead container.
"Get him!" The second man shouts as he goes for the conscious but unmoving child. Mac looks back at Levi's limp frame and turns back. But his nurturing instincts prove costly as he quickly tackled.
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"Hurry Don!" Stella states impatiently as his unmarked cruiser nears the turnoff to the airport.
"We'll make it Stella, both he and Levi are going to be just fine," Flack tries to assure her.
"Can you look me square on and tell me that?" Stella counters.
"No, because I'm driving."
"Smart ass," Stella mutters under her breath, drawing a small smirk from Flack as they press onward toward the airplane hangar. They were coming in with sirens on silent so as not to alert the men in the hangar and possibly turn one dangerous situation into an even bigger one.
Hold on Mac, we are almost there.
"Think Levi will be okay?" Flack asks in concern.
"Well the father wants him alive right? I'm more worried about Mac. Just step on it Don."
"Yes ma'am."
They read the edge of the airplane hangar and get out; both of them picking up angry yells and shouts coming from inside. However, the shouts were from two foreign men; no baby to be heard.
"I'll get Mac."
"I'll get Levi," Stella nods as they rush for the entrance. Detective John Sullivan and a few other uniformed NYPD officers coming up behind them. By now Adam had restored the airports computer system and Stella had already called Sinclair on the ride over and told him what Adam did and why he did it and that they were on their way to rescue both Mac and Levi Garrett.
'Just call me when both Mac and the baby are safe. I'll deal with the airport authority,' Sinclair told her firmly.
Flack see's Mac fighting with the two men and races for them with Sully in tow while Stella orders the officers with her to fan out and find the quiet baby.
"Why is he not crying?" Stella asks herself in a panic. "Levi! Oh god why is he not crying? Levi!" She calls out loudly, hoping and praying that the sound of her voice will force the child to acknowledge it with a sound. She is rewarded with silence from Levi but angry grunting and cursing from the others in the room.
Mac hears the familiar voices of Don and Stella heading toward him but knows he cannot give up. His body absorbs a few more blows before he is dragged away, an arm around his neck from the ensuing charge of the good guys. The second man breaks away and charges for the car, Stella in pursuit.
"Stop or I'll shoot!" Stella warns as she fires off a warning shot just as the man's hand touches the driver's side door. The man turns to fire at her but her gun along with that of another uniformed officer aim and fire, taking him down for the count; for good. He was dead.
She turns to see where Mac is, her heart about to give way that Levi was still missing and Mac wasn't safe yet.
"Hold it right there!" Flack growls as he raises his gun to fire at the man holding his friend hostage.
But the man doesn't cooperate, merely continues to drag Mac's struggling frame toward the entrance to the airplane hangar.
"Nowhere to go pal," Sully's angry voice adds from the left flank. "Now he said to drop it."
"Iść do piekła!" [Go to hell!] The man hurls forth an ethnic curse. But at the same time, Mac feels the man's grasp on him shift, enabling him to finally get a small foothold, bring his heal down hard on the man's foot and then try to pull himself free. It was just enough for an officer to take a shot.
"You first!" Sully states just as he and Flack both fire. Sully's shot lands in the man's forehead while Flack had to settle for the leg, Mac's body had been shielding the rest.
"What did he say?"
"Go to hell."
"You speak Polish?" Flack asks in shock.
"You don't?" Sully counters wryly as Stella rushes up to Mac.
"Don help cut him loose," she lightly begs as her hands gently place themselves on either side of his face and turn it to her; her eyes fighting back tears. "I'm glad you're safe. But I can't find Levi and I can't hear him."
"Check the office...they gave him a sedative," Mac pants as Flack pulls some cutters to cut Mac loose.
Stella races for the office, slams the door open and then stifles a horrified gasp as she spies Levi's unmoving frame on the floor, a blanket on top of him.
"Levi! Oh god no! MAC!"
A/N: Think I'd kill a baby? Hmm how well do you know me? Lol well the Polish hitmen are dead, think Dominik is still coming? How do you think Mira's father is going to react? Are they all out of danger just yet? And what happens to little Levi? More to come so stay tuned and thanks again!