CHAPTER 21
A Parents Worst Fear

Patrol already bored the heck out of Ben, needless to say. The last four hours had dragged, and his game had already died. When he'd imagined Steve's job, he'd expected lots of car chases and explosions. Apparently, since Danny had said those happened often, he had caught him on a very slow day. Leaning against the door of the car, and "staying in the car" as Steve had instructed, Ben was close to just ignoring the rules, and getting out. They were parked by the beach, of all things, and here he was, stuck in the car.

Taking a deep breath, and reaching forward, he opened the door, calmly, and climbed out. Steve would never know, he told himself, he'd be back before he even noticed. He stepped onto the sand, slipping off his sandals, and letting the sand go between his toes. Of course, Ben couldn't have known that while looking for his brother, Steve and Danny had run into yet another criminal. Of course, Ben knew that his brother's case wasn't the only case that Steve had taken, he understood they had three going at once.

"Hey kid." Ben jumped slightly as he turned around to see a man by Steve's car "This yours?" He asked, Ben only nodded his head slowly "Mighty fine piece of machinery." He added.

Ben took note of the man's appearance, he was tall, and strongly built. A mainlander, that much was obvious, older, but a friendly face. All the same Ben felt a hint of hesitation around the man. "Yeah, it's my Dad's, well his and his partners." The man looked rather impressed by that, looking the Comaro over, inching towards Ben a bit "I don't think he likes people touching the car, dude." He added.

"I didn't know old McGarret had a son." The man noted, Ben immediately inched back a bit "He's a little young to have Fathered you, isn't he?" He asked.

Ben immediately pulled on his sandals, and stared at the man slightly. "Who's McGarrett, man? I think you've got that car confused." Ben lied, he was rather good at it, as he'd lied before "In fact, there's my Dad right now." Ben pointed towards a small family down the beach "I should-" Ben began.

"Ben!" He heard Steve shout.

Ben felt the arm wrap around his neck and yank him back violently before he'd known what happened. The steel against his temple could only belong to one thing, a gun, his eyes turned to see the man from before holding him tightly to his body. Steve and Danny, who had been coming up from the beach immediately froze in their tracks, Steve's gun held steadily, but now, slightly shakily. "You shoot me, Steve, and I shoot HIM." The man threatened, holding hand onto Ben's neck, and making it hard to breathe "Cute kid you have here. It'd be a shape to suffocate or shoot him." He noted.

"Thomas." Steve said calmly "Let him go, he isn't involved in any way." He began.

"Shouldn't have brought him on patrol then, huh?" Thomas, the perp that had hold of Ben mocked "Even if he had stayed in the car, you think that was going to stop me from noticing him." Ben began a small struggle, but Thomas's grip was much stronger "Don't even you little shit." He noted, he looked at Steve "Why don't you just toss me the keys?" He asked with a smirk.

"Let him go first." Steve barked.

"Throw me the FUCKING keys." Thomas barked.

Ben could feel his hear beating a million miles per hour, he knew this would happen someday. But not this soon, he didn't think that Steve's status would land him in trouble so soon. Steve wasn't faring much better, watching the man holding so violently onto Ben, and seeing how Ben was struggling to breathe scared him. He didn't want to see his kid get hurt, not by a low life looking to make his escape. Closing his eyes, he slowly brought the keys out from his pocket, and tossed them at Thomas's feet.

Thomas shoved Ben against the car, but kept his gun trained on him. Ben was choking his body trembling in pain, as Thomas crouched down and grabbed the keys. The man took firm hold of Ben's neck, and held him close to him. "I wonder how much you love your boy, Steven." Steve's eyes were full of rage, compared to the giddy look in Thomas's "How much you'd pay to get him back." He added flatly.

Immediately, Steve moved to fire his gun, but found Thomas had shoved Ben in front of him. Cursing under his breath, he realized that if he even fired just an inch off, he could shoot Ben. "D-Dad." Ben felt tears flow down his cheeks, realizing Steve wouldn't fire if he was held hostage "Let me go!" He shrieked, beginning to fight.

"Thomas, don't be stupid here." Steve immediately tried to reason with him "He's-"

"Mine, now." Thomas finished with a sneer, opening the door and shoving Ben in as he climbed in.

Ben immediately went for the door handle, but found that Thomas had locked the door. He watched as, with the gun hand, Thomas waved out the window. Before he knew it, he was pulling out of the space and driving off, with Ben as a hostage. The thirteen year old felt his muscles tightening, watching as Thomas reached into his back pocket, pulling out a roll of duct tape, and some rope. "Alright, now, you see this?" He held up the duct tape, Ben nodded "Put that on your mouth for me." He stated, putting the gun against Ben's temple again.

Ben was careful in unrolling the tape, slowly, placing a piece against his lips as he was told. Thomas waited until they were on a street and stopped at a stop light when he carefully put another layer of the tape onto his mouth. Next, he took the rope an carefully bound his wrists together before buckling him in. Ben nearly crapped his pants, fear filling every inch of his body. "You're a good listener, kid." Thomas told him "Just keep being that way, and I won't have to kill you." He noted.

Ben slowly played with the rope, but found that Thomas was very smart. Carefully, he wrapped a thick three layers of tape over the ropes, keeping it stuck to his wrists. After he'd been situated, he found that the light had turned green, and Thomas continued on. "Now, how much do you think your Daddy will pay me to give you back to him?" Thomas asked, his head tilted a bit "Fifteen hundred? I know he's got a nice big house, he must be loaded." He stated flatly.

Slowly working to use an elbow to unlock the seatbelt, he barely succeeded. Ben quickly proceeded to kick for his attacker's head, violently and swiftly. His ankle never made it to the head, quickly gripped. "Oh that's cute, you think you can fight me." Thomas grinned "Well we can't have that." He noted.

Ben found himself shoved into the backseat like he was a ragdoll. Whoever Thomas was, he was strong, and he was going to see to it that Steve paid him to get Ben back. Stopping the car for a moment, Thomas turned around. "Now, so you won't give me any MORE trouble." He stated, leaning forward and carefully pinching Ben's nose "Time to sleep, kid." He noted.

Slowly Ben's world became dizzy, his airway blocked, his eyes growing heavy. It wasn't long before the fingers left his nose, but it wasn't long before the world became dark either.

...

When Ben woke up, he'd almost thought he was home. The tape and rope was all gone, and he was laying on something soft, his body shifted slightly, and he sat up. The room was definitely too dark to be his bedroom. Not to mention he wasn't on a soft bed, he noticed the couch quietly, shooting up from the spot, he quickly noticed that he was in a living room. Ben rubbed the back of his head, confusion settling in, fear settling in. "Dad?" He choked, hoping he'd fallen asleep during watching television and it had all bene a dream "Dad...?" He called a little louder.

"Good, you're awake." Ben felt the chill go up his spine as he saw Thomas enter the room "Thought I'd let you sleep before, I move you, the gracious host that I am." He stated with a grin, playing with what looked like handcuffs "Come on, kid, do what I want, and I promise not to hurt you." He noted.

Ben hesitated quietly but walked forward, the man was careful in putting the handcuffs around his wrists. He left after that, but came back with what looked like a long leg shackle, which he set tightly around his right leg. "You've done this before, haven't you?" Ben trembled quietly as Thomas stared up at him, grinning "This stuff isn't exactly something you get at home depot." He added.

"Congratulations, you're a smart kid." Thomas chuckled slightly "Yeah, I've kidnapped kids before. But I really kidnap anyone who has someone in their life that would pay top dollar to see them alive." He gripped his chin a bit, clenching Ben's mouth closed "Now, stop talking. I don't care to hear what you have to say." He then added "If I leave you in the kitchen, will you try and run?" Ben hesitated "Answer honestly." He slowly nodded "Well then I know where you're going." He noted.

Thomas dragged Ben by the neck down a long hallway. Stopping in front of a door, and opening it, he entered the room. It was a large bedroom, making his way to the corner of the room, he quickly found a cot, blanket, and pillow waiting for him, on the side of the wall, he found a circular hook. He attached the shackle to the hook and shoved Ben right onto the cot. "Don't be so fidgety, I'm not a pedophile. But if you think you're gonna run? You're not leaving my sight at night." Thomas smirked, Ben tugged at the shackle slowly "You can try, but you won't succeed." He added.

"Please, just let me go." Ben whispered.

"I will, so long as Daddy pays up." Thomas noted, checking the shackle and handcuffs slightly "Until then, I'll give you three meals a day. You get ten minutes to use the bathroom, once a day. So think about it when you ask." He noted, then added "You do what I say, and I'll take the leg shackle and handcuffs off, and you can go freely in the house. Don't. And you spend however long it takes to ransom you in this corner." He added "Being fed soup from a spoon by me because I'm not sure I can trust you without the cuffs." He added.

"Please..." Ben whispered.

Thomas ignored him this time, he stalked for the door, and turned his head. "I suggest you sleep, BEN." Ben cringed slightly at the way he said his name "Because after the way you've fought me, you aren't getting dinner." He added.

Ben watched Thomas leave, the door slammed and locked. Ben trembled slowly, tears in his eyes. He knew his phone was gone, Thomas would have checked first for that. But it was still worth a shot. Reaching down for his pocket, he searched quietly, finding nothing. Slowly, laying on the cot, he let his body tremble quietly in fear.

He could only pray to God that Steve would find him, because heaven only knew what this man had planned for him.

...

A/N: I felt like before Ted's whole thing came into play, I should cover this. I figure that at some point, a perp other than Ted would kidnap Ben to get to Steve. So, I hope you guys like this little turn of events that I gave you. :)