Disclaimer: I own nothing and no-one from CSI:NY, I'm just borrowing them for a while. No infringement intended. Any new characters - well they're mine.
A/N: Well thanks as ever for the alerts, pms and of course the reviews – the last chapter clearly had an effect! I have to mention ipohgirl for making sure this chapter was actually posted today! And RB10 – you're a great encouragement, so thank you to you both! You both know the problems this chapter caused me. Enjoy!
Game Play
Just had been ordered, the police vehicles turned off the sirens and lights as they came into the vicinity of the Boat Basin. The tension was tangible even over the radios that Mac had requested be kept as quiet as possible just in case Kinnon was listening in to the their frequency. Adam was working on putting them on a secure one.
The silence between the team was bordering on eerie, each member of the team lost in their own thoughts. Were they about to catch a serial rapist and murderer? What if they were at the wrong place? What if they were too late? What about Flack if they were? Each person was lost in his or her own thoughts and anxieties and trying to concentrate on the job at hand when Ellie's quiet voice suddenly came back over the radio.
"Don, I don't know if you can hear me. But I want to tell you that I know you're looking for me and that this isn't your fault. I knew what the consequences could be when I went in to this. I know you'll blame yourself – that's who you are, but please know that there's no blame from me. So please try to understand what I'm going to do. You know I can't do this again Don, I can't let him break me like he did before. It wouldn't be fair to me – or you. I know what I'm about to do seems so selfish and maybe it is, but it's the only way I can see out of it and I've found the strength to do it. I know people say it's the coward's way out and maybe they're right, but I can't go through that again, I just can't. Tell my family that I love them and that I'm so sorry."
She was interrupted by a knock on the door and they heard her gasp.
"I love you Don," she whispered.
Don looked at the radio not really allowing himself to understand what she was saying. She couldn't mean…no she couldn't.
"We'll get to her first," said Mac quietly as he pulled the SUV to a halt, his concern over Don heightening even more as he studied the man's pained face. Don simply nodded and they all exited the vehicle.
"Adam?" asked Mac into his voice piece.
"All secure," came the reply.
Addressing everyone, Mac continued. "You all heard Ellie. We have to do this and do it fast. She said she could hear what we believe is the generator powering the boat, so go to the boats first that have lights and other obvious signs of power consumption. Look for shuttered windows, locked up doors – things you know wouldn't be normal in places where people were living. And do not underestimate Kinnon. We don't have much time so let's get moving."
With that everyone dispersed to start their search.
Mac and Don ran quickly and quietly along the marina, ignoring the boats with late summer parties on board and focusing on the ones that were quieter and slightly apart, when the radio crackled with Sheldon's voice.
"Mac, we found the motorcycle parked under the trees at the far end on your side of the marina. Two sets of footprints in the dirt here, one definitely smaller than the other."
Mac and Don ran back towards the spot that Hawkes was talking about as Mac called for Danny and Stella to join them. This had to be it. This end of the marina was much quieter. Instinctively, they all became silent, moving in well rehearsed formation and communicating with hand signals as they split once again in to two teams and checked out the boats, the only sounds being soft footfalls and the lapping of water. Although the moorings weren't all taken, Mac's heart dropped as he saw how many boats there were with power – he knew they were running out of time.
Adam's urgent voice suddenly blurted into his ear, breaking into his thought process.
"Mac, the Blue Turtle," he exclaimed.
"What?" the older man snapped.
"The boat is called the Blue Turtle. I got to thinking and thought I'd check houseboat leases. Only a few days ago one was taken in the name of Ken Wood – the photographer Kinnon pretended to be – and it's called the Blue Turtle."
Without saying anything the detectives ran along the moorings looking at every boat name.
NYNYNYNY
Even though she knew it was coming Ellie startled at the knock on door. This was it. She picked up the vase of flowers and tipping them out, went into the bathroom. Kinnon's voice came through the door.
"Time to come out and finish our evening Ellie."
"I'll be right there. Just going to the freshen up."
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly to collect herself before looking at the reflection in the mirror. She suddenly heard her own words go through her head. 'The coward's way out'. Is that what this had come to? After all that she had achieved, was she a coward? What was it Don had said to her? Don't let him keep making you a victim. Ellie looked at herself again, hardly recognising the face in front of her. What she saw shocked her. Her eyes were red rimmed and puffy, she looked pale and it was clear she'd lost weight. She looked like a victim. Victim. Anger welled up inside her as she recalled Don's words and surveyed the woman in front of her. It was like this wasn't her at all. Was all that she'd worked for really for nothing? Was this really part of a self fulfilling prophecy, once a victim always a victim?
NO! Something snapped in her head bringing with it clarity. She wouldn't do that. She wouldn't let herself down like that, wouldn't let Don down. If she was going to go down, she would do it fighting and take Kinnon with her if she could. She had survived his first attack and she would do it again. What the hell had she been thinking? Don needed to know at the very least that she had fought with everything she had –it's what he would want and it was the only way she had of letting him know she was prepared to fight for herself and for them.
Kinnon's knock came back on the door, even more urgent. The anger that she had felt had brewed and was now replaced with something she didn't recognise. It was cold, hard, determined, decisive. Ellie took the vase and smashed it into the mirror as hard as she could. Immediately she heard Kinnon pushing the door of the bedroom open, forcing his way inside. The stool behind the door had slowed him down but not by much. She spotted a large shard of glass on the floor between the tiny bathroom and the bed but there was no time to grab it as Kinnon burst through the door. Moving quickly forward so that she was obscuring most of the mess on the floor, she stopped just in front of him.
"What do you think you're doing Ellie?" he asked, his voice laced with quiet menace. He sounded perfectly calm, almost amused as he watched her, glass all over the floor. "There's no way to escape from here little Ellie. Tonight we finish what we started all those months ago."
As Kinnon started towards her Ellie closed her eyes briefly and centred her breathing and felt only hate for this man. No fear, no apprehension, just hate – or was it survivor's instinct? It didn't matter.
As Kinnon tipped her chin up she met his gaze square on. She saw a flicker of something cross his face as she did so. Surprise? Disappointment? She couldn't tell, she didn't care. It was as he leant in to kiss her that she struck. Using the heel of her hand she brought it up as hard as she could into his jaw. It wouldn't do much as he was such a big man, but it would buy her some time. As he stumbled back in surprise she followed up by kicking his kneecap and body barging him to take advantage of his lack of balance. As she heard him fall to the floor she was already making for the door just behind him. As she grabbed at the door knob she felt a large hand around her ankle pulling her backwards but he'd underestimated the power in her legs and Ellie kicked out with everything she had. Kinnon momentarily let go but now his body was blocking the doorway. He got to his feet quickly and shoved her hard back onto the bed.
"So my little Ellie wants to play rough does she?" he spat at her. "Fine by me."
He stalked towards her undoing his fly as he did. Ellie scrambled back up the bed reaching down the side of it, desperately trying to find what she was searching for. Before she knew it Kinnon was on top of her. It was now or never. Bringing her right hand up with as much force as she could muster Ellie swung the large shard of glass deep into Kinnon's side. His scream of pain almost deafened her and as he instinctively hunched to his side. Seizing the moment she took the opportunity to roll out from under him. Kicking her legs violently once again to get them from under him Ellie managed to finally roll onto the floor. Ignoring the pain from the shards of glass cutting into her she got to her feet and tried to run for the door but Kinnon had gotten himself up as well. His face was white with pain and anger and he lunged at her, backhanding her hard across the face and sending her crashing through the doorway and onto the tile on the bathroom floor, her head grazing the sink on her fall.
As he did so he turned to hear his name being screamed and guns being pointed at him. In the confusion he hadn't heard the main doors being kicked in, but there was no confusion now as he looked into the pair of hard, cold, steel blue eyes that were looking at him over the barrel of a gun. It was like those eyes were willing for him to make a move, the owner breathing heavily but steadily, his facial muscles twitching as though he was wrestling to decide whether to pull the trigger or not.
After what seemed like an age but was only a few seconds, a quiet mewling sound broke the tension. Kinnon turned towards the sound and the blue eyes snapped over in the same direction to take in the situation.
"Mac, Stella, in here and get the medics. Where's Hawkes?" called Don before looking now straight into Kinnon's face. "Move and I will shoot you, you sick son of a bitch."
As soon as he got the 'go' from Mac behind him, Don pushed Kinnon out of the way and went to Ellie. She was lying in a foetal position, barely conscious and bleeding from her head. Don leaned over and stroked her face gently.
"Ellie, it's okay baby, it's me. It's over okay. You did it Ellie, you got him."
Ellie opened her eyes slightly only for them to roll back up into her head.
"Ellie!" yelled Don. "Where are the medics?"
He pulled his girl into his arms and it was then that he saw it. A large piece of mirrored glass sticking out of her side, blood oozing from the wound.
"Don, don't touch it!" barked Mac. "You pull it out and she'll bleed out in front of us. The glass is stemming the flow."
The bathroom was too small to treat Ellie properly so Mac and Don carefully moved her out into the bedroom just in time for the arrival of the Hawkes and the ambulance crew.
NYNYNYNY
Danny burst through the hospital doors and sped along the corridor in search of his friend. He hadn't heard from Don sine he'd seen him jump into the ambulance with Ellie at least a couple of hours previously.
As he rounded the corner, he saw him, hunched over, head in hands, elbows resting on his knees and the sense of déjà vu hit Danny right to his stomach. Gingerly he approached, hands thrust in his pockets, hoping Don would sense his presence so he wouldn't have to say anything. Sure enough Don's head came up, blue eyes bright from the tears.
"She's going to be fine."
