Disclaimer: I do not own them, just borrowing them or previous events for a while to have some fun. Also any characters from another show that you recognise belong to CBS.

Hi all, here is the next chapter, slightly quicker than recent updates so ... enjoy (probably the wrong word, but I've used it anyway).

My usual huge thanks to Lily Moonlight for the beta and additional discussion forming the next chapter. Thanks for the last reviews I will reply properly later.

Chapter 37 - The Upper Hand

Stella was starting to be more aware of her surroundings, not that it helped the thumping in her head, but at least she was able to discern enough to realise that her hands were tied behind her, and she had a blindfold and gag around her eyes and mouth. This prompted her to focus more with the senses she did have available to her. Initially channelling everything to her ears, she heard the drone of an engine soon after the smell of someone's cologne and the mustiness of the van mixed in her nose, almost making her want to sneeze. A conversation was going on between two people somewhere forward of her position. It didn't sound particularly friendly, nor could she understand what they were saying, although she identified the language as Russian. Turning her attention inward she found herself lying on her side and took a moment to piece together what had happened; her head had been pounding from the beat of the music and she had escaped to the bathroom to take a break, hoping that Karla would follow so they could compare notes. She hadn't even made it to the door before she had been grabbed and pulled into a dark storeroom by someone she figured was at least a head taller than her. The surprise move had caught her off guard and before she could recover they had already wafted something under her nose and she was losing her senses.

She wasn't sure she had actually passed out, but it had been enough to make her more compliant to their wishes, and it now angered her that they had got to her so easily. A lurch in the vehicle as it braked hard and turned a corner also alerted her to another person nearby and judging by the way they rolled into her and moaned they must be similarly tied. Her first thought was that it was Karla, but the perfume now irritating her nose from the close proximity wasn't the same as she had been wearing. It took her a moment or two more to surmise that it was possibly Emily. After all if they had got her, Emily and Lindsay would likely be on their list as well as Karla. Lindsay she felt certain she would have identified immediately and besides she had been with Danny the last she saw of them, so that left the brunette FBI agent.

Piecing together where she was and who with helped ease Stella's head a little and her attention turned to her bonds, but struggling to free her hands she found that they had been tied too well, so she resorted to rubbing her head against the floor trying to remove the blindfold. With this she was a little more successful, freeing one eye allowing her to look around the darkened area of what she found to be a transit van and discover that it was indeed Emily who had also been taken.

Emily groaned again as she now regained her senses and repeated for herself Stella's earlier attempts at freeing herself. The blindfold seemed to fall from her eyes easier and she looked around, her eyes eventually landing on Stella and they nodded at each other by way of checking the other was alright, then both turned their attention to the driver and the passenger.

Shuffling together they lay back to back and after a few minutes were able to undo each other's hands allowing them to quickly remove the remnants of the blindfolds and gags. They had achieved it without attracting the attention of the two kidnappers sitting in the front of the van who were still holding a heated debate and not exactly being quiet about it.

Emily sat up and snatched one of the coils of rope nodding to Stella to do the same and in the dim light afforded by the passing street lights she gestured to her neck and pointing at the two bodyguards in the front of the vehicle, indicating her plan.

Stella nodded eagerly, anxious to stop their unwanted travel and try to return to the club to help their colleagues.

…..

Flack climbed the stairs slowly, his ears pricked for the slightest sound. His hands gripped his gun tightly trying to keep it steady, ready to shoot anyone who posed a threat crossing his path. Of course he also needed to be ready for the other scenario where he met Karla or another law enforcement agent. The air around him seemed oppressive and he could almost feel the tension from those following close on his heels. Immediately behind him was an ESU officer with a battering ram, Mac and Hotch were right behind him with Danny and Lindsay following to mop up anyone who suddenly appeared.

Reaching the top of the stairs he heard yelling in Russian coming from somewhere to his left and he signalled to the others, even though he was sure they could hear it too. Peeking out into the hallway he quickly assessed that there was one guard at a sealed door at the end and that the stairs were somewhere in the middle of the floor, meaning they had 2 directions to go. His gut told him that the door to his left with the guard was not opening easily and therefore it would likely take more than the ESU officer with a ram to get through it. Indicating that the ESU officer should break right while he went left had Mac turning to Danny and Lindsay to signal that they should follow the man with the battering ram while he and Hotch would go with Flack.

With everyone nodding their assent to the division of labour they prepared once again to move forward. Flack having lowered his weapon slightly, lifted it up and gripped it tightly as he stepped out into the hallway facing the guard, who was busy hammering on what he assumed was a locked door further down. He could practically feel Hotch breathe as the FBI agent followed closely behind.

It was only after they had taken several steps that the guard looked up at them as they advanced and spat something in Russian at them.

"NYPD, put down your weapon and hands in the air!" Flack ordered.

…..

Karla landed heavily on the rug in front of the desk, immediately aware of her vulnerable position as the muscle contraction subsided. Fortunately she hadn't taken the full blast from the taser Victor had used to subdue her, thanks to a special lining to the dress which helped absorb the shock. It allowed her a slightly faster recovery time than he would expect.

Thinking he had the upper hand he leered at her as he pulled a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and advanced on her; however, as he bent to flip her over and secure her she was able to kick out at him and although still somewhat weak she was able to catch his side which she had wounded earlier and the heel of her shoe caused another spurt of blood to erupt, partially covering her dress and spreading more across his shirt and the floor. Dropping the cuffs which skittered across the floor and under the desk he clutched his hand over his side as he waited for the pain to fade while issuing another series of Russian expletives, none of which she felt would be complimentary if she understood them. But her kick had been sufficient to slow him down and she was able to push herself to her knees, keeping an eye on him and preparing for his next move. The desk at her side allowed her a brief opportunity to reach underneath and grab the handcuffs.

He must have seen an opportunity because she suddenly felt herself flying backwards and pain radiating across her chest as he dropped onto her trying to pin her arms above her head and wrest the cuffs from her, but despite her lack of mobility she fought back hard. The stab wound in his side and her higher than average fighting skills meant he was exerting himself, his breathing heavy as he pushed down on her arms and held her against the floor.

"Give up, Zaika, I don't want to damage that pretty face, but I will if I have to."

The menacing tone in his voice encouraged Karla to use every ounce of strength she could muster and she tugged her arm free from his harsh grip and feinted a slap to his face, but as he moved to stop her it gave her room once again to land a punch squarely against the bleeding wound on his side. The pain and eruption of blood was enough distraction to give her time to push him off her and encircle one of his arms with the cuff. Up to that point he had only used one hand, but his realisation that she was getting the better of him caused him to let go of his wound and bring his other hand into the fight by grabbing her wrist and trying to twist it up her back, unaware that the blood which coated his hand now provided lubrication for her to slip her arm free and get up, quickly anchoring the free end of the cuffs around the leg of the heavy table.

Stepping back she allowed herself a moment to take stock of the situation. The door to the secret passage was open. She hurried over to it and pushed it closed; satisfied that it was secure to anyone outside when she heard the lock click into place. In the room there was just her and Victor and he wasn't going to move far.

Approaching him she slightly curled her lips in a smile as he tugged his arm and fought to free himself. "Sorry Victor, I've got my own plans for us. When my friends get here the next time we meet will be with you in an NYPD interrogation room."

"Zaika, I swear, you will not get away with this," he threatened trying to reach for her ankle as she stood just out of his reach.

"No, this time it's you who is not getting away. I have 6 different jurisdictions already looking for you and I suspect that when they're done with you and word gets around there will be a lot more who want their pound of flesh."

Noting that the wound on his side had slowed to more of an ooze she was satisfied that he didn't need urgent treatment and the gash was largely superficial, but it was causing him enough pain and blood loss to have given her the edge she had needed. Circling the desk she began opening drawers and inspecting the contents. Removing another set of cuffs she returned to Victor who had gone quiet, seeing that he had sat himself up and was trying to unlock the cuffs with a paperclip. She snatched it away and tossed it across the room, catching him by surprise. So much so that she had the cuff wrapped around his other wrist, behind him and to his already secured arm before he could react.

"There, that should help keep you restrained until you're taken away. Oh, and by the way, by the powers invested in me by the state and city of New York and on Federal authority I hereby arrest you on 3 charges of kidnapping, one of attempted kidnapping and at least three counts of sex trafficking. That's just for starters of course." Before he could utter anything she proceeded to Mirandize him to ensure he couldn't wiggle out of it on a technicality later.

"You think your puny laws can convict me?" he scoffed, fidgeting as he tried to escape his bonds. "You're foolish, Zaika, no American laws can stop me, I'll get a lawyer and they'll have me out of the jail so fast, especially when I tell them that you didn't tell me my rights, after all it will be your word against mine. I may have done many things, but your courts will never hear of them."

"That's where you're wrong," she held up the object in her hand, allowing him to see that she had his phone which earlier had been lying on the desk. "Adam did you get all that?"

"Every word. Are you okay? Everyone's worried about you."

"I'm fine, where's my back up?"

She detected a slight hesitation before he answered, so she knew that he wasn't going to tell her everything that was happening and when he spoke she guessed that he was holding back information about Stella and Emily. "There's a team looking for you, do you know where they took you?"

"I'm in an upstairs office, left at the top of the stairs, then near the end of the hallway on the right. When I came in there was a guard on the door."

"Alright, they'll be with you soon, sit tight."

"I'm not going anywhere, but Adam I need you to do something for me, can you get some trusted unis or someone over to the hospital, they may go after Agent Jareau too."

"Right away," he confirmed.

"Adam, one more thing, are Lindsay and Danny okay?" she asked pointedly looking at Victor who was sitting still, but she could tell by a slight shake in his shoulders that he was still trying to work his cuffs off.

"They're fine, Lindsay kicked ass big time."

Karla smiled. "Never underestimate a country girl. Okay last request, about 20 minutes ago a vehicle left from one of the back entrances I want you to track anything that moved, they've got Stella and Emily and they're probably drugged, so when we find them we'll need EMS on standby."

"You know?" he answered sounding surprised.

"I'll explain it all later; you've got work to do. I'm going to leave the phone on speaker so you can record anything else my prisoner decides to say."

"Got it."

The line went silent as she thought she heard Adam tapping away on a computer keyboard. Throughout the conversation her eyes had never left Victor, apart from a slightly surprised expression that briefly crossed his face when he realised she had a witness to his last statement he had remained impassive, carefully controlling his features.

Unwilling to let him out of her sight grabbed the remote for his big screen TV that adorned the wall behind the desk and flipped it on, switching channels until she found the security feed and the camera watching the corridor outside. Victor couldn't see the image she was watching but she saw enough to know it was safe to open the door. As an extra precaution she picked up the taser that Victor had dropped earlier and checked the setting.

"Do you wish to tell me where you're sending Emily and Stella?" she asked, as she fingered the object in her hands.

"Don't know who you're talking about," he answered adamantly.

"Okay, we'll find them anyway with or without your help." She shrugged as she stepped towards him and knelt down. "With all the charges mounting up against you it doesn't matter if you help us or not, you're still never going to see the outside of a prison cell for the rest of your life."

"You going to use that thing on me? Try and torture the information out of me?" He nodded at the taser in her hand.

"You worried about that? Despite what I may want to do to you, I'm sworn to uphold the law and unless you give me reason to use it to protect myself, this will just end up in evidence along with the photos of where you used it on me."

"You think you have all the answers, Zaika? You know nothing," he spat.

"Enjoy thinking that." She looked over at the TV screen again. "You're soon no longer going to be my problem, although I will enjoy taking your statement later."

She stood up and stepped back away from him again, before turning and moving to the door, quickly pressing the code into the keypad. The red light switched to green and the locks had almost silently slid back, with a final glance at the screen she pulled the door open.

….

"NYPD, put down your weapon and hands in the air!" Flack ordered firmly.

"It's too late man, there's no one here," the guard answered rather jubilantly.

"If there's no one here then why are you still guarding the door?" Flack asked quickly.

"It's my job."

"Yeah? Well this is my job, get your hands up." He flicked his gun slightly as he spoke, but the guy still stood with his hands by his side.

"You got a warrant? I've done nothing wrong, you can't arrest me," the guy bluffed.

"Well I got news for you buddy, I can arrest you on suspicion of aiding a kidnapping and until we're satisfied either way your ass belongs to NYPD." Flack was anxious to get inside the room and this guy was starting to seriously piss him off.

A sliver of light appearing on the floor behind the guard drew his attention for a split second and he prepared for another member of the gang to appear.

Unfortunately the guard must have noticed something too and he looked around, then everything seemed to happen in a flash.

The guard turned reached out and grabbed a figure appearing in the doorway, pulling a weapon and aiming it at her head as he pulled her in front of him. The team watched helplessly as Karla appeared and became his hostage, but what they weren't prepared for was the almost immediate sound of a strangled squeal and a gunshot.

The bang echoed along the walls as a body fell to the floor.

…..

Emily took her time coiling the ends of the rope around her hands, giving Stella an uneasy smile in the passing streetlights as she noted the CSI was copying her. She was waiting for her chance to make a move. With what she had in mind they were risking a pretty big crash if the vehicle was moving too fast, they needed to pick the right moment and she hoped there would soon be a stop sign or something to slow them down.

While she waited, she tuned into the on-going argument between their two captors. They were disputing various facts about Victor and his plan in their native Russian tongue, unaware they had an audience and even less aware that she was following every word. They were so engrossed in their debate that neither had even glanced behind them to check on her and Stella.

The discussion suddenly grew more heated and she heard the driver curse about a problem up ahead. In preparation she slid closer to the driver, Stella mimicked her move and edged silently behind the passenger.

"Niet," the driver argued, followed by a string of expletives, he was clearly unhappy about what he was seeing.

The passenger offered some supposedly soothing words which only seemed to incense the driver further and suddenly the vehicle picked up speed.

The sound of a horn broke through the more localised sound of the engine and their captors' voices, a moment later a rumble beneath them told Emily that they were crossing some train tracks, the horn sounding again, this time more of a warning burst than she would expect. It was then clear to her the driver was racing the train across the tracks ahead of the train barrelling down upon them.

For a few seconds she held her breath and closed her eyes, the smoother road beneath them and the roar of the train racing behind them told them of their close call.

It was enough to risk the crash before the driver obliterated them in another foolish stunt. Turning to face the back of the driver's head she raised her hands, aware that Stella was already in place.

"Now," Emily whispered harshly dropping the rope around the driver's neck and pulling hard.

As she expected the driver let go of the wheel with one hand to attempt to relieve the pressure around his neck, but Emily pulled harder. Still slightly dazed from the drugs her strength would not hold out for long, so she had to make this quick and effective.

Leaning her weight backwards it allowed her a little extra force, causing her target to let go of the steering wheel completely in order to pry at the rope to stop himself from passing out. Emily was prepared though and with a final tug he slumped into a black hole, giving her a minute to check on Stella and look out the window.

Stella's prey was still conscious and between grappling with the rope was trying to reach his pistol which sat openly on the dashboard, but just out of reach. She trusted Stella to contain him and turned her attention to the road ahead.

With the driver's foot still hard on the gas they were barrelling along a relatively deserted road, veering from side to side as the wheel whipped round according to the bumps in the road. And then her stomach lurched as she saw the oncoming lights of an 18-wheeler.

OK, no resolution in this chapter, but I promise it's coming.

posted - 7 Feb 13