Just a little warning before you read this chapter, it is violent and quite graphic. But the next couple of chapters will make it worth all the pain :) x
"Put me down! Help, help," Kate screamed, but no-one could hear her. Nobody was coming to her rescue. Not in time anyway. She had to get away before she ended up with the same fate as Hawley. She was thrown to the ground, her head hitting a metal pipe as she fell; everything went black.
She had no idea how much time had passed when she came to. Her head was pounding and she could feel the dried blood on her face, irritating her skin. She tried to move but the plastic of the cable ties cut into her skin; they had been used to bind both her wrists and ankles. There was no way she was getting out of there. Not one that she could think of. She was sure Rick would have had some ridiculously genius idea as to how to get out of this situation. Rick... Oh God, Rick. Where is he? Kate's heart started to race. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't shout. She just needed to know he was ok. Footsteps, are those footsteps? She tried to judge the distance and the direction they were walking in, but she was too disorientated. It was dark, so relying on her sight was no longer an option. She just wished she could focus enough to make sense of what she was hearing; muffled voices, a buzzing sound, clinking of metal. None of those sounds were particularly heartening. She had a feeling this wasn't going to be a trip to Disney world. Keep calm. Deep breaths. If Rick were here, what would he say? she asked herself. He'd probably make some stupid joke to attempt to lighten the mood before our imminent death or worse. But she couldn't figure what he'd say about escaping, apart from that they should definitely do it. I wish I had his brain. Come on, think outside the box. It was no good, she knew there was some kind of torture coming and the fear clouded her brain; it made her foggy.
Footsteps. They were definitely coming towards her this time, getting louder as the assailant approached. She felt a large hand grab her wrists and she was dragged across the ground. Stones and glass shards grazed her skin as she was hauled across the room. She could see a light at the other side of the room, painfully bright after her stint in the darkness. She doubted, though, that this would be the metaphorical 'light at the end of the tunnel'. She had a feeling that this would be the total opposite, like the light from the fires of hell.
She closed her eyes, partly to shield them from the glaring light that burned her retinas, and partly to avoid looking at whatever implements they were planning to use on her. Maybe if she opened her eyes, there was a possibility she could find a way out. She braved the light and smothered the fear for a moment, for an attempt at freedom; it wasn't going to happen. There was no way out. The only entrance to the room was guarded by a tall, burly man. She wasn't going to be able to get past him, especially not in her state. She tried to fight against her restraints, the plastic cutting further into her wrists, drawing blood. Fuck, fuck, fuck! she screamed in her head. It was no use; the plastic wouldn't give, and short of cutting through her hands, she wasn't getting those cable ties off. Despite the logic, knowing she couldn't escape, she also wouldn't go down without a fight. She couldn't just give up. So she struggled, fighting back against the ties, against the men holding her down, against the impending horror that was about to occur. She felt a succession of punches to her gut in an attempt to stop her fighting, but it didn't work. She then felt a hand clamp down over her mouth and nose, and the tickle of fabric on her face. The last thing she noticed was the sweet smell of Chloroform?! And the world faded into blackness.
Whilst Kate was unconscious, the men bound her to a bed, with restraints on every moving part of her body. She was completely immobilised.
"Ah, finally, she's waking up," said one of the men, calling the other over.
"Wakey, wakey, sleepy head," said another. Kate opened her eyes and there was Maddox standing over her. Looking around, she noticed that none of these men were wearing masks. They didn't care if she saw their faces; that didn't bode well for her. "Ah, it's so nice to see you again, Kate. I just wish it was under better circumstances," he said, a sly smile sneaking onto his face.
"What the hell do you want? Where's Rick?"
"The documents of course. The documents our beloved "Mr. Smith" conveniently gave to someone before he passed away."
"Before you tortured and murdered him, you mean?"
"Pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to."
"So is that what you're going to do to me now? What you did to him."
"Not if you give up the information now. It will save us all a lot of time and energy… and pain on your part. I'll kill you quick. If you resist, however, it's going to get messy before it's over. I'll leave the choice up to you."
"What if I told you I don't have what you're looking for?"
"I'd say you're lying."
"Seriously, I don't have it."
Maddox slapped Kate across the face. "Where the fuck is it?"
"I don't have it! What have you done with Rick? Is he ok?"
"I guess you've chosen the hard way then."
He picked up a knife, teasingly running it over her skin. The knife was sharp, so with the slightest pressure, it dug in. Just scratches at first, but every so often he would push deeper and would draw blood. He ran it down her throat, holding it against her carotid artery. She knew that with the slightest movement, that knife would slice right through her like butter, and she would be dead. He carved patterns into her arms and she flinched with the pain, causing the knife the go deeper. She felt the blood trickle down her arm.
"No matter what you do to me, I can't tell you where it is, because I don't know."
"We'll see about that." He stood and grabbed a cloth and a can of water. "Final chance. No?" He placed the cloth over Kate's mouth and she flung her head from side to side, struggling to avoid what came next. "Hold her head still!" he shouted to the other man, who swiftly appeared placing a vice-like grip on her head. She couldn't move. She knew what was coming. Suddenly water was being poured over her head, through the cloth and straight into her mouth. For twenty seconds the water kept coming; she couldn't breathe. Kate felt like she was drowning. Every time she tried to cough up the water, spit it out, more came. Her body tried to take in oxygen reflexively, but the water replaced the oxygen in her lungs. Just as she believed she was going to die, the water stopped. She coughed and a flood of water poured from her mouth. They stared down at her expectantly, giving her time to take in a few breaths. When it was clear she was not going to talk, the cloth went back over her face and the water came again, filling her lungs, burning through her sinuses. It lasted longer this time. Twenty-five, maybe thirty seconds. Again she felt like she would die. As much as she tried to swallow the water rather than breathe it in, it didn't work. There was enough water to fill both her stomach and her lungs. Again the water stopped, but not for long; after four breaths, it started again. All sense of time escaped her. She felt like this had been going on for hours, days even. Her heart was beating faster than it ever had and every muscle in her body was in pain from the lack of oxygen. They came at her again with the water and again she felt like she would die. No, no. Please, no! She would rather die than go through this anymore. She gave up struggling and took the water into her lungs. Her breathing stopped and her heart rate slowed.
"Fuck!" shouted Maddox. "Untie her, get her up. If she dies on us, we'll never find it."
As they untied and resuscitated her, one of the men suggested "Maybe she really doesn't know."
"She knows. I know she does. She just doesn't want us to have it. She's one of those avenger types who'd give up her life for justice. We just need to step it up a notch."
"Step it up a notch? It doesn't get much worse than that."
"Oh, it could get a hell of a lot worse, trust me."
"Wake up, Katie. You still have something we need. I can't have you dying on me just yet." It was one of the other men speaking now.
"Go to hell!" she rasped, the sound grating against her throat, causing her to wince. She noticed that they had stripped her down to her underwear whilst she was unconscious.
"Maybe we need to give that heart of yours a little boost, huh? Keep it beating."
He approached her with electrodes, running them up and down her bare legs. "Mmmm…. No wonder that writer wants you. With a body like that…" he didn't continue, but raised his eyebrows suggestively. She tried to struggle but was tied even tighter than before. "Get the hell away from me!"
"All you need to do is tell me where we can find those documents, and it will all be very humane."
She had nothing to say, except to plead for him to stop. "Please, don't. I don't have what you want."
"Oh, will you never learn? Let's start slow shall we?" He switched the machine up to 100v. "Don't worry, the current's low. It shouldn't kill you… hopefully." He pressed the electrodes to her thigh; she felt a sharp zap and it made her yelp. Fuck! It was a sharp pain and she definitely felt it. That was starting slow? she wondered. At least it didn't last long. She was terrified as to how far this would go though. "How about we try 200?" Placing the electrodes on her other thigh, a voltage double the size of the last shot through her, making her leg muscle convulse. Holy crap! But this level of pain she could deal with. "Oh, enough of the teasing Joe, Let's ratchet this thing up!" said Maddox. Teasing? It's not like it was pleasant.
He turned the dial up and 1000v passed through Kate's stomach. It made her scream. The electrodes leaving slight burns on her skin. "Anything to say, princess? No? Let's see if 2000 will make you talk."
She screamed again as the current passed through her. He used a different area of skin with every shock. The next went low on her abdomen. The pain was excruciating. As he flipped it up to 4000v placing an electrode on either side of her waist, tears began to fall from her eyes. The electrodes scorched Kate's skin, leaving angry burns in their wake. By the time they reached 6,000v, Kate was alternating between screaming and sobbing. The thing with this method was that, although the voltage was high therefore making the pain unbearable, the current was extremely low making the risk of death quite slim. At 8,000v through her chest, Kate's body convulsed, the smell of burning flesh filled the room. The pain seared through her and she reached the point where she was ready to give up. Eight-thousand volts hit her again in the same place, the intense burns on her chest would join the other scars on her body, if she lived that long. Eight-thousand again, a quick shock, followed by the sound of bullets, were the last thing she remembered.
"Kate! Kate? She's not breathing! Oh my God, what do I do?"
Esposito pushed Rick out of the way and began administering CPR. "Call an ambulance!" he ordered. Rick pulled out his phone, his shaking fingers struggling to hit 999. He worked to untie Kate from the bed, sobbing as he did so. He held her hand as Espo tried to get her heart beating again and keep her blood circulating. Rick looked at her, lying almost naked, bruises from a beating already forming on her skin and cuts where Maddox had used a knife on her. Not enough to do any real harm, but enough to hurt; clearly one of the first methods he had used of her. She had burns blistering on her thighs, stomach, waist, arms, and breasts, and judging from the watering can on the floor, she'd been through a hell of a lot more. He'd researched all of these torture methods for his books and the thought of Kate being subjected to them almost killed him; he threw up the as the realisation hit him.
Suddenly paramedics surrounded him. "We need to take her now." But Rick would not let go of her hand. He couldn't lose her.
Esposito grabbed him and pulled him off. "Come on bro, you need to let them do their thing. I got her heart beating; she'll be ok."
"I have to go with her." Espo nodded and let him go.
Espo went to find Ryan, who was standing over two men in handcuffs and Maddox lying dead on the floor. "I killed him," murmured Ryan. He felt conflicted, as although he hated to take human life, he knew Maddox deserved what he got after everything he had done to Kate. He felt good about it and it scared him.
"It's ok man. You did good. You saved her again." He put his arm round Ryan's shoulders and walked him away from the scene, leaving the torturers in the hands of the other cops. "Now let's get down to the hospital. Make sure Beckett's ok." Ryan just nodded as he was led towards their car.