Well, another chapter up. Tubes coming out for those waiting... things are gonna get tricky. Hope you're all still enjoying! Thanks again for reading!

Chapter Eight

Jason and Pete made their way across the city, arriving at a disused warehouse. A simple text had called them to a meeting with a man they had come to know only as "The Boss". They had never had the privilege of meeting him in person and when he'd stormed inside the warehouse last week, that was the first time they had met him face to face. All his commands were normally issued by text or email. All they had heard about him was that he was of Italian descent, grew up in New York, was filthy rich and whatever he wanted- he got. Jason was anxious, he wiped his sweaty palms down his dirty low-slung jeans as they approached the broken metal door. He didn't think it was a good thing to be summoned to see The Boss in person, he wondered if something had gone wrong with that insane plan of his. What was he thinking using a cop to steal evidence? Pete was oblivious to any of Jason's thoughts; he was high on drugs again and appeared more agitatedly excited than nervous. He threw a big grin in Jason's direction and pushed the door open. Jason rolled his eyes, and with little option, he followed him inside- awaiting their fate.

The Boss was stood waiting inside in the semi-darkness. Two other suited guys stood behind him- clearly a protection crew. Were they expecting trouble? Jason clocked the extensive fire power they were holding and swallowed. These did not look like guys that were messing around. Jason suddenly wished they hadn't come empty handed, as per the instructions on his cell phone.

"Boss." Pete said rubbing his hands enthusiastically.

"Sit down and shut the fuck up." He responded. Pete was surprisingly taken aback by the directness but moved himself towards one of the crates in front of them, Jason hesitantly followed. "We have a problem."

Jason sat next to him but ducked his head down and became interested in the details on the floor, he had been expecting this. Pete bounced his sneakers eagerly on the floor, staring wide eyed between the men.

"It turns out, your cop is in the ICU. I wanna know... what the fuck did you do to him?" This man was furious, his hand naturally twitching towards the weapon in his holster.

Pete started rambling. "Well, err, I don't know- we fucked him up a bit. That's what we were told to do!"

"I told you to fucking sit tight!" He screamed, rushing forward he shoved Pete off the crate. He fell backwards, landing heavily on the hard floor.

"Fuck sake man!" Pete yelled, climbing back up. Jason stayed completely still. Pete started again, digging a larger hole for himself. "That cop, he was a fucking traitor! Scammed Travis into giving him a job, giving it the sob story! I could have killed him, I wanted to, he would have fucking deserved it..." Pete was screaming back.

The Boss raised his hand to silence him. Jason risked a glance up, regretting not stepping in when Pete had gone mental on the cop.

"We need him, and we are short on time, did you fucking realise that?"

"This is fucking stupid." Pete said, taking out his frustration by kicking an old can of spray paint across the warehouse. "I can't believe you're pissed at me for hurting a fucking cop!" Pete spat out.

Jason closed his eyes; he had been working with this gang for around eight months. Mainly because he needed the cash, a boy had it been paying well. They were given orders by text, which girls to pick up and where and all they had to do was leave them at the drop of locations. That was their part of the job, and it had been going perfectly. The Boss had safe houses all over the city if they needed to lay low, and they always had fresh plate vehicles to use. Jason chose not to think about what they were doing with the girls, some of them seemed pretty young- he just kept his head down and got the work done. It seemed to him that the chances of getting caught were close to zero- that was until Ryan had come along. Ryan managing to get employed by the senior guy in their crew, Travis, was an unbelievable disaster. Especially as Travis had always appeared so on the ball. That was, compared to Pete who Jason had realised very early on that his drug addiction and his massive mouth, were a serious liability for all of them. He was good at picking up the girls, but always took everything too far. Jason chose to look away and focus on driving, when Pete did what he wanted with them on route to the drop off destination. He thought for a moment of all the times that Pete had come extremely close to killing the cop- there were many. Travis had even re-tasked Pete back to the streets away from the cop at one point. He was awaiting orders from The Boss as to what the plan was with him, and he was concerned that Pete would kill him outright before those decisions were made. It had surprised Jason that they hadn't killed Travis straight away for his mistake in giving the cop a job. But now he realised they had a bigger plan, and obviously felt they could use him to their advantage.

With no warning, The Boss decided he'd heard enough and pulled his gun out. With two strides forward, he placed the barrel firmly onto Pete's forehead.

"Woah, dude. Let's not do this." Jason spoke out for the first time. "Pete's got a mouth on him, but he's good at what he does..."

Pete said nothing for once, just stared into The Boss's eyes, in some way mentally encouraging him to pull the trigger. Pete had nothing to lose, coming from a broken home, he had run away very young, survived on a life of crime and chosen drugs as the best way to shut his problems out. He'd spent most of the nights that he wasn't working, sleeping in drug dens. His long-term prospects were never going to be great. The Boss ignored Jason's pleas, and continued to stare back at Pete.

"You, Peter. You will fix this. Do you understand?" He said coldly.

Pete nodded slowly; the gun still pressed firmly against his forehead.

"You and this dip-shit next to you are going to fix this together. Or you're both dead."

Pete smiled with a mouth full of dirty broken teeth. A chance to see the cop again? He was more than up for that.

"When do we start?"

CPDCPDCPDCPDCPDCPDCPDCPDCPDCPDCPD

As the hours ticked by, Jay remained asleep. Will took the opportunity of Jay's conscious level to get him fully reviewed by the ICU team. Although Jay was rousable, the strong pain relief instantly had him back off to sleep without him realising he'd woken. The doctors were happy with his progress and respected Will's plan of commencing a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system for Jay to use when he woke next. This meant that Jay would be in charge of his own pain relief- but unable to give himself a dangerous over dose.

Jay spent the rest of that day sleeping and it wasn't until late that evening that his eyes finally began to open. Will had gone to the cafeteria to get the last hot drink of the day and Hailey was sat quietly flicking through her phone. Being considerably calmer than earlier, she didn't even notice Jay stirring.

Jay opened his eyes and waited for his vision to clear. He could just make out Hailey sat on the chair beside him. He didn't move, mostly because he was just too tired, so he watched her. He couldn't believe how beautiful she looked, her face serious, reading something. He knew where he was this time, but still couldn't remember why. His chilled-out arrival back into the ICU room was down to the wonderful effects of the drugs Will had set up for him, they helped to make him less bothered by pain and the uncomfortable sensations of the tubes and lines.

He could have spent hours watching her, but other things were needing attention. He was thirsty, his mouth felt completely parched- like he hadn't had a drink in weeks. Unable to make a noise, he was at a loss of how to get Hailey's attention. Thankfully for him, she glanced in his direction and nearly dropped her phone at the sight of his eyes staring back.

"Hey sleepyhead..." She said softly, with a big smile. "Missed you."

Jay blinked slowly in return, hoping she would realise he was greeting her. He needed her to get water but asking her felt like an impossible task.

"I think it was blink once for yes, twice for no…" One, slow blink replied to her. She nodded and smiled; this was considerably better than earlier.

"Are you in pain?"

Jay thought about this with his confused, foggy brain. There was pain, but it was bearable, as long as she wasn't about to make him get up. He went with a two-blink option.

"OK, that's great! There's a button here, you can press it if you're sore, ok? I'll put it in your hand."

Jay felt his fingers being prised open and something being placed inside his palm. He didn't want to move to look it- it was unlikely he'd be using it anyway. He looked back towards Hailey's eyes, mentally willing her to offer him a drink.

"I can't believe this has happened Jay..." She said, her chin trembling a little with emotion. Jay frowned, he couldn't remember what had happened, but it had to wait, his need for water was greater. Hailey was clearly not going to ask. He decided movement was now necessary, even if it caused pain. Very slowly, he raised his left hand just off the bed and made a shape like he was holding a cup- he tipped it backwards and forwards. His wrist ached and he realised it now had a cast on it. Moving his eyes to the right, he realised the other wrist had a matching one. Ok, so what ever had happened to him, it had broken both his wrists- perhaps a car crash he wondered?

Luckily for Jay, Hailey's deciphering skills were on top form today.

"You need water?" She asked.

"Bingo." Jay thought to himself. One big clear blink given.

"Ok, Ok..." She sprung up from her chair, not wanting Jay to wait a second longer. Then realised that Jay wouldn't actually be able to drink with the tube still in. "Err... Jay. I'm not sure how this is gonna work."

Jay rolled his eyes in frustration; he'd come so close to a drink. The fog surrounding his brain was clearing a little, and with that, he noticed the pain was increasing from a manageable ache to acute pain. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply trying to shut it out.

"Jay, you good?" Hailey asked concerned.

Keeping his eyes tightly closed, he gave a brief nod of his head to reassure her, the plan to blink forgotten in his discomfort. The movement caused the tube to twitch, and a strong gagging sensation then arrived from his throat. He stiffened, trying to allow the sensation to pass and begged his body not to try and be sick. The pain was now radiating from all areas. His back was a clear leader, but his chest, shoulders and legs were all catching up fast. He began to tremble, the small device in his hand forgotten.

It was at this point that Will returned. Coffee in hands, brown bag with food hanging between his teeth, he pushed the door open and made his way in. He knew straight away that something had changed because Hailey looked anxious. She updated him instantly.

Will put the items on the table and rushed to his brother's side.

"Jay, can you hear me?"

Jay decided he couldn't tolerate the pain in his back a second longer, he slowly started to move over onto his left side. In his haste to move, he hadn't heard his brother's voice.

"Woah, where are you going? You need to stay there for a bit Jay." Will put his hands out, stopping Jay's advancing movements. Jay began fighting with the gagging sensation again and had barely noticed that his brother had stopped him from moving. "Hailey, was he settled when he woke up?"

"Yeah, I mean, I didn't even know he was awake! He was just looking at me."

"Ok. I think his pain relief has worn off; I've been pushing his PCA all day. Give it a push Hailey, let's get him topped back up."

Jay was now unable to focus, he was starting to panic. All thoughts of water had vanished as he overwhelmingly needed to get off of his back. The confusion and pain were messing with his head badly, he didn't even know where he was. Hailey squeezed the blue button and the syringe driver jumped into action.

"It's ok, you'll feel better soon. Just breathe. I'm gonna go get the all clear to get that tube out, ok?" Will moved towards the door and disappeared to find Jay's medical team.

Hailey didn't know what to do. She watched Will walk out and then turned her eyes back to Jay. He was still trembling, eyes tightly closed. His face now screwed up in pain, his teeth clamped down on the tube. She gently laid her hands down onto his arm and chest, rubbing softly to try and get him to calm down.

"Just breathe, the medicine will work soon, it's good stuff."

Over the next five minutes, Jay slowly began to relax. The effects of the pain relief flooding his exhausted body. Will returned, giving Hailey a double thumbs up to relay that the tube was finally coming out. He rummaged in a drawer alongside Jay's bed and pulled out a plastic syringe. Ripping the packet open, he moved towards Jay to let him know the plan. Jay's face had relaxed fully, his breathing now calmer.

"Jay, you still with me?" Will asked.

Slowly, Jay lifted his heavy eyelids at his brother's command.

"Ahhh, now that's better hey?" Will said with a smile. "Shall we get that tube out?"

A slow blink was given.

"Ok, this is how we're gonna do this. You'll take some nice big breaths; give me a big cough and I'll pull the tube. Then it's nasal cannular oxygen for now, ok? No arguments."

Jay didn't have the energy to disagree, it sounded like a great plan, he just wanted less talking and more action. The drugs were working very well, he was beginning to feel detached.

Will prepared the oxygen ready to put on Jay's face. He switched off the vent and unplugged all the tubing until just the ET tube remained. He used the syringe to remove all the air from the cuff and looked into his brother's eyes to ensure he was ready.

"OK, give me those deep breaths Jay... and a big cough..."

Jay tried his best to cough, but the pain in his chest stopped him dead, before he could realise, the tube was coming up and out of this throat. He gasped air frantically.

"You did good, deep breaths, it's all good." Will said placing the nasal canular just inside Jay's nose and hooking the tubing behind his ears. "OK, so try not to talk too much!" Will instructed.

Jay was shocked, he lay there gasping and coughing, the sensation of air going down his throat felt so much better than tubing.

"Slow that breathing down a bit Jay, you're gonna hyperventilate."

A brief nod and Jay tried his best to slow it all down. Will and Hailey sat in silence, allowing Jay time to adjust. It wasn't long before he tried to speak out.

"Wa..." He coughed, wincing at the pain.

"Water?" Hailey asked. Jay nodded.

Hailey walked over to his table and poured a glass of water from his jug, placing a straw in the water, she bought it up to Jay's lips.

"Take it easy, ok? Little sips." Will advised.

Jay ignored his brother and sucked hungrily on the straw. Gulping the ice-cold water down felt amazing, his throat and mouth were unbearably dry. Will was just about to step in when Jay began spluttering violently. He started coughing trying to clear the water from his airways.

"Ah Jay, I warned you! I'm gonna sit you up a bit more, alright?" Will grabbed the bed control and pushed the buttons. Jay was using his left arm to try, but not successfully to support his ribs. He continued to cough, but he was starting to get it under control. It was at that moment that everything changed for Jay.

He remembered. The sensation of choking on water, had caused memories of the last month to come flooding back into his mind like a truck slamming its way into his brain. He couldn't breathe and his heart began pounding in his chest like a drum. Warning alarms sounded, but Jay couldn't hear them. He was emotionally lost inside his own head. He clamped his eyes shut, trying to stop the memories. His chest was so tight, it felt like his own body was trying to squeeze the life out of him, rather than accept the reality of what had happened in that warehouse.

"Jay?" Will asked, noticing immediately that something had changed with his brother.

"What's happening?" Hailey asked. "Jay, are you in pain?"

No response. Will turned the alarms off but acknowledged his brother's heart rate was dangerously high.

"Jay you're safe, ok? You're at Med. You're not there anymore." Will said calmly.

"He's remembering..." Hailey said quietly. Will nodded in answer.

Underneath Jay's trembling exterior, he was focusing on the dark room they had kept him in, the bucket his only company. The unbearable loneliness and chill he had experienced. The anguish of constant starvation. The pain of his skin being torn open whilst being dragged. The agony of being beaten, kicked and whipped. A most of all, his thoughts focused on the fire that roared through his body whilst that hose pipe did its best to fill his airways full of water.

Hailey had to do something; it broke her heart to see him like this. She moved closer to him and spoke softly into his ear.

"Jay just concentrate on breathing, in and out, ok? I'm here. Will is here. You're completely safe. This will pass." She rubbed little circles into his arm trying to relax him, she could feel how tense his muscles were. "I love you. It's going to be ok. Slow your breathing."

"Can we give him something?" She mouthed to Will silently.

Will grimaced, he could give his brother something to help him relax, but he knew he'd rather drugs weren't used. He had to get through to him.

"Jay, I need you to open your eyes. Look where you are for me." Will said, reaching out and squeezing his hand.

Jay felt like his world was spinning, he managed to squeeze a word out.

"Sick." He whispered, a second before he vomited all down his gown and sheets.

"Woah!" Will dashed for a bowl ready for the next wave, which came soon after. "That's it, you're ok. It'll pass Jay. We'll get you cleaned up in a moment." Will reassured him.

"Sorry..." Jay mumbled, still very much within his own world, his eyes remained tightly closed.

"You don't need to apologise! Jay, I do need you to open your eyes for me though, can you look at me?" Will moved much closer to Jay.

Jay turned to face his brother and prised his eyes open. His breathing was now exhausted panting mixed with constant coughing. Will was blurry, he blinked away the tears in his eyes.

"There you are, you back with us?" Will asked, he received a nod in reply. "Where are you, Jay?"

"Med." He mumbled again quietly; Will could barely hear him. The word was followed by more painful coughs.

"Ok, that's good. Are you in pain?" Will got a quick shake of the head to confirm that he was comfortable.

"You're not there anymore Jay, you're never going back. You're safe, ok?" Hailey said confidently.

Jay closed his eyes again, as another memory hurtled into his mind at full speed. This time he was tied by his hands, dangling in agony, and having a chat with a man in a suit. "You have one week to do a little job for us..." His heart sank, this wasn't over. This wasn't anywhere near over.

"How long?" Jay asked, opening his eyes and turning to Hailey.

"How long?" She asked puzzled.

"Here..." Jay was finding it difficult to breathe when talking, another episode of painful coughs wracked his broken body.

"They found you late Friday night, its late Monday evening..." Will glanced at his watch. "Actually, it's almost Tuesday morning now. So, three days Jay, not too bad all things considering."

Jay nodded; this was a disaster. There was no other option, he needed to speak to Voight.

"Voight..." He managed to cough out. "I... Need... Voight..."