A/N: Hey guys, say hello to Bobby. Reviews, as always, are very much appreciated.

Chapter Fifteen

Dean hadn't known what he was expecting when he met Bobby the next evening, but he knew he wasn't impressed by the old hick standing at the door - or the other old guy stood behind him. Frayed baseball caps, with worn shirts and ripped jeans - the kind that had ripped by hard living and had not had artfully added decoration - greeted him along with surly expressions.

"You're Bobby?" He asked disbelievingly even though the man in question had just introduced himself.

"You got something wrong with your ears boy? Now let us in." Bobby and his friend pushed through the door, his friend giving Dean a look soaked in derisive contempt.

"Thank you for coming," Jess said from behind Dean's shoulder, significantly closer than she was a moment ago.

"Sam's family, of course I came. I've been getting that kid out of scrapes since he was nine years old."

"Yeah well someone had to," muttered Bobby's friend.

"What do you mean?" Asked Dean suspiciously.

"Nothing," replied Bobby sternly, "Rufus don't mean a thing. He's just worried about Sam. Now you must be Dean and Jess." Bobby continued loudly over the sound of Rufus' grumbling almost unintelligibly about not worrying about nobody and expensive whisky.

"Yeah, that's us," replied Dean, "now what did you mean about my brother?"

"We don't have time for this, we need to get to figuring out how to get Sam out of the mess you got him into in the first place." Taken aback by Bobby's bluntness, Dean sat down as he continued, "Now what the hell kind of gang are we dealing with and how well can you two shoot?"

"Well," Dean began, feeling a little like a chastised teenager, "The gang itself is a pretty average size, but it's got a reputation among other gangs. That's why the Flaming Arrows are so powerful, a lot of other gangs owe them favours, but this is personal. I don't think Kaiser would have gotten another gang involved in this. He wouldn't want to advertise dissension in the ranks."

"Dean's been teaching me how to shoot but I've only hit a few cans off a log." Jess added.

Bobby nodded thoughtfully, "So what is an average gang size? Twenty to thirty?"

Dean nodded, "The Flaming Arrows have closer to thirty members I would say." He confirmed.

Bobby and Rufus looked at each other, "I don't like it." Rufus said, "Being outnumbered that badly is practically suicide and now we have someone who can't even shoot straight?"

"I don't think Kaiser will have everyone in on this. It was the same people who came after us every time - apart from the one I shot. I reckon he'll have just his favourites, maybe about ten or so. He won't want this to affect his reputation."

"Three against ten are still very unfavourable odds, boy." Rufus replied scathingly, "This is still nuts."

Dean felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and as he looked at the caller ID he felt the blood drain from his face. Kaiser, it said. Dean noticed everyone staring at him and he swallowed before moving to answer it.

"Put it on speaker," said Bobby, "and can you record it?"

Dean glanced at Jess, who nodded, and he pressed the appropriate buttons.

"Kaiser," he croaked at his phone.

"Dean!" Kaiser's voice was over-the-top friendly, "So nice to get in touch. I had hoped you would have decided your loyalties lay with me - then you could have taken part in the live show! ...However it looks like this is going to be radio. I'm really quite disappointed in you."

"Listen up you son of a bitch. I'm the one who messed up those jobs. I'm the one you want. How about you let my brother go and we come to some sort of understanding?"

"Dean, that's not how this works. You have to learn you can't always do things your way." Kaiser was really laying it on thick.

"Goddammit Kaiser I'm not messing around! Why can't we settle this like adults before anyone else gets hurt?" Dean bargained.

"It's a little late for that now. Several of my people are limping because of your brother and the family have taken that - along with your desertion - rather personally... And you know what happens when things get personal." Kaiser warned with a note of sick glee in his voice.

"What did they do?"

"Honestly? I wouldn't worry about it, it's nothing compared to what's about to happen."

Dean heard what sounded the rattling of heavy furniture and splashing for a few seconds before it was replaced by coughing and spluttering.

"They're waterboarding him," Bobby muttered darkly, too quiet to be picked up by the phone. Dean, sadly, agreed with that assessment but Jess looked positively sickened. She bit her lip as she looked at Dean with watery eyes as if begging him to make it stop, but how the hell was he supposed to do that?

"Can you tell what's happening? I can describe it in detail if you want?" Kaiser suggested with excitement.

"No I get the picture," he replied, no one needed to hear the details.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure!" Dean's frustrations were rising as he could still hear the cycle of splashing and coughing being repeated in the background, "Please let him go. Just tell me what you want."

Kaiser chuckled, "What I want is for your brother to break and for you to have to pick up the pieces knowing it was all your fault. I want him to beg for mercy and I wanna see your face when you realise we're not gonna give it to him."

"You're twisted, you know that?"

"I do." Kaiser replied unabashedly and Dean heard a few steps as the sound of coughing grew a little louder, "Y'know, you Winchesters have great genes, I can't believe how tall he is."

"I swear, when I get there I'm gonna rip your lungs out!"

"Well good luck with that. There's another man with an interest in your brother and when I'm done with him, I'm just going to hand him over." Kaiser was gloating at full power now, "Once I've broken him and you, he'll be shipped off to who knows where to be used for who knows what and you'll be left to stew in your own guilt."

"This man, who is he?" Dean demanded angrily.

"He didn't give me a name, and even if he had, I certainly wouldn't tell you."

Dean had been tightly strung the entire conversation and now was reaching breaking point, "You listen and you listen good you sick bastard! I am going to find you and when I do it will be you begging for mercy, you understand? And then we'll see if I'm inclined to give it to you." Dean's grip tightened around the phone to the point it was in real danger of being crushed.

Kaiser chuckled, "I really don't think you're in a position to be making those kinds of threats." He said darkly before quickly lightening his tone, "Hey Sam! Do you want to say anything to your brother while I've got him on the phone? Do you want to beg him for help perhaps?"

There was a few seconds of silence in the room while everyone held their breath. The ragged breathing on the other end of the line however grew louder as the phone was moved, then they heard Sam's voice, strong and even and angry. "Screw you."

There was a loud thwack and a grunt on the line before Dean heard Kaiser's voice on the line again. "Well that was kinda rude, do you want to try that again?"

There were more thwacks and grunts of pain before Sam finally said, "Hey Dean?"

"I'm here Sammy," he replied tensely.

"Why does everyone in your old gang like leather so much? It's a bit cliche."

Immediately there were more sounds of Sam being hit again came over the line before Kaiser growled into the phone, "I'll see you in hell Dean." And hung up.

"Ok, we need to go. Now." Dean said as he put his phone back into his pocket.

"Woah, hold your horses there." Said Bobby holding his hands up placatingly, "We're still majorly outgunned. What do you think is gonna happen when we get there, huh? You think they're just gonna lay down their weapons and let you walk out with him?"

"They only want him because of me, I can't just sit here wasting time while they're doing god knows what to him in there!" Dean barely notice the trace of desperation and anger that leaked into his voice.

"Going in there and getting yourself shot isn't going to do Sam any favours," Bobby said gently, "We need a plan so nobody else gets hurt in the process. I know you're worried about your brother, we all are, but Sam's tough. If anyone can get through this, he can - and he won't thank you for getting you and Jess and everyone else shot in the process."

Bobby and Rufus turned to each other, they sat down at the table and began to talk tactics with a seriousness and an astuteness that seemed to dissuade Dean from any other attempt to contribute. And what the hell did Dean know about tactics? Whenever he had pulled a job for the Flaming Arrows any thought of strategy had been quickly dismissed in favour of brute force and superior fire power.

He glanced around the room until his gaze landed on Jess who had been quiet for a while now. She was picking at the denim covering her knee and looking like she was lost in some rather unpleasant thoughts.

"Stop it," he muttered into her ear.

She started a little then looked at him, "Stop what?"

"Driving yourself crazy. You heard what Bobby said, Sam's tough, he'll get though this. But he won't be happy when he finds out you've driven yourself completely mental from the stress."

Jess grimaced, "It's not just that though, you guys are all going to be staging this big rescue and I won't be able to do anything - I'm just useless. Even when he was being taken away I couldn't do anything. And don't even get me started on when you turned up." Jess lamented.

"Hey, you could've just walked away but you didn't." Dean said softly, "That takes some guts, and you were great when the demons showed up. I freaked and started shooting but you remembered what Sam said about the holy water and the salt. If you hadn't done that things might have ended a lot differently."

Jess smiled, "Thanks, dean."

"See?" he replied, "You're not just a pretty face."

"Shut up," muttered Jess.

Dean tuned back into the strategy meeting to hear Bobby and Rufus arguing about who they could rope into the rescue attempt. "It's no use," said Bobby, "the only hunter I know within a day's drive of here is busy with their own hunts. Innocent people will die if we call her." Bobby rested his elbows on the table and massaged his forehead, disturbing his cap in the process.

"Even one person could help tip the odds more in our favour." Rufus said frustratedly.

"My dad was a marine..." Dean interjected mournfully, "But he won't help."

"What?" exclaimed Bobby, turning to face him, "Why the hell not?"

"Well we weren't exactly on speaking terms because of the whole gang thing," Dean explained as Bobby and Rufus both raised an eyebrow at him, "but when I realised who Sam was I thought maybe I could rebuild that bridge, y'know? It was going kinda well but then... Sam had a vision and then the demons attacked and dad just freaked. He kicked us all out and told us not to bother coming back."

"I tried to talk to him yesterday morning, after Sam had been taken but he said he wasn't going to get involved in whatever satanic cult we'd gotten ourselves mixed up in." Jess added.

"So he knows what's happened and he still won't lift a finger to help his own son?" Bobby asked incredulously.

Jess nodded.

"What's his number? Sam's already had one crappy parent, I won't let him have another." Bobby declared as he began typing in the number that Dean gave him.

He finished and held the phone up to his ear and Dean watched him with a mix of anxiety and hopeful expectation that he had rarely experienced before.

"Hello, is this John Winchester?" Bobby asked eventually, "my name is Bobby Singer, I know your son Sam... He's not in a satanic cult... No, he hunts demons... Like the ones I'm told ambushed you...To stop them from hurting innocent people! ...You know what's happened? He's been kidnapped by a gang? ...Me and your other son are going to get him, I've got a friend with me but we can't do this with just us... You should want to help your son! Do you know what's happening right now? Your son is being waterboarded. The man who runs this gang called to gloat - you know what? Dean you got that call recorded right?" Bobby said as he turned towards Dean.

Catching on quickly, Dean fumbled for his phone and finally held it in front of Bobby's as he played the previous call. Once the playback had finished Bobby put the phone back to his ear, "You hear that? What kind of father sits back and just lets that happen to his son? ...we're only a few hours outside of Lawrence."

Dean couldn't help but he a little bit gobsmacked as he watched Bobby rattle off the address of the motel after having successfully convinced an angry John Winchester to change his mind. Dean had only ever met one other person who could do that.

Maybe he should introduce Bobby to Missouri sometime.

Well they had a few hours to kill before back-up arrived so they ordered in burgers and ate them in awkward silence. Not long after their dinner had been eaten, first Jess excused herself to go back to her room and Dean followed shortly after. Jess was surprised to see him when she opened the door but she seemed to understand when he told her he just couldn't sit there with Bobby and Rufus.

He had never felt so out of place, these two men were just a different breed. There was no bluster and bravado, no rivalry - which had heavily stained every interaction he'd had when he worked for Kaiser - these men weren't just average goons, they were warriors with a higher purpose, noble even, in a weird way... and he also wasn't very good at being around people who didn't like him - without getting into a fight. So he settled himself on the other end of the bed and stared at the tv.

He felt anxiety tickling every bone in his body. He and his dad still weren't on speaking terms and now they were expected to work together? Dean could only wait to see how that would go down, John hadn't forgiven him for falling in with the wrong crowd and joining a gang - and Dean had never forgiven John for getting drunk most weekends while he was growing up. This was going to go about as well as a group of teenagers checking out a haunted mansion on a dare.

And there was an unfamiliar nagging sensation at the back of his mind and in the pit of his stomach which he eventually identified as guilt. Why should - how could he sit here so comfortably when he knew Sam was being brutally tortured. And Sam didn't deserve it, he did.

Huh, personal growth.

Wasn't that supposed to feel... Good? Or something?

He forced himself to pay attention to the tv in hopes of a distraction, but he found himself within half an hour staring blankly at the screen with no idea once again what he was meant to be watching as his thoughts ran amok.

He looked at the time and groaned, letting his head fall back against the wall he was leaning against, he still had over two hours to go before his dad got there. Jess shot him a look which seemed to say for the love of god would you please behave and then went back to staring at the tv once she was sure Dean had understood.

But time passed, as it tends to do when someone is waiting, with the speed of a heavily exhausted snail, and eventually his dad arrived. Dean and Jess returned to his room to see Rufus, John and Bobby staring stony faced at each other as they worked out the plan.

The drive to the gang's hideout took about forty minutes with all the travellers in one stage of anxiety or another. As the vehicles pulled up outside of what looked like a long abandoned dive bar on the edge of town, Bobby leapt down from his truck and came to stand by Dean's window.

"Are you sure they're here? Something doesn't feel quite right about this. This guy must know this is the first place you'd look right?" he said once Dean had rolled his window down.

"Yeah but he wants me to witness this, he wants to use Sam to teach me a lesson. He's counting on just me coming - well I guess he could know about Jess but she's not really that much of a threat." Dean countered.

Bobby nodded and stepped back as Dean climbed out of his baby. Dean turned to Jess, "You remember what to do?"

Jess nodded, "Keep watch. If anyone tries to leave, aim for the legs, get their plates and call you." She recited.

"Good." Dean acknowledged and the four men stalked over to the building. As they crept closer Dean felt doubts begin to creep in, it was far too quiet.

When they entered the building, Dean's burgeoning doubts were confirmed. There wasn't a soul around and the fact only became more obvious the more rooms they entered. Dean felt himself being wound tighter and tighter with each empty room they checked. When they came to the final room, Dean was dismayed to find a solitary tv depicting the horror show of what was happening to Sam.

He had been strung up by his wrists and stripped of his shirt. He had tremors running spasmodically though his body and he warily eyed the the other occupant of the room as he casually circled Sam. He looked exhausted and was sporting a sickening collection of bruises, some of which had split and were bleeding. His chest fluttered with truncated breaths and there was a sheen of sweat covering him, yet the expression on his face was firmly defiant.

The torturer swung the metal pole he had been carrying and Dean realised it wasn't just a pole when the end was jabbed into Sam's side and he immediately started spasming and yelling in pain.

Dean reached over to turn the set off but Bobby's hand stopped him. He looked over at Bobby in disgusted disbelief, wondering why Bobby would want to watch Sam's suffering and inflict the prolonged experience on everyone else who was present.

"Do you recognise the room at all?" Bobby asked.

Dean turned back to the tv, he forced himself to ignore the macabre pantomime and focus on the background but the room was too generic and completely devoid of distinguishing features.

He shook his head and Bobby switched the set off. The men trudged slowly out of the building, despondent and frustrated. When he stepped outside and saw Jess, Dean felt the guilt return and form a lump in his throat, he had been so sure they would be able to perform a daring rescue and he knew Jess had been pinning her hopes on him.

She looked so hopeful as he met her eyes all he could do was shake his head. "He wasn't there, no-one was," he expanded as he came closer to the car.

He thought Jess was gonna start crying again as her face crumpled and her eyes became watery but she managed to keep it together with only a couple of sniffs.

"I'll give Ash a call, he's good at tracking people down. Have you got that bastard's phone number?" Bobby said from behind Dean.

Dean turned and quietly gave Bobby Kaiser's number, they divided into their respective vehicles and headed back to the motel. Although he knew that driving faster wouldn't actually speed up the process of finding Sam, Dean couldn't bring himself to slow down. He felt like the more miles he covered, the less miles there were between him and his brother, and Dean was not a man used to exercising even a modicum if self control.

The downside of this was that he and Jess were back at the motel soon enough and then there was really nothing to be done but wait to hear back from Bobby's friend.

It had been a long and disappointing day but Dean's emotions were still broiling as he threw himself on the bed. He forced himself to slowly relax and eventually managed to drift off as his worry was replaced with exhaustion.

When there was a knock on the door, Dean started out of bed. He took a moment to get his bearings before he stumbled over to the door.

"So that Ash guy just called," began John, "Apparently they're all on the other side of Lawrence, about a day's drive away. We're planning to be on the road in ten minutes."

"Dad?" Dean called as John went to turn away. "We'll get him back, and when we do maybe we can work on that whole being a family thing for a bit?" he continued hopefully.

John pierced Dean with his gaze for a while before giving a small nod then walking away.

Well what did Dean expect? All of John's pent up emotions to come pouring out in a tearful confession? Dean shuddered at the thought.

He quickly packed - if what Dean did could be called packing - and nipped over the road to pick up breakfast and coffee while various motel bills were being settled.

Another day of travelling. Another day of sitting in relative comfort while Sam was in some cold, grimy basement, enduring whatever tortures Kaiser could come up with, and clearly the bastard had quite an imagination.

Another day of trying to keep his head while guilt teased his nerves until he felt more frayed than those ripped jeans that were all the rage nowadays.