Alternate

Chapter 2: Clues

A/N: Big thanks to those who reviewed last chapter Wolfhound159, ChristyLoisGilmore17 and megspazzy.

Tasha pulled the box of various medications out from under her bed. She took stock of the supply Josiah had been stockpiling since Pierce had told him he'd be returning to the case of the missing agent.

If it weren't for the detail of the car that Pierce had brought up in his session, Josiah would have abducted him that night. Instead the pair of them concocted a false lead. But that damn Pierce had figured Josiah out, landing him in jail and putting Tasha in the awkward position of having to testify against him.

Tasha despised Daniel Pierce and Kate Moretti vehemently. When she'd discovered that Donnie Ryan was engaged to Moretti she'd had a hard time containing her excitement. When she'd finally managed to bribe a guard to sneak Josiah a cell phone he'd been positively giddy. He'd told her that Tasha wouldn't just have Ryan in the palm of her hand but Pierce as well. In Josiah's professional opinion Daniel Pierce was in love with Kate Moretti even if he didn't realize it.

Pierce would do anything for her. Tasha grinned to herself. She had a suspicion that it went both ways. She was planning to take full advantage of their feelings and get them to help her devise a new plan for getting Josiah out of jail. They would figure out a plan or this abduction would become a bloody revenge killing.

Natalie... She'd known about Natalie... How could she have known? Only a handful of people knew about Natalie. The only one who had ever had any kind of contact with Tasha was... was... no, NO it couldn't be... Could it?

Daniel came to with a chilling realization. Kate was in a great deep of danger. He became aware of his surroundings, the hand resting above his heart, the person curled up beside him. If it weren't for the concrete floor beneath them he might have been able to trick himself into believing that they were snuggled together in bed, that her engagement to Donnie had all been an elaborate nightmare.

But the danger was real. He could feel it in the way Kate breathed his name, a sort of pained gasp that frightened him. He sat up carefully, discovering that his right wrist was cuffed to Kate's left one. Carefully he moved her onto his lap to look her over. The way the muscles in her body seemed slack worried him. He looked into her face as her head lent against his shoulder.

"I think Tasha has been Rosenthal's accomplice this whole time," he informed her of his revelation while still attempting to gauge her condition.

A short, sardonic laugh escaped Kate's lips "Figured that one out already."

"How?" Daniel inquired.

"She knew about Bishop," Kate replied "Said something about how she was tough at first too."

Daniel's grasp involuntarily tightened upon hearing Tasha's implied threat. "How long was I out?" He questioned.

"About half an hour longer than I was," Kate explained "Tasha came in, taser me a few times, injected me with something that makes it extremely hard to move, injected you with something she claims was antipsychotics and left."

Daniel was angry that he had been medicated without his knowledge but he decided to focus on Kate. He gently maneuvered their cuffed hands towards Kate's un-cuffed one. "Can you feel my fingers?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," she replied.

"Squeeze them as hard as you can," he ordered gently.

An expression of great concentration came over Kate's face as her hand slowly closed around Daniel's fingers.

"Probably a low-dose neuromuscular blocker," Daniel concluded "You haven't had any difficulty breathing, have you?"

"No," she replied "Daniel; we need to get out of here."

He nodded his agreement. Carefully Daniel stood up, supporting Kate against him with his free arm. Her legs dangled beneath her, little better than useless but with Daniel holding her she didn't feel quite so helpless.

"Is it foolish to hope she left the door unlocked?" Daniel questioned as their cuffed hands reached out to the entrance.

"Not foolish to hope," Kate replied "But it would be foolish to expect it." Just as she said this the door slid open.

"I guess it's a good day to be a fool," Daniel remarked as he started up the basement stairs, proceeding as quietly as possible.

The door at the top of the stairs creaked loudly as Daniel pushed it open. The two found themselves in a hallway. Looking around Daniel made the decision to go left "You doing alright?" he asked.

"I feel like a rag doll," Kate responded "But other than that, yeah, I'm peachy."

"Right," Daniel remarked as he caught sight of the front door. He reached it and had his hand on the knob when Tasha appeared at the top of the stairs. Daniel was facing away from her but Kate could see her advancing ever closer over Daniel's shoulder. This time she was armed not with the taser but with a whip.

"Daniel," Kate murmured warningly.

Daniel took the full force of a lash across his back even as he tried to avoid it. Tasha struck again and again with the whip. Kate glared daggers at the woman who had played them for suckers as a strike from the whip hit her arm.

Daniel had been driven to the floor where, not knowing what else to do, he crouched protectively over Kate as Tasha continued to whip him.

"Stop it!" Kate screamed at the mad woman, her voice struggling for but finally finding a note of authority.

Tasha paid her no attention. She continued to lash Daniel until the back of his suit jacket was nothing but bloody shreds of cloth.

Authority gone from Kate's tone, tears tried to choke back her voice as Daniel's face, features twisted in agony, hovered a over hers, she begged "Stop! Stop! Please!"

Tasha smiled as she lowered the whip "That a girl. I told you it'd be easier if you just accept that I'm in charge."

Kate tried again to move her muscles. She desperately wanted to smack Tasha then strangle her with that damn whip. All she could manage was wrapping her free hand around the back of Daniel's head and pulling him down to her "You didn't have to do that," she whispered.

When he replied his breathing was ragged "Yes I did."

Joey had called the other members of his squad to the church. The five other detectives had spread out to search for anything suspicious. Joey had deposited the tiny plastic dots that Abby had found in an evidence bag as soon as he could. He and his partner had found several more of the dots by the stairs.

Jackson and Hirsch had gone to interview wedding guests while Diaz and Powell took a closer look at the changing room. Almost immediately after disappearing upstairs Detective Mona Diaz reappeared "Yo Moretti," she called in a no-nonsense tone "Get your ass up here."

Joey complied. He followed Diaz into the changing room where her partner Loretta Powell was taking photos with her phone.

"Who's been in here since you discovered your sister was missing?" Diaz questioned.

"Just my Dad and Donnie," Joey replied, not quite sure where she was going with this "Sandy and the girls were going to come up here and pack everything up when I called you."

Diaz and Powell shared a knowing look "Men," they said in unison.

Joey was more confused than ever "What does this have to do with anything?"

"The dress," Powell clarified.

"What about it?" Joey was still lost.

"It's just lying in a heap on the floor," Diaz explained "Look I don't care how cold a bride-to-he's feet get. No way does someone spend months planning and then just leave their wedding dress on the floor."

"Kate has never been one for frilly things," Joey commented.

"Doesn't matter," Powell told him "No woman, no matter how much of a tomboy she is at heart, mistreats her wedding dress like this."

"Look Moretti," Diaz put in "I can't speak to your sister's state of mind right before she was supposed to walk down the aisle. But I can tell you that she did not leave this church by choice."

"You were right," Joey's partner, Andy Warren, said as he got off the phone with the lab thirty minutes later "Those little dots were from a taser. And you're never gonna believe who it's registered to."

"Try me," Joey countered before taking a sizable swig from a styrofoam cup of coffee.

"Josiah Rosenthal," Andy stated.

"The serial killer that Kate and Pierce arrested?" Joey's mouth hung open at the revelation. Was someone out for revenge? Was his sister even still alive?

"Better let the FBI know what we found," Andy remarked.

"Yeah," Joey agreed.

Max Lewicki had left the church feeling utterly confused earlier that day. The last time he had seen Daniel Pierce it had been as the doctor had been rushing out of the pews with the hurried explanation "I have to talk to Kate," since then Max had not seen nor heard a thing. And he was getting worried.

Those words "I have to talk to Kate," usually were the result of Daniel's sudden realization of some obscure fact that would crack a case wide open. But as far as Max knew the pair weren't investigating any cases since closing the last one the day before. So Daniel's purpose for seeking out the FBI agent minutes before she was supposed to walk down the aisle was unclear.

Well perhaps not that unclear. Max had been one of those standing near Donnie's sister when she proposed that Kate and Daniel had run off together. It was a hypothesis that Max found himself wanting to believe. There were very few things in life that seemed to make Daniel Pierce happy. As far as Max could tell Kate Moretti was one of those things. Case or no case she had an effect on the neuroscience professor like nothing else Max had seen in all the years he had known Daniel.

Nevertheless upon arriving home Max had called Daniel's new psychiatrist, Dr. Elizabeth Ashbury and warned her that there was a chance Daniel might end up in a psych ward in the near future and that if she did find him there that Max would appreciate a courtesy call. In spite of what Max hoped had happened there was still the chance that Kate's wedding could have caused Daniel to suffer a break with reality. It was always a good idea to be prepared for the worst possible scenario.

A loud pounding on the door snapped Max from his thoughts. Cautiously he moved into the entryway, one hand on his cell phone. He was hesitant to open the door until he heard a familiar voice.

"Open up Daniel you son-of-a-bitch!"

Max pulled the door open and a so-drunk-he-could-barely-stand Donnie nearly fell through it.

"Donnie what the Hell?" Max gaped in a mix of disgust and amazement.

"Where is he Max?" Donnie questioned, slurring his words as he leaned against the doorframe for support.

"Not here," Max replied flatly.

"Would you tell me if he was?" Donnie was starting to look slightly green.

"Depends," Max put out a hand to steady the other man "What are you planning to do to him?"

"Gonna punch that asshole in his smug face for running off with my fiancé!" Donnie declared right before expelling an inordinate amount of vomit and passing out into Max's arms.

Max sighed heavily as he brought Donnie inside and laid him on the couch "Never a dull moment," he muttered as he went to go change his clothes and mop up the rest of Donnie's puke.