Title: The Rules of the Game (10/?)
Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: X_tremeroswellian@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Only in my dreams do I actually own anything. All are property of Edward Allen Bernero and John Wells.
Rating: PG-13 for language, violence and sexual content
Spoilers: Up through and including "233 Days."
Summary: Bosco and Faith find themselves in a predicament in which they can use only their instincts to survive.
Distribution: My site Only Time, 55-HQ, and fanfiction.net. Others, just ask and I'll probably say yes.
Category: Story
Subcategories: Action/adventure/thriller/suspense/romance/friendship/drama/angst...does that narrow it down too much? *wink wink*
Feedback: Makes me write faster.
Author's Note: I sort of got this idea from a third season episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But just for the very general plot idea. The rest came out of my own messed up mind. :)
Author's Note II: This part is rated R for the last scene because it's...well...um...yeah. I don't want to spoil anything, but just be warned that the last scene is edgy.
Dedication: For Dem and Bree
The Rules of the Game (Part Ten)
"Davis."
He looked up to see Lt. Swersky headed over toward him. "Sir."
"Where's Sullivan?"
He nodded toward the other side of the room where Sully was talking to Sgt. Christopher. Several FBI agents and detectives from the 55th were already gathered and involved in different stages of the investigative process.
Swerksy glanced around, then focused his gaze on Davis. "What happened here?"
He took a deep breath. "Sully and I came in. Chevchinko appeared to be the only one here. Sully asked him where Bosco and Yokas were, but he denied knowing anything about it, so we told him he was under arrest. That's when I heard footsteps behind me." Davis nodded toward where the man was still cuffed to the metal machine in the corner. "I told him to put down his weapon and as he was doing so, Chevchinko pulled a gun out of his jacket. Sully shot him."
Swersky nodded. "That'll do for now."
"Is there any word on Bosco and Yokas yet?" he asked hopefully.
"No, not yet. But several teams of FBI agents and National Guard troops are searching the islands off the East Coast as we speak."
Bosco opened his eyes, but everything was blurry and he closed them almost instantly. He groaned as his head pounded, making him wish he was still unconscious. What the hell happened? he wondered.
Some distant thought tugged at his mind, though he wasn't sure what it was right away. Something about Faith? And a horse? A feeling of urgency flooded through his veins. He had to remember, though he wasn't sure why. He just knew it was important that he did so right away.
He tried to ignore the pain in his head and struggled to open his eyes again. He blinked several times in rapid succession, trying to clear his vision.
The room was silent and dimly lit. He could see an old coal heater in the corner of the room across from him. He frowned deeply. He didn't remember being in this room before. How did I get here? He glanced around and suddenly found himself staring in horror at the sight before him.
In the center of the room, suspended just a couple of inches off the floor by a rope that hung from the ceiling and bound her wrists together, was Faith.
He immediately tried to rise to his feet, but found that he was in fact, already standing. He turned and saw that his own wrists were shackled to the wall behind him by metal chains.
Everything came flooding back to him. He remembered trying to wrestle the shotgun away from the man on horseback, but instead wound up on the ground from a blunt force trauma to the head before everything had grown dark. He could only guess that the bastard had knocked Faith out, as well.
//"We were caught by a man on horseback. Most of them will just kill you, but the guy who found us...he's sadistic...he made me...made me watch. The things he did to her..."// Danny's words echoed in his mind and he felt a cold chill go through his body, followed by a rush of adrenaline that made him forget all about his aching head.
"Faith," he whispered loudly, pulling against the shackles. She wasn't moving, she was just hanging there limply, the toes of her shoes just barely dragging the concrete floor. Blood trickled down the side of her head. "Faith, wake up!" he urged. "Come on, wake up!"
After several moments, he saw her eyes start to flutter.
"Faith! Faith, can you hear me?" he said anxiously.
"Bosco..." she mumbled.
"Yeah, it's me. Are you all right?" He watched as she tried to move, her eyes flying open when she found herself unable to do so.
"What's going on?" She tilted her head back and saw her arms suspended above her head. Then she looked over at him with widened eyes.
"I can't move, either," he said, tugging against the chains again.
Faith took a deep breath, refusing to give in to the growing panic that threatened to consume her. Then she looked around the dimly lit room. She could make out the outline of a staircase that lead upward behind the wall Bosco was chained to. There was a small, wooden table to her right that had nothing on it.
"Are you okay?"
She looked at him. "I'm peachy. You?"
"Your head's bleeding," Bosco replied, ignoring her sarcasm.
As soon as he said the words, she could feel the blood trickling slowly down her face. "I think I'm all right. Are you?"
"Other than a massive headache, I think I'm okay. Any chance you can get loose?"
She looked up at the rope binding her hands together. She tried to twist her hands to pull them free, but only made the thick twine dig painfully into her skin. Her arms were already aching from hanging the way she was. "I don't think so."
"Dammit," he muttered, yanking against the shackles. "Well, there has to be a way out of here. There has to be."
She forced her wrists apart as far as they could go, which was barely at all, wincing in pain as she struggled to pull free again. Whoever the guy was that captured them knew what he was doing when he'd tied the knot. There was practically no slack in the rope whatsoever. But that wasn't about to stop her from trying to get free.
"If that loony tune escaped from this guy, we should be able to, too. Maybe there's a chink in this chain somewhere." Bosco started examining the metal carefully, hoping to spot a flaw he could work with.
At that moment, they both heard the sound of a door opening. Their gazes locked on each other.
She felt her heartbeat quicken in time with the heavy footsteps that clonked down the steps. The large man came into view a second later. He looked from her to Bosco, then back to her. She could make out a smile on his face.
"Oh, good. My guests are awake."
"If this is how you accomodate your guests, I'd hate to see what you do with your prisoners," Bosco said sarcastically.
The man chuckled and gazed at Faith for a moment before walking over to her. "How's my pretty little kitten?" he asked, reaching out and touching her face.
Faith jerked away from his touch, glaring at him.
"Ooh. I do believe my kitty is a bit of a wild cat." He turned to look at Bosco, who was also glaring at him with hatred. "I'll have fun breaking her."
Bosco pulled against the chains as hard as he could, wanting nothing more than to wrap his hands around the man's neck and squeeze the life out of him. "Leave her the fuck alone!"
"Such language." The man tsked and shook his head. "But sorry. Afraid I have lots of plans for the two of you. It'll be fun." He turned and smiled at Faith. "I'll be back soon." Without another word, he turned and walked back up the stairs, closing the door behind him.
Faith and Bosco's eyes met.
"We have to get out of here," he said, urgency in his voice.
She didn't disagree.
"Did you call Taylor and let her know you were okay?" Sully asked his partner as they returned to the 55th precinct.
"Yeah, while you were talking to Swersky."
"That's good." His gaze locked on his wife, who was nervously pacing the floor in the waiting area.
She turned and saw him, her eyes widening and a look of relief crossing her face as she hurried toward him. "John! You are okay?"
Sully nodded, pulling her into a hug. "I'm okay."
"Thank God."
"You don't have to run anymore," he whispered in her ear.
Tatiana pulled away slightly, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Chevchinko's dead, Tatiana. He can't hurt you again."
Tears filled her eyes as she stared at him. "It's over?"
"It's over," Sully confirmed, his voice gentle.
She hugged him tightly as she began to cry.
"It's not quite over," Davis said, his voice quiet.
Sully and Tatiana both turned to look at him.
"Bosco and Yokas are still missing," he reminded them. All three of them fell silent.
"Did you miss me while I was gone?" the man asked with a grin as he returned to the basement awhile later, carrying a large duffle bag in his hands.
"Almost as much as I miss having teeth pulled without novicaine," Bosco replied, glaring at him.
The man looked at Faith. "He always this much of a smart ass?"
She didn't reply.
He walked over to her, flipping on a light on the way and setting his bag down on the table to her right. He stood in front of her, staring at her face for a long moment, then lifting his gaze to her hands. "Surely you haven't been trying to escape, have you, kitty cat?" He shook his head, sighing as though he was disappointed with her. "You've gone and torn yourself all up. Shame on you. That's *my* job."
"Leave her the hell alone," Bosco commanded, his eyes dark.
The man ignored him, instead going over and unzipping the bag, removing several items from it and laying them on the table. He selected a sharp hunting knife and returned to stand in front of her.
Faith's heart began to pound harder, but she forced herself to remain calm and silent, to keep her face void of emotion.
"You don't want to do this. You hurt her in anyway and you're gonna be really sorry," Bosco warned through gritted teeth as he tugged against the metal chains.
Wordlessly the man raised the knife to her throat, a smile on his lips. He ran the tip of the blade across her skin, not cutting her, but showing her how sharp it was and how easy it would be to slit her throat. Then he lowered the blade to the collar of her shirt and jerked it downward in one swift motion, slicing the material completely in half. Without hesitation, he yanked her shirt off, leaving her topless except for her bra.
She flinched, but only slightly.
He set the knife back down on the table and his eyes swept over her body. He reached out and fiddled with one of her bra straps, smiling. He turned to look at Bosco. "What do you think? Shall we see the rest of her?"
"You sick son of a bitch. When I get loose I'm gonna rip your fucking arm off and stuff it up your ass!" Bosco snapped.
He raised an eyebrow and turned back to her. "Your boyfriend has a foul mouth." He took a step away from her, studying her body intensely. He reached out and touched her stomach. "You have a very firm body. Do you work out?"
Faith remained silent, refusing to give into him in any way.
His eyes narrowed and he backhanded her hard in the mouth. "When I ask you a question, bitch, you'd better answer me!"
She heard Bosco cursing loudly and could taste the coppery flavor of blood in her mouth, though she did her best to ignore the pain.
"Now. Let's try this again. Do you work out?" the man asked calmly.
Faith glared at him defiantly. Then she spat in his face, not caring if he hit her again.
He reached up and wiped the spit off his cheek. Then he leaned in close to her face. "You will pay for that," he said darkly. He walked over to the table and pulled something else out of his bag. He held it up for her to see. "Do you know what this is?"
She resisted the urge to tell him to go to hell.
"They use it to brand cattle so when one wanders away from the herd, everyone knows who it belongs to." He brought it over to her, showing her the L-shaped brand at the end. "The L is for Larry. I'm gonna use it to teach you that you belong to me now." Without warning, he swung it back and slammed it across her stomach, laughing when she gasped for breath, unable to do a thing to lessen the pain since she couldn't move.
"I'm going to kill you!" Bosco shouted.
Larry turned and looked at him. "Oh, I don't think so. Besides, I've only just begun." He walked over to the coal heater, opened the metal door and stuck the end of the branding iron into the fire. "What do you think? Neck? Shoulder? Back?" he pondered aloud as he waited for the iron to get good and hot.
Bosco looked straight at Faith, refusing to look away from the pain and fear she was trying to hide but that her eyes couldn't quite disguise. He might not be able to stop the bastard from hurting her, but he wasn't about to allow himself the relief of looking away. It was the only thing he could do to let her know he wasn't going to abandon her emotionally.
Faith met his gaze and held it, knowing that he needed her to stay strong, but that his unwavering gaze was also an offer to *be* her strength. She heard Larry walking up behind her and she bit down hard on her tongue and kept her eyes on Bosco's face as she waited tensely for the pain to come.
She felt him stroke the curve of her back and she suppressed a shudder.
"Are you ready, kitty cat?" Larry asked, his breath on her neck, his fingers pulling some of the hair back out of her face, stroking it gently like he was her lover. He kissed her cheek. "The pain won't last too long, but, please, feel free to scream, kitten." He kissed her ear, then her neck and for a second she was sure she was going to vomit. "I want to hear you scream."