Crash and Burn

Chapter 7 – Expelling Jeremiah.

"Come on," she said as he handed them over, "Let's go in and talk."

Red eyed and sniffing back tears, Ryo nodded his head before following her inside the apartment. "I'll make tea," she said, heading straight to the kitchen as he put down his briefcase and took off his overcoat. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror above the fireplace and almost recoiled in horror at what he saw. What must his aunt think of him looking like this? While his guardian busied herself in the kitchen he tried to pull himself together, wiping away the stray tears and smoothing back his wavy dark blond locks. She came through into the living room shortly after carrying two steaming cups, which she placed on the coffee table before taking off her own coat.

"Thank you," Ryo said gratefully, taking up the cup she had placed in front of him and sipping the hot liquid slowly. Ignoring her own drink, Elena watched him carefully, seeing the pain and exhaustion etched into his handsome features.

"Like I said before, I saw the news," she said gently, not sure how to open the conversation any better way. "Is everything they were saying true?"

Ryo put the teacup down and raised his eyes to her. "Yes, my partner has been kidnapped… and yes, we are more than just work colleagues." Elena nodded her head slowly, taking this information and processing it carefully. Ryo saw her expression and concluded that she was disappointed in him. "I'm sorry you had to find out like that," he said, ashamed that he had never told her personally. "I guess I just didn't know how to tell you and I didn't want to make you unhappy."

Elena's eyes widened as she reached across and took his hand. "Ryo, we'd never think differently of you because you're gay. Granted, it was a bit of a shock to see you on the news but it doesn't change anything. We still love you because you're you. Gay or straight you're still the kind, warm hearted man that you were before, who's dealt with a lot in his life and come through it with tremendous courage."

Ryo looked up at her and smiled a grateful watery smile.  "Thank you," he said, relieved that she wasn't angry with him, "You don't know how much it means to have you say that right now."

She smiled in response, a slight chuckle escaping her lips as she recalled something. "We were only talking about you moments before you appeared on the news wondering if you'd be bringing some attractive young girlfriend to Carrie's wedding. I guess we now know better huh?"

Her statement earned her a small smile from her nephew and she gazed at him for a moment before her eyes lit on a photograph just behind his head. Seeing it, she stood, reached over him and plucked the framed picture off the set of drawers before sitting back down to study the image properly. It showed Ryo and Dee together, this time minus Bicky and Cal, looking as content and carefree as two people could possibly be. Ryo was smiling broadly into the camera, his dark eyes twinkling with joy as Dee's head was just slightly turned to gaze adoringly at his lover, his expression reflecting a similar level of happiness. Both men were soaking wet; rain running down their faces and drenching their clothes as Dee had his arm slung affectionately around Ryo's shoulders.

Ryo looked at the picture in his aunt's hands and smiled. "That was a good day," he said, recalling when the photo had been taken. "Dee took me out for the day for my birthday, surprising me with a champagne picnic but it rained solidly all day. He was so disappointed that his plans were messed up that we decided to do it anyway." He glanced back at the photo and laughed softly, thinking about the fun they'd had that day, irrespective of the poor weather. Elena mirrored his expression, unable to miss how in love they were, even in a still photograph. "I suppose it's pointless asking how you met since you work together," she said, setting the picture down on the coffee table, "but how did you actually get together as a couple?"

Ryo smiled. "I was partnered with Dee from the first day I started at the Twenty-Seventh Precinct. To be honest, I thought he was pretty obnoxious at first; he's always been tough and plain speaking and he told me soon after I met him that he liked me."

"So what did you do?"

"Nothing"

"Nothing?" she repeated in surprise.

Ryo shook his head and smiled again. "No. For two and a half years I did nothing." He paused and blushed suddenly. "We'd kissed a few times but other than that, I basically denied there was anything between us."

"So he pursued you for two and a half years?" Elena asked in disbelief. "And he never gave up?"

Again Ryo replied in the negative, still amazed himself that Dee had demonstrated such patience for so long.

"He must really love you," she said, looking back at the handsome dark haired man in the photograph. Ryo thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Yes he does and I love him too."

"I can see that," she replied, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before her expression turned serious. "And you're exactly what he'll need when this nightmare is over."

Ryo bit his lip, determined to keep back fresh tears. "It's been almost a week," he said fearfully, his voice barely audible. "What must he be going through?"

Seeing his defences threatening to crumble again, Elena put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him in close. "Try not to think about it," she said soothingly, "Just put your energies into finding him and when you have him back home, concentrate on making him feel safe and loved. You said he was tough, right?"

Ryo sniffed and nodded, his hand wiping away a stray tear. "Dee's as tough as they come," he said proudly.

"That's good," she replied before glancing at her watch and frowning. "I should get back," she said somewhat reluctantly, "Carrie is going for her first dress fitting tonight and I promised I'd go with her." She looked at him worriedly, studying his tired face. "Unless you need me to stay…"

The blond man shook his head, knowing she had at least a two hour drive ahead of her and not wanting to keep her from enjoying that special experience with her only daughter. "You go," he said, offering her a reassuring smile. "Bicky will be home later. He'll be sorry he missed you."

Elena returned the smile. "I'm glad you have Bicky," she said sincerely, "I'd hate the thought of you never being a father Ryo, you're so good with kids."

There was no malice in her words and Ryo took the compliment graciously as they both stood and Elena began to put on her coat. She started walking to the door and Ryo made to follow her before she paused and turned back to face him. "Oh Ryo?" she said, fastening the buttons on her long suede jacket, "You know it goes without saying that Dee's invited to Carrie's wedding with you and Bicky."

"Really?" Ryo replied, looking surprised. "I don't want to make things awkward for Carrie, it is her wedding day…"

"And you're her cousin, although I guess you're more like her brother, you were so close growing up. Besides, she'll be dying to meet Dee, especially when I tell her how handsome he is."

Ryo smiled as he followed Elena out into the hallway. They walked down to the lobby together and out to her car, which she'd parked in one of the few bays at the front of the building. Seeing the familiar vehicle, Ryo realised what a daze he must have been in when he'd got home earlier, having walked straight past the car and not realised it was his aunt's. After embracing one last time, Elena unlocked the vehicle and was about to climb in when a group of young men passed by. Neither she nor Ryo paid much attention to them until their mutterings grew louder and eventually one called out, "Hey there's that fag cop off the news! Look guys, he's finally decided to get himself a girlfriend!" As they disappeared down the street, shrieking with laughter, Elena frowned and shook her head as Ryo blushed unhappily. "Ignore them Ryo," she said firmly, grasping his hand one last time. "There's no place in this world for ignorance."

Not wanting her to worry anymore, Ryo offered her a reassuring smile. "Thank you for coming Aunt Elena," he said gratefully. "I really appreciate everything you've said. Give my love to Carrie." He shut the car door and stood back as she started the engine. Before pulling away from the kerb, she wound down the window and leaned out. "Promise me you'll ring if you need me," she said firmly, staring straight at her nephew, determined to extract his solemn word from him before she left.

"Promise," he replied. "Safe journey home." As the car disappeared around the corner, Ryo ran a hand through his hair and blew out a long, deep breath before he headed back inside the apartment building determined to have that bath he'd promised himself earlier.

The unremarkable man in his mid twenties crouched behind the wall until the car, occupied by a teenage couple, disappeared around the corner. No one ever came round his current location anymore apart from high school students looking for somewhere to make out away from the prying eyes of their parents. Satisfied that the departed vehicle posed no threat, he stood and headed away from his hiding place, towards the chain link fence, which he scaled easily, and walked in the direction of the deserted buildings. Dusk had fallen, but the man had no difficulty finding his way, even in the half light. He'd made this journey every day for almost a week and he prided himself on knowing every single step. As he climbed through a window, the glass long since smashed, he listened intently for a sound that would warn him someone else had found his hiding place; he was confident that no one would, but vigilance was his watchword. The empty buildings were devoid of anything remotely edible so there were no rats around here to blame unexpected noises on.

He moved through several rooms, ducking a particularly large cobweb which threatened to tangle in his hair until he reached his destination. The room had at one time been an office, away from the main factory floor, although there was no furniture remaining that would testify to its former function. He had chosen this room because of the pillars that stood at each end the room; perfect for securing something, or in this case someone, that he wanted to remain unmoveable. The door wasn't locked, the key long since lost, but that was no matter. The person he had imprisoned in the room would have had to have been Houdini to even make it as far as the door.

Stepping inside the former office, the man could see that the spirit of the legendary escapologist was still very much dead as his captive remained slumped against the pillar at the far end of the room. The shackled man didn't stir as the other came into the room and closed the door behind him, finally flicking on the torch he had carried with him.

"Dear, dear," the man tutted as he surveyed his hostage, "If you don't mind me saying, you look like shit."

No response. Seeing it, he knelt down and slapped the blindfolded face a couple of times. Still nothing. He shone the torch over the other man's body, taking in his sweat-soaked clothes and grimy, fever-wracked skin, lingering on his chest for several moments to check that he was even still breathing. His right foot was at an odd angle to his body and the man knew he'd probably done the limb some serious damage when he'd jumped on it in that fit of temper. He frowned in disgust as the torch light lit on a large pool of vomit to the right of the man's body although he quickly realised that was not the only source of the unpleasant odour that assaulted his nose.

Sniffing like a hunting dog, he located the other smell and prepared to do some more investigation. Despite the fact that his hostage was very clearly unconscious, the man still dug his balaclava out of his pocket and put it on, the torch gripped between his knees as he completed the action. Once his identity was hidden, he knelt back down and began to untie the blindfold, the other man still showing no sign of waking even as his head was jolted around roughly. When he tried to pull the scarf away, he realised that the material was stuck to the broken skin on the man's cheek next to his eye, where he had punched him the first time his hostage had regained consciousness. Although wound wasn't particularly large, the revealed flesh looked putrid, as if necrosis was setting in and the smell that radiated from the wound was almost overpowering.

"Ugh, shit," the man growled as he put his hand to his nose to block out the stench. "That's fucking gross." He replaced the blindfold quickly, mainly to stifle the smell before he stood back and reassessed the situation. The deadline for the police to agree to his terms was tomorrow evening. They had already communicated, as he had instructed, that they were prepared to come to some arrangement in exchange for their detective's safe return and if they fulfilled their end of the bargain, then his survival was their problem as of tomorrow. Realising that the other wasn't going to regain consciousness to take the food and water he'd brought, he sat down on the floor, opened the pack of doughnuts and began to eat them himself. "Don't die yet," he warned, grinning at the lifeless body before him as he stuffed the last one in his mouth and tossed the empty carton over his shoulder. Dusting off his gloved hands, he stood and sauntered from the room, the welfare of the man behind him the furthest thing from his mind as he contemplated what they would do once his brother was released.

Ryo awoke to the ringing of the phone, his first coherent thought being that this was happening far too much lately. Groping for the handset next to the bed, he had barely put it to his ear before the voice at the other end forced him to full consciousness in a split second. "Ryo!" the voice practically yelled, the strong New York accent informing Ryo it was Drake, "We've got a lead! Get to the station quick, we might have found Dee!"

The words were music to Ryo's ears as he leapt from his bed and rushed to dress, trying desperately to remind himself that they hadn't found Dee for definite yet. As he shrugged himself into his shoulder holster he wished Drake had stayed on the phone long enough to give him more information about their new lead, so he could assess whether he had every right to be getting his hopes up. Once he was ready to leave, he woke Bicky and explained to the bleary eyed youth why he was leaving so early. His bright blue eyes had gone wide as he'd sat up and hugged Ryo hard; trying to give the man the support he desperately looked like he needed. "Bring that lunkhead home," he said as Ryo was about to leave, his attempt to lighten the mood with humour not quite meeting the seriousness in his eyes. Ryo nodded and closed the door, hoping he could give Bicky what he asked for.

It seemed to take forever to get to the station and, as he sat behind the wheel of his car watching the vehicles in front inch forward with agonising slowness, Ryo began to understand why Dee got so impatient when he was on the road. "Come on, come on," he muttered, thumping the steering wheel to vent his frustration. On his left, a side street was approaching, unfortunately signposted 'no entry'. Every time they passed that sign on the way to work, Dee would moan loudly about how irritating it was that the road was a one-way street, especially since the other end of the road would bring them out right near the precinct. Occasionally he would threaten to drive up it; his green/grey eyes flashing mischievously as Ryo lectured him on setting a good example to the general public and so on but as far as Ryo was aware, his dark haired lover had never made good of his threat. He tried to decide then whether Dee would have been proud or horrified as he wrenched the wheel to the left and accelerated past the 'no entry' sign to a chorus of outraged horns, relieved that there was no traffic heading his way as he completed the illegal manoeuvre.

He raced into the station and up to his office on the fourth floor to find Drake and several other detectives already there. JJ, Drake informed Ryo, was also due to arrive any time soon as he had been woken by the early morning phone call too. Although JJ was part of the team, Ryo couldn't bear to wait until the younger man arrived to find out why they'd all been called in so early. Sensing Ryo's impatience, Drake produced an evidence bag and handed it to the anxious looking blond. "Forensics found this in the back seat of Dee's car. It's some rope fibres that seem to have been manufactured in a pretty unique way. See the red line?" he said, pointing to something that Ryo could barely make out. "It's kinda like a signature that would make the brand recognisable. Anyway, we tracked down the manufacturer, Monterey-McGillis here in New York to get a list of distributors so we could start trying to find out who sold that rope but we found out something far more interesting." Ryo looked up from the fibres and quirked an eyebrow as Drake sat down opposite him. "The manufacturer went bust several months ago, leaving their factory and headquarters vacant. Apparently they occupied a large site over on the east side, which as far as we can tell, is fairly isolated, making it a perfect place to keep someone hostage for a fairly long period of time. The last security patrols left with Monterey-McGillis and there are no houses nearby, so no one would notice any strange comings and goings. From what we can gather, the buildings are in pretty poor shape."

Before Ryo could formulate one of the dozens of questions flying around in his head, the door opened and JJ stepped into the office, looking much like Ryo with his crumpled shirt and uncoordinated tie, obviously chosen in haste after receiving the phone call that morning. "Is everyone here?" Ryo asked, surveying the assembled men. When he received a nod of affirmation from Drake, he stood quickly, anxious not to waste anymore time. "Then let's go."

TBC…