Title: The Devil You Know

Synopsis: Spoilers for 'Tanglewood'. To show Detective Mac Taylor that they mean business… the Tanglewood boys kidnap Danny Messer.

Pairing: Danny Messer/Mac Taylor (later), Sonny Sassone/Danny Messer (non-con)

Rating: NC-17 (for language, mentions of rape, and sex)

Author: Princess Tepes

Authors Notes: This is dedicated to Jilly and inspired by the song 'Numb' by Holly McNarland. This is not for people who like Stella… seriously.

II.

Mac had worked himself up into a frenzy by the time Stella Bonasera, Aiden Burn, and a few other CSI's had arrived. The frantic sound in Mac's voice and his call for numerous investigators… Stella had expected a much more convoluted crime scene. Stella was less the pleased when she saw the crime scene. It had barely been touched… only a few things were out of place. The coffee table in front of the couch had been overturned, the kitchen table was completely empty… the dishes and other things on them were strewn across the floor and the phone was off the hook. Her first blush was that Danny had threw a temper tantrum after the events of today and took off, being as immature as he usually was, he didn't tell anyone. She rolled her eyes and looked around. Aiden and another one of the investigators… John something, had gone off to search the bedroom.

Stella, who usually respected Mac's decisions, couldn't help but question his judgment call on this one. She turned to a couple of the investigators she had brought along with her and quietly instructed them to go home. She stepped out into the hallway and called the lab, letting the techs know that they could go make to their normal duties because the case wasn't as high profile as Mac had originally guessed. Mac was looking over some notes John had been making as well as his crime scene sketch. Stella walked back in and wondered if she could dismiss John without Mac noticing. Stella walked over.

"Hey John." She greeted politely. He merely nodded at her, not looking up from the fiber he was examining, trying to identify it without the help of a microscope. She licked her lips. "Why don't you go on home," She suggested. "This case isn't that big of a deal, I'm pretty sure it's open and shut. I don't even think a crime has been committed, come to think of it." Stella explained to John. John shook his head.

"Sorry Detective Bonasera… I got lead on this, Sheriff's orders. You and Mac are way too involved with Detective Messer to be objective about this case." John said easily. Stella wanted to hit him all of a sudden. She sighed and nodded. John walked off towards the bathroom. Stella looked at Mac and walked over to him.

"Go on home, Mac. Sleep a bit. I'm sure Danny's fine."

But Danny was not fine… he was not fine at all. There was blood spilling from his nose and mouth. Sonny had hit him pretty hard that time. He couldn't see any color but red… and he couldn't raise his head from the ground as he watched the crimson liquid drip to the ground like falling tears. He used one arm in a futile gesture to wipe away some of the blood… but it was like shoveling the snow in a blizzard. Sonny watched him try and get rid of the blood and he let out a hearty laugh.

"Had enough, Messer?" Sonny asked his voice cruel and caustic. He heard the other Tanglewood boys, Tony Baba and Joe Spengal, laugh at that. Danny felt a stab of pain run through him. Sonny grinned down at him and kicked him in the ribs, causing him to cough up more blood. Danny's entire body felt like he was gonna die. He heard the other two laughing again but it sounded far away as blood rushed in his ears. He fought to maintain his equilibrium, but felt off center and his arms felt like they were going numb.

"Look at 'im on his hands and knees like the dog he is…" Sonny mentioned with that same sadistic grin in place. Sonny kicked Danny's arms out from beneath him, crashing his already hurting face into the hard cement. Sonny put his foot on Danny's back, preventing any struggle. He put a lot of weight down on Danny's back, Danny let out a grunt of pain. Tony and Joe cheered as Danny's tight control began to fail. Sonny laughed too and stomped down. Danny let out a soft cry. He watched as Danny struggled to gain some control over himself as he struggled to get out beneath his captors foot. Sonny smirked and landed a sickening blow to his head.

"Lets go boys…" Sonny said as Danny slipped back into unconsciousness.

Mac was sitting in his office, foot bouncing with nervousness. Jane Parsons was running a DNA sample through CODIS at this instance. His heart was racing. He closed his eyes against his heavily beating heart. Jane walked out in a few seconds and Mac sprung up, on her faster than a pack of hyenas on an injured zebra.

"Well? Did you get a hit?" He asked. His impatience was overwhelming and Jane tried to keep a calm demeanor even though she knew what she had to tell him wouldn't make him very happy. She gave him a small reassuring smile, but it came off as a very weak imitation.

"It hit compliance, Mac. The blood was Danny's." She said. She winced as Mac balled his fist and looked for the entire world like he was going to hit something or someone, like her. She took a step back before Mac turned on his heel and stalked off. Jane watched after him and shook her head, feeling a wave of sympathy. Jane sighed and went back into the DNA lab—she had a feeling that it was going to be a very long night.

Mac had stormed down the hallway in order to reign in his anger and his desire to gut someone, preferably the blonde standing in front of him. Waves of anger crashed through him. Of all the times to have a dead end… he knew that time was of the essence, it always was in kidnapping cases. Especially since he had a pretty good idea as to who had done it. Aiden walked up, looking solemn. She swallowed.

"Mac… the fiber we found at Danny's place is um… white cotton fiber, like from a towel or something. Um… it has traces of chloroform on it…" She explained gently, knowing that white cotton fibers were impossible to match because of how common they were. Mac looked defeated, for a brief moment, it flashed in his eyes before his anger came back and he scowled.

"We're going back to the scene." He said, storming off towards Danny's apartment.

Aiden looked around for something she hadn't noticed before and wondered if there was any chance someone hadn't dusted for prints. She sighed… now she remembered. John had only done the living room because Stella had sent the other two investigators back to the lab. She sighed and hoped she packed extra fingerprint powder because she knew that Mac would want every square inch of exposed surface dusted for prints.

Mac was examining the bedroom again, trying to find something that was out of place. He went into his kit and grabbed the mini-vacuum and he began to run it on the carpet… hoping that Danny kept his apartment fairly well kept and that the kidnappers hadn't been smart enough to vacuum before they left. He vacuumed every single inch of the carpet, marking each square with a number marker and using a separate bag for each section.

Aiden continued dusting for prints, finding that most of the surfaces had been wiped down. She looked at the phone and wondered if it had gotten dusted for print. She looked at the phone and deduced that it hadn't and she stood up to walk over to the phone. She dusted it with a practiced ease and almost crowed with joy when she saw two sets of prints. She lifted all of the separate prints on the phone as carefully as she could. She put them down in her kit and dusted some of the harder to clean surfaces, hoping someone would match up in AFIS. When she finished her dusting, she walked to the door of the bedroom, wondering if Mac was almost done.

Mac was just finishing up and she gave Mac a smile.

"I found some prints on the phone as well as on the bathroom door handle." She said, hoping that news might cheer him up a bit. Mac nodded.

"Alright… let's get back to the lab then."

When Danny awoke next, the lights had been dimmed a little. He thought maybe it was a little bit of compassion, but then he realized that one of the bulbs had blown out. His face hurt like a son of a bitch. Danny's entire body tensed when the door opened, but it wasn't Sonny… it was Joe. He set down a bowl that had food in it; well, at least Danny assumed it was food. Joe laughed wickedly. He walked over to Danny and buckled a collar around his neck.

"There ya go, pup." He said with a sneer in his voice. He attached a leash and kicked Danny in the side. "Eat up." He said and a smug little look came on his face. "You're gonna need a lot of energy for what Sonny's gonna do to you."