Disclaimer see chapter 1
Chapter 2
Monday 0800 – 7 hours missing
Danny slowly opened his eyes, to be met with escalating pain. His upper left arm felt like it was on fire; bringing his right hand up he felt the source of the pain. It felt like there was some form of symbol. Turning his head to look at the marking, he gasped. There were five numbers branded on to his arm. Reading them upside down, Danny saw the numbers '53459'. Before he had a chance to get over the shock of being branded or to reason how he got here or even look at his new 'accommodations', there was a bang on the steel door to the left of him. The door swung open and a tall figure stepped into the darkness.
"I see you're awake 53459."
"What…who the hell are you…what do you want?"
A harsh kick to his chest, with steel-capped boots, answered his question. The figure walked across the small cell. "You will only speak to me when I tell you. Answer back or don't answer my questions and that kick will feel like paradise. So 53459, where is your brother?"
"What…what do you want with my brother?"
From what Danny could see in the darkness of his 'cell,' he saw the figure signalling to someone and a couple of words were said in a foreign language. Before Danny could decipher the language, he was being dragged out of the cell, down a passage, into another room. This room looked bigger than his cell, but was equally as dark. The goon pushed him into a cold metal chair and tied his arms behind his back with wire, which had already started to cut into his wrists. There was a click and the dark room flooded with light, temporarily blinding him.
"So 53459, I will ask you again, where is your brother?"
"I don't know, and what the hell do you want with my brother?"
"You're lying 53459, and you asked me a question. That pisses me off. 53459 have you ever had any teeth extracted?"
Danny's eyes darted around the room looking for an escape route, a weapon, anything. But the only thing he saw was a pair of rusty pliers. A goon grabbed his head. "So one more time, where is your brother?"
"Please, I don't know, I swear, I really don't know, the last I saw him was over year ago."
"Fine, if you want it this way."
Another goon stepped up and forced Danny's mouth open, as Molotov, the imposing figure, forced the pliers into Danny's mouth. Molotov found what he was looking for, a wisdom tooth, gripping the pliers around the tooth he pulled. Danny cried out as his mouth started to fill with blood, black spots to started to appear in his vision. He tried to put his head down so he wouldn't choke on the blood, but the goons kept it in place. Finally his head was released and he let the blood flow from his mouth. "So I will ask you again, where is your brother?"
Danny struggled to take a breath, "I promise you I really don't know." A gun was smashed across his face, just on the site of the newly extracted tooth. The black spots in his vision began to grow and darkness beckoned, he welcomed it.
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NY FBI HQ – Missing persons unit
Monday 0930 – 8:5 hours missing
Sam walked into the office and looked around. Jack was in his office, Viv was on the phone and Martin was reading a newspaper while eating. It appeared to be typical morning at work. Little did she know this would all change and that they would be investigating a case that they all thought about, but prayed would never happen, the missing person being one of them.
"Morning, seen Danny yet?" asked Martin, with a mouth full of food.
"No, but he's gotta get the subway in. His car is in the shop," Sam explained
"Oh, well it's a good thing that Jack is in a really good mood, you guys being late and all," Martin replied sarcastically
Sam smiled, "True, have we got a case yet?" as she glanced up at the blank whiteboard.
"Not yet, but I have a feeling that it is going to be a day of glorious paperwork." Martin laughed; Sam saw her chance and grabbed the sports section of Martin's paper.
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Somewhere in NY City
Same Time
"So do we have the location and responses yet?" growled the tallest of the three men.
"No, but please Dropshot, you have to give us more time, we now have a source," Bradley replied his voice trembling with fear.
"A source?"
"Yes, we kidnapped Alvarez's brother; he's an FBI agent in New York."
Dropshot, looked at Bradley with disgust, "Let me get this straight. You KIDNAPPED an FBI AGENT, while we are trying to stay under the radar?" With that, Dropshot drew his gun and fired two shots into Bradley's chest at point blank range, and with an icy cold tone, he turned to Hutchison. "Don't screw up."
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Undisclosed location
Monday 1100 - 12 hours missing
The steel door swung open, and a bucket of ice-cold water was thrown over the figure in the corner of the dark cell. Molotov strode across the cell and stood over Danny, signalling to his goons. Danny was dragged back into the room. Where the wire was tied around his wrists and another bucket of ice-cold water was thrown over him. Danny slowly opened his eyes, trying to blink away the headache and the pain.
"53459, in our last 'little chat', you fell 'asleep', this angered me. You will pay for this mistake before we continue our chat."
In the corner of the room, Danny saw a goon powering up, what looked electro system. The goon handed Molotov the two wires, which he snapped together causing a huge sparks and cracking. Danny looked at Molotov and the two wires then at his wet bare chest. This was really going to hurt, he thought, and passing out wasn't an option. Molotov thrusted the two wires onto Danny's chest. Danny's eyes watered as he tried not to cry out or pass out.
"I hope you have learned your lesson…Now back to our chat."
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Monday 1200 – 13 hours missing
NY FBI HQ – Missing persons unit
"Jack, I have been trying his home and cell for over an hour. Something isn't right. Why don't we just check it out? It's not as if we have anything important going on right now," Sam said looking down at her paperwork.
Jack looked at the blank whiteboard hoping that Danny's picture would not be appearing on it. He hoped that Danny had just overslept. But in reality how possible was it to sleep through almost continuous ringing of his phone for over an hour?
"Ok, does anyone know what time he left last night?" Jack asked his team.
Sam spoke up, "He left with me at around 9:30 last night, and we had dinner at the Thai place and then headed down to subway. That was last time I saw him. It must have been around 11."
Jack and Sam headed out towards the Bronx, where Danny lived. After 20 minutes, they arrived at Danny's apartment. It wasn't in what you could call the best of areas, but Danny appeared happy living there. Inside it was a typical 1960s building, a mass of corridors all of which made no logical sense.
"What floor does he live on?" asked Jack
"5th and the elevator is probably out of order, it always is"
"So you've been to Danny's apartment a lot then?"
"Yes, you have a problem with that?" snapped Sam and then realized she was too harsh. "God I am so sorry Jack. I am just really worried…something just doesn't feel right"
"Don't worry about it Sam, but for the record, we all are worried about Danny," Jack sighed looking away as they climbed the stairs. Although he would never admit it, Danny was like the son he had never had. Putting his hand on Sam's shoulder, "I am sure it's nothing Sam. We'll knock on the door and a severely embarrassed looking Danny will appear at the door."
"I hope so Jack, I really hope so."
When they reached the 5th floor, they were both slightly out of breath. Sam took the lead down the corridor to the right, stopping six doors down, at number 514. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked on the flimsy wood, "Danny, are you in there, it's Sam." There was no reply, so she tried again still no reply. Reaching into her pocket, Sam retrieved the copy of Danny's key, before opening the door. They both unholstered their guns. After establishing that neither Danny nor anyone else was in the small apartment, they started to search for evidence. Danny's shoes were on the floor as was his jacket, but neither looked suspicious.
"His gun and badge are locked up. Have you found anything?" asked Jack
"Maybe" Sam said crouching over something by the couch. "I think it may be blood." Jack walked over and looked at the small drops of a dark substance.
"I'll call forensics." Jack pulled out his cell, "Viv, I think Danny is missing."
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Undisclosed location
Monday 1200 - 13 hours missing
"I will ask you again, 53459, where is your brother?"
"I don't know, and what you want with my brother?"
One of Molotov's goons started to kick Danny in the chest, while Molotov, started to warm up the electro machine. "53459, 53459 when will you learn, that you don't ask me questions? But I am in a good mood, so I will tell you. Your brother owes us over a half million dollars."
"H-half million bucks, what for?"
"What do you think? Now 53459, I strongly advise you to start talking"
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Somewhere in NY city
Hutchison pulled this coat closer to his body as the icy east wind whipped around him. Dropshot was a psycho; he had killed Bradley without a blink of an eye. What the hell he was going to happen to him? He just needed the money, Mary was at college and Todd wanted to go to. How was he going to fund it? Then this 'job' came up, simply transport a substance from one dealer to another, and there was $500,000 in his pocket, easy money. He should have realised before what this was about. But by the time he realised what he was involved in, he was too deep. At least his family was outside of the city when this went down. Hutchison looked up and saw Dropshot approach him.
"Have you got the Intel I need?"
"Not yet, but we are working on it. Dropshot, we left no trace. We wore forensic suits and even changed the van's tyres. They will never link the kidnapping to this cell."
"I hope so…for you and your family's sake."
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FBI NY HQ
Monday 1300 - 14 hours missing
Jack stared at the whiteboard. It was not that he couldn't bring himself to put Danny's photo on the board, but more placing Danny's photo on the board would make it official and there was no way Van Doran would let them work the case. "Have we got the forensic information back on Danny's apartment yet?"
"Yes," replied Martin as he walked towards the table with a couple of sheets of paper. "The substance was blood, but no more than you would get from a shaving cut."
"Martin, it was in the middle of the living room. Do you walk around your apartment shaving?" asked Vivian
"No, but I was just saying that it was more than likely to be an innocent explanation…anyway the rest of the apartment was clean."
"Too clean?"
"No, just your normal lived-in apartment."
"Remember his cell, wallet and keys where also in this apartment, but there were no signs of a struggle"
"Drugged?" asked Martin
"Yes that has to a possibility, let's get a timeline together," Jack ordered.
"I left the office with Danny at around 2130, we walked to the new Thai place on Reade Street, we left there at about 2230, wandered down to the subway where I got on my train home." Sam drew a shaky breath, "I last saw him on the platform, god what if I was the last person to see him and he's in some kind of trouble."
"It's ok Sam. He will be all right. We will find him. How did he seem to you?" Jack asked.
Sam took a couple of deep breaths to try and calm herself, "Upset, down but otherwise ok."
Martin looked up and asked the question that they that all been thinking but didn't what to ask, "Do you think he, well do you think he could be in a bar or—"
He was sharply cut off by Sam. "How could you think that Martin? God, you claim to be his friend, you claim to know him, but in reality you don't. A-and n-now you may never know the true Danny Taylor"
"Sam I know you're upset but it was a perfectly legitimate question. If it was a normal case, you would of asked the same question," Vivian said trying to calm Sam down.
"No you just don't understand," Sam said, as she quickly stood up and stormed out, leaving the team stunned. As tears threatened, she swiftly made her way to the restroom, where she collapsed against the wall. She didn't really understand her relationship with Danny at times, but one thing she did know that he probably was the most important, uncomplicated person in her life and now he was missing, perhaps forever.
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Undisclosed location
Monday 1800 – 19 hours missing
Danny didn't know long he had been out since his last torture session or 'chat' depending on whose opinion it was, Danny's or Molotov's, but it felt like hours. Slowly sitting up, Danny started on things he did know; he knew he was cold, in a hell of a lot of pain and was in the same cold, damp cell that he had started this torment in. After getting those facts out of the way, he began to ponder more complex issues. So Raphi owed these guys a half million bucks, why take him? Danny didn't remember a camera in the room, but Molotov could have taken a photo of his bloody and battered form when he was unconscious. If he was here, just how much danger was Raphi in? Judging on his treatment today, he didn't know how much he could take and if this was the treatment he was getting—what was happening to Raphi? He needed to escape, but how? Squinting in the darkness, Danny took a proper look at the cell. It was about 8 x 6, there was a heavy metal door, and opposite the door then was a small opening. Even if he could reach the opening, he could never fit through it. In the far corner of the cell, Danny spied a water glass. He had once read in a Delta Force manual, about scraping away the cement in-between the bricks, to make a hole in the wall. Even thought this method would take days, possibly weeks, it was his best bet. In order to preserve his strength, he crawled across to the small cell to the glass. Holding it in is right hand, Danny smashed it against the wall. Holding the largest and sharpest piece of glass, he started the lengthily procedure of scraping away the cement. After a while he found it strangely relaxing. He thought of the team. Was he their newest case? God he hoped so. He trusted them with his life and he just hoped they would find him.
Danny dropped the piece of glass and quickly hid it, when he heard some heavy footfalls coming towards his cell. Soon the heavy metal door swung open and Molotov walked in accompanied by another figure. The other figure stepped out of the shadows.
"53459, what are the government's responses to a biological attack on New York City?" asked Dropshot.
TBC……
Thank you for reading, I hope the torture scenes were not too graphic, if they were please say and I will try and tone it down.
Dropshot is an actual codename that the US used during the Cold War. I was reading materials for my dissertation when I came across it. I will try and update soon. Oh and please review.