Ch. 16
" Voice mail again," Stella said. She dropped her cell back into her coat pocket. " Time to worry yet?"
Mac glanced at Stella. " He could be back home, sleeping. Aiden said she thought he looked tired."
Stella dropped her head back against the seat rest. " What was he even doing there?"
" Cabin fever comes to mind," Mac replied, craning his neck when traffic slowed, searching out the source of the potential lay-up. A methodical pace didn't mean a traffic jam was forthcoming, but Mac was ready to flip on the flashing lights if it came down to it. The situation really didn't call for such a measure, but Mac felt he didn't have the patience to sit through a jam.
Stella's head shot up and around. She was glaring at Mac, something only she ever had the tenacity to do. " You know, I may be reading your tone wrong, but it sounds to me like you're not even the tiniest bit worried."
A space opened up beside Mac, and he move into it, passing five cars hindered by a sixth rusted out vehicle barely moving at a crawl.
" You are," Mac said. " I am worried. But I'm not going to jump to any conclusions because of it. You know Danny. You know he's not the kind who likes sitting still for too long, especially if something's going on. Going to Aiden's was probably in an act to unwind, get some air."
Mac did another glance at Stella, who had gone back to staring at him, this time incredulously.
" And that doesn't sound – oh, I don't know – dangerous to you? Didn't you say there was a possibility that these people we're now investigating might try and do something to him? Again, I may be reading into things wrong, but you sounded pretty nervous when you told me about it, and nervous isn't one of your regularly expressed emotions Mac."
Mac took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Stella's rise in agitation wasn't unexpected. She'd been on the verge of absolute fear since...
Since Danny got hit by a car. Stella wasn't normally a pessimistic person, but if anyone had a right to be paranoid right now, it was her. It didn't matter how thick the mental armor someone put on, everyone had a breaking point. And Stella had more than even she realized. As hard as she wanted to be on the outside, that shell couldn't hold back the soft heart she harbored on the inside.
" They won't kill him," Mac said. " They wouldn't be that stupid."
" What about accidentally?" Stella countered. " What if they go too far, or Danny fights back? A couple of hard punches to the ribs," Stella snapped her fingers, " and that's it, he's dead."
Mac said nothing to that. Stella had a point. Maybe an exaggerated point, but an exaggeration not worth taking a chance on. A punctured lung was what nearly did Danny in – twice. First nearly drowning him in blood, second nearly drowning him in fluid. Not something someone would want to go through a second time around.
Stella pulled her phone back out and redialed Danny's number. She placed it to her ear and kept it there until voice mail picked up, signified by Stella doing another redial.
Mac knew better than to outwardly react. Visual displays of panic did no one any good, especially not those already upset enough as it was. But inside, Mac felt his tempered concern shift toward full-on worry. Even asleep, Danny would get annoyed enough with the chirp of his cell to answer it. Patience wasn't always a virtue with Danny.
" When we get back to the lab," Mac said, " I'll send Don over to Danny's place, see if he's there. If he is, Flack can chew him out for us."
" And if he's not?" Stella asked.
" Then you get to see me nervous all over again."
CSINY
Danny's phone started ringing, and he didn't know whether to call the timing impeccable or ironic. He kept his hands hanging loosely at his sides though his fingers twitched to answer the cell out of habit.
Jack, smirking, shook his head. " Don't even think about it, Messer."
Danny put his free hand behind himself against his lower spine and leaned with his back against the wall. " You're a stereotype, you know that Jack? Even what you say's too freakin' predictable. So what do you want to talk about?"
Jack turned his head to mumble something incoherent to a few of his cronies. Three men pulled themselves from the circle walling Danny in and dispersed down the alleys, leaving only the junky Al and some guy with a black goatee. Danny watched the three go. He tried to keep his posture casual but felt tensed up enough for his backbone to snap.
Jack had sent the three to go play watchmen, to redirect anyone who happened to wander down the side street to where Jack was having his conference. The connotations of this wreaked havoc with Danny's pretense of indifference. Not that there was any reason to keep up the pretense to begin with. Jack wasn't stupid, and Danny wasn't naïve. Danny's unease was increasing, and Jack knew it. He was like a wolf scenting fear, but Danny hadn't reached the point of being afraid yet. Jack wasn't about to do anything that would give one Calvin Messer second thoughts concerning a certain piece of damning evidence.
But Jack knew how to hurt without leaving a mark. And for him to send out a few of his boys to keep watch meant that he had something along the lines of hurt in good mind.
When the three were out of sight, Jack began to pace in short strides, turning on his heels after three steps. Goatee was statue still with his hands clasped before him and wearing no apparent expression. Al seemed to attempt to follow suit, but his jerking leg wouldn't cooperate. Danny held no doubts that the man was high at this very moment.
" Some pals of yours dropped by my dad's restaurant," Jack said, sniffing. " Out of the blue. Though, mind you, not out in the open. Caught 'em on surveillance pokin' around the trucks. No bangin' on the front door, flashin' a warrant. Just slipped in, slipped out, quit as rats and quiet as snakes. See, Danny, my dad's what you would call kind of paranoid – not that it's a bad thing. He didn't like seeing faces he didn't know wanderin' around the back lot where we bring in the food. One of the guy's that worked for us said something about safety inspection. But my dad – come on, Messer, you really think he's that stupid? We recognized your buddy – what's his name, last name starts with an F? Detective, dark hair, seen him talkin' to you on occasion. Anyways, I knew just from seein' his face what was goin' down, and I thought to myself..." he stopped pacing and turned to look at Danny, " maybe Messer might know somethin' about this. So, do you Messer? You know somethin'? Been sending your pals in to sniff around my dad's place? Hopin' to find somethin' to get your dad off the hook?"
Danny's eyes never left Quinn. The escalating unease was making his heart beat fast. But he didn't say anything toward the affirmative or negative to what Jack had told him. In some ways, Jack's suspicions were true, Danny had inadvertently pointed Mac and the team in Quinn's direction. Danny opted for silence since nothing he would say would do to convince Jack of anything. Plus – though the repercussions would be ugly – a small part of Danny was basking in Jack's apparent agitation over this new development. It was nice seeing Jack rattled for a change.
Jack, a grin plastered to his face, narrowed his eyes and resumed his short pacing without ever looking away from Danny. " Wow, Messer, never thought you had it in you to keep your mouth so dang shut. Little late for that, don't you think?"
Danny lifted one shoulder in a shrug as a response. Jack chuckled.
" Messer, you little SOB, what're you tryin' to pull? What do you hope to accomplish by sic'n your people on us? You're only hurtin' yourself."
Jack did another round about on his heels, scraping the asphalt. But instead of taking another three steps the other way, he took three steps toward Danny. Danny's heart slammed against his sternum. On the outside, he didn't even blink. The smile was gone from Jack's face as Jack looked Danny over. Danny swallowed, hard, and knew Jack had spotted it, had seen it as a visible betrayal to what Danny was really feeling. But the movement of Danny's throat was only a confirmation to what was already known, so Danny didn't care.
Jack leaned in toward Danny, his fogged breath momentarily obscuring his face behind a white cloud. Danny scented garlic on that breath.
" Why'd you do it, Danny? Huh? When'd you get so stupid?"
Danny narrowed his eyes. " The restaurant thing, it just happened, Quinn. I didn't mean for it to, it just did. Besides, knowin' you, they won't find anything, right? I mean do you even know why they were sniffin' around? Do you even know what they were lookin' for? Because if you don't, and you have nothin' to hide, then why are you here? Why're you talkin' to me? What's the big deal?"
Jack straightened and took a step back. The smirk had reappeared, but something about it seemed more like a half-hearted attempt, difficult to maintain. Danny had to force back the reaction of realization that was swelling in him, since Danny knew that smirk. It was what came before the literal fall, when Jack went from being cocky to being furious. Danny had struck a nerve, and a nasty one at that, by uncovering Jack's one mistake. Had Jack been playing it safe, he wouldn't have come to Danny about his dad's place being under investigation. He would have avoided Danny all together, lay low for a few days until the heat either passed or lessened to a manageable degree. But Jack had reacted, which meant that he was worried.
It meant that he was hiding something.
" It's what Quinns are good at, right?" Danny went on. " Covering their ass?" A voice was screaming in his head to stop before the right series of nerves were plucked and Jack went over the edge. But Danny didn't want to stop. He wanted Jack to blow a fuse and react. The right amount of violence on Jack's part, and Danny would have something to use that could throw his tormentor's butt behind bars.
If Danny survived Jack's reaction.
Jack pointed a rigid finger at Danny, " You think you got me there, Messer?" then dropped it. " Maybe I just don't like the fact that you sent cops lurkin' like bloodhounds around my dad's favorite restaurant. I take offense to it, that's all. Nothin' to hide. Just wanted you to know that. Hey, by the way, caught a glimpse of your lady friend you were just with. She's hot. She available?"
" She's too smart for you, Jack. You might have a hemorrhage trying to comprehend anything she has to say."
Jack snickered. " Mature, Messer, very mature. But, hey, I like 'em with brains. Nothin' I can't handle. Not like we'd be doin' a lot of talking..."
Anger was shoving its away into Danny whether he liked it or not, welling up in his chest until it tightened. He pushed off from the wall with his hand raised in the air, turning to go. " We done here, Quinn? 'Cause its obvious you just want to make a crap-load of crude threats..."
Al stepped in front of Danny to block his way. Danny glared him down. " You wanna move? Or is that too much for that fried brain of yours to handle?"
Al, blood-shot eyes burning, took a step toward Danny. A heavy hand landed on Danny's wounded shoulder, squeezing then spinning him around. Jack, leering, gave Danny's shoulder another squeeze. The pain ran like acid down Danny's arm and side. Gasping, he jerked his shoulder away, only to have the hand return.
" You can't go yet, Messer. I'm not done talkin' to you. Now, seriously, what's that chick's number 'cause I'd really like to..."
Between the pain, the anger, and Danny being all out sick of both, he had plenty of motive for no longer caring. He became momentarily blinded to all else but the physical torment and rage burning through him, making the blood pound in his ears and his vision film over with red.
" Get your freakin' hands off me!" he screamed, and followed it up with a hard left into Jack's jaw. The adrenaline backing the punch caused Jack's head to snap around, and in the brief second of distraction Danny yanked off his sling to free his right arm. Using both hands, he grabbed Jack by the collar of his coat, yanked him around, and slammed him into the wall while shouting an endless stream of profanities. The agony of using his right arm was lost to him in that moment, and even its weakness from lack of use was no hindrance when he decked Jack again, knocking him to the ground, then picking him up for another blow. Hands grabbed his arms and shoulders, trying to haul him back, so Danny whirled around to deck the nearest guy trying to restrain him. Goatee went stumbling back, clutching his nose, and Danny went back to pummeling Jack. Jack had scrambled to his feet but not in time when Danny was on him, pounding and slamming away.
Jack managed a few punches of his own, yet was too busy for any more trying to ward off Danny's rain of attacks.
" Now you know how it freakin' feels!" Danny screamed again, lifting Jack for another slam against the wall. Fury had put a haze over Danny's mind, and a voice in Danny's head that shrieked at him to keep going, keep attacking, to never stop until Jack stopped. Because if Danny stopped, and Jack wasn't down, then Jack would be the one to attack – Danny and everyone Danny knew. And what Jack would dish out would be far worse than anything Danny was doing to him right now.
Experience had taught him that, and Danny couldn't let it happen.
Hands still tried to pull him away from Jack. The sensation was distant, even feeble, but irritating. Danny tried to shake them off but they stuck to him like burrs. He heard a click, and the sound shattered through the red haze, forcing his mind to consider the possibility of a gun being cocked at the ready. But he kept hitting, even when Jack hit back. Danny was aware of a painfully cold, stinging sensation running down his back, and it made him pause in surprise.
Jack took advantage of that pause, grabbing Danny by the collar of his coat, then swinging him around to slam him into the wall. On impact, the sting became a raging fire that ripped through him, snatching the air from his lungs. Jack stumbled back, wiping away the blood running like rivers from his nose and mouth. He pointed a shaking finger at Danny.
" You're dead, Messer. You hear me? You're dead!"
Danny heard Jack, but the words didn't register. The pain in his back was terrible. He felt cold, dizzy, heavy. He began to slide down the wall, and when he did, Jack's eyes rounded over.
" What the hell?" he breathed, taking a step back. Goatee also stared with his jaw slack, but Al was grinning like an idiot, holding a switchblade before him. The business end dripped with blood. Danny stared at it numbly, then forced his unsteady hand behind his back, on left side. He felt the rip in the material of his coat, as well as his shirt and under shirt. But that was as far as he could handle going. When he pulled his hand out, it was covered in his blood.
Shocked, confused, Danny looked at Jack as though he held the answer, even with the answer right in front of him. Jack looked at Danny's bloody hand, then at Al's bloody knife, and began shaking his head.
" Aw, no, no, hell no. Al you freakin' moron! What the hell did you do!"
Al dropped his smile and blinked in confusion. " I – I... he was poundin' you, Jack! I couldn't get him off. What's the problem?"
" What's the problem?" Jack hissed, stalking toward Al. He shoved the smaller man back. " What's the problem! If he dies, I'm screwed! That's the problem! I told you this! You stupid, freakin' crack-head, I told you this!"
" I – I didn't stab him, I just cut him!" Al stammered.
Goatee came up behind Jack. " We need to dump him, get rid of the body before anyone finds it."
Jack looked over at Danny. Panting, Danny slogged through the fog of pain enough to meet Jack's gaze. Shock was making Danny's mind reel, but Jack needed to realize that to let Danny die was the worse move the man could possibly make. Sucking in a sharp breath, Danny used it to cough out a laugh.
" Y-you're screwed," he gasped. He wanted to laugh again. It was funny. Danny had placed Jack exactly where Jack did not want to be. But the pain wouldn't let Danny enjoy it.
" Son of a..." Jack mumbled. He quickly strode over to Danny, grabbing him beneath the armpits and lifting him up. Danny let loose a broken scream at the combination agony-torrent from his arm, ribs, and back.
" Help me get him up!" Jack barked. Goatee hurried over to stand behind Danny. A white faced Al stayed rooted to the spot.
" Aw man," Goatee moaned as he took Danny by the bicep and aided Jack in lifting the CSI to his feet. " There's a lotta blood, Jack."
" Stop the bleeding," Jack said, pulling Danny's arm across his shoulders. Danny stiffened. It just had to be his right arm being yanked around.
" What?" Goatee said, doing the same as Jack with Danny's other arm.
" Stop the freakin' bleeding!"
" How!"
" I don't know! Cover the cut."
" It's huge!"
" Where it's bleeding the most!"
Pain was released another intense wave when Goatee placed his hand over the gash and pressed in on it.
" Aw man," Goatee moaned again. They half-carried, half-dragged Danny from the alley.
" Questions are gonna be asked, Al, and you're the one who's gonna take the heat," Jack said. " Get a Taxi!"
The guy guarding the alley entrance glanced back, did a double take, then hurried out onto the sidewalk. When Jack emerged, a Taxi was waiting.
" I'm goin' alone," Jack mumbled. " Too many people, too many questions asked. You just clean up the mess. And make sure Al doesn't bolt."
Goatee and the guard helped Jack slide Danny into the cab. Once in, Jack slid in beside him.
" Hospital, now," Jack growled. He kept one hand on the back of Danny's neck to keep him up. Not that Danny needed it. The pain in his back was keeping him rigid as a tree. The world was spinning all around Danny, and it was making him ill. Slowly, he reached back behind him, risking potential vomiting to asses the wound by touch. To lessen the chances of expunging the little he'd had for breakfast, he felt along the ripped material of his coat that started at the shoulder blade and extended down to the middle rib, running parallel an inch from his spine. He shuddered.
" It's okay, pal, we're gonna make it," Jack was saying, over and over, patting Danny's shoulder with his other hand.
" He okay?" the cabby asked.
" No!" Jack snapped. " We just got freakin' mugged! Some SOB tried to lay my pal open here. He's losin' blood, so can you step on it?"
" Why didn't you call an ambulance?"
" I'm not waitin' for any ambulance!"
Danny almost laughed when he heard his phone ringing. He could have sworn he heard it ringing during the fight, but he'd been a little preoccupied with the sweet heat of fury to notice much else say for Jack's bloody face.
" You say anything," Jack hissed in a low whisper. " And I swear I'll finish what Al started and gut you afterwards. Then I'll do the same to your lady friend and your pops."
Not even Danny could say if it was a threat Jack would make do on, but Danny wasn't going to risk it. He just needed to bide his time. Jack really was screwed, it didn't matter what he did. But if someone had to die, it was either going to be Jack or Danny. Danny would make sure of it.
Traffic was still loose and free-flowing, so the time it took to reach the hospital was cut in half. The cabby pulled up directly in front of the emergency doors. He turned, his mouth half open, when Jack threw a small wad of cash at him.
" Keep the change. You'll need it to get the blood out."
Though it made Danny's mind spin to move his head, Danny glanced behind himself to see blood smeared on the seat. He grinned at the morbid irony of leaving blood behind in a cab. It seemed fitting. A cab was always present at the most violent moments of his life.
Danny was snapped from his clouded rumination when Jack yanked Danny's arm back around his shoulders. Danny cried out and tried to pull back, but the pain had reduced his strength to that of a child, a very small child.
" Man, I think you're hurting him..." the cabby said. Jack kicked the door closed behind him and hauled Danny through the sliding emergency room doors.
" Can I get a little help here!" Jack cried. Danny kept trying to pull away, so Jack yanked on his arm again. Two nurses hurried from around the front desk, and another appeared from the hallway to the right. They took Danny from Jack, and the moment Danny's arm was away from Jack's shoulders, he snatched it to his chest and held it there.
" I wanna go with him," Jack said as the nurses helped Danny down the hall. Danny could feel Jack's hot breath on the back of his neck.
" Sorry, sir, you need to wait out here," said the blond nurse. Danny closed his eyes and smiled.
Thank you lady.
" Come on, he's my buddy."
" Sorry sir. Besides, you look like you could use a check-up yourself."
" Can you tell us what happened?" said the Hispanic nurse.
" Mugging. Listen, he's really spooked. I need to stick around in case he starts freakin' out or somethin'."
" Like hell you do," Danny snarled. He felt Jack's hand back on its favorite shoulder.
" You know I do, pal. Hey, you want me to call your girl? Tell her what happened? Or your dad? I've got their number right here."
The red-hazed rage was trying to make a comeback, but couldn't subdue the overwhelming pain that was making Danny's legs weak. Danny tried to turn, to jerk around and lunge at Jack. But all he managed was turning his head to see Jack fall back, holding up Danny's cell phone and grinning. The phone was ringing, and a nurse was warning Jack not to answer it.
" Wasn't planning to," Jack said, and dropped the phone into his pocket.
CSINY
A/N: Another lovely cliffie. My apologies. But, since we're nearing the end and everything's finally in order outline-wise, chapters should be quicker in coming. And if you think what just happened to Danny was bad, wait until you see what I have in store for the end.