I love all you guys that reviewed even the person that kind of flamed me... but I wanted to clarify two things for that person... I write on my own ideas and schedule, and it's spelled stupid, not stupied... If you're going to flame me at least know how to spell!
Jesse anxiously watched the clock, counting the minutes as the hands on the clock slowly inched forward. He knew that he was probably being overprotective, but he also knew what could happen if Tran kidnapped Dom, Vince, and Rome; after he had already taken Brian. Finally when the clock indicated that twenty four hours had indeed gone by, Jesse picked up the phone and dialed the number that Tanner had called them with.
Jesse waited with his foot bouncing nervously, as the phone rang, once... twice... and then a man picked up on the third ring. "Nick Tanner," came the gruff answer at the other end of the line, and Jesse sighed in obvious relief. "Hello? Can I help you?" The man asked when Jesse didn't answer right away.
"Yeah, this is a friend of Brian O'Connor's and Dominic Toretto." Jesse said, and almost laughed to himself when he heard the sharp inhale of breathe on the other end of the line. "Anyway Dom, Vince and Rome left to meet Johnny and Lance Tran twenty four hours ago, and they said if they weren't back by now, that I should give you their location." Jesse said his word pacing fast, just wanting to get everything out.
"You know where they are?" The same gruff voice asked, and Jesse nodded, forgetting that he was on the phone and the man couldn't see his actions.
"Yeah, we embedded trackers into their jeans before they left in case something like this happened." Jesse said and proceeded to tell Tanner exactly where they were and how the dots on the screen hadn't moved for over twenty hours. Tanner told Jesse that he was sending a team over to work with him on tracking the men, and that he was going to send another SWAT team in after Brian, Dom, Rome and Vince.
Brian stared at the wall ahead of him, not really seeing it as scenes from what his father had done to him ran rampant in his mind. He was hot, cold, confused, scared, angry, and goddamn it he just wanted to know why!
He had heard the fight between Rome and his father, and he had heard the thump a few minutes later, but he hadn't comprehended a thing that had happened since... since he had been raped by his own father for the second time since he had been kidnapped, and probably the hundredth time since his mother had died when he was twelve.
He didn't register the loud banging and the sounds of gun shots out in the halls of the building he had been forced to stay at since Tran had taken him. Nor did he register when the door was slammed open, and footsteps surrounded the air in the room. The only thing that he did acknowledge was when his good shoulder was touched gently, and then it was only to flinch away from the intruding touch.
Nick Tanner led in the SWAT team, into the building that was located at the address Jesse had given him. As they walked down the corridors, they shot when people pulled guns on them, aiming to kill; because the people had hostages and were unstable. They came to a heavily guarded door, and Tanner knew immediately that one of the four who had been taken, or more than one of them had to be in there.
When the guards pulled their guns, Tanner and his team shot them down, making sure they were no longer a threat to anyone. They moved closer and Tanner found the door locked, so he backed away and gestured towards the men to break the offending piece of steel down. Three of the men backed up and threw themselves at the door in one fluid movement and the door shot open.
Tanner wanted to vomit at what he saw in the room. Brian staring blankly at the wall, catatonic in all ways that mattered, and Brian's best friend laying in a puddle of his own blood on the floor. He quickly moved over to Brian's side to check him while another man moved over to check on the damage that had been done to Rome. Both of the men called for the paramedics, seeing the damage done both mentally and physically to the two men.
Tanner put his hand on Brian's shoulder and watched as the man flinched away from him, and bent down look at him in the face, and blanched at what he saw. Tanner had only seen the look in Brian's eyes once before and it had been one that he had not wanted to see ever again. Brian had a mental breakdown when he was seventeen, going catatonic for almost four months, when his father had gone too far. He knew that the man must have done this, and he was glad that he had shot the man in the hallway, a man that could do this to his own son was sadistic, and deserved to burn in hell for his sins. There had been no evidence of the abuse that Brian had suffered when he was younger, so there had been nothing they could do then, but now they man was dead and he couldn't hurt Brian anymore. But the problem was, the damage had already been done to Brian, and Tanner didn't know if Brian was going to make it back to them this time.
Two sets of paramedics rushed into the room minutes later, one team going to Rome while the other one went to Brian. At least Rome moaned and woke up slightly when they loaded him onto the stretcher, he asked for Brian in a whisper before he let the darkness sweep him away again. Brian just stared blankly ahead of him, flinching whenever anyone touched him, but not saying a word or moving otherwise.
They removed the restraints from his wrists and ankles, and Tanner cursed when he saw the skin rubbed bloody in the places where they had been. He knew that Brian must have fought what had been done to him, and was proud of him for that, but knowing that the man in from of him was broken because of his own father was ripping him apart. When Brian started shying away from the people that were trying to help him, though never acknowledging their presence, they had to sedate him, and Tanner watched silently as Brian's eyes shut, but his face and body remained tense.
Dom watched as the door was broken in and knew that they were saved. The men in black suits and masks flooded into the room, guns drawn, and ready to fire if they saw any danger present. When they were sure that there was no one else in the room, they quickly made their way over to Vince and Dom and undid the bonds that held them to the wall. Dom was led to an ambulance because of his hand, and Vince was taken to the hospital with him, wanting to make sure that everyone was okay.
When they got to the hospital, Dom's hand was wrapped up, and he was given a prescription for mild painkillers, and then he was discharged. There were no cops waiting to take him and Vince away, and he thought that odd, until he found Tanner and the man told them that there was no evidence to hold them; and that the charge of manslaughter that Brian had been running from was thrown out do to the fact that Johnny hadn't been dead.
"How was Brian, anyway?" Dom asked when the man finished explaining.
Tanner sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was then that Dom noticed the man looked as if he had aged ten years, and there was fear and concern in his eyes and the lines that were drawn into his forehead intensified the fact. "When I got there it was too late to do anything. He won't die from his injuries, but there is no guarantee that he will ever really live again either." Tanner said quietly, and Dom gave him a look full of confusion and fear. "Brian's catatonic right now. He's not responding to anything other than to flinch away from anyone that tries to touch him." Dom reeled back as if he had been punched.
"He going to be okay though, right?" He asked quietly, his voice full of anxiety.
"I don't know." Tanner said equally as quiet. "He came out of it once before, but I don't know if he can do it this time."
"What do you mean before?" Dom asked, and Tanner looked up at him, and motioned for the man to sit down.
When Dom had sat, Tanner said, "When Brian was seventeen, Rome had found him in his room staring at the wall, not moving and not really seeing anything. I guess they had something scheduled like a double date or something, and Brian hadn't shown, so Rome had gone over to his house to see why." Tanner's voice cut off and he was silent for a few minutes before he took a deep breath and went on. "Brian had been brutally raped by his father and his younger brother, Sean had seen it. When his father had left, Sean had tried to get his brother, to talk to him, but Brian had completely broken down, and he didn't even acknowledge that Sean was there. They had been like that when Rome had shown up, Sean trying to get Brian to look or talk to him, and Brian staring blankly at the wall." Tanner looked into Dom's eyes, and the larger man could see tears glistening in his eyes. "He was catatonic for almost four months, and he almost died because of it and what his father had done to him. When he had finally "woken" up, my wife and I took him in to our home. He was eighteen by then, so he was legal; and didn't need his father's permission.
"He had to go through physical therapy to regain the muscles that he hadn't used for months, and he also went through a custody battle for Sean. He won guardianship of his brother, who was thirteen at the time, and has taken care of him ever since. Sean's twenty now, and he really looks up to Brian. How am I going to tell him that his father got to Brian again; and his brother is in the hospital again? God they still live together, or they did until Brian went undercover for this case; and they are really close. Sean's gonna lose it." Tanner said, and Dom drew in a deep breath to try and process all the information Tanner had just given him.
"I'll call him and get him here," Tanner said after a few minutes and Dom nodded, watching as the man walked away. Damn it was going to be a long day.