Chapter Six: Take Down
34 hours missing:
Within two hours, the team hand landed in St. Louis and driven out the small town of Casey, Illinois. Local police had the motel under surveillance. They reported seeing a girl of Natalie's description enter the motel alive and well. There was no sound of violence, and as far as everyone knew, she was still alive. But that had been at least three hours ago.
"No one's left the room?" Jack asked the second that he got out of the car a block away from the motel.
"No one, sir," the police replied. "There hasn't been much commotion at all."
"How many are in there?"
"Three plus the girl."
Jack turned to his team. Samantha looked slightly nervous, but relieved that they had found Natalie's location. Vivian was focused on Jack's every movement. Martin was talking to another one of the police and telling them what they needed to do in order to help. Danny was extraordinarily jittery, and just wished that they could move in already. He wasn't taking his eyes off the motel room.
"Martin and Vivian," Jack said finally turning to them. "I want you to cover the two windows over there. Samantha and Danny, you're with me." Jack paused as he looked at Danny's face which had still not looked away from his target. "Danny, you need to keep in control."
"Yes, sir," Danny replied quickly.
"Danny, I mean it."
"Jack, I swear," he said, finally ripping his gaze from the motel. His eyes were pained, and Jack knew all Danny wanted to do was to get into that motel room. "I swear."
"Ok," Jack said, finally satisfied. "Just get the girl out of there alive."
The four of them nodded. Vivian and Martin walked together over to the windows, pulling their guns from their holsters. Jack, Samantha, and Danny proceeded to the front door.
"Jack," Martin crackled from the radio. "I have a visual from the window. I see three of the men, but no girl."
"Hold your fire," Jack commanded. "She's probably in the bathroom or closet. Are they armed?"
"Not that I can see," Martin replied.
"Good. Get ready."
Jack turned to Samantha and Danny, who both gave a stiff nod to signal they were ready. Samantha's nerves had left her, and Danny's jaw was clenched shut. Jack looked at Danny and inclined his head to Danny, telling him to kick it in. Samantha moved over and allowed Danny in front of her. With a quick nod from Jack, Danny raised his foot and kicked as hard as he could.
Everything from there happened so fast that it was mostly a blur. All three of them were shouting "FBI! Freeze! Hands where we can see them! FBI!" One tried to flee through the window, but Martin had him covered. Within thirty seconds, all three men were on the ground, flat on their stomachs with their hands above their heads.
Vivian and Martin rushed in to help cover them as Jack and Danny searched the motel for Natalie.
"Bathroom clear," Jack shouted. "The closet, Danny."
Gun still raised, Danny opened the door to the closet slowly. On the ground, her hands tied and her mouth covered in a navy bandana was Natalie. Her blonde hair was messy and dirty. Her face had several bruises on it, and she had a cut just above her left eye. She looked absolutely terrified as she watched Danny kneel down next to her.
"Hey, hey," he said quietly. "It's ok. My name's Danny Taylor. I'm with the FBI. You're going to be alright."
Natalie tried to speak through her gag, but nothing much came out. Danny took out a knife and cut the ropes around her wrists and ankles. She reached up and took the gag out of her mouth and took in a deep breath. She stared at Danny for several seconds before she started to cry.
"Hey, you're alright," Danny soothed as he reached for her hands to help her up. "Are you hurt? Can you stand?"
Natalie felt her face where her bruises were, but began to stand. She had barely risen when she almost fell again before Danny steadied her.
"I think I twisted my ankle," she whispered. "When they were trying to take me…"
"You gave Cody quite a black eye," Danny smiled. "You can't walk on it?"
Natalie shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Put your arms around me. Martin, come help me," he called over his shoulder. Martin hurried over and put one of her arms around his neck and helped Natalie hobble out of the motel room.
Jack and Samantha and several local police were cuffing the three men. Danny gave them each a very, very dirty and piercing look as he left with Natalie in between him and Martin.
"You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney," Samantha said as the two men passed her, continuing reading the three men their rights.
Vivian was off to the side, calling the parents, and telling them that they had found Natalie a little beaten up, but nevertheless alive. Danny and Martin helped Natalie into the ambulance while the EMTs checked her over. She remained silent for most of the examination, answering simply "yes" or "no."
Martin's cell phone rang a few moments later, and he excused himself. Danny stayed by Natalie's side until the EMTs declared that she was perfectly fine except a minor sprain, a few bruises, and a shallow cut which they had bandaged. Danny turned his eyes from the girl and watched the three men be led away in the squad cars.
"Thank you."
Danny turned and saw Natalie looking at him with tearful eyes. He gave a small smile.
"It's our job," he said, repeating the line Jack said nearly everyday on every case.
"I'd be dead," she whispered.
"But you're not," Danny said, not quite wanting to go into the details.
"Because of you," she smiled. "I was so stupid to believe them… to believe Heather and Cody."
"Hey," Danny said, turning to her and looking at her in the eyes. "If there's one thing that you're not, it's stupid. You flashed the message at the ATM camera. You wrote that hidden message."
"You found the ATM picture?" she asked, her face suddenly lighting up.
Danny nodded. "Of course. It was a nice tip. And the letter saved your life. It was also brilliant."
Natalie blushed. "I wasn't sure if anyone would know what I meant…"
"I did," he said earnestly. "I figured it out. And even Jack thought it was clever. And that's saying something."
Trying not to look too pleased with herself, Natalie turned away from Danny's gaze.
"What's going to happen to Heather?" she asked quietly after several moments of silence, staring at nothing in particular.
Danny sighed and ran his hand through his short, black hair. "We don't know yet."
"She'll go to jail, won't she?"
After a few seconds of hesitation, Danny nodded. "Probably."
"I thought she had changed. I wanted to much to believe that she was the same girl I grew up with. I just wanted my best friend back."
"Danny?"
He turned and saw Martin beckoning him over. Danny excused himself from Natalie and walked over to Martin.
His eyes flickering over to Natalie. "They had a .38 stashed under the bed." He paused. "They would have killed her."
Both he and Danny gazed over at Natalie who was now being ushered into a federal car to be taken home to her parents. With one last look to Danny, she simply stared at him, completely emotionless. The realization of the real danger she was in and the enormous relief now that she was safe was almost too much for her.
"It's such a shame she had such a rotten friend," Martin sympathized.
"She reminds me a little bit of me," Danny said softly, watching the car drive off. "And Rafi."
Martin turned with surprise to him as he hardly ever spoke of his family, but he didn't say anything more.
"Time to head home, boys," Jack said in a tired voice.
Danny and Martin followed him back to the cars. Danny stole a final glance over his shoulder at the three men being put into the police cars.
It was almost bittersweet. Natalie had been rescued: she was alive, and she wasn't badly hurt. But Danny knew that she was going to have a hard time trusting anyone again, just as he had problems letting people into his life.
Staring out the window, not really listening to the conversation between Martin and Vivian, Danny's mind flashed images of two happy, carefree girls lying on their stomachs, painting their nails, giggling together, and simply loving the innocence of being a child. It was sad to think that neither Natalie nor Heather would ever have that opportunity again. And as the car drove on, he wished that he and Rafael could have back the lost time that was wasted by the same thing that destroyed the friendship of Natalie and Heather.
A/N: Well. I know you're all sad, but it's over. Boo. I really hope that you guys all liked it, and I'm very flattered with all of your reviews. Especially hotchner's MAGNIFICENT reviews. Hahaha. I realized as I was writing this ending chapters, that there were a few similiarities between Heather/Natalie and Rafael/Danny, and so I just decided to go ahead and make that connection, and give it more of a personal touch for Danny. I'm rather pleased with the end result, so please, leave reviews. They make me extraordinarily happy.
Be looking for my Danny/OC story within the next few weeks. It's a cute, kind of a thriller fiction, and I'm rather attached to it. Currently, it's titled "Like Nothing I've Ever Known," but that might change. (Cookies if you know the song that it's from.)
I'm super excited about the FIFTH SEASON PREMIERE! September 24th! When I started writing this a few months ago, you must realize that I was about mid-second season. I'm now late-fourth season (I'm currently watching "The Road Home." I really disliked "Check Your Head." Any votes that Jack was completely out of character? Although the whole "that's amore" stint at the end with him and Danny (squee) was pretty funny. I'm not going to lie. And the whole Elena: "Well, I was just saying-- Danny: No, I was just saying" part was amazing. Because, yeah, totally not the biggest fan of Elena. Did we ask for another agent? No. Does anyone actually like her? No. Were the writers on crack? Yes.) Anyways, so I'm almost caught up and ready for the fifth season.
You know what I've realized? There are so many Danny fan fictions on this site. It's kind of amazing. And you know why? Because the show doesn't really give Danny any subplots, minus the whole Rafael thing (which was, mind you, only two episodes). So thus, we, the great and loyal fans of Danny Taylor, must give ourselves something to satisfy our crave and utmost need for this amazing agent who is seriously lacking some WaT love. Maybe that's why they threw in Elena. To give Danny a little love. But who really wants Elena there? Do I see any hands? No. I could go for that. I never liked Polly from "Little Big Man" (not his type) but seriously, whatever happened to that really cute and witty fire fighter/ fire analysis in "Trip Box"? I liked her. And Danny did too. Are we really going to deny some Danny love? Hmm?
To conclude this story with an insanely long author's note, I would like to thank each and every one of those who reviewed. You shall be remembered dearly. And if anyone should like to chat, hit me up on the xanga (totally always wanted to say that.)
So without further adieu, goodbye. Until next time.
-Laura
Oh, and if you wanted to see how the letter worked out here:
Second of all, I really hope and pray that you understand what's going on. Dad, your cool fish do make your pond amazing. Have faith in me. There are some things that you have to do really urgently so that you can be happy. Justin, give that book back that you took from his house. Yes, I know about it. I'm in a quandary about what to ware to that party at the girl's house. It's at 11:15 on Wednesday night. I know that's late, but I really want to go. A man in the mall dropped something one day and I was going picking it up for him. He thanked me. Up in the sky, Sirius will be visible soon. He was my favorite character as well because he's loyal I think I know too much about Harry Potter. I think that he's going to kill Harry in the last book. That hurt me. I saw his movie about a car. The movie was lame, but the cover was cool. It was black and it had his license plate on it. I'll order it off eBay. The product code is A30. Order it for me using my debit card. You'll need to know the last three digits of my card which are 4G5. We're going to see a movie, if that's OK.