Disclaimer: I own nothing Supernatural.
The day started off bad for Sam and Dean and got steadily worse as time went on.
"Fuck!" Sam awoke to Dean yelling the word so loud it echoed dully in the parking lot.
Sam sat up in bed and shot out of bed as soon as his sleep fog cleared and he remembered the night before. He stood up and ran across the motel room pulling open the door and getting a blast of cold air in return. Dean was kicking a post and yelling a litany of curses.
"Its fucking snowing Sam!" Dean said turning to look at him with his arms spread wide to encompass the snowfall.
"I can see that." Sam said filling with dread. It wasn't snowing at the moment but sometime during the morning when they finally fell asleep it had. That meant if the mother fucker who took Jack had left any tracks the snow had covered them.
Dean shoved past Sam to get back inside. Sam stood there for a second his hand clenched on the doorknob before slamming it hard enough to make the windows shake.
"I agree." Dean said with a mirthless smirk.
"We can still look for property records." Sam said in a determined tone.
"Yeah." Dean ran a hand through his short hair and started to put on an extra layer of shirting. His movements were jerky and distracted, like he has to concentrate hard just to get these little mendacities of normalcy.
Not that Sam noticed, he was too busy coaching himself not to forget anything in the rush to get the hell out there. Finally they were in the car speeding towards the town.
"Do you have any idea how many nerve endings are in someone's feet?" Brian asked tipping the chair back upright.
He'd left her there overnight with her feet bleeding and her on the floor. She wouldn't let herself sleep, refusing to be caught off guard by him when he came again. He cupped her cheek to make her look at him and she glared at him making a thousand silent promises of what she would do to him when she got out of that chair, if she got out of that chair. She wouldn't let herself think about that last part thought. It was kind of a downer. Jack laughed out loud, a hysterical pain wrenched wound that hurt her ears. You're going to die but a least you still have your sense of humor, she told herself.
Brian looked at her in confusion, like she was the crazy person in the room. Jack had no plan of action, she just knew she couldn't let him finish the ritual. The only idea she had was to goad him into making a mistake. It might by her some time and she didn't think he would get so angry he killed her too soon. The symbols had to be cut into her skin in a certain order, a certain way, she couldn't be dead before they were finished, that she remembered from Sam.
Sam, she thought, closing her eyes, Dean. They would be looking for her. They wouldn't know Brian was dangerous, no one would think in a million years that a guy who ran a used bookstore in a small town would be a serial killer. If they went to his home….
Jack shook her head, they were smarter than that. No way would the two of them walk into a trap.
Dean left Sam and the car outside the library and walked down the street to the Police station. He wanted to have a talk with his old buddy Officer Bradley. Luckily, Dean saw that Bradley was just stepping out the front doors when got close to the building. He thought about turning back when Bradley fixed him with a glare that could melt glass but he decided to take his chances anyway.
"You got a lot of nerve coming back here." Bradley said to him when he approached him quickly.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I had a few questions about the woods and whether-"
"We just got a call from the state police." Bradley said cutting him off mid sentence. Dean shut his mouth and fought not to curse out loud.
He really didn't fucking need this right now.
"That so?" He asked playing it cool.
"Yeah, that's so." Bradley said through gritted teeth.
"How are things back at the home stretch?" Dean asked.
"Busy." Bradley answered with disturbing calm, that way that let you know you were shit creek with the cops. "So busy in fact that they regret not being able to spare anyone just now. But they'll be sending a guy up here in about a week."
'Shit.' Dean thought.
"Alright that's it, put your hands on your head." Officer Bradley said, motioning for Dean to turn around.
Not fucking likely. Dean thought about hitting him. Hell, he'd been itching to hit something for the last two or three days. Taking one look at the irate cop, he decided to take a gamble on the truth, or a version of the truth anyway.
Before the cop could react Dean had him by his jacket collar and was pulling him to t he side of the building, where they'd be more or less safe from prying eyes. He pushed the man against the wall, covering his mouth with his hand.
"Listen to me. Listen. To. Me." Dean said as the man struggled against him, but Dean had pent up anger and a healthy dose of adrenaline on his side. No contest.
"Yes I lied to you. No I'm not a cop. But that's not important." Dean said in a low voice.
"My friend, the woman that was with me yesterday is missing. She was snatched in the woods, by where the other body was found." Dean said. Something in his voice, or maybe the words themselves made Officer Bradley go still. Dean took a chance and removed his hand from the other man's mouth.
"How do I know that's true?" He asked skeptically.
"Please, he'll kill her." Dean said his voice going rough. He couldn't help but remember how close it came with Sam when he was taken by the Benders. You got him back though, you got Sammy back and you'll get Jack back too Dean reminded himself.
The cop read the desperation in the face of the young man in, he saw the flicker of fear in his eyes, there only for a second but palpable in its terror. He closed his eyes and opened them again. Dean knew in that moment that he would help him.
"How far from the crimes scene?" Bradley asked closing his eyes.
"Not far, a few hundred yards, we got separated and it was dark." Dean explained.
"This needs to be off the books, officer. Before you ask I can't tell you why I was looking into the murders, you can arrest me later if you want but I need to get my friend back first." Dean said easing up on Bradley so he wasn't pinned to the building behind him.
"You expect me to help you conduct an illegal investigation and you refuse to tell me why you and your friends were here in the first place." Bradley looked at him incredibly.
"Yes sir." Dean said. He saw a moments hesitation in Bradley and he pulled out his trump card.
"She's my family." Dean said pulling out a picture Missouri had snapped months ago of Jack, Sam and Dean on the porch just sitting around and bull shitting. She'd surprised the three of them by taking it, then shoved a copy of it in Dean's hand before they went on the road again.
Bradley studied the picture, biting his lip in consternation. In it Jack still had her leg in a cast and was sitting between Sam and Dean on the porch steps while Sam was leaning forward doodling something in marker on the white plaster with the others watching him draw.
"I could get fired for this." Bradley said.
"You won't, trust me just answer a few questions and you never have to see any of us again." Dean promised.
"Is this some vigilante thing?" He asked Dean.
"No, sir. Its more like we're private investigators." Dean lied with a quick shake of his head. It might've been like that before, just a job to do but now…..now this shit was personal.
"Can you come with me right now" Dean asked him.
"Where?" Bradley asked cautiously.
'To my evil lair.' Dean thought.
"To the library, my brother is there waiting for me." Dean said.
"The man who was with you the other day?" Bradley inquired.
"Yeah." Dean said pulling him by the sleeve around the corner, looking this way and that. He noticed, triumphantly, that the cop wasn't fighting him as he pulled him down the street away from the station.
Sam's eyes widened when he saw Dean towing the cop, still in uniform, what the hell was Dean thinking, towards his table in the very back of the library.
"We're made. Luckily, this gentleman's gonna help us out anyway." Dean said shortly pushing Officer Bradley into a chair.
Sam nodded at the man in greeting and sent a look at Dean, silently asking if he'd gone insane. Dean just gave a tight smile and Sam shook it off. They had more important things to worry about.
"Okay, first we need to know if there are any old properties out there that might not be included in recent maps of the area." Dean said sitting backwards in a chair, resting his chin on the seat back.
"A bunch of old cabins, I haven't had a chance to look through the records yet." Sam said indicating at the stack of papers in front of him at the table.
"Good thing we have a local then." Dean said turning his attention to the Bradley who was looking around him nervously.
"Sam the map." Dean said without breaking eye contact with the other man.
Sam brought out the map of the woods that was marked with the location of each body.
"What's there?" Sam asked pointing his finger to a spot on the map that they calculated was the center of the whole mess.
"There?" Bradley sat forward to study the map. His brows furrowed as he thought about the question.
"Yeah. Cabins, sheds, dilapidated houses, anything in that area that someone might use as a hideaway." Dean said.
"Its been awhile but I know there's a couple of old hunting cabins up there that no one's used in years. Two or three a couple miles apart. It would take days to comb through and find them." Officer Bradley said.
"Just give us a rough area to look." Sam said encouragingly. For the cops it might take days, but they didn't have to worry about being on the clock or following some protocol. Anyway they didn't have days, the full moon began that night.
"Do you know how to write out coordinates?" Dean asked him, digging out a pen and handing it to him.
"No." Bradley said sounding genuinely regretful that he didn't.
"Its fine, just circle the approximate areas." Sam said. He nodded a t Sam and looked carefully over the map. He finally made three small circles that, according to scale were about two-two and half miles from each other. The general size of the areas they'd have to search were about a half mile a piece.
"When we-" Bradley began but Dean cut him off.
"We aren't going anywhere. You are going to go back to your office and pretend like nothing happened." Dean put all the authority he had into his voice.
"I don't think so." Bradley exclaimed.
"Listen, we're grateful for your help but this isn't the kind of thing you want to be involved in." Sam said. Dean nodded in agreement pointing to Sam.
"Vigilantism-"
"We aren't vigilantes, we're just trying to get our sister back." Sam said quietly but firmly.
"Why were you here in the first place?" Bradley demanded.
"Told you, we can't tell you that." Dean said.
"I won't let you go in there alone." Bradley said setting his jaw stubbornly.
Dean looked at Sam who looked back at him. He shrugged at Sam and let his eyes flicker towards the back entrance, hidden by the stacks. Sam gave an imperceptible nod.
"Alright." Sam said in resignation to Officer Bradley. The cop looked at the two of them suspiciously before nodding slowly in agreement with whatever had been decided.
"I gotta use the bathroom." Dean said getting to his feet. He gave a thank you nod to the cop and made his way towards the bathroom, ducking behind the children's books section when he was sure Bradley wasn't looking.
He doubled back and made it to the back door leaving it open a crap on his way out for Sam.
Sam waited thirty seconds, thirty long seconds, before starting to gather the papers and books spread over the table. He folded the map and put it in his backpack, nodding at Bradley before getting up under the pretext of returning the books he'd been looking through.
Ten minutes later he was meeting Dean in the back of the library.
"Dud what took you so long?" Dean hissed as they snuck around the side to where the car was parked.
"I couldn't look suspicious." Sam retorted.
"Got the map?" Dean asked.
"Of course." Sam said affronted.
"Sorry, just want to get going." Dean apologized opening the drivers side door.
"Me too." Sam replied.
TBC…..
