He woke up with a cough that sent waves of pain through his battered back, setting all of his nerve endings on fire, threatening to propel him straight back to the careless oblivion he'd found himself in for god-knows how long.
But he couldn't give in that easy, not this time around.
There was too much at stake.
In response to the pain, he groaned, feeling the throbbing in his chest ease up somewhat.
"Esposito. Come on."
Beckett's voice appeared out of nowhere, sounding urgent, downright frantic.
He tried to answer but found his mouth dry, his lower lip cracked and hurting, blood caking the side of his face he was lying on.
"Espo, come on, talk to me."
Shrill clinking was accompanying the panicked request, his experienced mind putting the picture together as handcuffs hitting metal.
As far as his own inventory was concerned, Javier Esposito felt decidedly strapped down. A thick sisal rope tied his hands together, then attached him to something along the concrete floor. His legs didn't fare much better with his ankles bound so tightly he could barely straighten out.
He let out another painful cough, remembering the situation at Steward's house, the fight in the bedroom that ended up with them being overtaken by a bunch of roughhousing lunatics so that the politician could save his own skin- or at least trying to.
Esposito didn't recognize them, their martial arts skills not developed enough for high-end security guards, the group more than likely third-party goons hired off the streets to muddy the Senator-to-be's tracks.
But they'd found the proof, the one link they needed to put Shelley Richardson into the crooked politician's bedroom the night of her murder.
Problem was, it had sent them straight into the current predicament.
It took a while but Esposito finally managed to open his eyes, the task made easier by the darkness surrounding him.
As expected, Beckett sat cuffed to a chair a few feet away from him, a dark bruise blemishing her gorgeous features, her brown eyes clouded with fear when they met his.
"Espo, stay with me please. I know you're hurting. But don't go back to sleep."
Hurting was an understatement but thankfully he found himself snapping out of the fog that had temporarily robbed him of all clear thought.
Winching slightly, he gave Beckett a lopsided smile, hoping to soothe her worries.
"Check engine light's on…", he croaked, regretting it immediately when the pain in his back returned with a vengeance.
"You single-handedly took down three of Steward's guys. I'd imagine it is.", Beckett said, her voice sounding a nuance warmer as she leaned forward, "You got any way to loosen your restraints? I've been fighting with mine for a while. I can' .free."
Adding a frustrated huff, Beckett pulled on the handcuffs again, symbolically trying to reach for her other hand, then her feet, but not having enough room.
Esposito carefully lifted his head off the cold floor, ignoring the sticky feeling on the right side of his temple and cheek, before looking over at the restraints holding him in place.
The first rope had been wound three times around his wrists, his leather gloves the only saving grace to keep some blood flow going to his hands. The secondary one was much shorter and ran between his hands where it tied him to an old O-Ring, some long gone shipping era relic being repurposed to keep prisoners restrained.
Esposito pulled on the rope, hoping for any wiggle room but found none, his ankles faring no better.
"Strong…negative here…", he gasped, clenching his jaws when the headache returned, threatening to split his skull in half.
"Damnit."
It was the only thing Beckett said for many long moments, falling quiet as she watched him struggle with the ropes, just to end up exhausted, breathing heavy, returning to his curled-up position with an undisguised sigh of defeat.
"If they wanted to kill us, they had their chance but why keep us alive? And why drag us here? Collateral?"
Esposito managed a faint nod.
"Bargaining chips for after the elections."
"They're gonna try to silence our investigation. Keep Steward in the clear. That guy is nuts. He's never gonna get away with that."
Esposito ran his tongue over his teeth, feeling as though a few of them were looser than they had been hours ago.
"Crooked politicians have a long history of getting away with things.", he countered, not meaning to sound cynical but Beckett caught onto it immediately.
"We have Ryan and Castle. I am sure they're going to turn this town upside down in the meantime. All they have to do is make the connection to Steward."
"What if they end up joining us?"
"Well, I guess then we're gonna have more conversation partners.", Beckett countered with an indifferent shrug, "Bold as he is, Steward would bring unnecessary attention to his person if the staff of the 12th Homicide division starts to disappear one detective at a time. Then again, let's hope he's dumb enough to try it."