DISCLAIMER: please, be aware that this story is just fiction. Nothing I describe is based on reality or at least I am not aware of it.

Chapter 6.

The checkmate move

It's been eternity. Everything was still horibly same. No news. No explantaion. No nothing, just silence.

Danny was getting bored. He just needed something or he would go crazy. He was now hungry and little cold, but what was his biggest issue was the lack of water. He was thirsty as never before. In different circumstances he would annoy his captor to death with ranting, shouting, swearing, banging at the door or doing whatever that would express his demands in very unbearable way. But now he was scared to even move so he wouldn't cause more suffering for Steve. But they can't let him without water, right? It's obvious they were here for a reason and what it looked like to Danny, it wasn't to kill them. Not yet at least. So why isn't anybody coming with that damn water?!

Just as he started to freak out in his mind, his wish came true, kind of. Same as before, two guards, completely masked, one pointing gun to his head, the other holding the darkened googles. It happened fast as if they were training this movement for years. It left Danny concerned. This time they were facing professionals. Danny was sure that one of the men kept his position by his side just as the other one, in front of him.

"Detective Williams, how are you feeling so far?"

Same voice as before joined them.

"I'm thirsty." He spat disdainfully.

"Sure you are."

"I need water... can I get some water? ... shall I beg you? ...huh?" Man seemed to ignore Danny's ranting. But after seconds he spoke again.

"Let's set some rules, Detective. For the starter, If you convince me that you understand what I need you to understand, you get the water. Fair enough?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"You will be thirsty. In less than 70 hours you will have no choice at all if you want to live. So I highly recommend you to be wise and save some time for both of us."

"One more question. What's with that googles? It's really annoying."

"Like I said. It's necessary."

"All right. Let's hear what you gotta say."

"Well. You may have a feeling that you are, somehow, in the control of a situation when you have a commentary for everything. And you are right, it can be mechanizm for dealing with a stresfull situation for people like you. Unfortunatelly, I won't tolerate you this behaviour. From this moment you will only talk when I ask you to. Otherwise it could lead into unpleasant results for you or your partner. And I'm sure neither of us want to make it worse than it is, not to mention finding another ways how to keep you in the lines of my rules. Do you understand, Detective?"

Danny took a second to process what are his odds. This people know what they are doing, no doubt about that. It was quick math. He wanted to keep himself and Steve in the best condition to somehow manage to escape. If it meant listen to orders of this son of a bitch, so be it.

"Guess I do."

"Very well. Let's you are a human being with it's needs, you will be provided everything you need to survive. If you will do something against the rules, you will be deprived from this right and that could also result in your discomfort. Are we clear so far?"

"Yes."

"Good. You will be brought a matracce with blanket and bucket for you needs. If you do as I want, we can talk about more addings to your cell. The blindfold that you are currently wearing, will be placed next to the door. When you will hear this sound *grrrrrrr, you will put it on and kneel in the corner with your hands on on the wall. You have 2 minutes to do so, otherwise you will be punished. Are you still with me detective?"

That terrible sound resembled to prison buzzer that goes on when cell is opened. It made Danny shiver.

"What will happen when I do it?" Guard standing next to him unexpectadly punched him right to his left cheek.

"What was that for?!" Question was followed by another sound of Danny's grunt.

"The very first rule we set, Detective. I believe you will learn from this that I mean it." Danny just kept breathing. He would love to punch him back only if he wasn't cuffed and blindfolded.

"Same goes for when you come back to your cell. in reverse of course. I hope I don't have to remind you that you will do everything as you are ordered by me or my long as you cooperate, your stay here won't be as unpleasant as it may seem, Detective. It's simple. Do you have any questions?"

"I want to see my partner."

"You help me, I help you. We can talk about this later. Now lets try if we are clear."

The moment later his hands were cuffeed in front of him again, the googles taken off revealing only two guards before his eyes. One of them placed the googles in the corner by the door and they both left leaving him alone again. Than he noticed there was a bottle of water right nex to him. He immediately grabbed it and started to drink the cold liquid, before the sound echoed in his cell. He realised he has to do what the man ordered him. So he put the bottle back on the floor, then he slowly stood up and walked to the corner. He was thinking about what these people could want from him. It became more mysterious than before. He had no idea what to expect. For now it will be safer to obey that man who's identity was kept secret fo Danny, so he nicknamed him Kyle because of his very soft almosnt unnoticable New York accent. He tried no to freak out about how bizarre his situation was. He felt like a prisoner, and the most horrifying thing about it was that he actually was a prisoner. He involuntary kneeled by the door, put the blindfold back on and supported his still cuffed hands by wall. Waiting for inevitable, next moment was equal to his claustrophobia attack, his heart was banging in his ribcage, sweat dropping down his face. Plus the fact he was restricted of his sight, wasn't helping at all. The door opened again. He was hauled to his feet and forced out of the cell.

"Have you heard from Denning since yesterday?" Kono kept on bombarding Chin with all kinds of questions. He knew she is extremely worried so he tried to satisfy her with answers as best as he could.

"No. It´s very dangerous for him to keep in touch with us Kono. If there is something we should know about, he will let us know. Don´t worry." She just nodded and continued taping to her laptop. Few moments later she sounded not just concerned but scared.

"What are wo gonna do, Chin? If CIA is behind it, they 100% made sure everything will go as THEY planned. And what am I even saying? Should not be CIA the term that makes you feel protected? This is so twisted! We have no chance without Steve and Danny on this." Her eyes started to water.

"Hey cuz, stop that. What are you thinking? We´ve been trough worse and we made it, okay? No way we are gonna give up until we solve this and bring them home safe. It is something I don´t need to remind you of. And in addition to that,... I have an idea." He smiled softly and squeezed her shoulder. "I know a man. He is also the CIA agent. We need an intel on this Burnett guy."

"Do you trust him enough with this?" Chin gave her no answer, just looked deeply back to her eyes. She immediately knew he trusts him with his life. "Allright then. Do your magic big cousin."

Chin also had very bad feeling about what is going on. And that was the reason they need to be prepared, they needed bulletproof evidence and also more people involved, which he wasn´t really happy about. But for starter, they need to know who are they facing. And apart from all the bad feelings mixing in his gut, he had very strong one for agent Burnett, as he may not be the person who he presented to the Governor.

"You prooved yourself good, Detective. I´m glad you understand your position." Danny tensed his body as he recognized Kyle´s voice.

"I did not sign up for this... hence there are NO positions! You better let me and my partner go or you are gonna get yourslef into real big trouble." He should not say that. He should not open his mouth at all. God damn it hurt so bad. His chest was burning from the freshly relived sensation of taser.

"Oh, detective. We set some rules. They apply for every time and place since we set them, I thought you caught the point. You better do as you are told or that little kiss you just tasted will get worse. And not only on your own skin. You are going to be reminded of it until you fully understand. Now back to the point. You can save us all a lot of time and energy. So think about your next answer. The body that was found on the beach. What can you tell me about it?"

"What makes you think I would tell you anything, huh?" Danny did´t like where this was going a tiniest bit.

"There is very simple answer for that, Danny." He had no idea what is going on but he heard lots of steps and muffled breaths before his gut was screaming to him something is going very sideways. Just a second later his ears caught something he was not sure he wanted to hear.

"Steve! Is that you? Are you allright?" His partner groaned hardly and took couple of deep breaths after experiencing the burning sensation on his skin. Again.
"Danny?... I´m good. You?" He sounded tired but at least he was alive and talking.
"I´ll live. What did they do to you?" Before he was able to answer, Kyle cut them off.
"Gentleman, I hope you are going to be more cooperative now I accepted your demands. First one who tells me about the body will not take the next round. So?"

Suddenly both of them waiting for the other one to speak up and spare himself of suffering. They also knew there is no way either of them is going to do so. Room flooded with silence.

TBC

Happy to be back for this piece! Let me guys remind you that this is an opened story! Any advices/ideas/opinions are highly appreciated!

Wish you a beutiful day friends! Stay safe!