So…I'm having lots of doubts about this story. On one hand I really like writing it, but on the other hand…I don't know, it seems really far-fetched and "icky" lol. I know I said it wouldn't be the most realistic, but… I guess we'll see how it goes. Just a warning for those of you looking for a more realistic type story, this isn't it. Thanks for reading…
xxxxx
"Hetty?" Eric called softly to the operations manager who was asleep on the sofa by the bullpen. It was 2 a.m. and she hadn't been home in days, neither had Eric or Nell. They'd been consumed with worry, desperately using all their available resources as they tried to get something, some clue to tell them where their missing team members had been taken. "Hetty?" he called again louder when she didn't respond to his first call. Finally, Hetty began to stir.
"Eric?" she asked as she slowly sat up then reached for her glasses which were beside her on the sofa. Some days she felt even older than her years, if that was possible. "What is it? Has something happened?"
"We received another email," he said solemnly. "You'd better come and take a look."
Hetty didn't ask, but she knew that this newest email would not be good. She followed Eric up to Ops and forced a tight smile at Nell as she waited for Eric to project the image on the big screen. She gasped softly when she saw the first picture of Callen gagged and tied to a tree. There was bold, black lettering across the picture which said 'Agent Callen is waiting for you.' The next picture was even worse, displaying Callen still bound and gagged, but this time surrounded by a mazelike network of wires. The lettering on this one only said 'kaboom.' "Is this what I think it is?" she asked.
"It's all attached to an explosive device, Hetty," Eric said as he shook his head. "It doesn't look good…"
"Bugger," Hetty said, her expression grim. "Where are the others? Why is he alone? There are only these two photos?"
Eric nodded in response to her last question, knowing there were no answers to her first two.
Hetty had a terrible feeling of foreboding. Had something tragic already happened to the rest of the team? "Can you get anything from this at all, Eric?" she asked. "Please tell me there's something here."
"It looks like he's just out in the middle of nowhere, Hetty," Eric said. "I don't think there's any way for us to tell where he is."
Hetty found that she was unable to tear her own eyes away from Callen's. She couldn't begin to imagine what he had been going through when these photographs were taken and wondered if he was even still alive.
Eric and Nell stared at the picture closely as Eric began to zoom in closer. They tried to focus on the explosive device and not to be distracted by their emotions, which was not an easy task. After a couple of minutes, Eric noticed a tiny rectangular plate with a silver bolt of lightning engraved onto it, which was attached to the device. "I know that marking" he said softly as he stared at it.
"Eric?" Nell questioned, looking at him hopefully.
"I read about him…there was an article in a computer magazine. He calls himself The Flash. He's a hot shot techie who got involved in the explosives industry where he made quite the name for himself. He's a cocky little son of a gun…"
"What's his name?" Hetty demanded, staring up at her tech operator.
Eric thought for a few moments before coming up with it. "Shaughnessy," he said. "Michael Shaughnessy."
Hetty nodded. Finally a breadcrumb. Hopefully, it would lead them somewhere. "Find him," she said to Eric and Nell. "Find this Michael Shaughnessy as soon as you can. Maybe he can tell us what we need to know."
xxxxx
"Good morning, Kensi," Sam said softly as he came over to where Kensi had stationed herself and sat down next to her.
"Good morning, Sam," Kensi said. She was careful to keep her voice down as well, as Callen and Deeks both appeared to still be asleep.
"What is it?" Sam asked, easily able to tell from her expression that she was unhappy, not that there was anything to actually be happy about with their current situation.
Kensi shook her head slowly. "I just don't know how we're going to keep this up, Sam," she said. "For all we know, we're walking further into the wilderness. We have no clue where we are and I don't think Callen and Deeks are going to be able to keep going. They were barely able to do so yesterday and we didn't even go very far…"
Sam sighed. He knew that Kensi was right, but he wasn't really sure what the solution was. "Maybe we should try to take a stand," he said thoughtfully after a long silence. "Just find somewhere with some kind of cover and wait them out?" He doubted their chances would be very good, but with Deeks and Callen in poor shape, their choices were becoming limited.
Kensi nodded. "Maybe we'd be able to take enough of them down to make a fight of it."
Sam nodded. "All right…we'll make that our objective then. We'll try to find somewhere where we can take cover. We'll veer away from the river and start going in an eastward direction."
"Something else I think you should know," Kensi said, her gaze serious as she turned to Sam. "I think Callen's getting sick. He was coughing a lot during the night and he just seemed really miserable, not at all like himself."
Sam ran his hand over his face, not surprised to hear what Kensi had to say but dismayed to hear it just the same. "I'm going to take the canteens over to the river to refill them. We'll let them sleep a little bit longer then we'll have to get moving."
Kensi nodded, watching as Sam collected the canteens. He was just about to start in the direction of the river when the gunshot sounded, hitting one of the canteens squarely, causing Sam to drop them. Callen and Deeks awoke immediately. Kensi aimed her rifle, searching for the unseen enemy as Sam grabbed the other weapon.
"I'd put your weapons down if I were you," Bart's voice sounded from somewhere behind the thick brush of the forest. "You're totally surrounded and as you can see from my man, Gabe's expert shot, marksmanship is not going to be a problem. He could put bullets through each of your heads quicker than you can say BOO! Put the guns down now or Gabe will demonstrate his finesse by putting a bullet right between Agent Callen's eyes."
Kensi gave Sam a questioning look and he nodded in disgust as he put his own weapon down on the ground. Kensi then followed suit and put her rifle down as Bart came out from behind the trees, flanked by armed men who suddenly seemed to be everywhere. Bart then began to clap, a wide smile on his face as one of his men came over to retrieve their rifles. "I've been waiting for the chance to commend you, Agent Blye on a job well done. Your skillful maneuvering of the explosive wires that surrounded your unfortunate team leader far exceeded anything I could have expected. It was also the only real impressive feat I've witnessed from your team throughout this game, which frankly, has become somewhat of a debacle."
"How did you even see her?" Deeks asked.
"Cameras, Detective Deeks, cameras." Bart waved his arm in an upward, expansive gesture towards the trees. "An expensive, high tech system of cameras which have allowed me to watch most of the moves you've made. If you had been a bit less predictable, went away from the river or done something which used your imaginations, you'd have been out of the range of the cameras. Unfortunately though, you remained boring and exceedingly predictable in your uncreative approach to this whole game."
"You want creativity?" Sam growled. "I'll give you creativity. One-on-one, right now, you versus me. No weapons. Just man versus man. I'll twist your body in ways you never thought possible."
"Ah… a brute strength approach. So sorry, but that's not what I'm about, Agent Hanna."
"That's not what you're about?" Sam asked, "But yet you had no problem with shooting at us or trying to blow my partner up?"
Bart nodded, a bright smile on his face. "Yes, that's very true, but unfortunately, the game, as it was, has reached its conclusion."
The team members exchanged grim looks, realizing that they were totally at the mercy of Bart and his men and most likely had reached the end of their rope.
"No need to look so despairing," Bart said. "As game master, I'm allowed to change the rules of the game at any time, which is exactly what I've done. So, take heart, a whole new phase of the game is about to begin. I can just feel the excitement in the air!"
"You're a psycho," Callen said. However, immediately after speaking, he was overcome by a fit of coughing which left him somewhat breathless.
Bart shook his head, oozing with false sympathy. "I guess that romp in the river didn't do you any favors, did it, Agent Callen? Did the poor widdle agent catch a widdle cold?"
"Why don't you leave him alone?" Sam asked, seething. "Why don't you pick on me, someone who isn't hurt and sick?"
"You seem to be very, very angry today," Agent Hanna." Bart turned his attention away from Callen and moved it onto Sam. "I think it may be because you missed breakfast? After all, it is the most important meal of the day. Thus, I'm going to give you the very first turn in our new game. Perhaps you've heard of it or even played it before? It's called, 'Would You Rather?'"
"We've had enough of you and your games," Sam stated.
"Well…non-participants will be punished quite severely," Bart said. "Bullets through their brains to be exact. A very messy business. You probably wouldn't like it and the cleanup is a bitch."
"You're really sick," Deeks said in disgust.
"Don't be jealous, Detective Deeks. You will get your chance to take a turn," Bart said. "So, Agent Hanna, shall we begin? We'll start nice and easy to get our game off to a good start." Sam said nothing so Bart went on. "So, would you rather that you and your partner get to eat a nice breakfast? Or, should I give the privilege to Detective Deeks and Agent Blye and you and Agent Callen will get nothing?"
Sam seemed like he was about to speak, but then looked at Callen and appeared undecided.
"I'm not hungry, Sam," Callen stated, knowing his partner would feel guilty if he couldn't eat and he was determined to help him out.
"Neither are we," Deeks said and Kensi nodded in agreement.
"You and Callen take the food," Kensi said.
"Time's up!" Bart called out. "Agent Hanna, who do you choose?"
"Kensi and Deeks," Sam stated.
"Ryan, bring the food over here," Bart ordered. "All of you, please take a seat."
The team sat down as Ryan came over with a zipper-up cooler. He then put a red and white checkered cloth on the ground and began to spread out an assortment of muffins, pastries, small boxes of cereal, fruit, milk and orange juice. Callen immediately turned his head away, figuring if he didn't have to see the food, it wouldn't seem so damn tempting. In spite of the pain he was in, he was still almost unbearably hungry.
"Uh, uh, uh, Agent Callen," Bart said. "You need to watch the detective and Agent Blye enjoy their breakfast. It would be very rude not to and might result in unpleasant circumstances for them if you don't."
"So, I guess you're pretty much telling us what will happen if we don't eat?" Kensi asked.
"Bright and beautiful! You're a very lucky man to have won such a prize, Detective Deeks. I'm not really sure how you accomplished it, but…" Bart paused before continuing. "In any case, I digress…If you don't eat, Agents Callen and Hanna will be punished."
"Just eat, guys," Sam said. "Pretend we're not here."
"I bet a drink of cold, delicious orange juice would taste really good right now, wouldn't it, Agent Callen?" Bart teased. "Liquid vitamin C…just the thing for that cold of yours. Too bad your partner didn't take your health and well-being into account when he made his decision."
"Will you shut the hell up?" Deeks yelled after barely managing to choke down a piece of a blueberry muffin. He was feverish and didn't feel like eating at all. Although he knew Kensi was hungry, he really wished Sam had just kept the breakfast for himself and Callen.
"Would you like a demonstration of what will happen if you continue to defy me?" Bart asked, no longer appearing amused. His eyes were cold and dark with anger.
"No, no, I'm sorry," Deeks said quickly, looking apologetically at Sam and Callen. He poured some cereal into a bowl and then added some milk. He then forced himself to take a spoonful, his eyes filled with regret. Kensi began to munch on some grapes.
"Very good, Detective. It's good to see a nice breakfast appreciated. Too bad your whole team can't partake of it."
None of the team members responded to Bart's taunts and continued to do as they had been instructed. Finally, mercifully for all of them, Kensi and Deeks finished up and put down their utensils. "Nicely done," Bart said, satisfied that they had eaten their fill. "Now we are going to go to where we've established a new campsite and there, our little game will continue. Come along and don't dawdle. Slackers will be punished."
Surrounded by gunmen, the team members got to their feet. Callen and Deeks moved slowly and were obviously struggling as the team moved on to whatever the next part of Bart's twisted game would be.