Chapter 17: If You Go Away

Disclaimer: And after all these years I still don't own Glee or Blue Bloods but I do own a computer which I used to write this.

Sorry for the looooong wait but life happened, still I hope everyone reading enjoys this longer than usual chapter.

On to the story

Danny fell on his knees, he had lost Rachel and if he knew something for certain about the assassin, it was that he would take his sweet time torturing her, in the few seconds it took for Erin and Jaime to reach him, his brain had replayed some of the worst images from the tape the assassin had sent him long ago, he could still remember the details vividly but what Danny remembered the most was the way the assassin enjoyed the screams, the way he smiled and grinned at the camera, taunting him, because they both knew that Danny couldn't help his wife and the mental torture would be worse than anything else, and indeed it had left a bitter imprint on his brain and the nightmares that follow accompanied him everywhere.

"-Danny! What happened?-" Erin said alarmed, Danny shook his head and said in a defeated voice "-He has her-" Erin almost screamed "-What?!-" He answered again, his voice sounding completely crushed "-He took her, she's with him and I can't do anything about it-" Erin said in a whisper "-Oh no-" she didn't quite knew the girl but she could guess what was going through Danny's mind, she too had seen the video of the despicable SOB who had killed her sister-in-law, she saw how he had tortured her, until the strong woman she knew Linda was, had disappeared completely only leaving behind a whimpering sack of bones. Erin tried to think about a way to save Rachel but the only thing coming to her mind was Danny, he was the only one who could save her, he was the one who had dedicated several years of his life learning about the Poker Deck Assassin, if anyone could catch him it had to be her brother, but he was currently on his knees, with an absent look on his face.

Jaime heard what Danny had said and felt sick to his stomach, he was certain Rachel wouldn't last as much as Linda had, after all Linda had been one of the strongest women he knew and Rachel didn't seem all that strong not to mention Linda had been at least fifteen years older than Rachel, and to be perfectly honest with himself he didn't want to see Rachel in the shape he had seen Linda, or rather the way he had seen Danny crumbling down after the incident and become a shadow of the man he had been, truth be told Jaime felt terrified of seeing Danny that way again, so dead inside, so broken, so numb now he wasn't completely back, but he had rebuilt himself not to his former state, he was absolutely sure he would never be back to the care-free, easy-going guy he was before but some times they had caught glimpses of that Danny, and Jaime didn't want the ghost of a brother he'd had for three years.

It seem too late now because Danny looked completely lost and Erin didn't look much better, Jaime had always looked up to his older siblings for advice and was very used to follow them everywhere, it had been that way since grade school but now he felt lost at sea and his two lighthouses were completely dark, he said in a very small voice hopping they hear him "-We have to do something-" Erin looked at him and said angrily "-In case you hadn't noticed, there's nothing we can do, he has her, that's it, he wins!-" her voice cracked at the end of her sentence, Jaime racked his brain searching for a way to save Rachel, refusing to believe that was it "-No, there's always something to do-" he said stubbornly, he could always found a way if he concentrated hard enough, Erin refuted "-Let it go Jaime! We lost her-" she sounded broken.

The sound of Erin's voice brought Danny back to reality, they hadn't lost Rachel, he had lost Rachel, he was the one to blame; he was the one who would face the sleepless nights and the nightmares, he was the one who would see the assassin's face every time he closed his eyes because he was the one the assassin wanted to torture; his siblings shouldn't go through that, that was unfair, he was the one who had brought Rachel to their lives and the one who wanted to catch the killer; his family wouldn't suffer the consequences of his actions, snapping out of it Danny stood up and dusted off his knees saying "-No, we won't give up, we have to find her-"

Erin and Jaime looked at Danny very surprised, he seemed to be over his little meltdown and fully alert, he barked orders at Jaime while running back inside "-Call dad, tell him I need an amber alert and back up! And call your precinct and tell them I need road blocks and surveillance footage ASAP!-" When Danny disappeared inside Jaime turned to Erin and asked "-How am I supposed to explain why?-" Erin just shrugged but said "-Tell dad the truth-" she took out her cellphone and started dialing some numbers, noticing that Jaime hadn't moved she snapped her fingers in front of her brother's face and said "-Move it! Danny and Rachel are counting on us-" she went back to her phone call she needed many warrants.

Danny walked fast and in a straight line to Mr. Schue and asked "-Did you take pics of the presentation?-" Instead of answering William inquired about the gunshot "-What happened? We heard a gunshot, where is Rachel?-" Danny was completely fed up with this man to answer any questions, so he said "-Did you take pictures?-" Will took his cellphone out if his pocket and began saying "-Some but…-" Danny grabbed the phone right off his hand and started passing the pictures until he could find one of Rachel's, he became frustrated when he couldn't find a good one and he said "-I need a good picture of Rachel-" Jesse heard this and offered his phone "-I have some great ones, my cellphone has better quality than his-" Danny gave back Mr. Schue's phone, and took Jesse's, the teen boy kept asking questions but the detective paid no attention, he had just found a perfect picture of Rachel, one that would go very well on the amber alert, dread filled his heart when the thought of this being Rachel's last photo crossed his mind.

Fortunately the Reagan last name carry some weigh in the New York City police department and the reinforcements arrived in less than twenty minutes, unfortunately Frank Reagan had arrived with them and as soon as he walked through the door, he zoomed in on his kids, as he approached them he cleared his throat, Danny felt a mix of relief and anxiety, yes Police Commissioner Frank Reagan had a lot of power and the ability to make things happen, but he was a very righteous man and he wouldn't allow Danny to do anything too dangerous or too outrageous and everybody could agree Danny Reagan wasn't one for sitting down and think things through, but for the sake of the situation, he was willing to let his dad run this, for a while, because he knew that as soon as he had a lead, he would do anything and he really meant anything to get Rachel back, safe and sound or as safe and sound as anyone could be after spending, how long was it? Oh yeah twenty-five minutes with a sadistic serial killer.

"-What's the situation?-" With those three words Frank Reagan had managed to command the attention of four different chiefs of department, who were currently informing him of the situation, even though they didn't know the details to the full extent or were the principal precinct investigating the case or had any idea of what they were dealing with; after hearing them trample to tell the few details they knew Frank had had enough and looked for his kids, he looked eyes with Danny, who was the closest and taking him gentle by the elbow, pushed him to a deserted part of the theatre and asked again "-What's the situation?-" Danny took out a small note pad and if he were reading responded professionally "-Rachel Berry, seventeen, abducted from the lobby, there are two bodies in the back ally, one is another teen girl and the other a security guard, she was taken in an old blue sedan, we have a partial Seven-Alfa-November, an amber alert has been emitted and we had an APB on the guy since this morning-" he finished and look up at his dad who had and incredulous look on his face and said "-And?-" Danny sighed and answered "-She is a key witness to a murder that happened two days ago, another job of the poker deck assassin-" he paused waiting for his dad reaction, Frank Reagan tried to stay as calmed as possible but failed and Danny noticed the color draining from his face, dropping all pretence, he said "-She saw him dad, she gave us a face and she's with him now, we have to save her-"

Frank Reagan wasn't one to show emotion, after several years in the force he had become him a little bit jaded, specially those cases were children had been the victims, but more than anything his personal experiences like the dead of his wife, his son and his had made him the tough man he was now, but after hearing the utter desolation in Danny's voice he had been about to give in and give up, but because he knew Danny was trying very hard to keep it together he simply couldn't show anything more than a few seconds of shock. Therefore when he spoke his voice was lacking emotion "-OK, so this is your case, how do you want to handle it?-" Danny was stunned, he had expected a full on rant on his father's side or maybe a hug, to be perfectly honest with himself he could use one of those, in the past forty eight hours Rachel had become a constant source if warmth, and now being without her left him feeling colder than anything else.

He shook his head hopping that would clear it, and he responded "-I don't know, I… I… I feel lost dad, I don't know where to begin, I think… no I know I need you help, please!" the way he ended the sentence surprised even him, he wasn't used to ask for help, and his family wasn't used to him asking for it, Frank decided to step up and said "-Ok, forget about her, and forget about your personal vendetta, tell me what do we know about the criminal-" Danny did as he was told and began explaining to his dad about the poker deck assassin M.O., he explained "-Well, I know he likes to torture his victims, he likes the screams-" he tried no to flinch but it was impossible Rachel had been in his hands for more than thirty minutes, only God knew what was happening to her; "-So he need isolation, maybe and off the grid place-" Frank answered pretending not to notice Danny's revulsion.

Erin intervened "-Maybe in Inwood park, we have found most of his tortured victims there-" Jamie tried not to think about Rachel tortured and broken when he said "-It's thirty minutes from here to there without traffic, he can't possibly be there by now-" the four Regan's looked at each other and they all knew what it had to be done, Frank barked orders on his radio asking for a chopper, Erin was calling every favor she could think of and Jaime was redirecting his fellow patrol man to the park, this renewed the Regan's hope as they climbed to the roof to wait for a chopper to pick them up.

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Rachel was concentrating on breathing in and out, she couldn't make sense of her thoughts as they came to her in a tangle of images, words and feelings, she remembered hearing that when you're kidnapped you should check for landmarks or recognizable places, she couldn't pinpoint an exact location in her brain, unless screwed was a place, she had absolutely no idea where she was or where she was being taken. She kept looking through the windshield but all she could see was a blur, she tried to blink it away but so far she hadn't been successful, her silent tears were on the way, she tried to wipe them off but they kept coming at a rapid pace.

Through the confused mesh that was her brain in that moment only one thought was pretty clear in her head *Danny will come, a part of her brain kept repeating that over and over again in a voice she didn't recognize as hers, but the thought and the voice gave her hope, she felt a sudden stop and her survival instinct kicked in, she opened the door and threw herself out of the car, she landed in her hands and knees but she didn't stay down, she began crawling trying to be fast but not an easy target, it was very dark and she couldn't see anything, she strained her ears trying to hear if the poker deck assassin was chasing her, but she couldn't hear anything either, she stood up and began running faster, but suddenly all kinds of colors exploded behind her eyes, and fell to the ground, she heard a low chuckle from behind her and a deep voice said "-There's no where to run Miss Berry-" the darkness swallow her.

Author's note: So I apologize again for the long wait and I'll try not to let it happen again. Here's another cliffhanger (oh what a shock) but at least you have a vague idea about what will happen. Next chapter is under construction and it's advancing nicely.

As always thank you for reading and leave a review if you feel like it.