CHAPTER EIGHT: Breaks

Lucy was sleeping.

Lindsay was tired from the stress of the day as well, but no way in hell was she closing her eyes. She rocked her baby girl gently in her arms. And now while it was quiet and she had some time to think, she started plotting a way to get them home.

The woman was pacing. Lindsay profiled her for something to do. It beat worrying. She was about five-eleven, taller than Lindsay. She wore her blonde hair in a ponytail. She was very plain looking and didn't wear makeup. Yet Lindsay spotted a ring on her right middle finger. Silver, a plain band with a green stone.

She used a distorter to talk on the cell phone, holding it in place with one hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. Lindsay knew Danny would have heard a very electronically-changed voice, and probably thought it was a man.

Lindsay was pissed, thinking about it. If the woman didn't have a gun Lindsay could totally take her one-on-one. She pushed Lucy's headband back on her head and kept rocking her. Back to the kidnapper. Her clothes were at least a size or two too large for her-the jeans, the hoodie, the jersey, all large. And when she'd come close to Lindsay, she'd smelled men's cologne-and not a good smell, at least to Lindsay's mind. Thinking about it made her think of Danny and Lucy together-a unique combination of Axe and baby powder. Her heart ached for Danny. He must be going out of his mind.

She was wearing men's clothing. It was obvious, based on the size and the style. So who was the man? Did he give her the ring she was wearing? Why was she wearing a wardrobe that seemed more suited for someone half her age?

More importantly…who was she, and who was the we that wanted Danny?

"Boom!"

Blake Davidson jumped six feet in the air, and nearly dropped the swab he was holding. The silver-haired tech shot a death glare over his shoulder at an elated Adam Ross.

Adam was doing his victory dance. He didn't even notice Blake's death glare. Not that it would've mattered anyway-Blake had a surly attitude toward everybody at the lab-except for Lucy Messer.

"You're in a good mood," Hawkes noted, coming into the lab. "And don't let Danny hear you-I think he's got that word trademarked."

"He'll let me borrow it just the once when he hears what I got," Adam replied. "Where's he at, anyway?"

"Mac's office. You want me to go get him?"

"Ah…no. No, better plan. Let me print this off and I'll totally meet you there. What up!" He hit PRINT on the screen.

Danny stared at the lockers in front of him. This time of day, the employee locker room was dead quiet. It wouldn't get crazy until shift change in three hours.

He looked at his watch. Had he really been at work six hours already? Had Lindsay and Lucy been MIA for that long already?

His head pounded. God, I don't think I've ever prayed to you before. But today I'm beggin' you-please let my daughter and my wife come home safe. I don't think I could make it without them.

There was a hand on his shoulder, and he jerked. He looked up to see Flack standing behind him. "You okay?" Flack asked him.

Danny raised an eyebrow.

Flack smiled grimly. "All right. Dumb question." He sat down next to his friend on the bench. "Lindsay's a trooper, Danno," he said. "And Lucy's as stubborn as you are."

He got him to smile. Which is what he'd been goin' for. "I hate just sittin' here, Flack," Danny said. "If Sassone or anyone connected to him has my family…" He shook his head. "Sonny always was a loose cannon. Pretty sure you coulda diagnosed him psychotic."

"I just talked to the sonofabitch," Flack replied. "Pretty sure you still could."

"I can't figure how Sal connects to it all," Danny said. "I've been so worried about Linds and Lucy that I forgot why I came to work this morning."

"How did you know Sal? He wasn't there the night Sonny offed that drug dealer," Flack said. "I remember reading the case notes."

Danny closed his eyes. "This was before that whole thing went down. That was '91…this was '88. I asked Louie for a ride to a friend's place that night. He told me he had to make a quick stop first…except that quick stop was to a parking lot at Pelham Bay Park."

"Tanglewoods in Pelham territory?" Flack shook his head. "That only means one thing."

Danny nodded. "Sonny, Sal and Louie were trashed. And then the Pelham kids showed up."

August, 1988

"Come on Louie, let's get the hell outta here," Danny begged his brother. "You just got outta juvie, man, come on."

"Take the car and go home, Danny," Louie told his brother. "We got somethin' we need to handle."

"Come with me," Danny tried again.

"Sal, you moron!" he heard Sonny yell. Then he heard knuckle on skin.

"Get the fuck out of here, Danny," Louie barked. "You don't need to be here for this."

And Danny left. Because Louis was right-whatever this was, he didn't need to be there for it.

"I don't know exactly what went down that night," Danny finished. "A fight. One that roughed Louie up pretty bad. Not as bad as…you know…"

Flack nodded.

"Anyway, so now it's twenty odd years later and here's Cuccione shot execution style. He didn't do anything that night that woulda cost him his life 20 years later." He shook his head. "Hell, I don't even know if that night has anything to do with now. I've just been thinkin' about it since this all went down."

"We're gonna figure it all out," Flack said. "Sing Sing is faxing over the visitation logs and the phone records to Jess this afternoon."

"Why won't they call, Flack?" Danny asked his friend, looking at him, his tone of voice sounding worried. "I tried calling the number back but the phone must be off. I need to hear Montana's voice," he said, his voice cracking. "I need to hear my baby girl laugh, or cry. I don't think I can hold it together."

"Suck it up, Mess," Flack told him. "You gotta stay strong." He clapped his friend on the back. "Linds can't wear the pants in your marriage all the time." Part of him felt horrible for making jokes. But it was keeping them both together.

The door to the locker room opened and Hawkes poked his head through. "This isn't Mac's office," he noted.

Flack raised an eyebrow. "I can see why they promoted you to detective," he deadpanned.

Hawkes smirked. "Adam's got something for us."

Danny shot straight up. Hallelujah, a break! He practically flew to Mac's office, nearly bowling Hawkes over. He nearly knocked over a lab tech, and Flack caught the kid before they fell over, before skidding into Mac's office behind Danny.

Adam was hopping from one foot to the other and holding a printout in his hand.

"Whaddya got, Adam?" Danny demanded, his heart pounding.

"The kidnapper left prints on your doorknob," Adam said. "There wasn't a hit in AFIS-"

Danny swore.

"-but," Adam said, continuing and ignoring him, "I managed to score some epithelial DNA. And our kidnapper is a female."

"Whoa," Flack said. "Wasn't expecting that."

"You aren't expecting this, either," Adam added. "The DNA has a loci match to someone in the system." He looked pointedly at Danny. "And it's someone you know."

"You're killin' me, Adam, spit it out!" Danny growled.

"The DNA is a match to Sonny Sassone."

Suddenly, it hit Danny like a ton of bricks, and he smacked his forehead. "Son of a bitch!"

Author's Note: Now that life has settled some, I can update more regularly. Sorry to leave ya with a cliffie, but I just wouldn't be me without 'em. Like it, love it, hate it, drop me a line.