Chapter Three - Results May Vary

Breathe in and out, in and out. It had been a long time since Danny needed this reminder simply to move through his life. With Lindsay missing, finding his breath was harder. It reminded him of the days of his childhood when he would fall hard on the ground and for a moment, he could not breathe. Except that this situation would not fix itself in seconds. The situation may never right itself at all. He may never see Lindsay alive again. Mac had sent him home, he was just getting in the way, he was aware of that. It took all his physical strength not to let loose on Mac, to refuse to leave. But he knew that in the grander scale, he was not being any kind of help. So Mac had assigned him the one task that he didn't want to do: call Lindsay's family and tell them what had happened. It took two hours and countless false starts before he finally picked up the phone, dialed and didn't hang up. He listened to the rings, urging it to switch to the machine. Instead, a deep voice flowed through the phone line and Danny's heart almost stopped.

"Monroe residents"

Danny sat down in the closest chair before he answered. It felt odd to put his body in his own kitchen chair. He was so used to Lindsay's that they felt too hard, too foreign.

"Mr. Monroe, Danny Messer here"

Instantly the deep baritone softened slightly.

"Danny, how are you? Did Lindsay like her horse? I haven't heard from her yet."

Danny took a deep breathe, trying to fill the cavity where his lungs used to be.

"Mr. Monroe, there's a situation that I have been asked to make you aware of"

"What situation is that Son?"

"Lindsay's missing"

A long horrible silence fell and Danny almost thought that Mr. Monroe had dropped the phone. Then he heard the quiet sobs of the proud man. Danny waited patiently, once again reminding himself to breathe. Eventually the sobs were silenced and Mr. Monroe's voice again filled the line, still crackling from the tears.

"What happened to her?"

"We're not certain Sir but my team are investigating as we speak"

"Danny, I don't want that polite bullshit. Tell me exactly what happened"

"She went home early and when I got there, her apartment was on fire. They took her while she was making me dinner."

"How long has she been missing?"

"Almost two days now Sir"

"Why wasn't I called sooner?"

"We were so wrapped up in finding her that in all honesty, we forgot"

"Fair enough. I'll be there in the next few hours."

"Sir, you don't – "

"She is my daughter. I will do as I please. Do you have a cellphone?"

"Yes Sir"

"Give me the number. I will call you as soon as I find a flight. I may need you to pick me up from the airport."

Danny did as he was told, reciting his number in an almost trance like state. Mr. Monroe confirmed the number before hanging up the phone. Danny laid the phone softly on the cradle and waited for Mr. Monroe to call him back. That's all he could do. He continued to remind himself to breathe as he watched his phone blink its sleepy rhythm.

Mac watched as the team, whipped into a flurry over the disappearance of Lindsay, fluttered to and fro, trying to find a reason that she was taken. He couldn't afford to do that. He had to remain calm and in control. If not for his own sake then for Lindsay's. He was doing what the others were doing; going through old case files, hoping that something would come up. Hoping against hope that a lead would fall cleanly onto their laps. The last thing he expected to see when he looked up from the files was Danny leaning against the door frame, looking far older then he should.

"I thought I sent you home"

"You did. I couldn't stay there doing nothing"

"Did you call Lindsay's parents?"

"Yeah. Her dad is flying in at 3am. I have five more hours to kill before I need to be at the airport to pick him up."

Danny slid further into the office and sunk into the chair opposite Mac, his body seemingly unable to support itself. He leaned forward and grasped a couple of the files, placing them on his lap, silently flicking through them. After a few moments he raised his head.

"Aren't you going to tell me that she'll be ok?"

Mac looked up from his own file and studied Danny.

"I didn't think you would want me to cut that crap on you"

"I do"

Mac took a deep breathe before speaking, meaning every word.

"She's going to be fine Danny. Stay positive."

Danny nodded once before lowering his head to continue his reading. After ten minutes, he put the file back onto the desk and started the next one. There were hundreds of cases that Lindsay had worked on during her time at the lab and there were hundreds of criminals that would want revenge for being caught. There were hundreds of reasons why she would have been taken. It was finding that one that they were having so much trouble with. Mac heard the commotion before Danny did. He could hear Stella's voice and he knew that something was up. She sounded pissed off. Before he could move from his seat, silence had fallen once again. It wasn't long before he saw Stella stalking down the hall, her hand wrapped tightly around Flack's elbow. She walked into Mac's office, her face a storm cloud, Flack's pulled into a frown. She released his elbow long enough to give him a hard shove towards Mac's desk.

"Tell him"

Mac studied the pair before speaking. He rarely saw Stella in such a rage.

"Tell me what?"

When Flack said nothing, Stella stepped forward, her voice hard.

"He knows who took Lindsay"

Mac raised an eyebrow.

"You do?"

"Yes"

Mac stood intending to move between Flack and Danny. Stella saw his shift and his intention and moved between them herself.

"Why didn't you come to me earlier?"

"It was a matter of national security. The FBI is involved and telling you would have risked the case and the lab."

Danny was up in a second, fists clenched, eyes flashing.

"Fuck the FBI. You are meant to be on our side."

Flack turned to Danny, Stella now firmly sandwiched between them.

"I am on your side. I was protecting the lab"

"Well done Champ. You did a fucken great job then, didn't you?"

Mac held up his hands.

"Ok, everyone needs to calm down. Danny, sit back down"

Danny continued to glare at Flack. Stella turned to face Danny and gently pushed him back into the chair. Mac turned his attention back to Flack.

"What exactly do you know?"

Flack looked at Stella who handed Mac a folder that he never noticed that she even had in her hand. He took it and glanced through it and felt the anger rising in his chest.

"You failed to tell us that Matthew Clarke had gotten out of prison?"

"As I said, the FBI was involved. I was in no position to tell anyone."

"Lindsay has been gone for almost two days. Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"I just got clearance."

Mac nodded slightly.

"You finally got clearance to tell us that one of our team may have been kidnapped by a guy that tortures his victims and then dismembers them?"

Flack said nothing, did nothing to react to Mac's words. Silence fell as he tried to absorb the reality of what would happen if Clarke had Lindsey. Her survival would depend entirely on how well she could endure pain. Mac glanced at Danny before looking back at Flack.

"You need to leave."

Flack didn't move fast enough. Danny pushed himself out of his seat and flung himself at Flack. He swung out quickly, catching Flack in the jaw. He went to swing again but Stella pushing herself between them made him pause. Her voice was low.

"Flack, you need to leave. NOW!"

Flack skirted quickly from the room, holding his jaw. Danny was breathing heavily, his fist still raised. Stella placed her hand over his and pulled gently, Danny offering no resistance.

"Do you really think that Clarke has her? He doesn't even know her"

Mac shook his head, glancing at the file again.

"That's not the point Danny. Don't you remember what he said when he was arrested?"

Mac waited as Danny thought back two years. The case had been a huge one, multiple victims, multiple states and one single man that caused all the carnage. The lab had busted the case open and got him arrested when he screwed up on his second to last victim.

"He said he would wait until we were happy before he struck"

"And who would you say is happiest out of all the team?"

"Lindsay and me."

"Exactly. The more obvious target would be you but for some reason he picked Lindsay."

Danny exhaled slowly, the blood draining from his face.

"We all saw the pictures Mac. We know what he could do to her."

"Which is why we are going to track him down"

"How?"

"We'll start with the address that they have for where he went to live. Then we'll take it from there."

Danny nodded and stood slowly.

"I need to pick up Lindsay's father."

"Danny, you still have a while before you have to do that"

"I need to go"

Stella passed a silent look to Mac but he shook his head. He trusted Danny enough to know that he would not lash out if he saw Flack again. He just hoped that Flack had the good sense to leave the building. Judging by the way he felt, Mac was liable to hit him too if he ran into him tonight.