A/N: I have never actually been anywhere near New York in my life so I can't say for sure what's over there… So my descriptions of places might be a little vague…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Stella looked carefully through the items in the rubbish bin. Luckily, it was mostly empty except for the bags and other stuff. Stella easily recognized the purse and satchel as those belonging to Lindsay and Danny and checking the wallets only confirmed their worst fears. These things belonged to the two detectives all right.

She bagged and tagged them all, taking a mental inventory of all the things inside. Everything seemed to be in place inside the bags, looking as if they had just been pulled off their shoulders and tossed into the trash. Their badges also sat at the bottom of the bin, probably the first things the perps had taken off them. Hopefully, she could get some prints off these things.

This didn't feel very right, going through her friends' things without their permission. Stella knew she should be professional about this, that she should treat this case like any other but she couldn't get it out of her mind that it was two of her friends on the line here. Plus, she knew them both and searching through their belongings felt like a serious invasion of their privacy.

Something was missing, and as Stella went through her inventory once more, she realized that Danny's gun was nowhere to be found. Lindsay didn't carry a gun but if Danny's gun wasn't here, it was safe to say that the perps had it. That was bad. They'd have to put in a report soon before some nut job used his gun for something that would frame Danny. The blonde CSI had enough going on in his life, especially after the subway shooting. The IAB was still steaming a little about letting Danny off.

There was nothing here to suggest that Lindsay or Danny had anything but the clothes on their backs. Every single piece of identification they could possibly have had been dumped into the trash. Even their coats had been rumpled and thrown inside. Stella had seen too many John and Jane Does whose cases were never solved. She didn't dare to think it but she hoped that neither of them would be added to that list.

Hopefully, the perps were keeping them together. At least then, they'd have each other. But otherwise, things didn't bode well for the two missing detectives. Even if they managed to get free of their captors, they had no way of contacting their friends or anyone for help.

Well, the good point was that with this much stuff that the perps had to handle, there was a great chance that prints had been left behind at some point. She'd just have to process them all for trace and prints.

Detective Don Flack waited anxiously in the hospital for the vic to wake up, his mind still a bit preoccupied with the question that Mac had asked him earlier over the phone.

"When was the last time you saw either of them Flack?"

The last time he saw Lindsay, she was still trying to finish up some things in the office but Flack had gone out with Danny and Hawkes for drinks. Hell, he had even walked Danny to the subway entrance before he had to go back to the precinct. He hadn't ordered any alcohol for himself but Hawkes and Danny had. Most importantly, Flack was very aware of the fact that he was very likely the last person to have seen his best friend before he had disappeared.

Irrational thoughts rose in his head. He hated having to wait. It gave him too much time to think of all kinds of possibilities. He shouldn't have let his friend go home alone but how was he to know that something was going to happen? The two CSIs going MIA at the same time was the last thing on anyone's mind.

Right now, their only reliable witness was this guy inside, still sleeping from the anesthesia while the doctors had extracted the bullet. The bullet was on its way to Ballistics and Flack was going to make sure he got every piece of information possible out of this guy.

The most ridiculous thought came into his head for a moment and he smiled at the hilarity of it. Suppose Messer and Monroe had decided to go somewhere and make up? Now that would be an interesting idea, especially since the whole lab was always guessing about their relationship but if so, the two were a bit too responsible to dump everything they had into the trash and go into hiding. It wasn't a likely possibility at all but it was a very nice alternative to whatever else the two detectives could've gotten themselves into.

"Detective?" A nurse asked quietly from the doorway. "The patient is awake but he's still a little weak. Please try not to tire him out."

Flack grunted noncommittally, not trusting himself with such a promise. In his present state of mind, he felt like he could throw the vic against the wall if he thought it would shake something out of the man. He simply got up from his seat and entered the room. The conductor was a young man with light blue eyes and short blond hair. He smiled weakly as Flack came in.

"Nelson Evans?" Flack began and he nodded in recognition. "My name is Detective Don Flack and I need to ask you some questions about what happened on your train last night."

Nelson nodded and sat up, looking remarkably well for a man who had just been shot at. "It was pretty empty all night. I'm pretty sure there were only two people on the train all night. It was real quiet too so I took out my iPod to pass the time. Wasn't really expecting anything, you know? A few stations before I stopped the train, a bunch of serious drunks came on board. They were stoned real bad, about four or five of them in all but I didn't take much notice really. That time of night, if it wasn't a few late-night workaholics who sleep on the train, it's a couple of drunk lunatics causing a riot."

"So you didn't see what they looked like?" Flack was busy scribbling away in his notebook. Nelson was pretty talkative too.

"Not right at first," Nelson shook his head, "It's like I said, it's usually pretty quiet and predictable at that time. My only problems are when the drunks are so out of it that they start causing trouble. I think they were all around their late twenties, maybe early thirties. They were all white, with dark hair if it's any help."

Flack noted it all down, "Nothing stood out? No tattoos or anything?"

"No, not really. They looked like your regular thugs, but I suppose they could be builders too. You know, the really beefy type. I wasn't really looking when they came on the train and I only got a couple of glimpses before I got shot. After that, I was a bit preoccupied with getting back to the cabin and calling for help."

"So what happened next after those rowdies boarded the train?"

"I heard a gunshot." He answered and then frowned, "I wouldn't swear to this but I think there was a first gunshot, maybe a minute or two before the other one. I thought it was one of the drums on my iPod or something so I ignored it at first. The other one was the one that really caught my attention so I brought the train to a stop. I went back there to check on what was going on and those drunks turned out to be not so drunk after all. Two of them were forcing a door open and another two were carrying this guy out. The last one had a gun and was holding on to this pretty girl. I asked what was going on and this," He gestured at his leg, "This was my answer. I tried to go back to the cabin but I must've blacked out because the next thing I knew, paramedics were rushing around me making a hell lot of noise."

"Thank you Mr. Evans," Flack said, snapping his book shut.

Nelson studied him, "The man they were carrying out, you know him?" He asked shrewdly.

Flack stared, "How did you know?"

"He stopped my train before. Flashed his shiny little badge when he spotted a dead guy on the tracks and smashed into my emergency brakes."

Flack's mouth twitched, remembering the subway surfer case. He still teased Danny about that, reminding the man not to find any more dead bodies on his way home. "You have some luck Mr. Evans, to run into this guy and a case twice." Flack commented. He scribbled down his number on a spare piece of paper. "If there's anything else you can remember, just give me a call, all right?"

Nelson took it and nodded. Flack stepped outside, staring at his notes. So far, all he knew was that five guys, at least, had attacked Danny and Lindsay. Not very good odds, especially if one of them had a gun. But why hadn't Danny pulled his? Danny would've tried to take them down, and Lindsay was no easy mark either. Flack had heard about how she collared suspects trying to get away. He was distracted by the ringing of his cell and he answered it with a short, "Flack,"

"Detective, this is Officer Thomas Philips." The uniformed officer reported, "We've searched the surrounding area of the station entrance within a ten-block radius. Nobody fitting the description of Detective Messer or Detective Monroe."

Flack breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't dead, at least their bodies hadn't been found yet. Now he just had to get away from that pessimistic thinking. "Thank you Officer," He said sincerely. "I'll relay the message."

Hawkes was seated in the A/V lab, reviewing the tapes he had managed to get from the surveillance room. He frowned at the images, which were all slightly blurry. There weren't any cameras in the train itself but there was a couple at each station. Hawkes had gone down to each station from where Flack had dropped Danny off to where the train had been stopped. He had to know exactly what happened.

The former ME rubbed at his temples where he had a pounding headache. He wouldn't have drunk so much last night if he had known he would be called in to his friends' disappearance. This massive hangover was threatening his ability to think straight.

Hawkes watched Danny wait around for the train to arrive. The man was restless but clearly exhausted. And Hawkes couldn't blame him. If it wasn't for that extra-strong coffee he had on the table beside him, Hawkes was sure he would be dropping off as well. It was a harrowing case they had last worked and that round of drinks only made things worse. Hawkes really wanted to sleep off this huge headache.

Lindsay was already in the train when Danny boarded, dozing from what Hawkes could see. Danny got into the compartment next to hers and neither of them showed signs that they knew the other was on board. Danny sat back in his seat, clearly trying to relax and get some sleep while Lindsay weaved in and out of it, as most commuters did in case they missed their stops.

The same scene was repeated in the next couple of stations. Finally, two stops away from the last one, a group of guys were loitering around waiting for the train. A total of five in all, they were drinking and simply waiting. When the train finally arrived, they'd gotten on. A strange thing happened then. The first few were about to cross into an empty car, on the other side of Danny's and two away from Lindsay when one of them pulled the others back, pointing in Danny's direction.

They all turned and entered Danny's compartment then, looking very rowdy and stoned as they walked in. They collapsed on seats opposite Danny but neither CSI took much notice.

Who'd be suspicious of a couple of late-night party people, all stone drunk? Hawkes realized. They must've planned something at that point.

There was only one more station left before the train was stopped and in that one, more interesting things happened. Just as the train pulled into the station, one of the men stood up, studying Danny and slowly, the rest of them stood up too. Danny seemed to sense something was amiss and reached for his gun but the other guy got to his first. Hawkes watched wide-eyed as the man had Danny at gun point.

The train jerked as it started to pull out of the station and all the men who were standing stumbled. Danny was the only one still seated and he took advantage of that to duck away from the gun and knock it away but apparently, a shot was fired at the window behind. Hawkes had to blow it up to see it clearly. The compartments were fast disappearing back into the tunnel. Danny struggled with the shooter, who had lost his gun somewhere. The last thing Hawkes could glimpse from Lindsay's car was that she had been awakened by the shot and was getting up. Hawkes could only guess what happened next since the train never made it to the last one.

At the last station was an image of the men hauling the unconscious detectives up onto the platform. They stopped to search them and relieve them of just about everything they had. Pockets were turned out and searched, especially Danny's and his gun was taken away. Hawkes couldn't help noticing that the men were a little more preoccupied with groping Lindsay than actually searching her. Okay, Stella didn't need to see this bit if at all possible. The Greek woman would blow up seeing her friend being taken advantage of. Hawkes wasn't too happy himself but this stupid headache was actually proving useful, helping him to hold on to some bit of rationality.

Everything was dumped in the garbage bin and Hawkes sat back in his chair, sipping at his coffee while the men carried the two detectives out. So that was what had happened. By all appearances, Danny had been the main target for those guys and Lindsay had gotten herself involved. Five on two were not very good odds, especially when one of them had probably been taken hostage first. The problem now was, as Hawkes watched them drag the two detectives out of the station, where were they being taken to?

Mac flashed his torchlight around the compartments. With a little help from Hawkes, he had managed to identify which were the compartments that everything had happened. He now stood in the one where Lindsay had been. He doubted there was anything here that would show beyond the fact that Lindsay had been in this particular compartment.

The next one was the car where Danny had been in and supposedly, all the action had happened. Mac at first had thought that the two CSIs had decided to go home together though, after that fight they had in the lab, Mac was a bit skeptical about it. As far as he knew, Danny had left for home by himself after those drinks and Lindsay was confirmed by several lab techs to have stayed behind dealing with paperwork. She also left alone. After hearing Hawkes' explanation, everything became much clearer. It was a coincidence that they were on the same train.

Mac studied the window with the bullet hole. Was there any chance of recovering this bullet? Mac wasn't so sure. Finding bullets in the wall of a subway tunnel might be a bit of a longshot. Beside, they already had a bullet from the vic's leg. There were a couple of blood spatters on the floor. Gravitational drops, someone had been beaten probably and bleeding from his nose or lip. The blood then dripped onto the ground. More than likely, this was Danny's blood.

It was confirmed by a pair of glasses that had been scattered underneath the seat. Mac recognized it easily. It was Danny's and it was cracked, blood seeping into the lenses. In addition to the blood was a faint print. Mac bagged it. This would be very important. Hopefully, the blood wasn't Danny's. Glass in a person's eye was never a good thing, plus it could probably belong to the guy who smashed his glasses. And if DNA showed up nothing, there was still a print to run.

There was a bullet lodged in the ceiling and as Mac studied the angle and trajectory, he could tell that the bullet could very possibly be aimed at someone who had just entered the compartment, someone like Lindsay. He could see it in his mind's eye. Lindsay waking up at the sound of a gunshot and going into the neighboring car to see what was wrong, only to find Danny being attacked by a couple of men. She would've rushed in at that point, stopping a few feet from Danny's attackers and right in the path of the bullet. So someone had recovered the dropped gun and now used it on Lindsay, so that was probably the second shot the conductor had heard. So, in addition to the one in the conductor's leg, a total of three shots were fired.

Mac retrieved the bullet, noticing that it had taken a few strands of wispy brown hair with it. Lindsay must've evaded the gunshot somehow, but she still had been taken down by the thugs. Mac could only guess why she had been brought along. More than likely, it was to control Danny. By threatening him with her life, they could make sure he followed their directions.

Finally, at the far end of this compartment was a smear of blood on the floor and some on the metal bars. Mac was positive it wasn't Danny's, Lindsay's or the conductor's. The conductor's blood trail was obvious. He was shot from this particular car but the bullet had traveled into the next empty one, lodging itself in the conductor's leg. Mac was willing to bet that neither Danny nor Lindsay was taken to this end bleeding. Danny must've taken at least one of those guys down, maybe broke his nose or busted his lip. The man would then have wiped the blood and smeared it somewhere convenient. Good, more DNA to run. With a little luck, they might just close this case quickly and find their friends after all.

I apologize if this particular chapter is a little messed up and vague. Thanks to all the wonderful reviewers last time! Danny and Lindsay appear in the next chapter so watch out for it!