Title: Desperate Measures
Chapter 12 – Waiting to Exhale

"No…no…no oh god no…pick up Ed…please pick up," Donna frantically chants over and over as Greg directs Riley to immediately tap into the traffic cameras, Wordy and Sam already in pursuit of the way they saw the darkened sedan head out.

"Ed pick up…Ed damn it!" Donna gently curses as she looks at Winnie and then Tom who had joined them, Greg's head set still active as he was working with Holleran to see exactly what had happened; Jules talking to one of the hostages to see if it indeed was a set-up as expected.

"Donna, we'll get to the botto…"

"Ida has him!" She practically shouts; looking at Spike and Tom in utter horror. "Don't bother asking anyone, she's behind all this!"

"For her to se…"

"Greg she did this!" Donna insists.

"We'll find him," Tom states softly as Spike quickly takes his leave, heading back to his specialized computer lab, on the phone with his friend from CSIS who had helped him earlier.

"We don't know…

"Greg, Ida has him!" Donna growls in anger and then softens her tone. "Sorry."

"Donna…" Tom tries to interject. "We will get…"

"You don't understand do you? None of you do!" Donna retorts. "She wants revenge and has taken it! We are not going to get a call asking us to make a trade or exchange or prisoner release or anything…she's going to torture him slowly and painfully and then kill HIM!" She shouts as she frantically blinks away tears, her heart racing at stop speed as she dials his number again. "And then we'll get a damn call!"

"I didn't mean a call. I meant with Wordy and Sam on the trail we'll get an idea of where…"

"Oh right like she's gonna leave a trail of damn breadcrumbs behind for us to find!" Donna lightly snaps. "She might be evil but she's not stupid! She planned this for days!"

"Look Spike left and he'll…you know he's brilliant. He'll find…"

"Tom…he can't die, he just can't."

"He won't."

"Please Ed…please pick up," she begs in such a tormented tone that Winnie's eyes instantly water; her mind not listening to anything other than the painful frantic beating of her heart. Not Ed…oh god please not Ed…not like that…please not like that.

"Donna…" Greg's voice starts to talk over the speaker phone, telling her that him, Jules and Riley were heading back; the suspicious hot call now under RCMP investigation and they would as a team work together to find Ed and they would find him alive.

But she's not listening, her world slowly starting to spin faster and faster and then gaining top speed until everything around her was whizzing past at in a blinding blur; images of past victims at the hands of Ida Logan jumping out; images of her and Ed having fun at the restaurant; images of her in the hospital; images of her and Ed making love; images of…Judge Farnsworth's bloody body slamming into her – this time with Ed's face, making her gasp and her legs nearly give way.

"We'll find Ed," Tom tries to assure her as his voice finally registers.

"She flayed Farnsworth ALIVE!" She shouts as she numbly dials his number again. But there was no answer – not this time.

"Ed…" his name dies out on her lips before she literally feels herself falling into Tom's grasp. "I killed my husband."

XXXXXXXX

For a few brief seconds, his mind fills with wonder…where are we going? The wonder slowly morphing into a sickening feeling…this is the wrong way…something's going on! The sickening feeling to abject horror when the passenger turns around with a gun pointed right at him. At that exact same moment his phone rings, his hands unable to get it fast enough as something leaves the chamber in the seconds before that.

"Wh…" is all Ed manages before the small tranquilizer dart pierces his neck, his fingers frantically clawing at the deadly item but it was too late; the drugs had already entered his main vein and his vision – instantly blurring. His brain registers a small snicker as the male passenger leans toward him, snatching the phone away.

"Aww Mrs. Lane. You'll meet your wife in hell…" is all Ed's brain manages to decipher before the drugs fully assault him and he slumps down sideways onto the rest of the backseat.

"All too easy," Mickey snickers as he crushes Ed's phone with this foot and then tosses the mangled device into the backseat by Ed, the broken phone falling to the floor. But just before the signal was completely lost, it was at least able to give both Riley and Spike a location to work with; Riley now back with Spike and both of them using the traffic camera's to direct Wordy and Sam; Jules and Greg back with Donna and Tom.

I love you…my wife…Ida's gone…concentrate on what matters…she tortured him…you don't want to see the pictures…hot call…Eddie we need to talk…Ida's not gone…dead end for you.

*BANG*

His body jerks awake at the last memory…or at least tries to. The drugs were still keeping his system sluggish but…but it was something else…cold…pain…can't move…what the hell….his body replays the tranq dart hitting his neck once more and Ed fully jerks awake. Much to his dismay, his situation had worsened and as he hears low taunting laughter approaching his entire frame courses with fear. With the bulk of his senses rendered helpless, his ears start to pick up every sound starting to assault him – playing upon his fears and forcing him to realize the dire predicament of his situation.

A thick black cloth was wrapped tightly around his eyes, keeping him in the dark and oblivious to the pain about to be inflicted by his merciless captor. A single piece of heavy tape was keeping him silent. He was seated on a very uncomfortable wooden chair, each wrist tightly bound to one of the wooden arms, secured down with a plastic zip tie, the edges already biting into his skin; the same situation for his ankles. Escape without help would be nearly impossible. Cold air starts to force fearful shivers to dance upon his skin, making his brain realize that he was only wearing his black boxers, the rest of his body exposed and vulnerable.

"Welcome to my humble lair Constable Lane," Ida Logan officially greets him. "Your final resting place."

XXXXXXXX

"Stop it!" Tom quickly snatches away photo's of the late Judge Farnsworth's body from Donna's grasp; him having stormed into the small boardroom he had helped her take a seat in to regain her emotional composure. But he had forgotten that Spike had left the files in there and that afforded her a morbid opportunity to get reacquainted with Ida's deadly handiwork.

"I hafta know…" she argues back, trying to keep hold on them.

"You've seen them. Ed won't suffer that fate!" He tries to argue back as he successfully yanks them away.

"Have you ever attended an autopsy on one of her victims?"

"No you wouldn't let me," he retorts.

"And for good reason. Do you know what she does to her victims?"

"We'll find him," Greg tries to reassure her as well.

"Do you know how much damage that woman…woman…hell, evil entity can inflict on a restrained prisoner in five minutes! So unless you tell me right now that Sam and Wordy are about to…" her voice trails off as another lump of emotion starts to form in her throat making it nearly impossible to swallow. "I'm to blame for this," she shakes her head as her eyes drop down to the shining band of gold on her finger. Ed…oh god you better be alive…please god…please let him live, she silently begs over and over.

"Wordy and Sam…"

"She'll take him someplace we can't find him…until she wants us to. Don't you understand that?"

"Yeah I do…I know her MO as well…I've seen the pictures and know…trust me…damn I can't imagine either okay? Ed's a friend and I care for him and trust me to see you both like this is killing me inside," Tom confesses in a tormented tone. "But we will find her and when we find her we'll find him – alive."

"Tom…"

"I'll believe that for both of us."

"Donna we have the added advantage that we know it's her and that Ed's missing and we didn't waste too much time which is something she's probably not counting on – at least yet. We'll use that element to our advantage," Greg interjects.

"Greg…"

"Donna you said that she likes to take her time and slowly torment her victims right?"

"Yes she likes them to feel…oh gosh Greg she wants him to…" her voice cracks and fades.

"Spike is working on…"

"You said he couldn't use Ed's phone signal anymore," she looks over at Greg in sorrow; her mind battling her heart against accepting emotional defeat at Ida's hands.

"He has other means," Greg adds in haste.

"Spike will find away…we will find Ed alive. We will…you just hafta believe that," Tom urges. Donna looks at him, her heart racing so fast she was surprised she was still standing. She wants to believe him…so badly but as her mind flashes images of Ed's face on Farnsworth's flayed corpse, her doubt starts to give way and she pulls away from Tom and heads for the woman's locker room, needing more than a minute.

"Ed…" she whispers in misery as she slumps down onto the bench and softly cries. "I am so sorry…what have I done?"

XXXXXXXX

Ida… his mind digests in dread. Although he had told himself there was the possibility she was still around; to know that this could possibly be his last moments on earth actually force him to feel fear. She was evil; relishing in torment and death. He was sorry now that he had seen the pictures of Judge Farnsworth – flayed alive. Oh god…please let me die before that…or be rescued. Rescued alive of course being the first choice.

"Pondering your fate?" Ida lightly queries as she nears him.

Ed feels his fingers instantly grasp the ends of the chair arms as Ida's fingers slowly touch the back of his head, moving a bit lower and applying some pressure to the back of his neck, lingering on his vulnerable spinal cord and then trailing to his cheek; ripping the tape from his mouth and allowing him to finally take in a small breath of fresh air.

"I want to hear you begging me to kill you Constable Lane," Ida mocks, making Ed grit his teeth in defiance. "To end your suffering."

"You…won't hear it," Ed vows angrily.

"You will beg me…I know you will," Ida chides in a confident tone.

Knowing it was pointless to bargain for his life, Ed tries to keep his posture as still and rigid as possible; his heart, however, was about to burst through his ribcage, betraying his fear. His own internal orders to remain rigid and unyielding would soon be pushed far beyond the breaking point.

"I am somewhat disappointed that you haven't at least asked me why I'm doing this," Ida states with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"You enjoy killing."

"Somewhat. I enjoy revenge," Ida replies pointedly as Mickey walks up to her with the ill-fated instrument of death, the silver gleaming in the dimly lit atmosphere; Ed unable to see the blade as it nears his vulnerable flesh. "I also enjoy creating fear and misery…it's a quality I picked up and perfected by my beloved Callum," she refers to her late husband. "Whom you…"

"I had nothing to do with his death!"

"Does it really matter who actually pulled the trigger?" Ida interjects angrily.

A few moments earlier Ed had picked up the sound of heavy footsteps approaching and could only assume that it was one of the two males that had been instrumental in his kidnapping. But where was the other?

"Turn yourselves in now."

"And miss out on all the fun?" Mickey snickers as he leans in a bit closer; his fingers grasping the thick knot of the heavy blindfold and pulling Ed's head painfully back. "Not on your life…which shortly won't be worth very much."

"You're nothing but a petty thug," Ed grunts angrily, his fingers curling a bit tighter around the ends of the chair handles.

"Brave words for a man with no means of escape but death. I had a bit of fun at your expense earlier," Mickey hisses in his ear; Ed's mind instantly picking up on the tender throbbing in his mid-section; his brain realizing that his captor must have gotten a few punches in in his unconscious state. "I would love to do a real number on you with my two fists knowing you can't fight back, and it might come to that but not…right…now," he growls as he lets go of the blindfold and Ed's head slowly lolls forward.

"Ladies first," Ida smiles down at her captive as Ed feels his nearly naked frame tense due to her closeness. "Right now it's my turn."

But now what awaited him? What kind of torture would he endure before…the end? No…not the end...Donna will find you…the team will find you...hold onto that thought, his mind tries to convince him. But a few seconds later he feels the blunt edge of cold steel gently rest under his chin before roughly forcing it upward.

Biting back a small gulp and trying to drown out nearby snickers, Ed's stomach instantly tightens as his head is painfully forced up a little higher.

"This blade has been in my family for fifty years and Callum taught me to use it well," Ida mentions in a low tone, her lips twisting into an evil smile. "I hope you told your wife that you loved her this morning. I think that's always very fitting for a final parting. I was of course denied that by my husband…his last words were somewhat more like what you'll utter next."

And before Ed's mind can even think to react, the knife drops to his chest, opening a slice just above the soft dark hairline and forcing his lips to utter an anguished growl, his heart rate instantly skyrocketing once again, his small nails digging into the hard wooden handles his wrists were tightly bound to.

"Exactly like that," Ida mentions bitterly; Ed's lungs lightly heaving. Without missing a beat, the knife drops a bit lower the newly damp edge of the slicing blade resting on his ribcage.

"Beg me Constable Lane…beg me for your life," Ida hisses as her fingers curl around the blade a bit tighter.

"Never…" Ed manages as his dry mouth tries in vain to swallow; his lungs starting to heave.

"Beg me!"

XXXXXXXX

'Good morning beautiful…I'm making dinner tonight…snails…am really liking this…I love you…see you tonight.'

Donna's mind continues to swirl with twisted images of her beloved husband teasing her about making dinner and then morphing into the horrible corpse being delivered to her in the same condition as that of Judge Leo Farnsworth. She curses once more, her fist angrily wiping away anguished tears.

It's not until she hears a soft shuffle that she turns to see Jules watching her with a sympathetic gaze on her face.

"I know I hafta hold it together but every second we linger…god I can almost hear him…" Donna's voice trails off.

"I can't imagine. I mean if it were me and…"

"Sam?" Donna asks with a soft smile to which Jules nods.

"I saw the pictures. Ed won't suffer that fate."

"She has him…she has him now and we don't…I did this."

"How so?"

"Ed is in this situation because of me."

"Oh I don't think he'd want you blaming yourself," Jules replies softly.

"I know and…Jules I love him…more than anything. I can't find him like that. I can't…" she huffs as she takes a deep breath and then steps back. "We just talked about finding a new apartment together and now…"

"And now you'll just have to wait a few days to start," Jules reassures her.

"I should be telling myself this."

"Trust me if it was Sam, I'd be wanting to hear this from you," she answers in truth. "And I know I would so I'm returning the favor."

"I just know what she's done…what she's like…she's evil; she has no regard for any life except her own," Donna huffs as she finally takes a deep breath, rubs her face and then gives her small head a shake. "I refuse to let her win now. Ed…he put himself on the line for me…risked his life…I can't fall apart on him now. It's not fair but..." Donna rambles. "I just feel so responsible for this. He's in this situation because of me."

"But you are only human and that's why…"

"You have a team here to support you, especially right now," Tom's voice interjects, making Donna look up at him as Jules quietly slips from the room; giving them a moment.

"I hafta go."

"What? Where?"

"Wherever the hell Wordy and Sam are…I hafta be…Tom I can't just…" her voice trails off in a nervous ramble as he blocks her path. "I want my husband at my side right now!"

"Donna…"

"Move!"

"Wait a sec…"

"I know this sounds stupid but…Tom he's in pain…I can feel it."

"Of course you can because you know what she's capable of."

"She flayed Farns…"

"I know…and you know…and we all know…mentally dwelling on those…"

"While he was alive she had poured water mixed with vinegar onto him to…"

"I know," Tom interrupts again. "Okay I know all that just as well as you. But I'm here to…"

"I WANT HER DEAD!" Donna shouts and then steps back. "Sorry," she utters in a softer tone.

"Don't be…I want her dead also," he laments as Spike comes into the room in haste.

"Please…please tell me you've found him."

"We have an idea of where they might have taken him."

"Where?"

"Toronto Island."

"Let's go."

Please God…please let me get there in time to save my husband…I love him more than anything…please.

XXXXXXXX

"Ahh!" Ed's lips utter in misery, his body pushing back into the hard wooden chair as a bucket of ice cold water, mixed with something else was thrown on him, forcing the surface cuts that Ida had made to angrily rebel, his skin instantly producing sweat and shiver bumps at the same time; his lungs burning as his heart rate tries to rapidly compensate.

"I will stop at any time. You just hatfa beg me," Ida smiles as Mickey steps back with the empty bucket swinging in his hand, Ed's faltering frame still helplessly trapped in the chair.

"Go…to hell," Ed gasps, his lips biting back, his throat thick and unable to swallow back the stinging from the cuts; small pools of water and blood mixing together and running down his naked skin and pooling on the floor around the chair. Donna…his mind calls out as his tries to force a picture of her from their date Saturday into his mind, wanting to concentrate on her beautiful face to give him hope instead of allowing his mind to mire in his dire predicament.

"I intend to go someplace else but hell isn't on the agenda just yet Constable Lane, at least not for me," Ida taunts him in a low tone as she moves in a bit closer, the bloody blade now resting on Ed's lips, forcing his tongue to take a taste of the coppery sludge and his stomach to instantly lurch as it slowly slides down his parched throat. "Beg me."

He didn't know how many surface cuts she had made but was thankful so far that none of them seemed that deep, that means they would heal if…if I'm rescued, his mind ponders in misery. His heart rate had long passed critical, adrenaline had been coursing through his veins, his stomach already having heaved watery bile, and his fingers successfully having made small marks into the wooden chair handles.

"I say we just finish this," Mickey leans in closer with an angry hiss. "Give me the damn knife…let me slit his throat and be done with it!"

"We have a bit more time," Ida smiles as her fingers curl around Ed's rough chin and jerk his head upward. "I want Constable Lane to suffer a bit longer," she concludes as Ed yanks his head free, his body still stinging and shivering from the cuts and the ice cold water bath.

"Get me another bucket!" Ida demands in anger.

Mickey grumbles under his breath as he stands back, glares at Ed once more before he takes his leave, going to see Miles and then cementing their last minute plans to get away in the small plane that was fueled and ready for takeoff.

Ed hears Mickey's heavy finally fading in the distance but stifles another sharp gasp as he feels the sticky blade resting against his inner thigh, pushing against his femoral artery. A cut to that and he'd be dead within minutes.

"I hold your life in my hands Constable Lane. You will beg me for your life."

Ed remains silent, his fingers curling a bit tighter around the wooden chair handles, his teeth nearly grinding each other as he feels the blade press down a bit further.

"Beg me!"

"No," Ed lightly growls in defiance, forcing Ida's anger to surge even more at her headstrong captive; cursing the fact that she'd already have had verbal satisfaction from the others long before this.

"Very well…"

XXXXXXXX

Greg glances at Donna in the front passenger seat, Tom driving; Jules, Spike, Rachel and Gary in the other SUV; Wordy and Sam already at the helipad to get over to Toronto Island and rescue their captured friend and team mate. His mind was racing with horror as to what Eddie might be facing, his thoughts mirroring that of the rest of the team; Wordy's concern a bit heightened than the others, outside Donna, he being closest to Ed. But he can't imagine what she must be thinking, especially after having seen Ida's handiwork so up close and personal.

He hasta be okay, her heart chants over and over; her mind trying to show her a bit more of reality but replaying images of Ida's previous handiwork. The corpses all had some different markings on them but the instrument of death was always the same; a razor sharp blade that would cut through human bone as easily as through soft butter.

'I love you'…she hears his voice echoing in her mind and instantly her eyes water and fists tighten. Neither Tom nor Greg could offer much in the way of verbal reassurance and she knows that; it wasn't up to them to try to right this terrible wrong, only Ida's death could do that.

We hafta make it…we just hafta, she chants over and over, her eyes darting between the scenery outside and down to her phone, willing Ida to at least call with a request for her to meet and end this. But there would be no call coming…unless it was from Ida, calling from Belfast to tell her where to claim her beloved husband's lifeless corpse.

Ed…I love you…damn I love you so much…you better just hold on…please god let him hold on…please.

"Okay I think I have located the car that was used to um…transport Ed in," Spike's voice comes over the headset, Donna more than thankful for the distraction.

"Where Spike?" Greg asks in haste.

"I'm sending location coordinates to your PDA's. There will be two helicopters waiting to take us but that will also limit our element of surprise," Spike's voice finishes with a small sigh.

And that of course could mean a certain death if Ed was indeed still alive.

"Timing is going to be everything here team," Greg reminds them. "Spike, once you lock onto Miles signal, block it for as long as you can. I don't want any active cameras telling them how many of us are coming. We still have the element of surprise up until we land," Greg pauses and then turns back to look at Donna. "She stormed our holdout…time to storm her's."

"Let's do this," Donna states firmly as the SUV's stop right beside the helipad and then it's a quick gear up and sprint to the waiting helicopters and into the air. She had thought about just going it alone, but wouldn't have made it to the island without some kind of tail and in truth was happy to have the rest of the teams at her side; but given the opportunity to go after Ida alone and end this for good, that's the chance she was gonna take.

Hold on Ed…I'm coming.

XXXXXXXX

Silence.

Where is she? What's next? His mind would ponder as he heard Ida's useless pacing stop a few minutes back. What he didn't know, couldn't see was…she was studying him; not with fascination for his defiance, but in angry frustration that he hadn't given in yet as the others had. She had tossed name after name at him; examples of the demise she was threatening to make him experience; the ugly fate she wants him to realize in an attempt to break him.

But so far he was defiant to her petty attempts at torment – both physical and psychological. The cuts, they weren't many but the laced watery substance splashed upon him, was keeping them raw and throbbing; however, it was also cleaning them at the same time.

Our first…Ed's mind tries to grasp and hold onto; the tender moment with his beloved wife in her old apartment when they had decided upon finding a new place that was theirs – together. Would that future actually get to be realized?

"Constable Lane is still being defiant," Ida states with some disappointment in her tone. She had backed off the main femoral artery - thankfully but he knew that she was basically saving that final death stroke for the last possible moment.

"You know she won't get a call right? Your wife! She won't know where you are until you are DEAD!" Mickey hisses in anger as he steps up and grabs the damp knot of the blindfold and yanks Ed's head back once more. "Give me the damn knife!" He demands of Ida, not waiting but snatching it and pressing it down upon Ed's throat just as he goes to swallow; pressing down a bit further and preventing the action.

"She wants to toy with you…me, I'd be just as satisfied in spilling your blood right here…right NOW!" Mickey yells, his voice making an eerie echo and finally giving Ed some small idea of just what kind of place he was in.

A warehouse? An airplane hangar? But where? Pearson was too busy…Toronto Island? They could have easily taken the short ferry ride over and then pulled away from the regular traffic.

Mickey curses Ed silent defiance once more as Ida's hands rest on his, gently easing the blade back and allowing Ed to finally swallow.

"Why are we waiting?"

"I want him to beg me for his life."

"He's never gonna beg you!" Mickey counters in anger. "I say we just finish this bastard off right now and get the hell outta here!"

"I'll only ask once more Constable Lane. Will you beg me for your life?" Ida growls as she moves in for the final killing stroke.

"No," Ed hisses in anger; his mind telling his body to get ready for the final death stroke; taking a deep breath and then waiting…waiting to exhale.

XXXXXXXX

"Okay…"Greg's voice snaps the teams attention back to him. "We land in a few minutes…we hit the ground running. Spike I need you to turn the tables and cut their power when I tell you."

"Copy that."

Ed…we're here…oh god I pray I'm not too late.

A/N: Well obviously I wasn't going to draw out Ed's capture any longer b/c well…I refuse to kill my beloved Eddie and that's what Ida wanted lol (dang those badguys!) how do you think the final showdown is gonna go? How will Ida meet her fate? I would love your thoughts so please do review before you go and thanks so much (you know it makes us update faster) :)

PS: Hope you all liked the last chapter of Eye for an Eye - a bit more to go for that one before a new Ed/Wordy adventure is posted! :)