Sam pulled up to the house, sirens blaring and Collins in the passenger seat. Sam had updated Frank, Callaghan and Collins on what had occurred and despite Sam's warnings, Collins insisted on coming along. He knew he was in danger, but a fellow officer was missing and he wanted to help rescue her.
Frank had called all available personnel to be on the lookout. The problem was no one knew what they were looking for yet. Besides, the obvious- Simon Dent.
Oliver was waiting, leaning against the hood of his squad car, waiting for Sam to arrive. As Sam and Collins approached, Oliver said, "Peck, Price, and Epstein are asking the neighbors if they saw anything. I'm really sorry, buddy."
But Sam couldn't take his sympathy right now. If he did, he might just break down. He needed to keep a clear head if he was ever going to find Andy. He refused to look in the direction of his house that was already swarming with detectives and yellow police tape. It was a crime scene now. Sam hoped he wouldn't always think of it that way.
Sam saw the three officers spread out in different directions, knocking on doors and talking to the inhabitants. Even from this far, it seemed as if they were getting nowhere. Some people had started to gather, the flashing lights and cops swarming the area attracting them.
He sent Oliver and Nick to talk to the small crowd that was gathering, to see if anyone saw anything.
Sam went to the house that was directly next door to his. He knocked on the door and at first, no one answered so he rang the bell. Eventually, a small, frail looking, older woman opened the door a crack. Seeing it was Sam, she opened it wider, inviting him in.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Winters, I can't come in for tea today," he said, giving her a friendly smile. She looked around him, her hands shaking, as if she just noticed all the commotion outside.
Mrs. Winters had lived next door to Sam since he had moved in so many years ago. She was a nice woman and Sam always tried to help her out by taking in her barrels on trash day and tending to her flower garden when she was having a rough day. Andy had loved her from the moment she met her and constantly asked her over for dinner. Mrs. Winters had lived alone since her husband died; she had no kids that she spoke of and so she always enjoyed having Sam and Andy over for company.
"What's going on out there, son?" she asked, concerned. The police lights bounced off her wrinkled skin and white hair.
"I need your help Mrs. Winters," Sam said, speaking loudly and clearly. "Andy's gone missing. We think someone took her."
One hand grabbed her heart. "Oh your poor sweet wife? Now who would do such a thing?" she asked, wringing her hands.
"That's the thing. I was wondering if you saw anything unusual sometime this morning?"
He waited somewhat patiently as Mrs. Winters tapped a finger thoughtfully against her chin. "Hmm…now that you mention it, a strange car I didn't recognize was parked across the street." She pointed in the direction of where Oliver's squad car was now parked.
Sam's heart skipped a beat and he drew out his pad, ready to take notes. "That's great Mrs. Winters. Can you describe what it looked like?" After she gave a description of the black van- it was always a van, Sam noted- with tinted windows, she even pointed in the direction that the van went.
"Thank you so much," Sam said, honestly, giving her a hug.
"Just bring her home my dear," she said, before shutting the door.
Sam hopped down the steps, radioing in what he had just found out as he approached Collins and Nick. Not surprisingly, they had had no luck. Sam once again repeated what he had learned to the pair. He watched as Gail and Chloe were already getting into their vehicles. Dov soon joined them.
"Come on, Collins," Sam said, sliding into his car. "Let's go bring Andy home." Sirens blaring, he peeled off in the direction that Mrs. Winters had indicated.
When Andy woke up this time, her head didn't hurt. But she assumed that was from whatever drug Simon had injected into her veins.
She was the slightest bit dizzy as she turned her head from side to side to get her bearings.
She was strapped to a chair; hands and feet both tied. She was gagged, unable to make a sound. Her wrist was twisted painfully and with each breath, it throbbed like a heartbeat. She noticed that she was in a basement of some kind. Where, she had no idea.
All of a sudden, her head felt too heavy for her neck to support and she let it drop down so that her chin was resting against her chest. She saw his shoes appear as he came closer. She struggled to keep her head up. She looked him in the eye, giving him a mean glare, flicking her sweaty hair out of her eyes.
"Oh, don't give me that look. Don't you recognize where you are?"
Andy didn't understand why he was baiting her like this. If he wanted her dead, why didn't he just kill her? To humor him, her eyes glanced around once more and it was then that she noticed the familiar catering business logo. From her months undercover, she knew that the business was a front to the drug dealings that went on. How stupid could this guy be? This would probably be one of the first places that the cops would check.
Simon saw as she recognized the place. "It's a little empty thanks to you," he snapped. He seemed unstable. He kept watching everything, his eyes shifty. He was very jumpy.
Andy started thinking about the deeper meanings behind why Simon would want to kill her. She realized that because Simon was the one to recruit she and Nick to the business in the first place that he had probably taken the brunt of the punishment.
"Prison can really change a guy," Simon rambled, as if reading her thoughts. It was true; Andy noticed how much weight he had lost, his face looked gaunt and his eyes haunted. Leave it to her to find compassion for the one who was trying to kill her for the third time. "It taught me some things, too."
Andy watched in horror as he brandished a large knife. Without a doubt, she knew he was going to kill her and it wouldn't be fast. It would be a lengthy and painful process. Her skin crawled and she tested the ties that bound her.
Simon laughed as she struggled. "You aren't going anywhere. Now we wait until your partner comes along. That way you can watch each other die."
Andy prayed that Nick would stay away. She didn't want him to be in the situation that she was in right now. She wondered if he was being held against his will at some other location. Either way, she didn't want Nick to get hurt, or anyone else for that matter. How she was going to make it out of this, she still wasn't sure…
As the panic started to set in, Andy felt the acid begin to crawl up her throat. She willed her stomach to calm down; throwing up now would only cause her to choke.
"But that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun for now does it?" Simon continued talking. He inched closer. Andy's muscles strained, trying to escape. It was in vain. She felt her wrist bones rubbing together painfully.
Simon drew the knife across her cheek, the dull side, teasing her. Her breath quickened and came out of her nose in little snorts. Her eyes began to water. After all that she had been through already, she didn't want to go this way. There was still so much she wanted to do with her life. Things she thought she wouldn't be able to accomplish because of the coma.
Simon slid the knife right over her eyebrow in a diagonal slash. Andy felt a painful prick and then warm liquid washed over her face. It took a moment to realize that it was her own blood. The blood quickly flooded her face, blocking her nose and she struggled to breathe. A metallic tinge filled the air. Andy exhaled sharply, trying to find clean air. She could barely see as the blood flowed into her right eye.
Simon got a kick out of watching her suffer. She knew that worse was coming.
"Sam, where are we going?" Nick asked. They didn't have much of a lead. They were looking for a black van and they only knew the general direction of where Simon was headed. There were a million possibilities and they were running out of time.
Sam didn't answer at first, instead, focusing on the road ahead. He was trying to put himself in Simon's shoes. He had to have been panicked; there were people who were looking for Simon from the business because he had unknowingly allowed two cops to infiltrate. Simon had a target on his back and he was trying to prove himself to the kingpins of the business now. He would be nervous and scared and so he would probably go to a place that was more comfortable for him.
Sam knew where they were. He took a hard sharp left turn, flicking on the sirens. "I know where they are."
He chanced a quick glance at Nick and at the same time they both said, "The catering business."
Nick radioed in, asking for backup. They would be there in no less than five minutes. But anything could go wrong in five minutes and both Sam and Nick knew it.
Simon kicked the chair that Andy was tied to so hard that it teetered for a moment before falling over. Without any hands to brace her fall, Andy fell, cracking her head on the cement floor. She heard the bones in her wrist snap, the pressure too much.
Stars clouded her bloody vision and she fought to stay conscious, although passing out would have been welcome at this point. But she wasn't sure if she would ever wake up again and so she kept her eyes wide open.
"I'm getting impatient." Andy heard his voice as if it were far away, but at the same time, she could hear his footsteps, echoing around in her head.
In a flash, Simon was kneeling down by her face as it was pressed against the cool cement. She could barely make him out. She was slipping. "I think it would be better for your partner to walk in on your carved up body instead," he whispered.
He straightened up and Andy watched his shadow and saw as he raised the knife high above his head.
It's true what they say; that when you are about to die, your whole life flashes before your eyes.
Andy saw herself as a young child, her family whole. She watched as her mom left her when she was a bit older; it didn't hurt any less. She saw as her dad turned to the bottle. Herself at the academy, fighting to escape her past, her demons. Meeting the rookies that would soon be her closest friends. Taking down Sam on her first day. Falling in love. Getting married. She focused on Sam. She wanted him to be the last thing she ever saw.
Sam and Nick pulled in front of the abandoned catering building. The windows were boarded up and it looked dark inside.
The car had barely come to a stop before Nick was out, drawing his gun and pointing it at the building, not knowing what to expect. To the side, he could see the black van, partially obscured by trees. The back door hung open, revealing nothing.
Nick waited until Sam was by his side and he allowed Sam to take the lead into the dusty, dank building. Sam pulled out a flashlight, holding it next to his eyes with one hand, aiming the gun steadily with the other. Nick followed close, watching his back.
Sam motioned towards a door. Nick looked and saw that there was a light filling the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor. Sam held up the light, counting to three before Nick kicked down the door.
Andy closed her eyes, waiting for the blow, but it never came. She heard a familiar, "Drop the weapon!" command. She opened her eyes but couldn't see everything from her vantage point on the floor.
She did, however, have a clear view as Simon, realizing that he was caught with no way out, turned the knife on himself. He would rather end it here rather than go back to prison. It was quick; it went directly through his heart. He fell to the floor right in front of Andy in a crumpled heap. Blood soaked the floor, mingling with Andy's. She stared in horror at Simon's eyes; they were staring straight at her without seeing.
Her world tilted for a moment and just as suddenly, rightened. Then, Sam's face appeared before her. She noticed Nick hovering around the edges. But all she could focus on were Sam's hands running over her body, trying to make sure she was okay.
He reached up and tore the gag off her mouth and she gulped in the air. He moved to untie her quickly. She saw his mouth moving, saying her name, but she didn't hear anything. He held her wrist tenderly and when she glanced down at it, she saw that it rested at an odd angle, but oddly, she felt no pain. She didn't feel much of anything. She was numb.
She had stared death in the face yet again and walked away victorious, thanks to Sam. She could finally breathe easy.
Sam held a cloth to her head, trying to staunch the deep cut that was still gushing. She took his place, holding the cloth to her head as more cops filled the small room.
The room was a frenzy of motion, but all Andy could do was collapse into Sam's waiting arms.
I hope all of you can finally breathe easy as well, now that Andy is safe. Sam and the rest of 15 saved her again! Simon just had to go. Hope you enjoyed all the action. I still have at least a couple of more chapters in me so continue to read and let me know what you think.