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Chapter 5
Jo was lay with her head resting on Mac's shoulder, her arm draped across his stomach. He had his arms protectively wrapped around her naked body. She had to slip out of his arms when she heard her phone vibrating on the bedside cabinet. She grabbed the phone, happy to see that it hadn't woke Mac.
She grabbed a pair of grey sweat pants and a white tank top out of the bottom drawer as she answered the phone in a whispered voice. "Jo Danville." she said, praying it would be her children's captor.
"We speak again." the voice said.
"What took you so long?" Jo asked as she stepped out of her bedroom, closing the door over behind her. She struggled to put her clothes on as she rested the phone between her shoulder and her ear.
"I was too busy enjoying the show. I gotta say Jo, that tattoo on your stomach…."
Jo spun around on the spot, expecting to see him somewhere inside her apartment. "You sick son-of-a-bitch! Where are my children?" she snapped angrily, humiliated and suddenly feeling more than dirty.
"If you want to see them you come outside, get in the van and don't wake up your fuck-buddy. You screw this one up Jo and me and little Ellie will be getting to know each other as good as you and your boss just have."
"You touch her and I swear to God I'll tear you apart!"
"I'm sure you would, but I don't see why. She clearly isn't your actual child."
"Yes she is!"
"Whatever. Look, I slipped a letter under your front door. Read it." Jo turned and saw the envelope on the floor. She crept over to it and picked it up. She rested the phone between her shoulder and her ear again as she opened it, it was a picture. A picture of Lindsay, Lucy and Danny at the park, they clearly hadn't seen the person taking the picture. They were all laughing as Danny held Lucy up in the air, much to her delight. She pulled out the note and silently read the words. "Shame to see something happen to them! Come alone and it won't."
"You stay the hell away from them!" Jo ordered angrily.
"Get your fine ass down here now, and alone, and I'll leave them alone!"
Jo hung up and looked towards her bedroom, Mac hadn't come out so she knew he was still asleep. She took another look at the picture… She wouldn't put the Messer's in danger. She glanced at her phone, the screen now blank. She sat and let her mind race, let her thoughts run wild.
After a moment or two she put her phone down on the coffee table, on top of the letter, and pushed herself up. She grabbed a pair of pumps from near the front door and silently slipped out into the hallway.
~0~0~0~0~
It was dark on the street and the night air was cold against her bare arms. It nipped at Jo's body, biting right through the thin cloth of her sweats and tank. She wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she had her gun, but she didn't, he had it; had used it to shoot her.
She could see the side door of the van was open. As she got up to it she could see it was empty. She looked into the drivers cabin and saw that too was empty. She stumbled forward, fast, as hands slammed into her back. She fell face forward into the back of the van. It shocked her when two people climbed in, one pulling her body fully in as the other slammed the door shut behind them.
~0~0~0~0~
Mac stirred awake and reached out to feel the empty spot beside him. He lay his palm on the sheets next to him; they still felt warm. He pushed himself to the side of the bed and pulled his boxers and trousers on. A muffled bang suddenly caught his attention. "JO!" he called out. Nothing.
He pushed himself up off the bed and stepped out of her bedroom. "JO!" he called again. Nothing.
~0~0~0~0~
Jo could only lay there, angrily, as heavy hands held her down. She cried out in agony when one of her attackers pulled her arms behind her back. Her shoulder burned with pain and she felt some of the stitches burst open, followed by the feel of warm blood pooling around her shoulder. She heard and felt cable ties pull tight around her wrists. She could only continue to lay there, pinned beneath one of the bodies of her captors as another cable tie was fixed around her wrists. They were clearly making sure she didn't have the use of her arms.
She was flipped over and met by a masked face. The cold air hit her body as the side door opened up as one of the captors jumped out. She could tell by the muscular build of the people that they were both male. "Finally!" the one straddling her said. "We meet."
~0~0~0~0~
Mac heard another bang, realising it came from outside he ran over to the bedroom window. He looked straight down at the van and watched as someone jumped out the back and pulled the side door shut before they climbed in the drivers door. He took off running from Jo's apartment as the door slammed shut.
~0~0~0~0~
Jo tired to wriggle free from under the man crushing her body. His response was to punch her hard in the stomach. It knocked the wind right out of her. She'd barely caught her breath when she felt the sharp pain of a back-hander across her face. Her cheek burned with pain and her eye began to water. "You're gonna suffer, bitch! Then, you're gonna die!" the man growled at her before his fist connected with her face with a deafening crunch.
She was too out of it try to stop him when he pushed a bottle into her mouth. She choked on the water that splashed out of it and into her throat. He kept pouring it in and she had no choice but to swallow it before her mouth was filled up again with more water. When he moved the bottle he pinched her nose and covered her mouth. She had to swallow the rest of the water in her mouth, only when she had did he let go.
"That'a girl." he muttered to her, patting her face, a little too hard.
~0~0~0~0~
The van pulled out into the street just as Mac ran out of Jo's building. He tried chasing after it, running as fast as he could calling out Jo's name at the top of his lungs. "JO!" It was no good, the van sped off at full speed, "Jo!" he had no chance of keeping up. "Damn-it!" he yelled as he stood in the street and watched the van disappear out of sight.
~0~0~0~0~
It had taken under a half hour for the entire team to get to Jo's place. Danny and Lindsay were the last to arrive having had to first drop Lucy off at the sitters. On their way in they had come past officers questioning Jo's neighbours, pretty much all of whom had seen nothing. Inside Jo's apartment Mac was stood, now fully dressed, behind the kitchen counter.
Lindsay and Danny walked in and saw their colleagues standing around, waiting for them so they could continue. "We got here as quick as we could." Danny said apologetically.
"You're here now." Mac replied a little sharply.
"I heard back from the camp Ellie was at, no one saw her get snatched but cameras by the main exit show Ellie lying asleep, we can only presume drugged, in the back of a car. There is a male driver and we managed to get a picture but there was no match in the system. The teacher who was keeping an eye on Ellie was found murdered." Flack said.
"Great. So we still have no idea who took Ellie or Tyler and who now has Jo." Mac said angrily. The others could all see his frustration, none of them used to seeing him so lost
~0~0~0~0~
Jo came too, slowly and nauseatingly. She tried to move but she felt dizzy, she wasn't sure if she was spinning or the room was.
"Hey! Wake up! Come on!" the voice she had heard on the phone said to her.
Jo forced her eyes open again. They felt heavy and it was exhausting just to keep them open.
"Did you measure how much you gave her?" another voice said, this one Jo hadn't heard yet. It sounded older than the voice she had heard on the phone.
"Of course I measured it." the other man snapped back.
"If you gave her too much…"
"She'd be dead or still outta it by now." the younger man said.
Jo's vision began to clear, as did her head. She looked up and found the masked face glaring down at her again. She knew she'd lost time, she wasn't sure how much. She suddenly remembered the water she had been forced to drink. "GHB?" she said knowingly.
"You bet, homemade batch made just for you." the man said to her as he nudged her with his foot. "Are you awake properly now?" he asked her.
Jo rolled onto her side and began to push herself up. She faintly heard the click of a lock turning in a door. She looked up and found herself staring right down into a dark basement. She then felt a shove in her back before she felt a whoosh of air. She landed on the basement stairs about halfway down and continued to tumble down them, hearing a snap before she landed at the bottom of them.
Her head hit the floor with a sickening thud. It took a painful second for everything to go black. She was out cold again.
~0~0~0~0~
Mac was over seeing everything. He knew his team was the best but he couldn't help remind them how to do their job. "Lindsay, make sure you dust every inch of the window frame, if he came in through there or Jo went out of it I want to know."
Lindsay just nodded, any other time she may have made some sort off comment about knowing how to do her job but today she smiled and kept quiet. Mac looked up to see Flack walk into Jo's bedroom, he followed after him; not knowing that the others all saw him do so.
Flack was stood by the window, checking it over. He hesitated for a second to watch the team outside who were processing the scene down there...He wondered if the team outside had as found as much as they had here inside, which was nothing. He suddenly noticed something on the window sill, a cigarette butt. He pulled the window open and carefully placed the butt into an evidence bag.
He could imagine how the abduction could have taken place. The man stood out on the fire escape, finishing off his cigarette and watching Jo as she slept. He stubbed his cigarette out on the window and quietly forced the window open, creeping in as Jo continued to sleep. Moving across the room in silence before lunging at Jo…
Flack looked up out of his thoughts when he heard a floorboard creak behind him. He turned to see Mac standing by the bed. "This could be how he got in; leads right onto the fire escape." he said, regarding the window, to Mac who was just staring at the bed.
Mac was looking down at the crumpled sheets, remembering how they had come to be that way. He closed his eyes and could suddenly see Jo lying beneath his body as he moved inside her. He inhaled and could smell her body-wash again like she was right there beneath him. He could feel her fingers stroking his shoulder as he kissed her neck, her skin soft as feathers against his lips. He could hear her moaning his name as she climaxed. His lips then met hers and he kissed her, loving every second of it.
"MAC!" Flack had to say loudly, just below shouting level.
Mac glanced up at him, blushing, slightly embarrassed that he had let himself get so lost in his memory. "Prints will tell us if he came in through this window. It could be a possibility, I found a cigarette butt on the outside…" Flack said before he looked at the bed. "There looks like there could have been some sort of struggle here. The sheets are all crumpled and twisted. I hate to be the one to say it but what if our guy came in here, found Jo in bed sleeping, and began to attack her? Maybe she called out for you and he left, taking her with him when he realised that there was another cop in the apartment."
"No." was all Mac said.
"Like I said, I hate to say it Mac, but this guy is a rapist, a violent one at that. I think we should check the sheets for semen…"
"He's always used a condom when he raped the other woman." Mac argued.
"Still, its worth eliminating it."
"If I though it was worth the time I'd say go ahead." Mac said as he stared at Flack.
Flack looked down at the bed, then around the room, his eyes came back to meet Mac's. "Is there something you want to tell me?" he asked.
Mac just looked at him, unsure what to say or whether to say anything at all. Flack took a step closer to him, whispered, "You wouldn't be the first people who work together at the lab to have a relationship."
Mac hesitated then said, "I know Jo wasn't taken from here because I was still in here. When I woke up she had gotten out of bed. I heard the van, but I didn't hear anyone come in."
Flack looked at him, understanding that Mac didn't yet want to expose fully what had obviously happened between him and Jo. "He must have gotten in some other way." Flack agreed.
Mac smiled at him and stood there as Flack stepped around him, heading out of the room. He stopped just behind Mac and said, "For the record, I think whatever's going on between you and Jo is great. She's amazing and you deserve someone like that." he said with a friendly smile, that Mac turned and saw, before leaving Mac alone in the room.
Mac turned and sat down on the bed. He let himself fall back, his head crashing down on the pillow. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment before he turned his head to the side. He closed his eyes and saw Jo, began to remember the nights earlier events again.
They were both out of breath when Mac pulled out of her. Both of them were exhausted, their bodies soaked with perspiration. Mac moved off Jo and lay down on his back next to her on the bed. After a moment, he turned to face Jo who was staring up at the ceiling, rubbing her temple. "You okay?" he asked.
She turned to face him and smiled, reached out and lovingly stroked his face. "Yeah, but does the fact that I just made love when my children are missing make me the worlds worst mother? She asked, looking into Mac's eyes.
"No. You're a fantastic mother Jo. Your kids can tell you that when we find them. Flack is working on finding them as we speak. So, get some sleep and in a few hours we can get back to helping him." Mac said.
Jo nodded but couldn't stop the tears that began to build up in her eyes. Mac saw and pulled her into his arms. Jo quickly buried her face against this chest as her tears began to fall. "I want them back." she cried, her whole body trembling, "I want them in my arms, safe." she said as he rubbed her back and stroked her hair as she clung onto him
As he turned to look back up at ceiling, Mac couldn't help but think about how he wanted Jo back, wanted her in his arms, safe. He prayed she was safe wherever she was, prayed they would find her and the kids soon.
~0~0~0~0~
Jo woke up to find herself still lying at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as she came too the blinding pain in her wrist made her whimper in pain. She looked at it and saw it had an odd shape to it, judging by that and the pain, she knew it was broken. That had been the snap she'd heard. She looked up the stairs when she heard a door open. Her heart began to beat faster when she saw two people make their way down the stairs towards where she still lay.
She rolled onto her side and tried to push herself up as quick as she could. She'd just made it to hand, unable to use her left wrist, and knees when a hard swift kick landed in her ribs. It knocked her straight back flat on the floor. She groaned in pain and held her wrist as it throbbed with nauseating pain.
She shuffled onto her back and looked up. She saw two faces looking down at her, glaring at her. A hatred so strong in their eyes that she felt their stare burning into her. "Pull her up." the older voiced man ordered.
The other man reached down and grabbed a handful of Jo's hair. She had to yelp in pain as he dragged her to her feet. He held her in front of him for a moment and as she stared at his face she truly believed that the man in front of her was looking out of John Curtis' eyes, they were just the same; dark and empty, evil. "Who are you?" she asked him.
The man pulled off his ski mask, "I'm Samuel Curtis." he informed her before he spun her round so that she now faced the older man who had also taken his ski mask off. "And this is our father, who my brother was named after, John Curtis. My twin brother that you murdered."
Jo looked at the man then craned her neck to look at Samuel again. He and John were clearly identical twins and evidently got their looks from their father who was an older, greyer version of them. Jo turned to see the older man step closer to her. All she could do was stand there, thanks to the painful grip Samuel had on her arms.
"You took my son from me." he said to her, glaring at her.
"Your son was a violent rapist." she spat at him. "He would have killed me if I hadn't of shot him." she told him.
"I don't care. Eye for an eye…" he said before his arm whipped out at her. His fist connected hard with her face just at the moment Samuel let her go, letting her fall to the floor. "…tooth for a tooth…" he said.
He and Samuel both looked down where she lay on the floor, blood trickling from her nose, struggling to get back up. "Get her kids." John said to Samuel.
Jo's heart pounded harder than it already was hearing his words. She looked up at John only to see his foot come soaring towards her face.
~0~0~0~0~
Mac was stood in Jo's living room with the team. He looked at them, hating that two very important people from it weren't there, Jo and Adam. Flack had gathered prints from the window in Jo's bedroom. Only finding them on the outside.
It was also Flack who had noticed the envelope beneath Jo's phone on the coffee table. After having opened and read it out loud to the others they had all come to the same conclusion...Jo left the apartment on her own.
"She went because he threatened us and Lucy." Lindsay said, guilt evident in her voice.
"Yeah and I plan on thanking her for the rest of my life as soon as we get her back." Danny said, the same guilt in his voice.
"He gave her no choice." Hawkes said.
"Yes she did, she chose to protect us." Danny said.
"Jo wanted us to know that's what happened, maybe that's why she left the note under her phone." Hawkes said.
It was then that Mac turned to see Jo's phone lying on the coffee table in an evidence bag. He knew they would wait until they could get back to the lab to hook it up to a computer to get all the details off it, but something told him to check it out now.
He walked over to the bag and picked it up. The others watched as he pulled open the evidence bag and reached in and grabbed her phone.
"What are you looking for?" Flack asked.
"The killer left Jo a note, maybe she left us one." he said as he unlocked the screen on her phone, immediately the note app showed up. It was clearly intended for them to find. He could imagine her sat writing it
Jo was letting her thoughts run a million miles an hour through her head, then, like a light bulb coming on she had a thought. She opened up the notes app on her phone and began typing, praying she wasn't being watched. She then put her phone down on the coffee table and over walked to the door…
Mac quickly read the note and then re-read it out loud for the others to hear. "Mac, sorry to ignore your orders. I know you didn't want me going anywhere alone, I hope you understand why I did. A mother will do anything to protect her children and a friend will do anything to protect the ones she loves." he glanced up at Lindsay and Danny.
"She was protecting us." Lindsay said, turning and hugging Danny as she buried her face in his chest. She was feeling eternally grateful but also tremendously guilty.
"In case something happens, it was an honour working with you all. Take care. Jo."
For a moment there was a silence that fell over them, over the apartment but they all looked up when they heard some sort of commotion in the hall outside Jo's front door. Mac was first to recognise the man who ran in.
"Jo! Where the hell is she?" Russ Josephson, Jo's ex-husband shouted at no one in particular. "Is she here? Does she really think its ok to just leave a voicemail telling me about Tyler! JO!" he yelled, frantic but also clearly pissed off.
"Russ, she's not here!" Mac yelled after him as Russ stormed around Jo's apartment, determined to find her
"JO!" he yelled louder.
"She isn't here!" Mac yelled at him. Shocking them all.
"Where is she?" Russ asked, suddenly confused that the whole team was in her apartment.
"She was abducted, by the same person who has Tyler and Ellie."
"She should have told me about them." Russ yelled.
"She tried. I was right there with her when she tried calling you over and over…" Mac snapped.
Russ seemed momentarily hurt, he knew there was something between Jo and Mac, had sensed it the first time he saw them together. "I'm sure you were, holding her hand. You two are real close aren't you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mac asked, annoyed.
"How long after she started working at the lab did you start fucking her?" Russ yelled.
The conversation made them all feel awkward but it was Danny and Flack who took a step towards Mac, noticing how his hand suddenly balled into a fist. Mac sensed them coming towards him and held up his hand to stop them. He had more important things to do, like finding Jo, Tyler and Ellie, than knocking Russ's light out which is what he really wanted to do.
"I respect Jo. I see the person she is, the person she wants to be. You just saw her as an accessory, one that men had to know belonged to you. You just wanted her to play the good wife. You didn't care what she wanted." Mac stated.
"You think you know so much about mine and Jo's marriage?"
"She's told me everything." Mac informed him.
"I bet she has. Look you want Jo…you can have her but I want my son back and I want to know what you are all doing to find him!"
"Everything we can." Mac told him.
"Well when you find him, you give him right back to me. I'm taking him outta New York. Jo's never been fit to be a mother, this just proves it. I should never have let her get custody of him, and to think they let her adopt Ellie too!" Russ went on angrily.
"You really are clueless! Jo has put herself into the hands of a killer tonight, not just to protect her children but someone else's too. So don't you dare stand there and call her an unfit mother, because you have no idea." Mac said before walking out. They were finished here anyway. The others followed after him, each one of them glaring at Russ.
~0~0~0~0~
Jo was lay on the floor, spitting out the blood that kept gathering in her mouth. Her lip was split wide open and there was a laceration on her gum that continued to seep blood into her mouth. The taste of which was beginning to knock her sick.
She looked up and managed to push herself up when Tyler and Ellie came walking down the stairs. Samuel had his arm wrapped around a crying Ellie with Jo's gun in his other hand, rested against Ellie's head.
"You have me now. Let them go." Jo asked, her fear for her children's safety over powering the immense pain it caused her just to speak.
"I don't think so." Samuel said with a smirk.
Jo turned and watched as John grabbed Tyler and pushed him down to his knees. He whipped a gun from out of the back of his trousers, armed it and aimed it at the back of Tyler's head.
"No!" Jo screamed, "Please don't!" she begged as she stepped towards John.
"Why? It's what you did to my son. I would say this is divine justice."
"Don't hurt my brother!" Ellie cried.
Jo looked at her daughter, saw the fear on her face. "Let them go, you can do whatever you want to me. I killed your son, not them. They're just kids!"
John glared at Tyler before he looked up at Jo who just stared back at him. "Please, let them go. Do what you want to me." she said again.
"I was planning on it." he said before he aimed the gun and pulled the trigger.
The room was filled with screams, a loud bang and then a thud as a body hit the floor.
TBC
Who got shot? I was originally planning on having Jo abducted later but I brought it forward because there will be more twists to this story yet.
Thanks for reading. Please review.