Chapter Eight: Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

Disclaimer:

Mitsi is jumping up and down, up and down, in the middle of an isle in a groceries store

Susie Q: Mitsi cut it out, I'm trying to work here!

Mitsi: Sorry Suz, but I'm so exited! For more days until the new Harry Potter is here!

Susie Q: Mitsi, get a hold of yourself, would you?! My boss is going to kill me if he finds you talking to me!

Mitsi stops jumping up and down. She smiles her evil smile again…

Susie Q: Oh, not that smile again! You want to take over CSI and the world again? Please no… It really won't work!

Mitsi: No, no, no. I got over that, I own nothing yada, yada. But I think your boss would fire you if I tell him what you told me. And with that information, well let's say I could blackmail you! Muahahahahha

Susie Q: What information? OMG your not going to tell him, that I told you how to steal a trolley? Please…

Mitsi: I shall think about it… Right now I've a update to write! See ya! Oh, and please review! I like reviews a lot! Correction; I love reviews!

Hell. Traffic in New York City was hell. And Danny was stuck right in the middle of it. He sighed. The case he had worked on today, with Stella, well it got a little to close to home. Some nut job that called himself a father murdered his wife, son and daughter. And it seemed that he didn't even regret it…

Danny knew he had to let it go, before he could return home so he tried to lose the demons by turning on the radio.

No, no, no

Stick to the stuff you know

If you wanna be cool

Follow one simple rule

Don't mess with the flow, no no

Stick to the status quo'

"Rosa…" He groaned. Rosa had the flue so she was stuck at home. And since Danny had a nightshift he spent the afternoons with her. In the week that she had been home she had watched all the movies that the Messer family owned. Well the kid-movies that is (Danny didn't like the idea of his daughter watching 'The Godfather'). So Rosa was starting to get bored… And a bored Rosa was an annoying Rosa. So Danny had bought her a new DVD. Something called 'High School Musical', he had heard Stella talk about it. So the next day he popped it in the DVD-player, and Rosa was sold. She watched it two times a day, and Danny had to watch it with her…

Within two days she knew all the songs by heart. And sung along with every single one of them. Lindsay found that so completely adorable that she decided to buy the soundtrack. Unfortunately enough for Danny, Rosa always took the CD with her. Especially when Lindsay, once she was better, drove her to school in the mornings… 'In daddy's car! And then forget to pop in daddy's CD once again! So that daddy has those songs in his head all day long! Joyous!' Danny thought.

He pushed the stop button, and the music stopped. He smiled but that smile was soon forgotten when he realized what date it was today. Today exactly two years ago he was kidnapped. Today two years ago he could have sworn he was going to die…

Flashback

Danny could feel his hands being tied together. He raised his head only to have it pushed down again.

"Stay put! And do not move!" The kidnapper screamed at him. He closed his eyes and winced. His head ached like crazy. He tried to speak, but his throat was sore. So all that came out of his mouth was a dull, groggy sound.

"Don't like that, do we?!" Another male voice echoed through Danny's head. "Little mister police guy!" More laughter. Danny tried to count the voices, but it hurt to much. "Yeah, you are going to get us what we want…" Danny shook his head. He tried to remember what had happened.

He was talking to Stella before entering the lab. They talked about the case. The case was about… About drugs dealers! The whole team was put on that case. The drugs dealers were kidnapping random people, or at least it looked that way. Lawyers, chefs, managers, normal people. He didn't take any drugs. They had all died. Their bodies were found all over the city. They had been shot in the same place, and then dumped in a dumpster, bush or something as ordinary like that. There were no connections between the victims. So the team were completely in the dark about the motives of the kidnappers.

Danny thought about what had happened to him. He was talking to Stella, but then someone grabbed her from behind and putted a gun to her head. The person wore a ski mask and glasses, so Danny couldn't recognize him. He was told to get in the van that was parked in the parking lot behind the building, and not make a fuss about things. Danny did as he was told. Once he was seated in the trunk of the van the kidnapper let Stella lose had closed the doors of the van. He jumped into the passenger seat and someone else drove of. It had all happened so fast. Danny tried to scream for help but there was another person in the back of the van. A female person. That hit him with her gun. Then everything went black…

Danny shook out of reverie. He had to get out of here, or he was the next victim lying on Sid's table. He felt like he was slow dancing in a burning room, for crying out loud! For a second he thought that the room was actually on fire. Maybe if the room was really on fire, the walls would come down and he could escape. Maybe if the smoke was so visible, he could be found! Maybe if his kidnappers ran for the hills (or rather ran out or the burning room) he could free himself. But he was soon woken from those day dreams…

"Think about leaving, are we?" The female voice rang through the air. "How did my father always put it, uhm.. Oh yeah: Try before you Die!" The male voices laughed. She joined them. The laughter died away, when the woman approached Danny. "You are going to get hurt." Danny looked up into her eyes. Her face he couldn't see, it was hidden behind a mask that had the shape of a cow. But here eyes were visible. Her pitch black eyes were focused upon him. He could feel a shiver running up and down his spine. He swallowed hard.

"Where to start?" She looked up and down his body, slumped against the brick wall of the building that they were keeping him in. "Oh, maybe with an explanation. You would like to know what you are doing her, I figure." Danny nodded once. "Well, Messer," The woman had opened his wallet and read his name from his driver's license "You are her because we feel that you and your pretty colleague's are getting to close to us." Silence fell. Danny looked the woman again, she was still looking at his wallet.

"Nice kids you've got there, Messer. I think they're going to miss their daddy very much… But before I start to get all sentimental," She threw his wallet into his lap, and it fell open. Alex, Rosa and Lindsay smiled at him. He smiled back at them. "You and your mates are screwing up our plans! So one of you had to go! Now our boss said that you were the perfect one!" She threw her head back and sighed.

"You are wondering, aren't you… I know you are wondering about all those other people. I know it. I would wonder too. You and your maties have found, what four of them?" Danny didn't respond. This pissed the woman off, and she kicked against his knee. Danny cried out. "Answer me!" She yelled.

"Five, we found five." He winced again because the female patted his head. His headache was starting to hurt even more…

"Good boy!" She laughed again, so did the other two man. They were sitting around an old table, playing a game of chess. "Quick learner, you are! Well, Messer, you've found five of our victims. You've found the lawyer, the chef, the singer, the manager, and last but not least; the cabdriver! Wow, but would it surprise you that there are more?!" Danny shook his head. "Thought so! And you thought right! Because there are more! About ten more! Well, eleven that is after you have 'passed away'!" She let out a smile laugh.

She sighed before continuing. "You must think that we are totally crazy. And in a way we most likely are. But what we did was good! You don't see that, but it was! Is! You see, our boss is a strong man. He's a powerful man, that you do not want to piss off. But those people, well they did! See, it's really simple. The lawyer didn't want to represent him. The chef cooked him a meal, and after eating it our boss got food poisoning. The singer didn't want sing for him, in private if you get my drift. The manager said some really fowl words to him. And the cabdriver charged him too much…"

"And then he asked us to take care of them! Our boss is really clever, you see. He asked us because we are drugs dealers with a kind of criminal record. Yeah, so no-one will suspect him! They will automatically think that is was because of the drugs that the people were killed. But that isn't true…"

The woman finished her speech and walked to the table were the chess game had ended. She bowed over the table, and clipped her fingers. The two man stood up, straight away. They had the body of a bodybuilder, but their faces were still hidden behind the ski masks. He couldn't see their eyes because of the glasses. They came walking towards Danny. Well they didn't really walk, more dragged their with muscle overloaded bodies towards him. Once they were close to his body…

End Flashback

The horn of a cab brought Danny back to the present. He held his hand up in apology and drove on…

So now you know what happened to Danny! Like I are ready wrote; the kidnapping took place two years ago. So Alex is now twelve and Rosa is five. I have no idea whether five-year olds watch 'High School Musical', but me and my friends do and we really enjoy it, so I thought Rosa would too!

Well anyway; I would really like to thank chili-peppersfor her great reviews on every chapter I have written so far! Your reviews really make my day… And Susan and Loesje of course! Plus all the other great people that have reviewed!