"Wound one man. Make him suffer. Make him bleed. Make him call out for help, and set a trap and kill those who come."-'Predators'(2010)
IV. Zero Hour
Location: 550 W 120th St NY… 10:30AM Tuesday
"We're too late Finch. They're gone," Shaw stated as she looked at the two seared remnants of the flash grenades laying in the gravel of the parking lot next to John's car.
"Is there any evidence of who took them and why?" Harold asked over the phone as he stared blankly at his computer screen.
"Whoever did this was well prepared. I don't even think anyone saw what happened, let alone reported anything to the police," Shaw replied as she watched people casually walk by the parking lot.
Ross examined the unlocked doors of John's car. As she looked around the car she took notice of the scuffle patterns near the rear of the car as well as the erratic tire marks leading out of the parking lot.
"Shaw look at this," Ross asked as she moved to stand near the tire tracks.
Shaw let her eyes travel down to the tire tracks and the kick back pattern leading away from John's car and towards the city street.
"Hey Finch could you possibly get your hands on security camera footage from a street cam?" Shaw asked as she surveyed the street corner for cameras.
"Yes, why? I thought you said there were no cameras in the parking lot," Harold asked in confusion.
"The people who took Reese and Carter didn't carry them away on foot," Shaw stated as she made her way onto the street corner looking for the closes security camera.
"Pull up any security footage near this location from around 8AM this morning, and see if you can track Reese and Carters movements." Shaw continued on as she took in the security cameras by the coffee shop entrance and the traffic cameras above the traffic light.
Harold hacked his way into the any CCTV circuits around the coffee shops location. Pulling up multiple feeds from street and traffic cams. After downloading the footage Harold played back the cameras to 8AM,"Okay Ms. Shaw what am I looking for."
"They got to the shop around 8 and when I left at 830 they were still sitting down staring at each other. What time did Reese swipe his card?" Shaw asked.
"At 10:07AM," Harold replied as he glance quickly at John Warren's bank statements.
"Okay fast forward your footage of the coffee shop to see when they exited the building," Shaw asked as she looked at the entrance of the coffee shop.
Harold fast forwarded the footage to the time John swiped his card. As the time stamp continued on past 10:07, he watched as both John and Joss exited the café at 10:10 before they walked half way down the street before turning off camera.
"They left the shop at 10:10, they walked down the street, and then they turned left and disappeared from any visible camera angles," Harold relayed.
"Play the feed forward from the time they disappeared into the parking lot and see if anyone followed them." Ross asked as she made her way onto the sidewalk next to Shaw.
Harold continued to play the footage, he squinted his eyes as he saw the edge of a dark colored vehicle pull into the parking lot. After five minutes he saw another blur of dark color in the edge of the camera race by.
"I'm not sure, but out of the corner of the footage at 10:12 you can see a dark colored vehicle race into the parking moments after John and Joss entered and then the same dark colored blur leaves equally as fast five minutes later at 10:17" Harold relayed.
Shaw look at Ross "It could be the getaway vehicle."
"Hey Finch there's a traffic camera at the corner of 120th and Broadway, can you pull that up and see if there are any dark colored vehicles, particular windowless vans, rushing out of the parking lot after 10:17." Ross stated.
Harold download the footage of the intersection of 120th and Broadway. As he played the footage he watched as random people walked to and from their cars and into shops. As the time stamp moved past 10:17. Harold saw a dark colored windowless van speed out of the parking lot, almost hitting parked car before it continued up the street.
"Ms. Shaw, Ms. Ross, a dark colored windowless van pulled out of the parking lot at 10:18 and headed and north on Broadway, but I can barely make out the license plate, it looks like the first two letters are a W and Z." Harold relayed back.
Shaw looked at Ross, "10:18, that was 12 minutes ago, they couldn't have gotten very far."
Ross nodded at Shaw's statement, "Finch how long can you track the van using traffic cameras."
Location: Unknown… 5:50PM Tuesday
Joss felt a numb tinder pain around her forehead as she began to regain consciousness.
"John?" Joss mumbled out loud as she slowly sat up as her eyes adjusted to the red hue of the setting sun.
"Hey you're up. I've been trying to wake you for the past 15 minutes."a deep male voice sounded out.
Joss quickly bolted to her feet and took a defensive position as she turned to face her potential assailant.
"Hey calm down girl! I ain't trying to fight you." Jacob exclaimed as he held his hands up in mock surrender.
"Who are you?" Joss questioned defensively as she sized up the man standing before her.
Taking in his appearance. The black man in front of her was at least 6'4" tall, bald, with a lined up goatee, and a muscular build. He was wearing dark grey basketball sweat pants and a black plan t shirt.
"My names Williams, Jacob Williams. What about you?" Jacob asked as he lowered his hands.
Joss narrowed her eyes at the man, trying to determine what type of threat he could pose to her.
Jacob sighed "I really don't have time to strike up a sense of comradery with you. All I know is that we're stuck in the place chained together at the ankles and someone is going to start hunting us down like animals at sundown. I don't know what you were doing before you were taken, but I was with my little girl and if they took her to, that means she's out there wandering around by herself or worse chain to a stranger that could hurt her. All I care about is finding my daughter. Now you can either move with me or I'll carry you kicking and screaming."
Joss glanced up at the position of the sun before settling her eyes back on the man in front of her.
"How do you know that we're being hunted?" Joss asked.
Jacob dug the folded piece of paper out of his pocket and held it out to her.
Joss cautiously moved closer to the man and yanked the paper from his outstretched hand before stepping back as far away from him as she could with the chain that attached them at the ankle.
Joss let her eyes roam over the paper as she silently read the contents. 'Hello most honored guest you have been selected to participate in my game. There are 12 of you on this playing board. You have been provided the basic necessities you need to survive. The games will begin at sundown. Welcome to the hunt.-V'
"Where are the basic necessities?" Joss questioned as she looked around the clearing before her eyes settled back on the Jacob.
"In the backpack, they gave use two canteens, a first aid kit, a thermal blanket and one hunting knife." Jacob replied.
"I want the knife," Joss demanded.
"I think the knife is better kept with me, I have military and survival training. I'm more than cable of protecting you and no offense doll, I am a lot more intimidating than you," Jacob smirked.
"You think so?" Joss asked rhetorically as she reached up and fiddled with her hair bun until she removed a bobby pin.
Jacob watched as the woman crouched down on one knee and began to jimmying the hand cuff lock around her ankle with the bobby pin until the lock clicked and the cuff came undone.
"Now how about I hold onto that backpack and you can lose the chain around your foot. Unless you want to carry that too?" Joss stated with a smirk as she stood back up and looked at Jacob.
Jacob scoffed with a half-smile as he tossed the backpack to the woman.
"Lift your foot up," Joss demanded as she shouldered the backpack and moved closer to the man.
"Why?" Jacob asked.
"To keep you off balance while I undo you ankle bracelet, just in case you try to overpower me." Joss replied as she stood arms distance away from Jacob.
Jacob lifted his leg and watched as she grabbed his ankle and extended his foot putting him off balance before twisting the bobby pin into the lock and ridding him from his ankle chain.
Jacob watched as the woman in front of him rolled up the ankle chain before quickly shoving into the backpack as she eyed him with suspicion.
"We need to find a vantage point before it gets dark, then at first light we can try and find higher ground," Joss stated as she looked around their surroundings.
"Ok doll, lead the way" Jacob replied.
"Don't call me doll," Joss ordered.
"If these people are hunting us they'd come from the west, in order to keep the sun out of their line of vision so we should head east to stay in front of them." Joss stated out loud as she turned east and began to walk.
"So. What should I be calling you?" Jacob asked as he began walking next to her.
Joss glanced at Jacob from the corner of her eye before she turned her focused to the path ahead of them.
"Carter." Joss replied.
"Where are we going?" Robin asked as she held the hand of the man next to her.
"To higher ground." John replied as they made their way through foliage.
"Why?" Robin asked.
"Because we will be able to see where we are better." John replied as he pushed a branch out of there way.
"How'd you know that" Robin questioned.
"I was taught." John replied trying to hide his annoyance.
"By who?" Robin asked.
"The military." John replied after taking a big breath.
"My dad's in the military" Robin stated with eagerness.
"Really?" John question in curiosity.
"Yep, he's a navy seagull" Robin confirmed.
John stifle his laughter as he smirked "You mean a Navy SEAL."
"Yep, my grandpa says he saves people." Robin replied in a proud tone.
"Are you one too?" Robin asked curiously.
"No I was a Ranger." John replied.
"Like a power ranger. Power rangers are awesome, my favorite is the blue power ranger, because my favorite color is blue. What's your favorite color?" Robin rattled off as she squeezed John's hand.
"Ummm… green," John replied trying to keep up with the little girls ramblings.
"Hey green's my dad's favorite color, you're kind of like my dad, except he's taller and bald. How old are you I'm five." Robin stated.
"I'm forty-three"John replied.
"Wow your old do you live in an old people's home, like my grandpa," Robin questioned.
"I'm not that old." John replied slightly offended as he raised one of his hands to touch the greying hair at his temple.
"Oh okay. Are you married? Do you have kids like me?" Robin asked.
"You sure do ask a lot of questions" John replied curtly in annoyance, trying to keep his patience.
"I make the kids at school mad and they pick on me because I ask the teacher a lot of questions. I'm sorry I'll be quite now." Robin replied as she looked down at the ground as she let go of John's hand
John stopped walking and closed his eyes briefly, silently cursing himself for upsetting the little girl for just asking simple questions. He turned around and kneeled down to be eye level with her.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I'm just not use to being around people who want to know so much about me. If you want you can keep asking me questions?" John replied with a nervous smile.
"Really?" Robin asked as she twiddled her thumbs.
"Yes," John stated with a nod.
"Okay!" Robin exclaimed with a smile.
"Right. So where were we?" John asked as he stood back up as Robin grabbed his hand again.
"Do you have any kids like me?" Robin asked.
"No I don't have any kids and I'm not married," John stated.
"Oh are you like our neighbor Ms. Coby, she has 12 cats but she calls them her kids." Robin expressed.
John smirked "No I don't have any cats that I call kids. I do have a dog named Bear though."
"That's cool. I have a pet turtle, his name is eggshell," Robin replied back.
"That's ni…," before John could finish his sentence a gunshot sounded out and echoed through the forest.