Slipping Into Darkness
A/N: There is swearing in this chapter and it's pretty graphic in some parts, so be warned. And keep in mind that I have no medical knowledge, so don't blame or sue me if I make some medical errors. Remember, this is just for fun.
Disclaimer: I do not own Without A Trace or any of its character. They belong to Jerry Bruckheimer and company, so please don't sue
Chapter 13
While Jack stayed behind in the hospital with his injured team, Jeff headed to FBI Headquarters to interrogate Ritchie's gunman. But Jeff was also concerned about Sam's safety because Jack had tried calling her and she hadn't answered. And now, he'd been calling her for the last fifteen minutes and he still hadn't gotten through to her.
After what seemed like forever, Jeff finally got to headquarters and ran upstairs, causing him to sigh heavily in relief when he saw Sam sitting at her desk.
"Sam, where have you been? We've been trying to call you?" Jeff said seriously out of concern, causing him to suddenly get a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach because Sam still hadn't turned around and looked at him. "Sam?" He said calmly but fearfully, causing him to scream when he turned her chair around. "Sam!" Jeff screamed horrified.
Jeff couldn't stomach the sight in front of him as he screamed horrified. Sam's wrists and ankles were tied to the chair and her wrists had been slit, so she was covered in blood. She also had ligature marks on her neck.
Jeff began screaming for help as he cut away the duct tape that bound her limbs, causing Agent Chuck to respond horrified as well. Agent Chuck quickly called for an ambulance and went back to helping Jeff with Sam.
"What the hell happened to her? How long has she been like this?" Jeff yelled angrily as they grabbed a First Aid Kit and applied pressure bandages to Sam's wrists and ankles, luckily they'd found that Sam still had a weak pulse.
"I don't know. We've been down in Interview One but the son of a bitch won't say anything about who's trying to kill the team. We know that it's this Ritchie asshole but he refuses to talk." Agent Chuck said furiously when the paramedics came in.
"What have he got?" The male paramedic said urgently.
"Special Agent Samantha Spade. She was found bound to this chair with her wrists slit and ligatures to her throat. Look, she needs to be taken to St. Luke's. This is an attempted murder, not an accident." Jeff said urgently and angrily out of fear.
"Jeff, I can't get a hold of a hold of Jack." Agent Chuck said seriously as paramedics began treating Sam and hooked her up to several monitors.
"He's in the hospital securing the others. You go with Sam and you don't leave her side for a damn second. Do you understand me? Shoot somebody if you have to, but don't leave her side. I'm going to stay here and get this son of a bitch to talk once and for all. And I don't give a rat's ass what these guys tell you or anyone else, you stay with her. And when you get over there, you ask for Dr. Sean Novak and Dr. Adam Foster. No one gets near Sam except those guys. Do I make myself clear?" Jeff said angrily out of concern.
"I understand, Jeff. But what about Jack? He doesn't know about Sam yet." Agent Chuck said seriously and concerned as they put Sam on the gurney and led her in front of the elevator as they waited for it.
"You let me handle Jack. I'll keep calling him. Just don't leave her side or it's your ass on the line if Jack finds out." Jeff said gruffly as they led Sam into the elevator when it arrived.
"I'm not leaving her alone. I swear on my life. Just get that damn sick freak to talk or I will." Agent Chuck said angrily.
"Oh, he'll talk all right. Go." Jeff said through gritted teeth as he felt his blood boiling like spewing lava, causing the paramedics to leave with Agent Chuck.
The tears he'd been fighting back escaped his eyes as he dialed Jack's phone for the third time in less than a minute, causing Jack to finally answer the phone.
"Malone." Jack barked into the phone.
"Jack, where the hell have you been? Why the hell haven't you answered your damn phone?" Jeff said angrily but it was obvious that he was crying furiously.
"Calm down and tell me what the hell happened?" Jack said gruffly out of fear.
"Jack, it's Sam. She's on her way to St. Luke's now. When I got here, I found her tied to her chair. Jack, the son of a bitch slit her wrists and strangled her. She's barely breathing but she's barely got a pulse. I sent Chuck with her so I can stay here. I'm not going to stop until that son of a bitch tells me where Ritchie is. I swear to God I'm going to kill him." Jeff said furiously as he exploded and tears of rage escaped his eyes.
"Jesus! All right, calm down. Do whatever you have to, to get the information we need, okay? He's gone after all of us and it ends now." Jack said through gritted teeth as he tightly fisted his hands.
"Jack, I know that there's going to be hell in the ER. But I told Chuck not to leave Sam's side regardless of what anyone said. And I told him not to let anyone treat Sam except for Sean and his father." Jeff said through gritted teeth and then flipped a table over. "Son of a bitch!" Jeff shrieked furiously.
"Jeff, calm your ass down right now, damn it." Jack said harshly out of concern, causing Jeff to breathe heavily and loudly.
"Damn it. Jack, you should've seen her. She was covered in blood and tied up like a damn animal." Jeff said furiously.
"I know but we'll get those sick sons of bitches soon for hurting our team and they're going to regret the day they the miserable bastards were born. Tell you what. You do what you have to without getting into trouble, to find out where Ritchie is and I'll go find Sean and Foster and tell them what's going on, so they can treat Sam. Just try not to kill the bastard." Jack said compassionately with a heavy sigh.
"Fine. But I can't promise that won't come close to killing him." Jeff cried angrily through gritted teeth as he breathed heavily and tried to control his fury.
"All right. Call me back after you break that twisted freak. Stay there and make sure that he's booked for the attempted murder, assault and battery on Danny, Viv, Sam and Kevin, the orderly at the hospital. I have to go. Be careful, Jeff." Jack said compassionately with a heavy sigh and then ended the call.
At that exact moment, Sean and Dr. Foster entered the room together.
"Sean, Foster, just the ones I wanted to see. I need you downstairs in the ER right now. That son of a bitch Ritchie got to another agent of mine, Agent Samantha Spade. And she's on her way here right now." Jack said urgently and gruffly, causing Sean to gasp.
"Oh, no. Sam? What the hell did he do to her?" Sean said horrified as he went bug-eyed.
"Someone tied her to the chair and slit her wrists and feet. She's also got ligature marks on her throat. Jeff said that she's barely breathing and has a weak pulse. Another agent is down there with her and isn't going to let anyone near her." Jack said urgently and somewhat gruffly out of fear and concern.
"In that case, Sean, let's go downstairs. We'll keep you informed, Agent Malone. And so you know, no one knows that your agents are in these two rooms except for us and Nurse Nancy. So, once we make sure that she's stable, we'll transfer Agent Spade up here. Excuse me." Dr. Foster explained seriously but compassionately and then they left the room.
When they arrived downstairs, they found Agent Chuck arguing with the nurses and doctors who were trying to treat Sam, causing Dr. Foster to intervene.
"All right, everyone calm down." Dr. Foster said sternly.
"Oh, my God, Sam." Sean said urgently and concerned as he soothed her head. "Don't worry, sweetie. We're not going to let anything happen to you. We're going to take care of you." He said with conviction as he and Dr. Foster put on gloves and began treating Sam.
"Are you guys Novak and Foster?" Agent Chuck said shaken as he refused to leave Sam's side.
"Yeah and you're Agent Chuck. Look, you can stay but don't interfere. Just step back and let us do our job." Sean said seriously and urgently but compassionately, causing Agent Chuck to nod and step back.
"She's going to need four units of O-Neg now. She's lost too much blood." Dr. Foster said seriously as he and Sean started IV's on both of Sam's arms and treated and bandaged her bloodied feet.
"Damn it. I'm concerned about nerve damage. The son of a bitch cut her deeply." Sean said concerned and angrily as they began suturing Sam's wrists.
"You're right. But we won't know for several days whether she has damage or not. Besides, the most important thing right now is that we get her through this. And right now she needs to be intubated. She's barely getting any air through her airway." Dr. Foster explained seriously concerned as he sprayed Sam's mouth and throat with a numbing spray and then as gently as possible intubated her.
"What about the strangulation? She has ligature marks on her neck." Agent Chuck said very concerned and shaken.
"She's lucky. A little more and she would've died at the office. Whoever did this almost crushed her trachea." Dr. Foster said seriously and concerned as he hooked Sam up to the first unit of O-Neg blood.
"Agent Chuck, we'll be taking her to a secure location with the others. But you can stay with her if you'd like." Sean said seriously but compassionately as they finished suturing and bandaging Sam's wrists.
"You bet your ass I'm coming. I'm not leaving her alone." Agent Chuck said as a matter of factly.
"Sean, I'm giving her Morphine and I'm going to keep her sedated over the next several days." Dr. Foster explained concerned.
"How is she?" Agent Chuck asked concerned.
"The next forty-eight hours are critical and there's a possibility that she may have nerve damage from when they slit her wrists. She's also going to be in excruciating pain, so I'm going to keep her completely sedated for several days until the danger passes. She's also lost a lot of blood which we've started giving her again already. But she's still not out of mortal danger." Dr. Foster said seriously as they began moving Sam out of the room.
All of a sudden, as they were wheeling Sam toward the elevator, the monitors began shrilling violently.
"Sam, no! Dad, we're losing her! I lost her pulse and she's not breathing! We can't lose her, damn it!" Sean said urgently as they rushed her back into the room, causing Agent Chuck to bug out horrified as he stood by the door and Sean and Dr. Foster began working frantically to try to revive Sam.
TBC?