I'm back again. Chapter Five. Hope you enjoy. Please read and review a little bit more, so I know if I should continue with this :) Thanks!

Fruitbat: Thanks for the offer! I will definitely let you know if I'm not sure of something:)

Chapter Five: ... Back

The alarm clock.

A phone call.

A woman, or a girl, or something in between.

The subway… my car, an accident, black… The kid.

Nick.

Mac lay down with his face on the ground. He didn't know exactly where he was, so he didn't move.

First scan the place.

He tried to open his eyes one by one. Dizziness overwhelmed him.

The towel. Chloroform.

He remembered again. The hands which tried to anaesthetize him and, so it seems, succeeded in that. He tried to look around without moving which was a difficult task. One light flickered on and off. Nearby in front him of was a wall, just like on the left side of him. He moved his hands and feet a little to feel if there were bounded. With his first tiny move, he heard some noises behind him.

He tried to freeze again, not moving a muscle, but it was too late. Footsteps were shaking the ground he was lying on. Before he could even move again, he felt a big hand surrounding his skull, pulling him up with ease and throwing him with his back to the wall. A chain on his neck clattered.

'Ai, the hansom detective is awake', a ski mask said while he was kneeling down on Mac's level. The smell out of the mouth of this ski mask made Mac retch. The man who was behind it became furious when he saw Mac's face and was an inch away from knocking Mac down, when another voice made his entry.

'Leave it, Flower. Don't you dare hitting him before I said so.'

Flower?! Mac felt like he was end up in some sort of nightmare.

With the voice came another man, smaller than the first one, also with a ski mask over his head. Mac felt his dizziness become stronger and he tried to keep his eyes open. The man who was called Flower, made way to let the other one pass and mumbled something like 'Okay, boss'.

'So, how are you doing, detective?', the 'boss' said. Mac didn't feel the urge to speak and he wasn't all that sure only words would come out of his mouth. The 'boss' looked like he wasn't happy with Mac's decision.

'You're gonna talk now, buddy.' Mac felt a gun pressed against his temple. The 'boss' held up a note.

'Call one of your team and speak this into his voicemail. No real talking. If you don't, I'll shot you. Or should I shoot him?' He pointed at Nick, who appeared in the doorway with another guy, a gun pointing at the little boy.' Mac heard the kid calling his name. He tried to force a smile for the kid, but it didn't worked out as it should. Mac looked back at the man standing in front him, who pushed Mac's cell into his face. Mac knew what he had to do to save Nick for now.

'Danny, call Danny.' The 'boss' did as he was told and hold the mobile near Mac's ear, the latter not possible to use his hands because they were tied up. Mac read the text out loud, trying to bring it a little different so hopefully Danny would notice. When the 'boss' hung up, Mac turned his eyes back to the doorway, but Nick was already gone with the other man. His anger grew inside him and he said, looking up: 'Let the kid go.'

The 'boss' kneeled down, apparently pissed off. 'You won't need your voice anymore now, detective, and I didn't give you permission to speak again.' With those words, the fist of the boss hit Mac's larynx hard, right above the chain, but not with full strength. Mac stopped breathing for almost a minute, feeling everything collapse inside his throat. Finally, he caught little pieces of air again. The 'boss' knew exactly where to hit him so Mac couldn't speak a word anymore. The larynx was probably severely bruised, but not broken. In the meantime, the 'boss' and Flower were watching Mac, fully enjoying their sight. When the detective was near to normal again, the boss spoke again.

'Did you like it? The pain? I can see we picked the perfect guy. You definitely need a couple of lessons 'Listen and obey'. Happily for you, I give those lessons. You see, you were the chosen one. You and your team found that girl, ya know. And we want to know who murdered her, so we can whack the guy hard. And now you probably want to know what you being here has to do with it, don't you?'

Mac looked like he didn't care or even listen to this guy, but inside he was trembling for the answer. The 'boss', getting more and more angry because of Mac's behavior, grabbed with his thumb and other fingers Mac's cheeks and clasped so hard Mac couldn't do anything but look straight at him. The guy said, while blood was spilling out of Mac's cheeks:

'I will tell you. You are here, because I can threaten your team to hurry up finding that bastard who killed Trish. He needs to get what he deserves, and fast. Faster than your guys are used to. I don't freaking care how far I have to go, even if it has to be over your dead body. But I can assure you, your task isn't going to be sitting, waiting, wishing.'

The small man came yet closer, grinning now.

'You are gonna feel every bit of your stay here. How longer they gotta take, the more chance you're gonna end up six feet under. And I'll prove you I'm not joking.'

Mac kept his mad looking eyes locked into the guy's eyes, making sure he was not afraid. Instead of striking again, the guy rose slowly and winked at his Flower to come closer.

'You can take out on him now, but don't break anything yet. And I want him to feel everything.'

Flower grinned widely. 'Yeah, with pleasure, boss.'

Right before Flower made his first move, the boss spoke one last time to the CSI boss: 'Nick is going to be fine, by the way. He belongs here, with his family and soon, he will be reunited with his dad. You will never see or touch him again.'

With that, he left Mac with the Flower-guy…