Finally, chapter 8 is up. Sorry for the delay, I was on vacation and there was no time to update before I went. But I made it up to you: it's the longest chapter so far! And there are hopefully a lot more chapters to come. Please read, enjoy and review!

I want to thank Fruitbat for the corrections!

Chapter Eight: Sick and Tired

This wasn't happening. It had to be a terrible nightmare. Danny's mind was running wild as he was heading to the elevator. He had seen Hawkes trying to catch up with him, but the elevator doors closed too early for the worried Sheldon. He had called Danny's name, but Danny was already gone.

On the ground floor, Danny ran out of the elevator and out of the building. He ran trough the streets of New York as fast as he could. When he read the DNA-analysis from Jane Parsons, he knew Mac was even more in danger than he already was. The image of Mac in the picture kept running through his mind. He had never seen Mac that helpless. And Sonny was behind bars because of Mac and him. Danny looked at his watch. It was already 11.00 am, or for Mac it was getting on for 3 hours already. That is 6 terrible things had happened; 6 beatings or God knows what else.

Danny sat down on the first bench he saw and put his head in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. Finally, he and Lindsay were together, everything seemed to be going perfect and now this. If something really bad happened to Mac, he couldn't forgive himself. Mac would be so disappointed in him, after all he had done for him. Tears were swelling up in his eyes when he tilted his head and looked at his hands. Empty, that is what they were.

He was sitting there, staring at his hands, for an eternity it seemed, when his phone rang. An old lady, who was sitting on the other end of the bench, put her hand on Danny's shoulder and shook him lightly. Danny snapped out of his trance and looked at the old lady.

'Aren't you taking that phone call, son? You never know who it will be.'

Danny now felt his phone too and quickly took it out of his pocket and took the call, not knowing who it was. 'Hello.'

'Danny, where the hell are you? Flack is searching for you everywhere and we've been trying to call you a million times.' A worried and angry Stella sounded through the phone.

Danny looked around. 'I.. I have know idea, I just ran and never looked where to.' But then he saw not far behind him, the building where Mac's apartment was in. 'Oh.'

'What oh? Please tell me where you are, so Flack can pick you up. You can not go through this alone Danny. You need us and we need you.' Danny heard Stella crying now.

'You understand? We need you now, and we need to find Mac. God knows what's happening to him at the moment. Maybe you think you're having a difficult time, think about him for Christ sake. HE needs us.' The words could hardly be heard between all Stella's tears. Danny knew she was right. Mac was first priority now, he could deal with his own problems later. Danny gave in.

'I'm in front of Mac's apartment now. And since I'm here, I will examine his place, maybe he left some evidence behind in case… in case he has ever been in there at all. I'm sorry Stel, I just needed some fresh air, to think, you know.' Danny said.

'It's okay, I'm already glad you are at least safe. I'll send Hawkes to you, and Lindsay and I will take the Jefferson's case. Hang in there, okay? Mac's gonna be alright, I promise you that.'

Stella hung up the phone and almost collapsed. Hawkes saw it happen and hurried towards her to give her a hug. Stella turned around and buried her head in his chest, still crying.

'It's okay, Stella, it's okay. He's going to be fine.' He gently grabbed her arms and looked in her eyes. 'He has a lot to fight for, and he will fight for it.' Stella slowly nodded. Lindsay's knock on the door made them both look her way. Lindsay looked shocked.

'I only found fingerprints from one person on the package, the postman I suppose. I still have to look at the tape. But I ran the fingerprints through AFIS. I think you guys have to take a look.' Lindsay said, and immediately turned around. Hawkes and Stella followed her quickly and in the lab they saw what Lindsay was trying to say. On the flat screen, the fingerprint showed a hit: Neil Preat, caught 6 years ago for a minor robbery. More interesting was the last sentence that appeared on the screen.

Known Associates: Tanglewood Boys, since 2006. Hawkes let out a big sigh. 'We let him go… Damn it, we let him go.' Sheldon said. He let out another sigh. Stella just looked at the words in front of her, dazed and bewildered. She then turned around and spoke to Hawkes.

'Hawkes, you go to Mac's apartment, Danny is there now, processing any possible evidence. Go help him.' She then turned to Lindsay.

'We go further with the Jefferson's case. Let Adam process the tape for anything unusual, but let's not focus on that. Let's move.' Stella left, followed by Lindsay. Hawkes let out another sigh and headed towards Danny.

Hawkes entered Mac's apartment with two kits in his hands. He looked around and saw Danny standing near the couch. Danny shook his head.

'He has never been here after he left the hospital. No traces of the kid, one pair of shoes is still missing, his coat is not on the clothes rack, just nothing. He just has never been here.' Danny said, still a little shaky from his long run. He looked at Hawkes.

'What are we going to do next?' He asked him.

Hawkes came closer into the living room. It really didn't feel comfortable to be in his boss's apartment when he was somewhere else, tied up even. 'Let's see if there's anything new to find out about Sassone and the kid, maybe even give him a visit. Oh and uhh… the postman was a new Tanglewood Boy or has at least something to do with them. You couldn't have known that, Danny. It's not your fault.' Sheldon already took this opportunity to show Danny some support, because he really looked like he needed it. He expected a outburst or at least some curses, but nothing of that kind. Danny didn't even move a muscle.

'Oh. Well, let Flack find out about the kid and stuff. We should drive the route Mac drove from the hospital. We have to find out were they took him and the kid, and how. Let's go.' Danny walked past Hawkes and took his kit out of his hand. Hawkes followed him towards the car. He was acting so much like Mac already, Sheldon thought.

Flack was heading to jail to meet Sonny Sassone. It would take too much time to transfer him to the police department first, so Flack went to his 'place'. Once he arrived in the meeting room, he saw Sonny behind the wall of glass in his orange suit, smiling at him. Flack tried to stay calm and sat down on the opposite of the gang leader. He picked up the receiver, Sonny did the same.

'Where is Mac?!' Flack almost yelled through the phone. Sonny still smiled.

'What do you mean, detective? Is there something wrong with my lovely CSI-boss? That would be such a pity. I have nothing to do with it man, I swear.' Sonny acted like he was serious, but Flack saw right through him.

'We can work on your serve time. If you cooperate and tell me where he is and what your plan is, I can maybe arrange that you can come out of this hell alive.' Flack knew this was the only way to get Sonny's attention. But instead of considering the deal Flack was offering, Sonny bowed closer to the wall of glass and looked Flack straight in the eye.

'I can't help you, detective.'

'What about Trisha? And your son? What about them, eh?! You can help your son if you just tell me what you're up to.' Flack tried one last time.

Sonny's patience ended after that sentence. 'I will make sure that ass that killed Trisha will get what he deserves, once you find him. No word from your beloved boss till then.' Sonny flung the receiver onto the phone again and stood up, leaving a furious Flack behind. Flack followed Sonny's example and also flung the receiver back in place. He made sure the guards kept an extra eye on everyone visiting Sassone and monitored every phone call he made, before heading back to his car again.

Hopefully the others had found something useful. Damn it. Flack was still cursing when he arrived at his car. He drove back to the lab, in the meantime informing Stella how the conversation went.

Adam didn't find anything on the tape, just as Stella expected. She and Lindsay had already been studying the clothes and other belongings from Trisha Jefferson for hours. The things that were lying on the ground when they first entered Trisha's room, a lamp and a candlestick, were as clean as the day they had been first bought and the clothes looked clean too.

'There really is nothing unusual to find on the evidence, Stella.' Lindsay said, desperately trying to contact her.

'There must be something. Give me her shirt again, will you.' Lindsay gave Stella the shirt. With a loupe she examined the neckline again. She turned the shirt inside out and repeated her act. She then smiled widely.

'Lindsay, look. Some sort of substance near the seam. She quickly swabbed a little of the substance. Lindsay cut the tip of the cotton bud and made it ready for the centrifuge. She inserted it into the trace analyzer. Both Stella and Lindsay were on edge with impatience as the machine analyzed it. After a minute, it beeped.

'Lubricating oil. The sort of oil that's used in Yamaha bikes to grease the components on the wheels.' Stella summed up from the screen.

'Lindsay, see if there's a surveillance video available from Trisha's apartment. Maybe it spotted the bike we are looking for.' Lindsay got enthusiastic. Finally they had something that brought them further in the case, and also brought then closer to finding Mac.

Lindsay looked at the watch, it was already 2.30 pm. That meant, 8 hours 30 minutes… 8 times that Mac would have been….She quickly shook the image out of her head and walked to the doorway. As she went take her lab coat off, Stella spoke again. 'Take Flack with you. Good luck.' Lindsay nodded and called Flack to pick her up.

Stella focused her attention on the substance and the shirt again, trying to find out how the oil could have transferred there. After 5 minutes of thinking, she came up with two possibilities. Option one: the killer had a job fixing and cleaning Yahama bikes, or option two: the killers bike had a defect recently. Both things were good to trace down. Finally… some progress.

Stella breathed in and out and went on searching.