Here is chapter 4! yeay, please remember that i do not own any of the regocnizable characters - i do own the baddies *evil laugh*, also i make no money out of this i merely give my imagination free reign. so i thought i will spoil you with another chapter this week to keep you occupied till the next one! have fun

Phillip looked on as Mac Taylor's head dropped as low as it could go. Blood was flowing freely from his arms and back, he looked pale under the bandage that covered his eyes and ears. He had told his men to stop a while ago but Taylor was still conscious then. He probably gave up the fight.

"Take him to the room at the end, make sure he doesn't get anywhere near the door, it doesn't lock properly and we don't want him to leave just yet."

His men nodded. Well, almost all of them. Freddy looked green, and just slightly unsure. Phillip grabbed him as he went to follow the other three out of the room.

"Am I going to have a problem with you?"

Freddy swallowed, "no, sir." He kept his eyes to the ground.

"Good, because what I will do to you is nothing compared to what I am doing to Taylor. You get me?"

"Yes, sir." Freddy shivered and ran out the door as quick as he could. Phillip followed and reached the door just as his men finished locking the chain to the wall. The chain was connected to Taylor's 'necklace'. Philip drank in the site, he was enjoying this. He enjoyed seeing the man suffer, the man who was like a father to Messer. He stood there looking at the man laying lax on the floor and thought back to the day he heard about Messer for the first time.

****Flashback****

Phillip was sitting in the nice living room of his house drinking his afternoon tea-he had a good life. His father had helped him to build a nice empire and none of it legal. He was along with his father one of the biggest crime bosses of New York. He was damn proud of it too. Then the phone call came that shattered his entire life – a damn cop had tried to arrest his father and a chase followed. His father was fit for his age but not fit enough apparently. The cop had him cornered on the roof of a building; his father fell from the roof breaking almost every bone in his body. He wasn't dead though. Three years of painful suffering had resulted in his father committing suicide. A great man turned into an old man that couldn't even do basic things for himself. Phillip had vowed revenge the minute the doctors informed him that his father had taken his own life. He found out the name of the sewage cat that had caused his father to suffer. He will make him suffer and feel the pain of watching your father die slowly and painfully. Danny Messer will pay.

**End of flashback**

Almost two months later the plan was working perfectly.

"Take off the cable tie," he looked at Freddy as he spoke "I don't want him to suffocate. Put some duct tape around his mouth. The show will continue later."

With that Phillip turned around and walked out of the room leaving Freddy to carry out his orders.

Freddy Monroe had a good family back in Montana. He came to New York to try and make it big like his cousin. He got a job soon enough, even made some really good friends. But doing a favour for his so called best friend had resulted in him breaking the law. Now it was held over his head. How was he supposed to know there was ivory on the back of that truck? Rhino's Horn and Elephant tusks, he just didn't know what else. He knelt in front of the man lying on the floor. Freddy turned the guy onto his less injured side, trying to make him comfortable. He felt sorry for the guy he only knew as Taylor no one deserved to suffer like this but he had no choice, he couldn't tarnish the Monroe name – his parents will be devastated. He cut quickly through the cable tie and grimaced at the ugly red mark around the poor man's neck, in some places blood was dripping out. He whispered a soft "Sorry" as the man groaned. He could hear soft sounds coming from the man's lips which were barely moving. Freddy leaned closer to hear what the man was saying. What he heard broke his heart in two. He considered phoning the police- he knew that his cousin worked at the crime lab. But would she be able to help him? Does she even know this man? Who the hell was Danny Messer?

"Hold on dude, it will be over soon." He said as he pushed the duct tape in place.

The man had said: "Help me."

Lindsay held on to Danny as she cried. Mac sounded horrible over the phone and the picture she got not much better. Danny stood staring at that same photo now. Jo had lost all her optimism and Don just sat there. Everybody too shocked to do anything – they had all heard the call. Adam left without anyone noticing.

Adam first went to his computer and looked through his phone. He found a trace that creates a barrier to scramble signals. The reason why he didn't have a signal the whole day. He then looked over the evidence that he and Danny brought in from their crime scene. He tested some of the samples that all came back to the victim, a Gerald Hoff. Even freakier is the fact that Gerald Hoff died of a heart attack the day before yesterday. He wanted to check Jo's evidence but decided against it as it might compromise whatever she had.

Adam hated going to the morgue but if his suspicions are correct, the answer they needed was there, with the body. He heard Danny call his name just as the elevator doors closed.

In the break room the CSI's stood like statues. Nobody moved or said a word. They were all too shocked to say or do anything. Then like a gunshot, they started coming to their senses.

"OK people," Jo said at last, "this is what we are going to do. Danny, you and Lindsay try to trace the call. Maybe just maybe we can get info on a possible location. Get Adam to go through the evidence that you guys collected on the crime scene this morning." She turned to Don, "Tell me what went down this morning? There has to be something we can run with. I just need to get a tech working on the evidence I collected at my crime scene."

Don got up and left to get coffee, Jo also left and grabbed the first tech she could find while Danny and Lindsay started throwing ideas around.

Danny left the room to go look for Adam to find him leaving, he called out to him but the elevator doors closed before he reached him. "That's weird. I wonder where he is off to?" Danny shrugged and went back to Lindsay who was looking at her phone thoughtfully. "What's up, babe?" Lindsay looked at Danny and smiled.

"Do you think we should call Sheldon? I mean he would like to know what's going on."

"He's in Las Vegas right? On that seminar?"

"Yeah, a doctor Gil Grissom is having a talk about how bugs can help in a crime scene."

Danny smiled, "Sounds to me something that you would go to and not Hawkes." He artfully dodged the kick, Lindsay sent his way. "I think you should call him, he would want to know."

"Yeah, I think I will call him now. Why don't you go see if you can get that trace going, then I will phone Hawkes?" Danny nodded and walked to the lab.

Lindsay played with her phone for a while, dialled Hawkes's number and waited for him to answer.

When Don came back he found Jo sitting in Mac's office. She was sitting on the couch staring at the empty chair behind the desk. Don cleared his throat to get her attention.

"You know, before I came to work here, I never understood how people that are completely different can get together and work together- not like a team, but more like family. I mean, sure in the FBI we worked as teams but the minute the case is over or you walk out the front door, you are just a stranger. Nothing more, nothing less. But here, we are a family. You guys accepted me like another sister. But now I feel so lost, the whole team, I mean, what if we don't find him, Don I don't think I can lose him."

Don stood there shell shocked, he didn't expect this. What the hell is he supposed to say? Or do? Lindsay is good with stuff like this, not Don Flack. He took a deep breath and went to sit down next to Jo. He put his arm around her shoulders and spoke from his heart.

"Jo, you are more than a sister on this team. You are the mother, Mac is our father. You say we are a family? Damn right we are, and if there is anything that Mac has taught me in all the years I know him, it's that we take care of our family. You say that we are lost and maybe we are but I will tell you this: Mac needs us now and what we are going to do is find him. We find him and then we stand by him until we can put this whole shit cake behind us."

"You can never be lost with family, Jo, never." Lindsay had come into the room without anybody hearing followed closely by Danny. "Don's right and so is Lindsay. We will find him and we will get through this."

Adam ran into the room clearly out of breath. He looked around the room catching on to what was going on in the room. He took a deep breath and said: "I might have a lead but I need to look at your evidence, Jo. Sorry to break this up but if I am right; this whole day was a setup."

Mac's trip back to the conscious world was like swimming through mud. He struggled and tried to gather enough strength to open his eyes but found only darkness. Did he have his eyes open? Where the hell was he? He started struggling against whatever had his hands trapped but regretted the move instantly as hot pain sliced through him. He lay on a floor he knew that much but…Shit! The memories came back. Who the hell was this guy? He remembered the whip and then he passed out. He didn't know how long he was out but he woke up when someone was cutting through the cable tie around his neck, he tried to talk then but only felt a hand on his shoulder before the tape was put on his mouth. He passed out again – and woke up now.

"I see you are awake, Detective." That voice sounded like it was coming from inside his head, "right now your so called friend, Danny Messer, is probably worried about you." Suddenly hard hands grabbed Mac's shoulders and picked him up so he could sit against the wall and they were not gentle about it. He groaned as his back connected with the wall hard.

"So Taylor, I will tell you what. I will make a deal with you. If you behave, you can have something to eat and drink. You will not talk or make a sound; you will still be connected to the wall. Nod if you agree to our deal." Mac nodded. "OK, enjoy your meal; it might be the last for a while."

Mac had to play this smart; he needed his strength if he wanted to survive this mess, so he decided to play nice. His hands were untied and the tape pulled from his mouth.

"Your food is to your left and the water to your right. You have 5 min then I will be back."

Mac felt around and got the plate in his hand. It was cold oatmeal. He felt around for a spoon and naturally didn't find one. It was hard to eat with your eyes closed and he was sure that most of the food ended on the floor, however some of it did make it to his mouth making him realise just how hungry he was. When was the last time he ate? There wasn't that much food in the plate and he felt for the water. The water tasted muddy but he didn't say a word and drank as much as he could stomach.

"Well done Taylor. You are behaving very good. Freddy here will take you to the bathroom and then we will play some more of my game." Mac felt hands on the chain and then hands helped him up; these hands were not as hard as the other hands. A new tape was put over his mouth and his hands were handcuffed in front of him. He was led down a corridor and into the bathroom. Freddy helped him all the way, which was oddly strange – Why was this man helping him? What was his plan? On the way back, Mac felt something warm run down his back. He knew what it was but there was nothing he could do about it, he was a prisoner because of this psychopath. Mac remembered what the guy had said about Danny, suddenly he felt scared not for himself but for Danny. What was this guy doing to Danny? Was Danny here? What was going on?

Mac had been so lost in thought he didn't even realise they had stopped walking; he could feel a breeze and the sun on his skin. They were outside, but why?

"Taylor, I thought you needed some air. You will spend the day here; nobody can see or hear you so don't waste your breath or strength by trying something."

Mac's hands were untied and stretched out to the side. Each wrist was tied to a pole; this meant he would be standing like this the whole day, no doubt about that.

Minutes turned to hours and Mac started to feel the strain in his shoulders. The sun was baking him to a crisp and it only aggravated the open wounds on his back. He sagged and felt a sickening pop in his left shoulder. He shouted into the duct tape but no sound came out. He was going to die and he knew it.

Freddy felt really sorry for the man he had helped to the bathroom. You could see the lines of pain and exhaustion on his face. Right now he was staring out the window at Taylor, he was sagged between the two poles and he heard his shoulder pop. He heard Phillip coming to a stop behind him.

"Take him back to his room. The bastard is tough; we might want to start drastic measures tomorrow." Freddy nodded and walked out the door. He knew that Phillip was watching him so he tried to be as rough as he could without being too harsh. He tied his hands back to his sides ignoring the grunts from Taylor. He knew that shoulder must be killing him. He led him back to the room; half dragged him at some point. Taylor fell to the floor and just lay there. Freddy secured him to the wall and helped him sit up straight. Without a further word or sound he left the man in the dark room and closed the door. He found Phillip standing outside the door with his phone in his hand and he was smiling.

"Messer is getting rude, tomorrow I will teach him a lesson." With that he left and Freddy had made up his mind.

He took his leave of the people and went to his crappy apartment not too far from the hide out. He took out his burn phone and phoned his mother getting Lindsay's number from her. Freddy sat with his phone in his hands wondering how he was going to start his text. He closed his eyes and started texting:

'Hey Lind, long time no see,

How about some coffee sometime?

Let me know, and we can get together and maybe

You can tell me about your new life.

Love, Freddy.'

Freddy rubbed his eyes and through the phone back into the hiding spot he kept it in. hopefully Lindsay can help him out of this mess. And maybe she could help him help Taylor…..

So what do you think? pls R&R, i really appreciate all the reviews and the alerts, you guys rock! i will try to update my NCIS story tomorrow as well so anybody reading 'where loyalties lie' hold thumbs! enjoy