Okay, guys, here's my new chapter... I'm a bit concerned if you still like the story, coz I haven't got many reviews for the last chapters, but since there's still an awful lot of silent people reading it, I just continue... :) Anyways, there you go
Disclaimer: I don't own Ryan or his team, or anything you recognize...
Chapter 14
Ryan got back to HQ and immediately brought Wyatt's clothes to Trace lab, hoping they'd get something valuable from them. Then he went to see Alexx at the morgue. She was working on one of the dead patrols when he entered.
"This guy is father to a six week old baby," she said. "How do you tell a mother she has to raise her baby all alone…"
"I have no idea…" Ryan answered. "But I'm gonna tell her, so I'll let you know…"
Alexx watched him, "You look horrible, Ryan. Was it hard? The interview with that man?"
Ryan shrugged, "No, not really. He's doing fine. All that honourable soldier, going 'yeah, better me than my fellow soldiers'. You know, one of those people a father can love…"
Alexx covered the body of the patrol and turned to Ryan, "You wanna talk?"
"Not really. I gotta concentrate on that case. No time for whining or complaining…"
But Alexx shook her head, "Ryan. It's a hard time for you. Your uncle and mother have been kidnapped. You father is here and has been treating you like a piece of crap. And you have been confronted with some really gruesome bodies today. Now, that's a lot to handle for one man. And, you do look as if you haven't slept properly in days. And I not even gonna ask when you had something to eat the last time. You're a strong kid, Ryan. But you cannot go through this alone. You need help, or you gonna break down at some point very soon."
Ryan sighed. Throughout the years, Alexx had become sort of a second mother to him, And if there was anyone on this team he would even consider opening up to, it was her. But he couldn't. "I'm okay, Alexx. I can handle it."
Alexx gave him a bitter smile, "He really beat that into you, didn't he? To handle your problems alone."
"And even more…" He swallowed. "You know he hugged that Justin guy? In the hospital? He never hugged me. All I got was nothing. All whole lot of nothing. He's worried about how Justin is gonna live with those scars and get over this trauma. But how I'm living with my scars, how I'm living with my trauma doesn't matter to him. And he worries about my mother, because those guys have threatened to do the same to her than what they did to Justin. I worry too, but he doesn't see it. When my mother is back, she's gonna have a partner that cares for her, that will love her no matter what she looks like, who'll give her strength and has her back. If Ron doesn't come back, I'm gonna have no one who helps me coping with my stuff, because they took the only person that ever cared for me away from me. So, yes, he taught me to handle my problems alone, and this is what I'm gonna do. I don't need any looks from you all, going 'Oh, poor Ryan, now he's all alone in the world, we absolutely need to pity him'. I don't need that pity, and I don't need anybody to tell me how to handle that situation, because no one knows what it is like when a father loves some random soldier more than his own son."
He turned around to leave the morgue, but Alexx grabbed his arm, "Oh no, Ryan, you're not gonna walk away like this. You think we only care for you out of pity? You're mistaken. We care for you because you're a friend. And to me, you're as good as family. I'm really sorry that you think we only pity you. We don't. We're worried as much as you. You know Calleigh and Horatio have been assigning people from night shift to take care of the other cases so that we can all work on this case? You know Valera has been working DNA and trace on this case and therefore pulling triple shifts? You know that Eric has not been home this night because he's been going over the evidence we have over and over again? You know that Natalia and Tripp are sitting in a car in front of Ann's flat 24/7 to see if anything unusual happens? And Horatio is trying his best to keep the media off that case while dealing with the authorities so that we can keep that case. You're not alone, Ryan. And if this goes wrong, and you really lose your uncle, we are there." She smiled a bit. "You're one of us, Ryan."
Ryan nodded, "That's sweet of you. But in the end… it's just me. I'm gonna go and see what they have in trace…"
--
When he got to Trace lab, he saw it was actually Valera working on Wyatt's clothes. He knocked on the door, "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure… Here, there's the result of the DNA on the clothes…" She handed him over a piece of paper.
"Four different donors?"
"Five actually, but I could rule Wyatt's out because he's in the military database." Valera opened a drawer and took the Z-Nose out. "So, you're dealing at least with four guys."
"I guess there are more of them… They surely haven't left a hostage alone that is known all around the dark side of the city for picking locks…" He grinned, "Funny thing actually that he cannot pick the lock of the door to the roof of his house…"
She laughed, "We all have our lovely little weaknesses. I know a guy, he's DNA expert, but cannot stand the sight of fresh blood. And let me tell you something… The smell of urine? Makes me wanna puke."
"Isn't DNA technician the wrong job for you then?" He asked while watching her going over the clothes with the Z-Nose.
"Says the OCD ridden man that investigates the messiest crime scenes around the city…" She blinked at him, but then got serious again. "Okay… The Z-Nose tells me there's traces of… let me think… Vanilla… sugar… tobacco…and wood ash…."
"Whoa, wait a second! Sugar and wood ash? You sure about that?"
"I have a degree in chemistry, Ryan. How does that fit together?"
Ryan rubbed his temples, "Wyatt told me he smelled of Vanilla. Combined with the tobacco, I'd go for a cigar. Vanilla taste. Ick to that. And the sugar and the wood ash…" He roamed through his memory, "There was this case, long time ago. The victim had traces of sugar and wood ash in her hair… It led us to the sugar mill that had burned down just before the murder…."
Valera frowned, "Sugar mill… I remember something like this…"
"Yeah, after the attack in the spa… Marisol was in it… I was at the mill…" It was where he had frozen. When this guy had pointed a shot gun on him, and he had just frozen. He and Horatio had told Stetler he hadn't had the shot, but he had just frozen. And to this day, he didn't know why. "I gotta call H."
"You think they're there?" Valera asked.
Ryan sighed, I don't know. But it's at least a place to start." He took his cell out, but then turned back to Valera, "Alexx told me you've been pulling triple shifts for this case. Is that true?"
Valera nodded, "Yeah. Just went home for an hour to take shower and get some fresh clothes…" She smiled, "You maybe can put in a good word for me to make Horatio pay my overtimes…"
Ryan smiled back. "I'll do. Thanks very much, Maxine…"
"You're welcome… Give them hell if you get them…"
Ryan dialled H.'s number and only answered, "Hell hath no fury…"
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It was a matter of half an hour until the SWAT team was ready and had arrived at the mill. Horatio, Delko, Calleigh, Frank and Ryan were there, too. Ryan felt the tension in himself rising to a point of no return. What if he had mistaken? What if they weren't here? The news of the SWAT team at the mill would be in Erika's evening show, that he knew for sure. The terrorists would hear it. And who knew what they would do to their hostages. Maybe they actually would send Ron's heart to Ann in a parcel, like they had promised. Or some other of his intestines. Maybe the liver, that should make a gruesome image… He was interrupted in his thoughts (luckily, because they actually made him a wee bit worried about his sanity…) by Delko, who gave him the sign that the SWAT team was ready for entry. Ryan took a deep breath and signalled back that he was ready as well…
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Yeah I know, evil Fergie, leaving you with a cliffy :D Please read and review :D