Chapter six
Blair sighed again and let his aching head drop onto his chest. To put it mildly, his karma sucked, and big time. He'd not seen Jim for three months and within six hours of meeting up again he'd been kidnapped! He hoped that all this suffering meant that when he finally died for good, he was going STRAIGHT to that big, blue jungle in the sky. He was so going to have a long chat with God, Yaweh, Olodumare or whoever about how in his next life his karma was going to be much more on his side. He wriggled trying to find a comfortable position on the damp, stone floor, but having his arms duct taped behind him made it nigh impossible. Luckily, his legs weren't tied, but for the moment, the only advantage to that was he could restore circulation by shaking them out. Using them to escape would have to come later because there was no way he was going to get out of where he was just on legs.
Lifting up his head he tried focussing again. Unfortunately, the effort made his stomach roil and he swallowed in an effort to prevent the nausea becoming full blown. Having already vomited twice he knew exactly how his head felt after. He blinked wishing that he could wipe the blood off his face. It had dried into a sticky mess over his right eye and every time he blinked his eyelid stuck to it. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious and no idea where he was being kept. It was obviously a cave with a large metal door, obviously locked from the outside, fixed into a man-made hole. He'd woken in a patch of sun that was streaming in from a gap in the rocks way above him. The patch had moved quite a bit since then, but it was his bladder that was telling him that he'd been there more than a few hours. It had taken many tries with him panting heavily through his open mouth to get himself upright.
He had a vague idea of how he'd been taken; blurred images of a car driving slowly next to him as he walked, the sound of footsteps behind him, the pain of something connecting with his forehead as he'd turned around… He should have been more careful, more aware of what was happening around him. Jim had warned him, but his thoughts had been filled with their conversation and how cold and wet he was feeling. However, he'd also thought that it was unlikely that Berger would bother going for him all the way out here. Well, he'd got that totally wrong.
He'd also foolishly imagined that once he'd been able to have his say to Jim, Simon and et al he'd be able to shake the dust off his shoes, figuratively speaking, and be able to move forward. However, he now realised that despite what had gone down and what had been done to him he still wanted Jim as a friend, still wanted to be a part of his life and that of Major Crimes. Which probably made him one seriously fucked up individual! He also admitted to himself that he was frightened; frightened that although on the face of it, Jim was sincere in his protestations of wanting to make things right between them, he was also ruled by his own fears and emotional hang-ups. He didn't think that he could physically or mentally live through another year like the last one.
For the moment though, he had other, more important priorities. Gritting his teeth against the anticipated pain he called out hoping this time someone would answer, "Hey, anyone out there? You know things are getting a bit desperate here. I'm really not into peeing in my pants…" He ground to a halt as a key turning in the metal lock echoed in the room/cave. He held his breath as the door swung open and two large men entered. He squinted at them trying to see if he could recognise them acknowledging the fact that if they were letting him see their faces his long-term well being wasn't their main priority. "Um, great guys. I really hope there's…"
"Get up," big-bad-guy-#1, as he'd decided to call them, growled.
"'Get up' he says. Get up, huh?" Blair mumbled to himself as he tried to lever his sore body off the ground without either doing a face plant on the floor or sending his stomach heaving.
"I said 'get up'," the goon repeated.
"I'm trying here, man."
Big-bad-guy-#2 stepped forward and grasping Blair's left arm just under the shoulder hauled him off the floor. "Whoa…!" Blair gasped as his head spun, his eyes watered and his stomach did a loop-the-loop. Through sheer willpower and by gritting his teeth he managed to hold on to what was left in his stomach. He felt himself being dragged across the cave and tried to get his shaking legs to support him. "Hey, hey, slow down, man." Ignoring him, the men continued to drag him through the dark for about five minutes until suddenly turning a corner Blair found tears running down his face as he tried to cope with the sudden bright light that streamed through the tunnel entrance.
He felt something tug on his hands and his hands were free, which was quite fortunate as big-bad-guy-#2 let go of his arm and he pitched forward onto all fours.
"You wanna piss, then piss," said either bbb-#1 or bbb-#2 he couldn't tell as their voices were so similar.
Blair dragged himself upright by clinging onto a large boulder near the cave entrance. Turning away from the men he fumbled with his jeans and heaved a sigh of relief as he emptied his bladder. He contemplated making a run for it and just as quickly dismissed the idea as foolish considering his weakened state. While zipping himself up again he thought it was time to try and find out some information. He was pretty certain that his kidnapping was linked to the information that Jim had given him the night before, but wanted to make sure. I mean how likely was it that two completely separate bunch of bad guys wanted to kidnap him? "Uh, guys, do you think…"
"No talking."
"I just… Ompf!" Bbb-#1 grabbed his arm and spun him face first up against the rock. Pulling his arms together bbb-#2 again wound duct around his wrists. "Couldn't you…"
Bbb-#1 leant against him and hissed into his ear, "If you don't shut up I just might tape your mouth. Capish?"
Blair nodded emphatically. With the way his stomach was feeling, the last thing he needed was to be gagged.
"Good. You thirsty?"
Blair nodded again. Being spun round for a third time made him feel like he was in a dance that he had no idea how to do. He almost fell as his left leg buckled slightly with the movement. Bbb-#1 held a bottle up to his lips and he drank gratefully even though the water was warm. He tried following the bottle with his mouth when it was pulled away, but a hand on his shoulder held him in place. Perhaps he didn't have to worry straight away about an early demise if they were giving him water. Hopefully this would give him some time to come up with an escape. Feeling marginally better he looked around to see if he could see anything that would tell him where they were. Unfortunately, the only thing he could say with certainty is that they weren't in town and that was despite his eyes were still a little blurry.
They were standing on the side of a steep valley. The slope opposite was covered in pine trees right up to the top. The way the sun was hitting the trees Blair reckoned it had to be early afternoon. He must have been unconscious for at least eight hours. Not a good sign. The valley curved round to the left so he had no idea what was beyond while to the right all he could see was more hills and trees. They could be anywhere, even another state for all he knew.
Bbb-#2 started pulling him back into the tunnel and he tried to resist. To his complete mortification the two men simply picked him up by his upper arms and carried him. They reached his prison again and without ceremony he was pitched forward. He desperately tried to find his footing before slamming into either the wall or the floor. However, having his hands tied behind him and with the way his head was spinning he failed miserably. His left leg gave out under him and he hit the far wall with his left shoulder. He awkwardly slid down onto his side with his cheek scraping against the rough rock. For a few seconds he watched the bright lights dancing in front of his eyes until his vision went black and he lost consciousness.
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The whole circus, as Simon liked to call it, had moved into the hotel conference room. More FBI agents had turned up and the room had been turned into a command centre. Underneath the sounds of fingers on keyboards, printers and faxes gorging out paper, phones ringing and the cacophony of many voices speaking, there was an almost palpable hum of anxiety. He glanced again at Ellison who was standing by the window anxiety and anger almost physically radiating off him. Feeling his captain's eyes on him the man shook himself out of his introspection and made his way over to him.
"Fancy a coffee in the lounge? I'm paying."
Simon eyed the very expensive and complicated coffee machine provided by the Feds themselves sitting on one of the desks. The coffee from it was excellent and more importantly, free. "If you're paying."
The two men left the noisy room and sat themselves in a corner of the lounge with their coffees. Jim looked around casually to make sure that no-one was in listening distance. "What are we going to do?"
"Jim, the FBI are in charge here," Simon replied mildly waiting for the explosion he knew was going to happen.
"Crap, Simon! It's Blair…"
"I know, but we're out of our jurisdiction here. We have no resources, no authority…"
"We have me." Jim ran both his hands through his short hair.
"Keep your voice down." Simon looked around them to make sure that no one had heard. Jim had said that his senses were better and could be monitoring the area, but he still wasn't sure how reliable they were. "What can you do? I know you're good, but even you can't find him when we don't even know where to look."
"If the agent in charge would let us in on the investigation I know that we could help." It was obvious that with Blair's kidnapping the situation had changed drastically and there was no need for them to go running into the hills. By playing his hand this way, it was more important that Berger, and by association Escobar, was brought down.
Simon didn't doubt that was the case, but SAC Patton was only following procedure in not letting them take an active role in the search. "Jim…" He was interrupted by the arrival of the rest of the MC group. They pulled up chairs so they were in a loose circle around the two men almost as if they were protecting them.
"Captain," Brown started without preamble, "we've got to help. I mean, they're Feds!" As if that explained anything, and perhaps with their previous history with the FBI, it did.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing," added Connor. "We've got the advantage of knowing Sandy and knowing Berger. How can they refuse that sort of help?"
"And we've got Jim," Rafe grinned nodding his head at Jim. "If he can't find Blair, no-one can." Everyone watched the sentinel squirm a little turning their heads so it wasn't obvious. Even though Blair and Jim had agreed to tell them about what he was (as if they hadn't worked it out for themselves already. They were detectives after all!), the man still wasn't comfortable about so many people knowing.
Jim gave Rafe a brief smile of thanks for the confidence he had in him. However, it also created a cold feeling of fear to curl low in his gut. Although his senses had improved since meeting Blair yesterday, they'd been erratic for the three months the man had been gone. How would they act now that Blair was gone again? He gathered his resolve around him like a safety blanket. There was no way he was going to lose his friend having just found him again! He'd make darn sure that his senses worked.
Banks pulled out a cigar from his cigar holder and jammed it into his mouth. He had no intention of smoking it, but it was a good delaying tactic as he searched for an answer. He caught Taggart's eye who was also looking at him expectantly. "Et tu?" He murmured. Before he could say anything else Jim jumped in again.
"Let's call Smith and Patel. Maybe they can intervene for us with the office here?"
Simon sighed and then stopped. Why not? The agents in Cascade had seemed to be pretty reasonable after all. He also felt that he should be doing something, anything, to find Sandburg. "Wait here." He pulled himself out of his chair and disappeared into the conference room stiffening his shoulders against the fight that was sure to happen.
After an anxious 30 minutes he came back out followed by SAC Patton and walked over to the group. Jim tried to read Simon's face, but the man was giving nothing away. They came to a stop and Patton looked around the group. "Okay, you're in. It was stupid not using the extra manpower, but I had to follow procedure."
Jim started to say something, but stopped as Patton held up a hand. "You're in, but there are conditions. If you leave this hotel you take an agent with you. You have no jurisdiction here, so the agent's in charge. If you question anyone, the agent does it. You get any information, you share. You go anywhere alone and you'll be back here confined to the hotel. I know your priority's getting Sandburg back and we're doing everything we can to do that, but, remember there's also a bigger picture here. We need to bring Escobar and Berger down. All I'm asking, is that you bear that in mind and don't do anything to jeopardise the operation."
"We'll try…" started Ellison.
"No! You won't try, you'll DO. We're giving you the courtesy of being in on the search don't make us regret it. That courtesy can, and will, be revoked if necessary. Understand?"
"They understand," replied Simon. "Don't you?" He glared at everyone individually until they each nodded acceptance. Jim clenched his jaw for a few seconds then reluctantly agreed.
"Good," stated the FBI agent. "There's going to be a task force meeting at six. Meanwhile, you can use the phones, computers etc. we've set up in the conference room. See you at the meeting." He turned and made his way back the way he'd come, but stopped and turned back towards them. "Oh yes, I thought you might like to know how Sandburg was found by Escobar."
The group looked at him expectantly.
"Through a bank. He's regularly sending back money to pay off his student loans. Sends it by courier service in cash. Apparently, there's someone in the bank who's been selling information to the highest bidder."
"How did you find out?" asked Banks.
"Sheer and utter luck. One of our snitches in Cascade heard the payoff and contacted the FBI offices. Said the name Sandburg caught his attention. Something about having good taste in trainers. Said he'd first tried contacting someone at the PD, but when he was told that person wasn't there he contacted us as he thought that the matter was urgent." With that, he walked into the conference room.
"No," murmured Ellison. "Not trainers. Sneakers." 'What were the odds that his snitch was also snitching for the Feds?' he thought. Was it fate finally deciding to pay back Blair for all the bad luck he'd had ever since he'd found his Sentinel. Whatever it was, once back in Cascade with Blair at his side, he was going to buy the most expensive trainers he could find in thanks.
"Only Sandburg would get himself into trouble by dong something right" said Banks. "All right, let's get our little lost lamb back safe and sound."
"Yeah!" Megan cooed delightedly. "And then we're not letting him out of our sight again. He's coming back with us to Cascade."
The group followed Simon to the conference room each one either patting Jim on the back or clasping his arm in sympathy. Jim ground his teeth. He appreciated the gestures, but in reality all he wanted was his friend safe and sound. The words of the song he'd heard last night swirled around his head.
"You said we could start over, try and make it all okay.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So our past has been rewritten and you threw away the pen.
You'd said that I was useless, but now you'll take me in again
Well Jesus loves me fine.
And your words fall flat this time.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say,
'We don't have a prayer between us.' "
He only hoped that Blair realised that he was serious in his desire to make it all okay. And while it was true that he couldn't change the past, he, or perhaps even better, THEY could learn from it and do everything to make them have a future together as partners, friends – whatever Blair wanted was fine with him as long as it was side by side as it should have always been from the beginning.