Note: Thank you for the reviews. I promise to try to answer in person soon. Sorry if the layout/construction has left you a little confused (so concentrated on writing, I neglected to check the spacing and breaks)...just trying to avoid it being too linear, you know? Stick with me... there are a few more time/place changes in here too.
Disclaimer: I lay no claims.
Summary: Danny was seconded to an undercover operation but is now missing. His team on the MPU is ordered to hold off on the search for him but they're not listening....
Chapter 4
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Even to his own ears it was a pathetically dull noise. Unlikely to alert anyone or attract help. Unlikely even to be heard. He braced himself again, held his breath and kicked out. The thud resounded. Danny felt its vibrations but he knew nobody was near and nobody would come. His breath released with a sob as he tried to pull himself upright. He'd twisted himself around a little to kick at the metallic wall of his prison, wrenching what he knew to be a broken collarbone. Couldn't miss that.
Every movement sent waves of pain through his torso – dimming his vision into a blur of washed out colour. He'd stopped looking at the injury since he first registered a white shard of bone poking through bloodied flesh in that hollow of shoulder and neck. The movement to look down caused an agony that sent him swooning towards unconsciousness once again and Danny knew he had to fight against that now. His bound wrists, pulled behind his back and tied to an immoveable steel bar, allowed no relief. The angle he'd moved to, shuffling inch by inch, to be able to kick out had only worsened the grinding, mind numbing flashes that threatened to overtake him.
An insistent agony from what he guessed were also broken ribs fought with the other injuries for recognition but amid the haze of pain, Danny was finding it harder to isolate specific sources. It was all encompassing and endless.
He was struggling now with the concept of time. He guessed it was beyond hours. Yeah, in the realm of days now right? Had to be.
Vincent had been there at least three times. Vincent and Eduardo. But was that three separate occasions? Danny couldn't be sure. When he'd passed out, water thrown over him had heralded the new beatings and new questions but were they all just continuations of what had started as soon as he was hauled in here. Danny struggled to build himself a framework. He felt to be able to place himself somewhere definite in time would help to anchor him. But without any answers he was lost.
He knew he was weakening. He fought to stay conscious. He feared allowing himself to drift into the welcoming oblivion would mean never waking again.
The cold was sapping any resilience he could muster. Hunger must be taking its toll too he knew, although he was vaguely curious to register that amongst his misery he hardy felt it. Thirst though, that was a killer. He craved water. Craved it with a desperation that was becoming an obsession – the only thing that encroached on the wallowing pain.
He turned his head as far as he could, gasping again at the searing agony the movement caused in his shoulder. With his face almost flat against the cold metal he could feel wetness. The wall was damp from some leak above his head. He licked desperately at the moisture. His face was so swollen and bruised, the inside of his mouth so torn and cut, that he could taste nothing but he knew that he must try. What was the rule? Something in his blurred recollection told him...Three weeks without food? Three days without water?
Got to stay awake. Got to help them find me. Someone's got to be looking.
Danny braced himself and kicked again.
MERCY HOSPITAL – MONDAY AFTERNOON
Martin turned from the cheery brightness of the visitors' room, designed for families of new or expectant mothers, to the greyness spread below its window. Grey weather and grey buildings enveloped in a low mist that left the city heavy with damp and cold. Viv shifted beside him and they turned together at the sound of the door.
A tall well built man entered. Dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt he looked slightly dishevelled, unkempt and tired.
"Hi! I'm Al Morgan." His voice was deep and he met their eyes as he held out a hand in greeting.
"Viv Johnson and Martin Fitzgerald." Viv answered for both of them as they shook in turn.
"You work with Danny in Missing Persons." Al nodded his recognition as they all sat in low chairs opposite each other.
He looked pale with exhaustion, a tinge of greyness clouded his features. Running his hand through messy dark hair, he shook his head with a look of helplessness.
"I'm so sorry this happened...I can't believe it."
Martin just wanted to get on. There was no time for sensitivities.
"Look Al, we just wanted to ask you for what you know – your were Danny's handler right?" Al nodded.
"Well, we can't get to see the files because we're not from your department and the job is still active, but we need to know what happened. What went on.." He looked to Viv and back to Al.
"Off the record." He added.
"I get it," Al nodded again. "You want to help him...but really...You know things can change quickly and I haven't been involved in the operation for a week." He sighed then. "Not since my wife was brought here."
Viv reached out a hand and touched Al's arm lightly. "We're really sorry to bother you – I know you must be having a hard time."
Viv really did feel sorry for involving the agent. Her friend in Pre-emptive Crime had filled in some of the details of the operation and passed on Al Morgan's name. He was an experienced agent. Eight years with the Bureau. A good choice – Danny would have had confidence in him. But Marcy had also warned that he'd come off the case after his wife was rushed to hospital with pre-eclampsia when she still had two months of her first pregnancy to go.
Clearly the guy was worried for his wife but Viv knew this might be their only hope for a lead. Something to help when they finally got the go-ahead.
"I understand your wife's doing better now?" Martin encouraged the other agent.
Al sighed deeply. "Yeah, things seem to have settled now – she just has to stay in bed." He laughed a little. "It's driving her nuts!"
There was a short silence before Morgan visibly seemed to pull himself together. He straightened a little and addressed the others.
"So, off the record, what do you want to know?"
Martin leaned back. "Just take us through it."
Al sat up and took a breath before he began. "Well, I met Danny the day he was assigned. I went with him to talk to his brother...you know...in Rikers?" Viv and Martin nodded. They knew Danny's family history even though he rarely spoke of it. Martin had been a witness to Rafi's last collapse and to what it had done to his friend. Viv also knew the emotional toll it took on Danny – somehow over the years she'd won the role of office mother figure and held close the confidences of many of her colleagues.
"Danny was worried that if anything happened with this job his brother would be in real danger inside - he wanted Rafael to know the repercussions. I didn't go in with him but Danny came away pretty determined...."
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SEPTEMBER
RIKERS ISLAND HIGH SECURITY PRISON- NEW YORK
"Hey!"
"Hey!"
The brothers greeted each other ruefully at first then stepped forward and clasped each other briefly.
Danny wondered absently when they'd started doing that again. After Rafi's break-down into drugs and subsequent re-incarceration he guessed. Since he'd started visiting him more regularly.
They broke apart and faced each other once more.
To anyone seeing them together it was clear they were brothers. Rafael was of a bigger build and heavier. Danny, lean and considerably fitter now. Rafael's thinning hair was prison short, Danny's fashionably cut in a way that looked intentionally dishevelled. They shared their dark looks but Danny's handsome features were muted and careworn in Rafael. He'd been a hard drug user in his time and it showed. Danny had had his own issues with alcohol but he's addressed them before they could leave a lifelong impression. At least outwardly.
"So, you've been keeping some bad company then?"
Rafi laughed at Danny's opening gambit. Trust his little brother to lighten the mood.
"It's kinda hard to avoid it in here you know!"
They laughed together at that and sat down at the table. They'd been given a room normally reserved for inmates to meet with their lawyers. A guard stood outside but was far enough away to be unable to hear what was said.
"Actually, he was OK to share with." Rafi was more serious now. "I've had worse man, believe me."
"Yeah? Well, he's into some bad stuff now and the thing I gotta know is, did he like you enough to take me on."
Danny searched his brother's face. Only Rafi knew if he could really carry this off.
They'd spent a lot of years apart. Now Danny felt bad for the time that was lost. He was realistic enough to know each had done what they had to to survive a dreadful home life, but revelations about how Rafi had shielded his brother from worse abuse had changed Danny's attitude. He'd lost his resentment at the brother he thought had abandoned him after their parents were killed. Now he felt a responsibility to help him get a life he should have had, not the one he'd fallen into.
In the years apart he'd tried to forget him but now Danny had to trust him.
Rafi raised his brows and his shoulders in a shrug. "Who couldn't love me right?" It brought a smile but he suddenly got serious. "You should be OK...we were pretty tight...if he thinks I sent you to him, you'll get in."
"And you never mentioned the fact I was a Fed to him? I mean....I imagine you might have shared hard luck stories and that could trump a whole lot of other bad history." Danny kept his tone light but Rafi registered the bitterness there too.
"Believe me Danny, having a brother who's a cop of a Fed is not something to share in here. I'm pretty sure I told him I had a brother but I'm certain as hell that I didn't tell him what you do."
Danny nodded in acknowledgement.
Rafi reached out and held his arm, forcing him to look straight at him. To understand. Their dark eyes met and held mutual concern.
"Are you sure about this Bro?...Romano was in here for assault...knifed a guy. But that was just what they got him on. He was tough then and from what your people tell me, he's tougher now. Has to be to begin an empire like they say. He's not a guy to cross."
Danny returned the gaze. "Yeah? Well the same goes for you too, right? He'll still have connections in here ...if I don't make the grade...if this goes wrong...he'll be coming after you, you know that right?"
Rafi nodded. He was under no illusions here.
The brothers stared at each other for a moment before Danny tilted his head and grinned. "Hey, this could really be good, right...they're offering you an easier ride in some up-state soft jail then probation in six months. Writing off the rest of your sentence. You might even be out in time for Nina's second birthday!"
Rafi couldn't hold back a smile at that thought. His daughter, like his son, had been born while he was inside. He desperately wanted to be with his family. But he realised the risks more than Danny.
"It's a long time since you were on the streets like that Bro. You've got a little soft you know." He reached over and ruffled Danny's hair like he was a kid again. "You're gonna have to to convince him...I mean really make him believe."
Danny smiled too.
"Don't worry...you can take the boy off the streets, but you can't take the streets off the boy!" He spread his arms and indicted his body with exaggerated self admiration. "I still got it!"
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MERCY HOSPITAL
Al looked up at Martin and Viv.
"Danny spent a couple of hours going over stuff about Romano with his brother … you know, what he was like...his past...the small things that would help him and then it was all systems go."
He shook his head as he remembered the rush of excitement that always comes with the start of a new operation.
"God! Morrison was like a kid at Christmas..." He leaned back. "Have you met him?" The Others shook their heads. They'd heard about him, seen him in corridors but neither had had any dealings with the guy.
"He's an ambitious bastard and he thinks this'll be the job that gets him noticed, his big moment, you know what I mean? It seemed so easy. I mean, we didn't even have to create a role for Danny. He just had to be what he is – Rafael's brother. Sure we got a history made up – he became the kid brother who stayed in petty department came up with a rap sheet on him...he was supposed to have spent time down in Mexico, dealing in illegal shipments of guns and people. We gave him some time in prison down there too, to account for a few years." Al smiled wryly. "Nobody can check what really goes on down there, right?"
"We also gave him a couple of convictions for assault ...we didn't want him to look easy to mess with."
Martin huffed at that. They all knew how well the FBI could create a whole new world. Convictions, felonies, families. Anything to convince the marks. Hell, they had a whole department that did the job 24/7.
"We got him set up in a shit-hole of an apartment and two days after that he made his move at a club Romano owns. It's where he'd been running a lot of business from. His base. Danny just walked right in and dropped his brother's name."
Al shook his head at the memory.
"Man, it took some guts to do that."
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SEPTEMBER
DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN – CARLITO'S BAR
Coming in from the street, it took a few moments for Danny's eyes to adjust to the low light inside. Carlito's was the kind of club to be found on most blocks in this part of the city. Dark. A bar at one end. Two girls in g-strings gyrating at poles, flashing painted eyes and enhanced figures, as around two dozen guys watched from below, sucking down beers. Their eyes following the moves. The music was loud and sleazy but that was what this clientele knew, all they wanted. They weren't after anything sophisticated.
There were booths down both sides of the room. On the right it was all about the drinks, the music and the scent of sexuality. A guy and a girl here. A guy and two girls there. A couple of skimpily clad waitresses weaved in and out of tables, pushing dollar tips down their cleavage. There was no hurry here – this was a place for people who had nothing better to do.
On the opposite wall, more tables and a couple of booths with high sides. Here though there were only men and they weren't here for pleasure. Here it was all business.
Danny watched as they gathered around one table in particular. A pack around the alpha male. This was clearly the guy to impress, the guy giving the orders.
Danny had studied the briefing notes. He'd looked again and again at the photos in the file. He knew this man already – Felipe Romano.
On other jobs Danny might have tried to blend in, to move unobtrusively and watch from the sidelines but this was never going to be that kind of job. These first minutes were crucial and he had to play it right. Be calm... Act normal. He coached himself inwardly while trying ward off the tingling that came with anticipation and danger.
Without hesitation he headed to the bar and rested his elbows on the polished surface, before casting an eye around. He'd felt the attention of some of the occupants follow his entrance and sure enough several held his gaze as he passed over them.
The bartender approached ...a raised brow at the order of a club soda but Danny rode that easily.... Yeah that's right, man ...not drinking! Service was quick but as the glass was placed beside him he held up a finger to the halt the man's flow back towards the till.
He gestured towards the pack and its leader. "That Romano?" A nod of confirmation and Danny pushed away from the bar.
The men looked up at his approach... Keep it cool Danny...The conversation dropped and he could practically taste the wariness...keep it friendly.
"You Felipe Romano?" The heavy lidded eyes rose to Danny's face and there was an inclination of his head. A jutting of his jaw that suggested a confirmation and invited an introduction.
This was it.
"Rafi says hi! Says to remember the times on C-block. Told me to drop by and introduce myself....I'm Danny Alvarez"
No going back now. He was in play.
TBC