Well, looky there. I seem to have finally updated! I know you guys are probably all very sick and tired of my long waits, and I promise to do anything I can to improve these next few updates. This chapter's a bit longer than normal, so I hope I didn't trade quality for quantity. Let me know! Reviews are encouragement, and if you take the time to give feedback and suggestions then I love you.

Ch. 7

As yet another stifled cry of pain came from the woman chained up across from him, Shawn began to realize just how good these men were at what they did. They had only picked up one or two of the numerous tools at their disposal, and they already had Juliet slumped at their feet, supported only by handcuffs and whimpering through her gag.

For her sake, Shawn had managed to keep back most of his tears. The last thing she needed was to see him break down too. But this by no means meant he was quiet. Both him and the detective in the cell behind him were alternately pleading with and screaming abuse at the men.

They didn't seem to mind the noise, though, and if anything it was egging them on.

One of them was humming- actually humming! –As he pulled open another layer of the box and grabbed a smaller container from inside. He made as if to open it, but a tap on his shoulder stopped him.

"Thank you, boys. You've done great, but I think I'll take it from here" Their boss, who somehow had remained immaculately neat despite the activity and grime of the last few hours, held out his hand. The smaller box was handed over and the two men stepped back, standing at the end of the hallway. The man Shawn had spent the last day learning to fear and hate now crouched before Juliet. The wooden box popped open with a click, and her eyes widened when she saw the contents. Shawn craned and twisted for a glimpse, but was rewarded with nothing more than a cramp in his neck. A hand under her chin jerked the junior detective's head up so that she stared her tormenter in the eyes. The brown looked into the blue, and an unspoken message seemed to pass between them. Juliet recoiled slightly, though her gaze remained relatively steady.

"Miss O'Hara." His voice was almost proud, and for some reason it was making Shawn very nervous. "So far, you have held up tremendously well. None of us would have expected you to be this resilient." His face saddened mockingly as he continued, "but no more. I'm sorry, but you are soon going to tell us absolutely everything you know about my file. More, if I asked for it. But don't blame yourself. Know that there was absolutely nothing you could have done to stop this. Everyone succumbs to me in the end." He now pulled from the box in his hands two things. The first was a small glass vial, about the size of a pill bottle, filled with a shimmering ruby liquid. The other, a knife with a blade as thin as paper, about four inches long, half an inch wide. Turning to Shawn, he held the crystal bottle up to the light. "Do you know what this is?"

The answer seemed obvious to him, considering the circumstances.

"It's poison."

"Good! A very rare, very effective poison as it happens. I won't tell you what it does, I want that to be a surprise." Somehow, despite (or perhaps because of') the situation, Shawn couldn't resist a smart remark.

"You know, that's never a good idea. I always screw everything up where secrets are involved, and-"

"Shut up." For what might have been the first time in his life, Shawn obeyed.

"Good. You know, you've really got a problem with that mouth of yours. You should work on that." He turned back to Juliet, slipping the razor-sharp blade easily through the wax seal on the bottle as he did. The silver knife glistened with the scarlet liquid when he pulled it out, and she shied away as much as her binds would allow. His laughter as he relished her terror stung Shawn's ears, and an intense hatred welled up inside of him. This man was going to pay for this, no matter what.

The man in question now crouched by the shaking Juliet, and reached forward to grab her throat. He ignored the cries of outrage from behind him as he pinned her to the wall and watched her struggle for air. At the last second, when it looked like Juliet was going to pass out, he loosened his grip enough to allow her a breath. And in the exact moment, just as she drew in a desperate gasp of air, he drove his blade into her shoulder as deep as it would go. Although it must have burned like hell, it was by no means the most painful thing she had experienced that day and she only cried out once before managing to silence herself.

The man chuckled again as he stood. "Good girl, Juliet. You learn quickly."

She shivered as he skimmed his fingered over her face, running them through her hair until they trailed away down her arm. "You really do have a lovely girl here, Shawn. I'd take better care of her in the future if I were you. undesirable things can happen to pretty girls in bad company…"

Once again Shawn's vision was tinged red with fury at the implication. "Keep… your filthy hands… away from her."

But before the conversation could go any further, they were all startled by the sudden blaring of an alarm. Lights flashed wildly, and the man in charge cursed.

"Damn it! How is that possible?"

Shawn twisted to look at Lassiter, hoping he would know what the alarm meant, and instantly got his answer. The detective had somehow managed to reach Juliet's phone from his cell, and the call he had made was still in progress. A call that would be easily be traced from the station where it was directed, and depending how long ago the detective had made it, could be the cause for the alarms.

His train of thought was cut off there, as the men standing guard sprang into action. Both Shawn and Juliet were un-cuffed and pushed into the hallway, held tightly by one man. The other was standing in front of Lassiter's cell beside his boss, who was glaring down on the older man. The cell phone was in his hand. After several moments of silence, save for the alarms, he turned and murmured something quietly to his employee.

The cell was opened, and the detective dragged out. Shawn was pulled to the side as Lassiter was forcibly escorted away. Just as he passed the couple, he hissed to Shawn, "You had better get her out of this safe, spencer, or I swear to God-"

Then he was gone, dragged out of sight. For several dragging moments, nobody moved. Then…

CRACK.

The sound of a gunshot resonated through the corridor.

SBPD Chief of police Karen Vick sat at her desk, fingers tapping out a nervous beat on the wood. Her head detective had been gone for nearly eight hours now, and the sun would be coming up soon. If he didn't contact them soon, she would have no choice but to go in after him blindly, risking the lives of two officers and a civilian. But just as she made a move to stand, the cell phone on her desk gave a shrill ring. Signaling to the small group of worried officers outside her door, she picked it up and set it to speakerphone. They all needed to hear this if they were going to be of any help later. The last few men squeezed in to the relatively small office, closely followed by Guster who she didn't try to shoo away. Shawn was his best friend, and she didn't have the heart to leave him in the dark when they might be getting new information.

The office was completely silent except for a faint rasping from the device, so they all jumped a little when a strange voice spoke suddenly.

"Alright boys, go crazy." The voice wasn't too deep, with an accent that could possibly be Irish. She turned to quietly ask if anyone recognized it, when an agonized scream blasted through the speakers. The chief, along with most of the room, instantly recognized the voice as O'Hara's, and horrified eyes turned to her for instructions. She stared beck helplessly. They were actually torturing her… Another wail of pain snapped her from her daze, in time to hear a low voice added to Juliet's cries. It was shaking from anger and what could possibly be tears, but the words were clear enough.

"Chief, this is Detective Lassiter. Don't try to talk, I've muted it. The situation here is becoming critical, and there's no time to wait for a good moment. They want information about a file from the house robbery, and they know O'Hara can give it to them. She was already pretty badly off when I arrived, and I believe they plan on continuing to torture her until she tells them or dies, whichever happens first. And either way, I don't think she can take much more."

His point was made by a strange sobbing, choking noise from Juliet.

"Just get down here as fast as you possibly can while they are still distracted. Leave this call going in case something develops."

The next ten minutes were a blur of orders and sirens, but soon a small herd of police vehicles were heading towards Lassiter's location at record speeds. Vick kept a careful ear on the phone, but her head detective didn't say much else. Unfortunately, this meant that she heard everything that went on at the other end. Every threat, every scream, every plea for mercy. She listened closely when the first voice, which she assumed from the tone belonged to whoever was in charge of the operation, spoke, but he said nothing of importance to the case. She sped up when she heard Juliet being poisoned, and was only five minutes away when the alarms went off. There was a clamor as Lassiter was taken away, a faint crack, then silence. Nothing was in range of the microphone.

When they pulled up at the entrance, the place looked completely abandoned. Except for one thing, leaning by the warehouse doors. She couldn't quite make it out, a red, white, and black mess on the ground… Then her heart nearly stopped as she realized what it was. Detective Lassiter, pale as a ghost, was covered in blood and slumped against the doorframe. And there was something white, rapidly turning red, taped to his chest. A note, she realized as she raced towards him. Two words, printed in big dark letters.

TOO LATE.

"CARLTON" Juliet screamed, still clinging to Shawn for support. Not that he was great support at the moment. The second he had heard the gunshot, his mind had gone completely numb, and he was now standing stock-still, staring at the dark hallway Lassie had disappeared into a moment before. Because of course he was going to come back, going to walk back around that corner and smile at them. Because Lassie was invincible, no silly gun could stop him…

He continued to stare blankly into the darkness, even as Juliet was pulled from his grasp, even as he was herded after. And he probably would have stayed in this state for a good long while had he not been snapped out by what was probably the only sound capable of reaching him at that moment. Juliet's shriek, as the man holding her up- practically carrying her- snapped her slim finger with ease. He stared at Shawn as he did it, and said in a hoarse voice,"Do what I say, or I'll break another."

The psychic nodded, still slightly dazed, and the man continued.

"Get in the van." Shawn blinked as he finally started paying attention to his surroundings. He was standing in a long, round, and absolutely freezing tunnel. There were a wide variety of cars parked along the edge, but the only one running was a plain white van with the back doors flung open. He looked back at Juliet, noticing for the first time that she was shaking violently.

"Alright, I'm going. Calm down." He shoved a pile of blankets out of the way to make room, sitting down just in time to catch Jules as she was shoved in behind him. The doors slammed shut and they were left in almost complete darkness.

"Sh-Shawn…"

"Hey, Jules. It's ok, c'mere." He groped around for one of the thick blankets, wrapping it around her trembling shoulders when he located it.

The vehicle lurched and started off at a ridiculous speed, taking them god knows where.

"Shawn, th-they shot him. They shot Carlton." Her voice was little more than a mumble, and Shawn hoped it was shock or cold that was affecting her, and not the poison. He needed something he could deal with.

"I know, sweetheart. But I'm sure Lassie's fine. He probably fought that other guy off and is going to get help right now." As much as he hated lying to her, right now was not the moment for her to hear his opinions on the Detective's fate.

"Yeah… H-he's going to be fine…"

And then she was sobbing, Shawn pulling her against his chest as she cried. The van slowly traveled further and further away from the building that the police were frantically searching, bringing them farther from any hope of rescue with each passing bump in the road. Eventually the humming of the motor stopped, replaced by the gentle lapping of waves, but neither passenger noticed. They were both sound asleep, tangled in each other's arms and oblivious, for one quiet moment, to the peril that was slowly overtaking them.

Ok, so a quick note, that'll help us both. Next time, if you think i've been taking a bit too much time, send me a review or a PM. Feedback tends to snap me out of most cases of writers block better than anything else. Anyway, thank you so much for sticking with me! Constructive criticism/suggestions are all welcome.

StarsInTheRiver