John reached Joss's apartment first. His heart stopped when he saw the front door wide open. He knew instantly that he was too late. Joss would never leave her door hanging open like that.
He walked into the apartment and saw the side table knocked over, and both Joss's personal phone and the burner phone he had given her on the floor. He clenched his fists, how was he going track her now?
"I'm too late Finch, Joss and Taylor are both gone. There are signs of a struggle, so they didn't go voluntarily."
"Does the Detective have her phone on her? I can track it," Finch said frantically.
John looked up as Fusco entered the apartment, gun drawn, saw the mess and started swearing as only a career cop who had spent most of it on the streets could. John knew how he felt.
"No, both her phone and the burner I gave her are here."
"What about Taylor? Do you see his phone?" Finch asked
"Try it!" John barked.
Finch's fingers flew over his keyboard. He nearly cried with relief when Taylor's phone came up on the GPS map and it wasn't at the apartment.
"Yes! Taylor has his phone on him. He's at the old Tri-State industrial complex."
John ran for his car with Fusco right behind him.
Joss had no way of knowing where they were. As soon as Taylor had answered the knock on the door, three thugs had rushed in, overpowered the Carters, and thrown black hoods over their heads. Joss and Taylor were hustled down the stairs and thrown in the backseat of a car. Two of the thugs sat on them to keep them contained and the car sped off. The whole thing took place so quickly that Joss did not have time to reach her gun or her phone. Even if any of the neighbors called the police, they were long gone before a unit could have responded.
They drove for the better part of an hour before the car stopped. Joss and Taylor were dragged none too gently out of the car and up a flight of stairs. She heard a clang like a metal door was being opened and she and Taylor were shoved into a room.
"You wait here until Elsa gets here, then we have some fun," hissed a heavy South American accent. And the door clanged shut.
Joss yanked the hood off her head and looked around the room. They were in some sort of industrial factory type building, very old and not in good repair. Good, she might be able to use that to her advantage to get them out of here.
"Taylor do you have your phone?" The kidnappers had not searched her, but she had left her phone on the side table in the apartment. Hopefully, they had not searched Taylor either and he had his phone on him.
Taylor felt his pocket, "No, I had in my pocket, but it must have fallen out in the car."
"Damn, well that means we can't call John or the police. We'll have to get ourselves out of here." Joss continued looking around, wishing John was there. But then again if John were there, they would not have been grabbed in the first place. These guys were sloppy; John would have taken them down without even breaking a sweat.
"Mom, who's Elsa?" Taylor asked.
Joss took a deep breath. "I think they mean Elsa Vasquez, wife of Carlos Vasquez. I nailed him for murder and we thought he put a hit on me. That's why I had you stay at Grandma's and why I was staying with John. It seems we were wrong about Carlos, it appears that it was Elsa who wanted me dead.
"We don't really have time to talk about that right now; let's find a way out of here."
Joss looked around the room, there were no windows and the only exit was the door. Joss examined the door carefully; it was steel, but very old. The lock was old as well. It should be fairly easy to pick if she could find something to work with.
She looked around and after a few minutes found a few pieces of thick wire. She smiled in triumph; that was all she needed.
Joss knelt in front of the door and starting working on the old lock. Taylor watched her curiously, "When did you learn to pick locks?" He asked, somewhat surprised that his straight-arrow mother had acquired such an illegal skill.
"Let's just say that hanging out with John Reese has its advantages, Son," she said without looking up.
"You think he'll teach me to do that?" Taylor asked.
"I'm sure of it, especially if I act like I'm irritated by it," Joss said. Taylor smiled.
A few seconds later they heard the lock click and the door swung open. "Mom for the win!" Taylor crowed.
While Joss was secretly thrilled that her son was proud of her, she knew it was too early to be celebrating. "We aren't out of here yet," she whispered. "Keep quiet and follow me." Taylor nodded.
Joss peeked out the crack in the door, the hallway was clear and there was door leading to a stairwell down the hall. She opened the door wide enough to exit the room, winching at the loud squeaking sound the rusty hinges made. She slipped out the door with Taylor right behind her and they began moving toward the stairwell.
They were almost to the stairwell door when Joss heard footsteps coming down the hallway, she turned and saw one of their kidnappers come around the corner. For a brief second she and the man stared at each other, then he started running towards her screaming something in Spanish.
"RUN TAYLOR!" Joss shouted and she sprinted for the door. She heard the other kidnappers come pounding down the hall as well, but she didn't turn around. All three of them were probably in hot pursuit of her and Taylor now.
Joss followed Taylor through the door into the stairwell, her heart in her throat. The cartel members were right behind them, and Joss knew they were not going to make it outside. There was only one thing left for her to do.
"Taylor," she yelled at her son, "Keep running! No matter what happens, keep running!"
As Taylor raced down the stairs, Joss spied a metal trash can in a corner of one of the landings. It would not make a very good weapon, but it was all she had to work with. She grabbed it, waited until the lead pursuer was right behind her and turned, smashing his face as hard as she could with the can. He went down, tumbled the rest of the way down the stairs and lay still.
Joss was immediately tackled by one of the remaining pursuers. She went down hard, but still managed to deliver a powerful kick to his stomach. He swore at her in Spanish, grabbed his stomach and doubled over.
A sudden flood of daylight in the dark stairwell told Joss that the outside door had been opened. Taylor was out, he was free!
Joss barely had time to register that her son was safe when the third pursuer landed on her back, knocking the air out of her. As she gasped for breath, he grabbed her by her hair and slammed her head into the concrete floor. Joss could honestly say for the first time in her life she saw stars and an explosion of pain ripped through her head.
The thug then yanked her to her feet by her hair, and pinned her arms behind her back. Joss was only about half conscious and all she could think was Taylor's safe! Taylor's safe!
The guy she had kicked in the stomach, staggered over, clearly angry. "You will pay for that," he snarled, and punched Joss hard in the stomach. Joss groaned and doubled over in pain. The man smiled at her distress and then began pummeling her.