A/N: Again, I feel it only right to warn you that there is another torture scene in this chapter that some people might find upsetting.
He woke again slowly with his head on his chest, as he attempted to move his weary head he felt the aching pain in his neck. Opening his eyes he was surprised to find that his head was no longer covered, he winced as he gazed ahead at the bright light permeating his vision, almost blinding him with its ferocity. He would have held an arm up to his face had he not been bound to the chair he was sat on.
He felt the shooting pains of cramp in his legs as he tried in a futile effort to move them and encourage some sort of blood flow back into the aching appendages but it was no use, the bindings on his legs were too tight to afford him more than a few centimetres of movement.
The strength of the light that filled the room also filled it with a sense of warmth that he had been missing since his capture as he basked in the warm glow. The pleasure was short lived as he heard the power to the fan being cut, he felt the perspiration drip from his face as the temperature in the room began to rise and as it did so he felt his thirst become harder to bear.
He heard the sound of the door being opened and glanced across to see who had come to taunt him this time; his heart sank when Gianni Malucci ambled across the room with a bottle of water in his hands. Maintaining eye contact with the man he refused to give his captor the psychological advantage.
"You feeling thirsty yet, Detective Kelly?" the young man goaded him as he dragged a chair closer to his bound victim, taking a long swig from the plastic bottle. "Sure is a scorcher out there today don't you think?"
He continued to stare at his captor, his blue eyes full of steely determination. A determination he hadn't known he'd possessed until now. It didn't matter what he told them, he was a dead man either way, his only hope of survival depended on a group of people he hardly knew.
"Still giving me the silent treatment, huh?" Gianni mused as he stroked his chin thoughtfully.
He watched warily as Gianni left the room, slamming the door closed behind him. He'd rather hoped the younger man had stayed where he was as at least his presence blocked out some on the intense heat and light emanating from across the room.
Moments later his captor had returned along with two of his colleagues, fear began to seep into his bones as his mind raced at the possibilities of what they might do to him. He couldn't see what was happening as two men stood behind him and grabbed him painfully by the shoulders and arms. Gianni stood in front of him once more, smirking as he held a cell phone in his hands.
"Don't forget to smile for the camera," he goaded as he nodded at the men behind his prisoner.
He felt the rope tying his wrists loosen but barely had time to react before he was dragged from the chair. One pair of hands let go of him as the others pulled him to the floor, he felt the swift kicks to his abdomen and bit on his lip as he tried not to groan. He felt himself being turned on his side, his left arm held out in front of him.
Glancing up he saw Gianni standing over him, phone in hand as he spoke into it. "Just thought we'd let you know that we're taking good care of your boy here, we'll tell you where you can find the body when we've finished with him."
He watched as Gianni glanced to one of the men and nodded, he didn't see the baseball bat coming down towards his arm until it was too late. This time the pain was too much, he let out a feral scream as he felt the bones in his arm break, not caring that his suffering was being recorded for the sick pleasure of his captor.
Eric had taken Andy to an all-night coffee shop, not wanting to discuss Kyle back at the station. He had tried his best to avoid the topic of conversation for as long as he could but the wizened New York detective was persistent if nothing else.
"Spit it out, kid," Andy grumbled as he took a sip of his black coffee before tearing off a small piece of his blueberry muffin and placing it in his mouth.
"Where do you want me to start?" Eric replied as he took a sip of his coffee and tried to avoid eye contact with the other man.
"The beginning is usually good," Andy deadpanned.
Eric took a deep breath before starting, "Kyle is Horatio's son."
The older man nearly choked on his coffee as he did a double-take, "Come again?"
"Horatio has a son, his name's Kyle Harmon."
"Wow," Andy responded as he blew his cheeks out in surprise, "How old is the kid?"
"Seventeen, he's in the US Army. He came back on leave today."
"How come John didn't say anything about him to me?" Andy tried to keep the hurt out of his voice as he spoke. Now that the feelings of anger had started to subside he realised almost painfully that there was so much he didn't know about his old partner's life. He had spent too many years wrapped in his own bitterness and misery to pay attention to what was going on with the people around him. He felt hurt that John didn't feel comfortable enough telling him of his son's existence.
He could sense the Cuban's reluctance to answer the question, "What aren't you telling me?" he asked as his eyes narrowed, he might have been retired but he could still tell when someone was withholding the truth.
"With Horatio's memory issues it's…..uh…."
"For God's sake spit it out man!" Andy shouted, beginning to lose his temper.
Eric took another swig of coffee, "He has no idea that Kyle exists, he doesn't know that he has a son."
Eric could see the cogs whirring in the older man's mind as he digested the news he'd just been given, "He doesn't know the kid exists, why didn't one of you tell him?" he asked accusingly.
"It never seemed like the right time, there was always something else going on. Calleigh was going to tell him before…..well, you know…." He let the unfinished statement hang in the air.
Andy drained the last of his coffee and put the mug back down in the table with more force than he had intended, both men glanced around the room as all conversations stopped at the sound of china hitting wood. He lowered his voice as he leant closer to Eric, "You know if the Malucci's find out about this that they're going to use it against him, don't you?"
The younger man ran a ragged hand over his closely-cropped black hair, "I know, we should have told him and now it's too late." He looked up hopefully at the man who had shaped so much of Horatio's younger years, "We'll get him back though."
Andy moved his considerable bulk from the booth they had been sitting in and threw a handful of bills down on the table, "You better hope so," he said as he shook his head and walked away.
She had been staring at the bullet casing for hours, searching the IBIS database over and over in an attempt to find a match to the slug that had been pulled from the recently deceased Officer Bell. So far her searches had come up empty, her original assessment had proved correct, the bullet was a .22 calibre but its striations didn't match anything in the nationwide database. Without the gun or serial number there was not much more that she could do, the gun had to have been new and only recently registered, her only hope was to run a search on listed owners of handguns that fired .22 calibre bullets and to start her search in the state of New York. It was a long shot and she knew that she was clutching at straws but right now it was all she had.
Her thoughts were disturbed by her cell phone vibrating against the metal desk she was working at, pulling her eyes away from the microscope she glanced at the display and answered it.
"Calleigh, it's Johnson from the night shift," a female voice said.
"What can I do for you?"
"I thought you'd like to know that a package has just been delivered to the front desk, it's addressed to you."
Panic seized her as the other woman's words sank in, could it be another bomb from the Malucci's or was it something else equally as sinister? "Johnson, listen to me. Whatever you do don't touch that package, I'm coming up now. Tell everyone to evacuate the building."
A/N: I might have taken a few liberties with Kyle's age in this chapter but it is necessary for the story to work as a whole, I hope it doesn't detract from anyone's enjoyment too much.