A/N – First off a big thanks to some of the first time reviewers of this story that I have had over the last few chapters as well as the usual suspects! :) Such lovely people you all are!
Sadly the time has come, (without giving too much away but do heed a slight warning here for some sad scenes), for you to find out the reason why I try never to get too fond of my OCs.
Chapter Fifteen
Danny drove erratically to get to the coordinates Adam had sent over to them. He knew he should be safer, especially considering he'd only just recently survived a car accident but right in that moment he didn't care. He was driving towards Flack, he was getting closer to him and he needed to get there. He needed to see his friend, to touch him, to actually believe that he was still alive and would be okay.
"Slow down, Messer" grumbled Benito from beside him.
Danny barely heard. All he could think of was Flack and how it was his fault he had lost him. His slow driving had caused the car carrying Flack to escape their clutches...and Danny wouldn't make the same mistake twice. No. This time he would be on time.
"We're almost there," Grace murmured from the back seat and Danny finally slowed the car.
"Where do I go?" Danny asked.
"There should be a track up to the left that leads directly onto the site," Grace replied, looking at her phone.
"There it is," Benny pointed as Danny swung the car off the main road.
"How far up is this place?" Danny asked Grace.
"A while," she replied. "Though it looks like it opens out a bit as you get closer."
Danny pulled the car to a stop at the side of the track and made sure he wasn't blocking the way for Jo and the others when they arrived.
"I think we should walk from here," Danny muttered.
"No, we should wait for back-up," Benny replied, holding onto Danny's arm.
"I'm with Danny, Benny. We need to get in there. We need to rescue our friends," Grace interrupted as she got out of the car.
Benny glared at her and then let go of Danny as the two men followed suit.
"Come on," Danny nodded and then started making his way cautiously up the track.
Benny glared at Grace again, clearly annoyed at her decision to go against him and then followed on behind Danny. Grace simply smirked at Benny's back and then headed up the rear. Silently, the three of them made their way closer to the abandoned hotel that they hoped to God was the location of their friends.
Mac felt himself being pulled roughly away from Flack's body as two huge hands grasped his arms. He turned back towards the window and was pleased to see Brody had disappeared from view; maybe at least one of them would be able to escape from this hell hole and get help. Mac looked back to Flack who had closed his eyes again and seemed to have lost consciousness. Mac knew he had made the right decision to stay. There was no way in hell he would ever have left a friend alone to suffer in a place like this. And Mac knew that was what would happen now. He and Flack had been caught trying to escape again. They'd most likely both be killed now or used for some awful form of torture by Emerson. As though hearing Mac's thoughts, the doctor suddenly appeared in the doorway of the shower room at the same time as the alarm stopped. Mac only realised then that it was Logan holding his arms back, Thomas had subdued Winston and that Emerson was staring coldly at him.
"Well, well, well, 567," the doctor said in a lethally calm tone.
Two nurses and Kyle entered the room behind him and went over to Flack.
"Don't you touch him!" Mac spat.
"But we had a deal," Emerson smiled, still in his lethally calm tone. "You obey me and stop trying to escape and I let him live."
"You broke our deal the minute you injected whatever the hell you did into him!" Mac raged.
"Calm yourself, 567, it is not good for your health to get yourself so wound up," Emerson said coolly. He turned to the nurses and Kyle and nodded at them. "Take him."
"You leave him alone!" Mac shouted as Kyle disappeared outside the room and then returned with a trolley.
"It's alright, 567. I won't kill him. I'm just going to let Hartmann have a little play with him," Emerson grinned.
Mac stared in horror at Emerson as Kyle lifted Flack on to the trolley and secured him.
"Kyle, take 571 to Hartmann and then search the grounds for 118. He won't have got far," Emerson ordered.
Kyle nodded and then began to wheel Flack away.
"No!" Mac gasped as he struggled in Logan's grasp and tried desperately to get away.
"Yes!" Emerson grinned, showing a huge away of yellow teeth. "Hartmann will enjoy this little treat. I have taught him so many things over the years yet I think this may well be the first lobotomy he has ever performed."
"Lobotomy?" Mac choked in horror.
"Why, yes. I do hope he gets it right," Emerson smiled and then started laughing.
Just then a blood curdling scream ran through the corridor outside, distracting Emerson, the nurses and the two remaining triplets.
"What the?" Emerson snarled as he went out into the corridor followed by the nurses, Thomas and Logan who had let go of Mac in the panic to find out what was happening.
Rawston was running up and down the corridor screaming at the top of his lungs.
"THREE GEESE IN A FLOCK!" he yelled and then swore loudly. "ONE FLEW EAST! ONE FLEW EAST!"
"Calm him," Emerson screeched as Droober ran past and began attacking Rawston, both men out of their minds.
"AARRGHH!" yelled Rawston as Droober bit into his neck.
"What is going on?" Emerson shouted angrily as Benny wheeled himself down the corridor.
"It's Montague," he growled.
"Who?" Emerson spat.
"547 you bastard!" Benny shouted. "He's dead. Hung himself."
"Go!" Emerson shouted at the nurses who ran down the corridor towards Montague's room.
"Why would he do that, Benny?" Mac asked, pushing his way past Emerson.
"He told someone about your escape plan, he's blamed himself for you getting caught," Benny spat bitterly.
Mac looked up as another shadow appeared at the end of the corridor. Moses.
"You!" Mac shouted vehemently and began to run down the corridor after the slimy little man who had spied on them all.
"567!" Emerson shrieked as he attempted to follow but was pushed over by Winston who then followed off down the corridor after Mac.
"Get them!" Emerson screamed at Logan and Thomas who were still fighting with Droober and Rawston.
"ONE FLEW WEST...ONE FLEW WEST!" Rawston screamed before receiving a hard kick from Droober.
Mac found Moses cowering in his room, beady eyes shifting the whole time, never looking at Mac who was framed in the doorway.
"Why?" Mac choked in loathing.
"Because we must work for our sins. We deserve this, Emerson is our God and when we have pleased him enough he shall set us free and we will be Gods amongst mankind..." Moses recited.
"You got Montague to reveal our escape plans!" Mac yelled.
"It wasn't that hard, a terribly nervous man he was. He will burn in the fiery pit of hell for his sins!" Moses grinned.
"As will you!" Mac cried as he lurched forward and wrapped his hands tight around Moses' neck. "Do you feel no responsibility for causing the death of Montague? For most likely killing Don too?!"
Mac squeezed his hands tighter, feeling a wave of satisfaction run through him as he saw the life slowly leaving the nasty little man in front of him.
"No!"
Suddenly two arms wrapped around his waist and were pulling him away. Mac didn't have the strength to fight them.
"You're not a murderer," said a calm voice.
Mac turned to see Winston standing behind him.
"He deserves to die," Mac gasped angrily. "Montague hung himself because of this traitor!"
"However... I am," Winston continued, smiling at Mac before he turned and approached Moses. While his huge form blocked his actions from Mac's sight, he did indeed hear the sickening crack of bones before Winston turned back around.
"We need to find your friend," Winston said calmly as he pushed Mac from the room.
"Don..." Mac murmured worriedly.
"We can get away while they are distracted by Rawston, Droober and Montague," Winston said collectedly.
"Right," Mac nodded. "Come on."
The two men circled back round the rooms heading towards the exit that was still unlocked from the comings and goings of the doctors and nurses. As they ran they heard the howling scream of Droober, and Rawston shouting out a few more words.
"ONE FLEW EAST...ONE FLEW WEST..."
And then suddenly there was silence. No more sound was heard from either man and Mac felt sickened at the thought of what might have been done to them. Insane or not, either way it did not matter, Emerson had driven them to their deaths.
"And one flew over the cuckoo's nest," Mac murmured quietly to himself, finishing off those last few words that would never be spoken by Rawston.
"Hurry!" Winston urged as they escaped out onto the landing. "The triplets are the only security here apart from the doctors and nurses. If two of them are in our ward and one of them out searching for Brody then no-one is watching the cameras!"
"I need to find Don," Mac murmured breathlessly as they ran.
"The operating theatres are on the ground floor," Winston replied as they descended the stairs.
"But that could still be anywhere. This building is huge," Mac said as they reached the ground floor.
"You go left, I go right," Winston shrugged.
"Thank you, Winston," Mac gasped.
Winston gave Mac a very brief smile. "I once had a son. He was very much like your friend in personality. Fiery, spirited and fuelled by justice. Emerson killed him for it. I let them think that his death had turned me mad."
Mac stared at the huge man in sorrow and then nodded. "This time he won't win," Mac stated with more belief than he had felt in the last few weeks.
"I know," Winston smiled as he turned to part. "I believe you will bring him to justice."
Then he was off and running down the corridor. Mac turned and ran the other way, the both of them looking for their lost friend.
Danny crept through the hallways of the abandoned hotel and quickly realised all was not as it seemed. The place had been changed, modified into what was clearly some sort of hospital...or asylum. And what was even worse was that the place was obviously still in use. It was clinical, pure white everywhere he looked and clean. So clean it was sterile and an awful smell of alkaline invaded his nostrils. Too strong, as if it were trying to cover up some awful stench. The stench of death. Danny shivered and felt glad he had Grace and Benito behind him as back-up. This had to be the right place and the knowledge of that fact pumped through his veins like adrenaline. Flack and Mac were here, somewhere...and he would find them...no matter what.
They'd stumbled across the huge building a while ago and made their way in through a door at the back of the building. It seemed to be a service door and had led into a dimly lit basement. They'd passed through vast rooms containing huge vats of putrefied liquid that stunk to high heaven. Danny had retched at the stench, as had Benny though Grace hadn't seemed as affected by it, she was a tough girl. But all three of them had recognised the odour; it was one that never left you once you had smelt it that first time. The smell of decaying flesh, of mouldering corpses and they'd hurried quickly past the vats and up a metal staircase that had led out into one of these gleaming white corridors.
Danny suddenly raised his hand as he heard something.
"What?" whispered Benny.
"Voices," Danny replied as he started walking again but more slowly this time.
The sound of low voices had broken into the otherwise eerie silence that permeated through the hollow hallways and corridors. Danny signalled to the others as he came to a halt outside a set of double doors and then peered inside through a small clear window in one of the doors. It was clearly an operating theatre and two men in white lab coats were walking around the room, talking and gesturing in what seemed to be an excited manner. Both had white headscarves over their heads and white masks over their faces, obviously preparing for some sort of surgery. In the centre of the room was a doctor's table and strapped to it was a figure that struggled ever so slightly in the straps that held him down. He looked sick and was too thin, his head shaved and discoloured. He looked exactly liked the John Doe that had started off the investigation so many weeks ago. Danny knew they had to save this poor figure and try and get him to safety, away from these mad doctors. He signalled at Benny to go left while he would take the right and that Grace should cover the exit. Then he slowly counted down on his fingers.
Three...
Two...
One...
Danny smashed through the door and ran to the right as he aimed his gun at one of the figures in white.
"NYPD FREEZE!" he snarled with vehemence.
Opposite him Benny had done the same and was now aiming his gun at the other doctor while Grace stood before the only exit out of the room.
"Who the hell are you?" snarled one of the doctors, a scalpel still in his hand as he stood over the figure on the table.
"NYPD dumbass," Danny repeated. "Now drop the knife."
The figure on the table let out a quiet whimper and the doctor stared angrily down at him.
"Silence, you're not cured yet, boy," he spat.
"Drop the knife!" Benito repeated.
"Perhaps we should..." the other doctor whispered to the one with the scalpel.
"No!" the first one screamed and then lunged for the figure on the table with the scalpel.
Danny didn't hesitate for a second as he pulled the trigger of his gun. The doctor's body jumped back and then a tiny dot of red appeared just over his heart. Slowly, he collapsed to the floor as the other doctor shrieked and ran at Danny, preparing to attack. Danny tried to move his gun to shoot at him but before he could two shots rang out and then the other doctor collapsed to the ground, Benito's gun slightly smoking behind him.
"Thanks..." Danny choked as he bent down to check the pulse of the man on the ground in front of him. "This one's dead. He has an ID on him, Doctor Fremont..."
"Dead too," Benito replied as he checked the other doctor. "This one is Doctor Hartmann..."
"What?" Grace said from by the door.
"Hartmann. You know him?" Benny asked.
"No. I mean yes. He was at the Thorn Everidge. Flack told me," Grace replied looking worried.
"Then this must be the correct place," Danny muttered and the three of them swapped looks that could have been relief or worry...or perhaps a mixture of both.
Lindsay, Jo and ESU had arrived at the abandoned hotel ten minutes ago. They'd flown up by chopper to make quicker time while Adam was speeding along in a van with some more units of ESU. He was going to try and hack into the security system, if there was one, to see what kind of numbers they would be dealing with inside the building. How many victims and suspects there might be within its walls. Jo had led her team straight up to the building and in through the front door once they'd arrived. Strangely there had been no-one around and they'd been faced with a huge empty hall. It was ornately decorated and a massive staircase stood ominously before them, its grandeur evident in the detail of its carved banisters. Jo sent half the ESU team upstairs while she, Lindsay and the remaining two men from ESU began to sweep the ground floor. They hadn't been able to contact Danny and figured he had gone on into the building with Grace and Benito. Jo could tell that Lindsay was obviously worried about her husband and that he was acting somewhat irrationally due to his fear of losing Flack. Jo could sympathise with that. She knew that logically she should have waited for the rest of ESU to arrive before they swept the building but she needed to find Mac, she couldn't get him out of her head.
"This way," she whispered to her team as she led them through strange halls that were fit for banquets and on through a maze of identical corridors.
"What is this place?" Lindsay murmured.
"I don't know," Jo replied worriedly as she continued on.
Suddenly there was a loud thumping noise and the floor started to shake slightly. The most enormous man they'd ever seen appeared at the end of the hallway they were standing in and then turned to face them. He was livid, anger poured from every bone in his body and his face screwed up into a revolting grimace.
"NYPD FREEZE!" Jo yelled as she aimed her gun at him.
The huge man let out a howl of rage and started thundering towards them, fists clenched at his sides, face a nasty puce colour with a long scar running across it.
"NYPD FREEZE!" Lindsay repeated Jo's words as the man got closer.
The man ran on, arms rising into a bear-like stance as he got nearer. He was ready to kill, that much was evident. Jo pursed her lips and then shot a round into his arm as Lindsay sent another into his shoulder. The man faltered, stumbled and then crashed heavily to the ground.
"How many more like you are here?!" Jo snapped as she got closer to the man and stood over him.
"Go to hell, bitch!" the man growled back.
"Answer the question!" Lindsay yelled.
"Fucking die," he cackled.
"Get him out of my sight," Jo said venomously as she turned to the two ESU guys.
Suddenly a flurry of white flashed across the end of the corridor.
"Someone else is up there!" Jo shouted and started running, Lindsay hot on her heels.
"NYPD FREEZE!" Jo shouted as she got closer to the figure.
The man was bald and dressed in scrubs, just like their John Doe had been.
"Hands in the air!" Jo shouted as she raised her gun.
"Jo?" the man murmured as he slowly turned and looked into her eyes.
Jo stared for a moment, not quite believing what she was seeing. Behind her she heard Lindsay's arms drop to her sides in disbelief before the younger woman put her gun back in its holster.
"Mac?" Jo choked as she wavered slightly, glancing him over, shocked at his appearance.
"My God...Jo!" Mac cried as he ran towards her and then paused just before her, suddenly afraid.
"I thought I'd never see you again," Jo whispered as her hands dropped and she put her gun away.
"I can't believe you're here," Mac murmured as he reached out a hand a gently touched her cheek.
"I'll go and check on the ESU guys," Lindsay said quietly, suddenly realising that the reunion between her two friends was so much more than just scared colleagues.
"I thought you were..." Jo choked, unable to voice her worry as a tear fell from her eye.
"My Jo, my beautiful Jo," Mac smiled as he moved closer and held her, feeling her body, knowing she was really there, that this wasn't a dream, a mirage or some drug induced illusion.
"Mac..." Jo smiled against his neck as she hugged him back, unwilling to ever let him go again in case he suddenly disappeared.
Mac sighed happily and held her close. Jo. It was Jo. She'd come for him. Suddenly he felt her flinch.
"Well if this isn't just the sweetest thing..." a venomous voice snarled from close by.
Mac whipped his head up to see Emerson standing just behind Jo, his leering smile just visible over her shoulder.
"No..." Mac murmured in horror.
"Mac, he's got a gun in my back," Jo replied steadily as she stared at him.
"Back away 567 otherwise I kill her!" Emerson snarled.
Mac's face turned to one of pure rage but he did as he was told, there was no way he'd ever do anything to endanger Jo. Emerson smiled as Mac obeyed him and then wound his free arm around her neck, holding her against the gun in her back.
"So tell me, who is this beautiful creature you've been hiding, 567?" Emerson grinned, knowing his words only taunted his victim further.
"Leave her out of this," Mac snarled. "This is between you and me, Emerson."
Mac heard Jo gasp at the mention of the doctor's name; the team must have somehow worked out who he was.
"I see you have heard of me," Emerson said proudly. "Perhaps from my work."
"I know only of your need to torture and to kill," Jo stated calmly, not showing any fear of her current predicament.
"Ah, another who deems themselves worthy to judge," Emerson laughed. "Clearly you have never known perfection either."
"Perfection?" Jo murmured, looking in confusion at Mac.
"Your work has nothing to do with perfection, Emerson," Mac snarled. "You destroy, create monsters from healthy men...not perfection."
"But don't you see how wrong you are?" Emerson laughed loudly. "For I have already succeeded my dear 567. For years I have been striving to create some measure of refinement in the human species you see."
"Mac what's he talking about?" Jo asked and Mac could see the fear that suddenly appeared in her eyes.
"He's talking about his experiments, how he destroyed men like Rick Droober, Alexander Rawston, Blake Ellison, Charles Montague...to name but a few."
Emerson laughed again. "I don't even know who those you name are!"
"Because you are a monster!" Mac shouted as he stepped forward.
"Uh uh uh!" the doctor taunted. "I am a God, as well you should know by now. My work is almost complete. For you see, I have already achieved near perfection, a divine creature that is pure and absolutely incapable of any malice against me or our kind."
"What?" Mac choked.
"My number one. She grew up with me here, I became like a father to her and she became my perfect being, a pure soul who was incapable of going against my wishes, who became a God like me," Emerson grinned, mouth pulled back to reveal a wolf like snarl.
"What the hell is he talking about, Mac?" Jo asked.
"I don't know," Mac replied, starting to feel worried.
"She is the only other being who is like me. I made her. I sent her out into your world to do my work. And she protected me as I know she always will," Emerson cackled.
"Sue?" Jo murmured.
"Sue?" Emerson laughed. "Why no, she was just another of my experiments gone wrong."
"Then who?" Mac asked.
"Enough!" Emerson suddenly cried. "You, 567, you know how to get rid of these men who search for you, who have come here to my palace. You call them off or I kill this one!"
Jo let out a cry as Emerson dug the gun hard into her back.
"Mac!" she cried softly.
Mac could only stare at her in worry.
Danny approached the figure lying on the table. "It's okay, buddy. You're safe now...we'll have you out of here in a moment."
He turned to the straps and started to undo them as the figure murmured a soundless word.
"Should you be doing that?" Benny asked warily. "What if he's some sort of crazy?"
Danny paused as he released one of the man's arms and stared at Benny. The detective made a good point.
"I dunno. You're okay, aren't you buddy?" Danny asked looking back at the man.
The patient coughed and shivered on the table mouthing a single word.
"Danno..."
Danny jumped and then his jaw fell open in horror. "Shit! It's Flack!" he yelled as he began to undo the strap securing his other arm. "Flack, can you hear me? What the hell did they do to you?"
Flack blinked his dull grey eyes at Danny and then an ever so slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Danno..." he choked.
"Yes, it's me, it's Danno. I'll have you out of here in a jiffy, buddy..." Danny cried as he worked on the straps.
"Grace!" Benito shouted behind Danny.
"Danny?" Grace said sharply.
"In a minute!" Danny muttered as he finally freed Flack from his bonds.
"Err...Danny..." Benito murmured, a tone of anxiety to his voice.
"What?!" Danny growled as he swung around to find the barrel of a gun pointed at him.
"What's going on?" he choked in horror as he faltered against the table Flack was lying on.
"Surprise..." Grace said calmly and the Irish accent to her voice had disappeared. It was plain and cold and an ice burnt in her eyes as a grin slowly formed on her face.
"But...but we're your friends...you're engaged to Benny..." Danny murmured in shock glancing at Benny who was obviously just as shocked as he was.
"I need no friends," Grace replied. "I only need my father." And with that she turned and fired a bullet straight into Benito's heart.
"No!" Danny yelled as he watched his friend go down.
"Hopefully that will prove my point. I have never cared for anyone but my father and neither you nor the rest of your team will stop his work," she stated icily as she raised the gun to his chest.
A/N - So only four chapters to go now I think.