A/N: Many thanks to Jellybean for the amazing job of beta. As always many thanks for the comments and reviews. Be warned that this chapter contains mature content.
Chapter 19
Grissom blinked, not quite willing to believe what his eyes and brain were telling him.
"Rory," Grissom rasped, his voice hoarse, his throat feeling raw and parched. "What..." He paused suddenly as another more pressing thought came to him, his eyes widening. He moved his cuffed hand in a position that allowed him to sit up. Despite his situation, his gaze hardened. "Where am I? Is Sara here, my son?" he demanded, his voice stronger. "If you've hurt…."
Rory laughed. "You pompous asshole. You think you can demand anything in the position you're in? You'll know what I want you to know." He punched Grissom in the mouth to punctuate his point. Grissom's head snapped back with the force of the blow, as blood ran down his chin, his eyes wide with shock.
Rory got close in Grissom's face. "You're an idiot, Grissom. A fucking idiot. You thought when I got behind bars, I would be stopped. You thought I would just fade away. But you, the great Gil Grissom, just can't fathom how powerful I truly am."
Grissom took a deep breath. It was him, Rory, the whole time who set him up for murder. This dangerous man, did he do something to his loved ones, too? "You got me in prison. You've ruined my life. Please tell me you are just… please… Sara? You haven't don't anything to her, please?"
Rory chuckled. He would never give anything Grissom wanted to know. "While it's true, I pulled the strings to get you in prison, but, my God, Grissom, you were such a willing and perfect puppet. You let your emotions get involved with that ex-lover. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. So fucking perfect! I'd say it was easy, but then again, I was in fucking prison. Because of you."
He slapped Grissom hard across the face. And seeing his stunned look, Rory struck him again, his face full of both rage and evil enjoyment. "It's quite amazing how many people, on both sides of the law, you managed to piss off over the years, with that smug 'nothing can touch me' attitude."
Both sides of the law. Those words reverberated in Grissom's brain, even as he worried about his wife and son. When Rory got in close to his face again, Grissom moved back.
"Scared Grissom?" Rory asked. "You should be."
Grissom straightened up. "If you planned so long for this, then fine. Kill me. Just, please, don't hurt my family."
Rory chuckled. "Kill you? Right now? Come on Grissom, now that the moment is here, I want to savor it for as long as I want to." He punctuated his words, with a hard painful prod on Grissom's bare chest.
Grissom screamed in pain."What do you want from me, Rory?"
The change in Rory was quick. With a growl of rage, Rory had Grissom in a choke hold. "What do I want?!" He demanded, furiously, as Grissom struggled to breathe. "Justice, Grissom! Justice for my brother!"
Just as quickly, Rory's anger subsided, and he released his hold on Grissom, who took several whooping gulps of much needed air.
Taking advantage of the stricken man's weakness, Rory quickly unlocked the cuff from around Grissom's left wrist.
"Get up, you piece of shit!"Rory ordered as he nodded towards the door.
Grissom did as he was told, shaking and wincing as pain flared in his left knee and pulled on his left side.
Rory caught the hitch in Grissom's hitch and kicked the back of his knee to move Grissom along faster. The action made Grissom fall hard, but Rory roughly pulled him up and pushed him through the door.
Grissom looked around the room to see if anyone else was in the space. He hoped he wouldn't see Sara or Daniel anywhere in the vicinity. Soon, Rory ordered him to stop. Immediately in front of him was a crane-like hook, that was once used to haul heavy objects around the warehouse. Over the hook was a pair of manacled chains.
"Fasten them over your wrists," Rory instructed as he pointed to the manacles.
"No," Grissom refused.
The blow was to his injured left side and blackness descended from the corners of his eyes. He fought passing out and drew in a shuddering, shaky breath as he followed Rory's orders.
Checking once and satisfied that the shackles were secure, Rory raised the hook until Grissom's arms are above his head. A grimace flashed across Grissom's face as the position pulled on his side. He'd been stripped down to his boxers, while he'd been unconscious. There was a purple-black bruise just below his ribs on his left side, that he'd probably sustained in the crash. A vague memory of hitting the seat across from him on the bus flashed briefly in his mind.
Somewhere behind him Grissom became aware of footsteps approaching. He tried to turn his head, but his vision was blocked by his arms.
"It's about time," Rory greeted the newcomer, irritably, walking out of Grissom's field of vision.
"It's over an hour's drive from Vegas, and I had to deal with the warden's questions." The voice trailed off at the furious glare Rory cast their way.
"Don't piss me off and don't make excuses," Rory threatened. "Take a good look at him. You want to end up like that?"
Grissom worked to try and see who the newcomer with the eerily familiar voice was.
Rory smiled as he realized he had two flies in a trap. What better way to keep one man in line and revealing who carries all the power than showing tremendous force against a man bound up for Rory's personal pleasure.
"You know, Grissom, I was only twelve when my brother stood trial because of you," Rory stated in a conversational tone. He glanced at his visitor, who had taken a frightened step back in the abandoned warehouse. Rory then walked behind Grissom towards a small table just out of Grissom's line of sight.
"I'd insisted with my parents, that I wanted to see Tyler's accuser. Face the man responsible for tearing a family apart. Tyler was good cop. Until you came along, and set him up!"
"He set himself up," Grissom hissed through gritted teeth. "He falsified evidence that allowed a serial killer to escape justice..."
Rory's right arm lashed out, and Grissom felt the electrical sting of a stun gun on his left side. His muscles contracted and his body spasamed painfully as he choked back his cry of pain. The burst was only two seconds long, but the damaging effects lasted far longer for Grissom as his body shook uncontrollable.
"You falsified evidence. You laid all the blame at Tyler's feet. It was because of you, he never saw his daughter born. My parents and his wife, Camille, never got over his death. The struggles she faced raising three kids on her own."
"He'd been tampering with evidence, long before I ever came to Minnesota…."
Grissom's body jerked and spasamed again as Rory stunned him once more. The chains rattled as Grissom's body twisted and his arms shook. Grissom groaned as his breath hitched and his head hung low. His shoulders ached with the strain of his arms held above his head. Nausea swirled in his stomach.
"I didn't set him up!" Grissom gasped painfully, his chest rising rapidly in panic. Sweat beaded his bare skin, and stained his boxers.
Grissom was filled with panic as Rory walked behind him once more. The sound of an unexpected snap filled the abandoned warehouse. Rory continually snapped the whip across Grissom's back.
Along with stinging pain, Grissom could feel blood run down his exposed back. The snapping sound of the whip came again, and he bit savagely on his lip to stop from crying out. His hands clenched into fists and his taut arms shook, causing the chains to rattle, as he's body twisted and arched in pain.
By the time the whip lashed his back a third time, Grissom could no longer hold his cry of agony. Blood trickled down from the multiple lacerations that criss crossed his back. The chains rattled and clinked as his body twisted with each punishing snap of the whip.
Finally, after a dozen or so strikes, Rory put the whip down. He approached Grissom who whimpered as his whole body shook. Grissom sagged between the chains, his fisted hands clenched tightly while his arms trembled in agony.
Rory came around to face Grissom, and savagely yanked his head up by his hair. Grissom's face was creased in pain and streaked with a mixture of blood, sweat and tears. His hair was limp with sweat. His upper torso glistened with moisture. His eyes, once a deep ocean blue, were now black with fear and pain, the whites bloodshot. He sucked on his bottom lip trying to stifle the groan of pain. His back burned and stung.
"This could have been so much easier, Grissom. But you had to take the high road didn't you?" Rory shook Grissom's head roughly to prove his point. Grissom sobbed, has he took a shuddering breath.
Rory grinned, delighted at the other man's misery. "I'll ask you again..."
"N-no!" Grissom croaked, his voice, hoarse with pain.
Rory nodded, his twisted grin unwavering. He quickly looked behind him to see his visitor rooted in his spot, arms tightly crossed over his chest and face yielding confusion, anxiety and fear.
It was exactly the reaction Rory hoped for. He released his hold of Grissom's head, and half turned away. Before suddenly turning back to face Grissom, and backhanded him across the mouth, hard.
"Hit me as much as you want!" Grissom screamed hoarsely. He might have been at a breaking point. But he wasn't broken yet. "It doesn't matter what connections you have!"
"This guy? Am I right? Just doesn't know when to admit the truth," Rory joked with the visitor before returning his gaze to Grissom.
Grissom's stubborn retorts didn't surprise Rory. He hadn't expected anything less. He knew it wouldn't be that easy to get Grissom to admit his faults. And honestly, he would be sorely disappointed if it was that easy.
An admission at this point would stop all the fun. And Rory was having too much fun to stop.
"Why is that, tough guy? Huh?"
"The prison system and law enforcement … they…" He continually paused to focus on words instead of pain. "A bus transport with prisoners and guards can't disappear… not … not without an investigation."
Rory grinned, his chuckle turning into a belly laugh. He shook his head, and spread his arms wide. "What bus? You mean the bus that was sent to a chop shop in North Las Vegas?"
Rory theatrically checked his watch then looked at his visitor. "I'm guessing pieces of it are being transported across state lines, right about now, don't you think?" He turned back to Grissom. "Yup. My friend here confirms that, Gilbert. Oh, and as for the investigators, they're twiddling their thumbs up their asses because we made sure they believed the bus was all the way in Beatty, Nevada when it got lost. But we're no where near Beatty, are we?" Grissom could see the maniacal look Rory shot to the man behind him.
"No, sir. We're not near Beatty."
"Confirmation again," Rory said with a laugh.
"They'll find …" Grissom gasped, and tried to talk, "find … something."
Rory got right in Grissom's face and roughly cradled the prisoner's chin. "They won't find a thing. No pieces of wreckage. No evidence. No bullet casings. No bodies of the prisoners or driver. Not one shred of evidence." He slapped Grissom's face, his go-to for punctuating his point. "It's like everyone vanished, and I'm still in prison."
Grissom's tongue traced the fresh blood that trickled from the corner of his mouth. Despite his beaten body, his mind began to understand the gravity of the breakout and of his situation. He shook his head back and forth. "No. … no."
"If you think you can defy me for long, Grissom, think again. There's only one way this will end. I will break you, Grissom." He punched Grissom hard in the stomach. "You hear me?" He punched him again. "I will break you. In any way possible."
Rory left Grissom's side and went to speak to his visitor, "You'd better get back to Vegas, before they miss you. And remember, you're up to your neck in this. I only have to say..."
"I-I-I know what's at stake. I have no intention of saying anything."
Rory nodded. There was no reason to waste his energy, all in one day. Besides, Grissom would need some time to recover. Not a lot, but some. And Rory Dunbar was a patient man. He left the two men alone — one in chains and the other rooted in his spot.
Even after he watched Rory leave he stayed in his spot for several minutes. He could hear Grissom's heavy breathing wracked with pain. He finally uncrossed his arms, immediately putting one hand in the pocket of his suit pants.
He should have just left, but he couldn't get himself to move toward the exit yet. He made his way toward Grissom allowing the prisoner to see him. Hobson Nash, Grissom's lawyer, looked at his client whose face was a mask of pain and distress. He was horrified to witness Rory batter Grissom, torture him to no end.
"Gil, I'm… I'm so sorry. I-I-I had no idea he would go this far!" Hobson stammered, his face still white with shock.
Grissom swallowed back a whimper of pain, as he gazed distrustfully at the lawyer. "What… what did you… expect?" Grissom gasped as he grimaced. "Harsh w-words?"
Hobson stared at the battered man in front of him then downcast his eyes. He turned and Grissom could hear the man's meek footsteps as he left.
Alone now and still bound, Grissom swallowed heavily as the magnitude of events truly hit home. The framing of murder. His incarceration. His beatings in prison. His transfer. All of those things had led up to this point.
And now he knew the man who had been meant to defend him from a murder he hadn't committed, had been in collusion with Rory Dunbar, all along. The revelation filled Grissom with a sense of foreboding. With overwhelming despair he realized, even if he was fortunate enough to survive Rory, he might never be able to prove his innocence.
He didn't know what scared him more: that realization or thinking about what Rory had in store for him.
A/N 2: To recall, Rory Dunbar is the Sheriff and protagonist from Grissom's Heart.