Chapter 8 – Escape?

A few days had now passed and Danny and Jamie could feel themselves losing their strength, a little at a time. They had been paying attention to William's schedule every time he came down to give them their food and get the trays. Their first meal was usually a few hours after the light came on, probably close to 9 or 10am they figured. Then the second meal was a few hours before the light turned off, maybe around 7 or 8pm. And then of course he would pick up the trays an hour later. If they were correct, they guessed it was now Friday which meant that they had been in this hell hole for 4 days. They eventually ran out of topics to talk about, thinking of anything and everything just for the time to go by quicker. They ate everything that was given to them, always wondering if this would be their last meal…whether he would do something later or if he had poisoned the food. However they were never given very much; just enough so they wouldn't starve to death. Which is why they knew they were getting weaker and weaker as each day went by.

Danny sat on his cot with his back against the wall, his head leaned against it and looking up at the ceiling. "Jamie I think we need to carry out that plan today…I don't think I can wait another day being in here," he told his brother, not looking away from what he was staring at.

Jamie was laying on his back on his bed, his hands folded onto his chest, also staring up at the ceiling. "Yeah, I think you're right," he replied. "Plus if we wait any longer, then we're not going to have much strength left…at least not like we're used to." There was a pause before he continued. "So we're going to do it when he comes back down again?" he asked, lifting his head up to look at his brother.

Danny moved his head as well to look at Jamie. "Yeah. It should be my turn he points his gun at, so you just do what we talked about, alright?"

Jamie nodded his head and then went back to looking at the uninteresting ceiling, since there wasn't anything else to do. They went back to their comfortable silence, both thinking of the same thing: their family. Would they ever see them again? At the beginning of their confinement, they kept trying to get their captor to talk to them; how long will they be there, what was this about, and anything else they could think of. Unfortunately William wouldn't say much, if at all…usually when he did talk, it was to threaten them about not doing anything stupid or that they'll get the answers to their questions in due time. They both hoped that this plan of theirs would work because if it didn't, they weren't sure what they were going to do or what would happen if they failed…

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A couple of hours later, they heard the locks on the door unlatch before it swung open, and just as expected, there stood William with his gun aimed at Danny. "Jamie, you know what to do," he told him, not taking his eyes off of the older Reagan.

"Yes, sir," Jamie said quietly. He slowly stood up from his cot and started towards the door, but about halfway to it, he clutched at his stomach and fell to his knees and then to his side, groaning and moaning in pain.

The sudden action shocked William, who quickly turned his attention to the young officer. "My brother's hurt, please help him!" Danny told him, acting worried. Once he knew William was no longer paying attention to him, he made his move. He swiftly jumped off of his bed and tackled the older man, bringing him to the ground and trying to make him let the gun go. What Danny wasn't expecting however, was the quickness and strength William seemed to have. He held onto the gun for dear life, trying to punch and kick Danny away, but the detective held his own and threw some punches and kicks himself. Hearing the struggle, Jamie had jumped up and joined in, trying to pry the gun out of William's hand. Finally Danny threw a right hook to the side of his assailant's head, which stunned him, just enough for his grip on the gun to loosen and fall to the floor. Jamie quickly grabbed for it and then, knowing his brother was a better aim than him, gave it to Danny. "Come on, let's go!" he told his younger brother, pushing him through the door ahead of him.

They both ran up the stairs and eventually found their way to the front door. However, their escape was quickly dashed when they saw all of the locks and bolts up and down the side of the door panel. "Great, now what?" asked Jamie.

Danny turned to answer him but was instead greeted by something out of his nightmares. William had recovered from the hit quicker than Danny had hoped and had somehow sneaked up behind them. Now he had Jamie in a chokehold, holding a second, smaller, gun to his temple. "Drop…the gun," he said, seething.

"Okay," Danny said, doing what he was told and immediately tossing the gun away from him. Then he put his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry, we won't do anything like that again," he said gently, worried for his brother's safety.

"You're damn right," William replied through clenched teeth. "You do remember what I told you two at the beginning, don't you Daniel?" he asked him, tightening his hold around the younger Reagan's neck. Jamie had his hands on William, trying to keep as much space between the beefy arm and his airway as possible. But when it tightened up, he let out a small gasp.

"Yes, and I'm sorry. Please, it was my idea, so any punishment you may have, do it to me. Just please let him go," Danny told him, his hands still raised.

William let out a small chuckle. "I'm afraid that's not how that works. I told you that if you do something stupid, like try to escape, than your brother would be punished. Did I stutter when I said it?" he asked. "Answer me Daniel!" he yelled out when he didn't get an answer, tightening his hold again, receiving another gasp from Jamie.

"No, you didn't, you didn't!" Danny quickly answered. "Please let him go, you're choking him!"

"That's right, I didn't stutter," William repeated, not letting up on his tight grip of Jamie's neck. "You're the older brother Daniel…you're supposed to set an example for Jameson on how to obey and listen to your elders, isn't that right?"

"Yes, you're right, I'm sorry. I promise we won't do that again…we'll behave," Danny told him, getting desperate. He could see Jamie struggling to take in any air, so at this point, he was just saying whatever he could to make William let his brother go.

There was a pause, with William glaring at the other, his grip not loosening on the neck his arm was around. Jamie started panicking a little, since he was having such a hard time getting air in. Right before he thought he was going to pass out, the arm holding him loosened up, making him take deep gulps of much needed air. Danny closed his eyes and let out the breath he had been holding. "Get back to the basement, nice and easy. Or I'll blow his brains out," William threatened. He may have relaxed his grip around Jamie's neck, but he still had him in a chokehold, the gun never leaving the side of his head.

"Alright," Danny said in defeat, walking off towards the stairs, back towards their prison, with William following close behind with his brother. Once they were all back in the room, William let Jamie go, pushing him away and towards Danny, nearly making him slam into his older brother, who caught him. Then he quickly dashed out back the door, closed it, and locked it tight. "You okay?" Danny asked his brother once they were alone.

"Yeah," Jamie replied, rubbing his neck. They both stood near their cots, not sure on what to do. "What do you think he's going to do?" Jamie asked.

"I don't—" Danny started to say, but was interrupted by the door unlocking and opening again. William walked in, his gun in one hand and a couple of handcuffs in the other. 'This isn't going to be good,' Danny thought when he saw what his captor was holding.

William placed one set on the floor in front of him and lightly kicked them towards the brothers. "Jamie," he said, the weapon pointing towards the young cop. "Take those and handcuff your brother to his cot," he instructed, not expecting anything but obedience.

Jamie looked over at his brother. "It's okay Jamie," Danny told him quietly.

With a quick nod of his head, Jamie bent down and picked the handcuffs up, then they both went to the bed. Danny sat down, his back against the wall that the head of the cot was against. He put his hands behind his back while Jamie cuffed him and then looped the handcuffs around the metal frame. When he was done, Jamie stood up, his hands raised.

"Good," William told him, smiling. "Now come here," he told him. Both boys clenched their jaws, but Jamie did what he was told. "That's good," William told his prisoner so he knew when to stop. "Now turn around and put your hands behind your back." Jamie again did what he was told. He looked over at Danny, who had a worried look on his face. The next thing Jamie felt was cold metal around his wrists; he then let out a small grunt when the cuffs were tightened. "Get on your knees," William said from behind, which Jamie did. He then went over to Danny and tightened his handcuffs as well, receiving a similar grunt.

"What are you going to do?" Danny asked him as he straightened up.

William looked down at him. "You're just going to have to wait and see," he said smugly before walking away towards the door. Jamie and Danny looked at each other, both fearing what he had planned. Their kidnapper then came back in…his gun was now in his waistband and instead he held a wooden baseball bat in his hands. Danny clenched his jaw, his eyes widening a bit. Jamie, his back to William, started getting nervous when he saw the look on his brother's face. "You boys were told that there would be consequences for your actions…it would just be a shame if you had to die over your own stupidity while your father is working day and night to try and find you."

"Wait, William please—" Danny started to say when the older man brought the bat up to take a swing at the younger Reagan.


A/N: Glad you guys are enjoying this so far! Keep the reviews coming :)