Chapter 3 – The Basement
Sometime later, Danny started to stir. He groggily and slowly woke up, blinking his eyes so they could focus. He looked around and noticed he was in a small room, maybe a basement, laying on a cot in the corner. Then he saw that his shoes were gone, as well as his belt, watch, jacket, and tie. His head was pounding and he kept swallowing to somewhat quench his dry throat. 'Probably from that damn drug the SOB injected me with,' he thought. Once the room had stopped spinning and he was a little bit more coherent, he turned his head to the left and saw another cot against the other wall; close enough to almost form an 'L' with his. Laying on top of the bed was his brother, still unconscious, but at least this time he wasn't tied and gagged anymore. He too had no shoes, belt, jacket, or watch on. Danny also saw a small window that was at the other end of the room, but it had bars over it. He straightened out his head and closed his eyes. 'Well this is just great,' he thought before opening his eyes again.
When he thought his head could handle it, he slowly sat up and then swung his legs over the edge. "Jamie?" he said, looking at his brother. "Hey, kid, can you hear me?" he repeated a little louder. He was greeted by groans and slight movement. "Come on, I know you don't want to, but you gotta wake up."
Jamie squeezed his eyes and furrowed his brow. He could hear someone talking but he wasn't sure who it was at first and couldn't quite make out what they were saying. It wasn't long before he recognized the voice of his brother trying to get him to wake up. Slowly he opened his eyes, then quickly closed them again when the brightness of the light caused the pounding in his head to worsen. He could hear his brother say something again, so he braved through the pain and squinted at the direction of where the voice was coming from. "Danny?" he asked weakly.
"Yeah, it's me. You alright?" Danny asked him, looking concerned. His brother seemed to be more affected by the drug than he was.
Jamie laid his head back down on the pillow. "I think so. My head's killing me," he said, closing his eyes again. "The guy grabbed me when I was leaving my apartment…it happened so fast, I couldn't even fight back."
"The drug will wear off soon," Danny told him, slowly standing up and taking a look around the place. There was a small makeshift bathroom across from him, on the same wall as the steel door that he figured was the only way to freedom. There was one light for the whole room, but no light switch that he could see. "He texted me using your phone, telling me not to say anything and to follow his instructions," he told Jamie, going over to the window. "Then he sent me a picture…" he paused, remembering the feelings he had when he first saw it. "It was of you tied up…he gave me an address and told me to go there by myself and unarmed or he'd kill you, so I did." He did his best to look out the window since it was a little high up; but from what he could see, there was nothing of importance. No other houses, no cars, no other people, not even any animals. Danny's hopes of them escaping quickly dwindled.
Jamie opened his eyes when Danny told him about the picture. "I was tied up?" he asked, confused. He lifted up his hands and looked at his wrists, not seeing any indication that he was.
Danny turned to look over at him. "Yeah, with duct tape…had some over your mouth too. He probably just did it to send the message home, which worked." He then went over and expected the door. "When I got to the address, I went down this alley where a white van was but there was no one in the front. I was going to check out the back but that's when he grabbed and drugged me. Next thing I know, I'm waking up here." Not finding any weak spots on or around the door, he went back over to his cot and sat down.
"Wow…sorry I was used as a trap," Jamie told him as he slowly sat up and moved to the edge of the bed, his hand on his head.
Danny just shook his head and discarded the comment with his hand. But before he could say anything though, they heard the door unlocking and then swing open. Standing in the doorway was a man they didn't recognize, maybe around their dad's age, and he was holding a gun. "Oh good, I see your both up," he said, giving them a smug smile and coming further into the room. "I hope you like your accommodations…I built the place myself," he told them.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Danny asked him, keeping his eye on the revolver in the man's hand.
"So many questions…but I guess that's why you're a detective, isn't it?" he asked. The boys stole glances at each other, which didn't go unnoticed by their captor. "The name's William Todd…call me William, call me Todd, I don't really care. And yes, I know all about you two. A good detective always does his homework, isn't that right Danny?" he said, looking at him.
"You're a detective?" Jamie asked him, also keeping his eye on the gun.
"I was Jamie, years ago," William answered, turning his attention to the younger Reagan. "I was partnered with your father, once upon a time."
"Our dad never mentioned a William Todd as an old partner before," Danny told him, trying to get the kidnapper's attention, and the gun, away from his brother.
It worked. William turned back to Danny as he answered. "That's no surprise. But we were only partners for a short while…until he betrayed me and ruined my life. He took everything from me, so I'm taking everything from him. That's why the two of you are here…I needed both of you for my revenge plan to work."
Danny clenched his jaw. "What'd our dad do?" he asked.
"That's something you'll find out later," is all William said before changing the conversation. "Now here's how all of this is going to work," he started, looking between both brothers. "You have a bathroom over here," he informed them, pointing behind him and to the left. "I have control of the light, which will stay on until 11pm and will come back on at 6am. You'll get two meals a day, as long as you behave. If you try to escape or piss me off in any way, your brother will receive the punishment…and yes, it will be painful," he told them, giving them a small smile. Danny and Jamie looked at each other when he told them that, then looked back at William. "Do we have an understanding?" he asked them.
"Yes," Danny quietly replied, trying very hard to control his temper and not run at the guy.
"Yeah," Jamie answered just as loudly, clenching his jaw and looking down at his folded hands.
William smiled. "Good. I'll be back later with your only meal for the day, since you two were too busy sleeping to get the first one earlier," he told them, giving them another smug smile as he backed up towards the door. Once he was out of the room, he closed the door and locked it up tight.
Once again alone, the boys didn't say much…between the drug and the bit of tension that was still around from over the weekend, they weren't quite sure what to say at the moment. But since they both still had headaches, they decided to lay back down on their cots, hoping that the drug would leave their system soon…and praying that they'd be found as quickly as possible.
