CHAPTER 17
Dani is sitting alone in the dark and damp cellar. She looks around, trying to see if the man was still there in the surrounding areas.
She sees no one and hears no movement except for a running radiator that would make a crackling sound every so often.
She starts to pull her arms, trying to break the straps that had her tied up to the chair. She pulls with all her force but it was no use. The strap wouldn't budge.
Mierda! The girl thinks to herself.
It didn't matter how much she tried to pull, the straps would only hurt her skin. The girl knows she can't afford to be more hurt than she already is so she simply gives up and slouches on the chair.
She doesn't want to look, fearing that she will see something that she doesn't want to but her curiosity gets the best of her.
She slowly looks down and examines her arms, seeing how the recently cut slashes show lines of red on both arms. The cuts themselves have stopped bleeding, which is a relief to her.
That means that the man didn't make her wounds deep.
She does feel a slight sting on her arms but it wasn't anything that she can't handle.
What is bothering her is the cut on her left brow. The cut is a deep cut, deeper than the rest that she has. Dani knows this was done on purpose.
He wants to leave a mark on her face and he ensured that by cutting deep into her skin. She feels a burning sensation that makes her wince in pain each time she slightly moves her face.
Unlike the other cuts, this one is still bleeding. She feels her blood streaming across her face, tracing down her cheek.
It is a sensation that makes her feel uncomfortable in every way. She just hopes the pain would go away soon.
Or at least for it to be minimized.
She let out a frustrated sigh. Dani is very confused about why this man wanted her.
Well, she knows that she was taken in as a form of payback for whoever did him wrong. The problem is knowing who.
Actually, that doesn't matter to her anymore. She wants to know what is his source of anger. What is making him do all of this?
Whatever it is, she knows it has something to do with death. That isn't the information she wants to know per se but that is all she has.
"Great, I'm gonna get killed and I don't know the reason why," She mumbles to herself.
She wonders if anyone noticed that she was missing by now. She was unconscious but assumes that a few hours have passed by since someone has heard from her.
At least one person has to know that something is off.
Emily.
Dani has her eyes wide open when the agent's name came to mind. She knew Emily came back from Pennsylvania a few hours ago.
Emily did send her a text that told her that the team has solved the case and were going back home. Dani assumes that Emily would have arrived home by now and noticed that she wasn't at home.
The agent would have tried to contact her with no success. The woman would have put the pieced together that something wasn't right.
She has to know by now, the teen tells herself as a form to comfort herself.
Emily would be looking for her right now once she noticed that the girl is missing. Emily has always been protective of her and would have noticed signs of possible danger.
Dani hopes and trusts the agent in knowing that something was wrong.
She trusts her with her life.
Dani feels a spark of hope in Emily and in the team, knowing they would find her.
They saved me the first time when they didn't know me. Now that they do, they will do anything they can to save me again, she thinks to herself.
She knows the team is really good at their job. They are the smartest people Dani knows. She places all her hope on the team finding her.
Hopefully, before it's too late.
She leans her back against the chair and winces slightly while feeling a sharp sting on her face.
"Gosh. Being held hostage sucks," she mumbles to herself.
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Emily looks at her ringing phone on the table. The phone was vibrating on her desk, displaying that the call has no caller ID.
Emily has a hunch about who it was. It wasn't a good sensation but she knows the call is important. She carefully picks up her phone and slides her thumb to the right of her screen in order to answer.
"This is Emily Prentiss," she identifies herself.
"Why hello there, agent," says the man at the other end of the line.
Emily feels goosebumps crawling through her skin when hearing the voice on the other end of the line. It is the same voice of the man of the live feed.
It is Daniela's abductor.
"Where is she?" She demands.
"Who?" Asks the man sarcastically. "Are you talking about Daniela?"
"You know exactly what I am talking about," Emily said, raising her voice but careful enough to get unwanted attention from her surroundings.
"Wow. Calm down, agent. Where are your manners?" He says, clearly messing with her.
It is working because the agent is getting agitated.
"I believe you received the video I sent you. You saw it yourself. She is fine," he pauses and lets out a small yet chilling chuckle.
"Well, maybe not in the best conditions but she is breathing."
Emily feels a chilling sensation throughout her body when hearing him laugh. He is laughing in order to torment and taunt her and it's sure as hell working.
She hates how this person can get in her head.
"You touch her one more time and I swear to God I will-"
"You will what? Kill me?" He cuts her off, defying Emily.
"You can't do that. To start off with, you don't know where I am."
"I will find you. That is a promise," Emily responds, biting her words. "And once I do, you will regret ever taking her."
The woman is mad and it's evident in her tone of voice. She hates this, all of this.
She hates how this person has the upper hand in this unknown battle against her.
She hates how an innocent girl's life is on the line for something that she had nothing to do with.
She has no time in playing the mind games of this man.
"You see, that will take too long and I have a very small amount of patience," he tells her.
"But I can offer you a deal."
"What is it?"
"I can tell where you can find the kid. But the thing is, I don't want anyone else to know about this. No one. I want you to come alone. Don't you dare tell anyone of your team where you are headed to," He pauses and quickly resumes his instructions.
"If I even suspect that you told any of your FBI friends of where you are headed off, I will make sure you find Daniela in a body bag," he says coldly.
"Do we have a deal?"
Emily pauses at the suspicious proposition. She wants to desperately know where Dani was. Knowing where she is at is the key to rescuing her.
The thing that is holding her back is the idea of not telling the team where she was going. The last time she went off without them knowing, she nearly died.
Emily doesn't want her team to go through the same nightmare again. That would be an awful thing to do to them.
But this man has her daughter.
From what she knows, this person has no limits. This person didn't care if Dani was a child. In fact, that is the reason he took her in the first place.
Daniela is the easier target. He would kill her either way. Emily couldn't live with herself knowing she could have done something to save her.
It would torment her for the rest of her life.
She takes a deep breath and answers.
"Tell me where she is. I will arrive there alone and no one will know about this."
"Good choice," he says.
"Drive to Capitol street in South West DC. Leave your car at a parking garage that's located there. Then walk four blocks south. At the end of the street, you will see a few abandoned buildings."
"Go to the building at the end of the street towards your left and enter through the back," he tells her and she attentively listens.
"Is that clear?"
"Yes."
"And remember, I want no tricks with this, agent. You dare make a false move and I will make sure you find the kid dead."
"I will do everything you say. Just don't touch her," Emily said.
If he were to hurt Daniela one more time, the agent would have no problems in putting a bullet through his head.
She goes to the shooting range more than enough times to know that she won't miss.
"That all depends on you. Time is ticking so it's best you hurry," he tells the agent and hangs up.
Emily stands up and places her phone in her pocket. She feels slightly relieved knowing where Dani was though she still has doubts about why this person gave her directions so easily.
She doesn't think about it much now. There is no time. Now she has to focus on getting there.
Emily knows that not telling the team where she is going can be very dangerous, but if she did Dani's life would be ended.
She paces around her office, many thoughts clouding her mind. She can't think straight with a clear mind but in all honesty, she is surprised that she is still able to think at all.
What should she do?
Emily makes up her mind and decides not to tell the team. It's a risky decision. One that carries a heavyweight but it's the only choice she has in order to ensure Daniela's safety.
She wants to leave the team clues so that by the time she arrives to get Dani, her team would be on their way to rescue them.
The team is smart. She trusts that they will quickly pick up on the breadcrumbs that she will leave for them. They will figure it out.
She walks out of her office with files in her hand and heads towards the rest of her team. Garcia is trying her best to find out where the signal of the video came from.
Reid and Rossi are creating a geographical profile in order to have a rough location of where the unsub and Dani could be.
JJ and Tara are going through Emily's past cases that they consider could be connected to Dani's kidnapping.
Matt and Alvez are looking at security and traffic cameras, trying to identify the car the unsub was driving.
Emily walks in and hands the team files of possible unsubs. With this, Rossi instructs them to look through their family members' backgrounds in order to check the possibility of them wanting to avenge their family members.
Even though Emily talked to the unsub personally, she still does not know who he was. Hopefully, her team finds out before she does.
She tells the team that she had to step out and talk to personal contacts who can help them with the case. They all nod and she heads out.
Rossi keeps a close eye on her until she is eventually out of sight once she enters her office.
He doesn't know why but he feels uneasy about something. He just couldn't figure out what exactly.
The team is all worried about how Emily was handling this situation.
Emily is always a strong-willed agent. Never cracks when handling hard situations. That is why the team admires her so much.
The agents know that the brunette never likes showing her sensitive side in front of others. She likes to keep her debilitating feelings to herself. It was something that she has always done ever since they can remember.
Even in the hardest cases, Emily is able to manage herself pretty well but this situation is different.
They all know how much Emily loves Dani. Her eyes would always light up when talking about the girl. She would always talk about how proud she was of the teen for everything she did, whether it be big or small.
She was never embarrassed by showing her love for Dani. The team all noticed the behavioral changes that Emily had once Daniela entered her life.
The Unit Chief became more nurturing and caring, a new side to her that the team had not seen before.
Even though the agent has only had her for two years under her care, she loves her with all her life.
The team can only imagine how Emily is feeling right now. The feelings of fear and distress are definitely present in the agent's mind even though she doesn't show it.
The parents in the team all felt for the agent. They place themselves in Emily's shoes and wonder how they would react.
JJ was in a similar situation years ago with Henry. She remembers being scared of the possibility of losing her Henry when Lady X held him hostage.
She could just imagine how heartbroken Emily was feeling when she saw Dani getting hurt in front of her eyes.
There is nothing that hurts more than seeing your child hurt. Especially if you can't do anything to make them feel better.
The team focuses back on the case. They are all determined in getting Dani back. She is family in every team member's eyes.
When Dani entered into their lives, the whole team welcomed her with the warmth of the family. Garcia received her with open arms as her goddaughter.
Rossi is the wise uncle who always greeted her with warmth.
Reid would always offer Dani help in anything she needed. He would especially get excited when the teen would start up conversations that Reid was an expert in. She would always listen attentively, amazed by how much the doctor knows.
Tara and JJ were two loving aunts. Always there to support the teen. Matt and Alvez were the two cool uncles. They are always protective of the teen.
They refused to lose her under their watch.
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Emily has her foot firmly on the gas pedal. Her heart is racing as she is getting closer to her destination.
She can feel her heart beating strong against her chest, beating faster every second that passed by. The agent's mind is in many places at the same time.
Am I doing the right thing? Will Dani be okay? Is this a trap? Many questions are clouding her mind, making it hard for her to think with a clear mindset.
She knows there can be many different outcomes from this situation but she was determined in having the same result no matter what happens.
Dani is going to be safe.
She arrives at the parking garage that is located directly under a bridge. The garage itself was big, containing a wide space for many cars to park.
It is dark and looked rather sketchy with graffiti and broken glass all over the place. She parks her SUV and got out of the car.
She locks the car and as told, she goes four blocks south from the parking lot. She is running, not taking a moment to pause in order to catch a breath.
She has to arrive as quickly as possible in order to save Dani.
Her body is full of adrenaline. The adrenaline that the agent wasn't going to take for granted.
She arrives at the building which is a rundown apartment with wood planks covering all four windows. Emily heads towards the back of the building and sees the door to the back entrance.
She walks to the door and turns the rusty handle open. She steps inside the dark building, pulling out her gun and a flashlight, and holds both of them.
She walks cautiously, looking around for anyone who could be in the building.
"Dani?" She calls out in hope of an answer. She doesn't hear a response so she keeps on walking.
The building is dark with no source of light to help her see better the surroundings she is in. She solely relies on her flashlight and instincts in order to go through and try to find the teenager.
The environment she is in does not help with her search. There are several rooms and she isn't sure which room the girl was in.
Or the unsub.
Suddenly, the agent feels something pressing on her back.
Well, at least she knows where the unsub is now.
"Don't move," said a male voice.
Emily places her hands up slowly and closes her eyes. She sighs and mumbles fuck under her breath.
This did not start off well.
"Drop the gun or you will get a bullet straight to your head," the man demands.
Emily nods slowly and she drops her weapon, making a loud thud on the wooden floor. The man instantly pushes her against the wall, slamming her at the cold surface.
He grabs both of her arms and takes her handcuffs from her pocket. He cuffs her hands on her back and pats her down in search of any weapons.
He takes away everything that the agent was carrying, including her wallet and phone.
He drops the phone on the ground and stomps on it, breaking the phone instantly. He also takes away the agent's pepper spray and a spare gun that was strapped to her ankle.
The woman is left defenseless.
"Move," he tells while grabbing the agent's arm.
She reluctantly walks with him, uncertain where she was going. He takes her into a dark room and pushes her to sit on a chair.
"Where is she?" Emily demands him. She needs to see if Dani is okay.
"Calm down. She is here," the man said while walking across the room.
Emily tries to see his face but the room they are in is too dark to get a good look. All she sees is his silhouette.
"Who are you?" she questions.
She needs to see the person who is behind all of this. If this is about her, she must be able to identify who this person is and why he was doing this.
That way she knows of possible options in talking him out of his plan.
"Oh, Emily. It's been a while since we last saw each other," he said while turning on the room's light.
The sight was more clear but Emily still couldn't figure out who this person is.
"I mean, the last time we saw each other was years ago."
The man approaches the agent slowly until he is in front of her. He has a ski mask on, covering most of his face. This stops Emily from identifying him.
Emily also takes notice that he is wearing a pair of light blue jeans, a white shirt, and a navy blue jacket.
"Then tell me who you are," said the agent.
She wants to know.
She NEEDS to know who this person is.
Who would go through all of this mess in order to get to her? What did she do that was so bad to this person?
She wants to know now.
The man crouches down in order to get to Emily's level. Emily looks directly at his eyes in order to show that she wasn't afraid of him.
His light blue eyes were staring at her. Something about his eyes catches Emily's attention. The pigment in his eyes looks very familiar, oddly familiar.
She has seen them before but she doesn't know where.
"Nice to see you again, Emily," he said.
He slowly takes off the mask, revealing his face.
"Or should I say, Lauren? After all, that is the name I knew you by."
The brunette's eyes widen once she realizes who this person is.
"Declan?"
Let me know what you think about this story so far. Suggestions are always welcomed!*