A/N – thanks for being patient with me… so I've decided to write two chapters this week!

Blinded

Chapter 9

Blue and red lights lit up the sky around Garfield Park as the early morning dawned. Police dogs were covering the area, looking for the body as Jack, Bobby, D and Myles looked on at the sidelines.

It was just after 5am and they hadn't yet found anything.

Jack had called Sue and let her know what had happened but had insisted she stay in the hotel. He was concerned with the taunt to bring Marty along that the kidnappers would attempt something there. It was also why they hadn't yet told Marty. Again, guilt gnawed at him, though D had agreed with his decision. They were all on alert, wondering whether all hell was about to break loose.

Something didn't feel right to Jack. They had been there almost an hour and they couldn't find anything. There had been a few mounds of moved earth but nothing yet had surfaced. It was like the killer was taunting them, but the message clearly had articulated their next steps in this park.

Jack knew they weren't in control. The kidnapper was toying with them and he knew it. And he knew whoever was on the other side of the emails, of the phone calls, of the notes, knew it too.

The head of the forensic team walked over to them.

"I'm sorry sir. We'll keep looking but we haven't found anything yet." D nodded and thanked him.

"Could Garfield Park have meant something else?" Myles asked the group questioningly.

"I can't think of what else." Bobby replied. "So far, he's always been literal. It feels like we're missing something." Jack agreed but didn't speak up. His eyes were peeled to every detail he could focus upon in the park. There had to be something. This had to mean something.

D, Myles and Bobby started to talk about returning back to the office, when Jack was broken out of his revery by his phone ringing. He saw Sue's number.

"Sue?" He answered quickly. The others looked towards him. He heard her voice, a voice full of fear.

"Jack – something is going on. I don't know what but something is going on!" She sounded hysterical. But what she couldn't hear is loud banging and the sound of a gunshot.

"Sue! He said quickly. "Barricade yourself in your room. Don't move. We're coming!" Jack started to run towards his car, Bobby quickly following with a confused look on his face as Myles and D glanced towards each other.

Bobby grabbed the keys from him and jumped into the drivers seat as Jack remained on the line, changing it to speakerphone as belted himself in on the passenger side. His heart was racing as he heard her whimper.

"Sue – are you safe? Are you hurt?"

"Jack, I'm scared. I could feel something banging. Levi has been barking and I've been trying to keep him quiet. I could just tell something wasn't right. I looked out the peephole and saw someone on the ground. It looked like there was blood."

"It's okay Sue. We'll be there in a few minutes. It will be okay." He heard Levi bark again as Sue tried to quiet him. Jack didn't know who he was reassuring her or him. Or both of them. But it didn't feel reassuring at all.

"Jack, I…" her phone suddenly went dead.

"SUE?" Jack yelled into the phone but the line disconnected. He turned to look at Bobby who sped up.

-STFBE-

Bobby and Jack ran through the hotel lobby as other police started to arrive. A man, who looked like the hotel manager, moved to talk to them as they flashed their badges but they ignored him and rushed to the stairwell, climbing their way to the 4th floor where they knew Sue and Marty were staying.

Bobby and Jack took out their guns as they entered the hallway. A body lay in front of Sue's door. Jack's heart stopped as they slowly progressed down the hall, noting the other exit at the other end wide open. Sue's door looked firmly closed as Jack quietly reached down and felt for a pulse. There was none, but upon closer inspection, made sense with glaring bullet wound to the officer's forehead.

Across the hall, Marty's door was open. Bobby slowly entered, checking the corners. The second officer was inside, bullet wound to the leg and clearly unconscious. Bobby radioed for EMS as they cleared the scene.

"Whoever was here is gone." Bobby said.

"And so is Marty." Jack said. Jack quickly moved back into the hallway to Sue's door toward the dead officer. "We need to move him" He said looking at Bobby, his eyes frantic. "She's still not responding to my texts or answering my calls."

It was times like these Jack wished Sue could just hear his voice. He had no way of reaching her. Of reassuring her he was coming. No way for him to call out to her to find out that she was okay.

Bobby hesitated. There was no indication Sue was at risk, and moving the body was not ideal. However, the look on his best friend's face was enough for him to think screw it. They gently moved the body aside as they started to hear the activity below of more police arriving.

Jack used his key card; the second one Sue had given to him to hold onto. The door flashed green but as he tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. He and Bobby pushed with all their might, as they finally made some headway, pushing aside what appeared to a coffee table wedged between the door of the room and the bathroom. Jack got it open enough to fit between and raced into the room.

Levi popped out of a corner and starting barking at him. Jack stopped to give him a quick pat before searching the room, not seeing Sue anywhere. He felt the panic climb up his neck as his breathing became more rapid. He couldn't see blood anywhere, or any sign of a struggle apart from the barricaded door. Bobby had managed to get in as well and move the coffee table out of the way, putting a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Where is she?" Jack whispered. It was in that moment he heard her soft sob. He immediately dropped to his knees and looked under the bed. He saw Sue huddled underneath, shaking.

Relief flooded him. He tried to get into her line of sight, using his flashlight to show his face. He saw her burst into tears as he helped her shuffle out. She immediately clung to him, shaking and sobbing, with no words.

They sat for what felt like hours on the hotel floor clinging to each other as the terror they had just experienced washed over them.

Bobby felt like an intruder on the private moment, instead choosing to make his way into the hallway as the SWAT team arrived, followed swiftly by D and Myles.

"Is she okay?" Myles asked quietly, as they quickly glanced into the room, seeing only the back of Jack sitting awkwardly on the floor, with Sue's blond hair cascading down his arm as he held her. Bobby just nodded.

"She didn't look harmed, just scared."

"1 dead body, 1 injured on his way to George Washington. Critical condition." The SWAT team captain came over and announced to them. "We're otherwise clear."

"Clear, other than missing our protectee. Do we have any surveillance cameras?" D asked him. He nodded. "We've asked the hotel manager. Other guests say they started to hear commotion around 510am but with the noise, stayed in their rooms. No one saw anything. We'll send anything we get over to the FBI." D thanked him and moved to talk with the other officers gathering information.

Myles and Bobby kept their vigil outside of Sue's room, waiting for one of them to make the next move.

-STFBE-

Sue felt her shaking and heart rate eventually subside. She had been in dangerous situations before but never had she felt this close to death. While she didn't want to move, she eventually pulled back, away from Jack, who just stared at her like she was the only thing in the world.

"I'm okay." She finally said. He nodded and asked

"What happened?"

"I woke up suddenly as Levi jumped on me sitting in bed. There must have been noise outside. It was just after 5am. I had dozed off after you had called me. I could feel the vibrations of people running. I went and looked out my peephole and saw a body and a splatter of blood. I called you. I moved the coffee table and was trying to keep Levi quiet. I was so scared they were coming for me. My phone died. I forgot to plug it in last night. I didn't know what else to do so I hid under my bed, until you came."

The fatigue, the emotion came over Jack. He knew he wasn't in his right mind, but he turned on her.

"How could you forget to plug in your phone? Do you know how scared I was?" He saw both Bobby and Myles turn towards him from the hallway, his voice raised. The look on Sue's face broke him. She looked utterly crushed, her eyes filling with tears.

"Jack, I'm sorry…". He took a deep breath.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Sue. I'm so sorry." He kept whispering it over and over again. She touched his cheek, but he couldn't look her in the eye. She moved them towards the couch to sit. She looked sadly towards him as he closed his eyes, using all within himself to calm himself down. When he finally looked at her, she asked the question she knew the answer to.

"What about Marty?" Jack shook his head.

"They got him."