Blinded

Chapter 20

Another sleepless night passed. It was now the early hours of Thursday, and it had been almost 48 torturous hours since Sue had been abducted. Jack found himself standing, staring at a board with a map with pins and large circles, trying to narrow down where Sue may be being held hostage. He'd done this before. He heard soft snores behind him as several of his colleagues were camped out on the little cots, succumbed to exhaustion of the last few days. Few weeks.

He wished something would come to light, somehow, he would have some sort of vision where he could see where she was.

How scared was she? How hurt was she? These questions kept turning in his mind. Was she even still alive? In his gut, he felt she was. Pete Hadley hadn't been that quick, or merciful to Missy Baker or Marty and Gayle. While his heart ached knowing she must be suffering, he held onto any chance they hopefully would still find her alive. They could get through this.

The buzz of activity continued through the morning as midday started to break.

D came and updated the team, along with Greg that the courier was only able to give them a rough description of who gave the package to be delivered. It was a larger middle-aged man with short cropped brown hair.

"We've continued surveillance on the bar where we first met Missy Baker." Bobby started. "It's still been closed, with no sign of activity. We'll continue to monitor."

"The owner could be away on vacation?" Emma asked. Bobby nodded.

"It will be difficult to trace. We did do a record search of the bar owner, who we had also met. Sammy – or Samuel Miller." He nodded at Tara who pulled up the picture.

"One prior for a minor misdemeanor" Myles read out. "Otherwise has owned his bar for the last 15 years. No other connections to Pete Hadley known, other than through Michelle Baker."

"We tried canvassing around the bar last night to see if any patrons would come or would know anything about Sammy." Daniel spoke up. "There were a few who arrived who seemed surprised the bar was closed, but no one knew anything about Samuel Miller, or perhaps were not willing to share."

"He fits the description the courier gave…" Jack added quietly. The rest of the group remained silent for a few moments, glancing towards Jack.

"Yes, he does. He could be involved…" Tara added in hopefully looking between the group.

"We should continue to look into him." D said, with some finality. "We need to see if we can link him at all to Pete Hadley or determine his whereabouts." The rest all went back to work. Jack slowly returned to his spot in front of the board. D moved next to him, scanning Jack's dishevelled appearance and dark shadows under his eyes.

"How are you holding up?" D asked quietly, knowing the answer. Jack just turned and looked at his friend, before turning back to stare at the board. D said nothing else, other than briefly putting his hand on Jack's shoulder, as a small means of comfort. Jack just nodded. Bobby watched the exchange and joined them.

"Come on Jack, let's get you some coffee and food." Bobby said, trying to keep his tone light. He felt strongly he needed to keep his promise to Sue, and his best friend looked like he was already wasting away.

"That's a good idea, Jack." D added in. Bobby managed to coax Jack over to where they had some easy snacks and coffee and sat in silence with his best friend as they both got a few bites down.

"What happened at the prison yesterday, Mate?" Bobby aske quietly. Jack shared with Bobby about his exchange with Allan Whittaker. He could see Bobby's one good fist clench. "Jack, mate. He was way out of line."

"Do you think what he said was true? Did he… violate her that night she went to meet him?" Jack looked pleadingly at Bobby. "Why wouldn't she have told me? Do you think Lucy knows?"

"Look Jack," Bobby started cautiously. "She looked physically okay when we found her, but you saw how scared she was. I remember she flinched when I went to help her into the elevator. I figured she must be antsy and overly triggered because of adrenaline or fear, but maybe there was more. Maybe she told Lucy. We know how she looked in the days that followed. The shadows under her eyes, her sad face when she thought no one was looking. Her unwillingness to go for dinner with us after we thought we had caught "Simon"." Bobby sighed. "It's possible mate, but it seems like she dealt with it." Jack nodded.

"I just wish I could have helped her." Bobby gave his friend a small smile.

"Jack, you may have helped in her ways you never knew. She always seemed comfortable around you, even after that. She just may not have been comfortable talking about that… with you. Especially as you were so upset when she had gone missing. Just like you were with Tony or with Jonathan. We all saw it mate. But this time is different. We know she's in trouble – but you will get through this when you find her."

"It's been almost 53 hours Bobby. You know what they say about the first 48 hours…" Jack trailed off, taking another bite of the power bar in his hand. It tasted like sawdust in his mouth.

"We will find her." Bobby said firmly, with no hesitation, no doubt. "I refuse to believe anything else." Jack just stared forward. Bobby knew he was losing him, that Jack was fading. "Look mate, why don't you go outside and get a bit of fresh air. It might do you some good to feel the sunshine." He nodded over towards the younger agent, Daniel.

"Daniel, mate – would you accompany Jack to get some air outside? He just needs a few moments." Daniel nodded and went to grab his phone. Jack stood.

"Thanks Bobby." Bobby just nodded.

"No problem, Mate. See you in a few." Jack slowly trudged towards the door, Daniel dutifully following behind. The others quietly watched him before going back to refocus on their work.

-STFBE-

It had to be morning, Sue thought to herself. The sun was now streaming in the small window at the top of the room. It had been dark. It must mean that window was to the east. She couldn't see anything out of it, but it was a bit of information. Maybe it would be helpful. Then her brain caught up with her.

How could that be helpful. She knew nothing. She had been dragged to a small washroom just through one of the thick steel metal doors a few times, passing through another dark and dingy room. They must be in some sort of industrial area. Her heart leapt, realizing this was more information she had, but then sank again. She had no way of communicating any of this to anyone. And how many industrial buildings were there in the greater DC area? As she had lost consciousness, she had no idea how far away she was from where the accident had been.

The accident. Her arm throbbed. Every part of her ached. She was going numb at times in her limbs, being tied to a chair for what she assumed was more than 2 days. She felt lightheaded, not only from the repeated blows she had sustained, not to mention the accident, but from the minimal food she had been given. She felt unquenchably thirsty as her mouth was dry. Most of her bloodied wounds had congealed, but then at each opening of the door she flinched knowing they could be reopened.

What scared her most was how much she ached for them to inject her with whatever they were giving her. Once the many she thinks was named Sammy gave her more and she fell into blissful oblivion. She barely noticed what he was doing with her. As she came down from her high hours later, her headache was second to none, and the cravings overtook her.

She tried to focus. She thought about Jack. Where was he? She knew he would be trying to find her. Was he okay? Was Bobby okay after the accident? And Levi? With each opening of the door, she longed to see Jack burst through and save her, only for her disappointment to plummet and body shake with fear to see one of her captors. This was torture.

The door opened and for a millisecond she hoped, until she saw both Pete and Sammy come through the door and fear overtook her. It was never good when both were there.

Pete went to sit on the chair across from her and glared at her in silence. Sammy moved behind her and out of her field of vision. She started to tremble. Pete had mastered the art of waiting, to leave her on tenterhooks as to whether he would say something or assault her. She never knew what was coming or when to brace herself.

"Tell me Sue." He finally said. "Have you learned anything in your time here?" She looked at him confused.

"Pete…I don't know what you…" He slapped her across the face.

"Tell me what you want Sue. Who do you want Sue." Pete said menacingly. She shook her head. He slapped her again.

"I want you, Pete. I want you to forgive me for everything I did." She said quietly. Pete looked momentarily placated. Then he nodded to Sammy who put both hands around her neck choking the air from her lungs.

Sue started to panic and drastically tried to free herself from his grasp as her lungs screamed for air. This was it she thought. She couldn't make out what Pete was saying to her as her vision started to blacken at the edges. Finally, Sammy released her, and she coughed and gasped in the oxygen. Pete pulled back her head but stayed in her line of vision.

"I said SAY IT AGAIN!" Sue could barely get the words out.

"I'm sorry Pete. This is all my fault." Sammy this time grabbed her under her shirt, squeezing at her breasts so hard she saw stars as Pete licked his lips.

"Please…" Sue begged. "Please…"

"Who do you want" Pete said dangerously.

"I want you." She said obediently, but in a voice that tremored. Sammy released her and Pete kicked her hard

"Liar! Tell me who you really want!"

"I want Jack! I want you to let me go!" She let out, sobbing. Pete stood up and sneered at her.

"Fine. You want Jack? Maybe I'll get him for you." Sue realized what he said and started to beg,

"No Pete, no. Please. Please. I just want you. Please!" He gave her once last glance and nodded at Sammy to follow him. They both left the room and Sue broke down.

-STFBE-

Jack walked across the street to grab a coffee at the nearby cart, Daniel trailing behind him, giving him some distance to be alone with his thoughts, but not too far. Jack glanced at the young agent, his eyes wide and alert, scanning the area dutifully.

"How long have you been with the bureau?" Jack asked quietly, looking for some distraction as they waited at the coffee cart.

"Just 6 months sir." Daniel responded with a small smile. Jack remembered those early innocent days of being an agent. He had felt so proud to have his badge. Daniel couldn't be more than 22, 23 years old. Jack just nodded.

"What made you decided to join? Jack asked. Daniel dove into his family history, the flood gates opening to the conversation in his youthful exuberance. Jack heard everything about his family line of police officers, his desire for truth and justice. Years of watching crime shows on TV.

Jack envied his innocence. He supposed he and the team had been more innocent, more jovial not that long ago too. Overall, he was enjoying the distraction, a rare opportunity in the warm sun to forget the circumstances they were in.

It only took a moment on the sidewalk when a car raced up next to them, hitting Daniel and knocking him to the ground. Daniel hadn't been hit hard enough to leave the ground, but it was enough to take Jack by surprise as he looked at the agent, then felt strong arms grab him from behind, the metal of a gun press against his neck. He heard the harsh whisper.

"Get in the car or both of you die." He tried to fight back, but the man was larger than him and somehow managed to tie his arms together behind him and shove him into the backseat of the vehicle.

Daniel was only started to rise, holding his leg, as a crowd was gathering. The man held his gun up and shot, which made everyone scatter as he jumped to the driver's side and sped off.