Blinded

Chapter 27

Myles, D and Bobby all stood on the other side of the glass. Pete remained sitting, silent, with a smirk on his face. They didn't think it had been his plan to get caught, but they also knew it was unlikely they would get any information out of him.

However, Pete had revealed more than he had realized. While they were still waiting for the DNA to come back, they suspected Jack was still alive, despite having found his gun and badge covered in blood. Pete's final taunt suggested to them while their colleagues may not have met their end yet, their time was short.

They had only just gotten back to their war room as Saturday morning transitioned to Saturday afternoon. Tara was working furiously at her desk trying to track down Sammy and the white van.

The three men left their post watching Hadley and moved back to their colleagues were sitting.

"Tara, any luck?" Bobby asked.

"Nothing on the BOLO for the blue sedan. We're trying to track white unlabelled vans as well, but there are more in the DC area than you would think, even for a Saturday." She took a breath. "We did catch video of the van leaving towards the east, so we are trying to narrow down possible locations in the northeast regions."

"We're running out of time…" Bobby turned towards D who nodded.

Emma quickly got up after hanging up the phone and rushed over to Tara. She looked at the same thing Emma must have sent her, and they heard her say, "I think you're right!"

Everyone, without prompting moved towards them.

"I just got a phone call." Emma started. "Someone had spotted a white van speeding into an industrial area that matches where we think they may be hiding."

"Do we have an address?"

"We do." Emma said triumphantly.

"Hold on!" Tara called out. Everyone turned to look at her. "I just got a ping off Hadley's phone. It looks like someone sent him a message through the DEA server he was using. I can't pull up the message but its pinging in the same area as where the eyewitness saw the white van. I think this is it"

The team quickly grabbed their gear and headed to their vehicles, keen to put all of this to an end.

-STFBE-

The morning had been strangely quiet. Jack found it odd neither Pete nor Sammy had come into the room where he and Sue were being held. In fact, they hadn't seen either of their captors since the middle of the night when they had injected Sue with whatever drug they had been giving her to keep her quiet.

He noticed Sue was starting to sweat and get antsy in her chair, biting her lip. They had been mostly silent, and she had dozed off a few times. He was increasingly worried about her. She had always been pale, but she now looked greyish and wan. In his two days in captivity with her, he had not seen her eat once. She weakly leaned against her restraints in her chair. He was scared she was becoming ill.

Jack couldn't sit idle. Even though his muscles ached, he continued to try and loosen his restraints. He had done it once, but he too was weak with fatigue and the frequent beatings he had experienced.

Suddenly, in the early afternoon, Sammy burst into the room. He was sweating as well and startled Sue who flinched seeing him enter. He had a gun in his hand and was pacing back and forth.

"What am I going to do?" He was muttering to himself. Jack shot Sue a meaningful look. Something had gone wrong. Sue kept quiet, but with a wary eye on her captor. Jack did the same, nervous energy filling him. Sammy seemed unhinged. He turned on Jack.

"This is all your fault!" He yelled, before turning towards Sue. Jack tried to call out Sammy's name, to distract him from Sue but he ignored his muffled cries. "And you… this is all your fault." Sue's eyes widened as she flinched back, as if trying to get as far away from the man as possible, his eyes manic. He grabbed her roughly around the neck, squeezing the life out of her. Jack did everything he could to protest, to try and break free, but he saw her eyes, filled with terror tear up, her lips start to turn blue.

He doesn't know what stopped him, but Sammy eventually let go. Sue was left gasping for air and coughing hard, though wincing with her broken ribs. Jack's heart was racing. What was going on?

Sammy started to pace again. "I'm sure they didn't find me. They couldn't have tracked me down." He pulled out his cell, gun now in his left hand, waving it around as if Sue and Jack weren't even there. "Answer goddamnit!" Sammy screamed at the phone. His pacing continued, and Jack noticed Sue was finally getting her breath back. Her neck was bright red, and he knew it wouldn't take long for more bruises to form. She looked delirious.

"They must have him…" Sammy said. Jack was pretty sure Sue was not catching his panicked monologue with the pacing and Sue's eyes opening and closing, trying to find relief. Jack's heart pounded. Did they manage to catch Pete Hadley? "There's no way they'll find me though…". Sammy repeated to himself. "I drove around for hours before coming back here…I would have noticed if they tracked me." He looked at his phone again, as if awaiting a reply, but when none came, he slammed it to the ground, and it broke in pieces.

Jack opted to remain silent, keeping a weary eye both on Sammy and on Sue. Her breath was getting more and more shallow. Was he going to watch her die in front of him?

A few more moments passed as Sammy seemed to be calming himself down. Jack felt incredibly tense, waiting, waiting for what Sammy might do, the gun still loosely in his hand.

Finally, he turned, his eyes more determined, and looked at Sue, then at Jack.

"I need to finish this." Jack strained further against his restraints. Sammy moved over to him and roughly untied the gag.

"Don't do this Sammy…" Jack finally was able to verbalize. He stole a quick glance at Sue who was watching them wearily, struggling to remain conscious. "You can let us go." He pleaded. "If they have Pete, let us go and you can get away. No one needs to find you." Sammy looked hesitant, as if actually considering Jack's proposition. Jack looked at him hopefully.

"I promise, I'll tell the FBI to leave you be. That Pete was the ring master." More moments passed. Sammy looked contemplatively as if trying to determine what he was going to do. Jack tried to keep eye contact with the man, tried, despite his pain, fatigue to remember all his training to build trust with his captor. To find a way out for the both of them.

Minutes passed, and Jack instead turned to look at Sue. He mouthed to her it's okay. I love you. I love you, Sue. Tears flowed down her face. He finally could speak with her. He knew they were teetering on the edge of this finishing, once and for all, and in case they didn't survive this, he needed his last words to her to be known.

Sammy eyed Jack, his face growing hot with anger. He hit Jack hard.

"No. No. This ends now." Jack yelled out, realizing Sammy was moving towards Sue, placing the gun in his back pocket. Jack kept pleading to Sammy, who started untying Sue's restraints. First her legs, which weakly moved from their awkward position painfully, then untying her arms behind her. Sue was so weak, the moment she was unrestrained, she fell to the floor.

"Sue!" Jack cried out. She weakly pushed herself up. Sammy knew she was no match for him, didn't even worry about trying to protect himself. He grabbed her roughly by the hair.

"It's time you die." He said. Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. Sammy roughly brought her to her feet, and took the gun from his back pocket, pressing the muzzle against her temple.

Jack's face must have been one of utter horror. What words could he share of comfort to her. Was he going to watch her die in front of him? Is this what happened to Marty?

"Say your goodbyes…" Sammy finally said mercifully, pushing Sue towards Jack.

Sue ended up awkwardly almost sitting on Jack's lap, their faces only an inch apart. She gently placed both hands, cradling his face in her hands weakly. He studied her face intently and could feel the tears starting to flow from his eyes.

"I love you, Sue Thomas." He finally said, trying to reflect every emotion for her in his eyes. There was such finality to this moment. His heart ached knowing this was likely their end, but likewise so grateful for this chance to say goodbye.

"I love you, Jack Hudson." She said, her voice quiet and distant. There were no tears left in her eyes, but they looked so sad and defeated. Her eyes closed, and she rested her forehead against his. A moment later, he felt her lips, pressed firmly against his. How he longed for his arms to be free to wrap them around her protectively, but he cherished her sweet taste.

Their kiss became more frantic, and it felt like it was only the two of them, Jack ignoring the sounds of Sammy tutting. After a few moments, Sue was wrenched forcefully back by the hair. She cried out, as did Jack and the loss of contact.

"Please…" Jack cried weakly as Sammy grinned at him, an evil look in his eye. "Please…" he begged. Sammy pushed the gun again against Sue's forehead. Jack thought he heard something bang outside, surprised as he saw Sammy startle too. Sue just stood limply.

"I'll kill you next. Don't worry, I'll make it quick and painless for her. You won't even have to see." Sammy dragged her towards the second door which he opened, struggling with one hand with the heaviness of it. Jack noticed no handle on the other side. It was a door one could go out, but not back through. He could see it had a hose and a drain. A room that could easily be cleaned up. Sue turned back to look at him one last time.

"Goodbye" she whispered. Jack was screaming her name as the door was closing and before it clicked shut, he heard the gunshot and the thud of a body on the ground.