Hostile Hostages pt 2

Bright and early the next morning the seven ATF agents all made their way to the safe house, to see how the girls were settling in. Drawing up outside they quickly climbed out of the two vehicles they had arrived in, and Buck, JD and Nathan began walking towards the front door. Chris finished locking the car and looked up to see a worried expression on the face of the man standing next to him.

'Something up Vin?' He asked, squinting against the early morning sun.

'Weren't the officers watching the front of this place sitting over there when we left?' Vin replied, gesturing towards a point further along the street.

The spot where the police car should have been sitting was empty. A sudden sick feeling grabbed Chris' stomach. Obviously noticing the same thing, Ezra and Josiah walked over wearing identical looks of concern.

'I thought that the police department were supposed to be providing round the clock surveillance of this building' Ezra said.

Glancing at Chris, Vin quickly covered the distance to the empty parking spot, crouching down to look at something on the sidewalk when he got there. By now Buck, JD and Nathan had all noticed something was up and hurried down to meet their friends at the side of the road. Vin stood up, his face turning even paler as he said 'Bits of glass. And a couple of them have got what looks like blood on them.'

As one the men turned and rushed to the front of the house, knocking on the door to start with. Receiving no answer Chris tried the handle - the door was unlocked. His stomach sinking even further he stepped inside, his gun drawn, the rest of the team right behind him.

As they walked into the living room of the house they all stopped. The TV was sitting in the corner playing away to itself. Signaling to the others they quickly made a sweep of the rest of the house.

'Nothing' said Buck as he and JD re-entered the living room.

Ezra and Nathan had no better luck in the bedroom. Josiah, however, on opening the door to the bathroom, called Chris over to him, gesturing for the leader to take a look inside. Peering round the door he caught sight of two obviously dead and very bloody bodies - the two female officers assigned to stay with the girls.

Nathan pushed past him and doing a quick examination of the bodies said 'They've been dead for quite a while. I'd say at a guess about six hours.'

Nodding to Nathan Chris turned back into the living room.

'What'd you find?' JD's worried voice asked him as he leant against the side of an armchair. 'The policewomen posted here last night. They're dead.'

A look of horror crossed the face of each man, as they thought of the girls.

Vin, who had gone to check out the back came in saying 'The cops supposed to be out back, they've gone too. I checked round the building, there's no sign of a break in, nothing.'

His temper suddenly flaring Chris lashed out at the closest thing, an empty vase sat on the sideboard. As it hit the wall and shattered he shouted 'Jesus! We should have stayed here with them. It didn't need all of us to go hunting after these bastards, one of us should have stayed here...'

As Ezra opened his mouth to speak the phone sitting on the coffee table in the center of the room started to ring. The men all exchanged glances as Chris moved forward quickly to answer it.

'Hello?'

'Ah, Mr. Larabee. I was hoping that you'd pick up. I always did enjoy our little chats.'

Chris recognized the man's voice immediately. 'Henderson. Where are they?' he asked, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.

'Straight to the point. You never change do you Chris?'

'Stop playing games you son of a bitch - just tell me what you've done to them!' Chris replied, his knuckles whitening as his grip on the receiver tightened.

Henderson chuckled. 'Done to them? Nothing - yet. Wouldn't want to rush things now, would we. Not when there's so much fun to be had.'

'You expect me to just believe that?'

'No, Chris, I guess I don't.'

Chris listened as Henderson talked to someone on the other end of the line. There were sounds of movement, then a scared voice said 'Chris?'

'Ceci? You OK?'

'Fine Chris. We're all fine, they hav...'

Ceci's voice cut off as the phone was obviously pulled away from her, and Henderson cut in 'Satisfied?'

Barely controlling his temper Chris asked 'What do you want Henderson?'

'We don't want anything. Except to see you and your colleagues suffer.'

There was a click as the phone went dead. Chris turned to face the others who had all been listening intently to the conversation.

'We've got to find them' JD said, his worry that they wouldn't be able to do it fast enough written clearly all over his face.

Buck, trying hard to hide his own fears, put a comforting hand on the boys shoulder. 'Don't worry kid, we got 'em before, we'll do it again'

'I suggest, gentlemen, that we start with the old haunts of these...vermin.' Said Ezra, his voice tightly controlled.

'Good idea pard' Vin replied.

'If we split up we'll be able to cover them all much quicker.' Chris suggested.

The men quickly discussed who was to do what and, splitting into three pairs - Chris and Vin, Buck and JD, and Ezra and Josiah- they set off to begin the hunt for the escaped murderers, leaving Nathan behind at the house to alert the police department and wait for any more phone calls.

A couple of hours later the seven men met up in the ATF conference room. They all sat down at the table all reporting what they had found, or rather not found.

'Nothing in the warehouse, it�s abandoned.' Buck said.

'Nothing in the house.' Josiah said. 'Nobody�s been in there for along time, dust everywhere.'

'We didn�t find anything either.' Vin said. 'So where do we go from here?'

'The police are looking for any clues in the house.' Nathan said.

'It�s not as if they�re gonna find anything.' JD was upset.

'Don�t be so negative, kid. Maybe they�ll find something.' Buck tried to cheer JD up, even though he himself was very nervous.

'Okay.' Chris began but his ringing cell phone interrupted him, he picked it up. 'Larabee.'

'Chris? I�m scared.' Ceci�s frightened voice was on the other end of the line.

'Ceci, you okay?' Chris said, everybody looking up at their leader.

'No. They�re�' She started but was cut off again.

'Why, hello there Mr. Larabee.' Henderson�s voice came through the phone.

'If you hurt them, I swear I will�' Chris growled.

'You�ll what, Chris? Kill me? Fine, but remember your little girlfriend dies first.'

'You son of a bitch!' Chris exclaimed. 'What the hell do you want?'

'To see you and your friends suffer. We intend to kill each and every one of your girlfriends.' Henderson laughed evilly before he hung up.

Chris stood with the phone tightly gripped in his hand, he closed his eyes trying to control his flaring temper again. Vin stood and walked over, putting a hand on Chris� shoulder. Chris didn�t utter a word and Vin saw that Chris was madder than he�d ever seen before.

'You okay?' Vin asked as Chris opened his eyes.

'No.' Chris answered truthfully. 'They�ve hurt Ceci.'

'How do you know?'

'She said she wasn�t okay. I just pray that the others are okay.' Chris said through clenched teeth.

'Chris, you go get a cup of coffee or something.' Buck said. 'We�ll fix this.'

'No.'

'Yes.' Buck came up to his friend locking eyes with him. 'You need to calm down. Let me map out a plan.'

'Alright.' Chris finally let his guard down, heading out of the room.

'Okay, what now?' Buck said as Chris had closed the door.

'What?!' JD exclaimed. 'I thought you had a plan?'

'Nope, just needed to calm Chris down.' Buck said. 'Now if I know Vin, he should have a plan'

'Do you?' JD looked at Vin.

'Yep, I think so.' Vin said. 'First thing we do is try to trace the call made to Chris cell phone. JD, you do that.'

'Yes.' JD said leaping out of his chair and rushing out of the room to trace the call.

'What about the rest of us?' Ezra asked.

'Okay, what do we know about them?' Vin said.

'Well, there�s four of them.' Nathan started. 'Henderson, Brimwood, Jones and Atterton. Henderson�s the leader, Atterton is second in command, so to speak.'

'Jones & Atterton are the weak ones.' Ezra remembered reading their profiles.

'They never leave each other alone, they stick up for each other.' Josiah continued.

'Which is why they�re probably in a house or something.' Buck said. 'Seven girls and four men, you�d need a big place.'

'Probably on the outskirts of town. Seven girls will attract attention.' Vin said.

'Not too far from a store of some sort. With that much people they�ll need food & drink.' Buck added.

20 minutes later they sat waiting for JD to return. As the door to the room opened Chris came in with JD following close, carrying a piece of paper. Chris sat down in an available chair as JD cleared his throat, getting everyone�s attention.

'They were able to trace the call.' JD said. 'It was made from a payphone.'

'Where?' Vin asked.

'On Baker street.'

'Where the hell�s Baker Street?' Buck asked.

'Near the city limits.' Chris said. 'You boys have a plan?'

'Yup.' Buck said. 'Don�t worry pard, we�ll find them.'

'I hope so.' Chris sighed.

font color=white>Ez

In an old wooden house outside of Denver City limits, Emily, Maria, Renee, Rebecca and Trix sat huddled together in a small room. The four men who had kidnapped them had taken Ceci & Laura 45 minutes earlier.

'What have they done to them?' Trix said as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

'God, I hope they�re okay.' Renee said wiping her tears.

'They have to be okay!' Rebecca exclaimed. 'They�re okay, right?!'

'They have to be.' Emily said.

'They�re murderers!' Maria exclaimed.

Suddenly the door was unlocked and soon both Ceci and Laura were thrown into the room, both landing in front of the frightened girls. Emily crawled over to the two girls, the others following her. As she rolled Ceci over on her back she gasped, Ceci had a black eye, and she was bleeding from her nose. Maria rolled Laura over and she too gasped, Laura was unconscious and very bloody. She was bleeding from a cut above her eyebrow, she had a split lip and a black eye.

'Jesus!' Renee whispered as she saw the two girls.

'Ceci, can you hear me?' Emily asked.

'Yeah.' Was the hoarse answer from their friend. 'How�s Laura?'

'Unconscious.' Maria answered.

'You hurt any other place?' Trix asked as she started cleaning Ceci up with a piece of her own shirt.

'No, I don�t think so. But check on Laura, one of those assholes kicked her in the ribs.' Ceci coughed.

'She�s got a big bruise, on the left side.' Rebecca said.

'We have to get out of here.' Ceci said. 'Who knows what else they�ll do?'

'How are we supposed to get out of here?' Emily asked. 'They have guns!'

'I�m sure Buck and the rest are looking for us.' Trix said. 'Ceci, what did you tell Chris when you spoke to him?'

'I tried to tell him where we were but that Henderson or what ever he�s called yanked the phone away from me.'

'They�ll save us, I know they will.' Maria said.

Suddenly the door was unlocked again and Henderson and another man, Emily knew he was called Brimwood, came in and grabbed Trix and Maria, dragging them out of the room.

'Assholes!' Emily screamed after them. 'What are they going to do to them?'

'Hopefully nothing.' Laura suddenly said.

'Laura! You okay?' Renee asked as their friend tried to sit up.

'Okayish.' Laura said suddenly groaning. 'I think I have a cracked rib or something.'

'Probably. You have a huge bruise on your left side.' Rebecca said.

'Yeah I do, look at that.' Laura said looking at her bruised side.

Maria and Trix were pulled into what appeared to be a cellar of some sort, there they were tied to two chairs.

'What the hell are you going to do to us?' Maria asked.

'Beat you up a little.' Brimwood grinned. 'We can�t kill you immediately, we�ll wait with that until your boyfriends are here.'

'Fuck you!' Trix said.

'Team 7 will be here to save us.' Maria said.

'To save you? Ha!' Henderson said. 'They won�t be here for ages, they�ll never find this house.'

'Besides, when they arrive you�ll be dead. Recently killed so they�ll feel guilty for not coming earlier.' Brimwood laughed.

Something was niggling at the back of Vin's mind as he looked at the map in front of him. The call from the kidnappers had been traced to Baker Street...but that street was fairly out in the open.

'I think we might have a problem' he said as the others discussed what their next move would be.

'Problem? Like what?' Chris replied.

Vin sighed and explained. 'Baker Street is way too open. They wouldn't want to be spotted, not this soon anyway. And you spoke to Ceci on the phone, didn't you?'

'Yeah, briefly...'

'I see what you're getting at' Nathan butted in. 'There's no way they could've taken a hostage outside like that without attracting attention.'

'What are you trying to say then Mr. Tanner?' Ezra asked. 'That they didn't use the public telephone on Baker Street?'

'But the trace led there...Oh I get it!' JD smacked his hand down on the table. 'They used a patch - to make it look like the call came from there, when really it didn't!'

'Well, that means it could've come from anywhere then!' rumbled Chris.

Vin glanced at his friend, he could see that he was getting riled again. 'Yeah. But they must've chosen that particular box for some reason. I figure we ought to go see what it was.'

Chris, obviously still struggling with his temper, replied 'OK. But be careful, we could be walking into some kind of trap'

'Don't worry, we'll all keep our eyes and ears open' said Vin, as the men made their way out of the door.

The men wasted no time in making their way to Baker Street. Stopping the car just in front of the phone box they got out and cautiously, being careful to look all around them, made their way towards it.

'I don't see anything' Josiah said, as he looked up at the buildings around them.

Chris acknowledged him with a glance, then turned towards the box. Nothing unusual about it, at first glance anyway. It was littered with the usual cards you'd find in any downtown box...except.
Chris put out his hand and picked up one of the cards. Only it wasn't a card, it was a photo. It showed two women, tied to chairs, bloody and beaten. Chris's temper flared yet again, but he kept it controlled as he handed the photo to Vin.

'Ceci and Laura'

Before any of the others had a chance to say anything the phone in the box began to ring.

'I would suggest that it would be prudent to answer that Mr. Larabee'

Chris glared at Ezra as he picked up the receiver and snapped 'Larabee'

'So, you made it then, I see. Did you like the little...souvenir we left for you'

Chris' grip on the phone tightened. 'Henderson?'

'Now now Chris, calm yourself down, or you'll have a heart attack, and we wouldn't want that would we?' Henderson chuckled and before Chris could respond the line went dead.

His eyes flashing furiously Chris turned away from the box.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself he turned back to the others

'They're playing games with us.'

'Well, this is one game they're not gonna win' said Buck, his jaw set determinedly.

The men stood in silence for a moment before JD asked 'Just what was the point of getting us to come all the way out here anyway?'

Nathan shrugged his shoulders wearily before replying 'Who knows? Like Chris said, they're toying with us.'

Vin frowned a little. 'I think there may be more to it than that. That phone rang no more than 30 seconds after we got here...they must have seen us arrive' He began looking around them again, closer this time.

'You think they might be watching us after all? But...where could they possibly be hiding?' Chris asked.

Vin didn't answer. Instead he gestured towards the other side of the street.

'What are we looking for?' Josiah asked as they all looked over towards where Vin was pointing.

'The security camera. It's supposed to be looking over the car park there...'

...but it's pointing right at us.' Chris finished for him. 'Sons of bitches. You reckon that's how they knew we were here?'

'One way to find out.' Vin replied as he crossed the road and began to climb up to the camera. Hoping the drainpipe he was clinging to would hold his weight, he freed up one of his arms so he could take a better look at the camera.

'Find anything?' Buck called up to him, shading his eyes against the sun.

'Wires. New ones by the look of them. And I don't think they're meant to be there either.'

As Vin climbed back down carefully, Chris asked 'Any way we can find out where the picture's being fed to? JD?'

The young man thought for a moment before replying 'Probably not. I mean, it'd be difficult at best, but considering what they did with the phones, they've probably covered their tracks pretty well.' The disappointment was clear in his voice.

'Well, we can try anyway.'said Chris.

'Phone patches, surveillance cameras - they haven't done all this since yesterday Chris. They must've had this all set up for months.'

Chris looked at Buck then rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed.

'It would appear then gentlemen that their outside connections have aided them in more than their escape' said Ezra.

'Yeah, well, we're still gonna find them - and their little helpers too.' Chris growled. 'Ezra, Josiah - you two go to the jail, see if you can find anything, any clues as to who it was they had helping them. JD, I know it's a long shot, but see if you can trace where this is feeding to' He gestured up towards the camera.

'What about the rest of us?' Nathan asked.

'Back to the office, and we go over everything we have on these bastards, see if there's anything we may have overlooked. And hope like hell that we find something before their next move.'

In the house outside Denver six of the seven women sat together in the small dark room. All of them had been systematically beaten for the last few hours. Laura had been in pretty bad shape when she had been returned to the room, now she was the one up and pacing, thinking furiously of how to get out.

'What the hell are they doing to Emily?' Trix asked. 'Its over an hour since they took her.'

'I hope she�s okay.' Ceci whispered trying to hold back her tears.

'She has to be okay.' Laura said. 'Like those bastards have said they won�t kill us until Josiah and the rest arrive.'

'But before that we are going to get out of here.' Maria said standing on shaky legs since she had been knocked unconscious during the beating.

The five women were all sporting various cuts and bruises covering their faces. Laura and Trix were both sporting huge bruises covering about half of their upper body. Brimwood had apparently found both Trix and Laura a little too feisty for their own good.
Suddenly the door was opened and Emily was shoved through it. Ceci and Laura were in front of her just catching her as she collapsed. As Ceci laid Emily down on the floor Laura quickly examined her.

'Jeez, they�ve been really rough with her.' Laura said. 'She�s got a black eye, a split lip, several cuts on her face and I think her arm is broken.'

'Why Emily?' Renee asked wiping her silent tears.

'I wish I knew.' Laura sighed.

'Could have something to do with the fact that Ezra shot Brimwood.' Ceci said after a moment of silence.

'So for that he has to beat Emily senseless?!' Rebecca was furious.

'Who knows what goes through his mind.' Maria said absently.

'If we ever get out of here I swear I�ll kill them!' Laura said through clenched teeth as she helped clean Emily up.

Ezra was seated in a chair opposite the head of the prison facility. Ezra was getting tired; it seemed as though no one had noticed anything when the four men had escaped. Josiah was standing by the window staring out over the prison yard, the high fences and the guards.

'Like I said, Mr. Standish, the guards were knocked unconscious, they didn�t see anything.'

'Mr. Wilson.' Ezra started but Josiah interrupted him.

'Excuse me, but can we speak with the guards that were on duty that particular night?'

'Well sure, but I can�t see why because the police have already questioned them.' Mr. Wilson said.

'Where can we find them?' Josiah asked.

'Well, Matherson and Blake are on duty. But Carter and Burrows have the day off.' Wilson said. 'I can call them for you if you like?'

'Thank you, but if you give us their phone numbers we will call them.' Ezra smiled slightly.

'Sure, sure.' Wilson said as he handed Ezra a paper with the phone numbers on.'

'Where can we find Mr. Matherson and Mr. Blake?' Ezra asked as he rose from the chair.

'In the tower overlooking the yard.' Wilson said.

'Thank you.' Josiah said and the two agents left Wilson's office.

'Mr. Sanchez, I assume you have an idea?' Ezra said as they closed the office door.

'Yup.' Josiah said as they headed towards the watchtower. 'I think one or more of the guards helped out.'

'But they were all unconscious.' Ezra said.

'Yes, but Henderson or any of the others could have knocked them unconscious after they had received the help they needed.' Josiah said.

'And the guards could easily get access to phone patches and such things.' Ezra said.

'Now, let�s go and interview our suspects.' Josiah said.

Back in the ATF office Chris was pacing his office while thinking of how the four men could have succeeded with the plan. So far Chris was suspecting everyone and no one. He just couldn't figure out how the four men were able to escape without anybody noticing. Chris was half suspecting that weasel called Wilson, the head of the prison. When Chris had spoken with Wilson on the phone he had tried to weasel out of every question Chris had asked.

'You okay?' A voice was heard from the door.

'I guess.' Chris sighed as Buck entered the office.

'JD�s still trying to trace the feed. I just talked to him on the phone he said that they have covered their tracks very well.'

'They were never this good when we caught them.' Chris sighed.

'So we can assume that the people helping them is.' Vin�s voice said as he entered the office.

'Any suspects?' Chris asked Vin.

'Yup, one of the guards Tim Carter is something of a computer genius. He�s well educated within computer technology�'

'Why is he working as a prison guard?' Buck asked.

'Wait wait wait!' Chris exclaimed. 'When was he hired?'

'Uhm� about three months ago. You think he�' Vin started.

'�applied for the job just to get them out.' Buck finished for him.

'I believe we have our first real suspect.' Chris said. 'Now get a hold of Ezra and Josiah and see if they can interview him.'

'Chris, Josiah�s on the phone.' Nathan called from his desk.

'Josiah, you got anything?' Chris asked as he picked up.

'I believe we do. Ezra and me have strong suspicions against one of the guards. We have interviewed two of the guards and both of them believes that Tim Carter is one weird man.'

'Carter!' Chris exclaimed. 'He was hired three months ago and he is educated within computer technology.'

'He has a day off today, we have his phone number.' Josiah started.

'Call him ask him to come in to the ATF office. But don�t let him know that we suspect him.' Chris said.

'We won�t.' Josiah said and the two agents hung up.

'Josiah and Ezra are going to get Carter in here.' Chris said with a small smile.

'If Carter is our man he probably won�t tell us anything.' Vin said.

'Well, I�ll beat it out of him!' Chris growled.

'Okay�' Vin said. 'Buck could you look up everything about this Tim Carter, anything we can use against him?'

'Sure.' Buck said leaving the office.

'Chris�' Vin said and approached his friend. 'You okay?'

'What the hell do you think. Our girlfriends have been kidnapped! I�m not okay, I�m worried as hell. When we find them I�m going to kill them one by one. Believe me I am going to kill them!'

Part III

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