Archive of Our Own

Original pub Oct 2002

Blair woke to the sun hitting his face. His eyelids fluttered, fighting to stay closed but his mind rebelled. He had a full day ahead of him at the University and staying home in bed was not an option. He raised himself up on to his elbows, groaning and falling back to the bed as his body protested the movement. He growled at the laugh he heard coming from the lower level of the apartment.

"Having problems getting up, snookums?"

"Oh man, I don't think I can walk" he said. He managed enough strength to throw the covers off but that was it. He looked up as he heard footsteps approaching the bed. Jim stopped at the side of the bed, looking down at him a smirk on his face.
Blair watched as Jim's gaze shifted to travel down his body. He smiled secretly at the bulge he could see beginning to form in Jim's boxers.

"Man, Jim didn't you get enough yesterday?" he said.

Jim looked up, smiling when he saw the teasing smile on Blair's full lips. He removed his boxers slowly, noting his Guide's increased heartbeat as he did, and straddled Blair's hips. He gave a small hiss of pleasure as his erection brushed against Blair's. He reached forward to brush a lock of hair from Blair's face before leaning down towards his Guide's lips.

"You started it. You wanted to make love last night." Jim said in answer.

"That is true. But Jim I didn't know you were going to try to pound me through the mattress" Blair said body trembling in remembrance of the fierce lovemaking, laughter in his voice. He moaned as Jim began to rock gently against him.
Jim brushed his lips against Blair's, gradually deepening the kiss.

"It's what you do to me Blair. I just want you so bad, I want to be a part of you." Jim said, his movements quickening as he heard the increased moans of pleasure coming from his mate.

He lay down over Blair to achieve maximum skin to skin contact, keeping just enough weight on his elbows not to crush the smaller man. They did not last long after that, the need within them did not allow for it. Their cries of pleasure filled the air until finally Blair's cried out Jim's name and a moment later Jim answered when he shouted Blair's name lovingly, his essence erupting from his body to mingle with Blair's, between them.
He shifted so that he lay on Blair's side and smiled as Blair grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. All was quiet for a moment as they recuperated.

"Blair?" Jim said, quietly.

"Yes, Jim?"

"In answer to your question earlier...I can't get enough of you, I want you always by my side. I would be lost without you" Jim admitted softly.

Blair smiled and turned to the side so he could lay his head on Jim's chest and place his arm around his love, sighing as Jim's arm came up to pull him closer.
They stayed that way as long as they could before they had to get up to face the day, each one wishing they could spend the day as it had begun, wrapped safely in the arms of the one they loved.

*****

Blair walked out of the office almost at a full run. He was running late...again. He was supposed to be meeting Jim to go to a party for one of Jim's coworkers. He shook his head, no matter how hard he tried he always seemed to be running late. It wasn't his fault though, all this week he had students coming in to see him at the last moment. He couldn't very well say no to them. They were his students and he had to help them out all he could.
Blair was approaching his car digging through his pockets for his keys when he heard the sound of screeching tires, he looked up to see a car careening towards him. The car was almost on top of him before he had any chance to react. He held his breath and extended his arms out reflexively, waiting for the crushing blow but the car screeched to a halt only a few inches in front of him.
Blair didn't wait to see what lunatic was driving the car. He turned to run as the driver's side opened. He had only run a few feet when he felt the sting in his back, the force of the dart knocking him to the ground.
Just before the darkness claimed him, a man came to stand over him and leered down at him.
"Hi my name is Joe. It's good to finally meet you Blair"

*****

Jim got off the phone after making his excuses. He glanced at his watch for what seemed like the hundredth time and gritted his teeth. He was really starting to worry now. Blair had problems getting home on time it was true, but he was already four hours late. Not only that, but he knew they had plans. If he had to cancel he would have called.

He picked up the phone and called the University but they couldn't tell him where Blair was. All they knew was that he had left several hours before. He put down the phone staggering back when the sound reverberated in his ears. He clamped his hands over his ears and tried not to scream out at the pain that even that sound caused. After a moment the pain faded away but he didn't move. He could only stand there trying to recuperate.

He took deep cleansing breaths as Blair had taught him to when he was having trouble with his senses, and he gathered his keys and headed out of the loft trying to calm down knowing that losing control now would not help Blair in any way. As he walked down he called Simon to explain the situation. Simon agreed to slip out of the party for a little bit to meet up with Jim at the University. Jim smiled slightly as he disconnected. No matter how gruff Simon acted he really cared for Blair as evidenced by his quick response to Jim's worry.

He drove over to the University praying all the while that Blair was still there somewhere, maybe so engrossed in his work he hadn't noticed the time slipping by. He held onto that hope as he tried to remain calm.

He thought about Blair and he marveled at how well he had Blair fooled. He knew that Blair thought Jim worked on autopilot a lot of times, totally in control of the situation. The truth was that Jim had no control. Blair was his control, if anything were to happen to him....

He had tried to explain it to Blair one time but Blair had just laughed and said that Jim was giving him way to much credit but Jim knew better. It was comical actually. The one time in his life Jim was willing to credit control to someone else and that person denied it, even to themselves.

He was startled out of his thoughts when he saw the familiar buildings of the university. He parked the truck and headed to Blair's office, flashing his police identification as he passed the campus peace officer. He reached Blair's office, the door was shut but not locked so he opened it and entered. He looked around for anything unusual but there was nothing there. Not only that Blair' scent was very faint so that Jim knew Blair had not been there in hours.

There was no one around except the campus peace officer he had passed by before. She had just started her shift about fifteen minutes before though and so couldn't tell him what time it was that Blair might have left.
He walked out into the parking lot and spotted Blair's car. It was still there, he ran forward as he noted the papers scattered on the ground near the car. His heart began pounding as he approached the car. He looked inside almost afraid of what he might see, not sure whether he should be happy or sad that Blair wasn't in there.

A sharp smell caught his attention and he looked down. To the left of him were some droplets on the ground, he felt his heart constrict as he identified the smell as blood and he had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly whose blood it was.

He sank down next to it staring down at it. A short while later he felt a hand on his arm, shaking him almost violently. He looked up in confusion to see it was the Captain shaking him. The Captain gave him an odd look and then released his shoulder. Jim looked around trying to regain his focus as he realized that he must have zoned out.

He looked up when he felt Simon's hand again on his shoulder. He stared as he saw the Captain opening and closing his mouth. It took him a moment to realize that the Captain was talking to him and he couldn't hear a word he was saying. He barely had time to process that before suddenly becoming aware of the pain in his shoulder gasping and flinching away from the Captain's hand on his shoulder.

He closed his eyes and dropped his head into his hands as he realized that little by little he was losing control of his senses.

His head jerked up reflexively at the impact with his hands. This was insane, his own hands were hurting him. He centered himself, closed his eyes and began taking deep breaths. He felt rather than saw Simon kneel next to him and reach out his hand hovering just above Jim's shoulder before thinking better of it and pulling away.

Simon knelt as quietly as possible next to Jim, watching as Jim took deep cleansing breaths. He didn't know what exactly was going on but he could tell something was wrong with Jim's senses. He could tell by the expression on Jim's face that he hadn't heard when he said there had not been any calls at the station concerning Blair's disappearance. And when he had reached down the second time and touched Jim's shoulder he had jumped back is if burned. He wished he could help with whatever the problem was but he couldn't. The only person who could help was Blair, and goodness only knew where he was.

*****

As Blair awoke he began to register the sounds around him, or rather the lack of sounds. He couldn't hear anybody around him, there was no other movement. As had happened at other times, he wished that he had Sentinel hearing so that he could verify whether or not he was really alone.

He felt the solidity of a wall behind his back and decided to try to lean against it instead of laying on the ground as he was doing. He would have to try to push himself up from the ground since he could not move his arms because of the ropes tied securely around his torso, pinning his arms. He tried to move his head and moaned as a sharp pain at the side of his head finally registered. He paused for a moment to let the pain pass before he put weight on his elbow to push himself up from the ground. He was finally able to sit up so that he could lean against the wall and could really look around for the first time since he had woken up.

The room he was in was small. It looked like it was part of a basement, there was nothing distinguishing about it. He had never been here before, for that matter he had never seen the man that had taken him before today. He thought back to the man who had attacked him. The man had said his name was Joe.
He could not remember anyone named Joe. Or at least anyone named Joe who would want to do this to him. Obviously the guy knew who he was though, because he had said it was good to "finally" meet him. He groaned in frustration at not being able to figure out what was going on and his head jerked up when he heard movement near the door on the other side of the room.

The man who had kidnapped him walked through the door. Blair squinted, studying the man's face, trying to place where he might know him from but he still couldn't figure it out.

The man laughed at Blair's scrutiny as he moved forward, finally coming to a stop before Blair and kneeling down next to him. Blair eyed him measuredly. The man was a few inches shorter than him but was a bit stockier than himself, surely he could take him down or at least slow him enough so that he could make his escape.
The man noticed Blair shift and his arms tense and he laughed outright into Blair's astonished face.

"Blair my friend, don't even try it. You can't leave." he reached out and grabbed Blair's, hair yanking his head back and leaning close to whisper in Blair's ear.
"Here is the deal, friend. Even if you got out of this area there are trip wires and traps all over this house. If you try to leave without knowing how to get out you can be sure you will find a nasty surprise" the man said.

Blair tried to look at him coldly trying not to let some of the fear he was feeling show up in his eyes.

"I don't believe you" Blair said.

"Haha, I don't care if you want to believe me or not. If you feel like adding a couple of hundred degrees of body temperature then by all means leave. But believe me I don't think Jim will want to find his partner burned to a crisp" he said yanking Blair's hair back and letting it slam against the wall behind him laughing as he did so.

Blair grunted at the impact and tried to focus as the pain radiated throughout his head. It was an odd thought but he almost wished he had blacked out just so that he wouldn't have to deal with his "friend" Joe anymore.
Joe knelt down next to him as Blair tried to focus his eyes anywhere but on the man. He tried to keep his face neutral, he would not give this man the satisfaction of seeing him in pain.

The man laughed out loud as he knelt next to Blair.

"Oh wonderful, have you been taking stoicism lessons from Jim now?" he asked.

Blair refused to answer him merely staring straight ahead.

The man paused for a minute before speaking again. "Oh I know. You won't talk to me because I have been rude that's it isn't it?" he said, ignoring the incredulous look on Blair's face.
"Let me properly introduce myself. As I said before, my name is Joe and I'm an old buddy of our pal Detective Ellison. A few months ago we spent some time together. Ellison was a guest of my partner and myself for a couple of weeks" he said.

Blair finally looked over at him trying to see if he recognized him. Could this be one of the people who had kidnapped Jim a few months back? One of the criminals had been shot to death and the other one had reportedly died in the fire. Had the reports been wrong? Blair looked at the man in confusion. Jim had shown him a mug shot of the two suspects but this man looked nothing like the men in the photos.

"If your wondering why you don't recognize me it's 'cause I got bit by the fire. I had to have a little work done on my face. It's a good thing though because now I have free run of the city. Everyone thinks I am dead and even if they don't they won't be looking for this face." he laughed loudly at the look of concern on Blair's face.

Blair had to suppress a groan. His head was killing him and the knowledge that a supposedly dead man was holding him captive did nothing to help that. He knew he was in trouble, the only way he had been able to find Jim last time was with the help of his two friends but Jim had no such resources. Who could he turn to for help? All he had at his disposal was his own Sentinel abilities. He just had to hope that was enough for Jim to reach him on time.

Joe stood from where he had been kneeling next to Blair and went to the door.

"Well Blair it was nice meeting you but I've got to go now. Gotta see what Jim is up to...this is so fun, I can be right under his nose and he won't even know it. Which is fine with me 'cause I've got a score to settle with my old friend Detective Ellison" he said as he shut the door behind him.

It was 1 a.m. and Jim sat in the loft looking around the room trying to figure out what to do next. He wanted to be at the station looking into any possible leads. Simon had ordered him to go home though and get some rest but how could he rest when Blair was still missing?

He looked over at the study off of the kitchen where some of Blair's knick-knacks were visible from the open French doors. They were sitting on the shelves that he and Blair had installed in the room. He knew the story behind each and every one of the figurines sitting on the shelf. He smiled at that thought. He knew Blair would probably be surprised to hear that Jim did in fact listen to his stories when he told them.

The smile turned into a sigh at the possibility that he might never hear those stories again. He jumped up from where he sat at the table and began pacing around the loft like a caged animal.

*Okay, I can't allow myself to think like that. Blair is fine, I'm sure of it. I can feel it* he stopped in his tracks and nodded to himself *Yes. He is still alive...and I'm gonna find him!*

The next day Joe sat on campus laughing to himself. This was _too_ fun. He had spent the day as undergraduate student "Derrick Bennett". He had stood at the crime scene as the clueless cops looked for evidence in the daylight, speaking to students and looking for witnesses. Of course, being the community conscious student he was he had to give a statement to the police. He could hardly contain the smile that threatened to come forth as he gave his statement to Detective Ellison of the Cascade P.D. He laughed even now as he thought about it.

"Yes officer. He was about 6'2", 200 lbs., bearded and brown hair" he had said.
Yes that had been fun, throwing them off track by giving them a description totally unlike his own. It was such a rush, being this close to the scene, yet the police were unaware of his presence.

*Reminds me of that last fire I...no, the last fire was the one that was gonna take out Ellison* he thought. He shook himself out of his reverie, this was fun but the rush was not worth getting caught after all.

He walked off to his car and got in to drive off looking back to see Detective Ellison still moving around the crime scene. He couldn't help laughing to himself.
"Sucker" he said under his breath. He was unnerved when Ellison suddenly looked up as if he had heard him. He turned his head quickly and drove off.
Jim grumbled to himself. He thought he had heard the person driving off saying something but he couldn't be sure. His senses were no good to him, they had been cutting off and then returning full force ever since Blair was taken away.

There was no note, no phone call. Blair had simply disappeared. This would have been a frustrating case anyway, but this was his best friend, his Guide, his partner, his...
Jim's thoughts were cut off by the ringing of his cell phone.

"Ellison"

"Jim, its Simon"

"Hey Simon, what's going on?"

"We received some communication, Jim. There was a messenger just in looking for you. He left a package for you. He said that the person who delivered the package told him to say Sandburg but that's all he knew"

"Okay Simon, thanks for calling. I will be right over, there's nothing else to do here anyway." Jim said, signing off.

He stood for a moment breathing deeply trying to see if he could pick up some small scent that he could help him. Nothing. His sense of smell was off too, he sighed and made his way over to the truck.

Jim drove over to the station quickly, making good time due to the lack of traffic. He parked the car and rode the elevator up to Major Crimes his stomach tied into knots over what might be revealed in the package.

He saw Taggert stepping away from the package on his desk as the elevator opened. He walked out and Simon came out of his office to meet him at the desk.

"Just doing a recheck Jim, in case some joker decided to send you a nasty surprise. But I didn't find anything." Taggert said as he stood to the side of the desk.

Jim just nodded, his thoughts totally focused on the package and what would be there. He reached for it and paused looking up at Simon who nodded to him. He took the wrapping off of the package and opened up the box slowly. Nothing came flying out, no flames burst out. There were three quite audible sighs in the room.

Inside the package was a letter. The person claimed to be an old acquaintance of Jim's. With the letter was what he recognized to be a lock of Blair's hair. His jaw clenched at the sight as well as the neat handwriting that promised to return Blair once the fun was over.

Some of the officers in the bullpen jumped as Jim's fist slammed into the table. He stood there breathing deeply trying to gain a hold of himself.

"Has anything else turned up here?" Jim asked, trying to get back into focus.

"Nothing at all." Simon said shaking his head. He checked his watch briefly.

"Listen Jim, try going over to Blair's office, maybe there is something there we over looked. There is nothing more going on tonight"

Jim nodded and prepared to make the second trip to Rainier University in the day. He handed the letter over to Simon who held it with a handkerchief, making sure he didn't get his own fingerprints on it so that there would be no confusion when forensics examined the letter.

*********

Tasha hurried across campus. She checked her watch again. There was no point really since she didn't know Blair's schedule, it was more force of habit than anything else.

She looked around the campus and smiled to herself. Things had not really changed much since her time here as a librarian.
Everything was the same yet different. She was no longer the frightened person she was when she used to work there. Thanks to Blair she had come to terms with herself. She had gotten to repay him in some way when she helped reunite him with Jim, his Sentinel.

She wondered how Jim was doing. She had taken to writing to Blair addressing it to the University just to get updates on how he was doing. She couldn't write to the loft and she definitely could not phone. There was always the possibility that Jim would be there listening in and she didn't want that to happen. Being a Sentinel was tough enough without adding her and Dave into the mix.

Oh well, there was no reason to worry as chances were she would never meet up with the Sentinel.

She approached the building, which housed Blair's office and checked her watch again. She bumped slightly into someone walking down the path in the opposite direction.
She mumbled a quick apology and kept on walking, her mind focused elsewhere. In one part of her mind she heard the other person stop suddenly but she kept walking.

"Hey!"

Tasha stopped as she heard the person call out to her. She sighed as she turned to face the person. She had apologized for bumping into him, what else could he want?

She looked up and her eyes locked on those of the other person. She tensed as she found herself looking at Blair's Sentinel. Detective James Ellison.

*****

Jim checked with the anthropology office and then looked in Blair's office again. There had been nothing delivered there, nothing was different from when he had been there before. Though as Simon had said it was a long shot, he could not help but feel a little disappointment as he left Blair's office.

He left the building, musing as he did so that the trail was getting cold and nothing short of a miracle could change things. And with his hyperactive senses totally unreliable that miracle could not come from him. As had been happening since Blair was grabbed his senses were at normal levels, except for a few moments here or there were one or two of his senses were enhanced.
He wasn't paying attention as he walked down the path and so bumped in to the person walking in the opposite direction. He distractedly apologized noting the other person's equally distracted apology.

A whiff of her perfume tickled his nose and it struck him that there was something familiar about the scent. It reminded him of something but it wasn't something recent. It was something from a while back, a memory. He walked a few steps before halting as the memories slowly filtered in. That scent was one of the things he remembered from his own abduction. He whipped back around on the path and called out to the woman he had collided with.

Tasha willed herself to relax and took a look of bored curiosity on her face as she turned to face Jim.
Jim didn't need Sentinel sight to see that she had tensed suddenly before adopting her air of indifference. He took a step towards her.

"I know you. You were at the hospital" he said.

She looked at him curiously and shook her head.

"You must be mistaken. We have never met" she said turning, her heart pounding. She realized it was probably futile to lie as he could probably hear her heart pounding in her chest. She had to hope he wasn't paying attention to her heartbeat.

Jim grabbed her arm as she turned. He was certain that she was the woman from the hospital.

"What do you want? I told you I don't..."

"Please, I need your help. Blair needs your help...th-they took him" Jim said tensely.

Tasha froze in the process of pulling her arm from Jim's grasp. She stared at Jim and saw the pleading look in his eyes.
Jim searched her face but couldn't decipher her expression. He let go of her arm when she didn't move and stepped back before finally turning around.
He stopped in surprise when he felt a hand touch his shoulder tentatively. He turned back to her and watched her as she took a deep breath before giving a small smile and giving his shoulder a squeeze before letting go.

"H-hi Jim. My name is Tasha" she said.

"Hi Tasha. It's good to finally meet you" Jim said, relief evident in his voice.

*****

"It makes sense Jim" Tasha said certainly "Your senses are giving you trouble because your support isn't there, in the form of Blair"

Jim nodded at her analysis. He had been right to tell her everything, although she had made it easy by telling him that she knew about his abilities. Though he didn't have his senses to tell if she was lying he did trust her knowing that her Blair had trusted her as well. He was curious as to how much she knew about the subject though.

"You seem to know a lot about this" Jim said questioningly.

"Yeah well...Blair and I shared the same interests in enhanced senses when he began studying here." She gave a small laugh looking everywhere but at Jim for a moment. He could tell there was something she was leaving out. "I don't know who was more surprised, me because this guy was asking for these obscure materials or Blair because I knew exactly what the obscure materials were that he was talking about."

"So, do you know of any way that I could...I don't know, regain enough of my senses that I could somehow track him down" Jim asked hopefully.

Tasha shook her head thoughtfully.
"I don't know Jim. Blair is the real expert on this. I'm just an amateur compared to him." she said slowly, hesitantly.

"There is something you are not telling me" Jim said with certainty. His hearing kicked in enough above normal levels so that he could hear her heart beat but just barely. It did sound a little fast but not having heard it before he could not make a comparison.

Tasha jumped as her cell phone rang. She grabbed it, glad for the distraction.

"Hello?"

"Hello Muffin." Tasha cringed even as she smiled. She would never admit, but she delighted in Dave's teasing. It was that connection that was built between them, a connection that she had felt extending itself hesitantly to include Jim in it's fold when they had been at his side in the hospital after his abduction.
She was grateful to hear a familiar voice in the face of Jim's scrutiny.

"Tasha are you okay?" Dave asked, he could hear her heart beating a bit fast and was a bit concerned for her, there was another heartbeat nearby but he didn't pay particular attention to it.

"Yes, I'm okay Dave" Tasha said.

"You don't sound okay. What happened? Did you zone or something?" Dave asked, feeling even more concerned at the prospect of a zone out.

Tasha glanced quickly at Jim who's expression was one of surprise before giving her a small smile. She could tell it was a knowing smile. Obviously he had heard Dave. She didn't know whether to be happy his hearing had returned to Sentinel or near Sentinel level, or nervous because he could now guess that she had abilities of her own. Outside of Blair and Dave no one else had ever known about her abilities. She turned her attention back to the phone.

"Uh, Dave...we've got problems...

"Is he the guy that was with you in the hospital when you came to see me?" Jim asked her. When she nodded he added "Tell him about Blair"

"Hospital room?" Dave asked in confusion. The last time he had been in a hospital was when Blair's Sentinel had been kidnapped. "Oh, is that...wait a minute, what about Blair?" He said as the last part of the statement registered in his brain.

"Blair has been kidnapped, Dave" Tasha said.

"Oh no. Who did it? Are there any clues? What..."

"Whoa. We don't have any clues yet except for a package I got with a letter saying Blair was okay, and a lock of his hair as proof that they had him" Jim interrupted.

"Have you been able to gather your own evidence?" Dave asked through the phone, startled for a moment that Jim had heard him. He had never met another person before who had enhanced hearing like he did.

"No. I'm having problems here. I was asking Tasha for help, but now I have the feeling she could help me a lot more than I had originally thought." Jim said.

"What do you mean..."

Jim shook his head, the rest of Dave's question was lost to him. His enhanced hearing had cut off. Again. He gave a growl of frustration as Tasha passed him the phone.

"Hello"

"Yes" Dave said "What's wrong? Why did..."

"The fact that I can only hear at normal levels now is what the problem is. Ever since...since Blair was kidnapped my senses have been totally out of wack" he snarled in frustration.

"Hmm. I understand." Dave said "Jim, I'm gonna come out there. I'm on the East Coast so I can't get out there for another 4 or 5 hours but I wanna help" Dave said.

Jim could hardly believe it. Here was proof once again at how Blair affected people. These two people were willing to drop everything to come to his aid.

"Jim, well try to help all we can. I know the ideal would be for you to have all your senses back but I think with my hearing, Tasha's sense of smell and sight, combined with your detective skills, we will do okay" Dave said. He heard Jim give a sigh of relief and imagined he could hear some of the tension flowing out of him.

"Okay, call me when you arrive and I will pick you up" Jim said, passing the phone back to Tasha so she could say her good-byes.

*****

Simon sat at his desk and rub his eyes underneath his glasses. He had just spoken to the officer at the university who had been checking on their last lead, one of the students who had claimed to see Blair's assailant. The officer looked for the man but she couldn't find him. The admissions office had never heard of him. The only thing to do would be to call Jim and tell him about the dead end. Simon sighed, he dreaded making this call.
*Maybe some coffee will perk me up enough to deal with this* he thought as he looked over to the coffee maker on the counter. Empty.
*It figures* he thought turning back around and picking up the phone. It rang twice before Jim picked it up.

"Ellison"

"Jim, did you find anything?"

"No Sir. There was nothing at Blair' office that hadn't been there before" Jim reported recognizing Simon's voice right away.

"Damn" Simon muttered softly.

"What's going on Simon? Did you find out any thing on your end?"

"Officer Lee just got back from the campus. Did you see her before she left?" Simon asked.

"No, did she find something?" Jim asked.

"Well, nothing in the way of clues and that student who claimed to have witnessed the incident is nowhere to be found"

"What?!? He was our only lead Simon" Jim ran his hand over his short hair, his frustration plainly heard in his voice.

*This is insane. How can someone just disappear like that?* Jim asked himself.
"Did she try...." Jim began.

"Jim, she tried everything. She met with campus officials and she and her partner talked to as many students as she could. This man has simply disappeared. No one under the name of Derrick Bennett could be found anywhere"

"I just spoke to him yesterday. If I had my senses on full I would have been able to tell if he was lying. Dammit! Why would he lie? Is he in on whatever went down?"
"We can't make assumptions Jim. Maybe he was just scared. In any case, we need to figure out how to proceed"
"Well I think I can get help from.." Jim paused as Tasha placed a hand on his arm and shook her head, her eyes wide.
"From?" Simon prompted.
"From my sources Simon. They don't want to be identified" Jim said.
"Jim" Simon said, his voice holding a warning.
"Trust me on this Sir" Jim asked of his Captain.
*As if we weren't dealing with enough unknowns* Simon thought to himself, saying as he did so "Okay, Jim. If playing by your source's rules is the only way to get Sandburg back then that is what we have got to do. Keep me informed though"
"I will sir" Jim said as he hung up.
He turned to Tasha, the question on his face over her not wanting to be identified.
"I'm sorry Jim but I believe I speak for Dave as well as myself when I ask that you not tell the captain about us" she said.
"But why not?" he asked, finally verbalizing his question.
"We don't want people knowing about us" she said with a small smile "Surely you can understand that"
He nodded, that was something he could definitely identify with.

Joe sat at the bus stop and watched the small office building across the street. It was the perfect target. Far away enough so that he wouldn't get caught by law enforcement officials yet close enough so that the cops would realize he was thumbing his nose at them. Particularly Detective Ellison.
He picked up his canister and adjusted the bug exterminator uniform he wore and walked towards the building.
The security inside of the building apparently consisted of one man sitting at his desk with a sign in sheet.

"Hi, someone called an exterminator" Joe said to the security guard at the desk.
The guard nodded and then consulted a list before looking back up. "There is nothing here saying an exterminator was coming today" the guard said.

"Are you sure? Check the list again please, under Derrick Bennett" Joe said. He waited until the security guard looked back down and then raised the canister he was holding to bring it crashing down onto the guard's head.
"Sorry dude" he said to the now slumped over form, yet not sounding sorry at all. He dragged the security guard behind the desk so that no one passing by would look in from outside and notice the guard slumped over. He then made his way towards the stairs to set to work.

He passed by several workers as he went around the building but most just glanced at his worker's uniform and paid him little attention.
It was so simple really. He made sure the flammable liquid he had in the canister was pretty well spread by spraying the "insecticide" on each floor as he went up. At the final floor when he was done he went into the stairwell and took the other materials he needed out of his backpack.

He made a firebomb in the stairwell and threw it into the office area. When it exploded it began to spread, kept alive and magnified by the flammable liquid he had spread earlier. However, Joe did not see this because he was already working his way down the stairwell creating havoc at each floor as he went.
He had to fight within himself to stop the grin that wanted to break forth as the first wave of office workers came rushing into the stairwell from the top floor. He was just passing the second floor when the office workers from the third floor entered the stairwell, mingling with the other people in the stairwell.
The sounds of panic was music to Joe's ears as he increased his pace, finally reaching the first floor. He threw the open canister of "insecticide" down on the floor and lit a match, throwing it down into the liquid. He yelped as he leapt forward to evade a lick of fire that seemed to jump at his pant leg.
He dug into the front pouch of the backpack finally getting the last thing he needed. He pulled it out and laid it to the side of the entrance so that it wouldn't get crushed by people walking through the entrance.

He paused for a moment until the stairwell door crashed open and he rushed out into the street before the crush of workers yelling about the fire in a panicked voice and secretly congratulating himself on his acting ability.
Joe ran over to a public phone and called the police demanding to speak to Jim Ellison screaming at the dispatcher that he had Ellison's partner when the dispatcher seemed reluctant to patch him through.
He smiled in anticipation when the call was patched through.

"Hello" the voice said, he could tell right away it was not Ellison.

"Who the hell is this? I wanted Detective Ellison" Joe spit out, upset at being deprived of his fun.

"Ellison is not here right now. I'm Captain Banks, is there something I can do for you?" Simon asked, hoping to keep the man talking.

Joe smiled to himself, if Ellison wasn't there he was willing to settle for the captain.
"Have you looked outside your window lately Captain?" Joe said.

"What are..." Simon began looking over to the window, he gasped as he saw smoke billowing into the sky. He tapped Joel who stood next to him pointing to the window as Joe continued speaking.

"That is a little present for Cascade's finest " Joe said, you could practically hear the smirk in his voice "I also left a present for Ellison inside the building so I suggest he heads down there before someone grabs it" Joe said. He looked at his watch and realized if they were tracing the call they would get him in a few seconds so he hung up the phone and walked away to change in the alley way adjacent to the phone booth.

Simon turned as Joel got off the phone with the fire department and sighed in frustration as he checked his watch, realizing they wouldn't be able to trace the call. He picked up the phone again and called Jim to inform him of the situation, arranging to meet up with Jim at the scene.
Simon stood in front of the building, turning as he saw Jim approaching from the corner of his eye.

"Simon, were you able to find anything else out?" Jim asked as he reached the Captain.
"I haven't been able to get into the building and look in there." Simon answered.
Next to him stood one of the first fire fighters to enter the building. Jim noticed that the man looked at them hesitantly for a moment before turning fully towards them.
"Excuse me, Officer..."
"Detective Ellison" Jim supplied.
"Detective Ellison, I was one of the first fire fighters on the scene...I did notice something by the entrance but...I'm not sure it's relevant" he finished.
"Anything might be relevant to our case at this point" Simon told the firefighter.
"Okay, when I first went in I looked to the sides of the entrance to see if anyone was there, anyone who had been hurt...well, anyway I did notice this little origami figure by the entrance."

"An origami figure of what?" Jim asked, perplexed.

"It looked like a butterfly. I wish you could see it but at this point it's probably been trampled on and watered down" the firefighter responded.

Simon nodded in thanks to the firefighter as the firefighter walked back over to help his colleagues. He turned back to face Jim.

"I wish we could get a hold of that butterfly Jim, but he's probably right. In the rush to get out of the building the butterfly has most likely been trampled on."

"I agree. In any case I don't know how much I would have gotten off of it. The person who grabbed Blair did it while leaving no witnesses behind, he is crafty and right now he is calling the shots" Jim said turning to look at the building for a moment. He turned back around towards Simon with a perplexed look on his face.

"What is it Jim?" Simon asked.

"It's that origami butterfly. I'm trying to figure it out. Why a butterfly?" Jim asked aloud. There was something nagging at him about the butterfly but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Let's ask around. Hopefully someone here saw who it was that left that origami butterfly behind" Simon said hopefully, turning with Jim to face the crowd. They split up so they could speak to the office workers as well as to other potential witnesses in the crowd that had gathered at the scene.

They had been going at it for what seemed like hours and Jim felt no closer to the truth. Jim looked over at Simon to see if Simon was having any luck. His own witness interviews had proven fruitless. Simon noticed Jim was looking at him so he waved him over. Jim walked over to where Simon stood next to a man seated in the back of an ambulance with a guard's uniform on.

"Jim, this is Jay Smith. He is the building's security guard"

"Hello Mr. Smith. I'm Detective Ellison" Jim said in greeting. He stood silently as the guard picked up where he left off when he had been talking to Simon.

"So then he hit me over the head with something. I don't know what it was. Next thing I know one of the firefighters was yanking me out of the building"

"So you did not actually see anyone setting the fire?" Simon asked.

"No man. I was out cold" the guard said, his hand going up reflexively to rub at where he had been hit on the head.

"Can you describe the man to us, the one who knocked you out?" Jim asked.

"Sure" the guard said with no hesitation "He was about 5'6", blonde hair, relatively young looking"

Jim's eyes narrowed and he exchanged a quick glance with Simon before asking his next question.
"Do you remember his name?"

"Yeah. His name was Bennett. His first name was something like Daryl or Dennis." the man said.

"Derrick?" Jim interjected.

The man instantly nodded his head at Jim. "Yeah, that was his name" the guard said, looking quizzically at Jim.
"Is there anything else you remember Mr. Smith?" Simon asked the witness.
When the man could not remember anything further, Simon thanked him and he and Jim walked away to discuss what they had learned.

"Simon, I feel like that butterfly origami is the key here" he said, concentrating trying to recall why it would be significant. "And what is with this Derrick Bennett guy?"

"He seems to have fixated on you Jim. First grabbing Blair and then asking for you specifically when he called in about the fire" Simon remarked.

"Yeah, but why? I don't even know this guy. I mean as far as the butterfly, the only one I know who used to do that..." Jim's voice trailed off.
"Yes?" Simon prompted.
"Joe used to do that every time he set a fire"
"Joe? One of the guys who kidnapped you?"
"Yeah Simon...but I thought he was dead"

"We all did Jim. Is it possible this is some sort of hoax, a copycat?" Simon asked.
"It's possible but why would someone do such a thing? No, I think it's really him. This seems so much his style. He didn't get me the first time so he hit me where it really hurt. He took Blair" Jim said tensely, clenching and unclenching his jaw as he tried to control his anger. He was beyond angry though. He was enraged. Most of all he was just worried, he needed to have his lover safe and sound by his side. Even now, working a crime scene felt somehow odd without Blair beside him.

His cell phone rang and he excused himself to answer it. It was Dave calling him from the airport. Jim made arrangements to meet up with him, hanging up with a promise to be there in twenty minutes.

"I've gotta go Simon. One of my sources is here"

"Okay Jim. In the meantime I'll head back to the department. See what I can find out about this 'Derrick Bennett'" Simon said, heading off briskly towards his car.
Jim hopped into his truck and headed out. Finally they had some strong possibility of who had Blair, now with Tasha and Dave's help he felt the beginnings of some optimism begin to counter some of the despair he had been feeling.

"Hello Jim, I'm Dave Trang"
"Dave, thanks for coming" Jim said, feeling that the words were inadequate even as he said them.

*****

"Thank you. I owe you one" Simon said as he hung up the phone. It had taken about an hour but he had gotten enough to confirm his suspicions.
He called Jim to relay the information he had found out about 'Derrick Bennett'. Derrick Bennett as it turned out was the name of someone who was in prison with Joe. They had spoken to him in the hopes that he knew of Joe's whereabouts but he hadn't spoken to Joe since he had escaped from jail, right before Joe and his accomplice had kidnapped Jim.
He had told them some interesting things though. He had heard through the grapevine that Joe had been scarred in a fire and had surgery, which would explain why no one recognized him.

The thing that made Simon wonder about Joe's sanity was his attitude towards the fires he had set. In particular the reason behind the origami butterfly. Joe thought it beautiful seeing a building consumed by flames, he viewed it as a purification of the building. The butterfly to him was a symbol of that beauty.
Simon shook his head, wondering how someone's livelihood and memories going up in flames could be considered beautiful. He could only wonder how Blair was faring in the hands of this madman.

*****

Blair felt as if he was going insane. Some small part of his mind even wishing for Joe's return if only to know that there were still other humans beside himself because right now he felt very much alone. Most of all he wished that this would all turn out to be some horrible nightmare and he could wake up from it, safe in Jim's arms.

He sighed and resumed his rubbing of the rope binding his wrists. A short time ago upon close inspection along the wall behind him he had noticed some pieces of glass near the corner of the room. He had selected the largest, sturdiest piece he could find and set to work cutting at the ropes, hissing as every so often he missed the rope and nicked his hand instead.

He smiled triumphantly as he felt the rope slacken fully and it only took a strong tug for the rope to break completely. After cutting away the ropes at his ankle he stood gingerly, trying to regain his balance after having been seated for so long.
He walked over to the door quietly, listening for a moment to see if he could hear anyone behind the door. He didn't hear any obvious noises so he took a deep breath and opened the door. He looked out and saw no one in the hallway before him.

He rushed forward and found himself sprawled on the ground. He looked behind him to see a wire stretched across the bottom of the doorway. He felt his heart clench for a minute and began to scramble up when he heard someone shout.

"Stop!"

He froze automatically, bent over midway to standing position. He lifted his head a little to see Joe at the end of the hallway smiling at him. Whereas before the hallway had been dark now it was fully alight, and the reason why made Blair realize that Joe had not been kidding when he said the building was booby trapped.

All along the hallway were crisscrossing flames spurting out from the wall. They were not random. They were controlled intermittent spurts. One would die down and another would flame up, there was a pattern but he couldn't decipher it.

"Turn your head to look above you Blair...without standing up" Joe said, with amusement in his voice.

Blair turned his face to look up to a flame flaring up precisely where his face would be had he been standing straight.

"Here is the thing Blair. Since you don't seem to like the room much maybe you will like the hallway better. There is one problem though, you don't know the pattern of the flames" Joe said as he laughed out loud. "What are you going to do Blair? You can't move forward. You can't move back unless you want to hit the flames behind you and you can't stand up without getting burned."

Blair grit his teeth to keep from calling Joe every foul name in the book. It would do no good to make Joe angry right now.
Joe laughed again at the sight of Blair bent over double as he was and walked away, leaving a furious Blair behind.

*****

Jim watched Dave from the corner of his eye. The man was even younger than Blair was. For that matter Tasha was probably younger than Blair as well. He had learned from Tasha how she and Dave had been involved in his rescue. He was still amazed at the sequence of events that occurred in his rescue. He smiled wryly, he knew that he could not underestimate them. How many times had he underestimated Blair only to have Blair surprise him each time.

He could sense in the way she spoke of him that Tasha held a special place in her heart for Blair. He understood perfectly. The young man seemed to have that effect on people. Himself included. Who would have none that he would fall in love with Blair. Cupid had come stealthily and struck him with his arrow of love. How else to explain finding his soul mate in the graduate student, so different from himself? He was startled out of his thoughts by Dave's voice.

"So Jim, what is the plan?" Dave asked.

"There is nothing we can do right now really. We just have to wait for Joe to contact us." Jim said, his jaw clenching in frustration.

"What makes you think he will call?" Tasha asked.

"Oh he will. He's got us stumped right now and he knows it. He'll probably want to call to brag a bit"

Dave nodded, it did make sense. "Jim, I know it's gonna be hard but don't get angry when Joe calls. I need you to keep it kind of low so I can try to catch any background noises" Dave said.

"Yeah I know. That's why I am heading back to the Loft. I can set the phone up to record the conversation. Hopefully he will call the house number. I'm sure Joe won't call me at the station, he knows we could trace the call" Jim said as he drove in the direction of the loft.

Joe whistled as he paused in front of the small building. He was feeling good, things were going according to plan. He had Ellison's partner and there wasn't a thing Ellison could do about it. He looked across the street from where he stood when the sound of a trumpet blasting caught his attention. There was a high school band practicing at the pier across the way, the gulls that had been parading nearby flew off at the sudden blaring of the trumpet. The band was practicing for the pier's official reopening later that day. There was already a large crowd gathered for the festivities. He shook his head at all the noise and unlocked the door to the small building and stepped inside.
Blair was in agony. His legs had cramped long ago, his bladder was full and his back was laced with spasms from being in the same half standing position for so long. Just when he thought he would collapse he heard Joe call his name.

"Heya Blair. How are ya?" Joe asked, smirking when Blair looked up at him. The hours of standing in that awkward position had taken their toll on Blair and the pain could be seen plainly, etched on his face.
"I have decided Blair, that I'm gonna be nice to ya. I'm gonna let you stand up, even though I really shouldn't. I mean after all you were refusing my generous hospitality" Joe said.

Blair turned his head up to see the flame above his head had disappeared.
"The flame behind you is off also so you can go back into the room" Joe said.
Blair gave a sigh of relief that turned into a grunt of agony as pain raced up his back when he tried to straighten up.
Joe chuckled at the amusing sight.

"Man, I wish I had a video camera. I would love for Ellison to see this" he said.
He turned off the flames and ran forward hitting Blair squarely in the mid-section, knocking him into the room with his momentum adding to the force of the blow.

"Sorry about that" he said, not sounding sorry at all. "I have to make sure you are not trying to pull a fast one on me and acting like your hurting when you are not"
There was no answer from Blair save a grunt as he curled in on himself, his arms folded protectively around his stomach.

Joe knelt down next to him.

"Here is what we are going to do Blair. We are gonna call your partner, just so you can let him know how much you are enjoying my hospitality" Joe said, looking through the open doorway pointedly and handing Blair the cell phone.
He gripped Blair's hair, turning his head to make sure Blair was looking at him.
"Lets get one thing clear though. You had better call Ellison's cell phone. If I hear anyone saying 'Police' or anything close to it you and that row of flames in the hallway are gonna get to know each other really well. Understand? Blink twice for yes" Joe said, to Blair who was still gasping for breath after getting the wind knocked out of him.

Blair blinked twice and croaked out a yes, slowly getting his breathing under control again.
"Good" Joe said as if talking to a child as he handed Blair the phone.
"Ellison is probably out looking for you so you had better call him on his cell phone." Joe said.

Blair tried to gather his thoughts. If he could convey to Jim something about his surroundings without Joe becoming aware of it them Jim could find him he thought as he dialed the number.

*****

Jim grabbed the phone from his pocket when it rang, keeping his left hand on the steering wheel. He swerved to the curb suddenly, causing the driver behind him to honk his horn angrily. Jim didn't even notice so focused was he on the sound of Blair's voice. He was relieved but he also cursed inwardly. He had been hoping they would be back at the loft and Blair could call him there on the loft phone so that he could record it.

"J-Jim?" Blair spoke again.

Jim's heart clenched at the sound of Blair's voice. He sounded okay, albeit a little out of breath. He wished he could hear Blair's heart beat to know how Blair was really doing. Was he terrified? Did his heart beat strongly? Was he hurt? This thought made him turn towards Dave to signal him to listen in but he saw that Dave's head was clocked to the side and he nodded slightly to let Jim know that he was listening.

"Blair. How are ya buddy?" Jim asked, trying to keep his voice calm for Blair's sake but at the same moment letting the relief at hearing his partner was alive, be heard his voice.

"I'm okay Jim. I..." Blair's voice was cut off as the phone was wrenched from his hands by Joe who turned away and practically shouted into the phone.

"Yeah, Detective Ellison. He's okay, but he won't remain that way for long" Joe said, laughing cruelly.
Jim looked over at Dave to see if he had caught anything worthwhile but Dave shook his head.
Blair looked around frantically as Joe talked to Jim. There was nothing, nothing that he could use to clue Jim in on where he might be. He just had to hope that Jim would somehow be able to trace the call. In the meanwhile he had to make sure just in case Jim did trace it that he could get to Blair safely and not die in the process.

"J-Jim, I'm in a basement. I didn't see which way he took me. He said the basement is booby trapped..." Blair shut up as Joe turned around facing towards him again. Blair shut his mouth quickly, hoping that Joe hadn't seen him talking.
Jim saw Dave suddenly lean forward and recognized that he must have heard something, he didn't know what it was but he let Joe talk without interruption trying to buy Dave more time in which to listen for any clues.

Dave leaned over towards the phone as he listened to what Blair was saying, there was something else too. He extended his hearing more, he was afraid of extending himself too far but for Blair's sake he would do anything.
He stilled in the seat as he went beyond Blair's voice. In the background, he could hear Blair's heartbeat as well as that of the man who held him. There were other odd noises.

He filtered out the sound of the heartbeats to listen to the sounds further in the background. He could hear music in the background, trumpets and horns and some drumming. There were a lot of voices. Hearing individual words would have required too much effort because it sounded like quite a crowd but he could tell that the voices were in the same area as the music. The sound of a motor could be heard nearby the music as well as the sound of a gull cawing in the background.

"So how does it feel to know I took him and there is nothing you can do about it, eh Detective Ellison?" Joe asked chuckling softly. "How does it feel to know that you let him down, that I have your partner, your friend, your..."

"If you hurt him..." Jim began, cutting Joe off.

This time Joe really did laugh outright.
"What? What will you do? Admit it Detective. You have lost and I have won. I'll tell you what I'll do though, I'll let him live for a couple more hours, after that anything can happen" Joe said and cut the connection abruptly.

Joe smirked and grabbed Blair roughly tying his hands together using what remained of the rope Blair had gotten out of earlier. He pulled a gun out of his pocket and trained it on Blair.

"This is for you Blair, if your Detective doesn't come for you within the next two hours..."
He left the sentence hanging, smirking at the fear he could see on Blair's face that the young man could not quite hide.

*****
"Dammit" Jim snarled and slammed his fist into the steering wheel when Joe cut the connection.
Dave winced at the sudden explosion of sound after having his hearing turned up as he did.

Tasha leaned forward and lay a comforting hand on each man's shoulder. Jim took deep breaths as Blair had taught him to do to try and center himself. He nodded his head to signal Tasha that he was okay and then turned to Dave wincing in sympathy with Dave who was shaking his head after having his hearing blasted by Jim's slamming fist.

"I'm sorry" Jim said softly in deference to the other man's heightened hearing.
"It's just that Blair's not here and I feel so-so..."

"Angry. Helpless." Dave supplied. "I know Jim, it's okay. Just caught me a little off guard is all. I know how much you love him Jim, we love him too and we do understand how you feel" Dave said, smiling slightly at Jim. "Now, let me tell you what I heard"

*****

"Okay Jim, this is what I've got. There is a celebration going on down at pier 11." Simon said.

"Pier 11? Why does that sound familiar, Sir?" Jim asked, already pulling out to head in the direction of the pier, one hand gripping the cell phone.

"There was a fire there a few months ago, they've been working on it ever since and now it's open again for the public. There is a ribbon cutting ceremony and the local high school marching band will perform"

Jim nodded and sped the truck up. "That's it Simon, that is where Blair is" he said with conviction.

"Are you sure Jim?" Simon asked. "I mean all you gave me was a cawing gull, some music and motor boat to go on."

"Tell you what Simon. I'm going to go check it out. If I see Joe around I will give you a call and you can send back up." Jim said to him as he turned onto the avenue which would lead to the pier.

"Okay Jim. You call me as soon as you need help, okay?" Simon said, sternly.

"Will do Sir"

"And Jim...good luck"

"Thanks Simon" Jim said as he parked the truck. They were a few blocks away from where the festivities at pier 11 were being held.

"I see the marching band, it's about two blocks down. There is a good crowd on hand" Tasha said, as they sat in the truck figuring out their next move.
"Do you see anything suspicious?" Jim asked her.

"No, there is nothing but a normal crowd at a celebration"

"We have to move further in. Blair said he was in a basement so we can assume from what Dave heard, that Blair is being held in one of the houses across from the pier." Jim said.

A group passed by the side of the truck and Jim motioned for Dave and Tasha to get out of the truck. They walked behind the group as it made its way towards the festivities. They kept close enough so that they looked as if they were part of the group so that if Joe happened to be around he would, hopefully, not notice them.
They separated when they were a block away. Jim continued to walk with the group, keeping to one side so that he wasn't visible from the row of houses along the opposite street.
Dave and Tasha crossed the street and linked arms, to the outside world looking like any other couple out for a stroll. They were in fact scanning the area with their respective enhanced senses to see if they could get some clue as to Blair's exact whereabouts.

Tasha stopped suddenly at the home that was directly across from the pier. She released Dave's arm and her eyes narrowed. Just in front of her she could see marks in the ground as if something or someone had been dragged up the stairs. They extended from the driveway to the porch steps. Almost as if someone has been dragging something from a car. The marks were very faint and would have been missed by someone with normal vision. She began telling Dave what she saw, acting as if they were having a normal conversation while she scanned the ground in front of the house for further clues.

Dave picked up the slack when she stopped talking as she began to focus on one of the porch steps. She could see a few strands of hair and some droplets of what appeared to be blood. Dave touched her arm to anchor her and she smiled gratefully at him and extended her sense of smell further. She could smell the faint coppery scent of blood. She nodded to Dave and they linked arms again and walked further down the street before crossing over to find Jim in the crowd.
Jim's jaw clenched as Tasha relayed to him what she had seen. If that was Blair's blood, he could only hope that it had been left over from when he had gotten shot with the dart and was not from other injuries.

"Someone is coming out of the house" Dave said, he turned so that Jim was partially hidden behind his taller frame.

Joe came out of the house and locked the door, turning and looking up and down the street. When he was satisfied no one was coming for him, he descended the stairs and turned making his way down the street.

Jim had to resist the urge to run after Joe and slam him into the ground but he couldn't. More important than getting revenge on Joe was getting to Blair.
"Shit" the muttered curse snapped Jim out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Dave's face tense as he gazed at Joe.

"What's going on Dave?" Jim asked apprehensively.

"He's muttering to himself about whether or not he should kill Blair" Dave said to himself.

That was all Jim needed to hear. He whipped out the cell phone and called Simon to inform him that they had just seen Joe and that he was at the house where Blair was apparently being kept. His first priority was to get to Blair and get him out of the house. There was no way of knowing whether or not Joe had set anything up in the event he had been captured. If they confronted him now...he was just ruthless enough to blow up the house with Blair in it just to get back at Jim. After they got Blair out they could worry about going after Joe.
He waited until Joe had disappeared and they crossed the street quickly going immediately to the back door. If Joe did come back they didn't want him seeing them at the front door. In any case they had seen him lock it. Better to try the back door.
They walked around to the back door tentatively And Jim reached for the doorknob, turning it to open the door.

"Wait!" Dave said, and Jim instantly froze.

"Something just clicked and it was not the doorknob" Dave said, he listened again but there was no further noise.

Tasha stepped forward and looked through the doorway to see what could have caused the clocking noise. She looked down through the window to the knob on the inside of the door.
"Jim, this is a booby trap. There is a wire extending from the doorknob. Looks like it was triggered when you turned the doorknob. It extends to above the doorway but I can't see what it triggers" Tasha said.

"Can you smell anything unusual? Something that might give us a clue?" Jim asked, turning slightly to face her but being careful not to move the doorknob.
Jim watched in frustration while she focused on her sense of smell. So that is how I look when I'm sniffing something out* he thought to himself as Tasha's face became almost expressionless, the only movement being the twitching of her nose. He watched as her face became a blank mask and realized she was on the verge of a zone out just as Dave reached forward to shake her shoulder lightly. Jim had the horrifying image of Tasha being caught in a zone out and getting hurt. Is that what Blair went through every time Jim had a zone out?
Tasha blinked as she felt Dave tugging at her shoulder. She focused on the feel of his hand on her shoulder. She focused on that to bring her back.

"Sorry. I just..." she stopped, she didn't have to explaining anything to them, they already knew. "Yeah, I can smell gasoline just inside the doorway" she said.

"There is probably not a lot or the smell would have hit you right away" Dave said.

"Yeah. There is probably only enough to permanently scar someone and not actually kill them." Jim concluded wryly.

Jim mulled over this bit of information. He could release the knob and let it fall back into place but knowing Joe that would trigger off a trap as well. Then again maybe Joe wanted them to think this way so they would abandon this entrance and try to go through the front door which could prove to be even more dangerous.
Jim hated the moves and counter moves. It was like a game of chess, not knowing what the other person's strategy was or even if they had one.
He decided to go through this entrance, going through the front would cut into their time. He flicked his head motioning for Tasha and Dave to step out of the way. They moved to the side and watched in tense silence as Jim prepared to open the door.

Tasha could see as Jim's body tensed in preparation as pulled the door open and jumped out of the way. He wasn't quick enough and all he could do was let out a surprised grunt when he felt the heat of the flame, that was ignited by the opening of the door, as it rushed out to greet him. A small flame danced out to catch the sleeve of his jacket and he fell forward, rolling around on the ground to make sure the fire didn't spread.
He flowed to his knees and yelled out for Dave and Tasha to stay back as he saw them moving forward to help him.

"We've got to be careful. We don't know how far Joe has gone. He may have set up motion detectors for all we know" Jim said.
Jim stood slowly, taking off his ruined jacket and making sure Tasha and Dave were well out of the way waved the jacket in front of the doorway. There was no movement from the house.

"Okay" Tasha began, stepping forward "I guess I should be in front so I can keep look out for any traps" she said.

"No way Tasha, I'll stay in front. You can go second and Dave third." Jim said.

"Jim..."

"No. We can't risk it. Anyway, Blair would never forgive himself if something happened to you while you were trying to rescue him" Jim said, he waited until she had nodded before turning back to the entrance. "Okay, keep close and keep your sense of smell on high. As for your sight, remember not all traps have to be set up in front of us. I'll watch the front and you and Dave can be on the lookout as well." Jim paused and turned his attention to Dave "Dave, I need you to keep an ear out. Listen for anything unusual and listen out for Joe, he could return at any moment."

They both nodded as he motioned for Tasha and Dave to stand behind him. They fell into line behind Jim. "We should walk in single file line so we don't set off anymore traps than necessary" he said as he stepped forward to walk through the door.

Tasha stood behind Jim looking over his shoulder. He stepped forward. As she moved to follow she saw movement coming from a darkened room across from them. She focused in on it, cringing as she realized what it was.

"Hit the deck!" Dave screamed, just as she was about to yell out in warning.

Jim threw himself down on the ground instinctively, turning his head slightly to glance behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that both Dave and Tasha lay on the ground behind him, unharmed.

"What the hell was that?" Jim asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Shrapnel" Tasha responded.

"It was triggered by a mechanism under the floorboard by the door" Dave added, "I heard it click as you stepped down.

"Is there anything else coming our way?" Jim asked.

Tasha and Dave checked, finally answering in the negative when they could find nothing. They got up slowly and Tasha and Dave fell into place behind Jim. They continued to walk forward, even more vigilant than before now that they realized the extent of Joe's deviousness. Tasha stopped in her tracks, there was something bothering her but she couldn't figure out what it was yet.

"What is it?" Jim asked after she touched his arm briefly.

"I don't know. Something smells funny but..." She trailed off as she tried to pinpoint the scent. She could smell their sweat, if she didn't know any better she could have sworn she smelled fear in the air. The gasoline by the door still tickled her senses and she separated that out as well, finally getting to the underlying scent. It smelled like paint or varnish. Why would it smell of varnish? The scent was stronger right in front of them. Remembering the weight triggered mechanism at the door she looked down at the floorboards in front of them.
She looked closely and could tell there was a portion of the floor in front of them that had been recently covered with varnish. The paint was slightly darker than in the surrounding floor, it had a slight sheen to it as if it were still wet. She looked even closer to the wood and saw that beyond it being freshly varnished, the wood was different from the rest of the floor. The grain was different.

Jim shifted slightly and she saw that the part of the floor he was stepping on began to buckle. She sprang into action, yanking his arm and stumbling back as he crashed into her.
The snapping of the wood sounded loudly in the room. The pieces of wood fell downward falling into a container filled with liquid, causing some of the liquid to splash up onto his arm. It began burning through the material of his shirt and he ripped the buttons off of his shirt in his haste to open the shirt and yank it off of his body. A few droplets of the liquid made it through the shirt and scorched his arm and he gasped in pain before finally succeeding in ripping it off his body.
He lay, gasping for breath and trying to ignore the pain in his arm as the parts of his skin exposed to the acid screamed out in protest. He tried to collect himself, wishing for all the world that he could dial down the pain far enough. It took all of his strength not to rub at the stinging sensation on his arm, instead he focused on Blair, and his need to find him.

He realized that they had fallen like dominoes. He had fallen on top of Tasha and she in turn had knocked into Dave. His movements in ripping off his shirt meant that he was only half sprawled on top of her. He needed to get off her legs but he couldn't roll to the side, his weight could trigger any other surprises under the floorboard.

He brought his legs under him and straightened, using his right arm for balance. His left arm he kept pressed to his side as if moving it would be of the pain that lurked there.
The others stood slowly, looking around warily. They resumed their course despite every instinct to flee in the opposite direction.
There were stairs to the right of them. Under the stairs was a doorway.

"There is one other heartbeat in here besides ours. It's coming from downstairs." Dave said, nodding towards the door, assuming it would lead to the basement.
Jim nodded and altered course slightly to head for the door.

"Let's be careful, we don't want to trigger any more things in the floor" Tasha said.
Jim stopped at the reminder. "We've got figure out a way to trigger the mechanisms before we are actually there, this way we don't get her. Or at least don't get hurt as badly" he said, looking around.

There was nothing around them within easy reach. There was an umbrella leaning against one corner of the room but that would mean crossing over the room which is probably what Joe hoped they would do.

"How about this?" Dave said, pointing to the broken up floorboard behind him. One of the pieces was long enough to provide limited service.

"Okay. Try to grab it but make sure you don't touch the acid" Jim said.

Dave nodded and reached down for it, pulling it up and breaking off the end that had managed to stay attached to the rest of the floorboard. He passed it to Tasha who passed it to Jim and they continued their walk forward, adding the rhythmic tapping of the stick to the group in front of them, to their journey.
* Finally! The goal was in sight, * if they could just get to Blair, everything would be all right.

Dave and Tasha followed behind Jim, senses alert. They walked slowly following Jim's lead. Their bodies were tense, prepared to spring out of the way should the need arise.
Jim felt as if he were moving through molasses. The air was thick with tension. He wondered who was more tense, Tasha and Dave because they were on alert or himself, because he had to rely on them so completely.
He looked quickly through the open doorway but saw nothing there.

"It's O.K." Dave said, when Jim hesitated.
Jim nodded stepped forward, his thoughts reaching out to Blair right before the explosion hit.

*****

Blair jumped as he heard the sound of an explosion above him.
*What the hell was that? * He thought to himself.

It would be too much to hope that Joe would get caught in a trap of his own making. What if some innocent person had been caught in one of Joe's traps? The thought made him cringe. He had no way of knowing whether not the house was inhabited.
He stilled suddenly as a chill overtook him. What if...? What if it was Jim that had been caught in the trap? What if Jim had somehow been able to find him and had triggered something?

* Oh God. Oh God * Blair thought to himself as he shook his head in denial.
*Please don't let that have been Jim *. If something happened to Jim there was no way he could forgive himself, no way he could survive.

*****

Tasha winced as awareness set back in. She squinted against the sunlight coming in through the window by the back door.
She finally became accustomed to the light as she began a catalog of the rest of her body. There was intense pain and hurt in her arm and finally, it made her have to shift her head to identify the source of the pain.

Her eyes were drawn first to the piece of wood that lay next to her arm and then to the blood that trickled from the wound, down her arm to seep into the fabric under her arm. Whatever it was, it was soft. She shifted her head again to see that it was Dave lying under her arm. He wasn't moving but he did appear to be breathing.

She called to him. When she had no reaction she called again, this time a bit louder. He jerked slightly and she silenced, knowing that his hearing would be sensitive at this point.
He breathed in a great lung full of air and straightened, freezing at the moan of pain that escaped her when he jostled her arm.

"Oh man. I'm sorry Muffin," he said. His tactic worked, and he smiled slightly as she mock growled at him. He shrugged off the open jacket he was wearing. And took the outer shirt off and twisted it around her arm to cover up of injuries which by now was barely bleeding.
The weight against her legs pressed down for a few moments before lifting off. She looked up as Jim came into her line of vision.

"Are you OK?" he asked them. They nodded and looked back at him.

Tasha clutched her arm to her side and gave a small chuckle, causing Jim to look at her curiously.
"We look like we've been in a battle," she said by way of explanation, her other arm waving to indicate their appearance.

Jim nodded. He wondered briefly if there was any spot on his body that wasn't injured and then dismissed the thought, not wanting to jinx himself just in case there was. He sighed and they all stood up. They were weary and weary but they knew they had to continue for Blair's sake.

Jim looked to Dave and Tasha meaning to impart strength. Tasha raised her arm and using a clean corner of the shirt wrapped around her arm, wiped at the blood which trickled down from a cut above Jim's eyebrow.
Jim found that instead of him imparting strength to them he wound up drawing strength from them. His eyes locked with Tasha's and he saw his own determination mirrored there. He took a deep breath and turned back, moving towards the door.

They entered the stairway, holding their collective breath as Jim stepped down. After a moment, Jim continued to make his way downstairs, the others following closely behind him. It was a bit dark in the stairwell but Tasha could see a bit of light emanating from underneath a doorway at the bottom of the stairwell, it grew brighter as they neared.

When they reached the door Jim paused, allowing Tasha and Dave enough time to warn him, if they sensed anything out of the ordinary. When no warning was forthcoming he reached with his left hand and opened the door, his right hand drawing his gun out as a precaution.

They stepped into a small room. The bulb, which hung from the ceiling, was inadequate, serving only to throw long shadows across the room. Across from them was another door and to the left of it a long hallway.

Dave extended his hearing to try to pick the heartbeat he had heard earlier.
"The person who I heard earlier down that hall" he said to them.

Tasha stepped forward to look down the hall. The floor was concrete, so at least there wouldn't be any nasty surprises hidden under the floorboard, as there had been upstairs. She looked toward the ceiling. As far as she could tell there were no traps up there.
She looked over at the walls. She could see several little holes in the wall to her right. There was a slight sheen from some sort of liquid. She began to separate the smells in the room. It was more difficult than before. She felt so tired and it was difficult to filter out the smell of blood and sweat that invaded her nostrils.
Another familiar smell tickled her memory; it was the same smell as before. The smell of fire, and accelerant. It was just like upstairs when they had opened to the outside door to this house of horrors.

"There are traps similar to the one at the outside door. They are on both sides and appear to travel the length of the hallway" she told Jim as she scanned both sides of the hallway.

"Is there a trip wire or something on the floor?" Jim asked.

"No. Nothing. "

"OK. Maybe the trap is set some other way" he said "We'll do like before. We can throw something in the hall and see if it sets off anything. "

They looked around. The room was small enough that they could see all around them, despite the inadequate light thrown off by the bulb. The room was bare.
Tasha unwrapped Dave's shirt from her arm and stepped forward, checking the floor again. She flung up the shirt into the hallway. Jim released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, when no traps were set off.
He stepped forward into the hall and they fell in behind him, continuing the practice of walking in single file. Their footsteps echoed across walls as they walked down the hall.

*****

Blair felt an increase in his growing sense of panic. Here he was in a dark room and tied up. The darkness was so still and he had gotten used to the quiet. The explosion above had scared him though and now this noise outside of the room just added to it. He had to know who was outside, he couldn't take not knowing for sure.

"Jim?" he whispered, praying that Jim would answer him back.
He listened intently to see if there was any response. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he finally got an answer.

"Blair! It's Dave. Don't worry, were coming for you"

*****

"Jim?"
Dave's head jerked up at the whispered query.

"Blair! It's Dave. Don't worry, were coming for you" the words were yelled out even as he turned to clap Jim's shoulder.

"Thank goodness" Tasha said.

"Dave, man sure good to hear you, but what's wrong? Where is Jim? I heard the explosion. Is Jim ... OK?" Blair called out, trailing off.
Jim could not stand to hear the pain in that voice and began to move forward again.

"Blair ...Chief. I'm all right. We're going to get you out of this. Just hold tight. " Jim said, letting his relief at finding his partner be heard clearly in his voice.
They reached the end of the hall and stopped at the doorway. The room was dark when they reached the open doorway. The light from the small room they had been in first was not powerful enough to extend this far.

"Blair, talk to us where are you?" Jim asked.

"I'm right here Jim" Blair said. He was surprised that Jim had not been able to tell where he was right away. He would have to ask about it later though.

"He's in the corner Jim" Tasha said. She walked in that direction it slowly. Jim for the first time had dictated to lead to someone else, since he could neither here nor see Blair is location.

Jim tensed as he walked without being able to see where he was going. He had not realized that he held some small hope his senses would return once they found Blair, until he felt the bitter disappointment when it didn't happen.

"Man we could really use some lights in here" Blair said, giving a slightly hysterical laugh.

"I know buddy, but we don't know if Joe has set booby traps in the light switch" Jim said.
Finally Jim saw movement in the shadow directly in front of them and rushed forward, falling to his knees in front of Blair.
He reached out a hand and touched Blair's face, his hands traveling over Blair's face, finally resting and his jaw. He smiled as Blair leaned his face into Jim's hand.

"Jim, man what happened to your senses?" Blair whispered.

"They're gone Blair"

"Jim!"
"It doesn't matter. The most important thing right now is to get you out of here" Jim said gruffly.

"Would love to Big Guy, unfortunately my hands are tied" Blair said.

"Do have your Swiss Army knife, Chief?"

"Yes, front right pocket"

Jim reached into Blair's pocket and took the knife out and turned Blair to the side and cut the rope, afterwards helping Blair to stand up.
He hugged Blair to his side quickly, leaning down and kissing Blair as he had wanted to since learning of the younger man's abduction. If it were up to him he would never let the younger man go. He knew that wasn't possible though and in any case they needed to get out of there before Joe returned.

"OK guys. We've got to follow the same pattern as when we entered. Single file line all the way out. " Jim said.

The others nodded and upon leaving the room settled into place behind Jim. David was behind him, listening for Joe's return, then Blair, and then Tasha.
They made their way down the hall silently when suddenly shouting filled the air. The noise filtered down to the basement but the words were indistinct.

"It's the police. " Dave explained to the others. "They are getting ready to enter the house. "

They all breathed a sigh of relief and made their way up stairs. Just as they got to the top they heard the loud explosion and moments later, cries of pain.
Jim ran forward the last few steps and saw Simon standing at the doorway. He was behind two others who were pulling a third police officer from just inside the doorway where he lay so they could treat him outside.

Blair and Dave stood behind Jim and looked out at Simon who was talking to one of his other man. The officer went through the door and walked towards them.
Tasha watched from the top step where she still stood. She stared at the ground in front of the officer. This time because she knew what to look for it was much easier to seek a change in texture of the flooring in front of them him and to call out warding to him.

The officer stepped to the to the side but unfortunately this triggered another trap. The officer screamed as something caught him in the shoulder. He fell to the floor writhing as the other projectiles continued their path causing all of the other officers in the doorway to scatter so they would not to get hit.
It took about 30 seconds for the officers outside to stand up from where they had fallen to the ground. When they did, everyone looked towards Captain Banks for direction. It was obvious that they needed a new tactic, trying to get through the house with all the booby traps was causing too many injuries.
Jim looked at his companions and then looked back at the officers, realizing that they themselves had a much better chance of getting out, than the officers had a chance of getting in.

"Simon. Stay there. We made it in, we can make it back out. " Jim said.

The officer on the ground looked to Simon for further instruction, it was obvious he could not get out on his own, bleeding as he was. He could not risk being hit again.
Simon glanced around obviously frustrated but he had no choice but to go by whatever method Jim had used. He nodded his head to indicate Jim should proceed.

"O.K. Dave. I need you to tell me if you hear anything nasty that might be heading our way. "

Dave nodded. Jim looked to the others waiting for their signal that they were prepared. Tasha's earlier comment about being in a battle returned to him, he could not help but think how accurate that observation had been.

"Okay. We are going to keep up the pattern we have set up. Dave, just as we get to the officer who is down I need you to help me to lift him over my shoulder. " Jim said.

"Okay Jim. No problem. " Dave agreed.

"We have to be careful of projectiles again. We should be in single file but not walk closely to one another. Let's space ourselves out. That way we don't get hit if something, flies through the air. " Jim said, before moving forward.

Jim walked forward, wishing for all the world that he had another stick which he could use to tap the ground in front of him as he had done when he had first entered the stairway to the basement.
The officer who had been hit crouched on the ground afraid to stand up. He watched the group move towards him, wondering how Jim and a few civilians could possibly have survived this house of horrors, where he and his fellow officers had almost literally been stopped at the door.

They moved slowly, each one letting the person in front of them lead by few paces. Tasha watched bouncing in place impatiently as Dave followed Jim. Jim walked hesitantly always making sure he was at the ready should either Dave or Tasha shout a warning.

Jim walked forward circumventing the broken flooring from the booby trap that he had set off during his first trip into the house. He finally reached the injured officer and reached down to pull the man up so that he stood upright only wavering slightly. There was some blood on the man's shirt but Jim saw that he was able to walk under his own power.
He nodded to Dave for Dave to follow, indicating that he would not need his help with the injured officer. He began to make his way slowly making sure the injured officer stayed to one side of him but slightly behind to try to keep them in the same path as possible yet to support him should the blood loss from his injury making him dizzy.

Blair stood by the basement steps watching Jim and Dave progress. He bounced nervously, as he watched them. Once they had gotten into the light of the upper floors and he had been able to look at them he had seen just how injured and tired they had all appeared. He was understandably nervous as to what to lay in store a not what should have been a simple walked from the basement stairs to the outside door leading to his freedom.

Tasha as usual was very perceptive of his feelings and made a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. He turned to her and smiled, amazed yet again at how no matter what was going on around them her first thought was to the well-being of others. No, that was not quite accurate. Her thoughts were always with him specifically. He shook his head slightly wondering how it was that he deserved to have such caring friends, before turning back to Jim and Dave to check on their progress.

Joe stood outside amongst the crowd at the pier celebration. He was furious as he watched the police cars lined up outside of his hide out. He looked for Detective Ellison but could do not see him, he could only assume that this meant that Detective Ellison was already in the house poking around. To bad he hadn't gotten around to killing Ellison's partner. That act would have been the ultimate revenge against Ellison.

He walked past the house and looked over, he could see a few officers standing around the back door. Most likely they were gaining access to the house that way. There were only two officers stationed in the front of the house. If he could distract the officers, he could get in through the front door and make sure he got rid of Ellison and his partner for good.

Joe looked around him at the others in the crowd. He moved back so he could use one of the others in the crowd as a distraction.
He took out the gun he had kept tucked in the waistband of his jeans. Not wanting to draw attention to himself he slipped back further into the crowd. Finally, when he felt he had enough crowd cover, he pointed the gun at the leg of the person next to him and shot off one round. The shot sounded unnaturally loud, even among the din of the celebration.
He began to yell and scream causing further panic among the revelers. He looked on in glee as the officers that had been standing in the front of the house rushed over. He took the opportunity to run forward to the front door, slipping the key out of his pocket and swiftly opening the door.
It was done so smoothly that no one noticed, not even the officers at the back of the house. The shot had been drowned out for them because of the noise from the celebration and their own concentration at finding a way to get Jim and company out of the house.

Joe closed the door behind him and watched Jim hand the injured man over to the other waiting police officers. Detective Ellison turned and watched his companions make their way to safety. The tall, lanky man behind him moved slowly. Joe watched him, curious as to how he would proceed.
Joe wanted to make his way forward, but he knew better than to rush. It was his own hide out, and he was all too aware that it contained many traps. He could not help but wonder how Detective Ellison and his companions had made it through the first time.

He began to walk forward slowly. He remembered every trap he had set. After all you never knew when you had to make a clean get away and it would be really embarrassing to get caught in your own trap.
He stopped and looked back to the tall lanky man who suddenly cocked his head to one side as if he had heard something. He was about to draw out his gun in preparation for the discovery, when the man stepped forward onto a creaking floorboard. Joe smiled, he knew this meant the man had set off another trap.
His gaze flickered to the side momentarily where he saw another man stepping forth from the basement stairs. He had to stifle a growl as he recognized the newly freed Sandburg, Ellison's partner. He was not going to let Ellison get away unscathed like that. If he had to kill every officer in the house, he would do it.
He took a deep breath and centered himself. He realized there was no way he could get all of the officers in the vicinity. There were too many standing outside of the house. He had to concentrate his efforts on one person and it had to be someone Ellison cared about. He just had to see who it would be easiest to grab amongst those still in the house.

"Oh Shit!"

Joe heard the exclamation and his attention focused back on the tall lanky man. He smiled as he remembered which trap was there. It was perfect. Joe looked to the side. The table next to the door still contained the equipment he had left there should an occasion such as this arise.
A fit of coughing in front of him alerted him that he needed to move quickly. He picked up the gas mask that was on the table and strapped it on, turning his attention back to those who were invading his hide out.

*****

Dave covered his mouth, trying to stifle his coughing and at the same time trying not to inhale any of the gas. He had heard a sound coming from the opposite direction, but just as he had been about to listen in, he had set the trap off.
He felt the tears rolling down his face and it didn't take him long to surmise that this was tear gas that was filling the air.

Shouts filled the air as the officers outside implored them to hurry. Their level of anxiety was increasing as the visibility in the house decreased. Dave stood where he was and listened behind him for Blair.
He knew if he couldn't see then neither could Blair, but at least he had the advantage of being able to hear in front of him and perhaps be able to avoid any other traps that awaited them.

Blair turned back in the direction of the basement stairs. Tasha was still there though he couldn't really see her through the haze. All he could make out was the shadowy figure in the basement stairwell. He was concerned for Tasha. If the tear gas was affecting every one else, he was sure for Tasha it must be that much worse. Besides the fact that she was inhaling it, there was the possibility that the gas itself was irritating her eyes.

"Tasha, are you alright?" he called to her, trying to be heard above the shouting and coughing.

"Blair, I'm okay. Go with Dave. I'll be right behind you" she said, her voice already raspy from the irritation of the constant coughing that had begun before anyone else even noticed the gas filling the room.

"You have got to move up with me Tasha. This has to be disorienting for you, we can't risk you walking alone" he said, holding his shirt over his mouth and nose, trying to reduce as much as he could, his exposure to the gas.
His only answer was a cough. He began to move back to her before she called out for him to stop.

"No, Blair! Go with Dave. I can still see you. I'll follow your lead. If you double back now you might set off another trap." She said.

Blair hesitated unsure of what to do before nodding his head. She was right of course, there was no way of knowing exactly what traps Joe had in this house and he couldn't afford the possibility of a misstep. He just had to rely on Dave to get them out of here and hope that Tasha could stay close enough to make it out safely. He looked in front of him for Dave, but his vision was wavery. As with Tasha, all he could see before him was a shadowy figure.

"Dave, where...." Blair's voice was cut off by a fit of coughing, but not before Dave heard him call out to him.

Dave turned slightly and stretched out his hand in the direction of Blair's voice.
"Blair, I'm just a few steps forward from you and slightly to the left. I'm reaching for you, just try to grab my hand" he said, stretching his arm out as far as he could without moving from where he stood.

Dave kept his hearing focused on Blair's progress and so did not hear the sound that had distracted him before he had inadvertently set the trap off.
Joe moved forward slowly. He could see in front of him although it was a bit hazy. The mist from the tear gas did not make it back as far as he was and was instead being pulled toward the back door and towards the officers outside. They had moved back as a precaution, so they wouldn't be affected.
Joe frowned, realizing Blair was close enough to the door and to freedom that to try and recapture him would be useless. He probably wouldn't get close enough to do any damage before being caught.

He watched as Blair's hand was grasped by the lanky man, and he was pulled to the man's side. The man turned back towards the back door. He watched curiously as the man cocked his head in the same motion as when Joe had first entered the house. He could swear the man was listening for something. What could he be listening for though? All he could hear was a lot of shouting by the officers outside. Surely that could be of no help to the tall man. It's not as if the officers outside were giving instructions. If anything their vision was even worse off out there since the smoke was blowing out in their direction, right into their faces.

He could not spare the man another thought however because suddenly his attention was snagged by something else. He saw movement from the corner of his eye. He looked over to the basement stairs and smiled when he saw that there was someone else there.

There was a woman who now stood just outside the basement steps. Now he understood why Sandburg had suddenly turned back towards the basement stairs. He moved forward again, and watched for an opening.
Tasha squinted as she tried to see through the haze and watched as Dave finally grasped Blair's hand. She would have breathed a sigh of relief if she were not so concerned about inhaling the fumes from the tear gas.

Dave and Blair began to make their way forward. They were not walking side by side, because that would be dangerous in this place. Blair was walking directly behind Dave, following in his footsteps as much as possible. Tasha watched them, trying to concentrate on the path they were taking. It was getting increasingly hard to breathe or see. Blair was right, the tear gas was affecting her badly. She hadn't wanted him to know how badly though because he would have insisted on coming back for her. She couldn't allow it. The most important thing right now was to get Blair out of there, and she couldn't risk him doubling back for her.

She already had her shirt pressed over her mouth and nose to filter the air but now she added her jacket as well. She wiped at her eyes which were tearing profusely and stepped forward, keeping as much to the route Blair and Dave had taken as possible. Ironically, the blood from the wound she had suffered earlier was serving to center her since it kept her from zoning on the tear gas.
She walked forward but stopped suddenly when she saw a movement from the corner of her eye. She turned her head just in time to see a man running up to her.

"Tasha get down!"

Jim's head snapped up at the sound of Dave's voice. He was about to run into the living area when he felt Simon grab his arm to stop him.
"Don't Jim, remember the traps."

Something akin to a growl escaped Jim's throat as he nodded his head in acknowledgement. He looked into the house, through the haze, barely making out the shadowy figures inside. It was easier than before, as a significant amount of the haze had blown out of the house. He could see two figures close together, most likely Dave and Blair.

"What the heck..." he said aloud as he looked behind those two figures. There was another person which he assumed to be Tasha and then approaching Tasha was someone else.

The person was almost to her side when he or she reached towards the wall to flick a lever there. All of the officers standing just outside the doorway backed away as a fan whirred into action and began to blow the gas out there in earnest.
The amount of gas thrown in her face plus the visual stimulation of trying to look for Joe from the corner of her eye proved too much for Tasha. She almost zoned and that caused a hesitation. Had that not happened, she might have been able to run out of the house on the heels of Dave and Blair who were now being pulled out of the doorway by Simon.
Instead she found herself slightly disoriented and a second later stunned as she was slammed into the wall, by the man who had apparently come out of nowhere.

Jim focused his vision, one small part of his mind noting that it was back at Sentinel level. He looked into the face of the man rushing towards Tasha. A glimpse of the face told him that this was the elusive Derrick Bennett, better known as Joe. He pulled out his gun and was about to train it on Joe when Joe slammed into Tasha.

Jim held the gun in the air and at the ready. He couldn't take aim. They were tussling back and forth and his Sentinel vision was wavering in and out in reaction to the tear gas. He couldn't risk shooting Tasha. That didn't mean however that he couldn't try to bluff his way out of this.

"Step away from her!" Jim shouted into the room.

Joe froze only for a second and then grabbed Tasha and pulled her up along side him, stepping to the side until they found themselves in front of the basement stairs as he got Ellison into his direct line of vision. Tasha's struggles were weak, the tear gas was affecting her too much whereas he had been protected because of the mask.

"I said step away!" Jim growled, raising the gun to make sure Joe knew it was trained on him.

"Ah, ah, ah Detective" Joe said, pulling Tasha in front of him. "You can't shoot me Ellison. Or actually, you could but you would have to go through your friend first." Joe said with a bark of laughter.

Jim gritted his teeth at the sound but didn't lower the gun.
"Give it up Joe. It's over" he said, taking a small step into the room, ignoring the gasps of those behind him knew what a misstep could mean in this house of horrors.

"Stay right there Ellison." Joe said, tightening his hold on Tasha.
Jim tensed even more as Joe brought a device out of his pocket and held it out for all to see.

"That's one thing you should know about me Ellison, I always have a plan." He said, as he shifted the device in his hand. "You see this? It's a nice little something I cooked up. You or any of your buddies set another foot in this place and we all go boom! Have I made myself clear here, Ellison?" Joe said.

Jim didn't need to be able to see him to know that Joe was smirking, you could hear it in his voice. He wanted nothing more than to take him down, but he couldn't risk it. At least not until Tasha was free and clear of him. He hesitated only a moment more before he lowered his gun, placing it on the ground in front of him.

"Okay. Okay, what is it you want Joe?"

"I want you to step away from the house first, all of you. If we can do that then no one will get hurt" Joe said, smiling in satisfaction as everyone at the door complied with his wish.

The haze had now cleared almost completely and those outside of the house gritted their teeth at the scene being played out before them.
Tasha's eyes were wide with fear as Joe held onto her, the device that could kill her being held but a few inches from her face.
Joe shifted slightly, his grasp on Tasha tightening. His look encompassed everyone in the doorway before finally settling on Jim. Their eyes locked, and Joe smiled at him, the smile making Jim's blood freeze in his veins.

"There's a second thing you should know about me, Ellison"

"What's that?" Jim said, his eyes narrowing.

"I can't be trusted" Joe said, laughing as he pressed the trigger on the device.

"Noooooo!" the shout of anguish came from behind Jim and he turned to see Dave grabbing Blair to prevent him from running back into the house.
It wasn't a huge explosion as they had been expecting. Instead a series of small popping sounds could be heard and the ceiling began to crumble. This was all lost on Jim however. He dove to the ground for his gun, hoping he could get one last shot off at Joe and perhaps give Tasha the chance to run. It was not to be, however.

He picked the gun up, and still crouched low on the ground, looked inside of the house.
Joe had produced the gun that had been tucked in his waistband and he stood struggling with Tasha inside as the ceiling caved in around them. They slammed into the wall beside the basement stairs, the force of the blow bouncing them off of the wall where they continued to struggle in front of the doorway.
Suddenly a shot went off and Tasha and Joe stilled until with a sudden force Joe yanked Tasha to him as he fell backwards through the open doorway, debris falling where they had been standing just moments before.

*******************

They stood outside one half hour later as the rescue team tried to sift through what was left of the house. The going was slow because pieces of the home continued to crumble.
They stood and watched the slow progress. Or rather, Jim watched. Dave had been taken to the hospital. Blair had refused to leave the site and instead stood staring at the destruction, caught in his own version of a zone out. Jim watched his lover, the trembling visible to him even without enhanced vision. His lover looked lost and adrift, and it seemed to be only sheer force of will that kept him on his feet. He couldn't stand to see his partner hurting in this way. He didn't know what he could possibly do to help, but he had to try.
Jim sighed and approached his Guide.

"Blair" he said, reaching out to touch Blair's shoulder. He had done the same about fifteen minutes before and Blair had not responded. It appeared to be case now was well, and after a moment he turned to walk back towards the tree he had been leaning against.

He stopped when he felt Blair grab hold of his arm. He turned to see Blair looking up at him, eyes watery though no tears were shed.
Blair turned back towards what was left of the house, his hand still on Jim's arm.

"Why, Jim? Why did she do it?" he whispered.

"Why did she do what?" Jim asked softly.

"Why did she...die for me. I'm not worth dying for. I didn't want her to die, damnit!" Blair said fiercely.

"She thought you were worth it Blair, don't be angry at her for that. She loved you." Jim said simply.

The words proved to be Blair's undoing and his whole body began to shake, the tears that had been threatening began to wind down his face.
Jim reached for him and pulled him into his embrace, trying to impart strength to Blair. He held him silently. There was nothing he could say. There were no whispered words of consolation that could take away Blair's anguish. All he could do was hold him tighter and grieve with him.
He held Blair even as the shuddering stopped and Blair's sobs evened out.
Finally, Blair was still and Jim had to listen closely to the whispered words coming from his Guide.

"Oh God, Jim...it hurts. It hurts so much." Blair whispered.

"I know Chief. I know."

--The End--