I Love Her and I Mean It

CHAPTER 7

"Let's go," Baez called, signaling all the officers around her.

"I'm coming with you," Linda spoke up, shocking everyone in the room.

"No you're not," Frank disagreed sternly.

"Yes I am," Linda fought back, "I'm part of the reason he's gone and I'm not just gonna sit back and twiddle my thumbs while someone tries to kill my husband I don't care who he is." When they noticed that Linda wasn't going to budge from her stance no matter what was said, Baez caved in and they set off to find Detective Reagan.

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The next time Danny had opened his eyes, the car had stopped. He looked out the window as best as he could and all that lay in his view were countless trees. Soon the door behind him opened and he looked as best as he could to see Michael standing behind his weak body. Just then he was grabbed and pulled out of the car and he fell on the hard, dirt ground with a thud. The impact wasn't helping his headache and the aching coming from every inch of his body, but something told Danny that the man standing above him didn't really care. He took a minute to really look around and that's when he noticed something; they were parked on the side of the road, right outside of the woods. And there was absolutely no sign of a building or cabin or anything. That's when Danny started to worry. He knew that there had to have been some sort of cabin where Michael took his victims and beat them as badly as he wanted, but if this is where he was stopping, then he was definitely in trouble. His partner wouldn't be able to trace his location, and if he was really changing his MO just for Danny's sake, they wouldn't find their evidence. This plan was going farther downhill than Danny expected, and at that very realization, the sight of Michael coming out of the car with a gun in hand made his heart race even more. He watched as the dominant figure cocked back the gun, forced him to his feet, then pressed the cold, metal barrel against his sore back.

"Walk," Michael ordered and Danny found himself struggling to stay calm.

"Where...where are we going?" Danny asked, his voice shaking.

"I said walk!" Michael boomed and he fearfully walked towards the wooded streets, terrified of what was next to come.

The walk through the woods was not as long as it felt. The only way Danny could see anything was with the flashlight Michael held, guiding their way. He never hated the woods; he had been camping enough times with his family to grow pretty fond of them. But in that moment, he felt like he would never step foot in the woods ever again. Soon with the light in front of him, Danny could see the cabin hidden in the trees, and felt his heart sink. Despite the lack of distance, there was very little chance his phone was working all the way out here. Meaning there was very little chance his partner would be able to find them. He prayed that his doubts were wrong, but there was something in him that wouldn't even believe those. He let himself be led into the location they had spent so long looking for and really saw it when they walked in. There was a wall covered in weapons as if it were a hardware store. On other housed pictures of every single victim at various stages as if he were mocking them and their weakness. Everything they needed to put this man away covered every inch of the walls. Hopefully the others found it before Michael could have his way with him. Just then, he felt his body being thrown to the ground and he watched as Michael went over to the side, retrieved his Polaroid camera and snapped a picture of Danny lying crumpled on the ground. He then lifted the bound detective into a seating position and gave him a strong right hook across the face.

"Not so fun is it being the victim huh?!" Michael shouted at him, "How do you like being beaten? Huh! Nobody does that to my daughter! I don't care who your father is! She's my daughter!" Seeing that this was going nowhere go fast, Danny thought he'd try to reason with him.