Hour Game

Chapter 11

On the big screen in Ops room, all stood rooted to their spot. Callen had been still holding the cell phone to his ear as he watched the red Mini Cooper go head to head with the trailer. The car swerved at the last second but still its end got clipped by the semi, throwing it into a spin. Instead to coming to a rest, it hit a parked car and flipped. It somersaulted three times before it finally came to rest on its side, now resembling a dented and wrecked metal box.

Kensi covered her mouth, unable to speak, eyes welling with tears. Even Deeks stared at the screen in horror. Eric looked ready to cry. Sean gripped his own cell phone tightly, almost cracking the thing.

Then after what seemed like a year, a figure hauled itself out of the broken driver's side window and dropped like a string less puppet on the asphalt. A second figure climbed out and slipped and fell out.

"They're okay. Send in a medical team, STAT," Callen barked at Eric. He hurried to his chair and dialed 911.

"Callen!" Sam's voice made him turn around to the screen just in time to see two black vans pull up at the crash site.

"That's not the paramedics-"

Eight men spilled out of the two vans, and converged on the two women near the crashed Cooper. They recognized Kate as she stood up, supporting herself against the car; Nell was still on the ground, staring at the men and Kate's back. She had no choice to drop her gun which she had managed to pull out. She had to, for there were eight UMPs pointed right at them. She couldn't risk Nell getting hurt.

The agents could only watch with growing helplessness as four of them grabbed them. Nell was visibly limping when they pushed them into the back. Just before they pushed Kate into the back, she looked up and directly looked at the traffic camera nearest to her.

The look was clear. Get the bastards.

Consciousness came back to Kate slowly. Her eyelids felt like they'd been lined with lead. Her mouth felt dry and the sudden nauseating taste on her tongue made her want to gag. Peeling her eyes open, she stared into the darkness. Slowly her night vision kicked in. She could make out the surroundings better.

Looking up she realized she had been hung from the rafters with chains. But they had handcuffed her to them, the sharp edge digging into her wrists, nicking skin, drawing blood. From somewhere a draught was blowing in, making her goose bumps all over her skin. She groaned in annoyance noting that she'd been stripped to her V-necked tee and jeans. Her boots, socks were missing; so were her watch, her wallet and to her serious indignation the flattened bullet that she wore on a leather cord around her neck. It was more of an emotional value than sentimental. It certainly didn't have any monetary value. She thought about it for a minute, her odd lucky charm, and an everyday reminder of her mortality.

Her arms were straining but she couldn't take the pressure of them; she was hung almost a foot from the dusty floor. A scuffling noise caught her attention. She turned her head as best as she could. A figure was tied to the pole to her left.

"Nell? Is that you?" she was going cross eyed to keep the person in the line of vision. It spiked the dull throbbing behind her eyes, not helping her at all. Whoever it was made a soft groaning sound, which was soon followed by rattling of chains. Then a tiny groggy voice said, "Kate...?"

"Nell? Are you okay?"

Nell slowly focused on what she had first mistaken to be a hanging sack of some sort. It was Kate. A tiny gasp of squeaky surprise escaped her. Kate's voice made her focus n her. She hung painfully by her wrists from the rafters.

"Oh my god, Kate-" she began.

"Are you okay?" Kate interrupted her.

"A little sore. But I'm okay," she replied. "And you?"

"Feeling the wonderful thing called gravity," came the reply. "Did they duck tape you or just chain you?"

Nell tried moving but it was very limited. The only good thing was the chain links were fairly large and her small stature made it possible to move her arms. "Chained. But I can move. Not much but enough."

"That's good," she heard the older woman say.

She about to ask what good it was getting chained when a muffled bang caught both their attention. Heavy footsteps reached them before at least ten men swung into their view.

Karlov didn't bother hiding his face like the rest eight of them. The other unmasked man was the bodyguard from the alley.

"Look what we have here. Two birdies in one stone, da?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "What do you want Karlov. Boy you have some serious death wish, showing your ugly mug after all that you've done and emphasis on ugly."

That got her a rifle butt to the head. The gash on her temple from the accident reopened and blood gushed out, blinding her. The pain that came nearly made her throw up what little she had in her stomach. Through the ringing in her ears, she heard Nell screaming.

"Stop it," Karlov said, raising one hand.

"Don't you dare touch her," Kate said, staring at the Russian with pure hatred in her eyes.

Karlov smiled. Then he leaned in and breathed, "Now that is more like the Katherine Blackwood the world knows. Let's see if Director Crowe still cares for his pet tigress." He turned around and motioned to one of the faceless men.

In a flurry of activity, a camcorder was set up on a tripod. One of the men pointed his gun at her, a silent warning against any sudden moves. Kate wasn't planning on it. Nell had two trigger happy morons in front of her. They unhooked the chains and dropped her like a sack of potatoes. Pins and needles in her feet nearly made her lose her balance. One pushed her to a chair and started tying a rope around her torso, before duck-taping her legs to the chair. Her cuffed hands lay on her lap. Nell was placed on a similar chair and dragged to Kate.

Nell looked terrified but there was something else in her dark hazel eyes.

"Let's call Director Crowe. I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear from you, Katherine," Karlov sneered. "As will your faithful sidekick, Sean Winchester, da?"

And for the first time she'd been captured, Kate felt an icy fist grip her heart.