Moving slowly, he knelt to one side of Ellison, and gently reached out to Sandburg’s forehead, his thumbs lightly pressed on the center of the young man’s forehead, his fingertips poised over both temples. With slow, featherlike motions, he began to rub light circles with his fingers. Sandburg tried to pull away from the unfamiliar touch, but gradually relaxed, then leaned into the calming, healing massage.
“Let your arms go around him,” Morrison said, softly, to Jim. “Let him be safe again.”
Ellison wrapped his arms across Sandburg’s chest, easing his guide’s head to rest back against him. Blair still had a tight grip on his hands but after a moment, the vise-like clamp shifted to Jim’s arms, tangling in the material of his shirt.
Morrison kept up the massage for another minute, then addressed Sandburg. “Blair? My name is Benjamin Morrison. I’m a doctor. Your friend Jim has brought you here for me to take a look at you. When you’re ready, I’d like to check your scalp and your face to see if you have any injuries there. May I do that now?” His fingers stilled their touch, but he kept his hands lightly around Sandburg’s face.
Quiet now, Blair opened his eyes, staring at the stranger. He said nothing for almost a minute, then his eyes looked to one side and saw Simon on his right.
“Hey, kid.” Banks smiled at him, trying not to let his worry show.
“Jim?” Blair whispered.
“I’m here. Right behind you.”
Sandburg melted back against the sentinel. “He okay?” Blair asked, breathlessly.
“He’s fine. Let him check you out. I did the best I could, but I’d really prefer if a medical doctor took a look at you.”
Blair nodded, then looked to his left, his gaze fastening on the examination table. A violent shiver shook him, as he cried out and closed his eyes. Jim wrapped his arms tighter around his chest, murmuring soft encouragements.
Morrison began the massage again. “Amy,” he said over his shoulder. “Could you and your friend move the bed into the corridor? We don’t need it.”
She moved his stethoscope and clipboard to a counter, then Simon helped her wheel the bed through the wide door. When Simon reentered the room, he could see that Sandburg’s tension level had dropped considerably.
“Blair, could I check your skull?” Morrison asked. “I hear you were hit on the head. You don’t have to move or anything.”
Sandburg nodded, then relaxed further as the doctor gently massaged his scalp, his fingers lightly probing the two bumps on the back of his skull.
“Blair, hold these for me for a minute, will you?” Morrison handed Sandburg his small flashlight and a wooden tongue depressor, the young grad student automatically releasing one hand from Jim’s sleeve to accept them from him. When he was ready, the doctor said, “Thank you. I’d like to check your ears. Could you hand me my flashlight? It’ll help me see better.”
Sandburg passed him the narrow flashlight, hardly reacting as his head was turned first one direction, then the other. Morrison kept up a light dialogue as he checked Blair’s eyes, then surprisingly, Sandburg made no complaints as the doctor asked for and received the tongue depressor, stuck it in his mouth and looked at his throat.
Damn, he’s good. Simon knew he was grinning. Hell, Jim was smiling, too, both men relieved beyond words that this doctor knew what he was doing with a traumatized patient.
“Lookin’ good, Blair.” Morrison rested one hand on Sandburg’s shoulder. “I’d like to listen to your heart and listen to you breathe, but before we do that, what would really be helpful was if you would let me take a sample of your blood. We can ask Amy if she would then take it and check to make sure that whatever you were given is leaving your system. I’m sure that would be a big relief to you, right? I know needles are probably way down there on your list of favorite things right now, but if I promise to be as quick and painless as possible, would you work with me on it?”
Sandburg nodded, watching as Morrison quietly took three vials of blood from his outstretched left arm.
“Blair?” the doctor called softly when Sandburg’s eyes closed. “Blair?” No response.
“He’s been in and out of consciousness for the last hour.” Ellison carefully laid him flat when Morrison finished.
“I need to get some papers and an examination kit. I’ll be back in five minutes. If there is any trouble at all, just call for help. Press the red button on the wall.”
“I’ll do that.”
Morrison stood and handed the vials to Amy. “Drop these off, then come right back,” he said, almost inaudibly, although Simon could see Jim watching them. Morrison then turned to the captain. “May I speak to you in the hallway for a moment?”
“Certainly.” Simon looked at Jim again as he followed the doctor into the corridor.
“Benjamin Morrison,” the doctor began, holding out his hand.
“Simon Banks.”
“What’s your relationship to the patient, Mr Banks?”
Simon took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “I am the captain of Major Crimes Department of the Cascade Police. Blair Sandburg works with our unit. His partner is with him now: James Ellison. Jim Ellison. They are also friends and share an apartment. Blair is also my friend,” he added, making sure the doctor understood this was the most important part of their relationship.
“Can you give me a brief case history?”
“Blair has been missing for four days. He was found about forty-five minutes ago, locked in a semi-trailer with four bodies.”
“Which certainly explains his smell.”
“Yes. We haven’t been able to question him yet about what occurred. He’s been drugged, as far as we can tell.”
“How was he found? Clothed, unclothed? Tied at all? Gagged? Blindfold?”
“His hands were bound behind his back.”
“How? Ropes, cuffs?”
“It was a leather device. It buckled. I have it in the truck if you need to see it. I have it in an evidence bag. I removed it wearing gloves.”
“I might want to look at it later. Thank you. Amy mentioned the possibility that Blair was not only physically assaulted, but also sexually assaulted.”
Simon nodded. “That’s a distinct possibility. We believe he was kidnaped by a group that films their victims being abused and assaulted for an Internet audience. The four bodies I mentioned are also believed to have been used in what are commonly called ‘snuff’ films. The bodies have not yet been reported.”
“Yes, Amy explained to me the secrecy behind this.” Morrison stared back at the closed examination room door. “His partner — Jim?”
“Yes, Jim.” Simon cleared his throat, then added quickly, “May I say that they are very close friends, nothing more—”
Morrison held his hand up, shaking his head slowly. “They care for each other deeply. That’s my only concern right now. Any other information is unnecessary. I’ll be back in about five minutes. You can either wait here, or wait inside the room. When Amy comes back, could you please ask her to remain in the corridor, unless there’s an emergency.”
“I’ll tell her that — and thank you, Doctor. I appreciate the care with which you’re handling him. Blair Sandburg is a strong, unique, soft-hearted individual who in no way deserved what happened to him. And he may also be a vital link to information on where five other men are being held, to make it worse for him.”
“No one deserves something like this.”
“There’s something else—” Simon said, as the doctor turned to leave. “I don’t know if this has any bearing on how you deal with this situation, but one month ago, Blair almost died. He was assaulted and left to drown in a fountain. The EMT’s gave up on him — told us he was dead. Jim kept on with CPR regardless and brought him back.” Simon wiped his hand over his eyes, trying to wipe away the burning tears.
“Thank you for telling me that,” Morrison said softly, his hand on Simon’s forearm. “He’s special to you both, isn’t he?”
&n
bsp; “I can’t begin to tell you.”
“And Amy says that you believe his life still may be in danger?”
“Yes. We feel that if we keep his discovery under wraps for a few more hours, we might be able to buy some time — not only for him, but also time to help us locate the other five missing men.”
Morrison listened intently to him, nodding slowly as he put together more of the pieces. “I’m going to go ahead and fill out the paperwork that I need to do, we’ll run the tests, but I’ll keep everything off the computers for at least 24 hours, or until I hear from you. There are tests that need to be done as quickly as possible to preserve the evidence and to determine what was done to him. You may discover, though, that he may never remember the details.”
“Doctor, I don’t know if I want him to remember any of this.” Simon watched the doctor disappear down the corridor. Summoning his strength, the captain turned around and went back into the examination room. And froze.
My God.
The nightmare was back.
Ellison was kneeling beside the still, pale body of his guide. Shaking hands cradled Sandburg’s face, Ellison’s back hunched over the motionless young man, his forehead resting on his partner’s. The chanted mantra echoed through the sterile room. “Stay with me, Chief. You hear me? Stay with me. Listen to my voice. Follow it back.” Tears from one man bathed the other’s face. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. Stay with me. Damn it, Sandburg. Open your eyes!” And Ellison’s mouth pressed over his partner’s, breathing life into the stilled lungs. Trembling hands caressed the unresponsive face. Another breath.
“Jim?” Simon whispered, crouching beside them, his hand resting on Ellison’s curved back. “Should I—”
He felt it. He felt the connection this time. Eyes wide open, Simon saw the panther and the wolf. Saw the wolf turn to face the panther across the room, then the powerful explosion as the two collided and merged. Saw the sentinel’s lips seal his guide’s, the offer of life passed from one to the other. The offer accepted. Again.
Ellison collapsed at the same moment Sandburg took a ragged gasp of air. Limbs trembled beneath his hands as Simon reached for them both, holding them, covering them with a prayer and his own desperate need to touch them, to feel the life in each of them.
And then Blair was awake, frantic, sobbing in abject terror at what he remembered, clinging to Jim who was hardly strong enough to hold up his head. Whatever had happened, it had left the sentinel depleted, exhausted ��� and smiling, tears still running down his face, his arms wrapped around his guide.
Jim opened his eyes and looked at Simon, then turned his head to place a kiss on Sandburg’s forehead.. “He’s alive. He’s with me. The rest we’ll deal with. Hear that, Chief?” he said, whispering it to the young man lying beside him on the floor.
“They’re ��� gonna ��� kill ��� them.” Blair gasped out. “Jim ��� I ��� we ��� help them ���”
“I know. We’ll get through this, we’ll get you fixed up, then we’ll do everything we can to help the others. I promise you that,” Jim whispered back. “Your Blessed Protector is just running out of gas right now. Keep on breathing, okay?”
Please, Simon added, falling back to rest against the wall behind them, burying his face in his hands. I don’t think any of us has the strength to go through this again.
Chapter Five
*
“Nash.”
“Nash, it’s Harvey. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“I’m checking into a motel for the night. Talk to me, Harv.”
“I just checked the Internet site again. We’ve only got four alive now, if we’re going by the pictures there.”
“Who’s missing?”
“William Fong.”
“Damn. — What about Evan?”
“His picture is still there. The same one they’ve had all along. Nash, I asked for more details on the four videos they have for sale — looks like only two of them are snuff films. The other two are videos of what appeared live on the net, plus segments that didn’t get on the net. No identity given to the men who were killed, although the references to police officers is plain. From what can be seen of the victims’ faces in the ads, I’m fairly certain they’re four of the ten kidnaped men.”
“Well, we’ll know more tomorrow once the bodies are examined. It’ll be awhile before we hear anything, I suspect. The bodies aren’t in great condition.”
“I did some more checking, Boss, and it looks like they have been — and, no doubt, will be — doing their B&D act on one of the men publicly on the Internet every two nights. They get votes, then say they make their choice based on votes from their subscribers, but there’s no way to verify that, of course. My guess is that they just do whoever they want to.”
“So we have two nights before the next one?”
“Best guess, right now.”
“Harvey, have you found anything else on who’s running this show? Any idea where they might be?”
“Man, they’re good, whoever they are. The company that owns the VISA account has been in business for over five years. Money goes to bank account, and I can’t do much about getting info on it until tomorrow morning when the banks open in Chicago. It’s a Saturday, but some of the branches are open Saturday mornings. I should be able to find out something.”
“Good work. Now, go home, Harvey. It’s already eleven-thirty. Get some sleep so you can get an early start in the morning. There’s nothing else we can do tonight.”
“Will do. Boss — how’s the man you found?”
“After I check in here, I’m heading back to the hospital. He wasn’t firing on all thrusters earlier.”
“Drugged?”
“Yeah. Drugged, beaten up, thrown in with a bunch of dead bodies. Probably suffering from a huge case of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He didn’t look like we’d be getting any information out of him for quite a while.”
“Do you think he was— you know ��� hurt?”
“Are you asking me if he was raped?”
“I was trying not to ask that. But, yeah, that’s what I’m asking. I can’t stop thinking about Evan. What are they doing to him? What condition is he going to be in when we get him back?”
“Whatever happened to him, we’ll make sure he gets the right help.”
“Right. Anything else I can do now?”
“No ��� No. Just keep working on the case. If anything breaks, we’ll keep in touch.”
“Will do. Nash, you didn’t answer my question earlier.”
“I know. It’s not an easy question to answer. Ellison seemed to think his partner had been sexually assaulted.”
“Did he mention Evan at all?”
“Bubba, he wasn’t saying much of anything last I saw him. They still have him at the hospital. I’ve got to make a few phone calls, then I’m going to swing by and get them. I’ll call you, Harv. Go home.”
“Just closing everything down. Joe’s insisting on driving me home ��� damn it, Nash. I feel like I’m deserting Evan, though. He’s still out there; he’s not taking a break, is he? What right do I have to go home to my nice comfortable place? What kind of a friend am I to just forget about him and go about my life? As if his suffering means nothing. As if it doesn’t matter that his goddamned picture is displayed for the fornicating public to stare at and jerk off to. Is that fair? Is that right? Huh? Surely there’s something — something — I can do. Damn it to hell. Damn it ��� .”
“Harvey? Harv?”
“Nash? It’s me — Joe. Listen, he’ll be okay. I’ll take him home.”
“Good plan ��� take care of him.”
“I will. I guess there’s nothing new at your end?”
“Not since I last spoke to you. We’ve got Sandburg at a hospital. I’m going to call Frank Black and fill him in on everything.”
“Frank Black, eh? Mr Psychic Connection?”
“Joe, they seem t
o grow them here. Ellison — Sandburg’s partner — is much the same. I haven’t figured out all the angles yet, but I’m gonna.”
“Good luck, man. I’m taking Harvey home now. Keep me informed.”
“I will. My cell phone is on, Bubba. Use it if you need to.”
*
*
Present
11:30 p.m.
Bellevue General Hospital
Jim Ellison held his breath as Banks carefully helped him sit upright, shifting him to lean back againt the wall. A wave of dizziness swept over him, taking him almost to the point of darkness, then it shattered into a kaleidoscope of shifting black spots before the muted colors in the room focused and steadied. It was difficult to breathe; his heart was thumping loudly in his chest, fear, exhilaration, and adrenaline fighting for control. His hands were shaking, his palms damp with sweat. The weakness was ebbing, but Ellison still felt drained, as though he had run a long-distance marathon.
He had done that once, while in college, run a marathon. He had collapsed as he crossed the finish line, chest heaving, his leg muscles cramping from the exertion that he hadn’t properly prepared for. Only his stubborn determination to finish had kept him going, plus he had bet two classmates a six-pack of beer that he could do it, and while the beer wasn’t much of an incentive, the unwillingness to quit or look bad in front of his so-called friends had provided the additional motivation he needed. Looking back on the event, he had long since recognized his own need to win, to prove to himself that he could do whatever he set his mind to do.
Still unwilling to open his eyes, he wished — not for the first time — that his enhanced abilities were more along the lines of augmented physical stamina and reinforced muscles rather than the five senses and whatever else went with them. It was the “whatever else ” that gave him the most trouble.
Yet, whatever it was, it had brought Sandburg back to him.
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