Lost - Part Three
Sep. 6th, 2011 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigo_angels“Boss...” BA's quiet voice startled him and he spun on his heel, only remembering to wipe the tears from his face once he'd seen BA’s own eyes widen in shock.
“You got something?”
BA just shook his head, “Murdock's still workin' on it,” his eyes drifted to the screen, “I had to come an' see if he was okay.”
Hannibal sank onto the coffee table and ran his hands over his face, trying to scrub away the memories of what he had just seen and heard. “No, BA, he's not. Those fuckers... I swear I will kill them with my bare hands when I get hold of them.”
“They gone again?”
“Yeah, just now. Knocked the poor kid out cold, probably cracked his fucking skull.” Hannibal felt sick.
“Did you see the door?” BA, ever practical, asked and Hannibal lifted his head up, ashamed that in all the emotion of the situation, he'd lost track of the things that might actually help get Face out.
“No,” his admitted quietly, “but I think it was over in that corner somewhere.”
BA nodded and walked over to the screen, trying to look into the gloomy corners. “Boss,” the apology was clear in his voice, “do you mind if I run it back? Just to when they came and went, see if I can see anything useful?”
“Run it back?” Hannibal frowned. “You taping this?”
BA nodded. “Streaming it straight to the hard drive. Thought we might need it as evidence if we decide to follow that route.”
“Right.” Hannibal was torn between been horrified that the violation Face had suffered was preserved for further viewing, and impressed that BA had planned that far in advance. Hannibal's plan only involved death, and certainly not Face's.
Turning back, BA approached the laptop, “An' don' worry boss,” he murmured, “you don' have to be see it again, an' I'll mute the sound.”
Mention of sound brought Hannibal's mind back to more useful matters. “He said something,” he told BA as the big guy started tapping on the keys, “when the gag was out. I think it's a clue for us.”
BA looked up, “Well?”
Hannibal shrugged, “He said, 'Venus'.”
“Venus?” Hannibal was dismayed that BA seemed as confused as he was. “What like in Venus Avenue? That's where he is?”
Hannibal thought this over. “No, that can't be it. Jefferson didn't look that pissed when Face said it so, it can't be something the bastard thinks is important. Must be something that the kid thinks only we will pick up on.” For a second they looked at each other until Hannibal just shook his head. “But, he's got me.”
“Me too,” BA admitted, returning to his task. “Why not ask the Murdock? Sometimes those two fools so alike it's scary.”
Hannibal glanced up at the screen just as Jefferson was reaching up to unfasten Face from his chains in the ceiling and decided, yes, a quick chat with Murdock in the kitchen was just what he needed.
____________
“Boss?” Murdock's eyes were full of that weird hope and fear combination from before and Hannibal sighed as he took a seat opposite his at the tiny kitchen table.
“Nothing to report,” he lied, deciding to spare Murdock the full horror at this point. “Jefferson has gone, BA is looking for something on the screen we can use.”
Murdock nodded, but he could see the determination in Hannibal’s face. “You need me for somethin' boss?”
“Yeah,” Hannibal cleared his throat, “Face said something when his gag was taken out briefly, just one word. I think it may be a clue as to where he is.” Murdock nodded encouragingly. “Venus.”
The captain frowned. “That it?”
Hannibal felt the disappointment surge through him, he had really been hoping that Murdock would get this. “Yeah...”
Murdock sat back in his chair and his eyes drifted to the window. “Venus, Venus, Venus...” he repeated. “Okay then, what do we have?” He pondered for a minute. “Well, Venus is the second planet from the sun, so maybe he’s on 2nd Avenue?” Hannibal opened his mouth to reply but Murdock just pushed straight on and the boss realised that he hadn’t even been talking to him, that the question was posed to himself. “Nah, too obvious, that’s not it. Venus, Texas, Venus, Florida? Nope, the IP trace says LA. Venus is the Roman goddess of love, so maybe it’s a message, maybe he wants the boss to know he loves him? Well, that’s crazy ‘cause the boss knows that already.” Hannibal flushed and wondered if it were true.
“So, Venus fly-trap? No, I think he would guess we know he’s in a trap. Venus Williams?” Murdock paused considering this, “Nah, not her style. Venusaur? Nope, too fictional. The Venus mural, nah, New York, too far, unless he meant the Great Wall of Los Angeles...” Murdock frowned as he mulled that over, then shook his head. Closing his eyes he leant his head back, concentration etched across his face “Hmmm, The Birth of Venus, Venus of Mierlo, Venus of Willendorf, Venus on a rock bun, Venus de Milo...” Suddenly his eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright, staring straight at Hannibal, “Venus de Milo, Milo Kraus, that client we had ‘bout six months ago!” Hannibal just stared blankly back. “He was a right nutter,” Murdock elaborated, “didn’t live in a house, you remember that boss? Remember? Remember? He lived in a shipping container, that’s where our boy is, Hannibal! He’s in a shipping container! That’s what he was trying to tell us!”
Hannibal just stared, utterly stunned. “You sure?”
“Positive boss, it's the only thing that makes sense, right? An' if you think about it, that box he's in, sure looks like a shipping container yeah? I mean you an' I know what they look like inside, right?”
Hannibal nodded, even though Murdock hadn't seen much of it through his Kevlar helmet. “But, if that's right and he's in a shipping container, then why didn't he tell us where? How many shipping containers are there in LA and the surrounding areas?” Hannibal was desperate for Murdock to be wrong, but in his heart he knew he was right, and this clue of Face's was hardly a clue at all. “Hell, there must be hundreds of thousands of them at the docks alone! He knows that!”
“Boss...” Murdock's eyes were full of sympathy. “It's probably all he does know. He had a hood on right? An' he musta been unconscious when they took him in there.”
Hannibal nodded and stood up, suddenly not wanting to be in the kitchen anymore with Murdock's unpleasant truths.
“But it's a start right, boss?” Murdock called after his retreating figure, “We're one step closer than we were before!”
__________
Hannibal needed a walk around the garden and a cigar before he went back in with BA. He knew that Face would be mortified to know that BA had watched his violation at Jefferson's hands, but realised that the big guy was right, they needed to comb the scene for even the tiniest hint, and there was no way that Hannibal would ever be able to do that objectively.
As he walked in, he glanced up at the screen, dreading what he might see, and there was BA, right up against it, squinting at a corner and moving backwards and forwards, looking carefully. Hannibal's heart kicked up a notch. “You got something?”
“Hmm, maybe, I dunno...” Hannibal walked up to his shoulder. “See here, when Jefferson walks out, he leaves the door open for that other bastard, see?”
Hannibal nodded and looked out through the sliver of open door. “But all you can see is scrub land,” he said, “that doesn't help much either.”
“Either?” BA looked sharply at him.
“Venus,” Hannibal explained, “Venus de Milo, Milo Kraus, remember him?”
BA looked back at the screen as he and Hannibal said together, “Shipping container.”
“Of course it is!” BA looked annoyed that he hadn't seen it himself.
“So now we know he's in a shipping container near some scrubby hills. Great. That will lead us right to him.” The stress was making Hannibal snappy.
“No, look here,” BA returned to the corner of the container he'd been studying when Hannibal walked in. “This is the mirror, and look there, what's that?”
Hannibal leant forward and stared at the reflection of the hillside seen through the open door but from a slightly different angle. BA’s finger was resting next to a white curve on the hillside, almost like a huge C. “I don't know,” he admitted.
BA turned to his own laptop and maximised a window, “Like that maybe? But reversed in the mirror?”
Hannibal found himself looking at the Hollywood sign spread out across the hillside and BA was tapping the D. He glanced back up at the frozen screen. “Oh, my god!” he whispered.
BA smiled for the first time in four days. “Yeah.”
Hannibal's mind was whirring ahead, “So, that means that...”
“If we look at a map, and plot where the D is,” BA pulled a map across the table and tapped the exact coordinate of the D, “then we can draw an arc that fans out like this,” this time he tapped the arc he'd drawn, “and somewhere in that area, in a shipping container is our man.”
They both stared at the shaded arc for another second then Hannibal breathed, “We need a chopper.”
_______
It took them three hours to get a helicopter organised. Hannibal didn't want any of the added stress of conning or stealing one, so they broke into one of their emergency accounts that Face had set up all over the place and, using a set of false I.D that the kid had also produced in advance, Murdock actually hired a chopper legitimately.
Just as dawn was creeping over the hills, they were ready to go.
“Right, BA,” Hannibal spoke into the comm line, “Murdock is finishing his pre-flights, we are going to get this baby airborne in about three minutes. You ready to move out?”
“Yeah,” BA's voice came back to him through his head phones, “it'll take about five minutes to clear this room, every other room is packed and wiped and ready to go.”
As soon as they had Face back, they were leaving town for a while. Hannibal had just the place in mind where they could hide out for a while, let Face have some time and keep out of Jefferson's way while Hannibal decided what to do about him.
“Okay. He woke up yet?”
Back at the house, BA looked at the screen and sighed. “I dunno, man. He's moved once or twice, but it's hard to tell. Maybe.”
“He still alone?” Hannibal had to shout over the noise of the rotors.
“Yeah. Make sure you start that search where I showed you, where the distance works best.”
Hannibal looked down at the shaded area of the arc. “Will do, and keep us in touch. Out.”
With that, Murdock tugged the chopper gracefully into the air.
_______
Face came back to his senses slowly and painfully. Every single part of his body was in agony, and he didn't even have the strength to lift his head from where it was hanging, blood thumping painfully against the cut on his forehead.
He mustered as much strength as he could and tugged hopefully against the manacles around his wrists and ankles but they didn't budge, he didn't think they would, but hey, ever the optimist. He sagged limply back over the damn barrel he was still draped across and tried, really hard to hold on to some of that optimism, but it was difficult.
Jefferson knew what he was doing, he'd planned it well, from the tranquiliser dart that hit Face the second he walked into that alley, to this shipping container hidden who only knew where, making it impossible for the team to find him, even if they did find Jefferson.
The bastard had told Face his plans, how he'd was going to let him die slowly, dehydrate until his body just gave out, but make sure he had his fun at the same time. Great. And of course that had started last night, he could still taste him in his mouth, even though the foul gag was back in. He could still feel him inside, burning, ramming himself in repeatedly and Face could feel himself flush with humiliation. And was that webcam real? Or was it Jefferson messing with his mind? And if it was real, were the guys watching while Jefferson raped him? He was torn, he didn't want to go through this alone, but on the other hand, he certainly didn't want anyone watching. How the hell would that effect his relationship with Hannibal? The one he'd wanted for as long as he could remember and had finally got his chance. How could the boss want him any more after this? How could he bare to touch him? How could he even consider putting himself where Jefferson had been? Face found himself blinking back the tears, knowing he could ill afford the wasted moisture, his throat and mouth were bone dry as it was, but he couldn't stop the realisation that even if he did make it out of this situation alive then his relationship with Hannibal would be over, and that was the most painful part of this whole nightmare.
He closed his eyes; knew it was all irrelevant anyway, he wasn't getting out of this mess. He had maybe two days left, all he could survive without water, and had no idea where he was other than he was in a shipping container. And even if there was a webcam, and the guys were watching, would they have been able to pick up on his abstract clue? And if they had, what if he was at the docks somewhere? Hidden in and amongst all the other thousands of containers? He sighed. He didn't stand a chance.
Trying so hard not to give up hope, he went back to waiting.
Next
“You got something?”
BA just shook his head, “Murdock's still workin' on it,” his eyes drifted to the screen, “I had to come an' see if he was okay.”
Hannibal sank onto the coffee table and ran his hands over his face, trying to scrub away the memories of what he had just seen and heard. “No, BA, he's not. Those fuckers... I swear I will kill them with my bare hands when I get hold of them.”
“They gone again?”
“Yeah, just now. Knocked the poor kid out cold, probably cracked his fucking skull.” Hannibal felt sick.
“Did you see the door?” BA, ever practical, asked and Hannibal lifted his head up, ashamed that in all the emotion of the situation, he'd lost track of the things that might actually help get Face out.
“No,” his admitted quietly, “but I think it was over in that corner somewhere.”
BA nodded and walked over to the screen, trying to look into the gloomy corners. “Boss,” the apology was clear in his voice, “do you mind if I run it back? Just to when they came and went, see if I can see anything useful?”
“Run it back?” Hannibal frowned. “You taping this?”
BA nodded. “Streaming it straight to the hard drive. Thought we might need it as evidence if we decide to follow that route.”
“Right.” Hannibal was torn between been horrified that the violation Face had suffered was preserved for further viewing, and impressed that BA had planned that far in advance. Hannibal's plan only involved death, and certainly not Face's.
Turning back, BA approached the laptop, “An' don' worry boss,” he murmured, “you don' have to be see it again, an' I'll mute the sound.”
Mention of sound brought Hannibal's mind back to more useful matters. “He said something,” he told BA as the big guy started tapping on the keys, “when the gag was out. I think it's a clue for us.”
BA looked up, “Well?”
Hannibal shrugged, “He said, 'Venus'.”
“Venus?” Hannibal was dismayed that BA seemed as confused as he was. “What like in Venus Avenue? That's where he is?”
Hannibal thought this over. “No, that can't be it. Jefferson didn't look that pissed when Face said it so, it can't be something the bastard thinks is important. Must be something that the kid thinks only we will pick up on.” For a second they looked at each other until Hannibal just shook his head. “But, he's got me.”
“Me too,” BA admitted, returning to his task. “Why not ask the Murdock? Sometimes those two fools so alike it's scary.”
Hannibal glanced up at the screen just as Jefferson was reaching up to unfasten Face from his chains in the ceiling and decided, yes, a quick chat with Murdock in the kitchen was just what he needed.
____________
“Boss?” Murdock's eyes were full of that weird hope and fear combination from before and Hannibal sighed as he took a seat opposite his at the tiny kitchen table.
“Nothing to report,” he lied, deciding to spare Murdock the full horror at this point. “Jefferson has gone, BA is looking for something on the screen we can use.”
Murdock nodded, but he could see the determination in Hannibal’s face. “You need me for somethin' boss?”
“Yeah,” Hannibal cleared his throat, “Face said something when his gag was taken out briefly, just one word. I think it may be a clue as to where he is.” Murdock nodded encouragingly. “Venus.”
The captain frowned. “That it?”
Hannibal felt the disappointment surge through him, he had really been hoping that Murdock would get this. “Yeah...”
Murdock sat back in his chair and his eyes drifted to the window. “Venus, Venus, Venus...” he repeated. “Okay then, what do we have?” He pondered for a minute. “Well, Venus is the second planet from the sun, so maybe he’s on 2nd Avenue?” Hannibal opened his mouth to reply but Murdock just pushed straight on and the boss realised that he hadn’t even been talking to him, that the question was posed to himself. “Nah, too obvious, that’s not it. Venus, Texas, Venus, Florida? Nope, the IP trace says LA. Venus is the Roman goddess of love, so maybe it’s a message, maybe he wants the boss to know he loves him? Well, that’s crazy ‘cause the boss knows that already.” Hannibal flushed and wondered if it were true.
“So, Venus fly-trap? No, I think he would guess we know he’s in a trap. Venus Williams?” Murdock paused considering this, “Nah, not her style. Venusaur? Nope, too fictional. The Venus mural, nah, New York, too far, unless he meant the Great Wall of Los Angeles...” Murdock frowned as he mulled that over, then shook his head. Closing his eyes he leant his head back, concentration etched across his face “Hmmm, The Birth of Venus, Venus of Mierlo, Venus of Willendorf, Venus on a rock bun, Venus de Milo...” Suddenly his eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright, staring straight at Hannibal, “Venus de Milo, Milo Kraus, that client we had ‘bout six months ago!” Hannibal just stared blankly back. “He was a right nutter,” Murdock elaborated, “didn’t live in a house, you remember that boss? Remember? Remember? He lived in a shipping container, that’s where our boy is, Hannibal! He’s in a shipping container! That’s what he was trying to tell us!”
Hannibal just stared, utterly stunned. “You sure?”
“Positive boss, it's the only thing that makes sense, right? An' if you think about it, that box he's in, sure looks like a shipping container yeah? I mean you an' I know what they look like inside, right?”
Hannibal nodded, even though Murdock hadn't seen much of it through his Kevlar helmet. “But, if that's right and he's in a shipping container, then why didn't he tell us where? How many shipping containers are there in LA and the surrounding areas?” Hannibal was desperate for Murdock to be wrong, but in his heart he knew he was right, and this clue of Face's was hardly a clue at all. “Hell, there must be hundreds of thousands of them at the docks alone! He knows that!”
“Boss...” Murdock's eyes were full of sympathy. “It's probably all he does know. He had a hood on right? An' he musta been unconscious when they took him in there.”
Hannibal nodded and stood up, suddenly not wanting to be in the kitchen anymore with Murdock's unpleasant truths.
“But it's a start right, boss?” Murdock called after his retreating figure, “We're one step closer than we were before!”
__________
Hannibal needed a walk around the garden and a cigar before he went back in with BA. He knew that Face would be mortified to know that BA had watched his violation at Jefferson's hands, but realised that the big guy was right, they needed to comb the scene for even the tiniest hint, and there was no way that Hannibal would ever be able to do that objectively.
As he walked in, he glanced up at the screen, dreading what he might see, and there was BA, right up against it, squinting at a corner and moving backwards and forwards, looking carefully. Hannibal's heart kicked up a notch. “You got something?”
“Hmm, maybe, I dunno...” Hannibal walked up to his shoulder. “See here, when Jefferson walks out, he leaves the door open for that other bastard, see?”
Hannibal nodded and looked out through the sliver of open door. “But all you can see is scrub land,” he said, “that doesn't help much either.”
“Either?” BA looked sharply at him.
“Venus,” Hannibal explained, “Venus de Milo, Milo Kraus, remember him?”
BA looked back at the screen as he and Hannibal said together, “Shipping container.”
“Of course it is!” BA looked annoyed that he hadn't seen it himself.
“So now we know he's in a shipping container near some scrubby hills. Great. That will lead us right to him.” The stress was making Hannibal snappy.
“No, look here,” BA returned to the corner of the container he'd been studying when Hannibal walked in. “This is the mirror, and look there, what's that?”
Hannibal leant forward and stared at the reflection of the hillside seen through the open door but from a slightly different angle. BA’s finger was resting next to a white curve on the hillside, almost like a huge C. “I don't know,” he admitted.
BA turned to his own laptop and maximised a window, “Like that maybe? But reversed in the mirror?”
Hannibal found himself looking at the Hollywood sign spread out across the hillside and BA was tapping the D. He glanced back up at the frozen screen. “Oh, my god!” he whispered.
BA smiled for the first time in four days. “Yeah.”
Hannibal's mind was whirring ahead, “So, that means that...”
“If we look at a map, and plot where the D is,” BA pulled a map across the table and tapped the exact coordinate of the D, “then we can draw an arc that fans out like this,” this time he tapped the arc he'd drawn, “and somewhere in that area, in a shipping container is our man.”
They both stared at the shaded arc for another second then Hannibal breathed, “We need a chopper.”
_______
It took them three hours to get a helicopter organised. Hannibal didn't want any of the added stress of conning or stealing one, so they broke into one of their emergency accounts that Face had set up all over the place and, using a set of false I.D that the kid had also produced in advance, Murdock actually hired a chopper legitimately.
Just as dawn was creeping over the hills, they were ready to go.
“Right, BA,” Hannibal spoke into the comm line, “Murdock is finishing his pre-flights, we are going to get this baby airborne in about three minutes. You ready to move out?”
“Yeah,” BA's voice came back to him through his head phones, “it'll take about five minutes to clear this room, every other room is packed and wiped and ready to go.”
As soon as they had Face back, they were leaving town for a while. Hannibal had just the place in mind where they could hide out for a while, let Face have some time and keep out of Jefferson's way while Hannibal decided what to do about him.
“Okay. He woke up yet?”
Back at the house, BA looked at the screen and sighed. “I dunno, man. He's moved once or twice, but it's hard to tell. Maybe.”
“He still alone?” Hannibal had to shout over the noise of the rotors.
“Yeah. Make sure you start that search where I showed you, where the distance works best.”
Hannibal looked down at the shaded area of the arc. “Will do, and keep us in touch. Out.”
With that, Murdock tugged the chopper gracefully into the air.
_______
Face came back to his senses slowly and painfully. Every single part of his body was in agony, and he didn't even have the strength to lift his head from where it was hanging, blood thumping painfully against the cut on his forehead.
He mustered as much strength as he could and tugged hopefully against the manacles around his wrists and ankles but they didn't budge, he didn't think they would, but hey, ever the optimist. He sagged limply back over the damn barrel he was still draped across and tried, really hard to hold on to some of that optimism, but it was difficult.
Jefferson knew what he was doing, he'd planned it well, from the tranquiliser dart that hit Face the second he walked into that alley, to this shipping container hidden who only knew where, making it impossible for the team to find him, even if they did find Jefferson.
The bastard had told Face his plans, how he'd was going to let him die slowly, dehydrate until his body just gave out, but make sure he had his fun at the same time. Great. And of course that had started last night, he could still taste him in his mouth, even though the foul gag was back in. He could still feel him inside, burning, ramming himself in repeatedly and Face could feel himself flush with humiliation. And was that webcam real? Or was it Jefferson messing with his mind? And if it was real, were the guys watching while Jefferson raped him? He was torn, he didn't want to go through this alone, but on the other hand, he certainly didn't want anyone watching. How the hell would that effect his relationship with Hannibal? The one he'd wanted for as long as he could remember and had finally got his chance. How could the boss want him any more after this? How could he bare to touch him? How could he even consider putting himself where Jefferson had been? Face found himself blinking back the tears, knowing he could ill afford the wasted moisture, his throat and mouth were bone dry as it was, but he couldn't stop the realisation that even if he did make it out of this situation alive then his relationship with Hannibal would be over, and that was the most painful part of this whole nightmare.
He closed his eyes; knew it was all irrelevant anyway, he wasn't getting out of this mess. He had maybe two days left, all he could survive without water, and had no idea where he was other than he was in a shipping container. And even if there was a webcam, and the guys were watching, would they have been able to pick up on his abstract clue? And if they had, what if he was at the docks somewhere? Hidden in and amongst all the other thousands of containers? He sighed. He didn't stand a chance.
Trying so hard not to give up hope, he went back to waiting.
Next
