Work Text:
Jamie tries to steady his hands as he kicks away the wood jammed against the door handle and scrambles to turn the key in the lock. The banging and desperate shouts increase from inside as he finally wrenches the door open and responds in kind.
"DANNY!"
He quickly finds his brother’s pale face in the dark basement as the first fresh air in nearly a day pours down the wooden stairwell. Jamie's heart jumps as he sees the prone form of Detective Baez huddled beneath a layer of coats and moth-eaten blankets.
“You alright, you guys alright?” He asks while running down the narrow stairs as fast as he can in the dark.
"She needs a bus," Danny tells him, his quiet voice threatening to break. Tired eyes betray his worry. Jamie can only guess at how long he's been calling for help from beneath the floorboards.
Finally Jamie registers the sirens outside as he requests the EMT’s. Joe’s call for backup has finally come through as he gestures up at his nephew.
“Come on!” Danny barks.
The EMT's flood down into the space and surround Baez, he watches Danny take a tentative step back as they tend to his partner.
“Is she alright?” Jamie asks, putting a guiding hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Danny breathes shakily as he turns and hugs his brother tightly.
Jamie holds him close with a relief he can’t voice. Danny hasn’t embraced him like this in years. He knows his older sibling better than most; knows how he hides his feelings behind anger and bravado, putting on a strong front for those around him till the cavalry arrives and he can lower his defences.
He feels Danny exhale deeply and tightens his hold - twenty four hours in the clutches of a killer have taken a toll. It’s a temperate fall day outside, but the basement is cool and damp. Danny’s skin feels cold beneath his shirt and there are fine tremors running through him. When Danny finally pulls away Jamie makes sure to keep a hand on him.
“She gonna be okay?” Danny asks, his breathing hitches slightly while he watches the medics work. He stumbles backwards to rest against the wall, a casual slouch, but Jamie suspects it’s taking a fair amount of the detective’s weight.
“I’m good Reagan,” it’s Maria who calls out.
The nearest EMT turns to them, “She’s stable; we’re just prepping her for transport.”
Jamie and Danny watch as the medics securely strap Baez to a backboard and lift her with a practised ease. She reaches out a hand that Danny grasps tightly as they pass. She gives him a careful smile, pain most likely contributing to the glaze in her expression.
“I’ll see you at the hospital,” Danny promises.
Finally it’s just the two of them in the basement, caught in a moment of calm before the forensic storm. The floorboards over their heads creak as more officers enter the property, disturbing dust that glitters in the soft light flooding down the staircase. Jamie can hear Detective Hill directing efforts and he remembers the body of the murdered woman above.
Danny takes another shaky breath. He still has a hand on Danny’s arm so he feels the shiver that goes through his brother before he wobbles on his feet.
Jamie tightens his grip, “Danny? You sure you're okay?”
“Yeah yeah, just need a minute, it’s... been a long day.”
It’s hard to tell in the low light but Danny looks paler than before, eyes haunted as he stares over at his makeshift prison cell. With none of his usual grace he slides down the wall till he's sitting on the cold floor. Danny closes his eyes and pulls up his knees, his head coming to rest on one hand, fingers gently massage one brow. He must be exhausted and Jamie realises he’s probably had no food or water since the start of all of this.
He leaves Danny’s side briefly to shout up the stairs at the officer on duty. “Hey can we get some water down here?”
“There’s a body,” Danny’s rough voice pulls his attention back and a slight flick of the detective's hand gestures towards the darkness, “back of that closet.”
"What!?"
"Yeah," Danny sighs, "not fresh... been there a while."
The horror of that quiet declaration sinks in and with that newfound knowledge he can't help but notice a rancid and curiously sweet scent, barely detectable and interwoven with the earthy dampness of the basement.
Jamie grabs his flashlight to take a look. The closet is unremarkable; a grey and bland coffin. Jamie carefully pulls back the hanging garments, taking care not to further contaminate the scene. He can't help but recoil as his flashlight reveals the desiccated wrapped figure that's been bent and contorted into the plastic. His heart goes out further to his brother; to be locked underground in the dark with a rotting corpse while the killer prowled above would give anyone nightmares.
He's seen enough; forensics teams will soon detail the scene. His only care for now is the spent detective still sitting at the base of the staircase. Danny is staring at a fixed point to Jamie's right, and when the younger Reagan moves back to sit next to him and follows his gaze, he can make out the drying blood on the pillar where Baez's head was resting.
"This is my fault," Danny mutters, "it was my lead and I'm the idiot who broke protocol to follow it while it was hot, straight into this stinking basement. It's no wonder Baez is angry with me."
Jamie sighs, he's more than used to Danny's misplaced guilt when crap hits the fan, but before he can offer any platitudes the water he requested is delivered to them by a uniformed officer. Jamie watches carefully as Danny gulps down nearly half the bottle in minutes.
"Bastard left us a note," Danny says bitterly as he screws the cap back on. He pulls out a crumpled piece of paper from his suit pocket and passes it to Jamie, "I'm guessing it wasn't from the broad who let us in."
Danny's temper may be well known, but Jamie feels his own anger rising as he reads the blunt threat in the killer's clumsy hand-written message. He may have to get in line behind his brother, and probably Erin and Dad too, but that sick son of a bitch is going to pay for messing with his family.
"We found her body upstairs," Jamie tells him, "she was murdered, it looks like the same MO as the other vics."
"Others?" Danny says sharply, giving Jamie a hard stare, "what others?"
It takes a moment for Jamie to realise Danny doesn’t know. It’s a stark reminder of how long the two detectives have been out of contact. Jamie fills his brother in with what they know about the killer so far and watches with concern as Danny digests each new piece of the puzzle with a few hard swallows and a clenched fist. When he gets to the part about the missing Nassau county detective Danny’s temper finally boils over.
“Son of a BITCH!” Danny violently slams the water bottle down hard enough to crack the plastic, his voice loud in the confined basement. Water starts to creep across the floor. “He was here... he was right here. Damnit! I could have stopped this.”
“It’s not your fault Danny, you couldn’t have known.”
“I should have been more careful, something smelt off from the start.”
Jamie knows nothing he can say is going to help so for now he uses the oldest trick in the Reagan handbook and diverts the conversation back to family. “Before you ask, Sean is fine. We haven’t told the boys anything yet, Sean just thinks you’re working a case. Erin’s been worried sick, you should call her as soon as you can. Dad too...”
His throat goes dry and the words stick in his throat as he remembers the panic in Erin's voice over the phone all those hours ago. It’s the kind of call he has always dreaded. He can’t stop this sick feeling washing over him as he recalls the memory and the dire scenarios his mind cooked up; losing another brother to the job, his family once more heartbroken and planning another funeral, what to possibly tell two boys who have already lost one parent.
“Hey,” Danny must sense something, his hazel eyes softer as he looks closely at him, “are you OK?”
Jamie nods, “yeah, I just... When Erin told me you were missing I couldn’t stop thinking the worst, you know? He’s a killer, Danny. You weren’t answering your phone or texts, you both just disappeared into thin air. If it wasn’t for that damn business card we found in the case file we might never have found you.”
He has to stop to take a breath. The surge of adrenaline during the rescue is fading and his brother is finally safe, everything is going to be okay. He feels a hand cup the back of his neck.
“You did good, kid,” Danny says gently.
“Joe Hill too, he helped with the search.”
Danny raises an eyebrow, “A Reagan family affair; remind me to thank him.”
Jamie agrees with a small smile then pushes himself up from the floor, the cold and eery basement is beginning to get to him and he can hear the buzz of personnel upstairs keen to start work. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
“More than ready,” Danny replies with feeling. Anger and relief may have gotten him this far but the deep worry lines creasing his forehead as he squints in the beam from Jamie’s flashlight suggest he’s nursing a headache and Jamie wants him to see an EMT as soon as they are topside.
He offers a hand to his brother and helps him get to his feet, he still feels chilled but Jamie is relieved to see he is steadier on his feet.
“Go on. I’ll follow you up,” Danny says.
Jamie starts up the stairs, the third rung from the top is spongy and rotten, likely to give out at some point. He turns to warn his brother but the detective is yet to make a move. Danny has his back to him, giving the basement one last look, no doubt replaying his long night in captivity and the secrets held inside its walls.
“First in,” Danny mutters before sighing deeply and turning to follow Jamie up the stairs, “and last out”
*************
The End