2021 WHUMPTOBER

2. Gagged - Flash

Gagged trapped in a box in a sinking boat

Barry came to in a dark space, slightly confused. Okay. Maybe he was very confused. 

'Okay,' he thought, 'Take stock. What do we know. Six things. Go.'

One: he was gagged because he couldn't breathe through his mouth. And his hands were tied in front of him.

Two: He was in a confined space. He could feel himself bump either side. 

Three: It was almost totally dark. There was light seeping in through some cracks in his -wood he decided- confinement. At least this meant he hadn't been buried alive.

Four: He was being rocked and he really wanted to vomit because of it but he had a gag in his mouth so that would be a bad idea. 

'Wait... rocking? Oh dam. I'm on a boat.'

Five: He could hear running water, confirming his boat theory.

Six: He could feel water sloshing against him.... and rising.

***** FLASHBACK *****

Barry scribbled fervently on the paper, mind working a mile a minute. He stopped suddenly and sat back. He let out a breathy laugh.

"I did it," he said, "I figured it out."

Barry picked up the paper and raced down to Singh's office. 

"Captain!" He yelled, waving the paper in the air as he burst into the office.

"Allen!" Singh yelled, hand instinctively moving to his holster before rolling his eyes and releasing it. "What is so important that you feel you can come barging in?"

"I figured it out," Barry said, putting the paper on Singh's desk, "The Ontario case."

Singh frowned, "I thought I told you to drop that case. We caught the perpetrator."

"You caught one of the perpetrators." Barry corrected, "He was working with more than one person. He had to be because he was using boats and he can't drive a boat. We saw that first hand."

Singh raised an eyebrow, waiting for Barry to elaborate.

"Anyway, he frequented the docks every other Wednesday, and always met with the same three people. Security footage shows that much, though I definitely had to deduct that from timing of arrivals and the sort since they were relatively sneaky. But he smuggled his product out by boat, I'm sure of it. And it hasn't hit the news yet that we caught Ontario, so his coworkers might be out there in two days, waiting for him to show up. We could catch them. Or at the very least find out their identities."

"Allen, this is good. But I want you to stay out of it. You caught the guy. You figured out how to find his pals. Now drop the case."

It was Barry's turn to frown, "What are you not telling me sir? Something I need to know?"

"If you needed to know it, you would," Singh said.

"You just seem very keen on keeping me away from this case." Barry argued.

"Don't fight me on this Allen." Singh practically growled.

"Are you at least gonna go after the guys?" He asked.

Singh's hesitation was answer enough for Barry even though he ended up saying, "We'll get them. Just not there."

Barry frowned and grabbed his paper.