"I tend to deflect when I'm feeling threatened."

Chapitre 1

Her scream echoed in the whole building. The pain left no doubt on the nature of her wound. It was broken for sure. All of that because she refused to talk. From the beginning she had known it would be a bad day. The weather was terrible, her hands were aching, she broke her favourite mug and spilled coffee everywhere on the ground of her kitchen and on her shirt. She hadn't even had the time to clean properly as she got a call for a crime scene. She had had to go in her coffee-stained shirt and without her morning dose of caffeine. Her car had refused to start and just as she was about to call for someone to pick her up, someone had grabbed her hair and bumped her head in her car so brutally it knocked her out. And then, she had woken up in the dark with people yelling at her and threatening her for a reason she hadn't found out yet.

They had tied a blindfold around her eyes. She could only rely on her other senses to figure out where she was. Her ears were ringing, her taste buds were overwhelmed by the metallic taste of her own blood. And her pain receptors were overloaded. Before it all started, just after she woke up with a pounding headache where her head had collided with her car, she had had a few minutes to herself and the only thing she had managed to learn was that she was standing in a large room with her hands tied above her head with heavy shackles jingling when she moved to adjust her position. Whoever had her had made sure that only the tip of her toes (where were her shoes?) would touch the ground so all of her weight would be supported by her restrained arms if she let go. The muscles of her arms were sore from the position and the chains were hurting her wrists.

Shortly after she had woken up in complete darkness, a group of at least three men came to her, laughing. She had pretended to be unconscious still as they poked at her body and fondled her. They had slapped her to wake her up and she had made her best to keep silent and unmoving. Until one of them crushed her toes with their boots. The scream she had let out helped her to understand just how large the room was as it echoed across the empty space. Their laughs had bounced on the walls. They were having a blast torturing her and she still didn't know why she was there. Had they even mentioned it? Or were just having fun? Was it because she was a cop? Or just because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time? She wouldn't be too surprised considering the day she had had so far.

"That's quite a shiny item you got there, Detective. Could be useful to me in the future to have a cop by hand."

Hands touched her belt and took her badge. She couldn't feel the weight of her gun on her left side, meaning they had taken it away from her when she was unconscious. She was at their mercy, a piece of meat on display for their own pleasure.

"I'm taking it. You won't need it for a while with that busted knee."

She gritted her teeth together not to scream when they pressed on said knee and moved her weight to her uninjured leg. They laughed again. A shiver ran down her back.

"We got lucky. We only wanted a Rizzoli and the first we found is also a cop. How much d'you think they'd pay to get you back?"

"Nothing," she growled.

"You don't think your life is worth a couple dollars?"

"We don't negotiate with criminals."

The laughs again. They were mocking her. The silence that followed terrified her more than the laughs. Fists collided with her jaw and with her sides. She was left dangling like a puppet on strings.

"That's too bad. You see, Tommy owes me a lot of money that he's not willing to give back. We've thought it'd be fun to get our hands on his family to force him out of his hole and bring us that money. He forgot to tell us that his big sister was a cop."

She swallowed at the sound of a gun being loaded. It wasn't hers. By the sound of it, it was a revolver. The cylinder was clicked back into place. One bullet. She was in for a Russian roulette. He pressed the muzzle against her shoulder. She closed her eyes to prepare herself for the pain. It was useless since she was blindfolded but she couldn't help herself. The security was off. She gritted her teeth together, but at the last moment he changed his mind and put the revolver away.

"That'd be too easy. Cops like you are tough, right?"

He tapped her cheek. It was too gentle compared to what had come before. It confused her, but she expected the worst to come. She tried to adjust her position, nearly cried out in pain when she put weight on her broken leg.

"Where's Tommy, Detective?"

"I don't know. Haven't seen him in weeks."

"Wrong answer."

He snapped his fingers. Another punch landed in her stomach. She found herself gasping and coughing as her body swayed like a punching bag after taking a hard blow.

"I could do this all day. Could you handle it?"

"I've been hit harder by girls."

All three men laughed. Another shiver ran down her back. Even if she knew where her brother was, she wouldn't tell them. It didn't matter what Tommy had done, and how much he owed them, she wouldn't give her little brother to them. But she sure would give him a piece of her mind next time she would see it.

"Hit her harder."

Someone adjusted the chain holding her prisoner. Her feet weren't touching the ground anymore. She cried as her arms felt like someone was tearing them off of her body. That pain only lasted a few seconds for something that wasn't a fist collided with her ribcage. The impact was so violent that it vibrated through her chest and took her breath away. She wasn't given the time to recover as another blow came. In her back that time. The third blow hit her hip. They were hitting her like she was some kind of piñata and not a human being.

"Stop it! That's me that you want!"

She was relieved when the blows finally stopped. Her beaten body was left hanging. She couldn't breathe, couldn't feel anything else but pain. She couldn't hear anything other the heavy pounding of her heart and the rush of blood in her ears.

"Where's my money?"

"I don't have it."

Tommy. What was he doing here? How had he known they had her? Had they contacted him? Had they sent him a picture of her to force him to come here and see what they were doing to her? Bloody idiot. She was his older sister. It was up to her to protect him. She was also a cop. She could handle the torture.

"Let her go."

"You're not in the position to request anything, Tommy."

"She's a cop! All the guys in blue are looking for her right now. D'you really want them to come after you?"

As if to support his words, sirens were heard outside. Jane regretted underestimated her brother. He hadn't come alone. He had brought back up. She would have smiled if her face didn't hurt so much.

The chain above her head tinkled. Her feet hit the ground brutally. She screamed as the pain shot up. She collapsed on the ground, whimpering. The blindfold was removed from her eyes. Tommy was apologising to her, but she couldn't hear him over her heartbeats and ragged breathing. He stayed with her, even after she passed out from the pain. He had (badly) screwed up but he had at least been able to rescue his sister....