Mess With Them, You Mess With Us (Chenford, Wopez ,Marper)

Part 7 - Rescue

Wesley and James stared at each other, terrified. They had both started to shiver, partly due to the cold; it was now midnight and they were in a freezing concrete warehouse, but also partly due to their fear. James, like the others, had dealt with his fair share of crime, and knew lots of reformed criminals. One thing they both knew: most crimes like this were concluded under the cover of darkness; there was no way they would leave them alive long enough for the sun to start coming up. This meant they had 3-4 hours, tops, to be rescued, or they wouldn't be making it out of this. With each minute, they grew more and more concerned about Lucy, as she looked in awful shape. They were worried she might have brain damage due to the sheer number of blows she had received to her head and face, and the longer she went untreated, the higher the likelihood she could die anyway, even if they were rescued. She was still unconscious but breathing. It had been more than an hour since the last time they had come around and knocked her out. The criminals being away from them soothed them temporarily, but the reality was, they were probably cooking up some elaborate plan to kill them and get away with it; with each passing minute, they worried the criminals would come back and kill them. They knew they were running out of time. Wesley started wiggling his fingers as they were starting to ache due to being forced into such an unnatural position for several hours. That was when he realised, he had just enough room to scratch his wedding ring on the edge of the zip tie. If he focused on the ridge and rubbed it on there long enough, he might be able to cut through it and free his hands. He would have to do it quietly, to avoid being caught, but this was the first glimmer of hope he'd had in several hours, so it was a welcome feeling. He signalled to James to watch, and demonstrated what he was doing, then James tried doing the same thing with his own ring which also seemed to work. It took a solid 20 minutes of grinding, but they both managed to free one hand. Then, they were able to free their other hand and feet from the zip ties that shackled them. They remained seated, as they knew any movement would echo on the loud, concrete flooring, but they were relieved to have some space from their restraints. They both, carefully and quietly, leaned over and worked on getting Lucy free of her restraints too, which they managed to do, but she was still unconscious. Both James and Wesley had faith in their wives, they knew they would find them soon, and not being strapped to these chairs would be their best chance of escaping once the cavalry arrived for them, as the possibility of it all going south and the criminals just opening fire on them was high. They just hoped Lucy might wake up and be able to walk (or ideally, run) on her own by the time they arrived if it came to that.

~

They took 3 vehicles, Lopez and Grey in the first, Tim and Celina in the second (Celina and Aaron had both volunteered themselves for overtime as they wanted to help with the investigation), and Nyla and Aaron in the third. Sergeant Grey's wife, Luna, volunteered to come and look after Leah, Nyla's daughter, and had arrived about 10 minutes before they all left. They drove silently, with no lights or sirens on, as they didn't want to alert the criminals that they were coming. No one spoke a word, as the tension in the air was so thick and full of anxiety and anticipation, that no one knew where to start. Tim, Angela and Nyla were all absolutely beyond terrified; this was the worst possible thing they could be facing. But, you wouldn't have known that from their faces; they had the art of a poker face down. They all spent the drive wondering what state they would find them in. Celina decided to text John and Bailey and let them know what was going on, and that they would probably need an ambulance, or three, on scene as soon as it was safe. But they couldn't call it in, obviously, until the scene had been secured. She cleared this with Grey, obviously, she wasn't an idiot.

They decided to park each vehicle about half a mile away from the warehouse, and proceed the rest of the way on foot, to avoid being detected. Bailey also arrived with an ambulance and parked it by the police vehicles, out of sight, knowing that this could likely be a time-sensitive situation healthcare wise.