And Then There Were Nine-Nine

Part 2: The Red Telephone

The voice stopped, and the detectives started looking at each other quizzically, not knowing if this was real, and not knowing what the next step should be. They searched the whole house, but came back to the living room empty handed. Hitchcock and Scully were gone, and they were going to be next...

Amy held her husband's hand and squeezed it tight. "Jake, the voice said that we can't sleep in the same room." She said, weakly.

"You can stay in the one we set ourselves up in, I'll move to another one" Jake said, looking into his wife's eyes.

"If this is a fucking prank, someone better tell me. I am not in the mood for a murder mystery party." Rosa started, addressing the terrified group, pulling out a small knife she had in her pocket and pointing it at Jake. "This better stop RIGHT NOW. I won't be following these stupid rules, because I'm not going to get kidnapped by one of you. Charles, if this is your idea of some fun activity..." Rosa put the knife to her neck, mimicking a cutting motion.

"I promise it wasn't me, Rosa." Charles said, tears in his eyes.

"I'll go move Jake's things with him. No one should be left alone if they don't have to be." Amy said, addressing the group, still staring at Rosa. Hand in hand, Jake and Amy went up the stairs to the bedrooms.

When all of Jake's things were placed in a room down the hall, Amy stopped him. "Jake, we're going to be okay, right? I mean, this can't be real. It's probably a prank, like Rosa said."

"Maybe, but we have to be careful. We all have a lot of enemies because of our jobs, and maybe one of them really wanted to ruin our lives. But according to the recording, if we do everything right, we might get to see our coworkers again. That must mean that Hitchcock and Scully are okay." Jake responded, pulling Amy close to him into a tight embrace.

Downstairs, Rosa's threats continued. Her violent behavior was a coping mechanism for the anxiety she was feeling, but it was only making the rest of the squad more stressed than before. Her rambling about this ordeal being a prank slowly stopped, and she started realizing that maybe they were not safe.

As Jake and Amy walked down the staircase, the squad was headed towards it to go get their swimming things. "We're going to go to the water." Terry said, the tone in his voice indicating that he was in denial about everything that was going on.

Outside, the weather was as beautiful as ever. As the detectives slowly walked into the water, their fears started to wash away. After all, it was only Hitchcock and Scully. At least, they tried to trust that the voice was telling the truth, and that they would not be killed if the squad did nothing wrong.

When the sun was starting to go down a few hours later, the squad decided to head back inside for dinner. As they walked out of the water, however, the realization that they were in danger came right back. As five of the detectives promised to stick together, Rosa stood aside. She did not trust anyone. She knew she would be the last one standing.

Although the dinner cooked by Charles with the fresh food in the fridge was delicious, no one had much appetite. No one understood what was happening, and Captain Holt, who was usually leading the group, as his title would suggest, stayed silent. They kept turning their gaze to the telephone sitting on the table close to them. They knew that if they picked it up, bad things could happen, but who was to say that those things wouldn't happen anyway? Seeing the stares towards the telephone, Holt finally spoke up.

"Detectives, I know that you all want to go home and be safe. As do I. Unfortunately, the safety of this group is the most important thing to me, as your superior officer. If I thought contacting land was in our best interest, we would be doing that. However, I don't think that is a good idea. We do not know what this person could do to us if we call someone." Holt said.

"Captain." Rosa chimed in. "We also don't know what they will do to us if we don't contact land. Isn't it better if the police comes to get us, before this person kills us all? It only takes half an hour to get here."

"And it could only take a few minutes for us to be KILLED" Amy said to Rosa, emphasizing the word "killed".

"I get that, but we can defend ourselves" She responded.

"Rosa. This isn't just about you! Maybe you can defend yourself, but Hitchcock and Scully, who are probably tied up right now, cannot. We have to think about everyone."

Rosa walked away and checked her phone. There was no service here. If she wanted to get help, she had to use the phone on the table.

Rosa sat down on the couch as the others cleaned up the table and Jake set up Monopoly, which he brought along with him from home.

Two hours later, Jake was in the lead, and the others were laughing and talking, trying to take their minds off of the unspeakable truth, that they might never see their family again. Rosa stared at them from her place on the couch where she had been sitting still for the past two hours. " Why don't they care about their lives?" She thought to herself. She wanted to be safe, but the others seemed to want to ignore what was coming to them. If they weren't going to fight for their lives, she thought, at least she would fight for hers. She quickly jumped off the couch and bolted towards the red telephone on the table next to Charles. Before anyone could interfere, Rosa picked up the phone. The squad stayed frozen as the fate of Hitchcock and Scully was held  between her hands.

"Rosa please..." Amy started, but it was too late. Rosa dialed 911 and put the phone to her ear as everyone stared at her. They all stayed still like this for a few seconds, until Rosa threw the phone back onto it's base.

"SHIT." She yelled. The phone doesn't work." She put the cord of the telephone in between her fingers and followed it, discovering that it had been cut. "I'm going to bed." She stated as she ran up the staircase to her room.

The rest of the squad stayed seated, looking shocked. Captain Holt looked at the time on his watch. "It is 10:38 in the evening. We should go to bed." he declared.

When everyone was ready, including Rosa, they all stood in the hallway and went into their rooms, making sure that everyone was in. Inside their rooms, they all kept their bedside lamps on. They felt alone and they felt scared. They needed light to help with the darkness they were feeling.

3 AM

Rosa was woken up abruptly by a loud noise. Sitting up in bed, her heart racing, the noise repeated itself. It was the crackling of a microphone. "Hello, Rosa Diaz."  she suddenly heard...

THE NEXT MORNING

The detectives were woken up the next morning by the sound of a pan hitting the floor. They all jumped up at the same time, and then heard Charles say "Sorry". As they checked the time and saw that it was well past 7 AM, they started leaving their rooms, one by one walking out into the hallway to greet the others, letting out a sigh of relief when they discovered they were still there. When Jake got up, he ran straight to Amy's room where she was just getting out of bed, and spun around with her in his arms. Now, they were five in the hall. Jake, Amy, Terry, Holt and Charles, who had finished making breakfast. They knew that there was only one person left. Taking in a deep breath, Jake slowly opened the door leading into Rosa's room. Rosa was gone, and then there were five.