Chapter Text
“No!” Dani screamed as she leapt forward, but it was already too late - he had flipped the knife in his hand and plunged it into his abdomen. She watched in horror as his mouth opened in a silent scream, fingers still wrapped around the handle of the knife.
Time stopped as Malcolm and Dani both stood frozen, Dani staring at the knife embedded in Malcolm's gut, and Malcolm staring at Dani’s horrorstruck face. She forgot about the case, about the men with guns surrounding them, about everything except for the man standing in front of her as the blood began to soak through his shirt, a lurid red patch against the white fabric of his dress shirt.
"Bright." It was little more than a whisper of breath, but it felt like an explosion of heartbreak and was more than Malcolm could handle. He dropped to his knees as Dani rushed forward, sinking down in front of him with tears in her eyes. "What did you do?"
Her hands were wavering near the knife, unsure how to help. She looked up into his eyes, heart twisting at the pain she saw there, and she brought her useless hands up to gently cup his face.
His breaths were coming in short, ragged pants but his eyes were clear, the adrenaline having cleared the fog of withdrawal for the moment. That clarity made the anguish in his eyes so much harder to look at.
"Gil...will find you," Malcolm said between gasps. "This will buy you...some time."
Bright was listing forward and Dani was afraid he was going to faint and land on the knife, so she eased him gently onto his side, leaving him slightly curled around the knife as he closed his eyes and tried to breathe through the pain.
She was aware of conversations happening around her, some angry and some indifferent, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from Bright.
"We could've found another way," she whispered, thumb stroking soothingly over his cheekbone. "Your terrible plans are supposed to get us all out alive."
He smiled weakly but kept his eyes scrunched tight against the pain. "It gets you out alive."
Warm tears were running down her face when a hand landed on her shoulder, making her jump and twist her body around to the threat. It was one of Jacob’s bodyguards. He slid his hand from her shoulder to under her arm, yanking her to her feet.
"No!" She screamed, looking back at Bright and struggling against the firm hold.
Jacob merely raised an eyebrow and said, "Prepare her to move. Leave that one to bleed out,” he nodded towards Malcolm's shaking form on the floor “Take a picture to send to the police as a diversion once we leave. Transport will be here in 10 minutes, I want everything at the doors and ready to go."
Dani thrashed and kicked and tried to get to Malcolm, but the man had half a foot and 100 pounds on her and she didn't stand a chance. As he dragged her away from Malcolm, she heard a faint, "Goodbye, Dani" that stole her breath away and felt like a gut punch.
The man half-dragged, half-carried her to the bay doors where another man helped to zip-tie her hands behind her back and placed a cloth bag over her head. They pushed her roughly into a metal chair, which she immediately tried to get up from. She stopped when she felt the barrel of a gun pressed cold and unyielding beneath her chin and a gravelly voice threatened, "I'm fine with leaving two dead cops here if you don't shut the fuck up and sit still."
Dani realized that Malcolm's sacrifice would be for nothing if she didn't get out alive, so she sat still and made a promise to herself that she would hunt down every last person in this room and see them pay for what they'd done.
It wasn't long before she heard Jacob approach, providing instructions to his men as their transportation arrived. They seemed to be an organized and well-trained group and took his direction without complaint, making her suspect that many of them had some sort of military background. Although she couldn’t see what they were doing, Dani could hear the rustle of boxes and crates being moved into place as the bay doors were hauled opened.
What followed was complete pandemonium. The shouts of "NYPD, don't move!" mixed immediately with rapid gunfire and Dani threw herself to the floor in an effort to avoid any stray bullets. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest as the gunfire and shouting clashed around her, the restraints and blindfold leaving her feeling helpless and exposed. It felt like hours but was likely only a matter of minutes before she felt a warm hand on her arm and the bag was pulled off her head.
"Hey there, Powell, sorry we’re late," Gil smiled down at her, relief washing over his worried features as he took in her unharmed state.
"Bright," she said, launching herself unevenly to her feet, her tied hands making it difficult to rise from the floor. Gil steadied her with two strong hands and she saw the fear settle back into his features just before she took off running to where Bright was laying near the back of the warehouse, Gil following hot on her heels.
There were already two members of the ESU team with him, one of which was applying pressure around the wound as Bright thrashed weakly beneath the man's touch.
"Jesus Christ," Gil breathed out, running a hand nervously over his goatee as he took in the substantial pool of blood beneath the profiler.
One of the ESU officers looked up and informed Gil that an ambulance was en route and would be there in less than 5 minutes, but for Dani and Gil, 5 minutes seemed like an eternity.
Dani dropped to her knees by Malcolm's head and started speaking softly. "Bright? Bright can you hear me?" Malcolm stopped struggling and opened his eyes but couldn't seem to focus on Dani, his gaze shifting around the space as he mumbled incoherently under his breath. "You were right, Bright. Gil found us." Her voice cracked as she continued talking to him, trying to keep the tears back and stay calm for him. "So now you just need to hold on a little longer, okay? Help is coming and we're all getting out of here, because that's how your terrible ideas work, right?"
Gil grabbed a pair of cutters from a passing ESU officer and took a knee behind Dani to cut her hands free. As soon as the zip-tie was off, Dani was running a hand through Malcolm's hair in the same soothing gesture she had used before. He closed his eyes and relaxed into her warmth, turning his head towards Dani like he was chasing after the touch.
Gil had taken Bright's hand in his own and Dani noticed the tears he was blinking back as she looked up to quietly tell him, "He's going through Benzo withdrawal. We need to get him to the hospital. Now."
Gil's head dropped as he muttered a curse under his breath. "Where's that ambulance?!" he shouted towards the group of officers near the bay doors. They didn’t even have a chance to respond before the ambulance pulled up in front of the doors, lights flashing over the chaos of dozens of officers in full tactical gear rounding up the bad guys and hauling them away in cuffs.
Dani let out a relieved breath when she saw the paramedics hopping out of the ambulance and quickly heading towards them, stretcher and med kit in tow.
The relief was short lived.
She felt the movement beneath her hand where rested on Malcolm's head before she saw it. By the time she'd returned her attention from the paramedics back to Malcolm he was seizing on the floor, body tense and jerking as his muscles convulsed painfully. The ESU officer applying pressure to the wound jerked his hands back as the sudden movement caused the knife to nick his hand, but Dani and Gil immediately moved to hold Malcolm still, terrified of the damage the seizure could cause if the knife were to shift. Dani pressed down on Malcolm's shoulders while Gil held his hips still, both of them ignoring the hits they were taking from Malcolm's thrashing limbs.
The paramedics picked up the pace and were next to them in no time.
"Tonic-clonic seizure," one of the paramedics, a serious looking man in his mid-30s, said as he knelt next to Malcolm and noted the knife in his abdomen. "We're going to need to remove the knife to avoid any further internal injuries."
His partner, a blonde woman a few years older, opened the bag and pulled out gauze, preparing for the inevitable increase in bleeding.
"Can you keep a hold of him?" he asked Gil and Dani, and at their brisk nods, he grabbed hold of the handle of the knife and slid it out of Malcolm's abdomen. His partner immediately worked to stop the increased bleeding, packing the wound with gauze while he searched through the bag for a syringe and vial of diazepam, quickly pulling up a dose.
"Injecting diazepam intramuscularly," the paramedic stated as he jabbed Malcolm in the thigh.
It was the longest 90 seconds of Dani's life.
But finally, finally, the seizures stopped. As Malcolm went completely limp, Dani felt her own body sagging in relief and allowed the paramedics to nudge her out of the way so they could more fully work on Malcolm. One of the medics cut open Malcolm's shirt and dressed the wound, while the other started an IV line to begin replacing the fluids he had lost.
"He's going through Benzodiazepine withdrawal," Gil's voice waivered as he filled the paramedics in. "He was abducted on Tuesday and hasn't had any of his meds since."
"Do you happen know what he was taking?" The female paramedic asked as she and her partner lifted Malcolm onto the stretcher.
"Not offhand, but I'll have a list by the time you reach the hospital."
Dani knew Gil was going to have to call Mrs. Whitly for that and didn't envy him that phone call, but she was too fixated on Malcolm's disturbingly still form on the stretcher to really pay Gil any mind. Seeing Bright like this, so still and silent, was wrong in so many ways. He was normally a ball of barely restrained energy and Dani was shocked how awful it was to see him completely motionless. A tremor racked her body as she unexpectedly remembered him in Corpse Pose, making her stomach churn at how close a call this had really been.
A hand on her shoulder finally pulled her attention away from Malcolm and she looked up to find Gil standing above her with a worried look on his face.
"Powell?" he said, and his tone implied it wasn't the first time he'd called her name. "Are you hurt?" he asked when she’d finally acknowledged his presence.
"No," she said quietly. "No, I'm good."
Gil helped her to her feet and they walked with the paramedics over to the ambulance, his warm armed wrapped around her shaking shoulders. As they loaded Malcolm into the rig, Gil turned to Dani and said, "I want you to ride with him. Keep me updated and I'll send along a list of his medications for you to pass on to the doctors. I want you checked out at the hospital too. That's not a request, Powell," he added as she made to protest the suggestion.
She reluctantly nodded her agreement and climbed into the back of the ambulance, settling on the bench next to Malcolm and taking hold of his limp hand.
"You're gonna be okay, Bright," she whispered, unsure if she was saying it for him or for herself, before adding more firmly, "We have a steak dinner to get to, remember?"
She finally broke down and cried, sobs overtaking her body, as she felt his hand squeeze hers and she knew that he was going to be okay.