Page 28 of Caged
"I doubt he put his face on screen." Holding his breath, Marshall hit play.
There was no easing into the video. It started out harsh, with a younger Danny being pinned on his back to the floor. The camera was on his face at first, and the tears and screams left no doubt that he was being hurt. The disgusting grunts and laughs that were heard over Danny's screams made Marshall's temper flare. He wanted this guy dead.
"He's maybe thirteen in these." D shook his head. "Makes me sick to think how long he was held, and makes me fear how many more kids are out there facing the same life that we don't know about."
"I want this guy. I want the team to get him, not the police. I want to deliver his cock to Danny and let him destroy it. Hell, if I could, I'd send Danny in to cut it off himself." Marshall was furious, and it got worse as the camera panned lower so you could see exactly what was making Danny scream.
"Easy. We can't let Danny in on any of this. You know that, right?"
Marshall nodded. "I know. Still, he's the one who deserves to take vengeance on the guy."
"I know and agree. Hopefully, one of us can do it for him." D sighed. "If there is one video of them on the dark web, there will be others. You going to be up to finding them or do you want me to put Jeremy on this and let you work on other cases?"
"I need to be the one to do this." He wasn't sure why it mattered, but he didn't want anyone else taking the lead of finding evidence. He would welcome help, but he needed to be the one with the main focus on the case. "I'll still work our other active cases, but I want to be the one to work this."
"Fair enough." D's hand gripped his shoulder as the video ended. "Marshall, you need to promise me if this gets too hard, if you get too involved, you'll let me know and step back. Being personally connected to a case is different than anything else we do. I watched Xander and Matt go through it. I watched as Carter spent every minute of free time hunting his daughter's killer. It gets in your head."
"I'm good. I swear it. If it gets to be more than I can handle, I'll speak up." He quickly saved the video in a new file then set the facial recognition program to continue going through things. "I'm going to leave this running, but can work on other things. What do we have going on?"
"Jeremy's handled everything for the sting Friday. We'll need you and him both here during it to handle cameras in the area and keep track of the police. We've also got a hit on a prostitution ring in the area. They're frequenting ski resorts with twelve-year-old girls. Mostly hired by out of towners, a lot of men from out of the country are flying in to hire them. The file is titled, Vail. You could dig into that. I'd love to be able to put a stop to this one. They've got seven girls that we know of, but we can't figure out where they are being kept or where the promotional videos are being filmed. We've identified four different ski resorts they've used."
"On it." Marshall was already clicking the file open to see what they had. Tracking the pictures and videos to the source was what he was best at. This would be a good distraction for him while the other software worked on Danny's case.
"Thanks, Marshall. If you need anything, either for yourself or Danny, you let the team know. We're here for you. You don't have to take this on by yourself. We want to help. Jessica's going to casually hit up her brother to find out what the gossip is around the police station and let us know if there's anything we're missing."
Marshall smiled, thinking about how dangerous it was for them to even keep Jessica around. Her brother was a cop, and he knew Jessica was working with the team. He could follow her in anytime he wanted and arrest them all. It was only Jessica's word that he wouldn't, and the fact that her brother was determined to bring down his sister's rapists that gave them any security that he wouldn't raid the team house and send them all to jail. "Thanks. I think I'll invite the team out maybe Saturday to meet Danny. I'd like to have a few options for people to sit with him if I'm going to be working long hours. Jessica might be good. I don't think he's been around women much other than his mother years ago. It might be good for her to come around a bit."
"That's a great idea. As long as she doesn't mother him to death." D grinned.
"It might be just what he needs." He wanted Danny to be mothered, cared for, and loved. He wanted him to have the compassion and affection he'd never been allowed growing up. He wanted to see him laugh without that shadow in his eyes that was always there.
"You're a good man for stepping up and helping him. I hate to think where he'd end up if he'd been alone." D stood.
"Me too. Some half-way house being treated like a criminal or drug abuser. That wasn't what he needed." He sighed. "I'll talk to Danny tonight and see how he feels about a team dinner, then I'll call and let you guys know so we can plan it around stings. Thanks for being so supportive."
"Anytime. We're family." D gave Marshall's shoulder a tight squeeze before leaving the room.
Marshall relaxed back, thinking how alike Danny and he were. They really didn't have any family. They were both alone other than each other and the team, who he hoped would become like family to Danny. It wasn't easy since they had secrets to keep, but still, the team would never turn their back on someone, especially someone who went through what Danny had. D was right, the team was family. He hoped they'd become that to Danny too because if anyone needed one, it was him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Danny sat on the couch, looking around the room, wondering if this was a mistake. What could some therapist do to help him? No one who hadn't gone through it could understand. He was doing this because the doctor and Marshall both thought he needed to talk to someone.
The thing was, he couldn't really talk to anyone about it. He could walk them through what had been done to him, but he'd be damned if he'd talk about how he felt about it all. He'd opened up a little to Marshall, but even that made him uncomfortable. He didn't want them to think of him as weak.
But he was.
He'd gotten a bit stronger over the years with Larry, mentally learning how to handle the abuse, but that could have just been because the abuse wasn't really happening to him anymore. Sure, he got beat, but it was the boys who had the worst of things. How could he ever tell anyone that as much as he hated what had happened to the boys, there was a part of him that had been relieved because it wasn't him any longer?
He sighed as he bit his lip, his toes tapping nervously on the floor.
The place was too neat. He wanted to get up and pull some books from their places on the bookshelf, mess up the desk a little.
"I'm sorry to make you wait."
Danny looked over and was surprised to see a younger man walk into the room. He couldn't be much older than thirty. He'd expected some gray-haired man with messy hair and a starched suit, but this guy wasn't anything like that. He wore jeans and tennis shoes along with a simple pullover shirt. His hair was short and spikey in places. He had one ear pierced with two earrings, the other empty.
Danny stared at the man and swallowed hard. "It's okay."
