Eliot is half asleep about a third of the way into his ninety minute respite when his phone blares into his dream. He reaches for it blindly. "Go." He rasps eyes still closed.
"Eliot? Is this the right number?" the voice says and he sits up instantly aware.
He goes through a list of all the reasons his brothers wife would be calling him and none of them are good. "Tami is everything alright?" He asks already putting his boots on.
"No Julie's been kidnapped." His heart freezes in his chest when he thinks of his bright happy niece in harm's way. "You're sure?" he asks.
"Positive, they don't want cops and this is what you do."
"What do they want?"
"We don't know. Just that it has to do with Tim, so for both their safety Eric suggested we call you."
"He suggested or you decided honey?" He asked gently.
Tami sighed. "She's my girl." That's answer enough for Eliot.
"I know on my way."
Eliot leaves Nate a message that he has a family emergency and will be back as soon as he can.
Though he isn't surprised to find them all huddled on his curb next to the truck as he's locking up his apartment.
"I've got this." He steps around Parker to throw his duffle in the back of his truck. "Call Quinn if you need a replacement for me."
"What's wrong?" Sophie asks gently in her motherly voice.
"Someone took my niece."
"We're going with you." Parker states moving into his path.
"No."
"Yes." She replies looking him dead in the eye as though it brooks no further argument. He thinks dimly that Sophie's making her too normal but some part of him is proud of her for holding her ground with him.
He grits his teeth and mutters "Fine. I'm the lead on this."
Nate nods resolutely in agreement.
-/-/-/-
They fly the first part of the journey and are forced to drive the second half in cars they stashed near the airport.
Parker rides in the truck with him because he drives with the windows down and lets her stick her feet out the window.
"She's pretty." Parker states leaning into him. As she flips through photos he'd stashed in the glove box he hadn't noticed her opening. Just goes to show him how far he's gone into his own head.
He looks down to see a photo taken at Julie's high school graduation. They stand smiling on the fifty yard line of East Dillon Field. "Yeah. She is," he smiled fondly. That's one of the few occasions he'd made a point to go home for.
"How old is she?"
He does the math in his head. "Nineteen almost twenty."
"Who took her?"
"I don't know but I have the feeling it has something to do with the new boyfriend she emailed me about. I just might end up missing Porky the Panther."
"Huh?"
"Her last boyfriend had a stuttering problem like porky the pig. I think I made the kid nervous."
Parker flips to a photo of Eric. "You're Brother?"
"Yup. Eric Taylor."
"He seems…stern."
"That's one word for it." Normally Eliot would find Parker's yammering annoying but today not so much the distraction is better than the horrors running rampant in his mind. He turns up the radio as they cross into Oklahoma.
"Could you not pick just one color?" he says referring to Parker's mutli colored toenails.
"Variety makes my toes happy." Maybe not quite normal enough yet he thinks. Laughing lowly to himself he keeps driving toward Dillon, Texas.
-/-/-/-
Julie woke in the dark laying on her side. Ankles bound hands pinned behind her back. She presses her face into the hot concrete beneath her and wills herself to relax and breathe through the panic.
As her eyes adjust to the lack of light she sees corrugated metal walls. It's a warehouse a large one. Car parts line one wall on tall shelving.
She twists and pulls herself into a sitting position thanks only to her dancing background.
She turns her head slowly and sees a car frame. This is about Tim.
-/-/-/-
He stands poised to knock on the door the team at his back. The door swings open and there stands his youngest niece in a purple pillow case dress. Her big blue eyes rimmed red. She'd been crying.
"Uncle Eliot…Hi!" She says her usual five year old enthusiasm subdued. She wraps herself around his legs.
"Hey Gracie girl, why are you answering the door?" He asks trying not to show his concern.
"I thought you was Julie." Is muffled by the fabric of his jeans. He pries her loose.
He picked her up. "Just me and my friends. Sorry baby girl." He introduced Gracie to the team. Gracie rests her head on his shoulder. "Hi everybody."
"Where is every one Grace?" He asks rubbing his hand in a circle on her back.
"Daddy and Tim are outside fighting cause Julie's still not home and Mommy's in her room."
He nods. "Alright." He tries to decide which problem to tackle first.
He kisses Gracie on the cheek. "You're sister's gonna come back I promise peanut." He lets her down "Go tell your Mama I'm here okay?" Gracie nods scampering off.
"Uh just sit down, I'll be right back." he directed at the team. He turns and goes out the sliding glass door.
-/-/-/-
"And you didn't think to tell anyone that they were trying to blackmail you?" Eric griped at a lanky long haired brooding young man.
The younger man stares at his feet. "I didn't even think they knew about Jules and me so…I thought I could handle it sir."
Eliot knocks on the frame of the sliding glass door. "I'm going to find her." He stated. They both looked over.
"Tami…" Eric murmured and at any other time the word would have been accompanied by a wry smile.
"Yep." Eliot said nodding.
He looked over at Julie's silent unmoving boyfriend. "I'm Julie's Uncle, and I need you tell me everything you know. No detail is too small." He commands.
"How? Wait, Why?" he asked quietly.
"It's what I do." Eliot said quietly.
-/-/-/-
Julie hears someone walking toward her. Her heart races. A lean muscled intimidating black man stands over her.
He clucks his tongue. "Man I sure do hate having to kill the pretty ones." He pulls the gag from Julie's mouth and she lets out a blood curdling scream.
The back handed slap is quick and effective she tastes blood on her tongue.
"Shut up sweetheart." he warns idly. "I like fighters." Julie's blood freezes in her veins at the threat.
"Tim isn't going to give you whatever it is that you want."
"You better hope for your sake he does. Just how much does he love you? Wanna find out sweetheart?"
-/-/-/-
"So what are we dealing with here?" Eliot asks. Eric paces, the boy Tim, Eliot reminds himself sits tensely as if waiting for a fight. Tami's in the kitchen acting as hostess. Eliot knows she's just keeping herself distracted.
Gracie is plastered to his leg again. He picks her up thinking of Julie at that age when he'd used her to pick up girls. He nods over at Parker.
"Gracie this is my friend Parker, remember? She's a lot of fun to play with and I bet she'd love to see you're my little pony collection."
"What are my little ponies?" Parker asks genuinely curious
"Come on I'll show you." Eliot puts her down and she shoots off toward her room, Parker hot on her heels.
"Now what exactly have you gotten my niece into?" he directs at Tim with steel in his voice.
"I got into a tight spot awhile back and made the mistake of stripping some cars for some people here in town and I went to jail for it."
"You're letting her date an ex con Eric? Really!" Eliot gripes.
"Its not-"
"It's fine coach." Tim interrupts standing up. "I make no excuses I did what I did but the second I got out I swore to never do anything even remotely illegal ever again. I meant it, when Calvin's bosses came after me to do more I declined. They said I'd pay…I just thought they'd beat me up."
"And they picked a fate far worse…" Nate interrupted. "Love's the only thing powerful enough to override fear. My guess is they've been watching you a while they know your routine and Julie's and you aren't shy about how you feel about her are you?" Nate conjectured further.
"No sir, I love Julie very much."
"What were their terms?" Eliot barked getting things back on track.
"I found her car abandoned in our spot out on the edge of my property. When I first walked up I thought maybe she went into the house to go the bathroom or something but the house is only half done so all the noises freak her out when she's by herself last week she found a raccoon in the garbage…" Tim smirked fondly. "Anyway she never goes anywhere without her phone now. Not even to the John. The phone was in her car on the seat like someone startled her. There was a half-finished text on it to me and I found this…." He hands Eliot a folded sheet of paper.
Eliot opens the note. "Strip ten cars within two days and you'll get her back. Expect to receive a call noon tomorrow."
"I can strip cars easy boosting will take time though." Parker whispers over the comms.
"Maybe we won't need too." Nate replies.
"Comms." Hardison replies to the odd looks while pointing to his ear.
"It's ten thirty I'll tap the phones." He says to Eliot.
-/-/-/-
"What's your name? If I'm set to die at your hand I'd like to know your name."
"Marcus."
"Marcus I'm Julie." She shifts her weight and tries to move her numb hands. "I'm thirsty could I maybe get some water please?" The guy sighs but gets up and leaves.
The zip ties are cutting into Julie's wrists. She tries the trick Eliot had shown her but realizes that was more brute strength than trickery.
-/-/-/-
"Now when her captors call they're still under the impression that you've contacted no one I want to keep it that way, to maintain our advantage of surprise. I'll need one of you to negotiate; I'll walk you through it you'll just be the voice." Eliot said.
"I'll do it." Tim said and Eliot felt oddly proud of the guy. "I got her into this I'll get her out."
Eliot nods. "Alright then."
-/-/-/-
"Now the key to this darling is to remain calm. The more relaxed you are the better for Julie." Sophie tells him.
"They have the power or so they think. Do not rise to their bait, they'll take it out on her." Eliot said solemnly.
Tim swallowed. "Okay."
"Since we're in Podunk it's going to take me longer to get the ping off their phone. I'll need you to keep them on the phone for five minutes. Hardison said.
He handed Tim the phone at the exact time specified the phone rang.
"Hello." Tim said his mouth going unbearably dry.
"I believe I have something of yours." The voice said cryptically.
"Yes you do." Eliot wrote on a note pad. And slid to Tim to read. It read: demands and proof of life.
The last part made Tim's heart drop into his stomach.
"I'll do whatever it is that you want just return Julie to me safely. What is it that you want exactly?"
"Just what the letter said…your talent for stripping cars. "Tim read from the notepad again. "And if I can't strip the cars in the amount of time you specified? Would money suffice, 500,000 dollars?"
"Maybe…"
"First let me know my girl's alive. I give you something you gotta give me something, a good faith gesture."
"Good." Eliot mouthed.
Marcus sighed "Fine."
-/-/-/-
A shadow looms over Julie holding a bottle of water and a cell phone.
Marcus shoves the phone under her chin. "Talk."
"Hello."
"Hey baby," Julie's eyes fill with tears at the sound of Tim's shaking voice. "Are you ok?"
"I've been better but I'm alright…"
"Ok are you Idgie Threadgoode or Ruth today?" confusion colors Tim's words but Julie instantly understands that it has to be her Uncle Eliot using an old favorite movie of hers Fried Green Tomatoes to gauge how badly she's hurt.
"A lil bit of both. Hey Towanda?"
Tim reads the reply off to her. "Yeah baby you bet hang on okay? I'm coming for you."
"Okay, Tim this isn't your fault. I love you."
"I love you too!" and the phone is snatched away.
"I need to talk your offer over with my associates I'll get back to you at five pm."
And the line goes dead.
-/-/-/-
"I got the trace but just barely, she's somewhere within a three mile radius of Quarry Road. I need more pings to refine it." Hardison said.
"Shit the quarry is huge…" Tim said. "Fuck!" he growled through clenched teeth. He got up and left.
"Tim Honey." Tami said.
"I'm going to find her." He ran out to his truck.
"Not without all of us." Eliot said chasing him down.
"Look he's going to call back so keep this on you." He handed Tim the phone.
"Now, the echo of Julie's voice let me know she was in a building with metal walls how many of those are on quarry road?" Eliot asked
"Like seven, how'd you-"
"I pay attention is all, let's go kid."
They set off to rescue Julie.
AN: I own nothing this is just for fun. Please review!