Hey everyone! I would like to thank you for the lovely reviews and personal messages that you left me from my previous story! With your encouragement, I decided to write another. I had a bit of trouble how to lay out this story, but… I decided not to worry about it and just flow with what comes to mind.

The main principle of this story was lightly inspired by two books I read, but I'm not going to give the titles away as many of you are probably familiar with these two books or heard of them. So, if I give the titles of the books away, it might spoil it!

The main focus of my stories as stated in my profile, was to create catharsis, so I want to make you cry! Well, this story is going to be sad, dramatic and action filled based on a foundation of romance!

This first chapter starts off a little slow (and a bit boring lol) but ends with some action! But, once again, thanks so much for all your support and reviews are always appreciated! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI NY, or else the character of Christine Whitney would have never been written.

The Message

Chapter One:

After a night of making love and moving earth, they held each other through the night until the hand struck 7:00am and the ringing of a tiny device broke the silence in the air.

She slowly moved her hand over to the distracting sound, slammed the snooze button and rolled over to her other side. The cool autumn air filled their bedroom as the curtains danced with the rhythm of the wind. The friendly breeze tickled his face its coolness awakened his senses. He heard the alarm go off again and saw her reach over to hit the snooze button but failed as the device fell to the ground.

He heard her let out a lazy groan and couldn't help but let a smile caress his face.

"Jo, wake up." He whispered as he leaned over and kissed the crook of her neck.

"No…." She mumbled and pulled the sheets up to cover her entire face.

"Well why not?" He chuckled.

"I don't want you to leave yet." She grumbled under the sheets.

"Haven't you had enough of me last night?" He giggled again as he took the sheets and slowly pulled them down to reveal her fresh morning face.

"I'll never get enough of you." She smiled and propped herself up on her elbows and gave him a lingering kiss.

He wrapped his arms around her slender waist and pulled her on top of him as their kiss continued.

"If we continue like this, we won't make it to work" He teased.

"I don't want you to work." She protested and rested her head on his chest.

He looked down and stroked her silky hair with the tips of his fingers. "I'm only going to be gone for about two weeks and if the perps are willing to cooperate, we will be back from Providence in a week."

She groaned and punched him lightly on the side of his body.

"And when I come back, we will have our wedding to look forward to." He smiled and went to go pick up her hand that housed a beautiful diamond ring in which will soon confirm her as his wife.

She maneuvered her body and rested her full body weight on her hands to look him directly in the eyes. Her silky hair fell from behind her eyes and tickled his nose. She smiled when she saw his nose twitch under her.

"Promise me you'll be safe. I wish I could come with you. I hate when you do undercover work." She protested.

"I hate it too." He whispered as he tucked her hair behind her ears.

"What's your fake name again?" She asked.

"Well, mine's Jack Tyson and Flack's Oscar Wittler. We're going to take down McGraw together."

"I'm going to miss you a lot, Jack Tyson" She smirked

"I'm going to miss you too, interim boss"

"Ugh, don't call me that."

There was a second of silence that stretched between them as she looked into his eyes.

"Don better keep you safe, I'll kick his ass if anything ever happened to you" She said as she rolled off of him and kicked her feet over the edge of the bed.

He watched her make her way to the bathroom in nothing but his old t-shirt. I'm a very lucky man.

He made his way out of bed, reopened his already packed duffel bag and rechecked if he had everything he needed. Once he was sure, he zipped it up and placed a lock firmly between the two holes of the conjoined zippers. He walked into the bathroom to shave and saw her painting her eyes. He laughed when she accidently poked herself with the mascara wand. He continued to laugh when he saw her blink rapidly and tear up.

"I don't even know why you put on makeup, I think you look beautiful." He commented

"You always say I look beautiful, you fool."

"I call you beautiful, and you call me a fool. What a fair trade."

She didn't reply. Instead, wiped away where the mascara stained her face and repainted the flawed eye.

They met in the kitchen and he handed her a coffee made in the image of her likeliness.

"Thank you. I'm going to miss you making coffee for me every morning." She frowned.

"You're only going to miss my coffee?" He grinned.

"Yup, that about sums it up." She teased. Of course not, you idiot.

"Well, for the next two weeks, I'm known as Jack Tyson…" He said as he held up his mock ID. He laughed to himself at how ridiculous he looked in the black and white picture.

"Nice picture there. You look miserable!" She giggled as she took the card in her hands.

"Hey give that back, I think I look sexy as ever."

"Stay away from the ladies Mac, or this lady will be very upset when you come back."

"Don't you worry." He said while giving her a peck on the lips.

He picked up the bag and tossed it into the apartment hallway. Jo locked the door and they stepped into the elevator together. Outside, Don was waiting for him in a beat-up pick up truck and nodded as a gesture of greeting when he saw the couple.

"Good morning, 'Jack' and good morning boss" he joked as he grabbed Mac's suitcase and threw it in the back seat.

"I'm not the boss…" Jo said and rolled her eyes as she shook her head.

"Well, we better get going." Don insisted and added, "I promise I'll look after Mac" as he smirked. He then turned around on his heel and went inside the truck. He shut the door and rolled up the windows to give the couple some privacy.

She let out a long breath and frowned, "Promise me you'll be safe," and she hung her head low, looking at the ground.

"Hey, look at me…" He said as he lifted her chin up with the tip of his index finger. "Remember our first date? You made me stick out my thumb and stick out my arm in front like an idiot! Just remember what you told me and I'll be with you no matter where I am." He paused.

She looked at him and chuckled.

"I'll be back in two weeks."

She looked at him. Tear don't you fall.

"I love you, and I can't wait for you to be my wife." Mac whispered while giving her a warm embrace.

He too hopped in the passenger seat of the truck and Don ignited the engine as it roared in the streets of New York. Be safe you two.

She saw them drive away off into the distance and stuck out her hands to give them her last gesture of goodbye. She made her way to the parking garage and let herself into her car. She felt a little faint but shook her head a couple times and the feeling receded. That was strange.

She turned the ignition and fastened her seat belt. She put her vehicle in reverse and drove off to the crime lab.

They arrived in Providence and pulled up to an abandoned little house that they would have to live in for the next two weeks. They unloaded the truck and stood outside for a bit, studying the decaying structure.

"Wow, it's a pretty beaten up place, isn't it?" Don said. And it smells like crap.

"Oh yeah, but it's the only place we can stop McGraw's dirty business. We have to save those girls." Mac sincerely replied.

They walked up the stairs and the mesh door opened with a creaky sound, threatening to break in mere seconds. They walked it, stood and examined the place. Don crinkled his nose to the pungent smell of leaves, unwashed animals and lake water. Yuck.

"Who the hell suggested this place?" He questioned.

"Sinclair." Mac simply replied while placing his bag on the table in front of him and added,

"I'm going to put our bags in the bedroom, you check this place out". He walked into the short hallway and made a quick left turn. I don't want to be here either; I have someone waiting for me at home.

Don walked over to the window. It was old, dirty and beaten up but still intact. He took his hand and wiped away the dust that collected on the glass pane over the years and then he leaned forward to look outside. He noticed the quite river than ran outside the house and its waters that gently brushed up against the rocks. He also noticed the quite rhythms of the trees as they swayed against the wind and the utter silence of the place but heard the quite chirping of the birds.

They decided to hold off the case until early morning as they saw the night slowly consuming earth's shining lamp. They made Kraft Dinner that night and made friendly conversation over their meal.

The next morning, they were awakened by the rays of sun that beamed into the windows of the bedroom. Mac let out a tired stretch and noticed that Don was snoring beside him. You snore like a jack hammer. He reached over and gave him a hard punch to the arm. Don shot straight up, startled with ruffled hair.

"Holy…. What was that for?"

"For not letting me sleep. You snore louder than a jet engine!"

"I do not"

"Wanna bet?"

Don didn't reply but let out a loud yawn instead while rubbing his eyes in attempt to focus his vision.

Mac shook his head. "Okay, we have to find a way to get one of McGraw's girls"

"Yeah, pose as a customer, right?"

He nodded, "This should be an easy case. We just have to reel one of the girls back to this place. We will have to get her to talk, and maybe she will be able to spit out where he's keeping the rest of them."

"He threatens to kill them if they talk to his customers."

"I think they will be willing to talk to us if we tell them we are here to help them."

"Okay, you ready?" Don asked.

"Yeah"

They drove into the city and pulled up to an old abandoned building.

"Wait, why didn't we just bring the whole team and we could arrest these idiots in charge of this nest here?" Don asked.

"Because this is only one of his many places where he keeps these girls. If we arrest them now, he would take all of the other girls in his different locations and flee, making it even harder for us. He keeps his nests all close together, so if one of these girls can tell us where McGraw is, we can shut down his entire network."

"Fair enough…. So we're going for the boss to bring it all down as a whole…"

"Right. Let's go in, what's your name again?" Mac tested.

"Oscar Wittler, I own a corner store. I'm coming to Providence for a road trip with my buddy Jack Tyson who owns a restaurant down the street in Bronx, New York."

"Good, got your ID?"

"Mac, I'm not two years old, I don't forget stuff like that…"

"Just checking." He replied as he stepped out of the car.

They walked towards the building and knocked on the door. The decaying door was opened by a man in a black leather jacket, smoking something that was most definitely not a cigarette.

"What do you want?" His raspy voice asked.

Crap, what's the entry code again? "The menu" Mac replied.

"Downstairs, to the right. Room 466"

They walked down the stairs in front of them and the smell of drugs was unbearable. They turned to their right and saw the hanging light that was flicking on and off. They saw the series of rooms, 463, 464, 465…. 466.

"I'm guessing this used to be a hotel" Don whispered and Mac replied with a simple nod.

They saw the room and knocked. The door swung open and another man with black hair was standing in front of them.

"ID." He black haired man simply stated.

They took out their IDs and handed it over to the man who ripped it out of their hands.

"Jack Tyson and Oscar Wittler. What do you fellas do that brings you down here?" He questioned, eying at Mac.

Mac noticed the girls behind the man that were huddled in the corner in clothes that did not cover enough skin. Holy crap, how many does McGraw have?

"HEY! I'm asking you a question!" He roared with eyes of noticeable reddish veins.

"I own a restaurant down the street from my buddy here who runs a corner store in the Bronx." Mac replied.

The man looked at him with an icy glare, "Get in."

They both walked in, Don behind Mac and looked at each other in awe at the sight in front of them. Twenty girls with the youngest being around eight years old and the oldest around eighteen.

"Stand up!" The man roared at them and another man with gray hair came out of bathroom, "Line up! We have customers!"

The girls quickly got up and lined up in order, presumably by age, descending left to right. Their hair was tattered, their heads hung low, not daring to look at them. They were forced to wear impeccably high heels and fish nets tights. They wore red lipstick and garments that covered their upper and lower areas.

"Chose one, any one! How about this, one?" The man chucked as he grabbed a girl by the arm, about twelve years old, Asian decent.

Mac shook his head, and Don did too – following Mac's motion. The man shoved the girl back in line and the handprints on her tiny arm quickly emerged.

Don and Mac pretended to look interested in what was displayed in front of them. Don fisted his hand and slammed it into his coat pocket to hide his fury. You sick bastard, McGraw.

Mac looked up and down the line, trying to hide his own fury. We're going to help you all, I promise. Give us some time. He looked again, I need an English speaking one. He noticed a girl who was about sixteen years old, blonde hair, blue/green eyes, skinny – too skinny, with her held low. She was wearing green garments and red high heels.

"I want that one" Mac pointed to her, "What's your name?"

The girl stepped forward, shaking she said, "Christina, from Scotland."

Don nodded. Thank god she speaks English, she can help us.

The man threw the tiny girl at him and looked in Don's direction, "Which one do you want?" he snarled.

"We're going to share her." Don faked a smirk that disguised his disgust.

"Oh you like it like that, don't you?" The man with gray hair chuckled.

The man with black hair added, "This is Jack and Oscar, they're going to have fun with you."

They left the building with the girl and she sat in the back seat of the truck with Mac. The ride was quiet and silent. Christina shivered in the autumn air and Mac took off his jacket and wanted to wrap it around her. She looked at him and shook her head as she inched away from him. She saw the beaten up house that Don pulled up to and she trembled. Mac noticed her fear and let out a sigh. She got out of the truck and looked around, scared for her life.

She stepped into the house and noticed the computers, wires and papers that were all scattered everywhere. They're going to film me?

"You're going to film me?" The girl murmured.

"Christina, my name is not Jack, it's Mac and he's not Oscar, he's Don. You're going to stay with us, we're here to help you, and we're detectives. Were you kidnapped by men who brought you into a place filled with young girls like you?"

She paused for a bit. I can't tell you! Not just young girls, my mom too….

"Christina, it's okay, we're not here to hurt you." Don added.

She looked at him with sincere eyes until she finally nodded.

"Did you ever get to see a man who looked like this?" Mac asked as he slid a picture across the table of a man with grey toned hair, dark tanned skin, and dark hellish eyes.

She shivered at the sight of the man but she managed to communicate to Mac with a nod.

"Do you know what does and who this man is?" Don added with a disgusted expression.

"Boss, takes girls…. From…. Their families…. Threatens them with guns and knives…. Beats them….. sells them to evil men." She stuttered with fear.

Mac pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. He finally spoke out, "Yes, he is the boss. His name is Jonathon McGraw and he is in charge of the men who kidnapped you. He is an offender of sex trafficking and we're here to find his location."

She looked down at her hands while biting her lower lip.

"Can you tell us where he is?"

"Promise me that you will help those girls."

"I promise, I will help each and everyone of them".

"I over heard the man with the gray hair talking to the one with black hair one night…. They said…"

"What did they say?"

"They said somewhere with a beach… and they talked about the shore…. Something about setting another location close to the boss…."

"Did you hear any sort of name? Like a place?"

"Something with 'Cod'"

Mac and Don thought for a moment and then looked at each other.

"Cape Cod? Does that sound familiar Christina?"

She nodded.

She sat there and after a long pause she added, "He's going to kill me. I shouldn't have told you anything"

Mac looked at her with a furrowed eyebrow expression. She saw that she was shivering in the tiny clothes on her body, revealing too much of her skin. "Stay here with Don, I'll go grab you some clothes." He said as he turned around and headed for his room.

Don looked at the shivering girl and added, "I'll get you something hot to drink." He turned around on his heel and headed towards the kitchen counter that house a small little stove. He poured some hot water that he made earlier in the kettle into a small glass that already had some instant coffee inside. I guess coffee will do. He was about to lean to his left to grab a clean spoon until he heard the slamming of the front door. Crap!

He dropped the coffee and shouted for Mac who already stepped into the room with a shirt.

"She got out!" Don shouted.

Mac pushed Don out of the way and ran in front of him. He ran outside and looked over his right shoulder. No sight of her. Then he looked over his left. Run!

"Mac! Wait!" Don shouted in front of him.

Mac ran towards the girl who was quite a distance in front of him, running along the river. He heard the crack of the thunder and the rain became more furious as its pellets of water trembled down his face.

"Christina! Stop! We're here to help you!"

He ran faster and was getting close to her. Fear boiled in his veins as he noticed her crossing the small river over the massive rocks that resembled somewhat of a bridge. You're going to fall!

The tiny girl carefully jumped from one rock to another as the rain poured over her body. She looked back over her shoulder and noticed that Mac was following her, but stood still on the first rock, holding out his hand as he made his way to the second rock.

"Come, take my hand! You're going to fall!" He shouted across to her.

"He's going to kill my mother if I ever told you anything." She shouted back.

"We're going to help her too! I promise!" He's got her mother too?

The girl trembled in the storm but she began to trust him. She turned around and slowly walked back towards him, slowly reaching out her tiny arm for his. She took placed one foot in front of the other but her bare feet provided no tread as she felt the slippery rocks beneath her.

"Its slippery!"

"It's okay, you can do it!" Mac encouraged.

Another bolt of lighting cracked through the sky, and its aftershock roared in the air. Christina became nervous and scared as she ran towards him. She lost her footing and before she knew it, she fell in the water. Her hands frantically clawed upwards, desperately trying to find a way to keep her head above the water. "Help!" She managed to cry out

Without thinking, Mac jumped into the heavy flowing river and swam his way towards the girl who was being carried away by the waters' rapid movement.

His arms flung in front of him, one by one, clawing at the water as frantically kicked his feet. He felt a sense of relief as he was currently swimming a tad faster than the current but the girl flowed quickly in front of him. A few more strokes!

He swam with adrenaline for the last few meters and finally caught up to her. He threw his arms around her and backstroked back to shore, which was intensely difficult for him as the current was becoming stronger. He saw that he was close to the shoreline but could not manage to pull himself words so he used all his force in his body and threw her in the grass. Mac, swim up to shore!

The rain was beating down on the water and the wind picked up its pace, the river flowed faster – threatening to pull him under. He continued to swim perpendicular to the current towards the shore but the current wouldn't let him as the water pushed him further and further away from the house. Mac, why can't you do it?

Don continued to run along the riverside in attempt to catch up to Christina and Mac. He halted to a stop when he noticed the girl lying on the grass coughing hectically and kneeled down beside her. He quickly picked up the young girl in his arm and blinked away the rain that was dripping down on his face.

"Where's the man who saved you?" He asked firmly while gripping on to the girl's shoulders.

"I don't know… All I felt was him throwing me on to the shoreline. I saw…." The girl managed to say while coughing up the remaining bits of water left in his lungs.

"What did you see?" Don asked quickly, cutting her off.

"I saw him being constantly pulled down by the water and he kept flowing away." She continued to cough.

He looked down the river in the direction of the water flow in attempt to look for Mac. He couldn't have flowed that far.

He ran with the child in his arms down the river and shouted, "Mac! MAC!"

He noticed another roar of the thunder and crack of lightening that ignited the sky.

The roaring of the wind was unbearable and he could barely see anything in front of him. But, he was determined to locate his friend.

"MAC! Mac where are you!" He shouted with all the air his lungs provided him. I promised Jo….

Another crack of lightening blazed through the clouds and a louder cry of thunder filled the air. Mac, where the hell are you?

So! Where's Mac? Please review and tell me where you think he is! In the next few chapters, you will find out!

The crime of human trafficking/sex trafficking popped into my head after I watched the movie, "Human Trafficking". This movie was so gruesome and horrific that I cried in class (we watched this movie in class as a part of a study project). I had nightmares that entire week and absolutely couldn't sleep!

There will be action in the next few chapters! I'm debating between writing this story with a happy or a sad ending…