Title: Time's Up
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: gen, Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Miami
Rating: R
Table: 5_prompts, Written in the Stars challenge
Prompt: B2, Sooner or later your time will be up
Author's Note: Spoilers for the S7 CSI: Miami episode "Wolfe in Sheep's Clothing."
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Ryan Wolfe or any of the other characters from CSI: Miami, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Ryan stared into the mirror over the sink in the bathroom, searching for any signs of what had just happened to him. It didn't seem possible that he had spent last night being beaten and tortured by a member of the Russian mob -- or that he was still alive.

He had managed to wash the blood off of him; he looked fairly normal, even though one side of his face was a little swollen where his tooth had been yanked out. His entire body ached; he felt as though he'd been run over by a Mac truck.

Yes, he was alive -- but for how long? He knew that if he didn't do as he'd been told, a child would be killed -- and he would probably be next. There was nowhere he could turn, nowhere to go for help. He was caught in a trap that he couldn't get out of.

He'd already given in to them; he couldln't back out now. He'd told them that he would do as they told him, for Billy's sake. He coudln't let them murder a child; he was obligated to keep his word. Though he wasn't so sure that the Russians would keep theirs.

There was really nothing to keep them from killing Billy once Ryan had done as they'd ordered him. They would have no reason not to; they might even kill the child just to teach him a lesson, to try and keep him under their thumb, intimidate him as much as they possibly could.

They had already made him swear that he would get rid of evidence. Would this be the only time, or would they try to force him to do more? One thing that Ryan knew about the Russian mob was that once they had a victim trapped, they didn't easily let him go.

And now, he was that victim. He might not have a future now, either as a CSI or as a cop. Hell, he might not even have his life after all of this was over. It had been all too easy for the Russians to kidnap him; there was no telling what else they might try to do to him.

Had they caused the flat on his car, or had that been nothing more than an opportunity for them to take him prisoner? Ryan closed his eyes, resting his head against the cool glass of the mirror as he thought about all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

It had been so easy for them to knock him out and take him. He'd turned his back for just a second, and that had been all they'd needed. He should have stayed in the car, radioed for help, and been more careful about seeing who was around him.

But he hadn't expected the Russian mob to come after him. He hadn't had any idea that they would be bold enough to kidnap him off of a busy street. Even for them, such an upfront move had seemed like too much. He had thought they would stay more hidden in the shadows.

That apparently wasn't their style. They had kidnapped him audaciously, within the sight of what could have been hundreds of people driving by. Anyone who had seen what was happening had probably thought that he was drunk, or injured, and was being taken to a hospital.

Some hospital, Ryan thought wryly, forcing himself to open his eyes and look into the mirror again. He didn't look any the worse for wear, other than that slight swelling of his jaw on the left side of his face. He seemed normal, as if nothing had ever happened.

He had truly thought his time was up when he had regained consciousness and found himself duct-taped to a chair in that abandoned sugar refinery. For just a moment, he had wondered if he was going to be killed then and there, before he knew what was going on.

Their intention had never been to kill him. They only wanted to use him -- and they'd had the leverage to ensure that they could do so. Now, he was caught in a trap that there didn't seem to be any escaping from, like the proverbial fly stuck in a spider's web.

Sooner or later, his time would be up, like every human being. He couldn't expect to live forever -- and in his line of work, even less than most people. He had always put himself in harm's way, ever since he'd decided to become a cop, and then a CSI.

But he had never counted on being kidnapped and tortured by the mob. He'd been through a lot of frightening experiences in his life; he'd been shot at when he was a cop, he'd been held at gunpoint, in high-speed car chases, in a shootout once.

Nothing had ever terrified him as much as waking up bound to that chair had. For a few moments, until the duct tape had been ripped away from his mouth, he'd been gagged and unable to speak; that had been the scariest thing of all, to lose his voice that way.

Even the subsequent torture hadn't been as utterly frightening as the first few moments of stark realization of where he was had been. Other than the removal of that tooth, nothing had terrified him so much as the first few seconds of consciousness and not knowing what was happening.

He had thought that his time was up then. He'd been sure that he was going to be murdered, that he would die here without being able to speak or defend himself in any way. In spite of the pain, it had been a relief when the tape gag was ripped away.

And then all he'd been able to do was scream. But at least he had screamed out his defiance; he hadn't been forced to give in until the pain had become too much to bear, until he had known that if he didn't give in, it would cost the life of an innocent child.

He couldn't let that happen. That was the only reason he had given in, Ryan told himself. Only because of Billy. It didn't matter what they had done to him; they could have continued to torture him until he died, but he would never have done what they demanded of him.

But now that a child's life hung in the balance, he truly had no choice. He knew that he should go to his boss; Horatio would understand why he had to do this, and would find a way out. But that, too, could cost Billy's life -- and that wasn't a price that Ryan was willing to pay.

Any time that he might have had to find a way out of this was up. He had to do as he'd been ordered; he couldn't turn back now. He'd made a deal with the devil, and he had to lie in that bed, no matter if that demon fucked him in every way possible.

Ryan straightened up and turned away from his reflection, setting his jaw against not only the pain of his wounded body, but the pain of the betrayal that he was being forced to commit. His time was up, and now, there was no turning back.

***