He looked down at his watch, and decided that everyone had waited long enough to get what they wanted. He leaned down and grazed his lips slowly over hers, getting a feel for what he knew would be his very soon. "Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty," Dan Wilkerson whispered, his hands slowly moving up Brenda's unconscious body as his fantasies went into overdrive. "It's time for the games to begin..."
Dan quivered as he slowly slid his hands up Brenda's body to her hair. It was all he could do to contain himself, his desire for her was so strong. No, Dan, he told himself. Remember what Mr. Leone always says - - anticipation, and slow and steady makes the ultimate act so much better, whether it's eating or business or sex. He leaned closer to her to inhale the slightly intoxicating, vanilla scent of her hair. "No," he said as he nuzzled her neck, "I can wait for you, Beautiful, because I know it won't be much longer at all..."
He pulled the bottle of little, white pills that he'd brought with him out of his coat pocket and eyed the bottle. Dan had used these little beauties in the past to help him make a few of his less cooperative "dates" a little more pliable in his hands. But having studied Ms. Barrett's photos and her history for the past several days, he decided that he didn't want her to be subdued when he took her. He definitely wanted to see the fight and the fire in her eyes when he conquered her. She had the reputation of being a spitfire, and he was betting that role carried over into the bedroom as well. No, he didn't want this woman to be mere putty in his hands; he wanted her to fight him every step of the way, and he was sure she would.
Dan shoved the bottle of pills back into his coat pocket, then tore off his coat and tossed it onto the chair beside the bed, before settling his body next to hers on the bed. The ultimate conquest of Ms. Barrett may have to wait until all of the business formalities were out of the way, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to feel her body next to his like this. He licked his lips and ran his fingers gingerly over the thick lashes of her closed eyes and then down across her luscious, pouty lips. Anticipation was wreaking havoc with him, and his body literally shook looking at her, touching her. He wanted more, and he wanted it now, but he remembered Mr. Leone's strict instructions: Ms. Barrett was not to be touched until AFTER the Jacks family had informed the Justice Department that they could offer no information about Leone and his operations. But after that, she was his and his alone... He let out a heavy sigh as he decided that the sooner that he got her awake and talking to her boyfriend and his family, the sooner that family could get things taken care of, and the sooner he could make all of his fantasies with this goddess come true.
Just as Dan was about to shake Brenda to rouse her, he saw the headlights of a car approach the secluded house. He grabbed his gun and walked over to the bedroom door, carefully opening it a crack to see if anyone had come into the house. The dimly lit hallway outside the bedroom was clear, so he cautiously moved through the long hall and into the great room and toward the front door of the house in the foyer just beyond. With no lights on in the foyer or the great room and the drapes drawn at the windows, preventing even the waning moonlight from wafting in from outside, Dan hid easily in the shadows behind the front door. He raised his gun and aimed it steadily in front of him, watching as the door slowly swung open and a man cautiously entered. "Take another step, and you're dead!" Dan hissed, as he cocked the trigger and held the cold steel barrel of his 9-mm to the intruder's head.
She was drifting...At first she wasn't sure where she was, and she felt frightened and disoriented, but then she recognized this place: it was her own living room, and she was not alone-Jax was with her, holding her. There was a fire blazing in the fireplace; the glow from the fire and a couple of candles that were scattered about the room were the only light there was. Jax was holding her in his strong arms, gently massaging her belly as she held his hands so that he could feel the movements of their baby within her. Outside, the wind howled and snowflakes swirled wildly about, but inside here, she and Jax and their baby were safe and warm ... they were all safe and warm...
But now she was drifting again, and the image faded, and a cold fear and a dull ache in her head replaced the warm, secure sensation she had felt. She slowly opened her eyes, struggling to get her pupils to adjust to the harsh light of the room. She looked wildly around the room, trying to place where she was. She was lying in the middle of a king-sized bed in the middle of a huge, white bedroom. Where was she, and what had happened? Think, Brenda, she told herself. Finally, the grogginess began to wear off, and she began to remember-she had been outside the cabin, looking for Charlie...Charlie! She closed her eyes once again, and blinked back the tears as the image of Charlie's unmoving body flooded her mind. Oh, God! They killed Charlie, and now they have me! Her mind was racing. She had to get out of here now!
Brenda tried to sit up, but she was so dizzy. She took several deep breaths, and soon the lightheadedness passed enough that she was able to get herself upright. She glanced furtively around the room, looking for a means of escape. There were three doors in the room, including a set of double doors that she assumed led to a closet. There was a door that was slightly ajar that was to the right of the closet doors. She stood up and made her way quietly to that door, carefully peering into the dimly lit room that lay before her. It was an opulent bathroom done completely in white with a large, shockingly red, whirlpool tub for two as the focal point of the room. There was a white vanity and twin red sinks off to the side, as well as a matching red toilet and bidet in another corner. There was a large shower stall in the far corner of the massive room.
Something about this room seemed vaguely familiar, but why? Had she stayed here before? Brenda couldn't imagine ever forgetting a bathroom as memorable as this one, but at the moment, her brain seemed sluggish and she couldn't seem to put her finger on why it was familiar to her. But whether or not she knew this place was not important at the moment. What was important was finding a way out. She quickly looked around the room, but to her dismay, despite being filled with windows, the bathroom had no windows that actually opened to allow her a means of escape.
She sighed and crept toward the one remaining door of the massive bedroom, stopping at the closed door and listening carefully for any signs of activity outside the door. Her heart fell when she heard the distinct sound of voices-angry, male voices-arguing in the next room. Under the door she saw the light in another room turn on, and she knew that her chances of escaping past her captors undetected were slim to none now. If it were only she, Brenda would have chanced it, but she had the baby to think of now, and she had promised herself and Jax that she would do what she had to do to take care of the baby.
The baby... The memory of the dream she had just awakened from flooded back to her, and she smiled as she realized that she was once again feeling that this baby was indeed real and would be born. She cupped her hands protectively over her slightly rounded abdomen and whispered softly, "We'll be okay, little one. Daddy will find us, and everything will be okay. I promise." Then she said a silent prayer for the wisdom and strength to do what she had to do to keep her and the baby safe until Jax could indeed find them.
Brenda's eyes darted around the room, looking for anything she could use as a weapon to protect herself and the baby, when she saw the man's coat flung across the oversized wing chair by the bed. She grabbed the coat and quickly searched its pockets, looking for a gun or a knife, but instead finding an unlabeled, amber pill bottle. She opened it and poured a few of the tiny, white pills into the cap of the bottle. Suddenly, a sick feeling washed over her as she realized that this was the infamous "date rape" pill that she had seen on a newsmagazine show recently. She couldn't remember the name of the pill, but the program had shown the drug, and it looked exactly like this.
Her mind was racing again. God, had they drugged her? What if it hurt the baby? No, she told herself. This pill had to be orally ingested, and she hadn't had anything to eat or drink since long before this ordeal had begun. She heaved a momentary sigh of relief as she realized that they couldn't have used this on her-at least, not yet. She tried to shove the entire bottle into her jeans pocket, but the tightness of her jeans from her expanded waistline prevented her from doing that. Damn! What now, she wondered. She grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and poured the contents of the cap into the tissue and then wrapped the tissue up tightly and shoved it into her front jeans pocket, returning the pill bottle back into the coat pocket where she had found it. She wasn't sure if she would get the chance to use these pills against her captors, but for now they were one of the few weapons she had-that and her faith that somehow Jax would find her before it was too late.
"Jesus, Dan! It's me!" the intruder shouted as Dan's gun settled just above his right ear. "It's Tony! Mr. Leone sent me back to help you."
Dan flipped on the lights and slowly lowered the barrel of his gun as he recognized Tony Richards, one of Mr. Leone's longtime associates. "Mr. Leone sent you back here?" He looked at the gray-haired man suspiciously. "Doesn't Mr. Leone trust me to handle this on my own?" Dan was not sure he liked this development for a couple of reasons: first, it appeared that Leone was doubting his abilities; and secondly, having Tony around would definitely put a crimp in the big plans he had for Ms. Barrett. "I just talked to Mr. Leone a couple of hours ago, after I sent you off to deliver the note and the ring, and he never said anything about you coming back here to stay with me. The plan was for you to help me grab her and get her back here. Then you were to deliver the goods to the Jacks family, and then go back to the city," Dan said, as he put his gun back into the waistband of his pants and shut the door behind Tony.
"I guess the boss changed his mind," Tony shrugged as he put the bags he'd been carrying down on the table near the door. "He called me a few minutes after I left here and told me to watch Ms. Barrett's cottage to make sure they got the package, and also to make sure that there weren't cops hanging around the place. I stayed up the road from the place for over an hour, and there wasn't a single car that went up that stretch of road the entire time I was there."
"Good!" Dan replied. "Maybe these people are smarter than I thought if they haven't got cops crawling all over the place." Then the bags Tony had brought with him caught Dan's attention. "What's in those?" he asked, pointing to the bags on the foyer table.
"Food," Tony answered. "The boss thought Ms. Barrett might need something to eat since we snatched her before she had a chance to enjoy her supper, so he suggested I grab something for you and me and her. I figured being a model and all, she'd probably like salad, so I got her a Caesar salad and some club sandwiches for us."
Dan just shook his head and laughed, as he patted Tony on the back, "Mr. Leone is always the thoughtful host, huh, Tony? Well, let's go wake our 'guest' up so she can make her phone call to her boyfriend, and then we can eat while we wait to hear from Mr. Leone that the Jackses delivered as expected."
Brenda had not been able to discern anything that was being said in the other room, but she could tell that the tone of voices had changed from angry to laughing, and now the voices seemed to be getting closer. Quickly, she got back on the bed and feigned unconsciousness, just as the door opened and she heard two sets of heavy footsteps approach the bed. Someone sat down on the bed next to her, caressing her face and running his fingers through her hair. Brenda fought the revulsion that was rising inside of her. Her first urge was to kick the crap out of whoever was touching her, but she knew that would be risky. If she were going to make it through all of this, she'd have to use her head because her physical strength would most likely be useless against these men and their weapons.
"Dan," she heard one of the men say, "Mr. Leone said you're not to touch her yet. We need her in good condition for the call and until we know for sure that the Jacks family did what they were told. After that, he doesn't care, but until then, I'm to keep you off her." Brenda felt a cold fear grip tightly around her heart. These men had no intention of letting her go once they got what they wanted, and on top of that-Oh, God!!! She couldn't let it happen-none of it!
"I'm not hurting her, Tony," the man, who was touching her, said. "I'm just trying to get her to wake up so we can get on with the business at hand. I'm sure her boyfriend is as eager to hear from her as I am for her to call him and get this show on the road. Would you rather that I slap her back into consciousness?"
"Naw, you know I don't like hittin' women," the other man, who sounded older, replied. "It just looks like you're getting a little too much pleasure out of all of this. I just don't want you to get any ideas about her while I'm still here."
"Don't worry, Tony. What I have planned for her is better done without an audience," the man, who was on the bed, laughed sinisterly. Brenda felt a wave of intense nausea wash over her at that, and her eyes flew open and she sat up on the bed with her hand clamped over her mouth, trying to tamp down the sick feeling that suddenly pervaded her body. "Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty..." the man on the bed, whom Brenda guessed was Dan, started to say, but the rest of his thoughts were halted when Brenda immediately vomited all over him and the bed. "What the hell?!!" he screamed, trying unsuccessfully to jump out of her way.
"She's sick," the older man, whom Brenda assumed was Tony, said as he guided her quickly toward the bathroom and to the bright red toilet. "Musta been the chloroform."
"No, kidding!" Dan yelled angrily after them. "Damn! These pants are Armani, no less! And look at the bed!" This night was not turning out at all the way he had planned. No one would be spending any time rocking and rolling on these sheets tonight, he thought, annoyed by this turn of events.
Brenda, who was now hunched over the toilet with her back to the door, found herself smirking despite her continued nausea. Well, that should take care of his amorous impulses for me-at least for the time being, she thought. She glanced sideways into the mirror on the wall above the double sinks and saw Tony, standing in the bathroom doorway with his back to her, watching an irate Dan pull off his ruined dress pants and throw them onto the equally soiled bedding. She had to quickly size up these guys if she was going to make it out of here alive. Neither of them was above killing her, but the older man, Tony seemed more compassionate and perhaps she could use that. He looked about 60, tall and lanky, with a head of thinning, silver hair, and Brenda hoped she could evoke some fatherly instincts in him. After all, he was the one who had sympathetically helped her here to the bathroom. But Brenda was under no illusions that he would help her escape. He was, after all, in the mob, and when push came to shove, his loyalties would be to the mob. She knew that all too well from her own bitter experience with Sonny.
She heard the doors of the bedroom closet fly open, and she could hear Dan continuing to mutter obscenities as he grabbed clean clothes to put on. Dan appeared to be in his late 20's or early 30's, tall, powerfully built, and very handsome, with a dark complexion and dark brown hair and eyes that reminded her of Sonny's-deep and dark, and, at times, soulless. The mirth that she had initially felt at having so crudely stopped Dan was quickly replaced by a sense of foreboding as she realized that by embarrassing this guy, she had most likely angered him, and he would be out to hurt her as much as possible in return. She knew his type well-after all she had been with Sonny for four years.
She straightened up, flushed the toilet, and then went to the sinks to wash her hands and face and rinse her mouth. She looked down over her clothes and smiled secretly as she noted that she had somehow managed not to get anything on herself during her projectile display of self-defense in the other room. But she couldn't use that trick again. I'm going to have to keep my wits about me and use whatever opportunity I can to get out of this alive, she thought.
"You okay now?" Tony asked from behind her.
Brenda straightened up and put on her most contrite face as she answered, "Yes, I have low blood sugar, and sometimes I get sick when I don't eat for long periods of time." Tony nodded in return. Yes, Tony definitely seemed the more pliable of the two, Brenda thought, and, although she doubted he'd help her outright, she hoped she could somehow play one man against the other...
Dan appeared in the bathroom door. The lecherous look he had for her when she first "woke up" had been replaced by one of anger, as he marched past her to the other sink, turning on the hot water and working the fragrant soap into as much of a lather as his emotions seemed to be. "Feeling better now, Princess?" he asked sarcastically as he liberally washed his arms, his face, and his chest, before drying off and throwing on the chambray shirt he had brought in with him. Brenda looked at him carefully. In Levis and this shirt, he looked far less imposing than he had in his $1000 silk suit. Sonny had needed the fancy clothes to make him look and feel important, and Brenda was certain that Dan was cut of the same insecure cloth as Sonny.
Brenda arched an eyebrow and looked Dan squarely in the eyes. "I'm as good as I can be, under the circumstances," she replied coldly.
Dan met her cold stare with an equally cold one of his own. "Good! Because now we've got business to conduct!" He looked from Brenda to Tony. "Tony, get those sheets off the bed, and get some clean ones on while I take her to call loverboy!" He grabbed Brenda roughly by the arm and dragged her back through the bedroom and then down the hall and into the great room, where he shoved her down onto one of the two large, sepia-colored, leather couches in the room.
Brenda glanced around the spacious room with its stone fireplace and its gleaming, oak plank floors, and she had yet another sense of déjà vu. She recognized this place. She had been here before, but where was here? She wracked her brain to place it.
Dan thrust a cell phone into her hands. "Call your boyfriend, and tell him you're okay, then hand the phone to me," he said curtly.
Think, Brenda, she admonished herself. Try to remember where this place is so you can let Jax know where you are when you call him. She hesitated slightly, praying that the information she needed would come to her before she had to hang up with Jax.
"I said, 'dial!'... And call his cell number, not the house number," Dan hissed at her through clenched teeth. He had wanted her to be a spitfire, and she had not disappointed him in that respect, but she was being even more of a problem than he had anticipated, and this night was not living up to his fantasy at all. Well, that was all going to change as of this moment, he thought. He was going to take control now, and from this point on, things were going as he planned!
Brenda glared at him as she slowly punched in the seven digits of Jax's cell number. To her surprise, the call went through without using the long-distance prefix, which told her that they were somewhere within the Port Charles area code, and then it hit her -- where here was...
Jane was pouring everyone another cup from the third pot of coffee for the night when Jax's cell phone rang, startling them all.
Jax quickly opened the phone and listened anxiously for a voice at the other end. "Jax, here!" he said, holding his breath that it was Brenda or the kidnappers, and not someone else.
"Brenda, here," Jax heard Brenda's tiny voice say.
"Brenda!" Jax was breathless now. She was alive! "Where are you? Are you okay?"
"Damn! They used the cell," Tom swore softly, as John and Jane and Jerry, as well as Tom and Agent Michaels crowded around Jax at the mention of Brenda's name.
Jax heard Brenda's momentary hesitation on the other end of the line, and his heart stopped. God, please let her be okay, he prayed fervently.
"I'm fine, Jax," Brenda replied evenly. "In fact, I feel better than I did when you forced me to go hunting with you last year... I love you, Jax..."
A male voice broke in then, "She's fine for now, but if you and your family don't clam up with the Feds, she won't be for long. You have until noon tomorrow to shut things up, or the next time you see your lady love, it'll be in the viewing room at the morgue!"
"Wait!" Jax yelled, but the line was already dead. He closed up the phone and slumped back against the couch, feeling drained and empty. The call couldn't be over-he hadn't told her he loved her.
"What exactly was said?" Tom asked impatiently. "Since they dialed your cell and not the house, we don't have a tape."
"They said we have until noon to stop things with the Justice Department or the next time I see Brenda it'll be in the morgue," Jax said quietly.
"Dear God, no!" Jane cried, as John pulled her into his arms, trying to soothe her anxiety.
"What did Brenda say, Jax?" Tom asked, trying not to let his increasing apprehension show through.
Jax looked at him a second or two before replying, "She said she was fine, but then she said the strangest thing-she said she felt better than she did when I forced her to go hunting with me last fall."
"That is strange," Jerry interjected. "You rarely hunt these days, Jax, except with your camera."
"Yeah, I know, Jer, and last fall was not a time that Brenda and I went anywhere much. Sonny had just left her, and she was trying to get back on her own two feet, and ... That's it!" Jax exclaimed as he jumped up from the couch.
"What's it?" Tom asked, hoping that Jax really was on to something that would lead them to Brenda.
"Last fall Brenda and I spent days looking at houses before she found this one. That must be what she meant when she talked about me taking her hunting last year!" Jax's heart was once again racing, as he was sure that Brenda had given them a clue as to where she was.
"Where did you go house hunting, Jax?" Tom asked excitedly. "And what real estate agents did you use?"
"We basically stayed within a ten mile radius of the Port Charles area," Jax replied. "And we used just one agent, and that was Andrea Barnes of Barnes Realty. Her numbers are in my organizer in my briefcase." He ran to his briefcase and pulled out his electronic organizer and quickly pulled up her home number.
"This fits in with the way Leone operates! He likes to stay right under his enemy's nose, so it makes sense that he has her stashed somewhere near here," Tom declared, the excitement evident in his voice. "Okay, we need to get a listing of the homes you and Brenda looked at last year and cross-reference that to any homes that were recently purchased or rented-say, over the past week to a month," he ordered.
Jax nodded, as he grabbed the phone and dialed Ms. Barnes home number. "Hello, Ms. Barnes? This is Jasper Jacks. I realize it's after midnight, but I need some information from you immediately. I need you to fax or e-mail me a copy of all the homes that you arranged for Ms. Barrett and me to look at last year. I also need a listing of those same homes that were recently sold or rented in the past week to a month ... No, I can't wait until the office opens! ... Yes, this is an emergency, and if I don't have both those lists in my possession within the hour, I'll make certain that you bloody well never sell another piece of real estate in the entire free world, let alone the state of New York! Have I made myself perfectly clear, Ms. Barnes? ...Yes, I thought so ... You have both my fax number and my e-mail address ... And thank you so much for your cooperation."
Jerry grinned at Jax as Jax hung up the phone. "Glad you learned some of your charm from me, little brother!" he laughed as he playfully punched Jax in the arm. "I couldn't have handled that better myself!"
"Do you really think that Brenda was trying to tell you where she is when she made that remark?" John Michaels asked, astonished by the sudden elevation of the spirits of the family since the call.
"I'm as sure as the sun!" Jax replied, smiling.
"You don't know our Brenda, do you, my boy?" John Jacks beamed as he patted John Michaels on the back. "She's as resourceful as she is beautiful. She managed to snare our boy, Jax, not once, but twice, and the second time was by simply out maneuvering him. She's got brains in that beautiful head of hers, and she's as quick-witted as they come. I'm betting that she did give Jax a clue, and that she'll be able to hold her own against the kidnappers until we can get her back."
"You mean until we can get her back, Mr. Jacks," John Michaels corrected him, letting him know clearly that this was a job for the FBI and the local police, and not a bunch of vigilante ex-billionaires.
"No, my father had it right," Jax declared solemnly. "*We* are also going to be in on this rescue with you. Brenda is my fiancée and she's carrying my baby, and I plan to be there when she's rescued. You can't shut us out, so don't even try. Now, I suggest you keep that in mind as you plan strategy with all of your people."
John Michaels gave Jax an exasperated sigh before looking to Tom for backup, but Tom merely nodded his okay for the Jacks brothers to be in on the plan and returned to his phone calls to the various law enforcement agencies involved.
Brenda tried to eat the salad that they had given her, but her stomach was once again threatening to rebel. It was past 1 a.m., and well over an hour since she had made the call to Jax. She forced down bite after bite because she knew that she had to eat for the baby's sake, despite the fact that her anxiety -- and the ungodly hour -- was making proper digestion nearly impossible. Besides, she'd need all the strength and the energy she could possibly muster to get out of this situation alive. She just prayed that Jax had understood what she had been trying to tell him.
Just as she had dialed his number, she had miraculously recalled how she knew this place -- it was one of the last places she and Jax had looked at last fall before they had finally found the cottage. In fact, this place was less than 10 miles from the cottage. If she could just get away from here, she could almost run that distance. After all, she was running 5-7 miles a day before her pregnancy and Dr. Mooney had assured her that running would probably even be good for her. I wonder what he'd say if he knew that I was literally planning a run for my life, she thought.
Between bites, she studied Dan and Tom and their interaction -- what there was of it. They had wolfed down their sandwiches long ago, while she had been gingerly picking at her salad for the better part of an hour. Now Tony was settled in front of the big-screen TV, channel-surfing, while Dan was continuing to stare at her, and they both looked like they were fighting fatigue, while she was rested and wide-awake. Perhaps if one or both of them fall asleep I could make it out the back door, she thought. But these guys were "professionals," so the chances that they would both nod off leaving her unshackled or unsupervised were slim to none, unless ... Unless they had a little help nodding off! She casually placed her right hand over the right front pocket of her jeans and felt the small bump from the tissue containing the pills she had found. Now, if only she would get the opportunity to slip them into some food or drink…
Tony Richards yawned as he leaned back on the soft leather couch, stretching his long legs out in front of him. He had turned the TV on as a means of keeping himself awake and as a diversion to keep his mind off the fate of the young woman in front of him. He had lied to Dan when he had returned there earlier. He had told him that it had been Marco's idea for him to stay with Dan and Ms. Barrett, but it had been Tony's idea. He had suggested to Marco that Dan might be too distracted by the woman to make sure that everything Marco wanted was carried out before Dan got carried away. Marco had agreed that Dan could probably use the help, so he had allowed Tony to come back here. If Marco had known Tony's true motives for wanting to be here, he would not have been so agreeable.
Tony had been in with Marco from the beginning. Their friendship went back to the old neighborhood, where they had both been soldiers for Johnny Rinaldi, way back when. Tony had even helped Marco wrest control of the organization from the old man, and Marco had repaid him by giving him a high position in the new organization. In fact, he had been Marco's trusted lieutenant-until a few years ago when Dan had taken over that position.
At first Tony had felt bitter that his old friend, Marco, had so easily replaced him with Dan, but now he had accepted his role as Dan's underling, although he still didn't like Dan. Oh, Dan was smart enough when it came to doing most of the work for the organization. He had a real head for the business end of things, but his brains were not always in his head when it came to dealing with beautiful women. And Brenda Barrett was definitely a beautiful woman, so Tony was sure of the despicable plans that Dan had for her. He had seen Dan in action with beautiful women too many times before. But all of those women were usually into the club and cocaine scene and had gone into situations with the resident Casanova with their eyes wide open, so they got what they deserved from Dan, but not Ms. Barrett. She was a true innocent here, and he hated to see her hurt needlessly just to satisfy Dan's insatiable libido and Marco's lust for revenge.
Tony watched as Brenda picked at her salad, pushing the bits of dressing-soaked lettuce and croutons around in circles with her fork in the Styrofoam take-out container. She'd been doing that for nearly an hour, occasionally putting a small bite into her mouth, but mostly she just played with her food and tried to avoid Dan's unwavering stare.
Tony studied Brenda intently. From the first that he had seen her, he had been drawn to her, and now he knew why. She reminded him of his little Angela, who along with his beautiful wife, Theresa, had been killed nearly 15 years before in a hit-skip accident in Brooklyn just three days before Christmas. This girl was 25 -- the same age his own dear, sweet Angela would have been had she lived-and, with her dark eyes and her shiny, dark hair, she looked the way he had always imagined his Angela would have looked as a young woman. The similarities were eerie, which is why he couldn't leave her here alone with Dan. And which was also why he had to find a way to save her life.
He thought about the vial of pills he had found in the pocket of Dan's coat in the bedroom when he had changed the bed linen. He knew what they were, and he figured Dan intended to use them on the girl, so had taken a couple of those pills to use on Dan first. He just needed to get the opportunity to slip them to Dan undetected, and then he could get the girl to safety. He'd deal with the consequences of his betrayal of Marco and the organization later, but what little conscience he still had could never let him leave this girl to be tortured and then killed by Dan.
Andrea Barnes of Barnes Realty was sufficiently motivated by Jax's threat against her future livelihood that she had located and faxed the needed information on the real estate transactions in less than 20 minutes. It had taken Jax and Jerry less than 10 minutes after that to pinpoint which property Brenda was most likely at, and in another 30 minutes after that, Tom had made all the necessary calls to get everyone in place for the rescue.
The targeted house was one of the last ones that Jax and Brenda had toured before Brenda had found her beloved cottage. This house was a large, modern home nestled in the woods, less than 10 miles from the cottage. It had been rented by a holding company out of New York City just the week before. The keys and the necessary lease papers had been sent to a post office box, rather than being picked up in person by the renter, and the yearlong rent was paid in full by wire transfer from a blind account, also in New York City. It all seemed to fit, and so everyone was certain that this is where Leone had hidden Brenda. Now the only problem was converging on the property unnoticed and getting Brenda out unharmed as quickly as possible.
Dan Wilkerson stared at Brenda as she continued to play with her food. He was getting impatient with this whole situation. He had started this assignment several days before with high hopes for its outcome and big plans for the woman in front of him. But nothing had gone right from the beginning, starting with the delay in getting to the airport the night he had pulled this plum assignment, to just an hour or so ago when Ms. Barrett had so unceremoniously christened his new Armani silk/wool blend pants. And in the interim, there had been his having to spend several days tracking her down and then having to be saddled with the old man.
Dan glanced over at Tony, who was flipping through the channels of the big-screen TV in rapid-fire succession, finally settling on some old, black-and-white film on the American Movie Classics channel. Dan wondered why Mr. Leone had decided to send Tony back here. Was it to check up on him because he didn't think he was capable of handling this all alone? That thought, coupled with everything else, made him angry. He directed his gaze back at Brenda. It's all her fault, he thought-hers and that boyfriend of hers who tried to hide her from me! But he'd have the last laugh because he was the one who was in control now-not the little bitch or her boyfriend or Tony or the FBI or even Mr. Leone. Anxiously, he looked down at his watch. It was after 1:40 a.m., and Mr. Leone had told him to give the Jacks family until noon, but he had no intention of waiting that long to start reaping the benefits of this assignment. But first he'd have to get rid of the watchdog. He looked back at Tony, who was yawning as he sat on the couch, watching TV. Maybe the old man will nod off soon, he thought. The it hit him: he'd make the old man some coffee and put some of those little, white knockout pills in it to insure that Tony stayed out for a long time. Dan wanted no interruptions when he took her, and, looking at her, he knew he couldn't wait any longer for his sweet reward, so the time to act was now.
"You look like you could use some coffee, Tony," Dan said, smiling as he stood to go into the bedroom to get the pills.
"Yeah, I could use a little caffeine about now," Tony replied as he stood up and headed toward the kitchen, realizing that this was his opportunity to take Dan out.
"That's okay. I can handle it. I just need to go to the bathroom first. You stay here and keep an eye on her," Dan instructed, nodding his head toward Brenda as he left the room to retrieve his stash of pills.
Brenda watched the two men curiously. Each seemed eager to fix the coffee, which she found strange. But, strange or not, this was her one opportunity to use those few pills she had swiped from Dan's pill bottle. She waited until Dan was out of earshot and then she looked at Tony and flashed him a beguiling smile. "Do you think I could get something to drink as well? I'd love a little hot tea, if possible. My stomach is still feeling a bit queasy, and I think that a little tea would help to settle it... May I come into the kitchen with you? I really need to stretch my legs now."
"That'll be fine," Tony said, smiling warmly at her as he extended his hand to her to help her up.
His gentleness surprised Brenda. What was up with this man, she wondered? First, he helped kidnap her, and now he was acting like a friend or something. But she couldn't let her guard down, no matter how nice he might act. The truth was that this man stood between her and safety and freedom for herself and her baby, and she would do whatever it took to bring him down just as surely as she was going to topple Dan. Brenda returned Tony's smile as he helped her out of her chair, resolving to kill him with kindness if it meant she would be free.
There was a coffee maker in the well-equipped, ultramodern kitchen, but no coffee to brew, merely instant, so Tony put the teakettle on for hot water for both Brenda's tea and his and Dan's instant coffee. Brenda got three mugs down from the cupboards and carefully measured the coffee into two of the cups, secretly stirring some of the crushed up pills down into the coffee granules, and praying that they wouldn't notice when the water was poured in on top. "Do you like milk in your coffee?" she asked, hoping that the milk would mask both the appearance and the taste of the pills.
"I do," Tony answered, "but I have no idea how he takes his." He motioned toward the other room. "Why don't you fix your tea, and I'll take care of the coffee," he suggested as he grabbed the whistling teakettle off the stove and began to pour the boiling water into the waiting cups. He wanted to get her away from Dan's cup so that he could put the drug into the cup unnoticed.
"Sure," Brenda answered, carefully slipping the now empty tissue back into her pocket and holding her breath, hoping that neither Tony nor Dan would suspect what she had just done.
Just then Dan appeared at the doorway to the kitchen. "What are you doing? I said I'd get this! And why is she in here?" he yelled sharply, startling both Tony, who had not yet had time to tamper with Dan's coffee, and Brenda, who was afraid Dan might somehow know that she had drugged the coffee.
"Hey! She wanted some tea, and she needed to stretch her legs, so I brought her with me. She hasn't left my sight for a minute," Tony replied, trying to act as nonchalant as possible.
"Yeah, well, you take her and her tea into the other room, and I'll bring the coffee. I don't want her throwing her tea on us and trying to get away," Dan ordered, planning to drug Tony's coffee as soon as Tony and Brenda left the room.
"No problem," Tony answered as he picked up Brenda's cup of tea as well as his own cup of coffee and motioned for her to lead the way back into the great room.
Dan watched angrily after them, as he realized that he had missed his opportunity this time. He looked back around for the pot of coffee, hoping to put the pills into the pot, but he quickly saw that there was no pot of brewed coffee for him to tamper with. "Damn!" he swore softly to himself, as he followed Brenda and Tony back into the great room. He'd just have to find some other way to put Tony out of commission-perhaps even permanently.
Brenda sipped her tea slowly, anxiously watching Tony and Dan for any signs that the drug was working. It had been nearly thirty minutes since they had returned to the great room, and she wondered how much longer it would take for the pills to kick in. What if I didn't give them enough, she wondered? Or what if it wasn't the drug she thought it was. No, she would have to have faith that this was going to work for her and the baby, but she would just have to be patient and let the drug take effect in its own time.
She leaned back in the ivory, leather wing back chair and started to take another sip of tea when she felt it -- a small cramping sensation in her lower left abdomen. Her eyes widened and she gasped slightly as she felt yet another cramp follow in short succession. Oh, God! This could not be happening! She was not going to lose this baby now! Her eyes flitted to Dan and to Tony, who had not noticed her discomfort. "Please," she prayed silently, "please help me and my baby get out of this alive -- and soon."
She took several, slow, deep breaths, and shifted her weight in the chair, hoping that a change in position might stop the cramps altogether. But the pain continued and seemed to be increasing in intensity. She needed to do something soon to stop this. She stood slowly, watching for the men's reaction to her movement, but by now, both Dan and Tony appeared to be succumbing to the effects of the drugged coffee. Tony grabbed his head and moaned as he slid down further on the big, leather couch. Dan appeared to be less affected by the drug than Tony, but he was still fighting a losing battle to remain awake.
Groggily, Dan looked over at Tony, who was now slumped sideways on the couch, also fighting to maintain consciousness, and then up at Brenda, who despite looking pale, was alert and standing. Suddenly it hit him -- she'd somehow drugged them both! He wasn't sure how she had gotten the pills, but he was sure that she had used them on him and Tony. "Why, you little bitch!" he yelled as he lunged awkwardly toward Brenda, who easily sidestepped his grasp. "You're mine, and you are NOT gonna get away from me!" Dan was livid now and fighting to maintain his balance while the room seemed to be spinning out of control.
Brenda glanced at Tony who appeared to be barely conscious on the couch and then at Dan, who was swaying unsteadily in front of her. Despite the continued cramping she was experiencing, she decided that this was the time to make a break for the door. But as she moved to run past Dan, he pulled his gun out from the waistband of his jeans and pointed it menacingly at her chest, cocking it as he readied to shoot…
"What are you waiting for?" Jax demanded angrily. He had managed to maintain his composure up until this point, but he was anxious for this ordeal to be over now that they had located Brenda and they were actually within a few hundred yards of the house.
Agent Michaels and his team had split and were covering the two rear entrances to the massive house, and Tom and his crew, including Jax and Jerry, were poised near the front entrance of the house. Despite their protests, John and Jane had reluctantly agreed to remain behind at the cottage. Tom and John Michaels had convinced them that Brenda's safety depended upon their teams being able to concentrate on what they were doing and not worrying about civilians possibly being caught in any crossfire. Tom had allowed Jax and Jerry to go along on the condition that both men leave the actual rescue of Brenda and the subsequent dealings with the kidnappers and Leone to the FBI. They were to stay where they were positioned now until it was deemed safe for them to enter. Jax and Jerry had not been happy with that, but they understood that any wrong move made by them could easily cost Brenda her life. But now Jax was impatient for them to get Brenda out of that house and safely back into his arms.
"How much longer?" Jax asked again.
"We're all in position now," Tom answered, shifting the mike on his headset away from his mouth so he could talk to Jax. "We've ascertained that there are no extra security measures being taken here -- no electronic security devices and from the thermal imaging, there seem to be only two guards holding her. Right now they're all in the great room, including Brenda, and we'll be going in on my command. We're not going in with guns blazing, since this is a hostage situation, and our first priority is to get Brenda out safely and unharmed. We have to time this perfectly. We've done this before, so trust us to do our jobs," Tom said, although in his heart he knew that this was no ordinary rescue mission. This was the woman who had his heart, and he was responsible for her being taken in the first place. So much was riding on this all going as planned.
"We understand," Jerry said, as he put his arm protectively around Jax's shoulder. "It's just that his whole life is on the line in there right now, and he's anxious for this to be over."
"Yeah, I know," Tom replied, as he readied to signal John and his teams to start their silent assault on the house. But what happened next made all of their hearts stop, as the unmistakable blast of a gunshot and the simultaneous, bloodcurdling scream of a woman reverberated through the night.