"How long can the human brain survive without oxygen, Dr. Morgan?"
"I've given you what you wanted," Henry protested with a hint of panicked desperation in his voice. His eyes flickered to Abe and Jo as he clutched the handle of the phone tighter. Wishing, for what felt like the hundredth time, that he had taken Lucas's welfare into consideration too when he had learned of Adam's disappearance from the hospital two days ago. "You have your damned knife! Please, Adam, let Lucas go!"
"I have let him go; unharmed, as promised." Adam replied matter of factly, as the change in background noise indicated he was moving now with considerable speed. In the haze of his fear, Henry thought he recognized a particular sound before his enemy spoke once more. "Whether or not he lives, though, is entirely up to you. He went under the moment Detective Hanson answered my call, so I suggest you act quickly."
The click of the phone as the call was disconnected was deafening to Henry's ears, and he scrambled to decipher the significance behind Adam's words. Knowing that with each passing moment, Lucas's life was slipping away like sand through the hourglass.
"We couldn't trace the damn call!" Hanson announced, as he shot a panicked look at his partner. Knowing that one of their own was seconds from death, and that they were running out of time to save his life. "How are we supposed to find him?!"
"The caller sounded as if he expected you to know where Lucas is." Jo said as she turned to look back at Henry, hope flaring up within her as she saw the dawning realization begin to break through his worried expression. "Henry...do we have a shot at this?"
The medical examiner glanced away from her for a moment, sharing a look with his elderly roommate before bringing his attention back to her. "No, I'm afraid you don't." He quickly, desperately, stepped closer to her. Keeping her eyes locked onto his, he suddenly snatched her firearm from out of its holster. "...but perhaps I do."
"Henry!"
"What the hell are you doing, man?"
He smiled apologetically at the two detectives, his friends, as he raised the weapon and pressed it against his temple. "I'm sorry, but this is my only chance at saving him."
Before anyone in the room could react fast enough; the trigger was pulled, and Henry Morgan disappeared in a flash of blinding light.
While Jo and Mike were left behind at the precinct, horrified and then baffled by what they had just witnessed as Abe urged them to follow him, Henry found himself materializing in the chilly waters of the Hudson River. Disoriented, despite his long history of reawakening in this manner, he quickly regained his sense of direction and kicked his way to the surface. He took in a desperate gasp of air when his head finally broke above the choppy waters.
A noise drifted to his ears over the sound of his own sputtered gasps for breath,and he spun his head around until he spotted its source. He saw a speed boat in the distance, and felt rage rise up within him at the sight of its lone passenger. "Adam..." He was right! Desperate, fully aware that time was rapidly running out, he scanned the waters around him for any sign of where his hated enemy may have unloaded his young assistant. Then dove under the cold surface once more. Squinting through the murky darkness for any sign of the man, and spreading his arms out as he swam in the hopes that his fingertips would brush up against fabric or flesh in his search.
Suddenly, he caught sight of a glint of light in the darkness. He focused on it as he swam closer, and soon the blurred form connected with it became more and more profound. He was eternally grateful that Lucas was wearing a watch when he had been kidnapped, and that Adam had not removed it before depositing him into the chilly waters, because otherwise Henry feared he never would have found his friend with the dark clothing he had on.
He swam over to the limp form, whose legs and arms were bound in a manner that would have made it impossible to swim, and grabbed the young man's shoulders. Pulling him close, and speedily heading back to the surface. Gasping again for breath, he felt a sense of dread wash over him when noticed that Lucas didn't unconciously do the same.
"How long can the human brain survive without oxygen, Dr. Morgan?"
Henry cursed Adam's name as he made his way to the shore, hugging the disturbingly quiet body of his friend even tighter. "Hang on for me, Lucas. We're almost there..."
He ignored the shouts from the disbelieving bystanders on the shore that had spotted his nakedness as he stumbled back onto solid ground with the lifeless body in his arms. Immediately conducting CPR as a small crowd gathered around the two with cellphones in hand, snapping photographs and recording video of his attempts to revive the other man. If he were an observer of the events as they were unfolding, he would have been irritated by the spectacle being made by the group. But he was oblivious to it in the present moment. All he cared about right now was saving his friend.
The gurgle of water as it fought its way back up Lucas's windpipe was like music to Henry's ears, as he helped the other man sit up and cough the Hudson River out of his lungs.
"Steady breaths, Lucas." The doctor soothed, shifting back a little to give his friend room to breathe. "It's alright, you're safe now."
"H-henry?" Still coughing, and greedily taking in gasps of air, the young man stared at his boss in confusion. Which increased even more when he realized his coworker wasn't wearing any clothes. "Um...boss? What's with the lack of outerwear?"
Finally becoming aware of the awkwardness of the situation, now that the danger had passed, Henry quickly shifted his position to block his privates from his assistant's view. "Don't concern yourself with that right now, just focus on catching your breath. Help ought to be arriving at any moment."
As if on cue, a familiar pair of cars pulled up into his line of sight.
"Henry!" Two distinct voices yelled out, as the drivers got out of their vehicles.
Jo, with Detective Hanson not far behind her, rushed over to the drentched men and shooed away the crowd. While Abe, accustomed to the routine of retriving his father from the river, followed in their wake with a couple of towels and fresh clothes. "Here you go, pops." He whispered as he passed the clothing along to Henry, and drapped a towel over Lucas's shivering form with a look of concern evident on his face.
"I'm sorry, what did you just call him?" Mike asked the elderly man, before turning his attention back onto the two medical examiners. Doing his best to focus on the younger of the two, and keeping his eyes away from the nakedness of the older man as he quickly got dressed. "You okay, kid?"
"I think so?" Replied Lucas, unable to tear his eyes off of his rescuer. Although he respectfully kept his gaze focused on the man's face the entire time. "I don't really understand what just happened."
"Me neither." Jo said in a tone that hovered between gratefulness that her coworkers were safe, and irritation over the doctor's horrifying antics leading up to his disappearance at the precinct. "Could you please explain to us what exactly just happened here, Henry?"
"Of course," the doctor assured as he helped Lucas back up on his unsteady feet once Detective Hanson finished cutting the ropes off his legs and wrists. "I'll explain, as best I can, on our way to the hospital. I would be much more at ease once Lucas has been checked out by another medical professional."
"I trust your judgement, Doc." Lucas insisted, allowing Henry to lead him over to Jo's vehicle.
"I'm afraid I'm a little too...spooked at the moment to be certain I haven't overlooked anything."
"Spooked?"
"A perfectly natural response to the near loss of a very dear friend." Henry said quietly, tightening his grip on Lucas's shoulder as they got closer to the car. "I was afraid, for a few moments at least, that I may have been too late."
Bashful over the doctor's words, Lucas blushed a little as he was gently aided into the back of the car.
In the time it took for them to drive away from the riverside, and to the hospital, Henry recounted his life story. Starting with his earliest beginnings, to the events leading to his first death, and then of the lifetimes he lived as centuries past. As they closed in on their destination, the doctor concluded his story with his encounters with Adam. Leading into how he had discovered where Lucas has been left to die. "I detected the sound of a boat motor, and realized that he had determined the coordinates of where I, for lack of a better term, 'regenerate' whenever I die." The immortal explained, staring down at his old pocket watch and turning it over in his hand. "He didn't simply want the dagger, not after what I had done to him. No, he wanted revenge. To make me pick between preserving my secret, or saving the life of someone close to me."
"You let everyone find out about your secret, and risked being snatched up and experimented on, just to save my life?" Lucas asked, honestly awed by what his boss was willing to sacrifice for his sake.
"You are family to me, Lucas." Henry replied, with an affectionate smile. "The two of you, as well." He admit, as he shifted his gaze to lock with the eyes of the detectives in the front seat. "I would be just as devastated over the loss of any of you three, as I would be over losing my son."
"That's Abe, isn't it?" Mike asked, glancing at the reflection in the side mirror to catch a glimpse of the elderly man driving in the car behind them.
"You've come to the correct conclusion, detective."
"So, where do we go from here?" This time it was Jo to ask the question, as she pulled into a parking space and stopped the car.
"That's a good question, Jo. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."