Chapter 3: The best laid plans

Carrie Carter drove up the winding drive of the estate in Hollywood Hills that she rented for the month. She doubted she'd need it for that long, but it was always better to have contingencies in place. She firmly believed it was simple lack of planning that caused her to be bested only once before.

As she pulled to a stop in front of the massive oak doors she had no idea that a man with hair the color of walnut peered at her from behind a window. He was tall and muscular with a slight skew to his face so that one chocolate brown eye was a little higher than the other. He ducked into the shadows of a nearby archway aiming his gun steadily at the front door.

CC pulled to a stop and grabbed the thin white sack that was in the seat next to her. Another part of her contingency plan had just fallen into place. L A doctors were so easy to manipulate when you waved cash in front of them. The prescriptions in the sack would be deadly in the right dosages not to mention that once ingested they would cause a lot of pain and periodic unconsciousness. They were also tasteless when crushed and mixed into anything moderately liquid. She smiled happily as she entered the house.

"Well, from the look on your face, you've either got Hawke wrapped up or you're up to no good."

CC whirled to her left to see the man gazing at her from the archway to the hall.

"I see you finally caught up with me Chad. Do you think you can do what's necessary this time?"

"If I hadn't of been caught off guard, I would have had Cait back in college. She was the only one that got away." He raised his gun in a salute. "She won't get away this time."

"Look brother of mine," CC dropped her keys on a side table and shook the little white bag, "there will be no surprises this time. These drugs will make her compliant to your needs. Once I've got her captive you can have her for the rest of the month. No trouble at all."

"This had better work. The last time your little friend got me locked up seven years for rape. You failed to tell me she was going for extra credit with that sting."

"If you had just stuck to the plan, and stole her away from Carl like you were supposed to she would have been so love sick you could have had her anytime. And, Carl would have been mine."

"How was I supposed to know he'd walk in while I was undressing her? You were supposed to keep him busy until I was in the middle and she started to wake up."

"But did you have to kill him?"

"I tell you what. I'll let you play with Hawke a little before I kill him."

"Is the wine cellar ready for our guest?"

"I'll get her here and she'll be able to see everything."

"You really are the best brother ever." She smiled and hugged him.

"Yeah, I bet you say that to all your brothers."

"Of course I do since you're my only brother."

The two of them laughed at the old joke and began to make their final preparations for their guest.

~~AW~~

"Santini Air," Dom answered the phone. "Yeah she's here. Hang on a minute." He shouldered the phone and looked over to where Hawke and Cait were just finishing up on the Jet Ranger. Things hadn't improved after lunch and the two weren't speaking at all to each other now. He knew Hawke was brooding, but couldn't figure out what was going on with Cait. She'd always tried to cheer String up when he got like this before. Now it looked like she was simply trying to endure the rest of the day.

"Cait," he yelled some guy wants to talk to you.

"Well what's his name?" she called while wiping down the tools she was stuck with putting away.

"What do I look like an answering service? Come and ask him yourself if you want to know." He put the receiver down and crossed over to take the sizable wrench she was carrying to the phone out of her hand.

"Hey I might need that." She said as he headed for the tool box.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he said with a glance at Hawke who seemed blissfully unaware of the situation.

"This is Cait," she said as she snatched up the phone.

"Ms. O'Shannessy, I'm calling on behalf of your landlord. It seems we have a busted water pipe at the house you rented. We need you to come down right away so we can fix it and discuss damages."

"Oh, well okay, I'll be right there." She hung up the phone and explained the situation to Dom. He let her off for the rest of the day.

"She's on her way." Chad Carter told his sister as he set the phone back in its cradle.

"Did she recognize you voice?"

"Not at all. I'll have her back here in an hour." He walked out the front door and climbed in a white van with Carl's Plumbing stenciled on the side.

~~AW~~

Cait noticed the plumbing van as soon as she turned onto her street. It was parked on the street in front of her house with the back doors partially open. The driver was nowhere to be seen.

She fished out her keys and made her way to the door. She stopped on the porch noticing her door was ajar. Her training with the Airwolf crew made her cautious. She pushed the door slowly open.

"Hello? Mr. Spade?" she called out for her landlord. When she got no answer, she took a hesitant step inside scanning the living room. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Now that she was inside she could hear running water coming from the bathroom.

"Hello?" she called again as she cautiously made her way down the short hall to the bathroom. She glanced through the open door to her bedroom as she went. Again nothing seemed to be wrong or out of place. She was starting to get an uneasy feeling about no one answering her.

The plumber probably can't hear over the running water, she reasoned.

She opened the door to the bathroom slowly.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" she asked just as she registered that the faucets on both the tub and sink were running full blast.

From behind her an arm wrapped itself around her and a white cloth was held to her mouth by a hand. She struggled briefly before she succumbed to the sickly sweet smell of what she could only guess was chloroform.

Chad gave a wicked chuckle as he felt Caitlin's body go limp. He held the cloth to her nose for an extra minute to be sure she was good and out. She was easy to carry out to the waiting van. He handcuffed her hands behind her before locking her in the back. He made sure no one had seen a thing. He turned off the water and carefully locked up the house. He wanted to make it a little difficult for anyone who might come looking for her. All someone would find is a locked house with no one's prints in it but hers.

"Only a matter of time now, Caitlin," Chad said to her unconscious form as he pulled away from the curb. "You're about to have the ride of your life."

~~AW~~

Caitlin climbed her way through the fog in her mind to blink her eyes. She was sleepy and couldn't figure out why she was taking a nap in the middle of the day. She went to move her hands to wipe her eyes and felt the resistance of metal around her wrists.

"What the…," she stopped as she realized she was being restrained. Damn, she thought. I've been kidnapped, AGAIN.

She looked around her prison. She was laying on a mattress in what seemed to be a wine cellar. Dust covered bottles were stacked in diamond shaped crevices of wood along the wall to her left. She struggled to sit up and found her hands were cuffed around a water pipe in the wall. To Caitlin's right just out of reach was a TV on a small table. Beyond that a short flight of stone steps led to a door. It was the only way that she could see in or out.

"Well at least I'll be able to see 'um coming this time," she said to herself. Hearing her voice made the situation seem a little less scary. She'd been in tight spots before and found that talking to herself helped focus her attention.

"Now, Caity girl step one: get these cuffs off."

Caitlin examined the cuffs. She tried to slip one hand out and then the other, but whoever had put them on her had made certain they were tight enough.

"Where's a hairpin when you need one."

She frowned and peered closely at the pipe. It went straight down into the floor but had a 45^ bend at the top where it disappeared into the wall. She grasped it with both hands and pulled. It didn't budge. She braced her legs against the wall and pulled again. Nothing happened.

Darn that always works on TV.

She didn't think she should yell for help since she didn't know who or where her captors were, but maybe she could try another tactic to see if she could be heard outside the cellar.

"Hey," she yelled. "I'm a little thirsty in here."

No sound but her own breathing greeted her ears.

She yelled louder. "Hey can I get something to drink?"

No one answered her plea.

"The least they could have done was left the TV on," she said as she tried to think of something that would help her escape.

~~AW~~

After what must have been hours, she was startled to hear the door knob turning. She hastily abandoned her attempts at loosening the pipe where it elbowed into the wall and turned to the opening door.

She was startled further by the person who walked through it.

"I see you remember me," Chad Carter said as he walked through the door carrying a tray. "I thought you might be a little hungry. It's soup and crackers with a little juice."

Caitlin straightened her spine and looked defiantly at Chad.

"I thought you got sent up for ten to fifteen. What happened? You couldn't have been released for good behavior?"

"Ah there's the Cait I know all fire and stone until we start having a little fun."

He sat the tray just within her reach.

"I hope you enjoy the show later. We've gone through a lot of trouble to give you the time of your life."

"I'm sure it won't be half as entertaining as when I see you put back in jail especially since this is California. They have a lot more inmates out here with diversified tastes."

"I'm going to have such fun with you my little Cait. You're one shrew that will be tamed." He leered at her and was satisfied at the look of utter revulsion she gave him.

As he left Cait surveyed the contents of the tray. A bowl of creamy soup, one spoon, and a plastic cup of juice, didn't give her anything to work with for an escape plan. The smell however did remind her that lunch had been several hours in the past and she hadn't eaten all of her sandwich. She negotiated with the water pipe until most of one arm was through the opening and carefully lifted the spoon to the bowl to her mouth. The soup tasted and smelled like cream of chicken. Just a little won't hurt, she thought. I need to keep my strength up to fight him off later.