The first thing Reese became aware of, was the all too familiar, excruciating pain of being strung up. But it was quickly overshadowed by the desperate need to find Carter.
He forced concussed eyes to focus, squinting against the flickering onslaught of fire light, until he finally pinpointed her hanging form. She too, was hung from the ceiling by thick, knotted ropes.
She was conscious yet, but thankfully, the small trickle of blood at her temple had stopped bleeding.
He swallowed against a sudden wave of nausea and tried to ignore the throbbing of his own temple. He needed to figure out where they'd been taken and how to get them out of here.
Reese carefully studied their surroundings. It reminded him of the temple ruins he's come across while on assignment in the jungles of Cambodia. They hung in the huge central chamber of an old, archaic peristyle building. Vine strangled pillars lined the lengths of the four walls, reaching to the overgrown ceiling in an indiscernible gnarl of winding branches.
Three tiers of steps led down to the expansive stone tiled floor, surrounded by a foot wide reservoir of burning oil. The channel of lapping flames threw duelling shadows across every surface of the room, except for the center. It had it's own burning pit, filled with white hot coals and crackling branches, illuminating what looked to be an altar - right between he and Carter. In his experience, altars were never a good thing. "Not good at all... Carter? Carter can you hear me?"
"Mmm hmm..., you don't need to yell..." Carter began to move, opening her eyes, trying to fully focus. "What the...?"
"Hey, take it slow... they hit you pretty hard. You feel sick or dizzy?"
"No, not so much... my shoulders and wrists hurt like hell." Looking up she saw why, coughing a disbelieving laugh. "I can't believe I let that Bitch get the jump on me." She ground out. "Where the hell are we?"
Glad for Carter's, seemingly normal, obstinate reaction, he slowly looked around. "Don't beat yourself up, I missed it too. I knew things were off with her from the start, but just chalked it up to a trying situation. Should have listened to my gut. As to where we are..., I'm guessing she brought us to her voodoo temple."
"Voodoo temple! Are you kidding me? As in, voodoo dolls, chicken blood and raising the evil dead - voodoo? " She looked up, struggling against the ropes a little harder. "Looks more like the set of a bad horror film... Or nightmare." She stopped struggling and frowned at John, "Does Finch know what happened or where we are?"
"I'm sure he heard everything up to the point I destroyed my phone, back at the diner. Couldn't risk them tracking it back to him. What happened to yours?"
"I was texting Taylor when they jumped me. I remember breaking it over someone's nose before I got knocked out. Do we have anything on Victoria that can help us?"
"Well no, nothing that helps at this point... Just that she's a native to New Orleans. Had an abusive father, I'm pretty certain now, she killed by draining him of all his blood. The real clincher is that she's been the one calling the shots this whole time. She put the hit on Miller and had been pulling Steal's strings all along."
"But she's his wife...she could have taken the plans at anytime!"
"I don't think she knew he'd completed them until Steal told her. Miller mentioned something about her not knowing everything. Ironically, I think he was trying to protect her. That's why she needed the one person her husband kept up to date. I wonder what she had on Steal?"
Smacking her lips, "She could have threatened to turn the son of bitch into a zombie for all I care, I just want to get the hell down from here so I can throw her bony ass in jail!" Reese genuinely laughed at that. She'd never heard him really laugh before. How ironic that it would be here, dangling from a ceiling, captured by deranged psychopaths.
Testing her ropes again, "Ok, Mr. ex-Super Spy, time to kick in those super hero - 'escape from anything' - powers of yours and get us outta here." Despite her bravado, she really was scared and prayed he had a plan.
But before he could respond, an almost unrecognizable, Victoria LeBeau entered the chamber. She wore a long, silky, blood-red robe that snaked the floor by a good four feet. Her head was adorned with a matching head wrap, gruesomely decorated with clattering bones - from something they didn't care to identify. Her face was painted a ghostly gray, demonically contrasting with the thick, cracking black makeup encrusting her eyes.
Victory stood at the mouth of the entrance, arms dramatically outstretched as two rows of her disciples filed in from either side. About twenty men, all in tattered grey robes, lined up along the pillars until they were surrounded. Calling them 'men' was a stretch. They were slathered in greenish gray mud and clay, that peeled and crumbled as it dried, appearing as if chunks of their flesh had fallen from their bodies. Ok... zombies, Reese decided.
"My followers! Hear me! These two before you have wronged your Mambo Priestess and now, I shall be appeased with the offering of their blood and flesh. Look upon those that would think to defy me and know their fate!" Victoria took a seat at the top of the stairs. "You will beg to tell me all you know John Reese! Now, entertain me!" She dispassionately flicked her hand, animating her minions into action.