The Cabin

Mike locked the door to the hotel room. As if that was going to make any difference.

He sat at the writing desk waiting for the phone call.

When it rang he picked it up and listened.

"Did you sleep with the girl?" Brenner asked.

"No. It was happening too fast. She would have been suspicious… and there were... complications."

"Complications?"

"Yeah, she brought you up right in the middle of a touchy-feely moment we were having… it's like she knew. So I made some lame excuse and walked away."

"Failure has its consequences." The phone went dead.

Mike was numb. It was over. How had it gone all gone to shit in the space of a day? He hadn't exactly lied to El, but he hadn't been all that forthcoming either.

He heard a knock on the door. Maybe it was Holly? If so they might get out of this alive. Or maybe El, he could ask for help… after he explained everything… he thought that was only a remote possibility. It was probably completely out of the question now.

What he didn't expect when he answered the door were two goons dressed in expensive suits. One held his arms while the other plunged a needle into his neck.

As the light faded MIke wondered if he'd ever wake up again.

XXXXX

"..ole…" He his cheek felt warm and stung a bit. He heard an Oak Ridge Boys song on a radio.

"I said…." A sharp crack and an instant sting over his whole cheek, 'wake up you piece of shit asshole."

Through blurry eyes Mike could see something bright red. Could have been a clown's nose, but as it pulled back he saw it was a pair of lips wearing awful red lipstick. The face pulled back further and a woman wearing a bun so tight he was surprised her eyes weren't bulging out of her sockets. It was not a good look for her.

It was Jane Ives. And. She. Was. Pissed.

He looked around. He was in her apartment. Max was standing at the kitchen counter nook thing with a laptop and a lot of wires coming from it to a machine with dials and meters. From that machine a lot of wires led directly to him. His head, his chest and arms.

There wasn't going to be any escaping, or getting rescued… there was nobody to rescue him.

"How stupid do you think I am?"

Mike said nothing.

"Hey, you slimy piece of shit, I asked you a question."

"Go fuck yourself." Mike cringed when the hand came up to slap him again.

He was sitting in a straight backed wooden chair. HIs ankles were duct taped to the chair legs and his hands were bound behind is back. Tightly, he could only feel pain back there.

"If you're going to torture me, stop hitting me like a girl."

She slapped him again. The sting actually cleared his head a little.

He was able to croak out a "sorry."

"Sorry! You're sorry?! You know what two things infuriate me the most? You lied to me! Ok I really thought we had something, so I tested you by bringing up Brenner. I'll admit, your reaction is not what I expected, I'll figure that out later."

"The second thing, women in my position don't get in a position like this from being stupid. I'm not stupid. You and Brenner really thought you were going to get away with it? We already know you've been planning this for years."

Mike kept silent. He saw Max twiddling a fly swatter.

"You're awfully quiet for a guy who's about to get disappeared."

This must be the real Jane Ives. Mike started to sob, "I'm sorry Holly."

El put her hand to her mouth, losing her composure a bit before regaining it.

"Holly, Dustin, and Lucas are in a safe house. No thanks to you. But you are not. You only have yourself to blame."

Mike looked up through tear soaked eyes. "No way you can save her, she'd probably already dead. So whatever you do to me will be doing me a favour.

"I should just push you out of the door and be done with you. Did I really mean that little to you?"

"No, you meant a lot… you were… heartsafe… that's why I walked away. And that's why I'm dead once I'm outside of this building. You aren't going to believe anything I say so I'm just going to stop talking."

"You're right. I'm not going to believe anything you say. I will give you the courtesy of listening to your excuses… because for a few hours we clicked… I will give you that much… I really thought we had something… I've been a fool, I let my loneliness get the better of me… but that's the last time. How much is he paying you, asshole?"

He waited for it but nothing happened. "He's not paying me."

"Oh, bullshit! Nobody does this for free. You really do think I'm stupid don't you?"

"Brenner wants you bad. I don't know what you did to him but he's willing to kill for it. He was going to kill Holly if I didn't do what he said."

"Oh, please, drama much? You have the money to pay for bodyguards, you hire good ones. Problem solved."

Mike snorted out a laugh, "yeah that worked."

"Just tell me why, MIke." Her voice had lost a little bit of the edge it had a few minutes ago.

MIke gave a huge sigh. The effort made him wince in pain.

"I did hire bodyguards to protect her. Want to know what that psychotic son of a bitch did? He dug up my sister Nancy's remains and dumped them in Holly's bathtub. Just to prove he could get to us anytime."

"Mike…."

"I'm guessing you never had to secretly re-bury your sister's remains in an unmarked grave without anybody knowing?"

"Mike, I'm so sorry."

"I didn't sabotage any if my work for your company. My pitch was going to be legitimate. I didn't know you were Jane Ives in the elevator. I'm… not lying about that. I had to do it El. To save Holly… but I failed at that too." Mike hung his head.

She left the room.

When she came back out the bun was gone and her hair looked like it did that morning. The lipstick was gone too. She was holding a cell phone and put it up to Mike's ear.

"Mike? Are you ok?" It was Holly. Mike burst out crying. She was alive!

"He'll see you soon Holly." El said.

The sound of the door opening, It was Will's mom, "Special Agent, Joyce Byers, this is my partner Bill Hargrove. The music is playing. Good."

"Max, cut those zip ties for me? You won't hurt me MIke? Will you? I don't think Brenner wants me dead, but it's probably a close second to getting me alive."

Mike rested his forearms against his thighs, waiting for the pain of the pins and needles. It was going to be bad.

"I would never hurt you El. My life ended when I walked away from you. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I don't think either of us have any idea of the lengths he will go to. Why is he obsessed with you? He's already ruined my life. I'd just ask that you try to keep Holly and my friends safe. It's over for me."

"She safe Mike. Your friends are safe. You are safe. I promise."

"You can't promise me that El. I wouldn't hold you to it."

"I can promise you that."

Mike doubled over in pain as the blood flowed back to his wrist and hands.

El grabbed his hands and started massaging them. The pins and needles slowly went away. Once his hands were free he wiped his eyes.

"Mike, look at me."

He couldn't. There was no way he could look into those eyes.

"Look at me Mike." Her voice was a little more demanding… just like it had been on the elevator.

He looked at her.

"Tell me the truth, from your heart… do you think we could still be together? Once this is all over?"

"I told you this morning I thought I was in love with you. That wasn't a lie. I meant that and… I still feel the same way. It really hurt to walk away knowing what I was going to be facing."

El turned to the FBI agent Byers, "I guess that worked. Do you have a clean one?"

The agent introduced as Hargrove handed El a gun with a silencer on it. "Untraceable, but it we'll bury parts with the body."

All three of them, pointed their guns in Mike's face.

"I told you I loved you, and now I'm going to be killed?"

"What did you really think the music and the fly swatter were for Mike?"

"Go ahead and do it now," Max said, "the tub is not going to fill itself with bicycle parts."

"MIKE! MIKE!"