Chapter 4.
NYPD, 19th Precinct.
Detective Cahoon walked up to Serena and Jenny, "I have some bad news. We just got word that your friend Blair Waldorf has been kidnapped by a drug dealer. We have a full description of the vehicle and are positive we will apprehend them soon."
"What? I don't understand. How do you know this? Why would anyone kidnap her?" Serena asked in rapid succession, "She doesn't know any drug dealers."
"It's a long story, but it's possible Morpheus has done his homework and knows who Georgina's friends are. He is a prime suspect in the murder case we are working on and I was hoping this would be resolved by now, but if Morpheus is this desperate, we are going to do whatever we can to stop him before he does something stupid."
"What do you mean stupid? He wouldn't hurt her would he? If he's going to use her as a bargaining chip, it makes sense he'll keep her alive, right?" Serena asked, hoping she'd get the answer she was looking for.
"I don't want to scare you, but he must know or he will find out that we don't negotiate like that. We will do whatever we can to assure your friend isn't harmed, but we can't control what this man does."
"You have to find her now!" Serena yelled, turning to Jenny as she began to fear the worst, "I can't lose her."
"I'm on my way out the door now, but I want you to think positive."
Jenny again stepped in to comfort an even more distraught Serena, "She's going to be fine. They will find her and bring her back here and you two can kiss and make up."
"I don't know. What if she doesn't forgive me for this? What if something happens to her? I can't live without her. I just can't."
"Don't think like that." Jenny said, doing her best to reassure Serena, "Just think about what you're going to say to her when she comes back here."
"I have no idea. I really messed this up. I thought I could help Georgina and be back at school and nobody would know. How dumb is that?"
"It just shows you are a good friend, even when you aren't on the best of terms with someone, you are there when they need it. That's a really good quality you know."
"I'm sure Blair won't see it that way." Serena said with a hint of a smile.
Jenny smiled back at her, "I know she can get mad, but she loves you and once she's calmed down she'll see why you did this and you two will be back together again."
"I hope you're right." Serena said, holding onto Jenny as she closed her eyes and thought about all the good times she was going to have with Blair the moment she returned.
Blair sat still until the van came to a stop, but as soon as it did she began to scream. Moments after she did, someone pulled off her hood, "Shut up."
"Thank you. That is one ugly hood and it smells to." Blair said as she pulled out her mirror and adjusted her hair, then began looking around at the three men in the van, "Now, who's in charge here?"
As the three men exchanged looks, the oldest man, a well built man with short dark hair replied, "We're just doing a favour for someone, so just stay calm up and if all goes well you'll be back home soon no worse for wear."
"That's nice, but I don't plan on waiting." Blair explained, getting to her feet, much to the surprise of the three men, "So, is this really how you go about kidnapping someone? Where's the ransom note? Why aren't you calling my mom to ask for money?"
"You're not being kidnapped." A young man with a very thin goatee said, "We are using you as leverage, but just out of curiosity, who is your mother? How rich are you?"
Blair laughed at the young man, "You don't even know who I am? I guess not, you don't look like you can read."
Annoyed at Blair's insult, the young man moved towards her, sliding his hand up her side, "You have a big mouth for someone locked in a van with three armed men."
The older man grabbed the younger man and pushed him away from Blair, "Get your hands off her. That's not part of the deal."
"Look at her, she's hot." The young man said, looking Blair over from head to toe, "Are you telling me you don't want a piece of that?"
"I think you need to keep your mouth shut and sit back down before I lose my patience." The older man said, getting to his feet to make his point.
"Whatever, she's probably not worth it anyway."
Blair smiled as the young man sat back down and nodded politely at the older man, "Look, money talks, so let's just skip to the part where you tell me how much your boss is paying you. I'll double it."
Again the men exchanged looks and again the older man replied, "Money is not the only factor. Our boss does not except failure. No matter what you give us, it's not worth dying for."
"Oooh, he sounds very scary, but the last thing you want is to make my dad angry." Blair said, her smile turning to a growl and she slipped into intimidation mode without blinking an eye, "He's a lawyer for people like your boss. That means he is friends with people who make your boss look like a teddy bear and whatever you think your boss might to do you is nothing compared to what my dad will have done to you once he finds out you kidnapped his little angel."
"I told you that you would not be harmed." The older man explained, "That is, as long as you don't testify for Georgina our boss thinks she will be charged with the murder."
"Are you idiots? I hate Georgina. I want her to go to prison." Blair screamed, still unable to control her dislike for Serena's old lover, "You have the wrong girl, but I'm glad you do, because Serena is safe now."
The older man looked at the other two, "You said this was her when she came out of the station. What the hell is going on?"
"Our source said two girls were arguing and one was Serena. He thought she was the one who left. Obviously they were wrong."
"This is just great." The older man said, "You know what Morpheus will do if he finds out we screwed up."
The third man, a young man with tattoos all over his arms, finally spoke, "This chick did offer to double what Morpheus was paying, so let's take her up on that offer and get the hell out of NY."
Blair laughed at the man, "Are you stupid? You just admitted to failing, your boss isn't going to pay you anything, so what's two times zero? Nothing, so nice try but no, the offer is no longer on the table. Here's what I will do, if you let me go right now, I'll forget this ever happened. If not, I will have my father's associate's hunt you down and do things to you that you can't possibly imagine. If you think I'm kidding, just try me."
They looked at each other again and the young guy with the goatee opened the van and took off down the street. The second man with tattoos followed, leaving Blair in the van with the older man, who wasn't amused at his associate's lack of commitment, "Well, you sure talk a good game, but somehow I don't believe it."
"What?" Blair questioned, not liking the way the man was looking at her.
"I don't think your father is a lawyer at all. In a way I'm glad you got them to leave." He said as he leaned back against the side of the van, "I didn't really want to do this to begin with. Look, you can go. I'll deal with Morpheus on my own."
"Isn't he some criminal guy?"
"Well, I don't have much choice now. I'll hope he understands this was an honest mistake by someone inside and not us."
"You don't really look like a career criminal to me, so why are you doing this?"
"Look Miss, I'm really sorry for doing this, but you can go now."
"Wait." Blair said. Strangely curious about the man who had kidnapped her, "Is someone making you do this and what is your name, I don't even know who I'm talking to?
"My name is Ed Fitzimmons and life has caused me to take such drastic measure." He said, clearly not proud of what he'd done, "I don't want to bore you with my life story, but I've had some financial problems and someone said I could make a quick 5K for this, so once I confirmed nobody would be hurt, I said yes."
"If you have money problems I'm guessing you lost your job?"
"Yes, but there's more to it than that, I have a family to take care of. I'll figure something out. You really should go."
Blair never was one to listen when people told her to leave, "There was one thing I wasn't lying about, I am rich and for some reason I feel like helping you. You kept that kid away from me and I'd like to repay you for it."
"No, I can't take your money, not after what I did." Ed said, pacing back and forth in the small van.
"I'm no angel, trust me, this would help me as much as you." Blair said, knowing she had to do this, "What do you need the money for? Mortgage, rent, car, food, all of the above?"
"If you must know my son is in the hospital. He needs an operation and now that I've lost my insurance the cost of his bills have really begun to drain what savings I had. While he is getting the operation this week, it's left me with very little to take care of him once he comes home."
"I'm sorry about your son. How old is he?
"He's 9 and he's going to be fine, but he sure hates missing out on little league this year."
"What kind of work did you do?"
"I was a foreman for a construction company. We build new houses and with the real estate market collapsing, the company I worked for went under, just like hundreds of others."
Blair's mind began working overtime and soon a big smile covered her pretty face, "You know, on my 18th birthday I'm actually getting a house built. It's a gift from my dad, but he's allowing me to design it and with the help of an architect, I've come up with the plans for my dream house, now I do need someone to build it, so if you're interested I'd like to hire you."
"I wouldn't feel right taking money from you."
"Don't be all macho now; this is no time for pride. This is a real offer. This is a very big project so I'm sure it will help get you back on track. My dad might not be a lawyer, but he is pretty connected and I can ask him to look around for any job openings here or if you're interested, in France where he lives."
"Why are you doing this?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's my way of giving back. I can be pretty selfish at times and I want to help and it's not charity, it's a real offer and you will have to work to earn it."
"Well, I'm not in a position to say no, so okay, I'll take it."
"Good." Blair said with a satisfied smile, "I still have a few months before my birthday, so what I'd like to do is give you an advance and I'd also like to help pay for your son's expenses. Before you say no, just hear me out. I don't have any brothers or sisters and I've always wanted one and I feel bad for any child who has to be in the hospital at such a young age and this is just my way of making my money do something good for a change. This is not about you, it's about your son, so again, don't let pride keep you from accepting this."
"The bills are very high, it's too much money. I appreciate the offer though."
"What is it with men not accepting help?" Blair said with a sigh, "If I have to, I'll do this behind your back and you'll get all mad and we'll have a big fight, but I am going to do it, so you are really better off just smiling and going home and being with your family, because I always get my way."
Ed smiled at Blair's persistence, "You are a very determined young woman and I believe you would get your way, so if this is what you want to do, I don't know what to say, but thank you. I'll be sure to let my son know about your generosity."
"What's his name?"
"He actually hates his name." Ed said with a hearty laugh, "We named him Calvin after my wife's father, but I guess the kids at school make fun of it, but hopefully that'll pass as he gets older."
"Well, before I go, what are you going to do about this Morpheus guy?"
"I wasn't hired by him, I just know he's behind this. I guess it all depends on how this case turns out. I do know that whoever is being questioned is not guilty of killing that guy. Morpheus is doing it for some type of revenge on this girl."
"Really? I didn't think she did it, but it wouldn't haven't surprised me." Blair said, disappointed that Georgina was innocent after all, "Anyway, maybe you should go to the police with this information. They might be able to protect you and your family."
"If word got out that I was a snitch, my family would be in real danger. If that girl is charged, I'll come forward, but I don't think she will be. Even they didn't think they had enough evidence.
"Well, give me your number so I can get in touch with you and your lawyer and I will have the money transferred to your account as soon as possible."
"I really don't think that thank you is enough, but it's all I have." Ed said, still not believing how his fortune had changed, "I'm glad we met, you've given me hope that things are going to work out."
"I have to go back and make things right with someone, so I will be in touch soon. Goodbye Ed."
"Goodbye Blair." He said, as she followed her out of the van and took off down the street.
NYPD, 19th Precinct.
Jenny paced back and forth in front of Blair, still waiting for an officer to come back with an answer to her question. She spotted the woman talking to someone near the coffee machine and got more than a little annoyed and marched right up to her, "Excuse me, I asked you 10 minutes ago if I could talk to Georgina Sparks."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to let you know, but yes you can talk to her. She's in interrogation room 4 and you need to tell the officer outside the room that Detective Cahoon approved the visit."
"Thank you." Jenny said, her anger quickly turning to excitement at the chance to talk to Georgina. She walked down a couple corridors until she spotted a police officer outside room 4, "Hi, Detective Cahoon has given me permission to talk to Georgina."
"Okay, but 10 minutes is all you get."
"I'll take it." Jenny said with a smile, opening the door and stepping inside.
Georgina jumped out of her seat and greeted Jenny with a big warm hug, "OMG, I'm so happy to see you. I've been sitting here for hours now. I have no idea what's going on."
"I'm really happy to see you to." Jenny said, enjoying being in Georgina's arms again, "I did talk to the detective and he said they were trying to catch some guy named Morpheus, so maybe they have by now."
"Really? That means he does believe me." Georgina said with a sigh of relief, "I just don't know why he had to leave me here like this."
"I don't know, but I'd rather you be safe until this guy is off the streets."
"You are so sweet." Georgina smiled, pulling Jenny in for a kiss.
Jenny happily kissed Georgina back, holding her close as they kissed and kissed and kissed, as if they'd been separated for years.
Georgina reluctantly pulled away from Jenny's soft lips, "You have a really horrible day seem pretty darn good again."
"I can't imagine what you've gone through today. I'm just glad that you're okay."
"How much do you know about all this?"
"Everything I think." Jenny answered as she replayed it all back in her mind, "I know you found a body in your room and somehow or another Serena came to help and you were brought here for questioning. I never once thought you did it."
"How can you be so sure of that?" Georgina asked, more than a little confused by Jenny's bold statement, "Even Serena wondered if I had killed the guy and just didn't remember it. She knows me very well. I don't understand why you believe in me without any reason."
"I do have a reason. I can see it in your eyes." Jenny said with a smile, "I've seen you do and say things that I didn't like and you change. When you're telling the truth, it comes through in your eyes. Someone said the eyes don't lie and I believe it. I'm not saying you can't do bad things, I just knew as soon as saw you that you didn't do this."
"Yes, but you said you didn't believe this even before you talked to me."
Jenny lowered her head and crinkled her nose, "Well, that was more wishful thinking, but I don't think you are a killer, I really don't."
"Good, because I'm not a killer." Georgina stated boldly, smiling back at Jenny, "It's nice to know that you believe in me. It feels good. I don't think I can ever tell you how good it makes me feel to know you are there for me."
"I like you, a lot and I will always be there if you need me."
"Where were you when I was getting into trouble every day." Georgina said with a wistful sigh.
Morpheus' Penthouse suite at the NY Palace Hotel.
Armed with a warrant and a SWAT team by his side, Detective Cahoon knocked on the door to the penthouse, "Open up. This is the police."
After repeating his message two more times, Cahoon motioned the team to break down the door and seconds later they swarmed the gigantic penthouse, tear gas leading the way as they searched from room to room for the elusive drug dealer.
One of the SWAT team members called Cahoon into the bathroom where he saw Morpheus lying in a pool of blood, "Well, I was hoping to catch him alive, but at least he's one less drug dealer to worry about. Tell your men not to touch anything; this is a crime scene now."
End of Chapter 4.