Chapter 10

"Please wake up Mr Spencer. It is rude to keep a lady waiting."

The cut glass voice dug its way into his brain; poking him painfully until he had to obey. It was not a voice that he could ignore and with a low groan he tried to open his eyes. He was not successful.

"Come now Mr Spencer, surely you can do better than that. Afterall my men stopped beating you after only a few minutes. I am sure you are not too damaged. Or are you just scared?"

Okay, that was it. Shawn was not going to lose face with this woman; she was so superior and full of herself. He pried his eyes open, feeling the congealed blood on his eye lash crack and break apart. Finally he succeeded and was rewarded by the sight of Sebastian standing beside his mother; a knife at his throat. It was held in place by Jeans Man who was standing behind the teenager, grinning from ear to ear. Here was a man who clearly loved his job.

Sebastian looked terrified and horribly confused. Shawn felt a wave of sympathy for him. Bad enough to know someone was trying to kill you, how seriously crap must it feel to know that someone was your own Mother?

Beside him Shawn could feel the presence of the two new thugs who had bundled Sebastian into the warehouse and he realised that his chances of escape had plummeted even more. In his condition taking on one woman would have been difficult but four armed men? Impossible.

Mrs Swithen silently acknowledged that Shawn was awake and then continued speaking.

"I suppose it may have been kinder on my part to just kill you whilst you were unconscious but I did so want to apologise for my little outburst earlier. I do feel I really rather I let the side down. Whilst I admit I may not be parent of the year; it does not do to lose control in such a manner in front of one's child." She smiled and waited for him to speak.

Shawn wanted so much to tell her where to go but as he began to try and speak he noticed the knife point at Sebastian's throat. It was beginning to cut the kids skin and Shawn knew that any show of defiance from him and the boy would die. So he smiled – not his normal sparkling, energetic eccentric smile but a cool collected and more socially acceptable one. Perfect for Mrs Swithen.

"I totally understand and" he coughed a little but hurriedly carried on talking, no space here for weakness "I am very happy to accept your apology." Mrs Swithen simply stared at him.

As he waited for her next move Shawn allowed himself a moment to embrace his pain and deal with it. He knew he needed all his wits about him at this moment. So he took his pain and put it in a box in his mind; the place he often hid his feelings and emotions. Shawn was good at hiding things that hurt him mentally and now he summoned all his strength to do the same with his physical pain. He still felt each and every wound and bruise but somehow it was as if they belonged to someone else.

"I am afraid we must now play out the final scene." Mrs Swithen stood, brushed down her skirt and turned to face her son. "I feel I may need to offer you an explanation Sebastian but perhaps it would be best if we just ended this swiftly. You are my son afterall and I do not wish to cause you unnecessary suffering. So let us say goodbye and please do not struggle; it is so unbecoming and also extremely pointless" She reached her arms out, as if to embrace him but he twisted his upper body to the left, cutting his neck a little on the knife as he turned his head away from her in disgust and terror.

"I see. Well, no-one can say I did not try." Shawn could not believe Mrs Swithen. She was just so cold.

She turned once more to Shawn. "It has been an interesting experience meeting you Mr Spencer. Goodbye."

As she spoke Jeans Man pulled Sebastian's head back, exposing his throat to the knife. At the same time one of the new guys pulled the blood soaked bandage off Shawn's stomach, ripping open the wound and making it bleed profusely once again. The pain made everything fade; images and sounds became diffused and unfocused. But then...

A loud crash and the sound of wood splintering.

A sudden rush of movement.

Yells.

"Police"

"Drop your weapons."

"Now. Drop them now."

"God, Shawn."

"I will kill him."

Then stillness and silence.

For a moment Shawn did not understand. Then his vision became less bleary and he saw a wonderful sight.

Gus. Lassie. Jules. And five other armed police officers. All in the warehouse.

The thugs had done as they were told and dropped their weapons. Sebastian was half lying, half leaning against a male officer who was trying to check for injuries.

Gus had come. Jules had come. Even Lassie had come.

But now Shawn realised that no-one was approaching him; instead they were all keeping their distance and they were staring at him aghast. He was sure there was a reason for this but, for the life of him, he was just so tired that he could not work out why they weren't coming to help him.

Then he felt a cold gun at his head and he understood.

"I will kill him if you do not put YOUR weapons down officers." Mrs Swithen's voice was still genteel and almost polite, with an undercurrent of how distasteful she found all this. "I am not usually one to involve myself directly but believe me when I say that I am more than happy to make an exception this time. Mr Spencer can truly be just the most irritating man"

Lassiter felt a brief moment of kinship with the mad woman; many the time he had wanted to inflict some pain on the annoying psychic...but not like this. He watched as Mrs Swithen shifted the gun in her hand onto a more comfortable position and he shivered a little as he saw the look on her face. Even with all his experience never had he seen someone who seemed as unfazed or unworried as this woman. It was like she really could not; or would not; believe that it was all over.

Juliet just could not take her eyes off Shawn. He seemed dazed and so very hurt. It made her cold to think about what that woman and her goons had done to him. Juliet was not by nature a violent person but a small part of her just wanted to grab Mrs Swithen and kick the living daylights out of her. She was not proud of this feeling and she knew there was no way she would ever do it but just knowing that this freak had hurt Shawn so badly made her almost lose herself.

All Gus could do was stand there and watch the blood slowly drip from his friend's torso. Stand there and blame himself. His partner was a mess, bruised, bloodied and barely conscious. With a gun to his head. Gus could see no way that this could end well.

"I said" Mrs Swithen repeated calmly "Put down your guns officers. All of you."

The police looked towards Lassiter, who hesitated for just a moment but then nodded minutely. As one all the officers laid their guns on the floor and took a few steps back. That is except Juliet who had entered the warehouse with her gun holstered, intent on freeing Shawn first. She made no attempt to give up her gun and in the general confusion Mrs Swithen did not notice. Feeling its weight in its holster Juliette did nothing though; she still felt totally at a loss as to how she could help Shawn.

With her free hand Mrs Swithen reached down into her purse and pulled out a beautiful little penknife; with which she proceeded to cut the ropes that were binding Shawn. Once these were cut she pulled, almost gently on his shirt and whispered to the clearly concussed and unnaturally pliant psychic "Stand up now Mr Spencer, there's a good man."

Everyone watching was amazed as Shawn did as he was told without any wise arse comment. It was like watching someone sleep walking as he slowly and painfully got to his feet. He stood there, swaying on the spot and bleeding out.

"Now, if you have any feelings of friendship towards this man, as I suspect a number of you do, you will not impede me leaving. Nor will you follow me." As she spoke Mrs Swithen began to move slowly towards the door, prodding Shawn with the gun as she went.

But the movement seemed to reignite Shawn and those watching saw his him almost shake himself back to life; taking in his situation as if for the first time.

His eyes flickered around him and Juliet thought for a second that she caught a glimpse of fire in them; a brief moment of the old Shawn re-appearing. But then it was gone again as she watched him gasp in pain and stumble slightly.

That small faltering in his step seemed to incense the mad woman holding him. She forced the gun hard against his cheek, re-opening a gash from the fight in the office.

"Have some pride Mr Spencer." She said, a look of disgust on her face "I intend to leave here in a dignified fashion and you will not make this any more unpleasant than it already is. Now say goodbye to your colleagues and walk like a man".

Shawn did not react immediately, instead he looked at the people standing motionless in front of him. His friends; oh and Lassie too. It would be easy to do as he was told, hoping that she would let him go when she was clear. But that was not him. Even supposing she did keep her word, there was no way he could allow her to escape, not after all she had done. Decision made Shawn spoke for the first time since the cavalry had arrived.

"Surely you are not leaving without playing your final scene, Mrs Swithen?" Even to his own ears his voice sounded weak and broken so he tried his best to make his next sentence louder... "After all" he thought "given her reaction last time; this might be the final thing I ever say."

"What do you mean?" she replied in an irritated fashion.

"The scene where you explain why you did all this." Shawn's voice had gained a little strength but still sounded hoarse and painful

"I told you before I was not going to lower myself with explanations. Those are for common people, not for such as I. Now be quiet before I forget that I am a lady and blow your head off instead"

The irritation had turned to cold hatred and Shawn could feel the gun as it pressed ever harder to the side of his head. He was terrified but knew that he could not stop now.

"Well, perhaps you will allow me to explain why you became a husband killer and the world's worst Mother?"

Mrs Swithen exploded, all gentility and refinement dropped from her face and posture, all that was left was snarling, naked loathing.

"You bastard" she yelled in his face. Spittle was spraying out of her mouth in her anger, as she smashed the barrel of the gun across his mouth. She pointed it directly at his face and her finger tightened on the trigger of the gun.

But by delaying the fatal shot for one vital second as she hit him Shawn was able to reach up and grab the gun. For a desperate moment the weapon wavered, as both fought over it. One trying to kill, the other to survive.

Then a shot.

And the silence returned.

XXX