TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY
PART 14 - Homecoming
December 4th, 2012
Mojave Desert, California
Peter stood back looking first at Niki stroking her face, then down at little Jessica. Then staring up again at Niki and Nathan. "Is this real? Please tell me I'm not dreaming again."
"No." Niki whispered through her tears touching his face. "We're home forever baby. And I am never leaving you again." Peter pulled her into an embrace holding her tightly. They began to kiss passionately.
Laura and Nathan continued to hold onto each other tightly. "Oh God! I can't believe this! We have been praying day and night for this moment!"
Nathan pulled back looking down at her. "We never thought we would get out of there alive. After they killed Noah, we thought we were doomed for certain."
"Nathan…what about my dad?" Laura implored him fretfully.
"He's fine Laura." He gave her an assuring pat on the side of her face. "At least he was when we left him a little while ago with Claude…" He searched her face. "and Gabriel…"
Laura's face dropped in disbelief. "Gabriel was with you?"
Nathan nodded slowly as he placed his hands on Laura's shoulders. "Laura, I have a lot to tell you about a lot of things. And I will, but right now I just want to get to Heidi and the boys. But just know that they were all safe when we left them and they said they would be along soon."
Laura held up her hands shaking her head. "Of course. I'll get the scoop from Niki. You go get that family! We have all the time in the world to catch up."
Nathan again embraced Peter warmly then flew off into the night.
Laura tearfully stood watching Niki, Peter and little Jessica. As Peter held little Jessica in his arms for the first time, Niki turned to Laura. They fell into a loving embrace. "Oh God I thought I would never see you again!" Niki whispered as they held onto each other.
"We have been so scared!" Laura pulled back stroking her friends face. "Every camp we raided, we looked for your faces." She looked down at her stomach then over at little Jessica. "Oh my God! You had a baby!"
"I had a baby." Niki smiled as she looked at Peter holding Jessica crying as he played with her. "And she looks just like her daddy."
"She sure does. And she's got him around her little finger already." Laura shook her head. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh my God! I can't believe I forgot! MICAH! GET OUT HERE!" She called out excitedly. "Everybody! Come out here now!"
"Micah?" Niki whispered, her eyes lighting up. "My baby is here?"
"Well, he's not much of a baby anymore!" She replied gulping back tears. "He's…"
"MOM!" Micah screamed as he came running out the door followed by the others.
"MICAH!" Niki tearfully called out running to him. They embraced tearfully as Niki pulled back looking up at him. "Oh my God! My baby boy! Look at you! Your all grown up! You're a man now!"
"I can't believe it's really you!" He sobbed then they pulled away as he beamed up at Niki. "But…how…? How did you find us?"
"There is so much to talk about and we will cover it all, but right now there is somebody I want you to meet." She led him over to Peter who was still holding little Jessica with tearful disbelief. "Jessica, this is your big brother Micah."
"Mee-kaw." She cried out holding out her arms to him.
Micah reached out taking his little sister in his arms. "I have a baby sister!" He whispered looking up at Niki and Peter shaking his head with tears running down his cheeks. "I have a little sister!"
"Niki!" She turned around as Hiro ran up to her.
"Oh my God!" She ran to him embracing each other tearfully. "Hiro!" .
"Well, what about me? Don't I rate a hug?" Another voice said as Niki turned around.
"Mohinder!" She cried out holding on to him. For the first time she looked at all the faces that were among them. "Oh my God! Look at all of you! Nana! Monica! Oh, Brandon!" She looked at Damon. "And Damon, it looks like these fine people have had a positive effect on you." She smiled hugging him.
"You have no idea!" Addie tearfully hugged her. "Welcome home baby."
"Thank you." She whispered, then stumbled a little as Hiro reached out to hold her up.
"Baby?" Peter ran to her. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah." She smiled holding her head. "I'm just a little dizzy. I think I'm just overwhelmed."
"Well who wouldn't be after all you've been through." Monica smiled.
"Excuse me, ma'am." A masculine voice came from behind her. She turned around to see Tank, Elko, Hippy and Gates standing there, Tank with his hat in his hand. "My name is Hank Rogers and these are my friends and family. Welcome to my home." He bowed to her as Niki smiled.
"Thank you." She whispered gratefully. "You're going to be bursting apart at the seams here with all these people in here."
"No need to worry. We got plenty of room. And if we need more room; hell, we'll just build more."
"Well don't worry about me. I've been stuck in the dungeon for two years and I haven't been outside. This is the first time my little girl has ever been outdoors. As far as I'm concerned, you can put a bed out here for me and my family and I will be content to sleep under the stars."
"Yeah, speak for yourself." Micah scoffed as he played with Jessica. "It gets pretty damn cold out here, Mom."
"Just bring me lots of blankets!" She smiled spinning around looking at the mountains. "It's so beautiful here! I can't wait until morning!"
"Hello Niki." She heard a soft voice from behind her. Angela stood half-smiling with her hands folded in front of her.
"Angela." She whispered, then looked at Peter. "Why is she here?" Angela's eyes lowered.
He put his arm around her shoulders looking at his mother. "A lot has happened since you have been away. I'll tell you all about it, but just know that my mom has been tortured and manipulated just like we all have."
She slowly turned to Angela. "Is this true?"
Angela closed her eyes exhaling sadly. "Let's not make this moment about me, dear. You are home with your family where you belong and that is what is the most important. We will have lots of time to talk. I will tell you my story, and you can fill us all in on what you have been through but right now you need your rest; and most importantly you need some time alone with your husband."
"Yes she does." Laura placed an arm around Angela's shoulders. "We can talk all we want tomorrow. But right now you two have a…ah…reunion." She wiggled her eyebrows as the others laughed.
Angela whirled her head around. "Where is Nathan? And George? What about the others." There was worry in her voice.
"Nathan flew home to Heidi and the boys after bring home my girls to me." Peter smiled still playing with his daughter.
"Is that my granddaughter?" Angela asked softly placing her hands over her mouth.
Niki smiled warmly. "Yes, this is your granddaughter. Would you like to hold her?'
"Well of course I would?" She tearfully held out her arms as Niki handed Jessica to her.
Angela's eyes filled with tears as she held her granddaughter tightly. "Hello Jessica. I am going to allow you to call me something I only allow the most special people in my life to call me; you may call me…Grandma. And you and I have a lot of catching up to do." Little Jessica smiled wrapping her arms around Angela's neck.
Niki shook her head as tears began to fall again. "I just can't believe this. I'm really home!"
Tank walked up to Niki touching her shoulder. "It's not much, but it's clean, comfortable and until things change, its home. And as the same courtesy extended to your friends, you may stay as long as you like."
"I'll take it." She smiled giving him a hug.
White House Catacombs
Seneca's horror filled eyes watched with trepidation as Gabriel and Claude stood over him. Crumpled on the floor against a chair, he tried to scoot away from them, but he knew there was no room to hide. He also knew that all be begging would do him no good.
Presently speaking; he was fucked.
The malevolent gleam in Gabriel's eye as he sauntered slowly toward him confirmed his deepest fears. "Well, Seneca James Jones." Gabriel sneered at him. "Just look at you now, you cowering piece of shit. For so many months you have taunted and terrorized these people." He looked at Claude. "So Claude; what shall we do with our dear friend?"
Claude shook his head leering down at him. "Death is too good for this arsehat if you ask me." He took delight in watching Seneca react with horror. He flung up his finger for emphasis. "Torture…now there's a solid plan!"
"We aren't going to do anything to him." George said quietly as he stood in a corner folding his arms across his chest.
"What are you talking about?" Claude sputtered incredulously. "You don't seriously mean that we are going to leave him alive? After all he has done to us? After all he has ever done to us!" Claude walked toward him. "George. Think about what he did to your wife! Think about how he has kept us here for all these years!"
"I am well aware of what he has done to my family, thank you very much." George looked straight ahead. "I said we aren't going to do anything to him. I want you two to leave and find your way home."
"George?" Gabriel's eyes grew large. "What in the hell are you talking about? This is our chance! What about everything we talked about? We agreed George!"
"I am the one that started this war with Seneca Jones." He replied grimly. "And now I am going to end it."
"George…" Gabriel began to protest.
"Gabriel, he raped my wife!" George's eyes were filled with rage and a fury he had seen in Laura's eyes many times. "My wife was raped and then murdered!" He raised his eyes until they met Gabriel's. "I am the one that has to do this."
Gabriel thought for a moment then nodded. He understood. "He's right Claude."
Claude was incredulous. "Are you out of your tree, good man?" He shouted. "We have all been in this together; we will take him down together."
Gabriel's pressed his lips together firmly attempting to reason with him. "What if you came face to face with the man who put a bullet into Hana? What would you do?"
Claude thought for a moment. Then sighing heavily he closed his eyes nodding. "You are right." He opened his eyes and looked at George. "Ok, Gabriel and I will gather the items that will help us get home and then we will gather at the meeting spot before finding out way home."
"Go." George nodded. "I'll be along soon."
Gabriel pulled him into a heartfelt embrace, as did Claude before leaving the catacombs forever.
Once they were safely in the elevator, George turned to Seneca; his eyes arctic and callous as he approached him cowering on the floor. He shook his head. "Look at you. You are pathetic! You're not a man! Real men do not need guns to show they are strong and real men do not go around raping the women of those they call their friends!" George shouted as he pistol whipped him across the face. "Not feeling so tough without your gun, are you?"
"George, lets discuss this like men." Seneca implored him.
"Like men?" George craned his head around. "Is there another man in the room besides me?" George began to laugh incredulously. "You want to discuss? As in bargain? As in beg? Well in all the years you have known me, Seneca, there is one thing about me you should remember." He leaned down hissing into his ear. "I don't bargain!" He fired the gun next to Seneca's. Seneca let out a scream as his eardrum exploded and blood gushed out of his ear.
"Oh for God's sake George!" He screamed. "Please!"
"I'll tell you what, Seneca." George sneered. "For the sake of our former friendship, I'm going to cut you some slack. Today you will be left alive." He racked Seneca's pistol shooting him in the left shoulder as he howled in pain. George continued to speak, his eyes narrowed malevolently. "When I get finished with you, you will only wish you were dead." Raising the pistol again, he shot him in the other shoulder. He screamed and scooted into a corner leaving a trail of blood. George followed him. "You see Seneca, it's a good thing you are a shape shifter, because you can become anything you want to be…" Seneca shouted as George blew out his left knee cap. "And in a high-profile job such as yours, you have to look your best." He blew out the right knee cap. "But at the end of the day when it is just you; the gruesome pariah you will become; all the smoke and mirrors will not help you." As Seneca recoiled in the corner, George kneeled down and leaned into him. "Because today Seneca Jones, is judgment day. After today, you will never come near my daughter again. You will not touch Niki. You will not threaten anyone in my family." He stood up again raising the pistol. "And you will never touch another woman ever again."
For the last time, George raised Seneca's pistol aiming it at his former friend's head. As he spoke, his Irish brogue rolled off his tongue. "Goodbye, old friend. Or was we say in the old country, slán a fhágáil ag duine." He lowered the pistol shooting Seneca in the groin. Seneca cried out in pain as George stepped into the elevator.
"GEORGE!" He screamed. "Don't leave me here! Please!"
But George only smiled and waved goodbye as the doors closed in front of him.
"RYAN!" Seneca screamed in pain. "I will kill you! You hear me! When I find you, you are DEAD!"
But his screams fell on deaf ears as the elevator rose upward, leaving his crumpled and broken body locked in the catacombs
Gabriel's Apartment
Washington DC
Gabriel came rushing out of the bedroom carrying a duffel bag. "Ok, got the supplements, the list of incarceration camps and some money."
"Ok, then lets hightail it the hell out of here." Claude made his way to the door.
But Gabriel did not move. "Not yet."
Claude stopped in his tracks and jerked his head back around. "What do you mean, not yet?"
"Back at my office, I have some presents for Seth." I've bought him presents for his birthdays and Christmas. I'm not leaving without them."
"Are you daft mate?" Claude shouted. "You have money! We can stop at bloody Target and you can buy him some new toys. He won't know the difference; he's only two!"
"I'll know!" Gabriel shot back insistently. "Common, let's get back to the White House."
"I just escaped from that bloody place and now we're going back!" Claude groaned following behind Gabriel. "I should have just stayed in my fucking bed this morning!"
"Lets go!" Gabriel called out to him from the door.
"Yeah…I'm coming." Claude retorted back to him.
"It's nothing fancy, but for now its home." Peter told Niki as he led her into his bedroom at the compound.
"It's perfect." Niki smiled through her tears. "You're here with me and that's all I need."
"I have been dreaming about this moment for two years." Peter pulled her into his arms caressing her face. "I guess I just envisioned the moment I make love to my wife again
happening somewhere more romantic with candles around the room, not in a desert flop house with a bunch of smelly guys."
"I have been locked in a dungeon for two years with equally smelly guys." She smiled up at him. "I love them, and I will love these guys too." She kissed him softly. "Baby, I don't care where we are. I mean you have the ability to take me to Bora Bora right now, but the only place I want to be is right here with you; with my son and our daughter. I just want to be in your arms again. We could be in a dirty alley for all I care. I just don't want to miss another moment of you and I don't want our daughter to be without her daddy anymore."
A broad smile slowly spread across Peter's face. "Daddy." He shook his head. "I am really a daddy." He looked at Niki as he eyes began to tear up. "My God, she is so beautiful! I can't believe it." His face suddenly fell as he looked around. "Um…where is she?"
"She is in with your mother and Nana." She replied gently. "We can figure something out for her tomorrow, but tonight I want you all to myself." She kissed him passionately as she leaned into him tumbling him down backwards onto the bed. "Oh God I love you!" She whispered as their passion began to grow.
"And I love you more at this moment than I ever thought I could love another person." He smiled down at her, then his face fell. "So why do I all of the sudden feel as nervous as a high school boy getting ready to have sex with his girlfriend for the first time?"
"Oh no!" Niki shook he head vigorously. "I have been waiting for this moment for two years! Don't go getting any performance anxieties on me now."
Peter laughed softly. "I think we're going to be just fine." He whispered as they began to remove each other's clothes.
"I love you, Peter." She whispered.
"I love you Niki." He replied as they began to make love.
December 5
Mojave Desert, California
As Laura opened the front door that morning, she was happy to see Niki sitting in a chair watching sunrise paint the mountains in various shades of orange, purple, blue and yellow. She could see the tears in the eyes of her friend marveling at its indescribable beauty as she slowly approached her.
"Isn't it the most amazing thing you have ever seen?" Laura whispered sitting down beside her, taking her hand.
"You just have no idea." Niki's eyes were wet with tears making Laura cry herself. "I can't believe I'm really home."
"I can't believe I am really looking at your beautiful face." She firmly squeezed her hand. "Back with your family and everyone who loves you." Laura smiled slyly. "And…ah…from the pounding on my wall all night, it sounds like you two had quite a reunion."
Niki blushed. "Oh God! Were we that loud?"
Laura began slamming her palm against the table between them making a loud thumping sound. "OH PETER! OH MY GOD! OH GOD! OH YES!" She shouted. "Either he was giving you one hell of an orgasm, or you found religion."
"Oh common!" She laughed with embarrassment. "We weren't that loud were we?"
Laura slowly turned her head glowering at her. "The bed is right on the other side of the wall from my head." She nodded quickly. "Yeah, you were that loud!"
"I haven't had sex with my husband in two years!" She laughed raucously.
"I know the feeling." She sighed heavily looking out straight ahead then back at Niki furrowing her brow. "Why do you I've become such a good warrior?"
"Laura?" Niki looked at her friend softly. "He's coming home."
"I know." She began to tear up. "Believe me, aside at my elation of seeing you, Nathan and that beautiful little girl last night, I haven't been able to think of much else."
Niki placed her hand on top of Laura's. "Look, I know you're angry at him. And maybe you have every right to be. But please don't believe anything you have seen or heard on TV about him. Every moment without you his heart was breaking. Everything he has done, he has done for you. He would do anything to protect you and Seth. He loves you so much."
"Love has never been the problem." Laura answered almost vacantly looking out straight ahead, then back at Niki. "I know he loves me Niki. But you don't know how much it hurts when you are sitting up nursing your baby to turn on the TV and see the man who promised to love and be there for you always flittering around some social event with the tart of the month on his arm."
"It was all for show, Laura." Niki implored her.
"Niki, I believe you and I know why you feel the way you do." She whispered tearfully. "It took a lot of soul searching, and a little help from Addie to realize how much he loved
me. And maybe I am just being stubborn and childish as usual, but Niki, he walked away from me; he broke my heart! Perhaps he did it for the right reasons and maybe in time I will understand why he had to leave me. But it doesn't fix the giant hole he left in my heart. It doesn't heal the pain of falling to sleep every night crying and waking up reaching for him only to pull back cold emptiness." Laura began to weep. "I love him so much Niki. He is that one true love and there will never be another love in my life. But he walked away when I needed him; when his son needed him. Think how it felt for me the first time Seth pointed to the TV and shouted Daddy! And think of how it feels to look at that beautiful boy and how he looks more and more like Gabriel every day." She looked back at Niki, her eyes red and puffy. "I just don't know if I can trust him with my heart anymore."
"I can imagine it has been hell." She reached over consoling Laura. "Look honey, I don't condone what he did and I can only imagine the pain you have gone through. But he honestly did what he felt he had to do to protect you. Gabriel has done a lot of wrong in his life, but now he only wants to do good. And you are the one who changed him. You have always refused to see anything but the good in him. He wants so desperately to be the man he is in your eyes."
"He is good Niki." Laura whispered smiling through her tears. "No matter what he has done in this past, he is a wonderful father. And before this all happened, I could never have asked for a better husband…"
"You mean ex-husband." Kevin came up from behind them pulling up a crate to sit on.
Niki smiled flirtatiously. "Well hello!" She looked over at Laura. "Where did you find the fox?"
Kevin blushed sheepishly extending his hand. "My name is Kevin Cirota. I'm not real sure why I am here, but somebody in this world thinks I should be so here I am."
"Peter brought him here acting on Gabriel's orders." Laura replied then looked up at Kevin smiling proudly. "And since his arrival, we have discovered he too has an ability."
"Really?" Niki cocked her head. "Do tell."
"Well, apparently the rest of the population does not have the ability to see that coyote I can see about half a mile away." He shrugged. "I really thought it was a skill everybody had, but according to these guys, I thought wrong."
"Well welcome to the club." Niki smiled. "We can always use a few more." Suddenly her face fell. "Wait a minute! Did you just refer to Gabriel as Laura's ex-husband?"
"Oh shit." Laura closed her eyes. "I forgot all about that."
Niki shook her head incredulously. "You divorced Gabriel and you forgot all about it?" She shouted at her. "How can you forget something like that?"
Laura closed her eyes. "When he wouldn't come back with me in Cairo, I got angry and asked Kevin to help me get a quick divorce."
"Oh my God!" Niki screamed. "Laura! Do you have any idea what this is going to do to him? He is going to be devastated!"
"Well now maybe he will have some sort of idea what it felt like for me to have somebody he loves walk out on him!" She retorted back
Niki looked at Kevin angrily. "And you! What is your interest in all this?"
Kevin jerked back his head, taken aback. "Um, what do you mean?"
"Oh common!" She shouted. "I can see how you're looking at Laura! You are obviously in love with her!"
Laura's mouth gaped open in shock. "Niki!"
Niki folded her arms. "This all works out so nicely for you, doesn't it! You fall in love with the sad, beautiful princess and how lucky for you that she is shoving her husband out of the picture."
Kevin stood up. "Ok, I know you have been through hell and I am cutting you some slack, but you are way out of line."
"What's going on?" Peter demanded as he walked up to them.
Niki stood pointing an accusing finger at Laura. "Well, it seems that Laura has been carrying on with this boy toy while her husband has been in the trenches putting himself through hell for her!"
Peter shook his head looking at her oddly. "No she hasn't." He touched her face. "Niki, Laura has been right here hurting every bit as much as he has. She has not been unfaithful to him! Not even for one day."
"Well." Laura looked down at her feet. "I was kind of macking all over him when he took me to Vegas that time."
"Yeah!" Niki nodded folding her arms across her chest. "I know! And guess who got a bright shiny copy! Homeland Security! The number one terrorist in the world was running around Vegas making out with an unknown partner and guess who had it on his iPod! And just how do you feel Gabriel felt to see his wife; the woman he has been going through hell for throwing himself all over some guy!"
Peter looked at Laura in disbelief. "You were running around Vegas without a disguise? What in the hell were you thinking?"
"Um, I was drunk." She replied sheepishly.
"What's all the yelling for?" Brandon came walking up to the group.
"Your sister is an unfaithful tramp! That's what!" Niki shouted as everyone stared at her horrified; Laura's mouth dropped open.
"Now just a fucking minute!" Brandon replied. "My sister…"
"Don't yell at my wife!" Peter shouted at Brandon.
"Well tell her to quit talking trash about my sister!" He retorted back.
"Hold it! Hold it! HOLD IT!" Laura shouted over everybody. "Everybody just shut the hell up!" She stood shaking her head. "Ok! I made a mistake! It was stupid, but excuse the fuck out of me!" She turned and looked at Niki. "And yes! I made out with Kevin! But that is it! I did not cheat on Gabriel! But I was hurting and he was there! Maybe you think I'm a slut, but think of how I felt to come back after he refused to come back with me in Cairo, only to see him on TV just three days later announcing his engagement to Angelina Lopez!" She started to cry. "I thought the man I loved more than anything in the world had dumped me to marry somebody else!" She took a deep breath exhaling to regain her composure. "It took me some time to search my heart and know that he would never do that to me." She looked at Kevin. "And I knew that Kevin was falling for me and I took advantage of that. And I'm sorry." She looked back at Niki. "And no offense, but that is between me and Kevin to work out and it is not your place to judge me." Her face and voice softened. "Common Niki, you know me. I'm your best friend. How could you think I would do such a thing?"
Niki's eyes filled with tears as she looked at Laura and the others. "Oh God! I don't know what came over me! I just snapped." She shook her head. "See the biggest fear Nathan, Gabriel and I had was that we thought you, Peter and Heidi would move on and when we got home, you wouldn't be waiting for us."
"How could you ever think that?" Peter took her in his arms.
"Because that bastard Seneca would taunt us!" She sobbed. "He fed ideas into our heads. It made us crazy!" She looked at Laura. "Can you ever forgive me?"
Laura smiled. "Can I ever forgive you? Get your ass over here!" She smiled embracing her warmly.
"I'm so sorry." Niki sobbed.
"There is no reason to be sorry." Laura whispered stroking her hair then pulled back looking at her. "After what you have been through, I can forgive you anything. That's what real friends do."
She looked up at Kevin shaking her head. "Kevin, I don't even know what to say."
"Don't give it another thought." He grinned. "You should have seen your friend here when I first arrived."
Laura laughed. "Yeah, I was pretty rude wasn't I?"
"Ok, are we finished with the histrionics, or can we finally have that welcome home breakfast we've been in here cooking?" Addie called out to them from the door.
Laura cocked her head glowering at Niki. "Can you stop being a bitch now so we can go eat?"
Everyone burst out laughing as Laura and Niki walked arm in arm back into the compound.
The White House Gabriel's Office
"NOW can we get the hell out of here?" Claude held his hands out in front of him pleading with Gabriel.
"Yeah, I have my son's presents, now we can leave." He smiled looking at the carefully wrapped boxes in his duffel bag.
Claude rolled his eyes. "I don't know what all the fuss is about. The tyke is only going to play with the bloody box anyway." He muttered as they headed for the door.
"Gabriel!" They came to an abrupt stop as he recognized the shrill voice.
"Shit!" He muttered under his breath as he turned to the door forcing a smile. "Angelina! What brings you to my office this time of day."
She was looking at him oddly with her arms folded. "Those are not the clothes you left in this morning." She walked closer to him. "And who is your friend."
"Why aren't we invisible?" Gabriel hissed at Claude under his breath.
"Um…I'm not sure." Claude replied apprehensively.
"What do you mean you're not sure?" He shouted. "We sneak into the White House and you don't know why we aren't invisible?"
"Well until this moment I thought we were invisible!" He retorted.
"Well make us invisible and let's get the hell out of here before Bazooka Jane goes running to Catherwood!" He uttered through gritted teeth.
"Who in the hell is Catherwood?" She demanded. "And what do you mean invisible?" Her eyes widened. "Oh my God! Is he a vol?"
"Yes, Angelina! He is a vol! And so am I!" Gabriel demonstrated by lifting his hand and hurling a vase off a table into a wall, smashing it to fragments. Angelina screamed.
"That was a very rare Han Dynasty." Gabriel bristled hearing Catherwood's voice behind him. "It was a gift to President Nixon from the Chinese Ambassador." He morphed from President Hart into Catherwood.
"Mr. President?" Angelina grabbed his arm terrified. "Gabriel? What is going on?"
"Yes, Gabriel." Catherwood laughed caustically. "Why don't you tell her?"
"Gladly!" Gabriel turned to face her. "I know this is going to be hurtful to you Angelina, but the man you are engaged to is not me. He is a man named Seneca Jones who, like the President is a shape shifter. The last time you saw me was in Cairo. Seneca has been impersonating me ever since."
Angelina shook her head. "I don't understand. So the man I have been making love to; the man that asked me to marry him…was not you?"
"She catches on quick, doesn't she?" Claude said wryly into Gabriel's ear.
"And such a shame to have to kill such a beautiful woman." Catherwood touched the side of her face, than slowly emerged into the beast.
"Oh God!" She whispered horrified clutching Gabriel. "What are you?"
"That is the President of the United States of America. The man who convinced the house to imprison people with abilities because they are a threat to mankind." Gabriel gently pushed her off of him and she immediately grabbed onto Claude as Gabriel walked toward Catherwood. "What he failed to tell them is that he too has an ability; he is able to turn himself into a beast, and he is immortal." Gabriel hissed spitefully at Catherwood, then turned back toward Angelina. "But a little known fact that wasn't included in your sample ballot; what the American Public does not know is that he is a man named Phinneus Catherwood. He was born over five hundred years ago and; as you can see for yourself; he is able to change into a beast. You may know him also as
Phillip Callahan. You remember…he ran for President but lost when it was revealed that he was banging a member of his staff. So when that didn't work out for him, he killed the President and his wife, then took on his identity."
Angelina looked like she was going to faint. "But I don't understand. His wife was murdered by that terrorist they call The Marauder."
Gabriel shook his head slowly. "No. President and Mrs. Hart were murdered by Phinneus Catherwood and his wife Siobhan. Then later that night, he murdered his own wife and put the blame on a woman named Laura Grace Ryan..." His face softened as he closed his eyes trying to choke back tears. "the woman I gave up everything to protect her and our son. She is my wife."
"That woman in Cairo? So she really is your wife."
"Yes." Gabriel nodded sadly. "But that's if she hasn't filed for divorce when I didn't leave with her that night. As far as I know she thinks I am engaged to you and probably hates my living guts."
"Well, this has been a sweet trip down memory lane, but moving on." Catherwood groaned cynically. "But you see, I am in a quandary. I need to decide what to do with you people." He looked at Angelina. "You are easy. You are going to die in a tragic car accident and the world will mourn your death."
"No!" She screamed tearfully holding onto Claude. "Please! I'll do anything! Don't do this!"
"Sorry princess, but you can't overact your way out of this one." He replied with cruel laughter then turned to Claude and Gabriel. "As for you two, I am going to give you a choice." He morphed back into Catherwood smiling at them. "See, the way I look at it, you two have gotten very close in the time you two have been held captive. Perhaps even before that. After all, you named your young son after him; which is going to make this decision all that much harder."
Claude and Gabriel looked at each other then back at Catherwood. "And what kind of fucked up little plan do you have in store for us this time?" Claude enquired.
"I have decided that I am going to either let one of you go, or none of you go. One of you will go free and the other will die. Of both of you will go back to the catacombs; never to be heard from again."
"That's a no brainer." Gabriel scoffed. "We will both go back, and we will find our way out once again."
Catherwood began to laugh spitefully. "Do you really think I am going to make it that easy on you? No, you don't get to decide." He turned to Angelina. "She does."
Angelina furrowed her brow angrily. "Now how could this possibly be of interest to me? You just said you are going to kill me!"
"I say a lot of things and change my mind." He shrugged apologetically. "So here's the choice you get to make. I am going to give you the gun and you kill one or the other. If you kill one of them, you will live. If you choose to keep them both alive and send them back to their prison, you will die as planned."
"You son of a bitch!" She spat at him. "You can't ask me to make a decision like this!"
"On the contrary, lovely lady." Catherwood gave a sneering laugh. "Your choices are few." He paced back and forth. "So who will receive the projectile?" He looked at Claude. "A complete stranger…" He nodded to Gabriel. "Or the man you love; the man you gave your heart to only to learn he has been using you all along and has a wife waiting at home for him." Catherwood looked back at her again. "Or will you be playing the role of your lifetime by playing the hero? Do you sacrifice yourself only allow these men to live?" He looked at Gabriel again. "You do realize this man is my son, do you not?"
Angelina's eyes shot open. "This man is your father?"
Gabriel shrugged helplessly. "Well, only if believe in the bullshit of reincarnation, which I personally don't."
"So what is it going to be?" He handed his pistol to Angelina who stood holding it as tears spilt down her face. "What is your decision?"
She looked at the two men in front of her; first to Claude, then at Gabriel. Tears stung her face as she stared at them.
"I'm sorry; please forgive me." She whispered as she raised the gun and a shot rang out.
"No!" Catherwood screamed.
END OF PART 14