Title: How Did This Happen, the Sequel

Chapter 14: Make it Stop

Alan was ready and waiting when he heard activity outside the kitchen door. Thankfully, his neighbor had finished cutting the tree down, and the brief rap on the wood was quite clear, as were the words: "LAPD. Is anyone there?"

Largely on his back again, Alan drew bag his legs and kicked the door so hard his feet almost went through it. Damn, he thought, maybe I should have done this in the first place…

More activity. Alan heard the front doorbell ring. "Open up! We received a 9-1-1 call from this address!" Alan rared back and kicked the door again, this time so hard that it shook in its frame. "If you do not open this door by the count of three, we will break it down."

"It's about damn time," Alan thought. He tried to scoot backwards so that his body was not in the way when they did it.

"One…". Suddenly, Alan heard Colleen's voice, again.

"Just break it the hell down already!" Alan would have grinned, if he could. Deep down, he had always really liked that girl. "Listen, I'm a federal agent. Technically, I control this scene. Write it up that way, and this will never come back to bite you in the ass. Break the door in now, or I will have all your badges before you get back to the precinct."

"Too bad this whole situation is so royally off the charts," Alan mused, still scooting backwards. "That woman would be good for Donnie. It's a shame they couldn't have met somehow before Charlie married her." Before he could contemplate the absurdity of his own thoughts, two solid hits came from the other side of the door. On the second, the door sprang open and hit Alan, who was still partially in the way. The door bounced almost all the way shut again, but not before a uniformed police officer, gun extended, got a leg through. He was crouching slightly, covered by another officer. Their alert gazes took in Alan's condition, the phone on the floor, and their eyes scanned the kitchen for any other activity.

Presently, Colleen elbowed her way past them, having gotten a glimpse of Alan. She dropped to her knees beside him, and tenderly lifted his head into her lap. She started to work on his gag, while LAPD officers streamed around her, disappearing down the hall toward the utility room, and through the swinging door into the dining room. While she worked, she spoke assuredly and calmly. "It's okay now, Alan, we've got you. We'll get you some help." The gag came loose in her hands, and she removed it while she kept talking. One hand began to wander down the rest of his upper body. "Just let me see how badly you're hurt…let me find out where the blood is coming from, okay?"

Alan's eyes had been locked on Colleen's face all this time, and now they filled with tears. "Not…." His voice came out in a pain-filled whisper from the hours he had spent behind the gag. He tried to clear his dry throat and try again. "Not mine. Had to crawl through it. By refrigerator."

Colleen looked where he had indicated and saw the pool of blood. If it really wasn't his, someone else was injured. What had happened here? She turned her attention back to Alan and smiled, a little wobbily. She hoisted his body up a little higher onto her lap so that she could get at his hands, and started to work on those. "Just let me get this untied, and then I'll get you some water."

"I can sit up," Alan whispered. "Help me sit up…"

Colleen hesitated, then did as he asked. It would certainly make it easier to untie him. Immediately upon achieving some height, however, he turned a sickening shade of green, and she lowered him again. "We'll sit up a little later, okay?"

She practically crawled underneath him to get at his hands, and Alan had a sudden vision of the boys playing "Twister" at one of their birthday parties. "Where are they?" he asked, plaintively. "Are the boys in the house? Whose blood is that?"

Colleen finally loosened the knot and worked at completely releasing Alan's hands. Crap. She had been about to ask the same thing. It didn't sound as if Alan knew much more than she did. Aloud, she kept her voice modulated and calm. "LAPD is clearing the house," she promised. "If Don and Charlie are here, we'll know soon." She finally finished with Alan's hands, and he drew them painfully in front of his body, rubbing the wrists. Colleen was about to lower Alan all the way to the floor, and move on to his feet, when she heard running steps approach the kitchen. Automatically, she drew her weapon and aimed it at the door, which hung off one hinge, and swung lazily back and forth.

Colleen and Alan both relaxed when they heard Megan's voice just before they recognized her face peeking around the corner of the door. "Alan! Don! Charlie! Is anybody…" Her face appeared then, and the words died in her throat. She stood stock still for one second, then kicked it into action and was on the floor at Alan's feet before he knew it. She struggled with the rope, hands shaking. "What happened, Alan? Where are the boys?"

Alan had never been more happy to see two women in his life. Neither had he ever been more terrified. "I..I don't know," he admitted, and his heart constricted as if there were ropes around it, too.

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The first time Manny flicked the switch, Don waited to hear the buzz of current – but all he heard was the solid thunk of Charlie's head against the wall behind him. Charlie's legs jerked spasmodically and his entire body tensed. Although it was obvious he was gritting his teeth against the pain, the whimpers that escaped him still tore at Don. Behind his gag, unable to look away, he whimpered along with him.

The fifth time Manny sent the current into Charlie, he all-but slammed through the wall. Although his eyes were still fuzzy from his concussion, Don had no trouble seeing bubbles of blood trickle out of Charlie's mouth, and he knew that his brother had bitten his tongue. His legs jerked constantly now, even in-between the shocks. His head leaned back against the wall, eyes sqeeuzed shut, grunts of barely-suppressed shouts leaking out of him. Don had stopped trying to yell against his gag, stopped hoping he could find a way to stop it. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought he had stopped breathing.

The eighth time Manny adjusted the dial and slightly moved his hand over the switch, no expression on his face, Charlie's legs raised almost a foot off the floor. One of the electrodes actually fell off a foot, leaving another nasty burn in its place. A guttural scream escaped him, as did all the urine in his bladder, and his upper body slammed three times into the wall before it suddenly relaxed and he slumped sideways, clearly unconscious.

"Stop," Sophia suddenly ordered, and Don turned grateful eyes on her. He hoped he was next. He wanted to be next. He deserved to be next. She planted her hands on her hips. "He can tell us nothing, if you kill him. You have given him too much."

Manny brought his hand away from the generator and looked at her, pouting. "It's low voltage, Mama. This is how Papa trained me. I've done this before, you know."

She raised an eyebrow. "When? On what? A small farm animal at your grandfather's retreat?" Her voice was sarcastic.

Manny blushed, angry and embarrassed. "No! I told you, I was prepared, by my father and my grandfather, to join the family business. My first experience was when I was still 16. I helped Papa with our gardener, Pepe, after Papa learned that you favored him. Did you not ever wonder where he had gone?"

Now Sophia turned red, and her eyes flashed. She raised her voice, yelling in the shell of the hangar. "Why do I seek to avenge such a man?! He lies to me, teaches our son his ways, and kills an innocent man while that son helps! Pepe was my amigo, Manuel, only my friend…. " Her voice lowered, then. Were I not my father's daughter, I would give up my quest."

She looked angrily around her, finally settling her gaze on Don. "Let us move to the other one," she suggested. "While the professor is yet unconscious, take the generator and hook the wires up to him. Then awaken the good doctor." Her eyes narrowed, thoughtfully. "Perhaps when he is forced to watch someone he loves suffer, his memory will improve."