Many thanks to all those who have reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
I do not own POTO, or its characters.
Christine leaned against the doorframe, and she appeared to be having trouble supporting herself.
"Please, Nadir…" she began, and some overwhelming force seemed to cut her off. She was breathing erratically.
"This is not happening!" Nadir howled, and Christine watched, amazed, as his face went gray with panic. He started tearing at his hair with both hands. "No! No! No!"
Christine continued her ruse, happy with the progress she had made. Doors started to open throughout the rest of the house, and she could hear indistinct voices.
"What the hell…?" Ashley drawled, her voice heavy with sleep. She appeared at the end of the hallway, wearing a red Chinese silk bathrobe. She braced herself against the wall and rubbed her face with her hand.
"Christine is losing the baby!" said Nadir, his voice clearly indicating that he was on the edge of hysterics. He continued to tear at his hair, his eyes wide, and he suddenly gripped his left wrist with his right hand and looked at his watch. "It´s eight in the morning!" he muttered to himself.
"The hell she's losing the baby! She´s just acting!" snarled Ashley, and she moved closer to Christine´s doorway to observe her.
Christine ignored her and continued her breathing, then stepped in front of the trail of brownish liquid she had created as if she wanted to hide it.
Ashley peered down at the area near Christine´s feet and hesitated, then indicated the mess on the bedroom floor with an index finger. "What´s that?"
"What do you think it is?" moaned Nadir, and Christine continued puffing, perspiring, and ignoring Ashley.
Ashley fidgeted with the sash of her bathrobe, pulling it tighter. She bit her lower lip and continued to stare at Christine with eyes that betrayed sudden doubts.
Dylan appeared behind Ashley, craning his neck to see around her. His jaws were moving lazily, chewing gum, but they stopped completely and his eyes widened as he took in Christine. He backed off a few paces, clearly frightened.
Christine moaned slightly to heighten the effect of her drama, encouraged by the sudden realization that, to every person in the house but herself, a pregnant woman was a complete and frightening novelty, filled with all kinds of gory possibilities.
"You´d better tell Damian about this!" said Nadir, recovering slightly from his panic.
"Can´t," said Ashley. "He won´t be in touch until tonight."
"Oh, my God!" said Nadir. "I need a phone. You must have a phone I can use, then! At least give me back my cell phone!"
"Shut up!" snapped Ashley. "I won´t have anyone in this house using a cell. Too easy to track people with…"
"I have to call the doctor… or the hospital!" insisted Nadir.
Ashley stared at Christine, clearly contemplating her options. Christine, who had let a large quantity of saliva collect in her mouth, now started to drool and make retching noises.
"Oh. Jesus! This is disgusting! I´m outta here," said Dylan.
"Not so fast!" said Ashley, turning to grip him by a well-muscled arm. "Nothing is going to work out if something happens to St. Amand´s wife or baby. Damian wants them intact for his bargaining. You´ll have to take her to the hospital."
"What?" Christine heard Dylan gulp, and she was certain he had swallowed his gum.
"You heard me! You and Mark both. You take her to the hospital and make sure she doesn´t try anything!"
Dylan turned his gaze onto Christine again. He had completely lost the air of too-worldly ennui he usually cultivated. "Shit! You can´t make me deal with that!"
"Dylan!" Ashley grated out through clenched teeth. "You are an arms and explosives expert. Surely you have no trouble with the simple challenge of taking a pregnant woman to a hospital!"
"I can shoot her if you want," he said hopefully.
Nadir screamed. "You cannot put that imbecile in charge of her! You cannot…!"
"You´ll be in charge of her, then," said Ashley, turning on Nadir fiercely. "But just one step out of line, and you know what will happen to you. Mark will go with you, and you´ll remember that he´s armed."
"Fine!" snapped Nadir. He set about getting a coat for Christine, and he draped it over her.
Ashley gave Christine one last penetrating look before she turned and left, moving with decisive steps towards the other side of the house.
Christine searched the living room for something – anything – that she could use as a weapon. Her eye fell on an umbrella stand, and she picked an umbrella out of it as Nadir opened the door for her.
As she went puffing out the door with Nadir holding her elbow, she heard Raoul´s voice near the kitchen. "Hey! Has anyone seen my cell phone?"
He doesn´t know he´s a prisoner here yet!
In the back seat of Nadir´s car, Christine glanced surreptitiously at Mark, trying to assess him. He could easily have been Dylan´s brother – he had the same large frame, the same too-heavy musculature which bespoke countless hours spent at the gym. He was more stolid than Dylan, though, and he had not even blinked when he had seen Christine and taken in her condition. He was wearing a bulky leather jacket, and she knew that there was some type of handgun concealed beneath it. He seated himself behind the wheel of the car now, but before he started the car he turned to address Christine.
"Just so you won´t be getting any ideas, you´ll behave yourself while we go to visit the nice doctor, okay? If you say one word to anyone about your little problem with us, then I´ll let Ashley know, and your friend Ralph will face the consequences, you hear?" This was delivered by Mark in a flat monotone as he pulled onto the highway.
Christine´s heart sank, but her mind raced. She clutched her umbrella tightly and continued to hyperventilate. She bent forward slightly as if in pain, and Nadir watched her with concern from his position beside her in the back of the car.
I can´t bludgeon Mark with the umbrella…he´s driving right now; I can´t hit Nadir with it and accomplish anything; I´ll have to wait until we reach the hospital and see what opportunities might come.
Ashley´s "safe house" was so far out in the country that the nearest hospital was over an hour away.
Nadir, who had been silent and nervous during the entire trip, nearly leaped out of the car once they had entered the driveway to the emergency room. He moved to Christine´s side to help her out, but Mark stopped him.
"You can park the car now. I´ll go in with her," he said. He reached into the car and pulled Christine out somewhat roughly.
"I can go in with her!" Nadir protested. "You are a brute, and I do not care for the way you are handling her."
"Don´t worry. I´m not going to beat up a pregnant woman at a hospital. Park the car. Now!" snapped Mark, gripping Christine´s left elbow with slightly too much force.
Christine stopped hyperventilating and swung the umbrella with as much force as she could muster. As it connected with Mark´s forehead and right cheek, she extricated her left arm from his unwelcome grip.
"Shit!" he roared, and Nadir was unable to stifle a laugh.
"So, if the pregnant woman beats you up –" Nadir started, but Christine's umbrella cut him off, hitting him on the chin; he was somewhat taller than Mark.
"That´s it, bitch!" snarled Mark, and he moved quickly, pinning Christine´s arms behind her back. He gave one of her hands a quick twist as he did this, and she shrieked and resumed her labored breathing.
"What are you doing?" came a masculine voice, and Mark let go of Christine hurriedly. An elderly man had emerged from the waiting room and was eyeing Mark with a type of latent anger. Nadir glanced at the windows and noticed the vague outlines of people watching them.
"Nothing – nothing, sir," said Mark, with a deference which disgusted Christine after his display of bullying.
"Coward!" gasped Christine, still careful to continue with her theatrics.
"Didn´t look like nothing to me. It looked like you were hurting the little lady. Now, you listen to me! I got no patience with punks like you who pick on people that´s smaller than them, and that goes double for ladies…"
Two other men emerged from the hospital entrance, and they hung back, slightly behind the man speaking with Mark. Their eyes were vigilant, and it was clear that they would be more than happy for an excuse to fight.
"Look, it´s cool, okay?" said Mark, raising his hands in a defensive gesture. "My wife and I were just having a fight, and I got a little carried away…"
"Wife?" gasped Christine, and Mark rounded on her and shot her a warning look. Christine thought of Raoul and was silent.
"I need to go to the ladies´ room," Christine announced suddenly.
"No!" snapped Mark, and the men near the doorway stiffened visibly.
"Now, there´s no reason the lady can´t go to the powder room. No reason on earth. You just let her go. No wonder she´s having troubles," said the elderly man firmly, and Mark´s jaw went rigid with anger.
"Okay, okay," Mark said, and propelled Christine gently forward by the elbow. As they went into the building, the men who had been prepared to fight followed the couple loosely. Christine looked over her shoulder and smiled her gratitude to her elderly champion, and Mark was furious.
"Try anything and I´ll know," he whispered harshly to Christine as she entered the ladies´ room on the hospital´s first floor.
Christine waited, breathing regularly now. She looked around – not another woman in sight.
If someone comes in, I can borrow her cell phone and call Erik…
Half an hour passed, and not a single soul entered the restroom. Christine, who had been pacing, dared to peek out the door, and she saw Mark´s back and the yellow CAUTION! WET FLOOR sign he had placed nearby. He had been barring entry. He seemed to be having a tense conversation with Nadir, who was facing him, and Christine heard snatches of it: "…if I cannot even use a public telephone!" Nadir was saying, and she could not decipher Mark´s muttered response. Nadir was looking at his watch nervously.
Now what do I do?
Christine was frightened that Mark would demand to be present during the doctor´s examination of her; fortunately, he did not. He considered a quick, harshly worded warning to be sufficient to keep her in line.
As she entered the room where she was to be examined, Christine did not disrobe as ordered. She simply waited, and a young gynaecologist soon appeared. She looked to be barely out of residency, and she frowned when she saw that Christine was still fully clothed.
"Oh…perhaps you didn´t understand what the nurse told you…" she began, but Christine interrupted.
"I understood. But you don´t need to examine me, doctor – I´m fine. I´ve faked premature labor because of … issues with my husband. He´s very controlling, you see, and I just had to get out of the house. It´s a long story."
"Are you in some sort of trouble? Is he an abuser?" asked the doctor sharply.
"No!" said Christine hurriedly.
"Then I may as well tell you that the hospital emergency room is no place to stage such a childish stunt. Whatever the problems you´re having in your marriage, I would suggest counselling. I have very little time for real patients with real emergencies as it is…" She turned towards the door.
"Please, doctor – he´s not abusive physically. Not yet, anyway, but if you tell him that I faked this problem, he´ll kill me! Please believe me! I´m begging you to tell him something, anything, that won´t make him mad. Please let me stay here! I can´t ride back home with him. I can´t!"
The doctor paused, her hand on the doorknob. "Look, I can´t have you admitted…"
"You don´t have to! Just tell him not to take me home. I wish he would just go away! He´s scary lately. He´s even got a gun hidden under his jacket!"
"He can´t carry a concealed weapon in this hospital. It´s against policy. Didn´t he read the notice at the door?"
"I don´t think he cared!"
The doctor gave Christine a long look, and she seemed to relent.
"I´ll see what I can do for you," she said, finally.
"Like hell I´m handing over my Glock!" snarled Mark at the two security men, and one of them pointed a Taser at him.
Christine watched the scene, finally hopeful, but Mark glanced at her, smiled a tight smile, and unholstered his gun, handing it carefully to the security men.
Nadir exhaled as the men walked away. "We can go now," he said, looking at his watch nervously. "It is almost four now. So much time waiting!"
"You didn´t hear what the doctor said?" drawled Mark wearily. "The damn patient can´t be moved yet. She has to stay here for at least three hours more to make sure she´s really okay."
"She is fine now. Whatever was wrong, the doctor made her well. And my car has a very smooth ride. I think we must go back now."
"You do, do you? And who do you think is in charge here, asshole?" asked Mark. His irritation was becoming more apparent by the minute. "And I wonder who tipped them off about my cute little Glock?" he added, turning towards Christine. "If it was you who did that…"
Christine raised her hands defensively. "Anyone could guess you were carrying something under that jacket. It´s hot in here, and you never took it off! I just want to get out of here," she lied, waiting for Mark´s inevitably perverse response.
"Well, you´ll just have to be a good girl and sit here for a few hours before we go back. Doctor´s orders!"
Despair set in during the hours Christine was forced to sit and wait. So I´ve bought time – but that´s all I have now! If I were to write a note? If I were just to shout and scream? But Ashley still has Raoul, and if I don´t return, she´ll kill him…She thought of the irony of Raoul´s being the pawn first of Erik, then of Ashley. All my fault! She glanced at Mark, who was watching her like a hawk.
Seven o´clock arrived, and Mark checked in with Ashley one more time before escorting Christine to the car for the trip back to the house. He tossed the keys to Nadir. "You drive. I´ll keep an eye on the woman this time."
Christine shuddered. As much as she loathed Nadir for his betrayal, she knew that he would never harm her. Yet Mark´s presence close to her in the back seat of the car unnerved and even frightened her.
Nadir turned the key in the ignition, and they set off. He no longer seemed nervous, and he no longer bothered to look at his watch. What´s with his obsession with the time?
Christine stared out the car window dully as the skies darkened and stars began to appear. Listless despair had set in, and she felt exhausted. She nearly fell asleep as the ride continued, but she roused herself when she noticed Nadir pulling the car onto the shoulder of the road. She looked; they were in open countryside, and she estimated that they were not far from Ashley´s house.
"What´s going on?" slurred Mark´s voice, and she turned to look at him. He was rubbing his eyes. It seemed that he, too, had slumbered.
"The car has overheated," said Nadir, who had already gotten out. "I think that we may have trouble with the head gasket."
"Shit," said Mark, and he lumbered slowly out of the car to look under the hood with Nadir.
Christine looked out at the moonless darkness and heard the muttering of the men´s voices as they consulted each other regarding what to do about the car. And if I were to try to run now? She opened the door as slowly and quietly as she could. The voices had stopped.
She gasped as Nadir appeared suddenly beside her. "Get into the car, Christine. You can ride in the front now."
"Where´s Mark?"
"His body is in the ditch down there. He is dead – I killed him."
"It is thanks to you that I was able to kill the man. I always carry a knife with me, but I cannot fight a man with a gun. Without his gun, it was easy…" Nadir talked as he drove, his eyes never leaving the road.
"I´m not sure I want to hear this, Nadir! Now what´s going to happen? Ashley could do anything when she finds out about this!"
"She will do nothing. Erik has reached her by now."
"Erik?" Christine felt the breath leave her lungs.
"Your husband, yes. I have been working with him all this time, Christine."
"And all the times you told me to leave him?"
"I was to infiltrate Ashley´s group and learn about it. I reported to Erik and did what I could to appear to be his enemy. I was his enemy for a short time. Do you remember the night I was talking to you in the kitchen, when you dropped the chicken? I truly hated your husband then. That evening, he talked with me, and everything changed. He loves you Christine, and I know it now. I love you, too, but not the way Ashley thinks I love you. I want the best for you – a good life, a good husband – and Erik knows this. He saw the way I feel, and he chose to use me as his closest ally.
"He had been watching Ashley carefully since her husband´s death, and he was worried about what she might do. She had known and been in communication with Damian Wyman, who had been with Frontier 4 before Erik put him into an irreversible coma. His death notice did not appear, and he was put into hospital under a different name. Erik assumed his identity and worked from his pc, and he was careful to examine every bit of information, every e-mail that Damian and Frontier 4 possessed.
"Erik corresponded with Ashley regularly, and she thought she was talking to Damian. Imagine his alarm when he discovered that the woman meant to kill you! She hated you, Christine, and still hates you because of what happened to her husband. She hates Erik, too, but he was clearly much more difficult to kill.
"Through his Damian persona, Erik warned Ashley not to harm you in any way. You could be a valuable hostage, after all. The information Damian possessed on Erik´s truth serum had been sketchy at best – but here, at last, was a chance to obtain all of it, and Ashley seized this opportunity.
"Erik knew you wanted to run from him. He knew what was in your heart, and he knew that Ashley wanted to kidnap you. He decided that the best way to control the situation was to supervise it completely, then bring in the police. He even got in touch with Angela, your old nemesis, and offered her good money to take on a double responsibility: she was to keep De Chagny´s attention off of you, and she was to protect you from Ashley as well as she could. As you know, I was also in a double role. I pretended to be working for Ashley, but I was reporting to Erik.
"When Ashley became impatient and a violent kidnapping became probable, I did what I could to persuade you to leave Erik. It did not work. Then Erik came up with the idea of dressing me up as a freshly-murdered corpse. I passed it off as my idea to Ashley. He knew that you did not trust him, and he knew that you would run from him. He seemed conveniently absent when you left, not because I lured him away, but because he was hidden within the house, watching you the entire time.
"Erik´s next step was to notify his contacts in the police department. He could have done things simpler, you know? He could have murdered Ashley, but he refuses to sully his hands with the blood of a woman. So, he decided that catching Ashley and her men in the act of holding you and Raoul hostage would be best. She would go to prison for a long time with the proper amount of evidence.
"He was to arrive at Ashley´s house with the police department at five in the afternoon today. I was to shield you from possible harm, though he had your rescue very carefully planned, and he was sure that I would not be necessary…"
Christine found her voice. "I was kept in the dark the entire time. You and Erik were playing with me the whole time!"
"No! No, Christine, it wasn´t like that. Erik was trying to balance things – he did not want you upset, but he wanted you safe. He wanted you to be free to come and go, which was what you wanted the most. He told me so himself! He did not want to wait until after you had the baby, because the baby would only become another target for Ashley, and things would become harder to control."
"And he always has to be in control, doesn´t he?" snapped Christine.
Nadir sighed and pressed the accelerator to the floor. "Not always. He may not know where you are now. As I said, he arrived at five o´clock, and he found you gone, with brownish stains on your bedroom floor. And the police will have Ashley and Dylan in custody, so Erik can´t interrogate them himself. He will not be in control right now, no."
As they pulled onto the long gravel drive which led to the house, the smell of smoke entered the car´s ventilation system, and a telltale glow lit the sky above the cypresses which blocked their view of the house. Once they had driven beyond the cypresses, the flames became apparent – Ashley´s "safe house" had become an enormous torch.
"Oh, my God. He has put fire to it!" said Nadir.
Christine looked, shocked. There was a flicker of movement in front of the vast wall of fire, and she recognized Erik´s silhouette. He stood still for a few seconds, and Nadir left the car to approach him.
I´ve been a pawn all this time!
Christine got out of the car and moved to the driver´s side. Nadir had left the motor idling, and she adjusted the seat and strapped herself in with the seatbelt. She glanced up to see that Erik had seen her – he was fairly flying towards her now. She shifted the car quickly into reverse, flooring the accelerator, then turned to roar down the drive, away from Erik and towards freedom.