Chapter Twenty one – For I have what is precious to you
Pam was hurting; the physical therapy was a nightmare, every fiber in her arm tried to make her aware of its existence. Her face was grazed with a thin sheen of perspiration and she was tired. Pam nodded at the kind guard trailing behind her as she reached her room.
"Thank you," she said politely trying to cover the fact that she hated being watched all the time.
"You're welcome ma'am," he replied curtly.
She smiled at him as he took his post outside the door. It wasn't his fault things where a bit out of the ordinary around the Ewing family.
She took a deep breath and headed for the bed, she would never have thought it would be possible to long for it.
However, her relief that the training was over was short lived. Pam froze as she heard the name Ewing being mentioned on the ten o'clock news. The serious voice that carried over the radio had just announced that Ray had been shot.
Pam could feel her hand tremble as she reached for the radio's off switch. She couldn't take it anymore, she didn't want to hear and for a moment she just sat there staring at the apparatus, wishing everything was just a nightmare and that Bobby would wake her up, telling her everything was going to be okay.
OOOOO
Sue Ellen sat down alone at a table in a quiet part of the old and charming restaurant that she and her old high school friend had agreed on when they had spoken on the phone. She hadn't seen Annie MacMara in what felt like a hundred years. It was hard to remember that they had been inseparable at a time during school. At first she hadn't given it much thought as to why MacMara had called now, after all these years, but then she had begun to wonder. She had known her well in the past but now they were complete strangers. Sue Ellen looked around; there was still no sign of her old high-school friend. Perhaps it had been a mistake coming to the restaurant.
Sue Ellen suddenly felt her blood freeze as a small man came up to her table. It was the same man that had handed her and Pam the black envelope. "Hello, Sue Ellen," he greeted.
"Hello," she managed unkindly as her eyes started searching for the waiter or any other person in the vicinity.
"What's the matter, ma'am, are you worried about something?" he asked viciously.
She rose from the table and gulped as he grabbed her wrist, his cold lifeless eyes boring into her.
"There is no way out of here, you can scream or run all you want. Even if you manage to escape me, I have people waiting for you," he explained.
"Who are you?" she demanded with a slight quiver in her voice.
"I am no one," he stated simply.
Taking a deep breath and counting on the element of surprise she threw her glass of champagne at him and grabbed her purse, biting his hand.
Grimacing he let go of her wrist and Sue Ellen wasted no time looking over her shoulder as she ran towards the exit. Some of the other guests, sitting in the bar, glanced up wondering what was going on but she didn't slow down, she couldn't afford too.
Out on the street she dashed for the little shop next door. "Phone, please I need to borrow your phone," she panted and felt her legs shaking.
The man behind the counter quickly pointed a little further into the store. Sue Ellen moved over and took it in her shaking hands to dial the number to Southfork. She closed her eyes and silently prayed someone would pick up and soon.
"She breathed sigh of relief as a familiar voice carried over the line. "Hello?"
"Bobby, help me", she whispered and felt the tears running down her cheeks. "They are after me, the man with the envelope, please help me," she begged.
"Sue Ellen, where are you?" Bobby asked but he never got any reply; Sue Ellen was gone.
OOOOO
Cursing, Bobby put down the phone and then took it up again; dialing a number he was very familiar with. "Come on, pick up the phone," he urged.
"Ewing Oil, how can I help you?" Sly asked.
"Get me J.R, Sly," Bobby demanded without further introduction.
"He is in a rather important meeting, Bobby, can't it wait?" she asked.
"Patch me through," he said coldly.
A moment later his big brother's voice came over the phone. "What's the matter, Bobby?" he asked slightly annoyed.
"J.R, someone has kidnapped Sue Ellen," he said calmly.
OOOOO
"Mitch?" Afton said happily as she opened the door. "I thought you would be heading back to Atlanta in the morning," she added surprised but happy all the same.
"I was, but I came over to say that I'll be staying a while longer. I can't leave just yet, not after everything that has happened lately," he explained and she detected a sadness and despair in his voice that she hadn't heard in a long time, not since they were kids.
"How's everyone holding up?" she asked curiously.
He shook his head gently. "I don't really know, Afton, I don't really know. I've never seen the Ewing family so somber and troubled. And all the accidents, it's horrible. Pam, Bobby and Ray are injured and Lucy…" he trailed off.
"Lucy?" Afton kindly took a firm grip around her brother's shoulders and her soft brown eyes searched his for some explanation.
"Lucy and I went to the hospital to Bobby; he told me he was heading off to see Pam so he asked me to take Lucy home. However, Lucy, being her old stubborn self, managed to persuade me to drive by the apartment so that she could pick up some things that she had forgotten. We had an argument and she walked away from me. When I finally caught up with her in the apartment she wasn't alone. Two big men all dressed in black was trying to take her with them. I tell you, Afton, I have never ever in my life been so happy to see the police walking in," he said.
"They just turned up?" she asked skeptically.
"No, an old lady had phoned them, from the floor beneath," he explained.
"This is insane, Mitch; I mean, Pam, Bobby, Ray and Lucy. Something is going on isn't there?" Afton asked.
"Yes," he admitted reluctantly. "You know it's funny, in the beginning I despised the Ewing family for their way of living, their hunger for power and success. But as time passed I've come to realize something. They aren't as carefree or insensitive as I first thought and I still love Lucy," he said seeing the smile breaking out on his sister's face. "Don't get me wrong, we can't live together, but I still love her," he finished softly.
"I've come to accept everything that sweet Miss Ellie and Jock bought for us when Lucy and I were married and I know they only wanted what was best, and before you start, I know that was exactly what mama tried to tell me too," Mitch warned as he saw his sister opening her mouth.
"I still can't stand J.R and I'll never understand him, or what drives him. But I've come to appreciate Bobby and Pam. I think that, in a way, they are closest to Lucy," he finished.
Afton nodded. "I like Pam, she is Cliff's sister and I just feel like I can talk to her, you know. Bobby's hardly out of the office nowadays, I don't see much of him but I do like him and it's so nice seeing Pam happy and relaxed when he's around," Afton replied.
She sighed. "I just wish Cliff would stop his efforts trying to destroy Ewing Oil and J.R along with it. Ever since he tried to commit suicide he's been changing a little for every day and I don't like the changes," she confessed unhappily.
"It's become an obsession, Mitch, to destroy the Ewing's and he doesn't seem to care anymore, that his sister is in the middle of it. I don't know what to do. I went to see his mother but she thought I was just being stupid. Her hatred for the Ewing family is just as deep as his, so I am getting nowhere," Afton explained.
"Give it some time, Afton," he said reassuringly. "Cliff's had a rough time and if he blames J.R for it I have a feeling it's with every right," Mitch added.
He looked at his sister and then hugged her gently. "It is," she replied softly as she burrowed her head in her big brother's chest.
"They might never love each other, but then again, they never have. I am sure there comes a time when Cliff and J.R tolerates one another again," he said.
OOOOO
Bobby walked out of the house just in time to see a green Mercedes speeding up the road and come to a screeching halt on the drive way.
J.R slammed the car door shut after him and walked up to his little brother, the look on his face murderous.
"Bobby, what the hell happened?" he demanded.
"I don't know much more than you do, but Sue Ellen called and she said they were after her and then she was gone," he said.
"Damn McKenzie!" J.R exploded.
"J.R, I suggest you bring in every resource you can get in order to get her back, because right now we have very little to go on," Bobby needlessly pointed out.
J.R frowned as his little brother headed for his car. "Bobby, where are you going?" he asked.
"To visit Pam, she and Sue Ellen are the only ones in the family that has actually seen the man with the envelope, McKenzie's courier. If we could find out who he is we might be on to something," he reasoned.
OOOOO
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