Chapter Twenty-Four

When they were several miles down the road, Dean pulled down a side road and slowed to a stop. They climbed out of the car and Sam started pacing. "We need to get her out of there, Dean. We don't know what'll happen if her father finds her."

"What do you propose we do?" Dean asked.

"I don't know, Dean, but we can't just let her rot in prison."

"That's where you're wrong, Sammy. She knew what she was doing when she turned herself in. She let herself be caught."

"She's your wife."

"Yes, I know. People love to remind me."

"She's your wife, and you're just going to walk away?" Sam asked with an angry shake of his head. "You don't deserve her."

"You're acting like I want to deserve her, Sam. She's just some chick that I had the bad luck to get hitched to, nothing more. And, sure, it sucks that she's going to jail, but I'm not seeing anything I can do about it. If you can think of some plan that doesn't involve the two of us ending up behind bars, then I'm all ears. Otherwise, well, Liz knew what she was doing, and I'm sorry it had to end this way." Dean was breathing hard by the time he finished speaking.

Sam looked dumbfounded. "I take it you had some frustration you needed to work through."

"You have no idea. Those people made my skin crawl."

Sam smiled a little. "How annoyed have you been with Liz these past couple weeks?"

Dean hesitated. "Uh, well, we were the only semi-sane people in a sea of crackpots, so she was less annoying than she could have been."

"Really?"

"Don't 'really?' me, Sam. She was still annoying, just not as much as the people around her."

Sam shrugged. "Whatever you say. We still haven't figured out what to do about her being arrested."

"I'm open to any suggestions," Dean said.

Sam thought for a moment. "We could send Jo in to talk to her," he proposed. "She doesn't have any obvious connections to us."

"I'm not getting Jo involved in this."

"We have to do something, Dean, and this is what we can do. Call Jo and see if she is willing to do this."

"You call Jo. It's your stupid plan."

"Yeah, but she'll be more likely to do it if you ask."

Dean gawked at Sam. "I'm not going to call Jo. If you want her to do this, you can call herself."

"Fine, I will."

"Good luck with that," he said, walking around to the trunk. He dug in his bag until he found the paper that Liz had written her message on. He slammed the trunk shut then grabbed Liz's purse out of the front. He pulled her phone out of it and scrolled through her contacts until he found an entry titled "Jason – Cell." He pressed the button to dial and listened as the phone rang.

Jason answered on the third ring. "I must say, Liz, I'm surprised to hear from you."

"Do you speak Russian?" Dean asked.

Jason was silent for a moment. "Who is this?"

"Do you speak Russian?" Dean asked, impatience bleeding into his tone.

There was another long pause. "Dean? Why do you have Liz's phone?"

"That's really none of your business. Answer the question."

"No."

Dean scowled. "I really hate you."

Jason laughed. "I meant, no, I don't speak Russian."

Dean didn't allow himself to get discouraged. "Do you know anyone who does?"

"Yeah," Jason said. Dean could hear his smirk through the phone. "Liz."

Dean managed not to snap at him. "Do you know anyone else who speaks Russian?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Yeah, maybe. It depends on why you want to know."

Dean gritted his teeth to stop the curses that he wanted to hurl at Jason. "Liz is in jail, and I need something translated that may help her."

"Liz is in jail? I just saw her. What did you do?"

"She killed that Virginia chick. I don't know why. So, do you know someone who speaks Russian or not?"

"Liz killed Virginia Downing?" Jason asked in disbelief. "That's what all this mess is about?"

"Yeah. Focus, Jason. Do you know anyone who speaks Russian?"

Jason once again ignored the question. "There is going to be hell to pay tonight," he told Dean. "If you know something that will help her, then do it. Liz is going to need everyone on her side that she can find. To answer your question, Ginger speaks passable Russian. I'll give you her number, but I'm not sure if she'll answer." Jason rattled off the number.

"Thanks," Dean said and hung up without waiting for Jason's response. He dialed the number that Jason had given him and waited for Ginger to pick up.

She did on the sixth ring. "I've gotta admit, I'm curious. Why would you be calling me?" she asked.

"This is Dean, not Liz."

"Dean? Winchester?"

"Yeah, uh, I got your number from Jason. I need a favor."

"A favor? From me? Dean Winchester needs a favor from me?"

"That's what I said," Dean answered irritably. "Jason said you speak Russian. I need you to tell me what something means."

"I'll try. Liz is much better at it than I am, though."

"Liz is a little tied up right now," Dean explained. "Can you help me or not?"

"I said I would, didn't I? You know Russian is in another alphabet, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you don't know how to speak Russian, do you?"

"No."

"Okay, so how am I going to get the message?"

Dean thought about it. "Can your phone receive picture texts?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to take a picture of this message and send it to you. I'll call you back in five minutes."

Dean did as he said he would then called Ginger back. She answered and told him to give her a minute. The line was silent long enough that he checked to make sure that the call had not been dropped.

"You still there, Ginger?"

"Yeah. What did you say this was for again?"

"I didn't. What's it say? I know it's gibberish, but I thought I might could get something useful out of it."

"It's not gibberish," Ginger said quietly. "It's quite beautiful, actually. Uh, let's see. It says, 'I'm sorry about earlier. Today I know—no wait, um—today I realized that you make my life better. Or maybe all of you makes me…my life better. I like you even though I don't like you. Sam was my destiny, but you could be my fate.'" There was a momentary pause. "Did Liz tell you that?"

It was Dean's turn to go silent.

"Dean?" Ginger said finally. "Dean, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Are you sure that's what it says?"

"I'm pretty sure," she said. "What is this ab—"

He hung up before she finished the question. He leaned against the Impala and looked at the phone in his hand. "Huh." He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam asked a few minutes later, walking over to him.

Dean glanced at Sam before answering. "Nothing."

Sam looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Okay," Dean conceded, "I'm trying to see if Liz is okay. Are you happy?"

"Is she okay?"

"I can't tell."

"Why can't you tell?"

"She's not letting me see what's going on," Dean explained.

"She's not letting you see, or you just aren't able to?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, Mr. Twenty Questions? I'm not exactly good at this love connection to begin with."

"Maybe you should practice some more," Sam said. He smiled when Dean glared at him. "I got ahold of Jo."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She told me she would head out within the hour. She'll get here as soon as she can. I told her we would meet her near the jail."

"We don't even know where the jail is," Dean pointed out.

"We have some time to find out," Sam replied.

XXX

Jo was surprised by how chilling it was to have the prison bars shut behind her. She would only be in here for a few minutes. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have to face the prospect of years in this place. She sat down in the visitation room and waited for Liz to be led out. After a few minutes, they brought her in shackles. She watched as Liz sat down across from her

"Do you need anything?" Jo asked, glancing at the guard that was hovering nearby.

Liz considered her for a moment before answering. "No."

"Okay, what do you need us to do?"

Liz smiled at Jo then. It was a sad smile, void of all mirth. "Nothing. I expect that dear old dad will be arriving any time now to clean up this mess. I'm not that worried about it."

"Maybe you should be. You're behind bars, possibly for life."

Liz shrugged. "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."

Jo rolled her eyes at Liz's flippant behavior. "Dean and Sam…"

Liz cut her off before she could finish. "I don't want to talk about them," she insisted. Her eyes were deadly serious as she looked at Jo. She glanced at the guard then at a point on the ceiling behind them and then back at Jo.

Jo got the hint and changed the subject. "How is your father going to do anything?" Jo asked. "I mean, sure, he's evil, but that doesn't mean he can get you out of jail."

Liz looked piercingly at Jo before looking down at her hands. "You'd be surprised what my father can do. He is a very powerful man who's found that crime pays."

"Wow. That's cynical."

Liz looked back up at Jo. "And true."

"Do you really believe that?" Jo asked her. She didn't blink as she stared at Liz waiting for her answer.

"Don't you?" Liz replied. When Jo didn't break her eye contact, Liz looked away and sighed before continuing. "I didn't say that I think that it's worth it. I just said that it pays. And for my dad it pays particularly well."

"How well?"

"He made Forbes' list of the 500 richest people in the world this year."

Jo angrily got up from the table to walk away but then thought better of it. She sat back down and glared at Liz. "How do you expect us to trust you when you keep information like this to yourself? What could it hurt for us to know this? Newsflash: we care about you. He's worried about you."

Jo didn't seem to notice the switch in pronouns. Liz smiled ironically. "He's worried. Depending on which 'he' you mean, I gotta say that that's a bit rich, Jo."

"Both of them are worried," Jo insisted. "They called me to come check on you. Why would they do that if they weren't concerned?"

Liz didn't respond, just nodded at the guard that she was ready to leave. She turned back to Jo before the guard made it over to her. "Get far away from here, and don't leave the way you came," she commanded before being led away.

Jo watched her go then got up and left herself.

XXX

The brothers holed up in a random bar outside of town to wait for Jo's call to come meet her. That was where they heard the first news about Liz from an unexpected source.

The TV behind the bar was tuned to one of the news stations. Neither of the brothers was paying any attention to it until a picture of Liz flashed onto the screen and caught Sam's attention.

"Hey, bartender, could you turn up the TV some?" he asked.

The man shrugged and did as requested. The screen had changed to a lady standing outside of the penitentiary where Liz was being held. "…I'm standing in front of the prison where Elizabeth Barrister, known to friends and family as Liz, was transferred after a high-speed chase that eventually ended in her surrendering herself to authorities. Liz is being held in connection with the brutal slaying of Virginia Downing, CFO of Electric Industries. Ms. Downing was murdered at a charity event early this morning. As many of you know, Liz is the daughter of Frank Barrister, charitable billionaire and CEO of rival corporation Barrister Enterprises. This news comes just days after Barrister Enterprises posted their strongest quarter to date. Mr. Barrister has flown in from his Tennessee estate and is expected to visit Liz sometime in the next few hours. Authorities are not telling us much at this time except that they are in the process of bringing charges against Liz. They have also confirmed that they believe she was traveling with two wanted men, one of whom is sought for questioning in several states for crimes as serious as kidnapping and murder. They have yet to release the names of these men, but we will let you know as soon as we become aware of any further information."

The screen split and began showing an array of photographs of Liz, her father, and Barrister Enterprises' headquarters.

The screen cut back to the studio and a middle-aged white male. "Thank you, Susan." He shifted to address the cameras. "We go now to the headquarters of Barrister Enterprises where a representative from the company is prepared to make a statement."

The screen cut to an impeccably dressed man in his late twenties. He seemed completely at ease in front of the room of reporters. The scroll across the bottom of the page identified him as Tom Barrister. "Thank you all for coming. My father has prepared a statement that he asked me to read on his behalf." He looked down and began reading from a piece of paper as the cameras flashed around him. "'I have no doubt that this is all just a big mistake. I am flying to Illinois to see my daughter and hopefully get a feel for her mental state. Her mother and I ask that your prayers be with us and our daughter as we go through this difficult time.'" Tom Barrister looked up at the cameras again, tears gathering. "That is all the information that we have at this time. I will update you all as soon as I hear anything further from my father. Thank you again for coming."

Dean and Sam sat in stunned silence for a minute. Dean broke it. "Did they just say billionaire?"