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Dead Ringer

Chapter 29

Shattered

"Jane! Wake up!"

Jane heard a voice that made sense to him in the midst of his nightmare. A voice he trusted, a voice he leaned towards, needed to hear again. A voice that conveyed safety and support. Teresa. He wanted to see her, know she was not just a phantasm as insubstantial as the mist. As his eyes began to flutter open, Teresa leaned over Jane and spoke quietly to him, close to his ear. "It's alright now Patrick. It was just a dream but you're going to be fine. You're safe and so am I and so is KiKi" she added, glad KiKi hadn't come to his room yet to witness her Daddy being so upset.

The nurse stepped between them and checked Jane's vitals, concerned by his rapid heart rate and elevated blood pressure. The monitor had gone off again at the nurses station, the second time today. Not a good sign for this patient. The man just wasn't getting any better due to all this stress. She rang the bell to summon the doctor, knowing full well Mr. Jane had to be sedated for his own good. Any more exertions like this and he'd undo all the repairs the surgeon had done the night before. Patrick opened his eyes and stared up at his wife, frightened beyond words and confused by her sudden appearance. Just seconds ago he was at a lake...he could still smell the water and the wet grass. Angela and Charlotte had been there, so was Anika, but with an evil man.

Gazing at Teresa, the nurse, and the bed he was lying in, Patrick snapped back to reality. Ignoring the growing pain in his gut from his knife wound, he tried to sit up and climb out of the bed. Both women had to hold him down.

"Teresa... let me go! He's got her!" he said, hurting from his exertions. His throat was dry and his voice ragged from anxiety. Patrick's heart raced like a jackrabbit chased by bloodhounds. Teresa was startled by his sudden emotional decline. When she had seen him before lunch he was so much calmer. What had happened to make him deteriorate so much? Patrick was acting almost manic in his behaviour. Teresa put her hands on his chest and gently pushed him back down onto the mattress. At this rate he would be back in surgery to repair yet more stitches.

"Patrick please, lie still and relax. You can't get up yet, you're too weak and sick. Don't be in such a hurry to get out of this bed!" she scolded him, worried now by his reckless actions. He knew better.

"He's got her!"

"I don't understand. Who's got who Patrick?" she asked, her world still a safe place, still unruined by Stockman and his sick plans for her baby. She still had the blessing of innocence.

"Stockman...he's got Anika" Jane whispered, frail and terrified at the sound of his voice saying those words.

Teresa stood up and glanced at the nurse, who just shrugged her shoulders in confusion. Poor man was so rattled, clearly unstable.

"Jane! KiKi is fine. She was at school all morning and now Benita is bringing her over to see you. They'll be here any minute!" Teresa assured him. She put her hands on his face and caressed him, hoping to make him see reason.

"Call!" Jane said, desperately grabbing Teresa's hand. "Make sure! Call Benny!" What he had seen in his dream was too real to ignore, logic be damned.

Teresa could see how certain Jane was that what he had seen in his dream was a reality, so she wouldn't try to argue with him, not now at least.

"Sure, no problem. I'll give her a call and she can tell you when we can expect her" Teresa said reassuringly.

Patrick sighed and gratefully accepted a drink of cold water from the watchful nurse. She kept a close eye on the cardiac monitor, anticipating the doctor's orders once he reviewed Jane's poor vitals and noticed his generally panicked state. These kinds of emotional outbursts were not going to help him recover from his surgery. While Patrick gulped down his water, Teresa placed a call to Benita's phone. As Patrick watched her expression change, he knew something wasn't right.

"What is it Teresa?" he asked when she put her phone away with a dark look on her face.

"Benny's phone is out of service" she said quietly, a tiny thread of fear creeping up her spine.

Jane almost dropped his cup of water onto the bed as he imagined what that meant.

"He's got her Teresa!" he said as he tried yet again to get out of his bed. The nurse stepped over and gently pushed him down against the mattress. "Lie back Mr. Jane or you'll rip open your stitches again!"

Teresa tried to cajole him into seeing the reasons why Benita might be unable to receive her call.

"Jane, Benita might be in a dead zone, her battery could have died, she could be in an elevator, it's probably nothing to worry about" Teresa tried to explain, but as she did she turned and stared at the door, willing it to open and reveal KiKi and Benny entering the room with big smiles. Jane was beside himself with anxiety and frustration. Why didn't she listen? KiKi was in danger and everyone just spouted platitudes!

"No! Stockman...he took her! I remember Teresa! My nightmare! At the cement factory, when Stockman found me under the floor where David had hidden me, he pulled me out and said he was going to kill me, but first, he wanted me to know that after I was dead, he was coming for Anika. He was going to take her and ….and…" his voice faltered in anguish. Saying something so evil out loud could make it real, could make it happen. He knew from experience about such things.

Teresa felt like she was glued to the floor as this new revelation changed everything. This was what was keeping Jane in torment all night long.

"My God Patrick...what is he going to do?" Teresa whispered, feeling sick with fear.

"He's going to ...use her...like he did with Lynn Michaels...then drown her. Just to get even with you and make you suffer. He put that plastic bag over my head...and" he choked out, before wracking sobs caused his voice to break down. The nurse rang his bell for assistance again while Teresa scooped him up into her arms.

"They...they should be here by now...Benny and KiKi" he said to Teresa, knowing without a shred of doubt his enemy had carried out his promise. "If he does to Kiki what he did to Lynn..."

A blackness descended over Jane, bringing with it the terrible curse of knowing exactly what would happen to him if KiKi died. It would be just like when Charlotte died. Just like when Angela died. But this time, there would be no coming back from that darkness. What was left of Patrick Jane would slip away and be consumed into the void of insanity even as his body lived. All attempts to struggle against Teresa and the nurse died away as Jane recoiled into himself, his mind a hungry animal devouring all hope of running to Anika's rescue. As Jane fell limply against his pillow, Teresa got her phone out and placed a call to Cho while she ran to the door to look for her daughter to step off the elevator.

"Cho! Listen! Patrick remembered something! Stockman said he was going to kidnap Anika and assault her then drown her after he killed Patrick. Jane believes he already has her. Cho, they should be here by now, KiKi and her babysitter!" she spat out quickly. Cho listened with concern and didn't interrupt. That was his god-child and he loved her dearly. He was already back in Austin and cursed himself that so much time had been wasted on a wild goose chase in Blanchard County looking for Stockman. If that precious child died under his watch...

"I'll call the school and see if Benita left with Anika yet then put out an APB on her car. Teresa, Patrick could just be confused. This might not be anything except a traffic delay" Cho told Teresa hoping that for once Jane was completely wrong. But he knew, from experience, Jane was usually right.

"Find them Cho!" Teresa barked before she hung up. Turning back to Patrick, she found him clutching his sides in distress while the nurse tried to get him to relax. A doctor appeared and quickly examined Jane, who was now almost catatonic with grief. His heart rate was still high but it was coming down as he stopped struggling, but his blood pressure was dangerously elevated, and a fever was beginning to spike. The man was not thriving. Faced with a patient who was clearly in dangerous emotional distress, the doctor decided to calm Patrick down with a tranquilizer, so he'd get some rest. As he approached with the syringe to knock Jane out with sedation, Jane saw it, and yelled at the man to leave him alone.

"Mr. Jane, you're upset from your dream. Your heart is in distress and you need to calm down. This will help you sleep and when you wake up, you'll feel so much better" the doctor tried to explain, but Jane would have none of it.

"I need to stay awake and think. My little girl has been kidnapped and I have to think, have to figure out where he took her!" he barked at the surprised doctor. Teresa got between the doctor and Patrick, protecting him from further attempts to knock him out.

"It's alright. Sedation is the last thing Patrick needs right now. If you really want to help, make him a pot of tea and let him work through this his way" Teresa said to the nurse and doctor.

"But he's in distress" the doctor began to explain, but Teresa cut him off.

"You don't know Patrick, I do. Our daughter might have been kidnapped today. We both need to stay alert to find the bastard who took her. Sedating Patrick isn't the answer. Please, just make him as comfortable as possible and let him think" she pleaded, holding Patrick's hand in solidarity.

Seeing he wasn't going to sway either the patient or his wife, the doctor put the cap back on the syringe and took Teresa aside with concern.

"Is this just a fantasy of his or is his daughter really in danger?" he had to ask.

"It's no fantasy. A killer promised Patrick he would kidnap his daughter, and right now, we don't know where she is" she explained quickly, on the verge of tears just saying those words.

Teresa looked at her watch and felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. It was too late for this to be anything as mundane as a traffic delay. Before she could explain more, her cell phone rang. Cho was calling her back. So soon.

"Cho! Please tell me you found them!" Teresa said without thinking.

Cho only had more bad news and there was no way to sugarcoat it. "Teresa, no, we didn't. But we found a beige car abandoned in the parking lot of Anika's school. It was reported stolen yesterday in Blanchard County by a man matching Stockman's description. We think Stockman drove it to Austin" he explained, but Teresa didn't hear the rest. As his words sank in, the reality that Stockman had been at Anika's school today levelled her. The phone fell out of her hand as she collapsed to the floor in a dead faint.

(Texas Hill Country outside Austin)

Stockman watched the highway for a place to exit into a more secluded area. He had to get rid of the old bat in the trunk of the car. There were innumerable sideroads that led to old ranches, hiking spots and walkways down to parched riverbeds. At last he found the one he was looking for. Stockman took a little used dirt sideroad off the main highway that led to a winding path overlooking a ravine, filled in with rocks and sharp needled shrubs. He found a particularly rough area and pulled the car over to the sandy shoulder and parked. Anika had calmed down and was now furiously sucking her thumb, a habit she had long ago given up. She needed as much comfort as she could find and her thumb was about as good at it was going to get. Stockman turned off the engine and quickly exited the car, leaving Anika alone again. She watched him walk around to the back of the car and for an excited moment realized he was going to let Benny out of the trunk again. Popping the latch, Stockman lifted the trunk and dragged Benita out, letting her fall into the dirt.

"Get up and walk!" he barked. Benita did as she was told and stole a quick peek inside the backseat to see that Anika was still alright. KiKi smiled with happiness to see her beloved Benny again.

"KiKi sweetie are you OK?" Benny shouted through the glass, but was shoved forward by Stockman before she could hear Anika's answer. KiKi shouted for Benny to come and get her, but Benny kept walking, leaving Anika confused and sad. Why didn't Benny come and get her and take her home to Daddy and Mummy?

Feeling the gun pressing into the small of her back, Benita walked silently ahead of Stockman until her told her to stop. She looked down into the ravine and knew what was going to happen next. She folded her hands in front of her and started to pray. She believed she was going to die in this desolate place, but not without a fight. 'God, save Anika and let her go home again!'

As Benita swayed on the side of the road, she took her one and only chance to attack Stockman and rescue Anika. When she saw Stockman pocket his gun, Benny swung her considerable size against him and tried to knock him down. She took him by surprise but his younger age and quicker reflexes saved him from going over the edge of the bluff. As he steadied himself, he turned on the older woman and suddenly lunged forward, pushing her over the edge. Benita careened down the rocky embankment to the dry ground far below. He watched her tumble and fall like a dry leaf blown by the autumn wind. He waited until she landed in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the incline 25 feet below. When she didn't move after many minutes, he turned around and jogged back to the car.

KiKi looked everywhere for her Benny outside the car but only the mean man came back, getting behind the steering wheel instead of Benita.

"Where Benny go?" she wailed, looking out of the windows for her babysitter.

"Benny is walking home. She didn't want to go see your Daddy. Such a mean lady. But we can go find your Daddy, OK?" he said, hoping she would stop her screeching.

"I want Benny! Bennnnnny!" she wailed, so afraid of this strange man who now was in control.

She took ragged breaths between sobs and was unable to stop her hysterical crying. Stockman had little patience for kids on a good day, and today wasn't a good day. He had been searching the Hill Country for a small, remote lake to drown the child, but with Benny dead and the cops only hours away from discovering KiKi's kidnapping, he had to rethink that idea. He had originally planned to slowly molest Anika and make her suffer, but now he just wanted to get all this over with and move on to better times ahead. He'd had enough of this miserable kid. If Jane was alive, he would suffer the loss of his second daughter. It didn't matter where she died, as long as the kid died. It was so beautiful really.

At least Stockman thought so with a grin.

(Austin General Hospital)

Teresa lay on the green tiled hospital room floor. The confirmation from Cho that Stockman had been outside Anika's school felled her instantly. For all her bravado, there was a limit to what she could take and after everything Patrick had so recently suffered, this was the limit. As the blood returned to her brain, she began to awaken, but felt woozy and disoriented. Warm hands placed a cool cloth on Teresa's forehead to arouse her slowly. In the distance she could hear a very distressed Patrick desperately calling her name. What was going on?

"Mrs. Jane? Are you alright now?" a kind voice asked close to her ear. Teresa opened her eyes to see a nurse kneeling in front of her while a doctor restrained Jane as he looked on with concern. If Jane had been able to get out of his bed he would have been holding her right now but he remained trapped on his small island of bedsheets, IV lines and the presence of the doctor. Teresa was lying on the floor for some reason.

"Teresa? Are you alright?" he called out to her. Teresa looked at Jane, saw the hospital room, his bandages, his distraught expression, and suddenly the reality of their situation returned with a heart stopping blow to her emotions. Anika!

Teresa tried to stand and go back to Patrick, who was himself trying to get up and walk over to her against the doctor's orders, but the nurse told her to sit for a while. Shaking her head with determination, Teresa slowly got up and walked as steadily as she could back to Patrick and grasped his hand, guiltily. Now he had to worry about her too on top of his desperate concern for Anika. He was just barely hanging on himself.

"I'm OK. Just...felt shocked there for a minute. Sorry" she mumbled, the true horror of Anika's precarious hold on life terrifying her.

The nurse pulled the chair up to the side of the bed and urged Teresa to sit, then poured her a glass of water.

"Thank you. Really, I'm OK" she said gratefully as she eased down onto the chair to steady her nerves. She glanced up at Jane and saw a new clarity in his eyes. Fear had galvanized his thinking and he was almost pulsating with seething anger and despair.

"What happened Teresa? Who was that on the phone?" he demanded to know.

Teresa licked her dry lips and hated to say the next few words. But she had no choice anymore.

"That was Cho. The FBI found a stolen car in the parking lot of Anika's preschool."

"Go on."

"It was stolen yesterday in Blanchard. Jane, it was stolen by Stockman, I'm sure of it. He's got our baby" she said as those words ruined her yet again. She fell apart completely, dissolving in tears. Scooping his wife up in his arms, Patrick felt useless, rendered ineffectual by his injuries, but he needed to get the hell out of that damned bed to find his little girl! He was trapped by pain, infection and weakness and it was no different now than when Red John had massacred his family all those years ago. He had been pretty damned useless back then as well. He had been so useless he ended up in a hospital, not that much different from this one except here, he wasn't in a straight jacket. Not yet. Now all he could do was soothe his distraught wife. Goddammit! Teresa was trying to pull herself together for Jane's sake. He remained as calm as he could considering the near nausea he was feeling now. With unnatural calm he spoke again.

"I need your phone Teresa. I need to speak to David."

Teresa numbly handed over her cell phone while she grappled with her emotions. She watched Patrick as if he was on TV and she was a spectator. She simply did as she was told. She slowly drank the cold water trying to stay connected to reality while Patrick called the safe house. A moment later he was put through to David. A rapid fire conversation ensued, with Jane ending it with a look of faint hope in his eyes. Teresa was in a very dark place, her world diminished to the few square feet in this hospital room. KiKi was missing. She knew, as did Jane, that Stockman had somehow wrested her away from Benita. That dear lady might well be dead by now too. Jane was trying to tell her something, but she had trouble hearing him. What was he saying?

"Teresa….listen to me. Teresa!"

As his words finally got through to her, Teresa lifted her eyes and nodded. "What did David say?"

"David said Stockman will most likely go to ground, not risk taking Anika to a public place like a lake around Austin. This time of year there are too many boaters out on the water, and he wouldn't have the chance to hide a child from prying eyes. He says to go low, look in every scuzzy place we can think of. We need to find out where Stockman is staying and search there!"

As their eyes met, Teresa felt the ground under her feet once more, felt her heart pounding in her chest and the fear in her bones. If David was right, there remained a tiny chance that they could still get to Anika before Stockman carried out his plans. They had surprise on their side, their only advantage. Stockman didn't know they might deduce his destination! Teresa snapped to attention. This information might save their daughter if the FBI located his hideout fast enough! She grabbed the phone out of Patrick's hand and called Cho, telling him the latest news, praying he and his team wouldn't be too late.

"We're on it. We checked the video at the preschool and have Stockman pulling up in the beige car and kidnapping Benita and Anika in Benita's red car. I've got Wylie checking traffic cameras for that part of Austin to see if we can trace Stockman backwards in time to see where he came from. CCTV cameras might help us find him before he harms KiKi. Teresa, we'll do everything we can to find Anika and bring her home" he said, trying to reassure Teresa and Patrick that everything that could be done was being done.

"You stay with Jane and let us handle this one Teresa" he said before he hung up. She pocketed her phone and considered his words. No.

Cho was her boss but she couldn't obey him, not this time. This was her baby in danger. This was Jane's second chance at fatherhood.

No. She wouldn't stay behind and just wait for Anika to be found.

Teresa stood up and swallowed the rest of the water, fully back in control of herself. Jane didn't have to know that Cho had ordered her to stay behind. That she could not do. If Cho honestly believed she would follow that order, he didn't know her at all.

Turning to her husband, Teresa prepared to leave. "Patrick, I'm going to get Anika and bring her home. Please don't try to follow me! I can't handle worrying about both of you. Promise?"

Teresa gave Patrick a look that demanded his obeyiance. Every fibre in his body screamed for him to find a way to get out of his sick bed and go rescue his little girl, but he couldn't, and he wouldn't cause Teresa any more worry than she already had.

"I promise. Stay in touch" he said as she kissed him goodbye. "We're going to catch that son of a bitch before he hurts KiKi!" she whispered in his ear before she turned for the door. Jane nodded silently. She was still his fierce little princess. As she hurried across the room he felt a pang of despair. It might already be too late...

"Teresa! Be careful!" Jane called after her. She left without another word as Jane collapsed back upon his bed, his knife wound screaming for pain medication while his brain ached for peace. There was no point suggesting that she stay behind and wait. Not when it was her baby out there in danger.