Author's note – We are definitely coming down to the home stretch now. There are, I think, two more chapters then the epilogue. If people seem to like this, I can start posting the sequel called Serenity's Light. Reviews would be lovely. They motivate me to continue with this story.
Disclaimer – If you don't know by now that I don't own House, well… (shakes head sadly)
CHAPTER 29
David tapped at the computer for a few minutes before saying quietly, "Got you, you son of a…wait a minute!" Mitch leaned over him. "What is it?" Dave pointed to the screen. "There are two houses listed here with Cecilia St. James as the owner." Mitch looked where Dave was pointing. House came over and looked, too. He glanced at Mitch. "Those houses are on opposite sides of town. Where do you think Dumas is holed up?"
Mitch shook his head. "I have no idea. We'll need to take two teams. Dave, you get a few agents and head to this house on Fairbanks. I'll go to…" House cut him off. "I'm going with you." Chase spoke up. "I'm going, too." Before Eric could speak his piece, Mitch held up a hand. "This is not a civilian operation. All of you are going to stay here. Dave, get on the phone with the locals and tell them where we're headed. But tell them NOT to go in until we get there."
House stepped over to Mitch. "Look, Agent Leggit. The house on Fairbanks is quite a distance from here – about 10 miles. That doesn't seem like far, but unless you know these side streets, it'll take you at least 25 minutes to get there…even with sirens blaring. On my bike, we can get there in under 15. Fairbanks is closer to Sera's house, too, so that's more likely to be where he took her. Chase can go with Dave and show him the quickest way to get to that house on Burrough St." He looked up at Robert. "It's close to that gym you go to." He glanced over in Eric. "YOU are going back to your bed and staying there."
Eric glared at him. "Either I go with Dave and Chase or I follow you in my car. Of course, if I drive, I may tear stitches and get into an accident on the way. Who knows?"
Mitch growled and looked at the three doctors. He was about to tell them no when Chase said quietly, "Both of the girls may need medical attention. Immediate medical attention. We'll stay out in the cars until you tell us we're needed. Whether we go with you or go without you, we're going. And since we know the shortcuts, we'll get there before you do."
Mitch threw up his hands. "We don't have time for this crap! Fine, you two go with Dave, and House, you're with me. None of you go into the house until you're told! If you do, I will have you brought up on charges of obstruction so fast it'll make your head spin. Is that clear?"
The three doctors all nodded and Robert and Eric pulled off their hospital gowns. They both had T-shirts on underneath. House shook his head in admiration. "You boys planned this, didn't you?" Robert shrugged. "We just wanted to be ready for action." House turned to Wilson and told him to tell Cuddy what was going on. Mitch jerked his head towards the door. "Let's go!"
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Sera crept slowly down the hall, trying hard not to clank the shackles that were still on her ankles and wrists. She was able to remove the chains holding her to the bed, but the shackles had a more complicated locking mechanism and she didn't want to spend the time trying to get it open. Also, she wasn't ambidextrous, so she doubted she'd be able to pick the lock on her right hand.
After about six steps, she came to a door on the right side of the hall. She didn't stand directly in front of the door, but off to the side so she could listen to determine where in the room Winston was. She could hear the sounds of Cameron screaming and groaning interspersed with Winston's grunts and moans. Sera frowned. The noises sounded…funny. She didn't want to wait too long, but something made her pause. The last time she didn't follow her instinct, she was gassed unconscious and kidnapped, so she decided to take an extra few seconds to figure out what was wrong.
After listening closely, she couldn't determine what exactly was wrong. She didn't want to wait any longer. A few seconds could be life or death for Cameron. She eyeballed the doorknob and lock, determined that it was a basic indoor mechanism that could easily be kicked in, took a deep breath, and stepped in front of the door, saying quietly to herself, "Okay, Sera…here we go."
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Dave followed the instructions of Robert and Eric, who were, for once, in exact accord as they gave the agent directions. They were followed by Agent Ruth Mix and another agent, who were barely keeping up with Dave. They arrived at the house on Burroughs Street in roughly 10 minutes and everyone exited the cars quietly. Dave turned to the two doctors. "Stay here. Do NOT come in the house!" Dave started to go into the house with Ruth and turned back. "Just in case you need to know, the latch to pop the trunk is on the side of the driver's seat." David, Ruth and the other agent drew their weapons and went around the perimeter of the house, trying to see inside.
Eric and Robert looked at each other in confusion. Robert went over to the car and popped the trunk. He came around, opened it, and peered inside. He looked over at Eric with a grim smile and pulled out a couple of Kevlar vests and two FBI jackets. "Well, looks like we've been unofficially sworn in to duty with the FBI." Eric looked thoughtful. "I don't think you actually get sworn into the FBI, ya know." Chase rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Here, put this on and let's go."
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House veered in and out of traffic, going up on sidewalks, down alleys, and through red lights. He felt Mitch gripping him tightly, but the agent never told him to slow down. They lost the other car with FBI agents about a minute into the ride, but Mitch anticipated that and had already told the agents to continue on to the house.
They arrived at 394 Fairbanks St. in 12 minutes. Mitch got off of House's bike with shaky legs (that he would deny to the death having) and put the helmet on the seat. House swung himself carefully off of the bike and unclipped his cane. Mitch looked up the street for signs of the other car. House smirked. "They won't be here for at least another 10-15 minutes. Are you waiting for them?" Mitch unholstered his weapon and started walking towards the house. "If I was going to do that, I wouldn't have just suffered the torments of hell riding with you." Mitch stopped when he noticed House right behind him.
"You wait out here, House. That was the deal…" House cut him off and walked past him, swinging his medical bag up on his shoulder. "Deal, schmeal. Are you coming or what?" Mitch heaved a big sigh, looked down the empty street again, then trotted behind House. "Fine, but stay behind me. And try to be as quiet as you can." Mitch went ahead of him, muttering something under his breath about "damn, stubborn doctors". House followed him silently, his thoughts racing ahead of him to what they might find.
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Sera took a deep breath and kicked in the door. It easily came off of its hinges and went slamming to the ground. Some instinct had her ducking and rolling into the room. She heard a swish and a thud behind her. She looked back and saw a knife quivering in the doorframe where it had imbedded itself. She didn't wait around to see if it had a twin. She did an evasive cartwheel to the side and spun around, squatting. She glanced quickly around the room. "Holy crap!", was all that came to mind, as she took her surroundings.
The first thing she noticed was that Winston was alone in the room. There was a stereo with speakers set up around the room. She could hear Cameron's screams and moans coming from the speakers. As she looked quickly around, she noticed that she and Winston must had similar decorating tastes. One wall was completely filled with knives, swords, sai, shuriken, and other types of blades. "Of course, that's the friggin' wall he's standing next to!", she thought. Another wall contained several kinds of bo staffs, nunchaku, a sansetsukon (three-sectioned staff), and several other weapons that Sera didn't even recognize. She shook off the sense of foreboding she was feeling and watched Winston carefully. He was standing still, watching her, waiting for her next move.
Sera stood up and made a show of dusting herself off. "Where's Cameron?" Winston merely smiled at her. "Not here." Sera barely refrained from saying, "Well, duh!" Instead, she merely repeated her question. Winston continued to smile as he answered. "She's in another location. She's okay for now. But I believe you and I have some unfinished business first." He took a step closer to the wall.
Sera tried to forestall the upcoming attack. "I don't suppose you could make this fair?" She gestured towards the wall. Winston laughed out loud. "Fair? You expected to waltz in here, dazzle me with your little spins and kicks, beat me half to death, then run off to Tiajuana with your little boyfriend, didn't you? Tell me, was that fair?"
She looked at him incredulously. He really was insane. "Well, considering the fact that you've murdered 15….oh, wait – forgot about Mummy…16 people, including my fiancé and my sister, yes, I think it's incredibly fair!"
Sera dodged quickly as he grabbed several shuriken off of the wall and threw them at her in quick succession. One hit the wall behind her, one pinged off of the shackle on her wrist and one hit its mark on her chest. It embedded into the material slightly, but didn't break the skin. She saw him pull a sword down from the wall. "Damn!", she thought as she scrambled back from him, pulling the throwing star off of her chest.
Winston had a serious reach advantage, so Sera unwrapped a bit of the chain around her hand to form a kind of chain whip. As she discovered a while ago, she wasn't particularly good with whips. She could hurt someone, but she couldn't wield it with the accuracy she liked. But it was better than nothing, especially since her abductor was bearing down on her with sword in hand. Sera tucked the shuriken in her belt and engaged in battle with Dumas.
The chain swung around her head as she flung it out, hoping to catch him off guard. The chain whipped around Winston's neck and smacked his face…hard. She jerked it, hoping it would stay wrapped around his neck, but it slid off. Winston's face was a bloody mess, but still he kept coming after her. She glanced over at the wall. Winston was staying close to the "blade wall", but maybe she could grab something from the other wall. The only weapon she could use with any type of proficiency on that wall was the bo staff, and she hated the bo staff. It was too long and unwieldy for her 5'1" frame. But it beat the hell out of the chain she was flinging about. She almost hit herself with it as she tried to catch Winston's leg with the chain.
He had skills with the sword and she was having major trouble mounting an offense. She spent all of her time trying to stay away from his blade and not bash her own face in with the stupid chain. She still had the shuriken, but she only had one and she didn't want to waste it. She needed an opportune moment.
Winston gave her that moment about 5 minutes later. He was jumping back out of the way of the chain she swung, and for a few seconds, he was wide open. Sera pulled out the shuriken and threw it at Winston's face, aiming for his eye. With a lightning fast move, he whipped the sword around and the shuriken pinged off and hit the wall behind Winston. Sera blinked. And began to think that perhaps she was actually in serious trouble.
