A/N – Thanks for the comments! Kikimoo – I couldn't leave who was shooting at Lorenzo hanging. * LiasonLuv – Gina doesn't know what Rick is up to. *
Chapter 37 – Captured
The security at the Metro Court was tight. Guards surrounded Elizabeth and Jason who walked in separately. They were not going to take chance with her life.
Guards were posted at either end of the hallway too. The couple entered a room and a woman approached them. "Hello, I'm Katie, we spoke over the phone."
They shook hands.
"Please have a seat."
There were two representatives from the airlines there and a couple of other NTSB officials. They sat and Katie grabbed some paperwork so she could begin.
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The stalker remotely turned on the device that was located under the covered table that sat right outside the conference room. It pumped out a clear gas that quickly filtered through the hallway.
"Damn, I'm tired," Marco said yawning.
"Stop it man. That shit is contagious," Logan said chuckling.
Johnny's head jerked and he whipped around. Something wasn't right. He turned to say something to Cody in time to see the man slide down the wall. "Fuck," he said as he started to stumble towards the room. Unfortunately, he never got there because the gas was too powerful and he collapsed just as Marco and Logan passed out from the fumes.
The stalker smiled and started pumping the gas into the conference room. When he heard about the leaked meeting, it was a perfect answer to how he was going to get close to Elizabeth and it was so damn easy to get by hotel security earlier. Now, he just needed to get Liz out of the room and into his truck.
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Katie took a deep breath. "After analyzing the data, we have a very good picture of what transpired that day. The plane was initially diverted over the mountains shortly after takeoff because a small plane had inadvertently flown in its path and the controllers didn't want to take a chance that there would a collision. What they didn't anticipate was that the weather was rapidly becoming more dangerous by the minute. The cloud coverage was thick and since the pilot had switched off the auto pilot in order to make the last minute adjustment, they lost their bearings and by the time they realized what was going on, it was too late."
Liz gripped Jason's hand tightly the whole time Katie spoke.
A NTSB agent spoke up. "There were no signs that this was anything but a horrible accident. After studying the parts of the plane we could find, there doesn't look like there were any explosives used. And due to your excellent testimony, it appears that the mountain did all of the damage."
Katie spoke again. "Do you have any questions?" she asked before she grabbed her head with her hands.
The NTSB agent moved closer. "Are you alright?"
"I don't know. I feel dizzy."
Jason stood. Something was wrong, he could feel it. Elizabeth started to slide off of her chair and he caught her before she hit the floor. A few other people collapsed and Jason started to feel the effects of the gas and fell onto the floor beside Liz, completely horrified that they were in danger. His eyes connected with the NTSB agent and everything went black.
The stalker moved down the hallway and opened the door to the conference room and moved into the room. He was tempted to put a bullet in Jason's head, but was distracted by the sudden sound of gunfire. Grabbing Elizabeth, he picked her up and quickly moved to the door and back out into the hallway. He had to get out before whoever was shooting found them. Running down another hallway, he pushed open the door and made his way to his truck and slid Elizabeth into the front seat which he had leaned backwards so no one could see her and then he took off.
A man in a van stopped taping and dialed his phone. "Harry, you will not believe what I just taped on my phone."
"What?"
"Some guy with a gasmask on was running out of the Metro Court carrying Elizabeth Webber and put her into his truck."
"No shit."
"I would have followed him, but Chuck is filming in the lobby and has the truck keys. I already sent it. Run it as soon as you can. I'm going to call the police."
"Got it. Keep in touch."
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Luis and his partner yelled at everyone to get down. "Turn the camera off now!"
The cameraman pretended to turn off it, but laid it on the floor and it was still rolling. One of the men shot canisters into several areas, one of them rolling close to Gina who was headed to Ric's room because he hadn't answered her calls. She was going to tell him that it was over, but instead, she was lying on the floor gagging on the smoke and fumes which quickly overwhelmed her.
"It's time to go," Luis said to Lorenzo in Spanish. "You don't want all of these innocent people to get hurt, do you?" They both had masks on so they couldn't be identified. They pulled down a piece of plastic over their noses and mouths so they wouldn't inhale the fumes.
Lorenzo allowed one of Luis's men to handcuff him and put a mask on him. He knew damned well who was speaking to him because he recognized the voice.
Luis grabbed him and shoved him forward and they quickly ran to a town car and pulled away. The guards quickly got into a couple of SUV's and took off as they looked at Morgan's fallen men scattered around the grounds. They weren't dead, but they'd have a killer headache from the tranquilizer.
The cameraman had put his shirt up over his mouth and he sat up and turned off his camera and ran outside with it. He needed to get back to the office and get the film on air.
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Two hours later, Jason woke up in the hospital. He had an oxygen mask on and he was so groggy. Monica saw that he was awake and rushed over to him with Johnny in tow. He had already woken up and was allowed to leave, since he was in the hallway and it was more ventilated. The gas hadn't affected the guards as much as everyone in the conference room.
"Elizabeth," Jason moaned as he tried to get his bearings.
"Jason, keep still. You ingested a lot of the gas and it's impairing you still."
He stopped struggling and Johnny went to the other side of the bed. "He took Elizabeth. I'm doing everything I can to find her."
Jason was stunned and started to fight again, but the drug still had a hold on him and he passed out.
Johnny clenched his fists feeling absolutely helpless. Stan and Spinelli were going over surveillance videos and he just prayed that they would find something soon. He didn't even want to think about what the stalker might do to her.
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Ric rushed to the hospital and walked up to Johnny who was standing in the hallway. "Where is Elizabeth?"
Johnny glared at him. "She is none of your business."
"She was in the room with Jason. I know that because of witnesses. She has not been checked into the hospital so what the fuck is going on?"
"I'm not telling you shit. Although, I will tell you that Gina was brought in too. They had to admit her because she ingested so much of the fumes."
Ric planted himself on a chair. This was a mess. "I'm not going anywhere without some answers. The cops are on their way to question you. They should be here any minute."
"Great," Johnny muttered.
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Cynthia watched the news report in shock. That was her husband's truck. She recognized the bumper sticker. Why would he take Elizabeth? They had never had a conversation about her since the fight in the restaurant. She jumped up and went to his office and opened the door. Nothing seemed amiss. His laptop was on his desk and she thought for a moment about the panic room he had built a few years before. Opening the closet door, she pushed some things aside and typed in a code and the light flicked on and she gasped as she walked inside. The entire room was covered with pictures of Elizabeth. "Oh my God," she said as she studied everything. There were guns in the corner and devices she had no idea what they did. How could she have missed that her husband was this disturbed? She quickly turned and pressed the button and the door opened and she went back to the living room and grabbed her cell phone and made a call.
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Johnny walked back into Jason's room. The cops were still questioning Marco and Logan. Jason was awake again. He pulled his mask off. "Did you find her?"
He shook his head no. "The cops are here. Apparently, a reporter saw him take her and videotaped it. He was still driving the same truck."
"Dammit," Jason growled before having a coughing fit. Monica moved over to him and put the mask back over his face.
"Jason, the drugs are still in your system. Unfortunately, they are just going to have to wear off."
Ric's phone rang and he stood up in the hallway. "Hello?"
"Ric, it's Cynthia."
"Cynthia, I'm in the middle of an emergency, I can't talk right now. Elizabeth has been kidnapped."
"I know. It's all over the news."
"Then you'll understand when I say I have to go. I'll call you later."
"Don't hang up. This is important!"
"What?"
"I know who has Elizabeth."
Ric turned and looked into the room. Johnny was looking right at him and could tell something was up so he rushed towards him.
"Who?"
"Carl."
"What? That's ridiculous. Why would Carl want her?" he asked as he thought back on all the times he had discussed his relationship with Elizabeth with Carl. The man had always asked lots of questions and was more than willing to listen to him talk. "Oh God. I did this."
Johnny grabbed him by the collar. "What did you do?"
Ric pushed him backwards.
"Our panic room walls were covered with her picture and there were guns and all these devices lying around. I didn't even stay in there any longer to see what else was there."
"Where would he take her?"
"We have a cabin about an hour away. I think that is where they are."
"Text me the address now and get out of that house and go somewhere safe."
"Okay, I will."
Ric ended the call and walked into Jason's room. "I think I know where she is, but I'm not telling you unless you let me go with you to find her. This is my fault and I will not sit around and wait. I know this man and you might need me to talk him down."
Jason ripped off his mask. "What the fuck did you do?"
"He was a co-worker. I used to talk to him a lot about Liz. We didn't really socialize outside of work, but we went to lunch every day. I introduced him to Liz at a party once, but that is all the contact that I know he's had with her before now. His wife said their panic room was covered with pictures of her."
"Sean is in the area. We need to get him into that panic room."
Ric nodded and texted Johnny Cynthia's address and phone number. He called her really quick and asked her for the password to the panic room and then told her to leave the house open before texting the password as well.
"Help me up," Jason said to Johnny.
Ric got a wheelchair and pushed it into the room. Luckily, Jason still had his clothes on. He stood and used all his strength to punch Ric in the face—dropping him to the floor. Johnny had to catch Jason and put him in the chair.
Ric got up off the floor rubbing his face. "What the fuck was that for?"
"That's for what you did to Liz the night you broke up. You're lucky I'm fucked up right now," Jason growled.
Rib looked uncomfortable and turned away and didn't say anything as Johnny and Monica wondered what the hell had just happened. Johnny put on Jason's shoes for him and then pushed him towards the elevators much to Monica's chagrin. She shoved a portable oxygen unit into Johnny's hand. "Put that on him in the car and hopefully, he'll sleep a little before you get there. If he starts having serious breathing problems, then you need to get him to a hospital."
"Got it," Johnny said as the doors closed.
Monica was scared to death for Elizabeth and her son.
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Elizabeth started to stir. Her head was pounding and her body felt weird. It took a few minutes before she became aware of her surroundings and discovered that she was on some type of thin gurney in a room. Her ankles were shackled and her hands were chained as well and they were outstretched a little. She tried to move them, but the chains which connected to the wall didn't allow for it.
Carl approached her. "Hello my darling," he said smiling. "I hope you had a good rest."
Elizabeth stared at him, trying to place him.
"You remember me, don't you? I work with Ric and you had words with my wife."
"Carl?"
He sighed. "I've waited for my name to grace your lips for a very long time. I've been watching you; talking about you with Ric for years. I know everything about you—everything you like. I live and breathe Elizabeth," he said running his hand up her naked leg. She realized that her clothes were off but he had left on her underwear and put a sheet over her. "The more Ric told me about you, the more I started to fall for you and worship you from afar. There is just something about you that drew me in. You took my mind off of all of the bad thoughts that were haunting me. Ric talked about you like you were perfection and I finally decided that I had to have you. That you could make me forget and save me."
"What about your wife?"
"What about her? She never suspected a thing. We were never meant to be, but you and I definitely are."
"You're crazy if you think that I want to be with you."
He smiled. "You'll come around and if you don't, there are ways to make you more compliant."
He saw the look of horror on her face. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you make me."
"Jason will find me."
"I'm counting on it and when he does, he'll die. The area around the cabin is lined with mines and all sorts of fun devices. When he dies, you'll have no one but me anyway, so you might as well get used to the idea."
A tear ran down Liz's face as he lovingly wiped it away and then kissed her forehead making her flinch. "You'll warm up to me Elizabeth, one way or another."
A/N – Alright, let me know what you think! Lvette4 was right (think you were the only one! Gabby1 was close. You'll find out more about Carl next chapter.