Sydney
Same Day
Brady sneaked into a utility closet of the hotel he and Kristen had been staying at a couple of floors below the level their room was on with a borrowed cell phone in hand. Actually, it was more like a rented cell phone since he'd paid the teenage girl a hundred dollars to let him use it for just five minutes. It was all the time he needed to tell the ISA something was definitely about to go down and they needed to get there ASAP. He bobbed up and down in place as he waited impatiently for an answer and began to wonder if his call wasn't being answered because the number was not recogized.
"Bo Brady," the voice finally came through on the other end.
"Bo, thank god, man. It's Brady."
"Brady! Where the hell have you been and what the hell is going on down there? Talk to me."
"I don't know, Kristen's onto something, man," he said groggily into the receiver. "And whatever it is she's going out of her way to keep me at a distance. I think she's been drugging me, and when I actually am awake I'm being watched like a hawk. I think whoever sent her those photos has finally clued her in on where Nicole and EJ are."
"Yeah, I know. Any idea where she is right now?"
"Supposedly at some business meeting here in Sydney, but I haven't seen or heard from her since, oh, about six AM or so."
"Alright, man, do me a favor. I need to know where you are staying, what she's driving to get around, and I need you to figure out a way to call me as soon as she makes an appearance back at the hotel. I'm sending a team there, including myself, to watch her. I just want to make sure she doesn't manage to slip in and out without someone seeing. We already have a team at the airport keeping an eye on the jet."
"Wait a second. You're here already?"
"Yep. We arrived this morning. Your dad, Shane, Steve, even Rafe got himself in on it." There was a brief, unnerving pause before Bo began to continue. "We know where they've been living, Brady."
"What?"
"Nicole and EJ. We know everything, their assumed names, where they live-"
"That's...that's great! Oh my God!" Brady could hardly believe his ears. Finally, they knew where Nicole was and they could just go get her and bring her home where she belonged, with him. All those pictures of her and EJ smiling, walking hand in hand, kissing...they had to be nothing but a cover. It was simply her playing along with EJ's sick games until he could figure out where she is and come to her rescue. That's the story he kept telling himself anyway, over and over again until he could convince himself it had to be true. He had not yet achieve the desired result.
"Yeah, only problem is, so does Kristen. We know she was at their home at some point by some evidence we found there and there's no sign of them anywhere. We know she at least has Nicole, probably EJ too by now."
"What the hell is going on, man? Is anyone ever going to fill me in on the whole story here? What the hell could she possibly want from Nicole?"
"There's no time to explain. Listen, just keep playing it as usual with Kristen. And call me as soon as she gets to the hotel."
Bo ended the call abruptly leaving Brady dangling on the other end speechless. What the hell was Kristen up to?
The cable company van pulled into the long, gravel driveway leading up to a secluded, run down farm house, located out in the boonies somewhere about halfway between Umina and Sydney. Kristen couldn't deny her men had done an outstanding job locating and staging the home where EJ would be accused of holding Nicole captive after she got her own, private tour of the venue the previous day. Now, it was finally time to bring Nicole 'home.'
She had to have her men tie her up on the way there. She couldn't even hug her niece or nephew without Nicole trying to claw her eyes out and her men were growing tired of dealing with her. When the van was finally parked right outside the side door leading into the house, Tony decided it would be much easier to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder and carry her inside while she was still bound rather than try to get her to cooperate. The children on the other hand followed behind obediently as instructed with Belle comforting her frightened little brother in her arms as they walked while he wailed away. Nicole talked them through it every step of the way inside the house and down the long set of stairs to the basement, constantly reassuring them everything would be alright although in reality, their future was looking more and more bleak with each passing minute.
Once Tony reached the center of the large, open floorplan basement, He tossed Nicole from his shoulder to the hard, concrete floor. She landed o her shoulder, sending an electric bolt of pain coursing through her upper body, accompanied by an audible snapping sound. Although she had been struggling to keep her composure for Belle and Desmond's sake, there was no stopping the scream that managed to escape as a result of her undoubtedly broken arm.
"Uh-Oh, Tony. Did that sound like a bone breaking to you?"
Tony nodded his head and chuckled wickedly, clearly pleased with himself and the job he was doing for his employer. "Like snapping a handful of twigs in two."
"Poor Nicole. She had to suffer through months of this kind of abuse from EJ, you know. Bruises, broken bones. EJ having his way with her. That should be enough to convince Brady to put a bullet in Eeej's head, don't you think?"
"Kristen, please," Nicole began to beg as she struggled to sit upright. "Don't do this in front of the kids. They don't need to know every detail of your twisted little scheme."
"You're right," Kristen said as she approached her dragging something behind her. Before Nicole could even evaluate what it was, Kristen had secured a shackle which was attached to the end of a long length of chain around her ankle and secured it on tight with a tiny padlock.
"What the-"
Everything was happening so fast Nicole could hardly keep up. After the shackle was in place Tony had taken a knife and sliced through the ropes binding her wrists and ankles together. With the sudden release of tension in her arms, an all new shockwave of pain shot through her left, upper arm as it fell to her side, causing her to bite down on her lip to stifle another scream.
"That shackle will allow you to move about the basement freely, but don't go exerting yourself now. The chain isn't long enough to get you anywhere near an exit. There's one way in and one way out and Tony and the other guys will be standing guard, so don't have our kids try anything stupid either. I'm going to give the three of you some time to say your goodbyes while I go check on my band new baby boy."
"Mommy, what does she mean," Belle inquired wide-eyed.
Kristen elected to answer for her. "Your mommy is going to stay here while you and your brothers go back to Italy with me where you belong. We're leaving tonight."
"No! I'm not going anywhere with you," Belle lashed out at her as she ran to Nicole's beckoning embrace, being careful to avoid the arm she could tell her mother was favoring.
"We'll just see about that," Kristen responded coldly before turning on her heels and rushing up the stairs.
"Has mommy told you how much she loves you lately," Nicole cooed soothingly in her daughter's ear, struggling with every ounce of her being to keep from breaking down in tears.
"Yes," Belle responded softly, with her head resting on Nicole's good shoulder. "You tell us every day, mommy."
"How about you, my little man," she asked Desmond, coaxing him to join them by the wave of her hand into a three-way hug.
"You told us before we got out of the car at school."
"You two, and your brother, and your daddy...you guys are my everything. I love you so much."
"We love you too, mommy," Belle spoke up on behalf of herself and Desmond. "I don't want to leave you."
"I know, princess, but for now it looks like your Aunt Kristen might get her way. I need for you and your brother to be very, very brave until your daddy and I can figure out how to bring you back home with us. I promise you, your daddy and I will never stop fighting for you. Do you believe mommy?"
As Belle was nodding and hugging her mother tight, Tony approached her from behind and tore her straight from Nicole's embrace while another unnamed minion scooped up Demond. The two men swiftly carried the two sobbing children up the stairs, denying Nicole the opportunity to say a proper, what might be final, goodbye.
She knew EJ would be looking for them and, according to Kristen, would be brought to her current location at some point as part of the setup. Maybe he would be able to figure out something then, if he wasn't already planning their escape now, but she couldn't rely on it. She had to do whatever she could do within her own power to stop Kristen, even if it cost her her life. Now that she was left in the room with Kristen, alone, she took a deep breath for courage and did exactly what she promised her kids she would do: she was going to rip Kristen to shreds.
As Kristen took joy in explaining her hired nurse Andria was currently in the process of administering the memory-erasing drug mixed with a tranquilizer to each one of her kids at that very moment, it only added fuel to Nicole's already blazing fire. She waited patiently for that one moment for Kristen to turn her back, and then she pounced. Kristen was now pinned to the floor on her back with Nicole kneeling on top of her chest, leaning forcefully into the forearm pressed into Kristen's neck. Maybe, just maybe if she killed the bitch the entire operation would just go up in smoke.
She wanted to scream a thousand obscenities at her but instead, she kept quiet aside from the occasional grunting sounds brought on by either pain or physical exertion in effort to keep her sneak attack under wraps until she had successfully completed her mission. It didn't take long for Kristen to turn the tables however when she grabbed a hold of Nicole's injured arm and yanked, causing Nicole to scream and allow herself to be subdued by Kristen who was now assuming her former position. Nicole clawed and grabbed for anything she could manage to get her hands on in effort to fight her off. She managed to scratch Kristen's face up pretty good, then sought to grab the brass ring: the big, ol' gold hoop earring dangling from Kristen's ear. She grasped it in her hand tightly and pulled, creating a tear clear through her ear. As Kristen began to wail like the wounded animal she was, Nicole managed to get back on top and resume choking her. She hadn't noticed Tony had sneaked up behind her, and the blow he administered to the back of her head with the metal pipe was forceful enough to render her immediately unconscious before she could even feel he impact.
"Fucking bitch," Kristen seethed as she stammered to her feet, wiping blood from her face with the back of her hand. "Well at least we got that part of the job out of the way. Where's the needle?"
"Right here," Tony replied as he withdrew the hypodermic needle loaded with the same cocktail of drugs they'd just adminstered to the children only this time in a much stronger dose.
Kristen grabbed it from his hands roughly, flicked off the cap with her thumbtip, then knelt down beside Nicole, stabbing the needle violently into the back of her neck. "Nice knowing you, Nicole. Maybe when I come back to Salem to visit, we can start over and be friends. Maybe I'll even let you babysit my son somtime."
Tony was chuckling malevolently. "You're pretty twisted, boss lady. You wanna let me do my part now? I'll be more than happy to make it authentically look like EJ just had his way with her."
"Eeew, don't be a pig," Kristen sneered at him as she smacked his arm. "That's disgusting. Besides, we don't have time. Just dishevel her clothes a bit and we're done here. It's time to invite Eeej and Brady over to our little gathering."
