Alternate

Chapter 3: Ultimatum

A/N: Many thanks to Wolfhound159, megspazzy, DaisyDay and ChristyLoisGilmore17 for reviewing.

After being none-to-gently returned to the basement Kate lay on the cold, hard floor holding Daniel in her arms. She was trying desperately not to break into tears. It hurt her that Daniel had endured so much pain in an effort to protect her. Tasha had promised that if they tried to escape again that the consequences would be far more brutal. How Kate had come to hate that woman in the three hours since she had regained consciousness.

Though it was still an effort to move Kate found it a bit easier to make her muscles do as she wanted. For the past fifteen minutes she'd been stroking Daniel's hair, caressing his cheek and apologizing again and again for his having suffered.

"Stop," he finally told her, raising his head and placing a finger to her lips.

The intimate gesture surprised Kate but she did not shy away from his touch.

"Don't apologize," he continued, his voice raw as the words tumbled out "I had to protect you."

"You didn't have to protect me," she told him, her voice equally raw with emotion.

"Tasha had put you in a state where you were incapable of protecting yourself," Daniel stated "What else could I do?"

His words, so sincere, broke what little resolve she had let and tears spilled out the corners of Kate's eyes and trickled down into her hairline. They had been so close to escaping. If only she had been able to move she might have been able to spare Daniel the brunt of Tasha's rage.

"Please don't cry Kate?" Daniel pleaded in a soft voice. He shifted out of he arms so that he was lying face down on the floor beside her, his right arm stretching across her body to the point where their wrists were joined. He managed to twist his hand around in the cuff so it could hold hers.

"Why not?" she asked, rolling onto her side to face him "It's painfully obvious that Tasha was at the church to abduct me. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now you're hurt."

"I'm actually glad I'm with you," he admitted.

Kate stared open mouthed at him but before she could say anything he continued.

"Can you imagine what my paranoid mind would make out of your disappearance?" Daniel questioned, the ghost of a chuckled escaping his lips "At least here I know you're still alive instead of the pawn in some elaborate revenge conspiracy cooked up by, oh I don't know, that fake Agent Drexler from Paris."

Kate reached out her free hand to touch his cheek "But you'd be safe," she remarked "Instead we're both pawns in whatever twisted thing Tasha's planning."

"Someone's sure to find us soon," Daniel said. He wasn't used to being the optimistic one.

"No one's even looking," Tasha's voice caused the two on the floor to involuntarily scoot closer together. "Everyone believes that the two of you ran off together to live happily ever after." Tasha laughed bitterly. She knelt down by Kate and Daniel's heads before reaching out and pulling Kate's head back to expose her neck. She pulled out a needle.

Daniel raised himself on his side and brought his cuffed hand to block the needles path "Wait," he said in a near pleading tone "No more drugs."

Tasha slapped him hard across the face "You've proved to me I can't just have you moving around down here," she hissed.

"You did leave the door unlocked," Kate pointed out.

Tasha grabbed the other woman by the hair "You are just lucky I need the two of you alive right now," she weighed.

"If you need us alive," Daniel interjected "You might want to stop injecting us with medicines that could react with each other in ways you're not aware of."

Tasha looked at him as if she was about to slap him again but it seemed like she was considering what he had told her. Finally she put the needle back in her pocket "Fine," she scowled "Now you two brilliant minds are going to do something for me."

"What makes you think we'd ever help you?" Kate questioned bitterly.

"Self preservation," Tasha responded coldly. She stood up and kicked Kate in the back.

Kate bounced into Daniel then the momentum caused Daniel to roll onto the raw, torn and tender fleshy mess his back had become. He inhaled sharply. At that moment Kate's guilt and concern overrode her anger and hatred "What do you want?" she questioned as she stared up at Tasha.

"I need a new plan for getting Josiah out of jail," the mad woman stated.

Kate and Daniel exchanged horrified looks "That's not even possible," Daniel gaped.

"You'd better hope it is," she stared down at the pair in disdain "Or things are going to get a whole lot worse for you," with those ominous words she departed.

"You alright?" Kate asked, reaching out to Daniel.

"My injuries aren't life threatening," he assured her as he struggled into a kneeling position. Sitting was too painful as it put direct pressure on one of the welts left by the whip "Hurts like Hell though," he admitted. He took Kate in his arms and tried to position her so he could get a good look at where Tasha had kicked her "What about you?"

"I'm fine," she lied even as she cooperated with Daniel's inventive choreography so he could examine her back. The truth was that Tasha's kick had hurt quite a lot. The noise that escaped Daniel's lips moments after he managed to lift her shirt up told Kate that it looked at least as bad as it felt.

"I think we could both benefit from getting to a hospital sometime in the near future," Daniel observed.

Kate repositioned herself so she was sitting on the floor beside him "Let's assume that's not gonna happen," she sighed defeatedly.

Daniel lowered himself to the floor and lay face down. He wasn't pleased with the idea of resigning himself to death but things looked pretty hopeless. Tasha might not be the brightest kidnapper but she was dangerous and had no second thoughts about causing her captives pain. If the best chance they had was to help her figure out a scheme to get Rosenthal out of jail... well death almost looked like an appealing option by comparison.

"At least I can almost move normally again," Kate sighed. She stretched out beside Daniel on the floor "We could try to escape again."

Daniel nodded but made no effort to move. The whipping Tasha had dealt him had left him more drained than he wanted to admit. His examination of Kate had nearly depleted him. He took a deep breath and pushed off the floor. He had to move. The alternative was to lie there and wait for Tasha to kill him. And in their current situation his death meant Kate's as well. That was something he just couldn't let happen if he could prevent it.

Kate reached out to steady him as he wobbled slightly and together they moved forward.

Tasha was curled up on her couch watching the evening news. Nothing about the possible abduction of an FBI agent had been mentioned yet but she couldn't afford to be too careful. She'd already almost allowed them to escape.

The secret room in the basement could not be locked but if anyone had the presence of mind to leave the room the only way out of the basement was up the stairs. She had forgotten to lock the basement door once before. That time the intended victim had escaped. This had precipitated the need for the murder of Agent Bishop.

Of course Josiah hadn't been aware of how much the FBI knew. This had meant that they needed to torture Bishop for information. It was this experience that led to Tasha's discovery that she enjoyed causing pain. She was delighted by Bishop's misery in her final hours. From then on she needed to see the pain in the eyes of their victims. She craved it.

Yes she kicked herself for leaving the basement door unlocked but she relished watching Pierce's attempt to shield a helpless Moretti. She grinned to herself when she remembered Moretti begging her to stop. Tasha had shown that little bitch who was in charge and she had loved every minute of it.

Now not only was the basement door locked but Tasha had pulled a particularly weighty bookcase in front of it. She couldn't afford to let them make another escape attempt.

On the news there was a story about Josiah's conviction and how the sentencing hearing hearing would be held the following week. If everything went well and the little captives in Tasha's basement played her game, by next week she and Josiah would be somewhere far away, warm and without an extradition treaty with the United States.

In the basement Kate edged up the stairs just ahead of Daniel. She kept her back against the wall for the purpose of support. Every few seconds she turned to look at Daniel in the dim light. She could tell he was in a great deal of pain. The only thing keeping him from collapsing was the rough concrete sheeting that dug into and rubbed against his wounds as he moved.

Leaning against the wall was painful for Kate as well but the alternative was the rickety open rail on the other side of the stairs that appeared as though if they leaned on it they would have tumbled to the basement floor. Kate wanted to avoid further injuries if possible. And because of their joined wrists climbing the wall side of the stairs put Kate in front.

What ever awaited them on the other side of that door Kate was determined that Daniel would be spared the worst of it. She would never again allow a vicious, vindictive witch to beat her Daniel to his knees.

Finally she reached the top of the stairs. Trying the knob, she was not surprised to find it locked. It would be too much to ask for Tasha to make the same stupid mistake twice. She inhaled deeply, preparing to put all her energy into a kick that could break the door from its hinges.

Daniel's hand on her shoulder halted her just as she lifted her foot. She turned to him and saw that his head was tilted to the side "Do you hear that?" he asked.

Kate took the time to listen and caught the unmistakable chords of music that led off the national nightly news "She's watching TV," she concluded.

"We should wait until she goes upstairs," Daniel suggested.

Kate nodded in agreement. Avoiding a confrontation with Tasha was best. The pair sat side by side on the top step and waited.