DS#10 Storms of Quicksilver (3/?)
By Carol M.
See prologue for details. On with the story…
Claire peeked through the front door of the cabin, eyeing Darien's lanky form on the ground. "Darien are you all right?" she asked. "Is it safe to come in?"
Darien shrugged. "Well that depends on your point of view," he responded as he eyed Arnaud, who had been handcuffed to a chair by Bobby.
Claire opened the door, and her and Katie walked hand in hand into the cozy cabin. She looked around and noticed the cabin contained two bedrooms, one of which was a large master suite. The other was a tiny guestroom. The cabin also contained a small kitchen, a beautiful brick fireplace, a large couch, and a dining area with a table and four chairs. In the back was a large porch, which looked out onto the icy lake in the backyard.
Claire let go of Katie's hand and knelt down next to Darien, who was still lying on the floor clutching his middle. "What happened? Did he hit you?" she asked as she noticed a metal baseball bat on the floor.
"Please forgive me, I was practicing my baseball swing," said Arnaud from the chair.
Bobby gave Arnaud a whack to the head. "Can it, De Phon."
Katie walked over to Arnaud and gave him a curious look. "Who are you?" she asked.
Arnaud gave her an awkward smile. "Hello Katie. Pleasure to finally meet you."
"Kates, stay away from him," said Darien as Claire lifted up his shirt and began examining his ribs.
"Yeah, sweetie, you don't want any part of this scum, believe me," said Bobby as he led her over to the couch on the opposite side of the room.
"Is he a bad guy?" she asked Bobby.
"Ah yeah, you could say that," responded Bobby.
"Oh," said Katie, in a slightly scared tone as she glanced in Darien's direction. "Did he hurt you, daddy?"
Claire, who had been palpitating Darien's ribs, shook her head and pulled down his shirt. "Daddy's fine, he's just got a little ouchie," she responded with a quick smiling glance at Darien. She helped him off the ground and walked over to Katie, grabbing her hand. "Let's go out to the car and get some of the luggage, Katie," said Claire as she led Katie outside.
Darien gave her a grateful look and then walked over to Arnaud, taking a seat next to him. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.
Arnaud shrugged. "The same thing as you I suspect. Hiding out."
"From who?" asked Darien.
Arnaud rolled his eyes. "From our mutual friend Mr. Sullivan of course."
Bobby, who had been hovering over Arnaud, took a seat next to Darien. "How'd an insect like you find out about Sullivan?"
Arnaud smiled pleasantly. "I have contacts too, you know"
"What about Rendell? You leave her on her own out there?" asked Bobby.
Arnaud shrugged. "She's out of the country and out of harms way, I assure you."
"How the hell did you know about this place?" asked Darien.
"Ah, you forget I once worked for your Agency. Kevin and I used to come up here in the days when we were planning out the steps to implant the gland," answered Arnaud.
"Where's your posse of steroid addled nitwits?" asked Darien. "You seem pretty unprepared for a guy with a psychotic freak after you."
"I don't trust them to protect me," said Arnaud.
"Hmmm, imagine that," said Darien. He sighed and sunk deeper into his chair, running a hand across his sore ribs.
Bobby cleared his throat. "How'd you get here? I didn't exactly see a taxi outside."
"Helicopter. What better way to avoid an invisible man that might be tailing you," said Arnaud coolly.
Darien shook his head and glanced at Bobby. "So what are we going to do about him?"
"I say we shoot him and dump him into the lake. No one will ever find him or even miss him," said Bobby.
Arnaud smiled confidently. "You won't do that."
Darien stood up and smacked Arnaud across the face. "Oh wouldn't we?"
Arnaud spit some blood onto the floor. "You need me. Sullivan will find us, you can count on that. Four against one is better than three against one."
Darien stepped face to face with Arnaud. "Here's the deal. You stay locked up to this chair. You try anything and you're gone. And if you even think of hurting Katie, I will personally see to it that you suffer the most painful death possible. Do we have a deal?"
Arnaud cocked his head to the side. "Well, it doesn't look like I have much of a choice now, does it?"
"No," said Darien, shaking his head.
They all turned their heads a moment later, when Claire entered the front door of the cabin with several suitcases in her arms. "A little help," she asked.
Darien and Bobby stepped forward and helped her lug the suitcases into the cabin.
"You two take the big bedroom, Katie can have the guest room and I'll sleep out here with De Phon," said Bobby.
"Sounds good, partner," said Darien as he lugged Katie's luggage into her room.
Hours later, Claire and Katie were on the back porch playing Barbies while Darien and Bobby were playing cards at the kitchen table. Arnaud was still handcuffed to his chair and busied himself by staring out the window.
"He's out there right now," said Arnaud.
Darien dropped his cards and quicksilvered his eyes, scanning the windows for any signs of a psychotic invisible man. "I don't see anything," he said as he dropped the quicksilver.
"I didn't mean right outside. I just mean he's close," said Arnaud.
"Oh yeah and what makes you the expert?" asked Darien curiously as he stood up and walked over to Arnaud.
"It's just a feeling. He has to find us eventually," he said.
"Not necessarily," said Darien.
Arnaud smiled. "You keep telling yourself that. When Sullivan finds us, he's going to massacre us. All of us," he said, nodding towards Katie through the glass.
Darien stepped forward and grabbed Arnaud by the shirt. "Is there something you're not telling us?"
"No," said Arnaud. "I just know what the stage five madness is capable of."
"Yeah well, so do I," said Darien.
Arnaud shook his head. "No you don't. Not the permanent stage five madness. It changes you. It gives you power and senses you never knew you had. Sullivan's like a wild animal. Any of you want to reason with a charging lion?"
Bobby pulled out his gun and cocked it. "He can reason with this," he said.
Arnaud laughed. "You think a simple bullet's going to stop him? He'll keep coming and coming until we're dead."
"Now why does that sound like the plot of a movie?" said Darien sarcastically. "Terminator, I think it was."
"You can kid all you want, but you don't know what you're dealing with," said Arnaud. "Sullivan's going to kill all of us."
It was then that Darien noticed Katie standing in the doorway of the porch with tears streaming down her face.
"We're going to die?" she whispered softly.
Claire instantly came up from behind her. "Katie, what did you hear?" she asked with concern.
"Damn it," said Darien under his breath as he walked over to Katie. He knelt down and took her hand in his, sneaking a quick glance up at Claire. "No sweetie, we're not going to die."
"But he said we were," she said, pointing at Arnaud. "You said we were going on vacation," she said, getting more upset by the second.
"Katie," said Claire in a soft tone.
"I wanna go home," yelled Katie as she suddenly tore past them and ran out the front door. Bobby instantly started for the door. "Katie no!" he shouted after her.
Darien stopped him with his hand. "I got her man. Just watch him," he said, nodding in Arnaud's direction. He dashed out the door and looked to his left and right, finally spotting Katie in the back near the edge of the frozen lake. "Katie wait!" he said as he dashed after her.
"I wanna go home! I wanna go home!" she cried as she began running across the lake, slipping on the ice.
"Katie stop!" yelled Darien as he ran after her.
Katie didn't listen and continued to run, nearly reaching the middle of the lake.
"Katie, get back here. Get off the ice!" shouted Darien urgently as he continued to run after her.
Katie shook her head and kept running, tears flowing down her face. A sudden loud cracking sound caused her to stop short. "Daddy," she yelled in a panic as she looked down at the ice and saw it was cracking. "Daddy help!" she cried.
Darien sprinted towards her and then skidded to a stop. "Lay down and crawl to me, Katie," he instructed as the ice began to grow more unstable.
Katie nodded her head and knelt down on the ice, all the while continuing to sob. "Daddy," she said fearfully as she started crawling towards Darien, who was about ten feet away.
"You can do it, sweetie," said Darien as he got down on his own hands and knees and started crawling towards her.
Katie crawled about two more feet and then all the ice around her suddenly started to fall away. "Daddy!" she screamed.
"Katie!" shouted Darien as he struggled to crawl towards her as fast as he could. The ice started breaking around him as well and he had to fight not to fall in the icy cold water. "Crawl to the left. The ice isn't so bad over there," he instructed as he continued to crawl in her direction.
Katie took a deep breath and did what she was told, barely avoiding falling in the water. As she crawled to her left, she reached a stronger patch of ice that wasn't cracked. Darien, on the other hand, was in the center of the cracked area and was barely staying up right. He tried to stand up and jump towards the firmer ice that Katie was on, but the piece that held his body weight suddenly split apart causing Darien to fall into the icy water.
"Daddy!" yelled Katie as she crawled back towards the center. She could see Darien's hands struggling above the water to grab something, but all the ice was breaking under his grip. After several seconds, his hands disappeared back under the water and then there was nothing but silence. Katie started sobbing even harder. She could faintly make out the form of Darien struggling under the water and then she recognized the silver of his quicksilver coating his body. Katie took a deep breath and looked back at cabin. "I'll be right back, daddy!" she shouted towards the water, hoping he had heard her.
She crawled back to the left of the ice and then stood up, tearing off towards the cabin. It only took her about thirty seconds to get off the lake and then she sprinted straight towards the front door of the cabin, quickly bashing through it. "Daddy's in the water!" she shouted urgently as Bobby, Claire and even Arnaud looked up at her in surprise.
"What do you mean he's in the water?" asked Claire with worry.
"He fell through the ice," said Katie, pointing towards the icy lake.
"Oh god," said Bobby as he ran for the door.
"Wait, uncuff him," shouted Claire as she pointed at Arnaud. "We might need him."
Bobby started to protest, but quickly shut up when he saw the determined look on Claire's face. He quickly uncuffed Arnaud and dragged him to his feet. "You try anything and you're dead, you hear me."
Arnaud nodded and then the trio followed Katie out the door.
"It's this way," said Katie as she started towards the center of the lake.
Bobby could make out the area where several chunks of ice had broken off into the water.
"Slowly guys," said Claire as she got on her hands and knees and started crawling towards the broken icy center.
Katie started to get on her hands and knees, but Bobby quickly stopped her. "Get off the ice, kid," he said firmly as he and Arnaud also got on their hands and knees.
"But daddy…"
"Katie, get off the ice now!" yelled Bobby in a firm tone.
Katie sniffled and nodded, slowly standing up and running back towards the edge of the lake.
Claire, meanwhile, had reached the crux of the broken chunks and started to panic when she didn't spot Darien. "I don't see him!" she screamed at Bobby and Arnaud, who were rapidly approaching her from behind.
"Where the hell is he?" said Bobby in fear as he began crawling around, searching the water for his partner.
"Wait, there," said Claire as she saw quicksilver suddenly flake off underwater, revealing Darien's unconscious form. "Bobby, over here," she said as she crawled towards the edge of the ice where Darien was floating.
Bobby quickly crawled over and looked at Arnaud. "Help me get him out," he said firmly as the Swiss man crawled next to him.
Arnaud rolled his eyes and then stuck his arms in the water at the same time as Bobby, both reaching for Darien. They pulled him to the edge and then dragged him up onto the ice.
"Keep him level," said Claire as she checked his neck for a pulse. "Pulse is very faint," she said in a panic as she checked his airways. "He's not breathing. We need to do mouth to mouth."
"Let's get off the ice first," suggested Bobby as the ice around them began to crack. He and Arnaud quickly began dragging Darien off the ice. Claire followed closely behind, nearly falling into the lake herself on more then one occasion.
After several minutes filled with loud cursing, Bobby and Arnaud finally managed to drag Darien off the ice. They quickly laid him out flat and Claire and Bobby started performing mouth to mouth resuscitation on his lifeless body.
Katie stepped next to them and started to cry as she watched Bobby continually pump on Darien's chest with no result.
Arnaud watched Bobby and Claire attend to Darien with slight amusement. He noticed Katie's sniffling and then stepped next to her unconsciously, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Your…father is…strong. He'll be okay," he said awkwardly.
Katie pressed her face into Arnaud's hip and wrapped her arms around him.
He grumbled in slight annoyance and wrapped his arms loosely around her as the pair continued to watch the scene before them.
"Breathe you son of a bitch! Breathe!" shouted Bobby to Darien as he continued to pump his chest.
"Darien, come on, breathe for us," said Claire, fighting tears as she blew into his mouth once again.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Darien coughed up the lake water that had invaded his lungs. He moaned weakly and his body started to shiver violently. "Oh thank god," said Claire as she swept the wet hair off his face and kissed his forehead. "Let's get him inside and warm him up," she said.
Bobby picked up Darien by the armpits. "Get his legs, Arnie," he said forcefully.
Arnaud picked up Darien's legs and they quickly carried him back towards the cabin. Claire ran beside them, trying to assess his condition, while Katie trailed behind, still sniffling. Once they were back inside, Bobby and Arnaud quickly carried Darien into his bedroom and lay him down on the bed.
Claire quickly got on the bed next to Darien. "We have to get these wet clothes off him," she said as she removed Darien's jacket and shirt. She removed his pants and then wrapped the comforter around him, trying to ignore the tremors shaking his lean body. She reached under the blanket and removed his underwear as well.
While Claire had been removing Darien's clothes, Arnaud had backed away towards the door, while Katie had huddled in the corner, crying softly.
Bobby had stepped next to the bed, eyeing his partner with concern. "What do you want me to do?" he asked, looking at her for instruction.
"Take off your shirt and pants," she said as she began stripping off her own clothes.
"What?" asked Bobby in surprise as Claire stripped down to a bra and underwear.
"Body heat is the best way to warm him up. We need to lay next to him," she said as she quickly crawled under the covers with Darien and nestled him into her arms, rubbing his chest and arms gently with her hands.
"I don't know about this, Keep," said Bobby, as he stripped down to his boxers and undershirt. "He's naked as a jaybird under there," he pointed out with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.
"Bloody hell, Bobby. Just get under here," said Claire in irritation.
Bobby inhaled sharply and then exhaled. "Okay," he said hesitantly as he crawled into bed with Claire and his partner. He tentatively cuddled next to Darien, rubbing his frozen back and arms.
Arnaud took advantage of the distraction and started for the door.
"Don't even think it, Arnie," said Bobby.
"I was just going to look for some extra blankets," said Arnaud.
"Sure you were," said Bobby sarcastically as he continued to rub his hands on Darien's shivering body.
"I think he's starting to warm up," said Claire a few minutes later as she brought Darien fully into her arms. His shivering had died down considerably. "Darien, can you hear me?" she asked as she ran a hand over his forehead.
"Hmmm," moaned Darien in reply.
"He needs to rest and warm up," said Claire as she continued to rub his back and chest. "The cold water shocked the hell out of his system."
Bobby got out of the bed and retrieved his clothes. He glared at Arnaud, who was watching him with amusement. "What are you looking at, you Swiss freak?"
"Oh I was just thinking how interesting it was to see the lengths you'd go to save your partner," said Arnaud.
"You don't know the half of it, pal," said Bobby. "Get back out there," he said, motioning towards the door.
"Wait…Arnaud," said Claire suddenly. "Thanks," she said, nearly choking on the words.
"Oh you're quite welcome doctor," said Arnaud smugly as he headed out the door in front of Bobby.
Katie, who was still standing in the corner, sheepishly stepped next to the bed. "Is daddy okay?" she asked.
Claire wrapped the blanket tightly around Darien and then moved her hand to Katie's face, wiping at her tears. "Yeah, he's okay, sweetheart," she said in a calming voice. "Just let me get him dressed and you can come and sit with him if you want, okay?"
Katie nodded her head and slowly walked out the door, tears still trickling down her cheeks.
TBC