The One With The Transporter
Chapter eight
By: Jana~
*****
--"Joey?" Monica asked. "The same Joey that owns this boat, Joey? The same Joey you said would never come looking for his boat, Joey? The same Joey that-"
"Yes!" he interrupted her panicked ramblings. "That Joey!"
"But, how--?"
"I don't know," he replied, cutting her question short. Squinting, his focus seemed to be drawn to a boat in specific, one not very far away from them, the people on deck he could just barely make out.
"Oh my God," he whispered, almost to himself. "It is Joey!"
He pointed at the boat, showing Monica, and could then see Joey waving in the distance in response.
"Dude!" Joey yelled through the bullhorn, "Drop the sails, man!"
"Don't do it!" Monica nearly screamed, grabbing Chandler's shirt in desperation.
"How the hell-?" he asked rhetorically, confused. "How did he find us?"
"Make the boat go faster!" Monica ordered Chandler, terrified. For all she knew, this man was responsible for her being kidnapped. She didn't want to be face to face with him. "Please!" she begged.
"Monica!"
The voice came from the other boat, from the bullhorn, but it wasn't Joey's voice. It was…
"Ross?" Monica stopped dead in her tracks, looking towards the boat that was approaching rapidly. It sounded like him, and kind of looked like him, the little she could make him out in the distance.
"Monica, it's Ross! Drop the sails!"
She looked at Chandler, her face still wet from the tears that had fallen. "I don't understand."
"I'm gonna drop the sails," he decided, and she did nothing but stare emptily in response.
"What if it's a trap?" she asked. "What if Joey grabbed my brother too?! And he's forcing him to call to me at gunpoint!?"
He paused with what he was doing for a moment, then shook his head. "You don't know Joey like I do. Besides, Ross seems like a pretty big man. Big enough to fend off Joey at least."
She scoffed, "You don't know Ross like I do."
"Well, at any rate, your brother and my friend are on a boat, chasing us down. I don't know about you, but I'm curious to find out why."
"I don't want to die," she near-whispered, and he stopped what he was doing and wrapped his arms around her. She was shaking.
"I won't let that happen. I promise."
He finished dropping the sails, the other boat then catching up quickly. As it neared, the others on the boat could be identified. Phoebe was on the boat, as was Rachel, and the guy from the marina who was complaining about the condition of the Mr. Beaumont.
Chandler and Monica exchanged perplexed expressions as the boat pulled alongside, the 'marina guy' moving quickly to secure the two boats together.
Rachel was the first to jump across, followed closely by the others; Ross and Rachel wrapped Monica in a hug as Phoebe and Joey embraced Chandler.
"God, Monica, are you ok?!" Rachel asked, holding her friend tight.
"Yeah," Monica muttered, still confused. "What are you doing here?"
Ross pulled back, "What are we doing here?" he asked, surprised by the question. "What are you doing here?!"
"We were running from-" Monica dropped the sentence short, glancing over at Joey. He sure didn't seem the type to be involved in illegal activity. He seemed so relieved to see Chandler, as did the blonde that was still embracing him.
"Why didn't you go to the police?" Ross asked, guessing at what she had stopped short of saying.
"We didn't know who had done this," Monica replied. "Chandler thought-" She stopped as she realized… "Chandler, this is my brother, Ross," she introduced them. "Ross, Chandler."
The two men shook hands, the owner of the other boat clearing his throat a second later. "You have this under control now, so, I'm going back to the docks."
There were 'thank you's exchanged, and a brief mention of Joey cleaning up his boat, then the two boats were untied and the 'marina guy' drove away, leaving the six friends and new acquaintances alone.
"Chandler thought…?" Ross urged his sister to continue.
"He thought that if it was, like, the mob chasing us, that going to the police wouldn't necessarily be the safest thing for us to do."
"Why would the mob be chasing you?" Rachel asked, looking back and forth between Monica and Chandler.
"Well, we didn't know why," Chandler admitted, "But she works at an Italian restaurant," he said, trying to find a way to explain what they obviously thought were irrational actions.
"So?" Ross asked, failing to see the significance.
"And the guys that kidnapped me were Italian," Monica added.
"Guy," Joey corrected. "It was only one guy."
Chandler and Monica looked over at him, begging an explanation by their expressions.
"Who did this?" Chandler asked Joey. "How did you find us, even?"
"It all started with your phone call…"
*****FLASHBACK*****
"Hello?"
"Joey!" Chandler exclaimed, unaware of how loud he was being. "Shit, man, did you know?!"
"Know what?" Joey asked, confused.
"The package," Chandler clarified. "Did you know what the package was?!"
"No," he calmly replied, "Why?" Suddenly, he gasped, "You didn't open it, did you?"
"Man, this is a nightmare! What kind of people are you related to?!"
"Dude," Joey asked pointedly, "What the hell are you talking about?"
There was a pause before the reply. "You could be in on it," Chandler whispered into the phone.
"In on what?!" Joey asked ardently. "What are you talking about?! What's going on?"
Click.
"Hello? Hello?" Joey jiggled the phone, thinking the signal had interference. "Chandler? Hello?!" No reply. "Shit."
"Hey, Joey," Phoebe greeted as she walked through the door; immediately she noticed his perplexed expression. "What's wrong?"
He shook his head. "Chandler called."
She dropped her purse on the counter; somehow his simple comment didn't sound so simple. "And?"
"He didn't sound good," he muttered softly. "He sounds really upset."
She scowled, "About what?"
"The package."
"That he was transporting for your Uncle Sal?"
He nodded. "I think he opened it."
"Wasn't that a big no-no?"
He nodded again. "I don't think 'the package' is a good thing."
"Why? What did he say it was?"
He shook his head. "He didn't. He asked me if I knew what it was. He said something about me being 'in on it', then he hung up."
"In on what?"
"I don't know."
"Well, did you try to call him back?"
"Not yet," he said, grabbing the phone a moment later, dialing the cell phone number off the post-it note stuck to the counter. "It's ringing," he told her, then waited for the pick up.
A dozen rings later, and he knew Chandler wasn't going to be picking up.
"He's not answering," he said as he stabbed the off button. "He's avoiding me now."
"And you have no idea what the package is?"
"None," he answered honestly.
"I think it's time we pay your Uncle Sal a visit," Phoebe suggested.
He grabbed his jacket off the hook, "I think you're right."
*****
--"I can't tell you, Joey," Uncle Sal told his nephew. "It's better if you don't know. Deniability," he added.
Joey sighed. "Sal, Chandler knows what the package is."
Sal seemed instantly flustered. "What? How do you know that?"
"He called! He asked if I knew about it. He seemed really freaked out!"
Sal started to pace, and Joey and Phoebe shared looks. They could tell by his reaction that their previous thought had been correct; 'the package' was a bad thing.
"Sal, what is Chandler transporting?" Joey insisted on knowing.
"Oh, God," Sal groaned, his face in his hands. "It's a woman."
"What?!" Joey and Phoebe both shouted in unison.
"Monica Geller," he said with a shaky exhale of air.
"Why?!" was all Joey could think of to ask, a million questions unable to form themselves.
"I needed money, cause if I don't pay off this one booky, he's gonna break both my legs! So I decided to go to these different shops and stores and, well, ask for money. Protection money. You know, like they do in the movies. But, this one family wouldn't pay, so, I was trying to make an example out of them."
"That's racketeering, and kidnapping!" Phoebe interjected. "And illegal!"
When Sal just stared at her in response, Joey turned away, unable to face his uncle.
"Wasn't this little trip supposed to take, like, 2 days?" Phoebe asked. "How was she supposed to pee? Or eat or drink?"
Joey turned around, horror on his face. "Were you trying to kill her?!"
"No!" Sal exclaimed, insistent. "I didn't- I didn't think ahead… I guess."
"You try to extort money from people!" Joey spat angrily, "You kidnap their family when they don't pay you! I'll say you weren't thinking!"
"How old is Monica?" Phoebe asked. "Is she a child?"
"Late 20's," Sal replied.
Joey grabbed Sal's phone and started dialing.
"Who are you calling?" Sal asked, worried.
"Chandler," Joey replied, waiting for the pick up. It was a recorded message. "Says he's either out of range, or the phone is off," Joey informed as he clicked off the cordless phone, placing it back in the base.
"I thought you were calling the police," Sal said once Joey had hung up.
"No," Joey told him, his teeth gritted, "I'm not going to call the police. I'm taking you down to the station."
"What? You can't-"
"Can't what?" Joey snapped. "My friend is out there, freaking out! He thinks I knew about this! This Monica woman is probably scared out of her mind! You've done so many illegal things, I can't even count them all on two hands!" He threw his uncle's jacket at him. "We're going to the police, telling them what you did, and getting Chandler and Monica back!" He opened the door, then pointed out it. "Now, let's go!"
***
--"How you doin?" Phoebe asked as she took a seat next to Joey, the cold bench sending a shiver up her spine.
"Ok," he shrugged.
"I know how hard it musta been to turn your uncle in."
"Hey, don't do the crime if you cant do the time, ya'know?" He tried to cover his disappointment in his uncle with the tired cliché, but Phoebe could see right through the façade.
"Yeah, still. I know your family is important to you."
"If I had known, Pheebs," he lamented. "He was being so weird about 'the package', I should have known. But, I just figured it was another one of his crazy get-rich-quick inventions or something. If I'd known what he was up to, I never would've had Chandler-"
"I know," she offered him comfort, rubbing his arm, "He's like a brother to you."
"Yeah," he sighed. "He is."
"Mr. Tribbiani?" a policeman called as he approached.
Joey stood at the sound of his name, "Yeah?"
"We put out a call on your friends," the officer informed, "And we checked the route they were supposed to be on, but, there's no sign of them."
Joey glanced briefly at Phoebe before turning back to the officer. "Well, now what happens?"
"Officers will continue to keep a look-out, but there isn't much more we can do. Most likely, they'll turn up at a local police station."
"Look, like I told the officer on the phone, she hasn't been missing for 48 hours yet, but you don't know Monica!" a man at the counter raised his voice, drawing everyone's attention. "She doesn't just disappear! We think something is really, really wrong here!"
"Excuse me?" Joey caught the man's attention, jumping back slightly when he startled and turned around abruptly. "What's Monica's last name?"
The man and the woman he was with just stared at him blankly.
Phoebe came up beside Joey. "Is it Geller?" she asked. The reaction was like she had just taken a cattle prod to the couple standing opposite her. "I'm guessing yes," she added.
"We know where she is," Joey stated carefully. "Well, we know who she's with, at any rate."
"Ross Geller," the man extended his hand. "Monica's brother. This is Rachel, her roommate."
They all exchanged handshakes, then walked away from the counter to continue their conversation.
"She's with our friend, Chandler," Joey explained, "And he's a great guy, so she's in good hands."
"Why?" Ross asked, confused. "Where are they? Why didn't she tell us-?"
"She was kidnapped," Joey interrupted the incomplete question.
"What?!"
"My Uncle Sal thought-" He stopped abrupt. "That's a long story, but, my uncle kidnapped her, and Chandler was hired to transport her-"
"But he didn't know that was what he was transporting!" Phoebe added, defending Chandler.
"No, yeah," Joey confirmed Phoebe's statement. "Chandler wouldn't hurt a fly! He's freaked out about the whole thing, believe me!"
"You've spoken to him?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah, but, only for a second. I think he thinks I might be in on the whole kidnapping thing, cause it was my uncle and all. You know, cause it's family."
"I think you need to start at the beginning," Ross suggested, gesturing towards a bench where they could sit.
TBC…
I hope this chapter is good. Let me know, please. I would appreciate the feedback.
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