Chapter Six: Racing Hearts
**She hated good-bye's. The wind gently blew a stray strand of hair across her cheek. He stepped forward to brush the hair away, and felt the moisture on her soft skin.
It was harder each time. He consoled himself with the thought that soon, he wouldn't ever have to say "good-bye" again. He smiled, and kissed her lightly. He couldn't have known it would be the last time he would ever see her . . .**
*****
Consciousness was slow to return to Rory. When it did, though, she wished it hadn't. She felt like every inch of her had been beaten. She had felt like this once before in her life. Fear gripped her heart, and for a split second, she thought she might have returned to the terrible rubble of the plane crash.
Memories of the previous night quickly returned, however, and she had to shake her head at her own silliness. No matter how awful her current situation might be, nothing could compare to the horrors of waking up in that rubble. She winced as she was hit with a sudden flashback.
** Rory could barely open her eyes. She was vaguely aware of someone screaming. She lifted her head up just enough to take a look at the destruction surrounding her. The air was filled with a sickening scent, a mixture of smoke and blood. Plane parts were scattered throughout the deserted field and small fires littered the landscape. She noticed that she was lying beneath a large piece of the hull of the plane. She wondered if that had shielded her so that the crash hadn't killed her. Yet.
The screaming was growing louder. Pain such as Rory had never experienced before was quickly spreading throughout her body. She thought she might be dying. She almost wished she was. Faces suddenly began flashing throughout her mind. Her Mom . . . her grandparents. . . Lane . . . Christopher . . . Luke . . . Jess. What would happen to them if she died? She couldn't die. She just couldn't, she had to be strong.
Rory's eyes slowly focused on a piece of rubble a few feet from where she was lying. Underneath that rubble was an hand. A human hand, cut and bloody . . . and without an arm.
It was then that Rory realized she was the one screaming.**
Rory fought back a whimper as she jerked herself back to reality. She had never told anyone that she had been conscious for a brief while on the scene of the crash. After she had passed out, it had been weeks before she had woken up again. By that time Jess had been long gone, and her family had all thought she was dead. She really wasn't sure why she had never told anyone about those brief moments when she had been lying in hell. She guessed it was just two painful. She could never bring herself to recount the horrifying memory.
She slowly sat up, wincing as pain shot up her right arm. She glanced down and noticed it was swelling. Her head was throbbing and blood was slowly trickling down her temple. Careful not to make a sound, she took in her surroundings. She had been carelessly tossed on the dirty ground in a windowless room. Other than a few rays of hazy light creeping in from the cracks in the roof, the room was completely dark. She noticed a door across the room with a table sitting next to it. There was a lamp on the table, but she didn't dare turn it on. She had just recently heard the sound of footsteps rustling outside the room. She held her breath when she heard voices.
"God, you're a bloody imbecile. Leave it to you to screw up the world's simplest assignment."
"You cannot possibly blame me for this. You said, "Get the girl," so I got the girl."
"Yes, you fool, the wrong girl."
"How was I supposed to know which girl you meant. Maybe if you had paused long enough to give me some decent directions, I would have known what to do, but you were in such a bloody rage when you came storming in here -"
"I was not in a bloody rage! I was perfectly under control."
"Like hell, you had just found out that DuGrey knew about your little scandal. You were pissed, and scared, with good reason."
"Well, that's under control now. I have the files in my possession now, so DuGrey has absolutely no proof against me."
"Then why the hell did you want to blackmail him by kidnaping his daughter?"
"I didn't want to blackmail him, you idiot, I wanted to make the bloody bastard suffer. However, if he had the files, then not only could he prove me guilty in filtering money from his damn company, he could also make me a prime suspect in the disappearance of his daughter. I had it perfectly worked out. I got the files, and you were supposed to get the girl. He'd have nothing against me. You, of course, blew the whole plan. And, if you don't mind me asking, what were you thinking. The woman in there is as old as Tristan himself. How the hell could that be his daughter, you fool?!"
"You did not say get his daughter! You said, get the girl! So I show up, climb up the fire escape, and bam! there's a girl, standing right there on the balcony. So, I got her. It's not my fault you weren't specific enough. Who is that woman anyway? Is she his wife?"
"No, Red, she isn't his wife. His wife is pregnant. I told you that. The woman in there is not pregnant, if you hadn't noticed. I met her yesterday at the office. She's some friend of DuGrey's. She must be staying with them for a while. Damn, this has gotten complicated."
Rory gasped from where she was lying in the other room. She had thought the voice sounded familiar, but in her hazed state, she hadn't been able to place it. So Nicholas was behind all this mess. Thank God his dastardly partner had screwed up and gotten her and not little Madison. Her thoughts were cut off when the conversation continued.
"So what are we going to do?"
"I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to throw her in some back street alley and leave her. If she wakes up, then she'll just think she was mugged. If not, then it's not my problem anymore."
"What?! We can't do that. She knows who we are!"
"Correction. She knows who you are. She saw you're face, not mine."
"If she wakes up, she'll go straight to the cops!"
"Once again, your problem not mine. If you got caught it wouldn't be the greatest loss in the world. An idiot like you would be easy to replace. . . Where are you going?"
"To the car."
"Why?"
Rory heard the thundering of footsteps as the two men retreated down the stairs. She strained to hear the rest of the conversation but the voices faded until she couldn't hear a thing. She sat back up, her mind racing. She had to get out of there, and fast, before the two men returned. She quickly jumped up and staggered to the door across the room. Just as she reached out to turn the knob, she noticed a stack of papers in a manilla file sitting on the table, beneath the lamp.
Her heart hammered . . . the files. Without thinking of the consequences she quickly grabbed the file and clutched it to her chest. She opened the door and crept outside to the landing of the small apartment room. She wasn't sure where she was, but she was sure it was a bad side of town. She glanced down the stairs and listened for any sign of footsteps. She didn't know how far up she was, and if she ran down the stairs now, she risked meeting her captors head on. Maybe she should just stay in her room, pretend to be unconscious, and wait until they dumped her in some alley . . .
It was a risk she had to take. Mustering up what courage she had left, she lightly ran down the steps. It turned out she was only on the second story. The stairs let out into a dusty garage, filled with old car parts. Rory's eyes were scanning for an exit to the building when she heard the fateful sound of approaching footsteps. She flung herself behind an old refrigerator that was near her, and held her breath.
"What'd you get out of the car?" she heard Nicolas ask.
"My gun."
Nicholas let out a low whistle, "Are you sure you want to do that?"
"It's better than your goddamn plan. She's seen my bloody face! I can't let risk her getting away and going to the cops."
"Whatever, it's your decision," Nicholas said as the two men began rushing up the steps, "Just so long as you . . ."
Once again, Rory strained, but couldn't hear the last part of Nicholas's comment. She was let out her breath and realized she was shaking and covered in chill bumps. She was still in her raggedy night shirt, but once again, the cold wasn't the cause of condition . . . fear was. If she hadn't took the chance of trying to escape, she would have been murdered for certain. Not wanting to stay in the suffocating garage a moment longer, Rory rushed out the door on the opposite side of the room, and fled out into the frigid street.
******
Nicholas King was vastly amused. So his idiotic partner was going to murder the girl. How nice. He didn't really care what happened to the girl. She was of no importance. All the mattered was that he had the files. He had actually been a little worried yesterday at the office when DuGrey had approached him with the damning evidence. Still, however, he had managed to keep his cool, just like he always did. He had waited until the perfect moment, and by being slick and clever, he had managed to steal the files. DuGrey had nothing. Then it was time to make the bastard suffer. He had wanted to go after his daughter, but of course, Red had screwed that one up. Still, all was not lost. Of course, he couldn't go after the daughter just now. No, two disappearances from the same house so close together would be too suspicious. He would bide his time, wait for things to cool down a little, and then strike. In fact, it was probably better this way. Maybe he'd go for DuGrey's little infant once it was born . . .
"Umm, Nick? I think we have a little problem in here," he heard Red call, breaking into his thoughts.
"What, you get cold feet?" Nicholas taunted as he walked into the room. He stopped dead in his tracks. The girl was gone. "Shit," he muttered.
"Do you think she heard our conversation?" Red asked worriedly.
"No, I don't, you fool. If she had been in here when we were talking, how would she have made it out without us noticing? We would have caught her coming back up the stairs. No, she must have been long gone. She probably woke up while we were out on our little errand, and split. Oh well, too bad for you."
Red looked sick. He already had several felonies against him. After his, he'd either spend the rest his life in hiding,or behind bars. Nick was thoroughly enjoying himself. Red suddenly looked up, a slow smile spreading across his face.
"Why the hell are you smiling? Don't you realize what this means for you?"
"Actually, Nick, I think it's too bad for the both of us. . ."
"What in the hell are you talking about . . ." Nicholas trailed off as he followed Red's line of vision to the table beside the doors. He felt his heart constrict at the site of the empty table.
"Dammit . . .the files . . .she took the bloody files!"
*****
Jess was sick of waiting. Bloody sick of waiting, as all the bloody Brits would say. Tristan was off at the police station, and Jacqueline had taken their daughter and left for the country side earlier that morning. She was going to stay with her aunt in uncle until the whole mess was cleared up. Since Tristan was positive Nicholas King was behind Rory's disappearance as an attempt to get back at him, he assumed his wife and daughter were also at risk. They were to stay in hiding as a means of protection. And Jess was left to sit around waiting at the DuGrey mansion, just in case Rory or anyone else happened to call while Tristan was away. Jess agreed someone should stay at the house in case there was a call, but he didn't want to be that person. Sitting around doing nothing was making him go crazy. He wanted to get out and go look for Rory. He knew that he was thinking irrationally, but at least he would be doing something.
He wondered what he had ever done to make fate treat him so cruelly. Sure he hadn't been the best kid in the world, but did he really deserve this? No, he didn't, but more importantly, Rory didn't deserve this. Rory was perfect, pure-hearted and wonderful. She didn't deserve to be in a goddamn plane crash, and she didn't deserve to be kidnaped and . . . Jess couldn't finish his thought. He had spent all day imagining what kinds of awful things the evil man who took Rory might do to her, to the point of making himself physically sick.
He still couldn't believe he had been so close to being reunited with Rory, only to have her snatched away from him . . . again. If he was a superstitious person, he would think he and Rory just weren't meant to be together. But he didn't believe that, not for a minute. He loved Rory Gilmore with everything in him. She had taught him everything about life, and love, and happiness. If any two people on earth were meant to be together, it was him and Rory.
About that time the phone rang. Jess was so surprised to hear it, he jumped involuntarily. He figured it was Tristan calling from the police station. He walked across the room to where the phone was sitting on the counter to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hello?" came a confused and frightened voice from the other side.
Jess's skipped a beat, "Rory?"
"Who is this?"
"Rory, are you alright?" he asked, purposely not telling her who it was. He didn't have time to answer the questions she was bound to ask if he revealed his identity. Not to mention the shock it would cause her. She needed to be on her toes, wherever she was.
"Yes . . .I think . . I just didn't know what to . . ." she broke off, her sobs coming in gasps.
"Rory, listen to me, it's going to be okay. Just tell me where you are," he was having trouble controlling his own voice. So many emotions were rushing through him he could barely control them. Fear that Rory was still in danger. Sadness over the fear and despair he could hear in her own voice. And shock . . . this was the first time he'd spoken to her in four years.
"I don't know . . . some alley . . . there's a restaurant . . . it says "Joe's" on it . . . your voice . . . it sounds so . . ."
"Hush, it's going to be okay. Try and tell me more about where you are," Jess said, wondering what he should do. Should he try and keep her on the phone as long as possible, or should he hang up and call the police station, or should he go and try and find her himself?
"I think . . . who . . . oh my God."
"Rory, what is it?" Jess asked, his heart nearly stopping.
"Jess."
A/N: Alright, I suck. I cannot believe it took me so long to get this chapter out. School has been a true bitch lately and this is honestly the first break I've gotten that I haven't wanted to spend sleeping. Hopefully I'll be able to update more often now. I hope you vaguely remember reading this story, I know it's been forever. I hope this chapter wasn't too bad . . . I have been out of the writing loop for a while. Well, please, please, please review and hopefully you'll be getting another update soon!
