CHAPTER 64
"We've got to get MacLeod out of here before those rescue sirens arrive." Methos said to Ellen as the two of them pulled what was left of him off of the woman he'd rescued. It was then Methos was caught completely off guard.
For several long seconds he stared down at the face that was so similar to Beth's. If it weren't for the blonde hair and the difference in their chin, he would have thought it was her.
"What are you waiting for?" Ellen said, trying to lift Duncan's body herself, but he was too heavy.
Methos shook off the thoughts that rushed through his mind. Seeing the rescue personnel in the distance, he used his belt to cinch off the bleeding in Rayna's leg before standing and lifting Duncan's lifeless form in his arms and staggering toward the car he'd seen MacLeod park when he'd arrived.
"Do you have the keys? Get this car moving." He ordered as Ellen ran after him asking why they were leaving the girl.
"You couldn't lift her and we can't risk being caught with MacLeod like this. He'd revive before those fly boys could even start their investigation." Methos replied as he shoved Duncan into the backseat and climbed in beside Ellen. MacLeod had left the keys in the ignition, and Ellen didn't wait for Methos to shut the door before racing toward the back of the base.
"Through there!" Methos pointed toward a hole he'd cut in the fence earlier for a quick getaway. It was hidden by some small sheds, and there was a utility road running beside it.
"Pull over." Methos ordered. It was only after she skidded to a quick stop that she realized another car was parked in the bushes off the road. Methos reached in, grabbed his bag from the seat and then ran back to the other car, tossing the bag in the back with MacLeod while Ellen started moving again.
From where the road rose above the base they could see the rescue vehicles had indeed arrived. Methos turned to look out of the window as he saw some men kneeling to assist a still unconscious Rayna. She would be all right, but he wondered what she would tell them when she revived. For that matter he wondered what she was doing there in the first place.
Once they were almost back to Munich, Methos broke the silence that had fallen over the vehicle. "Would you mind telling me what MacLeod was doing dangling from a helicopter and what my wife's sister was doing tied up inside?"
Ellen could hear the edge in his voice and the last thing she wanted to do was discuss anything about his wife with him, even if she did know the truth. He probably wouldn't believe her anyway.
"MacLeod and I weren't sure who we were rescuing, but thought it might be his friend Amanda." Ellen began.
"Amanda?"
"Yeah, someone kidnapped her, and they've got some kid named Ritchie and two other friends of MacLeod's, Joe and Claudia." She continued. "It was probably that guy you jumped on back at the chopper."
"Rick Shafer, an old and obviously not so good friend of MacLeod's." he told her. "I knew about Joe and Claudia. I stumbled across their abductors in New York and followed them to Munich. I've been trying to reach him for a week now by phone. You'd think Mr. Reliable would check his messages." He muttered as he turned to see if their friend showed any signs of waking. He decided the large piece of metal protruding from his back probably wasn't helping. Shrugging because it wasn't his seat covers, Methos gave the piece one good jerk to remove it.
"Messages? You mean the one you left a week ago that just said for him to come to Munich? That wasn't much of a message." Ellen quipped.
"That was only the first. I kept trying to reach his cell, but that number had been changed, so I left them at his home phone in Seacouver." Methos replied. "I've been on the trail of the car that took Claudia and Joe from the airport and brought two of the men we killed here to the base today."
"I don't know anything about Duncan changing his number. That doesn't make sense. But I know he didn't know you were trying to get in touch with him . in fact ." Ellen realized she was getting into an area of their conversation she didn't have any business going. It wasn't for her to tell Methos that Duncan suspected his involvement in all of this.
"You were saying?" Methos tried to drag the words out of her.
"I wasn't saying anything." Ellen replied. "I'm just wondering where to take him. It's not like we can carry him in this condition through the lobby of the hotel."
Methos knew she was holding back something, but left it alone . for now. "We need to find a warehouse or some place that is abandoned." He replied. "Here, turn north. There should be something on the edge of town near the river."
Ellen did as she was asked. About fifteen minutes later they were driving through an area that didn't appear to have much traffic.
"Pull in here." Methos asked. "Let me check it out."
Ellen waited in the car while Methos walked around the side of a building. A few minutes later the door near where she was parked open and he walked out. "It's empty. Let's get him inside. Grab my bag, he'll need a change of clothes."
Ellen shook her head as again she did as she was told. Only when the door to the warehouse shut behind her and she found herself virtually alone with the man who only a week before had tried to take her head, did she begin to feel uneasy. Up until that point she had been running on pure adrenaline. She didn't have time to think when they were getting the jump on Rick Shafer and his man, or when the copter exploded and they had to get MacLeod out, but now that they were alone Ellen wasn't so sure about all of this.
Methos had found an old sofa against one of the walls, and laid MacLeod on it. Seeing Ellen hesitate across the dimly lit room, he noted her uncertainty. To tell the truth, he couldn't blame her.
"What's in the bag?" Methos asked.
"I don't know. It's your bag." Ellen replied, coming to drop it on the floor beside the sofa.
Methos smirked. She was nervous. "I meant that bag." He nodded toward her other hand where she carried a white paper sack.
Ellen shook her head at her stupidity. "Lunch" she replied with a self conscious chuckle.
"Great, I'm starving." Methos didn't even wait for her to offer, but took the bag from her hand and began to lay the sandwiches and the two cartons of orange juice out on the box he'd decided to use as both chair and table. When Ellen still stood motionless, he looked up at her. "Care to join me?"
Ellen dragged another box over and sat down, picking up one of the sandwiches. There was nothing else to do, and as long as Methos was eating, he wasn't going after her head.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" Ellen asked, hoping she wouldn't regret opening the subject but not being able to resist satisfying part of her curiosity.
Methos shrugged. "You can ask." He wasn't committing to answer.
"You've spent the last three months on a wild tear across 2 continents taking every head you could swipe a sword at, including a pretty good attempt at my own." She began. "You haven't spoken to your friends, and had pretty much made them believe you had turned your back on them."
"Was there a question in there?" Methos asked when she stopped speaking and just watched him casually take another bite out of his sandwich.
"The question is, why now? Why do you all of the sudden turn up and try to help the same people you've gone to so much trouble to isolate?"
"Beats me, bad habit I suppose." Methos replied as he drank the last swallow of his orange juice, crushed the carton and tossed it across the floor. It was obvious that was the only answer she was going to get.
The silence in the room was deafening and unnerving for Ellen as the conversation dwindled and they waited for MacLeod to revive.
Looking over at MacLeod, Methos remembered something he'd heard earlier.
"You know, as bad as things got, I never expected him to give me up."
Ellen let out a deep breath. "It wasn't something he meant to do. He was under a lot of stress and made a small slip. If I'd never heard the legend I would never have put it together." She began. "And I would never have heard the legend if you hadn't stirred up every watcher on half the globe and made them suspect there was more to Adam Pierson than meets the eye." She pointed out.
"You know about the Watchers too huh?" Methos was impressed. It was obvious that there was more to this woman who appeared to be no more than a schoolgirl than a quick sword.
"I figured out I was being followed and worked out an arrangement with my watcher. I don't give him the slip and he gives me my space." She replied.
"Don't tell me he knows you are here." Methos didn't want watchers within miles of him. He had too much to lose.
"I broke our agreement when I left Chicago with MacLeod." Ellen admitted. "So if you are worried he'll report on you, don't."
"I don't know why I bother worrying. I'm as good as out now." He grumbled.
"Duncan didn't mean to tip me off, and when he asked, I promised I'd keep what I learned to myself." She replied. "And I don't give my word lightly. Your secret won't be told by me . Adam."
Methos was skeptical, but right now there was really nothing he could do about it . nothing MacLeod wouldn't try to take his head for that is. He'd let it go . for now.
"Why did you come here with him anyway? Were you friends?" Methos asked, not really curious but he wanted something to pass the time until MacLeod woke up.
"I knew of him, but we didn't actually meet until after ." Ellen hesitated a second. "After you tried to take my head."
Methos smiled and adjusted his coat as he remembered their last encounter. She'd been more than a worthy opponent. "You said you knew of him?"
"My teacher was Connor MacLeod." She replied.
"That explains it then." Methos said as he moved to look out the window before turning back to finish his thought. "When you came at me with both blades, I thought I recognized a familiar hand. Your teacher was remarkable. I had an opportunity to spar with him a few times when he was visiting MacLeod."
"He was remarkable." Ellen agreed, thinking to herself how strange this conversation was considering where they both were a week ago. "And that reminds me. You dropped one of your swords near the exit. I picked it up."
"Well isn't that a coincidence? Because I picked up yours." Methos replied, crossing over to his bag and pulling it out. "Finely crafted. Did Connor make this for you?" he asked as he tested it's weight in his hand before turning back to her. "You wouldn't happen to have mine with you?"
Before Ellen could answer that yes Connor had made it and yes his sword was at the hotel with her things, she heard a loud gasp from the other side of the room where Duncan lay. He took his first breath of his restoration, and his eyes widened at what he saw.
"No you don't Methos!" In his slightly groggy state, Duncan could only see Methos waving the sword in Ellen's direction. The fact that it was not an act of aggression was completely lost on him.
Moving as quickly as he could, Duncan reached for the katana still tucked inside his shredded coat.
"We've got to get MacLeod out of here before those rescue sirens arrive." Methos said to Ellen as the two of them pulled what was left of him off of the woman he'd rescued. It was then Methos was caught completely off guard.
For several long seconds he stared down at the face that was so similar to Beth's. If it weren't for the blonde hair and the difference in their chin, he would have thought it was her.
"What are you waiting for?" Ellen said, trying to lift Duncan's body herself, but he was too heavy.
Methos shook off the thoughts that rushed through his mind. Seeing the rescue personnel in the distance, he used his belt to cinch off the bleeding in Rayna's leg before standing and lifting Duncan's lifeless form in his arms and staggering toward the car he'd seen MacLeod park when he'd arrived.
"Do you have the keys? Get this car moving." He ordered as Ellen ran after him asking why they were leaving the girl.
"You couldn't lift her and we can't risk being caught with MacLeod like this. He'd revive before those fly boys could even start their investigation." Methos replied as he shoved Duncan into the backseat and climbed in beside Ellen. MacLeod had left the keys in the ignition, and Ellen didn't wait for Methos to shut the door before racing toward the back of the base.
"Through there!" Methos pointed toward a hole he'd cut in the fence earlier for a quick getaway. It was hidden by some small sheds, and there was a utility road running beside it.
"Pull over." Methos ordered. It was only after she skidded to a quick stop that she realized another car was parked in the bushes off the road. Methos reached in, grabbed his bag from the seat and then ran back to the other car, tossing the bag in the back with MacLeod while Ellen started moving again.
From where the road rose above the base they could see the rescue vehicles had indeed arrived. Methos turned to look out of the window as he saw some men kneeling to assist a still unconscious Rayna. She would be all right, but he wondered what she would tell them when she revived. For that matter he wondered what she was doing there in the first place.
Once they were almost back to Munich, Methos broke the silence that had fallen over the vehicle. "Would you mind telling me what MacLeod was doing dangling from a helicopter and what my wife's sister was doing tied up inside?"
Ellen could hear the edge in his voice and the last thing she wanted to do was discuss anything about his wife with him, even if she did know the truth. He probably wouldn't believe her anyway.
"MacLeod and I weren't sure who we were rescuing, but thought it might be his friend Amanda." Ellen began.
"Amanda?"
"Yeah, someone kidnapped her, and they've got some kid named Ritchie and two other friends of MacLeod's, Joe and Claudia." She continued. "It was probably that guy you jumped on back at the chopper."
"Rick Shafer, an old and obviously not so good friend of MacLeod's." he told her. "I knew about Joe and Claudia. I stumbled across their abductors in New York and followed them to Munich. I've been trying to reach him for a week now by phone. You'd think Mr. Reliable would check his messages." He muttered as he turned to see if their friend showed any signs of waking. He decided the large piece of metal protruding from his back probably wasn't helping. Shrugging because it wasn't his seat covers, Methos gave the piece one good jerk to remove it.
"Messages? You mean the one you left a week ago that just said for him to come to Munich? That wasn't much of a message." Ellen quipped.
"That was only the first. I kept trying to reach his cell, but that number had been changed, so I left them at his home phone in Seacouver." Methos replied. "I've been on the trail of the car that took Claudia and Joe from the airport and brought two of the men we killed here to the base today."
"I don't know anything about Duncan changing his number. That doesn't make sense. But I know he didn't know you were trying to get in touch with him . in fact ." Ellen realized she was getting into an area of their conversation she didn't have any business going. It wasn't for her to tell Methos that Duncan suspected his involvement in all of this.
"You were saying?" Methos tried to drag the words out of her.
"I wasn't saying anything." Ellen replied. "I'm just wondering where to take him. It's not like we can carry him in this condition through the lobby of the hotel."
Methos knew she was holding back something, but left it alone . for now. "We need to find a warehouse or some place that is abandoned." He replied. "Here, turn north. There should be something on the edge of town near the river."
Ellen did as she was asked. About fifteen minutes later they were driving through an area that didn't appear to have much traffic.
"Pull in here." Methos asked. "Let me check it out."
Ellen waited in the car while Methos walked around the side of a building. A few minutes later the door near where she was parked open and he walked out. "It's empty. Let's get him inside. Grab my bag, he'll need a change of clothes."
Ellen shook her head as again she did as she was told. Only when the door to the warehouse shut behind her and she found herself virtually alone with the man who only a week before had tried to take her head, did she begin to feel uneasy. Up until that point she had been running on pure adrenaline. She didn't have time to think when they were getting the jump on Rick Shafer and his man, or when the copter exploded and they had to get MacLeod out, but now that they were alone Ellen wasn't so sure about all of this.
Methos had found an old sofa against one of the walls, and laid MacLeod on it. Seeing Ellen hesitate across the dimly lit room, he noted her uncertainty. To tell the truth, he couldn't blame her.
"What's in the bag?" Methos asked.
"I don't know. It's your bag." Ellen replied, coming to drop it on the floor beside the sofa.
Methos smirked. She was nervous. "I meant that bag." He nodded toward her other hand where she carried a white paper sack.
Ellen shook her head at her stupidity. "Lunch" she replied with a self conscious chuckle.
"Great, I'm starving." Methos didn't even wait for her to offer, but took the bag from her hand and began to lay the sandwiches and the two cartons of orange juice out on the box he'd decided to use as both chair and table. When Ellen still stood motionless, he looked up at her. "Care to join me?"
Ellen dragged another box over and sat down, picking up one of the sandwiches. There was nothing else to do, and as long as Methos was eating, he wasn't going after her head.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" Ellen asked, hoping she wouldn't regret opening the subject but not being able to resist satisfying part of her curiosity.
Methos shrugged. "You can ask." He wasn't committing to answer.
"You've spent the last three months on a wild tear across 2 continents taking every head you could swipe a sword at, including a pretty good attempt at my own." She began. "You haven't spoken to your friends, and had pretty much made them believe you had turned your back on them."
"Was there a question in there?" Methos asked when she stopped speaking and just watched him casually take another bite out of his sandwich.
"The question is, why now? Why do you all of the sudden turn up and try to help the same people you've gone to so much trouble to isolate?"
"Beats me, bad habit I suppose." Methos replied as he drank the last swallow of his orange juice, crushed the carton and tossed it across the floor. It was obvious that was the only answer she was going to get.
The silence in the room was deafening and unnerving for Ellen as the conversation dwindled and they waited for MacLeod to revive.
Looking over at MacLeod, Methos remembered something he'd heard earlier.
"You know, as bad as things got, I never expected him to give me up."
Ellen let out a deep breath. "It wasn't something he meant to do. He was under a lot of stress and made a small slip. If I'd never heard the legend I would never have put it together." She began. "And I would never have heard the legend if you hadn't stirred up every watcher on half the globe and made them suspect there was more to Adam Pierson than meets the eye." She pointed out.
"You know about the Watchers too huh?" Methos was impressed. It was obvious that there was more to this woman who appeared to be no more than a schoolgirl than a quick sword.
"I figured out I was being followed and worked out an arrangement with my watcher. I don't give him the slip and he gives me my space." She replied.
"Don't tell me he knows you are here." Methos didn't want watchers within miles of him. He had too much to lose.
"I broke our agreement when I left Chicago with MacLeod." Ellen admitted. "So if you are worried he'll report on you, don't."
"I don't know why I bother worrying. I'm as good as out now." He grumbled.
"Duncan didn't mean to tip me off, and when he asked, I promised I'd keep what I learned to myself." She replied. "And I don't give my word lightly. Your secret won't be told by me . Adam."
Methos was skeptical, but right now there was really nothing he could do about it . nothing MacLeod wouldn't try to take his head for that is. He'd let it go . for now.
"Why did you come here with him anyway? Were you friends?" Methos asked, not really curious but he wanted something to pass the time until MacLeod woke up.
"I knew of him, but we didn't actually meet until after ." Ellen hesitated a second. "After you tried to take my head."
Methos smiled and adjusted his coat as he remembered their last encounter. She'd been more than a worthy opponent. "You said you knew of him?"
"My teacher was Connor MacLeod." She replied.
"That explains it then." Methos said as he moved to look out the window before turning back to finish his thought. "When you came at me with both blades, I thought I recognized a familiar hand. Your teacher was remarkable. I had an opportunity to spar with him a few times when he was visiting MacLeod."
"He was remarkable." Ellen agreed, thinking to herself how strange this conversation was considering where they both were a week ago. "And that reminds me. You dropped one of your swords near the exit. I picked it up."
"Well isn't that a coincidence? Because I picked up yours." Methos replied, crossing over to his bag and pulling it out. "Finely crafted. Did Connor make this for you?" he asked as he tested it's weight in his hand before turning back to her. "You wouldn't happen to have mine with you?"
Before Ellen could answer that yes Connor had made it and yes his sword was at the hotel with her things, she heard a loud gasp from the other side of the room where Duncan lay. He took his first breath of his restoration, and his eyes widened at what he saw.
"No you don't Methos!" In his slightly groggy state, Duncan could only see Methos waving the sword in Ellen's direction. The fact that it was not an act of aggression was completely lost on him.
Moving as quickly as he could, Duncan reached for the katana still tucked inside his shredded coat.