Shock Treatment
Jesse sat in Jo's cage and held her in his arms. He was still manacled, but he had managed to put his wrists over her head so that he could hold her close to him. There was only one blanket in their prison and he had that wrapped around her.
He knew that Jo had gone into shock before the mad man holding them had even touched her, and he also knew that he wasn't far removed from it himself. There was blood all over his white shirt, both his own and Jo's, and her clothes were covered too. He was trying to keep the blood flow to a minimum, and he had her limb elevated as much as he could. Jo stirred slightly in his arms and he moved her a little closer to him. "Shhh, it's ok, he's gone for now."
"Hurts, Jesse." Jo's voice was faint, and he struggled to hear her.
"I know, I'll look at it in a minute, you have to keep it like this for a while longer."
"I want to go home now, Jesse. I don't like it here."
"I know, Honey, but we can't, not yet."
Jo giggled, and Jesse felt his alarm grow. "Honey, you called me Honey. I'll tell Rae." She began to shake and Jesse pulled the blanket round her a little more. He wanted to elevate her feet, and let her recline against him, but there was neither the space nor the equipment to do either, and so he ran his hand down the side of her face and held her close.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ron looked at the two people standing in front of him, and for a moment none of them spoke. But then he shook himself mentally and indicated with his hand that they should sit down. As they did so one of the agents who was working in the hallway came in and spoke quietly to Ron.
Once he had left, Ron closed the door and hesitated before he spoke. "Rae, you just got another dead call on your home phone. They are going to analyse the tape, see if there is any background noise."
Rae just nodded, but then a thought occurred to her. "How does he know my number? We're not in the book, and I never give my home number out … Jesse, he had a new set of cards made up … but the number isn't on them anyway..." Rae thought for a moment, but she couldn't think of anything else to say
"Where did … does he keep them?" Ron hastily changed what he said.
"In his medical bag."
"Ok, the actual case that you were working has been given to Cheryl," Ron could see that Rae had nothing more to say and so he decided that he would continue as if the call hadn't occurred, "and she will be here in a little while to go over the similarities with you. I'm only dealing with the kidnapping side of things, but as I'm here I can let you know what happened, or we can wait for Cheryl."
"What was sent, Ron? I don't care about anything else; just tell me what was sent." Rae felt her whole body go cold as the fear and shock ran through it. The control that she had tried so hard to maintain was very precarious now, and she knew that if he didn't tell her straight away she might lose it altogether.
Ron took a breath and then, knowing that neither of them would want him to prevaricate any longer, he began to speak again. "There was a finger, a female finger, and hair, a handful of blonde hair."
For a moment the whole world shifted around Steve, and he thought that he was going to pass out or be sick or something, but then all of that left him and he just felt completely helpless. He began to shake again, and Rae put her hand on his arm, but this time it annoyed the hell out of him, and so he shook her off roughly turning on her as he did so. "Just leave it, Rae, leave me! Go away! I can't have you here right now."
Rae just nodded and then she spoke. "Ron, thank you, I'll be at home."
"Rae, wait …" Ron watched her as she paused by the doorway, but he knew that there was nothing else he could say, not yet anyway.
The FBI agent who was tailing Rae followed her out of the house, and round to her own front door in silence. She hadn't been assigned to guard anyone in a long time, but she always found that they preferred silence, and she was glad that this guy seemed to realise that.
The house was quiet as she entered, and she knew that Eliana and Anneya would be having their lunch in the kitchen before they went for a nap. Rae went up the stairs and into her bedroom, her heart beating so loudly that she was sure that the whole street could hear it. Once she was inside she shut the door, and threw herself on the bed. Part of her desperately wanted to let go, to scream and shout for the hurt that had been caused to her, to Jesse, to Steve and Texas, but she couldn't. Something inside wouldn't let her and so she just grabbed hold of Jesse's pillow and inhaled the smell of him, missing his touch, his voice, his presence, but not being able to do anything about it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jo had calmed down a little and even slept some, although with her arm held above her head it had been difficult for her. When the bleeding had stopped Jesse released the tourniquet that he had tied around her wrist and watched to see if the flow would start again. Although there was a little bit of seepage, it seemed as if her blood had clotted well, and so he leant over from where he sat and pulled his bag towards him.
Inside the bag he had sutures, and, hidden in a small side pocket were two sets of needles and a scalpel. One set of needles was for stitching wounds, and the other, unbeknownst to his captor were hypodermic. Nobody had ever found them yet, and he had a feeling that they never would. When the dangers of AIDS had become well known he had taken his bag to a tailor who he had treated one time, and explained what he wanted. The man, an expert at his trade, had made a secret pocket which only Jesse and he knew about. There weren't many doctors who carried a bag round with them these days, but he had always done it, and now he was extremely glad that he did so.
Jesse put some lidocaine into a syringe and injected the area that he needed to treat, and then he carefully stretched the skin over the raw edge so that he could stitch it together in an almost envelope shape. As he did so his mind went back to the moment that Jo had lost her finger.
"Now, Mrs Sloan, or can I call you Jo? I need your hand." After the threat to have his head blown off, Jesse had seen Jo turn in on herself, and he knew that whatever happened she wouldn't be able to fight it. He hadn't seen her when she lost herself before, but Steve had described it to him, and he wasn't at all surprised that she was reacting this way. Slowly, she had given her right hand to the man in front of her and he had moved a small box forward towards it.
"I haven't tried this on a live subject before; my love was already dead before I used it. Now, you put your finger in here." Jesse could see that the black ebony coloured container had a circular hole in it about half way down. There were two small handles one either side of the beautiful but terrifying object, which was rectangular in shape and quite thin. Jo had done as she was instructed and then as Jesse watched in horror their captor had placed a hand on either side, pushed down on the two levers and Jo's finger had fallen onto the table in front of him, blood coming out of that as well as pouring through the hole and down the face of the box.
Jo had collapsed backwards to the floor of her cell and Jesse had tried to move closer to her, causing his guard to pull hard on the cuff and chain around his neck. "She will die if you don't let me go to her."
"It's just a scratch. I kept that pig Crosier alive and I cut his arm off!"
"Yeah, well lucky you, and unlucky him! Arghh!" Once again Jesse was pulled into the bars and he felt the unmistakable sensation of bruises coming up on his face.
"Oh, let him go, release him from that cage and put him into the other one. I'll have more fun with her alive than dead, so let him save her!"
Jesse sat there now and wondered whether they would both be better off dead. He knew that there would be more horror and more torture before their ordeal was over, and he also knew that the likelihood of them surviving was remote indeed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Steve had gone out into the garden and looked at the city again for a long time. He seemed to be able to get some sense of calm from it, if only because, although he could do nothing about it, he knew that she was there somewhere and right now he needed to be calm and believe she was still alive. Suddenly he turned, moved into the house, and straight to the phone. He dialled the number for the hospital and waited for someone to answer it.
Mark had received his son's call with relief, although it was clouded with the grief he felt at what had befallen his daughter-in-law and his friend and colleague. Steve still needed him, and however guilty he felt about it, that fact made him feel good.
By the time Mark had carried out his son's wishes and contacted everyone and they were on their way to Beverley Hills it was after six in the evening. Mark was pleased to see he was the first to arrive and, as he was let into the house by Michael, he wondered just what they would be able to accomplish. He knew though that they had to put everything they had ever learnt together about solving cases into practice, otherwise Jo and Jesse would be lost to them forever.
"Dad!" The word was so full of emotion that it stopped Mark almost in his tracks. He looked into the pain-filled eyes of his son and then took in the slightly bedraggled appearance, the unshaven look and knew that his son's suffering was more than any of them could imagine.
He turned and went into the dining room and his father followed, closing the door behind him. Mark put his hand on Steve's arm and felt the muscles constrict beneath his fingers.
"Steve, I'm sorry, Son, I don't know what else to say." Mark felt himself flounder a little. He loved Jo very much, and knew how complete she had made her husband feel. Now it looked as if all that might be snatched away and he had no idea how to deal with that.
"Tell me that we can save her, Dad … that we can save them." The desperation in Steve's voice tore at Mark's heart, and he desperately wanted to do just that, but he had to take a deep breath and shake his head.
"I can't tell you that, but you know between us we have the expertise to do everything we can to find them and bring them home… If any group of people can do it then we can."
It seemed to help, if only a little, and Steve nodded his head before running his hand through his hair. "I … I feel so helpless, I can't work on the case, I can't even go into the station, I'm not used to being like this."
"I know, but helpless is a feeling that will go once we start working together like we always have. Now, everybody should be here soon, why don't you have a shower, a shave, and change your clothes. You will feel better for it, and … well, so will I!" Mark looked into his son's eyes again as he spoke, and saw just a small spark there, something that recognised the sense behind the suggestion as well as the humour and he nodded his head again.
"I guess I could use a little personal hygiene, huh?"
"Oh, yeah, I would say so." Mark watched with an indulgent smile as Steve left the room and then he sat down on one of the dining chairs and, the seriousness of the situation overwhelming him for a moment, put his head in his hands and tried to find the inner strength he knew he would need if they were all to get through this.
By the time that Steve came back downstairs everybody that Mark had spoken to had arrived, except for Rae, who was coming round after she had put her children to bed. The dining room table had files and photos laid out neatly on it, but the room was empty. In the morning room, however, there were eight people, all wanting to find Jo and Jesse and get their lives back on an even keel.
Amanda and Ron had arranged for the boys to stay with her mother for the night, and as Ron was staying with Steve anyway, Amanda would just do the same. Cheryl had brought all the up-to-date information on the actual Todd case with her, and was hoping that both Steve and Rae could bring her up to speed on their own observations and feelings. She had meant to come over earlier in the day, but somehow the hours had run away from her, and so she had been delighted to accept Mark's offer to join their brain-storming group. Alex and Shannon were there because as friends of the family Steve wanted them to help out, but also, he was concerned about Rae and how brave she was being, and he wanted Alex to check on her. Daniel and Michael made up their group, and although he had protested, Steve knew that Michael wanted to be a part of anything that would get his employer and friend back to him as soon as possible. Steve had tried to persuade Daniel to wait upstairs, but he had said that he could handle it, and he wanted to be with everybody else, and Steve, without the strength to argue the point had agreed.
Rae had lain Anneya down in her crib and stroked her hair back from her face. There were no curls in it, and already it was far lighter than her sister's. Rae wondered idly if she was going to be a blue eyed blonde, and then as she traced a finger down the child's face and saw her grin she realised that whatever colour the hair or the eyes the smile was all Jesse, and her heart tightened in her chest.
"Towee, Mommy, towee." Eliana had about six books in her hands and as she spoke they all skittered onto the floor. "Oops."
Rae had to laugh. "Oops! Now, who says oops? I guess it must be Sally, because your daddy and I don't say that." She scooped her daughter up into her arms and kissed her soft cheek. The enjoyment that she felt when she was with her little girls helped to mask her pain, and for a moment she didn't want to leave the room, didn't want to go to Steve's and discuss their troubles, didn't want to do anything but bury her head in the sand and pretend everything was ok, but she knew it wasn't and so with a heavy heart she shook her head. "One story, Mummy doesn't have time for any more."
"K." Eliana struggled "Down, Mommy." Rae put her back on the floor and she immediately went to the books. She picked up four of them and looked up. "These."
"Honey, that's four, not one. Look, one, two, three, four. See?" Rae counted each book, watching her daughter's reaction all the time. Eliana just smiled, put the books on her bed and then climbed up on to it.
When they had moved into Jo's house, it had seemed like a good time to change Eliana from a crib to a bed, and the little girl had made the transition without any problems. She had a bed guard to stop her falling out, and a rail across the doorway, and, as in all things, she had accepted it with a smile and, in this case a yawn, as she had fallen asleep in it for the first time.
Rae sat next to her daughter on the bed and then looked through the rails of the crib to see Anneya watching her. The sound of her voice would hopefully send her youngest child off to sleep and give Sally a peaceful evening while she was out.
"Ok, here we go then, once upon a time …"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jesse had watched the sun disappear from the dusty window of the garage they were in, and then gradually the whole area had merged into one dark, frightening space. A meal of cheese, bread and two bottles of water had been brought in, but he had no idea when. His watch had been smashed, probably when he had been put in the cage, and Jo didn't have one on. For a moment he thought about Rae, and the silver watch she always wore, but he shoved the thought from his mind. If he let her in then tears welled up in his eyes, and he knew that if he started to cry he would find it almost impossible to stop.
He had finished working on Jo's finger, and, for the situation they were in, he was quite pleased with the result. Although he could no longer see it, he periodically put his own hand over the small stump and was relieved to feel no burning heat, or very much seepage. The blade had severed the finger on its first joint above the knuckle, and Jesse knew that by know Steve would have received it. He wondered how his friend would have reacted, how Rae would have reacted, but he knew that nothing Steve had been through in the past would have prepared him for the agony of knowing that his wife was hurt and in danger and there was nothing he could do about it. Jesse had been there, too many times in the past, and the feelings were still so strong inside of him that he gasped as the memory of the computer images at Crosier's place came up inside his mind. He had been unable to cope with knowing that monster had taken her, had thought she was dead and tried to die himself. The tears came as he wondered just how she would be now that the situation was reversed. Rae wasn't used to being unable to help those she loved, and he knew that she panicked if she didn't know where he was. In the silence of his own private purgatory, he prayed for her, that she would be stronger and braver than he had been. His thoughts were broken into roughly though as he heard a voice.
"She is asleep I see, good. Now, Doctor, you will come with me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The eight friends and colleagues had moved into the dining room and were soon sitting round the table not really wanting to start but knowing that nothing would be accomplished otherwise.
Finally Amanda picked up a grey manilla folder and began to speak. "Steve, I have run some tests on … the finger, and it isn't from the same female that we have received other parts from." Amanda paused for a moment as she watched her friend take in what she had just said.
"Is she still alive, Amanda?"
"Yes, and the finger was taken off in one movement. I don't know what type of blade he used, but it would have been extremely sharp and it was put through on a joint."
"And the hair?" The voice came from the doorway and Amanda turned to see Rae standing there. "I'm sorry I'm late, I wanted to put the girls to bed myself." She came into the room and sat down next to Cheryl, not trusting herself to sit next to any of her close friends.
"The hair is Jesse's." Amanda's voice was quiet; Jesse drove her mad regularly, and it had taken a while to get used to his presence in her everyday life after Jack had moved to Colorado, but he had gotten under her skin, and the idea of her world without him in it was too awful to contemplate.
"How do you know for sure?" Rae put a notebook down on the table, and looked over at Amanda.
"Because we have his blood on file. The DNA is being checked, but, Rae I just know that it is his hair."
"Oh." Rae had nothing else that she could think of to say, she nodded her head and then looked down at the table.
Cheryl stood up and took over the conversation. "The letter seems to follow the same line as the ones we already have, although it was sent by courier. We have spoken to the delivery man, but he was sent to the station in Van Nuys to pick up a package. As you know that station is one of the busiest in the city and the desk sergeant had professed to know nothing about it, but when he looked there was an envelope addressed to Steve on the counter." Cheryl had the whole table's attention now, and she carried on speaking. "The parcel had been left in a car in your parking space, Steve."
"Just like before." Steve's voice was hushed as he remembered back to the very first body part, a female upper arm, found in the trunk of a car, just as Jo's finger had been."
"So now we are waiting for the letter that goes with the finger and the hair, yes?" Mark looked round the table and saw nods from Cheryl, Ron and Amanda.
"It's not like before." Rae looked up from where she had been twisting her wedding ring round and round on her finger.
"Yes it is, the arm was in the trunk of the car. Rae, you weren't working then, you don't know." Steve tried to keep the strain and annoyance out of his voice, but he knew that he wasn't succeeding.
"He has never sent two parts together before." Rae was determined not to be distracted. "You got a foot and the … bits in a jar on the same day, but not together. Why did he send the finger and the hair in the same package?"
For a moment the room was silent, and then Shannon gingerly put her hand up, and Steve was reminded of Rae when she had been unable to talk properly. He looked over at Alex's girlfriend and smiled. "Feel free to jump in, Shannon. We don't stand on ceremony."
"Maybe he wants you to know that he has both of them, and … and he means business." Shannon could feel Alex's hand in her own and it gave her the courage to carry on. "Before, it didn't really matter to you what he sent did it? But now…" She trailed her words off; there wasn't really anything else that she wanted to say.
Mark smiled at the young woman and nodded his head. "I think that Shannon is right. Anyone could say that they had Jo and Jesse, he just proved without a doubt that he has them."
"But we knew that from the nails and the letter." Ron pulled out a photo of the first set of items sent to them. "Maybe he is going to send everything jointly this time."
"This time? You make it sound like it is an acceptable thing that he's doing. That he ran out of body parts from his first set of victims and so he just found another two." Rae could hear her voice getting higher and more out of control. "I'm sorry, Ron, I'm sorry." Rae looked back down at the table, not able to face anyone, and then she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Alex standing right beside her.
"I haven't seen my goddaughter in a while, why don't you and I take a little walk?"
Rae started to refuse, but then just nodded her head; she didn't have the energy to argue. Alex pulled her chair out for her and she stood up. As she passed by Steve's chair she stopped and, mindful of his reaction the last time, touched him gingerly on the arm.
"I'll be back in a while. Steve, I'm sorry I lost my cool, I'm just worried."
Steve bit back the cutting remark that rushed into his head and nodded his head. "I know." He couldn't look at her, or speak with her. He knew that she was the only person apart from his dad that he could let fly at, or cry with and he didn't want to do either right now.
Alex picked up his bag from the hallway, as he, Rae and the FBI agent assigned to her waited for Michael to unlock the door and then they walked out into the darkness.
Steve watched his partner leave with a mixture of relief and regret. He found that her very presence annoyed him, but he knew that they wouldn't be able to get through the ordeal without each other. His dad, who was sitting next to him, cleared his throat and Steve turned to see a look of concern on his face.
"She will understand, but only if you explain it to her. If you just shut her out you will hurt her more than you can know."
"I can't, not now, not yet." For an instant Steve shut his eyes, and then he felt a hand on top of his.
"Dad?" Daniel's voice was full of tears and Steve stood up and took him into his arms.
"Son, I'm sorry, there is nothing else I can say." Steve suddenly understood why his own father had been unable to offer him any consolation.
"Can I go upstairs? I … I can't do this." Daniel held on to Steve, not caring that everybody could see his shoulders heaving, or hear the emotion in his voice. Steve just nodded, knowing that he couldn't speak, and then with his arm round the boy he helped him from the room.
Mark picked up one of the folders on the table and began to look through it. As if taking this to be a signal to begin their own investigation of the documents in front of them all the papers were soon divided up and being read by everyone who was left.
Once Rae had arrived home, her guard had been replaced by the young man who had drawn the short straw and was working nights. He stood in the hallway and watched impassively as Rae and Alex went into the breakfast room. Sally was sitting in there, and Rae spoke quietly to her before she and Alex went into the living room.
"This is a beautiful house, Rae." Alex looked out onto the extensive gardens, and gasped as Rae flicked a switch and the floodlights came on. "Wow, nobody has that much garden in L.A. Well, unless it's sand with ocean at the end of it."
"I didn't want to move here, I thought it was too grand for us, but Jesse," Rae paused for a moment. She found it hard to say his name without letting her voice waiver. "Jesse loved it from right when Texas showed him round. And, well, I guess he persuaded me, and for the short time we have been here together it's been wonderful; it was the right decision." Rae turned away from him and rubbed at her eyes.
"Rae, have you thought about yourself at all since Jesse was taken?" Alex had sat her down on the sofa and put a cuff around her arm. Now he was taking her blood pressure and looking at her with concern.
"How do you mean?"
"Have you eaten, slept, done anything except worry?" Alex let the air out of the inflated cuff. "Your blood pressure is up, you look to me like you haven't slept in a week, and you snapped at Ron for no reason. Let's go to the kitchen and I'll get you something to eat." Rae stood up and as she did so the room began to swim round her. For a moment she staggered and leant heavily into Alex. "And did I mention dizziness?"
Rae sat at the kitchen table and put her head into her hands. She didn't know which way to turn, she was confused, her temper was on hold, but only just, and she didn't seem to be able to think anything through to a conclusion. "Alex?"
"Hold on, I'm just coming." Alex put the jug with the scrambled egg mix he had just made into the microwave and put it on for a minute, then he turned and moved over to where Rae was sitting. "What is it, Rae?"
"Why do I feel that I am about to fly apart when yesterday I was able to be strong, to know that we would get Jesse and Texas back. Why can't I feel that way today?"
"Probably because you haven't eaten, or slept, and I'm guessing that you haven't drunk all that much either…No, I didn't think so." Alex watched Rae shake her head, and then as the microwave pinged he went back over to give his mixture a stir, and put a piece of bread in the toaster.
Five minutes later Rae looked at the meal set out in front of her. "I … I can't, Alex."
"You can, and you will, because if you don't eat or sleep now you will make yourself ill, I will have to admit you to Community General, which will mean that you won't know what is going on, the girls will be without their mom and dad, and … Well, I guess you get the picture, huh?"
"You know that's blackmail don't you?"
"Oh yeah!" Alex smiled and watched as Rae took a small bite of toast and then put a spoonful of egg into her mouth too.
Gradually Rae ate everything on her plate, and then looked in horror as Alex put a mug down in front of her. "No, Alex, that I really can't drink, I just hate hot milk. I'll have an herbal tea instead; camomile and lime, and then I can doze in the chair."
"No, Rae, I want you to go to bed, get undressed, and go to bed, properly. Not lay on the covers and catnap.
"Alex, what if something happens? If they find them, or … or …" Rae stopped talking. If they found them there was a chance they would be dead, and she couldn't cope with that not now.
"If something happens then Mr. Cheerful in the hallway will come get you. Sally will be here too, nothing will be done without you knowing about it, but you have to sleep, and eat. Rae, when they find Jesse he is gonna need you, the Rae that he had before he was taken, not as you are now. If you carry on like this, well, you will be no good to him, no good at all. It's only been two days and already you can't function properly, you have to think of yourself." Alex had taken her drink back, and was re-boiling the kettle.
Rae nodded her head, she knew that he was right, but the thought of going to bed and lying there, alone scared her more than she could say. "Alex, will you stay, until I'm asleep, please? Or … or you and Shannon could stay, there are plenty of bedrooms." Suddenly Rae didn't want the young man to go. She had always trusted him implicitly, but more than that he had always made her feel safe. He had helped her through some of the worst times in her life, as well as two of the best and she needed him.
"Rae, I don't know, I'll check with Shannon, her mom will be expecting her home. But yes, I'll stay with you until you fall asleep. Now, drink your tea and I'll go run you a warm bath … If that's all right with you." Suddenly Alex was embarrassed; he didn't want to overstep his bounds as her doctor, even though they had been friends for a long time.
"Ok." Rae picked up the mug and Alex could see her hands shake as she raised it to her lips, but she smiled at him, and so, slightly encouraged, he went out into the hallway to put a call through to Steve's house.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The sun began to flicker through the window of the garage, and Jesse tried to ease his cramped muscles without waking Jo, who was once again curled up against him. The sunlight played with the dust that was everywhere, in the air, on the floor of their cage, but not, Jesse hoped in Jo's wound. He had managed to rig up a sling for her so that she kept her hand above her heart all night, and he could see that the finger was still pink and healthy looking, right up to where it had been amputated. There was no heat emanating from in, but it wasn't cold, and Jesse knew that he had done all he could do. If they ever got out of this alive she would be able to have a prosthetic finger attached to her hand without any problems.
"Ah, Doctor Travis." The voice made him jump and the terror rose up in him causing his heart to beat wildly and a cold chill to pass through him. The man in front of him was still dressed entirely in blue, but this time Jesse could see a detective's badge on his belt and a gun in a shoulder holster. Rae had been right, he was a cop.
"Did you enjoy our time together last night? Did I? And do I really want to know? I would imagine that your little wife is feeling rattled. I have been waiting to deal with her for a long time."
"Why? What has she ever done to you?" Jesse looked up at the masked face, only the mouth was free from the balaclava and dark glasses he wore, but there was a bandana tied, outlaw style around his mouth.
"What has she done to me? Do you want to know? Should I tell you? Oh, all right then. She has done nothing, not face to face, anyway, but she is smug and smart, and she waltzed right into homicide. Is that fair? Should she have done it? No. I almost made it to homicide, but then the exchange scheme happened, and I lost my chance."
"She didn't ask to be put in homicide; she replaced Detective Banks who went to London. She just got placed where Cheryl had been."
"I had no plan to hurt you, but you were with that tramp, and so I had no choice. Could I have taken her and not you? No, I couldn't. But you can get away, Travis, I'll let you go, but she needs you, and if you leave her, she WILL die. Do you stay? Or do you go? Decisions, decisions." Jesse was quiet; he had no idea what to say. "ANSWER ME, DOCTOR!"
"No, no, I won't leave her … I can't." Jesse had jumped when his captor shouted, and Jo had moaned.
"So now, I get the chance to play twice as much." The sound of a gun being cocked split the air and Jesse turned as much as he could to see the other masked man holding a weapon, which was pointing at Jo.
"Give me your hand, Doctor."
"No! No, not my hand … please, I'm a surgeon, I can't work if you hurt my hands." Jesse hated himself for pleading, but he couldn't help it. Once again the shame that he had felt as his hair had been ripped out rose to the surface.
"Doctor Travis to the OR Stat, Doctor Travis to the OR Stat. Will you miss that? No, because you will be dead! Now … GIVE ME YOUR HAND!"
The man with the gun moved closer and jabbed it though the bars and against Jo's head. Jesse knew that she was awake; he had felt her stir in his arms, and heard her suppress a gasp as the man had goaded him. Knowing that he had no choice Jesse took his arms up and over Jo's head and then carefully lay her down on the floor. He turned and held his manacled arms out to the monster standing in front of him.