by: iluvaqt@hotmail.com
QT's notes: Forgive the seemingly endless dry spell. The next one will not be so long in coming.
Chapter 14: Losing Grip
He could hear them on the other side of the emergancy escape door. The voices were growing fainter and he knew he had to catch up. Restlessly, he waited for his opposition.
Footsteps sounded very close, and as the man reached the corner, Alec stuck out the rod. He held the trigger down and forced his boot into the man's gut, sending him reeling into the wall. He hit the floor with a thump and his head sagged forward.
Alec retracted the taser and held a finger to his ear. "They've breached the emergency exit on…"
"Sir, a call from the Siren's observation deck, we've got men on the roof…Wait! There's a helicopter hovering…"
"Ask for any distinctive markings. I'm going up." Alec ran at the door and pounded into it with his shoulder. It didn't give. He took a few steps back and tried again, this time there was a loud clank on the other side and it opened.
The axe they'd used as a wedge had loosened and fallen out against his force. He looked up and saw the rope. Tugging on it, it seemed secure so he started climbing.
Tash followed the last group out of the blackened ballroom. As she exited the double doors she noticed a couple, huddled in one corner of the lobby. The man was soothing the woman who still looked shaken up. She was about to go up to them when the woman looked up. Tears stained her cheeks and her nose was a little red.
"Ms Worsely?"
All of a sudden she felt a nervous chill chase up her spine and her heart start to pound in her chest. Tash bit her lip and forced an encouraging smile to grace her face. There'd be no turning around now, he'd seen her. To his credit, he looked surprised.
"Please, call me Natasha. It's Melissa, right?" Tash forced herself to ignore the discomfort in her chest.
The woman looked up at Dean and smiled at him adoringly. She squeezed his hand tightly and touched a hand to his chest proudly, as if openly staking her ownership of his heart. "Dean, this is Natasha Worsley. Her family…"
"We know each other," Dean said coolly.
Tash had to bite her lip to fight the nerves threatening to undo her right there and then. How could it be possible that one man could bring her to her knees with just words? For years as a child she'd been interrogated, beaten, tested to the point of death. Yet nothing had touched her so deeply than the look he was giving her right now.
Melissa looked from one to the other. Between them, she could feel the tense energy almost physically radiating from her brother and Natasha didn't seem much more comfortable. Being confronted with her brother's agitation almost made her forget how terrified she'd just been. He'd told her how he'd thought he'd met the girl of his dreams. Only it turned out he hadn't been hers. Was, Natasha Worsley, that girl? If so, she could understand what could have made Dean so mad. Rumour had Natasha closely involved with her brother's new right hand man. With the silence stretching, she searched for something that could break the moment.
"I haven't had a chance to congratulate you, Melissa."
"Why, thank you. It wasn't a big wedding. There was a lot going on at the time. The office and at home." She sent a hopeful smile Dean's way, only to see his brooding look hadn't changed.
"I meant to say best wishes to you both," she corrected herself, extending an embrace to Melissa.
"Ah…I thought you knew Dean?" Melissa asked curiously.
"I did," Tash fumbled, "I mean I do, or…"
"He's my brother."
With that correction, Dean's features darkened.
"You thought?" he growled. "Now I've seen it all."
Tash didn't know what to say. She sent an uncomfortable look to Melissa and apologised. "I'm sorry, Dean never…We didn't really talk about." If was possible, she wished the floor would just open up and swallow her whole.
"Ms Bergman, I'm so glad you could make it," Jones said warmly. "Jones Worsley." He offered his hand to Dean.
"Dean Baxter. I'm filling in for Will, we saw him off on Tuesday."
"Yes, I remember. Melissa sent her apologies in advance, but I'm glad circumstances allowed you to attend. Even though we've had an unfortunate start to the evening." He smiled at them both. "If you don't mind, I need to borrow my sister for just a minute."
Tash felt him dragging her way and unconsciously sagged into his arm.
"Why didn't you tell me that he would be here?" Jones asked. He'd noticed Tash out of the corner of his eye and he'd watched as the little group started their disaster of an exchange. He'd never seen his sister crumble. Never, not once, no matter the situation. It's what had made it so hard for them both growing up. They'd always be grounded for some reason or another and you could bet it was because of Tash's unrepentant nature. Looking down into her eyes now, all he wanted to do was go back over there and pound the guy senseless. "I'm sorry."
Tash did feel a tear roll down her face, when Jones hugged her tight. It was almost as if the tighter he held her, the more she wanted to cry. It was insane. She hated the feelings that were boiling inside her. She hated how much her chest hurt. It was crushing her lungs and making it so hard to breathe without shuddering. She wouldn't give in, she couldn't. Cradled safely in her brother's arms, she looked up and found Dean staring at her. The confused look in his eyes was quickly masked and he turned away from her.
"You know, you still haven't told me about what went wrong. You seemed so happy," Jones whispered into her hair.
Tash reached up with one hand and wiped her cheeks discreetly. "There's nothing to say. He just left." She swallowed back a sob and looked up at her brother. "He said, I can't give you what you need. He couldn't be more wrong." There was movement behind her and she shivered as her intuition told her that Jones' hadn't been the only one that had heard that last confession.
Jones sent a warning look over her shoulder, and gave his sister a reassuring squeeze before he let her go. "I have to go and follow up with security. I'll give you an update as soon as I've spoken to Alec."
Tash nodded, biting her bottom lip slightly. She dared not turn around. Her cheeks were still shiny and her eyes still moist with tears. It's not how she imagined meeting him again. But then, when did things run according to plan, in her life. It was a miracle she'd managed to piece her life back together with relative success. Considering the rollercoaster she'd been trapped on the past two years.
"I'm sorry I never gave you a chance…" he said.
It took a lot for her to turn around and face him. There was something about the way he made her feel, that took all of her strength and tossed it out the window. But at the same time, the way he used to look at her made her want to be reckless. Maybe that's why it had hurt so badly. She'd let herself drown. She'd made the jump believing he'd be right there with her, but when she'd hit the water she'd found herself cold, deserted and completely heartbroken.
"What you said…does that mean?"
"I'm not going to pretend that what happened was all my fault. It wasn't." She made no effort to close the distance between them. And she definitely didn't want to let him off the hook lightly. "You jumped to a completely ludicrous conclusion and hurt me, Dean. I had no idea I could feel the way I did."
"Did, past tense?" His eyes displayed the hope he'd had, even if it was only a flicker. But as always, the emotion was quickly quenched.
"Please, don't." Tash knew despite the raw feelings he stirred, knowing he still had feelings too, wasn't enough. She was too distrusting, too cautious to let herself be that vulnerable again.
Dean saw the pain in her eyes, the defeated slump of her shoulders. He'd done that, he'd knowingly walked out, even after he'd seen the pleading look in her eyes. As he'd left her in that hospital room, still tied to Alec and unable to follow him, he'd kept walking. Something in the back of his mind told him be was crazy, that he needed to fight back. Not just roll over and let it happen. That same voice told him that Tash love him, not Alec. And that she was here out of love for a brother and a best friend, not a lover. "Forgive me for being a blind fool?"
"I think I can do that," she smiled shakily. "But let's not linger in the past anymore, okay?"
He nodded in agreement before cringing and shaking his head. "You don't think that I need to…Alec doesn't…"
"He doesn't know. I'm sure he thought I was someone else…" Tash blushed. She felt like she was divulging secrets, and quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of Alec, I've got to find Jones. When the lights went out, Alec was going after a few guys."
"This was a job?"
Tash smiled. "Yes and no, we've been keeping him busy. Busy means out of trouble."
"Gotta hope that his luck's a little better nowadays," Dean said. He didn't like that Alec was right in the thick of things, again. That guy didn't have a lot of good luck, it just always so happened that one of his siblings was there to bail him out just in the nick of time. The last thing he wanted was for Tash to get hurt again. Not that he thought Alec couldn't handle himself, it just seemed that he always got into impossible situations.
"It's not about luck, it's about intelligence and skill." She was just regurgitating what had been drilled into her since birth. Her head told her that Alec did tend to be reckless when there were feelings involved. The sooner she knew that was going on, the better she'd feel.
Alec reached the top just in time to see the last man climb into the helicopter. He could do nothing but watch as it lifted off the roof and left The Roland.
Scanning the rooftop, he knew the fastest root down was the way he'd come. Grabbing the rope, he slid down at blur speed. Almost tripping over the unconscious body in the hallway on his way out.
His comm. piece came to life in his ear and he heard his boss on the other end.
"Alec, Jones here. Did you catch them?"
"In pursuit. Get Admiral Mitchell on comms. Rachel's been taken," Alec said as he jumped the balcony and somersaulted before executing a graceful landing. In the surveillance room, Jones pretended not to notice the monitors. And looked at the other security technicians, who stared at him in bewilderment. "Well, find the Admiral," he ordered.
One of the men was about to dash for the door, when Tash burst through from the other side. "Jones!" Close behind her was Admiral Mitchell.
"Admiral, I'm sorry but they took Rachel."
The older man's purposeful stride never slowed, but Tash could see that he was shaken. All the color had drained from his face and his usual warm greeting, gone.
The Admiral stopped two feet from Jones, his broken composure now showing. Tears of frustration and fear welling in his eyes, his voice shook, as he demanded, "Tell me how this could have happened, Jones. Just tell me, so I know how I tell my son."