Chapter 53
As Christina looked up into a pair of cold staring eyes she tried to stop her body from shaking but the combination of fear and adrenalin made it hard. "It's not her," the balding middle aged man said as he lifted her face before moving towards one of the men who's hand was holding her down "This isn't the one, she has to be here somewhere search the whole blood area she's not going to escape me again". Christina felt one of the hands on her shoulder drop away as the man left gesturing to several others to follow him. Walker walked slowly back around Christina she flinched as he ran his sweaty hand down her cheek. Her chest heaving as she fought to keep control of her fear "Why don't you save us time and yourself a lot of pain and tell me where she is?"
"Who?" Christina said her mind still racing trying to figure out what she had done wrong to have been so easily discovered. Though the chaos in her mind she heard Alex's voice, "Never give anyone the satisfaction of knowing they scare you or how much they've hurt you. It's the last thing you have control of".
Walker took hold of her chin tilting her head upwards "Your partner Rogan". Christina couldn't think why this man would think Alex was with her; they had never met him before so how did he know Alex was her partner. "I.I don't know a Rogan".
"Don't lie to me BITCH" Walker spat in her face before back handing her so hard she was wrenched from the grip of the man holding her shoulder and sent crashing to the ground. Her hands were tided behind her so her shoulder took the full impact Christina heard a cracking sound, a searing pain shot through her body. The pain was so intense that everything started to fade from her sight. She wasn't sure how long she laid there seconds, minutes or more before she felt hands grabbing her arms as they pulled her back to her knees. She tried to hard to resist the pain but it was more than she had ever had to face before and she let out an involuntary yell. Walker stepped towards her taking a handkerchief from his pocket he wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and chin. "Now let's start again. Where is Alex Rogan?"
Christina fought back the tears of pain and fear "I'm alone, there's no one else here" as Walker raised his hand Christina closed her eyes expecting to feel more pain but the sound of running footsteps made her open them again. One of the men Christina had seen earlier slid to a halt just behind Walker, who span round to face him. "Well?"
"We've checked everywhere there is no one else here," he said breathlessly.
"DAMN IT!" Walker shouted as whirled back to Christina pulling his pistol from its holster and pressing it into her temple. Christina licked her dry lips as she closed her eyes to wait for the last sound she expected to hear. "Sir you can't, remember the deal we're not supposed to do anything with this one without checking with Mr. Maxwell first". Christina couldn't suppress the sigh of relief when the pistol was moved away; as her eyes opened they looked straight into Walker's grinning face. He was amused by her confusion "Ok call him" Walker said as he waved the man away "Now I can see this has got your pretty little head in quite a spin hasn't it." His sweaty hand ran down her cheek, Christina felt her body reach as his hand ran down her neck to her breasts. "You did nothing wrong, she taught you well but we had an edge" Walker laughed, "One that someone close to you gave us." Walker then pulled out a little black box from his pocket "You see this little box of tricks was supposed to lead me to your partner". Christina's eyes open wide as she recognised the marking on the box "Oh my God!" she exclaimed as the tears she had been fighting fell from her eyes.
"Sir Mr. Maxwell wants to talk to you" the man held out a cell phone to Walker. He took the phone and walked away.
"NO YOU'RE LYING" Thomas screamed his eyes filled with tears. Ray stepped forward "Alex isn't lying Thomas she's been trying to protect you from the truth". Duncan could see the pained look in Ray's eyes "IT'S NOT THE TRUTH. THE TRUTH.THE TRUTH IS SHE WAS JEALOUS OF CHRISTINA AND ME. AND HER PRIDE KILLED HER." Thomas screamed as his eyes looked frantically around the room his gun moving erratically from Alex to Ray. Duncan's muscles started to tense, he'd seen the look Thomas had in others eyes before. Thomas's mind was wrestling trying desperately to hold his version of the truth wrapped tightly around his mind. However, much he didn't want Alex's words to be the truth they started to strip away the cloak that had kept his truth safe.
Alex didn't take her eyes off of Thomas her hand slowly wrapped around the cold metal of the gun in her belt. Carefully she pulled it from her belt and clicked the safety off as Ray tried again to reason with Thomas. "Give me the gun. This has to end here mate. We've all done things that we regret let's not do anything else we'll regret" Ray said as he inched forward. Duncan and Alex recognised the expression on Thomas's face as his free hand pulled at his hair. "Noooooooooooooo" Thomas screamed as he whirled around his gun pointing directly at Alex.
The sound of two gunshots echoed around the basement. Duncan rushed to Ray who had been flung to the ground as the bullet from Thomas's gun ripped through his left shoulder. Alex stood as if routed to the ground the gun by her side as she stared at Thomas's crumpled form lying on the floor. When she saw Thomas was still breathing she dropped the gun and it clattered to the ground just as Methos ran in "What the hell happened here?" he said as he looked from Thomas to Duncan "Adam take a look at Ray will you" Duncan moved to one side to let Methos get a better look at Ray's injury. When Duncan was sure Adam was caring for Ray he turned to Alex and watched as she walked slowly over to Thomas. She slowly lowered herself to the ground lifting Thomas's head. Duncan could see the tears in her eyes but he left her to deal with this alone as he went over to Joe to check that he was unhurt.
As Alex lifted Thomas's head to rest it against her thigh Thomas winced with pain "Oh Thomas, this should never have happened" as Thomas looked up at her she noticed that there was no hate in his eyes "Why.why didn't you tell me before?" Thomas asked his voice trembling. Alex smoothed back his hair "I thought losing Christina was punishment enough".
"You let me blame you and hate you all this time a.and you knew" Thomas said his face contorted with pain as he tried to move "Hey Stay still. I was partially to blame if I wasn't like I am, if I hadn't said the things I did that night she would never have gone after Maxwell alone, then what you did wouldn't have mattered."
"Alex I need to know did.did she say anything you know before". Alex swallowed hard trying to stop the tears that were welling up in her eyes from falling. "Yeah, she said 'I don't know why you did this but I forgive' and the last thing I heard her say was 'I will always love you'". Alex watched as tears started to roll down his cheeks as she wiped away her own tears. Methos had finished with Ray's shoulder wound so he moved to see what he could do for Thomas. As Methos reached to move Thomas's shirt to the side Thomas grasped his hand and looked into his eyes. "There's nothing you can do"
Methos shifted his kneeling position "I won't know that until I've had a look" but Thomas just increased his grip and Methos's eyes met his "I've seen a lot of gunshots and I know how good a shot Alex is" Thomas breathed in sharply and his hand let go of Methos's arm. Methos didn't waste anymore time he moved the tattered blood stained shirt aside. It didn't take long for him to see what Thomas already knew and when he looked up his eyes told Duncan all he needed to know. Ray was stood like a statue watching the scene he had wanted to prevent unfolding in front of him. "You know your such a fool. Didn't you know there was never anything I could have done or said that would have changed the way she felt about you. I never wanted her to be like me. God I don't want to be like me" Alex said as she looked up at the ceiling trying to fight her emotions.
As the tears rolled down her cheeks Thomas raised a shaking hand to wipe them away "Oh I've been such a fool I let my pride take away the best thing I ever had. Is Ray here? I can't see him". Ray moved to knee on the other side of Thomas "I'm here mate.I'm here" Ray said as he tried to blink away his emotions. "Ray, you've got to stop him..Lazarski he's taking the virus" his breath was taken way by the pain in his chest, everyone knew he didn't have long. "Do you know where he is?"
Thomas reached out a bloody hand and Ray grasped it "This won't make up for what I've done. He's expecting me at hanger 6a Orly airport. You will stop him.promise me you will" Thomas said as he gripped Ray's hand as hard as he could. "He won't leave Paris I promised" Ray bit his lip as he watched the man he had spent what seemed to be a life time with struggle to stay conscious and move to look up at Alex. "Can you ever forgive me?" Thomas asked his voice not more than a whisper. With her eyes misted with tears Alex quietly said as she watched Thomas's eyes close "I already have". Ray felt his partner's hand relax as he slipped away from them and he looked up at Alex whose face was stained with tears "Do you think he heard me?" Alex asked he moved closer to her and put his arms around her "I'm sure he did".
Alex laid Thomas's head down onto the ground as Ray helped her to her feet. Alex wanted nothing more than for Duncan to wrap his arms around her and tell her that what she had done didn't matter, but her self-protection instincts made her move away as Duncan stepped towards her. "We need to get to Orly Airport," she said with a business like tone. "You're not going anywhere," Duncan said as he tried again to move towards her but she moved to one side looking anywhere in the room but into his face. "He's expecting me and Thomas. I don't think he's ever actually seen Thomas so Ray will stand in". Duncan anticipated her next move and managed to grab her arm and pull her away from Ray. He lent in close to her ear "You can't kill him you know that" Alex looked up at him "and you can't get close to him without me" Alex fired back as she wrenched her arm from his grasp.
Methos stepped forward "Will you two stop fighting about this. The only way we are going to get Lazarski and the virus is to work together, all of us."
As Christina looked up into a pair of cold staring eyes she tried to stop her body from shaking but the combination of fear and adrenalin made it hard. "It's not her," the balding middle aged man said as he lifted her face before moving towards one of the men who's hand was holding her down "This isn't the one, she has to be here somewhere search the whole blood area she's not going to escape me again". Christina felt one of the hands on her shoulder drop away as the man left gesturing to several others to follow him. Walker walked slowly back around Christina she flinched as he ran his sweaty hand down her cheek. Her chest heaving as she fought to keep control of her fear "Why don't you save us time and yourself a lot of pain and tell me where she is?"
"Who?" Christina said her mind still racing trying to figure out what she had done wrong to have been so easily discovered. Though the chaos in her mind she heard Alex's voice, "Never give anyone the satisfaction of knowing they scare you or how much they've hurt you. It's the last thing you have control of".
Walker took hold of her chin tilting her head upwards "Your partner Rogan". Christina couldn't think why this man would think Alex was with her; they had never met him before so how did he know Alex was her partner. "I.I don't know a Rogan".
"Don't lie to me BITCH" Walker spat in her face before back handing her so hard she was wrenched from the grip of the man holding her shoulder and sent crashing to the ground. Her hands were tided behind her so her shoulder took the full impact Christina heard a cracking sound, a searing pain shot through her body. The pain was so intense that everything started to fade from her sight. She wasn't sure how long she laid there seconds, minutes or more before she felt hands grabbing her arms as they pulled her back to her knees. She tried to hard to resist the pain but it was more than she had ever had to face before and she let out an involuntary yell. Walker stepped towards her taking a handkerchief from his pocket he wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and chin. "Now let's start again. Where is Alex Rogan?"
Christina fought back the tears of pain and fear "I'm alone, there's no one else here" as Walker raised his hand Christina closed her eyes expecting to feel more pain but the sound of running footsteps made her open them again. One of the men Christina had seen earlier slid to a halt just behind Walker, who span round to face him. "Well?"
"We've checked everywhere there is no one else here," he said breathlessly.
"DAMN IT!" Walker shouted as whirled back to Christina pulling his pistol from its holster and pressing it into her temple. Christina licked her dry lips as she closed her eyes to wait for the last sound she expected to hear. "Sir you can't, remember the deal we're not supposed to do anything with this one without checking with Mr. Maxwell first". Christina couldn't suppress the sigh of relief when the pistol was moved away; as her eyes opened they looked straight into Walker's grinning face. He was amused by her confusion "Ok call him" Walker said as he waved the man away "Now I can see this has got your pretty little head in quite a spin hasn't it." His sweaty hand ran down her cheek, Christina felt her body reach as his hand ran down her neck to her breasts. "You did nothing wrong, she taught you well but we had an edge" Walker laughed, "One that someone close to you gave us." Walker then pulled out a little black box from his pocket "You see this little box of tricks was supposed to lead me to your partner". Christina's eyes open wide as she recognised the marking on the box "Oh my God!" she exclaimed as the tears she had been fighting fell from her eyes.
"Sir Mr. Maxwell wants to talk to you" the man held out a cell phone to Walker. He took the phone and walked away.
"NO YOU'RE LYING" Thomas screamed his eyes filled with tears. Ray stepped forward "Alex isn't lying Thomas she's been trying to protect you from the truth". Duncan could see the pained look in Ray's eyes "IT'S NOT THE TRUTH. THE TRUTH.THE TRUTH IS SHE WAS JEALOUS OF CHRISTINA AND ME. AND HER PRIDE KILLED HER." Thomas screamed as his eyes looked frantically around the room his gun moving erratically from Alex to Ray. Duncan's muscles started to tense, he'd seen the look Thomas had in others eyes before. Thomas's mind was wrestling trying desperately to hold his version of the truth wrapped tightly around his mind. However, much he didn't want Alex's words to be the truth they started to strip away the cloak that had kept his truth safe.
Alex didn't take her eyes off of Thomas her hand slowly wrapped around the cold metal of the gun in her belt. Carefully she pulled it from her belt and clicked the safety off as Ray tried again to reason with Thomas. "Give me the gun. This has to end here mate. We've all done things that we regret let's not do anything else we'll regret" Ray said as he inched forward. Duncan and Alex recognised the expression on Thomas's face as his free hand pulled at his hair. "Noooooooooooooo" Thomas screamed as he whirled around his gun pointing directly at Alex.
The sound of two gunshots echoed around the basement. Duncan rushed to Ray who had been flung to the ground as the bullet from Thomas's gun ripped through his left shoulder. Alex stood as if routed to the ground the gun by her side as she stared at Thomas's crumpled form lying on the floor. When she saw Thomas was still breathing she dropped the gun and it clattered to the ground just as Methos ran in "What the hell happened here?" he said as he looked from Thomas to Duncan "Adam take a look at Ray will you" Duncan moved to one side to let Methos get a better look at Ray's injury. When Duncan was sure Adam was caring for Ray he turned to Alex and watched as she walked slowly over to Thomas. She slowly lowered herself to the ground lifting Thomas's head. Duncan could see the tears in her eyes but he left her to deal with this alone as he went over to Joe to check that he was unhurt.
As Alex lifted Thomas's head to rest it against her thigh Thomas winced with pain "Oh Thomas, this should never have happened" as Thomas looked up at her she noticed that there was no hate in his eyes "Why.why didn't you tell me before?" Thomas asked his voice trembling. Alex smoothed back his hair "I thought losing Christina was punishment enough".
"You let me blame you and hate you all this time a.and you knew" Thomas said his face contorted with pain as he tried to move "Hey Stay still. I was partially to blame if I wasn't like I am, if I hadn't said the things I did that night she would never have gone after Maxwell alone, then what you did wouldn't have mattered."
"Alex I need to know did.did she say anything you know before". Alex swallowed hard trying to stop the tears that were welling up in her eyes from falling. "Yeah, she said 'I don't know why you did this but I forgive' and the last thing I heard her say was 'I will always love you'". Alex watched as tears started to roll down his cheeks as she wiped away her own tears. Methos had finished with Ray's shoulder wound so he moved to see what he could do for Thomas. As Methos reached to move Thomas's shirt to the side Thomas grasped his hand and looked into his eyes. "There's nothing you can do"
Methos shifted his kneeling position "I won't know that until I've had a look" but Thomas just increased his grip and Methos's eyes met his "I've seen a lot of gunshots and I know how good a shot Alex is" Thomas breathed in sharply and his hand let go of Methos's arm. Methos didn't waste anymore time he moved the tattered blood stained shirt aside. It didn't take long for him to see what Thomas already knew and when he looked up his eyes told Duncan all he needed to know. Ray was stood like a statue watching the scene he had wanted to prevent unfolding in front of him. "You know your such a fool. Didn't you know there was never anything I could have done or said that would have changed the way she felt about you. I never wanted her to be like me. God I don't want to be like me" Alex said as she looked up at the ceiling trying to fight her emotions.
As the tears rolled down her cheeks Thomas raised a shaking hand to wipe them away "Oh I've been such a fool I let my pride take away the best thing I ever had. Is Ray here? I can't see him". Ray moved to knee on the other side of Thomas "I'm here mate.I'm here" Ray said as he tried to blink away his emotions. "Ray, you've got to stop him..Lazarski he's taking the virus" his breath was taken way by the pain in his chest, everyone knew he didn't have long. "Do you know where he is?"
Thomas reached out a bloody hand and Ray grasped it "This won't make up for what I've done. He's expecting me at hanger 6a Orly airport. You will stop him.promise me you will" Thomas said as he gripped Ray's hand as hard as he could. "He won't leave Paris I promised" Ray bit his lip as he watched the man he had spent what seemed to be a life time with struggle to stay conscious and move to look up at Alex. "Can you ever forgive me?" Thomas asked his voice not more than a whisper. With her eyes misted with tears Alex quietly said as she watched Thomas's eyes close "I already have". Ray felt his partner's hand relax as he slipped away from them and he looked up at Alex whose face was stained with tears "Do you think he heard me?" Alex asked he moved closer to her and put his arms around her "I'm sure he did".
Alex laid Thomas's head down onto the ground as Ray helped her to her feet. Alex wanted nothing more than for Duncan to wrap his arms around her and tell her that what she had done didn't matter, but her self-protection instincts made her move away as Duncan stepped towards her. "We need to get to Orly Airport," she said with a business like tone. "You're not going anywhere," Duncan said as he tried again to move towards her but she moved to one side looking anywhere in the room but into his face. "He's expecting me and Thomas. I don't think he's ever actually seen Thomas so Ray will stand in". Duncan anticipated her next move and managed to grab her arm and pull her away from Ray. He lent in close to her ear "You can't kill him you know that" Alex looked up at him "and you can't get close to him without me" Alex fired back as she wrenched her arm from his grasp.
Methos stepped forward "Will you two stop fighting about this. The only way we are going to get Lazarski and the virus is to work together, all of us."