Chapter 10:
Ororo was sitting in the kitchen staring fixedly at the clock when Remy came in. "Hey, 'Ro," he greeted her. "What's wrong?"
Ororo sighed. "Dr. Hebron was ordered by the court this morning to deliver Alexandra to the Laight Street Children's Shelter until the matter of her guardianship is decided. She is to be there by five o'clock this afternoon. I wanted to call the shelter and find out when she arrives so I can drop off some of her things." Ororo didn't mention that what she wanted to drop off to Andi was Ali.
"You're not supposed to have any contact with the witness until de decision," Remy reminded her.
"I know," Ororo said. "I was going to make sure she was there, then give her things to the head of the shelter. She could pass them to the child." She sprang out of her chair and ran to the phone. Remy looked at the clock. It was five.
"Hello? My name is Ororo Munroe. I wanted to drop off some things for Alexandra Sanderson…She's not there? Thank you." Ororo hung up the phone, looking disappointed and a little uneasy. "She's not there yet."
"It's rush hour, 'Ro." Remy pointed out. "It might take them a little longer to get there."
"Maybe," Ororo said, her hopes rising a little.
So she called again at six o'clock. No Andi. Seven o'clock: no Andi. The same answer at eight, and then at nine. At which point Xavier called Ororo into his office. "Ororo," he said gently, "I realize that you are worried, but if they are not there by now, he obviously has no intention of surrendering Andi to the shelter. There is no use calling the shelter anymore; please wait until we go to the hearing tomorrow."
"I am worried, Charles," Ororo paced the carpet in his study nervously. "I am worried what he might be doing to the child; what he might be trying to talk her into saying. I realize he can't assault her mentally; your shield should prevent that; but there are too many things that could be done to her physically to break her spirit. Can we not just take a small team up to Dr. Hebron's estate and steal Andi away?"
Xavier shook his head. "Ororo, even if she is not at the shelter he is still compelled to produce her for the hearing tomorrow. She will undoubtedly be there. There is no need to get the X-Men involved. It would look suspicious to the outside world. This is what would be considered a relatively minor dispute; the X-men cannot become involved."
Ororo still remained uneasy, but she wished Charles a good night and retired to her room. She sat for a long time, sewing a new button onto Ali's face for an eye as she spoke to him softly. "I'm worried about her, Ali," she told him as she tied off a thread and clipped it with scissors. "She was supposed to be at the shelter at five today; she wasn't. She still isn't. What could Dr. Hebron be doing to her? I'm terribly afraid for her." She sighed as she undressed and slid into bed. For the first time in a while, she fell asleep holding the teddy bear. She slept restlessly, tossing and turning as bad dreams plagued her sleep.
* * *
She pushed Charles' wheelchair into the courtroom maybe a bit faster than she ordinarily would, but Xavier didn't complain. He hadn't admitted it, but when Andi hadn't shown up at the shelter he had gotten worried too.
The Sandersons were there; so was Dr. Hebron. They were clustered together in the far corner of the courtroom, talking so quietly neither Charles nor Ororo could hear what they were saying. There was no sign of Andi.
Xavier wheeled his chair over to the tight knot of people. "Where is Andi," he said tightly. "Dr. Hebron, where is Alexandra? What are you doing with her?"
"I would also like to know that," said Judge Ridenour's voice. He'd come in so quietly no one heard him come in. "You were ordered to deliver Alexandra to the children's shelter last night at five o'clock. You did not do so. I am now fining you a thousand dollars for contempt, and if Alexandra is not here in this courtroom in the next three minutes I will raise the fine another five hundred dollars."
Dr. Hebron stood facing the judge. "I am sorry, your honor," he said. "But when I got home yesterday and told Alexandra the news, she resisted the idea of going to the children's shelter strenuously. I told her she would have to go at five, but when I went up to her room at four thirty I found her window open and she was gone. She did leave a note, however." He held up a sheet of paper. The judge took it, read it, and then passed it to Xavier and Ororo.
Xavier stared at the paper. It went;
To whom it may concern:
I am perfectly happy here in my new home with Dr. Hebron. He has given me everything I need and want, and I wish to stay. I am grateful to my parents for allowing me to live with him and continue my training. I have no wish to return to school, as he has kindly agreed to allow me to attend a regular school. However, if my parents and Mr. Xavier insist I am better off without him, then I shall oblige. I'm running away. I would rather live on the street than with my parents or anywhere that Daddy Hebron isn't with me . Sincerely, Alexandra Sanderson.
Xavier reread this in silence. "Your Honor," he said finally, "Though we have not been long acquainted with Alexandra, I do not believe this is her writing, nor do I believe the sentiments expressed in this letter."
"I don't either," the judge said. "Do you have anything else to say?"
Xavier took a deep breath. "I believe that Alexandra is being held against her will at Dr. Hebron's residence. Though it is highly irregular, I would like to call a favor in with a friend of mine in the police department and arrange to have a search done of Mr. Hebron's premises."
"Now wait a minute!" All the color drained from David Hebron's face, and he took a step forward. "This is a gross intrusion upon my privacy! Your Honor, I demand my rights! I will not have my home ransacked!"
"Ordinarily I would agree with you, Mr. Hebron," the judge said, "But in this case I rather think you may indeed be hiding the child; for what purpose, I don't know. Therefore, I will have a search warrant executed for the search and removal of the minor Alexandra Sanderson on the property and premises of Dr. Hebron, to be conducted this afternoon. Mr. Xavier, if you would have your contact in the police department contact my office, they may have the warrant forthwith. We will reconvene here tomorrow morning at ten o'clock to finalize this case. Mr. Hebron," he said warningly to the doctor, "If I find that Mr. Xavier's allegations are true and you are indeed holding the child against her will, you will be spending quite a long time in jail, I can promise you that." He banged his gavel on the desk and left the courtroom without a further word to anyone.
Xavier sat back, grimly satisfied, as Ororo wheeled his chair out into the hallway.
* * *
"Preston!"
Dr. Hebron's 'assistant' hurried to the door at the sound of his boss's shout. "Yes, doc?"
"They're on their way here with a search warrant for Alexandra. They mustn't find her. Help me get her moved."
They descended the steps to the cellar, and unlocked and opened the heavy metal door on the tiny concrete cell. Andi lay on the floor exactly where Hebron had dropped her when he left the house that morning, nude and still unconscious. To make extra sure, he filled a needle with the same sedative he had been lacing her water with and injected it straight into her arm. She never felt them pick her up and place her on top of a tarp.
They rolled the tarp up and wrapped rope around it, securing the unresisting girl in the layers and folds of canvas. Together they dragged the bulky package outside, where she was then dumped into the trunk of Dr. Hebron's car. The door was slammed shut, and Hebron handed Preston the keys. "Take the car to the dirt road behind the house and leave it there. Then come back." He looked down at himself, at the filthy stains on his clothes from Alexandra's body and the smears of blood, and swore. "I have to get cleaned up."
By the time Xavier's lift-equipped van and three police cars pulled up in the street in front of the house, he was dressed in clean clothes and had thrown a pink spread on Preston's bed upstairs to make it look like Alexandra's bed. He had stuffed a mop, bucket, and a bunch of cleaning supplies into the concrete cell, to make it look like it was being used as a storage closet. The electroshock machine he had been using on Andi was in a corner of the 'closet' with a sheet draped over it so that it would appear to be a simple cleaning cart.
The officers spread out as soon as they got in, though the Sergeant in charge of the search remained in the foyer, talking to Charles while Hebron stood stiffly off to the side, unsmiling. Xavier obtained permission for Ororo to accompany one of the officers upstairs (as long as she didn't touch anything; only the police were allowed to do that), and opened a telepathic link to her so that he could see what she was seeing.
Ororo looked around the attic. It was dusty, littered with years of forgotten debris, and she was about to walk out when she saw that one sheet looked like it had recently been disturbed. She pulled the sheet off, and swallowed hard.
Under the sheet was a heavy mahogany chair, four solid legs and a high back, and two solid wood armrests. What disturbed her though was the tape wrapped around those armrests. Only on the bottom, and none on top, and she couldn't see any discernible reason why the chair should have tape on it unless it had been recently used to restrain someone in it. The seat had once been nicely padded with a burgundy leather seat, but the padding looked to have been ripped off, exposing the hard wood of the seat bottom.
Charles, she thought, but Xavier was already in her mind, looking at the odd chair through her eyes. This doesn't look good for Andi, he said to her, and there was a worried undertone to his mindvoice. Please continue. Don't say anything yet.
Ororo left the attic, descending the stairs and entering the room that was supposed to have been Andi's. this room just felt wrong to her as well. The pink spread was obviously meant for a girl, but for a much younger child than a seventeen year old. It contrasted starkly with the dark green pillows, dark green easy chair in the corner, and dark-green wallpaper border. She supposed that maybe there hadn't been time to redecorate, but the dresser top was devoid of all the little things that a girl needed; hairbrush, and, with Andi's long hair, elastics and pins to pull it back. She picked up the hairbrush that was there, and studied the strands caught in its bristles. Andi didn't use a brush like this; it would have tangled and yanked her hair unmercifully. The brush wasn't hers then. She looked in the drawer when the officer had turned his back and instantly realized that decorating delays or not, there was no way this was Andi's room. Andi wouldn't be wearing white men's briefs.
She imparted that knowledge to Charles as she followed the officers into Dr. Hebron's room. The walls were hung with engraved plaques bearing his name, and a huge mirror dominated the wall above his dresser. The dresser top was crowded with men's cologne, aftershave, and other things; it was a completely ordinary man's room…until she looked up.
There was a huge mirror fixed to the ceiling above the heavy four-poster bed. The canopy of the bed had been taken down, leaving four bare poles thrust into the air. And Ororo, walking closer, thought she detected the same traces of tape around the posts that she had seen on the chair in the attic.
She followed the officer downstairs, through the kitchen, living room, and hallway into the dining room. The officers opened all the cupboards as a matter of course, and one shelf held a number of bottles and dispensary items, such as one would expect to find in a drugstore. A packet of syringes, half-empty; bottles of liquid vitamins, and various other fluids, most of which had names she couldn't pronounce. Only one did she recognize; sodium pentathol. She sucked in a breath, replaced the bottle exactly where she'd found it, then followed the officers down to the basement.
The basement floor was free of dust and dirt; way too clean. Ororo had never seen a \basement like this; the only time she'd seen one this clean was when it was being used, and on a regular basis. Immediately catching her eye was the large cement structure built up against one wall, with a heavy metal door. Her heart leaped, and one of the officers helped her pull the door open, disregarding the order for her not to touch anything.
The smell hit them first. Ororo found her eyes watering and her nose stinging as she tasted the heavy, acrid fumes of bleach in her nasal cavities and throat. The offocer pulled her back until the smell had dissipated a little, then they looked back inside.
It looked inside like a janitor's closet. Buckets, mops, brooms, and what looked like a cleaning cart covered with a sheet sat in it. Ororo shook her head. It was far too dark in there for her to even distinguish the shapes without a flashlight; not even the light from the basement fixture helped. Then, the door was metal. And there was a heavy bolt on it. Who needed a bolt on a cleaning closet? She reached down and ran her fingers over the concrete floor in the corner. Her fingers came away smeared with a thick, smelly substance that was undeniably fecal matter and human liquid waste, all saturated with bleach. The officer sampled the muck with his fingers, too; and wrinkled his nose at the smell. "Ma'am," he started. "It's not my place to say it, but I think this is suspicious. Someone was being held in here."
Ororo nodded in agreement as she reached down to pick up something hidden in the shadows. It was another dispensary bottle. The officer took it form her and whistled. "That's a powerful narcotic,' he said. "It's actually used as an animal tranquilizer. If they used it on the little girl we're looking for…"
I'm fairly certain he did. Xavier's mindvoice was full of anger. What did this man do with Alexandra? She hasn't run away. I'm certain of it.
The officers reconvened in the living room, overlooking the back yard. The shed had been searched; and they hadn't found anything. Ororo idly looked out the back window as Xavier and the officers were talking. "She must be here somewhere," Xavier said, frustrated, to Sergeant Chester. "The tranquilizer has not been empty long. Mr. Hebron, where is she? Where is Alexandra?" His fists were clenched.
Ororo's gaze was caught by the sight of someone moving about in the high grass almost obscuring the roadway behind Dr. Hebron's home. A park must lie behind there, she thought. A perfect place for children to play. The figure fought its way out from the grass and began to walk toward the house.
Her eyes narrowed. Men's briefs…the dark green shirt this man was wearing…the absence of dust on the man's dark pants, which would have been dusty if he had walked out to the field there and was now walking back. Therefore, he must have driven…what had he driven? She cased a gust of wind to blow over the tall grass, and caught a glimpse of a car outlined in the weeds.
"The car!" she cried out, springing to her feet. "The car! Dr. Hebron drove a car to the courthouse, and it's not here now!" She didn't stop to explain; she caused a howling wind to rise, and it picked up the car and brought it down to rest on the green back lawn of Hebron's house. The police poured out of the house; one of the officers brought a crowbar, and Ororo watched as he pried the trunk open. Then two of the officers lifted out the bulky, tarp-wrapped package squeezed into the trunk and set it on the ground. A quick swipe of an officer's penknife opened the rope, and Ororo cried out in horror and dismay as she fell to her knees beside the still figure.
Andi lay on the tarp, nude. She was skeletally thin, and the burn scars on her hips and ribs were covered with fresh burns. There were two more burns Ororo hadn't seen before on Andi's breasts. The breasts themselves were mottled with ugly purple and black and green bruises, as though she had been beaten with a belt. When Ororo lifted the girl into her arms she saw the same bruises marked the girl's back, shoulders, buttocks, and thighs, all the way down to the back of her knees. There was a wooden block shoved into Andi's mouth and tied in place with a rag, and her lips were cracked and swollen from lack of moisture. The officer that had escorted Ororo throught the house turned the thin arm upward, and showed everyone the needle tracks in her thin arms. "Andi," she breathed. "Andi…"
Eyelids fluttered. Andi's brown eyes opened, blinked, then closed. For a moment Ororo thought she had just died, and tears filled her eyes, but the officer peeled back one of Andi's eyelids and said reassuringly, 'She's heavily drugged, and in the heat of that trunk, she's probably dehydrated."
"Let's get her to a hospital," Sergeant Chester said. As he pulled out his radio, he saw Hebron bolt for the gate leading out to the street. Two officers belatedly realized he was fleeing, and gave chase, but Hebron seemed to have too great a headstart.
Xavier reached out telepathically and froze Hebron in a mental grip so strong the man almost screamed. Ororo took a quick look at Xavier, and was shocked at the look on his face. Xavier's expression was one of overwhelming anger and fierce joy as he watched Hebron writhe on the ground. He kept the man there until the police officers reached him, and only then did he release Hebron's mind.
Hebron stumbled to his feet. As the officers dragged him past Xavier, the man stopped. "What kind of monster are you?" he cried hoarsely. "What kind of monster are you that you could torture me like that?"
"What kind of monster are you, that you could do that to a child?" Xavier shot back. "That is what Andi felt, every day for a year, while locked away in your asylum. That is what you subjected her to. I gave you only what you gave her. How well would you hold up if I forced you to endure that for a year?" Hebron remained silent, and after a moment, the officers pulled him back over to the back of the police car. Xavier watched somberly as the car pulled away and was replaced by an ambulance.