The One With The Indecent Proposal

By: Jana~

Chapter Seventeen

*****************

--"Does anyone have any thoughts to how we're gonna deal with the… going to the bathroom, situation?" Monica asked haltingly, breaking the dead silence of the room.

"I wondered who would be the first," Joey muttered, looking back at the woman with sympathy.

"Well, we should probably keep to the back wall, for that," Chandler suggested. "Plus, the incline works in our favor that way."

"How come she couldn't have locked us up in there?" Joey whined, gesturing to the door on the other side of the room that led to the Roman Spa. "At least there's a bathroom in there. And it's warm, with comfortable lounge chairs to lounge in."

"Because she wanted us to suffer," Phoebe reminded. "Locking us up in the lap of luxury isn't exactly torture, now is it?"

"I thought going to the bathroom while out camping was bad," Monica mumbled as she stared at the back wall of the cave. "At least in the wilderness there are bushes to obscure you."

Trying to be a comfort, Joey said, "Don't worry, we won't look or anything."

Uncomfortable, and just a bit weirded out by the situation, she forced a strained smile as she thanked him.

**

--"Ok, sir," the officer announced as he approached the sergeant, "We have the guy's name and number."

"Patch it through," the sergeant ordered, his attention on the piece of paper with the information on it. "Kyle Brock," he read in a whisper, taking the phone when handed to him.

"Hello," the sergeant's voice boomed with authority. "This is Sergeant Cumins of the New York Police Department-"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?!" the man on the other end asked irately.

"Yes, sir, I'm sorry about the time, but I need to speak with Mr. Kyle Brock," Sergeant Cumins insisted. "It's urgent."

"This is Kyle Brock," the man grumbled. "What do you want at this insane hour of the morning?"

"Sir, we got a call tonight, about a possible hostage situation at your former residence on Heaton Place, and, well, we need your help sir, with the layout- the floorplan, of the home."

"Hostage situation?" Mr. Brock's tone was less combative, listening further.

"Yes, sir," the sergeant confirmed. "Now, we have reason to believe that the possible hostages are being kept in some sort of makeshift dungeon on the property, possibly accessible through some sort of secret passageway?"

"A what?" the man laughed. "A dungeon? I'm sorry, officer, but, to my knowledge, there is no dungeon on the property. At least, there wasn't when I lived there. What the new owner has added, I wouldn't know about."

"What about the rumors that you had secret passageways built and-?"

"Officer Cumins," Mr. Brock countered, "Rumors are the name of the game in my business. You can't believe everything you hear or read. Now, if you don't mind, since I'm up, I'm going to go get a nice cup of tea before attempting to catch a little more sleep." He didn't wait for an answer before hanging up.

"Well," the sergeant announced, "He claims he knows nothing about a dungeon or secret passageways."

"Not possible," the helpful officer interjected. "There was a huge article about it in some magazine, and he was photographed at the entrance to one of the secret tunnels." When everyone began eyeing him suspiciously, he defensively asked, "What?"

One officer laughed as he patted his partner on the back. "Hey, what you do on your own time…"

"Oh, cut it out," the first officer snipped. "My wife and I are going to a fertility expert, if you must know, and when you make your… deposit, they lock you in a room with a lot of porn mags, ok?"

Sergeant Cumins cleared his throat, getting the officers' attention. "Alright, men, bottom line here is, Mr. Brock lied to me, and I don't like to be lied to. Find out who is in patrol nearest his current residence and have them pick him up for questioning."

"Yes, sir!"

*

--"You really messed this up. That was the police! They are actually there, snooping around, trying to find the hostages!"

"I wasn't exactly expecting an extra person to be there, ok, Kyle?" Ursula spat back. "You didn't exactly hold up your end of things either, did'ja? I mean, the money wasn't even where you said it would be! It was in the main hallway, under a trap door, under a suit of armor!"

"Shut up," he grumbled, irritated, "Or I'll gag you again."

Pulling against the rope that held her firmly to the chair, she snapped, "Bite me, fat ass! You had no intention of taking me with you, did you? You just used me to get Chandler's money!"

"Of course," he answered casually, resuming his task of packing. "You're a liability, sweetheart, and I'm not really the type to share, anyway."

"I hope your plane crashes!" she snipped, poison in her tone.

"Such a horrible thing to wish for," he returned cockily. "What about all those innocent people on the plane with me?"

"I hope the plane crashes," she corrected, glaring hard, "With only one fat ass fatality."

*

--"So, what happens now?" Ross asked Sergeant Cumins, Rachel hanging on his arm, looking concerned.

"Well," the sergeant answered, "We take Mr. Brock down to the station and hope we can extract information from him."

"What if he isn't cooperative?" Ross asked. "What if it takes hours or even days to crack him? There has to be another way to find out about the layout of this place! Like, maybe the architect? Or the real estate agent!" he announced excitedly. "She or he might know, right?"

The sergeant stared back for a moment, a tiny grin being suppressed. "Who's in charge here, you or me?"

"Sorry," Ross apologized, "Just offering suggestions."

"And they're good ones," Sergeant Cumins complimented. "Patterson," he called out to a nearby officer, "Find out which real estate agency handled the sale of the residence, and then find out which agent specifically was in charge of showing the place."

"Yes, sir!" He was off in a flash.

"Don't worry, guys," The sergeant directed the comment to Ross and Rachel. "One way or another, we'll find out what's going on here."

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but, what the hell is going on?"

Sergeant Cumins spun around, staring back at the man responsible for the inquiry. "Who are you?"

"Jack Pearson," the man introduced himself. "I'm here to tend to the pool."

"You're an employee here?" Ross asked, and the man nodded. "Do you know anything about a dungeon, or secret passageways?"

The sergeant in charge seemed a little annoyed that Ross was essentially doing his job for him, but said nothing as he waited for the pool guy to answer.

"Of course," Jack said easily. "You can't even get to the pool without passing through the dungeon."

Tension in the room elevated tenfold when that information hit the air, everyone very aware that a huge piece of the puzzle was about to be solved.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Sorry the chapter is a bit short, but it was a good place to cut it. Did'ja see that coming? Huh? Did'ja, did'ja?

Ok, so, you know what it takes to make me happy… leave a review!

Please.

MTLBYAKY