Ch.31

Luis continued walking around the compound, dodging and hiding from people when necessary. He hadn't used his cop skills in a long time and it felt good to display them. It almost made him smile.

He still hadn't found Ethan or Teresa yet. As he approached the next set of buildings however, his guy told him he was close.

He slowly approached a door in the back of the first building. Carefully, he turned the knob and stuck his head in, making sure no one was in there. He didn't see anyone.

He slid in and looked around. The room was dark and dusty. There was no furniture in it. It all seemed strangely familiar to him.

~ This must be a room they kept me in ~ he thought, looking at the tally marks on the wall. His fingers traced them gently as he closed his eyes.

"One for each day away from Sheridan," he whispered to himself, the realization of where he was hitting him with full force. "This is the room."

His thoughts were interrupted by a sound coming from the corner. He snapped around, looking to what caused it.

"Hello?" he called out.

No answer.

He crept towards the corner, his eyes adjusting to see what was there.

It was a person.

"Hey, are you alright?" Luis asked, hesitant to get closer.

"Help…me..." the person said, his voice ragged. "Luis…"

Luis was startled. Who was this person?

HE walked a little closer…that's when he saw him.

Ethan!

"Ethan, is that you?" Luis asked racing towards him. He dropped to the ground to his bleeding friend.

"Jesus Ethan," Luis moaned.

His face was covered in blood, barely recognizable. His clothes were ripped, his left eye swollen shut. Luis also noticed a few of his fingers were broken.

"Ethan, what did they do to you?"

He coughed.

"Wh-where's Teresa?" he asked groggily.

"I don't know Ethan…do you know where she is?"

Luis saw a few tears fall from the corner of his eye.

"Luis, you need to find her," Ethan said, his voice still shaky, but determined. "They're going to kill her."

"Ethan, I need to get you out of here…Fox is here distracting Rebecca…"

"No!" Ethan yelled. "Find her first. I'm alright here."

Luis didn't move.

"GO LUIS!" Ethan screamed angrily. "NOW!"

Luis smiled.

"I am going to help Teresa Ethan…but not until I get you out of here."

Luis bent over and tried to get Ethan up.

"Luis, don't worry about me!" He yelled.

"Ethan, Shut up alright?" Luis finally said. "I'm getting you out of here whether you want me to or not…don't make me beat you even more up than you already are because you wont shut up."

Ethan grew quiet, wincing in pain as Luis got him to his feet and began leading him out of the building."

"Someone is going to see us," Ethan said.

"Are you kidding? You're working with the master," Luis said boasting. "I am not going to let them see us."

As soon as the words flew out of his mouth, they heard a voice from behind them.

"Freeze!"

They stopped dead in their tracks looking at each other.

"Well shit," Luis said.

Fox, meanwhile, had gone off to look for Teresa. Rebecca had "important calls to make," so he was left alone.

He immediately went to building 5; the place he knew was off limits when he was younger.

He walked in, every room practically deserted. He looked around for anything that would help him out, a picture, a phone number, anything. But, as usual, there was nothing.

He sighed frustrated, looking at his watch. He had to meet Luis in a few minutes and hated to be empty handed. He hoped that Luis had had better luck.

As he was walking towards the door, he stopped. He took in a deep breath.

"That smell," he said.

"That's Teresa's perfume!"