Chapter 10
Montgomery Field Airport - 6 Miles North of San Diego (Abandoned Repair and Maintenance Hangar)
Darien stood with feet spread apart and fingers laced behind his head, cringing as a leering Sartori patted him down; the man's hands lingering that bit longer than was absolutely necessary on certain parts of his body. As a precaution he'd quicksilvered the tiny earpiece; his only link with Bobby, and to his relief it remained undetected throughout the search.
Over in one corner, lying on what looked like a pile of dirty sacking was Claire, her hands and feet bound with duct tape. She wasn't moving.
The moment Sartori stepped away Darien moved quickly to crouch down at his Keepers side, fingers gently brushing aside strands of hair matted with dirt and what looked like blood from her badly grazed face.
"Hey, Claire."
She whimpered a little before opening her eyes, and Darien wished he could break someone's head for hurting her like this. Fighting to control his burning rage he spoke to Ella Craven, though not really expecting anything much from her after the double cross at the zoo.
"The deal was me for her."
"Well there's been a slight change of plan," she stated coldly. "Before we fly out of here, we thought you might appreciate the chance to get some pay back for all those horrible lies she told you."
Claire's bound hands reached up to grasp his sleeve, alarm in her eyes.
Before he had a chance to respond, to reassure her, Sartori grabbed a handful of Darien's collar and hauled him upright, pushing him roughly into the middle of the empty space. It was then that he noticed the big man held a small camcorder in his free hand, now pointed in Darien's direction.
"You're about to become famous," Ella advised with a hint of humor. "We thought we'd make a movie to showcase your…uh…special talents and prove that you will do as you're told with the right incentive. Maybe we'll send a copy to Bobby," she taunted. "So he'll have something to remember you both by."
The woman slowly circled Darien obviously enjoying the moment and when her hand reached out to brush his face he took a step away, knowing full well it would irritate the hell out of her. He met her gaze defiantly despite the knot of dread in his stomach.
She shrugged, seemingly oblivious to this rejection.
"He's certainly got the looks of a Hollywood heartthrob don't you think Bruno? But then it all really comes down to what sort of a performance we can get from him on the day. Hmm, now let's see..." Her tone was playful and Sartori chuckled appreciatively.
"Perhaps we should start with a little quicksilver display…time to show our customers why they'll be paying top dollar for you pretty boy."
As she was speaking Ella made her way across to Claire and bent down to slip a small penknife through her bindings, then spitefully grabbed a handful of blond hair to drag the still semi-dazed woman to her feet. Darien took a faltering step towards them, stopping dead in his tracks when Ella produced a handgun which she jammed into his Keeper's side.
"Uh, uh, just do your thing baby," she warned, twisting the gun against Claire's already tender flesh to produce a tiny yelp of pain.
"Darien…" Claire started.
"Shut the fuck up, Keepie," Ella hissed , and then sternly to Darien, "Don't make me ask again."
He nodded closing his eyes, seconds later the first silver threads appearing just below his hairline snaking downwards, then spreading and coiling rapidly to swathe his entire body until his shimmering form faded and suddenly disappeared from sight.
It was an impressive show and Ella sighed appreciatively, she would never really get used to the sight of the quicksilver in all its glory. A few minutes later the tiny metallic flakes tumbled from Darien's now very visible self and he was looking straight at her expectantly; this little demonstration was far from over, he could sense that something bad was coming.
"Well that should have them reaching for their check books." Sartori grinned, panning in with the camera so that the lens was just inches away from Darien's face. "Let's get some of that classic profile on film."
Ella released Claire with a hard shove that sent her stumbling right into Darien, his arms steadying and then encircling her protectively as she gripped him tightly in turn, trembling uncontrollably.
"You should never have handed yourself over to these…these monsters," Claire spoke quietly, casting a wary glance to where Craven and Sartori were huddled together in deep conversation, obviously planning something.
"Ssshh." Darien put a finger to her lips. "It doesn't matter now."
She stared up into those soulful eyes with the sudden realization that despite all the hurt she had unintentionally caused him, he would still willingly sacrifice himself for her. Sensing her mounting distress he planted a quick kiss on her forehead with a whispered, "Trust me."
"Now isn't that a sweet little scene?" Ella commented to Sartori acidly. "After everything the bitch and that Agency have done to him, he still wants to cling to his precious Keeper."
"Yeah, well I'd pick Claire over you any time," Darien stated flatly, his steady gaze meeting Ella's, and he couldn't suppress his own satisfied smirk at the flash of anger he got from her this time.
"That's your problem Darien, but you're just going to have to let go."
The gun was pointing at Claire again and Ella motioned for her to back away. When she was satisfied she turned her full attention on him once again, smiling as she placed the gun on the ground halfway between them.
"I want you to shoot her." Her words were all the more shocking for the casual way they were spoken. Claire gasped.
"Screw you," Darien retorted with a snort of disbelief.
Ella purred happily. "We've so been down that road baby."
Shrugging nonchalantly she continued with her game. "Well, it seems to me you have two really simple choices here. Claire's life… or Bobby's."
Tension was heavy in the air now as she waited for her words to penetrate.
"If I'd given Hobbes the right code for the timer he would have disarmed the bomb by now, but we wanted to make things a little more interesting for him. It's one of Bruno's specials." She smiled fondly at her friend. "A tricky little device, similar to the one you planted in Chicago, and you remember how effective that was?"
She savored the moment as the first real sign of uncertainty crept onto Darien's face.
"So, it's your decision Darien. The life of your Keeper versus good ole Bobby, and probably the entire civilian population at that zoo and, not to mention anyone else within spitting distance once the nerve agent is airborne. Women, children…panda… there hasn't been time to evacuate.
"You shoot her and I'll let you make the call to Hobbes with the correct code to disarm the device. It's due to detonate," she glanced at her wristwatch, "in ten minutes, so I wouldn't take too long to make your choice…tick…tick…tick."
He looked at Claire, fear in both of their eyes now.
With a barely perceptible nod of her head Ella Craven motioned for Sartori to put the camera back on Darien. It was time for his final scene.
Darien knelt down, his trembling fingers sliding hesitantly around the butt of the gun, turning despairing eyes on Ella. "Don't make me do this."
"You'll just have to live with your choice. Now pick up the gun," she spat.
"I…I can't," he said softly.
And then suddenly he was doubled over and crying out as pure agony ravaged his entire body, Ella stood over him, fingers stroking the trigger device. She'd only given him a fairly minor jolt, nothing too debilitating, but from their many sessions back at the DoD facility she was perfectly aware how far she could take things. Everyone had their breaking point and she would have no qualms whatsoever in pushing him to the brink to get what she wanted.
Claire struggled vainly to get to him but found her way barred by Sartori, so she knelt helplessly watching her friend's torment, quietly grieving for both of them now.
And then the pain was gone and Darien huddled there, breathing hard for a long time until Ella spoke to him again, her booted foot kicking the gun in his direction.
"Just do it Darien, or by God you'll have the death of Bobby and all those innocents on your hands…and I'll just shoot her anyway."
"Darien." Claire's voice was gentle and he turned towards her. "Darien, you don't have a choice sweetheart."
She pushed herself upright on unsteady legs until she was facing him, with Sartori moving in behind so that he could film Darien over her shoulder.
"In any case, I'd rather it was by your hand than either of these two scumbags," she stated defiantly, squaring her shoulders and pushing a stray lock of hair from her lovely face, determined not to show them how truly terrified she was. She could only hope that Darien would at least make it quick, not caring to dwell too much on his consistently lousy marksmanship scores on the Agency firing range.
Darien staggered to his feet, the gun now held loosely at his side. Claire noting that his expression was a little weird though, as if he wasn't really there with them for the moment and she thought that this was possibly one of the residual effects of the nano-bug. He looked distracted as if he was listening to something, head cocked slightly to one side. Then an odd thing happened - a tiny smile touched the corners of his mouth and as he raised his head to stare directly at her, she saw the fear and despair of a few moments earlier now replaced by something else.
"Claire do you trust me?"
She nodded numbly, thinking that maybe he could have picked a better moment to ask her a question like that.
"Good. Then I want you to do something for me when I tell ya," he continued.
Just at that moment the familiar voice crackled again through Darien's earpiece.
"…Okay Fawkesy, I sure hope you're getting this partner… I repeat…it's an affirmative; the bomb has been disarmed. Had to do it the hard way cause the crafty bitch gave us the wrong code, but you gotta get up early to pull that one on Bobby Hobbes.. You and Keepie hang tough kid, the cavalry's on its way."
Darien suddenly raised the gun with a remarkably steady hand aiming It directly at his Keeper's head.
"Claire…DUCK!"
Without hesitation she threw herself to the floor just as his finger squeezed the trigger. The sudden almost deafening blast filled the cavernous empty space as the trajectory of the bullet penetrated the camera lens dead center, going straight on through Sartori's right eye to embed itself in his brain, killing him instantly.
A split second after he fired the gun Darien dropped and spun, his legs taking a stunned Ella Craven's out from under her in a quickly modified version of a Ju Jitsu ankle throw, proving that not all of the intense combat training sessions with Sartori had gone to waste; the shocked woman crashed heavily to the floor.
Straddling her even before she had time to recover, an evil smile twisting his features as he grabbed for her wrists, he released the catch on the trigger device and took it off her for the second time in 48 hours.
"Nuh, uh,uh . Now why do I have to keep reminding you to play nice?"
The woman's face had contorted into an ugly mask of pure unadulterated hatred, as she thrashed about beneath him screaming in rage and frustration.
""If I ever get my hands on you again you're a dead man, do you hear me Fawkes?"
Claire crawled over to take a look at the hysterical, screaming harpy, currently pinned beneath her friend. "The only thing you'll be getting your hands on for the next thirty odd years sister, is the prison laundry."
"Keepie, would you?" Looking more than a little amused, Darien inclined his head down towards his hissing, bucking captive. "I don't think I can hold her much longer anyway."
It was Claire's turn to smile wickedly now. "Why Darien nothing would give me greater pleasure."
"Okay. On the count of one…two…three." He pushed himself up and backwards fast just as Ella tried to bring her knee into his groin, Claire stepping into the space he'd occupied a second earlier, swinging her fist to impact the woman's jaw with a satisfying crunch. Ella went down and stayed down.
Her Kept looked suitably impressed. "Hey, way to go Keepie."
Claire smiled thinly, blowing on her bruised knuckles. "Bugger, I think I've broken my fingers."
Darien gently took the injured hand in his, bringing it to his lips for a light kiss.
"Now all we have to do is wait for Bobby to come get us."
"But…how…I mean how will he know where to find us?" she asked curiously, not really understanding why Darien was now dangling the trigger device in front of her face.
"The nano-nasty also has a tracking signal," he explained with a slow grin. "All I needed to do was piss her off enough to activate it here so that Hobbesy could get a fix on our location."
"Which reminds me." Plucking the device from between his fingers Claire dropped it on the floo and brought her heel down as hard as she could, grinding until all that remained was a tangled mass of shattered plastic and metal parts.
Then their arms were around each other as they walked towards the exit, stepping outside into the afternoon sunshine to wait for Bobby.
TBC
