"Tony..." she whined, reaching up to swat whatever it was away -- only to have him grab her wrist before she could touch it.
"'Fraid not, sweetums," said a low, unfamiliar voice from somewhere above her head.
The confusion caused by this made Michelle open her eyes properly and squint upwards, and then gasp when she saw that a strange man with his two front teeth missing was holding a gun to her head.
"'Mornin' sunshine," he said, and Michelle realized that in his other hand he held a second gun, pointed squarely at Tony's temple. She couldn't see Tony's face from this angle, but she knew he must be glaring like he was trying to will this guy to burst into flames. This thought kick-started her own resolve, and she narrowed her eyes.
"What do you want?" she asked coldly.
The toothy grin grew wider. "I got a message for ya."
"From who?"
"Oh, I think you know." The man sat back, and it was only now that Michelle realized he was straddling both her and Tony just below the waist, pinning them both to the bed.
"Still be nice to hear you say it."
"Nuh-uh-uh. Not part of my instructions."
"What were your instructions?" asked Tony.
"Find you. Make sure you're listenin'. Tell you my boss will have revenge for what happened to his brother. Tell you the worst day of your life is rapidly approachin', and there's nothin' you can do to stop it. Yep." He looked at Michelle, sliding the gun down across her jaw to her neck. "I think that was more or less it." He brought the gun down further, past her collarbone, over her breast...
"You leave my wife alone, you son of a bitch," Tony snarled.
Michelle's glare matched her husband's as they stared at the intruder, who shrugged and smiled at them. "Okay then." He pulled back and edged off of them, still keeping the guns trained at their heads, finally jumping backwards onto the floor. "Oh yeah, and I tied your feet to the bed," he said, holstered his guns, and ran.
Tony and Michelle jerked into sitting positions instantaneously, only to find that their ankles were tied to the bedposts with thick string. Michelle sighed, staring at her foot, but Tony swore and began kicking wildly, trying to break the string.
"Stop, Tony, don't do that! You'll hurt yourself!"
"Fucking bastard!" Tony yelled, pulling furiously at his bonds.
"Honey, please..." Michelle took his hand. "He's long gone. Calm down."
"We can't let him get away!" he cried, but he did stop struggling and look at her, though she could hardly look back when she saw the pain in his face.
"He's already gotten away," she said, keeping her voice as steady as she could.
She could see Tony wanted to argue, but he knew she was right. He sighed. "Are you okay?" he asked, pulling with the hand she was practically clinging to now and bringing her closer.
"I'm fine," she lied, even though she knew Tony wouldn't believe it for a second.
"Uh-huh," he said, and she shook her head and burst into tears.
-- --
It was cold outside.
Michelle stood leaning against the car, hugging herself, watching Tony arguing with the proprietor of the motel over by its entrance. She sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out... well, everything.
She and Tony had decided to move, yet again, so had quickly repacked their stuff and woken up the proprietor, one Mr. Simmons, to explain what had happened and ask to use his computer to send an urgent e-mail. Michelle had written to Jack to ask for any information he could find on any brothers of Rees', while Tony had put all their stuff in the car, plus a few blankets from their room which he was hoping to buy from Simmons for a fair price. Which was what they were arguing about now.
Michelle opened her eyes to see Tony reaching for his wallet, which hopefully meant that they had finally agreed on a price. Closing her eyes again, she tried once more to make sense of the 'message' they had received.
My boss will have revenge for what happened to his brother.
The trouble was that it didn't make sense. Neither Michelle nor Tony knew anything about any brothers Rees might have, let alone what might have happened to make him want revenge on either of them. The only real explanation she could think of was that Rees had the wrong people, and that Tony's role in putting him in prison was merely a coincidence, but that seemed too far-fetched to be a real possibility. She supposed it was possible that any of the men she and Tony had helped bring down might in some way be construed as his 'brother'; maybe the term wasn't meant literally. But if that was true, the possible identities of the brother were practically endless, and that definitely wasn't a nice thought.
The sound of footsteps made Michelle look up, and she saw Tony coming towards her across the asphalt, removing his jacket as he walked. She smiled.
"You ready?" he asked when he reached her, lifting the jacket and wrapping around her shoulders in one fluid motion.
"Yeah," she said, pulling his arms and the jacket tighter around her, appreciating the warmth. "Let's go."
-- --
"So where are we going?" Michelle asked, hoping against hope that Tony had somehow thought of some miracle solution to all their problems.
"The loneliest patch of nowhere we can find," he replied. "I think the best we can do is sleep in the car tonight, then figure out what we're gonna do in the morning." The normal joviality in his voice was strained.
Michelle nodded. "Okay."
She sat there for a minute, staring out the window at the trees passing in the darkness, each lit up for a moment like a ghost by the headlights. "Tony?"
"Yeah?"
"We are gonna be okay." She said it as much to comfort herself as him.
"Yeah." He flashed her a smile, and she tried to ignore the uncertainty she saw flickering in his eyes. "I know."
Author's Note: Yes, I shamelessly stole that line from Firefly and altered it to suit my own purposes.
(Don't know which line I'm talking about? You need to watch more Firefly. Oh, and see Serenity in theaters on September 30th.)