Drayden's Aspen Home…
The lights were dim, and only the glow from the fireplace illuminated the spacious living room of Abney's Aspen home. He was standing in front of it, his handsome face twisted in anger. Rousseau and another one of his lackeys stood several feet away, watching him in fear. They knew what was on his mind, and what they had to do now to prove themselves.
A glass half filled with brandy rested in Abney's hand as he stared into the red-amber flames in front of him. His face continued to contort in anger until he finally lost it, the glass of brandy flying into the fire and bursting into orange flames as the alcohol burned off.
"You fools!" Abney yelled as his sharp gaze fell upon his minions. "How could you screw up such a simple task? All you had to do was find the two cops and kill them!" He crossed the so fast neither Rousseau nor the man standing beside him could prepare for the knife being shoved in their faces.
Abney grabbed the nameless man's hand, twisting it until it was behind his back and plunging the knife straight through his palm. His blood curdling scream reverberated throughout the spacious room as Rousseau stepped back, praying he'd be spared the same fate.
"Do you see this?" Abney turned to him and asked, twisting the knife deeper through the man's hand until the point poked through the other end, sending a trickle of blood spilling across the marble floor. Rousseau swallowed hard, nodding. "Find the cops and kill them, or you will suffer a fate worse than this." Abney finally pulled the knife out of the other man's hand, splattering blood all over the floor and the Persian run at his feet. "Now go," he dismissed both men without even bothering to look at them. Abney returned to his spot by the fireplace, grabbing a handkerchief out of his pocket to with the blood from his hands.
Rousseau made a hasty retreat as the other man stumbled out of the living room behind him. They ran out of the house to a waiting Hummer and quickly drove off in the direction of the warehouse. "Here, Dmitri," he grumbled, handing the other man a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his cheap suit. "I don't want you bleeding all over my car." He sped off down the empty road, turning onto a gravel path that bypassed any other vehicles they might encounter, including the SWAT truck that was now heading towards the mansion.
The two cars missed each other by seconds as the SWAT team made preparations for what was to happen at Abney's château in the next few minutes. They had orders to surround the place and use deadly force if necessary. Deaq had specifically told them a known terrorist was living there, making it all the more important to take precautions. As soon as the truck approached the closed gates of the mansion, the power was cut, allowing them to enter the premise.
Several miles away at the St. Regis, Deaq was staring intently at the monitors in the nearly dark room, Johnson and the other two men having pulled up chairs behind him and watching also watching as the SWAT team moved into position. It didn't take long for them to surround the mansion and announce their presence with smoke bombs.
Through the live feed, Deaq could see Abney wasn't going down without a fight. He'd probably heard and saw everything, which was why several of his thugs began shooting as SWAT made its way through the mansion. They were quickly neutralized as the team made its way deeper into the house. They found Abney in the living room, his gun drawn, poised to fire.
"Aspen Police; put your gun down!" one of the SWAT team members yelled. But when Abney began to pull on the trigger, one of the other men fired off a shot that hit him square in the upper right arm, forcing him to drop his weapon and fall to the ground.
"Aw, yeah! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" Deaq shouted at the computer screen as a wide grin crossed his lips.
From that point on, things seemed to happen at light speed. He, Johnson, and the other two cops rushed down to the station in Johnson's squad car. Deaq wanted the first crack at this guy, for obvious reasons. He'd been picturing what he'd do to Abney ever since he screwed over Van and Billie. Inflicting physical pain wasn't going to satisfy him today, even though it would make him feel better. No, he wanted Abney to suffer, and invoking the Patriot Act on his sorry ass was probably the best thing he could think of. After all, the man was linked to some of the biggest terrorist cells in the world, and he'd bought a shipment of weapons from two cops with the intent to sell.
In the harsh lights of the interrogation room where Abney sat with his hands and ankles bound by metal handcuffs and chains, Deaq hobbled in, his leg and arms sore from all the weigh he had to bear on his crutches, but none the less a gleam present in his dark eyes. There were no lawyers present to make sure Abney got treated fairly. It was only the two men in that little darkened room, the rest of the precinct stood outside the viewing mirror to watch the action unfold. They knew who Abney was and why he was there, they just didn't know what Deaq had in store for him. That was the big show they wanted to see.
Abney looked up at him with obvious disdain. Deaq couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. He strode up to Abney, and without warning, slammed his fist into the man's pretty face. The chair he sat in tipped back slightly from the blow but still managed to stay upright. Deaq wiggled his hand in the air for a moment, trying to get the pain to go down. But that didn't matter to him. It felt good after everything that had happened.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that," Deaq said in a low voice as he came face to face with Abney, looking him straight in his fierce blue eyes.
"I thought you treated criminals with a little more respect and dignity. I thought it was innocent until proven guilty. I should sue this department for cruelty," Abney spit back, his eyes darkening as a cocky smile appeared on his bleeding lips.
"See, here's the beauty of the Patriot Act, you no longer have those privileges," Deaq replied, a hint of amusement in his voice. "But if you cooperate and tell me what I need to know, I might hold back and not hit you so hard the next time." Abney just stared at him, becoming deftly silent. "Where are Van and Billie?" The man refused to answer. Deaq was beginning to get aggravated. "I'm gonna ask you nicely once more. Where are Van and Billie?" This time Abney turned his head and refused to look at him at all.
"Alright, I see how this is going down," Deaq said as he stood up and grabbed Abney by the hair, pushing his head forward and slamming it against the metal table he was sitting in front of. He slammed it down one more time for good measure, and because it just felt good. "You ready to tell me or should I do it again?" he nearly yelled, holding up Abney's bruised face and forcing him to look in his direction. The man merely spit at him and mumbled something in French.
That was the final nail in his coffin, Deaq thought as he wiped the bloody saliva off his face with his hand. He grabbed Abney's wounded and bleeding arm, twisting it behind him and putting as much pressure on it as he could. Abney cried out in agony as Deaq shouted, "Where are Van and Billie! Tell me right now!"
"Ah! They're as good as dead," Abney screamed back, the pain becoming blinding. Deaq continued to press his arm harder. "Find Xavier Rousseau and you find them." Finally, he let go of the man's arm, but not before slamming his face down against the metal table one more time just because he felt like it. Abney hadn't been put through enough pain in his mind.
Deaq hobbled out of the interrogation room, still angry, frustrated, and most of all afraid. He was afraid because he didn't know whether or not he'd be able to find his partner and his boss in time. As soon as he spotted Johnson, he made his way towards him and said, "I want every available officer out there looking for them. I want a chopper in the air doing a sweep of the area. And I want you to find any trace of Xavier Rousseau here in Aspen. I don't care if it's a piece of paper he use to wipe his ass with. I just want you to find something that might tell me where he is and where he's going."
"Yes, sir," was all the man said before he scurried off towards the front desk.
"Will you stop calling me sir?" Deaq shouted at his back, but Johnson was already too far away to hear him. Slowly sinking into a chair near the interrogation room, Deaq sighed. This was going to be a very long day, he thought, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. He was beginning to have a new found respect for Billie. He never wanted to have to deal with this kind of drama again, let alone over and over again at least a thousand times every month. How could Billie do it and not go crazy? It boggled his mind. Maybe what Van said was true… She was a cold hearted bitch. Or maybe she was just too closed off to realize it. That sounded a little more plausible even though it could go either way.
But just when Deaq thought things couldn't get any worse, the sound of footsteps echoing down the hall turned his attention to the approaching officer.
"Detective Hayes," Johnson called.
"Will you stop calling me that? It's Deaq, okay?"
"Sorry… Deaq," Johnson corrected himself. He cleared his throat before continuing. "There's a snow advisory for the entire area for the next twelve hours. The city has grounded all aircraft, including police helicopters. They're expecting at least a foot of snow to fall within the next hour, even more by the time this thing blows through."
Deaq sighed heavily. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Shit," he said under his breath as his face fell into his hands. "Can anything else go wrong?" he loudly added to no one in particular.
Hey everybody! Thank you for all your wonderful reviews. I really appreciated them. Some really helped me figure a few things out in my story. I'm so relieved that you guys liked that last chapter even tho it did bring up several questions and concerns among a few of you. About the whole drinking thing... I haven't really told you guys who I'm basing Billie's drinking problem on. Well, it's based on what one of my friends went through. He was a binge drinker, and in binge drinking, you don't need it to function all the time, but when you have a trigger for it, you can't cope w/o the alcohol. I'm not gonna go into his trigger because it's a very touchy subject that all my friends including myself are also trying to cope with. But the up side is that he's been sober for 4 months now. :) Anyway, now that I've said that, here's everything else:
prplerayne: I thought a good shock would be fun... :) I'm glad you enjoyed reading that last chapter. I had a whole lotta fun writing it, especially since I had so much inspiration from everyone. Thanks for your encouraging reviews. They've really helped me write. As for the Billine in anger management thing... LoL! That's pretty funny. I guess she might benefit from some anger management. It wouldn't kill her to be nice every once in a while!
fan4fastln: I'm gonna keep trying, LoL! I'm not one to give up. Maybe next story. But, whatever. We're all entitled to our opinions. But seriously, who would you have paired Van up with? Just wondering... I'm glad you liked that chapter. I was having fun with all the references because it's not a Fastlane story without mentioning something that happened in an episode. And I can't believe you caught the Lucky Charms thing! LoL! That's totally awesome. Hehe.
Avillie: Oh, you have no idea how right you are about things getting worse... I think this chapter just pretty much proved it. The next one will definitely give you a run for your money too. Billie torture like you wouldn't BELIEVE! And yes, they finally see they they have feelings for each other. But Van won't really be able to deal with anything after this chapter, hint... hint... (I'm sooo awful, aren't I?) Hehe, I should be doing my homework right now, too, but I got fed up with it earlier because I really don't like fixing everyone else's crap, especially when I need to use it afterwards... Definitely one of my biggest pet peeves, besides moving the little boxes all over the place in Photoshop... That just drives me up the wall! But I hope I didn't pull you away from your homework for too long with this update. I hope you enjoyed it, though. :)
agenttanya: Yes, finally! But don't be so sure about Van telling Billie anything for a while... Oooohhh... I'm being cryptic again. I gotta stop that. I know it's torture.
FoxyWombat: I was wondering where you got off to! I was gonna ask, but shit happened and I had to rush through reviews without saying much. Sorry 'bout that. Don't wanna make you feel unloved, cuz you're not! I'm grateful for your reviews. Believe me! I'm grateful for everything everyone has given me during this story... INSPIRATION! And you are so right, there won't be a happily ever after when she wakes up later on that day... I love torturing Billie. She so deserves it sometimes.
Terri: Your review had to be one of the most important ones I've gotten so far! Thank you soooo much for pointing out all that medical stuff that I didn't even know to think about. And thank you for taking a look at whatever else I have and seeing how I can make it a little more medically sound. And, yes, everyone's entitled to their soapbox. That's what makes good things better. I'm glad there are people like you out there. I could use all the help I can get! Thank you for reviewing my store! I'm so glad you're liking it.
Shalimar1: I hope you got my reply to your message. I shoulda waited, but I thought what the heck? I just wanna say thanks for bringing up those points, and I'm really glad you liked the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one too.
The Unsigned: I hope you're still reading after that last chapter! And if you are, THANK YOU! You ROCK!
Okay, I got one more question for you guys... Did I get that whole thing about the Patriot Act correct? If not, could you please tell me where I screwed up? I'd love to know, cuz I tried to find info about it online and I kept getting summaries that weren't really clear. I'm not the most politically astute person.
Stay tuned! More story coming soon!