Rousseau's Aspen Condo, Morning…
It was morning, and the snowstorm had finally broken, allowing a few rays of sunshine to peek through the clouds and into Rousseau's condo, which sat at the heart of Aspen. He had been staring out the bedroom window ever since he'd awoken that morning. The previous day turned out to be a bust because of the snow. He had high hopes for today because snow plows worked through the night, clearing drifts all over town. It wouldn't be a problem for him and his associate to hop into the Hummer and start searching for the two cops they needed to ice.
The day before, Rousseau had found out about Abney's incarceration through the local news stations, giving him another reason to seek refuge in his home. But with Abney out of the way, and only Van and Billie left in his path, he was almost free to get the hell out of the country and go back to France where his own little endeavor in the black market arms trade could take off. He'd only sucked up to Abney to find out about the trade and all its players. It was wide open now, waiting for someone to take Abney's place.
Rousseau smiled, clasping his hands together and looking out the window on the brand new day. He was almost giddy with excitement, itching to get out there and find those damn cops. They needed to be out of the way for his plan to work; otherwise he'd always be hunted. That just wasn't an option.
"Dmitri!" Rousseau yelled, waking his associate who slept on the couch in the nicely furnished living room. The man slowly began to rise as Rousseau entered the room. "Let's go," he added, grabbing the keys off the table in the hallway and making his way to the door with Dmitri following.
The two men walked down the darkened hallway from Rousseau's condo to the fire exit. It led them straight to the silver Hummer parked in the back of the building. The vehicle was covered in snow, but that was no real problem since it had been made to get through any type of weather or terrain. Rousseau dusted enough of the powdery snow off the windshield before hopping in and turning on the car. They were soon off, the Hummer roaring to life and easily pulling out of the snowy trap. He skillfully maneuvered his way to the main street. With so few other vehicles on the road that morning, it didn't take them long to get out of the city.
Rousseau reached into his coat pocket once they were driving through the countryside and pulled out a small black leather wallet. He flipped it open revealing a replica Aspen PD badge. He'd picked up the copy from another associate so that his plan for today would go over smoothly. They would take the winding road along the river posing as cops looking for two "fugitives." To Rousseau, it was an ingenious idea. Things couldn't get any easier. And once they'd found and taken care of the two cops, he'd take out Dmitri as well. Help wasn't too hard to find. He'd probably just pick up a few new recruits in France. There were plenty of them out there.
Smiling, Rousseau pulled off an exit ramp that led straight to the road he needed. His excitement grew as they reached the first house to the right. It appeared empty, but with a light on in the front room and fresh tire tracks leading out of the garage, he knew someone had to be living there. Rousseau pulled out his fake badge and with Dmitri in tow, strode up to the front door, knocking softly. When no answer came, he knocked again.
After a few more moments of waiting, the door finally opened, revealing an old woman wrapped in a mink coat and high fuzzy boots. "Yes?" she asked, leering at the two men.
"Excuse me, madam. I am Detective Rousseau, Aspen Police Department," he did his best to fake an American accent, but some of his French still came out in the way he pronounced things. "This is my partner, Dmitri. We are looking for two escaped fugitives, a man and a woman. They broke out of prison last night and we believe they may have come this way."
"Haven't seen them," the woman replied in a raspy voice, slightly aggravated by the fact she'd been disturbed from whatever it was she'd been doing.
"Thank you for your time," Rousseau politely replied before she slammed the door in his face. He shrugged it off and they got back into the Hummer a few moments later, heading towards the next residence in hopes of finding who they were looking for.
A few properties down, Billie was just barely waking. Her stomach felt as if it were tied in knots, and her throat burned hotter than the fire in the hearth. Spells of dizziness kept her from opening her eyes for long periods of time. The fever that ravaged her body was the worst. One moment she felt like she was freezing while the next she felt like she was burning up. This had to have been the worst illness she'd come down with since high school. She groaned in pain, her brain feeling as if it would ooze out of her ears from the headache that thumped through it.
This was definitely one of those times where she wouldn't mind someone putting a bullet in her skull, anything to get rid of this awful pain. Billie didn't think she could handle it anymore until she gazed at her partner sleeping beside her. Van had become even paler since she last saw him. Her fingers immediately searched for the pulse point in his neck, which was beating a little too hard for her liking.
"Van," Billie whispered, her voice coming out deep and raspy.
"Mom, no, five more minutes," he mumbled deliriously, turning his head to the side as he coughed.
"Van, you have to wake up," she said, stroking his hot forehead with her hand. Billie sat up, instantly regretting it. It felt like the contents of her stomach would spill out if she moved around anymore than she needed to. This was worse than waking up with a hangover, she thought.
"Billie?" Van finally opened his bleary eyes and stared at her, dazed and confused. "Where am I? I wanna go home," he moaned.
"Shh, calm down," Billie whispered, her heart leaping into her throat. "We'll go home soon." She tried to sound reassuring even though she knew after three days of being stuck in this cabin and no one coming by, there was a very slim chance they were ever going to be rescued. The only thing Billie could do now was try and make Van as comfortable as possible. If either one of them got any worse, she knew the only way to end this was to put them both out of their misery. It was a prospect she didn't want to think about even thought it was becoming even more of a possibility.
"Billie, it hurts," Van panted, his left hand coming to rest near his right shoulder as a cough escaped his lips.
"I know it hurts," she told him, taking his hand and holding it in hers. Billie hated seeing him so weak. It made her feel the weight of the situation even more. There was nothing she could do to make him feel better. All she could do was lay there with Van and comfort him for as long as possible. With hope of rescue quickly fading, Billie curled up beside her partner and gently kissed the top of his hand.
But the sound of a car pulling into the driveway quickly snapped her out of her desperation. Billie shot up, the sick feeling throughout her body forgotten. Was this it? Were they about to find salvation? She didn't know, and quickly made her way off the couch and to the window where she saw a silver Hummer pull up the long driveway and park a few meters from the door.
When the car door opened, Billie gasped. "Shit," was the first word out of her mouth when she realized it was Rousseau. She ran back to the couch, wrapping her arm around Van's waist and pulling him up off the cushions. "Come on," she told him. "We need to hide." He looked at her dumbly for a moment, unable to understand what she was talking about.
Moving Van was proving to be tougher than she thought. Billie struggled with his dead weight. This wasn't how it had been when she brought him here three days ago. Then again, she hadn't been sick three days ago either. The panic finally started to set in when she heard a knock at the door.
Billie was behind the couch now. She laid Van down against the armrest hoping that it provided him enough protection for whatever was to come. Returning to the coffee table, she grabbed her switchblade and both of their guns, placing Van's down on the ground beside his listless body. It was her backup just in case a shootout ensued and she ran out of bullets.
The knocking continued at the door. Rousseau knew someone was in there; they were just refusing to open the door. He motioned for Dmitri to peek through the window and find out if his assumption was correct. He'd seen the smoke from the chimney from the road and now that he was closer, he saw the fire flickering through the windows.
Dmitri slowly peered into the house and saw a woman standing in the middle of the room, a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. He immediately pulled out his piece and nodded to Rousseau that they'd found what they were looking for.
"Billie, I know you're in there!" Rousseau taunted as he grabbed his gun from the waistband of his pants and positioned himself to knock down the door and come in shooting.
Billie looked up, ready for whatever he had to throw at her. She'd slinked her way to the right side of the door where she could get out of the line of fire just in case Rousseau had any wild things planned for her. Moments later, she heard a loud crash and the door nearly swung off its hinges. Gunfire erupted from the doorway as Rousseau rushed in, guns blazing.
Without hesitating, Billie raised her own gun over her head and as soon as she'd positioned herself behind Rousseau, dropped it on his skull as hard as she could. The force was enough to send him to his knees and knock him out. She sighed in relief, but soon felt a cold piece of metal jab her right shoulder. Billie turned around slowly with her hands in the air and still holding her weapons, coming face to face with another one of Abney's henchmen. He was a tall Russian man with burley features and a crooked nose. His muddy brown eyes and scowl told her he meant business.
But Billie wasn't about to be intimidated by this man. She had other plans. Stepping back just enough so she was an arm's length away from the man, she kicked up as hard as she could with her left foot, knocking the gun out of his hand just as he fired off a shot. It hit the ceiling, the bullet throwing paint chips and pieces of plaster all over the floor. She pointed her own gun at him and managed to hit his left arm.
"Ahhh!" Dmitri cried out, grabbing his arm in pain. He quickly looked up at her, anger present on his already ugly face. "You bitch!" he yelled, lunging for her.
Billie sidestepped him before he could tackle her and Dmitri ended up falling into the couch instead. Undeterred, he turned around and tried to lunge at her again, but Billie continued to fend off his attacks. His body barreled around the living room, bumping into all sorts of things the angrier he got. She just moved out of the way every time he tried to take her down. But Billie was quickly tiring out. Her sickened body couldn't take all the moving around anymore. Sweat poured off her forehead as she started to sway slightly every time she moved out of the burly man's path.
Quickly taking notice, Dmitri made one more pass at her, and this time he succeeded in knocking Billie to the ground with a hard punch to the stomach. Her gun and her switchblade flew to either side of her head as the world began to spin. For a moment, Billie began to wonder if this was really the end, but instinct told her to keep fighting. Van needed her to fight. He needed her to live.
With Dmitri's hands slowly closing around her throat, Billie found her second wind. She started to dig her nails into his skin, but realized even if she drew blood, he wouldn't let go until she was unconscious or dead. Instead, she began to feel around for something, anything, to use as a weapon. Her fingers finally hit the handle of her switchblade, wrapped around it and sunk it into her attacker's neck. Dmitri's muddy brown eyes went wide before his body slumped on top of her.
Being pinned beneath the two hundred pound Russian wasn't something Billie liked. She quickly rolled him off, relieved that her ordeal was over. Standing up, she took a deep breath and looked towards the couch where her partner lay still hidden.
Van heard everything that happened, and even though he was near death, his survival instincts had kicked in. The weak fingers of his left hand wrapped around the gun Billie had left beside him, getting ready to shoot at anyone who came his way. When all the commotion between Billie and Dmitri ended, he relaxed and looked over the armrest to see her standing in the middle of the living room, his dead body on the floor at her feet. But what she failed to notice was Rousseau's slowly rising form behind her. A sinister smile came across his face as he raised his gun and pointed it at her back.
Lifting his own gun with his violently shaking hand, Van used the armrest of the couch to steady himself as he pointed and got ready to fire. Billie stared at him for a stunned moment before she realized what was going on. She turned around and saw who Van was pointing his gun at. Her eyes closed, the world around her slowing as she waited for someone to shoot. The image of Van's hand touching the cross that hung from his neck came to mind. "Have faith." The words echoed through her head as a shot rang out.
OMG! Another update! OMG! A cliffhanger! I bet that's killing you right now, isn't it? Hehe. Yeah, I somehow managed to find another pocket of free time before my final this afternoon to update. I'm so glad! Hey, maybe this story will be finished before Christmas! If I keep finding time, it just might! WooHoo! Anyway (gotta make these short again, so sorry!)...
prplerayne: Yes, Billie has a heart! I loved writing that last update. It was just so sweet and powerful at the same time. You know how much I love writing this kind of stuff. And I know how much you love reading it. Remember, we feed off each other's energy! We're vampires, LoL! Yeah, okay...I'm glad you enjoyed the last update so much. Hope you liked this one too.
fan4fastln: I'm SHOCKED! LoL! Yeah, I definitely got a little surprised when I read that you actually like the Van/Billie relationship in this chapter. And, no, you're not sick. I love seeing Van suffer too. That's why I like to write these kinds of fics. Hehe, I must be sick too! Ah, whatever. I hope this last update was good too. Sorry to leave you hanging. I'll hopefully update soon.
Shalimar: Aww, I loved that too! There were just so many little elements that I had to put into this chapter to really make it good. Glad you got that one. I think it was real sweet too. Hope this last update intrigued you too.
seriousfastlane: Hi there! You're new! I'm glad your reading my story. Glad you liked that last update as well. Hope this one was just as good. Thanks for your review!
FoxyWombat: Ah, gotta love the drama. It follows them everywhere, like myself. But mine is needless drama that I should have to be involved in, but get dragged into by family and friends. This is definitely my way of coping with it, writing it! I'm glad you liked the last update. Hope you liked this one too.
The Unsigned (or those that have been too busy to be able to review): Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it!
I know y'all hate me for leaving you hanging with this update. Shit, I hate myself for leaving it where I did, but crap happens, finals are a bitch, and life goes on. There will be another update soon! I PROMISE!
Oh, and if you're wondering what that web address was from the last update, I'll post it in my profile. I have every intention of getting this story on my website ASAP, so keep checking. If you get bored, feel free to read my other fics. There are PLENTY over there for you to read, especially the XXX kind, hehe.
Season's Greetings!