Chapter Nine: Questions, Not Answers
Jeff could not take his eyes off the woman who was sat next to him in the back of Lady Penelope's pink Rolls Royce, staring vacantly ahead due to the effects of the drug Penelope had administered. She looked even younger than he had first thought, but that didn't matter for the time being. It didn't matter if she was calling herself something else. It didn't matter if there were a hundred questions that needed answers. He had found her. He had found Lucy. And she had recognised him! Jeff looked down at lap, where he and Penelope had placed her hands. Small hands, with long, delicate fingers. Just like he remembered. He couldn't help but reach out and touch the hand nearest to him. Soft skin that moved beneath his fingers in just the way it used to. Carefully, he placed his hand over hers, and held it.
"Jeff…" Penelope saw his actions, and wished to intervene, but one look from him quietened her. She looked at her watch. It wouldn't be long until the drug wore off, and they could get down to the business of finding out who exactly they had just pounced on in a busy New York street.
"How much longer do you think it is going to take us, Parker?" she asked.
"Hi shouldn't think that it will be much further, Milady," he replied, glancing up in the rear-view mirror. He found himself looking at a pair of hazel-brown eyes that appeared to stare back at him, though they weren't really. Parker tore his gaze away from the strange passenger, and concentrated back on the road. Since 'er ladyship had began working for Mr Tracy, he had ended up living a life less ordinary, though he supposed that there had never been anything conventional about his upbringing or subsequent existence. This whole affair of people coming back from the dead gave Parker the creeps, not least because there were a fair few ghosts he knew that could do with staying dead. There was a short gasp from the back of the car, as if someone had woken up suddenly. The effects of the drug had worn off Natasha. She stirred, and looked around the car, confused. She turned to Penelope.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"We need to ask you some questions," Penelope replied.
"Like what? Why have you kidnapped me?"
"We haven't kidnapped you, we just need to talk to you somewhere where we won't be disturbed," Penelope said. Natasha turned and looked at Jeff and then turned back to Penelope.
"Let me out of the car," she demanded, urgency in her voice.
"I'm afraid I cannot just yet," Penelope replied, calmly.
"I need to get out of the car," Natasha insisted.
"Why?" Penelope asked.
"Because every moment I spend with you and him, puts me at more risk," Natasha replied, indicating Jeff with a nod of her head.
"We…I'm not going to harm you," Jeff said. Natasha realised that he had hold of her hand, and yanked it away from his grasp.
"Lucy…I would never hurt you, would I?" Jeff asked, feeling as if she was already slipping away from him all over again. Natasha stared back at him.
"I don't know who you think I am, but I'm not called Lucy. You have the wrong person," she said, looking at both him and Penelope.
"I know that you're going by a different name, and we'll talk about that later, but I know who you really are," Jeff said. Natasha seemed panicked by this, and she leant forwards and banged on the glass partition that separated them from Parker.
"You! Stop the car!" she ordered.
"Hi only take orders from 'er Ladyship," Parker replied, completely unfazed by the commotion.
"Calm down," Penelope said, grasping Natasha's arm gently. She sat back down.
"Don't you know who I am?" Jeff asked Natasha. Natasha hesitated. She knew that she was linked to him somehow, and that staying in this car would perhaps lead to some answers, but to do so could risk her life, if it wasn't already in danger.
"No. I don't. I don't even recognise you," she said, evenly.
"You did earlier," Jeff replied.
"Did I? I must have been mistaken. Just as you are in who you think I am," she replied, nonchalantly. She looked away from Jeff, and sat staring straight ahead of her, arms folded. Jeff was at a loss for words, and instead looked over to Penelope.
"If you feel that your life is in danger, we can protect you," she said.
"You can't," Natasha replied, still staring ahead of her.
"Why not?" Penelope asked.
"Because you can't. If someone saw me being bundled into this car, I may as well be already dead," Natasha shrugged.
"You're supposed to be," Jeff said, despondently. Natasha looked at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she half-snapped. "Have you been sent to finish a job for them?"
"We said that we meant no harm to you. Who do you think we are?" Penelope asked, trying to keep the situation calm.
"It doesn't matter. It's none of your business," Natasha said. Penelope raised an eyebrow as she watched Natasha slip back into her reverie. Something was going on with this young woman, but what? She looked over at Jeff, who had something of a hangdog look about him. Obviously, he had expected – hoped – that Natasha would be Lucy, and everything would be shaken out and put in some semblance of order. Natasha was obviously no soft touch, either. It would be difficult to get to the bottom of anything. Penelope watched the scenery go by, her quick mind working out different tactics to use on Natasha. Contrary to her denial, she had recognised Jeff when they had seized her earlier. So why the turnabout?
"We're here, Milady," Parker said, pulling the Rolls Royce up into an empty yard that used to belong to some building that had long disappeared. The sea was not too far away from their position, a blue haze that was about half a mile away.
"I think its time that we went for a little walk," Penelope said.
"I'm not going anywhere," Natasha said.
"The more you co-operate with us, the quicker we can return you," Penelope told her. Natasha knew that she was outnumbered, and reluctantly got out of the car. Parker stayed with FAB1 as the three passengers made their way towards a little path that went in the direction of the sea.
"And there was me thinking you were going to take me to an abandoned warehouse," Natasha said, humourlessly.
"Sea air has such lovely qualities about it, don't you think?" Penelope said.
"What did you bring me all this way for?" Natasha asked, not in the mood for talks about the sea.
"To provide some answers," Penelope replied.
"Oh?"
"Jeff?" Penelope looked over to her friend and employer. He turned to Natasha.
"I first saw you a few days ago, not far from where we grabbed you. I called after you, but you just disappeared," he began.
"Wait…weren't you the man who was calling out for 'Lucy'?" Natasha asked. Of course, she knew the answer to that perfectly, but she wasn't about to let on.
"Yes, I was," Jeff replied.
"Well at least something makes sense," Natasha said.
"I think…I thought that you were someone I…used to know," Jeff said.
"So you've gone to all this trouble for a case of mistaken identity?"
"It's not as simple as that. You see…you look like my wife. Not just a resemblance, you look exactly like her," Jeff explained, somewhat awkwardly.
"I see," Natasha said. Inside, she felt as if a light bulb had come on. She looked back at Jeff, and suddenly felt a rush of memories that usually belonged in her dreams hit her like a tidal wave. She held a hand up to her head and closed her eyes briefly to cope with what felt like a hundred people talking at once.
"Are you okay?" Jeff's voice brought her back into the present.
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine," she said, forcing the memories back to wherever they had come from. She shook her hair back over her shoulders.
"So I look like your wife?" she said, trying to sound unbothered.
"Yes," Jeff said. "You also share part of her name, Natasha."
"How do you know my name?" Natasha asked, going back on the defensive.
"I tracked you down," Jeff said. "I had to, because with you looking exactly like my wife, I had to know if you really were real."
"Well, I think that's answered for you," Natasha said.
"You don't understand. My wife died twenty years ago," Jeff told her. Natasha drew in a sharp breath. After a moment, she looked Jeff in the eye.
"I'm sorry that I've turned out not to be a miracle," she said, her voice taking on a more compassionate edge. Jeff looked back into her hazel-brown eyes and thought he saw something there that was Lucy, but a moment later, it was gone. Natasha continued.
"I can tell you that I was born in Florida in the year 2000, lived there until I was twelve and then moved to San Diego. Is there any more coincidence in that?" she asked.
"No," Jeff replied. Natasha looked at Penelope.
"I don't see what else I can tell you. I obviously can't be his wife," she said. Penelope sensed that Jeff had had enough, and that Natasha would not be more forthcoming.
"I see that," she said, graciously. "We will go back to New York now." The three of them headed back for FAB1.
"You wouldn't loose this thing in a parking lot," Natasha said, as they climbed in.
"It was custom made," Penelope replied.
"Any special features installed?"
"The odd one or two," Penelope said, lightly. "I'm not one for gadgets, really."
They arrived back at the street where they had taken Natasha from that morning.
"Once again, let me offer my sincere apologies, Ms Morgan-Evans," Penelope said.
"Just be glad that I won't sue," Natasha replied, curtly. She looked out onto the street, nervously.
"How will you deal with your workplace?" Penelope asked.
"I'll make something up," Natasha replied. "I must go."
"Are you sure you won't take up my offer of some sort of protection?" Penelope asked.
"Listen, if I'm in trouble, not even International Rescue could help me," Natasha replied. Both Penelope and Jeff stiffened at the mention of their organisation. Natasha got out of the car.
"They'd spot you a mile off in this thing anyway," she said, tapping the door. She looked beyond Penelope to Jeff, as if she wanted to say something, but then turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowd once more.
"You were right, Penny. She's not Lucy," Jeff said.
"Of course not," Penelope agreed, relieved at that particular development.
"When we get back to the hotel, I'll contact Scott and tell him I'll be coming home," Jeff said. Penelope looked at him, puzzled.
"Don't you think that she was hiding something?"
"I don't care," Jeff said.
"I do. There's something not right here," Penelope said. Jeff shrugged.
"You can stay and investigate it further if you wish," he said. "If you'll excuse me, Penny, I think I'll make my own way back to the hotel."
"Jeff…" Penelope began, but Jeff had already let himself out of the Rolls. She watched as he too vanished into the busy mobs that bustled along the pavement, and let out a small sigh. Perhaps he would be fine after some air and a chance to mull over events. He was obviously upset that Natasha turned out not to be Lucy. Penelope allowed a thoughtful frown to cloud her face. Natasha had still recognised Jeff, and it had been in a way that wasn't the reaction of someone recognising a famous face. Penelope was truly bitten by the mystery bug now, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to rest until she found out who Natasha Morgan-Evans really was. Natasha had won the first battle, but Penelope was determined to win the war, with or without Jeff.