A/N I do not own John McBain or any of the other OLTL characters. All others are my own creation. Please don't sue cause I am broke and have nothing to be sued for anyway.

Chapter 14

"Damn it Shelly! What were you thinking talking to him? He could have killed you!" Running a hand through his hair John paced back and forth as he absorbed this new information. She had talked to Herbie; he had been here!

"Well it's not like he gave me a choice!" Shelly told him hotly; irritated that he was angry with her for something that wasn't her fault.

"What's that supposed to mean? What did he do? Pull a gun on you and force you to talk to him?" John asked sarcastically. He blanched when he saw her look away. "He did! He pulled a gun on you and forced you to listen to him! And you're defending him? What the hell did he tell you?"

"It wasn't like that!" Shelly said firmly but he looked skeptical, "Ok it was sorta like that but then he... he..."

"He what? Tell me exactly what happened."

"We went out to the bench in the woods a bit and I thought he was gonna kill me. But he put the gun away and told me why he did what he did. And that he wasn't the one to put out the hit on me. That it was someone else, someone close to me."

"Why did he do what he did?" John asked; he couldn't believe Shelly was so fooled by this guy. That must have been some story he told her!

"I can't tell you." Shelly said.

John did a double take and stared at her in disbelief, "Why the hell not!"

"I promised." She said simply.

"You promised! What the hell does that mean? Why did you promise that murderer anything!" John demanded vehemently. "I can't believe you Shelly? What were you thinking?"

"He didn't have a choice! They would have killed him if he didn't do it." Shelly yelled right back at him. She began pacing the floor as well. She wanted to tell John what really happened but she had promised Rex, Rex it felt weird calling him that, she wouldn't mention Natalie, his sister. She couldn't really tell John much with out mentioning the reason Rex was doing all this. "He could have killed me right then and there John, but he didn't! I believed him John. I really don't think he was the one who wants me dead but I need to find out who does."

"He didn't have a choice? What does that mean?" John asked calming down slightly.

"Sit down and stop yelling and I will tell you what I can." She said firmly sitting on her bed. Seeing John struggling to get control of his emotions Shelly took a moment to get her thoughts in order. After a minute she began to speak. "He came to me and told me that he was undercover in the Mafia because someone close to him, some one he loves, has been kidnapped by them. He hopes to find her and save her. They were testing him with that guy at the gym. If he didn't kill that scumbag they would have killed him."

"What is Herbie's real name?" John wanted to know. He didn't know if he believed this or not but he knew that this was how the Mafia tested and initiated their members. But Herbie or whoever the hell he was would know that too and be using that story to persuade Shelly to listen to him. But why would he want Shelly on his side? That was the question.

"I can't tell you. I promised not to tell you anything that might screw up his chances to rescue his..." Shelly broke off realizing she had almost said too much. Looking down at her hands so he wouldn't see her guilty expression.

"Rescue his what?" John said encouragingly. Looking at her sharply when she didn't answer he noticed her hands were shaking slightly and she seemed nervous. "Ok, Ok I get it you can't tell me." He looked at her closer and noticed that she had gone rigid and was clutching her head. "Shelly?"

Shelly wasn't seeing John or anything in the room any more. She was seeing John and herself enter the motel room and then she was looking at a black four door BMW. There were four menacing looking men in the car staring intently at their door. The passenger riding shotgun took out his cell phone and made a call. After a minute he hung up and turned around to talk to the two men in the back seat. They nodded and took out a large case and began to assemble a...a...Rocket Launcher! Her breath catching in terror she watched as one of the men got out and aim the rocket launcher at the door of their room. Sending the rocket straight into their room she watched in horror as the whole building exploded in a ball of fire, debris pelting the parking lot as a scream of agony cried out in the chaos.

Coming back into herself she realized that she was the one screaming. Holding her hands to her temples she tried to block out the pain. Hearing her name being called over and over she finally opened her eyes and looked at John. He looked terrified.

"Shelly? Answer me! What's wrong? Are you ok?" John practically yelled in his concern for her. Noticing she was coming around he stopped shaking her and sat her up. When she had collapsed to the floor and started screaming he had just about had a heart attack. Something must be terribly wrong for her to be having headaches this bad.

Sitting up and looking around she noticed that she had fallen on the floor. Looking at John again she saw the concern in his face. "We gotta get out of here. Now!" She said standing up and starting to pack. The last time she had had a vision during the day the events of that vision had happened shortly after the vision. She knew, she felt it, that this would be the same. Looking at him staring at her she said, "We need to leave now!"

John didn't know what to think about all this. First they are talking then she was on the floor in pain and now she was telling them they had to leave now this minute. To say he was very confused was an understatement. He could also see that she was serious about leaving so he gathered up his stuff, what there was of it, and put it all in his bag.

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Still in shock over the revelation that Walter Balsom was alive, not her biological father, and apparently had been in on abducting her, Natalie sat on the bed thinking. She needed to get out of here and she needed to get out soon. Not knowing why she had been kidnapped made everything more difficult for her. Being trapped in this godforsaken room was enough to make her nuts.

Running a hand through her beautiful red hair she sighed. She thought about her family. Roxy was probably at the casinos and Rex...well Rex was probably very worried about her. She had never left for so long with out contacting him. She was worried that Rex might do something stupid. For all his toughness and street smarts Rex was loyal to the bone and would do anything for those he loved. Which was why she was so worried that he might figure out where she was and try to save her. She had to save herself before he could get hurt.

Again hearing the door open she tensed and looked up at the door. Seeing that it was just someone to bring her food she relaxed and waited for them to leave. She wasn't hungry but she knew she needed to eat to keep her strength up. Looking over the plate for something she could use as a weapon or something she could use to pick the lock on the door and sneak out.

Finding nothing on the plate she could use she ate her dinner and flopped back on the bed wondering when this life of captivity would end. Getting up again and walking to the window she saw people outside and longed to be home, at her apartment. She snorted, her apartment had probably been rented out already since she hadn't been there, hadn't paid rent min six months. All her possessions had probably been sold or thrown out, not that she had much. Shaking the depressing thoughts from her head she tried to think of a way to escape.