Chapter 10 – The Harder they Fall
Sylvia opened her eyes groggily, her head pounding with an even worse headache than her worst possible hangover. Her body felt sore and when she tried to move, she realized her hands were bound tightly. But that wasn't the only thing hindering her movement. Sitting next to her were two rather virile looking men, stoic looks on their faces. She was sitting in a car with tinted windows, sandwiched between two of Sam's bodyguards.
"You're awake," one of them replied. "Good." He reached over and cut the duct tape that bound her hands and then opened the car door, pulling her out. "Don't do anything stupid," he whispered into her ear and forced her to walk along the sidewalk. He walked in front of her while the other walked behind her.
She moved slowly and cautiously and stuffed her hands deep into her pockets, hoping to search for something that might be of use to her. Then again, she knew a woman of her stature would have trouble taking on Sam's entourage, no matter what kind of weapon she might have. Of course, she found none except for a silk scarf that she had stuffed in her pocket. Maybe she could strangle them with it? She shook the foolish thought of her head and bound it tightly in her fist. The man in front of her stopped outside of a flower shop and as quickly as she could, she placed the scarf in one of the plants outside by the door, praying that the man behind her didn't notice. He merely pushed her inside, telling her to move faster. The shop was abandoned and she followed the men to the back room where a scared looking couple sat there and a familiar face sitting across from them while two more heavies stood there, guns in their hands, aimed at the couple.
"Leanne!" Patsy replied with unsettling enthusiasm. "It's been too long."
Jack paced around the empty hotel room uneasily as the agents gathered around trying to find any indication of where Sylvia might be. He had already tried her cell phones multiple times without getting any answer. There weren't any signs of a struggle so it might have been possible that she just walked out on her own without telling anyone. Confining her to a hotel room for weeks wasn't exactly something that was her cup of tea so maybe she finally had enough and just decided to walk out on her own and he was wearing a hole in the hotel carpet for no good reason at all.
"We checked with hotel security," Myles explained once he entered the room. "Nobody really interesting except for that one guest who appeared to be a mime."
"Think that mime might have taken Sylvia somewhere and forced her to join his life of debauchery?" Bobby asked.
"Guys, this isn't helping," Jack spat at them to their surprise.
"We're on the 5th floor, scaling the side of the building isn't completely out the question," Tara explained.
Sue nodded. "Especially from the 3rd floor patio and swimming pool."
Myles shrugged. "Well, maybe she just snuck out on her own. She didn't exactly take the idea of staying cooped up in here too warmly."
The team sat silently in contemplation unsure of what the wisest next move would be. Sending out a frantic search team would be too over excessive if all she did was go out for a sandwich, but it wasn't as if she wasn't without enemies with very useful resources that could have taken her. A muffled beeping from the next room broke their concentration.
"What is that?" Bobby asked.
Jack stood up. "It's my cell phone…from Boston. I completely forgot I had it." He ran over to his room and pulled it out from his briefcase. "It says I have a new e-mail…it's from Sylvia."
Tara took the phone and started typing away at her laptop and pulled the e-mail onto the screen. "Trevor, I'm sorry that I got you involved but I can't do this anymore. I don't want to be brought back into that life and all of the memories are just too painful. I just want to disappear, please don't try to look for me. Sylvia." Tara typed away at her laptop for a moment and then spoke up. "It was e-mailed from a Web café near Agincourt."
Sue noticed Jack sitting at the dining table looking lost in his own thoughts, staring at something he held in his hand. She walked over to him and put an arm on his shoulder and sat across from him, concerned.
"This was from her birthday," Jack explained handing her the photograph. Sylvia wore a deep green dress, her hair curled and pinned back '40s style with a large flower by her ear and a colourful silk scarf wrapped around her neck with a genuinely bright smile on her face. Jack sat beside her with his arm around her shoulders, his smile equally as wide. "I gave her that scarf…"
"You're really worried about her…" Sue stated more than she asked.
"She's tough," Jack explained. "I've never had to worry about her before…"
"That doesn't stop you though, does it?" Sue replied. Jack sighed lightly and Sue reached over and took his hand into hers. "We'll find her. Have faith."
"She didn't send that e-mail," Jack was resolute. "She hates calling me Trevor."
Bobby pulled the car alongside the curb to the web café and exited the car followed by Myles and D. Eric pulled up right behind them and was ready to enter the web café when he noticed Jack trailing behind.
"What do you think you're doing?" Eric demanded.
"Finding out what's going on." Jack stated matter-of-factly.
Eric took in a deep breath, "I know you've done this before, Jack. But you're not an agent…not in this instance anyway."
"I want to know what's going on. I can handle it." Jack retorted.
"I'm not doubting that. But it's not your job, not now." Eric chastised and entered the web café. Jack knew that if he followed suit he might be in danger of jeopardizing the case since he wasn't armed or suited for the job. He peered through the windows of the web café but couldn't really see anything so he proceeded to pace around the outside impatiently. Feeling restless, he leaned up against the hood of the car impatiently, feeling tortured by the ticking seconds that passed him by. The wind picked up and a flash of colour from across the street caught his eye. Crossing over carefully to the other side of the road, he stopped outside of a flower shop and noticed something sticking out from one of the potted plants by the door. He reached over and picked it up carefully. It was Sylvia's scarf. He looked up at the flower shop worriedly and peered in through the doors when an elderly woman walked over and flipped the 'Open' sign to 'Closed' and Jack seized the time to open the door before she could lock it.
"We're closed." The woman spat anxiously.
"I'm sorry, but I'm looking for a friend of mine." Jack pleaded.
"Nobody's here except me and we're closing. Good bye," the woman pressed on and pulled the door closed but Jack proved to be stronger and kept the door open.
"Listen, I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important. She might be in trouble. This belongs to her," he explained as patiently as he could, holding up the scarf. "Her name's Sylvia…she's in her late 20's, Asian…a little shorter than you."
From the back room, Sylvia peered through to the front hoping to get a glimpse of who it was at the door and her eyes widened when she heard Jack's voice. She looked over at Patsy and the entourage but they remain unmoved. One of the men had their gun pointed directly at the head of the storekeeper's husband who was crumbling underneath the pressure and fear. Patsy stood up and put her hands in the air in frustration.
"Goodness, go get rid him," Patsy whined. Sylvia looked to her expectantly and Patsy sighed. "You're smart, Leanne. Didn't you go to medical school? Get rid of him or they will," she gestured to the entourage.
Sylvia took in a deep breath and walked out of the backroom towards the entrance. The shop keeper looked at her sheepishly and expectantly then backed away, shaking. "Looking for me?"
Jack's eyes lit up. "Sylvia! Are you okay?"
Sylvia forced a smile on her lips. "Sure, why wouldn't I be?"
"Well you kind of just vanished from the hotel without telling anyone." Jack answered matter-of-factly.
"I know," Sylvia replied quickly. "I just wanted to get some air."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "Is everything okay? What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see some friends. You know, I wasn't really happy being cooped up in that hotel all day long," She answered as good-naturedly as she could.
"Well, let me in, I'd love to meet them," Jack responded.
"That's not a good idea," Sylvia said hurriedly.
"Sylvia…" Jack's voice softened. "Let me in."
Sylvia looked over at the shopkeeper who was having trouble keeping it together. Her eyes darted in panic to her husband being held at gunpoint. Sylvia took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, pained before turning to Jack once again, her expression cold and steely. "So it's okay for me to be kept in the dark about your life but with my life, hey, it's open season."
Jack was taken aback by the vicious tone in her voice. "What?"
"I don't know why I even bothered trying to be honest with you," Sylvia continued. "I mean our whole entire relationship is obviously based on a lie anyway. I mean, what's with all of this fake concern? Aren't you supposed to be in love with Sue?"
Jack scoffed in disbelief. "What are you—"
"Then again, you have some practice at lying haven't you? So I'm sure you can spin another pathetic lie about where you've been. Now if you'll excuse me…"
Jack stepped back a little shaken as Sylvia slammed the door in his face and the storekeeper went to lock it, pulling the curtains down. Sylvia gasped for air as soon as she shut the door. Blinking away the tears, she resumed a steely expression on her face and slowly made her way back to the back room with the store owner. When they entered the back room, the store owner fell into her husband's arms and they held one another as they sobbed quietly.
"Brava," Patsy said, clapping her hands together. "You always were a master manipulator, now weren't you?"
"Let them go…" Sylvia said.
Another large man in a dark suit entered from the back entrance of the store. "Miss Goss, the van is ready."
Patsy stood up. "I have every intention of doing that, it's you we want," two of the guards pulled Sylvia to her feet roughly and exited the store through the back entrance. "Thank you for your cooperation Mr. And Mrs. Johnson, I'm sure Sam will be more than happy to give you an extension on your loan."
