"A Shift of Axis"
Copyright 2006 Penn O'Hara
M
Usual disclaimers apply.
A/N: Location and locale kept deliberately obscure.
Chapter Twelve
Pushing Alicia ahead of him in a running crouch to clear the helicopter's rotor wash, Logan scanned the area, satisfied the local police had heeded Deakins' warning. The chopper had landed in a park at the north end of a wide avenue lined with autumn-canopied trees, while the local cruisers were parked among the evergreens that shaded the park's benches and pathways. Glancing down the road, Logan could see at least three huge ornate gates, guarding estates worth millions of dollars.
The officers remained close to their vehicles awaiting further orders and Logan looked round for whoever was in charge. A short, powerfully-built man detached himself from a group of four and made his way over to meet them.
"Officer Paul Bartlett." He dipped his head. "Detective Logan?" At Mike's nod, he continued. "There's been no activity. What do you want us to do?"
Logan checked that Barek was behind him and grabbed Alicia's wrist, nodding toward the estates. "Neighbors?"
"Most of the owners only use these houses during the summer months," Bartlett said, following Logan's gaze.
"Which is the Wendell estate?"
"The one on the right. The gate's fifty yards up. You won't get in without security clearance though. It's built like a fortress."
Logan lifted the hand that held Alicia's wrist. "Got my security clearance right here," he deadpanned.
Bartlett frowned, disapproving, but nodded and stepped back. "We'll wait for your signal then."
Logan hesitated, looking at Alicia. "What if Nicole heard the chopper?"
Still wearing the same sulky expression she had since they left the Precinct, she ignored him, gazing toward the estate.
"Alicia…"
"My partner asked you a question, Ms Mateus," Barek clipped.
"Can it, Detective," Alicia said nastily to Carolyn. "Mike can look after himself." She turned her back on Barek and spoke to Logan. "It's likely, if she's in the main house, but if she's in the basement where she intended to keep Goren and Eames, she won't have heard it. The basement's sound-proof."
Barek stepped up to Logan and he felt the almost physical waves of hostility emanating from her.
"But if she did hear it," Barek asked, "how would she react?"
"Her main goal is to make Goren suffer for as long as possible before she kills Eames. They'll both be alive unless she's taken by surprise."
"Tell the chopper pilot to kill his engine." Logan told Barek.
Carolyn hesitated, then hunkered down back to the helicopter.
"What if you call her and told her you were here…with a friend?" Logan asked Alicia.
Her mouth was pinched and tight, eyes mutinous. "Mike, the deal was I tell you where Nicole is. I've done that. I've thrown in the extra of getting you through my security. I don't have to do any more."
Logan faced her off. "I'm takin' you in there with me, lady. It's in your best interests to co-operate and keep our way safe and clear."
Alicia's arms went rigid against her sides. "I've already tried calling her, so she knows about you." Her eyes burned into his, surprising him with her inner fire. "And she told me in no uncertain terms to keep you away."
"When did you phone her?" he demanded.
She looked away, her neck and shoulders dropping.
"Alicia!" Logan tugged on her wrist, whipping her round to face him. "When did you call her?"
Her eyes swam with tears. "Af…after you left the first time."
He grabbed her shoulders, close to shaking her. "Why?"
"I…wanted to bring you up here too."
"And what? Do what Nicole's doing to Goren now? Is that it?" He could feel his teeth grinding together with the effort not to throttle her.
"No!" She winced as his hands tightened on her arms.
"Take it easy, Mike."
Logan's head swung slowly to see Carolyn rejoin them, watching him with worry.
He let his hands slide down Alicia's arms, but curled his fingers around her wrist again. "What is she doing to Goren?" he asked, reining himself in.
Alicia's face crumpled. "I didn't want to make you suffer, Mike. Nicole is all about humiliation. I…I just wanted you for myself–"
"Mike," Barek said quietly, "we haven't got time for this."
Logan focused on Carolyn's face, his temper doused by her concern. "Yeah. Sure. You ready?"
She drew her service pistol and gave him a nod. "As ready as I'll ever be. The locals know to hold off unless we say otherwise or something alerts them." She looked at Alicia and gave her a hard stare. "My job here is to cover my partner, Ms Mateus. I'll also be watching you. Anything happens to him, you'll be the first to know about it."
Alicia sneered at her. "I hear you."
"Good. We're communicating just fine."
"Let's go." Logan began a slow lope toward the Wendell estate, dragging Alicia along with him.
He'd never tell her so, but Mike appreciated Carolyn's looking out for him in a way that had nothing to do with their working partnership.
oOo
Pain shot upward from Goren's shoulder, his nerves sending panicked signals to his brain. His vision clouded before clarifying into the shocking reality of the gun held in Nicole's unsteady hand and still trained on Alex.
Alex was okay. He'd managed to deflect Nicole's aim with his last desperate feint back at her. He'd taken the bullet but, despite the burning ache, it was probably only a graze. The pain was secondary though to the consuming desire to be alone with this woman with no witnesses.
"That was silly, Daddy. Stupid, stupid Daddy!" Nicole chanted, her eyes wide and confused. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Honest! Mummy's s'posed to be hurt, not you."
Nicole started to cry, her finger still poised on the gun's trigger. "I was aiming for Mummy! With her out of the way, it will just be you and me! But you got in the way!" Her mouth trembled, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Needing the opportunity to unarm her, Goren couldn't risk testing her stability on the hair trigger of the Glock.
"Nicole, put the gun down," Goren said, forcing himself to speak calmly.
"Give the gun to me, Nicole," Rafiq said. "I will finish it."
"No!" Nicole stopped crying and her face went red with anger, her eyes glazed. "I have to do it."
"He's bleeding, Nicole," Alex said soothingly, and Goren admired her coolness in the sight line of a loaded weapon. "Let me bandage… Daddy's arm before he bleeds out."
"Huh? Oh, okay," Nicole sniffed. "Yes, you do it, Mummy."
Alex slowly rose from the sofa and walked to the table, Nicole covering her progress with the gun. Grabbing one of the napkins, she returned, cautiously pushing Goren's t-shirt sleeve up onto his shoulder to examine the injury.
"It's a flesh wound," she murmured, confirming Goren's original guess. He bit down as she tied the napkin round the weeping wound.
"Mummy?" Nicole asked plaintively. "Did I hurt Daddy a lot?"
Alex looked to Goren as to how to answer, but he couldn't help her. He wasn't sure how long Nicole would stay in this regressive state, or if it were preferable to her 'normal' disposition.
Swallowing his hatred of her, Goren kept his voice even. "Give…Daddy the gun, Nicole," he urged, his hand lifting slowly toward her.
"No! I didn't mean to shoot you! It should have been Mummy! Please don't take me upstairs!"
Rafiq walked round Nicole and lifted the carpet square behind her. "Let me finish it, Nicole," he said again. "Enough. It is time to go." He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the trapdoor, lifting it on its hinges in a fluid motion that spoke of its well-oiled condition. "Give me the gun and we go."
Rafiq's hand touched Nicole's wrist and her gun hand wavered, but she never took her eyes from Alex. "I have to do it, Mummy. Daddy knows that."
Goren's muscles were so tautly coiled, they vibrated beneath his skin. Ready again to throw himself in front of the bullet, he feared, with the injury, his reflexes wouldn't respond in time.
"Then do it," Rafiq urged, "and let us be–"
The door to the basement burst open and Goren's head snapped round to see Logan and Barek explode inward, guns raised, sweeping the room.
Goren dived low for Nicole but he was already too late. Rafiq was gone, down the trapdoor, Nicole right behind him.
Goren leapt for their escape route but Alex tackled him before he made it, bringing him to his knees. "Bobby! No! She's still got the gun! You go down there and she'll pop you off like a sitting duck!"
"She's right, Goren! It would be suicide!" Logan shouted.
With a grunt, Goren shook Alex loose and scrabbled for the trapdoor, ignoring their warning. By-passing the built-in descending steps, he launched himself down it feet first, landing in a crouch. Hands out in front of him, his eyes adjusted to the dark, taking in the timber braces butting the dank walls of a seven foot square cell. A five foot high tunnel disappeared into the blackness beyond and blocking the tunnel stood Nicole, the Glock held steady in her two hands, aimed at his head.
"If anyone else pokes their head through that trapdoor, Bobby," Nicole spoke smoothly, "I'll shoot them."
"Stay back!" Goren shouted above him. "She's got a gun and is gonna use it!"
"Bobby…?" Alex' voice was near, but she obeyed his order.
"No one follows me!" He shouted back, not taking his eyes from Nicole. "You fire that gun, Nicole," Bobby ground out, "and I take you down."
"I fully understand that," Nicole said, without concern, "but you'll have to live with the knowledge that it took the life of a friend, a lover, or a colleague to do it, whoever is stupid enough to come through after you." Nicole cocked her head to the side. "Is that what you want, Bobby?
Bobby killed the urge to throw himself at her and damn the gun, but he wasn't going to take any more from her. Taking a step toward her, he forced her to take one back, so that she was only three feet from the tunnel.
"What now, Nicole?" Bobby asked, softly, finding his calm. "We play the stand-off? Someone's gonna lose." He took another step forward and she mirrored the distance backward.
"I wasn't finished playing," Nicole said with disappointment. "There was a lot more I could have had you and Alex do. How is that you always spoil my fun, Bobby?"
"Fun!" he spat. "Your definition of fun is…twisted. It's sick…debased and…and cruel. That's not fun. That's sadism."
He took another step and a movement behind the steps had him whipping around too late. He saw Rafiq's arm rise and a blunt object flash toward his head. Reflex had Goren evading, but not quick enough. His already injured shoulder took the force of the object and he went down on his knees, renewed agony freezing him for the seconds it took Nicole and Rafiq to disappear into the tunnel and slam a door within. Dragging himself on his knees, Goren made it to the door and reached up to try the latch. It was either locked or jammed.
"Down here! Now!" he called above, struggling to his feet and Alex was first through the trapdoor, rushing to him, followed by Logan.
Goren brushed Alex' concern away, pointing to the door, but Logan was already at it, testing the catch and pushing against it. Shoulder-butting it several times produced no better result.
Logan shouted through the trapdoor to the basement above. "What's back there, Alicia?"
"It's a tunnel." A woman Goren didn't know tentatively showed her head. "Built to smuggle in illegals decades ago. It was here when Arthur bought the house. It goes all the way underground to a boathouse on the beach east of the estate."
"Are there any other exits?" Goren asked urgently.
"No, just the boathouse and here."
"So, Nicole's effectively trapped…if we can get to the boathouse first?"
Pulling himself back up the steps, Logan ordered, "Show us where it comes out!"
"I'm coming too, Logan!" Goren shouted, following.
"Someone has to stay here," Alex pointed out, "to make sure Nicole doesn't double back."
Bobby was right behind Logan and the woman he called Alicia, sprinting for the exit to the kitchen above, when he noticed Barek hovering off to the side.
"Don't look at me," Carolyn said, joining them. "I'm covering my partner."
Goren heard Alex curse loudly from the cell.
"Stay with Eames." he told Barek. "She's unarmed."
"But–"
"That's an order, Barek."
oOo
Following Logan and Alicia down an unkempt path lined with thin young trees and straggling creepers, Goren was pushing himself hard to keep up. The path underfoot was level enough, but his upper arm ached abominably, throbbing hard and painfully under Alex' makeshift bandage. He ignored the blood seeping down his arm, determined to get to Nicole.
"Is there a boat in this boathouse?" he shouted ahead, catching sight of Alicia being dragged by Logan as they weaved round dense bushes that scraped his skin and caught at his clothes when he took the corners too sharp.
"Of course!" Alicia shouted back, panting. "What's the purpose of a boathouse with no boat?"
More to the point, Goren thought, Nicole would have made sure there was a serviceable escape route.
"Down!" Logan commanded and Goren immediately threw himself onto the ground. He couldn't see Logan, but he heard Alicia give a strangled yelp and assumed Logan was too heavy-handed on her. He wondered who the woman was and hoped the other detective had a good reason for bringing her to the estate other than knowing the way to the boathouse.
Goren couldn't see anything but the path beneath him and the trees beyond, but he could hear the scrape of wood on wood, as if Rafiq and Nicole were already dragging the boat onto the beach.
"I want them stopped…before they get into the water," Goren hissed, crawling forward to clear the corner that hid the other two from him.
"Alicia, stay here," Logan said and Bobby saw him move forward at a low crouch.
Goren followed, determined Logan wasn't going to confront Nicole alone. Mike stopped suddenly, enabling Goren to crouch close and put a hand on his arm.
"You take Rafiq," Bobby ordered, seeing what prompted Logan to halt. The boathouse was ahead, the late afternoon light shadowing its wooden walls as it burst from the tree cover to nestle in the sand. Beyond it was the open sea.
"Nicole's mine," Bobby said.
"Who the hell is Rafiq?" Logan muttered.
"Nicole's side-kick. Don't worry, Logan, I'm not fobbing you off. The man's a cold-blooded killer. You got a second firearm?"
Logan's eyes widened as it occurred to him that Bobby wasn't armed. He shook his head.
"They've got a Glock…with a silencer, if not more," Goren said. "You gotta go first and cover me."
"You kiddin' me?" Logan ground out, checking out his bleeding arm. "You're gonna take 'em hand to hand with a flesh wound?"
"Give me another choice."
"I call the chopper we got on standby and–"
"They'll be gone by then. No…I'm doing this with…or without you."
"Shit! You're one crazy son-of-a–!"
But Logan nodded as if he knew it was pointless to argue and they both moved forward, still crouched low, past the belt of trees to the boathouse directly ahead. There was no movement outside, and Goren quickly checked that the coastline was clear of activity, the horizon flat and unbroken.
Motioning Logan to go left, Goren headed to the right of the building. There were no windows down the side through which to look, but the front doors were swung wide open, the only entrance.
Counting down with his fingers, Goren signaled Logan and they both rushed in together, Mike's weapon drawn and Bobby slightly behind him, his eyes struggling to see into the gloom. Scanning inside, he could make out a single rack of fishing rods, some abandoned crab pots, various buckets, and a pile of neatly stacked tarpaulins but the boathouse was devoid of boat and human occupation.
"What the–?" Goren began.
"Where's the damned boat?" Logan spun round on the spot, his weapon making an arc of the interior.
"There was nothing on the water. I checked."
A scream from outside had them flattening themselves against the boathouse's inner wall. It was unmistakably female.
"Alicia!" Logan said urgently, rushing out of the boathouse, weapon raised. Goren was right behind him as they retraced their steps to find Alicia sprawled on the path, a rapidly-spreading stain of red radiating from her chest above her heart.
Logan went down on his knees beside her.
"She…shot…me," Alicia gasped. "W…why?"
Goren braced himself, knees bent, searching the area rapidly in a three-sixty sweep. He thought he saw movement beyond and, at right angles to, the boathouse, disappearing along another path through the trees into the dusk.
"Get backup!" Bobby ordered. "I'm going after her!"
"Goren!" Logan shouted. "Here! Take my gun!"
Goren snapped round and Logan threw him the weapon. He caught it neatly, while still on the run, palming it in his left hand and, putting his head down, pressed forward. He had to accede the man had guts, relinquishing his weapon like that.
The path wound in a haphazard meander through the trees, but Goren could tell by the sound of the waves that it ran parallel to the beach, its gradient increasing with every step. He was laboring under the combined effort of keeping up the pace and ignoring the ache in his shoulder, but he wasn't going to stop.
Finally breaking free of the trees, he thrust out his right hand, grabbing a protruding tree branch in time to prevent his projecting himself over the edge of a grassed cliff. His feet tangling in exposed tree roots, Goren went down, sprawled in a rough blend of rock and sand. He saw below him the angry thrust of white-topped breakers as the waves crashed onto the rocks below. Looking north and south, he saw no sign of Nicole or Rafiq or a boat.
"Shit!"
Thrusting himself to his feet, he howled in a mixture of fury and frustration, spun round, gun raised, scanning the entire cliff but saw no tangible sign they had even been there. Had he imagined the fleeing figure? Goren swore again, and headed back the way he had come, moving slower this time and checking for signs of disturbance off the track. He found nothing, no sign of any desperate dash other than his own.
Back where he'd left Logan, Goren found the other man with Alicia's head pillowed on his lap. Mike's palm was laid gently against the woman's cheek, his head bowed in anguish.
Shoulders heaving, Bobby asked the inevitable. "She's–?"
"–dead. Ye–s." Logan said, his voice breaking. "Why? Why kill her?"
"I can guess why," Goren once again searched the belt of trees surrounding them, bringing his breathing under control. "Nicole will have correctly assumed Alicia brought us to the boathouse."
"But why punish her for it?"
"Nothing Nicole does…makes sense to the average person."
Logan looked up at him, pulling away hands wet with blood. "But it does to you?"
"Yeah…it does to me," Goren said, his shoulders bowed in defeat. "That's my problem."
oOo
At its first chirp, Carolyn whipped her cell phone out of her pocket.
"Mike!" she said urgently.
"Yeah." His voice came over strong and well in her ear and the tension dropped from her neck. "The locals are coming in. As soon as they secure the house, meet us back at the chopper."
"Everyone okay?" she asked.
"I'll see you soon."
He hung up without answering her question and she didn't want to guess what that meant.
Alex was looking worriedly at her, and Carolyn shrugged. "He said to meet him at the helicopter when the uniforms arrive. That's all. I don't have any other information."
Alex bit her lip. "Bobby?"
"He didn't say."
"I'm going now," Alex said, her tone adamant.
"Alex–!"
But she was gone.
Carolyn kicked her heels for another five minutes before two uniformed cops burst through the door of the basement, weapons raised, and Carolyn flashed her badge at them.
Pointing to the trapdoor, she started walking out of the room. "My partner wants you to watch that exit. I'm finished here."
oOo
Carolyn strode double-time down the avenue leading to the helicopter. Reaching the park at the same time as an ambulance rounded the corner from the south, she searched frantically for Mike and Bobby. Alex was hovering beside Goren, who seemed fine but bloodied from his left shoulder down. Talking rapidly to Bartlett, Goren was pointing east, while Logan stood apart, the front of his clothes covered in blood.
"Oh, shit! Mike!" Carolyn rushed forward, and Logan saw her and put up a hand.
"I'm fine," he assured her. "It's…Alicia." He shook his head in disbelief. "Nicole shot her. Near the boathouse."
Carolyn touched a hand to his arm in silent support, resisting the urge to do more as Bobby and Alex joined them.
"Nicole?" Carolyn asked.
Bobby jerked his head east, then rolled his neck as if in discomfort. "We don't know whether…whether she's dead or not. She's performed one of her famous…disappearing acts. Again."
A local cop hurried toward them down the road from the estate gates. When he reached the group, he excitedly held out two cell phones.
"Detective?" He showed his find to Bobby who took them both.
"We found them when we searched the boathouse," the officer explained. "These were the only things there that didn't seem to belong."
"They're ours," Goren said, nodding once. "Eames and mine. Nicole or Rafiq must…must have had them all this time."
"And she returned them?" Carolyn asked. "Why bother?"
"If Nicole is true to form," Bobby mumbled, "there will be a…a message for me."
Handing Alex hers, he thumbed through the display on his phone, his face tightening at the confirmation of his guess. Carolyn watched him read the message, curl his lips in distaste and hand it to Alex.
Standing next to Eames, Carolyn was in a position to see the text as Alex read it. While not understanding the communication, Carolyn realized that Alex and Bobby did.
She wouldn't push it now, but one day in the near future, she would ask them to explain Nicole's farewell message.
'I gave you a gift, Bobby. It's up to you whether you use it or not.'
oOo
End of "A Shift of Axis"
A romantic continuation will appear in the next story, "Two Pair, Queen High".
A/N: I apologize for one, the failure of Bobby to once again bring Nicole to justice and two, for the nebulous nature of her flight back into obscurity. The first is a necessity due to Nicole still, ostensibly, being at large in the Law and Order franchise and the second… because I've found every one of Nicole's escapes in the same franchise, nebulous and too easy. The first time, she left an empty apartment and a plate of 'scons'; the second, she was somehow untouchable because she was married to a rich man; the third, she survived a dunking in the cold, heartless waters of a Manhattan river; the fourth, she simply stepped over the state line and was again untouchable; and the fifth… well, no one saw her come OR go. Have I got all of this straight? It appears all too easy to 'disappear' in New York. :-D
If I have left any plot-holes or questions unanswered, please write me and I will either endeavour to fix them or write them into the next instalment, Two Pair, Queen High.
Thank you all for reading.