Chapter 18

From across the floor, Elliot Manning watched as Jennifer Edwards left the bar and made her way through the crowd and out the door. Then he followed. Admittedly, there wasn't a plan yet. He just wanted to talk to her to apologize for his behavior. Maybe even beg for a second chance if it came to that.

As he neared the doorway, he saw a sight that made his heart stop. He grabbed at the nearest body he could get a hold of without taking his eyes off the men and Jennifer, and in an angry whisper, said, "Get Hart. Someone just grabbed Jennifer."

"Someone just grabbed Jenny? What are you talking about?"

Elliot turned, faced Andy, and growled, "Are you stupid? Go get Jonathan now! I'm going to follow them."

Wide-eyed, Andy turned and ran across the room, back to the bar. Elliot ducked out the door and slid under the buffet table, which was full of food, but no people. As he did so, Gabriel turned back from Simon and Jennifer and headed back to the door Elliot just vacated. As Gabriel walked past, Elliot noticed a chain in his hand.

Simon and Jennifer continued down the hall as he tested doors. Finding one door that was unlocked, he and Jennifer disappeared behind it.

***

When he reached Jonathan, who was chatting with Lieutenant Jerry Gillis and Max, he called out, "Jonathan! Jonathan! They... (huff) grabbed her… (puff) They… (huff) took her." Between his gasping and the loud music, Jonathan was having trouble understanding anything coming from Andy's mouth.

Before he could ask for clarification, the screeching of a roughly handled guitar and shouts of "What the hell, man?" demanded his attention. Then he heard over the speakers, "I need everyone to stay where you are. I have the doors locked and the room is wired to explode." He tried to scan the room, but the lights in his eyes were making it difficult to see. "Jonathan Hart! Where is Jonathan Hart?"

***

As the band was being interrupted, Elliot was working his way towards the door he had watched Simon push Jennifer through. Elliot was confident he didn't know what trouble was on the other side of the door. Nor did he know how he was going to get in without alarming Simon. The only thing Elliot knew was he had to do something.

As he got closer to the door, he could see it was to a stairwell. He opened the door, trying to hear what direction they went. Looking up, he could see shadows on the wall. After kicking off his shoes and pulling off his socks to keep quiet, Elliot headed up after them.

***

Jonathan turned to the Lieutenant, "See if you can get some help. That looks like Gabriel Wade."

"The art thief?"

"Yes." Jonathan turned and stepped towards the dance floor, into more light. "Here, Wade," he hollered at the man. "I'm right here."

Gabriel's head jerked in his direction. "Step out onto the floor so I can see you better, Jonny." Jonathan stepped closer to the stage, away from the crowd that was slowly working their way back from the dance floor. "Ahhh, the great Jonathan Hart." Gabriel sat on the edge of the stage, his legs swinging like a little boy. "You have been a big pain these last few weeks."

"As you were before that," Jonathan smirked as he moved closer to the stage. "I guess that makes us even."

"Actually, I have a couple of things that give me the upper hand... "he stood back up, making sure everyone could see him. "One is this," he held his hand up in the air and waved it around a bit. "For those in the back who can't see, it's a dead man's switch. See this room has several explosives placed around it. Not enough to do damage to the building, but enough to take out most of the people here." A collective deep breath was held in the room as people began to realize the trouble this man was causing. "And second, you may have noticed, Jonathan, that Jennifer has not come back yet… That would be because I have her in another location. I figured, if you didn't care about this room full of people enough to give me the information I want, then you would probably give it to me for her sake."

***

The Lieutenant had made his way to the back of the room. He moved from one door to the next, finding that at some point during the evening, they were shut and chained together. Short of bolt cutters or a key, no one was getting out. Or in for that matter.

"Any other way out, Lieutenant?" Stephen Edwards asked him. "These seem to be locked. And we haven't found any other yet."

"I don't know, Mr. Edwards."

***

Hugging the wall as he went, Elliot could hear Jennifer murmuring to the man holding her arm.

"Please," she said, "please tell me you won't hurt Jonathan."

"Lady, shut up."

"I just want to know he's ok."

"Whatta I care? I'm supposed to get you out of the way. The rest is up to him. You are mine…" She gasped, and even though he couldn't see what the man was doing, Elliot moved faster.

He was two flights behind them now. Rounding the landing, he saw the man had backed Jennifer into the corner; her face turned away from him. The gun was in his right hand, and he was using the barrel to trace her cheek and jawline. Looking around for something to hit the man with, all Elliot could see was the fire extinguisher... which was right where they were standing. He would not have time to get it off the wall before announcing his presence. Backing down the stairs a bit, Elliot discovered there was another one on the floor below.

He quickly moved back down and pulled it off the wall as quietly as he could. Going back up, he took the stairs two at a time. He rounded the next landing and swung the extinguisher as hard as he could at the back of the man's head. It connected with a sickening crack, and he crumpled to the floor.

"Oh, Elliot." Jennifer grabbed him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"We've got to get you out of here," he said.

"No! We have to go get everyone else." She turned back and spotted the gun Simon dropped. She jumped over his legs and picked it up. "Do you have some rope?"

"No. I don't carry any on me."

Jennifer made a slightly exasperated face at him. "Something… anything to tie his hands?" She looked him over… "Your belt?" Elliot took his belt off and made quick work of wrapping Simon's hands behind his back, tight and buckling it together. "Come on," she said, leading him back down the stairs. "And bring that with you."

***

"What are you after?"

"Why… what I've always been after," Gabriel snarled back, "the paintings you took from me."

"The ones you stole from Cairo?"

"See… you do know what I'm talking about."

"They are safe." Jonathan took another step closer, "But until you bring Jennifer in here, you won't get them."

"Oh, see, I'm pretty sure that's where you are wrong. Right now, as we speak, my associate is working his way to the roof. Once there he has a set amount of time, and then he will send her off… I must get there before that happens if you want to save her." Gabriel looked directly at Jonathan. "And I'm not leaving until I know where to get my paintings."

Before he could come up with an answer, Jonathan noticed a movement towards the back of the stage. He would know that redhead anywhere. What was she doing? She didn't know about the explosives… or the dead man's switch... "Well," he started, wanting to keep Gabriel's attention on him, and yet stall for time for her. "Getting them is going to be difficult. They should be on their way back to Cairo by now."

"Nice try, Hart. My contact says you bought them. So I know they aren't. You don't have this kind of time…"

"How can I be certain that's a dead man's switch in your hand?"

Jennifer turned to Elliot, her eyes wide, "Damn it," she whispered. "Did you hear that? Now, what do we do? If you hit him, he will drop, and this whole place will go up."

"We've got to find a way to keep his hand tight on that thing," Elliot said, looking around. "What about this?"

"That I can use."

"Would you like me to drop it and show you?" Gabriel responded to Jonathan, lifting his hand again.

"No!" Jonathan yelled. "I just would like some give and take here."

"You're searching for room you don't have."

"Maybe," Jonathan said, still trying to stall. He could see Jennifer moving slowly around to the other side of Gabriel. She looked like she was pointing up. Did she want him to do something? She pointed at Gabriel, and then up and Jonathan thought he understood. "But… I'm… just trying to see if you are telling the truth or if you are messing with me." He tried to egg Gabriel on.

"Seriously, Hart? Your woman is on the roof, contemplating a swan dive to death, and you want to try me over this?" For the third time, Gabriel waved his hand in the air, and this time he got trapped. Jennifer spun the rope, and let it fly, catching Gabriel in her lasso. At the same time, Elliot stepped out and swung the extinguisher knocking out his second man of the night.

Lieutenant Gillis rushed the stage and handcuffed Gabriel. Jennifer made her way to the edge of the stage, where Jonathan helped her down. He pulled her tight to him.

"You throw a hell of a party, Mr. Hart," she said, looking into his eyes.

"And you really know how to wrap things up," he said as he leaned down to kiss her.

Elliot shook the Lieutenant's hand as he watched Jennifer. He knew. Just by watching them, he knew Jonathan won, and there would be no second chance for him, so he turned and walked away.