CHAPTER 22 – THE CHASE

"Now pay attention, Elizabeth," Jack said as he stood by the sliding door to his office. He was speaking to her as if she was merely a witness to a crime rather than the woman whom he had been thinking about undressing minutes earlier. "I will walk you back to our living quarters where you will stay. Stay. Is that clear? Stay."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and glared at Jack from her position a few feet away. Her arms were crossed against her chest as she stood there listening to him take charge.

They had finally stopped kissing much to Elizabeth's disappointment, and Jack had spent the next fifteen minutes looking through his computer files, scanning the camera screens, and demanding that Elizabeth let him handle the investigation.

"I am not a dog."

"A dog would be better behaved," he noted dryly.

"Take that back, Jack Thornton."

"Why should I? You refuse to listen to me."

Elizabeth trained her steely eyes at Jack but he refused to be fazed.

"What are you going to do if I don't take it back?" he challenged. "Stay away from me? You can't. We are on a spaceship."

"There are plenty of places on this ship to stay away from you," she reminded him coldly.

"You can't avoid me. We sleep on top of each other. . . In a nonbiblical way", he said as he tried to suppress a smile.

"I appreciate all your help. But now you have to let me handle it," he added in a nicer tone when he sensed her continued ire.

"Why?"

Jack face now showed his exasperation with her. "I told you. This can be dangerous! Why can't you just do as I say?"

"Because that's not who I am."

"Must you be so headstrong?!"

"You once said you liked that about me."

"I was drunk when I said that."

"There's no alcohol on the ship. It was all finished off the night of the talent show", she reminded him.

Drat. She's good.

Jack took a deep sigh to calm his growing irritation with her stubbornness. He found himself in the uncomfortable position of dealing with a woman whom he wanted to throttle at the same time he wanted to kiss her.

He realized it would be so much easier to deal with her if he wasn't so damn attracted to her.

"Elizabeth, please be reasonable. This woman may be dangerous. If she is responsible for attacking Carl, she is most likely also responsible for damaging the tether line causing one death, and causing the other malfunctions on the ship."

"You would not even know it was her if it wasn't for me!"

"I understand that. But I'm the one in law enforcement. Not you. So, let me handle it."

"Please," Jack added when Elizabeth didn't respond but merely fumed at him.

"Carl's my roommate too. I want to help catch the person who did this," she announced defiantly.

"And you are my girlfriend. I am going to keep you safe."

"Please," he said in a softer voice which finally earned him a begrudging look from Elizabeth. The fact that he had referred to her as his girlfriend had also helped soften her considerably.

"You don't even have a gun. What if you need back-up?" she muttered disagreeably.

"I don't have a gun because you can't use a gun in a spaceship. It could cause serious damage. I have my taser. And I won't need back-up."

He shook his head slightly in bafflement as he wondered what possessed her to think that a wealthy socialite school teacher could be back up to a law enforcement officer. Was she going to hurl complicated math problems at the woman? Order her to the corner for detention? Make her clap hologram erasers?

The buzzing sound coming from Jack's bracelet suddenly interrupted his thoughts and their conversation.

Elizabeth waited quietly while Jack put the wrist band to his ear and listened to the man's professional voice coming through the metal device.

Jack responded to the directions in a professional tone and then turned to look at Elizabeth.

"I have to go to the Captain's quarters. Do you promise to go to our quarters?" he asked her as he lowered his wrist.

"I haven't decided yet," she said glumly. "Maybe I could help?"

"We'll flip a coin," Jack said in a last ditch effort to convince her. He pulled his lucky coin out of pocket. The same coin that had won him the top berth on their first day on the transporter.

"Fine, but I flip it this time," Elizabeth announced as she took the coin from his hand.

Four seconds later, the coin was in Elizabeth's pocket, Jack was pleased with the outcome, and Elizabeth was wondering if the coin was rigged.

"I'll stay in our quarters. But first, I want to stop by and see Carl in the infirmary", she added before they separated in the corridor.

Elizabeth hadn't meant to chase the woman. Or even to confront her. Honestly, she hadn't. But when she had seen the woman leaning over Carl's bed in the infirmary, Elizabeth couldn't help but motion her aside and ask her to leave the infirmary so Elizabeth could spend time alone with her roommate.

One look at Elizabeth's eyes, and Abayomi Nneki Oyeyemowa had known that Elizabeth suspected her of something. The woman more commonly called Union Jack Girl had almost made it out of the infirmary's door when Elizabeth couldn't pretend any longer that everything was okay.

Sitting on the edge of Carl's berth, she turned her gaze from his tired face and spoke over her shoulder at the other woman.

"I think you're dreadful. For what you did to Carl and to everyone else on this ship."

With that criticism, the woman had taken off running, and Elizabeth had sprinted after her.

Elizabeth, her ponytail flapping wildly at the back of her head, ran down another long corridor.

When she saw the woman push open yet another stairwell door, Elizabeth ignored her loose shoe with the lace that had come undone, and clenched her teeth in determination.

She's not getting away from me.

Elizabeth got to the door after it had already slammed shut, so she pushed it open and hurled herself into the stairwell. There was only one way to go at this point. Up.

"Jack! Jack!" she yelled into the messenger on her bracelet as she ran after the woman who was now a flight ahead of her. "I'm chasing her. She running up the East stairwell. Hurry!"

Elizabeth grabbed ahold of the handrail and used it to help support herself as she climbed the staircase. Her breath was ragged as she struggled to keep up with Carl's fake British girlfriend.

Elizabeth heard Jack's loud intense voice coming over her messenger but she couldn't make out all his words and she didn't have time to stop and pay more attention.

She was pretty positive that he had asked what the hell she was doing. And that he ordered her to stop it. But the rest of what he was saying was obscured by the sound of her feet pounding on the metal steps and by her heavy breathing.

Oh, hell, why is he still talking to me?! she thought in frustration. Doesn't he understand that I'm chasing a criminal! Up steps! Just stop talking and get here!

"Jack, get here! East stairwell," Elizabeth gasped into her bracelet as she briefly held it by her mouth. "She just got off on the top level. I'm chasing her!"

Elizabeth pulled open the metal door and quickly looked to the right. Nothing. She jerked her head to the left and saw her prey disappearing out of view as the woman turned a corner.

Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth took off running again. She had no idea what she would do to the woman when she caught her but Elizabeth decided she would worry about that later. Once she had the woman cornered.

Nothing.

Damn, where'd so go?

The hallway was lined with doors on both sides. Rooms. Electrical closets. The elevator. All of them were closed.

Elizabeth kept running. Hoping to see some sign of the woman.

As her heart pounded, she realized that this was nothing like one of her long dull jogs on the treadmill. This was sprints and stairs and more sprints. She had chased Carl's assailant along four corridors, down three flights of steps, and up five flights of steps. Down was much easier than up she had realized immediately.

Elizabeth was three feet away from the elevator when the door slid open and someone hurried out. He quickly caught Elizbeth in his arms as she almost tumbled into him.

"Jack", she gasped as he steadied her. "You have to go find her. She was trying to do something to Carl."

"What happened?!"

Elizabeth doubled over to catch her breath and shook her head. "No", she argued. "I'll explain later. Go find her first," she ordered as she weakly pointed down the hallway.

When Jack looked down the hallway and then quickly turned his attention back to Elizabeth, she looked at him curiously and then grabbed his upper forearm and frantically pushed him in the direction she had been heading.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly as he ignored her order and physical push. He quickly assessed her body from head to toe.

"I'm fine. Why aren't you going to find her?!" Elizabeth asked impatiently.

"We are on a spaceship. She can't go anywhere," Jack reminded her. His voice was calm now that he knew that Elizabeth was safe. "I'm more concerned as to why you're chasing after her when you promised me that you would stay safe in our living quarters."

"Go after her!"

"No. I will not. Not until I know that you are safe and you tell me what happened."

"She knows that I know what she's done!" Elizabeth said frantically. "She might do something more now. She's desperate!"

Jack scowled. "If she's desperate, it's because you tipped her off."

"I didn't tip her off!" Elizabeth started to object but then paused. "Okay. So maybe I tipped her off that we're on to her. But not on purpose. She was at Carl's bedside."

"She what?" Jack said with sudden interest.

"She was at Carl's bedside. Staring at him. I didn't know what she was going to do! She could have tried to inject his IV with something!"

"He doesn't have an IV," Jack noted matter-of-factly.

"She could have injected something into his arm!"

"What?" Jack questioned. "What could she have injected into his arm?"

Elizabeth had the suspicion that Jack wasn't taking her seriously. She began to wonder if that might have something to do with the fact that she had read too many mystery novels. "I don't know. . . She could have pulled out his tubes!"

"He has one tube. And pulling out a catheter wouldn't kill him. Just make a wet mess on the bedsheets." Despite the situation, Jack couldn't help but smile at Elizabeth's enthusiasm.

"She could have tried to suffocate him with his pillow," Elizabeth suggested weakly as she realized she had probably made a mess of Jack's investigation.

"Yes, she could have. She could have suffocated him," Jack politely agreed. "But that probably would have totally clued us in that she was the one who had originally assaulted him," he added with a wry smile.

Jack finished speaking into his messenger and turned to Elizabeth. "Done. Carl is being guarded and the Captain has been alerted." The couple was quickly walking as Jack had insisted on escorting Elizabeth to their living quarters.

"I guess I should have just gone to our room and stayed there," Elizabeth said with disappointed embarrassment. "Now when you go to question her, she'll be defensive. You can't catch her off guard."

"How about you let me worry about that?"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll arrange with the Captain to put the ship on lockdown. With his permission, we'll order everyone to their living quarters and lock them in. The crew will then go door to door searching. At the same time, we'll search the maintenance rooms, fitness center, cafeteria, and other rooms. She can't go far."

"Are you mad at me?" Elizabeth asked when they reached their living quarters. Instead of buzzing her bracelet across the sensor, she leaned against the corridor wall next to the sliding door.

"No, I'm not mad but I've got to get going. So, get inside and stay there. Stay there, my little Cocker Spaniel," he ordered. ""I'll check up with you in a few hours."

Jack leaned forward and gave Elizabeth a quick peck on the cheek and then started down the hallway. Leaving her to sigh wistfully and then buzz her bracelet across the door sensor.

Cocker Spaniel, she thought in disgust. If I'm going to be a dog, I'd prefer a Canadian Eskimo dog or Newfoundland.

I wonder if this is what it will be like when we're married and he's involved in a case. Me staying home. Him out there doing something brave and manly and sexy. He's sooo sexy when he takes charge.

Maybe I should let him do it more often.

Okay, stop it Elizabeth.

Don't get ahead of yourself.

He hasn't even told you that he loves you.

Yet.

The door slid closed behind Elizabeth and she immediately started to kick off her shoes. It was then, out of the corner of her eye, that she saw the final movement of the bathroom door closing.

Elizabeth paused.

She was standing there. Jack was walking down the hallway. Carl was in the infirmary.

"Seth?" she called out hesitantly.

When he didn't immediately respond, she hastily turned and opened the door to the hallway. Rushing into the corridor she looked to her right in the direction of the door to the adjoining living quarters. The room that shared a bathroom with hers.

The door was sliding closed as the room's trespasser ran down the hallway.

Oh, Jack, I'm sorry! Elizabeth muttered as she hesitated for a split second before giving chase. If she hurried, she might just catch the beautiful woman with the short-cropped hair.

"Jack!" she yelled at the top of her lungs and into the air as she ran. Hoping he was still in earshot and hadn't already gotten on an elevator. "Jack! I'm chasing her again!"

When Elizabeth slid around a corner, she realized that if Union Jack Girl didn't kill her, Jack just might.

UP NEXT: CHAPTER 23 - THE MINI TRANSPORTER