CHAPTER 100 - HOT WATER

Elizabeth opened the stairwell door to Sublevel B and entered the still and quiet corridor. She frowned as she wondered which way to go first.

Left or right? she questioned herself.

There were roughly the same number of rooms in each direction.

She was surprised that Jack hadn't finished searching the level already, but then reasoned that with her medication-induced energy, she was probably much faster than he had been.

Noticing a partially opened door at the end of the corridor to her right, she headed in that direction.

She hurried at first. Eager to know if Jack had found Aaron, and if not, to compare stories and discuss their next moves.

As she got closer to the open doorway, she stopped in her tracks. Wondering if perhaps Jack had found Jolene. Perhaps he was in negotiations with her right now. In which case, if he was, she didn't want to interrupt.

Deciding to move forward anyway, Elizabeth was cautious. She didn't want to upset Jack's diplomacy if he was trying to reason with the other woman.

"Jack?" Elizabeth called out when she entered the room. "Are you in here?"

"Well hello, Elizabeth. Welcome," an almost breathless Jolene greeted her.

Elizabeth jerked towards the sound of the female voice. A part of her was instantly relieved when she saw that Aaron, laying at Jolene's feet, was safe.

Another part of Elizabeth was instantly frightened to see that he was so close to Jolene.

The battered crew member was bent over in obvious pain as she held an arm to her torso. She crouched down and, with her free arm, picked up small Aaron Daniel from the ground.

"Your husband's over there," Jolene said with a nod to her right.

Elizabeth's eyes followed the women's direction. At first she was confused by not seeing Jack.

Then she gasped in horror.

Jack was dangling by his hands from the long horizontal rail of a catwalk. His injured and bloody body was directly over a large cistern filled with steaming water as he struggled to keep from falling in and being boiled alive.

"The water's for the hydraulics," Jolene said nonchalantly by way of explanation.

"Dear Lord," Elizabeth said under her breath and started to move towards Jack.

"Not so fast! Don't forget that your little one's fragile body is in my hands. You and Jack. Always in such a hurry."

Jolene had barely finished speaking when Jack, who had managed to swing up one leg and land a foot on the edge of the catwalk, was hit by a harsh jet of water which burst out of a release valve.

The burst of liquid knocked down his leg and he fought to keep his hands holding onto the slippery rail.

His face was moist with a mixture of fresh water from the jet, steam from the boiling vat below him, and his own tears which were seeping out of his eyes due to the pain which his beaten body felt.

"That jet sends out a burst of water every twelve seconds," Jolene announced calmly- almost with pleasure. "It's cold. It's keeps the upper machinery cooled. But the vat below – the one that your husband is going to fall into – that's kept at a standard two hundred and thirty degrees."

"Jolene, you have to let me get to him," Elizabeth pleaded.

"No. I think not."

"You can't kill him! Not over something as stupid as money! A stupid contract!"

"I'm not going to kill him. He accidentally fell. It's a wet slippery area," Jolene said with a shrug.

"I'll testify against you! You can't kill both of us."

"Technically I can. But I won't. Too suspicious. And actually, to tell you the truth, I'm feeling a bit winded. Your husband's in better shape than I gave him credit for."

"What are you going to do?" a frantic Elizabeth asked hurriedly.

She stole a glance at Jack, and winced when he was again hit by a jet of water. She didn't know how much longer he could continue to hang on to the wet metal rail.

"I'm going to let your husband die. And then I'm going to get the flash-drive, and give you back your son. And I'm going back to my duty station."

"You won't get away with this!" a shocked Elizabeth declared. She stared at the other woman in horror and realized that Jolene was the epitome of someone who was heartless. Cold and calculated.

"It will be your word against mine. You'll be the hysterical wife who misunderstood the situation. Especially with your recent head injury. You've been confused. On medication. You don't know what you saw. It was all just an accident. I don't know anything about corn or a hologram. I never got a hologram. You two came down her for some reason or other. Maybe a little adventurous private time."

"No one will believe that!"

"They probably will. You can't hide from the ship how into each other you two are. You're always kissing, and everyone knows how you managed to get pregnant in Coal Valley when it's supposed to be impossible. It won't be a stretch for people to think that you two wanted a little adventure."

"We came down here to make out?!" Elizabeth questioned in disbelief.

"How should I know? And he fell. And you couldn't get to him in time. You're just a confused woman with a head injury."

"Please don't do this, Jolene, even if you can, " Elizabeth pleaded.

My God, I sound like a damn country song.

"Please give me my son."

Elizabeth held out her arms towards the sweet little baby who was dressed in a onesie decorated in pictures of tiny squirrels and wearing a weighed bracelet on each ankle and wrist.

Jolene sneered and made no movement towards Elizabeth.

"Quite a dilemma you have here," Jolene said with a menacing smile. "When I leave here, you can chase me. Or perhaps you'd try to save your husband. But I can't have you do either. What should I do to make sure you don't do either? Hmmm?"

"I won't chase you!" Elizabeth said hurriedly. "I don't care about your stupid food contracts. You can take my flash-drive and destroy it. Here take it! Take it!" Elizabeth stretched out her hand. "Just give me my son. Please. Just give me my son."

"Don't do it, Elizabeth. Not without getting Acorn first!" Jack yelled from across the room. She could tell he was in pain. She heard the anguish in his voice.

Elizabeth ignored his advice. He was alive. That was all that mattered to her about him at this point.

The fact that Jolene thought the flash-drive held what she wanted was Elizabeth's only leverage.

"Did you make any copies? Don't lie to me. I'll be able to check once I download it and check the User access and download history.

"I didn't make any copies," Elizabeth replied hurriedly as she tossed the flash-drive across the room. She needed Jolene to leave so she could get to Jack before he fell to his death. "Now give me my son. Set him down."

The valve let out another angry jet of water.

Almost instantaneously, one of Jack's palms slipped, leaving him dangling with just one hand making the difference between life and death. Elizabeth couldn't breathe as she anxiously waited for Jack to grasp the rail again. Her mind pleading with him to hang on.

"You won't get away with this. Let me help my husband and then we'll talk about this," Elizabeth frantically told Jolene. "Or you can just leave!"

"I will. Get away with it that is. It will be easy enough to convince people that you're irrationally blaming me. You've had it in for me since the electrical cable incident. When your son was almost hurt."

"I haven't!" Elizabeth protested.

"But I just have to get everyone to believe that. And now, in your confused state, you lashed out at me and blamed me for Jack's fall."

"You're injured! Everyone will notice! Your face is bloody and swollen!"

Jolene dismissively waved away any concern. "I clumsily fell down a ladder when I was checking on the electrical glitches."

"Please, Jolene! Please," Elizabeth pleaded. She quickly looked to Jack, who was struggling to get his leg up again. She guessed that he was timing his actions. He had just under twelve seconds until he was shot again by the torrent of water. "Just leave. Give me my son and leave."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Elizabeth. Even you have to understand that. I have to get back to my duty station before anyone notices me missing. And you have to be here alone. All alone with your son when tragedy strikes your family. It's almost a shame that I can't be here to see it. I'm curious as to which one you'll choose."

"Choose? Which one I'll choose? I told you that I won't chase you!"

"That's not the choice you need to make. You'd let me get away to save your husband, I see that now. It's obvious. You're a sappy devoted wife. Everyone on the ship knows it. But if I leave and let you save him, then both of you would be able to testify against me. And I can't have that. No, there's another choice you'll need to make."

"I'll make it! Whatever you want! Just give me my baby and leave." Elizabeth had lost track of how many times she had asked for her son but Jolene remained unmoved by a mother's plea.

"Whatever choice? Are you sure?" the woman smirked.

"What choice?!" Elizabeth screamed. She heard Jack groan as another jet of water blasted him. He had managed to get his second hand back on the rail but he was being waterboarded as his tattered body desperately tried not to fall to his death.

"It all comes down to this. Who do you love more? Your husband or your baby?"

"What are you talking about?!" Elizabeth screamed.

"It came to while I was watching you fretfully stand there like a pathetic woman. How to keep you from chasing me? Watching you with your head anxiously jerking back and forth from Jack to this one in my arms. You barely know what to do with yourself. The two most precious men in your life are in danger. Both of them helpless. How much longer do you think your husband can hang on?"

As Jolene spoke, Elizabeth didn't look at Jack but concentrated her gaze on Aaron. Who did she love more? Her son or her husband. She couldn't look at Aaron's sweet face. Instead she avoided his adorable chubby cheeks and his expressive eyes which were so like Jack's, and she focused on his squirming limbs.

Elizabeth twisted her hands nervously around her wrists. Almost instinctively, Aaron looked at his own little wrists and began tugging on the Velcro straps holding on the doctor-prescribed weights. When they fell to the floor, he proudly moved onto the weights on his ankles. Jolene was so busy talking she didn't even seem to remember that she had the child in his arms. She only considered him a bargaining chip. Something that Elizabeth desperately wanted.

"Look at you. You're a nervous wreck. You probably can't save anyone," the ensign said with a scoff.

Elizabeth had a feeling that Jolene, even though she was injured, could still beat her to a pulp. That didn't worry her as much as Jolene kicking her into the vat of boiling water.

But more importantly, Elizabeth didn't think Jack could last much longer.

Throwing a glare at Jolene, she rushed in his direction.

"You won't come after me. You'll have to live with your choice. Good luck, Elizabeth" Jolene called out.

With her back to Jolene, Elizabeth heard the splash. She knew she would.

Without looking, she knew that Jolene had thrown Acorn in the other cistern; it had cool water but was still at least twenty feet deep.

As Jolene quickly left the room, Elizabeth had already made her choice.

Save her infant son from drowning in the cistern, or save her husband, the only man she would ever truly love, from being scalded alive.

She didn't hesitate but ran for Jack.

One second.

Two seconds, she counted as she moved quickly.

Elizabeth pushed aside thoughts of Aaron flailing in the deep water, and scrambled onto the slippery catwalk. Desperately hoping that she didn't fall. She had lost count of how many long it had been since the last burst of water. Wondering when the next jet would pummel Jack.

Three seconds

Kneeling down, she wrapped her hands around Jack's wrists. They were damp from the steam and water and she clutched tighter when she felt her fingers slip on his slick skin.

Four seconds

"Get Acorn!" Jack yelled. His face was red and glistened with perspiration and drops of water.

"After I get you."

A blast of water hit her, but she didn't let go.

She refused to let go as she felt Jack's fingers slip from the rail.

Five seconds.

Elizabeth arms strained to hold onto Jack.

"How's that weight-lifting at the gym going?" his weak voice asked saracastically as she held his life in her hands but struggled to pull him up.

"I'm trying," she answered through gritted teeth as she tried to heave him up.

"Hurry!"

Six seconds.

With a grunt, she heaved Jack up until his elbows were on the edge. Pretty sure, and hoping, that he'd make it the rest of the way on his own, she scrambled away.

Seven seconds.

The wet metal walkway caused Elizabeth to fall, but she hurriedly scrambled to her feet.

Eight seconds.

Elizabeth made a running leap into the other cistern. She splashed frantically. The distance to her son was only three feet but her heart was pounding that she wouldn't make it in time.

But she did.

There he was. Floating on his back. Cooing like a sweet baby. Eight seconds. That's how long he had been able to float in his last swim class. And now it was up to nine seconds.

Less than a minute earlier, as Elizabeth had watched Jolene holding her son in her arms, she had remembered what Jack had told her weeks ago. Once she had managed to get Aaron to take off his weights – by drawing his attention to them – she thought she had a chance to save both her husband and her son.

"I told you. It's not about actually swimming. Not like laps or something. For goodness sakes, he's just a baby," Jack had replied in mild disgust that Elizabeth hadn't been impressed with her son's swimming progress. "It's about flipping onto his back and staying afloat until help arrives."

"Is he okay?" Jack asked breathlessly as he hobbled over to the edge of the cistern and leaned down.

"We're fine," Elizabeth said with her own breathlessness. She kicked her legs to keep afloat.

Aaron clung to her neck and she held him tight to her body with one arm. With her free arm, she made her way the short distance to the side of the vat.

"Go get the bitch that did this to us!" she ordered.

An injured Jack screwed up his face and gave her a look that clearly indicated he thought she had some odd ideas and, that with a bruised body and painful ribs, he was not going to take her suggestion.

Instead, he weakly reached out a hand to her and helped her and his son out of the vat.

Dear Readers: You won't want to miss the next chapter. As many of you know from reading my vignettes written under the name jellybean49, I always like to tidy things up at the end of my stories.