Chapter Five
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Henderson shouted, placing himself in between the gun-wielding Leo and the target, Danny. The curly, blonde-haired man looked at his protégé critically. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"If he's going to be so much of a problem, I don't see why we just don't kill him and get it over with." Broder replied, lowering his aim and shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh yeah," a sarcastic Danny commented, narrowing his eyes at the other man. "Brave words considering I'm tied up, Broder. You know you wouldn't last two minutes if I wasn't."
"Never said that I played fair, McCoy." Leo smirked, aiming his gun at Danny once more.
"Leo!" Henderson snapped, getting the younger man to drop his gun once more. Turning to Danny, the former senator once again backhanded him across the face, causing the brown-haired man to fall back to his elbows. "No one gave you permission to talk!"
"See what I mean?" Leo smiled.
"As much of a pain in the ass as he is," Henderson said, turning from Danny to Leo. "We still need him alive in order to lure Ed here." A smirk crossed his face as the blonde-haired man turned and leaned down to check on the still-reeling Danny. "Besides, after this all over and some friends of mine give him an "attitude adjustment", he should prove to be a valuable ally to us."
"You..." Danny growled, taking the opportunity to grab the older man's throat and start choking him. Truth be told, he had only been pretending to be hurt the past few moments, waiting for a chance like this to arise.
"Leo..." the quickly-turning-purple Henderson managed to squeak out as Danny continued to choke him.
"Right." Leo nodded, hitting Danny in the temple with his pistol.
Stunned, the brown-haired Marine lieutenant let out a cry of out and fell back to his opposite side, letting the senator go immediately. He could feel blood start to trickle down the side of his face as his cut from a week or so ago reopened.
"Thank you." an appreciative Henderson said, finally managing to catch his breath.
"You're welcome." Leo smiled, hitting Danny in the stomach as he started to sit up again. Groaning in pain, McCoy fell back again. "What do you want to do about this one? Surely, you're not just going to let him get away with that."
"No, I think that I'll have you and the boys teach him a lesson." Henderson grinned before picking Danny's head up by his hair. The younger man winced in pain. "For future reference, Danny Boy, I meant what I said about not being able to guarantee your safety if you didn't behave. " Letting go of Danny (who fell back against the bed), the blonde-haired man turned and headed for the door, pausing just as he reached the threshold. Henderson turned back to look at Leo. "Nothing that won't take him too long to recover from."
"Got it." Leo grinned wickedly.
"What was that?" Ed asked, turning his head away from the window as a strange sound reached his ears. For the past hour or so, the gray-haired man had been doing nothing but watch the clouds and scenery pass underneath him, worry about Danny's safety and plan what he was going to do to both Henderson and Leo when he got a hold of them. When he heard the same noise again, Deline slowly got up from his seat, withdrew the pistol he had hanging from his belt and headed towards the source of the noise: the back of the plane. He nearly dropped his weapon in shock upon discovering the source. "Mary?!"
"Hi Ed." the red-haired woman replied meekly from where she was climbing out of the cargo hold.
"Nearly gave me a heart attack." Ed shook his head, helping Mary to her feet. "Thank God that we're not too far from Vegas! I'll have the pilot circle back around and drop you..."
"I'm going with you." Mary said firmly.
"Mary, sweetheart, I..." Ed started, trying to let her down gently.
"I know what you said, Ed," Mary interrupted, "and I know that Danny wouldn't want me to put myself in danger, because he's always watched out for me like that. However, that's exactly why I need to do this. Danny's always saved me when I've needed it, and now it's my turn to pay him back." She looked upon the older man with a determined gleam in her eyes. "And if you don't take me along with you, Ed, I swear that I'll just get a commercial flight from Vegas and do this on my own."
"Guess that I can't argue with that." Ed replied.
"Ugh." Danny groaned, rolling over onto his side as he heard the door to his cell open once more. Leo and Henderson's men had just left after severely beating him, and McCoy was hoping that it wasn't them coming back for seconds.
"Oh, my God." Penny's voice gasped as Danny heard footsteps fast approaching him. Lifting and turning his head, he could see his ex-girlfriend running towards him, setting the tray of food she had been carrying aside. He turned to face her as she reached him, and she cupped his face in her hands. "Danny."
"Don't." Danny replied, jerking his head (which felt heavier than usual and achy) away from her. He would have moved his entire body, but his ribs seemed to be crying out that this was a bad idea. "I'm still not buying this whole act of yours."
"I never wanted this, Danny." Penny begged, pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket, moistening it with Danny's leftover water and wiping dried blood away from his mouth, nose and the side of his face. "You have to believe that."
"Why should I?" a skeptical Danny replied, jerking away from her again.
"I can't get into that right now." Penny sighed, finally accepting that she had cleaned all that he would let her clean. She got up from the bed, retrieved the tray of food and laid it across Danny's lap. "Eat. You're going to need your strength pretty soon here."
"What are..." Danny asked as Penny headed for the door.
"You'll see." Penny smiled before disappearing into the hallway.
"All right." Ed said, walking back into the main part of the plane. "I've just been to see the pilot and he says that we're about a couple of hours away from Anchorage."
"That's good." Mary nodded, turning her attention away from the window. "Have you heard from Mike yet?"
"Nah." Ed shook his head, reaching into the overhead compartment. "But he should be working on trying to somehow pinpoint Danny's location as we speak." He sighed heavily and paused what he was doing to glance down at the younger woman. "I'm afraid that it might be a wild goose chase when we get there, sweetheart. I'm not expecting to find and rescue Danny right away."
"But we will find him." Mary replied as Ed continued moving things around in the overhead compartment. "Won't we, Ed?"
"Absolutely." Ed replied, pulling a rifle down. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to find him, Mary." He checked the gun over to make sure that it was in working condition. "But it may get a little hairy and if it does, I want your number one priority to be getting yourself out of there, all right?" He looked at her and shook his head again. "Danny wouldn't want you to get yourself killed for his sake. So, if I tell you to run, you do it, understand?"
"I will, Ed." Mary promised with a smile.
"Good girl." Ed smiled back before taking the pistol hanging from his belt out and handing it to her. "I'm hoping that you won't have to use this, but I'd be crazy to let you come along unarmed." His blue eyes studied Mary carefully as she took the weapon from him. "You do feel comfortable using it, right?"
"Not exactly." an honest Mary replied, looking at the weapon in her hands. Worried that Ed might reconsider his decision, she quickly decided to clarify. "I mean I think that I'd be able to use it if I had to, but..."
"Good." Ed nodded, "But, like I said, I hope that it doesn't come to that point"
"Where'd you run off to?" Danny asked as Penny re-entered the room moments later, carrying a large garbage bag.
"That's not important." Penny shook her head, taking the now-empty tray away from Danny's lap. "It's good that you decided to eat." Setting the tray on the floor, she sat down near his feet. "Like I said, you're going to need your strength."
"For what?" a puzzled Danny replied as Penny took the restraint off of his foot. His brow furrowed in further confusion as he moved his sore foot around. "Penny?"
"We don't have much time." Penny said in a hushed voice, opening the garbage bag. "Eventually, Henderson and Leo are going to figure out that the camera watching this room is on loop and then, we're both screwed." Reaching into the bag, she pulled out a thick winter coat and Danny's shoes, which had been taken away from him. "Unfortunately, this is all I could get you."
"I still don't understand." a still confused Danny replied.
"Idiot." Penny laughed, "I'm trying to help you escape."
"You're what?" a surprised Danny exclaimed, "Penny..."
"There's a small town about 30 miles south of here." Penny replied, putting a finger on Danny's lips to quiet him. "You should be fine once you get there, but..."
"What about you?" Danny asked as he put his shoes on. "I can't just leave you here! When those assholes find out what you did, they're bound to kill you."
"Whatever happens to me now is my punishment for everything I've done to people." Penny shook her head as both she and Danny got to their feet. "The most important thing now is to get you out of here."
"I'm not just going to let you die." Danny replied.
"I'd only slow you down." Penny pointed out, before standing on her tiptoes and kissing Danny on the cheek, confusing him. "That's for good luck. I'll try and stall them as long as I can."
"And there's no way that I can convince you to come with me?" a solemn Danny asked once more.
"No." Penny shook her head, "I've made my bed, and I'm ready to lie in it."
"Thank you, Penny." Danny smiled before kissing her on the cheek.
"Danny..." a surprised Penny started, looking up at him.
"I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who could use some good luck." Danny grinned back, winking at her.
"Have you seen Mary?" Delinda asked, walking into Danny and Mike's office where the latter was staring intently at the computer screen, trying to find anything that would let him get an exact location on Danny.
"No." Mike shook his head, not looking up. "Why?"
"Because she's not at her apartment and she didn't show up for her shift." Delinda explained, "And because Danny's car is gone and she's the only person he's ever given a spare key to." As a possible explanation popped into her brain, the blonde-haired woman's eyes widened in horror. "You don't think she took off after Daddy, do you?"
"Like Ed would let her tag along." Mike scoffed, but admitting to himself that Delinda did have a point. Finally taking his eyes off of the computer screen, the bald man got up from his seat and headed into the nearby surveillance room. "Mitch?"
"Yo?" the wheelchair-bound man replied, turning his head as Mike and Delinda approached him from behind. "What's up, Mikey?"
"I need you to find when Mary was last seen in the casino." Mike replied, feeling slightly bad that he was beginning to like this feeling of being in charge under such dire circumstances.
"Sure thing." Mitch replied, punching in some keys on a nearby keyboard. "Give me a moment to run her through facial recognition."
"I appreciate this, Mike." Delinda thanked, turning to the man standing beside her. "I mean I'd like to think that I'm worried about nothing, but..."
"I know." Mike nodded as the computer screen suddenly read that Mary was nowhere to be found in the casino. "Damn, I'm starting to think that you might have been right, Delinda."
"I'll rewind to when she was last seen." Mitch said, punching a few more keys. "So, you guys think that she took off after Ed or something?"
"That's the theory." Delinda nodded as the monitor suddenly showed Mary walking to Danny's car and taking off in reverse. "Stop!" Noticing the time at the bottom, the woman's eyes widened. "That's only a few minutes after Daddy left his office."
"Go back a few minutes." Mike ordered Mitch, not taking his eyes off of the screen. As the video rewound and replayed, the trio could see Mary secretly following Ed out into the parking lot and waiting for him to take off before driving off in Danny's car herself. "Damn it! What the hell is she thinking?"
"She wants to save Danny." a sympathetic Delinda answered, now feeling equally worried for her father, boyfriend, and good friend. She also wished that Mary had told her what she was planning, so she would have been able to accompany her." Feeling her cell-phone vibrate in her pocket, the blonde-haired woman answered it without even bothering to check who it was. "Hello."
"Delinda?" Danny asked, barely able to hear his girlfriend over the wind around him. The Marine lieutenant had just made it outside the building he had been kept in and let out a huge sigh of frustration upon seeing nothing but snow around him.
"Danny?" an excited Delinda squealed, getting Mitch and Mike's attention.
"Yeah, it's me, baby." Danny laughed, ducking behind a nearby tree. He knew in his mind that he probably should have called Ed or Mike after Penny had given him his cell-phone back, but he needed to hear his girlfriend's voice.
"Danny!" Delinda exclaimed, tears of joy starting to fall. "I've been so worried about you! Are you okay?"
"Listen." Danny replied as Delinda could hear his phone start to cut out. "There isn't much time, Dee. You need to tell Ed...Henderson...South."
"Danny, I can't hear you." Delinda said, getting no reply. "Danny?"
"Delinda?" Danny repeated before taking the phone away from his ear and looking at it. "Damn it! Of all the times to die on me..." Knowing that his escape wouldn't remain unnoticed for long, the brown-haired man sighed and shook his head. "Better get going."
"How could this have happened?" an irate Henderson demanded, barging into Danny's now empty cell a few moments later. He looked squarely at Leo, who was restraining the only other occupant in the room: Penny. "Who is responsible for this?"
"It appears someone still had some feelings for McCoy." Leo snickered, roughly shoving Penny forward. "She put the camera in here on loop, so we wouldn't notice anything as she helped him escape." His laughter increased a thought crossed his mind. "Probably thought it would help her nab G.I. Joe away from Ed's daughter."
"Go to hell, Broder!" Penny exclaimed, glancing back at the man behind her. Still angry, she turned back to face the blond, curly-haired, older man in front of her. "And you, just wait until Deline gets..."
"What a disappointment you turned out to be!" Henderson interrupted, slapping Penny roughly across the face, nearly sending her to the floor. He turned his attention to Leo. "Take a couple of your best men and go look for our missing friend."
"Why?" Leo replied, shrugging his shoulders casually. "The guy's a Vegas native, trained for the desert. Give him a couple of days and he'll either come back on his own or be a Popsicle."
"As amusing as that latter thought is," Henderson said as Penny slowly recovered. "I've told you time and time again that McCoy is worth more to us alive and in decent condition than he is dead or hypothermic."
"I'll get right on it." Leo nodded as Henderson turned to leave.
"See that you do." Henderson said, heading for the doorway. He paused for a moment and looked back at the pair that remained with a cruel smile on his face. "But first, take care of business here."
"Right." Leo nodded as the former senator headed out into the hallway.
"No..." Penny started to say as she noticed Leo take a pistol out of his pants. "Don't..."
"Too late." Leo replied before firing the gun.
To be continued...