Chapter 4
"Mommy, help me! Help me Mommy!" The crying. Where was it coming from. Hope had to find the source. She searched endlessly through rooms. It almost seemed like she was floating through them. She didn't even know how she'd gotten in to half the rooms. They kept changing on her. And that crying never stopped. "Mommy? Where are you? Help me, Mommy!" A doll on the floor caught her attention. She saw the little hand clutching the doll for dear life. And then the near lifeless body of a little girl who looked so much like Ciara.
"Baby!" Hope cried. "Is that you?" Hope walked over to the little girl and noticed blood coming out of the back of her head. "No!!!!!!!! Ciara?"
"Hope? Hope!" Bo shook Hope trying to wake her. "Hope? What's wrong? What is it?" He asked rousing her from the dream. "You were screaming for Ciara."
"What? Where's Ciara? Where is she? Bo let me go. I need to find Ciara." Hope tried to push Bo's hands off her.
"Take it easy. Ciara's fine. She's downstairs eating breakfast with Chelsea." He said pulling her back to him. "Why were you yelling like that?"
"I must have been having a nightmare about Ciara. Bo, it was awful. I saw her lying on the ground with blood coming out of her head. I don't even know where we were. Nothing seemed familiar to me. I even had trouble finding her in the dream." Hope clung to Bo shaking off the remainder of the dream. "It was so real. Why would I dream about Ciara being hurt?"
"It was just a dream. Ciara is fine. Why don't you leave the premonitions to me." He jokingly told her trying to get her to stop trembling in his embrace.
"That's not funny Bo. It was so real. I need to go see our little girl. I need to hold her in my arms; to feel her close to me." Hope rose from the bed and went downstairs to find Ciara.
Bo went to follow Hope and bumped into Alicia who was coming out of the bathroom.
"What was all that yelling? Is everything okay?" She asked him.
"Ah Hope was having a nightmare. Everything's fine. How are you doing?" He nervously asked, not wanting to get into a heart to heart with her about the near rape. That was something more suited for Hope to discuss with the girl.
"I'm okay." She said looking down at the floor. "I'm a little hungry though. I haven't eaten in several days."
"Well then let's get you something to eat." He pointed to the stairs and they both went down to find Hope holding Ciara in a fierce hug kissing her cheeks.
"Mommy you're hugging too tight." Ciara cried.
"I'm sorry baby. I just love you so so much." She told her relaxing the grip she had on her daughter.
Bo stopped in his tracks; another vision like the one before. ...A loud crash. Dust and smoke. Someone crying. A collapsed ceiling. 'What the hell does this mean?' He wondered to himself.
"Bo? Are you okay?" Hope asked looking worriedly at his puzzled face. "Did you 'see' something?" She asked without alerting Alicia to the fact that Bo has visions.
"Uh no. It's nothing. You hungry? I was just going to fix some breakfast." He said avoiding the knowing glare that Hope was giving him.
"I'd love some. I'm going to take Ciara upstairs to get her ready for school." She told him. "How are you sweetheart?" She turned to Alicia.
"I'm fine." Alicia mumbled. She left Hope staring after her as she made her way to the kitchen.
"What is it about you that makes me want to protect you so badly?" Hope took Ciara by the hand and went to get her dressed for school.
……
"Hey Fancy Face did you get Ciara to school alright?" Bo kissed Hope. "I got to head out to the precinct. I want to see to it that that scum doesn't escape in the transfer."
"He's being transferred?" She asked.
"He's being transferred to maximum security where he'll await trial. I want to personally transfer the bastard so he can't escape and hurt anyone else." He pulled Hope into a hug. "I got to take off. I'm not sure what time I'll be home. You going to be okay here with Alicia?" He asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" She asked pulling away from him.
"I dunno."
"We'll be fine. Is Chelsea still here?" She asked.
"I think she's upstairs getting ready for her internship at the hospital. I'll see you later."
"Brady!" She said pulling him back inside. "Be careful." Hope kissed Bo. "Call me when you get back to the office. I want to make sure everything goes smoothly."
"Don't you trust me?" He asked her.
"Always." She smiled back at him. Hope shut the door and was just going to check on Alicia when the doorbell rang. "Daddy, Julie! How are you. It's so good to see you. Did you just get back from your cruise?"
"Hi Princess." Doug pulled Hope into his embrace and kissed her cheek. "We did just get back today. We thought we'd come right here to surprise you. Heard there was a big arrest yesterday. Glad to hear that vile man has been taken off the streets."
"Yes it is a relief." She hugged Julie and they all walked over to the couch. "Can I get you anything?" She asked them. "Tea? Coffee?"
"Hope I'm going to the hospital now. Did you want me to pick up Ciara after school?" Chelsea said joining the trio in the living room.
"That would be great. Yes. Is Alicia upstairs?" Hope asked her.
"Yeah. I think she's in her room. Has she said anything to you about what happened yesterday?"
"Who's Alicia? And what is she doing living with you?" Julie asked Hope.
"Alicia is the latest victim of that serial rapist/killer. Luckily she got away and Bo and I made the arrest." Hope explained.
"The poor thing. Did he rape her?" Julie asked.
"He tried to, but she managed to get away."
"How? I've been reading about this in the news, but no one has gotten away from him. How did she manage to?" Julie asked her.
"I don't know. We were looking for her in the old mills and she came running out when I got there. Her shirt was torn and she was crying. She told me he was in the mills and then Bo and I went in and found him curled in a ball on the ground. Apparently she kneed him to get away. Other than that. I know nothing. She hasn't told me anything else about what happened." Alicia came into the room as Hope finished telling her dad and Julie what she knew.
"Am I interrupting anything?" She asked Hope.
…Salem PD…
"Bo! We need to talk." Abe walked into the precinct.
"Hello to you to, Abe. Can it wait? I'm on my way out." He asked.
"No. It can't wait. We need to talk now."
"I have to see to this prisoner transfer." He told Abe.
"So let Roman handle it. You're the commissioner. It's not your job to transfer prisoners."
"You don't understand Abe!"
"I do!" He said cutting Bo off. "This is more important. Get someone else to handle the transfer."
"Roman is out of town. I need to do it." Bo told Abe.
"Bo. I know what this guy has done. We have a more serious matter at hand."
"Fine! Reynolds you're on prisoner transport. Take back up with you. Happy?" He hollered at Abe. "This better be good." Bo followed Abe into his office slamming the door behind him. "So what's this serious issue you need to talk to me about?" His anger still in full force.
"We have a situation that involves Dimera." He told him.
"What? This is what you find more serious. That man is always involved in some criminal act. He dreams up new ways of destroying lives about as often as Nicole spends money. What has he done this time, or do I even want to know?" Bo was livid. He wanted to make sure a criminal was brought to justice, but instead he was stuck here in the office discussing Dimera.
"A disc was dropped off at my office with information on Dimera."
"What kind of information?" He asked.
"Well, we haven't quite cracked the codes it's embedded with."
"You kept me here over a disc that could contain God knows what and you think it's more serious than placing a serial rapist/killer in a maximum secure facility! This couldn't have waited?" He fumed.
"Bo. Calm down."
"Calm down?" He cut off. "You want me to calm down when you have a pile of nothing to share with me. What the hell were you thinking?"
"If you'd let me explain, we did get some information off the disc that concerns you and Hope."
"Hope? What about Hope?"
"Now that I have your attention, we were able to see a file on Hope that contains some information on the years Dimera held her prisoner." He explained. "There's more, but we can't break the codes. I was hoping you could give Shane a call and get the ISA in on this to crack the codes."
"Do you have the disc? I want to see what's on it." He asked him.
"I have it here."
"Commissioner? Officer Stone peaked his head in the door. "Sorry to interrupt, but there's a call from Reynolds on line 3 that I think you should take."
"Thanks Stone." Bo picked up the phone. "Brady here. What's going on Reynolds?"
"Sir? I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"Tell me you got the prisoner transferred." Bo shouted into the phone.
"Sir. I'm afraid not.""What?" Bo fumed. "Where is he?"
"I don't know. He managed to escape?"
"And just how in the hell did he manage to escape?" Bo asked.
"Well, officer Higley and I were transferring the prisoner when we came upon a road block on Interstate 80. I got out to check on things and was knocked over the head. When I came to, the prisoner was gone and Higley was unconscious."
"Damn it!" Bo spat in the phone. "Find him. NOW! I don't want to hear from you unless it's good news." Bo slammed the receiver down and turned to Abe. "Now do you see why I wanted to transfer him myself? This office is filled with incompetent officers. I don't know how they ever made it out of the academy. Especially Higley."
…Back at the Brady's…
"Alicia, sweetie. Come here and meet my dad and Julie." Hope held her hand out to Alicia to come over to her.
"Hi." She coyly said.
"It's nice to meet you." Doug held out his hand to shake hers.
"Hi. I'm Julie." Julie said taking her hand and shaking it.
"Well, I need to be heading out." Chelsea announced. "I'll see you later."
"Bye Chels." Hope called to her. "Alicia? Can I get you anything?" She asked.
"No thank you. I'm fine.""Are you sure?" She pressed. The phone rang interrupting her. "Brady."
"Brady here." Bo responded. "Just want to give you a heads up."
"Please don't give me bad news."
"Sorry Fancy Face. I'm afraid I have bad news."
"Let me guess. He got away?" She asked.
"You guessed it."
"How?"
"I don't have all the details yet, but Reynolds and Higley were transporting him and hit a road block. It turned out to be more than a typical road block. They were both attacked and knocked out and Vito escaped. Just keep an eye on Alicia. I have a feeling he's not happy that she got away from him or how she got away and will be gunning for her."
"I feel the same. He'll want to finish the job. Will you be home soon?" She asked. "I thought you were the one that was going to transport him?"
"Umm there's more. Abe came in just before I was about to leave. He received a disc that contains some information about you during the time Stefano held you captive. I'm going to give Shane a call and see if he can find anything that may be useful on the disc. I'm really not sure when I'll be home. Just be careful and be on the lookout for Vito." Hope said goodbye and hung up. She turned to see Alicia looking worriedly at her.
"He got away?" Was all she could say. Alicia ran upstairs and slammed the door. "I need a plan. They can't even keep some creep locked up and they think they can protect me from Stefano. What am I going to do?" She asked to the still air.
Alicia heard a car pull up outside and looked out the window to see who it might be. "Stefano!" She panicked. "What's he doing here?"
The doorbell rings and Hope goes to answer it.
"Stefano!"
"Hope." He says making a curt bow.
"What do you want?" She asks; eyebrows arched.
"May I come in?"
"No." She tries to shut the door on him, but he puts his hand up stopping the door from closing.
"Come now Hope, can't we be hospitable?"
"After everything you've put my family through you want me to be nice? I don't think so. Please leave."
"Why don't we let bygones be bygones." He tells her.
"I can't just sweep everything you've done under the carpet. What do you want?" Hope asks becoming increasingly annoyed now.
"I heard you and your husband made an arrest of that menace to society."
"And? What does that have to do with you? Is he a friend of yours?" She asked.
"Blah. Of course not."
"Then what do you want?"
"I wondered how the girl was? The one you rescued."
"She's fine! You can go now if that's all you wanted." She said trying to shut the door again.
"May I see her?"
"Why?"
"I'm just a concerned citizen."
"Ha ha ha." She laughed. "Nothing you do is done without a reason. What do you want with Alicia?"
"Ah, Alicia. Such a beautiful name. No?" This puzzled Hope how he said her name. It's like he knows her. She guessed she was right about maybe having known Alicia when she was Stefano's captive. It made her even more furious that he was here now trying to get to Alicia.
"Stefano, I think you should go now." She insisted.
"Ah well, I tried. Let Alicia know that I was asking about her." He said tipping his head to her as he left. Hope slammed the door.
"Princess?" Doug looked questionably at her.
"The nerve of that man! Showing concern. He doesn't have an ounce of compassion in him." Hope raged. "I need to check on Alicia. I need some answers and right now she's the only one that has any." Hope raced up the stairs to find Alicia.