Notes: Another short one. But at least they are frequent!
After splashing cold water on his face, Danny looked in the mirror. Not liking his reflection, he looked away quickly as he dried his face and hands with a paper towel. Walking out of the men's room, the first thing he saw was Martin getting on the elevator. Then he caught sight of Sam, who looked like she was trying to catch up to Martin, but didn't catch him in time.
Quickly walking towards Sam, Danny called out, "Where's he going?"
Samantha shrugged. "Danny, what the hell is going on? Why is he so angry? What happened in Jack's office this morning."
"I can't…I'm sorry, Sam. Jack can explain it to you. Right now, I need to know where Martin is going," Danny said as he punched the down arrow for the elevator.
"All I know is that his desk phone was ringing off the hook this morning. When I tried to answer it, it was a hang up. When he finally answered it, he took off like a bat out of hell."
Processing the information, he stepped on the elevator, but held the door open. "Talk to Jack. He'll explain everything. And do me a favor?"
"Sure," Samantha responded with a nod of her head.
"Find out where that call came in from on Martin's phone and then call me."
Samantha just nodded as the elevator doors closed.
Danny felt like the elevator was taking forever. He had to catch up with Martin. Finally landing on the parking level, he scanned the rows hoping to find Martin's car. Jogging down one of the rows, Danny heard a car start, two aisles over. Making a beeline toward the sound, he caught sight of Martin's car as it started to move forward. Taking off in a full sprint, Danny didn't stop until got in front of Martin's path.
Suddenly, Martin slammed on his breaks to avoid hitting Danny head on.
"What the hell are you doing? Get out of the way!" Martin called out.
Shaking his head, Danny put his hands on his hips as he tried to catch his breath.
Martin's first instinct was to back up and find another way out, but his stubbornness made him get out of the car to confront Danny.
"I don't have time for this. Get the fuck out of my way!" he yelled as he approached him.
"No! Who was on the phone? Where are you going?" Danny asked, still catching his breath.
"I'm not telling you a goddamn thing! How could you, Danny? How could you go to Jack like that?" Martin demanded to know as he shoved Danny towards the car. "I trusted you!"
"What choice did I have? I didn't want tell you unless I knew it was true, Martin! I had to tell Jack first."
"It's not true!" Martin yelled as he shoved Danny again.
Danny took the shoves without retaliating, but it didn't stop him from telling Martin what he really thought about Victor. "You're father is sick, man. Someone needs to stop him! He's a sick fuck who—" before Danny could finish he felt a hard, stinging blow to his jaw. Staggering back against the car, he had to take a deep breath in order to stop himself from hitting back just on reflex.
"My father is not the sick one! You delusional girlfriend is sick! She's ruining his reputation and his life, and if I don't get there in time, she's going to kill him!"
Steadying himself against the car, Danny responded, "She called you? Didn't she?"
"If I don't get there in twenty minutes, she's going to kill him, Danny. She's crazy! Now get the fuck out of my way."
"No, no way. I'm going with you," Danny said as he opened the passenger door.
"The hell you are!"
"Martin, I'm going with you. She won't hurt anyone if I'm there. I need to be there to back you up. We have to try to end this thing without anyone getting hurt," Danny pleaded.
Walking back to the driver's side, Martin responded, "I'm still going in alone. And we don't involve anyone else."
Danny nodded as he got into the passenger side of the car. Seconds later, they exited the parking garage.
The first few minutes of their drive were completely silent. Danny hadn't even asked where they were going. He just looked out the window as he tried to massage the ache out of his jaw. Once or twice, he glanced over at Martin whose face, which had shown betrayal before, now just showed a steely determination.
"I didn't want to tell you, because I didn't want it to be true," Danny finally said. "After everything you've been through this past year, I…I…didn't want to tell you this. Maybe that makes me a coward, but Martin, you have to believe me when I say that I didn't want this to be true. The closer I got to your father's name, the more I wanted to just find a way to bury it. But I couldn't do that. And you wouldn't have been able to either, if you'd seen and heard the things that he put her through, man."
Martin shook his head. "You want me to believe that my dad is some kind of monster? I know he's cold and he's rigid and there are times when I thought I hated him, but I can't believe that he's capable of…," Martin voice choked with emotion for a moment. "I have a sister, Danny. He couldn't do something like that to someone else's daughter. I can't…"
Danny started to respond. He thought about telling Martin that he hadn't wanted to believe that his own father was a monster either. But he didn't say anything. He had quickly realized that there was nothing he could say to make Martin believe. Martin would have to make that realization his own.
"Let's just get there. We just have to get them both out of there alive," Danny stated quietly as Martin continued to drive.
Gun drawn, Martin walked into the small house in Queens. When he turned the corner, he entered the living room and was met with the sight of his father handcuffed to a chair with his mouth gagged and his feet bound to the legs of the chair. Lauren Palmer was standing behind him with a gun to his head. As soon as his father saw him, he struggled to get out of the chair as though he couldn't believe that Martin was there.
"Remove the clip from your gun and then toss them over there," Lauren said as she motioned to the other side of the room.
"Lauren, you don't want to do this. Listen—"
"Shut up and do as I say or I will kill him. I have nothing to lose. Don't test me," she cut him off in a commanding tone.
Taking a deep breath, Martin did as she instructed. He removed the clip from his gun and tossed them both to the other side of the room.
"Good," Lauren said. "Now sit in that chair," she ordered, pointing to a chair right in front of him.
Martin took a seat in the chair and then looked up at her with a furrowed brow. "What are you going to do?"
Lauren smiled slightly. "Do you have your handcuffs with you?" she asked, now pointing the gun at him.
Martin nodded.
"Take them out slowly, please," she said as she took a step back and pointed the gun at his father's temple again.
Taking a moment, Martin looked at his father's face. He looked weak and exhausted. He had a deep welt under his eye. Lauren didn't look much better. She had a red marks around her neck, like someone had tried to strangle her and it looked like she hadn't slept in days. Slowly, Martin reached behind and pulled out his cuffs.
"Take out your keys and toss them over there."
Martin did this as well.
"Okay now, put one cuff on your wrist," she instructed.
Martin did as she as she told him. Then she walked over cautiously and stood behind him. For a moment, he thought about trying to overtake her, but then he remembered Danny's words: "We just have to get them both out of there alive." If he tried to struggle with Lauren, it was very possible he could shoot her, and Martin didn't want to take that risk.
After Lauren put the gun to his head, she grabbed his cuffed wrist behind the chair. "Give me your other hand," she commanded. When she had his other wrist, she cuffed it behind him as well. "There we go," she said in a satisfied tone and then she leaned down to speak into Martin's ear, "Did you know that your dad is a big fan of handcuffs?"
Martin looked down at the floor and didn't respond.
But Lauren continued, "One of his favorite things was watching someone handcuff me to the bed and then take me from behind."
Lauren moved so she was facing Martin. "You don't believe me, do you?"
He looked up at her with a desperate look in his eyes. "I don't know what to believe," Martin replied quietly. "But I do know that you have been hurt, and you need help."
Lauren laughed. "I need help? You have no fucking idea. It's him who needs help, Martin," she said as she motioned to Victor. She walked toward Victor and roughly pulled the tape off his mouth. "I want you to tell him. I want you to tell him what you did to me."
Victor shook his head as he looked down. "You'll pay for this. You should never have brought him here," he said as he finally looked up at her with a glare.
Slapping him as hard he she could, she then yelled, "Tell him!"
"You're crazy," he said, looking up at her. "I helped you and your family after your father died. I gave you a place to live. You're the one who invited danger into your life, not me!"
Lauren slapped him again. "You're a liar!" she said as she convulsed into tears and turned to Martin. "He made me…he made me do all those things. And he…he taped me with them. Didn't you, you prick?" she said turning back to Victor.
But this time, Victor didn't respond, so Lauren continued as she turned back to Martin. "You've seen me before, haven't you? You saw me at the awards dinner, and then you saw me again at the fundraiser at that big house in the Hamptons. You remember, don't you?" she said as she talked through her tears.
As soon as she said it, Martin remembered. She had come running down the stairs as he entered the party. He remembered because she was wearing a short black dress. She'd caught everyone's attention that night.
"I remember you," he said as he quickly glanced at his father.
"He made me come there that night. He made me wear that dress, and he paid one of the waiters to meet me in one of the upstairs rooms. He watched us that night…he watched me give the waiter head and then the waiter pushed me against a table and fucked me from behind. And then after he finished watching, he left the room, went downstairs and greeted you at the door."
"Don't listen to her, Martin. She's crazy! She was invited to that party because the Sloan's' knew her father. They were just being gracious towards her. But she caused a scene by coming in that dress."
"Stop lying!" Lauren cried as she swung around and pointed the gun at Victor again. "I'll kill you. I'll kill you if you don't start telling the truth."
"Lauren, Lauren…I believe you," Martin said in a calming tone.
"Martin…don't—" his father started.
"Shut up, Dad!" Martin commanded. "Lauren, I understand. You've been terribly hurt and I want to help you. Just let us go and I'll make sure nothing like that ever happens again."
Lauren took a few deep breaths as she turned back to Martin. Slowly, she calmed herself enough to stop crying.
Martin continued. "We can all walk out of here right now. Everyone thinks you've been kidnapped. I'll just say I found you here. No one has to know. And then this will all be over."
Sniffing, Lauren ran a hand through her hair. "I can't…I can't do that. I'm sorry."
"Yes, you can. Just uncuff me," Martin pleaded.
"No, you don't understand," she responded as she stood directly in front of Martin and then dropped to her knees. "I don't care if I get into trouble. I honestly don't care if I leave here alive. I just want him to suffer," Lauren said as she glanced back at Victor. "I want him to feel helpless and vulnerable and completely out of control because that's how I've felt this whole past year."
"How…how are you going to do that?" Martin asked, voice full of hesitation.
Lauren shrugged as she looked up at him with the widest, bluest eyes he'd ever seen. "That's why you're here, Martin."