Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!

CHAPTER 9

Cuddy immediately pulled out her cell phone and called the feds again. She went to the opposite side of the room so that the madman on Sera's phone wouldn't hear her. Sera put her phone on speaker and reached in Lisa's desk drawer. She pulled out the digital recorder that Lisa used to make notes to herself and set it on the desk next to her cell phone.

S: Hello, Winston. Long time, no hear from. Not that I've missed you.

W: My darling Serenity. Or should I call you Sera? How wonderful to hear your

voice!

S: Save it, Winston. What do you want?

W: Just to say hello, dear! By the way, I love you in purple. It brings out your

eyes…your real eyes, that is.

Sera walked swiftly over to Lisa's desk and scribbled a note and handed it to Robert to give to Lisa. Lisa glanced down at it: He may still be in the hospital. Lisa paled and went back to talking on the phone while Sera continued her conversation with Winston Dumas.

S: I got your flower delivery. What exactly was the purpose of sending me flowers?

W: You're the genius. You tell me.

S: You thought you would scare me into running. But guess what, Winston? I'm not

going anywhere. You're actually going to have to deal with me. And I'm a lot

tougher than I used to be.

W: Sera, dear. Ask Dr. House if he knows where his children are?

There was a click then a dial tone. Sera stared at her phone in horror for a few seconds. Her eyes met House's eyes, which widened in understanding. Sera told him, "Call Eric and Allison…now!"

The next few minutes were tense while House tried to reach his two absent ducklings. He had the phone to his ear, listening to the endless rings. He glanced over at Sera and shook his head before trying to dial again. Just then, the door to Lisa's office opened and two men stepped in the door.

Sera literally flew over to where the men stood and grabbed them both in a big hug. "Mitch, David, it's so good to see you. I just got off the phone with that bstard. He's been here and was here as recently as maybe 45 minutes ago."

Robert walked over and stood next to her, putting a hand on her waist. Sera mentally rolled her eyes. Even in the middle of a crisis, Robert was being such a guy. He asked her, "How do you know he was here that recently?"

Sera plucked at her purple scrubs. "I got some…stuff…on me, courtesy of our patient. I changed scrubs just before I came to see Lisa. I had on yellow earlier." She turned to Mitch and David, who looked confused. "He told me that he loved me in purple." Both men nodded in understanding. Sera continued, "It's been about 45 minutes since I first came here. We talked for about 20 minutes, then left to go to the cafeteria when I was given the flowers. I sorta fainted, but I think I was only out for a minute or so. We've been in here ever since. Are you two alone?"

Mitch grimaced. "Are you kidding me? This guy is at the top of our most wanted list. There are at least 12 Bureau guys searching the hospital."

Sera glanced over at House, who was still trying to get the rest of the team on the phone. She could tell from the furrows on his forehead that he wasn't getting anywhere. She turned to the agents. "There's something else. He probably has Allison Cameron, a doctor on the diagnostics team. And I'm scared that Eric Foreman, the other doctor on our team, might be hurt."

House came over. "How do you know he 'has' Cameron? What if she's been hurt, too?" Sera looked at him with sympathy in her eyes, and a bit of guilt. "House, this guy sticks to the same MO. He's deviated a bit this time by remaining at the scene after he dropped off the flowers. Usually, he delivers them and leaves immediately. But it's highly unlikely that he'll deviate totally. He always kidnaps his victims, holds them for a while, then kills them. He buries them within 2 miles of where they were murdered and covers the grave with dozens of pink roses."

House's piercing eyes bored into her. "He doesn't just hold them, does he? The details of his torture were not made available to the media. I do know that none of his victims were able to have open casket funerals." Sera looked down, uncomfortable. She knew that House would not be satisfied with half-answers. She looked up and met his eyes. "He tortures them by cutting them. He is apparently a knife aficionado and uses all different types of blades on his victims. He cuts patterns into them, and, in one case, seemed to be trying to perform an autopsy on one. While she was alive, of course. He always takes women…pretty women. And he always cuts up their faces worse than any other part of their body. After he's done with them, he delivers a lethal dose of curare."

At Robert's questioning look, she elaborated. "It's commonly used on blow darts by people indigenous to Guiana, among other places. In small doses, it can cause paralysis, but if a large enough, and concentrated enough, amount is delivered, it leads to asphyxiation. He dips a clip-point blade into the curare, and stabs his victims. Autopsies have shown that the wound itself isn't lethal, but the poison is."

House and Robert listened to her monotone description in dismay. House pulled out his phone to try calling Cameron again. He put the phone down when he heard a "What? Where?" come from the other side of the office. Mitch had been talking to the other agents searching the hospital. He had his headset on and was frantically issuing orders. "We're in a hospital, for crying out loud. Get somebody down there!" Mitch turned to Lisa, who was standing next to him. "They found Dr. Foreman in a stairwell between the 2nd and 3rd floors. He's bleeding pretty badly, apparently from a knife wound. I need you to…" Mitch was talking to air as Lisa ran out of the office with Robert close behind her. Sera glanced at David. "Stay with them." David nodded and ran out after them.

Mitch came over to stand next to Sera. "It would be better if we get you somewhere safe. There's too much dmn glass in this place and we can't keep you safe…"

Sera cut him off impatiently. "Mitch, you guys can't keep me safe, period. Unless you throw me in a maximum security cell somewhere, I'm never going to be safe as long as Dumas is running around. I'm done with hiding. Dr. House and I are going to the diagnostic department and we're going to try to figure out where this guy is taking Cameron. You're welcome to join us, or you can stay here and play with your gun."

House followed Sera out of Lisa's office. He walked up next to her and said out of the side of his mouth, "I'm helping you? I'm not a profiler or a forensic psychologist." Sera stopped and looked at him. She noticed Mitch standing just behind them, but ignored him.

"Look, House – are you a diagnostician or not? This is the same thing. Use the clues you have to solve the riddle. You claim to be brilliant. Prove it. Help me and the rest of these guys save Allison."

"But Foreman…"

"Eric will be fine. Do you think Robert went rushing out of the office to hold Lisa's hand? He's the best in a crisis, whether you want to admit it or not. If it was something he couldn't handle, he or Lisa would have called by now. Let's go. I want to listen to the phone conversation again and figure out what he's up to. It's a game to him, and he always leaves a clue."

"Clue, huh? I always was good at that game." House smirked at her and Sera breathed a sigh of relief. Whiny or defeated House was no good to her, but cocky, snarky House was the master at solving puzzles. And she needed all of the help she could get.