Chapter 3: A Change in the Plan
Note: I don't own Warehouse 13, and this fic idea came from Mari.
Mari - I'm glad you think I write Artie well. He's harder to write for than the others, but I wanted to make sure he was in-character.
Lady Anne Boleyn - You'll learn a lot more about the kidnapper in upcoming chapters as well.
KJay99 - Hope you like this new chapter!
zombienath - Here is a new chapter! I'm glad you're liking the story!
SageQ - In this chapter, you will find out exactly what Artie has that the kidnapper wants.
DarkestAngel11 - You will find out the story behind the teddy bear soon. I hope you like this chapter!
Rosa Clearwater - Artie will try to rescue Claudia, don't worry about that. But Claudia's going to try and rescue herself as well. Can't promise she'll succeed though...
1Shadow-kun - Here's a new update! I hope you enjoy!
mondler1998 - Ah, Chandler/Monica, one of my favorite ships. I liked your review - I think that's the most time I've ever gotten the word "please" in a single review. Thanks. :)
Dolan shut the door in the redhead, making sure only to shake his head once the door was firmly bolted shut. It was the fifth day in her imprisonment, and she was still as strong as ever.
Honestly, he didn't understand her. She had been kidnapped, taken hostage, and told she was going to be used as a bargaining chip, and she had barely batted an eye. Okay, maybe that was an over exaggeration. She had been scared, and he knew that she was worried about what was going to happen to herself and…Arthur. He was beyond surprised that a woman this brave and defiant would attach herself to Arthur Nielson.
Well, he knew that it was beyond him to understand what girls saw in their fathers.
Dolton went downstairs and got a beer out of his fridge. Normally he didn't drink – in his line of work he constantly needed a clear mind. Without his mind, everything would be ruined. His defenses would be down, his schemes would be ruined and his plans would go up in flames.
But still, he felt a beer was deserved tonight. He had gotten all the way to this point, and he still had a lot to do. And for this next step he felt he deserved some liquid courage.
He pulled out the cell phone that he had grabbed from the girl's pocket when first abducting her. He flipped through it until he came to the one number that would change his future. He took a deep breath, dialed the number and listened with a racing heart as the phone rang.
Artie rubbed his sleepy eyes, finally considering the possibility of some sleep. He had lost count of how many days he had been up for, and he knew his brain was shutting out. Down, he mentally corrected himself, his brain was shutting dow…
The next thing he knew, his head was jolting up from where he had fallen asleep on his desk. What the –
He looked down to the where a cell phone was ringing amidst the numerous papers, books, pens and computer equipment on the desk. He rooted through the supplies, finally pulling out the phone. His heart rose when he saw Claudia's number on the cell's screen. He answered the phone with fumbling fingers, hopeful that within a few hours Claudia might be back in the Warehouse, safe and sound.
"Claudia?" He said, hoping beyond all hope that sarcastic voice of his apprentice would come through the speakers.
"She's fine." Artie felt his heart sink as he heard the unfamiliar male voice. He knew it was a possibility that Claudia's captor had her phone, but he hadn't wanted to acknowledge it.
"Listen, whatever you want, I can get for you. Money, however much you want, any amount."
"Like I said, she's fine. Nice to know you that you wanted to know about how she was before you jumped right into how much you would have to spend to get her back." The sarcastic voice made Artie scowl. This man had kidnapped Claudia from him, taken her hostage, and was now undoubtedly calling to ask for a ransom, and he had the nerve to be angry at Artie?
"What. Do. You. Want." Artie said, trying to keep his patience. The sooner he found out what this lunatic wanted, the sooner Claudia would be back with him.
"I want the Shards." The man whispered. At these words, Artie felt his heart stop.
"Dolan." He whispered. The man whose life he had ruined, the man who he had taken everything away from.
The man who had his little girl in his grasp right now.
For a second Artie allowed thousands of torturous possibilities to run through his mind. Claudia was so breakable… Her skin was so soft, knives could easily pierce it; her bones were so fragile, they could break between hands; her heart was so defenseless, a bullet could tear into it. Her mischievous, brilliant mind could be twisted with a thousand different weapons: mind tricks, psychological maneuvers, deceit…
Claudia was in the hands of a monster.
Claudia Donovan was bored. And cranky. And more than a little worried.
She was bored because she had been stuck in the same room for days – she had only books to read, and it was hard to concentrate on books when you had imminent questions in your mind.
Such as how the hell she was going to get out of the room that she had been imprisoned in. She was cranky because no matter how many times she went over the room, no matter how specific she was in looking at the details, she couldn't think of a single way to get out of the room.
Attacking her kidnapper was out – she was much smaller than him. And although he hadn't been particularly threatening to her, she didn't think he would object to using force against her if she tried to fight her way out of the room. She also didn't want to make him try and test out the gun he always carried with him.
Claudia sighed and laid back in her bed. Unless she miraculously came up with a plan to get out of her prison, it looked like she would have to wait until Artie showed up to help her. She found it sickeningly ironic that she had run away from him, thinking that he had been too controlling, and now she was lying around a room, waiting for him to come to her rescue.
And that was what was worrying her.
Artie would come to save her, she knew. She also knew that her captor probably had something horrible lined up for Artie. She didn't buy the story that her captor didn't want to harm Artie, that all he wanted was something Artie had. He had went to all the effort to kidnap Claudia, and hold her hostage – she honestly didn't believe he was going to let her and Artie skip happily away.
Like hell she going to be used to lure Artie into a trap.
She would have to come up with a plan to get herself free and get to Artie before he came to save her. Her captor had the advantage of having a plan, Artie would have to walk into the situation not knowing what to expect.
Claudia sat up on her bed, sighed, and for the fiftieth time, began to look over the room, trying to find anything that might help her escape. She looked around her bed, the desk and finally poked her head into the bathroom. Nothing but a shower, sink, toilet and a small mirror above the sink. She had thought about using the mirror as a weapon, but it was so small that even if she broke the glass, all she would get would be small shards. Not much of a weapon against a man with a gun.
Suddenly an idea occurred to Claudia. Maybe she had been going about the problem wrong. She had thought she needed to fight her captor. Maybe she needed to let him help her escape.
Dolan hung up the phone, sighing in relief. In just a few hours, he would have the Shards. Everything he had been working for over the years was about to come true. He shook his head and took a final swig of his beer. Because all his hard work was about to pay off, all hell was going to break over.
Dolan looked up to the ceiling, wondering how he was going to be able to keep the girl away once hell broke open. He needed Arthur to see that Donovan was fine – he was positive that Arthur would never hand over the Shards if he thought the girl had been harmed.
However, he still didn't want the girl anywhere near him when he was about to activate the Shards. In a situation like the one he was about to jump into, he needed to have as few people around as possible. And that included Arthur.
The easiest solution was to hide the girl somewhere so Arthur would go find her, and be would be out of the way. But he couldn't hide the girl away because he needed Arthur to see that she was alright…
Dolan ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He was about to crack open another beer and start thinking of solutions when he heard a scream. Dolan grabbed his gun and ran upstairs. He nearly burst into the room, but forced himself to calm down and make sure his gun was visible when he walked into the room. The girl was smart – the scream could be a trap.
He walked into the room, and stopped: there was nobody there. He was about to panic when he suddenly heard a sniffle from the bathroom. Holding up his gun, Dolan walked into the bathroom.
Donovan was lying on the floor, holding her arm. Drops of blood were running down her arm: big drops that let smearing red tracks on her skin. Beside her were sharp pieces of the bathroom mirror. On the wall was the frame of the now broken mirror. The gir - Claudia, looked up into Dolan's eyes, her big brown ones filled with tears.
"I tripped." She said in soft voice. "I fell into the mirror." Then her eyes closed and she fell into unconsciousness.
"Okay." Dolan muttered to himself, trying to figure out what to do. He couldn't let her leave the room, nor could he let her bled to death. And if he managed to stop the bleeding to the point where she would be fine, he would have to make sure that the cut didn't get infected. He grabbed a towel and walked over to her. He put his gun down, a little ways away from her, and pressed the towel to Claudia's shoulder.
He ran downstairs and grabbed bandages, running back upstairs to Claudia. He burst through the bedroom door and into the bathroom, only to find nothing on the floor but blood stains.
The girl had tricked him. She was gone.