Title: Red Headed Goddess, 11/?
Author: Goddess Evie
Date: October 4 2007
Category: JJHR, Angst
Summary: Race and Detective Dougan keep looking for the stalker while Jonny tries to save Jessie.
Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I am using lyrics for the song "I'm So Sick" by "Flyleaf." I just discovered this band and LOVE it. I do not own the song, either, but I do own the CD so I get to listen to it all the time.
Author's Notes: Okay, we're coming up on the end! I decided to do a little time warp with this chapter. So, the section with Race kind of comes a little later in the story, and then we backtrack to see what actually happens when Jonny enters the house. After the seriousness content of last chapter, this one is a little better. Some action (I don't really think I write action scenes very well, but I do my best) and another cliffhanger. You know me. I just can't resist a good cliff hangar, even if it does make the chapter a little short. So, ENJOY!
Chapter 11: You sink into my clothes and this invasion makes me feel worthless, hopeless, sick.
When Race shared the addresses his search for Zach Ellis had come up with, Detective Dougan immediately ruled out one of them. It was the address for the apartment building Jessie's stalker had originally been discovered at. Unfortunately, it was also the closer of the two addresses and the one Race had been heading for. With a soft curse, Race shifted, immediately changed lanes and changed his course for the second address.
This one was on the other side of town, and although Rockport was not large, it was large enough. It certainly didn't help that rush hour traffic was in full force. Race tried his best to avoid the main roads, but it was impossible to by pass them all. The path he took was far from the direct one, winding along back roads and residential areas. The LED screen in the dash now showed a digital map, giving off voice commands to reach the programmed address. It was having a hard time keeping up with Race and all his sudden direction changes.
With the extra traffic, the journey took them twice as long as it should have. Detective Dougan found himself watching the man next to him drive at an alarming speed, but with the kind of control Dougan had never seen before in his life. He wondered how many of the rumors circulating about Race Bannon were true. The man was focused on the road ahead of him, his eyes darting about in search of obstacles and unexpected complications. There was a tense silence between the two during the journey.
Finally they pulled into a circular driveway in front of a white colonial style, two-story house. The lawn was green and well cared for, the house neatly kept. Race drove the car right up to the door and stepped out without hesitation. Dougan had to scramble to catch up to him, not wanting the man to do anything on his own. There was a calmness about Race that said he was in control, but Dougan knew the man had to be on edge. With any luck, they were about to catch his daughter's stalker before he did any real harm.
As they approached the white, double doors, Dougan noticed the gun hidden at Race's back, tucked into the waistband of his pants. "Expecting trouble?" Dougan breathed his question as Race rang the doorbell, discreetly unsnapping the flap for his own gun, but leaving it in the holster.
"I just don't like to take chances," Race replied right before the door opened.
A woman stood before them, her dark brown hair a mess, her eyes bloodshot. She wore a terry cloth robe and smelled like a liquor store. She looked the two men up and down with some undisguised contempt.
Dougan pulled his badge and flipped it for the woman to see, identifying himself as he did so, before Race could start an interrogation. He exchanged a look with the white-haired man, saw the impatience in his eyes and took the risk of ignoring it.
"Ma'am, is your son, Zach, at home?" Dougan asked congenially.
"What the hell do you want with him?" she sounded defensive, and she had only opened the door wide enough to squeeze herself into the space and keep either men from seeing further in. It didn't stop Race from not so conspicuously attempting to look past her. He received an angry scowl from his efforts, which he either missed or ignored, Dougan wasn't quite sure.
"We just want to ask him some questions," Dougan assured. "Talk to him."
"Are you accusing him of something?" the woman inquired.
"No, not yet," Dougan replied carefully.
"Do you have a search warrant?" she asked next.
"No," Dougan answered simply.
"Then get the hell off my property," she snapped and slammed the door shut. The two men could hear the locks sliding and clicking into the place.
"Well, that was a bust," Dougan sighed, only to get Race's hand in his face signaling him to be quiet.
Dougan's eyebrows knitted together as he watched the other man. Race seemed to be listening or waiting for something, and Dougan wasn't sure what he was. Was the man expecting Zach himself to suddenly show up out of nowhere?
Finally, Race relaxed and turned back to the car. Dougan noticed the darkness in his steely blue eyes as he followed to the passenger side. Race paused at his door to look up at the house once more before climbing into the car. Dougan followed suit, firmly closing the car door and watching his companion with concern.
"Do you think we have enough evidence to get a search warrant?" Race asked softly.
"It would be a stretch."
Race nodded. "That's what I thought."
"So, what next?"
Race rubbed a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly. His eyes searched the dashboard, looking almost lost, and then he started digging into his pocket. "I better check on Jessie and Jonny."
The phone he was looking for began ringing even before he managed to locate it. Race searched with more insistency and pulled the ringing phone out of his pocket. His eyebrows lifted as he checked the caller id before flipping the small silver cell open it and lifting to his ear.
"Jonny?" he greeted, obviously expecting to hear the young man answer from the other end.
Race's eyes suddenly widened, and his mouth dropped open slightly. "Jessie? Is that you?"
Dougan watched as, for the first time, fear entered Race's expression. Fear and a renewed look of determination. The detective felt his own heart drop into his shoes as he watched the expressions on Race's face change and contort as he listened to whatever his daughter was telling him.
The next question that came out of Race's mouth sounded so dangerous that Dougan felt himself lean back away from the man.
"Where are you?"
JQ
Jonny twisted the doorknob of the front door and pushed, but the door didn't open. The knob itself wasn't locked, but a heavy-duty dead bolt obviously was by the way the door rattled but didn't give way, no matter how he shoved against. He thought about picking it, but immediately dismissed that thought. He wasn't as good at that sort of thing as Jessie or Hadji, and he wasn't sure he could find the right tool with which to do it.
Leaving the porch and beginning to circle the house, Jonny began trying windows. Most of them were too dingy too see through, and all of them seemed to be locked. He could see a kitchen through one and a small bathroom through another. As he neared the back of the house, Jonny could hear more of Jessie's screaming. Her cries fueled his determination, and he jerked harder on the windows in his attempt to get one of them to open. They all stated resolutely shut.
Jonny had to haul himself over a six-foot wood fence to get to the back of the house. He was glad there wasn't a dog hiding back there. The backyard was small and overgrown with weeds, the fence running along the whole of the perimeter. There was a small concrete patio and sliding glass door. Jonny stepped up and tried to open it, but it too was locked. Any attempt to look through it was barred by yellowed and cracking Venetian blinds.
More crying from inside the house startled him, and he slammed his fist against the double paned glass doors in frustration. Jonny stepped back a few feet from the house, looking it over, his mind working furiously to find the way in that wasn't obviously apparent. For a moment he wondered if he could break through the glass doors, but the glass was too thick and there wasn't any patio furniture to throw through it.
His mind suddenly remembered the window he'd spied the kitchen through. It was set right above the outside air conditioning unit at the side of the house. The window panes weren't double paned like the sliding glass doors, and the AC unit would be the stepping stool he'd need to get into the small, high set windows.
Jonny jogged back around to the side of the house, climbed up onto the AC unit and looked at the window with renewed hope. He pushed against the glass, which bent slightly under the pressure as the windowpane rattled in its frame. Jumping back down, he grabbed a fairly decent sized rock from the dirt surrounding the air conditioner and climbed back up.
Jonny shielded his eyes with one arm and smashed the rock through the window at the same time that Jessie screamed out again. The window glass shattered in one blow and Jonny used the rock to break out most of the big pieces before hauling himself through the window. The shards of glass crackled beneath his feet as he stepped into the stainless steel sink below the window and then hopped down to the scratched and faded linoleum floor.
Jonny took only a split second to take in his surroundings before he crossed the distance from the window to the only doorway. It led out to a combined dining-living room. The locked front door was to his right, the sliding glass door to his left and a hallway straight across from him, from which he could hear Jessie's cries coming. With only the moment of hesitation to look around, Jonny coasted silently down the middle of the large room and entered the darkened hallway.
The doorway at the end of the hall was closed, and Jonny set his sights on it. The bathroom he had seen through the window passed by on his right as well as an open door next to it that was a spare bedroom turned extremely cluttered office. Jonny was about half-way down the hall when Jessie's cries suddenly increased in volume and he stopped and turned to look at a closed door on his left. Her pleading moans were definitely coming from behind it and not the door at the end of the hall as he had originally thought. Jonny paused for a moment to prepare himself, then shoved the door open with such force that it hit the wall with a loud bang, startling the occupants of the room.
Jonny halted in his tracks at what he saw. He could never have prepared himself for this. His head swam and his vision blurred as he tried to come to terms with the scene before him.
Jessie was tied to the bed and half-naked, crying uncontrollably and begging for escape. Zach lay on top of her, his hands and mouth caressing her body despite Jessie's protests. The sight almost brought Jonny to his knees and it was only by keeping a tight grip on the doorjamb that he managed to stay on his feet.
Anger like nothing he had ever felt before rose in Jonny, consuming every thought. His blurred vision refocused as he zeroed in on Zach and felt the strength return to his limbs. Zach's dark eyes regarded him dangerously as he hovered protectively over Jessie. With a growl he pushed himself off the bed, something glinting in his left hand, to face Jonny.
"You," Zach growled menacingly, tossing the knife to his other hand and taking a wide stance.
"Let her go," Jonny demanded with anger and authority.
"You've been keeping her to yourself long enough, you selfish bastard!" Zach yelled, his forehead creased and his jaw clenched. "Now, I've finally freed her so that I can enjoy her company."
This was not the Zach Jonny remembered. The Zach from school had always been shy, quiet and gentle. The kind of person you thought could never hurt a fly, but now here he was raping Jessie and threatening Jonny with a knife. The hatred and anger on Zach's face seemed out of place, but Jonny knew that didn't make it any less real.
"I wasn't keeping her against her will," he assured, keeping an eye on the knife in Zach's hand. "It was her choice to spend so much time with me."
"Liar!" Zach bellowed, lunging forward with a swipe of the knife.
Jonny jumped back out of the way and Zach retreated back to the bed. Jonny could tell by the way Zach stood stiffly, tightly gripping the knife in his hand, that he wasn't experienced in knife fights. Still, Zach was the one with the knife while Jonny was weaponless, and there was no doubt in Jonny's mind that Zach would fight with everything he had to keep Jessie.
But Jonny was ready to sacrifice everything to save her.
Jonny feinted to the right and Zach mirrored his move. He tried again to his left, only to be met by Zach again. The dark haired young man swayed slightly on his feet, gripping and re-gripping the hilt of the knife.
"You can't have her back," he stated softly, but with steel determination.
The two young men stared at each other without moving for many, long moments. Jessie was as still as a statute as she watched them from the bed behind Zach. It was amazing, the transformation he had gone through: from reverent, adoring worshipper to angry, passionate and hateful.
Jonny waited patiently for Zach to make a move, knowing he had a better chance defending against Zach than making an offensive move against him with that knife in his hands. Zach watched Jonny carefully, untrusting and highly protective of the prize behind him. The room was deathly silent, and so tense that no one even breathed.
Suddenly, Zach lashed out at Jonny with the knife, sweeping the blade diagonally across his torso. Jessie cried out in fear. Jonny rolled to the side and came up on one knee by the foot of the bed unscathed, with Zach behind him. He quickly looked over his shoulder, wary for a second attack, then immediately stood and twirled to face his opponent. Having missed Jonny with his first attack, Zach spun around a complete 360 degrees, holding the knife out in front of himself protectively. Knowing he had lost some ground in the attack, Zach's eyes darted between Jonny and Jessie and Jonny could see he was calculating his next move.
Knowing he was taking a chance, Jonny lunged at Zach the moment his eyes began to shift to Jessie. He grabbed for Zach's hand holding the knife, but wasn't fast enough. Zach pulled his arm back, then jabbed it forward, causing Jonny to jump back again, father away from Jessie. Zach slashed at him in a downward motion, and Jonny twisted away, leading Zach around the foot of the bed.
Zach kept slashing and jabbing at Jonny with the knife until Jonny managed to get a hold of his arm. He applied pressure to Zach's wrist exactly in the place Race had taught him would cause an attacker's hand to open involuntary and drop whatever weapon they had. Zach added his other hand to his grip on his knife, so he wouldn't lose it and Jonny grabbed at that hand to pull it away. As they struggled for control of the blade, they stumbled around, first crashing into the foot of the bed before Jonny was smashed against the wall with a grunt.
The two young men swayed back and forth before Zach wrenched himself away, bringing the knife with him. Jonny immediately adopted a wide stance, keeping his arms up and ready for the next attack, while Zach hovered for a moment, his knife weaving in front of him, before he lunged at Jonny again. This time he aimed for Jonny's mid-section, a blow that could kill Jonny instantly.
Jonny didn't have the room to twist out of the way again, but he managed to deflect the blow by grabbing Zach's hands again, changing the trajectory of the blade. The two young men found themselves in a tug of war over the weapon once more, this time with it positioned precariously between their bodies. Zach pushed and shoved against him, trying to stick the knife blade into his abdomen and forcing Jonny between the wall and the bed. Jonny used all his strength and quick thinking to keep himself from getting gutted while he used every trick he could think of to pry the knife from Zach's hands.
Their feet must have gotten tangled up somehow, because one of them, Jonny wasn't quite sure who, tripped and fell, bringing the other one down with him. With his hands locked on Zach's and the knife, Jonny didn't have the means to stop himself as he tumbled down on top of Zach. He could hear Jessie screaming, sounding like it was echoing from inside his own head. Then all was quiet.
Lying very still on top of the other young man, Jonny could feel the knife pressing into his stomach.