Chapter 33, No Knights In Shining Armor

Author's Note: Brace yourselves for an erratic posting schedule. Due to recent rainy days and full lunches (Darn it all I'm going to take my full one hour lunch and not answer the phone "smirk") I've had more time to write. So, if I get a chapter done and I'm happy, then I'm going to let it fly. So you might see a chapter a day, every other day or whenever. As always, thank you for following along, either by just reading, by just dropping a quick note, or by adding me to your story alerts.

He heard voices. It was hard to make out what they were saying.

"The surgeon and the healer are exhausted. It is just as well. Nothing more can be done until he regains some of his strength." I don't know her.

"Make sure that they rest well." I think I know that voice.

"I will. The gods must have a purpose for him."

He could not make out the rest. He struggled to open his eyes. He could only manage to get them half way open and nothing came in to focus. He thought he saw two shadowy figures in the dim light. They must be the ones talking. Where am I?

His eyes closed and the blackness engulfed him once more.

When the guard had his back turned a small hand reached around the corner of the cell. It waved a piece of newspaper. Then a voice hissed loudly, "Hey Mouse! Take this!"

Jill quickly rose and got off of her bed. In two long strides she was at the corner of her cell and as she knelt down she grabbed the piece of newspaper. Then the voice hissed again, "Pass it on when you're done!"

Mouse was the new name bestowed upon her in less than a day's time. Or was it two day's time? She was having trouble remembering and that was very, very bad. She sat back down on her bed and unfolded the crinkled newspaper article the best that she could. It was from the front page.

DOUBLE MURDERS ROCK THE CITY

She read down through the article and stopped in shock when she read the name of Sergeant Paul Costello. She swallowed hard and continued. When she came to the Poultons', and then read Jeb's name she squeaked and brought her fist to her mouth to stifle the cry.

"Hey Mouse! You done yet?!" It was the woman's voice from the cell next to her. "Hurry it up! I hear that the old Tin Man's son was murdered!"

"Shut up down there!" cried out the guard from the end of the hallway. He had been dealing with the talk of the murders all morning and he was starting to lose his temper.

Jill slowly rose from her bed and knelt down at the corner of her cell. She carefully folded the article and pushed it through the bars. A grimy hand reached out and grabbed it. There was no word of thanks nor did she expect it.

She walked back over to her bed and flopped down on it. The tears welled up in her eyes and she let them fall on to the stiff pillow.

She wondered if Cain knew that his son was murdered. Her gut told her that he did. If even the women were able to get their hands on the newspaper article then certainly the men did too. Did the precinct do the right thing and send someone in person to tell him? She was sure that they would have if Costello had still been alive.

She got off the bed and reached over for some toilet paper to use as a tissue.

It's all my fault. The day that I found out that I had to register, I just should have run away from Wyatt. I briefly thought about it. Everything else might have still happened but at least Jeb might still be alive. Hell, I should've never taken that side path. That's really what started this whole f'ing thing.

Across from her cell, a raven haired woman watched her. She stood up and walked over to the cell bars. "You alright Mouse? I don't like to see you upset." she loudly whispered.

The guard's footsteps echoed down the hallway. He banged his baton against each cell bar as he went past it. "I said to shut up down here!"

Jill turned and looked at her. She was one of the prostitutes and she called herself Cherise. "Yeah, I'm okay," she mouthed back to her.

For whatever reason Jill got the impression that Cherise took a shining to her. Great, I've got a nickname and another inmate following me around. I can't wait until we have to take a group shower.

She flopped back on to the bed and let her thoughts drift back to Craig. She missed him at that moment. Was he watching over her now? What would he be saying about all this? She sniffled. He was always the more upstanding citizen. He would probably be appalled. Then her thoughts drifted to Cain. In the worst way she wanted to see him too. He was the first one that she actually liked to hang around since Craig's death. Who are you kidding Jill? You can't build a relationship on what you just caused. You know Wyatt I just caused your son's death, but I like you, do you like me? She continued to yell at herself. The next time you see him, you tell him how sorry you are for coming in to his life and then just walk away. You've caused him, and his friends, enough grief. Yep, you just turn, walk away, and try to start a new life in this world.

The tears started to flow again.

She must have fallen asleep since she woke up with a start when the guard rattled her cell bars with his baton. "Wake up sleeping beauty," he gruffly said.

She rose up, took off her glasses, and rubbed the side of her nose. She fell asleep with them on and the nose piece had dug in to the side of her nose. It hurt. Then she put them back on so that she could see who was outside her cell.

Two guards walked in to her cell and the one told her, "You're going to be released." The other one held out a pair of handcuffs and jingled them. You are such a slime ball.

But then the guard's words sunk in. I'm going to be released! Her heart rose up in joy.

As the slime-guard, as she now thought of him, snapped the handcuffs on her, what joy she had turned to sorrow. She asked the other guard, "What about Wyatt Cain? Is he going to be released?"

They exited the cell and the bars slammed shut behind her. The guard finally replied to her question with a very firm "No."

She was led through twisty hallways to a small whitewashed room. There were no windows and a small hanging overhead electric light bulb provided the only illumination. A simple wooden table and a few chairs that had all seen better days were the only furniture. The slime-guard took off her handcuffs and motioned for her to sit down. The other guard tossed her a cloth bag. It landed in front of her with a soft thump. She looked in it and found a set of clothes. The guard told her, "Change in to 'em. Someone will get you soon." Then they both left and closed the door behind them with a metallic clang.

The room was cold and Jill shivered. She quickly changed since she did not know how "soon" was soon. After she stuffed her prison uniform in to the cloth bag she sat back down. But sitting there alone made her feel uneasy and nervous. She finally got up and started to pace the room.

After what seemed like an eternity the door opened with a metallic clang and the slime-guard jingled the handcuffs once more. Jill glared at him and he put them away. He sneered, "Your paperwork's done. Come with me." Then he handed her an outside jacket to put on.

He led her down the hallway and they went through a double set of wooden doors that led to the outside. Jill looked around as the snow continued to fall. She realized that she was led to a fenced in area behind the precinct. It resembled the back lot of any large office building. Garbage dumpsters, loading docks, and miscellaneous equipment littered the area. A short distance away a black non-descript car was waiting for her.

Even from afar she could recognize the fiery red hair from the figure that was holding the back car door open. It was Petey Staggart.

The slime-guard led her to the car, nodded to Petey and then turned to go back inside the precinct.

Jill felt the anger rise within her. Her eyes narrowed in hatred, "You mother-fucking bastard." An annoying thought then cut in to her mind. Craig always hated it when I just said damn, let alone if I dropped the f-bomb. Oh fucking well. She told her brain to shut up once more and concentrate on what was going on in the here and now.

He shrugged his shoulders and answered nonchalantly, "I've been called worse." Then with his other hand that held his gun, he motioned for her to get in to the car.

Jill got in and Petey got in after her. He slammed the door shut. Jill could see that there were two men in the front seat. The driver turned around and she did a double-take. Blue eyes stared at back her from underneath a beat up hat. For the briefest of moments she thought that all of this was a sick joke and that it was indeed Cain. Then the man sneered at her. To her dismay she realized that it was not Cain. He told Petey, "As soon as we get to the safe house we're leaving for Oradour."

He then shifted back around in his seat and started the car. It slowly turned around in the lot; its wheels slipping in the snow. Petey shifted in his seat so that he could be partially facing Jill. He held his gun low in front of him and pointed it at her. "No heroics," was all that he said.

Jill nodded and then began to stare out the window. The car slowed back down and stopped at the security gate. A guard rushed out to open it up and then other security guard waved them on through. She stared at the citizens going about their daily business. Little did they know that right under their noses was a kidnapping in-progress.

They stopped at an intersection and were waiting for the traffic to pass. The snow fell heavier and the small windshield wipers could not keep up with it. Lundgren quickly exited the car and began to wipe some of the extra snow off of the windshield. Petey asked, "Hey Zero, do you really think that it's a good idea to start out in this shit?"

Zero watched Lundgren clean off his side of the windshield. By then the traffic cleared and horns started to honk in impatience. Lundgren rushed back to the passenger side of the car and jumped in.

The wheels of the car spun once more but then they got going. "We have a timetable to keep Petey." As they passed through an intersection a car waiting at the corner started to pull out. Zero laid on the horn and flipped the driver off. Annoyed at the interruption he added, "The snow will cover our tracks. If it gets too bad, we'll go as far as the ranch and stay there overnight."

They started to enter the downtown district when Jill impulsively decided that she was going to try escape. Was it a desperate move? Hell yeah. But she had no one to rescue her. She was on her own again. What's the worse thing that could happen to me? Okay, I could get shot. And besides pissing my pants it would probably hurt like hell. But Petey wouldn't dare kill me. They want me for some reason and I'm no use to them dead.

She leaned her head against the window and did her best to look forlorn and disinterested. By that point Petey had relaxed his grip on his gun and was only taking parting glances at her.

She saw another intersection coming up and she casually moved her left arm. She did not know if Petey took note of the action or not.

The car stopped.

She waited. She wanted to make sure that the driver and his companion were occupied with trying to get the car moving.

It was their turn to move thru the intersection and the wheels started to spin once more.

Jill grabbed a hold of the door handle and it gave way. If the door could be locked, someone forgot to do it. She leaped out of the car and slammed the door shut. She heard a muffled "What the hell?!" She did not stick around to hear the rest.

She ran as fast as she could down the street. The snow kept most people indoors so the crowds were sparse. She headed towards the nearest group. Some people stared at her as she ran by but most were too busy to notice. It was evident that they had other things on their mind.

Then she hit an icy patch on the sidewalk and her legs flew out from underneath her. Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

She found herself on her side, crumbled up, and staring at the bottom of a light post. She rolled in to a sitting position. A stranger stood over top of her and offered his hand. "You okay miss?," he asked somewhat concerned. She grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. Ow! She grimaced as she put some weight on to her ankle. Oh god damn it not now! She put on her best face and told the stranger, "I'll be okay. Thanks for helping me up!" She turned and limped away as quickly as she could. She wanted to turn around to see how close either Petey or anyone else was but she did not dare unless she wanted to bring even more attention to herself.

She quickly looked around and found that the store next to her looked like a general department store. She ducked inside and tried to make herself look as presentable as she could.

She had guessed right. She slowly made her way to the side where the women's clothing was located. A salesperson came up to her and asked in a most pleasant voice, "Is there anything that I can help you find today?"

She answered as politely and as calmly as she could, "I'm just browsing, but thank you." She started to sweat.

Thankfully the salesperson left her alone. She weaved in and out of the various racks, trying to make her way to the back of the store. If she could sneak in to the warehouse section and leave the building that way she might have a chance.

As she neared the back of the store she took one last parting glance and found Petey standing at the entrance. She ducked behind a rack of hardware. Shit! She took a step backwards and bumped in to a body. She gasped out of surprised and spun around. It was just another salesperson. "I'm so sorry to have scared you miss. Is there anything I can help you with?" Yeah, get me out of here you twit!

"No, no there isn't, but thank you anyway." She gave him a soft smile and motioned with her head for him to go away. Thankfully he left her alone.

She took another peek towards the entrance of the store. Petey was gone. Shit!

She looked around and alongside the far wall she found the "Employees Only" door. Casually she walked over to it, trying her hardest to mask her limp. She took one last look around and saw no salespeople. She opened the door and walked in. She had guessed right again. It was one of the entrances to the warehouse section of the store.

She limped down the short hallway turned the corner. She bumped in to another body and yelped out in surprise. Their standing before her was Zero. He had no problems carrying his gun out in the open and it was pointed at her. She looked in to his cold eyes and then her eyes drifted to the gun. Where did he get a fucking silencer? Oh yeah, duh… my world.

"I'm really not in the mood for this Jill," he said sternly. He roughly grabbed her arm and started to drag her down the hallway. He did not care that she was limping and had trouble keeping up with him.

They made their way outside and found the car waiting for them in the back alley behind the store. Petey came running and had to stop to catch his breath before he could say anything. Lundgren got of the driver's seat and stood there, his hands propped up on top of the door.

Zero shoved Jill in his direction and she stumbled and fell in to the side of the car. Somewhere between annoyance and anger he said, "Petey, put a fucking pair of cuffs on her… And Lundgren, sit back there with him since he can't handle her on his own."