A/N: Thanks so much to all who have reviewed/favorite/alerted this fic. You really do keep me encouraged and focused. And your kind words are really amazing! This chapter isn't as long as the last (that was unusually long for me), but there is a lot going on in this one. I hope you like car chases…
Chapter 8
Lisbon was awakened by a loud growling in her ear, and she opened her eyes, disoriented and a little sore. She realized the noise was coming from Jane's stomach, a little south of where she had lain her head.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I haven't eaten since yesterday's lunch. Unlike some people, who got a gourmet dinner last night."
She chuckled, rubbing his stomach in sympathy. "You poor thing. That reminds me, though; I bet Clive didn't even pay for that meal. If you recall, we left a little suddenly."
"We'll go back and double tip them later."
"If we ever get back there again," she said softly. It wasn't like her to be so pessimistic. Except for his empty stomach, Jane was happier and felt more optimistic than he had in years, and he knew in his heart they would get out of this as they always did; it was only a matter of how. He adjusted the rolled up towel he'd used as a pillow and drew Lisbon closer beneath his suit coat.
"Stop all that negativity, right now." He lifted her chin to look at her. "I bet the sun is about up and pretty soon we'll be out of this wretched bathroom."
She shifted up to kiss him. "I know. And I don't think this bathroom is so wretched actually," she said, grinning in remembrance of the happy hours they'd spent there so far. He smiled and pulled her up to deepen the kiss.
Earlier, Jane had wanted a round two, but unfortunately he had only been hopeful enough to bring one foil packet. Lisbon had suggested that there were other things they could do, and proceeded to prove it with her mouth and hands, while he gladly returned the favor. It was very early in the morning before they rinsed off in the shower (which nearly led them to a round three), dressed again, and dozed lightly on the cold floor.
Their kiss was interrupted by the sound of Jane's car rolling into the driveway. They sat up and listened as the front door opened, and footsteps sounded in the hardwood entryway.
"Hi honeys, we're home!" Clive called, and they were surprised to hear a second voice, chuckling at Clive's little joke.
Jane and Lisbon looked at each other. Apparently Clive had brought reinforcements. Jane put on his jacket and reached for the shard of porcelain they'd saved from the toilet tank lid, the rest of which they'd tossed into the cupboard beneath the sink in hopes that Clive wouldn't notice anything amiss. Jane deposited the improvised weapon into his jacket pocket.
After several heavy steps from the hall, there came a loud knock on the bathroom door.
"You two descent?" Clive asked.
He's drunk, Jane mouthed, wide-eyed.
"Sure," Jane said aloud. "Do come in." He reached automatically for Lisbon's hand, which she squeezed back in commiseration.
It was hit and miss for the drunken kidnapper to get the old key in the lock, but eventually he opened it, and they stood facing Lisbon's Glock again. Clive no longer appeared as put-together as usual. His tie was missing, his shirt untucked, his black hair hanging in his eyes. Stubble darkened his face, and his eyes were glassy and red. Some blue fabric hung suspiciously over his left shoulder.
He tossed in a box of Twinkies, which Jane caught deftly in one hand. "Here ya go—breakfast of champions! You didn't think I'd forget to feed the animals, did ya?"
More laughter from down the hall.
"Who's your new guest?" Jane asked casually.
"I realized I needed a babysitter for you Patty, and my friend Ray was kind enough to volunteer. Say hi, Ray!" Clive suddenly yelled so loudly that Jane and Lisbon visibly cringed.
"Hi!" called Ray from the living room.
"Oh, and here, Teresa," Clive slurred. He tossed her the dress he'd slung over his shoulder. "Here's your court clothes. I always liked Mama in this. Ahh…Mama…why'd you have to go and get old? You could have been here to help me with Bonnie and our baby…" He seemed on the verge of a crying jag as he tossed Lisbon Mama's old dress. She caught it and looked down at it in dismay.
"Put that on and be ready to go to court in thirty minutes," Clive ordered, wiping his watering eyes in annoyance. The door closed abruptly between them, and the key jiggled tremulously in the lock.
Lisbon held up the dress—a travesty of paisley and polyester. Unfortunately, it looked like it would fit her perfectly.
"Seriously?" she said plaintively, turning the garment this way and that.
Jane chuckled. "You know, when I was a kid, I used to think paisley resembled little spermatozoa."
"Ha-ha. Shut up. There's no way I'm wearing this."
"He'll shoot you if you don't." Jane sounded inappropriately happy about that possibility.
"Fine," she sighed in exasperation. She turned around. "Unzip me."
He set his breakfast on the sink vanity.
"Okay, but he only gave us thirty minutes," Jane said suggestively, raising her hair and nibbling on the back of her neck. She shivered.
"Stop that." He continued on until she squirmed, stepping away from his heated assault.
He chuckled sexily. "Okay, but I'm not used to unzipping you without getting something out of it." He pulled the zipper down and she stepped out of her wrinkled dress. She turned around and he feasted on her red lace underwear. "On the other hand…" he amended, his eyes roaming her body hotly.
He watched with a mixture of disappointment and amusement as she replaced her sexy little black number with the horrid costume of Mama Edmonds. It buttoned up the front all the way to her neck, and hung way past her knees. If one were to look up unbecoming in the dictionary…
"Thank God there's no mirror in here," Lisbon mumbled, smoothing down the apocalyptically wrinkle resistant fabric.
"Indeed," concurred Jane, opening the box of snack cakes. He wolfed down two before tossing Lisbon one.
"So, any insight into how to handle Clive?" she asked him, slipping on her clashing high heels from the night before.
"Well, as you can tell, he has some definite oedipal tendencies. He hates for you to point out his weaknesses or shortcomings—definitely not a guy who takes constructive criticism well. He's a fake in all aspects of his life. Since he's drunk, all of these characteristics will be magnified. Fortunately, you're a beautiful woman, so he'll still turn on the charm to try to impress you, even though you're his victim. With you in his mother's dress, you'll be a force to be reckoned with." He couldn't help chuckling at the irony. He took another bite of Twinkie.
"I'm more worried about a drunk with a gun," Lisbon said, scowling. "But I might turn on some charm of my own, play up his sicko hangups. Maybe call him sonny boy or something."
Jane held her shoulders, suddenly serious. She sensed his shift in mood and looked up into his troubled eyes. "You're right, Teresa. His drunkenness makes him infinitely unpredictable. Please be careful; do everything he says. Don't take any unnecessary risks. When you're in the court house, he won't be able to bring his gun and you'll be surrounded by cops. Make your move then. Don't worry about me back here. Do what you need to do to free yourself." He patted the sharp porcelain in his pocket. "I'll do what I need to do here with Ray."
She moved her hands up to his chest, looking at him intensely. "It works both ways, Jane. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, don't do anything—"
"Stupid, I know. Your confidence in my ability to make intelligent choices is truly inspiring."
To ease the sting of his sarcasm, he leaned down and kissed her passionately.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
They'd smelled coffee—much to Lisbon's further torture—so Clive must have made an attempt to sober up some. He opened the bathroom door, looking somewhat less haggard, though the ravages of a hard night were still evident in his drooping features and bloodshot eyes.
"Let's go get Bonnie," he said shortly, using the gun to motion Lisbon out. Jane made a halfhearted attempt to follow, but Clive held up a hand.
"Not so fast, loverboy. You're staying here with Ray." Ray moved into view, and Jane had to crane his neck to see the man's face. He must have been close to six feet, five inches, with a chest like a barrel and arms like tree trunks. He would have been even more imposing, however, had he not been obviously hung over.
"Well, I'm flattered, Clive. You felt the need to hire a member of the Brute Squad to guard me. Nice to meet you, Ray."
Jane stuck out a polite hand, but the crew-cut strongman crossed his arms belligerently, ignoring Jane's overture of friendship. Jane dropped his hand humorously a moment later.
"Take a good long look at Patty now, Teresa. If I don't touch base with Ray at certain appointed times, he has orders to break Patty's neck with his bare hands."
"Yeah, Lisbon. Behave, okay? I mean, Ray looks quite formidable." But he grinned to show he wasn't really afraid. Jane had long been able to use his wits against nearly every opponent, no matter how physically imposing, and he had no doubt that Ray would be no exception. Lisbon didn't look so confident.
"Jane—" she began, holding his hand longingly, fear clearly etched in her tired features. Their night of lovemaking had forged a deeper bond than either had predicted, and the thought of her leaving him was like a physical ache. It was taking them both by surprise, and Jane couldn't even bring himself to believe that it was just the situation causing him to feel that way. He swallowed against a lump in his throat.
"Go, get this over with," he whispered. "I'll be fine. We'll both be fine."
Then, to everyone's acute surprise (especially her own) she pulled Jane's mouth down to hers and kissed him with all the pent-up fear and emotion in her heart. It was so completely unlike her that it took a few beats for Jane to respond, but when he did, he brought her body tightly against his, uncaring of their annoyed audience. They were both attempting to brand this moment on their minds just in case the worst happened.
"Okay, okay," Clive interrupted, massaging his temple with his free hand. "Enough. Let's go, Agent Lisbon."
At Clive's pointed nod, Ray interposed himself between the lovers, separating them as easily as a hot knife through butter. Jane pretended to fall against the giant, causing Ray to have to push him roughly away. Jane nearly fell into the sink vanity, while Lisbon looked on in anger.
"You don't have to be such a caveman," she griped. "He's half your size."
It really was amusing to see such a tiny woman staring down the Jolly Green Giant. Even more humorous was that the big guy actually flinched, but he snapped out of his hung-over daze and grabbed Lisbon's arm, pushing her out the door and slamming it behind them. Clive turned the key once again in the lock, and Jane found himself alone.
"See ya, Lisbon," Jane called through the door.
"Sit tight, Jane," she called. "And don't worry, I'll be-"
Her reply was muffled as she was pushed down the hall, but he could hear her cussing and griping as Ray held her arm too tightly. He grinned fondly when he heard her call him a sideshow reject. A few minutes later, and he heard the Citroen start and make its way again down the gravel driveway.
Jane spared one more worried glance at the door before he reached into his jacket pocket. With a satisfied grin, he pulled out Ray's purloined cell phone, and proceeded to punch in Cho's number, which naturally he knew by heart.
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Lisbon buckled her seatbelt and took the wheel of Jane's car for the first time ever, happy to be out in the natural light. It was surprisingly peppy and easy to drive, but much of her pleasure at being out of her prison was taken away by the man sitting beside her, pointing the gun at her side.
"Jane told me about your situation with Bonnie," Lisbon said. "I wish you had just told me about it to begin with. I might have been able to help sooner."
"Patrick would have stopped you. He hates me. I remind him of who he really is."
"Who he once was," Lisbon corrected.
Clive shrugged, then began rooting through Jane's glove compartment. He was gratified when he found a bottle of aspirin, and Lisbon watched him down four of them without water.
"People don't change that much, Teresa. Once a grifter, always a grifter. He conned you only last weekend, remember?"
She couldn't argue with that. It still pissed her off to think he'd paid Clive to go out with her. She gritted her teeth and changed the subject.
"Which way do I go?" she asked, as they emerged off the county road to the freeway. Jane had told her the route he'd driven the night before, so she was fairly sure they were in Colusa County.
"Go south, toward San Francisco. That's where the hearing is in about three hours."
She merged with southbound traffic.
"You look lovely in that dress, by the way," said Clive unexpectedly. "Blue is your color, just like it is for Mama. You're quite a beautiful woman, Teresa. Too bad I'm already taken."
"You sound like you're very close to your mother," she said, suddenly uncomfortable about trying to charm her captor. "How would she feel about what you're doing?"
Clive snorted. "She thinks I'm an investment banker. And I've told her about Bonnie and the baby, how we plan to get married soon."
"How's this going to work, Clive? You think that once she's out of jail, you'll be able to get away with what you've done?"
"That's the plan. Patrick's my insurance."
"What will you do if I my input doesn't help her get released? You gonna kill me? Kill Jane?"
"I don't think you want to find out that answer, Teresa. I suggest you pull out all the stops," he said tiredly. "Lie, fabricate, extol her virtues as a mother."
"But I don't know her, Clive. How do you expect me to do that convincingly?"
He sighed. "You're right. I'll tell you everything about her, everything I wish I could say if my opinion meant anything in court."
Lisbon listened as he went on to give the abbreviated version of their love affair and described Bonnie in the most subjective terms imaginable. She felt like she was watching bad theatre. After he'd finished his narrative, they drove in silence for awhile.
Lisbon kept one eye trained on Clive, watched how his head would droop and he'd catch himself, then shake his head violently to try to stay awake. If he would only drift off she could make her move, or maybe drive to a police station.
Thirty minutes into the drive, she saw the police helicopter. She was suddenly sorry for all the bad things she'd ever said or thought about the Citroen, for it was certainly a distinctive car, and she couldn't imagine it was too difficult to see from the air.
Clive looked suspiciously into the sky, then tightened his grip on the Glock. He was totally awake now. Lisbon pretended not to notice his actions or those of the police copter, but inside, her heart was pounding at the possibility that the police might be looking for them. When the highway patrol car came up behind them, flashing his lights, Lisbon felt so keenly elated that it took all her strength not to grin like an idiot. Keep it together, Teresa, she told herself.
"Shit! Are you speeding?"
"No, Clive, I swear. I have no idea what he wants. How could anyone know where we are? Ray wouldn't have turned on you, would he?"
"No. I'm paying him too much. Keep driving."
"But what if it's nothing? What if a tail light is out or something? Do you really want a high-speed chase? There's no way you'll get Bonnie out if the police are on our tails."
"Keep driving," he maintained. The patrolman turned on his sirens behind them, and the helicopter flew in closer. Clive took out his cell phone and pressed his redial number. He let it ring until it went to voice mail, then he frantically texted. She assumed he was calling Ray.
"Dammit! Where the hell is he?" Clive turned around in his seat, then pressed the gun into Lisbon's ribs. "Step on it."
"It's over, Clive," she said calmly. "Pull over now before someone gets hurt."
Another CHP vehicle had joined its brother and Lisbon kept her speed steady in hopes that Clive would change his mind and see how futile this was now.
"I said, step on it!" He slid across the bench seat to the driver's side and mashed down on Lisbon's foot where it rested on the gas pedal. She gasped in pain and tried to maintain control as she overcompensated for Clive having bumped into the steering wheel. The car swerved dangerously, nearly running into the car in the next lane.
"All right, all right!" she yelled. "You're gonna get us killed!"
And then she saw her chance. Clive was turning around again, brandishing her gun and looking anxiously around him. Lisbon swerved hard in the other direction, throwing Clive against the passenger door. Her gun clattered out of his hands and into the floor boards. He reached blindly around on the floor for the Glock, but it was all the way in the back seat.
"Holy shit!" He exclaimed. "Are you fuckin' nuts?"
Lisbon used his distraction to slam on the break. Without his seatbelt, Clive was thrown forward into the dashboard, then crashed back into the seat. A tremendous jolt in the rear of the car had Lisbon spinning out of control again, as the CHP car behind them plowed into their rear end. Lisbon hit her head on the steering wheel and bounced back into her seat as she coasted the Citroen to the shoulder of the road. She thought absently that Jane was going to kill her for what she'd let happen to his beloved car.
By then there were four CHP vehicles, and they immediately surrounded the Citroen. Lisbon emerged, hands in the air, as she felt the blood trickling down her temple. The sound of the low flying helicopter was almost deafening.
"Keep your hands where I can see them," barked one patrolman, while two of the others circled her, guns trained on her chest. The other man went to the passenger side of the Citroen, looking inside at the unconscious Clive. He pulled out his phone and called for an ambulance.
"Teresa Lisbon, CBI," she announced. One of the officers pulled out his cell phone and brought up her picture.
"That's her," he announced. They lowered their weapons.
"Sorry Agent," said the lead officer. "Captain Mark Adams, ma'am." He turned to a fellow officer. "Parker, get the first-aid kit for the lady, will ya?"
Lisbon wiped at her blood dismissively. "How'd you find me?" she asked, figuring that Cho must have tracked her down somehow.
"Your partner- Agent Jane, I think his name is—he called the CBI from the house where he's being held, but he was disconnected before they got an exact bead on him. Word was passed to us. Your team's on the way there now."
"What?" Lisbon said in shock. "Jane got hold of a phone? Is he all right? He's alone in that house with a colossus. We're closer to that house than my team is. Please, can you take me there right now, Captain, or loan me your car? And I'm gonna need my gun."
"I'll take you, Agent," volunteered Parker, a handsome young officer with sandy brown hair and bright blue eyes.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
The entire way back, Lisbon was nervously wringing her hands, staring out the window, willing the patrol car to go faster, despite its high speed and flashing lights. She could only imagine what must have gone down in Clive's mother's house. How'd he get a phone? Was he hurt? What might Ray be doing to him?
Knowing Patrick Jane, he'd probably thrown all her advice out the window and done something stupid anyway.
A/N: Yes, a cliffie of sorts. I'm already working out the next chapter though. Just one or two chapters to go on this one, folks. Please log in and make sure your PM capabilities are turned on (that means you, MissDonnie). I love to reply to your reviews! Oh, yeah, please review, will ya?