A Window to the Past – Chapter 13
New York
'I'm not sure,' Dylan says into the phone. Brenda watches him pace as she shoves as much of her stuff into one bag as she can.
'I really don't know. I wish I did, but I don't,' Dylan says with frustration.
Brenda watches the frustration make its way across Dylan's face and she giggles softly at the wrinkles on his forehead. His head whips quickly in her directly as she puts her hand over her mouth quickly.
'I just wanted to let you know what was going on and to make sure that you're safe. We're not sure how this is going to play out and I don't want you in harm's way again,' he says into the phone.
'No, no, we're fine. I promise you that we will be okay,' Dylan says. 'Of course I don't know that for sure, but,' he stops talking when he is cut off mid-sentence.
'Fine, I love you too,' he finally says and slams the phone onto the receiver.
Brenda walks slowly toward him as he puts his hand over his eyes and sinks down onto the bed.
'She doesn't know anything,' Dylan says, lying on his back.
'Do you think that's good or bad?' Brenda asks. She didn't want Iris to be involved in any of this, but maybe it would help if they had a little psychic insight.
'I don't know, Bren,' he says softly.
She climbs onto the bed and curls up next to him. She kisses his cheek and puts her hand on his chest. She feels the slow movement of his heart under her hand and snuggles closer to him.
'We're going to be alright, Dylan,' she whispers. 'We'll stay together and face whatever it is that is coming for us.'
Dylan rolls slightly to wrap his arms around her body. 'Oh, baby, why does this keep happening to us? I just want to be able to live without worrying who might be hiding around a corner to ruin my life.'
'Me too, Dylan, me too,' she says.
Washington D.C.
Brandon continues to search through Amy's computer for any more clues as to what she may have been involved in. He doesn't find anything to help him and decides that maybe her computer at the office would help.
He leaves her apartment and almost runs to the office, getting a little more scared as the moments continue to pass by.
He runs up the stairs instead of taking the elevator and begins rummaging through Amy's desk.
He turns on her computer and while it wakes from sleep he begins going through her papers. He finds her contact list and tries to match up the phone number on the paper with any of the numbers on the list.
Nothing matches up so he starts checking the computer files and internet history.
'Damn!' Brandon says out loud.
'Brandon?'
'George?' Brandon asks and gets up to find the voice.
George steps out from his cube. 'What are you doing here?'
'Just checking Amy's desk, what are you doing here?'
'I thought I'd see if any of my sources came through for me on the Spagnolo thing. They usually leave messages here,' George tells him.
'I guess I'm just paranoid about it now. I found this phone number at her apartment and I was hoping that a reference to it would be somewhere on her computer or here at the office, but I guess I'll just have to call it and find out,' Brandon says.
'You're just going to ring a random number?' George says. 'Let's entertain for a second that there is something weird going on, your friends were taken somewhere, and Amy is somehow involved. What makes you think that anything she had in her apartment is safe?'
Brandon nods knowing that George is right. He doesn't expect George to grab the paper with the phone number from his hand and start dialing the phone.
'George!'
'Relax, at least if we hear the voice that answers maybe we can figure out who this number belongs to. It might be Chinese take-out for all we know,' George says.
He puts the phone on speaker and stands back. He puts his hand over his mouth and suggests Brandon do the same.
The ringing sound coming from the speaker is eerie and it starts to freak Brandon out.
'What?' a voice says harshly through the speaker. 'Hello? Anybody there?' the voice continues.
'Oh, so sorry,' George says with a Chinese accent, 'wrong number,' he says and hangs up quickly.
Brandon already knew that the number wasn't Chinese take-out and that it was possible that it was someone he knew from California. His entire face turns white and he stumbles backward a few steps until he finds the desk at the sound of the voice on the phone. His body makes a loud thumping noise as it drops onto the desk.
'No, it can't be,' he whispers slowly. 'This cannot be happening.'
'What can't be happening? Did you recognize the voice?' George asks.
All Brandon could do was nod slowly as the blood drains further from his face.
'I'm making progress guys, I can almost see through to the other side,' Steve says.
Donna and Kelly had searched the room, lifting everything to see if there were any other weapons or useful items while Steve was busy pounding the wall.
They had found another piece of wood, a long thin linen cloth, and a few nails.
'Well, it's not much,' Donna says.
'Victory!' Steve yells as he pokes his head into the hole he made in the wall.
Donna and Kelly get up quickly, picking up their items and moving to him quickly. He finishes kicking out the rest of the wall and slides his body through the hole. He turns to help Kelly and Donna out of the room and then tries to figure out where they are.
'It looks like some kind of warehouse,' he says, looking around.
'Oh my God, Steve, look,' Donna says putting her hand over her mouth and nose.
Steve turns to see two large smears of blood on the cement floor.
'Okay, guys, we have to find a way out of here right now,' he says quickly.
'Steve, I don't see any bodies,' Donna says slowly. They all look around quickly to see if they were about to be ambushed by two people that had pretty serious gun shot wounds.
Kelly shakes her head and begins running toward the door that was closest to her.
'No, Kel, not that way! That's the way these psychopaths came in, we have to find another way,' he says and moves toward the back end of the warehouse.
Kelly and Donna follow quickly as he disappears behind a wall.
New York
Brenda and Dylan finish packing and leave the hotel. They weren't sure where they were going to spend the night, but they knew that it wasn't safe to stay in the same place.
'We need to find a place that is close to here, but not obvious,' Dylan says, as they walk down the street.
'I think there's a motel or something a few blocks up. It's not fancy or anything, but it looked pretty clean,' Brenda says, quickening her pace to keep up with him.
They walk quickly to the motel and got a room overlooking the street.
'Well, it's definitely a step down,' Brenda says looking around the room, comparing it to the nice hotel they just left behind.
'We'll make it work,' Dylan says, dropping his bag and pulling her to him quickly.
'Oh,' Brenda says as he begins kissing her neck. She wraps her arms around his neck and nuzzles her head into his shoulder.
'Dylan?'
'Yes,' he says while kissing her neck.
Brenda pulls away from him a little and looks up into his face. 'How will Brandon find us now that we left the other hotel?'
Washington D.C.
'I think the exit is over here,' Steve says with slight confusion.
'I think we're walking in circles,' Donna whispers to Kelly.
'I heard that!' Steve says. He continues to walk through the seemingly endless warehouse for another way out.
'Um, Steve,' Kelly says as she stops walking.
'There must be a door here somewhere,' he says, still wandering. 'This warehouse can't go on forever. It just can't!'
'Okay, buddy, you keep looking. We're just going to go through this door over here and get some fresh air,' Kelly says as she turns the knob on the door she just spotted.
Kelly opens the door slowly and pokes her head around the edge to see what might be waiting for them out there.
She motions for Donna and Steve to follow as she scales the warehouse wall, looking furiously in every direction for signs of movement.
'Where are we?' Steve whispers. It was dark and although there were lights on the building, the range wasn't far enough for him to see past ten feet in front of him.
'I'm just going to hug the wall until I reach the end of the building,' Kelly says. 'Maybe there's a sign or a road or something.'
'Did it seem like it took a long time to get here from Brandon's apartment, Kelly?' Donna asks her.
'That stupid thug took me blindfolded to Amy… I mean Nina's apartment first, so I have no idea,' Kelly tells her. 'What about you guys? Where did they get you?'
'Not far from the train station. I wish I knew the area better and then I could gauge how far away we were,' Steve says.
'It doesn't matter now,' Donna says sadly. 'If we don't get back to civilization and find Brandon soon…'
'Donna, don't even say it,' Kelly cuts her off.
Brandon tries to pull himself together after hearing the voice over the speaker of the telephone. He sits motionless on the edge of his desk for so long that he feels his brain move around in his head as George begins to shake him.
'Brandon, come back to me!' George says loudly.
'Oh, uh,' Brandon stammers, 'sorry, George.'
George steps back and crosses his arms in front of his chest. 'I think you need to tell me what's going on here.'
Brandon sighs and puts his head in his hands. 'It's a long story, George.'
'I'm listening,' George says firmly.
'I thought that maybe this was mob related and that maybe the Spagnolo thing was related to what was happening to me and my friends. After hearing that voice, I know for a fact now that they are not related and that someone went to great lengths to try to get to me,' Brandon thinks out loud.
'Brandon, tell me what's happening. I can help you,' George pleads. 'I have connections.'
Brandon looks at his new friend and tries to decide whether or not George may be in on the plot.
'George, I know that you don't understand this, but I can't take any chances. When this all blows over, I promise that I will tell you the whole story, but for now, I can't trust anyone and unfortunately that includes you.'
Brandon turns his head back toward Amy's desk and starts to search her computer for clues as George just sighs and watches him.
'Brandon, please, let me help you. You don't know this place very well. I can help you put the pieces together,' George says from his cube.
'I just don't know, George,' he says as he searches. He opens a few drawers and finds them completely empty. He opens Amy's file cabinet and finds that completely empty as well.
'Uh, George? Do you find it odd that Amy's desk has nothing in it?' Brandon asks him.
'What do you mean?' George says as he turns the corner. 'There is stuff on her desk.'
'Yeah, on it, but not in it. Most of these drawers and cabinets are empty,' Brandon tells him.
George moves into Amy's cube and starts looking around while Brandon stands at the entrance. He begins to open all of the drawers and cabinets to confirm what Brandon just told him. He tries to open one of the drawers but it doesn't open.
'Is it stuck or locked?' Brandon asks him. George shrugs and pulls on the drawer as hard as he can.
'Definitely locked,' he says. 'Hmmmm,' he starts to think and then crouches down and looks under the desk.
'Ah ha,' he says after a minute of searching. He pulls his hand out from under the desk and produces a key.
'Not a very good hiding place for that,' Brandon says with a smile as George puts the key in the lock and opens the drawer.
Kelly, Steve, and Donna finally round the edge of the building.
'Recycled Aggregates?' Donna reads off of the sign. 'Where the hell is that?'
'Who cares? There's the street,' Kelly says and starts to run. Steve and Donna follow closely behind her as she runs full speed toward civilization.
Kelly stops short when she gets to the first major intersection and hails the first cab she sees.
'Where to?' the cabbie asks.
Kelly quickly gives him Brandon's address and sinks into the seat.
'Are you crazy? Why would we want to go back there? Isn't that were you were taken from?' Steve asks her.
'We have to try to find Brandon, Steve. We can't just leave him,' Kelly says as she closes her eyes.
'Do you think they've caught up with him yet?' Donna asks, breathless.
'I don't know,' Kelly says flatly.
'Maybe we should consider going to the police station first,' Donna says.
'Donna, don't be ridiculous. They can't help us now,' Steve says. 'We need to go anywhere that Brandon might be and as quickly as possible.'
New York
'Call his apartment and leave him a message. Give him the number for this hotel and tell him to call. Don't tell him what the name of the hotel is, just give him the number,' Dylan says calmly.
Brenda nods her head slowly and goes for the phone. She leaves Brandon a message and hangs up.
'I really hope he comes to his senses and calls the police,' Brenda says. 'Is this ever going to end, Dylan?'
Dylan sighs and sits down on the bed next to her. He starts rubbing her back with his hand and nodding his head.
'It has to, Bren, it just has to,' he says softly.
She leans into his touch and closes her eyes for a few minutes. 'I have a really bad feeling about this Dylan,' she finally says.
Dylan lets out a breath and wraps his arms around her. 'I do too.'
Washington, D.C.
'He could not have gotten that far. Keep looking,' the voice says into a phone. 'Oh, and trace this number and tell me where the call originated. We'll regroup at the warehouse in one hour.'
George begins to pull out a stack of papers from the drawer that was previously locked.
'Okay, Brandon, let's see what we have here,' George says with excitement. He flips through the papers and Brandon sees the look on George's face become more serious as the seconds go by.
'Brandon, does any of this look familiar to you?' George says, laying out several pieces of paper on the desk top.
Brandon moves closer and gasps. 'Um, that's a layout of my apartment,' he says looking at the first piece of paper.
'And this looks like a list of people you know and places you've been and things you enjoy,' George rattles off.
Brandon sighs heavily. 'I knew it was too good to be true. What do you actually know about Amy? You said that she had started a few weeks before I did.'
'I didn't hire her,' George says, 'I was just told that she would be taking over the reporting on the Capitol Hill bills and votes. I was kind of happy about that because that is the most boring job at this paper. I didn't really ask any other questions.'
'Great, so maybe she's a spy or…'
'A traitor,' George finishes. 'She had the phone number of someone you know from California in her apartment and she has a drawer full of information on you.
'Yeah, this doesn't add up, George,' Brandon says, confused.
George sifts through the rest of the papers in the drawer. 'Ugh,' he says. 'Another monkey wrench for you.' He hands a slip of paper that was in the bottom of the drawer to Brandon.
'Isn't this the address of the mob bar we went to?' Brandon asks him.
George nods his head slowly.
'Great, just great,' Brandon starts to pace up and down the row.
'Brandon, please will you tell me all of the details now? I think this is way beyond you at this point. Let me help,' George pleads again.
Brandon thinks about it for a moment and realized that George is right. 'George, if I tell you this story, you have to promise me on the legacy of Woodward and Bernstein that you will not tell anyone or write about it.'
George's eyes open wide and he begins to nod his head. George holds up his right hand and says, 'I solemnly swear.'
The cab pulls up in front of Brandon's apartment. They all rush to get out of the cab and run up to the apartment. The door is closed and Steve slowly puts his hand on the knob and opens it quickly. He scans the apartment quickly.
'No one here,' he says and steps in. They check the bathroom and the bedroom, but don't find anyone there.
Kelly moves to close the apartment door when she sees the light on the answering machine blinking.
She presses the button and then hears Brenda's voice come through the machine.
Donna picks up the phone and immediately calls the number that she hears Brenda say.
'Hello?'
'Dylan? It's Donna,' she says quickly. 'We are in serious trouble.'
'Donna, what's going on? Are you guys alright? Is Kelly with you?' he rattles off.
'Yes, Kelly and Steve are with me, but Brandon is not here,' Donna tells him. She proceeds to recount to Dylan what happened to her and Steve when they got off the train and what happened to Kelly while she waited for Brandon to get home. She tells him about the muffled voices, the gunshots, and the blood stains on the warehouse floor.
'I'm so scared,' Donna says through her tears and sobs. 'We don't know who is behind this, we don't know where Brandon is, and we have no idea what is going to happen next.'
'Donna, it's going to be alright. Do me a favor, okay? Grab your stuff and get out of Brandon's apartment. Go to a hotel or something, but do not stay there. This thing is out of control and until we can figure out who is doing it and why, you shouldn't be anywhere that they would come looking for you,' Dylan tells her.
'Okay, we will. Have you heard from Brandon at all?' she asks him.
'He called earlier and Brenda was talking to him,' Dylan says. He tells Donna about the conversation Brenda had with Brandon about finding the phone number in Amy's apartment.
'Amy is not her real name, it's Nina,' Donna tells him. 'I don't know how that helps, but she was obviously hired by someone to trick Brandon into something.'
'Great,' Dylan says with a sigh. 'Listen, don't worry too much, Brandon will show up. I know he will, but you guys are in danger and right now you are sitting ducks. Get out of there and call us from wherever you end up, okay?'
'Okay, thanks. We'll be in touch,' Donna says and hangs up. 'Okay, guys, pack up and let's get the hell out of here.'
'What did Brenda say?' Steve asks.
'Nothing, I was talking to Dylan. He said we are sitting ducks right now and we need to go, so let's go,' Donna says quickly as she starts packing up her things.
After about a minute Donna hears, 'Wait, did you say Dylan?' from Kelly.