Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, nor does the book or film Misery. This is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
A/N Part of the Claudia story verse, story picks up right after Trimming The Tree (AU)
5.1-2 AU
"…fallen through a hole…"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
At Abby and Connor's home, Patrick and Charlotte carried the dessert plates to the kitchen sink and started washing up. Mrs. Temple wrapped the plate with Connor's slice of Christmas pudding and put it in the refrigerator, disturbing Rex in the process. The lizard chirped lethargically and flew off the refrigerator to another resting space.
"Is he alright?" asked Connor's mum.
"It's winter… cold for reptiles," replied Patrick, "that's why Rex likes the top of the fridge."
"Oh," nodded the older woman. "That's why the snake's habitat has been moved away from the windows."
"Yeah," answered Patrick "and the iguana tank is over the radiator in the bathroom."
Connor's mum picked up the container of lizard treats. The pellets rattled around as she shook the canister. Rex picked up his head and chirped inquisitively. The woman walked over to his dish and began to fill the tray.
"Patrick," asked Charlotte, "where are Sid and Nancy?"
"Shh," hissed Patrick.
He glanced across the room at Connor's mum. She didn't seem to have heard the teen aged Victorian, and appeared to be lost in thought as she stroked Rex. Patrick lowered his voice as he turned back to face Charlotte and answer her question.
"They're hibernating," replied Patrick. "They're in the tunnel, it goes from the cellar… to the back yard… but don't let Gran hear… she thinks they're overgrown rats."
"Rats?" responded Charlotte in a surprised tone. "Sid and Nancy are cute… nothing like rats."
Patrick nodded in agreement.
"Abby says they might have little ones this Spring," he added.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Becker's eyes swept the perimeter of the car park once more before he turned his gaze back to Matt and Emily.
"I haven't seen the CCTV pictures yet, but Connor may have been mugged," replied Becker.
"Then where is he?" asked Matt.
The police cruiser pulled into the car park as he spoke.
"Why don't you two go inside?" suggested Becker. "Lester's on his way in… I'll be in after I've talked with the detectives."
Matt and Emily exchanged a glance.
"No," replied Matt "if you don't mind, we'll just wait with you. I want to watch what they do."
The men from the police cruiser were excruciatingly thorough. First, they ordered everyone to back up and away from the parked mini, before they began to work. Then they marked all around the mini and the next car over with yellow tape. The black lettering read CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER. After that, they walked around both parked cars, looking very closely at the ground. Then they added a second row of yellow tape. Finally they stood still.
"What are they waiting for?" asked Emily. "Why aren't they investigating?"
One of the men must have heard her. He frowned.
"We're waiting for the lab unit," replied the man. "We're here just to make sure nobody disturbs anything… until they arrive."
"And when will that be?" asked Becker.
"Don't know," replied the man "it is Christmas… might take a while to get someone here."
Lester's car pulled into the car park just then.
"You can't park here," shouted the man "can't you read?"
Lester backed out of the public parking lot and into the drive leading to the ARCs car park. He turned off the ignition and left the car in the middle of the drive as he crossed the street to join Becker, Matt and Emily.
"What's going on?" asked Lester in a calm tone of voice.
Their boss sounded disinterested as if he was discussing nothing more important that traffic and road conditions. But Becker, Matt and Emily knew the traffic and road conditions this evening between his home and London. While Matt answered Lester's question, Becker wondered briefly what the top speed of the jaguar was.
"We're waiting," replied Matt, "for the investigators to get here and to find out what happened."
Becker turned his gaze towards the parked cruiser. The two men were leaning against the vehicle, and had opened a thermos. His eyebrows lowered menacingly as he frowned in their direction.
"We should go inside," suggested Lester "and let these people do their job."
"What?" asked three different voices in surprise.
"We've got the best surveillance team in the UK," Lester reminded them.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
In the main control room of the ARC, Jess was shivering. She sat next to the ADD display console, up high on the workstation itself. Below her Duncan was pushing the central processing unit back into position against the back wall of the workstation. A dustpan and small hand broom were on the floor beside him. Lester, Becker, Matt and Emily entered the room.
"Jess," asked Becker "what's wrong? Are you all right?"
The petite woman shook her head. At first left and right, then seeing his eyes grow wide with alarm, she shook her head up and down. Becker moved to stand closer to her.
"I'm fine," Jess replied "I just don't like..."
"What?" asked Becker.
Duncan rose to stand between Jess and Becker. He held up the dustpan and its contents proudly.
"Found out what was wrong with the machine," he said happily. "Someone's been eating at the workstation… dropping all sorts of crumbs, bits of sandwiches, crisps, biscuits…"
"A multi-million dollar machine disabled by crumbs?" questioned Lester.
"No," replied Duncan. "It was the mice… they ate through the wiring… trying to get to the crumbs."
Lester closed his eyes. He'd thought that sort of problem was solved when Abby and Connor had taken the diictodons home. Beside Becker, Jess shivered again.
"I really don't like mice," she said, "but at least it wasn't bugs."
Lester stepped towards Jess and the ADD. He looked briefly at his manicured nails to give Jess a moment. She straightened up and regarded the ARCs director.
"Jess," asked Lester "would you be able to pull up the CCTV pictures from the car park for earlier this evening?"
"Of course," replied Jess as she hopped down off the workstation.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby had been so caught up in her shock and worry about Connor being missing that she'd barely known what to think, but Jack's words in the break room shook her out of her stupor.
"Seriously," Abby replied, "you went looking for Dad?"
"Yeah," responded Jack as he leaned back in the chair, tilting it back on the rear legs. "I thought maybe…"
Abby closed her eyes as her brother rambled on about their parents and their childhood. When she was alive, their mother had joked that she and her ex-husband put the fun in dysfunctional relationships. Abby and Jack's parents had married and divorced, squabbling ferociously all the while. Abby never understood what was supposed to be fun about that. Her parents fought worst when they were drinking.
"Jack," said Abby, "it's not what you think…"
But Jack wasn't listening. Abby remembered her mother's last days. Alcoholic liver disease had claimed Abby's mother.
"Never wanted to be forty anyway," joked the woman, "I was planning on staying thirty-nine forever."
The woman looked down at her grotesquely swollen belly, distended by her final illness.
"Of course I never wanted to be fat either."
"Jack," repeated Abby in a louder tone of voice "Dad didn't fall through an anomaly."
Her brother stopped talking and stared across the table at her. His lips curled back in a smirk. Jack always knew how to rile Abby.
"Of course not," replied Jack. "Dad's been in and out of rehab ever since Mum died."
Abby stared at her brother in surprise.
"You knew?"
Behind Abby, the door to the break room opened. Lester, followed by Becker, Jess, Matt, Emily and Duncan entered the room.
"Abby," said Lester gently "Matt's going to take you home now…"
"Where's Connor?" asked Abby in a tone that indicated an answer better be forthcoming soon.
"There's been an accident," explained Lester "the CCTV images show someone picked him up… as soon as we find out which hospital they've taken him to… "
"What happened? I want to see the CCTV," demanded Abby.
"Really Abby," said Lester "there's no need..."
Abby's blue eyes blazed fiercely and her jaw tightened for a moment. Then she spoke.
"I want to see the CCTV images," demanded Abby again.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Becker leaned against the back wall of the ARCs control room. At the desk, Jess brought up the CCTV images again. It was hard to watch. Becker turned to regard Jack, standing beside him. The captain would never have expected to find Abby sitting quietly in the break room this evening.
"You did a good job," whispered Becker, "keeping Abby distracted."
The young man was concentrating on the images, or maybe watching his sister standing just in front of him, and didn't seem to hear the tall soldier.
"I can't tell if that's a man or a woman," said Abby.
In the image, Connor was kneeling, patting the ground in front of him as a tall thin figure approached him. Abby gasped. The person kicked Connor, knocking him to one side. Then the person knelt, opened Connor's messenger bag and withdrew the laptop. The person was walking quickly out of the CCTV view, when Connor rose and started after the person.
"And now we switch views to the street cam," explained Jess as the images flickered, blurred and then reformed.
The thief was striding quickly across the street. Connor chased after. He never saw the car. Abby gasped again, placing a hand across her mouth as she watched Connor bounce on the hood of the car and then fall motionless to the pavement. Jack stepped closer to his sister. The driver stopped and got out of the car. The driver and the thief appeared to exchange words. Then the two people hauled Connor into the back seat of the sedan and drove off.
"Abby, you need to go home and rest," said Lester in a soothing tone. "As soon as we find out which hospital they've taken Connor to…"
"Rest," objected Abby. "No! How on earth…?"
"Abby," said Becker with a glance at Matt. "You can't do anything now. It's going to take some time to search the hospitals. I personally will bring you straight to Connor… as soon as he is located."
Matt and Emily converged on Abby, gently leading her towards the door.
"Connor's Mum must be so worried," said Emily, "and Patrick..."
"You really think they've taken Connor to a hospital..."
Abby's voice trailed off as they left the control room. Jack looked from Becker to Lester.
"The thief wasn't a professional," Jack observed. "Taking the laptop out of the bag… was a mistake. A professional would have snatched the entire messenger bag… then the getaway driver would have had them both long gone before Connor got out of the car park."
"You think this was planned?" asked Becker. "And why do you think the thief was a man?"
Jack snorted.
"Dunno if that person was a man or not... like Abby said, you can't really tell," replied Jack as he headed out of the room after Abby, "and planned? Not really... more likely just... what the coppers call... a crime of opportunity."
"How do you know so..."
The door swung shut, cutting off Becker's question. The Captain turned to see Lester, Jess and a very pale Duncan remaining in the control room.
"Great! Just what we need," huffed Lester "a newbie mugger and a bumbling getaway driver have taken Connor someplace."
Lester turned to Jess.
"Can you trace Connor's cell phone?"
Jess turned back to the computer, but Duncan spoke up.
"I traced it already," said Duncan. "Connor's cell phone is across the street… I think the police have it as evidence."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
The dark haired man's chest shuddered, but it continued to rise and fall. His eyes remained closed, the long lashes fluttered with each ragged breath he took. The small blonde woman pushed her heavy black framed glasses back up on her nose.
"We should take him to the hospital," she said. "We don't know what kind of injuries he's got…"
On the other side of the room, a tall thin woman sat at a desk. Connor's laptop was open in front of her. Her slender fingers played gracefully over the keyboard.
"You said that before," was all the other woman replied. Her tone sounded somewhat irritated.
The small blonde had grown more and more antsy as the night progressed and their captive remained unconscious.
"We're not going to find out anything," replied the blonde "if he's not able to talk."
The tall angular woman frowned at the laptop monitor. The blonde was a bit of a whiner, annoying really, but sometimes she had her uses.
"April," asked the thin woman "what does this message mean?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x