Chapter 10 - Must (Not) See TV

"There," Alonzo Quinn said, as he wiped the blood from Joss' face. "That looks much better. I regret having to restrain you, Ms. Carter, but Patrick says that you put up quite a fight this evening. "

The School Board Head smiled benignly at Joss as though he had just invited her to tea, instead of her being tied to a chair in that back office in the Machine High chapel.

He removed her gag. "In order to make this work, someone has to take the fall. It was going to be our corpulent Counselor, Mr. Fusco; now, unfortunately, it has to be you, my dear. A pity – my regard for Cal increased immeasurably when you began seeing each other. I would have welcomed you into my extended family."

Joss raised an eyebrow. "What was that, The Addams Family?"

Quinn chuckled. "Gomez was a sharp dresser."

"I liked The Munsters, myself," Simmons added, as he swallowed another huge piece of chocolate.

Joss snorted. "You would – Herman's fore –I mean, 'fivehead', was almost as big as yours. And he was better looking."

"Can we just kill her now, boss?"

"Patience, Patrick, patience. Funds are being transferred into an account that will be traced back to Ms. Carter, just enough to implicate her in the theft. You'll be a rich woman in a few minutes, Ms. Carter. Too bad you won't be able to enjoy it. Once all the transfers have completed, you'll go for a final jaunt in that T-bird you've been meticulously restoring."

The Auto Shop teacher nodded. "Machine High is destroyed and I get caught in the explosion trying to get away."

"You wouldn't be the first bomber to be killed by their own bomb. Your car is distinctive enough that everyone will recognize it in the wreckage."

"Why?" Joss had to ask. "You had everything – you were admired and respected by everyone. Why do this? Why destroy your legacy?"

Quinn shrugged. "Why not? I'm no longer a young man, Ms. Carter, and trust me, admiration and respect won't keep you warm at night. But, a seaside villa in a far off land with some nubile young thing sucking on…" his eyes glinted, "my toes, will keep me very warm indeed. Besides, you're only thinking of my public persona, the person law abiding people think I am. My real legacy will be 'getting away with it' – literally."

"Doing the crime without doing the time," Simmons smirked.

"Now," the School Board Head's eyes suddenly became flat and cold, "let's find out what you discovered."

Joss steeled herself for the first blow, but Quinn simply turned on a monitor. On the screen was the parking garage sex scene between the characters Huck and Quinn from the television show Scandal.

Simmons grabbed her head, putting a contraption over her face that forced her eyes open.

"A few minutes of this, and you'll beg to tell us whatever we want, Ms. Carter. Death will be a mercy," the School Board Head said smugly.

Joss began to shudder as the scene played across the screen.

XXX

"You're not just an English teacher, are you, Mr. Burton," Reese said as they completed their search of the tenth building.

"And you're not just a Cafeteria Lady, Mr. Reese," Mr. Burton replied. "You couldn't be, if you captured Jocelyn's heart."

Reese stopped walking and looked at the older man. "Has…she said –"

"No. But I know her well enough to know that she cares deeply for you, Mr. Reese. As I can tell that you care deeply for her."

Reese nodded slowly. "I do, Mr. Burton. She's…everything I've ever wanted, everything I never thought I deserved."

"When we find Jocelyn, Mr. Reese, and we will find her, don't wait. Tell her exactly how you feel. We don't always have," Reese saw something in the other man's eyes, but it quickly disappeared and Mr. Burton smiled softly at the Cafeteria Lady, "all the time we think we do."

"Mr. Reese," Coach Finch's voice cut in over the earwig. "Ms. Marconi's ruse worked – Ms. Carter is not in the old library…both she and Bear are on their way to you now." He paused, "She also confirmed Ms. Carter's warning; the building is set to explode. Her exact quote was, 'that place is loaded – there's enough shit in there to make Mt. Vesuvius' erupting look like a piñata at a five year old's birthday party.'"

"They're not going to just destroy the library, they're going to destroy the entire campus."

"Yes, Quinn will set the explosives off remotely, per what Ms. Marconi overhead from his associates."

"Once they've gotten whatever they want from Joss," Reese said grimly.

XXX

Death would be merciful, Joss thought, as the scene played over and over.

She could feel her body starting to short circuit as every nerve, every synapse prayed for relief.

Just a few more minutes, Joss thought, I only have to hold out for a few more minutes, then Quinn would tire of this.

They wouldn't kill her here, she knew; it would be somewhere near, or in, her car.

She might not survive, but she would take at least one of them with her, she vowed.

Just hold on, Joss told her weakening body, hold on.

XXX

As they stepped inside the twelfth building, Coach Finch hailed Reese again.

"John…there's something happening in the Machine High chapel…I'm afraid I don't understand it."

Reese took out his phone, putting it on speaker so that both he and Mr. Burton could hear the Coach. "What is it, Finch? A spike in electrical, or water use?" Reese asked, thinking of all the methods of torture Joss might be subjected to.

"No…it's… a television program…it appears that someone is repeating the same scene over and over again."

"What show, Finch?" The Cafeteria Lady asked urgently. He had once killed an arms merchant simply by showing the rabid Red Sox fan old footage of a crucial error by first baseman Bill Buckner during the 1986 World Series.

"…I have it…it's called…Scandal…it's…" they could hear the revulsion in the Coach's voice, "two people having sex in a parking garage."

"Those fiends!" The English teacher gasped. "Emergency rooms across the country the night it was broadcasted were flooded with people collapsing just from viewing it once. If they've played that scene over and over again while we've been searching for her –"

Reese's heart was in his mouth. "She doesn't have much time left."

They ran towards the chapel.

A/N: My apologies to Scandal fans!

The Addams Family, created by American cartoonist Charles Addams, was a satirical inversion of the ideal American family; an eccentric, wealthy clan who delight in the macabre and are unaware (or simply not caring) that people find them bizarre or frightening. They originally appeared as an unrelated group of 150 single panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in The New Yorker between their debut in 1938 and Addams's 1988 death. They have since been adapted to other media, including television series (both live and animated), films, video games and a musical. Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Wednesday, Pugsley, Cousin Itt and Thing. - Wikipedia

The Munsters was a 60's American television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and the wholesome family fare of the era. - Wikipedia

Next, Taking One for the Team will be posted on Friday.