The next morning, Paige kissed Walter as she got out of the Jag. They saw Cabe by the front door of Kovelsky's restaurant when they broke their kiss. They were there to have breakfast with Cabe.
Paige smiled seeing one of the homeless on the corner.
"I'll be right back." Paige told him and gave Walter's cheek a kiss before walking out to where the man stood.
Walter smiled watching her walk out towards the man. She had a real soft spot for people hurting and always tried to help them best she could.
Something annoyed him though and his eyes shifted about four feet away from the corner where the man was panhandling from. Walter's eyes were surprised to see the yellow and black Porsche Spyder sitting there. While not out of place for LA, the area they were in was a bit out of place for such a car to be parked. And then he noticed the car was running.
Walter started to walk out there when the man grabbed Paige and pulled her into the car.
"Paige!" Walter screamed as the car door shut and the man took off with Paige. Walter took off running back towards the Jag as Cabe ran after him. Walter leaped up over the passenger side of the doghouse. He came down on the driver's side fender and turned left. While he was climbing in, Cabe was opening the passenger door.
As the engine roared to life Walter hit a button on his console and a computer screen came up.
"Call Happy." Walter shouted as he took off.
Cabe fumbled with his phone while the car's tires screamed and the Jag turned on a dime before taking off after the car.
Happy frowned as she saw an incoming video call from Walter.
"Hey Walt, what's up?" Happy asked and then saw the desperation in his face as she heard his car's engine screaming.
"I need you and Sylvester to get into the city's CCTV system and get eyes on a black and yellow Porsche Spyder. It just left Kovelsky's parking lot, heading North. Cabe and I are after it, the guy grabbed Paige." Walter told her.
Sylvester had heard and instantly began hacking into the city's DOT computers.
Happy inhaled sharply before she began running over to Sylvester's desk.
"What the hell, why would someone kidnap Paige?" Happy demanded as she looked at what Sylvester was doing.
"I don't know and I don't care at this point, I'm just going to get her back." Walter told her.
"Walter, it looks like the car went up on the I5." Sylvester told him.
Happy's eyes took in the car's profile even as her brilliant mind ran through all she knew about the Spyders.
"Walt, that Spyder isn't a street legal version. If the guy driving the Spyder knows what he is doing, you will never catch that car." Happy warned him.
"Bet me." Walter told her.
Cabe in the meantime was talking to LAPD dispatch, working to try and get help as well as advise them he was in pursuit in a civilian car.
"That's a sucker's bet. That particular Spyder can hit two hundred and eighty miles per hour, unless it has been modified to go faster." Happy told him.
Sylvester and Happy saw Walter's car fly through the red light, narrowly missing several cars. It flew up the on ramp of the highway.
The Spyder was blowing past camera after camera, it was challenging Sylvester to stay ahead of the car with as long as the response time was switching cameras.
"Walt!" Happy yelled. "He just blew through a speed camera, he's going over two hundred and fifty miles an hour. Your Jag can match that but it won't be able to sustain it."
Walter reached down and his finger pressed down on a small recessed area just behind the stick shift. As his finger pressed down he curled it back and under the lip and then pulled up. As it came out of its position a sensor deployed several flaps about the Jag, changing airflow giving the car greater stability. Then the suspension lowered the car, enhancing the stability as well.
"Stability enhancements online, augmented transmission enabled." The computer announced.
Happy watched as the panel came up and she saw four more gear positions on the console under it.
"What the hell? What did you do to the Jag?" Happy demanded as she heard the computer's announcement while watching Walter driving.
Walter shifted to the next gear.
"The last two months the Jag has been in the shop. I had the Jag and its gearbox adapted and redesigned it to a twelve speed." Walter said shifting again.
Happy watched as Walter blew through the same camera trap at over two hundred and sixty miles per hour.
Cabe was watching Walter as he drove the car, trying to remind himself that Walter was a world class driver. The speedometer needle was maxed out well past the car's highest mark of two hundred and sixty miles per hour and the needle seemed to be stuttering.
"Walter, you should see them in about thirty seconds." Sylvester called out as he was mentally running the math.
"Already do Sly." Walter said as he could see the back end of the car.
"What's your play son? This isn't exactly safe and an accident at this speed." Cabe said warily.
"To get that car stopped as safely as possible." Walter told him.
The Spyder was at max speed and the Jag was still gaining quickly. Finally the two cars were side by side. Cabe was yelling to pull over with his badge out. They were quickly coming up on a semi in the middle lane. Walter had no choice and split to pass on the opposite side of the semi.
"Hey, be aware!" Happy yelled. "Major traffic jam about eight miles ahead of you."
The driver in the Spyder pulled up his gun and aimed it at the Jag under the semi. Paige hit his arm just as he pulled the trigger causing him to miss. Walter shifted to the last gear and took off as the guy growled at Paige.
Walter's hand reached up and quickly punched in a security code into the computer.
"Crash system is offline." The computer responded.
"What the hell?" Cabe's eyes went wide as they shot out past the front of the semi and towards the mess of traffic just over five miles ahead of them now.
"Hang on." Walter said and then he cut the wheel of the Jag hard.
The big rig driver hit his horn as he began breaking safely, praying they wouldn't collide.
Sylvester closed his eyes as he watched the CCTV feed. Happy watched as her brilliant mind was calculating each aspect of what was going on. She nodded as the Jag began its slide around the front of the semi and across its lane. Walter slammed the gear shift to reverse as the car was being pushed by the forward momentum backwards down the highway.
The eyes of the driver of the Spyder went wide as he saw the Jag dead ahead. With nowhere to go he had to downshift and slow quickly. Paige's eyes opened wider seeing Walter dead ahead of them. She saw his lips move. "Seatbelt." Something inside of Paige thought through the shock and she quickly buckled her seatbelt.
Because of relative velocities, the Spyder crashed, somewhat softly, into the front of the Jag while Walter was still slowing. The airbags in the Spyder deployed at impact. The two cars wobbled as the drivers struggled to control their own car. The man in the Spyder was dazed a bit by the impact with the airbag.
They could hear the sound of the steel grinding and scraping as steam and smoke began pouring out of the engine compartment.
With the car out of his way the semi driver took his foot off the brakes as he began speeding up and trying to move to the left. But then he had to wait, as he saw a car that was there, to pass.
"Take the shot Cabe." Walter told him as the semi was about to pass them. "If that semi gets by, and the car's engine is still working, he'll be able to switch lanes."
Cabe swore as he pulled out his gun.
The driver looked fearful as the gun came up pointed towards him.
The first bullet blew a hole in the Jag and Spyder's windshields. The second struck the driver's right shoulder, under the clavicle.
Walter hit the brakes hard while the other driver slumped forward.
Walter brought both cars to a stop as quickly and safely as he could. The Spyder was out in the roadway a good bit and Walter jumped out of his car. Cabe began climbing out about the time Walter pulled Paige's door open and helped her out of the seatbelt. Thanks to the seatbelt, she hadn't been harmed by the airbag. Walter slipped his right arm under her legs and his left behind her back before he pulled Paige out and carried her further off the road.
Traffic was coming to a stand still as everything happened. As luck would have it, a news helicopter had been following the last few minutes of the chase. People watched it all unfold in shock. Finally they saw Cabe get the driver of the other car out and handcuffed him before dragging him off to the side of the road.
"So, we got you on kidnapping a Homeland asset, resisting arrest, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, attempted murder of a federal agent just to name a few." Cabe said to the man who was sitting chained to the desk in the interrogation room. "Would you care to make a statement?"
"No." The man said softly.
"Was this personal? Were you working for someone? Was this payback against Walter O'Brien? A grudge against Ms Dineen?" Cabe asked.
"I'm not talking without an attorney." The man explained.
"That's fine, it is your right. But once the lawyers get involved, well, then the good grace train leaves and the best deal you can get will be a lot worse than now." Cabe told him as he walked over to the door to leave.
"What kind of deal?" The man asked as Cabe opened the door.
"Depends on what you have to offer." Cabe told him mildly disinterested.
"You have the bearing of a military man…You give me your personal word of honor, to get me the best deal?" The man asked quietly.
Cabe closed the door and then stepped to the table and sat down.
"I promise…to use every ounce of authority I have to get you the best deal possible based on the information you provide." Cabe told him.
The man sighed.
"I found a contract to kidnap Miss Dineen, someone she knows owes someone a lot of money. They wanted to hold her to get that money." The man explained everything he knew about the situation.
"You're sure you're okay?" Louise and Sean both asked Paige as she sat in the Garage.
"Still a good bit shaken up, but yes, I'm fine." Paige smiled at them. "Thank you."
"What could this man have wanted our daughter for?" Sean demanded of Walter.
"I don't know." Walter told him. "Hopefully Cabe can get the information we need. And then we can solve this."
"Uh Walter?" Sylvester spoke up slowly.
"What's going on Sly?" Walter asked.
"Happy asked me to take a look at the dark web." Sylvester pointed at his laptop. "There is a contract out for Paige to be brought to someone alive. It was posted while we were on holiday last month."
"What?" Everyone screamed at once.
Sylvester grimaced and turned his laptop around as several of them moved quickly his way.
Walter grabbed the laptop up and was reading the page as everyone gathered around to read with him.
"Son of a bitch." Walter swore and put the laptop back down before pulling his phone out.
"Walter?" Paige asked softly.
"I'm going to find out who put this contract out on you." Walter told her as he punched a number into his phone.
"Hell-lo?" A rough voice with a heavy accent, answered from the other side.
"It's Walter." Walter said simply.
"Walter! My old friend, it is good to hear your voice. How are you?" The man asked.
"Pissed off, I need a favor." Walter told him.
"Hey, any favor you need, consider it done. Who do you want to disappear?" The man asked.
"Nothing quite like that." Walter smiled. "I need someone to act like they fulfilled a contract and they need to know where to meet up to make an exchange."
"Ah, of course." The man grinned. "What is on the menu and who do I contact?"
"Someone wants the woman I love taken and brought to them alive." Walter explained and gave the man the contract info. "I need to know who they are."
"For you, absolutely my pleasure. Do you just want the info or would you like me and my boys to pay them a visit?" The man grinned evilly into his phone.
"I'm going to try and handle this legally for right now my friend. So I just need their info. If things go…sideways, well, then I'll let you know." Walter grinned.
"For you, no problem and no charge. I'll have one of my boys make the call to set up a meeting." The man explained.
"Sounds good, I look forward to hearing back from you." Walter grinned
"Khorosho, poka." The man replied and hung up.
"Walter?" Paige asked.
"A friend of mine is looking into the situation." Walter smiled.
"What do you want from me?" The man cried. He'd been tied to the barber chair now for three hours as six men took their time hitting him. They had ignored all of his questions and never said a word to him.
But before anything else happened, a bell on the front door dinged as the door opened. A massively built middle aged man in an expensive suit stepped in. Two other men stepped in behind him and quickly closed and locked the door back.
"So, are we all friends now?" The man asked as he walked the line of barber chairs to the last one.
"I don't know what I did, but if you tell me, I'll do my best to make it up to you." The man pleaded.
The other man looked at his men and gestured with his hand.
"Did none of you bother to explain this to him?" The man asked politely.
Everyone shook their heads no.
"Sometimes. And even after I let you indulge yourselves." The man looked disappointed. "Well then, let me explain." He said before he sat in the chair next to the man.
The barber came out and quickly began getting him ready to cut his hair.
"You put a contract out on Paige Dineen." The man offered conversationally.
"Yes." The man nodded. "I recently found out she's the daughter of a woman who stole a sizable amount from me. I was going to leverage her to get the money back."
"The problem is, you did this without understanding the situation." The man smiled. "Not so much off the top this time."
The barber nodded.
"She is a special friend of a friend of mine. And this upsets him and so it infuriates me. Especially when you don't go through channels. When you go through channels things like this can be avoided." The man told him. "Do you understand?"
"I do and I apologize." The man nodded quickly. The memory of his partner's death at the hands of the men he was surrounded by, was still fresh in his mind.
"This is good." The man nodded. "How much did this woman steal from you?"
"S-seven hundred grand." The man offered.
"Seven hundred grand?!" The man grew upset. "You caused all this ruckus over a measly seven hundred grand?"
"I wasn't trying to cause a ruckus." The man swallowed hard.
"You are small time Mr Dinton." The man said. "You are not prepared for the level of the underworld you have forced your way into. The first rule is, know your enemy."
The man nodded.
"Had you done that, you'd have known Miss Dineen is the special friend of Walter O'Brien. And if you knew who he was you'd have never tried this." The man told him. "This meeting between us…is beneath me, but for my friend, I gladly do it. Now it is my duty to report back to Walter and let him know what transpired. Lucky for you, he didn't want me to handle you beyond getting him the information he wanted. How he will respond is anyone's guess, even if he said he was going to let the police handle it. Forget you ever lost that chump change. Make it easier on yourself and turn yourself in. If you try to run and hide, it won't do any good, Walter will find you."
"I'll do that, I swear." The man nodded quickly.
"This is good." The man told him. "My boys will drop you off at the ER, you look like you could use some medical intervention."
"Thank you." He said as he watched several of the men release him from the barber chair and then they dragged him out the back door.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! I've had a number of writing days since I posted "When It Rains", another fix-it I had started at the same time of "Rains" really jumped out, almost like my old days of writing.
Railman - Glad you enjoyed it! Well, when so many things go right, it seems something has to go wrong. LOL Thanks for pointing out the rating issue for that story. I completely overlooked that when I checked. lol FFN does some stupid things.
Guest - Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! You're welcome, I just wish I had more than 1 more chapter to post. *sigh*
DaToad - Glad you liked the beginning of the story, definitely this is a very different take. lol Hope you are still enjoying it.
Pearliegirl - So glad you enjoyed it! I'm glad we were able to help you find the story!
LouBe - We go from worrying about Sean and Megan to worrying over poor Paige! lol Oh man, a friend told the wife and this back in the 90s when we went to our favorite Chinese place one evening for dinner. It has been so hysterical ever since. I'll include some examples. lol
Fortune cookie examples (from an internet search) with "in bed" added:
Do not be afraid of competition, in bed.
An exciting opportunity lies ahead of you, in bed.
You love peace, in bed.
Get your mind set, in bed.
You will always be surrounded by true friends, in bed.
Sell your ideas-they have exceptional merit, in bed.
You should be able to undertake and complete anything, in bed.
You are kind and friendly, in bed.
To the Adventure! -Tim