Ava and Liz were coming out of the Pea in the Pod on Madison Avenue, having just spent over an hour shopping. The place was elegant....but highly over priced. They'd both liked what they'd seen, but Ava had insisted that she knew a place down by the docks where they could get the same thing for less than half the cost.
"Ava....We aren't going to some fence or something,....are we? Tell me we aren't buying stolen property or something."
"Liz, How could you even ask that? I'm a respectable deputy sheriff's wife, these days. All this stuff comes in in bundles from Bangladesh. This is just....well, kind of a sweatshop actually, where they take the stuff, clean it, iron it, and package it. All we are doing is cutting out the middleman...about three middlemen, actually."
"A sweatshop? You think that's appropriate?"
"Damn right, Liz. We'll pay them more that the wholesaler would for the product, and they'll go home a little better off than they would have if we hadn't bought from them. Hey, most of them are illegal aliens and....I've got a lot of sympathy for illegal aliens...what with my background and everything. I mean, America's a great place, but it's sometimes a little tough getting started, if you know what I mean."
Liz smiled at Ava. Even Michael with his drunk foster-father who beat on him had a better life growing up than Ava had. But somehow they'd both come through some awfully crappy childhoods as great human beings.....well, great people anyway...mostly human beings..
"Well, OK then, to the docks it is. Lead on, Bronx-girl."
NO GOOD DEED redux Mature (CC M/L) 10/2/06 complete 11/21
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Forum Moderators
Ava found the place, and she was right. The same maternity outfits that were in the Pea in the Pod were being imported through a small wholesaler down on the docks. They took the girls' requests and sizes and were back in minutes with the clothes, freshly pressed. "Do you want in Pea in Pod box?" asked the girl behind the counter, holding up the boxes.
Ava looked at Liz and giggled, "Sure, why not?" Liz and Ava paid somewhat less than half what the asking price had been on Madison Avenue, and were quickly on their way back uptown.
Radoslav was not a particularly happy camper as he returned from the meeting with Big Tony. Oh sure, Big Tony had said the right kinds of things, that he'd rein in that idiot, that he'd be well compensated, but it wasn't like the old days.....back when he had a cause he believed in. Certainly the money was better, but the people....the ones who belonged to Big Tony,...even the organization they worked for....they were simply thugs....no better than rabble, really. They werre undisciplined, the whole organization held together by fear and greed. He despised them, although he didn't really fear them. Oh, they could kill him, everyone could be killed. But they had no character...he knew that he could break any of them in less than 24 hours....that they had no cause they believed in that would sustain them.
Not like...her...he really wished he could have met her before all of this, his Nila. She was strong. She believed in what she was doing.....but even more...she would not give them the girl....a girl who could mean next to nothing to her, just a source, but to do so would break a promise. Yes, Nila had character, not like these pigs. He found himself actually regretting having taken the contract, even knowing she would be dead by now, she would at least be out of her pain. He had sympathy for all of his clients...but of course this was business, not personal. A contract to be honored, nothing more. And unless the pigs broke the contract, he was duty bound to get Nila to give up the information. And he would too, because he knew he was good at this....there were none better. Yes, Nila was struggling to keep her contract with the girl, he was struggling to keep his contract with the organization. He would win, he knew.
But this time he would take no pleasure in that, because he also knew that in this game of chess with the girl, he had all the power pieces and she was like a king protecting its last pawn. The best she could hope for, what he knew she was hoping for by now, was to die or go insane without giving up the girl. He almost wished he could allow that, but a contract was a contract, after all. He kept telling himself it wasn't personal, just business, as the picture floated in his mind of a broken and bloody Nila Spence finally getting the injection that would stop her pain. He truly hoped...for her sake...that time would come soon.
Growing up in Roswell Liz Evans had somehow gotten it in her head that in a crosswalk you sort of stayed in the crosswalk. Growing up in Ney York City, Ava knew better. Only foreigners and tourists stuck to the crowded crosswalks...you just had to avoid the occasional car, scooter, and bicycle....oh, and a hundred other native New Yorkers. She slowed down and looked back, waiting for Liz to catch up. Distracted by the honking of a taxi trying to hurry the pedestrians out of the way, she almost ran in to a man going in the other direction, brushing briefly against him. It didn't appear that they'd collided, but Liz suddenly stopped looking shaken. As the light turned, catching her still in the crosswalk, the din of horns became incessant. Ava quickly went back and grabbed her hand, pulling a terrified appearing Liz back onto the sidewalk.
"You're OK now, Liz. Traffic gets a little ugly around here."
"Ava....we need to go somewhere to talk.....NOW!"
There was an internet coffeeshop three doors away. Ava took an obviously frightened Liz Evans there, taking a back table away from the barista and the few other patrons.
"My God, Ava. When I brushed against that man....I had a flash."
Ava looked at Liz and giggled, "Sure, why not?" Liz and Ava paid somewhat less than half what the asking price had been on Madison Avenue, and were quickly on their way back uptown.
Radoslav was not a particularly happy camper as he returned from the meeting with Big Tony. Oh sure, Big Tony had said the right kinds of things, that he'd rein in that idiot, that he'd be well compensated, but it wasn't like the old days.....back when he had a cause he believed in. Certainly the money was better, but the people....the ones who belonged to Big Tony,...even the organization they worked for....they were simply thugs....no better than rabble, really. They werre undisciplined, the whole organization held together by fear and greed. He despised them, although he didn't really fear them. Oh, they could kill him, everyone could be killed. But they had no character...he knew that he could break any of them in less than 24 hours....that they had no cause they believed in that would sustain them.
Not like...her...he really wished he could have met her before all of this, his Nila. She was strong. She believed in what she was doing.....but even more...she would not give them the girl....a girl who could mean next to nothing to her, just a source, but to do so would break a promise. Yes, Nila had character, not like these pigs. He found himself actually regretting having taken the contract, even knowing she would be dead by now, she would at least be out of her pain. He had sympathy for all of his clients...but of course this was business, not personal. A contract to be honored, nothing more. And unless the pigs broke the contract, he was duty bound to get Nila to give up the information. And he would too, because he knew he was good at this....there were none better. Yes, Nila was struggling to keep her contract with the girl, he was struggling to keep his contract with the organization. He would win, he knew.
But this time he would take no pleasure in that, because he also knew that in this game of chess with the girl, he had all the power pieces and she was like a king protecting its last pawn. The best she could hope for, what he knew she was hoping for by now, was to die or go insane without giving up the girl. He almost wished he could allow that, but a contract was a contract, after all. He kept telling himself it wasn't personal, just business, as the picture floated in his mind of a broken and bloody Nila Spence finally getting the injection that would stop her pain. He truly hoped...for her sake...that time would come soon.
Growing up in Roswell Liz Evans had somehow gotten it in her head that in a crosswalk you sort of stayed in the crosswalk. Growing up in Ney York City, Ava knew better. Only foreigners and tourists stuck to the crowded crosswalks...you just had to avoid the occasional car, scooter, and bicycle....oh, and a hundred other native New Yorkers. She slowed down and looked back, waiting for Liz to catch up. Distracted by the honking of a taxi trying to hurry the pedestrians out of the way, she almost ran in to a man going in the other direction, brushing briefly against him. It didn't appear that they'd collided, but Liz suddenly stopped looking shaken. As the light turned, catching her still in the crosswalk, the din of horns became incessant. Ava quickly went back and grabbed her hand, pulling a terrified appearing Liz back onto the sidewalk.
"You're OK now, Liz. Traffic gets a little ugly around here."
"Ava....we need to go somewhere to talk.....NOW!"
There was an internet coffeeshop three doors away. Ava took an obviously frightened Liz Evans there, taking a back table away from the barista and the few other patrons.
"My God, Ava. When I brushed against that man....I had a flash."
Last edited by greywolf on Tue Oct 24, 2006 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"What did you see in the flash, Liz?" asked Ava.
"There was a woman who was stripped to the waist, badly beaten, her arms tied behind her and pulled up on some kind of pulley. She was being tortured...had been tortured. Finally the man....the man I bumped in to....he gave her an injection and it....it killed her."
"So she's dead now?"
"No Ava, I don't think so...not yet at least. When I had these flashes before they told me about things that were going to happen...unless we changed them. Like the first time was a woman getting shot....Max and I stopped that. And then about getting killed at graduation....Max and Michael stopped that. I don't think it's too late to stop this either. I think we better go to the police."
Ava winced. "That might present some difficulty, Liz. We can hardly go to New York's finest and say, Gee Liz here has had flashes since an alien healed her years ago, .....more now since she's carrying a part alien baby, and we need you to do something about it. Probably the best thing that could happen to us is that we'd wind up in a rubber room at Bellevue Hospital. Worse, they might actually believe us.....and then we would be in trouble. Look Liz, ....I hate to say this...I really do, but...I once heard you tell Max that he couldn't use his powers to heal every sick person he saw in his medical school training...he just couldn't do it. He didn't have the ability to do it, and it would get him caught if he tried....get us all caught. This is New York City, Liz. There are maybe two murders a day here. It's going to happen. I wish it wasn't, but...we have to consider how much risk we can take...risk of exposure to four families, trying to stop crime in New York City. I'm not saying we shouldn't, but....it's something we need to think about, Liz."
"I know that Ava but...this is different. She had a hood over her face but....before he killed her, he took it off and I saw her....her face was beaten badly but even so I recognized it....I know her, Ava. I owe her for keeping a secret......so do Max and Michael."
"She knows the secret?"
"No but...well one Christmas Eve back when we were in high school Max....well he healed a whole ward full of kids with fatal diseases in Phoenix. She's an investigative reporter and back then was tracking down two guys scamming parents of sick and dying kids using that event as their bait. She came to Roswell to interview one of the parents...saw Max and recognized him from the security films. We went and took down those scam artists and she knew....not THE secret, but she knew that Max had done something, could have gotten a great story, maybe a Pulitzer, even if she didn't get THE story, she'd have started other people looking and eventually they would have. But she didn't....Max made a deal and she kept her word, all these years. I owe her, Ava. I need to do something."
"Well whatever you do, don't go to the police...at least not yet. Can we follow him, or did you see enough that you know where this is going to take place? If we can track the place down, call the guys, ....get them here...well we might be able to do something."
"I'm not sure we have that much time, Ava. But I saw the building in my mind....it was one I saw down on the docks just a couple blocks away. We can go have a discrete look at it, then decide what to do."
"That sounds like the best plan so far. Let's go, but just to the street outside it, take a look around, then come back here. Hang on to those bags so anyone who sees us, just sees a couple of pregnant ladies shopping for maternity clothes. Let's try to be inconspicuous, at least as inconspicuous as you can be when you're six months pregnant and feel fat as a barge."
"There was a woman who was stripped to the waist, badly beaten, her arms tied behind her and pulled up on some kind of pulley. She was being tortured...had been tortured. Finally the man....the man I bumped in to....he gave her an injection and it....it killed her."
"So she's dead now?"
"No Ava, I don't think so...not yet at least. When I had these flashes before they told me about things that were going to happen...unless we changed them. Like the first time was a woman getting shot....Max and I stopped that. And then about getting killed at graduation....Max and Michael stopped that. I don't think it's too late to stop this either. I think we better go to the police."
Ava winced. "That might present some difficulty, Liz. We can hardly go to New York's finest and say, Gee Liz here has had flashes since an alien healed her years ago, .....more now since she's carrying a part alien baby, and we need you to do something about it. Probably the best thing that could happen to us is that we'd wind up in a rubber room at Bellevue Hospital. Worse, they might actually believe us.....and then we would be in trouble. Look Liz, ....I hate to say this...I really do, but...I once heard you tell Max that he couldn't use his powers to heal every sick person he saw in his medical school training...he just couldn't do it. He didn't have the ability to do it, and it would get him caught if he tried....get us all caught. This is New York City, Liz. There are maybe two murders a day here. It's going to happen. I wish it wasn't, but...we have to consider how much risk we can take...risk of exposure to four families, trying to stop crime in New York City. I'm not saying we shouldn't, but....it's something we need to think about, Liz."
"I know that Ava but...this is different. She had a hood over her face but....before he killed her, he took it off and I saw her....her face was beaten badly but even so I recognized it....I know her, Ava. I owe her for keeping a secret......so do Max and Michael."
"She knows the secret?"
"No but...well one Christmas Eve back when we were in high school Max....well he healed a whole ward full of kids with fatal diseases in Phoenix. She's an investigative reporter and back then was tracking down two guys scamming parents of sick and dying kids using that event as their bait. She came to Roswell to interview one of the parents...saw Max and recognized him from the security films. We went and took down those scam artists and she knew....not THE secret, but she knew that Max had done something, could have gotten a great story, maybe a Pulitzer, even if she didn't get THE story, she'd have started other people looking and eventually they would have. But she didn't....Max made a deal and she kept her word, all these years. I owe her, Ava. I need to do something."
"Well whatever you do, don't go to the police...at least not yet. Can we follow him, or did you see enough that you know where this is going to take place? If we can track the place down, call the guys, ....get them here...well we might be able to do something."
"I'm not sure we have that much time, Ava. But I saw the building in my mind....it was one I saw down on the docks just a couple blocks away. We can go have a discrete look at it, then decide what to do."
"That sounds like the best plan so far. Let's go, but just to the street outside it, take a look around, then come back here. Hang on to those bags so anyone who sees us, just sees a couple of pregnant ladies shopping for maternity clothes. Let's try to be inconspicuous, at least as inconspicuous as you can be when you're six months pregnant and feel fat as a barge."
They walked by the large building noting the two guys sitting just inside the entrance to the yard, smoking their cigarettes. There seemed to be two more hanging around the entrance to the building as well, both large and intimidating looking. All four men had bulky coats. The building itself was huge, with large metal shipping containers coming and going from it out onto the dock as cranes and forklifts worked to load and unload cargo on the small Liberian freighter. The surrounding street was little more inviting....a few old hotels well past their prime, a small cafe, a pawn shop, and a tattoo parlor. What few people were around, looked at the girls strangely. Ava caught Liz's eye and nodded her head back toward the way they had come. Ten minutes later they were back at the rear table of the coffee shop.
"Liz, that place has mob written all over it. Out of those four guys standing guard...I'd be willing to bet that one of them is named Guido and another is named Luigi. God knows what's going on in there but if you got a flash that someone's being tortured in there....you're probably right. And when they are done with her she probably will go into a 55 gallon drum that gets lost in the middle of the Atlantic."
"Ava, ..I can't let that happen. We owe her. Max and Michael and I all owe her. We need to call the police."
"Whoa girl.....this is New York. Not Albuquerque. If it was Albuquerque I could call any of a dozen guys that work for Kyle and we'd find a friendly judge and they'd go charging in there. This is New York. That's a MOB operation. Chances are all the local law enforcement is getting paid to look the other way, and those who aren't will have to go to judges who may be bought. Even if they aren't, well...... this pregnant woman brushed up against some stranger and had a flash, isn't going to sound like probable cause to any of them. In the meantime someone tips off the mob and your friend gets sliced and diced and put down the garbage disposal. Trust me, Liz, calling the police isn't going to work."
"Well we've got to do something. We can't just let her die."
"Let's call the guys and see if they have any suggestions. Maybe Kyle knows someone on the New York City police force he's worked with or met at a meeting, someone he knows can be trusted."
While Ava made the call, Liz went back out to the street and looked again at the building. The four guards hadn't moved from the spot, only nodding at the few people who would sometimes come and go. She looked for any other entrances but all were high gates, that were opened only briefly when trucks came or left, and those seemed to be guarded when they were opened as well. The memory in her mind of Nila...bloodied and in pain, tormented her every second. Even now the woman was in agony....and her time was running out.
"Liz, that place has mob written all over it. Out of those four guys standing guard...I'd be willing to bet that one of them is named Guido and another is named Luigi. God knows what's going on in there but if you got a flash that someone's being tortured in there....you're probably right. And when they are done with her she probably will go into a 55 gallon drum that gets lost in the middle of the Atlantic."
"Ava, ..I can't let that happen. We owe her. Max and Michael and I all owe her. We need to call the police."
"Whoa girl.....this is New York. Not Albuquerque. If it was Albuquerque I could call any of a dozen guys that work for Kyle and we'd find a friendly judge and they'd go charging in there. This is New York. That's a MOB operation. Chances are all the local law enforcement is getting paid to look the other way, and those who aren't will have to go to judges who may be bought. Even if they aren't, well...... this pregnant woman brushed up against some stranger and had a flash, isn't going to sound like probable cause to any of them. In the meantime someone tips off the mob and your friend gets sliced and diced and put down the garbage disposal. Trust me, Liz, calling the police isn't going to work."
"Well we've got to do something. We can't just let her die."
"Let's call the guys and see if they have any suggestions. Maybe Kyle knows someone on the New York City police force he's worked with or met at a meeting, someone he knows can be trusted."
While Ava made the call, Liz went back out to the street and looked again at the building. The four guards hadn't moved from the spot, only nodding at the few people who would sometimes come and go. She looked for any other entrances but all were high gates, that were opened only briefly when trucks came or left, and those seemed to be guarded when they were opened as well. The memory in her mind of Nila...bloodied and in pain, tormented her every second. Even now the woman was in agony....and her time was running out.
Last edited by greywolf on Sat Oct 28, 2006 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Liz looked at the building. She remembered the vision she had, but tried to look past the horror, look past the terror, look past all the pain and evil in the images she had seen. She couldn’t afford the emotion…..she needed the dispassionate logic of the scientist….the analysis of fact that would help her understand the interior of the building.
It was an old building…simply a warehouse, but some decades ago someone had built a lean-to like structure along the front. In the flash there had been two high corner windows in the room, and as she looked at the building she could see that it must be in that lean-to. Only the ends of that lean-to had corner windows. It could be the one on the left or the one on the right…..but as she remembered the vision…remembered the shadow cast by the ropes that were pinioning Nila’s arms behind her it would have to be….that one, the one on the left, because this time of year the sun would not shine in the other window.
She looked carefully at the other rooms in the lean-to. Most seemed deserted…abandoned, at least if the broken windows and occasional comings and goings of pigeons through those windows meant anything. So the obstacles were the guards at the gate, the guards at the door, and whoever might be in the 80 or 90 feet between the guarded door and the room…..the room where Nila Spence was being tortured and would soon be killed.
Liz Evans shook her head slowly. Ava was right. Even if they had the police…..even if they had a warrant she knew they wouldn’t get, even if no one tipped off the people inside until the police arrived at the door, calling the police wouldn’t work. In the time it would take to serve a warrant at the gate the door guards would pass the word to whoever was in that corner room and Nila would be killed, and her body would disappear somewhere in that huge building, or in the waters underneath the dock it was built upon.
Max and Michael could do it. She was sure of it. Especially with Ava to mindwarp the guards. They’d be in there before the guards knew what hit them and could do whatever they had to do to cover themselves as they withdrew. But she also knew that it would be too late, that long before Max and Michael could get here that Nila…..that Nila’s life would be over.
Liz remembered that long ride to Florence Junction Arizona. It had been a miserable time in her life, watching her….Tess….., act like she owned Max…and knowing that she did ... and would. And she had watched Max too, driven by his own guilt over being the hook in the scam….the scam artists’ claims about the healing he did that let them scam money from the parents of sick and dying children.
Nila had been friendly to her….or at least tried to be friendly, to a young Liz Parker torn apart by what was going on between her ex-boyfriend and his destiny. She remembered Max telling Nila that she could trust him……and Tess…and Liz. ‘Well, he was two-thirds right, anyway,’ she thought with bitterness. And she thought that she’d given up that bitterness, she’d thought that when she’d dropped Tess off at the fence to the airbase that morning…that she’d really put all that behind her. In the end…she’d won...hadn't she?
Tess was dead, she had Max, ….she was carrying their child inside her. What would it take for her to put that time behind her, once and for all. Maybe she too needed to do something to restore the balance in her life.
She looked again at the building. It had to be THAT room, it could be no other. Maybe she couldn’t save a room full of terminally ill children, she thought. But somehow she’d find a way to save Nila Spence. Not just for Nila’s sake, but for the memory of that sad depressed young Liz Parker that Nila Spence had done her best to befriend that long miserable night in Arizona. Liz owed her that.
It was an old building…simply a warehouse, but some decades ago someone had built a lean-to like structure along the front. In the flash there had been two high corner windows in the room, and as she looked at the building she could see that it must be in that lean-to. Only the ends of that lean-to had corner windows. It could be the one on the left or the one on the right…..but as she remembered the vision…remembered the shadow cast by the ropes that were pinioning Nila’s arms behind her it would have to be….that one, the one on the left, because this time of year the sun would not shine in the other window.
She looked carefully at the other rooms in the lean-to. Most seemed deserted…abandoned, at least if the broken windows and occasional comings and goings of pigeons through those windows meant anything. So the obstacles were the guards at the gate, the guards at the door, and whoever might be in the 80 or 90 feet between the guarded door and the room…..the room where Nila Spence was being tortured and would soon be killed.
Liz Evans shook her head slowly. Ava was right. Even if they had the police…..even if they had a warrant she knew they wouldn’t get, even if no one tipped off the people inside until the police arrived at the door, calling the police wouldn’t work. In the time it would take to serve a warrant at the gate the door guards would pass the word to whoever was in that corner room and Nila would be killed, and her body would disappear somewhere in that huge building, or in the waters underneath the dock it was built upon.
Max and Michael could do it. She was sure of it. Especially with Ava to mindwarp the guards. They’d be in there before the guards knew what hit them and could do whatever they had to do to cover themselves as they withdrew. But she also knew that it would be too late, that long before Max and Michael could get here that Nila…..that Nila’s life would be over.
Liz remembered that long ride to Florence Junction Arizona. It had been a miserable time in her life, watching her….Tess….., act like she owned Max…and knowing that she did ... and would. And she had watched Max too, driven by his own guilt over being the hook in the scam….the scam artists’ claims about the healing he did that let them scam money from the parents of sick and dying children.
Nila had been friendly to her….or at least tried to be friendly, to a young Liz Parker torn apart by what was going on between her ex-boyfriend and his destiny. She remembered Max telling Nila that she could trust him……and Tess…and Liz. ‘Well, he was two-thirds right, anyway,’ she thought with bitterness. And she thought that she’d given up that bitterness, she’d thought that when she’d dropped Tess off at the fence to the airbase that morning…that she’d really put all that behind her. In the end…she’d won...hadn't she?
Tess was dead, she had Max, ….she was carrying their child inside her. What would it take for her to put that time behind her, once and for all. Maybe she too needed to do something to restore the balance in her life.
She looked again at the building. It had to be THAT room, it could be no other. Maybe she couldn’t save a room full of terminally ill children, she thought. But somehow she’d find a way to save Nila Spence. Not just for Nila’s sake, but for the memory of that sad depressed young Liz Parker that Nila Spence had done her best to befriend that long miserable night in Arizona. Liz owed her that.
Nila could tell that she was losing again. For awhile the anger over Joey D…., his lies and his savagery,….for awhile that had been enough. But the pain was unrelenting, the lack of sleep was unrelenting…his voice telling her again and again that he could make the pain go awaty,….WOULD make the pain go away…if only she’d tell… The times were back when she was not really sure if she was dreaming or not. Again and again Teri Johnson’s new name and her address in Tucumcari had been on the tip of her tongue, even knowing that it would mean death for both of them, a half dozen times she had almost been ready to give the girl up…just for the release of a quick death. She had no idea how long she’d been going through this although she could tell that some of her cuts and burns were puffy and painful from infection of the tissue. Under the hood she smelled the sick-sweet smell of that infection…coming from her broken face. It had surely only been going on for a handful of days, but to her it seemed like….an eternity of pain. The shocks were coming more frequently now, more intensely. She could feel the crescendo building, the crescendo of frequency and intensity of pain that would stampede her to give up what she knew, to tell the Bulgarian anything, anything she knew, just for the blessed relief of death.
“I’m sorry Liz,” said Ava. “I couldn’t get any of the guys. It must be halftime, and everyone is trying to talk on their cellphones. All the cell towers near the stadium are saturated. I got Isabel and Jesse’s place but there was no answer. I didn’t know if I should leave them a message or not.”
“How quick could they get here if we could contact them?”
“Well….not very. It’s about four hours by Amtrak…..three and a half if they can get the express, but that’s AFTER they get to the station, and wait for whatever train comes next, and there can be over two hours between trains. A commuter airline would get them here in an hour but security at Logan….the 9/11 planes flew out of there…is awfully tight. They’d need to be there probably an hour or two ahead of time to go through security, then the flight’s an hour, then they need to get in to JFK….We aren’t going to see them any time soon, even if they started right now, Liz.”
“So realistically, no help from them for at least five hours, you think?”
“That’s probably pretty close. We can leave them messages….tell them what’s happening, and where…tell them to get here, but yeah, it’ll likely be six hours or so before they could walk through the door here.”
“Here name is Nila, Ava. Nila Spence. And I don’t think she’s got six hours.”
“What do you want to do, Liz?”
“Could you mindwarp those four guys?”
“The four guards? Yeah, at least for awhile. But I can only mindwarp the ones I know about, the ones I see. There could be a half dozen guys playing poker right inside the door. I mindwarp the first four, we peek our heads in and they see us….I’m not sure I can do anything to ones inside without dropping the first four…and then we have no way out.”
“There may not be anyone inside the door there, Ava. That part of the building appears unused…the windows are broken, and pigeons are nesting there. I figured out the room she’s being held in…about 90 feet to the left of the door.”
“That still leaves whoever is torturing her and anyone else with him…and anyone that might drop by while we are there. If I spotted them before they spotted us I might be able to drop the two guys at the gate and door, once we are out of their sight, and pick up the ones in the room. The problem is that once we leave the room….once we get far enough away that I can’t mindwarp the people there…well, she’ll have just disappeared. They’ll lock down the place immediately. And if she makes any noise….well, everyone will be all over us. And she will make noise. Even if she recognizes you….we’ll be walking right by the guards on our way out. Any little noise and they’ll know something’s wrong.”
“But if we could get her to keep quiet…tell her we were sneaking her out, but leave the hood over her…”
”That would still leave the people in the room…”
Ava saw a brief crackle of green electricity run through Liz’s palm.
“I could shock them….stun them…quietly. If you could hold the mindwarp long enough,” said Liz.
“That’s a whole lot of risk, Liz.”
“Otherwise, she dies, Ava.”
Ava shook her head. “Let’s get a hotel room upstairs and do some more planning, then leave messages for the guys, telling them what we are planning. We need a backup plan…if everything goes wrong after we are inside. We may need to run like hell, powerblasting and stunning as we go. And even that might not be enough. Let’s try to get a top floor room overlooking the building, talk through every step, and decide then if it’s something we can do. I don’t want her to die either, Liz, but we may not have as much firepower as we need to make this work. But we can talk over it anyway.”
“I’m sorry Liz,” said Ava. “I couldn’t get any of the guys. It must be halftime, and everyone is trying to talk on their cellphones. All the cell towers near the stadium are saturated. I got Isabel and Jesse’s place but there was no answer. I didn’t know if I should leave them a message or not.”
“How quick could they get here if we could contact them?”
“Well….not very. It’s about four hours by Amtrak…..three and a half if they can get the express, but that’s AFTER they get to the station, and wait for whatever train comes next, and there can be over two hours between trains. A commuter airline would get them here in an hour but security at Logan….the 9/11 planes flew out of there…is awfully tight. They’d need to be there probably an hour or two ahead of time to go through security, then the flight’s an hour, then they need to get in to JFK….We aren’t going to see them any time soon, even if they started right now, Liz.”
“So realistically, no help from them for at least five hours, you think?”
“That’s probably pretty close. We can leave them messages….tell them what’s happening, and where…tell them to get here, but yeah, it’ll likely be six hours or so before they could walk through the door here.”
“Here name is Nila, Ava. Nila Spence. And I don’t think she’s got six hours.”
“What do you want to do, Liz?”
“Could you mindwarp those four guys?”
“The four guards? Yeah, at least for awhile. But I can only mindwarp the ones I know about, the ones I see. There could be a half dozen guys playing poker right inside the door. I mindwarp the first four, we peek our heads in and they see us….I’m not sure I can do anything to ones inside without dropping the first four…and then we have no way out.”
“There may not be anyone inside the door there, Ava. That part of the building appears unused…the windows are broken, and pigeons are nesting there. I figured out the room she’s being held in…about 90 feet to the left of the door.”
“That still leaves whoever is torturing her and anyone else with him…and anyone that might drop by while we are there. If I spotted them before they spotted us I might be able to drop the two guys at the gate and door, once we are out of their sight, and pick up the ones in the room. The problem is that once we leave the room….once we get far enough away that I can’t mindwarp the people there…well, she’ll have just disappeared. They’ll lock down the place immediately. And if she makes any noise….well, everyone will be all over us. And she will make noise. Even if she recognizes you….we’ll be walking right by the guards on our way out. Any little noise and they’ll know something’s wrong.”
“But if we could get her to keep quiet…tell her we were sneaking her out, but leave the hood over her…”
”That would still leave the people in the room…”
Ava saw a brief crackle of green electricity run through Liz’s palm.
“I could shock them….stun them…quietly. If you could hold the mindwarp long enough,” said Liz.
“That’s a whole lot of risk, Liz.”
“Otherwise, she dies, Ava.”
Ava shook her head. “Let’s get a hotel room upstairs and do some more planning, then leave messages for the guys, telling them what we are planning. We need a backup plan…if everything goes wrong after we are inside. We may need to run like hell, powerblasting and stunning as we go. And even that might not be enough. Let’s try to get a top floor room overlooking the building, talk through every step, and decide then if it’s something we can do. I don’t want her to die either, Liz, but we may not have as much firepower as we need to make this work. But we can talk over it anyway.”
Nila knew she couldn’t hold out much longer, perhaps a few more hours at most. She had done her best, but the hours of pain, hours without sleep, hours of hearing him drown in her ear…….all the terror and horror and unceasing agonizing pain….it had to end. She prayed for a quick end to her suffering when the moment came, prayed for Teri Johnson and the boy who loved her to someday forgive her for what she could no longer keep from doing, and knew that shortly she would open her mouth to ask for mercy…to ask for release.
Even under the hood she winced when she heard the electricity crackle, surprised that she didn’t feel pain with it. No doubt it was another psychological trick by the Bulgarian…another ploy to break her.
She was surprised when her arms were lowered, the blood flowing back into them actually increasing the pain. But most surprising of all was when she felt a coat draped over her shoulders. She had been naked to the waist for so long it had almost seemed to have become her normal state. What new trick was this?
“You need to come with us,” said the womans voice that she could not quite place, a voice that somehow tantalized her with memories that could not quite be recalled. “We need to keep the hood on you…..we’ll lead you, but you must be perfectly quiet, or we’ll get caught.”
“What trick is this?” she croaked through cracked, swollen, and bloodied lips.
“It’s no trick,’ said a second female voice, an unfamiliar one with an obvious New York accent. “You need to come with us….and be quiet. We are getting you out of here.”
“Why should I trust you?” the reporter asked.
The first voice….the strangely familiar one….replied, “Because Max told you that you could trust me, Nila……and you can.”
“Liz Parker…???,” Nila Spence asked, her voice hushed by the memory and the recognition of the voice, older but…somehow still familiar.
“Liz Evans, actually. But you need to be still now Nila. Move when we move. Let us guide you…but whatever you do….be quiet.”
‘Life is funny,’ thought Nila Spence. ‘I’d have bet anything that the other one…that Tess would have wound up with Max.’ But she knew that life WAS funny. Liz Evans, the unexpected victor in the contest for Max.....that made the situation…more believable somehow. Otherwise she would have sworn she was hallucinating, being rescued after an eternity by a girl she’d known for one night eight years ago, half a country away…after days of torment.
Nila didn’t really know if she actually believed….or if she had just lost the capacity to resist. Or perhaps it was just that…whatever lay ahead going with the women could not possibly be worse than what she had experienced in the room. She went with them silently, supported on either side, trying her best to be quiet.
The trip into the building had gone surprisingly well. Liz and Ava had quietly walked by the guards at the gate, Ava mindwarping the gate and door guards into seeing nothing. There had been a corridor going along rooms that appeared deserted between the building door and the door to the room with Nila Spence, and they’d walked the corridor quickly but quietly. When they’d opened the door, they had seen him…with his back to them, reaching out to the controls of a machine that appeared to be designed to give electrical shocks to the woman hanging there… hooded, burned, bloodied, and bruised. As Ava prepared to mindwarp the man Liz suddenly pushed silently by, reaching out a hand that already was crackling with green electricity even before it touched him…sending his body into jerking convulsions.
Radovan knew that it wouldn’t be long. He remained impressed with the woman….she’d lasted the longest of any of his clients. A pity she would die. But he would be true to his word. He would end her life quickly and painlessly when the time came. He would not allow the ne kulturny bastard to further abuse her…to taunt her,…to crow over a victory that he would never have won over her without his help. As he reached to adjust the electroshock machine to quicken the pain, to push her past the point she could resist further, he heard a sound behind him. His anger formed instantly, sure that the Cossack had returned, despite the promises of his father. He started to turn to confront him but before he could even see behind him his world dissolved in a sea of green pain…….
The trip out of the building was more difficult...Nila was weak, unsteady. But they needed her to move quickly and quietly, neither easy in her condition. And then the unexpected happened as the nearest door opened immediately to their right.
"What the fuck....?" said Tony D., as he went to leave the room, the naked girl passed out on the bed behind him in a drugged stupor. Two women...two pregnant young women, were supporting that reporter...walking her down the hall as bold as you please. He was at a slight disadvantage...his gun and knife over next to the bed, with his clothes. But he outweighed them both, and they weren't armed. He reached out to the nearest one, surprised to see her arm go up under his outstretched hand and strike his abdomen....then further surprised when his world too became a sea of green pain.
The close call scared both of the girls, but thankfully the naked guy had gone down before he had a chance to sound an alarm. Ava peeked through the door and saw the guards...closing her eyes to start the mindwarp on them. Once that was done she opened the door a crack farther, positioning herself to see the gate guards. Soon the three women were walking slowly...silently...past the gate. They crossed the street and found the back stairwell to the hotel. Ava reached out to the lock and suddenly the door was opened, the three inside. Only then did Ava and Liz let out sighs of relief, as they climbed the back stairwell to the top floor.
Even under the hood she winced when she heard the electricity crackle, surprised that she didn’t feel pain with it. No doubt it was another psychological trick by the Bulgarian…another ploy to break her.
She was surprised when her arms were lowered, the blood flowing back into them actually increasing the pain. But most surprising of all was when she felt a coat draped over her shoulders. She had been naked to the waist for so long it had almost seemed to have become her normal state. What new trick was this?
“You need to come with us,” said the womans voice that she could not quite place, a voice that somehow tantalized her with memories that could not quite be recalled. “We need to keep the hood on you…..we’ll lead you, but you must be perfectly quiet, or we’ll get caught.”
“What trick is this?” she croaked through cracked, swollen, and bloodied lips.
“It’s no trick,’ said a second female voice, an unfamiliar one with an obvious New York accent. “You need to come with us….and be quiet. We are getting you out of here.”
“Why should I trust you?” the reporter asked.
The first voice….the strangely familiar one….replied, “Because Max told you that you could trust me, Nila……and you can.”
“Liz Parker…???,” Nila Spence asked, her voice hushed by the memory and the recognition of the voice, older but…somehow still familiar.
“Liz Evans, actually. But you need to be still now Nila. Move when we move. Let us guide you…but whatever you do….be quiet.”
‘Life is funny,’ thought Nila Spence. ‘I’d have bet anything that the other one…that Tess would have wound up with Max.’ But she knew that life WAS funny. Liz Evans, the unexpected victor in the contest for Max.....that made the situation…more believable somehow. Otherwise she would have sworn she was hallucinating, being rescued after an eternity by a girl she’d known for one night eight years ago, half a country away…after days of torment.
Nila didn’t really know if she actually believed….or if she had just lost the capacity to resist. Or perhaps it was just that…whatever lay ahead going with the women could not possibly be worse than what she had experienced in the room. She went with them silently, supported on either side, trying her best to be quiet.
The trip into the building had gone surprisingly well. Liz and Ava had quietly walked by the guards at the gate, Ava mindwarping the gate and door guards into seeing nothing. There had been a corridor going along rooms that appeared deserted between the building door and the door to the room with Nila Spence, and they’d walked the corridor quickly but quietly. When they’d opened the door, they had seen him…with his back to them, reaching out to the controls of a machine that appeared to be designed to give electrical shocks to the woman hanging there… hooded, burned, bloodied, and bruised. As Ava prepared to mindwarp the man Liz suddenly pushed silently by, reaching out a hand that already was crackling with green electricity even before it touched him…sending his body into jerking convulsions.
Radovan knew that it wouldn’t be long. He remained impressed with the woman….she’d lasted the longest of any of his clients. A pity she would die. But he would be true to his word. He would end her life quickly and painlessly when the time came. He would not allow the ne kulturny bastard to further abuse her…to taunt her,…to crow over a victory that he would never have won over her without his help. As he reached to adjust the electroshock machine to quicken the pain, to push her past the point she could resist further, he heard a sound behind him. His anger formed instantly, sure that the Cossack had returned, despite the promises of his father. He started to turn to confront him but before he could even see behind him his world dissolved in a sea of green pain…….
The trip out of the building was more difficult...Nila was weak, unsteady. But they needed her to move quickly and quietly, neither easy in her condition. And then the unexpected happened as the nearest door opened immediately to their right.
"What the fuck....?" said Tony D., as he went to leave the room, the naked girl passed out on the bed behind him in a drugged stupor. Two women...two pregnant young women, were supporting that reporter...walking her down the hall as bold as you please. He was at a slight disadvantage...his gun and knife over next to the bed, with his clothes. But he outweighed them both, and they weren't armed. He reached out to the nearest one, surprised to see her arm go up under his outstretched hand and strike his abdomen....then further surprised when his world too became a sea of green pain.
The close call scared both of the girls, but thankfully the naked guy had gone down before he had a chance to sound an alarm. Ava peeked through the door and saw the guards...closing her eyes to start the mindwarp on them. Once that was done she opened the door a crack farther, positioning herself to see the gate guards. Soon the three women were walking slowly...silently...past the gate. They crossed the street and found the back stairwell to the hotel. Ava reached out to the lock and suddenly the door was opened, the three inside. Only then did Ava and Liz let out sighs of relief, as they climbed the back stairwell to the top floor.
Liz barely recognized her when she took the hood off, but in fairness….Nila barely looked human, her face a mass of swelling, bruising, burns, and infected cuts. She had several obvious facial fractures. Liz and Ava both winced when they first looked at her, Liz wishing that Max was there to heal her…but knowing that they couldn’t. She would have to get by on conventional medical treatment. She and Ava had risked enough already. She hoped she could handle the inquisitive reporter without giving anything away of the secret. As Liz looked at her a second time, she figured that she ought to have the advantage dealing with her…the woman looked more dead than alive. They didn’t have a knife but Nila couldn’t see the brief glow behind her as Ava dissolved the ropes that bound her with molecular manipulation.
When the dark hood was removed the light overwhelmed Nila Spence, and for long seconds she blinked fiercely, seeing nothing but shadows as her eyes fought to readjust to the lighted room. As her eyes cleared the first thing she saw was the blonde hair and remembered face. “Tess…???”
Nila was surprised at the change in the face, the frown and instant irritation. “No. I’m Ava,” came the voice with the New York accent again.
“Ava and Tess were …sisters,” said the other voice. Nila turned and there she was….. The face was almost the same, the hair perhaps a little shorter…the lower abdomen certainly fuller. “Liz…”
“Yeah. Uh…long time no see, I guess. What’re you doing in New York?”
“Oh…just hanging around.” Both of the girls…both of the pregnant young women, Nila noticed, winced at the joke. It was only then that she really started to believe she might survive another day.
They had nothing but soap and water, but they helped her into the shower. They had already called back to Boston and left messages that they were OK. Nila was almost dead on her feet, but couldn’t rest without talking to the girls. “How did you find me??? How did you get me out of there???” she asked gulping down the coffee and sandwiches that Ava had gotten from the downstairs café. Ava looked at Liz who looked back at Nila. “Sometimes you just get lucky, Nila.”
“Where have I heard that before..?” she asked rhetorically, remembering Max Evans’ comment that cold Arizona night. But Liz Evans look told her all she needed to know. Liz wasn’t going to tell her….and she was obligated not to ask. She’d made the deal many years ago…and Liz expected it to still be respected. And Nila knew she would respect that deal…another mystery that would taunt her for the next decade no doubt.
What was it about these kids…., well, no longer kids really, but how had they been able to do these improbable things…even as teenagers? She looked at the young blonde woman…the image of Tess Harding. "You said Ava and Tess WERE sisters….as in…”
“Yep. Dead and gone,” said the young blonde.
‘And apparently unlamented too’, thought Nila. Yet another mystery. “Max said I could trust you and Tess, Liz..”
“Yeah, well Max was batting five hundred on that one,” said the blonde girl.
“Ava…,,” Liz said, looking at her and slowly shaking her head.
“OK, Liz. I won’t say another word. I mean if you’ve forgiven her…who am I to hold grudges.”
“So how is it with Max, Liz?”
“Well,” she said, looking down at her abdomen and smiling, “We seem to be getting along fairly well, I guess. We are both still in school…I’m in grad school, he’s in med school.”
“Med school? So….. has he visited any hospitals lately?”
A thin smile came to Liz’s face. “All the time, Nila. He’s in his third year…in the clinical rotations.”
“Somehow I imagine his patients will do quite well.”
“Yeah, well Max has always been a pretty capable guy, Nila.”
“At the risk of breaking up all this reminiscing,” said Ava, “we probably do need to do some planning. We are still less than a block from that mob operation, and that’s way too close. And the guy we stopped on the way out……He probably got a pretty good look at us. I think we ought to wait until about 2 AM, call a cab, have it take us to the subway, then switch trains a few times before we find another hotel. Then I’d vote we get the heck out of New York City. Boston is looking pretty good right now.”
‘They took out someone on the way out? That must have been the noise just after we left the room. I thought I’d imagined that. How did they do that? How did two small pregnant women march in and out of that building, knocking out the Bulgarian and someone else along the way?’ Then she remembered the x-rays on the two scam artists. ‘Probably the same way you bust people legs without them even knowing what hit them,’ she thought. What was it with these kids? Would she ever know?
“So you knocked out someone while we were walking out? You guys must be the luckiest people on Earth.”
Liz half laughed, half snorted. Even Ava kind of smiled. Nila felt safer than she’d felt since coming to New York as she laid her head on the pillow. She was asleep within seconds.
When the dark hood was removed the light overwhelmed Nila Spence, and for long seconds she blinked fiercely, seeing nothing but shadows as her eyes fought to readjust to the lighted room. As her eyes cleared the first thing she saw was the blonde hair and remembered face. “Tess…???”
Nila was surprised at the change in the face, the frown and instant irritation. “No. I’m Ava,” came the voice with the New York accent again.
“Ava and Tess were …sisters,” said the other voice. Nila turned and there she was….. The face was almost the same, the hair perhaps a little shorter…the lower abdomen certainly fuller. “Liz…”
“Yeah. Uh…long time no see, I guess. What’re you doing in New York?”
“Oh…just hanging around.” Both of the girls…both of the pregnant young women, Nila noticed, winced at the joke. It was only then that she really started to believe she might survive another day.
They had nothing but soap and water, but they helped her into the shower. They had already called back to Boston and left messages that they were OK. Nila was almost dead on her feet, but couldn’t rest without talking to the girls. “How did you find me??? How did you get me out of there???” she asked gulping down the coffee and sandwiches that Ava had gotten from the downstairs café. Ava looked at Liz who looked back at Nila. “Sometimes you just get lucky, Nila.”
“Where have I heard that before..?” she asked rhetorically, remembering Max Evans’ comment that cold Arizona night. But Liz Evans look told her all she needed to know. Liz wasn’t going to tell her….and she was obligated not to ask. She’d made the deal many years ago…and Liz expected it to still be respected. And Nila knew she would respect that deal…another mystery that would taunt her for the next decade no doubt.
What was it about these kids…., well, no longer kids really, but how had they been able to do these improbable things…even as teenagers? She looked at the young blonde woman…the image of Tess Harding. "You said Ava and Tess WERE sisters….as in…”
“Yep. Dead and gone,” said the young blonde.
‘And apparently unlamented too’, thought Nila. Yet another mystery. “Max said I could trust you and Tess, Liz..”
“Yeah, well Max was batting five hundred on that one,” said the blonde girl.
“Ava…,,” Liz said, looking at her and slowly shaking her head.
“OK, Liz. I won’t say another word. I mean if you’ve forgiven her…who am I to hold grudges.”
“So how is it with Max, Liz?”
“Well,” she said, looking down at her abdomen and smiling, “We seem to be getting along fairly well, I guess. We are both still in school…I’m in grad school, he’s in med school.”
“Med school? So….. has he visited any hospitals lately?”
A thin smile came to Liz’s face. “All the time, Nila. He’s in his third year…in the clinical rotations.”
“Somehow I imagine his patients will do quite well.”
“Yeah, well Max has always been a pretty capable guy, Nila.”
“At the risk of breaking up all this reminiscing,” said Ava, “we probably do need to do some planning. We are still less than a block from that mob operation, and that’s way too close. And the guy we stopped on the way out……He probably got a pretty good look at us. I think we ought to wait until about 2 AM, call a cab, have it take us to the subway, then switch trains a few times before we find another hotel. Then I’d vote we get the heck out of New York City. Boston is looking pretty good right now.”
‘They took out someone on the way out? That must have been the noise just after we left the room. I thought I’d imagined that. How did they do that? How did two small pregnant women march in and out of that building, knocking out the Bulgarian and someone else along the way?’ Then she remembered the x-rays on the two scam artists. ‘Probably the same way you bust people legs without them even knowing what hit them,’ she thought. What was it with these kids? Would she ever know?
“So you knocked out someone while we were walking out? You guys must be the luckiest people on Earth.”
Liz half laughed, half snorted. Even Ava kind of smiled. Nila felt safer than she’d felt since coming to New York as she laid her head on the pillow. She was asleep within seconds.
Last edited by greywolf on Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It was 3AM when the Taxi pulled up to the back stairwell of the old hotel. Ava had made the call, and between her New York dialect and the promise of a big tip, the cab was only twenty minutes overdue. The cab driver was instantly irritated when he was told that he would actually only be taking them to the subway station, rather than a run to New Jersey, but he was instantly over it when he was told that he'd be paid for the longer fare anyway. The Taxicab driver had no idea what sort of kinky things three gals....two of them pregnant, might be doing in a cheap hotel and even in the darkened cab the one had looked like she'd been through the mill, but money talks and he left the subway station with a fifty-dollar tip and payment for an hour ride after only eight minutes work. Not bad.
Liz had talked to Max while Nila slept. He was afraid that some of the damage done to Nyla was unrepairable, at least by conventional medicine. While it didn't appear life-threatening, the quality of her life would suffer...particularly from her joint injuries. And he was worried about kidney failure, from the beatings and dehydration. Nila had only urinated once...and that had appeared to be mostly blood. He wanted to check her out, but was afraid of her going to a local hospital.
Ava thought they needed to get Nila out of New York and New Jersey.....just too much mob muscle and influence around. Max had finally agreed. He was driving up with Michael and Kyle...they'd be there by early afternoon the next day. That way they could sneak her out of the area without going through any rail or train terminals. Nila's face made her kind of easy to spot right now. Kyle had asked about calling the police but Ava had been against it. Besides, if they did need to use not of this earth medical skills on her, it was better if no one had a 'before' picture.
Ava worked the subway terminals like she'd grown up underground in the New York subway, which actually she had. By the third or fourth train, neither Liz nor Nila had any idea where they were by the time she finally got them off a nearly deserted platform and took them above ground. The back stairwell of the hotel where Maria had rented the room was wedged open with a folded paper. They went quickly up the stairs and knocked on a door on the third floor. Maria looked through the peephole and quickly let them in, shutting the door behind them.
"Good Lord, you look like crap," said Maria Guerin.
"Nice to see you again too, Maria," said Nila Spence. "Did you ever find Michael?"
"Oh yes," she said, waving her left hand in the air and showing the wedding band. "I eventually cornered the spa....., that is....yeah, I found him alright."
Liz had talked to Max while Nila slept. He was afraid that some of the damage done to Nyla was unrepairable, at least by conventional medicine. While it didn't appear life-threatening, the quality of her life would suffer...particularly from her joint injuries. And he was worried about kidney failure, from the beatings and dehydration. Nila had only urinated once...and that had appeared to be mostly blood. He wanted to check her out, but was afraid of her going to a local hospital.
Ava thought they needed to get Nila out of New York and New Jersey.....just too much mob muscle and influence around. Max had finally agreed. He was driving up with Michael and Kyle...they'd be there by early afternoon the next day. That way they could sneak her out of the area without going through any rail or train terminals. Nila's face made her kind of easy to spot right now. Kyle had asked about calling the police but Ava had been against it. Besides, if they did need to use not of this earth medical skills on her, it was better if no one had a 'before' picture.
Ava worked the subway terminals like she'd grown up underground in the New York subway, which actually she had. By the third or fourth train, neither Liz nor Nila had any idea where they were by the time she finally got them off a nearly deserted platform and took them above ground. The back stairwell of the hotel where Maria had rented the room was wedged open with a folded paper. They went quickly up the stairs and knocked on a door on the third floor. Maria looked through the peephole and quickly let them in, shutting the door behind them.
"Good Lord, you look like crap," said Maria Guerin.
"Nice to see you again too, Maria," said Nila Spence. "Did you ever find Michael?"
"Oh yes," she said, waving her left hand in the air and showing the wedding band. "I eventually cornered the spa....., that is....yeah, I found him alright."
It was 8 AM and Nila was finally waking up. They had cleaned her up as much as they could at the cheap hotel on the docks, but twenty minutes ago Maria and Ava had gone out to get antiseptic solution and bandages, as well as breakfast for everyone. Somehow she and Ava had missed dinner last night...Nila too, although Liz wasn't too sure how much she could have eaten anyway. She thought Nila's jaw was probably broken. Maria said she'd get some applesauce and some pudding cups.
Maria had been right if not exactly diplomatic. Nila did look like crap. Liz was sort of hoping maybe Max could fix some of that....convince her he was doing it as a med student but put a little healing power in as well. She might figure that something was fishy, Liz reasoned, but her comment the night before had sort of indicated she knew something was fishy anyway. If she hadn't spilled the story in eight years, what was she going to say now? At least that was how Liz hoped it would go down. The plan, actually, was for the four girls to hole up until the three guys arrived, then get in the car and get the hell out of New York City. It was a good plan, actually. But it had been put together by her, Maria, and Ava, after Nila had fallen into a long overdue sleep, so it lacked a certain amount of information and for that reason would ultimately fail. In fact, it started to fall apart right then as Nila Spence woke up.
Nila woke with a start, afraid even to open her eyes, knowing what she'd see...the darkness of the inside of the hood. In fact, she probably wouldn't have even bothered to open her eyes if she hadn't noticed that she was recumbent, hadn't noticed that her arms were now in front of her, hadn't smelled the smell and felt the feel of clean sheets with her in between them. Slowly she willed her eyes to open, seeing as she did the wallpaper of the dimly lit room. 'Could the dream be real,' she wondered? 'Or just wishful thinking..?' She moved her head slowly to look....a movement detected by the only other current inhabitant of the room.
"Good morning Nila.....Ava and Maria are out getting food....and some better bandages for you. I've got some Tylenol if it would help any..?"
"Thanks Liz....thank you so much. When I woke up I really didn't believe at first that it had all happened...not the torture, THAT was real enough, but about you and ...Ava was it? And Maria. I thought that I'd hallucinated the whole thing...not the first hallucination since this started mind you, but clearly the most...hopeful."
Liz's voice was full of sympathy as she said, "Really Nila, when I saw you all bound uo like that....beaten...I'm not sure how you stood it. I'd have been hallucinating too....anyone would. But this is real. You're safe for now, and when Max, Michael, and Kyle get here, we'll all get out of here....get to where it's safe and where we can get you some better medical help."
Nila looked at her pensively...or at least what passed for pensively, considering the fractures, burns, and infected cuts to her face. "I'm never really going to know how you two walked me out of a mob hideout....am I?"
"Well Nila, sometimes you..."
"..you just get lucky....yes, I know," finished the reporter, with an attempt at a smile, distorted by her swollen and split lips.
Suddenly she looked frightened. "Liz...What day is today..?"
Maria had been right if not exactly diplomatic. Nila did look like crap. Liz was sort of hoping maybe Max could fix some of that....convince her he was doing it as a med student but put a little healing power in as well. She might figure that something was fishy, Liz reasoned, but her comment the night before had sort of indicated she knew something was fishy anyway. If she hadn't spilled the story in eight years, what was she going to say now? At least that was how Liz hoped it would go down. The plan, actually, was for the four girls to hole up until the three guys arrived, then get in the car and get the hell out of New York City. It was a good plan, actually. But it had been put together by her, Maria, and Ava, after Nila had fallen into a long overdue sleep, so it lacked a certain amount of information and for that reason would ultimately fail. In fact, it started to fall apart right then as Nila Spence woke up.
Nila woke with a start, afraid even to open her eyes, knowing what she'd see...the darkness of the inside of the hood. In fact, she probably wouldn't have even bothered to open her eyes if she hadn't noticed that she was recumbent, hadn't noticed that her arms were now in front of her, hadn't smelled the smell and felt the feel of clean sheets with her in between them. Slowly she willed her eyes to open, seeing as she did the wallpaper of the dimly lit room. 'Could the dream be real,' she wondered? 'Or just wishful thinking..?' She moved her head slowly to look....a movement detected by the only other current inhabitant of the room.
"Good morning Nila.....Ava and Maria are out getting food....and some better bandages for you. I've got some Tylenol if it would help any..?"
"Thanks Liz....thank you so much. When I woke up I really didn't believe at first that it had all happened...not the torture, THAT was real enough, but about you and ...Ava was it? And Maria. I thought that I'd hallucinated the whole thing...not the first hallucination since this started mind you, but clearly the most...hopeful."
Liz's voice was full of sympathy as she said, "Really Nila, when I saw you all bound uo like that....beaten...I'm not sure how you stood it. I'd have been hallucinating too....anyone would. But this is real. You're safe for now, and when Max, Michael, and Kyle get here, we'll all get out of here....get to where it's safe and where we can get you some better medical help."
Nila looked at her pensively...or at least what passed for pensively, considering the fractures, burns, and infected cuts to her face. "I'm never really going to know how you two walked me out of a mob hideout....am I?"
"Well Nila, sometimes you..."
"..you just get lucky....yes, I know," finished the reporter, with an attempt at a smile, distorted by her swollen and split lips.
Suddenly she looked frightened. "Liz...What day is today..?"