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Entry tags:
Devils & Gods 11/12
Title: Devils & Gods
Fandom: Nikki & Nora
Pairing: Nikki & Nora
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Nikki & Nora are not mine, but it kinda feels like they are. The characters from the pilot aren't either. BUT - there's a whole lot of original ones that are in this little story so...*yay* for me.
A/N: 11 down, one left to go…*waits*…yeah it still feels weird that I’ve only got one chapter left. Read on, dear audience, read on.
Ch. 11 – Rip Current
Slowly, the feeling of a nail ghosting down the slope of my nose registers. It’s soft and gentle. It’s a tactic that my wife will use to wake me up without being obnoxious. The corners of my mouth curl up, but I really just want a few more minutes of sleep.
My hand shoots up and I snatch the wrist attached to the finger and tug. I go to spin us around, intent on using my girl as a pillow…
But, I’m not in my bed…
What the hell?
Beneath me is hard and unforgiving.
My eyes snap open and everything comes rushing back. The accident, the trade, the…gas bomb.
Ugh.
I drop my head to the cold floor beneath me as my temples pulse and throb.
“Annie,” Jill whispers gently.
I crack open an eye and wrap my arms around her. I bury my face in the crook of her neck. I press my lips to her jugular. The beat of her heart pulses against my lips. I inhale and smell things I’m not used to smelling on her, things that tell me she’s been here for a while and it’s not Jill, but underneath those, there’s the faintest smell of her vanilla brown sugar lotion that she’s worn since before I knew her. That smell will always be Jill’s. Her neck is warm and thaws out a part of my chest that I didn’t know needed it.
She’s alive.
She’s alive.
She’s alive.
I’d been…
The tears are hot as they leak from the corners of my eyes, but I don’t care. She’s in my arms. Alive, heart beating, breathing.
“Baby,” she says gently, stroking my hair.
“Shhh,” I mumble and sniffle. “Just shh, for a minute while I get it together.”
She kisses the top of my head and I feel her nod.
I hold on to her for only a few more seconds. I need to see that she’s okay, okay. I ignore the throbbing and pull back to give her a look over. I wasn’t sure what to expect, the crash was…
It looked brutal. Her face tells me I was right.
Gently, I reach out and tuck a lock of her hair away. It’s a little greasy, which happens with her, my girl can be oily, but it’s good – it’s her. There’s also some dried blood caked and matted in the brown locks. The bruising runs from her jaw, over her beautiful cheek to her temple. It disappears into her hairline and I know that she’s got a laceration there. I don’t move her hair to see. It’s matted down and probably helped staunch the blood flow.
I don’t want to reopen anything.
I look over her shoulder and see Nora with her back against the wall, whispering quietly to Nikki. Nikki has her back pressed to Nora’s front. I look my friend over. Her upper half doesn’t look to bad, but as I travel south, her legs are sticking out. I blanche when I see her shin.
“Fuck, Nikki…” I hiss.
Jill presses a finger to my lips and shakes her head.
My friend looks over at me and Nora offers me a weak smile. Nikki looks a little green and hasn’t moved.
Christ.
I kiss the tip of Jill’s finger and ask around it, “You’re okay?”
Jill shrugs. “I feel like my head’s five times too big, but comparatively, just peachy, baby. You?”
“Headache, but we got gassed so…” I look back over to Nora and Nikki. “Nor?”
“Same here. We need to get Nikki out of here,” she answers.
I motion Jill to give me room and I stand. A wave of vertigo hits. I steady myself by planting my palm flat against the wall. Whatever he used…
What would he have used?
Nothing with lasting effects. At least that’s what it feels like…this feels like…
Maybe an aerosolized opioid. Kolokol-1, maybe…he’d have easy access to it.
My legs finally feel steady as I draw in a few deep breaths.
Jill’s hand is calming at the small of my back.
Slowly, I make my way over to Nikki and Nora and drop to my knees to better assess the damage.
I start with Nikki’s left foot and travel north. The fracture isn’t as bad is it could be. Only a few centimeters of her tibia poke through the skin. The soft tissue damage is comparatively minimal for a fracture like this and that is a blessing. Her leg is braced with two thin strips of plywood, athletic wrap and tape.
Nikki – we need to get her to a hospital.
I go back to examining her left leg. I reach out and then stop to hover above her left thigh. It looks like there’s cut under the bandage between the splints. The shin’s a mess. Blood trickles from the wound. I cut my gaze to the floor and look around. There’s a smear in the dirt, black from where she bled and a smaller pool of it a few feet away.
Davison must have done this to stabilize her.
Her left thigh is swollen and bruised. I wonder if she broke her femur too.
“Nikki,” I whisper and cup her jaw in my hand. “Sweetie?”
Her eyes flutter open at the sound of my voice. She tries to smile, but…it’s a grimace and she closes her eyes again.
“She’s been in and out of it,” Nora whispers. “We need to get her to the hospital.” My friend’s voice is thick and urgent. “I think she’s got a few busted ribs too.”
Nora’s good. I don’t see any outward damage.
“She does,” Jill confirms. “I took a listen to her chest and it’s rattley.” Jill goes to the other side and kneels down across from me. “I used my t-shirt to stabilize her ribs, but she’s pretty bruised up along her right side. After he came in aand dumped you two, he took off the shackles he had her in. It’s not like she can move a whole lot.”
“You paid attention to Becca,” I say proudly. “We’ll get her to a hospital soon.”
“Well,” she shrugs, “It’s good to know some emergency triage. Her left thigh is broke. I didn’t want to touch her shin. That’s going to need surgery.”
“What happened to our clothes?” Nora asks.
I look at her and then look down. Both of us are in cutoff grey sweatpants and white tank tops.
“Probably a safe guard for tracking devices,” I say not really caring.
It’s not like he found one on either of us anyhow.
“What happened to you two?” Nikki mumbles as Nora tightens the hold she has on her partner.
I look at Jill then Nora. She answers, “We got to the crash and the piece of shit said that he’d trade me and Ann for you two. We agreed.”
Jill glares at me and I shake my head. “You don’t get to be pissed at me for this. We knew what we were doing.”
“You knew?” my wife spits. “In case it escaped your attention, babe,” she bites off the word. “We are all together and there was no trade.”
“True,” Nora says, trying to defuse Jill’s building explosion. “We have a plan.”
Her eyebrows hike at this.
“If he used what I think he did, we’ve probably been out for at least two hours.” I look around our cell.
Dirt floor, solid walls.
I’ve been in worse situations comparatively.
“Care to share?” Nikki grunts.
“Shhh,” Nora coos. “You need to rest.”
I run my tongue along the bottom edge of my row of teeth. I stuff my index and thumb into my mouth and feel the cap. I wedge my nail under the seal and pull up. The little piece of plastic pops up and I pinch it between my fingers.
I extract the plastic and hold it up for Jill to see.
Her eyebrow quirks.
“He didn’t look everywhere.” I set the cap in her hand. She takes the item and turns it between her fingers.
“Is this what I think this is?” she asks studying the cap that was placed over one of my molars.
“I’m confident the Calvary is on the way.” I nod. “We just need a little more time.”
Time is impossible to gauge when you’re locked up like this. When I was taken hostage on that tanker, my cell was maybe three square feet and I couldn’t tell you if it was day or night.
The four of us are in a similar position now.
It’s become a waiting game. Nora and Nikki haven’t moved much. I don’t think they should with Nikki’s injuries; she needs to be kept stable.
Jill and I settled next to them. My wife sets between my legs and mirrors Nikki’s position. My arms are wrapped around her waist.
“How long do you think it’ll take John?” my wife asks, pressing back into me.
“I’m not sure. The game plan was that if contact wasn’t made in six hours than we went to Plan B,” I whisper.
“Plan B?” she asks, craning her neck back to catch my eyes. “And why six hours?”
“Yeah, activate the GPS in my mouth and come rescue us,” I say smiling. “Actually, that’s pretty much what we had planned all along. We didn’t think he’d give you two up. We wanted to give him time. Let him stew and think that his ridiculous fucking idea worked.”
“What?” she snips at me and I laugh.
It’s kind of inappropriate to laugh, but I’m relieved and even under the circumstances, happy that at least her and Nikki are alive. It’s one of those things, like John doing the cha-cha in the middle of the woods when we were looking for where the first body was found. It’s a way to relieve the tension without going completely insane. You either laugh or start crying and one you can stop while the other you’re not so sure about…
Like how the idea that I might never get to see that look of hers, the look that tells me I’m on super thin ice and won’t be winning her over soon unless I perform a miracle. I didn’t want to entertain that thought, or one where I might never be able to hold her again. But…
She’s alive and I’ve never been this happy to be on the receiving end of Bitchy Jilly and I’m happy, as absurd as it may be. I’m happy that I am. “This fucking piece of shit had only one endgame, Jill,” I say gently once I’ve staunched my giggles. “He’s all about the suffering. What do you think would cause the most?”
Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she gives up trying to come up with an answer.
“He wants to torture us,” Nora hisses from next to me. “We figured that he’d renege on the agreement so that he could torture you two or us while everyone watched.”
“Fucker’s lame,” I snip. “Predictable.”
“Predictable?” Jill asks a little incredulous.
“Hmm, yep,” I answer. “Besides his lame, Hannibal Lecter wanna-be pathetic excuse for a sociopathic ass took you two, his game plan’s pretty easy to follow. He’ll want to me watch him torturing you. He knows that to break me, he needs to go after the only things that mean anything to me,” I remind her gently. “You. Nora. Nikki.”
“But John should…” Jill tries to ask, but her question is interrupted by automatic gunfire. The ground shakes and walls rattle as two concussive blasts go off one right after the other.
The jostling causes Nikki to groan from her semi-conscious state.
I grin and say loudly, “Looks like the Calvary is here.”
“’Bout damn time,” Nora snips. “I swear…”
“You two are fucking nuts,” Jill whines. “I’ve married a psycho.”
I shrug. “Nothing to worry about. John’s got this.” A wave of energy thrums through me or it could be relief.
“You can’t…” Jill tries to interject as we listen to the skirmish taking place outside of our cell.
“I can,” I say squeezing her around the middle. “He called in reinforcements. There’s no way he wouldn’t find us.” I kiss the side of her head and amend, “It was really just the timing that had me worried.”
Heavy footfalls sound outside the door and a voice calls out, “Ann! Jill! Nora! Nikki! You in there?”
My brow furrows…that sounds like…”Becca?” I call out.
“In the flesh, agent,” she answers me. “This door’s going to be a bitch to get off. Hang tight. Is everyone okay?”
“Mostly,” I holler back. “Nikki needs to get to the hospital as soon as you can get us out of here.”
“On it,” she barks back.
We wait a minute longer and then John yells, “Flemming, you guys need to back away from the door. We’re blowing the hinges.”
Fuck.
I can’t move Nikki.
“Just do it,” I holler back at him and motion Jill up. “You go to the back of the cell.” I push her back and make my way over to my friends. I crawl around them so that my backs to the door. On all fours, I extend myself and over Nikki’s lower half with my body.
Nora shields Nikki’s face and tucks her head down.
I do the same and call out, “Go for it!”
The detonation rattles my teeth, dust billows and metal groans.
Nothing hits my back which is a plus, but fuck my ears are ringing.
It distorts everything and muffles any other sounds.
I feel a hand on my back and look up. John and Becca are standing over us. Both of them outfitted in tactical gear. Matching grins on their faces. I’ve never seen Becca like this. She’s always put together, but I’ve never seen her look this badass. She wears the gear better than John. The flack jacket hugs her, the cargo pants are taught and strapped with enough ammo to take out a small army. She has two guns holstered on the outside of her thighs. The assault rifle dangles from her back and her smile…
Yeah, I can see why John makes it a habit not to piss her off.
“Took you long enough,” I snip and stick my tongue out at him.
“He had to fix his hair,” Becca jokes and John and I both roll our eyes. “Now out of the way,” she shoos me away from Nikki.
I right myself and Becca crouches down to assess the damage.
Jill wraps her arm around my waist and snuggles in.
“Good to see you all,” John looks us over.
“Good to be seen,” I tell him and go back to watching Becca take Nikki’s condition in. John winks at me and the pressure on my chest loosens. My partner is awesome. Scary sometimes, but awesome.
“We would have been here sooner, but it took a little longer finding you guys – you’ll need to thank Furlan for that,” John whispers. “Also, it seems that Davison was using Addison, who knew what this piece of shit was up to.”
“Nora Delaney, right?” Becca asks my friend causing my conversation with John to come to a halt. “Rebecca Malone. I would have preferred to meet you under different circumstances.”
Nora snorts. “Me too.”
“Okay, John,” his wife looks over her shoulder to order him around, “get me a stretcher and board and tell the medics to get their asses down here. I’m going to need an I.V. stat and…” She looks back to Nora and asks, “Do you know her blood type?”
“A positive,” Nora answers quickly.
“See if they have any on hand, if not, O will do.” She looks back at him and then barks, “Move, Malone!”
That must snap him out of it because before I can offer to go with, he tears out the door.
“Okay, Nora, I’m going to need you to move,” Becca directs. “Ann, come around here and help me stabilize our friend.”
Jill lets me go and I drop to my knees on the opposite side of Becca. “Nora, gently, I need you to ease up and stand. Can you do that?”
Nora nods and Becca maneuvers all of us so that by the time John and the two E.M.T.’s are with us, Nikki’s flat on her back and we’re out of the way.
I pull Nora to me and hold on to her from one side while Jill takes up the space on her other side.
“She’ll be fine,” I insist to my friend. “Becca will get her taken care of.” I kiss her temple and feel her shudder. Nikki will be fine.
The hospital room is silent for the first time in an hour. It’s a welcome relief. Over the past forty-eight hours, I’ve nearly lost the most important people in my life, got gassed, and taken hostage. I’m tired and the small stream of doctors and nurses that I’ve seen and answered question for has been nearly as exhausting as the forty-eight hours leading up to it.
For now, it’s just John, Nora and me.
They took Jill back down to radiology to run a few more tests. Nikki’s down there getting fitted for a cast. Her surgery went well, post-op was easy. This is the first time it’s just been us and I can’t be more thankful.
Looking over at my partner, I get to finally ask, “So how’d it play out?”
John smiles and laces his hands behind his head. “Pretty much like you and Nora called it.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “We gave you two until ten and went to your drop point. Frankie wasn’t in too bad shape, but he hit you with Kolokol-1. I had it towed to the Bureau lot and it should be like nothing happened before the end of today.”
“Do I need to do anything?” Nora asks from her spot on Nikki’s bed.
“Nah, we got it covered. From there it was a waiting game. Which was killer, by the way,” he says staring at me. “Fucking ever do this shit to me again, Flemming…”
“It worked,” I state and mirror his position from my spot on Jill’s bed.
“Yeah well, you two took a few years off regardless.” He shakes his head and admits, “At first, I thought you were crazy.”
“We were,” Nora butts in. “It was also the only thing we had going for us. Once Ann and I got a chance to really think about it, we knew he’d never give up the chance to drive it in deeper.”
“Asshole,” I snip.
“Asshole got three slugs,” John lets us know. “One between the eyes and two to the heart for good measure.”
“Show off,” I mutter.
“Well, torture’s frowned down upon, unless you’re a P.O.W., so I improvised,” John grouses back. “Although, I think I could have had him shipped somewhere. Taken my time.” I cock an eyebrow and his face grows…it’s nearly giddy. “Hmmm, damn, I missed out. I haven’t worked on interrogation tactics in a long while. I haven’t had a chance to brush up on some of the newer techniques…” He trails off as the door to the room is pushed all the way open.
I’m glad he did. He worries sometimes.
Jill still looks a little loopy from the pain meds, but my baby’s okay. That’s the important part. “Hey, babe,” I greet her and scramble from her bed.
“Agent,” the nurse says as she stops pushing the wheelchair, “your partner is rather persistent.”
I snicker. “What did she do?”
The nurse rolls her eyes.
“I was behaving,” Jill interrupts our conversation.
“Hmm,” I lean down and hum, pecking her on the lips then her nose. “You never behave, Jilly. I know better than to believe that lie.”
She sticks her tongue out at me. “Come on, help your wife into bed.”
Gladly, I pull her up by her outstretched hands and guide her into bed. As I get her settled and make sure there’s enough room for me to rest along her uninjured side, Nikki and Dan come rolling through.
Nora and I exchange a look and quirk an eyebrow each. The team has been in and out just checking up on us. Dan’s been absent. Of course after the words exchanged by Nora and him…I shake my head. I’m sure we’ll know what’s going on soon.
I turn my attention to Nikki instead. Her thigh is cast and there’s a brace covering her shin. The brace has bolts anchoring through her skin to hold the bone in place. The open wound has been stitched and closed. Her smile is weak as I meet her tired eyes.
I watch Nora hop up off the bed and go to her much like I did Jill. “Hey you,” she says gently.
“Hi, sugga,” she croaks. “Look who I found lurking in the hall.”
Nora’s gaze cuts briefly to Dan before she asks, “You want help into the bed?”
Nikki nods and I get up to help them with getting my friend settled. Nikki’s mobility is greatly compromised, but we don’t do too bad. She’s settled after only some minor jostling.
“You okay?” Dan asks the room at large.
“There something I can help you with, Dan?” Nora annunciates his name clearly, pointedly.
I watch Nikki watch Nora and Dan and then flick my eyes to John. He quirks an eyebrow. My response is a small tweak at the corner of my mouth. I love being on the same page.
“I wanted to come check on you all,” he says tentatively.
“We’re good.” Nora’s arms fold across her chest as she leans against the end of the bed.
Dan’s gaze scans to each and every one of us before settling back on Nora. His jaw quivers and he grinds his teeth. “I can’t take you back.”
“Eh?” Nikki says a little dumbly.
Her question’s ignored. “I think I was pretty clear,” Nora says casually, “when I told you to fuck off and handed you my badge.”
“Nora,” he tries and runs a hand over his shaved head. “You did this to yourself.”
Nora shakes her head. “I did. I’d do it again. I won’t ask. I’m done.”
He nods. “Nikki, Jill, I’m glad you two are okay.” He doesn’t stick around for conversation. The door clicks shut behind him and I slump against the bed. Jill rests her head on my shoulder and asks, “What the fuck was that about?”
“I’m no longer with the New Orleans Police Department,” Nora answers her and turns to Nikki. “He didn’t want me making the trade.” Nora gathers her partner’s hand and kisses the knuckles. “I’m sorry.”
“Shh,” Nikki hisses, looks her partner over and then eyes me. I shrug her way. She doesn’t say anything, but allows Nora to take her other hand. Nora eases on to the bed and settles against the right side before Nikki finally says, “Probably should have told him I quit too then.”
Next>>>
Fandom: Nikki & Nora
Pairing: Nikki & Nora
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Nikki & Nora are not mine, but it kinda feels like they are. The characters from the pilot aren't either. BUT - there's a whole lot of original ones that are in this little story so...*yay* for me.
A/N: 11 down, one left to go…*waits*…yeah it still feels weird that I’ve only got one chapter left. Read on, dear audience, read on.
Slowly, the feeling of a nail ghosting down the slope of my nose registers. It’s soft and gentle. It’s a tactic that my wife will use to wake me up without being obnoxious. The corners of my mouth curl up, but I really just want a few more minutes of sleep.
My hand shoots up and I snatch the wrist attached to the finger and tug. I go to spin us around, intent on using my girl as a pillow…
But, I’m not in my bed…
What the hell?
Beneath me is hard and unforgiving.
My eyes snap open and everything comes rushing back. The accident, the trade, the…gas bomb.
Ugh.
I drop my head to the cold floor beneath me as my temples pulse and throb.
“Annie,” Jill whispers gently.
I crack open an eye and wrap my arms around her. I bury my face in the crook of her neck. I press my lips to her jugular. The beat of her heart pulses against my lips. I inhale and smell things I’m not used to smelling on her, things that tell me she’s been here for a while and it’s not Jill, but underneath those, there’s the faintest smell of her vanilla brown sugar lotion that she’s worn since before I knew her. That smell will always be Jill’s. Her neck is warm and thaws out a part of my chest that I didn’t know needed it.
She’s alive.
She’s alive.
She’s alive.
I’d been…
The tears are hot as they leak from the corners of my eyes, but I don’t care. She’s in my arms. Alive, heart beating, breathing.
“Baby,” she says gently, stroking my hair.
“Shhh,” I mumble and sniffle. “Just shh, for a minute while I get it together.”
She kisses the top of my head and I feel her nod.
I hold on to her for only a few more seconds. I need to see that she’s okay, okay. I ignore the throbbing and pull back to give her a look over. I wasn’t sure what to expect, the crash was…
It looked brutal. Her face tells me I was right.
Gently, I reach out and tuck a lock of her hair away. It’s a little greasy, which happens with her, my girl can be oily, but it’s good – it’s her. There’s also some dried blood caked and matted in the brown locks. The bruising runs from her jaw, over her beautiful cheek to her temple. It disappears into her hairline and I know that she’s got a laceration there. I don’t move her hair to see. It’s matted down and probably helped staunch the blood flow.
I don’t want to reopen anything.
I look over her shoulder and see Nora with her back against the wall, whispering quietly to Nikki. Nikki has her back pressed to Nora’s front. I look my friend over. Her upper half doesn’t look to bad, but as I travel south, her legs are sticking out. I blanche when I see her shin.
“Fuck, Nikki…” I hiss.
Jill presses a finger to my lips and shakes her head.
My friend looks over at me and Nora offers me a weak smile. Nikki looks a little green and hasn’t moved.
Christ.
I kiss the tip of Jill’s finger and ask around it, “You’re okay?”
Jill shrugs. “I feel like my head’s five times too big, but comparatively, just peachy, baby. You?”
“Headache, but we got gassed so…” I look back over to Nora and Nikki. “Nor?”
“Same here. We need to get Nikki out of here,” she answers.
I motion Jill to give me room and I stand. A wave of vertigo hits. I steady myself by planting my palm flat against the wall. Whatever he used…
What would he have used?
Nothing with lasting effects. At least that’s what it feels like…this feels like…
Maybe an aerosolized opioid. Kolokol-1, maybe…he’d have easy access to it.
My legs finally feel steady as I draw in a few deep breaths.
Jill’s hand is calming at the small of my back.
Slowly, I make my way over to Nikki and Nora and drop to my knees to better assess the damage.
I start with Nikki’s left foot and travel north. The fracture isn’t as bad is it could be. Only a few centimeters of her tibia poke through the skin. The soft tissue damage is comparatively minimal for a fracture like this and that is a blessing. Her leg is braced with two thin strips of plywood, athletic wrap and tape.
Nikki – we need to get her to a hospital.
I go back to examining her left leg. I reach out and then stop to hover above her left thigh. It looks like there’s cut under the bandage between the splints. The shin’s a mess. Blood trickles from the wound. I cut my gaze to the floor and look around. There’s a smear in the dirt, black from where she bled and a smaller pool of it a few feet away.
Davison must have done this to stabilize her.
Her left thigh is swollen and bruised. I wonder if she broke her femur too.
“Nikki,” I whisper and cup her jaw in my hand. “Sweetie?”
Her eyes flutter open at the sound of my voice. She tries to smile, but…it’s a grimace and she closes her eyes again.
“She’s been in and out of it,” Nora whispers. “We need to get her to the hospital.” My friend’s voice is thick and urgent. “I think she’s got a few busted ribs too.”
Nora’s good. I don’t see any outward damage.
“She does,” Jill confirms. “I took a listen to her chest and it’s rattley.” Jill goes to the other side and kneels down across from me. “I used my t-shirt to stabilize her ribs, but she’s pretty bruised up along her right side. After he came in aand dumped you two, he took off the shackles he had her in. It’s not like she can move a whole lot.”
“You paid attention to Becca,” I say proudly. “We’ll get her to a hospital soon.”
“Well,” she shrugs, “It’s good to know some emergency triage. Her left thigh is broke. I didn’t want to touch her shin. That’s going to need surgery.”
“What happened to our clothes?” Nora asks.
I look at her and then look down. Both of us are in cutoff grey sweatpants and white tank tops.
“Probably a safe guard for tracking devices,” I say not really caring.
It’s not like he found one on either of us anyhow.
“What happened to you two?” Nikki mumbles as Nora tightens the hold she has on her partner.
I look at Jill then Nora. She answers, “We got to the crash and the piece of shit said that he’d trade me and Ann for you two. We agreed.”
Jill glares at me and I shake my head. “You don’t get to be pissed at me for this. We knew what we were doing.”
“You knew?” my wife spits. “In case it escaped your attention, babe,” she bites off the word. “We are all together and there was no trade.”
“True,” Nora says, trying to defuse Jill’s building explosion. “We have a plan.”
Her eyebrows hike at this.
“If he used what I think he did, we’ve probably been out for at least two hours.” I look around our cell.
Dirt floor, solid walls.
I’ve been in worse situations comparatively.
“Care to share?” Nikki grunts.
“Shhh,” Nora coos. “You need to rest.”
I run my tongue along the bottom edge of my row of teeth. I stuff my index and thumb into my mouth and feel the cap. I wedge my nail under the seal and pull up. The little piece of plastic pops up and I pinch it between my fingers.
I extract the plastic and hold it up for Jill to see.
Her eyebrow quirks.
“He didn’t look everywhere.” I set the cap in her hand. She takes the item and turns it between her fingers.
“Is this what I think this is?” she asks studying the cap that was placed over one of my molars.
“I’m confident the Calvary is on the way.” I nod. “We just need a little more time.”
Time is impossible to gauge when you’re locked up like this. When I was taken hostage on that tanker, my cell was maybe three square feet and I couldn’t tell you if it was day or night.
The four of us are in a similar position now.
It’s become a waiting game. Nora and Nikki haven’t moved much. I don’t think they should with Nikki’s injuries; she needs to be kept stable.
Jill and I settled next to them. My wife sets between my legs and mirrors Nikki’s position. My arms are wrapped around her waist.
“How long do you think it’ll take John?” my wife asks, pressing back into me.
“I’m not sure. The game plan was that if contact wasn’t made in six hours than we went to Plan B,” I whisper.
“Plan B?” she asks, craning her neck back to catch my eyes. “And why six hours?”
“Yeah, activate the GPS in my mouth and come rescue us,” I say smiling. “Actually, that’s pretty much what we had planned all along. We didn’t think he’d give you two up. We wanted to give him time. Let him stew and think that his ridiculous fucking idea worked.”
“What?” she snips at me and I laugh.
It’s kind of inappropriate to laugh, but I’m relieved and even under the circumstances, happy that at least her and Nikki are alive. It’s one of those things, like John doing the cha-cha in the middle of the woods when we were looking for where the first body was found. It’s a way to relieve the tension without going completely insane. You either laugh or start crying and one you can stop while the other you’re not so sure about…
Like how the idea that I might never get to see that look of hers, the look that tells me I’m on super thin ice and won’t be winning her over soon unless I perform a miracle. I didn’t want to entertain that thought, or one where I might never be able to hold her again. But…
She’s alive and I’ve never been this happy to be on the receiving end of Bitchy Jilly and I’m happy, as absurd as it may be. I’m happy that I am. “This fucking piece of shit had only one endgame, Jill,” I say gently once I’ve staunched my giggles. “He’s all about the suffering. What do you think would cause the most?”
Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she gives up trying to come up with an answer.
“He wants to torture us,” Nora hisses from next to me. “We figured that he’d renege on the agreement so that he could torture you two or us while everyone watched.”
“Fucker’s lame,” I snip. “Predictable.”
“Predictable?” Jill asks a little incredulous.
“Hmm, yep,” I answer. “Besides his lame, Hannibal Lecter wanna-be pathetic excuse for a sociopathic ass took you two, his game plan’s pretty easy to follow. He’ll want to me watch him torturing you. He knows that to break me, he needs to go after the only things that mean anything to me,” I remind her gently. “You. Nora. Nikki.”
“But John should…” Jill tries to ask, but her question is interrupted by automatic gunfire. The ground shakes and walls rattle as two concussive blasts go off one right after the other.
The jostling causes Nikki to groan from her semi-conscious state.
I grin and say loudly, “Looks like the Calvary is here.”
“’Bout damn time,” Nora snips. “I swear…”
“You two are fucking nuts,” Jill whines. “I’ve married a psycho.”
I shrug. “Nothing to worry about. John’s got this.” A wave of energy thrums through me or it could be relief.
“You can’t…” Jill tries to interject as we listen to the skirmish taking place outside of our cell.
“I can,” I say squeezing her around the middle. “He called in reinforcements. There’s no way he wouldn’t find us.” I kiss the side of her head and amend, “It was really just the timing that had me worried.”
Heavy footfalls sound outside the door and a voice calls out, “Ann! Jill! Nora! Nikki! You in there?”
My brow furrows…that sounds like…”Becca?” I call out.
“In the flesh, agent,” she answers me. “This door’s going to be a bitch to get off. Hang tight. Is everyone okay?”
“Mostly,” I holler back. “Nikki needs to get to the hospital as soon as you can get us out of here.”
“On it,” she barks back.
We wait a minute longer and then John yells, “Flemming, you guys need to back away from the door. We’re blowing the hinges.”
Fuck.
I can’t move Nikki.
“Just do it,” I holler back at him and motion Jill up. “You go to the back of the cell.” I push her back and make my way over to my friends. I crawl around them so that my backs to the door. On all fours, I extend myself and over Nikki’s lower half with my body.
Nora shields Nikki’s face and tucks her head down.
I do the same and call out, “Go for it!”
The detonation rattles my teeth, dust billows and metal groans.
Nothing hits my back which is a plus, but fuck my ears are ringing.
It distorts everything and muffles any other sounds.
I feel a hand on my back and look up. John and Becca are standing over us. Both of them outfitted in tactical gear. Matching grins on their faces. I’ve never seen Becca like this. She’s always put together, but I’ve never seen her look this badass. She wears the gear better than John. The flack jacket hugs her, the cargo pants are taught and strapped with enough ammo to take out a small army. She has two guns holstered on the outside of her thighs. The assault rifle dangles from her back and her smile…
Yeah, I can see why John makes it a habit not to piss her off.
“Took you long enough,” I snip and stick my tongue out at him.
“He had to fix his hair,” Becca jokes and John and I both roll our eyes. “Now out of the way,” she shoos me away from Nikki.
I right myself and Becca crouches down to assess the damage.
Jill wraps her arm around my waist and snuggles in.
“Good to see you all,” John looks us over.
“Good to be seen,” I tell him and go back to watching Becca take Nikki’s condition in. John winks at me and the pressure on my chest loosens. My partner is awesome. Scary sometimes, but awesome.
“We would have been here sooner, but it took a little longer finding you guys – you’ll need to thank Furlan for that,” John whispers. “Also, it seems that Davison was using Addison, who knew what this piece of shit was up to.”
“Nora Delaney, right?” Becca asks my friend causing my conversation with John to come to a halt. “Rebecca Malone. I would have preferred to meet you under different circumstances.”
Nora snorts. “Me too.”
“Okay, John,” his wife looks over her shoulder to order him around, “get me a stretcher and board and tell the medics to get their asses down here. I’m going to need an I.V. stat and…” She looks back to Nora and asks, “Do you know her blood type?”
“A positive,” Nora answers quickly.
“See if they have any on hand, if not, O will do.” She looks back at him and then barks, “Move, Malone!”
That must snap him out of it because before I can offer to go with, he tears out the door.
“Okay, Nora, I’m going to need you to move,” Becca directs. “Ann, come around here and help me stabilize our friend.”
Jill lets me go and I drop to my knees on the opposite side of Becca. “Nora, gently, I need you to ease up and stand. Can you do that?”
Nora nods and Becca maneuvers all of us so that by the time John and the two E.M.T.’s are with us, Nikki’s flat on her back and we’re out of the way.
I pull Nora to me and hold on to her from one side while Jill takes up the space on her other side.
“She’ll be fine,” I insist to my friend. “Becca will get her taken care of.” I kiss her temple and feel her shudder. Nikki will be fine.
The hospital room is silent for the first time in an hour. It’s a welcome relief. Over the past forty-eight hours, I’ve nearly lost the most important people in my life, got gassed, and taken hostage. I’m tired and the small stream of doctors and nurses that I’ve seen and answered question for has been nearly as exhausting as the forty-eight hours leading up to it.
For now, it’s just John, Nora and me.
They took Jill back down to radiology to run a few more tests. Nikki’s down there getting fitted for a cast. Her surgery went well, post-op was easy. This is the first time it’s just been us and I can’t be more thankful.
Looking over at my partner, I get to finally ask, “So how’d it play out?”
John smiles and laces his hands behind his head. “Pretty much like you and Nora called it.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “We gave you two until ten and went to your drop point. Frankie wasn’t in too bad shape, but he hit you with Kolokol-1. I had it towed to the Bureau lot and it should be like nothing happened before the end of today.”
“Do I need to do anything?” Nora asks from her spot on Nikki’s bed.
“Nah, we got it covered. From there it was a waiting game. Which was killer, by the way,” he says staring at me. “Fucking ever do this shit to me again, Flemming…”
“It worked,” I state and mirror his position from my spot on Jill’s bed.
“Yeah well, you two took a few years off regardless.” He shakes his head and admits, “At first, I thought you were crazy.”
“We were,” Nora butts in. “It was also the only thing we had going for us. Once Ann and I got a chance to really think about it, we knew he’d never give up the chance to drive it in deeper.”
“Asshole,” I snip.
“Asshole got three slugs,” John lets us know. “One between the eyes and two to the heart for good measure.”
“Show off,” I mutter.
“Well, torture’s frowned down upon, unless you’re a P.O.W., so I improvised,” John grouses back. “Although, I think I could have had him shipped somewhere. Taken my time.” I cock an eyebrow and his face grows…it’s nearly giddy. “Hmmm, damn, I missed out. I haven’t worked on interrogation tactics in a long while. I haven’t had a chance to brush up on some of the newer techniques…” He trails off as the door to the room is pushed all the way open.
I’m glad he did. He worries sometimes.
Jill still looks a little loopy from the pain meds, but my baby’s okay. That’s the important part. “Hey, babe,” I greet her and scramble from her bed.
“Agent,” the nurse says as she stops pushing the wheelchair, “your partner is rather persistent.”
I snicker. “What did she do?”
The nurse rolls her eyes.
“I was behaving,” Jill interrupts our conversation.
“Hmm,” I lean down and hum, pecking her on the lips then her nose. “You never behave, Jilly. I know better than to believe that lie.”
She sticks her tongue out at me. “Come on, help your wife into bed.”
Gladly, I pull her up by her outstretched hands and guide her into bed. As I get her settled and make sure there’s enough room for me to rest along her uninjured side, Nikki and Dan come rolling through.
Nora and I exchange a look and quirk an eyebrow each. The team has been in and out just checking up on us. Dan’s been absent. Of course after the words exchanged by Nora and him…I shake my head. I’m sure we’ll know what’s going on soon.
I turn my attention to Nikki instead. Her thigh is cast and there’s a brace covering her shin. The brace has bolts anchoring through her skin to hold the bone in place. The open wound has been stitched and closed. Her smile is weak as I meet her tired eyes.
I watch Nora hop up off the bed and go to her much like I did Jill. “Hey you,” she says gently.
“Hi, sugga,” she croaks. “Look who I found lurking in the hall.”
Nora’s gaze cuts briefly to Dan before she asks, “You want help into the bed?”
Nikki nods and I get up to help them with getting my friend settled. Nikki’s mobility is greatly compromised, but we don’t do too bad. She’s settled after only some minor jostling.
“You okay?” Dan asks the room at large.
“There something I can help you with, Dan?” Nora annunciates his name clearly, pointedly.
I watch Nikki watch Nora and Dan and then flick my eyes to John. He quirks an eyebrow. My response is a small tweak at the corner of my mouth. I love being on the same page.
“I wanted to come check on you all,” he says tentatively.
“We’re good.” Nora’s arms fold across her chest as she leans against the end of the bed.
Dan’s gaze scans to each and every one of us before settling back on Nora. His jaw quivers and he grinds his teeth. “I can’t take you back.”
“Eh?” Nikki says a little dumbly.
Her question’s ignored. “I think I was pretty clear,” Nora says casually, “when I told you to fuck off and handed you my badge.”
“Nora,” he tries and runs a hand over his shaved head. “You did this to yourself.”
Nora shakes her head. “I did. I’d do it again. I won’t ask. I’m done.”
He nods. “Nikki, Jill, I’m glad you two are okay.” He doesn’t stick around for conversation. The door clicks shut behind him and I slump against the bed. Jill rests her head on my shoulder and asks, “What the fuck was that about?”
“I’m no longer with the New Orleans Police Department,” Nora answers her and turns to Nikki. “He didn’t want me making the trade.” Nora gathers her partner’s hand and kisses the knuckles. “I’m sorry.”
“Shh,” Nikki hisses, looks her partner over and then eyes me. I shrug her way. She doesn’t say anything, but allows Nora to take her other hand. Nora eases on to the bed and settles against the right side before Nikki finally says, “Probably should have told him I quit too then.”
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