Under The Waves
Chapter
Ten
(Hours later)
Chloe and Brady sat on the bed in the same position for most of the morning, either talking back and forth, or watching the black and white screen that looked in on the Penthouse Grill. They watched as the employees began to filter in, preparing for the lunch rush, and then watched as hungry Salemites sat at the tables to eat their high-priced lunches.
There had been a long silence between them, and Brady decided something had to be said to lighten the mood. "You don't think this TV gets cable?"
Chloe rolled her eyes and frowned at him. "You mean the Penthouse-Grill-channel isn't enough visual stimulation for you?"
"It's better than watching C-Span, I'll admit. But, I'd kill for some Spanish soap operas right now..."
Chloe gave in and laughed despite herself. "Yeah, no kidding... Watching these people eat makes me hungry."
Brady nudged her with his elbow and winked at her. "Come on now... Nothing at the Penthouse Grill can even compare to our lovely supply of Powerbars and bottled water furnished by Chez Lexie."
Chloe sighed deeply and turned back to look at the TV again. They had spent all morning trying to figure out an escape plan. However, despite all of their expertise in situations like these, neither of them had come up with anything. They would have to fight their way out of here, and if Lexie and Stefano had their way, it would be two against an army.
Her eyes looked at the metal stand the TV was sitting on and her eyebrows creased together thoughtfully. It reminded her of those stands that they had for the TVs in high school classrooms, only lower to the ground. An idea hit her and her hand clenched on to Brady's forearm excitedly.
"Oh my God, Brady... I've got an idea."
"A good idea?"
Chloe smiled and shrugged slightly. "Well, it's not like I've suddenly developed the ability to magically teleport us somewhere else, but it might help just a little..."
Brady looked at her curiously and pleaded for her to explain. "Well, what is it?"
"Look at the cart. Tell me what you see."
"Shoddy craftsmanship, cheap materials. Quite frankly, can't your family afford better or has the DiMera wealth fallen on hard times?"
Chloe chuckled and poked him in the ribs with her finger. "Shut up, Brady. I'm telling you... It's a weapon. Maybe more."
Brady stared at the cart and then looked back at her with surprise. "You're right... Oh my God... You're brilliant, Chloe. Absolutely brilliant."
"I know. I know."
"And not the least bit modest either."
Chloe laughed and stood to take the TV off of the cart. Brady joined her as they sat on the floor to see if they could pull it apart. Brady was right, the craftsmanship was terrible on this thing, it was all held together by a few well-placed screws and bolts.
"I'm as brilliant as my half-sister is stupid sometimes. I can't believe she was dumb enough to put this in here. She should have known we were smarter than that."
Brady nodded in agreement and grabbed on to one of the bars in the front. She watched him with interest as all the muscles in his arms flexed and he yanked one bar loose with a groan.
Chloe clapped her hands together excitedly as Brady tossed the bar to the floor with a clang. "Wow... Look at you, Hulk..."
Brady smiled proudly and they both worked together to rip the TV cart into pieces. Chloe swung one of the bars in the air and it made a swishing noise as she moved it.
"Okay, now we have something to fight with the next time that door opens. What do we do now?"
Brady ran his finger along the edge of one of the other bars and sighed. "It's kinda sharp... Whoever you hit with this is definitely going to be hurt. You don't... You don't think we could get the door open with all this hardware, could we?"
Chloe sighed and shook her head. "I -- I don't think so. There's no way to even get to the lock from inside here or I would have tried picking it already."
"But... If I can get one of these thin pieces in between the door and the doorframe... Maybe I can break the lock off. Just maybe."
Brady took the piece in his hand and went to the door. It was sealed tightly, with very little space between the door and the frame. Chloe watched as he slid the edge of the metal in between the tiny slit next to the door, he moved the bar up slowly and it stopped as it hit the lock.
"I found the lock..."
"Don't push too hard, you don't want to break the bar."
Brady nodded with a frustrated sigh and pushed up on the bar trying to jiggle the lock. "Jesus... What is this made of? Titanium?"
Chloe shrugged and walked over to stand beside him. "I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe if we just take turns hacking at it we can get it loose."
"And then what do we do?"
"Get the hell out of here."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
(Much much later.)
Chloe let go of the bar with a loud sigh. She held her sore hand in front of her face and blew a stream of cool air on to it. They had wrapped the end of the bar in a pillowcase to keep from slicing their hands open, but it still was starting to hurt to be prying at a lock for hours upon hours.
She pushed at it one last time and felt something loosen. "Oh God... Holy sh*t."
Brady was taking his turn keeping his eyes on the TV and turned to look at her. "What? What happened?"
"Well... Something is loose. Or looser than it was... And, it only took us all damn afternoon."
Brady crawled across the floor towards her and motioned that he wanted to switch. "That's a good thing though... Maybe this will work after all. Here, I'll work at it for a while... Your hand must be killing you."
Chloe nodded and gave him a brief kiss on the lips before crawling over to sit in front of the TV. Brady continued working at the lock and Chloe checked her watch with a sigh. It was almost time for the party, and she knew the guests would be arriving soon. Brady had said it was a fundraiser for the University Children's Hospital, so she was sure that the place would soon be packed with the Salem elite.
She leaned up against the bed and watched as she saw a couple of familiar faces filter in. "Brandon... And Sami... First to arrive..."
Brady paused from his work and rolled his eyes. "That's a surprise. My evil stepsister and her husband are usually fashionably late."
Chloe started to give him a play by play as the restaurant began to fill up and Brady continued working. "Victor and Nicole, Abe Carver, Roman Brady, Bo and Hope, Kate Roberts, Jack and Jennifer Deveraux... Boy, you weren't kidding when you said everybody in town was going to be there tonight."
"It's one of the bigger events of the year, really. I think the only people not coming are the ones who have to work a shift at the hospital tonight."
"Oh... I see your Dad, Marlena..." Chloe sighed softly when she saw who was behind them. "Shawn, Belle... God, Brady, I've missed them so much."
Brady looked towards her for a second and nodded. "They've missed you too, believe me. You have no idea how hard it was for Belle to plan her wedding without you here. She and Mimi were lost without their third musketeer."
Chloe felt a tear roll down her cheek and sighed again. So much time had been wasted, and she didn't know if they would ever be able to make up for it. "Speak of the devil... There's Mimi and Jason."
"And if we ever get out of here, we'll be going to their wedding in the spring."
"Weddings, babies, life, death, the whole experience -- I've missed it all. It's just not fair."
There was a silence between them as she continued watching the room full of familiar faces mingling with each other. Her heart ached as she thought of everything that had happened in the past four years. And now, there was a chance that she wouldn't even make it out of this house alive, never to regain the life she had once had.
Chloe's breath caught in her throat and she touched her hand to the TV screen. "Oh God... Craig... Craig is there."
Brady stopped working and looked at her sadly. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded. "He's the Chief of Staff... He has to be there. I'm sure Nancy would be there too if it wasn't for her car accident."
Brady went back to work and Chloe wiped her tears away from the back of her hand. She was trying so hard to be strong, but everything seemed so bleak right now. She had to hold on to her hope as hard as she could, and she knew that, but it wasn't easy.
"All of these people... All of the people that I care about... They're in danger."
"So are we. And maybe we'll get out of here in time to stop what's about to happen at the Penthouse Grill..."
Chloe kept her eyes glued to the television set and remained silent for a while. All in all, everything seemed to be going well, and things were calm. Anywhere from forty-five minutes to an hour had passed when something changed drastically. She suddenly wished the TV had sound when she saw Roman Brady talking into a police radio.
"Brady... I think something's happening."
Brady was too close to snapping the lock to stop pounding at it now, so in between hits he spoke up. "What? What's going on?"
Roman was huddled into a group with Bo and Abe, and then she saw them disperse to quietly talk to the guests. "I -- I think they know that something's about to happen... But they're trying to evacuate quietly. Not create a panic..."
She watched Bo and Hope head towards the exit, as some of the other party guests began to follow. But, it was too late to evacuate. The camera began shaking and Chloe saw debris began to fall over the room full of partygoers.
"OH MY GOD... Brady, no..."
Brady turned to look at her, she had turned as pale as a ghost and her hand was covering her mouth. She started trembling in shock and more tears rolled down her face. "Chloe, What happened?"
"Brady... There's... an explosion... or something... I don't know."
Just as she was trying to speak to him, Brady felt the lock finally give and break off. The door slid open easily and he found himself staring out into the empty hallway. He ran to Chloe's side and gripped on to her arm with his hand. "The door... The door's open..."
Chloe pointed at the screen, hardly able to move or speak. "I saw it... I saw it happen."
She had seen the room rock with a powerful explosion and the bodies of the people she knew flail about as they were hit with falling debris. Brady looked at the screen with her, the lens of the camera now covered with smoke or dust.
"Chloe, I know... I'm sorry... We have to get out of here now."
The smoke cleared and all she saw was rubble through the fog, no signs of life anywhere. A loud sob erupted from her throat as she thought of all of the people that had been in that room tonight, and how many of them could possibly be dead. "They were... they were all still there. Nobody got out, Brady. Nobody."
Brady's heart was breaking just as painfully as Chloe, but he knew they had to concentrate on their escape right now. He had to clear his worries about his loved ones that were in the explosion in order to escape with his and Chloe's life intact. Brady held on to her tightly and pulled her to her feet, wrapping his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest.
"Chloe... I know how strong you are inside. Please be strong right now so we can get out of here. Put it out of your head if you have to... I know it's hard, but we have to be strong, for ourselves and for every single person that was at that party tonight."
Chloe took a deep breath in and lifted her head. Brady wiped her tears away and she nodded in understanding. She had seen so much heartache in her 24 years that she was used to putting walls up and she would do it again now. She took a moment to calm her frazzled nerves and called on all of her inner strength to regain her composure.
"Okay, let's go..."
They each grabbed a piece of the TV cart to use as a weapon, and Brady grabbed her hand to lead her out of the doorway. They stood at the end of a long hallway and Brady began walking forward slowly, keeping his eyes open for an exit or a guard. Chloe let go of his hand and grabbed on to his arm roughly.
"Brady... Stop..."
"Chloe..."
She stood in front of him and looked up at him sternly. "Let me lead. I know this place better than you do. Follow me."
Chloe crept down the hallway and came to a corner as Brady quietly followed behind her. She peeked around it slowly but saw nobody in sight. Chloe muttered under her breath with a snicker. "I -- I can't believe she didn't have anybody guarding this hallway. God, Lexie's an idiot..."
Chloe shrugged it off and suddenly remembered she still had her cellphone in her pocket. She took it out and hit the on button, watching it to see if she could get a signal. There was still no signal, but she kept it ready to use as they turned down the hallway. Chloe knew there were only two ways out of the underground. They would either have to go up the outside stairs, which led past the control room, and run the risk of being caught by Rolf, Bart or Lexie who were most likely in the control room observing the carnage at the Grill. Or, they could go through the house, and take the risk that her sister and her thugs would be roaming about the house.
Chloe made a split second decision and decided to avoid the control room hallway. They safely made it to the stairs that led up into the house, and made it up the stairs, exiting into the entryway of the house, behind the main stairs. As soon as Chloe opened the door to the main floor of the house, she regretted her decision. One of Lexie's henchmen was standing at the top of the stairs waiting for them.
He reached for his gun, but Chloe was too quick, slamming her weapon into his arm causing the gun to go flying into the entryway. He reached to punch her but Chloe easily blocked it and brought her knee into his stomach painfully. As he reached to clutch his stomach, Chloe stepped aside, as did Brady, and she pushed him down the stairs. He slid to the bottom with a thud, and Brady briefly looked him over to see that he was still breathing, but unconscious.
Brady looked back at her and she could tell he was nervous. "That was almost TOO easy..."
Chloe nodded in agreement and sighed. "Exactly what I was thinking."
She walked into the entryway and picked the gun up from the ground, dropping her metal weapon to the floor with a clatter. She tucked it into her jeans and dialed her cellphone as Brady stood next to her, watching curiously. Chloe tapped her foot nervously and prayed for an answer. "Come on... Come on... Pick up..."
"Shane Donovan..."
"It's me. It's Chloe."
"Oh, dear Lord, Chloe... You've had me so worried. I've been trying to call you all day. What's going on?"
Brady began looking into the living room and all around, making sure that there was nobody hiding around the corner. He slipped into the living room and Chloe kept her eyes glued to him as she continued her conversation with Shane.
"It's a long story. I've been locked up underground the mansion since yesterday thanks to my sister. And, whatever has happened tonight at the Penthouse Grill... It's definitely a product of her demented mind. Maybe Stefano too... I don't know but I watched the whole thing on a surveillance monitor."
"Lexie locked you up in the basement?"
"Yes, but we got out. Brady Black is with me... We're in the house now, but we're gonna run... I just need to figure out where to run to... And, we need to find out what happened at the grill, what happened to the people were there."
There was a pause on Shane's end and she could hear someone talking to him in the background. "Alright, Chloe... Get out of there and come meet me at..."
Before he could finish, Lexie had walked up the basement stairs and tore the phone out of Chloe's hand. She threw it against the wall, smashing it into pieces as Chloe jumped in surprise. Chloe felt the cold steel of Lexie's gun pressing at the back of her head, and she swallowed nervously. Her fingers moved toward the gun in the front of her jeans, but Lexie stopped her.
"Don't you dare... Take it out and drop it the ground right now, little sis."
Chloe nodded and moved slowly, taking the gun out of her jeans and sliding it across the hard wood floor. Brady must have heard the phone being smashed and he came running in from the living room. He froze in his tracks and stared at Chloe in fear.
Lexie smiled at him malevolently and growled out a command. "Don't move a single inch, Brady Black. Move and I'll send this bullet right through your precious Chloe's delicate brain."
Chloe breathed in deeply and gave Brady a pleading look, before addressing her words to her half-sister. "You're sick, Lexie. What you did tonight was disgusting... Those people... You used to care about them all, and now..."
Lexie interrupted her with a laugh. "They don't care about me, so why should I give a sh*t if every single one of them died in that explosion? Just like I don't care about you or your boyfriend."
"Then kill me now... Go ahead. Kill us both. You've got a gun... Do it."
"No, no, no... Not yet. I'm still waiting on the mystery guest."
Brady looked at Lexie in confusion, his heart pounding as he tried to figure out how to save Chloe. "The mystery guest?"
They all heard a key turn in the front door and Lexie smiled happily. "Ooh... Perfect timing. Why don't you go open the door for our guest, Mr. Black?"
Brady stepped nervously towards the door and slowly opened it. He came face to face with Stefano DiMera, who was grinning proudly at what he saw transpiring in his entryway.
"Brady Black... How good of you to stop by..."
Brady's eyes widened in shock, and he tried to speak, but no words would come. Lexie wrapped one arm around Chloe and turned her around so she could see Stefano at the door. She leaned in and snickered into Chloe's ear wickedly. "Look sis... Daddy's home. Now you're really in trouble."