Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to the writers and
producers of Roswell
Spoilers: After Chant Down Babylon, changes happening where Max is
successfully rescued,
and Michael was the one who broke up
with Maria.
***
Some hearts are broken and mended,
Others are shattered or torn,
Although it was never intended,
For love is eternally sworn,
I've cried and prayed and pleaded,
for that love to hold its ground.
hope was all I needed,
and pain was all I found.
-
Brennan Hill
***
“So what’s with you and Kyle?” Maria asked
mischievously.
Liz looked at Maria in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Maria raised her eyebrows and took a bite of the carrot
stick in her hand. “You know what I
mean,” she whispered, leaning over the lunch table. “He’s been awfully cozy around you lately. It’s almost like when you guys were dating
ages ago!”
Liz couldn’t believe she was saying that. She felt her mouth drop open in shock and
she could hear herself gasping. “Ah,
no!” Liz replied disdainfully. “Kyle’s
just been trying to cheer me up about Max.
Besides, I’m in love with Max.
Remember?”
Maria clucked her tongue and shook her head. “Honey, if you ask me, you’re barking up the
wrong tree.” Liz frowned peculiarly at
Maria’s imitation of a rich southern accent.
“The three of them obviously don’t seem to want us around lately. Or weren’t you there when they couldn’t wait
to rush us out of Michael’s apartment?”
Liz shrugged uncertainly.
“Maybe they really needed to…uh, talk about stuff…” She knew she didn’t sound convincing at all.
Maria rolled her eyes.
“I haven’t seen Michael today, have you?” Liz raised her eyebrows. It was true, she hadn’t seen Michael all morning.
Suddenly Maria’s attention was drawn elsewhere, her eyes looking past Liz and a
crooked smile formed on her lips. “Hey Ky-le,”
Maria drawled, smiling impishly. “You
can eat lunch with us over here!”
Liz pursed her lips and glared at Maria as she began to pack
up her half-eaten lunch. She would kill
her later. As Kyle sat down to her
right, Liz turned around and smiled.
“Kyle, hi!” Liz greeted, with forcefully joy.
She hoped she wouldn’t have to see him until class, and even
then, their contact would have been minimal.
But now that Maria had invited him over to their lunch table, it was
inevitable for Liz not to talk to him and face some unanswered questions. Liz glanced over her shoulder once more at a
perky Maria who was busily stuffing her face with potato chips and rolled her
eyes.
“Uh, so guys what’s up?” Kyle asked cheerfully. “I was hoping to catch you guys at lunch.”
Liz lowered her eyes and busied herself with eating her
lunch. “So how’s the basketball team
shaping up?” she asked, hoping to keep the subjects light and about school.
Kyle shrugged. “Ah,
not bad,” he answered distractedly.
“But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Suddenly he lowered his voice and leaned forward. “I know something’s up, just by Liz’s face
and the way she’s been acting. Now
would you please tell me what’s happening with you know…” He lifted his head and looked over his
shoulders both ways. “Aliens and
spaceships and all that sci-fi stuff.”
Kyle began to make odd faces and wiggle his fingers like they were UFO’s
hovering, whistling an almost X file’s tune.
Liz looked over at Maria tilting her head slightly,
expressing her inability to know what to say.
As she cleared her voice, Liz was relieved when Maria finally decided to
step in. “Tess is back,” Maria admitted
bluntly.
Liz closed her eyes and hid her face in the palms of her
hands. If she had known Maria was going
to blurt it out, Liz would have never signaled her to get her out of the
conversation. As she peeked out from
her small yet comforting hiding place, she saw Kyle sitting motionless beside
her. Liz lifted her head and placed her
hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “Are you all
right?” she asked, squeezing Kyle’s arm.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I just didn’t know how to say it.” Liz glared disapprovingly at Maria, who just
gaped at her, not understanding how unsettling this news might be to Kyle.
Her ex-boyfriend seemed to lick his lips repeatedly while
frowning, staring into the cement courtyard.
When he finally came around, Kyle blinked and then gazed bewilderingly
at Liz. “So that’s why you’ve been
avoiding me today? Because Tess is
back?” Kyle asked calmly.
Liz nodded. She
wasn’t quite sure how he was taking it.
His first reactions weren’t always the standard to gauge him by. At this point, he seemed relatively calm and
composed, but Liz knew better. “Are you
sure you’re all right?” she asked worriedly, glancing at Maria.
“You know it’s okay to freak out about Tess?” Maria said
frankly to Kyle. “I mean I know I’m not
exactly thrilled at the prospect of having that lying, conniving witch back in
this earth, let alone town.”
Liz watched as Kyle seemed to gain more color in his face
and he seemed less stiff than he’d been previously. Kyle shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Then after a few moments, Kyle seemed to
drift back into the present. “How?” he
cried out. Kyle was so excited that Liz
had to practically make him sit back down on the bench. “Why?
When?” he whispered, when he realized that other students were watching
them.
“She just up and appeared out of nowhere.” Maria jumped in
before Liz could explain what had brought the blonde hybrid back. “We were going to bring Max to the hospital
and then she showed up,” Maria explained, moping.
Kyle frowned. “What?”
Liz gently stroked Kyle’s back, hoping to calm him. “Look, it’s a lot more complicated than
that,” she sighed, shaking her head at Maria.
Liz knew Maria disapproved of her siding with Isabel and Michael on
allowing Tess to come back to heal Max, but lately Maria seemed more distant
than ever, even from Liz, her best friend.
She turned to face Kyle and sighed.
How would she explain something she didn’t quite understand herself?
“Look, Kyle, you know how upset I was over Max and his sickness?”
Liz asked warily.
Kyle nodded. “Yeah,
was he getting worse?” he asked.
Liz closed her eyes, trying to erase the sound of the loud
high-pitched flat line of the heart monitor.
He had been dead, legally dead for several minutes before Tess arrived. “Yeah, Max was getting worse and so Michael,
Isabel, Maria, Jesse, and I went to take Max to the hospital,” Liz explained,
pausing to look up at Kyle who was trying to understand all of this. “But we were too late. He flat lined when we were just deciding
that we couldn’t wait any longer for some miracle cure.”
“But where was Tess in this?”
Liz looked over at Maria, whose eyes were now hooded by the
earthen-hued lids. She wouldn’t look up
at Liz, who was willing her to help her out.
When she received none, Liz continued on. “Isabel and Michael had been in contact with Tess,” Liz answered
curtly. “They said that she had
contacted them and that she was the only way to save Max.”
Kyle frowned and Liz looked away from his probing eyes. “And you believed her?” he asked
skeptically.
Liz’s head snapped up and she looked defiantly at Kyle. “Of course I didn’t!” she said
angrily. “But what else were we
supposed to do?”
Kyle backed down and Liz felt the short-lived release of
anger fall away. “How come you guys
didn’t let me and my Dad in on it?” he groaned. “I think we deserved to know!”
Liz lowered her eyes again and shook her head dismayed. “I know,” she admitted
matter-of-factly. “I should have told
you and your Dad, but I was hoping that she wouldn’t come at all, which is what
it looked like.” There was a lump the
size of a golf ball in her throat. Liz
didn’t mean to keep anything from either of them in fact she thought that Tess
wouldn’t come anyway. She looked up at
Kyle. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I was wrong.”
Kyle’s eyes softened and his eyes rolled upwards and then he
sighed. It was a reassuring sign. Liz knew that he wasn’t completely mad at
her and that he’d get over the initial shock and hurt at being kept in the
dark.
“Well you’re lucky I’m a forgiving kind of guy,” he
declared. “I’m not so sure others would
have forgiven two of their friends first of all for not telling them anything
of what’s been going on; secondly, that they didn’t take them to the cave and
see the show!”
Liz stared blankly at Kyle, unsure of what he meant. Then suddenly realizing he was trying to
make a joke, Liz felt relaxed enough to crack a smile. Kyle shook his head and threw his hands up
in the air. “Finally, she realizes it’s
a joke!”
“You’re such a dork Kyle,” Maria stated dourly as she sat
across the table from him. Liz looked
over at Maria who was on the verge of cracking a smile of her own. Maria rolled her eyes at Liz and began to
pack up her lunch. “Come on Parker,”
Maria commanded. “We’ve got biology to
learn about!”
Liz sighed and then looked at Kyle. “Are you really okay?”
Kyle smiled and nodded.
“I’ll get over the shock…I think.”
“Let’s go! Ms.
Churchill is on a rampage I heard!” Maria beckoned as she stood up with a balled
up lunch. “Maybe she can help us solve
the mystery that is Kyle Valenti!” Liz
and Kyle followed suit, standing up and putting away their lunches.
Kyle rubbed his hands together and smiled snidely. “Maybe you’d like to find that out the
hands-on way?” he threatened playfully.
Maria seemed to spasm, which Liz guessed was an attempt to
feign a shiver. “Ew,” she grimaced,
shaking her head. “Don’t ever
say that again!”
Liz and Kyle looked at each other and laughed. She grabbed Maria’s arm, though the blonde
was still wriggling as if trying to shake off some disgusting insect, and
pulled her away from the lunch table.
“I’ll talk to you after school maybe?” Liz called to Kyle who was
heading in the opposite direction. Kyle
waved and nodded, signaling that he’d heard her.
As she and Maria headed towards their locker and to their
next class, Liz was relieved that Kyle knew and that she didn’t have to stress
over it. Liz had enough on her plate,
and she didn’t want to have to lie to him or avoid him just because Tess was
back. Tess may specialize in lies, but
she wasn’t that kind of a person. Liz
smiled. Check one more thing off her
list of stresses. The first had been
Max’s illness. Now all she had to deal
with was getting rid of Tess.
~~~
“What do you mean the tracks stop here?” Isabel asked
frantically.
They stood on the edge of the highway. Jesse’s tire tracks had been easy to
find. They were the only ones heading
away from the other two tracks they had made that night. It had been quite easy to find their
tracks. Because of the downpour last
night, the dirt had been like moldable clay when they had left that night. The tracks were now drying into a reddish
brown cast mold.
“I mean he hit the highway and there are a dozen tracks on the
black asphalt!” Michael explained frustrated.
“Isn’t there a way we can track him?” Isabel asked turning
to Maxwell.
The newly healed leader and king was at a loss at what to do
when Tess came up from behind him. “We
could use our powers to pull the same tracks out of the black asphalt,” Tess
mumbled, as she walked along the trail of tracks that the car had left right to
the highway. “I’ve never done it
before, but I know that it can be done.”
“How?” Max frowned curiously. “I’ve never even heard of doing anything like that.”
Isabel looked hopefully at Tess. “If you know how…then do it!” she commanded anxiously.
Tess looked up at Isabel.
She knew she must have looked awful.
They’d been standing under the rays of the hot sun for a couple of hours
now. Isabel wiped the sweat from her
forehead and combed her fingers through her flat hair and bit her lip.
“Well I’m not exactly sure how. I remember seeing Michael doing it once with shoe prints,” Tess
said hesitantly. “I don’t know that I can
do it.”
Isabel looked over at Michael who had been kneeling near the
shoulder of the highway. He stood up as
Tess mentioned his name. “Michael’s
never done anything like that before.”
Tess stared steadily towards Michael, who now returned her
intense gaze. “It wasn’t here on
Earth. Michael showed me when we lived
on…on Antar,” she replied. “I know he
knows how to do it, but I don’t know if he remembers how?”
All eyes fell on Michael who stood fixed in his place. Isabel knew where Tess was going with
this. She just hoped Michael wouldn’t
balk at the idea. Isabel licked her
lips and walked over to Michael. “You
have to remember how Michael,” she whispered.
His face betrayed no emotion, frustration or
expectation. “What do I have to let you
do?”
~~~
Michael felt like he was at ease while tracking down Jesse’s
trail in the desert. He’d easily found
the tire marks and followed them to the road.
There was something inside him that aggravated him when he was unable to
continue to pursue Jesse’s trail. It
was like he knew there was something more he could do, if only he could
remember.
Then when Tess mentioned a memory of learning to track and
hunt, it was like something triggered his memory and Michael knew that she was
right. He couldn’t remember exactly
doing it, but there was something familiar about the thought of teaching others
about tracking things. Rath in his life
could have trained his army how to track the enemy. It seemed logical to Michael.
“I remember you concentrating on the tracks that you were
looking for,” Tess explained, concentrating on her cloudy and vague
memories. “Some light came from you and
it somehow lifted the tracks from the ground, forming an image of the track we
were looking for.”
Michael frowned. He
didn’t know how he could have done that.
All of his powers ever emerged as just a force, nothing intricate and
controlled as copying an image from an imprint on the ground. He could be libel to just blow it away. “I don’t know if I can do this,” Michael
hedged. “I mean my powers definitely
are stronger and more controlled but nothing so focused as that.”
Isabel’s hand slipped into his and she rested her forehead
on his shoulder. “Please Michael,
you’ve got to try. Jesse’s life might
be at stake.”
Michael took a deep breath.
He hated having Jesse’s life in his hands. In some ways Michael would have preferred it if he wasn’t found,
but when he looked down at Isabel, he knew that he could never wish that on
her. “What else do you remember?”
Michael grunted. “I need as much help
as I can get.”
Tess’ brow creased, as she seemed to go into some sort of a
trance. “I don’t know,” she whispered
as her eyes remained closed and her back was hunched over. “You just were able to do it. It’s not like it was something I was good
at. If you want, I could pass the
memories on to you?”
Michael considered Tess’ offer while he felt Isabel’s hand
tighten around his. He let out a soft
sight and nodded. Tess was giving him
nothing else to go on. He knew he had
to at least give it a try. Michael
closed his eyes and heard the soft crunching of the soil breaking beneath Tess’
approaching feet. He felt a light
feathery caress against his temple. Her
hands were warm and moist.
Suddenly a flash of light appeared before him. It was Tess or at least he thought so. Her image was a little different than the
one he was used to seeing every day.
She was standing in front of him with her hands on her
hips. At that moment, she seemed
perturbed. “Rath, why do I have to
learn how to do this?” she pouted.
“It’s boring and not something I’m good at!”
Michael then heard himself speak. “You don’t only learn things that you’re good at Ava, besides,
you should know how to do this. In case
anything happens to us and we get separated or something.”
She frowned at him.
“Why do you say that? Nothing’s
going to happen to us Rath. Khivar is
just blowing smoke.”
Rath shook his head and remained silent for a moment. Finally he let out a sigh and looked at her seriously. “Let’s start again…”
The images flew through his mind quickly. Michael watched himself draw the shapes out
of the grass, mud, loose soil, and off of trees. It was incomprehensible that he had power to do something like
that. When he felt Tess’ hand leave
him, Michael opened his eyes and found Isabel gazing hopefully at him. “Do you remember?” she asked hopefully.
Michael shrugged. “I
don’t remember exactly how to do it, but I saw myself doing it. It was weird,” he explained. “I’ll try my best.”
“That’s all you can do,” Max said, coming over and patting
him lightly on the shoulder.
While he readied himself for the ‘trick’, Michael slid his
hands from Isabel’s grip. As he closed
his eyes, Michael just concentrated on the image of the prints in the dry
soil. Michael cleared his mind of all
thoughts and concentrated on drawing on the surfacing whirlwind of energy that
filled him. He opened his eyes as the
heat and crackling energy that coursed through him had reached a fevered pitch
and was aching to be released. Usually
at this point, Michael would allow that energy to be expelled from within him,
causing destruction in his wake, but he forced himself to once again, close his
eyes and focus on the tracks that lay before him.
“You’re doing it,” he heard Isabel whisper excitedly. As Michael opened his eyes, he saw a blue
almost transparent glow stretch from his fingertips. It appeared as he’d seen in Tess’ memory. “Wow,” he heard himself say. Michael swallowed as he approached the drying
tracks. He thoughtfully commanded the
energy out above the tire tracks. As he
lowered his hand the blue glow seemed to fill the dry and cracked mold like
smooth liquid. Michael could feel the
sweat dripping from his forehead and onto his reddening cheeks. Now he just had to be able to pull the
track back as Tess described.
“Now just lift it up Michael, as you continue to focus on
keeping that mold,” Tess whispered.
As Michael lifted the energy field from the dry clay
impression, the blue glow grew faint and began to waver. “Michael!” He heard Isabel whimpered behind him as he closed his eyes once
more and the blue hue darkened and strengthened once more.
When he was confident that he had control over the
impression, Michael turned his head and looked at Tess. “What do I do now?”
The petite blonde motioned him over to the shoulder of the
road. “Now see if you can find matching
tire marks on the asphalt. Your powers
should illuminate whatever tracks were left from the reddish clay,” she
explained carefully. “Hopefully he
didn’t go far and there was enough of this mud that stuck to his tires.”
While Michael did as Tess instructed, he couldn’t help but glance
over his shoulder at Isabel who was following closely behind him. Her hair drooped when it usually shone; her
eyes were clouded and weary. Michael
turned his attention back to the tracks that floated before him and uttered a
prayer that he never thought he would. Please
let us find Jesse.
~~~
Max felt out of place.
It wasn’t just because he wasn’t fully recovered from his sickness
either. As he watched Michael and Tess
worked together, figuring out a way to track Jesse down, Max couldn’t help but
feel a tinge of jealousy if that was what it was. It should be him, who found Jesse, shouldn’t it? He swallowed and pushed down that feeling of
irritation and walked over to where the other three now stood. He wasn’t sure where that thought came from.
Max was glad there was no oncoming traffic. It was usually slow in the afternoon,
actually no one really ever traveled down these roads unless it was for
solitude and even then, there were many places like this to travel to. “How’s it going?” Max asked, rubbing his
moist and sweaty neck. The heat was
unbearable. It loomed down on him like
a heavy weight.
“I think I found it,” Michael exclaimed, lowering his hand,
which in turn lowered the blue glowing field.
“It’s still fresh under the light of my track mold. I can tell there’s a slight difference
between it and the other tire marks that are on the highway.”
“Yes,” Isabel squealed, “That’s our tire marks. I can tell because one tire is flatter in
the back and one tire mark is kind of more vague than the other. It’s like the tire was smudging it.”
Isabel was jumping up and down, clasping her hands to her
chest. Tears of joy ran down her
face. Max on the other hand was wary
that this would lead them to Jesse.
“Can you keep the field up while we chase down Jesse?” he asked
warily. “I think it will look a little
suspicious driving down the highway with a blue glow coming from the jeep,
don’t you?”
Max knew he was raining on their parade, but he didn’t want
them to get their hopes up. He was the
levelheaded one, and he still needed to be.
While he looked at the disbelief on each of their faces, Max couldn’t
help but shake his head. “I am not
saying that it might not lead us to him, but we have to realize how careful we
need to be, especially in daylight. Max
motioned to the open area, with only small little tufts of green plant forms
scattered across the somewhat deserted highway. “We didn’t even think to worry about cars driving by. Now we’ve got Michael with this blue light
shooting out of his hand?”
Suddenly he felt a hard tug on his forearm. “What is wrong with you Max?” Tess
exclaimed. “Why are you acting like
such a jerk? I mean you’re even touchier
than usual.”
Max pulled his arm out of her grasp. What did she know? Tess had managed
to just pop into their lives, save his, and all of the sudden she’s teaching
Michael how to use his powers? He just
wanted out of this whole mess. In fact,
Max didn’t quite know exactly how he got into this mess either. They hadn’t cleared up the mystery
surrounding how he’d gotten sick in the first place.
“Hello?” Michael hollered.
“Earth to Max. Is anyone
home?”
Max blinked a few times and realized that Michael was now
standing in front of him and waving his hand in front of his face. Isabel and Tess looked curiously at
him. He shook his head. “What?” Max frowned, backing a couple of
inches back.
“Uh, you were totally zoning out on us Max,” Michael said
uncertainly. “What is with you?”
Max stared out at the three of them. “Nothing.” He turned away from them again and started heading toward the jeep. “We’d better start tracking Jesse down,” Max called out. “There’s not a lot of time before we have to get back home.”
“Don’t you think this is a little more important Max?” Tess asked
as she jogged up beside him.
“Well our Mom and Dad are expecting us home for supper, so I
think that it’s important.”
“Max? You’re
kidding right?” Michael scoffed.
“Jesse is missing and you’re worried about a family dinner?”
Max turned around with the trio on his heels. “Look,” he frowned. “We don’t want anymore people looking into
our business do we?” The three nodded
in agreement. “Then I think we don’t
need our father continuing his investigation.
From what Isabel is telling me, it was getting a little involved,” he
said forebodingly. “I remember what it
was like before when my Dad thought I was in real trouble and on the lam. I don’t want that to happen again.” Max remembered what it was like finding out
that he had flow charts and investigators on his tale. It was too close.
“It was,” Isabel agreed.
“But I don’t think that he’s going to keep looking into it. I think they bought our story.”
Max shook his head.
“Well all the more reason to keep them thinking that way. We can’t do anything suspicious to make them
think that we’re lying!” he exclaimed.
“Except that you are lying,” Michael mumbled
sarcastically.
“What did you say?” Max asked irritably, scowling at
Michael. As he glanced up out at the
sun, Max felt himself stumble back. His
head swirled with images and memories.
Everything was getting a little fuzzy.
Max wasn’t sure what was wrong, but he wasn’t feeling very well. He took a couple of deep breaths and
hardened himself to the worried glances that were before him. All that was wrong with him was that he had
a little heat stroke and needed to get into the shade.
“Max?” Isabel said his name, a tinge of worry in her voice.
Max shook his head, as if the motion would clear his mind of
the flood of images and the overwhelming sensation of falling. “I’m fine.
Let’s just start looking for Jesse okay?”
He jumped into the jeep and started the engine. As he waited patiently for the three to pile
into the dusty black jeep, Max took a deep breath. He was going to be fine.
~~~
“What do you want?” Jesse cried hoarsely as he felt the
trickle of blood slide down the corner of his mouth.
He had been kept in the dark humid building for hours,
although it felt more like days. The
man who had been asking the most questions had been answering to the name
Watts. Agent Watts. He was short and stocky and had a small
patch of hair that sat right on the top of his head. The other agent, if he really was an agent, seemed to answer to
the name Patch. He was the
muscle in the building, though Watts, as small in stature as he was, could very
much hold his own. Patch didn’t seem to
have all his marbles and it was all he had to stop himself from calling him
‘patchy’.
Jesse watched as the two mysterious men stopped mid-conversation
as his voice was obviously heard from across the building. He was torn at whether he should have yelled
out his frustrating question or kept quiet.
It was a question that they seemed unwilling to answer and the payment
for asking was a blinding blow to his face.
He had asked a few times and now his head throbbed and he had just
enough strength to keep his head up and scowl at the approaching men.
“Haven’t you learned my boy?” Patch chided as he
pressed his face in close to Jesse’s; his hand slapped his face
endearingly. “That ain’t a question you
wanna ask!” The tall brute hovered over
him; the entire width of his body was double Jesse’s.
“Well why don’t you just answer the question?”
he muttered, as his blood mingled with his saliva. Jesse hated the taste of blood.
It reminded him of his childhood where he had once tried boxing. He’d managed just to get into the ring and
put in his mouthpiece when his opponent, Chuck Delany, a scrawny boy with
pencil thin limbs threw a right hook and took him down. Jesse never went into the gym again.
“I don’t think so Jesse,” Agent Watts drawled. “You don’t get to be the one who asks the
questions.” He paused and replaced the
ugly mug of its predecessor.
Not that Watts was any better. He had a lazy right eye, which made him look as loose in the nuts
department as his partner. “You’d
better learn to spill about your little alien friends my dear boy, or just like
your little friend, you’ll be swimming with the fishes.”
Jesse frowned and he could feel his heart beat a little
faster. “What friend?”
Just in that moment, Agent Watt’s scowl lifted and was
replaced with a malevolent grin. “Oh,
I’m sure you’re probably happy to be rid of him,” Agent Watt laughed. “I mean he wasn’t much of a friend
was he?”
Jesse’s eyes darted around; looking for any signs of this
‘friend’ Watt was talking about. “Who
are you talking about?” he growled.
Jesse strained against the tight binds around his wrists and legs. It was as if a new strength and energy had
somehow filled his tired and broken body.
Agent Watts looked over at Patch through the corner of his
eye and snapped his fingers. “Won’t you
bring Mr. Ramierez his little friend?
I’m sure he’s getting a little lonely and would like someone to talk to.”
Jesse watched wearily as he slumped back down into his chair and watched the tall goon exit through on of the guarded doors, into a dark room. A slow scraping sound perked Jesse’s ears, and then followed by two quick scuffles. Suddenly it was joined by a heavy breathing sound. The two sounds combined to create a nauseous and apprehensive sensation in the pit of his stomach.
Patch appeared from the room with his back to Jesse. There was a black plastic bag being dragged
along the floor. That was what the
heavy scraping sound was. And as he
began to draw near, Jesse realized that it was not an ordinary black plastic
bag. It was made out of a heavy
material, that he’d only had the ‘pleasure’, if he could call it that, of
seeing. Suddenly Agent Watts patted him
hard against the back, startling Jesse, who was fixated on the mesmerizing
image of a dead body being dragged towards him. Watts uttered a low guttural laugh. “Aren’t you glad to see your friend?”
Jesse swallowed hard and closed his eyes as Patch inched
closer to the dangling 90-watt bulb. He
scraping and huffing sounds stopped and as Jesse opened his eyes he saw that
the big lug had placed the plastic bag at his feet. His body shuddered at just the thought of there being a dead boy
in that bag, let alone someone he knew.
“Get that away from me!” he shouted desperately, scrambling away from
the ominous bag while still bound to the chair.
“Open it for Mr. Ramierez, as he is kind of tied up
at the moment,” Agent Watts drawled as he held the chair in place. “Let him see who came to visit!”
Jesse turned his head away and closed his eyes; his gag
reflex was working overtime at that moment.
He couldn’t bear to see who it could be. Isabel? Michael? Max?
He felt short stubby hands clutch his chin and jerk his head
forward. “Now Jesse, is that a way to
treat an old friend?” Watts chided.
“Don’t you want to even say ‘hello’?”
Jesse gulped down a mouthful of air before he heard the unzipping
of the body bag. God please don’t
let it be Isabel. Agent Watts held
his head as he squirmed to turn away as Patch grasped the two sides of the body
bag and tore it open. “Oh God no!”
Jesse gasped as his eyes fell upon his old friend Cal. His face was ashen grey and beginning to
puff out. Rigor mortis had set in and
now the bloating process had begun to ravage his body. There were dark circles under his eyes and his
matted hair clung to his face.
“Oh God why?” he sobbed. “Why?” His voice cracked as he strained to express
his shock and disbelief. Jesse couldn’t
believe it was Cal. Wasn’t he one of
their own?
Jesse felt his body wretch and the contents of his empty
stomach lurch and as he leaned forward, a putrid yellowish liquid was excreted
from his mouth and nose. Cal was
ambitious and even a jerk sometimes, but to see him lying at his feet, the
blood drained from his face, it brought a new sort of indescribable pain and
anguish shooting through him. Jesse
didn’t know what to do. These men had
killed Cal, and for what?
As Jesse sat hunched over his seat, his head hung low
between his knees, Agent Watts pulled his head up by his hair and his cold grey
eyes glared menacingly at him. “Now, do
you understand we mean business Mr. Ramierez?” The indifferent agent let go of his hair and Jesse once again
sunk down, his head drooping. “Agent
Chasser was a big help, but it turned out he was more useful dead to me than
alive. For some reason he got it into
his head that letting you go without getting all the information we needed was
acceptable. Go figure,” he said
snidely. “Now, it’s your choice. We could do it the hard way or we
could do it the easy way. Either
way, well get what we need or you’ll have a reunion of sorts with your little
friend here.” Agent Watts kneeled
beside the body bag that held Cal and patted his cold cheeks.
Jesse closed his eyes and let his head hang, with his chin
resting against his chest. How was
he going to get out of this? Either
way, there was no choice he could make and end up alive at the end. It was either tell them what they wanted
with less pain or get tortured and spill everything anyway.
He stifled his sobs and gritted his teeth. He had to be strong. There wasn’t a choice.
After a moment of clarity, Jesse gathered his strength and
pulled himself up and looked Watts straight in the eye. All he could think about was Isabel: how
beautiful she was, how much he loved her.
There was no way he would let them get near her.
“Go to hell!”