Chapter 18 -- Neither Rhyme Nor Reason

A/N:PG-13 for language and alcohol usage...

With a promise dealer, understand:
All freedoms fade away
To a point of view
Where many different pathways meet.
And we're standing on this precipice
With nothing much to save
But the deep blue screams
Of falling dreams
With our next move

Arcadia - The Promise


Chapter 18 -- Neither Rhyme Nor Reason

The black Lincoln Continental was like many other such cars, black, anonymous. The windows were tinted on all sides, whoever was inside could look out, but no one could look in, save to see the driver through the windshield.

Mara knew no one would be able to see her in the back seat with the man who was her... Captor? Keeper of secrets? There was a glass window between the backseat and the front.

How did he know about Rafe? Why did he know about her? A thousand questions flew through her startled mind. She couldn't pick one to ask. Except..

"So, you know my name is Mara. What's your name? Yeah, yeah, you probably can't tell me, but make up something. It's kinda scary for me here, you know, riding in car with one guy who tells me he knows where Rafe is. And an equally anonymous chauffeur. Ah, shit, I'm rambling. I'll shut up now, okay? Okay?

"Don't worry Ms. Pitts, you're safe..." said the man sitting in the back seat with her.

"For now, don't you mean, for now?

"I can't say anything about the future Ms. Pitts. But you are safe for now. Would you like a drink?" He pressed a button. A door slid open revealing a bar in the back seat. Mara looked at it, surprised. She hadn't thought Continentals came with such amenities, only stretch limos.

The man poured a splash of scotch over some ice. "Name your poison. There is a small, but nice selection in here."

"Poison. You wouldn't p-p-poison me, would you?" Mara almost started giggling with mild hysterics, but bit her lower lip instead.

"Just let me know what you want. No poison involved other than alcohol itself in excess being a sort of poison."

"All right. A vodka Martini. Like James Bond, you know with all this cloak and dagger, and well, whatever..." she ground to a halt.

The dark haired man, she had had a chance to take a closer look at him, held out a small bottle of vodka and a small bottle of vermouth. They were the small bottles, like one would purchase for a drink while flying. Mara looked them over closely and handed them back, satisfied that the small bottles hadn't been tampered with.

The man himself was ordinary looking. Dark hair, dark eyes, but other than that, there was nothing particularly striking about him. 'It would be a bitch to pick him out in a line-up,' she thought to herself, shuddering. A little too ordinary looking. A man like that could be an assassin, a doer of dirty work for others.

He quickly made a vodka martini for her. She took it from him and the cocktail napkin he proffered her, her hand only shaking slightly. "You didn't poison the pimento in that olive did you?"

The man broke out laughing. "Ms. Pitts, with your paranoia, I doubt anyone could get anything past you!"

"Actually, it would probably be terribly easy for you to get anything past me, I'm used to small town life, no one's offered me a ride to who knows where in South Dakota."

"Pittsville. Lovely little town."

Mara looked at him, startled, "You were in Pittsville? When?"

"Oh, no, I wasn't. I'm a little too... shall we say I look and sound like I belong in a big city. Would you like a cigarette?"

She shook her head in negation. She looked at him, and realized, while she would never be able to pick him out in a line up, she would recognize his strong Chicago accent anywhere.

"I just saw some pictures, googled 'Pittsville' on the Internet."

"Googled..."

"It's amazing what you can find out there. Just type in a word and pictures come up for it."

"Who was in Pittsville?"

"Ah. That I don't know. Just someone Don Lombardo sent out there. Probably a couple, so they'd look like tourists just passing through. We were interested, you know, to find out what Mr. Moretti found so...interesting in South Dakota."

"I-I can't imagine anything being that interesting in South Dakota, I mean, I love living there, the prairie is beautiful, there's Mount Rushmore on the west end of the state, plenty of neat historical stuff..."

"Try your drink, see if it's okay."

Mara took a sip, then a bigger one, trying to settle her nerves. Instead it was too big a sip and she started coughing as the alcohol burned down her throat. The man took the drink out of her hand.

"You all right?" he asked solicitously.

"I...(cough) will be (cough) give me a sec," she gasped out. "What...the hell was in that drink? Everclear?"

"That, Ms Pitts, is Spirytus Wesoly, one of Poland's fine vodkas, weighing in at a 150 proof."

"I wish you had warned me. Where are we going? When..."

"Here's your drink. We'll get there when we get there. Shouldn't be long now."

Mara gave up trying to pry any information out of Mr. Anonymous Assassin as she had dubbed him in her head. She had noticed through the opening in his jacket that he was wearing a side holster. Whether or not he was actually armed, she couldn't tell. She sipped her drink and rubbed the spot between her eyebrows, trying to get rid of the tension headache that was trying to form there and in her neck.

She glanced out the side window then the front. The car was heading in a southerly direction. 'Damn, the South side, which I know diddley squat about. How the frick am I going to get out of this one? What the hell.' She thought as she tossed back her drink, this time just barely keeping from coughing.

A warm buzz started in her stomach moving to her head. 'Damn,' she thought, 'they DID poison me. No, no dumbshit, that's 150 proof you just tossed back. When was the last time you had anything stronger than wine?'

The car eventually pulled into a parking garage under what was apparently an apartment building. Mara sighed. She had been unable to pick out anything about the building or the immediate side streets, hell, she didn't even know which street she was on.

She let out a very small hiccup, startling herself. She looked wide-eyed, at Mr. Assassin and covered her mouth with her hand. She hiccupped again.

He chuckled, a surprisingly friendly chuckle for someone who was probably going to kill her, and relieved her of her drink. He then handed her a glass of water. "Here. Drink that down all at once. That will stop your hiccups AND water down some of that booze you just swallowed. Let me guess. You don't drink."

Mara took the glass from him, "I do, but not usually anything stronger than wine or beer, though some of Grove's home grown beer can pack a bit of a punch, it sorta sneaks up on you, you know and..."

"Pinch your nose and chug-a-lug that down. The sooner you drink it, the sooner you'll see your...friend."

Mara, pot-valiant, said, "I don't like what you're insi-sinuating."

"C'mon lady, drink up."

"this isn't poisoned is-si it?"

"No. Just water."

"Okay." She hiccupped again, took a deep breath, pinching her nose. As quickly as she could she drank down the large glass of water. Her lungs were just starting to demand fresh oxygen when she finished, with a gasp.

"Hey, that worked!" she said, surprised.

"Great. Now let's get out of the car, nice and slow."

Mara shuddered, sobering up slightly as she realized that she was still in deadly danger. She heard the lock on her door pop, probably by the chauffeur, as there was no way to unlock the door from her side, anyway.

She opened the door and got out, dragging her backpack slowly out behind her. Suddenly it dawned on her that she could probably use it as a weapon...and looked up and met the eyes of the Anonymous Assassin. He was grinning at her, as if he could read her mind. He quirked an eyebrow that said 'try it, won't bother me, there's two of us and one of you...'

She looked away, suddenly feeling even more vulnerable and stupid for coming along with this man so blithely.

"You ready?"

"As much as I guess I ever will be..."

"Good." He came around the car, and once again took a hold of her upper arm, leading her to an elevator. The three of them got in, with the chauffeur pressing the button for the top floor.

The elevator seemed to drag itself slowly upward. She thought they would never get to the top floor.

Mr. Assassin saw her eyeing the floor numbers changing. "This used to be a rather posh place to live. Apparently the architect thought a slower elevator equalled posh or something."

She essayed a shaky smile as the elevator finally came to a halt on the top floor. Great. She now knew she was on the 40th floor of an apartment building in a city with many such buildings.

Her abductor and she stepped out of the elevator. The chauffeur peered out to make sure that the guards were still next to the door at the end of a short hall, then stepped back into the elevator, letting the door slide shut.

During the short walk to the door, Mara could feel herself starting to shake harder. What was behind that door? They stopped walking just in front of the door, one of the guards taking her backpack. He rifled through it quickly, pulling out her pens and pencils, and anything else that could be possibly used as weapon. Zipping it shut, he handed it back to her.

The other guard pulled out a key and opened a door. Mr. Assassin gestured her to go in first. She took a deep breath and stepped in.

And saw Rafe. She gasped and dropped her backpack and ran to him across the large empty room.

"Oh my god, oh my god, you're alive." she threw her arms around him and hugged him, but stepped back quickly when he flinched.

"Mara." he said with a defeated tone of voice.

She got a closer look at his face. "Oh no, you're hurt, and shit, I'm sorry I hurt you when I hugged you, dear god, I'm so sorry..."

"Mara, shhh. It's all right."

Tears started rolling down her face. The happiness that she had felt upon seeing him quickly crystalized into a righteous indignation when she saw his bruised and bloodied face. "What have they done to you? Did they even do anything...?"

She wheeled around and ran back to the door where The Assassin and the guards were still standing. "What happened to him?" she demanded. The words and tears started coming out of her in a torrent, "My God, you've beat the hell out of him, and then left him up here, in this gloomy hole of an apartment, I don't care just how posh this place used to be, it's COLD in here. Could you at least get me a first aid kit, you...you..." she ran out of words as her anger threatened to overwhelm her.

The Assassin grinned at her and gestured for the two guards to out. "I'll be back in a minute. I believe there's a first aid kit down in the car." He stepped through the door and she could hear them locking it again.

Shaking her head at her own folly, she turned and walked back to Rafe. "Oh love, I'm so sorry, God how horrid for you..."

Rafe silenced her with a gentle kiss, which she broke away from, tasting blood. "Your poor mouth, oh, how I want to kiss you, but, but..."

Rafe shook his head and grinned a half grin at her. "Mother Hen," he teased.

Those two words caused Mara to burst into sobbing, as the emotional floodgates she had kept so carefully closed for the last few days burst open. "How could you leave me? How could you leave me without telling me?"

"Mara, I'm sorry. I... I just didn't want you even catching wind of this mess. Bad idea, I guess, huh?" He drew her close, letting her cry on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, love, I'm sorry. I didn't know, I didn't think I would hurt you like this."

She pulled herself away from him, her eyes blazing. "Damned straight you didn't think," she raged at him. "You just didn't THINK. Crap, I'm sorry, you're hurt, I didn't know if you were still alive, and here I am yelling at you like a fishwife..." she trailed off as he drew her close again.

"Mara. I'm so sorry. I don't know if this will make any difference, but I promised myself I'd tell you if I lived long enough..."

She stepped back, looked at him, her brown eyes sorrowful.

"Don't look at me like that, I can't stand it. Mara. Listen. I love you. Honey, I love you."

She held back another sob as she gently wrapped her arms around his waist. Kissing his cheek tenderly, she pulled him closer to the window. She brushed a long strand of hair out of his face. "You love me." she said, wonder in her voice. "You love me."