Rook takes Queen

"Well, here we are, Luci," Franks said as he pulled the sedan around to the back of the dark house. "This is where I left Shelly." He turned off the headlights but activated the interior ones by opening his door. "Now, this is the tricky part. Getting you out of this car and into the house without you clobbering me. Fortunately, I came prepared." He reached over to open the glove compartment, stretching his body across the space between the two seat backs.

Now's my chance! Lou grabbed the back of the passenger seat with one hand on each side, stood on one bent leg, her body hidden behind the chair, and kicked out with her left foot. She caught Franks in the back, shoving his gut into the steering wheel and his face down between the central console and the bench, folding down the armrests with her knee.

"Bitch! Let me up!" he shouted, his voice a mixture of surprise and pain.

"No way, you bastard," she growled. Putting her left knee on the upholstery, she swung her body through the partially open space, over the fold-down arm rests, dragging the cuffs around to the front. She smiled grimly as she slammed her other foot into his back.

"Damn you, bitch!" Franks shouted as his face smashed into the sound system a second time. He felt his nose swelling and warm blood dripping down around his mouth.

Lou smiled again as she moved closer to door, her right leg shoving hard between his shoulder blades, keeping him from rising. He pressed down and back with his hands, trying to slide out backwards, as her hands fumbled with the release catch of the headrest. She opened it and pushed up with all her might. It rose to its highest level, then stopped.

"Come on, come on!" she muttered as she fingered the catch again and pushed up once more. This time, the headrest released, flying out and into the back seat. "Yes!"

Lou opened the passenger door and started to climb out, shoving Franks backwards. His legs fell outside the car, and he levered himself off the floor, grabbing for her. "Damn you! Come back here!" He threw himself across the seat and snagged her retreating ankle with both hands, trying to pull her back into the car.

"You bastard!" she cried. "Let me go!" She pulled and shook her leg, trying to twist her ankle out of his grasp. Grinning he began to drag himself up her leg, one hand at a time, his fingernails digging into the fabric of her slacks.

Eyes narrowing, she hissed, "Want to play rough, do you?" She twisted at the hips, grabbed the top of the sedan and swung in with the other leg, her foot smashing into Franks's already scratched and bloody face, pushing him back with a powerful kick.

"You're getting predictable, Luci," he warned, as he reached out to grab the other flailing leg, pushing it down and pinning it with his chest until he could get a better grip. Then, with his strong hands squeezing Lou's bucking ankles, he backed out of the car again and yanked. Then yanked again.

It was the third sharp jerk that did it. Lou's bound hands weren't well positioned to take her weight, and the car's top was slick with rain. Her grabbing fingers slipped more each time he pulled until finally they were yanked free of the door frame altogether, breaking fingernails in the process. "Aaaggh!" she screamed as she fell with a thump on the upholstered bench, her body pulled wholly back within the car.

"Gotcha!" Franks cried as he threw himself on top of her, knocking the wind from her lungs. She gasped desperately for breath, unable to speak, yet still trying to inflict as much damage as she could with her bound hands. Her ragged fingernails raked up his neck and across his cheeks and her fists grabbed his dyed hair and pulled sharply, painfully tearing it out in clumps.

"Damn, but you're going to pay for that, bitch," he hissed as his left hand fumbled around in the glove compartment. Her body twisted and arched up beneath his as she fought both to get air into her lungs and escape his grasp. Just as she was able to gasp in a breath, his fingers closed on what he was looking for: a hypospray.

"This is different stuff, but I hope it works just as well," he muttered as he shoved her head up and to the right while he zeroed in on the left side of her neck with the hypospray, injecting her with the drug he had prepared. Her struggles grew more and more feeble as the drug took effect, until at last she stopped struggling altogether. Her head lolled to one side, eyes half open.

"That's more like it," he said as he pushed himself off of her. He grabbed the cuffs by the single middle link and hauled her limp body into a sitting position. Taking the keys from the ignition, he slid her out on the driver's side, and pulled her into a fireman's carry. He closed the door with his foot, and carried her into the house. The disk is probably in her jacket. I'll come back for it in a minute.

He walked through the kitchen and into the living room, laying her down on the floor near the scanner so he could turn on the battery operated lamp. Glancing over at Shelly, he could see the glitter of the light reflected in older woman's eyes. "Hey, Shelly!" he taunted as he unlocked Lou's cuffs then roughly rolled her over to fasten her wrists behind her back. "Look who's here!"

Shelly could say nothing. She just closed her eyes and began to shake with sobs.

Gordon had instructed Angela to drop him off near the drive to the house. "Take your car and park farther up, off the road where you can't be seen. Then lock up and stay low. I'll knock on the passenger's side window when I come back, okay? If someone shows that isn't with us, lean on the horn, long and loud."

Angela swallowed. "F-A-B." She had heard the struggle going on between Lou and Franks, and suddenly, she realized how dangerous this assignment had become.

Her companion smiled reassuringly. "You stay safe. It should be over soon."

"Right."

With that, Gordon got out of the car and Angela drove slowly up the road. He touched a stud on the left side of his visor, and the expanse of polyhexane shifted to detect an infrared spectrum. He tapped his communicator. "Omicron to Thunderbird One. I'm going in to reconnoiter."

"F-A-B," Scott's voice called. "ETA to landing, three-point-five minutes. We'll be landing in the field behind the house."

"F-A-B," Gordon replied grimly. He took a deep breath and began to move toward the house, walking in a defensive crouch and hiding behind every bush.

Once he got Lou into the house and secured, he took the lamp with him to the half bath off the kitchen. There was a partial roll of toilet paper still on the dispenser, and he opened up the tank to get at the relatively clean water inside. Looking in the dusty mirror, he cleaned his face of blood, and pressed closed one side of his nose to stop the fresh flow that threatened to undo his work. "Damn, but Luci messed me up!" he muttered. "But I'll make her pay! I have plenty of time for it."

After tending to his face, Franks took care of some unfinished business outside. He shut the front passenger side door, then trotted around and opened the one on the rear driver's side to pull out Lou's coat and sling it over a shoulder as he went back inside. He had left the lamp in the bathroom, and on his return from the car, he picked it up again and returned to the living room. "Hello again, ladies. Miss me?" he said mockingly. Putting the lamp down next to Lou, he searched through all the pockets of her coat and came up empty. "Damn! Where'd she put that disk? Could she have it hidden on her?" His eyebrow went up and a small smile crossed his face, making him wince as the scratches on his cheeks and forehead made themselves felt. Time for a little fun.

He rolled Lou over onto her back and straddled her thighs. "Hey, Luci, I can't find that disk in your coat, so I guess I'd better frisk you," he said, sliding his hand up under her dark sweater. "So, you want to tell me where it is?"

Lou knew she was drugged, but didn't know what Franks had used. Her mind was relatively clear, but her body was lethargic and wouldn't respond to her commands. She could feel Franks's hand smoothing across her abdomen and working its way upward, but she found could do nothing about it. It was even an effort to speak, but she managed, slurred as it was. "Ge' yer 'and out o' there."

"Oh, I'm just making sure you don't have the disk taped under here or something. And I'm making sure you're not wired for sound," he replied with a sly tone. He put one hand down on the floor and leaned on that arm so he could reach up higher. "Tell me where it is, and I'll stop."

Lou wanted to shudder at his touch, but couldn't even do that. "Ge' off me, ya bast'd. Don' 'ave it," she told him. She tried to roll away, and failed.

"Don't have it? Really? That's too bad. Means I can keep doing this," Franks asked, slipping a hand under her bra. "What did you do with it?" He glanced over at Shelly and saw the glint of eyes again. She's watching. Let's give her an eyeful. He smiled, painful as it was, and continued his explorations.

"Tole ya 'n Assshhh ville," Lou said with an effort, trying and failing to bring her leg up to kick him off. "D'stroyed it."

"You, destroying information? That's not like you, Luci," Franks traced her collarbone with a finger, his hand still up her shirt, pushing it up to expose her side. His eyes flicked over to Shelly, who was still watching. If looks could kill, I'd be planted the way ole Shelly is glaring at me.

Lou squirmed inside. "Ge' yer han' outta m' shirt, creep!"

"But why did you destroy it, Luci? Why didn't you want to keep it?" Franks pressed, bringing his hand back down to ghost it over her chest, feeling a slow exciting response beneath his fingers.

It was getting harder for Lou to talk. Her lips felt numb and her tongue rubbery. Still, she tried. "Sum inf'mation too much fo' anyb'dy. E'en me."

"Well, I guess I go back without the disk," Franks said, a regretful tone in his voice, dragging his hand slowly back down to her waist. "But I'm not going back empty-handed. I'll be taking you with me." He had pulled his hand out from under her sweater, and was now stroking his hands over her sides and hips.

"Stop 't. Why ya wan' me?"

Franks stared at her navel as he began to unbuckle her belt. "Oh, I'm not the one who wants you. My employer does." He slowly pulled the zipper down and slipped his hand inside her slacks. Don't have much more time until this stuff knocks her out, he realized. But we'll have time for more fun later.

"Gaat?"

Franks withdrew his hand in surprise. "Where'd you hear that?"

He could swear there was a tiny, smug smile on her face as she picked her head up slightly and with a great effort to look down the length of her torso at him. " 'Ave m' sources."

"Well, I don't know what you heard or where, but you'll get to meet my boss face to face." Enough of this. I've still got to fly south and I have business to take care of first. He got up, and put his hands under her armpits, dragging her over to the wall. He propped her limp form up, resting one side against the wall so she was facing Shelly. "We've got to leave soon, you and I," he said. He took out his gun and checked the ammunition out of habit. "But first, there's a matter of payback for what you did to my face... and of course, eliminating the witnesses."

Jeff and Scott moved along silently, their guns at the ready, the infrared mode of their visors helping them see in the dark. Scott reached up to swipe some moisture away from the surface of his. He hissed, "How much farther to the house? From what we heard as we landed, Franks was beginning to interrogate Lucinda."

"Yes," Jeff shot back sharply. "And I know how he interrogates. I think we're close. I wish we could draw him outside. I'd feel much better taking him down without the women present."

"So would I. But I don't think we'll be able to. He's too... busy with the women," Scott said with disgust.

"Right. So let's pick up the pace. Lou's been pawed over enough by this bastard."

Meanwhile, Gordon had made it to the house and was peering in from a side window. It wasn't easy to see inside; the screen covering the glass obscured things somewhat. He scowled to see Franks's hand up Lucinda's shirt and her apparently unable to stop him. He knew from the fight he had heard that Franks had used some kind drug on her, and the slurred voice just confirmed those suspicions. He scanned the room carefully from his vantage point. I don't see Lou's sister from where I am. I'd better circle around to that window on the other side and get an idea of where she is. He crept off again, edging under the wide opening and past the front door to the far side of the house.

Scott's voice sounded in one of his ears, even as Lou mentioned Gaat's name in the other. "Omicron. we are approaching the rear left corner of the house, near the subject's car, and the back door. Where are you?"

"I'm at the front right corner, looking in through a window. Both women are in the room. The sister is lying in the front left corner and our subject is lying at about the midpoint of the room, next to a doorway. He's been talking about taking her with him to meet his employer. Wait!" Gordon stopped speaking suddenly, and watched as Franks began to prop Lou up against the wall. "He's moved her, propping her up against the wall. Damn! He's taking out his gun and talking about payback and eliminating the witnesses!"

Jeff and Scott had reached the back door and were looking at each other. "I'll go inside," Jeff instructed. "You head over to the left side of the house. See if you can sight him through that window." Scott nodded, and left, creeping carefully along the side of the house. "Omicron, see what you can do from there. If he threatens either of them with that gun..."

"F-A-B," Gordon replied. "I know what to do." But first I have to get this screen out of the way! He reached up and tried to yank the offending object out of its frame. Wish I had brought along a knife!

Franks shrugged off his jacket and dropped it to the floor. His movements were almost casual. He sighted along the gun at Shelly, then turned back to Lou.

"Payback time. You'd better say goodbye now, Luci," he said. "Too bad you actually did as I asked and came here alone. I guess you never did learn from that shooting, did you? But then, I know you too well. You're too damn honorable and it will be the death of you yet. Just not today."

Lou's eyelids were drooping, getting heavier, and she slurred a barely audible, "No!"

Franks ignored her. He walked over to Shelly and crouched down beside her, removing the gag. "It's been nice knowing you, Shelly. Too bad we couldn't have tested out that theory, but like I said, Luci will be my test subject. Say goodbye to your sister now." He stroked a hand across her bruised cheek, and stood up, stepping away from her.

"You bastard," Shelly croaked, her voice rough with disuse. Then she began to sob, a sound of terror and helplessness from her very heart. Between sobs she called hoarsely, "I'm so sorry, Lou! Don't blame yourself for this! Tell my kids, tell Chuck that I love them! I love you, sis!" She saw Lou struggle to keep her eyes open, trying to make eye contact with her. Shelly screwed her eyes shut tightly as Franks stood over her, his gun sighted for real this time.

Lou tried to keep her eyes open, but they closed on their own. No matter how hard she tried to open them again; she couldn't. She heard her sister call, but it was as from a distance, and try as she might, she couldn't answer. Her nerveless body slid towards the floor, coming to rest face down with a small thump on the old carpet. I love you, Shelly! was her last thought. But before she slipped fully into darkness there was the sound of breaking glass, and a shout, and a loud explosion that reverberated in her ears.

Shelly's self-control was lost in her terror of dying. Her scrubs pants darkened with wetness. She leaned over, sobbing, burying her face in the carpet again, not caring that her knee renewed its hot agony as it touched the floor. She didn't hear the shout, or the glass breaking, but she did hear the explosion. Then a hot searing pain pressed against the back of her head, and Shelly Clarendon's world truly went black.