Dangerous Liaisons

Sacrifices

"So Mr Pine, we meet again eh?" Roper stood at the door like some second rate Bond villain, all smiles and sarcasm. He walked into the room and without any preamble punched Jonathan hard in the stomach.  Jonathan doubled over as far as his restraints would let him and coughed, the wind knocked out of him.

"Bastard" was all he said when he got his breath back. "Untie me and try that again.  See how you get on then!" his face was twisted into a grimace of rage and pain, the veins popping in his neck as he struggled against the bindings.

"Oh no no no no! That's not how it works dear boy - is it Frisky?  Untie you?  Why would I want to do THAT?" he laughed coldly in his face. Frisky sniggered off to the side and Jonathan turned and looked at his with pure venom.

"You have nothing to laugh at you jumped up little shit!" Jonathan swore at him. "You may have been on our side once, but that won't save you from the hiding of your life, believe me." 

Frisky stood and walked over to him, a sneer on his lips, "Oh ye think yer so clever eh Mr Pine?  Or is it Quince - or even Birch? Who knows. But you're tied up, you're injured - and about to be more so - and the lassie is in such a state you'll no' get her out yersel'.  Now ye try to insinuate that ah'm some sort of turncoat.  D'ye really think that's a good idea?  Ah dinnae." he laughed and smacked Jonathan across the face with his gun, splitting his lip and almost breaking his jaw. "Ah dinnae at all."  Jonathan saw stars, tasted the metallic blood in his mouth.  He spat the blood at Frisky who just laughed and looked away.

"So what then?  Why not just kill me and have done with it?" Jonathan said to them both. "Surely you don't want to hang around too long - there are others with me and they'll come soon enough when I don't make the rendezvouz."  By others, he meant Guillaume of course and he could only hope that he would realise something was up.

Roper seemed amused by their little spat and was sitting on the edge of a table just watching it all unfold.  He took a long draw on his cigar and blew the smoke into lazy rings as he stood and crossed the room. Stubbing it out on Jonathan's leg, he threw the remains into the fireplace. 

"Others?  Don't make me laugh Pine.  You mean that blundering French animal you brought with you?  He's not going to be any help to you.  Ever."  Roper looked at him and Jonathan's blood ran cold.  No.  He couldn't have.  He wouldn't have.  Guillaume was his friend.  He wouldn't betray him. Roper saw the confusion on his face and chuckled.

"Frisky?  Why don't you bring our friend in please?  I'm sure Mr Pine would like to be reunited with his associate. "  Roper dismissed Frisky as casually as if he had asked him to bring a cup of coffee.

"Sure thing Sir" the Scot said with a broad smile.  This was going to be good.  If ANYTHING was going to help keep his cover, this was it.  The only way he could have proven to Roper he wasn't a traitor.

Opening the door, he shouted to the two men outside "Did you find him where I told you he'd be?"

"Yes sir, just like you said."   

Jonathan suddenly had a VERY bad feeling that betrayal was NOT what this was about. As he stared at the door, the men appeared, Guillaume between them.  A very DEAD Guillaume.

They threw the body onto the floor at Jonathan's feet and he could see the red stain from where he'd been stabbed.  His friend looked up at him with cold glassy eyes locked in a stare of pure shock.  Jonathan's stomach threatened to empty itself on the floor. He could hardly comprehend what he was seeing.  No! This was all wrong.  Guillaume wasn't supposed to die.  He was supposed to go home to Jeanne and his new son.  He was supposed to grow old and grey milking his cows and moaning about the lack of excitement in his life.  He was supposed.... his thoughts were interrupted by Roper, coming and literally kicking the body out of the way.  Jonathan was enraged and strained against the bindings again, desperate now to free himself and kill them both, no matter the consequences.

"Now now Jonathan old chap!" Roped taunted him, "You'll hurt something doing that.  Wouldn't want you in a mess before your touching reunion now would we?" he grabbed Jonathan by the hair and looked into his face.  Jonathan spat in it.  Roper merely laughed.

"Calm dear boy, calm.  We don't want to frighten her with an angry face do we?" he turned Jonathan's head towards the door again.  This time when it opened, instead of a dead soldier the two men were hauling in a whimpering, broken woman.  HIS whimpering broken woman.  She was pale, so very pale, making the bruising and the dried blood look even worse against the porcelain skin.  Her clothes were stained with blood and God only knew what and she looked almost dead. Another few hours and he would have been too late.  Maybe he was already.

As they dumped her in a chair next to him, they taped her wrists and ankles together and one of them slapped her hard. "Wake up bitch!" he yelled in her face.  Jonathan lunged, unsuccessfully.

"Now Terry, that's no way to speak to a lady now is it?" Roper walked over and stroked Kate's head, gently lifting her chin. She was almost awake. "Katherine, wake up dear.  Jonathan is here to see you.  Look" he spoke softly, almost kindly, it was terrifyingly sinister.  Roper turned her head to face him and she mumbled something incoherent, her eyes glazed and her lips swollen and bruised.

Jonathan felt sick again as he looked at her.  She had been beaten to within an inch of her life it seemed and the drugs had made her into a zombie.  He spoke to her while he still could.

"Kate, Kate love - it's me Jonathan.  I'll get us out of here I promise.  Don't give in, don't.." he was cut short by Frisky belting him hard across the back of the head and he slumped forwards, stunned.  

Kate realised through the mist of pain and drugs that it really was Jonathan. She tried to speak but all that came out were sounds, unintelligible nonsense. She gave up and just whimpered again, her eyes full of tears.  It was easier to close them so she did. She could still hear though and she wished with all her heart she couldn't - the sound of Jonathan being beaten was just too sickening to contemplate.  At that moment, she fully expected she would - they both would - be dead by morning.