Travis woke up and tried to stretch, a movement he immediately regretted. His head was pounding, and his arms ached from being tied behind him. It came flooding back to him. Someone had knocked him out and when he came to he was tied to this chair. He had been a bit fuzzy when he first woke up, so he wasn't entirely sure why he was being held captive. He assumed it was because of Section. He had heard the man mumble something about hurting her, but he didn't have a clue what that meant. He had fallen asleep shortly afterwards.
He struggled for a few minutes against the ropes, but they were too tight. His hands were beginning to tingle and ache because the circulation was moving again now that he was using them. He looked around and saw a window on the far wall. It was daylight. It had been dark the last time he woke up. How long had he been here?
It was then that he realized someone was moving around in the next room. He needed to figure out where he was. It seemed like some kind of old cabin. He didn't have much experience with being kidnapped or Section enemies, but why wasn't anyone guarding him? He assumed there would be heavily armed guards - or at least one - in the room with him in case he decided to try and escape or there was a rescue attempt. Of course, he had no weapon and he had been unconscious or asleep for most of the time, so maybe they hadn't thought it necessary.
He heard footsteps coming closer and the door slowly open. A man, probably in his late forties, wearing some kind of maintenance uniform walked in. He was a rather plain looking man, and Travis noticed he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, not that that meant much these days. But still, he had the impression that this man had never married. Travis was surprised at what he found himself doing. Sure, in his profession, he observed people, but it seemed the little amount of Section training that Roarke had put him through was kicking in. He found himself closely observing everything,
checking every detail, noting escape routes. Not his normal routine to say the least.
The man walked in and nodded at him. "Good. You're awake. I'd give you something to eat, but then I'd have to untie you and I'm not gonna do that. But here, I'll give you some water," he held a water bottle up to Travis' mouth. Travis drank a few sips and nodded.
"Thank you."
The man nodded again and shuffled around the room, apparently looking for something. Travis decided to get some answers.
"Why did you kidnap me?"
The man stopped and turned to him. "I told you last night. Why is it nobody ever pays attention to me?" Sighing, he continued. "You should'a never hurt her like that. She's a good, decent woman. She's engaged and you aren't him. You were tryin' to make her do bad things. I couldn't let you do that. You made her cry. You gotta be punished."
Travis almost blurted out her real name, but caught himself in time. "Amani?"
The man nodded. "Yeah. Ms. Jensen. You shouldn'a kissed her like that. She's spoken for."
"You know her?" Travis asked, a frown taking over his face. Who was this man and how was he connected to Sherry? He had to get some answers before the guy decided to quit talking.
He nodded. "Yes." That was all he said.
Rolling his eyes Travis continued. "How do you know her?" He couldn't believe that this man knew her. Not that she would have anything against him, but he had a feeling this man was living in his own dream world.
Sighing, the man looked at him as if he was deciding whether to answer. Then he shrugged. "She's stayed here before."
"Here?" Travis said looking around the cabin, knowing the man didn't mean here exactly, but wanting to get more information.
"No, not here at my place. This is no place for a lady like her," the man growled. "She's come to the island before. I seen her the last time she was here. She smiled at me and said hello. A real nice lady."
'Uh oh', Travis thought. An obsessed fan. "How did you know she was here?"
The man stopped and stared at him. "That's none a your business."
"You've been following her, watching her. She wouldn't like that. Not to mention that it's illegal," Travis baited him.
That made the man stop and think. "Well, I was only lookin' out for her. A nice lady like her can get into trouble with the likes a you. Why'd you come with her instead a her man anyway?"
Travis thought about what to tell him and decided to use as much of the truth as possible. "Her fiancé wasn't able to come because of his work. She asked me to help her with the new book she's writing."
The man's expression showed fascination. "She's finally writin' a new book? That's great. It's been a while. I was worried about her, thinkin' maybe she had quit. Her fans'll be excited."
"Well, just don't tell anybody, okay?" Travis said as if he was sharing top secret information.
"Oh, don't worry. I know the lady likes her privacy and I would never dream of tellin' any of her secrets. No siree. She can count on me."
Travis nodded. "What's your name?"
The man stared at him. "Don't see as how that's any concern a yours."
"But Amani would like to know she has such a dedicated fan. She might even send you an autographed copy of her book. Then she could personalize it for you."
A wide grin covered the man's face. "Really? Now, that would be somethin'. Okay, guess I can tell ya. Leroy."
"Leroy. Okay. I'll be sure to tell her, Leroy."
Leroy shook his head. "Nah, you won't. I can tell her myself. She'll be showin' up here before too long. And then she'll have to be punished."
Travis' stomach dropped to his feet. He had begun to think that maybe this man was simply a devoted fan, obsessed, but harmless. Now he realized he was wrong. "Why would she come here?"
Leroy grinned. "Cause I left her a note tellin' her where you was. She'll have to come after her lover, even if you did hurt her. I'm gonna have to punish you too. No one hurts her."
Travis knew he had to get out here and find a way to warn her. She would definitely come after him. And if she thought it would spare his life, she would come alone. She would sneak out if she had to, but she would find a way to get to him.
~~~~~~
As soon as she awoke, Sherry went downstairs. Michael and the others were still trying to go through names of people who could want revenge against her. When he noticed her approach, he stood. "Feeling better?"
She nodded and let him hold her for a moment. "A little. But I need to do something."
Michael understood completely. "I want you to take me out to the waterfall where you left him. Davenport will come with us. See if you missed anything. And you can walk me through what you did."
He watched her steel herself before she answered. "Fine. I'll get my weapon and be right back." She started to walk away but Michael stopped her.
"Are you okay with this? Davenport and I can do it."
She squeezed his hand, grateful for his concern. "I'm sure. I have a feeling I'm the only one that can get him back." They walked in silence for most of the way. Davenport stayed a short distance behind, figuring they would probably want some privacy. Finally, she asked the question she had been dreading since she woke up.
"Did you hear anything from Walter?"
Michael nodded. "Yes. There were traces of the latest hypno-suggestive drugs in your system. It was also in your perfume."
"So they are manipulating me. I swear one of these days I'm gonna strangle one of them." Her tirade went on for a while and he simply let her get it out of her system. "If they are going to keep doing this, I'm going to have to seriously rethink marrying you, Michael. I won't let this happen again."
Michael had known it was coming. "I know. And that's exactly how they want you to feel. They've put you in an impossible situation. You care about Travis and want to protect him. They are counting on that. If you feel the only way to protect him is to break up with me, they win. If their little experiment here had worked, they would have won. The only way to make it stop is to fight them - together."
She thought about what he said and knew it made sense. "I know you're right Michael, but ..."
"I know. We will think of something. I promise." As Michael made that promise, they arrived at the location of the previous day's events. She quickly outlined again what they had done and they spread out to look around again. Sherry moved over to the tree she had slept under. She saw a folded piece of paper on the ground. It was addressed to Amani Jensen. She reached down and carefully picked up the paper, not wanting to smear any fingerprints. She opened it and read:
"Ms. Jensen. I saw that him upset you. I couldn't let him get away with it. He has to be punished. A fine lady like yourself shoulda never got mixed up with someone like him. What would your man think? You really should stay away from this guy, but I know you're a carin' person and will want to make sure he's okay. You can have him back once he's been properly punished. But come by yourself. Leave your bodyguards and the police at home. Come back here tomorrow and the directions to my place will be here. Signed, a devoted fan."
Michael looked up and saw Sherry reading something. He walked over to her and noticed that she was a few shades paler than before. She felt his presence beside her and sighed. "Apparently Section was right." She handed him the note and he read it.
"An obsessed fan. Okay. We can deal with this. We have to figure out who he is and how he knew you were here. He's obviously been watching you."
Sherry nodded and wrapped her arms around herself. "And now he's taking his obsession out on Doc with that talk about punishment. I have to find him."
Michael knew he was going to have a fight with her over this. "WE have to find him," he reminded here.
"Michael, he said to come alone. And that's what I'm going to do," she stated, her voice full of conviction. "I will not risk Doc's life by taking you with me."
"I am team leader and if I have to make it an order, I will. You will not go looking for him alone. Is that understood?" She stared defiantly at him. He simply stared back, his gaze never wavering. Telling herself she would find a way to get away from all of them and go after him, she played along. "Fine. But I am the one who is going in after Travis. You can cover me, but I'm taking point."
Michael knew that was the best she would give him at the moment. "Of course. Now let's get this back to the house for fingerprint analysis."
Leroy had watched from a hiding place far enough away that he wouldn't be detected. He had seen her find the note and smiled. Then he saw Michael show up. That was an unexpected development, one he hadn't been prepared for. No matter, she would be coming. He would have to hurry home and prepare for her.
Walking into his home, Leroy headed for the back room where his guest was currently located. As soon as he walked into the room he noticed that Travis was again awake and highly agitated.
"Better calm down, boy. Can't have you dyin' on me a'fore she gets here. That'll just never do. And don't make me knock you on the head again." Then Leroy grabbed a lever somewhere behind Travis and twisted. Travis felt his arms and legs being pulled even further. He was determined not to yell, so he only groaned at the pain coursing through his body. Earlier he had awakened to find himself bound and stretched on some type of crude, homemade rack. He had tried and tried to get his hands loose, to no avail. Whatever this man was, he certainly was good with ropes and knots. The more Travis struggled, the tighter the ropes got. His struggles also had another effect - his arms and legs were beginning to spasm from being stretched for so long. He didn't know how long he had been hanging there, but soon the slightest movement would begin to cause severe spasms.
~~~~~
Once back at the house, Michael checked the note for fingerprints and lifted a good one. He immediately forwarded it to Birkoff to see if they could find out who it belonged to. Sherry then asked for the note and went to her office to study it. She had worked with Madeline enough to be able to do a simple psych profile on the suspect. She studied the language in the note closely. The wording, spelling and phraseology would all help her
figure out something about this person.
Once she was certain she had a pretty good handle on their suspect, she went back to the others.
"Who are we dealing with?" North asked.
Sherry sighed. "Definitely a male between the ages of 35 and 50. He doesn't have much of an education, definitely never finished high school, maybe only eighth or ninth grade. He's most likely never been married, probably had a girl he fantasized about, maybe fell in love with, but knew he couldn't have. If he's employed it would have to be a job along the lines of janitor, maintenance worker, that type of thing. Might have served in the military at one point. Lives alone, pretty much a loner. He'd seem like a normal enough guy to those around him. Maybe a bit eccentric or slow, but nothing to worry about." She finished her recitation and flopped down on the loveseat.
"Great work," Michael told her as he sat next to her. She nodded and threw her tablet on the coffee table. "But is it enough? I can't stand this waiting."
Nahla had been listening. She was getting to know her sister well and knew there was more worrying her than just the fact that Travis was missing. She knew Sherry was worried about what this trip had done to her relationship with Michael. From what Nahla could see, Sherry had nothing to worry about. Maybe they just needed some time alone. They hadn't had any since his arrival.
"Why don't you go for a walk, Sher. Get out of here for a while," she suggested, looking pointedly at Michael who understood.
"It's a good idea," he agreed. "Let's walk down by to lake. We won't go far," he added, knowing she wouldn't want to leave.
"Maybe you're right," Sherry admitted and stood up.
North nodded. "We'll let you know immediately if we find out anything."
Michael took her hand and led her to the far side of the lake. Once there, he took both of her hands in his. She looked up at him and he could see the anxiety in her eyes.
"Are we okay?" he asked.
He saw the surprise in her eyes that he had been the one to ask the question. That had been his intention, to let her off the hook, to let her know that he needed reassurance too.
"I think that's up to you, Michael. Do you want to go through this again? I really doubt that Operations will stop. I know you have to be getting tired of all this."
Michael inclined his head to the side. "No more than you. If I have to put up with Operations' games to be with you, so be it. I put that ring on your finger. It means I intend to marry you for better or worse. It just so happens that our "worse" is a bit more twisted than most people's. I don't want to lose you - you are my heart. A man can't live without his heart."
Sherry nodded as her eyes filled with tears. "You're my heart too, Michael. I don't want to lose us. But I don't want to hurt you like this again. Can you trust me?"
Michael sighed, knowing guilt was a huge part of her make-up. Her's was a sensitive soul and she took everything to heart. If she played a part in hurting someone, it stayed with her for a long time. "I trust you completely. With my life, with my future, with my heart. This was not your fault." He pulled her close and held her until he felt her begin to relax with him once more. Then he put her away from him just far enough to
see her face.
"Thank you, Michael," she whispered and then caressed his face. "You're a very special man." Michael never blushed, but she knew he was embarrassed. Hooking a finger under his chin and turning him to face her, she leaned in and kissed him. That was all the encouragement he needed. He took over from there and conveyed to her through his lips everything he had just said.
A little while later they returned to the house. As soon as they walked in, arms wrapped each other, the group could see that they were back on track. Everyone relaxed a little. At least now part of this nightmare was over. Now they just needed to get Travis back.
Later that evening, Sherry wandered out onto the porch. Nahla got up, whispered something to Jace, and followed her. "Hey girl. So did you two work everything out?"
Sherry smiled. "Yeah, I think so. Michael's a wonderful man."
Nahla smiled, glad to see her sister happy again, for a few moments. "He must be."
Sherry laughed. After a few moments of silence, she sighed. "I'm just worried about how I've hurt Doc. He didn't deserve any of this."
Nahla nodded. "Neither did you. None of you did. He'll understand. He's a psychiatrist after all," she quipped trying to lighten her sister's burden for a moment.
"We've got to find him Nahl," she said, a tear slipping down her cheek. Michael had walked out on the porch behind her and heard her plea.
"We will, sweetheart," he said as his arms came around her. She leaned against him, reveling in this feel of his arms around her once again. It was something she had definitely missed. He reached up and gently wiped her tears away. A little while later, they went inside and she headed for bed.