In the depths of the power plant.................
Antonio trembled inside as he stared into the face of living death.......
Phillip: We meet again, your Godliness.....
Vargas spoke to him through the fog of his aching head.
Antonio: You....you're....
Phillip: Alive? Yes, it's amazing how a little R & R will rejuvenate you. I certainly I had my share aboard that sanctified ocean liner. Oh, that's right...and then came the turbulent tides of hell.........and wouIdn't you know, I was so busy drowning and being singed alive, I never got a chance to ....repay you for your hospitality, Father....
Antonio: ......How did I get here?........
Phillip: So sorry to tarnish your squeaky clean image....you've been drugged. But don't worry, I won't tell your adoring Sunday school pupils. But I have to admit, my flawless ambush on you did hit a little snag. A very attractive little snag actually....a brunette....about a hundred pounds or so......exquisite, lashy eyes.......?
Antonio's heart was lodged in his throat. The last thing he remembered was kissing Gabi before he blacked out.....
"Antonio, there's something I have to tell you............................."
He swallowed his heart as it filled with fear.
Antonio: No......God, no................
Phillip: Ah, yes, she did her God damndest to save you from the scary boogie-sniper lurking in the shadows. Oh, pardon me, your Excellency.... I mean, gosh darndest. You should've seen her trying to drag you across the beach.....it was like one of those extreme sports events--the clergy relay race!
Antonio: If you've hurt her.........if you've even laid a hand on her!--
Phillip: You'll what? Sick the Messiah on me? Don't make me nauseous with your little piety games, Father. Not after I interupted your scandalous interlude beneath the docks. I'm sorry....or was that a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation demo for Camp Cathedral?
Rage surged through Antonio. He could feel a trickle of blood from the twisting of his bluish wrists in the handcuffs.
Antonio: Just tell me what you've done with her!!
Phillip: That's for me to know and you to be tormented over for the rest of your life. Which I assure you ....won't be very long. You see....I'm going to get back what I lost aboard the S.S. Minnow tonight.
Antonio: (eyes narrow in anger) What are you gonna do, Phillip? Torture me until I give you your money back?
Phillip: An amusing idea, my Pious Parasite, but no. I'm not after dead presidents...not this time, at least. But someone dead indeed......you see....this is an episode of "Father Torres, This is your Life!" Let's meet our next surprise guest from your past...........
He flicked a switch and the rickety elevator began to drop. And even through the dim blue light of the decending chamber and the blur of the ice.....it was obvious who lay inside.........
Antonio opened his mouth, but no words came out. Just a tiny sigh of terror.
Gabi wandered through town and the foggy night air, shivering. She was half-running, trying to escape the fear that filled the edges of her mind.
She found herself in the woods beside the seacliffs, and every so often, she would call out his name in hopes that he would answer. She knew her senseless search was only making things worse......and every unanswered cry tore at her soul.....
Sentinel Headlines flashed before her eyes...... Disappearance of Local Clergyman
Ends in Tragedy........"
Gabi:
Antonio?!!!!!
BELOVED PRIEST MURDERED
Gabi: Antonio,
where are you???!!!!
MURDERED
She inhaled the sobs that were
rising up and trudged on. Stop it, Gabi....just stop it!!! He's alive.......he
has to be...........
She stumbled into the clearing and stopped dead in her tracks at a chain link
fence...............
Future
Site of the Liberty Resort Hotel Liberty Corp Developments Building a Better
Beach for Our Children Gregory Richards, esq.
She clung to the fence and stared into the
scattered fragments of debris and corroding slabs that had barely been cleared
away. She closed her eyes and touched the memory at the core of the sacred
wreck......
She wasn't afraid to think of that night .....not anymore. She was more afraid
not to....to let any tiny detail slip away.........
Gabi: This might be all I have left.............
The sight of it haunted her. For the first time, she was seeing the world
through his eyes........she knew what it was like to reach for someone
who wasn't there....to be standing with outstretched hands in the dark. She
backed slowly away, and when she turned to run from the ruins of the site, she
flew face first into the gravel.
She pushed herself up with scraped hands and smudged her tears away....
Gabi: Aggh.........it's hopeless......I'm never gonna find you......you'll never be
here to catch me when I fall.......ever again............
She quivered at the sight of a light in the woods. She stumbled backwards
into the fence and sank to the ground.
Gabi: (whispers) Who's there.......?
The light inched closer................and her imagination took over.
(((((((((...."Gabi?? Gabi!! It's me!! I'm right here! Where are you?"
(((("Antonio!!!! Oh God......I was going crazy....I was scared to death that
something happened to you--"
((((("Hey, hey.......I couldn't just disappear on you after tonight.....I guess
you're stuck with me, huh?"
((((((("Hold me...... please don't let me go.........))))))))))
Gabi: Antonio!!!! I'm here!!!
In the haze of her reverie, her face lit up and she bolted towards the figure in
the woods and threw her arms around him, finding herself in a toppled heap on
the ground with Casey.
Ricardo's shaking hand gripped the nurse's call button as his indecision
grew....and his detective's instincts took over.
What am I doin'? Something big is goin' down here.....and Antonio's
involved. But what the hell is it? How can I keep quiet about this....dammit, I just
played witness to a heist for God's sakes. But why surgical supplies.....why a
dead woman.....why my idiot brother??
Two nurses entered the room and started fluffing his pillows and fixing his
IV's.
Nurse 1: I can't believe Dr. Robinson is missing.....what do you suppose
happened?
Nurse 2: It's terrible....just terrible. But you know....he can be a
man of secrecy. I've heard things....
Nurse 1: Like what?
Nurse 2: I've heard that he's been conducting top-secret
experiments....strange things.....cryogenics.
Nurse 1: Sounds like something out of a Dr. Who episode!
Nurse 2: That poor guy is just sooo lonely and dateless, you'd think he was
keeping a frozen woman in his lab!
Nurse 1: Oh, Betty, we'd better get those allograft supplies down to the OR.
They've probably readied the cadaver for the transplant. Goodnight, Mr. Torres.
As the door shut, it all came together. A doctor........a donor.....and a
presumed dead recipient who was "as good as alive".....
Ricardo: Oh my God......they're...... gonna kill him........
Antonio's dark hair morphed into golden blonde spikes, as Casey lifted Gabi
out of her delirium.
Casey: Gabi, are you out of your mind?? What do you think you're doing???
How could you just up and leave all alone like that?
Gabi: I'm.....I'm sorry, OK? I'm sorry. At least I left a note.
Spence: (Holds up plastic bag) You mean exhibit A? This barely legible
chicken scratch?
Gabi: (rolls eyes) Spence, did you really have to put that in a
Ziploc baggie?
Michael: Uh, Spence, if the answer is a quote from Robocop, puleese spare
us, man!
Casey: Gabi, why the hell did you come to a place with so many bad
memories for you when you're already upset enough?
Gabi: (folds her arms and turns towards the wreckage) There's a thin line
between the bad and the good, Casey........
Casey: Look, Gab.....we know how much you want to get Antonio back. I
mean, you were so psyched about him marrying you and Ricardo tomorrow--
Gabi: Is THAT what you think this is about?? You think this is just a bad
case of bratty bride syndrome, that this is an inconvenience for me??!
Antonio's not my, my hired cermony director--- dammit, he's a person!!!
Michael: Whoa, whoa, hold up! Gabi, of course we know that--
Gabi: No, you don't! You all think you know everthing.....you don't
know the first thing about him! He.............he hates to dance, but he loves to
tango....and he makes me laugh, and he drives me insane sometimes, and.........
Spence, Michael and Casey listened to her in astonishment as she became
more and more overcome with emotion.......
Gabi: .....and.................and I'm in love with him.
Their jaws nearly hit their shoes.
Spence: HELL-O!
Casey: Gabi...oh man.....we...we had no idea............why?? Why were you
going to marry Ricardo if you love.....Antonio???
Gabi: I....I was trying to do the right thing. I tried not to love him.......and part
of me really wanted to give my heart to Ricardo. But I have to do what's right for
me now. I have to.....I have to set myself free and admit that I love a
priest....right or wrong.
Michael: Does Antonio feel the same way about you?
Gabi: Is Ben Evans loaded?
Casey: I'd take that as a yes, Mike.
Gabi: That's why I had to try to find him....my God, I'm so scared.......I'm so
terrified that I'm never gonna see him again........
Spence: Don't even say that, Gabi. The whole SBPD is doing everything
they can.....I just wish we could find a lead to where he is.........
Suddenly, Spence's radio sputtered to life.
*CRRSH.....Spence, this is Ruiz.......you'd
better get your butt over to South Bay General. Detective's orders.....*
Casey: What?
Ruiz: *I got an urgent call from the hospital.
The nurse said that Ricardo's talking a blue streak, and he's demanding to see
one of his officers immediately.*
Michael: Alright! Now that's the
Ricardo we know!
Gabi felt a rush of happiness. It meant so much to her to know that Ricardo
was going to be alright.......
Ruiz: * He says it's about Antonio.........*
Gabi: Antonio.......??
Spence: What? He knows? Come on, we'd better move it. With Ricardo on
this case, we'll be bringing Antonio home tonight, guys. Let's go!
A million emotions overwhemled her as they headed towards the patrol car.
The words "He knows" had once had a whole other meaning.....and she knew
that if she saw Ricardo tonight, her love for Antonio would be written all over her
face.
But she wasn't that cowering little girl anymore, worrying day and night over
whether Ricardo knew the truth. The truth was in her heart. She lived it,
breathed it....it was everything she was.....and she was ready for all the grief that
came with being a woman in love with a priest.....
Phillip: Now there's something you don't see everyday, eh? What's
the matter, Father? You don't think blue is Frannie's color?
Antonio was speechless. His astonished eyes were the size of two Junior
Mints.
Phillip walked into the elevator and led the man behind the chamber out with
a gun.
Phillip: And let's meet the esteemed creator of Francesca's
Frigidaire.....Tyus Robinson, come on down!!
Antonio: Tyus??? You did this.......
Phillip: Wasn't it so noble of him? You see, Father....my presumed-dead,
yet ultimately comatose wife suffered major internal injuries when Gregory
Richards pumped her with lead.....a punctured lung.....heart failure. Over time,
the cyrogenic process would heal her. But ya' know, I'm such a stickler for
instant gratification, I'd like to thaw her out now. That's what the good
doctor is here for, Father.........we're going to play a little game of Operation.
Antonio: ...... We're gonna what?.......
Phillip: Well would you look at this? It's a little orange sticker on the
clergyman's driver's liscense. Why, that means he's a fully willing vital organ
donor in the event of his demise! In that case...........what the hell, right? And
I'm sure Dr. Robinson will be happy to bring his lovely patient back to life.
Tyus: I won't do this, Vargas!! This isn't saving a life....this is
murder!!
Phillip: Don't worry, doctor. You're not going to perform the
operation.....do you really think I'm that stupid? (handcuffs him to a
pole) You're just going to oversee it, while a colleage of yours that's willing to do
anything for an adequate fee earns his Benjamins for the day. Isn't that
right........Dr. Manning?
Dr. Manning entered the shadowy room.
Dr: Manning: But of course. Should I prepare the anethesia?
Phillip: Be my guest. You know, Dr. Robinson, you should be
honored. You're helping to cure a plague. A plague that turns happy
little villages into poverty-stricken pits. A plague that turns luxury cruise ships
into sinking catacombs.....a plague that lures misguided little whores
into the devil's embrace in a saint's disguise....................the disease....known as
Father Torres.
Antonio: (enraged) Don't call me Father............Scarface......
Phillip: You....hideous....wretch!!!!! You're going to die.......just like
your little girlfriend.........
Antonio became paralyzed with terror and rage. But his heart was able to
call Vargas's bluff.....Gabi was out there, he could feel her, she wasn't dead. He
thought of her, beautiful and warm......she would forget about him....if she hadn't
already. Maybe this was the way he would finally pay for his sins.
But loving her....even for a moment......was the greatest mistake he had ever
made.
He remembered what it was like as Manning vised the plastic mask over his
face and he heard the haunting hiss of ether. He didn't even try to fight it.
And then, everything was ultimately peaceful.............
TO BE
CONTINUED..........
