Kidnapped - Part 2
By Lynne Facella
Mulderette@aol.com or Lynne1919@aol.com

CATEGORY: JC, PB
SPOILERS: Episodes through All in the Family
ARCHIVE: Sure, just ask so I know where it is going.

I know this is kind of short but I wanted to post something as people have been asking about it. Also I am using considerable dramatic license as to locations. Thanks so much for all the wonderful feedback people have written me. It is very much appreciated :)

"Knock…knock…knock….knock…"

Carter groaned as he shoved the pillow over his head. Were they doing construction in the building or something? He shivered as he pulled the blankets tighter around him. He really ought to get up and turn down the air conditioning but he was too tired. He had been in bed for most of the day, pretty much only getting up to take Tylenol and to call the hospital and let them know he would not be in tonight. He could tell he had a fever but he had no idea where his thermometer was so he could take his temperature. It wasn’t in the medicine cabinet and he couldn’t be bothered to look for it.

Bill knocked again on Carter’s second floor apartment door. Frank was with him while Tony waited outside in the van. It had been ridiculously easy to gain entry into the building. They had basically just gone right in behind a woman coming home from work.

"Maybe he’s not here," said Frank.

"He’s here," replied Bill.

"Maybe he’s with a woman."

Bill glared at Frank as he grabbed a credit card out of his wallet. "Keep watch," he murmured. Quickly he got the door open and they stepped inside the apartment.

"You sure this guy’s a millionaire?," whispered Frank as his eyes adjusted to the dimness of the apartment. The place was okay but certainly not the way he imagined a wealthy person would live. The blinds were drawn giving the room an almost gloomy air. The living room was simply furnished with a sofa, armchair, a couple of end tables and a coffee table which was covered with medical journals. A bookshelf built into the wall was overflowing with books.

"His parents are the millionaires," stated Bill.

Frank gave Bill an incredulous stare. "Wow! This guy is some kind of moron." He couldn’t even fathom why anyone in a wealthy family such as Carter’s would ever want to go through the hassle of medical school.

Bill bent down, pulling up the leg of his pants to reveal an ankle holster. He pulled out the loaded 38 caliber revolver and held it almost lovingly in his hand. He had missed having a gun in prison, the feeling of importance which came with it. A gun commanded respect. It gave him power. He had not felt such an adrenaline rush in a very long time. "Come on." He smiled but his eyes were cold as he walked towards the closed door which he assumed was the bedroom.

Frank reached behind his back underneath his shirt and drew out his own gun following closely behind Bill.

Bill pushed open the door and they were hit by a blast of cold air from the air conditioning which was softly humming in the background. He strode over to the bed, yanked the covers off and shoved the gun practically in Carter’s face. "Good evening Dr. Carter."

Startled out of his half aware state, Carter opened his eyes to find a strange man pointing a gun at him. His breathing quickened and he thought his heart was going to leap out of his chest it was pounding so hard. "You’re dreaming…you’re dreaming….you’re dreaming…." He thought to himself, fighting the overwhelming terror that was starting to overtake him.

"Get up."

Carter looked towards the other voice and saw a burly man with a sneer on his face who also had a gun pointed at him. "Wh…what’s going on?" he asked, hating the trembly sound of his voice.

"We’re just going for a little trip," Bill said. "Keep your mouth shut and we’ll get along just fine. Open it and I’ll blow your brains out. Now get up and put some shoes on unless you want to go barefoot."

Carter rose slowly, wondering if this was just some fever-induced nightmare. Maybe he was delirious or something. It couldn’t really be happening. He grabbed the pair of Reeboks by his bed, put them on and stood up cautiously.

"Good," said Bill. "Now you’re going to walk out of here in front of us. Any trouble at all and we will not hesitate to use these guns. Get going." He stuck the gun in the middle of Carter’s back and pushed him hard to make his point.

Carter started out of the bedroom towards the entrance of his apartment. Every muscle in his body tensed and he fully expected to have a hole blown through him any second. They made it out to the front of the apartment building without incident though.

Carter looked wildly around him, wondering if he should make a break but then jerked in pain as Bill jammed the gun into his side. "Don’t even think about it," Bill said "You’ll be sorry."

They walked to the van parked in front of the building and Bill opened the back door. "Get in."

"Hey!" All three men turned at the sound of the new voice as Benton trotted up. "Carter man, what are you doing?"

"He’s getting in this van and now you are too." Bill said menacingly, allowing Benton to see a glimpse of the weapon he had shoved against Carter. "Either of you tries anything, I’ll kill the other one."

Carter gave Benton an apologetic look as he climbed into the van. Benton followed suit. Frank got in behind them and slammed the van door.

"Carter what the hell is…." Benton’s question was stopped by a vicious punch to the stomach that sent him reeling.

"Shut up!" yelled Frank. "Nobody said you could talk!"

Everybody lurched as the van suddenly sprang to life. Frank got busy right away. He forced Carter and Benton to the floor, grabbed some rope and roughly tied their hands behind their backs. Then he grabbed some old rags and started ripping them into strips. He blindfolded and gagged both men and then relaxed for the ride.

Benton’s mind started racing as he tried to piece together what had just happened. "Who are these guys?" he wondered. "What the hell do they want?" His thoughts turned to Carter. Things had been rough following the stabbing but he had gotten himself a good therapist and had been doing much better the past few months. This was likely to push him right over the edge.

Carter in the meantime was attempting to stay calm. "It’s alright…it’s alright.. Benton’s here…. Benton’s here…" Not that he wanted Benton to be endangered but at least he didn’t feel so alone. He kept repeating this mantra in his head and tried to slow down his breathing. It wasn’t going to help matters any if he lost control. He wondered why these horrible things kept happening to him. He tried to be a good person for all the good it did him. Maybe he had been a vile person in another life or maybe he was just jinxed.

They drove for a long time. There was a lot of bumping and jarring going on. Benton wasn’t sure if it was because of rough roads or maybe just that he wasn’t used to sitting on the floor in the back of a van. He stayed alert straining to hear some clue of where they were going. Carter’s head was pounding relentlessly and in spite of everything he could no longer fight his exhaustion and he fell asleep.

Finally the van stopped. Carter and Benton were grabbed and forcibly shoved to their feet. Nobody spoke to them, just pushed and shoved them along. It was very hard to walk with the blindfolds and both men tripped over rocks and holes in the ground only to be roughly grabbed and steadied by their captors. At last they came upon what they could only assume was their destination. They heard a door opening and they were shoved inside some kind of a structure.

At last they were given some relief as their arms were unbound and they were allowed to take the blindfolds from their eyes and the gags from their mouths. They warily looked around their surroundings. They noticed that there was an additional man, who must have been the driver, besides the two who had originally nabbed them. They saw that they were in a cold, gloomy stone structure with cells, what looked like a very old jailhouse. An involuntary shiver ran down Carter’s spine.

"First thing’s first," Bill said. "The rules remain the same. If either of you does anything to antagonize us, we will take it out on your buddy. Now who the hell are you?" he asked, indicating Benton.

Benton moistened his lips before speaking. His whole mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton from the gag. "Dr. Peter Benton," he replied.

Bill considered this. Now there would be two doctors missing. They would have to move pretty fast. "Well Dr. Peter Benton," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I bet you are certainly happy you chose today to visit young Dr. Carter now aren’t you? Now you get to share in our wonderful adventure."

Benton said nothing, just glowered at Bill.

Bill felt a little disappointed that Benton didn’t react. "I suppose you are both wondering why you’re here, any guesses?" he asked. "How about you, Dr. Carter, surely you must be curious."

"I’m guessing it has something to do with money," Carter said, his voice croaking as he swallowed painfully.

"You win first prize!" Bill bellowed enthusiastically. "Very astute of you, or maybe not so astute. I don’t suppose it takes a brain surgeon to figure that out."

Frank and Tony nodded and chuckled appreciatively.

"Oh well, enough of this," Bill said warmly, in the manner of a host welcoming guests. "Come on, I’ll show you gentlemen to your accommodations. They are really quite lovely and very, very private. No chance at all of any unwelcome visitors. You’re lucky we found this place -its out in the middle of nowhere. Not many people know about it."

They walked down the passageway past a couple of cells that looked pretty decrepit with large chunks of stone falling out of the walls. Benton made a mental note that it wouldn’t be too hard to break out of this place if they were to leave them here. A few minutes later he found out he was mistaken. They were led to a door that led to an underground stairway.

Carter and Benton looked down with trepidation. Bill pulled out a flashlight from his pocket. "Hey Frank, wanna grab a couple of candles from that box?"

Frank brought over the candles. "Come on you two, move," said Bill.

Carter and Benton moved warily down the stairs. At the bottom from the light of the flashlight beam they could see a couple of heavy iron doors to what most likely were isolation cells. Carter felt a cold heaviness in his chest and he broke out into a sweat. He could not be put into one of those cells alone. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stand it. Abruptly the flashlight beam focused in on his face. "Relax Dr. Carter," said Bill. "I know what happened to you and I’m not a monster. I’m going to let you and your friend be roomies."

"Now which room would you like?" he asked. "Would you like our special country inn motif or the honeymoon suite?"

Frank guffawed loudly and his laugh echoed in the tomb-like structures. He then proceeded to open one of the doors which creaked hideously and Carter and Benton were shoved into the dark depths. A candle was lit and passed to them along with a couple of extras.

"I’m sorry we didn’t bring any medical books for your reading pleasure," said Bill. "I guess you will just have to entertain yourselves. Oh yeah, here’s some water," he said, thrusting gallon-sized container at them. We’ll be back later."

The iron door was closed with a bang and was locked with a padlock from the outside. Carter and Benton were left alone.

End of Part 2