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

Spoilers: Episodes through All in the Family
Archive: Sure, just ask so I know where it is going.
Disclaimer: All ER characters are the property of Warner Brothers, NBC, etc., etc. (The bad guys are mine).

Summary: Dr. Carter is held for ransom and an unwitting Dr. Benton gets dragged along for the ride.

Note: Thanks to the members of the ERFFCC for your comments and editing help, and to all the people who have written feedback. It is very much appreciated.



Dr. Robert Romano came storming through the ER, obviously a man on a mission. His eyes swept the admitting area, looking for someone to cast his wrath upon, and settled on Elizabeth Corday, who was writing on a chart at the main desk. 

"Lizzie!" he barked, startling Elizabeth, Chuny, and Randi and causing them all to jump. 

"Yes, what is it, Robert?" Elizabeth asked, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice as she continued to write. 

"Do you have your ex, Peter, stowed away somewhere?" he asked snidely and loudly enough for everyone to hear. 

Elizabeth glared back at him. "I have no idea where Dr. Benton is, Robert. Perhaps you might ask Dr. Finch."

Kerry Weaver came up alongside them. "Is there some problem, Robert?" she asked, wishing he would stay up on the surgical floor. Whenever he came down to the ER, he always caused some kind of a commotion.  

Romano turned his attention to Kerry. "Yes actually there is a problem," he said. "Dr. Benton had a surgical procedure scheduled over an hour ago, and another surgery scheduled in 45 minutes. He is nowhere to be found. I would say that is a problem, wouldn't you?"

"I'm sorry that you can't find Peter but I haven't seen him all day," said Kerry.

Romano glowered at her. "Where's Finch?" he asked. 

"Cleo has been on the night shift for the past week," replied Kerry.

"Oh so that's it..." Romano said, shaking his head knowingly. "Petey is going to be in for a rude awakening if he's going to start playing these little games."

"You!" he said loudly, waving his hand in front of Randi's face. "Get me Dr. Finch's phone number now."

"Asshole," said Randi under her breath as she took her time looking through the computer.

"Excuse me?" asked Romano belligerently. "I didn't quite get that."

"Here you go," Randi smiled sweetly and handed Romano a piece of paper with Dr. Finch's phone number written on it.

Romano snatched the paper without a word of thanks and proceeded to dial the telephone. By now quite a crowd had gathered at the desk. Everyone was pretending to perform one task or another while trying not to appear as if they were eavesdropping.

"Hello, Dr. Finch? This is Dr. Romano. May I speak to Dr. Benton please? Oh I see. Well when did he leave? I see. Goodbye." Romano slammed the phone down. "Supposedly Dr. Finch has not seen him. I had better not find out she is lying to me. If anybody sees Dr. Benton tell him I want to see him immediately!" With that, Romano stomped out of the ER.

"What's going on here?" asked Mark, coming up behind Elizabeth and giving her an affectionate kiss on the cheek. "Romano looked like he was going to explode."

"He was just being his typical, obnoxious self," replied Elizabeth, smiling up at Mark. "Evidently Peter didn't report to work today and Romano is on the warpath." 

"Well, I'm sure he has a good reason if he's not here." 

"Yes I suppose," said Elizabeth, looking a little bit worried. It really wasn't like Peter to miss surgery and even more unlikely that he wouldn't call. She tried to put it out of her mind. 

"Mark," asked Kerry, coming up to him. "Is John coming back today?"

"Yeah, I think he's on at one," replied Mark, turning toward Kerry. "At least I haven't heard he's not coming in, so I assume he is."

"Okay, that's fine, thanks," said Kerry, turning away to attend to some paperwork.

"You still off at three?" Mark asked, his attention on Elizabeth once more.  

"Yes, as far as I know," replied Elizabeth. "I've got to run now though, I have surgery. I'll meet you in the lounge around three?"

"Okay, I'll see you later" said Mark, his eyes lingering admiringly on Elizabeth as she made her way down the hall. He then turned his attention to the board and the waiting patients.



Carter could not take his eyes off the spider as it slowly crept down the wall. He had never seen one like it. It was big, black and hairy, the kind of spider you only saw in a horror movie, but never in real life. Then, without warning, the single spider was joined by countless others. He felt his blood run cold as he watched with morbid fascination. They seemed to be multiplying, coming out of the walls, all moving towards him. Some floated down over him, hanging from their silky webs. He wanted to escape but was unable to move. He was on the verge of hysteria as the spiders hanging from the ceiling dropped onto his body and the others began to creep over him in a never-ending march. He began to scream. 

The sound of Carter's screams jerked Benton out of sleep. He was momentarily disoriented by the shadowy darkness of the cell, but quickly got his bearings and rushed to Carter's side. He saw immediately that Carter was in the throws of some horrific nightmare.

"Get them off me!  Get them off me!" Carter was screaming and thrashing about, making a swiping motion at whatever was attacking him in his dream.  

"Come on Carter, wake up man, its only a dream!" Benton said loudly. He grabbed Carter's arms so he wouldn't hurt himself or open up his wound. "Come on!  Wake up!"

Carter finally awoke, breathing heavily, and stared at Benton with fever glazed eyes. "Don't touch me!" he demanded in a hoarse voice. He glanced around the cell and started to get up. "I've gotta get out of here."

"Whoa. Come on Carter. You can't get up," said Benton, gently but firmly holding Carter down. 

"Let go of me!" he cried, his voice sounding on the verge of tears. "I want to get out of here now. Let me go. Please let me out of here!" 

Carter's face was dripping with perspiration, as he tried to escape Benton's hold. "Why are you doing this to me?" he asked with an accusatory tone. "Why are you keeping me here?"

"We'll get out of here soon, Carter," Benton grabbed the bottle of Advil, shook out four tablets, and poured some water into a cup. "Here. Take these. They'll help you feel better."

"No, I don't want them," Carter moaned. 

Benton cursed himself for having gone to sleep. He had awoken a few times and checked on Carter, but he had been sleeping peacefully and Benton had drifted off again.  

"Come on, Carter.  Please." Benton gently lifted Carter's head to get the pills into his mouth. 

"I don't want them! Leave me alone. You're trying to poison me!" Carter ranted nonsensically. "I bet you're in on it with them. You've always hated me, ever since you found out my family was rich."

"Come on man, you have to take these," Benton felt like he was wrestling with an enraged child as Carter struggled against him.  His strength wore out very quickly though and Benton was able to pop the pills into Carter's mouth and managed to get Carter to drink some water. Benton then ripped the sleeves off his shirt and drenched them to make cool compresses. He used one to bathe Carter's face and upper torso. The other he placed on Carter's forehead. Carter threw it off a few times, mumbling that he didn't want it, but Benton kept replacing it, talking in reassuring tones, until at last, Carter fell into an exhausted sleep. 

Benton kept watch over Carter, periodically re-soaking the cool compresses. Carter tossed and turned at first, but finally settled down and appeared to be resting comfortably. Benton sighed deeply as he chewed on one of the beef jerky sticks and then decided to eat one of the chocolate bars. He was starving. He knew he had to try to keep his strength up for both his and Carter's sake. After he ate, he took the flashlight and explored the room carefully, seeing if there was something he had missed before, some possible way for them to escape. He prodded the walls, which were solid, and shook the door, which did not budge. He searched every inch of the floor, on the outside chance that there could be a key, but found nothing. 

Totally discouraged, Benton sat back down near Carter. He started to think about Reece and the very real possibility that he would never see his son again. Reece was more important than anything in the world to him. He couldn't bear the thought that he had held him in his arms for the last time. He prayed that their luck would change soon.



Mark sighed wearily and headed for the lounge to wait for Elizabeth. A school bus accident had made for a very hectic afternoon. The ER had been filled with upset and crying children. Fortunately, none of the injuries had been too serious, but it had still made for quite a day. Mark poured himself a cup of coffee and plopped himself onto the sofa. He leaned his head back and let his thoughts drift pleasantly to what he and Elizabeth would do with the rest of the day. He had almost begun to doze off when he heard the door open. He looked up expectantly but it was a frazzled looking Kerry, not Elizabeth, who came into the room.

"Hey Kerry," he said, "Some crazy afternoon, wasn't it?" 

Kerry's face was very serious as she made her way over to Mark and sat down beside him. "Mark," she began. "I'm very concerned about John. He never made it in this afternoon and he isn't answering his phone."

"Really?" Mark asked, immediately understanding Kerry's concern. "That's definitely not like Carter."

"No, it isn't like him at all," agreed Kerry. "I hate to bother you, especially if its nothing, but its impossible for me to leave right now. Could you possibly stop by his place to check on him?"

Just then Elizabeth entered the room. "Sorry I'm a bit late," she explained, "I was with a patient in Recovery." 

"It's okay," Mark mumbled distractedly.

"What's wrong?" asked Elizabeth, noting the distressed expressions on both Mark and Kerry's faces. 

"Carter never reported for work today," replied Mark. "Kerry asked if we could stop by and check on him."

"Oh of course we will, Kerry," said Elizabeth. She tried to push away the disturbing thoughts that were starting to enter her mind. "You know, Peter never showed up today either."

Mark and Kerry glanced at each other apprehensively. "It's probably just a coincidence," said Mark slowly. "There could be any number of reasons why they're not here."

"Yes, well, I suppose we'd better go," said Elizabeth uneasily.

"Mark, please call me right away when you get there," Kerry said anxiously. She had a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.  She prayed that John had just taken his phone off the hook or there was some other simple explanation. Maybe he was still sick and had just felt too lousy to call in. She tried to make herself believe this was the case. 

"I will, Kerry," Mark said as he turned to leave the room, his arm encircling Elizabeth's waist. "Try not to worry."

Kerry watched as the door closed behind them and a feeling of dread came over her. Somehow she just knew that something was terribly, terribly wrong. 



Mark and Elizabeth were relatively silent during the drive to Carter's apartment. Both were afraid to voice the thoughts that they had. As Mark drove down Carter's street, Elizabeth suddenly gasped. 

"Mark, that's Peter's car," she said, indicating a car that was parked a short distance from the apartment building. 

"Are you sure?" asked Mark, knowing that she was.

"Yes, I'm sure," she murmured as a chill ran down her back. 

"Carter's jeep is here too," Mark said glumly as he parked his van in front of the building. He suddenly felt very afraid of what they were going to find. When they got out of the van, Elizabeth came over to him, grasped his hand and clutched it tightly. He had no words to reassure her as they approached the building. 

Mark rang the buzzer for the building manager, Dan Coveney, and fortunately he was in. He was a pleasant gray-haired man in his early 60s. After Mark had explained the situation, he agreed to let them into Carter's apartment. "Dr. Carter's a nice fellow," Dan said amiably as they rode up in the elevator. "I sure do hope he's okay."

"We hope so too," Mark said grimly.

After what seemed an interminable wait, the elevator stopped. The trio got out on Carter's floor and walked toward Carter's apartment. Elizabeth felt like her legs were made of jelly as they approached.  She had a terrible feeling of foreboding about what they were going to find. She had seen too many news reports of the horrific things that happened in the world to be optimistic. She clenched Mark's hand even tighter. 

"Do you want to wait out here?" Mark asked Elizabeth gently as Dan fumbled for the right key. 

"No. I'll go with you," Elizabeth stated, a slight waver in her voice. 

"Okay."

They watched as Dan slowly opened the door. The apartment was dark. He flicked on the light and the three made their way into the living room. The room appeared undisturbed.

"I'm going to check the bedroom," said Mark. 

"I'll check the bathroom," said Dan. 

Elizabeth held her breath as she followed Mark to the bedroom. "A blast of cold air hit them as he opened the door. "Jeez it's freezing in here," said Mark. He walked over and turned off the air conditioner. Carter's bed was unmade and rumpled and a box of tissues was on the night table. 

"There's nobody here!" called Dan, from the bathroom. 

"What about the closet?" Elizabeth asked tremulously.

Mark walked over to the closet and cautiously opened the door. "Nothing," he said, breathing a huge sigh of relief. "They're not here. Thank God."

"But where on earth are they?" asked Elizabeth.

"I don't know," replied Mark, shaking his head. "I wish I did..."

End Part 5