Battle the Dark: Chapter 19

Outside the penthouse, he took a few steps at Leona's request, and they entered the janitorial closet.  Leona said, "Get in."  The last thing he heard before he blacked out was Blair's horrified and desperate scream from inside the penthouse.  Todd practically fell into the laundry bin that Michael Leona had waiting, and was out cold.

Leona's plan continued from there with ease.  First, he loaded the laundry bin into the elevator, and used the janitorial keys that he stole to bypass all floors and go to the basement, which was inaccessible to guests and residents.  When on the bottom floor, he disembarked, wheeling the bin with him, as the elevator went up a few floors and police entered the elevator at the lobby level.

Also entering the elevator was Timothy Broderick, who had seen, from his apartment a block away, the police cars and ambulance outside the penthouse building.  He had rushed over, remembering Rebecca Katherine's eerie feeling.  In the elevator, John said, "Why are you here, Broderick?"

"These are friends of my sister.  You understand, McBain."  He had already placed a call, quite a bit before, to his sister, who had summoned a taxi to come into the city.  They arrived on the penthouse level, and disembarked with caution.  Their eyes rested on Devon, who was pale and lying in coagulating blood.  The EMTs pushed forward, and John went to the penthouse door.  It was locked.  They could hear the baby shrieking inside the penthouse. 

"We're going to have to break the door down," John said.  

"Let me try," Broderick said, pushing forward with a credit card.  With a little fiddling, he was able to get the door open, as the bell of arrival rang, and Sister Rebecca Katherine raced out of the elevator toward them.

"I thought I'd lose my dinner in that cab, the driver was more careless than a Wild Man.  But he got me here, that's what matters now."

She pushed by them into the penthouse and stopped.  Blair was holding the baby, who was crying madly; Blair herself was in the shredded nightie, stroking his head, robotically, and staring off.  Blood was on her cheek, and on her gown.  "Oh dear Lord Jesus, help us," Sister cried, and ran to Blair's side.  "Blair, it's Sister Rebecca Katherine.  Can you hear me, darling?"

Blair did not respond, but continued to pet the baby and look off into the distance.  John went to her as well, using a loud tone, "Blair, it's John.  Blair, help us.  Tell us where Todd is."

She did not answer.  

Sister Rebecca Katherine leaned toward her, "Let me see the baby, dear."

Blair would not let go.

"Blair, you must let us help the baby.  He's hungry, he needs to be fed, dearest.  Please.  Let me see the baby."

Blair stopped, moving her hands to her side.  Sister Rebecca Katherine handed the baby to the EMTs, who checked it for physical injury, and Blair let out a high-pitched scream that startled everyone in the room, "Nooooo!"  She collapsed onto Sister Rebecca Katherine, who petted and caressed her, to try and calm her.  Blair's sobs were piercing.  When the EMTs approached her, she pulled away and squeezed closer to the nun, hysteria setting in.  Sister Rebecca said, "Here, dear, hold on to me, now, it will all be all right."

Timothy approached, with a glass in hand, with two inches of whiskey in the bottom, and held the glass to Blair's lips and made her drink it.  He worked until she had taken it all.  She went back to crying, and he handed his sister a blanket, to keep Blair warm and protect her from shock.  The baby was fine, being cared for by the EMTs and seemed to have fared well.  Blair began to talk, "He took him.  He took Todd away.  He has the knife, the same knife.  He took Todd.  Todd didn't want him to get us, so he offered himself," she could not stop the tears.  between her words were sobs and gasps.  "John, John please!"  she screamed,  "Please don't let him take Todd away.  Please! Oh, no...God no,"  she broke into sobs again.  "John, you have to find him, you have to save him!"

The nun was beside herself with grief.  She stood, practically lifting Blair off the ground in one motion.  "Come on dearest, let's go upstairs to the bed, you need to lie down."  She helped Blair to the staircase and realized how much in tatters her gown was.  She also was covered in blood in different places.  "It's going to be all right.  Let's get you cleaned up."  The nun wondered what had been done to her.

Within minutes, Shaun, who had come to get the boys from the lobby, also walked in to the penthouse and took the baby, putting him into his carrier.  He was to deliver them to Addie and explain the situation tactfully.  He left, with the baby in hand.

John brought a forensics team over immediately.  The EMTs having attempted to patch up Devon, rushed him in the ambulance to the hospital, with Timothy offering to go along. Concerned he might die on the way, they searched his wallet for next of kin and found the name Jessica Buchanan.

Upstairs, Blair's sobs and words were permeating the silence.  Erratic and confused, she was crying and talking at the same time, but was much less hysterical than she was at first, the nun noted.  Sister Rebecca Katherine undressed her and found another nightgown to put on her, taking the other and leaving it for John McBain as evidence.  She washed Blair's cheek off, and other areas that had blood on them, and dressed and covered her small wounds.  Sister wondered how such small cuts could produce so much blood.  She knew Blair should be looked at by a doctor, but was fairly certain that her emotional well-being should come first.

After a few minutes of the pampering, Blair was not hysterical any longer.  She was crying quietly, and would sob in waves.  Sister Rebecca Katherine sat next to her on the bed, and put her arms around the woman.  "It's all right, dear.  Do you want to talk about this?"

"Oh, God.  Sister, he just wanted to save us.  He wanted us to be all right.  His deepest horrors, except for maybe one other thing in his life, and he went to it, willingly, just to save us."  She searched the nun's face for understanding, not being able to comprehend the events of the evening.

"Dearest, you should see a doctor.  Can you tell me what happened to you?"

She took in a deep breath that skipped and caught in her throat, "I was changing the baby, and he was just there.  He was in the doorway.  He was leaning against the door frame.  I tried to scream, but I couldn't.  The sound would not come out."  She broke down again.

"It's all right."

"I told him....I said I'd fight until I was dead to protect the baby.  That he would have to kill me before touching Little Ray."

"I understand."

"Then he said he just wanted me, and I knew..." she swallowed, "I knew he wanted to rape me.  I fought him, but he used that knife...oh God," she cried harder, "that knife."

John appeared at the bedroom door, and stood.  Blair was unaware of his presence and continued to talk.  "It's the same knife.  The one he used to..."

"You don't have to say anything more, only if you want to, dear," the nun said.  Blair's heart was broken.  Sister Rebecca Katherine wished she could somehow take her pain from her, but knew it was nearly impossible.

She cried.  The weeping was raw and so full of sadness, it was almost unbearable to the listener.   Sister would not leave her, however, she had already decided that.  Blair went on, suddenly calmer.  "He used the same knife when Todd was being held by him.  He used it for torture."

John remained quiet, listening to her words and taking note of everything she revealed.

Sister said, "That's horrible, the things that he endured.  He's a strong man, Blair, he's not to be taken lightly.  He's going to be all right, I know this.  He spent too long trying to get back to ya, he's not going to take this lying down."

She pulled herself together, breathing slower.  Her hand went to her wound above her right breast.  "He is strong.  He's stronger than anyone I know.  To give himself up like that, to save us.  To willingly go back to that kind of abuse."

"I am glad to know him," the sister said.

"Me too," John finally said.

Blair turned.  "Oh, John," she began to cry again.  "John, where are my boys?"

"They're all fine, all three of them.  They're safe.  Shaun, Starr and Addie are with them.  Blair, what can you tell me about the events of this night?"

She relayed every moment of the evening that she could recall, almost as if a leak had sprung and water was escaping from a holding tank.  She cried throughout the details, and when she had finished, she realized how tired she was.  "I just can't sit anymore," she said, leaning onto Sister Rebecca Katherine.

"We'll find him, Blair,"  John said.  "Until then, there will be police stationed at your home and everywhere you go.  I'll assign them myself."

Before John walked off and left, Blair said, "John, please.  You know what this will do to him.  Please John, please find him."

He could only nod affirmatively.  He found the doorway and turned back, "Blair, you should see a doctor," and he vanished.

She looked at the nun, who was aghast at the story that Blair had relayed.  "You poor dear, you must rest."

The nun helped her lie down, and sat on the edge of the bed.  It was pushing three in the morning now, and the nun just petted Blair's hair, wanting her to find solace in sleep.  She began to pray, quietly, for Blair's peace and Todd's safety.

After a few minutes, Blair said, "Sister?"

"Yes dear?"

"He loves me.  He's the only person in this world aside from my children that loves me and always has.  He loves me more than anything else.  He loves his children more than life.  He's given so much.  He's more than made up for his past."

"I believe you, dear heart."

She gripped the sister's hand.   "He's been through so much.  Since he was a child."  Blair began to cry again, as she lie there, in the dark.  The nun could do nothing but listen.  "He was abused since he was little, about Sam's age.  When he was almost Jack's age, he was raped by his father."  Sister Rebecca let her own tears flow silently as she listened.  "He was so filled with anger, he did terrible things, Sister.  Terrible things."

"He is sorry for those things, my love."

"Yes, he's been sorry for years.  It never went away.  People used it against him, the bad things he did.  He has made a lot of mistakes," she breathed out in a long sigh, "but he's more than paid and he keeps paying, it seems.  When does it end?"

"I don't know.  It seems to me that he punishes himself most of the time."

Blair cried, "Yes, yes he does.  Even with his mistakes he has punished himself."

"Now, you must rest.  You cannot be of help to your children or Todd or to the police if you don't."

"I know.  He has to be okay.  What if he can't face this?"

"He can, dear.  He's too strong and come too far."

Blair related what Todd's captivity had been like, and how he had relied on catatonia to protect himself.  Sister Rebecca Katherine was stunned.  Then, after thinking more, she said,  "Then he will be all right.  He has a way to escape it, even if it should get very bad.  Now, you sleep, dear.  Close your eyes."

She did as the nun asked her, and within a few moments, she was asleep, breathing regularly and even.

Sister Rebecca Katherine began to cry, for Todd and for Blair and for the children.  She turned and knelt on the floor, and perching her hands on the bed, she began to pray, and continued to do so until dawn.

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