Battle the Dark: Chapter 35

"Dear, you must take the brandy.  You simply must.  You need the rest."  She swigged from the bottle.  "Here."


Blair took it, reluctantly.  Shaun had left to go back to the men to further the plan; Sister Rebecca Katherine was gripping her beads.  Blair said, "I don't want to sleep.  Sister, he's running out of time.  I was with that man, in captivity.  I know what he is capable of.  I saw him rip Todd's shirt open and cut him and then..."  she broke down in the nun's arms.  Sister Rebecca Katherine had not really been faced with such horror before.  She comforted her friend, who really was like her own daughter, and helped her lie back down on the bed. 


"You really must rest."


Blair touched the area where Leona had cut her with the knife.  She closed her eyes, and said aloud, "Please God, please save him."  Within a few moments, she was asleep.  


The nun got busy, praying on her knees, her hands forming a triangle toward the heavens.  She said in a whisper, "Dear Lord, send me strength, and send me a message if you're able, of where to find the dear lad.  Please, Lord, this family has had enough."


***


Shaun walked in on Timothy and John, completely prepared and ready to go.  "Where are we off to?"


John thought, it would be a challenge with Shaun, an untrained bodyguard, and an elderly man.  But, it was better than going it alone.  He said, "Off to Rialto.  The catacombs.  We just got word."


"Blair's sleeping, or at least close to it.  The nun was feeding her the brandy, when she wasn't nipping at it herself."


"That's my sister, dear lass.  She can drink like a man, and fight like one, too."


John said, "Both of you, stay close to me.  Remember, no heroics.  We need him brought home, no risks, no foolish moves," and they departed, leaving a simple, sparse note for the women in case they came back.


Arriving in downtown Rialto, McBain, Broderick and Evans were at a stopping place, when they asked the taxi driver to take them to the area closest to the catacombs, and he informed them that there were literally hundreds of systems of tunnels below the city.  They stopped at a cafe, to sit and regroup.  Shaun spoke first, "I don't know about you two, but I can't go back to Blair without Todd."


"It's time to play hunches,"  John said, sipping his Irish coffee, "Anyone got one?"


Timothy remained quiet, thinking of any clue he could turn into an answer.


John said, "Timothy, you're awfully quiet." 


"You have me confused with my sister, the little dear motormouth."


'Well, somebody better start talking," Shaun said.  He sipped his beer.


Timothy downed a shot of whiskey.  "Just one drink each, otherwise, we won't be sharp enough to solve anything, never mind this calamity."


John said, "Church?"


"Are you asking if The Men of 21 would choose a church to be under, I don't know."  Timothy said.  If we start in one area..."


"We won't be done for weeks."  Shaun said.


"Todd doesn't have that long.  We must think of something."  Timothy said.  


***


Leona struggled to sit Todd up, and perched him against a larger stone.  A smear of his blood was on the rock wall from the open wounds that seeped through the bandages.  "You're a bleeder,"  he said.


"You're cutting me.  Wounds without skin bleed."


"But you bleed fast.  One right cut, and...won't be long."


"You sat me up.  For what?"


"I figured there would be a last hurrah."


You know what it is.  You've been there.  You lived it, you pushed it down, but it's there.  Don't wait.  Kill the bastard.


He went to his bag.  Todd thought he might know exactly what The Slice and Dice was planning, so he formulated his own plan as well.


The Slice and Dice put on the Grim Reaper robe, and stood before Todd.  Todd made his breathing irregular, as if panicking.  The Slice and Dice lifted the hood and covered his face.  Todd was panting now, and squeezing his eyes shut.  But this time, it was not to shut out the blackness.  He had won that battle.  Instead, he was squeezing out the pain that he felt in his back against the hardness of the rock wall.  The Slice and Dice took out the lighter next, and Todd did feel a chill of remembrance.  It was then, in that very second, that he became fully aware of what the ritual had lead to all those years in captivity.  


It wasn't Carlo at all, at least not all of those times.  The Slice and Dice had done his own rendition of Peter Manning, from very start to terrorizing finish.  Bile rose in his throat, and the urge to vomit was overpowering, but he fought it back.  Feigning catatonia, he watched The Slice and Dice approach him: lighter in one hand, flaming; knife between his fingers in the other hand.  


He bent and attempted to pull Todd's shirt free and undo his belt.  Without warning, Todd headbutted the man, sending him back against the far rock wall.  


Jack's voice:  Badass.  


Leona slammed into the wall of stone, unexpectedly hard, and the lighter, that was already ignited, fell onto his robe, catching fire.  The knife flew from his hand.  As the Slice and Dice attempted to gather himself together, and pat out the flames in the dirt, he became entangled in his robe, giving Todd more time.  Somehow, with every muscle and raw wound straining and not wanting to cooperate under the pressure of dehydration and hunger, Todd fell forward, grabbing Leona's ankles.  He heard the other man's voice, "Ah, Manning, I never knew you had this in you!"


Wincing, crying out, and getting the knife from his keeper's boot, Todd felt a burst of strength.  


Sam's voice:  There's God coming down.  


Todd climbed over his captor, and put his knee over his chest, holding the knife to his neck.  The man reached to his boot, to extract his second blade.  But it wasn't there, and his eyes widened and fixed on it, now in Todd's hand, pressed to his own throat.  Todd said, "I told you, I would kill you."


"You don't have a choice.  If you don't, I'll kill you, or they will."


"You've done..."  Todd's vision was fading, the weakness and lack of strength taking over.  "You've done to me everything vile a person can perpetrate on another human being."


"I'm sick, remember.  You know what to do, at least with this.  Maybe not how to really get out of here."  


Todd hesitated, fighting unconsciousness.  "No, you're wrong.  Now that I can...I can't."  He knew it was that moment; there would be no other chance.  But his hand shook and his head spun, dizzy and exhausted.  Without warning, Leona pushed at Todd, who found himself under his handler.  As the enemy's hands tightened around his throat, he mustered the strength to draw the blade up and into Leona's neck.  Todd, watching the blood spray in several directions, covered his face, instinctively, as The Slice and Dice, clutching his throat, rolled off him and died, face to his.  Todd, who couldn't get the strength move, was barely alive himself, and watched the life go out of his keeper.  Bleeding from several wounds, Todd Manning lay, alive, in the darkness of the catacombs, staring at the rock ceiling.  It was over.  He was free.  


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