Lightning in a Bottle
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Chapter 79: Icing Conditions, Pt 2
Neal was inundated with a Calling, saw himself fall onto the ice. Henry was safe though…as he took his last breath.
"Neal…" Emma called to her husband, who was laying on Henry's bed, completely zoned out.
"Neal…" she repeated, as she finally got through to him.
"Henry…I saw him," he said.
"A Calling?" she asked.
"I think so…" Neal replied.
"Somewhere in the wilderness…where I die," he added.
"Neal…you're not dying, okay?" she asked sternly.
"No one is dying today," she insisted, as David and Margaret stood together, in each other's arms. He gently kissed her head, as he often did and she clung to him. The wilderness wasn't much help as a definite location and they were trying to keep high hopes. Olive's phone buzzed and she checked, gasping as she did.
"What is it, sweetie?" Margaret asked.
"I…I think it's from Henry. It's an unknown number…but it's him!" she called, as they gathered around her.
"I'm okay…tell Mom and Doug I love them?" Margaret asked.
"Who's Doug?" Emma asked, as Olive's eyes widened.
"Oh my God…oh my God…I think I know where he is!" she cried.
"Doug…as in the Dugout," Olive replied.
"That sketchy diner from years ago in the Catskills?" David asked.
"Yes…Henry and I were obsessed with that place, because of the happy face pancakes. We named it Doug," Olive replied.
"We used to joke about who loved Doug the most," she added, as David's hands flew over the laptop keyboard.
"The Dugout…outside Liberty," he said.
"Zoom in on that photo," Neal pointed, as he did so.
"Those power lines…I saw them in my Calling," Neal said.
"That's where he has to be. We need to get up there," David replied.
"We have to tell the cops," Margaret said.
"No…if we tell them, they'll have helicopters and a team crawling all over it. Jace sees one chopper and he'll kill Henry," Emma warned. David sighed.
"She's right…he's there. It was a Calling," Neal added.
"Okay…we'll do this your way," David relented.
"Hey…so that text was from an app and I can't trace it," Ruby said, as she popped back in the room and noticed the tension in the room.
"What?" she asked and then sighed.
"Guys…I'm on your team," Ruby assured them.
"We need you to run interference," Emma requested.
"Done," Ruby said, as she returned to the kitchen.
"Okay…let's sneak out and head up there," David said, as he kissed Margaret. He knew she and Olive wanted to come, but these guys were extremely dangerous and someone had to stay with Eden.
"I'll bring him home this time, I promise," he whispered.
"I know…be careful. Both of you," she pleaded. He nodded and kissed her tenderly again.
"I'm coming too," Neal insisted.
"You're too weak," Gold protested.
"He's right," Emma agreed.
"I have to…I was there in the Calling. I have to be there…I have to follow the Calling," Neal said. Clearly, none of them liked it, but they didn't protest further. Killian motioned to them, indicating that he
had a path out of the house without being noticed.
With that, the four of them sneaked through the back while Ruby distracted the officers in the kitchen.
"Killian…" Neal called, as he turned to him.
"When I'm gone…I'm glad you'll be here for her," he said. Killian nodded.
"Stay warm," he replied, as they got into their vehicles and began the drive upstate.
~*~
And we continue to track the ongoing manhunt for three escaped suspects in a narcotics-trafficking ring now believed to have abducted a boy from his family'sr esidence in
Hollis Hills, Queens. The search for Henry Nolan, one of Montego Air 828's returned passengers, has expanded statewide, and an Amber Alert has been issued.
"We're screwed! A-A-An Amber Alert? That means every single person with a phone is gonna be looking for us," Pete panicked.
"People swipe those away to get back to their porn and their Snapchat," Kory reasoned.
But statewide means we'll never be able to cross the border. Real good plan!" Kory snapped at Jace.
"Shut up," Jace hissed, as he loomed over Henry, who was huddled on the bed.
"Where the hell did this kid get a blanket?" he asked, as he ripped it away.
"I-I-I thought he might be cold," Pete stammered, as Jace snarled at him.
"You don't get to think," he snapped, as he stormed out and backhanded Pete, causing him to fall to the floor, frightening Henry even more.
"Hey!" Kory protested, but stopped when Jace brandished his pistol.
"Don't make me use this. Now is not the time to go soft," he warned.
~*~
"No one in the diner has seen Henry," David said, as he was on the phone with his wife, while Emma drove.
"My guess is that they just drove by the diner," Margaret replied.
"Do you see the power lines up ahead?" she asked, as he put her on speaker.
"Yeah. They jut up into the woods, and they splinter off in two different directions," Emma answered.
"Kidnappers are gonna be looking for a secluded place to hide out. They're gonna want to stay away from the ski areas and probably stick to something with less traffic," Ruby reasoned.
"All the skiing is to the left. I-It has to be on the right," Olive said.
"Okay," David answered, as the phone was suddenly muted.
"Afternoon everyone," Graham announced, as he entered the crime scene and operational base that was the Nolan house at that moment. They froze and looked at each other nervously, as Margaret muted
the phone.
"Any updates?" he asked.
"Nothing yet," Ruby replied, as she approached.
"Graham…can I get you anything to drink?" Margaret offered, trying to distract.
"No…but you can tell me where Nolan and Rogers are," he replied, referring to his detectives.
"I can get Rogers for you…" Ruby said nervously.
"Cut the crap, Lucas…what is going on here?" he demanded to know.
"They're heading upstate with my husband. We think we know where they have my son," Margaret confessed. He sighed.
"I'm calling the state patrol," he said.
"NO!" Margaret protested.
"Margaret…" he started to argue.
"Jace is insane…he's going to kill my baby boy if he sees one damned patrol car or chopper!" she shouted tearfully.
"Margaret…we can get a SWAT team and overwhelm them. They'll negotiate Henry's release," he argued.
"There's no negotiating with this man! He's ruthless and you're not endangering my son, just so you can follow some by the book rules! The only way for my son out of this is to let my husband, Emma,
and Killian handle this and if you do anything to endanger my son's life…I swear on all that is Holy that you'll wish you never woke up this morning!" Margaret cried. He sighed and looked around for help,
but received none.
"Don't look at me…I'm with my mom," Olive said.
"Emma thinks she can save him…I trust her," Ruby replied.
"Fine…I'll keep state patrol offline for now and have locals on standby. You and I are going upstate, Detective Lucas," Graham said.
"Yes Sir," Ruby replied, as she hugged them quickly and followed her boss out to his car. David looked around and sighed.
~*~
"Didn't Olive say there were cabins off this road?" he asked.
"Yeah…but my map is not updating. There's no signal," Emma replied, in frustration with the device.
"Did we miss a turn off somewhere?" David wondered.
"Keep going," Neal urged.
"It's a dead end," Emma replied.
"No…further," Neal urged again.
"Do you know where we're going? Is it the Calling?" David asked, but his question was answered, as they saw a trail at the dead end.
"Emma…" he said, drawing her attention.
"Guess we're on foot from here," she replied, as they got out of the car and she opened the backdoor.
"Stay warm…and don't die on me, okay?" she asked. Neal smiled.
"I'll do my best," he replied, as she kissed him and then followed her brother onto the trail.
~*~
Thanks to Vance's intel on the Major, Regina found her that evening on the boardwalk outside the ferry station. Fiona rolled her eyes, as she saw the doctor approaching.
"Again? Really?" the Major asked, as she walked away. Regina grabbed her hand though, unknowingly dosing her with a toxin.
"No. We're not done," Regina hissed.
"Little girl, it's time you open your eyes to how things work in the real world. My job is to protect this country. You are... an insect on the bottom of my shoe. I already said I
had zero interest in helping you save your…" Fiona paused to cough.
"Your friend. Why would my response be any different now that…" she continued, before coughing again.
"Are you having trouble breathing?" Regina asked, as the Major looked at her suspiciously.
"It's early stage anaphylaxis," Regina replied, as the Major coughed again and sat down on a bench. Regina pulled out a syringe, as she continued to cough.
"You have 90 seconds to tell me how to save Zeke, or it will be too late to save yourself," Regina said, as Fiona gasped for air.
"Now Zeke isn't the only one who has an expiration date. You have one," Regina added.
"Fine. Give me the shot," the Major demanded.
"Tell me how to save Zeke," Regina demanded in return.
"You're not a killer, Regina," Fiona said, gasping for air.
"I need the cure! This is not who you are!" she pleaded, as she lunged, trying to grab the syringe. It knocked Regina off balance and the syringe slipped from her grasp, shattering on the pavement. Regina
gasped, as they both realized that the Major would die now.
"Or maybe it is," Fiona said sadly.
"Tell me how to save Zeke. How do I save the passengers?" Regina pleaded.
"There is no cure," Fiona replied. Regina gasped at that.
"What's the point of a powerful mutation if you can't replicate and weaponize it?" Fiona replied.
"You were gonna infect people?" Regina asked in horror.
"Help me," Fiona pleaded.
"It's too...it's too late," Regina said, horrified by her own actions.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This isn't what I wanted," Regina cried, as the Major slumped over onto the bench, dead. Regina looked around and saw no one had witnessed their exchange, so she ran off.
She had to find Vance and tell him what she had done.
~*~
Emma and David trekked along the trail and tried not to use their flashlights too much, but it was very dark. Just as they were growing weary that they might be on a dead
path, David spotted a small cabin ahead.
"There…that has to be it," he said, as they killed their flashlights and approached, as Emma drew her gun.
~*~
"Son of a bitch…" Jace hissed, as he saw the lights outside in the woods.
"What?" Kory asked.
"Someone is here…" he said.
"Out the back," he ordered," as Pete listened to his brothers from the room where they had Henry.
"What about the kid?" Kory asked.
"Slit his throat," Jace replied.
"What? No…no way…no one is slitting throats," Kory protested.
"You don't call the shots!" Jace growled, as he got in Kory's face.
"I didn't sign up for murder one!" Kory argued.
"We take him or we leave him!" he added.
"We take him and he slows us down. We leave him and he tells the cops what we're driving," Jace reasoned, as he grabbed a knife.
"Have you lost your mind!?" Kory cried.
"He's just a kid!" he protested.
"So what? We're in this together so either you're in or your out!" Jace said, as Pete nervously untied Henry's ropes, while his brothers argued.
"Go…you have to go," he whispered. Henry slowly got up and hurried out the back.
"I'm out! You're out of control!" Kory snapped.
"I'm done arguing…time to cut that little…" he said, as he saw that he was gone.
"Where is he!?" Jace shouted, as he shoved Pete outside and the three of them took off into the woods to find him. Emma and David searched the cabin and found it empty.
~*~
"They must have seen us coming…" she said.
"Yeah and went out that way," David replied, as they hurried through the open back door and into the woods.
He knew Emma would kill him if he didn't die from this, but he had to follow the Calling so he set off through the woods and toward the lake. Lightning crashed above him and
he looked up. Dark lightning…just like on the night of the storm in the cave and the night the plane disappeared. He saw a small figure run onto the ice covered lake.
"Neal!" Henry called.
"Henry!" Neal called back, as he hurried toward him. The three drug dealers were hot on Henry's trail, following him onto the ice. But David and Emma were behind them.
"Jace…let him go!" Emma warned, as lightning flashed again and Jace did not heed her warning. He grabbed Henry and held the knife to him.
"Drop your weapon!" Emma warned.
"I warned you…I told you what would happen to him if you crossed me," Jace hissed, as there was a loud crack of thunder and the ice beneath the three drug dealers broke.
They went into the icy waters with Henry.
"No!" David cried, as he rushed toward the opening, but Neal was closer and dove in after him.
"NEAL!" Emma cried, as they reached the opening and David waved his arms in the water, trying to find them.
"HENRY!" he called.
"NEAL!" Emma called as seconds that seemed like a lifetime passed. Suddenly, Henry and Neal emerged and David pulled his son out first, before helping Emma pull Neal up.
Neal fell onto his back on the ice, as David enveloped his shivering, wet son in his arms. Emma knelt beside Neal and burst into tears, as she watched him take his last breath.
"No…he can't die!" Henry cried, as David held him close, while Emma cradled Neal in her arms. He rocked his crying son, as tears slipped down his face too.
"Emma…I'm sorry…" he said, choking out the words.
"This is all my fault…I'm sorry," she cried, as she kissed his forehead.
"Don't say that…he chose to spend his last moments saving Henry. He's a hero," David said.
"Henry should have never been here! You were right! I failed a Calling and Neal died because of it," she sobbed, as David moved closer and pulled her into his arms too.
"No Emma…this was supposed to happen. I was wrong earlier," he soothed.
"How can you say that?" she asked.
"All he wanted to do was die peacefully in my arms, but I couldn't even give him that. I didn't listen and I couldn't let go," Emma cried.
"I could never let go of Margaret…I would have done the same things to hold onto her, just as she would for me. This is not your fault," he chided. Suddenly, the wind whistled
and a light in the sky shined down on them, ever so briefly, and she watched in shock and awe, as Neal was restored to life, all traces of his frostbite and ailments gone.
"Neal…" she said, in utter shock, as he took a gasp of air.
"Hi…" he said.
"Hey…" she replied, as she caressed his face.
"I'm still alive, right?" he asked. She laughed.
"Yeah…you weren't there for a moment. You…I think you beat the death date," she replied.
"Cool…" he said, making her laugh again, as he sat up and Henry dove into his arms.
"Hey kid…" he said.
"You beat the death date!" he called, as Killian arrived to see the scene.
"A crew is on its way…to drag the lake for the bodies," he said softly.
"Let's get this one home," David said, as he picked his son up and carried him off the ice.
"Your Mom is worried sick…" Killian said, as he handed his phone to the boy so he could call her.
"Thanks," Henry replied, as he then helped Neal and Emma off the ice, as the uniformed officers arrived to partition the scene off with crime scene tape. Killian drove them home and once they entered the house, David and Henry ran to Margaret and Olive, as a happy reunion ensued. Emma and Neal arrived soon after and joined them, while Killian looked on, both happy for them and sad for himself.
~*~
Regina walked into the travel agency that Vance was using as a front to conduct his operations and she closed the door, letting out a shaky breath. Vance looked at her, as she seemed to have a haunted
look on her face.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I…I killed her," Regina replied, immediately causing him to approach her.
"Killed who?" he demanded to know.
"I…I didn't mean to. I killed her…I killed the Major," she uttered, stunning him to speechlessness.
"What do we do?" she asked, but he didn't have an immediate answer.
~*~
"Hey…Neal crashed on the couch so I think we're just going to stay here tonight," Emma said, as she poked her head in the garage.
"Of course," David replied, as she entered to look at his board with him.
"I know I apologized earlier, but I'm sorry again for anything I said earlier," he said.
"No need…you were just scared. We all were and I was turning on me too. I was sure I had made the biggest mistake of my life," Emma replied.
"No…this was all supposed to happen. Neal followed the Calling and it saved him from the Death Date," David said.
"That's how we beat the Death date," he added.
"So that means we're all going to go through some hell in order to save ourselves?" she asked.
"I don't know," he replied honestly.
"So you've given up on Samdi's doomsday theory?" she asked.
"I think so…I don't think we're agents of the apocalypse," he replied.
"Though it kind of felt like those meth heads were," she mentioned.
"Yeah…good riddance to those sons of bitches," he said, with an edge in his voice.
"Agreed," she said.
~*~
"Where are we?" Graham called, as he and Killian had returned to the crime scene.
"No where, Captain…we've been at this for hours and nothing," the diver called.
"There are no bodies," he said.
"That's impossible…no one has come out of that lake," Graham replied, as Killian suddenly got a very bad feeling. It was Griffen all over again.
"I don't know what to tell you…there's nothing down here," the diver repeated.
~*~
Baby Eden cooed, as he cradled her in his arms later that night. Margaret was asleep beside him, as were Olive and Henry, who were also sleeping in their bed. None of them wanted to be far from each other and he was happy to get the baby when she woke up. Suddenly, he was assaulted with another Calling, only this was the same one from earlier. The plane exploding over the ocean again. Fire reflected in his eyes, as he came out of it and wondered what was still ahead. If he was still having that same Calling…then it meant that one wasn't solved yet and he had no idea what it could mean for their future…
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