THIRTY-THREE 

Payton and Colin entered the warehouse, stepping over the fallen door. Whatever comments might have been made were left unspoken as they surveyed the damage Teschner had done to the packing crates and boxes. Each knew the building was empty and whatever had happened there had passed. Colin walked to the edge of the chasm that separated the building's sides. He stood looking into the murky water below. 'Had that bitch thrown the girl into the water then taken the same plunge herself?' He shook his head to rid himself of the thought. It couldn't be possible; he wouldn't let it be possible.

Payton walked to the scattered remains of the cardboard containers and pieced together in her mind what might have happened. She pictured Reagan desperately trying to find cover behind the boxes and that maniac thrashing the area to get to her. She stooped and picked up a few pieces of splintered wood then stood and rolled them between her fingers. Turning in a complete circle she caught a glimpse of the Caomhnoir, one of the McAllister Fleet's salvage ships presently in dry dock for repairs. The deep blue and gold ring on the ship's bow stood out against the black hull.

"She's not here, Colin." She remarked without looking at the man who had stepped to her side.

He followed her line of vision and noticed the ship as well. He shook his head. "Payton, look at this place. You know as well I as I do what went on here." He kept his voice quiet and comforting.

"I know." Payton whispered back, still staring at the emblem and name on the large ship at the pier's edge. "And I know Reagan isn't here, Colin."

For a moment both remained silent, neither wanting to argue the point that Reagan may not have gone any farther than this dark place. Payton broke the silence, a hint of emotion straining her strong timbre. "Do you see the company logo on that ship?" She motioned toward it with her head. Colin nodded. "She would have seen it too, Colin. To Reagan that is safety, just like this damn necklace." She slammed her palm against her chest and grasped the disk that hung there. Her voice cracked with the emotions she struggled to contain.

"But, Payton…" The lawyer began, placing an arm around the woman's shoulders. He was surprised when she did not shrug it off.

"That's the Caomhnoir." She went on without noticing his gesture of comfort. "It’s a Gaelic name. Jack was into all that ethnic babble." She laughed a small weak laugh. "Guardian. It means guardian." The last words came out in a hushed tone, almost like a wish or a prayer.

Colin squeezed her shoulders a bit tighter, not knowing what else to do or how to say what needed to be said. He felt the great Payton McAllister go limp under his arm and quickly turned her toward him. A second later she collapsed against his chest and instinctively he wrapped her in his arms. For a few moments the walls that surrounded the strong independent woman fell away and her anguish escaped in long sobs and incoherent mumbles of guilt and blame. Colin merely held her, gently stroking her back in a vain effort to give some sort of solace. In all of his legal and educational vocabulary there were no words to say, no magical verses to bring her comfort, no rules of decorum to fix this awkward moment…so he let her cry until her tears were exhausted.

For a fleeting instant Payton thought about how useless, how ridiculous, how feeble this action was, but she didn't care. Colin was there, and she needed someone. She had always needed someone and she had pushed that need to the back of her very existence. Now it was overwhelming. She rested her cheek against his chest and drew calming breaths, allowing herself to relax in his embrace. Fighting the urge to push away violently, she slowly raised her head to look at him. He smiled a silly smile and she forced herself not to giggle. It would be too girlishly silly. He brushed a tear from her cheek and stepped back a half step, suddenly reddened with embarrassment. She stepped back as well, but even after his arms fell away she remained within reaching distance.

"She's not dead." She spoke in a crisp reassuring tone.

Colin swallowed hard and shook his head. "Payton, how…"

She was already walking away looking up to the ceiling. "The catwalk, Colin." She answered the question before it was asked pointing up toward the black scaffolding that crossed the expanse of the building.

The lawyer looked up as well, still shaking his head. "No, Payton, no she is too afraid. She told us she couldn't stand heights. Don't you remember?" He searched his own memory. 'Was Payton there when the girl had told him about the tree?'

Payton had crossed the stretch of floor and pushed open a wooden door that lead to a small room. She stepped inside and slammed her hand against an egg sized red button. The building whirred with the sound of machinery. Colin stepped back as the entire floor began to vibrate beneath his feet. Payton stepped outside the small enclosure and smiled at the wide-eyed look on her lawyer's face. She had apparently used the short time she was inside to wipe away any remaining tears and the stern look of determination returned to her expression. She swept an arm out in front of her motioning toward the deep pit in the center of the floor.

"We'll take a different route." She announced.

He watched as a dock-like structure rose from the water and evened itself with the concrete floors on both sides. Water splashed through the openings between the wood and splashed out across the ground in small waves.

"Makes it easier for the workmen when there is no ship inside." She quipped as she stepped across the wet bridge the dock had formed. "Watch your step. It's pretty slippery." She continued across, expecting him to follow.

Colin shook his head. This woman was amazing! He would probably never understand her, but he was certainly intrigued. If Reagan was anything like her older sister (and Colin already had a pretty good inkling that that particular family trait ran deep) she had made it out of the dry dock and was certainly alive. 'But for how much longer?' an ugly little voice asked in the back of his mind. He blocked it out and quickly stepped across the platform to join his employer.

THIRTY-FOUR 

Reagan sprinted across the last twenty feet of concrete to the bottom of the ship's gangplank. Her toe caught against its base sending her face first onto the hard bumpy surface. Immediately, she scrambled on her hands and feet in an almost insect like crawl up the plank and tumbled onto the cluttered deck of the salvage ship. She stayed down, crawling across the deck, then pulling herself into a tight ball wedged between two large winches under a piece of tarp that flapped loudly in the wind. She bit her lip and held her breath, in an effort to make herself totally invisible.

L'sandra kicked the cardboard obstacles out of her path as she ambled toward the ship. Although there was a bit of determination in her step, she was apparently in no hurry. No need to exhaust herself before the work truly began. She ascended the wooden gangplank like a monarch boarding her own majestic pleasure craft, stopping at the top and slowly stepping with practiced grace down the short step to the deck, then pausing momentarily, to glance across the bay. The wind whipped her long blond tendrils around her head like the snakes of the Medusa and the smile that crossed her face grew into more of a snarl than an expression of content. She turned her attention toward the deck.

"Now, now, now my little sweetheart…" she purred sarcastically. "You've come to the end of the line, haven't you? There's no place left to go, so just come out to Auntie L'sandra."

Her voice turned sickening sweet, reminding Reagan of that fairy tale about the witch that lured children into her candy cottage only to make a meal of them after they had become pleasingly plump. She pulled her knees closer to her chest, knocking a large wrench to the floor. It landed with a resounding clank.

L'sandra pretended not to notice as she walked slowly in the opposite direction. 'Yes…' she thought to herself. 'Give her a false sense of safety and she will drop right into my hands.' "I don't want to hurt you, Reagan dear." She coaxed gently. 'I just want to blister your hide then twist your neck before I drop you into your father's precious harbor!' She finished the thought in her mind smiling at the irony of it.

Reagan paid close attention to the sound of that voice, without really listening to the words. She only needed to know where the woman was, not what she was saying. The tarp fluttered noisily, blocking her view. The many pieces of machinery and equipment scattered across the deck made it impossible for her to see. She could only rely on what she heard and the open air of the harbor played tricks with that. She strained to hear the sound of the woman's shoes against the metal deck, trying to judge which direction she had taken.

"Come out now, darling. You don't want to make your auntie mad, do you?" L'sandra crooned in a sing song voice as she made her way around the obstacles that littered the deck of the ship, slowly approaching the spot where the wrench had landed. She stepped in front of the flapping tarp; her feet inches from the feet of her would be victim. "I know you're so close." She giggled. "I can almost hear your little heart beating."

Reagan placed a hand over her chest; innocently believing the woman had the ability to hear the same pounding that resounded inside her head. A small gasp half escaped her lips before she stifled it.

But L'sandra had heard and now her suspicions were verified. Her prey was at her feet, trapped in its own hiding place. She stepped to the side of one of the large winches and stood as still as stone.

Reagan listened to nothing but the sound of the flapping tarp and her pounding heart as they almost found the same rhythm. She closed her eyes and squeezed the tears across her cheeks, silently praying for the woman to give up and look somewhere else. She opened her eyes slowly and met the dark black stare of L'sandra Teschner.

L'sandra had bent forward and peeked into the space between the winches watching as the child made her silent supplication. She widened her eyes to match the expression on the small face.

"There you are." She sang in a 'shame on you' voice. "You've had me so worried!" The tone continued as she tore the canvas away from the machinery exposing the child to the sunlight. She lunged toward her, reaching out with both arms to snare her elusive quarry.

Reagan gasped and pulled back farther, squeezing her small body between the winches and just out of the woman's reach.

L'sandra let out a frustrated squeal then lunged again narrowly missing the child as she pushed herself backward and out into the small space between the mechanical pulleys and the side of the ship. A space much to narrow to allow the woman access. L'sandra squealed louder.

"Come back here you little bastard! You can't escape me!" She lunged again, straining to reach the retreating child.

Reagan crab crawled in the small space, turning as soon as she was able to on all fours then scrambling to her feet as she pulled herself free of the scattered machinery. L'sandra roared with anger as she sought a way through the tight maze to reach the girl.

Reagan sped toward the stern and stopped only when her chest slammed against the side rail of the great ship. She grabbed the rail with both hands and looked back at the insane woman who appeared to be in the throes of some sort of ritualistic dance as she ranted and raved, trying to pick her way through the labyrinth of salvage contraptions strewn in her path. Reagan looked down over the rail at the dark water that licked the side of the ship. She could swim, Daddy had seen to that early, but it was a long, long drop to the ocean. The large rudder on the ship stuck out of the water giving her the impression that there were probably things there that would cause more damage to her body than the slam against the water's surface tension. Her path to the rest of the ship was effectively blocked on one side by mounds of clutter, and on the other by an advancing maniac. The woman was making her way slowly toward her…but it was such a long drop. Reagan rocked back and forth against the rail, her mind spinning with the consequences of either choice. A high pitched whine escaped with each ragged breath. She rested her head against the rail and made her decision. "Even a bad decision is better than none at all, Reagan…" Jack McAllister's voice spoke in his younger daughter's mind as she recalled one of the many lessons he had taught.

If she jumped out far enough she might hit the water. It would be cold. November was no time for a dip in the Atlantic. One more backward glance only to see the woman was closing the distance between them more rapidly than before. She was still screaming some sort of curses and threats, but they were blocked out of Reagan's mind by her own intense crying. The girl picked up one foot and placed it on the base of the rail then pushed with her torn and bleeding palms against the top. She lifted her face to the wharf and froze.

"PAYTON!!!" The name escaped the small girl's lungs like a call from one of the many tugs in the harbor. "PAYTON!!!" She screamed again leaning forward precariously over the rail to enhance her volume. "PAYTON!!!" She shrieked at the small form of her sister who was racing toward the ship followed closely by the young man who had once before been her rescuer. "PAY…"

Her scream faded to a quick gasp as a thin hand grabbed the hair at the back of her head and yanked her away from the rail. The girl's hands left their hold without a fight as she was viciously taken back and held just above the deck. The woman laughed with a strange clownish sound and shook her violently. She pressed her face close to the sobbing child.

"I told you NOT to make me mad, little brat!" L'sandra hissed and spit, shaking Reagan and again pulling at the fine hairs at the base of her skull. She struck the girl with her free hand leaving a deep red handprint on her upper arm. Instinctively Reagan put both hands in front of her face. "Did you think you would escape me?!" She punctuated each word with another slap against the child's exposed skin.

"Stop! STOP, PLEASE!" Reagan begged. "What did I do? I'm sorry!" She bargained. "PLEASE just let me go, please just let me go." She repeated over and over.

L'sandra released the child's hair and snatched her wrist, yanking her forward as she made her way toward the bow. "Let you go? LET YOU GO?!" She screeched. "After I've worked so hard to get you back? No, no my pretty little McAllister princess, I have great plans for you AND your bitch sister!" She screamed at the flinching child, pulling her behind mindless of the many times she slammed the girl into the many obstacles she once again maneuvered through. It seemed to take much less time to retrace her steps through the maze. Once on the clear section of the deck she moved even faster, dragging her captive toward the forward cabin. Reagan allowed her legs to go limp and fell to the deck hoping to slow their progress.

"NO, no! Let me go!" She managed to blurt out between deep sobs as she dug her nails into the rough hand that held her tightly..

The woman stopped abruptly with the added weight. She glared at the child who was now valiantly, albeit uselessly, tugging in the opposite direction. "ENOUGH!" She shrieked her one word warning. She pulled the thin black belt from her waist and spun the buckle end around her hand without loosening her grip on the child. "Have it your way." She growled in a low threatening voice. The strap bit into the child's legs immediately raising long red welts. Reagan screamed again, desperately trying to protect the area with her free hand. She pulled her legs under her skirt but the woman yanked her up to a standing position continuing the beating with renewed vigor. Only when she was satisfied the child was submissive did she stop, grabbing both of Reagan's small trembling hands and wrapping the leather lash around them as she held them in front of her. She pulled the binding tight and yanked at the lead she left dangling.

"You just never learn do you, McAllister." She snarled in a voice Reagan immediately recognized.

"Miss Thorne." She whispered, her tears forgotten in a moment of recollection.

The woman pulled the child closer using the new restraint. She placed a hand under her chin and roughly squeezed her cheeks together. "So, you finally see do you? Good, very good." She crooned. "Now you WILL do as I say or I will take every bit of skin off those legs and drag you the rest of the way. Do_you_understand?" She squeezed harder with each word. "DO YOU?" She squealed.

Reagan squeezed her eyes closed and swallowed hard. She nodded, hoping her stinging legs would be able to do what she was commanded. She didn't want to surrender, but she didn't want any more pain…she just wanted this nightmare to end. The child's eyes were swollen and red from crying, her hands numbed by the tight leather binding stung as if they had been burned, her knees now covered with dried blood and bits of pieces of the 'everything' she had crawled through to this point…her heart pounded against the ache in her chest…she was defeated. She sobbed deeply.

"Good." L'sandra used the singsong voice again. "Very, very good girl." She released Reagan's chin and gently stroked her hair, almost offering the child comfort. She bent forward and placed a kiss on the girl's forehead and in doing so noticed the two figures on the deck now making their way through the scattered cardboard barrels. They would be on board too soon. She would need time to finish this. She would not be able to 'play' with this little one much longer. And Payton? Well she might just have to finish them both today.

"MOVE!" She commanded as she dragged the child up the short wide stairs toward the forward cabin.