Were in the City Ch. 20

Jessie paced around checking out the room and stretching all the kinks out of her body. She could reach the attached bathroom and look out the barred window while dragging the chain around so she was pretty sure that was going to stay on for a while. There had to be video and audio surveillance but she couldn't see anything obvious. Her other half wanted to claw at the wall to free the chain so Jessie lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, calming her down.

Daylight was streaming in the window (no curtains, how nice) when the door opened and someone walked in. Jessie opened her eyes to see a tall, fit man dressed in a suit drop some clothes on the table. He looked to be in his 30's, with short dark hair, a scar running down the left side of his face, and cold brown eyes.

"You need to clean up cousin. Have a shower. These clothes should fit."

Jessie stared at him, "Which one are you?"

"Jack Richard, son of Mark."

So this was the father of Tony Richard. Jessie wondered how Tony was doing ... if he was following her commands, then Tony should have broken his bonds to pack and family by now.

"Where are Jacob and Liam? Don't you dare hurt them!"

Jack laughed, "I don't think you are in a position to demand anything of me so I'd be on my best behaviour if I were you. They are alive for now. How long they stay that way will be up to you."

"What do you want from me?"

Jack shook his head, "There will be time to talk about that soon enough. For now, clean up. You'll be brought some food in about an hour."

"Why do I have to be chained like this? It's ridiculous and medieval!"

Jack laughed again, "It sends the right message though ... I'd think on that while you sit here staring at the bare walls."

He turned and walked out. Jessie fought her gryphon down yet again. Too bad silver didn't have an effect on her, it would be easier right now. If her other half could be suppressed by the metal she wouldn't have to constantly do it by willpower alone. When all the anger and frustration finally was allowed to come out, along with her teeth and talons, Jessie was sure it was going to be epic.

The good news was that so far things were playing out as she thought they would. Jack Richard had threatened her family if she didn't cooperate, but she would do nothing of the sort until she was sure they remained alive and were treated well. Jessie grabbed the clothes off the table and checked them carefully for any anomalies. Finding none, she had a long shower (which felt really good, though she'd never admit it to them) and dressed in her new outfit -- a simple shirt and jeans. She'd written "Fuck you!" with her finger on every steamy surface in the bathroom and dragged the damn chain everywhere, deliberately damaging everything she could with it, just to make herself feel better.

There was food on the table when Jessie finally came out of the bathroom. Starving, she ate everything there and then began a pattern of pacing, sitting on the bed and staring out the window. Her outside view was pretty limited -- she was at the back of the house and could only see a parking area and some buildings in the distance that looked like barns or warehouses. The glass was double-paned and even with her better than normal hearing she couldn't hear anything from outside. She'd leaned against the door and the wall that followed a hallway, hearing faint sounds from there but nothing useful. Finally she dragged one of the chairs to the window and sat there watching -- it helped her gryphon a bit, the feeling of being trapped a little less.

Sometime in early afternoon there was finally activity outside. An SUV drove into the parking area and two men got out. From the back of the vehicle they pulled out another prisoner, shackled and barely able to move -- it was Beth Parker. Jessie was stunned, furious ... and then terrified. The Richards didn't need three people to coerce her with, they just needed one or two -- whoever worked best to motivate her. The others would be expendable. If she tried to protect Beth she could lose Jacob and Liam, and vice versa. Shit!

Jessie moved to the door of her room and when she heard the sounds of people moving in the hallway she pounded on the door, yelling "Beth, its Jessie! Can you hear me? Its Jessie!" She heard nothing in reply. She wanted to rip through a wall and tear out the throat of every wolf she met -- Jessie's whole body shook with the effort to push her back down. Jessie hoped that anyone watching her would only see a human having an emotional outburst, assuming the silver collar was working on her other half.

She was left alone with her thoughts. No one came with more food. Darkness descended outside and Jessie paced. Finally she lay down and managed to fall asleep.

The next morning she paced for a while, then had a shower. When she came out of the bathroom there was more food on the table. Was this going to be the pattern of her life now? She ate everything and then sat looking out the window. She had to wait for the Richards to make the next move. She was dozing, her head leaning on the wall, when she heard Jacob's call.

Jessie, can you hear me?

She managed to control her response, staying calm and remaining seated rather than exclaiming with joy.

Jacob! Yes, I can hear you. Where are you? Why are you able to talk with me? Where's Liam?

Liam is in the cell next to mine. He's still got his collar on but they took mine off, the bastards! We are in very small cells and it's very difficult for wolves to be confined like this. With a silver collar on, our wolves are suppressed so it's not so bad. Take the collar off, it's a form of torture. Wolves go mad like this.

Can you shift, would that help?

No, they've stuck an iron spiked collar on me. My wolf wants out, but if he comes out, I'll strangle. Like I said ... bastards! Are you alright?

Better than you. I'm in a room with a bathroom, a bed and a table with two chairs. Got one leg chained to a wall and a silver collar on, otherwise ok. I met Jack Richard briefly yesterday morning -- just long enough for him to threaten your lives if I don't cooperate. Since then they've just left me alone to stew for a while, probably to worry about you both. Jacob, they've got Beth Parker too! I saw them bring her into this house yesterday afternoon.

Fuck! Jessie, Helen won't have been sitting still all this time. We didn't check in with her like we said we would, so she knows we are missing. Thank heavens we called her when we did. Jenkins won't be sitting still either with Beth taken. Go slow, play for time. You've got to be very careful with any Richard you meet, take nothing at face value, the six left are master manipulators and stone cold killers.

Talking with you helps my wolf. He ... I ... have been very worried. I'm going to let our captors think my situation is very difficult and I'm getting desperate. I think that's what they want -- if you are shown what's happening to me, they'll use it to get you to cooperate. They might do this to Liam too, but only if they are convinced that Liam and I can't talk to each other in human form. They would not want to give us any comfort at all.

Jessie, we can't talk all the time. We have to be careful not to give this away. I have no idea if its night or day in here, so you start conversations from now on -- at night, when you are supposed to be sleeping, ok? I'll only contact you in an emergency.

Ok. It's about noon right now. I'll reach out to you tonight, and if there's an emergency too. Jacob, I miss you. I love you. If you get a chance, tell Liam the same from me.

I will. I ... we ... love you too.

Jessie felt like crying, suddenly missing her twins terribly and aching to be free. It was easy to sound brave and strong when it was all just a theory, but now this was very real. She was in the lions' den and they were all just a bunch of tasty snacks that the lions were going to enjoy playing with before they ate. She let herself cry. It would look good to those watching, maybe hurry them on to the next stage of their plan to get her cooperation. Jacob said go slow but to hell with that! She wanted this over as soon as possible.

Once she calmed down, Jessie decided to fill time by looking at everything she could reach and evaluating it all for use as weapons. She wasn't sure she'd be able to smother somebody with her pillow or kill someone with her plastic coffee mug (wasn't there a movie where Vin Diesel's character kills someone with a teacup?) but there were a few things that might make sense. She'd be ready if the circumstances required it. It felt good to be doing something, however limited.

At the end of the second day, again without dinner, Jessie lay on the bed with her eyes closed, pretending to sleep.

Jacob, can you hear me?

Yes, I'm here. How are you doing?

Bored, but otherwise ok. No visitors today. Beth must be in a room close by but I don't hear anything. Are you and Liam ok?

Yes. We can't see each other and we've been told we can't speak to each other. We've broken that rule a few times -- the stun batons they use to discipline us are painful but we can take it. It's given us a look at the number of guards and their personalities. If you are made to watch us getting zapped at some point, remember we can take it, ok? It looks bad but don't panic.

I don't like the sound of that but I'll remember. Is one of your guards named Tim ... Tim Farrow? I was able to touch him on the plane -- I've compelled him to obey any command from me ... that might come in handy.

I think one of them is Tim. Next time, compel someone to obey Liam and I would you? That could be very handy!

Yes, I know ... this is what happens when I'm making it up as I go. It would all be better if we'd had some time to plan first.

You are doing great. Stay focused, don't ever give up no matter what happens. You keep fighting ... always ... promise me.

I promise. And you must promise me the same. We are going to make it through this, all of us.

Jessie, I have to stop talking now. The guards are coming to give us another hosing down with cold water -- not very inventive but I'm grateful it's not something worse. One day I'm going to wipe those smug looks off their faces.

It took her quite a while to really fall asleep. She was sure Jacob wasn't sharing everything with her, sparing her the bad parts. She would make her captors take her to them as soon as possible, she needed to see for herself.

Day three started the same way, with pacing, a shower, and a meal. Jessie carefully marked the wall by the door with three long gouges using the chain, one for each day she'd been there. No neat, dainty scratches - they'd be repairing the walls at the end of this!

Jessie was sitting on the chair by the window when the door to her room opened and Jack Richard walked in. Jessie spoke first, with the most obvious question, "Why is Beth Parker here?"

Jack smiled, "We need her to fill in some blanks in the family record, as I'm sure you know. She is being quite stubborn about helping us though ... she needs some motivation."

He signalled to someone in the hallway. Beth was dragged into the room and dropped on the floor. Her face was bruised, she was cradling what looked like a broken hand, and was having difficulty breathing.

Jessie moved in, hugged Beth and yelled, "She's an old woman you bastard! Why hurt her like this?"

"She doesn't want to provide video testimony verifying the existence of another daughter of Jacques Richard and identifying your grandmother May Carter as that daughter."

Jessie looked puzzled, "Why would you need that?" She suddenly smiled, "... unless you have no other proof? You don't do you? You don't have any pictures of Silvie to show the resemblance! I'll bet there are very few people still alive who ever saw Silvie. You are stuck! You need independent verification otherwise there's no way to prove my alpha mantle comes from Jacques Richard." She laughed, "It's been a hundred years since you found my grandmother and you still don't have proof? That's certainly poor planning!"

Jack growled, "We had plenty until that bunch of rogues Helen Lavalle protected started destroying everything. We had to start over after they blew up our archives 15 years ago."

Beth spoke up, her voice rough, "I won't do it, so just kill me."

Jack shook his head, "Then you force us to kill Jessie too. Without bloodline proof she's useless to us."

Jessie looked at him, "Do you expect me to convince Beth to do this to save my life? I won't do it."

Jack laughed, "Oh you don't have to say anything ... Beth, I am interested in keeping Jessie alive for now but she doesn't need to be intact. I'm happy to remove parts one at a time until you do as you are told."

Jack grabbed Jessie, dragging her to her feet, and wrapped an arm around her throat. His other hand held a silver knife. "What part would you like me to take first? Finger? Hand? An eye?"

Jessie didn't want to let this opportunity pass her by, but she wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. Jack's bare skin was within her reach ... and Beth's expression was screaming at her to do something ... but then what? Maybe she could get him to answer some questions and then compel him to obey her too. She reached up and grabbed the bare hand of the arm around her neck, and commanded "GO TO SLEEP."

Jack Richard's body sagged to the floor, carrying Jessie with him. She pulled his arm off her and said to the other man in the room, "Tim, stand still. No talking out loud or in your head to anyone else please." Luck was on her side today -- the one other person she'd influenced was the wolf who'd brought Beth into the room.

Jessie stood up and looked at Tim, "Tell me, is the surveillance of this room being recorded?"

"Yes."

"Is someone watching this room right now?"

"No. Mr. Richard wanted no other witnesses."

"Tim, I need someone to go turn off the video and audio surveillance for this room and destroy all the recordings and files of that surveillance for today. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Ok. I want you to do that, and then come back here right away. If anyone tries to talk to you tell them you are doing an urgent errand for Mr. Richard. Don't talk to anyone about anything else -- not out loud or in your head. Go now. Close the door to this room but leave it unlocked."

Tim left the room. Beth had been sitting, watching, a puzzled expression on her face. "How did you do that to him?"

Jessie laughed softly, "Don't worry, it wasn't magical ... I compelled him a few days ago to do whatever I told him to do. We are very lucky he was the flunky in the room today." She sighed, "I'm not sure what to do with sleeping beauty though. Beth, can you endure being here a bit longer? I wish I didn't have to put you at risk but you will be. I may be able to put a big dent in the Richards if we stay."

Beth nodded, "I'll help you as much as I can."

"Thank you. Will you accept me as your Alpha temporarily? It will allow us to talk to each other if we need to. I'm sure Jenkins will understand."

Beth sighed, thinking for a few seconds, then nodded, "Yes, I will." Jessie felt Beth's presence added to Jacob's and Liam's in her mind.

Jacob and Liam are here too, locked up somewhere. You may be able to talk with them, depending on the collar situation. Glad to see you don't have one on.

They take it off every time they put a video camera in front of me. How are you doing this? You have a collar on.

Beth, I'm a gryphon. Apparently that makes me immune to silver. Don't tell anyone that.

Wow! So, what now?

I need to, quite literally, get my hands on Mark and Stephen Richard. I could take Jack out right now but I'm not sure where that would leave us and he's not enough of a dent.

Beth shook her head, I overheard a conversation Jack had on his cell phone this morning. His father and uncle are not even in the country at the moment, they are travelling on business, and there's some kind of meeting going on in Ontario -- that's where the others are now.

Jessie suddenly had an extraordinary thought ... it would be a real coup if they could pull it off, but could they?

Beth, am I right that we are on Richard Pack land right now?

Yes, we are.

What if I claim it, right now? What is that phrase ... "Possession is nine-tenths of the law" ... How about I make a pack right now, invite some friends to come help out, and lock up anybody who is on my land without my permission. Would that force the Alpha Council to deal with me?

They would have to I suppose, but you'll be taking a huge chance and it may not end well.

Jessie nodded, Let me check with Jacob ... Jacob, can you hear me?

Yes, are you ok?

Things have gotten a bit complicated. I'll explain everything later but right now I've got Jack Richard asleep on the floor of my room and Tim erasing all the surveillance of what just happened. Beth is with me but she's hurt. I want to do something radical and I need you to give me your opinion ... and I need it quick, ok?

Fine. What do you want to do?

I want to claim my place right now. We are on Richard Pack land -- I want to make a pack and claim it, take it now. It's pretty quiet, not too many wolves here at the moment. I've got an idea for a sneak attack, and I can free you and Liam to help. Should we try?

Shit Jessie! If we could take it, how do we hold it?

Am I right that Helen is close by? Would she help, send people if I asked? If I'm the Alpha I can invite whoever I want to can't I?

She might help. Her property is about twelve hours away. We'd have to hold until help arrived, it would be a miracle to pull it off. The Algonquin Pack is closer -- they get word of this, they'll be on us before Helen's help could get here.

Want to try? We can evaluate our position after we take it and if it doesn't look like we have a chance to hold it, we send the Richards a message by destroying as much as we can and then we run for cover. How about that?

Beth was listening in, and was nodding. Do it Jessie, do what you can. If nothing else, make a statement!

Jessie waited for Jacob's response. The seconds ticked by and she was sure he was going to say no, but he surprised her. I agree with Beth, let's show them how much they've underestimated you.

Ok, let's do this. Jacob, I'll be sending Tim to you. I'll command him to obey you. He'll free you and Liam. Make your way to the big house. Silence anyone you meet before they can raise the alarm. I'll find out from Jack Richard who is here and we'll lock 'em all up. We'll keep adjusting as we go, and hope for the best. Grab the first cell phone you can find and call Helen. Ask her for help. If she's agreeable, she'll be sending people to help us hold or help us escape.

The door opened and Tim walked in.

"Tim, can you take my collar and chain off?" He nodded. "Ok, do it." Tim reached into Jack Richard's pants pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He used one to unlock the chain and another to remove her collar. "Put the collar and chain on Mr. Richard please, then give me the keys." Once that was done, Jessie reached over and grabbed Tim's hand. Looking into his eyes, she said "You will do anything Beth, Jacob or Liam de Vries tells you to do. You will not talk in your head to anyone unless I give you permission. You will obey no one other than Beth, Jacob, Liam or myself. You will not tell anyone else about anything you hear or see involving any of us. Do you understand?"