Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. The characters, Amanda Montrose, Nick Wolfe, Lucy Becker, Joe Dawson, Duncan MacLeod, are copyright to Davis/Panzer Productions. No copyright infringement is intended nor is any income expected from this story. The story plot is original and copyright to the author, Maril Swan.

Note: this story takes place before Dead on Arrival.

About Your Immortality...
by Maril Swan

Part Four of four

Chapter Four

The next morning

Nick held his cell phone close to his ear, his features haggard from loss of sleep. “It’s been four days, Joe. So far…no calls, no ransom note, nothing at all from the kidnapper. We’ve checked all but three of the Jags, and those, we can’t find. Dead end.” He sighed wearily.

“What about the MacLeod the café guy mentioned. Scottish accent--could be his name is MacLeod.”

“Yeah, Joe, I’ve been working that angle too. Do you have any idea how many MacLeods there are in Scotland? Not to mention how many ways to spell it. I’ve concentrated on the Glenfinnen MacLeods. Nothing yet. My contact is checking out anyone born in Glenfinnen forty to sixty years ago named MacLeod. Oh, there’s a call coming in. Could be her. I’ll call you back.”

“Nick Wolfe. Only three -- two men and a woman. Just give me the men’s names. James and Andrew--novel names. Brothers. Address? Great, got it! Thanks a million, Kathy.”

Ringing Joe back, Nick’s voice was animated and he sounded more hopeful. “Joe, got some names. James or Andrew MacLeod. I’ll start checking and get back to you.”

Later, in the lab

The doctor, perspiring heavily, was labouring for breath and trembling. His vision seemed blurred as his hand searched for the syringe. Just as he grasped it, he plunged to the floor, unconscious. The crash echoed loudly in the speakers.

Amanda listened intently. Silence. Approaching the mirror, she called out, “Dr. MacLeod? James? Are you all right?” Total eerie stillness beat around her ears.

She stood frozen, almost unable to breathe. “Good god, he’s dead! Now I’m really trapped!” The momentary panic passed as she shook herself, thinking aloud, “Get a grip, Amanda. Let’s see. Everything is this room seems to be connected electronically to the lab on the other side of the mirror. However, the mirror seems unbreakable.”

Glancing at her diamond ring, a sly smile spread over her face. “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

She sprang to the mirror, and using the ring, tried to cut a hole in the glass. No luck.

“OK, that’s out. Brawn won’t work, let’s try brain.” Looking around she noticed the smashed gurney with its electronics dangling. A smile flashed across her face. She was on familiar ground. Using a nail file, she unscrewed the pieces and began assembling a device. She dragged the cord out of a lamp, fastening it to the device, and after several shocks, the door buzzed and swung open.

Amanda rushed out, finding the doctor alive but unconscious. She wrestled with a moment of indecision as she fought down the urge to escape. Instead, she began to methodically search the laboratory. Finding a cell phone in the doctor’s briefcase, she dialled Nick. He answered immediately.

“Nick, it’s Amanda! I’m OK, but we’ve got some major trouble here. I don’t know where here is. I’m trapped in a lab. Can you trace this call? Wait, he’s coming around.”

The doctor, suddenly finding Amanda free, threw himself at her. In his weakened condition, he was no match for Amanda. She stunned him with a quick jab to the nose and he collapsed, semi-conscious . Taking the lamp wire, she quickly tied him up. The doctor stirred and found Amanda holding a syringe to his carotid. His nose was bleeding.

“What’s the address of this place?”

He shook his head and Amanda pushed the syringe point in, ready to press the plunger.

“I don’t know what’s in this needle, but you get the point. The address, right now, or your immortality will be very brief.”

“1123 rue des Rois, lower level.”

“Did you get that? Great! Now, here’s the problem. We’ll need Joe on this one.”

Some time passes.

The doctor, now fully conscious, seemed resigned to his fate. Amanda wandered absently around the laboratory, looking at the equipment, the notes. Suddenly, she stopped.

“Where is it?” she asked urgently.

“Where is what?” his tone flat.

“The embryo--which of these dishes is it in?”

“Why?” he asked wearily.

“Just tell me!” Amanda gave him a violent shake. He lolled back against the desk.

“In that chamber,” the doctor answered, nodding toward a box-like piece of equipment across the room. “Temperature has to be kept constant. It’s in there.”

Amanda peered in the window of the chamber at a petri dish with a cloudy substance in it. A tender, sad look passed over her features. She hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath, then yanked open the door and threw the dish into a pail.

“Why did you do that?” he asked, his eyes following her as she strode quickly away.

Amanda just shrugged, unable to speak.

“I thought when you got free, you were going to kill me. Why didn’t you?”

“I’m not a murderer, Dr. MacLeod, just a retired, or maybe semi-retired, thief.” She smiled slightly at the thought.

“What happens now? If you’re not going to kill me, and you can’t afford to let my research get published, what are you going to do?”

“Nothing. I’m not going to do anything. It isn’t up to me what happens to you. You’ve sealed your own fate, meddling where you had no right. Some of my friends and associates are on their way here, and it’s out of my hands now.”

“For what it’s worth and whether you believe me or not, Amanda, I never meant to harm you. My work hasn’t been my only obsession. It was you, too. From the moment I first saw your photo, I have been obsessed by the need to know you, get close to you. As crazy as it sounds now, I had hoped our relationship might have developed into something …,” the doctor sighed heavily, and added, “…close. I hoped you would share my dreams of conquering death and disease, and give up this wicked life of killing your own kind. I vainly hoped you might even come to love me in time.”

He drew a shaky breath and leaned back against the desk, then noticed the blood dripping onto his shirt. “I’m bleeding.” He laughed harshly, despair in his voice, as he looked at the bright drops, and then at Amanda.

Comprehension of his failure dawned in Amanda’s face as she understood what this meant. Compassion flooded her features as she got a tissue to staunch the flow and wiped his face. Like two combatants who have exhausted their resources, the doctor and Amanda waited in silence for the others to arrive.

Time passes.

The sound of steps pounding down stairs and then a sharp rap on the door announced the arrival of her friends.

“How do I open the door?”

“Press the top button on the console.’ The doctor’s eyes widened with fear.

Amanda pressed the button and Nick rushed in. They embraced briefly, then Nick turned his angry gaze on the doctor, then back to Amanda, as if ascertaining that she was really there. He saw the dark circles under her eyes and the anxiety in them, and flexed his hands into fists. She had been here in this prison for four days! In his relief, Nick felt an impotent rage. He had been unable to find her until she had freed herself.

“Amanda, are you all right? I’ll break his neck if he harmed you!” She put a restraining hand on Nick’s chest.

“I’m fine now, Nick. Really. Not harmed at all. Look. All in one piece.” She smiled gamely.

Scarcely pacified, Nick glared at the doctor. At that moment, Joe entered stiffly dragging himself over to Nick and Amanda. He, too, stared at the object of their concern.

“Well,” said Joe finally, “let’s do what we came to do.” There was anger in his tone but resignation too, as if this were an unpleasant task at hand.

Amanda moved between Nick, Joe and the doctor. “Wait. I’ve been thinking. There’s a chance for a compromise here. James is a brilliant, if somewhat obsessed, scientist. His research could be important someday. It seems wrong to destroy a man and his work without trying to understand it.”

She looked at both men pleadingly. Surprised, they exchanged a glance, and said at the same time, “Stockholm Syndrome.”

Amanda brushed that off with “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m probably immune to that too.” The wry humour seemed to defuse the tension in the room.

“Come with me, Joe. I have an idea that should save us all from an unpleasant business.” She led Joe into the next room where they could be seen talking animatedly through the glass. Joe shook his head as Amanda seemed intent on pressing her point. Finally, he shrugged, evidently giving in to her, and she hugged him warmly.

Amanda went over to the doctor who seemed resigned to the destruction of his lab and likely, himself.

“Joe and I came up with a compromise that will keep our secrets and let you continue with your work. He’s gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse. Take the offer, James. It’s your only chance.”

Amanda gave Joe a meaningful glance accompanied by a hopeful smile, then taking Nick’s arm, left the laboratory. Joe pulled in an uncertain breath as he marshalled his thoughts. A lot depended on his ability to convince the doctor of what was in his best interest, and theirs.

Epilogue: A day later in Amanda’s apartment.

Amanda is sitting, curled up on the sofa. Lucy, looking concerned, approaches.

“You’ve been awfully quiet since you got back, Amanda. Is everything all right, sweetie?”

Amanda looked up and smiled briefly. “It’s odd, Lucy. In that place, time had very little meaning. I didn’t know or care if it was day or night. I ate and slept, and time passed. I thought I was only gone for about two days. It was actually four. Such a strange sensation--timelessness.”

Back to pensively staring ahead, Amanda continued. “He re-opened some issues I thought I had put behind me long ago. Who are we, what are we supposed to be doing here, why are we different?”

Sighing heavily, Amanda seemed a bit depressed. “Even having a normal life--family, children. He dangled that bright jewel in front of my eyes, and I was so tempted. Imagine, Lucy, a child of my own! But I couldn’t take the chance of bringing an innocent child into my kind of life.” Another heavy sigh escaped.

“But mostly, he made me realize how much I miss MacLeod. Like a part of me is missing. I had hours and hours to think and remember.” Amanda pulled a photo from her pocket and handed it to Lucy. “I guess I still have some larcenous instincts. I stole this from the doctor’s briefcase.” It was the photo of MacLeod and Amanda stepping off his barge, both laughing.

“Well, it’s a good picture of MacLeod.” Lucy quipped, handing it back. Amanda gave Lucy a pouting grimace, feigning annoyance.

“But this is my favourite,” she said, showing Lucy the photo of the oil painting of MacLeod in his clan tartan. “The photo is nice to have,” she mused, getting up to place it on the mantle. She glanced around the room speculatively. “But the original would be much better, about there,” pointing to an empty spot on the wall. “I wonder where the painting is.”

“Amanda!” said Lucy warningly. The doorbell rang suddenly, and Lucy moved quickly to open it. Joe Dawson stood there alone, balanced on his canes, a friendly grin on his grizzled face.

“Joe, how lovely to see you!”Lucy kissed his cheek with affection and led him into the livingroom.

Amanda rose to meet and embrace him. Taking his arm, she guided him to the sofa, where, with evident relief, he sat down.

“Joe, you look tired. Did everything go all right?” Amanda asked.

Lucy brought him a glass of brandy which he sipped reflectively before answering.

“Yeah. It took a lot of convincing but eventually we got the Doc to see our point. He’s agreed to join the Watchers and take the oath. In return, we’re setting his lab up at Watcher HQ. He’ll even have help there from some of our own scientists. Who knows what he may come up with.”

Pausing to take another sip of brandy, he added, “He’s already made some pretty remarkable discoveries.”

Joe laughed and squeezed Amanda fondly, “My favourite Martian!”

END.

©About Your Immortality.... Maril Swan - April 2000

Please send your comments on this story to the author - Maril Swan