Life In Perpetual Spin – 02.09 L.I.P.S.


            Thursday night and still no Alice or Dana anywhere in sight. They hadn’t gone off to be somewhere alone; no credit card hits on either of their cards. Missing person reports had been filed, and no one had seen them. The remaining ladies sat in Shane’s nursing home room, holding a vigil for their other fall friends. Shane’s monitors beeped softly, and Jo watched the slow pulse in her wrist. Her jaw set as if she were angry, she’d messed up at every turn, she should just have killed C.J. and have been done with it. But no, she was still human wasn’t she? At least a little bit.

            “Tina, I think it might be safer to keep Angelina in the hospital…” Jo began and Tina let out a curt laugh. She pushed a soft blonde curl behind her ear, her face pale and filled with rage.

            “I haven’t even met my daughter yet Agent Wheaton. I have to pick her up tomorrow morning and I don’t even know what she looks like. She killed Rosita by being born, all this death.” She said with some anger, anger at herself and at everything going on around her.

            “She didn’t kill Rosita.” Jo said softly, a long sigh coming from her. Lara rubbed her chin, they were down to three. Three women, Jo, Lara and Tina. That was all that there was left, Kit and Ivan were still alive, but had taken refuge in Florida two weeks ago. Ivan hadn’t wanted his lady Queen in danger. Vanessa and Tim were in Canada and were intent on staying right there, they were not stepping foot in LA. Even if the coast was clear, Tim wasn’t putting his wife in danger.

            “I’ve arranged for some body guards…” Jo began and Tina stood up, kissing the tip of Shane’s nose. She saw the tear falling from her eye and onto Shane’s cheek; she didn’t bother wiping it away. Poor sweet Shane, how many people would die before all of this was over.

            “I’ll pass Jo. You just fucking find C.J. You fucking kill her if you have too. End this.” Tina stated, standing up and walking out of the room, leaving Jo with her head hanging and Lara leaning back in her chair with her hands behind her head. She was deep in thought, and her voice carried that thoughtfulness when she spoke.

            “Why? Why would she do this? It doesn’t make any sense.” Lara said with a sigh. Jo stared at Shane, her blue eyes unmoving.

            “Because she is after something, this is more than just simple murder now. The fact that we now can’t find the bodies gives us that clue. That means she’s is buying more time, she needs more time for something. Alice and Dana texted each other to meet at the bluffs where they ran once a week. I want to get some dogs out there to sniff the place, but they are cutting me off. I am on suspension after all.” Jo said with a sigh in her voice, she stood up.

            “I’m going to Twilight, come with me?” Jo asked and Lara nodded. She felt safer with Jo. She didn’t know if it was the gun, or just the way she carried herself. She just instantly felt safer. They walked hand in hand, as Jayden Masters watched them walk away, her hands in her pockets thinking.

            The drive to Twilight was uneventful. They drove in some silence, the music playing at a low hum in the speakers. Jo finally turned the volume up, the heavy thudding beats almost rising Lara out of her seat. It was the same thumping music that Sam listened to when she was angry. Lara wondered if somehow in all of this, Jo wasn’t channeling Sam. There were moments that Jo was so much more than Jo, she was Sam too.

            They pulled into the back alley of Twilight and Jo saw someone struggling to take a flat tire off their car. She thought about it for a moment, and then thought it was as safe as things could be, she was after all, in her very own back yard.

            “I’ll meet you upstairs; I’m going to go check this out.” Jo said with a grin and Lara laughed.

            “Always the hero.” She quipped and Jo grinned.

            “Oui that be me.” Jo said, watching Lara step into the safety of Twilight and she turned her attention to the struggling motorist. It was a woman, lithe in stature, wearing a pair of dark pants and a dark shirt that clung to her body. Jo couldn’t make out her face in the faint light.

            “You need some help with that?” The woman looked up, and Jo felt some sort of recognition. The woman stood,

            “Si, I don’t know what happened; I think someone let the air out.” She said with a Barrio accent like Rosita’s. Jo felt uneasiness creep into her; she kept an eye on the woman and knelt. She touched the tire, a flash of something as she began to turn.

            “Oui certainly does look that way…” She said over her shoulder as Max swung the tire iron and caught Jo in the back of the neck. Jo’s forehead hit the bumper, she fell onto her back, eyes flickering open again. She groaned, trying to get her eyes to focus, feeling the hot grime of the dirt under her back. She reached for her gun, Max was quicker, and she took the weapon and put it in her waist band.

            “Merde…” Jo muttered and Max cocked her head to the left studying her.

            “Now that should have knocked you out. You are tough.” Max said, sliding the tazer out from her pocket and before Jo could move, she let the voltage rip into Jo’s heart. Jo felt the electricity ripping into her body, jolting her usually silent heart to life, making it pound in her chest. Her toes curled as she lost consciousness and entered the dark world of sleep.

            “Now that should do you in.” Max said, bending down and grabbing Jo. She hoisted her up, over her shoulder and groaned at the weight of the FBI agent. She winced, slapping the Agent’s ass as she walked to the door. Two young men nodded to her as she walked by, one of them holding the door open.

            “She’s got a Honda, the parts will go like hot cakes Maxie.” Max smiled, knowing that it would. She moved up the stairs straining on the FBI Agent and wondering just what this woman had for breakfast every morning.

*****

            Lara made her way up to Jo’s office, not paying much attention to anything at all. When she pushed the door open to the outer hallway she saw Jayden sitting there. She was taken back, Jayden had been avoiding them since Jo had told her that her sister was a killer. Jayden hadn’t believe her of course.

            “Jay, what are you doing here?” Lara asked and Jayden stood up, she shrugged.

            “I was thinking about something Jo said about C.J. the other day. I’m starting to think she might be involved in all of this. I want to help.” Jayden sighed, rubbing her hands on her scrubs. Lara looked down at the stairs, then back at Jayden. She stepped into the outer office, her blue eyes watching Jayden intently.

            “Jo should be here in a minute or two.” Jayden nodded, sliding a hand into her pocket, and Lara saw that her watch was on the left hand. She thought for a moment, remembering seeing C.J. and Jayden side by side, watches on opposite hands. C.J. right handed, Jayden was left handed and wore her watch on her right wrist.

            Jayden watched her eyes and as her hand slid out of the pocket, she lurched at Lara, the tazer zapping in her midriff. Lara yelled, but the music from the club below drowned out her screams.

            “You noticed the watch. I forgot about it. You are good, to bad it was too little to late.” C.J. said with a grunt, watching as Lara hit the floor hard. Her blue eyes a jumble of emotions then she lost consciousness. “I’m sorry Lara, you and Jo are just going to be in the way. We can’t have you coming after us, now can we? Renegade FBI agent and her sexy chef. Cannot have that at all. I’m so glad this place is sound proof.” C.J. said with a chuckle and she pulled Lara away from the door.

            “Hey bella, want to give me a hand? The agent is way heavier than a normal women. Like lifting the front end of a car.” Max said from the bottom of the stairs. C.J. rushed down the stairs to help Max with the woman. They each got under her shoulders and walked up the long set of stairs with her.

            “You zapped her pretty quick.” Max said as they dumped Jo next to Lara, Jo landed hard on the floor.

            “She noticed my watch. She thought I was Jayden all right, because of the scrubs but noticed my watch. Almost done. Can you believe it, almost over?” C.J. said with a sigh, wiping her brow.

            “8am. Tomorrow morning. We pick her up and we are off. My two batos are already there, and we are like birds in flight.” Max said with a smile, her boot pushing Jo’s unconscious form. Something about the FBI agent wasn’t right.

            “C.J. She’s not breathing.” Max said, the blow to the head hadn’t even split her skin, and Max bent forward, reaching out to find a pulse in the woman. There was no blood anywhere.

            “Does it matter? We are going to kill her anyway.” C.J. said, getting things ready. She pulled the syringe from her pocket and the vial of drugs. She looked around the room, seeing the mirror that hid her bedroom. She pressed her hand to the glass, and it slid open. Just like their intel had told them.

            “She does like her toys.” C.J. muttered as Max’s long fingers touched Jo’s neck. The instant Jo felt the touch; she grabbed her hand and sat up. A hard punch to the woman’s jaw,

            “MAX!” C.J. yelled as she watched Jo scramble up, she knew the door was locked, but nothing much stopped her when she wanted to move. And right now, she wanted to move. A thick growl escaped her throat as she lurched at Max.

            “Son of a bitch.” Max yelled, kicking Jo’s feet out from under her, Jo landed hard on her back. She was winded, in pain and her body wasn’t responding the way it should have been.

            “You are one slick bitch Agent Wheaton.” Max said, watching as Jo hand sprung to her feet, shaking her head to clear what was left of the cobwebs. Max didn’t wait, she reared her hand back and hit Jo with a hard right. Jo’s head snapped back, but she wasn’t going to be stopped, this was the end of the line for the Max and C.J. show.

            “Lara wake up!” Jo bellowed as she took the blow, unable to use anything besides her human gifts. She growled as C.J. hit her hard from behind. Jo stumbled, and Max zapped her again, this time in the neck. C.J. was on her quickly, using the handcuffs to secure her hands behind her back. Jo moaned, and Max rubbed her chin.

            “She hits fucking hard for a dead woman.” Max spat, and C.J. pointed to the floor where the blood spattered had landed.

            “That’s trace, pick it up. You’ve watched enough CSI to know that Max.” Max nodded as C.J. roughly slammed Jo into the wall. The woman’s eyes were still open how the hell was she still awake?

            “Why?” Jo asked, coughing up blood. C.J. kicked her in the ribs, breaking them as she did. So angry now that there was a glitch in the program. It was 12 hours away, 12 hours for freedom. She moved to Lara, cuffing her too. She drug Lara next to Jo and left her leaning against the still semi awake Agent.

            “Why? Does it matter Agent Wheaton? All you need to know is that you no longer have to play the hero. I did my research on you, you really are a modern day hero, I was impressed. I must say it wasn’t as challenging to go up against you as I thought it would be. Even if you survived you’d never find us, and you won’t survive, I guarantee it. In 12 hours we are gone, in the wind as they say. I don’t know how you woke up, how you do many of the things you do.” C.J. said, a bit of a smile on her lips, knowing they were close to the end now. Just one more to go, the most important one.

            “She loved you. Til the end she loved you. She didn’t believe that you had killed anyone… until you killed her.” Jo said in a husky voice and C.J.’s face didn’t change, Max went over and wagged a long elegant finger at Jo.

            “Don’t you ever die?” Max said, nodding to C.J. “We are all set.” She said, pointing to the bedroom. C.J. leaned over, looking at the black satin sheets that graced the bed, kinky she thought.

            “So how do I bite it? Going to slit my wrists? Crystal tried that. Didn’t work. You are going to have to cut out my heart, can you do that?” Jo asked with some sarcasm as they hoisted her up, her legs finding purchase and she kicked at them. She wasn’t giving up without a fight, she wasn’t going to let down Lara or even Amy.

            Max tossed her to the floor and C.J. let her go. Max let the tazer zap into her again, watching as Jo withered in pain until she finally passed out. Both women looked at each other over her finally still body. Max hit her with her boot again, this time she didn’t move a muscle.

            “She’s like an X-Man she never dies, or stays down.” Max said with a laugh, they were both sweating and they heard Lara start to stir. C.J. winked at her and then they hoisted Jo up onto the bed. Quickly stripping the woman of her clothes.

            “For someone so freaking small she weights a ton.” Max muttered, making sure to toss the clothes around as if in the throws of passion. The tomboy agent was wearing a pair of Spiderman boxers that made her laugh. She wasn’t wearing a bra and that made the going much easier. She was finally naked and Max threw the sheet over her.

            “I’ll get the other one.” C.J. said, and soon she’d returned with Lara. They moved the red head onto the bed and Max began to whistle a tune. Stripping the chef of her clothes and placing her next to Jo in a provocative manner to say the least.

            “You are happy go lucky today. Nice moves out there by the way.” C.J. said, wiggling her eyebrows.

            “Si, well you spend enough time in my Barrio and you learn to fight, and hard. Bitch hits like a ton of bricks. Kinna glad she was half in the bag. You have the drugs?” Max asked and C.J. nodded, it was just pure Ecstasy. Not cut with anything, pure and dangerous, in a matter of minutes it would raise their core temp and fry their brains. It would look like two lovers having a bit too much fun, and having gone over the edge.

            “You think they are out enough for us to get rid of the cuffs? They struggle and it will leave marks, or if the seizures are that severe, which they might be…” C.J. said and Max quickly too the cuff’s off. Watching Jo with a careful eye.

            “Hopefully painful too…” Max said with some satisfaction as she rubbed her jaw.

            C.J. quickly injected her, and then she did the same to Lara. Max stood next to her, and Lara began to convulse, Jo didn’t move. Not a muscle moved on the woman’s body. She hadn’t even flinched when C.J. had injected her.

            “Could she be dead already?” Max asked, wrapping her arms around C.J., and C.J. moved and touched her neck. She didn’t find a pulse, her body was cold. She went back to Max, kissing her gently, letting her tongue push passed the Latina’s sultry lips.

            “She’s cold.” C.J. said and she shrugged, she moved to Lara now, and Lara’s neck, her practice fingers finding the carotid pulse. She found a raging pulse there; her heart would give way soon. It would explode; beating up to 200 times a minute, her temp was going up already, her face flushed.

            “Let’s go. We need to get out of here. The boys have the cars and they will be chopped before the dawn crests the hills baby.” Max said, and they stepped out of the room, closing the mirror door, leaving the last two love birds to pass away gently into the night. They knew it would be at least 24 hours before anyone found them. Just enough time for one last stop.