Disclaimers: see part 1
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Swirls in Time
By Janine Hilltop
PART 7
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Gabrielle started talking in a low monotone voice. The memories of that night flashed through her mind’s eye in slow motion.
“So many things happened to me that night; Michael was killed, you found me, I felt my heart ripped out of my chest and yet my soul was returned to me. When I felt him die in my arms I wanted to die. I felt your arms around me and I had a reason to live. I had seen images of you and Callisto in my dreams, both loving and terrifying. I knew both of you would appear eventually. Michael knew I loved one of you, that he would never have all of my love. He never questioned my dreams or nightmares; he took what I could give him and loved me for being honest.”
“I know this, you told me all that later,” Xena tried to soothe her soulmate.
Gabrielle leaned against Xena and continued. “He was one of several agents assigned the task of running down the Nazi butchers. He was following a lead that took us to Argentina. Many of the rich and powerful ran before the end of the war and hid out there. Actually they didn’t have to hide. Argentina’s regime welcomed the gold and art treasures they brought in and made it very difficult to find the Nazis; kept saying they didn’t recognize the Tribunal that indicted the Nazis for their war crimes. So he was down there looking, I was having dreams and nightmares and my ring kept getting brighter. That night I tried to keep him from going out, I had had a really strong premonition that day. Xe, what I didn’t tell you was I couldn’t tell who was who in my dreams. The images overlapped so deeply, I had trouble telling you from Callisto. I had warned him about both of you.”
Xena sighed finally understanding her dilemma. “So you feel guilty because you couldn’t read your dreams that had images of both Callisto and I? That you told Michael to be wary of both of us? Love, you can’t blame yourself for that. You didn’t have all the memories yet. You did what you could with what you had. I’m amazed you could figure out as much as you did. That certainly hadn’t happened before had it? You know how far back I was in tracking you down, that was the longest time period Callisto hung around before coming after us. If she hadn’t been working with the Nazis and the death camps, you wouldn’t have met Michael. I still think Callisto designed the ovens used at the death camps, sick bitch that she is.” With each question, Gabrielle nodded her head and each statement of fact she shrugged her shoulders. Xena kept rubbing her fingers in circles on Gabrielle’s back in a soothing pattern. Finally, Xena tipped the bard’s face up to get a read on her mood. Clear blue eyes looked back. With a smile, Xena gave Gabrielle a small kiss, stood and pulled her up.
“Where and when are we supposed to meet her? Will she want to trade the Sheriff for one of us this time?” Gabrielle asked when they were both standing.
“She wants to see me alone at the motel on the north end of town…” was all Xena got out before she was shoved against the wall hard enough to bounce her head off the wall and rattle the plaques. “Whoa, hold on, I wasn’t finished. I’m not going alone; we all need to be there for the crystals to charge. Besides the Sheriff will need medical attention and that means you.”
Slightly mollified, Gabrielle let Xena step away from the wall. She walked down the hallway gathering her courage for the next encounter with Callisto, still obviously shaken by the raw emotions the memories had evoked. Xena sighed as she pushed away from the wall, rubbed the back of her head and followed her partner.
“Damn, that’s gonna leave a mark,” she muttered.
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Callisto slammed the phone down and walked away from the public phone. She stalked across the busy two-lane highway daring any vehicle to hit her. Unfortunately, no one took her up on her dare and she was allowed across safely. Thinking Xena and Gabrielle were in town was an entirely different concept from actually knowing it. Very few things caused Callisto any excitement, a good killing could be fun but for honest heart pumping excitement Callisto had found that only killing Xena or Gabrielle worked. Oh sure, there had been a couple of mildly entertaining moments along the way, but only Xena or Gabrielle’s deaths brought her any fun. The Marquis de Sade and she had a few enlightening conversations on torture; the time of the Spanish Inquisition was spent watching the mass executions of accused heretics; WWII brought about concentration camps and ovens. And now, they were both close, close enough to be concerned.
She entered the motel room and staggered at the stench that washed out of the room.
“Oh my Sheriff, did you have an accident and soil your trousers? I’ll never get my security deposit back now. Tschk, tschk.”
She looked at the man tied spread eagle to the bed. He was barely conscious, blood loss and terror had sapped all the strength from him. She had forced the Sheriff into the room at gunpoint, cuffed him to the headboard and tied his feet to the bed frame. The next couple of hours had been spent getting to know each other; for Callisto that meant what the Sheriff knew and for the Sheriff, he met his first ever sociopath. She made it very clear to him she didn’t care a wit if he died. He was only bait for her trap.
“You’ve been holding out on me. Agent Hausmann and the little blonde are really my friends I’ve been looking for. Why didn’t you tell me that, I wonder? Oh I know, you wanted to keep the bitches for yourself. Well dear Sheriff, you have some equipment they really don’t care for, although I can fix that for you if you ask really nicely.”
She was walking around the bed flipping her dagger through her fingers and staring at the glowing crystal. The Sheriff moaned and weakly pulled against his restraints distracting her.
“You really shouldn’t be so loud, the neighbors might hear.” She leaned over him and dragged the tip across his neck. Another thin line of blood chased the tip of the blade.
“Oh see what you made me do, you’re bleeding again. If this keeps up, blondie might not have anything to work with,” she scolded the man and then cackled. “Of course she will be here soon, both of them will. I told her to come alone, but they never listen to me. No one ever listens to me. Now let’s see what we can come up with for the welcoming party, shall we?” Maniacal laughter rang through the air as the Sheriff finally passed out.
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Gabrielle was out the door with Xena about to close it when the phone on the counter started ringing. On a hunch, she went back in to answer the phone.
“Sheriff’s office,” she answered wondering just what she would do if it was a 911 emergency call. ‘Callisto had the Sheriff, Clyde and Trilby were still at the clinic and the State Police back up Trilby had called for wasn’t due for hours. Maybe there was a Fire Chief or something,’ she thought.
“Um, I’m at the Northridge Motel and there’s something really weird going on here,” the voice hesitantly whispered. She immediately perked up.
“My name is Agent Hausmann, the Sheriff and his staff is out investigating a scene, how can I help?”
“Humph, well the scene must be here because I saw the Sheriff escort a woman into a room several hours ago,” was the disgusted reply. “Maybe the Sheriff is doing a little ‘personal’ investigating.” The phone clicked off before she could ask anything else.
“Damn it. Well at least I know the name of the motel and they’re still there,” she mumbled. “Gabrielle! Wait…” she started to shout as she turned back to the front door. “Oh, there you are.” Xena could tell by the way she was standing they were on shaky ground.
Gabrielle was standing in the doorway, hands on hips, still wary of Xena’s intentions and very tense. Stopping in front of her, Xena ran her hands up and down Gabrielle’s arms trying to reassure Gabrielle by her touch. Feeling some of the stiffness leave, she pulled the bard into her embrace and leaned her head against Gabrielle’s.
“I’m not lying to you about going alone; I won’t do that to you. I want to get the Sheriff away safely and put an end to her sick games. What can I say to convince you?”
“I believe you and I trust you. I’m sorry I lost it. Having the memories and the guilt from that time just hit me really hard. I didn’t realize that I was holding onto that.” Gabrielle pulled back and saw the troubled look her partner was giving her. Sighing, she leaned into Xena. The solid strength and quiet support being offered was real and all the reassurance she needed.
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Callisto knew they both would show up and was planning on it. She could just imagine the scene. Xena would make some self sacrificing offer trading herself for the Sheriff. Blondie would do the usual objection, Xena would try to convince her the worthless piece of trash Sheriff was important, she would make blondie take the trash out, blondie would do the crying ‘I love you’ thing, take the trash leaving Xena and her alone, she would toy with the warrior until blondie came back then she would kill Xena when blondie came to rescue the warrior like a fool, Callisto would throw some taunts at blondie, maybe carve her up a little and then they would all be taken by the Swirls when Xena died. Oh what fun she thought. But first she had to ensure the shards weren’t going to be close enough to charge. That would ruin all her fun. She turned and regarded the limp body of the Sheriff planning her next move.
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When they had stopped at the clinic to check on Clyde, Trilby begged to go along.
“I have to go, after what she did to Clyde and took the Sheriff. I am the only law enforcement in the area.”
Xena was looking out the window in the direction of the motel. She was trying to come up with a reason for Trilby other than ‘I said so’ but couldn’t. He was right on all counts and if it were her, she’d be doing what she could to be involved. She turned around ready to say no when Gabrielle made the decision for her.
“I think Trilby is right. He needs to be there as the local law and he deserves to be there,” she said. Xena looked at her with astonishment and shut her mouth.
“Ok, you’re both right. He can come along.”
“And another reason … what?” Now it was Gabrielle’s turn to look astonished.
“What? Oh don’t look so surprised, I would be there for all the reasons Trilby mentioned and some others we don’t need to discuss right now,” she said as she turned away from the two to the window. “Besides, he can do some scouting for us and be the back-up we’ve never had with this suspect. What’s the approach to the motel look like?”
Suddenly Trilby felt sick. Did he really want to go along with these two? He thought they wouldn’t call his bluff if he volunteered to go. He thought about the damage done to Clyde and the missing Sheriff. Maybe it would be better if they all waited for the State Police to arrive with reinforcements.
“Um, shouldn’t we wait for the reinforcements from the State Police? If this suspect is that bad, don’t we need back-up?”
Xena hung her head and turned back to the room. “Trilby, you don’t need to come. I won’t lie to you; this subject is vicious, callous and has no regard for human life; a pure sociopath who will kill again and again. Until we stop her which is our job. I will do what I have to do to stop her.”
The intensity of her gaze made him swallow hard. Never before had he seen such a hard look in anyone’s eyes. He dropped his eyes and fiddled with his equipment belt.
“It’s ok to be nervous even scared. If you weren’t I would tell you to stay here. That being scared will help keep you cautious and save your life.” Gabrielle moved to stand next to the deputy. Looking from her to Xena, he saw enough courage and determination to help bolster him.
“Ok. There’s a road a block behind the motel. It’s high enough that you can have a good view of the parking lot. You can’t see the front doors but the back patios are visible.”
“That’s good. The call I took at the office mentioned the Sheriff going into one of the rooms with Callisto. He also said they hadn’t come out again.”
“The best hint would be anyone who hasn’t allowed house keeping in,” Gabrielle suggested.
“The motel doesn’t have house keeping. The wife does the cleaning when the room turns over so that may not help.” The two women looked at Trilby queasily. “It’s a small 10 bungalow motel. They don’t have any staff but themselves.” He answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “But they will know which room hasn’t turned over.”
“Can we reach them by phone?” Gabrielle asked. “We should probably have any other occupants evacuated to minimize possible hostages. The suspect might take more hostages if she feels cornered, she’s done it before.”
Xena nodded at Trilby to call the motel owners and motioned Gabrielle over. “My plan is to locate Callisto’s room, draw her out and keep her distracted while you check on the Sheriff and stabilize him. Then find us. You know we all have to be close enough for the crystals to charge. We didn’t get really clear instructions on that from the Old Man and I’m thinking we or the crystal shards need to be touching. We’ve been close before, just not that close.” She waited for her partner to start arguing but nothing was said. Just a look that warned her of dire consequences if this didn’t go right.
Trilby got off the phone and turned around. “Bungalow 11 is the only one that’s not turned over all week. The owners are calling the 4 others that have occupants and telling them there’s a septic tank back-up and they need to leave for a few hours. You can see the front and back of 11 from the road behind the motel.”
“Let’s do it this way. We’ll get set at the back of the bungalow; you can go knocking on all the doors making noise about who you are and asking everyone to evacuate because of a gas leak. The suspect will probably try to get out before you get there. She won’t want to been seen or have you at her door and possibly see inside the room. Hopefully she’ll skate out the back, I can detain her; you two can stabilize the Sheriff and we’ll take her back to the holding cells for security.” Gabrielle and Trilby nodded their understanding of the plan.
“Ok, let’s get this over with.”
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Half an hour later, Xena and Gabrielle were behind a dumpster with the back door of bungalow 11 in sight. Trilby had been in the motel office talking with the owners making sure everyone was out. The radio Xena had borrowed from Trilby clicked twice to signal he was starting his task. She looked back at Gabrielle and got a nod. She clicked back and braced herself against the hot metal.
For the nth time, she wished for a cold night which would have rendered the dumpster less noxious and a little more comfortable to lean against. She could hear Gabrielle breathing through her mouth to minimize the stench and could only pat the hand on her shoulder in empathy. They couldn’t watch both doors based on the only decent cover available. Whoever saw Callisto first was to click their radio.
Pounding on the first bungalow’s door, Trilby did a passable job of trying to contact the occupants. Shouts about ‘gas leak’ and ‘evacuate the area’ floated around the courtyard. Xena flinched when the back door of the bungalow cracked open. Gabrielle squeezed her shoulder to say she saw it also. Callisto stuck her head out the door and was scoping out the terrain. Trilby was slowly making his way down the line being as loud as he could. Gabrielle kissed the back of Xena’s head, whispered “Don’t you die on me, I love you” and left. She slipped around the corner to the opposite side so she could go through the front door with Trilby.
Callisto slid out the door and slipped into the hedges lining the back of the lot. Xena clicked her radio and followed her.
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The door pounding and shouts of ‘Sheriff’s department, gas leak, evacuate’ interrupted Callisto’s careful plans. Deciding where to hide the crystal shard was the only fun she was having. Since she knew both Xena and blondie would show up eventually, she was taking an extra precaution this time to not have the crystal shard with her. That way, she reasoned there wouldn’t be any chance of reuniting the crystal shards. She would have enough time to recover hers before Xena died and the fun would begin again.
“Damn it all to Hades,” she snarled at the disruption. She peeked out the front curtain and saw a deputy Sheriff banging on a door several bungalows away.
“Damn, damn, damn. I haven’t found the perfect place yet. Oh well no time for niceties.” Lifting the Sheriff’s shirt, she plunged the dagger into the Sheriff’s gut with an upwards thrust and buried her hand up past her wrist. She pulled her hand out, wiped the blood on the shirt tail and tucked the shirt back into the waist band.
“Hmm, not bad. I know you don’t appreciate the hiding place dear but I’ll be back, don’t go away…” she said as she patted the cheek of the corpse. Giggling to her self, she headed to the back door.
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