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Survivor Part 2 (6/8)
Kay Kelly (wilusa@EARTHLINK.NET)Mon, 2 Apr 2001 00:19:39 -0400
*** By the next day, I'd calmed down enough to realize the news reports about what had happened were very peculiar. A bit of background. In 1985, Connor MacLeod and a few other Immortals had gotten the notion they were the last ones, meeting in New York for the Gathering. Thinking it was some sort of grand finale, they became reckless. Most notoriously, Connor--then calling himself Russell Nash, but operating an antique shop at the same Hudson Street address--killed a rival in the parking garage of Madison Square Garden. With wrestling going on overhead! He was arrested and held for questioning. But he managed to conceal his sword before the cops picked him up, and they had to release him for lack of evidence. Connor ultimately embraced the delusion that he'd become the last Immortal--which meant that his mysterious enemy must have died, even though he'd never identified him. That was why he felt safe in marrying Brenda Wyatt. All that was ancient history. But I knew the New York media had gone wild during those weeks in '85, with headlines like "Police Baffled" and "Headhunters 3, Cops 0." So I expected fresh headlines about the Quickening and decapitated body on Hudson Street. Especially since the carnage had taken place in a structure once owned by "headhunter" suspect Russell Nash. Nope. I finally found a small item, buried on a back page of the paper. It gave the impression some hoods had murdered one of their own in an abandoned building, probably in the course of a drug deal gone bad. They'd set a fire to cover it up, and that had led to a minor explosion. There was no mention of the body being minus a head, or of a history connected with the address. Iąd seen more passion in reports of petty burglaries. And my buddies told me the TV news segments had been just as bland. There was only one explanation. The police had been burned by those reports of their "bafflement" in '85, and didn't want it to happen again. That meant playing down reports of beheadings. So they'd gone all out to mislead the newshounds. And the Fire Department had helped them. I heaved a bigger sigh of relief than anyone else. Based on what Carlos had told me, the Watchers knew Jacob had been behind the Sanctuary raid. They were prepared to kill not only him, but anyone who'd learned there was no automatic reprisal for violating holy ground. They undoubtedly knew what all of us looked like. But thanks to our unlikely allies in the NYPD, they *didn't* know Immortals were killing each other in New York. *** The next three days felt like the calm before a storm. Jacob seemed unusually mild-mannered, even pleasant. Jin and Faith became noticeably withdrawn. Carlos was never mentioned. I visited 'Nam every night. Jacob had no trouble finding Duncan MacLeod's hotel. Duncan hadn't been back there since his adventure with us. But two unnamed friends of his had gotten to the hotel before Jacob, told the desk clerk MacLeod was taking a little side trip, and asked that his room be held for a few days. The establishment had no problem with that, since his credit was good. The desk clerk's description made it clear one of those friends was Watcher Joe Dawson. A gray-haired man with a beard, using a cane. We all knew Dawson had two artificial legs. He'd obviously changed his mind about following Duncan to New York. But I felt confident he wouldn't tell the Society as a whole what was going on. Jacob didn't know whether the other man was mortal or Immortal. He didn't want the nuisance of tangling with an Immortal, so he didn't get within sensing range. But Dawson was easy to spot from a distance. Jacob identified the men's rental car, then planted a tracking device in it while they were in a bar. And on Day 4, they led him to both MacLeods. Only Faith was with Jacob that day. When they returned in the evening, she was subdued and silent; Jacob was on an adrenaline high. He told us he'd managed to avoid Dawson and his companion, and had found Duncan and Connor together. I gathered they were in a remote place that really would have been safe for a Quickening. He'd made himself known at last. Then he'd goaded the flabby Connor into a swordfight, shamed and humiliated him in front of Duncan. He could have taken Connor's head. But he'd vowed to go on tormenting him--and keeping him alive--until they were the last two Immortals. And he'd announced that Duncan was "on borrowed time." I could picture the noble Duncan MacLeod standing there, fuming. Aching for his friend. Knowing that moment might be his only chance for a fair, one-on-one fight with Jacob...and he couldn't seize it without showing Connor up. Jacob was very proud of himself. None of us could think of anything to say. *** That was Thursday. By Friday we seemed to be back to marking time. Jacob hadn't mentioned any new plan for trapping Duncan. Was that because he knew Duncan's being on guard would make it more difficult? Because he was waiting to master those old Immortals' powers? Or... because he didn't trust *us?* *** If some dramatic development was needed to hurry things along, it came Friday night. Faith went out during the evening. Everyone saw the sexy outfit she had on under her coat. Saw that she didn't return for hours. No one said a word. But we all knew whose bed she'd been in. And Jacob knew we knew. *** Jacob wasn't in love with Faith. He'd taken her as his mate because she was female, handy, and physically attractive. I guessed he was passionate--and brutal-- after a Quickening; Jin had told me most Immortal men are rough then, especially if they don't love their partners. But I doubt Jacob had much interest in sex at other times. In his youth, when he should have been most hot-blooded, he'd been content as a priest. So in the larger scheme of things, the type of loyalty he demanded from Faith was the same as he required of all of us. Sexual fidelity was almost incidental. But still, the guy was human. No man could enjoy having his underlings know his woman was sleeping around. Or in this case, sleeping with his enemy. *** And what about Faith? She'd gone to Duncan MacLeod-- a man who'd once loved her enough to want her with him forever. She'd undoubtedly hoped to screw him, not kill him. Sure, a woman can seduce a man and then kill him in his sleep--with his own weapon, if need be. But Faith couldn't have taken a Quickening in Duncan's hotel room or, realistically, lured him anywhere else. And there would have been hell to pay if she'd whacked him --Jacob was reserving that honor for himself. So she'd wanted sex. Or love. The length of time she'd been there proved Duncan hadn't rebuffed her. The obviousness of what she'd done was sure to antagonize Jacob. And yet the damn-fool woman had *come back*. Still--and forever--an enigma.