Phone call

Scott takes Katie in his arms, holding her close as he feels her longing for comfort. Looking down into her teary eyes, his heart aches. "Oh, Katie..."

He sighs deeply, just studying her face, her emotions. "You know I can't pass this by." He reaches up with a gentle hand to wipe a tear from her cheek. His voice quiets, his tone softens. "You're far from ordinary, Katie Pent. I don't know what wonderland would do without you."

Tilting his head, he plants a tender kiss on her lips before drawing her close to him again. "I'm sorry you've had a rough morning." In the back of his mind, there was slight question as to what had happened...this was yet another time he knew she'd been around Jason, then had come away upset. "Do you want to talk about it?"


Carson chuckles a little at Misty. "Either you're too good at this game, or you've watched too many movies." He scans the area again, his eyes revealing his nervousness. "I don't know...I just...If Zane can see our every move, he's going to know anything. Without us knowing him or his goons though, we can't even tell if we're being watched or followed."

He shakes his head. "I like any and all of those ideas - they're great. I just...don't trust them in this situation."

Walking a short ways, he strolls casually, nodding to a passerby. Stopping, he turns to Misty. "We need someone Zane doesn't know...someone who's good undercover, who can hold him and manipulate him into a position we can take him down. And I hadn't thought about Lockheart being so close."

Carson reaches for his cell phone hesitantly. He looks at Misty again. This whole thing was risky. But he they needed the help. Finally, he dials.


Reese rolls his eyes as his direct line rings again. Would he ever get anything done this morning? "Yeah, hello, this is Reese."

Carson gives Misty a sidelong glance as he speaks. "Well it's just the bloke I wanted to talk to."

"Carson! Where are you?"

"Now, now, don't get all excited."

"Dang it, Carson, what do you think you're doing? Tell me what's going on!"

Carson slings an arm around Misty's shoulder as they continue to walk, drawing no attention to themselves in the park. "Oh, don't worry, you'll find everything out. But right now, I need a bit of help."

"You need help alright. Quit playing games with me."

"Alright. Here's the bottom line. I got your niece. You want to see her alive again, you do what I ask."

"Carson, you swine!"

"Hey, hey, easy, mate. You know how this works. You do what I ask and no one gets hurt. It's that easy."

Reese pauses. "What do you want?"

"Jason."

"What?!"

"I got a job here and I can't do it myself. I need a good man."

"Well sorry to burst your bubble, but Jason's in surgery for the second time now, thanks to you."

Carson stops walking and glances at Misty, a look of remorse crossing his eyes as for a moment he forgets his role. "Surgery?"

"Yeah. You did a fine job on his knee."

Carson closes his eyes for a moment, trying to regroup. He hadn't wanted to hurt Jason that badly. They both had just lost it in the ring. They'd both been flying around in there with pure survival instincts. But he couldn't dwell on that now. "Alright. Then it's Nate."

"What do you want him for?"

"Get him in your office."

Reese doesn't hesitate, and summons Nate quickly, putting the speaker phone on, and resumes contact within minutes. "Alright, he's here."

"Good. Now...if either of you call the cops, tell Brown about this, or let anyone else in on this, Misty's dead. Got it?"

The coldness in his tone makes Reese cringe. Carson wasn't playing games. Had he snapped? "Got it."

"Alright." Carson goes on to explain the vicinity where he and Misty are, directing Nate to the motel where they'd stayed the night before. "I want Nate here by three in the morning."

"But what is he going to be doing?"

"You don't worry about that. Just get him here - got that, Nate?" Carson keeps on walking with Misty, still talking. "No questions, no cops, no one gets hurt. Don't show up, and you can read the obituaries to figure out where we are."

Reese runs a hand over his face, tight with tension. "Anything else?"

"Nope. But I'm sure we'll be in touch." Carson flips his phone shut and puts it back on his belt, keeping an arm around Misty. "Well...now we can watch from a distance. We just have to decide if we can trust Nate once he's here...you think we should keep him in the dark and manipulate him still with this line of mine, or tell him the truth? I don't want anything to be spilled until we've got Zane in hand."


Reese hears the click at the other end, and looks up at Nate, the confusion and concern in his eyes. "I have no idea what's going on. Carson's gone off the deep end. I knew it was bound to happen sometime, but with Misty..." He shakes his head. "We've got to get her out of there. Do you want to follow his instructions to the letter, or implement our own strategy?"