Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 19:43:00 PST Reply-To: Mike Goldman Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Mike Goldman Subject: Counterfeit Friends (14/22)--HL Story BTW: Mild profanity They stood there for a second, frozen, then Duncan and Richie ran to the back of the club while Joe followed as quickly as he could. When they reached the alley, they saw the front of the van now in flames and Rory lying facedown a short distance away. "Joe," Duncan said urgently, "call the fire department!" Joe stayed where he was, staring at Rory's body. Duncan grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "JOE!", he yelled, snapping him out of his trance. He quickly went back into the club and dialed the fire department while Duncan and Richie ran over to Rory's body. As he neared her, Duncan thought he felt another buzz nearby and pulled up short trying to identify where it came from. "Oof!" Richie grunted, plowing directly into Duncan's back. "What are you doing?" "I thought I felt one of us." "What you probably felt was me. Want to give a little more warning before you stop on a dime again?" Duncan knelt down by Rory, gently turning her over. "Is she-?" Richie asked. "She's dead." Duncan confirmed. By the scrapes on her face, he concluded the force of the explosion must have flung her up against the alley wall. He carefully lifted the body. "I'll get her inside before the police show up - you get a fire extinguisher." Richie needed no further prompting. He ran back inside and grabbed the extinguisher from its wall mount. Running back outside, he almost ran straight into Macleod again. Duncan made an annoyed sound while Richie shrugged his apology and went back outside to take care of the engine fire. Joe came back around the bar. "Where can we go?" Duncan asked. "Upstairs." Joe said shortly. "Richie can talk to the fire department." He walked quickly to the steps and begin climbing, Duncan following behind. Once upstairs, Joe held the door open and Duncan sidled in, crossing the room and laying Rory's body on the couch. He crouched down next to her while Joe leaned up against the desk. "How long does this usually take, Mac?" he asked. Duncan took one look at Joe's face and decided he should probably not tell him the truth -- that he really didn't know. "Not long." he said. They could hear the sirens drawing up to the club below. Suddenly Rory drew a deep breath and her eyes flew open. She flung her arms in front of her as though trying to ward off a blow. Joe leaned forward, concerned, as Duncan grabbed her arms and forced them down, all the while speaking in his somewhat rusty Irish as he tried to reorient her to who and where she was. Slowly she subsided, looking blankly at Duncan and Joe, then her eyes focused. "God, I *hate* this part!" she rasped in a hoarse voice and then began coughing. Duncan helped her to sit up while Joe sat down beside her and handed her a bottle of water from the small cooler he kept upstairs. Footsteps pounded up the steps and Richie appeared in the doorway. He looked at Joe apologetically. "I'm sorry, Joe, but they say they need to talk to you since you're the owner." "It can't wait?" Joe asked sharply. Richie shook his head. Joe sighed and got up from the couch. Duncan waited until he heard Joe going down the steps and turned to Richie. "What'd the police say?" he asked. "The officer said it looked like a small detonation device had been attached to the ignition so that it would go off the moment the van started moving." "Lovely." Duncan said flatly. Richie continued, "He also said that he really had to look for it; otherwise, they would have chalked this up to the fact that it's an old van and the wiring is probably shot." He turned to Rory. "So, are you ready to tell me what's going on?" "Go to hell, Macleod." Duncan opened his mouth to tell Rory exactly what he thought of her response when Joe reappeared. "Everyone's gone." He walked back down to the couch and sat down, cradling Rory in his arms. He could feel Mac looking at him but, right then, he really didn't give a damn. Macleod stood up. "C'mon, Richie." Joe started to get up to see them out, but Macleod motioned for him to stay where he was. "We'll see ourselves out and lock the door behind us." "Thanks, Macleod." There was a wealth of meaning in those words. Duncan nodded and he and Richie started down the stairs. Rory's voice calling him made Mac turn around. She said a short sentence to him in Irish, then leaned back against Joe and closed her eyes. "What was that you said?" he asked, gently rubbing her arm. "Just an Irish blessing." she responded. As they sat there, Joe felt her shoulders start to shake and realized she was crying. He drew her into his lap, trying to hold her even closer and began whispering what he hoped were comforting words in her ear. Outside the club, the same question was being asked. "What was that she said?" Duncan looked at Richie. "It was Irish. It means 'Don't lose your head.'" =========================================================================