Bayou (S1E19): Missing Scenes

But that isn't the way it turned out.

Before they realized what was happening, the man ran full tilt into Max, knocking him off balance while a second man emerged from the driver's position and grabbed Nicholas.

"Hey!" yelled Max, as Nicholas, arms pinned to his sides, struggled to free himself from the second man.  The blond regained his footing, throwing his assailant onto the hood of the car and rushing over to assist his teammate.  He felt someone grab his jacket from behind, and a moment later something cold and hard struck him on the back of the head.  Max fell hard onto the asphalt and lay there, momentarily stunned.

"Get in!" the second man ordered Nicholas, as he tried to force him into the car feet first.  Nicholas continued to fight back until Max's attacker finally stepped in to help.  "Come on, get in!" he snarled, and the two men together finally shoved the dark-haired agent into the back of the limousine.  The first man climbed in after him.

 "Let's go!" he yelled to his companion, as the latter slammed the back door, slid into the driver's seat, and sped away.

The black limousine screeched past the club's side entrance, nearly running over Jim, who was exiting at the same time.

"What the...?" said the elder agent, as he took a quick step backward.  He stared after it for a moment, his mouth drawn into a thin line, as he wondered whom it had been and why they had been in such a rush.  

Then, as he turned back toward his left, Jim's gaze fell upon a prone figure in the street.  His eyes narrowed, then he recognized the figure and began walking toward it at a rapid clip.

"Max?  What happened?  Are you all right?" he asked.  He knelt down beside his younger teammate, who was rubbing the back of his head gingerly with his left hand while easing himself to a half-sitting position with his right.

"They've got Nicholas," Max murmured.

Jim's expression was grim as he again turned to stare in the direction Nicholas' captors had gone.  Then he looked back at Max.  "Morgan?"

“Yeah,” Max confirmed.  He shook his head to clear the rest of the cobwebs, wincing at the ensuing pain, and got to his feet.  Jim was already walking back toward the club.

"Shouldn't we go after them?"  Max questioned, frowning at his team leader's apparent lack of concern that their teammate had just been captured.

Jim shook his head.  "We'd never catch them now," he replied, as Grant and Shannon exited the club and joined their teammates in the alley.  "I’m sure Morgan is just taking Nicholas to see the missing girls, and didn’t want you in the way.  He’ll be fine."

"Yeah, there's no way Morgan will let anything happen to Mister Naxos.  He wants to get his greedy little hands on that three million dollars," Grant agreed.

"We can prepare the next phase while we're waiting for Nicholas to get back," mused Jim, and with that he began walking toward their waiting vehicle, as the others followed suit.

Normally the team's driver, Max deferred to the elder agent this time.  Grant sat up front with Jim, while Max slid into the backseat beside Shannon.  His head was still pounding, and his mind was racing at the same clip.  Jim and Grant were acting as if Morgan and his men would just let Nicholas go, free and unscathed, when they were finished with him.  But so many other people had gone missing before Diane Martin, never to be seen or heard from again.  Nicholas could be in real danger.  What if they decided that Nicholas knew too much about their operation and wanted to silence him? Max thought fearfully.  Besides, Morgan obviously didn’t know where the team had set up their headquarters for this mission.  If they did bring Nicholas back, they’d probably drop him off at the jazz club.  Shouldn't somebody wait for him there?

Max stole a sideways look at Shannon, and the look in her eyes told him that she was as worried about their friend as he was.  But neither of them said anything further as Jim drove them back to their home base.

*****

Nicholas had fought hard against his adversary, despite his arms having been pinned at his sides.  In the midst of his struggle, he caught a glimpse of Max headed toward him, having shaken off his own attacker.  But then, he had seen the second bodyguard pull out a handgun and strike Max in the back of the head.  He watched in horror as Max fell to the pavement.  As Morgan’s men pushed Nicholas into the backseat, the dark-haired agent glanced to his left and was terrified to see Max still lying there on the ground.

The man who had attacked Max slid in beside Nicholas and pointed the handgun in the agent’s direction.  Nicholas gazed at it.  It was a fairly large weapon – one that could do a lot of damage when wielded -- and Nicholas’ heart ached with fresh worry for his teammate.  God, he hoped that Max was all right!

Nicholas averted his eyes from the gun and saw the shadow of a large figure sitting at his right.  "Mister Naxos."  It was the unmistakably full voice of Jake Morgan, his speech slow and deliberate.  "I know this was a bit... unconventional... but we had to take... all the necessary precautions."

"Yes," Nicholas responded in a half-whisper, "I suppose so."

"And, of course, the location of the girls has to remain... a secret."  Then Morgan nodded slightly, and immediately a red blindfold was whipped over the agent's eyes.

"Of course."  Nicholas was disappointed.  They had deemed it too risky for Nicholas to carry his communicator, or any sort of tracking device, but were banking on him being able to use his vision to describe the girls’ location.  That was no longer possible.  Instead, Nicholas focused on sharpening his other senses in order to gather as much information as possible...and trying not to worry about his injured teammate.

*****

Once Nicholas had seen the missing girls, he was re-blindfolded and dropped off back at Jambalaya Jazz.  He half-expected someone from his team to be waiting there for him, but no one was. It was nearly two miles from the club on Bourbon Street to the warehouse at the Port of New Orleans that the team was using as headquarters, and Nicholas had neither his communicator to contact his teammates nor his wallet to hail a cab.  Already exhausted, he began to walk.

*****

"When you close the trunk, that will immediately trigger the gas canister," Grant was saying.  To illustrate, he pushed the button on the silver cylinder, which produced a green light and a fine mist.  Max, leaning against the car with his chin in his hand, along with Jim, looked on.

Grant mounted the small device onto the inside of the trunk near the tag plate. Max rose as Grant slammed the trunk closed, then leaned against the car once again, propping himself on his elbows.  His mouth was drawn into a thin line.  He didn’t understand how Grant and Jim could continue to plan out mission strategy, with one of their own missing and out of touch, and no indication as to when – or if -- he would return.

Shannon was watching from a couple of steps behind, occasionally glancing hopefully toward the door.

"And how about the bullet hits?"  Jim asked.

"I'll do those next," Grant replied.  He looked at Max.  "Fire left to right, then back, right to left," he ordered, as Max nodded his understanding. "Nicholas will have the remote control to set off the squibs."

Will he?  Max wondered to himself.

"Got it," he muttered aloud.  Then, suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he spotted Shannon walking quickly towards the door.

"Thank God you're okay!" she remarked, prompting Jim and Grant to turn around and Max to rise to his feet.  Nicholas was standing at the door.

Thank God, indeed, Max sighed silently.

"What happened?"  Shannon continued, grasping the dark-haired agent's right arm with both of her hands.

"I've just had a private showing of Morgan's merchandise," Nicholas responded, as he and Shannon approached the others.

"Well, do you know where they are?" Max asked, his tone slightly subdued.

"They blindfolded me," Nicholas answered, thankful that his teammate seemed all right. 

As the light fell on Nicholas' tanned features, the others could see that his hair was slightly tousled and his expression was troubled.  He sounded slightly out of breath as he spoke. "All I could hear was the sound of water, possibly a river."

Nicholas paused slightly, then let out a heavy breath as he continued speaking.  "Oh, Jim," he sighed, "we’ve got to get to those girls."

Shannon looked somberly at the team leader, as he nodded determinedly.  "We will," he vowed.  "Tomorrow, Sam Kane will tighten the screws on Mister Morgan."

Then, he, Grant, and Shannon moved into the adjoining room to further refine their mission strategy.  Max, however, lingered behind with Nicholas, eager for the chance to talk to his friend.

"You look a little rough."  Max's voice was laced with concern.  "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Nicholas assured him, smiling faintly.  Then his expression sobered again.  "How’s your head?"

Max shrugged.  "I'm all right," he answered.  In truth, his head was still throbbing with each heartbeat, but he wasn't about to let his friend, or anyone else, know that.

"I didn't expect them to bash you in the head with a gun," Nicholas mused quietly.  He gazed up at his friend with troubled eyes.  "I was worried about you."

"And I didn't expect them to take you by force," Max added in the same tone.  "I was afraid you'd end up like those girls."

The mutual concern hung in the air for a long moment.  Then Max forced a sigh, and his eyes brightened.  "But we're both okay, and that's what matters."

"Yes," Nicholas agreed, "and now we can move on to the second stage of our plan."

At that exact moment, Grant poked his head around the corner and glared at his teammates.  "I could use a little help in here," he muttered, trying to sound cross, but betrayed by the sparkle in his eyes.

Nicholas grinned at Max, raising one eyebrow.  "Speaking of."

Max returned his smile.  "Coming, Grant!" he called.  Then he slung his left arm around Nicholas' shoulders, thumping his arm fondly, as the two teammates joined the others in the next room.