TOO QUICK TO DIE

PART THREE: 

Once it became established that Deidre Montgomery, erstwhile archaeologist, would be staying on with NanoCorp for a while, she found  herself  looking to  make her residence a bit more

concrete.  She had quit the company-paid apartments, eschewed the more modern high-rises in the city, and began to look for more comfortable quarters in the residential areas sprawling out

at the edges of the city.  She found an older neighborhood with houses that smacked of avant-garde design but was too dated for any but the most bizarre and offbeat personality.  The rent was reasonable, and the house sat at the end of a street that wasn’t entirely reassuring to Terry when he saw it, some abandoned buildings bearing the marks of anarchist gangs; but Deidre was

too in love with the design of the house to be persuaded to look elsewhere.  It was unremitting in its 70s architecture, with the roof line slanting this way and that and the entire house looking

as though a child had pushed various blocks together to form something resembling a house.  But she was most enthralled with the various nooks, cubby-holes, bookshelves, skylights, lofts, and crannies packed into the interior.  This appealed to the packrat in her, as a packrat like her was always looking for opportunities to exhibit the equally bizarre pieces she had picked up on her travels.

Despite his teasing when she first moved in, Terry seemed to find the place irresistible.  She hoped it was mostly because he wanted to be with her, but she also got a kick out of the fact that she often caught him wandering about, examining the place as though he’d never seen it before.

“You gave them the gift basket?”  He asked her, as he turned the nose of his roadster out onto the drive away from Emerald City.

“Yes…left it in the living room  where they  were sure to see it.  Also stocked the refrigerator some as well…drinks, beer for Cort, sandwich meat, bread, cold salads, things like that.  They ought to at least  survive  until the morning,  Terry,” Deidre said, wondering what direction he was heading.

A glint flashed in his eyes as a tiny smile flickered across his features.

“They don’t really want to see us until tomorrow, do you think?”

Cort and Rachel were back in the little blue house in the pines, a house, Terry said, that the company decided to keep as it was when NanoCorp purchased the wide expanse of acreage next to the complex, once owned by a family that had been there for several generations.  The elderly couple had no heirs that would take the land, and the city was slowly creeping out that way.  Their one fear was that the multiplexes and urban sprawl would eat up the miniature forest of pines, trees that the old man claimed had been planted by his grandfather so long ago. NanoCorp signed on to with terms to keep the miniature forest and used the house as VIP guest-quarters for visiting clients or booked it out as a retreat for employees.  It had seemed the perfect place to put Cort when he arrived, since the history behind it reached back to his era.  Deidre had been excited and was eager to see their friends, as now that they had returned, it felt as if the last puzzle piece to their little team had been put back into place.

“Well, I would imagine they’re tired,” Deidre acquiesced. 

“So let them rest,” Terry said, his smile broadening.

Deidre could not help but respond with a smile of her own.

“Open the bottle for me, darlin’,” she said to him not much later, and handed him a bottle of pinot grigio wine.  Terry had sped through traffic and banked the car in the driveway as the sun

pulled its last vestige of light from the sky and they had both quickened their step to get inside.  She now flitted about the kitchen to collect some edibles for themselves, and after giving him a long kiss, sauntered out of the room, flicking her hair back to cast him one last look before disappearing upstairs.  “I didn’t forget you,” she promised him.

He took the wine glasses and open bottle to the living room, began to fill the goblets and sat back, catching the strains of music as Deidre prepared whatever it was she was preparing…at least, he hoped she was preparing something.  He was in something of a celebratory mood himself this evening.

A long low-back couch sat facing a brick fireplace, a herringbone pattern laid in a long column reaching to the high ceiling.  Deidre was still playing around with decorating ideas, but one of her favorite pieces, a large bowl-like mask from the BaLuba tribe in the deep Congo forest hung over the mantelpiece, its contrasting concentric rings radiating from an sunshiny expression in the eyes, nose, and mouth, like a happy moon caught in a splashed puddle.

Terry looked down at his empty wine glass.  Had he drunk that much?  He turned his head to look up at the balcony that hovered above the living room.   He wished Deidre would hurry up.

He picked up the finger piano that lay on the coffee table.  For someone who had done most of her work in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, she certainly had a proliferation of African

art.  He remembered her talking about working in a museum one time…

A soft white object landed on his arm as he reached out to put the finger piano back, a strange garment with a couple of loops.  And  distinctive  cups.  Terry  held it up, feeling a  tingle go

throughout his body.

The music upstairs grew a bit louder in a playful rhythm that pulsed along with his quickened heartbeat.

Deidre appeared at the rail, swathed in a bright turquoise silk scarf, silver coins sewn to its edge flashing in the light.

“Are you coming or not?” she asked, provocatively.

He carefully put down the glass and stood up.  Oh, he definitely was.

..............................................................................................................................................

Rachel found herself standing, unable to bear sitting still so long.

“I’ve got to make a phone call,” she announced.

"You will not mention my presence?" Maximus asked worriedly.

"Rachel, we've got to be very cautious now," Cort added. "If Sid should somehow learn...."

“No, really, Terry should know about this,” Rachel said, stepping to the phone.  “Everyone’s been worried.”

“On second thought,” she began, returning the receiver to its hook.  A thought, a fleeting paranoia, had flashed through her mind, made her clasp her hands beneath her chin.  Terry and Dee’s story about Mulder and Scully, something called the X Files, and the strange beings that had infiltrated the company had spooked her deeply; what was more, Terry’s assurances that Sid was taken care of rang a bit…false.  She winced.  She hated thinking that about her boss and friend – Terry rarely, if ever, proved her false in her trust - but Sid was never to be disregarded, ever.  And despite the fact  that Rachel knew  what Terry was doing to dismantle the warp room,  it felt like a band-aid over a wide open wound.  Which made  her wonder  about  every bit of technology around her.  She stepped away from the phone now, thinking about how advantageous it was to be off the grid. 

“Maybe  we  should  wait  until the morning,”  she  explained, looking at Cort, hoping he would get her drift.

"I would prefer no one else be told that I am here," Maximus continued.  "Perhaps the fewer who know, the less likely Sid is to find out."

"You are worried about...Terry?" Cort said, looking at Rachel. "I thought you trusted him, sweetheart.  Hasn't he always been upfront with us? “

“No, no, that’s not it!”  Rachel protested, returning to the couch.  “And yes, he has!   Terry’s very trustworthy.  He, of all people, will fight tooth and nail to protect you, Maximus.  He led the team into your movie.  Its just…” she glanced back over at the phone sitting on the little side table next to the kitchen counter.  “Communication is a bit more complicated these days.  It would probably be better to wait until we go in tomorrow,” she finished.

“I...well, you know I don't know my way around in there all that well.  It seems it would be good for us to have someone like Terry or Bud helping us." Cort said.

“We’ll find a way to let them know,” Rachel said, looking back at Maximus to check if this was all right.

"I have seen their movies," Maximus supplied.  "Both Terry's and Bud's. They seem like excellent men but I do not know what life has been like for them since they were taken out, what the set of their minds may currently be. I need to know that first. I fear great caution will be necessary in any dealings I may have involving Sid."

"That's like as not the best way to go," Cort agreed.  "Rachel and I both have medical appointments at NanoCorp in the morning. Perhaps we can put out some feelers then. Neither of us has seen Terry or Bud since our return. I understand while we were gone there were many, well, problems that came up, things that changed. And, too, Sid was gone for a while himself.  I feel entirely out of the loop of what's going on now."

Maximus gripped Cort's eyes with his own for a long time. Then quietly he said. "You have been through much, my brother. I see it. Your eyes bear more experience than they did in Rome. They have known much pain, much loss, but I also see great joy."  He looked at Rachel. "This is due to you, I would think?"  His own strong hand came to rest on Caroline's thigh.

“Well, I…I,” stammered Rachel, feeling a blush crawl into her cheeks.  “I’d go to the ends of the earth for him.”  She grabbed up his hand, the one he had snagged on the barbed wire, careful

to give pressure away from the bandage.  “We found out who took him, and where, so Terry arranged for me to go to the Czech Republic – that’s in Germania,” she added for Maximus’ benefit, “Terry and Deidre were going to follow after, but things came up here at NanoCorp that prevented them from doing so…and by the time they could get away, I had found a way to get in to the castle where Cort was being held.  See, Mikol was a rival, of sorts.  Sid seemed to know the most about him, seemed to think Mikol was not worthy of concern.”  Sid’s mockery still rang in her ears, but she shook her head to clear it from her thoughts. 

“Mikol  used a  similar  kind of warp,  except more  primitive – we’ve no idea how he came up with the technology, but,” here she drew in a deep breath, looking at Cort again.  She didn’t like

being reminded of what could have happened.  “It nearly killed Cort when Mikol took him through.  Fortunately, Henri, the doctor – I’m sure you’ll meet him – took real good care of him. 

And…and…eventually, we overthrew Mikol and escaped.  But it wasn’t just me.  It was…so much more.”  She placed her ring over Cort’s.  A star shone upon the hour of our meeting.

"She came...all alone...she came," Cort added to what Rachel had said, "to find me thousands of miles from home. She was very brave, risked everything for me."

"We risk much," Maximus said, his voice low, very deep, "when there is much worth the risking."  He was silent a moment. "I am glad my brother has found a woman such as you, Lady Rachel."

She didn’t quite know what to say to that, so instead she stood once more.

“You know, I’ve been very rude,” she told Maximus and Caroline.  “I should offer you both something to eat or drink.  Would y’all like something?”

As Rachel beetled into the kitchen to arrange the requested items, Maximus’ eyes found Cort again. "Your hand. At the end of your movie, your hand was crushed, yet I see but a small bandage on it."

Cort lifted his hand. "Oh, this.  This is new.  I lost my balance and fell on a roll of barbed wire.  Was stringing fence in Montana."  He rubbed the back of his hand with the fingers of his left.  "But, yes, this hand was broken up pretty bad by Ratsy's gun butt. Rachel came, at the last moment of the movie she came and took care of me, nursed me, but the hand was just too bad. Then," he licked his lips, "Sid was there and, like you, he took me in his warp.  I don't remember anything about that first time.  Rachel, she does."

“Sid knocked him out too,” Rachel chimed in from the kitchen.  “Which was fortunate, because I wasn’t handling that all that well, either.”  She returned with a tray of sandwiches and drinks. 

“How do I explain this?  Medicine’s come a long, long way from what you know, Maximus.  We’re able to inject a fresh supply of blood into a  person that’s  lost a lot  of it,  and NanoCorp has specialized in a particular kind of blood. A kind of robotic blood, microscopic…machines, shall we say?...that we’ve learned to program to perform certain tasks in the bloodstream.  It was what our doctors gave Cort when he first arrived, when they operated on his hand.  The blow from the gun-butt had crushed several of his bones, and had we allowed it to heal in normal circumstances, he’d have limited use of it. As it was, the nanoblood, along with the surgery, shortened the healing time considerably, reconstructed the bones and made them whole again.  It's why we’ve returned from Montana.  We’re going to do the same thing for his arm tomorrow when we go in.”

Cort moved his right hand, running it without touching down the length of his left. "Got pretty messed up from the bear. Grizzly's, they have extra-long claws."

"I saw a picture of a grizzly in a book Caroline and I were looking at. There were white bears, too. What were they called?"

"Polar bears," Caroline supplied.

Maximus chuckled. "There is much for me to learn of this new world."

"I know what you mean," Cort laughed. "And it's more different for you. You seem to be doing pretty good, though."

"Indeed, I owe it all to Caroline. She has even taught me to drive."

Cort laughed.  "Me, too!  Rachel, I mean.   When  we  were in Montana." He grinned at the General.  "No stopping us now, eh!"

Maximus' face suddenly went completely serious.  "I do not mean to let anything stop me, Cort."

"Sid," Cort breathed.

"Sid," Maximus repeated. "He has much to account for."

"I don't think anyone at NanoCorp really knows where he's been, what he's been up to with you. You said at one point Brianna was dying on the island.  Do you know what happened with that?"

"He took her, that is all I know. And he came back. She was... restored...when they came back.  When last I saw her she was with him and she was fine, was...happy."

Cort looked at Rachel.  "I don't really see, then, that if he's left that island altogether, why he wouldn't bring her back with him. Maybe she's been in that secret area of his with him all this while?"

"She is no longer my concern," Maximus said.  "My business lies with Sid, not with his woman."

Rachel looked down at her lap, wondering what that could mean.  A wall had come down with those words.

"Maximus?"  Cort began, looking from the General to Caroline. "Where do you two intend to spend the night?"

"I have a  station  wagon  parked,  um, somewhere?"  Caroline explained. "I expect we should go try to find it and get ourselves a place to stay, eh?"

"Would you consider staying here, with Rachel and me?  There is a small bedroom with a bath upstairs.  No one will know you are here.  If you leave, there is always the possibility of your being spotted."  Rachel nodded her head enthusiastically in agreement, to encourage them.

Maximus looked at Caroline, who nodded.  "This is a great deal for you to offer, my brother."

"That's just it...brother," Cort smiled.  "That is why.  You have no idea how often I have thought of you since we both left Rome, how hard it was not knowing where you were, what had happened to you.  It would mean a great deal to me to know you were under my roof.  Please stay."

Maximus smiled broadly, a sight Cort was not used to. "Then it is settled."

Bud had seen that Rachel's car was parked at the blue house and she and Cort drove to  the spot  where Caroline  figured her station wagon was parked to fetch the two bags of clothing. Then Cort tucked the station wagon away in an alley.  He thought it would be better for Maximus not to take a chance on being seen since they were on the outskirts of NanoCorp property.

As Maximus and Caroline lay together in the upstairs bed later that evening, his fingers lightly curling through her hair, she said, "I like him a lot, Maximus.  He's very like I pictured he'd be from his movie. And you can really see how much he and Rachel love each other. I'm glad. I think it's the best thing possible for you guys who've gotten removed from everything."

He rolled onto his right side, facing her, moonlight puddled on the planes of his bare chest. "As I have found you," he smiled. "Or, more truthfully, as you found me."

"Yes, like that," she smiled back. "I'm so glad to be here with you. There's nothing more I want than to face this with you."

"We have no real idea, Caroline, what it is that we are facing. You know that, do you not?"

"Well, we know it's Sid. We know that much."

"He is completely devious,  Caroline.  Never forget that for a moment. Never trust a single thing he might say. Ever. He thinks only of what he wants, of his own ends. Nothing else. Nothing

more."

"Like Megatron?"

He chuckled softly. "No, Megatron was rather straight-forward in his evil intentions. Sid comes around, strikes from the side and takes you off guard."

"I was thinking today of 'Transformers' again...obviously," she smiled. "It was the first what they call 'popcorn' movie I've seen in years. But there were parts of it, you know, that brought you to mind."

He cocked an eyebrow.

"Optimus," she continued. "Not just his name, either, which is rather obvious, but his manner, how he was willing to give his life so that evil could be destroyed. He had a great dignity about him."

Maximus traced the line of her cheek fondly. "I am not so unique, after all. Many men would do what I did, what I tried to do."

"Not so many I think." She pulled him down over her. "You are more unique than you know.  And you are here...with me...and I am still amazed that this is true."

He kissed her then, supporting his weight with his hands on either side of  her head.  She folded her arms around his neck, pulling him still closer.  "You wish no space between you and me?" he smiled.

"I wish no space," she murmured. "None."

Cort leaned on his right elbow looking at Rachel, liking the way her long dark hair spread out around her head on the pillow. "I...I know it's only our first night here," he said, his voice slightly apologetic, "but I hope it's ok I asked them to stay. I can't begin to explain what it means to me that he, he of all people, is here...right here.  As fond as I am of Terry and Bud, there is just...something ...about him that draws me to him.  I want to get to know him, Rachel, know the person he is outside of Gladiator.  And I want to help him however I can." 

He lifted  one  of her  long curls, lightly running  it along her cheekbone.  "What he wants from Sid, it's what I'd like to know, too. Sid has toyed with all our lives, has always gotten away with

it, gotten what he wills when he wills.  I think that's what Terry and Bud want, too, don't you? To stop Sid, to make sure he doesn't get away with any more of his games."

While he played with her hair, she let her fingers trace patterns on his bare chest.  “I’m glad you asked them, my love,” she told him, privately thinking it was a good thing that Terry and Bud didn’t show up, even if Maximus had not revealed himself.  If it had been anyone but Maximus, she would have lost patience.  “I remember how important contacting him was…is to you.  I think I’m still stunned that he showed up on our front doorstep!  My God, Cort, what has he gone through?”

"I had the feeling there was much he did not say, especially about Brianna. And the cave. He is used to great hardship, but I think there were things that...hurt...him."

“I used to think it was a good thing that Sid disappeared, but now I’m starting to get real nervous.  It's not like him to do that, not without a reason.  I’m just trying to think of a way to let Terry know without tripping the grid.”

"Sid always has a reason for everything. I have a hard time getting my head around the fact that Maximus has gotten to know him, has been with him. It just seems so...strange.  I understand his

caution, but I think Terry and Bud both would only want to help. And, God knows, we need help."

She stretched her hand up to twine her fingers in his own hair.  “I think Maximus was looking for you specifically, and I’m glad.  He knows a good man when he sees one.”

"And I, I know a good woman," he smiled, kissing each of her eyes in turn. "Which is why, my love, I want you, especially you, to take great care with all this.  I couldn't bear it if anything

happened to you. Promise me you'll stay away from Sid?"  His green eyes looked at her with a mixture of love and anxiety.

“As long as he stays away from you,” Rachel promised, pulling him down so he could wrap his arm around her.  “If he tries to take you away from me, he’ll wish he were Mikol.  I’ll make sure

of it.”

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