Second Chances Part 1 - A Second Chance

Second Chances Part 1 by Bethhawke

Chapter 3

When Marella arrived at the Firm headquarters the first thing she did was head to her office, which had a private bathroom, to shower and change. She always had a few spare outfits in the cupboard in her office ever since the day she spilt coffee down her white skirt just before an important meeting and had to borrow one from a much shorter and thinner colleague. The meeting room had been overheated but she'd had to keep her jacket on because the skirt wouldn't fasten at the back. It was a mistake she wouldn't make again.
The phone rang just as she was putting the finishing touch to her make-up and she hurried out of the bathroom to answer it.
“Hello Marella,” the voice on the other end of the phone said, “are we still on for dinner tonight?”
“Robert. Hello. Good timing, I've just finished getting ready. I'll meet you at the entrance in about half an hour. I just need to see Archangel first.”
Hanging up the phone Marella walked to Archangel's office. On the way she thought about Robert. They had been dating for a couple of months. Nothing too serious, just a few dinner dates and drinks at their apartments and although they had slept together a few times it wasn't fireworks, in fact she was seriously considering calling it a day. With all the excitement of the last few days she hadn't thought about him at all and she realised that she wasn't really looking forward to dinner. If she wasn't so hungry she would probably have cancelled. Maybe I'll break it off tonight, she thought.
After updating Archangel on Beth's condition she told him where she was going and, tucking her pager safely into her purse, told him to page her if he needed her for anything. She could feel his eyes on her back as she left his office and wondered what it was that made him stare so intently at her.
The restaurant was very busy but Robert had reserved a small table in a quiet corner. The lighting was dim and there were candles on the tables. At the far end, next to a small dance floor, a pianist was playing love songs. It should have been romantic but Marella was unmoved.
“You're very quiet tonight,” Robert commented while they were waiting for the main course to be served.
“I'm just tired. The case I'm working on is tough, emotionally.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“I can't, it's classified. Besides, you didn't ask me out to talk about work.”
“I don't mind, it's just nice to see you.” He hesitated. “You know the latest rumour in the office is that one of our operatives got kidnapped recently. Have you heard anything about it?”
Marella stiffened in her seat and tried to keep her face neutral. Robert worked for the Firm too, but he was no longer directly under Archangel. If he was they wouldn't have been allowed to date.
“No, it's probably just that, a rumour. If it was true I'm sure Archangel would have told me, and I don't know of anyone who is missing.”
“You're probably right,” he said. The waiter arrived at the table to serve them their main course, effectively ending the conversation. When he left, Marella quickly changed the subject.
“The pianist is good, not the usual guy.”
Robert agreed, then they both concentrated on their food but Marella found she had no appetite despite feeling hungry earlier. After moving her food around on her plate for about 15 minutes, while Robert ate gustily, she gave up pretending.
“I'm sorry Robert, I'm no fun tonight and I have a headache. Would you mind taking me home now?” she asked.
Robert paid the bill and they walked out to the car park. As he held the car door open for her Marella sensed something was wrong and just caught sight of a man crouched in the back of the car before she was knocked unconscious.

Hawke's Cabin 3am

Lying safely in String's bed, Beth was dreaming.
She was back in the darkened room and she could hear footsteps approaching. With both hands tied to the bedpost she couldn't escape and braced herself for what was to come. The door opened and the man entered, locking the door behind him. It was too dark to see him clearly but she knew who it was, he had come every other night for the past 3 weeks. She knew the routine by now; first he would clean her up, a cold wet cloth rubbed roughly over every inch of her skin. He had left her a pot by the side of the bed, but it was hard to reach and the humiliation was hard to take as he cleaned her, taking extra care to make sure the area between her legs was spotless. Next came the torment with the food and water. She learned early on that the more she fought him, the less food and water he gave her so, as he undressed, she knew what she had to do.
He was gentle, it was as if he was her lover, not her rapist, and as long as she cooperated it stayed that way. The bruises from the first few times had gradually faded, but the cuts were still as sore and red as on the day he had inflicted them on her. The hours spent alone were torture and she had picked and scraped at her cuts, the pain keeping her from losing her grip on reality. Sometimes he would untie one of her hands so she could pleasure him with it, on others like this night he kept her tied up; he had other ideas for her. Kneeling on the bed in front of her, he pushed his flaccid cock into her mouth. It always took some pleasuring from her to get him hard and tonight was no exception. She closed her eyes and let her mind drift. If she concentrated hard enough she could recall the words to long forgotten songs or poems, or quotes from Jane Eyre which she had studied at school. She could get through this as long as she didn't think about what was happening or anything from her recent past or anything that may occur in her future. Just distant memories that she could lock inside herself once this ordeal was over. His breath was coming faster now and she knew he was close. She prayed he would pull away before he came but he didn't, not tonight.


Hawke was a light sleeper, in his line of business it could be a life saver, so in the early hours of the morning when Beth started to talk in her sleep he was awake instantly. She was obviously dreaming and appeared to be quoting poetry in a toneless voice. He was just debating whether to wake her up when she started gagging and he thought she was going to vomit. He gently shook her shoulders to wake her. Still asleep she lashed out at him, hitting him with both hands.
“Beth, it's me, String. Wake up, it's just a dream.”
“String?” she stopped hitting him, a confused look on her face. “My wrist hurts. I hit you, did I hurt you?” she clamped her right hand firmly over her mouth only loosening it when the urge to vomit had passed.
“I'm fine, but you're not. Stay here, I'll get you some painkillers.” He ran to the kitchen and returned seconds later with painkillers and a glass of water. “Here,” he said, helping her to take them, “they should start working soon, just lie back.” Her face was ashen and he was worried she was going to pass out.
It was half an hour later before Beth felt well enough to sit up.
“Want to talk about it?” asked Hawke.
She shook her head.
“I'm a good listener,” he quipped, raising an eyebrow, trying to cheer her up. It didn't work this time.
“I can't tell you.”
“You can tell me anything, I won't hold it against you.”
“Promise? Promise you won't hate me?” The urge to confide in someone was great and even though she didn't want to, was afraid of his reaction, she couldn't bottle it up inside, it wasn't her way.
“I promise,” his face was serious, he didn't make promises lightly.
“I was dreaming about when I was in the apartment. The windows were boarded up but a little light got in and I could tell night from day. It was so hot during the day and freezing at night. He came every other night and brought food and water. The amount I got depended on how well I behaved and he never left any so I had to wait 48 hours for another drink,” Beth started crying quietly and bowed her head, avoiding his eyes. If he hadn't got such good hearing he might have missed what she said next. “I got so thirsty that towards the end I let him do what he wanted, I didn't even put up a fight. How can you bear to be near me now, after what I did?” Beth realised that she could remember most of what had happened but she couldn't tell String, not the details. He had done things to her and made her do things to him that she hadn't even done with String, and never would now. How could they have a relationship after this, what if he tried to do the things that he had forced her to do. She knew she couldn't cope with that, but she couldn't warn him, didn't have the words to tell him what she had done, what had been done to her.
Hawke put his arms around her and held her tightly while she sobbed, offering quiet words of comfort, “I understand, it's OK, it's over now,” but he couldn't help but remember Gabrielle, how she had died in the desert with no water, and how he had held her in his arms at the end. No words could express the pain he felt for them both and he vowed to kill this man himself, just like he'd killed Moffett.

Marella woke feeling cold and reached out for the blanket before realising she wasn't in her bed. She tried to sit up and wished she hadn't. Her head was pounding and her stomach turned over as dizziness overcame her. She lay back down, fighting the nausea and forced herself to think.
As her eyes became accustomed to the dark she realised she was lying on the floor of what appeared to be a cave. There was no one near to her but she thought she could see the outline of a man near the entrance. Making as little noise as possible, she turned onto her front so that she could look behind her. When the dizziness subsided she could see lots of large crates and smaller boxes piled at the back of the cave. One of the boxes was open and Marella could see the contents. It appeared to be electrical equipment but it was too dark to make out details. Some of the crates had diagrams on the sides, indicating that they contained computer equipment.
A noise at the cave entrance made her turn quickly onto her back, causing her to blackout from the pain in her head.
When she woke again, Robert was at her side. He pulled her up and dragged her outside. She was too confused from the drugs he had given her to analyse her situation or plan an escape.
“I need you out in the open so they can find you,” he said. He pushed her down onto the grass and stood looking down at her.
“Who? Why?” asked Marella, confused. Her head hurt more in the glare of the sun; she estimated it was about midday.
“You'll soon see,” he reached into his jacket pocket and took out Marella's pager.
“Damn.” Marella knew that the pager could be traced, Michael had added that extra security to it before he gave it to her, but she wasn't sure if Robert knew that. He had worked for the Firm for a few years, even directly for Archangel at one time, so there was a good chance he did know. She considered the options. If he didn't know it could be traced then any rescue attempt would be unexpected. However if he did know and hadn't destroyed the pager, then he must want a rescue attempt and the only reason she could think of was Airwolf.
Marella looked around. There were caves all around, surrounding a large patch of dry grass in the centre of which she was lying. She could see two men standing at the entrance to one cave. They were quite far away but she thought it could be Fedoseev and Ivanov, two of the terrorists they were observing. Why was Robert with them? She tried to concentrate, which was difficult with such a painful headache. She thought back to the previous morning with Beth and Hawke and tried to remember what had been said.
When she finally worked out what had been bothering her, she wished she was unconscious again.
Robert - Bobby - Hunter, her boyfriend of the last few weeks had to be Bobby, Beth's kidnapper. She recalled Beth's comment about only seeing him every other night and her reaction to Hawke's comment about a birthmark. He didn't have a birthmark but he did have a scar on his upper thigh where he had been shot while working for Zebra Squad and he was only able to see her occasionally and never two nights on the run. She had wondered if he was seeing someone else, especially as when they did make love, have sex, she corrected herself, he always had difficulty getting aroused, and now she thought she may have been correct, but not in the way she had thought. She had been dating a kidnapper and a rapist and on the nights when he wasn't with his victim he had been seeing her. Beth had said that they suspected she was working for someone, and the Firm was one organisation they suspected, which could explain why he kept his face hidden.
She tried to lash out at Robert, but didn't have the strength. He just laughed and walked away to talk to the other men.
She had the feeling they were just waiting.