"We're not going anywhere. We're already where I wanted to go. You can stop here."
Laura stopped the car. "And now?"
"Now I'm showing you our house. It's over there. Look..." when she didn't turn her head Tony turned it with his fingers. "You'll love it! It's wonderful, darling. The right place for starting a family..."
"Tony, I don't need such a house. I've got one already with Rem..." Tony placed his hand over her mouth. "Don't you ever say that name again or I'll shoot his daughter." He pointed the gun once again at Danielle. "And now we'll get out."
<This is definitely not the Tony I met in Mexico!> Laura thought. <How on earth could I've ever felt attracted to this man? He is mad... and that made him even more dangerous.>
*******************************
Tony had shown her every room in the house, but she wasn't really interested. Danielle was still asleep in her arms, although Tony had tied her hands in front of her body. Her arms were hurting, but she didn't say a word, because then e might have taken Danielle away from her.
"And this is the bedroom, darling." Tony smiled when he saw Laura's frightened look. "Well, for the beginning I'm staying on the couch. Time will do the rest..." He caressed her cheek.
"I wouldn't expect too much, Tony!" Laura said as she tried to avoid his touch. Tony led Laura to a chair and she sat down. The next moment she found herself tied closely to the chair.
"You can't be with me all the time." Laura began. "What if you have to go out? Do you want to tie me to a chair every time you're not able to pull your gun at Danielle for the rest of our lives? You can't honestly believe that I'll stay if there is the least chance to escape with Danielle. I will run away and you'll never ever get what you want!" Tony smiled a wicked smile, making Laura even more frightened.
"We'll talk about that later. Now give me Danny, you must be tired."
"NO!" Laura screamed, but being tied to the chair she couldn't react properly. Tony smiled and carried Danielle out of the room.
"You bastard. Bring her back. Bring her back!" Laura cried as she struggled to get free. But after a while she stopped struggling, just cried. She was tired. Suddenly all around her went dark.
********************************
Jarvis and Steele entered the gas station.
"Hello, my name is Steele. You called...!"
"Oh, yes, Mr. Steele."
"You said you've seen my wife. How do you know? Was it this woman?" He showed him a picture of her he carried in his wallet.
"Yes, that's her! This afternoon there was a white VW Rabbit here, with a man, this woman and a baby. First all looked normal, but when they went to the phone booth over there I could see him putting a gun at her back. I became suspicious and looked at the check she gave me once again and found this..."
Remington took the paper and looked at Laura's hand writing:
SOS. Call Remington Steele Investigations. I've been kidnapped by Tony - Laura Steele.
"Oh god, it's true." Jarvis said. "Do you know where they were going?"
"No, I don't know. But I've seen the man once or twice here in Ventura. Maybe he lives here?"
"We'll see. Thank you." Jarvis said. Remington still look down at the words Laura had written just an hour or so ago. Jarvis laid his hand on his shoulder. "We'll find them, Steele. Don't worry!" Remington tried to smile, but failed. "I hope so." he sighed.
*****************************
When Laura awake later she first didn't know where she was. She was lying on a bed she didn't know, feeling absolutely paralyzed. But suddenly it hit her all at once. <God, Danielle. Where was she?> She struggled to get free, but then she recognized that she was tied to the bed.
Suddenly she heard a feminine voice, next to her. She knew that voice, which definitely meant even more trouble.
"Oh, look Danny. Your mom finally woke up..."
Laura looked at the woman angrily "Felicia? What are you doing here?" She tried to get out of her ties, but didn't achieve anything.
"I took care of your daughter, Lisa. It doesn't say much about your being a good mother to leave a young baby like her all alone for so long." Felicia smiled. Laura's eyes gave her an angry glance.
"What do want, Felicia? What do you have to do with Tony?" Felicia started walking through the room and smiled even more triumphantly.
"If you thought of Remington, you better forget about him. He hates you..."
"Oh, Michael...who's talking about him? No, no. I'm here to get something different." She looked down at Danielle and smiled. Laura watched her unbelievingly." Well, Danny, you're going with me, right?"
"WHAT?" Laura couldn't believe what she heard. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "You can't. You don't really want to do that!"
"Oh, yes, my dear. I will. That's all because of your husband. It's his fault! Danny is the price he has to pay for letting me down when I needed him most!" Two pairs of angry eyes blazed at each other.
"You're mad, Felicia!" Laura screamed at her. "What do you mean... the price? She's our daughter. You don't really believe Remington or I will let you get away with this!"
Tony came into the room and looked worried at Laura.
"Laura, sssh... What's the matter?" Laura started to cry again, but stopped struggling.
"Well, your little girlfriend doesn't understand. You better tell her, that there's no discussion..."
Tony sat down at the bed next to her and caressed her cheek. "Laura, darling. Danny is no longer part of your life. She'd better go with Felicia. We can have our own Danny... Felicia is a good mother... You'll see it's the best."
Laura looked at him and said to Felicia's surprise: "Maybe you're right, Tony!" <Maybe it would be wise to look as if I'm giving in.> Laura thought and tried to smile as sweetly as possible. Tony smiled back at Laura and than at Felicia.
"Thank you, Tony. And now, would you mind waiting outside while I talk to her... woman to woman..." Tony nodded and left the room.
When Tony left the room, Felicia said " That was so sweet, Lisa, darling. Tony might be as stupid as he seems, but I'm not! Men."
Laura sighed and tried to concentrate. "So, how did you and Tony get together?"
"Just by chance. I met him at the airport, he watched you and this... what was his name... Murphy, yes. I asked him what he wants with you and he told me about your wonderful marriage."
Laura smiled. "It must have been a shock for you that you've lost."
"Oh, is it really so? You don't really believe Michael would have married you if there wasn't this deportation thing..."
Laura smiled once again." I'm sorry to disappoint you... but we married a second time, with legal papers and blood tests... Tony obviously forgot to tell you. You can't do anything about that, Felicia."
"Well, actually I don't want to do something about that. That's Tony's part - this poor man. He's so in love with you. Well, I felt that I need to help him. So we made a plan: I help him to get you and he helps me to get..."
"Michael." Laura finished."
"Why can't I get it into your head? I don't want him... not after what he did to me!"
"And what was that exactly, Felicia?"
"I wanted him to search for our kidnapped child." Tears
ran down her cheeks.
"Your child? You're trying to tell me that Remington, I mean Michael and you..."
"He never told you, did he?"
Laura looked at her suspiciously. "You're lying." Laura thought about the horrible morning half a year ago. Harry told her that there were no secrets anymore and she promised to believe him.
"Sam, our son, would be three next spring..."
"Three? Do you want to tell me?"
"Yes, the eventful night before the marriage of the Earl of Claridge. I guess I told you already of that night."
Laura laughed bitterly "Oh, yeah, you did. I remember it quite well. But I remember what Remington told me of that night, too..."
"He really told you? Michael, Michael. That's not very discreet..."
"Stop it, Felicia! You won't make me jealous of you. I know exactly what he told you that night. That he's not interested in you anymore, that he's committed to me and that nothing's going to happen between the two of you!"
Felicia laughed. "And you believed him?"
Laura shook herself from the anger she felt. "I believe him, Felicia. Stop it. Immediately." She screamed anew. Danny started to cry making Felicia stop laughing.
Both woman looked at each other for a long moment, then Felicia said, "You might believe whatever you want, but it's a fact that it's his fault that my son is dead... and that's what he has to pay for..."
"And the price is his daughter? What did he do to you that you want to see him so hurt? You never really loved him... otherwise you wouldn't destroy his family, now that he finally has one."
Felicia laughed once again. "Love... Marriage... Family. Bah! That sounds all so very old fashioned and boring... Poor Michael! This world he lives in nowadays must really be boring..."
Laura didn't response to that statement. Instead she asked, "Now tell me, what did Remington do...?"
Felicia looked angrily at her "Nothing! He hasn't done anything to help me, when I came to him a few months ago..."
"You and Tony took our seats in that plane, right?" Laura interrupted.
Felicia smiled and continued. "I wanted to talk to him about our child..."
"Talk? Harry told me something totally different, and from what I've seen this morning..."
"There was a time when Michael wouldn't mind spending a night with me..."
"But those days are over Felicia. He has changed!"
Felicia laughed bitterly. "Yes, that's true... he has changed. But definitely not for the better. Michael wouldn't have left me standing in the rain. Now he's so cold-hearted... and that's your fault, Lisa! Your Harry is such a boring man, nowadays. Afraid to do something without your permission... Afraid to lose you, he's just living for you, leaving out all the people he once knew..."
"Oh, Felicia, you don't know how wrong you are. Harry would have helped you, I'm sure of it. Maybe he would have asked me to help him, because we're a team, but you wanted him for something illegal, and that's something Harry doesn't want to deal with again."
Felicia sat down with Danny on the chair next to the bed and looked sadly at Laura. Laura had never before seen such a look from Felicia.
"Not even to rescue my son? This time he just had to steal my child..."
"Steal your child? Kidnap your child... I don't understand a word you're saying..." Laura recognized tears in Felicia's eyes.
"After this mess in Ireland, I took the next flight to San Francisco. George Henson needed my help."
"Who's Henson?" Laura wanted to know.
"He's one of the heads of the US Mafia... Gun smuggling and things like this... Well, we... we fell in love and then I recognized that I was pregnant." Felicia looked back at Laura and smiled "George was so happy when I told him... He thought he was the father..."
"Was he?" Laura asked, but Felicia didn't respond.
"He wanted this child to be his heir."
"But you didn't want that, right?" Laura guessed, remembering little Joey and his Mafia-grandfather.
"No good mother would want that! So I ran away... I took a flight back to Ireland again. Daniel took care of me for some weeks, but than George found me. When my child was born I was all alone in a little English hospital. We traveled through Europe for one year, but... he found us! George took my son out of my arms and since that moment I haven't seen him again."
"But you knew where he brought your child, didn't you?"
"Of course I knew. As soon as I had money I flew back to San Francisco. I talked to him. But he wasn't interested in me anymore. He just wanted Sam. He didn't even let me see him. God, I was so desperate. What could I do? I couldn't go to the police... They were all paid by him. My only chance was Michael."
"And you thought Harry would kidnap Sam for you?" Laura wanted to know. Felicia smiled.
"Yes, I told him of our child and asked him to break into George's house, and kidnap our child before George could put Sam in danger..."
Laura was too tired to argue, just looked angrily at her.
Felicia continued, "But your Harry didn't care about my story. He was not interested in his own child! He just had eyes for Danielle..." Felicia paused and looked down at her feet.
Laura thought about Felicia's words. <Maybe Harry hadn't told her this story because he was afraid of her reaction to the news that he and Felicia were parents...> it suddenly hit Laura. But then she dropped that thought again.
"What happened then?" she wanted to know.
"I tried it myself with Tony's help, but we weren't successful. They caught me when I tried to break in. They locked me in for days. They told me George and Sam were gone on a holiday... and then... a few days later...a car bomb exploded when George and Sam returned to the USA. My little boy died before he even started to live."
For a few moments there was silence in the room. Laura swallowed. She felt almost pity for her, but when Felicia looked back at her furiously she forgot her feelings.
"If you hadn't changed Michael into this terrible Remington Steele... my son would still be alive." Felicia rose with Danny still on her arm. "Oh, how I hate you and your Remington."
"It wasn't our fault, Felicia. I'm sorry for you and your child, but you've no right to blame us..."
"But I do blame you! I want you to know how much it hurts when your child is gone..."
Laura struggled to get free. " You won't succeed, Felicia. We'll find you wherever you'll go. I promise..."
"That's where Tony comes in. I don't think you'll be able to find me tied to this bed. And if you ever should get free, I'm going to a place where you'll never find me. Ask Michael, he knows how well I can vanish."
"But you're not good enough for Harry and me." Laura screamed. Felicia smiled at the struggling Laura and then turned to leave the room.
"We will see. Farewell, little Lisa."
Laura didn't know what brought that strength to her, maybe it was the sight of Danny leaving the room with Felicia, but when Felicia was about to open the door she finally was able to free herself. With a loud scream she rushed at Felicia. The surprised Felicia found Laura's hands around her neck before she could do anything about it.
"You won't get away with my child, you bitch!" Laura screamed. Felicia couldn't do anything. Danny was on her arm and Laura pressed so hard that Felicia couldn't scream. The baby started to cry.
Laura's triumph lasted one moment but then Tony rushed into the room.
"What the..." but then he noticed and pushed Laura aside and onto the bed. Felicia recovered slowly and watched Tony struggling with the furious, screaming Laura on the bed. He hit her but Laura didn't give in. His attacks hurt, but Laura tried to ignore her pain.
After a few minutes Laura became tired. Tony pulled her onto the bed with all his weight. There was no chance to get free.
Exhausted Laura and Tony looked at Felicia when she said, "I guess there's still a lot of work for you to do, Tony. Have fun!"
She smiled one last time at Laura and left the room. Laura screamed - but Danielle was gone.