Chapter 8
To my heart he carries the key...
Clark watched Chloe’s face concernedly as she listened, her cell phone pressed to her ear. She then closed her phone, her movements mechanical and dazed. She turned glistening terrified eyes to his, blinking several times in succession. She pressed her lips together to keep them from quivering, not able to speak for long moments, her mind working, wondering whether or not she should tell them everything, or tell them nothing. The rest of the League members entered ISIS. “Graham has Oliver,” she blurt out suddenly.
“What else did he say?” Clark asked.
“That was it. Only that he had him, and that Oliver was incapacitated somehow.” Chloe didn’t want to reveal any more than she had to, not with Oliver’s life at stake. Graham was a killer by trade, and she had no doubt that he would make good on his threat. She was terrified for Oliver. ‘Unavailable to speak’, Garrett had said. What exactly did that mean? Chloe didn’t want to imagine. And what would happen if his true identity were discovered?
“Maybe it was Oliver that he’d wanted all along.” A.C. thought aloud.
“I don’t think so,” was all Chloe said.
Bart paced around the room anxiously. “We gotta get Ollie back! This crazy dude wants something. An exchange, or ransom, something! We give him what he wants, we get Ollie back, and then we take his sorry invisible ass out.”
Chloe’s eyes followed poor Bart. Being the youngest of the group, he looked up to Oliver, who had practically taken him off the streets and kept him out of trouble, showing Bart that he could use his ability for a common good. Oliver had shown Bart that there was a larger picture, a larger world that needed people such as himself, giving the young speedster a sense of purpose. “No.” Chloe’s heart broke a little having to lie to her worried friend. “Graham didn’t say anything else. Nothing about an exchange.”
Clark watched Chloe’s far away expression dubiously. He was certain she was holding something back.
* * * * *
Oliver awoke in darkness. His head felt as though it outweighed his body, and throbbed incessantly. He felt a hard cold surface under him. A dank, damp smell hung in the cool air. He tried to move, and felt the heaviness of iron metal cuffs on his wrists. He tested them, the heavy clinking of the chains sounded in the room. Then in a panic, he reached up, causing the chains to clink loudly once more, realizing that his hood was down, his vest was opened, and his dark glasses were nowhere to be found.
“Well, well. Can you imagine my surprise? No one would ever have guessed that the infamous Green Arrow was none other than billionaire Oliver Queen.” Garrett laughed sardonically.
A utility lamp was lit suddenly, connected to a small generator that began to hum noisily. The oblong light was then hung from a large hook against the opposite wall. Oliver squinted against the light. His eyes adjusted, but there was no one in the cement-walled room, if it could be called a room. Oliver noted that small sections of the wall were missing or crumbling. He thought he might be in some basement section of an old building. “What do you want, Garrett?” Oliver’s voice came out hoarsely.
“Recognize this place? No? This is the ruins of what was formerly known as the Ridge Facility, a 33.1 building near Smallville. A facility that you and your friends destroyed two years ago. I’m sure you remember it. But, we’re not here for reunions and pleasantries.”
“That’s unfortunate, I was expecting tea.”
Garrett moved around the room, ignoring Oliver’s comment. “What do I want? Good question. I want Chloe Sullivan. I know she possesses a very valuable ability. A healing ability. Or at least, I’m hoping for your sake that she does.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Better to hope for your sake that I don’t escape from these chains.”
Graham Garrett carried on, unaffected. “‘Let me heal him.’ Yes, I recall those were her exact words. And well, anyone with eyes who saw her reaction to your gunshot wound could see that you are a very important person to her. Her lover perhaps? And yes, I checked. You have no gunshot wound. How does she do it, I wonder?”
Oliver stood, and tried to move away from the wall, but soon realized that those efforts would be fruitless. His legs were in irons, attached to the wall as well. He thought that this must have been some cell used to contain potentially dangerous meteor infected victims. He tugged against the chains, then addressed the seemingly empty room. “Whatever someone’s paying you, I’ll double it, but leave Chloe out of this. You want me, fine. Do what you will, but leave her alone.”
“You don’t get it do you? She’s my goldmine. You’re simply pocket change. Nonetheless, you’ll serve your purpose.”
“And what purpose is that?”
“You’ll be what brings her here. Among… other things.”
Garrett then allowed himself to appear briefly before Oliver. He smirked, then he was gone. The utility light flickered off, and the generator grew silent, leaving Oliver in silent darkness once again.
* * * * *
Chloe was up late sitting at Oliver’s computer searching for any and all information she could find on Graham Garrett. His known habits, places he’d lived or visited, people he’d associated with. She’d soon compiled a fairly decent list. Looking up at the clock tower, she’d noted that it was nearing 3:00 am. Bart was asleep on the couch, Victor had shut down, and Clark and A.C. had gone home, with instructions to contact them immediately if she’d heard any news. There was nothing for any of them to do until Garrett contacted her. And when he did, Chloe wouldn’t tell them. She wouldn’t jeopardize Oliver’s life that way. If Garrett wanted an exchange, she already knew she’d take Oliver’s place.
Her cell phone rang, startling her. Chloe answered it quickly, glancing at the two sleeping Justice League members, hoping the sound had not awakened them. Satisfied that they still slept, she walked to Oliver’s bedroom. “Hello?”
“Ms. Sullivan. Up late?”
“My sleeping habits are none of your concern. I’m listening. Start talking.”
“Do you remember the old Ridge Facility? The one your friends destroyed?”
“Of course.”
“Meet me there later today. Noon. Alone. If anyone accompanies you, the Green Arrow, or shall I say, Mr. Queen is a dead man.”
“I’ll be there.” Chloe closed her phone, then returned to Oliver’s computer. She searched and found what she was looking for, then wrote a quick email from her own account, sent it to deliver later that day at 12:01 pm, logged off, and went to bed. She knew no sleep would come to her that night.
* * * * *
Dust-filled sunlight filtered through various cracks and holes in the cement walls, rousing Oliver who had dozed on and off during the night. He sat up, glancing down once again at the rusted irons around his wrists and ankles, and for what seemed the hundredth time, he struggled against them to no avail.
He was being used as bait. He could only hope that Chloe had told the others, and that she wouldn’t attempt to come on her own, or at all. He’d hoped that she’d stay behind and keep out of harm’s way. He was certain that by now, Garrett had contacted her. At the moment, there seemed no other way out. And unless he could see Garrett, and get close enough to him, there was no way he could even attempt to engage him physically.
“You have me. Now let him go.”
Oliver stood up quickly at the sound of her voice just outside the room.
“Not yet, Ms. Sullivan. Mr. Queen has a favor he must do first.”
“No. I’m here, let me see that he’s all right. Then you’ll let him go, that was the deal.”
“Very well. Right this way.”
Garrett had made himself visible for Chloe’s benefit, and Oliver saw them both enter the room. Chloe tried to run to him, but Garrett held her back. “Oliver!” her voice echoed.
He remained stoically quiet, looking tired and disheveled, but otherwise he seemed fine. It had been no easy task slipping away from the team, but she’d managed it and now she simply wanted to see that he was well, and get the exchange over with.
Garrett laughed in her ear. “Wait Ms. Sullivan. There’s something I must see first.”
Oliver called to her, his voice determined and resolute, resignation in his eyes. “Don’t do it, whatever he asks Chloe, don’t do it. Promise me.”
Chloe looked from Garrett to Oliver, not comprehending.
“Promise me, Chloe!” His voice was urgent now. He didn’t want her to be controlled and used by Garrett, no matter the cost to himself. “Promise me that you won’t…!”
Oliver didn’t finish. Garrett had pulled out his pistol, aiming it at Oliver, firing six shots in rapid succession. Oliver heard Chloe’s screams, as she watched in terror, his body jolting several times, staggering backward from the impact and sliding down the wall, leaving a bright smear of blood behind him as he fell.
End Chapter 8
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