IMPOSTER - PART FIVE

Part Five continued:

Tea recoiled with his venonmous words but he grabbed her around the waist possessively and said, "Not so fast, honey! I'm afraid you're not going anywhere."
She tried to fight him off but she was powerless against his brute strength. All she could do was wriggle helplessly in his arms as his monstrous face bent down towards her. He smugly eyed her body with an attitude of conquest as she lurched from side to side. His breath tinged with alcohol hung close to her ear as he whispered, "This is what I've always dreamed of, my dearest. I've been thinking about it ever since you butted my head so savagely with that shovel in the shed...remember?"

Viki floored the gas pedal and finally got out from behind the deadlocked traffic tie-up. It had taken over an hour to clear the mess -- some overturned tractor-trailer. Thank God I left that message with Will for Sam to get over to the penthouse! Everything must be okay because she'd heard no word from Sam, and she had called her office several times and there were no urgent messages of any kind related to this. Was her brother once more behaving like a lunatic? She never knew with him, but she decided she would head over to the penthouse anyway.

Will Rappaport looked at the digital clock on the side table in his Dad's suite. It had been over an hour since Viki Carpenter had called and he knew he'd better tell his Dad about her message. He looked over at his Dad, Sam Rappaport, with love blended with pride. He really was happy to be here with him this summer even though he had thought at first that he wouldn't be. I've missed this, Dad -- talking one-on-one with you about things. I thought sometimes you just didn't care at all about me. I think you're really trying now. That's good for me. That's good for both of us.
"Dad?"
"Yes, Will?" Sam looked over at him and smiled broadly -- reaffirming to his young, handsome son that he was pleased that he was there.
"Uh, Dad, I just remembered something I was supposed to do. Ms. Carpenter, Jessie's mom, called you earlier and asked me to give you a message. She said something about you meeting her at Todd Manning's penthouse. She said it was important, Dad."
Sam's body moved forward on the sofa in an attitude of readiness. "When did you get this message, Will?" he demanded somewhat testily.
"Well, I guess it was about an hour ago...I'm not sure...just came to me. Sorry, Dad!" he replied, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Sam Rappaport jumped up and gave his son a doubting look as he headed over to his briefcase on the table. He located Vicki's cell number and dialed quickly.

Viki lifted the phone to her ear as she sped down the highway. "Viki, it's me, Sam," a voice said in the receiver.
"Sam! I've been so worried! Is everything okay there?"
"Viki, I'm at home. Will just told me you called about a minute ago. What's going on?"
"Oh my God, no!" Viki's heart palpitated with some incredible fear. "Sam, you've got to get over there to the penthouse at once! Todd called me from the office and warned me to keep Tea away from the penthouse. I couldn't reach her, Sam!"
"Todd...you don't mean?" Sam said in an amazed tone.
"Yes! That's exactly what I mean, Sam. Todd may be trying to protect her from someone else...another alter, Sam!"
At the moment she said it, Viki knew whom she was referring to. "Sam," she said with ominous feeling, "It may be Pete!"
Sam remembered instantly the name of Pete. Viki had told him that Pete may have been the alter who had been the most violent and evil of all Todd's personalities. His mind clicked into high gear as he spoke again.
"Viki! Hang on! I'm on my way over there. If I have to break every speed law in the book, I'll get there!"

A rush of pleasure pored into the body of Pete as he tightened his cruel grip on Tea's body. This was what he delighted in more than anything -- complete control over a helpless victim. It had been his calling card since the days of Marty. It gave him such a charge to see a frightened face peering up at him, and this was the icing on the cake -- Tea Delgado -- right where he wanted her.
Tea finally found her voice and in as much bravado as she could muster said with ice-cold sharpness, "Get your hands off me, Pete, or whoever the hell you are!"
Nice try, Tea! Pour on that lawyer cockiness! It won't do you a damn bit of good. Not with me. With one arm firmly pushed against her middle, his other arm released her and his hand reached up to her porcelain-like face and tauntingly grazed her cheek. "Todd did this once, didn't he? That's about as far as he got that day, wasn't it? Shame. Real shame. Now me, I would have kept you in that bedroom all morning. Poor Todd! He's had a wealth of opportunities with you, hasn't he?" he said as he continued to run his slender fingers along the side of her face.
This can't be happening! I'm staring into the face of evil and no one can help me! Tea froze again with his remarks about Todd. She had thought he was faking. She had doubted him once again and now she would pay for that. Maybe if she talked to him -- yes, that's it, they always say to talk to your attacker and try to reason with them.
"I don't know what you mean, Pete," she spoke innocently, trying her best to regain control of the situation. "Todd has tried to be a husband to me, but there were issues from his past...I think you may know about...which made it difficult to..."
"Stop right there, Tea!" he hissed at her with a look as if he wanted to beat her head in. "Yes, you're right, sweetie, about Todd and his past cause' I was right there, but let's not forget about the present, shall we? You and everyone else in this rotten town haven't let him forget his past -- oh, not one bit! And let's talk a little about trust and betrayal. You were always such a big one for the "trust" word -- throwing it up at him whenever you needed to get him under your thumb. Really kind of admired you for that one. Would have been something I would do, but you went a little extreme with it, didn't you? He lowered his head toward her face and flicked his tongue along her jawline.
Squirming in revulsion, Tea's heart was beating rapidly as she tried to search with her eyes for something...anything that she could use as a weapon against him. She knew she was running out of time.
He removed his face from hers and laughed in a higher pitch as if he thought he was extremely amusing. It reminded Tea a little of Todd's boyish laugh but this was distorted by the persona behind it. As suddenly as he had laughed, a darkness descended on his mood as some idea seemed to come to him.
Betrayal. I won't let you forget what you've done to me, Tea You deserve to know how I felt so that you'll be fully aware of why I'm going to hurt you. I don't think Marty really knew why. She really should have been told. He pushed her brutally down on the sofa and pinned her arms out to the side of him.
"Let's talk now about ultimate betrayal, love. Todd is your husband and you got right up there on that courtroom stand and told the entire world that you wanted him to be put away -- for good! Trouble is...you were going to put me away, too."
Tea felt her heart sink with his words and sheer panic edged its way into her soul. She had no defense for this. What could she say? He was right. She had wanted to be rid of him for good and had coldly and methodically pronounced his sentence. Todd! His name pushed its way through to her consciousness and she blinked back tears as the image of their first kiss rose in her mind. As her thoughts fast-forwarded from that moment, she also saw him jumping off the pier after her necklace and his wild, protective look when he kicked the door in at Del's motel room. She knew then what she had to do. It was her only chance.

"Todd, please listen to me! You've got to fight him like you've never fought him before. Help me, ple...!" Her mouth was covered in one suffocating move by Pete's hand. He smirked at her attempt to call on Todd.
Not that he was worried, but he didn't want to take any chances. I wouldn't blame you at all, Todd, if you just ignored the little b...ch. After all, look at what she's done to you. Anyway, I really don't want to share her with you. She's mine now.
He removed his hand swiftly from her mouth and replaced it with his curling, gaping lips to keep her from speaking. With the same fierce strength as he used with Marty, he flattened his body against hers and with one hand ripped open the blouse she was wearing. As his hand made its way inside her blouse, Tea's eyes shot over to the coffee table next to the sofa. Her arm was extended out over the edge of the sofa and she was within inches of a decorative art object resting on the table. She let him explore her body without resisting and prayed in Spanish that her fingertips could somehow touch the object. At just that precise moment, he shifted her body over and her fingers found their mark on the piece. Clutching it with all her strength, she brought it crashing down on his head with a heavy thud.

His hazel eyes dulled from the impact and he looked at her with stunned awareness of what she had done. As his eyes glazed over, she saw a shade of amusement in them, and then his head slumped down across her chest -- his shock of brown hair cascading over her shoulders.

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~