Last Breath - Ben Hargreeves

13 || a strange briefcase

After an eternity, the closet door opens to reveal their kidnappers. The man says, "Oh my god, they're still here. Hi." Klaus and Maggie are unceremoniously dragged from the closet. Maggie lets out a muffled sob.

Klaus tries to say something, but it is unable to be heard through the ducktape. The woman rips off his ducktape and he says, "You guys are scarier without the masks." The woman slaps him across the face.

The man says, "That's no way to say hello to your old friends, is it?"

"Can't we call it a night," Klaus asks. "I already gave you what you wanted. Just, please...please let us go. Please."

"Well, technically, we want your brother. Is your brother here now," The woman asks.

Klaus turns to where Ben is sitting on the bed and says, "You're gonna have to be a little more specific on that." The woman strikes him again. "I told you already. He's not coming. No one will."

The woman tells them, "Well, Number Five knows now. We left him a message. And when he comes for the both of you, we'll be ready." Maggie laughs through the gag. The woman rips off the ducktape and asks her angrily, "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Maggie pauses. "I just think it's funny that you think Five cares about us. We only knew each other for what? Thirteen years?"

With a groan, the kidnappers turn off all the lights and shut the blinds. Klaus sobs, "This..." He pauses and his eyes go blank.

Ben asks him, "You went there again, didn't you?"

Klaus whimpers, "No, no, no, no..."

"Klaus, look at me." When Klaus refuses to meet her eyes, Maggie tells him, "Look at me!" He slowly raises his eyes to meet hers. "Those people can't hurt you. You shouldn't be scared of them. Everything is going to be okay."

Ben tells him, "Look at her. At how she's looking at them. She's one of their victims. We can use this. Go on. You haven't been this sober since you were a teenager, since you decided to keep the ghosts at bay. This is your chance, Klaus. To control them, learn their secrets. Try to talk to her."

Klaus looks over at seemingly nothing and says, "Hi...hi! Hi, uh...what's your name?" He pauses. "Oh! That's a lovely name." The woman who kidnapped them gives Maggie a look that she just shrugs off. "And can you tell me what happened?"

The woman looks at him and says, "What happened is that if you don't shut up I'mma cut your tongue out with a grapefruit spoon."

"Zoya Popova," Klaus mutters. This seems to get their attention because they both share a look. "Old Russian broad, short, with a limp." He laughs. "Oh, she's really pissed at you guys."

Klaus takes a few minutes to be quiet, but his eyes are darting around as if he is listening to people talking. He eventually says, "Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up. Everybody just...everbody just shut up, please shut up." He groans. "Jesus, you guys are worse than the drugs."

The man and woman glance at Maggie who just shrugs her shoulders as if she has no idea that Klaus is talking to ghosts.

The man turns Klaus's chair around, and Klaus asks, "Which one are you? Cha-Cha or Hazel?"

The man replies, "Hazel."

Klaus says, "Jan Mueller. Remember him? Swiss Alps. Him and his wife were coming back from a ski trip."

"I remember," the woman, Cha-Cha, says, "Forward. Reverse!"

Klaus laughs. "Yeah, that's it! Yeah! And his wife...escaped down an alleyway. He says to say thank you."

"What's he talking about," Cha-Cha asks Hazel angrily.

"I don't know," Hazel replies.

Klaus continues, "He was so grateful to you, Hazel, for having spared his wife. You know, there may be hope for him yet. Don't you think," he asks Cha-Cha.

Cha-Cha angrily turns to Hazel and says, "Bathroom. Now!"

As soon as they are done, Ben tells Klaus, "Nicely done."

"Thank you," Klaus sighs. He then yells in the direction of the bathroom, "Jan says you're a real mensch, Hazel." Cha-Cha comes storming out of the bathroom. "He said you were such a great-" Klaus gets cut off my Cha-Cha putting ducktape over his mouth.

Cha-Cha turns to Maggie and asks her, "Are you gonna be quiet, or am I gonna have to ducktape your mouth shut too?" Maggie purses her lips together. "Good. Stay that way." Cha-Cha heads back into the bathroom.

Klaus scoots his chair over to the table and motions for Maggie to do the same, which she does. A few seconds pass before they can hear footsteps approaching the room. Both of their eyes go wide when a figure passes by the window.

Klaus lets out a muffled scream. Maggie could've helped by actually screaming, but she was in shock of knowing that they could be free soon. Once the figure fully passes, Klaus starts banging his head against the table. The sound must have awoken Maggie because she bumps him with his shoulder, making him stop. She inhales deeply then hits her head against the table as well.

Blood starts flowing from their wounds, but they can't stop. They won't stop. Not when freedom is so close.

The door opens to reveal Detective Eurdora Patch who asks them, "Are you Diego's siblings?"

Maggie lets out a shaky breath and mutters, "I never thought I would be happy to see you."

Patch whispers to Klaus, "I'm Detective Patch." Klaus whimpers to points his head toward the bathroom. She nods and cuts them loose, but before they can make their escape, the bathroom door opens.

Patch shoves the two of them to the ground and fires off a few shots. Hazel drops his gun and starts to come out of the bathroom with his hands up. Klaus takes the distraction to grab his jacket from the bed as if that was the most important thing at that moment.

Patch tells Hazel, "Hands behind your head, asshole." And he does so.

Maggie and Klaus crawl to a nearby air vent, and they manage to pry it open to reveal a briefcase. They crawl through, dragging the briefcase in front of them. A shot rings out behind them, but they do not take the time to see who was hit.

They climb through the air vents and get deposited in front of a bus station, that luckily has a bus in front of it. They board sitting across from each other, panting.

Klaus looks down at the briefcase in his hands and says, "Oh! Please be money. Only money. Or...treasure. Diamonds."

Klaus opens the briefcase. There is a flash of blue light and a strange sound. By the time Maggie has looked back up, Klaus has vanished.