Knight Rider 2008 Alternate Storyline – Episode 10 – Knight's Valentine
Chapter 4
DiAngelo's Bar, New Mexico
Kat gave Scott a long look. Then her shoulders slumped. “Aw, Scott, why do you have to be this way? I'm trying to help you.”
“I'm sorry, Katherine.” Scott said sadly. “DiAngelo stashed me back here so I wouldn't run off during the race. He's got two goons out the front right now. He told me that if anyone came back here who wasn't supposed to be, that I had to shoot them.” He took in a deep breath. “I really don't want to shoot you Katherine, so please go back out the way you came in.”
“He's made you do this before.” Kat guessed.
Scott nodded. “Whenever I lose a race.”
“But, you've never shot anyone, correct?”
Scott shook his head. ”No, not yet.”
“You're not going to shoot anyone today, either.” Kat said. She kept her voice soothing as she took a small step forward.
“Katherine, please, don't come any closer.” Scott begged her. “Just leave.”
“If you don't want to shoot me, just put the gun down.” Kat said. “Let me get what I came here to get.”
“He'll definitely kill me, then.” Scott said. His voice quavered in fear. “I really don't want to die.”
“I won't let him kill you.” Kat said, taking another small step forward. “Just let me find the evidence I need to put him away for good.”
“You think others haven't tried?” Scott asked desperately. “DiAngelo never goes to jail, and anyone who tries to put him there dies.”
“That's because he has others do the dirty work for him.” Kat said. “Now just put the gun down. You really don't want to do this.”
“I don't want to, but I will if I have to.” Scott said. He tried to set his face into a determined look, but there was fear in his eyes.
“You're not going to shoot me.” Kat said with certainty.
“I just said that I will if I have to.” The gun in his hand was beginning to shake.
Kat shook her head slowly. “You don't understand. I'm not going to let you shoot me.”
Scott gave her a somewhat incredulous look. “I've got a gun on you, how are you going to stop me?”
“I really don't want to kick your butt, Scott, so just put the gun down.” Kat crept closer to him.
Scott shook his head again. He closed his eyes in fear and pain for just a second.
Kat brought one boot up swiftly, catching his gun hand. The gun went flying. With her next movement, she brought her boot to the side of his head. He fell to the floor.
Kat retrieved the gun, then stood over Scott's prone form. “What have we learned today?” She asked him.
“Never take your eyes off of a woman wearing all black leather?” Scott asked weakly.
Kat shook her head. “Almost, but no.”
“No more gambling?” Scott guessed.
“There you go.” Kat walked over to the desk. “Now stay still like a good boy and I'll let you walk out of here.”
She switched on the computer, hooking the USB drive into the back. While she waited for it to boot up, she decided to check on K.I.T.T.
********
K.I.T.T was trying his best not to win the race too quickly, but his opponent was making that difficult.
For one thing, he kept trying to force K.I.T.T off the road. K.I.T.T kept having to race ahead of him so as to avoid being smashed into by the Porsche. The Porsche wasn't as sturdy as K.I.T.T. If he damaged it severely, he would hurt the driver as well.
The two cars raced down the road, drawing ever closer to the finish line, which was a gas station approximately 2.7 miles from the bar, give or take a few feet.
“KITT, how are you holding up?”
“This race will be over in approximately 18 seconds.” K.I.T.T told her. “Longer if I have to tow a battered Porsche to the hospital.”
“Cars don't go to hospitals, KITT.” Kat said.
“Their driver's do if they try to ram into me repeatedly.”
“That bad, huh?”
“He's using every dirty and underhanded trick he can.” K.I.T.T complained. “He's failing utterly, of course. But I wanted to give you more time.”
“No worries, I am at DiAngelo's computer now.” Kat said. “I hooked up Pierce's USB drive thingy to it. So, I just need you to download the hard drives.”
K.I.T.T found the computer. “Downloading now.” He told her as he swerved out of the way of the Porsche again. Just ahead was the finish line. Good, he was glad this was over with. “Download complete.” He announced just as he crossed the finish line.
The Porsche did not take kindly to losing though. The driver got out of his car and slammed the door closed behind him. He began walking over to K.I.T.T.
Two of DiAngelo's thugs intercepted him. “Leave her alone.” One said. “You know what happens when someone loses.” He pulled a gun on the man.
“I would strongly suggest not shooting that man.” K.I.T.T warned them in Kat's voice. Two small circular panels slid back on his hood, revealing the barrels to his light machine guns.
The two thugs spotted the guns and backed off. The armed one dropped his gun on the ground. “Hey, no need to get your panties in a twist.” He said. “You won. We're just following orders. If you lose three times, you get taken out.”
"DiAngelo isn't here right now, so you'll listen to me.” K.I.T.T told them, putting a distinct edge to Kat's voice.
Meanwhile, Kat was listening in through the dental implant. “Way to make with the distraction, KITT. But do you have to make me sound like such a bi-”
She heard a sound in the bar and fell silent. It had been the creak of a floorboard. She looked down at Scott. “Stay there, pretend you're unconscious.” She whispered.
Scott immediately closed his eyes, his body relaxing. Kat pulled the USB drive out of the computer and picked up Scott's gun off the desk. She crept over to the office door, which she had stupidly left open, and listened intently.
That was definitely footsteps she was hearing. One man, fairly large. She took a deep breath and slipped out the door. She turned to DiAngelo's thug, gun raised. “Don't move.” She warned him quietly.
The man froze. One hand crept to the radio at his side. Kat pointed the gun at that hand. “Nuh uh.” She said, keeping her eyes on the man's face. “No calling anyone. Slide the radio and your gun over to me, and if you so much as breathe aggressively, you'll be missing a kneecap.”
The man followed her orders. Once the gun and radio were over by her, she lowered her gun and brought her wrist up. She looked over her watch, aiming carefully.
The man looked perplexed. “What do you plan on doing with that?” He asked.
Kat didn't wait to give him an answer. She just shot him with a needle. The man fell to the floor heavily, knocking over two chairs.
His accomplice outside heard the racket and decided to investigate, Kat tranqed him as well. “C'mon Scott, time to go.” She called behind her. Scott got to his feet and followed her out of the bar. “KITT, we'll need a pickup.” She said.
“Nearly done here.” K.I.T.T told her.
“This 'Kit' you keep talking to...” Scott began. “He's your proxy?”
“That's right.” Kat said. “He'll be coming by with the Corvette.” She looked over at him. “He's very secretive though, so I apologize for this.” She brought her watch up and darted Scott.
His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the floor. Kat half caught him as he fell and propped him up against the wall.
********
K.I.T.T surveyed the situation. DiAngelo was pulling up in his Mercedes, and he had two guns trained on his thugs. “The Porsche driver may leave.” He said in Kat's voice.
The driver of the Porsche didn't need to be told twice. He hurried into his car and was off. When he was far enough away, K.I.T.T activated his EMPulse. All of the other cars in the area immediately died. Then he turned quickly and drove back to the bar.
He found Kat sitting outside the bar. “Took you long enough.”
“I was busy taking care of DiAngelo and his men.” K.I.T.T informed her. “He won't be following us.”
“Oh good.” Kat hefted Scott up and walked over to K.I.T.T. “Open your passenger's door.”
K.I.T.T opened the door for her, but under protest. “Why are we taking him with us? Didn't he try to shoot you?”
"Yeah, but he's not all bad, just weak.” Kat said. “We'll drop him off in town somewhere.” She buckled him into the passenger's seat and walked around to the Driver's side.
********
When Scott came to, he found himself sitting outside of another building. He looked up at the sign above him, feeling very disoriented. The sign declared the building as an employment agency.
He blinked a few times and stretched, getting the last bit of grogginess out of his system. A door opened beside him. “Are you okay, son?” An elderly female voice called to him.
“I think so.” He answered. He looked up at her. “Where am I?”
She gave him a sympathetic look. “Are you looking for work?” She asked.
“I suppose I am.” He said weakly.
“Then you're in the right place. Come on in, I'll fix you a cup of coffee.” She held the door open for him as he stood up and brushed himself off. He followed her into the building.
********
F.L.A.G Underground Facility
It was evening when Kat and K.I.T.T returned to F.L.A.G. They had spent some time just driving around. Kat didn't know how many chances she would get to be outside without having to worry about a Mission, or random trouble following behind them, so she wanted to enjoy the daylight while it lasted.
When she got back, Pierce downloaded the computer's information off of K.I.T.T. There was a lot of pretty mean stuff on there, besides the illegal races. DiAngelo was also into drug trafficking, and his bar was sadly under code and had none of the required permits.
“Karen can pass this on to the right people.” Pierce told her.
“Yeah, we did good today.” Kat said. Lights Out was approaching, and everyone was getting ready to head up to their quarters. Pierce bundled up a laptop so he could continue working on the Crawler Project upstairs.
Kat was lying on K.I.T.T hood, staring at the ceiling. “Good night, Katherine.” Pierce called to her.
“Good night.” Kat said. “See you tomorrow.”
Pierce smiled as he headed up the metal staircase. “Valentine's Day.”
“Don't remind me.” Kat said. “At least that poll will be coming down finally.”
After everyone else was gone, Kevin made his way down the stairs. “Oh, heya Katherine.” He said as he headed for a door on the opposite wall. He opened it up and rolled a large garbage can out of the closet. Then he pulled it around the lab, emptying the waste bins next to the desks into it.
“Hey.” Kat said. She continued to look up at the ceiling.
“Not tired yet?” Kevin asked her.
“I'm plenty tired, not yet ready to turn in though.” Kat said.
“Long day?”
“You could say that.”
After Kevin finished with the bins he pulled the black bag out of the garbage can and tied it up. This he placed next to the staircase. He walked over to Kat and K.I.T.T. “What are you doing tomorrow?” He asked.
Kat looked over at him. “Why do you ask?”
Kevin ran a hand through his bright orange hair nervously. “Well, I-”
David exited the Medical Room at that moment. His eyes fell on Kat, K.I.T.T and Kevin. He frowned. “Kevin, you're not authorized to be in the Main Lab unless you are cleaning it.”
Kevin's smile was good-natured. “I just finished.” He told David.
“Then go.” David said.
Kevin turned back to Kat. He winked at her. “G'night, Katherine. I'll talk to you tomorrow.” He grabbed the black bag and headed up the metal staircase.
“He was just talking, David.” Kat said. “You didn't have to scare him off.”
“The Rec Room is for socializing.” David answered. He looked at Kat from across the room and frowned. He walked over to her and K.I.T.T. “What on earth are you wearing? That is hardly workplace attire. You do know that there is a dress code here, don't you?”
Kat shrugged. “I let Angela play dress-up today. You should get her an assistant, she's very bored.”
“If she's bored, then she doesn't have enough work.” David said as he continued to stare at Kat.
Kat was starting to feel uncomfortable. She sat up, dropping her arms to her side. “What?” She asked warily.
“You've been outside.” He said. “There's sand on the bottom of your boots.”
“I am the only member of the Team that's authorized to come and go freely.” Kat told him. It was his rule, why would he have a problem with it?
“But you don't go anywhere without Three Thousand, which wasn't on it's circle when I came in twenty minutes ago.” David said. “And you're not authorized to take it out whenever you please.”
Dammit, he got her.
“Charles sent us on a small mission.” Kat said. Her forefinger twitched against K.I.T.T's hood. K.I.T.T immediately and discreetly called Charles on his cell.
David was suspicious now. He leaned closer to her, reaching one hand out and placing two fingers over the pulse point on her neck. “Charles sent you out?” He asked. His dark eyes bore into hers.
“That's right.” Kat said. Her voice was firm and even.
“You're lying.” David said. He sounded vaguely surprised, as if hadn't occurred to him that she would lie.
“I'm not.” Kat said, keeping her voice level.
“Then why is your heart beating so fast?” He asked her. “I felt it, you just lied to me again.”
Kat wanted so much to look away from that intent look in his eyes. But doing so was akin to admitting guilt. She had to stare him down in order to get out of this. She prayed she could last longer than he could.
“Oh, Katherine, you're finally back from that Mission I sent you out on.” Charles voice came from above them. “How did it go?”
Kat jumped, then turned her face to look up at him. “F-fine.” She said. “It was a perfect success.”
David turned to Charles as well. He straightened up, dropping his hand to his side. “So you did send her out?” He asked.
Charles leaned both forearms on the metal railing. “Of course, did you honestly think I would allow KITT outside otherwise? He hasn't been proven yet, it's reckless for him to be seen unless necessary.”
“Absolutely right.” David said. He turned back to Kat. He looked confused now. He opened his mouth to speak, but then turned back to Charles. “I'll be in my office.” He said finally. He walked up the metal staircase.
“It's Light's Out, David, you should get some rest.” Charles chastised him. “You still need to heal.”
“Paperwork won't kill me.” David said irritably. He walked into his office and shut the door firmly behind him.
Charles looked down at Kat and smiled. Kat smiled weakly back.
