No Ordinary Romance

by Smith, Stephanie Jean

  Chad was speechless, he'd only seen pictures of his mother and there was no way this woman could be his mother. "Prove it." The woman got this far away look in her eyes and proceeded to tell him her identity.

  "I'm Crystalline; I was in prison when I gave birth to you twenty-one years ago. You were ripped from my arms and given to your grandparents to raise. When I got out of prison I came by to see you, but you were at school. Your grandfather called the sheriff. He said that I gave you up, and if I came to his house again he would have me arrested. Your grandmother took pity on me, over the years she sent pictures of you to my PO Box." She ran her hands through his hair and gently touching his face.

  He had no memory of his mother. He remembered seeing a few pictures of a young woman with long flowing blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The woman standing before him was nothing like the images he had of his mother. This woman's eyes were dead, and bitterness reeked from her body. "Why did you take me and Beth?" Crystalline tapped his nose as if he were a child. She laughed like a little girl as she spun around the room.

  "I put your girlfriend in one of the bedrooms; one of the boys took a shine to her. What kind of mother would I be if I let my son's girlfriend be raped during her kidnapping? You should know that they were only supposed to take you. I knew that Tina would pay any amount of money to make sure you're safe. My girl has done well for herself and she owes me for taking away my baby."

  Chad gave her a questioning look Crystalline was obviously insane. Her mood swings went from one extreme to another. "Who is Tina?"

  "You know, Constantina, my daughter, your sister. She owes me for taking my sweet baby David in that fire. She started that fire, and my baby died."

  "Crystalline...Mother." He had her rapt attention now; she smiled brightly at him showing him a glimpse of the woman she once was. "Constantina didn't start the fire, my father did..."

  "No! I don't believe you. Elwin loved me, he wouldn't have set that fire to kill my children."

  Chad had to convince her that he was telling the truth, or he and Beth would never make it out of this situation. "My father wrote me letters from prison and in one of those letters he admitted that he set the fire because you wouldn't go away with him."

  Crystalline was in shock, all these years she thought Tina started the fire. "Why did he take my babies from me?"

  "In his own way he loved you. He just couldn't be a father to David and Connie. Connie didn't start the fire, all these years she thought you did because you wanted to run away with my dad. She has suffered a lot, not only was she injured in the fire, but Connie still fills guilty for not saving David. My dad was responsible for ruining your lives."

  "How could Tina think that I would want her dead? I loved my children, and I always worked hard to take care of them?"

  "You need to end this kidnapping Mother before someone gets hurt." Chad hoped that he got through to her; he was unaware that he was holding his breath until it came out in a rush as Crystalline untied his hands and ankles.

  "I'm so sorry Chad, I've done a lot of foolish things in my past, but I never deliberately put my children in harm's way. Tell Tina that I'm sorry, all this time I thought she was guilty of the fire and she thought it was me."

  "When we get out of here Crystalline you can tell her."

  "I don't think that's in the works son." Crystalline took off the pendant she wore around her neck and handed it to Chad. Give this to Tina, inside the pendant is a picture of my mother and me. I always meant for Tina to have the pendant, little girls should have something that belonged to their mothers."

  Chad took the pendant from her and put it in his pocket. "I don't understand. Why don't you just call the police and surrender?"

  Crystalline just shook her head. She had done many foolish things in her life, but this was the topper and the situation wouldn't end well. "I messed up Chad; my boyfriend's cousins are some evil bastards. I had to stay with your girlfriend last night to protect her. I'm going to cause a distraction, and I want you to grab your girl and high tail it out of here."

  "What about you?"

  "Our family reunion is going to be short lived I'm afraid."

  He followed her to the basement stairs when the door opened. A tall man with an evil grin came down the stairs. Chad braced himself for a fight; he wouldn't give up until he got Beth out of this hellhole.

  "What cha doing Crystal? Jimmy Lee is worried that you might be having second thoughts." He shifted his eyes toward Chad before looking back at Crystal. "We only had a few more hours before we got the money, why did you have to let him go?"

  Crystalline had known men like Jimmy Lee's cousin, he wasn't about to let them leave this basement. She had to make things right even if it meant killing whoever got in her way. "Chad here just needed to relieve himself; as soon as he's done I'll tie him back up." Jimmy Lee's cousin didn't believe her nor did she expect him too, but she had a little surprise in store for him.

  He came down the stairs, both Crystal and the kid stepped back just like he expected. "Listen here you stupid bitch, that's why we left the damn coffee can down here."

  Crystalline pulled the pistol out of her waistband and lifted towards his chest. "I suggest that you sit down and let my son tie you up otherwise I'll shoot you dead right where you stand."

  Chad didn't like where this was headed, the man was enormous, but he had every confidence that he could take him. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to be shot, especially when he had no clue where Beth was being held. "Mister why don't you just do as she says and no one here has to get hurt." The man sneered at him taking another step closer to Crystalline. The shot was like an explosion, and his ears were ringing, as he stood there stupefied. "You didn't have to shoot him."

  Crystalline raise her eyes from the man on the floor to Chad. "Yes, I had to shoot him; he should have listened to my warning. Unfortunately, he'll live; we need to get up the stairs before the others come. Your girlfriend is tied up in the bedroom next to the kitchen. Grab her and go out the back door."

  "Come with us."

  "I wish I could baby, but I made a mess and now I have to clean it up."

  ***

  Thomas's banker arrived with the ransom money minutes ago, now they were in the break room conducting business. Connie sat there in the corner watching the FBI take over her office turning it into a command center. Very little was said to her as the agents mapped out Crystalline's whole life all over the wall.

  A pregnant Crystalline married Arland Jacobs when she was sixteen, five months later she gave birth to a baby girl, Constantina, two years later she gave birth to another child, a boy this time named David. Arland was murdered in a knife fight after a night of heavy drinking. Evidently, that is when Crystalline's life of crime started with petty theft from employers, shoplifting, and a whole slew of drug charges.

  "Sorry ma'am we can't let you in..."

  "My friend is in there, and I'm not leaving until I see her."

  Connie was shaken out of her daydream when she heard Samantha's no nonsense voice. She got out of her seat to greet her friend. "You better let her in or be prepared for WW III." Connie hugged Samantha and pulled her into the office. "Sam why are you here?" Connie took hold of Samantha's arm pulling her out of the way of the agents working the kidnapping, back into her secure corner.

  "Someone called me, telling me that you might need a friend. Why didn't you call and tell me that Chad and Beth had been kidnapped?"

  Connie ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation. "You and Jenna are married now; I don't want to call you every time something happens. Especially now that Jenna has Alexander, she can't drop everything and come running."

  Samantha grabbed Connie's hand giving it a gentle squeeze. "Oh Connie how many times do I have to tell you that men come and go, but you're my sister. We're your friends, and when you hurt, we hurt. By the way, Jenna is seriously pissed that you didn't call her. We don't throw our friends away because something better comes
along."

  "I didn't want you and Jenna involved in this mess. I don't even understand why this is happening. The FBI thinks that my natural mother is behind the kidnapping."

  "Maybe she wants to punish you for surviving the fire."

  "Chad told me that my mother didn't start the fire, it was her boyfriend Elwin. He wanted her to himself without the baggage of children."

  "How monstrous is that?"

  "Yeah I know Chad was afraid to tell me that Elwin was his father. I would never hold him responsible for what his father did."

  "When was the last time you heard from the kidnappers?"

  "Only once when he gave me his instructions, one more hour before he's supposed to call about the drop off location."

  "I know how much you hate authority figures, I'm glad you didn't try to handle this by yourself."

  "Thomas and Mike convinced me otherwise."

  "You called Mike, and you didn't call me and Jen. I wouldn't want to be Mike tonight."

  "You mean he's not the friend who call you?" At that moment, Thomas escorted the banker and his guard to the door.

  Samantha shook her head in the negative. "Thomas called me, he explained what happened and said you needed a friend right now. So I dropped what I was doing and hustled right to your office."

  Thomas came over as soon as he saw his banker off; he was frustrated with the whole situation. Normally, Constantina had a fight to the death mentality; right now she seemed so delicate as if she would break at any moment. He watched the interaction between the two women, whatever Samantha said to Constantina was bringing her back to life back. He will never understand the relationships between women and their friends. He's seen stressful situations with his mother and sisters, once their girlfriends come along they immediately felt better. As close as he was to Constantina, he realized that sometimes a woman just needs her girlfriends.

  "Glad you could come Sam, I bet Mike has Jenna on a short leash. He wouldn't want her anywhere near a kidnapping command center."

  "Actually Mike didn't tell Jenna about the kidnapping I did, she had to take Alexander for a checkup. She planned to come over afterwards, but I talked her out of it, this is no place for a baby."

  Connie stood up and hugged Thomas. "Thank you for contacting Samantha. How did you know?"

  Thomas gave her a quick peck on the lips. "I understand baby, sometimes a woman just needs her friends." Their conversation was interrupted by Agent Constantine.

  "Miss Jacobs we think we have located the kidnappers."

  "What?"

  We followed up leads on Crystalline Jacobs's known associates; she's taken up with ex-con Jimmy Lee Dixon. His relatives are known felons and probably cooking up drugs in Carter Lake. OPD is doing a follow up, if we catch a break maybe we can find the kidnappers and hostages before someone gets hurt."

  Thomas wrapped his arm around Constantina's shoulders. "Baby, Chad and Beth will make it out unharmed. If what Eric says is true, the FBI just gained the upper hand."

  Was Samantha thinking about her own kidnapping nearly seven months ago? "Connie don't give up hope. If your mother is behind the kidnapping, maybe Chad can reach her, stranger things have happened."

  "Oh Sam I'm such an idiot, this must have raised horrible memories for you."

  "It did bring back memories Connie, I was damn thankful that people loved me enough to come looking for me."

  ***

  Chad ran up the basement stairs and turned right towards the back of the house he didn't stop until he reached the last bedroom near the kitchen. The door was unlocked. He entered the bedroom and found Beth tied up on the bed. He saw the relief in her eyes as untied her ankles and wrists. He pealed the duct from her mouth. "Quiet Beth." He whispered. "One of the kidnappers got shot in the basement. We need to make a run for the back door. Once you make it through the door I want you to keep running no matter what you hear." Beth didn't talk she just nodded her head in the affirmative.

  Chad peeked out the door he heard voices in front of the house. He pushed Beth ahead of him determine that she would escape. "Run!"

  Beth ran faster than she ever did in her life. She didn't recognize the neighborhood, many of the houses and buildings were boarded up. She heard sirens, and she ran towards the sound. "Help! Help!"

  Once Beth was clear from the house, Chad hesitated; he went back towards the house he could feel the heat radiating from the kitchen. "Crystalline! Crystalline where are you?" He tried to get past the kitchen, but the flames were too high. How in the hell had the fire started and how did it progressed so fast? He backed out of the house and ran in the same direction as Beth. He looked behind him, and the flames were engulfing the house, the fire must have been set with an accelerant.

  He heard Beth yelling for help as several police cars got closer to him, he hustled out of the yard and ran straight into a police officer. "Oh shit!"

  "Put your hands above you head and get on your knees now!"

  Chad immediately followed the police officers orders. "Listen officer the house that my girlfriend and I just escaped from is on fire; I haven't spent much time around drug dealers, but I have a feeling they were cookers."

  Chad and the police officer looked at the burning house the fire had already spread to the attached garage. "Run!"

  Chad needed no second urging, he and the police officer ran, and they actually got a half block away when the explosion occurred. He landed on the ground flat on his face, he figured by the time this was over he was going to stay in bed for a week. When he came to, he was in the back of an ambulance being administered to by an EMT. Beth was in the ambulance stroking his face; her face was wet with tears, her eyes full of fear.

  "Stop crying Beth. Are you sure you want to be my girlfriend, it becomes anticlimactic after this. I couldn't top the last 18 hours if I tried.

  ***

  It was ten minutes to six o'clock, and everyone was sitting around Connie's office waiting for the kidnapper to call. Connie was nervous and scared that something would go wrong. Samantha and Thomas never left her side, Thomas a tower of strength and Samantha keeping her mind occupied with amusing stories about her clients. When the phone rang unexpectedly, the tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

  "Hello."

  "This Captain Nichols with the OPD may I please speak to the FBI agent in charge."

  Connie put the phone on speaker. "Agent Constantine an OPD police captain is on the line for you."

  "This is Agent Constantine."

  "Agent Constantine my name is Captain Nichols with OPD per your request we sent a couple of squad cars us to check out a possible tie to your kidnapping suspect. In the process, we found Chad Roberts and Beth Marlin at the scene; both victims were transported to University Hospital for observation. We found a wounded possible suspect Jimmy Lee Dixon a couple of blocks from the house."

  "Captain Nichols were there any other suspects at the scene?"

  "From what we could ascertain, Mr. Roberts stated that his mother, one of the suspects shot another suspect in the basement and release him and Miss Marlin. Evidently, a fired started at the house and spread to the garage, which housed a meth lab. When my men arrived at the scene, an explosion ensued damn near taking half the block. We can't recover any bodies until the blaze is extinguished."

  "Thank you for your cooperation Captain Nichols, my team will question Mr. Roberts and Miss Marlin at the hospital. Miss Jacobs I can see you're ready to see your brother and Miss Marlin. Would you like to ride with my team?"

  Thomas clasped arm, "That's okay Eric, Constantina's riding with me."

  Samantha hugged Connie as she prepared to leave. "You're in good hands Con, I told you not to give up hope. Check on Chad and Beth and call me with the details. You better call Jenna too, I bet she hates being out of the loop."

  "Thanks for coming Sam; I promise to call you and Jen later." She grabbed her purse and walked hand in hand with Thomas to his car. He opened the door for her and she gave
him a soulful kiss before entering the car. "Thomas I truly couldn't have gotten through this without you, I've never known a man like you."

  "I wouldn't be anywhere else but at your side. Let me get you to the hospital so you can make sure that Chris and Beth are okay, then I'm going to take you home and take care of you."

  Connie waited patiently as Thomas got in the passenger seat of the car. "Thomas."

  "Yeah baby."

  "I love you."

  Thomas gave her a sexy wink. "It's about damn time Constantina. I had all about given up hope that you would admit that you love me the way that I love you."

  "You don't seem very surprised."

  "I've known that you've been in love with me for some time, believe me, it's been eating me up inside. I'm just so damn grateful that you've come into my life."

  ***

  Chapter 18

  Connie and Thomas waited outside the observation room for hours as Agent Constantine, and his team questioned Chad and Beth about the kidnapping. Connie couldn't keep still she paced back and forth up and down the hallway. She knew she wouldn't be content until she saw for her own eyes that Chad and Beth were truly okay.

  "Come on let's sit down before you fall." Thomas grabbed her arm an escorted her to the waiting area. "You're as taut as a guitar string. Chad and Beth are safe Constantina you should be able to relax now."

  "I can't relax Thomas until I actually see them. Did you know that Jenna was attacked in her own home by the same man who killed her sister?"

  "No baby I didn't know that." He held her hand trying to comfort her.

  Try as she might, Connie couldn't stop herself from rambling. "He tried to kill her, but she fought for her life and ended up taking one of his eyes."

  "Yeah didn't he end up dying in prison? Jenna's fine now, she's happily married and a new mother. She didn't let one horrible event from her life keep her from moving forward."

  "Samantha was terrorized by an ex-boyfriend. He had his cousin ram her vehicle from behind pushing her car into oncoming traffic. She almost died on the operating table. When that didn't work, he had her kidnapped. He was pretending to save her so that Samantha would take him back into her life."