Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins (The Amy Maxwell Series Book 2)

by Heather Balog

  “Claudia, stop,” Kevin remarks in a monotone defeated voice. I think I’ve heard Roger use a similar tone when I’ve bullied him into something he doesn’t want to do, like Christmas shopping or changing a light bulb or something completely unrealistic and outlandish like that.

  “I will not. Geez, I bet a four year old could do a better job.”

  “Claudia, I’m warning you. Just shut up.” Kevin’s eyes are flashing now.

  “Or what?” Claudia scoffs with a toss of her hair. “You’re going to turn into the incredible hulk or something?” She adds a sarcastic laugh. “That’ll be the day…when you do something incredible!”

  “I warned you, Claudia,” Kevin growls with a low rumble. The hair on my neck prickles and I’m pretty sure it isn’t because of the cold. Kevin’s voice frightens me.

  Claudia turns back toward the trunk and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, ok tough guy.” She pokes Beth in the shoulder with the butt of the gun. “Get back in the trunk. We’ve got to find a new-”

  Before Beth can inch forward, she is yanked backwards by Kevin at the same time he knocks Claudia on the ground.

  Beth screams as Kevin lunges toward his wife on the ground.

  “Stay out of the way, Beth!” Kevin orders. “You too, uh…Amy!” He seems to add me as an afterthought. Of course. That’s all I am in this whole scenario. A big inconvenient afterthought.

  A struggle ensues; I can only assume that Kevin is attempting to wrestle the gun away from Claudia.

  “Are you crazy?” Claudia screeches.

  “I told you before, I must be,” Kevin grunts, trying to pin her hands behind her back. She is kicking at the air wildly and seems to be freakishly strong.

  “You will not back out on me now! We are finishing this together!” Her voice is like that of a possessed lunatic. I can only imagine a tiny demon living in her throat, pulling on her vocal cords like a ventriloquist.

  “We will not. This is a crazy plan and I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far into it with you. It stops now. Give me the gun,” Kevin pants as he is now rolling around on the ground with his wife. Beth is frozen in utter shock and I am pulling my body into a sitting position, so I can peer over the edge of the trunk to watch this melee unfold.

  Big mistake. The second I peek over, a gunshot rings out, followed by an earsplitting scream from Beth. Followed by a howl of agony from one of the two people rumbling on the ground in front of me.

  I instinctively rock back on my heels to get out of the way of stray bullets, and nearly clock my head on the hood of the trunk in the process.

  “You bitch!” Kevin shrieks as he leaps to his feet clutching his right shoulder. Even in the dim light I can see a dark stain quickly spreading on the right side of his light colored shirt. “You bitch,” he repeats as if he is completely stunned that she would shoot him. Gee, I only met her a few hours ago and I could have called that one, Kev.

  Claudia snickers as she stumbles to her feet. “You will not back out now, buddy boy. You’re going down with the ship.”

  “Put the gun down, Claudia, before someone else gets hurt,” Kevin tries to reason as he screws his eyes shut from the pain.

  Now here you may be thinking, Now is the time to call for help again, Amy! Pick up that phone and dial 911! Call Roger! Call River! Get the hell out of the trunk!

  But there’s something in the way Claudia is standing that puts me on guard. I’m thinking she’s a “shoot now, ask questions later” kind of gal and any sudden moves might land me, or Beth, directly in the morgue. Or Kevin…not that I really care about him.

  “Oh someone’s gonna get hurt alright, Kevin. But that someone isn’t me.” She waves the gun madly. Kevin can obviously see the wild in her eyes and thinks it’s wise to get out of the way. He stumbles backwards, but in his state of rapidly losing blood, he trips. Claudia fires the gun again at him, this time hitting his lower body.

  Beth screams again. I duck further into the recesses of the trunk and cannot see very well, but I’ll be damned if I get shot in the middle of their little martial spat. Hell, I don’t even shoot my own husband when we’re fighting. (Not that I’ve ever considered arsenic or something less violent in any of my daydreams…no, really, I haven’t, I swear).

  “Are you going to help finish what you started or do I have to aim a little higher?” Claudia asks maliciously as she indicates his um, private area. Kevin struggles to his knees. There is a telltale dark stain spreading rapidly down his left leg. He is gasping for air and is still clutching his right shoulder as his left leg buckles underneath him.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Claudia remarks triumphantly. “You want to help the princess back in the trunk or shall I?” Claudia shoots up in the air like a cowboy firing a warning. Beth screams yet again. I duck and cover my head.

  “I’ll do it,” Kevin groans. Panting, he reaches his arm out to get Claudia to help him up, but she just crosses her arms over her chest and ignores him. He staggers to his feet, takes a step and then falls again.

  “Oh my God,” Beth mutters. “You are the worst wife ever.”

  Kevin offers Beth a weak smile as Claudia saunters toward the front of the car. He stumbles to his feet and I see him grasp Beth’s hand behind her back. I squint as I look closer. Is he freeing her hands?

  Um, hello, Amy! You need to do something! This is your opportunity! Grab your cell phone, jump out of the trunk and run for help! Claudia can’t take all three of you down. Oh wait, she has a gun…she just might be able to take all three of us down.

  I know the clock is ticking and I’m biting my lip to quickly make a decision. I scan my surroundings. There appears to be a gravel road to my right and a heavily wooded area to my left. The opposite if you are coming up the road. Claudia just might be distracted enough that I can knock the gun out of her hand.

  That’s a bad idea, Amy. Remember the last time you handled a gun? Maybe you should just try to escape and run for help.

  But it’s so dark and there are no street lights. I have no idea where I am going. I really wish I had some light…

  As if I have summoned the gods of light, the entire area is suddenly bathed in blinding light, as if someone has flicked the switch in a football stadium or something.

  “What the hell?” I hear Claudia stammer. I can’t actually see her now mind you because the light is literally blinding.

  Maybe I’m dead? Maybe we’re all dead? Or we’re all dying? Don’t go toward the light, Amy! The kids need you!

  I can just see the obituary now: Amy Maxwell, age 36, once a stay at home mother who was on her way to earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, has been killed by the Seven Deadly Sins. While it was her own ENVY and GLUTTONY that caused her to seek out a more exciting life for herself, it was ultimately her sister’s LUST and PRIDE, her husband’s SLOTH and Claudia Fox’s WRATH and GREED that brought Mrs. Maxwell to her untimely death. She will be deeply missed by her four children, Allie, Lexie, Colton, and Evan, and her husband of sixteen years, Roger, especially when they realize that she hasn’t done laundry in a few days and nobody has clean underwear….

  “Put your hands up where we can see them!” A loud booming voice breaks through the debilitating light. I blink repeatedly but all I can see is stars. Now I feel dizzy.

  See them? Who can see right now? I am wondering as I throw my hands up anyway. I don’t even know if they’re talking to Kevin or Claudia or Beth. Or me.

  “Claudia Fox! Kevin Buehler! This is the police! Drop your weapons and let Mrs. Katz and Mrs. Maxwell go!”

  Kevin Buehler? Buehler? Buelher? I giggle thinking about one of my favorite movies, my brain obviously delirious from the ordeal. Who the heck thinks about movies when you’ve been kidnapped and your kidnapper has a gun?

  “Like HELL,” I hear Claudia shout and then I hear my sister screaming somewhere near my left ear. I think they are still standing next to the passenger side of the car. I continue to blink, hoping my eyes will adjust to ligh
t quickly so I can see what the heck is going on.

  “Surrender your weapon, ma’am,” the booming voice orders. “Let Mrs. Katz go.”

  Let Mrs. Katz go? I squint and I can see that Claudia has her arm wrapped around my sister’s neck and she is pointing the gun at her temple. Oh my GOD! Yes! Yes! Let Mrs. Katz go!

  “Over my dead body!” Claudia snarls. “And hers,” Claudia adds victoriously as she pulls Beth a little closer to her side, causing Beth to let out a wail that sounds an awful lot like a dying cat.

  I feel sick to my stomach, realizing that this in not just a kidnapping anymore. Now we are in a hostage situation…my sister being the hostage. One false move by anyone and we’re not just talking about a stray bullet to the shoulder or leg like Kevin got. Claudia is pissed and she’s like a rabid dog out for blood. I know in my heart she won’t hesitate to pull the trigger and splatter my sister’s brains all over the front of her Dulce and Gabana sweatshirt.

  I am not even thinking about myself as I creep backwards in the trunk, toward the right side of the car (my right, the driver’s side if you are approaching the road). Hoping the cops do not shoot me, I stick my (now freed) right leg out of the car, feeling around blindly with my foot until I come in contact with the bumper. Steadying my trembling body with my hands, I throw my left leg over to meet the right. My entire body is quivering as I grasp the back of the trunk and lower my feet silently to the ground. I am wordlessly muttering a prayer while I creep around the driver’s side of the car.

  My plan is to grab a stick, tiptoe around the front, smack Claudia in the head with it and free Beth. All without getting shot by Claudia, or the police. I’m worried because I assume that since I can’t see them, they can’t see who I am either and won’t realize I am not one of the kidnappers. I am trying to send my agenda to the police via mental telepathy (you know, just keeping them apprised of how I’m planning to single-handedly save the day), I am also sending messages to my sister, hoping she going along with this plan.

  Unfortunately, that scenario doesn’t happen. The next thing I hear is that voice in the megaphone blasting, “Don’t anybody move!”

  With my hands against the side of the car I completely freeze in place, foiled in my valiant efforts to save Beth. Damn it! They won’t even let me help my sister? They’re not doing anything; are they just waiting for Claudia to shoot her?

  I can hear her whimpering around the other side of the car as Claudia shouts back, “We’re going to get in the car now and you nice gentlemen are not going to follow us. Is that understood?”

  Get in the car? Where in God’s name does she think they’re going to go? At this point, even if the ransom money has been wired to their bank account, there’s no way they’re going to be able to jump a plane and escape. The security in the airport would be all over them. Unless…

  Then I realize with sickening certainty that Claudia Fox must have a private jet waiting somewhere to whisk her away. And if the police have no idea where that is, she would be able to escape, wouldn’t she? Claudia’s back is against the wall now. She’s got nothing to lose by trying to escape. After all, she’s got Beth as a hostage…even Kevin, if you think about it, not that I’m sure the police would do much to save him considering he brought this upon himself. Although, the cops aren’t really allowed to make moral judgment calls like that, are they? We haven’t gotten to that chapter in Professor Cummings’ class yet.

  “Get down,” a very familiar male voice whispers into my right ear. I freeze and a tingle rips through my body.

  What the hell is Jason doing here?

  ~Fifteen~

  My heart freezes as well; my entire body feels hot and cold and non-functional all at once. I turn my neck ever so slightly to the side, convinced that it is not Jason Collins crouched next to me in the dirt, but just some other cop and my mind is automatically associating law enforcement with Jason.

  Silly Amy, I am admonishing myself. Jason would have nothing to do with a local kidnapping! He’s a DEA agent! Your mind is just working overtime. This is because you keep daydreaming about running into him.

  My eyes connect with the steel blue (gray in this lighting) eyes that I am all too familiar with. Not that I’ve ever stared at them or anything. Nope, my mind is working just fine. It really is Jason Collins crouched in the dirt next to me on this lonely gravel road.

  Jason does a double take. “What the hell happened to your face?” He squints as he whispers, “Did you lose a fight with a baseball bat?”

  “What are you doing here?” I manage to hiss as quietly as possible while ignoring his comment.

  He doesn’t answer me; instead, he clamps his hand over my mouth and implores me to shut up with his eyes. I am tempted to bite his hand just to piss him off.

  The nerve of him, swooping in like a knight in shining armor, just to steal my thunder. I ought to have a hissy fit. In fact, if we weren’t in such a tricky situation, I would have a good old fashioned Allie temper tantrum.

  He jerks his head to the left; I guess he is trying to get me to follow him as he duck walks in a crouched stance to the front of the car. If we weren’t in a dire life or death situation, I would probably find it pretty humorous.

  Instead of laughing, I follow behind and am staring at the car’s grill as it starts to drizzle. I am having an overwhelming sense of de ja vu. Creeping along the side of a cabin in the woods in the rain and climbing in through the bathroom window as Jason boosted me up in order to sneak in on a person who was holding a family member of mine hostage…the parallels are eerily similar.

  He reaches the hood and turns to pat my arm firmly. His eyes say ‘stay here out of the way’. Needless to say, I ignore him and stay close behind as he continues his ridiculous creeping along the front of the car.

  “Ma’am! I’d advise you to stay exactly where you are!” The voice from the megaphone is announcing with a warning tone.

  For a second, I think that he is talking to me and I glance around nervously as if Megaphone Man is going to swoop down from the trees and snatch me up and swing away like Tarzan on a vine. But then I realize he isn’t even talking to me. He’s speaking to Claudia who is now starting up the car. The car that Jason and I are currently squatting in front of and are going to be hood ornaments on if we don’t get the heck out of the way.

  Then, it all happens so fast; my brain is like a blur trying to piece the events together. The engine revs and I hear the crunch of gravel just as Jason pushes me out of the way. I scream…at first I think it’s because of the sudden movement and my shoulder hit the ground, but then I realize it is because of the searing pain that is now shooting up my leg. Starting at my foot.

  “Amy!” Jason shouts as I realize, that bitch ran over my foot! That wasn’t the sound of crunching gravel that I heard. That was the bones in my foot crunching.

  I stare up at him from my sprawled position on the ground. I can’t move and now I’m totally relying on him to save me…again. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry at the irony of this situation.

  For a split second, it appears as if he is going to scoop me up in his arms and carry me to safety (while I swoon) but then he thinks better of it and whirls around pointing his gun at the escaping vehicle.

  POP, POP! The right front tire blows out. Jason aims again as the car slows down noticeably. POP, POP! Right back tire. Thump, thump, thump. The car is still limping along. POP, POP! Left back tire. Car screeches to a halt.

  Jason steps toward the car, gun pointed at the back window. A half dozen local police officers scoot down the hill behind us, crouching low. I can make out the top of Beth’s head in the back seat. I am praying she uses her good sense and ducks down to the floor boards once she realizes the car has completely stopped and Claudia is going to be out of options soon. These cops mean business and Beth needs to get the hell out of the way.

  “Put your hands up where I can see them!” Jason shouts authoritatively.

  An officer scoots closer to Jason
and remarks firmly, “Thank you for your assistance Agent Collins. We can take it from here.”

  Jason lowers his gun and appears crestfallen, but despite his rank, he is out of his jurisdiction. In fact, I have no idea how he is even here to begin with. Why in heaven’s name would a DEA agent be working on a kidnapping case? The FBI wasn’t even involved yet as far as I could see, and I really don’t think Claudia and Kevin had any drug issues. I mean, I could be wrong, but Jason’s presence was entirely out of the ordinary and highly unusual.

  “Come on, let’s get you to some place safe,” Jason remarks almost grudgingly as he reaches my side. Before I can protest, he has scooped me up and is carrying me off toward the source of the blinding light. I guess that’s where the rest of the police officers are, but I don’t want to go. Beth is still trapped with Claudia and Kevin. And Claudia still has a gun. I suddenly feel maternal toward my older sister, like I can’t leave until I know she is safe and out of danger.

  “No!” I am yelling at Jason as I beat at him with my fists. “We have to help Beth! We have to go back and get Beth before Claudia shoots her!”

  “Knock it off, Amy!” Jason growls while he struggles to hold on to me. “You need to get your foot looked at. It may be broken.”

  “I don’t care!” I wail, not caring that my tears are soaking Jason’s shoulder as he lumbers up the sloped hill. “My sister is in that car and I have to help her! I have to save her!”

  “Let the police officers do their job. They’ll get her out,” Jason tries to reassure me while he shifts my weight to his other side. “Man, you’re heavy,” he grumbles.

  “Hey!” I reply while pounding him in the shoulder (and not playfully, either). I’m insulted. I’ve been trying not to stuff my face lately; saying no to the lattes, limiting myself to one, er, two glasses of wine, not eating the food Evan has left on his plate…

  Jason ignores my blows, because truthfully, it’s probably like a mosquito swatting at his big powerful, rippling…um, arms. As we step into the area where the police have set up, I hear a very familiar voice call out, “That was awesome, dude! I totally would have gone trigger happy and shot out the back window, but you held your cool!”