Being Chased

by Harper Bentley

  Chapter 25

  “My phone’s ringing!” Allen said into the mic.

  “Answer it,” Hank told him. “Be calm. Put the phone on speaker and keep your mic on so we can hear.”

  Allen cleared his throat nervously then answered doing what Hank had told him.

  "Mr. Cooke?" a deep, male voice asked.

  "Yes?"

  "We wanted you to know that we've contacted Mr. Collin Cooke and Mr. Franklin Moore about paying the ransom."

  Allen's face blanched. What the hell were they doing contacting them? Julia really did think he wouldn't pay for her. She must've given out Collin's and Franklin's numbers. He hung his head, closing his eyes trying to keep his breathing steady.

  "Both men said they were willing to contribute at least five million apiece, so we've decided to raise your ransom amount to twenty million. Don't disappoint us." The call ended.

  Allen sat up and stared out his window. His voice was almost monotone when he finally spoke. "When Julia was five, she was running through the living room at the beach house and tripped on the area rug. She went flying into the coffee table and cut her upper thigh pretty badly on the corner of it."

  Chase knew the story. He'd seen the scar on Julia's thigh and had asked her what'd happened.

  Allen continued as if in a daze. "She had a pretty bad gash that was bleeding profusely. Her mother almost fainted at the sight of all the blood. Julia just stood there looking down at her leg and at the blood on the table. Then she looked up at me and said, 'I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean to get the table dirty.'" Allen started crying like a baby.

  They were all quiet listening to Allen's sobs.

  "We rushed her to the emergency room where she’d needed twenty stitches. All she did the entire time was apologize. Didn't cry one tear, just felt horrible for getting blood on the table. She didn't think at all about herself, just what my reaction was going to be. Oh, God. I've been a horrible father."

  All they could do was let him cry, so they remained silent. The man needed to come to terms with his demons.

  ****

  "Just how do you presume to help us?" Julia asked Josh.

  "Well, I don't really have some brilliant idea off the top of my head. I'm not Einstein, you know."

  "No, no, him you definitely are not. Let the record indicate that no one in this room is disagreeing with the previous statement." Julia snorted, shaking her head. She knew better than to trust Josh. Nothing he ever said held any water.

  "If you'd stop with all the smartass comments, I could probably think of something that might help. Jesus. You haven't changed at all."

  "That's not true. My taste in men has clearly gotten better."

  Josh glared at her. "Is this guy really that much better than I am?"

  "You have no idea." Oh, she could go into all the details, telling him how much better of a person Chase was than he was, but she decided not to go that route. If Josh was willing to help, she'd better try to stay on his good side for the time being.

  Sherry had sat on the cot watching their entire exchange, still surprised by the fact that Julia and Josh had dated. Julia seemed so much classier than he was. Just at a different level all the way around. Oh, well. Love was definitely blind, or so they said. She really didn't care about the details. She just wanted to get the hell out of there.

  "So, you really think you could help us?" she asked Josh.

  "Yeah. Yeah, I might be able to do that. If Julia wants to stop berating me, I could probably think of something to help you."

  Julia began pacing, wondering just what Josh thought he could do to help them. She didn't mention anything about the door in the corner to him, still not knowing if she could trust him.

  "What I could do to help you is maybe get some kind of sleeping pills and put them in their drinks. When they passed out, you two could sneak out." Josh looked from Julia to Sherry and back again eagerly.

  "And then Santa Claus can come in, ready to take us away on his sleigh, the Sandman can assure that they all stay asleep while the Easter Bunny has eggs ready to throw at them in case they wake up before we escape!" Julia added. "That sounds like a great plan."

  "Hey, at least I'm trying. It's better than anything you've come up with."

  Julia knew she was being a bitch, but putting her trust in this man who'd betrayed her numerous times was extremely tough for her.

  Sherry stepped forward, looking at Julia, asking for permission in a way before she spoke. "Josh, if I tell you something, can we trust you?"

  "Of course. You think I'd be down here trying to help you if you couldn't? If they were to find out," his eyes flashed to the upstairs door, "I'd be dead before I could blink an eye. So, what is it you want to tell me?"

  Sherry looked at Julia, nodding, encouraging her to inform Josh of what they knew. Julia took a deep breath, still not wholly sure if she wanted to confide in him the secret of the door. "In that corner," Julia spoke carefully and pointed to where all the junk was piled up, watching Josh's face for any duplicity, "I think there may be another way out of here. Other than that door." She pointed at the stair door. “If you can keep them occupied, we might have a chance at opening it.”

  At that moment the stair door flew open and one of the big guys stomped down. Walking over to Josh, he smacked him on the back of his head. "What the fuck's going on down here? An orgy?" The big guy looked lewdly at the girls making them turn in revulsion from him. "Get your ass back upstairs."

  "Don't forget what I told you, bitch," Josh said to Julia, pointing at her, as he turned to leave. "Watch yourself or I'll follow through with it."

  The big guy laughed as they walked up the stairs. "What'd you tell her? That you're gonna punish her with that tiny pecker of yours?" He started cracking up.

  "Whatever," Josh grumbled.

  The girls could only hope that Josh would follow through on his "threat."

  ****

  "And just what were you doing down there for so long?" the Boss asked Josh.

  "Nothing."

  "Reliving old times?" She smirked, but Josh saw there really wasn't any humor in her eyes. She walked behind her desk, opening a drawer and pulling out a handgun. She kept her eyes on Josh the entire time as she placed it on the desktop.

  Fuck. What the hell's going to happen now? Is she gonna fucking shoot me? "N-No. Julia's a bitch. I don't want anything more to do with her. I told you I have no feelings for her whatsoever."

  "You sure you're not trying to step up and be the knight in shining armor coming to save the day?" The Boss lit one of her cigarillos, taking a puff then blowing a cloud of smoke up into the air.

  "I'm sure. Why would I want to do that? She was a bitch when I dated her and she still is. I don't care what happens to her." Josh hoped he was coming off as convincing. Surely, the Boss didn't know him well enough to be able to tell if he was lying or not.

  "So, when I ask you to shoot her in the head, you're going to be okay with that?" The Boss raised an eyebrow at him.

  Josh swallowed. Was it really going to come to that? "Yeah. I'll be fine." He fidgeted a little and knew she thought he was lying. "It's got nothing to do with Julia," he explained. "It's just that I've never killed anyone before." He could hear Brady and Liam sniggering from where they sat on the couch behind him.

  The Boss glared at them. "Leave." As the men stood and made their way to the door, Josh followed suit. "Oh, not you, my little lover. You. Stay."

  Josh froze in his tracks, his back to her. Brady snorted as he walked out, murmuring, "Big emphasis on the 'little.'" Josh took a deep breath then turned to face her. If he made it out of this alive, he promised God he'd be a changed man.

  Brady pulled the door closed with a loathsome, unmitigated "click."

  ****

  "Oh! I'm there!" Julia said excitedly to Sherry. She'd finally reached the corner after rummaging her way through the rubble for the past thirty minutes.

  "Can you open it?” Sherry asked excitedly. />
  "We’ll see," Julia replied, her voice strained as she moved one more item from in front of the door. She'd cleared a three-foot path around it. It was an old, wooden door and looked like the kind that would've been used on a jail from Medieval times. She knocked on it and could tell it was thick, maybe three or four inches.

  "I hope it's a way out. Please, God, let it be a way out of here." Sherry was just as hopeful as Julia was, maybe even more so. She'd been stuck in the damn basement for what had to have been days, and she'd been ready to get out of there yesterday. Sherry walked over near the corner keeping a permanent eye on the upstairs door. When she finally looked at Julia she gasped. "Oh, Julia!"

  "This door looks like it's straight out of some King Arthur book.” She noticed the look on Sherry's face then. "What?"

  "Your poor face! Oh, my gosh!"

  Julia put her hand to her cheek knowing she had to look pretty bad. "That horrible, huh?" She knew it was swollen, could actually see part of the damn thing all puffed up under her eye, but she'd all but forgotten about it while she'd worked.

  "It's not that bad," Sherry lied.

  "Oh, no, I'm sure it's not. The look on your face doesn't even tell me that I look like I've been hanging out in a boxing ring." Julia snorted.

  Sherry smiled but then felt bad. "I'm sorry, Julia. You've been working so hard. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. It's really not that bad at all."

  Julia smiled back at her. "You didn't make me feel bad. I'm good. I just want to get us the hell out of here." She moved her hand around the sides of the door and could feel air coming in. It had to be a way out. The door had a handle that was like a small knocker. Julia pulled on it but the door didn't budge. She turned it thinking it might be a latch and tugged, but still nothing. "Shit!"

  "What?"

  "I can't get it to open! I don't think it's been opened in probably fifty years," she declared, her shoulders in a defeated slouch as she pressed her forehead against the door. All that work for nothing.

  ****

  After his "session" with the Boss, Josh told her he was going to pick up food in the City. He actually just needed to get the hell away from the mess he was in and try to clear his head.

  He drove to his apartment, heading straight for the shower. He washed himself twice over trying to get the scent of her off and maybe a little of the guilt he'd been feeling for having participated in Julia's capture. He'd tried thinking of ways he could help get her out of there, but nothing had come to him. These people were pros and he couldn't just come up with some candy apple bullshit to help her escape. Things had to be perfect from all sides before he'd even attempt to throw one over on the gang. He was stuck and he knew it.

  After getting out of the shower and toweling off, all of his thoughts hitting dead ends, he knew he had only one recourse left. He swallowed roughly then made the call.

  ****

  “Someone’s coming up the drive,” Quaid cautioned into his mic.

  "What the hell? That's the guy I beat the shit out of at the theater, Julia's ex-boyfriend!" Chase hissed through clenched teeth into the mic after he’d seen Josh return to the house. "He's involved with this. I can't believe it. Son of a bitch! I should've taken the fucker out when I had the chance."

  "Pop, you getting anything?" Gunner asked, knowing his dad was using the audio device to hear inside the house.

  "Heard three or four different voices. Picked up on some noise and voices that sound muffled, so must've been coming from the basement." Hank adjusted the dish he held. "This wind isn't helping things a whole lot, though."

  Chase knew it was tough picking up sounds on the device when there was wind whistling through it, but his dad was a pro at this stuff, so he knew if there was something to catch, his dad would be on top of it. "You heard muffled voices, but what kind of noise did you get from downstairs?"

  "Like things being moved around."

  "Gun, come help me look in the barn. See if that passageway might be there."

  "Make sure you're both locked and loaded," Hank said.

  “Got your six,” Oz added as he moved into a better position to cover them.

  Chase and Gunner crept to the barn which sat about twenty yards behind the house, making sure to keep an eye on the house for any movement. There were two big doors, typical of any barn, in front that were slightly ajar. They slipped inside then turned on their flashlights, shining them over the floor and in every corner, but didn't see anything right off that looked like a door leading into a tunnel.

  "What the fuck? Where the hell would it be?" Chase whispered.

  "I don't know. Keep looking."

  Just then the wind blew one of the big doors to the barn open then slammed it shut scaring the hell out of both of them. They froze, looking at each other, both cursing under their breath.

  ****

  "Try this!" Sherry had picked up a piece of metal that looked like a poker from a long-discarded fireplace tool set. She handed it to Julia through all the debris.

  Julia stuck the tool between the jamb and the door then pushed on it trying to persuade the door to move. And, what do you know? It actually did! "Yes!"

  "It worked?"

  "Kind of." Julia's voice was once again strained as she put all the muscle she had into opening the door. She pushed and pushed as the door made a little headway, moving about half an inch. And then the stupid poker bent under her weight. "Well, damn! Do you see anything else I can use?" She tried bending the thing back but it was no use.

  Sherry dug through the pile again trying to find anything that might work. She was on her hands and knees, reaching, seeking anything metal, heavy and thin.

  Julia leaned against the door, bent at the waist, hands on her knees, catching her breath. Who knew trying to open a door was such a workout? She wiped the sweat off her forehead then knelt and started helping Sherry look.

  "No way!" Sherry said as she pulled something from the heap. Julia sat back on her knees, looking curiously through all the clutter to see what had made Sherry become excited like that. Sherry was holding something up, pumping her arm which made Julia's face light up like the fourth of July.

  ****

  The back door opened and Josh came in carrying bags of food.

  "About damn time. Jesus, you have to catch the fucking chickens before they fried 'em up?" Brady leered at him.

  "Whatever, dude." Josh pushed his windblown hair out of his face. "Fucking wind."

  "If you weren't built like such a girl, the shit wouldn't bother you, threatening to carry your sissy ass off like Dorothy," Liam said then dug inside a bag grabbing out a chicken breast, ripping into the thing looking like a barbarian. He smiled at Josh, pieces of chicken in his teeth, making Josh want to blow chow again. An iron stomach the kid definitely didn't have.

  Josh prepared a plate for himself which the Boss took after she'd walked into the kitchen. He sighed then started on another one for himself.

  "So, this Larson girl. Her father came through. I checked with Ephraim and he said the money's being rerouted. Now, what to do with her."

  "I thought you were going to let her go?" Josh looked around at all three criminals almost in shock.

  "We usually do let them go. Except for two. That third kid, what was his name? Trevor something? Sad story for that one," Brady stated as he kept devouring his chicken showing no emotion whatsoever.

  "What happened to him?" Josh had stopped eating, suddenly losing his appetite.

  "Kid got antsy. Can't have that shit happening on one of these gigs. Ended up getting hisself killed." Liam sneered at Josh before shoving a forkful of mashed potatoes in his big damned mouth.

  "You killed him?"

  "I said he got hisself killed. You deaf or something? It was his own fucking fault. He took off out of here thinking he could outrun us. Stupid little prick. Oh, and speaking of, you owe me five grand 'cause I took him down. Your first two shots didn't even hit him," Liam said, pointing his greasy finger at Brady.
/>
  "I got rid of the body. That was the deal. I knew you'd forget that fucking part, dumbass."

  Josh's stomach sank. He had to help Julia. If they killed her, he'd never forgive himself. He hoped the call he'd put in earlier had been the answer.

  Just then they heard a bang from outside.

  "What the hell was that?" Brady asked, walking toward the backdoor to look out the window. He looked around, then focused on the barn that was a good sixty feet away, squinting his eyes. He saw one of the doors moving in the wind. And was that a light he'd seen coming from inside?

  "Wind's blowing pretty hard," Liam replied. "Might've been something blowing against the house."

  "Thank you, Mr. Meteorologist for that fine fucking update." Brady smirked.

  "You're welcome, Mr. I'll Forever Be a Dickhead."

  "Hey, Dumb! Dumber! Shut your mouths! You two are so annoying!" The Boss shook her head.

  "So, you're really going to kill those girls?" Josh asked, already knowing the answer.

  "Of course. They've seen me. What, am I supposed to believe them when they promise they won't tell anyone if I let them go? Right." The Boss rolled her eyes.

  "But their fathers are giving you the money. They've done everything right."

  "Aren't you the little softie. There's no other ending to this chapter."

  "But you've got so much money. You could go away and never be seen again. It's not like they know your names or anything."

  "Oh, I'm sure they've probably placed me by now. I could tell the Cooke girl recognized me right away; she just couldn't remember from where. Ergo, she and her little buddy down there must die."

  Chapter 26

  "You guys alright?" Hank said into his mic after the barn doors had done their thing.

  "Yeah. Fucking wind. There wasn't any movement in the house because of it, was there?" Chase answered back.

  "Saw a face at the backdoor but that was it," Oz said.

  Gunner pulled one of the doors closed, wedging it since it hung a little crookedly on its hinges, securing it, then he and Chase resumed looking around inside the barn once they heard no one in the house was coming out to investigate. There was a decrepit, old Chevy sitting to one side with bird droppings all over it. Gunner shone his flashlight under it thinking maybe it covered a hidden door. No luck. In the meantime, Chase was searching the other side of the barn, digging through old car parts, tires, bumpers, doors, looking for the damned entry to a tunnel. He moved aside several screen doors that were stacked against the wall but to no avail.