by P. D. Clover
I hit the bottom of the stairs and turned to my right. The woman named Helen was still cuffed and laying in the floor. She was sobbing. I pushed down the hall, towards the back of the house. I pushed through the swinging doors into a scene of chaos.
A tall, skinny man with greasy long grey hair was on the ground, his feet and hands were bound with stainless steel zip ties. His wrists were bleeding, and his hands were turning purple, they were on so tight. Matt’s sub-gun was on the kitchen counter and the door to a room directly adjacent to the kitchen was half open. Matt was trying to restrain Ryan, who was foaming at the mouth and uttering a string of profanity that almost made me blush.
“RYAN!!!” I shouted. She didn’t hear me. She was in a rage, and Matt was about to lose control of her. Which was odd because Matt had real skills. If he wanted her to calm down, he could make her do it. I walked over and hit Ryan in the stomach. Ryan let out a breath and collapsed to the floor.
“What the fuck man?” Matt said.
“Get her under control! What in the fuck is going on?”
“Look in the room,” Matt said with sadness.
I walked over to the half open door and looked inside. Two kids were in there, both had ball gags in their mouths and were crying. They were nude and chained together by their necks. The chain was about 4ft long. They were in the corner, wild eyed and terrified.
I stepped out of the room and took several deep breaths. I focused my mind and used my will power to hold back my rage. I looked at Matt, “Why are they still chained up?”
“I didn’t think it should be a man to do it. I tried, and they started to freak out. So, I got Ryan. Once she saw them, she went after him instead. I have been trying to keep her from killing him.
“Why?”
“Because last night there were three cars out front, not two,” Matt said.
“I see… We need to have a talk first.”
“Yep,” Matt replied simply.
Ryan was starting to get off the floor and pull herself together. I bent over to help her up, “Ryan, I need you to pull it together. We have shit that needs to be done. Do you understand?”
She was staring at the piece of filth on the floor. She was breathing heavily and finally nodded. I stepped in front of her to make eye contact. “I need you to go get the kids some clothing from their rooms upstairs and some blankets. Okay?”
“Yeah,” she said as she headed towards the swinging doors. As she passed the man on the ground, she kicked him in the head, hard. She then spit on him as she walked out of the room. He went limp.
“I like her all the more,” Matt said.
“This is fucked up man…” I said.
“This is beyond fucked up,” Matt countered.
“I’m thinking we call Josh down here and his wife, have them take the kids. He should be listening to the radio. If he isn’t, we have Ryan go get them.”
“Good plan,” Matt said.
Ryan came back into the kitchen. Before she could stomp on Jacob’s head, I said, “There was someone else here last night. We need them alive.”
Ryan looked over at me with a question on her face. “Them?”
“You think the wife didn’t know what was going on?” I asked.
Ryan’s face went white. She ran to the sink and vomited. “I used to have lunch with her and other foster parents every month… I had no idea,” Ryan said into the sink.
“Ryan, those kids need your help right now.”
She nodded, wiped her mouth and walked into the other room.
“We need to find the keys for those locks,” I said.
“You mean those keys…” Matt pointed to a set of keys hanging on the door frame that lead to the room where the kids were being held.
“Fuck…” I said as I walked over and grabbed the key ring. It was a little piglet with a ring through its nose and two pad lock keys. “Hey Ryan, I have the keys for the locks, maybe… If they don’t work, I can walk you through how to bypass the locks.” I stuck only my arm through the door holding the keys. Ryan took them, and a second later I heard a distinct pop of a pad lock opening. My amplified hearing (thanks to my electronic hearing protection) was picking up a little of what she was saying. To drown it out, I hit my PTT button and said, “Snake Doc to Betty Blue…come in Betty Blue.”
“Really?” Matt asked.
I just smiled back at him, then over the radio I could hear Josh’s voice. “That is ridiculous.”
“What was that, I didn’t copy Betty Blue?”
“What do you need Snake Doc?”
“I need you and your wife to come down to the corner of Summerset and Westmoreland, ASAP.”
“What? Why?”
“Area is safe. Please hurry. Bring snacks for kids.”
“Rodger that.”
Chapter 23
Josh and his wife pulled up in their truck. Matt was outside waiting on them. Ryan was still with the kids and was getting them settled, I had taken the liberty of dragging Helen down into the basement as well as Jacob. I didn’t think the kids should ever have to see their faces again.
“Henry?” Josh called.
“Back here brother.”
Josh and his wife Reba, who looked more like a Russian princess than the country music singer walked into the kitchen. I told them what had transpired and how we found the kids.
Josh asked, “Where are the Waldens?”
“Don’t worry about it, Josh…” I said calmly.
“But this is heinous! Someone needs to pay.”
I put my hands up, “Oh they will. Don’t worry about that. We need you and Reba to take these kids to your place. Is that something you can do?”
Before Josh could say ‘yes’, Reba spoke. “Absolutely! We will keep them safe and do whatever is necessary to help them.”
Reba grew up an only child from a very successful family. She had always wanted kids. Sadly, that was not something the Lord had blessed her with an ability to do. She loved kids and volunteered for any and everything that was for needy children. The only reason they weren’t foster parents themselves was due to the nature of their respective careers. Josh was an attorney and Reba was a biomedical representative. They just traveled a bit too much.
“Excellent!” I said. “Matt and I will head down to the basement, so y’all can get them out of here. We don’t want to scare them anymore than they already are.”
Josh looked at our sub-guns, helmets, NODs, and vests. “Good point.”
“Josh, you may wanna go with them,” Ryan called out. They are comfortable with us, but they may not be with strange men.”
“Copy that,” Josh called back.
We walked down into the basement single file down the old wooden stairs. Helen was on her belly, on the floor, crying. I had stuffed the ball gags into her and Jacobs mouth. He was now conscious as well. His wrists were bleeding more than before. He must have been trying to get loose.
I bent down and cocked my head to the side to make eye contact with him. “Those zip ties are made of stainless steel. Your hand will come off before they give an inch.”
He growled and blew air out of his nose at me. I smiled and stood back up.
“What are you going to do with them?” Josh asked as he stared at them laying on their bellies with their heads resting in pools of snot, tears, and blood.
“Don’t worry about it, man,” Matt said.
“Do you need me to…”
I cut him off, “Brother, we are all gonna end up with a full inventory of nightmares by the time this all straightens out… No need to get a jump start on collecting yours,” I said.
“We will talk to them and see what they will tell us. If we find out others are involved, we will deal with them as well,” Matt said.
“Yep,” I replied simply. “Although, if you or Reba can get the kids to tell you anything, that would be a real help.”
“There can’t be too many people involved. The event only just happened…” Josh said.
“You think they only started doing this?” Matt asked Josh in disbelief.
I shook my head, “Josh, that room has poor-man’s sound insulation all over it. It was a miracle Matt could hear anything the other night. But thank God he did! They have a special fucking piglet key ring for the locks that held the chains on the kids. They didn’t just start doing this. Hell, the reality of our situation hasn’t actually dawned on the vast majority of people yet... Brother, they HAVE been doing this for who knows how long, right here in our town…in our fucking neighborhood… for God knows how long.”
“No man, someone would have noticed,” Josh retorted.
“Bullshit!” I said. “People are self-obsessed man... And those who aren’t are distracted by everything else going on. But I have a suspicion we will be hearing about more things like this.”
“Why?” Josh asked.
“Because the majority of what distracted people just got turned off. I would think people will start paying a lot more attention to each other, especially after this comes out. Hell, after people find out about this, I bet Ryan’s volunteer deputy list fills up. We have a lot of good people here. They are just lulled into a sense of safety because nothing serious ever happens here. So why should they worry? That will be shattered now,” I said
“You’re probably right,” Josh admitted.
“Okay Josh, come on up. Henry, Matt... just hang out for a minute more,” Reba called down.
“Let me know what you find out,” Josh said as he started up the stairs.
I nodded, “Let us know if they recall anything useful.”
Josh nodded and walked up the stairs and out of the basement.
“So, what do we do with these two?” Matt asked.
“I have a couple ideas, but we need some… chemical assistance,” I said.
Helen started crying harder and Jacob just squirmed and bucked.
Moments later Ryan came downstairs and said, “Okay, they are with Josh and Reba. Y’all can come up.”
I followed Matt up the stairs to the kitchen.
“So, what do we do now?” Ryan asked.
I bent down and started looking under the sink for something useful. “Eureka!” I shouted.
“Hey Ryan, would you find me a brick or large rock and bring it down to the basement?” I asked as I turned to go back down.
I could hear Ryan ask Matt, “What was that about?”
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling you may not want to take part in it,” Matt said then followed me downstairs.
I grabbed Helen by her greying black hair and dragged her over to the far wall with her husband. I sat her up against the wall. I then flipped Jacob onto his back. He promptly tried to kick me, but with his legs bound together, he missed. I stepped back quickly before he could try again. “YOU MOTHER FUCKER!... Alright, I’ll see your bet and raise it!”
I leaned my sub gun against the wall and started looking for something to use to disable his legs without killing him or causing him to bleed out. Then I saw what I needed laying on a shelf – a 4 lb hammer. It looked like a miniature sledgehammer.
“Matt, do me a favor and pin his legs. I’m not gonna deal with this trying to kick nonsense.”
“Copy that,” Matt said as he stomped Jacob in stomach. He then sat on his legs quickly. Jacob huffed and screamed through his gag. He just wiggled and every time he tried to do a sit up, Matt would slap the ever-loving-shit out of the bound man.
I pulled off Jacobs shoes as Ryan came downstairs. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Taking some of the pep, out of his step…” I said as I brought down the hammer on his ankles, one at a time. He howled and sobbed through the gag.
“Alright Matt, scoot up and take a high mount.” As soon as Matt moved, I swung the hammer down on Jacobs knees, not as hard as I could but hard enough to hear a nice crunch come from the blows of the hammer. I needed him conscious but immobile.
“Here… Here is a rock,” Ryan said as she set down a large landscaping paver, the kind used to line flower beds.
“That will do,” I said.
Ryan just stared at Jacobs legs, “Now what? Do we cut on them or what? I have never done anything like this before.”
“Nah, it’s simpler than that. Do me a favor and hand me that can I sat down next to my gun.”
Ryan retrieved the can, “Oven cleaner? What are you going to do with that?”
“I am going to make a point,” I said as I dropped the hammer. Kneeling by Helen and grabbing her by the hair, I forced her to look me in the eye. “Helen, you are going to die tonight.” She began sobbing and shaking. “Stop it!” I shouted as I shook her by the hair. “You have a choice. You can die like Jacob is about to, or it can be fast. I am going to let you decide. First, you are gonna watch Jacob die. Then I am going to ask you a few questions. If you answer me and don’t lie, I’ll make it fast.” I snapped my fingers and she flinched. “If you decide you want to lie or beg and plead for your life… if you try and play dumb… you will die very painfully, just like Jacob is about to.” I released her hair and moved over to Jacob.
“Jacob, can you hear me?” he started bucking. “I’m gonna take that as a yes… Jacob, I am not gonna shoot you. You aren’t worth a bullet, and I want you to suffer. You deserve to suffer. I’m not gonna ask you any questions. You wouldn’t answer me anyway... But I am gonna show you a little mercy, more than you showed those kids.” I picked up the paving stone Ryan brought in, “You see this? I am gonna lay it right here next to your head. When the pain is too unbearable… and it will be… I am gonna allow you to smash your head on this. Because what I am about to do to you will be so terrible that you will not pass out from the pain. Every last second of your life will be filled with agony until you fucking die,” I said calmly, “Ready?” Before he could grunt a curse or wiggle in protest, Matt slammed his ass on Jacobs chest, knocking the air out of his lungs. I grabbed the can of oven cleaner and fired two big, long blasts into Jacob’s nose filling his sinuses with the corrosive chemicals.
I stood up, as did Matt, as Jacob started to go wild on the floor right in front of Helen. She wasn’t crying anymore. She was frozen with fear. She just stared blankly as Jacob writhed in agony on the floor. It took only a few seconds before he was trying to smash his head on the paver next to his head.
“Enjoy the trip to hell,” Matt said coldly.
“Come on Ryan, let’s go upstairs and get a snack. We should give these two a moment to themselves,” I said while walking towards the stairs.
Ryan was the first one in the kitchen. She walked over to the sink and started to dry heave. I closed the door to the basement in the hopes of muffling the sounds of the rhythmic thudding.
“Here Ryan, take a drink from your camelback,” Matt said as he pulled her hair out of her face.
Ryan said into the sink, “I have never seen anything like that before. This whole thing is fucked. The world is fucked, and it’s only been a couple of days.”
“It will get worse before it gets better, but it will get better… It has to,” I said.
Ryan listened to Matt and drank from her pack. I pulled out a couple of gel packs and sucked them down. I could feel my knees starting to shake. I lied to myself and said it was just a side effect from my low blood sugar and high stress from the night’s activities. But I knew the truth; my dream had been prophetic or damn close to it.
The thumping stopped.
“What now?” Ryan asked
“Now I go ask Helen a couple of questions.”
“Why didn’t we ask Jacob?” she asked.
Matt answered, “We had a friend that used to do this sort of thing professionally. He said that if you had a pair of people who had to die but you still needed information, then the only bargaining chip you have was a swift death. So, make sure you get that point across.”
“Where is your friend now?” Ryan asked.
I answered, “He ate his gun about three years a
go. That’s what happens when you do too much shit like this.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Ryan said meekly.
“Yeah, so are we. You two are welcome to stay here. I can finish this,” I said as I opened the door to the basement. I could hear Helen screaming through her ball-gag. “Hopefully she is still sane.”
“Wait, Henry. Just give me another second, and we will go with you,” Ryan said.
“No, we won’t. Go ahead Henry. We will search the house for anything useful,” Matt said.
“What? Look here, I am…” Ryan interjected.
“You’re a normal, good person. You don’t need more of that on your soul. Just let Henry… do what needs to be done. We need to search this house for everything useful. Josh and Reba need extra everything if they are going to take care of those kids.”
Ryan put her head down and said, “yeah, okay.” Then she walked out of the kitchen.
“Sorry bro, I just can’t do that. I just...” Matt shook his head and followed Ryan out of the kitchen.
I nodded, I understood what he meant. I walked down to the basement and made sure to close the door as I did.
Jacob was laying in puddle of blood and red foam, face down on the paver. Helen had a crazed look in her eye. She saw me and started to scream. Well, she screamed as much as anyone can scream, with a ball gag jammed in their mouth. I walked over and reached down to feel for a pulse. He was still alive. I pulled my microteach knife from my pocket and pushed the slide button forward. The razor-sharp blade came out with authority. The click of the blade locking into place echoed in the confines of the basement. I tapped the tip of the blade on Helens nose.
