CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Todd blazed down the busy street and scanned the sidewalk for the payphone. His long, shoulder-length hair whipped around his face, obscuring his vision. He almost passed by the ringing phone. With a curse, he rolled his bike on the curb, and yanked the phone up.
“This better be the last goddamn phone I go to,” he snarled.
“Temper, temper,” Peter chided. “You really oughta calm down son, stress is a big no-no where you’re concerned. You just never know who’ll come popping out,” he joked.
Pete felt an icy clam wash over him. He waited, and said nothing. He wasn’t gonna let that fucker bait him or Todd anymore. The silence stretched on a bit.
“You know where a place called Storage Center is?” Peter asked innocently. Pete gripped the phone. “No, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.”
“It’s in San Francisco, on the right hand corner of 110th street. It’s a huge facility, you can’t miss it.”
“Yeah? What about it?” Pete snapped.
That’s where I have Clarice. We’re getting to know one another….a lot,” he snickered.
“Let her go. She has nothing to do with this. It’s me you really want isn’t it, Daddy?” Todd said silkily, venom and deep-seated hatred, coloring his voice. He wasn’t gonna let Manning to all the mind fucking. From here on out, he was gonna start holding his own. “I know you’ve been thinking about it, haven’t you? Like the sick animal you are? Like the fucking monster you’ve always been. Tell me dad…do I still turn you on?”
His stomach churned wildly as nausea threatened to overcome him. Todd Thomas Manning was starting to face his past.
Big time.
He was trembling from head to toe, and felt himself slipping dangerously.
Hold on. You can do it, Todd. I KNOW you hear me. You always could. You know that now, don’t you? I am you and you are ME
.There was silence on the other end of the phone. It was ominous and foreboding. “You are going to pay for what you just said to me, boy. Do you understand me?” Peter said in a flat, hard voice. “You’re a nothing. A no one. A miserable piece of human waste. You have exactly thirty minutes to get you’re ass down here, or I’ll kill her. But, I’ll make sure I rip her apart first. Do you get me?”
Pete set his jaw. “Which garage are you in?” He said in a low, controlled voice. He was out of his head with black rage. Clarice was the only thing keeping him remotely human.
“Figure it out, asshole.”
The connection went dead. Todd calmly replaced the phone and straddled the big bike. “Get ready to die Dad. I’m coming for you.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Todd rolled his bike quietly through the identical rows of garages. The sun was setting and a bitter, cold, wind cut through him. The place was deserted and eerily silent. The quiet idling of the bike’s engine was the only sound to be heard.
He glanced at his watch. Twenty-five minutes had already passed, and he was nowhere near finding Clarice. Oh, please God. Please let her be alive. His stinking father was close by. He could feel it. He idled along another long row, his eyes scanned in all directions.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse, just a quick flash, of black. Todd whipped his head around and squinted. Nothing. Just silence… and the pounding of his heart. He turned the bike around and headed in the opposite direction.
How had his life come to this? He thought back on every mistake he’d ever made. Every bad decision, every wrong turn, all of it. They had all led him up to this moment. It was time to face his life, his father, …himself.
He saw a black figure about two hundred yards down. Peter Manning stood at the end of the long row, like a black visage, with evil surrounding him like a poisonous cloud. He stood with his legs spread apart in an arrogant stance. The smoke from cheroot swirled around his head. He casually took a long drag and flicked the cigar in his general direction. He smiled then, a slow, lazy dazzlingly white smile. He ran his tongue over his teeth. “I’ve been waiting for you, Todd. Come to Daddy.”
Todd shuddered. Why did his Father still have the power to unnerve him?
He wore black wraparound sunglasses, and pushed them up with his middle finger, giving Todd the bird.
Pete clicked his teeth together with an angry snap and revved the throttle. He was hurtling toward Peter Manning with a vengeance. He had his eyes locked on Manning. Peter swiftly turned the corner and seemingly vanished into thin air.
Pete narrowed his eyes and looked swiftly up and down. He shut the bike down and swung his leg over, standing. He reached behind his back and pulled out the P7. He brought the gun up and silently walked down the corridor, cutting his eyes back and forth between the closed garages.
His eyes were flat, and staring. He was preparing himself for the kill. It was long overdue. He gripped the gun and clenched his jaw. If Clarice was dead…. Christ, it didn’t even bear thinking about. He lifted his head and tensed. What was that? It sounded like a muffled cry.
He stood completely still and listened. There it was again. “CLARICE!” He shouted at the top of his lungs.
Then he saw it.
The huge garage was at the end of the corridor. He swiftly ran towards it, the gun was up and ready. He pulled up the door and stood horrified.
Clarice was chained to the concrete pole with nothing on but her underwear. She was standing in a puddle of water.
“Oh my God,” he moaned. This was worse than anything he’d ever imagined. She had a cigarette burn on the side of her breast, and it was bleeding slightly. She was whimpering in fear. “Help me, Thomas…Please,” she begged.
An unplugged radio sat right next to her feet in the water. Several exposed wires were showing through the cord. Todd’s eyes followed the cord all the way to Peter Thomas Manning. He had the plug in one hand and the outlet in the other.
“You didn’t think I’d allow you to come in large and in charge did you, Todd.” Peter whispered in a soft, deadly voice. He tilted his chin. “I want you to drop the piece, and kick it over, real nice and easy. “Cause if you don’t… the bitch gets fried. And if you think for one second I’m kidding, you just try something cute.”
Todd glared at him. “You are fucking dead.” His voice shook with intensity. His eyes bored a hole through Peter as he slowly lowered the P7 to the ground and kicked it lightly in his direction.
Peter smiled nastily. “You really think so? Cause I sure don’t.” He picked the gun up and stuck it behind his back. “I have both you’re pieces now, boy,” he cracked. “Now I want you to back away from the bitch. NOW!” He shouted.
Todd looked at Clarice. “Clarice…baby… I’m gonna get you out of here. I promise you. I swear it on my life” he said urgently. His eyes filled with tears. She was so small and helpless.
She nodded her head, tears dripped off of her chin. Whatever he was in the past, he wasn’t now. The love in his eyes was there for all to see. She had to trust him. She had no other choice. Her life depended on it. “Okay,” she whispered, smiling shakily.
Peter gritted his teeth in fury. How he hated his son. The jealousy ran through him like a current. “I said move away or I’ll kill her!” He shouted.
Todd reached out and brushed a tear away from her face and backed up.
Peter reached up and pushed a button. The door to the garage closed. “Now, it’s just the three of us,” he said pleasantly. He cocked his head to the side. “Or is it?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Todd snarled.
Peter Manning smiled slyly. “I have a little surprise for you, Todd. Someone you’re just dying to see.” He walked across the room and opened a door. Inside, seated in a chair with a doll was his daughter, Starr.
“Daddy? Daaadeee! Please…I’m afraid, I don’t like it here,” Starr cried, terrified.
Todd’s eyes dilated as he dropped to his knees. “OOOOHHH NOOOOOO, STAAAARR!” He screamed. He gasped for air. He couldn’t breath. Todd was gone, Pete was gone. The stress and the shock was too great for him to cope with. It was too much. He knelt in a catatonic state as Peter Manning grinned whitely in triumph. “I finally gotcha!”
