Chapter 13
“I see you’ve made yourselves comfortable around
here,” the male Ninja spoke folding his arms over his chest. Two Ninjas stood behind him holding
guns.
“What’s going on?” Kevin was the official leader of
the group and took it upon himself to voice the question.
“What? On the
surface? In the real world?” the Ninja
laughed, making the others laugh with him, “Of course. Your parents. Well I can tell you they were quite surprised. As we speak they should be on their way to
Evanston.”
“Why did you bring them here?”
“That is none of your concern. Your only concern is to get out of here
alive, and that is by helping us. The
ransom on your heads are all at different prices... We’ll charge the most for Blondie over there,” he gestured to Nick
who flinched involuntarily, “We want nothing less than a million dollars from
each couple... or single in your cases.” He gestured to AJ who flushed with
anger, and Kevin, “Take it easy McLean.
Not everyone can have two loving parents.”
“You son of a b...” Kevin clapped his hand over AJ’s
mouth just in time, and restrained him.
“Wise move Richardson. One more word out of you Mr. McLean and your dear mother will not
have to worry about paying anyone’s ransom.”
“But.. But my
parents don’t have a million dollars,” Howie was stuttering.
“Why wouldn’t they?
You’re a multi-millionaire Howie, why wouldn’t you share some of the
riches with your parents?”
“They didn’t want it! I paid off their house, and got them air conditioning and paid
off their cars, but they didn’t want anything else from me! They told me it was my money,” Howie looked
scared, “They don’t have the ransom.”
“Um... my Mom doesn’t have it either,” Kevin said,
“She didn’t want my money. I paid off
her house... but she didn’t want anything else. My dad took good care of her in his will. He took good care of her period.”
“I don’t think my parents have a million either,”
Brian was saying ducking his head, “But..
But, they can pay something.
Just not that much, please ask them for lower.”
“It’s not like it will kill the old timers to
mortgage some things, besides, you boys will more than likely reimburse them
for anything they had sold.”
“But that’s not the point!” Howie cried, “You did the
kidnapping backwards! You kidnapped the
people with the money!”
Howie grunted as he was punched in the stomach by the
Ninja speaking. Howie had been
advancing forward.
“Are you calling us stupid?! We planned this, and we will get our
money... You don’t leave until we do.
If they don’t have the cash, then we will keep you here until they can
find it!” With that the Ninja turned for the stairs.
“Wait!” Nick called after them. They paused for a breif second before
beginning their ascent up the stairs.
The door slammed behind them.
“What were you going to ask them Nicky?” asked Brian
lightly reaching to touch his shoulder.
“I wanted to see if they could get us a TV,” Nick
said, “I’ll send them more cash when we get outta here, if they’d just bring us
a TV... preferably a color one... with a dish...” He stopped as he noticed everyone glaring at him and moving away,
“What’d I say? The dish? Ok, ok, fine,
digital.”
“Nick SHUT UP!” AJ roared, “Now is not
funny-time! We’re dead, our parents
don’t have that type of cash! Where
would they get that idea from?...” AJ’s voice trailed and his eyes lingered on
Nick, “That National Enquirer story about your parents milking money out of
you... Any truth to that?” He advanced
on Nick, who narrowed his eyes and clammed up.
“Damn it Nick! So your parents
can pay ransom! Damn them! They gave everyone the wrong impression
about all of our parents. They
stereotyped my mom, Kevin’s mom, Howie and Brian’s parents, because you aren’t
bold enough to tell your mother to stay out of your affairs!”
Nick covered his ears and began to sing loudly,
drowning out AJ’s screaming and accusations.
“Stop it! STOP IT!” Brian yelled smacking AJ on the
arm and Nick on the leg, “There will be no accusations of anything. Leave Nick alone. If his parents can pay the ransom then good for him.”
“Yeah, good for him, but what about the rest of us?”
Howie asked bitterly, he glared at Nick who cringed.
“Our parents are smart,” Kevin assured Howie,
“They’ll find a way.”
“Maybe they can borrow some cash from good ole Bob and
Jane Carter,” AJ was grumbling.
“God just shut up about it ok! My parents put all of their money on the
line for me when I was just starting out.
The whole family went without things for years so I could have singing
lessons, or dancing lessons. I owe them
big. It doesn’t seem like much to let
your parents have some of your cash...” Nick was rubbing his temples.
“Yeah, to pay off their houses or loans.. Just how much did you give your parents
Nick?”
“I don’t know maybe 5, 6 million,” Nick shrugged.
They stared at him, “And they took it from you?”
Nick nodded, and they shook their heads. Their parents would never even consider
taking that much money from them.
Kevin’s mother hadn’t even wanted him to pay off her mortgage. “Well there’s Leslie, Aaron, BJ, and Angel
to think about too. It’s not like
they’re being greedy and manipulating me so they can get more money. It just felt right, ok? Just don’t hate me for it; I can’t take that
now.”
That melted even Howie and AJ. “We don’t hate you kid,” AJ was the first to
ruffle his hair.
“We’re just frustrated,” Howie agreed.
“So what now?” asked Brian.
“We wait.”