Chapter 28
“What were all those gunshots?” Agent Core was firing
into the telephone he was using to converse with the kidnappers. The voice on the other end was male, “What
happened to the woman I was talking to earlier?”
“Sorry, she can’t come to the phone right now,” the
male voice said conversationally, “I’m in charge now, and I’m changing the
demands. I now want 10 million
dollars...”
“Ten million?”
“TEN MILLION??” Hoke Dorough echoed loudly. His wife and all the other parents stood in
a cluster around the communications van.
Each was deathly pale, and Ann Richardson had actually fainted while the
gun shots were being fired.
“Tell them we don’t have it, tell them we have the 6
million,” Harold Littrell was saying.
“Look, we have the 6 million you initially asked for,
it may take a few days to get 4 million more,” Agent Core said. He eyed the Carters who seemed to be trying
to get his attention.
“Ask him about Nick!” Jane Cater was yelling over
every other noise of conversation buzzing around the agent’s attention span,
“Ask if he’s ok. He’s been sick lately.
I want to know if he’s ok...”
Denise McLean took her hand and squeezed it. She had forgotten about Nick’s health challenges recently.
“Ten million,” the voice on the line said flatly, “I
want no less... I’ll give you three days.
We’ll take good care of the boys until then...”
The agent could feel the kidnapper about to
disconnect, and he could almost hear the questions running through the minds of
the parents surrounding him so loud he thought his head would explode, “How are
the captives?”
“The captives?” the voice on the other line was
interested, “Well they have seen better days... Grown men wetting themselves is
quite interesting to see.”
Agent Core felt sick to his stomach, as he always did
when talking to just plain sick individuals. One would think that he would be
used to it by then, but they still never failed to churn his stomach. He turned
and caught the desperate look in Jane Carter’s eyes, he sighed, “Nick Carter,
how is he health wise?”
“Nick Carter... Carter... Blondie? Blondie’s just fine, except for that
horrible wheezing habit he tends to exhibit.
And the attitude problem isn’t exactly flattering. Who taught the boy manners?” the voice said
with a laugh, “Truthfully, Blondie ain’t lookin’ so good buddy. The sooner you pay the better, for his
sake.” The line disconnected.
“Hello?”
“What did he say?” Jane Carter was practically
pulling on his sleeve. Her eyes were
hungry for information on her son.
“Is he ok?” Bob Carter took his wife hands.
Agent Core sighed, “He said the sooner the money’s
here the better.”
“Oh God,” Jane blinked back tears, “I knew it. I knew
it! We should have just got him out
Bob!”
“Honey calm down,” Bob held her to his chest, “He’ll be
ok. It will just be a few more days.”
“Bob, he...he...” Jane’s voice broke as she began to
cry.
Jackie Littrell broke away from her husband to hug
Jane Carter. She felt like a horrible
monster for the way she and everyone else had treated the Carters. Slowly so did Paula Dorough and Ann
Richardson. Denise was already by
Jane’s side, “We’re so sorry honey.
Nick will be ok.”
Jane was shaking her head, “He doesn’t have his
inhaler... he hasn’t had an allergy shot or a penicillin shot in a week...”
“Jane, honey, it’ll be ok. He’s a strong kid,” Denise said rubbing her back, “Now take a
deep breath, relax, and pull yourself together. What good are you gonna do Nick
if you fall apart when he needs you?”
Jane nodded, wiping away her tears and taking deep
breaths, “Ok. Ok.” She took another breath, “I’m calm... but I still want my
baby.”
Brian lie awake on the pallet staring into the
blackness of the room. They had finally started turning out the lights when
they slept. It gave them a sense of night and day, though they had no idea of
when night and day really happened. For all they knew it could be 1 in the
afternoon and they had the lights out like it was midnight. He heard a groan from beside him, and felt
Nick roll over, “God, we’re still here....” he grumbled.
Brian couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know what he
would do without Nick sometimes. He
frowned as Nick coughed, “Nicky, you ok?”
Nick was silent. “Nick?”
“Bri... I don’t feel ok,” he said in a shaky voice,
“I’m scared.”
“Don’t be Frack, we’re going to go home in a day or
two,” Brian said, fighting the shakes that wanted to come into his voice.
“But what if it’s not soon enough Bri... I... I feel
like I’m underwater breathing through a snorkel, but the snorkel’s being
pinched closed,” Nick said softly, “I can’t breathe. I think...”
“Nick be quiet,” Brian said silencing him, “Don’t
think about stuff like that! You never thought before. Why change that now?”
“Well... hey! That was an insult made to my person!”
Nick snapped, he laughed lightly, and rubbed his temples, “Hey Bri, if my head
explodes, what color ya think it’s gonna be inside?”
Brian looked like he was contemplating it, “Hmm...
probably blond... All the dye seeping through the cracks!”
Nick feigned hurt, “Are you trying to infer that I
use artificial means of coloring in my hair Littrell?”
Brian batted his lashes at Nick devilishly, making
Nick chuckle with a small wheeze, “Don’t make me laugh Bri... And I do not dye
my hair, I highlight it. There’s a difference.
I am slightly blond...”
“Yeah, we can tell,” Brian said.
“Are you implying that I am anything less than fully
competent Frick?” Nick’s innocent eyes were round as quarters. This was too much for Brian as he began to
giggle, waking Kevin, Howie, and AJ.
“What in the world are you two doing now?” Howie sat
up in the dark, even though his eyes hadn’t adjusted to the dark he still could
pinpoint who trouble was coming from.
“Amusing our selves with our sexual fantasies,” Nick
muttered, just to see if he could get a rise out of Howie, which he did.
“God can you two ever just STOP! Nick, what are you
doing up? Go to sleep,” Howie glared at
Brian, “You’re supposed to be the older one.”
“So?” Brian shrugged, “Howie, calm down. We were just talking and actually enjoying
the conversation. Nothing wrong with
that?? -or what a minute. Do you have a secret book of Dorough hidden somewhere
that will tell us what is appropriate and inappropriate in a kidnaping
situation where you’ve been locked in a basement for a week! And did I mention you’ve been locked in the
basement for a week and you have got to pee!”
That got snickers from AJ and Kevin. Howie groaned in
frustration and lie back down on the pallet.
He turned onto his side, away from the others.
The lights switched on suddenly. All heads snapped to see Kevin standing by
the light switch, “There’s no point in this being off if we’re not going to
sleep.”
“Did anyone get any sleep?” AJ asked eyeing Nick who
was curling himself up on his side, but still facing them.
“I got a little,” Nick said, “but I didn’t dream.”
“A good thing, huh?” Brian questioned him,
remembering his last nightmare.
Nick shrugged, “I always dream...” he winced and put
his hand on the bridge of his nose using two fingers to massage the skin on
either side of his nose.
“You want some more capsules?” Kevin asked him
lightly.
Nick shook his head, “They’re not gonna help
me.” His tone was so resigned and tired
that it made all of them glance at him with concern, “They’ll help a little,
until you get out of here and get some real medicine in your system, and real
air too.”
Nick blinked back a tear and shook his head, “How
long’s that gonna take Kev?” his face was wan and drawn. They hadn’t noticed it before, but now it
was apparent that Nick was trembling.
“Nicky, what’s wrong?” Brian inched closer to him and
began rubbing his back.
Nick was silent he sniffled and cleared his
throat.
“Nicky, please tell us, what’s wrong?” AJ also moved
closer, his face was almost haggard with his fatigue and worry. If Brian hadn’t of been so worried about
Nick, he would have been worried about AJ.
The kid really wasn’t looking too good lately.
Nick let a tear fall, but after that one many others
followed, “I think... I’m gonna die down here, I know it. They’re never gonna let us out. They’re
gonna shoot us like they did everybody upstairs... and, and I don’t even think
that I...”
“Nick! Don’t
you ever think that!” Kevin snapped moving to take Brian’s place beside
Nick. He sat him up gently so he could
look him in the eyes, “We’re all leaving this place, ok, alive. Things are
looking pretty bad right now, I know, but we can’t let it get us down like
that. Nick, you’ve been wonderful during this whole situation, making us laugh
and stuff. What’s changing? Why are you
so down now? You’re our optimist.”
Nick stared blankly at Kevin, his eyes clouding over
as he spoke to him, “I don’t feel so good anymore Kev. I haven’t mentioned it before...but I see
spots, and every few minutes the room spins.
I’m not shaking cause I’m scared, at least I don’t think so. Kev, those aren’t good signs, are they?”
Brian lowered his head, AJ hid his face, and Kevin
stared at him, he looked firm and precise.
The look he always had in his eyes when he was about to accomplish
something.
Nick looked confused at the look in Kevin’s
eyes. He felt dizzy again and wanted to
lie back down, but Kevin held him firm, “You’re getting out of here, Nick. Now.”