Chapter 30
“They’re gonna let him out,” Jane was telling BJ
excitedly on the phone, “They want 3 million dollars, but they’re letting him
out!”
“WHEN?” BJ shrieked through the airwaves, “Now?”
“In a few hours, Bob’s being escorted right to our
bank branch to get the money right away from our account!” Jane was smiling
from ear to ear. She ignored the glares
she was receiving from the other parents.
They were jealous, as she would be, that she and Bob were getting their
son back, and they weren’t. And the
fact that they were backing out on their promise... But why couldn’t they
understand. If those evil people were letting Nick out that meant that
something was wrong. The FBI made sure
the paramedics were ready for an emergency.
“Ok, ok, where do we meet you? How do we get there?”
BJ was jumping up and down, Jane could hear it. Soon she began hearing the shouts and rejoicing of her other
children as well as BJ blabbered the news.
“Beej, we don’t know yet. We don’t know what
condition he’s gonna be in, maybe we can take him home, and maybe we can’t,”
Jane said, feeling her stomach flutter with worry and anxiety. What shape would
her oldest child be in? What was going on in that hell hole? She glared at its
hateful exterior and prayed for her husband’s quick return with the money. She needed to see Nick.
“Carter, start packing your bags, pretty boy,” a
ninja male burst into the basement area brandishing his gun, “Brendon wants you
out!”
“What?” Brian almost shouted, “You’re gonna let him
go! Nicky, Nick? Nick, wake up, they’re
letting you out, see I told you they would. And you were worrying. Nick, I said wake up buddy.”
AJ placed his hand on Nick’s chest, to monitor its
movements. As his face began to pale,
slowly Nick’s chest did rise. Then it
was still, “Oh my God...Nick? Nick, come on, wake up. Wake up and look at me.”
“What’s going on down there?” the single ninja came
halfway down the stairs, he looked up and made eye contact with someone on the
opposite side of the door. A second
ninja came in and together both ninjas came onto the landing to stare at the
four men trying to rouse their free meal ticket, aka, Carter.
“No Nick, not now!
You’re getting out! Don’t do this!” Howie was yelling. He shook Nick vigorously. Kevin grabbed him and pried his hands from
Nick’s limp body. Nick’s form slumped
back to the floor, but not before wheezing and shuddering. Nick’s blue eyes opened hesitantly to find
everyone, even two ninjas towering over him.
He breathed with difficulty and found it hard to swallow. He coughed and rolled onto his side away
from the staring faces. He was so
dizzy, and everything was getting so dark and distant. He felt arms pulling him up and making him
sit up and lean over his knees. He let
out a groan of protest, but found that it did him no good. He felt hands on his back, in his hair... it
made his skin crawl to think about so many people touching him at once. He knew he cringed a few times. The only person he wanted to touch him was
his mother. He wanted his mother...
“Nicky, you’re gonna be ok soon,” Nick heard Brian
saying softly, “You’re getting out. Your parents will be out there... and
you’ll get help.”
My parents?
His thoughts were getting so muddled, so foggy. Why couldn’t he think straight? And why was
it so dark? He hated the dark! He felt
himself swirling with that familiar feeling of vertigo. He couldn’t breathe... he was gonna
suffocate. He was all alone in the
ocean, his most favorite place in the world... but it was all wrong. Something was pulling him underwater and he
couldn’t come up. He needed air, he was
going to drown.
“Hang in there Kaos,” he heard AJ’s voice saying, but
he sounded so far away, across the ocean even.
Nick could see the black murkiness of the deep waters now. He struggled and flailed his arms but nothing
was taking him back up to the top.
“Lets get the kid upstairs,” one of the ninjas
sounded shaky. He took Nick roughly
under the arms and pulled him up.
Nick’s knees buckled and he slumped back to the floor. The ninja groaned and pulled Nick up again,
this time supporting him. “Grab another
one too, we’ll need someone to hold up as a reminder that we still have the
rest of them, and that they’re in one piece.”
The other ninja grunted and grabbed Brian by the arm
yanking him up, “Come on.”
“Count it first,” Bob told the agent who was handling
the money bags.
“Mr. Carter I’ve counted three times, the amount is
still the same. The money will not
evaporate!” the agent rolled his eyes and handed the sack to Bob who snatched
it. He began to count it himself. His hands shook with anticipation. He would be reclaiming his son. It felt so good to think about. “Can we go any faster?”
“Take it easy Mr. Carter,” the driver laughed, “We’ll
get there.”
“Where is Bob?” Jane was pacing. No one but Denise
Mclean would stand with her as she waited for her husband. It seemed like only
Denise understood her position. Jane
found it useless to explain to the others for it all fell on deaf ears. All they heard was that she had broke the
promise and had sold their children out. If they wanted to think that way fine,
but they all knew good and well that if they had the money and they thought
their kid was in trouble they’d get him out in a heartbeat. Jane couldn’t believe how shallow they
thought she and Bob were... She shook her head and squinted as she saw the
black car with the siren wailing in the distance. It was Bob! It had to be!
Sure enough the car carefully cut through the crowd to the special path
the police had cleared for it. Bob
hopped out of the car with two FBI agents holding a suitcase. He beamed at his wife and gave her a thumbs
up. She watched him with trembling
hands as he ventured inside the FBI van to get in contact with the criminals
that would soon be releasing her son back to her.
“Hurry , hurry,” Jane was whispering to herself, as
they seemed to stay in the van for hours on end. “What could they be talking about?”
“Relax honey,” she felt Denise massaging her
shoulders, “You’ll see him soon enough.”
Jane smiled in spite of herself and thanked
Denise. She felt horrible. AJ was all Denise had, and he would still be
trapped in the building while her Nick got out. Denise smiled and held her hand.
They inched closer to the FBI van, “We should probably get close to the
paramedics.”
Jane flinched at hearing that, but nodded knowing
Nick may need medical assistance. They took places next to the ambulance the
paramedics were getting ready. Jane had
already alerted them on Nick’s allergies and illnesses. The uniformed EMTs stood ready.
Jane felt Denise squeeze her hands, “There he goes.”
Jane felt her chest tightening and her heart
fluttering, “There he goes....”