Chapter 32
“BRIAN!!” Jackie Littrell was screaming over and over
ever since the frightful appearance of her son, “BRIAN!!” Harold held her tightly to his chest, he sat
with her on a lawn chair a kind FBI agent had brought over. He caressed her, and kissed her tears,
trying desperately to calm her. The
paramedics had been edging their way over wanting know if he needed
assistance. Harold had been horrified.
He didn’t want his wife sedated. He
gazed up at the pale presence of his other son... Harold III, or Hal... He looked like was going to be ill, he stood
near his parents, shaken by the sight of his younger brother and his mother’s
breakdown.
“Hal, are you alright?” Harold asked his son quietly,
“You should sit down.”
“Damn those Carters!” Hal yelled instead, “Another
day was all it would take! Now those
devils have 3 million bucks! If we
don’t have the money why should they wait?
That’s enough money for them!
How do we know they’re not in there offing Bri, and Kev, and the
others!”
“Hal, shhh...” Harold hissed. He was a little steamed at the Carter’s
broken promise, but he had seen Nick’s collapse. He saw Bob carrying him, he saw the paramedics immediately slap
oxygen on him and heard the urgency in their voices. He saw Bob’s face as the FBI escorted him to a car to take him
back to the hotel. As much as Harold
resented them then, he knew what they did was right. Nick had been in
trouble. Harold admitted to being a
hypocrite to himself, if Brian had been in distress and they had the money,
Harold and Jackie would have paid his way out too.
“WHY? They
promised! They freakin’ said...”
“Hal...” Jackie spoke up for the first time in nearly
half an hour, her voice was hoarse and raw, but clear, “Don’t blame them....
They’re parents, and they did exactly what we would have done in that
situation... If Brian was sick, and we had money to get him out...”
“God... God, why?” Hal let his tears flow, “What did
we do to deserve this situation?”
“You can’t think like that Hal,” Jackie said softly,
beckoning Hal closer to her. He kneeled
beside her chair and she ran her fingers through his soft curly hair.... It
felt so much like Brian’s... She felt the tears come again, “God will get us
through this situation... and He will give Brian back to us, unharmed.”
“Like He delivered Nick unharmed Mom... I saw him, he
wasn’t looking too good... Neither was
Brian...” Hal shivered, “I just want my little brother back.”
Jackie nodded.
The three Littrell’s sat that way for awhile, holding on to each other
and talking and saying an occasional family prayer for Brian, Kevin, and the
others’ safety.
“Oh God, Brian looked horrible...” Paula Dorough was
replaying to Pollyanna, “Howie... I wonder how he looks.. I wonder if he’s lost
weight too....” her eyes were wet. She
looked past her daughter towards her husband who was talking with an FBI agent,
“I hope Nick’s ok. The way he just
collapsed on Bob...my heart stopped.”
Pollyanna was nodding, “Bob looked so scared...”
“Please don’t let that happen with Howie,” Paula was
crossing her fingers. She smiled
lightly as Denise McLean came to join the huddle.
“I just called Jane’s cell phone... He’s in the
emergency room now, and they won’t let her in,” Denise relayed sounding shaken,
“The kid fell like a bird shot out of the sky.
The minute that man let him go, he just fell, and seeing his father
catch him and have to carry him like that...” Her voice trembled near the end
and went weak with suppressed emotion.
“Denise, AJ’s ok. He’s got a thick skull and a strong
backbone,” Paula said to Denise patting her shoulder.
Denise laughed lightly, “Yeah, yeah he does... And I
just hope he doesn’t do or say anything stupid... He’s my baby.” A few tears
spilled over. AJ was her only child,
and she couldn’t lose him. He was her
life... If he was gone, then what would
she do? Where and who would she
be? She felt so lost, much more so than
the other parents, who had, or had once a loving husband, and other children.
Denise looked at Paula, Paula had lost a child recently... but she had so many
others. Not that it made a difference,
the loss was still devastating it’s just different when you still have other
children, someone else to channel your loss into... Denise had no one, but her
parents. But it would not be the
same. She caught Paula’s eyes on her,
and she tried to give a smile but failed. She shook her head sadly, “I don’t
know what I’ll do Paula. If I lose AJ, I’m lost.”
Tim and Jerald Richardson watched their mother
carefully. Ever since the front door to
that horrible building was opened she had grown strangely silent. Tim had never imagined he could feel as
bitter towards anyone as he felt towards the Carters. He knew they were selfish! He knew they weren’t going to follow
all the way through. When the call had
come instructing them to get their money together and deliver it and Nick would
be free, they jumped for joy. They had
dropped the others just like that. They
claimed that if the kidnappers wanted to let Nick out in such a hurry then
something had to be wrong... No, nothing wrong, the little weasel in there
probably got fed up and told the kidnappers that his parents had the cash. Tim watched with narrowed eyes as Bob
approached the door and it was opened. He wanted to laugh when the door was slammed
in Bob’s face, and the look of defeat and betrayal in his eyes... but then the
door opened again, and Tim saw Nick. He
immediately felt the guilt of his previous thoughts punch him in the stomach. Nick looked horrible, and the minute the
kidnapper let go, Nick went limp. It
was the scariest thing, watching the kid’s knees buckle and him pitching to the
ground. Bob caught him and held him...
and then Tim saw the sight that nearly froze his blood in his veins. Brian was now standing in the door with a
gun to his head. A gun! Rage clouded his thinking, that was his cousin... and
if that was happening to his cousin, what was happening to his baby
brother? The door slammed closed and
Tim felt his heart beginning to beat again as he watched Bob carry Nick towards
the paramedics who took him right away and put an oxygen mask on him.
Jerald Richardson watched the scene begin with less
animosity, he had to be the only Richardson that wasn’t angry with the Carter’s
decision. Jerald didn’t want to be a
hypocrite because he knew if he had the money he would have tried to get Kevin
out the same way... He felt bad about
giving the Carters such a hard time about before... Then felt pang of just how bad he felt hit him when he saw Nick’s
pitiful sight being held like a rag doll and thrown to his father like an
object, not a person. He collapsed like
a fallen bird, right into his father’s arms.
Jerald almost threw up when he saw the next scene, the picture of his
cousin, his baby cousin, being held like an animal with a gun to his head. He was close enough to make out Brian’s
trembles. He wanted to cry, but he
couldn’t, for his mother needed him to be strong. Tim wasn’t crying, but then Tim didn’t cry. The last time Jerald had seen him cry was at
their father’s funeral. After that, it
was like crying was off limits to him.
“Mom? Mom,
are you ok?” Tim was asking Ann, taking her hands and rubbing them between his,
“Mom, are you in there?”
Ann’s eyes remained vacant, as they had been thirty
minutes earlier. Jerald had suggested
that they call the paramedics over, but Tim shot down that idea, “No way,
they’ll just give her a sedative or something.”
“Mom please,” Jerald pleaded kneeling to be eye level
with his mother. After a few seconds of
Jerald staring into her eyes, Ann blinked and sighed, “Yes, I’m in here.”
“Mom! Mom,
are you ok?” Tim asked.
Ann shook her head and bit her lip on her tears, “I
want my baby boy...”
Both her remaining sons put their arms around her,
“We want him too, Mom, we want him too.”
“How did it go?” the others were all over Brian as he
was pushed back inside the basement area, and the door was slammed and locked
behind him.
“He’s out. He’s safe now,” Brian said slowly. He came down the stairs and sank down on the
couch because his weak knees couldn’t hold him anymore, “I thought it was gonna
be too late. He was muttering some
weird things upstairs... and his eyes... they were glazed over like he was
high. They kept rolling back, and that
guy kept slapping him...”
Kevin’s face reddened with anger.
“When they pushed him out he just collapsed, he fell
like a dead weight. You should have
seen his dad’s face. Then he looked up
and he saw me... He looked so scared
for me, for us. Then they pulled me
back inside.” Brian sat gravely on the couch, “Please God let Nick be ok.”
“And while you’re at it, let us be ok too,” AJ said
softly with a light smile.
“Oh no, we finally get rid of Nick and now AJ feels
like he’s been delegated to take on his obnoxious role,” Howie muttered, but he
was grinning lightly.
“Guys, is anyone hungry?” Kevin asked suddenly, it
occurred to him that none of them had been eating on a regular basis. They ate only when they thought about it,
and even then it was only a meager amount.
He stared at AJ’s bony frame, he had always been small, but now...
One by one they shook their heads, “I’ll puke,” AJ
offered.
Kevin shot him a look of concern, but said
nothing.
“I’m just not hungry Kev, and I can’t even force
myself to be,” Brian said, his eyes distant, mind probably on his parents and
his brother, and Nick.
Howie just shook his head, offering no verbal
explanation.
“Well they proved that when they get what they want
they will do what they say,” Kevin finally broke the silence, “So we know
they’ll let us out once they get the cash.”
Howie and Brian nodded, but AJ looked pained.
“What Aje?”
“They’ve got three million dollars now Kev, who’s to
say they just won’t give up and get rid of us.
They could be in Mexico by now,” AJ said flatly.
“The building is surrounded by FBI, how would they
escape?” Brian argued.
AJ shrugged and rubbed his belly.
“Hungry?” Kevin raised an eyebrow hopefully.
“No,” AJ shook his head, “but I might be sick again.”
Brian turned to face him for the first time, now that
he wasn’t so preoccupied with Nick, he was ready to deal with AJ. “Are you ok, AJ?”
AJ stared at Brian open-mouthed, “Of course I’m not
ok! I’m...”
“No,” Brian interrupted him. He placed his hand on
AJ’s forehead, finding it a little warm, “You’re sick, aren’t you? Why didn’t you say something?!”
AJ lowered his head, “I’m not worried about me...
It’s just a bug! Nicky was turning blue!”
Kevin, Howie, and Brian all stared at him, then
sighed. They really had no grounds for
an argument. Kevin got up and went into
the pantry area. He came back with a
bottle of aspirin and bottled water.
“From now until we get out of here you make sure you drink 3 bottles of
water a day, and take these every few hours, ok?”
AJ nodded then grimaced.
“What?” Kevin asked, concerned.
“Drinking all this water is gonna make me have to
go!”
“Hisssssssssss....”
“Shut the hell up!”