Chapter 39
“We are going to get rid of our excess baggage and
Brendon, and get out of here with the money,” Kenyon was telling Brody.
Brody
blinked looking uncertain, “Kill them?”
Kenyon blinked, “No, not them. We’ll have have every
cop in the country after us for killing our hostages... If we just kill Brendon it’ll just be the
cops in the city.”
Brody snickered, “You make that sound like it’ll be
easy to deal with.”
“Oh it won’t be,” Kenyon said rubbing his nervous
hands together, “But if everything we planned works out nicely... then our
escape will not only be plausible, but profitable.”
“I like the way you think,” Brody grinned, “Lets go
over the plan again. We tell Brendon that...”
“The FBI have one more day before I blow all their
heads off,” Brendon muttered as he stared out of the blinds at the hundreds of
faces outside, “What will the poor little teeny-boppers do then? Boo-hoo...” he
laughed. He turned to face the bed
where Ariella lie still. Mocking sleep again, Brendon knew. She was afraid of him, and that’s what he
loved about her. She made him feel so
powerful. He cracked his knuckles and
stared at her bare legs. What was he
going to do with Ariella after he was rich?
Take her with him? Never. He had never planned to do that. She was a
weak bitch, the very kind that he didn’t need. She’d only be in the way...
Though she was very pretty to look at, he would regretfully have to take care
of her too.... after he dealt with Kenyon and Brody. Brendon smiled lavishly, did they all honestly think he was going
to share his money? Not enough to go
around, Brendon chuckled. His mind
wandered down into the cellar, to his prisoners.... Pity that they had to go too.
They had seen his face. He would keep
them alive until he received his money, then he would leave their bodies along
with all the others. Which were starting to really reek, by the way. He cringed
thinking about the malodorous scent of the decaying flesh downstairs in the
living room. Maybe he should have had them placed in the basement. He smiled about that, how would those gays
down there feel about having bloody corpses inn the basement? How he wished Carter were still there to
join in on the fun... Oh well, Carter, 3 million dollars, Brendon would sooner
take the 3 million. Good riddance to that whiny-ass brat if he was worth that
much more than the others. He sighed, I
guess it’s time to call the FBI and give them their 24-hour warning...
Jackie Littrell frowned as she watched the Carter’s
leave. How she wished it was her, returning back to the hotel to be with her
son. She felt Harold’s scowl, “I wish
they wouldn’t come back. They’re just reminding us that their son is
safe....While ours is still in there, still suffering. And we have no clue as
to what’s going on in there... Oh no wait, we have a clue! But the Carters are
keeping it locked away!”
“Since when do you start referring to Nickolas as an
‘it?”’ Jackie snapped moving away from Harold and huddling closer to
Denise. The night was closing in and it
was getting colder by the minute, “Denise honey, are you ok?”
Denise kept her eyes focused on the building, “I was
just wondering if...if we’d have the money tomorrow...”
Jackie took her hand, “Don’t worry Denise, we’ll have
it down to the last cent. We’ll get our
boys.”
Denise looked at Jackie trying to fight the tears in
her eyes, trying to smile, “Yeah, yeah I know.
But, for some reason I can’t help but thinking something bad is gonna
happen.”
Jackie and was silent because she was afraid if she
opened her mouth she would let it slip that she had an odd feeling about the
outcomes of tomorrow too. She squeezed
Denise’s hand instead and gave her a tight smile, “Let Nick be proof that these
guys can will keep their word. They let him out like they said, didn’t they?”
Denise nodded and bit her lip on her verbal doubts.
Her eyes shined as she met Jackie’s eyes yet again, “Ok, Jackie.”
OK.
“AJ if you don’t stop HUMMING that SONG!” Howie was
holding his head between his hands and shooting glares at AJ. AJ was sitting up on the couch sipping a
sprite, humming to the tune of “It’s Gonna Be Me.” “I swear you’re worse than Nick ever was!”
This made Kevin and Brian snicker, “Why Howie, never
thought we’d hear you say that one.”
“Shut up,” Howie snapped, then directed his gaze to
Brian, “Glad to see you’ve cheered up some Rok. I was getting worried about
you.”
“About me?” Brian asked with a weak smile, “Well
thank ya Howie, you’re so kind. But really, there’s no need to worry about me.
I’m fine. I just wanna go home, like everyone else here does.”
“A bathroom,” AJ sighed slumping in the chair and
smiling at his fantasy of a sterile bathroom.”
He set down the soda, “Kev, how much more of this do I have to drink?
It’s flat!”
“That’s good,” Kevin said, “If you don’t feel
nauseous then drink the whole thing, cause that means it’s working.” Kevin
stood behind the couch towering over AJ who frowned at the half full soda can
and groaned. He felt Kevin’s hand fall
onto his forehead, “You feel cooler, bro.”
“And you’re going to say it was the soda?” AJ asked
rolling his eyes.
Kevin shook his head at him, “No... it’s cause of all
that water I made you drink!”
There were shuffling noises near the door at the top
of the stairs. Kevin took a deep breath
and exhaled loudly before looking up. He noticed his younger brothers all
keeping their faces to the floor, each turning a various shade of white. One ninja stood at the top of the stairs
carry his gun. He traveled about
halfway down the stairs before he stopped, “All right, listen up
Backstreet. In the next 24 hours you’re
lives will be decided. If your parents
pay, or if they don’t pay it doesn’t matter to us. At one point in the day you will hear a lot of gunfire. Don’t
panic it’s for your protection. You are
to duck inside that bathroom there and wait for one of us to come down and get
you. After that you will be led upstairs and you will be left alone in the
house while we vacate out another exit.”
The voice was different from the hot-pepper tempered
one of Brendon.
“So you are going to let us all go?” Brian was now
looking yp at the ninja with so much hope in his blue eyes that it broke
Kevin’s heart to watch.
The ninja didn’t say a thing, “One hostage will be
kept to assure our safety during our departure.”
“Hostage?” Kevin asked, “And how are you going to
decide on that hostage?”
“Inny-minny-miny-moe,” the ninja laughed suddenly,
“Whatever... and don’t worry, if all goes well then we’ll let whoever we took
out at a rest stop somewhere when we’re far enough away from the scene.”
Howie was shaking, “And if all doesn’t go well...”
“Then we all go out in a blaze of glory,” the ninja
said in a sickeningly final voice. With
that he turned and trooped back up the stairs. The door shut behind him.