Escape, the Complete Trilogy

by David Antocci

  “No, let him walk, but don’t lose him. Abby’s out there somewhere, and she’s not gonna be far away. Once she shows up, we’ll grab both of them, OK?”

  “Yes, sir. Tail him, don’t lose him. Got it.”

  “Call me if anything happens. I’ll be there in less than an hour.”

  22

  THE PARAMEDICS INSISTED on transporting Donny and Bryce to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. Bryce successfully argued against such measures and signed a waiver. He had been up speaking and walking around for quite a while.

  Donny, on the other hand, barely had his breath and could not argue his way out of a trip to the hospital. He found himself in the back of an ambulance bound for Mount Saint Charles hospital twenty minutes away and one town over.

  After the ambulance pulled away, Bryce turned to see his restaurant’s roof entirely collapse under its own weight. The fire had obliterated the support structure below.

  The fire department now insisted on clearing the parking lot entirely and made quick work of moving the rest of the onlookers out.

  The chief came up to Bryce, who stood and watched the blaze.

  “We’re trying to get everyone out of here, sir. You can keep an eye on things from the street if you want.”

  Bryce shook his head without taking his eyes from the fire. “No. I can’t bear to watch this. I’m going to head out.”

  “We’ll be here until the structure is gone and it’s just smoldering. It’ll make the demo easier for you. We’ll douse it then, probably another couple hours at most the way this thing is raging. There’s supposed to be a big storm coming tonight—a few inches of rain at least—so we’re not too worried. Just want to make sure it’s out before we call it a night.”

  Bryce looked at his watch. “Late night for you guys, huh?”

  The fireman shook his head. “Naw. We’ll tape off the scene. Probably be out of here sometime between midnight and one. Not too bad.”

  Bryce nodded. “That’s good. You don’t need me for anything else then?”

  “Not tonight, sir. From the interviews we’ve done, the cause seems pretty straightforward, but the investigator will want to interview you in the morning anyway. Your insurance company is going to want that report, if nothing else.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be home. He can reach me there.”

  Bryce handed the fireman his card, got in his car, and set off for home.

  As he drove, he thought about Donny showing up with Abby. How long have they been in it together? He wished he could have jumped across the gurney and choked the life out of him right there in the restaurant parking lot. No matter. He’d hunt Donny down and take care of him in good time. His first order of business was to take care of the two bodies in the wreckage of Buena Sera before any insurance investigators or demo crews showed up.

  He glanced at the clock in the car to see that it was just after 9:00. The fireman had said they would be there for another few hours, so he began working on a plan. He’d grab some power tools and his truck before returning to the restaurant. He wasn’t sure exactly what unburying the bodies would entail, but was optimistic that if there was any heavy debris to move, like beams or chunks of concrete, he could lash a rope around it and pull it off with his truck.

  He knew what corner they would be in. As he had lain there on the floor of the bar, dizzy and unable to stand, he heard Ava screaming, too. He saw Abby run back to the office and knew she would find her. She was a smart woman—that much he had learned. She never came back out, and when the support wall in the hallway and the ceiling collapsed to block the only exit from his windowless office, he smiled and decided he could die happy, knowing that those two bitches would burn, too.

  When the firemen dragged him out, it was just icing on the cake.

  Thinking ahead to disposing of the bodies, he realized that he didn’t really have to alter his original plan that much. He would need another bag, another length of chain, and a few more cinderblocks, but those were all items he kept stocked in his garage for just such occasions. With his background, and living on one of the Great Lakes, he figured he would never regret keeping these things around. He had buried more than one body out at sea in his relatively short time in the area and was fine with adding two more to the total.

  He smiled as he pulled into his driveway. Abby and Ava will be at the bottom of the lake by sunrise.

  His secret would be forever buried with his dead ex-wife.

  * * *

  Donny had spent the past forty-five minutes on a gurney in the hallway of Mount Saint Charles Emergency Room. It was a busy enough night, and with the exception of a nurse who took his vitals when he arrived, no one had looked his way.

  He spent the twenty-minute ride over, and the first half of his time here, with an oxygen mask strapped to his face. Wondering if anyone was paying attention, he slid it off about ten minutes ago, and no one gave him a second glance. He had been wondering how his breathing would be without it, and determined that it was good enough.

  His right pocket started vibrating again, and he immediately answered the call.

  “Abby?”

  “Oh, thank God you’re OK!”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. They took me to the hospital, but I’ll be all right. Where did you go?”

  “Long story. We got out the back and ran through the woods. I couldn’t just walk around the front of the restaurant.”

  “We? So you got Ava?”

  “Yeah, she was in the restaurant. I’ll fill you in later. Can you meet us?”

  “Of course. Where?”

  “Remember the truck stop right before the exit where we got off?”

  “Yeah, sure. You’re there?”

  “Yeah. We came out of the woods by the highway and I recognized the sign, so we went this way. Ava’s a little shaken up, but she’s tough, she’s OK. We cleaned up in the ladies room and are going to have a bite to eat. How fast can you get here?”

  Donny thought. The car they had stolen from the accountant was back at the restaurant parking lot, but he could certainly procure another one in the parking lot of the hospital one way or another. “Twenty-five, maybe thirty minutes, tops. So what’s the plan? Go back to your sister’s across the border? Or do you have another place? Either way, I’ll get you where you need to go.”

  “It’s not over, Donny.”

  “What are you talking about? You got Ava back.”

  “I did, and now I’m going to end this. He survived the fire. According to the news, they pulled two men from the blaze. One of them was your dumb ass, and there was only one other person in the place.”

  “Yeah, Bryce lived. I saw him. So we’re going after him?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to end this once and for all, OK?”

  “OK. I’ll be right there.”

  Stuffing the phone into his pocket, Donny ditched the mask and the oxygen sensor on his finger and walked out of the front door without anyone even raising an eyebrow.

  * * *

  In a quiet booth at the rear of the truck-stop diner, Abby slid the phone into her pocket and smiled across the table at Ava.

  “You OK?”

  The girl nodded her head, staring at her plate of food without looking up.

  “Hey,” Abby said, putting a finger under Ava’s chin to lift her head. When their eyes met, Abby melted. Her daughter had her soft brown eyes, but they were glassed over as she struggled not to cry.

  “Come here.” Abby stood, gesturing for her daughter to stand up for a hug. Ava practically leaped from her seat into Abby’s open arms, where Abby stroked her long brown hair while the little girl sobbed into her mother’s shoulder.

  “It’s OK baby, it’s OK. It’s over now.”

  Ava wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at her mother, “No, it’s not. We have to go to the police or something. He should be in jail!”

  “Shhh, keep your voice down. Let’s sit. We need to talk.”

  “What do we need to ta
lk about? He tried to kill me; he tried to kill you. Why isn’t he in jail?”

  “Can we sit, honey? Come on.” Abby gestured to the booth.

  Ava looked at the seat across the booth from her mother and had a thought. “Can I just sit on your lap?”

  “Sure.” Abby smiled as her little girl snuggled in. “Ava, sweetie, we need to have a talk.”

  “OK, what about?”

  “About your... I can’t even call him your father.” Abby sighed, “About Bryce. This is a grown-up talk, but I think you can handle it. Can you?”

  Ava nodded her head gently, staying serious to show her mother she was ready.

  Abby took a deep breath. “Ava, honey, we can’t go to the police.”

  “Why not? Auntie Sarah always said that if I got in trouble I need to find a police officer. They stop the bad guys. They’ll help us.”

  Abby nodded her head. “Well, that’s good advice. If you’re lost, a police officer can help you find your way home. If you’re hurt, they can get you to the hospital. But they can’t help us with this.”

  “Why not?”

  Abby thought a minute. “Honey, have you ever known a mean dog?”

  She nodded her head, “Yeah, a couple houses down from Auntie Sarah, there’s a really mean dog. His name is Bear. He’s scary; always barking. When they let him out, sometimes he chases and bites at the kids. He’s the worst.”

  “OK, and what do the owners do so the dog doesn’t chase the kids or bite them?”

  “I don’t know. They usually have him on a chain in the backyard or put him in the house so he can’t get to anyone. Why?”

  “Well, think about it this way. They chain him up or keep him in the house, but every time Bear gets out he goes chasing and scaring the kids again, right?”

  Ava nodded her head.

  “Well, honey, if we call the police, they’ll bring Bryce to jail, but he won’t be there forever. It could be a few days, a few weeks, a few years, but eventually he’ll get out again.”

  Ava nodded her head but didn’t really understand. “But why?”

  “Because that’s how the system works sometimes. While your... while Bryce waits for a judge to send him to jail, he’ll be free, and we can’t let that happen. We have to do something about it or he’ll hurt us.” As Ava pondered her mother’s words, Abby continued. “Honey, if that mean dog down the street keeps chasing kids and scaring them every time it gets out, what do you think the owners should do?”

  The girl didn’t need to think about it. “Get rid of it. That’s what all the kids keep saying. Get rid of Bear so we don’t have to be scared of him anymore.”

  Abby nodded her head. “Do you understand what I’m talking about now?”

  Ava thought a moment, but eventually shook her head no. “Sorry, I don’t know, Momma.”

  “Honey, Bryce is like a mean dog. If we call the police, they’ll take him away, but he’ll get out again. He always does, and then we have to be scared again.”

  “So we have to get rid of him, like the dog?”

  Abby nodded. “Exactly. Then we don’t have to be scared anymore. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

  “How?”

  “You let me worry about that, OK, honey?”

  “OK,” Ava wrapped her arms around her mother and buried her face in her neck. “I love you, Momma.”

  “I love you, too. But now you need to eat something, OK?”

  Abby reached across the table to slide Ava’s plate of burger and fries from the other side, and the two ate in silence, huddled next to each in the protective corner of the diner. Both had been deprived of food for so long that they were past being hungry, to the point that they hadn’t even felt hungry when they sat down. However, once they started, they devoured their dinners in a matter of minutes.

  The little girl leaned against her mother. “Momma, have you ever not been hungry at all, and then once you ate something, you’re suddenly starving?”

  “Yup!” Abby smiled. “That’s what dessert is for!”

  She flagged down the lone, aging waitress, and five minutes later mother and daughter were gorging on warm apple pie a la mode.

  Satisfied, Abby leaned back. “There’s nothing better than diner pie with my little girl.”

  Ava planted a big kiss right on Abby’s lips and spoke to her staring into her eyes from just a few inches away, as only children can do. “There’s nothing better than diner pie with my little momma!”

  The two laughed though Abby quickly held her daughter close so she wouldn’t see the tears that had sprung from her eyes. She was overcome with joy, but she also felt a hole in her heart where all of the memories with her little girl should be.

  She had missed so much over the past two years and didn’t want to miss another minute, but knew they had to part ways again, hopefully only briefly. Abby knew that if she could succeed in getting rid of Bryce, they could lead normal lives from now on. The possibility that she could fail, and never see Ava again, was in the back of her mind, though she refused to acknowledge it.

  A deep voice from just behind them said, “Well, isn’t that just the sweetest thing ever?”

  Ava opened her eyes to look up and scream, “Donny! Oh, my God!”

  In an instant, she jumped from Abby’s arms and gave Donny a big hug.

  He smiled. “How ya doin’, kid?”

  It had been more than two years, but Ava fondly remembered Donny. He was a good man, Abby had told her when they were living under the same roof with Bryce. He saved our lives, her mother said. Ava didn’t remember that, but certainly had many happy memories playing games in the living room with Donny during his visits. She also remembered feeling safe when he was around though she couldn’t explain why.

  “Momma, it’s Donny!” Ava beamed.

  “I know,” Abby smiled, finishing drying her eyes with the napkin before embracing him, too.

  He held on for a little longer than necessary and whispered in her ear, “I was scared I’d lost you again.”

  Abby shook her head, forcing her eyes to remain dry as she pulled away. She shook her head and whispered with a smile, “Nope, not again.”

  Ava was bouncing up and down with excitement. “Donny, what are you doing here?”

  “Trying to keep your mom out of trouble.”

  “Who, me?” Abby deadpanned.

  “Are you hungry?” Ava asked. “We just totally stuffed our faces!”

  “I’m good, but thanks,” Donny said. He stared at Ava until she smiled back at him.

  “What?” she asked shyly.

  He shook his head. “I’m just so happy to see you, that’s all.” He turned to look across the diner, more than anything to keep the little girl from seeing his eyes misting up.

  Ava followed his gaze and her eyes settled on a very old machine with glass sides near the door of the diner, filled with stuffed animals, “What’s that you’re looking at?”

  “You see that claw at the top?” Donny pointed. “There’s a joystick that lets you use the claw to pick up the stuffed animals. If you can pick one up, you win it.”

  “Cool!” She looked to Abby. “Can I try?”

  “Go ahead.”

  Ava was off running toward the machine before Abby said the word “Go”.

  “Wait,” Donny reached into his pocket and gave Ava a handful of bills. “You’ll need these.”

  The two sat and watched Ava play. After a moment, Abby leaned over and asked in a whisper, “You said you saw him?”

  “Yeah, I was sitting right next to him. Wanted to choke him right there, but we were both being treated by the paramedics. They brought me to the hospital, but they let him go. Probably back at his house. We’ll find him.”

  Abby mulled that over.

  “What’s the plan with Ava?” Donny wondered. He was completely on board with Abby’s plan to get rid of Bryce for good, he just wasn’t sure if having Ava in tow when they did it was a great idea.

  “You’re going
to have to take her.”

  Donny did a double-take. “What’s that?”

  “You heard me. You have to take her while I finish things with Bryce.”

  “What? No! I can’t let you go after him alone.”

  “Well, it seems pretty fucked up to bring her along for the ride to go kill her father, and I can’t exactly leave my daughter alone, can I?”

  “No, but there’s got to be another way. What would you do if I wasn’t here?”

  “Improvise, which is what I’m doing now.”

  Donny didn’t have a response—he simply grimaced, and Abby could tell his wheels were turning.

  “Donny, there’s no one else I can trust.”

  “What about your sister? She’s what, six hours away? Let’s get her into the mix so you and I can go after him together.”

  Abby shook her head. “Right now, he thinks I died in the fire. He’s probably going back tonight with every intention of retrieving my body and burying me before anyone finds it. We can’t even wait until morning. He’ll know I’m alive and come after me again. Right now, I have surprise on my side, and I don’t want to lose that advantage.”

  Sitting next to each other in the booth, he placed his hand on hers. “What if that’s not enough?”

  “What?”

  “The element of surprise. What if it’s not enough? What if the worst happens, and I’m not there to help you?”

  She shook her head. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Don’t underestimate him, Abby. The worst repeatedly happens when Bryce is around.”

  She sighed. “I programmed speed dial number three on that phone I gave you. If the worst should happen—which it won’t—then call that number.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Someone who will take care of things. See to it that Ava is safe. Sarah, too. Just tell him who you are and what happened.”

  Donny nervously tapped his fingers on the table. “I don’t want you going in against him alone. We can park the car somewhere isolated and leave Ava there.”