The Magic Bullet

by Andrew Neiderman

  “Allan Parker,” he said in a low voice with his back to Demi and Taylor.

  “Doctor Parker. It’s Lois Walker, Demi’s sister.”

  “Yes?”

  “You must bring them back now. Come directly To my home. Please.”

  “What? Why?”

  “My life and my husband and daughter’s lives are in great danger. How far away are you?”

  “I don’t understand. Why are you and your family in danger?”

  “They have come here,” she said. He could hear how difficult it was for her to speak. “If you call the police, we’ll…they’ll…please, just tell Demi how much I need her to do this. Come and do what they want. Please. How far away are you?” she repeated.

  “They’ve come? You mean Warren’s there?” Allan asked, now raging with anger. “He’s threatening you and your family?”

  “Yes, he’s here, Doctor Parker. He brought the others here tonight.”

  “Put him on the phone. I’ll put an end to this right away, believe me.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “He’s…dead. He was shot right in front of my daughter a few minutes ago,” Lois said. Allan sensed someone was giving her permission or urging her to tell him how bad it was. “She’s practically in shock. We all are.”

  “Shot? They shot him?”

  Lois began to sob.

  “All right. Take it easy, Mrs. Walker. Tell whomever is there with you that we’ll be starting back. We’re two or three hours away, and your sister and nephew are asleep.”

  He heard her relaying the information to someone. There was some indistinct mumbling, a discussion being carried on. He looked at Demi, who had woken up because he had raised his voice.

  “Who is it, Allan?”

  He didn’t respond. She sat up.

  “Allan?”

  He held up his hand.

  “They want to know where you are, what direction you took?”

  “Why?”

  “Please, Doctor Parker.”

  “We were heading for Vegas, but there was a major traffic jam so we pulled off the highway.”

  “Allan!” Demi cried now and got out of bed.

  Taylor groaned and turned in the bed.

  Lois spoke to someone again and then came back on.

  “They’ve decided they want you To meet them somewhere rather than come here. You’ll be called on your cell phone in twenty minutes. They are warning you once more not to call the police. They say they have ways to know immediately.”

  “Wait,” Allan said. “If we do what they say, how can I be sure you and your family will be left alone?”

  She relayed his question to whomever was standing beside her.

  “Doctor Parker.”

  “Yes.”

  “They say we’ll be coming along in a second car and you can see us for yourself. Just wait for the call, but get Demi and Taylor up and ready to go.”

  “How many of them are there?”

  She didn’t reply.

  “Mrs. Walker?”

  “It’s my sister?” Demi cried.

  Taylor sat up.

  Allan heard the phone go dead. He held the cell phone at his ear nevertheless and tried to think of what he would tell Demi. If he told her all of it too quickly, she would surely panic. He was close to it himself.

  “They went to your sister’s home,” he began.

  “Who? Warren, those men?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t believe him. I didn’t think he was stupid enough to go that far. I guess I made another mistake. Damn it. I hope Lois called the police. Did she say if she had?”

  Allan stared silently. Even in the darkness, he thought he could see Demi’s eyes widen.

  “They’re still there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, my God.”

  “What, Mom?” Taylor asked, grinding the sleep out of his eyes.

  “They were telling her what to tell me, what to get us to do. They’re threatening to hurt them all. I’m sorry. We’ve got to get dressed,” Allan said.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I don’t know. Someone’s calling me in about twenty minutes with that information.”

  “What will we do? Should we call the police? What about Lois, Ralph, and Jodi? Allan!” she cried when he didn’t respond.

  “I don’t know yet, Demi. I’ve got to think. These are ruthless people.”

  “Then let’s just call the police now. I want Warren arrested.”

  “You can’t arrest him now,” Allan said, heading for his clothes. He turned on the lights.

  “Why not?”

  “He’s dead,” he said.

  “Dead? Warren’s dead?”

  “Yes.”

  “But…how did he die?”

  Allan paused to look at her but didn’t answer.

  “They killed him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? Why would they kill Warren? He’s the one who brought Taylor to that man’s home. I don’t understand.”

  “Obviously, he disappointed them, and they felt he was no longer needed,” Allan explained.

  “Disappointed them? My God.”

  “That’s why I’m saying we’ve got to be careful, Demi, think this out carefully. I don’t want any more harm coming to any of your family.”

  Demi didn’t speak. She nodded, the terror now chilling her body. She looked at Taylor.

  He shrugged.

  “I tried to tell you Warren’s elevator never got to the top floor, Mom.”

  “This is no time for jokes, Taylor.”

  “I know. But I’d rather be funny than scared.”

  “Oh, Taylor.” She started to cry. He put his hand on her shoulder and then hugged her.

  “I’ll be all right, “she promised.

  “Sure. We’ll all be all right.” He looked at Allan but didn’t see the same confidence in his face. “Mom, let’s just give them what they want and go home,” he told her, and went to get his clothes on quickly, too.

  Demi looked at Allan. She could read it in his eyes.

  He wished it were just that easy now.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Scooter made the next call to Allan himself.

  “Doctor Parker, I presume,” he said when Allan answered. “Give me your exact location.”

  He listened and then played with his PDA for a few moments. Ralph, Lois, and Jodi sat on the sofa, Jodi on Lois’s lap and Ralph as closely to them as he could. They watched and listened to Scooter as he spoke.

  Frankie was asleep in the easy chair, and Tony was still eating cookies and drinking coffee in the kitchen doorway.

  “Okay, Doctor Parker, I have your directions to the location for you.”

  He rattled it off.

  “I want you to call me when you reach this intersection,” he said and described it. “Here’s the number you will call: 555-434-5044.”

  He hung up and stood.

  “Time to get the show on the road,” he said. He nodded at Frankie and Tony moved quickly to wake him. “Let’s go, Walker family,” he ordered.

  Ralph and Lois stood up, Lois still clinging to Jodi.

  “Wait a minute,” Ralph said. He looked down at Warren’s corpse, now covered with a blanket. “What about him?”

  “What about him? You want me to put him in the trunk?” Scooter asked. Tony laughed.

  “No, but…how are we supposed to explain that afterward?” Ralph asked and narrowed his eyes. “You won’t let us go no matter what you get from my nephew. How could you with a dead body in our home to explain?”

  Scooter shook his head and muttered, “Ralph, Ralph, Ralph. We’re not exactly amateurs here. I was about to tell you to leave the door unlocked. There are people coming by to take care of that,” Scooter said, nodding at Warren’s body as if it were just so much refuse now. “They are good at what they do. It will all be cleaned up and so well that you would have a hard time convincing
the police anything happened here whatsoever. Does that answer your question?”

  “I guess,” Ralph said.

  “Unless, of course, you’d prefer that we leave him.”

  “Of course not.”

  “All right then. You won’t have a body. You will come home to your house the way it was before we arrived and that’s it. You can all go on with your happy, little lives. We’ll be out of your lives, unless you insist on keeping us. Do I make myself clear?” Scooter asked.

  Ralph looked at Lois, who was probably hanging on a thread as it was. He nodded and went to the front door to unlock it.

  Frankie stood and washed his face with his dry palms. He looked very tired, very weak.

  “You all right, Frankie?” Scooter asked.

  “Yeah, sure. I’m fine.”

  “Good, because Ralph here is very concerned about everyone, even the dead.”

  “I just wanted to know what I had to anticipate afterward. That’s all,” Ralph said in an apologetic tone when he turned back.

  “I understand. No problem.” Scooter started To move and then stopped to look at Ralph again. “What do you do for a living, Ralph?”

  “I’m an accountant, CPA.”

  “Oh. Well that explains why you like everything in tidy little places. Shall we dance?” Scooter asked. “You three and I will ride in your car, Ralph. Tony and Mr. Vico will follow right behind us. You’ll drive, Ralph. You think you’re up to it?”

  Ralph said nothing and then nodded.

  “The garage door is through the kitchen,” he muttered. Lois lifted Jodi to carry her.

  “She’s a big girl. She can walk,” Scooter told her.

  “She’s very frightened.”

  “That’s because you’re telegraphing your fear,” Scooter said, suddenly behaving like some sort of a psychologist. “Get hold of yourself. It will go easier on your daughter.” He didn’t move.

  Ralph’s eyes widened. How could it possibly matter whether his wife carried his daughter or not? he wondered. He looked at Lois and shook his head, doing the best he could to warn her that they weren’t dealing with a stable person. He was a cold psychopath. He could kill one of them as coolly as he had killed Warren.

  Lois understood and lowered Jodi to the floor. She took her hand and looked quickly at Scooter to see if he would complain about that, too.

  Scooter smiled and brushed the top of Jodi’s head.

  “You want to be a big girl now, don’t you? You don’t want your mother carrying you around.”

  Jodi looked up at Lois, who tried to give the best reassuring smile she could.

  Scooter nodded at Ralph, and they all marched out to the garage. Ralph opened the door, and Scooter opened the rear car door.

  “I’ll sit with Jodi,” he said, taking her other hand. “You go up front with your husband, Lois.”

  “No.”

  “No? Would you rather I left you here with Mr. Moore? You and he can discuss it, even though it will be a one-sided conversation.”

  “Please. She’s terrified,” Lois said.

  “No, she’s not.” Scooter laughed. “She’s too tired to be afraid, right Jodeeeeee?” he said.

  Jodi looked at her mother and then at Scooter. He reached down and lifted her into the rear seat.

  “Get in the front,” he ordered Lois. “Now. We’re not wasting another second here.”

  She bit down on her lower lip to keep herself from screaming and went around to the passenger’s front door.

  Ralph got in and she followed, turning immediately to smile and comfort Jodi, who sat obediently.

  “You’ll be all right, honey. Mommy’s right here.”

  Scooter nodded at Tony.

  “You stay close. You have the general directions in case we get separated.”

  “We won’t get separated,” Tony said. He glanced at Frankie, who was still looking quite peaked and tired. “Ready, boss?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get moving,” Frankie said, coming back to life.

  They walked out to Frankie’s car.

  “Okay, back out and go right,” Scooter ordered Ralph. He did so, closing the garage, and then started away.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Get us onto the 10 Freeway West. I’ll give you directions after that,” Scooter said. He smiled at Jodi. “Now, aren’t we all cozy. This is going to be fun.”

  Lois looked back at him. He did seem to be enjoying it all. It was difficult to believe that such men really existed and weren’t simply the figments of some movie writer’s imagination. There was nothing unreal about this.

  “Please turn around and mind your own business now, Lois,” he said. “You’re making Jodi and me very nervous, and we both hate being nervous, right, Jodeeeee?”

  Lois tried to give her daughter a comforting smile, but it was clear that Jodi was in a daze, too frightened to speak, maybe even blocking out what she saw and heard. Lois glanced at Scooter and then turned around just as Ralph lowered his right hand to find her left hand. She seized his, and they squeezed each other’s palm gently, reassuringly.

  “We’ll be all right,” he whispered. “I promise.”

  “Don’t drive too fast, Ralph,” Scooter warned. “We don’t want to lose Tony, and if a policeman comes after us, there’ll be a lot of misery.”

  Ralph eased off the accelerator.

  Nearly forty minutes later, Scooter’s cell phone rang. It had Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as a ring tone.

  Scooter opened his cell phone.

  “Have you reached the intersection I described?” Scooter asked Allan. “Good. Follow Beacon Road to Sunset Street and make a right turn. As any GPS will tell you, your destination is on the right. We’re not far behind. See you soon, Doctor,” he added and closed his phone.

  He looked at Jodi who had perked up at the ring tone.

  “You like that?”

  He played it again for her. She didn’t smile. She couldn’t smile no matter what Scooter did for her. The blood-splattered face of the man she had begun to call Uncle Warren remained glued to her inner eyes. Scooter wasn’t pleased.

  “You know,” he said, leaning toward her, “you’re a lucky little girl. You could have been food for worms by now as I understand it. You should be more grateful, more appreciative.”

  “You’re frightening her. Leave her alone!” Lois cried.

  Scooter glared at her and then smiled.

  “Of course. Very soon, we’ll be leaving you all alone,” he said.

  The words should have been promising, but they didn’t help Lois to relax and feel better. They made her feel worse.

  “It’s a veterinarian clinic,” Demi announced the moment it came into view. “I don’t understand.”

  “What’s the problem, Mom?” Taylor asked. He leaned forward. “They’re all a bunch of animals. This is logical.”

  Despite his own trepidation, Allan couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Maybe he’s right. Actually, it’s no surprise Tome. They couldn’t just waltz into some hospital, clinic, or whatever with all of us and get what they want. They must have some connection, some way to work this place into their objectives. It’s somewhat primitive considering what I might have to do, but for what they want, what they think will help Mr. Vico, this place should suffice. I’m sure the necessary medical equipment will be in there.”

  “Exactly who are these people, Allan?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know for certain, Demi, but the man I’m speaking with now is different from the men Taylor and I confronted. There’s a cold confidence in his voice. He has a more professional air about him, if there is such a thing for these kinds of men.”

  “You’re confident the necessary equipment is in there?” Demi asked, now more motivated to end this.

  “We don’t need very sophisticated stuff. Antiseptic material, hypodermics, tubes, bandages. What won’t be in there is what they’ll need if what I think can happen, happens.”

&n
bsp; “What does that mean?” she asked, her heart pounding again. “What can happen?”

  His phone rang.

  “Doctor Parker. Yes, we’re pulling into the parking lot now. Okay,” he said and closed his cell. “They want us to wait in the car.”

  Demi looked at the animal clinic. It was located on a secondary street in a fairly wooded area. The nearest house was at least a quarter of a mile away. The building itself was a long, single story, light-pink stucco structure. They could hear dogs barking in the rear. There was only one window lit, but the clinic had good outside lighting.

  “Did they say anything more about Lois, Ralph, and Jodi?” Demi asked.

  “No.”

  “How do we know they are really with them? Maybe they already…”

  “Don’t do this to yourself, Demi,” he urged.

  She shook her head. “It looks so deserted here. We’re so helpless.”

  “There must be someone who stays with the animals overnight,” Allan said.

  “What exactly do they expect you to do, Allan?”

  “Extract some blood from Taylor and inject it into Mr. Vico,” he said. “It won’t take long, and what we want to do is get out of there as soon as I’ve done it because—”

  “Because what?”

  “As I was about to say, it’s a crapshoot when it comes to this sort of thing. I don’t have Vico’s medical records. I don’t know his blood type. Taylor as an O/Rh negative is as close as you can be to a universal donor, but the antibodies could very likely cause a fatal reaction. Vico could suffer a hemolytic transfusion reaction.”

  “What exactly does that mean?”

  “People who get the wrong blood type get real sick, Mom,” Taylor said.

  “Let Doctor Parker explain it, Taylor.”

  “We all have these little markers called antigens on the surface of our red blood cells. There are two very important systems of antigens that have to be matched before anyone can get a transfusion. The body attacks the wrong ones if they’re transfused because it sees it as a foreign substance, and that defense can be fatal. Organs can shut down, people can get cardiac arrest.”

  “A heart attack,” Taylor said, gleefully. Demi looked at him and then at Allan.

  “Yes, that’s possible.”