CONVICT

by Callahan, Kelli

  “I like chaos!” he cheers, gesturing with his hands. “It's fun, It's exciting! Certainly beats the monotony of a prison cell. You see I lost a lot when I was put away, and now I plan to get it all back and manage to take down the King of Knights himself,” Raul shivers, “with pleasure! And just like that, the world gets a whole lot better.”

  “So, where is your handsome daddy?” He turns to face Lucy, “He wasn't at the campsite, and he didn't come with her.” He gestures to Charlie.

  “I don't know, Lucy admits. Honestly, I thought he would be here. He said he was going to go look for her but, well I guess I found her first,” Lucy says, turning to face Charlie.

  “Oh God, Lucy I'm so sorry.”

  “Yes, it's all very sad for you,” Raul dismisses and sighs. “Don’t worry, things are going to turn around for us all. Now for the fun part.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Charlie

  I sit feeling paralyzed. What have I done? In my efforts to save everyone by finding out where he is and what he's doing and to make a better plan of attack. I wind up putting everyone at risk. God, I'm so stupid.

  Raul walks back and forth rubbing his hands together, smiling gleefully. There's something strange about his smile. It doesn't reach his eyes the way it does for normal people. I wonder if that's the true sign of a psychopath. They mimic the emotion, but it's not really there.

  I stare at the tripod and space between me and Lucy. I guess he plans to film my death and use it to deter my dad. Hoping to buy time, I clear my throat and try to hold his attention.

  “Excuse me, the tripod, are we not using that anymore?” I asked furrowing my brow as if the concept is confusing to me.

  He's all over the place.

  “No, I don't think we will anymore,” he says to the sky. “It's a little sad, I do love a good movie. You see, I intended to kill you slowly.” He raises the knife and then slowly lowers it down as if to signify a slow slice. “Then, I was going to go for an abductor prey front here,” he gestures to Lucy, “and then releasing the video to him so he knows exactly what's coming. I wanted to watch as he watched her video.” He grins. “I like little previews like that. They let people know what to expect. Just a little hint of the future, you know? A lot of planning went into this and a bad preview will just ruin the entire movie for me.” Raul shakes his head and turns back to face Jake who is snoring on the floor.

  “Is he okay?” Lucy whispers to me.

  “I really don't know. He was hit pretty hard.”

  “Those bastards,” Lucy mutters.

  “Yes.” I nod, feeling a wave of hate come over me.

  Raul turns to find us watching Jake. “Are you okay? Are you sad?” Raul asks, his voice full of pity. It disturbs me the way he can switch between moods like this stone-cold killer/amused psychopath feigning sympathy. It isn't natural and it gives me the chills. “Don't worry about him. He'll wake up soon and then he'll suffer just like the chief,” he mocks, turning his back on Jake. Clapping his hands, he draws the attention of the room. “Harry!” he barks. “The omelets! Where are they?”

  Looking down, I see my cold omelet on the plate. There's no way I'm eating anything he gives me. Harry shuffles over carrying two more plates― one for Lucy and one for Raul. Sticking a fork in it, Raul smiles, full of contempt. “There's nothing like a good egg white omelet in the morning,” he says. “Aren't you hungry, Charlie? I can call you Charlie right?” he asks. “Charlotte is her mother’s name. Remind me, when does she get back in town?”

  I open my mouth and then close it quickly. I don't know what to say. Is he threatening my mother now? The idea fills me with such loathing, and I marvel that he doesn't burst into flames from the searing stare that I give him.

  “Charlie... It's not good to ignore people,” he taunts, sliding onto the coffee table in front of me, his knee bumping mine.

  I back up, uncomfortable with the proximity of the man bent on murder.

  “Okay,” I say, looking over at Harry and back to Lucy and Raul. “I'm more of a green smoothie person in the morning, thank you,” I say, looking down at my hands. I want to play it safe, be careful so that we can live longer, and find a way to fight this. Sure, I can lunge at him biting and scratching as Lucy did, but that'll get me shot. I want to walk out of here, not be carried out in a body bag.

  I hear a loud noise and look up to the warehouse doors. Dragging him by his arms, a brute of a man yanks my father into the room. His nose is bloody.

  “Dad!” I scream, jumping up and Raul holds up his hand, knocking me back onto the sofa. “Hey now, calm down. Don't worry daddy's fine,” he says, rising up he walks over and bends down to talk to my father. “You're doing just great, aren't you, Chief?” he says, patting his face.

  My father's nose is busted and I'm filled with such shame. If it weren't for me, we would all be just waking up right now, figuring this out. But no, I had to be the hero, the one that they all come to rescue. Where is Noah? I wonder and my heart aches. I desperately want to run over and throw my arms around my father and tell him that I'm okay and that everything will be fine and that I'm sorry.

  “Daddy,” I cry. “Please let me go to him,” I beg as he blinks up the ceiling a little dazed. Looking over at Lucy, I see the tears in her eyes and know that she wants to run over and hold him too.

  “No, sorry, can't do that,” Raul says, amused at Lucy and I's reaction to his display.

  “Where is he?” I ask myself again, trembling.

  Walking over and lifting my father up into a chair, he snaps his fingers in front of his face. “Earth to Chief Traverse,” he mocks in an astronaut's voice. “Come on buddy. Stay with us now. Can't have you passing out. We want you to be awake and oriented,” he says, emphasizing the syllables. “As you probably know, I was orchestrating a little home video for you,” he continues gesturing to the tripod, “to say thank you for ruining my life.” He smiles once more and the cold eyes are hard now on my father. “I lost everything because of you. My girlfriend, my child, my career,” he says shaking his head.

  “I didn’t know being a drug dealer was a career,” my dad mutters.

  I flinch at the sound of a fist colliding with soft skin. My dad groans in pain, and I close my eyes, unable to watch.

  “So, as you can imagine, I'm very excited about the poetic justice of this,” he says, gesturing to Lucy and me, the daughter and the girlfriend. “Gone. Just as my girlfriend and son are gone. I like this. It's lucky you came into his life when you did, Lucy,” he leers, turning to her. “Otherwise, this would be utterly incomplete.”

  “Stay with us, Chief. I don't want you to miss this,” he says, walking over and slapping Jake hard in his face, rousing him from unconsciousness. “Hey, they're big guy. We need you,” he says, pulling Jake and twisting him into an upright position. Jake's eyes are distant, cloudy, and unable to focus.

  “Jake,” Lucy says, and his name seems to rouse him some. He blinks a couple of times in her direction.

  “Lucy?” he frowns and I hear the fear in his voice that we see. “What the hell are you doing here?” He looks around and then his brow creases as he takes in the seriousness of the situation. “We're all here except for Noah. I don't know where he is. Why hasn't he come?”

  “All right, buddy. Let's begin.” Raul walks towards me, knife in hand.

  I hear the door beside me bang open, echoing throughout the warehouse and distracting Raul. This gives me enough time to raise my knee hard, sending him doubling over. Lucy, and I both jump for the knife in his hand.

  Raul is fast and strong. He jerks his arm away from us and Lucy cries out in pain.

  I freeze, as I see her blood on the knife. Nobody moves as the voice yells, drawing our attention once more. I see Noah, standing in the doorway, Glock in hand.

  “Oh, thank God.”

  Raul tilts his head in amazement before swinging the knife hard and throwing it at Noah. He ducks, narrowly avoiding being impaled.

 
; Raul uses this distraction to reach for the gun on the table and begins firing at Noah.

  I scream. Jumping up and grabbing his arm, I shove it high in the air, trying to disrupt his aim. A hard left hook meets my jaw, knocking me to the ground. The pain is blinding and my ears ring.

  Rolling over and then crawling on all fours, I keep my head down as I look around the room. There's so much chaos. Lucy is down beside me and her eyes are on my father who is still duct-taped on the floor. She crawls over and tries to shield him with her body as she un-tapes his mouth and tries to work on the tape behind his back.

  I turn my attention to Jake. Noah is going to need Jake if he's going to take down all these people. There's so much going on around us that they don't seem to notice as I crawl over and whisper to Jake.

  “Are you okay?” I ask, quickly picking at the tape.

  “Yeah I'm okay,” he whispers, watching the scene in front of him. “Hurry Charlie. He can't do this on his own.”

  Looking back, I cringe as Noah takes a hard fist to the abdomen and stumbles back a couple of paces, his dark hair falling forward into his eyes. When he opens them and looks up at Raul, I no longer see the man that I love. Now I see what everyone else must see when they look at the Kingpin. I see a dangerous man with a ruthless intensity. He stands unflinching in the face of danger. His hands are fisted and ready to collide with Raul’s snarl.

  Looking back down at Jake. I quickly begin sliding off the tape. They wrapped it around him pretty good. I guess they were afraid he'd wake up soon. I don't blame them. I'd be afraid of Jake too if I knew I was on his bad side.

  Jake is on his feet within a moment. He towers over everyone in the room. And I feel a sudden wave of admiration for the man. I wonder if he is as self-assured as he seems while he stalks across the room. Grabbing Raul by the shoulder, he whips him around and shoves his fist hard into his face. Noah stands in surprise and then grins at his friend. What a picture they make, I think, as I sit there and stare up at them. Jake is tall, towering, and menacing with his broad shoulders and shaking hands. He's not graceful, but the power behind that punch sends men like Raul, to the ground in one fell swoop.

  Then there is Noah. Much shorter― around six feet― but no less of a threat. His widely built and agile body moves quickly. He indefinitely dodges punches with a focus so intense, I wonder if he can see anything else at all. It's quite a thing to see and part of me wishes that Raul had set up that home video, just so I could watch it again someday. My man kicks ass.

  Unsure where to look, Raul rounds on Noah as Jake kicks out the back of his knees, dropping him forward to the ground. Noah disarms him and the room falls silent. Even the other members of his gang stand still and watch, waiting to see how Noah Knight deals with the man who abducted his daughter, girlfriend, and the chief of police. Will there be mercy or will there be blood?

  Picking up the handgun, Noah points it at Raul who stares unblinking at the barrel. Does he care that he now holds, in his hands, the power to end his life? The world would be a better place for it.

  “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Noah growls, cocking the gun. I feel my heart speed kicking in my chest. Is he going to kill him? I don't think he would be wrong to do so after all that we've been through. However, my father might feel differently.

  Turning my head. I stare at the chief of police who stands with Danny, the spineless redhead in a headlock, both staring at Noah to see what he will do.

  “Noah!” Kenton calls, his voice low. Noah stands still, the guns still pointed at Raul’s head.

  Lucy whispers, “Dad... No.”

  His eyes narrow for a moment and then he tosses the gun in the air, catches it by the barrel, and swings it down hard at the top of Raul's head. An echoing crack resonates through the warehouse as Raul collapses unconscious.

  Placing the gun in the back of his pants, Noah turns to Lucy and me.

  “Dad,” she whispers, running at him and throwing her arms around his neck as he buries his face in her hair. “Dad, I was so scared.”

  “I know,” he says, kissing the top of her head and looking at me, making eye contact for the first time. I wonder if he's mad at me. On the one hand, I put everyone in danger by tracking down a killer alone. On the other hand, if I hadn't done so, we would still be in hiding for the week.

  Letting go of Lucy, she walks over, thrusts her hands in my dad's hair, and pulls him down for a hard kiss.

  Noah looks away quickly then back at me. Taking a deep breath, he steps toward me, then pulls me in close. “I’m so glad you're okay,” he whispers.

  “Me too,” I whisper back, “I'm so sorry.”

  “I know,” he says, pressing his lips against my forehead. “Come on. Let's get you girls home. We can let the chief clean this mess up.” He looks over at my dad, who nods and pulls out his phone, calling for backup.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Charlie

  Dad has been busy this week, working like crazy to clean up the mess left behind by Raul and his partners. All things considered, I think that we're adjusting well. Lucy seems to have forgiven me for endangering the love of her life, my father, and herself. How did we all survive it? I don't know. It's a miracle.

  Well, I guess I do know― Noah. If it wasn't for Noah, we would all be dead. Or at least wishing we were dead at this point. Closing my eyes I can still see the way he ran into the room, waving his gun, dodging knives, and saving our lives. It was incredible.

  I haven't had the chance to properly thank him. Things have been weird between us since that morning. I haven't seen him much. I don't think he's forgiven me and it makes me sad because I love him and I never want to hurt him. I was trying to help. My heart feels heavy.

  As I get dressed in the upstairs bedroom of my dad and Lucy's house, I hear Lucy knock. I invite her in.

  “Hey, how are you?” she asks walking in and sitting down on the bed.

  “I've been better,” I admit.

  “What are you doing?” she asks, staring at my reflection as I try on a black dress.

  “I'm considering going over to say hi to Noah,” I admit, “I haven't really spoken to him since everything happened and I feel like we're kind of growing apart.”

  “Well, it's only been a couple of days,” Lucy says, giving me a sympathetic smile.

  “I know, but so much happened that it feels like a lifetime ago. We were so close for so many days and since then. We became so important to each other. To live through all that and then for him to be gone, it's jarring.

  “I understand.” Lucy smiles and I know she does.

  “We kind of have a weird family situation,” I say with a smile.

  “You mean because I fell for your dad and you fell for mine?” she teases with a wink.

  “Yeah. I still haven't told my mom.”

  “Yeah, I don't think Kenton has said anything about it either. It's probably for the best. It doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks anyway as long as we're happy and in healthy relationships.”

  “Yeah, I guess that's true,” I agree, looking back into the mirror. “I'm afraid that I'm losing him, Lucy,” I whisper, my voice trembling.

  “Oh, I don't think you're losing him. Maybe he's just trying to give you time. Someone tried to kill you. That was a lot last week,” she says with a laugh.

  “Yeah, that's crazy that everything happened just last week.”

  “Trauma,” Lucy says with a shrug. “It makes time to stretch. I feel like I've been with Kenton for years when in reality it's only been, what ...six, seven months?” she says frowning.

  “Yeah, I suppose,” I say, turning back to the mirror. “It's not weird for you?” I ask, suddenly concerned, “that I'm talking about your dad this way?” I add.

  “No, that's not weird at all. He's a man, you're a woman. You’re both healthy, single adults. I give you my blessing.” She lifts her hands and drops them down. “He's a good man. He's had a hard life and I didn’t think he would
ever really get over my mom dying. So the fact that he's interested in you at all, says a lot,” she says with a smile. “Abbie's cool that it’s with you too by the way, in case you're wondering.”

  “Yeah?” I say, a little unsure.

  “Yep. She's really excited about calling you, mom.”

  “Oh my God, no don't say that,” I laugh, and cover my face with my hands.

  “What? You get to call me ‘mom’ too. I know we need to quit talking about this, it just sounds weird.”

  “Yeah, it does.”

  “But,” she shrugs, “we love who we love.”

  “We love who we love,” I whisper, turning back to myself in the mirror and thinking of the man that I love and wishing I could tell him how I feel. I'm afraid it will be too much for him though, and he will push me away.

  * * *

  I'm walking up to the door of Kenton’s apartment and I can't help but smile. I wonder if he's ever going to move from this place. I don't think he likes it and it obviously doesn't go with his taste, especially now that I have seen his cabin in the woods, which is so much nicer than this place. I wonder if I can talk him into moving now that he doesn't need to keep up appearances.

  Raising my hand and knocking on his door, I straighten my little black dress. We never got to have a real Valentine's Day date, although the evening at the lake was nice. Maybe the flowers were stupid. I wonder as I look down at the bouquet of roses in my hands. Typically men bring flowers but, well, it's 2020 right?

  Standing a moment longer my breath catches in my throat as he comes to the door and turns the lock on the knob.

  “Charlie,” he says, a little surprised.

  “Hey, Noah.” I wave awkwardly.

  “What is this?” he asks, looking down at the flowers.

  “It's our delayed Valentine's,” I say, feeling a little silly now.

  “Really?” he asks with a smile.