by Grace Risata
Yes, it’s rather dramatic, but it’s absolutely true.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Andi
After Roman sped away from the warehouse like a racecar driver on his final lap of the Daytona five hundred, my heart finally calmed down a little bit. Instead of ‘about to die,’ I was now at a slightly healthier ‘running for my life.’ Not ideal, but better than nothing.
“Give me your phone,” I demanded. “I need to call Hailey. Start driving to the post office on Whitaker Street. How far away are we?”
Obviously my sister was top priority at the moment. If I knew she was alright, then anything else could be handled.
“We’re about twenty minutes from there. Just give me a chance to explain things and make this right,” Roman pleaded while simultaneously reaching into a pocket for his phone and taking a tight corner at a dangerous speed.
I narrowly managed to click on my seat belt, but not before getting slammed against the door of the vehicle. That would be my luck today: survive a kidnapping and then perish in a car accident.
“Shove your explanations up your ass,” I snarled, quickly dialing Hailey’s number. I looked at the time on the van’s dashboard and prayed my sister would answer the phone. When we spoke earlier today, she told me her evening plans involved movie night at Mrs. Feldman’s apartment. By my calculations, considering it was almost nine o’clock, the film should be just about finished. Hailey’s next door neighbor was in her late seventies and had a habit of going to bed early. The two women bonded over their shared love of action films, and a fast friendship was formed.
As soon as she picked up the phone, I began to speak.
“Hailey, it’s me…we have a situation.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be on a date right now? What’s wrong?”
“Moscow has fallen. Back door of your current location. Fifteen minutes out.”
As could be expected, I was met with dead silence on the other end of the phone.
“I understand,” she squeaked right before the line went dead.
My heart instantly leapt into my throat and I felt relieved for the first time since this whole ordeal began. Hailey would be ready. She remembered everything we were taught. I might get out of this situation after all.
“What was all that supposed to mean?” Roman asked, clearly not comprehending my coded words.
“It means you can go fuck yourself, traitor. Drive faster.”
“I know you hate me right now and I totally deserve it,” he remarked, stating the obvious. “I’ll take you to Whitaker street as fast as I can…all I ask in return is that you let me explain my side of the story and keep an open mind. Will you do that, Andi?”
“I don’t owe you jack shit, asshole.” Although my words were meant to shut him down, I have to admit that I was a bit curious how the con artist might try and talk his way out of this.
“You’re right. You don’t. But I hope you’ll listen anyway,” Roman replied, shaking his head sadly and running a hand through his hair. I could tell he was nervous, but I’m not really sure why. Did he actually expect me not to be angry after what had just happened?
“Ever since I was a kid, I always loved school,” he began, launching into a sob story most likely meant to gain my sympathy. “While everyone complained about mean teachers and homework, I couldn’t get enough of science, math, and history class. When you have an unhappy home life, sometimes school is your only refuge. I knew that if I wanted to amount to anything, I needed to get good grades and pay attention. That’s why I was horrified when my parents pulled me out of high school in my junior year and I never graduated. Looking back on it, I think they realized my teachers were giving me a moral compass and I began to understand that the scams my parents pulled were hurting people.”
“Yet you just took part in the kidnapping of an innocent woman,” I mumbled, throwing that tidbit in his face.
“I fought with them about not letting me attend classes, and they sat me down and explained that money was tight because my mom was sick. I was told that our last move to a new town was necessary so she could have access to the best doctors and treatment. My mother looked me right in the eyes and admitted to being diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer,” he explained, face taking on a completely distraught expression as the memory was relived. “She let me know that we had no insurance and couldn’t afford medicine due to the rigged healthcare system that cruelly turned its nose up at the poor and weakest members of society.”
“That’s horrible, but sadly true,” I agreed. “My aunt has diabetes and the cost of her insulin is unbelievable. If my uncle didn’t have a good job with the state, their lives would be a lot different.”
“Of course I told my mom that I would do whatever I could to help raise money. I donated plasma, took as many jobs as I could find, and helped organize fundraisers on her behalf. I think we went to every church and charity organization within a two hundred mile radius, all begging for donations. Even though we’d raised over ten thousand dollars, my parents explained it wasn’t nearly enough. There was an experimental surgery that offered hope…but it cost sixty grand.”
“Oh shit,” I sighed, completely caught up in his story, hypnotized by the deep agony on the man’s face. “What happened?”
“My parents convinced me that the only way to raise that kind of cash in a short time was to rob a bank. I foolishly believed them and helped plot the perfect crime,” he admitted, eyes fixed on the road, unable to look at me. “But we got caught, they tried to pin the whole thing on me, and life as I knew it all but ended then and there.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” In addition to ‘kidnapper,’ Roman was also a bank robber? What the hell?
“I wish I was, but everything I’m telling you is the God’s honest truth, Andi. My dad drove the getaway car, my mom and I wore disguises, we walked right into the bank, and demanded money from the teller. What should have been an easy job quickly turned to shit. No one counted on the elderly security guard grabbing his chest and having a massive heart attack. My mom, being the heartless bitch that she is, started screaming at the bank employee to fill the bags with money while the guard lay helplessly on the floor gasping for breath and begging for help.”
By this time I was completely open-mouthed and staring at the man in shock. His story seemed like something you’d see on a made-for-TV movie, yet I felt the sincerity in his voice and had no doubt it was true.
“I was a fucking seventeen year old kid, robbing a bank, about to be the cause of some old grandpa’s sudden death. I couldn’t just ignore his suffering, so I did the only logical thing…I began giving him CPR until help arrived. Yes, the cops and ambulance both got to the scene at the same time and I was immediately arrested, but I would make the same choice if I could do it all over again. Well, okay, I wouldn’t have robbed the bank if I could time travel back to the past, but you know what I mean.”
“What happened next?” I urged, hanging on his every word and desperate to know how things played out.
“The police took my full confession, heard eyewitness testimony, and reviewed the bank surveillance camera. They saw my mom carrying a weapon when I had none, knew how I helped keep the guard alive until paramedics arrived, and realized I was underage and coerced into being an accomplice to my parent’s crime,” he explained. “But the worst part is that the cops clued me in on a fun little fact I hadn’t known. I wasn’t just a criminal…I was also a victim. My parents lied about my mom’s cancer diagnosis. They knew I would never turn to a life of crime, so they invented the whole story in order to get me to help them scam money off of innocent people.”
“Those assholes!” I yelled, outraged on his behalf. “Did they get punished?”
“Even though my dad drove off at the first sign of trouble and left my mom and I to fend for ourselves at the bank, she still took the fall in the hope of keeping him out of trouble. See…it wasn’t my dad’s first run-in with the law and he wo
uld have been sent away for a very long time if convicted. My mom knew this and acted like he wasn’t part of the crime at all. She actually told the police that I was the mastermind behind the whole operation. Thankfully the authorities had been keeping an eye on those two for a while due to all the attention on my mom’s fake illness. Evidently some people were becoming suspicious when she changed her story about prognosis, which doctor was treating what, and could never produce any real medical bills. It was only a matter of time before my mom’s lies caught up to her. In the end, I got a nice plea deal and my mom got stuck serving hard time. It didn’t help her case when she assaulted a guard and got a longer sentence. Any relationship I ever hoped to have with my parents was irrevocably broken.”
“Wow.” I mean really, what more could I say?
“That’s not the end of it,” Roman admitted slowly, as though still unable to comprehend the extreme ways his parents screwed him over. “I later found out they used my social security number to apply for a bunch of credit cards, commit bank fraud, and take out a number of loans in my name. I had no choice but to get a lawyer, declare bankruptcy, and completely freeze my credit. That’s why I drive a shitty truck that’s falling apart and live in a rundown trailer on the edge of town. Haven’t you wondered why I never invited you over or ever mentioned where I live? I’m ashamed because I have nothing.”
“It’s not your fault, though.”
“That doesn’t make it any less embarrassing.”
I reached over to pat his arm in an effort to console the man, until I remembered the asshole just kidnapped me. Maybe Roman doesn’t deserve forgiveness at this point. He has a bit more explaining to do.
“We’re still not up to the point where you held me against my will,” I reminded him. “Let’s fast forward a little and talk about that, shall we?”
“After the dust settled, I found myself broke and without any hope of a future. A buddy from high school heard a rumor that a construction company down in Alabama was looking for hardworking guys that didn’t necessarily need any experience and would work for peanuts. So we hitched our way South, shared this huge house with a bunch of other people, and I busted my ass to earn money the honest way. It sucked, but I didn’t have much choice.”
Roman paused in his recollection long enough to look over at me with half a smile.
“I’m not going to lie, Andi. I had a massive chip on my shoulder and was angry with the world because of my circumstances. I ran wild and sowed my oats, if you know what I mean. Nameless women passed through my bed and I didn’t care about a single one of them. Eventually I got sick of going through the motions and realized I was pissing my life away. It took some time, but I finally got my head on straight, went to night school, and earned my GED. When I asked myself what came next, there was only one answer. Revenge. Punish those who fucked me over. The wheels were set in motion that led me here today.”
“That’s all very vague,” I stated while shrugging my shoulders. “How did I end up involved in your grand scheme?”
“After awhile, I began texting Tyler just to find out what was going on with my family. He was happy to hear from me and quickly got me involved in a side hustle he was running. My cousin admitted that he and my father worked a deal to pave asphalt for older people and do a shitty job with inferior material. I offered advice on how to expand, he took it, and they made some quick cash. Once I got on his good side, Tyler begged me to move back home and join forces. It all fed into my master plan to gather enough evidence on my father to send him away once and for all, and pay that fucker back for ruining my life. I spoke to the rookie cop from my bank robbery case all those years ago, and he was open to the idea of using me as an informant. The guy always felt sympathy for me, and I knew it bothered him greatly that my dad got away scot free. So we worked a deal.”
“You’re a rat?” I asked in surprise. I knew that gypsies were big on loyalty, and Roman would be in deep shit once his double dealings became public knowledge.
“Yes, I am. At this point, I would do just about anything to make sure justice is served. It was my idea to quit doing petty con jobs and move up to something that paid a little better. I gave a gentle nudge in the direction of robbing some valuable merchandise, and Tyler came up with a jewelry store heist all on his own. The first place he entered to do surveillance had a hot chick behind the counter, and that began the seduction of your friend, Cara.”
“Fuck!” I screamed rather loudly, nearly causing Roman to veer off the road. “I completely forgot about her. I need to warn her that Tyler is a lot more dangerous than she ever could have imagined.”
I held out my hand for his phone and began dialing feverishly. It was a Saturday night…where would she be?
RING.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“It’s Andi on a borrowed phone.” Before I could say another word, she immediately cut me off.
“I’m kind of busy right now. If you don’t mind, I’ll call you back tomorrow…”
She giggled in a sickeningly sweet over-the-top baby voice and instructed someone to, “Quit tickling me, babe. I’m on the phone!”
“Listen, bitch!” I shouted, in no mood for her shit. “I just got kidnapped by Tyler and Duke. They might be coming for you next. Get your head out of your ass and go somewhere safe!”
Roman’s head spun in my direction and I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what thoughts were running through his mind. Something along the lines of ‘I didn’t know Andi would speak to her friend in such a manner’ and ‘why didn’t she mention me as one of the kidnappers?’ Maybe I was trying to protect him. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t have a rational answer.
“What?” Cara gasped, voice turning serious for once. “Are you okay? Where are you? Bruce, call the police! Andi is in danger!”
“Bruce? Did you just say ‘Bruce’ as in your ex-boyfriend?” I asked in confusion. This night can not have any more twists and turns, because I am literally unable to keep up with everything.
“Yes. That’s what I was going to tell you tomorrow. We’re back together, not that it matters at the present time. Where are you? We’re coming to rescue you right now! Get your gun, Bruce! Hurry!”
I breathed a sigh of relief that my friend was in good company, and then called off the troops.
“Relax, Cara. I’m not in any imminent danger. We’re on the way to get Hailey and then off to a safe house. Make sure you stay with Bruce…are you at his place?”
“Yes, I’m at his apartment now. Who are you with?”
“That’s not important.”
I looked over at Roman, keenly aware of the quizzical expression on his face.
“Cara is with her ex. He’s a cop,” I explained.
“Excellent,” Roman replied. “Tell him to order extra patrols at her store. Once the museum robbery falls through, they’re going to be desperate and get sloppy. I’d bet that a jewelry smash and grab might move to the top of their list.”
“That sounds a lot like Roman,” Cara mused on the other end of the phone. “Why are you with him, Andi? He’s just as dangerous as Tyler. For all you know, he’s in cahoots with them and aided in your kidnapping. How did you escape?”
“That’s a story for another time. Keep me in the loop if anything happens, okay? I gotta go.”
I hung up the phone and gave Roman directions on how to get to Hailey’s apartment building.
“You’re still forgetting a very important detail,” I noted, ready to address the elephant in the room…or van. “What about me?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Andi?” he asked, somewhat confused at my lack of basic reasoning skills. “Cara called in a friend for a group outing with Tyler. The friend was you. Once he got wind of you working at the museum and put two and two together about the crown jewels, you became the new target. Tyler planned to use your knowledge of the museum security system to break in and make off with the loot.”
“It doesn’t take a rocket scienti
st to figure that out,” I remarked, throwing my hands up in the air. “But that’s not how it worked, is it?”
“No. You morphed into Rambo and decided to go ‘full combat mode’ on everyone. Instead of being meek, frightened, and caving in under duress, you fought back and refused to help. No one saw that coming. It actually fucked up all my plans, Andi. You were supposed to cooperate, they should have been robbing the museum by now, the detective should be catching them and making arrests, and I should be declaring total victory.”
“Exactly my point. Why are you here with me instead?” Was this some variation on his scheme? Back-up plan number twelve?
“Because I’m a fucking moron. I threw away years of work…just tossed it all out the window…because of you. I gave up my well thought out revenge plan…the one genuis idea that was guaranteed to succeed…all because one crazy, smart, beautiful, captivating woman got into Tyler’s backset and tried to give me a disastrous palm reading. You never ceased to amaze me from day one, Andi. Nothing about you is average. Not your willingness to make a fool of yourself on family game night, not your easy-going attitude after getting elbowed in the nose at Rage Fest, not your fierce determination to put your sister’s safety above your own, and not your uncanny ability to melt even the most frozen of hearts…mine.”
“How do I know you’re not just trying to weaken my resolve to hate you right now?” I whispered, mind at war with soul…logic fighting sentiment…wanting to forgive him but unable to do so.
“I’m not trying to do anything. I’m just being honest with you,” he replied. “Strangely, it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I chose a girl I’ve known for two weeks, over a revenge plan I’ve been working on for years. Everything just went up in smoke, and yet my conscience feels a hundred pounds lighter. I think I might be in shock right now.”
He did appear to be getting a bit slap-happy. That was no good… no good at all. I needed the man to remain focused. We still had work ahead of us.