"Why good to see you up again Sheldon. Sorry about the blow to your head, but it was the only way." He reaches the bottom step and slowly walks over and stands in front of us. He's holding the gun out in front of him, but it's clear we are no threat so his hand relaxes a bit. "I hope the pain is at a comfortable level. I'm sure my sister has provided you with plenty of medical care. She was quite adamant we do so." I watch his eyes glance towards my head. "It looks quite well from here I must say." I nod my head.
"Don’t call me your sister." I can see the anger streaking across her face.
"Mary, we are related as you know. You’re mother married my father. I'm sure you have heard of the terrible demise of Frank Harris Sr."
"He was a good man. You didn’t have to do that." He looks back at me.
"So I see you two have been talking. Don’t get too comfortable because you won’t be staying too long. Sheldon you will be going back to where you belong and Mary you will be moving on to another place."
"Please. You don't have to hurt anyone else. Haven't enough people suffered already?" I look back at Frank. He's leaning against the railing. He looks so relaxed. He's wearing a dark button down shirt with dark pants. He could pass for an Italian mobster in a movie.
"Remember what I told you Sheldon. Every battle has unintended casualties."
"We don’t need any more casualties." He taps the gun between his hands.
"I wish that were the case, but this should be over quickly. We have a few more things to get together and then we'll need your services for a little while Mary. After that we will be on our way and Sheldon you will be free to go." He takes a long look at me. I can feel his evil eyes boring into me. I want to reach out and strangle him, but I'm unable to even move. "By the way, your wife and son are doing fine. A little concerned but fine." I try and stand up. "Take it easy Sheldon. You suffered a big injury."
"Stay away from my family."
"Sheldon, I promised you I would return him unscathed. I'm sorry about the condition he was in, but I didn’t want the boy to remember anything. I don’t need him anymore. I just have eyes and ears everywhere and I have simply heard they are doing fine." I sit back down. I can feel the back of my head begin to throb. "I can assure you, you will leave here unharmed very shortly as well as your family." He looks towards Mary. "On the other hand, my dear sister Mary may have a different consequence due to other circumstances, but she can make things much easier if she decides to cooperate." I look at Mary. She is looking down at her feet.
"I'm very impressed you found my sister and even more you found her house. Very nice place wouldn’t you agree?” I don’t answer. "I would be very interested in hearing how you came upon this information. Did it have to do with your friend Brian?" I feel the throbbing becoming more intense. "Poor fellow just got in over his head." I want to lash out with my arms. "Don’t worry Sheldon. It is almost all over. If you had just minded your own business like we spoke about you wouldn’t be in this position and have that awful gash in the back of your head."
"Just please let her go." I look at Mary. Her face has lost all expression.
"I'm sorry I can’t do that until I get something from her. She knows what I want and she'll give it to me. Like I said before, how much she suffers is in her hands." He looks at me. "As you know Sheldon, I like to give the control to others and let them make their own decisions." I feel myself fuming. I scoot myself over towards Mary and end up between both of them." A slight smile overtakes Frank's face.
"I see you two are bonding. Don’t become too attached Sheldon this one won’t be around for long." He steps towards the stairs. "I must be going. I have to get a few more things and then we'll be ready for the last phase." He begins walking up the stairs. "Oh I almost forgot. I have some food for you. I'll be right back." Mary and I look at each other. She looks numb. A minute later, Frank returns and places a pizza box in front of me. "I'll be back tomorrow to get what I need from you." He looks directly at Mary. "Enjoy." He runs back up the stairs and the light disappears and then I hear the click of the lock.
"You need to eat Sheldon. Please have some pizza." I shake my head. "You're going to need all the energy you can if we're going to have any chance of getting out of this." I slide the box over to me and open the lid. I immediately take in the aroma and my senses remind me of how hungry I actually I am. I eat a few slices and quickly feel much better. The throbbing lessons some. I finally convince Mary to at least eat a few bites and she does so reluctantly.
"We need to figure out what we're going to do." We both look up when we hear the car engine. A minute later it is gone.
"I think it would be best if I just let them take me and I'll tell them what they need to know then you can go free." I shake my head.
"I didn’t come all this way to give up that easy."
"In your condition Sheldon, there's not much you can do. Remember they have guns."
"There's got to be a way. Tell me what else you know about them." She looks to her left.
"I met them when my mom and their dad got together. They didn’t really come around at first. I didn’t really think about it much then but now it makes sense."
"What do you mean?" She takes another bite.
"I think once they found out my mom had money, they decided to start hanging around hoping they would get some of it."
"How did your mom make all her money?" A large smile overtakes her face.
"She started her own company, "Child's Play"; you've probably seen them in the malls." I close my eyes and picture the store front. I remember going in them with Michelle and Tommy. "After they became successful, she sold it and wound up with all that money." I watch as her face changes from happiness to sadness. "Then she passed away about two years later. A hundred million dollars couldn’t save her."
"A hundred million?"
"Yep, I say it's fifty, but it's really a hundred. I'm not even sure if Frank and Shane know that. I have about ten million tied up in the charity and the rest is in the account and being invested. I could easily live off the investments and never work another day in my life, but I couldn’t stand myself with all that money while kids are starving so I started the charity. I love it so much." I smile. "My mom was the one who got me into it. She used to donate clothes to needy children all the time and I used to go with her and see how they lived. It made me cry every night." I slide closer and place my arm on her shoulder.
"You're a good person and you've already done so much goodness in this world."
"I would give up all the money right now if it meant I could walk out of here and go back to what I like doing. I know my mom would be so happy. She was a single parent and all she wanted to do was make us a decent living and she ended up successful beyond her imagination then she met Frank." She throws the crust back into the box and closes the lid. "He was the sweetest guy. They met while she was settling a lawsuit of a customer who slipped a fell in one of the stores and they just fell in love. They only had a few years together, but they were like soul mates. I had never seen her so happy, then she passed away." I rub her shoulder again. "She died so quickly. She was diagnosed one month and then three months later she died." She wipes tears from her eyes. "I can't believe it has come to this." I feel her shaking under my arm. "If only I had been aware of these two kids. How can two kids be so different than their father?"
"It happens."
"I guess so. There's not much to tell you about Frank and Shane that you don’t already know. I told you how smart they are or at least Frank is. He is on a much different level than Shane. Shane just barely gets by and does what Frank tells him too, from what my mom said it has always been like that." I nod. "So if you’re going to try and do something, I would try it with Shane not Frank. Frank is too smart to fall for anything, but you must be pretty smart too, you were able to track me down and found Frank and Shane at my house." She smiles. "And you got your son back from them so you must have done something right." I think about telling her abo
ut Sorenson, but I decide to wait until the right time. "They're both very strong as you can tell, and in your condition it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to try and take them out, so I really don’t know what we can do except let me give them the codes and you can walk out of here."
"I refuse to stand by and let them do that to you. You have done too much good in this world and they have killed too many people. We need to stop them." She slowly wiggles away from my hand.
"Okay. Why we don’t take some time to think about what we can do and get some rest. We have until tomorrow." I agree and roll over on my side. I roll my sweater up into a ball and use it as a pillow. I can feel the effects of the pain killer making me a little bit drowsy.
A while later I wake up, and the first thing I notice is how much my head hurts. I look around and I don’t see Mary anywhere. I quickly sit up. I don't feel as stiff, just pain in my head. I immediately think that Harris has already taken her and I slept through it. I'm able to get to my feet. I slowly walk around the room. There's a small bathroom to the far right that I didn’t see before. I quickly look in. She’s not in there. I look towards the stairs and hustle over to the bottom. As soon as I look up, I see her seated on the top step. Her head is buried in her hands. I carefully climb the stairs and sit on the step below her. She removes her hands and I see her face blotted from her hands and her eyes red from crying.
"It's okay."
"No it's not. It can’t end like this. You’re right. We need to try and do something anything to stop them. You tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it. I'm going to die anyway." I touch the back of my head.
"No you're not. We're going to try and surprise them. I've been thinking about it."
"Oh my God you poor thing, your head must be killing you. Let's go get you some more painkillers and I'll change your bandage. It's got to be killing you." She stands up and softly pushes me towards the next step. I reluctantly stand up and slowly head back down the stairs. I follow her to the far side of the room and she has me sit down while she changes the bandage. I quickly swallow two more pills and an entire bottle of water. I even chomp on a piece of cold pizza. I try to get Mary to have some more but she declines. "They'll be here anytime. I've been waiting for them."
"Is that why you were at the top of the stairs?" She nods.
"I just want them to take me and leave you alone. You really need to get back home for your family. I don’t have anyone now. You've seen my family." I shake my head.
"Is it really the next day? Have I slept that long?"
"Yep, and you need the rest. I couldn’t sleep. I just did a lot of thinking. I guess I have had a pretty good life so I shouldn’t be too upset." I hold my finger to my lips.
"You just gave me a great idea." She turns and looks at me. "We should wait up at the top of the stairs, and when they open the door we'll surprise them and jump on them. It's the only advantage we can get." I watch her mind as it processes it.
"What if they are ready and start shooting?"
"What have we got to lose, as you say we're going to die anyway at least we can go down fighting?"
"I can’t take that chance with you. You heard what he said."
"You believe him?" She shakes her head.
"How's that feel?" She pats the back of my head softly.
"Much better, thanks so much for caring for me."
"Any time, if you really think it will work I'm up for it. What will we do once we surprise them?" I spend the next ten minutes going over my plan. I mostly make it up as I go, I don’t think we have much of a chance but I don’t tell her that. We both give in and eat another slice of pizza and bottle of water. I am actually starting to feel somewhat back to normal with the help of the pain killers. We spend the next several hours discussing our pasts until we both stir when we hear the car engine again and what sounds like more than one set of footsteps above us. We quickly tiptoe up to the top of the stairs. We are both on each side waiting for the opportunity to try and save our lives or end them quicker. I'm not sure which one it's going to be. I look at Mary and she nods. A minute later, we hear a sharp metallic click to unlock the door.
Chapter 28
As soon as the door opens, I spring off my legs and leap into the large surprised body of Shane Harris. I feel him go down below me and land on the hard linoleum kitchen floor. His gun flies out of his hand and slides across the floor towards the cabinets about five feet away. I don’t see Mary, but I feel someone behind me pushing me towards the floor, so I figure she must be there. I feel Shane's large hands digging into my shoulders as he tries to push me off. I try and reach out for the gun but it's too far away.
"Get the gun Mary…the gun." I scream but I don’t see her moving towards it. In fact, I don’t see her moving at all, instead I just feel her weight on my legs pinning me down. I try and start punching my hands into the face of Shane but it doesn’t seem to have any effect. He is trying to roll over and get out from under me, but I'm pushing down as hard as I can. We remain like this for a few more seconds until I feel a hand clawing at my bandage. I have to stop punching and reach back with my hands to keep the bandage from falling off. The pain is too much for me to bear. I feel Shane sliding out from under me as I try and ignore the pain in my head and go back to fighting, but it's too late. He is already out from under me and sliding towards the cabinets. I kick out my foot and strike him in the stomach. I see his face grimace and he immediately turns back towards me and lunges with his right arm. He catches me on the thigh with a quick punch that forces me to catch my breath. He turns back towards the gun and begins to crawl towards it. I quickly give everything I have, get to my knees and dive on top of his back causing him to fall back to the floor. He turns around and tries to strike back at me, but misses with a swing towards my face. I connect with an elbow to the side of his head which causes him to buckle for a second. He quickly recovers and kicks out with his foot catching me in the side of the neck. I drop down to the floor and grab his ankle so he can't crawl anymore and get to the gun.
"Are you guys done yet?" I quickly turn my head and see Frank standing behind me. He is pointing a gun at Mary's head. "Get up Shane. The fun is over." He looks at me. "I'm disappointed Sheldon. You continue to not follow my directions. I don’t know what I'm going to do with you now. Please stand up, both of you." He aims the gun in my direction. "Shane go get your gun and please don’t let it out of your reach again." He shoves Mary in front of him towards the open basement door. "Okay. Let's go downstairs and get this over with since you don’t seem to want to listen." He looks back at Shane. "Do you think you can handle him Shane?" I hear Shane grunt some kind of reply. "Here, I'll make it easier for you." I see his hand quickly move past my eyes and land on the back of my head. I fall to the floor grimacing in pain. Everything is spinning and lights are flashing in my eyes. A minute later, my eyes come back into focus and I feel Shane picking me up and dragging me back down the stairs. I grab hold of the rail and slowly go down the steps. My legs feel wobbly. I feel the gun in my back. The hard steel is nudged directly on my spine and digs in a little every time I reach another step. When I get to the bottom, Frank is standing over Mary who is sitting in the same place where I was sleeping. He has his gun aimed at her head. I can see tears in Mary's eyes as she looks at me. I think she actually tries to smile.
"Sit him down over there," Frank points at a spot about ten feet away from Mary. "I want him to see this." I feel Shane's large hands direct me to the spot Frank pointed at. He gives me a nudge on the back of my head as I start to sit down. I cringe with pain and feel my eyes blur. I need to come up with another plan real quickly or we're both going to lose. Mary is looking at me. I feel as though I let her down. "Okay sweet sister, give me the codes." Her eyes are still glued to mine. I think she winks, but I'm not sure because the next thing I see is Frank's hand sweep across her face and slam into her nose. Blood squirts everywhere. I start to move towards her, but Shane presses on the back of my head again and I lan
d on my stomach. "How about now?" She doesn't respond. She continues to look in my direction. I wish there was something I could do, but with Shane behind me with a gun pointed at the back of my head my options are somewhat limited. I watch as he lifts his foot and lands it directly in her gut. She hunches over and vomits on the floor in front of her. I can see the pain and agony in her face. "Just give me the damn code and this will be over." She doesn't respond. He quickly connects with her chin with the butt of the gun. I watch her head rock backwards and a deep dark red line forms on her chin. Her hands move up to her chin and nose. They are covered in blood. "I promise this will stop if you just give me what I want. Isn't that correct Sheldon? I am a man of my word." I quickly look away. I feel the pressure from Shane's hand and gun on the back of my head increase. I try and lean forward but he stays with me. I look at Mary and she is quivering in pain. There is blood all over her face and hands. I can only see her eyes. She continues to look in my direction, but I can't tell if she's looking at me anymore because of all the blood. "Let's try this one more time sis then we'll move on to some harsher tactics." I watch in disbelief as Frank cups both of her ears at the same time. Mary falls forward her hands clasping her bursting ear drums. I can't take it anymore. I jump up onto my feet, but I am immediately pushed back down on the floor by Shane. I feel my eyes become blurry again and my equilibrium shift. "Now are we ready?" Mary doesn’t answer. She is lying on the floor in pain. I can see her eyes closed tightly and her mouth full of blood clenching her jaw from the intense discomfort she is suffering. Frank looks at me. "Okay let's try him. Start slamming the back of his head until she talks." I quickly duck my head towards the floor anticipating the pain that is about to come. I feel the thrash of Shane's fist crash into my skull. Everything goes black for a few seconds and the next thing I know I'm face down, when my eyes finally open. I look towards Mary and she is lying on her side staring at me with fearful eyes. I try and reach out towards her but my arms and hands aren't cooperating with my brain anymore. "Shall we give Sheldon another blow to the back of his head? I don’t know how many more he can withstand." Mary doesn’t respond at first, but then somehow she slowly rises up and comes back to a sitting position. She is holding her head up with her wispy arms. She tries to speak but it is too soft for anyone to hear. Frank leans in towards her. "What was that?"
Fatal Decision Page 21