by Sandra Scott
Hog smirked. “Nothing he probably didn’t deserve. Now, tell me how you were able to find me—or I’ll finish the job.”
Sly screamed, frantically dropping to her knees and covering Paulo’s head with her body.
Racine pulled away from Andra’s embrace to step forward. “No one knows we’re here,” she told him. “We got the information from the housekeeper. We didn’t tell her why we needed it.”
Hog frowned. “Now I’m confused. How would you know to ask for it?”
Racine’s face puckered with disgust. “It wasn’t too hard for us women to figure out you were behind this entire mess. We asked Helena the right questions, and we got the right answers. That’s all there is to it.”
He studied her briefly, his expression calculating her words, mentally weighing and measuring them for the truth. A minute went by before he relaxed his grip on the gun and uncocked the trigger.
“I believe you, I guess. Those proud and haughty Theonopiluses wouldn’t send girls to do their jobs if they knew about this.” His eyes bounced to Sly, who still covered her unconscious brother like a shield. “Nevertheless, Beauty, I best decide what to do about these extra bodies before more interlopers show up. If these two”—he pointed the rifle at Racine and Sly—“could figure it out, others will too.”
“What are you going to do?” Andra asked.
“I figure I could start with the young bird over there. His wing’s already broken. Might as well put him outta his misery.” At Sly’s indignant cry, Hog used one hand to swipe the air. “Oh, park it into neutral, missy! Don’t blame me for your brother’s presence in my home or his injuries; his nosy nature is what nearly got him killed. You should be rightly glad my Beauty was here to nurse him. Without her, he would’ve been long gone.”
“Beauty?” Annoyance, anger, and confusion caused Racine’s eyes to bulge wildly as she stared at Andra. “Why does he keep calling you that? Are you supposed to be this Beauty?”
Mutely, Andra shook her head, only to have Hog contradict her.
“Yessir, your sister’s my Beauty now. She’s decided to stay with me.”
Turning, Racine faced Hog directly. “Over my dead body.”
“Okay.” Hog raised his rifle’s tip and pointed it at Racine’s forehead.
Using more force than she intended, Andra shoved Racine out of the line of the gun, only to stand in her place. “If you kill her, you’d better kill me!” Ignoring Racine’s yelp from the floor, Andra took a step toward him. “But you’d better make sure you finish me, because if there’s one breath of life left in my body, I’m coming after you, Hog. Now, back off!”
The Texan lowered the gun and looked about the room. His gaze scanned over Racine, who now lay sprawled on the floor, staring at him with venomous eyes, to Sly, who was still on her knees, covering an unconscious Paulo. Then he looked back to Andra. He looked hurt. “Beauty, you don’t understand.”
“What?” she shrieked. “What don’t I understand? That you’re nuts?”
Hog’s expression abruptly hardened yet still bore a trace of sadness. “You’ve got everything: a career, family, and a spouse who’d move the world for you. I’ve got nothing left. My life is nothing. Don’t you see?”
Andra stood and watched her kidnapper, a man who should have been locked inside a loony bin, and felt an inexplicable, small twinge of sympathy for him. With one hard breath, she exhaled in frustration. “If your life’s nothing, then change it. Only you have the power—the control—to do it.”
As she spoke, Hog stared off into the distance at some point above Andra’s head. After a few seconds of contemplation, he zeroed in on her again. His face now twisted in anger, he shook his head. “No, I’ve tried! I haven’t had any control over my life since my first Beauty died.” He took the time to carefully align the tip of his gun with each person in the room, beginning and ending with Andra. “As for you, you’ve got control over yours.”
Unafraid, Andra stared into the twin barrels capable of ejecting shotgun shells at a velocity that would explode her head from her shoulders. She flung her hand toward him and the gun. “I have control? What kinda control do you think I have? As a black, I cannot control the world around me and the prejudices I have to endure at the hands of ignorant people I encounter on a daily basis.”
“That’s not me, Beauty,” Hog said, his face now screwed up with hurt. “I love all women from every nationality; it don’t matter. Just take a look at you and my first Beauty.”
“Who cares?” Andra crossed her arms and scowled at Hog. “You wanna talk about unfair? Let’s just throw being a woman into the mix, shall we? Now we’re talking such things as sexual assault, sexual intimidation, and harassment, just to list a few, from darling little creeps such as yourself. Just ask the woman tucked securely in that sarcophagus over there.”
“What?” Hog’s eyebrows lifted, and then his eyes narrowed. “You peeked.”
“What are you talking about?” Racine jumped up. She looked ready to head for the large container. “What’s in there?”
Andra reached out and grabbed her sister’s arm, shaking her head. She turned back to Hog. “No, when it comes to the outside world, I, being both black and a woman, am one of many who have no control over anything. But you know what? I somehow make it work and make it through, and somehow manage to do it without wreaking havoc on other people’s lives!”
As Hog stared at her as if she were the crazy one, her small measure of sympathy for him vanished.
She lunged at him, shoving the gun’s barrel aside. Using her jagged fingernails, she struck swiftly, gouging into Hog’s eyeballs. Startled, he screamed, pointed the gun blindly, and pulled the trigger. She ducked just as the pellets blew over her head. Still in a tight end’s position, she rushed forward to tackle him, and the shotgun flew from his hand. Enraged, she sat atop his barrel chest and proceeded to gouge deeper into his sockets until she felt brain.
At Sly’s scream, she jumped from Hog’s still chest and turned just in time to witness Racine on her back with blood everywhere and one half of her head blown off.
Andra wanted to throw up at the imagined goriness. Divesting her brain of the grisly daydream, she inhaled deeply. “I don’t wreak havoc on others’ lives. I try to do just the opposite—which is why I decided to become a doctor. To save lives, not destroy them.”
Racine stirred behind her. The girl shrank back as Hog’s eyes scanned her smudged white T-shirt and dusty jean shorts. Then she stood courageously taller. “Yeah, Mr. Hog, what have you done for mankind?” she said. “Other than, of course, sparing the world the pollution of your piggy offspring.”
The cellar grew extraordinarily still as Hog studied Racine with venomous quietness.
“Lookee here, making sport of me and my first Beauty’s inability to have children isn’t very nice.” Although his eyes appeared dead, his mouth curled into a civil grin. “Is it?”
Mute, Racine lowered her eyelids against Hog’s burning rage.
“Well, young lady, I don’t know what I’ve done for other mankind, but I do know what I’m gonna do about this mankind,” he said, pointing to his crotch. At Racine’s “Oh, gross!” his smile tapered off sinisterly. “I believe I’ll take you upstairs and teach you the finer points of being a woman—and all that entails.”
Andra jabbed a finger his way. “Hog, I’m warning you. If you—”
The Texan swung the shotgun Racine’s way, but he kept his eyes on Andra. “No! I’m warning you.” He cocked the trigger once more and locked it. “If you take one step to stop me, I’ll blow her head clean off.”
Thinking of her vision of Racine lying in chucks of her own brain, Andra backed up a bit. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh yes, I would. And I’d finish by killing the rest right before your eyes.” He focused mainly on Racine, but his eyes darted to Andra every few seconds. �
�So what’ll it be, Beauty? Me bronco-busting your sister upstairs or her brains splattered all over these walls?”
Andra’s response lodged inside her throat. She threw a glimpse Racine’s way, noting her sister’s face contorted with both rage and fright at the threat of another rape.
Behind Andra, Sly rose to her feet.
“Okay, Hog, you win,” Andra said, turning back to face his ire. She attempted a seductive, persuasive smile. “You can take me upstairs—you know, like you and I planned earlier. Leave my little sister outta this.”
A strange glow radiated from Hog’s orbs, creating instant terror for Andra at its unwelcome appearance.
“Nope, I want her now. She needs a good breakin’ in. Believe you me, all the fellas who I’ll allow to come after me will thank me.” Staring at Racine, Hog methodically swung the shotgun to Andra’s forehead. “What’ll it be, my young filly—me and you upstairs, or would you prefer your sister’s head?”
Silently, Sly moved forward to stand off to the side. The room grew tomb-like as Racine’s face screwed up in contemplation of her fate with Hog. Finally coming to some type of conclusion, on slow feet, she walked toward him, stopping briefly to brush aside Andra’s outstretched hand.
“Don’t worry, Sis. I can handle it,” she said, staring hard at Hog and his gun. “My virginity’s already been taken by creeps like him. There’s nothing else he can take from me.”
“He could take your life. No, I won’t let you,” Andra said, stepping in front of her. “I’m going instead.”
“No! You have to worry about the baby.” Pushing Andra aside, Racine stepped up to Hog. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll eventually roll with the punches to put this mangy animal behind me. Right, Lacey?”
Mute, Sly paused and then nodded in fascination.
Hog’s faded blue eyes roamed the length of Racine’s fit physique. A sinister chuckle escaped his parted lips. “You don’t mind if this mangy animal breaks a few bones in the process, do ya? Maybe a wrist?” At Andra’s outraged cry, Hog snickered louder and continued. “Shoot, I’ll go for a rib or two. Yessiree, I believe a tough girl like you could not only handle it, but will enjoy it as well.”
More afraid for her little sister than she’d ever been in her life, Andra watched the rifle lift and rotate toward her when she stepped closer. “Please, Hog,” she begged. “Please don’t hurt her. I’ll do anything.”
“At the moment, all I want you to do is nothing.” At her silence, his eyes filled with his insane version of pity. His voice softened a bit. “Okay, darlin’, I’ll try not to hurt her more than I have to—for you.”
He lowered the rifle to allow Racine to pass him and head for the door. However, the moment she came into alignment with his burly chest, Racine performed a half spin toward him and shouted, “Lacey!”
Andra decided to enact her gory eye-gouging scenario despite the resulting carnage, but she stopped in surprise when suddenly, Sly dropped to the floor and performed a tuck and roll, quickly curling into a ball behind Hog’s feet. A delayed second later, Racine shoved hard against the older man’s chest.
The Texan’s eyes swiftly bulged in surprise at his unexpected balancing act. In an attempt to stay on his feet, he flailed his arms in an out-of-control fashion; his backward momentum caused the rifle to fly from his grasp and soar across the room. Acting on reflex, Andra lunged at Racine, bringing them both crashing to the ground just as the gun smashed against the wall, the impact causing a bullet in the chamber to discharge with a loud boom.
Hog’s head hit the cellar floor, and his body jerked once only to lie still where he’d fallen.
Quickly, Sly scrambled away from the Texan’s prone body, her bare legs obtaining further bruises as she crawled to where Andra and Racine lay sprawled. With trembling lips, she bestowed upon them a toothy grin. “Racine, I understood exactly what you wanted, yes?” She clapped twice. “What a team, us Cagney and Lacey, right?”
“I guess,” Racine said, clumsily rising to her feet. Brushing herself off, she kept her face averted as Andra stared at the two with her mouth open.
“High five!” Sly exclaimed, lifting her right palm. When Racine didn’t reciprocate, her lively expression turned concerned. “Can you not high-five? Please, I can teach you.”
Andra let out a small, nervous laugh, causing Racine to push her. In exasperation, Racine turned to Sly. “Of course I can high-five, you idiot,” she said. She jerked her head in the direction of an unconscious Hog. “The danger’s not over yet, so could you please put that hand away?”
As if he somehow knew he was the focal point of their conversation, Hog made a small grunting noise.
“Yeah, save all that for later. We need to do something about him—now.” Andra watched Hog clumsily lift his head and shake it, as if attempting to clear away mental cobwebs. Her sights quickly landed upon the rifle’s severed butt. “Hold on.”
Andra ran across the room, snatched the broken piece, and returned to where Hog lay. Stooping, she cracked him on the skull with it, the blunt force causing his head to drop to the dusty concrete floor again. For good measure, she brought it crashing down on his head once more.
“There,” Andra said, throwing the butt away and brushing off her hands. She stared down at her victim. “That should do it.”
Sighing heavily, she bent to pluck open the man’s lids. Relieved that she hadn’t killed him, she straightened with her hands on her hips and turned to see Racine stare at her with both admiration and reproof. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that you crack him over the head—twice, I might add—only to then follow up by making sure he’s okay!” Racine laughed. “I should write a book about you called Gangsta Doctor. Should be a best seller.”
“Yes!” Sly agreed.
“Or maybe a porn film: Ms. Doc Holliday Does Med School.” Racine wagged one eyebrow. “A winner, huh?”
“Look,” Andra said, grabbing Racine and Sly by the arm and dragging them away from the unconscious Hog. “I’m not proud of what I just did, but it had to be done. Nobody’s going to die on my watch if I can help it, not even that scumbag over there.”
“But it would’ve been in self-defense,” Racine said, flashing an adorable smile. “You are who you are, Andra. You’ve got to learn to embrace the animal inside you instead of caging it inside those daydreams of yours.”
Weary at the thought of even attempting a comeback or rational response, Andra looked around the room again. “Whatever. You guys help me find something to tie him with before he comes to.”
“Maybe I can be of assistance.”
Andra, Racine, and Sly whipped around to take in the tired-looking yet handsome man standing inside the cellar’s doorway.
Stefano.
Involuntarily, Andra’s stomach flipped at his magical appearance, and if the others had not been around, she believed she would’ve sprinted over to him and jumped into his arms.
“Stefano!” Sly did what Andra couldn’t and raced across the floor, crashing into Stefano’s chest. He automatically wrapped long arms about her clinging body. “My hero! I am so glad you came to rescue me!”
Andra’s face grew warm as Stefano stared over Sly’s head to gift her with an expression of relief—and some other emotion she never wanted to identify. “Where’s Jayson?” she asked, breaking free from his eyes to look beyond Stefano and Sly. “Is he here too?”
Stefano’s face produced a vague smile. “Of course he is,” he said. He gently detangled himself from Sly’s hug, which seemed to take some doing. He then glanced at the floor and a motionless Hog. “We chose to split up—he asked if I would go below while he searched the rooms above, believing he would find you first.”
Abruptly, Stefano and Sly were shoved to the side.
“Doc! Baby, you’re okay! Come here!”
Seeing Jayson, his arms str
etched wide, Andra thought her face would crack from happiness. She ran to him, lunged into his open embrace, and lifted her face to receive his hungry kiss.
“Jay, I love you,” she said into his mouth. “So much!”
“I thank God you’re alive,” he muttered, kissing her face and lips between words. “I love you.”
“Okay, you guys, get a room later,” Racine said, interrupting. She glanced over at an unconscious Paulo lying on the cot and pointed an impatient finger his way. “What’s say we retrieve lover boy over there and get the hell outta here?”
“Yes,” Stefano agreed. “Let us leave this place now. We contacted the authorities the moment we discovered Hog’s white van parked outside.”
Nodding, Jayson plastered Andra with another kiss. “Baby, I’m so glad you’re all right,” he said, wrapping one arm about Andra’s waist and propelling her toward the door. He reached out to lift her hand to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss upon it. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if anything had happened to you.”
“You may still have to contemplate that, boy.”
Jayson froze, forcing Andra to stop in her tracks with him. Everyone turned Hog’s way, staring as he struggled to hoist himself into a sitting position. The room remained still, each person’s expression one of disbelief as the older man reached inside his right cowboy boot and pulled out a .22-caliber pistol. He lifted the compact gun for all to see before pointing it with deadly precision at Andra.
Jayson yanked her behind him. “Why are you doing this, Hog?” Jayson said. “Why?”
“Well,” he said matter-of-factly, “the sins of the father must be visited upon the sons.” Hog stared at Stefano. “Especially one as self-righteous as you are.”
Stefano cleared his throat. “You cannot shoot us all with your little gun, Mr. Grainger.”
One-handed, Hog scooted backward on his tailbone until his spine pressed securely against the dusty cellar wall. “Maybe not,” he said, tightening his hand on the gun. Glaring at Stefano, he used his other hand to soothe his bruised head. “But at least with my first shot, I can get your doctor.”