The Hostage

by Saul, Jonas

  Of course.

  “Open this door,” she shouted at Elmore.

  “Never.”

  His voice grated on her. He wasn’t burned bad, but what had happened would leave marks. It was bad enough to need salve.

  She stepped back to her cell door. “The keys,” she said, her hand extended through the bars.

  He reached behind him, nodded slightly, panted and moved slowly in obvious pain. When his hand came around, it didn’t hold the keys.

  He had a gun. And now he had a smile on his hideous face.

  “Sarah!” Drake yelled.

  Sarah reacted. Elmore fired, but she’d already hit the stairs running. He fired again and again as she took the stairs two at a time.

  Luckily he left the door unlocked at the top of the stairs.

  Probably because he came down so quietly earlier he didn’t want to wake us with locking it.

  Drake still yelled for her to run. At the top of the stairs, she flicked on all the basement lights.

  Elmore was already out of her cell. He pointed his weapon at Drake’s cell door.

  Rod dove in front of Drake as the gun fired.

  Self-preservation stopped Sarah from running down the stairs and ripping Elmore apart with her hands. He had a gun, and she would have a bullet in the face before she reached him.

  Elmore pulled on the trigger of an empty gun and started to reload.

  In that moment, she thanked Rod under her breath for saving Drake. But now it was her turn to save him. She never thought in a million years she would call the police to help Rod Howley, but that was what she had to do.

  As she ran out the front door of Elmore’s plush home and hit the front driveway, she shouted, “Vivian, where are you when I need you the most?”

  Chapter 30

  Elmore fought to stay on his feet. The pain was more than anything he’d felt before. His mind raced, his heart beat faster. He had to think. He had to move. Things had gone wrong. It was all crashing down.

  Why did I enter her cell?

  He couldn’t figure out what possessed him to walk into her cell. He had weapons. He could’ve shot her with the tranquilizer gun. The fire wouldn’t have done too much damage against the solid cement wall.

  He just couldn’t deal with someone wrecking his property. The fact that Sarah wanted to burn his property had made him angry. He knew, under the influence of rage, he didn’t always do the right things and that’s what Sarah had counted on. He knew now that was what she had wanted from the start. To lure him into her cell. He had been wrong with her. He couldn’t use strong women as hostages. He only had use for the weak. From that moment on, he committed to himself that he would only kidnap young, weak girls.

  If I make it out of this alive and intact.

  He stepped closer to Drake’s cell and looked in. Rod had taken the bullet to the gut. He lay on the mattress, both hands covering his wound, Drake beside him, adding pressure where he could to his own wound.

  Slowly, methodically, Elmore turned for the stairs. Any kind of movement caused pain, so he did his best to go slow.

  At the top of the stairs, he stepped into the hallway cautiously in case Sarah waited for him with a weapon of her own. She was nowhere in sight. In the kitchen, he opened his first aid kit and applied aloe vera gel to as many burns as he could locate on his skin. The cool sensation of the salve calmed the constant burning.

  He had to get out of the house. Time was running out. Sarah would be back and she’d bring help. They’d have enough information, based on her statement, to enter his home with force and he was in no condition to ward them all off now.

  He grabbed his ammunition box, loaded his Mamba and holstered it. After that, he picked up his computer and the black container of nails in his desk drawer and took them out to his car. Once they were loaded, he headed back into the house for a hostage. The choice had been made for him. He would need one of the two men in the basement to help keep him alive and he knew which one would be a more powerful hostage.

  In the basement he stepped up to the cell door and looked in at the two men bleeding on his floor.

  “You’re both staining my floor,” he said. “Do you realize how much work it is to get blood out? I should know.”

  It hit him then. It was truly over. Everything he had built. All the security measures he had taken. The system of stealing girls out of their comfortable lives and placing them into his. All over. Everything changes, but he didn’t think his lifestyle would change this fast. He thought he could go on for years to come. But Sarah Roberts had stopped him by simply escaping.

  He would have to move. Not just another city, but another province, maybe even another country, and he would have to do it fast. Within twenty-four hours the police would be hunting him everywhere.

  “Fuck!” he shouted.

  Sarah will pay dearly for what she had done. At least his company would survive. He had money and it continually flooded into his account on a weekly basis. Maybe he would move to Japan and get lost there for a while.

  If Roman Polanski can do it, so can I.

  Elmore pushed the button to open Drake’s cell door. He motioned with his Mamba for Drake to stand on his one good leg. Drake did as he was told, hopping, the pain displayed on his face.

  The blood coming out between Rod’s fingers seemed to be increasing in speed.

  “You’re losing a lot of blood, Rod. I estimate you have an hour left, maybe less. How does that make you feel? Do you regret coming to my home?”

  Rod shook his head.

  “Why’s that? Why do you not regret it? You’re dying, you fucking pig.”

  “Because, I got to see Sarah again. And now she’s free. That’s all that concerns me. She’s my life’s mission.”

  Elmore felt confused. “You justify your death this way?”

  “It’s complicated.” Rod’s voice weakened.

  “How so?” Elmore knew he had to go, but Rod’s statement intrigued him.

  Rod looked at Drake. “When you get away from him, take good care of Sarah. She needs a man like you.”

  Elmore lifted his weapon and aimed it at Rod’s face. “Don’t talk to Drake. Tell me why it is complicated or you will eat this bullet.”

  Rod looked down at his stomach and moved his eyes along the stream of blood. He looked back at Elmore and then to Drake. “I love Sarah. Always have, although she had no idea. That was one of the reasons she became my sole mission. I couldn’t let her out of my sight.” He winced. “Tell her I’m sorry, Drake. I did it to protect her, so nothing like this would happen. She’ll understand. Tell her that was why I got so angry at Rosalie in Hungary. I thought she put Sarah in harm’s way.”

  “I’ll tell her,” Drake said.

  Elmore lowered his gun. “Town is far from here. Sarah doesn’t have a phone. The police couldn’t possibly be here within the hour and you’re going to bleed out by then. I will not make your death quick. Goodbye, Rod. Enjoy the afterlife.”

  Elmore pushed Drake toward the stairs. They made it to the hallway and then the front door. Elmore stepped out first to scan the area, not worried that Drake would try to run away.

  The area was serene, with nothing moving. He guided Drake to the rear of his car and opened the trunk.

  “Get in.”

  Drake rolled into the trunk without protest.

  Elmore got behind the wheel and left his property via the back way, vowing to himself to never return again.

  Chapter 31

  It pained her heart to leave Drake behind. The chance that Elmore would kill both men and leave was very high. She only hoped that he would take a hostage. Being a hostage and alive was better than not being a hostage and dead.

  She got to the end of the driveway and ran along the shoulder of a two-lane highway. Traffic raced by as people drove into Toronto for the day’s work.

  She waved and leaned into the road at every passing car, attempting to get their attention. After the fifth car had passed,
she stepped into the road in front of a small Honda Civic. The sun had gotten high enough for her to be seen without headlights.

  The Honda slowed and pulled onto the shoulder beside Sarah.

  “Is everything okay?” the female driver asked.

  “Do you have a cell phone?” Sarah asked. “I need to use it. I don’t want a ride. I just need to make an emergency call. Do you have a phone?”

  “Who doesn’t nowadays? Come on, get in.”

  Sarah ran around to the passenger side, jumped in and shut the door. The driver turned on her four-ways and handed Sarah a small pink phone.

  “Are you okay? Did you run out of gas?”

  “Not really. You’ll hear everything when I make this call.”

  She had considered staying in the house and attacking Elmore on her own, but decided he was too crazy and had too many devices, like the tranquilizer gun and needle. Vivian hadn’t offered her any notes on Elmore, so she wondered if her odds would be better with the police going in and dealing with him legally.

  She watched the driveway as she dialed the police.

  She needed to distance herself from that basement and what had gone on in there to other victims. As a woman, it was too much to handle.

  The line at emergency services rang.

  “Police,” she said after being prompted. Then, “I need to speak to Spencer Milton, the lead investigating officer of the Rogers Centre shooting. I have information for him. Tell him my name is Sarah Roberts. Yes, I will wait.”

  The woman sitting beside her put both hands on the steering wheel. Her right leg started tapping up and down. Sarah caught the driver’s head moving back and forth as she checked her mirrors.

  “It’s okay,” Sarah said as a way of comforting her. “Don’t worry. None of this will come back to you. We’re the good guys.”

  The driver nodded, but Sarah could see this was bothering her.

  The line clicked and then she heard, “Spencer here. How do I know you’re Sarah Roberts?”

  “Drake told me about you. He filled me in on Monika and how you stopped her at the lake. Listen, I need you to locate a cop friend of mine. He’s the only one I trust. He’s in Toronto and he’s going to be pissed that I wasn’t on that plane. I need his help. His name is Parkman.”

  “Hold on,” Spencer said.

  There was a pause where it sounded like the phone was being jostled. A large truck passed by and the little Honda shook. Sarah snuck a glance at the driver. She didn’t look any better.

  “Sarah?”

  Parkman.

  “Parkman. Listen, I have a problem.”

  “Right to business, I see. I was worried, you know.”

  “You think I did this on purpose?”

  “Never. Where are you? I’ll come get you. What’s this they want to charge you with murder? And who was Joseph Singer anyway?”

  “That’s nothing. Rod made it up.”

  “He doesn’t know you very well then.”

  “Ask Spencer where I am. He came to the house yesterday.”

  Parkman pulled the phone away and then back. “He says he knows exactly where you are but doesn’t know why you’re there.”

  “Long story — but you have to hurry. Drake is in the basement with a gunshot wound to his leg and I think Rod got shot bad too. Elmore may be on the run, but I haven’t seen him leave his property yet. Bring everything you got and … just get here.”

  Hope filled her eyes in the form of tears.

  Chapter 32

  Sarah handed the phone back to the driver. She offered a reassuring smile and stepped from the vehicle. The little Honda sped away, kicking up a few stones off the shoulder.

  She found a spot just inside the woods where she could sit and wait while still able to see Elmore’s driveway entrance.

  In less than ten minutes she could hear the sirens in the distance.

  Good, this is finally coming to an end.

  She walked back out to the road, and a brown car in the distance came her way. The vehicle had to be going at least a hundred miles an hour. An ambulance trailed it.

  Sarah waited until no other cars were visible and walked across the road to meet the unmarked cruiser.

  Parkman jumped out, a toothpick sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

  Some things never change.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, but I could’ve used your help a couple days ago.”

  “I didn’t know where you were. I’m here now. Jump in and brief us on what to expect when we enter this home. We’re going in right now.”

  Spencer offered her a more welcoming smile than she deserved after having stolen Drake from his protection and run away with him. He started the car up Elmore’s driveway while Sarah told them more details about Drake and Rod and their wounds. She explained the cages and what Elmore had been doing in the past. She added that he ate fingernails, which got a strange look from Parkman, who then rolled his window down a little and spit his toothpick out.

  There was no movement at the front of the house as they got close.

  “His car was here when I ran out the front door. I don’t know how he got past me. I watched his driveway while I waited for you guys.”

  Spencer stopped the car and they all got out, both cops with guns already in their hands. The ambulance stayed back fifty meters, and no paramedics exited.

  “Stay out here,” Spencer said.

  Sarah nodded. Gladly. Too creepy in there.

  She wasn’t the trained professional in these situations that the two men approaching the house were.

  In the distance, it sounded like a whole platoon of cop cars were en route.

  Spencer and Parkman stood on either side of the front door for the count of three and then Parkman stepped out, kicked the door and disappeared inside. Spencer followed him.

  Sarah sat down in the backseat of the cruiser, leaving the door open. She waited a full minute before she couldn’t anymore handle it anymore. If Elmore’s car was gone then so was he. That meant no danger and Drake and Rod needed that ambulance.

  She got up, walked to the front door and entered the main foyer. Spencer saw her from the kitchen.

  “I thought I told you to stay outside.”

  Parkman stepped between them from an office. “You think you can get Sarah to do what you want?”

  Spencer started up the stairs, his weapon held high. Parkman opened the basement door.

  “Be careful,” Sarah said.

  Parkman nodded. “Hello? Anyone down there?”

  They both listened, but heard nothing.

  Parkman got down on his knees and brought his head close to the ground to see as far into the basement as he could. He looked at Sarah. “All I see is the front of two prison cell like cages. In the one on the left it looks like Rod. The one on the right is empty.”

  “You don’t see Drake?”

  He shook his head.

  Sarah stepped past him and started down the stairs. Parkman grabbed her arm.

  “Hey, wait, let me go first.”

  “The car is gone. Drake is gone. That means Elmore’s not here. We’re safe.”

  A cacophony rose from the front of the house. Parkman and Sarah turned to see a line of uniformed police officers entering the front door.

  “Backup’s here.”

  Sarah stepped away from Parkman and down the stairs. She reached the open door to Rod’s cell and ran to him.

  “Where’s Drake?”

  Rod eyes opened halfway. His skin was pale and he looked very sleepy.

  “I need an ambulance in here,” Sarah shouted toward the stairs. “Now!”

  She turned back to Rod and lifted his head. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get you out of here. You did good. You saved Drake’s life. We’ll find him, we’ll find him.”

  Parkman came up behind her. “Paramedics are coming in now.”

  She nodded at him. Then she leaned in closer and asked Rod if there was anything he coul
d tell them that would help. She caught the slight nod of his head. She leaned in closer to his mouth to listen.

  “They left … ten minutes ago. He has … Drake.”

  Sarah turned and looked at Rod. “Okay, I’ll get him. You take it easy. Here come the doctors. Go get healthy now, okay. We’ll see you when you’re better.”