Crescendo

by Laurie Larsen

  Blake dropped his head, suddenly exhausted. "How about we get back to the hotel?"

  Brent nodded. "Sounds good to me. How about we trash the room like a real rock star?"

  Blake shook his head and pushed out his amusement in a chuckle. They made their way to the door. "How'd you get so smart, anyway?"

  Brent leaned forward and opened the door, gesturing for his brother to go ahead. "It happened while you were running yourself ragged, taking care of my every tiny need."

  Chapter Twenty One

  SOMETHING WAS TUGGING on her feet. What was tugging on her feet?

  Haley drifted awake, and the first thing that permeated her consciousness was the muffled sound of Ace in the Hole music rising above the din of a massive crowd, a few rooms away. She was in the green room, she'd fallen asleep. She opened her eyes.

  A shadow passed in front of her bleary vision, and she turned her head. A strong push from behind caused her body to flop forward at the waist, her face hitting her knees. She gasped and screamed.

  "Shut up."

  She wrenched at the waist, turning to see who was behind her, but caught sight of her own two feet bound together with, what? A rope? A zip tie? She used her full strength to pull her two feet apart, but it was no use. They were bound tight.

  Now it was all becoming clear, her mind pulling out of its exhausted fog. Lindsay had entered the green room undetected while she was sleeping, tied her feet, and before she was fully awake, was now working on her hands.

  "Stop it!" Haley shouted, then added in a "Help!" in case someone could hear her. But Lindsay'd had the benefit of timing, and wakefulness. Haley's hands were now bound together as tightly as her feet. Lindsay circled around to the front of the couch and stood over Haley, her facial features skewed with hatred, her arms bent and fists planted on her hips.

  "Nice try, stupid," Lindsay smirked. "How do you expect anyone to hear your cries for help when the band is so loud?" She shook her head at Haley.

  Haley's head was spinning. "Lindsay, we're onto you. I have the whole Bowery security team on the lookout for you. You think you're so smart? No. You left so many trails that you were going to cause trouble tonight, even I could follow it. You're not going to get away with it."

  An angry crimson flush crept up Lindsay's neck and covered her face. Her hand became a striking serpent, slapping Haley forcefully with the back of her palm. Haley choked on the pain, unable to bring a hand up, determined not to give Lindsay the pleasure of seeing her react.

  "Do you know what a useless wench you are? Just because you're a rich girl and you've had everything you've ever wanted handed to you on a silver platter, you think you can come in to our band and change everything. How self-centered you are. Let me tell you something, Ace in the Hole was just fine before you showed up."

  Haley tugged at the ties binding her wrists behind her, gasping at the pain she was causing. They had to be either hard plastic or metal zip ties and they had no give whatsoever. Every bit of struggle on her part was ripping her tender skin. She looked up at Lindsay. "They were fine for a local cover band. Playing the same beach bars every weekend for crowds of about a hundred people. But look at them now. They're playing gigs they used to only dream about. The Bowery, Lindsay!"

  Lindsay's face scrunched in disgust and she launched a ball of spit onto Haley's face.

  "Eewww," Haley groaned when it hit its mark. How disgusting was that? A loogie of Lindsay's spit landing on her face that she had no way to wipe away. She worked on holding back the bout of nausea that had instantly formed in her stomach.

  "Someone has to teach you rich people a lesson," Lindsay continued. "Someone has to show you that you can't just take some perfectly good thing and change it, just because you have the massive funds to do it. Daddy's money. You are worthless yourself, and have never done anything worthwhile on your own merit."

  Haley opened her mouth to argue and then closed it. She let Lindsay's words simmer in her mind. She hadn't used any of Daddy's money to promote Ace in the Hole. In fact, because of her work with Ace in the Hole, Daddy had disowned her and made it clear that he wouldn’t be supporting her at all. Everything she'd done for Ace in the Hole and Frontier Fire was because of her own hard work, innovation and can-do attitude. She hadn't had any experience with any of it. But that hadn't stopped her.

  She wasn't one to toot her own horn, and she certainly wouldn't try to do it with such an unreceptive audience as Lindsay, but she was darn proud of her work. She'd accomplished a lot in a short period of time that no one else had.

  Lindsay walked across the room to a backpack sitting on a table. She reached in. What did she have in there? Oh God, was it a gun? Was Lindsay crazy enough to execute her point-blank here in the back room of The Bowery tonight? Haley let loose the loudest scream she could emit from her mouth, no words, just a long, loud and terrified scream.

  Lindsay pulled two long tubes out of the bag and turned, covering the space between her and Haley quickly. She reached out and slapped Haley again, trying to end the screaming. "Shut up, I said."

  Haley stared, confused, at the items in Lindsay's hand. It wasn't a gun. "What are those things?"

  "Wouldn't you like to know?" Lindsay said nastily, then she set one on the coffee table in front of the couch where Haley was bound. Haley studied the item closely. A tube about six inches long from end to end, the bottom was a black circular base. She couldn't tell if it was metal or a plastic material, but the base held in place a colorful tube, red with a cartoon rendering of a firecracker. A long fabric wick came out the top.

  "A firecracker?" Haley said, alarmed. "What are you going to do with that?"

  Lindsay left the first one on the table in front of Haley and moved to the far side of the room and set the second one up there. She turned to Haley and smirked. "Set it off, you idiot."

  Haley's mouth dropped open. Lindsay was using two colossal fireworks as weapons. These weren't just the little sparklers you gave to children on the Fourth of July. These were the big mothers, part of an arsenal of fireworks used to entertain large crowds of Americans on their nation's birthday.

  It was confirmed. Lindsay was a raving maniac.

  She had to try to talk some sense into her. "Lindsay," she said, striving to make her voice come off as both authoritative and understanding. "Don’t do that. That could hurt people. That's the last thing you want to do."

  "Hey, if people get hurt, I can't really help that."

  "So, what is your plan? Why are you setting off fireworks in the back room of a bar?" The question was so outrageous Haley couldn't believe she was actually asking it. She strove to keep all criticism out of her voice because she didn't want to incite Haley any further. The best she could do was hope that someone would wander by the room and help her before Lindsay's insane plan was set into motion.

  Keep her talking. It could save your life.

  Lindsay pulled a lighter out of her backpack and flipped it with her thumb until a small flame popped out. A harmless flame, no harm done until it was used to ignite the fireworks. Then, no telling what disaster would happen.

  "Dear God, help me! Help us all! Stop this woman!" Haley didn't realize her prayer was shouted out loud until Lindsay looked over at her.

  "He can't help you now. It's about to be over." She released the igniter of the lighter, and the flame disappeared. "This is my revenge. On you. On Jake, who dumped me. On the band, who abandoned me. I worked so hard for them, and never got a penny for it. We were a family. Until you came along.” Spit flew from her mouth as she recited her monologue, her face twisted with jealousy and rage. “You came with your fancy clothes and your fancy sports car and turned Blake's head. You snap your fingers and all this stuff starts happening. And what about me?"

  Haley gave up on struggling with the wrist ties and hoisted herself forward. Maybe she could get to her feet, hop over to Lindsay and hoist her body into her, throwing her off guard. It was worth a try. Time was of the essence.

&
nbsp; On the first try, she lost her balance and fell backwards on the couch. She tried again. She managed to get to her two feet, but wobbled clumsily until she could balance herself. She bent her knees and hopped. She landed, stayed on her feet and hopped again. Four hops later, she'd reached Lindsay at the table with the second firecracker.

  But Lindsay had seen her clumsy approach. She placed her hands on both of Haley's shoulders and pushed, hard. Haley fell backward, no way to help herself, and crashed to the floor.

  "Maybe this will be a deterrent to places booking Ace in the Hole. Word will spread about what happened at an Ace in the Hole show at The Bowery, and the venues will no longer want them. Too much of a liability. Venues were warned, you know."

  Haley wrenched her neck to look up at Lindsay. She was talking about the internet reviews. Lindsay's admission that she'd left them all, now claiming they were a warning to venues to stop booking the band before this maniacal disaster was launched.

  "Ace in the Hole will fail. And hey, if it means their know-it-all manager has to die, oh well, right?"

  Haley squirmed on the floor, struggling to get back to her feet. "No Lindsay, don't do it. It'll never work! You're going to get caught and spend the rest of your life in jail. It's not worth it! Put the lighter down. Walk out the door, and leave Ace in the Hole alone. Believe me. It's the only way."

  Lindsay turned her head and came over to where Haley was shouting at her from the floor. She kneeled, heart-stoppingly close. "And let you win? Let you have everything you want? No way."

  Haley shook her head. "I'm not winning! In fact, I'm losing. Everything." She had no intention of telling Lindsay her problems, but if it helped get through Lindsay's demented haze of a brain and alter her path of destruction, she would do it. "My parents have already disowned me. I don't have a penny of all that money that you seem to think I have unlimited use of. Nothing. Not one cent. And Blake? I did something to make him angry and I doubt he'll ever forgive me. Next time I see him, it wouldn't surprise me if he broke up with me. And I can't imagine he'd want me to be Ace's manager under those circumstances. So, you see? You think I have everything I want? No. I have nothing. I've lost everything." Tears welled in her eyes as she just now realized the truth in the words she was shouting at her worst enemy. "Don't make me lose my life, too."

  Lindsay stared at Haley's face, her bottom lip trembling, her eyes tracking while her brain whirred. She was motionless for almost a solid minute, and Haley began to think she'd gotten through to her. Then Lindsay spit out, "You're lying. I can't believe a word a liar says. Because liars lie. And you're a liar."

  Haley dropped her head back on the floor and heaved a sob. It was over. It was all over. She was going to be killed by a crazy woman in the back of a bar in a fiery firecracker explosion. She'd never have a chance to tell Blake she was sorry for abandoning Brent. Tell him one more time that she loved him. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the verses of the psalm about the shepherd. She'd memorized it in Sunday School when she was a child, recited it in front of the church for some event. Every once in a while as an adult, when she was facing hardship, she pulled out her Bible and read it. The psalm had power, the ancient words that millions of people besides her had gained comfort from.

  Our God was a strong God, an all-powerful God, and Haley knew it, in this moment, when her life was almost over. As much as she didn't want to leave the world this early, she trusted her Lord to be with her, to be in control, to take care of everything. She cleared her mind of everything except remembering those beautiful words. She spoke them out loud.

  "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

  Lindsay shook her head at Haley with a smirk, and got to her feet. She kicked the toe of her sneaker into Haley's face. Haley gasped at the pain, then continued her recitation, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters."

  Lindsay turned and retrieved the lighter that she'd placed on the table by the door. She removed the lid and flicked it, a flame appearing.

  "He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

  Lindsay lowered the flame to the long wick of the firecracker sitting on the table, ignited it. She ran to a far corner of the room, throwing herself down to the floor.

  Haley's eyes went wide and she raised her voice to a shout, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."

  From her vantage point, Haley watched the flame eat up the length of the wick, and then the firecracker detonated. The big tube exploded, the familiar whizzing sound of happy, celebratory Fourth of July fireworks contained in this small room. The tube flew into the air, and collided with the ceiling. But the power behind it didn't stop there. The ceiling gave way and the firecracker continued its powerful flight up, up through the drywall ceiling, up through the attic above, through the wooden structural boards, and all the way out through the roof of the building. Haley gasped, wide-eyed. She could see straight from her spot on the floor all the way through to the star-filled sky.

  Her voice lowered and her recitation went into autodrive, "Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over."

  Through the walls of this room, in the open expanse of the bar, they knew something had happened. Ace in the Hole stopped playing, and in the absence of that amplified sound, Haley could hear the fire alarm chirping an urgent call. The crowd let out a cohesive scream as the sprinklers let loose with water, here in the back room, and Haley had to assume, in the big room too. Chaotic sounds reached her and she could imagine the clumps of people's feet making their frantic way to the door. She hoped Michael and Doug and their team were leading the people, restoring order, so that everyone escaped without harm.

  Here in the room, though, Haley detected a shadow moving from the right side of her head. Lindsay had stood and gone to the firework directly in front of the couch, inches behind where Haley lay bound on the floor. "No! Don't!" she yelled but she caught the flicker of fire in Lindsay's hand.

  Whispering now, Haley finished, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

  Building debris cascaded from the attic and Haley watched it approach her on the floor. It could've been remnant materials from the hole in the roof caused by the explosion. Or it could've been an object stored in the attic that no longer had a floor to rest on. But it was big and it looked heavy, and Haley watched it fall. She bent her legs, bringing her bound feet and arms to her chest in a fetal position, her best attempt to shield and protect herself in the seconds remaining.

  Then, it landed on her head and shoulders. And all went black.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  THE BUZZING OF BLAKE's cell phone woke him from a restless sleep. He had no idea how long he'd actually been out, because since turning out the light hours ago his mind had whirred and whirred over Haley. Brent's words about not breaking up with her over him, had hit home. Since Brent had helped him see that Blake's attempts to make life easier for his dear brother were actually impeding his maturation into full adulthood, it all fell into place.

  He was doing more harm than good caring for Brent. And he needed to cut it out and let the kid grow up.

  In light of that realization, he now understood that he'd treated Haley unfairly. All she'd been trying to do was help and his anger at her was unwarranted. The next time he saw her, he'd apologize and pray to God she would give him a renewed chance to show her just how much he loved her.

  He scrambled for the phone on the bedside table in the dark room. "Hello?" he said, keeping his voice quiet so he wouldn't wake Brent up.

  "Blake, thank God we got you."

  Blake shook his head and tried to focus his tired eyes on the digital clock. It was nearly four am. "Jake? What's going on? What's wrong?"

  "There's be
en an explosion. At the Ace in the Hole gig."

  Blake sat straight up in bed. Quietness forgotten, he barked into the phone, "What? What happened? Are you guys all right? Any of you hurt?"

  Brent shifted in the bed next to his. He mumbled words, but Blake gave him a sharp, "Shhh."

  "The three of us are okay."

  "Thank God."

  "But Blake ... Haley's injured."

  Blake's brain shut down and he couldn't see or think of words. He was in a spiraling tunnel of black and he couldn't focus.

  "It was Lindsay, man. She went crazy and blew up the place." Jake's voice caught and he sobbed and went on with a shaky tone. "She had Haley tied up and no one was there to help her."

  Blake charged out of bed, throwing the blanket off and coming to his feet with one fluid motion. "Is she going to make it?" His voice croaked out the most important question. Nothing else mattered but the answer to that question.

  "I don't know. She's unconscious."

  "Where? Where are you?"

  Jake gave him the name of the hospital and Blake wrote it down. "I'll be there as soon as I can." He ended the call, ran over to the main light switch and bathed the room in light. "Wake up. We're going to Myrtle Beach."

  Brent pushed the blankets back and used his arms to swing his legs to the side of the bed. He leaned forward to pull his wheelchair close and lifted himself into it. "Haley?"

  "Yes. She was right. And I was dead wrong."

  With Randall and Haley both gone, he had no one to run logistics for getting them both from Pittsburgh to Myrtle Beach as quickly as possible. He had the number of the limousine driver in his Contacts and called him, cajoled him into driving them to the airport immediately. They grabbed the minimum items they needed and raced to the front lobby, where the driver dashed them to the airport. In early morning light traffic, they managed to complete the trip in twenty minutes. It was just after four thirty.