48 Hours to Die

by Silk White

  Anthony Stone sipped on his coffee when he felt his phone buzzing on his hip. He looked down at his screen and saw that whoever was calling him had took the time to block their number. “Hello?” He answered.

  “Hello detective.”

  Immediately, Anthony Stone waved and got another detective’s attention, then gave him a hand signal to trace the call. “Uncle Sam?”

  “The one and only,” the caller said arrogantly.

  “I was expecting your call,” Anthony Stone began. “We have some unfinished business to discuss why don’t you come on down to the precinct so we can talk.”

  Uncle Sam chuckled. “Sorry but my hands are a little full at the moment,” right then and there Anthony Stone heard a muffled scream in the background. “I’m sitting here with a beautiful young woman named Mya, in exactly twenty minutes I’m going to cut her open like a fish!”

  “Listen Uncle Sam, that won’t be necessary,” Anthony Stone said trying to buy himself some extra time as several detective’s and officers surrounded his desk and listened on through his speakerphone. “Tell me where you and I’ll trade my life for the girl. Let the girl go and take me instead,” he offered.

  “I just emailed the address to where she is, if you’re not here in twenty minutes the girl dies!” Uncle Sam said in a calm tone, and then hung up in the detective’s ear.

  “Shit!” Anthony Stone cursed as he quickly checked his email, and just as Uncle Sam promised there as an address in his inbox. “We have to move now that address is about twenty minutes from here!” He said which meant he didn’t have much time He quickly rushed outside to his car. Anthony Stone pulled out of his parking spot like a mad man. The last thing he wanted was another dead body on his watch, whoever this Uncle Sam guy was, he was really starting to become a pain in the behind. Anthony Stone zoomed through the streets jumping from lane to lane, time was running out, and he knew it.

  Out of Time

  Anthony Stone pulled up in front of the address and glanced down at his watch. Twenty-two minutes had passed since the phone call with Uncle Sam. Anthony Stone hopped out of his car and sprinted towards the front door of the house. He removed his 9mm, and noticed that the front door was left slightly ajar. He eased the door open and slowly stepped inside the house as the sound of loud sirens could be heard just outside the door. As Anthony Stone eased his way through the house, he noticed a trail of blood leading towards the back room. He reached the back room, paused, then came forward, and kicked the room door open. Inside the room, Anthony Stone found a woman’s body parts chopped up and thrown all around the room. Over on the window seal he spotted an envelope with the number five written on it in blood. Anthony Stone opened the envelope and began to read the letter.

  “If you’re reading this then that means you ran out of time. Another woman is dead because of the police, what is it going to take for the police to start doing their job the proper way? I guess you pigs like doing things the hard way. That’s cool with me because I’m just getting warmed up.

  Sincerely yours: Uncle Sam.”

  Anthony Stone tossed the letter down to the floor and exited the room. This serial killer was really beginning to piss him off. The apartment was now flooded with officers and EMT workers.

  “Detective!” An officer called out getting, Anthony Stone’s attention. “This blood is still warm; it’s possible that our killer may still be close by.”

  Anthony Stone nodded, and then exited the apartment. He needed some fresh air and to clear his mind. He stepped outside and the first thing he spotted was a huge crowd standing behind the crime tape. Right now, he could really use a drink. Uncle Sam was toying with him and making him look like a fool. Anthony Stone noticed the media pull up to the scene when he felt his cell phone vibrating on his hip. He looked down at the screen and saw that the number was private. “Yeah,” he answered.

  “Ran out of time I see,” Uncle Sam chuckled.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because I can,” Uncle Sam countered. “It’s sad that I have to go to this extreme to get you pigs to do your job.”

  “That’s no excuse for what you’re doing!” Anthony Stone snapped. “Meet me one on one like a man and let’s settle this.”

  “Detective, you don’t look too good,” Uncle Sam chuckled. “And aren’t those the same clothes you had on last night?”

  “You’re watching me?” Anthony Stone asked as the line suddenly went dead. He quickly looked out into the crowd of people that stood behind the crime scene tape.

  “Detective is this the work of the same serial killer?” A reporter asked shoving a microphone in Anthony Stone’s face. Anthony Stone ignored the reporter as he searched the sea of faces that flooded the sidewalk.

  “Detective Stone can you tell us what happened here tonight?” Another reporter asked. Anthony Stone ignored the question and continued to look out into the crowd. Anthony Stone stopped when he locked eyes with a man standing across the street dressed in all black with a black hoodie on his head with the strings drawn tight making it hard to see his entire face. When the two made eye contact the hooded man quickly turned and began to walk off.

  “Detective Stone do you have anything to say to the people?” A reporter asked. Anthony Stone tuned the reporter out as he slowly began to follow the hooded man down the street. He wasn’t sure if the hooded man was Uncle Sam or not, but his gut was telling him that the hooded man was indeed the man he was looking for. As Anthony Stone followed the hooded man, a downpour of rain suddenly began to fall from the sky. Anthony Stone pulled his 9mm from his holster and held it down by his side, as he walked not wanting to scare any innocent bystanders that may have been lingering around. He quickened up his pace and when he was in a close enough distance he yelled, “Freeze!”

  As soon as the words left Anthony Stone’s lips, the hooded man took off in a sprint.

  The hooded man took off in a sprint when the detective yelled freeze. He pulled a .45 off his waistline and fired two shots over his shoulder. He was willing to do whatever he had to in order to escape with his life and his freedom. The hooded man ran out into the street and nearly got side swiped by a car. Several car horns sounded loudly as the hooded ran through the intersection. Right before the hooded man reached the other side of the street a Honda came to a screeching stop. The driver stepped on the brakes a little too late as he watched the hooded man smash into his windshield, his momentum carrying him over the roof of the Honda and sent him crashing down on the concrete. The hooded man hit the concrete hard, looked up, and saw a Mack truck headed right for him. The driver of the Mack truck stomped down on the brakes as soon as he saw the man standing. The hooded man watched as the grill on the Mack truck stopped one inch away from his face. The hooded man hopped up off the ground with the quickness and took off running again.

  Run for Your Life

  Anthony Stone crossed the intersection and lost the hooded man that quick. He looked left and right, but saw nothing. He knew the hooded man couldn’t have gotten that far. When the hooded man fired off those two shots, it forced Anthony Stone to take cover behind a parked car.

  The driver of the Mack stepped out of the truck and approached the detective.

  “Looking for a man in a black hooded sweat shirt did you happen to see which way he went?” Anthony Stone asked.

  “I almost hit him with my truck, god must have been on his side,” the truck driver said. “He came out of where I almost didn’t...”

  “Shh!” Anthony Stone said as he shined his light up into the woods. That’s when he heard it again, someone was moving through the woods, breaking twigs, and stepping on dry, crunchy leaves. Anthony Stone took off into the woods after the hooded man. Anthony Stone held his flashlight just above his 9mm as he eased his way through the woods. He took slow, cautious steps not wanting to attract attention to his location. Anthony Stone waved his flashlight from left to right as he moved out deeper into the woods. He took his left hand and turned
down the volume on his walkie-talkie so it wouldn’t give up his location. He continued to inch through the woods when a chunk of the tree he stood next to exploded. Anthony Stone quickly ducked down. He had no clue where the hooded man was, the dark woods made it hard for him to see. Anthony Stone pointed his flashlight in the direction that the shot came from but saw nothing. Then suddenly he heard footsteps coming from his left. Anthony Stone quickly aimed his gun in the direction of the footsteps, and opened fire.

  POW!

  POW!

  POW!

  POW!

  Anthony Stone stood still for a second listening to see if he could pinpoint the hooded man’s location. Seconds later, several shots were fired in the detective’s direction followed by the sound of footsteps running in the opposite direction. Anthony Stone hopped up to take off after the hooded man but stopped when he felt a pain in his leg. He shined his flashlight down on his leg and saw blood. One of the hooded man bullets must have grazed his leg.

  By the time Anthony Stone limped out of the woods, the hooded man was long gone. He cursed himself over and over again knowing how close he was to taking Uncle Sam off the streets.

  Thirty minutes later, Anthony Stone noticed Captain Fisher heading in his direction while an EMT worker worked on his leg.

  “Tell me you got a look at this guy’s face,” Captain Fisher asked.

  Anthony Stone shook his head. “I was so close to catching this guy.”

  Captain Fisher patted, Anthony Stone on the back. “You’ll get him next time champ. Go home and get you some rest.”

  Anthony Stone slid behind the wheel of his car and slowly pulled out into traffic. He still couldn’t believe how close he had come to capturing Uncle Sam. He merged onto the highway when he heard cell phone ringing. Anthony Stone looked down at the screen and saw that the caller was calling from a private number. “Yeah,” he answered.

  “Close but no cigar,” the caller laughed. “Detective Stone when are you going to realize that you’re never going to catch me?”

  “Never say never,” Anthony Stone countered.

  “I’ll always be one step ahead of you detective,” Uncle Sam chuckled.

  “What kind of animal are you?” Anthony Stone yelled. “What type of real man gets turned on by harming innocent women?”

  Uncle Sam chuckled again. “You just don’t get it detective.”

  “If you’re going to pick on someone at least pick on someone who’ll defend themselves.”

  “Like who, Tasha?”

  “If you even think about touching her I’ll kill you!” Anthony Stone said with venom dripping from his tone. Before he could say another word, the line went dead. Without thinking twice, Anthony Stone stomped down on the gas. There was no way that he was going to allow Uncle Sam to harm Tasha. He would never be able to forgive himself if he allowed her to get hurt because of him. Anthony Stone pulled up to Tasha’s mother’s house and came to a screeching stop, hopped out with his 9mm already in his hand. Anthony Stone reached the front door and thought about kicking it in, but then decided to ring the doorbell instead. If nobody answered the door in ten seconds, Anthony Stone had already made up his mind that he was going to kick the door down. His reached a silent count of seven when finally; Tasha’s mother answered the door.

  “Hey Anthony,” Ms. Brown said stepping to the side so that Anthony Stone could come inside. “Is everything alright?” She asked when she noticed his face covered in sweat and a gun in his hand.

  “Sorry Ms. Brown,” Anthony Stone apologized holstering his weapon. “I just wanted to make sure that you and Tasha were alright.”

  “Hey Anthony what are you doing here?” Tasha said coming from around the corner. “Are you okay?” She asked when she noticed that his forehead was covered in sweat.

  “I got a call from Uncle Sam,” Anthony Stone admitted. “I thought you and your mother may have been in danger.”

  “Baby he’s playing with your mind,” Tasha grabbed, Anthony Stone’s hand and led him upstairs to her old bedroom. Once inside the bedroom Tasha closed the door, and made Anthony Stone lay down across her bed, she slowly removed his shirt and began to give him a strong-handed massage. “Don’t let that creep serial killer get inside of your head baby,” Tasha said in a soft whisper. “You are smarter than him, if he wants to play chess then you play chess with him, you can beat him,”

  “I know baby, but this thing has gotten a little personal,” he explained. “And the last thing I want is something to happen to you or your mother.”

  “There’s an officer parked outside the front of the house at all times we’ll be fine,” Tasha told him. “Focus on catching this scum bag so we can go back to living a normal life, don’t get me wrong I love my mother to death but I’m ready to go home.”

  “I’m on it baby,” Anthony Stone rolled over onto his back and gave, Tasha a long slow kiss. “I love you and would die if something happened to you because of me.”

  Tasha chuckled, “Baby I’m fine, and I’m a big girl,”

  “I know you are baby,” Anthony Stone said. The truth was Tasha had no clue how dangerous Uncle Sam really was and he wasn’t going to tell her the truth about how dangerous the serial killer really was because then she would be scared to death and that’s the last thing he wanted. “I have to get going baby.”

  “No,” Tasha wined. “Can you they with me tonight pleeeeease?” It had been a week since the couple had slept in the same bed together and Anthony Stone hated to admit it, but he missed, Tasha like crazy. For the rest of the night, Tasha laid her head on Anthony Stone’s chest as the two watched “Martin” until they both fell asleep.

  Now It’s Personal

  Reggie sat in his office at the club with one leg crossed over the other and leaned back in his expensive chair. He didn’t like how close Anthony Stone had come to catching him the other day. Things were getting too close so. Reggie decided to fall back and take a break for a minute and come up with a strategy that would surely ruin Anthony Stone’s life, but at the same time, he had to be careful, knowing that one mistake could be the end of his life. Reggie watched CNN and the authorities still had no clue who or where Uncle Sam was. The club wasn’t scheduled to open for the next four hours, but Reggie liked to sit in his office and think. Reggie sat looking up at the flat screen in his office when he heard a loud knock at the door.

  “Come in!” He yelled. A second later in walked Lisa carrying two plastic bags. “Hey Lisa?” Reggie asked with a confused look on his face. When he dealt with his employees he made sure, he kept things strictly business.

  “Hey,” Lisa said with a huge smile on her face. “I saw you up here so I brought us some food from that new barbeque place down the street; I figured you may be hungry.”

  “Thanks Lisa I appreciate it,” Reggie said with a smile. In his head, he was formulating a nice way to kick her out of his office without seeming rude.

  “Mind if I join you?” Lisa asked pulling up a chair before, Reggie even got a chance to answer. “You never want to take me out on a date so I figured I’d bring the date to you. I promise I won’t bite.”

  “Nothing personal but I just like to keep my business and my personal life separate,” Reggie explained. “I would hate for things to get all messy you know?”

  “I get it,” Lisa said taking a bite out of her barbeque ribs. “But you’re always cooped up in this office all the time, so I figured I’d come up here and hang out with you,” she took another bite of her ribs. “So do you have a girlfriend, dating anyone, kids?”

  Reggie took in a mouth full of mac and cheese. “No girlfriend, not dating anyone, and no kids, all I do is work. I’m too busy to have a personal life.”