by M. P. Hingos
Three hours later and I’m confident as ever, knowing my plans would work this time. I quickly surveyed the premises one last time, noting the bodyguard who did a sweep of the backyard once again. Fortunately I was well hidden in the woods that came up behind the house, preventing him from seeing me, but from my hiding place I could see everything he did. Just like the two times before he slowly swept the backyard, his ever watchful eyes lingering on the woods, before moving to the side of the house. He would then return to the back, before entering the house through the back door. I made my move as soon as he rounded the side of the house, running up to the back door. I hid in a corner that would prevent him from seeing me when he made his way back to the backdoor. I heard the ground crunching as he made his way back and only when his hand was on the doorknob did I make my move. I crept up behind him, put the gun to the back of his head and pulled the trigger before he even realized that I was there. The silencer on the gun muffled any sounds of gunshot and I broke his fall with my body to prevent a thud that would come with his fall. I eased his body down and put two bullets to his heart to ensure that he was dead as dead is.
I entered the house and heard the voices in the sitting room. On hands and knees I crept towards the voices and saw the remaining four people I knew were in the house sitting around, constantly glancing at the clock in the corner. I found the person my eyes sought and quickly formulated my strategy. My plan hinged on getting to him and removing him first, but a few minutes later I saw an opportunity I had to take when he got up to look out the window. I quietly crept into the living room, up behind the sofa and quickly pressed the gun in my hand to her head.
“Hello sister darling,” I said, startling everyone.
The bodyguard swung around, a gun in his hand aimed at me. Damm, he was hot. I could see myself all over him and actually enjoying myself. It’s a pity I had to kill him. The two old ladies gasped.
“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,” I said, shaking my head at him, “I can get a bullet in her head faster than you can get one in me. Drop the gun buddy and kick it over to me.”
Knowing his precious Tessa could be harmed he did as I asked without question. I then had the two old birds move over to where the big hunk stood and made them all sit on the floor. I could feel Tessa trembling against the gun but she hasn’t said a word as yet.
“Nothing to say Tessa?” I asked with a snicker.
“Let them go Alexis. You don’t need to hurt them. I’m who you want, I’m who you’re mad at. They did nothing to you.”
“I know little sister, but sorry, I can’t let them go. Not yet anyhow. But if you play nicely and do as I say, they can live.”
I saw the hunk glance to the back door and knew he was hoping his friend would come in and rescue them.
“Oh sweetheart he’s not coming to help,” I said, drawing his attention to me. I saw the anger flash in his eyes as the impact of my words struck.
“You bitch, I am going to kill you,” he spat at me.
“Can’t have that happening now, can we,” I said before pulling the trigger.
**********
Chapter 24.
“Lucas,” I screamed, jumping off the sofa, only to be yanked back down by my hair.
“Move again and you’re gonna have three dead bodies in front of you,” Alexis snarled at me.
I watched the tears flow from Mavis’ and Betsy’s eyes as Mavis cradled Lucas’s head on her lap. I saw the blood gushing from him as Betsy did her best to stop it with her hands. Grabbing a throw blanket from the chair next to her she pressed a small part of it on the wound and I prayed that it was enough to help slow the bleeding.
“Shit,” I heard him curse as Betsy pressed on his shoulder.
“Sorry son,” she apologized, brushing back his hair from his face.
“It’s okay, it’s only a flesh wound,” he said.
Relief coursed through my body. I knew he was stronger than that. Showing that he was weak was his weapon against Alexis.
“Alexis, what do you want?”
The gun was back at the back of my head, preventing me from turning around.
“It’s simple. You call Ally and get her here so you, Ally and I can have a small conversation and I’ll let these three go. You don’t get her here in the next hour and this time I’ll kill someone. In fact someone dies every hour for the next three hours until she gets here. Then it’ll be your turn. You can’t let her know that I’m here though. Make something up to get her to come to you.”
“I assume you knew they were waiting for you at the penthouse and Ally’s there. She’s not going to just up and leave if I ask her to come.”
“That’s why I said make something up you dimwit. Tell her something’s wrong with the baby. That’ll get her here.”
“She’s right Tess. If you tell her you think something’s wrong with the baby, she’ll be here in no time. But, she knows you can’t leave here so she’ll insist on bringing Dr. Maxwell with her. In fact she’s going to think it odd if you don’t ask her to bring him along,” Lucas said, his voice sounding pained.
“He’s right Alexis and I can’t ask her to bring another innocent person into this,” I said.
“Oh for fuck sake make the call and have her bring your doctor with her otherwise one out of these three gets it. I swear they all get to leave as soon as she gets her. I’m warning you though if she comes without the doctor this isn’t going to end well.”
I grabbed my cell phone off the coffee table in front of me and called my sister.
“Hey Tess….”
“Hey Butterscotch,” I said cutting her off just as Alexis grabbed the phone and put it on speaker.
“Butterscotch, are you alone?” I asked.
“No, but hold on I’ll head into the bedroom,” she quickly said before a minute of silence from her end.
“Okay Butterscotch, what’s up?” she asked.
“I don’t feel so well Butterscotch, and I’m bleeding. I can’t leave here until I get the all clear from you guys so do you think you could get Dr. Max and drive up to Betsy’s house as soon as you can? Preferably before the next hour Butterscotch?”
“I’m on my way Butterscotch.”
Alexis pressed the end button before I could say anything else.
**********
“What the hell is going on Ally,” Connor roared as soon as the call ended.
“Alexis has Tess.”
The second she called me Butterscotch I knew something was wrong. After she said to bring Dr. Max with me I knew Alexis had her. It was a race against time now because if I read what she said correctly I had less than an hour to get to her.
*********
“I love you,” Gabe said, gently kissing me on the lips.
“I love you too baby.”
“Promise me you’re going to be careful in there, not just for you but for Tess and everyone else as well.”
“I promise babe. Hopefully this ends today.”
He helped me out of the car we rode in as Connor came up to me. His eyes were bleak and he looked as if he aged twenty years in the past thirty minutes. I went into Connor’s arms and held him as tightly as I could. He kissed me on the head before whispering in my ear,
“Please be safe and bring my family back to me.”
“I promise,” I whispered back.
“Okay boys and girls it’s go time,” Max called out. The agents gathered all scattered, making their way into the woods that lined this quiet suburban neighborhood. It was going to be a short hike to Betsy’s house but we needed to know the house was surrounded before Max and I drove the short distance up to the house. We had twenty-two minutes left and I prayed they made it in less than fifteen. After Tess’s call all hell broke lose when everyone realized what had happened. Max was instantly on the phone with his superior. After a brief conversation with me, to assure himself I was equipped to deal with going into this situation, he gave Max the “okay” to do whatever he felt needed doing to get
Alexis once and for all.
“Perimeter secured,” a voice said over the radio, “Perimeter secured. We have one body on the back deck. Photo I.D. says Andrew Topper. Four hostages in the sitting room, over the front, far right of abode. One male, looks wounded, two elderly females sitting next to wounded male on the floor, last hostage, pregnant, young female, sitting on sofa with gun pointed at her head, subject standing behind female hostage holding gun.”
Max and I didn’t hesitate after hearing that. I jumped into the driver’s side of the awaiting SUV and Max jumped into the passenger side. Everything we did we did for appearance’s sake in the event Alexis decided to look out a window. We approached the house and I skidded to a halt in the driveway. She had to believe I was panicked at the thought that something was wrong with Tess. I rang the doorbell and an obviously shaken and nervous Betsy answered.
“Where is she? How is she doing?” I asked frantically.
“Come, she’s in the sitting room,” Betsy replied.
We followed her and I came to a sudden stop when I saw the scene in front of me. The gasp that left my mouth was purely for Alexis. Max came up behind, stopping as suddenly as I did, his fake doctor’s bag slamming me on the side.
“Welcome to the party Ally,” Alexis greeted me with a big smile.
I nervously looked around the room, my sharp eyes taking in everything. Lucas was sitting up, his right hand pressed against his the wound on his left shoulder. He was smart. He positioned himself in such a way that his body covered Mavis, who was sitting behind him.
“Come in, come in. Everyone.” Looking at Max she motioned for him to step forward. “You must be Dr. Maxwell. Please have a seat. You also,” she said pointing to Betsy.
Max took Betsy’s hand and led her to Lucas and Mavis. He helped her as she sat down before sitting directly in front of her and as close as he could next to Lucas.
“Ally why don’t you have a seat next to this piece of trash,” she said gesturing to Tess.
I made my way over to Tess and sat down, taking her trembling hand in mine. “Are you okay Butterscotch?” I asked.
“Hellooo, none of that. You want to talk, you talk to me, otherwise shut up,” Alexis screeched.
“Alexis, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“What? I thought we could have a nice chat. This house seems as good a place as any.”
“What do you want to talk about Alexis?”
“About what a betraying, backstabbing bitch you are Ally. Is that a good enough topic for you?”
Keep her talking. That’s what I had to do. Distract her long enough so that the agents lurking at the back door could enter unseen. Get her to focus on me, take the attention and hopefully the gun away from Tessa.
“Alexis, whatever it is you think I did, I’m sorry. I never meant to push you this far and I sure as hell didn’t want mom to end up in prison. Tell me what I need to do to make this up to you.”
“Oh Ally. I don’t give a fuck about mom. She was pathetic and if she did as she was told she wouldn’t be in prison right now.” Her hand wavered a bit and she continued. Her rant started on how I ruined everything by going to Connor with the truth about her. Why couldn’t I let her have him. I always favored Tess over my own flesh and blood and now I had to pay. She really wanted to kill the entire Steele family so that Tessa could suffer in the most unimaginable way knowing they all died because of her but then I ruined that plan of hers. She had no choice and got no enjoyment by ending things now before disappearing. She was so caught up in her rant she didn’t realize the hand she was waving around was the hand she held her gun in. This was the one opportunity we need. I looked at Max, who quickly looked at me before focusing his gaze on something behind me. I saw the subtle nod and threw myself on Tess just as hands grabbed Alexis, forcing the gun in her hand to fall to the ground. She screamed and hollered and I looked up and saw two very large men bringing her down to the ground.
“You fucking bitch. You fucking bitch, you set me up,” she screeched at me, “I’m going to fucking kill you, both of you.”
The sitting room was flooded with the agents from outside as soon as Max gave the all clear. Alexis was screaming at any and everyone at the top of her lungs and Tess was in my arms sobbing. As soon as Alexis was placed in cuffs, Max read her rights and ordered her taken away, with the specific instructions that she was not allowed to talk to anyone but him. They dragged her out and Tess flew out of my arms and went to Lucas, refusing to leave his side. Less than ten minutes later Gabe and Connor followed by Cane, Dell, Sterling and the two agents they were left with came running in. Connor went straight to Tess, sat down on the floor next to her and pulled her in his arms. I was too numb to run into Gabe’s arms. Instead he sat down next to me and his strong arms circled me. I trembled in his arms and felt the need to break down but I held back. I inhaled his scent and looked at the chaos around us as he just held me, never saying a word.
Lucas was soon placed on a stretcher and taken to the hospital and most of the agents cleared out.
“I’m sorry you lost one of your men,” I heard Max say to Connor and Sterling.
“Thank you,” Connor replied.
“He was a good guy,” Sterling said, “Did three tours in Afghanistan, came back and married his high school sweetheart six months ago, before joining up with us. God how am I going to tell his wife this.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Connor said, “Whatever she needs we give to her. If you don’t need us here anymore Max, could we all leave?”
“Yeah, I’ll come by later this evening or tomorrow and update you guys.” Max then turned his attention to me.
“How are you holding up Al?” he asked.
“I’m fine Max,” I replied.
“You did good kid. I know it must have been hard on you, after all she is your sister, but you did good.”
I hugged him and knew from the look in his eyes he was worried about me. “I’m fine,” I whispered.
**********
“Thank you,” I said before kissing him softly on the lips. He looked at me, a puzzled expression on his face. “Thank you for having the faith and confidence in me. I know how hard it was for you letting me go in there today, but it was your faith and confidence that gave me the strength I needed to do what I had to do.” And that was the truth. Knowing Gabe loves me and had the faith and confidence in me to do what I had to do to save the people we love was the strength I needed when I saw the gun pressed against the back of Tess’s head, Lucas bleeding and Mavis and Betsy scared out of their minds. It was the difference from me being reckless to me being calm and rational.
“Baby I love you more than I could ever say,” he said, dipping my head back so he could have full access to my lips.
“Ah, um, excuse me, love birds,” Tess said, interrupting the sensuous kiss we shared in front of a room full of people, “Gabe can I borrow my sister for a moment please,” she asked.
With an exaggerated show of reluctance Gabe released me. Tess grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room and into her’s and Connor’s bedroom. She sat on the bed and patted the space next to her, asking me to join her on the bed.
“You okay sis?” I asked when she didn’t say anything after more than two minutes.
“Al, I don’t know where to start, but thank you. Thank you for giving me my life back, thank you for always believing in me and thank you for sacrificing so much of your life for me. I love Connor more than life itself and I love this family I have and the people I surround myself with and this precious baby inside me. I love him unconditionally, and I thank God everyday for everything I’ve been blessed with but Ally nothing felt right in my live until you came back in it. You and I have a bond that I don’t share with anyone else and I am sorry you had to loose so much so I could have you as my sister. I pray you wouldn’t someday resent me because you lost your mother and sister because of me.”