by Donald Wells
The lead car was shredded with bullets before the agents inside could react and the car crossed the highway to smash into a car coming the opposite way.
As the agents in the panel van freed their weapons, they watched with confused looks on their faces as the two pickup trucks sped off into the distance.
The female agent looked at her partner.
“They had us, why did they leave?”
The answer came in the form of a tractor-trailer, which collided into the rear of the van with enough force to lift its rear end off the ground. As the driver struggled to regain control, the two pickup trucks reappeared. They were traveling in the wrong direction and headed right for them with guns blazing. The last two agents died before getting off a shot, and the panel van drifted off the highway and towards a stand of trees at the side of the road.
The van hit the trees going twenty miles an hour and was followed to its resting place by the two pickup trucks, as out on the highway, the tractor-trailer stopped on the shoulder.
Four men wearing ski masks got out of the pickups and broke into the panel van, where the beams from their flashlights revealed Jeffrey and Hanna lying on the floor in a jumble. The couple were worse for wear for their attempt at revenge, as Jeffrey sported an eye patch made of gauze and a face puffy from his beating, while Hanna’s arm was covered in bandages.
One of the men, the tallest of the four gave a command to another man.
“Get ‘em loose, Dave,”
The other man went at their chains with a bolt cutter and soon they were free.
As they walked towards the highway, they fired several shots in the air and the few cars that had slowed to look at the carnage, fled.
As the group rode off in the back of the tractor-trailer, they removed their ski masks and grinned at Jeffrey and Hanna.
The man who had cut them free reached over and slapped the tall man on the back.
“We did it Billy; we got ‘em.”
Jeffrey stared at the tall man while finding something so familiar about his face, a face he had never seen before, and it reminded him of the first time he’d met Jessica’s husband and experienced that sensation of déjà vu.
“Are you going to kill us?”
“No, but the world will think you’re dead. Those pickup trucks belonged to two men whose daughters you killed. They’ll be blamed for taking you and it’s them that the cops will be looking for, but they’ll never find them.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“You don’t remember me, do you? Aw, but hell, you were just a little thing the last time you saw me.”
“I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
“You wouldn’t have a life if it wasn’t for me, I’m—”
“Your father,” Hanna finished. “He’s your father, my God, Jeffrey, can’t you see it? If he looked anymore like you you’d be twins.”
“Your woman is right. I’m your daddy, boy. I’m your daddy and I finally got you back.”
***
ONE WEEK LATER
They watched the dog as he ran to chase the ball and laughed at his eagerness. The dog’s wound was healing nicely, and he seemed more than happy with his new home.
They settled on the patio with the dog at their feet, as they sipped on coffee and waited for their guests to arrive.
Jessica reached down and petted the dog.
“You know we really should name him.”
“Why?”
“Everyone needs a name.”
“Really?”
“Of course,”
Their phones sat atop the table and began blinking while emitting a buzzing sound. One of their guests had arrived.
They walked around the house to greet the new arrival and found that not one, but both of their guests had shown up.
Chief Dent and Officer Vargas walked toward them wearing civilian clothing and looking quite relaxed, and happy.
Jessica smiled at them.
“I see that you two decided to come together.”
“That’s right,” Vargas said, as she smiled back at Jessica.
He gestured towards the folder in the chief’s hand.
“What’s that, Jack?”
The chief turned solemn.
“I hate to do this during a social occasion, but I thought you ought to know.”
“Know what?”
“First, did you know that Jeffrey Mitchell was adopted?”
“No, why?”
“Were you adopted?”
“No, but I don’t know for certain who my father is. Why do you ask?”
“Mitchell’s DNA is on file of course, and you gave that sample to us just about a week ago, well, the computer just analyzed your results and... here, Doctor, maybe this will go down better coming from you.”
The chief handed Jessica the folder and she took it and began reading its contents, a few moments later, her head snapped up.
“This must be a mistake.”
“It’s not, Jessica, Jack had them triple check the results,” Vargas said.
He looked about at all of them as Jessica’s demeanor turned somber.
“Jessica, what’s wrong?”
“According to this... you and Jeffrey Mitchell share the same DNA. He’s your brother.”
And as the truth sank in, Jessica saw something on her husband’s face that she’d never seen there before.
It was a look of fear.
TAKEN! 15 – MOM
It’s been said by more than a few that when you return to the place you grew up in after being away for many years, that it appears smaller, but he is someone who has always seen things for what they are, and so, no, his childhood home didn’t appear smaller to him, but it did appear run-down.
In fact, the entire neighborhood was not what it once was.
One thing did look smaller however, the street itself, but it was no illusion. The street, Laurel Avenue, once ran nearly a mile long between two busy county roads.
However, now the rear of a huge chain store loomed behind a fence and the street was only eleven houses deep on either side, while the home he grew up in sat in the middle of the right side.
In the other direction, what was once a four-lane road was now part of an interstate highway and was barricaded behind massive sound walls that stood fifteen feet high and gave the neighborhood a closed off appearance.
The rest of the homes resembled the one he grew up in, two-story structures with a small front porch and yard, and all of them looked in need of basic maintenance.
Jessica reached over and took his hand as they sat parked in front of the house.
“The area has gone downhill, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, and the street has been made smaller by the highway and the shopping center.”
“Maybe your mother doesn’t live here anymore; the name on the mailbox says, Walker.”
He looked over at the mailbox and sighed.
“I guess she’s moved. It has been a lot of years.”
“We could find her with one phone call; I’m sure Carly wouldn’t mind.”
“No, she’s on vacation, if I can’t find her on my own then I’ll wait until she returns next week.”
He opened the car door and stepped out.
“Where are you going?” Jessica said.
“I want to speak to the people who live here now, if they bought the house from her, maybe they’ll know where she’s moved to.”
He pressed the doorbell and heard no chime echo from within and no one appeared, and so he knocked loudly on the door. After a few moments, a teenaged girl with long, curly brown hair and blue eyes opened the door. The girl was beautiful, around fifteen, and stared at them with a questioning expression.
“Hello.”
“Hi,” Jessica said. “Is your mother at home?”
“My mom’s out.” the girl said, as she stared more closely at him, a moment more, and she broke into a wide grin, as she stepped outside and took him in a hug while sa
ying his name.
“You know me?”
The girl released him and looked embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, and no, I don’t know you really, but I have an old picture of you and I Google you all the time,” She then smiled at Jessica. “You’re his wife, aren’t you? You’re Dr. White.”
Jessica smiled at the girl.
“Yes honey, I’m Dr. White, but you can call me Jessica. Now, who are you and how do you know who we are?”
The girl held out her hand.
“My name is Maggie... and I’m your husband’s sister.”
***
They were in the kitchen. Maggie had made them coffee, and as they sat at the wobbly kitchen table, they talked. There were two bottles of Scotch on the counter and a glance at the overflowing recycling bin revealed many more. Apparently, his mother was still a heavy drinker. Maggie told him that their mother was at work. She was a cashier at the local supermarket.
“So, my mother married Roger, Roger Walker?”
“Yes, but Daddy died three years ago. It’s just me and Mom now.”
“How did you know who I was? Does my mother—our mother, talk about me?”
Maggie sent him a sad look.
“No, she doesn’t like to talk about you. I think you broke her heart when you ran away from home.”
He sent Jessica a look. His mother threw him out on the streets when he was only seventeen, and it was at Roger Walker’s insistence.
Maggie saw something unspoken pass between them.
“What? You did run away, didn’t you?”
He nodded at Maggie. There was no reason for the girl to learn the truth and possibly think less of her mother, or her father.
“I wish I’d known that I had a sister. I should have been here for you.”
Maggie smiled.
“You’re nice, and Mom made you sound like a monster.”
“In what way?”
“Oh, well, she just always says that you were too much like your father, and that he was an evil man.”
“Did she ever mention my father’s name?”
“No, she just always says that he was no good, but, Mom drinks a lot, you know, and she’s not too fond of most people.”
The sound came of the front door opening and closing, followed by his mother’s voice.
“Maggie! Whose car is that in front of the house? If that’s still there when Tony comes home he’ll have a fit.”
His mother walked into the kitchen and stared at them. At first, she didn’t recognize him, or didn’t believe it was really him, but once she understood that he was back, she reached over and took her daughter’s hand, to pull her from her seat and away from him.
“What are you doing here?”
He looked at her closely and saw that the drinking had aged her. When he left home, she had been a beautiful woman in her thirties, now, less than twenty years later, she looked old, as her face was lined with wrinkles and heavy with the weight of time.
“Hi, Mom.”
“I said what are you doing here, and who is she?”
“I’ve come to talk to you, and this is my wife, Jessica.”
His mother looked incredulous.
“Wife?”
“She’s a doctor too Mom.” Maggie said. “A psychiatrist,”
“A doctor, you’re married to a doctor?”
“Yes Mom, now can we please talk? There are things I need to know, things that only you can tell me.”
His mother eyed Jessica and then him.
“Maggie.”
“Yes?”
“Go over to one of your friends’ houses for a while.”
“But I want to stay here and get to know—”
Her mother grabbed her and kissed her on the forehead.
“Do as I say, honey.”
“Yes Mom,” Maggie said, and then she looked at him. “I’ll come back in an hour. Please don’t leave before I get back, please?”
“We’ll wait for you, if not here, then we’ll be in the car.”
Maggie smiled as she gave them a little wave goodbye.
“See ya later,”
Her mother called after her.
“Put a jacket on, baby; it’s getting chilly out there.”
After Maggie left, the three of them stared at each other.
“About that car...” his mother said.
“Yes?”
“I’d park it somewhere else if I was you.”
“Why?”
“The guy next door, Tony Hicks, he’s an asshole, pardon my French, and he thinks he owns the whole block. He has a painting business and he likes to park his vans there. He makes me park down by the fence.”
“Nevermind the car, I need to know who my father is.”
“That’s a really nice car.”
“My father, who is he?”
“That ring on your wife’s finger, that’s about three carats, ain’t it?”
He sat back in his seat.
“You want money before you’ll tell me what I want to know? Fine, how much?”
“What?” Jessica said.
“She wants money.”
Jessica stared over at her mother-in-law.
“You’re extorting us?”
“It ain’t extortion; it’s a business deal, plain and simple.”
She grabbed a bottle of Scotch along with a glass and sat down across from them. After taking several gulps from the glass, she looked over at Jessica.
“You got some nerve judging me, girly, look at what you married.”
“My husband, your son, is the best man I know.”
His mother laughed.
“Oh girly, I know exactly what he is. What’s that you shrinks like to talk about, nature or nurture? Well it’s nature all the way, we can’t change what we are, no way, no how, and you ain’t fooling me a bit; you know what he is too, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Liar, you’re such a liar. This boy’s a wolf, same as his daddy was, I could see it in him even before he was old enough for school. The other kids, they stayed away from him, they saw it too. ‘This one’s different,’ their little brains would shout. ‘This one will eat you alive.”
His mother broke out in laughter as she poured more Scotch.
“What was the name of that boy, the neighborhood bully?”
“His name was Maurice Gunn.” he answered.
“Right, Carol Gunn’s boy, lord but that asshole thought that he was something. He was six-foot-six and built like a brick and even the men on the block didn’t give him any shit. Eighteen he was, high school hero and a bigger jerk you never came across.”
Jessica looked back and forth at them.
“What happened?”
“Well, Maurice liked to push the little kids around, sometimes he even took their money; that ended the day he pushed my boy.”
Jessica looked at him.
“What did you do to him?”
“He hit me for no reason and I broke his arm.”
“Broke it in three places he did, and he was only ten-years-old,”
He took a deep breath, after he released it, he said, “Tell me about my father and I’ll give you money, and... I also want to know about my brother, about Jeffrey Mitchell.”
His knowledge about his shared paternity with Jeffrey Mitchell shocked her, but an instant later, she regained her composure and grinned at him.
“Ten thousand, cash, you bring me that and we’ll talk,”
He stood up from the table.
“We’ll be back tomorrow with the money.”
Jessica followed him to the threshold, and then she turned back and spoke to his mother.
“Why do you treat him like this? You’re his mother for God’s sake.”
His mother sent her a sneer.
“So high and mighty you are, ain’t you? But you ain’t fooling me, you know what he is. He makes most people nervous, don’t he? Your friends, they all say that t
here’s something off about him and you’ve seen him watch other women, watch them the way a shark watches. And you, has he ever done anything to you? Has he ever tied you up, threatened you? Ah, yeah, I can see the answer in your eyes, oh yeah, you know what he is, oh yes you do.”
Jessica opened her mouth to respond, but then realized that she had nothing to say. She then turned from his mother and the two of them left the house.
***
They found Maggie leaning against their car. She smiled when they walked over to her.
“You’re not leaving already are you?”
Jessica smiled back at her.
“Yes honey, but we’ll be back tomorrow,”
“Oh, okay,” Maggie walked over and hugged him. “It was nice to finally meet you, Brother.”
“If I knew I had a sister I’d have been back sooner.”
Maggie released him and stared up at him.
“Mom was wrong. You’re nice.”
Two vans came around the corner and the one in front came to a screeching halt right behind their car, and then a man stuck his head out the driver’s side window.
“Move that damn car. You’re in my space.”
“That’s Tony Hicks,” Maggie said. “He always parks in front of our house.”
He ignored the man as he took a card out of his wallet and handed it to Maggie.
“That’s our home telephone number written on the back. If you ever need anything, you let us know, okay?”
“Thanks,” Maggie said, as she took the card.
The van driver jumped out of his vehicle and walked over to him. He was a large man with a beard and slightly taller than him.
“Hey dude, did you hear me talkin’ to you? I said move your damn car out of the way, you’re in my space.”
“I’ll move when I’m ready, and it’s not your space.”
The van’s passenger got out of the van as two other men climbed out of the second van. All of the men wore white jeans and sweatshirts speckled by different colors of paint.
The first man came closer.
“Move your piece of shit car or me and my boys will kick your ass.”
As his right hand rose to push the man away, Jessica grabbed onto it.