is waiting for us.”
Alex smiled, it was the opening she was looking
for. Glancing sideways, Alex saw that Tad wasn't
paying attention to the road or the signs and after a
few strategically placed turns, Alex aimed the car
for Hasani Industries.
Rob watched as Alex exited the highway and
directed the car towards Hasani. He couldn't be
sure that that was the destination of the pair, but
she had turned away from the airport and the roads
leading from town. Rob followed the car for a few more miles until he saw Alex make the final turn
necessary to go to Hasani. Reaching for the cell
phone beside him, Rob dialed Sam.
"Yeah," Sam answered.
"It's Rob. I don't know what's going on, but Alex is
headed for Hasani."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, she's on Ashmore Valley Pike now. "
"Call the troops. We'll be right there," Sam
concluded, clicked off the phone and turned to
James, "They're heading to Hasani. You coming,"
he asked crossing the room to the door.
"Yeah, I am; but why Hasani?" "I don't know," answered Sam as he passed the
elevators for the stairs, "I wish I did, but I don't.”
Tad had been more preoccupied with the truck
behind them than where Alex was driving. When
he finally realized she was taking too long getting to
the airport, he returned his attention to their path.
"Where the hell are we," he demanded reaching
across the span between them and brutally
grabbing her upper arm.
The car swerved dangerously close to a pole and
sent them onto the shoulder of the road. Quickly
rectifying the car, Alex lied, "This is another back
way to the airport.”
"I swear, Alex, if you're lying to me or trying to delay
the inevitable, I'll make your death painful," he sneered viciously, tightening his grip on her arm.
Alex winced at the pain Tad was inflicting. She
knew that he was serious and would kill her now if
he could get his hands on the money. It was this
thought that made her more courageous.
Rob had seen the swerve of the car and panicked
briefly. Not knowing what was happening inside
the vehicle made him more cautious of how close
he was to the other car. Rob was aware that Tad
had to have seen him by now, but he wasn't
dropping back. He didn't want to take the chance
of losing sight of the car and Alex.
Hasani Industries had the pleasure of sitting at the
end of what might be termed as a cul-de-sac. It
sat facing the entrance of the road and the few houses that lined it and was backed by an acre of
woods. It was the ideal location for a
manufacturing facility. For Alex, she considered it
to be an ideal location for her to escape from Tad.
Sam and James were approaching the police cruiser
that would take them to Hasani, when James' cell
phone rang. Pausing while Sam climbed into the
car, James grabbed the phone from his pocket and
flipped it open, "James O'Reilly."
"James? It's Francine. Can you hear me?"
"Now's not a good time, Francine," he spoke into
the receiver continuing towards the vehicle. "I thought I should let you know I've made a
decision about the baby."
James paused in mid-stride and shook his head,
"Can this wait?"
"No, it can't. I'm at the Planned Parenthood office
on Main Street. "
"Francine, what did I tell you," James growled.
"It's not fair for me to do all the work and then hand
over this child to Alex. I won't do it, James. I'd
rather save this child the misery of growing up than
dealing with the humiliation."
"Damn you, Francine," James sighed and ran his
fingers through his hair. "I have to go, James. They want me inside in 15
minutes. I'll see you later," concluded Francine and
then hung up the phone.
Sam watched as James slammed the phone shut
and stomped over to the cruiser, "I need to get
Francine. She's going to have an abortion. Go get
Alex and I'll see you at Hasani in half an hour."
door and headed for Hasani. Alex was not going to
be any happier to find that James had to leave to
stop Francine from acting like a spoiled child
throwing a tantrum.
James charged to his car and headed for the clinic
on Main Street. He figured with the lights it would
take him five minutes, if he was lucky. He cursed
himself for getting into this situation to begin with. He should have listened to himself when
Francine first approached him about an affair and
said no. But his baser instincts told him yes and he
had listened and now he and Alex were paying for
it.
James arrived at the clinic office and charged into
the reception area. Francine sat looking as
demure as she possibly could in a white blouse and
a skirt that actually reached her knees.
"What are you doing here, James," asked Francine.
"Saving my child's life, you heartless bitch," he
responded grabbing Francine's arm and pulling her
from the room towards the door.
"You don't give a damn about this baby, James so
don't pretend that you do," Francine protested trying to retrieve her arm from his grasp.
"For your information, I really do care, Francine. All
I wanted was to be your friend and you ruined that
by forcing the issue of a relationship between us. "
"You led me on."
"How in the hell did I lead you on?"
"You made me believe there might be a future for
us, James."
"No, Francine. You dreamt that. I never suggested
it. Now, let's go," finished James as he tugged
Francine towards the door and into the street, "I
parked behind you in the alley, so let's go." James and Francine walked to the back of the
building to their awaiting cars. After unlocking
Francine's door, he placed her in the car and moved
to his own. James had taken no fewer than five
steps when a shadow fell across the car. As he
turned to see who it was, he briefly wondered if Tad
knew about Dan and Dominic's arrest.
"Hello, lover boy," came a low voice before James
felt the punch to his chin.
Alex saw the sign of Hasani Industries and smiled as
Tad began to sputter next to her, "What the hell
have you done? Get us out of here, right now," he
demanded gesturing wildly with the gun.
"I'm finished taking orders, Tad. You want out of
here so badly, you're going to have to do it without me," Alex declared continuing her pace down the
driveway.
Tad looked in the mirror and saw the quick
approach of the truck, "Dammit, Alex, turn this car
around," he ordered before turning the gun on her
and pressing it into her ribs.
Alex felt the dig of the gun and sat up straighter in
her seat to alleviate the pressure. Looking in her
&nbs
p; rear-view mirror, she saw Sam's truck getting
nearer and quietly rejoiced at the thought of this
nightmare being over. She glanced at Tad and saw
the panic in his eyes, as he pressed the gun further
into her side.
"Alex, get us out of here now. " "No, way," Alex argued slowing the car down as
they got closer to the loading dock.
Suddenly, Tad reached out and grabbed the
steering wheel trying to turn the car away from the
building and towards the exit bringing them
dangerously close to the demonstration model
which sat in the yard. Alex jerked the wheel back
from Tad and slammed on the brakes spinning the
car around in a circle. She had just about stopped
the car, when Tad made another grasp at the wheel
and put them on collision course for the metal
recycling container.
Alex was thrust against the steering wheel and then
jerked crudely backwards by the retraction of the
seat belt as the car settled to a grinding halt. She
felt a protruding piece of metal reach out and rip away the pants and bandages covering the scrapes
on her left leg. Alex moaned and gingerly touched
the already forming bump and cut on her
forehead. Turning her head slowly, she saw Tad
slumped over the dashboard in an unusual
position. Not caring whether he was alive or dead,
Alex unbuckled her seat belt and took the keys out
of the ignition by force of habit. Pushing open her
car door, she fell out of the car and laid down on
the cold concrete, sighing that she was finally free
of Tad Pierce.
"Alex," called Rob from the other side of the parking
lot.
Alex opened her eyes, not sure how they got closed
to begin with, and looked for the voice that was calling her, "Rob," she shouted when she
recognized the cop.
"Hi there; nice driving," he joked kneeling down
next to her and examining her head. Alex began
to laugh and cry, "Thank God, it's you. "
"Who were you expecting," he asked opening the
first aid kit he had fished out from underneath the
seat in Sam's truck.
"I thought maybe you were Tad. "
"I'm not," he said confidently while opening an
iodine swab and brushing it across the open cut on
her head. When he finished with that, he applied
a dry swab to her head and taped it there. Then
he turned his attention to her leg, "I'm going to wait
for the paramedics to take care of that. I don't think I have enough bandages for it," Alex nodded,
"I'm going to go check on Tad."
Rob stood up and walked around to the passenger
side of the car and pried the door open with the tire
iron he brought with him. Tad hadn't changed
positions from when he passed the car the first time
on his way to check on Alex. Reaching underneath
him, he gently shoved Tad into an upright position
and looked him over. His face was pretty banged
up and his nose was probably broken, but aside
from that he seemed fine.
"Is he alive," asked Alex.
Rob felt for a pulse on the other man's neck, "Yeah,
he is." Tad groaned and Rob leaned down to check on him,
"Are you alright," he asked.
"I'm much better now," Tad smiled, bringing the forgotten pistol up into Rob's stomach and firing.
Chapter 25
James reeled from the punch and backed himself
into the building. He stared hard at the shadow
that had created the punch that left his jaw sore
and his ego even more so. Glancing briefly at
Francine to make sure she was alright, he launched
himself at the other man.
James landed a punch into the firm middle of his
attacker and heard him exhale loudly. Satisfied
with that response, James swung again only to have
his punch blocked and feel a blow to the abdomen.
"Shit," he swore bending over and then receiving a
knee to the face for his troubles. As James stood
upright, he saw the face of his assailant, "What the
hell?" "Hi there, lover boy," smiled Dominic, Dan's
one-time partner in crime.
"You're supposed to be in jail."
"It's amazing what bail money can do isn't it," he
joked before backhanding James face first onto the
trunk of Francine's car. Dominic punched at James'
kidneys ruthlessly and without ceasing. James
grunted and moaned in pain but refused to cry
out.
Francine heard the thud and looked in her rear view
mirror, thinking that James may have hit her
car. She had just started her own and was waiting
for him to start his so he could follow her. She
gasped in horror as she saw the large man beating
on James. Getting out of her car, Francine raced around to the back and attacked the man with her
feeble blows which only served to enrage him.
"Hello there, little girl," Dominic smiled before
wrapping his meaty paws around her neck and
squeezing.
After the onslaught ceased and unable to stand,
James slid to the ground and landed on his back,
further enraging his already bruised kidneys. He lay
helplessly as he watched Dominic seize Francine's
neck and crush her larynx.
Francine felt the large hands cutting off her oxygen
and she began to struggle. Kicking and scratching at
the beast of a man in front of her, she saw in her
final moments a hint of satisfaction on his face as it
contorted and turned blue. Francine gasped for air
and felt the need to keep fighting, but she wasn't strong enough. Her last thought was of the unborn
child in her womb.
Francine landed in a heap next to him on the
ground. Her face was ashen and her eyes mirrored
the fear she felt in her final moments. James
turned his face away from the horrific scene and
tried to gather his wits as Dominic lumbered
towards him once again. As soon as the brute was
close enough, James brought his forearm up into
the other man's groin, bringing him eye to eye with
James. Struggling to his feet, James used one of the
cars for balance and landed kicks to the abdomen,
chest and shoulders of their assailant as he slowly
collapsed to the ground. Falling on top of the large
man, he placed several blows to Dominic's face until
he was sure the man was unconscious, then
crawled over to Francine's lifeless form. James gently lifted Francine's head into his lap and
brushed stray tendrils of hair away from those
haunting eyes, "Oh, Francine," he whispered as
silent tears began to fall down his cheeks and onto
her marred face, "What have I done?"
Alex heard the shot and, despite protests from the
sore muscles in her stomach, sat up and jerked her
head to the car. She saw Rob sink to his knees and
land in a heap next to the vehicle, "Rob," she
shouted. Then she saw Tad moving, trying to
extricate himself from the wreckage.
"Alex, run," Rob gasped as the cell phone
in his
pocket began to ring.
"Alex, stay where you are or I'll shoot him again,"
Tad ordered reaching down and grabbing the cell
phone. Alex watched as he limped to the center of the driveway, where he laid down the phone and
crushed it underneath his heel.
Alex sat frozen with fear. She was on the wrong
side of the vehicle to make it to the office doors,
but she could go into the plant and hide through
the loading dock door. Clutching her keys, Alex
stood up suddenly and felt the warm and sticky
ooze of blood trail down her leg soaking her
shoe. She didn't realize that the piece of metal that
had ripped her bandages and pant leg had also torn
a section of skin away as well. Trying not to attract
Tad's attention as he stood over Rob, Alex darted
behind the recycling container as quickly as possible
and headed for the shaky pile of wood that
comprised the steps to the doorway. Tad saw Alex from the corner of his eye and kicked
Rob in the head as he moved around the car and
followed Alex. Brushing the blood from the cut in
his forehead away from his eyes, Tad grabbed a
length of metal piping that lay beside the container
and used to balance himself on his swollen and
bruised leg.
Alex reached the steps and glanced behind her. She
heard the crunch of pebbles and saw Tad hobbling
his way towards her.
"Alex, don't make me shoot you," he threatened
bringing the gun to bear on her.
Alex pushed the key into the lock and breathed a
sigh of relief as the lock clicked easily and she slid
inside. Tad fired a shot at Alex, purposely missing her. He
didn't want to kill her, but he couldn't let her escape
into the offices and call the police. Whoever the
man was from the truck, Tad was sure he was
dead. Fighting his way to the door, Tad found it
locked and he began to curse. Stepping back from
the door, Tad placed the gun against the lock and
pulled the trigger.
Sam was halfway to Hasani Industries when he tried
to reach Rob. The cell phone rang several times
before the line went dead. Sam panicked; it was
unlikely that Rob would shut off the phone or
disconnect him. Slamming down his phone, he
grabbed the two way radio and changed it from the
police channel to the channel he kept in his truck,
"Rob! Rob, can you hear me," he demanded in to
the mouthpiece. Rob lay as quiet and as still as possible until Tad was