Tying up all the loose ends
Brian sat in silence watching his older brother as he drove to Patty’s house. The look of worry on Kevin’s face really began to bother him, that and the speed at which he was going.
“Why do you think something is wrong?”
Kevin glanced in his rear view mirror as he passed another car, “He sounded anxious and scared.”
“Scared? Really?”
“Yeah, I’m hoping that Charlie kid didn’t show up while he was there.”
“He better not have.” Brian said, sounding like a typical big brother protecting the little one.
“Something just wasn’t right and the fact that he hasn’t called me back yet isn’t helping.”
Brian grabbed his own phone out of his pocket, “I’ll try again.” He said as he dialed his baby brother’s number. This time it went directly to voicemail without even ringing. “Are we almost there?”
Kevin nodded as he passed a few more cars.
“Maybe you should drive faster.”
AJ watched Ariana as she paced back and forth. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. It was as if he was seeing a lizard shed its skin. How could someone he knew for such a long time end up being someone so different than what he thought?
She stopped her pacing and looked over at her brother, “Stop judging me, you have no idea what’s going on.”
“Does Howie know?”
“Know what?” She finally stopped her steady walk and sat on the chair opposite AJ’s position on the floor.
“That you are doing this? Is he in on this too?” He raised his cuffed hands to her to show his disapproval. Hoping that Howie was as in the dark as everyone else was. If D was a bad guy, his heart couldn’t take it.
“It’s none of your damn business.”
“When does it become my business? I mean you have me chained like some fucking dog, I think I deserve some answers.”
“You deserve nothing.”
The hate filled way she said that accompanied by the look in her anger filled eyes, instantly made AJ feel like his days were numbered. “Why were you in my brother’s room?” He asked once he calmed himself enough to speak again.
“Did anyone ever tell you that you ask too many questions?” She smiled at him as if it was a joke two friends would share over a beer while watching a movie. He wasn’t sure what to make of this behavior and whether he should play into it or not. Once again he found himself regretting not paying more attention to his family when they had long talks over dinner about their various cases and profiling. He tended to zone out after awhile, feeling as if he had little in common with his two older brothers and father. They all wanted to save the world but in different ways. His way took less patience, Kevin always joked, “AJ you became a fireman because you have no patience to sit yourself down and solve a crime. You can barely stand waiting at McDonalds.”
That was true, and as much as it irked him from time to time he always looked at his other family members in awe of what they do and wished that he had a bit more discipline to join them. He often wondered if Nick felt the same way. If he felt as isolated and left out of their conversations.
“I am nosy, but you already know that about me so it shouldn’t come as a big shock to you… now, what about my brother?”
She flashed him a small smile followed by a wink, “What would you say if I told you that he was in on this with me?”
“I’d say, in on what exactly?”
“I admit AJ that was pretty clever, let’s just say for the sake of argument, that’s it’s something pretty bad.”
“Oh okay, well then for the sake of argument I’d say you’re full of shit. My brother doesn’t have a bad bone in his body.”
“Too bad Kevin and Howie don’t agree with you. They seem to think you’re baby brother is an ocean full of trouble.”
“Well we already know that Howie doesn’t have the best judgment in the world…” He knew it was a risk to say it, but it had to be said. She threw her head back and laughed before he continued, “And Kevin knows deep down that Nicky is a good kid. We all do.”
“Nicky is a great kid with a lot of problems. See…he hates all of you. He wants you all out of his life, he told me so himself.” She walked closer to him now and squatted down beside him, “He wants you all dead.” She whispered into his ear which sent a chill all the way down to his feet.
When she pulled away she winked once more. AJ hated the fact that she smelled so sweet, a mixture of strawberries and roses. How could someone who smelled so floral be so rancid on the inside?
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said once she took a seat back over on her chair. Her scent still wafting around his head as she sat there smiling at him.
“Maybe not, but I see the small look of doubt in your eyes. Deep down inside, you think he’s capable of feeling that way and one has to wonder why. Are you a bad brother to him AJ?”
“Enough with the mind game crap Ariana, tell me what the hell is going on!” He lost his cool just then, as much as he didn’t want to, she succeeded in sending him over the edge. The look of delight on her face almost made him want to vomit.
“Ah, I see I hit a nerve…so you do think you’re a bad brother to him.” She seemed to be enjoying the unhinging of the normally cool firefighter.
“I’m a fine brother to him, and that’s why I’m going to make sure you don’t get your hands anywhere near him.”
“It’s not my hands you have to worry about sweetheart.”
“What do you mean by that?” He asked as he found himself trying to break himself free of his binds.
“Well, I am here with you which means someone else is with your little brother right now.”
“You’re lying. He’s at a friend’s house.” AJ rolled his eyes disgusted by Ariana and her stupid games.
“I know, he’s at Patty’s, but now he’s on his way here.” The look of surprise on his face made her giggle. He hated the fact that she knew exactly where Nick was and now the look of calm he was trying his best to hold onto had disappeared from his face. “We will soon be having a family reunion. Isn’t that great?” She added to further agitate him.
“What do you mean by we?”
She stopped smiling, angry at herself for saying that, letting her guard down if even for a second. As much as she wanted to tell him everything, there was a time and a place for that conversation and it definitely wasn’t now. “I need to make a call…sit tight.” She winked at him as she got up and left the room to call her boyfriend and make sure he had everything under control.
“Leave my brother alone!” He screamed after her as she closed the door and smiled.
The sudden popping sound in the air made Nick fall to the ground, he recognized that sound instantly. “Get down!” He screamed to the two other teenagers as they continued to run. He on the other hand was paralyzed by his own memories of the last time he had heard that sound. Being held in the air as a child, the smell of chemicals so close to his nose it made his eyes water for days afterwards. To this day, he couldn’t get the smell of gasoline out of his nose as he remembered Patty’s father spilling some on him as he threatened to light them both up. Then there was that popping sound coming from his brother’s gun. That day, the popping sound was his salvation, today it meant something else entirely.
Patty stopped and turned to see Nick on the ground, “Oh my God!” she said turning and running toward him.
“Patty come back!” Charlie yelled once he saw Jack begin to approach Nick.
Nick broke out of his mini trance when he saw Patty running towards him. He made himself get up and continue to escape. “Go!” He said waving his hands at her to turn back around and keep going.
“Come back here!” Jack screamed once he saw Nick stand up and make a beeline towards the woods.
Charlie seeing both kids running towards him, turned himself around and ran as fast as he could, hoping the other two could keep up, which thankfully they did. Within a few minutes they were once again all together running through the tall trees until they came to a place where Nick felt they could hide. He jumped over a huge fallen tree branch and motioned for the other two to follow him. Once they did he put his finger to his lip to signal them to keep quiet. Within seconds it seemed, they heard Jack’s footsteps crunching underneath dead pine leaves and grass. “Where are you fucking kids? You know you’ll just freeze to death out here!” He screamed as he walked right past them.
Patty was holding her own hands over her mouth to avoid screaming out in a panic while both boys protectively sat on either side of her, all three crouched down so low to the ground they blended with the earth.
Jack was almost out of their sightline now as he continued to walk straight forward and through another large thicket of trees. “We need to make a run for it once he disappears.” Nick whispered to his friends. They both nodded in agreement.
“He shot at us, why would he do that?” Patty asked once she got the courage to take her hands away from her mouth.
“Because he’s a son of a bitch, let’s get out of here.” Charlie answered when he saw the coast was clear.
The three teenagers ran back towards the car where they were hoping to go for help. “Hold it right there kids!” Those dreams were dashed though as Jack came out of his hiding spot, aiming the gun right at all three as he did so. “I knew you were hiding there.”
“What are you going to do with us?” Patty asked her mother’s boyfriend as he slowly approached them, his gun still up and aimed, this time at Patty as she spoke.
“What we were going to do before. We are going to get back into my car and continue on our little journey.”
“To where?”
Jack was now standing directly in front of the three kids. They all looked scared. “Let’s make that a big surprise, now turn around and head towards the car.” He grabbed Patty’s arm and yanked her towards him, “And if you both try any funny stuff I’ll kill this little bitch. Don’t think I won’t do it either.”
Charlie and Nick looked at one another, feeling hopeless. They couldn’t risk doing anything that would put Patty’s life in danger. “Okay…we’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt her.” Nick said in a hushed tone.
“That’s nice to hear…now move!” He shoved the blonde and he almost fell to his knees from the push. “You stupid kids are a pain in my ass. I should just waste you all now and get it over with.” He grumbled under his breath.
Unfortunately all three teenagers heard it which didn’t give them much hope one way or the other because in those words, there was a hint of what was coming next, death. Nick was hoping that none of them would acknowledge this, thinking that Jack said it to purposely get a rise out of them, but no such luck.
“Now?” Charlie asked, turning himself around and forcing their little death march towards the car to stop. “You said waste us all now.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, if you’re going to waste us anyway, why should we do what you say?”
“Charlie shut the hell up!” Nick said angrily as he noticed Jack’s grip on Patty’s arm tighten.
“Listen to your friend kid.”
“He’s not my friend, so why should we listen to what you say if you’re just going to kill us anyway?”
Jack dropped Patty to the ground and made his way over to Charlie, grabbing his shoulder and making him wince, “Because this way I could either make it nice and easy or real painful.”
They were staring at each other eye to eye, “You’re sister died quickly,” He said with a small smile, “At least that’s what I was told…now maybe if she was acting like you are now…her death would have been a whole lot worse.”
Nick helped Patty up as they both looked on. He wanted to sneak away while Jack was distracted but he couldn’t in good conscience leave Charlie on his own, so instead he looked around his surroundings for something to attack the man with while his back was turned away from him.
“You son of a bitch…you had something to do with my sister’s death?”
“Not me personally.”
“You told me that fucking agent did it.”
“Well, I guess I lied.”
Charlie was beyond angry now, so much so that he hardly cared about the gun in Jack’s hand or his friends standing off to the side watching the entire thing. He lunged at the man and almost succeeded in knocking him down, almost. Jack was a bit too quick and managed to turn the boy around and grab him in a headlock. “Well, too bad you didn’t have this kind of fire in your eyes when you were working for me son. Otherwise I would have found more use for you and your friends instead of killing them all off one by one…and you stay back!” He warned when he saw Nick taking a step closer to where he was standing.
Instantly he stopped in his tracks as Jack continued to taunt the boy in his grip. “Maybe I should let Blondie here kill you, after all you almost wiped out his family.”
“What are you talking about?” Now it was Nick’s turn to question what was going on.
“He’s the one that planted that bomb in your brother’s apartment building kid. If your family was there they’d all be dead now.”
Nick looked over at Charlie, “You did that?”
“I didn’t know it was a bomb…I didn’t think it was…a…” He trailed off as Patty moved behind Nick. “This has all been about Nick and his family… is that it?” Charlie asked, finally putting all the puzzle pieces together.
“What about my family?”
Jack tired of fighting with the kids aimed the gun at Charlie’s head, “Enough with the questions for now kid. Your sister will answer them soon enough. Now unless you want me to do you both a favor and blow his brains out right now,” He shoved the gun closer to Charlie’s temple before continuing, “I suggest we get back to the car.”
“I don’t have a sister.” Nick sounded confused and misplaced, as if he no longer was even attached to his body.
“Sure you do.” Jack answered as he led all three kids back to the car.
Brian and Kevin were met with silence at the front door as they rang the bell and knocked. “Where the hell are they?” The younger brother asked as he tried to get a glimpse in the window, “You think they all went out or something?”
Kevin didn’t answer and instead walked over to the tall tree, the same one the teenagers had used to try to make their escape. “The window is wide open up there.” He said pointing up to Patty’s window as the curtain fishtailed in and out of the breeze.
Brian joined his brother, “There are no cars here.”
“Let’s go check the back.” Kevin answered as he felt for his gun. Just having to do that brought about a great amount of unease, but yet he knew something was horribly wrong, as much as he tried to make those feelings go away.
The two agents quickly moved to the back of the house, hoping to find an opened door to go into but both were out of luck when they were only met with more windows. No back door in sight. “What should we do?” Brian finally asked after a few minutes of standing there in silence.
“I say we climb up the tree and go inside.” Kevin responded as he led them back towards the front of the house.
“Without a warrant or anything?”
“I’m willing to take my chances, are you?”
“You think something is really wrong, don’t you?” Brian asked.
Kevin nodded which made Brian’s heart sink “Maybe we should call dad, just to let him know what we’re doing.”
“We can’t take the chance that he’ll tell us no.”
“Okay well what about AJ then?”
“What about him?”
“Maybe he has spoken to Nick…maybe he called AJ when he couldn’t get through to you.”
“Good thinking…let’s try AJ first before we break and enter.” Kevin said, grabbing his phone and dialing his brother.
“Is everything under control or what?” Ariana asked once she was outside AJ’s room.
“We’re getting there.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
“That means we are on our way very soon. I have them all with me now.”
“The three of them?”
“Yes.”
“Remedy that situation before you get here. We are overcrowded as it is.”
“I’ll call you back when it’s done,” Jack said before abruptly hanging up on her.
When the phone rang a second later she was surprised to hear it coming from the locked room. Quickly she unlocked the door to see AJ trying his hardest to reach for the phone that was sitting on the floor by the chair she had vacated. Another sloppy move on her part, but luckily she thought to chain him to his spot; otherwise there would have been a problem.
When he saw the door open he stopped struggling, “Fuck!” He muttered under his breath.
“AJ…watch your language.” She joked as she grabbed the phone and smiled at the number. “Looks like Kevin is calling. Oh dear, sorry you missed it, I hope it wasn’t important.”
“You’re a real bitch.” He said as he watched her drop his phone into the garbage can as if it was a crumpled piece of paper.
“Your little brother is on his way, so soon you’ll have someone to keep you company while I finish tying up some loose ends.”
“Leave him alone.”
“It’s too late for that AJ. He’s all I ever wanted anyway.”
“What about Howie?”
“He’s one of those loose ends honey….are you hungry? I know I’m starving, how about we order ourselves a pizza?”
AJ could only look down at the ground, worrying not only for his baby brother’s life but also for his friends.
“Oh don’t look so gloomy AJ, everything will work out in the end, you’ll see.” She said like the true sociopath she was. “Now, do we want pepperoni or sausage?”
Kevin and Brian made their way up the tall tree in no time flat, going as fast as they could before they could get caught. It seemed like no one was home at either of the houses next to them so unless a passerby saw them, everything would be all clear.
Neither one of them were surprised when they ended up in Patty’s room. “Do you think they climbed out that window or do you think someone climbed in?”
Kevin was carefully thinking through the question Brian posed to him, assessing which one of those scenarios he would have preferred. Although the picture running through his brain had Charlie showing up via the window and then attacking his brother. “Kevin, did you hear me?”
“Yeah, sorry…I don’t know Bri. Let’s go downstairs and check things out.”
Brian nodded and followed his brother down the steps. “They probably went to the movies or something. After scaring us half to death that’s probably what the nitwit did.”
“I hope so.”
“Yeah, that has to be it. I mean you have to turn your phone off in a theater. He’s going to owe us big time for this one!”
Kevin nodded at Brian and tried his best to think just as positively but his instincts told him otherwise, and those instincts were seldom wrong.
Nick was full of mixed emotions. In the short walk back, he decided when they got close enough to the car, he was going to attempt to jump Jack and grab his gun away. He wasn’t exactly sure how he was going to accomplish this because of Charlie being held so close, but he knew he had to try something. Maybe after he grabbed the gun away from Jack he should shoot Charlie. The jackass did almost kill his brothers. So many thoughts, so little time.
“Okay kids…time to stop for a minute.” Jack said just before the break in the woods that led to the remote road.
Nick made his move. He took a few steps towards Jack and threw himself literally on top of the guy. Charlie managed to break free and started running towards the car, “Come on Patty let’s get out of here!” He said grabbing his girlfriend’s hand as the other two people struggled.
“No, we can’t leave him!”
“We’ll send help! Come on!” but she refused to leave Nick who was now punching Jack as hard as he could in the face.
“Go!” He managed to say to her between punches.
Charlie looked at the car, then back over at Nick who received a swift kick on his side, making him fly off of Jack. For a brief second, he almost left. Saying screw you to both of them, getting in the car and never looking back, but for once in his life, Charlie made the right decision. “Son of a whore,” He said as he ran back towards the two who were now wrestling for the gun.
It happened so fast, one second Nick had his hands on the gun and was standing up and the next he was tackled down to the ground and overtaken by Jack who wasn’t the least bit happy by now.
“I have had it with you kids!” He said as he stood up with Nick in his hands, it was his turn to be held by his throat with a gun to his head now. “You should have left when you had the chance!” He said to Charlie before taking the gun away from Nick’s temple and shooting him square in the chest.
“No!” Patty and Nick both screamed out at once as the boy put a hand to his wound then fell to the ground.
Next he turned the gun on Patty who just stood there staring, not a sound came out of her mouth as he pulled the trigger and sent her sailing down to the ground as well. “No…Jesus!” Nick was hysterically crying by this point, being held up only by Jack’s strong arm.
“Shut up kid! It needed to be done.”
He dragged Nick passed the two kids and shoved him in the car as he continued to scream.
