A beam of sunshine slices through the dark, dingy room as Dickers twitches the curtain hanging over the window to the side. “I don’t fucking know, they’re surrounding us.”
The room falls back into darkness again when Dickers drops the curtain back into place and starts to pace around. “Let me think.’
Glancing over at me as I roll onto my side and try to sit up, Jacob says, “They probably want her. Maybe we can offer her in exchange for a safe exit…”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Trent agrees, backing up his father. “Let’s just offer them Sophia so they’ll let us go.”
Dickers stops pacing and slowly turns to face father and son. “Are you both fucking stupid? Do you know who’s out there? It’s fucking Lucifer himself.”
Head still throbbing and my arms numb from being tied behind my back for so long, I’m unable to sit up. Giving up in defeat, I collapse against the hard mattress I was dumped on and pant, catching my breath.
My eyes slowly adjust to the dim lighting as I watch the four men in front of me. Three dressed in SWAT black, and the fourth, unknown man dressed in his everyday blues. Men who should protect me, an innocent, law-abiding citizen.
If my father could see this…
Oh god, if my father could see this, he’d be rolling in his grave.
The color seems to drain from Jacob’s face, but Trent is either too stupid to be worried or just stupid period.
Looking between his father and Dickers, Trent asks, “So? That could be good. We can make a deal with the boss himself.”
“Fuck,” Dickers groans and shakes his head in disbelief. “You really are as dumb as a fucking box of rocks, aren’t you?”
“What?” Trent asks, scowling and still not getting it. “Why is it dumb?”
“The Devil isn’t going to make a fucking deal with us! We fucking attacked one of his men! Might have killed him too!” Dickers screams at Trent. Clenching both of his hands into fists, it looks like he wants to launch himself at Trent and strangle the life out of him, but he’s holding himself back. “The only reason we’re not dead right fucking now is because of her. They’re holding back, but they’ll make a move soon.”
“Goddammit,” the patrolman standing near me groans and rubs his forehead. “I didn’t sign up for any of this shit!”
Turning toward him, Dickers says, “None of us did, Calvet, but it’s what we’ve got to fucking deal with! Now everyone fucking shut up so I can think!”
The room falls back into silence as Dickers paces around, peeks through the window, and paces some more.
“Okay… Okay…” Dickers says after a few seconds. “There’s only one way we can do this.”
“What’s the plan?” Jacob asks.
Stopping and looking at me with pure loathing and hatred, Dickers says, “We have to kill her.”
“What? Why?!” Trent blurts out in more confusion.
“Dickers, you said it yourself, she’s the only thing keeping us alive right now. Killing her will only makes things worse,” Jacob adds in my defense.
“I did say that,” Dickers agrees as he turns back to face the other men. “But I think killing her is our best option now.”
Face flushing with anger, Trent shakes his head and points an accusing finger at Dickers. “Bullshit! You’ve been trying to kill her from the get-go.”
The fact that Trent and Jacob don’t seem very keen on killing me would probably comfort me if they hadn’t had a hand in killing my father.
“Don’t point your finger at me, boy!” Dickers yells back. “If we would have killed her back at the house instead of dragging her with us, we wouldn’t be in this fucking mess!”
“No. If you would have let me approach Cronin’s house the night we knew that fucker was in there, none of this would have happened!” Trent counters just as loud.
And my head aches at all the screaming they’re doing, their words pounding in my temples like two sledgehammers.
“Approach the house?! Are you fucking kidding me?” Dickers repeats incredulously. “The only reason she ended up at that fucker’s house in the first place is because you knocked on the fucking door while he was there! You couldn’t wait until we got the distraction set up to get him out. No, you couldn’t fucking stand the thought of him touching her!”
“We didn’t know what he was doing to her! We didn’t know if he was hurting her!” Trent bellows, his face contorted with rage, but there’s doubt in his eyes now. Like he knows deep down Dickers is right.
“And now we have to hurt her, you fucking dimwit! She’s gonna die because of all your screw ups!” Dickers roars in pure fury.
Trent rocks back at that, as if Dickers just punched him in the gut. Then he shakes his head in denial. “No. Fuck no, we don’t have to kill her.”
Still seething, Dickers’s chest heaves up and down as he says, “We do. We have no other choice. We have to kill her and call it in. We’ll blame the fuckers out there for it. It’s the only way to get us some backup.”
“No,” Trent says again, like a broken record. Shaking his head some more as all the color drains from his face. “It won’t work.”
“If you have a better fucking idea, then please share,” Dickers grits out between his clenched teeth. “Because it’s the only one I’ve got, and I don’t want to fucking die here!”
Silence falls again.
None of the other men able to come up with a plan that would save my life.
I know I shouldn’t be upset or the least bit surprised after all the shit they’ve already done to me, but it still hurts for some reason that both Trent and Jacob are willing to kill me to protect themselves.
Hurt so much, I finally speak up.
“Here’s a plan,” I say, grabbing their attention.
I try to sit up again, fail, and grit my teeth as a million needles stab into my arms. “Why don’t you all turn yourselves in and accept your fate? You know… uphold that oath you took to protect and serve. Instead of killing me when I haven’t done anything to you!”
Dickers glares at me angrily.
Jacob at least has the dignity to look ashamed.
Trent’s face falls and he turns away from me.
Calvet, the asshole, looks from me to Dickers and asks, “How are we going to do this? If one of us shoots her, ballistics will trace it back to us.”
Dickers nods. “We can’t shoot her. Trying to cover that up would be too messy.”
Calvet shifts impatiently on his feet. “Then how?”
“Either we strangle her,” Dickers says, looking back to me, his eyes gleaming. “Or we slit her throat. Whichever everyone is the most comfortable with.”
“Jesus Christ,” Trent gasps and swallows loudly, like he wants to gag.
“There has to be another way…” Jacob says quietly, his face now as white as a sheet.
“There is no other way,” Dickers snaps back immediately, “and we’re running out of time. Those fuckers can come bursting in here at any second.”
“You’re all sick! Fucking sick!” I declare and wince at my own voice.