“Okay. I will. I'm so sorry, Daddy.”
“It's okay, Alyssa. I'm not mad at you anymore. Everything will be fine. Ford and some other officers are on their way to come help us. Just do as I say, right now please.”
I went back under the blanket in the backseat, my body shaking worse than a tree in the middle of a hurricane.
“Remember what I said. I need you to be quiet and stay under there. No matter what you see or hear.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“I love you, goblin. Never forget that,” he whispered, right before someone tapped on the door.
He got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him.
“Nice of you to join us, Graham,” some deep voice sneered. “Or should I say, Special Agent Tanner.”
I heard a few loud bangs and a few more muffled voices in the background.
It wasn't until I heard my father scream in pain, that I lifted my head out from under the blanket.
I scrunched down behind the driver seat but raised my head enough to partially take in my surroundings.
We were at a dock of some sort. There were a few dark SUV's around and big men wearing all black suits.
Then I saw something I would never forget.
My father chained up against a wall. His lip was bleeding, and someone had taken a pair of pliers to one of his fingers. My stomach heaved when I saw the blood dripping down.
I jimmied the door handle in order to go outside to help him, but it was locked.
I crawled over to the console and reached for the phone. I pressed the same button I'd seen my father press many times before.
“Hello Agent Tanner, this is Hannah. Agent Ford Baker has already made me aware of your situation and he's on his way with backup.”
“H-hello,” I whispered.
“Who is this?” Hannah asked.
“My Daddy's in trouble. The bad men are hurting him. Tell Ford to come, quick.”
“Is this Agent Tanner's daughter?” she asked.
“Yes, this is Alyssa. Come quick. He's bleeding and they're doing something to his fingers.”
“Alright sweetheart, please hang tight. Help is on the way. Where are you right now?”
“He told me to stay inside the car. I tried to go outside but all the doors are locked.”
“Does anyone besides your dad know you're inside the car?”
“No. They can't see me. Their backs are all turned away from me. And the windows are tinted.”
“Okay. Listen, I need you to stay away from the big windshield, Alyssa. It's not tinted like the other windows are. You can stay on the phone with me, but I need you to go to the backseat and stay down.”
“But then I won't be able to see them,” I protested.
Just then another car pulled up. My hopes were soon dashed when the door opened and out walked one of the biggest men I'd ever seen. Even bigger than my own father.
He wore an all black suit, dark sunglasses, and he had on shiny leather shoes with metal tips. There was also a fairly large scar on his face that stretched from his ear to his jaw.
His lips turned up in a snarl, and all the other men around him straightened their spines and lifted their heads.
He circled the men and stopped to narrow his eyes in my father's direction while he took his sunglasses off his face.
His eyes were dark as coal. The scariest eyes I'd ever seen in my life.
And I knew that something very bad was about to happen.
“Hurry. Another man just showed up. He looks big and scary. He has metal tips on his shoes. And his eyes are really dark and there's a scar on his face.”
I heard her mumble, “Shit, DeLuca himself just showed up. Where the hell is backup?”
“Wh-who's DeLuca?” I asked.
“Make sure you stay down, sweetheart. Don't let him see you, please.”
Tears pooled in my eyes. “Where's Ford?”
“He's on his way, sweetie.”
I sniffled and let out a tiny scream when I saw the man take out some kind of metal object and aim it in my father's direction.
“Don't scream, Alyssa,” she warned.
“He's about to hurt my Daddy. I want to talk to Ford. Please. I'm begging you. If you don't, I'll scream as loud as I can.”
“I'll transfer you over to him right now.”
The line went silent for a moment before I heard the sound of his voice. “Agent Baker.”
“Ford, help.”
“Alyssa?”
The man took another step toward my father. My father had remained strong, but for a single moment, I could see the desperation in his eyes when he saw what was in his hand. And it absolutely terrified me.
“Yeah. He's about to hurt my Daddy. He's wearing all black and he has metal tips on his leather shoes. He has a scar and he's scary and big, like a wrestler. And I'm pretty sure his name is DeLuca something. You need to get here and arrest him.”
“Fuck. How do you know that?” He paused. “Wait, are you witnessing everything that's happening right now?”
“Uh-huh. Where are you?”
“I'm about 5 minutes away. I'll be there shortly. Stay down and do not get out of the car.”
Three of DeLuca's men approached my father then.
I breathed a sigh of relief when they unchained him.
“They unchained him. I think they're going to let him go.”
“Alyssa, listen to me. I need you to put your head down and stop looking at them. Please, sweetheart.”
“I don't understand. Wait, another car just pulled up. Is that you?”
“No, that's not me, Alyssa. Now, stop looking.”
I ignored his request. “If it's not you then who is it?”
I watched in confusion as four more of DeLuca's men went over to the car and opened the door. They quickly yanked out two males with dark skin. Both men, if you could even call them that- because they looked more like teenagers; wore baggy clothes and had quite a few tattoos. One boy had a blue shirt on, along with a blue bandanna hanging from his back pocket. The other boy was wearing a red shirt and had a red bandanna hanging from his back pocket. They both looked tired and groggy and had bruises and gashes along their faces and arms.
I didn't understand what they were doing there, or what their involvement was.
I held back a gasp when DeLuca stretched a black glove over his large hand and proceeded to wipe down the metal crowbar.
His men then turned both boys to face one another before they shoved what looked to be guns in their hands. However, both boys appeared to be too out of it to be aware of what was happening to them.
Maybe Ford was right. Maybe it was best that I didn't see what was about to happen. I gasped loudly into the phone when I heard two gunshots go off.
My head jerked up and I let out a cry when I saw the two boys slumped over and bleeding.
My father yelled something at DeLuca then, something about them only being teenagers, I think. But I wasn't sure because my ears were still ringing from the shots.
DeLuca backhanded my father and my father, in turn, spit blood at him.
Then he raised the metal crowbar high above his head.
Everything around me stopped when he took the first swing against my father's skull.
“No! Daddy! Please, no!” I screamed out at the top of my lungs while hitting the windshield as hard as I could.