Dictator s Daughter (31 page)

“Guards! Seize him! He’s nothing but a
scumbag turncoat feathering his own nest!”

Sean and Eliwese carefully exited the library
and walked slowly toward the parked get-away car. Sean saw the
snipers dotting the rooftops surrounding them. All eyes were on him
and who they thought to be Ryan.

Sean looked around cautiously, waiting for
the big bang. They were almost to the car when he heard commotion
and yelling from across the large lawn. He hurried Eliwese along to
the other side of the car for protection as Riley shouted crude
language and threats in their direction. He appeared to be
restrained by other men. His ranting and raving wasn’t verbally
understandable but for a few words here and there. He broke free of
his bonds and started out across the lawn in their direction, and
just as Sean thought he would, Riley pulled out a gun and pointed
it at Sean.

“
I’ll kill you!”
Riley had completely
lost it.

Sean pushed Eliwese down behind the car for
safety and watched as all the snipers on the rooftops turned their
attentions and aim down on Riley. Riley either didn’t notice his
impending danger or he understood all too well what would happen
and he shot his gun in Sean’s direction.

The lone bullet missed them entirely. But the
snipers were exceptionally trained with their aim. Their earpiece
radios must have given them the command to take Riley out if he
opened fire. A dozen rifles fired concurrently striking Riley’s
head and chest in a three dimensional attack that made it look like
Riley was exploding from the inside out. His body crumpled to the
ground and he lay motionless. Dead. The grisly scene made Sean’s
stomach flip and he held Eliwese down to protect her from the
view.

When the shooting stopped, Sean quickly
opened the door for Eliwese to climb in the car. He hurried to his
door and started the engine. The sniper guns had retrained their
cross-hairs on them and time was of the essence.

Eliwese stared out the window at the
lifeless, bloody body in the middle of the grass. Sean cast a quick
glance at Riley’s bloody body and a wave of hateful disgust washed
over him
. He got what he deserved,
he thought to himself,
one down, one to go.

Many eyes watched the car drive away from the
library; one pair was that of Victor Rawlings. As Sean drove past
his car, Eliwese took off her glasses and made eye contact with her
father. She delighted in seeing the whites of his eyes as he
blinked and realized it was his daughter and not Ryan.

“What did you do that for?” Sean asked in a
panic.

“One last jab, as you would say.”

As Victor watched Sean and his brother drive
by in what they thought would be a successful get away, his eyes
met Eliwese’s glaring stare. She had removed the glasses exposing
herself to him as if to rub salt in his wounds.

“Damn,” he muttered and then he smiled. The
sound of sirens began to fill the air as Northtown’s finest
responded to the call of gunshots. Victor’s men all awaited his
order to vacate. He pointed his finger up to the sky and circled
twice in a tight motion that everyone understood to mean ‘clear
out’ and he climbed in the back of his armored car.

“Get me out of this country.” He ordered his
driver in a low grumble.

“Yes, sir.”

Usually Riley would be in the back of the car
with him on an occasion such as this, but that would never be the
case again.
Lying bastard!
Victor thought to himself,
undermining me every step of the way. I should have gotten rid
of his dead weight years ago.

Victor dialed a number on his phone. “I want
Dennison in my car.” Immediately, the traveling group of cars
pulled off the road and Dennison magically appeared by the side of
the car. After he climbed in the back seat, Victor said, “You’re in
charge now. I want a tail placed on the boy, and my daughter
retrieved ASAP.”

“Yes, sir.” Dennison immediately called
someone else and gave the orders. One of the cars in the procession
pulled a sharp u-turn and sped away in the opposite direction.

Victor couldn’t help but think about the
situation he now found himself in. His daughter missing, his money
gone, his best bodyguard a traitor, many individuals knowing
detailed information about his dealings at large and the possible
existence of another copy of the tell-all video. Not good.

Eliwese laid her head back against the seat
and continued to stare out the passenger window. She said nothing;
she just watched the buildings fly by. She figured Sean thought
this escape seemed like it went without a hitch, but she also knew
her father and the fact that he would not stop, ever.

Sean headed out of town and kept a close eye
on his mirror for followers. As they approached a gas station,
Eliwese asked him to pull over.

“We can’t stop yet.”

“I’m going to be sick. Pull over,” she
pleaded.

Sean yanked on the steering wheel and pulled
over barely in time. Eliwese opened the door and vomited out on the
road. Sean felt horrible for her. He wondered if seeing Riley dead
was too upsetting to her. Had he made the wrong choice? He took off
his over-shirt and handed it to her so she could wipe her mouth. As
she did, Sean saw the blood she’d thrown up.

“What did he do to you?!” Sean already knew
the answer but somehow it didn’t stop him from asking.

“I don’t remember. I blacked out,
thankfully.” She said with a faint voice and even fainter smile.
She closed the door and laid her head back again.

“Riley!” Sean was beside himself. He wanted
to go back and kill Riley again.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“You need to go to the hospital! You are
bleeding internally. After everything we’ve been through, I am not
going to lose you now.” Sean whipped the car around and drove back
to town. As he passed the library, he saw multiple police cars and
authorities on the scene. Rawlings was nowhere around, of course.
Sean turned a couple of corners and pulled up to the emergency
entrance.

The medical team rushed Eliwese into
emergency surgery to stop her bleeding. His concern for Eliwese’s
health was the main focus in his mind, but he was being bombarded
with questions from doctors, nurses and admissions clerks. It was
enough to make him dizzy. Once everyone seemed satisfied with
information, Sean sat down and rubbed his face with both palms
before calling Ryan.

“You got away with Eliwese?” Ryan was excited
and spread the joy to Sara and Lyndee.

“Eliwese is real sick,” Sean said
solemnly.

“Yeah, but she’s a fighter. You know
that.”

“You didn’t see all the blood she vomited.
This is serious, Ryan. She was so pale and weak; I can’t stop
thinking about how much blood she lost when she was shot. Now she’s
bleeding internally because of that son of a—”

“Sean, she’s at a hospital where they can
give her more blood. She’s going to be fine.”

“If she dies, I’m releasing the video.”

“I think you should release the video anyway.
In fact, we all do. I have the flash drive, you just say the word
and it’s all over for Rawlings.”

“Hold off on it for a bit longer. I need to
call Rawlings now, I’ll call you later. ”

Sean ended his call with Ryan and sat back in
his chair and placed the back of his head on the wall. He closed
his eyes and inhaled a deep breath, he let it out and dialed
Victor’s number.

Once Victor was on the other end, Sean said,
“Shooting that SOB was probably the smartest thing you’ve ever
done.”

“Passing Eliwese off as a boy was the
smartest thing you’ve done.” Sean could almost hear praise in
Victor’s voice. It sickened him.

“Your daughter is quite ill and may die. If
she does, you’ll get no more money from me!”

“You think you can hide from me your whole
life, boy?”

“From where I’m sitting, I have the advantage
because where I’m going would take a lot of money to find me. ”

“There is no place on earth my power and
people can’t find you.”

“Do they work for free? What are you going to
pay them with? Cookies and milk?”

“You arrogant piece of-”

“Listen close, dic—tator. You may want to
consider some other career options at this point. She dies, I
release the video!” Sean hung up and turned off his phone. He
wanted to punch something. He got up and paced back and forth and
took swipes at the air. More than anything, he just wanted to check
on Eliwese.

He sat back down in his chair and leaned
forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. It
hadn’t been many days ago he had held her close in the shower and
kissed her sweet lips. It hadn’t been many more prior to that, when
he discovered she was a girl and not a boy. The time had run
together and it was so hard for Sean to fathom what the next few
days would hold.

Victor closed his phone with care. Sean’s
threat of releasing the video confirmed the existence of it. He
would need to schedule a meeting with his press secretary to figure
out how to deal with this damning evidence. But first, he said to
Dennison, “Call the tail and tell them Eliwese is at a hospital or
clinic somewhere.”

“Do you think she’s in Northtown?”

“Highly unlikely; Cutler would have taken her
as far away from my reach as possible. What is the next largest
town north of Northtown but within thirty minutes drive time?”

“I’m not sure, I’ll make some calls.”

“No, call the tail and tell them to stop at
every town they come across till they find her.”

“Yes, sir.”

Victor needed to be across the border five
minutes ago, not in the one and a half hours it would take to drive
it. “Dennison, call my chopper pilot first and tell him to meet us
somewhere to pick me up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Victor stared out the window as Dennison
carried out his order. They were climbing in altitude on their way
to the top of the pass leading them to Slaterville and then toward
the border. Snow was falling in the higher elevations.

“Sir, the pilot says he can’t fly through the
storm.”

“What storm?”

“That storm.” Dennison pointed out the
window.

“It’s nothing. Tell him to do it anyway.”

“Sir, he says the chopper will fail if he
flies in the blizzard.”

“Well, if he doesn’t even try to fly it, I’ll
kill him when I get back. He can die now or later, it makes no
difference to me.”

“Sir, what if he makes it to you, but crashes
after you’re on board?”

“Well, it would seem you have a valid point,
Dennison. I guess we will drive the distance.”

An hour and a half later, Victor Rawlings
looked out his window and cursed at the many flashing lights of
patrol cars blocking the road at the border checkpoint.

“What the hell?” His vehicle slowed down and
came to a halt. “Dennison, find out what’s going on.”

Dennison got out of the car and was quickly
taken to the ground by two officers. Victor was astounded by their
aggression, but determined not to let it affect his resolve.

“Out of the car, Rawlings!” A young officer
shouted into the back of the car.

“That’s President Rawlings to you,
officer.”

“No, it’s not. You aren’t my president, sir.
You can get your own self out of the car or we can drag you out,
it’s your choice.”

Of all the nerve! This officer would need
to be taught a lesson on respecting men of power and authority. If
Riley were alive, I would have him kill this arrogant piece of
garbage and his family and their pets. Then again, Riley would’ve
probably accepted a chunk of cash from the officer and shipped him
off to some other location, telling me the deed had been completed.
If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself,
Victor thought calmly.

He moved his legs toward the door and pushed
his body out of the car. He expected to be greeted in a dignified
manner by perhaps the Chief of Police or the next in charge, but
what he didn’t guess was to be taken to the ground in the same
manner as his bodyguard.

“You are under arrest,
President
Rawlings, for the murder of Dr. John Randall.” The officer said
coolly in his ear and then proceeded to read him his rights.

“I don’t even know who you are talking
about.” The rocks on the road dug against his cheek and gentle
snowflakes landed on his face melting immediately. Beyond the
officer, Victor saw the border guards and the checkpoint. He had
been so close to getting away. And where was the damn blizzard that
kept his pilot from picking him up? “You are violating my
diplomatic immunity, officer.”

Several officers searched the vehicle and one
came out holding the photograph of Dr. Randall’s body. “It’s
strange you would have a picture of a dead man you know nothing
about.” The officer yelled to the others, “Load him up!” He turned
his head to Victor Rawlings and said with intense satisfaction,
“We’ve been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time.
You’re going back to Northtown to pay for at least one of your many
ordered deaths.”

Four officers aided in placing Victor in the
back of a patrol car. Ironically, Victor was always chauffeured
wherever he went—even to jail.

**********

“Hello, I’m Dr. Tindel, are you with
Eliwese?”

Sean nodded.

“We patched her up the best we could. Her
blood loss was significant. We gave her additional pints but at
this point, it does not look good.”

“Is she awake? Can I see her?” Sean asked
with his throat closing off.

“Yes, follow me.” Dr. Tindel led him down a
series of hallways to the ICU.

They entered her room. She lay motionless in
bed looking pale except for her bruises and cuts. Sean scooted a
chair over to her bedside and gently took her hand in his. His eyes
filled with tears and he pulled her hand up to his mouth and
pressed his lips to her soft cool skin.
This couldn’t be
happening,
he thought. They had succeeded in getting his mother
and Lyndee back, his father was alive, Riley was dead and Eliwese
was away from the grips of her father. Only now, she was so close
to death. It just couldn’t be true.