Reckless (Wrecked) (7 page)

He was smallish, but wiry.  He was getting up, even with Sarah still hanging onto his back.  She hadn’t felt the sting of a knife yet or the blazing heat of a bullet in her body, but she was sure it was still a possibility.  This guy was doing nothing but fighting and no announcement of being an FBI agent left his lips.  Quite the contrary, actually.

“Get off me, you fucking bitch!” he grunted out, swinging elbows out to the side, trying to catch her with one.

“Not on your life, asshole,” she growled, refusing to let go.

Then the lights went out again, and her breath was muffled by a piece of cloth.

“Aaaaaahhhh!  I can’t breathe!” Sarah yelled.  Then she felt more weight on top of her body.

“Get out, Sarah!” shouted Candi.  “I’ve got him!  Get out and help me!”

Sarah let go of her prey and squirmed and wiggled and kicked until she was free of his weight.  He still struggled, but now he was trying to fight someone else off; he seemed to have temporarily lost interest in getting to Sarah.

She worked her way out from underneath him and the light came back on.  Or rather, now she could see again.  Candi had thrown her whole quilt over the top of the guy and had him wrapped up, at least temporarily.  She was punching anything that moved, trying to slow his escape down.

“Help me!” she yelled, slowly losing the fight.  He had an arm out now and had gotten a handful of her hair.  She screamed in pain.

Sarah ran over to the other side of the room and grabbed the brass lamp that was sitting on the table next to her bed.  She yanked the cord out of the wall and leaped over Candi’s bed, stopping to lift the lamp high over her head before bringing it crashing down onto the lump under the covers.

“Ooooowwww!  Jesus fucking
Christ
… !  You’re gonna pay for that you
bitch
…!”

Sarah brought the lamp down again, cringing a little at the solid connection and the corresponding clank the lamp made.

He grunted with the last hit, and his movements slowed.

“Do it again!” yelled Candi, some of her dreadlocks still trapped in his fist.

Sarah smashed him three more times in quick succession, finally bringing his struggles to a halt.

The fist holding Candi’s hair slackened, and she pulled away from him, taking the quilt off at the same time.

Both girls stood there, breathing heavily, staring down at the man who had snuck into their room.

“Well, if he wasn’t ugly before, he’s definitely ugly now,” said Sarah, grimacing at the mess she’d made of his face.  His nose was smashed to the side, and he had three big lumps - two on the side of his head near his temple.  A nail file was sticking out of his collar bone area, and blood was pooling around his neck from the wound.

“Who is he?” asked Candi, gasping and panting, sounding near tears.  “Why was he in here?  Is he with the FBI?”

Sarah pointed to the knife on the floor nearby, one with a very jagged edge on one side and a heavy, very sharp-looking smooth edge on the other.  “I’m pretty sure the FBI uses guns, not knives.”

Candi’s face went from bright red to white in a second, her trembling hand held to her mouth, looking like she was going to barf.

“Don’t do it, Sugar Lump.  We aren’t done yet.  First of all, we need to tie this piece of garbage up in case he wakes up.  Then we have to go make sure Jonathan and Kevin are okay.”

Candi made as if to run to the door.  “Oh my god!  Jonathan and Kevin!”

“Stop!” whisper-yelled Sarah.  “We have to tie him up first!  We don’t want him waking up and coming after us again!  Now turn on the light and lock the door so we can finish uninterrupted.  He has at least one friend out there.”

Candi turn around, stricken.

“I know you’re worried about them!” continued Sarah.  “So am I!  Come on, hurry up and help me!”  Sarah pulled on the cord still attached to the lamp with all her might, but it wouldn’t come loose.

Candi locked the door and then was by her side in an instant with the murderous knife in her hand.  She cut through the cord with one clean slice.  “Wow.  That was too easy.  This thing is as sharp as a razor.”  She gulped loudly and looked at Sarah, panic in her eyes.

“Keep it together, Candi.  No barfing on me or the bad guy.  Not yet anyway.  Grab his hands and roll him over.”

Candi pulled the guy’s arms above his head and dragged him free of the bed area, flipping him over onto his face and bringing his arms around his back.

Sarah stepped over, straddling him.  She wrapped the cord around his wrists really tight … so tight it made his hands go white.

“That’s cutting off his circulation,” said Candi, frowning with concern at his hands.

“Good.  Bastien deserves it.”

Candi looked up, confused.  “Bastien?  Is that his name?  How did you know that?”

“No, that’s not his name, you goof.  It’s my new word for B-A-S-T-A-R-D.  You know I’m not supposed to swear anymore.”  She glanced up at Candi to get her reaction.

A small smile lit Candi’s face.  “He
is
a bastien isn’t he?”

“Yes,” said Sarah, turning back to the job at hand.  “Now bend his ankles up here.”

“What are you going to do with his ankles?”

“I’m hog-tying this bastien so he can just roll around up here and suffer.  Maybe his hands and feet will fall off and then we’ll never have to worry about him knifing us while we sleep again.”

“Should I take his boots off?” Candi asked, eyeing the black cowboy boots with distaste.

“Yes.  Take ‘em off and thump him on the head with them while you’re at it.”

“Are you serious?” asked Candi, the first boot off and in her hand, the long, dirty sock soon following.

“Kind of.  Not really.  But only if he moves.”  She stopped for a minute to consider it and then nodded firmly before going back to her tying.  “Yes.  If he moves, beat the shizzle out of him.”

Candi nodded, grabbing the other boot and sock off.  “Got it.  Smash him if he moves.  Consider it done.”  She held his ankles and calves bent up behind him so Sarah could tie them together and then attach them to his tied hands.  They had to cut the cord of the other lamp too to make it work, but when they were finished, he was completely immobilized.

“Geez, do his feet stink or what?” asked Candi.

“Like cat pee.  Seriously, I’m ready to vom.  As soon as we’re done here, I’m going to barf on his head just for subjecting my unborn child to such an awful stink.”

“Man, did you work on a ranch once?” asked Candi, admiring her roommate’s handiwork as she waited for her to climb over the bed and around him.

“No, but I used to want to be a cowgirl, so I watched rodeos on TV all the time.”  Sarah reached Candi’s side.  “Come on.  Let’s go see the boys.”

“Wait.  One more thing.”  Candi grabbed the dirty sock they’d taken off one of the guy’s feet and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth, using a bit of extra lamp cord to tie it in place around the back of his head.  She looked up at Sarah.  “Can’t have him shouting for help, now can we?”

“No, we cannot,” agreed Sarah, giving Candi a quick hug for her awesome idea and brave face.  She seemed to have gotten over most of her panic and was now ready to kick some butt.

They turned off the overhead light and opened the door, slowly going out into the hallway, headed to the room two doors down.  Sarah hoped her brother and the father of her unborn child had managed to take down their attacker, like she and Candi had theirs.

***

Kevin was sound asleep and dreaming of the island when the overhead light went on and the girls ran into the room, shaking him and Jonathan awake.  He blinked a few times, trying to orient himself, not recognizing the light fixture on the ceiling.  It had weird flowers on it, and the one in his room was made of stainless steel and smoked glass.  Sarah’s voice began penetrating his brain.

“ … a big friggin knife, too.”

Candi joined in.  “But he’s tied up right now on the floor, and we need to find out where all the FBI agents are and if there are anymore of these guys in the house trying to kill us.”

Candi was on his bed now, leaning down for a hug.  Her smell enveloped him, making him pull her to his side automatically for a couple seconds.  It was her trembling that finally made it through his fog enough to get him fully alert.

He sat up and placed her down next to him on the bed, removing his legs from the covers and rubbing his head a few times.  “Okay, sorry, but I was really out of it there … can you tell me again what you just said?”

Sarah growled.  “Grrrr, come on, you guys!  There’s a
murderer
in our bedroom!  How much more information do you need?”

Jonathan and Kevin leaped out of their beds at the same time, shirtless but wearing boxer briefs, both of them shouting.

“What?!”  Jonathan ran to the door, nearly tripping over his own feet, turning the lock before spinning back around to face everyone.

“Who’s in your room?!” asked Kevin, ready to smash some skulls.  The idea that someone had gone after his sister and girlfriend while they slept was beyond ridiculous.  He pulsed his pecs a few times, getting the blood flowing into his muscles.

“Like we’ve already explained, three times,” said a very annoyed Sarah, “I got up to pee, and as I was about to leave the bathroom, I heard voices outside the door talking about finishing us off.  So I followed a guy into my room where he was about to knife Candi in her sleep.”

“What happened next?” asked Jonathan in a high-pitched voice.

“We kicked his ass,” she said simply, shrugging her shoulders.

“Details, Sarah.  Details,” said Kevin, a warning in his voice.  He needed to know what they were dealing with and fast.

She sighed heavily.  “I jumped on his back, Candi threw the blanket over him, and we beat him with a lamp.”

“Is he … dead?” asked Jonathan.

“No.  Just tied up,” said Sarah.  She frowned at Jonathan.  “I hope you aren’t mad at us that we defended ourselves.  The guy deserves to be dead.”

Jonathan shook his head.  “No, no … I’m just … glad all three of you are okay.”

“Why do you care about the murderer?” asked Candi, all huffy.

“Not him, dummy.  The
baby
.”  Jonathan rolled his eyes.

Kevin smiled.  Eye-rolling was not Jonathan’s thing, and it was pretty funny on him.  But he had a point.  Sarah had taken a big risk.  Before he could scold her, Jonathan was talking again.

“You said you heard voices.  As in, more than one,” said Jonathan.

“Yes.  Two at least.”

“So where’s the second guy?” asked Kevin, looking from Sarah to Candi.

They both shrugged.

“We thought he might be here, coming after you, but apparently not,” said Sarah.  “You guys didn’t hear anything at all?”

“Not me,” said Jonathan.  “I was in deep R.E.M.-sleep actually.  I think the stress must have gotten to me.”

“Yeah.  I was totally gone,” said Kevin, feeling bad that he’d slept through the attempted murder of his sister and girlfriend.  He walked over and hugged Candi.  “Sorry, babe.  I should have been there for you.”

Candi squeezed him back hard, acting like she didn’t want to let go when it was over.  “We handled it.  But we need to get out of here.”

“She’s right,” said Jonathan.  “We’ll go as a group.  First though, I want to see the guy who came after you two.”

They all nodded their agreement, and Kevin and Jonathan moved to be first at the door.

Sarah ran over and grabbed the nearest lamp, yanking it from the wall.  She walked over to Candi, who picked up the lethal knife she’d put on the dresser and cut the cord off.  She wrapped the coated wire up in a tight circle and shoved it in her bra.

“Okay,” whispered Kevin, “we all stick together.  Give me that knife,” he said, holding his hand out.  Candi passed it up to him.  “I’m first, then the girls, then Jon.  Jon, you’ve got our backs.”  He looked at Sarah.  “Give him the lamp.”

She passed it over to Jon, blowing him a kiss when she was done.

They lined up at the door, one behind the other, and Kevin turned out the light, plunging them all into darkness.

***

They stood around the body in Candi’s room.  He hadn’t moved since they’d tied him up and she’d shoved that nasty sock in his mouth.

“I’ve seen this guy before,” said Kevin, sounding distressed and excited at the same time.  “He was at the hospital, in the emergency room!”

“What, like with the FBI?” asked Jonathan.

“No.  As in, like a guy just hanging out in the waiting room.  I’d remember those boots anywhere, with those silver tips.  He was getting coffee right in front of me and Candi.  Do you remember seeing him?” he asked her.

Candi studied the guy’s bruised face and boots, cringing inwardly at the nail file sticking out of his shoulder.  “No.  I wasn’t really paying attention to anyone else around us.  Sorry.”  She felt useless.  A murderer had totally checked them out, followed them, and almost taken them down; and he’d been standing in front of her for who knew how long.  She’d been totally helpless, a feeling she hated more than anything.  It reminded her of being on that lifeboat in the middle of the ocean, rogue waves tossing them all over the place and pushing them farther and farther away from safety.

Jonathan patted her on the shoulder.  “None of us were thinking we were being targeted, so none of us should feel bad about not noticing anything.  But that has changed.  Now we
know
we’re targets.  And now we also know the FBI either has a leak or they aren’t very good at doing their jobs … at least in this case.  So we need to start paying very close attention to our environment and be prepared for anything.”

“What are you saying, babe?” asked Sarah.

“I’m saying we need to get the heck out of this house and find a place we can stay on our own.  No FBI.  No parents.  Nobody but us.”

“Are you nuts?” asked Candi, not believing her brother would be so irresponsible.  “We can’t do that.  It’s totally … reckless.”

“I agree with him,” said Kevin.  “It’s not reckless to try and stay alive.  And when the stupid FBI can’t even keep us safe, then we have to take matters into our own hands.”