She picked up the letter and slit it open. Cathy scanned the page. Her eyes got wide.
“Steve! Get in the car!” Cathy shouted, terror in her voice.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” asked Steve, but Cathy was already out the door. Steve noticed the hastily scribbled letter. Barely five seconds later he rushed to join Cathy in the car. She was desperately trying to start the car while dialing 9-1-1. Steve took the keys from Cathy and put them into the ignition. The car roared to life. Almost hydroplaning on the newly fallen rain, the car sped toward the police station.
***
Tiana stared at the light coming from beneath the closet door. She could hear voices, one of them faintly familiar. She wanted to cry out and call to the voice, but the gag blocked all sound that came from her dry mouth. Slowly worming to the door, Tiana tried to see out from the miniscule crack between the floor and the door that blocked her from freedom. Eyes burning, not used to the light, she blinked away the darkness to try and distinguish anything recognizable.
“Drat, just shoes” Tiana thought to herself, “Wait a minute, those look like…David’s!” The worn orange sneakers couldn’t be anybody else’s. David¾here? Tiana sat up using her elbows. The chains binding her made clanks and scrapes against the closet floor. The voices stopped. Footsteps. Walking toward the door…
***
David looked over at the closet door in the corner of the room. The clanking, quiet but unmistakable, was definitely coming from behind it. Could something have fallen? No, that would have been louder. The thug closest to David, who he assumed was the leader of the foul group, nodded slightly to the burly man near the door. The thug walked toward the door. The clanking stopped. “Could they be… no, they wouldn’t be that stupid. But Tiana…” David thought to himself. He glanced toward the closet. “She could be in there. Urg, just don’t pay attention. If I get distracted then it won’t matter if Tiana is in there. I just hope this works.”
***
Richard walked into room 228 with a confidence that David would be in there. He almost jumped when David wasn’t. “David? You there?” He called out to an empty room. Richard walked slowly to David’s desk, fighting the urge to tiptoe through the silence. A note was taped to the side of the desk. Nothing strange about that; but the colorful lettering was a bit odd. Richard ripped off the note. “Wait a minute, this is cut and paste. Why would David…” Richard read the note. “Library, 5 o’clock. Bring the find.”
***
Tiana tried to work her hands free from the rusty chains. She had tried before, though all that came from it were infected scrapes; but at the thought of David, Tiana was trying her hardest to get to him. He could help her. Somehow.
***
“The plan is working perfectly. The plans we got from the boy will be our ticket to revenge,” chuckled the thug leader. “We’ll be able to hit Morgan where it hurts.” He smiled a sour smile. “Soon he will know what it feels like to have everything torn away from him.”
***
She had almost worked her hands free when the lights outside went dark. With a grunt, Tiana’s hands were free. Fumbling with the knot of her gag, she figured she had a few hours ‘til they awoke. Tiana pulled a hairpin from her ratty hair and tried to pick the lock on her legs in the blackness of the closet. “This is taking too long,” thought Tiana as she broke the pin. She sighed as she pulled out another. “They’ll be awake by the time I get out of here. This is just hopeless.” The lock clanged to the ground. The lock-picking skills that had gotten her detention in grade school had paid off. Stinging pains shot up her legs. Tiana realized she hadn’t stood up in days. Wobbling over, she braced herself against the wall while she picked the lock on the door.
***
David peeked out from his hiding place in the library basement. “Finally, they’re asleep. I was afraid that they would never turn the light out.” Creeping slowly to the laptop sitting on the old, chipped desk, David reached into his pocket for the thumb drive he had brought with him. Opening the laptop, he pressed the power-button and plugged the drive in. Clicking on the documents icon, David downloaded every dirty little secret on the laptop to the thumb drive. He had just finished when creaking and a large clank came from the closet. “That’s funny; it’s the same closet that the clanking came from earlier,” David thought to himself. “It might be one of the thugs.” He looked wildly around for some kind of weapon and picked up a large crowbar lying on the packing crate next to him. Crouching behind the crate, David waited for the anticipated danger. The door opened gradually. A figure limped out, smaller than most of the thugs.
“David?” A hoarse voice whispered¾hoarse, but recognizable.
“Tiana?” David answered, almost forgetting to whisper. Tiana ran to embrace her old friend with relief flooding her face. “Where have you been all this time?” he asked with concern as he supported his weakened friend.
“I was in the closet. How did you get mixed up in this?” replied the battered Tiana.
“No time now; we have to get out before they wake up. Come on!” David grabbed the thumb drive from the port and bounded up the stairs with Tiana following as swiftly as possible. The Culver Library was only lit by faint moonlight, by which they made their way to the door. It had started raining again. The icy rain was freezing to Tiana’s bare arms. David slowed to Tiana’s pace as she started to get breathless. He noticed her shivering and offered his jacket to warm her.
“Could you answer my question now?” Tiana asked as she limped along beside David.
“What question?” David looked at Tiana quizzically.
“How did you get mixed up in this? I thought Wilkfield was just after me. But now, after you showed up, I’m not so sure.”
“Wait, who’s Wilkfield?” David questioned.
“You mean you didn’t even know? John Wilkfield used to work at my father’s company. He was practically second in command. Then he started embezzling money from the company so my dad fired him. My guess is that he wanted revenge so he tried to make me betray Dad.”
“And you didn’t do it, did you?” responded David.
“Would I be locked in a closet if I had agreed?” Tiana questioned with a smirk.
“Yeah, I guess not,” said David, “I guess I got sucked into all of this because of you. When you disappeared, I got worried. I started asking around, and still I couldn’t find you.”
“Why didn’t you use the GPS on my phone? I gave you the tracking number.”
“I did. A few days ago it led to the library basement. When I got down there, you weren’t there. I opened a few doors and found the thugs in some kind of meeting. It kind of went downhill from there. They told me that if I didn’t do what they say…they would…get rid of you…” David trailed off.
“What is it?” Tiana looked up at David’s face. His eyes went wide.
“We’ve been spotted! RUN!” David grabbed her arm and took off sprinting. Tiana glanced back only long enough to see the blinding white headlights of the thugs’ car before she flew after David.
***
Richard breathed deeply and pushed open the college library door. It was very early in the morning and almost no one was there. A tired librarian slumped over the front desk, obviously fighting sleep. Richard rang the bell and the librarian jerked awake.
“Excuse me, but did a guy with brown hair and orange sneakers come in here yesterday?” Richard questioned.
“I can’t exactly see peoples’ shoes unless I lean over and stare at them,” replied the librarian grumpily, “and there is many a person in the world with brown hair. Plus, I wasn’t here yesterday. I’m only here because of community service.”
“Well, he’s not going to be of any assistance.” Richard frowned to himself. “Do you know of anybody that could’ve seen him come in yesterday?”
“Try Sherman. He’s working on the second floor¾non-fiction section.” The librarian swiveled around in his chair to grab a cheap sci-fi novel. Putting his feet on the desk, he stifled a yawn and opened the book.
“Alright, thanks for your help,” a sarcastic Richard squinted at the librarian’s nametag, “Francis Migillicutty.” The librarian glared at him. Richard headed for the stairs.
***
It seemed as if Tiana had been running for hours. Beside her was David, looking like a hunted deer. The car had stopped after they had run into a junkyard, and two men had gotten out. They gave chase.
“How did it all come to this?” wondered Tiana. So many things had gone wrong. She stumbled and fell over a broken glass bottle, the shards of sharp glass cutting into the skin of her hands. Her mind attempted to push away the throbbing in her palms by focusing on her childhood memories. She remembered so many good times. And in them all, was David. Tiana remembered meeting him the summer that she had moved with her parents to Virginia. They had become fast friends. They had gone to the same school. Tiana remembered how David had introduced her to everyone she knew, how he had always been there for her, even when her mother died from cancer. David and Tiana were almost inseparable. They had done everything together. The memories shattered, and the shield from the pain was gone. Searing hot pain streaked up her arms. David had grabbed her and was trying to drag her up to a standing position. Like from a dream Tiana awoke and was snatched back into the present. Stumbling forward, they started running again. The men had gained a lot of ground and were almost upon them.
***
“Umm… hello? David? Are you in here?” Richard felt a déjà vu moment. He had done this in room 228. The lazy librarian, Sherman, hadn’t been much of a help, so Richard started poking around for himself. He soon found himself in the basement. Richard could hear a few voices, but he thought they were from upstairs on the main floors. Walking closer to one of the doors, he was about to open it, but then realized the voices were coming from behind it! Not only that, but someone had said, “David!” Leaning into the door, Richard tried to drink up every last drop of the muffled conversation.
“David… Three o’clock we move… the guns prepped…” Richard jumped at the word “guns.” The voice continued, “Morgan will pay… everything… to plan.”
Richard thought to himself, “Wait¾ Morgan? As in Phillip Morgan? The Phillip Morgan? What would they want with him? And with guns¾oh, this can’t be good.” He was startled at the thought.
“Meet us at the airstrip outside… town.” Richard strained to pick up the low voice, “Make… no one follows…” There was a sudden clap, as if someone had closed a phone, and then footsteps striding towards the door. Richard crawled behind a large crate of old books as the door opened. A devious-looking man stuck his head out, looked this way and that, and came out from behind the door. He rushed up the stairs like a charging bull and disappeared onto the main floor. Coming out from behind the crate, Richard crept toward the door. He shifted from one foot to the other with nervous uncertainty and then stole into the room.
***
Panting wildly, David pressed his eyes closed, hoping not to be found. The rusty metal door and rotting cardboard were all that hid him from sight. He had put Tiana in an overturned refrigerator and propped open the door before crawling into the spot where he was now. David froze. The thug’s footsteps were crunching through tin cans. He dared to look though a small hole in the cardboard. David wished he hadn’t. The thugs were searching through the trash, searching for him and Tiana. They were getting close to his hiding spot. David tensed, ready to bolt as soon as he saw daylight. He almost jumped three feet in the air when he heard a phone ring. The thugs paused, and one of them answered the jingling phone. David could hear the voice on the other side of the phone.
“Leave them. We’ll take care of it later. Get back to the library. Now!” The firm but hushed tone dissolved into a buzz, indicating the call had been disconnected. Snapping the phone closed, the thugs jogged away to the car. David listened until the engine started and drove away, and then he came out into the open. Running to Tiana’s hidden place, David ripped open the half-open refrigerator door.
“Come on, we have to make up for lost time¾and we have a long ways to go.”
***
Sitting in the back of a police car, Cathy felt nervous and jittery in her seat. The bars over the window made her feel like a caged animal. Cathy thought back to the letter from David.
Mom and Dad,
I don’t have a lot of time to explain. I need you to trust me on this. Just please call the police and tell them to go to the coordinates 34°8′2.77″N 118°19′18.10″W. They will know where it is. Don’t go with them. I don’t want anybody to get hurt¾especially you. I really love you guys.
Your son,
David
Steve reached over and patted Cathy’s knee. “It’s going to turn out ok. I know God is watching over David,” he said soothingly.
“I wish that I could believe that.” Cathy stared out the watery window, her vision blurred with the tears that streaked her cheeks. “I really wish I could believe that…”
***
The whirling from the helicopter blades was almost deafening. The aircraft felt like it was struggling against the cables that were holding it. It wanted to be free in the skies. And soon it would get its wish. The thugs were almost finished loading the cases of what looked like artillery into the helicopter. Smashed underneath helicopter seats that were not meant for hiding under, David and Tiana were listening for the police that were supposed to have arrived by then.
“Where are they? They were supposed to be here by now,” thought David. He was extremely worried. “What if they aren’t here in time? What if Wilkfield takes off before they get here? What then? I hope they get here soon.” The thugs had started to unhitch cables. David could hear the pilot climbing into the cockpit. The doors slammed shut and David felt a lifting sensation. He realized that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
***
“Do you know where the chopper is going?” asked the policeman.
“No, David only told us these coordinates. Nothing else,” answered Cathy worriedly.
“I could call in reinforcements, but that would take too long.” The man rubbed his chin. “Do you have a guess? We were going out on a limb when you called. We need more information before we can do anything else.”
“Nothing¾nothing I know of…” Cathy’s voice trailed off.
***
David poked Tiana and motioned for her to come out from under the chair.
“Come on!” he whispered in a barely audible voice. Tiana slithered out and kneeled close to David.
“What’s the plan?” Tiana mimicked David’s tone. David crawled over to a nearby case and slowly opened it. He pulled out a small pistol. “Do you know how to use that thing?”
“No, but Wilkfield doesn’t know that. I think I can sneak up on him.” David carefully took out some ammunition and loaded the weapon.
“Do you really think that it will work?” questioned Tiana.
“I can only try,” answered David. Tiana reached out to grab David’s arm to stop him, but he was already moving toward the cockpit. Putting his finger on the trigger, David gradually got up from his crouched position and took baby steps toward the cockpit. “Alright, Wilkfield, freeze!” David had pointed the pistol at Wilkfield’s head when Wilkfield turned around. There was a gun in his lap, and David was pretty sure that Wilkfield knew how to use it. “Uh oh!”
“Ha! Stupid boy. You should know by now that what you’re doing is a hopeless cause. You don’t even have the courage to pull that trigger. Its safety is still on.” David got a confused look at this remark. Wilkfield moved menacingly towards David, stooping to avoid hitting his head. He raised the gun. “Unfortunately, you are of no use to me now. You might as well drop the pistol. It won’t be of any help to you now.” David glanced down at the firearm in his hand. How could he have been so stupid? He fumbled around, trying to find the safety. He flicked the switch.
“Stale mate. I just figured out where the safety is,” David smirked, though drenched in nervous sweat.
“Clever, but it won’t save you and that cursed brat, Morgan’s daughter.” Wilkfield chuckled. “Where is she anyway? I was told that she was with you when my minions were chasing you.”
“She stayed on the ground, where you should be.” David hoped that he would believe the fib because, in the corner of his eye, Tiana was crawling on her elbows behind crates toward the pilot. “Your plan won’t work. Your accomplices are in jail by now. What else can go wrong for you? Just give up now and maybe you’ll get a few years off in jail.”
“You must be joking! My accomplices? Ha! Hired muscle, easily replaced and forgotten. And plenty can go right for me now. We’re almost halfway to Morgan’s head factory. You just wait, and you will see just how much can go right for me.” By this time, Tiana was right behind Wilkfield and standing up slowly.
“So that’s your plan? Take down an entire factory with just two people¾you and the pilot? How are you going to do that without your ‘hired muscle’ as you called it?” David regretted what he said about the pilot. Wilkfield might take that as a hint to break his intense stare to look back. David hoped not. Tiana was already holding a crowbar high above the pilot’s head.
“Oh, I think I can do without them. I have a whole case of plastic explosives with Morgan’s rotten name on it. All I have to do is just drop it overboard. Then you can say goodbye to Morgan, Inc.”
“But why? Why do this to your former boss? He was merciful to you. You should have gone to jail for what you did to him. But he let you go.”
“Let me go? Let me go? He ‘let me go’ with a brand of shame on my forehead. And that brand marked me. I was a marked man. Everyone knew who I was, what my reputation was. No one trusted a man who was branded for life. No one trusts me. Morgan made my life absolutely miserable. Being turned down by one employer after another. I got desperate. I decided to destroy the company. Take everything that’s special to Morgan. Take my revenge.” There was a soft thud and a low moan coming from the cockpit. David looked over to see Tiana holding up the pilot with one arm and flying the helicopter with her other crudely bandaged hand. His brain did a double take at the sight of his friend.
“What was that?” Wilkfield turned around to see Tiana and the pilot. David took this opportunity to take out his foe and prayed that the karate lessons he took in high school wouldn’t fail him. With a swift kick, Wilkfield fell to the floor. David stared down at his handiwork.
“I can’t believe that worked,” David grinned. “Let’s get this thing turned around!”
“Already on it. Drag these guys to the back; I need both hands for flying.”
David grabbed the pilot’s arm and pulled him to the back of the helicopter. “When did you learn to fly a chopper, Tiana?” Asked David as he dragged Wilkfield to the back and duct- taped the hands of the two men to make sure they weren’t a threat.
“Well, I never really did, but I’ve ridden in my Dad’s private helicopter enough to be able to figure a few things out,” replied Tiana with intense concentration.
“Do you know how to land?”
“Maybe. I hope so.” Tiana heard a bang from the back and a sharp intake of air. “David? What was that?” David had a tensed look on his face. “David? Are you ok?” He slipped off the chair he was leaning on and slid to the floor. “David? What…” Tiana could see a stain on David’s shirt. She looked over her shoulder and saw Wilkfield slumped on a case, a small pistol in hand. Wilkfield drifted into unconsciousness. “David! Wake up! No!” Tiana was getting frantic and let go of the controls. She grabbed David and shook him. The helicopter lurched to the right. A siren blared outside and a crackling voice reached Tiana’s ears.
***
“David? Are you there? Can you hear me?” The faint voice sounded through David’s foggy head. It took a few seconds for his brain to recognize the sound as words, but soon David’s eyes fluttered open to a familiar face. Tiana’s face.
“Tiana? Where…” David looked around to see a blindingly white hospital room filled with faces. “Mom? Dad? What are you doing here? I thought I…”
“…Told us to stay home,” Cathy sat on the edge of his bed. “I’m sorry honey, but we couldn’t stay away. We couldn’t let you be there all alone with those, those, people.” Cathy strained at the word, ‘people.’
“What exactly happened?” David tried to sit up but laid back down when he felt the sharp pain in his shoulder.
“When you kicked Wilkfield, he didn’t stay unconscious,” Tiana explained. “He must have had a gun hidden somewhere.”
“I can feel the results.” David gave a wry grin. “So what happened after that?”
“Well after he, you know, shot you, Richard and the FBI came in a helicopter and coached me down safely. Once they arrested Wilkfield and the pilot, they took us to the hospital.” David then noticed Tiana’s bandaged hands. Tiana turned and looked over at Richard, “How did you know where to go, anyway?”
“I followed the clues. I found that note in your room, David, and then I went to the library and found the room in the basement. I went in, found a few plans and voila! Then I called the FBI, and they took care of it from there.”
“And Wilkfield? Where is he now?” David inquired.
“He’s in jail¾where he will be for a looooong time,” declared Tiana triumphantly. “You’ve been out for a while. Almost two days! Of course, the meds they gave you for the surgery and pain accounted for most of it. How are you feeling now?” asked a concerned Tiana.
“Alright, I guess; a bit tired, though,” David responded. A doctor with a balding head and a grimace, as though he had just eaten a lemon, came into the room and cleared his throat.
“Ahem, I must ask you all to leave. Dave needs his rest,” the doctor said firmly as he flipped through the papers on his clipboard.
“It’s David. Not Dave.” David frowned at the doctor as the others left.
“Right, Dave. I must ask the rest of you to leave.”
“Oh well, I’ll see you as soon as I can. I promise.” Tiana smiled an encouraging smile, then went through the door, out of David’s sight.
***
The familiar surroundings of the Culver Library filled David’s senses. “I can’t believe I haven’t been here in three months! Nothing has changed. Except for no evil guys in the basement.” David shuddered at the thought. After he had gotten out of the hospital, summer vacation had begun. David’s parents took him to visit family in Pennsylvania to wind-down from all the excitement. This was the first time he had seen Richard and Tiana since the incident. A friendly hand waved from one of the tables nearer to the back of the building. He jogged toward his friends, but slowed when he received a glare from the librarian.
“Hey, you guys!” exclaimed David as he sat down at the table beside Tiana and Richard.
“Long time no see!” Richard high-fived David. Tiana reached over to do the same.
“I missed you! I think the whole town missed you. There were newspaper stories about us saving the town. A bit of an exaggeration, but I think everybody got the gist. I just can’t believe that it all happened here,” marveled Tiana.
“That was just what I was thinking. It’s amazing that the library didn’t notice they had a gang of thugs in their basement.” They all shared a laugh at this comment.
“Wilkfield’s in jail; my dad’s work is safe. It’s kind of sad it’s all over. Everything’s going to be boring now after all the excitement.” Tiana looked down at the table and started picking at her chipped nail-polish.
“You’re not saying you want to do it again are you?” David stared over at her with raised eyebrows.
“Eh, maybe¾except Richard gets captured next time.”
“Hey! How do you know it wouldn’t be David?” Richard gently punched Tiana in the arm.
“If that ever happens again, how `bout no one gets captured! It’ll save me a lot of time not having to rescue a damsel in distress.”
“Oh pish posh. You enjoyed it. Admit it, you did.” Richard smirked at David.
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. Come on. Let’s carry on this lovely argument of petty disagreements over coffee.” David got up and pulled out Tiana’s chair. “M’lady, might I be so bold as to ask you to join me?”
“I think it would be quite lovely, thank you. It would be my pleasure.” Tiana daintily took David’s arm and primly started walking to the door, keeping up the over-polite act. She continued, “Richard dear, what then would be keeping you from joining this merry party?” David struggled not to laugh.
“I might just have to take my leave with you for this exquisite affair.” Richard stood and started strutting after David and Tiana. Under the watchful stare of the librarian, they barely made it out the door before they burst out laughing.