“Finally!” thought Cathy as she settled onto the couch to read through her mail from work. She rummaged past the memos, charts, and graphs. “What’s this?” she wondered as she lifted the envelope from the pile. “From David,” read Cathy. “I wonder why he didn’t just call or text me?” thought Cathy. As she was anxiously tearing open the envelope, Steve walked in.
“The school office wants to speak to you about the new gym,” Steve whispered as he covered the phone with his hand.
“Do I ever get a break? It’s almost seven o’clock!” Cathy asked herself while dropping David’s letter on the couch and heading over to the phone.
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“I have the money and the paper with the stuff on it,” David stated as he hid in the shadows.
“There is a table in the back room; we will go over it back there.”
“Whatever you say,”
As David and the stranger were walking to the back room, he was wondering how long it would take for his mom to open the letter and get help. “It better not take too long, I don’t know how long I can stall these guys without their getting suspicious,” he thought to himself. As they opened the door to the back room, David could see a man sitting in the dimly lit corner. The man leaned out of the darkness of the shadows; it was him, the man that he seen that night, that night when all this had begun.
“Hello, David, remember me?” The dark, scratchy voice sent chills down David’s spine.
“Yes, I remember you. You were there the night that girl was killed.” Memories started swirling through David’s head.
“Not only was I there. I was the one who killed her.”
Anger filled David’s blood. “You murderer!” David yelled as he jumped off of his chair and launched himself at the man. Immediately, David heard a crack, and then a shooting pain shot through his head. The last thing he remembered was seeing the man reach into his pocket for a lighter.
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Richard wondered about David while he was walking to his dorm room. “It’s not like David to not call me if he is going to be late; something must be wrong.” Richard picked up his pace to a jog. Richard hoped and prayed that David would be sitting inside his dorm, reading a book or playing a video game. Richard’s hopes were destroyed as he opened the door to a ransacked room with no David. Richard sprinted down the stairs and into the parking lot to get his car. Richard floored it down the road to David’s parents’ house to see if they knew what had happened to him. After a fifteen minute car drive, Richard rang on the Setter’s door.
“Come in,” Richard heard Steve call. “What can I do for you, Richard?” asked Steve as he got up from the living room couch.
“Hi, Mr. Setters. I wanted to know if you guys knew where David is if he isn’t here?”
“ Last time I heard from David was yesterday when he told me that he was going to have dinner with you tonight; is something wrong?” asked Steve curiously.
“I don’t know,” answered Richard, with a tone of worry in his voice.
“I’ll ask Cathy; she probably knows,” said Steve as he headed back into the kitchen. “I’ll be right back. Make yourself at home.”
“Thank you,” answered Richard as he sat down on the couch. While scanning the room, he noticed an unopened letter from David crunched between the couch and the lamp stand. “I wonder what this is,” Richard asked himself, reaching down for the letter. He slowly opened the letter. It read:
Dear Mom and Dad,
I am involved in something terribly wrong. I don’t have much time to explain, but I am going to be at Culver library tonight, and I don’t know what is going to happen to me. I just wanted to let you know that I love you and that if something does happen to me, I want you to remember that you are the best parents a boy could ever hope for.
Your son,
David
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David was swept up into a deep sleep and memories started to flow through his mind. He was walking around campus at ten o’clock at night. As he was walking, he heard a small, muffled scream. His heartbeat went through the roof as he turned a corner to see a gun in a smiling man’s hand and a girl with a face as cold as stone lying on the ground in front of him. As David had started to turn and run for help, a couple of masked men had come from behind him and forced him to the ground. As he was being shoved and kicked by the thugs, a man had silently walked through the darkness towards David. The man made a deal with David that if he would help the men with distributing drugs to the campus and the people on it, he would spare David’s life. The man had threatened him and told David that if he squeaked, or if they got caught, that David and all his loved ones would die. David had been hiding this secret and what he was a part of for six long, hard months, but today, he would set it all right.
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Richard dropped the letter on the floor and ran to his car. Richard’s eyes grew wide as he approached the library; it was engulfed in flames. There were no firefighters in the area and Richard knew that David was probably in the building, tied up somewhere or locked in a room. Without thinking twice, Richard poured some water on a rag that he grabbed from his car and sprinted toward the library door. When Richard broke open the door he was overwhelmed by the heat of the building. Richard kept to the ground as he started scanning the library. His eyes felt as if they were on fire as he continued to wander through the library. Richard knew that he only had a couple more minutes before he would be crushed under the fiery debris of the collapsing building. After what seemed hours, he had finally looked through every nook and cranny of the library. As he headed out of the library, he was filled with anger and grief. “Where in the world could he be?” he angrily thought to himself. As he neared the door of the library, he noticed the door to the basement. “Of course, that must be where David is.” Regaining his strength and hope, Richard headed toward the basement door. Just as he was opening the door, a wooden beam dropped from the second floor and landed less than a foot from where Richard was standing. “Please, Lord, let me make it out of here alive.”
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Steve sat on the couch, thinking to himself. It had only been fifteen minutes before that he walked into the living room to find an open front door and no Richard. Cathy finally walked into the living room after she finished her phone call.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Steve answered. “Richard stopped by while you were on the phone and wanted to know if we knew where David was. I went to ask you if you knew but found that you were busy, so I came back into the living room, and Richard wasn’t there. I tried reaching him and David on their cellphones, but neither answered.”
“Don’t worry about it; they’re two teenage boys. Who knows what they are up two.”
“I thought that, too, until I found this letter.” Steve handed the letter to Cathy. She took the letter and started to read. Fear struck Cathy as she finished the short letter.
“We need to go call the cops and head to the library; I hope it’s not too late!” She said as she tried to regain control of her emotions and grabbed the car keys off the counter. Both of them rushed out the door, not even taking time to lock it.
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The smell of smoke woke David up. “Where am I?” he asked himself as he looked around the smoky room. He regained his senses and got up . “I got to get out of here,” He thought. David started to call for help, trying to control his breathing as the smoke filled his lungs. He tried the door but it was locked from the outside. His bones rang out in pain as he continuously threw himself against the locked door, trying to bust it open. “It’s no use; I am going to die in this room.” Not two seconds later, Richard came crashing through the door.
“You’re late.” David joked as relief filled his body. “Thanks for coming.”
“Don’t thank me yet; the way out is blocked off; we have to find another way out.”
“The air vents,” David thought out loud. “They lead outside, right?”
“Sure they do,” Richard replied trying to stay positive. “Let’s go.” The two boys looked for the nearest air vent that they could fit through; it was a deadly game of I Spy.
“Over here,” David yelled, leaning over a counter.
“Did you find one?” asked Richard as he walked over to where David was standing. “Oh my goodness!” Richard said as he looked down to see a librarian whose face was white as snow, slumped up against the wall with a bullet wedged in his hip. “We need to get him out of here; he’s still alive, barely.”
“Okay, I’ll pick him up while you get that air vent on the wall open.”
“Alright, but hurry up.” Richard could feel the smoke burning his throat.
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Steve and Cathy arrived at the library to see firefighters and policemen standing around a taped off library which was burning to the ground. They got out of their car and ran to the nearest fire chief.
“Are there any people in the building?” they questioned, approaching the man.
“Scanners are picking up three life forms in the building, but we don’t know where they are, or if they’re dead or not.”
“You have to get them out of there; my son is in there.”
“Like I said, Ma’am, we are doing all we can. I am sorry if your son is in there.”
Suddenly, there was a crash, and seconds later three firefighters came rushing out of the buildings just before an explosion shook the area. “Sir, there’s nothing left we can do, “They shouted as they stumbled over to the chief.
“The fire has consumed all levels of the building and is starting to reach the basement. It’s too dangerous to go in there again with all the falling debris and such.”
“Okay, start working with the others to extinguish the flames. We will send in a scavenger team when the fire is out.”
“Yes, Sir!” they answered as they walked away.
“No!” Cathy screamed, rushing towards the chief. “You can’t stop now; my son is still in there.”
“Stop,” Steve said, holding Cathy back. “There’s nothing they can do now.
After a couple of painfully long minutes of waiting, there was a noise on one of the balconies on the second story.
“Look!” yelled a firefighter, pointing at three figures emerging out of a vent shaft over the balcony. Two of the three figures started to cry for help once all three were safely on the balcony. The firefighters grabbed ladders to get the people down, and in a few minutes, all three of them were being driven away to the hospital.
“Thank goodness they are all right!” Cathy said in relief as they followed the ambulances to the hospital.
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David awoke to find himself in a room crowded with family members and doctors.
“Good, you’re awake” one of the doctors stated. “You took in a lot of smoke, so don’t talk or anything so you can let your throat heal. Get some rest and push that button on the table over there if you need anything. We’re going to leave you alone for a while.”
David nodded his head to the doctor, and in a few minutes he dozed off into a deep sleep.
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Steve sat outside of the room in which David was resting. The doctor walked out of the room and looked at Steve.
“Is he all right?” Steve asked, staring at the doctor.
“He had a lot of smoke and such in his lungs, and it is affecting his breathing, but he will be fine. You can go talk to him in about half an hour or so.”
“Thanks a lot, Doc.”
“No worries,” the doctor said as he started to walk away. “By the way, if you need anything, you can call and we’ll be here. I also have a nurse standing by just in case.”
“Thanks again,” Steve called to the doctor as he walked away.
About fifteen minutes later, Steve heard a sound coming from the inside of David’s room. He heard a scream and a sound like a muffled gunshot. Steve called for security as he broke down the door. There was a masked man in black standing over David with a silenced pistol pointed at his hand. Steve charged at the man and with all his strength and knocked him into the wall, making the gun fall out of his hand. The man recovered from the hit and swung a punch at Steve. Steve was knocked to the ground and his head started to spin from the blow. The man turned around and jumped out the window as the sound of shouts and footsteps sounded throughout the hallway.
“Are you all right?” asked an armed officer as he sprinted into the room with his gun drawn.
“I’m all right, but get the nurse a doctor; she’s been shot, bad.” Steve answered as he stared across the room at the nurse holding her wound, slumped on a chair.
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Richard, who had been treated by a doctor down the hallway this whole time, finally got to talk to David and Steve after all the police officers had questioned them about the assault made on David and the nurse. Richard and David were sitting in a room with Steve by themselves, and they all started to talk about the events that had just happened. David finally told Richard and Steve about the drug dealers and how it had all started.
“You need to talk about this with the cops, David, this is no joke, and you almost died, twice.” said Richard.
“I know,” answered David. “What do you think we should do, Dad?”
“I’ll drive you guys down to the police station when we get the chance, and we can talk about it there.”
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David, Richard, and Steve arrived at the police station and asked to talk to the officer who had questioned them earlier at the hospital. After a while they were walked into a room with the officer in it. They all sat down and the officer asked to hear everything David knew. After hearing the story, the cop asked David and the others to stay for another hour. They agreed, and the officer left the room and was not seen for a good, long while.
“Here’s someone I’d like you to meet, David,” as the officer opened the door to the room. A tall man in a uniform walked into the room. “This is Commander Wood from the Coast Guard; he would like to ask you some questions.
“Hi,” said David, standing up to shake the commander’s hand.
“Hi,” the commander said as he shook hands with David. “Nice to meet you.”
“I want to get straight to the point here,” the commander said as he pulled out a laptop from his bag and sat down at the table. “I have been working on a very big drug-dealing case for years now. These drug dealers have been selling drugs to colleges and such all over the States. This officer just called me and said he had a lead on my case and said to come quickly, so here I am, what do you have for me?”
David relayed his story to the commander, telling him everything he knew.
“So you’re trying to say that you are, or were, part of this drug dealing, and now they are trying to kill you?” the Commander questioned.
“Yes, Sir.”
The officer spoke up. “Maybe we could use these drug dealers to lead us to the operation headquarters. My boys at the lab found out that the same car that was at the library just before the fire was started was also seen on camera driving away from the hospital just seconds after the attempted murder, is that weird or what?”
“It’s just plain old stupid if you ask me!” exclaimed the commander. “Since these guys are dumb enough to use the same car at two different places, we can track them via the license plate.”
“Exactly,” said the officer.
“Thank you guys for your help; you’re free to leave,” the Commander said looking at Steve and Richard. “But, David, you have to stay here for possible charges for drug dealing.”
“Yes, Sir,” David answered as he looked at the commander, “Steve, Richard, you guys go ahead and I’ll call you later.”
“Alright, son, I’m sorry.” Steve hugged David and walked out with Richard following him.
The police officer spoke up as they left the room. “I’ll contact you guys if anything shows up about the drug dealers.”
David was locked in a room by himself with only his thoughts, once again.
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It had been ten days since David was put in jail. He was finally let go but was put under house arrest. David was escorted home by a police officer and was dropped off at his house.
“It’s good to be back.” David thought as he was unlocking the door. He wanted to surprise his parents by walking in unannounced, but instead, he got the surprise of his life. David walked into the house to see a complete mess.
“Hello!” David called although he expected no answer. David heard a moan coming from the kitchen and went to investigate. David’s face turned white as he saw two figures, slumped on the ground with pools of blood lying around them.
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Cathy slowly opened her eyes.
“Where am I?” She asked with all the might she could gather. Everything hurt so bad.
“You’re at a hospital, you’re safe now,” a familiar voice answered.
“David, is that you?” Cathy asked as she reached out her hand to touch the blurry figure.
“Yes, Mom. It’s me, David.” David answered, while pulling the frail white hand towards him.
“Thank goodness you’re safe, those men said they were going to hurt you. Where is Steve, is he alright also?” Cathy asked as she looked around the room.
“Dad’s not with us anymore, Mom. He’s gone,” David answered as tears started to roll down his cheek.
“David, your father and I love you, and always will. I want to ask for your forgiveness for all the times we might have made you doubt that love.”
“Mom, don’t do this to me. You’re going to be all right, and we’ll make it through this.”
“You will, David, but I am going to go see your father now, but promise me one thing.”
“Anything,” David answered.
“Promise me that you, that you.” She stuttered.
“Yes, Mom?”
Cathy’s hand fell from David’s as the heart monitor flat-lined.
“Doctor!” David screamed as his mother took her final breath.
All sense of grief and emotion was shoved away as hate and anger filled David’s heart.
After talking to a doctor for some time, he was picked up by Richard and was taken to David’s home.
“I’m going to stay with you for a while, until things settle down, okay?” Richard stated as he got his things from the car. “School let you take off as much time as you need and they let me take off a week to help you. It will be fun, right?” asked Richard.
“Thanks a lot, Richard, for all that you’re doing, it will be nice to get to spend some time with you,” said David as they walked into the house. The house had been cleaned up and there was now a two man, twenty-four hour security detail that had been set up by the police.
“I’m going to sleep, I’ll see you in the morning, Richard,” said David as he walked to his bedroom.
“Alright, see you then.”
David halted in front of his mom and dad’s bedroom and remembered something.
He opened the door and started digging through all the dressers and closets. After about fifteen minutes, David felt a plastic bag on the very bottom of one of the boxes under the bed.
“Found it,” David thought as he reached further into the box. Out came a plastic bag with a small box inside. David pulled the box out of the bag and opened it. There sat a shiny, silver M1911 handgun that his father had never used. He pulled the gun out of the wrapping and found two magazines and a box of bullets under it. David’s father had told him about this gun a long time ago but never told him where it was. He said it was only for emergencies, and David thought this was an emergency. Now came the fun part. David took lots of computer programing classes in college and now, at least one of the things he learned would come in handy. David grabbed the gun and ammo and walked back to his room. Once he had found the pistol holster he used for airsoft, he loaded the gun and placed it in the holster. David opened his computer and started to work some magic. David typed in a police website and opened the site. The websites firewall came up and blocked David from going any further. David came up with a slightly easier way of getting info on the guy and thought he might try it. He packed his gun and his computer and sneaked out of the house without Richard knowing and talked the policemen into letting him take his car somewhere. David drove away and started to head to the supermarket, or at least that’s where the policemen thought he was going. After a short drive, David parked his car across the street of the police department and pulled out his computer. He pulled up the list of available Wi-Fi networks and found the police department network. It was locked, of course, but this is where the computer classes came in handy. David used all his skill and in a few minutes he was
Logged on to the police network. After messing around in the network and hacking the crud out of the system, he finally got into the police files.
“Bingo.” David said as he opened the files.
Another security level was protecting the files but David made quick work of them also. After a few minutes of searching through the file and all its sub-files, he finally found a document with the license plate number of the car David was looking for. The document held the car’s last known locations and the pattern of its trips.
“Another Bingo, thank you, file, you’ve been very helpful,” David said as he smiled at his computer. As David was opening another interesting looking file, the network’s back-up security system kicked in and logged David’s computer of the network out at the same time.
“Crud, I was almost done,” David sighed as he shut the lid of his laptop. “At least I have a lead on where I want to go.”
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Richard tried to call David on his cell phone again. No answer. “Where in the world is he?” Richard asked himself as he turned off his phone. Richard walked outside to see if one of the police officers knew where David could be.
“Sir, do you know where David went?” Richard asked, approaching the officer.
“He said he was going to the grocery store to pick up some household items. He left about twenty minutes ago,” answered the officer.
“Sure, household items.” Richard thought as he walked back inside. After watching a thirty- minute long TV episode, Richard had had enough.
“Sir, I am beginning to wonder about how long David has been gone. Could you check into that please?” Richard asked as he exited the house. He unlocked his car and started to drive to the supermarket.
After a twenty minute walk through the supermarket, Richard gave up the search for David. Richard received a phone call as he walked back to his car. It was from David.
“Where in the world have you been?” asked Richard, answering the call.
“Well, it’s complicated, but I would appreciate it if you could come meet me at this place downtown, I have a slight problem.”
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David tried to catch his breath as he turned into another alley. The sound of shouts were closing in behind him. “How in the world did I get myself into this?” David asked himself while jumping over the trash can that blocked his way. Only fifteen minutes earlier he was driving through the shabby part of downtown, which was where the mysterious car had been most recently seen. He pulled up beside an old, abandoned warehouse. He stopped because he saw a mysterious looking object under a black tarp that was sitting just outside of the warehouse. David parked his car across the street and walked over to the tarp. He slowly lifted the tarp off the object. It was the black car. David got very excited as he walked in circles around the car making sure it was the right car. He then heard some very faint voices coming from the inside of the warehouse. He walked around the corner of the warehouse, trying to find a place where he could get a peek inside. He found a row of windows on the backside of the warehouse. David cleaned one of the windows so he could see through it. Standing inside the warehouse was a group of men dressed in black clothes. David heard a familiar voice and moved around to a different window to get a different view. There, standing with the group of men, was the man with the scratchy voice, the one who had killed he girl, the one who had knocked him out at the library, the one David was going to kill tonight. David withdrew his handgun and cocked it.
“If I catch them by surprise, I will probably be able to get them all,” said David to himself as he stared at the group of men. Just as David was about to walk around to the entrance, another man joined the group and talked to Scary, or that was at least what David called the man. Scary got a concerned look on his face and then made a motion with his hand. All of the men except one walked towards the door.
“What now?” Thought David as he ducked back down under the window. David crouched down and started to make his way towards one of the alleys that were behind the building. Just as David was about to enter the alley, one of the men turned the corner and spotted David. The man shot at David with his sub-machinegun. David ducked and sprinted into the alley just as the bullets started to chip away and the brick behind him. David took cover around the corner of the building. David popped out from behind the corner and fired two shots into the man that had shot at him. Both bullets found their target in the chest of the man. The gunshots attracted more men from around the warehouse and soon, all of the men were going after David. He sprinted all the way down the alley but was cut off by a man who had circled around the buildings. David fired a round into the man, making him drop to the ground with a wound in his hip. David turned another corner and found a dead- end. David heard footsteps and shouts behind him and knew he was doomed. As the sounds of angry men grew louder, David spotted a latter leading to the roof of a building. David ran for the latter and started to climb as fast as he could. As David was reaching the top, the men turned onto the alley. They spotted David and started to shoot at him. David was on the last bar when a bullet hit the top of the ladder, splitting the top bar in two. The ladder started to come of the wall and David felt himself starting to fall. Just as David was about to plunge to his doom, a hand came from the top of the building and pulled David over the top. David fell to the ground as he was pulled onto the roof. David looked up and saw Richard.
“I am so glad you came.” David said as he regained control of his shallow breathing.
“Me too,” answered Richard as he helped David to his feet. The sound of men from the alley broke up the reunion and brought David and Richard back to reality. Richard and David got on the ground and waited. The clanking of a ladder scared the boys. David walked over to the far edge of the building and stuck his head out over the roof. There were two latters placed on the side of the building and men were climbing up. At the same time, the echoing of feet on stairs was coming from the roof entrance from inside the building.
“Lock the door.” David said pointing at the roof entrance. Richard ran over to lock the door but just as Richard was reaching it, the door broke open. David turned around and saw four cops coming from the entrance and Richard, who was lying on the ground under the broken off door.
“What an entrance.” Richard joked as he pushed the door off of him.
“Boy are we glad to see you.” David said as he recovered from the scare the cops gave him.
The sound of a gunshot was heard and then one of the cops dropped dead. David turned around to see two men climbing onto the roof from the ladders. The officers opened fire on the enemy and both fell off the rook onto the ground. David and Richard took cover behind some old cans and the rest of the cops did the same. As more crooks climbed up the ladders, a sound from the roof across the street was heard. David looked over to see three men standing on the roof.
“Look out!” David said as he dove on the ground. A rain of mg bullets rained on the group as the machine gunner on the opposite roof opened fire. Just as David thought they were all going to die, a helicopter approached the area. It circled above the roof tops and then it opened its doors. A squad of S.W.A.T men dropped from the helicopters and took a defensive perimeter around the roof top. The S.W.A.T. team made quick work of the enemies on the opposite roof and then ran down the stairs of the building. David and Richard watched the scene from the top of the roof as the S.W.A.T. team ran into the alley and opened fire on the unsuspecting men. After securing the area David walked into the alley to check the men and to see if Scary was one of them.
“Sir, there is still one more man left.” David said as he approached the police chief.
Just as the police chief was about to answer, the roar of an engine was heard on the quiet street. David ran to the street and felt the breeze as a black car sped by at a very high speed. David walked into the middle of the street and pulled out his gun. He steadied his gun and aimed down the sights. David pulled the trigger and out flew the bullet. The sound of a smashing window was heard and then the black car flew out of control and slammed into a light pole. David jogged down the street and approached the car with his finger on the trigger of the gun. As David was approaching the car, the driver’s door opened and a figure stepped out. Scary stepped out of the car and turned towards David. His face was bleeding and there was a gun wound in his right shoulder. Scary started to move towards David very slowly. David’s mind was filled with memories and grief as he looked into the man’s white, bleeding face.
“This is for that girl, and my Mom and Dad, and all the others you’ve slaughtered in your sick life.” David said angrily as he looked at him. Scary was filled with fear as David’s gun was brought level to his head.
“Boom.” Scary fell to his knees after the bullet went straight through his head, and then he dropped to the ground and died with pools of blood surrounding his body.
“Goodbye.” David said as he turned away and started to walk back to his car.