Diamond in the Rough: Chapter 77

They walked into the living room, Mitch pointing the gun at Todd, Todd with his hands in the air, in time to run into the kids, lead by Starr, who came racing into the room.  Jack was following Starr, and both stopped short seeing the scene.  Starr gasped, "Where's Mom?"

"She's okay, Starr."  Todd heard himself say.

"Starr, my dear.  You've grown."  Mitch sneered.

"What do you want?  There are little children upstairs..."

"I'm aware of who's here.  Or should I say, your parents were quite a surprise to me.  Everyone else, I am aware of.  Little Sam, the bastard Manning, and Ray, the new baby.  Hope, your daughter."

Starr froze at the mention of Hope.  Jack didn't say anything.  He looked to his father and locked eyes with him.  He wouldn't let them down.  Todd nodded slightly.  Jack saw him mouth the words, "It's going to be okay," and then the teen swallowed hard.

Starr said, "What do you want from us?"

"You'll see," he motioned to the staircase in the lobby.  "Upstairs."

The kids didn't move.  Both looked to their father.  Todd nodded.  "Do what he says."  For now.

Jack and Starr went first, followed by Todd, and then Mitch, who was holding the gun inches from the back of Todd's head.  Starr, still walking as directed, said, "The children are going to be afraid.  Why do they have to be involved?"

"Shhhhhh, Starr, now, relax."  Mitch said, in an artificially comforting tone.

Starr took a right turn to her master bedroom, and Mitch said, "Uh uh uh, no dear.  Where ever the children are is where we are going."

She stopped, and turned to the left instead, hesitating.  Todd's mind was racing.  Do I stop and just ambush him now?  If I don't make it, he has the kids, alone.  Nope, just hang in there.  You'll find your in.

On the upper level, Hope and Sam were standing behind the door as it opened, and Sam's little mouth made a large circle as he saw them come in, Starr first, Jack next, and Todd last with Mitch holding a gun to the back of his head.  His expression faded into a crinkled crying face and he said, "Dad?"

"It's okay, Sam."  Todd looked to Mitch, who nodded in approval of him going to his son.  Sam put his arms up and Todd lifted him into his arms, while Hope cried, "Mommy!" and ran to Starr.  Sam was very quiet, but Todd could feel him shaking all over.

As Hope cried, Mitch, for some reason that was a surprise to Todd, said, "It's just a game, kids.  Now, where's your playroom?"

Sam lifted his head, and through sniffles, he said, "We don't have a playroom here.  That's at home.  At Unforgettable."  He put his head back down on Todd's shoulder.  

"Your room, Sam,"  Jack said, suddenly, and Todd looked at him with pride.  He wasn't going down without a fight, and Todd could see it already in his face.

Mitch said, "All right, your room, then.  Go into your room, you and Hope, and don't lock the door.  Just keep it shut."

Sam looked into Todd's face, and his innocence pained him in the middle of his chest.  "Go ahead.  Do what he says, okay, or the game will not finish."

"Okay, Dad."  Sam was lowered to the floor by Todd, and said, "Come on Hope, let's go play."  Sam's voice was less than enthusiastic.

Mitch said to Jack, "Boy wonder?  Go and make sure they're in.  The door should be unlocked so we can get in and out if we need to.  Do what I say or I'll kill your father first, and the baby second.  Make sure they know to stay inside."

Starr had trouble putting Hope down, saying, "Okay, baby, you go and play, okay honey, go ahead, and close the door and don't come out until we come get you, okay?"  She was struggling not to cry in front of her daughter, but as soon as the two children left the room, she broke into sobs.

Jack went off as he was asked, following the children.  Todd said, "You're sick.  The kids don't deserve this.  You want the fortune, it's so easy.  I'll give you all of it.  Heck, I'll give you me.  Me.  You can have your second chance at burying me alive.  Whatever it takes."

Starr, who was inconsolable, was shocked at what she was hearing to the point of snapping her out of her tears.  "No, Dad..."

Jack, hearing the words from his father, felt queasy as he went with the kids to the other room.  

"It's not that simple."  Mitch said.  "Part of this is the money, and part is not."

This is what Todd feared most.  "Part is not."  He repeated.  "What, then?"

"I suppose you'll see."

***

Jack ushered the kids into Sam's room, and said, "Okay, Sam, I don't have long to talk to you, okay?  So you have to listen, Buddy."

"Okay, Jack," Sam said, who was sobbing now, and his voice was catching in his throat.  Hope was still crying, but quietly, sucking her thumb.  

"Sam, remember the agreement we had about Aunt Dorian?"

"Yeah.  I remember.  Do the opposite of what she says."

"Right.  That's good.  Good remembering.  Now, when I tell you ANYTHING from now on, after I walk out the door, no matter what, you do the opposite of what I said, all right?"

"I'm scared, Jack."

"I know you're scared, but listen.  Do you get it?  Whatever I say, you do the opposite.  Okay?  Just me and what I say.  Not Dad, not the man, not Starr.  Just me."

"Okay," he sniffed.

"Okay good."  He hugged his brother, "It's just a game, and it will be okay.  We'll win."

"Okay," he sniffled again.

Jack left them in the room, and shouted, "Leave the door unlocked, Sam."

As he walked away, he heard the soft click of the inside lock behind him.

***

"Let's face it, you've got it out for me, right?"  Todd said, in his best business transaction voice.  "I can make this easy for you."

"I want the fortune, but I want to see you suffer.  It's just an added bonus."  Mitch said.  Jack walked back in the door, and Mitch shoved him toward his sister.  "Tie her up."  He threw a length of rope at the boy.  "If it's not secure enough, I'll just shoot her dead."

Jack obeyed, tying Starr's hands behind her and looping them through the chair's back.  Then, Mitch said, "Here," and threw a roll of duct tape to him.  "Now, tape your father to the other chair.  Don't leave any wiggle room, because if you do, I'll shoot everyone before I shoot you."

Todd looked into his son's face, "You heard him.  You know what your Auntie Dorian always says.  Be a good listener.  Don't leave any wiggle room."

Jack, at first puzzled by his father's comments, suddenly felt knowledge coming over him.  The opposite game.  Could he mean that?  Jack said, "I know, Dad.  I heard him."  Using the duct tape, with Mitch's gun pointed at him, his hands were unsteady.  While wrapping his father's right wrist, he made a decision.  It was a gamble, but he took it.  He put his thumb into the area, and then pulled it free, leaving a small amount of breathing room.   What else could his father have meant by mentioning Dorian?  But, what if Todd did get free and Mitch shot them all?

Todd looked up into Jack's face and said, quietly, "It's going to be all right.  And that's from me, not Dorian."

Mitch said, "Shut up.  Now, put yourself into that chair right there and be perfectly still.  Better yet, go and get your baby brother and bring him in here."  

Todd said, "Laurence, come on.  The baby has nothing to do with this, at all."

"He doesn't?"  was the only thing Mitch said.  Jack, unsure how to proceed, looked at Todd, then back to Mitch, who repeated, "Go and get your baby brother and bring him here."

Todd nodded, closing his eyes a moment.  Without alerting Mitch, he was working his hand in small movements back and forth to loosen his bonds.  Mitch, distracted by Jack's return with the baby, said, "Sit down and put the baby in your lap."

Todd could barely look at his infant son, but could tell he was sleeping.  It had always amazed him how his son slept through almost everything, and this nightmare was no exception.  Jack obeyed.  He put the baby on his lap, where he rested, eyes closed and oblivious to the world around him.  Mitch put the gun to the baby's chest, and Todd did all he could not to react.  Mitch said, "Now, I'm going to tape you to the chair, and you're not going to move.  The outcome of you disrespecting me is clear, I believe."

Jack remained still.  Mitch used one hand to pull the tape around Jack's one wrist, and repeated it for the other.  The baby slept, unfettered, on Jack's lap.  He couldn't roll off, since Mitch was standing close enough to stop that from happening.  When he finished taping Jack to the chair, he picked the baby up and held him with one arm, while wielding the gun with the other.

Todd felt a pounding pressure in his chest, mixed with a need to get the child away from the madman.  He could turn and run with him.  That can't happen.  He has to put the baby down.  Now.

"You just going to stand there and hold the baby while you try and keep us in these chairs with that gun?"  Todd said.

"Maybe.  Cute little fellow.  Sleeps like a log," Mitch said, turning the baby toward him and looking at his slumbering face.  

Starr chimed in, "You can put him down, right there, in that little dresser drawer.  Just pull one out."

"Hmf, good idea.  For now."  Mitch went to the dresser and put the baby in.  Turning back to the Mannings, he said, "I suppose it's time to make my plans clear."

***

Tina was rounding the house as fast as her feet were carrying her, and saw a car parked along the curb.  "That's Mitch's, probably.  How the Hell did he get out of prison?  He probably left the keys in it."  She saw escape as her only way out of the situation, then stopped and looked back toward the house.  Seeing Mitch again that way, in the dark, had taken her by surprise.  His leering face made her feel she had to flee, but at the same time, she had the urge to stop and turn back to look at La Boulaie.  "A baby is in there.  Your brother's.  They just had a baby, and they just lost one.  And then, there's Bea.  God knows what has been done to her.  She'd lose her son all over again."  She turned back to the car.   "Oh, damn it, Tina!  How do you get into these things?" and ran back to the other side of the house.  She found her way to the back door, and the kitchen, still well lit, was just as it was before, the cookie sheets scattered around the floor where Todd had been standing.

She walked into the kitchen, and as she did, she heard noise from inside the closet.  "Is someone out there?  Please.  Help me, my children are in trouble!"

She walked to the door, took the chair out from under the knob, and opened it.  Blair practically fell out of the closet onto the kitchen floor.  "Ow," she said, and looking up, her mouth dropped open.  "Tina?  Tina Lord Roberts?"

"Who were you expecting, Mother Teresa?"  Tina said, hands on hips.  "Well, get up, we have to do something to get my brother and my nieces and nephews out of this mess."

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