He put his book down. Looking at his watch, he said, "It's not too late. They'd have me any time. Come on, Old Bones, get it together and head over." Then, standing and putting on his shoes, he said, "The boy needs ya. Ya might as well be a father if he's asking for one."
Before leaving, he grabbed his cell phone. "This contraption Todd made me get is trying my last set of nerves. I'll be a right eejit if I let this thing get the best of me." He dialed, and heard a familiar voice on the other end. "Creena?"
"Timothy. Good to hear you, brother. It's been a few days now." Sister Rebecca Katherine had just finished her prayers.
"Ah, yes, I've been busy at the mission, more than usual of late. Going now to see the boy."
"They're back, eh? I thought so. How is he?"
"He seems well enough. Says he wants to tell me something later. He invited me for the evening, I'd said no, but . . ."
"Something is pulling you back, eh?"
"Yes, Creena. Ya know how it can be."
She was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Brotha, get over there. Possibly there are other reasons, things we can't explain, that call to us. Maybe they need ya."
He moved faster. Leaving the penthouse, he went about his business of getting into the elevator, and before entering, he said, "I'll call ya when I get there. Don't worry, Creena. They'll be all right."
***
"What do you know about the Bhadra Diamond?" Mitch said, lowering the gun.
"Just where it is. And, I know what it means to you."
Unable to contain his distraction, he said, almost trance-like, "Unmatched power."
She tilted her head again, and smiled.
Todd was able to get his right hand loose, and looked to Blair. She was moving in a way that made him believe she was freeing her hands.
Blair had forgotten about the tear in the tape, and was slowly, to avoid noise, ripping it in the slowest manner possible. She didn't see Todd staring at her until she freed her hands, and then turned to look at him. He caught her eyes with his, and then, looking at Mitch to be certain he wasn't watching them, brought his right hand to the front and waved at her, then moved it back to the chair, as if fastened, and stared straight ahead, as if catatonic. Then, he looked back to Blair, and she nodded in understanding.
Jack's eyes bulged with surprise and some relief; Starr hadn't noticed the development, since she was staring into Little Ray's face and her lips were moving quietly. Todd realized his daughter was praying, and that brought Sister Rebecca Katherine immediately to his mind, but he pushed her face away from his mind's eye so he could focus on the darkness he might have to embrace to save his family.
Mitch pulled the gun back up. "Tell me where it is, or I'll kill you now. Do you have it?" His voice bellowed.
"Kill me and you'll never find it." She said, overconfident. Todd was aghast at her attitude toward Mitch, and looked back to Blair, who shrugged, dumbfounded. She continued, "Why don't you let them all go, especially the kids? What's the use of that?"
He squinted. "Nice try. Not happening. You've just made a very big mistake."
"I've made a mistake? I don't think so. Go ahead and kill me, then, you just will never know where that diamond is." She turned her back to him. Her expression, which Todd could see, was one that screamed, "oops," as she waited for his next move.
To everyone's surprise, Mitch said, "I've worked long and hard for today. Today I take back the Lord fortune, and today I see Todd Manning finally get his."
"That's more important than the ultimate power? You said yourself what this diamond does and is about. It's more than a reverse curse, it's indescribable, right? Gives unyielding power to those who possess it?" She repeated from something she'd read in her own diary from the past. If she was not mistaken, it was Dorian herself who explained it to her all those years ago.
"As I said, nice try. I'll get all of it, and the diamond, and all of your lives before I am through." He turned to The Mannings. "Now, back to business. Manning, it's time. You're going to give me the accounts for the Lord fortune, and choose which son goes with me as my hostage."
"I'll go," Jack said, and his voice was a surprise to everyone. Todd looked at him, suddenly, and inside him, he was surging with pride.
Blair immediately answered, "No, Jack."
Mitch laughed. "A hero? So unlike your father," and turned back to Todd who was not moving. Mitch stepped closer, and walked into Todd's space. "Right, Manning? What a hero your son is?"
Blair gasped. "Oh my God," she said, "He's gone!"
"Gone?" Mitch repeated.
Starr sobbed, "No, Dad!"
Todd was frozen, his face blank, and his eyes transfixed beyond Mitch. Blair said, "He . . . goes away. Inside himself. When he can't face things."
Mitch threw his head back and laughed again. He sauntered closer toward Todd, and leaned into his face. "Todd Manning. So tough? I don't think so. Chickening out on his family, at their time of need?" he taunted. He walked away from Todd, and toward Blair, stopping. From above her, he sneered down at her. "Always thought she was a rather hot number. The things I'll do to you...with or without your husband watching..."
Todd didn't move. Jack grimaced as though he ate something bad. Starr's eyes darted to her mother's face, and realized everything would be okay. Just like that, she knew.
Mitch walked toward Starr, and pointed the gun against her forehead. "What about blowing this little lady's head off? Might cause a disturbance for the little one. Ah, the little one. How does he sleep through all of this? Tina!"
She turned, "Yeah?"
"Get the baby from Starr, and hold him. Make a wrong move, and I'll kill him and you."
Tina moved quickly toward Starr, and reached down for Ray. Starr cried, "No!" Tina nestled Ray in her arms, and Todd, still fixated on a spot on the wall, took it to mean one thing: Mitch was considering Tina's plan and beginning to place some sick trust in her. Stupid fucker.
Mitch went back toward Todd, and got into his face, angrily. "What about that baby of yours? Want to see him killed, or watch him leave with me? You'd better come out of this and give me that information I need to get your fortune away from you. Spill it!" The last words he shouted into Todd's face and Blair jumped, then wondered how he could be still and continue to feign being catatonic?
In a flash, Todd butted his head into Mitch's forehead, causing him to drop one gun, try and grasp for the rifle, as Blair put out her foot and he fell back over it onto the ground. "You'll never get my family, or any of my sons," Todd said. The dropped gun hit the wood floor at such an angle that it went off, shattering the silence of shock with a piercing gunshot.
Starr screamed, as screams came from Sam's room. Jack yelled in his loudest voice, "Sam! Don't you and Hope go out of that window! Don't go out the window!" distracting Mitch, who looked in Jack's direction and reached for his ankle. Todd, by now, was up on his feet, the chair dangling from the one wrist that was still taped. He swung the chair at Mitch's head, and the rifle flew from Laurence's hand.
As Starr continued to scream, and Jack yelled anti-directions to Sam once more, Mitch reached again for the knife at his ankle. Todd swung the chair in the other direction, back toward Mitch's head a second time. When Mitch was able to duck the chair legs as they passed overhead, he swiped his knife against Todd's shins, leaving bloody slashes on his pants, and Todd winced in pain, faltering. Blair cried, "Todd!" as blood soaked through his pant legs, and he struggled not to go down and keep fighting.
"Okay, everyone freeze!" a voice said, and each of them looked in its direction. Tina, Ray tucked under one arm, and a gun pointed at Mitch, said, "Or I'll shoot your mother-loving head off."
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