2 Big Apple Hunter (22 page)

“I know you are,” she said. “Be careful. I’ll call Dick as soon as I leave the park.”

I
stepped
out of the car and stood watching as Samantha drove away. I was definitely alone, and
the
re
weren’t any cops in the area. Indiana Jones and Mrs. Ross would keep their word, too – I hoped.

The flashlight on, I headed down the sloping path to the Smokey Bridge. It was a chilly evening. I was dressed warmly enough, but my nerves were so strained, I was shivering.

This was a beautiful part o
f the
city’s
park system, and one
I usually loved. Cheater Louie and I had walked this very path one summer night under a full moon. He was very sweet, and I was
excited. I knew
this was the night he was going to
propose. It turned out he
only
wanted to do it outside in the moonlight on the bridge. Oh my gosh! Concentrate, Susan! Don’t start thinking about things that will make you crazy or put you on the path to thinking about Mick! Get Darby. Get Darby. Get Darby.

I was almost to the bridge when I tripped on a rock, slipped on the wet path, and pitched face first into the still slightly muddy path. Crap! The flashlight went flying
and turned off. It was too dark to
look for it. I had mud on my hands and face. I wiped my face with the back of my hands and then moved to the damp grass to try to wipe them off. I ended up wiping them on my corduroys.

The bridge was lit, and I could see it clearly. It was an older wooden bridge spanning a creek. The wood rails were just the right height to lean against and
gaze
into the clear water as it rippled by. I tried to walk more carefully.

I stepped onto the bridge and walked to the middle. I looked around in all directions but didn’t see or hear anyone. I felt my pockets for the necklace, my phone, and my keys. Everything was still there; I hadn’t lost anything in the fall.

I looked at my watch. 6:56. Samantha should have called Dick by now. Please, please, please, let these criminals be on time. My nerves were strained to the breaking point.

I finally heard a noise at the end of the bridge from where I had entere
d. Oh my gosh! My heart started
pounding so hard, I was sure it would burst from my body. I was instantly light-headed and in danger of passing out. It wasn’t Indiana Jones or Mrs. Ross. It was one of the thugs
who
had been in the shadows at the theater in New York. He was ugly, menacing, and he was pointing a gun at me!

I couldn’t hold it back, I gasped. The man never said a word, but started moving toward me. I looked around frantically and turned to the other end of the bridge. I was going to run and hope the bullets missed me, but from the shadows, just like in New York, came the other man. He blocked the other end of the bridge, and he, too, had a gun pointed at me. I whimpered. There was no being brave now. There was nothing I could do.

The man in front
motioned for me to
move
off
the bridge. I complied. He waved his gun for me to move off the park path and toward a field. Both men were behind me now. We only walked a few minutes, but it seemed like an hour.
My mind was reeling.
Would the police be in position when we left the area? Would there be a shootout? Was I going to die?

We came to an area with heavy brush. I couldn’t see, but they seemed to know where they were going. They pushed me into the brush and through to an opening. A van was waiting. I whimpered again, and one of the men pushed me hard toward the waiting vehicle. I fell to my knees, but he grabbed me harder still by my arm and jerked me up.

The other man opened the back of the van, forced me in, and shoved me hard. I fell against something soft. The doors slammed shut. They hadn’t spoken a word or asked for the necklace. Did they
really want it? Were they
going to take me somewhere and kill me?

A tired voice came out of the darkness, “What took you so long?”

I recognized the soft voice instantly. I had fallen against him. A sob caught in my throat. “Darby,” I cried.

He leaned his head against me. I positioned myself beside him on the floor. I felt a
ll around him and realized
he was handcuffed to a bench seat. I leaned into him as close as I could and put my arms around him.

“Don’t say too much, Susan,” he said whispering. “Do you have the necklace?”

“Yes,” I whispered back.

“Good. We’ll give it to them, and
then
we should be able to go
,” he said softly.

“Darby, you don’t really think the
y’re going to let us go do you?” I asked. “
We can identify all of these people.”

“But I think the F.B.I.
already knows who they are
,” he said. “I heard them talking abo
ut it. If that’s the case,
they should let us go.”

We were quiet. The van was still moving. Where could we possibly be going? Why hadn’t the police stopped us yet? The longer we were driving, the less likely there would be a roadblock. No one would know where we were.

Darby seemed as though he could barely move. He seemed weak. They probably hadn’t given him any food and maybe no water. I did my best to hold onto him and put my head close to his.

It had to be at least another twenty minutes before it felt
as though the van turned off
the main road and onto a gravel road. A few minutes later, the van stopped. The men got out, opened the back doors and motioned for me to get out.
As I hopped down, one of the men grabbed my arm and jerked me to his side.
I looked back at Darby. I didn’t want to leave him.

One of the men
jumped
into the van and unlocked the handcuffs. He pushed Darby out of the van
with such force
, he fell to the ground. I moved to help him up, but the man beside me grabbed my arm and held me back. An airplane was coming in loud overhead. We were out by the airport. This was way too far out of the area for Samantha to have been successful with Dick and any roadblocks.

It hit me hard. There were no police, and no one was coming to help us.

Darby managed to get to his feet. We were
forced
at gunpoint to a nearby barn. There was an old farmhouse off in the dist
ance, but it was dark and appeared
deserted. A door at the side of the barn opened, and we were
shoved through the doorway
. An oil lamp on a small table provided the only light, but it was enough light to see who we were meeting in the barn – Indiana Jones, Mrs. Ross, and the man who had been staring at my chest at the theater. With the two thugs, the party
was
complete.

I assumed the man who had been talking with Bernardo and staring at my chest was the leader of them all. He spoke
first and asked
, “Do you have the necklace?”

I nodded my head. He motioned for Mrs. Ross to come to me. I didn’t want her to take my pho
ne. I was holding out hope
I would find a way to call Dick. I quickly slipped my hand into my pants pocket and pulled out the necklace still in the baggie. I held it out to her.

The man motioned to the men with the guns, and they pushed me and Darby f
a
rther into the barn and up against a support beam
running
from the floor to the rafters. One of the men barked, “Sit down.”

We sat. They
were forceful as they pulled
our arms behind us and used plastic tie wraps to secure our hands to the beam.

There was a little chink in my shock,
and I found my voice. I glared
at the ringleader and said, “You won’t get away with this. The F.B.I. knows you murdered Bernardo. I heard you threaten him at the theater. They know who all of you are, they know about the necklace and the microchip, and they know what you’re doing. You can’t get away with this.”

The man
looked
to Mrs. Ross. She walked over to me, leaned down, and slapped me hard across my face. I whimpered again, and my eyes stung wi
th tears. Darby flinched but
didn’t say anything.

“You stupid bitch,” she snarled at me. “You were
the cause of all
of
this. In fifteen minutes we’ll be on a plane out of the country, and there is nothin’ anyone can do about it. Did you really think we would let you go? You are by
far the stupidest blonde I’ve
ever seen.” She turned and walked away. Tears were streaming down my face, but I wasn’t making any noise.

The ringleader looked at his watch and sai
d to all of his cohorts, “T
ime to go. The plane is fueled and ready
.
Let’s go.” He nodded to one of the thugs and said, “You know what to do.”

All of them walked through the door with the exception of the one thug. He smiled at us, picked up the oil lamp, and tossed it to the far side of the barn, breaking it on the floor and causing the
oil to burn in a wide swath.
The entire side of the barn was stacked with hay bales
,
and they quickly caught fire. The man laughed and walked out the door.

The hay burned
rapidly
and lit up the entire room.
A
full-blown panic
came over me. I
wanted to survive. I looked at Darby and cried, “We have to get out of here! Try! Try as hard as you can to get your hands free!” We both struggled against the wraps, but
soon
realized
it was useless.

I was crying much harder now. “Darby, I’m so sorry. I blew this. I should have called Detective Bentley, but they told me they would kill you if they saw any police at all. I just wanted to give them the necklace and get you back.”

“Susan, honey,” he
said with
sad, sincere eyes, “you know we aren’t going to get out of this. I want
you to know
I love you. You’re my best friend, and if I have to die now, I’m glad I’m with you.”

“Darby don’t say that!”
I sobbed.

I looked around the room. The fire was much bigger now. Flames were shooting out of the roof and racing around the back of the barn. Heavier smoke was starting to roll our way. There was truly no way out, and there was no way I could reach my phone.

“Darby, I love you, too,” I sobbed. “Thank you for being my friend and always taking such good care of me.” My life with Darby flashed before my eyes. It seemed like everything we had ever done together, all of the cooking, the traveling, the laughing, it all flashed right before my eyes. This is what they say happens to you before you die.

The fire was loud, and I could feel the intense heat. The smoke was thick and surrounding us now. Darby was coughing. I tried not to breathe it in, but I had to cough. I couldn’t stop the tears, and my eyes were burning. Crying made it worse, but I couldn’t stop.

Mick came to mind. I would never see Mick again. I would never be able to tell him how much I loved him and how happy he made me. I would never know what could have been between us. I was never going to have children. The regret was overwhelming. How I wished I had allowed him to make love to me. For crying out loud, it wasn’t like I was a virgin. What was wrong with me?

Darby was nonresponsive and had stopped coughing. They say many fire victims die from the smoke before the flames. I simply couldn’t br
eathe any more, and I knew
I was dying, too. When I saw the spaceman walking toward me
through the haze
, I
wasn’t afraid anymore and
gave in to it.

There were stars overhead. It was a clear October night, and the sky was beautiful. I was vaguely aware of
other
light
, and
I tried to raise my head.

The spaceman, who I could see now was really a fireman, pushed me back down and told me to lie still.

I could breathe. I took a
deep breath and realized
I had an oxygen mask
on. I tried to look around
. The strobe lights were a multitude of police and fire vehicles. The brightest light was the barn, fully engulfed in flames.

Two firemen
placed me on a
stretcher and proceeded to carry me to
an EMT truck. They stopped
short of the truck. Detective Bentley came into my line of sight. I didn’t care. I felt nothing. I had messed
up everything
, and now Darby was dead. I didn’t care about anything.

Detective Bentley spared no words. “Susan Hunter, that was a really stupid thing you did
,
”
he lashed out at me. His anger was evident and plainly on display.