Globusz^® Publishing 

Ryan was just drifting off to sleep when he was disturbed and completely woken up by a phone call coming in to Bret’s house.

“Bret it’s Mike.”

“Mike how are you doing?” Bret was very happy to be hearing from his older brother.

“Well, I’m still in prison so not great”– was the deadpan response. “When you visited the other day you said you had something to tell me that you couldn’t mention here. So just tell me whatever it is and get rid of the small talk.”

“Well the thing is, and I know you’ll be happy about this, I’ve got revenge on all the people who are responsible for you being in prison.”

“What people?” Mike asked sounding completely unimpressed.

“Well the Judge and the prosecuting Lawyer, that cop who tracked you down, that guy who karate kicked you when you were just about to escape and the woman who overheard us that day.”

“You said there was nobody there, only cats.”

“I know. I’ve lied. I’m sorry I thought you’d be mad that I didn’t catch her. But I sure caught her now!”

“How do you mean got revenge on them?”

“Well I got all eight of them in a house.”

“Wait a minute, who’s eight? I counted five.”

“Oh yeah that’s the other thing. I got the bitch that killed Tommy. And the guy who stopped me from giving her what she deserved that night. Oh and some silly little bitch who refused to dance with me.”

“Sarah’s told me all about Tommy’s death. She even said that the driver was blameless. The guy who pulled you off this lady was just doing the decent thing. And nobody could blame any girl for not wanting to dance with you.”

“Well that’s as maybe, but the other five are the people who put you in prison.”

“I did say lets keep this short, so have you killed these people?”

“Three of them are dead already, the Judge, the Lawyer and the cop. The other five will be dead soon enough.”

Ryan had been listening very attentively but now his head was spinning, Bret knew that they were still alive.

“I’ll miss out all the fun and games I had with the eight of them first”– Bret said.

“Please do.”

“But in the end I hired five mercenaries to kill the other five. Somehow they managed not to do that. But don’t worry I’ve hired another four mercenaries to get the job done. Meeting them tomorrow. I’ve put them up in the motel down the road tonight.”

Ryan had been frozen still from the moment it became clear that Bret knew he and the other four were still alive. When Bret said the mercenaries were in the very motel that his friends were in then Ryan managed to snap out of his frozen state and went to get the others.

“You’re paying money to have these people killed?”

“Yeah I’ve promised these mercenaries a big chunk of money. But what they don’t know is that I’ve hired one good hit man to take them four out after they’ve done their job. And I’m paying him about a third of what I’ve promised them.”

“You are officially insane now.”

“What? I’d thought you’d be happy.”

“Happy? Happy that not only is my brother a useless loser, but now he’s a killer as well? The only thing those five people where guilty of was either doing their jobs well or being good citizens. If you’d done you job as well as they did there’s then I wouldn’t be in here. The only person I blame for me getting put in here is you. Consider it my last favor to you that I don’t tell the police what you’ve just told me. From now on you are no longer my brother”– Mike abruptly hung up, leaving a distressed Bret listening to the tone.

Meanwhile Ryan had got out of the back of his van taking every care to make as little noise as possible. Barely noticed the almost torrential rain. He had to walk past three rooms before getting to Lori and Shannon’s room. First two rooms were empty. In the next room were four very thuggish looking young-men. Two of them were holding guns. The other two were looking at pieces of paper sprawled over one of the beds. Completely against his better judgment Ryan couldn’t stop himself from peeking into that window for a moment or two. He overheard them talking about them having five targets, two male and three female. Having no idea that rather than going all around New York to kill these people separately, they were in the next room to two of them and another room away from another two whilst the fifth was just outside the window. They passed pieces of the paper around, obviously were pictures of the five targets. He heard a few crude comments about the ladies before Ryan made himself move. He ducked down below the level of the window as he moved past it. He knocked on the door to Lori and Shannon’s room. After a few moments a sleepy looking Lori answered the door.

“Hey Ryan.”

Ryan put a finger to his mouth to tell Lori to be quiet. “Both of you be as quiet as you can. And get out here and follow me as quickly as you can.”

“What?” Lori whispered.

“Trust me, just do it.”

Lori went to wake up Shannon whilst Ryan went to knock on the next door. Rachel still looking completely awake answered that door. This time Ryan managed to gesticulate to be quiet before Rachel spoke.

“Get Lee out here as quick as you can. And be as quiet as you can.”

“What’s going on?” Rachel whispered.

“I’ll explain when we’re all in the van.”

Lee was still awake as well. So he came to the door quickly just as Lori and Shannon joined Ryan outside that room.

“Okay we’re going to walk around the back of the motel to get to the van. If you really need to know why it is, it’s because there are four gun toting mercenaries in the next room who’ve been hired to kill us all”– Ryan spoke very quietly but the other four listened intently and heard every fear provoking word. Since there were no windows on the other side of the motel, Ryan suggested re-routing. He got to the van unnoticed. And Ryan opened the back door first and Lee and Shannon quietly clambered in. Then he opened the front doors and Lori and Rachel got in from the passenger side. He started the engine up as soon as he could and accelerated out of the car park, without being overly aggressive and causing any sort of attention grabbing wheel spin.

“So are you going to explain what the hell is going on?” Shannon asked.

“Jensen’s just had his first phone call from since we bugged him. It was from his imprisoned brother. It turns out the brother doesn’t think much of him either. Anyway turns out that Jensen somehow knows we’re still alive and he’s hired another set of mercenaries to finish off the job.”

“How can he know we’re still alive?” Shannon asked.

“Oh I’m guessing that whole phone call thing was a hoax”– Rachel said.

“Now I think about it he did tell them all about it just outside the room he had me in and did say it so loud that it was almost as if he wanted me to hear it. Sorry guys, guess I blew it.”

“Don’t worry about it Rach”– Ryan said. “He’s the one blame remember”– Ryan turned his head slightly to give a comforting look to Rachel.

“Look out!” Lori screamed at Ryan.

Ryan immediately looked back to the road and saw there was a big Deer in the road. The heavy rain and dark of night gave it almost a ghostly look to it. Slammed on the breaks and started skidding.

“Shit!” Ryan shouted as the high speed skid threatened to take them off the road and into one of the many unforgiving looking trees just off the road.

“Turn into the skid!” Shannon shouted from the back.

“Which way are we fucking skidding?” Ryan shouted back.

The van seemed determined to smash into one of those trees but in the end Ryan did well to bring the vehicle to a stop, just off the road but a foot or two short of the trees. Meanwhile the Deer hadn’t moved at all.

“Oh wow, everybody okay?” Ryan said after a very deep exhalation.

All of them gave quick and convincing response to let him know they were all right.

“You okay?” Lori checked.

“Yeah, in fact I’m sorry but I’m going to have to have a little chuckle. You’re all going to think I’m even weirder than you do already but I can’t help it”– Ryan said and indeed did have a little chuckle.

“I’m a little afraid to ask this but what are you finding funny?” Shannon asked.

“Well it’s just that after all the freakishly bad shit we’ve been through, if we’d died because some animal felt like crossing the road in the middle of the night then that would have been so ridiculous that I’m sorry but I’d just have to find that funny.”

“I’m not sure I ever want to know how your mind works”– Shannon smiled.

“Probably best as small a number as possible do ever know that”– Ryan conceded. “Let me just get this thing back on the road. There’s a lay-by just round the corner. I can pull in there. And you guys can listen to the tap of the phone call. I think we’re far enough away from the mercenaries now. It’s not like they know we’re anywhere near here. We just needed to get away from that motel in case they recognized any of us. Jensen had given them pictures of us.”

“So he doesn’t know about the whole surveillance thing with Den and Caroline?” Lee asked.

“Oh no he hasn’t got a clue about any of that.”

Ryan pulled into the lay-by and Shannon started the tape rewinding.

“Let me just get one thing straight in my mind before we listen to the tape”– Lori announced. “Before you heard this phone call we thought that he thought we were dead. When really he knew that we thought he thought we were dead but he knew we were alive.”

“Yeah”– Shannon said. “But now we know that he thinks we think he thinks we’re dead but in actual fact we know that he knows we’re not dead.”

“Yeah”– Ryan joined in. “And he doesn’t know that we know that he thinks. We don’t realize that he knows we’re still alive.”

“I can’t believe you needed that clearing up Lori!” Rachel said.

“I know. It seems so obvious no we’ve said it out loud”– Lori said.

The five of them listened to the full phone conversation between the two Jensen brothers.

“Wow, even his own brother hates him”– Rachel said once the conversation was over.

“We’ve got him”– Ryan said with a huge grin on his face. “We’ve got him!”

“Got who?” Shannon asked. “Bret?”

“Oh yes we have so got him!” Ryan was very enthusiastic.

“Are you going to let us in on the plan in your head anytime soon?” Lori asked.

“First thing, Shannon, if any more proof was needed that you were blameless honey then you’ve just heard it”– Ryan said.

“I know, thanks. Now tell us how we can get him.”

“Simplicity itself, checkmate in one move.”

“How?” Lee shouted.

“Please stop milking it, the suspense isn’t killing him”– Rachel added.

“All we have to do”– Ryan said. “All we have to do is get one of these Dictaphones Caroline left us, record the part of the conversation where he’s talking about having the mercenaries killed then give them that tape and we can sit back whilst they kills us for him.”

“That’s too easy to be true”– Shannon said.

“Wait a minute you want us to go to the four people who are being paid to kill us and hand them a tape?” Lori checked.

“That sounds a little insane”– Ryan conceded. “But I was thinking we just leave the tape by their door, maybe with a little note saying ‘play me’ on it, then knock on their door and get out of there before they open it.”

“Do you want to play knock and run with a bunch of mercenaries?” Rachel asked.

“Yes I suppose I do.”

“Ryan”– Lee said. “Finally your mind has come up with the sort of craziness that I like the sound of. I’m so on board with this plan. Lets do it!”

“I suppose it really should work”– Lori admitted.

“Of course it will work”– Ryan said.

“Call me an icy bitch, but I was kind of wanting to kill Jensen myself”– Shannon said.

“I know that”– Ryan said. “I think we all did in a way, some more than others. I was thinking we could make a little phone call to Jensen just after dropping off the tape. Just to let him know who did this to him. Including emptying his safe.”

“I can settle for some verbal slurs, as long as he knows that it’s us that got him in the end”– Shannon said.

“I’m thinking just after we leave the tape, we can make a anonymous phone call to the police telling them we’ve just seen four heavily armed people breaking into a house. Then we can call Jensen himself. Both calls can be made from the pay phone outside the motel”– Ryan explained.

“So who’s going to make the call to the police?” Rachel asked.

“In my quirky little mind there’s only one person who can make that call”– Ryan said and looked at Lori.

“Got to be me”– Lori nodded. “An anonymous phone call to the police from me started this whole thing and now it’s going to finish it.”

“This plan just gets prettier”– Lee enthused.

The relevant part of the tape was put onto a Dictaphone and the gang listened to it to make sure it was audible and the mercenaries would get the message. Ryan drove them all back to the motel. Lee’s enthusiasm for the plan had lead to him volunteering to be the one who did the knock and run. Between them they had agreed that it would be more stealthy and probably quicker if he just knocked on the door and ran around the back of the motel, rather than having the van right by the mercenaries door for him to jump into. The other four watched from the far end of the motel, by the pay phone.

“Really hope he’ll be all right”– Rachel said as they watched on as Lee approached the room.

“He’ll be fine, it’ll take him about two or three seconds to get to the end of the motel from that door. He’ll be out of sight by the time they open the door”– Ryan assured her. “Remember they have no clue we’re anywhere near here. So it’s not like they are on the look out for us.”

Lee laid the Dictaphone on the floor very carefully without making a sound. Unknown to him one of the mercenaries was just a few feet away from the door. Reached up knocked very quickly twice on the door and ran faster than he’d ever run. The door was opened before Lee got out of sight. The mercenary looked straight ahead from inside the room for a second or two before stepping outside to investigate.

“Oh wow they opened the door quickly”– Lori said.

“It is still okay. They can’t see Lee from inside the room”– Ryan said. “Now he’s safe”– he added as Lee disappeared round what to them was the opposite end of the motel.

“Look down you dumb piece of shit”– Shannon said quietly as the mercenary stepped out of the room and looked to his left and right. Just as he was about to step back into the room he did look down. After looking all around him once again he bent down and picked up the tape.

“Lori it’s time to do your thing”– Ryan said.

Lori called the police, telling them the location of the house and that she had seen four heavily armed men breaking into it.

“Lets give our friend Bret a call”– Ryan said and picked up the receiver and started to dial. By the time he’d finished dialing and slightly out of breath Lee had joined them by the phone.

“Hello”– Bret snapped.

“Mr. Jensen. We thought that since your brother isn’t going to talk to you anymore we’d give you a call.”

“Who is this?”

“Oh I’m disappointed you don’t recognize my voice, I thought I was a key figure in you little game, I’m the guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are four more people here who want to speak to you. Shannon, tell him about you hand and arm”– Ryan handed the phone to Shannon.

“It hurts”– she said and looked at the acid scares. “I’m just glad you’ll never try to rape another woman, you sick son of a bitch.”

Shannon started the process of handing the phone around.

“I’m just sorry I never got to land a kick on you. Like the one that knocked your brother out.”

“Believe it or not, after all you’ve put me through, I’m still glad I didn’t agree to dance with you.”

“For over four years I’ve been worried about what you might do to me. It turns out you should have been worried about me.”

Ryan got the phone back.

“So now you know who you’re talking to.”

“How did you get this number? I knew you were still alive you know. I’ve got plans for you all yet.”

“Perhaps I’ve not been clear. This is a listening time for you and the time when we’re scared of you is long gone and gone forever. You see, you met some friends of mine recently, a husband and wife security firm. If you want to know more about them just go a check your safe, you’ll find its about seven million dollars lighter. Don’t worry too much. Since you haven’t got much time left to spend any money. That’s right. Things are about to get a whole lot worse for you. We just wanted you to know that it was us that made them worse for you. That’s right psycho boy. Your little game is well and truly over”– Ryan hung up the phone before Bret could’ve given an answer. And the five of them got into the back of the van to watch the action. As it happened no reply was forthcoming. Bret had been stunned into silence by Ryan’s words. He put his phone down and started to make his way up the stairs with a blank, emotionless stare, wanting to get to his safe. Before he even got halfway up the stairs his door was forcefully broken open.

“Messed with the wrong boys Jensen”– one mercenary screamed as they all came through the door and shot multiple bullets into him. After that they decided to make it into a robbery as well as a killing.

Lori must have got the seriousness of her message across well over the phone, the police arrived heavily armed and protected just a couple of minutes after the mercenaries entered the house.

“Anybody else ready to go home?” Ryan spoke bereft of any real emotion.

“I could sleep for a week”– Lori said.

“Let’s get packed and get home”– Rachel said.

“I thought I’d be happier than this”– Shannon said.

“Relief, that’s all it is for now, relief”– Ryan said.

“Probably not really hit you yet that this guy is out of our lives forever”– Lee said.

“I know you’re right. But in the end, kind of he wins in a way. He had sort of, made us all into killers”– Shannon said.

“He’s certainly changed our lives for the worse”– Lori added.

“Look the way I see it”– Rachel said. “Is that we’ve all been really unlucky to be caught up in that evil psycho’s ridiculous game. And for it to be such a horrifying, life changing, traumatic and let’s not forget, shitty experience. But we all got out alive. And most importantly we’ve got out with six million dollars split five ways!” Rachel took over from Ryan in the cheering up stakes. “Have you any idea how many shoes I can buy with that?”

“Rachel honey”– Shannon, said. “You are awesome!”