Michael Rennie - Hungry For Sister

On one side of Judy the man tucked the gun in the waist of his pants, then hauled the ski mask up and off. He was grinning widely, his brown eyes sparkling with excitement as he laughed. He shook his head, the curling rings of his dark hair stringy with sweat.

"Christ, those masks are hot!" he swore.

"Shit, yes," the girl on the other side of Judy agreed, combing the tangles out of her shoulder-length, streaked, blonde hair.

Judy folded her arms under her breasts and glared at her brother angrily. "Did you have to hit Paul so hard?" she demanded.

"Had to make it look real," Mike answered, grinning at his sister. "Take it easy, Harry, we don't want to get a traffic ticket at this point."

"I am taking it easy," the driver growled.

"If we're going to get your stepfather to cough up," the girl put in,

"we have to make it look real. Right?"

"Yeah," Judy agreed. "But did you have to hit Paul so hard, Mike? He looked like he was really hurt."

Mike Wright snorted at his sister's concern. "His head's too hard for a knock like that to do any lasting damage. He looked really surprised when we popped in. How'd you manage that?"

Judy giggled. "Couldn't you tell? I distracted him. He didn't know for sure when you guys were coming anyway. I figured we might as well have a good time while we were waiting."

"You were having a good time, all right," Mike agreed.

"Yeah," Cynthia Van Camp agreed sourly. "While Mike and I were sweating in those masks, you and Paul were balling. You were both stark naked."

Judy curbed her natural animosity toward the other girl. She had never been able to understand what her brother, Mike, saw in the slender blonde. Cynthia was a year older than Judy, but had the body of a girl two years younger-thirteen or fourteen-rather than the seventeen she really was.

"You're just jealous," Judy said mildly.

"Of Paul Cooper?" Cynthia shot back. "Not bloody likely. Not with your brother to service me, I'm not."

Judy felt an explosive surge of jealousy at this comment.

"Okay, okay," Mike soothed, sensing Judy's threatened explosion. "We've all got to work together to pull this off, so let's not have any of that shit."

"Paul's good," Judy fumed uselessly.

"What's the program now?" Cynthia asked, changing the subject.

"Harry found a little place across town," Mike answered. "We take Judy there and she holes up for a few days. That way the Old Bastard'll sweat a little wondering what's happened to her."

"What about Mom?" Judy asked.

Mike shrugged. "She'll sweat, too. Won't be any more than she deserves for marrying him in the first place, right?"

"She only married him for his money," Judy argued.

"Maybe she did, and maybe she didn't," Mike answered. "We don't know for sure. Anyway, what difference does it make? How much has he given her?"

"Not much," Judy agreed.

"Right. So, you stay holed up for a few days until he gets really worried. Cynthia and I and Harry and Paul will go on like we had nothing to do with it. Your kidnapping will be a terrible shock to your brother and friends. When the Old Bastard's worried enough, we'll hit him with the ransom demand."

Judy pouted slightly. "He won't worry about me. He never has liked me-or you, for that matter."

"True," Mike agreed. "But Mom will be going out of her skull with worry, and she'll go to work on him. Don't worry, he'll sweat. Even if he doesn't really care about you himself, Mom'll make him care."

"And then," Cynthia put in, "we hit him with the ransom note. His precious stepdaughter is in danger of being slowly carved to pieces if he doesn't fork over two hundred thousand dollars to the evil kidnappers. Just think of her tender young body at the mercies of vicious criminals." The slender girl chuckled delightedly.

Judy eyed the blonde distastefully. She had the feeling that Cynthia wouldn't mind at all if something like that really did happen to her.

"There anyone following us?" Mike asked.

"Naw," Harry answered. "I been keeping a close eye out. Everything's cool back there. But we sure left a lot of witnesses gaping, I can tell you that."

"So, what did they see, right?" Mike shot back. "You kept your face hidden, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Harry shot back. "But I sure wish I'd had a ski mask."

"That would have looked real innocent," Mike retorted. "A man in a ski mask sitting behind the wheel of a car in broad daylight, in Los Angeles, in the middle of summer. Cripes."

Judy surreptitiously snuggled against Mike, enjoying the feel of his body against hers. She also enjoyed the fact that she was between him and Cynthia. "How long will I have to stay hidden?"

Mike shrugged. "Depends on how long it takes us to get the money. We'll let him sweat for about three days before we send him the ransom note. I figure it'll take maybe a week or so."

"All alone?" Judy asked, dismayed.

"Of course not," Mike answered. "We'll bring you food and stuff."

"Here we are, folks," Harry announced.

"Anyone around?" Mike asked nervously, peering up and down the street.

"All clear," Harry reported, getting out of the car. "I'll get the front door."

The other three waited until Harry had the downstairs door of the dingy apartment house open, then made a quick dash from the car to the cool shade of a narrow hallway. With Harry leading the way, they headed up a creaking flight of stairs. The decaying building was one of a row awaiting the wrecker's ball. The area was being cleared as part of an urban renewal program.

"This is the best room in the house," Harry announced, throwing a door open.

Judy stepped in, her heart sinking. The room was bare except for a rickety wooden chair and a mattress on the floor. A small kitchenette occupied an alcove on one side of the room, and next to it a door was open on a minuscule bathroom.

"It's awful," Judy said miserably.

"It's perfect," Mike replied.

"Better than we hoped for," Harry agreed. "This is the only building in the block where the electricity's still on. I don't know why. Maybe they're going to use it as a headquarters when they start tearing 'em all down. The refrigerator isn't much, but it works. There's food for a couple of days in it."

"Mike, it's awful," Judy repeated, turning to her brother for help.

"It's only for a few days, Sis," he assured her. "We'll probably have to move you just to be safe anyway."

"I'll bet it has rats," Cynthia observed gloatingly.

Mike shot the blonde girl an angry glance. "Nonsense," he argued.

"Honest, Sis, I wouldn't leave you here if I didn't think it was safe.

Okay?"

"You'll come and visit me?" she asked timidly.

"Of course," he assured her.

"There's a hot plate for cooking," Harry pointed out. "And the plumbing works, if you don't put too much strain on it. Don't let any light show at night or someone might spot it and get suspicious, okay?"

Judy thought of sitting alone in the dark in the dismal apartment and shivered.

"Don't worry," Mike assured her, checking the window. "It's boarded up tight. You can use a light if you want."

"I'll probably keep it on all night," Judy observed nervously.

"We better split," Harry pointed out. "If we're here too long someone may spot the car."

"Come on, Mike," Cynthia urged impatiently.

"Someone come and see me tomorrow?" Judy pleaded, feeling that even Cynthia might be welcome by then.

Mike gripped his sister's arms firmly, trying to reassure her. "It'll be a couple of days, but someone'll come, okay? We can't come right away or they might get suspicious. Just hang loose, okay?"

Judy nibbled on her lower lip nervously. Then she lurched up, wrapped her arms around her brother and gave him a quick kiss. For a beautiful fleeting moment she felt the long, sturdy length of his body against hers through the raincoat that still was her only covering.