Adelle Laudan - Killer Scents

Becca sat at an angle in the corner, at least four feet from the bed. With every ounce of strength she could muster, she tried to throw her weight in hopes of bouncing the chair across the room. Unfortunately, her strength didn’t match her determination. Her frustration level reached an all-time high and she screamed.

“Chief? Randy? I’m upstairs! Can you hear me?” Becca threw her weight in the direction of the bed and crashed to the floor, her head hitting the iron frame.

“Shit!” Her world spun and the all-too-familiar darkness swept her away.

Danny shivered in unbridled expectation. He could hardly wait until they happened upon his other surprises. His smile broadened upon hearing Becca’s screams. Is the big-shot detective a little scared? He should really just shoot Jacob and be done with him, but for whatever reason, he wanted him alive. Not that he’d be any good to anyone with his love-maker sewn shut.

Jacob sat propped in the corner where he’d moved him to, only now he’d acquired a rather foul odor about him. Danny turned up his nose and pulled the guy up to his feet, uncovering the reason for the stench. He’s done gone and shit himself.

“You dirty fucker.” Danny dragged him to the bathroom and into the tub, positioning him so his head rested below the rim. The blocking drug made things almost too easy. He put the plug in and turned the cold water on. “I guess I’ll see you later. That is if I come back in time.”

Danny left the bathroom and stopped in the middle of the now vacant front room. The picture window framed a stupendously star-filled sky.

“The calm before the storm.”

Danny smiled and sauntered to the dining room where the contents of his duffle bag lay strewn across the table. He set the lantern down and pulled the pocket doors closed. Armed with a hammer and several wooden planks he’d leaned against the wall, he began nailing one at a time across the doors. Several minutes later, he stood back and shrugged, having used all eight planks when three would have sufficed.

So what if it’s overkill? I’m the boss and I make the rules.

“I’m a little worried. He’s too quiet in there.” Randy took the binoculars off the car’s roof. He focused them and then checked each window. Nothing stirred indoors or out, not even the leaves on the trees.

The calm before the storm.

A guy from the special task force ran over and squat between them.

“He’s blocked a window with a mattress on the second floor. Maybe that’s where he moved Becca and Jacob.”

The chief’s radio crackled. “Chief, he’s closed off the doors leading into the front room. We believe he’s in the dining area now. Even if we get inside, we have to get through those doors. The guy has been hammering away for the past twenty minutes.”

“Thanks, Tim. Keep an eye on him.”

“Copy that.”

“The fucker’s nesting—getting everything set up for the long haul.” Randy flicked the toothpick away that he’d been chewing on for the past hour.

“If he’s busy doing that, he’s not bothering Jacob or Becca.” Chief rolled his neck.

Randy stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles. They were biding time for daylight. The EMT had left with six of their men in body bags. They couldn’t chance another attempt and set off another of Danny’s traps.

The Florist was far from stupid. He knew if Jacob and Becca were with him, they wouldn’t be planning an ambush.

Chief put a hand to the small of his back as he stood hunched over, out of sight. “It will be dawn soon, and then the real show can get started. I need to take a leak.” He wobbled off down the side of the barn.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

A stream of sunlight from the top of the window nudged her eyes open only for her to shut them again. A streak of white lightning ripped through her skull. Becca quickly remembered her circumstances where she laid on the floor still taped to the chair, the iron leg of the bed only inches from her head.

She lay listening for any clue to what was going on outside or, for that matter, inside. The door rattled and remained closed. She tried to turn her head, but couldn’t. A few short seconds passed before it rattled again.

“Danny? Is that you? What are you doing out there?”

Becca strained to hear. No, it couldn’t be...could it?

“Jacob?” She held her breath. “Is that you out there?”

“Sssss....”

She gasped.

The door rattled again, the lock clicking and the door banging open. Jacob half-crawled into the room, leaving a trail of water in his wake. He kicked the door shut and collapsed on the floor. He took long, shaky breaths through his nose, his body visibly trembling.

“Jacob, I know you’re hurt, but Danny could come back any moment. You need to help me free my hands. Can you do that for me?”

He grimaced with every movement as he dragged himself over to her and started working at the tape.

“If you can get one of those springs off of the bed frame, the pointed end should cut through it.”

In spite of his many injuries, Jacob unhooked a spring and sliced into the bindings. It took a little doing, but he finally managed to find the end and began unravelling it from her body.

“Once my hands are free, I can take over.”

Her heart ached at the pain she saw in his eyes.

It seemed to take an awfully long time before the tape loosened enough for her to dig the phone from her pocket and press redial.

“We need a distraction.”

“Becca?” His voice cracked.

The sound of Randy’s voice made her heart ache. “We need your help. In five minutes you need to create a diversion so we can get the hell out of here.” She hit END, not wanting to risk Danny finding it. She was already worried he’d see the water puddles Jacob had left.

He lay on his side now, breathing hard, eyes closed. Beads of perspiration covered his face. She quickly peeled the tape from her legs and righted the chair to finish taking the remaining adhesive strips from around her waist.

“Jacob, the cops are going to create a diversion.” Becca hurried to the window and pushed the mattress aside. She blinked rapidly into the morning sun’s rays. They were on the second floor, and below them a small roof hung over the mudroom.

“If I can get this open, I think we can throw the mattress on the roof below and jump to it easily enough.”

Jacob moaned and briefly closed his eyes; exhaustion played on every feature of his tortured face. He’d been through hell and back, and now she wanted him to jump out a window.

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. The minute we hear anything, it’s time to make a move. Okay?”

The door suddenly burst open, and Danny appeared before them.

“How the hell did you get up here?” Spittle sprayed from his mouth, and he firmed his hold on a gun, aiming at Jacob’s head.

“Don’t do it, Danny. He was only trying to protect me.” She stood slowly. “You know there’s no escape, but it’s up to you how far this will all go.”

Danny turned the pistol on her. “You’re right. He was only trying to help you. It’s always all about you, Detective.” He looked down his nose at her. “I should have done this long ago.”

He pulled the trigger.

Gunshot deafened the small room. In the same instant Danny took his shot, Jacob grabbed her ankles and pulled her to the ground. He quickly rolled on top of her just as another shot resounded in the small space. An explosion rocked the house, and Danny bolted from the room. Becca gasped for breath, the weight of Jacob having knocked the wind from her.