FINAL DAY OF OUR RIVETING SHORT STORY... TREACHEROUS T ‘I had been trying to get this girl in the swing from the first day I laid eyes on her.. we made a deal. She kept her end. I kept mine’
FROM PAGE 37 frustration. “Why couldn’t you just have taught math!”
The ringing of the phone made her jump. Professor Chambers answered it. He held up his hand to stop Fiona leaving the room. “You’d better take this! It’s Hayley. I think she’s in trouble.”
Fiona could hear Hayley’s sobbing halfway across the room. She grabbed the phone. “Hayley, what is it?” Hayley was so hysterical she could hardly get the words out. “They’re going to kill me. Please, please help me!” “Where are you? Who’s going to kill you?” “There’s a car out in front of your dad’s house. If you don’t get in it and come, they’ll kill me. Mikey too.”
“What are you talking about? Try to stop crying. I can’t understand you.”
Hayley’s sobs were silenced by a hard slap. A man’s voice, polished, strong, and condescending, came on the line. “Miss Chambers, it’s been a long time.” “Who is this?!” “Now you’re hurting my feelings. I certainly haven’t forgotten you. And now all of America knows how lovely you are.”
“Eddie Rivers!” Fiona spit the words out like a curse. “What have you done to Hayley?”
“Nothing, yet,” he purred. “But if you care about your little friend you’ll get into the car that’s waiting for you in front of Daddy’s house.” “How did you find me?” “Fiona, honey, don’t insult my intelligence. Get in the car if you want Hayley and her brother to live to see tomorrow.”
CHAPTER 27
he Velvet Swing looked very much the same at three in the afternoon as it did at three in the morning. Women with surgically enhanced breasts swayed in a desultory dance in their cages. The favorite of the moment swung tantalizingly close to the customers in her velvet swing.
No one bothered to look up when the young blonde woman was whisked in through a back door and down a flight of stairs, to a place that neither light nor sound could penetrate. A door to an inner room was pushed open and only then could Fiona hear Hayley’s sobs. She was tied to a chair.
Her suit was torn, she wore one shoe, and there was dried blood on her mouth and chin. Fiona hurried across the room to her. Tears ran down Hayley’s cheeks, one of which was swollen from a beating.
“My God! Hayley!” She turned to the man who had brought her here, a tall Corsican thug. “Untie her right now!”
“Right away, Ma’am,” he said, but made no move.
A moan emanated from the far corner of the room. Fiona whirled around to see Mikey on the floor, hogtied and gagged. His face was bloody, had been pummelled almost beyond recognition. Fiona knelt before Hayley, wiping the dried blood with the sleeve of her shirt. “What’s going on? What’s happening?” “I’m sorry, Fiona. So very sorry.” The Corsican spoke. “Can we cut the chitchat? You’re giving me a migraine.”
The door burst open, and Luke Thompson was pushed into the room. Like Fiona, he was untouched. When he saw her on the floor in front of Hayley, he crossed the room in two steps and pulled her up, held her close.
“Don’t say anything,” he murmured. “I’ll get us out of here.”
“Very heroic, Mr Thompson,” said a voice from the darkness. A light snapped on to reveal Eddie Rivers, dressed impeccably in an openneck shirt and beige slacks.
“Although I’m not sure how you plan to accomplish that. My boys run a pretty tight ship here.”
“You’ll have a price,” Luke said. “Guys like you always have a price, and it isn’t always money.”
“We live in such a cynical age,” Eddie said. “I brought you here to do you a favour.”
“I bet you did,” Luke answered, not letting go of Fiona. “Your quarrel is with me. Let the other three go.”
“See, wrong again. Your quarrel is with these two bad apples, not me.” He indicated Hayley and the whimpering Mikey.
“Eddie, Mikey’s debt is paid. I paid it. Let him go,” Fiona exclaimed.
“What debt did you pay?” Hayley’s voice didn’t even sound like her own. “What are you talking about, Fiona?”
“She never told you what she did for you and your scumbag brother? I like that. This lady has real class.”
“Mikey, what is he talking about?” Hayley was screaming at Mikey’s inert body. “What debt did Fiona pay for you?”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why a classy lady like your friend here would dance in a dive like this? Not that I didn’t enjoy every little bump and grind.” Eddie smiled knowingly.
Luke held Fiona gently by both shoulders so