48 Hours to Die (8 page)

“Hey love of my life,” Tasha sang in an upbeat tone. “What are you doing right now?”

“At my desk still working on this case, what you up too?” Anthony Stone yawned.

“Nothing just working on your surprise,”

“What surprise?” Anthony Stone asked.

“Well I guess you’ll have to come home and find out,” Anthony Stone could picture, Tasha’s bright smile through the phone.

“I’ll swing by your mother’s house in about an hour.”
 

“I’m not at my mother’s house.”

“Where are you?” Anthony Stone asked his tone dead serious now.

“At your apartment,” Tasha sang happily. “I know you said not to come here, but I wanted to surprise you,” she said. “That Uncle Sam guy is just trying to get into your head, plus I’m tired of sleeping by myself every night,” she whined.

“Tasha listen to me, get your stuff, and get out of that apartment right now!” Anthony Stone said as he heard his phone beep notifying him that someone was on his other line. “Hold on real quick baby,” he said and clicked over. “Detective Stone here,” he answered.

“Hello detective,” the voice on the other line said in a robotic tone. “Whatever Tasha’s cooking it sure smells good what the special occasion is?” He said followed by a sickening laugh. Anthony Stone quickly clicked over to the other line. “Tasha! Get out of that apartment right now!”

“Baby calm down what’s wrong?”
 

“Uncle Sam is somewhere in the building get out of there right now! I’m on my way!” Anthony Stone said ending the call. He hung up yelled over his shoulder. “He’s at my house!” And flew out the door. He was determined to not let Uncle Sam kill Tasha. “Not today!” He growled as he got behind the wheel of his Charger and pulled out into traffic like a mad man.

Who’s There?

Tasha hung the phone up, threw on a pair of leggings and a tank top, and exited the apartment. She stepped out into the hallway taking hurried steps. She hit the call button for the elevator repeatedly. As Tasha stood waiting for the elevator, she heard the staircase door squeak open; she looked down the hall and spotted a man in a black hoodie headed in her direction power walking towards her with something in his hand.

“Oh shit!” Tasha yelled as she took off in a sprint down the hall. She looked over her shoulder and saw the hooded man chasing behind her with a black object in his hand that looked like a gun. Tasha quickly ran into the opposite staircase and began taking hurried steps down the stairs just as bullets whizzed by her head and echoed loudly off the staircase walls.

* * *

Reggie took off after Tasha and chased her into the staircase where he aimed his gun above her head and fired three thunderous shots that slammed into the wall. The shots weren’t meant to kill or harm Tasha he just wanted to scare her. Reggie chased Tasha down the stairs until he got close enough and dived from the top of the steps and landed on Tasha’s back tackling her down the remaining steps. The two tumbled down to the next landing. Reggie quickly made in to his feet, pulled out a needle, and jammed into Tasha’s thigh, he then lifted her up off the floor and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried her down to the lobby. Several people looked on with concern as the hooded man carried a woman through the lobby draped over his shoulder.

“Somebody call 911!” A woman yelled.

“Hey where are you taking that woman?” A man in glasses called out. Reggie walked through the lobby with head down so no one could get a good look at his face as he ignored all the people and exited the lobby. Reggie stepped out of the building where his getaway car awaited him. He popped the trunk and roughly tossed Tasha’s body down into the trunk not caring where it landed. Reggie slammed the trunk just as Anthony Stone pulled up to a screeching halt on the opposite side of the street.

Don’t Do It!

Anthony Stone pulled up in front of his building just in time to see a hooded man tossing a female in the back of his trunk. He couldn’t tell for sure if the female being tossed in the back of, the trunk was Tasha, but his gut was telling him that it was definitely, Tasha. “Freeze!” Anthony Stone yelled with his 9mm aimed at the hooded man.

Reggie spun and opened fire on the detective forcing him to take cover behind a work van. Reggie then quickly hopped behind the wheel of his vehicle and pulled recklessly out into the street.

Once the gunfire stopped, Anthony Stone sprang from behind the van and opened fire on the hooded man’s vehicle, shattering the entire back window. Anthony Stone ran towards the car trying to get a better shot when the driver pulled out into the street like a mad man. Without thinking twice, Anthony Stone took off in a sprint and jumped up on top of a parked car. He ran down the line of parked cars, then leaped through the air and violently landed on the roof of the hooded man’s car losing control of his gun in the landing process. Anthony Stone held on to the edges of the roof of the car as the driver merged onto the highway and gunned the engine.
 

Reggie swerved from lane to lane-going 90 mph, purposely trying to sling Anthony Stone from the roof of his car. He cut the steering wheel hard to the right jumping two lanes over, and then cut the steering wheel back over to the left. Reggie went to jump over to the next lane when Anthony Stone’s hand came crashing through the window and wrapped around his throat. Reggie lost control of the vehicle for second as he tried to pry Anthony Stone’s hand from around his throat with one hand and held a firm grip on the steering wheel with his other hand. The more, Reggie struggled with Anthony Stone, the stronger the grip around his throat seem to become. Having no other choice, Reggie grabbed the gun that rested on his lap and fired three shots up into the roof of the car.

“Arggghhh!” Anthony Stone growled as one of the hooded man’s bullets exploded in the chest area of his Kevlar vest forcing him to release his grip on the roof of the car with his left hand. The hooded man then suddenly stomped down hard on the brakes; the momentum forcing caused Anthony Stone to go flying off the roof of the car. His body violently bounced off the concrete and rolled for about ten seconds before coming to a complete stop. Anthony Stone lifted his head up and saw the headlights of the hooded man’s car coming straight at him full speed.

What Now?

Anthony Stone rolled out of the way just as the car zoomed pass. His heart was beating at an all-time high. It didn’t bother him that he had almost lost his life, what really bothered him was the fact that he wasn’t able to save Tasha’s life. Anthony Stone watched with tears in his eyes as the tail lights of the car disappeared into the night. It was at the very moment that he knew the chances of him seeing Tasha alive again were slim.

While the EMT workers worked on Anthony Stone’s shoulder, his mind was on Tasha. Inside he felt bad as if it was his fault that, Tasha was probably somewhere in some dark basement begging for her life. Captain Fisher walked up with a sad look on his face. “Don’t worry, Stone we’re going to catch this sicko if it’s the last thing that we do!”

Anthony Stone wiped his eyes. He loved Captain Fisher like an uncle but right now, his words were going in one ear and out the other. All he could think about was Tasha. He could only imagine what she was thinking and going through right now. Because of him and his job, the love of his life was now in the trunk of a car probably on her way to get chopped up into little pieces.

“Pull yourself together,” Captain Fisher said. “We’re going to catch this scumbag if it’s the last thing we do.”

Anthony Stone stood to his feet and walked over towards, Captain Fisher’s car. “I need a ride home,” he said with his head hung low in a defeated tone. Captain Fisher could tell that Detective Stone was hurting on the inside, usually he was good at hiding it, but this time he couldn’t hide it even if he wanted to.

“Come on partner lets go have a drink I’m buying,” Captain Fisher said as him and Anthony Stone got in his car. For the entire car ride Anthony Stone was silent, he sat leaned back in his seat with his eyes closed. A million different things were running through his mind at the moment, and he had no clue where to start.

“Take me to Tasha’s mother’s house,”

“Huh?”

“Ms. Brown, take me to Ms. Brown’s house I need to make sure that she’s still alive!” Anthony Stone suddenly remembered.

“Who?” Captain Fisher said with a confused look on his face.

“Tasha’s mother,” Anthony Stone explained. He gave, Captain Fisher the address and prayed that nothing had happened to Ms. Brown.
 

Twenty minutes later, Captain Fisher came to a screeching stop in front of Ms. Brown’s house. Anthony Stone stepped out of the passenger seat with his back up gun in his hand. He took cautious steps over towards the patrol car that sat parked in front of the house, while Captain Fisher headed for the front of the house. When Anthony Stone got close to the patrol car, he noticed that the front windshield was shattered and two small bullet holes rested in the center. Anthony Stone made it to the driver’s window and saw the officer that was supposed to be watching over and protecting the property slumped with his head leaning over to the side, his face was covered in a mask of blood.

“Damn!” Anthony Stone yelled in frustration. If the officer was dead, he could only imagine what Uncle Sam had done to, Ms. Brown. He walked over towards the front door when he saw Captain Fisher coming out of the house.

“Is she...?”

“There’s nobody in the house,” Captain Fisher told him. “I searched the entire house from top to bottom.”

“We have an officer down over in the patrol car,” Anthony Stone explained.

“What do you think this scumbag is up too?” Captain Fisher asked.

Anthony Stone shook his head sadly. “I have no idea, but whatever it is it can’t be good,”

Where Am I?

Tasha laid balled up in the back of the dark trunk with a scared expression on her face. She had no clue where this crazy hooded man was taking her. Tasha held on to the sides of the trunk as she felt the road go from smooth to rough and bumpy. Minutes later, she felt the vehicle slow down, and then stop. Immediately, she began reaching around for something she could use as a weapon. She sucked her teeth when she came up empty. Seconds later, the trunk swung open, Uncle Sam reached down and roughly snatched Tasha out of the trunk by her hair. Tasha screamed as the hooded man dragged her across the concrete in what looked to be some kind of abandoned warehouse. Tasha reached up and tried to drag her nails down the hooded man’s face, but instead she caught his neck.

“Bitch!” Uncle Sam growled as he turned and slapped Tasha across the face so hard that her chin touched her shoulder. “I see I’m going to have to teach you some manners!” He growled as he pulled out a roll of duct tape and taped Tasha’s hands behind her back. Uncle Sam dragged Tasha by the ankles until they reached the middle of the warehouse where he picked her up and forcefully slammed her down into a wooden chair where he placed a piece of duct tape around Tasha’s mouth. He then bound her ankles and her waist to the chair.

Tasha looked over to her right and saw her mother bounded down to the chair next to her. From the blood that covered Ms. Brown’s face, Tasha could tell that the hooded man had done a number on her. Not being able to speak, the mother and daughter had to speak through their eyes. The first thing Tasha did was try to look around to see if she noticed something familiar so she could try and tell where she was, but it was no use, the warehouse doors were close and the windows were too high for her to see out of. Tasha looked over and could see the scared and frightened look on her mother’s face, she wanted to tell her mother that everything was going to be alright, but when she saw the hooded man setting up a tripod with a camera on top she knew things were about to go from bad to worst.

Nightmare

For the past three days, Anthony Stone stayed inside his apartment. He couldn’t function or think straight all he could think about was, Tasha and her mother being tortured and begging for their lives. “It’s all my fault,” Anthony Stone cried, once again his work had somehow spilled over into his personal life. He poured himself a glass of vodka and took a deep sip, then crumbled his face up as it went down. Anthony Stone sat on the sofa drinking his life away when he heard a light knock at his front door. He hopped up off the sofa, grabbed his 9mm, and quickly made his way over toward the front door. Anthony Stone snatched the door open and found a UPS worker standing on the other side. “Can I help you?”

“Yes I have a package for a Mr. Anthony Stone,” The deliveryman said holding out a clipboard towards Anthony Stone. Anthony Stone signed for the package then closed the door, making his way back over to the couch. Before opening, the package he placed his ear to the side first to make sure whatever was inside wasn’t ticking. Once he was sure that it wasn’t a bomb Anthony Stone slowly opened the packed and saw that it was a DVD with the words “read me” taped on to the case. Without hesitation, Anthony Stone popped the DVD into the DVD player and pressed play. Seconds later and mask man appeared on the screen and began to speak with a robotic, electronic tone.

“If you’re seeing this video then that means things have gotten way out of hand and therefore one of us has to go,” The mask man said. The camera then suddenly switched over towards, Tasha and her mother sitting tied down in separate chairs. Anthony Stone could immediately see the fear on both of their faces. He watched as the mask man ordered Ms. Brown to keep still as he reappeared in the video holding an ax in his hand. The mask man turned and looked into the camera, smiled; he then turned raised the ax and chopped Ms. Brown’s foot off.