48 Hours to Die (9 page)

Anthony Stone was forced to watch in horror as blood sprayed all over the floor as Ms. Brown released a muffled scream, the look on her face said that she was in tremendous pain. The more Anthony Stone watched the angrier he became. It was killing him to have to watch his woman’s mother in so much pain.

Seconds later, the mask man got back in front of the camera. “Anthony Stone you have forty eight hours to either kill yourself or watch your family die. The choice is yours!” And just like that, the video ended.

Anthony Stone watched the video over and over. He knew that even if he was to take his own life that there was still a chance that Uncle Sam could still kill Tasha and her mother anyway. Anthony Stone tossed his glass against the wall out of frustration. “Forty eight hours to die,” he murmured looking down at the 9mm in his hand. Anthony Stone hopped up and quickly got dress, he didn’t have forty-eight hours to die, but instead forty-eight hours to find Uncle Sam.

I See You

That same night, Anthony Stone sat camped out five houses down from, Reggie’s huge estate. He wasn’t positive on who Uncle Sam was for sure, but all signs pointed to Reggie. It was just something about him that just rubbed Anthony Stone the wrong way. After two hours of staking out, he noticed Reggie’s Bentley pull into his circular driveway. Anthony Stone sat behind the wheel of his car looking through a pair of high-powered binoculars. He watched as Reggie exited the Bentley wearing black sweat pants and a hooded sweatshirt. He then walked back towards the trunk, reached in and removed a duffle bag, then disappeared through the front door of his house.

Anthony Stone immediately got a bad vibe. Everything about Reggie looked suspicious as if he was hiding something. First things first Anthony Stone wanted to know what, Reggie carried inside that duffle bag that he carried inside the house.
 

After sitting for about twenty minutes, Anthony Stone watched as Reggie exited the house in an expensive suit walking fast as if he was in a rush. He watched as Reggie climbed inside his luxury car and pulled off. Anthony Stone ducked down in his seat as the Bentley zoomed past him in a hurry. Anthony Stone sat in his car for ten minutes before he exited his car, slipped a hood over his head, and slowly walked towards Reggie’s house. He knew what he was about to do was wrong and against the law, but at the moment he had to take the law in his own hands. Anthony Stone needed answers and those answers were on the other said of those mansion doors. He jogged in a low crouch until he reached a door at the back of the house. Anthony Stone pulled out a drill gun and quickly began to remove the screws from the lock on the door. Seven minutes later, Anthony Stone entered the house with his 9mm in one hand and his Maglite in the other. He slowly eased his way throughout the house looking for anything that could connect Reggie to the murders. Anthony Stone walked slowly throughout the house and stopped when he saw a door that looked to be out of place. He walked over, snatched the door open, and found steps that led down to the basement. Anthony Stone slowly made his way down the stairs, when his feet touched the bottom landing, he couldn’t believe his eyes. All throughout the basement were killing tools. A torture bed rested in the center of the basement. Anthony Stone saw everything from knives, guns, axes, and any other killing object one could think of. The more Anthony Stone looked around the more he worried about Tasha and Ms. Brown, now knowing that Reggie was indeed Uncle Sam. Anthony Stone exited the basement and headed upstairs to the master bedroom to see what else he could find. The light from his Maglite guided Anthony Stone throughout the lavish property. Anthony Stone reached the bedroom and began searching for more evidence he reached, Reggie’s dresser and shone his light on a pile of envelopes, the same type of envelopes that, Uncle Sam left at all of his crime scenes next to the envelopes were several pictures in nice frames that lined up nice and neat next to one another. Immediately, Anthony Stone recognized the woman’s face that was in most of the pictures. There were pictures of a woman that he had failed to save during a hostage situation a few years ago. Now putting the pieces together, Anthony Stone realized that the woman was none other than, Reggie’s wife. “So that’s why he’s doing all of this?” He whispered to himself. Anthony Stone made his way over towards, Reggie’s closet and stopped in mid-stride when he saw the duffle bag sitting on the floor. He looked down inside the bag and the first thing he saw was a roll of duct tape with hairs sticking from it, Anthony Stone stuffed the roll of tape down into his pocket. Just as he was about to continue to search the duffle bag, he heard the front door slam shut informing him that he was no longer alone in the house.

Who’s in my House?

Reggie made it four blocks away before he realized that he had left his phone charger on the counter. Without thinking twice, he made a U-turn and headed back to the house. Reggie smiled at the thought of having the upper hand on Detective Stone; he could only imagine what was going on in the detective’s mind at this very moment. Reggie felt no remorse for what he was doing, he had to sit back and watch his wife die, and now it was Anthony Stone’s turn to suffer the same way he did. Reggie pulled into his driveway, kept the engine running, and ran inside the house. Reggie stepped foot inside his home, walked over to the counter and grabbed his charger. He turned to make his exit but stopped when he heard what sounded like footsteps coming from upstairs. Reggie stood still for a second and listened carefully. A few seconds passed with complete silence. Just as Reggie was about to head towards the door, he heard the noise again. He quickly removed the .45 from the small of his back and headed upstairs to investigate.

Reggie made it to the top of the steps and the first place he searched was the first bathroom. He slowly eased opened the door trying to be as quiet as possible. He stepped further into the bathroom and snatched the shower curtain back ready to shoot. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the tub was empty. Reggie exited the bathroom and continued down the long hallway until he reached one of the many guest rooms. He slowly eased the door open and searched the entire room. Empty.

Reggie stepped out the guest room and headed straight for the master bedroom. He eased the room door open and instantly something didn’t feel right. He inched his way inside the room and the first thing he did was check under the bed. Empty. Reggie then slowly made his way over to the closet, when the sound of a cell phone ringing could be heard coming from inside the closet. Without warning, he fired five shots into the closet door. Reggie waited a few seconds before he slowly raised his hand and snatched the closet door open.

I Know It’s You

Anthony Stone hid in the closet trying to be as quiet as he possibly could. He reached around the closet and found an all-black ski mask more evidence that just confirmed that Reggie was indeed Uncle Sam. He listened carefully as he heard someone enter the bedroom. Anthony Stone slowly slid the ski mask down over his face, he knew that if he was to get caught breaking into Reggie’s home without a warrant that he would lose his job and possibly face jail time, not to mention that Reggie would more than likely sue the pants off of his department. Anthony Stone stood as quiet as he possibly could when suddenly his cell phone began to ring. He quickly hit the button to silence his phone but it was too late. Seconds later, several gunshots ripped through the closet door. Anthony Stone pressed his back up against the wall and waited. When the closet door opened, he sprung from the closet and charged Reggie full speed. Anthony Stone hit Reggie hard as the two want crashing on the bed. Anthony Stone held the wrist that Reggie held the gun in as Reggie sent several shots up into the ceiling and walls until the gun was empty. Reggie kicked the masked man off of him and made it to his feet first. Before the mask man had a chance to do anything, Reggie was all over him. He threw a four-punch combination that landed on the masked man’s face. Anthony Stone took the punches well. He weaved Reggie’s next punch and landed two punches of his own. He then grabbed Reggie’s head and violently slammed it into the wall. Anthony Stone landed a vicious knee to Reggie’s face that he partially blocked. Reggie threw a strong right cross that would have broken the masked man’s face, but Anthony Stone dodged the punch just in time to see, Reggie’s fist go through the wall leaving a huge hole. Anthony Stone took a step back and landed a sidekick that landed in the pit of Reggie’s stomach and sent him crashing out into the hallway.

Out in the hallway, Reggie bounced on his toes as if he was a professional boxer with a grin on his face. He held his guards high as he moved in on the masked man, throwing the type of blows that would knock most men out. Anthony Stone blocked most of the punches but a few still managed to slip through his guard. Reggie kicked the mask man on the side of his leg, and then without letting his leg hit the floor, he used the same the leg to fire another kick toward the mask man’s head.

The kick to the leg stunned Anthony Stone and he was able to get his arm up just in time to block the kick to the head. He could tell that the rich club owner had taken a few martial arts classes in his day which was fine because Anthony Stone was no stranger when it came to martial arts he too had taken his fair share of classes over the years. Anthony Stone ran and landed a flying elbow that connected in the center of Reggie’s forehead. He then finished him off with a roundhouse kick that landed in Reggie’s chest and sent him tumbling backwards down the stairs. Anthony Stone stood at the top of the stairs and watched Reggie violently roll down the stairs until he reached the bottom.

Anthony Stone slowly made his way down the stairs as he watched Reggie slowly crawl back up to his feet. He could have easily escaped throughout the back door but he wanted to inflict more pain on the serial killer. He knew what he was doing was wrong and against the law but he couldn’t just sit back and continue to let this sicko go around and kill innocent people. Anthony Stone roughly snatched, Reggie up to his feet by the collar of his shirt and backslapped him as if he was a simple woman. He then grabbed Reggie and tossed him into his huge bookshelf that rested against the wall. Anthony Stone kneeled down and punched Reggie dead in his face. He smiled as he watched Reggie spit out a tooth. Anthony Stone was about to try and kick Reggie’s head through the wall when he heard a loud banging on the front door.

“POLICE OPEN UP!” the voice on the other side of the door yelled. The gun shots along with all the noise the two men had made during their fight had caused one of the neighbors to call the cops. Anthony Stone readied to creep out the back door, when Reggie quickly hopped to his feet and charged him, and hit him hard, lifting Anthony Stone off of his feet. The two went violently crashing down onto the kitchen table. Anthony Stone kicked Reggie off of him and quickly made it up to his feet just as the police had kicked the front door open.

“Shit!” He cursed as he took off in a sprint down the hall as the two police officers opened fire on him. Anthony Stone dashed out the back door out into the darkness as two bullets exploded through the door inches away from his head. Outside, Anthony ran through the darkness, he looked over his shoulder and noticed one of the officers in pursuit. He quickly ran and hid behind a parked car and removed the ski mask from his face and tossed it under the car. He then stood up and walked back towards the house with his badge in one hand and his gun in the other.

“Drop your weapon!” The officer yelled when he spotted the man coming towards him with a gun in his hand.

“I’m a cop here’s my badge,” Anthony Stone said as he held out his badge and slowly placed his 9mm on the ground. The officer moved in closer then lowered his weapon.

“Sorry Detective Stone I didn’t know that was you,” he said recognizing the detective from being all over the news.

“It’s okay,” Anthony Stone brushed it off. “I just got the call about a noise complaint.”

“Yeah from the looks of it, it looks like a break in, I just chased the burglar around here somewhere, but he must have escaped,” the officer said proudly.

Anthony Stone and the officer stepped back inside the house and he saw another officer questioning, Reggie. “I’ll take it from here,” Anthony Stone cut in.

“Good seeing you again, Reggie,” he began. “What happen here?”

“Someone broke into my home and attacked me,” Reggie said.
 

“Maybe you should take some self-defense classes,” Anthony Stone said not hiding the fact that he didn’t like, Reggie. “Is anything missing from your home?”

“I don’t know I didn’t have a chance to check yet detective,” Reggie stood getting up in detective Stone’s face. “What happen to your lip,” he nodded at Anthony Stone’s busted lip.

“Oh this,” Anthony Stone smiled. “I had to put hands on some wanna-be tough guy for messing with my family,” he said letting, Reggie know that it was indeed him who had beat him up and broken into his home.”

Reggie smirked. “I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your girlfriend, I saw on the news that she had been kidnapped. I hope you find her before something bad happens to her.”

“If anything happens to my girlfriend and I mean anything, I will personally make sure that Uncle Sam or whoever is responsible for her abduction gets his or her head blown off.”

Reggie smiled. “Well detective like they say when playing chess, you better make your next move your best move.”

“I will,” Anthony Stone, turned and made his exit. When he made it back to his vehicle, the first thing he did was call Captain Fisher.

“Stone what could you possibly want at this time of night?” Fisher growled into the phone.