Survivor: 1 (16 page)

TYembling, Lisa nodded slowly, trying to control her
crying.

"I'll keep tabs on you," Al said, his grin wicked. "And if
the cops come nosing around, I'll know where to find
you. And I'll wait until you're well along in your pregnancy. I'm sure the guys in the group will love to watch a
flick of a pregnant bitch getting it." He grinned sickly.

Lisa was unable to control herself now. She felt weak
from the terror of her ordeal and she felt nauseated, but
she also felt as if a huge burden was being lifted from her shoulders, as if she had just been given a reprieve. My
baby gets to live, my baby gets to live!

"And if I don't get you then, I'll get you later, after you've
popped the kid," Al said. "Then we'll make ourselves a
nice little sequel to the film we'll hopefully be making tomorrow." He tipped his head back and laughed, and then
the tears came fresh, bursting out of her.

Please don't hurt my baby, she almost said, but held it
in. Instead, she nodded and said, "I won't tell anybody. I
promise."

If he understood her through her sobs, Al gave no indication. He nodded to Tim."I'm sending Animal with you."
To Animal: "Tie this bitch up and get her in the van."

Animal stepped up to Lisa, his grin wide, and Lisa felt
herself go limp. She didn't put up any resistance as Animal gagged and blindfolded her. The last thing she saw
before she was blindfolded was Al talking in low tones to
Animal as the young sadist nodded seriously. Then, with
Tim's help, she was carried outside to the van.

Tim delivered the news to her five minutes into the ride
to Los Angeles. "We're going by your bank first to get the
money. Where is it?"

She felt a stinging bum as the duct tape that had been
slapped over her face was ripped off, removing small facial hairs and an upper layer of skin. Her blindfold had
been removed a moment before, and now she sat
propped against the side panel, blinking up at Animal as
he hovered over her, his green eyes predatory and cold. She stole a quick glance at the front of the van where Tim
was driving; he met her gaze from the rearview mirror.

"Well?"

"Bank of America, Huntington Beach branch." She
gave them the nearest cross street. "It's right off the 405"

"It's off Beach Boulevard, you said?"

Lisa nodded. "Yeah"

"I can get to Beach from the 22," Tim said, turning his
attention back to the road in front of him." hat goes right
through Little Saigon."

"Where's the homeless chick and the baby?" Animal
asked, and hearing him ask this sent a shiver of ice down
her spine.

"North Hollywood," Lisa said, the feeling of dread rising in her again. "Off Burbank Boulevard. There was an
IKEA right off the exit."

"I know where that is," Tim said.

They were silent for a while as Tim meandered down
winding, twisty mountain roads. Animal sat across from
her, sizing her up occasionally, mostly looking out the
windshield. Lisa tried to ignore him as they headed
down the mountain, but it was hard to do. Every time his
eyes lighted on her, she felt like a mouse being sized up
as a potential meal for a snake; it was a cold, impersonal
feeling. It made her want to draw into herself more.

Once they reached the main highway that would take
them to Interstate 10, Animal moved to the front seat.
Lisa slumped back against the side panel and almost let
out a sob.

Omigodwhyisthishappening!

She cried silently, the tears squeezing out of her eyes
to roll down her cheeks. She didn't care if Tim or the Animal heard her or not. They would probably think she
was crying out of fear anyway, but she wasn't. She was
crying out of shame.

What have I done?

Well, let's see, Lisa. In order to save your own hide and
your's and Brad's unborn child, you willingly turned this
No of murderous psychopaths on to a woman you not
only don't know, but you also told them they could rape,
torture, and murder her infant daughter. Gee, that's a really
nice thing to do to somebody, don't you think?

What else could I do? They were going to kill me? They
were going to kill me knowing I'm pregnant?

Yeah, and in the process, you've managed to sell a
woman you don't even know and a baby to them. Your
own baby isn't even born yet and Mandy's, what, a
month? livo months old maybe? And Alicia? What about
her? You' l be helping kill two people here, Lisa.

But they were going to kill my baby! They were going
to-

Can the save your baby crap. You just want to save your
own skin. Isn't that right?

No! Mat's not true! Mat's-

Bullshit! Why else would you do what you just did? Oh
please don't torture me to death in a snuff film! I don't
want to die! I know somebody else you can kill instead.
And while you're at it, you can have her baby, too! Just
don't kill me.

And as the tears spilled down her cheeks, she realized
that the part of her that was telling her this was right.

And that only made her feel more ashamed and disgusted with herself.

Tim's voice cut through the din of her sobs. "Shut your
fucking trap back there!"

She hitched in a breath at the bark of Tim's command
and tried to hold back the sob that threatened to spill
forth. Don't fall apart now, she thought. You've got to be
strong if you want to get through this. You're going to need
a dear head if you want to save not only yourself, but Ali cia and her baby. Because you owe it to her-you owe it
to them. You know that, don't you?You are going to get out
of this and you are not going to let them take Alicia and
Mandy.

And as the van sped down Interstate 10, she began to
try thinking of a way out of her predicament.

They were on the 57 Freeway breezing by Anaheim Stadium when Animal popped back into the rear of the
van. He held a nasty-looking knife in his hand. "Hold
still," he said. "I'm just cutting you loose so you can get
dressed."

"And don't try anything," Tim warned from the front
seat. "Animal's killed eighteen people. You try anything,
he'll gut you faster than a rat can shit"

Lisa's skin tightened as she felt Animal cut the rope
that bound her wrists together. She felt him work the lock
that held the handcuffs together and then she was free.
Then he was in front of her, holding the knife to her menacingly as he held her clothes out to her. "Put your bra
and shirt on first, then I'll uncuff your ankles."

Lisa rubbed her wrists, then did what she was told. She
dressed slowly, her mind racing. She had been thinking
about a thousand possible scenarios for the past hour
and none of them appeared promising. In the first she
saw herself enter the bank, most likely with Animal, then
suddenly making a break for it and diving over the teller's
desk. That would cause a scene; Animal would surely get
the hell out of dodge. And she would be safe ... but not
for long. Al had her and Brad's photographs. He had her
address and phone number, which he had taken from
one of her bank slips. Hell, he had her social security
card. With all that information, he could probably find
her pretty quickly.

Another scenario saw her getting the money, then making a run for it out the front doors. But then that
would end the same way.

She tried playing different scenarios out all the way till
the end, to their final destination in Burbank. What
would happen? Suppose Alicia and Mandy were gone?
How would Tim and Animal get them in the van without
attracting unwanted attention? The more she thought of
it, the more volatile Alicia's abduction would be. Lisa had
the feeling Tim knew this, which was why they were going after the money first.

The only scenario she really liked had her lunging for
the armed security guard at the bank. If she could surprise him and get his gun, she could maybe shoot him (in
the leg, of course; she didn't want to kill him), then
maybe shoot Animal (again, in the leg; she wanted him
alive to confess to the police. On second thought, maybe
she'd shoot his balls off. Shooting a man's balls off
wouldn't kill him, would it?), then rush outside and surprise Tim in the van, holding him at gunpoint until the police arrived.

There were several problems with that scenario. Suppose there was another guard at the bank and she was
shot first? Suppose she couldn't get the gun, and in the
struggle for it Animal escaped? Suppose the police arrived too quickly and shot her? All these problems
flashed through her mind in seconds as she slipped into
her bra and shirt.

"Slap some makeup on your face," Tim said. "We're almost there."

Lisa looked out the front windshield. They were on the
22 Freeway heading north. They were getting close to
their exit. Let's take this one step at a time, she thought as
she put her shoes on.

By the time they reached the bank, she had put some
makeup on and inspected herself in her compact. De spite all she had gone through in the past three days, she
didn't look that bad. Tired maybe, but not that bad.

Tim swung into a parking space near the bank's entrance, cut the engine, and turned around. Animal's goin'
in the bank with you. If you try anything like screaming or
something, Animal will just dash out here and me and
him are off. You won't know when we'll get you next, but
we will. And we'll get you and your whole fucking family,
and we'll film Animal torturing and killing all of you, you
got me?"

Lisa nodded stoically.

"Is this savings account a joint account?"Tim asked.

Lisa nodded. "Yes."

"Do any of the tellers in there know you and your husband?"

"No.

"So they won't know Animal here from Adam, right?"

She nodded, straightening herself up. "'They won't
know him."

"Good. Animal will play hubby for today. Animal, give
your wifey here a kiss."

Animal grinned, leaned toward her, and licked the
side of her face. She grimaced as his tongue lapped up
her chin, across her cheeks, then over her lips, pausing at
her nose. She felt her revulsion rise, fought the urge to
gag and push him away. Animal's teeth nipped the tip of
her nose playfully, like a lover. "Mmm. Tastes good. Never
tried ripping a chick's nose off with my teeth before."

Tim laughed. "Remember ... you fuck up, Animal will
do it next time we get together."

"I won't fuck up," Lisa said, slightly defiant as Animal
moved away from her and began inspecting his looks in
the vanity mirror.

"Do you need both parties to sign to take money out of
your account?" Tim asked.

"No." Lisa wiped Animal's saliva off her face with her
palm in disgust and wiped her hands off on her jeans.

"Good. You are very lucky, my friend. Very lucky. What
about your IRAs?"

"'They're individual IRAs, from our own separate retirement accounts," she said, reaching for her purse, checking to see if she had everything in place.

"'then what you're going to do is go to the teller and
withdraw the money from your savings account, then
you're going to tell them you want to cash out your IRA.
They'll probably have you fill out a bunch of forms and
shit, so that may take a while. Make sure you get everything you can out of the IRA; don't have them take any
taxes out of it. You can eat that later. Just take your cash
out of your savings account, fill out whatever forms you
need for the IRA, get the money, and get the fuck back
out here. How much is in your IRA?"

"Thirty grand."

"They'll probably hold back a few grand for penalties
and shit. That only leaves us with eighty-five grand or so.
What about your ring?"

Lisa looked at her wedding ring and began to pull it off
her finger. It was a five-carat diamond ring, the stone set
in a nice gold band. It had cost Brad almost six thousand
dollars when he bought it for her three years ago, and she
later had diamond studs embedded in the gold band.
She pointed this out to Tim as she handed the ring to him.
You could probably get ten grand for it if you sold it on
consignment'

"Or half that if I just outright sold it to a jeweler." Tim inspected the ring, then pocketed it. "If you come out with
the cash, well call it even. How's that sound?"

Tine." What else could she say? Especially when it was
her and her unborn baby's life at stake?

"I expect you out of there in twenty minutes," Tim said. if you aren't back by then, I'll know there's trouble and
then I'm gone. If-"

"But wait! What if-" Lisa protested, feeling her nerves
rise.

"Don't interrupt me," Tim said, glancing at Animal. "If
there's a big line, Animal will give me a ring on my cell
phone." He tapped his index finger on a small cellular
phone in his breast pocket. "He'll do that within a minute
of the two of you walking in. But if I see anything funny
going on, I'm gone, you understand me? I ain't waitin'
around for Animal. He knows the protocol should he get
picked up by the cops; he'll be clean."

Lisa listened in dread as Tim continued. He extracted
his cellular phone from his shirt pocket. "Animal's got one
of these babies." Animal grinned and patted his jeans
pocket, indicating the bulk of a small cell phone. Animal
knows that we're to be out of here in twenty minutes. If it
looks like things are legitimately going to take longer, Animal will call me at the nineteen-minute mark to tell me
that. If I don't get that phone call, you and your family are
dog meat, you got me?"

Lisa nodded, swallowing a dry lump. "I got you."

"Just be cool, don't tip off the teller, pass her a note
that you've been kidnapped, or any of that shit. You do,
and Animal will know and he's out of there. You might
not want to admit it, but having Animal by your side for
the next thirty minutes is going to be very beneficial to
you. Because you know what will happen if I see him
come out of that bank and you aren't with him?"