Survivor: 1 (17 page)

"I know," Lisa said.

"Say it "

Lisa glared at Tim, her stomach churning. "Me and my
family will be dog meat."

Tim chuckled. "Not just dog meat. Movie stars!" He laughed sickly. Lisa trembled at the sound of his laugh. It
was the laugh of a man with no conscience.

"Okay!" Tim clapped his hands together. "Let's get this
show on the road.*

Animal slid open the door of the van and Lisa followed
him out, her heart accelerating as she tried to appear
normal while at the same time trying to seek an avenue
of escape that wouldn't end disastrously.

When they walked through the double glass doors into
the cool interior of the Bank of America on Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach, Lisa felt her gut clench when
she saw that the line to the tellers wasn't very long. Tim's
threats weren't really getting to her now; if she had still
been tied up, she might have been scared. Being untied
and walking around was beginning to work on her selfesteem and at chiseling the fear away. Fuck Tim and his
idle threats! So what if Animal ditched her and they left! So
what if they had her address. She and Brad could go into
hiding; she could identify all three of them; she could funnel money into getting an investigation started. She could
have them caught quickly, she was sure of it. And just to
play it safe, she would use her own connections in the legal profession to have her and Brad's identities changed.
Nobody would find them. They would be safe.

When they entered the bank, Animal surveyed the interior then reached for his cell phone. He pressed a
speed-dial button and said," twenty minutes tops! Then
he hung up. He replaced the phone in his pocket. They walked together to the line that fed to the bank tellers,
her mind working on overdrive. She knew exactly what
she was going to do now. Forget the heroics. She was going to stand calmly with Animal in line. And when it was
their turn, she was going to walk calmly to the next teller
and tell him or her point blank that the man she was with
had kidnapped her and was robbing her and please,
would you press that silent alarm button now! Animal
would probably fake a look of surprise-Whatever are
you talking about, dear? And Lisa was going to let her instinct take over. She knew the teller would be able to see
what was happening was the real deal, that this wasn't a
joke. And then Animal would probably make a dash for
the door and maybe security would stop him, maybe the
police would arrive quickly and they'd get Tim and
then-

They were the next customers up, and Lisa felt a sudden rush of adrenaline pour through her. This was going
to work. She was sure of it. Everything was going to be
fine. She allowed herself one small glimmer of courage,
and then she felt the blade of a knife in her back as Animal put his arm around her from behind.

"Let me give you a friendly warning," he whispered casually in her ear. "I won't have this knife on you the entire
time we're in this bank, but I will be at your side like the
ever-faithful husband. And at the slightest sign of you
making a break for it or calling for help, this knife comes
out and I sever your spinal cord " She felt the blade
pierce through her skin and she winced at the pain, feeling warm blood run down her back from the wound.
She felt Animal's lips on her earlobe, his warm breath on
her cheek. "And then I'm out of here before your body
even hits the floor. And if you live, I'll know. And then the
next time we see each other, we'll both be on Al's set and I'll be jamming this knife up your cunt. Do we have an
understanding?"

Lisa nodded, trembling. She heard the female teller
call her over, and then suddenly the blade was gone and
she was walking toward the teller, Animal at her side and
slightly behind her, his arm around her shoulders casually, a smile on his pensive, handsome features.

"How can I help you?" The teller was a small woman,
maybe five feet one with delicate porcelain features,
shoulder-length black hair and big brown eyes. She
smiled at Lisa. The name on the badge pinned to her
blouse identified her as Trish Lynn.

*I'd like to make two withdrawals, please," Lisa said,
pushing the withdrawal slip she had filled out a moment
before to the teller. Her voice sounded like it was coming
from another dimension. "One from my savings account,
the other from my IRA."

The teller looked at the withdrawal slip and her slim
fingers danced on the keyboard of a computer terminal
at her station. The teller's fingernails were impeccable; it
looked like she'd had a manicure recently.

"You wish to close out your account with us at this
time, Mrs. Miller?" the teller asked.

Lisa started; her mind was in a funk. The small of her
back still stung from the knife wound, and she could feel
the back of her shirt and her panties grow sticky with
blood. She looked at the teller and blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Would you like to close out your account with us, Mrs.
Miller?"'Ihe teller frowned slightly.

"Yes," Lisa said, trying to smile. "Yes, I would."

She felt a hand enfold hers and saw that it was Animal's; he was smiling at the bank teller. "We're both a little
nervous about this, Ms. Lynn. My wife and I are relocating back east, and we plan to bank back there!

Mish nodded, seemingly indifferent. "You wanted to
withdraw funds from your IRA as well?"

"Yes," Lisa said, forcing herself not to let her voice
tremble. "Yes, I would."

"Do you have the account number?"

"Right here." Lisa fumbled for her purse and, with Animal's help, she presented Trish with the appropriate account number.

"You'll have to fill out some paperwork," 7Yish said,
looking at her computer screen, then back at Lisa and
Animal. "I can close your savings account here, then I'll
have to direct you to our special accounts person for the
IRA withdrawal. In fact, if you like, I can direct you to Mr.
Walsh now. He'll help you fill out the appropriate paperwork, and when you're finished with him he can walk
you back up here and I'll close out your accounts."

Lisa nodded aslYish stepped around to join them in line,
leading them to the Special Accounts Desk. It seemed that
the room was spinning as she was introduced to George
Walsh, the special accounts person, and then she was sitting down at his desk, listening to him give his spiel regarding the early-withdrawal penalties that were incurred
when you withdrew your money from an IRA too early.
She nodded and told him she understood, then after asking her a few more questions he pushed some forms toward them, and she gave Animal a quick glance before
she turned to fill out the forms. Animal smiled and gave
her an encouraging nod. Playing the ever-faithful husband.

She filled out three different forms as Animal called
Tim again to give him an EI'A, declined to have federal
and state income taxes withheld, signed the forms, and
handed them back to George Walsh, who looked them
over quickly and tore copies out for her. "Right this way,
Mr. and Mrs. Miller," he said.

They followed George Walsh back to 'Dish's window
and waited while Trish finished tending to a customer.
When the customer left, George nodded. 'they're ready,"
he told her.

Trish smiled. "Great' Lisa and Animal approached her
window again while the teller consulted the paperwork
George gave her, and Lisa's original withdrawal slip. "Will
you excuse me for a moment?" she asked, leaving her
post before Lisa could respond.

She's going to call the police! Lisa thought, her heart
hammering wildly. She sensed something and she's going
to call the police, they're going to catch Animal and Tim
and this nightmare will be over and then-

Trish returned with another woman, this one in her
late forties, probably a bank manager. She stood by as Trish reached into her cash drawer. "What denominations
would you like your money in, Mrs. Miller?'

Lisa opened her mouth to answer, stunned that they
still hadn't caught on. She tried to tell the woman how
she wanted the money, but she couldn't. Then she heard
Animal beside her, saying, "I think we'll take hundreds,
Ms. Lynn."

And as Trish Lynn began counting out her and Brad's
life savings and her entire IRA contribution minus penalties into Lisa's hands, the whole experience was becoming more and more like some strange nightmare that
wouldn't go away.

Lisa didn't remember much of the ride to North Hollywood. She spent the first thirty minutes or so crying as
she sat in the back of the van and Tim piloted them along
the 405 Freeway, heading north. Animal sat across from
her, eyeing her occasionally as he counted the money.
He counted the money twice before transferring it to a
small duffel bag that Tim had produced from the front seat. All Lisa could think about was a lifetime of work
that had just been pissed away, a lifetime of work that she
had handed to these two monsters because she'd been
stupid enough to-

She wasn't going to go down that train of thought. She
sniffed, ran her hand across her face, brushing the tears
off her cheek.'IYaffic was already getting heavy as people
began to get off work. Tim turned the radio to a classic
rock station; Kansas blasted from the radio, followed by
Journey and Boston. Tim turned the dial and found an
oldies station specializing in R&B. Al Green's smooth
tenor crooned from the speakers and Animal smiled,
humming along. "Al Green ... what a beautiful voice that
man has," he said.

Lisa looked at him.'ihe idea that Animal found beauty
in something was mind-boggling to her. She couldn't understand it-he was moved by the music of Al Green,
thought it was beautiful, yet he was anticipating raping,
torturing, and murdering a woman and her infant daughter. What was wrong here?

The drive to North Hollywood took close to an hour,
but it felt like four. Through it all, Lisa thought about what
could soothe the savage beast that lay within Animal's
soul (Jeff, she thought, his name is Jeff), and possibly
Tim's. She also tried to think of a way to stave off the inevitable: the abduction of Alicia and Mandy.

'!kinking of a way to save them fared no better than
her plans to foil Tim and Animal at the bank. She still
couldn't come up with anything plausible. There was still
the possibility they wouldn't find Alicia. If that happened,
Lisa was fighting tooth and nail to escape and stay alive.
In fact, if they didn't find Alicia at the restaurant or along
the street she claimed to have parked her car to sleep in,
she was going to make a break for it. Come to think of it,
why even go that far? Tim and Animal had no idea where Alicia was; they were depending on her to lead them to
her. She could lead them to some other restaurant and
then, as they circled the parking lot looking for her, she
would take that opportunity to make a run for it.

Animal was watching her from the other side of the
van, his green eyes studying her. Lisa refused to meet
his gaze; it felt penetrating, as if he could see what she
was thinking. It's probabty written all over my face, she
thought.

One of her scenarios had her telling them where Alicia
was, then finding her, then screaming bloody murder as
she accompanied whomever it was she was going to be
helping lure Alicia to the van. She saw Alicia make a run
for it, carrying her baby as Lisa ran after her, urging her to
run, goddamn it, run! She saw them being chased and
then either a) Animal and Tim catching her and taking
her down, but not before being rescued by bystanders,
thus spoiling their murderous plans, or b) having Animal
and Tim turn tail and run back to the van, escaping back
to Al. In both cases, she saw them trying to carry out Al's
earlier threat of tracking her down, but she already had
plans for that. She and Brad were going to change their
identities as she had planned back at the bank. That was
the ticket.

She tried to stay calm as 79m reached Interstate 5. She
was just going to have to play this one by ear. But she was
damned if she was going to let them take Alicia and
Mandy without a fight. "You said Burbank Boulevard
near the IKEA, right?" Tim asked.

Lisa knew she couldn't lie; she had already told them
where she and Brad had run into Alicia. Part of her had
hoped Tim had forgotten this. "Yes," she said, with a sinking sense of dread.

"We'll be there in fifteen minutes," 71m said.

They were silent during the remaining fifteen minutes of the drive. Lisa felt her body go leaden as they approached the exit, felt the dread solidify and become a
hot, squirming thing in her gut as they exited Burbank
Boulevard and headed west. Animal was looking out the
windshield, and he pointed ahead of them. "Coco's is on
the right," he said. Tim nodded and merged to the right
lane, slowing down to enter the restaurant's parking lot.
Lisa felt her heartbeat speed up, felt her face grow flush
with adrenaline as they cruised through the parking lot.
She was trying to look out the windshield to see if she
could catch a glimpse of Alicia, but she couldn't be sure.
There were people all over the place; the restaurant was
housed in a busy strip mall that also included a supermarket, a drugstore, and several smaller businesses. Tim
drove the car to the rear of the restaurant and slid into a
parking space. He killed the engine. "I thought I saw a
woman standing near the restaurant who looked like the
woman we're looking for," he said. "I'm going to back up
and cruise by slowly so you can get a look at her. If that's
the chick, tell me. And don't lie to me, 'cause I'll know.
Shit, I don't even know why I'm telling you to ID her for
me. She'll probably have her kid with her."

Lisa didn't say anything. Her mind was racing a mile a
minute. It's going to be now. It's going to happen now,
and I'm going to have to put up the fight of my life.

Tim motioned to Animal. "I want you to go with her.
And we'll do what we talked about, okay?"