Текст книги "Hope To Escape"

Автор книги: Jack Parker

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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

Roden kept going down the dirt path, which was much narrower and even more secluded than the paved road, continuing with as much swiftness as possible. Martin finally calmed himself enough to direct him to drive to the end of the path. They would be able to hike towards the house from there.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Max, Roden and Manda reluctantly followed Martin through the rough milieu of the woods. After a serious threat to ensure Martin didn't try anything conniving, they grudgingly let him guide the way. Max stayed close, and kept the gun in his belt, where he could reach it at a moment's notice if he became even remotely suspicious of the unreliable crook in front of him. Martin tried to appear offended by their mistrust, but couldn't hide his amusement at the measures they tried to take to keep him in line.

Roden glanced back at his car a few times, until it was no longer visible in the dimness of the trees. He hated to leave it behind, worried that he wouldn't be able to find it again; or worse, that someone else would find it first. He carefully traced his steps so that he could retrace them again when the time came.

Manda continued her quiet state over the gravity of the situation. They were closer to Ess than ever, and the idea of breaking and entering into the well secured home was enough to terrify anyone into silence. Instead, she channeled her anxiety into the pretzels she carried in case the dogs showed up by stuffing handfuls of the twists into her mouth. Roden was thankful. Earlier, he had been almost sure she would remark and complain the entire way, destroying any hope of creeping up on the enemy. Eating through her fear might not be a sound coping mechanism, but they could deal with that issue at a later time.

After what must have been at least three uneasy hours, they reached the high fence that Martin had described. It was turning late in the day now, and the sun had started sinking behind the trees, casting long shadows throughout the forest. The lights from the house in the distance shed an unnatural glow to the surrounding wilderness, and the bars of the fence imparted a cold and towering menace that would be enough to deter a less desperate group of trespassers.

From here Martin wound along the fence until he found the location he had mentioned using on a previous occasion as his covert entrance to the grounds. It turned out to be a small ecological reservoir for catching rainwater runoff from multiple natural ditches, which ran down from a small slope off of the main lawn. Martin waded into the water, and they noted that it rose nearly half way up his calf at the deepest point.

"I'm going to test it." Martin broke the silence. "If I feel any heat from the lasers, I'll let you know. If there is, then you better run. The lasers give off a silent alarm to warn the security guards, so they won't be far behind."

With that said, he stuck his hand through the bars, and waited. After about ten seconds he said, "Nothing." He withdrew his hand and gave them his devious smile, proud that his plan was still intact. "Come on, follow me."

"No," Manda whispered loudly. "Let Max go first. We don't want any funny business from you."

Max and Roden nodded in agreement. Max slipped carefully through the bars, and Martin followed. Manda found the swampy little pool to be rather difficult to cross in her high heels, and Roden had to assist her several times in prying her feet from the mud. She did eventually make it through the bars, but the squeeze turned out to be a bit tough for Roden. He wasn't as lean and spry as he used to be.

"Okay, we're in." Roden got up close to Martin so that he could keep his whisper to a minimum. "Now show us how to get into the house."

"This way." Martin waved them on. They kept to the fence until they reached another angle of the property, then cut up the lawn towards the house. The four prowlers weren't more than ten steps out when barking could be discerned in the distance.

Manda clutched the pretzel bag to her chest and cried, "Oh, my god!" Max and Roden turned to give her a warning look, but she already broke into a sprint in the opposite direction from the one they had intended.

"Damn it," Martin responded in a loud whisper of irritation. "I should have warned you all not to run. She'll just spur those demons on now."

Still in her high heels, which were now coated in slippery mud, Manda couldn't flee with much speed across the lawn, and it only took a moment for Roden to catch up to her. He reached out to stop her, but she lost her footing and fell, pulling him down with her.

As Roden got to his feet and began to help Manda up, he turned towards the sound of the fast advancing canines. Max and Martin snatched both Roden and a half risen Manda and began to drag them along to a nearby copse of trees.

Max thrust Manda towards the first tree that he discerned to be climbable. As the three helped her to climb up, the dogs approached, charging across the yard at an alarming pace. Dobermans.

The first dog attacked low at Martin's ankle, while the other jumped up on Roden's chest, throwing him against the tree. Martin stifled his scream of surprise and pain, and fell to the ground grabbing for anything that could pull him away from his attacker. Roden couldn't cry out because the wind had been knocked out of him. His attacker returned to the ground to reposition itself for the next strike.

Max, who had a knack for staying level headed – at least when not in Ess's presence – scanned the debris of the surrounding area, and eyed a rather sizeable fallen birch branch. He hoisted it up with his hands and took a quick moment to weigh its solidity for his purpose.

In the next moment the thwack of wood hitting canine cranium was nearly drowned out by a yelp as the dog flew away from Martin's body. The force of Max's swing rendered the animal unconscious.

Max then turned to his friend. The second Doberman had attached itself to Roden's arm, where it shook its head frantically to aid its teeth in digging into the injured doctor's flesh. The position of the man and the dog made it difficult to achieve an effective swing; and the consequence of the last blow left the tree branch unsturdy, anyway. Max had to think of a swift alternative.

A flash of an idea came to him. He threw down the branch, and tore off his leather bomber jacket. Spreading the garment open with his hands, he leapt onto the dog and covered its head, startling the animal into releasing its prey. Using all of his strength, he wrapped his arms around its neck. It struggled for freedom, and tried to buck its captor off of its back, but Max held on with all the strength he could muster. When the dog couldn't throw him from its back, it rolled onto its side, and began to flail its limbs. Max kept his grip around the dog's neck, and clutched his legs around its body to prevent the beast from maneuvering out of the hold.

After about a minute or two of struggling, the dog slowed down. Without use of its eyesight and weapon-like teeth the animal could not comprehend a way to free itself. Max still held on, figuring that the leather around its head would make it impossible to breath, and in the end, the dog passed out from suffocation.

Finally, Max felt confident enough in their immediate safety to see to his injured companions. Roden's own thick jacket made the Doberman's teeth less penetrable. While he did suffer some bruising and a puncture wound on his forearm, after regaining his breath, the older man claimed he would survive.

Martin's condition appeared to be a different story. The teeth marks visible through his shredded slacks showed a rather mangled ankle. Blood welled up in large puncture holes and ran down from the gnawed skin that had been slashed wide open.

"Oh, Jeez." Max commented. "You need medical attention." Roden seconded him on that, and they exchanged dismayed looks at one another. This certainly put a damper on their rescue mission.

"No, no." Martin waved them off and began to stand. "Just get me into the house, and I can take care of it myself." He tested his weight on his leg and hissed at the pain.

"Here, lean on me." Max lent him his shoulder.

Roden, with breath still quickened from his own ordeal, stepped over to the tree Manda had climbed into and offered her help in getting back out of it. This couldn't be accomplished without some struggle and awkwardness between the places Roden had to put his hands and Manda's inappropriate attire for the situation. Max laughed.

Manda managed to shoot him a glare from her position, half way down the tree. "I can't believe you're laughing at a time like this."

"Max," Roden also supplied a disapproving look. "That's inappropriate. You shouldn't laugh over this." Max snorted and continued snickering. "Really, Max. I can't believe you would laugh at someone else's struggles." Manda tangled her dirty heal in Roden's belt at this point and almost lost her grip on the tree branch she was descending from.

Between chuckles, Max responded, "I can't believe it either, but obviously you can't see what I can see."

Roden, with a puzzled look on his face, stared at the amused man while grasping Manda's waist. "What?"

Max looked up at Manda and asked, "Really, Manda? Granny panties?"

Martin busted up in muted laugher and leaned forward to see the view. Sure enough, there were white cotton granny panties underneath her slinky skirt. "Not just any granny panties. Those look like the kind that hold things in."

Roden, the only man present who was able to keep his laughter in check, interrupted their entertainment. "Alright, boys. That's enough. Let's just get her down."

While Roden finished helping her out of the tree, Manda exclaimed in the loudest whisper that she could, "Well, it's a good thing I wore granny panties, I didn't know so many immature delinquents would be looking up my skirt." When she landed back on the ground, she gave Max a swift punch in the arm to accompany her indignant feelings.

"Let's get moving before those hounds from hell come to." No one seemed objectionable to Roden's proposal.

They dragged the dogs' bodies into the cover of the trees in order to hide the recent scuffle; and, at Martin's rather demented but useful suggestion, they bound the dogs together by their collars. "This way, when they come to, they'll be too busy struggling against each other to come after us."

As they continued in the direction they had originally intended, Max whispered to the invalid Martin, who had leaned in for support, "You know what the granny panties mean, don't you?"

"No." Martin shook his head in confusion. "What?"

"It means she had no intention of putting out when you were on your date." Max gave Martin a moment to let it sink in, and then added, "You weren't going to get any."

Martin huffed. "You wanna bet. I could have, if I'd had the opportunity."

Max let out an angry scowl. In less than a second, he let go of Martin and delivered a prompt punch to his right eye.

"Ah, wha-tha fu – aahh". Martin grabbed at his eye as he fell to the ground. "Shit man," he tried to keep from shouting as he rocked back and forth in the grass. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Opportunity? You filthy worthless son of a -" Max began to spit out.

"Damn it. I didn't mean I was going to slip her a roofie." Martin shot back. "I was talking about my charm. I meant that I could have charmed my way into her panties."

"Oh," Max replied as he helped him up. "Well, you still deserve that punch anyway, for being a slimy bastard."

"Fine." Martin replied in resignation. "Whatever you say. Just stop punching me now. I'm helping you out, you ass hole." Max just gave him a satisfied smile.

Roden and Manda, who had trekked several yards ahead already, looked back at them in askance, but Max just shook his head to wave the incident off. The four intruders then continued on in silence. Two obstacles down. Who knew how many more hurdles to go?

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

"I didn't see anything on the cameras. Go check out the west side of the property. That's where the dogs headed."

"Are you kidding? I just got my cup of coffee." The junior guy did not sound very pleased about his latest orders.

"Are you a lazy ass or do you just want to be unemployed? No, I'm not kidding. Go check on the commotion with the dogs. If they haven't come back by now, there may be something out there." The man let out a grumble of annoyance. He didn't appreciate being left behind with the inept 'newbie' when all the other guards were ordered out to find Max and his companions.

The newbie stepped out of the guards' cottage mumbling his dissatisfaction with his job, and headed off towards the west side of the estate. In the newly enfolding darkness, he didn't see the four intruders who were hiding in the manicured shrubs that lined the small building.

"There's only two guards on duty right now." Martin explained after eavesdropping through the open window of the cottage. "I think we can knock the younger guy on the head when he comes back around and shoot the one that's inside."

Manda and Roden gave him a disbelieving openmouthed stare, while Max glared and punched him in the shoulder.

"You're sick," Manda said after she regained her speech. "Max, I'm glad you're the one with the gun."

"I didn't say we had to kill him." Martin replied, but still received no support. "Well, do you have a better idea, then? 'Cuz I'd love to hear it."

"Anything's better than killing someone. Jeez. We're trying to keep the crimes to a minimum here." Roden answered for Manda, who looked at him gratefully. She was getting tired of people asking her if she had 'a better idea'.

They heard the phone ring through the window, and Max popped up to listen in.

"Good evening, sir. . . certainly. Would you like the Rolls or the Town Car? . . . The Maybach is with the mechanic, sir. . . I'm sorry, sir. It couldn't – . . . I'm so sorry, sir. . . Yes, sir. I'll bring the Town Car around at once." The guard jumped to his feet immediately and hung up the phone.

Max dunked back down into the bushes as the second man exited the building. After he passed them by, Max filled his fellow conspirators in on the situation. "Angoli's on his way out. I don't know if he's taking Ess along with him, or not."

The guard was radioing the new orders out to the newbie, but as he walked away from the cottage they couldn't make out the details.

Manda gasped. "What are we going to do? What if he's taking Ess away? We have to stop them now."

"We need to get rid of the obstacles." Martin tried to reason, but no one wanted to hear his suggestion again for taking care of the guards.

"The coffee." Manda suddenly had an idea. Finally, she could contribute something to the situation. "The other guard just poured himself a coffee."

"Yes?" Roden didn't know where she was going with this, but he urged her on.

"Let's slip him a roofie." The three men were surprised. Max gave her an impressed smile and pulled the bag out of his pocket.

"Great idea, Manda. I'll slip inside. Keep a lookout." Max rose from his crouched position, and slinked along the wall around the corner. The guard had not bothered to completely shut the door when he left, so Max pushed it open silently. With a quick glance around the office, he pinpointed the location of the steaming coffee that was on the desk near the open window. Reaching in the plastic bag, he took out a pill and deposited it into the mug. Then, he decided to add a second pill just for good measure.

"He's coming back." He heard Martin whisper on the other side of the window. Damn! Max looked for a quick hiding place. He opened a nearby door and discovered a second office, where he concealed himself.

He made out the sounds of the slamming door and footsteps moving over the wooden floor, and then the newbie could be heard grumbling about his dissatisfaction. "My third night on the job and everyone deserts me to take care of the whole damn place myself. Stupid employee benefits aren't worth this shit," he harrumphed, and sat back on his chair, picking up his coffee mug with a gesture that matched his anger. As he tested the liquid for its heat, the disgruntled man continued his complaints, "The man sends me out for a freakin' false alarm, then runs off to do the real work." Apparently, he found the coffee to be the right temperature, because he took a nice big gulp. "Coffee tastes like shit, too." He kept drinking it, though, so it couldn't have bothered him too much.

After a few minutes of waiting for the roofies to kick in, Max became anxious to catch up with the other guard who had gone to fetch a car for Angoli. After a little exploration of the office he was in, he discovered that he could unlock the single window that the room had to offer and crawl out of it. Making sure that he did this unseen, he began inching his was back to his companions.

The minutes were agonizing while the others waited to see if the roofie would take effect. Every now and then Martin would risk a peak into the window to check on Max's handiwork. Eventually, the man began to nod off. He fought against it, but could not overcome the sedation.

"Okay, he's down for the count," Martin finally determined.

"Now we practically have free reign of this place." Max adjoined, sneaking up behind them, and startling Manda half to death. Needless to say, she was not happy about that. "Only one guard to watch out for, and we know where he's headed. Martin, lead us to the garage. We need to intercept him before he brings the car around for Angoli."

In reply, Martin pointed towards the distant lights of an automobile as it pulled up to the front doors of the main house. "I think it's too late for that. It must have taken longer to sedate this guy than we thought. The car's already pulled around to the front." With that said, he began a crouched run across the yard towards the front doors. The pain in his ankle slowed his course and the others quickly overtook him, as they hid by the side of the house.

Their rush to the car competed with Angoli's own haste. He stood at the front steps of his colossal entryway with Ess clutched close to him as the Town Car stopped; and did not wait for the guard to come around to open the door for him. He shoved Ess unkindly into the car, and quickly entered inside himself, while the guard loaded the bags into the trunk.

Angoli's aggressive actions towards Ess displayed his obvious anger and frustration with the woman. She must have been giving him quite a challenge. Max would have been pleased to observe that she had stood up for herself, but at that moment he only felt the desperate need to detach Angoli's claws from the angel that was Ess, and to tear him limb from limb.

Max rose to make a dash towards the car, but Roden and Martin both anticipated him. They each grabbed an arm to hold him back. "You can't just run headlong towards the enemy. That guard has a gun, and Angoli is probably armed, too." Martin tried to reason in a harsh whisper.

"They are leaving, damn it." Max tried to persuade with his own reasoning. "If we don't stop them now, he'll take her god-only-knows-where."

Martin and Roden just looked at each other, neither knowing what to do next. "For god's sake, we have to stop them now." Max reached in his belt for the gun, and jumped from the bush that hid the intruders from view. This time, his companions were not fast enough to stop him.

It was too late, however. They had hesitated too long, and the car began to speed away. Max sprinted as fast as his legs could propel him to catch up with the vehicle, but it was a fool's exertion. Again, Ess slipped through his fingers. Again, he blamed himself . . . And again, he could have killed Martin.

* * *

"Sir, I think someone is following us?"

"What?" Angoli turned towards the rear window to see for himself. "Damn it. That looks like Max."

At that, Ess jumped in her seat and turned for a better look. Angoli pulled her ungraciously back into a forward facing position as they continued out of the drive. "Please buckle your seatbelt, my dear. I worry for your safety." His words were back to their condescending coolness. "John, how many men are on the property?"

"Just one, sir. The new guy." John the guard replied. "Owen and the others went back to the preserve per your orders."

"Call the 'new guy' and tell him to detain the intruder. Then, contact Owen and tell him to return with his men to the estate and take care of Max – and the others, too, if they're with him. We can't risk him getting any closer."

"Don't you dare!" Ess cried out. She wished she had been this gutsy earlier in the day.

"Dare what, my dear?" Angoli gave her a haughty glare. He couldn't overcome the fact that Ess actually tried to challenge him.

"Leave Max alone." Ess demanded, then attempted to reason. "He's your son."

John glanced back through the rear view mirror while waiting for the newbie to answer the phone, interested in the gossip from the back seat.

"I do not care what happens to Max. I see him only as an obstacle at this point. He just keeps getting in my way, and it's time to get him out from under my feet." The fine layer of calm became thinner and thinner as Angoli found himself needing to explain his intentions to this woman beside him. He'd never had to explain himself to anyone before, and he preferred to see Ess simply as a possession. As far as he was concerned, she needed a lot of breaking-in to make her into the woman of his dreams. She looked the part, but her tenacious attitude did not suit his wishes.

"Sir, I'm not getting an answer from headquarters. The new guy may be walking the property. I'll contact Owen immediately."

"Fine. Just get us to the airport quickly." A tinge of desperation made it to his voice, and Ess didn't miss it.

She sat with her arms crossed and looked at the headrest in front of her, feeling herself becoming even more disgusted with her captor as the moments passed. Her one consolation was that this man could not possibly drag her through the airport without causing a scene. She would not participate in his little charade. When they reached security, she fully intended to make her situation known.

The only thing she couldn't understand, though, was how this man could possibly think he'd be able to get her on a plane without drawing attention. A slight fear that he may have a way then rooted itself inside of her. Still, Ess knew she had to keep her guard up and continue to look for any prospect of escape. The drive to the airport had to be a long one from Angoli's estate, so she had ample time to think and to continue to amp herself up for the possibilities ahead.