Deceit 2 By D.I. Jolly

The radio crackled for a second before the familiar sound of My Sharona started playing and Frank let out a groan and a sigh. The elevator dinged and a tall elegant man walked into the police station’s special crime unit. He wasn’t unfamiliar and most of the detectives knew him by sight. He smiled and inclined his head to a few of them as he made his way to Frank, who rose as he approached.

“Father.”

The man smiled.

“Son. How are you?”

“Busy, what do you want?”

The man rolled his eyes playfully and sat down.

“Now, now, no need for that sort of thing. I’m here on legitimate business.”

Frank sat down and stopped himself from making a rude comment. His father was a patient man, and more so when he was involved, but there was a line and once you passed it, you better hope he’d been a good man in life.

“If you need to report a crime you should start with Sargent Jones at the front desk, and he’ll direct you accordingly.”

“How do you know I haven’t done exactly that?”

Frank crooked an eyebrow and pointed at the radio. His father’s face lost some of its cheer and he let out a frustrated sigh, sending a cold shiver down Frank’s back.

“As much as I love playing this little game with you son, can we get on with it now? Like I said, I have a crime to report and since you insist on not working for the family and instead persuading this ridiculous career, I thought I could finally make use of having a son in the police. Besides, time is a factor.”

Again, Frank bit back a comment and for a moment his grandfather flashed in his mind, which was never a good sight. More so when he saw his father quickly look skywards and frown.

“Fine, what’s wrong?”

The man checked his watch and a smile spread across his face. For a single moment everyone in the room got a little colder and felt the smallest hint of fear.

“My daughter in law has just been kidnapped.”

The blood drained from Franks’ cheeks.

“What have you done?”

Shock came into the man’s eyes and he placed a hand on his chest.

“Me? Nothing. I have no control over these people, that would defeat the point. I simply have an understanding about things that happen and when this came up I thought that you might like to know.”

“Where, who, what are you playing at?”

“Look, I know you don’t like taking advantage of being my son but I got the impression this one might be important to you.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small square of paper and placed it on the desk.

“A time and a location that will work best. I recommend only 1 maybe 2 people go with you. This one has … issues, and a large crowd would only push him towards more dramatic life choices.”

He rose from his chair, straightened his tie and again smiled.

“Lovely to see you son, and good luck.”

Frank frantically grabbed the piece of paper and started reading, then burst from his seat and rushed the elevator, with his father’s voice behind him.

“Stay away from the main road, you will get stuck in traffic.”

Frank grabbed Jones and the two made their way to his car. On the drive, he frantically gave a rough explanation about what was happening and Jones thought about but didn’t mention, that he hadn’t even seen Frank’s father enter the building. They avoided the main road and arrived at an abandoned construction site just in time to hear Frank’s wife scream as the kidnapper dragged her out of his car. Jones looked at Frank for a long moment, waiting for confirmation.

“Lethal force.”

It was said as a whisper but it held a tone of pure authority, leaving no doubt in Jones mind that he could have given that instruction to a king or emperor and it would have been obeyed. They moved quickly and quietly towards the sound of the scream, not wanting to waste time, but also cautious to not be seen. As they got closer they started to hear the kidnapper talking, explaining insanity.

“Love, protection, prophecies and the devils, Satan has shrouded you in his evil, you are wrapped in it and only I can free you and save the world for the horrors that will be unleashed from your womb.”

A lump formed in Frank’s throat and for just an instant he wondered which prophecy he might mean, and what his father was really getting out of it. But again his grandfather flashed in his mind and he re-focused on the moment.  Jones leapt out from behind a wall, gun in hand.

“Police, freeze!”

Without hesitation, the kidnapper started shooting wildly in Jones direction, and he pulled the woman up as a shield.

“No! No! I’m doing the lords works!”

Frank quickly tried to take aim, but the man’s jerky movements made it impossible so he rushed them. He slammed his body against them and they all went to the ground. Jones appeared on the man’s gun arm, fighting to secure the weapon but the kidnapper was unexpectedly strong, and in the final moment of sanity Frank’s wife screamed and fell backwards as a bullet struck her stomach. In that same instant, the whole world turned black, and just Frank and the Kidnapper stood, the only illuminated objects in an infinite nothing. Realisation spread across the man’s face as tears streamed down his cheeks. For a long moment there was nothing, then Frank’s mouth opened and a sound hit the kidnapper. A sound like nothing he could have ever imagined in his wildest nightmares. Such a pure horror, that it was all he could do to scratch out his eyes, while biting down so hard his teeth went straight through his tongue and shattered against each other as his eardrums burst.

Jones woke up in hospital after apparently being knocked out by the kidnapper, something his colleagues wouldn’t soon let him forget. Frank sat with his wife who was happy to be alive but sad about her bikinis. The kidnapper, however, lay chained to a prison hospital bed, blind, deaf and dumb, but with that sounds still echoing through his mind, unable to hear Frank’s father who stood above him.

“Good Soldier.”

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?