Chapter 3 - THE MEN OUTSIDE
Six men stepped from the SUVs.
None wore gym clothes.
None looked interested in exercise.
Rick moved toward the windows.
“We’re screwed.”
Dustin immediately reached for his phone.
I took it from his hand.
“Hey!”
“Who were you calling?”
“My uncle.”
“That would be the man outside?”
Dustin stared at me.
The answer was obvious.
One of the men approached the front entrance and tested the handle.
Locked.
He looked through the glass.
Then smiled.
I had seen that kind of smile before.
Confidence borrowed from numbers.
My phone vibrated.
Eleanor.
I answered immediately.
“How is Evelyn?”
There was a pause.
Too long.
“Frank,” my wife whispered, “something happened.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“What?”
“Two men came into the ER asking for her room number.”
I turned toward Dustin.
He looked away.
“Where is she now?”
“Security moved her.”
“Do not leave her.”
“I won’t.”
Another pause.
Then Eleanor said, “Frank, Evelyn told me something before they gave her medication.”
“What?”
“She said Dustin didn’t beat her because she tried to leave.”
I looked straight at him.
“Why did he do it?”
Eleanor’s voice shook.
“She said he wanted something back.”
The flash drive.
Outside, one man kicked the glass door.
Once.
Twice.
It didn’t break.
Rick looked at me.
“That door won’t hold forever.”
“It doesn’t need to.”
I grabbed the DVR beneath the monitors and disconnected it.
Dustin suddenly became frantic.
“What are you doing?”
“Preserving evidence.”
“You walk outside with that, you’re dead.”
I met his eyes.
“Then you’d better hope your uncle has better men than you do.”
Another kick hit the door.
A crack appeared in the glass.
One of the injured fighters crawled toward the back hallway.
“Stay down,” Rick ordered.
I looked at him.
“Back exit?”
He nodded.
“Kitchen corridor. Alarmed emergency door.”
I handed him the recorder.
“If I tell you to move, take this out that exit.”
“Why would I help you?”
“Because those men aren’t here to rescue you.”
He frowned.
I pointed through the glass.
One of the men outside was talking on his phone.
Rick’s own phone began ringing.
He looked at the screen.
His face drained of color.
“Who is it?”
He showed me.
UNCLE VICTOR.
Rick answered.
Victor didn’t bother saying hello.
His voice was loud enough for me to hear.
“Burn the gym.”
Rick’s hand began trembling.
Victor continued.
“Everyone inside.”
Then the line went dead.
Dustin whispered, “He wouldn’t.”
Rick stared at him.
“Yes.”
He slowly lowered the phone.
“He would.”
That was when Dustin finally understood the truth.
May you like
His uncle hadn’t sent those men to protect him.
He had sent them to erase him.
