3.22 The Price of Freedom

Staring after the disappearing tail lights the older woman shook her head. She couldn't get the frightened grey eyes out of her mind of that little boy. Had she done the right thing? It was late and the kid could have been just tired. What if she had been wrong? That young man could have been his daddy. Not everyone gave off warm fuzzies when dealing with children, even some parents.

When the police officer walked into the convenience store she sighed with relief. It was better to report a possible child abduction then to live with the guilt of having done nothing when the kid's face stared back at her from a missing poster in Simart. The boy never said a word to her, it was his eyes that pleaded with her to help him. For better or worse she had let that belief carry her to the phone and call the police.

"Ma'am," the officer said turning toward her with a reassuring smile "did you report a possible kidnapping?"

"Yes I did" she breathed in deeply "I could be wrong but I'd swear that little boy needs help."

Nodding the officer took out his notepad his pen poised to write done anything of importance the woman told him. So far the page was blank indicating how much of a waste of time he thought this was as the woman jabbered on. He glanced over at his partner who gave him a smirk before walking away no doubt in search of donuts. Sighing he tried to reign in his irritation as he tried to listen to the rather plump old woman. She seemed to have genuine concern for the boy but so far she wasn't giving him anything to work with. As he stared at her he formed an opinion that she was letting her imagination runaway with her. His shoulders slumped as he closed his notepad on a half drawn doodle as the woman repeated how the kids grey eyes cried out for help, sure they did he thought.

***

Swallowing hard Alex looked at the foreboding building. The building where the woman who killed his dad resided within those walls. The woman who gave birth to him....the woman who used to go by the name of mom. He felt the tremors as his body shook with a cold, silent hate. He never wanted to see that woman again. He watched her kill his dad in cold blood then turn the gun on his step mom. The only mother he ever knew. He lost the two most important people in his life. Now he was being forced to relive it and face the monster who did it.

He jumped when he felt a soft feathery touch on his arm. Looking down he found Lexi looking up at him, concern in her deep purple eyes. "You don't have to do this," she said. "We can go back. We'll find another way."

A part of him wanted to give in as she suggested. He dragged his gaze back to the bleak overcast skies and the barb wire fence surrounding the high security prison. His worst nightmare awaited him inside. Swallowing past the bile that rose in his throat he squeezed Lexi's hand in his, he had to try. He wouldn't be able to look at his sister again knowing he could have done something but hadn't. "I have to do this," he pulled Lexi to his side "you know I have to do this."

"I know" she leaned into him "that's why I'm coming with you."

"Over my dead body" he said gripping her arms staring into her eyes heart pounding in his ears.

"Alex" she shouted at him "you're hurting me."

His response was immediate dropping his hands to his side, head hanging "I'm sorry I...I" he swallowed as his throat closed choking off his words.

Lifting his chin with her fingers she shook her head "don't....I know it's that woman. You didn't sleep at all last night because of what she did." Taking his face between her palms she brought her mouth to his kissing him firmly. "Don't let her make you doubt yourself. You're better then this better then her. I'm here for you. I'm not leaving you to do this by yourself."

He looked into her eyes letting her gaze calm him as her words soothed his soul "thank you," he said when he trusted himself to speak. "I love you but I can't put you through this."

"I'm not asking," she told him in a no nonsense tone "I'm telling you I'm coming with you."

"What if they won't let you in?" his queried turning to stare into the distance at the prison doors.

"They will. I asked" she laughed at his bewildered expression "I'm your wife. I'm family."

Pulling her against him he sighed "let's get this over with..."

***

Caleb watched his nephew paced the small room his frustration keeping him from sitting still. "Ambrose sit down" he demanded unable to keep his aggravation under control.

Shocked Ambrose stopped in mid stride "how can you be so calm about this?" he asked as he threw himself into a chair.

"I'm not" Caleb said biting his tongue trying to hold back the bitterness, the fear, the helplessness as he lay in this hospital bed while his son was who knew where. "Don't you think I want to be out there searching for my son? I want to hold him in my arms and know he's alright. I want to tell my wife everything will be alright and I can't." Running his hand through his thick pink hair his hands balling into fists pulling "what good am I doing in here? I can't do anything. I should have been able to protect my family and I couldn't...."

"No you're wrong," Ambrose sat up looking at the man he considered more of a father then his own ever was. It hurt to see him like this "this isn't your fault." He grabbed Caleb's wrists pulling his hands from his hair "how were you supposed to know the guards had been drugged? Fast asleep on the floor downstairs." Maybe for the first time he saw his Uncle as a human with insecurities and short comings "you did everything you could. Sometimes bad things just happen."

"Bad things happen all the freaking time to me. Every time I finally get something good my world falls apart." He pulled his hands from Ambrose to rake them through his hair again. Turning wild red rimmed eyes up he asked "is there some unwritten cosmic universal law that says shit is coming send it to Caleb Gray?"

"You're not the only one hurting here," her voice caused both pink haired man to jump up startled 

"I've had more than my fair share of heartache and tragedy. Don't you think I want to scream at the universe at the unfairness of it all? We've both lost people we care about but I'm not ready to give up hope yet."

Drew and Caleb stared at each other a silent battle of wills taking place between them. Ambrose stood up backing away towards the door "well uh I'll be going then I'll be back later." He looked uncertainly between the two before backing out the door.

***

A rough hand shook Andrew awake. "Rise and shine kid," the man's gruff voice said in his ear.

Opening his grey eyes he found the man leaning uncomfortably close "when can I go home?" His eyes opened wide as he clapped a hand across his mouth to keep from saying anything else that might anger the man. He flinched when the man put a hand out to grab his arm pulling him from the car.

"You know kid I'm getting tired of you asking me that." The man shook him like a rag doll by the arm he grabbed. "You'll go home when I get what I want."

It was on the tip of Andrew's tongue to ask what that was but he resisted the urge fearing he would anger the man even more then he already had. His cheek was still sore and swollen from where the man had hit him the day before when he couldn't stop crying. The man began to walking away from the car through the thick woods. Andrew had no choice but to follow as the man gripped his arm forcing him to come with him.

***

The man half dragged the boy through the words heedless of the boys shorter legs and near exhaustion. He should have taken the woman and not this frail boy as a hostage. At least with the woman he could have had some fun. Now he had to put up with the boys sniffling and incessant crying. He couldn't stand the noise and had wound smacking the boy hard across the face. The kids face was a bruised and swollen testament to how hard he had hit him.

He felt a pang of regret afterwards but he had to get that ledger back. He couldn't allow himself to become distracted with niceties he couldn't afford. The ledger held key information, contact names and numbers. All the things his grandfather had known by heart. Once the old man had died they didn't know anything. That was when they discovered the theft of the ledger. The only person who could have taken it was that woman. The woman who donated her DNA to him. She was his mother but he refused to dignify her with that title.

He had no feelings for the woman. He had vague memories of her leaving him screaming in his crib in wet soggy diapers or the times his stomach hurt so bad from not being fed for too many hours or days. He didn't miss her when she was gone. He was better off with his two dads. If she hadn't taken the ledger she would have remained an unpleasant memory. Now she was causing him and his family more pain. His dad wanted out of the drug  business but the only way out was to give the successor the ledger. 

Grandfather's chosen successor was even worse then the old man had been. He moved quickly taking his older sister hostage. His ultimatum the ledger for his sisters life. Returning without the ledger meant a slow agonizing death for his sister. He couldn't let that happen. He had to get that ledger if it was the last thing he did. If that meant kidnapping a scared little kid then that's what he had to do. He tried not to think about what that made him. He had no choice.

***

After her shift ended Marie Jeffries went home. She told everyone about the little boy she saw at the beginning of her shift. He was so scared and his eyes pleading for help. Each time she told it she expanded on the details growing more wild and unbelievable each time. She knew she came across as a needy attention seeking old woman. The young officer who took her statement all but yawned in her face when she was telling him what she observed. But she knew she was right. That boy needed help.

Heating up the left over stew she made the night before she sat down and wrote the numbers she kept seeing in her head. Why were those numbers significant? She thought at first they were the lottery numbers she always played but there were letters mixed in with the numbers. She had a funny feeling it was important. She just didn't know why.

Taking the stew from the stove she made up a tray to carry into the living room where she turned on the ancient TV set. She remembered the day she bought it and how proud she was of the accomplishment. She looked around the room  filled with books, pictures and knick knacks she smiled. It wasn't a lot but she was content even if at times she was lonely and wished she had someone to share her remaining years with.

The picture of a little boy with grey eyes caught her attention. Her breath caught in her throat as she pointed towards the TV. "That's him. That's the boy I saw." She grabbed the phone that was nearly as old as the TV and dialed the number on the screen.

***

"Why didn't you make out a report of this siting?" the captain almost shouted at the young officer.

"I thought it was the confused ramblings of a lonely old woman starving for attention. How was I supposed to know she had actually seen the missing kid?" The young man cringed before the icy stare of his captain.

The captain berated the man's lack of intelligence along with his poor performance as an officer. As his words came to a close he said "thanks to you we lost several valuable hours. Get over to that woman's house and see if she can remember anything useful and for your sake I hope she does. If that kid winds up dead because of this you're head is on the chopping block."

"Yes sir" the officer said groaning inside as he turned to leave. His captain's voice halted him with a hand on the doorknob "Uh Dave if she wants to bake you cookies and tell you bedtime stories you let her. Don't come back until you have something we can use to find that kid."

Nodding in acknowledgement he heard the captain laughing as he closed the door behind him. It would be his luck that the batty old woman would have a TV. Why the captain was putting any stock into the ramblings of an attention starved old woman was beyond him. He walked over to his partner ready to complain about the injustice of it all. "Looks like you screwed up" the older man said snorting into his coffee.

"She's just a delusional old woman," he complained "I don't understand what the big deal is."

"Haven't you been listening to your radio boy?" his partner shoo his head at him in disgust "You need to be observant at all times. That batty old woman you spoke to earlier claims to have seen Caleb Gray's missing son who was kidnapped from his home last night. We have to follow up on all our leads even the crazy ones."

"If you knew about this why didn't you tell me?" he felt like slapping the sneering face from the man. 

"How could I?" the man laughed "you were to busy being self-important to listen. You better get your ass over to that old windbag before the captain sees you hanging around here."

"Aren't you coming?"

"You made this mess you clean it up," the man said sitting down laughing as the boy flushed crimson leaving the building.

***

Alex gripped Lexi's hand under the table. He tried to concentrate on breathing while the older woman stared stonily back at him. "What do you want?" her words dripped in sarcasm and hate.

"What no hi how are you?" Lexi asked feeling Alex hand grip hers when the woman spoke for the first time. She felt his entire body tense at the the sound of the woman's voice.

"Don't make me laugh," she glared at Lexi "I don't want you here. Leave" she demanded pointing to the exit.

"I don't care what you want," Lexi retorted.

Turning her attention to Alex. Patricia's eye's narrowed "I see the apple didn't fall far from the tree. What's the matter boy? Miss step mommy so much you had to marry your own purple haired demon yourself."

Alex glared at the woman "don't talk about my mom or wife like that."

Giving him a self-satisfied smile she said "so you can talk. Why are you here?"

"What did you take from the drug cartel?" Alex asked tiring of looking at the hateful woman.

Her laughter filled the room "I was wondering when they'd notice it was gone. The old man must be dead....good."

"No not good," Alex shouted pounding a fist into the table causing Lexi to jump.

Patricia's eyes became calculating little slits "let me guess they sent one of their goons to get it back." She sat back enjoying toying with him "I'll never tell you where it is."

"It means a little boys life," he shouted in frustration.

"Does it look like I care?" She gave him a hard cold stare "I didn't care about you or the other brats when I killed your daddy and his whore."

"What's wrong with you?" he asked unable to comprehend what happened to the woman his dad at one time loved enough to go into hiding for.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked sounding offended "better question is what's wrong with you? Can't you see I'm free of the shackles of society and having to pretend to care?" She leaned over the table "I'll tell you a little secret. I don't care. I don't care about you, your siblings or your kids. If you want the ledger you'll have to be willing to give me what I want."

Desperation made him ask "what do you want you evil vile woman?"

"My freedom," she stood up moving towards the guard her shackles clanging as she moved "My freedom for the ledger."

***

Drew jumped when her phone rang in the quiet confines of Caleb's hospital room. Looking at the screen heart leaping in her throat she looked at Caleb saying "it's Alex."

Caleb sat up watching her face fall in disappointment. The despair overwhelming. He reached a  hand out grabbing hold of her free hand. When the call was done the phone slipped from her fingers "Drew honey what is it?"

"She won't tell us where it is" she cried "she's a cold heartless bitch who would rather see us suffer then to help. I should have known she wouldn't help us..."

"There has to be something she wants" Caleb said "whatever it is we can all pull together to get it done."

Tossing her head back and forth sobbing "what she wants is impossible."

"Drew tell me what she wants" he grabbed her hands pulling her close as she dissolved into tears. He knew whatever it was was devastating or Drew wouldn't be so hysterical.

"She....she...wants.....out" she sobbed.

"Out? Out of where?" he asked not comprehending the magnitude of her request. 

Stunned by his question Drew stared at him "out as in out of prison. She wants her freedom." She started to cry again "what are we supposed to do now? Break her out of prison?"

When the full impact of her words sank in Caleb couldn't tell who was clinging to whom anymore. It felt like they were sinking fast into quicksand with no way out.