48 Hours to Die Page 8

  Who’s in my House?

  Reggie made it four blocks away before he realized that he had left his phone charger on the counter. Without thinking twice, he made a U-turn and headed back to the house. Reggie smiled at the thought of having the upper hand on Detective Stone; he could only imagine what was going on in the detective’s mind at this very moment. Reggie felt no remorse for what he was doing, he had to sit back and watch his wife die, and now it was Anthony Stone’s turn to suffer the same way he did. Reggie pulled into his driveway, kept the engine running, and ran inside the house. Reggie stepped foot inside his home, walked over to the counter and grabbed his charger. He turned to make his exit but stopped when he heard what sounded like footsteps coming from upstairs. Reggie stood still for a second and listened carefully. A few seconds passed with complete silence. Just as Reggie was about to head towards the door, he heard the noise again. He quickly removed the .45 from the small of his back and headed upstairs to investigate.

  Reggie made it to the top of the steps and the first place he searched was the first bathroom. He slowly eased opened the door trying to be as quiet as possible. He stepped further into the bathroom and snatched the shower curtain back ready to shoot. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the tub was empty. Reggie exited the bathroom and continued down the long hallway until he reached one of the many guest rooms. He slowly eased the door open and searched the entire room. Empty.

  Reggie stepped out the guest room and headed straight for the master bedroom. He eased the room door open and instantly something didn’t feel right. He inched his way inside the room and the first thing he did was check under the bed. Empty. Reggie then slowly made his way over to the closet, when the sound of a cell phone ringing could be heard coming from inside the closet. Without warning, he fired five shots into the closet door. Reggie waited a few seconds before he slowly raised his hand and snatched the closet door open.

  I Know It’s You

  Anthony Stone hid in the closet trying to be as quiet as he possibly could. He reached around the closet and found an all-black ski mask more evidence that just confirmed that Reggie was indeed Uncle Sam. He listened carefully as he heard someone enter the bedroom. Anthony Stone slowly slid the ski mask down over his face, he knew that if he was to get caught breaking into Reggie’s home without a warrant that he would lose his job and possibly face jail time, not to mention that Reggie would more than likely sue the pants off of his department. Anthony Stone stood as quiet as he possibly could when suddenly his cell phone began to ring. He quickly hit the button to silence his phone but it was too late. Seconds later, several gunshots ripped through the closet door. Anthony Stone pressed his back up against the wall and waited. When the closet door opened, he sprung from the closet and charged Reggie full speed. Anthony Stone hit Reggie hard as the two want crashing on the bed. Anthony Stone held the wrist that Reggie held the gun in as Reggie sent several shots up into the ceiling and walls until the gun was empty. Reggie kicked the masked man off of him and made it to his feet first. Before the mask man had a chance to do anything, Reggie was all over him. He threw a four-punch combination that landed on the masked man’s face. Anthony Stone took the punches well. He weaved Reggie’s next punch and landed two punches of his own. He then grabbed Reggie’s head and violently slammed it into the wall. Anthony Stone landed a vicious knee to Reggie’s face that he partially blocked. Reggie threw a strong right cross that would have broken the masked man’s face, but Anthony Stone dodged the punch just in time to see, Reggie’s fist go through the wall leaving a huge hole. Anthony Stone took a step back and landed a sidekick that landed in the pit of Reggie’s stomach and sent him crashing out into the hallway.

  Out in the hallway, Reggie bounced on his toes as if he was a professional boxer with a grin on his face. He held his guards high as he moved in on the masked man, throwing the type of blows that would knock most men out. Anthony Stone blocked most of the punches but a few still managed to slip through his guard. Reggie kicked the mask man on the side of his leg, and then without letting his leg hit the floor, he used the same the leg to fire another kick toward the mask man’s head.

  The kick to the leg stunned Anthony Stone and he was able to get his arm up just in time to block the kick to the head. He could tell that the rich club owner had taken a few martial arts classes in his day which was fine because Anthony Stone was no stranger when it came to martial arts he too had taken his fair share of classes over the years. Anthony Stone ran and landed a flying elbow that connected in the center of Reggie’s forehead. He then finished him off with a roundhouse kick that landed in Reggie’s chest and sent him tumbling backwards down the stairs. Anthony Stone stood at the top of the stairs and watched Reggie violently roll down the stairs until he reached the bottom.

  Anthony Stone slowly made his way down the stairs as he watched Reggie slowly crawl back up to his feet. He could have easily escaped throughout the back door but he wanted to inflict more pain on the serial killer. He knew what he was doing was wrong and against the law but he couldn’t just sit back and continue to let this sicko go around and kill innocent people. Anthony Stone roughly snatched, Reggie up to his feet by the collar of his shirt and backslapped him as if he was a simple woman. He then grabbed Reggie and tossed him into his huge bookshelf that rested against the wall. Anthony Stone kneeled down and punched Reggie dead in his face. He smiled as he watched Reggie spit out a tooth. Anthony Stone was about to try and kick Reggie’s head through the wall when he heard a loud banging on the front door.

  “POLICE OPEN UP!” the voice on the other side of the door yelled. The gun shots along with all the noise the two men had made during their fight had caused one of the neighbors to call the cops. Anthony Stone readied to creep out the back door, when Reggie quickly hopped to his feet and charged him, and hit him hard, lifting Anthony Stone off of his feet. The two went violently crashing down onto the kitchen table. Anthony Stone kicked Reggie off of him and quickly made it up to his feet just as the police had kicked the front door open.

  “Shit!” He cursed as he took off in a sprint down the hall as the two police officers opened fire on him. Anthony Stone dashed out the back door out into the darkness as two bullets exploded through the door inches away from his head. Outside, Anthony ran through the darkness, he looked over his shoulder and noticed one of the officers in pursuit. He quickly ran and hid behind a parked car and removed the ski mask from his face and tossed it under the car. He then stood up and walked back towards the house with his badge in one hand and his gun in the other.

  “Drop your weapon!” The officer yelled when he spotted the man coming towards him with a gun in his hand.

  “I’m a cop here’s my badge,” Anthony Stone said as he held out his badge and slowly placed his 9mm on the ground. The officer moved in closer then lowered his weapon.

  “Sorry Detective Stone I didn’t know that was you,” he said recognizing the detective from being all over the news.

  “It’s okay,” Anthony Stone brushed it off. “I just got the call about a noise complaint.”

  “Yeah from the looks of it, it looks like a break in, I just chased the burglar around here somewhere, but he must have escaped,” the officer said proudly.

  Anthony Stone and the officer stepped back inside the house and he saw another officer questioning, Reggie. “I’ll take it from here,” Anthony Stone cut in.

  “Good seeing you again, Reggie,” he began. “What happen here?”

  “Someone broke into my home and attacked me,” Reggie said.

  “Maybe you should take some self-defense classes,” Anthony Stone said not hiding the fact that he didn’t like, Reggie. “Is anything missing from your home?”

  “I don’t know I didn’t have a chance to check yet detective,” Reggie stood getting up in detective Stone’s face. “What happen to your lip,” he nodded at Anthony Stone’s busted lip.

  “Oh this,” Anthony Stone smiled. “I had to put hands on some wa
nna-be tough guy for messing with my family,” he said letting, Reggie know that it was indeed him who had beat him up and broken into his home.”

  Reggie smirked. “I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your girlfriend, I saw on the news that she had been kidnapped. I hope you find her before something bad happens to her.”

  “If anything happens to my girlfriend and I mean anything, I will personally make sure that Uncle Sam or whoever is responsible for her abduction gets his or her head blown off.”

  Reggie smiled. “Well detective like they say when playing chess, you better make your next move your best move.”

  “I will,” Anthony Stone, turned and made his exit. When he made it back to his vehicle, the first thing he did was call Captain Fisher.

  “Stone what could you possibly want at this time of night?” Fisher growled into the phone.

  “Reggie is Uncle Sam!”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I broke into his house and found a torture chamber in his basement, along with the same exact envelopes that he leaves at all of his crime scenes,” Anthony Stone explained.

  “Are you crazy?” Fisher barked. “Don’t you know that if you would have gotten caught they would have thrown you in jail?”

  “I know captain, but I had to follow my gut,” Anthony Stone said. “Is there any way we can get a warrant drawn up?”

  “We need evidence, we can’t just charge in a courtroom and get a judge to sign off on a warrant based off of a gut feeling,” Fisher explained. “Find some evidence and I’ll see what I can do about the warrant on my end.”

  “Deal,” Anthony Stone ended the call. He knew that his time was running out and he would have to stop Uncle Sam from killing Tasha and her mother before it was too late. Anthony Stone sat in his car when he remembered he had taken the roll of duct tape from Reggie’s duffle bag. He removed the roll of tape from his pocket and saw the hairs stuck to the end of the tape. He smiled as he headed straight to the lab to find out whom those hairs belonged to.

  Figure it Out

  “Argh!” Tasha growled as her chair landed sideways on the cement floor. She had been rocking the chair back and forth until it finally tipped over. Over a few feet away on the floor sat a sharp piece of metal that Tasha had been eying for the last few hours. She slid on her stomach like a snail until she had finally reached the broken piece of metal. Tasha grabbed the piece of metal and began trying to cut through the tape that bonded her wrist together. After about fifteen minutes of sawing through the duct tape, Tasha’s wrist were finally free. The first thing she did was remove the tape from her mouth, then cut through the tape on her ankles. She quickly ran over and removed the tape from her mother’s mouth and wrist. “Come on momma I have to get you out of here!”

  “No I can’t make it,” Ms. Brown said wincing down at her sawed off ankle. “You go get help I’ll be here,”

  “I’m not leaving you here!”

  “All I’m going to do is slow you down,” Ms. Brown explained. “I’m a big girl I’ll be okay,” she said with a smile. “Go get us some help.”

  Tasha nodded, then turned and exited the warehouse.

  DNA

  Anthony Stone stood in the lab patiently waiting for the results from the few strands of hair to come back. He wanted to rip Reggie’s head off and he knew the only way he’d be able to do that was if the results from the hair came back belonging to one of Uncle Sam’s many murder victims. After a forty-minute wait, a man wearing an all-white gown handed Anthony Stone a folder. He opened the folder and saw the strands of hair belong to none other than Tasha. “Thanks doc!” Anthony Stone said as he jetted out of the building. Once in his car the first thing he did was call Captain Fisher.

  “You better have some good news for me,” Fisher answered.

  “The hair from the duct tape belongs to Tasha!” Anthony Stone announced. “That should be enough evidence to get a warrant drawn up,”

  “You’re forgetting that we have to explain where we found this roll of duct tape,” Captain Fisher reminded him.

  “I’ll say I found it my apartment building the other night when, Tasha was abducted,” Anthony Stone said. “I’ll tell them whatever I have to but I need you to get that warrant drawn up for me please,” he knew this was his best chance at finding, Tasha and her mother alive. “Please captain we don’t have much time.”

  “I’ll see what I can do!” Captain Fisher ended the call.

  Staying Alive

  Tasha ran blindly through the streets barefoot, she tried to flag down cars and get them to stop but it was no use, not many people were willing to stop for a crazy woman running the streets barefoot. Finally, Tasha spotted a gas station a few blocks away. She ran full speed until she finally arrived. She spilled inside the gas station like a mad woman. “I need to use your phone it’s an emergency!” She yelled out of breath.

  The young man behind the counter reluctantly handed the barefoot woman his cell phone. Tasha grabbed the phone and the first thing she did was call Anthony Stone.

  * * *

  After pulling several strings and calling in for favors, Captain Fisher was finally able to get a warrant to search Reggie’s home, and club. Anthony Stone stood outside as he watched two officers battery ram the front door. Instantly several cops dressed in riot gear stormed the fancy property. At the moment, all Anthony Stone could do was pray that Reggie was home. He and Captain Fisher entered the home and all they could hear throughout the house were the words, “Clear.”

  After searching the entire property, there were no signs of Reggie. “Search the place and see if you can find anything that may help us locate where he’s keeping Tasha and her mother,” Anthony Stone ordered. He looked down at his watch and saw that he only had two hours remaining on the deadline that Uncle Sam had given him. “He’s going to kill them,” Anthony Stone said in a light whisper.

  “Don’t talk like that!” Captain Fisher scolded. “We’ve come too far to give up now! We’re going to find your family!”

  Anthony Stone nodded when he felt his phone vibrating on his hip; he looked down and saw a number that he didn’t recognize. “Detective Stone,” he answered.

  “Baby it’s me.”

  “Tasha! Where are you?”

  “I’m at a gas station right now,” she said in a fast pitch tone. “Me and my mother were tied up at some warehouse a few blocks away from this gas station.”

  “What’s the address to the gas station?”

  Tasha held the phone out to the man behind the counter. “Give him the address please.”

  While the clerk gave Anthony Stone the address, Tasha never noticed Reggie in the back of the gas station picking up a few snacks. He quietly crept up on Tasha from behind and smashed a bottle of orange juice over her head. The blow dazed and buckled Tasha’s knees, but somehow she managed to keep her footing. Reggie roughly escorted Tasha out of the gas station and tossed her in the trunk of his car; before Reggie could slam the trunk shut, the clerk from the gas station tackled him down to the ground as if he was a linebacker. That distraction was just what Tasha needed. She quickly crawled out of the trunk and took off running down the street in the opposite direction of the warehouse, flailing her arm like a mad woman trying to get the attention of anyone who could help her.

  Reggie made it to his feet, pulled his .45 from his waist, and put two bullets in the clerk’s chest before hopping in his car and going after Tasha.

  Run

  Tasha ran down the street barefoot looking for anyone that could help her. She heard the gunshots and knew that more than likely; Reggie would soon be back on her trail. Tasha ran until she came across a hotel. She ran inside the hotel like a mad woman. “Call 911!” She yelled. “He’s trying to kill me!” She ran towards the hotel security, but instead of the hotel security helping her as she expected, they tackled Tasha down to the floor and restrained her.