CONVENIENCE
Chapter One
He stared bleary eyed down the narrow, rain soaked, two lane road. The water laden trees' limbs and branches hung over the road, making the night even darker. He drove carefully and slowly, partly because of the conditions, and partly because he had no particular place to go. He gripped the steering wheel tightly as he took another of the road's sharp turns.
"Could be worse," he thought. "Could be snowing…could be a gravel road…" The car jerked as it struck a pothole. "Then again," he thought. "Maybe gravel would be an improvement." He checked the gas gage. "Need to stop at the next station…If there is a next station…Maybe I'm at the end of the world…" He sighed. "The whole trip's been a waste of gas…Not of time…I have plenty of time right now. I'm supposed to be a brilliant detective…Can't even find a kid who escaped from prison…Or his mom…Maybe I should phrase that used to be a brilliant detective…Or used to be a detective of any kind…"
The car's slight skid caused him to focus on the road.
"Forget about the gas," he thought. "I need some rest…or caffeine…" Through the rain and dark he saw several lights. "Good…maybe I can get some fuel…"
"Oh, God…Oh, God…Oh, God…" she prayed. "Someone come…Someone help us…Someone…Please…" She struggled against the tape that held her wrists and ankles.
"Stop it!" A voice yelled harshly in her ear. "Just stop it!"
She froze and heard muffled whimpering.
"Shut up, you stupid kid!" Another voice shouted. A smack followed the words, and the girl fought to not try to cry out through the tape that covered her mouth.
"Hey!" the man close to her cried. "Someone's stopping…Damn! We didn't turn off the lights or lock the door!"
A tiny, desperate spark of hope rose in the girl.
"We can just waste him," the other man said coldly.
Fear rose in the girl again. She hoped that the car didn't hold some of her friends who often came by the store to keep her company when she worked late. She hoped the car wasn't her parents returning early from a rare night out. She hoped that if the car held some poor lost souls that they would drive on by instead of being hurt or killed, or that they might notice something was wrong and send for help.
"Damn!" the man close to her said. "He's stopping for gas…We can't risk wasting him…We don't know who he is or if someone is waiting for him…"
"You said this would be easy," the other man said angrily. "We hit the place, grab the money, maybe have some fun with the girl…"
"How was I supposed to know she'd have her brat brother with her?" the other man snapped. "Or that someone would show up here this late on a night like this?"
"And who left the lights on? And forgot to lock the door?"
"Ok! Ok! But we gotta do something about him…"
The man grabbed the girl roughly by the shoulders. He ripped the tape from her eyes. The tape over her mouth muffled her cry of pain. Two cold green eyes stared at her from a black ski mask.
"Listen, bitch…You're going out there and take this guy's money…We'll be watching you…Watching real close…You do anything…Anything…Your little brother is dead…And you'll live just long enough for us to have some fun…You understand?"
She nodded.
The man ripped the tape from her mouth. She fought to not cry out and gasped gratefully for air. He ripped the tape from her wrists and ankles, and tears filled her eyes. The man yanked her to her feet.
"Remember," he hissed in her ear. "Anything…Your brother is dead…And you and that guy will follow."
She nodded again. As the man shoved her towards the stockroom door, she glimpsed her little brother, bound, blinded and gagged with tape. The other masked man held a gun to the child's head.
"I'll do what you want," she said in a hoarse whisper. "Please…don't hurt him…please…"
"Remember," the man said, and pushed her through the door.
He wasn't surprised when he couldn't get the gas pump to work. It was late, and the store isolated. He was trying to use cash, and it made sense that the pump would be prepay. The cold rain that pelted him as he discovered the pump wasn't working annoyed him, as did his realization that he was going to have to calculate how much gas to put in the car. He wasn't that upset, though, as he loped towards the store's entrance. "After all," he thought. "I have to go to the bathroom and get some caffeine…" The calculations fled from his brain when he stepped in the store. It was empty, with no one behind the counter to his left. A rack of maps near the counter was out of place, with two maps lying on the floor. Several candy bars and packs of gum from the display in front of the counter also lay scattered on the floor. The half door giving access to behind the counter swung open. All of his senses went on full alert.
"It's nothing," he thought. "The clerk's probably in the back…It's late…Hasn't had a chance to clean things up…I can't shut it off…I've been a cop too long…Had to watch out for things…"
A young woman—a girl, really—stumbled from a door behind the counter.
"I…I'm sorry," she gasped. "I…I was just working in the back…Can I help you?"
Her eyes were wide, and her hair tangled. Her hands shook, and there were threads of duct tape on her wrists and in her hair.
"Something's wrong," he thought. "Very wrong…God, Goren…What have you walked into?"
END CHAPTER ONE
