Chapter 10 - Cliffhanger
A persistent ringing roused Joe from his nap. Opening his eyes, it took him a moment to remember that he was in a hotel room, and the ringing that had woken him up came from the phone on the bedside table. Leaning over from his bed, he managed to snag the receiver on the first try and bring it to his ear.
His voice was still a little rough after his nighttime encounter in the hospital. "Hello?"
"Joe!" Callie's frantic voice came over the line. "Please tell me Frank is still there."
Joe looked around at clock on the bedside table and realized that it had only been an hour since his brother left. "He's on his way to the studio now to meet dad. What's wrong?"
"Plenty. I finally heard back from one of the sources I checked with. When I mentioned Sasha Jensen to him, he laughed long and loud. Apparently it's not so much of a secret over in New York, but Jensen is not her original last name."
He didn't like where this was going. "Callie, get to the point. Who is she?"
Callie's voice changed to a serious tone. "Her real name is Sasha Mason, as in Raymond Mason's daughter."
Joe gripped the receiver tightly. He had heard his dad mention Raymond Mason before. A long time drug runner with numerous connections, he was a big name on the East coast. Raymond Mason tolerated no failures, and was even known to kill his own people if they crossed him. "How sure is your source?"
"Joe, my source is in law enforcement."
That cinched it for him. "We found that Sasha hopped on a plane to head back to California. If daddy's little girl is in the business-"
Callie finished his thought. "Then Frank and your dad are walking into a trap."
Plan's whirled around in Joe's head until he heard a pounding at the door and he froze. "Callie, I need to go. Call Frank on his cell and see if you can get to him before he gets into the studio."
"Joe-"
The pounding grew louder and he knew his time was short. "I don't have time to explain, Callie. Call Frank."
And with that Joe quickly hung up the phone. He felt that some of his strength had returned, but he was really hoping that he wouldn't have to test out his stamina just yet. However, judging by the pounding on the door and the lack of anyone identifying themselves, he realized that he wasn't going to be that lucky.
Easing himself into a standing position, he quickly shoved everything off of the bedside table and picked it up. It was made of a light wood, but Joe figured it would make an impact on whoever came through the door.
He then heard a splintering sound and the door crashed inward with a tremendous amount of force. A man walked in holding an assault rifle, followed by a woman the Joe immediately recognized as Sasha Jensen, who was armed with a similar weapon.
Joe regarded the two intruders and sized up his chances. Holding up the table high, he growled. "Take one step closer, and I will use this."
Sasha laughed in reply. "Mr. Hardy, do you want your father to live?"
He kept a tight hold on his impromptu weapon. "What do you mean, Miss Jensen, or should I call you Miss Mason?"
She winced mockingly as she motioned to her counterpart. "Ouch. Somebody has been doing their research on me. To put it simply, there is a limo outside. In it, my associate David Berringer is holding a gun on your father. I have instructed Mr. Berringer to shoot your father in five minutes unless I am able to return with you in tow. There are now only four minutes left, so what's it going to be?"
Inside the limo, Fenton stared wearily at David Berringer. Ever since he had been accosted at the hospital, Fenton had been forced into the limo and had been placed under constant guard by David. When they had picked Sasha, Fenton was curious, but quickly caught on that she was running the show, especially when he witnessed her chewing David out over the state of their 'operations' at the studio.
He was roused from his thoughts by the sound of the door opening. Looking up, Fenton watched in silent despair as Joe was herded into the limo and shoved down onto the opposite seat, followed by Sasha and her hired guard.
He turned quickly to his son. "Joe, are you all right?"
Joe nodded weakly in reply.
In the background he could hear the sound of the limo as they pulled out from their current location.
"Well, our cleanup is almost complete," Sasha commented as she put her rifle down beside her. "I wouldn't have had to come back here if you had done what I asked, Mr. Berringer."
"Hey, killing people wasn't part of the bargain, Miss Mason," David Berringer retorted. "It wasn't our fault that girl got killed by an overdose. We were well on our way to cleaning up the rest of this when you came."
"Well he's still alive isn't he?" She snapped, pointing to Joe. Running a hand through her short red hair, Sasha sighed. "Please tell me that you deleted the electronic copies of Season one at least."
David nodded. "We have deleted the Mystery Party footage we had stored electronically. Now all we have to do is get someone to bring the DVD master copies to us."
"You will never find those master copies," Fenton growled. "I made sure they were One hundred percent safe before I left to check on Mr. Stanton."
"Ah yes, good old Doug," Sasha mused. "I had never realized the sap was so perceptive until David here warned me that he was talking to you. We shall have to make him the next part of our cleanup."
"Easily done," David reassured her as he pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Joe. "Now, call your brother and let him know the score."
Joe spoke up. "Mr. Berringer, You know other people are going to put two and two together. You can't get this past the public for long."
David Berringer grinned. "Boy, who do you think REALLY runs SBN studios?"
Frank had made it through the SBN security checkpoint and had parked outside of Building One when his cell phone rang. When he checked the ID, he noticed an unfamiliar number.
Not seeing any sign of his father, he got out of his car and answered his phone. "Hello?"
There was a moment of silence before he heard a familiar voice. "Frank."
It was Joe, but something was wrong. Frank could tell it from the tone of his voice. "Joe, what is it? What's wrong?"
Tone of Joe's voice was tense. "David Berringer has both dad and I at gunpoint. He wants the DVD master copies of Mystery Party. Sasha's the head of all of this and-"
Frank's heart lurched as he heard the sounds of a scuffle and then an audible groan. Moment's later he heard a different voice on the line. "This is David Berringer. I do hope you got the message, Frank, because I do not want to repeat myself. Be at studio twenty on the lot within the hour with the DVD master copies, or your brother and father will meet their untimely end."
David's arrogance both angered and scared Frank. "If you hurt either of them-"
His declaration was met with silence as the connection was severed. Frank closed his cell phone and silently cursed in frustration. Things were coming to a head, but for all the wrong reasons. Despite David's demands, Frank had no clue where his dad had stashed the master copies.
It was then that Frank heard a noise behind him.
Turning around quickly, he found Martin Berringer holding a gun pointed straight at him.
And hence this is why the chapter is aptly titled Cliffhanger. More soon, I promise! (flees)