Burned Bridges Chapter 9

"This Dude's Insane!"

Randy's POV

While I'm trying to devise a plan to get myself out of this bathroom stall, my mind starts to wander and think about Zoran.

I can remember when we first met over in Costa Rica. Of course back then she wasn't gang boss Zoran, she was high school sophomore Shelly Meldrick.

'So, which three losers did Shelly send over to try to scare me?' I ask, still trying to bide my time.

'Does it matter? It's quite obviously worked' the one to my right says. I recognize the voice instantly. It belongs to Torii, the number two in line after Zoran.

'Yeah, right, in your wettest dream it worked' I taunt.

'If I was you Taylor, I'd watch remarks like that' another voice, Riley, threatens, while shoving his knife a little further into the stall door. This is getting desperate now.

'So, we have Riley and Torii here, my guess is that Zoran wouldn't send out her three top people to finish me off. That would of course mean that person number three has to be either Ian, Tama, or Brent. Am I right? Any of them? Huh? Tell me I'm right' I say, still looking around, trying to figure out some way to get out.

'How many times do I gotta tell you, it's not Brent, it's Brant?' the voice on my left says.

'Brent, Brant, what's the difference? You'll still never amount to anything more than a pawn to Zoran' I say.

'Real big talk for someone who can't even get himself past a few butter knives, don't you think so boys?' Riley says in his Australian accent.

'If these are butter knives, I'd hate to see your idea of chainsaws' I remark. 'And besides, I already have a perfectly good plan to get out of here'. That last statement is a lie.

I still keep looking around, hoping for something, anything, to jump out at me as an escape option. But all I see is three rolls of toilet paper. Then it hits me.

I immediately reach into my back pocket and pull out a blue cigarette lighter, the real cheap kind you can get at any retail store. I never actually smoked, since I preferred some of the harder drugs when I was a gang boss, but over in Costa Rica, I made friends with a boy, Andre, who did. The night that the incident happened, I grabbed this lighter from him on the way out. I never saw him use it, but it still just kind of reminds me of him. I haven't spent a day without it since the night of May 25, 1999.

I grab the first roll of toilet paper, and set it down on the ground on my right side. I then proceed to do the same with the second, and then the third. Then, I set fire to each roll I lined up. Soon, the rolls are engulfed in flames, and smoke is floating up to the ceiling.

'Do we have you so nervous you have to take a cig break Taylor?' asks Torii.

'Nope, I'm just working on my plan' I smile.

Before too much smoke fills the room, I take off my jacket. This will serve two purposes. One, it can cover my face, so I won't choke on the smoke. (Even though it isn't a large amount of smoke). Two, it will keep me dry when the fire extenguisher system goes off after the smoke detectors detect the smoke from the rolls of toilet paper that I lit on fire. Then, if all goes according to my plans, Zoran's wannabe goons will run for safety, screaming "Fire! Fire!", I can slip under one of the stall doors, and exit myself, even if they leave the knives still planted in the stall walls and door. If Torii, Riley, and Brent/Brant, don't leave, then I'm screwed. Well, no, maybe not. After all, the fire department would be alerted, and they would have to search for the source of the fire, thus finding me in the process, and, let's face it, who is the fire department more apt to believe, me, or three known Oregon criminals?

Yes! Now I can hear the fire alarm going off.

'What the hell are you doing in there, singing hippie music and swaying with your lighter? You need stop, people are going to think there's a fire!' shouts Brent.

'Well then people would be thinking right, dumbass. Look down on your left side and you can see what I mean' I shout back. The water should start pouring down any minute now.

'Shit! This dude's insane! He just lit three rolls of toilet paper on fire! Riley, Torii, you two can stay here if you want, but I'm getting the hell out of here!' Brant announces. Just then, water starts coming from the fire extenguishers installed in the ceiling.

I can hear three sets of feet slipping and sliding on their way out the bathroom door after a few moments. They leave their knives behind, so I'm forced to slide out the front of the stall so I can make my escape. I run out to the waiting room where mom and dad are at. There I see doctors busy tending to patients. I run back through the door, and shock the doctors and nurses in the process.

'There's nothing to worry about, some thugs just set some toilet paper rolls on fire in the bathroom. I saw them do it' I announce.

'Okay, we'll tell that to the fire department when they get here. For now, you'll need to join everyone else outside' the charge nurse tells me. I obey her instructions, and run down the stairs two at a time, then begin searching for mom and dad once outside. After a couple of minutes, I find them.

'What's going on Randy?' mom asks.

'Someone set fire to some rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom. I saw the rolls myself. There's no real worry or anything' I explain.

'What about Mark? Where would he go?' mom asks. Dad shrugs his shoulders at this.

'I'm sure he's doing fine. They're probably still operating on him. You know, the OR is generally a controlled environment' I assure mom.

'Yeah, I suppose so' mom says.

This is getting really dangerous. It seems like everywhere I go, I attract trouble. First Ricky and his friends, now Zoran and her group. I really hate to think what will happen if I ever have a run in like Vinny McGurn and Andre did over in Costa Rica. I hate to think someone else could wind up being the second Lauren. It's definitely no role that would win someone an Emmy.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this, because this is the last little secret about what happened in Costa Rica that I'm going to give out for at least a couple of chapters. Like I've said before, I won't reveal what actually happened until the very end of the story.

I hope my (Randy's) escape trick was believable, even if it is a little reminiscent of Mission Impossible and/or MacGyver.

Please R&R to see where I'm going to take the story from here. (And as of right now, I'm not sure where that will be).

Thanks for reading.

Oh, and by the way, the reason I'm updating all my stories today is because I have to have yet another surgery done on my nose. This is supposed to be the final one though.

-Yours truly, Randy Taylor