Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty-One

"If you want to see your kids, we want to know what's going on Frank," a woman spoke worryingly as she and her husband stood in front of the door of their home in order to bar her brother in law from entering inside. "What is with all the secrecy and why are you trying to leave them here with us for, well for however long you're asking us to take care of them for you? Did you do something?"

"I thought you knew me better than that Jessica," Frank answered calmly. "I promise you, I didn't do anything, except that a group of thugs nearly killed me the other night because I had to stop them from trying to hurt Jack a few weeks ago."

The woman's husband looked at him in confusion as he stated, "Jack, you mean that kid you and Donna took in a year ago, your adopted son? Why would these guys attack a kid and why would they come after you weeks later?"

The vile man was growing impatient, but he didn't want to blow his last opportunity to see his younger children before he had to leave Detroit, so he remained stoic as he responded, "I don't know, other than that they are probably angry with me for stopping them from having their sick little fun with my boy. These bastards were going to rape him, had him nearly naked before I got there with one of my guns to scare them off with."

"Oh my God, that's awful!" Jessica cried sadly as she put her hand to her mouth.

"Did you go to the police?" her husband asked again.

Frank nodded as he replied, "Of course I did. And they arrested them, but they're all out on bail. One of the first things they did was come after me and Jack and so he and I are going to disappear for awhile until they end up back behind bars. I need you to look after my children for me, but I would like to see them again just to make sure that they will be all right once I leave. Please, Jessica; Darren?"

The woman finally relented as she and Darren both walked back into their home and invited Frank to follow as they went to go and see the kids. When he finished speaking with them, his sister and brother in law walked him back out into the entryway to let him out as Jessica pulled him in for a hug, then let him loose.

As Frank walked outside and began to walk to his car in the driveway, Darren called out to him again asking, "Wait, where's Kevin at? Will he be coming to stay with us too?"

"Kevin has found his own place to move into, now that he's eighteen," he answered and then looked back at his wife's family. "He's been wanting to get his own place for some time now. I finally agreed to let him so long as he has the money to pay the rent himself. Look, I really hate to rush off. I know that it's been a long time since I've come over with the kids, but things have been, well difficult since Donna died. I need to go. I have lots to do. Thank you both, again. Take care of them for me. I will call soon and then send you a letter to let you know where I'll be once we get someplace we can be safe. Goodbye."

Once he was on his way again, Frank continued driving to one last place before he knew he would need to get back to the condemned site to make sure that his cop friend was still taking care of the kid in his charge. It was twenty-five minutes later that he pulled into a driveway belonging to an empty, newly built condo currently on the real-estate market for sale inside some community with a dozen other houses for sale as well, then walked up to the door and knocked, waiting for his oldest son to let him inside.

"I'm glad you made it, Dad," Kevin said as soon as his father was all the way in so that he could close the door behind him. "A friend of mine told me about this place. We won't be able to stay for more than a night, but we'll be perfectly fine for tonight. Why don't you stay here with me instead of down at that hellhole you cooped yourself up in in the worst part of the city?"

Frank looked around and then finally back at his son as he responded, "I'd like to, but I don't want to bring my sins anywhere that you are, which is why I still think that it's best that you stay here, in Detroit I mean. Stay at home and look after the house for me while I'm gone. I trust you, you know that, right?"

The eighteen year old shook his head and replied, "Look, I already told you how much I hate your twisted fixation to Jack, but I want to come with you. You're getting out of Detroit and I've been wanting to ever since Mom died. I care about what happens to you. And you promised me that you would keep your urges under control. Why don't you just forget about Jack? Do something to get him to end his own life like we tried before and then that way, we can all just disappear and everything can go back to normal. Why do you have to keep Jack around?"

"I promise you Kevin, he's only with me as an insurance policy," the father figure answered nervously. "Those people want to kill me and if they find out that the kid is dead, they will blame me and finish what they started last night. But once I've disappeared for awhile and I know that I'm safe, Jack is as good as dead."

"I really want to believe you, but you were willing to kill him that day in the hospital when I first found out and now you don't seem to want to anymore," Kevin responded in frustration. "I can see that you still feel something for him. You said it yourself, you said that Jack seduced you and made you, like him the way that you do, but once we're out of here and safe in some other city, those brothers won't be able to find you. Once we're gone, you can kill Jack then. Will you just let him go, for me? They'll never know what will have become of him and we'll all be free."

Frank smiled at his boy as he replied, "What did I just tell you? Yes, once we're safe from here and I am no longer living in fear of those brothers coming to kill me, then I will finish that kid off once and for all. I'm proud of you. You've got my stamina. Are you sure you will be safe here for tonight, until I get everything settled for our trip out of town? I will give you a call in the morning and then you can come to the place where we're hiding out. By then, Officer Hawley will be out of the picture too. It will be just the three of us."

Kevin nodded and spoke again saying, "I'll be fine. Look, I really don't care about what you do to Jack, but please don't become a killer by killing that cop. He may be an idiot, but he is a cop and law enforcement, especially here in Detroit, hates cop killers. Killing Hawley will land you in prison for sure and I don't want to see that happen to you. Be careful, Dad. I'll see you tomorrow."