Emily and Eddie brought both cars to Portland, OR and one back to Seattle, WA. Aaron had come back from running some errands in the early afternoon. He had noticed the two cops that were at the rental car company and had obviously asked questions. So while the couple was busy with the two cars, he bought a cheap used one and drove to pick them up in Portland.
Aaron was thinking about the police. It wasn't good that they were asking questions. Okay, he wasn't exactly sure that they were looking for them, but you never know. It's always better to minimize the risk though. As far as he knew, nobody knew about him or his part in this crime.
It wasn't a crime in his eyes. The money they would get out of this was a welcome side-effect, but his motivation was something that even Eddie and Emily didn't know about. All he wanted was revenge for a fucked up life. Well, the first ten years had been hard on him with no father at all and a mother who had been drinking too much since the day he was born. She had never missed to tell him that it was all his fault. That his father had still been with her, if she hadn't given birth to him. But his father had come back, when he was ten. It actually was his birthday and he had wished to meet his father on every single birthday since he had been three – and then there he had been standing with the coolest gift ever.
He had believed life would become better then and while he had much more fun and love at home, he still hadn't a real chance. They hadn't had much money and life still had sucked. Someone had to pay, and this spoiled asshole was just perfect for his revenge, to let all the rage, he had bottled up inside of him, out. He'd wiped the happy smiles out of the guys face and broken his positive attitude within few weeks.
He had always known that it would come in handy one day that he was a genius in chemistry. He'd been producing and selling drugs since his early teenage years. Just another fucked up part of his life, but one that he still fell back on, whenever he needed some money.
Even the car that he bought sucked! It was crazy how he always hit the score, well if shit was the highest you could get. He'd sell the rusty bitch as soon as they had their money. He already knew about a few cars he'd like to have. Well, first things first. He was driving to Portland and then they would get back to the piece of shit in the house.
The piece of shit laid on the floor, well as much as possible. He was delirious, high fever and dehydration didn't help his drugged up body and mind. In the very rare moments of awareness were just a few words repeating in his head: " Hurts! Water! Food! Hurts even more! Need Water! Sorry, money, Henry !Hank! Help! Eny, please! Dying!" Only some of those words made it from his brain through his lips.
His body was covered with sweat, blood and other body juices. His face was pale, just a few reds spots from fever. His eyes were glassy, unfocused and his sight was becoming worse. The wounds on his body were infected, were discharging pus. His torso was covered with bruises in all possible colors. Several broken and crashed ribs made breathing hard. One of his kidneys didn't work good enough anymore. What made things just worse and it was probably good that he didn't know all of this or that his heart stopped several times for a few seconds. Yeah, it was really good for him, because he was already pretty close to stop fighting for his life and he really didn't need any other thing that would push him over the edge.
He didn't know who all these men had been yesterday. Evan was sure he should know to be prepared, but then again, he couldn't change anything anyway. So he didn't care or wouldn't care, if he had the strength to do. All he knew was that he was lost, that he was screwed, if his big brother wouldn't find him soon. In other circumstance he'd laugh about the thought of his brother rescuing him, all bossy, yelling at his little brothers kidnappers, beating them up. Yeah, Henry in full mother-bear-mode was always a funny thing, but this situation would be much more fun (ignoring the fact that this was dangerous), Henry would become Henrynator. Well, a short one, but still one you shouldn't underestimate.
An agonizing pain rushed through his kidney. It was like an explosion in his organ and the terrified scream from his lips didn't stop until two minutes later, when his mind finally gave in and he fell unconscious.
Hank woke up to shots and screams of hurting or dying people. He was scared for a moment, paralyzed, not able to move. But the shots and voices were soon gone and a normal conversation between two men took their place. It was the TV, but he wasn't lying on his couch at home. He opened his eyes and looked around. It was a hotel room. In Oregon. He had driven there right after the news from the police yesterday. It gave him a feeling of closeness. His brother wasn't far away and he was hopeful the cops would find him soon.
He took a short shower. The warm water comforted him. It numbed all noises and he had a feeling that even his mind found a time to relax. Just for a few minutes there was nothing except the pleasure of being under a beautiful warm rain. He felt content. But the feeling didn't last long.
The towels helped his muscles to relax some more. He got dressed then and suddenly everything was back. His sick brother in their house, lying on the ground after a car had hit him, the moment Hank realized that Evan had been taken away, Evan in the basement in their fathers house, all his blood, his tortured body and mind and then the most terrible image. The one he would never forget in his entire life; Evan's hand trying to hold on to his grip, almost begging to help him, the second their touch ended and his brother was taken away from him again. He had failed the kid again.
His legs felt weak, he felt sick, just wanted to cry for Evan, for himself. Crying wouldn't help either of them and he knew it. He tried to focus a little more on his surroundings and it worked. The short moment of panicked desperation vanished. His strength came back. He brushed his teeth and went to breakfast not long after. The waitress there gave him the newspaper of the day and he took it with a smile. He was glad for the distraction, but there wasn't much he was interested to read and when he read, he didn't pay attention. Just a few seconds later everything he read was gone again from his mind.
Aaron didn't know what to think he was still a little annoyed by the scene yesterday. Emily was a bit touchy, lately. The breakfast he had organized in town hadn't been good enough. The juice wasn't juicy enough or whatever. Yesterday was the same topic, just a different thing.
"Oh wonder, you finally made it here.", Emily complained, when she opened the door to the back of the car. "And you didn't care for some comfort either. This bitch shouldn't be called car. It's just shit on four tires."
Aaron got easily frustrated with her. He liked her most of the times, but she was very superficial and everything was about money and luxury. She could have never lived a life like the one he had gone through. "You can get out and walk back, lady. I'm not holding you here."
She stared at him. Emily wasn't used to people talking to her like that. "Or you can just shut up and drive your shitty princess."
Aaron wanted to say something more, but Eddie was faster. "Emily, I'm sure Aaron did the best he could given the situation and this car is only needed for short time, no need to spend an amount of money for a car that we get rid of soon." He turned around on the passenger seat to lock eyes with his wife for a brief moment. His hand touched her knee gently and they smiled at each other.
Eddie wasn't finished with talking, but now it was the young driver he talked to. "Come on, boy, don't get all upset. We had a hard day and didn't have foot, like we had planned to. She's just tired and hungry."
Aaron looked at the man. The warmth he received from those eyes. Yes, Emily could be a bitch, but she was a beautiful and often funny woman. Eddie liked her, so he liked her, too.
He took a deep breath and sighed. He'd leave now though that it wouldn't be too late, when he came back. They had a lot of things to do, tonight or tomorrow, depending on how long he would need to get things done. He got in his car and drove away.
It was around noon, when the news came that Emily's car had been found and not even an hour later the second car was found in Portland. They had people watching both of the cars in case they came back to look for them. But one of the older detective sergeants had a gut feeling that they had just gotten rid of the cars to make sure the police won't find them.
Dr. Lawson wasn't so sure about it, but knew they couldn't do anything else than wait for Eddie or Emily to come back to the cars or for someone finding them around here. Either way, he hoped something would happen soon.
It took more hours, several cups of coffee and Gatorade until the next news came. It was 6:32 pm, when the words came he had waited for since Evan had been taken away from him. Their sound was like music in his ears. "We found them! We know where they are! Let's go!"
Hank wasn't allowed to come with them and when he was finally over the positive shock about the news, the cops had already been gone. All he could do now was hope, pray and wait. Oh and how he would wait – forever if he had to, as long as his brother would be with him again. Well, forever was a bit too long. Dr. Henry Lawson wasn't exactly known for his great patience, unless it was with patients.
He was actually proud of himself that he stayed so calm. Maybe he had thought otherwise, if he had seen himself. He was blinking, playing with his lips and his fingers, his knee moved up and down as his right foot kept doing its thing. The most obvious sign for the not so the patient calmness was that Henry kept looking at his watch every few seconds always checking the clock in the office as well to make sure his own wasn't lying to him.
The cops didn't need long to find the house, where their criminals were supposed to be. They worked quiet. But weren't sure, if someone had heard the cars. They had talked about the plan before and were now ready to start. Just a minute for everyone to take a few deep breaths.
Evan was surrounded by darkness, it was even darker than earlier, he figured it was already late. But he couldn't care less, he had just suffered another beating not long ago. He had lost two teeth then and his left ear hurt. He was sure it was broken. But could ears break? Anyway, his was certainly broken and nobody would convince him that it wasn't possible. The beating had many blows at his face and his head included. He was so dizzy and the bad thing was that the dizziness didn't slow don. He had closed his eyes, opened them again and so on, but the world was still spinning around him. It had also made him sick again and he threw up. There wasn't much coming out though. They didn't really gave him enough to eat or drink. Just enough that he wouldn't die right away, but not enough to keep him alive for long.
Not long after the beating he had been drugged again. It had been bad. Unusually the drug had made his body weak first and messed with his mind. Losing memories, not knowing where he was or for that matter who he was. Thinking had been painful and every time he had thought that he had found an important detail, a new wave of fog washed everything away. After an endless torture the normal effect of the drug set in and he was caught in his worst nightmares again.
He heard cars outside and for a moment there was hope. He thought about Hank, that he was finally there to bring him home again. He tried to get up, fight those hallucinations, but his body was weak and his mind was out of order. Evan's head fell back again and was far gone. His breathing slowed down, when drops of blood left his mouth. His heart rate was dangerously high. He was running out of time fast. But that was just another thing Evan wasn't aware of.
The cops called for them. Eddie and Emily didn't know what to do. They were surprised, but there was nothing they could do now. They tried to leave the house through windows or the back doors, but there were too many of them. Eddie tried to stay calm and decided it was best to give up. So they walked to the door, yelled at the cops that they were coming outside.
There was a long silence. Nobody spoke a word. Nothing happened. The seconds passed. No movement. No noises. And then all of sudden everything happened fast. Eddie came out of the door, his hands up. Emily followed him. Hands on her side. One of the policemen was going to tell her to show them her hands, but she was faster. A gun came up and aimed to the cops. Not to anyone special, she just wanted to take one of them with her. She was too beautiful to go to jail. She was worth much more. She'd rather die. Several guns fired back and one hit Emily in her shoulder. The gun fell out of her hand, she fell on her knees and then on the floor.
Eddie went down beside her. Pressing his hand on the bleeding wound. Emily's eyes were looking for him. "My beautiful, darling, why?" She couldn't answer. Unconsciousness took her. Eddie couldn't believe it. Someone had hurt his loved girl. He aimed for the gun and tried to shoot the cop closest to him, but another shot fell and took him down, too. He ended up right beside his wife.
They had one ambulance with them, because Dr. Lawson had told them that his brother would need medical treatment. Those paramedics were waiting for a sign from the cops so they could start their work. They didn't have to wait long. The house was empty. But the policemen knew that the victim was kept in the basement.
They opened the door slowly and it made almost no noise. They went downstairs, guns ready to use. Okay there was no other criminal. Which was good. Their eyes scanned the room. The smell was bad and then, there it was...
The leader of the group took the phone and called the police station. Telling one of the boys to tell the paramedics to start now. Then to someone on the phone. "Tell Dr. Lawson, we have Eddie and Emily Lawson/Peck or whatever." He paused for a moment. "But his brother is gone!"