A Strong Family Chapter 5: The Phone Call, a speed racer fanfic

Chapter 5: The Phone Call

Shaken up, Trixie sat in the back of an old long, black car with Tim. He was a short, stocky man who needed to shave and who wore a black, leather jacket. Between he and his partner in crime, he was definitely the nicer one holding Trixie as hostage.

Conrad, who was tall and bald, was driving and had a mean streak. He wasn't worried about hurting Trixie's feelings. All he was worried about was completing this job so he could collect his money. How easy it had turned out to be since Speed had left Trixie alone in their house.

Tim had often helped Conrad collect money from people but never anything this serious. He only went along with this plan because he needed the extra money and was told that the hostage would not be hurt. However, a pregnant hostage hadn't entered his mind. He felt badly as he looked at a nervous Trixie Racer whose hands were on her unborn baby, and he asked, "When are you due?"

She never even looked at him as she wondered why he even cared. How could he kidnap her and then want to become her friend?

Trying to sound as friendly as possible, he said, "Believe me. It will be easier if we get along."

Though hesitant at first, Trixie decided to just answer his question. "I'm due in about four weeks."

Interrupting before Tim could answer, Conrad said, "Where was your husband going this time of night? We thought we were going to have to hold him at gun point in our original plan."

The image of a gun to Speed's head entered Trixie's mind and she told herself to take slow, deep breaths. She had to take care of her baby by not getting too upset. Like always, Speed would get her out of this some how.

"You didn't answer me," Conrad said not sounding happy at all. How dare she ignore me, he thought.

"Conrad," Tim said feeling he had to defend her. "She's scared."

Thinking to herself that she was beginning to become more mad than scared, Trixie said nothing. She really wanted to lean over, unlock the door, push Tim out, and then hit Conrad hard in the head. However, because of the baby there was really nothing she could do. She would have to answer the tall monster in the front seat whether she liked it or not. Now suddenly scared once again at the thought of why they had her in the first place, she whispered, "Ice-cream."

"What?" Conrad asked after barely hearing her.

Tears ran down Trixie's face but she didn't cry out loud as she turned to look out of the window. She said with her lips quivering, "Speed left...to go pick up some ice-cream...for me." In her mind she could just see Speed losing it totally when he got home and she wasn't there.

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At their house, Speed screamed Trixie's name and it almost sounded like it was coming back to him in an echo. Silence followed as he stood there thinking that he had to be dreaming. This wasn't happening but he knew that it was. He had had a gut feeling something was wrong on the way back home. Seeing the front door opened confirmed that but he told himself to stop letting his imagination get the best of him.

Now he was in the house and she was gone. Standing there he looked at the broken glass from the lamps and the flipped over coffee table on the floor. Panicking even more he ran back outside and to the Mach 5. "I've got to find her!" he exclaimed while starting the Mach 5 but then he just sat there. Killing the motor he yelled while beating the steering wheel, "I don't know where the hell to look!" He put his face in his hands trying to think but his thoughts were interrupted by the house phone ringing since his front door was still left wide open.

Even before his brain had time to register and tell him to get out of the car, he was out running across his front lawn. He ran through the front door passing the melting ice-cream on the floor, and then he practically jumped over the sofa to get to the phone.

"Trixie!" he exclaimed into the phone sounding totally unnerved.

A laugh from a man followed. It was familiar and very disturbing at the same time.

"Who is this!" Speed demanded to know.

"Speed," the man said calmly. "You sound scared. And you should be."

"Where is she!" Speed screamed into the phone as he kicked the sofa.

"She will be here shortly. My men did a fine job," the man said starting to laugh again.

"If you hurt her, I'll kill you," Speed said with rage he never felt quite like this before in his life.

"Now, now, Speed," the man said not sounding worried at all. "I think you should be nice to me since I hold your future in my hands."

Speed's chest was rising and falling quickly from his nervous breathing as he forced himself to calm down. "Look,"he said sounding scared as he began pacing. "My wife is eight months pregnant. It's dangerous for her and the baby to be in this...situation."

"What a shame. I had been hoping to have a little fun with her. Well I still can."

Speed spun around still holding the phone and blew up. "Don't you lay a freakin' finger on her!"

The man however, remained composed. "I really didn't know she was pregnant, which I'll admit is foolish because I'm sure it's all over the papers. I have only been focusing on you and your racing career, which has been just too damn good as far as I'm concerned."

Suddenly it dawned on Speed. He remembered Pops telling Ben, the Zodiac driver, that he wasn't scared. Ben had only said, "We'll see."

"The Zodiacs!" Speed said frozen in his spot.

A chuckle came from the man. "Yes. You figured it out but the whole team isn't in on this. Most of them have no idea."

"Now I know why I recognize your voice," Speed said wanting to find the man to choke him. "You're the leader."

"Yes. But call me Zain," he said as if they were the best of friends.

"Why did you take my wife!" Speed demanded.

"It's funny what a weakness can do to a man," Zain said hearing Speed's nervous, fast breathing even over the phone. "Weakness can leave a man powerless like you are right now."

"What do you want?" Speed asked with urgency in his voice because he was ready to do anything to get Trixie home safely.

"See. You're ready to do anything because of your weakness. Your wife if your weakness. I am correct when I say you love her. Right?"

"Yes," Speed said trying to keep his temper under control.

"Yes. I think your marriage will actually make it...if you get her back."

"Listen you, psycho!" Speed roared highly upset. "I'm going to find you and make you sorry you ever did this!"

"No!" Zain yelled, his calmness gone. There was no chuckle and he was outraged as he exclaimed, "You are going to listen to me boy or she's dead!"

There was a pause and Speed's hand shook as he continued to hold the phone to his ear. "I'll listen," he said almost in a whisper. The last thing he wanted was his out burst to get Trixie hurt.

Zain somehow composed himself and was ready to start his plan, which was to mess with Speed's mind. "You love racing but you truly love your wife more. Don't you?"

"Yes," Speed said so scared for Trixie's life.

"I know you do. Can you imagine getting up every morning and she's not there anymore? Worse, can you imagine trying to go to sleep at night not knowing where she is? Could she be being hurt by someone, somewhere at that very moment? Your life would be ruined."

Speed couldn't do anything but listen to Zain talk about his worse possible nightmares.

"I can not only kill her but I can make her have a very agonizing death so you better shut up and just listen to me. Am I correct in saying that you intended to spend the rest of your life with her?"

"Yes," Speed said as a hot tear rolled down his face. He hated feeling helpless as someone threatened the most precious thing to him.

"I bet when you're in bed with her there's no one else you'd rather be with. You feel she's yours, all yours. Right?" Zain asked enjoying torturing Speed.

"Yes," Speed said wiping his tear away with the back of his hand.

Zain chucked again. "I bet passion isn't a strong enough word for the two of you together."

Speed didn't answer.

"Answer me boy! And I don't mean yes or no!" Zain shouted.

"It's…intense," Speed spit out about their passion, which he considered private. His mind was becoming exhausted as he waited for the man's reply.

"Now," Zain said reaching his goal. "Now that you have that passionate, intense feeling in your mind, imagine that gone forever."

Again Speed fell silent but then his feelings spoke. "It's more than that. She's the most important person to me." Pleading, he said, "Please. Don't hurt her, and please don't make her lose the baby this late in her pregnancy."

Zain thought to himself that he had Speed right where he wanted him. "All you have to do is cooperate."

"What do you want me to do?" Speed asked feeling beside himself.

Wanting Speed to hang onto each word, Zain said very slowly, "I want you to lose the next race."

That's it? Speed thought to himself surprised. "Okay. I won't compete in it," he finally said.

"Oh no," Zain responded. "You're going to be in it, and you're going to lose in front of everyone."

"The race isn't for another three days. How will I know that Trixie is alright?"

"As long as you don't do anything foolish she'll be fine."

"But how do I know that you won't hurt her?" Speed asked wishing he could hear her in the background.

"Just lose the race if you don't want her hurt. And there is one more important thing. Do Not Call The Police! I want no one to know that Trixie is missing. Not even your family."

"No police, I won't tell anyone, and I'll lose the race," Speed said trying to convince the man not to hurt Trixie.

"I know you will do what I say, or your wife and unborn child will be dead."

Speed stood there holding the phone just after hearing Zain hang up.

"Mr. Racer," a policeman said pulling Speed out of his thoughts.

Speed hung up the phone and looked at the policeman standing by his front door.

Zain's words, Do Not Call The Police, ran through Speed's head. Why is this policeman here? he thought about to panic. No, he told himself. He knew that if he panicked he'd give himself away and that the policeman would try to help and that Trixie would be killed in the process. Quickly dashing to the front door, Speed closed it as he stepped outside. "Is everything alright?" he asked trying to hide how tore up he was about what was really happening.

"That's what I'm checking," the policeman said. "A neighbor called saying that they heard noises from your house, like glass being broken."

"Oh," Speed said trying to think of something, anything quickly to cover up the noise the neighbors had heard. "That was our cat knocking down our lamps in the den. I'm surprised you couldn't see the mess from this front door."

"No, but from what you're saying it must be a big cat," the policeman said not knowing that Speed and Trixie didn't even have a cat.

"It's big," Speed said not saying anything more.

"Is your wife in the house?" the policeman asked.

Speed's heart fell as he tried like hell to keep an expressionless face. "She's in the shower."

The policeman knew that Speed helped them often so he believed him. "Okay then. Sorry to have disturbed you."

"No problem," Speed said shaking his hand. Honestly, he was so scared he wished he could tell the policeman everything so they could try to find Trixie but Speed had no doubt that Zain would then kill Trixie and their baby if the police were on to him.

When the policeman left, Speed closed the door looking back into the den to see the broken glass everywhere. He envisioned Zain's men struggling with Trixie and knocking the lamps over. "How can someone struggle with an eight month pregnant woman!" Speed shouted as he knocked over an end table. The rage boiled in his veins. "Trixie!" he then cried out as he fell to his knees by the ice cream. There was nothing he could do. How was he going to get through the next three days? Where did they have his wife? Was she scared? Was she really alright?

Unfortunately having to accept Tim helping her, Trixie got out of the black car. They had been driving in the woods for some time now so all she could see were trees every which way.

Walking to her, Conrad pulled her roughly by her arm making her gasp.

"Hey!" Tim exclaimed. "Take it easy on her in her condition."

"Whatever," Conrad said. "Women have babies everyday."

"Do you want her to have hers right now!" Tim said upset at Conrad.

"It really wouldn't matter to me," Conrad said unsympathetically.

Trixie didn't say anything as they began to lead her through the woods till they came upon a log cabin house.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Like I'm going to tell you," Conrad said looking at her like she was crazy.

"It's just not necessary for you to know," Tim said as Conrad unlocked the door to the old, wooden house. Through the door immediately was the den with a big fireplace, and there was someone standing in front of it.

The man's back was to them as he said, "Glad you two had no problem taking our hostage."

When the man turned around, Trixie immediately recognized him as the Zodiac Leader. He was a big man, with a big, round face and dark eyes.

The man smiled as he walked over to Trixie. "Give us a few minutes alone," he said to Conrad and Tim and then the two men exited the room making Trixie become more nervous.

"Well, well, well," Zain only said to her. He didn't say anything else as he began to stare at her.

Trixie watched him, wishing she could spit in his face. The baby inside of her stopped her from going through with that.

"I see why Speed is so upset over your disappearance," Zain said folding his arms in front of himself.

"You spoke to Speed?"she asked as her eyes widened.

Zain ignored her question. "You have beautiful green eyes and a beautiful completion. Speed claims it's more than physical between the two of you. That he really loves you. You're lucky he does."

"What do you want?" Trixie asked thinking the man was insane.

"Mm," the man said moving closer and just brushing Trixie's belly with a finger.

"Don't touch me," she said in disgust as she backed away.

Zain smiled and said, "That baby is a result of yours and Speed's intense passion for each other."

Trixie blushed at what the man was saying.

"Don't be embarrassed. The two of you love each other and you have a bond. You'll have an even stronger one when that baby is born. That is as long as Speed cooperates."

"Sir," Trixie said trying to be nice in hopes that in return he'd be nice. "What do you want Speed to do?"

"My name is Zain, and I want him to lose the next race." he said looking so happy just from the thought of Speed losing a race.

"I'm sure he'll just drop out..."

"He already offered that," Zain said waving the idea off with his hand. "I'm tired of the same person winning most of the races. I want him too lose. Don't you hate it when you're watching something like the music awards and the same person wins almost all of the awards?"

"Not if they're good," Trixie said wishing she didn't when she saw his unhappy face.

Zain was about to scream but actually took her condition into consideration. "It's time that you go to sleep. Tim!" he called wanting him to take Trixie to her room.

"Does Speed know I'm okay?" she asked feeling for her husband.

"How sweet your concern is for him," Zain said. "All he knows is that he better lose the race if he wants to see you alive again."

Both Conrad and Tim stepped back into the room but Tim was the one who would bring Trixie to her room.

As Tim walked down a hall with Trixie, he asked, "Are you hungry?"

"No," she said shaking her head.

"What about the baby?"

Trixie wanted to yell, if you are so worried about the baby, you should't have kidnapped me! However, she said, "I ate enough today."

They soon stopped in front of a door and Tim unlocked it. In the room with no windows was a bed, nightstand and a lamp.

"Okay, Trixie," he said moving so she could walk through the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Trixie turned to look back at Tim but he had already closed and locked the door. She then checked out the small room and realized that she better lay down whether she wanted to or not. Her feet and back were killing her. Sitting down carefully on the unfamilliar bed, she then laid down slowly on her side. The tears again filled her eyes as she whispered, "Oh, Speed."

What do you think will happen next? I have no idea. Just kidding. Obviously I figured something out since there are chapters following. Thanks, Jen