Chapter Three
The black sedan pulled up in the rear of the office building. Three of the four doors opened and three men got out. The one in the rear leaned back in, however, and pulled Pam out. She glanced around, looking for Ralph, but didn't see him.
Pam decided to test her luck. "Where's Ralph?" She figured they must've tied him up, but also that they'd both be brought to the same place. She remembered the black van, but didn't see it now.
Joey grinned. "He's safe, for now."
Pam was atleast thankful for that tiny bit of information. She hoped he'd remain safe as they started moving her to the rear doors of the building.
The small group headed for the elevator. When everyone was in, Joey hit the six button. The doors closed and the elevator began its ascent. After they reached the sixth floor, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Joey escorted Pam out of the elevator, taking her arm the way a normal date would. They passed many people, walking down several hallways. Pam just kept telling herself to remain calm. She could figure a way out as soon as there seemed to be no imminent danger for her, or Ralph, she hoped.
Pam caught the name Henry Franklyn on the door before they went into the office. She thought the name sounded familiar and tried to think of where she'd seen it before.
They entered the office of a well dressed man in his late 40s, maybe early 50s, looking all the gentleman. A younger man stood off to one side of the desk. Both men smiled upon seeing Pam. Pam, meanwhile, was feeling a little nauseous from all these men looking at her... most of whom she could run legal circles around and still have enough left in her for a more than nice evening with Ralph... Again, she wondered what they did with him.
"So she is half of the reason why my plans did not go down completely and not without a hitch today? Amazing." The older man clasped his hands, laid on the desk in front of him. "And the other?"
"He's at the manufacturing plant with the others," Joey replied.
It took a moment, then Franklyn nodded. "Let them know to go ahead with their plans." He stood, hands still clasped, and eyed Pam. "Take her out to one of the rooms, then I want you to take atleast some of the men and go back to further stake out that convention."
Joey nodded. "Right." He wrapped his arm around Pam's again and tugged her along. They went back out in the hall, the men following behind. Joey stopped in front of a door and pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket. He slipped one into the lock and turned, opening the door. It was simply an empty office, its only furnishment being a desk and chair.
Joey pushed Pam into the room and pulled the door closed after her. She didn't go back to the door as he locked it from the outside. After a few moments, she did go to the door to inspect the handle. She found no lock on it. Next, she glanced at the space between the door and the frame. The thinnest line of light came through, not enough room to stick something in to pry the door open.
Pam sighed and sat in the chair. She needed to think.
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Meanwhile, at the manufacturing plant, the rest of the men had been waiting for word on what to do next, when a phone call came in.
The man who picked up the phone nodded. "Alright, Joey. I'll send most of these guys back to the convention." He grinned in the big man's direction, who was currently bench-pressing 300 pounds. "I'll let Steve know he can have some fun and I'll hang around to make sure he doesn't make a mess. Bye." He hung up the phone and went to the others. "Alright, everyone back to the convention center for a stake out, except Steve."
Out in the back room, Ralph's eyes widened slightly. All he caught was that almost all of the gun men were going back to the convention center. He shook his head, but paused hearing footsteps coming in his direction.
The large man and the one that grabbed the phone appeared in the doorway. The smaller of the two stepped forward and jerked his thumb at the big guy. "Did you know this guy can bench-press 300 pounds?"
Ralph's eyes rolled to the ceiling. Great, I'll probably get pounded into 150 pounds of dog chow.
"Awe, Mark, didja hafta tell him that?" Steve asked, then smirked.
Mark returned the smirk. "Listen, I'm going out to get some food for when the guys get back. You have some fun with the little hero here." He turned and left the room.
Ralph groaned audibly. He had an idea and he hoped this guy was as dumb as he looked. He winced and groaned again.
Steve paused, confusion crossing his face. He hadn't even touched the guy yet and he was already looking like he had!
Ralph groaned again and leaned forward, resting his forehead on his knees. Come on, big, dumb, and ugly, take the bait!
Steve crossed over to Ralph and grabbed a handful of his jacket and lifted him up, one-handed. Ralph did all he could to not noticeably gulp at this action. Instead, he groaned again and shook his head the best he could. "All right, all right," Steve said, then ripped the tape off Ralph's mouth.
"Owww..." Ralph made a face.
"What's your problem?"
Ralph sighed and looked Steve in the face. "I need to use the bathroom."
The big man blinked, then smiled, then laughed. "Is that all?" Steve was nearly going hysterical.
"I'm serious! I really need to go!" Ralph pleaded.
"Fine." Steve heaved Ralph over his shoulder and carried him to a smaller closet-like room in the corner. He set Ralph down on his feet, then untied the rope around his wrists. "Two minutes." He grinned. "I'll be back." The big man left the room.
Ralph waited a few seconds, then crouched down to untie his ankles. It took a few moments, but the rope finally came loose and he pulled it off. He glanced around the small room. No windows. He stepped back out into the main room. He paused, glancing around the room.
There were no windows there, either... He needed some leverage or a vantage point to get around Steve. There were towers of paper rolls and huge spools. He considered climbing up one of them and maybe pushing one off onto the big man...?
Then he noticed the tower right by the door. The top roll of paper rested about a foot from the wall, slightly off the rest of the pile. He had another idea. He dropped the piece of rope by the door, then walked to the side of the room.
Ralph climbed up the back of the piles, making his way to the space. Half way up, he heard footsteps coming closer. Damn... He climbed as quickly as he could and was almost in the space when...
"Hey?" Steve exclaimed, looking around. He went over and picked up the rope off the floor. He growled. "Little piece of...!" He went to the bathroom and slammed the door open.
Ralph took advantage and jumped down, landing in a crouch. He stood and headed out the door, into the main room of the plant. He headed for and out the main door, into an alley. He looked to the open end of the alley and saw the smaller gun man headed back, with food more interesting than watching where he was going.
Ralph sprinted for a fire escape ladder and jumped up to it. He climbed a few rungs, then waited until Mark got close enough... Ralph jumped off, landing on Mark, knocking him and his food to the ground.
"Hey--? You!" Mark looked up at him with wide eyes. "How'd you get past Steve?"
Ralph grinned. "I flew." He grabbed two fistfuls of Mark's shirt. "Now, where'd you boys take my lady friend to?"
Mark smirked. "What'll you do if I don't tell you?"
Ralph thought for a moment. He actually didn't have a lot of options at the moment. So he did the only thing he could thing of and clunked Mark's head against the pavement. "That. Over and over until you lose consciousness."
"Ow, man! Damn, I don't get paid enough for this crap." Mark groaned. "Man, she's at Franklyn's office building."
"Where's that? Help me out, I'm not from around here," Ralph said, clunking his head against the pavement again. He hoped this punk would give him all the information he wanted soon as he'd prefer to see the punk in jail instead of the hospital.
"Harbor Boulevard. Out the alley, take a left, then a right at the first intersection. Then it's four blocks, take a right and go half a block." Mark answered.
"See, that wasn't so tough," Ralph commented and let him go.
Mark groaned as Ralph started off down the alley. A few moments later, Steve came out and picked up Mark, who rubbed his head, and said, "Come on, we gotta tell Franklyn our hero's loose..."
Ralph made his way down La Veta. Four blocks... and me without the jammies. Never thought I'd miss them this much. He made a right at the intersection onto Garden Grove Boulevard and began jogging. Fortunately, he didn't garner too many rubber necks, considering that he was jogging in his suit jacket and pants. The only problem was "The Eye Of The Tiger" was going through his head. Ralph shook his head, all he needed was a set of stairs to run up...
After two blocks, he noticed a familiar black van about a block behind him. He groaned, then ducked into a department store.
The van stopped half a block away. Mark and Steve got out and went into the store.
Ralph glanced up, from behind a rack of shirts and watched them walk along the opposite side of the store. He began edging his way to the door, then quickly went back out.
This time, Ralph ran full speed down the sidewalk. If he knew the area, he would've gone down a side street, but he didn't even have one of the maps Pam had picked up on him. He finally saw the street sign for Harbor Boulevard a block and a half in front of him.
He stopped at the corner and pushed the walk button, waiting to cross, and looked back down the street. the black van was just pulling back out onto the street. Ralph hit the walk button again, willing the lights to change. They finally did and he got the walk signal, causing him to dash across the road and continue down the next block.
Ralph glanced over his shoulder and spotted the black van again, closer than before. He looked forward again and ran as fast as he could, even though he knew he couldn't outrun them. He only hoped he could outsmart them.
And still, the main thing he thought about was how Pam was...
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Pam was actually doing fine, better if she could get the window to pry open. She was kneeling by the only window in the room, with a metal rod she found in the closet in hand. The window wouldn't budge. She'd considered just breaking the window with the rod, but thought someone would hear and be in the room before she could get half way down the fire escape right outside the window.
Besides, she still didn't know where Ralph was. She paused and looked out the window, down the street. And she saw someone run around the corner of the building and head toward her. Her eyes widened. She recognized the suit... and the blond hair.
"Ralph..." Pam wanted to call to him, let him know where she was, but had an idea that someone would hear. Instead, she tried lightly wrapping the rod against the window frame.
On the street, Ralph stopped when he reached the building and looked behind him while catching his breath. He expected the van any moment. He straightened and thought he heard a faint knocking sound from above. He turned and looked up at the building. His eyes squinted and thought he saw someone wave at him.
Ralph sighed and shook his head. He jumped and pulled the ladder of the fire escape down and began to climb up.
The van screeched around the corner and came to an abrupt stop in front of the building. Mark and Steve got out and looked around. They didn't look up and instead went inside.
Meanwhile, Ralph reached the sixth floor and found Pam at the window. "Hang on, Pamela..." He tugged at the window, but it wouldn't budge. He tried again, still to no avail. Ralph shrugged. "You'll have to break the window."
He backed away as Pam brought the rod back, then slammed it into the window. It cracked, but didn't break. Pam hit it again, this time shattering the window. "Ralph, thank God!"
Ralph waved her back. "Hang on." He kicked out the remaining glass shards, then helped her out the window. "Are you okay?"
"Fine. They just locked me in there. You?"
"So far, so good." Ralph gave a slight grin.
The room door opened suddenly and Mark came in, followed by the rest of the gun men. It was getting more than a little crowded.
Ralph groaned and looked down the fire escape. Steve was coming out the fifth story window. "Shit..." he muttered under his breath. He turned back to Pam, "We've got a little problem here..."
Pam held up the rod still in her hand. "There's always the hard way."
"We'll have to." They went back into the room and the melee began.
Pam wielded her rod like a pro, swinging it at the men, hitting their hands, arms... one she got in the jaw and he fell unconscious.
Ralph was swinging punches. He sent a couple men to the floor... until he got caught by Steve, who swung a meaty hand into Ralph's gut, doubling him over.
Pam saw it and went over to try and hit Steve with the rod. Steve caught it in one hand and tossed it away. Ralph made his way over to it and picked it up.
"Ralph!" Pam yelled, Steve taking hold of her wrists.
Ralph grabbed the rod, spun, and clocked Steve on the left arm with it. The big guy yelped and let Pam go. "Come on!" Ralph said, grabbing Pam's hand, still holding the rod in the other.
They ran out of the room and down the hall. A couple men followed.
"We'll have to take a chance with the elevator. If we take the stairs, they'll catch us at the bottom," Ralph said, then added, "Where's the elevator?"
Pam pointed to the right. "Down that hall!"
They reached the bank of elevators and hit the down button. After what seemed like forever, one of them arrived and the doors opened. Ralph and Pam ran in and hit the ground level button, then the close door button. As soon as the doors closed, they both slumped against the walls.
Ralph doubled over a bit again, trying to catch his breath. "Man, that guy's got a frying pan for a hand..."
Pam rubbed his back, and agreed, "He was huge."
They reached ground level and left the elevator. Glancing around, they ran for the main doors and went out onto the street. Ralph flagged down a taxi and they climbed in. The taxi pulled out, headed in the direction of the convention center.
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