Loyalties Chapter 6
"Anybody have a plan yet?" Sucre asked C-note and Abruzzi, after moving to sit with them.
"Not me, but I ain't going down without a fight." C-note replied.
Pope still had yet to call, and it had already passed the three-hour mark.
"Bastard ain't gonna call back." Sucre said with disgust. "Don't even care about his own family."
"He will call." Abruzzi said.
"What if he don't though? I mean, it's already after the time. Figure they'll start killing people soon." C-note stated with a frown.
"Not to worry, my friends. I have no intentions of dying today, and if you do as I say, when the time comes, you won't either." Abruzzi whispered softly, while looking straight ahead, so as not to draw any unwanted attention.
"There are only three guns between all of them," Abruzzi continued, "One of which the lovely Cassie is carrying. Now I know better than most men to never underestimate any foe, especially a woman, but I've been carefully observing our captors. From that alone, I've gathered that, of the three, she is the most uncomfortable with handling a weapon."
"And you got that just from watching her?" C-note whispered skeptically.
"Let's just say that reading body language is one of my many talents." he answered with a shrug, trying to appear modest.
The others continue to look at him apprehensively.
"For example, see how Paul over there is holding his gun?" Abruzzi pointed with his eyes toward the man farther right. "How he has it carelessly aimed at the floor, and he's not even paying attention to the people he is supposed to be watching? That is a sign of being overconfident, which ultimately, be it on this occasion or not, will be his undoing. Confidence is good, but when it reaches the point it has with him, turns to stupidity, and causes mistakes."
"Huh. Guess that makes three white boys I know that ain't stupid," C-note said, "Guess there's hope for you after all." he added with a small chuckle. Upon hearing this, the captors turned their heads at them with annoyed looks.
"The idea is to not draw any unwanted attention!" Abruzzi hissed in a whisper.
"My bad," C-note replied with an embarrassed grin.
"And as for your little remark, though I'm not sure if I should, I'm going to take that as a compliment." Abruzzi said with a half smile before continuing what he was saying, "Now, I think if we have to, we can easily disarm Cassie, but Mr. Cocky," he said, nodding his head at the man who had taken Lincoln's side against Paul. "I'm unsure as to that one. Some people are hard to read…"
"Well, we can sure as hell try. 'Cause I ain't going down like T-bag. That shit just ain't happening." C-note whispered vehemently, and then asked, "What about Fish, and Lincoln?"
"I think, when the time comes, Lincoln will catch on easily to what's happening. As a matter of fact, I think he's already considering doing something like it himself. As for Michael, well, we'll just have to see…" Abruzzi answered slowly.
"We ain't leaving Michael," Sucre stated firmly. "Even if things didn't go as he planned, he still got us out of that shit-hole, so he's not being left behind. Not a chance."
After turning his head slightly to look at him, Abruzzi replied to his comment.
"I was not implying that we would. I meant that if we play the waiting game too long, that young Michael won't be an issue, because he'll be dead," he stated grimly.
"Oh, then I guess we just gonna have to speed it up then." Sucre said.
"We will wait just a little longer to see if Mr. Pope actually does care for his family before we do anything that might turn out disastrous, shall we?" Abruzzi suggested.
"Okay, but we ain't waiting too much longer, right?" C-note asked, casting a meaningful glance in Michael and Lincoln's direction.
"No, so just be prepared to act," Abruzzi answered.
"If there's one thing prison life taught me, it's always be prepared to act. So that won't be a problem," C-note said replied nonchalantly. They all went silent as they waited anxiously to see how it would play out.
The cell phone rang a few minutes later, and everyone in the room let out a collective sigh of relief as Carl Ray answered it, but to their dismay, he decided to walk outside and conduct his call in private, leaving them waiting once again.
"How you holding up?" Lincoln asked his brother, whose head lay resting on his shoulder.
"M'okay." Michael replied through chattering teeth, "Just really c-cold."
Lincoln looked closely at Michael, who was sweating profusely, and wondered how he could possibly be cold, when he could feel the heat radiating from him.
Lincoln picked up the shirt he was using and wiped Michael's face off again. He noticed his breathing had become raspier and labored than before. He was still fighting, but it had become obvious that if something didn't happen in their favor soon, he was gonna lose the battle.
Feeling tears prick at his eyes as he looked at his brother, Lincoln told himself not to get discouraged. He heard Michael mumble something else.
"What?" he asked him gently, leaning in closer.
"Thirsty." Michael repeated in barely a whisper.
Lincoln sat up and after thinking for a moment, decided that this might be an opportunity to drive a wedge between the captors, and help make Michael more comfortable at the same time.
"Hey!" he said loudly to no one in particular, just hoping to get some response from somebody.
Luckily, the first to reply was Mr. Congeniality himself.
"What the hell do you want?" Paul asked rudely.
"Think I could get some water for my brother?" Lincoln asked with an exaggerated smile.
Paul snorted in disgust before replying, "What do you think this is? The damn Hilton? You're hostages remember? You're lucky we even let you sit with him."
"He's sweating all the water out of his body." Pope's son chimed in from where he sat with his daughter and mother. "If he's not already, he'll get dehydrated if he doesn't get any fluids in him."
"So what?" Paul responded with a shrug. "That's really not my problem."
"You are such an asshole." Kim said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"What did you say, little girl?" he asked, walking menacingly towards her.
"What are you deaf? She said you're an asshole, though I'd have to go with something a little stronger myself. Maybe more like pussy or prick. Those seem more fitting to me." Lincoln said, nodding slightly.
"You wanna hole in you to match your precious little brother there, smartass? So you can die together?" Paul asked through clenched teeth as he turned his attention to Lincoln.
Lincoln started to stand up, his fists clenched, with barely controlled anger on his face.
"Yeah, that's right, big guy. Get on up and give me a reason," Paul said menacingly, raising his gun to point it at Lincoln.
Michael seemed to come out of a daze as he realized what was about to happen, and grabbed Lincoln's arm before he could stand up.
"No! D-don't," He said, looking at Lincoln with pleading eyes. "Please s-stop."
Lincoln looked at him and said, "Just be quiet, Michael, let me handle this prick."
"Stay where you are, Lincoln," Abruzzi said in a calm voice. "You will not do your brother any good if you're dead."
Unnoticed by the other people in the room, the man who had taken his part earlier, had went into the kitchen, and had now returned with a glass of water, which he walked over and gave to Michael.
"What the hell, Greg?" Paul asked angrily. "I said no."
"What harm is there in giving the man some water, Paul? Are you really so heartless? He's suffering enough as it is, and they don't even have anything to do with this!" Greg replied defiantly, turning angry eyes on Paul, who it seemed, backed down some against the bigger man.
"You're really starting to piss me off, Greg." Paul stated angrily.
"So what?" the other man replied, mocking Paul's own words from earlier, as he stood up from where he'd been kneeling in front of Michael and Lincoln.
"Thank you," Lincoln said.
"Don't mention it." Greg replied and walked back to where he'd been standing.
After he had walked back, everyone turned expectantly to Carl Ray, who had returned to the house finally.
"Well, good news, Pope family, the old man is coming through for you. He's gonna arrange to have my boy and my money brought to me, so true to my word yo'll be free to go." he said with a grin.
"What about them?" Mrs. Pope asked, referring to Lincoln and the others.
"Well, he's not exactly concerned with their well being, now is he? After all, they did escape from his prison." he replied.
"You mean, they're gonna take them back?" Kim asked.
"Oh no, nothing like that," Carl replied lightly.
"Well, that's good," Kim said, with a sigh of relief, which quickly turned to a gasp when Carl said his next words.
"Good old Papa Pope said to kill them," he added nonchalantly.
Across from where they were sitting, Abruzzi turned to the two men sitting near him, after making eye contact with Lincoln, and said, "Boys, remember what we were talking about earlier? I suggest you be prepared to act on it very soon."
T.B.C.
Hope you like this chapter! Another will follow soon. R&R. Thanks to all my reviewers thus far and to my beta!