Part 6
The officer looked at Ronin. "I'm sorry. I have to take you in. You don't seem
to have any injuries. But we will have the doctor look you over."
Ronin reached out and grabbed him. "Didn't you hear me? I said, they took my
dad."
"I heard you, son. But you broke the law. You were driving way beyond the speed
limit and shots were fired."
"But I had to. They took my father."
"Look, I'm sorry. My hands are tied. You can make a call at the station. "
Ronin was stung as the policeman placed him in the back of his patrol car. He
looked out to the road where the men in their car had disappeared with his
father. A single tear escaped and ran down to his chin.
The officer turned and looked at Ronin. He felt sorry for the young man whose
looks were strangely familiar to him, but he had to do his duty." Son, can you
describe the car?"
Ronin quickly gave the officer a description of the car and the officer called
it in."That's the best I can do for now, son."
"Thanks."
"It will be okay."
Yeah, sure. But by then, my dad may be dead."
"I doubt that, son."
Why? What makes you an expert?"
"Son, I was in the army most of my life before I became a cop, and I know for a
fact if they wanted to killed your father, he'd be dead already. . ."
Ronin stared at the older man. Although he said nothing, he thought to himself,
this guy doesn't know anything. Soon they arrived at the station and the officer
placed his hand on Ronin's shoulder.
"Son, go over there," he pointed at the phone on the wall, "and make your call."
Ronin nodded and walked over to the phone. As he dialed, the officer walked over
to the sergeant's desk. The sergeant looked at him.
"Hey, Rod, what's up?
"I had to bring him in. He broke the law, Steve."
"Yeah? What did he do?"
"He was speeding and gunshots were fired. Plus he was in an accident. I want a
doctor to check him over. This kind of reminds me of long ago."
"Yeah? Why's that?"
"Never mind. The past is long buried."
"Seems like a nice young man."
"Yeah, he said someone took his dad."
"Yeah, I heard the call. Poor kid."
"Yeah. But he's not really a kid. He reminds me of someone."
Murdock was jerked awake as the car pulled into the drive way…
"Get him into the house and be quick about it," a voice commanded. Murdock was
pulled out of the car and shoved towards the door. His head was spinning and he
felt dizzy. "Hey, stop pushing!" He snapped. His mouth felt like it was full of
cotton, dry and brittle.
"Shut up!" The same voice snapped back. Once inside, he was pushed into a chair
and tied up with his feet and hands behind the chair.
"I hope you're comfortable," one of the men said.
Murdock tried to wiggle loose but the ropes were tightly bound. He also glanced
around to get a good look. He needed to know where he was. The first thing he
noticed was that it was an old building; it might have been a school or even a
church at one time.
"Yeah, you're such a gracious host."
"Listen, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," the man said.Murdock
studied the man. He was at least 6 feet, dark brown hair, and blue eyes. He had
a long scar across his left eye. Murdock figure it must have been an old war
injury. Murdock gave him a cocky grin.
"Now, why tell me that, when I know darn well you want to do it the hard way?
The man bent down into Murdock's face, his breath making Murdock wrinkle his
nose. "Now, you be a good boy and fork over those ownership papers to Mr.
Robbins and maybe we're let you go in one piece."Well, what's your decision
"Okay, I know when I'm beaten. The papers are in my shirt pocket. There's also
something that might help you, at least for a while."
The man smiled and looked back over at the other two men. One was short and
bald. The other tall, like the first man. Both men were holding 38's. One man
was sneering while the other one smirked."I told you he would crack. Go tell Mr.
Robbins I'll have the papers in a few minutes."He reached into Murdock's pocket
and pulled out a small box of what looked like candy. "What the hell is this
,where are the papers?"
"Tic Tac, and like I said, they might - now let me make that clear - might help
you. But with breath like yours, I seriously doubt it. As for the papers I must
have left them in my other pants pocket."
The man turned away, then just as quickly swung around and punched Murdock in
the face. The ex-pilot's head snapped to the side and then he was still. \"Call
me when that moron wakes up. I've got to call Mr. Robbins." The man growled as
he left the room