CHAPTER SIX: Wednesday, January 9, 2013, 8:22 a.m.
Reese entered the Retirement Home and glanced toward the Nurse's Station. He saw Connie typing into a computer. He wanted to try to bypass her so he wouldn't have to make conversation again. Taking the opposite hallway and the roundabout way to Ester Duncan's room, Reese finally made it to Room 208. Her door was closed. Again, his training taught him to pause outside of a closed door to listen first. Again, he heard nothing but the television. As he prepared to knock on the door, he saw a shadow coming from down the hallway. Turning slightly, he saw it was Connie.
"It's you again," Connie fervently said.
John forced his broad smile again and turned completely around to face her.
"Yes, it's me again. Just want to say Good Morning to my friend. Is that okay?" he asked.
"Why certainly," Connie answered. Then she added, "Maybe she'll be a little more alert for you this morning."
"I hope so," John said. "I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Okay!" Connie answered. Her plump cheeks reddened as she continued walking down the hallway to another's patient's room.
John dropped his smile. Pausing for a moment, he turned the door handle and inched into Ester Duncan's room. She was still in the same prone position as she had been the previous day. He stood for several moments then let the door close from behind him. He wasn't sure what exactly he had come again for or what he was going to do. He just knew that she had very little time left before meeting her demise, probably at the hands of her own children and nephews.
"Mrs. Duncan," Reese said in a low tone, "It's me again. I'm just checking on you to make sure you're safe." He then inched forward to her bed.
"But who's checking on you?" a Russian accent blurted into John's ear, emerging from its hiding place behind the door.
Reese could feel the Russian's hot breath against his ear. Before he could react, he felt the cool steal of a gun being pushed into the side of his head.
"Damn," he stated under his breath. Then he caught from his peripheral view someone else coming forward from behind the door. It was Mrs. Duncan's daughter. She was holding a syringe in her hand.
"Just who the hell are you?" the daughter hostilely shouted, stressing the word are in her sentence.
"Just someone wanting the recipe for a turkey sandwich no longer on the menu," John sarcastically answered. He abruptly turned around and attempted to hit the Russian and knock the gun out of his hands.
They scuffled for a few minutes, both making whole-fist contact with each other's faces.
"Anton," the daughter yelled, "Don't let him get away!" Then she joined in on the scuffle, and Reese held up his hands to prevent her from continuing to throw at him whatever objects happened to be within her grasp.
He intentionally kept his sight on the syringe, waiting for the opportune moment to grab it away from her.
They continued to scuffle until they heard a voice coming from the door that had apparently just opened. "What's going on in here?" Connie asked.
Anton had been knocked to the floor. John and the daughter stood frozen and silent. "Is everything okay?" Connie asked in a sweet voice, making eye contact with John. "Ms. Duncan, what's going on in here?" she asked again, directing her question to the daughter.
The daughter wasn't sure how to answer.
John saw Anton, from his supine position on the floor, raise his gun toward Connie. "No!" he shouted and jumped forward in an attempt to block her. Within a split second, the bullet pierced his side and flew into Connie's forehead.
She stood for a few moments with a trickle of blood dripping from her forehead, her expression one of horror. She turned her head to look at John, who was himself shocked at the senselessness of her impending death. Then she dropped to her knees and fell forward. She was dead.
Anton jumped to his feet. Simultaneously, the daughter lunged for the dish garden, which she was planning to plunge into Reese's head. Reese kept his eyes on the syringe. He knew the only way to save Ester Duncan would be to get that syringe away from the daughter. John stood still, contemplating their next move and deciding on his own.
The daughter then attempted to throw the dish garden at him, but Reese scuffled forward, thrusting his body into hers. The dish garden fell to the floor as Reese landed on her and they crashed onto the floor. He then grabbed the syringe as it flew from her hands. With clarity of mind, he shoved it into his jacket pocket. In the scurry of activity, the daughter wasn't even aware that she had lost the syringe. Then the Russian grabbed the dish garden that had sprawled onto the floor and banged it over Reese's head. Dirt and plant pieces flew all around Reese's head and the floor.
John then fell limp, partially still on top of the daughter.
"Anton, you son of a bitch! Get him off me! Help me up!" she screamed. She hated the sight of blood, and she was petrified that Reese's blood would run down onto her.
Anton reached down and pulled her to her feet. "Margaret, who is this? What does he want with your mother?" he nervously asked.
"I don't know. He came in for a sandwich yesterday asking about mom," she answered.
"This better not be a double cross," Anton said.
"Don't be insane. This will not interfere with our business! Let's get the hell out of here before someone else comes in," Margaret commanded.
Anton aimed his gun at John's head,
"No! Are you an idiot?" Margaret yelled.
Anton gave her a confused look.
"Besides someone hearing yet another gun blast, we need to find out who this is and what he wants," Margaret said.
Anton grabbed the rotary phone and ripped it from the wall. Taking the cord, he wrapped it around John's neck and yanked at it, cutting off John's air until he coughed and roused. He then used the phone cord to forcibly pull John to his feet. Margaret continued to push the gun into the back of John's head.
As they shoved John into the car, he was determined to inconspicuously hide the syringe inside his boot for safe keeping and his earpiece inside the obscure pocket in his jacket. It was his only connection to Finch and his only hope of getting out of this situation alive. It was also the only way right now that Finch could get the whole story as to why the Duncan children wanted to kill their elderly mother.
Then everything went black for John.
A little later John awoke in the backseat of the car with Margaret pointing the gun's barrel directly at his head. Anton was at the river discarding Connie's body as if she were a bag of garbage. "That was completely unnecessary," Reese stated.
Margaret said nothing. She never took her eyes off John or changed her facial expression.
After Anton was satisfied that Connie's body was fully submerged in the river, he returned to the back seat of the car. He took the gun from Margaret, who started the car and put it in drive. She sped away from the river quickly.
John broke the silence several minutes later asking, "What…did the old lady find out you were using her store to launder money for the Russian mob?"
"Shut him up, Anton!" Margaret yelled.
Anton hit Reese across his eyebrow with his gun. "Shut the hell up!" he yelled.
The pain in his head shot across his face and down into his jaw. "Damn," Reese said. "That's it, isn't it?"
Margaret clenched the steering wheel while Anton looked back and forth between Reese and the back of Margaret's head.
"She just wouldn't die, would she? That's why she screams. She remembers you trying to kill her. You would kill your own mother over some stupid dirty money."
"I said shut him up!" Margaret screamed through clenched teeth.
Anthon pulled at the phone cord until John appeared to lose his breath and pass out. He slumped over to the side of the door, still tethered like a dog on a leash. Blood from his two head wounds continued trickling down his face. His head hurt like hell, but he wanted to be conscious to hear what conversation he might have provoked between Margaret and Anton. So he remained still and silent against the car door.
"If he's cartel, then this isn't good for any of us," Anton finally said.
"It's not necessary to state the obvious," Margaret shot back as she continued driving. "Frank and Jarrod will know what to do. Let's just get him to the deli so we can all figure this out."
"Viktor and Boris aren't going to be very happy about this," Anton stated.
"Listen Anton, we five go back a long ways. There's no need to start distrusting each other right now. We just need to figure out who he's working for and what they want.
"If it is the cartel, then we're all as good as dead," Anton stated.
Margaret knew he was right but didn't want to acknowledge that to him. "Let's just get to the deli and figure this out," she said in softer tones.
"This isn't going to be good," Anton repeated.