Chapter 15

Again, I don't own any of these characters

Theo turned away from Max as she proceeded to empty the can of bear repellant. Once he heard the can empty, Theo turned to Max and pulled off his sunglasses. "You idiot. You may have just ruined my very expensive pair of sunglasses! They're worth more than your life! Next time you try to mace someone, make sure you actually get it in their eyes..."

Theo made a move towards Max, but Cody moved in front of her too. Cody continued to stare down Theo.

"Give up, Theo. Its already over..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Campus security already has a warrant for your arrest. In fact, their probably searching your place right now..."

Theo smirks. "They can't pin anything on me..."

"Actually, they can. They guy you hired to steal the economics test and break in here to plant it has already sung like a canary..."

Theo paused. "I'll get out of it. Its his word against mine..."

Cody smiled. "Well, his word, his recordings of your conversations, and the paper trail of your payoff..."

Theo glared. "You have no idea just how good my lawyer is..."

"Is that what you threatened Rebecca with?"

Theo grinned. "They can't prove I did anything..."

Cody paused and tried something. "It must have sucked when she turned you down flat, didn't it?"

"No, because I was going to get what I wanted one way or the other..."

Max spoke up. "So, you finally admit it..."

"Of course I do. But there is no way they can prove it."

"Hello! You just admitted it to us..."

Theo grins. "Well, I'll just have to make sure you three don't talk..."

Meanwhile, outside, Captain Morris has arrived outside the apartment. After securing the perimeter, he finds the young man standing outside.

"Are you the one who called?"

"Yes, sir. I saw him march Max inside the apartment..."

Murray nods. "Alright. Hang back and try not to get in the way."

Murray proceeds to run up to Jo and Bill's door and knocks. Jo answers it.

"Murray, so good to see you again. What brings you by today?"

"I'm afraid we have a situation next door. Seems Cody, Bailey and a friend of theirs may be held inside against their will. Do you have a spare key to their place?"

Jo gasps. "Of course..." She quickly runs and grabs the spare key. She gives it to Murray and he motions for two other officers to follow him around back. He tells another officer that on his signal to turn on the sirens to cause a distraction.

Back inside the apartment, Cody is still staring down Theo.

"You might as well give up now. I'm sure the police are on their way..."

Theo smirks. "That's if they know where I am...I plan on being out of here well before then..."

"I don't know about all of that. In case you missed it, there are motion sensor cameras outside. I'm sure they detected you and it was only a matter of minutes before the police are on their way."

"Yeah right!" And is of on cue, the sound of siren can be heard outside.

Theo briefly turns to towards the noise and Cody takes his opportunity. Picking up a coaster off the coffee table, he slings it across the room at Theo. Fortunately, it was a direct hit on Theo's wrist and if by reflex, he dropped the knife. By the time Theo turned, Cody had already leaped over the coffee table and was standing next to him. The next thing Theo saw was Cody kicking the knife under the coffee table toward the girls. Bailey immediately reached down to grab it.

Cody was smiling at Theo. "You want to give up now or do this the hard way?"

Theo finally lost it and charged at Cody. Cody sidestepped him and grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back.

"Want to try that again?"

Theo took his free arm and threw an elbow back towards Cody the connected with his temple, leaving Cody dazed and bleeding. Theo took the opportunity to free his other arm. He turned and grinned at Cody.

"Gladly. Now its time to teach you a lesson!"

"Don't you dare move a muscle!"

Theo turned to see Bailey holding the knife.

Theo smirked. "Like you know what to do with that..."

Bailey stared at him. "You move one more muscle towards Cody, and I'll keep my promise I made you in the 7-11!"

"Like I believe you can do that..."

"Try me!"

Theo begins to move towards Bailey when he feels a weight on his back. Cody has regained his senses and jumped onto Theo's back.

"You go near her and I will kill you!"

Theo is struggling trying to get Cody off of him.

Max takes the opportunity to run to the front door, unlock it and try to get help. Once she steps outside, she is immediately grabbed by a policeman before she can tell them what is going on inside. He takes her off to the side to keep her safe. She keeps trying to talk to them, but they don't listen to her. Frustrated, she looks around to try to find someone who can help when a young man runs up to her.

"Max, are you okay?"

Max stares at the young man. "Yeah...Do I know you?"

He smiles. "I would certainly hope so..."

Realization dawns on Max. "Oh my God! Its you!"

Back inside, Theo is still struggling with Cody on his back. Cody is trying to administer a sleeper hold, but its not working out as well as he had hoped. Theo finally leaned himself over in an attempt to flip Cody over. While they were grappling with each other, Cody yelled for Bailey to get herself to safety as well. With Cody distracted, Theo was able to flip him. It partially worked, but Cody managed to grab some of Theo's hair on his way over. Some hair was ripped out, but enough held that when Cody landed on his back, Theo landed face first on the floor. Both were stunned at first.

Bailey took the moment to close and pocket the knife and run into the bedroom for the baseball bat. She knew Cody had told her to run, but she wasn't going to leave him. She was determined to end this before Cody got hurt. She returned with the bat and stood behind Theo as he and Cody were beginning to get back up.

Cody was panting. "Its over, Theo..."

Theo was panting even harder. "Oh no its not!"

"The police are right outside!"

"They won't do anything when I still have you two in here!"

"Last time I checked, you don't have us!"

Theo reached down to grab a vase off the coffee table. "I guess I'll have to change that, won't I?"

Before he could do anything, Bailey swung the bat at Theo's knee and he went down hard. She threw down the bat and immediately ran over to Cody.

"Cody! Are you alright?"

Cody nodded. "I'll live...Are you okay?"

Bailey nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine..."

"Good...Nice swing by the way."

Bailey just threw her arms around Cody and held on to him tightly. Meanwhile, on the floor, Theo was in agony, but he was also desperate. He pulled himself up and grabbed the bat off the floor to use as a crutch. He balanced himself as best as he could and brought the bat up to his shoulder.

Cody saw this and immediately pulled Bailey behind him so he would take the brunt of any swing Theo could manage to make.

Theo brought the bat back as best as he could but he was having trouble maintaining his balance with his knee destroyed. He was about to swing with all he could when he heard those words.

"POLICE! FREEZE!"

Theo turned to see Captain Morris standing there with his gun drawn aimed at him. At that point, Theo new it was over and turned back towards Cody. However the last thing he saw was Cody's left hand reaching for his shoulder and the index finger of his right hand coming towards his forehead.

To be Continued...