Page 51 of Resurrect Me

“I told them what happened, Tacy. That they’re mother had a little fall and she’s in the hospital but she’s going to be okay.”

Silence. Then a man’s voice in the background. But it doesn’t sound like my mother’s boyfriend. It’s a younger man’s voice. Maybe middle-aged.

“Who’s there? That doesn’t sound like your boyfriend, Mom. Are you at home?”

There’s a shuffling sound and a clacking on the floor, like mom dropped the phone. She lifts it and says, “I’m sorry, what Honey?”

“I asked who’s there with you and the kids.”

“Oh, just the pool guy,” she says and laughs nervously.

“Okay…well, can I talk to Cammy?”

Another drop of the phone, the man’s voice thunders, and mom returns to the phone. “I need you to do something for me, Tace.”

“What’s going on, Mom? Is everything okay? Who’s there?”

“I need you to stop all of this nonsense with the…. research you’re doing.”

“What? What are you talking about, Mom? Who’s with you?”

“Give me the phone, Judith,” the man says. “Mrs. Rountree?”

“Who the fuck is this?” I’m seething. But I must control my breath, because every time I breathe too heavily pain shoots through my chest like a lightning bolt. “Leave my mother alone.”

“I represent Mr. Harvey. I am a friend of his. And I’m also a friend of your mother’s. A close, intimate friend. So close, in fact, that I have access to her house. And… to your children.”

“You leave my family alone you mother fucker. I will kill you,” I growl. “I will fucking…”

“You aren’t in control here, Mrs. Rountree. I am. So, you will listen to what I have to say. Or I’ll pay your family another visit. But it won’t be a quiet one.”

“Fine…what do you want?”

“I want to know where you’re keeping Declan Harvey. And…he better be alive.”

I swallow the saliva pooling in my mouth. “He’s alive as far as I know.”

A nurse rushes by the door, and I freeze. I hope she’s not coming in. She doesn’t. I return to my phone conversation with the anonymous psycho. “But I have no problem giving the order to off the corrupt asshole.”

There’s a clicking on the phone and the man answers, “no, you won’t. You’ll return him to us. Tonight. At dock five-A, midnight.”

“Obviously I can’t return him to you. I’m in the god damn hospital…because of him.”

He chuckles. “I know that you’re a part of the rebellion. And I know that you know the men who are holding Declan hostage. So, make your fucking calls and set up the rendezvous. In addition, my people require that you end your research, and you reveal the identity of the masked man to us.”

I ball my fists and seriously consider punching the side rails on the bed. “I’ll set it up. But I can’t give you the masked man’s identity. I don’t know who he is.”

“No weapons. No cameras. Send two men only. Mr. Harvey must be unharmed.”

I laugh boisterously. My hands are shaking, and my palms are sweaty. “You think he’ll be returned completely unharmed? That’s a fucking joke. The mother fucker broke into my house and beat the shit out of a woman. The men who are holding him don’t take kindly to women beaters. He’s alive. And he’ll be returned tonight. But the slimeball will have injuries, Sir. That’s not my fucking problem.”

A certified nurse assistant walks in dragging a vital sign machine behind him, catches my conversation, and immediately turns back around and out the door.

“Midnight. Dock five-A. You know my stipulations.”

I hang up on him. And the room starts spinning. I have to close my eyes to stop myself from vomiting. There’s a man in my mother’s house…between the same walls as my children. A manwho could hurt them. Take them away for good. I pick the phone back up and go to dial a number. But realize…I don’t know Aris’s number. And I don’t have my fucking cell phone.

“Arghhh!” I scream and throw the white plastic phone across the room. It hits the corner of the sink and breaks into a hundred pieces. “Fuck!” I have to get out of here. I have to talk to Aris. Our kids’ lives are in danger. My mother’s life is in danger.

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