Page 40 of Breaking Bedrock

Scott grabbed William by the hair and sucker-punched him. “You mean like that?” He laughed, releasing William’s hair, watching his head fall and hang.

He sat down between William and Addison on the love seat and placed his arms around their shoulders. She moved away as much as she could before Scott hugged her back in. “This is going to be so great. We’re all going to become so fond of one another. Sure, some of you are going to have to die, but the more you’re willing to cooperate, the fewer of you that will be.” He paused and turned towards Addison. “So . . . tell me where those beautiful children of yours are.”

What kind of a person would just leave her children and grandchildren in the hands of crazy man, Penny wondered. Scared out of her mind and out of breath, she forced herself forward, stumbling in the dark. She’d run out the back door so fast that she hadn’t even stopped to grab her coat. Unfortunately for her, that’s also where her cell phone was, in her jacket pocket. It was damp and frigid out, and Penny could barely see in front of her as she continued to put one foot in front of the other. Once she’d gotten as far away from the house as she could, she perched down beside a bush several hundred yards from the house and tried to catch her breath. Shivering, she rubbed her hands together and then breathed into them, trying to warm herself. Realizing that she needed to figure something out quickly, she weighed her options. Penny gathered that she either needed to try and get to the road in order to try and flag someone down or find a way to get to the nearest neighbor in order to call for help. Or she could go back to the house, which she really wanted to do. She really did, but at the same time, she was well

aware that her family was trapped there and that she was their only ticket out. Panting, Penny sank all the way down to the damp ground and considered what it was she should do. Most of the homes in the area were summer homes, and their occupants weren’t usually around much this time of year, so she’d likely have to break into one of them in order to call for help. But the chances of someone being out on the old farm-to-market road this time of night were probably even slimmer. When Penny began shivering harder, she decided it was time to move. First, she’d head towards the gate and see what happened to the security guys Addison had mentioned and then figure out which way to turn once she got there.

The drive up to the main house was long, nearly a half a mile, and although Penny couldn’t see much, she tried to follow the length of the road while staying far enough off the path that she wouldn’t be seen. Every step of the way was a struggle. One minute she willed herself to keep going, and the next she played mind tricks to keep herself from turning and going back. Everyone she loved in this world was back there in that house. Everyone she had worked so hard to protect was now in danger. All she’d ever wanted was to keep her family from the unnecessary evils in life. Yet, look where it had gotten her this time.

Scott couldn’t believe his luck when he stumbled upon that shiny car on the side of the road. Back in the day, the pre-William Hartman days, he had been quite the car collector, so of course he would have noticed that kind of car anywhere. Upon further inspection, he’d noticed not only William but also Addison sitting inside. All of a sudden, it was clear that this was a sign from the angels; they’d placed them there on that road for him to see. What were the odds of that happening?

He’d worked so hard to evade the men who’d been camped out down the street. Of course, he had to wait until the dead of night and then hightail it out the back door. He’d had to scale three fences and haul butt to the rental car place and then wait six hours for them to open. But he’d done it. Everything had gone according to plan until now. He had no idea that he could possibly get them so effortlessly, that the angels would hand deliver his targets to him. Scott passed them up then turned around, headed back in the opposite direction, and parked the far enough down the road so that he was out of sight. From there, he traveled on foot along the edge of the woods, just far enough back off the road so as not to be seen. As he sat and watched the two of them there in the car, he considered how he might get close enough to throw off the two members of Hartman’s security detail. He just had to move fast enough to get to them before they took off.

As he watched the two of them together, he finally understood just why he had to carry out his plan. Sure, to the casual observer he hated William Hartman for taking his business, but to someone who paid closer attention, well, that kind of person could see that his hatred ran deeper than that. When that bastard Hartman stole his business, that wasn’t all he’d taken. He’d taken everything: his livelihood, his family, and his home. He could’ve replaced the business, he could’ve built another one, and, hell, he could have even built another house. But what most people didn’t understand was that the son of a bitch had stripped him of every last shred of respect in his family’s eyes when he’d taken his ability to make a living. Scott Hammons was a pillar of success before all of this happened. He’d worked so hard to build the life he was able to give his family. His children went to private schools, while his wife went to the country club. They went on exotic vacations, while he stayed behind to tend to the business. Sure he missed out on a lot, but everything he did and all of the hours he put in were for them. It had always been for them. When the business started going downhill, as the profits decreased slowly, the amount of alcohol he consumed steadily increased. They said he burned too many bridges when he was drinking. They said he had a problem, and before long, he found himself voted out of his own company. HIS OWN COMPANY! The company he’d spent years of his life building. And they’d ruined it. They had fucking ruined it—his life’s work. They staged an intervention and sent him off to rehab, even talked his family into being a part of it; otherwise, he never would have gone. Everything really was for them. But he did agree? He did! And what did it cost him? EVERYTHING! They said he was incapable of making sound decisions because he was a drunk, and then they stole his company right out from under him.

As the money dried up, his wife left and his children stopped calling. But why wouldn’t they? He hadn’t really known them. He didn’t even know his own wife anymore. He’d spent most of his life working, working for them. But his children, now grown, no longer needed him, especially now that the money was gone. He’d missed everything. Everything that was and wasn’t important, he’d missed it all. AND FOR WHAT? For a man like William Hartman to come in and take what little he had left? Now, seeing the way he and his little whore looked at each other made him ill. He wanted his wife to look at him like that again. Yeah, he might have worked a lot, but he had always, always been faithful, not like these two pathetic excuses for human beings. He would do anything just to have his woman look at him like that again. He longed to be respected in the public eye the way he had been once. Now, he was nothing more than a joke. A FUCKING JOKE.

If William fucking Hartman hadn’t come into buy up the last of what he had, and in such a public manner—practically proving that his wife was right, that he was a failure—then he would’ve still had a chance. He was so close to making it right when that asshole ripped everything right out from under him. Now it was time for him to understand what it was like to have everything he loved taken away. Now he would know what it felt like to be powerless as he watched it happen.

Scott sat for nearly an hour until he finally saw movement. A member of Hartman’s security, one Scott recognized well, went to the driver’s side and, after having a brief conversation for a few minutes, led Addison back to the SUV, and the two of them took off. The remaining bodyguard got into the car with William. They sat, seemingly discussing something for a moment until William exited the car. The huge bodyguard trailed not far behind but stopped at the top of the ditch as Hartman made his way down towards him. He stayed back and watched for a minute, not believing his luck. This was his chance. He heard the angels speak, and he knew exactly what it was he had to do. He reached for his gun and took that fucker by surprise, mid-piss. He forced Hartman on his knees and pressed the Taser to his neck, zapping him as the bodyguard closed in. Both Scott and the bodyguard had their guns drawn. They stood there for a second in an apparent standoff until the bodyguard slowly started moving in. Once the prick got close enough, Scott took him out with a clear shot to the chest. When the asshole only stumbled, Scott fired another shot, this time aiming for his head. Bingo.

Once he cleared the body further into the ditch, stopping a few times to wait for passersby, he shot the sedative into William’s arm just to make sure he wouldn’t be doing very much moving. Once Hartman was taken care of, he then continued dragging the heavy, dead son of a bitch until he’d made it just far enough into the woods not to be visible. He then pulled the car down a little closer and wrestled to get Hartman’s limp body into the trunk, which by the way should be noted was no easy task. And yet, it was only the beginning.

Seventeen

William came to at the sound of Addison’s voice. He wasn’t sure if it was the beatings, the Taser, or the drugs, but he couldn’t keep himself from going in and out.

“Leave my children out of this, Scott. You want to kill me. Fine. Let’s go. Let’s get this over with. That’s what you’re here for, isn’t it? So tell me, then, what are you waiting for?”

“Ha. Ha. Ha. You think I’m going to make all of this easy for you? The way this bastard made things easy for me? The way YOU made things easy? There’s not a chance in hell. Now I think you’d better figure out where that hubby of yours ran off to with those children of yours, because I’m guessing as soon as he hears I’m about to kill his papa he’ll happily crawl out from that little hiding spot they’re in. Oh what fun we’re going to have!”

“Fuck you. If you want to kill someone, kill me. What in the hell is wrong with you, anyway? What’s your intention here? I mean why stall? You know what I think? I think you’re a coward. You like to mind fuck people, but we both know you’re all talk, don’t we? You’re nothing more than a dried up ol’ has-been.”

William struggled to remain present, to stop Addison from antagonizing a mad man. He would kill her. He would! William knew what she was doing. She was trying to protect him. She was trying to save her family and, most importantly, her children by sacrificing herself. Goddamn him for putting them in the position in the first place. This was his mess to fix, and that’s exactly what he had to do, he told himself, as he started going under again, until the sound of the slap jolted him back into his present reality. William snapped to, rose to his feet, and lunged at Hartman only to meet the steel toe of his boot headfirst. The next thing he recalled was being hoisted up and thrown back against something hard and then dragged down a flight of stairs. He remembered hearing Addison’s pleas, her begging, screaming for him to wake up. But he just couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t will himself back to her. And he knew it was probably going to cost him both their lives.

Patrick woke the boys and hurried them to the game room through the patio doors and out onto the deck. They tiptoed down the stairs and across the lawn. He tried his best to keep them quiet, taking turns carrying each of the twins, as he pleaded with them to stop whining about the fact that the ground was hurting their bare feet. He led them to the detached garage and into the Jeep, which he planned to push out in order to remain undetected long enough to try and get far enough out of any kind of firing range before starting it up. In the meantime, he had huddled the boys into the back of the Jeep. He knew he needed to go back and help Addison and his parents, but he couldn’t force himself to leave his children. He decided that if he couldn’t get out that he would just have to ram the gate. The Jeep could handle it. He would go for help and hopefully, finally, be able to dial out on his cell phone. He ordered the boys to stay as flat as they could as he put the keys in the ignition and raised the garage door manually as slowly and quietly as he could possibly manage. Changing his mind at the last minute, Patrick decided pushing it out wasn’t going to cut it. It was too risky and not quick enough. He’d just have to take his chances, he thought as he revved the engine and pushed gas pedal full throttle.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Clearly, Scott told himself, he hadn’t thought this through very well, and the a

ngels were angry with him. The voices in his head were growing louder, and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do to shut them up. They had to shut up; he couldn’t think straight with them shouting and scrambling his thoughts this way. He knew the only way to silence them was to give them what they wanted. And he knew that in order to please them it was going to mean that everyone had to die even the children, which was a pity, but what could he do?

The old man was handcuffed and tied to the pillar in the living room. And damn it if he didn’t keep complaining of chest pains. But Scott was too brilliant a man to fall for that. Based on the annoyance factor alone, it was clear that the old man would be the first to die. He’d shoot him first, and then he’d kill the whore. Lastly he’d finish off Hartman, who by the look of things was already halfway there. Then he’d set the house on the fire, destroying any evidence of him being there at all. If they did suspect him, now that the bitch had gotten away, well, they’d just think he burned in the fire with the rest of them. Plus, Penny probably wouldn’t make it through the night in that type of weather anyhow. He needed to go to the garage and collect the gasoline he’d need to do the job, but first he needed a drink. He poured himself a scotch, kicked it back, and then poured another. He’d just lifted the bottle to pour another when he heard the roar of the engine outside. Motherfucker! Dropping the bottle, he bolted towards the front door and peeked outside only to see a Jeep speeding away. This wasn’t happening. It was the voices. Scott ran full force in the direction of the Jeep and drew his gun, firing off a few rounds, aiming for the tires. He emptied his chamber but mostly missed as the Jeep swerved back and forth, in an attempt to try and evade his shots. He watched as the taillights faded in the distance. God damn it! That was it. He had to finish this thing now. The clock was running, and it was time he got on with it.

Addison huddled next to William in the wine cellar. She watched his breathing and counted the way she had when the boys had been tiny babies and she’d checked nearly every few minutes to make sure they were still breathing. Gently nudging him with her foot, Addie willed him to wake up. She figured she only had a few minutes at best to make this work. Hammons had slapped her around quite a bit and terrorized them for what felt like hours, but so far she seemed to be okay. God, she hoped Patrick had made it out with the boys. She begged to whatever God that would listen that if he’d just get them out alive then he could take her. That’s all she wanted. Please God. Addie prayed over and over to herself. Just get them out. They had to get out.

“William!” she whispered. “William!”

Finally, he barely lifted one of his eyelids. He moaned.

“William. We’re going to die here if you don’t help me. I need you to wake up. God! Please wake up.”

He opened one eye and then the other.

“William? Can you hear me?”

Wincing, he raised his eyebrows ever so slightly.

“William! I have the gun. I’m going to back up to your hands as best I can, and you have to reach into my pants and pull it out, okay? And then I want you to hand it to me.”

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