The Chase by Amber Riel (story reading txt) 📖

here not long before you two did,” Annie replied.  “Sam and I have been having girl talk.”

          “Ah girl talk….” Louis raised his left eyebrow as he looked at me.  “Were you talking about me?” he asked as his eyes met mine.

          I smiled as I bit my bottom lip.

          “Like I said we were having girl talk,” Annie interrupted.

          “They were talking about us,” Ron threw in.  “That’s one thing about women…. You leave them alone in the room together, you can bet that they’ll be talking about us men…. Knowing Annie, after what you two told us last night, she’s going to get her information from Sam about you…. Everything.”

          Louis kind of tilted his head as he looked at Ron with an odd smile on his face then turned his attention toward me again.  “And what were you saying about me?”

          “Nothing,” I replied, innocently.

          “Uh-huh…. I’ll get it out of you.”  He kissed my cheek briefly then turned his attention toward the others.

          Knock, knock, knock.

          “That’s most likely George,” Louis said as he looked out toward the opening which led to the hall.  “It’s important.”

          Ron nodded and left the room quickly.

          Lainie stood by herself as she watched her father walk away then turned toward us.  She looked like a lost and confused puppy as her eyes moved away from each other, questionably.

          “Here, Lainie, come with me and I’ll get you some breakfast,” Annie said as she stood up and had Lainie follow her out of the room.

          “Come on, Sam, we need to go over the pictures to see if we recognize the bikers,” Louis told me as he stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me up to my feet.

 

          Ron stood at the front door, half way on the porch and half way inside of the house, holding the screen door open.  George and Eric had been standing on the porch when Louis and I walked into the hallway and made our way over to the front door.  Ron moved out of the way from us as we wandered onto the porch.  I noticed that George was holding a thick black photo album in his right hand which sat next to his waist.

          “Glad to see that you made it,” George told us with a smile.

          “Hey, Louis, and Sam,” Eric replied with a grin.

          “Hey,” Louis replied.  “George, the pictures?” his expression had remained serious as he spoke.

          “Of course, of course,” George replied as he held up the photo album.  “I have them right here.”

          Eric shook his head as he kind of laughed.  “Of course, has to jump to business like always huh, Louis?”

          “Well, the sooner we catch the other three guys the faster we can go back to having normal lives,” Louis answered.

          Ron nodded.

 

          We sat at the kitchen table which was kind of wide and rectangular fit about six people to it.  The top of the table was a brown wooden color which grew darker along the four long legs.  I sat on the left side of the table with Louis while Eric and George sat across from us and Ron sat on the left end of the table.  George had the photo album lying out on the table facing Louis and I.  I flipped through the pages as the men talked.  I skimmed the faces of the men but none of them had been recognizable to me.  The faces of the criminals weren’t even close to the two bikers from the dinner.  I finished skimming one page and was about to flip it.

          “Wait,” Louis said as he grabbed my hand to stop me from turning the page.  “Those two,” he said as he pointed to two of the faces in two different pictures.

          I was confused.  How did he notice them when I simply missed the resemblance?  As I looked at the two pictures Louis had pointed at I recognized the evil looking nasty scar on the one biker but both of the men had seem a few years younger in the picture which must have meant that they had a record that was a few years old.  The age must have been the reason for me missing them.  “That’s them,” I agreed.

          George leaned over and watched as Louis placed two fingers to where they were pointing at each of the men.  “Ah the Baker boys…. Well men…. They’re brothers and they have a nasty record for crimes ranging from murder to bank robbery…. To arson…. I could go down the list but that would take a while.”

          Louis made a face which told everyone in the room that he was thinking.  He was in deep thought as if he were working on a puzzle.  “Arson?”

          George nodded.

          “Sounds like we have two suspects for the fire at the mansion and the death of Kathleen,” he replied.  “One of them was there when the mansion caught on fire.... When we get them into custody we’ll have to question them…. Both of them about the break in and the fire….”

          “But there’s no telling if either of them will crack,” Eric replied.

          “True…. We’ll just have to do everything possible till one of them break…. Maybe they could tell us who the third guy is,” George agreed.

          “You don’t know?” Louis asked.

          “Not yet,” George replied.  “The cab driver told us about the other three but for some reason would only give out two of the description.”

          “We need to find out who the last guy is then.”

          Ron shook his head.  “Why would anyone want to do this?”

          Eric looked at Ron sighed.  “Don’t know, man.”

          Riiing…. Riiing…. Riiing.  George pulled out his small black flip phone and placed it to his ear.  “Hello….?  What is it, Rebecca?”  He paused for a moment.  “Okay.  We’ll be right there,” he replied and without any questions he hung up the phone.  “The Baker Boys just decided to crash at a small store and highjack a car…. This is our chance.”

          Louis nodded as he stood up with George and Eric.  “Sam, I want you to stay here with Ron and Annie.”

          “No,” I replied jumping out of my chair.  “I want to go with you.”

          Louis rolled his eyes.  “It’s going to be dangerous….”

          “Dangerous?  It’s okay for you to put yourself in danger but I can’t?”

          “I want you to stay here where it’s safe….”

          “I want to go….”

          “Believe me…. You only think that…. You are not going and that’s final.”

          I felt steam burst through my ears as I watched Louis leave the room with Eric and George.

          “Don’t worry about Louis,” Ron replied.  “He’ll be fine.”

          I almost didn’t hear his words.  I felt like a princess who had to stay trapped while her prince worked his way to save her after fighting off the monsters.  I didn’t want to be a princess.  I didn’t want to feel objectified because I was a woman.  I wanted to know what was going on.  It was the only chance I had.

 

          I ran out to the car before Louis had a chance to get in and I ran up to him.  Tears filled my eyes.  “Please let me go with you,” I told him.  “I won’t do anything that could get me into any trouble…. I want to see this for myself…. Please.”

          Louis sighed as he rolled his eyes.  “Fine,” he replied, “but stay in the car at all times and keep the doors locked…. Especially if I’m not around…. Got it?”

          I nodded and hurried into the car.

 

          Louis followed George into the opening of some woods which sat next to a gas station which was filled with cop cars.  The police had the placed blocked and I guess George had to explain to them what was we were doing because one of the cops had seen us and walked over to his car.  Once they had finished the conversation, the cop stepped away from George’s car and motioned for Louis to continue down the road.

          “What was that about?” I asked as I looked back at the cop as Louis drove past him.

          “Making sure we’re not locals trying to take this path for any reason,” Louis answered as he kept his eyes on the road.

          We watched as George had pulled off to the side and climbed out of the car.  Eric had stepped out as well and walked over to our car.  George tapped on the window and Louis rolled down his window as well as mine.

“What’s going on?”

“The car the two high jacked was shot in two tires by a few cops…. The car should be around here somewhere and they should be running on foot by now.”

Louis nodded.  He looked at me as he unbuckled.  “Remember, stay in the car at all times and lock the doors…. Keep the windows rolled up and don’t let anyone inside unless you know them…. Stay down,” I felt like a child as he spoke.  He placed both of his hands on my cheeks and I placed both of my hands over his.  I felt tears fill my eyes as I locked them with his.  He leaned his face in toward me and we shared another kiss.

“Please be careful,” I whispered as he pulled away from me.

“I will…. Don’t worry about me,” he said as he rolled the two side windows up and locked the doors for me.  “I’ll be back.”  He closed the door and I watched as he joined George and Eric worked his way over to them.

          The three of them walked into the woods and vanished.

          I slid down in the chair as fear filled my body.  I unbuckled myself and climbed into the backseat and lay down.  I stared at the grey carpet looking ceiling of the car.  Lord, please keep him safe…. Please keep me safe…. I’m so worried about Louis.  Tears began crawling down my cheeks as I closed my eyes in fear, worrying about the one man I didn’t want to lose.

 

          Bang.  I sat up in the seat so quickly.  The sound was loud but far away.  I didn’t know what it was but I figured it was gun shot.  Louis and the other two weren’t back and my fear became stronger as I thought of the possibility that one of them might have been a victim.  Bang.  Bang.  “Oh my gosh,” I whispered as I moved my head around, wildly.  I was trying to figure out where the shot had come from.  I worked my way over the door which was closest to the car door and unlocked it.  I climbed out and closed the door as quickly as possible.  I ran for my life, trying to search for the man who I was falling in love with.  “LOUIS!  LOUIS!” I called as the fear grew stronger.  “LOUIS!  LOUIS!”  Tears had begun crawling out of my eyes and down my cheeks.  “LOUIS!  LOUIS!”  I tripped over a tree branch which had looped out of the ground.  I tried to push myself up when I noticed a couple of black boots standing in front of me.

          “Well, hello again, sweetheart,” the man’s voice spoke as I looked up at the biker with the nasty evil scar and crook smile on his face.  “Looks like your boyfriend wasn’t too smart leaving you alone in the woods now was he?” he kind of laughed as he pulled me up to his feet and pulled out a small black gun and held it up to my face.  “Don’t say a word and you’re safe…. You do then I’ll kill you right now, sweetheart.”

          My mouth trembled as I stared at the gun and the tears kept falling out of my eyes.

          “Come with me, sweetheart.”  The man grabbed my arm and