The Other Brothers - Chapter 4

Chapter 4a

Tommy – Something Fishy

The water seemed to be everywhere.  It was up my nose, dripping from my hair, in my eyes.  I felt like I was made of lead.  Maybe I was swimming, I didn’t know.  I smelled fish.  I could move a little, but mostly I just felt dead, and confused.  Another splash hit my face, I jumped this time.  I fell off a chair onto the ground.  I spluttered out some of the water from my nose and mouth.  They were laughing.  I remembered what had been happening.  I rolled onto my back and opened my eyes.  It was bright, but the Frenchmen showed up as dark blurs in my vision.  I sat up and blinked in the light.  They were handing me a phone.  I grabbed it and said, “Hello?”

Mom’s voice came over the phone, “Dicky?” she said.

“No, I’m Tommy.”

“Oh sorry, Tommy, are you guys all right?”

“Um, actually, I’m not sure.”

She started crying hysterically.  “Oh, my babies!” she sobbed.

“Is Dad there?” I asked, but then a Frenchman snatched the phone.  He waved his hand and I was dragged away as he started to shout demands to Mom.

“You’re a jerk, Frenchman!”  I yelled back at him.

It looked like we were in some kind of warehouse.  We had come out of a more officey area and were headed to the storage side.  There was intensely awful dead fish smell everywhere.  There were huge metal doors all lined against a wall, and there was a man in smudgy overalls sitting in front of one of them.  He stood up as we approached and opened the door for us.  The Frenchmen tossed me into the dark room.  It became even darker when they closed the door.  I worked on getting the tape off my wrists and ankles while my eyes adjusted to the darkness.  I felt scared and alone.  I started looking for a way to escape.  Eventually I noticed a lump a few feet from me.  I nudged it with my feet.

“Is that you Dicky?” I asked.

He moaned and asked, “Where are we?”  It was Dicky for sure.

“In some kind of storage room, I think.”

“Ugh! The smell is revolting!”

“Agreed.  Next thing you know it will overthrow the government.”

Dicky groaned and sat up.  I had my feet free by then, but I was having trouble with my wrists.  It would be easier…

“Dicky, are your wrists taped together?”

“Yeah.”

“Here, let me get that off for you.”

“I can do it, Tommy.”

“It would be easier for both of us if I undid yours and you undid mine.”

We argued back and forth; Dicky can be very stubborn.  I finally just grabbed him and started ripping the duct tape.  He then carefully peeled mine away.

“We should find a way out of this room,” I said as he was peeling.

“What’s the point?  There are probably lots of guards.  Where would we go?”

“I’ve got to try to get out, otherwise I’ll go insane.”

“We don’t even know if we’re still in the U.S..  While you were out they took us on a plane.  We could be anywhere in the North American continent.”

“like Canada or Mexico?”

“Yes, but not overseas.  Their plane was too small for a long trip.”

“Or we could be in Kansas, not far from the local police station.  Come on, Dicky.  I’m going to try, whether you help me or not.”

Dicky sighed and then looked around.  I didn’t see any way out except through the front door, but then Dicky said, “Do you think you could reach that air vent on the ceiling?”

 Chapter 4b

Dicky – Not in Kansas

Tommy wobbled underneath me as I sat on his shoulders.  “Could you please hold still?” I snapped.

“Give me a break!  I’m doing the best I can under these circumstances!” he replied.

I felt along the edge of the vent, trying to wedge my finger in between the vent and the ceiling.  I got one finger into the crack, then a few more.  The vent bent and then popped.  “I got it!” I exclaimed.  I pried it loose and dropped it.

“Hey,” Tommy wobbled underneath me again, “Watch where you’re throwing that stuff!”

I ignored him and put my arms up into the vent hole, “let go of my feet.”

Tommy put my feet on his shoulders, and then let go.  I pondered which direction I should go, right or left.  I felt a slight breeze from the right, so I pulled myself up into the right-hand side of the shaft.  I crawled a few feet, and then dropped onto my stomach to rest my arms.  A couple seconds later, I heard Tommy jump up to pull himself into the shaft and crawl up behind me.  “Keep moving, Dick,” he whispered, “It won’t be long before they come to check on us.”

I sighed and kept crawling through the shaft.  Every move we made created a sound that echoed back and forth through the duct work.  I came to another vent, and started crawling across it.  Suddenly I plunged down through the opening.  My fingers caught the edge.  I dangled as the metal cut into my fingers.  I looked up at Tommy, afraid to look down.

“Let go,” Tommy said.

“How far is it?” I asked, fearing the worst.

“Only twenty feet or so,” he replied.

I let out a squeal and tried to scramble up.

“I was kidding!  Calm down!” he exclaimed.  He squirmed around and got his feet out.  He sat on the edge of the hole and put his feet next to my hands.  “Grab my ankles,” he ordered.  I released one hand and firmly grasped his left ankle.  Then I grabbed the other one.

“Good, now hang on.”  He slowly lowered his feet, until he was sitting on the edge of the shaft with me dangling perpendicular to the ceiling.  “You can let go, Dicky,” he said.

“How far is it?”

“Four inches”

I looked down and dropped the rest of the way, only a little more than four inches, and then Tommy jumped down, too.

We were in a small access hall with a door at one end.  The sign above the door read, “Sortie.”

“The sign’s in French,” I said.  “We must be in Quebec.”

“Well, I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore, To-to.”  Tommy stepped forward and opened the door; a cold, wet wind blew in.  We went outside.  There was a big truck parked next to the door.  On the other side was a stack of boxes and ropes.  Tommy peeked around the boxes while I snuck around the truck.  The side of the truck sported a dead cartoon fish, and the words “Viande de Qualité, Soc.  Conditionnement du Poisson.”  I went up to the driver’s door and looked through the windows.  There was a small parking lot, an empty street, and a couple men in fish-packing uniform standing by the warehouse door smoking.  We wouldn’t be able to get away in that direction.

I got down off the step to go see what Tommy was doing, but the inscription on the door caught my eye.  It said, “Viande de Qualité, Soc.  Conditionnement du Poisson Entrepôt. Paris, France.”  I almost panicked, but then a ‘poof’ noise followed shortly by a ‘clank’ right behind me interrupted my realization that I was over 4,000 miles further away from home than I had thought I was.

Tommy grabbed the back of my shirt and pushed me past the pile of boxes.  “Run, Dicky,” he yelled.  “They’ve seen us!”  I looked to the left and saw a dozen men coming out of the warehouse, all with guns.

“Poof, poof, poof.”  The guns all started firing.  They had silencers, but the bullets seemed to scream as they whizzed by me.

“Run faster!” Tommy shouted.  “Head for the river!”

I turned toward the right and ran toward the water, zig-zagging between crates and boxes.  I was running faster than I had ever run before, Tommy wasn’t passing me.  I heard him behind me calling out, “Run! Faster!”

A man jumped out in front of me and fired, but I ducked, lost my balance and rolled around a pile of something under a tarpaulin.  I picked myself up and continued to run.

I ran so quickly that Tommy’s voice sounded far away, “Run, idiot!  Go!  Run!”

I dived into the water and glided a few yards to a flat barge.  I climbed up the side and splatted onto the deck.  I breathed heavily and laughed a breathless laugh.  I was safe.  We had done it.  Wait.  I held my breath.  I didn’t hear Tommy breathing.  I sat up and looked around.  He wasn’t there.  I stood up and looked back at the warehouse.  He was lying on the pavement about five feet from the edge of the dock.  The bad guys were gathering around him.

“Tommy!” I called out.  He looked at me and gave me a “Shut up” look.  I ducked down for a moment to avoid being seen by a bad guy who thought he had heard me.  I stood back up to see what the bad guys would do.  Then I saw… I started to get lightheaded… blood; … my knees wobbled… Tommy’s blood… I passed out.

Go on to Chapter 5!