Nothing Ordinary by M J Marlow (best ereader for academics txt) 📕

stared at the phone and checked the Caller ID. He frowned as it read Anonymous and showed no number. His father met his worried look with an angry frown. Annie was alive; they had that assurance at least. But how long that continued was unknown. “Whatever they want, Dad,” James said to his father. “I’ll beggar myself if I have to in order to get her back.” “It’s obvious now that Thomas McManus has been dead for five years,” Owens frowned. He looked up the stairs. “His mother couldn’t be in two places at the same time, could she?” 35 Annie got up and her body protested as she did. She went into the bathroom and took a shower, feeling around for the shampoo and bar of soap. When she was done, she felt better. She put her clothes back on and walked out to hear the door opening. The woman was back. “You will join us for breakfast, girl,” she said as she clamped her hand on Annie’s arm. She guided her slowly out of the room and helped her to a chair. “There’s a bowl of oatmeal with fresh strawberries cut into it and cream directly in front of you. The spoon is to the right of that. A glass of milk is to the left and up towards the center of the table. There is toast and fresh grape preserves waiting when you finish the oatmeal.” Annie nodded and found the spoon. She found the bowl and spent the next ten minutes eating the oatmeal. It was filling and the strawberries and cream made it palatable. She could hear someone spreading something on toast and then a plate being set in front of her. She felt the slice of toast there and ate it without comment. Once the milk was finished, someone pulled her to her feet and put her back in the room. “Would you like some music, Annie?” Jared’s voice sounded in her ear. Annie nodded. “Classical, country?” “I like everything but heavy metal and rap,” Annie told him. “My parents raised me to appreciate all kinds of music, but most of the modern stuff is just noise and anger.” She bit her lip to keep from crying and then she decided to let them go. She sobbed as he turned on the radio. The music was big band. “Mutter! Vater!” she cried as the man left her alone. “Warum Sie mich lassen mussten? Ich benötige Sie!” Jared closed the door and frowned. She spoke German like a native. Who was this girl? He felt the beginnings of a headache and stopped thinking about her. He always got headaches when he thought about things he shouldn’t. Ma said he had a very active conscience. Willy said he had gotten the conscience his twin brother, Jed, should have; but only when Ma couldn’t hear them because Ma didn’t let anyone talk badly about her favorite son. He moved outside to go to the back field. He had tilled it yesterday and it needed to have the seed sown today. He walked around the house and saw the shutters up on the room the girl was in. Well, she was blind; she didn’t need light in there like a sighted person would. He could hear the music as he went by and no crying. She must have fallen asleep. Poor kid, he thought to himself as he went to the field. Blind and far from home; she must be terrified. He wondered if she was from Germany. Again his head throbbed and he had an image of a man standing over him with a gun and his face. Jed? Somehow it didn’t seem right to think of himself as a twin. He didn’t have a twin. But the truth slipped from his head as he tried to grasp it and the lies settled back on his consciousness, keeping him prisoner. She watched him go and frowned. Having the girl here was disturbing the man. She couldn’t afford for him to remember who he really was because then he would know how he had come to be here and who had made that happen. She had gotten used to having him around. He was a better son than hers had ever been. His parents had raised him quite well and she had been reaping the benefits. The farm had never been better managed. “Girl,” she said as she unlocked the door and saw Annie curled up on the bed. She stopped and took in the sight of an obviously unhappy child who had cried herself to sleep. She left the room and locked the door. Now was not the time to chide her for what she probably couldn’t control. She heard a phone ring and smiled as she went into the den. “You got our demands?” She heard James’ affirmative. “Very good. You know where to deliver the ransom then. Details on where to go for your pretty wife will be waiting for you.” She made her voice go hard and cold. “No FBI, no cops, or she is gone. Do you understand?” She nodded. “Good.” She hung up the phone and went back to the room. She shook the girl’s shoulder and saw the fear in her eyes as they opened. She didn’t look relieved when the woman spoke to her. “I talked to your husband, Annie,” the woman told her and saw the joy in the girl’s eyes. “He is going to bring the money so we can go now.” She moved aside so Annie could get off the bed and smiled at her eagerness as they went out to the car. “I need you to get in the trunk, Annie, and stay very, very quiet.” “No,” Annie shook her head. “Then you don’t want to go home?” the woman asked her bluntly. “Of course I do,” Annie protested. “But…” “It’s just until we get to the meeting place, Annie,” the woman assured her. “It’s a nice big trunk. A little thing like you should be quite comfortable inside.” Annie didn’t look at all reassured, but she nodded. “Let me get the drops for your eyes and we’ll leave.” She turned to open the trunk and Willy was there. “Willy? What’s wrong?” “I can’t let you take her, Ma,” Willy said as he raised the gun. “I want her.” “Willy,” his mother protested as she stepped in front of Annie protectively. “You can’t keep this one. We agreed she was going back to her people.” “We didn’t agree, Ma,” Willy shook his head. “You said how it was going to be and expected Jared and I to go along with you like always.” He raised the gun as she stepped towards him. “I’m not going along this time. I want the girl so she stays here.” He nodded towards the house. “Put her back in the room.” The woman had to do what she was told. Annie cried out in anger as she heard the door being locked. She had been so close. She put her ear to the door and heard Willy telling his mother that they would go get the money as she had planned. But when Owens went to get his wife at the secondary location, she would not be there. “Willy,” the woman protested as her son moved her towards the door, “you can’t do this to that poor child! Hasn’t your brother done enough damage?” “But she’ll be bringing a child into the house, Ma,” Willy said as he made her open the door. “You’ve always said you wanted grandbabies.” Annie couldn’t hear them once they were outside. She went to the door and it was not locked. She waited until she heard the car move away from the house and then she opened the door. She moved out slowly into the kitchen and her hand hit a solid surface covered in cloth. “Ma forgot to lock the door,” Jared said as he turned her around. “Willy is taking your mother to the place where the money is supposed to be placed,” Annie told him. “He told her he’s keeping me, Jared.” “But that’s not the plan,” Jared frowned. “Why would he do something like that?” “I don’t know, Jared,” Annie nodded. “I need to go to my family,” she begged him as her hand touched his arm. “Please help me.” Jared looked down into her eyes and knew he could not refuse her. He got the keys to Willy’s pickup truck and they hurried away. He knew where she was supposed to be left for her husband, so they would go there. The eagerness on her face as they drove away from the farm made him confident he was making the right choice. 36 James entered the hotel room as he had been instructed to and found the envelope as the kidnappers had said he would. He put the overnight bag with the ransom money on the bed, picked up the envelope, left the key on the desk, and went back to his car. He drove down the street two blocks and did not see the car watching him as he opened the envelope. The address was in another town fifteen miles west of the present location. “He’s got it,” Willy nodded as he started the car. “By the time he realizes he’s been duped, we will be long gone!” “I don’t like this, Willy,” his mother said stiffly. “Not one bit. You’ve never been disobedient before…” “I figure it’s past time,” Willy broke in firmly. “You always gave Jed everything he wanted, Ma, and he turned into a monster. Why, the one time I ask for something, do you fight me?” He saw her frown. “Annie will make you a fine daughter, Ma. And she already has a grandchild growing inside of her. You don’t want to lose him or her because you feel sorry for her, do you?” “I guess not,” the woman sighed. It would be nice to have another woman around the place. “All right, Willy. Let’s get the money and then we’ll call Parson Anderson and arrange for a wedding.” They pulled up in front of the hotel room and got out of the car. They did not see the FBI agents stationed around the building. Mother and son entered the room and found the money. They walked out and were face to face with armed men. “You’ll never find her,” Willy laughed as they cuffed him and his mother. “She’ll starve to death before you ever find her.” James stopped at a coffee shop and picked up the McManus couple. He didn’t know why he had agreed to allow them to come. Something just seemed right about the decision. They drove to the secondary location and watched as a truck pulled up to the room he’d been given. Maggie gasped as she saw the man get out and walk around to the passenger side. “Oh my God, Thomas!” she sobbed. “That’s our boy!” “Something’s wrong with Annie,” James frowned as he watched the man hold his arm out to Annie and she took it as if she needed his support. He waited until they were in the room and then he pulled in next to them. He knocked on the door and the man came to answer. James ignored him and walked past him to see Annie sitting in a chair. “Annie!” he sighed as she threw herself into his arms with a cry of joy. “Oh Annie!” Thomas smiled and turned to leave. He froze as he saw the couple standing in front of him. Images flooded into his mind and the pain exploded behind his eyeballs. He fell to his knees, his hands to his head, screaming as the pain intensified. “Jared?” Annie cried as she heard his cries. “What’s happening?” “Not Jared,” the man shook his head as image after image was unlocked for him at the sight of his parents.