FanStory.com - The Devil Fights Back

Recap of Chapter 49: Marie heads up the basement stairs, bat in hand, with instructions from a handcuffed Fran to clobber Billy in the living room, get his handcuff key, and unlock her. Amazingly, she succeeds and brings Fran the key and Billy’s gun. The two women then rescue Dana, who was handcuffed in a bedroom. Marie goes into shock and has to lie down, while Fran and Dana secure the passed-out Billy, retrieve their own guns, and head upstairs where Woody is with Johnny.

They burst in on him with guns drawn, and he attempts to use Johnny as a hostage, threatening to break his neck. When Fran points out that it’s over, he drops Johnny and goes for his gun on a dresser but is shot six times by Fran and dies. Marie rushes in and goes for Johnny. He’s been rescued, but will he survive the ordeal?

Chapter 50

Johnny was beginning to turn blue as he could no longer get much breath into his lungs. He was showing acute signs of distress now, and Fran had to act fast. “I’ll be right back. Dana, call 911. 213 Kipp Rd.”

She sped out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door to retrieve the handbag that she’d left outside. She grabbed it, ran back inside, and back up to the bedroom.

Pulling an EpiPen from the bag, she injected it into Johnny’s thigh. Within two minutes, it began to take effect, and Johnny’s breathing became a little less labored.

While the EpiPen solved the acute emergency, his breathing was still ragged and wheezy. Fran located the spacer in Johnny’s diaper bag. It was obvious Woody had only tried using his inhaler and didn’t bother with the spacer. As a result, it hadn’t been very effective in helping Johnny to breathe.

After shaking the inhaler, Fran inserted its mouthpiece into one end of the spacer and applied the mask at the other end to Johnny’s face, then squeezed a puff of albuterol into the spacer. This greatly increased the amount that went into his lungs. In 30 seconds, she squeezed another amount into the spacer.

“How do you know how to do all that, Fran?” asked Marie.

“They train us pretty well there at the FBI. Plus, knowing that Johnny has asthma, I learned how to use the spacer.”

“Well, it’s a good thing because those paramedics are taking forever to get here.”

“Ah, don’t be too hard on ‘em, Marie. I’m sure they’re doing their best. This place is kind of remote. They’ll be here soon.”

By the time they arrived fifteen minutes later, Johnny’s color was much better, and his breathing was far less labored. It was now time to call Brian and Julia. Fran called Brian’s cell phone and put hers on speaker so the others could hear the call.

“Fran,” came his anxious voice. “What’s happening?”

“Put your phone on speaker so Jules can hear this too.”

“Done. Is Johnny okay?”

“He’s fine. We’ve got him now. The kidnappers are not a problem anymore.”

“Oh, thank God!” said Brian, and Fran could hear Julia begin to cry. “They called me a half-hour ago and said if we ever wanted to see Johnny again, I needed to write an email to the FDA, resigning from the phase-2 trials and telling them the side effects of the medicine were too severe to continue with the trials. I was to cc them on it, and when they received their copy, we could come and get Johnny. I was writing the email when you called just now.”

“Just delete it, and don’t communicate with them again. I’ll take it from here. Listen, both of you. We’re going to have to stay at this house for a while. Why don’t you come here to be with him? By the way, Marie is here if you were wondering where she was.”

“Yeah, we figured out she might be. Where exactly are you?”

She gave them the address and also asked them to bring some fresh clothes for Johnny without going into details about it.

Next, she called her boss, Lou D’Onofrio, at the FBI field office and requested that he send a team of investigators. She briefly filled him in on the events of the afternoon, leaving out a few key details, like Dana and Marie’s presence. He was angry that she never called for any backup and chewed her out royally.

He finished his tirade with, “Francine, I don’t know how you do it, but you always seem to come up smelling like roses. You must lead a charmed life. One of these days, you’re not going to be so lucky.”

“You’re right, Lou; I should have called for backup. It’s just that we were so close to the kidnappers, and it would have taken so long for you to send a team out, that I just figured we could handle it ourselves.”

“We? Who’s we?”

“Uh… I’ll discuss that in my report.”

“Oh, Jesus. Am I even going to want to know?”

“Uh… probably not.”

“Well, you’d better include it anyway. What am I going to do with you, Francine?”

“That’ll be totally up to you, Lou, but—”

“You’d better not say, ‘All’s well that ends well.’”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Fran didn’t want further entry by anyone into the crime scene, so she suggested they all wait on the front porch for Brian and Julia. In 15 minutes, they arrived. The paramedics were still there, but following the reunion with his parents, they would be taking Johnny to the hospital for further observation and treatment.

Julia was out of the car in a flash and came running up onto the porch. She picked Johnny up and hugged him tightly, crying and kissing him and saying, “Momma’s here now, Johnny. I love you, my sweet boy.” He snuggled right into her arms.

Brian came up the porch steps and put his arms around both of them. “Hey, buddy, Daddy’s here too. We love you, Johnny.” It was a touching reunion.

It was decided that Brian and Julia would accompany Johnny in the paramedic’s ambulance to the hospital.

An hour later, the FBI team that Lou had sent arrived and interrogated Fran, Marie, and Dana. Each of them gave statements about their part in the events of the afternoon.

Dana drove Brian and Julia’s car back to their house. As Marie and Fran drove there together, Fran said, “Marie, I just can’t get over the courage and sheer guts you showed in doing what you managed to do. As difficult as it was, you absolutely saved the day and helped save Johnny’s life.”

“Thank you, Fran. And thank you for your part in all this too. You were the driving force behind it, and we never would have gotten Johnny back alive without you.”

“Well, you’re welcome.”

“Now,” said Marie, “I’m so exhausted, and my back is killing me, that I think I’m going to have a few drinks and go to bed as soon as we get back.”

“Aren’t you hungry for some dinner? I’m starving.”

“Not really. I just need some booze and bed.”

Brian called Fran and said they’d be at the hospital a while longer, and the rest should fend for themselves for dinner. Marie went to bed as she’d said, and Fran and Dana decided to drive into Cherryville to Bubba’s Barbecue.

When the waitress brought their food, they spent the next few minutes devouring it without talking. When they’d eaten their fill of ribs, hush puppies, baked beans, and coleslaw, Fran said to Dana, “Some day, huh? Bet you never dreamed it would end this way when you joined me for lunch earlier.”

“That’s for damn sure. I had barbecue for lunch, and now I’m having ribs for dinner. I must be a real southerner now.”

Fran cracked up.

Dana added, “This was probably just a routine day for you, though, right?”

“Hardly. I may be an adrenaline junkie, but I’ve had my fill for a while. Now I’ve got a couple days of paperwork to fill out, including explaining how I ended up there with two civilian helpers instead of my regular partner.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Listen, Dana. I don’t think my regular partner could have done anything more than you did today. Both Marie and you were great. I had confidence in you, and it paid off.”

“But I didn’t do a whole lot. I mean, you really did it all. You and Marie. I don’t think you needed me for much of anything.”

“You helped more than you know. If nothing else, you were great moral support, and don’t forget, we wouldn’t have gotten that wiretap on Israel’s phone without the work you did. Without that, we wouldn’t have known where Johnny was. In the end, I think the three of us made a pretty damn good team.”

“What’s going to happen now?”

“We’ve got enough to arrest Israel and Spangler. If you want to, you can come with me when I do it.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”

“You know, I predict this may be the end of Brian’s troubles, at least of the physical kind. This will make national news. I’ll see to it. And once it gets out that now two of the five Big Pharma companies have been engaging in violence against a competitor, and arrests have been made, I don’t think any of the others will try such means again. The devil fought hard against Brian, but we beat him in the end. He may still try some lesser things, but nothing Brian and his legal team won’t be able to handle.”

“I hope you’re right. I guess after we arrest Israel and Spangler, my time here will be over. Gotta tell you, Fran, I’ve had the time of my life doing this. If you ever again need a CI in the Pennsylvania area, you know who to call.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

(The final chapter will be posted on Sunday)