Our Boys

Father and Son Pt. 5

"Dad!" the child's voice was low, but Simon heard the excitement as Josh returned to sit beside him.

"Did you find something?" he asked, pushing himself into a sitting position once more. His left knee had swollen and stiffened up in the short time the boy had been searching the basement and Simon bit back a cry of pain as he adjusted his lower body.

"I saw a window, but it's high and I can't reach it..."

"That's okay little man," Simon assured him. "Where is it?"

"Behind those boxes, but it's not very big!" the boy said, his eyes wide in the dim light.

"That's alright, all we need to do is get you..." Before the young man could finish his thoughts, the door to the basement opened and two sets of footsteps could be heard as they descended into the basement. A bright circle of light soon engulfed them and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as Josh moved to protect him.

"Well, how sweet. Are you setting yourself up as Mr. Minter's champion, young Josh?" Marshall laughed as the small child glared up at him, his hands fisted at his side.

"Don't touch 'im!" Josh warned as the second captor moved towards them.

"You know how to stop this Josh," Marshall said, reaching for the boy as Greg grabbed Simon by the arms and pulled him into a standing position.

"You want him upstairs, Liam?" Linden asked.

"Of course, I hate staying longer than a few minutes in this squalor and well, I have plans for Mr. Minter and young Josh here." He pulled the boy away from the man and smiled as he whispered in the child's ear. "Fight me and I'll have Greg break your father's arm right now! Understand?"

"Y...yeah," the boy said and ceased his struggles.

"Now, Mr. Minter, the same goes for you! If you don't come upstairs under your own accord then you leave me no choice but to break this young man's arm or leg or anything else I have in mind. Understood?"

"I'll kill you for this!" Simon vowed as he limped towards the stairs.

"I'm sure you'd like to try," Marshall said, pulling the boy up into the light as Linden shoved his prisoner forward.

...

Frustrated, tired, and half frozen, the two men made their way towards their respective cars and knew their was nothing more to be done until the results of the findings were delivered. The snow had finally stopped and the car was being towed back to the police station so it could be gone over again by a team of experts.

"Mate, I'll see you at the house," Cal said as he climbed in behind the steering wheel.

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as everything's wrapped up here. Tell JJ the police did a good job."

"Course. I'll make sure there's plenty of coffee ready," Cal agreed as he climbed into the car and turned on the heat.

"Sounds good. Be careful mate, the roads are still icy."

"I will, don't stay here too long," the older man warned as he drove away.

Deji stood for several moments, watching as the remaining police officers continued to search the area for evidence. He knew they'd already checked the surroundings several times and understood they were doing this because not only was Simon a fairly well known person who's disappearance would receive public interest, but because there was a child involved as well. Two of the worst case scenarios and they affected everyone involved.

"Sir, why don't you go on up to your brothers house too?" One of the men suggested to him.

"Are you guys done here?"

"Yes, we are. There's nothing more we can do. The snow has already covered any of the tracks that might have been left by an assailant's car. The only footprints are our own and until we get the results back there's not much more we can do."

"Alright, cheers guys, but I think I'll take one more look around."

"You want someone to stay?"

"No. Thanks anyway, I know I'm no investigator, but I just want to take a look on my own," the young man explained and nodded his thanks before moving towards the site where the car had been. The emptiness he felt inside surrounded him as the last of the officers left the scene. His eyes scanned the area, hoping he'd see something that would give him some clue as to where Simon and Josh were.

...

Simon winced as his wrists were released and his right arm dropped uselessly by his side, pain radiating from his elbow to his shoulder. He wanted to strike out at the smug man standing eight feet in front of him, but the blade at his son's throat made him think twice about it.

"Remove your jacket, Mr. Minter!" Marshall ordered, gesturing with his knife towards Josh's throat.

Simon clenched his teeth as he was forced to remove his outer jacket and stood facing the man once more. It wasn't long before he found himself shoved up against a wall with no decoration except a set of cuffs locked around a heavy-duty meat hook.

"Alright, Mr. Minter, if you would be so kind as to attach one cuff to your left wrist we can get on with this session." Marshall watched as several emotions fought for dominance on the handsome features and smiled in spite of the hatred he saw there. "Time's wasting, Mr. Minter."

Simon knew he had no choice as he placed his left hand into the cuff and felt Linden snap it tightly around his wrist. He bit back a cry of pain as his right arm was grabbed and jerked sharply upwards and the second cuff was locked in place. He faced his nemesis, cold hatred building to a burning desire to see this man torn limb from limb.

"Very good," Marshall said releasing the boy and forcing him to sit on a broken chair. "Now, Josh, I'm going to ask you this once more and if I don't get the right answer...well, your father will pay the price! Where is the journal?"

"I...I don't know," Josh stammered and tried to pull away as Greg moved to stand in front of the handcuffed prisoner. He watched, as if in slow motion, as the big man's hand formed a fist and was aimed to strike at his dad.

"No!" he screamed and restarted his efforts to get free as the blow landed to the young man's stomach.

Simon readied himself for the blow he knew was coming, but was still not fully prepared when the huge fist slammed into his gut. The air escaped his lungs in an agonising sound of a great deal of pain. Before he had a chance to regain his awareness, a second fist landed to the right of the first, a third and fourth following in rapid succession until he hung by his arms from the hook and tried to breathe past the pain. He heard Josh cry out again and again and lifted his head until he met the teary hazel orbs.

'Stay strong Josh,' he sent through the strong connection he had with the boy and saw a small nod before his attention was pulled back to the man standing before him. A fist connected with the right side of his face and his head was rocked back and connected solidly with the wall behind him. He saw stars, but continued to hold on to consciousness as again and again Greg's fist slammed into his body. He could hear the other man speaking to Josh, but he did not have the strength to decipher the words. Simon lifted his head once more and felt blood run from several cuts on his face and forehead. He looked towards the boy and tried to feel the connection, but all he felt was the child's agonising fears and he knew this was as hard on the child as it was on him.

'I'm sorry Josh,' he thought as unconsciousness finally claimed a victory and drew him into the waiting darkness.