Gerald looked at me with fire in his eyes. “Kill me… you will go to hell if you do. You know and I know you can’t kill me, there’s nobody else who can do what I can do for you. What do you have to say about that, you piece of shit?”
“Well Gerald, to be honest I am more than a little hurt; I am a little sad, but I am also a little impressed because apparently you are one ballsy dude, Mr. President.” I clapped my hands and even put a little bounce in my step. “So I can’t kill you, ok, I’ll give you that, but what indication did you get that everyone else is safe in your family, starting with your lovely wife?” I looked at Regina sitting there sobbing uncontrollably, she was only five feet away from her children. I pulled my 9mm from the small of my back and screwed the silencer onto the tip of the barrel waiting, till I heard the click.
I got back in Gerald’s face, “So Gerald, how are we thinking things will go now?”
“You wouldn’t.”
I turned around quickly, pointing the gun from four feet away and aimed it a few inches from her head. I fired off three shots. The silencer muffled the noise, and the smoke floated through the air. The bullets buried themselves into the elegant wood to the left and right of her, splinters landed in hair, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. I looked at him. “Next one is going into her fucking brain Gerald.”
He shook his head no, and he closed his eyes taking long deep breaths. “Do you know what will happen if I do this, I mean really do you know what can happen to me?” I slapped him across the face hard until he opened his eyes.
I looked back at him in shock. “I am holding a gun, I just shot at your wife, I am going to suffocate you, and cut your damn hands off, and I’m holding your children hostage. At what point tonight did you get the idea that I give a damn about your career Gerald?”
I showed him some duct tape. “What are you going to do with that?”
“Take a guess dip-shit… now take a big deep breath Gerald, it might be your last.” I pulled the tape and put it over his ear first, and then slid the second piece back over the mouth hole I’d cut.
He sat there for ten seconds before he started bucking. Once you know the horror of suffocation you will generally suffocate even faster. The anticipation, and knowing what is happening, causes the person to begin gasping for air that doesn’t come. I think the fact he knew I was prepared to kill him was what clinched it. I waved goodbye and started to walk up stairs. He started stamping his feet and rocking his chair as hard as he could. I walked back to him, sat down next to him, and watched his eyes. I could read the words from his eyes as if he was the next great American author. Tears and snot flowed freely from his and his wife’s eyes and noses; they were a sight, and I thought of a few witty comments but figured playing the tough guy might be the better call here. “Something you would like to discuss, Mr. President?”
He immediately began screaming something very loudly. I started rolling up his pressed and starched sleeve which was damp with perspiration and laid my knife next to his wrist, looking at my watch. I waited a thirty count, then forty-five, and then a minute. I removed his watch and just stared at him, watching his eyes start to roll into the back of his head. The wife was screaming to take it off, that it had been too long. I cut the zip tie with the fish hook part of my blade and ripped it off of his sweat-covered head.
He screamed, “I’ll do it, I’ll do anything, just don’t put the bag back on.”
I grabbed a handful of his sweaty hair and yanked his head back; I put my knife in as far as I could against his Adam’s apple. “If you do anything, and I mean anything stupid until this process is completed, you and everyone you have ever known are fucking dead, do you understand? All of this will become a happily ever after story. I’ll put the bag back on, tie it shut and walk away, never to come back.”
Gerald was breathing heavily; his overweight mid-section was peeking out of his gaped-open shirt. “What… what do you want me to do, I mean until the bank officially opens?”
“Why don’t you get some rest Gerald, you aren’t looking so good. I will get you bright and early, let’s say 8:00. You had a dental appointment today and that’s why you’re running late.”
“What about my family? What are you going to do with them all day? People might worry.”
“People don’t really worry till you’re missing for an entire day, but here is the deal. You do what I want, and at the end of the day, you can come home and cut your family free and hug and kiss them and apologize to your wife.”
“But what if something goes wrong.”
“Well if any problems come up I’ll come back here after I stick my gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. I’ll leave you on your bathroom floor where you “did the deed” with a letter taped to your shirt explaining why you embezzled money from your bank, cheated on your wife, killed your entire family, and explaining why you wanted to take your own life.” “You wouldn’t do that!”
“Right Gerald, and what part of our lovely evening together gave you the first clue towards that conclusion? Besides it wouldn’t be me doing it, it’d be you.”
Without another word, I walked over to Regina and placed a strip of tape over her mouth, checked her wrists, and went to Gerald. “Sweet dreams, see you soon.” I placed a piece over his mouth and walked up the stairs. I could feel the sweat running down my stomach. The misery of doing this to innocent people was too much to handle. In war having to do this is a part of the job; these were everyday Americans.
I opened the heavy oak door to the basement, walked through it, and slammed it shut. I leaned back, almost falling against it, and slid down to my ass and laid my head in my arms, shaking my head. This was getting out of control. I wasn’t a monster, but I wasn’t going to lose another member of my family. I let myself lose it for a few minutes … then pushed myself up, thinking of what my Sniper instructor might say if he saw me sitting here crying.