Chapter 8 - The Bait is Set
The massive, abandoned lumber yard was pitch black and completely, terrifyingly silent when our car finally arrived.
Rusting, ancient machinery cast long, menacing shadows across the expansive gravel parking lot.
My sister parked the heavy sedan near the front entrance and intentionally left the bright headlights shining directly into the darkness.
I strictly told both of my daughters to lock the heavy doors and hide completely beneath the back seats no matter what happened outside.
My sister and I stepped bravely out into the freezing night air, our nervous breath forming thick white clouds in the cold.
A pair of blindingly bright truck high-beams clicked on from the far side of the yard, temporarily blinding us both.
My husband's lifted, heavy-duty truck rolled forward very slowly, coming to a halt exactly twenty feet away from where we stood.
He stepped confidently out of the driver's side door, aggressively holding a heavy metal pipe wrench in his right hand.
My mother-in-law stepped slowly out of the passenger side, grinning like the devil himself at the sight of our surrender.
They violently pulled my sister's husband from the backseat, forcefully kicking him to his knees on the sharp gravel.
"Toss the damn phone over here right now, and we can all go home," my husband lied smoothly, his eyes darting around the yard.
I reached slowly into my coat pocket and held up the cracked digital device for both of them to clearly see.
"Let Tom go first, and I will slide it across the dirt," I demanded, standing my ground despite my shaking knees.
My husband laughed loudly, a cruel, echoing sound that bounced eerily off the empty, corrugated metal warehouses.
"You really still think you are in a position to negotiate with me," he sneered aggressively, raising the heavy iron wrench above his head.
He took a menacing step toward Tom, preparing to strike the innocent man just to prove a sadistic point.
Before he could even swing the weapon, a fast convoy of three dark vans violently smashed through the chained rear gate of the lumber yard.
The dangerous loan sharks had arrived exactly as I promised they would over the phone.
They poured rapidly out of the vehicles holding heavy weapons, immediately surrounding my husband's truck from all sides.
My husband dropped the heavy wrench into the dirt, his arrogant face draining of all color as the mob boss approached him.
"Your wife called and kindly informed us you were trying to skip town without paying your massive debt," the boss growled dangerously.
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My husband immediately raised his hands, desperately trying to talk his way out of the deadly trap he was caught in.
But just as the mob boss reached out to grab him, the deafening wail of police sirens suddenly filled the freezing night air.
