The Widow

Passion in James County XII

The Widow

By D.C. Roi

Chapter twenty-two

Bruno climbed out of his friend's pickup and almost fell, but he managed to grab hold of the truck and steady himself. "Bring the rest of the beer, will ya, Jimmy?" he told his companion. He grabbed what was left of one twelve-pack and stuck it under his arm. He already had an open beer in his other hand.

Jimmy's response was a loud belch. "Yeah, we can't party without it, can we?" he replied. He swallowed what was left of the beer he'd been drinking and opened another one. He belched again, then he grabbed the second twelve-pack and slid out of his truck.

Gail and Joanne were standing at one of the windows in Fran's house, watching the two men stumble out of the truck and begin staggering toward the house. "Joane, is...is that anyone you know?" Gail asked.

"I've never seen them before," Joanne replied, feeling a bit fearful. "And I'm positive Fran doesn't know them, either. I think I better lock the door." She ran from the room, secured the door, then went back to where Gail waited in the living room. "There," she said. "I'm not sure how those men got by the caretaker, but maybe they'll go away when they find the door locked. Why don't you and I get out of sight? It won't help if they know someone's in here."

"What if they don't go away?" Gail asked, her voice tremulous. "What are we going to do then?"

"We'll call the police," Joanne said. "And hope they get here fast." She was no less scared than her friend, but she didn't feel it would be good to let her fear show. The last thing they needed was to panic.

The cellular phone in Greg's police vehicle rang and he picked it up. He had the phone installed and paid most of the costs himself, although the department did reimburse him for business calls. "Greg Atkinson," he said.

"Greg, this is Toby," the caretaker at the lake said. "I think we may have a problem over here."

"What's up, Toby?" Greg asked.

"Well, the supervisor from the tree service that's been clearing the power lines called me this morning to tell me he'd fired the two guys who were working here," Toby said. "I guess he caught them drinking on the job or something. Anyhow, he said he fired them and to report it if they showed up around his equipment. I guess he was afraid they might try and steal something or bust his stuff up to get even."

"Makes sense," Greg said, "What's happening?"

"Those two guys just drove in," Toby said. "They went right by main lodge and up the road. And from the way they were driving, I'd say they've been drinking. They were weaving all over the place."

"Damn!" Greg said. "Look, Toby, why don't you go up to my place and tell my uncle and Larry what you just told me?" He figured Uncle John would be able to keep an eye on things until he could get there.

"Your uncle and Larry headed out a little while ago. Just before those two guy showed up," Toby said. "I don't know where they were going, but they haven't come back yet."

"Shit!" Greg said. "Look, Toby, I'm headed home, but I'm about ten or fifteen minutes away. I'll get there as soon as I can. I'll see if the State Patrol or Lincoln County Sheriff have any units who can get there sooner. If Uncle John comes back before I get there, let him know what's going on. But don't mess with those guys on your own, Toby. I don't want you getting hurt."

"OK, Greg," Toby said.

Greg started to put down the cellular phone, then he changed his mind and dialed his home number. It rang and rang and then the answering machine picked up. He knew Abby had gone to work, but wondered where Gail was. "I wonder if she and Joanne went over to Fran's house?" he thought. He braked to a stop, dug a notebook out of his pocket, looked up Fran's number, then dialed it.

"Hey, bitch! We know you're in there, you better open this fuckin' door or we're gonna fuckin' break it down!" Bruno yelled, thumping his fist against the door of Fran's cabin.

"Yeah, come on, bitch!" Jimmy added, kicking the door. "Let us in so we can party!"

"My God!" Joanne whispered to Gail. "They're really drunk and they sound ugly! And...and they...they know we...we're in here!"

"Joanne, what are we going to do?" Gail replied, tears of fear running down her cheeks. "My God! If they get in..."

The phone began to ring. Without thinking, Gail, who was closest to it, picked it up. "He...hello?" she stammered.

"Gail?" Greg said. "I wondered where you and Joanne got to. Look..."

"Greg, two men are trying to break in here!" Gail sobbed. "I...I think they want to rape us! They're drunk! They're..."

She was interrupted by a loud crash and the sound of splintering wood. Bruno, tired of waiting, had kicked the door in. "Come on, bitch, we know you're in here," he grumbled, moving into the house. "It's party time."

"Greg, please help us!" Gail sobbed. "Those men, they...they just broke the...the door down!"

"I'll be there as quick as I can!" Greg said. "Hang on while I call for help!" He put down the phone and picked up the radio microphone. "Operations from L-15, emergency traffic," he said.

"Operations, go ahead, L-15," the dispatcher responded.

"We have a break in and possibly an attempted rape in progress," Greg said. He gave the dispatcher the location of the call. "I'm responding Code Three, but I'm a good ten minutes away," he continued. "See if either the State Patrol or Lincoln County have any units closer."

"Copy, L-15," the dispatcher responded. "I'll see what I can do."

Greg put down the radio microphone, flipped the switches which activated his blue lights and siren, and pressed down on the accelerator. At the same time, he picked up the phone. "Gail," he said, "I'm on my way. And there should be other officers coming, too."

"Greg, please hurry! They broke the door down! They're in the house!" Gail cried. She and Joanne had retreated to Fran's bedroom. They could hear the sounds of the men blundering through the house.

"Come on, bitch, where the fuck are you hidin'?" Bruno yelled. "You ain't gonna be able to hide forever!" He walked down a hallway and tried the door. It was locked. He stepped back, then kicked it open.

When he saw Joanne and Gail cowering in the far corner of the bedroom, a feral smile formed on Bruno's face. "There you are, huh, bitch?" he said. "Hey, Jimmy, she's down here, and she's got one of those other bitches with her."

"Greg, please hurry!" Gail whimpered.

"Put the fuckin' phone down, cunt!" Bruno grumbled. "Who the fuck are you callin' anyhow?"

"She's on the phone with the police," Joanne said. "They're on their way. You men better leave before you get in any more trouble than you're already in. You don't want to be here when the police get here."

"Like I fuckin' believe you're on the phone with the cops," Bruno said. "Besides, it don't matter. By the time the fuckin' pigs can get here, me 'n Jimmy will be long gone."

"I'm glad you suggested checking here for the bolts," John told Larry as they climbed back into Larry's car. The younger man had remembered that a little general store located a few miles from the lake stocked quite a few hardware items. They stopped to check and, it turned out, the little store had exactly what John needed in stock.

"Yeah," Larry said. "The next closest place was the hardware store over in Harrisville. We saved ourselves an hour's drive over and back." He started the car and pulled back out on the highway.

"Don't act so fuckin' surprised, bitch," Jimmy said, walking toward Joanne. "It's time you give Bruno and me some'a what you been spreadin' around with that kid and that guy from the fire department."

"I...I don't know what you're talking about," Joanne stammered. She looked around, desperately trying to see if there were some way she and Gail could escape. It didn't look good. They were trapped in the bedroom. The only way out was past the drunken men, who were standing between them and the door, leering at the two frightened women with unabashed lust in their eyes.

"Why...why are you...doing...this?" Gail stammered. She shuddered when Bruno pulled the phone out of the wall. She tried to back farther away from him, but that only put her deeper in the corner.

Jimmy laughed. "Me and Bruno, we've got us a serious fuckin' itch, and you two chicks are gonna scratch it for us...or else," he said. He smiled, showing a mouth that held several rotten teeth. "You bitches got no choice. Only thing you can pick is whether you come across easy, or whether we take what we want."

Joanne was stunned. This was something she'd never in her wildest dreams ever believed would happen to her. Now what? Greg was on his way, but wouldn't be there for a while, and these two drunken thugs could cause both her and Gail a lot of pain before help arrived. They were at the mercy of the two drunken, sadistic men.

"We saw your boyfriends leavin'," Jimmy said, "That's when me and Bruno figgered we'd get us some of that fine ass of yours." He chortled evilly. "Of course, we didn't figger we'd get this one..." He jerked his head in Gail's direction. "...too. I guess you're kind of a bonus, huh, babe?"

"I...I don't know what...what you're talking about," Joanne said. She tried to keep them engaged in conversation. The longer she kept the men talking, the better the chance that Greg would get there in time. "What...what do you...mean about knowing what I...I've been doing?"

Jimmy laughed. "You really think Bruno and me are that stupid? We seen guys comin' and goin' from this place every fuckin' day while we been workin' on the trees. Christ, seems to me, you been fuckin' half the friggin' county. Anyhow, I'm tired of talkin'. Bruno and me, we wanna have us a real ball with both of you stupid cunts."

"Oh, God!" Gail said and began sobbing.

"God ain't gonna help you, bitch!" Bruno growled. "Nobody's gonna help you. You belong to us."

"Operations to L-15," the dispatcher's voice said over the radio in Greg's patrol unit.

"L-15, go ahead, Operations," he replied.

"Lincoln County and the Patrol have units enroute Code Three to back you up," the dispatcher advised, "but their ETA is about the same as yours."

"Damn!" Greg exclaimed. He pressed down harder on the accelerator, which was already flat on the floor. For once, he wished he'd been assigned one of the Camaro pursuit vehicles the department owned instead of his 4 X 4. "Copy, Operations, I'm about five minutes out."

When Larry and John drove toward the main lodge on the access road, they saw the caretaker come running out, waving to them. Larry braked to a stop and rolled down his window.

"What's up, Toby?" he asked.

"Greg wanted me to tell you that the two guys who've been up here clearing the power lines came in drunk today," the caretaker gasped. "Their boss fired them earlier and..."

"How long ago did they come in?" John asked.

"I don't know, maybe ten, fifteen minutes, I guess," Toby said. "I called Greg, and he's on his way, but he won't be here for a while, yet."

"You know where they went?" John inquired.

Toby shook his head. "They drove by here real fast and went on up the road," he said. "The way they were driving, it looked like they were drunk, so Greg told me to stay away from them. He's on his way."

"OK," John said, "Larry and I will check on it. Come on, Larry, let's go take a look and see what those two assholes are up to."

Larry put his car in gear and started up the road. "You don't think they'd bother the girls, do you?" he asked.

"They goddamn well better not!" John said coldly. "If they do...son of a bitch!" he exclaimed when he saw the battered old pickup sitting in front of Fran's house.

"If they did anything to hurt Joanne..." Larry said as he steered his car into Fran's driveway behind the truck. Before the car came to a complete halt, John was out and running toward the house. Larry was only a short distance behind him.

When they reached the house, John saw the shattered door and stopped, signaling Larry to do the same. "We better be careful," he whispered. "We don't know if these assholes are armed or not."

"You want me to go over to Greg's house and get a gun?" Larry whispered.

"Like I said, enough talking, time to party," Bruno said. The look on his face was feral. "I'm gonna do this bitch first, Jimmy, why don't you hang onto that one until I'm done?"

"Yeah, sure, Bruno," Jimmy replied. He grabbed hold of Gail, who continued to sob loudly.

Joanne who was just as frightened as Gail, but was angry, too, stepped back. "You men are being really stupid!" she snapped. "You're going to wind up in prison for this!"

"Who the fuck cares!" Bruno growled. He grabbed Joanne's arm. "Is that any way to talk to the man who's give you all kinds of goodies?"

"All you're going to do is make me puke!" Joanne retorted. "Let go of me and get out of here while you still can!" She tried to pull her arm out of the brute's grasp.

Bruno tried to pull her into his arms, but Joanne managed to get her arm out of his grip and backed away from him.

"Don't do this," she said. "Just go away and let us alone."

"Hey, you're actin' like you got some say in this," Bruno snarled. He was getting pissed. Something snapped inside him. "Look, bitch," his face clouded with anger, he started moving toward Joanne.

Joanne once more tried to get by the man, but he grabbed her in a powerful embrace and tried to kiss her.

"No!" Joanne protested, struggling to get out of the man's grip, turning her face aside so his lips wouldn't contact hers.

Bruno, now out of control, dragged Joanne to the bed and threw her down on it. He laid atop her and began fumbling with the clasp at the waist of her jeans. When he got it open, he thrusting his hand into them.

Joanne was more scared than she had ever been in her life. This cruel, drunken man was going to rape her! She couldn't believe it! Not now, not when her life was looking so bright. "Please!" she groaned as the man tried to work his hand between her tightly clenched legs. "If...if you don't stop, I'll scream!"

"Go ahead!" Bruno growled. "Who the fuck do you think is going to hear you?"

Joanne didn't know what to do. The man was gaining control. His hand was between her thighs now, and she could feel his erection pressing against her legs. She didn't want this to happen, but she was sure she wouldn't be able stop him. And, even worse, Gail would be raped, too, maybe even worse. She couldn't understand why this was happening.

Bruno kept trying to insert his hand between Joanne's legs. The fact that she was writhing and straining under him only served to inflame his passion more. All he knew right then was that he wanted her, and was going to have her!

"Helllppppppp!!!!!" Joanne screamed. "Somebody, anybody, please help meeeeeee!!!!"

Bruno continued his assault on Joanne. "Shut up!" he yelled, back-handing her across the face with his free hand.

Joanne, already shocked that she was about to be raped, was stunned when the man slapped her. She wanted to scream again, but was afraid he'd hit her again, or worse. She didn't know what to do.