Please Help!
A mother and son; love and criminals
~~~~~{}~~~~~
Slash and Shooter were partners in crime and had been since they were children. Dedicated career criminals, they were in the bottom five percent of the social demographic. Career would indicate a dedication to craft, and the truth is that neither was dedicated to much of anything. Their primary source of income was the sale of drugs, preferably crack cocaine. Their problem was that they were also active users of the same drug. That being the case they often ran short of funds to buy drugs and turned to other crimes to make up the difference.
Their preferred method of obtaining money was to purse snatch or mug some unsuspecting citizen. If their victim chose to fight back, then Slash wouldn't hesitate to demonstrate how he got his name. Shooter was a bit more careful in demonstrating his name since there was a pronounced noise element to shooting someone. Not getting caught was the only concern the two sociopathic criminals had. They were violent, without remorse, and scum of the lowest order.
It was Saturday night and Slash and Shooter were on the prowl. They desperately needed money to maintain the low lifestyle they were accustomed to. Shooter was the first to see the couple walking down the darkened street. The woman's purse was being carried loosely on her arm and would make easy pickings. The two young men began to follow the couple.
Stacy and Rob Worthington had just left the homeless shelter where Stacy volunteered her time. Rob didn't like his mother working late at the shelter and always made sure that he escorted her to and from there. To be honest, he didn't like her working there at all because he thought it was much too dangerous. Since his father had died in the car crash his mother had dedicated much of her time to the shelter as her way of coping with the loss. Now a year later, Rob had nearly given up on talking her out of doing it.
His mother had worked much later than usual due to the holidays. Many of the streetlights in the area had been shot out by the gang members and the street had sporadic lighting at best. Fortunately, they were only one block over from the warehouse district that was much better lighted, and much better policed.
Unfortunately, Slash and Shooter were going to catch them before they made it to the next block. Were it not for Rob's concern about his mother and his vigilance, there is no telling how the night might have ended.
Rob had just turned his head to scan behind them when he saw someone running up to them with arms outstretched. He reacted without thinking, striking out at the body rapidly approaching his mother. Shooter was completely taken by surprise as his head impacted the side of the brick building. He fell to the sidewalk, blood streaming from his head.
Rob grabbed his confused mother's hand, "Run Mom! Now!" They ran as hard as they could toward the lit streets on the next block.
Behind them, Slash pulled a groggy Shooter to his feet, and they stumbled, then ran, in pursuit. The two criminals were not about to let Rob and Stacy get away. They had reputations to maintain, and they weren't about to let some lame-ass couple make them look bad.
Rob and Stacy rounded the corner running flat out. Rob desperately looked for a police car or any form of help. The streets were deserted, and he was becoming desperate. The warehouses were dark and obviously closed for the night. The parking lots were empty, except for one half a block away. That lot was well lit and had roughly twenty cars parked in it. The cars were near one building and Rob pulled his mother along as they rushed toward that building.
The couple arrived at the door to the building breathless. Rob tried the door, but it was immovable. He pounded on the door four times hard. He paused for a moment to look around and heard the click of a solenoid lock. He quickly pulled the door open and pulled his mother inside. A massive man stood inside smiling at the breathless couple. Rob panted for breath, "Thank god! My mom and I are being chased by muggers.
Stan was the doorman, and he couldn't help but laugh at their antics. Hell, they knew the knock code, so he knew they were supposed to be here. He gave them kudos for their creativity with the whole mom and son thing. He pulled the inner door open and waved them through. He wished he was allowed inside. He would have liked to watch what happened next with them.
An hour later he saw the two muggers lurking around the parking lot and he realized his mistake. By then it was much too late.
~~~~~{}~~~~~
Rob held his mother's hand tightly as they walked down the hallway. Both were very confused by the reaction of the doorman. Why the hell was he laughing? They paused in the hallway to catch their breath and Rob turned to his mother, "Are you OK Mom?"
Her pale face looked up at him, "I'm fine I think."
Suddenly she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him for all she was worth. Rob put his arms around her and held her close, "It's alright Mom. I think we're safe now. Let's go inside and call the police.
