Chapter 37: Explosions
Moonlight shone down into the largest hole Samantha had ever seen. Joseph parked the car beside a rusty metal fence, beneath a sign warning against trespassing. “What are we doing here?” Samantha asked.
“We have to do some shopping,” Joseph said. “We can’t get everything we need from the shopping mall.”
Samantha got out of the car and stood with Joseph by the fence. All she saw was a giant hole in the ground with a few pieces of yellow machinery scattered about. What could they possibly need from this dump? “I don’t know about this,” she said. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Don’t worry. There’s only one security guard. We’ll be in and out long before he wakes up from his nap.”
Samantha thought of Joseph’s father lying in a coma, poor Mrs. Schulman spread out on the floor like a rug, and the two children thrashing around on the brass bed. “You didn’t do anything to him, did you?”
“Not yet,” Joseph said. Samantha shivered at the menace in his voice. By the time they robbed this bank, she imagined a trail of bodies stretching from Seabrooke to
He handed a knapsack to her, in which she found bolt cutters, gloves, and a cutting torch. “What is all this?”
“Tools. They aren’t going to sell us what we need, so we’ll have to take the stuff.” Joseph climbed up the fence and then dropped to the other side. He called for Samantha to toss the knapsack over. She followed him over the fence then, checking with each rung to make sure no police jumped out of the trees to arrest her.
She landed next to Joseph and said, “This place gives me the creeps. Can’t we find what we need somewhere else? Somewhere indoors maybe?”
“Come on, don’t be a baby. Nothing bad is going to happen. There aren’t any monsters out here to get us.”
“I know,” Samantha said without conviction. “It’s so quiet out here. I don’t like it.”
Joseph kissed her on the lips, filling her with new courage. “I thought you were raised out in the woods by wolves,” he said with a smile.
“So maybe I’m homesick,” she said with a matching smile.
“Let’s go.” He slung the knapsack over his shoulder and then turned on a flashlight. She took his hand to follow him through the dark along the edge of the hole. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but she hoped he would find it soon. No matter how she tried to tell herself nothing would happen, she couldn’t shake the feeling someone was about to jump out at them to bust them.
He stopped at a metal shed with a red skull-and-bones sign over the door warning them about explosives inside. “Explosives? Aren’t those dangerous?” she said.
“In the wrong hands, yes. I know what I’m doing.”
“Have you ever used any before?”
“No, but I did some reading on the Internet before we left. It’s not very difficult.” He reached into the knapsack for the bolt cutters. “Do you see any wires? There shouldn’t be an alarm, but you never know.”
She felt around the sides of the shed for any wires, but couldn’t find any. Something small and furry darted over her foot and into the bushes nearby. She stifled a scream with her hand, putting the other on her rapidly beating heart. It’s probably a squirrel, she told herself. Nothing dangerous.
“What’s wrong?” Joseph asked when she returned to the front of the shed. He squeezed her arm hard enough to make her wince. “Did you see anything?”
“No. Just a chipmunk or something.”
“Great. Keep an eye out while I go in to get what we need.” He used the bolt cutters to slice the lock in half and then opened the door. Samantha stood outside as Joseph had requested, every rustling leaf or hooting owl sounding like a siren to her ears.
Someone laid a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, her arms raised to strike, only to find Joseph standing there with a green canister marked with a red skull-and-crossbones like the door. “Careful, baby. You almost blew us up,” he said.
“What is that?”
“Nitro,” he said. “Definitely not a toy.”
“Do you know how dangerous that is?” She didn’t know how she knew, but something told her nitroglycerine was a very volatile chemical. If jostled or shaken enough it could explode, killing whoever was nearby.
“I know. There’s nothing to worry about. We’ll drive slow all the way back to Seabrooke,” he said.
“I don’t want that in the car. You can either take it or you can take me.”
“Baby, don’t act this way. Nothing bad is going to happen. I’ll be really careful with it. I’ve got a safe container for it all made up in the trunk.”
“No. This has gone too far. If anyone finds out, they’ll put us in jail for the rest of our lives!”
“Sam, you’re overreacting. I know you’re scared, but there’s nothing to worry about, really. I’ve taken care of everything. Tomorrow night we’ll use this stuff on the bank vault and we’ll have the money we need. No one is ever going to know. Trust me.” He ran his free hand along her arm. “Please. Don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m not going through with this. If you want to rob this bank so badly, you can do it by yourself,” she said.
“Sam, don’t be this way.” He set the nitroglycerine in the knapsack to take her in both hands. “I love you. I’m doing this so we can be free. So we can be together forever without having to worry about scrounging enough money to pay the bills. I don’t want that kind of life for us.”
“There’s nothing wrong with doing an honest job,” Samantha said. “At least then you don’t end up in jail.”
“An honest job? Like my father, with that shitty old truck of his and that shitty old house where Mom died? I’m never going to end up like him. Never!”
“Fine. Do what you want. I’m leaving.”
Joseph pressed down on her arms until she yelped with pain. “You aren’t going anywhere. You’re going to stay with me. I’m never going to let you go.”
“Stop it! Leave me alone!” She squirmed until she got one arm free, which she used to slap Joseph across the face.
“You bitch!” he shouted. He punched her in the face, sending her tumbling to the ground. He stood over her, the muscles in his neck tensing with rage until she thought his head might explode. “You don’t leave me! You’re mine!”
Samantha lay on the ground, one hand pressed against her left eye and the other raised in supplication. Joseph had hit her. Tears squeezed out of her swollen eye to run down her cheeks. He hurt me. Why?
Joseph knelt down beside her, taking her hand. The muscles in his neck had stopped trembling, his face going back to its usual color. “I’m sorry, Samantha. I shouldn’t have done that. It’s just that I love you so much. I’m doing this for us, don’t you see? So we can be happy.” He kissed her eye. “I’m sorry. I’ll never do that again, I swear.”
She looked into his eyes, which had begun to water. He didn’t mean to, she thought. He loves me. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have made you mad. I know you’re doing your best.”
“That’s my girl. Here, I think I know how to make you feel all better.” He kissed her eye again and then moved his lips down her cheek to her lips. He loves me, she thought again as his hands reached back to undo her bra.
0 comments:
Post a Comment