The Leader of the Pack

In the darkness, twin beams of light illuminated the road as the car sped down the highway. Inside the Lexus, the silence was deafening and fear almost tangible.

The car left the road and bumped along the grassy shoulder then made a sharp left to stop out of sight from other passing motorists. Lights from the car that followed, reflected for a brief moment on two heads in the back seat, then everything was dark again. The two cars stopped in the darkness. The driver of the second car approached and opened the rear car door.

“Move over kid.” His gun pointed at Tyler’s head. The young man slid to the center of the car seat, next to his sister.

“Let’s get it done.” Johnny tapped the driver on the shoulder.

Jade wrapped her arms around her body to keep warm. Her brother sat stiffly, the gun still pointed in his side. The driver slowly maneuvered the car away from the highway, swerving now and then. She winced as the shrubs scraped the sides and cringed as rocks struck the bottom.

"Take it easy Frank, we don't want to leave any evidence."

"I'm goin' as careful as I can, you didn't exactly pick a well-marked path ya know." Frank growled.

Jade slipped her hand over Tyler’s leg and squeezed. He didn’t look at her or move; she pulled her hand back and tucked her good hand around her wounded arm. Directly in front of Jade her father rested his head against the back of the seat. She wanted so much to reach out and touch him. This whole thing had been her fault. Tears welled in her eyes and overflowed following the path of their dried predecessors.

In the reflection of the dashboard lights, Jade saw her father's head fall to the side. She knew the large bloody mass on the side of his head was making a mess on his new shirt.

Why had she thought Johnny was cool? Why had she defied her dad when he told her not to see him and that he was trouble? Johnny was once a reporter when her father was Governor. Jesse warned her about Johnny's hatred of him. Now her whole family was in danger and she couldn’t do a thing about it. She shivered, cold to the core.

Tyler adjusted his body for comfort. He had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Her dad received a note for a meeting about important information regarding his new show; Conspiracy Theory. He had come home much earlier than she expected and caught her with her bags packed. They had a big fight yelling and screaming at each other when the doorbell rang

"Go to your room young woman, we'll discuss this later. I'm expecting someone." He opened the door but it wasn’t who he was expecting, it was Johnny and Frank. Guns pulled as soon as they were in the house.

Jesse Ventura wasn’t a man easily intimidated. As a professional wrestler and Navy Seal, he wasn’t going down without defending himself and his family. He started towards the two men.

"Don’t try anything foolish.” Frank turned his gun to Jade and shot her in the arm. Screaming Johnny’s name she fell to the polished floor of the entryway.

“Shut up slut!” Johnny didn’t give her another look. “The bitch said you keep money here. Where is it?”

Jesse looked at his daughter with disappointment. “Yeah I got some. You came at the wrong time. I took a bundle out to pay my ex and some bills.”

“Don’t play with me man. Let’s go and get it. She said it was in a safe.” He didn’t come close to Jesse, but kept the gun trained on the big man's chest. With his free hand he grabbed Jade and hauled her to her feet. “Move it.”

Jade stumbled and cried, holding her wounded arm.

In the den, Jesse opened a small safe in the wall. He pulled out a couple of bundles of bills and held them out to Johnny.

“Put them on the desk. All of them.”

“That’s all that’s there. Like I said, you came too late.” Jesse moved a step away from the desk.

Johnny stepped forward and picked up the three bundles and fanned the edges. He nodded to Frank.

“Time for fun is over. Let’s go.” He waved the gun at Jesse and Jade to move.

“You got your money leave us alone.” Jesse started to move toward Johnny, but the man put the gun barrel under Jade’s jaw.

“No, you're going with us. We don’t need any witnesses. Where’s the garage?” Johnny jerked Jade and she pointed down the hall. “Start walking Daddy,” he sneered.

They were passing the front entry when the door opened and Tyler stepped in. “Hey, Dad I thought we were going to-“ Frank came from behind and pressed his gun into Tyler’s back. "Get up there with your Dad." Tyler looked at the two men recognizing them as Jade’s friends.

“Now look what you have done.” He spit out in disgust looking at Jade.

Jade was in pain, not just her arm that was throbbing, but for all that was going on.

Frank found the keys in the black sedan Jesse liked to drive on occasion. Johnny motioned for Jesse to get in the car on the passenger side. When Jesse sat down the butt of Johnny’s gun slammed into the side of his head and he slumped over. The two men pushed him upright in the passenger seat and buckled him in. While Frank zip tied his hands, Jade tried to escape out of the open garage door. She screamed for help to anyone what would hear. There was no one. Their house sat back from the road and was surrounded by trees and fences. Jesse liked his privacy. Johnny tackled Jade causing her to fall on her injured arm. The pain was so sharp her vision blurred and she almost passed out. She felt herself jerked up and on her feet.

“Stand up!” Johnny yelled at her over and over until she could get her feet steady. Her shirt sleeve now soaked in blood and she cradled her arm as Johnny jerked her back to the garage.



The car jerked to a stop and Johnny got out. "Stay there!" he ordered.

Frank bent over in the driver’s seat. Jade hoped he was going to help her father. He straightened a little and slapped her father’s cheek

“Don’t be trying anything now.” he laughed, “Oh yeah, you can’t cuz you are dead.”

Johnny turned to look at Jade, “You shudda kept your pretty mouth shut. So long now.” He did something under the steering wheel. Jade heard the engine get louder. Frantically she tried to unlock the door but to no avail. Johnny push the front door lock down, leaned in shoved the shifter into gear and slamed the door as it shot passed him. Tyler tried to jump into the front seat but the car hit a rock and threw him back. He was half way over the seat again when Jade screamed; the car shot over the edge airborne for almost a minute then plunged into the cold Mississippi River.