Status: Completed on October 4th, 2013

Breaking Their Hold

Chapter Twenty-Four: Trust and Deceit

Schlagger chuckled as he looked at the small tin urn that was sitting in front of him on his wooden desk. Inside of the urn were the ashes of Gianna Baker. The little girl had told him she’d wanted a nap, and he’d given her a very long one indeed. He was hoping that if he showed these ashes to Zachary Baker, he’d be more apt to talk about where Melissa Baker had escaped to, along with her cohorts.

“He’s been sedated and is tied securely into the chair, President,” he heard one of the men he’d asked to grab the rebellious teenager tell him. He nodded and said thank you before standing and grabbing the urn before making his way out of the office and towards the small, cramped room that Zachary Baker was in at the moment.

When he stepped inside, he saw that the teenager was definitely sedated, although appeared to be lucid enough so that he’d be able to speak coherently.

“I have something to show you, Mr. Baker,” Erich said as he sat in a chair in front of the teenager, the urn still in his hands. “Do you know what this is?”

Zack looked up, his eyes widening slightly when he saw the urn, although he said nothing. Schlagger just chuckled and shook his head before opening the urn, emptying it out on the floor before swiping his foot through the dirty ashes.

“This is your little niece,” he told Zachary, next grabbing a water bottle and spilling it onto the ashes so that it formed a muddy-looking substance. Zack’s eyes darkened with anger and he narrowed his eyes as he started jerking against the constraints holding him to the chair.

“You sick son of a bitch!” He growled at Schlagger, trying to attack him before he narrowed his eyes at him. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

“That’s not possible,” Erich spoke before clearing his throat. “You see, I’m the President. If you kill me, you’ll be sentenced to death, Zachary. Hell, just threatening such a thing will likely get you sentenced to death.”

“Then you better fucking hope I die before I get a chance to get loose,” Zack spat, not caring who he was messing with. “She was an innocent child! She did nothing to you!”

“She withheld information,” Shlagger replied, a sadistic smirk on his face. “Just the same as your mother and father did, along with your brother, sister, and her husband. They’re all dead now, Zack, and it’s because of you. You’re the one who killed them, not me.”

“You sick son of a—”

Before Zack could finish his sentence, a repeat of what he’d said before, he let out a loud growl of pain when Erich poked him with something that resembled a cattle prod. The President had decided he had had enough of waiting. He wanted answers and he was going to get them. The chemicals hadn’t worked, and neither had the solitary confinement. Now, it was time to get to the nitty gritty of it all.

“There will be no more talk like that, Zachary,” Schlagger told him simply before clearing his throat. “Now. All you need to do to end all of this is tell me where she is. If you can tell me that, this all ends here and now.”

“Like fucking hell,” Zack narrowed his eyes. “I’ll die before I rat my sister out to scum like you. I said it before and I’m saying it again. You’re not going to find where she is.”

Erich sighed and pushed his hand back through his hair, finally starting to lose his patience. He didn’t understand what was stopping Zachary from telling him what he wanted to know. Any other teenager would have spoken by this point; fallen for the lies and the promises, but Zachary Baker wasn’t taking any of it. If anything, he’d become more rebellious.

“I will find your sister, Zachary, and when I do, she’s not going to like the repercussions of her actions. However, you can spare yourself from the pain you’ll go through if you just tell me where she is.”

“Rot in hell, you asshole,” Zack narrowed his eyes at Erich. He wasn’t going to talk; he had to remain diligent in maintaining everything. He wanted to make sure that Mel made it to Canada before anything could happen to her. He knew that whatever Erich Schlagger had planned for her was going to be horrible; that it would be unbearable for his sister. He was going to make damn sure that nothing bad happened to his sister, even if it cost his own life to do so.

“I see we won’t be getting anywhere today,” Schlagger sighed before he pushed his hand back through his hair. “Perhaps it would be more beneficial if I were to incite a torture regimen for you to go through each day. In fact…I’ll have it started this evening.”

Zack said nothing as he was untied from the chair and lead out of the room, presumably to one of the torture cells that had been built in the Hospital. Schlagger sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He didn’t know how long it was going to take him, but he was going to find Melissa Baker. And when he did, she’d wish she was dead.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Mel sighed as she, Jimmy Pierre, and Matt were being led out of Denver by Sean. The man had proven himself trustworthy by shooting another Policeman in the chest to get them out of the Criminal Holding Unit, and they knew that he’d either be arrested and sentenced to death on charges of treason or have to live the rest of his life under the Schlagger regime in hiding.

They walked through the foothills of the mountains and along rarely-traveled paths for several hours before he finally stopped, turning to face them.

“I’ve got weapons for each of you,” he said, handing a backpack to Pierre. “From here to Canada, you’ll face several more Policemen. Don’t hesitate to shoot, any of you. They’ll be keen on keeping you alive if they find out that you’ve gotten out of California and what your true identities are. I highly suggest that you switch IDs again so that they won’t see that you’ve travelled state lines. Schlagger has several higher ups looking at this from every angle and if they see a pattern, they’ll follow it.”

“Understood,” Pierre said before he pushed his hand back through his hair. “We’re going to change the route, too. We won’t be going up through the Dakotas or Montana.”

“That’s a good plan,” Sean said before he looked down at the dirt. “Thank you for what you’re doing, Melissa. You’re a brave person. I hope to see you on the other end of all this,” he grinned before turning to walk back towards Denver.

Melissa stood there, wondering what Pierre had meant by changing their route. She hadn’t understood it, though she was now looking forward to getting to Canada sooner. She was worried about Zack and her other siblings, as well as her mother and nephew and niece.

“It’s going to be fine, Mel,” Jimmy said before pressing his lips against her forehead. “It might take awhile to get there, but everything’s going to be fine.”

Mel nodded, unsure of whether or not she believed him. She knew that Jimmy was the kind of person who liked staying positive, though she knew that it had to be hard for him. He was living life on the run as well, and there was nothing that could be harder than that, except for maybe knowing that his family was in danger. Zack was part of his family, and she knew he worried about her brother.

“Let’s just go, alright?” She said with a small smile. “I want to get there as soon as we possibly can.”

Jimmy nodded, agreeing with her as they and the others continued walking the trail. It would be a long walk, and from here on it was only going to get more dangerous. But they all had high hopes that things would be fine in the end, and it was that hope that kept them going.
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I have some new stories starting in August. The first one is called The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Love. It is a Matt Sanders story. The second one is Always, which is a Harry Potter story featuring Lily Evans and Severus Snape. My third story starting in August is going to be called Give Me A Chance. It is a Ryan Dunn story, and it is the story I wrote for JulNoWriMo. ^_^