Thirty seconds later the first security officers showed up. Dr. Granger opened the door and ran to Ben’s room. Ben was unconscious and bleeding from his chest and the slash across his face. The medics burst into the room behind her pulling a gurney. They undid Ben’s restraints and pulled him over onto the gurney. They strapped him in and rushed him out of the room with Dr. Granger in pursuit.
Administrator Cooper was standing in the gallery of the operating room they brought Ben into. Dr. Granger entered the gallery and immediately went to her side. “How is he?”
Hannah looked at her and her face was white. “He looks like a pin cushion! How many times was he stabbed? What happened to his face? It’s covered in blood.”
“Eli Sturn killed Hector and got into Ben’s room. He was stabbing Ben in a frenzy. Ben was still locked in his restraints. But the man was leaning over Ben and Ben grabbed and squeezed his testicles hard. In retaliation he slashed Ben’s face. I called out and he fled, right past me. The man had no upper or lower front teeth. He looks horrifying!”
“Dr. Padme has begun.” Hannah said watching the operation with complete attention.
Tina made a light dinner for Ashley and the teens and they ate on trays in Ashley’s room. The conversation was light and smiles were gradually replacing the nervous looks. Tina was closest to the door. She heard a strange tearing sound. She got up to investigate and the sound was coming from the kitchen. She flipped on the deck lights and she saw a hand with a knife cutting through the stiff curtain they’d lowered around the deck as extra protection.
While her heart leapt up into her throat, Tina immediately headed back to Ashley’s room and addressed the teens in a calm voice. “We must go to the panic room. Now. This is not a drill.”
Madison and Savannah froze but jumped when Tina clapped her hands together. Ashley didn’t know what was going on.
Tina took Ashley’s tray away and Madison grabbed one arm while Savannah grabbed the other. They helped their mother to her feet and walked her out of the room towards the stairs to the basement. The going was slow so they just reached the top of the stairs when Eli slammed his shoulder against the glass patio door. The three screamed but he just bounced off and slammed to the deck.
“Downstairs, NOW!” Tina barked and the three started moving again. Tina would not allow them to stop and look at Eli’s futile effort to break through the armored glass. Ben hadn’t wanted to give thieves an easy way in so he’d invested in the toughest glass panels available then double plied them. Eli saw his target disappearing and Tina following. He screamed at them but they didn’t stop. He pushed his way back through the hole he’s made in the curtain.
When the group got to the bottom of the stairs Tina went around them, down the hall to the lock panel to the work shop. She punched in the code and the door unlocked. She stepped inside and the lights came up. She urged the teens and Ashley to move faster. There was the sound of wood cracking and the three moved faster. They could hear Eli’s screams of rage.
Finally Ashley was inside and Tina pulled them to the side. She closed the door. She flipped the panel on the wall and pressed the red button. There was a deep rumbling sound and the little monitor on the wall by the door flickered on. They could see an armored panel on the other side of the door was sliding over the doorway. The camera was focused looking down at the entrance so it must have been in the ceiling. Suddenly Eli was against the wall pounding on the exposed part of the door. Everyone shrieked and jumped back. He pushed at the sliding panel but it continued on its path without any sign of his interference. They heard a final ‘thunk’ and the panel was closed.
A voice came from the speaker next to the little monitor. “911, please state the nature of your emergency.”
Tina looked at Ashley then back to the speaker. “Hello, my name is Tina Lee. I am at 16 Ashburn Court and I need to report that a bad man has broken into my house. He is trying to kill us.”
“Mrs. Lee, are you able to get to a safe room and lock yourself in?” the voice said.
“Yes, I am in a panic room in the basement. I do not believe he can get in.” she replied.
“OK, police are on the way. Please stay on the line.”
“ASHLEY… MADISON… SAVANNAH! Open the FUCKING door RIGHT NOW!” Eli raged.
They watched him on the monitor as Eli looked around for something to open the door. Every now and then he’d stop and hold his groin and moan. Then he looked up and made an excited sound and left the picture. Seconds later he was back with a big sledgehammer in his hands. Madison and Savannah began to cry and Ashley hugged them. Tina saw their fear.
“It will not work.” she said with contempt in her voice.
The girls perked up and looked at her confident smile.
Eli was trying to see where to hit the door. There wasn’t much room to swing the big hammer in the basement and the whisky he’d drank to dull the pain from his teeth was fucking up his coordination a little. On his first two attempts he hit the drywall ceiling above his head.
Tina snorted.
Eli’s third swing hit the door with a mighty boom… but it held.
Eli got into a pattern and began to make a big dent in the door panel. He was determined to kill the bitches.
Trish had been coming back from her late jog when she heard the cracking of Ben’s front door. She looked down the street and saw the shape of a large man slamming a huge rock from the ornamental garden against the front door. She immediately ran into her house and called the police to report the break in. She gave Ben’s address and her name then hung up and ran into the basement to get the fighting sticks she and John used to spar with. Fifteen inches long and made of solid hardwood, she’d learned a few nasty tricks with these. After sparring she and her husband would have the most aggressive sex! She pushed that from her mind and raced back upstairs almost colliding with Lily and Mason. Bouncing on the balls of her feet she told them to stay inside and she raced out of the house towards Ben’s.
Eli was tiring quickly. Sweat dripped down his face and onto the floor. The sledgehammer was so fucking heavy and it started bouncing on the surface of the door as his swings weakened. Each impact against the door made the pain in his balls spike and his face was hurting so fucking much too. He needed a drink so bad!
He swung the hammer back for one more mighty swing when his concentration was broken.
“HEY! SHIT FOR BRAINS!” a woman’s voice yelled.
He staggered forward and the hammer went right up into the drywall ceiling and got jammed there. He tugged at it but the handle just hung down. He spun around and saw a tall redhead standing at the base of the stairs partially in shadow.
“What the fuck is it with you interfering bitches?” Eli growled.
“I think you’d better put your fucking ugly face on the floor with your hands on the back of your head. The police are on their way shithead!” Trish growled in return.
Eli pulled out his knife. “No, I don’t think I will. See this. I used it to make a dozen deep holes in the asshole who did this to my face. Now it’s going to add a few more holes to you.”
Trish froze. “You hurt Ben?” she said quietly.
“I FUCKING KILLED HIM! I’ll carve you as his tombstone, CUNT!” Eli screamed as he lunged forward, knife jabbing towards her chest.
Trish screamed in primal rage and snapped her left hand down. The stick smashed into Eli’s right wrist snapping the bones and spinning the knife off to the side. The point of the right club caught him in the sternum stopping him in his tracks. His eyes bugged out as he couldn’t get a breath.
Trish was still screaming in rage as she spun the sticks once more. She broke his jaw with the right and cracked a rib with the left. Up came the sticks again as she spun them faster. His broken nose flattened under the left club and his elbow snapped under the right. He was trying to scream but he still couldn’t get a breath. She kicked him in the chest hard and he careened back, knocking the handle of the sledge hammer up to the ceiling then he crashed into the armored door. He took two steps forward and fell on his face.
He lay there senseless and Trish stepped back heaving deep breathes as the reality of what Eli said finally sank in. Ben was dead! The man who loved her was gone! She sunk to her knees dropping the sticks which rolled away under the furniture and she wailed.
With the slightest squeak to announce its release the 20 lb sledge hammer slipped from the fragile grip of the torn drywall and fell. It struck Eli at the base of his skull with a small snap, breaking his neck.
Tina was in shock. Ben was dead? That couldn’t be right! He was with Hannah in the hospital. He was safe!
She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Hannah.
“Hello?”
“Hannah! Is Ben alright?” she gasped.
Hannah was still in the gallery above the operating theatre watching the Dr. Padme struggle to save Ben’s life. His heart had stopped twice but the doctor brought him back each time.
She had forgotten to call Tina. “Oh my god! I’m sorry I should have called you. Ben’s in the operating room now. He’s been stabbed multiple times. He’s in critical condition and the doctor is still working on him.”
Tina slumped to the floor and felt tears begin to well up. Then she shook herself angrily and lunged back to her feet. She walked back to the little monitor and saw police coming down the stairs into the outer room. She lifted the panel and pressed the red button again. The deep rumble began but this time it was accompanied by a screeching whine as the dented door scraped against the wall. Tina yanked open the inner door and once the outer door was open sufficiently she ushered Ashley and the teens through and closed the inner door behind her. She heard the lock click shut. Tina made for the stairs.
An officer was kneeling beside the still body of Eli Sturn when Tina rushed past. “Miss! Wait!”