Chapter 3
His mother was dragged into the living room and tied up in the same manner as he was hours earlier.
He sat there contemplating the situation while the fugitives continued to drink into the night. At seven-thirty they passed out after an argument on whether to kill the hostages or just leave them.
As Jeff sat there he realized the nightmare that had awakened him earlier that morning. Remembering how it had ended, he became determined not to follow the course of the dream. He began to devise a plan to escape his own prison. Groping for the pocket knife he always kept on him. He put his two fingers that he could fit in his front pocket and fished around. He finally felt the smooth rounded edge of the knife. Using his two fingers as a pair of tongs he fished the knife out of his pocket.
He finally got a hold of it when he got it out of his pocket when it slipped out and tumbled onto the floor.
Looking at the convicts he studied their features making sure that they were still out. They were sleeping like babies. The one know as Tim began to snore loudly.
He pushed his thighs together as much as possible and moved them to his right, moving his bound hands to his left, reaching for the knife.
He touched it with hi fingers and carefully got the knife into his palm. Sitting back up he quietly opened the blade. The light was shining off of it from the glare of the television.
Slowly he began to gut through the duct tape binding his hands. Slowly he cut through the layers of duct tape. When it finally gave in he separated his hands and peeled the rest off his hands. He then removed the tape from his mouth, wincing as it ripped little pieces of hair from his face.
He used the blade to quickly take off the tape binding his legs, finally peeling the rest off his pant leg.
He looked at the two passed out captors. He saw one of them beginning to stir. He held his breath and stopped moving. Tim had held an open beer that was slowly slipping from his hand. He dropped it and began to open his eyes. He sat up with a jolt and looked around. Not seeing anything. And then quickly lost consciousness and fell back into the recliner.
Relieved he slowly began to breath again. He stepped toward his mother and shook her awake. Her eyes opened and she was about to moan when he raised his index figure to his lips and motioned for her to be quiet. Suddenly realizing the seriousness of the situation she began to calm down again.
He quickly removed the tape from his mother's face. He looked into her face and saw how scared she was. He put the knife in her hands and quietly crept out of the room, into the hall. He went down the hallway and into the office. He opened the door and went over to the filing cabinet. He tried the bottom drawer, but it was locked. He searched the desk and found the key under a stack of papers in a drawer and quickly unlocked the filing cabinet. Going back to the door he closed it to muffle any noise. He slid open the bottom drawer of the cabinet revealing a metal case and put it on the floor.
He entered the combination to the case and opened it. Inside lay a 12-gauge Remington shotgun with a case of shells. He put a cartridge into the shotgun and pumped one into the chamber causing a loud click, click. He put in four more cartridges and released the safety. He paced towards the phone and listened for a dial tone. He called 9-1-1.
"9-1-1 Emergency, can I h---"
"I live at 7356 Hill Drive, send police. The two convicts that escaped are holding my family hostage." He replied by cutting off the operator and put the phone on the desk, still on. He opened the desk drawer and lifter up the fake metal panel that housed a stub-nosed .38 special. It gone.
Just then he heard a cry and footsteps down the hall.