Piper and Al

All of my stories are fiction, the product of my imagination and my experiences. This one is a little different and I hope you enjoy it.

When you're finished please take a moment to vote and comment. It helps improve my future writing. Thanks.

******

"Dad! Where the hell...? Oh, there you are. That car you gave me is a piece of junk. I need a new one or something."

The disgusted look on Piper's face, along with the tone of her voice, let everyone present know exactly how she felt.

"What's wrong, honey?" Gordon Malik asked, a strained patience coloring his voice.

"I told you what's wrong," Piper snapped. "The car's a fucking piece of shit."

"Piper!" two voices screamed in unison.

"Save those words for your friends," Patricia, her mother, said with unmistakable sternness.

"Yeah, sorry," Piper said, not looking at her mother.

"Bart, you want to take a look?" Gordon gave his son a conciliatory glance.

"Sure, dad." Piper's brother headed out the front door.

"It's junk, dad, just junk," Piper huffed, pacing back and forth.

"Piper, it's almost new. And, it's still under warranty," he added, mostly to reassure himself.

Gordon had no idea what might be wrong, but at least the warranty soothed him a bit.

"Whatever," she fumed.

Bart returned, chuckling and shaking his head.

"What?" she said, obviously unhappy with his laughing.

"You have a flat tire, dork. And a big dent in your rim. You must have hit one hell of a pothole going pretty damn fast."

"I felt a bump on Alexander, I think. How am I supposed to know this stuff?"

"Yeah, how are you supposed to know about anything besides parties, drinking, and shopping?"

"Shut up, Bart. I'm only nineteen, and I'm not allowed to drink." She carefully avoided the other two items.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," he said sarcastically. "You obey all the rules."

"Don't start with me, Bart. I could spill a few things about you too if that's what you want."

"Alright, you two. Cut it," Gordon broke in, hoping to defuse things before they got too nasty.

He turned to his daughter.

"So, you drove home from Alexander with a flat tire?"

"How should I know? I'm not a freaking mechanic. I just drove home." Piper was getting exasperated with all these questions. She hadn't done anything wrong.

"Didn't you wonder about the thumping and bumping?"

"All I'm wondering about is this barrage of questions. I have to leave for school in two hours. Can that thing be fixed by then?" Her look went from father to mother, to brother.

The unspoken threat was that someone would have to take her to school if it wasn't.

"We'll get it." Gordon checked his watch. "I need to get back to the office for a board meeting. Can you call AAA, Bart?"

"Got it, Dad. Go ahead and take off."

In a little less than two hours, Piper stomped into the spacious family room, where Bart sat in one corner working on his computer.

"Well?" She said snidely.

"It's ready... and drive carefully dear sister," he added, curling his upper lip.

"Bastard," she grumbled, throwing her backpack over her shoulder.

"And you're welcome," he said, not looking up from his computer.

"Yeah, thanks," she muttered dismissively and was gone.

***

"Whose turn is it?" Kit looked at Niall. "Yours or mine?"

"Yours, I think. Is it Kit's turn?" he yelled to the other end of the corn hole court.

Jill eyed him for a moment, shaking her head. "This isn't rocket science," she yelled back to Niall. "It's my teammate's turn. We alternate turns. It's pretty complicated, but even you two should be able to handle that." She turned to Al and rolled her eyes.

The four of them often did things together, and the corn hole game was just one of them. Jill had moved in with Kit about six months ago, and there was talk of marriage, but not serious enough that anything had been decided. Niall and Al (actually Alfred) were friends of Kit's and usually joined them at every opportunity.

Several years ago, Kit had been headed to college, a scholarship in his hand... and heroin in his veins. The latter ended the former and, a year later, when he was clean, the opportunity had passed, and he went to work as a handyman's assistant, the only job available. Jill had no opportunities to match his and had been a server at a local restaurant since graduation. She was cute, friendly, and conscientious and was usually tipped accordingly.

"Kit, throw the bag, okay?" Jill was shaking her head, watching her partner in conversation with Niall. They were always jabbering about some meaningless subject or plotting some scheme for getting money without working for it. She hated to be thinking that way about Kit -- he was bright and, at one time, had a promising future. The back injury in the last game of his high school career, along with the addictive painkiller prescriptions that eventually led to the heroin addiction, had ended that. She thanked God almost every day that he had gotten treatment and been clean for three years.

The bag came in Jill's direction, and she watched it plop onto the board and slide to the top edge.

"Not bad," she said.

Niall threw, and his bag tottered on the edge of the hole but stayed on top.

Jill watched Kit debating about his toss. They'd never held too fast to the twenty-second rule since lots of beer was usually a part of their games, and the banter took up lots of time too.

Kit tossed, low and hard, and his bag hit the tottering bag, knocking it aside while his fell through the hole.

"That's what I meant to do," Kit called, arms raised as he turned in a tight circle, laughing.

"Bullshit," Niall thundered. "You're just a lucky asshole."

"Okay, you toss, then. That hole's pretty small now."

Niall threw, and his bag hit the board, bouncing across the hole and catching on the back edge.

Kit took his turn with the same result as his first throw -- it lodged against the back edge between his first throw and Niall's.

Niall eyed the far-away board, shook his head, and wound up like a major league pitcher. His throw was hard but off-target, hitting the edge of the board and bounding crazily. Jill squealed as it hit her squarely on the knee, and she hopped around, winching.

"Shit, Niall," Kit said, "you know you're not allowed to throw overhand," he yelled as he ran to Jill.

"This ain't no Olympics, yanno. We can play loose with the rules." Niall snarled.

Al was already kneeling beside Jill, checking her knee.

"You might have a bruise," he said. "Beans can be hard sometimes."

She was glaring at Niall, who had stayed at the other end. Probably wisely so.

"I'm going in and putting some ice on it," Jill said, standing and heading for the house.

The two men looked at Niall, disgusted but not surprised.

"Damn it, Niall. This has got to change. Things have rules, and the rules need to be obeyed. Plus, for what I have planned, we ALL have to do everything exactly right... or we will ALL be in deep shit.

"Well, I do, most of the time," Niall grumbled. "It's mostly just stupid shit, though."

"Doesn't matter. It's like skydiving. You only get one mistake."

"Whatever. When you going to tell us about this great plan you have?"

"Probably tonight. I've about got everything figured out." Kit took a deep breath. "At least I hope so," he said quietly.

***

"You headed to psych class?" Nina asked, watching Piper wrinkle her nose.

"I guess. Bunch of bullshit. I need to get a manicure." She held one hand up, wiggling her fingers and frowning. "What should I do?" she said to Nina, extending the hand with two pink fingernails, two blue, and a white thumbnail with some kind of a carefully painted design.

"No idea," Nina laughed. I stick with standard red. Is that weak, or what?"

"I'll get you straightened out one of these days." Piper looked at her friend, squinting one eye. "So, did you and what's-his-name hook up?"

"None of your business, Blondie."

"He looked like a hunk. I could get into that, or maybe he could get into me," she added, laughing.

"He was shy, and thankfully I had my car... and some money."

"Money?"

"Yesh, he didn't have any."

Piper frowned. "Why would you go out with someone who has no money?"

Yes, Nina thought. why would I go out with a guy who has no money?

"He was shy but really nice."

"Whatever," Piper said dismissively, waving her multicolored fingernails in the air.

Nina occasionally wished she could just slap Piper. She was funny, intelligent, and helpful... on occasion. Other times she was rude, arrogant, and pompous. Today was a slap-worthy day.

"Anything exciting in your life?" Nina asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Stupid crap car had a flat tire."

"Isn't that a brand new Mach I Mustang?"

"I guess. It's a Mustang with some funny name, but I wanted a Mercedes, and Dad ignored me."

Nina sighed again, something she often did when she was with Piper. Unfortunately, the only replies she could think of here were sarcastic, so she remained quiet.

"No comment about me being a spoiled brat?" Piper said, chuckling.

"I had my thoughts," Nina replied.

"Are we getting together later to finish that paper?" Piper was checking her smartwatch. "It's due in, um, three days."

"Finish?" Don't you mean, start?"

"You've done all the research. It just needs to be written."

"Which is what you do well."

"It's a good trade. I just hate all that detail you take care of."

She shivered as she looked at Nina.

"I guess I'll go to class and then home for a few. Meet at the library at, um, say four o'clock?"

"I'll grab something at Wendy's and meet you there. Be safe, now."

"You too," Piper replied.

***

"So, are we ready?" Kit asked, looking at the other three.

Three deep breaths and three nodding heads told him they were nervously ready.

"Everything loaded?"

More nods and some mumbled "yeses" as they glanced around the van.

"Jill's driving, Al is riding shotgun and watching, and Niall and I are in the back." Kit looked at each of them one more time. "Last chance to back out."

"Shit, Kit. We been through this ten times. Must be you that wants to back out. Let's go. I'm ready for some action." Niall was fidgeting, and Kit knew that when he was like that, he was unpredictable -- unpredictable was the last thing they needed.

Resolutely, each climbed in and took their assigned spots. Nervousness was evident as Jill started the engine and pulled out of the garage.

"So, if she's not there, we go again tomorrow?"

Kit closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Do you ever listen, Niall? She won't be there tomorrow, so we have to wait till Wednesday."

"I guess I forgot," Niall grumbled.

One more time Kit wondered if it had been a mistake to include Niall. He was big and strong but not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. He could only hope it would all go well.

"How much further, Jill?" Kit asked, putting his thoughts about Niall aside.

"A couple of miles," Al said over his shoulder.

"Remember, if there's a car parked there, we go on Wednesday."

"There was never one there when we did the run-throughs."

"Shit happens," Al said. "One more corner."

"Damn," Jill spit out. "There's a car."

"Slow down. There's someone getting in."

The van crept along until the car pulled away -- Jill pulled in and parked.

"We've still got five or ten minutes. Can you see around the corner?"

"Enough," she answered nervously.

They sat in silence for several minutes, carefully adjusting their masks. With the pandemic seemingly in retreat, there were still enough people wearing masks that it didn't appear unusual.

"Here she comes," Jill said almost in a whisper.

Niall slid back the side door of the van and stepped outside.

"All clear otherwise?" Kit asked quietly.

"Yep. Clear."

The young woman came around the corner in white shorts, a sleeveless teal blouse, and only one backpack strap over her shoulder. Niall stepped out of her way and, when she was abreast of him, he leaped at her, one arm around her waist, one hand covering her mouth, his bulk pushing her through the open door of the van.

Kit grabbed her shoulders and finished pulling her inside. Jill closed the door from the front seat, and Al joined the two in the back to help hold the frantically twisting and squirming young girl.

Kit opened the zip-lock bag and removed a smelly and soaked cloth which he quickly pressed against the girl's face. She sputtered and fought against the cloth, but to no avail as her body slowly relaxed.

"Will take a minute or two till she's clear out. How's it look, Jill?"

"Still clear," she assured him. Then, looking at Kit in the rearview mirror, she said, "No turning back now."

Her words had a sobering effect on the others. Before long, they'd be either millionaires... or convicts. It all depended on their cleverness and the tenacity of the authorities.

"Damn, she's a cute little thing, ain't she?" Niall said, bending down so he could see Piper's face.

"Forget it," Kit snapped. "She's not a person, just a million bucks as long as she's not damaged." He gave Niall a stern look.

"Geesh, Kit. I ain't gonna touch her. Just sayin'."

Kit shook his head as he pulled the cloth away from Piper's face. There was no movement from the small, limp body.

"Should be good for an hour or more, I think." Kit put the cloth back in the bag and sealed it.

"Just in case," he said.

Kit went to her backpack and searched until he found her phone, shutting it off.

The route Kit had planned was circuitous, out into the country and around the city before heading back into town to their place.

They rode in silence until the van pulled into the garage, and the door closed behind them.

There were nearly audible sighs from all four of them.

Al rolled Piper over as Niall opened the door, and Kit jumped out, ready. He carefully lifted her out of the van and carried her through the house to the big closet in the back bedroom, where he gently laid her on the thick pad.

"Here ya go," Jill said, handing him two sets of handcuffs.

Using almost undue care, Al pulled both hands behind her back and secured them. He moved to her feet and did the same, then took the blindfold from Jill and put it in place, carefully arranging her hair.

The closet had plain walls, a thick pad, a blanket, and several bottles of water.

"This should be a shock to the little bitch," Jill said, curling her lip. "I hope to hell they pay quick, so we can get rid of her."

Kit looked at his girlfriend, wondering what was causing the sudden vitriol.

"Rich spoiled cunt," she snarled, turned, and walked away. "And now I have to cook for her," she called over her shoulder.

It was silent for a few moments as each worked to digest the consequences of what had just happened.

"No problem," Al said. "I'll take care of things here." He looked at Piper.

"Yeah, and maybe get a little nookie along the way?" Niall said, chuckling.

The look he got from Al would have curdled milk.

"Cut it, guys." Kit needed to maintain order as nerves already seemed to be coming into play. "She'll be waking up pretty soon, and I'm sure that won't be pretty. We have to be ready to put part two in place. Niall, you need to get the van washed. And remember," he added. "No names."

The van had been painted with water-soluble paint to disguise the color. The license plate had also been covered with dark plastic as Kit was sure there'd be security cameras where they'd grabbed Piper. They'd taken the circuitous route through the countryside, confident of avoiding more cameras. The washing of the van would complete the process.

Niall was in the garage washing, Kit was in the kitchen probing Jill to determine where her sudden animosity had originated, and Al was sitting in the closet doorway, watching their still-motionless hostage.

Al's mind was racing, even as his body was as motionless as Piper's. he wondered. He was ready to explain what was happening but doubted, from what they'd heard about her, that she'd want to hear it. He sighed. She was pretty, particularly lying there unconscious and not screaming at him, as he was sure would be happening soon. He leaned back against the doorframe and closed his eyes.

"What was all that about?" Kit asked, getting a drink of water. The look he got from Jill was the closest to a glare he'd ever seen from her.

"She's everything I'm not," Jill answered, "and I can't stand to be around her."

"That's silly," Kit said. "She's a rich and spoiled brat. You sure aren't that."

"Doesn't matter. I just don't want to deal with her."

"Jill, come on. As long as she's here, there are things that... well, that you need to help her with."

Jill shook her head as she continued to cook.

"Ain't gonna happen, Kit."

"What's she going to do, then?"

"Let Niall take care of her."

Kit grunted. "You really do hate her, don't you?"

"Whatever. I agreed to help and I will, because of you. But I'm not touching her."

Kit sighed. Things weren't going smoothly, and they were only a few hours into the adventure. It was either he or Al that would be taking care of Piper, no matter what she wanted.

Reluctantly, Kit headed for the bedroom.

"She awake yet?" Kit asked, watching Al's eyes snap open.

Al looked into the closet. "Not yet," he said and shrugged.

"There's a little problem."

"Already?"

"I don't know what happened, but Jill hates her and, well, doesn't want to touch her or be around her."

"And?"

"I'm not going to let Niall..."

"She'll be pissed, but I'll do it," Al said softly.

"She'll be pissed for sure."

"I feel sorry for her," Al said. "I just try to remember that, whatever she's like, she's innocent, and we need to take care of her. She may be a million dollars, but she's also just a young girl." He looked into the closet again.

Kit was seeing a side of Al he hadn't seen before, not that he'd ever looked for it.

"Why'd you agree to do this?"

Al smiled. "A quarter of a million dollars."

"Did you think about this when you agreed to come along?"

Al chuckled and shook his head.

"It was just talk, kind of like playing a game, trying to plan and figure things out. It was fascinating. But it wasn't real, like she is real," he said, nodding at the closet.

Kit gave him a pat on the shoulder and took a deep breath.

"She's yours,'' he said. "Now Niall and I have some work to do."

***

"Hello."

"Hello, Mr. Malik. Is Piper there?"

"Is this Nina?"

"Yes, sir. She was supposed to meet me this evening, but I haven't seen her. I thought she might have forgotten and gone home."

"No, she's not here, Nina. I suspect you're right about the forgetting, and she's gone somewhere else. Listen, if she shows up here, I'll have her call you."

"Thanks, Mr. Malik. I'll do the same if I see her."

"Thanks, and take care, Nina. Bye now."

They disconnected.

"What was that, Hun?"

"Nina was looking for Piper, who was supposed to meet her and didn't show up. She wondered if she'd come home."

"She's done that before," Patricia said. She sighed. "Sometimes, I'm afraid she only thinks about Piper and nothing or no one else."

"Yup," Gordon confirmed.

"Do you think we should be concerned?"

"We probably should be concerned about how selfish she is. The other is just Piper."

***

"Well, here we go," Kit said, looking at Niall.

"You sure this is going to work?"

"As sure as I can be. If it doesn't work, we'll try something else," Kit said as he backed the now light blue van out of the garage.

"You're awful damn casual about the whole thing."

"Well, at the worst, we haul her out somewhere, dump her, and take off, still poor but a little wiser."