Part eleven
"YOU?" Felicia asked, her eyes opened wide in shock.
"Surprised? -Well, I think it's time to give up, Felicia. What do you say, mhm?" Harry approached her, his gun pointed at her.
"Michael, I..."
"Why, Felicia? I just don't understand why you kidnapped my wife and Danny. I never thought you could do anything that horrible to a friend. And we were friends, right, Felicia?"
"You're right. We were friends. But when you wouldn't help me when I needed you more then I ever needed you before, the friendship turned into pure hatred, Michael."
"I hate you, too. I just hope Laura and Danny will be all right. Otherwise I don't know what I'll do..." Harry replied angrily.
"You won't win this game, Michael. Maybe you've got Danny but Laura will be gone forever..." Felicia grinned at him. He grabbed her.
"What do you mean? Talk!" Harry demanded.
"Tony's mad. Before you could get to her he'd kill her. Nobody should get her if he can't have her!"
"We'll see about that. We were quite successful with you, and you're mad, too. But we got you!"
Two officers entered the house and approached Felicia and Harry, who pointed the gun at her stomach.
"That's where you're wrong, darling!" With a sudden movement she pulled Harry's gun to her abdomen. Before Harry or the others could do anything against her strong attack, they heard the gun shot. Felicia sank down on the stairs. Harry dropped the gun and looked at her in shock.
"Felicia...!"
"I hate you!" she whispered and than she closed her eyes. The doctor felt her pulse.
"She's dead, Harry." He said when he looked in Harry's questioning face. "Maybe it's better this way." Harry nodded. He looked upstairs and noticed Mildred and Danny. He climbed the stairs, feeling numb. He hated Felicia, yes, but he killed her! Killed an old friend...
Mildred, who seemed to read his mind, said, "It wasn't your fault, boss. She killed herself, okay? Now, take your daughter and stop thinking about that bitch!"
Harry nodded once again. When Mildred put Danny in his arms, Harry was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness on the one hand but filled with great joy on the other hand. He cried as he embraced Danny tightly in his arms and collapsed to his knees.
"Oh, baby. Daddy is here. Daddy is here." He whispered again and again. Mildred softly touched his head to comfort him. Tears ran down her cheeks. After a while Harry rose and embraced Mildred, too.
"Thank you, Mildred. Thank you so much!"
"Everything will be all right, boss. Get your wife back, and everything will be all right!"
Harry looked at Mildred and nodded. "You're right. War isn't over yet!" He placed Danny back in Mildred's arms and kissed her cheek.
"Will you take care of her until I'm back ...with Laura, hopefully?"
"Sure thing, boss." Harry turned around and went down. The officers and the doctor had already removed Felicia's body from the stairs.
"Be careful!" the doctor called to him as Harry went through the door.
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Same time in Laura's bedroom
Laura sat up in her bed. She was so nervous. < Afternoon, they'll come this afternoon, the doctor said. But now it's almost evening!> she thought frustrated.
At least Felicia was gone. Maybe they had already got her and Danny was safely back in Harry's arms. She sighed once again, and than took out Harry's picture from under her pillow.
"Hurry, darling!" she whispered as she stroked the young boy in the picture as she'd done thousands of times before.
The door sprang open. As fast as she could Laura returned the photo, but she knew she had been too slow. She tried to smile at Tony, who stood in the door, looking suspiciously at her. The near rescue had made her too careless.
"Hello, darling!" Laura tried to sound as casual as possible.
"Hello," he replied. Laura hoped he wouldn't ask, but then he did. "What are you hiding from me, Laura?"
"What? Hide...from you? What do you mean?" < You've lied better before> she thought to herself.
"I mean the thing you put under your pillow," Tony answered while approaching her.
"Nothing!" Laura said, unwillingly pressing herself onto the pillow. Tony pushed her aside.
"Then you won't mind if I look under this pillow, right?" He took away her pillow. Than he saw it. Tony stood frozen in place for a long moment. Laura lied to him! She had never lost her memory!, he thought. Anger welled up inside of him. Slowly he turned his head and looked in Laura's eyes. Laura didn't know what to do. The look in his eyes was killing. Should she scream, run or... Before she ended her thought the full force of Tony's hand hit her face and catapulted her onto the floor.
Tony screamed in anger, took Harry's picture and tore it in pieces once again. Wildly he stormed through the room and destroyed everything that got into his way.
Laura needed a moment to recover. There was that horrible pain in her abdomen again. Angrily she watched Tony destroying the picture and the furniture in the room.
"You lied! You lied!" Tony screamed. Then he went to Laura and pushed her back on the bed. He took handcuffs out of his pocket and fastened Laura to the bed frame.
"No, I didn't. I told you that I'll never love you, Tony! I HATE YOU!" Laura screamed back. Tony slapped her face once again. Laura winced, but she repeated as strong as possible"...hate you!"
Tony and Laura looked at each other in disdain for a moment. "You had already lost me the day you hired Murphy to spy on us! You didn't win back then and you won't win now. They got Felicia already and Harry will get you, too!" As soon as she said that, she knew it was a mistake.
Tony ran out of the room to return only seconds later with a gun in his hand. Laura tried to get free.
"What are you going to do, Tony? Kill me? I thought you said you loved me..." Laura tried.
"If I can't have you, nobody will!" he pointed the gun at her.
"NO! Tony!" Laura said horrified.
"Don't worry, darling. I'm not going to kill you. Not now, anyway. You've said he will come to rescue his little wife. He will be blind with joy seeing you again...and then... I'll kill him! You won't get him!" he declared.
"No, Tony! I'll warn him!"
Tony smiled. "Oh, really? I don't think so!" He took adhesive tape out of his pocket and pasted it over Laura's mouth. "So much for that...Before he can remove the tape...HE'S DEAD!" then he laughed idiotically.
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Only five minutes later Tony and Laura heard noises from the corridor. Somebody was approaching the room. Tony opened the door wide and hid behind it.
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Harry moved forward very slowly. The next door, Daniel's old bedroom door, stood open wide. This old house was much too calm. And he made too much noise. I've done better before, he thought. But he never was this nervous before, either, he knew. With the gun in his hand he turned around so he could look inside the room.
The next second he almost dropped his gun.
"LAURA!" he screamed. Oh how terrible she looked! Blood. He could see blood on her face!
Laura tried as much as possible to warn him. But all she could manage was wincing and sighing. Harry didn't understand. He forgot all about Tony and stormed to her bed.
"Laura, darling." Softly he touched her head. With her eyes opened wide and wincing she tried to tell her husband that Tony was coming from behind the door, the gun pointed at Harry. Finally Harry understood, and turned around.
With a mad grin the man whom Harry hated the most said, "Welcome to our little party, Mr. Steele."
Harry raised his hands and stood. "Tony, give it up, mate. You lost the war!"
"I wouldn't say that from my position, Steele! I'll kill you!"
"Why, Anthony?"
"Why? You ask me why?" Tony laughed coldly, then
he stopped and answered.
"I love her!"
With that Harry laughed. "Love her? You kidnap her, beat her up, kill her husband and than you tell her 'I love you, Laura'? I don't think that will work!"
"I'll kill her, too. And then I'll kill myself. Does that sound better to you?" Harry looked down on the floor, then looked back at Tony. "Why are you so filled with hatred, Tony? I never did you any harm, did I?"
Tony laughed bitterly, "You ruined my life, Steele!"
"Oh, come on. There are other women. Laura isn't the only woman you were interested in. What about that girl from Mexico, mmh? You can have them all, - it's just Laura you can't have."
"Why? Because she's your wife?"
"No, because she loves ME, Tony. And I love her!" Tony looked at Laura for one second, who still struggled against her handcuffs, than looked back to Harry.
"But you ruined my career, too! Nobody hired me after all the damn things that happened in London and Ireland. My photo had been in the newspapers. Not really good for undercover jobs, don't you think? And that's all your fault, Steele."
Tony loaded the gun. "Now you're gonna pay for it!!!" Laura closed her eyes and screamed as loud as she could. Then there was a short moment of silence and a loud "bang" filled the room.
To be continued ...