Richard goes to his daughter’s house to celebrate her eightieth birthday with her, but she tearfully opens the door and pushes him away. Richard thinks there’s something wrong and realizes he’s right after peering through the windows of the house…
Richard nervously drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove. Deidre used to drive over every Thanksgiving, but that stopped after his wife’s funeral four years ago. Now, there are only weekly calls.
Richard spread his arms wide when Deidre appeared in the doorway. “Surprise!” he shouted.
“Dad? What are you doing here?” she asked, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I came to celebrate my birthday with you… it’s a roller coaster!” Richard replied, but the joy in his voice quickly faded. “What is it, darling? Why are you crying?”
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“It’s okay, everything’s fine,” Deidre said, quickly wiping away her tears and smiling a little. “It’s just… I wasn’t expecting you, and it’s not really a good time. Sorry, Dad, but I have to focus. On my work. Listen, I’ll call you. We’ll have dinner later, okay? Sorry.”
Deidre closed the door, leaving Richard hurt and confused. Something was seriously wrong. Was Deidre in trouble?
Richard moved away from the front door, but didn’t go outside. He climbed over the short, flowering shrubs that lined the path and crept in to peer through the windows.
Two rough-looking men were in the living room with Deidre.
“Who was that?” one of them asked in a rough voice.
“Nobody,” Deidre lied, her voice shaky. “Just a neighbor’s kid… who played a doorbell prank and ran off.”
“Back to the point then,” said the second man. “You’re now six months behind on your loan repayment, Deidre. Mr. Marco is getting impatient.”
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“I just need more time. Business will probably pick up in the winter,” she pleaded.
“Time is one thing you don’t have, darling,” the man replied, drawing his gun. “People who owe Mr. Marco money don’t have a long life expectancy and end up feeding the fish in the lake…” He pointed the gun at her.
Terror froze Richard in place. But soon the man stepped back in disgust and tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants.
“Look around this dump and see if there’s anything valuable we can get to Mr. Marco, Danny,” he ordered. “She’s a businesswoman, so there must be a computer or some kind of equipment around here.”
“But I need these things!” she cried. “I can’t make money without my equipment!”
The man tapped the butt of his gun. “Boo-hoo. I can still change my mind, you know. Don’t be ungrateful now.”
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The men ransacked her home before storming off, leaving Deidre curled up on the floor sobbing.
Nothing made sense to Richard because Deidre’s business was doing well. At least, that’s what she’d told him. But now Richard knew something was wrong. Deidre needed his help.
The men loaded several household appliances from Deidre’s house into their vehicle.
When they finally left, Richard followed them.
The men stopped in front of a two-story brick building downtown that looked like a bar. Although it was closed, the door was unlocked. No staff member stopped Richard as he entered the building.
The men had joined a large table where several other rugged-looking men were sitting. One of them stood up and swaggered toward him.
“The club is closed,” he growled. “Come back later.”
“I’m here to discuss Deidre’s debt,” Richard announced.
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“Oh?” The man sitting at the head of the table stood up and stared at Richard. He looked like a gentleman, except for an ugly scar above his left eye. Richard guessed this was Mr. Marco.
“How much does she owe you?” Richard asked.
Mr. Marco smiled. “Good Samaritan, huh? Deidre gave me an $80,000 business loan. She was supposed to pay me back with her monthly profits, except she never made any.”
“I have about $20,000 in savings,” Richard growls fearfully, shaken that Deidre had borrowed such a large sum.
“It’s only a quarter of what she owes us,” Mr. Marco sighed. “But there is something you can do to make up the difference.”
Richard didn’t like hearing this, but he had to do whatever it took to save his daughter from the mess she had gotten herself into.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
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Mr. Marco smiled at Richard and beckoned him over to the table.
”My partner and I recently started a small car import business in Canada, but some paperwork has been delayed, so we’re having trouble getting the… ‘goods’… across the border. A nice, innocent-looking grandpa like you should have no problem crossing the border in one of our cars.’
Richard had no choice but to agree. Later that night, he stopped at a gas station near the border town to use the restroom and parked next to a patrol car.
“Jesus!” he exclaimed when the German Shepherd in the back of the police car started barking and pawing at the window.
Service dogs were trained not to bark at random people unless… Oh, man.
He quickly got back into the car, a Valiant, and started to reverse as the police dog went berserk.
Two cops rushed out of the gas station and yelled at him to pull over, glancing at him. The GPS app gave voice directions, but Richard slipped it into his pocket to silence it.
He pushed the Valiant to its limits as he weaved through traffic, leaving a trail of outraged drivers and near misses in his wake. Sirens wailed behind him.
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Richard soon spotted a narrow, unmarked dirt road leading into the forest. He turned sharply, leaving the road behind and heading deeper into the forest. The muddy trails were difficult to navigate, but Richard kept moving.
He took a narrow path that led down. Then he took a slight climb and immediately regretted it.
The car is now stuck in a precarious position, balancing on a narrow rise above a wide river. Richard tries to reverse, but the tires are spinning with no grip.
In fact, the car is getting closer to the water.
“No!” Richard desperately pulls on the handbrake, but to no avail.
The nose of the car hit the river with a loud thud, sending a wave of dark water splashing onto the hood. Richard pushed open the car door, desperate to escape the sinking vehicle.
The water pressure began to push the door against Richard’s legs. He began to wade in panic as the river filled the cabin.
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As the water level rose to his face, he tilted his head back, took one last breath, and went into the water.
Richard pulled himself out of the opening and pushed himself toward the surface. He sucked in a breath and swam toward the shore.
Upon reaching land, Richard realized how close he had come to death. Fortunately, he was still breathing. But he still had to do something about the $80,000. So Richard hitchhiked home.
“I have to mortgage my house,” he told the bank assistant. “And I need the money in my bank account quickly.”
Richard waited impatiently for the bank employee to process the documents. He was surprised when Deidre called him.
“Some thugs from a local gang were just here to ask about you, Dad… what’s going on?”
“Tell them I’ll be there soon. I’ve arranged to pay your debt for you. I don’t understand why you didn’t come to me first, Deidre, but now’s not the time to talk about it.”
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Richard ended the call and signed the papers. He didn’t want to give up the house where he had made memories with his family, but it was the only way to help Deidre.
A few hours later, he parked in the club’s parking lot in a rental car and headed for the entrance.
“Dad, wait!” Richard turned around as Deidre ran towards him.
“I won’t let you face these thugs alone,” she said. “I still don’t understand how you found out about this or how you found the money to pay them off, but the least I can do is support you while you save me.”
Richard studied Deidre’s determined gaze and knew he wouldn’t be able to convince her to leave. As they entered the club, the thugs pushed him and Deidre toward the table.
Richard placed his sports bag on the table, which contained the money he had withdrawn after the mortgage was granted.
“Here’s the $80,000 Deidre owed you, plus $15,000 to cover the cost of your car. I got into trouble and the car ended up in a river.”
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Mr. Marco’s mouth twisted in anger and he slammed his fist on the table.
“You have the audacity to offer me a paltry $15,000? After coming to tell me you sank the $100,000 shipment hidden in that car? That doesn’t even begin to cover what you owe me now.”
The gangster grabbed the duffel bag and threw it to one of his henchmen.
“You know, Deidre, I really believed in you, but sometimes in business you have to know when to cut corners.”
He pulled a gun from his suit jacket and pointed it straight at Deidre’s forehead.
Richard pulled Deidre behind him. “No, please! It’s my fault! Don’t punish her!”
“You’re quite right.” The gangster shrugged, and the next moment Richard was staring down the barrel of the gun.
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But suddenly, they heard police sirens outside.
Mr. Marco turned and ran toward the back of the club as gunshots rang out and shook the place.
The father and daughter crawled under the table. Chaos reigned in the club, and when Richard looked into his daughter’s fear-filled eyes, he knew he had to get her to safety, no matter what.
Richard and Deidre pulled one of the tables over and barricaded themselves in a corner. They hid there until the police escorted them to safety. Fortunately, Mr. Marco was apprehended.
“Are you sure you don’t have heart problems?” Richard shook his head at the paramedic while he was in the ambulance.
Richard swallowed as the police inspector approached the ambulance.
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“Sir, what were you doing with your daughter in that club today?” the inspector asked sternly.
Richard explained Deidre’s loan and the fact that they had come to the club that day to pay it back. He hoped he could get away with not mentioning the car he had sunk in the river.
The detective glanced at Deidre. “If we hadn’t found a car full of contraband in the river, we wouldn’t have come to rescue you. You shouldn’t be borrowing from such disreputable people, miss.”
“A car in the river?” Richard asked nervously.
“It was registered to Mr. Marco’s cousin, which was exactly the lead we needed to bring down this gang,” the officer replied.
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Richard sighed in relief. He had nothing to fear.
The cops let him and Deidre go after they gave their statements.
“I owe you a huge apology, Dad. I dragged you into this whole mess,” Deidre apologized as they walked to the front, where Richard’s car was parked.
Her eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t know how to tell you. How do you tell your father you failed?”
“You’re not a failure!” Richard placed his hands on Deidre’s shoulders. “Maybe your business idea didn’t work out as well as you hoped, but you tried, Deidre. I wish you’d felt comfortable enough to tell me what was really going on in your life. I wish you’d felt able to be as close to me as you were to your mother,” he continued. “I don’t think you’ve been ‘okay’ for a while.”
Deidre burst into tears, and Richard put his arm around her. “It’s okay, darling,” he whispered soothingly. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
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