Jim's haunted past

Chapter 8:The greasers

Jim arrived home to find the front door ajar, the house ransacked. Fear gripped his heart as he rushed inside calling Sally's name. Only silence and destruction met him.

Frantically he searched each room, but deep down Jim already knew the awful truth - Sally was gone. The greasers had taken her.

Finally Jim sank to his knees amidst the wreckage that was once their living room, despair threatening to swallow him whole. He had failed Sally just as he'd failed Wayne all those years ago. And now his wife - his whole world - was at the mercy of remorseless killers.

Just then the shrill ring of the phone cut through the dark haze. Jim lunged for it desperately.

"Sally?" he choked out.

A cruel chuckle answered. "Not quite. But she's still breathing...for now." Jim recognized Richard's malicious voice. "If you want to keep it that way, listen close."

Richard told Jim to come alone to the abandoned foundry on the edge of town at midnight if he ever wanted to see "his pretty wife again." Then the line went dead.

Jim knew it was undoubtedly a trap, but he didn't care. He would do whatever it took to save Sally. Grabbing his revolver with shaking hands, he set out into the gloom.

The foundry was a sprawling ruin of crumbling brick warehouses surrounded by rusting equipment and train tracks. As the clock tower tolled midnight, Jim crept between the decaying buildings, blood roaring in his ears.

Finally, he spotted a faint light glowing from within one warehouse. Steeling himself, Jim stepped inside the vast dark space. In the center beneath a dim bulb stood the greasers, a bound and gagged Sally held between them.

"Let her go," Jim demanded, leveling his gun. "Your fight is with me."

The greasers laughed. "We'll make you a deal," Richard sneered, pressing a knife under Sally's quivering chin. "Face us man to man, and if you win, wifey walks free."

Jim didn't hesitate, tossing his gun aside. Sally's terrified eyes pleaded for him to run, save himself. But he would never abandon her again.

The fight was brief but savage. In the end, Jim alone walked away from that blood-splattered warehouse leading his shaken but living wife by the hand. Broken bodies lay strewn behind them as dawn's light crested the horizon. Midnight approached as Jim pulled up to the abandoned foundry, gravel crunching beneath tires. He cut the engine, leaving only silence and dread hanging heavy in the air. Sally's life hung in the balance, dependent on the outcome of the confrontation ahead.

Jim steadied his nerves as he stepped from the car into the gloom, revolver and knife tucked at his hip. He would not leave here without his wife tonight. Whatever the cost.

The cavernous foundry interior was lit by a solitary bare bulb, casting erratic shadows over rusted machinery and dust-choked workbenches. Beneath its sickly glow stood Vinnie, Richard, and David - Sally bound and gagged between them.

Jim met her wide, pleading eyes with what he hoped was reassurance. Turning to the greasers, he leveled his revolver. "Let her go. Your business is with me."

Richard chuckled. "So eager to get started. We like that." He pulled Sally tight against him, pressing a knife beneath her chin hard enough to draw a thin line of red. "First, toss the hardware. We'll do this the old fashioned way."

Teeth gritted, Jim obliged, casting his weapons aside. The metallic clangs echoed through the empty space. He kept his fists clenched, eyes burning into Richard's.

"What now, coward? Hiding behind a woman, you're no better than the night you murdered my brother." Jim's voice was cold steel. "Let her walk, and we end this man to man."