Revenge is Such a Nasty Thing

It is around 9:30 on a Friday night in a small town outside of Philadelphia. A car is slowly travelling down a two-line street heading towards the city. Another car pulls up beside the car at a red light and in the reflections from a street light, the driver can look into the other car and sees a young girl behind the wheel. She is looking straight ahead at the light waiting patiently for it to change to green. When it does the male driver in the far lane pulls out and is soon looking at the girl’s car in the rear view mirror never to see her again on this night.

In the car going slow is a hostage situation. The car has two young sisters in it heading home from a basketball game but the masked and very armed man crotched in the rear seat is making it impossible to see him. But he has a gun squarely crammed into the side of the younger female in the passenger seat ready to fire if the older girl driving did anything stupid like alerting anyone that they are being kidnapped.

“OK, turn right at the next light and don’t do anything stupid, remember.”

The driver turns on her signal and slowly turns off of the four-line street onto a much darker side street still heading into the city.

The driver is 19-year-old McLaren Blevins and the passenger is her 18-year-old sister, Mikayla. They are the daughters of Assistant District Attorney Jason Blevins. The two sisters were returning home from their private school’s basketball game in which McLaren is a cheerleader. In fact, she is wearing her uniform as she drives. The two of them got into their Toyota Camry around 9:20 and started home but they didn’t even look in the backseat of the car because they were no more than a half a mile from the school when he arose up and pressed his gun in Mikayla’s side. The two girls screamed out in terror but the man warned both of them that if they continued to scream he would shoot Mikayla. McLaren pleaded with him but he didn’t want to hear it. He told both of them to shut up and for her to drive and do as he told.

It has been quiet since partly due to the fact that both girls had been forced to plaster scotch tape across their mouth when they stopped at the first stop light. Even when the male driver looked over at McLaren at the last light, he couldn’t tell that she had it over her mouth. So when she was told to turn right she couldn’t plead with him. The two girls just knew that they were going to be raped and possibly killed and they could nothing about it.

It was now 10:15 and Jason and Becky Blevins were frantic in fear. They had been trying to contact both McLaren and Mikayla for the past thirty minutes and got their voice mail. It wasn’t like either girl to not answer their phones. Jason was calling one set of friends and Becky the other. All of their friends said the same thing. They saw the girls leaving the school parking lot an hour earlier. Suddenly the doorbell rings and Jason goes and answers it. There is no one at the door but a small box was in front of the door.

Jason brings it inside and opens it up curious about it. Who would leave a box anonymously this late hour. Suddenly he gasps as Becky comes over to see what is inside. She screams out in terror as they look squarely into the faces of their terrified daughters’ pictures. There in front of them were Polaroid snapshots of McLaren and Mikayla bound and gagged with duct tape.

Before the two anguished parents could react and call the cops, Jason’s cell phone rings.

“Blevins, you seen the little gift I left out on your porch.,”

“Who is this and what have you done with my girls?”

“Relax, Blevins, they are safe right now and will continue to do so if you give me what I want.”

“You better now hurt either of them. I’m warning you.”

“Listen, I got your girls and so don’t try and threaten me or else I will deliver their bodies to you in garbage bags.”

Now Becky Blevins is beside herself with fear. She is almost hysterical.

“Jason, what does he want? What does he want to give my babies back to us?”

“OK, I’m listening. What do you want?”

“Good, you’re ready to work to get those lovely daughters of yours back. I want $500,000 in small bills by noon tomorrow or else they both die.”

“A half a million dollars! I don’t have that kind of money. There is no way I can raise that much on a Saturday.”

“Oh, I know you can and you will if you don’t want something really bad to happen to your daughters.”

“I’ll get you your money but noon tomorrow is cutting it close. I need a little more time.”

“$500,000 by noon tomorrow and I will call you an hour before to let you know where you can deliver it.”

“I want to speak to my daughters.”

“Not now, they’re somewhere where they can’t be heard or seen.”

“Harm them and you get nothing, understand!”

“No, you understand, Blevins, continuing to be demanding is not going to fare well for McLaren and Mikayla. $500,000 by noon tomorrow or else you’ll never see your daughters alive again.”

Before Jason could respond, the caller hung up. Within minutes Jason Blevins was on the phone to the cops and within ten minutes they were swarming around the Blevins home. They looked over the contents of the box, the picture of the girls dusting for fingerprints and DNA hoping something would leave them clues as to the identification of the kidnapper and hopefully the location of McLaren and Mikayla.

“Well, the box and its wrappings inside are pretty clean. I mean no DNA and no fingerprints.”

“What about the call? Did we get anything on it?”

“Yeah, it came from just up the street and it was from McLaren’s cell phone.”

“Well, someone go down the street and see if anyone saw anything around that time. I don’t care you have to bang on every door and wake up the entire neighborhood.”

The officer who brought Detective Will Lynch the news knew that the 20-year-old veteran would not like it. Lynch had always prided himself on being able to bring the victims home alive but this was a more frustrating case than most. No evidence and no witnesses to the abduction. They had an all points bulletin out for McLaren’s car but so far no luck. Where did he take the girls and who else is involved in it? By making the call down the street, it meant to Lynch one of two things. One either both girls were already dead despite the pictures showing them alive or two, there was a second unknown person involved holding them while the other kidnapper did the ransom call and evidence of life box. Either way it didn’t look good for the Blevins girls and the night was getting away from them quickly. Lynch looks at the clock in the living room. It is now shortly after midnight and the ransom had to be paid in twelve hours.

Meanwhile, a late model van drives slowly into a parking space at the Town of Center Motor Lodge. The van’s driver gets out, looks around and then walks up to the last door in the unit. He knocks on the door twice and soon the door opens a crack and a scantily clad young woman peeks out. She recognizes the man and opens the door the rest of the way.

“Well, how did it go?” the young blonde asks as the man walks past her.

“Perfect, I delivered our little package and made the phone call. By this time tomorrow we should be very, very rich. How’s our young guests?”

“Very, very quiet, in fact I don’t think anyone even knows they’re here,” the blonde says as she puts her arms around her boyfriend’s neck, “In fact, I have a nice surprise for you in the other room.”

“Oh, I wonder what you’ve done while I was out.”

“Well, come on and go into the other room and see for yourself. I think you’ll be very happy.”

The man walks slowly into the other adjoining room. The two rooms were connected together by one door which lead into another bedroom. He knew as soon as he got inside what was waiting for him. The lights were down and had some romantic music on. A camera sat on a tripod pointing toward the bed. He turned toward the bed and looked down at the terrified eyes of Mikayla Blevins, who laid naked bound spreadeagled on the bed. She was crying as she laid there waiting to be raped. McLaren Blevins sat quietly in a desk chair on the other side of the camera. She, too, was naked and tightly bound to the chair. Both sisters were gagged with red ballgags strapped in their mouths.

“Wow, you really knew exactly what I wanted after my excursion into suburbia.”

“Yeh, I figured since we plan on wasting both of them once we get the money, might as well make them both women before they die.”

The man continues as he pulls off his clothes.

“Did they put up much of a fight when their clothes came off.”

“Nah, not with the gun pointed at them. I decided the younger one would do for you while I have some fun with her sister.”

“OK, kid, ready for this down there.”

Mikayla screams into her gag as the man rams his huge penis inside her. McLaren cannot help her baby sister since the female is busy fondling her rather large breasts. The two captive sisters will endure quite a bit of sexual action as their long night continues.

Meanwhile the FBI is scouring the neighborhood looking for any clues that will lead to the kidnapped girls. But as the night wears on, it is getting more grim. Jason Blevins has contacted a banker friend of his and they have found a way to get the half million dollars to pay the ransom. If only, they knew that the money was not the real reason for the kidnapping.

“Nothing, no one seems to seen anyone out of the ordinary down the street.”

“Damnit, someone had to see the guy. I mean, a stranger on his cellphone in the middle of a block of houses should stand out. Check on the background of all the residents of that block. Maybe someone is involved in this. What’s the status on trying to locate McLaren Blevins’ car?

“Nothing yet. We are combing some of lakes around here but it seems to have disappeared as well.”

“Well, we have only a few more hours until dawn and maybe once we get light, we might be able to find that car. I just hope the girls survive that long.”

Meanwhile back at the motel:

“Boy, nothing like a good cold shower after a satisfying round of sex,” the naked man says stepping out of the shower, “Are they both asleep?”

“Yeh, that chloroform did the trick quickly. How soon until we move them out of here?”

“Well, it is almost four o’clock and they should be out for another two or three hours. So we will probably pack them back into the van in about an hour. I have to be back at the Cramer building by 7:00 to check on the explosives and so we need to have them in place before then.”

“It’s a shame we have to kill them. I mean we will have the money. We can go to the Caribbean and get on an island and just spend the rest of our lives in luxury.”

“Now you know the reason why they are going to die.”

“Yeh, I know. Vengeance is sweet. But, they are so young and innocent.”

“Enough, it’s done. They implode with that old building at high noon tomorrow and you’re going to pick up the money, understand, and then we’ll be off to the island paradise.”

It is now becoming dawn and back at the Blevins house, the FBI is still frustrated at the lack of a car and a lack of any suspects. It amazed Lynch that there were enemies of Jason Blevins who didn’t have alibis for their whereabouts. It was as if someone totally void of any contact with the Blevins family had snatched the girls and were holding them for ransom.

“Remember, Mr. Blevins, make the guy put one of the girls on the line before you hang up.”

“What happens if he threatens to kill them?”

“Listen, I have to be honest with you. If he doesn’t want to let one of them speak to you then they could very well be dead. He will call you around 10:00 and make sure you insist on speaking to one of the girls or else there is no deal, understand.”

Will Lynch hated to be blunt with Jason Blevins but he knew the chances of his daughters still being alive were growing smaller and smaller by the hour. And the fact that no one has found their car is another good indication that something bad has happened to them and that the ransom is just a smoke-screen by the killer. Lynch, still hoped that he was wrong but it didn’t look very good as the sun started to pop up over the horizon. Just a few more hours until the last call would come in with instructions for the drop-off. He would then be able to finally size up the situation and know whether he was right or not. Will still prayed that he was wrong as he stood in the hallway and looked at all of the pictures of the girls on the wall. They were beautiful young women who have been in the hands of a kidnapper all night long.

It is shortly after 7:00 and a van drives slowly up to the guard’s building.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Bradson,” the older guard says stepping out of the building, “I guess this is the day.”

“Hello, Sal, been quiet around here?”

“Yeh, no one cares about this old building. She’ll be a beautiful sight coming down later.”

“Yep, nothing like a nice little implosion to arouse a person’s senses. Listen, I need to go in and double-check all of the explosives to make sure they’ll give us a great show.”

“Sure, Mr. Bradson, take all the time you need and I’ll make sure no one tries to follow you in.”

With that the guard opens the gate in the fence and the paneled van drove slowly through. Once it was clear, Trevor Bradson looks in his rear-view mirror and sees Sal close the gate behind him.

“I told you he wasn’t too swift. I hired him just for this moment.”

“Well, both of our little hostages slept right through,” the girl says as she comes out from under a blanket in the back.

“We are now both home free. The last chance for those two just closed the gate and is going to keep anyone else. I figure it will take about two hours to check all of the explosives and get them comfortable. How about we take them to the 13th floor? No one will find them up there,” Bradson says as he drives the van behind the huge 15-story apartment building.

The van pulls into a side door and Bradson and girlfriend get out. They each grab a girl out of the van. Each girl has a blanket wrapped around their naked bodies, throw them over their shoulders and after Bradson takes the padlock off of the door, they carry them inside.

The building is quite a mess with all of the fixtures gone and with huge holes in the walls. The two kidnappers start going up the stairs. Since the building has no power and is being imploded in a few hours, the only way to get up to the 13th floor is to carry them up the stairs.

“Can you make it? We’ll stop about half way up and let them walk the rest of the way. We just need to get them as high up as we can before they wake up.”

So Bradson and his girlfriend start climbing. He is carrying McLaren while his girlfriend is hauling the lighter Mikayla. Since both girls are unconscious it is easier and the blankets are the only thing they have on so they are much lighter. Still it takes both kidnappers about fifteen minutes to haul up to the seventh floor.

“OK, let’s rest here, put them down and wake them up,” Bradson says as he lowers McLaren to the dirty stairwell, “Get the smelling salts out of my bag.”

“How many more do we take them up?”

The girlfriend pulls out the smelling salts and brings it over to where the tightly bound and gagged sisters are sitting leaning against the wall of the 7th floor landing.

“We got about six more floors to go but they’re walking the rest of the way.”

At the Blevins house:

“Lieutenant, we found McLaren’s car,” a another detective says coming in.

“Great, where was it?” Will Lynch answers finally getting some good news, “Where was it?”

“Well, that is the part you’re not going to like. It was in the Philadelphia police impound lot.”

“What, how in the hell did this happen and they not know it? We have lost many valuable hours that we could have finding these girls.”

“Well, someone called in the report of a deserted car and the tow company came and took the car there around midnight. The driver went home to bed without hearing the bulletin until this morning when he reported to work. We’ve got a team rushing over to go over the entire car. If there is anything, we can still have enough time to find them.”

“Yeh, but it would have been a lot better if we had had this car last night.”

Will Lynch gets on the phone and talks to one of his lead investigators at the impound lot.

“Anything yet?”

“No, we let me know, as soon as possible. These girls don’t have much more time.”

He closes his phone and goes back in to see if Blevins has the money together yet.

Meanwhile across town:

“Here we are the 13th floor, ladies, or better known as your final destination,” the man says as he opens the door to a large hallway with no doors on the rooms on either side.

The two naked teenagers are pulled into the room by a rope around both of their necks. The girls are sweaty and look tired. Both girls still have the large red ball gags crammed in their mouths causing them to have drool drain down their bodies intermeshed with their sweat. Their wrists are bound tightly behind their back and they both have rope wound around their breasts. Both of them have rope wound above and then below their chest. McLaren has much larger breasts than her younger sister so her breast ropes stand out more. Both of them have rope taken down between their breasts, down under the bottom ropes and then back up the other shoulder before being tied back to their wrists. The girls cry as they see the deserted stripped-down shell of the 13th floor of the doomed apartment building.

“Let’s get them in here. They will be able to hear all the noise outside but won’t be able to see anything down below.”

The two kidnappers force the Blevins’s sisters into a room that used to be a big interior laundry room. The female kidnapper takes the blankets that were around the girls in the van and spreads them out on the concrete, filthy floor.

“OK, girls, down to your knees. It’s time to tie you both down for the last time. Don’t worry you will not be here very long.”

McLaren and Mikayla are forced down to their knees and then lowered down to their stomachs.

“OK, baby, let’s get them hogtied so that we can check the explosives on this floor and the last two floors. Then when we come back, we’ll say goodbye and head back downstairs.”

The girls’ legs are bent upwards and the woman starts wrapping a rope around Mikayla’s wrists while Bradson is handling McLaren. Both girls are crying but they can’t do anything about their dilemma. Bradson decides to tell them what was being planned for them.

“OK, ladies, let me tell you where you’re at and what is going to happen. You see this is the old Crawford Towers, one of the first huge apartment buildings in Philadelphia. It was once home to thousands of people but now it is an eyesore and has to be taken down. And see that stuff against the wall over there, it is a plasticique and it is used to cause an implosion.”

McLaren and Mikayla scream louder into their gags and shake their heads trying to convince their kidnappers not to do this but Bradson is not wavering.

“Now I know it isn’t what you wanted to see this end this way but it has never been about the money. You see, ladies, your wonderful father killed my father twenty years ago and I was just a young boy at the time. He was hellbent on finding my father guilty of murdering a young woman and threw the book at him. My father had no chance against a hot-shot young assistant D.A. like the mighty Jason Blevins and he was convicted and sentenced to life without parole. The real killer was found a year later after another woman was murdered but it was too late for dad. He was knifed in a prison courtyard about six months into his sentence. My mother never was the same after that and she died about ten years ago. Your father took my family away from me and I have waiting a long time to get my vengeance on your father. I waited until the perfect time and when I got this demolition job I knew that it was time.”

By this time both of them were finished hogtying the girls. Both of their legs were bent in the air held in place by several lengths of rope. Bradson is doing a final check of their bonds tightening them wherever loose. He hadn’t planned this out this thorough for one of the knots to undo it.

“So at high-noon one of the original residents of this building will hit the switch and this place will come crashing down on itself and you, two, will come down with it. I trust you will feel no pain and it will end quickly. I do plan to give my condolences to your father shortly thereafter. So there it is and do you have any objections to my plans. Good, I didn’t think so. Now we do need to go check on the explosives and make sure they are ready.”

With that he slaps both of the girls’ bare asses and he and his girlfriend leave the room and head for the other parts of the building. Immediately both girls start rolling around trying to loosen their bonds. They try and scream as loud as possible but the ballgags are crammed in tightly and won’t allow much noise. Besides, they are thirteen stories up and even though there are no windows in the building, the room they have been placed in, is in the rear of the building away from crowd growing outside. The girls’ can hear the noise outside but can’t do anything about it.

Five minutes pass and then ten, then twenty and finally after thirty minutes, Bradson and his girlfriend come back to McLaren and Mikayla who have tested their bonds unsuccessfully.

“Well, I see you, two haven’t been able to free yourselves. I didn’t think you would so it is now time to finally bid farewell,” Bradson says as he rechecks the girls’ bonds, “I will say that I enjoyed our intimate time together last night. I’m just glad that you lost your virginity, Mikayla, before you died. And McLaren, I imagine that you never told your parents about losing your virginity to some long-gone boyfriend. I will convey that fact to them when I see them later this morning. For now, I am leaving you this clock so that you can see how much time you have left.

The girl places a large screen clock down in front of the girls. It is currently 8:30.

“So as you can see, you have about 3 and a half hours to find a way to escape but even if you do, there is a gate up on the second floor which is locked and no one is allowed within a half mile of this place. There is no escape so just enjoy your last time on earth. Goodbye, ladies, it has been fun and profitable for us.”

With that Bradson squeezes both girls’ breasts, kisses them on the gag lips and then he and his girlfriend depart, waving to them as they disappear from the doorway. Both girls can hear the clanging of their feet on the steel steps and then the sound fades away. Soon it is quiet except for the chirping of birds coming from outside.

“Well, it is all set for the big bang in about three hours, Sal,” Bradson calmly tells his security guard as he drives out of the place, “Remember you need to leave in about an hour so that the place can be totally secured within a half mile away from here.”

“OK, Mr. Bradson, it has a pleasure working for you and I can’t wait to see the old lady come down.”

“Me too, Sal, me too,” Bradson answers as he rolls his window back up and slowly drives off onto the road.

Meanwhile back at the Blevins house,

“OK, Jason, now the kidnapper will be calling in a few minutes and when he does make him give you some evidence of living. If he doesn’t want to or hesitates, then the girls are probably not alive. I’m sorry to have to tell you that but I’m just giving you my personal experience.” Lynch tells the tired prosecutor.

“I hope you are wrong. We can’t live without them.”

It was exactly 10:00 when Jason Blevins’s cellphone rings and Trevor Bradson, using a voice scrambler, begins.

“Well, Mr. Blevins, you got the money?”

“Yes, but I need to talk my daughters before I give you one dime.”

“Not a chance. They’re both being kept somewhere else and if you don’t give me the money, they will stay there until they die. Do you really want that to happen?”

“No, but how do I know that they’re not already dead.”

“You don’t but if you don’t give me the money, I guarantee that they are going to die. So are you willing to take a chance.”

“No! Where do you want me to take the money?”

“Not you. I want the good Lt. Lynch to bring me the money.”

“I don’t know a Lt. Lynch?”

“Don’t play with me. I know you’ve called the cops and I know that Will Lynch is the head detective so I know he is there with you right now listening and trying to trace this call. Well, good luck Lt. Lynch, this phone is untraceable so I can stay on longer. Now do we have an agreement. The money for the girls’ safe return.”

“Yes, now where do you want it delivered.”

“Good, bring the money in a briefcase to the airport terminal and put it on the conveyor belt and then I will call and tell you where the girls can be found.”

“How do I know that you’re going to let my girls go.”

“You don’t but then again you have no choice, do you?”

“You better or else I won’t stop until I find you.”

“Mr. Blevins, money in airport at 12:00 or else you won’t hear from me again.”

With that Trevor Bradson closes his deposable phone and throws it into the lake, then gets back in his car and drives off. He heads back to his apartment where his girlfriend is waiting for him.

It is shortly after 10:00 or less than two hours until Crawford Towers comes down. Outside the crowd is building and the police are present to do crowd control. Helicopters are flying overhead reporting for the several TV stations covering the impending implosion. No one down on the ground knows nothing about what is going on inside on the 13th floor. McLaren and Mikayla are feverishly working at freeing themselves. They can hear the ticking of the alarm clock that Bradson left behind. They can see the time and know how much time they have left. That has led to a constant thrashing around of the two naked teenagers to get free. The girls first tried to roll around trying to free themselves or get out of the room where maybe they could find a piece of glass to help them. But looking around the place had been swept clean of any glass so that opening was gone. They worked for a while to try and reach the hogtie rope but the knots had been turned in such a way that their numb fingers couldn’t grab the loose end.

The two girls were glistening from sweat and their hair was matted down with water. Still they had no choice but to continue and never give up even as the clock struck 10:30 just an hour and a half until the building imploded.

Meanwhile Bradson pulled back into the motel parking lot and made it to the door where he was greeted by his girlfriend.

“The Blevins are paying the ransom. Good old Lt. Lynch tried to talk them out of it unless they could talk to the girls but in the end, they couldn’t risk it.”

“So it is going to happen. I can’t believe that we get all that money and you get the ultimate revenge. I worked perfectly.”

“Yes, I would love to see the expression on Jason Blevins’ face when he finds out that his precious daughters were in that building when it collapsed. It would be worth going to jail to see.”

“But, honey, just think of the revenge we’re going to have each day lying on the beach of Cayman enjoying all that money.”

Bradson and his girlfriend hug and kiss before they continue to pack up.

For the captive teenagers on the 13th floor, time was going by too quickly. The alarm clock had just passed the 11:00 hour just 60 minutes until they would be crushed to death with the old building. The girls can hear more noise outside the windows on the other side of the building but they couldn’t do anything about it. McLaren and Mikayla had changed to one final position in a last gasp attempt to survive. Mikayla had managed to turn herself totally around and was working on the hogtie rope of McLaren’s. She figured that her bigger sister had the best chance to save them so she struggled with her numb fingers to try and work the knots around McLaren’s ankles on the rope that went from her wrists to her ankles.

Mikayla and McLaren’s long hair was drenched in sweat and their bare bodies looked more oiled than sweaty but that was the nature. They worked and worked and worked harder and harder but didn’t seem to get very far. Suddenly though, McLaren jerked and it broke. Mikayla screamed into her gag with joy as her sister managed to move her legs and within a few minutes she was sitting up on her ass. It was now 11:20 so their joy was shortlived. There was still the matter of either trying to hop for help but that would be risky and almost impossible to get help in 40 minutes. McLaren decided her best chance was for her sister to try and get her legs loosened. The 19-year-old could then try and run up to the roof and maybe get help from one of the many helicopters flying around. But time was against the two siblings.

“OK, Mrs. Blevins, drop the satchel off and then get out of there. We will take it from there. When the kidnapper picks up the package, we will activate the homing device, monitor it and they will hopefully lead us back to the girls,” Lt. Lynch tells Becky Blevins as she is fitted with a tracking device and handed the large satchel full of money, “Remember if someone approaches you, get out of there quickly.”

“Don’t worry. I just want my girls back,” Becky says as she kisses Jason and leaves with the other cop.

Jason Blevins watches as his wife drives slowly out of the driveway and he prays that this will bring their daughters safely back to them. Will Lynch has a feeling that something just doesn’t seem right with all of this.

Trevor Bradson is standing at the front desk of the motel.

“Leaving us already, Mr Bradson,” the clerk asks as he brings the bill up on the computer.

“Yeh, this job is done. The Crawford Towers comes down in less than an hour and we have to move on to our next job.”

“And where would that be, sir?”

“Texas, we have another job like this in Houston and then after that a little R & R with my gal.”

“She is sure a looker and by the complaints I had from people around you two, she’s quite a thing in bed.”

“Yeh, and I am really sorry that we were loud but you can’t stifle passion, now can you?”

With that Trevor Bradson pays the bill and walks out to the awaiting car where his girlfriend is waiting.

“Well, that is done now on to our great reward,” he laughs as he gets in the car, “We’ll drive to the airport where your car is and then you can go pick up the ransom from Mrs. Blevins while I go to the site and watch the girls die.”

They both laugh, share a kiss and then drive away from the motel.

It is now 11:40 just twenty minutes until the building goes and McLaren and Mikayla are now desperately trying to untie McLaren’s ankles. McLaren is working with her arms as much as she can while Mikayla is doing the most work with her hands right on top of her sister’s bonds working feverishly on the knot. Their only chance is still for McLaren to make it up to the roof and pray that someone will see them before it is too late. Neither girl is trying to talk now because they are gagged too well and it would take too much much-needed energy and time to do it.

Becki Blevins manoeuvres the car into the airport parking garage. She looks anxiously at her watch. It is 11:50 just ten minutes until the deadline. She prays for her daughters’ safety and gets out. She grabs the satchel out of the back of the car and heads for the designated locker area to drop it off. The FBI is monitoring her every move as she gets on the elevator that takes her to the main floor. The FBI has men all over the airport looking for the person who will pick up the satchel.

Meanwhile Trevor Bradson pulls into the driveway of the Blevins’s home. He had lied to his girlfriend. He wasn’t going to the site to see the building implode. Instead he was going to Jason Blevins’ home and basically confess to the kidnapping. He wanted to be there in person when Blevins say his daughters die in the building since the implosion was being shown on live TV.

“Yes, my name is Trevor Bradson and I have some very important information concerning the whereabouts of McLaren and Mikayla Blevins.”

The FBI agent at the door quickly escorted Bradson into the living room where Lt. Lynch and Jason Blevins were standing anxiously awaiting word from the airport.

“Sorry to bother you sir, but this gentleman says he knows some vital information about the Blevins’ girls. Do you want to see him?”

“It better be some good information.”

“Oh, it is. I know where they are being held.”

“Let him in here. Do you know where my daughters are being held?”

Trevor Bradson starts walking around the Blevins’s living room looking at the family pictures on the mantle.

“A very nice looking family you have Mr. Blevins. It is a shame that your two lovely daughters are missing.”

“You said that you have some information about their whereabouts,” Will Lynch asks getting a little suspicious.

“Yeh, what a lovely pair of daughters you have. It would awful if you never saw them again,” Trevor Bradson continues looking at his watch which says 11:55.

“Excuse me but do you know where my daughters are or not?” an exhausted Jason Blevins asks his unusually odd acting intruder.

“Yes, I know where they are. I put them there,” Bradson grandly announces as he picks up a picture of McLaren in her soccer uniform from the mantle.

“What!”

Will Lynch immediately pulls out his gun and points it at Bradson.

“There is no need, Lieutenant, for the gun. I am unarmed and am going to surrender. I just wanted to come here and see Mr. Blevins face to face to explain why I kidnapped his daughters.”

“Where are they,” Jason asks lunging at Bradson.

“Now, now, now, Jason, violence against me will not get you their location. Let’s just say that they are safe and sound for right now.”

“OK, Bradson, what do you want now? Your money is being dropped off at the airport just as you demanded. So what else are you after.”

“Ah, yes, the ransom. My stupid, naïve girlfriend is there to pick it up and will undoubtedly be arrested by your men when she picks it up. That is why I sent her instead of my going. I wanted to be here with Jason when she’s arrested.”

“OK, for God’s sake, Bradson, give me back my girls. Whatever beef you have with me, they are innocent.”

“Innocent, innocent! I know that but sometimes the innocent get hurt because of others’ actions. You don’t recognize me, do you, Jason.”

Trevor Bradson looks at his watch. He smiles as it reads 11:58. Two minutes until his vengeance is complete.

He stands over and looks out the window and then starts talking.

“My real name is Matt Travis. My father was Brad Travis. Remember him, Jason. He was your first prosecution.”

“Yeah, I remember your father. I got a conviction on a rape case against him.”

“Yeah, and he was innocent just like he told you over and over again. Remember how you badgered him to confess. Told him how his family would be better off if he would just confess so he did so that he could get a lighter sentence.

“But he was found innocent a year later when another janitor at the school confessed.

“But he died six months earlier when he was stabbed in his cell after he tried to help a younger prisoner who was being forced into a sexual affair with another inmate. My father died trying to protect someone else. That was my father.”

“Yes, I apologized for the grievous mistake.”

“Yeh, but who did you deliver that apology to. My mother died three months after my father went to prison and I was in foster care by the time the high and mighty Jason Blevins admitted he made a mistake. So don’t tell me how innocent don’t suffer. I suffered for the rest of my childhood.”

“I’m sorry about all of it. I don’t go a day without thinking about how my arrogance and my ambition caused his family a lot of pain but I can’t do anything about it. I am truly sorry for the pain it caused you but my daughters weren’t even born then so they know nothing about your father.”

“No, they do now. I told them everything and how they must die to make things right.”

Jason Blevins lunges at Bradson in anger.

“Die! We are paying your damn ransom to get our daughters back. What are saying about dying?”

“They have been left bound and gagged and quite unable to escape and in thirty seconds they will die. Want to see for yourself?”

Bradson goes over and turns the TV on. The local stations are covering the Crawford Towers implosion live.

“Ah, what a wonderful sight. An old building about to come down in a pile of concrete and dirt. Just think somewhere up there are your precious daughters, McLaren and Mikayla. I wonder what they are thinking as the time ticks down to -- Yes, there she goes. That is such a beautiful sight. Well, lieutenant, aren’t you going to call someone.”

Lt. Lynch had tried to get the word to the Crawford Towers when Bradson finally revealed the girls’ location but something had blocked his signal. It was a hand jamming device that Bradson pressed in his pocket. Now that the building had come down and his revenge was complete, he no longer needed to keep the lieutenant from communicating with his men at the scene.

“The girls were in the Crawford Towers. I don’t know. He jammed my signal but send some paramedics in to see if they can be found. What! OK, cancel that last order. I’ll let him know.”

Both Jason Blevins and Trevor Bradson looked at Lt. Lynch.

Meanwhile some fifteen minutes earlier in Crawford Towers. McLaren and Mikayla were near exhaustion as McLaren got to her knees. She was still unable to get to her feet having fallen back several times when she attempted to get to her feet. They looked at the clock. It read 11:48 or just twelve minutes to live. Finally McLaren tried again and this time she managed to get to her feet. Mikayla is exhausted but the brave 18 –year-old still managed to encourage her older sister as she made it to her feet. McLaren didn’t want to leave her helpless sister but she knew that the only way for them to survive was for her to make it up to roof and pray that someone will be there.

So it was around 11:50 when McLaren muttered some words behind her gag to her sister who looked up at here. It was as if the two sisters were communicating their goodbyes to each other. The younger sister watches as her sister disappears out the door quickly. Mikayla just watches the alarm clock ticking toward noon and her doom as McLaren races as fast as she can toward the stairwell. She had to look ahead of her because there was glass and debris all over the place. She couldn’t fall or impale herself on anything if she was to save herself and her sister.

It was about 11:52 when McLaren hit the stairs. She had to struggle to keep her soaked long blonde hair out of her eyes so she can look and see where she was going. Fortunately for the young teen, the stairwell was clear and there were no doors anywhere including the one that led to the roof. She got excited as she made it to within three steps of the top. McLaren could hear the sound of a helicopter flying over the Crawford Towers. The poor, scared bound and gagged girl could do nothing but cry as she stepped out onto the roof just to see the copter head off toward the east. Meanwhile down on the 13th floor, Mikayla heard the chopper’s sound as well and prayed that somehow they saw McLaren if her sister had made it to the roof. She looked at the clock. It was 11:55.

For most of the morning it had been a rather routine Saturday morning for the two men on the WFDR-TV traffic helicopter. Normally traffic reporter, Daniel Lawrence and his pilot, Paul Forster, only worked the work week but because of the Crawford Towers implosion and the large crowds expected, they were working this Saturday morning. Daniel had reported for several hours and they were working on some footage for the evening news making one final sweep over before heading back to the station. Nothing much was expected as they approached the old building one final time. Suddenly Daniel catches something moving out of the corner of his eye as they left the building.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see anything.” Paul answers his colleague, “What do you see?”

“I don’t know. It looked something was moving on the roof.”

“Probably a bird getting one final touchdown before the old girl goes down. You want to go back over and check it out.”

“Yeh, just to satisfy my curiosity. It isn’t anyone that is for sure.”

And with that the big chopper turns back around for one more pass-over with less than five minutes left.

McLaren Blevins just stood there crying as she realized their last chance for rescue had just flown off. All the work that she and Mikayla had done to get her loose and now fate had won. She turned to go back downstairs to join her sister in their final horrifying moments when suddenly she heard the chopper coming back. She turned to see the men inside staring down at her in disbelief. The young teen, at this point, didn’t even care about her nudity. She just stood there moving around as much as she could trying to get them to land.

“Oh, my God, it’s a girl and she’s naked!” Daniel yelled in shock at the sight of McLaren Blevins, “Get this thing down. We’ve got to save her.”

“We don’t have much time. Perhaps 2 or 3 minutes at the most. So we’ve got to get her and get back up in a minute or two.”

So Paul Forster guided the chopper down gently on the old building’s roof. Now it was not known if the throng of people outside the barrier watching could see the chopper land but if they did, no alarms were sent. Paul Forster was the best person to land in such a situation. He was a 35-year-old former Army ranger who learned to fly the big military choppers and could drop them down into a small space in a very short period of time. So landing on the narrow roof of Crawford Towers under a tight time frame was a piece of cake for him.

Daniel and Paul both climb quickly out and are met by a running McLaren Blevins who is trying to talk to them from behind the ball gag in her mouth.

“Who did this to you?” Daniel asks as he runs up to her and starts to undo the gag.

McLaren knows that they don’t have much time and she has to get them to go and get Mikayla. McLaren starts being more animated even as Daniel struggles with the gag.

“Come on, we can undo that thing once we get her in the chopper. We don’t have much time,” Paul says looking at his watch.

The watch reads 11:57.

McLaren was near hysterical by now. She is screaming out from behind her gag. She stomped her feet two times and lowers her head downward to try and let them know that Mikayla was two floors down.

Finally the teen breaks back toward the door.

“What the hell is she doing? Does she want to die?” Paul cries out.

“No, I think she’s trying to let us know that there is someone else here and they’re downstairs.”

Daniel runs after McLaren and yells, “Is there someone else here?”

McLaren stops, turns and once again stomps her feet twice, twists her head toward the door and then lowers it.

“There is someone else down there but where are they?”

McLaren stomps her feet twice again and bows her head.

“They are two floors down.”

Daniel yells back at Paul.

“There is someone else in the building. They are two floors down. You get her in the chopper. I’m going to go get the other person.”

“That’s crazy, Danny. You won’t make it. We have a good two minutes only.”

“Listen, get her in the chopper, take it up to hover and I’ll run like hell. I am not going to let someone die in this building if I can help it.”

So Daniel Lawrence, a former all-state football running back, starts sprinting toward the doorway on his unknown rescue mission as Paul picks McLaren up and runs back toward the chopper. He places the bound and gagged teen in the back seat of the chopper, goes to the other side, gets in and brings the chopper gently off of the ground in hover mode. Both McLaren and Paul look anxiously at the doorway of the building. Paul knew that if he felt the building starts to shake, he was getting out of there.

Meanwhile Daniel hit just every other step as he sprinted down the two sets of steps to the 13th floor. As soon as he hit the floor he could hear and also see Mikayla. The spunky 18-year-old had managed to crawl, despite her still hogtied, to the edge of the room and was sticking her head out into the hallway. Daniel could see her as he came closer and closer.

“OH, my God, there is someone down here. Listen, honey, we don’t have much time so I am not going to untie you,” he says as he bends down and picks Mikayla up, “I am going to carry you over my shoulder so try and be still and we’re going up to my chopper. Your sister is safe and if we get up there before this building goes, you’ll make it too.”

So Daniel slings Mikayla over his shoulder and starts running back to the stairs. They make it just as the clock strikes 11:59. Daniel can only pray that the man designated to push the detonation button has an accurate watch. Daniel hardly touches the steps as he carefully balances himself against the wall as he quickly climbs. Fortunately Mikayla is very petite so she doesn’t weigh that much and he is having no difficulty carrying the young teen up to the roof.

“Come on, Danny boy, less than a minute,” Paul says as McLaren struggles to balance herself in the rear seat and still be able to see the door.

Suddenly Daniel emerges with Mikayla over his shoulder. He is running like he did when he was scoring a touchdown. He reaches the chopper in record time. McLaren lets out a muffled sigh of joy when he throws Mikayla in the back beside her. The two teenagers are overwhelmed with joy, though they are still bound and gagged. McLaren presses her head against Mikayla’s and both cry in sheer relief.

Just as Daniel climbs in the front, the building starts to shudder. It is 12:00 on the button and the building is coming down. Paul pulls the throttle forward and the chopper starts lifting upward. The chopper is a little overweight with the two new passengers but the experienced pilot manages to get the thing airborne. He pulls it up about ten feet and then turns it to the left to fly away from the building as quickly as possible. The power of the implosion could suck the chopper downward unless he manages to get away from it quickly.

The chopper is no more than 100 yards away when they look back and see the building start its downward descent in a huge cloud of grayish, dark smoke. Paul fights the throttle as he flies toward an open field about ¾ of a mile away. Meanwhile Daniel has managed to remove the gag from McLaren who leaned forward to help him out.

“Oh, my God, thank you for saving my sister and I,” she says in a panicky mode, “We were kidnapped by this guy who is out for revenge and he was going to kill us!”

“Who are you?”

“My name is McLaren and this is my sister Mikayla. Our father is Assistant District Attorney Jason Blevins.”

“My God, I know who he is. How long have you been kidnapped and who did this.”

“He grabbed us last night, held us in a motel room, he raped both of us and then brought us to that hell hole to leave us to die. Oh, thank you so much for rescuing us.”

“It is a good thing that I saw you standing there on that roof or else we wouldn’t have come back,” Daniel says as he is unclasping Mikayla’s ball gag and removes it.

Mikayla starts bawling like most 18-year-olds would do under those circumstances. She had been very brave and controlled in the building as she helped free her sister but now she was acting her age and showing her fear.

It took Paul a few minutes to land the chopper in the park about a mile from what remained of Crawford Towers. Once they landed, the two men managed to free their two passengers of their bonds. McLaren and Mikayla hugged each other and cried once they were finally free of the ropes. Daniel found a blanket under the back seat and the two naked girls huddled in it while Paul flew them to the nearest hospital for evaluation. Daniel reported everything to the police after first reporting it to his station.

“OK, send someone there and I will handle everything here,” Lt. Lynch says as he hangs up his phone.

Jason Blevins is tearing up as he awaits Will Lynch’s news.

“Why aren’t you sending EMS? There may be chance they survived.”

“They’re fine and on their way to Philadelphia General.”

Bradson looks stunned and blurts out in disbelief, “No way. They’re dead. There was no way that they made it out of there.”

“Oh, because you put them up so high that they couldn’t get loose and climb down. Well, you forgot about going up.”

“There was no way they could get free to go anywhere.”

Jason Blevins had enough of Trevor Bradson, walks over and belts him with a right cross. Bradson falls backward onto a table with his lip busted.

“No, Bradson, one of the girls did get loose, made her way up to the roof and it just happened that a traffic helicopter from WFDV-TV was making one final pass over and saw her. The two men in the chopper somehow got the thing down onto the roof, managed to rescue both girls and fly off just before the building came down. So Trevor Bradson you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent.

So Will Lynch had two of his men escort Trevor Bradson out of the Blevins house while Lynch took Jason Blevins to the hospital to meet his wife and be reunited with the girls.

Details of the horrors that Bradson and his girlfriend put McLaren and Mikayla became known as to the hair-raising rescue that almost didn’t happen.

Paul and Daniel were given medals of bravery for their actions while Daniel told the media just how close they were to flying off. If McLaren had hesitated just one more minute, Trevor Bradson would have achieved his ultimate and sadistic revenge.

Both girls remained in the hospital for several days. They were both sore with rope burns and vaginal injuries from their brutal rapes but both would recover and make it back to school. Trevor Bradson and his girlfriend were charged with two counts of first degree kidnapping, two counts of statutory rape and two counts of attempted first degree murder. Bradson never made it to trial. He died of a terminal brain tumor less than six months after the crime while his girlfriend plea-bargained her way into 30-40 years in prison.

Soon after that Jason Blevins resigned his position and took a job as a college professor of law at Temple University. The family was approached by a Hollywood producer about making a movie but they declined. McLaren and Mikayla both resumed their school life and continued to blossom as beautiful young women. The other two heroes also moved on. Daniel Lawrence left Philadelphia for a news anchor at a Florida TV station while Paul Forster retired after to live in peace and quiet in California.

This story tells just how nasty revenge can become if you let it gnaw away at you for years like Trevor Bradson. Two young innocent lives could have been sacrificed because one man couldn’t let go of the past.

FIN

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