A couple of years ago, I wrote several short stories with the intent of submitting them to short story competitions. I did enter one of my short stories, but I didn’t win anything. This was the second short story I wrote, which was based on a writing prompt from Writer’s Digest (I think).
Late Night Phone Call is about a woman, Deidra, who receives a late night phone call from a friend, Stephanie, who is in danger and needs Deidra’s help.
I hope you enjoy it… and thanks for taking the time to read it! Also, feel free to leave comments, criticisms or whatever. Thanks!
Late Night Phone Call
“Hello?”
“Deidra,” the voice was barely above a whisper. “I need your help.”
“Who is this?” Deidra asked groggily.
“It’s Stephanie,” she said, her voice cracking but still whispering. “I don’t want to die.”
Now this statement woke Deidra up.
“What makes you think you’re going to die?” Deidra asked, fumbling out of bed.
“I’m locked in the trunk of a car,” she whispered. “I need your help… please.”
“Wait a minute,” Deidra said, powering up her computer while wiping the sleep from her eyes. “Where are you?”
“Chicago,” she said quickly, “which is why I need your help.”
Deidra took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“Okay,” she said, clicking away on the keys of her laptop. “Where are you now?”
“I don’t know,” Stephanie whimpered. “They’re still driving around.”
“Okay,” Deidra said, pulling the phone away and writing down Stephanie’s number. “Where were you when they grabbed you?”
“I was at the Art Institute for some work thing when these two men approached me about doing some consulting work,” Stephanie whispered. “I didn’t think anything about it so I excused myself from my group and followed them down a hallway. I figured they worked for the Art Institute since they seemed to know where they were going. Then one of them pulled out a gun and said to follow him or else.”
“How’d they get you in the car?” Deidra asked, still typing on her laptop.
“They took me out a back door where a black Lincoln Town Car was waiting,” she said. “The trunk popped open and the guy with the gun motioned for me to get in the trunk. They took my purse, but luckily they didn’t search me or they would have found my cell phone in my pocket.”
“Okay,” Deidra said. “I think I’ve got a lock on your location. I’m going to put you on speaker phone while I call Drew down at the station.”
“So you’re still with Drew?” Stephanie asked.
“No, but we’re still friends,” Deidra said, as she dialed Drew’s number on her other cell phone.
Deidra listened as Drew’s cell phone rang. After the fifth ring, just before Deidra was about to hang up, Drew answered.
“Have you decided to come out and play?” Drew always asked her this question.
“Not today,” Deidra said. “It’s Stephanie. I think she’s in trouble.”
Deidra put the other cell phone down on the dining room table and quickly explained the situation to Drew.
“So how far out are they from O’Hare?” Drew asked as he ran out of the station.
“About ten minutes, maybe less,” Deidra said.
“I’m on it,” Drew said.
Deidra hung up with Drew and she could hear Stephanie breathing and talking to herself. She picked the cell phone up and turned off the speaker phone.
“Steph, are you still with me?” Deidra asked.
“Yeah, but I’m scared,” Stephanie whispered.
“Don’t worry,” Deidra tried to reassure her friend. “Drew is on his way and I’m not hanging up until you’re safe.”
Deidra heard tires screeching.
“The car stopped,” Stephanie said frantically.
“Stay with me Steph,” Deidra said, trying to stay calm. “Don’t turn the phone off. Tuck it in your bra, okay?”
“Okay,” Stephanie said as two car doors slammed closed. “Thanks.”
Deidra knew that if Stephanie had not physically changed, her double-D breasts could hide almost anything. She could hear Stephanie tuck the cell phone away and then a few moments later she heard the trunk lid pop open.
“Why is Ms. Mink in the trunk?” questioned a man with a foreign accent. “Get her out of there – NOW! And if you’ve harmed a hair on her head, then you will pay the price.”
Deidra could hear Stephanie being helped out of the trunk.
“I hope, Ms. Mink, that my associates did not hurt you,” said the foreigner.
“No,” Stephanie said, “but one of them did threaten to kill me.”
“Yusef, is this true?” the foreigner asked.
Before anyone could respond, a gunshot rang out and Deidra heard Stephanie scream.
Deidra covered her mouth, stifling her own scream. She cradled her cell phone to her ear while she grabbed her other cell phone and dialed Drew.
“What’s going on,” Drew asked.
“They’ve stopped,” Deidra whispered. “One of them shot some guy named Yusef.”
“Okay,” Drew said. “Where did they stop?”
Deidra looked at the small red blinking dot on the map on the computer screen.
“It looks like they’re just outside O’Hare,” Deidra said. “Is there a small airfield there?”
“No, but there is a cargo-only airstrip near there,” Drew said. “I’ve got back-up and we’re going in under the radar. We’re two away.”
Deidra’s attention was drawn back to Stephanie when she heard the foreigner’s voice again.
“Ms. Mink,” the foreigner said, “you have my files and I’d like them back.”
“Like I told your associates, Mr. Rahman, I was pulled from that case and I no longer have your files,” Stephanie said. “They are with the original consultant.”
“Well now, we have a problem because we caught Mr. Burgess shredding the files and he said you put them on a USB flash drive,” said Mr. Rahman.
“Drew, the man who has Stephanie is named Mr. Rahman,” Deidra whispered into her other cell phone. “Does that name ring any bells?”
Drew sucked in a breath before answering.
“This is bad, Dee, really bad,” said Drew before disconnecting the call.
“Ms. Mink, you’ve got one minute to tell me where that flash drive is, or you’ll join Yusef,” said Mr. Rahman.
Seconds ticked away until one minute had passed.
“So you choose to say nothing, Ms. Mink,” said Mr. Rahman. “That’s very unfortunate.”
Deidra heard a single gunshot ring out as Stephanie screamed. Deidra stifled another scream as she listened for Stephanie’s voice or any voice.
“Stephanie,” Deidra cried. “Stephanie, are you there?”
No answer. Deidra had lost contact with Stephanie. She tried to call her back, but it went straight to voice mail. She then tried to call Drew, but he wasn’t answering his phone either.
Deidra paced the floor in her apartment for hours until it was time for her to get ready for work. She still couldn’t reach either Stephanie or Drew. She quickly showered and changed into some fresh clothes. Then she grabbed her laptop and cell phones and headed upstairs to her home office.
She tried Stephanie’s cell phone again. Still no answer. Then she tried Drew’s cell phone, and he answered on the first ring.
“Hey, I’ve been meaning to call you,” he said. “We found an abandoned Lincoln at the cargo airstrip just outside of O’Hare, but no Stephanie, no Mr. Rahman, and no Yusef.”
“Okay,” Stephanie sighed. “What does that mean?”
“I’ve got feelers out, so when I hear something, I’ll let you know,” he replied before disconnecting.
Later that morning, an envelope was delivered to Deidra’s home. She opened it and pulled out a necklace with a bejeweled charm hanging from it. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a USB flash drive. Only Stephanie could bejewel a flash drive with small pink Swarovski crystals and make it fashionable, Deidra thought.
Deidra stuck the empty envelope into the shredder under her desk and then opened the USB flash drive. She inserted it into her laptop’s USB drive, then hung the necklace around her neck. She clicked into the flash drive files. After scanning a couple of documents, Deidra suddenly felt sick to her stomach.
“Stephanie, what have you gotten yourself mixed up in,” Deidra said just as someone rang her doorbell.
Deidra turned to a monitor behind her desk and saw an elderly gentleman standing at her front door.
“May I help you?” she said into the surveillance system’s intercom.
“Ms. Jeffries?” the man inquired.
“Yes,” Deidra replied.
“I have some urgent business with you that involves a Ms. Stephanie Mink,” the stranger said in a foreign accent.
“Come in,” Deidra said loudly as she buzzed the stranger into a secured vestibule.
Deidra recognized that voice, but she couldn’t place it just yet. She watched the monitor as the door opened slightly and the older gentleman stuck his head through the opening. Then he stepped further into the vestibule, followed by a younger gentlemen holding Stephanie by the arm. The older man reached for the second door, which lead into the main house, but found it locked. He turned back to the front door but found it locked as well. He turned around again, scanning the vestibule until he found the security camera. He smiled into the camera and gave a little wave.
“I believe you know our dear friend, Ms. Mink,” the man said, looking up to the security camera.
It hit Deidra like a ton of bricks. Mr. Rahman was here, standing in her vestibule, with Stephanie just behind him. Deidra stood in shock, thankful her friend was still alive, but also a little scared.
“Yes,” Deidra said. “Stephanie and I go way back, Mr. Rahman.”
“Ahh, I see you know my name,” he said, with a little laugh.
“Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Rahman?” Deidra asked.
“Right to the point, I see,” he said. “Well, I’d actually like to discuss this face-to-face, if we can.”
The younger man holding onto Stephanie pulled out a gun and jabbed it into her side.
“Ouch, you little pipsqueak. You do that one more time,” Stephanie snipped as she turned to Mr. Rahman. “If he does that one more time, he’ll be swimming with the fishes like Yusef, I promise you that.”
Mr. Rahman nodded to the younger man. He returned the gesture and put his gun away, but he kept a tight grip on Stephanie’s arm.
“Now Ms. Jeffries,” Mr. Rahman said, once again looking into the security camera. This time, he pulled out his gun and pointed it directly at Stephanie’s head. Deidra’s jaw dropped and she quickly buzzed them into the house.
Mr. Rahman opened the door and the three of them walked through. Deidra sat at her desk for a moment looking at the monitor and the empty vestibule. She quickly grabbed the USB flash drive out of her laptop and reattached it to the necklace hanging around her neck. Tucking it under the neck of her shirt, she then stood up and headed downstairs to greet her unexpected guests.
When Deidra descended the stairs, she locked eyes with Stephanie, who mouthed the words I’m sorry. The corner of Deidra’s mouth twitched in quick acknowledgement, but otherwise, Deidra remained stoic.
“You have a lovely house, Ms. Jeffries,” Mr. Rahman said, holstering his gun.
Deidra glanced around. The open floorplan and vaulted ceilings made the living room and kitchen area massive at first glance, which Deidra liked. This way she could cook and watch TV or entertain guests… oh, who was she kidding, she thought. She never entertained guests. In fact, she could count on one finger the number of people – other than herself – who had even seen the inside of her house. Until now, that is. Unwelcomed guests spelled trouble with a capital T and Mr. Rahman was definitely unwelcomed.
“Thank you,” Deidra finally said.
“It appears Ms. Mink missed a few phone calls from you this morning,” Mr. Rahman said, pulling a cell phone out of his jacket pocket. “So I thought I’d bring her by in person so the two of you could chat. Unfortunately, though, I won’t be able to leave the two of you alone to talk. You see, Ms. Mink has something of mine that I want and I figured, maybe, you could help persuade her to hand it over.”
“What makes you think I could persuade Stephanie to do anything?” Deidra asked as she leaned against small work table.
The phone rang before Mr. Rahman could answer.
“Excuse me a moment,” she said, reaching for the phone. “Hello?”
“Want to go to lunch?” Drew asked.
“Yes, I’ve got those case files in my office now,” Deidra said in code. “I can bring them down to you at the station before I head to lunch, if that’s okay.”
“Are you in trouble?” Drew asked.
“No, it’s no trouble,” Deidra replied. “See you later, then.”
Deidra disconnected before Drew could question her further. If Drew understood anything she said, he would be here with back-up shortly.
“Ms. Jeffries,” Mr. Rahman said, pulling a gun out from beneath his jacket. “I’m afraid you’re not going anywhere until you get Ms. Mink to hand over the flash drive.”
Deidra nodded, and then looked at Stephanie.
“We know Ms. Mink called you earlier,” Mr. Rahman said. “What did she say to you?”
“Nothing, really,” Deidra said, trying to sound calm and in control. “We hadn’t spoken in a few years and I guess she figured that since she was in town, she’d give me a call. We made dinner plans for tonight, so I hope this thing between you two gets resolved before then because I’d hate to cancel our reservations.”
“This ‘thing’ will get resolved, one way or another,” said Mr. Rahman. “Now about this flash drive…”
“Stephanie, do you have the flash drive?” she asked, cutting him off.
“No,” Stephanie replied with a smile.
“Well, then, case solved,” Deidra said turning back to Mr. Rahman, “It appears she does not have this flash drive you’re looking for, so you and your little goonie boy can leave.”
All four of them jumped slightly when they heard a cracking sound. They turned towards the dining room… except for Mr. Rahman. He grabbed his neck as blood spurted out. The younger man then released Stephanie’s arm and lunged towards Mr. Rahman, helping him to the floor. Deidra ran to the vestibule door and hit a button on the intercom, buzzing Drew and his entourage of S.W.A.T. members into her once peaceful house.
Stephanie stood in shock, staring down at Mr. Rahman as he lay dying. She then balled up her fists, rared back, and kicked his lifeless legs.
“You sick son-of-a-turdball!” Stephanie screamed while being pulled away from Mr. Rahman’s body. “I hope you and your good-for-nothing pieces of –.”
“Stephanie,” Deidra said, pulling Stephanie towards the stairs. “Calm down. Let’s go upstairs while they straighten this out.”
Diedra looked at Drew and he nodded at them as they ascended the stairs.
Once upstairs, Deidra lead Stephanie into the office and closed the door. She then turned to her friend.
“You have some ‘splaining to do, Lucy,” Deidra said, swinging the necklace that was dangling from around her neck.
“I know and I’m so sorry I got you involved,” Stephanie cried. “I just didn’t know where else to go or who else to turn to. Don’t tell anyone you have that or we’ll both end up dead for real next time.”
“How’d you get all this information?” Deidra asked. “I mean, you have to know what’s on this flash drive, right?”
Stephanie started explaining — from the day she found the files on Mr. Burgess’ laptop to the first time she met Mr. Rahman and how she transferred the files to the flash drive now dangling around Deidra’s neck.
One evening, Stephanie was working on Mr. Burgess’ laptop in his office and saw an email from Mr. Rahman up on his computer screen. She quickly read it and knew something wasn’t right. She took her blinged-out flash drive, inserted it into Mr. Burgess’ laptop and downloaded all of the files on his computer. She confronted Mr. Burgess about the email and he explained that he was working with the government on some top secret operation.
“He thought he could be an international spy and decided to sell the information to the highest bidder,” Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. “What an ass.”
Stephanie explained that when things went south, Mr. Burgess finally turned to the CIA for help, who then turned him into an “informant” to try and nab Mr. Rahman and anyone in his organization trying to buy the information. As the weeks passed, apparently Mr. Burgess thought he was more of a spy rather than an informant and got cocky about it, bragging to anyone who would listen.
“That’s when Mr. Rahman came to the office,” Stephanie said. “He just looked bad, you know? He and Mr. Burgess got into a heated discussion and after Mr. Rahman left, Mr. Burgess had me call his CIA handler.”
“Then what happened?” Deidra asked.
“I got the hell out of Dodge, that’s what happened,” Stephanie said. “When I got home, I put the flash drive in my laptop and took another peek for myself to see if he was just blowing smoke up everyone’s ass, but he wasn’t. Those emails and files and pictures detail some major terrorist activity.”
“Why come here? Why me?” Deidra asked.
“Because out of everyone I know, you’re the only one I trust with my life,” Stephanie said. “I know we haven’t spoken since your parent’s death on 9/11, but I honestly didn’t know who else to turn to.”
The mere mention of her parents sent a shiver up her spine. Known terrorists had flown those two jets into the Twin Towers and now she had information on more known terrorists hanging around her neck. This was an albatross she didn’t need or want, Deidra thought.
“Okay, I’ll figure something out. Just don’t say anything about this flash drive until I know for certain that we won’t be connected to it in anyway,” Deidra said.
“Okay, I swear,” Stephanie said, holding out her pinkie.
Deidra sighed and entwined her pinkie with Stephanie’s. The moment was interrupted by a light knock on the door.
“Dee,” Drew said as he poked his head through the door. “They’re going to need to question you two, ok?”
Both Stephanie and Deidra nodded in acknowledgement. Stephanie stood up and walked towards Drew as a female officer stepped into view. She reached out towards Stephanie.
“Ms. Mink, if you’ll follow me, we just have a few questions,” the officer said as she led Stephanie down the hallway and back down the stairs.
“You okay?” Drew asked, turning to Deidra.
Deidra pulled the necklace off from around her neck and handed it to Drew.
“I think this is was what Mr. Rahman was looking for,” she said. “There are tons of emails between U.S. government officials and terrorist organizations detailing potential target sites. This is huge, Drew, national security huge. Stephanie got in over her head and turned to me for help, so I’m asking you – begging you – only turn this over to someone you trust with your life.”
Drew fingered the necklace in his hand and then put the necklace back around Deidra’s neck.
“NSA confiscated Mr. Burgess’ laptop from his home the morning before he was killed and they recovered all the files he thought he had erased. Thankfully, they were one step ahead of Mr. Rahman,” Drew said. “As for your involvement in this whole ordeal? Well, considering you’ve not left this house since 9/11, I don’t think anyone’s going to believe you were involved in any way. See? Being agoraphobic does have its advantages.”
Deidra laughed a little. Drew always knew how to make her laugh.
“I know how changes in your atmosphere affect you, so I’ll make sure the window is replaced by this evening and I’ll have the cleaning crew come by as soon as everyone’s out,” Drew added. “I’ll come get you when it’s all clear.”
Drew squeezed Deidra into a tight embrace.
“I’m sorry my fears drove this wedge between us,” Deidra said.
“Don’t say that,” Drew interrupted. “There is no wedge between us. You just don’t like to go out and I do, but maybe one day you’ll trust me with your life like I trust you with mine and you’ll follow me out those doors.”
With that being said, Drew walked out of her office.
“Maybe, someday,” Deidra said, placing one hand on the closed door and palming the flash drive in the other.
“Late Night Phone Call” by Vanessa H. Wood was created in September 2010 and Vanessa H. Wood is the legal copyright holder of this work.
Copyright 2010 by Vanessa H. Wood
