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When Richard goes to see his daughter to celebrate turning eightieth, she answers the door sobbingly and waves him off. Richard looks through her front windows and sees that he is right to suspect problems.
As he drove, Richard nervously drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. Ever since his wife’s funeral four years ago, Deidre has not driven down for Thanksgiving. There were only calls once a week now.
Deidre appeared in the doorway, and Richard opened his arms wide. He exclaimed, “Surprise!”
“Daddy? Why are you in this place?” With tears streaming down her cheeks, she enquired.
“I came to celebrate my birthday with you… it’s the big eight-o!” Richard replied, but the joy in his voice trailed off quickly. “What’s wrong, honey? Why are you crying?”
“It’s nothing; everything’s fine,” Deidre quickly wiped her tears and smiled a little. “I just…I wasn’t expecting you, and this isn’t really a good time. Sorry, Dad, but I, uh, need to focus. On my work, Look, I’ll call you. We’ll have dinner later, okay? Sorry.”
Richard was left bewildered and heartbroken when Deidre closed the door. There was a serious problem. Did Deidre have a problem?
Richard moved away from the front entrance, but he stayed inside. He skirted the low blooming shrubs bordering the walkway and crept up to take a quick look through the windows.
Deidre was in the sitting room with two burly males.
“Who was that?” In an abrupt tone, one of them inquired.
“Nobody,” Deidre said, trembling. “Just a neighbor’s kid… pulling a doorbell prank and running away.”
“Back to business then,” the second man said. “You’re now six months behind on your loan repayments, Deidre. Mr. Marco’s getting impatient.”
“I just need more time. Business is sure to pick up again in the winter,” she pleaded.
The man said, “Time is one thing you haven’t got, sweetie,” and drew his gun. “People who owe Mr. Marco money don’t have a great life expectancy and end up feeding the fishes in the lake…” He was aiming the weapon at her.
Fear immobilized Richard. However, the man quickly turned aside, hiding the gun in the waistline of his pants, and walked back with a disgusted expression.
“Look around this dump and see if there’s anything valuable we can take to Mr. Marco, Danny,” he said. “She’s a businesswoman, so there must be a computer or some kind of equipment around here.”
She exclaimed, “But I need those things!” “I can’t make money without my equipment!”
The man gave his rifle a pat on the butt. “Boo-Hoo.” You know, I may yet change my mind. Now stop being unappreciative.
Deidre was left sobbing on the floor as the men stormed away after ransacking her house.
Richard couldn’t understand anything because Deidre’s business was booming. That’s what she had told him, at any rate. However, Richard now sensed that something was wrong. Deidre was in need of him.
From Deidre’s house, the men placed a number of appliances in their car.
At last, they took off, and Richard went with them.
The men came to a stop at what appeared to be a pub, a two-story brick building downtown. The door was unlocked even though it was closed. Richard entered the facility unhindered by any staff members.
The men had moved to a big table with a number of other burly men seated around it. One of them got up and strode in his direction.
“The club’s closed,” he growled. “Come back later.”
Richard said, “I’m here to discuss Deidre’s debt.”
“Oh?” The man at the head of the table stood up and gave Richard a long look. With the exception of a large scar above his left eye, he appeared to be a gentleman. Mr. Marco, Richard surmised.
“How much does she owe you?” Richard asked.
Mr. Marco smirked. “A good samaritan, huh? Deidre took out a business loan of $80,000 from me. She was supposed to pay me back from her monthly profits, but she never made any.”
“I have about $20,000 in savings.” Richard gasped in terror, surprised that Deidre had taken out such a large loan.
That’s not even close to what she owes us. Mr. Marco let out a sigh. “But there’s something you can do to make up the difference.”
Although Richard didn’t enjoy the sound of that, he knew he had to take all necessary action to keep his daughter out of the trouble she had gotten herself into.
He enquired, “What do you want me to do?”
Mr. Marco waved Richard over to the table with a smile.
“My partner and I recently launched a small business importing cars into Canada, but we’re having trouble getting the’merchandise’ across the border because some of the paperwork has been delayed. It should be easy for a gentle, naive Grandpa like you to cross the border in one of our vehicles.”
Richard was forced to nod in agreement. Later that evening, he stopped beside a patrol to use the restroom at a gas station close to the border town.
The German Shepherd in the back of the police cruiser started barking at him and pawing at the window, and he said, “Jesus!”
Service dogs aren’t supposed to bark at strangers until… Oh, dude.
The police dog went nuts as he hastily got back into the Valiant and began reversing.
He was looked at by two police officers, who rushed out of the gas station store and ordered him to stop. Richard stuffed the GPS app in his pocket to stop the annoying voice instructions.
He threaded through traffic, pushing the Valiant to its breaking point, leaving a trail of furious drivers who barely missed crashes in his wake. Behind him, sirens began to blare.
Before long, Richard noticed a small, unmarked dirt road heading into the jungle. He made a sudden turn and bolted into the trees, leaving the road behind. Richard continued, despite how difficult it was to manage the muddy trails.
He took a narrow road that went downhill. Subsequently, he noticed a tiny elevation and felt instant regret.
Now the car was wedged into an awkward position, perched on a small elevation over a large river. When Richard attempted to go back the way he had come, the tires spun in an attempt to lose traction.
The car was actually sliding toward the water.
“No!” Richard applied the parking brake as hard as he could, but it was ineffective.
With a loud splash, the car’s nose struck the river, causing a wave of dark water to rush over the bonnet. In a desperate attempt to get out of the sinking car, Richard pushed open the door.
Richard felt the automobile door close against his legs due to the water’s pressure. With the interior filled with the river, Richard splashed around in panic.
He tipped his head back, took a final breath, and hauled himself beneath as the water level slowly rose to his face.
Richard forced his way through the gap and thrust himself upward toward the surface. Inhaling deeply, he started to swim in the direction of the riverbank.
Richard became aware of how near death he truly was upon reaching shore. Thankfully, he was still breathing. Still, he had to take action with the $80,000. Richard decided to hitchhike home.
“I need to mortgage my house,” he told the bank assistant. “And I need the cash in my bank account fast.”
While the bank staffer processed the paperwork, Richard impatiently waited. He gave it a start as he heard Deidre’s call.
“A few guys from a nearby gang stopped over to inquire about you, Dad.What’s taking place?”
“Tell them I’ll be there soon. I arranged to pay off your debt for you. I don’t understand why you didn’t come to me first, Deidre, but this isn’t the time to discuss that.”
Richard hung up the phone and signed the documents. The only way to assist Deidre was to give up the house where he had made memories with his family, even if he didn’t want to.
A few hours later, he pulled his rental car into the club’s parking lot and made his way to the entrance.
“Dad, hold on!” Deidre hurried toward Richard, and he looked back.
“I won’t let you face those thugs alone,” she said. “I still don’t understand how you found out about this mess or how you got the money to repay them, but the least I can do is stand by you while you save me.”
Observing the resolute expression in Deidre’s eyes, Richard realized he would be unable to persuade her to part ways. The guys led him and Deidre to the table as soon as they got inside the club.
Richard set his duffel bag on the table, containing the cash he had taken out following the closing of the mortgage.
“Here’s the $80,000 Deidre owed you plus another $15,000 to cover the cost of your car. I, uh, got into some trouble, and the car ended up in a river.”
Mr. Marco beat his hand against the table and screwed his mouth in fury.
“You’re going to give me a meager fifteen thousand dollars? When you enter here and claim to have sunk the $100,000 shipment concealed in that vehicle? “That is not even close to covering what you owe me right now.”
The criminal took hold of the duffel bag and hurled it at one of his goons.
“You know, Deidre, I really believed in you, but sometimes, in business, you’ve got to know when to cut your losses.”
His coat jacket held a gun, which he took out and aimed directly at Deidre’s forehead.
Richard pulled Deidre behind him. “No, please! This is all my fault! Don’t punish her!”
“Well, you made a good point.” The gangster shrugged, and the next moment, Richard was staring down the gun barrel.
Abruptly, they heard sirens from the cops outside.
Loud gunfire erupted, shaking the room, and Mr. Marco turned to flee toward the back.
Crawling under the table were the father and daughter. The club was in disarray, and Richard knew he had to do whatever it took to bring his daughter to safety when he met her terrified eyes.
After tipping over a table, Richard and Deidre positioned themselves in a corner. There, they hid until the cops came to take them away. Thank goodness, Mr. Marco was found.
“Are you certain you don’t have any heart-related health issues?” In the ambulance, Richard shook his head at the paramedic.
At the sight of the police detective approaching the ambulance, Richard took a deep gulp.
The investigator questioned sharply, “Sir, what were you and your daughter doing in this club today?”
Richard gave them the rundown on Deidre’s loan and how they were going to return it that day at the club. With any luck, he wouldn’t have to bring up the car he sank 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 been here to rescue you. You shouldn’t be taking loans from such disreputable people, miss.”
“A car in the river?” With nervousness, Richard enquired.
“It was registered to Mr. Marco’s cousin, which was exactly the lede we needed to take this gang down,” said the cop.
Richard exhaled a sigh of calm. He was safe.
When he and Deidre gave their statements, the police released them.
I really apologize to you, Dad. Richard’s car was parked in front of them, and Deidre apologized, saying, “I dragged you into this whole mess.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I didn’t know how to tell you. How does anyone tell their father that they’re a huge failure?”
“You are not a failure!” Richard put his hands on Deidre’s shoulders. “Maybe your business idea didn’t work out as well as you’d hoped, but you tried, Deidre. I wish you’d felt comfortable enough to tell me what was really going on in your life. Heck, I just wish you felt you could be as close with me as you were with your mother,” he continued. “I don’t think you’ve been ‘fine’ for quite a while now.”
Richard put an arm around Deidre as she started crying. “It’s okay, honey,” he comfortingly said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
