Richard went to visit his daughter to celebrate his eightieth birthday, but when she opened the door, she was in tears and sent him away. Richard sensed something was wrong and confirmed his worries after peeking through her front windows.
Richard tapped his fingers nervously on the steering wheel as he drove. Deidre used to come over every Thanksgiving, but that stopped after his wife’s funeral four years ago. Now, they only spoke on the phone each week.
Richard spread his arms wide as Deidre appeared in the doorway. “Surprise!” he yelled.
“Dad? What are you doing here?” she asked, tears streaming down her face.
“I came to celebrate my birthday with you…it’s the big eight-o!” Richard replied, but the excitement in his voice faded quickly. “What’s wrong, honey? Why are you crying?”
“It’s nothing; everything’s fine,” Deidre quickly wiped her tears and forced a smile. “I just… I wasn’t expecting you, and this isn’t a good time. Sorry, Dad, but I need to focus. On my work. Look, I’ll call you. We’ll have dinner later, okay? Sorry.”
Deidre shut the door, leaving Richard feeling hurt and confused. Something was definitely wrong. Was Deidre in trouble?
Richard stepped back from the door but didn’t leave. He walked over the short flowering shrubs lining the path and peeked through the windows.
Inside, he saw two rough-looking men in the sitting room with Deidre.
“Who was that?” one of them asked in a gruff voice.
“Nobody,” Deidre lied, her voice shaky. “Just a neighbor’s kid… pulling a doorbell prank and running away.”
“Back to business then,” the second man said. “You’re six months behind on your loan payments, Deidre. Mr. Marco’s getting impatient.”
“I just need more time. Business is sure to pick up again in the winter,” she pleaded.
“Time is one thing you haven’t got, sweetie,” the man replied, pulling out a gun. “People who owe Mr. Marco money don’t have a great life expectancy and end up feeding the fishes in the lake…” He pointed the weapon at her.
Terror froze Richard in place. But then, the man stepped back with a look of disgust and tucked the gun into the waistband of his trousers.
“Look around this dump and see if there’s anything valuable we can take to Mr. Marco, Danny,” he ordered. “She’s a businesswoman, so there must be a computer or some kind of equipment here.”
“But I need those things!” she cried. “I can’t make money without my equipment!”
The man patted the butt of his gun. “Boo-hoo. I can still change my mind, you know. Don’t be ungrateful now.”
The men ransacked Deidre’s home before storming out, leaving her curled up and sobbing on the floor.
Nothing made sense to Richard; Deidre’s business was doing well—at least that’s what she had told him. But now, he could sense something was wrong. Deidre needed his help.
The men loaded several appliances from her home into their vehicle.
When they finally drove away, Richard followed them.
The men stopped at a two-story brick building downtown that looked like a bar. Although it was closed, the door was unlocked. No one stopped Richard as he entered the building.
Inside, the men gathered at a large table with several other rough-looking men. One of them stood and swaggered toward him.
“The club’s closed,” he growled. “Come back later.”
“I’m here to discuss Deidre’s debt,” Richard announced.
“Oh?” The man at the head of the table rose and stared at Richard. He looked somewhat like a gentleman, except for a nasty scar above his left eye. Richard guessed he was Mr. Marco.
“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 with her monthly profits, but she never made any.”
“I have around $20,000 in my savings,” Richard said, gulping fearfully, shaken that Deidre had borrowed such a large sum.
“That’s only a quarter of what she owes us,” Mr. Marco sighed. “But there’s something you can do to make up the difference.”
Richard didn’t like the sound of that, but he knew he had to do whatever it took to save his daughter from the mess she’d gotten into.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
Mr. Marco grinned at Richard and beckoned him closer to the table.
“My partner and I recently started a small business importing cars to Canada, but some paperwork has been delayed. We’re having trouble getting the… ‘merchandise’… across the border. A kind, innocent-looking grandpa like you should have no trouble crossing in one of our cars.”
Richard had no choice but to agree. Later that night, he pulled into a gas station near the border to use the bathroom and parked beside a police cruiser.
“Jesus!” he gasped as the German Shepherd in the back of the police car began barking and pawing at the window.
Service dogs were trained not to bark at random people unless… Oh, man.
He quickly climbed back into the car, a Valiant, and started reversing as the police dog went crazy.
Two cops rushed out of the gas station and yelled at him to stop as they glanced his way. The GPS app gave directions, but Richard shoved it into his pocket to silence it.
He pushed the Valiant to its limits, weaving through traffic and leaving a trail of outraged drivers while narrowly avoiding collisions. The sirens blared behind him.
Richard soon spotted a narrow, unmarked dirt road leading into the forest ahead. He sharply turned, leaving the main road behind him as he raced into the trees. The muddy trails were difficult to navigate, but Richard pressed on.
He turned down a narrow track that led downhill, then climbed up a slight rise and instantly regretted it.
The car became stuck in a precarious position, balanced above a wide river. Richard tried to reverse, but the tires spun without getting any traction.
In fact, the car started sliding closer to the water.
“No!” Richard shouted, desperately pulling up the parking brake, but it didn’t work.
The car’s nose hit the river with a loud splash, sending a wave of dark water flooding over the hood. Richard shoved the car door open, frantic to escape the sinking vehicle.
The pressure from the water began to push the door shut against Richard’s legs. He splashed around in panic as the river filled the interior.
As the water level crept up to his face, Richard tipped his head back, took one last breath, and pulled himself underwater.
He squeezed through the opening and pushed himself up toward the surface. Taking in a lungful of air, he swam toward the riverbank.
Reaching land made Richard realize how close he had come to death. He was thankfully breathing, but he still needed to figure out what to do about the $80,000. So, Richard hitchhiked home.
“I need to mortgage my house,” he told the bank assistant. “And I need the cash in my account fast.”
Richard waited impatiently as the bank employee processed the paperwork. He jumped in surprise when Deidre called him.
“Some thugs from a local gang were just here asking about you, Dad… what is happening?”
“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 ended the call and signed the paperwork. He didn’t want to give up the home where he had created so many memories with his family, but it was the only way to help Deidre.
A few hours later, he pulled into the club’s parking lot in a rented car and headed toward the entrance.
“Dad, wait!” Richard looked back as Deidre ran toward him.
“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.”
Richard studied the determined look in Deidre’s eyes and knew he couldn’t convince her to leave. As they entered the club, the thugs herded them toward a table.
Richard placed his duffel bag, which contained the cash he’d withdrawn after the mortgage was approved, on the table.
“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’s mouth twisted angrily as he thumped his fist against the table.
“You have the audacity to offer me a measly $15,000? After you come in here and tell me you sank a $100,000 shipment hidden in that car? That doesn’t even begin to cover what you now owe me.”
The gangster grabbed the duffel bag and tossed it to one of his thugs.
“You know, Deidre, I really believed in you, but sometimes, in business, you’ve got to know when to cut your losses.”
He pulled a gun from his suit jacket and pointed it straight at Deidre’s forehead.
Richard stepped in front of her. “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 barrel of the gun.
But suddenly, they heard police sirens outside.
Mr. Marco turned and ran toward the back of the club as loud gunfire echoed and shook the place.
Father and daughter crawled under the table. Chaos erupted in the club, and as Richard looked into Deidre’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 stayed there until the police finally escorted them to safety. Thankfully, Mr. Marco was apprehended.
“Are you certain you don’t have any heart-related health issues?” a paramedic asked Richard as he shook his head in response.
Richard swallowed hard when the police detective approached the ambulance.
“Sir, what were you and your daughter doing in this club today?” the detective asked sternly.
Richard explained about Deidre’s loan and how they had come to the club that day to repay it. He hoped to avoid mentioning 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?” Richard asked nervously.
“It was registered to Mr. Marco’s cousin, which was exactly the lead we needed to take this gang down,” replied the officer.
Richard sighed in relief. He was in the clear.
The police let him and Deidre go once they provided their statements.
“I owe you a huge apology, Dad. I dragged you into this whole mess,” Deidre said as they walked to the front, where Richard’s car was parked.
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 said, placing 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. I don’t think you’ve been ‘fine’ for quite a while now.”
Deidre burst into tears, and Richard put an arm around her. “It’s okay, honey,” he whispered soothingly. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
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