The Formidable Stranger (Trilogy)

A New Deadline

"I pray to God she's okay" was the only six words Casper could say as he hurried home. Pulling into the driveway he left the car running in the middle of the yard and ran up to the porch, there was a sign on the door, a piece of paper that read Now you know we mean business. "Crap!" he exclaimed as his heart raced even more, he pushed the door wide open so that it slammed on the inside wall.

"Mom!" he began shouting desperately and looking all over the large living area.

"Ma! Where are ya?! Shit.. I'm gonna kill him!"

"Kill who?" the voice of Katherine as she came in from the kitchen "And what the hell are you shouting for??" she asked again.

Cas grabbed his mother and hugged her tightly as he said "I'm glad you're okay"

"What's going on?" She said now realizing he was really scared. He sat her down and told her everything that happened with Tammy and Drew. On her face you could see that she was now worried as she hugged her son again. She then placed both hands on his shoulders and said "listen to me, I don't want you to worry about me Cas, just focus on getting your friend back"

"What are you saying? I should give these guys what they want like dad did?"

"No honey..."

"Then what Ma, it's not like the police have all of a sudden replaced all the crooked cops with good ones, the Kingship has them in their pocket" He said

"I know, maybe this is a job for that vigilante that's been kicking the crap out of criminals and helping people" Kat said as she looked at him.

"You mean that guy who dresses like some sort of ninja?" he replied as to steer away any suspicions "I'm supposed to hope he shows up?"

"Something tells me he isn't that far... but anyway, sleep on it, tomorrow we'll figure it out, and if they want you to cooperate I know they won't hurt Tammy".

Cas looked at his mother strange as he wondered why she was talking like that, clearly he wasn't thinking straight but it seemed like either Kat had a lot of faith in this vigilante or she knew her son's secret. Anyway, he went to bed in anticipation for the new day to begin and though he had trouble falling asleep he knew he had to get his rest. The new deadline was fast approaching.

Sunday came and Katherine took it upon herself to go to church and pray, she left a note on the coffee machine in the kitchen for Casper to see; wishing him luck and that he and his friends would be in her prayers. As he got out of bed and was enjoying a hot cup of coffee his phone began buzzing off.

"Hello"

"I got my glock, let's go pop these niggas and get T back" Drew said on the other end.

Cas sipped his coffee and answered "They'll strip you of your gun at the door, leave it at home, when the time's right I'll give you one of theirs" Cas replied

"Badass... So what's the plan?"

"Go straight to the location, I'll meet you on the inside" he said as he ended the call. It was 7:30am when Cas took a shower and headed for Manhattan, deciding that he had to get something from the company basement.

Meanwhile, Drew didn't listen; he took his glock and made his way to the address. This time it was an apartment building not far from the last location, which made the mission a lot harder seeing as there would be other tenants around. Drew mounted his bike and headed out for Harlem, he tried calling back Casper to see where he was but there was no answer. A couple of minutes later and he arrived around 8:20, with ten minutes to spare he took a look around the neighborhood and around the building, the apartment number listed was one on the 5th floor and there were people going in and out of the building. Drew parked directly in front where he noticed the old Cadillac belonging to Mr. Sir and also a black SUV which most likely meant there was some additional muscle upstairs. He walked passed a fat lady combing her daughter's hair as he wondered what the outcome of the mission would be on this fine Sunday morning. Moments later he arrived at room #306, he noticed only one guard on the outside of the door and assuming he would strip him of his gun, Drew knew he had to have some insurance to save his girlfriend so he pretended to be a casual passerby to trick the guard. As he walked by slowly he reached for his glock and gave the guard a gun-butt to his face, grabbing him he pointed the weapon in his face and searched him taking away his.