Last Stand

Last Stand The Curious Series Book 5 BY: B.P Stevens Copyright © [2022] [B.P Stevens] – All rights Reserved This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Free Gift! Sign up for my mailing list to receive this FREE exclusive copy of ( Bleeding Carpets ) as well as to be notified of any new releases, giveaways, contests, cover reveals and so much more Click here to sign up for my newsletter Description Belton County detective tags along with high school genius, Ian Brown, to find the kidnapped Dennis Walker and expose the secrets of corruption that run deep in Belton County. Ashley and Ian make one last stand in the final book of the Curious series in this small-town thriller. The mission: No matter the cost, save Dennis Walker. Ashley and Caleb attempt to take on Chester Labs without the help of Belton Police. But with Max and the Chester Labs security team waiting, the duo has no chance of winning. Ian, Badrah, and Lincoln join the fray after discovering a secret message from Mr. Walker himself, and they risk everything to save their beloved teacher. But with no one coming to help, a bunch of kids can only do so much. Ashley and Ian risk their careers and lives in the final book of this police procedural series to save Dennis Walker and eliminate corruption in Belton police. Tables of Content Phone Home Dennis looked at the landline that the guard placed on the table next to him. He scanned the man’s face and turned to see Chester Lambert walking in behind him. The grey-haired man had become the stuff of Dennis’ nightmares and had returned. Dennis had no idea what he wanted this time, but as always, it wouldn’t be anything good. “Mr. Walker, how are you doing today?” Lambert asked with a smile. “What do you want? I’m doing the work you asked me to, what now?” Dennis replied, not sure he wanted to deal with whatever this was. Chester smiled, “I know you’re doing the work, I also know you’re doing it as slowly as possible, and that’s really irking me, because…” the man paused and the smile vanished from his face, replaced by thunder in his eyes. “Because I don’t have time for this; and neither do you.” Dennis shook his head, “I’m working as fast as I can, I hadn’t progressed this far when I was on my own. I need to get this right, so we can’t speed this up any more than it already is,” Dennis lied. He was purposefully slowing things down, knowing that it was the only way for him to prolong the inevitable. He made the research from the others who worked with him disappear by literally eating some of the pages after secretly ripping them out, or changing the values of their calculations, to make them have accidents that would set them back by several hours. It was crazy, and Dennis had a blast doing it. “Dennis, none of us here are fools. We see what’s going on, and I believe we had an agreement; which I was hoping everyone would respect. But it seems as though you have no plans to hold up your end of the bargain,” Lambert continued, his voice getting more animated as he spoke. Dennis could tell the man was feeling a lot of pressure. He was normally calm and collected, never seeing a reason to raise his voice. But now, he was on the verge of reaching across the table and smacking Dennis. Something had changed, and Chester Lambert was on the verge of losing it. “I’ll do my best,” Dennis replied, turning away. The guard that had placed the phone grabbed his arm and pulled him back instantly, “Boss isn’t done with you yet.” Dennis smiled and turned to Lambert, who seemed almost impatient. “What is it?” “I need you to make a call.” Dennis froze. He had been looking for a way to reach the outside world, and now it was being offered to him by his own captors. Dennis wondered if he was being serious. He would be able to call the police, let them know what was going on, and they would begin looking for him. It was a stretch, but he could do it. But Dennis recalled that he was still in the arms of his captors, and there was no way they would let him say just what he wanted on the phone. He looked at the device on the table, “Well, I did want to talk to a few of my friends, so it would be nice to let them know I’m still alive, you know?” “That’s what you’ll be doing, but you will be calling Belton police, and you will be reading from a script we’ve prepared for you,” Chester paused. “Now, they wanted us to make it a recorded message, but I wanted to believe that you’re an adult, and you can make smart choices. So, here’s your offer; you read it properly, and give us no problems, or, you even give them the hint that you’re going to say something else, they’ll pull the plug, and they’ll cut off a few of your toes. You don’t need them to work, so I’m sure you’ll be able to keep it up.” Dennis turned to the guard, not sure of what to say. There was no doubt that the man wanted to do it. He was in charge of throwing him back into the dark room every day after he was done with work. From the way he behaved, Dennis could tell that he was one of the men who had beaten him before he agreed to comply with them. The man had been starved of torturing Dennis and was looking for a reason