Page 30 of Fire and Ice

"Hi, Kyle."

"Good evening, Miss Pierce. Glad you made it in tonight," Kyle said and then turned to the woman beside him. "Ma, this is Maia Pierce, she lives at the stonehouse where Aunt Grace works. Miss Pierce, this is my Ma, Betty."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Betty said graciously. "Goodness, Grace wasn't kidding when she said you are the prettiest little thing."

Maia smiled and lowered her eyes. She could easily brush off compliments from men but when it came to middle-aged grocery store owners, she could apparently get a little embarrassed. "Um, thanks. I'll just go grab the ice cream."

"The freezer section is all the way to the back," Kyle offered.

As Maia made her way down the aisle, the door chimed and someone walked in. She took a peek at the security mirror installed by the front wall ceiling and saw a guy in a Frankenstein mask.

"May I help you find anything, sir?" Betty called out.

The guy mumbled something unintelligible but the voice sounded eerily familiar. The back of Maia's neck began to prickle.

The door chimed again. This time a guy in a Michael Myer's hockey mask and a second man in a skull mask walked in. The last guy pulled out a cord and tied it around the door bars sealing everyone in the grocery in.

"What the hell is going on?" Kyle's angry voice thundered.

"Show some respect, boy," the guy in the skull mask warned as he whipped an AK-47 out from under his trench coat. Maia, who was quickly making her way to the front of the grocery, heard a sickening thud, a grunt of pain, and Betty screaming.

"Leave my son alone! What do you want?" she shrieked.

Frankenstein mask hauled Kyle from behind the counter. "Show me where the surveillance cameras are. Mrs. Banning, keep your hands up. You push the button to call 911, you'll be burying a son."

Maia held her hands behind her head as she made her presence known. She already knew who these three guys were.

"What is going on here?" Maia asked carefully.

"Well, well, well. Look who has decided to join us," Michael Myers mask man, who sounded like the bald Syd, said.

"Oh, Miss Pierce, please stay out of it..." Betty pleaded fearfully.

"Syd, get back and watch the door," skull man ordered, obviously the one in charge.

Frankenstein guy returned pushing Kyle, who was now sporting a busted lip, with the barrel of a semi-automatic pistol. Maia started fuming.

"Cameras are off."

"Great, now we can take these fucking suffocating masks off," skull man said as he tugged off the mask to reveal the brown-haired guy who Maia assumed was Benny. Frankenstein was Tommy, who she already determined was the tall guy from the beach and she was right about which one was Syd.

"All right. Negotiations Mrs. Banning. Our boss's patience has run out."

"Please let Miss Pierce and my son go."

"I'm not leaving you, Ma," Kyle said fiercely.

"Why would I let go of my pawns?" Benny said silkily. "Here's how it's gonna go. We need to store our shit here, and—I repeat—you do not want to mess with the Russian mob, so you do not want to say anything to the cops. They cannot protect you. You don't know how far we've got our hooks into your police boys. And in exchange you get ten grand. Now that's a sweet deal, don't you think?"

"Don't do it, Ma," Kyle said. "We don't want any of that drug money. It is drugs, yeah? That shit you guys are talking about."

"How attached are you to your knee caps, boy?" Benny asked pulling a pistol from the front of his pants and pointing it at Kyle.

Betty screamed again. "No, oh please no! I'll cooperate... "

"No, Ma!" Kyle yelled.

Maia decided to act ... hysterical.

---