The Road to EGOT Season 02 Pt. 22

When they had left, I slammed my fist on my kitchen countertop. I was so angry, I was shaking. I knew I couldn't leave Liana in that hell. I had to find a way to free them. As well as stopping Derek.

**************

The following morning, Ayelet and I met at the bank. She was, just like all of the other times I had seen her, dressed to perfection. Her black skirt and purple blouse clung to her amazing figure. We had agreed that I would go inside the bank together. It may raise a red flag, but we wouldn't know exactly what was in the box or what I would find useful until we opened it. It would be much simpler if I went with her.

"Ms Zurer. How good to see you?" The bank manager said as he saw her come in.

"Same here Anthony." I allowed the two of them to catch up as I looked around the bank. I had been very paranoid as of late, but with the way things had gone, I felt it was with good reason.

"Right this way." I heard Anthony say as he guided Ayelet and myself towards where they kept the deposit boxes. It was a room with a long table and the security boxes spread all around. Anthony found the one in question and pulled it out. He put it on the table.

"May we have some privacy please?" Ayelet asked the manager. He quickly nodded before leaving us. Ayelet inserted the key and opened the box. She stood aside and allowed me to go through it. There it was! It was the hard drive that I had hoped to find all those months ago at Derek's house. I quickly pulled it out and smiled broadly to myself. This would do it. This would take Derek down. There was no doubt that it contained all of the blackmail material he had amassed. I took another look into the box and my stomach dropped. Inside there was a ring. Not just any ring. But the same ring I had seen worn but a few days ago. The Senator Kleese was wearing the same ring at the restaurant. I picked it up and took a close look at it. There was no doubt it was also the same ring that Howard wore that night he brought me the files on Derek.

"What is this ring?" I asked Ayelet.

"Oh that! Derek wore it all of the time. Would never remove it, up until a few years ago. He was almost paranoid about it."

"Why did he stop wearing it?"

"I'm not sure. I asked him and he would brush me off."

I took a long look at it. It was a beautiful and expensive piece of jewelry. It was pure silver with an engraving on it. It was a bird emblazoned in fire. I pocketed it, grabbed the hard drive and told Ayelet it was time to go.

"Thank you so much." I told her once we were outside of the bank.

"Do you have what you need?"

"I think so. We will have to go through the hard drive. If it's what I think it is. We will have him. You'll be free."

"What should I do now?" she asked.

"Just go on about your day. You have my number, call me if you need anything. I just need a little bit of time."

"Good luck Mr. Bryant." She told me as she headed to her car. I nodded and headed to mine, knowing I would need all the luck I could get.

**************

I drove right away to Gary's office. He had been expecting me. We plugged the hard drive to his computer and opened the files right away. All of the files had names with locations and dates. Just looking at the names we knew exactly what we were dealing with. Actors, singers, producers, studio executives. It was a who's who of Hollywood blackmail. We took our time going through some of the entries. A studio exec was giving a blowjob to another man in a club bathroom. One of the young disney stars was doing cocaine. There were the pictures that Kanye was worried about. Beyonce was on her knees servicing him in what looked to be backstage before a performance. Ariana and Jennette... It was incredible. The amount of material he had. There were also conversations that had been recorded. Filled with racist and sexist statements made by high level executives when they thought no one was listening. There was even a tape of one promising a young actress a role if she fucked him in his office. It was all here. This hard drive could literally bring the entire industry to its knees.

"Gary... We got him. This is it, We got the son of a bitch." I said gleefully.

"This is unbelievable." Gary said for maybe the hundredth time. "We need to get this into the right hands."

"Way ahead of you. I know just the person." This had been the part I had not been looking forward to. I had to turn to someone I hadn't spoken to in sometime. I had no idea how they would react. I reached for my phone, only to find it already vibrating. I looked at the phone it was Kara.

"Duncan! He knows! He knows you took the hard drive. He knows Ayelet helped you." Shit I thought.

"Okay how about you?" I asked her.

"Not many people know about that box. It's only a matter of time before he knows I helped you."

"Go to your place and gather a few things. I'll come get you."

"Okay Duncan. Be fast." I hung up and quickly called Ayelet.

"Duncan. I didn't expect to hear from you so soon." She said.

"Ayelet Derek knows. Where are you? I'm sending someone to get you." Once she told me I turned to Gary.

"Go get Ayelet. Derek knows. Let's move" I told him before I rushed outside.

************

I parked my car near the entrance to Kara's building. I ran inside and took the elevator. I knocked on her door.

"Thank god, it's you." She said letting me in.

"You have your things?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I have some clothes and stuff. What's going to happen?" She asked clearly scared out of her mind.

"I got the evidence I need. Just need to get it to the right people than all of this will be over. Until then, i'll have someone I trust drive you and Ayelet out of town. You'll be safe until this blows over." She nodded and I grabbed her bag as we headed towards the door. When I opened it, I heard the elevator door open and Derek's men walking out. I quickly pulled Kara towards the staircase. We started running down the stairs. I was hoping that we had slipped inside quick enough. If they hadn't seen us we may have a chance.

We were a few floors down when I heard the door open over us. "Shit." I groaned and began to pick up the pace. Kara was breathing heavily behind and with good reason. If they caught up to us, there really wasn't much I could do to fend off these two.

"Duncan!" Kara shouted behind me. I looked back to see one of the men had grabbed her shoulder. Without thinking, I threw my elbow straight to his nose. I felt the bone break as I connected hard. Bone gushed from his nose, a little even getting on Kara's clothes. The henchman was off balance, grabbing his nose in pain. I took the opportunity and quickly punched him in the face. He fell over, tripping the other goon that was rushing towards us.

I grabbed Kara and ran onto the next floor. The fire alarm was where I had expected it to be. I pulled it and a moment later the entire building was filled with sound of the alarm. Kara and I continued to move towards the staircase on the opposite side of the floor. By the time we got there, all of the residents were hurrying down towards the lobby. Kara and I joined the growing crowd and hoped they would be sufficient cover.

When we arrived at the lobby, I caught sight of Derek. He was looking for me in the crowd. I ducked my head and held on tightly to Kara's hand as we rode the wave of people outside. We saw Derek's men come out of the staircase. When we finally got outside we ran for my car. I unlocked the doors and we scrambled inside.

"Oh my god, oh my god." Kara said when we drove away. "We were almost killed."

"Almost.. But we're fine. We made it out." I told her as I grabbed my phone and dialled.

"Hello." Marty picked up the call on the second ring.

"Marty, I need a favor. Can you meet me?"

"What do you need?"

**************

We met Gary, Marty and Ayelet about an hour after that. Gary and Ayelet had been able to move on without much trouble. Stamp had focused his efforts on Kara. Practically running his office, she had a lot of insight and information about him and his business.

"Marty thank you so much." I told him as we hugged.

"You're welcome. This is crazy."

"It is. But we're almost there. I just need you to take them somewhere safe until I can finish this."

"No problem. I know just where to take them."

"Don't tell me. Just in case something happens. Take care of them okay?"

"Of course I will."

"And Marty. Take care of yourself too." We hugged again as he took Kara's and Ayelet suitcases to his car.

"Marty is one of my best and most trusted friends. You'll be safe with him." I told them both.

"You be careful Duncan." Ayelet told me. "Derek is angry, desperate. There's no telling what he can do."

"I'll be fine." I promised them. I watched them as they piled into Marty's car. Gary and I stood side by side as we watched the car pull away.

"Get the evidence together Gary. I'm going to talk to someone who can help us. Get the evidence and keep a low profile until I call you."

"You got it." Gary told me as he pulled away. I got in my BMW and did the same.

**********

I pulled off the highway. I was almost at my destination and for a moment, I thought I was home free. A pair of headlights flashed in my rearview mirror and I cursed myself for thinking I may get lucky. I tried to speed up but the SUV hit me hard from behind. I jerked but tried to remain calm and keep the car balanced.

The car pulled up next to me. I looked inside and recognized Stamp's men. The one with the bloody nose was in the passenger's seat. I tried to pull away, but they turned towards me hitting the side of my BMW. I groaned at the way the car jerked again. I was bouncing all over the street and could feel myself losing control of the vehicle.

I took a sharp left turn hoping to lose the car. No luck whatsoever. They were still on me. They hit me again, and this time I was done for. The car turned all on its own and flipped on the hard concrete street. The entire world had slowed down as I could pick out every detail. I could see my beautiful car breaking apart piece by piece as it continued to roll around. I did my best to stay loose as to not break a bone. I hit my head hard against, before the car finally, finally stopped rolling.

I reached up and felt the wet blood against my head. I quickly took stock of my body, checking to make sure nothing was broken. I felt okay. Except maybe dizzy and nauseous. Damn I may have a concussion I thought. I tried to open the door without much luck. I threw my shoulder hard against the door. It took me a couple of tries before the door finally gave way. I fell out of the car. I looked at what was left of my BMW. It was smashed to pieces. I was lucky to still be alive.

I kneeled on one knee, trying to catch my breath. I could hear the engine of the SUV roaring towards me. I took stock of my surroundings, looking for somewhere to hide. There was a large garage structure. I got myself up and headed as fast as I could towards there. The headlights shined on me and I did the best I could to get faster. The SUV followed me relentlessly. I tripped and fell. My arm hit the floor hard. I looked up and saw the car coming right at me. This couldn't be it! I couldn't move, I was frozen. The car would be on top of me and all I could think about were a pair of beautiful blue eyes.

Right as I prepared to get hit, another car came out of nowhere and T boned the SUV. The crash was loud and glass was everywhere. I finally felt my legs again and quickly moved out of the way. The other car was a big white van. Out of it came out Howard. He looked cool and collected in a perfectly fitted suit. He walked towards where I was leaning against the wall and reached his hand out to me. I couldn't help but notice the ring on his finger as he helped me to get to my feet. I looked behind him to see a group of men with guns approach the busted up SUV.

"Mr. Bryant, how fortunate we weren't far from here."

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Just giving a hand." He told me with a cool attitude. "Now don't you have somewhere you need to be?" I didn't know if I should thank him or not. I only nodded and ran. As I exited the parking structure, I heard loud gunshots coming from it. I just kept running. I didn't look back, I couldn't look back.

**********

I reached the house. I don't know how I did it, but I finally reached the house. I knocked on the door. I could already hear the barking of the little dog and couldn't help but smile. When the door opened, all I saw was those beautiful blue eyes that I had missed so much.

"Duncan!" She said with a worried look.

"Hey Alex."

******

Next Chapter: The Fall Of Derek Stamp.