CHAPTER TWO... CAN YOU TAKE ANY MORE?

Okay, amigos - here's chapter two.  If you like this one, chapter three will be along as soon as I find the time and energy to write it.  Heaven knows when that'll be.

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Chapter Two:

When Ted was 15, the very centre of his life was a girl in his neighbourhood called Angie Pacitti.  Angie's father was Italian and her mother Jewish, which made for an interesting home life, to say the least.  Angie had the biggest, brightest brown eyes you ever saw, and a figure not only that some would die for, but perhaps even kill for.  Ted was in love, and when Angie volunteered to be a DJ at her local hospital radio station, so too did Ted.  By the time he realised that Angie did not feel for him what he felt for her, he was more in love with the idea of pursuing a career in radio and the media, thinking that was where the big bucks lay.  When he left school, he got a job spinning records on the graveyard shift at WKPR, and from there obtained a position as a researcher at his local TV station.  Luck was on his side when, one night, a presenter was too ill (or drunk) to go on and Ted was called upon to take his place.  Ted was, surprisingly, a natural, and his rise was meteoric;  from reading the news and interviewing small-town elected officials, he graduated to an investigative programme exposing cons, frauds, shady dealings and criminal enterprises.

He became a national name when he exposed a corrupt official who was not only taking bribes for awarding building contracts, but was also regularly "indulging" himself with underage rent boys.  Suddenly it seemed that every TV station in the country wanted Ted Stevens.  Now, 15 short years later, his show "On the Spot" was a ratings winner coast-to-coast.  On his way to the top, he had met and married Mary Severin, an assistant producer on one of his shows, and now, life seemed complete.  Well, almost complete.  Mary couldn't have children, which was a disappointment for Ted, but he had resigned himself to the situation.  So too, it appeared, had Mary.

However, he had made enemies on his way to the top.  Not amongst colleagues and co-workers, but amongst those whose criminal activity he had uncovered and revealed on his show.  A few had sworn to get even, but nothing had ever come of it and, apart from taking a few simple and sensible precautions, Ted didn't feel the need to go overboard on personal security.  After all, he was too well-known for anyone to risk doing him any real harm - who would be foolish enough to have a go at "the people's Champion", Ted Stevens?  Still, there had been threats, usually in the form of anonymous 'phone calls, or badly-typed and poorly-spelled warnings mailed to the station.  Ted hadn't paid them much heed.

As he sat there in a cold sweat, waiting for the emergency services to arrive, a sudden, shocking, realisation dawned upon Ted.  So - that was it.  Someone with a grudge against him must have planted the bomb in his car which had killed Ben.  Poor Ben - nobody deserved to die like that, least of all Ben.  "They'll pay for that," he vowed.  But what would happen now?  When whoever it was learned that they had missed their target, they would try again.  They wouldn't give up until he was dead.  His life would be in constant danger until they achieved their objective.   "My god," he suddenly thought.  "Not just my life, but Mary's too."  He sobbed and clutched his head in his hands.  "What'll I do?  God help me, what'll I do?"

He was suddenly aware of three men standing in the doorway.  They were led by a short, squat figure with the neck of a bulldog and a face to match.  "Sorry, the door was open - I knocked, but you couldn't have heard me.  You all right?"

"Sure - sure," stammered Ted, "c'mon in."

"Captain Jaconelli, 45th Precinct.  And you are - ?"

Ted looked him straight in the eye.  "Ben - Ben Stevens," he replied.

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For chapter one, see the previous post.  For chapter three, enthusiastic entreaties might help.

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