by Bob Blanton
“Ah, Billy’s the tough guy,” Emily hissed. “And you’re such a pretty boy too; what a waste.”
Billy started to spit at Emily. Matthew chopped him in the throat, and he coughed the phlegm out.
“That wasn’t very nice. A pretty boy like you, and no manners. Hmm, I think you would look even tougher if you didn’t have a nose,” Emily hissed. “Let me see.” Emily made a show of drawing around Billy’s nose and Matthew followed the path with the back of his knife.
“Please,” Billy sobbed.
“You mean you don’t want to look like a tough guy?” Emily tsked. “What am I to do with you then?”
“And you, Zeke, what would you like me to do?”
“Nothing, please, I’ll do whatever you ask, please,” Zeke sobbed.
“I’m sure you will,” Emily hissed. “What price… what price?”
The men just stared at her and continued to sob.
“I could just leave you here,” Emily said. “Maybe an invisibility spell; that way no one will be able to find you, at least until your bodies rot and turn into skeletons. I do think the coyotes would find you by smell, they’d probably start snacking once you were too weak to chase them away.”
“Please, no!”
“She’s just lying,” Billy said.
“I’ve got you covered,” Matthew said. He expanded Emily’s end of the portal so that all the men could see was the tree in the Winthrops’ yard that he had put his end against.
“What’s going on?” Zeke cried.
“What else could I do?” Emily mused. Matthew shrunk the portal so Emily reappeared.
“Jesus!” Joe yelled.
“We wouldn’t want everyone wondering if you guys were still around to prey on helpless women,” Emily said. “Now would we?”
“No… just let us go.”
“I could just kill you right here. I’m sure they’ll figure out who you are when they find your bodies.”
“Please…”
“Maybe I should turn you into toads,” Emily said. “You do look like toads.”
“Please…”
“I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. When the police get here they’re going to ask some questions. You’re going to tell them you did this to yourselves.”
“Why?”
“Silence!”
“You’re going to tell them that you’re the three rapists they’ve been looking for. Then you’re going to say that you were feeling so guilty that you wanted to give yourself up and confess. That you did this to each other so none of you would back out. Do you understand me!”
The three just nodded their heads.
“Then you’re going to confess to each and every rape!”
“We can’t!”
“Silence! Oh, but you can and you will; you’re not going to put those women through the pain of a trial. You’re going to confess and pray for a long sentence.”
The men stared at Emily, dumbfounded.
“I know who you are. If by tomorrow you’re not in jail serving time for all of those rapes, I’ll come back and find you. Then I’ll finish carving RAPIST across your foreheads. After that if you don’t confess, I’ll start taking an ounce of flesh each day until you confess and are in jail.”
“You can’t!” screamed Joe.
“Oh, but I can.” She flicked her finger up. “Should I take my first ounce now?”
“No, I’ll do it,” Joe cried.
“How many ounces do you think you can give up and still live?” Emily asked Billy, “HOW MANY!!”
“I don’t know,” Billy stammered.
“I think quite a few. So you boys decide. I do think I’ll start with those things between your legs. That will insure you never rape a woman again,” Emily laughed. “By tomorrow or I take my first ounce!”
With that Emily carefully pushed the phone, she’d found in their clothes, around so she could use her knuckle to press the unlock button. It came up with the ‘emergency call’ option and she pressed it. Emily said, “And if I hear any mention of me from the police or anyone else, I’ll cut your tongues out,” Emily hissed. “By tomorrow!”
Emily used her knuckle to dial 911 and started walking back to her car. She paused, picked up a branch and stuck it into the pile of clothes. “You can tell the cops you dumped your clothes in the pond.”
She started crying. “Matthew what do I do?”
“I’ll meet you at your house, we’ll work it out.” Matthew gathered up his stuff, jumped on his bike, and raced to Emily’s house. He just barely beat her there. He followed her in as she opened the gate.
◆ ◆ ◆
After Emily parked the car, Matthew ran over and helped her out. She was sobbing as he pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay. The police will have them soon.”
“I know,” Emily sniffed. “Let me yell at them again.”
Matthew opened the portal.
“Remember, one word and I’ll have your tongues,” Emily cackled. “Baahaaahaaahaaaaaaa.”
“You sure have that scary laugh down,” Matthew said, after he closed his portal and hugged Emily tighter.
“I learned it for Halloween last year,” Emily gave a weak laugh. “Sonja thinks it’s funny so that keeps me in practice.”
“Come on, let’s go inside and I’ll make you some tea,” Matthew said. “Where are your parents?”
“Thankfully, they’re gone for the weekend. They took Sonja up to San Francisco for some children’s event my grandmother sponsors.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“What’s going on?” Emily asked.
Matthew opened his portal to check on the men. “They’ve gotten up and are walking away. It looks like they fell down once, they’ve got a bunch of leaves in their hair.”
“Okay let me yell at them,” Emily said. “I told you to wait for the police!” she yelled.
The three men were startled. “What the …”
“Back to your place,” Emily yelled. Matthew used his portal to push the men back toward the clearing.
Matthew rapped each man on the back of his head to encourage them to move. They slowly made their way back along the path. “I’ll make us some tea.”
Matthew made the tea; then came back and sat on the couch with Emily. “Here this should help calm you nerves.” Emily leaned against Matthew’s side as she sipped her tea and continued to sob quietly.
“Did the police get there yet?”
Matthew opened his portal and did a quick check. “They’re just walking up to them now.”
“Let me watch.”
Matthew expanded the portal as Emily rotated so they were side by side and could both see through it.
The two Sheriff Deputies walked up to the three men, shaking their heads.
“In all my years,” the older deputy said, shaking his head. “I have never seen anything so ridiculous as three naked men tied together like this. Now can you boys explain what the heck is going on here?”
“They look like perverts to me,” the second deputy said. “How did you boys get tied up like this?”
“We did this to ourselves,” Joe replied. “We want to confess. We raped those five women and the guilt was killing us.”
“Shut up, Joe!” Billy yelled.
“No, we don’t have a choice,” Joe yelled back. “We have to confess to everything. There were others, but we did the five together.”
“Hold on there. Let me read you your rights, then we’ll get you untied and to the station. Then you can confess all you want.”
Joe kept on talking. “Billy has a jammer and …” Billy yanked on his wrist to shut him up.”
“Billy’s ear,” Emily whispered to Matthew. “So you don’t like your nose,” she hissed at Billy. Billy shut up and started sobbing.
“Thanks, Matthew.”
Matthew closed his portal and gave Emily a hug. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I don’t know. I was so scared. I just pulled over because there was this puppy on the road; he
was so cute. I thought I would catch him, take him home, and find out where his owners were. Then he was down the side of the hill a bit, and I walked after him; then all of a sudden those three guys were chasing me.”
“It must have been a trap,” Matthew said.
“I know that now!” Emily started sobbing again. Her sobs became so hard that her shoulders shook and she started having trouble breathing.
Matthew got up and sat on the coffee table in front of her. “Emily will you try something with me?” he asked.
“What?”
“A breathing exercise. It will help you relax and calm down.”
“How can I calm down!”
“Just try, okay?”
“Okay.”
Matthew put his hands on her knees and looked her in the eyes. “Now sit up straight, and breathe out, push all of the air out of your lungs.”
Emily straightened up and pushed all the air out with a long sigh.
“Okay, now just relax. Let your lungs fill on their own,” Matthew said. “Now again, just focus on the exhale.”
Emily nodded and exhaled.
“Keep doing it, only think about exhaling, relax, relax.”
After a few minutes Emily said, “I do feel better, my chest isn’t as tight.”
“Good,” Matthew said. “When you’re stressed, your breathing tends to move up into your chest and you quit using your diaphragm. That just makes you more stressed. This exercise gets your breathing back down and your body automatically relaxes and stops putting out stress hormones.”
“How do you know . . . Oh, Tai Chi, right?”
“Yes, it’s one of the first things they teach you.”
“Don’t you need to go?” Emily asked.
Matthew could tell that she really didn’t want to be alone. “I’m good. I texted Jason and told him something had come up. He’s with Alex so they’ll probably just do something together instead.”
“What about Brea?”
“She’s staying with Jen tonight; they’re finishing up a joint writing assignment, then Brea’s sleeping over, so I can stay with you as long as you want me to.”
“Thanks, I don’t think I can stand to be alone right now.”
“Should I call Alex and have her come over?”
“No, I can’t tell her why I’m upset, so that would be too stressful. Just hang out with me for awhile.”
“Sure, do you want to just sit quietly? Do you want to talk, watch a movie?”
“A movie would be nice. How about Ghost Busters? It’s just crazy and maybe that will help my mood.
A Break In The Clouds
On Sunday morning, Matthew checked into Agent Caruthers’ office to see if she was in and possibly holding a briefing. Her whole staff was present and the briefing had just started.
“Ma’am, there is nothing in the chatter that corroborates the sarin threat.”
“Noted, but I don’t want to discount this source. He gave us the accounts’ numbers and they have all checked out. Agent Giacomo, anything else there?” Agent Caruthers asked.
“I’ve traced the money. The first three bank accounts are for companies we had previously linked to Sayid, the other two appear to be tied to him as well. They all hold major real-estate assets both here in the U.S. and in Europe. He used those assets as guarantee when he opened the trading accounts, which indicates that he plans to trade on margin or sell put options. He hasn’t made any trades yet.”
“How much money has he moved?”
“The accounts now hold a bit over thirty million dollars. He sold the two racehorses he owned and has been selling off his other liquid assets to raise cash. He hasn’t attempted to sell any real estate, so that indicates that whatever he has planned doesn’t leave time for closing that kind of deal. I would guess less than six months as the time frame, otherwise he could do something with the real estate.”
“So we can assume that he expects something to happen that will impact the price of some commodity or stock, and he plans to make trades to take advantage of that. Keep an eye on it, we need to know what he thinks will be making a big move in price,” Agent Caruthers said. “What about the phone number?”
“The phone hasn’t been turned on since you got the text. We were able to determine that it had received a call just before then. The call came from a cell phone here in San Diego, same area as Sayid’s house, a little sloppy of our friend. We’ve determined the phone was in Clarksburg, Virginia, when the call was received. Both phones are burners. Ranger Zero’s phone is also a burner and it’s been off, too.
“Okay, keep an eye on Sayid. I want to know where he is at all times. I’ll alert headquarters that we’ve detected a suspected terrorist agent in their area. Team, we need to figure this out before something happens.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Later in the day, Matthew rode his bike over to the Winthrops’ house to see Jason and Brianna. Alex was going to come over, and then the four of them were going to the Renaissance Fair in Carlsbad. Some shopping was planned for Brianna and Alex, while Jason and Matthew schlepped bags and checked out the exhibits on medieval weapons. After that they were planning a late lunch followed by a movie.
Brianna greeted him when he arrived. “Hi, Matt,” she said, before they kissed. “It’s nice of you and Jason to escort Alex and me to the fair.”
“We’re happy to act as protective escort for you girls. Kind of a Men-In-Black gig,” Matthew replied. “I see you’re expecting warm weather.” Brianna was dressed in a light red, knit sundress with lots of pleats in the skirt and a pink, short-sleeved shirt.
“The weatherman says high seventies,” Brianna said, “but I have a matching wrap in case it gets too cool, especially in the movie theater.”
“I was planning on keeping you warm while we watched the movie,” Matthew said, giving Brianna a hug as they walked into the house.
“Is that Alex?” Jason hollered from the downstairs family room.
“No, it’s me,” Matthew hollered back.
“Oh,” Jason replied, sounding disappointed.
“Well, thanks for the warm welcome.”
“Get over yourself, I’m just anxious. Alex was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago.”
“Did you call her?” Matthew asked, as he and Brianna walked down the stairs.
“I texted her. She just sent back ‘wait’,” Jason said, “but that was thirty minutes ago.”
“Text her again.”
“I don’t want to look clingy, like you,” Jason said, giving Matthew and Brianna a look as the two were working their way down the stairs while intertwined.
“I think it’s too late for that. We all know she keeps you on a leash,” Matthew said. “Just call her.”
“I’ll give her another five minutes first.”
“Matt, do you want something to drink?” Brianna asked.
“Just a glass of water,” Matthew replied, “I’ll get it.”
“No, sit down and try to get Jason to relax, I’ll get it.”
“So why isn’t Emily going to the fair with Alex and Brea?” Matthew asked. “I can’t believe she’s going to pass up a shared shopping experience with Alex.”
“Emily is supposed to be going on some hot date with Tyler. They’re going to Julian to do some hiking and have a romantic picnic. You know Alex isn’t into outdoors, and especially hiking. And I don’t like hanging around Tyler. Emily’s great, but he’s still a jerk in my mind.”
“You’ll need to keep that to yourself,” Matthew said.
“I think Emily knows he a jerk. She just thinks he’ll change,” Jason said. “Anyway, it means we won’t have as many shopping bags to carry.”
“At least we’ll get to check out the weapons, that will be cool. I think they’re doing a couple of sword-fighting expositions.”
Brianna came back in with a glass of water for Matthew and an orange juice for herself.
“You didn’t get me anything.”
“You’
ve got two legs, go get it yourself,” Brianna retorted. “But first you should go and let Alex in, she was just driving up when I checked the security monitor.”
“Great!” Jason jumped up from the sofa and ran up the stairs.
Moments later, Alex and Emily came down the stairs together. Alex was dressed like Brianna, in a light sundress with a shawl. Emily was wearing jeans, a sweater and hiking boots.
“Hi, Emily,” Brianna said. “I thought you were off to Julian today.”
Alex quickly jumped in, “She decided she wasn’t up for a day in the wilderness. So she’s going to the fair with us.” Alex gave Brianna a stern look, signaling for her to just go along and not ask questions.
Matthew looked at Emily and immediately recognized that she was stressed out. He’d checked on her in the morning and had hoped that their chat would make her feel better. But he’d obviously been too optimistic. He knew it would take some time for her to recover from posttraumatic stress caused by being chased and nearly raped. She had been a little more upbeat after he’d let her cackle at each member of the wolf pack. She had wanted to re-motivate them about staying committed to their confessions. But he could see that her improved outlook hadn’t lasted.
“We’re glad to have you join us,” Matthew said, “even if it means we’ll be carrying more shopping bags.”
“Definitely, the more the merrier,” Brianna added.
Jason paused at the top of the stairs and caught Matthew’s eye. He gave him a shrug as he made his way down the stairs.
Brianna’s phone rang. “Really! Hey turn on the news. Jen says they caught the wolf pack.”
Jason grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. “Which channel?”
“All of them.”
“Breaking news! The Sheriff reports that three men are in custody and have confessed to the series of rapes that have occurred over the last two months along San Diego’s north coast. We go to our reporter, Katie Jutland, on scene at the Vista Detention facility. Katie, what are you hearing?”
“Jim, as you know, the north county coastal area has been plagued by a series of brutal rapes over the last two months. Five women have been reported brutally beaten and raped during that time. Yesterday, in a bizarre event, three men were found off of San Dieguito road. They were tied to each other back-to-back. The men were totally nude with no identification. When questioned by Sheriff deputies, they immediately confessed to the rapes and stated that they tied themselves to the tree and called 911 so they could confess.”