Revenge, Inc.

by J. D. German

  Chapter 33 – The Funeral

  Lynn was letting her mind run free, hoping she would think of something that would lead her to Zarah before the police get there. She wanted to deal with that evil woman herself. Her mind took a right turn and started thinking of what she would do to her.

  “Mrs. Preston?”

  Lynn snapped out of her reverie. “Yes?”

  “I’m Matt Murdoch, the lead detective on this case. May I ask you some questions?”

  Lynn looked him up and down – about six feet two, two-hundred pounds – mostly muscle, dark hair, chiseled face, wrinkled suit, and hazel eyes. Lynn hoped he was good at his job.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Why don’t you start by telling me everything you know about Mr. Gutierrez?”

  “No. . . . I can’t do that. I can’t think of him right now. We’re close friends.”

  Matt looked her in the eye, hoping she would continue, but that was it.

  “How about the woman who is holding him?” He checked his notes. “This Zarah Savvin?”

  Lynn pulled her still wandering mind back into focus. She had to be careful here. She couldn’t tell him about their work to keep a madman out of the White House. And she definitely had to keep Alexei out of he story since she had murdered him.

  “I guess the best place to start is Barbados in the Caribbean islands. Tom was down there investigating the murder of a friend, Jim Norton. He found evidence that led him to a woman guest who lived next door to Norton’s condo as the prime suspect. He pretended to be interested in her – let her pick him up in a bar – and when she tried to poison him he turned the tables, tied her up, and called the police. It turns out she was a serial killer the FBI called the praying mantis killer, because she would seduce her male victims, then kill them right after having sex. . . . That’s what praying mantises do.”

  “Whoa. I’m going to need a lot more detail than that, Mrs. Preston.”

  “No, you don’t. That’s got nothing to do with the present situation, other than she is holding and torturing Tom as retribution for sending her to prison.”

  “So she went to prison then?”

  “Yes. The FBI had her extradited back to the States and gave her twenty years in a federal women’s prison in California.”

  “So, did she escape from there?”

  “Of course. How else could she be here?”

  Matt thought that last statement had an unspoken ‘dummy’ at the end. This lady has an attitude problem. I’ll have to tip-toe around it to get anything out of her.

  “I’ll check on the escape details.”

  “Again, you’re wasting time on irrelevant details, Mr. Murdoch. We need to find out where she’s holding Tom and move in before she mutilates him even more!”

  “You speak very directly, don’t you Mrs. Preston.”

  “No time for wasted words. And call me Lynn. I’ll call you Matt.”

  “What else can you tell me?”

  “I did an online investigation into Zarah Savvin last night. She’s killed five men including Jim Norton. She’s Russian. Came here eleven years ago. Worked for a shady private investigator named Brusilov. Sentenced to twenty years at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. She and three other women escaped three and a half weeks ago. Zarah’s the only one they haven’t caught.”

  “That’s great, Mrs. . . Lynn. I’ll send someone to Chowchilla to question the other women. She might have talked to them about her plans.”

  “Exactly what I was thinking.”

  Matt studied her more closely. This woman has a good mind for this – quick thinking, no wasted time on dead-end leads, logical, and straight to the point. I could use someone like her as a detective. He realized he was wasting time with thoughts like that and turned back to Lynn.

  “Do you have any information about where she might have lived before she went to prison?”

  “No, but I’ll find that out as soon as I get back to my computer.”

  “Why don’t you do that now. That could be the most promising lead yet.”

  “Give me thirty minutes.”

  As she fired up her laptop Lynn’s mind was already prioritizing her internet search options. I know Zarah and Alexei lived in the Washington D. C. area when they worked for George Winston. He, or she, might have bought a house down there. But probably not using their real names. Just in case they were careless I’ll start with the property tax records for D. C., northern Virginia, and Maryland. After that I’ll hack into the vehicle registration and driver’s license files.

  Ten minutes later she got a hit on Alexei Brusilov in the Virginia DMV driver’s license records. His address was in a residential neighborhood in Alexandria. Lynn printed it out and took it to Matt.

  “This is an address registered to Alexei Brusilov in Alexandria, Virginia.”

  “Is it current, or could he have moved?”

  “Someone pays his taxes for him. That might be Zarah.”

  “If he’s still living there he probably pays them himself.”

  “No, he . . .” Lynn caught herself. Only she, Zarah, and now Dave knew what she did to him. “He travels a lot. Hardly ever home. He may have his bank take care of it.”

  “How do you know he travels a lot? Do you know him?”

  “No, but my husband did.”

  “Did know Brusilov? Is Brusilov dead?”

  Damn, Lynn. Pay attention! “No, my husband is.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. How long ago did he die?”

  “Not relevant. Get some people to that Alexandria address.”

  Murdoch thought, She just took over the investigation from me! How did that happen?

  “Right. I’ll get the FBI out there immediately.”

  Lynn followed up with her next question. “What has your team found out?”

  “It’s a little early in the investigation, Mrs. Preston. They’re just getting organized.”

  “So you have nothing to show for the past hour. I knew calling in the police would be a waste of time.”

  “Our forensic team is working on the severed limbs and the packages they were delivered in. But nothing yet.”

  “Delivered? . . . Yes. That’s it! Have they questioned the couriers who delivered them? They had to pick the packages up from somewhere.”

  “No, but we’ll get right on it.” Why didn’t I think of that?

  An hour later they had two drivers from Lightning Courier Service in the conference room. Lynn let Matt take over the questioning. “So your computer routing system took you both to the same pickup address?”

  “Yes sir. It was an old warehouse down in the Navy Yard area – 4911 South Broad Street.”

  “Who handed you the package?”

  “It was left outside the office door.”

  “So you didn’t see anyone?”

  “No sir.”

  The other driver spoke up. “But I did see a vehicle parked near the door. It was a black Chevy Avalanche, a couple years old.”

  Lynn jumped up. “That’s it! That’s her truck!”

  Matt looked at her with hard eyes. “And how do you know that, Mrs. Preston?”

  “Irrelevant. But I know it’s her.”

  Murdoch glared at her for a few more seconds, then told his men “Get moving. Frank, call the chief and have him put together an assault force. We’ll swing by the station for guns and vests and meet him there.”

  As he headed out the door he looked back at Lynn. “You have a lot of explaining to do when this is over.”

  Lynn drove to within a block of the address and parked her truck around the corner from the warehouse office. She knew it would take the Philly police time to get ready for the operation – someone had to put check marks in a lot of boxes before an armed police force could leave the station. As soon as Matt and his men were out of the CSIC parking lot Lynn ran out to Jack’s traveling armory and sped off toward the Navy Yard.

  She got there in record time
, slipped out of the driver’s door, and opened the false bottom to the pickup bed. She grabbed an M-16 assault rifle, her Glock pistol with extra magazines, and three smoke grenades. After clipping the grenades to her belt she set off on a trot for the back of the warehouse. The sliding door to the truck entrance was open a few inches. She tried to squeeze through it, but the opening was too narrow.

  She looked up at the rollers and track at the top of the door and saw nothing but rust. This door hasn’t been moved for quite awhile. If I can push it open a little more I can get inside. But if the rollers squeak it will alert Zarah . . . here goes. Lynn put her full weight – all 118 pounds of it – into pushing on the door. Nothing happened. She looked around for a pole to pry it open with, but there was nothing light enough for her to pick up alone. Okay. One more try. She pushed until she thought her insides would split open . . . Creeek. The door moved six inches – just enough for her to wiggle her way through it.

  Z was sitting in front of Tom Gutierrez. His hand was wrapped tightly and the stub of his leg was in a bucket of ice water. I’m glad I thought to bring the ice cooler. I don’t want him bleeding to death until I’m through with him.

  Tom’s head lolled to the side again. She slapped him hard across the face. “Wake up! I don’t want you to miss a minute of the pain.” After another slap he was able to pull his head upright. But she was wrong. There was no pain. His mind had cut off all communication with his pain nerves hours ago. He prayed again in his mind that it would be over soon – that God in his mercy would take him to heaven to be with Christ. He remembered back to when he had tried to kill himself – after Mary left and took the girls. When he started drinking. He put a pistol in his mouth, but couldn’t pull the trigger.

  Zarah was talking to him again. “What should I cut off next? Another hand – or a leg – or maybe what’s hanging between your legs. Now that would be painful.” Zarah paused and cocked her head. “What was that! Did you hear that, Tommy boy? It sounds like someone has come to the rescue.” Zarah left Tom and climbed up onto the overhead crane framework. Then she banged her knife against the metal to lure the intruder Tom. I hope it’s Jack’s wife – all alone. She will slowly enter the room, look over and see Tom, cautiously look all around for me, maybe even walk the perimeter of the room looking in all the dark corners. But she won’t look up – they never do. Then she’ll rush up to Tom and try to talk to him. Maybe hug him. That’s when I’ll drop down and attack.

  Lynn didn’t do any of those things – except the last one. She rushed up to Tom, set her rifle down, and looked in his eyes. “Oh Tom. I’m so sorry I did this to you. All she wanted was me.”

  Tom shook his head from side to side – just barely, but enough for Lynn to know he was still alive. “Thank God. Thank you Lord for sparing him.” She looked in his eyes. One wasn’t working but with the other he kept looking up, then down, up, then down. He was trying to tell her something. “What is it Tom?” Then she stood up, and looked up just as Zarah leaped from her perch. It was just enough time for Lynn to move sideways to avoid a direct hit. Zarah’s boot struck her on the right shoulder as she came down from above. Lynn reached to draw her pistol from the holster, but the arm wouldn’t respond. The blow had temporarily paralyzed it.

  She immediately went into herself-defense mode – dropped to the ground, rolled away from a kick and came out of it in a fighting stance, facing her opponent. She could see that Zarah was surprised at the move, and that was good because Lynn had several more moves she intended to attack with. They circled each other for a few seconds, then Zarah launched another attack – a swift kick to the head. Lynn was just barely able to pull her head back in time so the kick missed. As Zarah’s momentum carried her leg around Lynn shot her a stiff-fingered blow to the kidney with her left hand. That got a grunt from Zarah and a smile to Lynn’s lips.

  With only one hand I won’t be attacking her, but I can still defend myself and land some counter blows. Zarah’s next attack was a feint down low followed by a straight-on blow to Lynn’s chest. Lynn was able deflect it somewhat but it still stunned her. She back pedaled while she fought the pain. Her opponent realized her advantage and moved to close in for another blow, but Lynn dodged it and shot her a kick to the kneecap. Another grunt.

  Z limped backward and eyed Lynn warily. Then she pulled a knife from an ankle sheath and moved in quickly. Instead of retreating Lynn moved forward and got inside the knife, grabbing the wrist on the way. Z was starting to overpower Lynn’s left hand with her right, the knife coming closer and closer to her neck. Lynn’s mind was running through all the moves she knew for one that would work here, but nothing came to mind. Their faces were only inches apart when she remembered how sensitive the nose was to an attack, so she grabbed Zarah’s nose in her front teeth and clamped down hard. That got a scream out of Zarah followed by the sound of the knife clattering to the floor.

  Zarah back away, holding her nose with her left hand. She paused for a second, slid sideways to where Lynn had set her rifle down and scooped it up. As she was raising the rifle, Lynn yanked a smoke grenade from her belt and threw it at her. It hit Zarah square in the face and made her stagger. When she could stand up straight again she got an evil look on her face. She slowly turned the gun toward Tom and shot him in the forehead. She looked back at Lynn and said, “Now it’s your turn, Bitch.” As the rifle swung around the smoke grenade went off, belching a dense cloud between them. Lynn dropped to her knees as she heard the gunshot and felt the bullet zip through her hair. Lynn dropped another grenade between them and crab-walked off to the side. Zarah took another wild shot at where Lynn used to be before the second smoke cloud erupted. Lynn moved quickly back out of the smoke, putting distance between them. She spotted a forklift and moved behind it. She heard two more shots, then silence. She peaked around the forklift but the smoke cloud blocked her view of Zarah. Lynn managed to ease her pistol from its holster using her left hand. She fired a couple of shots into the cloud and heard nothing but bullets hitting metal siding. Then she heard a car start up and peel out of the parking lot. Lynn ran through the smoke to the office door and saw Zarah’s truck speeding away. She let out the breath she’d been holding, sat on the floor, and let the gun slide from her fingers. Then she looked up at Tom and broke down in tears.

  When Murdoch and the police arrived a few minutes later that’s how they found her. Dave knelt down, put his arm around her, and helped her to her feet. Matt Murdoch took in everything at the scene, guessed at what went down, and saw Lynn in a whole new light.

  A few days later Murdoch stood next to Dave, who again had his arm around Lynn, and listened to the Catholic priest pronounce the Rites of Committal for Juan Thomas Gutierrez. His daughters were there at graveside, sobbing beside Lynn. Rick and Harriet Goodman had driven in from The Farm for the service. Tom’s ex-wife was noticeably absent.