It must have been around 9pm when I finally finished with all my tasks. I did take a small, very small, taste of the fluid mixture that I hoped and prayed would knock someone out. I detected no taste. Then I emptied three eye drop tubes and filled them with the tranquilizer. Afterwards I placed the poison mixture in the hypodermic needle. I was now set. Of course I was anxious and realized that I could wind up dead if my plan did not work out. So I had something to eat, sat down at the TV and waited until 11pm to try to call Matt and Nicole. I wrapped my hair and called. In a moment Matt appeared on the screen and I began to cry.
Matt asked what was wrong. I could not give him any clue that I feared this could be the last time we would ever see each other. I merely told him, “Honey, I have missed you so much and I hope and pray to be with you very soon.” Of course he asked if the police had found anything and I claimed they said they were close to wrapping up the case. He then mentioned something odd. He held up a letter and said, “I hope so since I just received a notice that I am to appear in court for committing an act of terrorism.” I was shocked and asked, “What are you talking about?” He said, “Well my dear, it seems that when I hit the fireman, even though he did not want any charges, and neither did the district attorney, someone in Homeland Security believes I should be charged under the Patriot Act for terrorism.”
I could not believe what he was saying. I asked, “When is the hearing?” He said it was on November 5th, my birthday. I was really furious but I had to keep a level head. I told him I would check into it but right then I wanted to focus on the family. We talked for over an hour and expressed our love for each other. Nicole came on soon afterwards and said she had a surprise for me, but I had to wait until we saw each other again. We too expressed our feelings for one another. Of course I also had to see all the children. I really did miss them as I sat and let them tell me of their adventures. I even laughed as the older children really did seem to be picking up a British accent. Then Nicole came back on and said, “Melanie, I had a really weird dream last night that I want to share with you before you go.” I sat back and inquired, “Well, what was it?” She said, “I dreamt that you were being chased by a woman dressed as a cop, and when she caught you she put you on a pyramid and…well, she killed you with a knife.” I laughed a little and said, “Oh come on Nicole, it was probably just because of the letter Matt got about the stupid charge and all.” She sighed, “I guess you are probably right, but do be careful, I cannot live without you.” I joked, “What, you feel overwhelmed by seven kids?” After saying that I wondered if my humor would touch a raw nerve, but rather than an angry response, she began to cry. She looked at me in the way a sad child might stare at you and said, “Please, I need you by my side because…I love you and you make me complete.” I asked, “Matt could fill the void, couldn’t he?” She quickly rubbed a tear from her eye and replied, “I need you both, and I expect to be with both of you soon. I want my family complete again.” I smiled, and told her we would be back together soon, and then we signed off.
I went to bed, but the reality of the situation hit me right in the face. There were so many things that could go wrong with my plan. I might wind up dead or in jail…an object of public ridicule for the rest of my life. Yet desperate situations call for desperate measures. I told myself that all I had done had been worth it; and the only course of action possible. I did take some comfort that Matt, Nicole and the children were far away and could never be implicated in anything no matter what. I knew this next week would change my life forever, but I hoped it would never touch my family.
Chapter 17
I had a hard time sleeping that evening. I even got up and inspected the chemicals and hoped and prayed they would work. However I realized that was up for speculation. I put my potions in the trunk of Katja’s car and took off early, before Tiffanie arrived back so I could make a quick stop at the city hall before going to the club. I looked up the directory for who owned properties and checked the address I had found in the office. Sure enough, it belonged to a Craig Meyers. Did he live there? I had no idea. It was far out in the country, and would be a long commute to Portland. Yet when I typed his name into the directory for ownership I came up with no other homes. I then called the voter elections division and asked where he was registered. There was someone with that name in a residence in eastern Portland. When I checked court records on his name I came up with a Craig and Alice Meyers – a divorce case decided only seven months earlier. From what I could gather from the proceedings the wife had gained full custody of their two children and ownership that home. Maybe Mr. Meyers actually did live at the address I had found at the club.
Rushing to get to the club by noon, I made it with time to spare. The entrance door was unlocked, but upon entering the bar area I did not see anyone around. I opened the door to the office and lying on the couch naked was a young blonde woman who I had never seen before. Nazir shot up out of his chair and exclaimed, “Amber, I did not expect you to arrive this early…I am so, uh…” I glared at the blonde and yelled, “Get out of here now!” I apparently frightened her since she grabbed her things off the floor and sprinted out of the room. I looked at Nazir with an inquisitive expression and asked, “Is she your woman or am I?” He rushed over to me and apologized, “I am sorry Amber, she means nothing to me – she is just a stupid Russian whore who Adlan has just acquired. I have not even had time to fit a bracelet on her yet.” I just stood there staring at him and replied, “Well, you certainly had time to fit her for other things.” He moved closer to me and actually began to plead, “Amber, you think I would spend money on that thing? She is a commodity to make me money, that is all, I promise!”
This scene was actually amusing – so much so I wanted to laugh but managed to keep a straight face. I reached out my arms and motioned for him to hold me. He began to say something, but I immediately took on a soft voice and said, “Shut up and come here.” I began to kiss him passionately, ignoring both my total revulsion towards him as well as the smell of the rose-scent perfume from the girl that saturated his skin. He then had the audacity to ask, “Want me to lock the door?” to which I pulled back and replied, “You have to be joking! Later, maybe, but only after you take a very long shower and spoil me rotten today!” He replied he would do both.
The poor fool probably thought he had found the perfect woman – one he could buy off as easily as a prostitute but who craved connection to him in a way such a woman would never desire. Ironically, I suppose I was a prostitute, but only to achieve my ultimate ends. I could play the perfect toy, but only as part of my hunting strategy. Little did he know that he was no safer than some little gazelle at a watering hole taking his drink, unaware of the lioness crouched in the grass, patiently waiting for the right time to insert her claws into his soft flesh. I thought back to his analogy of the cat and mouse. If he only realized who the cat was really was and who the victim would be.
Nazir left the office for a moment. In about ten minutes he returned, his hair still wet from having apparently taken a shower. Yet before he could make any demands I immediately asked, “So what shall I do here today?” He looked disappointed so I put my arm around him, “Later dear, I promise.” He laughed and first asked where I might like to go out for dinner. I merely said, “Someplace expensive.” He again laughed, “I guess I better put the Russian whore to work to pay for that then.” I sighed and said, “You do that.”
We sat at the desk and he showed me the schedules and other tedious paperwork tasks. I pretended to enjoy such office work, and he appeared pleased to find someone to give him a hand. After an hour or so he sat back in his chair and asked, “You like ice cream? I really have a taste for some now.” I nodded my head and asked what he had available. He got up and looked in the refrigerator in the corner and said, “Damn, my stupid brothers! All that is left is this empty box!” I said, “No problem, should I go buy some?” He replied, “Sure. Could you please make sure it has chocolate and peanuts in it?”
I said it would be no problem. However, as I was leaving he asked, “If you are going out anyway could you mail this stuff? Here is money for the ice cream and the stamps.”
I walked back to him and took the large stack of envelopes and the money. As I left I turned around and said, “Remember, hands off the girls while I am gone!” He nodded his head and promised.
As I drove off to the supermarket I was incredibly proud of my acting – soon I could at least put an end to the performance though. I parked and looked at the letters – some were addressed to Russian addresses, some were business orders but one in particular caught my attention to the point I actually leaned back and exclaimed, “Oh my God!” It was a letter to a genetics lab. I carefully opened it and sure enough it was one of those services that you send in some sample of the cells from your cheek and they tell you what region of the world you are from. There were two vials in the envelope with very faint red stains – apparently blood. While I could not know for certain, I easily put two and two together. His question about Katja’s family background meant they were suspicious of her. If there were any traces of Tamilla’s blood anywhere they could send in that sample, plus some from Katja, and it would give them almost the exact same results. And upon obtaining that information Katja would probably be little more than a body on a surgical slab missing anything transplantable. I was about to tear up the letter but instead I went into post office at the store, changed the address of the recipient to my legislative office; fortunately Nazir’s money-order of five hundred dollars could not be traced. I then taped everything up and put it in the mail. At least I would be able to know for certain if Tamilla had been murdered.
I returned to the club and Nazir and I shared the ice cream before he again expressed his desire for intimacy. After I gave into Nazir, which was double revolting as I could still smell the fragrance of the blonde on him, we went to dinner. While at a very nice Greek restaurant, candle-lit table, music… the works, Nazir began to brag about how his operation worked. He said the new girl had answered an ad to be a nanny that Adlan had placed in a Russian magazine popular with young women. Once she answered with interest she had to travel to meet with their contact in Kaliningrad – not that expensive on the face of it, but certainly spendy for the average Russian. So once she was in this isolated little piece of Russian territory, and then promised a new and exciting life, she agrees to the trip to the USA and winds up signing the contract. Of course she is asked to pay all her life savings, and agrees to borrow a large sum to pay for her trip to the USA. Once here she learns the nanny job is cancelled and she is left with the option of trying to find the money to return home, or take a job that just happens to come available. Most are too naïve to know what is going on until they are put to work as strippers, prostitutes or sold off to clients as indentured sexual servants.
I sat back and asked, “Is it wise to be telling me all this? We have only known each other a short time.” He laughed, “I trusted you from the start. And you know why I know I can share anything now? No government agent would let me screw her. And to top it off, when you started pestering me to make you pregnant that was the final assurance that sealed the deal.” He just looked at me and shook his head, “Absolutely no agent is dedicated enough to get pregnant to get information on a case.” I then just looked at him flirtatiously, “You still are on for that in January, right?” He again shook his head and smiled, “Okay, probably, but you must be patient.”
We returned to the club around ten and he saw me to the car. We kissed and he reminded me of the performance the next evening. I also reminded him of the date I had with Katja for Wednesday and then I hesitated and asked, “On Wednesday evening, after work, can all of us have a little party together? I would like to see how Petra reacts if she thinks we are all one big happy family, so to speak, and lets her guard down.” He asked, “You do not mind? You two were dating and…”I interrupted him, “Look, if she used me then I want to know. You have to understand that, don’t you?” He nodded, “Yes, as they say, a woman scorned.” I replied, “Right on that!” and jumped in my car.
When I arrived back at Tiffanie’s I had barely entered the apartment before she called from the bedroom for me to come in. I entered and she had some soft music playing, a candle lit on the dresser and of course her lying on her side naked on the bed. With the light being what it was Tiffanie reminded me of some ancient fertility goddess. She had somewhat muscular, pale thighs, a perfect curvature in the waist and in her position her breasts, thought huge and hanging to the side, gave her an appearance of the archetypical mother of antiquity. I began to ask her about her trip but she merely put her finger to my lips and said, “No talking now or for the rest of the night. Please join me.” I readily complied and we shared in the most remarkable intimacy – so much so that I could put aside all my plans and just lose myself until the early hours of the morning.
The next day I woke up before her and went to go get a glass of water. She soon followed and wrapped her arms around me as I was finishing my drink. I turned around and she threw herself at me with an intensity that rivaled the night before. It was as if she and I had not seen each other for months, but I did not mind the distraction one bit. She then sat on the couch and when I joined her she admitted, “I did not want this to happen but I missed you the whole time I was gone. I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Every time there was a romantic country ballad on the radio I thought of you. You know what that means?” I took her hand and asked, “What?” She rolled her eyes, “It means I’m addicted to you! Damn! Here I go and play with fire and the next thing I know some lezbo steals my heart! Damn you…I really think we may wind up more than friends after all!”
At that revelation I asked her about her time in Prineville. She seemed distant as she said, “Fine, it gave me a chance to see my family and all. Cousin was there with her children and I played with them a lot.” I asked, “Do you get along with children well?” She said she did and then she abruptly changed the subject. She asked, “Can you take some time off, maybe three or four days, so we could just get away together?” I smiled and asked where she thought would be fun to travel to. She said, “I don’t know. Some place we can just talk and make sure neither of us is rushing into a mistake.” She paused a moment before asking, “Amber you have not so much as said anything about your feelings. Come on sweetie…how do you feel about all this? Am I just being a fool or do you feel the same?” I replied, “I feel exactly the same way you do. I have to warn you my life is complicated but there’s always room for love.” She asked, “So what kind of future would you like to have with me?” I thought about what I had used as a loyalty test for Katja. Yet for some reason with Tiffanie I said, “I don’t know…I could ask this guy friend of mine if he would, as you put it a while back, knock you up a few times.” She laughed, as she caressed her breasts, “Maybe an idea. You know these things are going to be huge after a few kids.” I laughed, “They’re already huge. I think you can get used to it.” She sighed, “Would be a waste to have been carrying these things around since I turned fifteen and not use them as God intended I guess.”
When I got up to get ready to go to work Tiffanie seemed a little sad. I asked, “What’s wrong?” She just said, “Nothing.” As I grabbed my purse I assured her I would be back as early as possible. She shrugged her shoulders and looked down, like a disappointed child and said, “I am sorry Amber, I know it is just business but I can’t help feel jealous that you will be with that girl you used to date. It just seems wrong, that’s all.”
I figured I had a few minutes to spare so I asked, “What about Nazir, I mean you know about him and yet that doesn’t bother you?” She laughed, “Oh Nazir, that is nothing, he has initiated most of the girls at the club one time or another. I said it before; make him happy and get everything you can from him. It’ll all be temporary I assure you.” I must have looked shocked as I asked, “Most? Even you?” She laughed, “How do you think I got the down payment for my place, as
well as the furniture? Sweetie he had me in the back office in more ways than one the first month I came to work. He only stopped when he said I reminded him too much of his mother, except that she had black hair and all.” I looked at my watch to see how much time I had left and she commented, “He gave me necklaces and a ring, and all covered with diamonds. When he got tired of me I took them all to the pawn shop. Maybe he’ll keep you a little longer unless you begin to remind him of his mommy.”
I found that disturbing in a Freudian sense, but then I shifted back to Katja, “I still don’t get it. You are okay with me doing Nazir, but not Petra?” She frowned and shook her head, “No, I know we both need the money, but at some point I think two people should focus on each other and commit to no other persons whatsoever. I figure if you perform with Alexa she hates your guts so it’s all show, nothing more. You had a real relationship and maybe it scares me that something will re-awaken.” I sort of joked, “Ever consider group marriage?” She shook her head, “Polygamists are just sick, there is no two ways about it! Marriage should be between one man and one woman…or maybe one woman and another woman I guess. But any more than that is just not a relationship.” I laughed and kissed her goodbye. I had to hurry so as not to be late, and I had no time to contemplate Tiffanie’s opinions.
When I arrived I played out how the evening would go. I hoped none of the Zagriev brothers would be at the show, or if they were that they would take breaks. It seemed I would have no such luck. As I headed to the dressing room I noticed that Aslan was standing there. He greeted me, “Hello Amber! I will sit in on your show. Adlan is not into it, understand?” I just smiled and put all my things in my locker. As I was about to leave he moved closer and pushed the door shut. He leaned against the lockers, his huge arm muscles bulging as he looked at me. I felt a bit intimidated but said nothing. He smiled, “Someday if my brother tires of you I am always here. He says you are one of those baby crazy women. I can give you lots of babies.” I smiled, “I’ll remember that.” He warned, as he blocked my departure, “Our secret, okay? Not a word of this to Nazir!” I nodded my head, “It’s our secret.” He moved his arm and let me go at that point.
Descent Into Darkness Page 26