A Deadly Distance

by L. T. Ryan

  The localized ache at the site of the wound expanded, at first across my forehead. Then it wrapped around both sides, and then toward the middle. My brain hurt and felt like it had split into two. I saw stars in front of me, literally. I never believed anyone when they said that, but at that moment, I knew it to be true. The stars faded away into pinpricks of light punched into fabric.

  Sarah whispered my name, perhaps sensing or more likely realizing that something was wrong.

  I responded in kind, I think. I felt the hum of her name in my throat but couldn't tell if my lips parted.

  "Jack!" Sarah's voice was loud, but muffled, like we were under water. The pleasant tone of her voice replaced by a thundering clap containing four letters, J-A-C-K.

  "What the hell is going on back there?" A man's voice. The man in the suit, I assumed, only because there was no accent. It sounded garbled, not like it was underwater, but speaking through a mouthful of water.

  The sensation of fire spread through my head, while ice filled my veins and froze my body in place. I tried moving my arms and couldn't. Tried to kick with my legs, but they remained rooted to the floor.

  Delicate hands grabbed my arms. Sarah, I figured, although I couldn't see to verify it was her touch. I felt the weight of her body over mine.

  "We need…" Her voice faded into the depths. "…hospital…" Gone again.

  Then the sensation in my hands and feet and legs and arms disappeared. A black curtain hung before my eyes. The pain in my head retreated. I thought that perhaps I'd died.

  CHAPTER 27

  I hadn't died. It didn't take me long to come to this conclusion, although I did determine it while still passed out. Wherever I was at that moment, the place stood empty. Silent. When my time came, there'd be the souls of all those who'd perished at my hand. They'd be standing around waiting for me in an effort to be the one to capture my soul. Of all things in life, I was sure of that.

  Slowly, the sensation returned to my hands, feet, legs, and arms. The pain started in the center of my brain and expanded outward, swelling and encompassing my head, and then retreating toward the spot of the gash on my forehead. The black curtain covering my eyes lifted. I stared ahead, unfocused, through a watery veil.

  A thunderclap exploded to my left. "Jack!"

  I blinked hard and looked to the right, out the window. The Escalade had stopped and high hedges, dark green through the tinted window, blocked any further view.

  "Jack," Sarah said. "Can you hear me?"

  I shifted my eyes to the left and turned my head until I saw her, then said, "Yeah."

  She wrapped her arms around my neck. I felt her cheek against mine, her breath, hot and rapid, floating across my lips. I looked straight ahead and saw all four men staring at me, their brows furrowed, expressions of horror and confusion on their faces.

  "What?" I said.

  "Pull through, Pablo," the man in the suit said, turning in his seat to face forward once again. He took a final look at me and shook his head.

  "You sure you're OK?" Sarah said.

  "Yeah, I think," I said. "What the hell happened?"

  She touched my forehead with a gentle hand, wiping blood from my brow. "You started convulsing, shaking. I thought you'd had an aneurysm and were dying on me."

  I forced a smile. "I'm not going anywhere."

  "Good. Don't."

  I strained to look past Pablo and the man in the suit. A black iron gate with twists and curls at the top and the bottom opened up and we pulled through. The artificial light faded and it was hard to make out the landscape beyond the edges of the driveway. I glanced down at my watch. Seven p.m. I looked back up. The house stood off in the distance another hundred yards or so. Pools of light adorned the facade, cast from garden lights spaced precisely across the front of the house. The calming pinkish orange hue of the stucco instilled a sense of relaxation in me. I knew it wouldn't last long, though. This was the last stop before whatever was to come next. And I was certain that the next stop wouldn't be any more pleasant than the seizure I'd experienced.

  Pablo pulled up to the three-car garage and idled while a wide white garage door lifted open. Then he pulled the vehicle in and stopped. He stepped out. The man in the blue suit remained and turned to face us. Pulled out his sidearm and aimed it in my direction. The men in the middle seats got out on their sides of the car, respectively, then Sarah, and finally me and the man in the suit at the same time.

  Pablo led the way into the house. We walked through a mudroom connected to the laundry room, then down a short hall, maybe ten feet long. It deposited us into the kitchen.

  A man stood in front of an open refrigerator. He had on khaki cargo shorts and a blue t-shirt. He looked over his shoulder, revealing half his face. He recognized me instantly, as I did him. Senator Vernon Burnett.

  "Hello, Jack," he said. "And this lovely lady is…?"

  "Sarah," she said.

  Burnett crossed the floor and stopped six feet away. "I might bring you with me, young lady." He smiled at her. His eyes traveled to me. The smile broadened. "Not you, though, Jack. I'm about through with you."

  "Then get it over with," I said. "Shoot me now."

  Burnett's smile faded a little. The corners of his mouth withdrew, but he kept his lips parted. His eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. Something about it got to him, so I figured best thing to do was keep at it.

  "You don't have the guts," I said. "Do you?"

  He chuckled and looked me up and down. "I don't have to, Jack. Any of these guys'll do it." He tossed a hand up with his thumb extended and pointed behind himself. "Especially Pablo. Man, was he pissed when he got down here."

  "You got him out," I said, referring to Pablo while keeping my stare fixed on Burnett. No one had wanted to question him, I realized. It had been someone who worked for someone who worked for Burnett. They fed us that line and we bought it hook, line and sinker. The thought crossed my mind that maybe someone else high up in the government worked with Burnett on this.

  He nodded. "When you've got the power and connections I've got, it's easy to make things like that happen."

  "Who're the other guys?" I said.

  Burnett took a deep breath and eyed me for a few seconds, then said, "They work for me. That's all you need to know."

  "What about him?" I gestured with my head toward the man in the blue suit. "He doesn't seem like the others."

  "You gotta have someone to watch the hens," Burnett said. "Reece is his name. He's a," he paused a beat and squished his lips to the side, like he was biting the inside of his cheek. "He's in some kind of law enforcement. We'll leave it at that."

  "Corrupt," I said, looking Reece in the eye.

  He smiled back at me. "The things we'll do for money, eh?"

  "Yeah," I said, focusing on Burnett. "Why the kids, Senator? For the money?"

  He took a deep breath, held it a moment, then exhaled loud enough for the sound to echo in the hallway behind me. "Frankly, Jack, that's none of your concern."

  "Sick bastard," I said.

  He cocked back and swung at me. I could have ducked or moved to the side and avoided it. Could have stepped inside and wrapped my arm around his, snapping the bones in his forearm or dislocating his shoulder or elbow. But I didn't. I let his fist connect with my jaw. The impact stung and sent me reeling back into the wall. I slid to the floor. He stood over me, eyes wild and dancing with adrenaline. Any trace of fear the man had of me disappeared at that moment. And that's exactly what I wanted to happen.

  Two men from the SUV picked me up and dragged me through the house. We stopped in the middle of a hall. They pushed me up against a wall. One of them kicked my legs out to the side and pinned me there, my arm held high behind my back and his knee in my lower back. I watched the other pull out a key ring with at least two dozen copper keys. He shuffled through them and then inserted one into the door handle. It unlocked with a click. He wrapped his meaty hand around the knob and pushed the door open.

&n
bsp; "Your new room," the man behind me said, only an inch or two away from my ear. His breath was hot against the side of my head and smelled like rancid fish.

  "Alright, but don't get any ideas," I said. "I'm not in the mood for a threesome."

  He grabbed me by my hair, pulled my head back and then slammed it forward. The impact left a dent in the drywall and hurt like hell. He'd managed to plant the majority of the impact on the same spot where he pistol-whipped me earlier in the car. I slid down the wall on the left side of my face, using my shoulder to keep me from crashing.

  Two sets of hands picked me up. They pushed and pulled me, then tossed me into the room. They didn't close the door, though. The thin guy stood inside the room. The heavier guy stood behind him.

  "He down?" Burnett said from the hall.

  "He's ready for you," the skinny guy said as he stepped into the room with the heavier man a step behind.

  Burnett followed them in and walked right up to me. "Easy or hard?"

  I managed to get to my knees. Leaned my head back and looked him in the eye. Said, "Screw you."

  Burnett shrugged and made an I-don't-give-a-shit face. Then he kicked me in the stomach with his right foot.

  I bent forward, but refused to allow myself to collapse.

  "Easy or hard?" he said again.

  I couldn't speak, so I made a weak attempt to spit at him. Saliva dove from my mouth, landing somewhere between us. A few drops of spittle landed on his shoes. Most of it hung from my lip in strands and fell from my chin and onto my chest.

  "Don't be stupid, Jack." Burnett stepped back a few feet and took his eyes off me, which was the only thing that made me feel like they were through beating me up. "Pick him up and tie him to the bed."

  The men wrapped their hands around my arms, dragged me across the floor to the bed. I ignored them and watched Burnett leave the room. He looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with me from the doorway. He shook his head, then disappeared down the hall.

  The men tossed me onto the bed and right away, I felt heavy straps wrapped around my wrists. They cinched them tight, then did the same thing to my ankles. Finally, they drew a thick leather belt across my midsection and pulled it tight enough to draw me down into the bed. They cut the lights and left the room, leaving me to wonder what the hell was happening to Sarah at that moment.

  My head and stomach ached from the beating I'd taken. I tried to pass out, but couldn't.

  A streetlamp cast long fingers of light into the room. They stretched across my chest and legs, across the bed, and climbed up the walls. I counted the seconds to keep track of time. Got bored after thirty minutes and closed my eyes. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep.

  I didn't wake until I felt a hand on my face, his hand. Burnett smiled when I opened my eyes.

  "Hello, Jackie," he said.

  I didn't greet him back.

  "Twelve hours," he said.

  That answered the question of how long I'd been asleep. It was midnight and I'd been strapped to the bed for over four hours.

  "You excited?"

  I tried to shrug, couldn't.

  "Where's Sarah?" I said.

  He smiled then licked his lips. "She's fine. Cooperative, that one." He paused a beat and arched his eyebrows. "If you know what I mean."

  I clenched my fists and tried to draw my arms upward, and was even less successful than I'd been at shrugging.

  The smile faded from Burnett's lips and he leaned back, feigning a hurt look. "You've got to get past this, Jack. You and I, we should be friends. When it comes down to it, there's little difference between us."

  I turned my head toward the window and said nothing.

  Burnett stood and grabbed something off the nightstand. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a needle filled with clear liquid. He bent over me and slowly lowered the needle toward my forearm.

  "What the hell is that?" I said.

  He said nothing.

  "Burnett," I said. "What the hell are you doing?"

  He plunged the needle into my arm, striking a vein and releasing the venom into my bloodstream. A burning sensation worked its way up my arm and through my chest. Spread to my neck, then my head.

  He turned his head to look at me, and said, "This is going to ensure that you sleep all night, Jack. And then tomorrow, it's going to make you cooperative."

  I felt my senses dull, but managed to reply. "What's tomorrow?"

  He pushed himself back up and walked to the door, then turned around to face me once again. "You'll find out in twelve hours, give or take."

  I didn't know if he cut the lights off or if the curtain in my head had been pulled over my eyes again, but the room went pitch black.

  CHAPTER 28

  They stuck Sarah and me on the rear bench seat of the Escalade again. The same two men sat in the middle seat, the skinny guy in front of me, the heavier guy in front of Sarah. I figured they did that so the big guy could come at me with momentum behind him if I gave him enough reason to do so. If he'd been placed in front of me, he'd have to loop around, giving me the advantage. Of course, it wouldn't matter now, not with handcuffs restraining me.

  "Let's go," Reece said to Pablo, who once again sat in the driver's seat.

  Burnett and another man were in the car in front of us. I could see the tops of three small heads bouncing as the car made its way down the driveway. I assumed the heads belonged to Christopher and the little girl. And another child I wasn't aware of.

  For twenty minutes we drove. I wasn't familiar with Miami or its surrounding areas, having only passed through a couple times over the course of my life. But I was certain that the areas we drove through weren't popular tourist attractions. Old worn down buildings lined the streets. A mix of people filled the sidewalks, white, black and brown. They all looked poor, even the ones dealing drugs, a remarkable sight to kick off my final three hours.

  It was nine a.m. and I had convinced myself that by five after twelve, I'd be dead. Sarah, too, I assumed, in some sense of the word. She'd either be lying next to me with no pulse or breath, or lying next to Burnett, her soul ripped from her body. I wondered if he'd kill one of the kids, perhaps two, leaving only his son alive. The only question I had was how many of the men I could take down with me. There were six of them. I'd already beaten Pablo mentally. The skinny guy wouldn't pose a problem, nor would the heavy one. I only saw the man riding with Burnett from the back and for a few seconds. Not enough for me to judge. Burnett didn't scare me. Reece concerned me. He had some sort of law enforcement or military training, which meant he knew how and where to hit. He also had size and strength on his side.

  We turned off a four-lane road into an industrial complex. Corrugated steel warehouses lined the road as far as I could see.

  I turned to Sarah and spoke for the first time since midnight.

  "Are you OK?" I said, feeling stupid that of everything I could say that was what I chose.

  She nodded.

  "They didn't hurt you last night did they?" I asked.

  She shook her head, but her face betrayed her. Her bottom lip quivered, slightly, only for a second. Her eyes glossed over. She blinked and looked away. I knew at that moment that they'd gotten to her last night. One way or another, they broke her spirit. I hoped that they hadn't damaged her physically.

  "What happened?" I said it too loud.

  "Shut up," Reece said. "Or I'll have them shut you up."

  The heavy guy grinned and lifted his eyebrows a couple times, taking too much pleasure in the thought of attacking a man restrained by handcuffs.

  I brushed my left leg into Sarah's. She looked at me again, forcing a smile. I nodded in return, hoping she could read my mind. Because if she could, she'd know that I had plans to make sure every one of these men paid for what they'd done to her. They'd pay with their lives, but not before suffering by my hand.

  I felt my body pull to the left and nearly toppled into Sarah. The car turned between two buildings, then
turned again. We were now behind the last row of warehouses, a stretch of buildings that buffered the decrepit part of the city from the warm waters of the Atlantic. How many kids in those neighborhoods felt they had nowhere to go and saw these waters as a barrier, white capped waves pounding at them, keeping them away from a better life? The undertow existed solely to sweep away their dreams.

  We rolled to a stop. I glanced between the four men in front of me and saw Burnett's car stop as well. Beyond his car was a large white semi-truck with no cargo container or trailer attached. Burnett stepped out of the car and walked to the semi. He reached into his pocket and fished around for a moment. Pulled his hand back out and dangled a key, which he inserted into the truck's driver side door. The door opened and he climbed into the cab. A minute later his feet emerged and he hopped down onto the pavement. He appeared to be empty handed, but I knew he hadn't gone in there for no reason. He turned toward our vehicle, smiled, and gave Reece a thumbs up.

  Reece pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. He placed the phone next to his head and waited. His eyes shifted and focused on the heavy guy, and I figured someone had answered the phone. "Bring it around," was all he said. Then he tucked the phone back into his pocket and opened his door.

  Burnett met Reece halfway and the men spoke. Burnett was animated while he talked. Reece used his hands to shield his eyes from the sun. What kind of person in law enforcement heads out without sunglasses? After a few minutes, Reece returned to the Escalade.

  "Everyone out," he said.

  Sarah stepped between the two men in front of us. The heavy one made her step over his lap to get out. He smiled. She didn't.

  I bit back the rage that started to build inside. I had to save it for the right moment, which was sure to come soon.

  Both men reached for me and pulled me out of the seat. They pulled me forward, and then pushed me through the open doorway. I managed to twist my body on the way to the ground and landed hard on my side. Better than landing on my face, I figured. Fire spread through my right hip, and I worried for a second it had been broken. As quickly as I'd hit the ground, they pulled me back to my feet and forced me to walk. My hip wasn't broken, but it hurt like hell.