The Sabbath

by Nsenga, Arthur

He then got up and walked toward the bathroom, but Lana jumped in front of him.

  “Cory?” she said with sorrow, “Say something, anything. I know I should have told you before… please talk to me.”

  Not swayed by Lana’s tears, Cory brushed her off and made his way to the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

  Lana was shocked. She’d expected him to throw a fit inside, but all she heard was running water. There were no sounds of mirrors breaking or things being thrown about. This anger was new to Lana, and it scared her.

  Cory never acts like this; his emotions always get the best of him. Oh my, he hates me.

  Lana sat on the bed, sobbing like a baby. For all she knew, their relationship was over, and she couldn’t bear it. She had known that sooner or later, the time would come where she would have to tell him, but she wasn’t expecting Cory to react the way he did. Usually, he would lash out in anger, getting over it in time, but this time she got nothing out of him.

  *

  Walking out of the bathroom, Cory didn’t utter a single word to Lana, who was still in her towel - too distraught to get dressed. Pacing over to the closet, he grabbed a set of clothes before returning to the bathroom. While looking back at Lana, who was still sitting, and before closing the bathroom door, he snarled, “Get dressed.”

  *

  Cory led the way down the stairs as Lana trailed behind.

  “Oh, good morning. There’s some breakfast on the table. You two eat up. I’m gonna grab some things before we head out. I sent Destiny and Adam on an errand so it’s just going to be us,” Bienaimé said as he disappeared into another room.

  Lana was grateful that Adam and Destiny weren’t home and that Bienaimé was distracted. This way none of them could witness the current awkwardness between Cory and herself.

  “Cory, talk to me,” Lana pleaded from across the table.

  Cory kept his head down and continued eating.

  Lana was frustrated, but she had no one to blame but herself. All she could do at this point was to give Cory space and hope he would eventually forgive her.

  “Okay, I’m ready to go now,” Bienaimé said, coming from around the corner.

  Taking their last bites, the two followed Bienaimé to the garage.

  “Should we take my car?” Bienaimé offered.

  “Yeah, sure,” Cory replied.

  They hopped into the Mercedes and drove to Doug’s house. Upon their arrival, Cory advised Bienaimé to stay in the car.

  “I’ll wave at you to come after we explain who you are,” Cory said, exiting the vehicle and walking toward the front porch. They were halfway to the door when out of nowhere, Doug stormed out of his house aiming a loaded shotgun at them.

  “What the fuck is this? Who is that man in the car? You know better than to bring a stranger to my home!” he said, demanding an answer.

  “Doug, put down the gun. The man in the car is our sponsor–” Lana tried to reason.

  “I don’t give a fuck who he is! I don’t want him here,” Doug shouted over Lana’s voice.

  “Chill for a second and listen to her. We’re not about any bullshit right now,” Cory interjected.

  Lana continued where she had left off before Doug interrupted, “We didn’t tell you that we were bringing him because you wouldn’t agree to it. The upside is that he has lots of money and will do business with you. So you can either send us back on our way, or I can tell that man to come inside and we can talk.”

  Doug glanced at Cory, then over to Lana and remained silent for a moment. “Okay, bring him in,” he said, distaste in his mouth.

  Looking back, Cory waved and Bienaimé exited the car. They gathered in Doug’s living room with hostility still lingering in the air.

  “So, to whom do I owe the pleasure?” Doug said, glaring at Bienaimé.

  “My name is not important, but what I can do for you is,” Bienaimé replied.

  “Then let me cut to the chase, what the fuck do you want?” Doug barked.

  Cory glared at Doug in disgust. To Cory, nothing would be better than punching him in the face, and Doug’s attitude toward Bienaimé intensified his urges. The only thing restraining him from attacking Doug was the thought of his mother and sister.

  “All right, I’ll be frank,” Bienaimé said, pulling out the device. “Do you have any more of these?”

  “Those? Yeah, I have a whole truck full of them. I have found no one willing to buy them, let alone anyone that knows what they are.”

  “Then I’m willing to take it off your hands. Name your price,” Bienaimé said.

  “How much are you willing to pay?” Doug asked.

  “For a whole truck full, I’ll give you twenty thousand,” Bienaimé said in a hurry.

  Doug’s face lit up, “You got yourself a deal my friend!”

  “Perfect, you can get in contact with Cory or Lana later to set up the exchange.”

  “Sounds good, and hey, if you ever need anything else, I’m your guy,” Doug offered, noticeably more cheerful now.

  “Well, that’s great to hear, son, because there is one more thing I would like to discuss with you.”

  “Yes, go ahead,” Doug replied.

  “Are you familiar with a guy named Damian Phils?” Bienaimé asked.

  “Yeah, what about him?”

  “What is your relation with him?” Bienaimé asked, not answering Doug’s previous question.

  “We don’t really have any relations to be honest. Sometimes I work as his personal guard, other times, I deliver inventories to him, and he signs off on it. Other than that, the guy is a complete stranger.”

  “All right, I need to bring him in for questioning, can you help?”

  “You mean kidnapping? Whoa! I’m not sure about that!”

  “I’ll give you thirty thousand for your help, and I will make sure that it’s done in a manner that looks like you were just doing your job.”

  Doug took a second to think, “Okay, thirty thousand, and if I can’t go back to work, then that’s a hundred thousand.”

  Looking at Cory and Lana, Bienaimé nodded, “Okay, we have a deal. Now all we need is some information from you so that we can come up with a perfect plan. You said you do deliveries for him, do you deliver things to that facility with the two big watch towers standing side by side near the entrance?”

  “Near the old prison? Yes, I do. I’m scheduled to do a drop off there in a few days.”

  “What are you delivering?”

  “Two backup generators, nothing worth taking.”

  “Okay, we will coordinate his kidnap with your delivery. I need you to think of everything possible about the set-up of the place. I mean from shift swaps, to how many men are on guard, and how they communicate. You will give me this information when I get my devices and you get your money,” Bienaimé said as he got up, prompting everyone to rise from their seats.

  “All right, as soon as I get your things together, I’ll call you. Just get ready to meet me later tonight,” Doug said, shaking Bienaimé’s hand.

  They left Doug’s house and walked back to the car.

  “Crazy world we live in when men are willing to kidnap a person they barely know for a few bucks. Whatever happened to do to others as you would have them do to you?” Bienaimé said, driving off.

  Cory wasn’t surprised at all by Doug’s actions; Doug would sell his own soul if someone made him a good enough offer.

  “All that guy cares about is money. I can’t see how anybody could ever like a person like that,” Cory said, taking a stab at Lana.

  “Oh, you’ll be surprised of what people are capable of,” Bienaimé replied.

  “Trust me, I’m starting to find out.”

  Lana knew exactly what Cory was implying, but kept quiet. She promised herself that she would let Cory vent out his frustration, plus she didn’t want to say anything with Bienaimé in the car.

  “All right, I’m going to drop you guys off with Adam and Destiny to do some traini
ng. I have to go and make sure everything is ready for the meeting tomorrow,” Bienaimé explained, changing the subject.

  They drove to an abandoned golf course, where Adam and Destiny had been waiting.

  “Try not to kill each other,” Bienaimé shouted from his car window as he drove off.

  Maybe Cory and Lana should have taken that joke for a warning instead.

  17

  “Welcome to your training grounds,” Destiny said with a smile.

  “Before we begin, tell us - how did the meeting go?” Adam interjected.

  “It went well. We’re now waiting for Doug to contact us to go grab the other devices,” Lana responded.

  “That’s good to hear. Looks like everything’s on schedule then. Okay, let’s start,” Adam said.

  Cory and Lana weren’t too worried about the training exercise. They could take care of themselves. They were more excited to see what Adam and Destiny had in store for them.

  “Okay, so we’ll train you on your conditioning, shooting, and combat. Since there’s little time, this is going to be relatively basic. Professor wants us to make sure that you guys can handle yourselves out there when the time comes.” Adam glanced down at his watch. “Let’s head out. I’ll take Cory to do some conditioning and combat. Lana, you will stay with Destiny to do some shooting -then we’ll switch up later. Are you ready to do some running, Cory?”

  “Yup, let’s go,” Cory said.

  The guys jogged away, leaving Lana and Destiny standing on the open green field.

  “I guess we should get going too,” Destiny said.

  “I’m ready when you are,” Lana replied.

  Destiny guided Lana to the driving range. Its open grassland with its distance markers had golf balls, and several white mannequins positioned throughout, the closest mannequins being a few yards away and the furthest being a few hundred yards beyond that. The girls stood inside an individual stall with the view of the entire field. A table stood in front of them, jam-packed with ammunition, two handguns, M16s, M24 sniper rifles, two headsets and two safety glasses.

  “You ever done any shooting before?” Destiny asked.

  “Yes, I used to do it all the time,” Lana replied.

  “Great! Then this should be a breeze,” Destiny said with a smiled. “All right, so first things first – on the table, you have your average 9-millimeter pistols, and the magazines are all empty. I need you to reload it for me.”

  Picking up a pistol, Lana could tell it was empty by its weight, but she pressed the mag release on the side of the frame to drop the magazine, and then pulled the slide back, locking it open and checked the chamber.

  “I love the grip on this one,” Lana said, placing the gun back on the table.

  She shuffled through the ammunition until she found the nine-millimeter, then proceeded to fill the magazine. Picking up the pistol again, she smoothly re-inserted the magazine into the handgrip until she heard a clicking noise, and tapped it with her palm to make sure the magazine was seated. Before placing the gun back on the table, she flicked the safety on.

  “Wow, you know your way around guns,” Destiny noted.

  “Told you I had lots of practice,” Lana laughed.

  “Ha! I believe you. Now it’s time to do some actual shooting. I want you to pay attention to the mannequins I’m about to shoot, because after I’m done, I will ask you to do the same.”

  Destiny snatched a headset and safety glasses from the table before taking a couple of steps toward the open field. Pulling her gun from her holster, she disengaged the safety. Keeping a firm grip with her right hand, she pulled the slide back using her left, with a smooth and practiced movement, loading a round into the firing chamber. Re-establishing her two handed grip, she raised the muzzle, and acquired her first target.

  Lana, who had put on a headset and glasses, walked a few paces closer to Destiny in order to see her shooting pattern.

  Setting her jaw, Destiny began shooting, hitting her marks with precision while swinging her arms from side to side as she moved from one target to the next. As soon as she emptied her gun, she dropped the spent magazine to the ground and replaced it with another, all in a fluid motion. When she was done, she thumbed the safety back on, and re-holstered her gun. Walking back to the table, she grabbed a magazine and tossed it at Lana.

  “Here, this one is full. Put it somewhere you can have easy access to.”

  “Okay, gotcha!” Lana nodded, sliding the magazine underneath her belt and grabbing the loaded gun off the table.

  “And when you’re reloading, it should be second nature to you. You should never take your eyes off your target or have to lower you gun. Know where your magazine is and swap it instantly.”

  “Got it,” Lana replied.

  “Perfect. So I need you to shoot all those mannequins up until the fifty-yard mark. You can start whenever you’re ready.”

  Lana was impressed with Destiny’s shooting, but she viewed it as a challenge and wanted nothing better than to show her up. Taking a deep breath, she hit all the targets in the exact order Destiny had, and reloaded her gun with barely a pause in firing.

  “Wow, you’re just full of surprises! Where did you learn how to shoot like that?” Destiny asked.

  “After The Sabbath, Cory forced me to learn how to shoot along with his sister. It bothered him leaving us at home with no protection.”

  “Oh, that was smart of him.”

  “Yeah. How about you?” Lana asked.

  “Well, my dad was a general, and he taught me. While most kids were learning to ride bikes with their parents, he took me to the gun range.”

  She isn’t so bad. She’s kind of cool, Lana thought, realizing the many things they shared in common. Their fathers were both in the military, and they were both great shooters. They could become good friends if Lana allowed it…

  “Okay, are you ready to try out the M16 now?” Destiny said.

  “Yup, let’s do it.”

  They grabbed the assault rifles and took turns firing at the mannequins.

  “I needed that,” Lana said, placing the powerful weapon back on the table.

  “What?” Destiny said, confused as to what Lana was talking about.

  “I needed this. I had to release my frustration somehow.”

  “Oh, girl, I know just what you mean. Every time I get frustrated, I come out here and shoot. You don’t want to be here when you’re too depressed though. Otherwise, you might end up shooting yourself,” Destiny joked.

  Lana laughed and then asked, “Question: why this golf course though?”

  “It’s owned by my uncle, Bienaimé. He told me that he bought it to spy on politicians. He always used to tell me: ‘Darling, the most diabolical plans are discussed while playing golf.’ After The Sabbath, we closed up shop and made it our own personal training ground.”

  “He’s your uncle?”

  “Yes. Well, not blood-related, but he was my dad’s best friend, so he’s been in my life since birth.”

  “Oh okay. I get it.”

  “Yeah, but tell me something about you. Are you and Cory an item? He’s cute.”

  Cute?! Lana thought, lost on how to react to Destiny’s comment. It was the first time in their relationship that she didn’t feel secure about her position in his life. Girls complimenting him had never bothered her before, because they couldn’t compete with her. Now she wasn’t as confident. She believed Cory found Destiny attractive, and the Doug incident did nothing to help their relationship. Although Destiny meant no harm with her comment, Lana didn’t know her well enough to trust her, and she wasn’t willing to give her any ideas.

  “Yes, we are. Are we going to shoot the sniper rifle as well?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “Oh yeah, of course,” Destiny replied, reverting her attention back to the training.

  As soon as Lana reached for the weapon, her phone vibrated.

  “Sorry, it’s from Doug - he wants me to forward him Bienaim�
�’s contact information, so they can meet up.”

  “Oh, no worries. Business first,” Destiny said, waiting for Lana to finish replying to Doug’s message.

  “Okay, I’m all set,” Lana said, inserting her phone back into her pocket.

  Grabbing a box of match-grade ammunition and the sniper rifles, they took the gun and attached it to the bipod already stationed in the stall. While lying down on their stomachs, they took turns shooting at targets a few hundred yards away.

  “Well, I think we’re done here,” Destiny said, realizing Lana hit every mannequin.

  “Yeah, if this is how training is going to be, then sign me up!” Lana said as she placed the gun back on the table.

  “Just make sure you tell Adam you had more fun with me,” Destiny joked. “We should go now - it’s almost time to do the switch.”

  They walked back to the rendezvous spot and waited for the boys to arrive. It wasn’t long before they spotted two figures running toward them. They were sprinting neck-to-neck, when Adam used one hand to push Cory aside, causing him to lose his balance and slow down.

  “Hey, you cheater,” Cory yelled while chasing after him.

  They both ran right past the girls before slowing down a few feet away. They hunched over with both hands placed on their knees, trying to catch their breath.

  “You know we’re gonna have to do that one again,” Cory said, laughing.

  “I’ll see where I can schedule you in,” Adam joked.

  Cory and Adam both had their shirts wrapped around their heads, leaving their upper bodies exposed to the beating sun, sweat dripping down on their toned physiques. Lana tried not to stare at Cory, but failed. It was as if she was viewing him through a magnifying glass. She watched the sweat trickling down his shoulders, past his nipples and rolling over his rock-hard abs before disappearing into his shorts. You’re punishing me, aren’t you God? She glanced over at Destiny, and Destiny caught her gaze and returned it, with a wink. Ugh, why Father? Why? she cried to herself. The thought of leaving Cory alone with Destiny annoyed her, but at this point, there was nothing she could do.

  “Don’t worry about that, Cory - we all saw him cheat,” Destiny said.

  “Finally, somebody who is fair,” Cory said, flailing his arms in the air.