Swirl Romance Stories

by Louis Alexandre Forestier

  “It’s okay. Send me that picture of the woman to my own cell phone and give me time until tonight to give me a chance to recharge the battery.”

  Then, turning to Laura he added.

  “‘This bastard requires us to use our men to detect the woman that escaped. Then I have to tell him her location and he says he will handle it.”

  “Meaning they will kill her.”

  “Likely.”

  “That would make you an accomplice to a crime!”

  “Jemal has enough material to denounce me and send me to prison for life.”

  “So instead of your protector he has now become a danger.”

  “Aye, but I cannot disengage from this situation.”

  Outside O´Halloran´s office detectives Vince Caruso and Leroy Washington were following the alternatives of what was happening behind the closed door trying to guess the details by the gestures of their boss.

  “Look Leroy! He pulled his hand off Sandoval´s ass, so it must be something serious.”

  “Lewd Italian! Always thinking in buttocks.” Leroy was newly married and had a religious upbringing in a Baptist church with an African American membership.

  “Sandoval has some black blood, which explains her butts.”

  “You and women buttocks! Well, they say it is a fixation of the Italians. Look, O’Halloran is calling us.”

  Indeed, the office door opened and the big Irishman looked out.

  “Vince, Leroy, come to my office.”

  Uncle Charley examined her wounds again; when Marcos entered the bedroom he told him and Nubia.

  “This injury is evolving quite well, but there are some infected stitches. I agreed with a doctor here in Harlem to take Nubia to his consulting room to make a more professional healing.”

  “I can´t go to a hospital.” Whispered the girl. “Do not take me there.”

  “Don’t worry, he is an old Army friend. I’ll take you to his private practice at home. There he has everything he needs.”

  Charley left the bedroom and Marcos remained in the doorway, unable to make his mind on whether to enter the room and stay with the girl alone or not. She looked him in the eyes causing him a passing blush.

  “Come in. Do not stay there.”

  “Well … I did not know …”

  “What is that you do not know? Weren´t you who brought me here when I was abandoned and fainted in the alley?”

  “Yes.”

  “And who was the one who undressed me to cleanse and heal my wounds?”

  “Well … Charley and me.”

  “‘So you’ve seen me naked.”

  The young man’s eyes twinkled.

  “Yes.”

  “I hope you liked what you saw.”

  By that time the young man’s face was completely covered with blush.

  “Come, sit on the bed.”

  Once Marcos was seated the young woman stared into his eyes. Although Nubia was not fully aware of it, she could look into his interlocutor through his eyes and read his emotions, intentions and character. The woman stayed a while watching the man’s eyes and finally smiled

  “You’re clean, transparent.” She said to his surprise.

  “What are you? A psychic?”

  “I actually don´t know. I only know what I see. It is as if I can read the soul of the people.”

  “That makes you powerful.”

  “I’d rather not have this power. What I see is often horrible.”

  “You’ve seen a lot of evil in this world.”

  “Yes indeed.”

  Marcos perked up and slid down the bed approaching her; he then stretched out his arm to her neck and then touched a metal necklace with some small leather bags.

  “What is this?”

  “My talismans. I am always protected by them.”

  “They have not protected you very well, especially considering everything you’ve been through in the last days.”

  “Of course they have protected me! They have brought me with two good men who have cured me and care about me.”

  The girl opened the bags and pulled out the contents of one of them. It was an old yellowed paper that was folded into eight parts. Nubia unfolded and handed it to Marcos. The man saw a number of unknown characters written on it.

  “What language is this? What does it say?”

  “These are old texts copied by Ethiopian monks of ancient Christians and Muslims rolls, healing writings of the Jewish Kabala, astrological texts, in short, everything that can protect and heal a person but also destroy or lock demons.”

  The girl was still staring into the eyes of Marcos; the young man felt a strange and warm sensation coming over him and did not try to resist it.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “I like getting lost in the green of your eyes. The effect of immensity brings me peace.”

  “ Do you use your eyes as a means of control?”

  “I believe in the power of the eyes to cause good or bad things. I also believe in their power to make the demons to leave a body.”

  Charley coughed from the door. He had been watching for a while the irresistibly romantic scene and trying to interpret the whispers that came to him.

  “Excuse me for interrupting you guys, but Doc Jim awaits us.”

  “Who is Doc Jim?”

  “The Army doctor friend of mine I told you about.”

  The men left the room to allow Nubia to get dressed. The girl had made a second vital decision.

 

  Inside her heart she had no doubt of her success.

  The first decision was made when she lay alone, dirty and wounded in the alley. She would take revenge on the men who had subjected her to that extreme hardship. Nubia would take revenge for Sanwarit, for the other kidnapped girls now sunk in abominable brothels… and for herself.

  Chapter 4

  Marcos stared at the walls while he was sitting in the waiting room of Doc Jim´s practice. He noticed with some surprise that Jim was truly a doctor as evidenced by the title exhibited in a frame, as well as numerous diplomas for courses taken in his specialty.

  Uncle Charley had entered the attention room with Nubia, and the young man let his thoughts wander. He felt a sweet taste in his mouth and knew immediately that it was due to the moments spent in the girl´s company and their brief chat. The boy was struck by her beauty from the first moment he had raised her helpless body in the alley, notwithstanding how dirty and scruffy she was. Sporadic talks after that moment had exposed the young man to a certain magnetism and strength that emanated from her. Marcos did not know it yet but he was falling in love with the girl passing over ethnic differences, the enormous geographical and cultural gap of the societies where they had grown up, and their extreme differences in their biographies and the experiences they had gone through.

  Marcos was lost in his own thought and was especially exploring his feelings and emotions so he did not realize that Nubia and Charley were leaving the consultation room. Only he reacted when he heard the voice of the latter calling him.

  “Well boy, let’s go home.”

  Charley said goodbye to his old friend, another African American of approximately the same age and discretely paid his fees. The men shook in a tight embrace. On leaving Charley was visibly moved by having reencountered his comrade.

  “I haven´t seen him in about five years. He looks quite older but his pulse is still strong. Who knows how he sees me.” The phrase was a kind of mix between a realistic reflection and a rhetorical question.

  “Anyway, let´s go to the car, I parked it a block from here.”

  “Laura. Kolski speaking. Tell Lieutenant O’Halloran I think I have seen the woman you are looking for. She is accompanied by two men, an old black guy and a white young man.” He then gave the location of his finding.

  “Good. What do I do now? … Okay, I´ll follow them until further notice … no, no siren, of course.”

  Char
ley drove his old Toyota into the garage where he usually parked it a few blocks from his home, an old local with a metal curtain fitted with a padlock.

  “Charley, what is this place? Does it belong to you?” Asked Marcos as he helped Nubia to descend from the car.

  “No! Of course not. Like everything that I use it belongs to a friend.”

  “Also an Army buddy?”

  “Am I that predictable?”

  “Please Charley, I did not mean that.”

  “Bah! No offense taken.” The man looked away with sad eyes. “Old Charley and his former comrades. Everything belongs to the past.”

  He shook his head to scare away any bad thoughts and added.

  “But let´s walk to my store, we have five long blocks to go, and we do not want to expose Nubia to potentially hostile eyes.”

  The patrolman radio beeped. The police responded immediately.

  “Kolski.”

  “Kolski. I’m O’Halloran. Are you still in the same position you gave half an hour ago?”

  “No lieutenant. The person of interest and her companions have moved in the meantime.” He then gave the new location.

  “Well, you can go now and forget all about all this.”

  “All right Lieutenant.”

  “Ah! Kolski.”

  “Yes Lieutenant.”

  “Thank you, I will not forget this.”

  “All right, Lieutenant.”Repeated Kolski

  The intrigued young patrolman Kolski grimaced but finally reflected.

 

  He checked his watch and remembered that they had agreed with Vince Caruso to take a beer at Frank & Johnny. Perhaps also Leroy Washington was coming.

  As she descended from the car and started walking Nubia suddenly showed signs of feeling sick.

  “What happens? Are you dizzy?” Asked Marcos.

  “Probably a side effect of the pain relievers that Doc Jim gave her before removing the infected stitches.” Added Charley.

  “No no! Something is not right. I know, but I cannot say what it is.” Emphatically replied the girl.

  “Has this happened to you before?” Asked the old man.

  “Once. Just before the hijackers attacked the school in Ethiopia. The principal did not listen to me then.”

  Marcos looked at the girl with skepticism, while Charley said cryptically.

  “I’m going back to the car, I remember that I forgot something. Wait for me here, do not move.”

  The man retraced his steps, opened the lock and slid the garage door, and after a few minutes returned without making any comment. He told the young people to follow him.

  “But Charley, this is not the way to your store.” Argued Marcos.

  “No, it is not, just follow me.”

  They walked along lonely streets of Harlem, between houses and warehouses that were almost entirely abandoned and crumbling. The two men began to breathe easier as they passed the storehouses and nothing happened and only Nubia exhibited obvious signs of restlessness. They were nearing the end of one block and Charley was about to terminate the long detour they had done and then start really leading them home.

  “Marcos, instead of returning to your apartment tonight it might be good for you to stay with us at home. I have a mattress we can lay on the floor.”

  “As you wish Char …” The sentence was interrupted by Nubia´s sudden cry; as the men looked at her she was holding her head between her hands. At that moment a screech of brakes was heard and at the corner toward which they were heading a dark car emerged from the shadows, from which immediately two black and burly men got down holding weapons and pointing directly to them without shots being heard, no doubt due to the use of silencers. Charley was however hit a projectile and fell from the blow. Marcos took Nubia´s arm and tried to cover her with his body in a doorway that offered some minimal shelter. What followed was simple, fast and brutal.

  Chapter 5

  The two men approached with unexpected speed for people so robust. In the race they could not take aim properly so that the bullets ricocheted around the young couple, while Charley remained on the floor without moving.

  “They’re Jemal´s hit men, I recognize them and they also know me.” Shouted desperate Nubia.

  One of the thugs had finished the bullets in the magazine and pulled a knife from his clothes as he ran towards the young woman while the other stopped his race took the gun with both hands and lifted to take aim. Nubia closed her eyes and shouted, knowing that she was the first target. The woman expected for the characteristic click of a gun with a silencer. she heard instead a loud bark of a high-caliber weapon. Startled Nubia opened her eyes and focused on the bully pointing her. He saw the man opening his arms and collapsing face down on the pavement. Turning her gaze the girl saw Charley trying to stand up brandishing a big gun in his hand. But Nubia could not see anything else. She felt being grabbed by her short hair and dragged from the doorway. With horror the girl saw the brutal face of the other desperado very close to hers and found that while with one hand he was grabbing her by the hair the man approached the other hand brandishing the knife to her neck, with the obvious intention of curtailing his life as they had done with Sanwarit . Suddenly a shadow fell on the head of the wrongdoer, hitting him hard. Nubia saw Marcos behind the bully at the time he applied a second blow with a piece of fallen masonry to the man´s skull. The bandit fell back releasing the blade of his hand. Marcos picked the leaf from the ground and holding it with both hands sank it deep into on the bulky man’s chest, after which rolled on wet pavement exhausted. There he stood watching what followed.

  With a cold look on his face Nubia approached the bully who was still moaning on the floor. The woman introduced the sharpened steel heel of her right shoe in the thug´s slightly open mouth and stood concentrating all her weight on that foot forcing her heel deep into his throat until blood gushed from his mouth while the body was shaking in throes of agony. Finally the attacker´s movements ceased and Nubia withdrew her bloodied foot from his mouth.

  She walked stiffly between the inert bodies as trying to commit to memory the moment as she said.

  “One, two. The first ones.”

  Then the young woman bent along one of the bodies and took the gun with silencer left near it.

  Marcos watched the grim scene with a mixture of excitement and dread. He could not conceive that the girl who a few minutes earlier trembled in his arms was the same person who ruthlessly had terminated the aggressor.

  “Hurry up! We must leave here this place.” Charley’s cry drew the self-absorption of his companions. Marcos came and saw the old man´s bleeding shoulder. He took his other arm and helped him to stand up.

  “You are wounded.”

  “The bullet only grazed me. We must go for the second time in the day to Doc Jim house.”

  The young man put his mouth close to Charley ear and whispered.

  “Have you seen Nubia´s actions?”

  “Yes. I have no doubt however that she was and is still under a strong shock.”

  “She was mumbling something.”

  “Right, I could also hear it. In Vietnam we called body count. It is the dead enemies body count.”

  “Something pretty creepy.”

  “Yes… I saw you two like each other. If I were you I would keep me from contradicting her in that state … but again, she is just a frightened child.”

  Nubia approached and saw Uncle Charley´s bleeding wound.

  “Once again! These things happen only for my sake, I only bring pain to those who love me.”

  “Do not be ridiculous!” Replied the old man. “How can you blame yourself for the attacks of two men who are most likely hit men hired by human traffickers? But do not waste more time, let´s return to Doc Jim´s house. Let’s pick the car in the garage. You drive.” Said handing the car keys to Marcos.

  While they were heading to the Doctor´s house Marcos asked.

  “Tell me, where
did you get so timely your gun? If you had not had done so those men you would not be dead and we would not be talking now.”

  “That’s my old Army weapon. I somehow managed to keep it for so long and I am surprised it still works. When Nubia warned us that bad feeling I went to the car to get it. The real question is where that omen came from.”.

  Both men looked at Nubia, who however remained silent.

  “Four stitches for Charley´s shoulder.” Said Doc Jim somewhat perplex. “You guys better stop using your shoulder to intercept bullets.”

  He helped the sore Charley to put his shirt on and rejected the payment offer made by him.

  “I’m not going to charge an old comrade with whom we shared so many dangers. I don´t even remember if you ever saved my life.” The two old men embraced and Marcos did not fail to note that tears ran down his friend´s cheeks.

  “Get out at once! I do not want anyone to accuse me of failing to report gunshot wounds.” The harsh tone scarcely hid the strong emotions in Doc Jim´s voice.

  After leaving the car in its makeshift garage again they returned Charley´s home not before making a detour to determine whether there were any suspicious people around. It was already dawning when Charley opened the door of the store. At that moment they heard police sirens in the distance.

  “They’ve surely discovered the two bodies.” Said the elder man. “The sounds of sirens come from that direction. Luckily we were able to avoid getting mixed on this affair. The only thing that can link us is the gun is that you have kept.” He warned Nubia.

  “Do not worry about it.” Answered the woman.

  “I worry for the use you have planned for it.”

  This time the woman remained silent, then she entered the house and went directly to the bedroom that Charley had lent her.

  Marcos helped Charley to undress and lie down on the couch in the living room. The man pointed to a corner of it.

  “In that closet there is a mattress and you will find also some blankets. I insist that you stay with us tonight, so tomorrow to can help me with the business.”

  As a result of fatigue and painkillers injected by Doc Jim the old man fell asleep immediately.