Although the observer of the opposite building
could not see the man´s face he could immediately realize that his silhouette and the way he moved were familiar.
“Oh! God. It is certainly him.” Nubia whispered to herself.
“Vince, there´s a call for you.” Said Loretta handing him the cell phone. “It´s Nubia.”
Vince took the phone and then spent more than three minutes listening to the long story the woman was telling him; he readily noticed the state of excitement in her voice. He finally said.
“Very well done. But now listen to me, don´t do anything else. Just stay at home and communicate with me every so often… Hello… Hello.”
“That´s what you wish.” Said Nubia but not addressing Charley who was at her side but herself.
Meanwhile Vince asked Loretta.
“I don´t feel like standing up. Please get me Eric Murphy´s phone number, I have to give him some important information.”
The call with the old sergeant lasted several minutes, during which the still invalid man informed his former tutor about all the developments in the case. Murphy asked several questions. At the end Vince said.
“No. So far O’Halloran has not appeared on the scene … No, we do not know who the other big black guy is, only that she has recognized him as the one who was with Paddy in the original crime scene … Yes, I have the name of the witness … her name is … let’s see … Alimah Kouri … no, Koumi, Alimah Koumi, although everyone calls her Nubia by her ethnicity.”
To another question made by the Sergeant Vince said.
“Nubia, that is to say Alimah, named the dead girl as Sanwarit Eyasu. Apparently in Ethiopia they used the father’s name as a surname.”
At that time Loretta asked Vince to pass her the phone.
“Eric.” Said the man. “Loretta wants to talk to you.”
“Eric. I’m Loretta. Well thanks … listen, that information that Vince just gave you is his last involvement in this case. I ask for the love you have for us all to keep him apart … Well, OK…listen come to dinner with us on Saturday; you still remember the address of my house, don´t you Eric?”
Loretta and Vince had decided to visit Philip Gardner, the girl´s father, in his offices at the City Council. Toya, the Councilor secretary received them in her own office and showed them some chairs in the waiting room.
“The Councilor is in a meeting with a person of the Mayor’s office, but he´s waiting for you and will receive you as soon as he is available.”
Vince, who although was still recovering from his wounds had left the crutches the day before, carefully sat enjoying the recovered greater mobility. As it was his first time visiting the City Council offices, he glanced around all the details of the facilities at sight, which seemed stark to him.
After a while the door of the office opened and Councilman Philip Gardner got out accompanied by another African American middle-aged man, with a portly figure and stately bearing. Loretta and Vince stood up and Philip moved toward them exhibiting an infrequent smile.
“Hello Loretta! You remember Dr. Herbert Plummer, of the Mayor Comptroller Office?”
“Yes, I remember him very well although I was a little girl when we met.”
“Herbert had my current position by the time you were in the elementary school.”
“How are you Loretta? I still remember that little girl with her braids and her new shoes, of which you were so proud.” Greeted Dr Plummer.
The woman blushed as her father and Toya burst into laughter.
“Let me introduce Vincent Caruso, my future …”
“I’m perfectly aware of what happened to Leroy and to you.” Interrupted Plummer directly addressing the young man. “But I see that you have recovered very well.”
“Yes, luckily, medicine has done its work.”
“It’s an honor for our Council to have a hero among its employees.” Said the smiling controller patting the young man´s shoulder. “Well now I must leave now, I have a meeting five minutes ago.”
When he left Philip told his daughter and her boyfriend.
“Just wait a moment, I´ll keep some confidential papers. Them I will put on my coat on and we are going to have lunch.”
“Well, have you fixed a date for the wedding?” Asked Philip.
“We’re aiming for the twentieth.” Answered Loretta.
“ You mean this month? Is it not too tight?”
“I think we can achieve it. We’re not thinking in a big party.” Loretta’s phrase was more a plea than a question.
“My daughter is getting married as God commands.”
“It’s my second wedding.”
“All the more so. And tell me…” Said Philip now addressing Vince. “Are you going to invite your family?”
“Yes, they will come from New Jersey and Boston.”
“Are they many people?”
“Are you kidding? It is an Italian family.”
Philip, master in handling situations, suddenly changed his tone and said in a grave voice.
“Tell me Vince. Are you fulfilling the commitment you acquired with Loretta and me, in the sense to stay away from your old activities?”
“Completely Philip.”
Chapter 13
Paddy O’Halloran arrived at Laura´s home and found her in the kitchen.
“Dinner is ready. Sit at the table.” Said she.
After dinner Paddy got his thick hands in the folds of the negligee that she was using and started to fondle her.
“Wait at least until I clean the dishes. I hate to leave dirty dishes in my kitchen.”
“To hell with the dishes. You can wash them tomorrow morning. Today you must devote yourself exclusively to me.”
“Filthy Irish. With your tricks you’ll fill my house of cockroaches.”
Without further ado O’Halloran lifted the woman like a feather and carried her in his burly arms while she tore his hair and opened his shirt.
Laura felt the usual initial discomfort when Paddy penetrated her so she began to move her pelvis to avoid pain and at the same time to open up more deeply to the man.
“You’re a brute. The Irish do not know how make love gently. They should learn from the Italians”.
“What Italian have you in mind.” Paddy replied suspiciously.”
“For example Vince Caruso.”
“Don´t tell me that you slept with him. I’ll kill him, or better I’ll kill you.”
“No stupid! What I know is the through precinct women gossip. He has slept with half of them.”
“Well if you were thinking about him you´re late, he is crippled.”
“But he will eventually heal.” Said provocatively Laura.
“Goddamn bitch! Anyway you’re now going to feel me inside you.”
Laura changed the subject to one of her favorite issues prior to orgasm.
“I heard you’ve beaten two black guys this afternoon. Tell me what happened, with details.”
“The bastards came on a motorcycle and snatched the bag to a very fragile elderly black woman. The lady fell on the pavement and suffered multiple injuries. There was a radio alert and I was very close and arrived immediately. I saw their bike and ran them over with the patrol car. They rolled on the ground and when they tried to get up I pulled the hell out of them and pounded their heads against the same pavement they had sent the old lady. I let all the steam off. When reinforcements arrived it was not easy for them to separate me.”
“Won´t the black people who witnessed the scene argue police brutality?”
“Not at all! They were furious by the outrage to the old lady. Also they started beating the guys. I was applauded for protecting a defenseless old black woman.”
Laura felt the orgasm approaching. She whispered in the Paddy´s ear.
“Tell me. What was the state of the blacks at the end?”
“Completely disfigured. According to the paramedics they both have concussion … and he
ar this.”
“Tell me.”
“With likelihood of permanent damage.”
Laura began to shake violently in one of her deep orgasms. Paddy also finished simultaneously. He knew that the secret of climax for both were these brutal narratives. He realized that there was a sadistic element in Laura that transmitted to him in the moments of excitement; however, during his periods of anticlimax after intercourse that tendency of the woman puzzled him.
O’Halloran looked at Laura´s big black eyes, thick sensual lips and compared them with the memories of Sheila, whose blue eyes were just two thin stripes and recalled her thin lips. He clenched the fat buttocks of the woman with his hands until she cried of pain. What Laura had inherited from her black ancestors was what Paddy kept in a permanent state of arousal. He could forget and forgive her preferences regarding erotizing narratives.
The two thugs opened the door as usual at that hour and toured nearby to make sure no one was prowling around the block. A blue car approached from the nearest corner and stopped right in front of the abandoned warehouse. Three covered figures left the building and got into the vehicle that departed immediately. The bullies remained a few moments taking advantage of a ray of sunshine that warmed their bodies. The New York autumn chill was not suitable for these men, born and raised in equatorial climates.
A black drunkard approached from the same corner from which the blue car had come. The hit men were already used to seeing him. The thin man walked to the tumbles, bumping waste containers and other obstacles that were on the sidewalks. One of the thugs spoke in an unknown language and he and his companion laughed when the drunk stupidly greeted them. As he passed by them the man stepped to the pavement certainly not to collide with the two guards who made obscene gestures.
Suddenly the drunk made a remarkable gesture for its speed and accuracy; one of the assassins saw something alarming through the corner of his eye and began to turn toward the drunk but it was too late. Four sharp blows were heard in the alley when the alleged drunk pulled a pistol with silencer from his filthy clothes.
The two men fell down on the sidewalk without an exhalation; each showed two dark spots which rapidly expanded across their breasts. The ragged drank pulled the corpses to bring them into the open door of the building which he closed immediately after entering it.
“One, two.” Whispered the attacker to himself.
Nubia took off the rags with a grimace of disgust; under them she was dressed in a flexible rubber suit and had on her feet a pair of boots with rubber soles; a balaclava was placed on her head concealing her features but allowing her perfect vision. Stealthily she controlled the rest of the ground floor of the warehouse, it was filled with garbage of all kinds but she found no other human occupants. The woman directed the thin beam of a flashlight toward the stairs and headed silently toward it. In the first step she contained a curse when a large rat crossed in front of her.
Both saw each other at the same time. The fat man coming down the stairs watching at the screen of his cell phone had no time to breathe a cry of alarm; his chest was pierced by bullets and he rolled down the stairs. Nubia set aside not be dragged away by the bulky body; immediately she concentrated on the upper part of the staircase anticipating the appearance of another custodian. Indeed another man appeared in the doorway with a bottle of beer in his hand.
“Ahmed, is it you?” Asked in a dialect of Sudan. The staircase was in darkness because Nubia had turned off the flashlight, but the top was partially illuminated by a light from behind. The man fell down the stairs with two bullets in the chest leaving the bottle fall noisily to the floor.
Nubia paused for a moment to see if the noise was followed by some event. As she checked that everything was quietly she continued to climb and finally had to pass over the body lifting his legs as she went on with the fatidic count.
“Three, four.”
The girl remained silent for a moment trying to orient herself. She looked in both directions of a corridor that opened before her and in the far background of one of them glimpsed a dim light while from that place came muffled sounds like a celebration party.
With extreme caution Nubia headed in that direction and approached the light source, obviously a room; the noise grew louder, and she could discern gruff voices of a man and women moans.
Upon reaching the entrance of the room her stomach cringed. Two of the Sudanese thugs were subduing two black women whom they had forced to kneel on a mattress lying on the fetid floor. The men were satiating their bestial appetites as the girls barely had the strength to emit weak groans.
The outrage over the brutal rape scene turned all red in Nubia´s eyes, who with an effort of concentration dominated her feelings.
She placed herself behind the scenes and at point-blank blew the heads of the two thugs, who fell heavily on their victims. When the girls turned their faces the Nubian waved them quiet, while helping the women to get rid of the rapists bodies.
“Are there more men here?” Asked Nubia in an Ethiopian dialect.
The women did not answer with words, but one of them nodded while she extended two fingers pointing in the direction of another flight of stairs.
“Are there more women with them?” Asked Nubia.
“Yes, a lot of girls.”
Nubia again had to pass by the bodies of the men she had just killed.
“Five, six.” The implacable count went on.
While Nubia climbed the new stretch of stairs she changed the magazine of her pistol.
She was finally reaching the top floor, which exuded a distant music. On reaching it the woman ascertained where the sound came from. Without too many precautions Nubia headed in that direction. She suddenly entered a room and saw two men sprawled in chairs surrounded by bottles. One of them was asleep while the other managed to jump out of his seat as he saw the unexpected visitor. The shots were accurate. One of the men went from a dream to the other while the other was moaning crawling on the floor with a torn stomach. Nubia ended his suffering with another shot. From a crate of bottles that was used as a sort of table the girl took a bunch of keys and went to a thick iron gate which closed the only room visible in the floor. As she passed the corpses Nubia completed the count.
“Seven, eight.”
Upon opening the door the first thing that came to her was the stench of bodies crowded in awful sanitary conditions. Nubia found no light switch so she had to explore the place with her flashlight.
The women were scattered on the floor staring at her with astonishment without knowing what new nightmare was expecting them. Nubia counted eighteen. The huge African eyes reflected the light from the flashlight into the general darkness.
“Quick, get out of here!” Said Nubia in the usual Ethiopian dialect, and then reiterated in other languages used in the Horn of Africa.
“ But where will we go?” Asked one of the girls distraught.
“Anywhere, away from here. Look for a policeman. Run, we do not know how much time we have.”
When the girls were standing up Nubia asked one of them, who seemed more awake.
“Do you know Jemal? You know where he is?”
“He left here a while ago with his lovers. I had to serve them drinks before.”
Nubia recalled the blue car to which three people had ascended. No doubt Jemal and his male lovers, a black Sudanese and a white Yemeni she remembered well.
Nubia ran downstairs showing the women the way to freedom.
Chapter 14
“How come none of the eight men managed to offer resistance?” Uncle Charley had attentively heard the story Nubia was telling him but without much surprise. He analyzed the facts as if it were a war report, something connected with his youth in Vietnam.
“They found themselves too safe in their burrow. I could kill them one by one or in pairs.”
The coldness of the young woman impressed the old soldier.
“It was an ambush in their own den of beasts.”Said Charley. “ I cannot say I regret it nor blame you. Do you think you have dismembered the band?”
“Regrettably Jemal escaped with his two male lovers. I think I saw them when they got out of the building. The damned bastard will reconstitute its group with fresh men hired in Africa for two pennies and will keep exploiting his business.” Replied resignedly Nubia.
“But it has been a heavy blow for him; on the other hand the women that you set free were his source of profit. It´s been a financial blow as well.”
“What do you think will happen to the girls?”
“ They will surely be detected by the police and the Migration department will take action in the matter. In this particular case being returned to their home countries is not the worst thing that can happen to those girls.”
“ Their villages and houses have been surely razed, as was the school where I was. I would not know where to return.”
“In your case you probably have other options.” Added enigmatically Charley. “However at this time you are an illegal immigrant to the United States. When this is all over you will have to present yourself within the group of women brought against their will.”
At that point Charley decided to change the subject.
“ The gun you used is the same with which you shot the gunman in the alley?”
“Yes.”
“It has a silencer?”
“Yes.”
“And you used the money you asked me to buy ammunition?”
“ Yes, as well as the wetsuit and the boots.”
“What have you done with all that stuff?”
“It’s still in my bedroom.”
“You must get rid of those things immediately. It is necessary to completely disconnect you from this unfortunate chapter. Give me everything right away.”
Swirl Romance Stories Page 19