Do Unto Others

by J. F. Gonzalez

  “Mom, you don’t have to guilt-trip me. I have a difficult enough time trying to arrange time off with one of the couples I sit for that it’s hard to get weekends off.”

  “Are you still watching that little girl? The one who had cancer?”

  “Yes. She’s such a sweet child, and I usually have her at some point every weekend, but sometimes her parents get the weekend off. It’s so unpredictable with their work schedule. So—”

  Julie stopped the tape. Her expression didn’t change.

  Jim looked up at her, the dread solidifying in his gut like molten lead.

  “I have my reasons for not wanting to carry my threats out at this stage,” Julie said, her voice low. “Don’t delude yourself in thinking I want to spare the life of your child.”

  “Then please don’t.” Jim said.

  “What choice do I have? It’s too close to the day of the ritual to change our plans. I’m very confident Jack will take care of things if the police get too nosy. He’s been successful in the past with similar incidents. Do you know how many genuinely false accusations police departments receive a year, Mr. Cornell?”

  Julie was pacing the floor in front of him now and Jim felt more scared. He could dimly sense the presence of her three goons behind him in the shadows, as if waiting for her command to finish him off.

  “Well?”

  “No,” he said suddenly, hating the way his voice sounded; weak, afraid.

  “Some jurisdictions have entire departments fielding such calls. Entire departments! We’re talking a staff of anywhere from two to ten people. Just to verify fraudulent criminal complaints. Can you believe that?”

  “I...” Jim didn’t know what to say and let the sentence trail off.

  “Be thankful this is the case, Jim,” Julie continued, stopping in front of him. “Be gracious for all the loonies out there who see the need to call the police on their neighbors because they think they live next to Al-Qaeda spies, or they have reason to believe they’re involved with Internet pornography, or believe the government is controlled by aliens from outer space. Thank your lucky stars for people like them, Jim.”

  Jim didn’t know what to say. He wanted to beg, wanted to plead with her not to do what he was afraid most of, but he was afraid that would somehow make the situation worse. His only choice now was to listen to her and then, if he saw it, take the opportunity to try to reason with her, to fight for his life if he had the opportunity.

  “If Detective Pearce is nosy, he might start trouble. It’s never happened before, but there’s always a first time. If he digs deeper he’ll find no bodies, no physical evidence, no circumstantial evidence and no witnesses.”

  “Please,” Jim said. “I’m not going through with it. I’ve told the detective I didn’t want to pursue anything. Let’s just...forget about this and move on.”

  “I have no choice. You see that, don’t you?”

  The fear took over. His eyes darted around the room, trying to seek an escape route. Could he fight the men that had kidnapped him? He could try, but they’d already roughed him up pretty bad. Still, he could try, anything was better than doing nothing. “If you hurt my family—” he began.

  “Ah! We get to my dilemma in all this!” Julie reached into her coat pocket and brought something out that, at first, Jim couldn’t identify. When she brought it closer to his face he saw it for what it was: Sarah’s kindergarten picture.

  How did she get Sarah’s school picture? was the first thought that flashed through his brain but was quickly replaced by this: What is she going to do with my family?

  Julie held the photo in front of Jim for a moment before finally making it disappear inside her coat.

  Jim felt himself quiver in rage and fear. “Please don’t hurt her. She’s all I’ve got.”

  Julie knelt in front of him, her face inches from his own. “I know,” she said, her voice lowered. He could feel her breath on his face as she spoke. “I know she’s special to you. She’s a beautiful little girl, so full of life and hope despite her sickness. You can just see the courage she displays. When I look at her I can’t help but think she’s going to be a good, strong person when she grows up. She’s going through so much at such a young age, but she has you and Nancy, she has your love, and the love of her grandparents and other relatives, and that does wonders for a sick child. She has such an innocence about her, yet she’s strong and committed to you and Nancy.”

  “If you lay one finger on her I’ll kill you!”

  Julie smiled at him when he said that, but he didn’t care. He’d never felt such blind hatred for another human being in his life. He wanted nothing more than to leap out of that chair and rip Julie’s throat out with his teeth. His hate was so evident, he was barely aware of the three men who’d kidnapped him as they moved closer to him.

  Julie turned back to them with a stern look. The men hovered nearby, like well-trained attack dogs awaiting word from their master to strike.

  Julie turned back to Jim. For a minute he thought she was going to say, Sorry, Jim. But you leave me no choice.

  Instead, what she whispered to him was, “Listen to me carefully, Jim.”

  Jim nodded.

  “Believe me when I tell you that I’ve had men killed.” Julie’s face was close to his. “I’ve had their families destroyed—not their children, though. You’re the first man I’ve propositioned who has a small child to care for. But the others...the two others...their wives left them, they’ve gone through financial ruin and the men themselves...they’re gone. You needn’t concern yourself with how, just that I made it happen. I have the ability to make it happen. Do you understand?”

  Jim nodded. “Yes,” he whispered.

  “The last two times this happened I did the same thing that’s happening to you right now,” Julie continued in her whisper. “Only the men in question did not walk out of this building alive. Do you understand?”

  She’s going to kill me! Jim felt his body thrum with adrenaline.

  “You love your daughter, but I don’t,” Julie continued. “My only consideration is having my ritual done correctly, and for that I need you to follow my directions. This is important, Jim. You don’t know how close you’ve come to dying tonight, but a suitable candidate has just come to my attention, somebody you know very well.” She smiled. “We need you now more than ever. If we didn’t need you, believe me, your blood would be running out on the floor right now and your child would grow up fatherless.”

  And then he understood what she was trying to tell him. He also understood why she was whispering to him. She didn’t want her goons to hear what she was saying.

  He nodded stiffly, still not knowing if he was going to be killed tonight or not. Julie kept her grip on his face, still whispering to him. “It is now very early on Tuesday morning. I would like you to be ready for the job this weekend. Is that going to conflict with your schedule at home?”

  Stunned, Jim shook his head slowly. His mind was racing, wondering about the sudden about-face.

  “I am not doing this for you, Mr. Cornell. You’ve made me very angry tonight. Don’t think you’re out of the woods yet, because you aren’t. Jack is still trying to salvage things as we speak. But I also need you to complete your part in the ritual.” She paused again. “Do you understand?”

  Jim nodded, feeling the relief spread through him. He was going to live! “Yeah,” he said softly.

  “The men behind you aren’t going to approve of me sending them away,” Julie said. “But they will. The bottom line is that they will do what I say, even if they don’t agree with it.”

  Jim nodded, hardly believing the sudden turnaround of his good fortune.

  “In our observance of your activities, I’ve settled on our sacrifice. You know this person very well, Jim. This should make what we need you to do much easier. Do you understand?”

  Jim nodded. He wondered who it was she’d settled on. Was it a loved one? It couldn’t be Nancy. God, it couldn’t b
e Sarah, please don’t let it be—

  “Stephen Golding is the man you are to bring to a location I will provide for you the morning of the sacrifice.” Julie looked at him, waiting for a reaction. Jim didn’t know how to react. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the name. Stephen Golding?

  As if she could read his mind, Julie continued. “Stephen worked in the cubicle across from you at Lockheed. You spent a lot of time with him on breaks, doing lunch, you even went to his home a few times and he to yours. He was what one might call a ‘work acquaintance.’”

  “Why Stephen?” Jim managed to ask. He remembered Stephen very well, and as his mind tracked back to the days they worked together he tried to remember details. All he could remember was the simple things: Stephen was a software programmer, and for the most part was pretty quiet and kept to himself. The only personal things Jim knew about him were that he was in his mid-forties, had never married, kept a cozy little bungalow in La Canada, enjoyed cooking, and was a devout churchgoer. “I don’t understand, I thought you wanted—”

  “A female? Not necessarily,” Julie said, grinning slightly. “It’s a misconception that we require nubile young female virgins for ritual sacrifice. Men will do just fine.”

  “But Stephen...” Jim didn’t know quite how to say what he wanted to say; he was still trying to wrap his mind around it.

  “Is a devout Christian man,” Julie finished for him. “He’s done many good things. He donates his time and money to various charities, he lives by your Savior’s example in that he is accepting of others, is kind, and turns the other cheek. He is a true believer. He’s also a virgin.” Julie’s smile grew wider. “Hard to believe in this day and age, but Stephen has never been in an intimate relationship with a woman.”

  It was hard to believe, and the information was quickly lost on Jim as his brain worked at the simple concept of what he was now going to allow to happen. Instead of being killed for calling the police, Julie was letting him live in order for Jim to cross another path—lead a person you know and like, a person who you know in your heart doesn’t have a bad bone in his body, to his murder.

  Julie cocked her head at him. “I see you understand.”

  Jim nodded.

  “Good.” Julie paused and motioned slightly to the men behind her. “After I send them away I’m going to untie you and help you clean up a little. Then I’m going to drive you back to the Polo Club to get your car. You’re going to drive straight home. If your wife asks how you were injured, tell her you stepped between a pair of drunks while you were at work and got clobbered. It’s the hazards of the trade, even at upscale places like the Polo Club.”

  “Yeah.” Jim nodded. That was a good idea. Nancy would believe that.

  “I have an envelope I’m going to give you when you get to your car,” Julie continued. “My promised cash advance to you.”

  Jim nodded.

  “Make arrangements to be away this weekend,” Julie said. “Do whatever you have to do at home. Establish contact with Stephen and make plans to see him. The sooner we can get this over with, the better for both of us.”

  “Okay.” Although Jim was still scared, he was not as terrified as he was earlier.

  Julie gave him a slight smile. “Good.” She stood up and looked at the three men. “You can go,” she said.

  One of the men asked, “Are you sure, Ms. Montenelli?” The man sounded surprised.

  “Yes, Marcello. Go.”

  Another man stepped forward slightly. “This isn’t advisable Ms. —”

  “Are you questioning me, Ricardo?” Julie’s voice was stern, authorative.

  The man stopped. Jim felt the hairs along the back of his neck rise.

  “No, Ms. Montenelli, but—”

  “You’re questioning me. Don’t question me, Ricardo. I don’t question you, you don’t question me. I have everything under control! Now, please, go!”

  Jim detected their hesitation and he cringed, expecting one final blow in defiance. Julie stood over him protectively. Her right hand had gone into her right coat pocket, was probably caressing her own weapon, priming herself to bring it out if she had to.

  “What about the rest of it?” Another man asked.

  “No,” Julie said.

  “No?”

  “Are you deaf?”

  Another moment of hesitation. Jim’s gut churned. What other part of the plan were they discussing? The murder of his family?

  Ricardo tried another vain attempt at talking to Julie. “Ms. Montenelli, please...we mean you no disrespect. But...we’re only looking out for you. We have our orders too—”

  “I understand, and I thank you,” Julie said, her voice not dropping its stern register. “But trust me when I say I have everything under control, including what the Grand Chingon commanded of you. We just have a change in plans, that’s all.”

  “But—” Ricardo sputtered.

  “No buts, Ricardo! Just leave! Go back to the house and wait for me. Do not, I repeat, do not continue with the rest of it. Do I make myself clear?”

  The Grand Chingon? Did I hear that right? I read about him, the Children of the Night, oh shit—

  Julie stood slightly to Jim’s right, watching as her bodyguards got into the car they’d driven Jim in. Julie called out to them one more time. “When you get to the house I want the rest of the material you collected for this job. Gather it all and have it on the dining room table when I arrive. And I want to speak to you, Ricardo. Alone.”

  “Yes, Ms. Montenelli.” Ricardo sounded terrified.

  The sound of the car doors closing and the engine starting crumbled through Jim’s fear and he heaved a sigh of relief when the car backed out of the loading bay of the warehouse. Julie watched the car back up and pull out of the industrial park. When the taillights receded she turned to Jim and knelt behind him, untying his hands. “Remember one thing, Mr. Cornell. You still aren’t off the hook. We still need to make this problem you caused with the Pasadena City Police go away, but I’m confident Jack has already taken care of it. I’m also still angry with you. I’ll get over it, but just so you know...” Jim felt a sharp pain as the duct tape was yanked off his wrists. He winced slightly as the hairs were torn and he brought his arms around, rubbing them. Julie stepped in front of him. “If Jack is successful in convincing Detective Pearce you’re just an overworked, overstressed man with a very sick daughter, and that the only reason you pressed false charges of extortion against me was for her welfare, then we’re in the free and clear.”

  “But I’ll be arrested!” Jim said, the notion crossing his mind quickly. The threat of being arrested didn’t bother him. He was more concerned with being a free man and staying alive until the following Monday when this job with Julie was over so he could turn the money over to Nancy for Sarah’s treatment. He could go to jail then if he had to. Nancy could file for divorce if she wanted to. He didn’t care. As long as Sarah was taken care of.

  “Jack will do what he can to avoid having that happen,” Julie said. “He’ll tell them that I’ve learned of your situation, that I don’t wish for you to be arrested. If Detective Pearce is overzealous and charges are filed, call me or Jack.” She quickly produced a business card from her coat pocket and handed it to him. Jim took it and pocketed it as he rose on wobbly legs, feeling slightly dizzy. “We’ll take care of it.”

  “Okay.” Despite all that had happened, Jim felt calm.

  “If Detective Pearce calls you again, avoid him,” Julie continued. “I’m sure that after Jack has had his meetings with the Pasadena City Police it won’t come to that. One of the things he’s going to tell them is that due to the stress, you are under the care of a psychologist and are under great mental strain.”

  Jim nodded. He didn’t care if this was a false statement. As long as it kept him out of jail, he would agree that he was Osama Bin Ladin if that’s what it took.

  “How do you feel?” Julie asked.

  “Okay, but I’m going to b
e in pain tomorrow.”

  Julie inspected his face. “You’re going to have a bruise along the side of your head where I hit you.”

  Jim gingerly touched the side of his face where she’d slapped him openhanded. “Like you said...I got between two drunks at the Polo Club. Hazards of the trade.”

  Julie didn’t apologize for hitting him. “How about your ribs...your abdomen?”

  Jim lightly touched his ribcage and winced. “I don’t think anything’s broken,” he said, poking and prodding his torso. He felt a roll of nausea as his fingers explored his stomach. “My stomach muscles are tight.”

  “You’ll want to monitor your urine and bowel movements for the next day or so. First sign of bleeding or extreme pain, call me. I can make arrangements for you to see a physician. What about your back?”

  “It hurts.”

  Julie ran her hands along his back and sides quickly. “I think you’ll be fine. Come. I’ll drive you back to the club.”

  They were silent on the drive over. Jim sat on the far side of his seat, looking out the window at the passing buildings. He saw that he’d been driven to an industrial park in Monrovia. Julie found the 210 freeway and they were heading toward familiar territory in no time.

  Jim felt awkward. He wanted to talk, wanted to break the uneasy silence between he and Julie, but he didn’t know what to say. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind—fear, anger at himself for falling back on the old standbys society taught him, hoping Nancy wouldn’t question him too much. Most of all, he just wanted this to be over with.

  When they arrived at the Polo Club, Julie pulled into the parking lot beside Jim’s lone, battered Datsun. She reached into her coat and pulled the envelope she’d mentioned earlier and handed it to him. “Just to demonstrate I not only keep my promises, but that I’m for real and so is the deal.”

  Jim took the envelope and tried to meet her gaze. “Thanks. And...I’m sorry for what happened today.”

  Julie regarded him silently for a moment. No, I’m sorry too, or that’s okay. Her gaze still held a hint of the smoldering anger he’d seen earlier but its flames had been dampened somewhat. “I’ll let you know where we stand regarding Detective Pearce and what Jack is able to accomplish.”