by Dawning, Dee
Chapter Twenty
The following day, I met with Gino so he could fit me for a pair of size eight and a half, three inch heeled black pumps, which contained false fronts, into which he'd installed a tiny recorder.
"Try them on."
Removing my shoes, I slipped them on. "How do I turn the recorder on?"
"It's already on. It's voiced activated. When you're done, bring the shoes back. I'll retrieve the recorder and make a copy of the recording for you and Bella."
When I returned to work, I went into Brad's office to show him my shoes. "You like?"
He leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Look like black pumps to me."
"I know. What you been doing while I was gone."
"I just got off the phone with Cliff's wife, Meg."
"And?"
Brad leaned forward and spoke sotto voce, "We have a deal. I was just about to email Bella with the terms of the deal."
I also spoke under my breath, "Which are?"
"Two point five million down and five annual installments of a half million each."
"Wunderbar," I exclaimed. I giggled when Brad's eyes widened and put my hand over my mouth, then whispered, "That's five million less than we were willing to go."
Still speaking softly he continued, "Yes, but I hope you don't mind. That's for a ninety percent share. I did allow them to keep ten percent and I agreed to keep an office with Cliff's name on it in case he ever recovers enough to visit it from time to time."
I nodded. "That's fine."
~ * * ~
Friday morning Brad, Amber and I met with Meg Burns in Bella's office to complete the paperwork for the sale. Mrs. Burns thanked us for helping her and her recovering husband. She wished us success with the business and gave Brad a teary, loving hug. She turned to us. "I'm so pleased that Brad is taking over my husband's baby. I couldn't have asked for a better person."
After Mrs. Burns left, the four of us went to the nearby Billy's Club for lunch and a mini celebration. Knowing I was about to have a showdown meeting with Grimes, I barely touched my lunch, but I did have three dry vodka martinis.
By the time we got back from lunch it was time to visit Grimes. I went into Brad's office. "I'm leaving now. Wish me luck."
"You'll be fine. Is your recorder on?"
"Gino said it's voice activated."
"And you have your pepper spray?"
I patted my handbag. "Never leave home without it."
"Sounds like you're all set. Good luck, sweetheart."
I turned and walked out of the office and to the elevator lobby.
I didn't think it was possible, but standing in front of the elevators, I was even more nervous than I'd been on Wednesday. When the elevator doors parted, I stepped in and pushed 40. As always, the sudden acceleration took my breath away and tickled my stomach. Seconds later, the doors parted and I stepped into the reception area.
This time I didn't announce myself. Instead, I traced the path Grimes' secretary led me on last time I was there.
After a hundred or so paces I came to Grimes' office. I opened the door and stepped in.
"Yes, can I help you?" Grace Wadsworth asked.
"Yes, I'm Ginger Allen. Mr. Grimes is expecting me."
Grace looked confused. "Are you sure? I don't have you down."
"That's because I never set up an appointment. I told him I would think about his offer and give him an answer today."
"I see. Let me call." She picked her phone and pushed a single button. "Sorry to interrupt your meeting with Mr. Lancaster, but Ms. Ginger Allen is here to see you."
Mr. Lancaster? The Chief of Security. What the F…?
Looking a bit confused, Grace looked up. "The President will see you."
I gulped. Even with the reinforcement of three martinis, I shook as I walked into Grimes' office.
"Ms. Allen…Ginger, come in please. Your timing is perfect."
As I strolled into the office Lancaster rose from his chair and turned to face me.
Milton stood too. "Come, come. Have you met Ray Lancaster? He's our Chief of Security. Ray, this is the gorgeous lady you've been researching." As before, he edged around his desk and came toward me. When we met about ten feet from his desk, he pulled me in and kissed each cheek.
After Grimes let go of me, the linebacker-sized Lancaster shook my hand. "Pleased to meet you. Milt said you were gorgeous and you are."
"Thank you."
"So glad you came by. Ray was just leaving. Have a seat. Would you like a glass of chardonnay?"
I shook my head. "No, I just came by to give you an answer to your proposition."
"Good, when can you start?"
I looked at the leering Chief of Security and then Grimes. "I'm afraid my answer is no."
Grimes' jaw dropped. "You're saying no to almost three million dollars a year."
"Yes, my reason for coming to work at Bayside was to get out of prostitution, not get deeper into it."
"Are you sure?"
I took a breath and held my chin up high. "Yes."
"Do you need more time to think about it?"
"No. my mind is made up."
"I'll have to fire you."
"I wish you wouldn't, but there's nothing I can do about it if that's what you decide." I rose. "Well, if it's all right, I'll be going."
Milton glanced at Lancaster and nodded.
With speed and agility, I didn't think he had in him, Lancaster jumped up and from behind wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug.
Milton walked slowly toward me with a smarmy grin on his oversized lips. "What's your hurry?"
My heart beat so hard I felt it in my ears. "Wha-what do yo-you wa-want?"
He cocked his head and cast a serious look. "Lot's of things. For starters I thought we'd all get undressed and get to know each other a little better. Doesn't that sound like fun Ray?"
"Yah, Boss.
"That's right and once you're naked we'll both fuck you."
Twisting and squirming I tried everything to break away, but the Security Chief was up to the task. Milton laughed at my futility. "You didn't think you'd get out of here without getting fucked, did you?"
"Firing me because I won't be your whore is sexual harassment, but this is plain and simple sexual assault," I bellowed.
"Yes, it is, but when we're finished you won't be around to tell."
I could barely breathe, I was so scared. "You're going to kill me?"
"No, no, you're much too valuable to kill." Standing directly in front of me, Milton kneaded my breasts. "Mmm, your breasts feel very nice." He stuck his fingers under the seams of my blouse. "Lets, see what they look like." Buttons went flying everywhere as he yanked the plackets apart. He unhooked my front hooking bra and grinned. "Very nice. I think the warlords and princes will pay a premium for this one."
"Yeah, Boss, she's a fine piece of ass."
Placing his hands under my bare breasts he bounced them up and down. "I can't wait to see the rest of you."
I spit it his face and his lips curled down with rage. With spittle flying he yelled, "You fucking bitch," and slapped me, twice. Kerwop, Kerwop! "I hope you like it in the ass."
In self-defense, I kneed Milton in the gonads. Crying out in pain he bent down holding himself. I kneed him in the face and he collapsed to the floor, blood spurting from his nose. "You cunt, you broke my nose."
Lancaster, slow to react, apparently didn't know what to do, so I took advantage of his indecision by lifting my right leg about two feet off the floor and stomping on his instep with all the power I could muster.
Immediately, he let go and I was free as he hopped around on his left foot, screaming in pain. "Oh God! God, it hurts!
Ray had his own problems and didn't seem to be listening to Milt as he yelled, "Get her Ray, kill the fucking bitch!" Since Ray wasn't paying attention, Milt, blood spurting out all over the office, got up. Moving at zombie speed, with hands extended, as if he intended to strangle me, h
e screamed, "I'll get you if it's the last thing I ever do."
I should've left, but they weren’t the only ones who were pissed. These assholes wanted to rape me, so I waited for Milt and when his shaking, slow moving fingers wrapped around my throat I let him have it.
His hands left my throat and immediately went to his eyes. "Aaaahheeee! My eyes! My eyes! You fucking cunt! What did you do?"
It was then that I noticed the Lancaster stopped bouncing around on one foot and headed my way with murder in his eyes, so I sprayed the pepper spray in his eyes, too!
"Yeeeaaaahhhh, my eyes, my eyes. Oh my God it hurts." Ray crumpled onto his back rubbing his eyes and kicking at some imagined demons as if he rode an exercise bicycle.
And people think you need a gun to defend yourself. I smiled and glanced around. They lay on the floor bleeding and crying and the office looked like a miniature tornado had just passed through.
I knew I could no longer work there and was sure they would come after me. I didn't really know what to do, but the main thing was to get the hell out of there and collect my thoughts. Taking a step toward the door, I seemed to trip on something and lost my balance. I fell flat on my face, right next to the big guy. That's when I noticed the stiletto heel from my shoe embedded in his foot. Yelling and screaming he grabbed me and climbed on top and no matter how hard I kicked and squirmed, he wouldn't let go.
I couldn't figure out where the pepper spray went and then I saw it about two feet away. It may as well have been two miles, because there was no way my hundred and fifteen pounds was going to budge this guy's two-fifty, so I could retrieve the pepper spray.
I got a dose of his rancid breath as he informed me of what I already knew. "I got you, you fucking bitch." His hand slipped between my legs and somehow he managed to slip a finger into me. Screaming I bit him, clawed his face and neck with my fingernails, all to no avail.
I was in trouble, but Lancaster was the least of my worries. A drip of blood hit me in the eye and then cold hands slipped around my throat and began to squeeze. Milton hovered over me with the look of an insane, serial killer. Pissed beyond measure, Milton squeezed for all he was worth. Nose or mouth, it didn't matter, my breathing was totally cut off. Slowly I began to lose consciousness. How did all this happen to me? The last thing I remembered before passing out was someone shouting, "Stop it!"
~ * * ~
Ginger had only been gone a five minutes when I started to worry. I thought there was something off about Grimes when I'd first met him as Brad, and Ginger, bless her heart, said Grimes creeped her out. Then Amber and Bella said Milton Grimes was a bad man. No wonder I was a nervous wreck.
I couldn't work. After I'd been to the rest room for the second time and the drinking fountain for the fourth time, I left a note in Ginger's desk and headed for the elevators. I took one down to the lobby with the intention of getting a big stiff drink at Libation Station, but as soon as I entered the lobby a feeling of dread pervaded me.
I about faced, rushed past the still open doors, back into the elevator, and pushed forty. As if we were connected somehow, I couldn't shake the feeling that Ginger was in mortal danger. Finally, the elevator doors parted. Bypassing the receptionists, I followed the path Grimes' secretary had taken me to his office five days before. As I drew closer, my apprehension increased from the screams and crying I heard. I burst through the doors and couldn't believe what I saw. A heavy man, with swollen almost closed eyes was on top of Ginger while Grimes, bloody for no apparent reason, knelt beside Ginger, strangling her. "Stop it! What're you doing? Are you crazy? Leave her alone!"
Grimes' swollen eyes stared with intensity at me. Looking like a man possessed, he snarled, "You! What're you doing here?"
I ran up to them and hit Grimes with a vicious uppercut. He let go of Ginger's throat and toppled over. I thought he was out, but his beady eyes opened and he roared. "This is none of your business, Fairchild."
"Yes it is!" He started to get up so I reached my foot back in order to kick him with all the force I could muster when the big guy, who held Ginger, grabbed my foot and twisted it, knocking me off balance. I fell on the unmoving Ginger. Please don't be dead. And the big guy reached around her and grabbed me wrapping his arms around both of us in a bear hug. Suddenly a fist came out of nowhere to hit me in the eye, then another.
Held tight by the big guy while Grimes pummeled me, I expected to be knocked unconscious in seconds when Grimes went flying off of me. Then the big guy started gagging and gurgling and suddenly he let go. I tried to look through the blur of damaged eyes, and saw two Madame Sorianos with a head lock on two of the big guys. I followed the sounds of “umph” and” argh” and saw two Suzi Carpenters using some sort of martial arts to wipe the floor up with two of Grimes.
As my double vision slowly coalesced, I found myself cheering for our benefactors. "Good one, Suzi. Choke the hell out of him, Madame." When Grimes was finally unconscious on the floor, Suzi came over and cold-cocked the big guy with a three hundred-sixty degree spinning kick that almost decapitated him. "Yaaaa!"
Madame rose and the two of them helped me up.
"Don't worry. Ginger is only unconscious," assured Suzi. You should have seen her. She was magnificent."
"Yes she was. She went through a lot, but physically, other than the severe bruising on her neck and lighter bruises elsewhere, she's in pretty good shape, which is more than I can say for the snakes that attacked her."
"They attacked her?"
"Well yes. Look at her clothes. They're half ripped away."
Madame Soriano joined us. "Yes, they were going to rape her."
I gulped, "They were going to rape the woman I love."
Suzi nodded. "But she fought back? She was a tiger."
I grinned as Suzi imitated a tiger roar and Madame Soriano started moving her hands and feet, mimicking a fight. "Yes, you should have seen it, she was magnificent."
"I'll say. She kicked ass and would have gotten away scot free except for her broken high heel."
"Yes, that was unfortunate. One misstep and she fell beside the big son of a…you know what."
Suzi ran her fingers through Ginger's long hair. "So pretty. Well, she's safe now. All I can say is Ginger would make a hell of a Marine."
GI Ginger? Nah! Needless to say, I couldn't picture my Barbie-dollish girlfriend in a military uniform.
"What happened?" Ginger's baby-blue eyes opened and her gaze bore into me.
I took her hand. "You went through an ordeal, but you're fine. Just take it easy. I'll tell you about it later."
"No, I remember everything. Grimes was strangling me. I thought I was going to die." Her gaze began to wander. "Suzi? Madame Soriano? Where did you come from?"
"They saved our lives honey."
"You saved my life?"
"Yes, you should have seen Suzi. She was like Miss Kung Fu. Where did you learn to do that?" I asked, in awe.
Suzi smiled. "I used to be—"
"That'll be enough AFC Suzi Carpenter. The police and ambulances are en route so you need to tie up those snakes."
"Yes ma'am." Suzi's gaze locked in on Grimes, who gradually rose and floated to one of the chairs that fronted Grimes desk. Moving the big guy to the adjacent chair, Suzi hitched her head and appeared between them, a roll of duct tape in her hand. She smiled at me, then with a flurry of action, she bound and gagged the bad guys.
"Very good, Suzi." Madame Soriano turned to me. "It was necessary to interfere to save your lives, but we must go now."
"I don't know how I can—"
"Thanks are not necessary. While you are in our charge, it is required for us to guide you and if necessary, protect you."
I pointed at the unconscious men. "What about them? They will tell the police and others about you."
"They know not of us. We are invisible to all but those in our purview."
As they began to fade, I yelled, "Will we see you again?"
There was no reply, then I imagin
ed or heard one of them say in the faintest of voices, just before they completely disappeared… Did I hear right? Did one of them say, "When you get married?"
~ * * ~
I didn't even have time to absorb what I thought I heard, because simultaneous with Madame and Suzi vanishing, paramedics crashed through the doors pushing two gurneys. They were accompanied by two policemen with guns drawn. The paramedics tended to Ginger and the rest of us for a few minutes, but the police, hearing contradictory stories from everyone and unable to piece together what happened took everyone to the hospital under guard.
Chapter Twenty-one
Brad rode in the ambulance with me. I could tell from the way everyone pampered me that I must've looked terrible, but really, I was wide awake, and in full control of all my facilities. On the ride to the hospital, I removed my shoes, then requested, "Please see that Bella gets these shoes I borrowed from her," and handed them to Brad.
As soon as the paramedics wheeled us into the Emergency room, I was shocked to have Bella and Gino rush up to us. After Bella & Gino hugged us, Brad asked them, "How did you know to meet us at the hospital?"
Gino and Bella glanced at each other and Bella looked back at Brad and answered, "Someone texted me to meet you here about forty-five minutes ago. I just assumed it was you or Ginger."
Brad handed the shoes to Bella who handed them to Gino, who excused himself. He reappeared about two minutes later without the shoes, but dropped something, most likely the recording, in Bella's hand.
Then Amber and Lew showed up and said the same thing—someone texted them. When the nurse rolled me through the big double doors I was glad when Bella and Amber tagged along.
~ * * ~
Not long after a nurse rolled Ginger away for a sexual assault examination, reporters from various, newspapers, TV networks, magazines and other media outlets showed up. With dozens of media people suddenly there searching for a story, the already busy emergency room took on a surreal circus-like atmosphere. The Bayside Brawl, as media people began to call it, might have been the most widely covered news event of the week. Whether all the notoriety would help or hurt Ginger and me in the long run, there was no doubt in my mind that the mysterious arrival of the media was the work by our magical duo, Carpenter and Soriano.