by Pinki Parks
“You always have the sweetest things to say. Now that we’ve gotten that business out of the way maybe you can tell me what you want? I hope you can make this quick. I’ve got reservations to hit the slopes with a young trainer I’m planning to put my mark on.”
I had no doubt that she was going to eat him up and spit him out after she was done with him.
An old man walking his dog had stopped at the curb to pick up his business. I was half expecting him to pull out a gun and fired indiscriminately at the house. I was wired too tightly and everything looked like a threat from where I was standing.
I heard the skittering of something behind the walls. Rodents and other pests would breach the interior of this vacant house trying to find safety and warmth from the elements. I didn’t want to spend any more time in the house than I had to. I was depending on Bentley to know where to go when she saw the message on the mirror.
“He has no idea what he has gotten himself into. I don’t want to talk to Penelope. I have to discuss something of utmost importance with the Viper.” I heard the unmistakable sound of somebody cracking their knuckles.
“I thought you would never ask. I’m guessing you don’t want any trace of what I’m going to do to come back and land on your doorstep. Tell me what this is about and I will do my best with no promises.” She was licking her lips on the screen and waiting for a reason to break out her talents.
“I’m sending you a message from the black web concerning a contract. There’s a bounty on a friend of mine. It’s highly unusual and the bounty is for her to be taken alive. I want you to do your magic and find out where it originated from. They can hide from me but they can’t hide from you.” She laughed heartily at his comment and pointed at him with an accusing finger.
“Flattery is not going to get you out of paying me my money. You’re already at a disadvantage. It would seem cruel to kick you while you are down. I will do this pro bono. It might take a few minutes or a few days depending on the firewalls I come up against.” I thought she was going to cut the communication, but she was happy to have an audience with her fingers a blur over the keyboard.
“You do know how to excite a guy. It’s quite erotic to see you at your finest. One of these days, I’m going to find a way to get up to see you in person. You can show me what all your tattoos.” Victor was playing to his strengths and using a tried and true form of flirtation to keep her on the hook.
“You have been threatening to come here for months. My patience is wearing thin. Abstinence is only going to make me attack you when you come through the door. This highly charged anticipation is going to leave you feeling like a hit and run victim after I’m done with you.” I believed her and her conviction was strong enough to make any man cower in fear and desire at the same time.
“Keep your eyes on what you’re doing. I know you have a hard time doing that when you have me right in front of you. It’s a curse to look like this and have the kind of body men envy and women can’t get enough of.” This was a verbal exchange of sexual diatribe to keep their interest piqued.
“It must be a real burden. I suppose you want me to feel sorry for you. Keep talking like that and you might find me making an impromptu visit to make you live up to your claim.” The Viper knew how to play the game.
It was making me see that she was more than a match for Victor.
They were both feeding on each other’s words and having fun at each other’s expense. I tried to stay out of it, but they were getting on my nerves.
I was about to step in, but Victor put up his hand to keep me out of it. I stopped with my teeth grinding together and my hand on top of his laptop.
“I don’t suppose you want to introduce me to your friend. There’s no reason to hide. I can see his shadow. I don’t think it’s going to be seven months more of winter.” I came around to the side to give her a look at the Owens gene pool.
“I’m Pride Owens. You have no idea how grateful I am for your help. If there’s anything I can do in exchange don’t hesitate to ask. If it’s in my power then I will make sure it gets done one way or the other.” She was smiling with this twinkle in her eye.
“You are definitely a sight for sore eyes. I know he has three other brothers. They can’t possibly all look like the two of you. I get the feeling your parents had their hands full with women knocking on their door late at night. I have to say it’s a pleasure to…to…what the fuck?” She had turned her attention from the two of us back to the screen with a look of surprised shock on her face.
“What is it?” I moved in a little closer trying to ascertain what had made her complexion turn whiter than normal.
“I’m going to have to shut down and reboot. I don’t know what you have gotten me into, but somebody has taken exception to me digging around in their business. They’re trying to hack me as we speak. Somebody has been a bad boy. I will be in touch. Don’t contact me.” The screen went black and Victor and I both looked at each other with grave concern.
Chapter 11
Bentley
I woke up with somebody poking me with something. I slapped it away several times, but it only came back more insistent than ever. I had no knowledge about the semblance of time. I brought into focus a little boy of impressionable age holding the end of a rake.
There was a flashlight burning my retinas. I heard the menacing growl of a dog, but I couldn’t make out the breed from where it was hiding in the dark. I scrambled to my feet with my hands out to show him that I wasn’t carrying a weapon.
“I came across you a couple of hours ago. You don’t have to worry. I didn’t tell anybody. I brought you some food in case you were hungry. I tried to wake you, but you were sleeping heavily.” He kicked a bag across the floor, but still held the rake on me in case I was going to make any sudden moves.
I ravaged the contents caveman style. I didn’t even let it touch my tongue for more than a couple of seconds before swallowing.
“What’s your name?”
“Adam.”
How old are you, Adam?”
“12.”
“Thanks for keeping my secret and for the food. I won’t be here when you get back.” He looked perplexed, but I don’t think he felt like he was in any danger and was depending on his dog to protect him in case things went horribly awry. He also had that look on his face when little boys think that I am pretty. I get that look from little kids sometimes just standing in line at the grocery store.
“I’m tougher than I look. I’m getting tired of people treating me like I’m a little kid. I have been responsible for taking care of myself for as long as I can remember. Both of my parents work during the day and can’t afford a babysitter. I make my own meals and do my own homework. I even take care of Baxter and go shopping for food when the cupboards are bare.” I felt sorry for him and how his childhood was slipping through his fingers.
“Being an adult isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Have fun while you still can. You never know what the future holds. That’s my bit of advice.” I was a little lightheaded, but the drugs had worn off enough that I was able to stay standing without collapsing underneath my own weight.
“I like skateboarding. I sneak off after school to be with my friends for a couple of hours. I can do the handstand with my skateboard in the air just like Tony Hawk. I try not to get hurt, but it’s sometimes I fall. Like this one time, I tried jump and catch my skateboard up in the air. But I lost my balance and fell. I slid down the ramp and scratched my arm really bad. It wasn’t’ broken or anything.” I could see the light of excitement in his eyes when he talked about skateboarding.
“Oh, yeah! That sounds like a cool move. You gotta try, right.” It pained me to see his parents neglecting him. He’s had to grow up faster. I wondered if anyone kept an eye on him while his parents were at work.
“Are you all by yourself all day long?” I didn’t ask him about the explosion. He’s got enough to deal with. The last
thing I needed was for him to get curious and follow me.
“I know Mrs. Parker across the street. I wave to her all the time and bring her mail in when I come home from school. If I don’t want her to know something then I go out the back way and over the fence.” I looked around to find my exit. He let me pass and I held his gaze in a moment of silent gratitude.
“Stay out of trouble, Adam. Take care of yourself.”
“Will you be back?”
“No. It’s not a good idea. I want you to go inside and wait until your parents get home. Just for the next couple of days, I want you to stay home after school. All right?”
“Ok. If you want me to. I’ll do it. I can come with you too. I…I can help you with whatever you need.”
“That’s sweet of you but I’m going to have to do this on my own. You know how it is?” I tried to keep it vague so he won’t have anything to tell anyone.
“Goodbye. Ms.”
“Goodbye, Adam.”
The dog had a bark bigger than his bite. He licked my hand and I showed no fear. The kid went back inside.
I stayed away from the road and made my way over to the house. The police tape over the door indicated that trespassers would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I made my way around back and fit my fingers underneath a window to open it. I was holding my breath and shimmying into what turned out to be the living room.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn’t see chalk outlines of bodies on the floor. I checked the rooms one at a time to clear them of any kind of threat. The metal door at the end of the hall buckled under some extreme strain. The twisted metal reminded me of those doors breached with enough explosives to do the job.
I had been in the thick of things for the first couple of years during my tour of duty. It wasn’t long before my talents of intelligence came to light. I determined when it was safe to go in, to the best of my ability. It was a coordinated attack made possible by the intelligence we had gathered before going forward.
The room across from that misshapen door had implements on a tray that have been wheeled into the room. The blast had melted it into some kind of abstract sculpture.
This was primarily used for interrogations that were off the book. I could almost sense Pride’s presence in the room. It was somewhat comforting to know that he had made it, or had he? There was still the lower level to check. I could still smell the faint aroma of gunfire in the morning.
I could tell the source of the blast came from a room in the basement. It had made a giant hole in the first floor allowing me to see straight through to the room of interrogation. The blast must have been in the hallway, strategically placed to block their escape path.
There was a chair in the middle of the room with bits of dried blood congealed on the surface. They would mistakenly think the person in the chair was killed in the blast. I knew better.
The chains on the chair were broken with brute force. Somebody had been held there against their will. It didn’t look like the blast had taken anybody with it.
It was quite apparent that I was wrong when I opened the metal door leading to the basement. Chalk outlines were everywhere in various shapes and sizes. The whole room was charred with black ash and water dripping from the walls. It was a localized blast.
I knelt at the threshold and saw the makings of a trip wire. It was a crude design, but quite effective. The explosives were situated in a way that would do the most damage to the room. I didn’t dare go down inside with the threat of something falling on top of me.
I heard this sickening sound of something cracking in the ceiling above me. The plaster gave way and I stepped away in the nick of time. The house was a safety hazard. There was no telling what damage had been done to the load-bearing walls.
The faded image of a fire hose trailed around the corner to the front door. There was something bugging me about the scene. It finally dawned on me that the ceiling didn’t come down on its own.
“I figured that if I waited long enough that you would show up. I have some unfinished business with your husband. He wouldn’t have left here without leaving you a way to find him. I want to show you something.” I had my hands up and this man had obviously faced my husband when he wasn’t in his right mind.
“I don’t know what your plan is, but it’s not going to work. You learned the hard way what he’s capable of when he thinks that his family is threatened. You are in better shape than I thought you would be under the circumstances.”
“Your husband branded me like cattle. I can’t even feel my two fingers where he burned in between them at the nerve. It was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt in my life. I got lucky when he was interrupted. I thought I was a dead man. The explosion literally lifted the chair into the air with this blast of heat that took my breath away. I hid in the wreckage until they had all gone. Then I find this.” He pulled out the mirror with three words scrawled in what looked like blood. “It was in the bathroom downstairs. I begged for your husband to help me but instead, he chose to write this message. It was more important to him than to save me.” He tapped the muzzle of the revolver against the mirror.
“You can’t expect me to know what this means. He must’ve gotten interrupted when he made this message. These three words mean nothing to me. You’re wasting both of our time.” I knew exactly what they meant but convincing him wasn’t going to be easy.
“Don’t play with me. I’m in no mood for games. You and I are going to spend some quality time together. I can be rather persuasive when I am given enough incentive. Your husband can’t think for one second that he’s going to get away with what he did to me. I’m going to treat him like an animal in a cage. There have to be consequences for his actions.” I didn’t want to think about what would happen if they came face to face again.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I’m trying to think about what this might mean, but it’s getting me nowhere. He probably thought he had more time. Scribbling ‘Destiny calls you’ is a little vague. I wish that I could say with some degree of certainty what this means. Nothing you do to me is going to change the facts.” He was three times my size, but I knew how to use his weight against him.
“It might not change anything, but it will make me feel better. The bounty on you is still on the table. One phone call and I can have them come here and pick you up within the hour. I could be convinced to forget about the bounty in exchange for your husband’s whereabouts. You’re not going to get a better deal than that.” It was necessary to personalize my approach, but he was already blinded by what my husband had done to him.
I took a few steps and saw something in the floor. The wood of the floor had bowed indicating that enough pressure would make it collapse. Exactly what I was looking for, a way out. One wrong move and we were both going to drop 10-feet into what was left of the basement.
He was behind me and the weight difference between us was what was going to change everything. The sound was deafening and I had barely a split second before I was going to join him in a pit of death. If he falls on anything the wrong way, he would be killed.
Chapter 12
Pride
The waiting was the most difficult. I was envisioning her walking through the door in relatively good spirits. I was also waiting for word from the Viper.
Victor was working out doing pushups and using the door frame to pull his weight to the top and back down again. I wanted to grab him and hold him steady, but that was his way of dealing with the black cloud of uncertainty in the air.
“It has been almost 5 hours. I know what it’s like to stand still in one spot for hours without moving. It is the most mind-numbing exercise any soldier can go through in the field. Surveillance is part of the job, but I hate it. It can literally drive a man mad.” I had my hand on the curtain watching for any movement in the dead of night.
“You’re going to drive yourself crazy with what-ifs. No news is good news. Try to th
ink of the bright side in all of this. We are together and whatever comes we will handle it. I’ve learned that my weakness is a weapon. Fear is your friend. It reminds you that you are still breathing. Think about that and count yourself one of the lucky ones. I’m not exactly happy with this latest turn of events.” I saw something in my peripheral vision and my body language made Victor come over to take a second look.
“I know someone is out there. Make damn sure that you have eyes in the back of your head.” I was referring to the nature of the game and what we had to do to stay alert.
“I’ll stay by the front door and you go to the back door.” Victor took my place and I silently moved to the back of the house.
I was avoiding those soft spots on the floor that would have been detrimental to my health. I didn’t like the idea of having a shadow knowing my every move. There was no time to think about it. I had set up some warning devices around the perimeter to catch whoever was out there off his guard.
I used dental floss and some pots and pans that I had found inside the cupboards. It was primitive but will be effective enough to hear form inside. I was at the window with my hand on the doorknob leading to the back porch. I was rigid with every muscle ready to pounce.
“I don’t see anything out there. There’s no way they could avoid the traps I set up. I might be paranoid, but that doesn’t mean somebody’s not out to get us. It was probably my mind playing tricks on me. I apologize for going off half-cocked.” I was a little relieved but also embarrassed that I had allowed my worry over my wife to make me act like someone that was screaming the sky was falling.
“I would rather be sure than to get caught with our pants down. Pride, you know better than anybody that she can take care of herself. I didn’t want to say anything, but I think it’s time that you know the truth. There was an incident at the flea market a few hours ago making the local news. I don’t know for certain, but I think it’s fair to say that’s probably her handiwork.” Victor told me about the incident and it touched me deeply to know that she was still amongst the living.