Beloved Beast

by Cathy McAllister

  “You also said that you would leave me there alone. Will you also keep that promise?” she asked reproachfully.

  “I’ve told you my reasons for that. It’s better that way.”

  *

  “Why Brazil?” asked Crissy, and threw a sideways glance at Ramon.

  Ramon looked in the rear-view mirror and frowned. Crissy turned around and looked at the lights of the cars behind them. Then she turned to Ramon again. He seemed concerned.

  “Is something wrong? Are we being followed?”

  “There’s a car back there that has followed us through the last three turnings. It may be a coincidence, but …”

  “But what?” asked Crissy, when Ramon did not carry on.

  “I’ve got a feeling, and my feelings don’t usually let me down.”

  “What are we going to do now?”

  “Try to get rid of the bugger,” growled Ramon, and at the last second he turned the pick-up to the right, into a side street.

  Crissy looked back again.

  “Is he there?”

  “Yes, that’s him! Hold tight! – It’s going to get uncomfortable now!”

  Ramon turned the steering wheel sharply to the left and sped up. Crissy clung to the seat. Her heart started to race. She did not need to turn round to know that the car behind them had copied their manoeuvre. Ramon turned left and re-joined the traffic again on the main road. He raced at top speed through the town, alternately over-taking on the right and on the left.

  “Yes!” shouted Ramon triumphantly. “We lost them at the last traffic lights. That doesn’t mean we can relax, though. We’ve got to get rid of this car. Orlando is full of the brothers. I’d be prepared to bet that every damn Mafioso here already knows that we’re driving this vehicle.”

  Ramon parked the car in a side alley and they quickly got out.

  “OK?” asked Ramon with concern, and stroked her cheek.

  “Things are going really badly for me, but apart from that … apart from that everything’s fine. Don’t panic! I’m not going to faint.”

  “You’re really pale, babe. I promise you we’ll make it. We just need to find a safe place for the night now.”

  They put on their rucksacks. Ramon left the crossbow in the car. He could not walk through the town with that.

  “Come on!” said Ramon, and took her by the hand.

  They found a cheap hotel and rented a room on the second floor. It was not particularly clean but they did not care. The main thing was that, for now, they were safe.

  “In the morning I’ll get us a new car.”

  “It’s a pain that we had to leave so many things in the pick-up truck. Your crossbow …”

  “They’re only objects, Crissy. I can get a hundred more of those. That’s not important. The main thing is that we got rid of those men. Tomorrow we’ll head for Miami.”

  “And what will we do in Miami?” asked Crissy.

  “Find a friend. He has a private plane. He’ll help us get to Brazil.”

  “That reminds me – you haven’t answered my question yet. Why Brazil?”

  “I have family there. They’ll look after you.”

  “Why won’t you stay with me?” asked Crissy and put her arms around Ramon’s neck.

  “I’ve already told you, and don’t think that you can change my mind. I’m not made for life in this world. I can live in the swamp. The people there accept me as I am. And anyway, I’ m a danger for you.”

  “Ramon, I can live with you wherever you want. The danger doesn’t bother me. I can’t be without you any more. Please!”

  He gently took her arms from around his neck and went to the window, turning his back on her. Crissy just stood there, and tears ran down her face. She wanted to reach out and touch him, but she knew that he did not want that right now. He would just push her away.

  “I’ll stay with you there for two or three weeks, until you’ve settled in, and so that I know that you’re OK,” he said quietly.

  “But how can I be OK when you’re going to leave me?” she sobbed.

  “Don’t make it harder than it already is, Crissy. Even if you don’t believe it right now, at some point you’ll realise that it was best this way. Then you’ll be glad. You’ll find a man who can walk down the street with you without everyone turning and looking because he’s a monster.”

  “I wouldn’t care! Honestly!” she tried to convince him.

  He turned towards her and glared at her angrily.

  “But I would!” he snarled and rushed out of the room.

  Crissy threw herself onto the bed and cried.

  About an hour later Ramon returned. Crissy was sitting on the bed and looked at him. He closed the door and leant against it. She could not work out his expression – it was almost without any sign of emotion. Her heart was aching and her eyes burnt from the tears that she had shed during the last hour.

  Suddenly he pushed himself away from the door and strode across the room. He flung himself on her like a ravenous animal. Her heart pounded wildly as he undressed her hurriedly and took off his trousers. He hungrily pressed his mouth on hers and kissed her firmly. His touches were rough and yet did not lose their effect. Her body was just eager for him to take her. Crissy pushed herself yearningly towards him and whimpered as he lay between her legs and went inside her without any further hesitation.

  “You don’t know me at all,” he snarled. “You’ve been playing with the beast in the hope that he’s really only a little kitten!”

  Ramon grabbed her by the hair whilst he carried on thrusting into her. She swung between pain and desire. She wanted him – she wanted to hold onto him – forever. She could see the anger in his eyes and she did not understand it. Hot tears ran down her face and she bit on her lip.

  “You don’t want me – not the real me!”

  His thrusting became faster as he closed his eyes and groaned.

  “Damn you, Crissy!” he gasped before pouring into her, groaning.

  Bathed in sweat, he rolled off her and lay there with his eyes closed, breathing heavily.

  Crissy’s heart kept on pounding madly. She felt awful. Sobbing, she turned over and listened to his breathing. Why could he not just hold her again? She wanted his warmth and his tenderness. At the same time her sex burned with unfulfilled desire. At some point she finally fell asleep.

  *

  Ramon had got out of bed and was looking out of the window. It would soon be light and then they needed to get a new car and disappear from here. But first he wanted to tend to something. He glanced at Crissy who was still fast asleep. Her eyes were still red from the tears that she had shed. He felt guilty. But it was better this way. He was convinced of that. It was no good for her. He had not been able to protect Angel and his daughter Alley. They died horribly in the fire. He should have died with them. It was not right that he was still alive. And it was not right for him to put yet another woman in danger because of his love. He could not bear to lose her.

  He took a sheet of paper from the table. The guest-house logo was printed on it – a dragon holding a lamb – how fitting, he thought. The beast with the innocent lamb. No one could characterise his relationship with Crissy better. Sighing, he picked up the pen, with the same logo, and began to write:

  Stay here in this room. I’ll be back in about two hours.

  I’m getting a new car for us and then I’ll come to get you.

  Don’t leave the room for any reason and don’t let anyone see you at the window.

  Ramon

  He put the piece of paper onto the table and took another look at Crissy before leaving the room. When he closed the door, a draught blew the letter off the table. It landed between the table and the sofa.

  *

  When Crissy woke up the bed was empty next to her. She looked around the room but Ramon was nowhere to be seen. Her heart beating rapidly, she got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Perhaps he was on the toilet. But he was not in the bathroom. Where cou
ld he be? Why had he gone away without saying anything to her? Would he even come back? Perhaps he had decided that it was better to leave her here.

  There was a knock at the door. Perhaps it was Ramon, and he had forgotten the key. She went to the door and stood in front of it.

  “Who is it?”

  “Room service, madam. Breakfast has been ordered for you.”

  Crissy’s face lit up. Ramon clearly had to deal with something and he had thoughtfully ordered her breakfast.

  She opened the door and the smile left her face, as three men pushed her into the room closed the door.

  “You? But …,” she managed to shout out in alarm before one of the men gagged her with tape.

  Mario had thrown himself casually into an armchair and was smiling at her.

  “Are you pleased to see me? I was almost afraid that we had lost you, but as luck would have it, you chose this specific guest-house.“

  Crissy tried to free herself from the clutches of her ex-fiancé’s two bodyguards, but she had no chance against these brawny men.

  “You must be wondering how I found out that you were staying here,” stated Mario, and crossed his legs. He took off his sunglasses and leaned forward a little, looking straight at Crissy.

  “After you got away from us, we looked for you on the streets for a while, until we found your car. After that I called a few people and told them to keep their eyes open for you and this … beast. And just imagine – I went and called my third cousin and what did he tell me? A couple fitting my description has just taken a room at his place. And just to put the icing on the cake – the beast has gone out and the mouse is all alone.”

  Crissy tried to swear at him, but the tape did its job and her words were nothing more than an incomprehensible drone. Mario laughed and shook his head, as if in sympathy.

  “Crissy, Crissy. I must say that it does make me a bit angry that you’ve got together with someone else so quickly – and, what’s more, with such an ugly monster as him. There’s one good thing – this way I’ll get Ramon because I’ll use you as bait.”

  Crissy shook her head. She wanted to tell him that Ramon would not be coming back but the damn tape made that impossible.

  “Do you know that Ramon and I are old … friends. We still have something to settle. That’s why we’re going to go on a little trip together now.”

  He got out of the armchair and nodded to his bodyguards before leaving the room. Crissy was dragged behind Mario by the two men. They went down the stairs and Mario put an envelope on the counter.

  “Give that to the bastard when he comes back!”

  The man who had rented the room to Crissy and Ramon nodded. Then he looked at Crissy and shrugged his shoulders with an apologetic smile.

  “Sorry, lady. But family comes first, I’m sure you understand that.”

  Crissy thought of a dozen words that she would have liked to shout at the swine if only her mouth had not been taped up. He had been given a lot of extra money by Ramon to keep silent. The bastard!

  They left the guest-house by the back door and she was dragged straight into the car that was parked there, and the finishing touch – the bodyguards pushed her into the foot-well and put a rough woollen blanket over her, under which she not only started to sweat profusely, but also could hardly breathe.

  7

  Bad News

  When Ramon entered the small reception area he knew straight away that something was wrong. The landlord looked nervous, as if he was expecting trouble.

  Ramon approached the counter, his senses sharpened. He could definitely see fear in the dark eyes that he was looking into. The man had a hand under the counter, where there was possibly a gun at the ready. Ramon expected the landlord to pull out a gun at any second.

  “I’ve got a message for you, Sir!” said the man, and passed the envelope across the counter.

  Ramon took the envelope and opened it. He took out the piece of paper and unfolded it without taking his eyes off the landlord – the man was clearly even more nervous now than he was before. That must be because of the message, that was unlikely to contain good news. Even before he read the note, he knew that he was no longer going to find Crissy upstairs in the rented room. He also knew who had kidnapped her. One look at the letter confirmed his suspicion. He knew this bold handwriting only too well. Mario. And also Mario would know that Ramon would realise what had happened because the letter contained no explanation – just an address in 37th street, a good half an hour’s drive away. It must be some old warehouse. There was also a time on the note: 23.30.

  Ramon maintained his stare, looking with fury at the landlord. The bastard knew more. In one leap Ramon was on the other side of the counter, before the landlord could cock the pistol that he had taken from below the counter. Ramon grabbed the landlord’s wrist and squeezed hard. The man screamed in pain, his hand opened and the pistol fell to the ground. Ramon kicked it out of reach and took the landlord by the throat.

  “Please don’t!” groaned the man, his eyes wide open with fear.

  “We’re going to have a chat now!” said Ramon in a threatening tone, and pushed the man ahead of him, into the closest room, which served as an office for this cheap hotel.

  Ramon dragged the landlord through the office to the desk that he cleared with one movement of his arm. Then he banged the man’s hand onto the top of the table and stuck his knife into it so that the man was pinned to the desk with his hand.

  The man screamed in pain, but Ramon took no notice – he sat down very calmly in an armchair and waited until the landlord stopped screaming. Then he looked directly at the man, who was by now very pale – the true horror of the situation written across his face.

  “When?” asked Ramon.

  “What? Why? I don’t know what you mean. Honestly. These blokes came this morning, about half an hour after you left, and left me this note. They said the letter was for you and that I should give it to you when you come back.”

  Ramon took out a second knife and at top speed he cut off the man’s right earlobe. The man yelled again and began to sob helplessly.

  “Wrong answer!” said Ramon coldly. “I’ll give you one more go. The next thing that you’ll lose … “ He waved the bloody blade in front of the man’s eyes. “… is your cock. Have I made myself clear?”

  The man nodded madly and shut his eyes, shaking.

  “Goooood!”

  Ramon put his legs casually up onto the desk and cleaned off his knife on the curtain next to him.

  “Right then, my friend. What’s your name?”

  “An-Andrea.”

  “Right! Andrea! Now you’re going to tell me everything right from the beginning. And I’d like the whole truth this time, if I may.”

  Sobbing and stuttering, the landlord now said what had really happened. Ramon’s expression darkened noticeably. He really had to stop himself from killing the man on the spot. He needed more information from him. But he was definitely going to kill him. If he let Andrea live, then the Mafia would take care of his death. As the man had betrayed the Mafia, his death would be much more gruesome than anything Ramon would ever do to this man.

  “What sort of an address is that?”

  “A-a warehouse. Usually it’s used as a d-dealing place for d-drugs.”

  “How many people has Mario got here?”

  “There were t-two bodyguards with him a-and I think there was a-another in the car.”

  “Who does the warehouse belong to?”

  “A-a sympathiser, his name is, uh … hold on a minute, his name …”

  Ramon put the knife under the man’s nose.

  “It’s best if you remember the name very quickly, otherwise you can say goodbye to your cock.”

  “I-I can’t think when I’ve got a knife under my nose,” complained Andrea.

  “I’ll count to three!”

  Andrea closed his eyes and whimpered.

  “M-MMMinetti! H-his name is Minetti. Tom Minetti.
”

  “Good boy,” said Ramon gently and took the knife away.

  Andrea slowly opened his eyes, but avoided looking in Ramon’s direction.

  Ramon took his gun and cocked it. Andrea jumped at the sound. Of course he knew what was coming now. He murmured a quick prayer. Ramon leaned forward, held the barrel directly on Andreas’ temple and waited for the man to finish his prayer.

  “Amen!” concluded Ramon and pressed the trigger.

  He caught the falling man and put his upper body onto the desk. Then he looked around the office and looked through the drawers until he found what he was looking for – the car key for the landlord’s BMW that was parked in the yard. It took a long time, but it was the best way for him to get away from here.

  Ramon left the office and ran upstairs to the room that he had rented for himself and Crissy. He quickly packed the things together then he went downstairs and took the landlord’s weapon and other ammunition that he found in a drawer. Then he left the guest-house by the back door.

  In the yard there were pieces of old furniture, chests and barrels. A cat leapt off a torn armchair, hissing, and ran away. The black BMW was parked in the midst of the rubbish. Ramon used the remote control to work the central-locking system and he put his things into the boot. Then he swung into the driving seat and started the engine. He spent a while looking for some decent music on the radio, until he spotted a pile of CDs in the passenger seat foot-well. He bent over to look through the CDs till he found one he liked.

  As Tarja’s soprano voice rang out, Ramon, satisfied with his choice, put the car into reverse and left the yard.

  8

  The Decoy

  Crissy was cursing this damn tape. Not only did it stop her from talking, so that she could only express her thoughts in her head – no! – it also gave her the horrible feeling that she was about to suffocate because she could only breathe through her nose and that was blocked because she was crying.