Return of the Nomad

by Beatrix Banner

  Chapter Twelve

  I stepped back out of the dark, cavernous building into the blinding sunshine and closed my eyes. I took a few seconds to appreciate the warmth of the rays on my skin. When my eyes opened again, they were greeted with a spectacular view. White horses cresting on the water, the sun sparkling, the distant ships and yachts on the horizon. How could such awful things happen when there was this much beauty right by its side?

  I turned away and made for the opposite cliff-side edge of the building. The tarmac underfoot began to turn to sand, and there was an incline leading back to the main road. I followed it and noticed, to my left, a stairway leading up to a shrine. Ironic. I’d leave it for now. I followed the path around to the lighthouse, past another bar and restaurant and back to the main road.

  I broke back into a jog, and the pounding of my feet against the blacktop allowed my brain to process the images it had just taken in. San Felipe was where Jesse was hiding out, it concluded. Specifically, that abandoned club. There was some shady shit going on in this town, and that set-up was too coincidental for it not to be something to do with our guy Jesse.

  I continued up the beach until I reached a huge rock hill right at the northernmost point that rose up out of the sand. The area was more sparsely populated than the south of the town, and as I looked around with the hill at my back, I realized I could only see a handful of buildings nearby. There was another, smaller rock in front of me that also helped to cut the area off, separating a couple of campsites from the rest of the town. I sat for a little while and took in the views of the gulf and the mountains in the distance, then my stomach reminded me it was hungry. I got back up and began to jog back south down the beach.

  After a few minutes, I noticed a little restaurant across the street. I decided to call time on the run and stop for some lunch. I walked over and lowered myself into a chair at one of the tables out front, and after a couple of minutes perusing the menu, a waiter came out to take my order. I asked for a cup of coffee and whatever their most popular sandwich was and he shuffled back inside. I turned my attention to the sparkling blue ocean view and got lost in my thoughts until he reappeared. He placed a large, steaming cup of coffee in front of me and a huge, grilled cheese and what looked like pastrami sandwich with a side of fries. I looked up and smiled at him and he smiled back, then turned to leave. I quickly glanced around the other tables. I was the only person out front of the place, and the street was mostly empty.

  “Say, kid,” I called out in Spanish. He spun on his heel and came back to the table.

  “What can I do for you?” he asked.

  “You know where I can get hooked up around here?” I felt a momentary, uncomfortable parallel with Pam, and my stomach rolled a little.

  The kid looked awkward and glanced around. He lowered his voice. “What are you looking to buy?”

  “Well, it’s more that I’m looking for this guy. He’s American, got a lot of money. Involved with drugs and tends to have a whole bunch of guys with him all the time. Has there been anyone like that around these parts recently?”

  He paused and looked as though he was weighing up a couple different options in his head. “Wait here,” he said, and disappeared back inside the restaurant.

  He reappeared a few minutes later, sans apron. “I can take you to him now,” he said. I thought that was a little peculiar, and it kind of gave me the impression Jesse wasn’t just stopping in here. Maybe he was something of a feature.

  “No, I don’t want to go now. I just want to know where I can find the guy.”

  “No, come with me now, I’ll take you.”

  “Kid, listen. I’m not going with you now.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a few folded bills. “This is yours if you butt out and just tell me where I can find the guy. Understand?”

  He mentally weighed up a few more options.

  “Yeah, yeah, okay,” he replied, his fingers reaching out and closing around the money. I held on to it and glared at him.

  “So where is he?”

  The kid’s eyes raised from the cash in my hand to the eyes on my face. “You know the town?”

  I nodded. “A little.”

  “Up at the top of the beach.” He pointed towards the large rock at the northern edge of town, where I had just come from. “There’s a compound. He’s up there. On the cove. That’s where you’ll find him.”

  I nodded again and let go of the money. “Thanks, kid.”

  He took it and headed back inside. I took my time enjoying the sandwich, since I knew I’d need the calories, and got up to pay about twenty minutes later. I pushed inside the front door and walked up to the counter through the warm, sunlit restaurant and handed enough money to cover the bill to the girl inside. I thanked her. It was as I turned around and started walking back towards the door that I saw four guys standing by the tables outside. They were watching me. I didn’t stop walking, but I slowed down and lowered my head slightly to avoid eye contact. I continued to watch them out of the top of my periphery. I noticed, in the mirror on the wall to my right, that the waiter had re-appeared from out back. He trailed me down the central aisle of the restaurant.

  I pushed through the door and as it swung closed, they surrounded me.

  “Where you headed?” one of them asked me, in English.

  “Pretty sure that’s none of your business, pal,” I replied as I tried to shoulder past one of the smaller guys. They continued to close in around me.

  “That’s funny. I think it is, since you’re in our town.”

  I sighed and stopped moving. I did not have the patience for this. “Listen, guys. I don’t want to have to kill you here. It’ll attract too much attention.”

  They looked at each other. They were amused.

  “But honestly, wherever you try to take me, I will kill you. Just think on that for a second or two before you make a stupid, stupid decision.”

  They shared another derisive look and continued to close in. A black van screeched around the corner and skidded to a stop in front of the restaurant. A heavy arm wrapped around my shoulders and throat as the door slid open and I was lifted up and bundled into the back of the van.

  The runners on the door squealed as it was slid shut. The arms that had appeared around my neck stayed there as my own arms were pulled in front of me. My wrists were yanked together and a zip tie was slid around them and fastened, tight.

  “We’ll take you to see Jesse tomorrow,” one of them snarled at me. “We’re gonna have a little fun with you, first.”

  The van took off, speeding through the town. With each turn, the steering wheel was jerked so I was thrown from one side to the other as the men laughed. I tried to keep track of the lefts and rights, but I was disoriented by how dark it was in there, and the creepy way the guys kept grabbing at me in faux attempts to keep me in place.

  It was a shorter ride than I had expected, and suddenly the door was thrown open with a squeal and sunlight came pouring into the hold. It blinded me for a second as I was pulled up by my shirt and thrown towards the door. I managed to catch myself with my shoulder on the jamb, but it dug into my arm and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out. As I climbed down to the sand, I realized where we were. Back at the Boom Boom club.

  I was shoved forwards and across the lot towards the building. My mind was racing. How the hell are you going to get out of this one, Ana? I knew the zip tie around my wrists wouldn’t be too much of a problem. It was the four large henchmen that were slightly concerning me. They guided me, roughly, through the same doorway I had come in earlier. A hand landed on my shoulder and pushed me, hard. I fell to my knees on the floor, but managed to use the momentum to roll onto my back.

  I looked up and saw one of them step into my field of vision to loom directly over me. I assumed he was the ringleader. He was staring down at me with an ugly smirk on his face that I wanted to smack off. I reared up, rolling myself backwards as if I were doing a shoulder stand, and jabbed at him
with my foot, square in the mouth. He stumbled back a few steps, as he clutched at his mouth and stared bloody murder at me. He looked at his boys and, once again, they began to close in on me in a tight circle. Perhaps that hadn’t been my best idea.

  Two of them, the ones behind me, sank down and pressed my shoulders into the ground, effectively pinning me to the floor. The other two continued to move in closer. One of them stopped by my feet. He crouched down and grabbed onto each one of them. The other, the ringleader, continued to watch.

  “Take her to the chair and tie her down,” he told the others.

  Together, they lifted me up and carried me, stretched out, over to where I had found the wooden chair earlier on that day. I tried to kick out at the guy who had my feet, wriggling and wrenching at them in an attempt to get them free.

  “Stop fuckin’ moving, bitch! Stop resisting!” he yelled at me.

  I managed to work one of them out of his grasp and kicked up at the guy several times, at his chest, at his face, anything I could think of to help me wriggle out of the hold. I managed to catch him in the jaw with a third kick and he let go of my other foot. As it hit the ground, I pushed back, like a backwards run, and tried to knock over the two guys that were at my head. One of them stumbled back as he tried to grab me around the waist. I lifted both feet off the ground, giving him only dead weight. He fell on his ass. I landed on top of him and rolled off, onto my knees and then back up to standing. He stumbled up slowly and I used the momentary distraction to spin around to face the others.

  I knew there was a third guy still at my six, but I needed to get my wrists free. As quick as I could, I brought them level with my stomach, drew them up and slammed them hard against my belly while maintaining pressure against the outer edges of the zip ties. My wrists broke free and I grinned to myself, then remembered this was no time to celebrate. I dropped into a fighting stance and began to turn, trying to keep an even eye on the three guys circling me.

  “You think that’s gonna save you, little girl?” The ringleader asked me from the shadows. He had backed away while I was struggling to free myself from his henchmen. He was now watching the action like some kind of overlord. Up in the heavens in a safe spot I hadn’t been able to place yet.

  “I do, actually,” I replied. I leapt into the air and spun around, delivering a flying roundhouse to the face of asshole #1. He fell to the floor. Before the other two could react, I launched a side kick at one, spun around and threw a left hook at the jaw of the other. They both collapsed on the ground.

  I took a step back to observe my work. They were all still conscious, but didn’t seem to be in much of a rush to pick themselves up off the floor. I took a quick glance around the vast hall to see if I could spot where the ringleader had disappeared to. I couldn’t see anything. The boarded-up windows were blocking out most of the light. Number one dragged himself up off the floor and half-heartedly put his fists up. It almost wasn’t fair. I dropped down and swept his legs out from under him. He slipped and fell sideways as he tried to avoid it. Too late. He landed on his elbow and I heard a crack as it shattered and he cried out in pain. I walked over to him and shoved my heel down into his windpipe. That cracked too.

  Number two lifted himself off the floor and came at me with a similar energy to the last guy. Reluctant. He swung a punch at me with his right fist that I easily ducked. I grabbed his forearm and pulled it towards the ground with my left. Simultaneously, I brought my right hand down and plowed it through his elbow. I was almost beginning to sense a theme. He fell to the ground and I feel like the third guy felt obliged to appear. I heard a voice scream out from the second floor, “Fucking finish her!”

  I scoffed. Finish me? They’d barely started. I was halfway through.

  I looked up to try and place where the voice had come from, but number three ran at me, fast. Before I could duck out of the way, he tackled me to the floor. His speed surprised me and he crawled up and grabbed onto my arms. He pinned them above my head and settled on top of me with his knees on either side of my waist.

  “You can struggle all you like, you little bitch. I’ve got you now.” He sneered as I wriggled and fought against him. He leaned down slowly, moving his face closer and closer to mine. He was breathing hard and looked dead in my eyes as he puckered his lips. I waited until his face was millimeters from mine and then reared up, slamming my head into his. He released my hands as he cried out and brought his own up to cup his head. I used the distraction to roll us over. I had him pinned now. My legs around his waist, I rained holy hell down on his chest and stomach, beating at his ribs. Rage had been boiling up inside me and now it was spilling over. He tried to roll us again but I held firm and continued to pound away. Once I believed I had at least broken several of his ribs, I landed one final blow to his head. He went limp. I took a couple of deep breaths and climbed up off the guy. I cricked my neck. It was time to find the ringleader. I looked up, but I couldn’t make out anybody on the balcony above.

  “Hey!” I shouted. “I thought you were going to finish me?”

  I listened to the echo reverberate off the walls back at me. No response. I moved further into the center of the building.

  “Hey!” I shouted again. The echo rang out again for a few seconds before fading away. I approached the stairs and listened again. It was silent. If I strained, I could just about pick out the waves crashing on the rocks below us. I began to make my way up the stairs. Each step rang out gently as I climbed, letting the ringleader know I was approaching. Still I couldn’t hear him.

  I reached the top step and paused. I looked around, trying to make out my surroundings through the grainy, speckled light. The floor opened up in front of the stairs, and about twenty feet away across the room, there was a corridor next to what used to be a bar. Behind me, the second floor acted as a balcony to the dance floor area below. There were bathrooms on the other side, as well as another corridor that led to the back of the building. Suddenly, a clang rang out behind me, on the other side of the room. I spun around on the top step and looked across the old dance floor below to the other side of the second floor. I watched a silhouette dart across the far side of the balcony, towards the corridor.

  “Come back here and fight me, you pathetic bastard!” I hollered as I moved around the edge of the stairs and started sprinting towards the right hand balcony. I made it to the corner and watched the silhouette dart down the far corridor as I made my way down the balcony walkway. As I reached the final corridor, I heard a steel door slam hard at the other end. My lungs were aching as I belted down the dark hallway. I stretched out my hands, ready to push open the steel door at the end, but I ran into it instead. It was almost pitch black, and I felt around for some kind of handle. A few, endless seconds passed before my hand touched cold, hard brass and I pushed down.

  The wind was gusting outside and it was incredibly bright. I raised a hand to shade my eyes as they adjusted. I looked down at my feet and realized I had stepped onto another metal walkway. This one led back down to the ground, and as I looked, I saw the ringleader nearing the bottom.

  “Hey!” I shouted. He stopped for a second and looked up at me. His face showed no discernable expression. Then he turned back around and continued, as fast as he could down the steps. I started after him, jumping down four or five at a time as I rounded the corners to the bottom. I was catching up with him, and as he reached the final few steps, I was past the middle of the staircase and closing in on him. I leapt over the railings of the stairs as he darted around the back and landed on top of him, tackling him to the ground. As I scrambled to my feet, he jabbed out backwards with his leg. His foot connected with my jaw and knocked me back a few steps. He crawled away from me as he struggled to his feet, kicking dust up behind him as he went. I followed him as he ran back towards the rusty entry walkway and began to make his way across. His feet clanged noisily on the old metal, and it was noisier still when I joined him on it. He started down the stairs and I was seconds behind h
im, my legs moving as fast as they could. He reached the bottom and veered right, into the sand behind the rocks. I was right behind him, but I slowed slightly as my eyes registered the ancient, beached ships. I shook it off as I saw him clamber behind the largest one.

  “Give it up, man,” I called out as I approached the ship. He had run around to the other side. As I rounded the corner, I saw a large hole in the hull. Easy odds on where he had disappeared to.

  I ducked under the rotting wood that jutted down from the side of the ship and into darkness. I gave my eyes a couple of seconds to adjust. The sand had formed small dunes, and there was a distinct smell of damp, rot, and seaweed. I couldn’t see him, but amorphous shadows seemed to move and shift, closing in on me. I took a few more tentative steps, sliding my feet.

  Before my brain had a chance to register it, a whoosh cut through the air behind me and then an excruciating pain exploded in my side, sending shafts of agony through my lungs. My eyes slammed shut and I fell to the floor, clutching at my ribs. I lay there for several seconds as I struggled to catch my breath. My eyes slowly opened and took in the smug, self-satisfied sneer of the ringleader as he loomed over me, wielding a two-by-four plank of wood. Well, that explained it. I rolled onto my side and pushed myself up onto my hands and knees.

  “Yes, that’s right, get up and fight,” he spat as he leered over me, before he raised his leg and slammed his foot down into the small of my back. I collapsed, face down into the damp sand. Another kick to my floating ribs and I lay paralyzed, fighting to gain control of my limbs. Next thing, his knee was between my shoulder blades and a slim cord was biting into my throat. The son of a bitch was strangling me and I tried to gasp. My lungs screamed out for air. I could feel my face swelling, my tongue protruding. My eyes rolled back and I knew I was a goner. Then his lips were brushing my ear, his breath hot and damp on my face. “Time to die, sweetheart.”