by Matthew Buza
The man stopped in the center of the room, quivering like a lone leaf lost in the breeze. Jennifer froze. He didn't know she was here, but he did now. His head turned in an unnatural contorted manner. It slowly inched its way, squaring itself with the closet. Jennifer watched as his face came into view. Their eyes locked and for a moment she hoped that he might lose her in the shadows. His eyes widened and she knew he saw her. Her breathing increased and she started to assess if she could stand and hop out of the room. The man was not moving fast and probably could not stop her. She leaned her head forward and she pressed herself up against the wall. She could hear him turning and crawling towards her. She ignored the approaching horror and focused on her task. Stand, she told herself.
She could feel her back sliding up the wall, but she caught on a protruding nail and fell back to the floor. She tried again, but failed. She shifted her weight to her side and popped herself to her knees. She lifted her body and pressed down trying and stand. She rose and stood on her feet, but her weight continued to shift and she overshot falling in a pile on the floor.
She turned her head panting to see the man continuing to crawl slowly towards her. She saw his face as his arm reached out ahead of him. His legs moved in unison. Jennifer could smell his foul stench, a mixture of fecal matter and urine. His head was focused on Jennifer's face and she could see his briefs swinging under his chest. A slight smirk came across his face and she could see his yellow teeth and bleeding gums.
Jennifer looked around her but she could not find any object to use. She moved out of the closet and began to slide herself along the floor. The man was in pursuit. She shoved papers and boxes towards him as she moved to the corner of the closet. The man pushed aside the obstacles and began to crawl faster in anticipation of his catch.
Jennifer reached the wall and the man was only feet away. She turned to him and brought her knees to her chest to protect herself. The man lifted himself and fell on top of her. She could feel his cold flesh on her body. His chest rested against her shins and his arms touched her shoulder. His hands grazed her face and she wanted to vomit. She shifted her head to avoid his touch each time squealing through the tape on her face. Jennifer pushed against the man with her legs and he fell back onto the floor. She brought her knees back as he gathered himself. Jennifer turned her hips and kicked at his face with her bound legs. She connected with her heal and sent him reeling to the floor. He let out a cry and clutched his nose. She could hear him gurgling on his spit. He shifted again and turned to Jennifer. She connected with her foot and the man dropped to the floor. Jennifer kicked again and she could hear the crunch of his skull under her boot.
She shifted in the closet corner and looked back on the sprawled body. Blood slowly poured from the man's face and she could see the small dent on the top of the head. The man's arms sat contorted and she could see the quivering of his fingers. Jennifer pulled her knees into her chest, arms still bound behind her, and she wept on her pant leg. Her mind was lost trying to search for meaning. Where was she and who was this person on the floor?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Steven followed behind Kora and Tyler on the walking path, his shoulders hung heavy as he plodded through the grass. They silently walked up the porch, opened up the door, and entered the house. They turned right into the large kitchen fanning out into familiar positions. They had worked this house many times before and they each had their favorite station. Laid across the countertops were packing supplies and small scales. Wash tubs with masking tape indicated sorted and finished material. Along the floor were two large trash bags giving off a sweet citrus smell. On the front they were each labeled Street and Medical. The kitchen table contained a stack of brown cellophane wrapped bricks of heroin each the size of a large text book. A cardboard box sat next to the bricks and contained bags of clear methamphetamine.
“Kora you're cutting tonight. The coke is on the table and the Leva and Benzo are on the floor.’’ Kora circled around the kitchen island and picked up the industrial bag marked Levamisole and made her way to the counter. "Steven you're on bud sorting and hash prep.”
Steven looked at Tyler, “Are you kidding me?”
Tyler lightly bit his tongue, "Yes, you're bud sorting and hash, do you have a problem with that?”
“That's a shit job,” he motioned to the bags.
“You're getting medicine duty tonight."
Steven stared down at the two trash sacks. His nose could smell the bags from the doorway. What he hated most was the after smell. There’s no way to get it off your hands or clothes.
“I thought we were cooking tonight, man?”
"I did too, but we got the order to restock instead. I think we cook tomorrow.” Tyler picked up the brick of heroin. His hand sagged under the weight.
“Steven you can sort in a few minutes, but I need you on bag stamping first." Steven rolled his eyes and dropped his head. "The stamp and bags are in the box.”
Steven walked over to the box and reached in. He pulled out a stamp rig, ink pad and a box of wax paper baggies. The stamp was key for distinguishing their product from others. Customers knew the seal meant quality and repeatability.
Tyler walked across the room and pressed the power button on the speaker. The room quickly filled with music. Steven dabbed the stamp in the ink palette and pulled out a handful of wax bags. He set them up in a small stack alongside the rig.
“How many do we need?” Steven asked.
“I think this brick will give us a couple thousand.”
Steven sighed and began to move. The stamp rig was wooden with a worn brass hand lever. Under the rig was a rubber mold perched above the stamping area. Steven grabbed a wax bag and placed it under the stamp and pulled down. He looked down and inspected the wax bag. The front was an image of a dragon and below was the word Smaug. He placed the new stamped bag onto the counter. He repositioned his pile of wax bags and began to stamp. His hands moved in a methodical motion, grabbing a wax paper bag, moving it into place, and pulling down on the stamp. He then moved that new bag into a pile and continued. Every tenth bag he would re-apply ink by pulling on a small lever revealing the ink pad beneath the stamping area.
Steven broke the silence, “Why do we need to work here next to that house of horrors?”
Tyler responded, “We're here because we were ordered to. I think the other houses are occupied this weekend and this one was free.”
“I just wish we could be at that house from last week.”
Kora jumped in, “I always enjoyed that one. The pool and the pull out couch.” Tyler and Kora shared a brief glance before continuing.
Steven turned around and pointed to the two, “Exactly, I’m just saying the last time we were here one of them wandered out onto the lawn. I nearly shat myself walking to the car to smoke and running into a skeleton in a gown.”
“It’s not our job to question where we work. We just do our job and finish on time. They trust us in these homes and we can’t screw that up,” Tyler’s voice silenced the two.
Steven was making good progress as Tyler parted up the brick of heroin into a gallon Ziploc bag and combined it with an entire container of powdered calcium.
Steven looked at Tyler and smiled, “Calcium for strong bones. It’s better than drinking your milk.”
Tyler’s mouth curled up slightly, “Honestly, it’s a lot of calcium.”
He zipped the bag and began to roll it in his hands working to incorporate the two powders. He opened the bag again and placed half a dozen spoonfuls of powdered sugar. He again resealed the bag and rolled it carefully in his hands.
Tyler reached over and pulled the small mountain of stamped wax paper bags from the side of the stamping rig. Steven never broke stride as his hands moved in rapid action. Tyler rolled the Ziploc bag down so that the powder was now at the top. He pulled out a small measuring spoon. With one hand holding the wax paper bag he scooped and leveled the powder. He dropped the powder into the wax bag and closed
the top in a single motion. He continued to fill each bag building stacks of ten on the counter in front of him. When he reached five stacks he put the spoon down and bundled the stacks with a red rubber band. He tapped and leveled the bags before placing the stack into a small cardboard box. Tyler’s job was to manage and everything he saw was money. He placed the bundle into the box and he thought to himself, one grand.
The music continued to be the only sound in the kitchen as the team methodically worked. From Tyler's pocket he felt a buzz. He reached in and pulled out his cell phone to look at the message. Call me.
Tyler paused and then looked up at Steven, “I need to make a quick phone call. I'll be right back.”
Steven narrowed his eyes, “Who is it?”
“It's the Boss.”
Steven's eyes opened wide. He knew that this text message and call were about the girl in the house. He braced himself for what may come.
“Tyler, tell me if I am in trouble. I deserve to know,” Steven said.
“Just let me make this call and I'll get back to you guys.” Tyler walked into the living room. Tyler brought the phone to his ear as it rang.
There was a click and a voice on the other side, “We need to take care of this.”
“I know.”
“We have a guy. I'll text you his number.”
“What do I do in the meantime?”
“Keep her in the house until the guy arrives.” There was a click and the phone hung up on the other end. Tyler lowered the phone and waited for the message. His phone lit up with the message from his boss that included a phone number and a name, Vadym.
He texted back, And Steven?
A moment later the response, just call Vadym I’ve already spoken to him.
Tyler swiped the phone and clicked the number. The phone rang and continued to ring. He wondered if it would go to voicemail. He was ready to hang up when the ringing stopped and there was a voice on the other end. The man had a broken Russian accent.
The voice was deep, “Hello.”
“Hello. Is this Vadym?”
“Da.”
“I was told to call you to take care of a situation we have.”
As if the man already knew the complete story, “How tall?”
“Excuse me?”
“How tall is the girl?”
“Five foot five maybe? She's not tall.”
“Thin?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been told the man will help.”
“Steven?”
“Yes, Text me your address to this number.”
“How long will it take for you to get here?”
“I don't know it depends if she fights me.”
“No, I meant where are you located?”
“That's not your business.”
Tyler was slightly confused, “I'm just trying to understand when you'll get here. We’re east of Arlington in the mountains.”
“I'll be there within the hour.” The phone clicked. Tyler looked at the phone and texted the address to the number. A single message was returned, K.
Tyler returned to the kitchen, Kora and Steven were standing quietly in the center of the room. Tyler looked at Steven, “There is a man coming that will take care of the problem.”
“What problem?” Tyler stared at Steven without saying a word. “Come on man, we can't let that happen.”
Tyler looked away and made his way back to the counter. “You're going to help him.”
Steven felt sick, “Help him do what? Tyler talk to me, what did the Boss say? What is this about? I, I can’t do that man. That’s not me.”
“Steven this is out of your hands now. You will do what you're told. You have no choice in this matter,” Tyler returned to the counter. “When is Nick getting here?”
“Tyler man, come on. We can't let something like that happen.”
“When is Nick coming?”
Kora answered, “He should be here soon. I got a message from him a few minutes ago.” She paused for a moment, “Tyler what’s going on? We can’t hurt this woman. It’s just not right.”
Steven and Kora stood in the room staring at the back of Tyler head. There were no answers to their questions. Tyler's voice was quiet as he turned his head slightly, “You guys need to forget about this and get back to work. It’s out of our hands.” He turned to Steven, “If you didn't want this to happen, then you should have thought twice about getting involved with Juan and then kidnapping this woman. Shut your face and get back to work.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Officer Conners stood on the street corner with his hands pressed against the small of his back. He gazed up the street where the navy Civic once stood. His eyes traced the path from where the car stood to the front door of the bar. Conners was flanked by two police officers holding notebooks in their hands.
“Shall we go in?” Conners said.
“It's your show boss,” responded one officer.
Conners walked the sidewalk to the front door. The officers were bathed in the light from the neon orange OPEN sign that was mounted alongside the door. The street was quiet this late at night, but when the officers entered the bar they were greeted by TV screens and the remnant of a darts game. A lone drunk sat at the bar nursing the last of his whiskey.
Amy was behind the bar cleaning glasses from the night. She looked up to see the officers. She walked down the bar line to greet them, “Hello gentlemen is there anything I can do for you?”
Conners answered, “I know some officers came by earlier this evening when we searched a car outside. We came back to ask some additional questions. Do you have the time to talk?”
“It’s getting real slow here so I think I can help you out, no problem.”
“So we were originally interested in the owner of that car that we found, but we are also interested in the woman who has the earlier shift, Jennifer?”
“Yes, she works the shift before me, is she ok?”
“We don't know anything right now, but we're asking people who have seen her tonight.”
“Wait, wait, is there something wrong with Jenny?”
“We just want to know if you knew where she might be heading this evening when she got off.”
“Well, I think she usually heads over to the bank to deposit her tips from the night.”
“That confirms what her grandmother said.”
“I'm sorry, I'm not following. You seem to be talking like she didn't come home tonight.”
“We were called by her grandmother when she didn't come in this evening. She placed a missing person's report and happened to mention the bar. The dispatch knew the bar from earlier in the evening and called me up.”
“She didn't come home?” The bottom of Amy's eyes turned to a soft red color. She looked down as the first tear rolled down her cheek. Officer Conners pulled an unused napkin from the bar top and handed it to Amy. She took the napkin and blotted under her eyes so as not to run her mascara.
“As far as we know she is hasn't come home yet. I spoke with her grandmother a little while ago to hopefully find out where she might've gone.”
“I don't know, we didn't talk about that. But I know she heads to the bank after work.” Amy was fighting back more tears as she thought about Jennifer and what might be happening to her.
“Alright.” Conners moved his hand through his hair as he thought about his next question.
“Do you think it might be related to the car you guys looked at?”
“That is an avenue we are looking at, but we're still unsure. Do you know anything about her old ex-boyfriend down in Portland?”
“She told me a little bit about him. All I know is that she described him as one super douchebag.” One of the officers behind Conners smirked.
“Did Jennifer mention that she had been in contact with him recently?”
“No, not that I heard of and she would have told me,” replied Amy.
“The cameras?” The officer to Conners left said
in a hushed tone.
“Oh yeah, you wouldn't happen to know how to use the security system that you guys have? We saw the cameras outside the entrance. One of those cameras is pointing at the corner and might've picked up something.”
Amy nodded and motioned to the officers, “It’s right here in the back.” The three officers walked around the end of the bar and followed Amy around the corner. Behind the large wall of bottled alcohol was a tiny office. The office was sparse but for the table and chairs and a wall of documents and binders. On the back wall framed was the liquor license for the bar alongside the business license. Amy walked over to one wall where the monitor displayed a series of images from inside and outside the bar.
Amy pulled the keyboard out and used a mouse to navigate the screen. She typed in a password and a couple clicks later she turned to the officer, “When do you want me to go back to?”
“Can we go back to when you came on shift? Specifically the camera outside.”
Amy made a number of selections and the screen display the camera view. It showed the street in front of the bar. Amy moved the slider on the screen to the point where she entered the bar.
“This is where I arrived to take over Jennifer's shift.” Amy pointed to the screen where it showed her entering the bar. “I think Jenny left five or ten minutes after I arrived.”
Amy entered in the time and the screen jumped. She scrolled the time bar and the officers saw Jennifer leave the bar. Amy allowed the video to play showing Jennifer walking down the sidewalk and rounding the corner to where she had parked. After a moment the video showed her walking back into the bar.
“That's right I remember. She came back in because she forgot her cell phone,” Amy interjected.
On the screen just off the street and out of the light of the camera a shadow moved quickly along the road. One officer addressed the other, “Do you think that was him?”
“I think it was,” Conners said.
Amy asked, “Who are you looking for?”