by Tia Wilson
He opened the top drawer on a small bedside dresser and planted the taped up bag of pills under a pile of socks. He gave the room one more quick scan and left the room as the girl started to move on the bed as she started to emit long low moans of pain. Within less than two minutes he was back in his car and driving away from the college campus. The ball of tension felt like it had now taken up residence in his gut, curling itself around his intestines and making it’s self at home. One more year he muttered to himself as he drove. One more year and you will have payed off your debts. Then you can move on with your life and go legit. He looked at himself in the mirror and his cold dead eyes stared back. He felt like an approximation of a man, a hollowed out facsimile that for all intents and purposes acted like a human being but really wasn't. The truth was he was a different species to the rest of the workaday stiffs, someone who did questionable things for evil men and for nothing more than a paycheque. He felt sick and tilted the mirror away unable to look at himself any longer.
When he was in his twenties Brad had been so idealistic, a shiny new recruit with an equally shiny badge. He thought, no he knew that he was going to make a difference out on the streets. Only weeks into the job the mind numbing reality of police work and the institutionalised laziness of most officers set in. His partner had ten years of service under his belt and begrudged the fact that he had to work with a rookie. His name was Jim Grady and he was a third generation Irish cop. Someone whose father cast a shadow over him and yet his powerful father hadn't been able to pull any strings and advance Jim up through the ranks. Grady was a sour bitter man who barely hid his heavy drinking from Brad. The car always had an acrid stench of stale beer and garlic that turned Brads stomach every morning. Brad had hoped that his first partner would instil some real knowledge about street level crime and how to manage it. Instead he got to see how to do as little as possible, the right way to fudge a report so that follow up was close to impossible and a thousand other scams and tricks that kept the workload low.
Brad had always seen himself as a high achiever and someone who did the right thing. The worst realisation came when after six months working with Grady he realised he also wanted to do as little as possible and maybe skim some cream off the top because hell they both deserved it. Grady's constant talk of disappointment and how little of what they did made a difference settled over Brad like a fine ash which at first irritated and itched him until eventually it seemed like it absorbed through his pours. Osmosis through inaction. The less real work they did the more Brad saw the futility of doing anything. Grady now had the protege he had always wanted and Brad absorbed every bit of knowledge on takedowns, street hustles and easy busts that would also line your pockets. Brad would lay in bed at night fully awake and staring at the ceiling wondering where it had all gone wrong. He was only one man, what difference could he really make to the empire of crime that touched every corner of the city, he might as well stand and shout at the crashing waves and demand them to stop. He was a grain of sand blown by the wind and he was powerless to make a change he told himself as he drifted off to a fretful sleep filled with hooded figures and the incessant barking of dogs somewhere off in a place he could never reach.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“What do you think he will do?” Lana asked as they entered the dorm building a few hours after leaving Gus. Someone she knew from a class she took, was it Emma or maybe Bella ran by with a towel clutched in her fist.
“It’s out of our hands now,” Sara replied and then stopped abruptly as they turned the corner that lead to their room. Standing outside it was a bunch of people all trying to get a look at something that was going on inside. Sara grabbed Lana and pulled her back around the corner. “Shit, something is going on in our room, theres a bunch of people milling around outside.”
Lana peeked around the corner. “Do you think it was a break in?” she said grasping as her stomach knotted painfully. She knew what this was, it had to do with the video. She had to see what had happened and turned the corner towards her room. “Hey whats going on?” she said to the crowd as she approached.
“May Jenkins has been hurt, someone attacked her in your room,” said a blonde girl with a bandana on. Lana's stomach lurched and for a second she was sure she was going to lose its contents. She could feel the blood drain from her face and she gripped the wall for support.
“Is she ok,” Lana stammered.
“Another voice in the crowd said, “I think so, somebody hit her pretty hard in the head and knocked her out.”
Lana and Sara pushed through the crowd and closed the door behind them once they were in the room. May Jenkins sat on a bed with her head tilted back with a blood soaked towel up to her face. Darkening spots of blood dried on the front of her white t-shirt. Another girl from their floor sat beside her ready with a fresh towel.
Lana sat down on the bed beside her and asked, “What happened, do you know who did this?”
The girl holding the extra towel pass it to Sara and got up to leave. “I’m going to go get some ice from the cafeteria. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Once she was gone Lana asked again in a voice shaking with worry, “Who did this to you?”
“It all happened so fast, I came in to return a book,” her voice came out muffled like she had a serious cold and she sucked the air sharply in after every few words, “I walked in and before I could do anything this giant of a man swung round and hit me with something. Before I knew it I was seeing stars and collapsing onto the ground.”
“Did you see who did it?” Sara asked.
“No it all happened so fast, all I saw was a blur before he attacked me. Why was he in your room?” May asked.
“I’ve no idea, maybe it was some homeless guy who wandered in looking to steal some stuff. Have you called the cops?” Lana asked glancing over at Sara.
“Someone did. They wont be in a hurry to get here, you know how it is around this place,” May replied.
The student who had gone for ice returned and she wrapped it in a towel and handed it to May who held it against the bridge of her nose and let out a pained hiss. “I’m going to the nurse,” She said getting up. She walked out of the room without looking back.
Her friend turned back and tried to reassure Sara and Lana, “Campus security knows, someone will be posted outside within a few minutes. Lock your door after we leave.”
Once everyone was gone Lana slumped onto the bed all energy seemingly drained from her. She felt powerless as if she was a piece on a chess board and she had no control of what was going to come next. “He came for us. You heard her, he was a giant of a man, Thats the creep from the video who folded up the dead guys body like he was a piece trash and put him in his bag. Gus ratted us out. How did we ever think that people like him wouldn't just dispose of trouble like us?” She could feel tears begin to sting the corners of her eyes.
Sara was pacing back and forth, stress causing deep lines across her furrowed brow. “We have to leave, get out of the country before they come for us again. We take the first flight out of here. Maybe in a few months things will cool down again and we can return. How much money do you have saved?”
“I still have part of next years tuition fee, maybe around twenty thousand dollars.”
“I have around the same stashed away. We grab a bag and get the fuck out of here now,” she said and then stopped pacing suddenly, “My laptops gone.”
“Mine too.”
“Did you have a copy of the video? Thats our only insurance at the moment. If we have that we might still have a chance.”
Lana hesitated for a second and then said, “Gus has the only copy.”.
“Grab a bag and pack as light as possible we have to go now. That thug could come back at any moment,” Sara said.
“I’m scared Sara. I shouldn't have involved you in this.”
“Look Lana I’m scared too, so scared I can barely think straight. I’m involved now. Lets get moving.”
They qu
ickly filled a small carry on bag each with a few essentials and grabbed their passports. Lana stood in the centre of her room and looked around. This would probably be the last time she would be here. She cursed the day she met Gus at the gallery, she cursed the evil men who treated them like property and she cursed the whole black empire she was now entwined in. “Lets go,” she said and they headed out to get a taxi to the airport.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lana and Sara did not speak as the taxi took the off ramp towards the airport. They had both been mostly silent since the events at the college. Why had they ever believed Gus, Lana wondered to herself. She had always thought he was a small time hustler who made his contacts through the art world. Foolishly she had believed that he was someone who saw the need for a small boutique escort service and then filled that position with his small stable of girls. He was obviously a lot shadier then she had ever imagined, who knew how far his empire actually sprawled. Amidst the chaos back in their tiny dorm room they had grabbed a small bag each and robotically stuffed in a few items of clothes and fled the scene.
They had no idea where to go and who to turn to and the only plan they currently had was to get out of the country and hide away for as long as their money could support them. They both had a small chunk of savings that they withdrew on the way to the airport. The car pulled in front of the departures area and they hurriedly paid the cab driver and headed for the first ticket booth they could find.
As they stepped into the air conditioned glass and metal metal building Lana jerked to a stop and clutched frantically for Sara's hand. Beside a small stand selling magazines and muffins a grey haired man dressed in an immaculate suit stood watching the crowd. Lana squeezed Sara's hand tightly jerking her back and said, “Look over there by the magazines. Thats him, the man from the video.” Sara looked over in his direction and as she did a blonde woman with a baby in her arms waved at him and he turned and greeted them. The happy family then headed off in the opposite direction without ever looking towards Lana.
“You need to keep it together,” Sara said trying to sooth Lana. “Nobody knows we are here and we will be long gone before anyone finds out.”
Lana put her arms around Sara and pulled her close. Her heart was pounding a staccato rhythm. “I’m sorry for getting you involved in this. Its all my fault,” she said.
Sara broke the embrace and held Lana by the shoulders. “Don’t you ever say that. Its the deranged man in the videos who has caused all this. People like us are nothing but a product he can buy and dispose of on a whim. He is the fucked up one. Its his fault not ours.” She hugged Lana tightly and when they separated both felt a little better.
At the ticket desk a blonde woman with pink shiny nail polish and a crisp clipped tone told them what flights had available tickets. “We have a flight leaving for Reykjavik, Iceland in a little over an hour, if you hustle you could board on time. The next available flight after that is to Paris, that leaves in 8 hours and after that is a flight to Mumbai which leaves in ten hours.”
Lana turned to Sara and said, “What do you think?”
“I think we take the first plane out of here.”
Lana turned to the booking agent and said, “Iceland it is then.”
The booking agent took their passports and starting tapping away on her keyboard. “Are you girls off on an adventure? Doing something on a whim?”
Sara said, “Yeah something like that. We need a change of scenery.”
“I could use a break too. Have you been to Iceland before? I hear it’s beautiful this time of year. Twenty four hours of sunlight all summer long,” the woman continued as she input their information.
Lana felt like her muscles were coiled springs bursting with kinetic energy, she tapped her foot impatiently. Everything seemed to be going so slow. She glanced around as the woman continued with her mindless chit chat. Every glance in Lana’s direction, every man wearing shades or talking into his phone while passing her by made her skin crawl. She was doing everything she could to stay rooted to the spot, her body wanted to drop her bag and run, to just run away in any direction and leave the horror behind her. The woman slid their passports and tickets across the counter to them and wished them a pleasant trip to Iceland. Immediately Lana felt better as soon as she started moving. Each step towards the departure terminal brought her closer to freedom.
A strong hand grabbed her shoulder and ice ran through Lana's veins. We have been caught her mind screamed as adrenaline flooded her body.
“Sorry, you left this behind you,” The voice from behind said.
She wheeled around feeling all tension from her body subside. A young guy with a tie dye t-shirt and board shorts was holding her bag out towards her. He looked shocked at the frightened look on her face.
“Sorry for startling you. You left it back there at the ticket desk,” he said smiling in the hope it would calm her down a little.
Sara thanked him and took the bag and the guy walked off looking a little bewildered.
“You have to relax a little, you look liked you wanted to kill that guy. We are safe. No one knows we are here and within a few minutes we will be on our way to Iceland and hanging out with the polar bears,” Sara said with a hand on Lana's shoulder.
“I’m sorry. Come on lets keep moving,” Lana said as they continued to the departure area.
Lana felt like she hadn't taken a breath until the wheels of the plane finally had left the earth. She let out a sigh once the the city she had called home for two years faded to a speck. Once they reached altitude and the seat belt signs bleeped off a powerful wave of exhaustion engulfed her. The events of the last few days hit her with a painful force and all she wanted to do was sleep.
“Wake me in a few hours,” she asked Sara as she tried her best to get comfortable in the barely reclining chair. Her sleep was shallow and fitful, filled with images of Gus chasing her down dark alleys with a large knife. He would fade away only to be replaced by the grey haired man whispering sweetly into her ear as his hands slowly tightened around her neck and began to squeeze the life out of her. She woke up with gasp and was momentarily confused about her surroundings. The image of the smiling grey haired man felt like it was burnt into her retinas. Sara rubbed her arm and asked her if she was ok.
“A bad dream. The man from the video,” Lana said as a shiver coursed through her.
“He’s well behind us now,” Sara said pointing at the animated map on the seat back screen, “We are less then an hour from Reykjavik.”
“Where do we go once we get there? Do you think we should stay in the city?” Lana asked.
Sara passed her an inflight magazine she had folded back on an article. The pictures showed a tiny white church sitting up on a hill over looking a small town of brightly coloured houses. The town was on a thin strip of land backed by towering rocky mountains and facing out to the grey and churning atlantic ocean. The beach was a winding belt of black volcanic sand.
“What do you think?” she asked as Lana scanned through the article. “It’s a tiny town five or six hours away from Reykjavik. We can lay low there for a few weeks until we decide what to do next.”
“Its definitely beautiful,” Lana replied, “Ive always been a city girl but I could probably do with being somewhere remote for awhile. We’ll make arrangements as soon as we land.”
“Do you think we will ever be safe,” Sara whispered.
“I don’t know. Maybe no one will come after us. We need to catch a break,” Lana said as she felt tears well up in her eyes. Even after sleeping for a few hours she still felt and exhausted and spent. She couldn't get the image of the grey haired man out of her mind, he floated like the fuzzy after image of a torch shone into your eyes. He was with her constantly and she could not shake him.
“Gus could never find us here,” Sara said in as much of a reassuring voice as she could muster. She barely believed what she was saying.