Hope House

by Tracy L Carbone

  4.

  Maison D’Espoir, Haiti, predawn-Martine

  Martine watched Gloria and Kurt with their baby. They were a good couple, decent people. She wondered if they were married. Gloria was kind and took the time to explain things to her just as Dr. Tad had for the years he had known her.

  She filled out the hospital forms for Gloria and packed them in a bag with some bottles of formula and diapers.

  “You should go now. Leave right away,” she told them, handing the bag to Kurt.

  “Come with us,” Gloria said. “We’ll take you back to Port Au Prince.”

  “No I must stay here until—” She didn’t want to say the words and Gloria understood. Until Dr. Tad passed on. “Boris will take me when the time comes. I have much do here.”

  “I’m gonna shut this place down before I die!” Tad yelled.

  They all spun around to see Dr. Tad standing up, crooked and weak. His eyes showed that death was close. His anger was trying to reclaim him, fight his battle a little longer.

  “Martine, get the girls together. Tell them to take everything. Everything! I want this place stripped down to nothing. And when I die, all this is over. No more surrogates or adoptions. The end of the Puglisi breeding enterprise once and for all.”

  “It’s not just here,” Kurt said.

  “What?”

  “They have other centers in foreign countries,” Gloria explained. “Different locales each with a specific appearance to their children.”

  Dr. Tad fell against the bed and slipped to the floor.

  “You must have known,” Kurt said.

  Martine prayed he would deny it, but he did not. Instead he nodded. “When I took Gloria’s fetus, Mick had me take a few others too. From all over the place. Not a lot. Five or six. But all I did was deliver the fetuses to him. Nothing else. I didn’t know what happened to them. I guess I hoped Gloria’s was the only success.” He looked to Martine, then to Kurt and Gloria. “I should have known. Of course he would have used them, started other centers. But he never told me so I thought it was just here. I can’t believe he lied to me all this time.”

  “Don’t take it personally, Tad,” Gloria said. “He lies to everyone and kills people without a second thought if it suits him. His whole family is—”

  “His whole family was my family too. They raised me like their own.” Dr. Tad’s strength was leaving again. His sadness dragged him down, took his energy and his will. Martine had dropped to her knees beside him, holding on.

  “Yeah well, you’re not their blood,” replied Kurt, shaking his head. “And that’s what it all boils down to with people like that.”

  “It’s my fault,” Tad continued his confession. “I should’ve told him no. I should’ve made intentional mistakes . . . shown him it wouldn’t work. Then maybe he’d have given up. All those poor women he lied to . . . like you, thought they lost their babies. I should never have done any of this.” He leaned against Martine with a body so hot it hurt to touch. She tried to guide him back to lie down but he resisted. Dr. Tad moved his hand to his chest and started to breathe in a more labored fashion.

  5.

  Maison D’Espoir, Haiti, predawn- Mick

  Mick pulled up to Maison and was not happy to see Boris talking to some cab driver. That meant Kurt and Gloria were here. Inside. Already spreading their poison to Tad. Mick shut off his car and walked to the gate.

  Boris walked over to him and aimed his semi-automatic at his chest.

  “What are you doing?” Mick asked, anxious to get inside. “Help me open the gate.”

  “No.”

  “Damn it, Boris. I need to get in there. Open the gate or get out of my way so I can do it. And get that damn gun away from me. What’ve you been smoking?”

  “Sorry, Mr. Puglisi. Maison D’Espoir is not yours anymore.”

  “What did you say to me?”

  “It is time for you to go.”

  “I need to get in there. Do you know who Gloria Hanes is? She’s a reporter. She’s going to expose everything that’s been happening here and do you know who that’s going to hurt most?”

  “I think it will hurt you the most, Mr. Puglisi. You and your family. And that is a good thing.”

  Boris butted the end of the gun into Mick’s chest. It hurt but he didn’t want to seem like a whiner. Mick grabbed the end of it. Then let go. What the hell was he doing? Angie was right. He was going to get himself killed. But he couldn’t leave. He had to stop this. Think, Mick. Think.

  “It’s going to hurt the country of Haiti. It’s going to hurt all the girls who ever gave birth here. It’s going to hurt the babies who were adopted out. If Gloria succeeds in exposing the running of Maison D’Espoir, then all the girls will be sent off. Not by me, but by everyone who reads the story. Is that what you want? To hurt your sister?”

  Boris put the weapon down. Thank God. A sucker born every minute.

  “You can go in to stop the two outsiders but if you hurt Martine I will kill you myself. And you give me your word that Maison D’Espoir will be shut down. No more babies.”

  “Fine, fine just open the fucking gate.”

  Boris pulled on the metal latch and swung the door open.

  Mick walked in, catlike. He eased through the front door of the clinic. They were all in the exam room. He could hear them. Mick walked closer and listened, watching unseen when he heard Tad Boucher spilling his guts.

  “All those poor women he lied to,” Boucher was saying. “Who-who thought they lost their babies. I should never have done any of this.” Tad leaned against Martine. She again tried to guide him back to lie down but he continued to resist. Dr. Tad moved his hand to his chest and started wheezing.

  “Well you did do all this,” shouted Mick, stepping into the room, a gun pointed at them. “You made your bed, Dr. Boucher, and now you’re going to lie in it.”

  Mick realized that Tad couldn’t look any whiter. Gloria held tight to a newborn infant. He’d have to get that baby away from her. On top of all the other hassles these people were causing him he wasn’t going to lose money too. Boris was such a numb skull. As if he was really going to shut this enterprise down. But one assassination at a time.

  The big blond guy was obviously Kurt Malone. He seemed familiar but Mick was pretty sure he’d never seen him before. Mick pushed past him to get to Tad. He’d have to start there and finish Tad off before he made some kind of death bed confession and blurted out all the secrets.

  “Get up you bastard. I’ve been taking care of you long enough. I gave you everything and this is how you repay me? Fraternizing with the enemy?” Mick grabbed Tad’s hospital gown and shook his body. “You’ve taken advantage. I let you mollycoddle all these breeding bitches and this is the thanks I get? My family raised you when your father died. Did you forget that? Forget what you owe us?”

  Tad’s eyes kept rolling up in his head like he was trying to sleep and his breathing grew more and more shallow. “Your father killed my father,” Tad said. He paused to catch his breath, “And you felt guilty so you took me in.”

  Mick loosened his hold on the gown. Shit. When had Tad figured that out? “Fine, Daddy killed him! But it was just business. We liked your father well enough.”

  He saw where the loose cloth hung on Tad’s shoulder and pulled away. “Holy shit! What’s wrong with you? What is that?”

  Mick looked around for hand sanitizer on the counter but didn’t want to step that far away. Maybe Tad’s shoulder was just badly bruised and not something communicable. Mick had no interest in checking under the sheet to see how far the blackness went. He had work to do here. Had people to dispose of. Cleanliness could wait.

  Tad blurted out, “You killed Luke, too! And Boni and her child! Only a monster kills a child. Martine was right. They were all right. You’re as bad as the Tonton Macoute. That’s what they all say about you, you know. That you’re like the Tonton Macoute.” Tad closed his eyes to staunch whatever pain he was feeling.


  “Oh for God’s sake. I didn’t kill Luke or Boni’s kid!” denied Mick, going closer again to Tad. “Tad, you gotta know I’m not that bad. I’m raising Luke and Donnie myself! They’re my sons now, and Luke’s a great kid, would do anything for me. Anything. I love that kid.”

  Mick heard something behind him and turned around. He saw the blur of activity as Malone ushered Gloria and Martine out of my room, escaping.

  “Where do they have to hide?” Mick said aloud.

  “Please, Mick, no more deaths!” pleaded Tad.

  “Bullshit! I gotta get this under control in a hurry, that’s for sure.” He held the gun up under Tad’s ribs.

  “You sick bastard,” Tad said, drool dripping from his mouth. He’d given up trying to keep his eyes open. “What kind of sick relationship do you have with Luke?”

  “Sick? I’m not sick. I’d never do anything to hurt Luke. Hold on, what are you implying?”

  “A single man who never dates women adopting a little boy—two now, eh? Little boys who’ll do anything for you, huh? And I’ll bet you make them—”

  “How dare you try to make it into something vile!” Mick slammed the gun into Tad’s fevered face. Tad slumped over and the sheet and gown fell off, exposing Tad’s whole arm and hand. Black and blue and purple all the way to his fingertips.

  “Jesus Christ. What’s wrong with you?”

  But Tad didn’t answer.

  “Tad!”

  His head rolled side to side when Mick moved him.

  “He’s dead,” Mick said. But he knew there was no one there to hear him.

  “Dead.” A lump formed in his throat.

  He had killed him. One pistol whip and he was dead. Maybe it was the sickness that did it but Mick knew he had pushed him over the edge. He had wanted to kill him anyway. That’s what he came here for. All the same, Mick started crying. He set down the gun and wiped his tears.

  “Damn you, Tad. It’s wasn’t supposed to be like this. You know damn well I wouldn’t have gone through with it. I never would’ve killed you for real. I was just going to scare you is all, like I always did till I got my way.”

  Through the blur of his tears, Mick observed Tad’s face, his left cheekbone red from the hit.

  What the hell am I doing here, Mick thought for about the tenth time since he’d talked to Angela. In a jungle killing my only friend in the world, and off to murder others. What the hell am I doing?

  “I’m sorry, buddy. You were like my brother. You knew that right? I loved you.”

  But Tad wasn’t answering.

  Like your brother but not your brother, Mick’s father’s words rang in his head. So many times Daddy had reminded him of that when he’d wanted to include Tad on secrets, details, investments.

  “Like my brother but not my brother,” Mick said now at his friend’s body. He took a deep breath and knew he needed to move on. Put it behind him. Tad was dead. No use crying over it.

  Time to get the rest of them.

  He pulled the sheet up over Tad’s body. “Rest in peace, buddy.”

  Mick ran from the room to find and kill Martine, Gloria, and Malone. Three more kills and he’d be done with all these pesky complications. Done with the gatecrashers once and for all. And by next week there would be a new hospital staff. He’d have to hire two doctors. No one else would agree to be on call 24/7. Two nurses too.

  He had some more fertilized embryos waiting to be shipped. Not only would Maison D’Espoir stay open, the production could double. He’d build more cabins and double-up on the number of Haitian girls.

  He smiled when he ran down the hall in search of his prey. This was going turn out just fine. What’d the politicians say? There’s opportunity in crisis. Daddy would be proud, Mick thought as he began hunting down his victims.

  6.

  Maison D’Espoir, Haiti, same time-Kurt

  “Over here. There is an opening in the gate,” Martine said as she led Kurt and Gloria away from Maison D’Espoir.

  An escape route. He smirked. “So you really weren’t prisoners after all,” Kurt said.

  Martine turned to him, and even in the darkness he could see her scorn. “Do not confuse the choice to walk from one hell into another with freedom. It is not the same.”

  Kurt’s hands rose in the universal gesture for surrender Gloria held the newborn closer.

  “Come down this hill and to the river,” Martine commanded.

  Kurt and Gloria followed. After some time passed, and they had put some distance between themselves and Mick Puglisi, Gloria pleaded for a moment’s rest. They had found the river, and Gloria sat on a rock and began feeding the baby from a bottle.

  It broke Kurt’s heart to watch Gloria bonding with the infant. He wanted to be a part of that new family so bad he could taste it, but he knew now that wouldn’t be possible. Mick had come to Haiti and would be soon after them. Kurt would have to kill him, most likely in front of Gloria. And he knew it wouldn’t end there. There was a lot more cleaning up to do and he had to separate himself from Gloria to do it. He couldn’t jeopardize her career or her life by getting tangled up together.

  “Come on Gloria, we have to go,” he said as he gently nudged her along.

  “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Gloria asked about the infant as she moved along with Kurt. “My little baby. At last.”

  “Yes, she is, but if you don’t get a move on, we’re all going to die out here. I don’t want to be blunt but it’s time to go. You have the rest of your life to enjoy her but right now you need to run.”

  “Come, Gloria. We do not have much time,” Martine agreed while holding open the small back gate.

  “I can’t wait to start our life together. All three of us: You, me, and the little one, back home,” Gloria said to Kurt.

  He didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth or to lie. Instead he just rushed her and the child, whom she held tight in her arms, through the jungle. He looked at their guide, Martine, and understood all too well what she had meant about being trapped in a life where there was no true freedom. For so long he had been forced between one hell and another. Staying with Gloria was a dream he could never have. His life on the run with so many different names, crimes. His past was his prison.

  7.

  Woods behind Maison D’Espoir, Haiti, same time- Gloria

  Gloria ran down the hill, fleeing from Mick who must be right behind them. She’d zoned out for a few minutes after the baby was born, mesmerized by her tiny fingers and tiny mouth. She’d blocked out all that was going on around her.

  But now it was time to wake up.

  Tad was dead, either from the voluntary morphine overdose or by Mick’s hand, and no doubt she, Kurt, and Martine were next.

  She hugged the infant tight to her. “No one is going to hurt you, little one. If I have to kill Mick Puglisi myself to protect you, I will.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Kurt said as he nudged her along. He smiled and she believed things were going to be all right. Once again he was going to protect her, save her from the bad guys.

  The clouds had moved and now the moonlight illuminated the landscape. It helped to show the way but also made them easier targets for Mick.

  “Run faster,” Martine said. “He is a devil! He is coming.”

  Gloria and Kurt sprinted over the plants in the woods, following Martine who was much more familiar with the terrain.

  Martine put her finger to her lips and pointed once they arrived at the bottom of yet another hill. “Doctor Tad’s car is over there, on the other side of the compound. He leaves keys inside in case Boris needs to move it. You go. Now. Take the car and drive to Port Au Prince as fast as you can.”

  “We’re not leaving you, Martine. You’re no match for him,” Kurt said.

  “Please, you must,” Martine pleaded. “There is only one road for the first hour. Just stay on it and drive fast. You will find your way.”

  Gloria stepped forward. “Come with us, Martine! Thi
s is crazy.” Gloria tugged at Martine’s arm but she pulled away.

  “No! I need to set all the fish babies free, in the river.”

  “What are you talking about, Martine? Please, let’s go!” Kurt dug his feet in the dirt with impatience as Gloria pleaded with Martine.

  The girl explained, “The unborn babies, in the barrels, back at the clinic.”

  “The embryos?” Gloria asked.

  “I—” Martine started.

  Suddenly Mick appeared at the crest of the hill, his dark shape moving quickly among the tree line, near impossible to see but his footsteps crunched the brush and echoed in the night.

  “I know these woods. I will get Mr. Puglisi lost while you run.”

  “No, I won’t let you—” Kurt said.

  But then Martine ran. Fast. In seconds she became invisible. Mick changed course, ran in the other direction.

  “Come on, Gloria. She’ll be okay. We won’t be if we stand here. Come on! We’ll go back to Maison and get Boris and come back for her.”

  “But—”

  “Damn it, let’s go!” He yanked her arm and the two of them ran for their lives toward the front entrance.

  A gunshot exploded behind them, followed by a scream and a thud.

  “Oh my God. He shot her!” Gloria said too loudly as she ran toward the sound of a gunshot.

  Kurt held her wrist fast. “No. And keep your voice down.”

  “He did. He shot her,” she whispered.

  “I think you’re right, but if he did then going toward her won’t help—and you have a baby to consider.”

  “But what if she’s hurt or dead?”

  Kurt stood, looking into the darkness, obviously weighing his options. “You and the kid, stay right here. Do not move or make a sound, do you hear me?”

  Gloria nodded.

  “I mean it. I’ll go to her, but if you come after me and give away my location I could get killed. The scalpel I swiped from the clinic won’t be much protection against him.”

  “I’ll stay right here. I promise. Thank you.”

  Like Martine, in seconds, he disappeared into the shadows of the jungle. The baby was asleep, that God for that. If she starts screaming . . .