No Remorse No Regret

by Ian Worrall

  “You all right dear?” Martha asks him.

  Pete looks up at her. “How can you ask me that?”

  Martha just looks at him not knowing what else to say.

  “I just found out that I talked to the man who raped my little Melissa. Had the bastard serial killer in my house. Then she got taken in by a master criminal and has, for the past ten years, probably killed more people than Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy. Combined. Would you be all right?”

  * * *

  Sitting on the hood of his car behind a warehouse, Torres sees a van approaching him. Checking his watch, it’s six-thirty in the evening. The bastards are a half hour late. As the van comes to a stop, Torres sees two men he doesn’t recognize in the front seat of the van.

  “You’re not the usual ones,” Torres calls out as he starts walking toward the van.

  “The delay was necessary,” the one on the passenger side says.

  “Perhaps.”

  The side door to the van opens and two more men jump out with crowbars. Torres tries to draw his gun but his arm is broken when a crowbar smashes into him. The second man hits him on the knee causing him to fall. He’s struck six more times until he loses consciousness.

  Once he’s thrown into the van, they search his pockets and come out with his car keys. The one in the passenger front seat clicks the unlock button and sees Torres’s car lights flash.

  “I’ll drive this to the Marina and leave it there,” he says in Russian.

  * * *

  In a darkened office, Komorov is waiting. In one hand is an UZI 9mm and a 9mm Glock is in his belt. With his hands shaking, he raises the UZI as he hears a car approach and stop. He hears the car doors open and close. He looks out the blinds and sees a man and a woman approach the office next door. As they get close enough to see their faces, he checks the pictures on his iPad. They match those of detectives Burnlee and Cruze.

  He opens the door to his office. “Come on in, detectives.”

  The two detectives turn and follow him into the office, sitting down on chairs as he sits on a table.

  “You’ve got information, you told us?”

  “I’m connected with Danil Burlomov.”

  “Shouldn’t you talk with the Organized Crime Bureau?” Mitchell asks.

  “Jared Torres the head of it?”

  “We know that.”

  “He’s the mole in the department.”

  “You’re joking, right?” Jackie asks.

  “The head of the Organized Crime Task Force,” Mitchell says. “Surely you forget we’ve taken a mole?”

  “Jessica King? I was the honey trap. It was a good night,” the Russian says smiling.

  “How do we know you’re not trying to set Torres up?”

  “If you don’t believe me, I have an audio/video recording of him.”

  “Do you have the video of Torres here?” Jackie asks.

  Komorov clicks on his iPad to show them the video. Jackie covers her mouth as her eyes narrow while Mitchell is shaking his head to see a decorated police detective making deals with a member of the Russian Mafia.

  “There’s more of that on thumb drives.”

  “Where are those?” Mitchell asks.

  “Here,” he hands them three. “Plus, proof that Detective King is innocent.”

  “Do you know anything about a contract killer Burlomov has?” Jackie asks.

  “I do.”

  “And who is it?” Jackie asks.

  “Melissa Vance.”

  “We figured that. Just needed the confirmation,” Mitchell says.

  “This should provide you all the information you need on Torres.”

  The two detectives and Komorov leave the office.

  “We should get you to safety,” Jackie says.

  Komorov shakes his head as he gets in his own car. “He doesn’t suspect me of anything. I’m fine.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Jackie says.

  Mitchell and Jackie drive away from him. Once they’re a hundred and fifty feet away, they see a flash of light from the window of a building across the street fly towards Komorov’s car, which explodes on impact.

  “Guess he was wrong,” Jackie says.

  She gets on her phone and dials for emergency crews to get to her location and uniformed police to guard Komorov’s house. Ten minutes later, an ambulance and fire trucks arrive at their location. Ten minutes after that another call comes over the radio.

  “Cruze, dispatch.”

  “Go for, Cruze,” Jackie says into her radio.

  “There are two fire trucks at the address you gave. The house is burning to the ground.”

  “Get the arson squad and the body recovery team over there. The owner of the house has been murdered.”

  Another call on Jackie’s phone comes in seconds after she ends that call. “Detective Cruze,” she answers. A five-second pause and, “Great news, thanks.”

  She turns to Mitchell, “They got DNA off the envelope.”

  “Unfortunately, it all washed off his victims,” he says.

  Chapter 62

  C olton leaves the room where he has the two women captive. Another fun session with Sara. Michelle could only look on as she was abused.

  His doorbell rings. Dinner’s arrived. Opening the door, the pizza delivery kid, Jason Edwards, is standing there. “Your pizza order, sir. $12.85.”

  “Step inside, son.” Colton turns away. “Going to get my wallet.”

  He walks into the living room and grabs his wallet, taking out fifteen dollars. He starts making conversation with Jason as he brings him the money. “A two-dollar tip tonight. Your lucky day.”

  Jason pockets the change. Cheap asshole. “My lucky day was yesterday.”

  “Won the lottery or something?”

  “Almost as good as that.”

  “How so?” Colton asks.

  “Actually, my luck started a few days ago. Banged a hot chick twice in the same week. And she gave me some money.”

  “Right on. You must have been good.”

  “That and/or she felt bad, going through a rough time.”

  “What was it?”

  Jason shrugs. “Can’t tell the cops this. She claims she was the survivor of The Drowner.”

  Colton’s eyes perk up. Won’t need to tail her from the post office after all. “What did she look like?”

  “Short and tiny, long dark hair.”

  Colton cracks a half smile, got the little bitch now. “What’s the address again?”

  “298 Purcell Drive. Why?”

  “I’m The Drowner, kid.”

  Jason’s face goes pale as Colton takes his stun gun and zaps him in the chest. The kid falls to the floor.

  Stupid kid. You betrayed the girl. All this time and she was only a ten-minute walk from me. From the hall table, he takes a roll of duct tape and binds the kid’s ankles and wrists, then tapes his mouth shut. Grabbing him under the shoulders, he starts dragging him to the dungeon room.

  Opening the door to the room, he drops Jason onto the floor. “Say hello to your new roommate, girls. I’ll be back later. Got an old friend to get rid of.”

  Turning, he leaves the room, closing and locking the door behind him. Michelle is hanging by her wrists and Sara by her ankles as Michelle tries to call out. “Hey mister, are you all right?”

  “He’s still breathing, Michelle. Probably knocked out.”

  Chapter 63

  A t the Thai restaurant, Danil and Melissa have just been served glasses of wine. They clink glasses and take a sip. She is wearing a blonde wig, a bouquet of roses sits at Melissa’s left. Buttering me up for more sex later. Why bother? He would do it anyway.

  “Your favorite wine, I believe.”

  Melissa raises her eyebrows. “Yeah.”

  Danil takes her hand and kisses it. “A special night this is.”

  “How so?”

  “Tenth anniversary of when we met.”

  “Yeah that was a very special nigh
t.” The night I went from being an innocent girl to becoming a killer. “Definitely something to celebrate.” She takes another sip of wine as Danil kisses her hand again. The appetizer, Pad Thai, is served. The two of them dig in.

  “How do you like this compared to Russian food?”

  “Variety is the spice of life. Isn’t that what someone said?” Melissa says.

  “True. Someone did say that.” Kind of why I have more than just you to sleep with.

  Danil’s phone rings. “Excuse me, my love.” he answers his phone winking at Melissa. “Hello? Oh really. You need me now? I’m having dinner with my girl.”

  Melissa purses her lips attempting a smile. Too bad the pizza kid is moving on.

  “OK, I should be there within the hour.”

  The main course is delivered to them. “I’ve got an emergency at work I have to deal with. Can you make these to go?”

  “Certainly,” the waiter says as he removes the food from the table.

  “Sorry, sweetheart. Something I need to deal with.”

  “That’s too bad. I was really looking forward to this dinner.” Actually, it’s kind of a relief.

  “I’ll make it up to you, my love.”

  “So, my break from work is over?”

  “Probably.”

  The waiter brings back the food in plastic to-go containers.

  “The limo will drop you off at home. You can decide if you want to stay and wait.”

  The two of them leave the restaurant and get in the limousine. The windows are tinted so no one can see anything that goes on inside of it. As soon as they sit down, Danil pours her a glass of champagne.

  “Sorry about this, my dear,” he says as he’s handing her the drink.

  She smiles slightly. “That’s OK.” Of course, it’s much better to spend the night without you. She upends the drink and Danil pours her another.

  * * *

  It’s been over an hour that I’ve been waiting for this girl. Colton checks his watch using the illumination button in the darkened closet. What is taking her so long? It was a smart move for him to bring the ice cream container. He unzips his pants and starts to urinate into the container. Dump this down a drain somewhere so no DNA is left behind.

  From somewhere in the house, he hears a door open. It wasn’t the front door, it was from the garage. But no car came in the driveway.

  He hears two male voices speaking in a thick accent.

  “How long did the boss say she’d be?”

  “They’re at dinner. They should be leaving the restaurant soon.”

  “Then their dessert at his place?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “About an hour more.”

  “Do we have our own dessert with her first?”

  “Boss said no, but let’s do it anyway.”

  Colton hears a cupboard open and close and two glasses put on the counter.

  “Rum?”

  “Guess she only drinks the real stuff with him.”

  “Can’t stand this.”

  “Do we know the combination to the safe?”

  “We’ve got all night once we do her to crack it. Get the boss’s money and all her guns.”

  “Do you feel bad at all?”

  “For what?”

  “Taking out the boss’s woman. Would he have us taken out if we outlive our usefulness?”

  “Don’t outlive your usefulness and you’ll never have to worry about it.”

  Zipping his pants back up, Colton is biting into his lower lip and clenching his fists. It’s almost a relief that someone’s getting rid of her for me. If they come in here it could be bad. Fighting a man is not the same as fighting a woman; someone sixty pounds or lighter can’t hit with the same power. And unfortunately, there are two of them.

  “You’re right. This rum is garbage.”

  “She’ll be home soon. Find a place to hide.”

  They put the glasses in the dishwasher and make their way down the hallway entering the spare room.

  The first thing they see when they turn the light on is the blinds blowing from the wind. One of them, Sergei, walks over to it as the other goes for the closet door.

  “Val, the stupid cunt left the window open.”

  “I’ll hide in the closet, Sergei.”

  Sergei pulls the blind up and sees the screen and glass is cut.

  “Val, wait I think –”

  Sergei starts turning as he is talking and Valeri opens the closet door. Colton steps out and thrusts his knife into Valeri’s throat before he starts moving for Sergei.

  “Ebat Kopat,” oh shit! Sergei yells. Colton is on him before he can pull his gun. As the knife is plunged into his throat and chest seven times, he drops his gun onto the floor and collapses.

  Colton picks up the gun, kneels next to Sergei, and whispers into his ear. “The stupid cunt is mine to kill not yours.”

  He puts the gun to Sergei’s ear and pulls the trigger. The body spasms. He next walks over to Val and pumps a bullet into his head.

  So that’s how you kill a man. Surprise and overwhelm him before he can respond to what’s happening. Not so hard after all. With his phone, he takes a picture of the two dead men. I’ll show those little bitches back home just how much courage I really have. Then I’ll beat the pizza delivery driver to death in front of them.

  * * *

  Entering Danil’s bedroom, Melissa takes off the dress he had bought her and puts it on the hanger, placing it back down on the bed. She puts her cargo pants on and then the shirt she was brought here in. When she gets to the panic room, she stops for a second when she sees both doors are open. Danil. Careless. First time for everything. She closes both doors behind her and starts for home.

  * * *

  After receiving the unsealed juvenile records for the dead suspect John Harris, it was revealed he had an accomplice, cousin Colton Harris, the same guy whose co-worker gave them information on him. In the detective’s squad room, Mitchell and Jackie are doing an address search on both Colton and Melissa, in case there is something there that will get them what they need before the warrant for Melissa’s information comes in.

  “We’ve got Colton Harris’s address, 143 Darnell Road,” Jackie says as she gets up from her desk. She checks up on the geographic profile and sees the address is right in the middle. He also matches the list of names questioned in the Cara McIsaac death. “Too bad Zach couldn’t have seen that.”

  Mitchell dials the number for the SWAT teams. “We need a team at 143 Darnell Road.”

  A package from the DA’s office is hand delivered to Mitchell, which he opens.

  “Probable cause or do we need a warrant for him?”

  “Cause.” He looks up at the woman who delivered the package. “Just the same, call your boss and get us a warrant.”

  “And what about Melissa?” Jackie asks.

  “You read the letter that he has two girls?”

  “Let’s go then.”

  They leave the squad room with four other detectives following them as Mitchell is reading the file.

  “Look at this,” he hands it to Jackie.

  “The perverts had a pinhole camera in the girl’s shower room in high school.”

  * * *

  At her end of the tunnel, Melissa stops at the door when she sees it is open. Didn’t Danil close it behind him? She looks up and sees the trap door is still open too. Her throat tightens up and she starts feeling the butterflies in her stomach. Not the good kind though, the kind that make you think oh shit.

  Never has he been careless about security before. I was over his shoulder but I’m sure he closed it. The days all seem to blur together. Is it possible she’s mistaken? Her heart is beating so hard she can feel it in her ears. Danil, were you careless or was your emergency just a ruse to get me into my home alone? Got me out here without my gun. Well, you better hope you trained them better than you did me.

  She starts to climb the ladder and her head starts feeling light.
So that’s how you did it then, Danil. Just like The Drowner did, stuck something in my food or drink. Hope I can get to my guns in time. She climbs the ladder listening for the sounds of anyone in the garage above her.

  At the top, she sticks her head up and looks around. No one there. Climbing into the garage, she stumbles and falls to the floor before she can get to her gun locker. Under the influence of a drug, she is having difficulty getting to her feet.

  She hears the door open to the garage and looks up to see Colton pointing the gun at her.

  “So, Melissa Vacelli, or is it Vance? We meet again.”

  Clenching her jaw, she glares at the man who has invaded her home. “You.”

  Colton bows. “Me.”

  * * *

  In a soundproof garage, Danil and Oleg are sitting around a large aquarium containing only a clear liquid without fish in it. They are both drinking vodka and chatting.

  “So, you think this will do the trick?” Oleg points at the aquarium.

  “Should do,” Danil says. “As of right now, his boat should be smashed up on the rocks. The acid here should erase any physical evidence. They’ll just think he got taken by sharks.”

  The door to the garage opens and the black van backs in. Once the van stops, the garage door closes. The driver and passenger doors open and four of the Russian crew disembark from the van. One of them opens the back doors where two more of the crew are guarding Torres. He is tied up, bloodied, and still unconscious. They drag him out of the van, dropping him at Danil’s feet.

  “He’s not dead yet, is he?” Danil asks as he kicks Torres in the legs.

  “No,” says the driver.

  “That’s good news for you. Now wake him up, cut his clothes off, and hoist him above the tank.”

  Two of them remove his clothes while another attaches a hook to his shackles. Once he is naked, smelling salts are waved under his nose and he is then hoisted above the tank of acid, with his feet dangling above.

  “Quincey,” Danil says, “or should I say Detective Torres.”

  Torres’s mouth starts quivering.

  “You think we didn’t know?”

  “How?” Torres asks.

  “That little one you thought you did up in Revoun?”