Partners
Page 4
“Thanks, Kelly.”
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For anyone that was actively looking for a certain statuesque brunette with high cheekbones at the airport, they would have been disappointed. Sonny was wearing a short blonde wig and a New York Yankees baseball hat. She had on a tight T-shirt and short Daisy Duke jean shorts. She was wearing flip-flops to try and disguise her height and carried a backpack on her shoulder. To casual eyes, she appeared to be just any other woman waiting on her flight.
Sonny had bought a ticket that she did not plan on using and held it conspicuously in her hand. In her other hand, she carried a large soft drink cup; she had dumped the soda and filled it with water. She was very careful about what she put into her body, which meant no soda at all and no caffeine. While not a vegetarian, she did try and limit her red meat intake. Her diet was not about her vanity, but her body was a weapon and she needed to keep it in peak condition.
Lounging around the international arrival gates in terminal five, she was able to scan the area while pretending to look at her phone. So far, she had not seen anything out of the ordinary. The last international flight from the Ukraine would arrive at 11:45 PM. She would leave then and return at 5 AM when they started arriving again the next morning. It would give her a few hours to rest her head at the safe house at least.
She noticed two men in suits enter the terminal and take strategic positions around the gate. It was time: the flight from Ukraine had landed and was about to disembark. She opened her camera app on her phone, casually aimed it at the door, and pressed record. A few passengers came through, both in pairs and alone. Then a group of five got her attention. Leading the group was an old woman with a severe face and her hair pulled back in a bun. Behind her were four girls of varying ages, the youngest one could not have been too much more than ten years old, and Sonny swallowed hard. The little girl was afraid and Sonny could see the terror in her eyes. Her hands were wringing nervously and with so much pressure that it looked painful. Sonny was glad that she did not have her gun with her or she might have killed the old woman right there. But she needed more information about this organization first before she acted, counting to ten in her head to calm down.
There was a girl with them that was probably eighteen and had sunken, vacant eyes. Sonny’s heart broke for the girl; even from as far away that she had placed herself, she could see the dark circles and hopelessness. The horrors that she had endured were unimaginable to Sonny. This girl, now a woman she supposed, looked like she had already given up. Her life that should be just beginning was already over. The only thing she had left to look forward to was her own death.
The group met with the two men and without saying a word, they all fell in step and left the terminal gate together. Sonny waited a moment and then stood up and followed them at a safe distance. She watched as they passed easily through customs and exited the building, heading to a van that sat idling outside waiting for them. Sonny got out in front of them and pretended to talk on her phone outside as she slipped a small device from her pocket into her palm.
One of the two men opened the side door of the van and herded the terrified girls inside. The old woman climbed into the front passenger seat and Sonny readied herself. The van began to pull away and at that moment, Sonny stepped in front of it and bumped her side onto the grill and dropped her backpack to the ground.
“Hey! Watch it, asshole!” she yelled to the driver as she reached for her backpack on the ground. As she stood, she slapped the hood with one hand and slipped the GPS tracker onto the grill with adhesive tape on the back. “I’m walking here, you prick!” she said over her shoulder as she walked away, flipping him the bird as well. The driver gave her a dirty look but pulled away without replying to her words or gesture. The old woman did not even acknowledge her existence. Good.
She leisurely walked to the surface lot and opened the GPS tracker app on her phone. The van’s image moved slowly out of the airport. She closed the app and put her phone away as she climbed up on her motorcycle. The Ducati engine started and she sped off into the night.
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After a quick stop at a gas station to change out of her tourist clothes and into an all-black leather biker suit, Sonny sped to the GPS point on her phone that indicated the van’s location. The van had stopped moving and she navigated toward it into Riverdale. The app showed the location near the Calumet River on South Riverdale Drive. Sonny pulled up a block away from where the van was parked in front of a run-down looking house. She saw one guard standing on the porch in front and recognized him as one of the men from the airport. Making sure he had not seen her, she got off her bike and walked in the opposite direction from the house and rounded the corner of the next block over. She made a loop and headed into the dark alley behind the house. There were no street lights on so she raised the visor on her black helmet to see her surroundings better. The house had a floodlight in the back positioned on the wall but there was no guard stationed there. There were security bars on the back windows and from where she stood, they appeared to be covered by something on the inside of the house.
Carefully staying on the edges of the light’s beam in the backyard, she closed in on the back of the house. After wading through the near knee-high grass, she pressed her body against the back wall of the house. Looking over at the back door, she saw concrete steps leading up to a metal door with a metal frame. There was a slit at eye level and no doorknob or lock on the outside. It was probably chained from the inside, she assumed. It might do as an exit but she was not going to get in that way. The bars on the windows were secured with bolts and not screws and upon closer inspection, the windows were indeed boarded up with wooden planks on the inside.
The only way in was going to be the front door. Past the guard and who knows what she would find inside. It was going to be bloody but the way she felt about what was going on in there, she did not really mind how much blood would be shed. She slowly walked along the side of the house toward the front, making sure to avoid as much of the grass as possible to cut down on the noise. It was slow going but it allowed her to scan the area around the side of the dilapidated house. More windows and bars were visible but she did not spot any security cameras; she decided that the people inside were pretty confident. She came to the grim conclusion that the security measures were to keep people inside—they were not too worried about anyone coming in from the outside.
Halfway to the front of the house, there was a rustle directly ahead of her in the grass. A possum. Shit, she thought and pressed her body against the house. The possum was looking in her direction and started to hiss. She could hear the shuffling of the guard’s feet on the porch, coming closer to take a look. By her boot, she spied a small rock. She swiftly picked it up and threw it at the possum, hitting it squarely on the back. That was enough to scare the animal and to get it to scurry toward the front porch. The sudden appearance of the running possum from between the house earned a startled yelp from the guard as the animal darted away and across the street. The guard’s head followed the possum as it ran in the opposite direction away from her. Sonny used the opportunity to quickly and quietly backtrack into the alley.
Finally, she returned to her motorcycle and started it up. She wanted to retrieve her tracker from the van before it was discovered but she could not think of a way to get it without being spotted by the guard. While she puzzled on the problem, a limousine pulled up to the house. Out of the vehicle popped two men who looked like businessmen dressed in expensive suits that were very much out of place at night in Riverdale. These guys were not a part of the organization, she concluded; they looked too nervous. They were customers and the thought made Sonny’s stomach churn. They were led to the front door by the driver and she saw her opportunity. She started her bike and
sped to the van right when the guard was opening the door to let the three men inside the house. She stopped in front of the van and pulled the tracker off the grill, then gunned her motorcycle and sped off into the night.
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It was late and Kelly was tired. She slumped down on her bed and then saw her phone light up. The display read “Lori.”
“Shit,” Kelly muttered. She let it ring. Then after a few moments, it ended. She shook her head and laid back on her bed. Then she heard the ping of a text notification. She picked it up and looked at the screen.
Lori: Why won’t you talk to me? Kelly rolled her eyes. She should not reply. She should not reply. She repeated the mantra over and over again.
Lori: Talk to me. “Why won’t this woman take a hint?” she whispered in frustration as she scowled at the screen.
Lori: Talk to me.
Lori: Please! “Oh my God!” Kelly yelled in her empty apartment as she keyed her response on the phone.
Kelly: I’m not talking to you. Stop calling me.
Lori: I’m sorry ok! It was a mistake! It was one time!
Kelly: That was one time too many. Goodbye.
Lori: Don’t be that way baby. I love you.
Kelly: No. No. You don’t get to say that to me ever again.
Lori: I love you! I’m sorry! Please talk to me!
Kelly: Stop texting me! I don’t want to talk to you!
Lori: Kels I need you! I’m a mess without you! I cry all day and night!
Kelly: Good.
Lori: Please. Please. PLEASE!!! Just talk to me.
Kelly: No.
Lori: I’m a bitch OK! I’m a lying slut!!! I don’t deserve you! But I love you so much! I need you baby!
Kelly: Stop it. Stop texting me.
Lori: You’re breaking my heart Kels!
Kelly: Well you already broke mine when you cheated on me.
Lori: I can’t live without you.
Kelly: Don’t.
Lori: I won’t live without you.
Kelly knew what this woman was capable of and it gave her a sinking feeling in her gut. “Fuck.”
Kelly: Stop it Lori. It won’t work.
Lori: Life has no meaning without you.
Kelly: Stop it! I mean it Lori!
Lori: I don’t want to live without you.
Kelly: Don’t do this!
Lori: I don’t care. I won’t live without you.
“Goddamnit, Lori!” Kelly got up and grabbed her car keys, her blood running cold with panic.
Kelly: I’m coming over now! She did not wait for a reply text before she was out the door.
Chapter Four
Kelly flew up the stairs of Lori’s apartment building and banged her fist hard on the door. “Lori! Lori! Open up! It’s Kelly! Lori!” The apartment door opened and instead of the blubbering and distraught mess that she was expecting, Lori gave Kelly a mischievous grin.
“Took you long enough.” Lori winked playfully and turned to walk back inside her apartment, leaving the door open for Kelly who stood with her mouth agape and frozen in place by disbelief.
“Lori, what the fuck?!” She furiously stomped in and slammed the door behind her. “I thought you were fucking dying!” Lori turned to face her, still smiling. “You think this is fucking funny, Lori? You almost gave me a damn heart attack!”
“It got you over here, didn’t it?” She plopped down on the messy couch behind her, right on top of the assorted clothes and magazines that were always present. Kelly rubbed her eyes with both of her hands in frustration. She was about to scream at Lori again when she noticed the mirror on the coffee table in front of her, white powdery residue and a plastic straw atop it.
“Are you fucking high right now? Is that why you called me?” Kelly shook her head in anger and Lori waved her hands over the white lines on the mirror as if she was revealing a magic trick.
“Yeah, but I wanted to see you so bad. And now that you’re here, why don’t we have a little party?” She batted her eyelashes in what Kelly thought was a pathetic attempt by Lori to seduce her.
“You have got to be shitting me, Lori. This is a fucking ‘booty call’?” Kelly wanted to strangle her right there in the middle of the living room and struggled to keep her hands at her sides. “You are one crazy bitch, you know that?”
Lori jumped off the couch and closed the distance between them quickly. “Come on, I’ve missed you, Kels.” Her voice was low and sultry and she grabbed Kelly’s hands but the angry woman yanked them back like she was scalded from Lori’s touch.
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have fucked that guy behind my back.” Kelly struggled to calm down, speaking slowly and with a level tone, trying to deescalate the situation. She could feel that she was falling into the same old argument they always did but deep down she wanted to show Lori just how much she had hurt her. “A fucking guy, Lori! How do you think that makes me feel, huh?”
“I’m sorry, baby. I fucked up, okay?” Lori put her hands on Kelly’s waist and Kelly tried to shake her off but she only made her ex hold her tighter. “I know that now. I made a huge fucking mistake and I’m sorry. I miss you so much, Kels.” She snuck her fingers into the waistband of Kelly’s sweatpants and pulled her closer. Her fingers slid inside and began to glide over Kelly’s buttocks. Her lips curled into a lustful grin. “Let me make it up to you, baby.”
Kelly was fuming, her breathing becoming ragged. Her mind was clouding up with feelings of anger, betrayal, and God help her, arousal. Her heart was pounding and she felt a tug in her core as Lori’s hands increased their pressure on her butt. Lori continued to pull her closer and the logical part of Kelly’s brain understood that she was not struggling as much as she was before. But it seemed that her libido had a different idea. Lori noticed that Kelly’s resolve was starting to fade so she dragged her hands up Kelly’s back and raked her fingernails along her rapidly heating flesh. Their faces moved in closer together, and Kelly could smell the alcohol on Lori’s breath. I should turn around and leave right now. Lori was a trainwreck and Kelly knew it. But all the reasons why she should leave were fading while Lori looked at her with lust in her eyes as she moved her busy hands to the front and cupped Kelly’s breasts. Kelly felt like she could not stop herself from moving closer. She was caught in Lori’s gravitational pull and it seemed impossible for her to break free.
“I need you, Kels,” Lori whispered. “Badly.”
She did not want to do this. This was not how this was supposed to go down. But Lori was so close to her now and Kelly’s senses were going haywire. Kelly’s arms seemed to move with a mind of their own as they slowly rose up to Lori’s shoulders and pulled her closer. Lori slammed her lips into Kelly’s. She aggressively sucked on Kelly’s bottom lip, practically demanding access inside and Kelly relented, parting her lips, allowing Lori to seize the opportunity. The tongue was sweeping into Kelly’s mouth and she could not help but moan at the feeling. She had not been planning on this happening, and now that it was, it seemed her body would not let her stop. Lori sucked on Kelly’s tongue when they finally had to separate for air. Kelly’s hooded eyes looked into Lori’s lusty ones. She should stop this. But she had been so lonely lately, she just wanted to feel some type of physical contact with someone.
Fuck it. She pressed her mouth hard onto Lori’s. The other woman began tugging at Kelly’s clothes and soon her shirt and bra were lying on the floor. Lori slid down and began to suckle one of Kelly’s nipples while kneading the other breast with her hand. Kelly hissed in pleasure at the feeling of her hardened tip being massaged by Lori’s tongue.
She could not believe that she was allowing this to go on. This was going to complicate everything. She cheated on me, for fuck’s sake! With a man no less! But it felt so good right now, and she needed it. She needed to feel wanted again, badly.
Lori’s hands were pushing down Kell
y’s sweatpants and soon they too dropped to the floor. A hand slid up the inside of her thigh and grazed over the panties covering her blazing core. Kelly’s eyes rolled up into her head and her skin tingled, and she knew then that there would be no turning back.
She would deal with the consequences later, but for now, she would just enjoy herself.
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The Don blew out a long sigh of annoyance as he watched the clock above the coffee bar tick the time away. Thirty minutes late, he thought to himself in disgust. He hated these kinds of petty little power plays. Popov had called the meeting and was now thirty minutes late for it. It was all for show; he knew that Popov was being late on purpose just so the Don would know that he could be late. Cheap theatrics like that did not interest the Don. Money and the ability to conduct business without difficulties were the only things that interested him.