The Black Chip

by Gary Land

  She had goose bumps running up and down her arm and she shivered as if she had just come in from a cold swim. “Yeah, I...he said he made a lot of money, and that he would give Finnegan a big bonus.”

  Noly seethed with anger. Wagner got his full dose of karma for selling Kacy. And now it was Finnegan’s turn to suffer the consequences for his actions. Noly would make him pay.

  “You didn’t hear who Wagner sold Kacy to?” Noly asked through gritted teeth.

  “No, I...I’m really...sorry.” Debbie continued, “Finnegan said she was special...that she had special eyes...something like that.”

  Debbie waited for Noly to say something, but he looked deep in thought.

  “They argued some more, I couldn’t hear everything. They got kind of quiet for a while...then he shot Mr. Wagner. I almost screamed then, but I didn’t. When he left, I came out of the bathroom and called the police.”

  “Okay, thanks Debbie,” Collins said.

  Noly and Collins joined Schayes at Wagner’s desk. Noly listened as Collins and Schayes went through a standard litany of cop talk discussing the evidence, but Noly was only interested in one thing.

  “Where’s his cell phone?” Noly asked.

  “Who has the bag?” Schayes yelled.

  A uniform cop brought a box over to Schayes. “I’ve got it.”

  “Where’s the personal stuff?”

  The uniform pulled a clear plastic evidence bag from a group of several in the box. “Here you go, sir.”

  Collins opened the bag, pulled out the phone and handed it to Noly, who powered it on, and checked both incoming and outgoing call history. There were a couple of calls in, numbers blocked. One call out this morning. He recognized it immediately.

  “van Leesle.”

  Collins, looking over Noly’s shoulder, saw the number, and said, “Coincidence?”

  “I don’t think so.” Noly flipped the phone back to the uniform, and ran out the door.

  Collins and Noly raced over to van Leesle’s mansion.

  They took Collins’ police cruiser so they could use lights and siren to cut through traffic. On the way over, Collins radioed Johnson to meet them there.

  “I’m already there...van Leesle is dead,” Johnson said.

  “Who called it in?” Collins asked Johnson.

  “A gardener--he heard shots, hid until it was over, and then called 911.”

  “I’m on my way over with Noly...how many?”

  Collins didn’t have to say, “How many bodies,” Johnson knew what he meant--Noly did too.

  “One male--one female...”

  Noly’s heart skipped a beat until Johnson finished with, “It’s not Kacy. Looks like a maid.”

  Collins pushed the car harder and they arrived at the mansion five minutes later. Police and emergency vehicles blocked the driveway, so Collins parked on the street, and he and Noly hiked up to the house.

  When Noly saw the bullet outline that could only have surrounded someone of Kacy’s size, there was only one way to describe him--uncontained fury. He picked up a porcelain vase and hurled it against the wall. It burst spectacularly into a hundred pieces. His rage knew no bounds. Finding Junior dead had sealed Kacy’s fate. Noly had lost the trail. He had nowhere to go and no coherent thought in his head. He picked up an antique end table and smashed it into the floor.

  Collins grabbed his friend by the shoulders and spun him around. Noly almost killed him. Collins saw the look in those cold, hard eyes and nearly drew his gun.

  “Jesus, Noly--stop it! You’re not helping Kacy.”

  “That’s the fucking point--I can’t help her anymore. Do you have any clue where she is ‘cause I sure don’t.”

  Noly’s cell phone rang. He stared at the display. It was Sarah. What could he tell her? “Oh, God, I can’t tell her Kacy’s gone.”

  He pushed the phone into Collins hand. It kept ringing, so Collins flipped it open.

  “Hello...no, it’s Collins--Jim. He’s, um, busy...investigating a lead. He said he’d call you right back...yeah, yeah...it’s almost over. We’ll get her back.”

  Collins flipped the phone on the desk and turned on Noly. “Don’t ever make me do your dirty work again.”

  “It’s over--he could have taken her anywhere.”

  “It’s over? Are you kidding? Who the hell are you and what did you do with the famous, awesome Noly Boots?” Putting his hand to ear and simulating a phone, Collins went on, ‘Oh, hello, Kacy? Yeah, Noly said it’s too tough for him, so you’re on your own.’”

  “Fuck you...you don’t know Jack. You think...”

  Collins looked at Noly transform in front of him. If Noly had been defeated only a moment ago, he now looked victorious, as if he had won the final battle.

  “What is it?” Collins asked.

  “Jack...LoJack--Johnson told us the Range Rover’s missing. It has to be from his car lot--they always put a tracking device on their high-end cars. It must have LoJack. Pray to God that it does. We turn it on, and we’ll track the bastard down.”

  Noly grabbed his phone off the desk, and punched in Woody’s number. When he picked up, Noly said, “I need your help.”

  #

  The desert surrounding Las Vegas is filled with subdivided tracts and roadways that lay unused, a victim of overly zealous land developers certain that the urban sprawl would reach out to them eventually.

  Dotted throughout these tracts are old, abandoned trailers and cabins. Without water and electricity, not even homeless drifters would stay more than a night or two. They were just way stations to somewhere else.

  It was here, in one of those long forgotten cabins, that Finnegan brought Kacy. Many years ago, Finnegan had worked for one of these developers. And he had used this cabin before.

  The dead bodies of men, women, and children littered the desert, not a few of which were contributed by Seamus Finnegan. He drove down a make-believe road in a sub-division called “Rolling Dice,” at least according to the faded billboard that had fallen to the ground. It lay above the rotted timbers that used to hold it in place.

  Finnegan drove Junior’s Range Rover--he wouldn’t need it any longer--and skirted around the sign pulling to a stop at the side of the cabin. He dragged Kacy from the back seat and let her fall to the ground. She lay on her side, hands still taped behind her back.

  Finnegan watched her roll around for a while in a vain effort to get to her feet. He laughed at her attempts, which only made Kacy more determined to get up. She finally managed to roll up onto her knees, resting her head on the ground. Taking several breaths to ready herself for the final effort, she struggled and pushed until she stood defiantly in front of her tormentor.

  Finnegan applauded, then grabbed Kacy’s arm and swept her legs out from under her. It took her another twenty minutes to stand back up, but she did it, and she once again stood in front of Finnegan fully expecting that he would knock her down again. Instead, he pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the tape from her hands. She took the opportunity to fully remove the duct tape and wonder why he would free her hands.

  As if in response to her question, Finnegan said, “I want you to fight back--it’s more fun that way.”

  A shot of adrenaline coursed through Kacy’s body as her fear response kicked in. She had denied it and joked about it, but the moment she had dreaded was seemingly, finally here. And she was alone.

  She found herself shoved through the cabin door where she skidded and stumbled to a halt before she hit the back wall. Kacy righted herself and moved into the far corner, at least as far in the corner as she could. The cabin, cluttered with all manner of debris, had once been an office, and the remains of a desk and a couch littered one corner. Someone had taken a knife to the couch and slashed every visible surface. Old cables and broken office equipment protruded through the holes in the couch. The generator used to power the equipment had long since been removed or stolen. Beer bottles, condoms, cigarette butts, and a dead animal--that was just a b
all of fur--completed the gruesome tableau.

  “How do you like it?” Finnegan asked evidently proud of his cabin.

  “It smells...just like you,” Kacy said. She wanted to cry so much. Where was Noly? Where was her mom? Standing there, facing Finnegan, she felt hope slowly drain away. And then he came after her.

  He was fast. She lunged to her side and blindly grabbed anything she could fit into her hands. She swung a long dead potted plant at Finnegan, but he ducked it easily, and then he had her.

  He pulled Kacy’s ponytail back exposing the soft flesh of her neck. He caressed her skin with his free hand, and whispered in her ear.

  “Where’s Noly now? He’s let you down. He’s failed you,” Finnegan taunted.

  “He’ll be here. He’s going to come for me,” Kacy said, tears welling in her eyes.

  “Out here? I don’t think so,” Finnegan said. “Look around you--we’re in the middle of nowhere. Nobody knows you’re here.”

  Kacy realized he was right. How would Noly find her now? The fear that she had kept at bay for so many days gnawed itself closer to the surface. Her heart beat in her throat as her mind frantically sought an answer to a way out of here.

  He leaned in closer, so his mouth was right next to her ear. “The only things that are going to find you are the animals that live in this hell hole. Maybe I’ll leave you alive--just barely--then you can feel the vultures picking away at your naked body.”

  Kacy let out an agonized cry. “He’s going to come. And then I’m going to watch him kill you,” she yelled.

  “He’s not good enough to kill me.”

  Kacy laughed. “You saw him--in the warehouse. He’s going to...”

  Kacy suddenly lunged back at Finnegan and twisted to her right. She caught him unprepared, throwing him off balance allowing her to break free. She had two choices--run, or fight. If she ran, it would be into the middle of the desert. If she fought, she might win. It was doable. Maybe. Noly had taught her some things. In her young mind, she thought anything was possible--until reality quickly set in when Finnegan hit her across the back of her head. She went flying into the rear of the cabin, stumbled, and fell to the floor.

  Until that moment, she thought cartoons that showed characters hit in the head and seeing stars was just silly. Now she knew there was some truth to it. The stars she saw weren’t rotating counter-clockwise around her head, but they were there nevertheless--floating inside her head. She tried to jump up and run, but she was too dizzy, and only managed to get a couple of feet.

  Finnegan pulled her towards the door, threw her down, and got on top of her, preventing her from getting up again. He put his hand under her shirt, but Kacy managed to scramble backwards. Still on her back, she reached out for anything within her grasp to help fight him off. Her hand closed around an old beer bottle. She swung it at his head, but Finnegan dodged it, and then slapped the bottle away.

  He pinned her down, holding her arms out above her head. Letting go of one arm, he reached down to Kacy’s belt and pulled it out of the first loop. Kacy’s free hand flew down to his as she tried to stop him from pulling the belt loose. His hand found the snap on her jeans, and he popped it open.

  Kacy cried, “NO!” and hit him in the head with her fist. Finnegan blocked her second punch, and slapped her across the face. She grunted from the blow, but didn’t give up. She fought him like that for several minutes, but could never get enough of an advantage to get completely away.

  Then Finnegan got lazy and she was able to swing her knee up into his groin. At the last moment, he shifted and took the brunt of the blow against his thigh. He released his hold on her, and she managed to scramble to her feet, but her energy was almost exhausted.

  She was out the door when he grabbed her again, and pulled her back inside.

  “You little bitch,” Finnegan said, still panting from the blow. “You’ve been nothing but trouble to everyone you meet...I just want you to die.”

  Suddenly, Finnegan had both hands around Kacy’s neck. She instinctively put both of her hands on his arms and tried to pry them loose, but his arms were like steel bands.

  He pushed her against the cabin wall, smashing her head against the rough wood. She moaned, and almost blacked out. If she had, he probably would have finished the job and killed her, Kacy thought. She grimaced with the pain and closed her eyes thinking she had only gained a few more minutes of life. Tears rolled down her face as she thought of her mom, and of Noly.

  Finnegan lifted her off the floor, and kept her firmly pressed against the wall. He squeezed her throat, choking off her air, as Kacy wildly kicked her feet. She opened her mouth gasping for air, but only the smallest amount trickled in to her lungs.

  He pushed his way past her kicks so that his body pressed up against hers. Kacy couldn’t move. A guttural groan echoed in her ears. She could feel him, down there.

  “Kacy, look at me--I want to watch your eyes when you die.”

  And she did. She stared defiantly into his eyes.

  Eyes. Something about the eyes.

  Every second was agony to her. She felt woozy and her head seemed like it would burst, but through the fog of impending death, she remembered the lion. Noly’s lion.

  “Noly, how did you get that scar?”

  She summoned all her hatred for Finnegan, and all her love for Sarah and Noly as she prepared her mind for what she had to do. Something she never would have thought herself capable of. But she only had seconds left. She had to act now. She quickly grabbed both sides of Finnegan’s head and pushed her thumbs into his eyes. She never hesitated. She pushed with every ounce of strength she had, grunting with the effort.

  Kacy later remembered thinking it was like the game where you’re blindfolded and you put your hands into a bowl of peeled grapes. That’s what it felt like to her.

  Finnegan never had a chance. The eyeball could not withstand that kind of pressure. He screamed and dropped Kacy to the floor. His hands flew to his eyes, but it was too late to protect them. Kacy lay gasping on the floor, rubbing her neck. She tried standing up, but only fell down again.

  “You fucking bitch,” Finnegan screamed. He lunged out at her, but he guessed the wrong direction. He flailed around wildly, his face and hands covered in blood.

  Kacy only now realized that he was blind, and that she was the one who had done it. She looked down at her hands and saw his blood mixed with some gelatinous liquid. She screamed, and frantically wiped her hands on her pants. The blood was on her neck too where she had massaged her throat. She clawed at her skin trying to get the blood off.

  Finnegan wouldn’t stop screaming. Blood ran down his face. He kicked and rolled around the floor clutching at his eyes. Kacy stared at him in horror, her mind reeling.

  “Look what you did to me!” Finnegan cried. Kacy felt sick. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. She ran outside, fell to her knees, and threw up. Her stomach was empty from lack of food, but she continued to dry heave for several seconds.

  “Oh, god...” she said quietly. Still on her knees, her hands on the hot ground, she sobbed uncontrollably. She didn’t think she could be brave any longer.

  Kacy collapsed on the ground and curled into a ball. She lay there trembling and crying, not knowing what to do.

  Finnegan flailed around the floor until his hand grasped a metal shard of some kind--he couldn’t tell what--but it felt long and sharp and hard. He let out an animal noise of satisfaction as his hand curled around the object. He held it tight as he slowly crawled towards the gentle sobs of a tired, little girl.

  Kacy had her back turned towards the cabin. Her mind drifted in and out of a dream-like state. She thought this was the morning of the fifth day since they had taken her. July 13. That would mean today was her birthday. She smiled for a moment and wished herself a happy birthday. It was almost over--she knew it. They would find her today. He would. Noly.

  “It’s almost over,” Kacy whimpered.

  Her sobs slowly gave
way to a low mewling sound. She rocked back and forth on her side, still shaking. She just wanted to sleep. To give up. She was oblivious to the clawing, scraping noise that inched itself closer and closer.

  Finnegan had groped his way outside the door.

  He could hear Kacy’s heavy breathing directly in front of him. Lying on his stomach, he reached out with his left hand to hold Kacy down, and slammed the metal shard into her soft body.

  Chapter 36

  In the end, Finnegan’s blindness, Kacy’s reflexes, and dumb luck all combined to save her life.

  Kacy felt a hand grab at the base of her neck trying to hold on. She was on the forward roll of her rocking motion. At the last second, she pulled up, and arched her back. She felt searing pain erupt in her side as she cried out and rolled away from her attacker. She scrambled to her feet, looked back at Finnegan, and saw him stabbing at the air with a sharp, jagged piece of metal. Blood dripped from the end of it--her blood.

  “Are you dead? I got you, didn’t I,” Finnegan yelled. “I got you. I got you. Now you can die out here in this hell with me.”

  Kacy looked down at her side and saw blood seeping into her shirt. She took the shirt off, and looked at the tank top she wore underneath. The bottom half of the blue top had turned a dark red. She pulled it up, exposing the wound under her ribs, and gasped at the shock of seeing herself cut and bleeding so badly.

  She stood in disbelief as she watched blood run down her side and across her belly. It pooled on top of her pants, and soaked them through, then continued down her leg.

  Kacy was surprised that it didn’t hurt more. It felt like a bee sting. Well, maybe several bee stings. But there was so much blood. Noly had talked to her about different injuries he had--what did he say about blood?

  She bunched her shirt into a tight ball and pressed it against the wound, pushing with all the strength she had left, then unbuckled her belt with her left hand, and pulled it through the loops until it was free. She tied the belt around her middle to hold the shirt-compress in place, pulling it tight--that was all she could think to do.