Authors: Bernard Lee DeLeo
Thomas opened his door in person at the first knock to greet Dr. Blakely. Her stunned silence threw him off momentarily. He stepped aside to allow her to walk into his room, and she stared at him the whole way in.
“You look incredible Thomas.”
“You saw me in a suit before,” he replied puzzled. “What’s the big deal?”
Karen shrugged, “I like the new clothes. They look a lot better than the company suit. I guess it surprises me how well you look in expensive clothes. Now, with your new found wealth, I.”
“Now don’t go paranoid on me woman,” Connor broke in. “You said dress up, so I dressed up. If I look good, let’s go to your place, and you can shock me with how good you look.”
“Okay, but I’ll drive.”
“Fine, now let’s go before you talk yourself into such an inferiority complex you blow our date off.”
“No way will I do that,” Karen chuckled. “You can be my Prince Charming tonight.”
“And you will be.”
“Cinderella, you fop.”
“Fop?” Connor asked.
“Yeah,” Karen replied smugly, “that’s a cross between a dweeb, and a dork.”
“Perhaps you would like to go say hello to the rats and the beetles. They just could not get enough of you yesterday.”
“I meant I was a fop,” Karen backtracked. “I would never call you a name master. I live only to serve your every whim. I.”
“Enough, I will let you live.”
Karen fell to her knees and grasped Connor’s hands, kissing them in mock gratitude. Connor pulled her up and held her tight to him. “You will need a shower now little missy.”
Karen felt the familiar surge of ecstasy course through her body. Her pulse pounded, and she gasped involuntarily. “No Thomas.no. I.” She climaxed in his arms as he kissed her face, and steadied her writhing body. She clung to him weakly, waiting for the strength to pull away. The soft, half focused look she gave him made Connor smile.
“You little hussy you,” Connor needled her.
“You made me this way, you pervert. How dare you.no Thomas. I was just joking.” He let her pull away and straighten her clothes.
“Jesus, I smell like a cheap tramp again,” she complained.
Connor leaned in to her and kissed her on the neck. “As I told you before, you smell wonderful. Let’s go to your place, and I will give you a bath and clean you up.”
“Promise.”
Connor laughed and led her out of the room.
They arrived at Karen’s apartment building twenty minutes later. The ride over had been quiet and comfortable. Connor got out of the passenger side and went over to open the door for Dr. Blakely. She smiled and modestly swung her legs out together as Connor chuckled. Up in her room, Karen hurried into her bedroom and shut the door. Connor sat down in her living room and relaxed.
Although clean and neat, the one bedroom apartment did not stand out as anything special. The little alcove, which encompassed Karen’s kitchen and dining room, had only a wall clock for decoration. As Connor looked around, he did not see a single picture. No flowers hung from pots on the walls, nor sat in water filled vases. A bookcase stood against the opposite wall of the living room, and housed her small combination television set, and VCR. A desk next to her bookcase held her desktop computer, monitor and printer.
Connor walked over and perused her collection of books. He saw
Atlas Shrugged
by Ayne Rand, one of his all time favorite books. He knew he had never quoted from it to Quenton, nor spoke of it to him. She also had a complete collection of Steven King’s novels, and many by Dean Koontz.
The more he saw, the more he realized why she had recovered so quickly from practically incomprehensible happenings.
She came out about twenty minutes later. Connor looked up from the book he had been reading. He stood up to face her, and the open admiration on his face made Karen blush. She wore a burgundy, shoulder-less dress, which dropped to mid thigh, and clung to her like a second skin. Her simple gold chain, and cross, sparkled in the light. The blonde hair, Karen always wore up, now hung just below her neck in waves of light color. With matching lipstick and high-heeled shoes, Connor thought she looked as beautiful as any model he had ever seen.
He walked over to her and took her hands in his. “My God, Dr. Blakely, you look wonderful. The song
The Lady In Red
should start playing in the background right now. Hell, I don’t need no stinking music.”
Dr. Blakely’s face lit up as Connor began to sing
The Lady In Red,
in perfect pitch, with Frank Sinatra’s voice. He held her close as he sang, and led her in a slow, sinuous dance in which she could feel his arousal. Connor ended the song and held her at arm’s length.
“If we do not proceed to dinner now, we won’t make it at all. I would love to be seen next to you Karen.”
“I already called for reservations, so we can leave whenever you wish.”
“Would you like me to drive?” Connor asked.
“I don’t think so. I know the way, and it would be nice not to have to give directions all the way there.”
“Good point,” Connor agreed. “From now on I will take you everywhere in a limousine.” Connor looked towards the door and it swung open. “Shall we?”
As they walked into the restaurant Karen had picked out, she noticed not only the men who checked her out, but also the number of women who could not keep their eyes off of Connor. His close-cropped graying hair, scarred face, dark magnetic eyes, and tailored clothing combined to make a very enticing prospect. She smiled and shook her head. He walked with such easy power; he gave the impression of a panther wearing a suit.
The waiter showed them to their table, leaving menus and wine lists. He then left to bring them water. He returned quickly, and took their order for coffee, and a bottle of the best Champaign the house had to offer. After popping open the Champaign for them and pouring, the waiter left them for a time to decide on their meal.
“Do you drink Thomas, or does that weaken the force?”
“I have a sip or two of Champaign once in a while,” Connor replied smiling, “but I love good coffee at any time. You looked so good walking in here, I thought I would have to fight my way to the table. We will have to go somewhere and find a place where we can dance.”
“I thought of that. They have a band in here after ten. Would you like to
stay?”
“Do they know Lady In Red?”
“Maybe.”
“I’m in then,” Connor replied. “I just want to dance with you, while you wear that dress. If you keep teasing me like this, I might have to consummate our friendship.”
“Promises, promises.”
“Maybe I.” Connor stopped, and turned towards a waiter approaching him from behind.
The waiter stopped and bent down. “Mr. Connor?”
“I am Connor.”
“You have an urgent phone call Sir. If you would follow me please.”
He looked at Karen, “do not move until I find out how anyone knew we would be here.”
“I never said a word Thomas,” Karen said quickly, seeing the grim look on Connor’s face now.
“It was more then likely a bug on the car. I should have been more careful. Stay put.”
Connor got up and followed the waiter out to a place on the other side of the kitchen. Connor took the receiver from the waiter. “Hello.”
“Mr. Connor?”
“Yes, come on mister, it’s your nickel.”
“I run the department you and Quenton work in. My associates and I were very impressed with your performance today. We would like you to work directly for us.”
“Sorry,” Connor replied politely, “I work only for Quenton. Now I really have to get back to my dinner guest.”
“Yes, the lovely Dr. Blakely. I am so happy you two appear to be working well together. We really want you in with us Mr. Connor on a more direct basis. We have much time and money invested in you.”
“I gave more than I ever got, and we both know it. If you have nothing further, you can talk to me at work. I am off the clock right now.”
“You will find Dr. Blakely had to leave suddenly. There will be three men at your table when you get back. They will explain what happens next.”
The phone went dead, and Connor hung it up. He controlled the rage building quickly within him. Making his way back quietly to the table, he saw three well dressed thugs sitting around the table. One was sipping Champaign out of Karen’s glass. They all wore their hair short, and were clean-shaven. All of them looked bored with their assignment. The older looking of the three leaned toward Connor with his hands folded in front of him on the table.
“Mr. Connor?”
“That would be me.”
“We have taken care of the bill. Would you follow us please?”
“No, unless you plan on taking me to where Dr. Blakely was taken.”
“Make no mistake Mr. Connor, you will go where we want you to. It just so happens we will be taking you to the same place, and you would do well to do as you are told, if you want your girlfriend to get through the night.”
Connor smiled and sat down in the only other empty chair. He looked at his hosts, and then drank a sip of his now cool coffee. “I do not want anything to happen to Dr. Blakely, so if you three will be kind enough to show me the way, I will follow.”
“Now you are being reasonable Mr. Connor. We paid your bill, so why don’t we get started.”
“By all means gentlemen, let’s.”
Karen came to; tied up in a plain wooden backed chair. Her head ached, and she felt sick to her stomach. Her feet were tied to the legs of the chair, and she could move nothing but her head. She remembered a man sitting next to her, and then a sharp poke with a needle, then nothing else until now. She was in an empty warehouse. Only one bank of fluorescent lights provided illumination.
There were men milling around with what looked like machine pistols. Five men in suits sat around a long table, directly in front of her. When they saw her lift her head and look around, they stopped talking, and waited for her to speak.
“How did I get here, and what do you want with me?” Karen asked, as she wondered if Connor were dead.
The man in the middle of the group smiled at her condescendingly. “We do not mean you any harm Dr. Blakely. We just needed to get Mr. Connor’s
cooperation. He needs to work for us directly, and unfortunately, he does not wish to cooperate.”
“Where is Thomas?”
“He will be here shortly Doctor. It may seem a bit heavy handed, but we intend to use you to get him to cooperate. It would be in your best interest if you would convince him to join us.”
“Let me get this straight,” she said wonderingly, “you are having Thomas brought here, and you plan to threaten him with my well being?”
“Precisely.”
Karen burst into laughter. She could not help herself. The thought of these men bringing Connor to an isolated warehouse, to threaten him, made her lose control. Her laughter angered the gray haired man at the center of the table.
“You are in no position for levity Doctor,” he told her angrily.
Karen regained control of herself. “Sorry, have you ever seen the movie
The Outlaw Josie Wales
with Clint Eastwood?”
“I detest western movies Doctor. Make your point. You are beginning to try my patience.”
“Well, the main character’s Indian sidekick gets captured by Comancheros, and when his sidekick sees Josie Wales on the ridge with the sun at his back, he smiles. Another captive asks him what he sees. He tells her ‘Hell is coming to breakfast’.”
“What in the world does that story have to do with any of this,” one of the others asked.
Just then the side door on the warehouse opened, and Connor walked in ahead of the men who had brought him. He saw Karen, tied to the straight back chair, smiling over at him. Connor looked around, and Karen noticed the deadly cold look he used in the interrogation room had settled into his features. When he looked back at her again, he smiled warmly. Connor walked over to her casually, and knelt down next to her.
“You look even more wonderful tied up,” Connor joked.
Karen giggled, “When they told me you were coming, I told them about
The Outlaw Josie Wales,
where Wales comes for his buddy being held by the Comancheros.”
Connor looked at her admiringly and touched her face softly. “You are really getting good at this. Did they listen?”
“No.”
Connor shrugged as the man at the center of the table spoke to him. “You two make quite the lovely couple. As you can see Mr. Connor, we mean business. We want you under our direct control, and we do not want to have to go through the center and Quenton.”
Connor leaned over and whispered in Karen’s ear. “I will have to lay you on your side in a minute. Just relax and keep your eyes shut.”
“I would not miss this for the world.”
Connor stroked her hair and stood up. “I will not work for anyone but Quenton. If you release my friend and I now, no one will have to get hurt.”
The gray haired man in the middle laughed. “We know how talented you are Mr. Connor. I have a small army here, and you will be taken out if you even breathe heavy. Do not threaten me again.”
“Okay, but I really was just trying to help you stay alive. I am not going to join you.”
The man in the middle gestured, and the three men who had brought him came forward. Connor saw the one who had talked to him walk over by Dr. Blakely, while the other two came up behind him.
“Pardie, cut the Doctor’s left ear off and hand it to Mr. Connor.”
As Pardie began taking out his knife, the two men behind Connor began drawing their weapons. Connor’s outstretched fingers passed through Pardie’s forehead and into his brain. As Pardie’s corpse fell to the floor, Connor gently laid the chair Karen was tied to on its side. The two men who had been drawing their weapons, now fired at where their eyes had last seen Connor.
Karen involuntarily squeezed her eyes shut at the noise of shots being fired. The screams of dying and panicked men reverberated around her. She opened her eyes finally, but could only see the area in front of her. There were motionless bodies everywhere within her range of sight. The chatter of automatic rifle fire ended as abruptly as it had begun.
The resulting silence echoed in her head as she adjusted to it. Only minutes had passed, but it had been a lifetime for many in the room. Karen felt her chair being righted. The ropes around her snapped off of her as if they were threads. She rubbed circulation back into her arms as she stood up and turned to find Connor smiling at her. He had a bloody furrow from his lower cheek up to the top of his hairline on the right side of his face.
She placed a hand along his jaw line and looked at his wound with a professional eye. It had begun to heal, even as she watched. Connor took her into his arms and kissed her lightly on the lips.
“Are you alright? I was afraid you might get hit by a stray shot,” Connor asked.
“They actually hit you,” Karen replied. “You must be slipping.”
Connor laughed. “It was the damn Champaign. It throws off my timing.”
Karen glanced around the smoky room at the incredible scene. “Did you leave anyone alive?”
Connor smiled. “Of course Doctor, our man at the table still breathes. I only gave him a mild concussion, and he sleeps peaceably even as we speak. Quenton will have a heart attack when he hears about this. I will just have to explain it to him in the morning. You do not appear concerned with all the recently deceased.”
“They were going to torture me until you agreed to do what they wanted. How upset should I be?”
“A woman with some common sense, logic, and who can quote from
The Outlaw Josie Wales.
As in the song
Lady In Red,
‘I have been blind, you are amazing’.”
Tears began to form at Karen’s eyes. She grabbed hold of Connor, and buried her head in his shoulder as she clung tightly to him. “God, I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you. When I woke tied up in that chair, I thought you had to be dead.”
Connor hugged her back. “Not dead, just stupid. I should never have left you alone in the restaurant to answer the phone. I knew no one could have known where we were, without bugging us, or your car. I cannot tell you how pleased I was to find you alive. Shall we question our survivor, or have you had enough for one evening?”
Karen pulled back and kissed Connor on the mouth. She held nothing back. The passion of it brought a response from Connor he thought gone forever. She drew gently away and said, “I have a better idea Thomas. We can stash him for the evening at my place, and take him in blind folded to the complex tomorrow. Quenton will know more about the questions we should ask, and we would not have to think about him tonight. You can stay with me overnight.”
“A magnificent plan my dear, except the fact I could move swiftly with the information we get from this clown, and wipe out anyone, and everyone in on this, before morning.”
Karen nodded thoughtfully. “Although I am sure you could extract every item of information this guy has, I would be willing to risk a little danger, so Quenton could see him.”
“I can do both. How about I see if he has anyone higher up on the ladder, or someone who can be a danger to you?” Connor asked. “We may even get a name high enough to dump this guy and go on.”
“Can you do it gently, without damage Thomas? I do not think so.”
Connor laughed. “Oh ye of little faith. Come along my lady in red, and I will show you how one of these bad boys react when they awaken in the middle of the scene around you.”
“Okay, but I bet you cannot get him to cooperate without the mojo.”
“You are so on,” Connor said. “What will the wager be?”
“If I am right,” Karen replied. “You have to stay and make love to me all night, and none of your mind meld orgasms.”
“You are right, I lose, let’s go.”
Karen laughed and pushed Connor away. “No fair, let’s see how you do.”
“My heart is no longer in it.”
“Come on,” Karen urged. “What happens if you win? What do you
get?”
“Same as you, only with the mind meld too.”
Karen shrugged. “You are right, I lose, let’s go.”
They both laughed, and Connor drew her over towards the table. “You have a seat right here, I will bring our buddy around for a talk.”
Karen hopped up on the table and struck a seductive pose with her legs crossed. Connor paused, and watched her for a moment. ‘You keep this up, and I will have to cheat a bit on our bet.”
“Promises, promises, get to work.”
Connor went around the table, skirting the bodies strewn around. He bent over, and picked up the unconscious man. He carried the two hundred pound man around to where Karen sat as if he had a small sack of sugar. Connor righted the chair Karen had been tied to, and sat the man in it. Slapping him lightly, and shaking him gently, Connor managed to bring the man back awake gradually.
The man opened his eyes groggily, and looked up at Connor. Terror replaced the confusion on his face, as he surveyed the nightmarish scene around him. He saw Karen sitting on the table watching him intently, with a slight smile on her lips.
“You should learn to watch more westerns,” Karen said quietly. “I guess you can see what I thought was so funny now, huh?”
The arrogance and the cunning of the man began to slip back into his face. Connor could see him turning his situation over in his mind, and figuring all the angles as to why he still lived, and what would be required of him to survive. Connor looked over to Karen, and he saw the same recognition come into her eyes. She glanced back at Connor and shrugged.
“I didn’t say the man was intelligent Thomas. I only thought we should let Quenton talk to him.”
“Tell this man you work for me Dr. Blakely. We can all come to some kind of an arrangement without Quenton. Surely you would be interested in a position far above your station now. I.”
Karen’s laughter interrupted the man’s monologue, and Connor watched the petty rage begin to rise in him in spite of his situation. He began to get off of his chair and move towards Connor. Connor’s voice stopped him abruptly.
“One inch further Sir, and you will never walk on those legs again. Sit down and do not move. I do not need to tie you up, because I will break pieces of you off until you stay where I want you. Are we clear?”
The man looked into Connor’s cold, dead interrogation stare and wilted before it. He nodded his understanding.
“I’m sorry I interrupted your offer there,” Karen chuckled, “but you still do not understand. Thomas does not take orders from either Derek or me.”
“What do you want from me then? Why didn’t you just kill me with the rest? I thought you kept me alive to make a deal.”
“I did,” Thomas replied. “You tell me if you answer to anyone higher up the food chain, and where I can find them right now, and I will let Quenton finish questioning you tomorrow. I also need to know if you have anyone out there waiting on the outcome of your little question and answer session here.”