“What have you done with her?”
“Consuela, you must remember that, for once, you are not in charge. I’m calling the shots here, so you might as well relax. I am the conductor here, and I intend on orchestrating everything to the quintessential finale.”
Connie’s eyes shot from Elson’s hands to a bundle on the railing of the veranda. It looked like a pile of ropes, and Connie knew it must be a rope ladder.
“I will say that I am surprised and a little impressed that you have the courage to come after me alone. I anticipated your Officer Stevens to have found some way of interfering. She’s like a bad cold one can’t get rid of. Leaving her behind takes guts I didn’t think you possessed. It’s nice to know you can still surprise me.”
“You gave me no choice.” Connie edged closer, keeping her eyes on his hands. She was not about to let him embed one of those stars into her body. “You may have Gina, but you’re through hurting Storm. One of my loved ones is all you get, you arrogant asshole.”
“Indeed. I would have derived great pleasure from killing your precious friend. That, I imagine, would have been a pain you would never recover from.”
“You’ve inflicted enough pain, Elson. It’s me you want to hurt, and this is your chance. It’s just you and me, now, you sick piece of shit.”
Elson sighed. “You’ve gotten a trash mouth since becoming a pig. I suppose the two go hand-in-hand.”
“It’s not trash, Elson. It’s pure, unadulterated hatred.” Connie stepped forward. “And it’s time we finished this.”
Elson didn’t move. “It was ingenious of you to jam the elevator. That was my thought exactly. Ironic, don’t you think, that you are actually aiding Aphrodite’s death? I wonder what it will do to you knowing that your inability to out-think me has ended the lives of all those people I killed. How will you feel when you are totally alone, dear Consuela?”
“You make me sick.”
“Do I?” A twisted grin flitted across his face. “The only thing left to take from you is Officer Stevens. You have thrown a wrench into my plans by not bringing her along, but she’s an easy enough target. I’ll deal with her on my way out of town.”
“You must really despise me,” Connie said, hoping to delay him long enough so she could rush him before he got to the railing.
“Despise you? Why, Consuela, you have it all wrong. I have always loved you. Never in my life have I held such devotion as I have for you. don’t you see?” Elson stepped away from the railing and removed his eyepatch. “You were the only woman I’ve ever met who is my equal. I was mad about you until I saw the immense cruelty you were capable of. And oh, how you disappointed me.”
“Oh, you’re mad all right, but not about me.”
Elson shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m quite sane. Do you honestly think a madman could have planned all of this?” Elson held his arms out to the side.
“And what have you done? Destroy, murder, and ruin innocent lives?” Connie inched closer and was now within ten feet of Elson. Two more steps, and she would be in striking distance.
“Don’t be so limited in your vision, Consuela. It’s so much more than that. You see, I have avenged the private and public humiliation by the woman I loved. I have sought retribution and found it. Have you any idea of the emotional scars you inflicted on me?”
“I apologized for all of that years ago. I was young. I made mistakes.”
“Yes, yes, you did. But an apology didn’t make the scars go away. You robbed me of everything that should have been mine. Not only did you take my number one spot in the class, but you rejected the love I had to give and ruined my life in the process. You, my dear Consuela, did what no one else ever could.”
“What’s that? Beat you at your own game?”
A cruel smile played across Elson’s lips. “Perhaps you beat me then, but not now. Then, you took from me the only things that ever really mattered. You stripped from me the one accolade that meant anything to me or my parents. The things you robbed me of were irreplaceable, Consuela, and so, I have done the same to you. I have taken away things from you that you will never get over: the boys, your lover, your self-confidence, and soon, your dearest friend. I have ruined you, Consuela, as you ruined me all those years ago. I am leaving you what you are in real life: an empty, hollow shell. Justice, my dear, has been served. I can take my leave now, knowing that you will be miserable for the rest of your pathetic life.
Adieu
, dear Consuela.” Elson grinned at her and turned to the railing.
“Wait!”
Elson turned back, one hand poised on the railing.
“Is this it then? Are you done with the killing?”
“After I torture Gina and murder Delta Stevens?”
Connie swallowed the great ball of fear and anger in her throat and nodded.
“Then, yes. I’ve done all I’ve set out to do. It’s over. After this evening, you won’t hear from me again. I can go in peace, knowing that retribution has been paid and revenge exacted. You need not worry about me coming back. I have a life somewhere else.” Elson turned back to the ladder. As his left hand reached down to secure the hooks, Connie saw the large black wristwatch attached to his arm. Even at that distance, she knew what it was.
“Elson, what makes you think I won’t kill you now?”
Looking impatient, he turned around and sighed. “Because you know I’ll take half a city block and your lover with me, if you try. As long as you know she’s still alive, and she is, you won’t do anything to jeopardize her safety. You see, Consuela, the reason you lost is because you are so damned predictable. You always were. It’s one of your major character flaws.”
As Elson turned once more to go down the rope, Connie made one final desperate lunge at him.
Pushing the lid open, Delta eased herself into the elevator. Searing pain ripped through her leg and toppled her to the floor of the elevator. Grabbing her thigh, Delta felt her whole leg throb as a warm sensation spread down her leg.
“Shit,” Delta cursed, seeing the blood oozing through her pants. “Not now,” she argued with herself, as she pulled herself to her feet and tore off the tape that was holding the pause button down. Dropping her pants to her ankles, Delta saw that all of her stitches had torn loose, and the gash was open and bleeding again. Pressing the tape firmly to her wound, Delta steadied her shaking hands before pulling her blood-soaked pants back up.
Having heard Connie’s half of the conversation with Elson, Delta knew that Connie was stalling. But why? Was he trying to escape even from the top floor of the hotel? Delta wondered if this was his second escape by helicopter. Grabbing the phone in the elevator, Delta called for a paramedic unit before the elevator doors opened at the suite.
“Your name, madam?” the butler asked with a slightly British accent.
Delta pulled her badge out and showed it to him. “Don’t serve any more champagne. We believe it’s been . . . uh . . . well, it was a bad year. we’re waiting for the Dom to arrive.”
The butler stepped back with a perplexed look on his face, and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Where’s the veranda?”
“Over there, ma’am, but I don’t thi—”
Heading in the direction he pointed, Delta limped around the corner just as Connie said, “Is this it, then? Are you done with the killing?”
Running as fast as her bleeding leg would let her, Delta came to the double glass doors and watched in fear as Connie charged Elson. Seeing the two of them hurtle toward the railing, Delta tried unsuccessfully to open the doors. For a frozen moment, Delta was caught between doing what was right and what was best. And as this pregnant pause of life slowed down, she watched helplessly as the two blackbelts violently separated and then maneuvered around each other like two wild dogs checking each other out.
“Come on, you son-of-a-bitch,” Delta heard Connie say. “Finish it! If you think I’m going to let you out of here alive, you really are crazy! Crazy and stupid!”
“The game’s over, Consuela. don’t make me hurt you, too.” With that, Elson levelled a kick that propelled Connie backwards against the railing. As Elson moved in, Connie regrouped and sent her foot flying toward his face.
It was now that Delta made her decision. Right, wrong, or indifferent, she wasn’t going to stand by and watch him kill her best friend.
Picking up a chair, Delta heaved it against the glass doors, shattering them into large and small pieces, some of which clung desperately to the metal frames. The noise reverberated through the building, catching both Connie’s and Elson’s attention. As he turned toward the noise, Connie clipped him full in the face with her left heel, sending him reeling backwards.
“Stay out of this, Storm!” Connie yelled, twirling in a jump-kick that Elson warded off with a forearm.
Pulling her nine-millimeter from her purse, Delta tried to draw a bead on Elson, but he and Connie were too close together for her to get off a clean shot.
“Listen to her, Stevens. I’m warning you. I can and will do as I said.”
Keeping her eyes on him, Delta watched in horror as they danced the ancient art of self-defense and battered each other with a series of smashes and blows that would have downed anyone else. Elson seemed to instinctively know how to place himself so that Connie was between him and Delta.
Suddenly, the fight took a turn for Elson’s side. He had smashed a hard kick to Connie’s stomach, sending her reeling against the railing once more. In one swift step, he was upon her, hands around her throat, bending half her body over the railing.
Delta caught her breath. Raising her gun, Delta aimed at his shoulders. She couldn’t afford to hit him square off for fear that the impact would send them both over the edge. In a second which lasted a lifetime, Delta weighed her options.
Before she could squeeze the trigger, Connie had broken free from his grip and locked her fingers with his high above her head. For a moment, they looked like mirror images dancing together with their arms over their heads, their hands gripped together like death’s embrace. In the silence of the moment, nothing could be heard except the rustling of the wind.
And then, Delta heard it.
Ever so softly, she heard Connie struggle to grunt out, “The watch, Delta. It’s the detonator.”
Spying the watch on his left wrist, Delta did not hesitate. She inhaled, held her breath, and gently stroked the trigger.
The ensuing scream from Elson was followed shortly by the sound of a second bullet shattering his left shoulder blade and sending him over the railing.
“NO!” Connie cried, as the force of the bullet sent him flying over the edge.
In one desperate grasp, Connie grabbed his right wrist as he hurled over the railing.
Gripping him tightly as he dangled off the side of the building, Connie braced herself against the railing.
“Hold on, Elson!” she cried, reaching for his right arm with her other hand.
“Don’t drop me, Consuela,” he pleaded weakly. His white shirt was quickly turning red, and his left hand hung by a single tendon from the shattered wrist. The watch was nowhere to be seen.
“I won’t drop you, Elson,” Connie grunted from the strain. “Tell me where Gina is.”
Elson closed his eyes and inhaled. “You’ll let me go if I tell you.”
Connie shook her head. “No, I won’t. I’m trying to save you, aren’t I?” Elson nodded slowly, the blood gone from his pasty-looking face. “You won’t drop me?”
“It’s me, Consuela, remember? Always predictable. I’m a cop, too. Sworn to protect lives. You know I won’t let you go. Just tell me where she is, and I’ll pull you up.”
Delta appeared at her side and looked down at the bleeding man dangling like a broken set of wind chimes. His left hand looked like it would fall off any moment.
“Pandora’s box, remember?” he said quietly.
Connie nodded and tightened her grip.
“Let me help,” Delta said, bending over the railing.
Connie shook her head. “Don’t.” It was a voice Delta had never heard Connie use.
Delta raised up and eyed Connie, who had not taken her eyes off Elson. “You know what you’re doing?”
Connie nodded. “What about Pandora’s box, Elson?”
Licking his lips, Elson whimpered. “Pandora’s box is the name of the abandoned box factory next to the Hyatt. She’s there. In the basement.”
“You swear?”
“Check, check computer if you don’t believe. Answer was in the box, if you opened it.”
Connie stared at Elson a second before turning to Delta, who shrugged.
“Come on, Con, let me help you pull him up.”
“No.” Turning back to Elson, whose shirt was now completely red, Connie grimaced. “You’re lying, you little fuck. I opened the box and there was nothing. Where is she?”
“All right, all right. She’s at . . . 1439 Plato Way. It’s a green apartment building . . . number 7 . . . I swear.”
Connie glared hard at the little man hanging on to her. “Is she okay?”
“I didn’t touch her, I swear. Come on, Consuela, I can’t hold on very much longer.”
Connie nodded. “And where did you say she was?”
Elson repeated the address.
“The game is really over now, you motherfucking psycho bastard.”