King Solomon's Journey (The Dominguez Adventures) (45 page)

            Again, they each took a side of him and dragged his body across the pavement. Taking him behind the dumpster, the larger one punched him in the gut several times.

            “Dr. Dominguez, ya know what we want.”

            The shorter one kneed Antonio’s ribs. The two thugs held him as a third appeared out of nowhere.

            “You want money, Dominguez…  The Alliance will give you 10 for the Scrolls. Take it, ya stupid son-of-a-bitch, know what’s good for ya’. We’ll get em’ anyway.”

            He repeatedly punched Antonio’s face. Blood spurted out of his mouth, landing back on his attacker. The flow from his nose turned into a gush. The strikes were like lightning firing through his brain. Everything blurred.

            “Doc, this is yer’ last chance, we won’t be comin’ to get ya’ again.”

            The leader punched Antonio several more times.

            “No…we’ll get her. That’ll make ya’ hand it over Doc, won’t it? We'll take that little redhead you cling to so much.”

            The attacker plunged his shoulder into Antonio’s gut as the other two held him up.

            “I wouldn’t mind having a piece of her myself. Ya’ better take the deal. Ya’ got till ya’ git’ home, then we’ll be comin’ for her. We’ll be watchin’, so don’t get cute Doc. We’re everywhere.”

            The two thugs released Antonio and he fell to the ground. The bigger, bald one took the butt of his gun and smashed it into the side of Antonio’s face, grinding his head into the asphalt.

            “What the hell did ya’ do that for?! You damn idiot…We can’t kill the son of a bitch. He’s the only one knows where the Scrolls are hidden!”

            Antonio felt reality fade.

            Where is Amanda?

            He couldn’t leave her - the thugs would kill her. His focus slipped as he tried to fixate on Amanda’s image.   

***

            Amanda grinned at all the clothes, wildly strewn about the room from the night before. She began to pick them up. When she picked up Antonio’s jeans, she noticed the belt needed removing and the pockets were empty.

            She gathered the rest of the clothes in her arms to put them with the other dirty clothes. Before tossing his shirt, she buried her face in the fabric. His smell permeated the fibers.

            Loving the scent of him, she took a deep breath of him from within the shirt. A sudden pain struck her middle, and made her gasp. From a fog she could see Antonio smiling, then suddenly, he was bloody and reaching out to her from the ground. Was it another replay of the cavern? No, this blood was dark and foreboding. Panic engulfed her. She turned to the clock. It was 7:00AM. Antonio should be back by now...

            Amanda grabbed her jeans from yesterday and pulled them over her swimsuit. Shoes…  She rummaged as fast as she could to get them on and snatch a t-shirt. The clock now read 7:07AM. In the bathroom, she emptied Antonio’s shaving bag and put the Taurus .738 in her jeans’ pocket.

            Help, she needed help. Antonio had put José’s number in her phone, the only Miami number in her phone. Prepared to open the door and race out of the hotel, she pressed the call button, and glanced at the time 7:09AM.

            Impatient, she yelled into the ringing phone. “José! Pickup! …  José damn it!”

            “Hello?”

            “José, Antonio went for a run, and he hasn’t returned, something’s wrong. Please, help me!”

            “Where is the security, Amanda?”

            “I don’t know...one of them watched me at the pool. He’s gone.”

            “Stay there, Amanda.”

            She shouted at José. “I will not stay here! I have to find him!” Already out the door, she made her way to the street in front of the hotel.

            “I have the .738, José.”

            “Amanda, go back to the room.”

            She thought of the route he would have taken.

            “East first…  Right, José? The Sun, Antonio would run towards the Sun first. Besides, it would be his natural choice, since he’s right handed. East, José, I think he runs six and a half miles. José…José! Help!”

            “Amanda, where are his phones?”

            “I didn’t see them in the room.”

            “Amanda, go back to the hotel.”

            “José, they didn’t take him. He’s hurt.”

            “How do you know?”

            “I saw it; I felt it, while they hurt him. Antonio’s hurt bad.”

            “Amanda, that’s crazy.”

            “José, I don’t care. I will not risk it.”

            She heard Carmen yelling in the background.

            “José, I’m hanging up. Get help!”

            “Amanda, don’t hang up on me!”

            She didn't hear him.

            Carmen handed him another phone.

            “Pop, Antonio is missing. Amanda is out looking for him, alone with a gun. Pop, she’s a mental case. Get help, I’m going over there now.”

            Carmen, in the car with José, dialed the phones. His father was shouting orders to others in the background. He handed Carmen the phone.

            Their hired security wasn’t answering.

            Talking aloud, Amanda told herself to keep breathing - find focus. She tried to keep track of how far she had gone. It would prove imperative to figure out where Antonio would turn.        She began to run towards the east.

            She prayed, “God, let him hear me.”

            Soon, directing her words at him, she shouted. “Come on, Antonio! …  Let me know where you are. Help me, Antonio!”

            Turning her head side-to-side, she scanned for signs of him along the streets. “Antonio, stay with me. Help me!”

            Time became the devil. “Damn it! …  Antonio, tell me where to find you.”

            “Antonio! Please, don’t go to sleep. Help me!”

            Still early, the streets seemed abandoned. During their stay, she failed to pay close enough attention. The hand in her pocket was poised, ready to take out the .738.

            Amanda found herself near a service alley. Her heart pounded, a strange feeling alerted her. She looked up and saw three men exiting the alley, one turned towards her, and she pulled the gun. The other two grabbed the third man and they headed towards a parked car. Amanda brought the gun to bear, and then she stumbled, as her knees suddenly gave way. An unusual weakness seized her and she fell to her hands and knees. Holding the gun in the palm of her hand, she slammed against the pavement.

            A crunching noise pulled her gaze down. She had fallen on something. The Sun shone in her eyes, blurring her vision. Rays of light bounced off the object she crushed. Her eyes squinted, she felt, it was Antonio’s eyeglasses.

            In a normal tone, shaken, she begged. “Antonio, I am here. Where are you?”

            Her senses told her he would be here. On the ground, she crawled towards a dumpster with the pistol in her hand. Fear mounted as she noticed droplets of fresh blood. She lunged around the corner of the dumpster.

            Her scream echoed off the buildings in the alley. She shouted, shrieking.

            “Help us! Antonio! Please be alive…Come on.”

            On the ground, in a pool of his blood, his body was contorted, and painfully twisted.

            “Come on …Antonio…Stay with me...Damn it!”

             Unconscious, the blood flowed from his head. He had to be alive. Amanda frantically removed her shirt and pressed it against his bleeding head.

            With her other hand, she hit the redial button. “José…Get an ambulance! Hurry, we’re losing him.”

            He needed directions. Unable to control it, she spoke with a tremble.

            “We’re about a mile down from the hotel…Ocean Drive…It’s a service alley, he’s behind a dumpster. Now…  José!” She hung-up.

            Gently, she raised Antonio’s bleeding head, and placed it in her lap. The blood he lost was frightening, maintaining pressure to stop the bleeding was imperative.

            His body felt lifeless. She pleaded, “Antonio, stay with me. Please, I know you want to stay with me.” Speaking in sobs, she trembled as her words continued.

            “Antonio, you’re scaring me. Please wake up. Talk to me.”

            Again, she prayed, pleading with God. “God, you helped me find him. Do not take him from me… Please.”

            His forehead required more pressure.

            “Antonio, I love you.” She whispered, as she pressed as hard as she could over his forehead. His poor face was mangled, and the blood…Dear God, the blood!

            José car screamed to a stop, and he yelled her name.

            “Come on, Antonio. I need to hear…one damn word…anything…  Please.”

            José ran to them, shouting, “Antonio!” José felt his stomach heave. Fighting the urge, he swallowed his puke. Antonio’s blood covered Amanda. José watched the steady stream of blood flow as Amanda kissed his brother’s bleeding lips.

            José fell to his knees in the scarlet puddle next to her, he waved Carmen back to the car, and yelled for her to turn on the flashers, and flag down the ambulance when it appeared. He hovered beside them as she held her Antonio. Her face frightened José, streaked with smears of his brother’s life. José put his arm around her to support her back. Her attempts to revive his little brother were relentless.

            She yelled at him, “Take his pulse! ...Where is the ambulance, José?”

            Amanda, unyielding, constantly talked to him. “Antonio, please, please you have to wake up…!  

            Antonio…We have things to do…lots of things.” Her pleas soon settled into gentle reminders. José realized the words manifested from a bond he could comprehend, what if it was Carmen, what would he do?.

            “Antonio…You are going to take me to Israel…Don’t make it a lie...Come on…you promised. Remember…you said I would have to give you a contract…  I’ll give you a contract for whatever it is you want…  Antonio, you promised!”

            Her shouts startled José. Antonio was fading fast!

            “We’re losing him…José! Damn it! Do something.”

            José was on his phone, "Pop where is the ambulance?"

            Amanda went back to reprimanding. “You haven’t met my Daddy yet…You said you would! Why would you want to leave me?”

            She turned to beg for the answer. “Why is he not coming back to me?”

             “I don’t know, honey. We need to be able to ask him. Keep talking, Amanda. I know…  He wants to come back to you…  Honey, he will come to you …he loves you so much.” José squeezed the words of encouragement out as he turned his head to choke, fighting the bile that rose from his gut.

            “Come on...Please! Stay with me, Antonio. José …we are good together…aren’t we?”

            “Yes, honey you’re great together.” José released Amanda, leaning closer to his brother.

            “José, he promised me, just yesterday. He said I would look at him from my rocking chair…  He promised…why would he lie?”

            José again struggled, “Amanda, Damn it! Don’t give up … I sure as hell will make him keep the promises he made to you…  When he gets well…I’ll make him myself.” As their unsteadiness developed, José held her.

            Amanda felt more than heard the moan from Antonio.  “José...did you hear that? He is coming back...” She sobbed.

            José squeezed her. “Amanda, he’s coming back to you, honey…he loves you.”

            “Antonio, I’m here. I will always be here with you. Try to stay awake.”

            His fingers curled, she felt them at her ankle. He tried to grip her.

            “I felt that, Antonio…you’re going to make it…"

            Blood covered Antonio’s entire body. She couldn’t bear to imagine the extent of his injuries. At that moment, his saved life was all she asked.

            At last, the ambulance pulled in.

            “Antonio, help is here.”

            The EMT’s rolled his body off her. José lifted her from the ground. The pistol sat on the ground where she was. José snatched it up, hiding it in his pocket. If the authorities spotted the gun, it would create all sorts of havoc. The family didn’t need the additional hassle.

            Carmen picked up Antonio’s cell phone from the pavement.

            José yelled to her, “Call Pop! He’ll be okay, Amanda, you saved him. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

            The guilt was tremendous. His brother would be dead if she had listened to his advice. His own words flashed in his mind, and already they haunted him. He told her she was crazy to look for his brother.

            Antonio moaned louder as they strapped him onto the stretcher. Amanda rushed to hold his hand.

            “I’m here, Antonio.” She squeezed.

            One of the medics gripped her shoulders, pulling her away as they loaded him into the ambulance. José walked over to the EMT. The Medic asked. “Who is she?”

            “His girlfriend.”

            "Look, I am sorry; we can have one rider, a family member, not a girl-friend. Someone has to be there for the paperwork."

            Amanda put her hand on José’s shoulder. “Get in with him, now, José. He needs you, and has to have treatment, fast.”

            “Carmen, drive Amanda.” José yelled.

            Carmen wrapped her arm around Amanda’s shoulders as she guided her into the car. She took a box of wet wipes from the backseat. Waiting for the ambulance to leave, Carmen wiped the blood from Amanda’s face.

            The ambulance moved, once on the street, the sirens engaged. Amanda jumped from the wailing sound. Carmen followed their path to Cedars Sinai Medical Center. On the way, Carmen kept reassuring her Antonio would be alright, she barely heard her; the words were a constant hum, which made no sense. Amanda was numb; suddenly she did not feel anything at all, her glazed eyes set.