The Spirit Survives (40 page)

* * *

I arrived at the hospital at 8:30 a.m., dropped off the power of attorney and went
to the familiar waiting area on the fourth floor. Leah’s door was closed. At precisely 9:00 a.m., I heard the elevator door open and Dr. Giovanni exited. She saw me and advanced to where I was sitting.

“Good morning, Doctor,” I greeted her.

“Good morning,” she answered. “I can understand your concern, Mr. Harris. You look much better than you did yesterday. I’m going to be with Ms. Hamilton for probably a couple of hours. You can wait here or you can go get something to eat and come back. It’s up to you.”

“I’ll just wait here,” I replied.

I waited anxiously for about an hour and a half. It seemed like a lifetime to me.
 

Finally, Dr. Giovanni came out of the room looking grave. She sat on the chair beside me. “Mr. Harris, first let me assure you that Leah will be okay. She has suffered several traumatic experiences. It’s just going to take a little time before her mind accepts that she’s safe. She may seem completely normal for awhile and then suddenly, without warning, have a panic attack. I’m recommending to you that she enter a rehab center for probably two weeks. I’ll treat her and she will be under the care of professionals twenty-four hours a day. I have a business association at Lyndow Recovery Center here in Houston. They have an exceptional reputation for treatment that Leah needs. With your permission, we can have her transferred there tomorrow morning.”

”Of course I agree. May I see her now?”

“I’m sorry Mr. Harris,” she said, “It’s best that you don’t talk to her or see her for the two weeks I think she requires for treatment. Unfortunately, you’re a reminder of the incidents and her shame of being raped. She loves you, but we don’t need any emotional incidents or distractions until we can get her straightened out. I promise you she will be okay. Trust me please; I’ve handled many cases similar to this one.”
 

I sat silently for a moment and then replied. “Okay Doctor, I understand. However, I want a daily report from you.”

She nodded. “Certainly.”
 

I gave her my cell number, and she assured me again that her prognosis was for a full recovery. I accompanied her to the admission’s desk and signed the essential papers. There was nothing left for me to do now but to go back to the hotel and plan my next moves.
 

Revenge is mine, sayeth the Lord, but I think in this case, I’ll assist Him with this revenge. There’s going to be hell to pay.

Chapter 81

Sergey and his wife Allisa returned from a formal dinner with the mayor, who had sponsored a benefit for retarded children for the city of Chicago. Although he had committed ten-thousand dollars to the charity during the dinner, Sergey did it only to cement his reputation with the mayor. He couldn’t care less about the stupid kids. As he walked to the bedroom to get out of the tux, his cell phone rang. He noticed that the signal for a text message was highlighted. Sergey opened the message and saw the phone number and the code, which signified to him that his most trusted police contact urgently needed to talk to him. He walked out on the balcony to return the call when Allisa entered the room. “What are you doing? she asked.

“Business,” he said as he closed the sliding door.
 

Allisa knew to leave him alone when he was conducting business. She shrugged and went into the bathroom to change.
 

Sergey punched in the phone number, and as soon as he heard the click of the receiver, he repeated the code. The familiar voice of his police informant came on the line.

“You’ve got trouble,” he said. “Viadislav Lenechka, whom you call Cheche, is in the custody of the FBI and the Houston police. Your man Bern has been shot and killed and his two associates are in custody. Cheche was holding a captive named, Leah Hamilton, who is the fiancée of a former Houston cop by the name of Ben Harris. Harris and Special Agent Gerry Stewart, who is the special agent in charge of the Houston Regional Offices, made the bust. As far as I can determine, none of them have talked. I don’t know what the hell you’ve been up to, but you better hope they don’t talk.”
 

“Don’t concern yourself with that,” Sergey retorted. “They know if they say a word, I’ll make them suffer a fate worse than any prison term.”

“If they connect you to this scheme, I won’t be able to protect you,” the policeman replied. “Your best bet is to get to this Ben Harris and his fiancée and eliminate them. If you need help doing this, I have someone in mind who will be so disconnected from you that you’ll never have to worry. She’s the turncoat FBI agent who brought Bo Lopez and the girl to you. I assure you that she can be trusted, and she’s an excellent terminator.”

“What’s her full name so I can have her checked out?” Sergey demanded.

“You’re going to have to trust me on this,” was the aggravated reply. “You can call her Macy. That’s all you need to know.”

Sergey understood that he had few options, and with Bern dead he wasn’t sure who he could trust. He bristled at the tone this two-bit cop was taking with him, but he gritted his teeth and said, “Okay, how can I make contact with her?”

“I’ll have her call you within thirty minutes. Keep your powder dry. We’ll get you out of this mess. I expect to be rewarded beyond my normal fee,” he said.

Sergey agreed and they hung up. Sergey didn’t like anyone giving him orders. When this little problem was behind him, he would teach this overbearing bastard what it’s like to give Sergey Ivanova orders. He might even let the jellyfish give him a little love bite.

When he walked back into the bedroom, Allisa was sitting on the bed wearing black lace lingerie, which barely covered her creamy white breasts. “Are you coming to bed now?” she sighed.

Sergey looked at her, repeated the word again, “Business!” and walked out of the room.
 

“Where are you going?” he heard her call out. Without responding he left the house, got into his vehicle and drove to his condominium. He walked by security without smiling or speaking and took the elevator to his condo. When he entered the living area, Melissa Browning, his lovely southern mistress was sitting on the couch drinking wine. There was a tray with an assortment of cheese and bread on the coffee table in front of her. Melissa was wearing an expensive yellow cotton sweater over fashionable black designer jeans. She was barefoot and looked like the sexy girl-next-door that every teenage boy dreams of. “I didn’t expect you tonight, but I’m pleased to see you,” she purred. “To be honest, I’m horny.”

Sergey strolled to the couch, took the wine glass from her hand and set it on the coffee table. He put his arms underneath her, picked her up like a baby and carried her to the master bedroom. He threw her on the bed and began to remove his shirt when his cell phone rang. “Shit,” he grumbled, seized his phone from his pocket and answered it. “Who is the hell if this?” he growled.

“This is Macy. I understand you want to do some business with me.”

He walked out of the bedroom, shut the door and moved to the bar. “Hold on,” he said as he grabbed a glass, took a chilled bottle of Diva vodka out of the bar fridge and filled it half full. Sergey took a long pull, swallowed it and said, “Yes, I need to do some business.”

“Our mutual friend briefed me. I just need for you to be specific. What do you want and what are you willing to pay?” Macy asked.

“I need for you to make sure that Ben Harris and his girlfriend cannot do any harm to my reputation, ever,” he replied. “I’m willing to pay one-hundred thousand for each of them to be silenced, but first I need to understand what Harris knows and who he has given information to.”

“I can arrange a meeting between you and Harris, and you can determine for yourself what he knows. I’m sure you’re good at that,” Macy said laughing. “The girl is a different matter. She’s presently in a rehab center, and I can’t get to her for a couple of weeks, but she can’t say anything to harm you while she’s there. Let’s handle Harris first and I can take care of the girl the day she gets out.”

Sergey was silent about a moment, “How in the hell can you set up a meeting with Harris and me?”

“Just leave the particulars to me,” she said. “You’ll have to trust me on this.”

Sergey didn’t trust anyone and now he had been asked twice in the span of an hour to trust people who were, in fact, turncoats and liars. Once again, he bit his lip and agreed to her terms. He would figure out a way to get even when this imminent threat was eliminated. “Okay, do it your own damn way!”

“I’ll call you as soon as I get the meeting set up,” Macy replied and hung up.

Sergey hurled the phone to the floor and drained the glass of vodka. He had never been this close to being discovered as Russian Mafia, let alone the rape that the girl could accuse him of and the Lopez murder that he committed while she was in the condo.
 

He needed distraction and he knew precisely where to find it. He placed the glass on the bar, and walked back to the bedroom. He opened the door and Melissa lay there, naked, her long blonde hair spread on the satin pillow. Her body was beautifully tanned and was only creamy white in the places where her skimpy bikini shielded it from the sun.
 

She looked over at him, slowly spread her legs and whispered, “What took you so long?”
 

At this moment Sergey fully understood why he spent so much money on this nymph. She was worth every penny. He nearly tore off his clothes and joined her. The sex was so violent that Melissa would have a difficult time hiding the bruises with make up and clothing.
 

Tonight will cost him the two caret diamond ring I’ve been admiring at Tiffany’s
.
The bruises will heal but a diamond lasts forever,
she thought.

She heard Sergey showering and knew that he would leave without a word. She glanced at the end table beside the bed to check the time. Lying just below the clock was his Platinum American Express Card with a note attached. “Have fun and buy yourself something pretty,” it read. She smiled and closed her lovely eyes.

* * *

Macy sat at the rolling table that room service had brought with her dinner. The bowl that held the lobster bisque was empty. There were two bites left of the rare filet mignon on her plate. The bread was untouched. She smiled and poured another glass of the Dom Perignon from the half-empty bottle. She knew that when she went back to the regular service of the FBI, dinners like this would be rare. She slid back the chair, took her glass with her and walked to the bed where her purse was lying. She took another long sip of the sparking paradise and set the glass on the end table. She searched through her purse and pulled out the secure phone that she used only to call Peter Branson. Macy pushed the speed dial and waited for him to answer.

“What do you have for me Macy?” the no-nonsense voice said.

“Well hello to you, Peter, how was your evening?” she asked.

“I don’t have time for bullshit, Macy. What do you have for me?”

“Okay, I’ll get straight to the point. The Benefactor called me again and asked me to call Sergey. This is going far better than I expected. Sergey hired me, using his words, to ‘silence’ Ben Harris and his fiancée. I’ve got it all on tape. I couldn’t take the chance to tape the Benefactor. The guy is uncanny and he may have some sophisticated equipment to inform him if he’s being taped—I don’t know. Anyway, Sergey wants me to get Ben Harris to his condo, so he can determine what Harris knows. He’s desperate to know the scope of his problem and fix it. If I play my cards right, I can get Harris, Sergey and the Benefactor in the same room. They trust me and I’ll have a hidden recorder so I can get it all on tape. When I have enough, I’ll call you and you can bring in the FBI swat team and nail both Sergey and the Benefactor. You know we don’t have anything on Sergey unless I can get him to admit on tape that he raped the Hamilton girl and killed Lopez. Otherwise he’ll have an airtight alibi. The only way he’ll say anything is if I take Harris to him. That will cement his trust in me. Peter, this is what we’ve worked on so long and hard. I promise you I can pull it off.”

“Macy, you’ll be placing a civilian in danger of his life. You’re using Harris for bait and if anything happens to him, both you and I are finished in more ways than you can imagine.”

“Damn Peter, he’s a former cop,” Macy said. “He can take care of himself, and he, more than anyone, wants to nail these bastards. Consider what they did to his girlfriend. He probably wants to kill both of them with his bare hands. I’ve done some checking on Ben Harris, and he is one resilient cookie. Don’t worry about him getting hurt; you worry whether or not I can keep him from killing both of them before you can get there for the bust.”

“Okay Macy, it’s a go, but as soon as you set it up, you call me with every detail.”

“You got it boss,” she answered. “Now I’m going to enjoy the rest of this bottle of champagne and get some sleep.” With that parting comment she hung up the phone. She needed a good night’s sleep. She already had a plan of action in her head, and tomorrow, she would put it into play. She finished the bottle of Dom, undressed and got into bed.
This champagne beats the hell out of sleeping pills
, she thought, and closed her eyes.