The Spirit Survives (43 page)

“I’m Josh Anderson,” he said as he took the book from the other guard’s hand and checked it. “May I see a picture ID.?”
 

Macy took an Illinois driver’s license from her purse and gave it to him.
 

The guard looked at the card and at the book again. “Okay you’re clear to enter Ms. Crick. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

He handed the fake ID back to Macy and we walked to the elevator. “How did you pull that off?” I asked in amazement.

“I have my ways that you don’t need to know about.” She pushed the gold seven on the elevator panel. She took a key out of her purse and entered it into the slot below the floor number and turned it. The elevator purred and delivered us the floor seven. She reached into her purse again, pulled out another key, and unlocked the door of Sergey Ivanova’s private Condo.
 

“I don’t know how you pulled this off, but I’m impressed,” I said.

We entered the apartment. A wall of glass with the exquisite view of Chicago faced us. The living area was done in all black leather, stainless steel, and glass. There was an aquarium on the far wall with a beautiful jellyfish in it. To the right was a stainless steel and glass bar.
 

“He keeps his safe and his private papers in the master bedroom,” Macy said as she walked briskly toward the closed door, which I presumed led to the bedroom. I followed her. She entered the room and turned to face me. I don’t know what happened next. I felt a sharp pain on the back of my head and everything went black…

* * *

My head was pounding and I was disoriented. Shades of grey and black were all I could see. I tried to open my eyes to comprehend where I was, but they felt glued shut. I heard voices in the distance, murmuring. I felt a splash of cold water hit my face and my eyes opened. I tried to stand, but I couldn’t; tried to raise my hands to my face, but I couldn’t. Finally, the out-of-focus images became clear. Standing in front of me was Macy with an empty glass, which I guess held the water she threw in my face. Beside her was Sergey Ivanova and behind him were two very large men. I realized that I was bound, with my feet taped to the chair and my hands taped behind me. I had a splitting headache, and I realized that it had been a trap skillfully executed by Macy.

“What do you want?” I managed to murmur.

Sergey smirked at me and replied, “I want to know what you think I did and who you’re working with, and I want to know it now!”

“Well you bastard, I know you raped Leah and sent her to Cheche to sell. I know you killed Bo Lopez and by God you’re going to pay.”

He got directly in my face and I saw the rage in his eyes, “Who are you working with and who did you tell these lies to?”

I spit in his face.

He snatched a handkerchief from his pocket and swiped at his face. He stepped over to me and his left hand shot out into my midsection. The punch knocked the wind out of me, and I struggled to breathe.
 

He repeated the question, “Who are you working with and who did you tell these lies to?”

As soon as I got my breath returned I said, “Go to hell, you son-of-a bitch!”

His eyes blazed with rage again and he started to step forward, but Macy grabbed his elbow and whispered something to him. They walked out of the bedroom and closed the door. The other two men eyed me with mild amusement.
 

I knew if I told Sergey what he wanted, I would be dead within minutes. It was clear he was trying to determine the scope of his problems with the law. As long as I held out, he would not kill me, but he could still deal out a lot of pain.

The door to the living area opened and Sergey came back in. He was carrying a large pair of wire cutters. Macy followed behind him, a worried look on her face. He looked at his men and snarled, “Get out!” They shrugged and left.
 

He approached me, his eyes still crazed with anger. He was not used to being denied anything. “I ask you once again. Who are you working with and what did you tell them?”
 

I grinned at him, but said nothing. He back-handed me across the mouth and I tasted blood. This could turn out to be a slow death; I hoped my spirit could survive. He walked behind the chair, and I felt the cold steel of the wire cutters close on my index finger. “Are you sure this finger is disposable?” he grunted. “It’s your trigger finger.”

 
I gritted my teeth and waited for the pain.
 

Then suddenly something unexpected happened. Macy rushed over to where I was bound, “Wait Sergey, if you cut off his finger, he’ll never talk. I know men like him. He was Special Forces in the United States military and a former policeman. You’ll shut him up forever if you do this, and you’ll be looking over your shoulder waiting for the people he’s working with to catch up with you. Give me a chance alone with him. I’ll get the information.”
 

I felt the wire cutters tighten as Sergey slowly closed them. I felt the edges cut my skin and flesh, but he stopped and opened them up, releasing my damaged finger.
 

“Give me five minutes with him. If I don’t get your information, you can cut off his damn hand for all I care,” she said in a calm dispassionate voice.

“Okay, five minutes,” Sergey said. He stalked out of the room and closed the door.

“Listen carefully Ben,” she said. “I’m wearing a recording device and believe it or not I’m on your side. Right now we don’t have anything on this man other than speculation. I need to get a confession on tape, of any crime. I though he would by now have confessed to you about raping Leah and maybe killing Bo Lopez, but he has carefully worded his statements without saying he did anything. I need for you to help me get some damning evidence on tape and I will notify our guys and they’ll come in immediately, but we don’t have much time. Work with me on this. I’m going to give him some false information and you go along with it. You must trust me.”

I didn’t know what to think. She was the one who lured me here, but on the other hand I would not have rescued Leah without her help.
What have I got to lose
? I told her I’d play along.

Sergey burst into the room, “Your five minutes are up,” be blurted. He was still carrying the wire cutters.

Macy calmly put her hand on his chest. “Just listen to me Sergey,” she said, “Ben didn’t tell anybody he was coming here. He had no time because I surprised him at the airport and we came directly here. He was working with Special Agent Gerry Stewart in Houston, but they had nothing on you but speculation and they knew Leah Hamilton’s statements would be her word against yours. Ben’s here on a fishing expedition trying to get anything on you he can. No one knows he’s here and the only other person you have to worry about is Leah Hamilton, who is currently in a rehab center.”

Sergey stared at her for a moment and said, “How did you persuade him to talk?”

“I told him we’d kill Leah if he didn’t talk to us,” Macy replied.

“Well I’m having Ms. Hamilton taken care of,” Sergey said. “Now let’s destroy this bastard. I’ve got a special treat for him.” He yelled to the other room for his men to come in.

 
“Cut him loose and bring him into the living room,” he ordered.
 

One of the men cut the tape from my hands and feet. They grabbed each of my arms and dragged me into the living room. The Russian on my left held the knife to my side. Sergey was standing in front of the aquarium. They took me to where he was standing.

“What are you going to do?” I heard Macy ask.

“Just shut up, bitch!” he retorted.

Sergey seized my right arm from his henchman while the other man restrained my left arm. I was trying to figure out what to do. If I tried anything the guy with the knife would surely stab me.

Sergey was staring at the jellyfish moving gracefully inside the aquarium. The tentacle swayed effortlessly as it moved through the water. I was surprised by how small it was. I had no clue what was about to happen.

Sergey smiled broadly. He looked me directly in the eyes, and began talking in a methodical voice, as if he had said it many times before, “This is an Irukandji jellyfish. I had it brought from northern Australia. The Irukandji, is responsible for the unusual and dramatic syndrome observed following stings, commonly known as Irukandji Syndrome. The Irukandji has a single retractable tentacle ranging from 50 to 500 mm long, hanging from each of the four corners of its bell. Unlike most other species of jellyfish, all parts of the Irukandji can sting, not just the tentacles. The initial sting of the jellyfish is usually not very painful. However, about ten minutes after being stung, you’ll start to have a severe reaction, including backache, headache, shooting pains in your muscles, chest and abdomen. You may also feel nauseous, anxious, restless and begin vomiting. You will suffer fluid on the lungs, and complete heart failure. All of this will be accompanied by the most severe pain imaginable. You should never have come here. Now you must die.”

I was stunned by what he was saying, and it became very clear to me what he was going to do.

He lifted my arm toward the aquarium, looked at me again and said, “I enjoyed raping your Leah. She is an excellent piece of ass.”
 

I heard a gunshot. “Step away from him!” Macy screamed from behind. I glanced behind me at the same time Sergey did. Macy had a gun pointed at him. The other henchman lay on the floor. Macy had shot him.
 

Without hesitation the big Russian let go of my left arm and threw the knife underhanded at her. It hit her shoulder as she fired the gun again. A spat of blood appeared on the big man’s bald head, and he crumpled to the floor. Macy also fell, clutching the knife in her shoulder.
 

Sergey jerked my right arm and rammed it into the water. I launched my knee to his groin and jerked my arm out of the aquarium. I didn’t feel a sting as he sent a solid left hook toward my ribs.
 

I side-stepped his fist, and landed a chopping right hand to his nose. I felt the bones crack as I followed through.
 

My special force’s training took over. As he fell, I put my knee to his back and my left arm around his neck, pulling back hard.
 

His arms went limp. I lifted his body to a standing position and jammed his right arm into the aquarium. I held it there as the Irukandji softly approached the object intruding in its watery world. His arm jerked as he was stung repeatedly.
 

I took his arm out of the tank and let his body fall to the floor and turned to try to help Macy. I rushed to her side. There was a lot of blood but her eyes were opened. “Hold on Macy,” I said. “I’ll call for help.”

I stood up to go to the phone when the door flew open. It was Rex Herns, rushing into the room with his service revolver drawn. “What in the hell is going on?” he shouted.

“Thank God you’re here,” I gasped. “We need to get help for Macy. She’s injured and has lost a lot of blood.”

I ran to the end table beside the couch and picked up the phone to call 911.

“Put the phone down, Ben,” Rex said in a calm, resolute voice. I looked over and he was pointing the gun at me. “Put it down or you’re a dead man.”

I dropped the phone to the floor. “What are you doing?”
 

Macy’s groaned. She must have passed out before, but she opened her eyes and tried to sit up. Rex glanced over at her and backed up, so he could cover both of us. “I appreciate your doing most of my dirty work for me, Ben. Sergey needed to die, and you took care if that. Now I’m afraid you and Macy must join him.”

Macy grunted and I looked in her direction. “He’s the Benefactor,” she mumbled. “I’d recognize his voice anywhere.”

Rex laughed, “You served my purpose, bitch, and now you can bleed to death. This is the perfect scene. Ben killed Sergey. You killed his men, and then shot Ben when he stabbed you. I came in and found you all dead. Oh, what a sad sight. My plans have worked perfectly. Now I can quit this friggin job and live like a king. Both of you have cleared the way for me. My only regret is that I can’t add Macy’s sexy eyes to my collection.” He laughed, but it sounded more like a cackle.

“Don’t worry, Ben, Leah will soon join you in the afterlife. Sergey already put out a hit on her, and she’s being killed as we speak. Nobody can stop me now!”

Rex, aka the Benefactor, actually looked insane, his wild eyes darting from me to Macy.
 

I heard a loud grunt coming from Macy’s direction. I glanced over as she was yanking the knife from her shoulder. She threw the bloody knife at the Benefactor. He was startled, but easily side-stepped it and it landed harmlessly on the floor behind him.
 

The distraction was just enough. As he was looking at Macy and the knife, I tackled him. We tumbled to the floor, the gun flying out of his hand. I punched him in the ribs but couldn’t get much force on it because I was so close to him.
 

He hit me with a solid blow to the head, knocking me loose from my bear hug on his body.
 

I momentarily fell to the side as he reached for the gun. I grabbed his leg and held tight, keeping his hands inches from the weapon. I yanked hard, swinging my body on top of him. I ended up sitting on his ass with his left leg pulled back in a leg lock.