The Eve of the Dragon

by Michael Dunn

  “And that concludes the tour,” Sallie said, her tone dripping in sarcasm. “Exit through the gift shop.”

  She led them back to the Professor’s office.

  The Professor said, “Dr. DuBois, look. I think this is the real thing. The one we have been waiting for.”

  “It was inside some drug addict’s boob. Remember that, too,” Dan reminded the Professor.

  “Excuse me?” The Professor asked while he handed Dr. DuBois the cleaned and glowing orb.

  “They forced me to perform multiple surgeries today, almost at gunpoint, and I had to remove various items from some sad, poor girls turned into drug mules. However, because they were good drug mules, the Sabellas, paid them in lollipops.”

  “Lollipops?” The Professor asked, with a raised eyebrow.

  “Well, they made the lollipops out of crystal meth; so I guess that made the sad girls happy.”

  The Professor sighed, but Sallie was confused.

  “What are you talking about?” Dr. Dubois asked Dan.

  “These drug-vampire girls use their tits like an illegal mail service. Someone in France or Switzerland or wherever takes these girls and sends them to some scumbag plastic surgeon, who puts more than saline inside their fake tits via small Mylar bags, like heroin, cocaine, flash drives, or magical green balls. After the girls recovered, the gangsters put the girls onto a train or bus to wherever they were going to meet another scumbag plastic surgeon at point B, which happened to me today. I opened up the girls and removed the saline bags, which contained the aforementioned items. Today, I learned that the contraband items did not just come from illicit boobs. I brought into this world a bouncing baby two-and-a half-kilos of cocaine. I had never been so proud of my training. And my grandma said I would waste my life becoming a stand-up comic. Oh, if she could see me now.”

  “They do that…” Sallie said, more than a little shocked. “Those poor girls, how do they… and compensated with crystal meth lollipops?”

  Dan nodded. “I know. Those girls need to protest or form a union for better wages or perhaps find a way not to be slaves to their addictions.”

  Dr. DuBois felt nauseous again.

  Dan tried to console her by saying, “If it makes you feel better, these girls have only a few months to live or one more surgery at best.”

  Dr. DuBois appeared as though she was doing her best not to cry.

  The Professor said, “It is a sad and horrible world we live in.”

  “So, can we get paid now?” Dan asked.

  The Professor nodded. He stood up, which at his size, took some effort. He walked to the wall, moved a portrait, and unlocked a wall safe. Inside was a leather satchel. The Professor removed the satchel, closed the safe, and returned the picture. He brought the bag to the desk and pushed it towards Dan.

  “Count it. It is all there. It was my rainy day fund… or at least one of them. I’ll write you a receipt.”

  Dan opened the bag, and John and Steven peered inside the satchel. There was a lot of money. Dan pulled the bundles of euros out of the pocket and the doctors counted. There was two-hundred and fifty thousand euros, just as the Professor suggested. Then the Americans put the money back in the bag and Dan fastened the bag.

  “Here you go,” the Professor said, handing Dan the receipt.

  Dan signed it, handed it back to the Professor, and then took the bag.

  “Thank you. It was great doing business with you. Can we get a ride home?”

  “Yes, yes,” the Professor said. His attention was still on the Orb of Genoa.

  Dan stood up, stretched, and with his hand raised, the orb flew from the Professor’s hand and into Dan’s. Everyone in the room watched it in awe.

  “What the…?!” The Professor shouted. “Dr. Carter, please give me back the Orb of Genoa.”

  “Gladly.”

  Dan handed it back.

  “How did you do that?” Steven asked.

  “I did nothing. I only stretched.”

  The Professor watched Dr. Carter curiously and then the Professor held the orb and pressed a button on his desk.

  “Abraham, please take our guests back home with all due safety and care. We have all had a long and fruitful day. Let’s make haste to get them home.”

  “Yes, boss,” Abraham said.

  Chapter Fourteen: The Next Day

  The ride back to the hotel was quiet, mostly because Dan was sleeping and Abraham was not much of a talker. John and Steven kept to themselves. Both John and Steven were too distraught to say anything.

  John contemplated leaving Italy. He wanted to go back to the apartment, sleep this night away, and plan his escape. Would a train to another airport be the best idea or would going to the airport in Naples be enough? Would the Professor put men out to watch them, but why would he? Was it really only a business transaction, and the Professor wanted nothing more from them? Would the Sabellas leave them alone and let them enjoy their much-needed vacation? Am I being paranoid? Who knows?

  Steven was not thinking about whether the Professor’s gang or the local mafia, would kill or betray them. His comforting thoughts focused on the beautiful Sallie DuBois. Steven fantasized taking her away from her dreadful boss and bringing her back to the penthouse. While he had been scared the entire day after getting kidnapped, and who would not be, his anxiety had lessened when Dr. DuBois arrived.

  However, he observed that Sallie liked John, most women did. While Sallie laughed and smiled at John, he did not seem to be interested in her, and she found Dan repulsive. Steven wondered if she thought he was attractive and exciting. He would most likely never see her again, and in some ways, that was for the better. She could have been as dangerous as her boss, which would have killed his fantasy. Maybe it was time to move on. Some relationships have an invisible expiration date. That was another way he wished he was more like Dan and John, who could recover from a breakup and have a rebound girl in no time at all. Dan had told him that he was not using the classic, ‘Hi, I’m a surgeon. Can I buy you a drink?’ pickup line. And what if Dan was right? He hated to say that or even think that. He probably needed to get laid on this trip like Dan and John already had. There was still plenty of time. This was only day three.

  Dan was lightly snoring. His dreams were not his own. He was dreaming of a wizard war taking place over cliffs and under a dark red sky. The green ball he had hidden in his underwear today was now talking to him in his head in a dull whisper.

  “Magic is inside you. If you practice and concentrate, you will learn to direct it and it will also direct you. You will learn to pull energy from the universe, connecting to it through your mind and body, channeling it. Be careful, because sometimes the magic turns the wizard dark if the wizard isn’t strong enough or the wizard doesn’t understand what is happening. Now that you’ve touched the magic, you cannot go back. Pursue this to the end!”

  John had also fallen asleep in the car and he asked Dan, while still half-asleep, “What did you say?”

  Dan answered with a snore.

  *

  Abraham pulled up in front of the hotel.

  “Wakey-wakey kids. We’re at grandma’s. Time to get up.”

  The three American awoke when they saw the lights of the hotel outside the car window, they climbed out.

  “Don’t forget your bag, doctor,” Abraham told Dan.

  Dan nodded. “Thanks. I hope we never meet again.”

  “Likewise,” Abraham said.

  “What time is it?” Steven asked.

  John checked his watched, “Almost three a.m.”

  “Here?” Steven asked and realized it was a stupid thing to ask. It was part of the fatigue.

  “Yes,” John grumbled.

  *

  They awoke again around noon. Their accumulated exhaustion tallied after years of such a grueling schedule, on top of yesterday’s events, they needed to sleep longer than usual.

  Dan awoke first. He made coffee and sat quietly on the balcony watchi
ng the waves, trying to conceal his restrained anger.

  John was the next to awaken. When he came out of his room, dressed, and wheeling his suitcase behind him.

  “Dude, where are you going?” Dan asked.

  “Home. I’m getting on the first flight back to Miami.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? Are you kidding me? We weren’t here twenty-four hours before we spent the day detained by really weird gangsters, who threatened to kill us. Damn it, Dan, I have never been so scared in my life.”

  “They forced me to perform surgery on barely alive drug dolls for another mob and I am still staying.”

  “You also stole a valuable item from one mob boss to pay another mob boss, which is a slower version of suicide, another reason why I am leaving. They might catch Steven and me in the crossfire because of your stupid shenanigans.”

  “I was kidnapped too and…”

  “Yes, yes, we know all about that, but what the hell possessed you to steal from the mob? I can’t think of anything dumber than that. Why did you do it?”

  “It was an accident. Seriously, you need to believe that. I accidentally cut the old silicone bag because, those bags are slippery, and I’m already covered in drug mule blood, the contents spilled on the floor. I saw the little green rock, and I don’t know, I can’t explain it. I saw it, picked it up, and took it. There was no forethought.”

  “Why?” John asked.

  “Because… maybe I took it in response for them fucking me over. I also believed that they would push me out of the helicopter once we left the hospital. Maybe I did not think that I was coming back here.”

  “Why did you sell it to the Professor?”

  “Because I believed it was our best hope of coming back here alive, and I was right.”

  “It also bagged you two-hundred and fifty thousand euros.”

  “I don’t care about the money. I could have negotiated a million euros and he would have paid it. The amount in that bag is less than what we will make as surgeons. The amount in that bag is nothing compared to what I inherited for being born into the Carter family and passing my medical boards. I could give that bag to orphans and I wouldn’t miss it. It was about survival.”

  “And what about now?”

  “What about now?”

  “Do you have a plan for our survival?”

  “No, we make it up as we go.”

  “You mean make it about luck?” John asked, with considerable incredulity, because having Dan in charge was akin to being on a sinking ship and learning that the captain is Jar Jar Binks.

  “What are you guys arguing about?” Steven asked. He was awake and heading to the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

  “John wants to leave.”

  “Oh? Why?” Steven asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

  “Why? Are you kidding me? On our first day here, we almost got killed by sticking ourselves between rival gangs in a fight over a jewel.”

  “I disagree about being nearly killed,” Steven said, adding sugar to his coffee. “While it was scary at first, the Professor treated us well, y’know, considering. The Professor got what his fat hands on what he wanted, and I believe that he will leave us alone from now on.”

  “Gangsters took us at gunpoint.”

  “Yeah, that part sucked, but we’re from Miami. There are gangsters all over the place, not unlike New York, Chicago, or Jersey, but Miami is often where they go to retire. There is also a mob faction of every variety. It’s kind of hard to miss. I doubted they would kill us. We were not a threat to the Professor and Dan gave the man what he wanted, so we were free to go. Now, I would like to stay and enjoy this luxurious vacation for the rest of the time and hope that one awful day does not ruin the rest of the trip. I agree with Dan, shocking but true. I would rather stay here in the sun and not worry about it.”

  Dan and Steven fist bumped.

  John said, “However, there is the point that Dan stole from one gangster to pay off another gangster is…”

  Dan’s phone blared ‘It’s Raining Men.’ He picked it up and answered it.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi Dan, it’s Tex. How are you doing?”

  “Hey, scum, how it hangin’? I’m doing much better than I was. How did you get my number?”

  Tex scoffed. “Please, Dan. That was the easy part.”

  Both John and Steven mouthed, “Who?”

  Dan ignored his roommates, and told Tex, “I thought you would be busy today, holding up a truck, stealing a kid’s lunch money, or putting a horse’s head in some producer’s bed, or something like that.”

  “No, Dan, not exactly. We missed you yesterday. You left without getting paid.”

  “Sorry, but I have this fear of heights and a healthy fear of being pushed out of a helicopter at ten thousand feet. I’m weird like that.”

  “Is that what you thought, that I was going to throw you out of the helicopter?”

  “It seemed reasonable.”

  “Anyway, I think you ran off with your own payment.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The small, green rock you ran off with.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “They told me you cut open one of the saline bags and dropped the contents. You picked up the rock, hid it, and ran off.”

  “Yes, I did slip when I cut open the bag, and the contents spilled out, such as the heroin and cocaine. I don’t know how secure this line really is, Mr. Roberto 'Tex’ Romano, known fixer for the Sabella Crime Family. You should be more careful.”

  “You took the green rock and we want it back.”

  “Oh, I can honestly say I do not have it.”

  “But we know you must have taken it. Nurse Rosetta said as much… before she died.”

  “What?” Dan felt his heart drop into his stomach.

  “Yes, we thought she must have taken it. She had been skimming from us for quite some time. The bitch. However, she profusely denied taking this round emerald stone, but she told us an interesting story. So, naturally, we had the room turned over to find it. Not that hard to deduce that if she did not take it, you did.”

  “Damn, if I knew it was an emerald, I would have kept it. All I saw was a small, Mylar bag falling out of another bag, the ones that held the heroin and cocaine. I dropped to find whatever fell and returned to stapling up your little blood doll.”

  “Give me back the Orb of Genoa.”

  “Fuck you, I don’t have it.”

  “I want back what you took.”

  “You can take your emerald and shove it up your ass.” Dan said and he mouthed the words, I already did.

  “You are trying my patience, Mr. Carter.”

  “That’s Doctor Carter. Let’s take a breath and calm down. I have recently come into some money. How much would it cost to make this all go away?”

  Dan tapped the satchel the once belonged to the Professor.

  “There is no amount of money to pay me off. You made me look bad in front of my superiors. I need to get that rock back to save face with the family.”

  “So, not for, let’s say, um… two hundred and fifty thousand euros?”

  “Not even close. I want that stone.”

  “I don’t fucking have it! Now, go fuck yourself, and never speak to me again!” Dan ended the call and threw his phone across the room.

  His roommates’ faces expressed shock.

  Dan said, “That was my mom. She says, ‘Hello’ to both of you.” And he stormed off to his room.

  Dan called from his room. “Let’s go to the beach! Drinks are on me!”

  “Are you kidding?” John said. “You just made everything worse. I’m out of here before there is a high body count.”

  A voice came from Dan mouth that wasn’t Dan’s.

  “You can’t leave. If you leave, everyone dies tonight, including you.”

  Dan shook his head and blinked multiple times.

  “What the hell was that
?” He asked.

  Steven and John were both dumbstruck after what they had witnessed.

  “How, um, how, did you do that?” John asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Your eyes,” Steven said.

  “What about them?” Dan asked.

  “They glowed green when you said that weird thing to John.”

  “No. Come on, you guys are kidding me.”

  Steven and John shook their heads.

  “Weird,” Dan chuckled, trying to dismiss it. His face became serious and said, “Hey, John, where is your wallet?”

  John rolled his eyes and tapped his pockets looking for his wallet. He knew he had it last night. Did he have it for breakfast? No, he charged it to the room. John checked his luggage and then checked the bedroom and bathroom. It was not there. He could not pay for anything without his wallet.

  John’s phone buzzed when a text arrived. John read it.

  “John, this is Maria, your Uber driver from yesterday morning. I found your wallet underneath the driver’s seat. I can return it to your hotel in an hour or so. I have an airport pick up first.”

  John texted back, “Thank you. I should still be here. If not, please leave it at the front desk.”

  “Well, Dan, are the drinks still on you?”

  *

  The three doctors sun bathed on the beach as they had intended. After working on a great tan, which they headed to a bar on the beach where they hoped to continue their all-day drink-a-thon. So far, Steven was in the lead in that department with a pitcher of blueberry margaritas. John was trying to catch up with shots of tequila. Dan was catching up with Jaeger bombs. They ate, they drank, and they drank some more trying to forget the day before.

  The hours passed quickly and their day was going well until hired goons grabbed them from their beach bar and tossed them into a van. The new kidnappers slapped bags over their heads, which did not scare them as much as it put them to sleep. There was no need to torture them to be quiet. They needed some time to sleep off their alcohol intake.

  When they awoke, they found themselves each tied to a chair inside an unfurnished apartment basement, mostly dark with a cold cement floor. A harsh, bright light hung above them that flickered in an irregular pattern and its humming felt as if they cranked it up to arena concert levels to the three hungover American doctors.