The Spirit Survives

by Gary Williams Ramsey

  After handling this problem I dialed the Shopko offices. I asked the operator to connect me to Leah Hamilton’s office. After three rings a professional female voice answered, “Leah Hamilton’s office, this is Brenda speaking.”

  “Hi Brenda, this is Ben Harris, I’m calling you about Leah.”

  “Ben, are you okay?” We haven’t heard from Leah in days and I know she was looking for you.”

  “I’m okay now, Brenda, but unfortunately I have bad news. Leah is missing and may have been kidnapped. The police have very little to go on but her abandoned car.”

  “Oh my God! Do you think she’s been hurt?”

  “I don’t know anything but I’m going to spend all my time from now on looking for her. I’ll keep you up to date on what I find. Please inform the CEO of the situation”

  “I don’t understand—”

  I interrupted her, “I’ve got to go now. I’ll be in touch.” I hung up. It was time to get to work.

  The next person I called was Rex and he answered on the first ring.

  “Rex, this is Ben. I want to thank you again for all your help. I also wanted you to know that I’m going to spend all my waking hours trying to locate Leah, and I need your help.”

  “You know I’ll do anything I can,” he replied. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I’m going to call in a lot of favors and get the word on the street that anyone harming Leah will be severely dealt with. I overheard the abductors say that they were going to Chicago, and I heard a girl’s name, Lacy or Macy, or something like that. That’s all I have to go on. I’m leaving for Chicago in the morning. When will you be back in the city?”

  “Since I was sent here to assist in finding you, my work in Green Bay is done,” Rex said. “I’ll report to the office in Chicago tomorrow afternoon. Maybe we can book our flights together.”

  “Okay, I’ll call you the airline and flight number when I get my ticket.”

  “Why don’t you stay at the Presidential Towers in Chicago? It’s central to the office and would be convenient and comfortable. I’ll be happy to get my assistant at the Department to make reservations for you.”

  “Thanks Rex, that’s fine with me. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”

  “Oh Ben, one other thing, the vet who is boarding the wolf called and wanted to know what to do with the animal. Will you handle that? It’s Doctor Podany at 920-555-9878.”

  “Thanks Rex, I’ll handle it.”

  I had forgotten all about the wolf and the recollection of being trapped in the cave came flooding back. The memory of the wolf and the bonding made me take a deep breath. I will not abandon him now.

  I hung up the phone and called Northwest Airlines to book my flight, departing at 10:00 a.m. from Green Bay to Chicago O’Hare. I called Rex back and gave him the information.

  I then called Dr. Podany and told him I would be personally responsible for the expenses regarding the wolf. I gave him a credit card number and told him to board the wolf until I could come by to get him. The good doctor agreed.

  Chapter 65

  Sergey walked to the bar and poured another glass of Diva vodka. He strolled to the kitchen table, put the glass down and sat on the chair, glaring at Bo. He grinned at the big man. Blood was still oozing from Bo’s face where Sergey had kicked him. He had a cloth stuffed in his mouth, but his eyes exhibited fear. The girl was secured to another chair, gagged, but her head was hung to her chest and her eyes were closed. She must have passed out, Sergey thought. He grabbed a handful of hair and jerked her head back. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Her eyes looked like those of a dead person, but Sergey still appreciated her beauty. He looked at her body and felt stirring in his groin. Maybe he would play with her later. He walked back to Lopez, business over pleasure.

  “Well Bo Lopez,” Sergey said in a calm, almost sympathetic voice, “are you ready to tell me what happened to my daughter?” Sergey reached to his belt and took out a Colt .45 revolver and screwed on a silencer, “You know Bo, this is the same type of gun you killed my daughter with.” He smiled at Bo again.

  Bo nodded.

  “Okay,” Sergey said, “I’m going to take the cloth out of your mouth. If you yell, I’ll shoot you in the balls. Do you understand?”

  Bo nodded again.

  Sergey ripped the cloth from his mouth and threw it to the floor. He walked back to his chair, sat down and took a long pull from his drink. “Tell me what happened.”

  Bo took a deep breath and began, “Sergey, we didn’t know that the girl was your daughter. Elezar Fernendez hired me to kill a girl. He didn’t tell me her last name, only where we could find her, and what she looked like. If I had known it was your daughter, I would have told him to go to hell.”

  “How did you kill her?” Sergey asked still in a calm, friendly voice.

  “Shot her.”

  “Did you rape her?” Sergey asked.

  Bo saw the fire in Sergey’s eyes when he asked the question. “No, I didn’t.”

  Sergey unexpectedly yelled, “Bern, come in here!” The big Russian who had tied up Bo and Leah came into the kitchen. “Bring this piece of shit to me and put his hand on the table,” Sergey ordered the Russian.

  Bern easily lifted the chair and set it down by the table. He untied Bo’s left hand, slammed it on the table and held it down. Sergey walked to the cabinet, reached under the sink and grabbed a set of pruning shears. He went back to the table, picked up the cloth he had taken from Bo’s mouth and stuffed it back in.

  “Hold his hand down,” he said to Bern. Sergey put Bo’s index finger between the blades of the sheers, grinned at the big man and snapped the blades shut.

  Bo’s index finger flew forward, severed from the hand. He tried to scream but the cloth reduced it to grunts. Blood spurted from the nub.

  “Bandage that Bern, we don’t want him to bleed to death.” Sergey said calmly.

  Bern grabbed a dishcloth, wrapped it around the wound, taped it tightly with duct tape and retied Bo’s hand behind his back.

  “Don’t lie to me again, you bastard,” Sergey hissed. He finished his vodka, set his glass down and said, “Okay I’m going to ask you again. Did you rape my daughter?” He took the cloth out of Bo’s mouth, and waited for an answer.

  Bo was gasping for breath. The pain from his hand was devastating. He managed to pant, “I didn’t rape her. It was Cherokee.”

  “Did you hold her down?” Sergey inquired calmly.

  Bo swallowed, and between clenched teeth replied, “Yes.”

  Sergey sprang from his chair and hurled his vodka glass to the floor. The glass shattered. His body trembled with rage. He selected a large piece of the shattered glass, walked to Bo’s side and shoved the cloth in Bo’s mouth. He looked at the piece of glass in his hand, moved it so the pointed end was out. Without saying anything, he jammed it in Bo’s left eye.

  Bo tried to scream again, gagged on the cloth in his mouth and then passed out.

  Sergey left the piece of shattered glass stuck in his eye and went back to the bar for another drink. As he poured the glass of Diva vodka he said casually, “Bern go in and take the glass out of the man’s eye and bandage it, and while you’re there clean up the glass and blood on the floor.”

  Bern responded, “Yes Boss,” and proceeded to the kitchen to comply with Sergey’s orders.

  While waiting for Bern to clean up the mess, Sergey walked to the aquarium, where the Irukandsi jellyfish floated majestically. Its beauty contrasted with the deadly sting, which brought excruciating pain to the bitten. Some say it is the worst pain a man could ever encounter. Sergey observed its majestic movements, smiled and sipped his vodka. After a few moments, he heard Bern’s voice from the kitchen, “Okay boss, I’m finished.” Sergey walked back to the kitchen to the chair where Bo was tied. The bandage on the eye was just a washcloth on the eye held on by duct tape. He hurled the remainder of the vodka in Bo’s face and the big man’s other eye opened.

&nb
sp; The look of horror which was present in Bo’s eyes previously was replaced by rage and hatred. Sergey removed the cloth from Bo’s mouth, “Who other than Elazar Fernedez paid you to kill Veronika?”

  Bo watched him with his one bloodshot eye. He lifted his chin and spit in Sergey’s face, “Fuck you!” he wheezed and spit again.

  Sergey moved back, took his handkerchief from his back pocket, and mopped off the spittle. He walked over to the table and grabbed his Colt .45 with the silencer. He calmly strolled over to Bo, put the gag back in his mouth, pointed the gun at his testicles and fired. Blood spurted from the wound and Bo passed out again.

  Bern was sitting in the living room waiting on orders from Sergey. He had facilitated on other occasions, when his boss punished an enemy. There was no cruelty that Sergey wouldn’t apply and Bern had seen it all. He knew how this would end, and he glanced over at the aquarium.

  “Bern, go in there and bandage the gunshot wound, a towel and some duct tape should do it. I don’t want his damn blood on my carpet here in the living room. When you have the job finished, bring him in here and put the chair in front of the aquarium.”

  Bern nodded and went to the kitchen.

  Sergey walked to the west wall of the condo and stood in front of the picture of his beloved Veronika. “My darling he is suffering for what he did to you, and I’m not finished. That scum is paying for taking you away from me!” Sergey lowered his head and wiped the tears from his eyes. He bit his lip and walked back to the aquarium. He heard a noise and turned to see Bern hauling the chair with Bo’s broken body in it. He could see Bo’s eye open. Bern deposited the chair in front of the aquarium.

  “Stay here Bern, I need your help,” Sergey said.

  He saw Bo look at the aquarium and shut his eye. “Get me a box cutter,” he ordered.

  Bern went to the kitchen looked in the tool chest in the cabinet under the sink and brought him a box cutter.

  Sergey pushed the razor blade all the way out. “Hold his head still,” he said. Bern placed Bo’s head in a vice lock between his enormous hands. Sergey carefully pulled the eyelid out and cut it off with the razor. “I want you to watch everything you bastard,” he said to Bo. He stuffed the severed eyelid in Bo’s shirt pocket. He gazed at Bo’s stark lidless eye. “Do you what this is, Bo? It’s an Irukandsi jellyfish. Don’t you think it’s beautiful? In a few minutes, I’m going to shove your right arm into that tank. I think that’s the arm and the hand that pulled the trigger to kill my daughter. The jellyfish is going to sting you. When the poison enters your system the pain and agony you have felt so far are nothing like the pain you’ll feel while you’re dying. Think about that, you scumbag. Okay Bern, let’s finish this thing.”

  Bern cut the ropes that secured Bo to the chair and stood him up. He untied the right arm, and held the big man up.

  Sergey took the top cover from the aquarium and placed it aside. Bo was too weak to struggle. Sergey cut off the sleeve of Bo’s shirt, exposing his bare arm. He carefully placed the arm in the water. The jellyfish darted directly to the naked arm and clung to the skin, stinging time and time again. Sergey felt Bo’s body stiffen. He removed the arm and he and Bern placed Bo’s body on the floor. Sergey watched as the poison entered the system and the body started thrashing in agony.

  Bo Lopez, who had murdered so many human beings for money with no remorse, had experienced pain that few mortal men had endured before. Within ten minutes the body ceased twitching and Bo’s soul was on the way to hell.

  “Get this piece of shit out of my home,” Sergey told Bern. “I want you and the boys to take it to a wood grinder and pulverize every piece of meat and bones and muscle in his body. Then I want you to bag it. Give me a couple of hours with the girl, and then I want you to come back and take her and Lopez’s remains to Houston. Give the girl to my man, Viadislav Lenechka. He has contacts with the Arabs and can sell her. Then I need for you to drive Bo’s remains to Galveston Island and dump them in the ocean. I want the sharks and the crabs to eat his flesh and bones. When you return for the girl, clean up this mess. Then I’m going home. My wife and I have a dinner date with the mayor.”

  Chapter 66

  Macy stopped at the first motel she saw. There was a Denney’s restaurant beside the Comfort Inn. She parked the Lincoln in the Denny’s parking lot, knowing that the police or the Russians or even Bastone would be looking for it as soon as the Russian’s bodies were found. She understood that the remains of the two Russians would not be found until morning so at least she could get good night’s sleep. She walked across the parking lot, checked in at the motel desk and proceeded to her room. The first thing she did was to take a long shower to wash the remains of the stinking Russian sweat off her body. She rested naked on the bed thinking of what to do next. She decided to call the FBI offices the first thing in the morning to check in. They still believed that she was a plant in the Mafia and the bureau had given a wide berth to secure information.

  She remained a trusted agent. The Benefactor had told Bastone that Macy was under investigation. That was a lie. The Benefactor was just weaving his web, getting Bastone in deeper into his debt.

  Macy realized that she was starving. She found a flier next to the phone for Antonio’s Pizza and Pasta, dialed the number and ordered a medium sausage and onion pizza and a liter of Diet Pepsi. She decided to call Enterprise car rental the next morning and get a car delivered. Then she could set up a secure place to stay, while she planned revenge on that bastard Bastone.

  First she decided to destroy his reputation with La Cosa Nostra and then kill him.

  In about thirty minutes the pizza arrived. She put a towel around her body, went to the door and handed the delivery boy a twenty dollar bill. He almost dropped the pizza when he saw this delicious dark haired woman wearing only a towel. Macy was familiar with this response from men, so she just smiled, took the pizza and the Pepsi and closed the door. She spread the towel on the bed, got a glass from the bathroom, filled it with Pepsi and set it on the end table. The pizza was hot with a thin crispy crust and was wonderful. She ate about half of it, had two glasses of soft drink and discarded the rest in the trash can. She got under the covers, turned off the light and immediately fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

  Macy awakened at about 9:00 a.m., rested and relaxed. She took a shower and dressed in the only clothes she had, the Russian’s shirt and her soiled pants. She brewed a pot of coffee in the pot provided in the room and drank three cups. Macy looked up Enterprise and made arrangements for a car to be delivered without delay. She needed to find a new place to operate from before the Lincoln was discovered. She was surprised when there was a knock on the door after only twenty-five minutes. She answered the door and a thirty-something bald guy, who introduced himself as Steve, said he was there with her car from Enterprise. She looked outside and a red Toyota Camry was parked in front of the door. She asked Steve to wait in the car while she checked out. He offered to help with her luggage, but she told him there was no luggage. She hurried to the desk, paid cash, and checked out.

  Steve took her back to the Enterprise office, and they completed the paperwork. By 10:00 a.m. Macy was on her way. She drove to Appleton, Wisconsin, which was about thirty miles south of Green Bay. She stopped at a Burger King, ordered a sausage biscuit and orange juice and ask the woman at the counter what was the best hotel in Appleton. The woman immediately answered that it was the Radisson Valley Paper Hotel on College Ave. Macy got directions and sat down and finished her breakfast. She left the restaurant and proceeded to the Radisson.

  Macy decided to experience a little luxury after the hell she’d been through. She asked for the Presidential Suite at the hotel. The desk clerk was skeptical, but when Macy took out a roll of bills and handed him a deposit of two thousand dollars, his hesitancy turned to, “Very happy to have you at our hotel.” She was pleased that she was putting the money that Bastone had paid the Russians to good use.

  She decided to call the F
BI offices first, then go to the Fox River Mall to Marshal Fields and purchase some new clothes.

  She grabbed her cell and pushed the speed dial for her FBI contact.

  “This is Bill Turney,” the familiar voice said.

  “Bill, this is Macy. I’ve had some problems, and I needed to check in with you. I want you to fill me in on a few things.”

  “Thank God you called,” Bill answered, “We thought you’d been compromised or maybe even killed! What happened to you?”

  “I was with Bastone at the Residence Inn in Green Bay. He had a deal with the Russians to take a man named Bo Lopez and a woman I know nothing about to Chicago for Sergey Ivanova. There was a dead man on the floor, and Bastone left another Mafia guy to clean up the mess.” Macy had to be careful not to tell Agent Turney too much. She had to maintain her trustworthiness with the FBI by providing information, but not enough to put her in doubt.

  “Macy, we’ve been involved in that situation. A Chicago Assistant Police Chief named Rex Herns called us when it was obvious to him that La Cosa Nostra was involved. The guy you thought was dead was a former cop by the name of Ben Harris. He wasn’t dead, just injured, and he captured a low level Mafia guy and called Chief Herns. The girl they took was his fiancée and he’ll do anything to get her back. I checked the guy out. They don’t know who they are messing with. This Ben Harris is a bad ass, a former Special Forces guy, and a decorated police officer. I wouldn’t want to be on his enemy list.”

  “Do you have any information on how I can reach him? He may be able help to my investigation.”

  “Of course I do. Why do you doubt my attention to detail?” He chuckled. “920-555-9809 is his cell number. Do you need anything else?”

  “Not now. I’ll be in touch soon.”

  Macy hung up the cell phone and smiled. An idea had already fashioned in her mind. If this Harris was such a bad ass, she needed to put him on Bastone. Maybe he could save her the trouble and kill him. Bastone needed to be dead. He knew too much about her, and he was the bastard who contracted to kill her. She also realized that the phone call on the plane had something to do with the attempted murder. She suspected that it was from the Benefactor. She knew Bastone had close ties to him.