“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.
He screamed in pain and I felt the bone crack in his knee. I gave it one final jerk and rotated off his body. I rolled him over and picked him up by his collar and slammed him against the wall.
My anger was almost too much for me to control. I put my right hand on his neck, held him against the wall and shot two left uppercuts to his gut. Now he had cracked ribs to go with his fractured knee.
I continued to choke him with my right hand. His face was turning blue when I heard Macy’s yell, “Don’t kill him Ben, we need his information!”
I shook my head and let his unconscious body fall to the floor.
“Get me an ambulance.” Macy’s voice was a whisper.
I rushed to the phone and dialed 911, “Officer down, officer down,” I shouted into the phone. I gave the operator the address and rushed over to aid Macy. I ripped off my shirt and pushed it against her wound and applied pressure. There was a pool of blood on the floor beneath her. Her heart was still beating, but she passed out.
I heard the sirens in the distance as I held her in my arms, keeping pressure on the wound. Within minutes the paramedics were there. They took her from my arms, put her on the gurney and wheeled her away.
As they left, three policemen burst into the door, guns drawn. I was sitting on the floor bleeding from the fight, two dead bodies to my left and the dead body of Sergey in front of the aquarium. Rex Herns lay unconscious against the far wall.
Before I could say anything the policeman pushed my face down on the floor and cuffed me. Another policeman searched Rex’s body and found his badge. “This is Assistant Chief Herns,” he shouted to the cop cuffing me. “We need help here. Call another paramedic.”
I tried to explain, but the policeman told me to shut up. Within minutes another pair of paramedics had Rex on a gurney and out the door.
I couldn’t believe that he might get away with this. I managed to say, “Call the FBI. Call the FBI. He tried to kill me and Special Agent Singh. You’ve got to talk to her!”
The pol
iceman just read me my rights and shoved me out the door to the parking area and then into the police car.
* * *
By the time we got to the police station the chief was waiting at the door. “Let him go,” he ordered. “Herns was dirty. The FBI agent was wearing a recording device. We know that Herns was a dirty cop.”
The policeman looked surprised but uncuffed me.
“Please, may I make an urgent phone call,” I asked the chief.
“Certainly,” he said and led me to his office. I punched in Gerry’s number in Houston and anxiously waited for him to answer. I hoped Leah wasn’t already dead. On the third ring he answered, “Special Agent Stewart.”
“Gerry this is Ben. Leah’s in danger! Ivanova put a hit on her.”
“Ben, I’ve been trying to call you for hours on your cell. Leah is fine, don’t worry. I know how the Russian Mafia works, so I had a female agent undercover in the rehab center. An attempt was made, but we stopped it. She’s fine. The doctor said she’s much better and is asking for you. She still needs treatment for a full recovery, but the doctor said she is making great improvement.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed in the chair. Maybe our ordeal was finally over.
I immediately booked a flight to Houston. Finally, we could together, and I planned to set a wedding date as soon as possible.
My last thought before leaving the Chicago police station was of the wolf.
Epilogue
Ben Harris and Leah Hamilton were married six months after their ordeal was over. Ben was approached by the Police Chief in Houston and offered his former position of Assistant Chief on the police force. He and Leah agreed that he should accept it.
Leah was later offered a position as a prosecutor for the City of Houston. Her performance was outstanding and she became well known in the circles of power in the city. She is rumored to be preparing a run for the elected position of district judge.
Right after Ben returned to Houston, he and Leah took a flight to Green Bay where they visited the vet’s office to pick up the wolf. The animal was submissive in Ben’s presence. They took the wolf back to Lookout Mountain and set him free. Just before he ran off, he looked at Ben with his soulful eyes, licked his outstretched hand and Ben knew that he had a friend for life. Ben and Leah have visited Lookout Mountain several times since then, but have never seen the wolf again.
Macy completely recovered and was credited with smashing the Russian mafia in Chicago. She was promoted and is presently second-in-command in the Phoenix FBI offices. She provided well for her family and brought them to the United States to live. She later became engaged to the junior senator from Arizona and a June wedding is planned.
The Benefactor cut a deal with the feds in Chicago in return for his testimony against the Russian mafia and the Mexican drug cartels. He only served four years in a minimum security prison. They never found his collection.
Upon his release from prison, his life was immediately threatened, and he is presently in the federal witness protection program.
There have been several reports in Montana that women have been found murdered with their eyes gouged out.
There are no suspects in custody.
– THE END –
Gary William Ramsey was born in Monroe, North Carolina. He graduated from Western Carolina University with degrees in business administration and social sciences. He had a highly successful career in retail, achieving the titles of president and CEO of two major corporations. He presently resided in Kemah, Texas with his wife, Susan.
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