H When hell is the favourable option

by David Jaundrell

  ‘Good morning’ he said politely ‘I am just going to see my daughter and Mr James’

  ‘Of course Mr Reyes, go on up’

  He turned and was moving away when she said ‘I think you've just missed the priest….’

  Senor Reyes looked perplexed ‘Priest….?’

  ‘The one you asked to help Mr James’

  Senor Reyes immediately ran for the lift and shouted as he went ‘Get a doctor. Immediately! And ring the police!’

  When he arrived at James room he found the Secure Security man sitting outside.

  ‘A priest?’ he demanded ‘Has a priest been in here?’

  ‘Yeah’ said the man apprehensively ‘But I was told it was ok to let him in.’ He started to fluster ‘I checked…..they said it was ok……they did’

  As Senor Reyes entered the room a doctor arrived……. ‘What's wrong?’

  ‘We've had an intruder in the room. He may have tried to kill James…..’

  The doctor went to James and watched. Face….relaxed. Posture….relaxed.

  Breathing …..relaxed. He felt his pulse……normal. He looked over to the monitoring equipment and checked every detail…..everything normal.

  ‘There's nothing untoward that's obvious’ said the doctor ‘A poison would have had quick and dramatic effects by now as would anyone tampering with the oxygen’

  He put a stethoscope to James heart ‘Its fine’. He thought for a moment. ‘I think we'll do some blood tests to make sure that he has been given nothing that is slow acting…….. just in case. And we'll also hook him up to the emergency alarm system straight to the desk should there be any relapse’

  Both Senor Reyes and the Doctor had missed the envelope on the bedside table which would have told them exactly what fate was going to befall James…….

  H Chapter 47

  The Cabal

  The leader of the cabal was having doubts. In their own country it was of no consequence if you were known; better if you were. If people had heard of you, feared you, avoided you….things happened. Fear was a wonderful motivator. That's why he had sent Ramon. It was a message. It said we are omnipotent! Don't stand up to us; you can't win!

  The day after the meeting he had heard nothing. Fucking nothing!! He raged at his son and his tardiness. He rang Ramón's home in England and got his wife. Before she had chance to say anything he screamed ‘Where the fuck is Ramon?’

  She was terrified. This man…this animal…..had raped her when she had once gone to his house to deliver something for Ramon. To shut her up he threatened to kill her child…….her child! She struggled to speak ‘I have not seen him since yesterday……. He did not come back last night……’ she choked. Trying to help and offer mitigation she ventured ‘Perhaps he got drunk…’

  For her help she got a torrent of vile abuse screamed at her and the promise of another good fucking if he ever met her again. In his world women fucked and cooked but did not make suggestions! He slammed the phone down!

  They decided to wait one more day and meet up at the hotel again to decide their next plan of action. They were not concerned as no one in their right mind would harm their emissary - his son - as they would understand the consequences if they did. They had already ‘killed’ the boss so they knew any retaliation would be their last. No, there had to be a more obvious explanation and maybe the whore had been right; he had got drunk. That was more than likely it. The clubs had agreed to everything and the prick had gone out and had a drink to celebrate his fucking wonderful negotiations skills and hadn't stopped.

  Fucking idiot!

  He thought a moment about his sons whore and put his hand in his trouser pocket………

  H Chapter 48

  Benshima

  Senora Reyes was sitting at Benshima's bedside stroking her hand when Benny opened her eyes. Because of the drugs and the days of sedation she struggled to keep them open but after a little while the haze cleared. ‘Mama’

  Mama leaned over the bed and held her daughter as tightly as the wounds would permit.

  ‘How are you my love’ she asked and died inside when Benshima said ‘I'm okay mama …………how is James……..?’

  She had been dreading this. She had rehearsed her answer but now could not remember it…..

  ‘He's okay my love. Poorly but okay’

  She moved the conversation quickly ‘How do you feel my love?’

  Benshima looked into her mothers eyes and said softly ‘Tell me the truth. How is James……?’ Tears flooded into her eyes ‘Is he dead?’

  It was too much for Senora Reyes who burst into tears. She was a strong woman but this was a living nightmare. She was a mother. Benshima's mother. Her daughter had been shot! Shot twice! What bastardowould do that? Why did she have to be gunned down? Why should a mother have to accept that her daughter should be gunned down in cold blood? She held both of Benshima's hands in hers.

  ‘He is not dead my little hija but he is very poorly. The bullet that hit him in the head put him into a coma. There is brain activity but what it means we do not yet know’

  Benshima covered here eyes and cried ‘James’ she wailed ‘James……….’

  She cried continually for several minutes then suddenly she gained strength. Strength through purpose.

  ‘Can I see him now?

  ‘As soon as the doctor says you can be moved; you have a lot of stitches in you but then arrangements have been made’.

  ‘I want to go now’ she insisted.

  ‘Have one more nights sleep my love. Heal just a little more and it will be done’

  ‘Now………’ she said insistently. ‘It's very important…..’

  ‘I know’ Senora Reyes said softly. ‘I know……..’

  Benshima looked questioningly at her mother. That tone in her voice? She knew that tone? ‘You know?’

  Senora Reyes nodded slowly.

  Benshima looked alarmed. ‘How do you know?

  Her mother could not speak and tears welled in her eyes. She tried desperately to stay in control but it was overwhelming. The never ending nightmare…….

  ‘How do you know…..?’

  ‘The doctor………..’

  ‘And?’ she said urgently ‘……and?….and?…….and?

  She gripped her mother tightly and shouted ‘And?!’

  Her mother shook her head and sobbed. Benshima broke down and her wailing became loud and pitiful. She banged on the bed with her fist and shouted ‘Bastards!….Bastards!….Bastards!…..Bastards!’

  The door flew open and a nurse appeared. Senora Reyes held up her hand, shook her head and the nurse stood by the door. In case…… Through her anguish Benshima said to her mother ‘They've killed my baby……?

  Her mother nodded slowly and Benshima slipped into a hell of despair where no one could reach her. The nurse went out and a moment later a doctor appeared who quickly sedated her and let her slip into a deep sleep……

  H Chapter 49

  H lies quite still 4

  H was sure he had them arguing in his head

  You are pretty useless

  I’m not!

  Are

  Not!

  You don’t know what to do!

  Do

  Don’t!

  And so it went on………

  H Chapter 50

  The Cabal

  The cabal met again the next day on the top floor. It was early evening and work on the hotel had stopped for the weekend. They were alone save for their black 4 x 4s waiting patiently for them in the underground car park. Ramon had heard nothing and he was livid. The others kept their counsel as he could easily put a knife in their chest. His anger was fuelled by his lack of knowledge. What the fuck was going on? He rung the whore again and she had not seen his son, the worthless cunt, and still not a word. Not a fucking word!

  ‘What do we do?’ demanded Ramon of the others but got no replies. Who the fuck was going to tell him anything when he was in this state?


  ‘I'll tell you what we fucking do you useless cunts’ screamed Ramon senior ‘we kill the fucking lot of them!’

  Without thinking one of them said ‘In England? We go to England and we kill them all?’

  ‘Are you making fucking fun of me?’ screamed Ramon hysterically and pulled a small Uzi semi automatic from his coat.

  ‘Of course not, just calm down, calm down Ramón. We're on the same side. We've got enough problems without fighting amongst ourselves’

  ‘Then just be careful. Be very fucking careful’

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Asked another ‘because from where I'm looking we're fucked. We made our play and unless I'm sorely mistaken we've been shown the door. We have no information, no power, no anything’.

  ‘Are you saying’ screamed Ramon ‘that we walk away? It that what you're fucking suggesting? We've paid a small fortune to have someone killed, my son is who knows fucking where and could be dead in a fucking ditch and you want to walk away? What the fuck are you? English?’

  The man declined to say what he thought. That the English did not appear to have walked away from this…….

  ‘We have to attack. We have to take the initiative. We have to ring them and tell them we'll burn it all down if they don't give it us. The bastards have to be shown whose boss. We are the boss’ he shouted ‘We are the boss!’

  Ramon slammed his fist into the wall.

  No one said anything. Let the fucking maniac cool down

  ‘Let's take a moment to calm down’ said one ‘Here let's have a glass of wine and work out a way forward’

  He uncorked two bottles then went around the table filling the glasses. Temperatures cooled and a reasonable amount of analysis started about where they could go next…..?

  A short distance away and well below their line of sight a driverless remote operated crane had started up. It had been used for the metal structure and was only waiting for the arrival of the air conditioning units which it would hoist to the roof and then it would go back to the hire company. The gantry of the crane dipped down to earth like a pecking bird then after a few moments it started to rise. The gantry extended to take it up to its full height…..

  They were getting nowhere and Ramon was getting angry again.

  ‘Fuck!’ he screamed and his Uzi barked a hail of bullets from its muzzle and buried themselves in the wall. Where was that fucking son of his? Where the fuck was he? Why hadn't he rung?

  ‘Please….Ramon…..sit down…..sit down’ an associate pleaded ‘Please….

  They talked, Ramon shouted, for a few more minutes then he noticed the man sitting opposite staring, wide eyed, at something behind his shoulder. Two others followed his gaze; their jaws involuntarily dropping as they did so….

  Ramon looked round and for a moment he didn't understand. Then he did. Paralysed he watched the crane move higher and then its arm extended until it was directly above them. And there, sixty feet out of reach, dangling by his legs on the hook from the gantry was Ramon junior; his son. His only son.

  ‘Ramon’ he screamed. Ramon junior was gagged but he emitted a dreadful muffled sound and his terror contorted face screamed of his nightmare.

  ‘Hang on’ yelled his father, his fury making him blind to the fact that Ramon junior had no say in the matter. His father was just about to turn and run downstairs when he saw the hook slowly open and his son start his journey downwards toward them.

  A rope trailed behind him still attached to the crane. He plummeted down head first until, ten feet above them, the rope that was around his sons neck went taut and flipped him head over heels. For a second he just hung there, suspended, then his body slowly released itself from his head and continued downwards landing with a soft thud by them on the roof.

  Ramon juniors head just stayed there, cradled in the noose that had been around his neck and then it slowly tumbled out and continued its halted journey to follow its dismembered body to the ground. His head hit the floor, bounced and rolled towards his father. Its dead eyes looked up at him and blood trickled out of his neck.

  Ramon recoiled in horror, then an all consuming need for revenge swept through him. He let out a loud scream of agony and ran to the wall and looked over but saw no one. Changing tack he ran to the lift which would take him to the basement and the 4 x 4s. The lift was still at the top but it took too long to open and Ramon kicked it in a wild frenzy. Like most things in Ramón's life the lift appeared to immediately respond to aggression and it opened and they piled in. Again it took a moment or two to respond to the constantly pressed button so he screamed abuse at it and smashed the lift with his fist and kept smashing it all the way down.

  As they got out in the basement they noticed not only four gleaming black BMW 4 x 4s but another four, dirty, older cars. Who the fuck was using their,their, car park? They had left strict instruction that at weekends no one must use their site. For Anything! No one! Their anger towards the cars was almost as vile as their anger towards the unseen killers of Ramon junior. They had an automatic psychopathic reaction to being crossed and as they ran towards their own cars to get their sub machine guns they made mental notes to hurt whoever had dared to use their, their, car park.

  Collecting their guns from the holding bays under the seats they turned to head towards the sunshine that streamed in from the entrance. They had gone less than five yards when they heard the car alarm go off on one of the old cars and its piercing shrill note bounced around the empty basement car park.

  Ramon, fuelled by raging anger, adrenalin and a need to inflict pain led the group and was half way to the entrance when the alarm stopped…….

  Almost immediately the first bomb detonated and a blinding flash erupted from it. The force ripped the old car apart and a door hurtled like a Frisbee through the air and caught one of the running men waist high and sliced him in two. The bombs in the other old cars exploded immediately and the remaining gang members were thrown to the floor by the blast. Two of the BMWs were forced over and rolled across the basement floor. For a moment there was an eerie calm……. Ramon rose up a fraction and looked around him. Although it was difficult to see through the dust there was something missing but he wasn't quite sure what?

  When he realised it was too late…..

  The supporting pillars that the cars had been parked by were no longer there……..destroyed in the blast. Ramón's mind automatically but involuntarily worked it out……if there are no supporting pillars then…..

  He heard a long creaking groan and watched, helpless and terrified as the hotel, still intact, dropped twenty feet onto the basement floor. And him….

  His scream, the cabal and their dreams, were flattened beneath seven thousand two hundred tonnes of reinforced concrete…..

  Their dream 300 room holiday hotel stood there for a moment, exactly the same, just twenty feet shorter, showing off its rooms with sea views, and then it dropped the remaining eighty feet and disintegrated leaving behind only a growing cloud of dust…..

  Two miles away the new Hotel Manager was having a sandwich when he heard a muffled blast then a long whoosh.He looked out of his hotel window towards the sound which had come from the direction of his new hotel that he could just about see as a speck in the distance from his room. Shading his eyes from the sun for a better view he could see nothing but a large cloud of dust.

  What was that?

  Who cares?

  It could be anything?

  Who knew what they did around here in this backward place? Could even be the whole friggin town beating their carpets? He grinned…. National Carpet Beating Day. That must be it.

  Bring the family….

  Step up now….

  Knock over a duck,

  Have a pig roast,

  Enjoy the rides at the fair,

  Have a hot dog,

  Have your fortune told….

  He grinned to himself and went back to his sandwich. Life would be much better when he had his own room in the new hotel a
nd staff to wait on him hand and foot……and dick.

  H Chapter 51

  H lies quite still 5

  H heard them arguing. He was sure of it.

  If we put that there, and that there, and that there…..then that will allow that to go from there to there……

  Can’t see it. Just can’t see it. Look…..if we connect that to that, and that to that….and that to that….surely that’s better?

  I’m not sure….

  It isn’t as though mending brains was something we’ve done before is it? I mean he’s had one or two punches to the head because he’s somewhat of a pugilist, or thinks he is, but that’s different. A bit of swelling, too much pressure here and there, cocking up the circuitry for a bit but hardly noticeable and something we can easily mend. But this…….?

  Anyhow….

  How about we do mine first and if that doesn’t work we’ll do yours and see what that does…..?

  H Chapter 52

  The hospital

  Benny was transferred back to the original hospital to be close to her beloved James. She was still in a considerable amount of pain but it was essentially where the bullets had left her body and the tissue was ripped. Kaye, the replacement for Payne, had a word with the Chief Executive and managed to get her a room very close to H and permission to have her bed pushed next to him in the daytime so that she could touch and talk to him.

  Although Benshima wanted instinctively to be with and protect her man she was actually providing exactly what he needed; sensory contact which was absolutely essential for a coma victim.

  The next time Kaye visited H he found Benny by his side. He introduced himself and Benny said ‘Tell me Mr Kaye what exactly is the situation with James? Exactly…..’

  Kaye pulled up a chair ‘Do you want the good news or the bad news?’

  ‘I don't want any kind of news and I don't want to play games. I asked you to tell me about James and I would appreciate it if you did….’