by Sam Wilson
"Where to miss?" he asked in his Texan accent
"Waldorf-Astoria" she said, her voice as cold as the winter air
Approximately an hour and twenty minutes later she arrived at 301 Park Avenue, Susan paid sixty dollars for the trip, the driver over charged her but she let it slide because she was in a good mood. She feels at home at the Astoria, she checked herself in; a bellboy carried her bags and escorted her to the tower suite. This is where I belong she thought with a smile when she entered her suite. “This I can get use to” she said aloud. The bellboy was thankful for the big tip she gave and he hoped for more in the coming days.
- - -
Her eyes slowly opened "good morning" she said to herself, she got out of bed in her White silk night gown and slide the curtains open illuminating the room. There was frost on the window ledge showing no sign of melting anytime soon; I love New York she thought with a smile. "This is going to be a good day" she had made up her mind, for the first time in a long time she felt joy on the inside. In broad day light on 5th avenue a young man embraced an older man in his sixties, holding him so tight that he couldn't move, the older gentleman protested but to no avail. He tried biting the younger man but his teeth fell out, he screamed for help, nothing happened. Other people stood and watched, making no attempt to stop the attack on the poor man, some thought it had something to do with a family feud, others simply didn't want to stick their nose where it didn't belong. While the older gentleman was being hugged against his will, another young man robbed him of his wallet, Raymond Wales’s wristwatch, a gold ring and bracelet from behind. Some bystanders later pursued the young men in their early twenties, but they were too fast to be caught. Susan listened to the older gentleman tells his unfortunate story to his daughter, his daughter sympathized with him so did Susan. She later thought that it's such a cliché cause mugging stories are so commonly told in New York, she hopped it doesn't happen to her, she doesn't know how she might react. A strong smell of Chanel number 5 engulfed her from behind when two hands covered her eyes and a joyous and familiar voice said
"Guess who?"
"Emmmm, a want to be Nubian Queen?" Susan offered with a laugh
"Silly woman" she removed her hands. The woman was Belinda Sultan, an old friend.
They laughed simultaneously, hugged, and sat down opposite one another.
"Susan, it has been a while, did you miss me?" Belinda asked
"Nope" Susan lied. A broad smile played across her face
"Liar!" Belinda softly said with a laugh
Susan chuckled
"Ok, maybe a little bit, did you miss me?" she asked
"I did nothing else" Belinda said with a little bit of honesty
The waiter came and interrupted. They laughed then ordered breakfast and continued catching up; they had a lot to talk about. They used to run the hair and nail salon together before Belinda had decided to sell her share in the salon to Susan, taking all of her savings and heading to New York for a new life. Susan loves her blended British and Jamaican accent; people just love it when she speaks. Of course she knows nothing about Susan's other hobby. After breakfast in the meat packing district, Belinda took Susan out for sight seeing, when they got back to the hotel at about seven o' clock that evening Susan had flowers waiting for her at the reception. They are from Victor; he dropped them off himself with a poem. Susan was impressed with the creative shortened version of a poem called the Invitation written by Oriah: Mountain dreamer.
"It most have taking him a lot of time and effort to shorten such a long poem" Susan said blushing
Belinda became very curious, Susan told her everything about meeting the mysterious Victor on the flight to New York. After wards, they had dinner at the hotel and went dancing the night away at a trendy salsa bar in Manhattan. A good start but it's about to get more interesting.
It's pouring down with rain, Susan stood in front of the hotel's glass doors, held open by a stocky doorman who greeted her with a smile, a man turned up his suit collar and jogged straight into the drizzling rain, to his car that is parked about a hundred and fifty meters away. Susan smiled at the thought of a turned up collar as protection from rain, what is it suppose to do, protect the neck from water? A taxi pulled in front of Susan, she told the driver to just drive around the city, her day's plan is simple, sight see, go to a museum or art gallery then meet Victor for dinner in the evening. It wasn't a promising start but as it approached midday, the rain stopped and the sun forced its way through the clouds, though it was still cold people flocked like moth to light onto the streets. Susan stopped to have coffee at a small coffee house that attracted her in Time Square, opposite the cafe is an Art gallery called FIRM HANDS; she walked in and fed her eyes.
In the evening she met Victor at restaurant Joanina on 35A Gerard street in Huntington village, Victor was waiting for her by the bar, upon seeing her walk into the restaurant, he immediately got up and went to her, she was flattered by the attention.
"You look beautiful tonight "he said and took her hand, kissing it gently
"Thank you, nice tie" she said in response
"I wanted to impress you" he grinned
She smiled, at that moment a waiter walked up to them and said
"Your table is ready sir, follow me please"
Victor couldn't keep his eyes off her and neither could the waiter.
They took their seat by a corner table, decorated with candles and flowers in vase. The waiter introduced himself as Carlos, he offered them the menu, Victor ordered a bottle of Greco Di Tufo 2007, Carlos excused himself returning a few minutes later with two glasses and the champagne bottle, he poured the drink into the glasses and waited for their order. Victor's eyes stayed glued to Susan, he ordered the wine without looking at the menu, and Carlos standing over Susan had his eye full of Susan's bosom, off course he pretended to be focused on work.
"I like Lamb scotta Dito please" Victor said looking at Suasan
"And you miss" Carlos asked while writing on his pad
"Gamberi e Fagioli, thank you" she said in her best Italia accent.
For the next four hours they ate and told each other lie after lie about their past and present as any other boy and girl who just met would. After dinner they took a stroll, a while later a yellow cab dropped them off in front of Susan's hotel, he pretended to kiss her good night, she didn't want the night to end, she can see his desperate want for her.
"I had a great time" Susan said, she looked at him and played with her hair.
"Me to, I don’t want this night to end" his eyes pleaded
"Neither do I, come up for a cup of coffee" she invited to Victor’s joy
"Lead the way" he said.
In her room she attempted to call room service, Victor took her by the hand, placed the phone receiver back, she let go of herself and submitted to him. He stroked her head gingerly and carried her into the bedroom; they made love for the next three days.
- - -
After three days of room service and lots of sex, Susan wanted fresh air and someone to talk to, she called Belinda and told her a bit of the exciting news, and she couldn't contain her joy and needed to let it out. Belinda would be busy for the next two days with work but as they had promised before they will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas together, which will be in three days. Susan stepped back into the bedroom from the balcony; Victor was still in bed soundly at sleep. She kissed him on the forehead and wrote a note.
Morning sleepy head
Will be back in a little while
Ordered breakfast but don't wait for me
C u later
Susan
She kissed the bottom of the paper leaving a print of her lips in red lipstick then placed the note on the bedside table.
The call woke him up. He listened without saying a word then hung up. The doorbell rang, he struggled to get up before opening the door and letting the waiter in.
“Good morning, how are you doing this morning Sir” the b
ell boy asked, entering the room
“Good morning, right over there will be fine” victor said directing him, his voice was deep as always but sounded tired
“Where exactly sir” he asked looking around
“Just by the desk, thanks” Victor said yawning
He pulled a ten-dollar note from his trouser and handed it to him.
“Here you go buddy” his hand outstretched
“Thank you sir, anything else,” the bell boy said ready to leave
“No, thank you” Victor said swiftly escorting the bell boy out
He yawned and stretched, had a quick shower, a shave and after ward he tucked into the toast, eggs, sausage and bake beans, powered up the Mac book Pro on the desk, clicked on Safari and logged into amazon.com, he typed To kill a mocking bird into the search box and looked for the seller Mac76. The seller was third from the top, he clicked on add to basket. Next step he clicks on contact the seller then asks for a picture confirming the condition of the book before he purchases it, minutes later he receives an answer on his Apple iphone. There was a little description of the condition the book is in and an attached photo, he sent back a mail with attached pictures explaining in detail how he expected the first edition book to look like. He went back on amazon.com, proceeded to check out and purchased the book, minutes later two e-mails appeared on his iphone, one confirming the purchase and the other confirming the dispatch by the seller. He logged out, closed the computer, and finished his breakfast. His cell phone rang again.
“Yah” he asked
He listened then spoke again
“Ok, that’s not a problem, carry on at your end”
He listened some more
“I’m aware of that and it is all under control, from now on do not do anything without my consent. Eddy I will be there in a few minutes, ok”
He hung up the phone; threw on a black blazer jacket almost immediately and left. He practically ran through the lobby, outside he hailed a yellow cab, jumped in and it zoomed off. Susan came back in high spirit; she has a lot to tell Victor but became disappointed when she realized victor had left and didn’t even leave a note. She called the reception but there weren’t any massages for her, she waited for some hours watching television then got angry with herself. Why did she let herself go like that, especially for someone she just met, she decided to shake it off her system by concentrating on work, she powered up her laptop, downloaded the pictures that was sent to her through amazon.com and decrypted the pictures. She red the information and studied the pictures, she logged onto the Internet and fished for more info on the candidate, then mapped out how she was going to go about eliminating the candidate in her mind, in her minds eye she could see it will not be an easy one, she will need more time to prepare. In three days she will meet her friend for Christmas, Victor creped back into her mind, she got angry again but took control instantly thereby calming herself down, she made a mistake and will not beat herself down for it, it happens to everybody. She slept that night with one eye open.
She started early the next day; first stop is Tiffany’s where she bought a present for Belinda, while shopping her stomach groaned from hunger, she took a break from shopping and went to a restaurant she has been reading about. Café Loyale near 43rd street, they showed her to a table for two, she ordered a Chiraz white wine, didn’t bother reading the menu, and asked the waiter to bring the finest snail dish they have. She sat waiting for her lunch lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even notice when the waiter brought her drink and finally the meal, the aroma snapped her back to reality.
“Thank you, can you bring me another glass of wine” she said
“Yes miss”
She ate absent-mindedly, the waiter came back with her drink, she thanked him again, and he walked over to the waiting customers and took them to a table for six. She called the waiter a minute later and asked him about the gentleman sitting with the party of six.
“He is a property developer, he owns some of the biggest office buildings in New York,” he gladly told her, he hoped for a big tip and he wasn’t disappointed.
She confirmed the information she already had from her contractor
1, where he lives with his family
2, His love nests and lovers
3, Official schedules
4, unofficial schedules
5, business associates
6, shell companies
7, political friends and enemies etc
8, where he eats
Susan is scheduled to leave for London on the third of January so she decided to do it just after New years. That evening she watched him cheat on his wife with his leggy secretary then followed him home where he became someone else with his wife and kids, she longed for what she saw, a family. She left that place looking forward to spending the next few days with Belinda.
Night vision goggles showed a clear passage as she sifted through the dirt and darkness of the vent as silent as she can; Like lightning the onus effect of her affair with Victor hit her heart, threatening her ability to carry out the task ahead, she paused to listen to the possible movement beneath her. Bang, bang, bang, the ceiling reverberated from the pounding of a walking stick.
“Damn rats, they are everywhere” the voice said angrily
“Relax Matt, have a drink!” the other voice tried putting his friend at ease.
Others joined them and they played cards for forty-five minutes before they were called away, Susan continued on to the west wing of the massive industrial building. She glanced at the reading device that has been guarding her; it pinpointed the spot as the chemistry lab. She pressed on the touch sensitive screen, a menu appeared, activate device, she pressed on ENTER, strapped on a gas mask and waited. Twenty minutes later the vent cover opened slowly making a squeaky sound, dropping from the ceiling into the dark she balanced herself gun in hand, ready. According to the building’s map the boardroom is fifty meters away from the lab; she opened the lab door, checked for possible hostiles and with no sign of anyone, she went left towards the boardroom. Along the way were heavily armed men, some in white coats and others in black suits passed out on the floor. Some of the men were dressed like scientist and heavily armed, they where obviously expecting someone… she stopped the flow of her thoughts and focused. She opened the boardroom door; three men lay on the floor victims of the gas, foaming from their mouths. The target is slumped out on an executive chair, and she swiftly dragged him to the window, opened it, pressed down on the computing device she has been using and a cable descended from the roof, she attached it to his belt then pushed him out the window, gently lowering him down. She released the lock by pressing on the device again, it retracted back up and she used it to lower herself to the ground. She carried him to a waiting Ford F650 sports utility vehicle, with much effort threw him in the back sit and drove out of the bushy area onto the road.
The Target woke up looking into a face from a nightmare, big black goggles, gas mask, scrambled voice and asthmatic breathing; it stood in front of him menacing as an uglier version of Darth Vader. He noticed he is tied to a tree, gagged and hands handcuffed behind his back.
“You are dead Bitch,” the dark figure said.
He watched in horror and tried moving or saying something but couldn’t, the dark figure continued talking in the frightening voice.
“You have offended the wrong people and that’s the reason you are here” it paused for a second “but I’m going to do something I’ve never done before, let you live. That means you will have to disappear for a while, you can’t contact your family or friends, if you do you will surely die. Nod if you understand what I’m saying”
He nodded, his eyes widened at the sight of something then came the blow, and Susan fell unconscious.
COUP DE GRACE (DEATH BLOW)
“The invisible death, he was poisoned” exclaimed the doctor, “he was poisoned by glass"
"By glass, did I hear you correctly doctor?" The well-groomed man in a s
lick dark suit asked almost without emotion
"Yes you did, a Chinese poison that is made of microscopic grains of glass, it cut its victims intestines to bits. It's not a pleasant way to go"
"How did this happen" the well-groomed man asked stern and focused
"My guess will be through something liquid, chicken soup, red wine and so on and so fort. It didn’t happen in one ingestion but over a period of a day or two" the doctor concluded
"Chicken soup and red wine” his face tightened, he looked down to his right in a deep thought mode then he looked up as if visualizing “it makes sense, he couldn’t function properly without a glass of wine, an addiction that has killed him without the normal implications that results from it, Paul have the wine bottles analyzed, will you… Thank you doctor you can go" the well-groomed man was authoritative.
Doctor Abrahem S. Baruti who is certified in medicine and mechanical engineering got up and excused himself, he was glad to leave the compound in one piece. Those people scare the hell out of him, he wished he never came in contact with them, since he meet them he has be enslaved to their will and in a prison without bars, the money as good as it maybe is not worth the consequences subsequent he can see in the near future, when is it going to end? He thought about his family, he hasn't seen them for three months and feared for their safety.
The egg headed man he addressed as Paul walked closer to Jonas who is now in command of the TEA MECHANICS, Jones as his friends calls him stood over the open casket of Victor, his best friend, first it was their boss Thomas Lawson in London, now Victor. Whoever did it, is going to pay with more than he or they can bear.
