by Andrew Allan
My anger rose.
“Oh, you’re the guy who found him. That’s how you fit in. Well, I’ve heard enough. You need to get the hell out now or you’re going to jail,” he said as he started to dial his phone.
I grabbed a nearby decorative glass orb he likely paid way too much for and threw it at him. He missed blocking it with his phone and yelped when it hit him in the sternum I it up and yanked the phone out of his hand. A quick throw against the side of the bar and it smashed to pieces.
I grabbed him by the robe lapels and pulled his face close to mine. “You’re going to shut up and listen, Doug. You almost got me and my lovely lady killed. I’m a very angry man,” I shoved him down to the ground and stood over him.
“By all means, continue,” he said with a wave of his hand indicating what choice did he have? It was smarmy and I should have smashed the lamp on his face. “I’m sure this is leading somewhere. You want me to say I’m sorry? I’m not.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to be,” I said.
He glared at me like I had crossed a line you simply do not cross. And, I could tell he was waiting to strike. As soon as he could figure out how.
“So, ITG did something to piss off Ken and his friends. And, Ken had the power to damage you and ITG. Not bad PR damage. Real, stock dropping kind of damage. And, he worked at doing just that. He went after you and he went after Wingart, who had publicly defended your company and brought deals to the Governor on your behalf. I did my research, see?”
He wasn’t amused. And, he didn’t deny it.
I continued, “What neither of you banked on was Ken meeting Ross Chambers, the flunky in Wingart’s office who caught wind of the execution for hire services. Now, Ken had you and Wingart by the balls.”
“Not exactly, Walt.”
It was the female voice. I looked to the door and there stood the last person I ever expected to see.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
“KAREN...” I SAID in complete disbelief.
Karen Kerenz pushed the door aside and walked into the room. She wore garters, stockings, and a sheer negligee top. And, she was stunning. Enough to confound my anger and propel my confusion.
“But...”
I looked down at Tanjeris. He was admiring her.
I looked back to her. This time she wasn’t so stunning. She had a small pistol pointed at me.
“Don’t move, Walt,” she said.
All I could think to say was, “Where are the kids?”
“In West Palm. They’re fine.”
“Oh.” I nodded at least pleased to hear that. But, still flummoxed by it all. I had not expected this. And by that I don’t mean seeing Karen. I definitely didn’t expect that and really wanted to know what it meant. But, I hadn’t expected to be in such a vulnerable position. I figured I’d have the upper hand with Tanjeris. If I had thought otherwise, I never would have bothered to come here. I could have gone on living my life undisturbed.
Maybe.
Truth was I couldn’t be sure if I would have been left alone. Tanjeris had hired someone to come after me once before. If he thought I could cause problems down the road, there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t have had someone come after me again. My being here tonight proved him right. Damn, I should have stayed home.
I said to Karen, “Mind telling me what’s up?”
“Your time,” said Tanjeris, now off the floor, straightening his robe, his cocky smirk back in place.
“That’s hilarious,” I said.
He walked over and stood next to Karen.
“Are you two, you know....together?” I wasn’t sure if I was confused, shocked, or just disgusted.
She nodded, “Yes.”
“That was fast.”
She gave me an unimpressed look meant to tell me to stop being sarcastic.
“It started some time ago, as I presume you presume,” she said.
“Before Ken died.”
She nodded again.
“Before you killed him,” I said.
“She didn’t kill him,” said Tanjeris. “Luther and those guys did it.”
“For you.”
“We’ve been through that. Yes, for me, all right? And before you ask why, I’ll just tell you.”
Tanjeris was worked up. I had trespassed, humiliated him in his own house, in front of the woman who was now his woman, and found out sordid details that were none of my business.
He continued, “Here’s what someone like you will never understand. It’s different for people like me. Captains of industry. Politicians. Insiders. It just is. Lower class dopes like you suspect it, but don’t want to believe it. But, yes...we, and by that I mean the elite, have all kinds of privileges that you don’t. It’s not something that’s advertised. But, it’s well known within the circuit, you could say. So, all I did was make the most of those privileges. I’m not dumb. You would, too, if you had access to what I do”
“Which privilege are you referring to, murdering people or having sex with another man’s wife. Both are pretty shady,” I said.
It was then I noticed a ring on his pinky finger. I presumed platinum, with symbols I couldn’t decipher from this distance.
“It’s maximum freedom. But, like I said, you just don’t get it. So, there’s no point in explaining.” He shrugged. “You won’t be able to do anything with the information anyway.”
He paused for a moment. But, something compelled him to continue.
“But, you know, I can’t resist. Let me just give you a rundown of some of the secret privileges men like me are afforded. As if my fortune didn’t give me enough already.”
He was a first class prick. He knew it and he relished it. With Karen’s gun pointed at me, I had to take it.
“Of course there are the parties. There’s the inside information and priority position on investments. Illegal? Maybe. But, we get away with it.”
Tanjeris separated from Karen and started walking the room. Neither she nor her gun budged.
“There’s the influence. At the capital, in Washington, around the world. We make the decisions that make the laws that you have to follow. But, not me. I’m too important to be tripped up in that red tape. But, let’s dig deeper. I can have any woman I want...”
I checked Karen to see how she’d take knowing she was expendable. She looked a bit put off.
“That’s why I am with Karen. And, why she’s no longer with her pain in the ass ex,” he said.
Nice recover, jerk.
She had no reaction to that blunt assessment.
“Take the most amazing sports car you can think of. They’re not just making it. They’re making it for me. I can have the best medical care in the world. If the doctor I want is performing surgery on you, I can take him straight out of your operating room and bring him to mine. Maybe you’ll die. Who cares? My life matters more than yours. That’s how the world works. I’m sure to you I sound like a stereotypical, rich bastard. I can afford to. Doesn’t make me heartless. I don’t try to be cruel to everyone. Just ask Karen how considerate and caring I can be. Her kids love me. And, I love them.”
Her admiring smile confirmed it.
“I mean, despite all these privileges I’m a live and let live kind of guy. Unless you got what I want. Then, well, you know...sucks for you.”
I didn’t want to take anything he said seriously. But, there was an underlying truth to it all. It was something everyone knew, deep down, but avoided admitting; that there are two different worlds for two very different types of people—the haves and the have-nots as they’re most often called. The more he talked, the more this subconscious universal truth gnawed at my defenses and depressed me. And, the more it made me want to kill him. This was a first. I was ready to kill not in self-defense.
By this point, he had wandered over to the bar. He walked around to the serving side of it and pulled something out of a drawer. It was a German Luger. He admired it for a moment then walked towards me.
He said, “When there’s a drought, I’ll have water. When there’s famine, I’ll have food. When the earth falls apart I’ll be riding first class into outer space. And, I’ll have a swank place to stay there, too,” he said as he approached me. “Count on it.” He put the Luger up to my head and got right in my face.
“So, if I want you dead, I will have you killed without consequence. And, there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Got it?”
Beads of sweat started rolling down into my eyebrows. I nodded. “Understood,” was all I could say.
He cocked the hammer.
“Look, I don’t blame you for your predicament,” he said. “You were born into it. That’s life. What pairs perfectly with life? Death. And, that’s where we are now.”
I swallowed and got my voice working again. “Care to intervene, Karen?” I said.
She walked around me and stood a few feet behind Tanjeris.
“I’m sorry, Walt. I know you tried to help. But, nobody asked for it,” she said. Very little regret on her face.
It was business. And, business was cold. No wonder she and Tanjeris got along so well. They were more than willing to make the hard, bloody decisions to get what they wanted. And, there was no shortage to their appetite.
I looked to Tanjeris. Nothing would have given me greater pleasure than seeing a horse kick in his smug face.
“Would you have killed me had I not come here tonight? Were you still looking to tie up loose ends?” I said.
“Yes. We’d been planning for that,” he said.
“So, there’s more than one execution team?”
“Power and privilege. I can get anything I want. And, I’d just lined up your hit man this afternoon.” He smiled, “You showing up just saved me ten thousand dollars.”
My anger showed.
He said, “I know what you’re thinking. Too steep a price for trash like you.”
“There’s no price too steep to take out a creep like you,” I said.
He laughed.
Karen said, “Let’s finish it up.”
Her voice was cold.
Tanjeris glanced at her then looked back at me. “Somebody’s hot to trot.”
“In more ways than one,” I said.
I saw no way out. I had considered knocking the luger from his hand when he glanced at Karen. But, she still had her gun pointed at me. The odds were too dicey. But, now that we appeared to be wrapping up our conversation, maybe it was worth taking the chance. It could be my last chance, my only chance.
I turned my head away from the Luger to face Karen. “I have to know. Did Ken go after Doug because of the shady stuff he and ITG are doing?” I looked to Doug. “Or, did he come after you because he found out you were fucking his wife?”
He smiled. “That’s the punch line. All this stems from a bit of infidelity. Seems cliché. Two people having sex who shouldn’t be. And believe me, there’s going to be lots of sex—“
I hit his wrist with the back of my hand. The Luger fired, but away from my head. The bulled ricocheted off the wall and shattered a glass sculpture. I moved with the momentum of my swing and brought my right fist around to Tanjeris’ face. He went down hard, smashing his cheek on the white marble steps. He screamed and clutched his face. I ripped the Luger out of his hand and fumbled it around to get a grip.
“Too late, Walt!” she said.
Her pistol was aimed at my chest and she looked like she knew how to use it. “Drop it.”
I tossed the Luger and it slid across the stone floor far away so no one could reach it.
“I don’t understand, Karen. You’re a mom. And, now you’re trying to make sure I never see my kids again. How can you do that?” I said.
“I don’t need to answer to you,” she said.
“True. You’ve already killed your kids’ father. Seems like a natural move for you to do the same to mine.”
“Stop the guilt trip. I’ll be able to give my kids everything they’ll ever need.”
“A beneficial afterthought.”
“They’ll still thank me for it.”
“Oh, my god! My face!” Tanjeris pulled his hand from his bloody cheek. The crash had jacked up his facial structure – his right cheekbone had crumbled and the skin that had been stretched tight over it now sagged lower on his face. The area between his right eye and temple was discolored and swollen, too.
“Relax. You can get any doctor you want,” I said without looking at him. That one hit a nerve.
He took a swing at me. But, in his condition he wasn’t a threat. And, he got in the way of Karen’s shot.
I jumped fast and pounded his broken cheek with the inside of my fist. He howled and clutched his face. That exposed his torso. I grabbed his robe, held him shield-like, and rammed him back towards Karen. His back slammed into her front and they both spilled onto the ground. He howled as her gun dug into his spine, both hands over his face. She scrambled to get out from under him.
“Lookout, Doug!” she said.
I thought about making a play for the gun, but when I reached down to grab it, she fired. Too close. I felt the breeze of the bullet on my face as it shot into the ceiling. Shattered light fixture glass rained down on my head and inside my shirt collar. I ran out of the room. Another bullet hit the door, missing me by inches as I dove into the hallway.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
I SCRAMBLED UP and ran.
Her footsteps behind me.
I hurried through a large, catalog-white living room into a dining room that led to a kitchen. A large knife in the cutting block. I snatched it. A mental map of the house – or at least what I had seen of it – formed in my head. I needed to get to the front door. Which way next? The direction I had been moving seemed to take me away from the front door. But, reversing direction moved me towards the scantily clad milf wearing garters and carrying a gun. Great in a pulp novel, but not here.
I ran out of the kitchen and down another branch of hallways; I couldn’t believe a house could have so many different rooms... home gym, small office, servants’ quarters...then down a staircase to...a sex dungeon? You crazy rich people.
The room was tripped out in padded mats, a worktable, and fixtures, all covered in leather. Chains hung from the ceiling, ropes were coiled up on a work table, and a large St. Andrew’s cross, complete with leather cuffs bolted at the top and bottom, leaned against the back wall. A naked, sobbing Mexican girl, maybe eighteen years old, was strapped to it, her cheeks streaked with tears.
I looked back. No one was behind me. I needed to run. But, I couldn’t leave her.
The girl startled when I stepped in, as if I was there for her.
“It’s okay,” I said.
I searched the room. On a nearby table was a key to the cuff locks. I hurried to open them. While I unlocked I noticed a brand on the inside of her wrist. It matched the design on Tanjeris’ ring. The hell?
CNBC played on a television mounted in a top corner of the room. Stock reports ticked across the screen. A leather studded pig facemask hanging below. It demonstrated just how worthless this girl was to Tanjeris. And, Karen.
A bullet shattered the mirror behind the cross. I ducked and rolled. The girl screamed and flailed her one free arm. I could see a figure charging forth in a shard of mirror. It was a short Mexican in a servant’s outfit carrying a rifle. Another shot. More mirror shattered.
I vaulted over the worktable and smashed into him. Another blast as he dropped the rifle. I kicked it away and pounced. Two quick punches to the neck, then I grabbed a rope and hurried to tie his arm against his neck to where he couldn’t put it down or move it. I wrapped the rest of the rope around his legs. He wasn’t going anywhere.
I grabbed the keys off the floor and ran over to the girl. She was dead. Blood dripped from the hole in her shredded neck. You poor thing. In my mind, I vowed vengeance.
I grabbed the rifle and went back up the stairs, slowing at the top to make sure no one was waiting for me. I s
ighted the rifle down the hallway. No movement. There were three doors on the left and right of the hallway, rooms I had passed earlier. They could be waiting in any of them. But, they’d have to react fast. I ran fast as I could down the hall, whisking past the doors.
Door four, a gunshot. Too late, but enough to send me stumbling forward off balance. I clawed at the wall to hold myself up. A glance over my shoulder and Karen stepped out of the room I had just passed. She fired twice, the last shot splintering a doorframe just before I dashed through it.
I heard her coming after me as I blazed through the kitchen, the dining room, the living room. The door to the den was open, but I didn’t see Tanjeris.
No hesitation. Down the hall, the front door was clear. I ran. My shoes squeaked along the marble flooring. I reached the front door, flipped the lock, and grabbed the handle.
“No!”
I stopped and looked.
Tanjeris. He had the Luger. His face was a bloody, swollen mess.
Karen, in her sexy heels, came clopping up the hallway behind me. She was winded, but she still had her gun.
Tanjeris spoke first, to her. “Think you can make him behave in the car?”
She nodded.
BAM!
Marble floor tile shattered as the shot echoed through the foyer.
She pressed the hot barrel against my neck. I screamed as my skin sizzled.
“Next time, I don’t miss. So, be good. Got it?” she said.
I nodded.
She pulled the barrel off my throat.
Tanjeris’ voice was calm, like she’d just shown him a strong investment portfolio. “Impressive.”
“Let’s get do it quick,” said Karen.
“The Jasper dig site is fifteen minutes away. We can dump him there,” Tanjeris said before glancing at her outfit, “Don’t bother changing.” He flashed a smirk then gave me a menacing look as he opened the front door.
He grabbed my arm and prodded me out the door.
“Don’t be dumb. Walk out slow,” he said.
I stepped over the threshold and they followed close behind.
