by K. T. Tomb
“Hi,” she said to one of the men who was already stretching and warming up. “I’m Courtney.” She held out her hand to him and he grasped it amicably.
“Hi, Courtney. I’m Ron,” he said. “What brings you in today?”
“I’m Yago’s new client. I’m pretty much here to see if I’ve got what it takes to compete in women’s bodybuilding. Yago seems to think so but I’m yet to be convinced,” she replied.
“Cool. For the record, I think Yago’s right. He has an instinct for that stuff. I can’t wait for my first competition. I’m pretty new to this too, but I’m already getting results. Yago is pretty bad ass. He really knows his shit,” Ron told her. “I’m a couple weeks in, so right now I’m still working on getting up to weight before I can start cutting. What about you?” he asked.
“Well, this is my first real workout, so I’m not sure what to expect, and I’m not signed up for a competition yet but hopefully I’ll get one on the books soon so that I can have a goal in mind,” she said.
“Cool, cool,” Ron said. “There’re a couple of guys in the group that have already competed and they all placed. One of them even got featured in Muscle Fit Magazine. All because Yago helped him build a set of guns that were just out of this world.”
“Wow, that’s pretty incredible,” Courtney remarked, then followed up with, “Did Yago give you a supplement that he wants you to take? I’m just curious because he gave me something the first time I met with him…” she trailed off.
“Yeah, I take PTX… Proten—” he started to say.
She finished the sentence for him. “X Thermo; yeah, that’s what he gave me too. Does it work well?” she asked.
“It’s better than anything I’ve ever taken,” he said. “The results are fast and they last too. Just to prove what Yago said about it, I stopped taking it for a couple weeks, and the results I had already seen didn’t change a bit. The stuff is awesome.” He paused and a thoughtful expression came over his face. “The professional guys rave about it too. They have to stop anything they’re taking, even vitamins, a few weeks before a competition. They’re even super careful about what they eat for that time, so they don’t get any false positives on the drug tests. They don’t seem to lose any mass or tone when they drop PTX for competitions,” he finished.
“Cool. Well, that’s good to know,” she said. “Any side effects at all?” she asked.
“None that I’ve noticed—well, there’s one thing but… it’s a good side effect,” he added.
Courtney just cocked her eyebrow at that.
“It’s a side effect that, uh, my girlfriend is really happy with,” he said coyly.
“Ohhh! I get your meaning,” she said, smiling impishly. “That’s really good to know. Is there anyone else in the group that had any… side effects that you know of?” she asked, trying to just sound curious.
“Uh, well… not that I know of… but…” He trailed off.
“But what?” she pried.
“Well, there was this guy that used to lift here. His name was Steve Schmitz. He was always a bit of an oddball anyway so it could just be that he got bored with the program and everything. I’m not sure why he stopped coming but… He just did. Stop coming to the gym, I mean. I know the last time I saw him, he looked a bit yoked but, even so, something was definitely off. He was quieter than usual and he just didn’t seem… I don’t know… He was never talkative before, so I don’t have much to go on but… he seemed… off,” he finished lamely.
“Huh,” she said. “Well, it’s like you said—it was probably nothing right? I mean he probably just got bored and stopped coming. Steve Schmitz, huh?” she asked, confirming his name in her mind.
“Yeah. I remember we used to joke with him about being S.S.—we called him Killer. Kind of a tasteless nickname I guess but it didn’t seem to bother him,” Ron replied.
“Thank you for that,” she said.
“Here comes Yago. Better get ready for this—it’s a long day of legs ahead of us here,” Ron warned her with a smile.
Yago put them through the wringer. It was dead-lift day, along with front squats and hack squats. They also did some back extensions to focus on hamstrings. Every set was a heavy set with plenty of rest, but by the end of the lift, Courtney was feeling completely wrecked. Her back and legs hurt even more than they had that morning.
Afterward, Courtney approached one of the other bodybuilders in training.
“Hey, great job today,” she said.
“Yeah, thanks. Same to you. I’m Ed, by the way,” he said, introducing himself.
“Cool, Ed. Nice to meet you. You were really moving some weight out there today,” she continued.
“Yeah, I guess I was. Felt good to get the numbers up. That’s what PTX will do for you, though—You’re on our kick-ass supps too, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m on PTX, but I just got started with it, so I’m still gonna be in rough shape tomorrow. Hell, I’m gonna be in rough shape tonight,” she laughed.
“It doesn’t take that long to start working. Don’t be surprised if by this time tomorrow you’re feeling a whole lot better than you are now,” Ed said.
“Wow, that fast huh?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah. The stuff is awesome,” Ed said.
“Well, if it’s that great, and that fast, have you seen any side effects? Like… I know steroids can cause all kinds of side effects… anything like that?” she asked.
“Not that I’ve noticed personally but… I don’t know that’s the case with everyone. I mean, not that it’s any of my business, but…” For some reason, Ed paused cautiously and seemed reluctant to continue.
Oh, hell no! You better spill it, Mister! Courtney thought.
“Well, lay it on me anyway. I’d rather have a clue than have to buy one. You know what I mean?” she said.
“Yeah, totally. There was this guy—kind of a loner—Steve Schmitz. It seemed like, at least the last time I saw him, that something wasn’t right with him. I don’t know if it was the PTX or if it was stuff at home, or at work, but he wasn’t right. Something was going on there… but like I said, I didn’t feel like it was any of my business so I didn’t really talk to him about it and then he just kind of… disappeared,” Ron finished.
“Does anyone here keep in touch with him? I mean, does anyone know who he really is?” she asked.
“No, I don’t really know who he is. He just… lifted here,” Ron said. “We’re not really friends outside of the gym… we’re professionals here, you know? We keep outta each other’s personal stuff.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I get it.”
“Yeah. Well, I gotta run, so I’ll see you later,” he said.
“Okay, see you later,” Courtney said.
She waited around another couple of minutes to see if she could find anyone else to talk to, but everyone had already left for home at that point. She grabbed her keys and the stuff in her locker and went home too. She took a long, hot shower and stepped out of the bathroom with a serious craving for Mexican food, which she ordered for delivery. Once she was done eating, she cleaned everything up, then went online and emailed Kim with an update.
Kim,
Lifted with the group today and I’ve got a potential lead. We need to check on, and see if we can find Steve Schmitz. He’s a client—or maybe ex-client—at Green’s Fitness Factory. According to the guys I spoke to today, Steve was on PTX and the last time everyone saw him, it seems like he wasn’t himself and that he was completely distraught about something.
It sounds like he may be going through—or was going through—the same thing as your test subject. I think that this might be one of the people we’re looking for.
Let me know what you find,
Court
She signed off, and spent the rest of her day lounging on the couch catching up on all the History Channel shows she had on her DVR. Courtney didn’t even notice, as she went to bed, that there wasn’t an aching muscle in her
body anymore.
Chapter Five
She woke up and made breakfast again, and then she checked her email. What she read disturbed her.
Court,
We spent all yesterday afternoon and most of the night looking into Steve Schmitz. We contacted his wife. She said he’s been missing for the past three days. It seems that the last couple of months, he’s been completely depressed and dejected. He had a lot of the same symptoms as our test subjects.
He could be extremely dangerous, Court. You have to be careful. We’re doing our best to find him. His wife put in a missing person’s report on him two days ago, so now the authorities will be on the lookout for him. No pressure, but we HAVE to get to him first.
Please, Court, please be careful with this one. You have to watch your back.
Kim
Court re-read the email several times. A copy of the police report was attached to it and she made sure she’d taken a good long look at Steve Schmitz’s face. Her guard was immediately up and she decided that when she got to Green’s a couple hours later, she would get as much information about Steve Schmitz as she could. She needed to find him, and quick, so that Kim’s people could help him.
She finished her breakfast and another cup of coffee, and then stretched out in the living room for a while. Then it hit her. She felt better than she should have after the rigorous workout she’d had. She supposed it was part of the PTX program she was on and shrugged it off.
I guess Ed was right, she thought.
A few hours later, Courtney got ready for her class and headed to the gym.
The first person she saw there was Ron.
“Hey, Ron,” she said.
“Hey, Court—I’m sorry… is that too informal?” he asked, immediately correcting himself.
“Not at all—pretty much everyone calls me Court,” she replied. “Listen, I’m starting to feel the effects of the PTX... all good so far, of course… but I can’t help being super cautious. You know? Is there anything more you could tell me about that Steve Schmitz guy?”
“Not really,” Ron said. “I just know that there was something going on there. That’s it. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful,” Ron said.
“It’s okay,” Courtney replied. “I just got really nervous after you told me all that,” she said.
“I didn’t mean to make you nervous. I don’t even really know if it was any side effect of the PTX. I just noticed a change in his vibe. I also felt like I should be honest with you,” Ron replied.
“I really appreciate that,” she told him.
“Not a problem at all,” he told her. “Yago’s here—you can bet that it’s going to be another long day. Chest work,” he added with a grin.
“Yeah, no kidding. Yesterday was brutal. Hopefully, I can keep up today. I’m not in the best shape as it is and yesterday really reminded me of that,” she said with a grin and a chuckle.
The workout was brutally intense. It was bench press, incline press, push press, military press and then some chest flys. By the end of the workout, Courtney’s entire body was on fire. Every muscle burned. Every ounce of energy was gone, and every part of her body was in pain. A sore, good pain, but it still hurt.
After the workout, Yago approached her, and said in his Russian-accented English, “Courtney, tonight you will come back. We need to go over some of the heavier lifts—like power clean and power snatch and other Olympic lifts. You need to learn the proper way to execute certain lifts because we use those lifts in our workouts. Be here at eight p.m.,” he said.
“Okay, I can do that,” she panted. “Am I actually going to be lifting? Should I take another dose of PTX, or should I just show up?”
“Just show up, that’s fine. We will not be lifting tonight, just going through the motions of the lifts. I may have you do a couple reps with some weight, just to get the idea of how to do the lifts properly. But, for the most part, it will not be another workout. This will be more of a training session,” he told her.
“Sounds good, Yago. I’ll be here at eight,” she replied.
“Yes, I will be seeing you then,” Yago replied.
When Courtney got home, she opened up her email again and responded to Kim.
Kim,
I will be very careful. I have an extra training session tonight with Yago at eight. He said he wants to go through the proper form for Olympic lifts.
I’m going to use this one-on-one time as a chance to see if I can get more information on the Steve Schmitz situation. Hopefully, Yago will have something worth talking about. If I find out any useful information, I’ll be sure to call you immediately.
We should bring him in so that we can start helping him. Not sure what that process entails, but hopefully you can do something for him.
I still don’t have proof that PTX is what’s causing this. What do you want me to do about that?
Let me know as soon as possible,
Court
She signed out of her email and clicked on the DVR again. Then something strange happened. About halfway through an episode of a riveting, historically-based miniseries about Norsemen, she stood up, switched the TV off and went to sit at the table with her laptop in front of her.
Courtney opened her word processor and clicked on the almost empty file that was supposedly her new book. She’d been blocked of ideas for writing it for months. But after a quick scan of the fifteen pages she’d managed to put down, she found her fingers flying over the keys laying down scene after scene and chapter after chapter with ease and flow like she hadn’t experienced in years. Out of the clear blue, the characters were alive and the story was with her and the hours were flying past as she wrote and wrote.
Her alarm went off at six thirty and she jumped at the sound of it as if she were suddenly snapped out of a trance. When she looked at the screen, she’d completed fifty pages.
What the fuck just happened here? I guess exercise does do the body good… the mind too! Sayonara, writer’s block and hello, book advance.
After a quick dinner, she got in the car and headed back to Green’s. She was there fifteen minutes early, so she checked her email from her phone and saw that there was a response from Kim.
Court,
At this point, we need as much information on Steve as we can get. We haven’t been able to track him at all. There’s been no sightings, no activity on his credit card and nothing on his cell phone. So we need to try and find him however we can.
We need Steve because if it really is the PTX, then we’re going to have you go to the distributors so that we can pull what’s out there and replace it with a newer formula. We’ve just gotten the improved stuff back from the packaging people and we think the new stuff will mitigate the side effects that anyone might be currently experiencing. Two people exhibiting any kind of side effects are simply two people too many. We just can’t risk it.
Please get us any pertinent information as soon as you can.
You’re doing a great job, by the way. I look like a superstar over here!
Kim
Court replied to the email quickly, reassuring her friend that she would get the job done. Then, she put the phone into her bag and walked across the parking lot. At the door, her magnetic membership card activated the release buzzer and allowed her access to the building. She loved the security measures the gym took throughout the facilities, especially after 6 p.m. when the reception staff left.
As she was standing in the weights area stretching her calves and arms, she realized that Yago wasn’t there. By then, he was actually fifteen minutes late for their appointment and she began to get worried because Yago didn’t seem at all like the tardy type. She decided to go look for him.
“Excuse me,” she said to a cleaning lady, who was stacking fresh towels at the front desk, “could you say if the upstairs spaces are open after hours? I want to go up to Yago’s office.”
“Yeah, they are. After work, classes go on until 9, then we go in and get them cleaned
up. His office is up the stairs, and then go to the left past the workout rooms, and then it’ll be the first door on the right,” the janitor replied.
“Oh, I know where it is, thanks. We had an appointment for some extra bodybuilding work this evening but… he’s running late. I just wanted to check if he’s on the phone or something. Let him know I’m here,” Courtney said.
“That’s so weird. Yago is never late. For anything. Well, go knock. If you can’t get in, come get me and we’ll take a look together,” she said.
“Okay, I can do that. I’m sure it’s nothing, though,” Courtney added.
She had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, but quashed the ill feeling for a moment, telling herself that Yago had other clients and he was probably just busy and on the phone.
She walked up the stairs and knocked on the office door. After waiting a few moments, with no answer, she knocked harder. The door swung open, and the sight before her was something out of a crime movie or straight off of prime time news.
Courtney registered the vast amount of blood covering the floor, walls and desk, and the bloody handprint on the windowsill. It took a while for her mind to process what she was actually seeing but soon enough, a scream erupted from her that was loud enough to bring the janitor running. As soon as she’d taken a look inside past the screaming Courtney, the woman immediately turned around and vomited in the hall.
“I… I… I’m going to… ca-ca-call the p-p-police,” she managed to stutter out in a hoarse whisper.
Courtney nodded in mute silence. She stepped carefully around the desk, trying not to disturb anything that could potentially cause an issue for a forensics team. The sight of Yago’s body was almost too much, but she forced herself to look, reminded harshly of what her job there really was and faced with the culmination of her friend’s worst fears. She took a picture on her phone as well, so she could email it to Kim later.
Yago was unrecognizable. His whole body was covered in stab wounds. He had been stabbed so many times there was hardly any shirt left on his body. It was his face that really shocked Courtney, though. It was completely battered and bruised and bashed in. It was clear to her that both of his cheeks had been broken, and his forehead was dented in. She guessed that, too, had been broken. His lips were as shredded as his shirt, and they hung in tatters from an almost toothless mouth. She could see chips of enamel embedded in the remnants of his lips and in the soft palette of his mouth. There were other chips of teeth scattered about. If she hadn’t known better, she would have guessed that Yago had been hit, face first, by a train. He was in terrible shape.
