Hummingbird

by Nathan L. Flamank

  The Fat Man chuckled.

  ‘You always were one tough son of a bitch, I should have just killed you when I had the chance.’

  ‘Yeah, you should have.’

  ‘How’d you get free?’

  Jack looked down at his useless left hand, it had started to swell and discolour and Jack knew that his thumb would be beyond any surgical repair.

  ‘I realised I didn’t need two thumbs.’

  ‘Damn Jack, that’s what I always loved about you, your ability to plan and to execute.’

  ‘What are you carrying boss?’

  The Fat Man chuckled.

  ‘You’ll have to show yourself to find out Jackie-Boy.’

  ‘You know you’re going to die here tonight right?’

  ‘We’re all gonna die Jackie-Boy, it’s inevitable.’

  Jack glanced across at Selena who was leaning back against the wall; the doorway between them and Jack shrugged.

  ‘I don’t know what to do?’ Jack whispered. ‘I can’t see enough of the room.’

  ‘I have a question for you Jackie-Boy,’ the Fat Man called out.

  ‘What’s that boss?’

  ‘Why? How?’

  ‘Your time was up, it’s been up for a long time, and you threatening Selena was the last straw.’

  ‘How did you manage to sneak away from the delectable Ms Boyd, or was she in on it?’

  Selena was confused, she didn’t know what the Fat Man was talking about, and she’d been with Jack for the last three days, he hadn’t been anywhere without her…or had he? They hadn’t shared a bed at night, could he have snuck out then to do whatever it was that the Fat Man was talking about?

  Jack looked at Selena and mouthed a “sorry”.

  ‘The bombs were arranged before I left the city, and when I did the shootings Selena was out for the count, easy enough to slip a tranquiliser in to her wine, like you said boss, I know how to plan and to execute.’

  Selena’s mouth fell open. ‘You’ve been drugging me?’

  Jack shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘And the hummingbird? What was the significance of that?’

  Jack chuckled.

  ‘There was no significance, it was just misdirection, confuse and confound the enemy and strike where and when they least expect it.’

  Selena was so confused, she just wanted to curl up and go to sleep for a month.

  Jack waited.

  The Fat Man waited.

  Jack knew that he had to move soon or it would be all over, he figured that the Fat Man had tripped some kind of alarm or alerted his friends at the police, once back-up arrived it would all be over and he’d not get a second chance at escape.

  And then, as was so often the case in real life, events took over that Jack had no hand in or control over.

  Jack heard the doors to the patio open and for a split second Jack feared that the Fat Man was trying to make his escape but then he heard:

  ‘Ah Nicky, finally,’ the Fat Man said from the other side of the doorway.

  Shit! The odds just swung in the Fat Man’s favour, Jack thought and then…

  Bang!

  Bang!

  Bang-Bang!

  Jack and Selena startled at the sudden gun fire and then silence descended on the den.

  ‘Jack, it’s done, you can come in.’

  Jack lowered his Glock.

  ‘Don’t fucking shoot me Nicky,’ Jack said with a chuckle and Selena made a grab for Jack but he brushed her hand aside and stepped over the dead men in the doorway.

  Jack walked in to the den and saw the Fat Man slumped over his desk, the top of the Fat Man’s head looked like a cracked open boiled egg and blood pooled all around the Fat Man’s head and shoulders, moving out in a spreading pool across the expensive surface of the desk. The doors that led out from the den on to the patio were wide open and a slight breeze stirred in to the room.

  ‘The dogs?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Kennelled,’ Nicky replied.

  Nicky glanced at Jack and holstered his Glock.

  ‘You can come in Selena,’ Jack called.

  Nicky took in Jack’s appearance.

  ‘You okay Jack?’ Nicky asked.

  ‘No, I’m fucked, but I’ll survive.’

  Selena came in to the room and collapsed on to an empty seat, she looked at the Fat Man, she dropped her pistol on to the carpet and pulled her heeled feet up on to the chair’s seat and hugged her knees to her chest and she began to weep.

  ‘She gonna be okay?’ Nicky asked.

  ‘In time,’ Selena said.

  ‘So what now?’ asked Jack.

  ‘I didn’t have anything to do with what happened down in the basement Jack, that’s not my style, I figured out it was you doing all the dirty work, things would be a whole lot different right now if the Fat Man hadn’t done what he did down in the basement. I can put up with most of his sick shit, but rape? Nah, that’s just not right.’

  ‘We each have a line right Nicky?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘Get her out of here Jack, get your wounds seen to, you have a week to leave the city, no one will bother you, but after the week’s out if you’re still in the city you’re a dead man, the Fat Man had business associates all over, they’re going to want to know what happened here.’ Nicky poured two glasses of bourbon and handed one to Jack, ‘I think it’s time for a new King.’

  ‘And that’s you?’ Jack asked.

  ‘That’s the way I see it, of course you could always just kill me right here but then you’ll be hunted ‘til the day you die, like I say the fat bastard had a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, with me alive I can placate them, dead, well you’re on your own.’

  Jack raised his glass in a toast.

  ‘I’m too old and tired to be looking over my shoulder Nicky, just do me one favour?’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Stay away from the underage market.’

  Nicky nodded his head, ‘I’m way ahead of you Jack; that shit and the forced prostitution died with the fat fuck, it’s a whole new dawn.’

  The two men downed their drinks.

  Jack walked across the room and ripped a painting down from the wall to reveal a large safe.

  ‘You know the code?’ Nicky asked.

  Jack nodded his head and typed in a six digit code, the door swung open and Nicky whistled.

  ‘Is that what I think it is?’

  ‘Yeah, ten million in cash.’

  ‘You think I’m going to let you just walk out of here with ten million dollars Jack?’

  Jack nodded his head.

  ‘That’s exactly what I think Nicky, that going to be a problem?’

  *****

  It had been five months since Jack had seen Selena and in those months he had grown strong again, his shoulder no longer caused him pain and he had grown accustomed to the loss of his left thumb.

  Jack picked up the tennis ball that one of the dogs had dropped at his feet and he threw it far in to the woodland and the dogs took off through the snow; winter had come early this year and the land was coated in a good eight inches of fresh white crispness, the dogs loved the snow.

  Jack flexed the four fingers of his left hand, the cold aggravated the loss of his thumb but he knew that he was lucky that it hadn’t been a lot worse; according to the doctor that had treated him he could have lost the hand to infection but Jack had been lucky and all the doctor had had to remove was the thumb and surrounding infected tissue.

  The doctor had also treated Jack’s shoulder and seen to Selena; the doctor operated outside of the law and a hundred grand had ensured the man’s loyalty and silence: that had all occurred the same night that they had fled the Fat Man’s mansion, Selena and Jack had recovered at the doctor’s secluded surgery over the following three weeks and Selena had been greatly relieved when her test results had all come back negative – she’d feared some kind of disease or pregnancy and they’d celebrated the news
with a glass or two of champagne.

  After their stay with the doctor to recover they had returned to Jack’s house for a few days and Jack had filled in all the blanks for Selena before she had returned to the city; they had both needed time and space away from the other and Jack had not heard from Selena since.

  A pheasant, startled by the dogs, took to the air amid a flurry of barks. Jack threw the ball a dozen more times and then sent the dogs away and he started back for the house.

  Rounding the final bend of the woodland path he heard the sound of a large diesel engine and his face broke out in a large smile…

  *****

  Selena cast one last look around the empty apartment, she’d already cleared out all of her belongings and what she wanted to keep and take with her was already loaded in to the back of her brand new 4x4.

  She put her keys on the kitchen table next to the note that she had left for Mattie; Selena had signed the business over to Mattie along with the lease on the apartment, it would be up to Mattie as to what she wanted to do with the place now, Selena was done with it all; the business, this city, it was all a part of her past and she was firmly set on the future ahead of her.

  Selena picked up the large white cardboard box that she had left by the front door, the yellow post-it note was still secured to the lid and she read the note for the thousandth time, the note was written in Jack’s neat scrawl: If and when you’re ready I’ll be waiting, open the box and never look back, love Jack X

  Selena balanced the box on her hip, it wasn’t heavy, and she opened the apartment’s front door and stepped out, the door closed behind her and she walked down to the 4x4 without looking back.

  Selena opened the 4x4 and placed the box on the passenger seat and got in to the truck behind the wheel, she switched the engine on and secured her seatbelt and pulled away from the kerb; the 4x4’s traction kicked in and Selena effortlessly drove on through the snow.

  Within a half hour she was on the highway heading for her new life, she switched on the CD player and listened to an old David Gray album and sang along to it, she glanced at the box and not for the first time wondered what was within it.

  The box had been waiting for her one morning after returning from the local market, she’d read the note but had never opened it, she’d never been ready to but as the CD finished and started again she realised that finally she was and she reached across and flicked the cardboard lid from the box, she glanced at the contents and smiled at what she saw.

  ‘I think I’m ready Jack.’

  *****

  Jack opened his arms and Selena stepped in to his embrace, their breath formed clouds around their faces and Selena looked up in to his eyes.

  ‘I’ve missed you,’ she said and she closed her eyes and Jack’s mouth closed on hers and she let him take the lead and the kiss was the sweetest taste she could have ever hoped for.

  Jack broke the kiss.

  ‘Come on in out of the cold.’

  ‘One sec,’ she said and Selena tramped back to the 4x4 and she reached in across the driver’s seat and picked up the box. Selena closed the driver’s door and followed Jack up the steps to the front door.

  Once inside the house Selena held the box up and asked Jack where she could go get changed.

  Jack removed his thick winter coat.

  ‘Are you sure you want to go through with this Selena, after what happened…’

  Selena silenced his words with a kiss.

  ‘I’m sure, that’s the past,’ Selena nodded at the box in her hands, ‘I want this to be the future, now where can I go get ready?’

  ‘Wherever you like Selena,’ Jack replied.

  ‘Okay, go wait in the kitchen, I’d love a coffee and a cigarette when I come back down.’

  ‘Sure,’ Jack said, he kicked his snow boots off and started for the kitchen.

  Selena headed up the spiral staircase, she left snowy foot prints behind her but Jack didn’t complain.

  *****

  Selena walked along the hallway and as she passed Jack’s bedroom door she decided to get ready in his room, from here on out, if everything went as she hoped his bedroom would be her bedroom.

  Selena opened the bedroom door and walked in. She put the box on the bed and quickly stripped out of her clothes, she went in to the master bathroom and took a long shower, she washed her hair and shaved her legs and shaved between her legs, she shaved away most of her pubic hair, just leaving a thin strip. Finally finished she rinsed off and switched the shower off, Selena grabbed a couple of towels and headed back in to the master bedroom.

  Selena stopped, she noticed that the door that had previously been locked to her was ajar, and she hadn’t noticed it before. Selena crossed to the door and pushed it open on to a room that she had never been in before and the towels that she had been holding fell from her fingers and she put her hands to her cheeks, her mouth open in a large O and she felt tears spring forth and spill down her cheeks.

  ‘My god!’ Selena breathed as she looked at the dozens of artists’ canvasses mounted on the walls, more were lined up on the floor leaning against the walls and an artist’s easel housed a large canvass, the picture three quarters finished.

  Selena was looking at various styles and forms, in different mediums, pastels, acrylics, paints and pencils, some were done in charcoals, some were colour, and others were black and white. The picture on the easel was in water colour; every single one of the paintings and pictures were amazingly detailed and of high quality and Selena couldn’t believe how life like each and every image was.

  ‘They’re like looking in the mirror,’ she said as she looked from one canvass to the next, she couldn’t believe how Jack had managed to catch her likeness so skilfully; she’d never even known he was capable of using a crayon let alone create art of this calibre.

  Selena picked up her towels and backed out of the studio, she closed the door and smiled.

  The hours they must have taken him, the effort, the skill, my God!

  Selena walked back to the bed and looked down in to the box.

  ‘I wonder if he’d let me sit for him today?’

  *****

  Selena was on her knees, her high heels pressing against her ass, the toes of her shoes flat against the wooden floor as she looked up at Jack who was standing in front of her.

  ‘Say it Selena.’

  Selena licked her full lips and smiled.

  ‘I’m yours for you to do with as you see fit, you own me.’

  ‘I own you right down to your very DNA.’

  ‘Yes,’ Selena breathed, ‘I belong to you, I live to please you, I won’t ever say no, I won’t ever argue or disagree or…’

  Jack laughed.

  ‘Ha, you? Never gonna argue?’

  Jack slipped his hands beneath her armpits and helped her to her feet.

  Selena was lifted up and she wrapped her legs around Jack’s hips, her hands linked at the back of his head and she kissed him. Selena parted her lips and Jack’s tongue filled her mouth and Selena moaned as she sucked it before letting his tongue slip from her mouth.

  ‘I’m your slut Jack, your whore, your woman, I don’t ever want to be scared or alone again, I just want you.’

  Jack smiled, ‘I love you Selena.’

  Selena felt tears brimming in her eyes and she smiled.

  ‘I love you too, I’m so sorry that…’

  Jack kissed her hard to silence her and his hands grasped her ass as he walked over to the kitchen counter, he bumped her up on to the counter and she released her legs from around his hips and Jack stepped back and his eyes roamed her body; he loved the black beaded dress that she was wearing, strips of miniscule beads on threads ran horizontally across her, each thin black threading of beads was separated from the next row by a half centimetre gap, beneath the strands of black beads he could clearly see the black cleavage enhancing bra that she was wearing and he pushed her stocking-clad knees apart to look at the black gusset of her matchin
g thong, his eyes settled on the black patterned tops of her hold-ups and his gaze ran down the glossy, sparkling surface of her stockings to her black five inch high heels, her shoes sparkled from where the overhead lighting caught the tiny beads of black crystal stitched in to her shoes.

  Jack let his eyes move oh so slowly back up her entire length to her silky blonde hair and then his eyes settled on hers.

  ‘We don’t need the contract any longer Jack, I just want to do what you tell me to, I want the freedom that comes with not having any power, I just want be what you want me to be, that’s all I need.’

  Jack kissed the corner of her mouth and he nodded his head.

  ‘This is the last time I’ll ever kneel before you,’ Jack said and he lowered himself to one knee and looked up at her.

  Selena’s eyes widened when she saw the small box he was holding in the palm of his left hand, he snapped the box open with his right hand and the large diamond ring all but blinded her.

  ‘Marry me?’

  Selena felt choked up and as the tears flowed down her cheeks she nodded her head.

  ‘I’ll marry you, I’ll marry you,’ she all but squealed and Jack stood up and took her hand and slipped the ring on to the correct finger.

  Selena looked at the diamond, it was so big as to be almost offensive.

  Almost, Selena mused, but I’ll live with it.

  Selena kissed Jack and held him tight for several minutes before letting him go.

  ‘Now what?’ Selena asked.

  Jack smiled.

  ‘Now?’

  Selena nodded her head and she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth as she saw the look on Jack’s face, she felt that all too familiar tingle beginning to spread out from between her legs.

  ‘Now, well now,’ Jack said as he pulled her to the edge of the kitchen counter, his fingers tugging the gusset of her thong to one side exposing her sex, he unzipped his jeans and his hardness sprung free, Selena licked her lips at how hard he was.

  ‘Now? Now you’re going to be fucked.’

  Selena moaned and smiled and she reached down and grabbed his cock and guided him up in to her.