Laura 01 The Jaguar Prophecy

by Anton Swanepoel

  “There, second house on the left,” Pete says after half an hour of driving.

  “Stop here Laura, lights off,” Victor says with a polite tone, and then turns his gaze to Pete.

  “How many, where, and what guns do they have?” Victor’s voice is cold again.

  “Two, upstairs with the girls, only pistols, they are expecting me, you can walk right in, the door key is on the truck keys.”

  Victor had found a rag in the back while they drove and now stuffs it into Pete’s mouth. Good, he fell for it, sucker. Victor shoots him in the left knee. Pete squirms in pain, his scream muffled by the rag. When he eventually stops screaming Victor removes the rag and says, “How many, where, and what guns?” Sweat is pouring down Pete’s face.

  “Four, four, three downstairs and one upstairs, all 9mm pistols and 9mm Uzi’s, shit it hurts, fuc..” Victor stuffs the rag back in his mouth.

  “Password?” he asks before removing the rag.

  “None, no password,” Pete spits out, breathing heavily from the pain. Victor replaces the rag and shoots Pete in the right knee.

  “Password?” he asks again. Pete starts crying from the pain. Victor can hear a faint “ok ok” coming from Pete. As soon as Victor removes the rag Pete cries out “Winter night, winter night, that’s the password.”

  Victor replaces the rag and aims the gun at Pete’s crotch.

  “Password?”

  Pete cries even harder, his body jerking from sobbing. Victor removes the rag again.

  “It’s winter night, I swear, please I am telling the truth,” he cries, tears running freely down his cheeks.

  “It’s ok, I believe you,” Victor says as he replaces the rag, then shoots Pete twice in the groin. Pete squirms from the pain, his screams muffled to a low moan by the rag.

  “That’s for the girls, for the pain you caused them.”

  Victor waits a few seconds then shoots Pete in the head, blood and brains splatter over the back window. The body goes still and slides slowly to a lying position on the truck bed. Looking up, Victor sees Laura staring at him in amazement.

  Finally she speaks. “How can you be so opposite, so cold and heartless a killer at times, yet so loving, gentle and soft?”

  “It is not about whom you kill, but who you allow to live. I kill when allowing that person to live will cause more harm to the world than killing the person. In his case, it was either him or more girls being kidnapped when he heals, or possibly seeking revenge and coming after us. Stay here.” Victor jumps off the back of the truck as he speaks.

  He takes the four spare magazines out of the backpack and reloads the pistol. The house is a large two-story house, with no fence or garden, just an open dirt patch to the front door.

  Obviously they care not for beauty, nor do they expect someone would be so stupid to come right to their front door, else they would have put up walls.

  The door is a solid pine door, with no window, but does have a peep hole in. Victor keeps low as he nears the door until he reaches the front wall of the house. Slowly he stands up against the side of the wall, directly under the outside light. He quickly removes his shirt and then uses it to unscrew the light from the fitting, causing the doorstep to be in darkness. After placing the bulb on the ground, he quickly replaces his shirt, and then knocks on the door.

  “Who is it?” Comes a voice after a few seconds.

  “It’s me, Pete, help me, Harry shot me, the bastard double crossed us,” Victor says in a hoarse voice, trying to imitate Pete.

  “Password Pete,” comes the reply, a little anxiety in the voice.

  “Winter night, fuck, open the door I need a doctor,” Victor says while taking a step back.

  He hears locks open while a voice comes from inside, “Hold on Pete, we’ll take care of you.” As soon as the door opens a foot and Victor can see there are no chains still attached that can keep the door from opening, he kicks the door as hard as he can. The edge of the door catches the man opening it in the face, stunning him, while the force of the impact knocks him to the ground hard. Before he is even down, Victor is in the room, killer instinct alive. Two people are sitting at a coffee table to the left playing cards, their guns lying on the table.

  The first one dies before he can touch his gun, and the second the moment his hand grips the pistol. Victor immediately puts two bullets in the man who opened the door, and then quickly runs towards the stairs, stopping next to them when he sees a small door under the stairs normally used as a broom closet. He quickly gets inside, just in time as a man with his pistol drawn comes running down the stairs.

  “What the fuck is g..” The man drops dead from a bullet to the head before he can finish his words.

  Slowly and methodically Victor makes his way upstairs, finding five rooms there, each housing around 10 to 15 girls, all naked. They are huddling in the corners crying as he kicks the doors in. Victor ignores them, going from one room to the next until he has cleared the top floor, then he slowly goes downstairs and clears the house, including the back and front yard, before returning to the dead men. There is no one else.

  Victor knows it is a small victory, there must be a leader, but at least these girls will be fine. The girls start to make their way downstairs, crying, afraid. They look at the dead men on the floor, some kick them from anger. Then they thank Victor, planting kisses on him just as Laura walks in the door. Laura just stands there, seeing four dead men on the floor and Victor surrounded by over 50 girls, all naked and wanting to kiss him. Victor makes his way to the front door, then turns as he reaches Laura and addresses the girls. “Wait an hour for us to leave, then call the police. Give them a false description of us.” They thank Victor as he walks to the truck, Laura following behind.

  Victor pulls Pete’s body from the truck, then gets in the driver’s seat and opens the passenger door for Laura from the inside. As she climbs into the truck she comments, “A lot of beautiful naked women in there, all wanting your body.”

  “They don’t have your eyes,” Victor says as he starts the truck and pulls away. Laura gives him a kiss on the cheek and puts her head on his shoulder before asking, “Where to now?”

  “There’s a small airport near Ipailes on the Colombia and Guatemala border, we can get a private plane there and fly to Peru. It’ll be far enough away from this and a small enough airport that no one will be looking for us there.” Victor hopes he can get an airplane there as he speaks, else they will need to cross the border on foot.

  “How long will it take to get there?”

  “The normal route is by I-25, around 14 hours at the speed limit, but we will take RT45 and then I-45, taking around 16 hours normally, a bit longer route but off the main roads, total distance just under 500 miles. We can easily half the time if I run the truck flat out all the way, allowing us to reach the airport by around 9am tomorrow morning.”

  “How do you know all this?” Laura smiles as Victor holds up his cell phone. The map application shows their route and estimated arrival time.

  “Will you please check in the side pocket of my bag, there’s a car charger for the phone?” Laura opens the pocket and retrieves the charger for Victor, who plugs it into the truck’s electrical outlet and then into the phone.

  “Try to get some rest, you’re going to need it.”

  Laura nods and then climbs over to the back seat and makes herself comfortable while Victor opens the truck up and lets her run at 110 miles per hour.

  Three hours later Laura sleepily awakes. The truck is parked at a small gas station with a convenience store. There is no one around. Victor must have filled the truck up with gas and gone inside the shop to get food.

  Suddenly a new Jeep Wrangler painted yellow with four men in comes to a stop next to the truck with tires screeching. The men stare into the cab and holler when they see Laura. Each guy has a drink in his hand and it is obvious that they are drunk. The canvas canopy is removed, and the two men in the back stand up in their seats, yelling for
Laura to get into the jeep, while the driver revs the engine. When Laura does not respond, one guy jumps from the back and tries to open the back door to Laura’s truck; it is locked.

  “Show us some titties!” he yells while pressing his face against the back window. Laura shows him her middle finger. The guy then gets back into the jeep and standing on the back pulls his pants down. He then hollers loudly as he urinates against the back window closest to Laura. His friends cheer him on and he grabs a wheel spanner from the boot of the jeep, jumping off and mockingly making as if he is going to smash the back window of the truck.

  Laura backs away from the window. The man still has his pants down, and as soon as he sees Laura backing away from the window he pulls the wheel spanner far back to swing it with all his might.

  Suddenly someone kicks him in the back of the legs, causing him to drop to the ground on his knees. Before anyone can react, his head is slammed into the truck’s rear rim, knocking the guy unconscious.

  “Gringo, fucking gringo!” the second guy at the back yells when he sees Victor slam his friend’s head into the truck with his left hand, while holding two cups of coffee in a paper tray in his right hand.

  Victor punches him in the groin as he stands up on the back seat, causing him to double up in pain.

  The driver jumps out and gets kicked in the groin the moment his legs touch the ground, then as he drops to the ground Victor kicks him in the face. The fourth guy runs around the jeep and stops as he sees his friends on the ground unable to help him. He thinks of running away, but the alcohol and drugs affect his reasoning and he charges Victor.

  He tries to punch Victor, who kicks him in the shoulder every time he pulls his arm back to punch. After several unsuccessful attempts at punching Victor, the man can almost not lift his arms, but still he attacks. Running forward with his head low, he tries to ram Victor in the stomach with his head. Victor sidesteps at the last moment, grabbing the guy by his hair and spinning him around, head first into his own jeep. He falls with a moan to the ground.

  Victor pulls the keys from his pocket and gets into the driver’s seat, closing the door behind him and handing a cup of coffee to Laura.

  “There’s milk and sugar on the tray,” he says as he places it on the center console, not a drop spilled.

  Victor starts the truck and drives off while taking a sip of his coffee. Laura wonders if they will ever have a normal life. They still have almost ten hours to go at normal speed, or under five if Victor drives, but Laura notes that he is tired and suggests that he gets some sleep and she drive for a while. Victor agrees and stops the truck, then climbs over to the passenger seat while he instructs Laura to climb over to the driver’s seat via the back seat.

  “Do you ever change seats by getting out of a car like a normal person?” Laura jokingly asks.

  “Normal people do not get shot at when they change drivers,” Victor replies, sipping his coffee. Laura just shakes her head and puts the truck in drive.

  The directions displayed on the phone are easy as it is just one long highway. Victor finishes his coffee and makes himself comfortable in the passenger seat. He stays in the front of the truck in case he needs to take control of the truck in a hurry. It is not long before he is asleep.

  Laura had welcomed the coffee, however that was more than half an hour ago, and she now needs a toilet. Laura looks at Victor sleeping peacefully. Should I wake Victor? No, he needs the rest. With care, she brings the truck to a stop, pulling off the road far enough into the bushes that should any cars pass by, they will not be detected. After switching off the truck, she climbs out as silently as she can and makes her way to a nearby bush at the back of the truck close to the road, where she pulls down her pants and squats. Just as she is about to let go, she hears a vehicle approaching at high speed, its engine roaring.

  Her immediate reaction is to stand up and pull her pants back on, not knowing that in doing so she will be clearly visible to the approaching vehicle. Just as she grips her pants and pushes up with her legs, firm hands are placed on her shoulders and push her down.

  “‘Stay down!”

  Seconds later a yellow Jeep Wrangler with four men in speeds past at full speed, music pumping at max. When they have passed, she spins around and looks directly into Victor’s grinning face.

  “Seems I caught you with your pants down.” Slowly he gets up and walks back to the truck where he waits for her to finish before climbing back into the truck.

  As soon as Laura climbs back into the truck she is ready to drive again, but just as she touches the keys Victor says, “Give them twenty minutes or so head start, we don’t want to catch them with their pants down, now do we?” He does not wait for her reply but makes himself comfortable again in the chair and closes his eyes.

  Laura decides to have a sandwich and some water while she waits, and 25 minutes later she starts the truck and drives on. The road seems to form one long boring strip and Laura’s thoughts start to drift off, allowing the miles to pass by as she drives on.

  “Victor. Victor, wake up,” Laura whispers. Victor is immediately alert, picking up the pistol in his lap.

  “What’s wrong?” He scans the scene around the truck even while speaking. It is four hours since Laura took the wheel and she made good time considering the road. She had managed to cut the ten hours remaining drive time down to six even with the almost one hour she lost when they stopped and allowed the jeep to pass.

  Up ahead, 500 feet away in the road is a bus and two other vehicles. There are people all around the bus and Victor can hear shouting when he opens his window. Laura had seen the lights from a distance and switched off the truck’s lights, and then drove closer until she saw that the road was blocked. It was then that she decided to wake Victor. She had pulled off the main road and stopped the truck 100 feet from the road, hidden in the bushes.

  Lights come from the roadblock up ahead as a vehicle approaches. They look on as the same yellow Jeep Wrangler they saw earlier drives past, the same four guys still hollering and drinking.

  The men had seen the lights in the distance approaching and then disappear as Laura switched them off. Thinking that the vehicle either stopped or turned around and was speeding away, they did not bother to scan the side of the road as they sped past in pursuit.

  “What are we going to do Victor?”

  “Stay here, I’m going to have a look.” Victor makes sure that the cab light is in the off position before opening the door and disappearing into the night. He uses the bush as cover and sneaks up on the scene in the road. When he gets closer he can make out what is going on. There are six men with guns, two standing guard over a group of passengers on the ground, while two are manhandling the remaining passengers off the bus, bringing each person to the last two guys. One is neatly dressed in a suit, while the other has on a military uniform, same as his colleagues, however he has the rank of General on his uniform.

  The men are screaming in Spanish at the people, Victor can make out that they are looking for stolen money. Suddenly one of the passengers points to the cargo hold of the bus. The General walks over to the bus and opens the cargo hold, pulling out baggage and throwing it on the ground. The person on the ground keeps pointing to the cargo hold and talking. Finally the General pulls two large black sports bags from the hold. He opens one and takes out a stack of bills, holding it up for the suit to see. The suit nods and points to the second bag. The General opens the bag and nods that all is there.

  Victor has slowly crept closer to hear better and is just in time to hear the suit’s order, “Matarlos a todos”. Victor freezes when he hears it, “kill them all” is the order. The General repeats the order to the other four and turns to follow the suit, already making his way to his car, a black 500 SL Mercedes. Victor sees the two guards raise their guns to fire, and takes action.

  He runs low so that the two men inside the bus, still dragging passengers out, do not see him, and shoots from the hip. Aiming for the torso of e
ach guard, he shoots the first guard, then the second, and then shoots the first one again and then the second one again. Stopping at the end of the bus, he takes careful aim and shoots the suit in the head just as the General opens the door for him. Before the General can react he gets the same treatment.

  One of the men on the bus comes out, dragging a passenger. Victor first shoots him in the legs and as he falls down, rolling away from the passenger, Victor shoots him three times in the chest. The last man sees his friend being shot and tries to see who is outside.

  Victor silently creeps under the bus and makes his way to the bus door, waiting. Suddenly legs appear in front of Victor, just inches away. He slowly brings the end of the silencer close to the man’s calf, but stops as he is about to pull the trigger. Victor notices the man’s sandals and chapped heels. He realizes that the man is a farmer, not a killer.

  Patiently Victor waits, thirty seconds go by before the legs move, being pushed unwillingly forward, and then a second pair of legs appears, wearing new boots and Camo pants. Victor shoots the man in the left calf. As the man drops cursing, Victor shoots him again, two rounds in the buttocks and four in the back.

  Victor rolls out from under the bus and tells the people to get up. They thank Victor for saving their lives.

  “First you sort out a rude waiter, then you rescue a room full of pretty naked girls, and now you save a bus full of people. What next?” Victor spins around as he hears Laura’s voice.

  “I thought I told you to stay in the truck, what are you doing here?” Victor is a bit annoyed but still glad to see Laura is safe. Laura ignores his question and continues.

  “They’re asking you what about the money?”

  Victor looks down at the two bags. There must be at least 10 million dollars in each bag. Then he looks at the people, thin, dirty clothes and few belongings. He tells the driver to get them all on the bus and out of there, and that they should divide the money equally between them all. The people thank him and start to load their stuff back into the cargo hold.