by Sarah Monte
Ted did not get it, but decided to hear the rest of the explanation in the car – merely triggered by the need to protect Jennifer as he and Mike rushed to the squad car. Asking him to drive to Jennifer’s house, Mike closed his eyes and prayed to every God out there that Rat wasn’t right, and that he could reach in time to save his Jennifer if his worst fears came true.
Chapter Nineteen
Looking at the kind of messages and especially pictures (whoa!) that they Mike and Jennifer had been exchanging over the past few weeks, Liam realized that this was definitely Mike’s girlfriend – if not wife. As he mopped up his mess, he felt a swirling mixture of shame and resentment in the pit of his stomach. Donovan was incredibly lethal, no doubt – and it was also true that he was the reason Liam was able to afford a comfortable lifestyle for his family and himself. However, being treated like Donovan’s filthy dog while doing the work of a right hand man was more than Liam could take.
He knew that Donovan’s racket operated mainly on two things – firstly his secrecy and most importantly, the fear that every single one of his cronies had in him. While he may not be the smartest mobster on the block, he was strong and cunning enough to know that the fear was his biggest asset. If Liam could just stop peeing his pants at the faintest hint of a threat, then maybe, just maybe he could do something to turn things around for the better. He would be lying if he said that the thought of double crossing and overthrowing his boss had never crossed his mind. Liam was just about the same build and strength as Donovan was, and of course – had the plus point of being infinitely smarter and more observant. After all, it was Liam who had unearthed the phone and its memory card.
But Donovan had done a good job instilling the fear deep in his heart, and Liam shuddered the thought of almost as immediately as it had come to him. Stowing the mop back, he knew he ought to get to work killing Jennifer. If Donovan saw him again he would question him on her – and even God wouldn’t be able to save Liam’s skin if the answer was anything but yes. He looked at her picture, she certainly was very beautiful. He could see why Mike would and could get someone like this easily, yet there was a look of obstinately well placed pride in the woman’s eyes. It made Liam a little uneasy as he took in the sparkle and charm of that gorgeously young face, knowing he would have to be the reason for its death.
He knew that Mike would undoubtedly be at the precinct trying to crack the case with the cops, and had enough faith in the male ego to assume that he would have most definitely sent Jennifer back. However, factoring in the fact that David was in the hospital and the girl’s firm look – it may have been easier to send her to the hospital where David was. If that was true, then Liam could get rid of David in one easy stroke too – that bastard had been a pest for way too long anyway. If not, then he could still kill David and track Jennifer after that. Since he wasn’t sure which hospital David was at though, he decided to play it safe with the address he had in hand at the moment and go to Jennifer’s place first.
It seemed like a good enough idea to Liam, and he got into his car and begin to drive towards Jennifer’s house. Trust Donovan to strike at the weakest link, he never was man enough to attack the strongest person directly. Always working his way up slyly from the back, always using other people as shields. By himself, Donovan was nothing more than a disgusting and cowardly man with no inch of moral fiber. No brains and a lack of conscience had turned him into a monster, one that Liam now unfortunately had to work for. He didn’t like killing, and was hence very rarely sent to do it. Liam didn’t really know what it was, maybe the trauma of seeing the light die in your victim’s eyes, the sound of the dead body thudding to the ground, the nightmares of the same faces with frozen expressions forever – it all contributed to his extreme aversion to violence. Maybe some part of him was convinced that as long as he handled mainly the logistics of the underworld, he wasn’t really one of the bad guys.
But if Jennifer didn’t die before the end of today, Liam surely would. He parked discretely away from what he knew was Jennifer’s place. After waiting for almost two hours, Liam started to panic – wondering if he had missed her or misjudged Mike to send her away from him. After all, Mike didn’t know that Donovan was behind all this – and that served as a double edged sword. Either he had let her go and made the kill easier for Liam, or the lack of fear and looming danger and made him keep his girlfriend beside him. If he didn’t find Jennifer today, he would have to kill himself to avoid the torture of dying at Donovan’s hand.
However, just then a small car pulled up into the driveway, and Jennifer got out of the car – running into her house. Liam wondered if he should murder her in the house or wait for her outside and kill her then. If he killed her and dumped her body while she was out of the house, people wouldn’t think of her death immediately and that would buy Donovan some time. Donovan liked to make a spectacle of things however, and this murder was scheduled to prove a point. Liam decided to wait for a few minutes before entering the house, intending to make sure that she wasn’t being followed.
Mike really was not as smart as Liam had expected him to be, thought Liam to himself with a wry chuckle. How he had managed to create one of the biggest empires in America with not enough brains to send security with his girlfriend was beyond Liam, but then again maybe Mike didn’t consider this girl important enough to bother with all that. Which made sense, considering money could buy him almost any and every other girl on this planet. Just as he was getting out of the car, his feet hesitated for a minute. This girl was someone’s daughter, friend, lover and just another innocent victim caught in Donovan’s web.
Donovan, the reason behind all of this. While Liam didn’t have the biggest conscience or moral sense in the world – Donovan didn’t have any at all. He had found Liam stealing some stale bread from one of his warehouses. As he would be told repeatedly over the next few years, he found out that ordinarily people who stole from Donovan were shot dead on sight. But Liam wasn’t. He had been applauded a little by Donovan, and seeing his miserable condition – taken on as a sidekick. Not having too many other options, Liam had taken this path for the sake of his family’s well-being and over time had gotten accustomed to everything that happened. The smiles on his family’s face meant that watching people die and accounting for the finances of it was all for the greater good.
But this Jennifer was someone’s family and important to many others too. And Liam was going to kill her because he didn’t have a choice. If there was a hell somewhere, Liam was damn sure of it being his final destination. He quickly scanned the neighborhood for potential witnesses, CCTV cameras or just about anything that would give him away. With a resigned sigh, he began walking towards Jennifer’s house.
****
Jennifer rushed into the house, not wanting to waste too much time and eager to get to David as soon as possible. She had called the hospital on her way home and on speaking to the doctor found that David was still quite stable and merely asleep. As she undressed and stepped under the shower, her muscles unknotted and relaxed for the first time in a few days. Since Mike had last touched her, to be precise.
Mike, the man who changed her and her life in ways that she could never have imagined before. The warm water rushed from her hair and flowed relentlessly all over her body, as if trying to wash away the horrors of the past few days. Just a little over a month back, she was a fresh graduate and working her way to the top of a company most people would kill or die to be a part of. When work was going great, her heart had made way for true love – and with the CEO of the company himself! Maybe people were right, and you couldn’t have too much happiness in the world without compensating for it.
Mike had always looked like trouble, yet had inevitably ended up being what made her feel the safest. The layers of vulnerability and emotion that hid beneath his tattoos was what had drawn her towards him, and she didn’t regret it for a second. It was starting to eat her up though, the fact that he was still trying to protect her –
to keep her away from the thick of things. Typical male mentality! Jennifer didn’t need any protection, she wanted to be the shield that protected Mike. If not that, then at least the privilege of standing right beside him and holding his hand as he battled his demons. She resented being sent away, having to play the character of the damsel in distress while she waited for her hero to make things right and ride away into the sunset with her.
But she knew it was necessary at this point, and upsetting Mike further or arguing about equal rights with him was probably not the best thing to be doing. After all, she thought to herself as she stepped out of the shower – she wasn’t going to be sitting idle and tending to David. As much as she wanted David to be fine for Mike’s sake, she did hold him responsible for getting Mike into this trouble in the first place. A little communication and trust from his side could have gone such a long way in saving both the brother’s all this unnecessary trouble. So she was going to make things right, and try to get as much information as possible from David that could possibly help in bringing Donovan down. Rat and Gunther cracking was a good idea in theory, but taking too long in practice.
She got dressed in a light t-shirt and jeans, pulling her hair back into a high ponytail. As she walked around her house looking for her keys and wallet, her eyes suddenly spotted a man standing not too far from the driveway, looking at her place. Jennifer had subconsciously noticed him even while she had gotten home in the first place, and a quick glance at the car suspiciously parked in the corner confirmed the same to her. She didn’t like the look of him, nor of the fact that he seemed to be walking towards her house with a definitive agenda. Mike hadn’t sent him for security, had he? Jennifer decided to quickly call him, her instincts telling her that this man wasn’t here to protect her at all.
After dialing thrice, it stuck Jennifer that Mike’s phone had been smashed when he was captured by Rat and Gunther. For some reason, almost as if fate was conspiring against her – she was also not getting good network. She scrolled through her phone for Ted’s number, when her bell rang and left her blood cold.
Jennifer hesitantly walked towards the door, not knowing what to do. There was no way she could run out the back, she wouldn’t be able to get to the car and being a hopeless runner – wouldn’t get very far on foot. The door lead to a path that joined the main road anyway, so there was no way she could leave without being spotted. On peeping through the keyhole, she saw that the man was standing there, smiling at her in a manner that made her inexplicably shake. He didn’t look extremely sinister or anything, on the contrary if not for her instincts and the current scenario – he could have very well been a salesman with his sunny disposition. Yet it was somehow his calm and composed expression that made her worry more than she already would have. She grabbed an old dusty Glock which had once belonged to her father decades ago from the passage drawer and holding it stiff behind her back, she gingerly opened the door – not knowing what else to do.
“Hello,” said Liam with a smile as he raised his hand to shake hers, “You must be Jennifer.”
Chapter Twenty
“You have got to tell me what the fuck is going on Mike. I can’t work efficiently if you have these brain waves – especially of Jennifer being in danger! – and you don’t tell me about it,” exclaimed Ted in frustration as he drove his car at a mad speed.
Mike looked at Ted, forcing himself to break out of his reverie. He knew he wasn’t being fair to Ted, as a police officer in this case he had to know what was important enough to leave an investigation and run for. However, Mike couldn’t believe that he had possibly been stupid enough to overlook something clearly so catastrophic. He looked at Ted with a deadpan expression and said, “When Rat and Gunther had knocked me out the time I went to rescue David alone, they had smashed and thrown my phone away. While leaving, none of us had thought to look at it and I was extremely worried about David and Jennifer as it was. So it completely slipped my mind until I wanted to call Jennifer. If my phone got left behind, even destroyed – the memory card would still be accessible and so would all the data.”
Ted looked at him fleetingly while concentrating on the road as he replied, “But a guy like you, don’t you have any encryption to save your information?”
“No I didn’t think my memory card would ever be in the hands of a gangster Ted!” screamed Mike in despair, “I’m a fucking businessman for God’s sake not a special agent of the CIA! If Donovan has got his hands on the memory card, then he knows for sure who I am and most definitely even who Jennifer is. Our addresses, phone numbers and photos too are on the chat, and from what Rat just yelled at me inside – I think there’s a high chance he could attach Jennifer. Ted we have to get to her before Donovan can hurt her.”
“What did Rat say to you in there? Is that why you got so pissed with him?” asked Ted
“That filthy bastard was talking about how strong Donovan was. I was just about to tell him that I knew who his boss was and that his supposedly brave attitude was all for nothing. But he thought he still had the upper hand, and started bragging about his boss. The way he spoke about how Donovan’s mind worked though, it bothered me enough especially when he started talking about hurting Jennifer. When I first came out I dismissed it as nothing because I thought Donovan had no idea who I was and so he obviously couldn’t hurt me. But when I realized that my phone was missing and that I knew where it probably was, the pieces just seemed to fit perfectly in the most horrific puzzle ever,” said Mike in a rush.
Ted nodded, knowing that Mike’s theory was almost definitely true – and Donovan’s reputation had preceded him enough for Jennifer’s life to be in great danger if she was indeed his next target. They were almost nearing Jennifer’s house, Mike’s heartbeat getting faster with every moment. If she wasn’t safe at home, he was sure he would explode or die of a cardiac arrest. Jennifer had been so sweet and understanding to him since the beginning. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him in a very, very long time. Outside the glamour and the socialism of his world, on the inside – Mike had always been extremely lonely ever since David had left him. But Jennifer had brought a lot more than love and understanding with her ever since she walked into his life. Mike knew again what it felt like to have a friend, a companion who respected and understood you – even accepted you for who you really were. She was just a graduate, so young and innocent and unaware of how she had turned his world over.
And what had he done in return? Gotten her into his crazy world, asked her to deal with his baggage and emotional bullshit? And if that wasn’t enough, Jennifer’s life was now potentially in danger. The car screeched to a halt at the driveway and Mike broke out of his thoughts, almost breaking the car door open as he ran towards the main door.
“Her car’s still here, she’s obviously inside – calm down,” shouted Ted from behind as panting, he caught up with her. Mike ignored him as he rang the bell frantically, waiting for Jennifer to open the door. The last time he had seen her, though just an hour ago seemed to stretch on like an eternity, or maybe it was just the guilt. Guilt, of knowing that the last thing he had said to her was to leave him alone when all she wanted to do was stay by his side and help him. When she would open the door now, he would hug her tight and ask her to stay by his side forever. When she didn’t for almost five minutes though, he broke into a sweat and looked at Ted in desperation.
“Have you tried calling her again?” asked Ted, looking equally anxious as he began pounding on the door.
“Yes I have, about a hundred times! It was unreachable first and is coming switched off now. What do we do?” screamed Mike as he turned towards the door and began yelling, “Jennifer! Jennifer! Are you in there Jennifer?!”
To Mike’s sudden shock, Ted muffled his mouth and dragged him away from the house, into some bushes nearby. Mike resisted and fought, completely bewildered as to what Ted was doing. Ted finally released Mike who unthinkingly pushed him roughly and yelled, “What the fuck is wrong wit
h you man? My girlfriend is probably in danger inside and you’re dragging me away! What the fuck kind of cop are you Ted? What the fuck kind of human are you?”
Ted looked at Mike, a little hurt as he said, “Dude, if Jennifer is indeed in there, and if she isn’t opening the door it means that either she’s still being held captive by whoever or worst case scenario – something’s majorly wrong. By you screaming like that, you might have just alerted the captor and taken away any element of surprise we may have just had. And that has possibly put any chance of recusing Jennifer safely in danger.”
Mike began sweating profusely at the thought of this, which just got worse as the enormity of what Ted was saying began to dawn on him. How the fuck could he have been so stupid so as to scream! If anything happened to Jennifer at this point, it would be all on him. He looked at Ted however and said, “If the element of surprise is lost in any case, then we might as well just ambush. I know we don’t know how many or even if anyone is inside, but there is no time to waste standing around and planning anymore. If you want to do that or call for back up then by all means go ahead and do it. That’s the love of my life in there, and every second I’m standing out here is one more second of misery that you cannot begin to understand. I’m going in.”
And saying nothing further, Mike made a dash for the door, breaking into the glass and landing with a resounding thud on the floor. Oblivious to his physical wounds and pain however, he got up and began looking around desperately for Jennifer, screaming out her name as loudly as he possibly could while he ran around the house, almost crying. When he couldn’t find her anywhere, he collapsed in the living room with his face in his hands and broke down in earnest – unable to find rhyme or reason anymore. He felt a strong hand upon his shoulder and he looked up through moist eyes at Ted.
