The Bloody Canvas

by KJ Kalis

  Stella walked back towards the office, the blood rushing to her face. It was time for her to have a conversation with Christopher. It would be one he wouldn’t like.

  37

  Carson turned around, assuming Kat and Eli were just behind them. They weren’t. He spun, scanning the tarmac only to see the taillights of a black van and two black sedans screaming away from the airstrip. “Henry!”

  Without a word, the two men ran back to the area where the crates were stacked. There was no one there. Only a pair of glasses were left on the ground. Henry bent over and picked them up. “Are these Eli’s?”

  Carson nodded. “What just happened?” He glanced back towards the hangar and saw two men in handcuffs being walked out to police cars. The woman in the Mercedes was gone and so were Kat and Henry. His heart started to pound in his chest. It had been his job to help protect them and he and Henry had failed. And now, at the hand of the Rusu family, it might cost them their lives…

  38

  Stella stared at Christopher from the doorway of her office and then walked behind her desk, sitting down in the leather executive chair that she had purchased for herself. She sunk into the cushions and crossed her legs before looking up at him, “Sit.”

  Christopher glanced behind him at the man in the corner of the room. The man raised his eyebrows and Christopher immediately sat down as he had been told. He didn’t say a word.

  A sense of satisfaction wound its way through Stella. She liked being in control. She had a troublemaker in front of her and two more in the back. It was her choice to do with them as she wanted. “Mr. Lavaud, I’ve been a little disappointed in your services. That’s why we brought you here.”

  Christopher didn’t say anything for a moment, his lips pressed so tightly together that they turned white. He drew in a sharp breath, “I’m sorry to hear that. What can I do to make it right?”

  Stella tilted her head to the side before she spoke, wanting to make him squirm a little bit, “I am not sure there is anything you can do.”

  Christopher shifted in his seat as though he was terribly uncomfortable. “Could we at least discuss what you are unhappy about? I’d like the opportunity to make it right if that’s okay with you.”

  Stella turned in her chair away from Christopher, looking out a window that was behind her. Mirrored film had been put on it so that she could look out but no one on the outside could look in. Privacy was paramount in her business. She had learned that early on when a valuable shipment had been stolen from her. A collection of old gold coins that belonged to an Italian diplomat disappeared. In her naivete, she called the police. Then she had gotten a late-night call from her father, “Stella, come to me with your problems. Not the police. Not ever.”

  She turned back, almost facing him directly, but not quite. “You’ve cost me a lot of money this week,” she said, “And worse, you have attracted the attention of the authorities. That is never helpful for my business.”

  Stella watched Christopher for his reaction. She was sure that with his clientele he had been in this position more than once. She was curious how he would respond. As she waited, she noticed the color drain from his face. He was looking down at his lap holding his hands together in a tight grip. “Well?”

  He drew in a sharp breath, “Let me start by saying that I’m deeply sorry. I apologize for any difficulty this has put you in. I hired the absolute best people I could find to handle the shipment.”

  Stella stood up, feeling the boil of anger in her gut. “Do you understand that we lost a million dollars’ worth of product overnight? Your little plan to fill the packing peanuts didn’t work.”

  “I apologize, ma’am. What can I do to make this right? I would be more than happy to forgo my fee for this shipment. I really do appreciate my relationship with you and your family. I would hate to see decades of good work be lost over a bad shipment.”

  “A bad shipment? I’ve got customs and law enforcement breathing down my neck. They’ve got the art that is scheduled to go to auction as well. I’d say that’s a little bit more than a plan that didn’t work!” Stella felt like walking over to her guard, pulling his gun and shooting Christopher right at that moment. But that wasn’t the type of work she did. She had never gotten her hands dirty before. The thought made her nauseous. She preferred when her problems just disappeared.

  She sat down in her chair again, feeling the cushions supporting her back. She would need a good massage after all of this tension. Christopher’s offer to forgo his fee was definitely a sign of good faith, but she wasn’t sure if it was enough. His fee for the latest shipment would have been two million, twice what she had lost. She spun in her chair to look out the window again, not sure what to do. She needed time to think, and the answers weren’t coming quickly.

  Stella got up from her chair, looked at the guard and said, “Keep him here.” She walked out of the office without another word. Time wasn’t on her side. She knew she needed to make decisions about what to do with Christopher and the two people in the cage, but she wasn’t ready to, not just yet…

  39

  Kat woke up, a funny taste in her mouth and her shoulders aching. As the fog lifted, she realized she couldn’t move her hands forward, they were bound behind her. She tried to move her legs and realized they were bound as well. Fear pulsated inside of her as she gasped. Where was she? What had happened?

  She looked to her right and to her left. She was strapped to a chair inside of a metal cage. Standing to her left in the corner was a man, one she didn’t recognize. He was an enormous, bigger than any man she had ever seen. She looked to her right and saw Eli, his head still slumped to the side, his hands and feet bound as well. “Eli? Wake up!” she whispered, even though she knew the guard could hear her.

  Eli started to stir, blinking. His eyes grew wide as he realized the situation he and Kat were in. He didn’t say anything, but Kat could tell from the rise and the fall of his chest that he was nearly hyperventilating.

  Kat tried to draw in long deep breaths, the kind her therapist had taught her, to fend off her PTSD. Worse than how anxious she was feeling was not knowing if she could keep her PTSD at bay. She had been known to hyperventilate so bad that she passed out, enough times that she learned to just sit on the floor. That wasn’t an option here. Emotions started to well up inside of her. All she could think about was Jack and Van and wanting to be home. How had she gotten into this mess? Where was Henry? Where was Carson? Did they even know that she and Eli were missing? Her mind raced ahead of her with questions, emotions rolling over her like high tide on a beach.

  She glanced up at the man in the corner of the cage. He wasn’t moving. He didn’t say anything. He just kept staring at her. Silent.

  Kat desperately needed to stay calm. She closed her eyes for a moment. A memory flashed before her. Right after they had moved to California, there had been a rash of wildfires. Some of them natural, some of them set by a madman. Her family had nearly gotten consumed by the fire when it had raced up the hillside below them. Afterward, she had commented to Van that they never would’ve gotten through it without him being so calm. She could see his face in her head, his eyes staring at her, his head shaking from side to side, “That’s just not true, Kat. You are strong.”

  His voice rattled in her head, the words pushing back against her fear. She took a deep breath and focused, taking an inventory of what she saw around her. There was the metal cage, yes, but she could also see crates of goods behind her. Wherever she was, it didn’t look much different than the customs warehouse they had visited. Just beyond the cage, she saw some canvases leaning against one of the stacks of crates. Could those be Hailey’s? Maybe from another shipment? She didn’t know. They were too far away. She scanned the inside of the cage. There was nothing in it she could see except for herself, Eli and the gigantic man in the corner. He had looked away and was picking at the cuticles on one of his nails.

  Kat looked at Eli. His breathing had slowed, which wa
s a good sign. She could tell by his posture that he had retreated inside. Even if she could do something, she wasn’t sure he would be able to help. She hoped that Henry and Carson were looking for them, but there was no guarantee that they would get to the two of them in time.

  As she started scanning the room again, she heard the clack of high heels on the concrete floor. They were approaching and approaching quickly. The guard turned and pushed the door open just as a petite blonde woman came in the cage. She looked at them for a minute without saying anything. Fear rose in another wave inside of Kat. Henry and Carson didn’t know where they were. There was no help coming, or at least no help coming quickly.

  “Get me a chair,” the woman said. The guard disappeared for a moment and came back with a folding chair that he set up for her. She sat down, crossing her legs. “So, you decided to do a little spying today.”

  Kat wasn’t sure what to say. One wrong word and she was sure the woman would instruct the guard to kill them. A prickle ran up her spine, “You could say that.”

  The woman raised her eyebrows, seemingly surprised that Kat would be that forthcoming, “So, you admit you were there?”

  Kat shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable with her arms and legs bound. “There’s no point in lying. You know we were there.”

  Stella looked at the guard, “Anton, do you see this? This is someone who isn’t wasting my time.” She looked back at Kat, “Do you know who I am?”

  Something inside of Kat clicked. She decided to push forward. “You’re Stella Rusu, the youngest daughter of Marcus Rusu.”

  Stella tilted her head to the side, “Very good. And you are?”

  “Kat Beckman. This is Eli Langster.” Kat didn’t offer any more information. She wanted to see what Stella would do with what she said.

  “Okay, Kat Beckman, what were you doing at the landing strip?”

  Kat decided she had nothing to lose. There was no point in trying to hide from Stella the reason they were at the airport. “I have a friend that works for Scotland Yard and another that works for the Savannah Police Department. We were there waiting for the shipment that we were told would arrive. That’s when you found us.”

  Stella squinted for a moment. “Why were you there? You are in law enforcement?”

  “I’m a journalist. Eli is an art importer.”

  “Eli Langster, why does that name sound familiar?”

  Kat waited for a moment, but Eli didn’t answer, his eyes wide. “Eli said he had some dealings with your family years ago. He showed us scars on his arm.”

  Stella gave a brief nod to the guard, who walked over to Eli and pushed up his sleeve, Eli leaning as far back in his chair as he could to get away from the guard.

  “I’m sorry about that, Eli. Sometimes work requires sacrifice.” Stella nodded at the guard. He pulled Eli’s sleeve back into place.

  Kat felt something inside of her shift again. Anger started to well up inside of her. She had been through so much — Jack had been kidnapped, she had chased a sex trafficker across the country to save a young girl, she’d exposed a terrorism ring and gotten through massive wildfires. It didn’t seem that today should be her day to die. But how she would get out of Stella’s grip, she wasn’t sure. “What do you want from us?”

  Stella got up and started pacing, walking behind the chair. “I’m not sure. Do you have anything to offer?”

  “Probably nothing you’d actually want,” Kat answered sarcastically. “Tell me, were you the one that ordered Hailey Park's death?”

  Stella paused and stared at Kat, her dark eyes boring a hole right through her. “And why would you want to know that?”

  “Because I was living a relatively normal life until I heard about Hailey Park’s murder and went down to investigate. Now, I’m here.” The more Kat talked the angrier she got. It was a new feeling, one that she wasn’t accustomed to. The fear that had chased her had been replaced by fury.

  “Fair enough. You could say I ordered it in a way. There was a failure by one of our providers. Ends needed to be cleaned up. And, that little girl was demanding more money.”

  “Was one of those ends the man that came off the plane?”

  Stella looked at Kat as though she was amused, “You are quite perceptive, aren’t you? The man you mentioned? He’s sitting in my office right now. I’m trying to figure out what to do with him.”

  “That’s the question of the day, isn’t it? What are you going to do with all of us?”

  “I don’t know yet. I haven’t decided.”

  Kat swallowed. She knew in her heart that the odds of her getting home to Van and Jack were shrinking by the moment. She pushed the thought out of her head. She couldn’t afford to get emotional. “So, tell me, how did you get a ten-year-old to stab a girl?”

  Stella leaned back in her chair, laughing. “You don’t pull any punches, do you?”

  She paused for a moment. “That wasn’t exactly my doing. The man in my office was responsible for that piece of work.”

  “And the psychiatrist?”

  “He was a loose end. He couldn’t be trusted to keep his mouth closed. He got the boy to do the deed but was weak-willed. The man in my office should have known that. He didn’t and so I had to handle it.” Stella stood up. “You know, it’s always that way. From the time I was little, people have underestimated me, they’ve tried to hold me back, to protect me. Let me tell you something, I don’t need protecting. See all the stuff around you? When my father gave me the business — which was a total joke — he was just trying to placate me. He was sure I would never amount to anything, just like my mother.”

  “What happened your mother?” Kat asked.

  “My mother?” Stella shook her head. “She was weak. She could have been great if he would have given her a little encouragement, but that’s not what he wanted. He favors the men. You know that feeling, right? My brothers, they got everything handed to them. I didn’t. I’ve had to work for all of this, and I’ve surprised everyone.”

  “I can relate to that.”

  Stella stood behind the chair, her hands on the back of it, “You can? And how’s that?”

  “I was in Afghanistan as an embedded journalist a long time ago. Got blown up in an IED attack. After that, no one thought I would amount to anything. They thought I’d be broken for the rest of my life. We're stronger than we think we are.”

  “Afghanistan? You?”

  Kat nodded, suddenly feeling angry that she was being challenged by someone who had spent her whole life being questioned. It was ironic at best, hypocritical at worst. “Have your guard pull my sleeve up. You’ll see the scars from the surgery after my wrist was shattered. I’ve had PTSD ever since.”

  Stella nodded and the guard came over and pulled up her sleeve. Stella peered around the back of the chair Kat was bound to, just close enough to see the scars. As she walked back to the doorway of the cage, she glanced back at Kat, “You could be lying, but I don’t think so.” Her eyes narrowed.

  Heavy footfalls came running towards the cage. It was a man. It looked to Kat like the same man that had driven Stella’s car. “Bobby? What is it?”

  “Your guest in the office,” he said breathlessly, “He’s escaped.”

  “What! How is that possible? One of the guards was standing right behind him when I left the office!”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t know what happened. I walked by and saw the guard on the floor. The door was open. I ran outside, but your Mercedes is gone.”

  Kat watched as the blood flooded Stella’s face, turning her cheeks bright red. “Are you kidding? You left the keys in the Mercedes?”

  Bobby stammered, “We always do, ma’am. Just in case we need to leave quickly. It’s something your father…”

  Bobby didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence. “My father! Don’t talk to me about my father! This is my business. Mine. I have built it from the ground up. I didn’t tell you to leave the keys in the Mercedes. Now
Christopher is gone. What are you going to do about that?”

  Bobby didn’t say anything. He just stared at the ground for a moment. “I can track him, ma’am. The car has a locator on it through the GPS. Would you like me to go and do that?”

  Kat’s heart was pounding in her chest. She could barely breathe, waiting and watching to see what would happen next.

  Stella hissed, “Yes, you moron. Go take care of it!”

  Bobby turned and walked away. He got about ten feet before Stella called to him. “Bobby!”

  He turned slowly as if he was ready to be screamed at again. Before he could say anything, Kat saw Stella reach behind her back. From underneath her coat, she pulled a pistol and fired off three rounds, the explosions echoing off the sides of the building before Bobby’s body ever hit the ground.

  Kat sucked in her breath, her heart pounding in her chest. Eli was motionless, pale and drawn. She had no idea that Stella had a weapon on her. That changed the equation dramatically.

  She turned back to Kat and Eli, “I bet he never saw that coming,” she said smugly. “Anton,” she motioned to the guard standing in the cage with her, “He’s been training me. No one thought I’d be strong enough to kill someone. Well, I just proved them wrong.” She looked at Anton, “Get him out of here.”

  Stella stuck the gun behind her back again and sat down on the chair as Anton walked away to deal with Bobby’s body. “So, Ms. Beckman, here are the answers to your questions. Yes, I am the daughter of the man that runs a powerful family business. However, as you can see, I am powerful on my own. I have built an import-export business that moves both legal and illegal items. I was the one who came up with the idea to sell forged art. Most of the idiots out there have no idea what they are buying. I’ve used that to my advantage. The man you saw come off the plane failed me. I will deal with him later. As far as your artist, I’m sorry she had to be eliminated, but we are moving in a new direction and I can’t afford to have any evidence left behind. She was becoming demanding. The people that work for me have to be adaptable and grateful. She was neither. Stupid girl.”