Rudy sensed the
attack had ended. He dropped his hands from his ears and listened. Other than a
groaning sound, the warehouse was quiet. He stepped out from behind the stack
of cartons where he had dressed and saw that Tony stood near the palletized
bed. All he could see of Hank was the top of his ball cap rock from side to
side. Natalie was gone.
Rudy walked toward the scene
where a few minutes ago he had made love to the girl of his desire. As he
stepped around the end of the bed, Tony turned toward him. Hank, on his knees,
clutched his groin. Natalie laid face down in front of him on the floor. He
kneeled beside her and to his relief saw she took shallow breaths, but a large
bruise had begun to form on the left side of her face. He stood to take one of
the blankets from where she had been attacked. As he pulled the cover from the
pallet, he met Tony’s glare. Without a word, Rudy turned back to Natalie and
stooped to cover her nakedness.
He felt shame and a renewed
sense of guilt for his part in bringing this on her. He knew he should have
seen this coming, but he had been too caught up in his own need to anticipate
the treachery his two companions would force on her. Glad Hank seemed to be in
agony, he reveled in the result of Natalie’s fight back. Red rivulets ran down
Hank’s cheeks as he rocked back and forth on his knees seeking comfort.
But it wasn’t enough. Rudy
needed to strike a blow to quell the rage inside. He stepped over to Hank and
jabbed his fist into Hank’s unsuspecting face. That knocked him backwards to
the floor. The hollow sound his head made as it hit the concrete gave Rudy a
welcomed but empty feeling of vengeance. Hank laid still.
Tony walked over to where
Natalie laid sprawled on the cold floor. He looked at Rudy, bent down and put
the muzzle of the .357 to her head.
“No don’t!” Rudy said and threw
his hands up in the air. “Don’t hurt her any more, please.”
Tony paused, glared into Rudy’s
face, and continued to hold the barrel to Natalie’s forehead.
“Please don’t do it. She doesn’t
deserve this. Don’t make her pay for my sins. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Then take her to the car, damn
it,” Tony said with a cold, calm voice, “and put her in the trunk.”
Rudy felt like he had won her a
stay of execution. He dropped his hands. “This wasn’t the plan,” he said with a
controlled voice.
Tony cocked the hammer of the
gun and pressed it harder against her head.
“Okay, okay, I’ll take her.”
“Then shut the hell up and do
it.”
Rudy stood, took the other
blanket from the stack of pallets and laid it on the floor next to Natalie’s
still body. Tony pulled the gun from her head and released the hammer. Rudy
dropped to his knees, rolled her onto her back, and picked her up. He placed
her gently in the center of the other blanket and wrapped it around her.
“I’ll need the keys,” Rudy said
and turned his eyes up to Tony’s.
Tony glowered at him a moment
longer and then reached into the pocket of his tweed jacket, pulled the keys
out, and tossed them to Rudy.
Rudy picked her up and as he
headed for the car, Hank began to rouse.
“Did you hit me?” he shouted
after Rudy as he walked away.
Rudy ignored him. He knew his
anger would only cause more trouble, maybe even death to the innocent person in
his arms. He brought this on himself. He had no reason to trust these two
animals and if Natalie had a chance of survival, he had to figure a way out.
But a fight with them now wasn’t the way.
“Hey asshole, I said, ‘did you
hit me?’” Hank yelled even louder.
Shut up, Hank,” Tony said. “Get
up. We’ve got to get our shit out of here.”
“This isn’t over, Rudy!” Hank
called out. “No one hits me and walks away.”
Rudy continued around the ten
foot stacks of pallets. Relieved when they were between him and the two other
men, he cradled Natalie in his arms and headed for the door. Once out, he
turned and walked down the long hallway. At the exit, he forced the door open
with his foot and then stepped around behind the dark sedan. He opened the lid
and leaned over the rusted bumper. The light in the trunk had burned out, so
when he placed Natalie on the floor, it was if she had slipped out of his sight
and forever into the darkness.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m
so, so sorry.”
A sound in front of the car drew
his eyes to the warehouse door. Hank appeared with the light pole and in his
hands.
“Did she come ‘round?” Hank
demanded.
“No. Why did you do this?”
“Because I could!” he yelled.
“Now, get back in there and get the rest of the shit.”
Rudy didn’t want to leave
Natalie alone with Hank and hesitated.
“Go!” Hank shouted. He swung the
light pole at Rudy and hit him across the lower back.
“Okay, but leave her alone,” he
said as he massaged the sting in his back.
Hank didn’t respond but Rudy
could see in the dim security light his face had twisted into a mask of
contempt.
He hurried back into the
warehouse. Tony stood at the short pile of pallets he had used earlier as a
desk, and picked up his papers. Rudy headed around the end furthest from Tony
to gather his bathrobe. Then he made his way down the aisle to where Natalie’s
clothes hung. He removed the hanger from its resting place on the side of the
refrigerator carton, and picked up her boots and purse from the floor. He
checked to make sure the floor was clear and then stepped toward the open area.
Before he reached the end of the
aisle, an idea struck him. He ran back to the carton where Natalie had hung her
cloths. Her black tights were draped over the hanger. He slipped them off and
dropped them on the floor. When he got back to the well-lit area, he looked to
his left to where Tony had stood at the makeshift desk. He was no longer there,
so Rudy walked to the space where they had filmed. He seized the towel Natalie
had been draped with from the floor and he called out, “Anyone here?”
No one answered. As he reached
the door to the warehouse, he turned the lights off in the main room with the
towel to protect from fingerprints. He stepped into the hallway and wiped the
door handles. When he was within fifteen feet of the exit, the door flew open
and Tony stood in the entrance.
“That’s everything,” Rudy said
without breaking stride. Exasperation carried his voice.
“You damn well better be sure.
Nothing left for the cops?”
“No, this is the last of it. I
flipped the lights off and wiped prints.”
Tony gave him a hard look,
glanced down the hallway and let Rudy pass through the doorway. As Rudy headed
to the trunk, Tony called out, “We’ve got to ditch her car. The keys must be in
her purse, you guys follow me.”
At the trunk, Rudy started to
put Natalie’s things at her feet but Hank grabbed the purse out of his hand. In
the dull light, Rudy heard the jangle of keys and then Hank’s hand drove back
into the bag for something else. He couldn’t see what he pulled out, but Hank
slid it into the right pocket of his silver studded vest.
_____
©
Jearl Rugh 2012
All
Rights Reserved
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