ATONEMENT (42 page)

Guns, knives and obscurity were his friends. He was a man without love
who was t
aught to avoid distractions. His father said relationships were the worst
kind
.

Nico
questioned the logic, “Then why do you have a wife?”

“Your mother is not a
relationship
, or
distraction
. She is part of my heart that makes it
beat;
do you understand the difference boy?”

Nico hadn’t, it made no sense.
Time elapsed since he was told this and
years after
,
he met Ariana. Every moment
without her caused violent palpitations but when they were together, his body was serenity. Then he understood and considered his father a wise
man. But now, it was not Arian
a eliciting such emotions but Selange
. The strangest part of it is, Nico was in agony every moment, wanting to love her, protect her, take her with him…yes…the agony…the torture of it was she belonged to Alfonzo and loved him. Until, their love died and she could be with
Nico
without the trappings of a guilty conscience they had no future. He
was practical in his assessment. Selange required absolution from Alfonzo, otherwise
he was forced to cut out his heart and accept his fate. Physical torture suddenly appeared more appealing than the emotional one.

His mind switched to Alberti and he scoffed, fate is quite the bitch!

T
onig
ht death was coming and he wanted to meet it at the crossroads. If he couldn’t have Selange, okay –but ratting is another thing. Weak men cave to pressure and he wasn’t fluffy like most. This is the time he
wished Selange was
with her husband and not here
.

He snarled at Marco,
“Why
coward
?”

“Wrong
response.
K
yle
,
finger!”

Nico shot up, gripped Marco’s neck and was a hair’s
breadth
from snapping it
when
a cord
wrapped
around his neck
and cut his air
supply
.
Nico released Marco, reached behind his head to the hands holding the cord and used his forearms
to
forcefully
scissor
the hold.
E
ncumbered by
the
chair
,
feet bound
and balancing on his knees
wasn’t exactly an ideal fighting position for Nico. His captors were having a hard time of it
, also and
found
they were
unable to match Nico’s strength or d
eflect his blows. Infuriated at Nico’s lack of cooperation, Marco withdrew a pistol and fired
in
Selange
’s direction
!

                        
CHAPTER NINETEEN

High morning.
Yes, that’s the dumb-ass term he heard on some news program a few years back and questioned, ‘exactly what the hell is high morning? When he did an internet search it came back with a list of Tom Petty songs and answers unrelated to the question. He developed his
own definition, high morning; the early part of dawn when you wake up feeling happy you’re breathing and so damn light from it
,
you feel high
‘cause you made it to another morning
.

Atop
the windowsill sat
a
half smoked
bag of
weed
. This was the room his wife shared with Kim-Sung prior to moving in the guest house.
Alfonzo came here to search for any clues, anything to help him find Selange. The
hush-hush conversation
the women were having earlier centered on the recent discovery that
Kim- Sung
was not in her bedroom or anywhere in the house. They theorized Selange and
Kim-Sung
we
re hanging out, essentially and perhaps lost track of time.

Well, to A
lfonzo, the
theory sucked. He knew his wife better than any of them. Responsibility
was
Selange’s middle name. She
would not have gone to ‘hang-out’ in a foreign country and not inform someone. No, something happened…something…
bad…he sensed it.

He was rummaging through the bureau drawers. Women’s lingerie, a few
oriental style
robes, the silky sexy kind
.
He pat around
with his hand
and touched
a
paper. He removed it and looked at a familiar photograph of his wife and the children smiling back at him. He remembered this
picture;
he took it last year when they were outdoors
enjoying the day. Kim-Sung must have taken it from her wallet, Selange loved this picture. He put it in his pocket the
n
tried his wife’s cell phone once more.
I
n a sudden lucid moment he recalled there wa
s a companion tracking system on
his wife’s phone and quickly activated it.
                   

He chastised himself aloud, “
Stupido
!”

In minutes he was looking at a satellite view of a location, his legs were moving at a normal pace, then the strides quickened, soon he was running down the stairs, shouting for Vincent and a few men.

Silently he
spoke to God asking
to let him find Selange
unharmed
.
Despite their marital discourse, she was the mother of his children. Sure, he was mad at her. Actually, infuriated –but he loved her. He felt it now. The emotion came…hit him
with such ferocity
it
crippled
his body
. T
he possibility occurred he might never see her again. He couldn’t fathom
a life without her. God, let her be okay he begged because if anyone hurt her…they’d plead for death!
 

                                                 
           
***

Marco smiled, “Got your attention, I see!” He was holding on to Selange
, j
erking her
to
her feet, squeezing hard on her arm and she winced.

She noticed the dangerous glint in Nico’s
eyes and wanted to reassure him she was fine. He shouldn’t feel sad, no, he was guiltless. This was her doing. Every bit her fault.

The man with the broken wrist, Kyle, yeah that’s the name, sauntered over with the knives as Marco shoved her down on the couch.
Nic
o
’s hands were rebound and duct-tape c
over
ed
his mouth
again
. They were making him watch. It was harsh; the
se were the
actions of merciless men.

Marco
tenderly
removed the tape from her
lips and she smirked at his display of feigned kindness.
“Your boyfriend fails to cooperate.
He
doesn’t truly care what we do to you. Pity, it comes to this.”

Selange found peace. Calmed her thoughts, prepared her body for the pain. She would not beg for her life like a spineless fish. Instead, her chin lifted in defiance, “Nico
’s
right. You
a
re
a coward!”

The slap
resounded in the silent living-room.
The stinging radiated from her face to her ears and
blood
trickled from her nose
over the edge of her lip.
Nico growl
ed
,
the floor actually vibrated under his rage. He was
roaring like a caged beast
fighting to loosen his restraints.
S
elange sniffled the blood and tasted its blandness. Blood
, n
ow she had a purpose to kill, what she needed was an opportunity and it presented herself.

The binds at her feet were slipping loose, none saw and she was glad.

“You bleed bitch, so I suppose we each have flaws.”

Stalling the short man she quipped, “Napoleon complexes plague
many
men of your stature. You
’re flaw
can
’t
be undone, a bloody nose can.”

His fist raised then fell impotently to his side and he laughed.
Pointed his finger
in her face and
exclaimed, “The whore has many jokes!” Then his mouth turned mocking, “I think before I slice you to pieces I will fuck
,
then Kyle will fuck you and
when we’re done we’ll cut out
your pussy!” He turned to Nico, “Tell us what we want to know. I promise to kill her quickly if you do!”

Nico’s head drooped to his chest, he nodded.

“Nico doesn’t know the location. It changed after Nico left. I would have told you if you asked nicely.” Selange bluffed.

Marco appeared uncertain. He removed
a
long blade from
his
case
. The instruments were
oddly shaped and lethal
.
Some, Selange opined were similar to
those
surgeons used in operations –but Marco’s clumsy hands did not belong to a trained physician.

Marco removed his coat, placed it beside her on the sofa
and instructed Kyle to keep an eye on her
.
Gripping a thin long blade, he turned and
walked to Nico
. Without speech he shoved the sharp steel straight into Nico’s thigh and Nico sat there, unflinching under the pain. Selange hiccupped a cry as the sadistic man, twisted and twisted trying to get a reaction from Nico but instead received a cold glare.
Nico’s
eyes were squinted, the message he sent, clear as day. ‘You’re a dead man!’