Beloved Beast (7 page)

R
amon put the
night-vision equipment to one side and checked, once more, the position of all of his weapons. He was calm. He was accustomed to carrying out difficult missions in a cool, considered way – he had switched off his emotions and spied on the place where Crissy was being held captive. He knew there were six guards outside and possibly two to four more inside the building. He knew Mario too well, how he would proceed and he knew that Crissy would not have been brought here until just before the agreed time. It should not be possible for him to get Crissy out of here in broad daylight. Mario will presume that Ramon would come alone and would not involve the police, and he was right. Yes, Mario knew his opponent, too. They had once been like brothers. If the Angel affair had not happened they may have still been like brothers.

He shoved the vision equipment into his rucksack, pulled one of his knives out of his belt and slowly crept round to the back of the building in which Crissy was imprisoned. He hid himself between two containers and watched two men keeping a look-out at the back of the building. They looked relaxed. Maybe they thought that the expected guest would approach the building from the front, where the entrance was. But they were mistaken.

“Man, I wish Mario wouldn’t kill the little slut straight away. We could have a bit of fun with her. I’d like to show her my Luis,” said the man and laughed.

“You’re right. I’ve got something to fill her pretty mouth. Damn it! Just the thought of it gives me a hard-on.”

Ramon came out of the shadows and crept up to the two inattentive guards. Everything happened very quickly. He slit the throat of the first man and before the second guard could raise the alarm he, too, collapsed with a cut throat. Now there were only four more guards.

Mario looked at his diamond-studded Zenith watch.

“Your knight in shining armour has twenty more minutes. It’s time to prepare you a little.”

Crissy’s heart began to race. During the last half an hour she had relaxed a little – lulled by alcohol and the apparently calm disposition of her ex-fiancé. Now he had brought her ungraciously back to reality. She was his bait and not his guest. He would kill Ramon and her likewise.

“What are you planning to do?” she asked, with a tremble in her voice that she found hard to suppress.

Instead of answering her question, Mario got up and went to the door. He opened it and called out to his two bodyguards. Crissy felt fear choking her, and her stomach seemed to have knotted. The two men looked anything but pleasant, which was of course the point of their job.

“No!” she screamed, as the men came to her and dragged her out of the armchair. “What are you planning to do, Mario?”

“It’s not that I don’t like you, Crissy. I already told you that when I left you in the swamp. Back then I had to get rid of you. Today I have another purpose for you. You’re my means to an end.” He laughed cynically. “Your dear Ramon seems to have a weakness for my girls. First I lost Angel because of him and now he wants you, too!”

“You are so two-faced! You sold Angel to him! And you threw me to the alligators. He neither took Angel from you, nor me.
You
didn’t want her any more, nor
me
!”

“Put her over there!” Mario ordered his men with a wave, without addressing Crissy’s question.

“You damn ass-hole!” shouted Crissy and she defended herself violently against the two men who were dragging her along.

Mario grinned.

“I’ll prepare a little surprise for Ramon,” he said in a tone of doom that made Crissy’s skin crawl.

The bodyguards pushed her against the wall where lots of metal pipes ran. They fastened her arms onto the pipes with ropes, so that she had to stand upright with her arms stretched high above her. Crissy had no idea how she was going to stand this. Her arms were already hurting and the ropes were cutting into her flesh.

Mario pulled out a knife from beneath his jacket and walked up to Crissy. Her heart beat faster. Her eyes, full of fear, were fixed on the blade. She tried not to think of everything that he could do with it. Panic ran through her and she bravely tried to fight it and stay calm. Nothing occurred to her that she could do in this situation – apart from praying – so she did that. She silently begged God to stand by her. She did not believe in miracles, but she prayed that God would give her the strength to die well and not to give Mario the satisfaction of making her scream.

Mario nodded to his men and, without warning, they tore Crissy’s blouse from her body. She screamed in shock and starred at her ex-fiancé in anger. Mario looked at her thoughtfully.

“You really are very beautiful, Crissy,” he said, and slid the cool blade slowly over her breasts. “Immaculate.”

Crissy summoned up all her courage and spat at his face. Just as the first time, when she spat at him in the swamp, he rewarded her with a smack on the face. Only this time he also thumped her in the stomach.  She gasped and doubled up, as much as the ropes would allow.

“Soon you won’t feel like spitting any more,” he snarled sinisterly, and he smiled nastily.

He took the blade and cut Crissy on her left breast. Overcome by unimaginable pain, she screamed at the top of her voice.

Ramon pulled his knife out of the last guard’s chest and wiped the blade on the damp grass. Then he froze – a piercing scream shot through the night. Crissy! What had the bastard done to her? Ramon really had to stop himself from charging rashly into the warehouse. It would not help Crissy. Moreover Mario would not kill her before Ramon turned up. He would not kill her – but he would torture her!

“Damn it!” he cursed.

Warning himself to be calm and level-headed, Ramon carefully entered the warehouse. He could not see anyone. Of course someone could be hiding behind one of the shelving units, but Ramon’s instinct told him that no one was there. So he went on to the back of the warehouse, where the office was. Here there were blinds hanging at the window that looked from the office into the warehouse. But he could see silhouettes. A man in the room was moving back and forth.

“How could I have been so wrong about you?” he heard Crissy say.

He was relieved that her voice still sounded so strong. She was angry and that was good. If Mario had tortured her really badly she would now sound very different. Nevertheless he did not doubt for a minute that Mario had hurt her a lot.

He heard Mario laugh and Ramon was filled with wrath.

“Wait till your lover-beast comes. Then he’ll see how much time I’m taking over you. That was just a little foretaste of what is to come.”

“And what if he doesn’t come? I’ve already told you. He’s left me. He won’t even have got your note.”

“He has got it!”

“How do you know?”

“He killed the man who gave him the bad news. And he wasn’t particularly gentle with my cousin. He stabbed his hand with a knife, cut off his earlobe and then shot a bullet into his head. He’s not squeamish, our friend.”

“But he doesn’t do it for such lowly motives as you do. You even enjoy doing it!”

“You don’t know Ramon very well, dear Crissy. He goes lower than you would care to imagine. He’s not your
romantic
knight! He’s a
killer
!”

“Good! Then I hope he
kills
you!” said Crissy, full of hatred.

Ramon crept quietly around the built-in office to the only door. With a well-aimed kick he opened the door and held the pistol, ready to shoot. Mario, who was standing very close to Crissy when the door flew open, reacted very quickly and held the knife to Crissy’s throat.

“Ramon!” shouted Crissy.

“Good evening, Ramon!” Mario greeted him with a smile. “Great, that you accepted my invitation. I’m sure you won’t want to miss tonight’s performance. But I must warn you – if you don’t throw down the little toy that you’ve got in your hand, then the game’s pretty much over for the little one here, if you wouldn’t mind. So, throw the weapon nicely over here, OK?”

Ramon tried not to stare at the blood that was running down Crissy’s breast. Mario had cut an ‘M’ in her skin to brand her. It was not as bad as he had feared – the cut was not deep, but still his blood was boiling with rage. And still he had to act with caution. Mario was capable of anything and Crissy was in great danger. Slowly Ramon lowered the gun and threw it across to Mario.

“Good boy. I’m proud of you. And now come two steps closer and stand still.”

Ramon took two steps forward without taking his eyes off Mario. He could see both bodyguards out of the corner of his eyes. They waited upon Mario’s command.

“Seize him and bring him here!” Mario demanded, and the two brawny men got moving.

Ramon knew that if he was going to have any chance, then he had to take it now, before the men tied him up. Once that was done he would be forced to watch Mario assaulting Crissy. He had to take the risk. They had nothing to lose.

In one speedy move he took the landlord’s pistol from his waistband and shot. Mario looked in disbelief at the rapidly spreading patch of red on his white shirt – he clutched his chest and collapsed. Momentarily the two bodyguards were frozen to the spot. Then they pulled out their guns. Ramon shot the man on his left and threw himself to the ground, just missing the bullet fired at him by the bodyguard on his right.

Whilst still falling, Ramon rolled onto his back and shot at the man who was aiming at him again. Two shots could be heard and Ramon felt a burning sensation in his left shoulder. He only just registered that Crissy was calling his name.

He jumped up and checked out the situation with a quick look around. The guard that he had shot first was lying on the floor, dead. Mario, too, lay motionless, but the last man was moving. Ramon aimed at the man’s head and pulled the trigger.

“Damn it!” cursed Ramon, as no shot was heard.

He pulled a new magazine out of his bag and quickly loaded the weapon, without taking his eyes off the man, who had lifted himself up and was reaching for his weapon. But before he could aim, Ramon had fired a bullet into his head.

Crissy screamed.

Ramon was by her side in a second and speedily cut through her ropes, then he lifted her into his arms in complete relief.

Crissy sobbed into his arms. Ramon felt unending relief because he had been able to rescue her in time. He had been so afraid that he would lose her. He cradled her in his arms like a child and his heart beat as if it would burst.

“Are you OK, baby?”

“Yes,” she sobbed. “I was so afraid for you.”

“For me?” he asked in amazement.

“Yes, you complete idiot! Wasn’t it obvious to you that this was a trap? He wanted to kill you!”

Ramon let her go a little and looked at her, shaking his head.

“Did you really think I would leave you at his mercy, just to save my own backside? It was already bad enough that I allowed all of this to happen. I let you down, Crissy. Forgive me.”

“What sort of rubbish are you talking? You did not let me down, you saved me. I don’t what to hear such stupid talk again!”

A quiet groaning distracted them from their argument. They both looked at Mario on the ground.

“He … he’s still alive,” cried Crissy in horror.

Ramon knelt down, turned Mario over onto his back and looked into the glassy eyes of his former friend. Mario’s lips moved.

“What?” asked Ramon and bent down more.

“Bro-ther,” gurgled Mario, and blood ran out from the corner of his mouth. Ramon took Mario’s hand and squeezed it.

“It’s OK,” he said gently. “Sleep, brother.”

Mario coughed. More blood gushed from his mouth and his body jerked in agony.

“Heeelp m-me to d…” he groaned.

Ramon drew the pistol and held it at Mario’s head.

“It’s over, brother.”

Mario nodded weakly.

Ramon shot and the glassy eyes of his one-time friend became empty.

“Let’s get out of here!” said Ramon and got up.

Crissy’s eyes fell on the blood on Ramon’s shoulder.

“You’re injured!” she cried.

“That’s not important right now,” he said. “We must get away from here. Come on!”