Operation (16 page)

“I could have sworn I locked it,” he said although the sound of his voice questioned his comment. “Maybe I didn’t? I can’t remember. Either way, you’re still breaking and entering lady. I’m beginning to wonder about you.”

“Yes well, my breaking and entering appears to becoming a habit lately with you.”

“Was I talking in my sleep?”

“You screamed,” she blurted out. “Not just a wimpy little scream either. I came in here and you were apparently having one hell of a nightmare. So I thought I wake you up with something which I hope was better than what you were dreaming about.”

“It was,” Reese said, “believe me it was.” The image of Dimitri, or whatever the creature of his nightmare was flashed through his thoughts, the teeth, the blood. He felt himself involuntarily shiver.

“You want to tell me about it?” she asked. “I’m a good listener.”

“Thanks, maybe later,” he said. “It’s…well it’s complicated.”

“Dodging the issue again?” she quipped.

“No. I just don’t want to…” he searched for the words, “I don’t know. Maybe I don’t want to scare you off.”

He reached out and touched her face with his hands.

“It takes a lot to scare me off,” she said as she took his hand in hers. “You have to trust me John.”

“I know,” he said, “It’s just that…” his voice trailed off.

“You don’t give your trust easily,” she said. “I know.”

“How do you do that?” he asked.

“What?”

“Know what I’m feeling. It’s as if you can read my mind. Know what I’m thinking. Am I that…I don’t know, predictable?”

“Predictable? No. Not at all. I think you’re quite complicated, John Reese. You’re a mystery that yearns to be solved. The problem is that you won’t allow it to be solved.”

“Ah…” he said, “the doctor has arrived. My very own psychoanalyst.”

She smiled playfully. “Oh you want to play doctor?”

“So doctor, what do you suggest?” he said playfully.

“Well,” she began, “I think you need to undergo some shock therapy.”

“I agree and you’re it,” he said enthusiastically.

“Well,” she said pretending to be flabbergasted at his comment. “I don’t know how I should take that comment.”

“You’re here,” he said in a more serious tone. “I don’t understand why, but at this moment, right now, I don’t want to know why. I don’t want reasons and answers. I just want…”

Reese didn’t finish the sentence. Instead he reached for her face and drew it nearer to his and kissed her deeply. Wrapping his arms around her, he drew her body to his. When their bodies touched, he gently raised both of them and while cradling her in his arms, rolled over taking her with him so that they were lying side by side on the bed.

He didn’t stop kissing her. He couldn’t stop kissing her. He kissed her lips, her cheeks and even her closed eyes. He placed his lips upon her neck and gently caressed her skin moving toward her ears. He kissed her ears as well as explored them with his tongue.

His hands moved over her body exploring it as dutifully as his tongue explored every square inch of her face. His fingers gently touched the smooth curves of her neck, her shoulders, and then meandered across her firm breasts where he lingered allowing his fingers to dance teasingly around the nipples. From her breasts, he slid his hands to the curves of her hips where he languished in the subtle angles of skin that curved gently toward her waist.

As he bathed in the pure ecstasy of the moment, he felt as if the world was relinquishing its hold of him; casting him off to drift in a wide and expansive sea of pure emotions. Everything vanished and only his sensory abilities remained. It was something that he had never experienced before and something he didn’t want to stop.

He heard her say his name softly, “John.”

“Hmmm…” he said as he continued to enjoy the delights of feeling her and the way she responded to his touch.

“I…I…what’s happening…” she murmured.

“Don’t think,” he said, surprised at his own words. But even more surprising was that he actually believed in these words more than ever as he felt her hands over him now, touching and caressing him.

Feeling his own excitement growing, he became more aggressive and began to undress her. His hands shook with energy and he found that he struggled with the buttons. She appeared to sense his frustration and provided her own hand to assist him by ripping her shirt apart without any regard for the buttons at all. He removed what remained of her tattered shirt and then released the clasp on her bra, allowing her breasts to fall freely from their captivity. He ran his hands around the mounds of softness, then kissed and caressed them, gently taking the nipple in his mouth and worshipping it with his tongue.

He was shaking uncontrollably and felt as if his body was on a roller coaster of emotions which would lead to some tremendous release. They groped and fondled as they continued removing the remaining pieces of their clothing. She tore at what few garments he had worn to bed. The shorts and t-shirt were baggy on him allowing her to remove them easily. Christina’s only remaining clothing were her jeans, which she was trying to shimmy off all the way by sliding her legs up and down and back and forth. While she shimmied her jeans to remove them Reese slid her panties down to her knees and then seeing that the jeans were still in the way, he ripped them off and tossed them aside.

He was at the peak of his excitement and his senses were attuned to her every moment. That was when he felt the change come over her.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-O
NE

“Oh shit!” the man said.

Dimitri turned toward the voice. A man wearing a police uniform stood on the wooden walk area that led to the beach. Dimitri’s heightened eyesight scrutinized the man, a Norfolk police officer. His senses also conveyed caution in the way the officer appeared to be excited about discovering them. The officer shined a flashlight in their direction. The light centered on Dimitri for a few seconds, then swept over to the homeless man.

“I said, “What are you two doing?” The officer asked. His eyes became fixed on the homeless man and then he snapped his fingers as if the sound would get the man’s attention. “Is that you, Mike?” the officer asked while the light from his flashlight remained on the homeless man.

“Yeah…it’s me,” Mike answered. “Good evening, Officer Bill Mann.”

Dimitri could sense the fear that came from the homeless man, now identified by the name of Mike. Dimitri wondered why he had not asked what his name was earlier. By the tone by which Mike had answered, Dimitri detected that they knew one another and probably not in a cordial way.

“Sir,” the officer asked turning his attention back toward Dimitri. “Is this man bothering you?”

The officer moved closer to them, studying them both carefully.

“No, its fine, Officer Mann,” Dimitri said keeping his voice calm. “We were just enjoying the night air and having a conversation.”

“A conversation?” the officer asked as he returned his attention to Mike. His eyes centered on the twenty dollar bill that Mike still held in his hand.

“Well looky here. You’re rich tonight?” Officer Mann asked. “Where’d the money come from?”

“I gave it to him,” said Dimitri before Mike could answer. “I thought he needed it.”

“Sure,” Officer Mann said. “Yes I’m sure you did. Good conversation is hard to come by these days, huh?” Then turning his attention to Mike he added, “I’m getting a bad feeling about this. We’ve talked about this before, haven’t we?”

“Yes,” Mike answered as he shoved the twenty dollar bill in his pants pocket.

“I told you ‘no soliciting’ on my beat—I thought you understood that after the little talk we had last time.”

“We were just talking officer,” Dimitri reiterated seeing the direction the conversation was going in. “Mike here has some interesting views.”

“I bet. Twenty dollars worth,” the officer said. “It must have been some “good” information. Care to share with me ,Mike?”

“Officer Mann, I believe you are,” Dimitri began.

“Stow it my friend,” he said.

Dimitri heard the agitation in the officer’s voice but there was still the underlying excitement that alerted the vampire that the officer was enjoying the confrontation.

“Something’s not right here and I want to know what’s happening here. You have any identification?” he asked Dimitri.

“Of course,” Dimitri said as he slowly reached into his pocket and removed his wallet. There’s no time for this, Dimitri thought. With the new insight Mike had given him, he wanted to resolve this situation as quickly as possible and return home. He handed the officer his driver’s license.

“So what was the money for?” Officer Mann asked not taking his eyes from the license Dimitri had handed him, “Mr. Bicannoff.”

“He helped me with some information I needed,” Dimitri said, as he thought of something to say, “I’m a writer and I needed some information about the homeless situation here. Mike was bringing me up to speed.”

“That’s right,” Mike interjected, “I told him about my life—you want to hear my story?”

“Shut up, Mike,” Officer Mann said. “It’ll just go harder for you downtown tonight.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Mike said adamantly.

“Officer there appears to have been a misunderstanding,” Dimitri said. “There is no reason to suspect that this is anything more than a conversation between two people.”

“So, you’re a lawyer now are you?” Mann said, obviously not liking what Dimitri had just suggested.

“No. I am just trying to save us both a lot of time,” said Dimitri.

“Too late, Mr. Bic-ann-off. Bicannoff…what kind of name is that anyway?”

“Slavic,” answered Dimitri.

“Is that Middle Eastern?”

“No, European,” Dimitri said beginning to tire of the conversation. “I’m afraid I must be leaving. If you would be so kind as to return my license, I will be on my way.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Mann said. He smiled and continued, “I’ve seen your kind before. I have probable cause to take you both down to the station for further questioning, Mr. Bicannoff.”

“Aw…come on,” Mike whined. “This is police harassment.”

“Yeah, right,” Mann said sarcastically. “Save it for the judge. Maybe you can even have your friend here be your lawyer?”

“Lawyer?” asked Mike. “I’m going to need a lawyer now? What the hell for?”

Officer Mann ignored the question and turned his attention fully on Dimitri. “Besides what else do you two have to do tonight? We’ll get in the police car and have a nice ride with some conversation. I have a new Godzilla toy on my dash, you know those six inch ones made by Bandai—I love those things. You’ll see it and it will just make your night.”

“I’m not going with you,” Dimitri said, “And neither is he.”

Officer Mann stared at Dimitri. His hand went to the butt of his revolver.

“What did you say?”

“I said we are not going. We have done nothing wrong.”

 “I don’t recall this being like an auction or something where you get to bid on whether you did anything wrong or not. I think you have and that’s all that matters,” Mann said, “now we can all be good and nice people and get in the lovely police cruiser or I can cuff you both. Which shall it be?”

“Neither,” Dimitri said. “As I said, we are not going anywhere.”

“Mr. Bicannoff,” Mike said, “I think maybe we should comply with the Officer’s wishes.” Then in a softer voice he added, “He has a very bad temper, if you know what I mean,” he said as his hand vaguely pointed to the bruises on his body.

“Astutely put,” Mann said. “Now what’s it going to be, Mr. Bicannoff?”

“No.”

Officer Mann slipped the safety catch off of his holster and began to remove his revolver.

Dimitri lunged at him before his weapon had moved even an inch out of its holster. With both hands, he gripped the officer by the neck and applied pressure to the main artery cutting off the blood flow. As he did so, he felt the flesh on his hands beginning to get hot. As the seconds passed the heat turned to burning and he struggled to keep his grip on the officer and finally he felt the man go limp and pass out. Dimitri dropped him unceremoniously to the sandy beach.

He looked at his hands. The flesh had been burned off at several places but was quickly healing. He knelt and carefully reached for the officer’s shirt collar and opened it. He immediately found what he had surmised would be there. A gold chain with a cross was around his neck and had been the cause of the burning of his flesh. Dimitri smiled and shook his head at the hypocrisy of a man such as this who obviously meant them harm yet at the same time received divine protection.

Putting the irony of the moment aside Dimitri delved into the man’s thoughts. As delicately as a neurosurgeon, he found every memory of their conversation and plucked it out.

“What the hell are you doing?” Mike asked. He blinked his eyes several times as if he wasn’t sure of what he had just seen happen. “I’ve never seen anyone move that fast.”

“It’s okay, Mike,” Dimitri said using the homeless man’s name for the first time in addressing him. “When he wakes he won’t remember a thing.” He ignored Mike’s statement about moving so fast. “You will have nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah…right,” Mike said sarcastically. “You mean you don’t have anything to worry about. You get to go back to wherever it is you live and not worry about him. Me, I have to live around under his watchful eye. You remember him mentioning that little talk he gave me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s where I got these colorful bruises.”

“Don’t worry, he won’t remember anything about tonight and you won’t be around anyway.” Dimitri reached into his pocket and removed the large wad of twenty dollar bills. He handed them to Mike.

“What’s this for?” he asked staring at the money, but not taking it.

“It’s for you to get your life back on track,” Dimitri said. “It won’t get you to overcome your fear, but at least it will remove some of the distractions and give you a chance.”

“You can’t be serious,” Mike said.

“I am. Here take it and get going.”