The Cain Conspiracy (8 page)

“Maybe you just need a little something to pick you up.”

Tommy took some drugs out of his pocket and placed them down on the coffee table. Heather looked at him curiously before glancing down at the table.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing but take that stuff and get out of here,” she told him.

“What, you don’t have time for some old friends?” he cheerfully asked.

“Please just leave.”

Cain was still in the kitchen, overhearing the entire conversation, and was beginning to worry about his new friend. She didn’t sound particularly pleased to have him in her apartment and didn’t appear to be leaving anytime soon. He assumed she asked him to stay in the kitchen because she didn’t want him to get involved in it. With each passing second of Tommy’s bullying Cain grew more weary of his presence. Another minute elapsed and Cain had heard all he could stomach. He couldn’t stand bullies, especially when it was a woman involved. He emerged from the kitchen to the surprise of Tommy, who smiled as he looked over to Heather.

“Got a little something happenin’ on the side, Heather?” he asked.

“Shut up,” she replied.

“I believe the lady would like you to go,” Cain stated.

“She ain’t no lady. Listen, buddy, just go back in the kitchen and mind your business,” Tommy warned. “And maybe I won’t bust you up some.”

Cain didn’t feel at all threatened by the burly man and continued to walk in his direction. Heather quickly looked at both of the men before her and tried to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand.

“Tommy, please just go,” Heather pleaded.

She put her hand on Tommy’s arm to persuade him to leave but he shoved it aside. Cain kept walked closer to his adversary, who also wasn’t about to back down. He looked like he was in good shape but Tommy had been pitted against plenty of guys who were in good shape but couldn’t take the power of his punches.

“I really don’t want to have an altercation with you,” Cain told him. “But the lady asked you to go several times. I do believe it’s best if you take her advice.”

Tommy simply laughed at Cain’s suggestion. He felt the implied threat Cain was giving him was just some tough guy bravado and he didn’t have the stones to back it up. Cain, on the other hand, was ready to toss the meathead out the door. He wasn’t itching to fight, but could tell that the bald bruiser in front of him wouldn’t have it any other way. Heather tried one more time to separate the pair but it was falling on deaf ears.

“Matthew, please don’t,” she pleaded.

“I’m not doing anything. If he leaves then there’s no problem,” Cain replied.

Heather looked up at him and sighed knowing there was nothing else she could do. She worried that one of them was going to get seriously hurt. She was fearful of Cain getting injured, and though she didn’t personally care for Tommy, she didn’t want Cain to get in any kind of trouble for anything he might do. Just as she turned around to face Tommy once more, he shoved her out of the way, pushing her into the wall. That gave Tommy the distraction he needed to catch Cain by surprise. He stunned Cain with a couple of big right hands, causing Cain to stumble backwards. After Cain regained his composure he blocked a couple of Tommy’s blows, countering with a few of his own. Cain quickly got the upper hand using a combination of strikes and kicks to get Tommy off balance. Cain unleashed some moves that he didn’t even know he had in his arsenal. Now Tommy was the one trying to stave off his attacker, albeit unsuccessfully. Using a combination of punches, MMA holds, and kickboxing maneuvers, Cain had Tommy in a world of hurt. A few minutes of brutality elapsed with Cain showing no mercy on the thug laying before him. He bounced Tommy’s head off the floor a few times due to the fierceness of his punches.

Heather shook off the pain from hitting her head against the wall and watched as Cain continued his assault. Tommy was bleeding profusely from the nostrils of his nose, along with the bridge of it, which by now was broken. Blood was pouring out of cuts from above his right eye and both sides of his mouth. He coughed up a few teeth and was certain to lose consciousness any minute. Cain was showing no mercy and Heather was getting concerned about the carnage she was witnessing.

“Cain, stop!” Heather yelled.

It was no use. She yelled a few more times for him but he didn’t hear a word of it. He was in such a zone that he had blocked everything out. There could’ve been trumpets playing behind him and he wouldn’t have heard a single note. Heather worried that Cain was going to kill Tommy unless she stopped him. She was a little afraid of getting in the way and possibly catching some of Cain’s wrath but felt she had no other choice. She raced in between the two men, catching hold of Cain’s right arm in the process.

“Stop,” she told him.

Cain immediately snapped out of whatever trance he was in, noticing the concerned look on her face. He released his curled up fist and dropped his arm, signaling the end of his confrontation. He slowly backed away, his face showing remorse for the amount of pain he just inflicted. He walked over to the window and reflected on what he’d just done. He was reminded of it by the blood stained on his knuckles. He was sure that Heather would think he was a monster now, and he wasn’t sure if she’d be wrong. He realized he took it too far.

Heather had taken the next few minutes to get Tommy somewhat stable and help him back on his feet. She was sure he had some broken bones and probably a concussion. She wasn’t really as concerned about his well being since he was a major jerk, but didn’t want anyone dying because of her. As soon as he was able to stand on his feet, she hurried him to the door to prevent any other problems. Not that Tommy was looking for anything since he now knew that his opponent could easily have killed him and was not close to being a match for him.

“You can consider yourself done,” Tommy painfully whispered. “You’ll never work again in this town as long as I can help it.”

“Just go,” Heather replied, shoving him out the door.

She knew he wasn’t just giving an idle threat as he knew all the owners of the major clubs and would badmouth her to the point where she’d have to work in run down joints that hardly paid anything of substance. She closed the door behind him and sighed heavily as she wondered what she’d do now. Cain turned around to face her, somewhat shamefully, as he waited for her to snap at him. She looked at him a little differently now, seeing what was inside him, as opposed to just half an hour before that when it didn’t seem like he was capable of such a vicious beating. Neither person said a word, both waiting for the other to start the conversation, as Heather slowly walked to the couch. She sat down on the couch, still not quite believing what she just witnessed. Cain could see the hesitation she now had with him and attempted to alleviate her fears.

“I, uhh,” he started. “I apologize.”

Heather didn’t respond. She wanted to but just didn’t know what to say. She leaned on her side, with her hand on her head, her arm being supported by the couch. She looked at him and could see how remorseful he was. He didn’t look like a man who was proud of what he’d just done.

“If you’re having second thoughts about anything you don’t have to worry,” Cain stated. “I’ll let Sanders know I told you to stay away. He won’t give you any problems.”

“Sanders is the least of my problems now,” she said with a laugh. “Tommy was right. He knows all the major players in this town. He’ll make sure I don’t work again. Looks like I’m unemployed now.”

“I truly am sorry.”

Cain was certain Heather didn’t want to be near him anymore and started to make his way toward the door.

“Hey,” Heather shouted.

“Yeah?” Cain replied, turning around.

“I really wasn’t worried about him. I was worried about you.”

“I really wasn’t in any danger.”

“I know. That’s what I was worried about. You made it look so easy.”

Cain nodded and turned back around to head for the door. He put his hand on the knob before Heather stopped him again.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Back to my place.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Like what?”

“Like me.”

“You still,” Cain started to say.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she responded, trying to calm his fears. “I know you were only trying to protect me. And I really am thankful and grateful for that.”

Cain nodded his head in reply, not wanting to actually say words in response.

“The fact is that nobody’s ever defended me like that before, or at all really,” she stated. “It felt kind of good that you were there to protect me. I just got kind of scared at how far you were taking it.”

“I guess once I got caught up in things,” Cain started. Heather interrupted him before he could complete his thought.

“It’s OK. Really. You don’t have to explain anything. Really, you don’t.”

“OK,” he relented.

“I guess I saw what makes you so valuable to Sanders, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“Where’d you learn all those moves?” she wondered.

“To be honest I have no idea. An hour ago I didn’t even realize I could do some of those things.”

“Well, just give me a few more minutes to pack and I’ll be all ready,” she said.

Heather went back into the bedroom to finish up as Cain sat down to wait for her. A few minutes later she emerged with a rolling suitcase and a duffel bag. As they left the apartment Heather wondered if she’d ever come back to it. She really didn’t have many ties to it and intentionally kept the place devoid of too many personal items. They kept talking once they were in the cab as they drove back to Cain’s apartment.

“I hate all the traffic in this city,” Heather sighed.

“Isn’t this normal?”

“Yeah, I suppose so. The Rangers play tonight so it’s gonna be even worse since it’s a playoff game.”

“Oh.”

“You like hockey?”

“Who? Me? I love hockey,” Cain stated. “That’s a silly question. Why would you even ask that?”

“Have you even watched a game before?”

“Seriously? I feel a little insulted now,” he joked. “Questioning my hockey knowledge.”

“When was the last game you went to?” Heather insisted.

“Uhh, well, you know, it’s been a while.”

“Who played?” she asked, smiling.

“It was, uhh…the Rangers,” he paused. “And the…Devils. The Devils, that’s right.”

“You have no idea do you?”

“Well, you know…I have that whole memory thing going on right now.”

They both looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“We should go to a game some time,” Heather said.

“Yeah. I’d like that.”

Once they got back to Cain’s apartment, Heather put some of her things away. Once she finished she went into the living room, sitting on a chair. Cain still felt bad about what transpired at her apartment and wondered what he could do to make it up to her.

“You know, I was thinking that maybe it’s a good idea if you didn’t go back to your apartment for a little while,” Cain said.

“Why?”

“I dunno. Just in case your friends come back around for some reason. I’d feel better if you didn’t go back.”

“Where am I supposed to go?” she wondered.

“Well, you could stay here for a few weeks.”

“Well that’s really nice of you…but I couldn’t impose on you like that.”

“You’re not imposing. I’d like you to stay. Besides, it’s kind of my fault about what happened. I wouldn’t want to worry about you staying there by yourself.”

“You’d worry about me?” Heather asked, a little amazed.

“Yeah. I would.”

“Well, I guess I could stay a couple weeks. I mean, just until I get a new job and find a new place. Luckily I only have two months to go on the lease so I’m not losing out too much.”

“So if you can’t keep, uhh, doing what you’re doing,” Cain started. “Then what’re you gonna do? Move somewhere else?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe I’ll actually try to find a real job. It’s kinda scary not having a job.”

“Well, like I said, you can stay here as long as it takes.”

Chapter 4

Sanders was in a meeting with his five Deputy Directors going over new files and information on possible targets. Every week they went over pertinent information about new targets or anything that was learned about targets they were actively seeking. Each Director had a touch screen computer embedded in the oval table at his location, to which the information could be transferred and seen by everybody via a screen on the wall. Each Deputy Director was in charge of a different region which included North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Tim Wells, Deputy Director of South America passed a file over to Sanders and began going over the information, using the computer at his location.

“Mario Contreras,” Wells began, as Contreras’ name and picture popped up on the screen. “He’s a guy who first popped up on our radar several months ago.”

Also appearing on the screen was his list of offenses, physical description, marks or scars, aliases, and photos.

“This outstanding citizen is a Honduran national who was one of three men involved in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a six year old girl in New York seven years ago. He was 23 at the time. It was planned as a ransom that went bad. The other two men were captured, sentenced, and currently serving time in federal prison. Contreras, however, managed to avoid capture and disappeared without a trace. It was assumed he went back to South America, probably back to Honduras, though there was never any evidence to suggest that was so. Until last week,” Wells continued, waiting for the photos on the screen to load. “These pictures were taken last week of Contreras in Honduras in the city of San Pedro Sula.”