Where the Sun Sets (22 page)

The pain was sharp and fast. But nothing
compared to what she experienced as he forced the two fingers
deeper inside of her and twisted his hand so the same two fingers
rested below her backbone. And then he pressed down in anger.
Antonia felt as if a spike was being driven up into her spine. The
pain was so intense her body arched to escape it. He brought his
body down on top of her, to hold her still. Antonia couldn’t
breathe. Her mouth opened as she gasped for air.

He grabbed her face with his left hand and
squeezed, holding her jaws open. As she was gasping for air, he
felt her body moving against his. He couldn’t hold out much longer,
he ached for her. He had her and he knew it now. He let his index
finger enter her mouth. He let it roam around, feeling its warmth.
Then he withdrew it and still holding her mouth open, kissed her.
He gave her instructions to kiss him back as he painfully reminded
her of the presence of his two fingers. She returned his kiss, as
much as her instincts would allow. Feeling the warmth of her blood
on his fingers and interpreting it incorrectly, he withdrew them.
Bringing them to her face, he said, “Just like the first time.” and
then he wiped his fingers on her cheek. Still claiming ownership of
her jaw with his left hand, he said, “Now you’re not gonna make a
sound are you. You’re gonna make this right. You know what happens
if I hear anything, or do you need reminding.” He was looking in
her eyes, as well as her whole face. She had grown into such a
beauty he was almost in awe. He licked away a tear which had
escaped her eye. “That’s right, not a sound.”

He entered her with the force of thirty
years. The pain seemed to shoot directly to her brain. She gasped
for air, only to be cut off by his next thrust. Again she gasped,
again he thrust. Her head turned to the left in search of air. She
gasped, he thrust. Again and again, as she felt herself ripping,
tearing with each thrust. He grabbed her face with his right hand
and brought it back to face him. His thrusts gained speed as he
brought his mouth down to hers and cut off her air supply with his
mouth. He kissed her hungrily. He lost himself with one final
thrust, which he took deeper than all the others. Antonia was
crying silently. He dropped his head to her chest to recover his
own breath. “Oh my God, that was worth the wait.” he said. “And to
think of how it will be when you are stronger, yes?” Finally he
rolled off the bed. He replaced his clothes without noticing
Antonia’s blood upon him.

He retied her gown, not taking his eyes off
her face. She watched him, watching her. Her crying had stopped.
She felt nothing. He brought her sheet back up to her chest. He
bent and kissed her forehead. “I have to go take care of some loose
ends now. You get some rest now, and I will be back to take you
home in a little while.” Again he kissed her forehead, before he
turned and exited the room. He did not look at the officer
stationed outside her door. Did not notice the way the officer
looked at him.

Officer Daniels was new in town and was all
too happy to stand guard for a celebrity of sorts. He noticed
briefly, the disheveled appearance of the gentlemen’s clothes. He
started to follow Antonia’s visitor to the elevator, when the doors
to the second elevator opened. The Chief of Staff exited the
elevator, followed by an older gentleman, sporting a badge of some
sort. He forgot the gentleman he was after and cleared his
head.

“Anything wrong officer?” Dr. Luke
questioned.

“No sir, not at all.”

“Good, this here is Inspector Davis. He has
come up from New York to see Ms. Dal Santo. If she is up for
visitors that is.” He glanced over his shoulder at the Inspector,
who nodded his understanding.

“She had a visitor a moment ago, but he just
left as you came up.” The officer informed him.

“A visitor? Did you happen to get a name? You
are aware that she is not to have unauthorized visits, aren’t you?
After all that is the purpose of your being here.”

“Yes sir, I am aware of the situation. The
visitor was the lady’s father. Being family, I assumed...”

“I was under the impression Ms. Dal Santo had
no living relatives. Did you see some I.D. on this gentleman?” Dr.
Luke questioned concerned.

“Yes sir, he gave me his driver’s license. It
was a photo I.D. I wrote down the information on the clipboard. Let
me get it.” Officer Daniels rushed back over to his assigned seat
to retrieve the clipboard.

The Inspector came quickly to the side of the
Chief of Staff. “Her father is dead. Killed in a jail house fight
years ago.” The doctor looked at the officer and the back to the
Inspector and then quickly entered Antonia’s room. He immediately
noticed the blood stain under the woman right hand. He quickly went
to her side and noticed that she had clenched both fists so tightly
she had punctured both palms, causing the bleeding.

Antonia’s eyes were opened but the doctor
could not get her to respond to him. He could see that she had been
crying. He walked around her bed to check on her monitors.
Antonia’s eyes fell upon the Inspector. She recognized him
immediately. His hair was thinner, lighter. His face was older,
heavier. But his eyes were still caring.

He came closer to her bed. “Jose...” The
Inspector looked up to the doctor, who shook his head.

“He went after...” Antonia could not seem to
speak. She was so very tired. The doctor turned to come back around
the bed and was forced to catch himself as he slipped in a puddle
of blood. He pulled back the sheets and inhaled, realizing where
the blood came from. He raced for the door of the room and exited
down the hall to request help. Antonia looked at the Inspector. “He
went after Josephine...”

“Josephine?” the Inspector questioned, “Who,
who has gone after Josephine?” Antonia did not need to respond. The
Inspector looked to the door as the doctor re-entered. “You’re
going to have to leave Inspector.” The Inspector looked back to
Antonia reassuringly before he left. Once in the hallway he grabbed
the officer’s arm and motioned for him to follow. “This Josephine
person, you know where she lives?”

“Yes sir, but I have to...”

“To what son, keep out unwelcome visitors? By
the looks of that lady, she is gonna be in surgery a while. You
won’t be missed and when we are through, I will straighten
everything out with your superiors.” The two men entered the
elevator.

Chapter 24

“Feeling better I hope?” Dr. Kessler rushed
in, through the door, behind Josephine.

“Oh, hi, yes much better. Thank you. Your
coat, I have it back at the house. I can’t...it’s off limits at the
moment.”

“No problem, you know where I work. You can
just drop it by when you have the time. Nice to see you again, I
have to get upstairs. Excuse me.” He continued on past, in a
hurried mode.

Josephine and Billy headed over to the
receptionist. “Antonia Dal Santo please, has she been moved or is
she still in ICU?” The receptionist handed Josephine a visitor’s
pass without looking up. Josephine glanced at the card and then
smiled up at Billy. “This is good. This is good.” She stated,
feeling secure that Anthony was well enough to have been moved out
of ICU. Together they headed for the elevator.

As they exited the elevator, Josephine felt
something was wrong. She glanced over to the nurses’ station and
found it empty. “It doesn’t mean anything is wrong with Antonia.”
Billy tried to be reassuring but he couldn’t even convince himself.
Josephine looked at the visitors pass for the room number and then
up at the wall for an arrow. She turned and walked full trot down
the hall. Taking the corner a bit too fast, she ran into a nurse
who, in turn, spilled medication all over the floor. The nurse’s
startled expression changed quickly from anger to star struck.
Billy went down with the nurse to help pick up the pills as
Josephine tried to walk past.

“She’s not in her room. Ms. Ferrero... I am
sorry... Ms. Ferrero!” The nurse pleaded to Billy with her eyes.
“There was a...someone got in. I’m sorry, I’m sure they were going
to call...”

“What do you mean someone got in? Where was
the security? Someone was supposed to be posted outside her
room.”

“Apparently the gentleman claimed to be a
relative of some sort. Her father, I think that’s what they said.
I’m not sure. I’m really sorry. They took her downstairs...”

Billy didn’t wait for her to finish. He raced
after Josephine to the door of the room. Josephine could not bring
herself to enter. She just stood frozen in time. Billy pushed past
her. He went directly to the bed. From behind, Josephine could see
his head bob up and down. He was desperately fighting for control.
Again he turned and pushed past Josephine, seemingly not noticing
her. Josephine watched him go from door to door until he found the
same nurse they had just left in the hall.

“Where is she?”

“I tried to tell you...”

Billy grabbed the woman by her shoulders and
shook her. “Where is she damn it?”

“They took her down to surgery. She was
hemorrhaging badly.”

Billy turned and raced back to the elevator.
Josephine quickened her step and followed. As Billy pounded on the
buttons, hoping to speed up the car, the nurse came calling.

“You can’t go into surgery, sir. That just
isn’t possible. Perhaps...” The doors opened and closed before she
could finish. She darted back to the nurses’ station and phoned
downstairs.

Once again on the main floor and out into the
hall, Josephine and Billy stopped briefly for a moment to collect
their thoughts.

“What exactly do you hope to do now, Billy?
She’s right you know. You can’t go into the surgery. It’s not your
fault. You’re not responsible for any of this. There was supposed
to be someone posted outside her door. I asked that Barsky woman to
have someone there.”

“There was someone there, Josephine. There
was a guard sitting outside her door. The guy said he was a
relative. Shit Joe, I can’t take much more of this. Antonia doesn’t
deserve any of this.”

“I know, I know. Let’s just see if we can
find out what exactly has happened and focus on that. OK?”
Josephine walked confidently towards the receptionist in the
emergency waiting room. “Ms. Dal Santo was brought back in for
surgery. Do you have any information on her status? Or is there any
way you can get an update for me? Anyone I should talk to?”

“Just a minute Ms. Ferrero, let me check for
you.” With that the woman disappeared. Josephine spent the next
five minutes signing autographs and talking with fans. Something
she never did anymore. Billy watched dumbfounded from a distance.
She seemed stronger to him now. Somehow taller and more self
assured. She was even, he noticed, wearing her glasses.

When Dr. Luke stepped out into the waiting
room, the crowd parted. Billy came to stand next to Josephine. He
intertwined his fingers with hers and held her hand in silent
prayer. The doctor motioned for the two to follow him.

Back inside the ICU, away from the crowd of
fans, the three found privacy in a curtain draped cubical where
Josephine sat herself down on a cot. “We managed to stop the major
bleeding. There was a great deal of blood loss. In a short period
of time I am afraid. There is no easy way to say it.” Billy braced
himself for impact. Josephine sat patiently, waiting for the doctor
to finish. “There is still internal bleeding. We haven’t been able
to cap it. He tore her up pretty bad inside. At this point I am not
certain how it is going to end in there. I think you should prepare
yourselves for another very long evening. There is a very good
possibility, due to the amount of blood loss in the small period of
time that she may not come out of the anesthesia.”

“Coma?” Billy asked.

The doctor shook his head. “Very strong
possibility.”

“Was he trying to kill her then?”

“I don’t think so. No. She was raped. I don’t
think he meant to kill her.”

Josephine had not been expecting that. She
stood and quickly headed for the small trash container in the
corner. She vomited until she was dizzy. Billy came up behind her
and rubbed her back. The doctor excused himself and sent in the
nurse to help Josephine. “You should head outside for a bit and get
some air.” Billy took hold of her arm and escorted her to just
outside the ER.

“I don’t get it. What the hell is happening?
Was it the same guy from last night? Why would he hurt her?”

“I don’t know. I have never known anyone who
would want to hurt her. I have to assume this person, this animal,
did not want to either.” They both stood in silence for several
minutes.

“Tell me about Africa.” Billy looked sideways
at her. He was not certain what she wanted to know. “Tell me about
Anthony and Africa. Like, how did you meet her?”

“Oh, well, we met before Africa. At the army
barracks in Calcutta. I was stationed out there and she came by
with three other women. They came every day for four months. Self
defense training. Some women, nuns I think they were, in the group
they were working with, had been raped by guerillas. Antonia and
her gang, as the guys referred to them, became security for the
others. She was good. Too good. She made the guys who trained her
look bad.” He chuckled to himself at the memory.

“So you and she...became an item?”

“Who, us? Antonia and me? I wish. No,
unfortunately not. No, she went on to wherever her work took her. I
remained in Calcutta. We just kinda ran into each other again a few
months before she left Africa to come back here, to the States, to
you.”

Josephine tried to find her answers in his
eyes. “Tell me about Africa. Antonia’s Africa.”

“Hell Joe, did you ever ask Antonia?” He
pushed his hands down deep into his pockets and looked for an
escape in the stars. He looked back only to find her still
questioning him with her eyes. “I don’t know that much about her
Africa. Only that she had a hell of a lot of people around her. All
the time. That woman couldn’t even go to the bathroom in peace. You
could always tell when she was coming because there would be a
parade of followers. They just came to her. She would teach them.
Anything they wanted to know she would teach them. There is like
nothing that woman doesn’t know.” It was Josephine’s turn to
chuckle inwardly. Billy stopped talking and just watched her. “I
don’t know much about her work. I am sorry Josephine. I know they
loved her. I know they seemed to need her. She was happy. Tired,
but happy.”