Where the Sun Sets (29 page)

“Stop the car,” he whispered. Josephine
slowly stepped on the brakes and then put the car in park. Her hand
flapped around in the air, as she reached out for the keys, to shut
of the engine. They sat there a minute more while Salvatore amused
himself. He brought the blade back down to the front of her jeans.
He noticed the way she pulled in her stomach as he did this. “The
keys, hand them to me.” Josephine reluctantly handed them over.
Placing the blade in his teeth, Salvatore switched hands holding
the hair and removed himself from the SUV. Josephine winced at the
twisting of her hair. Salvatore had to raise his arm over the door,
to get around it without letting go. He wasted no time in opening
her door and reaching in, grabbing her by the throat. Letting go of
her hair, Salvatore closed the back door with his foot. He removed
the blade from his teeth as he pulled her from behind the wheel.
Directing her, his hand still around her throat, he walked her
around and used her body to close the SUV door, never once losing
eye contact. Josephine understood his lesson. She was a mere rag
doll in his hands. To her surprise, this knowledge didn’t add to
her fear.

Placing her against the SUV, Salvatore let go
of her throat. He took a step back and studied his prey. Again he
took his blade and brought it in to her chin, the point just
grazing her flesh. He brought it up the right side of her face, to
the center of her forehead. And then down the center of her face,
to the tip of her nose. He studied her for any sign of weakness.
Any sign he could pounce on. But her eye’s never left his and she
was standing firm on her own. If he didn’t hate her so, he may have
been impressed.

He was about to remove the blade when she
spoke. “Make you feel like a real man? Tell me, what is it that
makes you feel so inadequate?” Salvatore was stunned. He jammed the
blade into her flesh, piercing the left side of her face. Stopping
only when it hit her upper jaw. He continued to apply pressure.
Moving the tip around inside her face until it found her teeth.
Once the blade was between her teeth, he used it to pry them open.
Grasping her jaw with his free hand, he aided the blade and held
her jaw open. He could see that the blade now touched her tongue,
although the amount of blood already present made it difficult to
tell if it had sliced her tongue.

“I told you not to speak unless you are told
to. Now you are either really stupid or...” He let his sentence
float alone as he withdrew his knife. Then looking around, uneasy
in his location he added, “Let’s go, come on.” He pushed her in
front of him and pushed her again to make her move. Josephine
reprimanded herself mentally. What the hell was she thinking? She
had to stay alive. She couldn’t risk pissing him off again. She
needed to give Anthony time to get out. Time for Billy to arrive
and save her.

They walked on in silence. The deeper into
the woods they went, the rougher the terrain. At one point,
Josephine lost her footing and stumbled down to one knee. A stiff
boot to her ribs not only knocked all the air from her lungs, but
helped her regain her step quickly. She had decided early on, that
it didn’t matter how far they walked, she had no idea where she was
anyway. She would keep walking until he told her to stop. The
further they walked the further from Anthony he was.

They walked in silence for about a mile.
Josephine could smell a fire, and feared they had returned to the
very beginning. But it was not the case. They had come upon a small
camp site. A man and a woman, making love in the night air. Really
in no position to chase away intruders. Salvatore grabbed hold of
Josephine’s arm and shoved her to the ground near the happy couple.
The man jumped up, in defense of his territory and was quickly
silenced, as Salvatore laid claim to his wife. Holding the blade to
her throat, he smiled down at Josephine. The man was pleading.
“Please, don’t hurt her. You can have anything you want, take it
all. Please, we don’t want no trouble.”

Salvatore shoved his face into the woman’s
hair and inhaled deeply. “Were gonna have a party. You like party’s
don’tcha?” The woman just cried uncontrollably.

“Sure, sure, parties are nice, we like
parties, don’t we sweetie?” Trying, in vain, to assure his wife
they would be OK.

“Finish what she started.” The order was
given to Josephine, who darted her eyes between the two men. “You
deaf all of a sudden woman? Or maybe you just like being
responsible for people dying.” He brought the blade up under the
woman’s chin drawling droplets of blood. Josephine was not about to
let him win this one. She took his challenge. She was an actress
after all. And she had slept with enough men to stomach this one.
She had just never done it on command before. She sat for a moment
more considering her next move. She could just take him, but that
would be over rather quickly and then what. She could tease him for
a while, but that might get Salvatore aroused and she definitely
did not want to go there. She started to make her move, when the
man began to protest.

“Wait, isn’t there another way? I mean, does
it have to be...my wife, man, not in front of my wife.” Josephine
tried to discourage him with her eyes but he was too far into his
whining to notice her.

Salvatore brought the blade up to the side of
the woman’s head and without looking sliced off her ear. He then
tossed it into their once romantic fire.

Josephine had just enough time to decide her
next move. Removing her clothes was not an option she wished to
take at this time. So she went down to her knees in front of the
man and said a small prayer, before starting what she detested
most. She just kept thinking of Anthony and the time she needed to
get away. It helped her get through what seemed to take forever.
When the man finally released himself, Josephine turned her head to
the side and vomited.

“What the hell was that?” shouted Salvatore
incredulously. “That was the worst show I’ve ever witnessed. You
call yourself an actress? Oh wait, that’s right. You like women
don’t you. My woman. I have a woman here, how bout we switch
partners.”

Once again the man started to protest.
Josephine tried to get his attention. Tried to avoid the next
minute. But once again the blade came into contact with the woman.
This time Salvatore jabbed it into her waist, just below the ribs.
Josephine doubled over as if it were she who took the blow.

The man cried, “Please, God no, please stop.
Don’t hurt her.” Salvatore let the woman fall to the ground. As the
husband rushed to her side, Salvatore leveled him with a swift
kick.

“Make me something to eat.” He shouted at
Josephine as he continued to badger the man. She jumped at the
sound of his voice. Quickly she got to her feet and scavenged
through the belongings of the campers. She didn’t know what he
planned to do next, but she was certain she did not want to witness
it, so she ducked inside their tent and busied herself searching
for food. Grabbing up what little she managed to find, she rushed
for the entrance in the hope of getting back with the food before
the couple died. But as she turned to exit, her eyes touched upon a
simple box labeled chow set. Tentatively she went to it and opened
it up. Inside she found flatware, plates and cups. She studied a
fork from the set, if only it were just a bit longer. Hope sprung
inside her and her searching now had a more fevered pitch, as she
searched desperately for anything that could be used as a
weapon.

Josephine heard what she thought was the
snorting of a large animal, outside the tent. There was a lot of
moaning and crying. Sounds of punching and crushing. She blocked it
all out. Josephine started to cry from sheer disappointment at not
being able to find anything when her hand fell upon the first aide
box. She couldn’t open it. Her hands were trembling and she was
trying too hard, moving too fast. Her chest was beginning to
clench. Her head was feeling light and dizzy. ‘No, not now, please,
God, not now.’ She brought the box up above her head and then
quickly down to the ground, causing it to pop. Its contents spilled
out around her knees. Breathing in short quick gulps, her fingers
blindly searching through the gauze and lotions, not knowing what
she was searching for, but instinctually knowing it was there. A
flare gun had made its way into her hands. Josephine fell back on
her rump and staring at the weapon she now possessed, she forced
herself to calm down. ‘Upper hand, I now have the upper hand.’
Slowly she rose and exited the tent.

Just when the bear had arrived, was any ones
guess. It had been drawn to the site by the smell of fresh blood.
It wasn’t at all happy with Salvatore denying it access. The beast
stood up on its hind legs as Salvatore challenged it. Waving his
blade back and forth in the air. Daring the beast to attack.
Unfortunately for Salvatore it did. Josephine watched in awe as the
black bear dropped to all fours and raced at Salvatore. The fool
never moved, as if he was certain he would win this battle. The
bear and Salvatore each took accurate swipes at one another.
Josephine stood frozen in time as she watched the two spar. Around
the fire they seemed to dance. Willing each other to throw a jab.
The bear had only wanted a free meal; he hadn’t dropped by for a
challenge. So when he circled the fire enough to reach the bodies,
he took steps in their direction, turning his back on Salvatore.
Salvatore again went for the bear, not being one to just let things
drop. The bear was not happy. Spinning around quickly, catching
Salvatore off guard, it came up on its hind legs and wrapped its
front legs around Sal’s shoulders as it sank its teeth into his
throat.

How the gun went off was a mystery to
Josephine. But it did, sending a flare blazing into the side of
Salvatore Dal Santo, chasing away the bear. But even with his
throat tore open and his side on fire, Salvatore still managed to
turn around and start towards Josephine. His rage growing and
engulfing his pain. The flames from the fire were mirrored in his
eyes. Josephine felt as if she was looking into the black hole of
pure evil.

And then he stopped. He stopped walking
towards her. His body seemed to jerk in different directions. He
dropped to his knees, and fell forward into the flames.

Then from out of the darkness, Billy
appeared. He only briefly glanced in her direction before heading
towards Salvatore to verify his death. Harold followed, but he came
straight to her side. No words were spoken as he wrapped a fatherly
arm around her. Josephine turned her head into his shoulder and
closed her eyes to the scene.

Six months later

The plane was comfortably empty. Nothing
worse than flying in a crowded plane. Especially if you’re going
clear around the world. Leaving was not as difficult as she had
thought it would be. There wasn’t all that much to close up. Most
of her work, for the last few years had been tiny commercials
overseas anyway. She hadn’t had a production on going for some
time. She just always thought it would start right back up again.
But she was older now and there were plenty of younger, taller,
prettier women out there. The whole business had passed her by,
while she was showing the world how much they needed her. There
were plenty of actresses out there who could do it just as good if
not better for much less.

She wasn’t at all sure what she wanted to do
for a living anymore. What she was sure of, was that she needed to
get away. Far, far away. And so she closed up shop. She sold
everything except the apartment in New York and the one in
Marais-Les Halles France. They were just too hard to come by. She
split the total amount from the sales, between Billy and St.
Bartholomew. She could do voice over’s from anywhere if funds ran
low and she needed some extra cash. But for now she was going to do
something different. She was a little nervous, but in an excited
kind of way.

She had never been to Africa. But she felt
secure and comfortable. More so than she could ever remember.
Glancing over to her left, she smiled. Anthony was looking out the
window. “There she is Joe. Right over there. See? Where the sun
sets? Home, my home.” She turns and meets Josephine’s gaze. “You
can always go back you know. It’s not going to be at all like
anything you have ever seen. Everything is going to be very
different. A major adjustment. Just try it, a little while, just a
little while.” Josephine wraps her fingers around Antonia’s
hand.

“Kinda like camping, right? Don’t worry
Anthony, I’m here aren’t I?”

“Is it true, what Billy said, about there
being women here? Lots of women? Lots of single women?” Both women
turn to look behind them. “Deserting us all ready Inspector? What
would Billy say?”

Anthony returned her gaze back out the
window. Thinking of all the tomorrows she’ll need to forget all the
yesterdays she can’t help but remember. ~

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