Authors: Timothy Allan Pipes
Oliver had to admire Rodriguez. For all of the man’s ‘Gee whiz, I’m only a subordinate’ routine, he’d managed to keep a lid on what had occurred in an amazing fashion. After explaining to the remaining officer that McKenny’s wife was being held hostage, the man merely nodded at Rodriguez and the two of them set to work explaining to the arriving paramedics how Schwartz had injured his neck.
After an initial examination, the medics agreed Schwartz could be moved, though it appeared he had a broken neck, He may not have suffered spinal cord injury, however and no one wanted to take any chances. A full half hour was required to transfer him, inch by inch, onto the waiting stretcher. Once secured, he was rushed to Community Hospital located between Carmel and Monterey along Skyline forest.
Before the ambulance had arrived, McKenny’s unconscious body had been half-dragged, half-carried by three cops toward Rodriguez’s patrol car. Once his hands were cuffed behind him, all 300lbs had been stuffed into the back seat area with little concern for comfort. It was like this that Oliver and Rodriguez found McKenny as they'd climbed into Rodriguez's cruiser. They watched the ambulance transporting Schwartz leave, its sirens wailing, then took the short ride back over toward El Estero Park and Oliver's cruiser.
Both smiled as the opened car door revealed McKenny in an impressive pretzel imitation, his face and shoulder jammed into the back of the driver’s seat while his legs were folded around beneath him.
“Well, Collin,” Oliver chuckled. “I knew you were into some pretty kinky stuff but you never mentioned sniffing leather was another one of your talents.” McKenny attempted a reply. However, the bulk of his face remained mashed into the seat and only a muffled string of angry noises could be heard. Laughing, Rodriguez reached into the car to untangle the man’s legs. Once free, however, McKenny began kicking wildly, causing him to fall completely into the foot area between the seats; a very tight squeeze at best.
“Asswipe!” Rodriguez shouted, jumping back from McKenny’s still kicking legs. “If you make this difficult, it’s not going to be pleasant for you. Just relax and we’ll get you out of there.” Rodriguez reached forward to dislodge the giant but barely missed being kicked once again. He turned to Oliver and shrugged. “What should we do with our big baby here, Ollie?”
“I’d say he needs another nap, Paul...wouldn’t you?” Oliver opened the front passenger door, then pulled out the Taser. McKenny, though momentarily passive suddenly understood Oliver’s intentions and began kicking for all he was worth. Taking aim at the massive thigh, Oliver fired the metal darts into McKenny's flesh as pinpricks of blood ringed the entry points, then released its trigger a moment later. Pinned between the car’s front and back seats, there was little evidence of the electrical charge, short of both McKenny's eyes rolling upward until only the whites showed.
Oliver turned to Rodriguez, then leaned against the patrol car as the first hint of morning traffic whizzed by on Del Monte Ave.
“The way I figure it, Paul. McKenny played professional football for three years and doing that hurt him more than anything we could do trying to get him out.”
Rodriguez smiled and yet there was little joy in it. and gave McKenny’s lone exposed leg a solid kick.
“I suppose you’re right, Ollie, but after what he did to Schwartz, I really don’t care what kind of bruises he ends up with.” With that, they each grabbed one of McKenny's limp, dangling legs and began to pull McKenny out one inch at a time for the transfer to Oliver's cruiser.
He awoke feeling as if he’d been through a meat grinder, twice. His head, pounding in rhythm with his heart, throbbed painfully with each beat. His legs seemed on fire and his right shoulder felt like it might be dislocated, a pain that seemed familiar. This dull aching pain, along with the hundred other little aches, seemed lost in the pain
within
him. As if a meat grinder had found its way inside him and once there, had done its terrible work. He found he could not move either his arms or legs much and just as suddenly, both eyes flicked open to reveal what looked like the inside of a police car.
“Good morning,” a voice spoke next to him, though it sounded strange. “How’re you feeling?”
He turned to see who had spoken and found a vaguely familiar looking man seated in the driver's seat.
“My guess is that you’re not feeling too well right now. We had real trouble getting you out of the back seat. In fact, I think we probably should've uncuffed you but we didn’t want you escaping again. I hope your shoulder is okay, Paul said he got it back in place, but you moaned a bit during the process.”
He listened to all this as if from a distance, saw the time on the car’s dash blink 9:22am, then saw they were in traffic and wondered what city this was.
“Who are you?” He asked, finally speaking what had been running through his mind. The man peered at him for a full minute, moving slowly as the cars about them inched forward.
“The medical guide said you might have some short term memory loss as a result of two shocks within twenty-four hours. I just assumed that a guy your size...do you know your name?"
He thought for a minute, “My name’s...I, um....”
The man waited, clearly eager for him to remember his name which was..."
“I...I, um, I..don’t know,” he finally admitted, defeated. A few seconds of traffic passed by their car before he finally turned back to the driver and saw the shadow spread over the man’s face. “I’m sorry...I really can’t remember.” He felt silly and stared at his hands cuffed to the door, then turned back to the driver. “Did I do something wrong, mister? Is that why I’m handcuffed like this?”
The driver, apparently deep in thought gave no reply. "Hey, Mister,” he said, louder this time. “Am I in trouble?”
“No,” the man responded dully, staring at the sparkling ocean off in the distance. “But I am.”
Jenny lay quietly in the expansive bed, unsure of how long she’d been awake or if she was alone. The soft-hued lights above were gentle on her eyes and yet provided enough illumination to see about the bedroom suite. She moved a hand to her forehead, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as its mate pulled the slight, expensive covers from her partially clothed body. This fact was not something she wanted to think about just then and sitting up, saw with relief she was alone in the suite. She looked about, spied her jeans and panties on a multi-colored wing-back chair nearby and retrieved them, dressing quickly before Jenel returned for seconds.
The moment Oliver and Collin left, Jenel had wasted no time in trying to kiss her, pulling her close as she twisted and turned against him. Frustrated, he had released her and calmly walked to his desk while Jenny ran to the far side of the room. Lighting a cigar, Jenel had chuckled at her panic when she discovered the door locked. Several minutes passed as he puffed and stared while she had stood warily against the wall. Finally, Jenel had given her two choices: consent to his advances or he’d kill Oliver the moment he returned, holding the papers or not. To make his point, he had placed an ugly looking revolver atop his desk.
A few minutes later he'd pulled a bottle of wine and two glasses from a side cabinet. Filling both glasses, Jenel silently placed one on the far side of his desk and it was then that Jenny had accepted her situation. She could give up her body for a few hours at most or she could sacrifice her life for virtue’s sake. As a survivor by nature, she had not found this a hard choice. She'd steeled herself and walked to the desk, accepted the glass now held out to her before sitting opposite her blackmailer.
They had talked for a while about nothing of importance, Jenny realized it was Jenel’s way of loosening her up and yet it was only the wine’s tranquilizing effect that helped her stay calm. By the time he had led her to this suite not far from his office, things had grown hazy in her mind. It was clear, however, from the elaborate bedroom suite that at least some of the women at JenelCo did more than type for a living. Ever so briefly the idea of Carol in this same bed drifted by her, then thankfully slipped away.
Jenel had watched her undress then, patiently observing each item’s removal until she'd slid naked beneath the bed’s turned back covers. Jenel disrobed, taking time to lay each item out before joining her. Jenny suspected that his slow methodical movements had been for her; to somehow be arousing. By then, Jenny had been thoroughly numbed, as if she was watching the encounter more than experiencing it.
Jenel’s attentions had lasted longer than Jenny had feared but thankfully, he'd pushed nothing kinky and simply went for straight sex. Still, to endure it, Jenny had shut herself down emotionally with the help of three glasses of wine, helping to suppress the anger and rage that accompanied all such assaults. Now as she sat alone, these feelings came roaring back and for several minutes the only thing she could do was shake.
The sound of a door brushing across carpet pulled her back to the present and she turned.
“Hello, Jenny,” Jenel said, shutting the door behind him before walking toward her. She noticed he was now wearing perfectly tailored gray slacks, a dark blue shirt with a light blue sports coat. “I’m pleased you’re awake.”
She unfolded herself in the chair, then set about straightening her hair, deliberately refusing to look at him.
“Show’s over, Jenel. You’ve enjoyed your
fun
, so let's drop the pretenses.”
“Jenny," he said, peering at her. "You disappoint me.”
She felt him draw close and the touch of his hand lifted her chin until their gazes locked. How long they stayed in that position Jenny didn’t know, but she was determined to not lower her eyes and, finally, his hand pulled away.
“Yes," Jenel said, chuckling. "I suspected as much but I must say, Jenny. I actually thought you might be enjoying yourself at times.”
“Only in your sick dreams, Jenel.” Her face grew hot at his chuckle and abruptly she stood to face him. “If that’s your idea of decent sex, I see just how pathetic your sex life's become. You never even came close to touching the
real
me,
only my body
.”
“Why in god’s name would I want to touch the ‘real’ you," Jenel’s chuckle grew as he said this. "As if that were something special.”
Jenny took a swing at him but the CEO easily side-stepped her attack and using her own momentum, threw her onto the bed.
“Oh don’t worry Jenny, I've got the part I wanted,” Jenel said as he headed back toward the door. "You and I fucking, in ultra high definition. When you’re dead, I’ll pull this out to remember the time I
owned
you.” Then his grin widened, sadistically.
“I think I'll show it to your cop just before I kill him. You know...let him see what you and I were up to while he was desperately trying to save you.”
Oliver fought a growing sense of despair as he drove to a small turnoff along the coast. Desperately hoping to find a way out of this situation, he was still trying as he pulled off the road, shifted the car into neutral and shut the engine off. He stared at the man who was sitting beside him, looking somewhat ruffled after his extraction from the back seat of the patrol car, now handcuffed to the right front door handle, a strange look of innocence on his face.
“Okay," Oliver said, taking a deep breath. "If you don’t remember your last name, why don’t you tell me what you do remember!”
A furrow developed across McKenny’s brow and Oliver saw he was really trying. Finally, a smile appeared.
“I remember playing football.” McKenny's face grew excited, searching Oliver’s. “I’m...a football player, aren’t I, mister?”
Without answering, Oliver leaned his head against the steering wheel and wondered how the situation had gotten to this point. McKenny had become his ace in the hole and yet almost from the very start, the man had slipped out of his grasp. He'd had a shot at beating Jenel at his own game, so long as he could keep McKenny running scared. Without him, Oliver was left to search already searched houses and hunt down leads that were growing cold, all while the clock ticked down. He was screwed, Jenny was screwed and with McKenny locked away in his own head, there was very little he could do about it.
McKenny interrupted his ‘planning session.’ “I think I want a lawyer, mister, and maybe a doctor, too.” A few seconds passed. “Hey, mister, did ya hear me....”
Oliver leaned back against the seat and looked at McKenny...staring, yet not really seeing or hearing what he said.
“Yeah, sure," Oliver said, distracted. He screwed up his eyes, then turned once again to his prisoner. “You said you wanted a lawyer and...” Oliver’s breath caught as a spark ignited within his mind. “
A doctor
.”
“That’s right." McKenny rattled his handcuffs against the door handle. "If you aren’t going to arrest me or take me to jail, then I want to see a lawyer. I do have rights, you know...no matter what I’ve done.”
Oliver continued to stare blankly at McKenny, his mind struggling to catch up. Then relief spread across his face.
“I agree with you.” Oliver nodded, starting the engine. “A man in your condition needs a doctor as soon as possible.”
Willy had just let out a sigh when he heard the sound of a car pulling up the driveway. He walked to the living room with his gun drawn, then pulled aside the drapes to see who had had pulled up. Through the sheer curtain lining he saw Oliver walk by his gray Ford Taurus and holstered his weapon, then noticed the figure of McKenny sitting quietly in the car parked behind his own. This struck Willy as being a bit like inviting a wolf to watch the sheep and yet Oliver appeared unconcerned as he entered the house.
“Willy, sorry I’m late,” Oliver said, shaking his hand. “I’ve had one hell of a morning, one I’ll tell you about when this thing's over.”
“No problem, Ollie.” Willy led him toward the kitchen.
“Found anything yet?”
Willy stopped at the counter and picked up the small stack of papers.
“I’ve just finished most of the boxed stuff so I suppose it’s time to come up for air.” He handed the stack to Oliver. “The only thing that stood out were these Health and Life insurance contracts.”
Oliver took the papers and perused them for a few seconds. “They seem pretty standard to me. What made them interesting?”
Willy pulled a small folded slip of paper from his jeans. “I found those forms tucked away in a small shoe box at the back of her closet, along with this small piece of paper.”
Oliver unfolded the slip and read the typed name on it before tucking it into his shirt pocket. Just as Willy had done himself, Oliver reopened the insurance forms and finally noticed who the beneficiaries were.
“Willy,” Oliver looked up at him in puzzlement, “what the hell was Carol Montoya doing with Collin McKenny’s insurance papers?”
Oliver climbed back into his car and though he was tempted to ask McKenny about the papers, he resisted and simply backed out of the driveway. Though not pleased with the delay, McKenny had put up only a mild fuss about stopping by to speak with Willy and had sat quietly in his cruiser.
Since McKenny’s apparent memory loss, Oliver had noticed how less impulsive and conversely, how much more intelligently the giant conducted himself. This confirmed a long held belief on Oliver’s part that being a jerk was a learned behavior.
“So who were you taking me to, Detective Peidmont?”
“Oh, to a friend who helps me on special cases.” Oliver cocked an eyebrow at McKenny. “By the way, I see you remembered my name.”
“Yeah, but not much else,” McKenny sighed. “It’s weird. I keep seeing flashes of someone falling to the ground in slow-motion, like something out of a movie.”
Oliver wasn’t sure how much to tell this particular incarnation of McKenny, then wondered why he was even trying to decide. “I guess you still have a conscience, after all, Collin. Maybe breaking a man’s neck is not something you find that easy after all.”
McKenny’s reaction was surprising. Like a little boy caught stealing, he lacked only the pouty, protruding lower lip.
“You’re full of shit, Peidmont!” McKenny replied defensively, straining against his cuffs. “Just cause I don’t remember much doesn't mean you can make me believe I’m some kinda killer.”
As McKenny continued to struggle against his handcuffs, Oliver became more and more grateful for the reinforced steel in both the handcuffs and door frame. Though he knew how to fight, Oliver had learned early on that size could not always be overcome with skill or speed. He decided silence on the way to the good doctor’s office would be a good thing.
“Jenel!”
Jenny called after the CEO as he stepped out of the bedroom suite. He halted, turned and looked at her with inquiring amusement.
“If we’re going to come clean about what happened here, let’s cut to the chase,” Jenny shot him her most dazzling smile when he stepped back into the room and closed the door behind him.
Jenel stayed just inside as Jenny rose from the bed, then casually sat down to face him in the large wing back chair.
“I allowed you to have my body because you threatened to kill Oliver if I didn’t.” She pulled both legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “I’ve slept with my share of men, Jenel, from physics professors to some pretty scummy bar flies, but every single one of them had more class than you.”
She watched his face redden, then continued. “Did you really think that I would like what you did? That I would enjoy being
raped
by you?” Jenny laughed, surprised to find her sense of humor intact. “I’d honestly have preferred the advances of an old billy goat.”
Jenny could see his face become set as solid stone, both lips now pursed and white. “And let’s be honest about that high definition video you’re so excited about. You only did that because you need pathetic fantasies to feel like the man you aren’t.” Jenny flung her head back and laughed with as much gusto as she could manage. “And that pathetic little dick of yours...Please!
At least Collin had something I could
work with!!!
”
The CEOs face suddenly lost its practiced calm as all blood drained out of it. The next moment, he was storming toward her with a rising growl. She was ready by then, legs cocked like a slingshot, her grin piercing and vengeful.
Ignoring Jenel’s outstretched hands and cat-like yowl, she timed her powerful two-legged thrust perfectly, embedding both feet into the man’s groin with such force the executive’s feet lifted off the carpet by at least a foot. For a brief moment he hung there, impaled on Jenny’s outstretched legs as his face twisted with pain, shock and impotent rage. Then his eyes rolled upward and he fell into a crumpled heap before Jenny. Only the sound of Jenny drawing breath was heard in the suite.