The Break - Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Finally, she was all prepared. After her last check of everything, she was convinced that it was all set. She could do this. Now, she was ready. Walking over to the door, she grabbed the handle and pulled it as quickly as she could and leaned forward. The edge of the door struck her just below the eye. Involuntarily she let out a shriek as she felt the sting of the wood bite into her cheek. Within a brief moment, the blood began to trickle down her face. Quickly, she walked through the doorway and across the hall. She entered the other bedroom and leaned forward. As she did so, a few drops of blood dripped onto the shirt that was hanging on the hanger. She was careful not to allow too much blood to get on the shirt. Once she was satisfied with her work, she leaned her head back and pressed a tissue to her eye. Then she pick up the shirt and threw it into the hamper. Moving as fast as she could, she returned to her bed and removed the tissue. The blood was flowing too slowly from her cheek so she stabbed at it with her fingernail. That was sufficient to get the blood flowing again. Then she picked up the Dixie cup and dripped the contents her left and then her right eye. Screaming in pain, she laid her head back on her pillow. It took all her efforts to keep from touching the wound on her face or rubbing her eyes. It was completely miserable. Her eyes were burning and the wound was throbbing as the swelling increased. To keep her mind occupied, she thought about the look she would see on his face. After ten minutes, she got up and walked into the bathroom. She carried with her the cup that contained the jalapeno pepper juice and the tissue she had used to prevent the blood from dripping onto the floor and tossed them into the toilet. Finally, she picked up the condom and the wrapper that she left on the counter and threw them in the toilet as well. Finally, she flushed. Her eyes still watering and snot running out of her nose, she walked to the telephone and called 911. “911 operator, what is your emergency.” The woman’s voice said. “…he…” she started. “911 operator, what is your emergency.” The woman repeated. “He…raped…me…” she sobbed. “Who raped you?” The woman began. “My step-dad.” She replied. “What’s your name?” The woman asked? “Annie…Morris.” Annie replied. “Can you come get me?” Dutifully, the operator obtained all the required information. Within eleven minutes, the paramedics and police arrived at the scene. The paramedics treated Annie’s facial wounds. The self-inflicted one on the left side of her face and the one she sustained the night before when Tony had rebuffed her attempted seduction. Convincingly, she sobbed the entire time. Real tears flowing freely. Finally, the prepped her and transported her to the hospital. As they left, she saw one of the officers coming down the stairs with Tony’s bloodstained shirt. If they looked, they would find his underwear with her DNA on it as well since she rubbed them on herself prior to slamming to door into her face. Yes, she had set up a pretty convincing crime scene. At the hospital, they did a rape kit and found five of Tony’s pubic hairs to go with the seven or eight from Annie’s bed. Additionally, they found spermicidal gel that would match the package of condoms in Tony’s nightstand. It looked as if this was an open and shut case. “So, looks like the step-dad is good for this, huh?” The detective asked. “I’d have to agree, if there was a ‘this’.” The nurse replied. “Come again.” The shocked detective asked. “Well, everything about this points to a rape except …” The nurse explained. “Except what?” The detective asked impatiently. “Except …” The nurse continued as she looked at the officer over her half-moon glasses. “No vaginal bruising and an intact hymen.” “What the …” The detective started. “Looks like we have a girl that has something against her step-dad.” They called Annie’s mother who rushed back to be by her daughter’s side. After talking to Tony, the police and Annie, she was perplexed. She wanted to believe her daughter but the fact that there was no physical bruising and her hymen was still intact, she didn’t know what to believe. “Honey.” Annie said. “Are you okay?” “Not really, Mom.” Annie said. “I can’t believe Tony did this to me…to us.” “Annie.” Her mother asked tenderly. “Are you sure that this happened the way you think it did?” “MOM!!!” Annie started. But her protest was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Without waiting for a response, the door swung open and the detective walked in quickly. “Well, it turns out your daughter is a very lucky girl.” He said. “Excuse me.” Annie’s mother responded. “Well, when we ran your husband’s DNA on this case.” The detective explained. “We got hits on five open cases.” “R-r-r-apes?” Annie’s mother asked as she began to twist her hair in knots. “Yes, well…actually, rapes and murders?” The detective said as gently as you can deliver that type of news. “WHAT?” Both women shrieked simultaneously. “We have arrested you husband on six counts of rape and five counts of homicide.” The detective continued to direct his remarks to Annie’s mother. “Like I said.” He continued as he turned his attention to Annie. “You were a very lucky girl. All the victims were teenage girls.” The sobs emitting from Annie were real this time. She was joined by her mother and they didn’t stop crying for a very long time. Actually, it seemed as if they cried for the entire trial. Only for Annie, even after the trial she couldn’t quit crying. That was the first time she was checked in to facility. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The divider opened slowly, Ronnie poked his head through the opening. He saw both Ben and Ass standing in the aisle. It was very obvious that Ass was aroused. “Uh…not…ta…interrupting anything am I?” Ron asked tentatively. “Just heard some yelling and wanted to make sure you guys were okay. So…it…ta…looks like you guys got everything under control and you don’t really need me to keep standing here yammering on and on. So…sorry…go ahead and …I mean…just forget that…I …uh …shit.” Ronnie shut the divider and spun on his heel. Both the others released a little quip of nervous laughter. “You think he was flustered enough?” Ben asked. “He sounded about as freaked out as me.” Ass responded. Ben began laughing in earnest. The farcical nature of the current series of events could not be denied. Ass turned and looked at Ben and at first was surprised to see him laughing. Then he got it and he joined his friend. The embraced in a warm hug, patted each other on the back and separated. “It’s just too soon.” Ass said unnecessarily. “You know.” “Yeah.” Ben said with a smile. “It takes a little longer than 5 hours to get use to this.” “No doubt dude.” Ass agreed. “Wanna join the others?” The two walked up front. The other two saw the smiles on their faces and returned the smiles. “How you two make out?” Pete asked with a smirk. “Pretty good, lots of tongue.” Ass responded. Completely taken aback the other four burst out laughing, full belly laughs that only come out when share with the closest of company. Schnieder swerved slightly as he wiped the tears from his eyes, causing a near rectal discharge from the driver of the Geo Metro that was attempting to pass the bus. For the rest of the trip to Spokane, the five talked about the gig. They worked out the order of the songs. Additionally, they worked on Ronnie’s between song riff. He was very uncomfortable doing it, but he was getting much better. The crowds seemed to respond better than when the just played uninterrupted sets. Schnieder pulled up to the service entrance of the Big Easy. They emptied the bus and began the long process of setting up the equipment. Once everything was set up, they tested the lights and then it was time for the sound check. “Hey, were recording this right?” Ronnie asked. “Yeah.” Schnieder responded. “Let’s play “Debbie” all the way through.” He said as he began the tuning that started the song. The four erupted as one. It was an intense sound that flowed out of the quartet. “Fuck yeah.” Ronnie screamed into the mike. “Fuck yeah.” Pete joined in perfect synchronization as he sang it for the second time. Ben and Ass weren’t looking at each other, but they were tighter than they had ever been in the past. Finally, they turned to each other as if they knew the other would be looking. Their eyes met and they were in the groove. Tonight was going to be great. After the song, they broke for dinner. Then it was showtime. They heard the announcer say their name, Ronnie puked into the trash can and they ran out on stage. Schnieder watched from the wings. They had been traveling together for almost a year now and he had never heard them sound like this. It was magical. The music was free flowing, tight and nasty. After several songs, Schnieder felt a familiar itch. Usually, there would be cigarette smoke to cover the smell of a joint, but this town seemed to be smoke-free. Schnieder walked out the service entrance. As he walked to the dumpster, he extracted a joint and lit it. He inhaled deeply and felt the smoke expand in his lungs. Exhaling, he mused about the boys. They’re going to make it. “Hey Frankie.” The voice said as Schnieder felt a strong hand grasp his shoulder and spin him around. “What the …holy shit…” Schnieder attempted. “YOU!” “That’s right soldier.” Ian said. “It is me.” “What are you doing here?” He managed as he felt his knees going weak. “What do you want?” “Gotta job for you Frankie-boy.” Ian explained. “It’s a class-one operation – top priority. Operation active.” “Yes, sir.” Schnieder replied crisply as he snapped to attention all signs of fatigue and nervousness disappearing. “Excellent soldier.” Ian said. “And you have stayed in tip-top shape. Excellent.” “Yes, sir.” He responded as a remained rigidly at attention. Ian walked around Schnieder inspecting him. To an untrained eye, Schnieder appeared to be your run-of-the-mill hippie. But what Ian saw truly pleased him. His clothes were as neat as any soldiers and he was armed to the teeth. Without actually seeing them, Ian noticed three separate handguns. There was a .32 caliber tucked into his right boot, a 9mm Glock in a underarm holster, and another 9mm in tucked in the back of his pants. In his left boot, he had an eight inch knife. Lastly, he had a five inch switchblade in the left internal pocket of his coat. Ian could tell because he had a trained eye. But he also knew because that was how he instructed his men to arm themselves. “Excellent Soldier, excellent.” Ian said as he nodded his head in approval. Schnieder felt the pride swell inside him. He had passed his first surprise inspection. His superior was pleased. It was very important to please this man. “Stay alert.” Ian said. “From now on we are a go. Stand by for further instructions. I will be in contact.” “Yes, sir.” Schnieder said as he saluted Ian. Ian returned the salute and then vanished. As soon as Ian left, Schnieder burst into tears, fell to the ground and wrapped himself in the fetal position. “The evil, man. The evil.” He repeated through his sobs as he rocked himself back and forth. Tags: Fiction, Online Book, Rebeleyeball, Paul Gavin Copyright (c) 2006 Paul Gavin. All rights reserved.