As she returned to the real world…..to the terrifying world inside the hood, Nila Spence knew she had broken. She could not endure this…..not even another minute. She prayed he was there so she could tell him….Tucumcari New Mexico….I can give you the address. She didn’t expect to live….she wasn’t an idiot. But perhaps he would honor his word….make the pain go away….and that was all that mattered. Stopping the pain. Teri Johnson no longer mattered….she’d understand……she’d want Nila to tell, anything to stop the unendurable agony…..
As the breathing pattern returned Radoslav knew she was back. And as he saw her body slump…he knew, he had an unerring sense about when the client finally broke. She would withhold nothing. It was always the same. She would rationalize…she had endured all she could, even the woman she would expose couldn’t blame her…and she would talk.
He admired her, really. A small woman…she’d resisted better than well trained agents…one of the two or three best at resisting him in his whole career. A pity she had to die, but it couldn’t be helped. It was part of the contract. But he’d put her out of her pain quickly, painlessly, as soon as he had the information….as soon as it could be verified. He did not consider himself a cruel man. He would not make her hurt any longer than was necessary to accomplish his job…..it would be …unprofessional. Worse….cruel.
NO GOOD DEED redux Mature (CC M/L) 10/2/06 complete 11/21
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Forum Moderators
Lieutenant Brian Miller, NYPD, looked at the Nila Spence file.
'Well, I've done everything that anyone could reasonably expect me to do to find this reporter. The APB is out, she has been made an interest item to be briefed at shift change.....I don't really see what's left to do.' Putting the file back in the drawer, he turned his attention to a stack of other missing persons files.......
Tony D. was really pissed off and Mike D'Angelo knew few things that were uglier than the sight of a pissed off Tony D. Mike was Tony D's Lieutenant, or at least that's what Tony D. thought. The reality was that D'Angelo worked for Big Tony, and while the role he played was that of Tony D's lieutenant, his role really was to keep the man he would always think of as Little Tony from screwing up....at least, screwing up too bad, because both D'Angelo and Big Tony realized the failings and shortcomings of Little Tony, they were hard to miss....unless you were Mrs Diglio.
Tony D. had been ranting to D'Angelo for over two hours, mostly spewing hatred about the Teri-girl, but in the last half hour spewing venom about the nerve of Big Tony to take the reporter away from him and give him to that ....... well, he'd used a variety of ethnic slurs, the irony of that apparently lost on Tony D., although D'Angelo certainly appreciated it.
"I've got half a mind to go shove that Eurotrash bastard out of the way and beat the info out of her myself," said Tony D., apparently forgetting that he'd tried precisely that, damn near killed the girl, and that was why Big Tony had brought in the pro.
'Well, Little Tony's almost right this time, anyway.' thought Mike. 'He DOES have half a mind....or maybe a little less.' Big Tony owes me for taking this job, he thought, not that it was precisely easy to say no to Big Tony.
D'Angelo would have written the whole Little Tony situation off as just misplaced devotion to Mrs Diglio except Big Tony had explained it to him once. Her family had connections in the Old Country, and they handled the merchandise once it left the Port. It had been a marriage of convenience for Big Tony. 'Convenience? With a witch like that for a wife and an idiot like Little Tony for a son, it's no damn wonder Big Tony samples the merchandise every time he gets a chance.'
So here he was, stuck as a glorified babysitter.....oh, a well paid one, but that's still what he was. Big Tony had put little Tony in charge of one of the easiest operations in the organization, the cops and politicians already bought and paid for....and he was still screwing it up. Yep, Big Tony owed him for this.....he owed him big-time.
'Well, I've done everything that anyone could reasonably expect me to do to find this reporter. The APB is out, she has been made an interest item to be briefed at shift change.....I don't really see what's left to do.' Putting the file back in the drawer, he turned his attention to a stack of other missing persons files.......
Tony D. was really pissed off and Mike D'Angelo knew few things that were uglier than the sight of a pissed off Tony D. Mike was Tony D's Lieutenant, or at least that's what Tony D. thought. The reality was that D'Angelo worked for Big Tony, and while the role he played was that of Tony D's lieutenant, his role really was to keep the man he would always think of as Little Tony from screwing up....at least, screwing up too bad, because both D'Angelo and Big Tony realized the failings and shortcomings of Little Tony, they were hard to miss....unless you were Mrs Diglio.
Tony D. had been ranting to D'Angelo for over two hours, mostly spewing hatred about the Teri-girl, but in the last half hour spewing venom about the nerve of Big Tony to take the reporter away from him and give him to that ....... well, he'd used a variety of ethnic slurs, the irony of that apparently lost on Tony D., although D'Angelo certainly appreciated it.
"I've got half a mind to go shove that Eurotrash bastard out of the way and beat the info out of her myself," said Tony D., apparently forgetting that he'd tried precisely that, damn near killed the girl, and that was why Big Tony had brought in the pro.
'Well, Little Tony's almost right this time, anyway.' thought Mike. 'He DOES have half a mind....or maybe a little less.' Big Tony owes me for taking this job, he thought, not that it was precisely easy to say no to Big Tony.
D'Angelo would have written the whole Little Tony situation off as just misplaced devotion to Mrs Diglio except Big Tony had explained it to him once. Her family had connections in the Old Country, and they handled the merchandise once it left the Port. It had been a marriage of convenience for Big Tony. 'Convenience? With a witch like that for a wife and an idiot like Little Tony for a son, it's no damn wonder Big Tony samples the merchandise every time he gets a chance.'
So here he was, stuck as a glorified babysitter.....oh, a well paid one, but that's still what he was. Big Tony had put little Tony in charge of one of the easiest operations in the organization, the cops and politicians already bought and paid for....and he was still screwing it up. Yep, Big Tony owed him for this.....he owed him big-time.
Radoslav walked slowly up to Nila Spence. "Ms. Spence..," he said, the Eastern European accent still present despite his high level of English proficiency...he was in fact proficient in four languages and could certainly make himself understood in three others, "...it is time for the pain to stop. You have been through enough. No one could expect you to endure any more than you have. Now...please...don't make me do any more to you. Where is the girl?"
And at that point the voice actually sounded ....kind to Nila Spence. She believed him. He would make the pain stop. She was pretty sure she knew how he would make the pain stop, but that didn't matter to her anymore, she just wanted it to stop. She tried to tell him...tried to push words past the cracked and swollen lips, past the cut and bloody tongue, but only a sort of croak came from her throat.
"How thoughtless of me," Radoslav said as he removed the hood. He reached for the metal cup and poured water into it from the bottle. He held it carefully to her lips, cupping his hand to catch the drops dribbling down her chin as she drank the first water she'd had in thirty-six hours.
Nila looked at him and was disconcerted to find herself thinking that the man had kind eyes. 'Kind? How many kinds of hell has that man put you through? And how many more will he put you through if you don't tell him? "Thank you..." she replied, grateful for the water but mainly trying out her voice...making sure it worked, her mind already preparing itself, already starting to form the words for the address in Tucumcari of Teri Johnson.
Babysitters have common problems, and it doesn't matter if you are baby sitting a six year old or a twenty-six year old, sometimes you have to pee. And that was what Mike D'Angelo was doing when Little Tony screwed it up again. As he thought back about it later, D'Angelo blamed himself. He should have gone and gotten the kid some goods to keep him busy, but he'd had a fair amount of coffee and nature was really calling.
So a whole night of trying to keep the idiot from doing anything stupid, and what happens? Mike goes to take a whizz and the kid disappears. As he came out of the restroom and noticed Little Tony was gone Mike D'Angelo went through a quick mental checklist of what the most serious mistakes were that Little Tony could make. 'The worst would be to screw with that crazy Bulgarian...' Mike took off like a shot for the room with the reporter, long experience telling him to expect the worst from Little Tony.
Tony D. had told himself that he just wanted to see how the guy was doing, but when he opened the door and saw that guy talking nice to her and giving her a drink of water...practically whispering sweet nothings into her fuckin' ear, Tony lost it. 'What the &^^% we paying this guy so much money for. That's not the way to get some bitch to talk.'
Radoslav was surprised when the man suddenly appeared behind him. 'That idiot...I thought I made it clear to his father that he wasn't to come in here.' He was too surprised to stop him...and he WOULD have stopped him, when the man struck the woman repeatedly in the face, screaming at her. Radoslav turned and his hand found the stun gun on the table behind him but as he turned the other man came in and pulled the first away. Looking quickly at the woman he saw....that the fire had returned to her eyes. 'No, no,no,...NO! Two days of work, and that bastard had ruined it. He would need to start again,...he was almost sure. And he had been so close.'
It was strange, Nila Spence thought, as the man punched her in the face, screaming at her, saying he would let her live if she gave him Teri Johnson. Even as he was striking her face, he wasn't causing her near the pain the European did, a few minutes ago she would have almost welcomed this respite. But he was pissing her off. He wasn't going to let her go. What kind of an idiot did he think she was. All he was going to do was kill Teri, as well as her. And he'd probably take pleasure doing both. And maybe that's what pissed Nila off so much. She could almost believe the European guy felt sorry for her.....didn't really want to keep doing what he obviously did so well. But Tony? She wouldn't give Tony the pleasure of seeing her break, the pleasure of killing Teri. No, not now. Nila knew she was only human....the last 48 hours had made THAT abundantly clear. But she'd hang on a little longer, if only so Tony would now that he hadn't broken her.
"Tony D." said Mike D'Angelo as he hustled him out of the room, "You got to let the man do his job, boss..."
"Coddling her ain't his job, man. It's getting information from her."
"The man knows what he's doing, Tony. This isn't the first time he's worked for the organization. He's good, man. He'll get it."
"Well he damn well better get it quick," said Tony D. "Hell, I'm going to go to bed....I'm going to go get some goods to keep me company."
'Well good,' though Mike D'Angelo. 'Now maybe I can get some rest. Hope the stupid ass doesn't let this one drug him and walk off...'
In the silence that followed the departure of the two thugs, Nila's eyes met those of Radoslav. He knew, and she knew, that they were going to have to start over. That the ultimate outcome may not have changed, but that she wouldn't be giving that ass the satisfaction he wanted. Radoslav seemed almost apologetic as he talked to her.
"Ms. Spence,.....or would you mind if I called you Nila..?" Incongruously, Nila almost said no, wondering what kind of man could do the things this one had done, but still try to be polite.
"I'll take the absence of a response as permission then, Ms. Spence...Nila," he said with a sad smile. "I actually do wish that he was speaking the truth when he told you he'd let you go if you gave us the location of the girl...but," and Radoslav seemed to sigh, "we are both too smart to believe that, aren't we Nila? Are you quite sure that you won't tell....because I swear to you, Nila, I will make the pain stop when you do..., I won't leave you for that man to amuse himself with...you have my word on that."
And somehow Nila actually believed that, but the moment had passed. She knew that Teri would NOT understand. Teri had been safe, she'd gotten away from this hell-hole. She did not deserve to have her new life destroyed because Nila Spence had wanted to get a story, had wanted to get another Pulitzer. Oh sure, she could rationalize that breaking up organized crime was important, but that had only been a part of the motivation and Nila knew it. This had been about a story.
"I'm sorry.." said Nila through split and bloodied lips.
"As am I, Nila." and he really did mean it. "you have to understand...it will make no difference in the end. I have done this for many years....it would take a miracle for you to keep the secret in the end...and I'm afraid the world has run out of miracles."
And at that point the voice actually sounded ....kind to Nila Spence. She believed him. He would make the pain stop. She was pretty sure she knew how he would make the pain stop, but that didn't matter to her anymore, she just wanted it to stop. She tried to tell him...tried to push words past the cracked and swollen lips, past the cut and bloody tongue, but only a sort of croak came from her throat.
"How thoughtless of me," Radoslav said as he removed the hood. He reached for the metal cup and poured water into it from the bottle. He held it carefully to her lips, cupping his hand to catch the drops dribbling down her chin as she drank the first water she'd had in thirty-six hours.
Nila looked at him and was disconcerted to find herself thinking that the man had kind eyes. 'Kind? How many kinds of hell has that man put you through? And how many more will he put you through if you don't tell him? "Thank you..." she replied, grateful for the water but mainly trying out her voice...making sure it worked, her mind already preparing itself, already starting to form the words for the address in Tucumcari of Teri Johnson.
Babysitters have common problems, and it doesn't matter if you are baby sitting a six year old or a twenty-six year old, sometimes you have to pee. And that was what Mike D'Angelo was doing when Little Tony screwed it up again. As he thought back about it later, D'Angelo blamed himself. He should have gone and gotten the kid some goods to keep him busy, but he'd had a fair amount of coffee and nature was really calling.
So a whole night of trying to keep the idiot from doing anything stupid, and what happens? Mike goes to take a whizz and the kid disappears. As he came out of the restroom and noticed Little Tony was gone Mike D'Angelo went through a quick mental checklist of what the most serious mistakes were that Little Tony could make. 'The worst would be to screw with that crazy Bulgarian...' Mike took off like a shot for the room with the reporter, long experience telling him to expect the worst from Little Tony.
Tony D. had told himself that he just wanted to see how the guy was doing, but when he opened the door and saw that guy talking nice to her and giving her a drink of water...practically whispering sweet nothings into her fuckin' ear, Tony lost it. 'What the &^^% we paying this guy so much money for. That's not the way to get some bitch to talk.'
Radoslav was surprised when the man suddenly appeared behind him. 'That idiot...I thought I made it clear to his father that he wasn't to come in here.' He was too surprised to stop him...and he WOULD have stopped him, when the man struck the woman repeatedly in the face, screaming at her. Radoslav turned and his hand found the stun gun on the table behind him but as he turned the other man came in and pulled the first away. Looking quickly at the woman he saw....that the fire had returned to her eyes. 'No, no,no,...NO! Two days of work, and that bastard had ruined it. He would need to start again,...he was almost sure. And he had been so close.'
It was strange, Nila Spence thought, as the man punched her in the face, screaming at her, saying he would let her live if she gave him Teri Johnson. Even as he was striking her face, he wasn't causing her near the pain the European did, a few minutes ago she would have almost welcomed this respite. But he was pissing her off. He wasn't going to let her go. What kind of an idiot did he think she was. All he was going to do was kill Teri, as well as her. And he'd probably take pleasure doing both. And maybe that's what pissed Nila off so much. She could almost believe the European guy felt sorry for her.....didn't really want to keep doing what he obviously did so well. But Tony? She wouldn't give Tony the pleasure of seeing her break, the pleasure of killing Teri. No, not now. Nila knew she was only human....the last 48 hours had made THAT abundantly clear. But she'd hang on a little longer, if only so Tony would now that he hadn't broken her.
"Tony D." said Mike D'Angelo as he hustled him out of the room, "You got to let the man do his job, boss..."
"Coddling her ain't his job, man. It's getting information from her."
"The man knows what he's doing, Tony. This isn't the first time he's worked for the organization. He's good, man. He'll get it."
"Well he damn well better get it quick," said Tony D. "Hell, I'm going to go to bed....I'm going to go get some goods to keep me company."
'Well good,' though Mike D'Angelo. 'Now maybe I can get some rest. Hope the stupid ass doesn't let this one drug him and walk off...'
In the silence that followed the departure of the two thugs, Nila's eyes met those of Radoslav. He knew, and she knew, that they were going to have to start over. That the ultimate outcome may not have changed, but that she wouldn't be giving that ass the satisfaction he wanted. Radoslav seemed almost apologetic as he talked to her.
"Ms. Spence,.....or would you mind if I called you Nila..?" Incongruously, Nila almost said no, wondering what kind of man could do the things this one had done, but still try to be polite.
"I'll take the absence of a response as permission then, Ms. Spence...Nila," he said with a sad smile. "I actually do wish that he was speaking the truth when he told you he'd let you go if you gave us the location of the girl...but," and Radoslav seemed to sigh, "we are both too smart to believe that, aren't we Nila? Are you quite sure that you won't tell....because I swear to you, Nila, I will make the pain stop when you do..., I won't leave you for that man to amuse himself with...you have my word on that."
And somehow Nila actually believed that, but the moment had passed. She knew that Teri would NOT understand. Teri had been safe, she'd gotten away from this hell-hole. She did not deserve to have her new life destroyed because Nila Spence had wanted to get a story, had wanted to get another Pulitzer. Oh sure, she could rationalize that breaking up organized crime was important, but that had only been a part of the motivation and Nila knew it. This had been about a story.
"I'm sorry.." said Nila through split and bloodied lips.
"As am I, Nila." and he really did mean it. "you have to understand...it will make no difference in the end. I have done this for many years....it would take a miracle for you to keep the secret in the end...and I'm afraid the world has run out of miracles."
And as the hood went back over her head Nila realized she should again be petrified with fear over what was coming but the words of Radoslav Stoyanov rang in her ears……. 'I'm afraid the world has run out of miracles,' but she knew differently…it hadn’t…she’d once seen a miracle. And as the pain started again, the shocks, the unbearable pain in her shoulders, she tried to put it out of her mind by remembering that miracle, the miracle she had known those years ago….
She’d been younger then, she’d just started to make her name in investigative reporting. There had been a….what?...an incident at the Children’s Hospital in Phoenix. A security breach….two teenage boys had briefly locked themselves into a ward of terminally ill children. Security had been called, eventually they’d broken through the door, the two teenagers had fled, leaving only iridescent hand prints on the children. The children had been examined….they didn’t appear to have been molested…in fact, they didn’t appear to have been upset by the experience at all. They said the two boys were angels which of course was ridiculous, but the physical exams also showed their diseases were healed. Nila’s paper had refused to run the story of the healing at first…convinced it was a hoax. But as the months went by and the cancers didn’t relapse, the newspaper had continued to monitor the health of those kids….and years later…all were still well. When Nila had gotten word of an internet scam claiming responsibility for the healings, she had gone out to interview the parents of the children as background.
One parent, a fellow named Brody, lived in Roswell New Mexico, and as she had gone there to interview him she’d accidentally discovered the teenager she’d seen on the security video camera in the hospital. She’d almost blackmailed him, she remembered, trying to get him to turn in the people behind the cruel internet scam that was trading on the hopelessness and despair of the parents of dying kids, but when she’d confronted him he’d actually seemed even more angry than she had. Somehow…it had seemed like her idea at the time…but looking back she’d have to admit the young man somehow maneuvered her in to taking him….Max Evans was his name, and what appeared to be his two girlfriends…or girlfriend and ex-girlfriend, Nila had never been sure, to a place called Florence Junction, Arizona. It had been a crazy idea, Nila was still not sure how she’d been maneuvered in to doing it…but the next thing she knew Max and Michael were handing over two scam artists, unconscious and tied up, with all the evidence to convict them, and almost all the money they had stolen.
Nila had wondered about it for years, but she’d promised them anonymity, so she’d never followed up on it. How had they done it?
First the healing…because the kids had stayed healed, despite medical records that had documented incurable problems.
Secondly…how did two teenage kids take down two armed thugs??...without even breaking a sweat. And had they ever played her…….even their final joke.
She’d given the police a totally absurd story about sneaking up behind the thugs and knocking them out, one at a time, to explain how they’d been captured. And when the thugs had finally awakened…..screaming in pain….and been examined…..they had been pounded. Those guys had fractures on their x-rays that looked like they’d been hit by a Mack truck.
The police had known she’d lied….handcuffed her even and put her in jail. She’d asked for a lawyer and they sent her one….the prosecuting attorney. When he told her he was the prosecuting attorney her jaw had dropped and she’d started to sputter….and laughing cops had come out of every corner of the building….. “Ms. Spence,” he’d told her, “..this is kind of ‘law west of the Pecos’ country. We damn sure aren’t going to prosecute you because you got a little rough with bastards like that. Hell, if they’d wanted to be handled with kid gloves they probably should have based their scam someplace else.”
She’d been released with an Apache County Sheriff’s jacket for a souvenir, and a new attitude toward allegations of police brutality.
So Nila knew that there WERE still miracles, and she spent her time recalling that miracle, and it worked. She no longer saw Tucumcari New Mexico form in her brain as she felt the pain, but rather she chased the pain away with memories of Florence Junction Arizona. She knew she could not last forever, but she could last this day….and maybe the next.
Returning to the mystery in her mind she wondered who had finally captured that young man…that peppy intense blonde…Tess something…or that depressed young raven haired girl….Liz. She felt more kinship with Liz somehow, but was almost certain that Tess would have won that battle.
Poor Liz…..well, Nila didn’t have much luck with men either…. But…how had Michael even gotten to Florence Junction?? How had he known? And how had they healed those kids,,,because SOMEONE, SOMETHING really did cure them. There had indeed been a miracle...a Christmas miracle with the kids in that ward, and what had happened at Florence Junction was almost as much a miracle in itself.
Yes, it was long ago, and she had long resigned herself to the fact that she would never know the answer to those questions but she turned them over and over again in her mind because she knew that somehow a miracle had happened and concentrating on that mystery let her keep the pain away for just a little longer.
Radoslav was surprised at how the woman reacted to the return of the pain….not retreating into her catatonic state…but not giving in to the pain either. His mentors had told him that people could do this sometimes, although in almost thirty years he’d never seen it before. The very religious seemed to do it most often, he’d been told….but the reporter hadn’t struck him as particularly religious. However she was doing it, she had apparently tapped some new source of willpower. He knew it wouldn’t last…his mentors had told him that…but even so, he felt his respect growing for the small woman. She was the most stubborn client he’d ever had. A pity that he had taken this contract...., he was almost starting to like her.
She’d been younger then, she’d just started to make her name in investigative reporting. There had been a….what?...an incident at the Children’s Hospital in Phoenix. A security breach….two teenage boys had briefly locked themselves into a ward of terminally ill children. Security had been called, eventually they’d broken through the door, the two teenagers had fled, leaving only iridescent hand prints on the children. The children had been examined….they didn’t appear to have been molested…in fact, they didn’t appear to have been upset by the experience at all. They said the two boys were angels which of course was ridiculous, but the physical exams also showed their diseases were healed. Nila’s paper had refused to run the story of the healing at first…convinced it was a hoax. But as the months went by and the cancers didn’t relapse, the newspaper had continued to monitor the health of those kids….and years later…all were still well. When Nila had gotten word of an internet scam claiming responsibility for the healings, she had gone out to interview the parents of the children as background.
One parent, a fellow named Brody, lived in Roswell New Mexico, and as she had gone there to interview him she’d accidentally discovered the teenager she’d seen on the security video camera in the hospital. She’d almost blackmailed him, she remembered, trying to get him to turn in the people behind the cruel internet scam that was trading on the hopelessness and despair of the parents of dying kids, but when she’d confronted him he’d actually seemed even more angry than she had. Somehow…it had seemed like her idea at the time…but looking back she’d have to admit the young man somehow maneuvered her in to taking him….Max Evans was his name, and what appeared to be his two girlfriends…or girlfriend and ex-girlfriend, Nila had never been sure, to a place called Florence Junction, Arizona. It had been a crazy idea, Nila was still not sure how she’d been maneuvered in to doing it…but the next thing she knew Max and Michael were handing over two scam artists, unconscious and tied up, with all the evidence to convict them, and almost all the money they had stolen.
Nila had wondered about it for years, but she’d promised them anonymity, so she’d never followed up on it. How had they done it?
First the healing…because the kids had stayed healed, despite medical records that had documented incurable problems.
Secondly…how did two teenage kids take down two armed thugs??...without even breaking a sweat. And had they ever played her…….even their final joke.
She’d given the police a totally absurd story about sneaking up behind the thugs and knocking them out, one at a time, to explain how they’d been captured. And when the thugs had finally awakened…..screaming in pain….and been examined…..they had been pounded. Those guys had fractures on their x-rays that looked like they’d been hit by a Mack truck.
The police had known she’d lied….handcuffed her even and put her in jail. She’d asked for a lawyer and they sent her one….the prosecuting attorney. When he told her he was the prosecuting attorney her jaw had dropped and she’d started to sputter….and laughing cops had come out of every corner of the building….. “Ms. Spence,” he’d told her, “..this is kind of ‘law west of the Pecos’ country. We damn sure aren’t going to prosecute you because you got a little rough with bastards like that. Hell, if they’d wanted to be handled with kid gloves they probably should have based their scam someplace else.”
She’d been released with an Apache County Sheriff’s jacket for a souvenir, and a new attitude toward allegations of police brutality.
So Nila knew that there WERE still miracles, and she spent her time recalling that miracle, and it worked. She no longer saw Tucumcari New Mexico form in her brain as she felt the pain, but rather she chased the pain away with memories of Florence Junction Arizona. She knew she could not last forever, but she could last this day….and maybe the next.
Returning to the mystery in her mind she wondered who had finally captured that young man…that peppy intense blonde…Tess something…or that depressed young raven haired girl….Liz. She felt more kinship with Liz somehow, but was almost certain that Tess would have won that battle.
Poor Liz…..well, Nila didn’t have much luck with men either…. But…how had Michael even gotten to Florence Junction?? How had he known? And how had they healed those kids,,,because SOMEONE, SOMETHING really did cure them. There had indeed been a miracle...a Christmas miracle with the kids in that ward, and what had happened at Florence Junction was almost as much a miracle in itself.
Yes, it was long ago, and she had long resigned herself to the fact that she would never know the answer to those questions but she turned them over and over again in her mind because she knew that somehow a miracle had happened and concentrating on that mystery let her keep the pain away for just a little longer.
Radoslav was surprised at how the woman reacted to the return of the pain….not retreating into her catatonic state…but not giving in to the pain either. His mentors had told him that people could do this sometimes, although in almost thirty years he’d never seen it before. The very religious seemed to do it most often, he’d been told….but the reporter hadn’t struck him as particularly religious. However she was doing it, she had apparently tapped some new source of willpower. He knew it wouldn’t last…his mentors had told him that…but even so, he felt his respect growing for the small woman. She was the most stubborn client he’d ever had. A pity that he had taken this contract...., he was almost starting to like her.
As Liz climbed the backdoor steps at the Ramirez residence she stopped to steady herself on the handrail, her center of gravity not exactly where she was used to it being.
As she entered the kitchen she smiled as she saw Michael pouring peach Snapple into a thermos, periodically spiking it with Tabasco. She couldn’t say anything about that today, remembering that she’d had Max make her a pickle sundae the preceding evening.
“Hi Michael.”
After six years in Hollywood kissing people on the cheek in greeting had become habit with Michael. He was shocked…..literally….when sparks came off of Liz’s cheek.
“I’m sorry, Michael….I didn’t mean to do that.”
“I thought you’d lost your powers, Liz.”
“Over the years…I’ve slowly gotten some of them back. It hasn’t been like the old days….when I knocked Tess across the room, but they’ve slowly come back…up until six months ago…since then they’ve come back quite a bit…but I think that’s just temporary.”
“Temporary?”
“Yes…actually, I was thinking about doing some work on it in the lab. The placenta provides a lot of hormones during pregnancy…to maintain the pregnancy, and the placenta is really part of the tissue of the baby, not the mother. I think that maybe the hormones from the placenta are triggering me to have some of my old powers….since the baby isn’t completely human.”
“So you can zap stuff again?”
“A little bit, a couple of small zaps anyway. But sometimes it happens by accident. It's pretty erratic. And I’m having flashes again sometimes…seeing the future when I touch people, just like I used to.”
“Did you and Max anticipate this might happen when you decided to get pregnant?”
Michael was a little surprised when Liz blushed, ….I mean, she was a scientist and Max was nearly a doctor.
“Well Michael,…that’s a kind of long story. Maybe some other time. Now I’ve got to find Maria and Ava if we are going to catch the train to New York.”
As she entered the kitchen she smiled as she saw Michael pouring peach Snapple into a thermos, periodically spiking it with Tabasco. She couldn’t say anything about that today, remembering that she’d had Max make her a pickle sundae the preceding evening.
“Hi Michael.”
After six years in Hollywood kissing people on the cheek in greeting had become habit with Michael. He was shocked…..literally….when sparks came off of Liz’s cheek.
“I’m sorry, Michael….I didn’t mean to do that.”
“I thought you’d lost your powers, Liz.”
“Over the years…I’ve slowly gotten some of them back. It hasn’t been like the old days….when I knocked Tess across the room, but they’ve slowly come back…up until six months ago…since then they’ve come back quite a bit…but I think that’s just temporary.”
“Temporary?”
“Yes…actually, I was thinking about doing some work on it in the lab. The placenta provides a lot of hormones during pregnancy…to maintain the pregnancy, and the placenta is really part of the tissue of the baby, not the mother. I think that maybe the hormones from the placenta are triggering me to have some of my old powers….since the baby isn’t completely human.”
“So you can zap stuff again?”
“A little bit, a couple of small zaps anyway. But sometimes it happens by accident. It's pretty erratic. And I’m having flashes again sometimes…seeing the future when I touch people, just like I used to.”
“Did you and Max anticipate this might happen when you decided to get pregnant?”
Michael was a little surprised when Liz blushed, ….I mean, she was a scientist and Max was nearly a doctor.
“Well Michael,…that’s a kind of long story. Maybe some other time. Now I’ve got to find Maria and Ava if we are going to catch the train to New York.”
Radoslav Stoyanov was tired. He had been awake for almost 42 hours.
He looked at Ms. Spence….although now he thought of her as Nila.
He recognized it as a Ukrainian name, Neonila. According to legend, Nila is stubborn and a bit cunning. She is business-like, quiet and knows how to adjust. Her name fit her well, Radoslav decided. She had worn him down. That rarely happened. And she had been awake…who knows…maybe 36 hours before he was called in….while that pig beat on her?
He took out the ECG electrodes, cleaning the skin with alcohol before he attached them to her trunk, arms, and legs…..twelve in all. He attached the leads from the machine to the foil electrodes. The KGB had invented the machine, originally, to shock their clients. It had long since been modified, this one with a small computer attached. It would shock her at random intervals whose bounds he could adjust, using two of the twelve electrodes, also selected at random.
It’s sole purpose was to keep her awake…while he slept. She would still have pain…her nearly dislocated shoulders guaranteed that, but he was starting to understand the small woman. She was tough, that was plain. She would eventually succumb to the pain, but it would not be quick. He needed sleep now, and he needed her not to sleep. This machine would do that. It would let him rest while it kept her awake.
He was quietly confident that ..his Nila…would not break for at least six hours. He would set his alarm for three hours, just in case. He liked her, actually. This was not personal, just business. He doubted that she would break before six hours, but he would be there at three hours, in case he was wrong. He would not want her to have three hours of extra pain, before he made the pain stop, should she break sooner. He respected her too much to let the pain continue any longer than necessary.
He thought back to how that pig had spoiled it….and cursed him. Not for the extra time this would cost Radoslav Stoyanov, for he would just add that to his bill, but because of the additional pain that he must now put his Nila through.
He would talk to Mr. Diglio about his son. That behavior was unacceptable. He had been promised that he would have charge of the interrogation, that was the contract. Radoslav honored contracts. But if it happened again…….the contract was over. This ‘Big Tony’ must understand this.
He set the machine, turned the music up slightly, and left. Between the building on the wharf and his cheap hotel above the small coffee shop across the street, three different guards nodded as he passed. He crossed the street, climbed three flights of stairs, opened the door of the small room. He dropped his clothes on the chair, set the alarm clock for three hours later, and crawled in bed. He was asleep seconds after his head hit the pillow.
"I wish you were going too, Isabel," said Liz.
"Next time you guys. When I can stick Jesse with three month old twins. Of course, by then you and Ava will probably have the same problem," she said, smiling happily.
"Is there anything we can get for you in the City?" asked Ava.
"I don't think so. Good luck with your recording session, Maria. I'll see all you guys back here tonight."
Ava, Maria, and Liz boarded the 8:10 AM Acela Express. It would get them to Penn station at 11:45. Liz waved goodbye to Max through the window. He was off to meet the guys for lunch and then go to the 1:30 Patriots game kickoff.
At that point, Liz didn't have a doubt in the world that she'd on the Acela getting back to Boston at 9:05 PM. After all, they already had their tickets.........
He looked at Ms. Spence….although now he thought of her as Nila.
He recognized it as a Ukrainian name, Neonila. According to legend, Nila is stubborn and a bit cunning. She is business-like, quiet and knows how to adjust. Her name fit her well, Radoslav decided. She had worn him down. That rarely happened. And she had been awake…who knows…maybe 36 hours before he was called in….while that pig beat on her?
He took out the ECG electrodes, cleaning the skin with alcohol before he attached them to her trunk, arms, and legs…..twelve in all. He attached the leads from the machine to the foil electrodes. The KGB had invented the machine, originally, to shock their clients. It had long since been modified, this one with a small computer attached. It would shock her at random intervals whose bounds he could adjust, using two of the twelve electrodes, also selected at random.
It’s sole purpose was to keep her awake…while he slept. She would still have pain…her nearly dislocated shoulders guaranteed that, but he was starting to understand the small woman. She was tough, that was plain. She would eventually succumb to the pain, but it would not be quick. He needed sleep now, and he needed her not to sleep. This machine would do that. It would let him rest while it kept her awake.
He was quietly confident that ..his Nila…would not break for at least six hours. He would set his alarm for three hours, just in case. He liked her, actually. This was not personal, just business. He doubted that she would break before six hours, but he would be there at three hours, in case he was wrong. He would not want her to have three hours of extra pain, before he made the pain stop, should she break sooner. He respected her too much to let the pain continue any longer than necessary.
He thought back to how that pig had spoiled it….and cursed him. Not for the extra time this would cost Radoslav Stoyanov, for he would just add that to his bill, but because of the additional pain that he must now put his Nila through.
He would talk to Mr. Diglio about his son. That behavior was unacceptable. He had been promised that he would have charge of the interrogation, that was the contract. Radoslav honored contracts. But if it happened again…….the contract was over. This ‘Big Tony’ must understand this.
He set the machine, turned the music up slightly, and left. Between the building on the wharf and his cheap hotel above the small coffee shop across the street, three different guards nodded as he passed. He crossed the street, climbed three flights of stairs, opened the door of the small room. He dropped his clothes on the chair, set the alarm clock for three hours later, and crawled in bed. He was asleep seconds after his head hit the pillow.
"I wish you were going too, Isabel," said Liz.
"Next time you guys. When I can stick Jesse with three month old twins. Of course, by then you and Ava will probably have the same problem," she said, smiling happily.
"Is there anything we can get for you in the City?" asked Ava.
"I don't think so. Good luck with your recording session, Maria. I'll see all you guys back here tonight."
Ava, Maria, and Liz boarded the 8:10 AM Acela Express. It would get them to Penn station at 11:45. Liz waved goodbye to Max through the window. He was off to meet the guys for lunch and then go to the 1:30 Patriots game kickoff.
At that point, Liz didn't have a doubt in the world that she'd on the Acela getting back to Boston at 9:05 PM. After all, they already had their tickets.........
Nila knew she was in pain. She even knew the pain was excruciating...so excruciating it was threatening to send her into permanent insanity. But for right now, at least, she could compartmentalize the pain. She could...barely...hold all the pain into the compartment where her body was, where a broken, beaten, burned, and increasingly difigured Nila Spence was having her arms slowly pulled out of their sockets by the muscle spasms being triggered by.....him. And she knew that if she thought too much about....him, she'd give in. He would convince her with those kind eyes to accept the mercy of a painless death, and by doing so she would condemn Teri. She needed to think of something else.
So she thought of Max Evans, certainly the most perplexing person she'd ever met, even if he was only seventeen at the time. 'He never really lied to me,' she thought. 'He just didn't tell me anything he didn't want me to know.' And at the time it really hadn't bothered her that much. She'd gotten a good story, shut down those internet scam artists, she'd been willing to overlook the fact that the whole Max Evans situation hadn't made a bit of sense, not just because she was honoring her promise to the boy, but because back then....she really hadn't believed in miracles. But the years had gone by, and she'd kept track of the kids from that ward. None had ever had their disease return. One had died, apparently whatever happened in that ward did not make you immune to motorcycle accidents, but even in that case the autopsy had shown no evidence of his cancer.
A kid surviving an incurable cancer.....that could be a lot of things. A fluke. A misdiagnosis. A one in a million cure. It happened. Fourteen kids with incurable diseases surviving....with no evidence of recurrence...whose only common link was that they spent Christmas Eve in a ward in a children's hospital where Max Evans did....something, while Michael Guerin stood lookout.....well, that was no fluke.
Nila had once taken a logic course in college and remembered one day when the instructor had told the class, "When you have eliminated all other possibilities the last remaining one, however improbable, is likely the truth." And over the years, Nila knew, she HAD eliminated the other possibilities. And she'd known that too, known there was a tremendous story there, but she'd never pursued it. Why was that, she wondered. Sure, she'd promised Max Evans but....would she honor that promise at the cost of depriving the world of a cure for cancer?
Except, she really didn't believe that Max HAD a cure for cancer....heck, he'd had to drag along his ex-girlfriend Liz to tell him what was in the serum those charlatans had been selling. Nila had hacked in to the school records, he was a bright kid, but he certainly wasn't inventing cancer cures in his garage. Nila didn't really believe in faith healers but...could there be something about Max, Max himself, that healed people?
'Hell, he was an enigma even then, as a 17 year old,' she thought. He'd had such charisma...Nila didn't believe she'd shaken him even once, not with the revelations about the security tapes...or the silver handprints...anything. Oh, she'd gotten to him, showing him the website and files on the guys selling that fake serum, but that hadn't even been something that had flustered him. He'd seemed to take several seconds to actually believe that someone could really do that....scam the parents of sick and dying kids, and then he'd just gotten a look of grim determination on his face.....she'd misinterpreted it at the time...thought that he might have been intimidated by knowing he was connected with potential federal crimes....but that hadn't been it at all. He'd decided that very moment, that those two were going down, and he'd played Nila Spence like a violin to get her to help make that happen. She'd never had anyone maneuver her like that, not before and not since.
And the kid certainly had charisma, no doubt about that. She still couldn't believe that Max had maneuvered her into taking them....them, hell, Max and TWO girlfriends, now was THAT charisma or what...into taking them to where those two scam artists were. So Max and two little girls who were just struggling to be civil with each other....almost certainly fighting over Max, had gone out with her...across state lines....in the middle of the night. 'God, that was stupid. If those kids had made a stink I could still be in jail,' she thought, '... not that that wouldn't be preferable to where I am now..' And somewhere Michael had materialized out of nowhere and, while Nila slept, 'except I'd still be willing to swear that I never slept...' they'd taken down those two thugs, taken them down ...well, she'd thought with their bare hands but....how do bare hands cause damage like that?
Yes, Nila figured she'd met her match in Max Evans, even as a seventeen year old. She wondered what the story really was with him, not that she'd ever find out. As thoughts of Radoslav drifted back into her mind, she found herself wondering how Max Evans would handle Radoslav if he were here, because...somehow she thought Max could probably find a way to handle him, even if Nila Spence couldn't. She found herself believing that despite everything, there really were miracles, and Max Evans knew how to make them.
So she thought of Max Evans, certainly the most perplexing person she'd ever met, even if he was only seventeen at the time. 'He never really lied to me,' she thought. 'He just didn't tell me anything he didn't want me to know.' And at the time it really hadn't bothered her that much. She'd gotten a good story, shut down those internet scam artists, she'd been willing to overlook the fact that the whole Max Evans situation hadn't made a bit of sense, not just because she was honoring her promise to the boy, but because back then....she really hadn't believed in miracles. But the years had gone by, and she'd kept track of the kids from that ward. None had ever had their disease return. One had died, apparently whatever happened in that ward did not make you immune to motorcycle accidents, but even in that case the autopsy had shown no evidence of his cancer.
A kid surviving an incurable cancer.....that could be a lot of things. A fluke. A misdiagnosis. A one in a million cure. It happened. Fourteen kids with incurable diseases surviving....with no evidence of recurrence...whose only common link was that they spent Christmas Eve in a ward in a children's hospital where Max Evans did....something, while Michael Guerin stood lookout.....well, that was no fluke.
Nila had once taken a logic course in college and remembered one day when the instructor had told the class, "When you have eliminated all other possibilities the last remaining one, however improbable, is likely the truth." And over the years, Nila knew, she HAD eliminated the other possibilities. And she'd known that too, known there was a tremendous story there, but she'd never pursued it. Why was that, she wondered. Sure, she'd promised Max Evans but....would she honor that promise at the cost of depriving the world of a cure for cancer?
Except, she really didn't believe that Max HAD a cure for cancer....heck, he'd had to drag along his ex-girlfriend Liz to tell him what was in the serum those charlatans had been selling. Nila had hacked in to the school records, he was a bright kid, but he certainly wasn't inventing cancer cures in his garage. Nila didn't really believe in faith healers but...could there be something about Max, Max himself, that healed people?
'Hell, he was an enigma even then, as a 17 year old,' she thought. He'd had such charisma...Nila didn't believe she'd shaken him even once, not with the revelations about the security tapes...or the silver handprints...anything. Oh, she'd gotten to him, showing him the website and files on the guys selling that fake serum, but that hadn't even been something that had flustered him. He'd seemed to take several seconds to actually believe that someone could really do that....scam the parents of sick and dying kids, and then he'd just gotten a look of grim determination on his face.....she'd misinterpreted it at the time...thought that he might have been intimidated by knowing he was connected with potential federal crimes....but that hadn't been it at all. He'd decided that very moment, that those two were going down, and he'd played Nila Spence like a violin to get her to help make that happen. She'd never had anyone maneuver her like that, not before and not since.
And the kid certainly had charisma, no doubt about that. She still couldn't believe that Max had maneuvered her into taking them....them, hell, Max and TWO girlfriends, now was THAT charisma or what...into taking them to where those two scam artists were. So Max and two little girls who were just struggling to be civil with each other....almost certainly fighting over Max, had gone out with her...across state lines....in the middle of the night. 'God, that was stupid. If those kids had made a stink I could still be in jail,' she thought, '... not that that wouldn't be preferable to where I am now..' And somewhere Michael had materialized out of nowhere and, while Nila slept, 'except I'd still be willing to swear that I never slept...' they'd taken down those two thugs, taken them down ...well, she'd thought with their bare hands but....how do bare hands cause damage like that?
Yes, Nila figured she'd met her match in Max Evans, even as a seventeen year old. She wondered what the story really was with him, not that she'd ever find out. As thoughts of Radoslav drifted back into her mind, she found herself wondering how Max Evans would handle Radoslav if he were here, because...somehow she thought Max could probably find a way to handle him, even if Nila Spence couldn't. She found herself believing that despite everything, there really were miracles, and Max Evans knew how to make them.
“See, I told you…..this is a great Deli, isn’t it?” asked Ava. Liz and Maria had a hard time answering, their mouths already full of sandwich.
“Mmm-uuuhh,” said Maria, finally chewing and swallowing enough to say, “that is as good a pastrami as I’ve ever had anywhere”
Liz dabbed at the mustard on the side of her mouth. “This is great. How did you know about this little hole in the wall place, Ava?”
“New York City is my old stomping grounds, remember? I grew up about a mile and…three subway stops from here.”
“This is so neat…having a local to guide us around the city.”
“Ex-local. I don’t miss it much. I’m more than happy to be in Albuquerque and certainly wouldn’t want Kyle to be on the police force here. Most of them are OK, but …quite a few are on the take, too. Besides, I like the wide open spaces, now that I’ve gotten used to them. And it’ll be a better place to raise kids,” said Ava, looking at the bulge in her lower abdomen meaningfully.
“Well, Michael and I aren’t quite at that point yet. But we don’t plan to stay in Hollywood forever. Kal has been real nice, getting a few really good parts for Michael, and setting me up with recording sessions like the one this afternoon. In a few more years we should have enough set aside that we can leave Hollywood and move back to Roswell…..were both just desert rats I guess.”
“How is your music career going, Ria?”
“Well, I’m not going to be the next Madonna, but…I never wanted that. I like to sing the kind of music that I like to sing,..and not a lot of people like that style, but those that do like it a lot. Kal calls it a ‘niche market,” and thinks that I can probably enjoy myself and make a modest income doing it for as long as I like. I do it because it’s fun…the money’s nice, but really it’s the fun.”
“Well it’s probably just as well you are recording this afternoon since you don’t need to be shopping with us at A Pea in the Pod on Madison Avenue. You don’t yet need their……style of fashion.”
“Now I meant to ask you about that, Liz. Ava has been saying for sometime that she and Kyle were going to start a family soon, but it was less than a year ago that you told me you and Max were going to put it off until you got your PhD in molecular biology and he got his MD. You said you were going to wait until you left Harvard, then you were going to start a family. You just got your Master’s 6 months ago, and he’s still a junior medical student….why did you change your minds?”
As Liz began to blush, Maria’s face broke out into a broad grin. “Don’t tell me….with all that massive medical know how between the two of you …..this was an oops?”
As Liz blush became even darker, even Ava got in on the act. “Oh come on, Liz. By the look on your face there has GOT to be a story here.”
“Well…..it started out with this medical journal article I read about 9 months ago. It said you shouldn’t be on the patch continuously, that you should have medication ‘vacations’ to stop your breasts and uterus from being continuously medicated. Like after a few years, you stop the patch for three months or so.”
“AND…..?” said Maria.
“Well, so I was off the patch, and we were using…..well, Max was using protection….”
“AND…..?” said Maria.
“..and it was six months ago, I’d passed my orals for my Masters and they had a party for me in the department, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences was there to present me with an award for some work I’d done, and the fellowship that went with it, so I basically was going to get all my tuition and fees paid for my PhD. It was kind of a big deal for me, Max was there to watch the presentation and everything.”
“AND…..?” said Maria and Ava in unison.
“..and, well they had a cake for me at the party…and punch, and…apparently there is an old tradition in the Molecular Biology Department at Harvard that they get grain alcohol from the chemistry storeroom and….well spike the punch.”
“You got drunk?”
“Well no, I didn’t get drunk…eventually I did have a couple of sips…you couldn’t even taste the alcohol in it, it was like…fruit punch.”
“So what happened?”
“Well by that time Max had had …..three glasses..”
“Three glasses!” said Ava. “Kyle told me what happened when Max had one little sip of alcohol…What did three glasses do.”
“Well he was sitting in the back of the room as everyone was partying, holding the certificate they gave me with the scholarship. One minute he seemed to be OK, the next, he was changing the ink on the certificate to fluorescent green. I freaked and went over to him before anyone saw, laid the certificate down behind a desk so no one would see it, and pulled him off to my lab. I locked him in, then went back for the certificate. When I got back, he was acting like a mischievous five year old. I remembered that the first time he got drunk I sobered him up with a kiss, so I tried that first….apparently he was too drunk. I kissed him longer, harder, …and he started to get ideas that ..went beyond kissing.”
“So you did it…in your lab? Where? On your desk?” Maria said struggling to keep from laughing.
Liz had tears in her eyes and was blushing crimson,” Worse. On my lab table. My head was almost in the sink. I was looking up past the faucet into his big amber eyes..”
Maria and Ava were convulsing with laughter.
“So I guess neither of you thought to bring protection?”
Up until then, Maria wouldn’t have believed that Liz could blush any deeper, but the crimson increased several shades as Liz said,” Well….actually, Mr. I-used-to-be-a-boy-scout-so-I’m-always-prepared Evans had actually put a condom in his wallet, just for such an eventuality….but he had already used it. While I was getting the glowing certificate before anyone could see it, he’d filled it up with water at the sink and dropped it …just missing the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences two floors down, as he was leaving the building.”
Maria and Ava were now finding it hard to stay in their seats they were laughing so hard. They couldn’t believe anything could get funnier than that…until Liz continued.
“So anyway, I told him he needed to use protection and he dug around in his wallet and found another condom…”
“So he used that?”
“Well, he tried, but I think that one had been in his wallet since he was singing in a Mariachi band one night when we were in high school. As he went to put it on there was like this explosion, and there was latex confetti all over the room…”
At this point Ava WAS on the floor laughing, and Maria was clinging to her chair trying to not join her there…..
“..and he was just standing there with this pathetic shocked and disappointed little boy look on his face…holding the shattered remains of this ancient condom….and I said, ‘Oh what the hell, come here…’ ”
Laughing insanely, with tears in her eyes, Maria at last joined Ava on the floor….
“Mmm-uuuhh,” said Maria, finally chewing and swallowing enough to say, “that is as good a pastrami as I’ve ever had anywhere”
Liz dabbed at the mustard on the side of her mouth. “This is great. How did you know about this little hole in the wall place, Ava?”
“New York City is my old stomping grounds, remember? I grew up about a mile and…three subway stops from here.”
“This is so neat…having a local to guide us around the city.”
“Ex-local. I don’t miss it much. I’m more than happy to be in Albuquerque and certainly wouldn’t want Kyle to be on the police force here. Most of them are OK, but …quite a few are on the take, too. Besides, I like the wide open spaces, now that I’ve gotten used to them. And it’ll be a better place to raise kids,” said Ava, looking at the bulge in her lower abdomen meaningfully.
“Well, Michael and I aren’t quite at that point yet. But we don’t plan to stay in Hollywood forever. Kal has been real nice, getting a few really good parts for Michael, and setting me up with recording sessions like the one this afternoon. In a few more years we should have enough set aside that we can leave Hollywood and move back to Roswell…..were both just desert rats I guess.”
“How is your music career going, Ria?”
“Well, I’m not going to be the next Madonna, but…I never wanted that. I like to sing the kind of music that I like to sing,..and not a lot of people like that style, but those that do like it a lot. Kal calls it a ‘niche market,” and thinks that I can probably enjoy myself and make a modest income doing it for as long as I like. I do it because it’s fun…the money’s nice, but really it’s the fun.”
“Well it’s probably just as well you are recording this afternoon since you don’t need to be shopping with us at A Pea in the Pod on Madison Avenue. You don’t yet need their……style of fashion.”
“Now I meant to ask you about that, Liz. Ava has been saying for sometime that she and Kyle were going to start a family soon, but it was less than a year ago that you told me you and Max were going to put it off until you got your PhD in molecular biology and he got his MD. You said you were going to wait until you left Harvard, then you were going to start a family. You just got your Master’s 6 months ago, and he’s still a junior medical student….why did you change your minds?”
As Liz began to blush, Maria’s face broke out into a broad grin. “Don’t tell me….with all that massive medical know how between the two of you …..this was an oops?”
As Liz blush became even darker, even Ava got in on the act. “Oh come on, Liz. By the look on your face there has GOT to be a story here.”
“Well…..it started out with this medical journal article I read about 9 months ago. It said you shouldn’t be on the patch continuously, that you should have medication ‘vacations’ to stop your breasts and uterus from being continuously medicated. Like after a few years, you stop the patch for three months or so.”
“AND…..?” said Maria.
“Well, so I was off the patch, and we were using…..well, Max was using protection….”
“AND…..?” said Maria.
“..and it was six months ago, I’d passed my orals for my Masters and they had a party for me in the department, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences was there to present me with an award for some work I’d done, and the fellowship that went with it, so I basically was going to get all my tuition and fees paid for my PhD. It was kind of a big deal for me, Max was there to watch the presentation and everything.”
“AND…..?” said Maria and Ava in unison.
“..and, well they had a cake for me at the party…and punch, and…apparently there is an old tradition in the Molecular Biology Department at Harvard that they get grain alcohol from the chemistry storeroom and….well spike the punch.”
“You got drunk?”
“Well no, I didn’t get drunk…eventually I did have a couple of sips…you couldn’t even taste the alcohol in it, it was like…fruit punch.”
“So what happened?”
“Well by that time Max had had …..three glasses..”
“Three glasses!” said Ava. “Kyle told me what happened when Max had one little sip of alcohol…What did three glasses do.”
“Well he was sitting in the back of the room as everyone was partying, holding the certificate they gave me with the scholarship. One minute he seemed to be OK, the next, he was changing the ink on the certificate to fluorescent green. I freaked and went over to him before anyone saw, laid the certificate down behind a desk so no one would see it, and pulled him off to my lab. I locked him in, then went back for the certificate. When I got back, he was acting like a mischievous five year old. I remembered that the first time he got drunk I sobered him up with a kiss, so I tried that first….apparently he was too drunk. I kissed him longer, harder, …and he started to get ideas that ..went beyond kissing.”
“So you did it…in your lab? Where? On your desk?” Maria said struggling to keep from laughing.
Liz had tears in her eyes and was blushing crimson,” Worse. On my lab table. My head was almost in the sink. I was looking up past the faucet into his big amber eyes..”
Maria and Ava were convulsing with laughter.
“So I guess neither of you thought to bring protection?”
Up until then, Maria wouldn’t have believed that Liz could blush any deeper, but the crimson increased several shades as Liz said,” Well….actually, Mr. I-used-to-be-a-boy-scout-so-I’m-always-prepared Evans had actually put a condom in his wallet, just for such an eventuality….but he had already used it. While I was getting the glowing certificate before anyone could see it, he’d filled it up with water at the sink and dropped it …just missing the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences two floors down, as he was leaving the building.”
Maria and Ava were now finding it hard to stay in their seats they were laughing so hard. They couldn’t believe anything could get funnier than that…until Liz continued.
“So anyway, I told him he needed to use protection and he dug around in his wallet and found another condom…”
“So he used that?”
“Well, he tried, but I think that one had been in his wallet since he was singing in a Mariachi band one night when we were in high school. As he went to put it on there was like this explosion, and there was latex confetti all over the room…”
At this point Ava WAS on the floor laughing, and Maria was clinging to her chair trying to not join her there…..
“..and he was just standing there with this pathetic shocked and disappointed little boy look on his face…holding the shattered remains of this ancient condom….and I said, ‘Oh what the hell, come here…’ ”
Laughing insanely, with tears in her eyes, Maria at last joined Ava on the floor….
Radoslav was….well, impressed with the woman. There was no other word for it. She hadn’t retreated into catatonia, she had continued to endure….no, almost ignore the pain.
After his rest he’d increased the frequency and severity of the shocks, and it really hadn’t seemed to faze her. She was locked in whatever compartment she had formed to keep the real world at bay. He wondered if this were religious……or something else.
‘Ah, my Nila,’ he thought. ‘You are indeed stubborn and cunning, but I am persistent, and persistence counts as well.’
This had now become a contest of wills, one Radoslav knew he would ultimately win, not because he was better, but merely because he had the advantage. He wondered if he could have resisted nearly as well as this small woman. ‘Probably not….she is good…..very,very good.’ But in the end, it would not matter, for time was on his side.
As Mike D'Angelo came into the room he looked first at the Bulgarian....all business, but somehow with a fire....almost a joy in his eyes that he didn't usually have. He looked then at the beaten and bloody carcass of the reporter. Little Tony had really done a number on her, '...not that the Bulgarian has exactly gone easy on her.' He seemed to be more finesse though, less brutality. And up until this moment, Mike really didn't get any sense that the Bulgarian had any emotions at all, just a cold fish. And even now the emotions were strangely mixed...like he found her a challenge but sort of respected her.
"The meeting is set up with Big Tony like you wanted. It'll be at his restaurant in an hour."
The Bulgarian looked up at him, his face looking grim. "You will not let that man back into this room while I'm gone. I will be ...personally... offended if you do." D'Angelo had 'made his bones' when he was 18, and would have been considered by most of the people in the organization to be an extremely tough guy, but something about the look in the Bulgarian's eye....the tone of his voice, told him that this was not a message he could take lightly.
"I'll do my best, Mr. Stoyanov," he said, a chill suddenly going through his body. 'I need to find SOME way to keep Little Tony busy. Maybe another girl.....'
Radoslav Stoyanov quickly programmed the machine for a lower, less frequent setting. It would not do to have his Nila break while he was not there to end her pain. He would not allow her to be in needess pain. But now he would have to go...he must shower and change before going to see Mr. Diglio.
After his rest he’d increased the frequency and severity of the shocks, and it really hadn’t seemed to faze her. She was locked in whatever compartment she had formed to keep the real world at bay. He wondered if this were religious……or something else.
‘Ah, my Nila,’ he thought. ‘You are indeed stubborn and cunning, but I am persistent, and persistence counts as well.’
This had now become a contest of wills, one Radoslav knew he would ultimately win, not because he was better, but merely because he had the advantage. He wondered if he could have resisted nearly as well as this small woman. ‘Probably not….she is good…..very,very good.’ But in the end, it would not matter, for time was on his side.
As Mike D'Angelo came into the room he looked first at the Bulgarian....all business, but somehow with a fire....almost a joy in his eyes that he didn't usually have. He looked then at the beaten and bloody carcass of the reporter. Little Tony had really done a number on her, '...not that the Bulgarian has exactly gone easy on her.' He seemed to be more finesse though, less brutality. And up until this moment, Mike really didn't get any sense that the Bulgarian had any emotions at all, just a cold fish. And even now the emotions were strangely mixed...like he found her a challenge but sort of respected her.
"The meeting is set up with Big Tony like you wanted. It'll be at his restaurant in an hour."
The Bulgarian looked up at him, his face looking grim. "You will not let that man back into this room while I'm gone. I will be ...personally... offended if you do." D'Angelo had 'made his bones' when he was 18, and would have been considered by most of the people in the organization to be an extremely tough guy, but something about the look in the Bulgarian's eye....the tone of his voice, told him that this was not a message he could take lightly.
"I'll do my best, Mr. Stoyanov," he said, a chill suddenly going through his body. 'I need to find SOME way to keep Little Tony busy. Maybe another girl.....'
Radoslav Stoyanov quickly programmed the machine for a lower, less frequent setting. It would not do to have his Nila break while he was not there to end her pain. He would not allow her to be in needess pain. But now he would have to go...he must shower and change before going to see Mr. Diglio.
Last edited by greywolf on Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Radoslav Stoyanov ate the Maccaroncelli wishing it were Sirene po Shopski instead. Of course, he would never tell Big Tony that, for this was NOT a social occasion, it was business.
"I'm sure he was just trying to help," said Big Tony.
"His 'help' is why you called me in to do this job to begin with, if you will recall Mr. Diglio. I am afraid I must insist...either he stays away from her, or the contract is terminated."
Big Tony normally didn't let people talk to him like this...but the man was a well respected independent contractor...not cheap, but he never failed to deliver. And in his heart he really did know...Little Tony was an idiot. Even still....he was not just family but....his son.
"Little Tony says you were ...coddling her, giving her a drink like she was a little baby."
"She was ABOUT to tell me what we want...she had given up, needing only enough water to wet her lips to be able to force the words out, when your idiot son beat her...made her angry again...made her capable of resisting a little longer."
The 'idiot' comment bothered Big Tony....a little. Of course, the man was right...although Tony knew his son got it from his wife's side of the family....those idiots in the Old Country that took his older girls for the Eastern European and Med trade.
"It sure seems like this little woman is holding out a long time. You sure you aren't just dragging this out to up the cost?"
'The ignorant bastard,' thought Radoslav, wondering how long it would take him to make THIS fat pig squeal everything he knew, if he were the one being interrogated?
"Your son is the one who has dragged this out, Mr. Diglio. First by his crude methods to begin with....methods that left the woman too weak for me to do things that would have been quicker, and now because of this stupidity. And as for 'coddling' her....she is not a fool. She knows that at the end of this...she dies. What I have that I CAN bargain with her for is a painless death. For that she has to trust me...she has to know that if she gives me the information, I will honor that agreement. Your son acting the sadistic fool causes her to doubt that. Now you and I either have an agreement....a contract...or we do not. If we do not, tell me, and I will leave. If we do...well then you must keep your son out of this, and allow me to do my job."
"OK, OK, I'll keep him away....but you get the job done, and done quickly. Capiche?" said Big Tony. 'I'll need to talk to D'Angelo. Maybe he can get the boy drunk, or just lock him up with a girl or something.'
"I will get the job done...but if he does this again....that voids the contract."
"You worry about the woman, I'll handle Little Tony."
"I'm sure he was just trying to help," said Big Tony.
"His 'help' is why you called me in to do this job to begin with, if you will recall Mr. Diglio. I am afraid I must insist...either he stays away from her, or the contract is terminated."
Big Tony normally didn't let people talk to him like this...but the man was a well respected independent contractor...not cheap, but he never failed to deliver. And in his heart he really did know...Little Tony was an idiot. Even still....he was not just family but....his son.
"Little Tony says you were ...coddling her, giving her a drink like she was a little baby."
"She was ABOUT to tell me what we want...she had given up, needing only enough water to wet her lips to be able to force the words out, when your idiot son beat her...made her angry again...made her capable of resisting a little longer."
The 'idiot' comment bothered Big Tony....a little. Of course, the man was right...although Tony knew his son got it from his wife's side of the family....those idiots in the Old Country that took his older girls for the Eastern European and Med trade.
"It sure seems like this little woman is holding out a long time. You sure you aren't just dragging this out to up the cost?"
'The ignorant bastard,' thought Radoslav, wondering how long it would take him to make THIS fat pig squeal everything he knew, if he were the one being interrogated?
"Your son is the one who has dragged this out, Mr. Diglio. First by his crude methods to begin with....methods that left the woman too weak for me to do things that would have been quicker, and now because of this stupidity. And as for 'coddling' her....she is not a fool. She knows that at the end of this...she dies. What I have that I CAN bargain with her for is a painless death. For that she has to trust me...she has to know that if she gives me the information, I will honor that agreement. Your son acting the sadistic fool causes her to doubt that. Now you and I either have an agreement....a contract...or we do not. If we do not, tell me, and I will leave. If we do...well then you must keep your son out of this, and allow me to do my job."
"OK, OK, I'll keep him away....but you get the job done, and done quickly. Capiche?" said Big Tony. 'I'll need to talk to D'Angelo. Maybe he can get the boy drunk, or just lock him up with a girl or something.'
"I will get the job done...but if he does this again....that voids the contract."
"You worry about the woman, I'll handle Little Tony."