Back on Solid Ground (29 page)

“I can
imagine,” Holly laughed.  “I’ll bet you went ballistic.”

“I did,”
Stacy laughed.  “I stormed into the kitchen and I slapped Niki across the face
as hard as I could.  I thought of that when I was in that motel room.  The guy
ripped some tape off my face and it felt like someone slapped me, and I thought
of when I hit Niki.”

Stacy finally
hit the button on her recorder.  The tape was completely filled with messages,
but there wasn’t one from Niki.  She was walking out of the kitchen when the
phone rang. 

“Hello,”
Stacy said.  “Hello?”  She could hear breathing, but no one spoke, and she
thought maybe it was a bad connection on a cell phone.  “Hello?” she said
again. 

Holly grabbed
the phone away from her.  “Who is this?” she demanded, but the phone clicked
dead.  “Did they say anything?” Holly asked.

“No.  Just
breathing.”  Stacy shivered and Holly rubbed up and down Stacy’s  arms trying
to wipe away the goose bumps. 

“You want to
tell the FBI guy?”

“No.  I’m
sure it was nothing,” Stacy said, shaking it off.  “Do you still think I have a
syndrome?” Stacy asked, changing the subject.

“No.  I think
you fell in love with your kidnapper.  But I think that’s even worse.”

“You can’t
say anything about what I told you, Holly.  I didn’t tell the FBI anything
about the first kidnapping, and they can’t find out,” Stacy said. 

“I won’t say
anything,” Holly said.

“I think I
need to get some sleep.  I don’t feel so good,” Stacy said.

“You want me
to stay?” Holly offered.

“No.  That’s
okay.  I’ll call you later.  Maybe we can get a bite to eat.  I don’t have any
food here,” Stacy said, looking in her refrigerator.  She took out a Dr. Pepper
and walked Holly to the elevator. “Thanks for coming to get me,” Stacy said,
hugging Holly.

“I’ll talk to
you in a little while,” Holly said.  She got in the elevator and pointed to
Alex and mouthed, “He’s cute!” and Stacy laughed and nodded in agreement just
as the doors closed. 

When Stacy
turned back she had a big smile on her face, and she was trying not to laugh. 
She held out the drink. “This is for you.”

Alex stood up
and took the drink.  “Thanks,” he said.  Stacy watched him open it and take a
big drink. 

“Are you
bored sitting out here?”

Alex
laughed.  “Not yet.  How are you feeling?” he asked, checking out the bruises
on her face.

His gaze made
Stacy self-conscious and she touched her cheekbone and under her left eye.  “I
know, it looks really ugly.”

“Actually, I
was thinking it looks painful,” he said. 

“That too,”
she smiled.  “I’m going to take a nap.  Do you need anything?”

“Let me
clarify something for you, Miss Trent,” Alex said.  “I’m here to protect and
serve you.  It’s not the other way around.  You are not required to wait on me,
or bring me food or drinks.”

“I know I’m
not
required
to, Alex.  It’s merely common courtesy.  If you had a
repairman  working at your house for hours at a stretch, wouldn’t you offer him
a drink of water or something?”

“I never
have,” he said.

“Seriously?”

“You offer
your repairmen a drink of water?”

“Of course I
do.  It’s common courtesy.”

“Well, you’re
a lot more courteous than I am,” he laughed.

Stacy rolled
her eyes.  “I’m going to sleep,” Stacy said.  “And I hope in the meantime you
don’t want anything because you’re sure as hell not getting it from me.”  Stacy
could hear Alex laughing as she closed the door.

The phone was
ringing when Stacy got back in and she took a deep breath before she picked it
up, “Hello.”

“You never
told me who cut your hair,” Holly said.

Stacy
laughed.  “Consuela, the housekeeper.”

“Really?  The
housekeeper?  Okay, ’bye,” Holly said, and she hung up.

Stacy went
into the bedroom and unplugged the phone, then she changed into a big T-shirt
and crawled under the covers.  Her bed felt wonderful and she curled up around
a big pillow and fell asleep and slept until morning.

It was noon
when Niki finally woke up and when he did he had the worst hangover he’d had in
years.  Eli was knocking at his door and it took everything Niki had to get
himself out of bed and to the door.

“You look
like shit!” Eli said.

Niki groaned
and fell back on the bed.  “How come you’re so chipper?” Niki asked. 

“Because I quit
drinking about six bottles of tequila and twenty beers before you did.”

“You did?”
Niki said.  He tried to think how the night ended, but he couldn’t remember
much of anything.  “My head is killing me,” Niki said.  He looked up at the
ceiling and yelled, “
Sta-cy
!” Then he reached up and grabbed his head. 
“That hurt.”

Eli laughed
at him.  “Man, you’re a mess.”

“Where is
everyone?”

“I haven’t
seen Jason or Ramos.  They’re probably still asleep.  Carlos is downstairs in
the restaurant.”

Niki got up
and went to use the bathroom, then he turned on the shower and brushed his
teeth while the water got warm.  “Have you eaten?” Niki asked.

“No,” Eli
said.  “Hurry up.  I’m starving.”

Niki showered
and they knocked on Jason’s door before they headed downstairs. Jason opened
the door, and Niki laughed when he saw him.  His hair was poking in all
different directions and his eyes were barely open.  “What time is it?” Jason
asked.

“Past noon,”
Eli said.  “We’re going downstairs to eat.”

“Okay.  I’ll
meet you down there,” Jason said yawning.

When they got
to the restaurant, Carlos and Ramos were already sitting at a table drinking a
beer.  They both laughed when they saw Niki.

“Fuck you,”
Niki said, and he slumped down into the chair and put on his shades.

They ordered
lunch and by the time the food came Jason wandered into the restaurant.  Niki
pushed his plate of food over to Jason. 

“Here,” Niki
said.

“You don’t
want it?” Jason asked.

Niki shook
his head.  “Go ahead.”

Ramos took a
drink of his beer.  “Are you up to visiting Corazon today?” he asked Niki.

“Fuck yeah,”
Niki said.  “I’m ready to get the hell out of this place and go home,” he said,
and Ramos laughed.

“Okay.  We’ll
go when we finish eating,” Ramos said. 

Niki pushed
himself away from the table.  “I’ll meet you outside.”

A half-hour
later, they were on their way to Corazon’s compound. 

“What can we
expect at Corazon’s place?” Niki asked Ramos.  “Does he have henchmen?”

“No. 
Corazon’s a two-bit punk,” Ramos said.  “The guy’s a loser.  I don’t expect we’ll
have any problems.”

“Good.  I
don’t even know if I can focus to shoot him,” Niki said.

“I’ll do it,”
Jason said.  “It would give me great pleasure.”

“I’m tempted
to let you,” Niki said.

They reached
the compound within the hour.  There was a wall surrounding the place and an
iron gate at the front driveway.  Ramos drove to the end of the wall and parked
off the road. 

“You coming?”
Niki asked Jason. 

“Hell yes!”

They got out
and Niki leaned back in.  “Drive around and come back in twenty minutes,” he
said.

“You want me
to come with you?” Ramos asked.

“No.  Too
many will just get in the way,” Niki said. 

Niki closed
the car door and he and Jason took off.  They scaled the wall and disappeared as
Ramos drove off.  There was thick foliage within the compound and it was easy
to get from the back of the property, where they had entered, to the house
without getting out in the open.  A black sedan with tinted black windows was
parked in the circular driveway close to the house.  Niki and Jason went around
to a side entrance and slipped silently in the door. They could hear someone
moving pots and pans around in the kitchen, so they headed that direction. 

Jason peeked
his head in and pulled it back quickly.  “Housekeeper,” he whispered.  Niki
pointed to the stairs and they sneaked past the kitchen and walked up the
stairs.  They got to the top of the stairs and could hear voices coming from
one of the rooms.  They split up and checked the other rooms first, then met
back in the hall. 

“Nothing,”
Niki said, and Jason nodded.

They went
back to the room where they had heard voices. Niki took the safety off his
pistol and opened the door to the room.  Corazon was on top of a woman with his
bare butt in the air, and Niki burst out laughing.

“What the
hell!” Corazon yelled, jumping off her and fumbling with his shorts.

The woman
screamed and grabbed the sheet and tried to cover herself up.  Jason pulled her
out of bed, shoved her in the closet and told her in Spanish, “Be quiet and you
won’t get hurt.”

Niki had his
gun leveled at Corazon’s head.  “You know who I am?” Niki asked him.

Corazon
didn’t answer, but it was obvious that he did.  “What do you want?” Corazon
demanded.

“What do I
want?” Niki said calmly.  “I want to kill the fucker who beat up Stacy Trent.
And I want to kill the fucker who blew up my boat. That’s what I want.”

“I don’t know
what you’re talking about,” said Corazon.

“I think you
do,” Niki said.  He lowered the gun and fired into Corazon’s left knee and the
man screamed out in pain and fell to the floor.

“That’s for
the boat,” Niki said. 

“Please!”
Corazon begged.  He grabbed on to his leg to try to stop the bleeding.

“Please
what?” Niki asked. He pointed the gun at the other knee and pulled the
trigger.  “That’s for me,” he said. 

There was blood
all over the floor and Corazon would have bled to death before it was over, but
Niki had too much pent up rage to stop there.  He pointed the pistol at
Corazon’s heart.

“This one’s
for Stacy,” he said.  He pulled the trigger. Corazon’s body fell forward in a
lump on the floor. 

Jason went to
the closet and opened the door.  “If you call the police we’ll find you and
kill you,” Jason said in Spanish, then he closed the door and they left the
bedroom and went back downstairs.  They got to the kitchen and the maid was
standing at the door with a butcher knife in her hand.  Niki walked up to her
and took the knife out of her hand and put it back in the knife rack.  She was
crying and backing away when he turned back around.

“We’re not
going to hurt you,” Niki told her in Spanish.  He put her in the broom closet
and shoved a chair up under the knob and they walked out the front door.  Ramos
was waiting when they got back over the wall and they got in and drove away. 

Ramos looked
in his rearview mirror.  “Your man from the motel called,” Ramos said.  “The
guest from Room 6 is there.”

“Is he?” Niki
said.  “Go back to the hotel and let me borrow your car,” Niki said.

“Why?” Jason
asked.  “We don’t need him anymore.”

“I want to
talk to the guy.  He saved Stacy’s life.  I want to thank him,” Niki said.

“You can take
the car,” Ramos said. 

They got back
to the hotel and Niki got behind the wheel.  “Do you have a phone I can borrow?”
Niki asked Ramos.

“You’re not
going to call Stacy, are you?” Jason asked.

“No, I’m not
going to call Stacy,” Niki mimicked.

“Asshole,” Jason
said.

Niki drove
off and called one of his bankers at home.  “First thing tomorrow, I need you
to set up an account at El Banco Popular in Bogota and transfer $100,000 into
the account.  A man will come into the bank in the morning and he’ll say that I
sent him.  You set up the account in his name.”

“Yes, sir,”
the banker told him. 

“And make
sure he has access to the funds immediately.”

“Okay, sir,”
he said.

Niki got to
the motel and knocked on the door to room number 6.  The curtains moved, then
the door cracked open and a man looked out.  “What?” he asked in Spanish.

Niki
introduced himself in Spanish, then he told the man, “I’m a friend of the girl
you helped.  She’s very special to me, and I just wanted to thank you.”

The man
smiled and came outside and closed the door.  “The girl is good?” he asked in
English.

“She’s going
to be fine,” Niki said.  “I’ve set up an account for you at Banco Popular in Bogota.  The funds will be available in the morning.  You tell them I sent you and
everything will be taken care of,” Niki said, and he handed the man a card with
his name on it. 

The man’s
eyes lit up.  “Your girl told me she would pay me to help her, but I never
expected that it would really happen.”

“Well, you
were wrong,” Niki said.  Niki stuck out his hand and they shook hands.  “Thank
you.”

“Thank you,
sir,” the man said.

Niki went
around back to the office and tossed a wad of bills on the counter. “Thanks for
calling,” he said, and he turned around and left.  He drove back to Medellìn
wondering how he was going to go a month without contacting Stacy. 

Stacy woke up
thinking of Niki.  She knew he would have gone to search for her, and she
wondered if he had heard of her successful escape from Corazon.  It seemed like
forever since she had seen him.  She was overwhelmed thinking of everything
that had happened, and she wondered how long Niki would wait before trying to
contact her. Stacy looked at the clock.  It was already after 9:00.  She got up
and ground some coffee beans and put on a pot of coffee, then went into the
bathroom and brushed her teeth.  The phone rang as soon as she plugged it back
in.

“Hello,”
Stacy answered. 
Breathing
.  She slammed the phone back down, but it
rang again immediately.  “Hello!” she said, this time angrily.