The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (146 page)

‘Look, I told you why I did that. And okay, I went about it the wrong way, but I needed that information and once she knew about me, scaring her seemed the only way. I didn’t start out with that in mind, but once she knew who I was I had to change tactics. I believed that since she did know she would be too terrified to deny me.’

Lando recalled what she had told him about the toothbrushes and the other things a woman might need that Hennessey had brought to the shack.

Hennessey said, ‘but as I’ve said time and again, I underestimated her. She stood o
ut against me so I had to resort to more, shall we say, extreme measures. I did things I’m not proud of in an effort to break her.’

‘I don’t get it, Hennessey; Glissando is dead so why go after the girl, what point is there in bringing her back now?’

‘I told you.’

‘Yeah, right, principle.’

‘Yep.’

‘I must have been mad not to have given you up to Lomax for the cold blooded killer you are.’
Lando said angrily,

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘Ask me a question I can answer.’

‘
’Cos you like me?’

Lando pursed his lips and looked away from Hennessey’s smiling face. He stared at the cross as he said very quietly, ‘I thought I saw something in you back there, when you looked at the woman. I thought it was regret, penitence.’ He looked back at Hennessey, ‘but
you
would never regret anything and you’re too far gone for penitence.’

Hennessey remained silent for a while as though diges
ting Lando’s words, ‘all right, Lando, you really want to hear the truth?

Lando frowned but held his palms outwards as if to say go on.

Hennessey blew out a breath, ‘you won’t believe this perhaps but I
did
intend to bring Desi back here, but not for the reasons you think.’ He looked into the other man’s eyes and his own held something Lando had not seen before, ‘Miss. Faraday hit the nail on the head when she said I should have more sympathy and compassion for Desi’s plight than most people. That I of all people should empathise with her situation. I laughed at her, but the fact is I
do
sympathise, I
do
have compassion for her. More than you'll ever know.'

Lando fr
owned at this but did not speak.

‘W
hen I first saw Desi, about two years ago, I thought she was just another gangster’s bimbo, a mindless druggie Glissando had picked up. But even then there was something about her that made her stand out. She would look at me with fear and loathing but also defiance, as though daring me to judge her. That amused me I must say, but at the time I didn’t give her much thought. I was there to get my instructions on my next assignment or to collect my fee, not dwell on Glissando’s whores.

It was only when she escaped the first time, about a year ago, that I started to realise that she wasn’t there willingly, that something sinister was going on. So I made enquiries. I discovered that he had taken Desi from a brothel when she was just a child and had kept her ever since. I knew of course of Glissando’s involvement in people trafficking, but I didn’t realise that he kept some of the stock for himself.’

Lando was amazed that Hennessey could speak so lightly of something as sickening as slavery, child slavery at that. But then he had probably seen many horrible things on his travels, and done many horrible things himself. Hennessey as though reading his mind gave a wry smile, ‘I apologise if my choice of words offends you, Mr. Lando, as they should any decent person, but they’re just words, the actual practise of human trafficking is much more offensive.’

Lando was not as surprised by Hennessey’s words as by the hard look on his face. Hennessey went on, ‘I discovered that he took other girls to his place, girls that were never seen again. I found out that he liked to torture and rape those girls, sometimes even sharing them with others like him. I have no doubt he did the same to Desi, except he didn’t kill her. I never did find out why he chose her. He took a deep breath before finishing, ‘so I decided to rescue her.’

Lando leaned back stunned. His eyes narrowed with scepticism then disbelief.

Hennessey smiled, ‘I see you don’t believe me, Mr. Lando. Knowing my reputation as a liar as you do I don’t really blame you, nevertheless, it’s true.’

‘Why didn’t you then? Why didn’t you rescue her?’

‘Something came up. Another job I simply couldn’t turn down, not at that time anyway. But I intended to set my plan in motion after it was over. By the time I came back she had once again escaped.

I planned to find her and make sure she was all right. I knew I had to get to her before she did something stupid that would get her caught again. Wherever she went Glissando would never have stopped looking for her.

But imagine my amazement when Glissando called me and asked me to do just that. He not only hired me to track her down but would pay me five million dollars to do what I had every intention of doing anyway.
That’s
irony for you, Mr. Lando.’

Lando said nothing just stared at the man, this man who s
ounded so genuine, so credible. ‘How could a man refuse such an offer. So I accepted. But I had to come up with another plan…and quickly. So I planned to bring her back by whatever means necessary, get my money then get her out of there again before he could hurt her.'

Lando
gave him a look of such intense disbelief that Hennessey laughed, ‘yeah, I know, but it was all I could come up with on such short notice. But I know what you’re thinking, why didn’t I just go find her and help her disappear, which was my original intention? Well, Glissando threw the five mil into the mix there so there were now five million reasons why I didn’t. I don’t deny I wanted that money and I knew Glissando wouldn’t part with the rest of the four million if I’d told him Desi was dead.

Plus, and more importantly don’t forget the woman; she would have still been in danger from Glissando. He might have wanted prov
e that she was in fact dead. Although that wasn’t an insurmountable problem; there are ways to make people
look
dead.'

He sighed deeply, ‘I can’t accurately pinpoint the exact time I knew I couldn’t hurt Miss. Faraday. Maybe as I said when she sang that song. Or when she came face to face with the panther. Or maybe when she cried when relating a horrible story from her childhood about her drunken mother. Or maybe the seed was planted that first day when she defended the young waitress from a rude trucker in the diner. Anyway, I knew pretty soon that I couldn’t do it.’

Lando’s eyes widened in surprise then the suspicion and scepticism that were so prevalent whenever he was with Hennessey surfaced. Before he could voice his thoughts Hennessey said, ‘I know what you’re thinking, bullshit, but it’s true.’

‘So why kidnap her?’

‘When I set out on an assignment I never let anything stand in the way of completing it, and this assignment was more important than any other I’d undertaken. I'm very single minded, it's a trait that stood me in good stead in my life as a marine.'

'And as an assassin.'

Hennessey smiled wryly, 'that too.' But this time it was personal. I still needed to find Desi and only Miss. Faraday could help me.

And with every passing minute Desi was in more danger of capture by Glissando’s men. Glissando might have taken her somewhere else then I might never find her again, I couldn't take that chance.

So I did intend to abduct Miss. Faraday, take her somewhere and get the information, by  terrifying it out of her if need be. After all, it would be for a good cause and both she and the girl would have been ultimately safe. What was a little terror for the girl’s life, for both their lives?’ Hennessey sounded as though he asked the question more of himself then of Lando. The latter said, ‘and for five million bucks of course.’

Hennessey looked sharply at him looking suddenly angry before saying rather guiltily, ‘
and
five million bucks. But there was also another reason. The thought of getting one over on Glissando, taking something he valued from right under his nose excited me much more than the prospect of five million dollars, and more importantly than killing a woman.

At first I was appalled by Glissando’s request for me to kill the woman, yet at the same time excited and few things excite me any more, money, women, the planning and execution of a hit, all had lost there pull. So I took the job, for the promise I’d made to rescue Desi yes,
that
was the principle I was talking about. I had to fulfil it; it was a matter of honour.  But also for the excitement. To do the exact opposite of what my client wanted. To be able turn everything on its head was quite intoxicating I’ll tell you. Plus, I knew that if he had refused he would have just hired someone else, someone with no morals who would have had no compunction in torturing and killing Miss. Faraday.'

‘W
hy didn’t you just tell the woman what you intended from the get go?’ Lando asked.

Hennessey gave
him a look that clearly said, “are you for real?” Out loud he said, ‘and what should I have said d’ya think? Hey Miss. Faraday, I know about Desdemona and your part in her escape from Glissando’s clutches. But don’t worry I’m here to help. Tell me all and I’ll make sure you’re both okay?’

Lando looked annoyed at Hennessey’s sarcasm but also embarrassed by his own inane question.

‘Miss. Faraday maybe be naïve and trusting, and sometimes rather reckless, but she ain't stupid.’ Hennesey added.

Lando said nothing to this but nodded in agreement.

Hennessey went on, ‘but Glissando had one good idea and that was to woo the lady and get her to trust me, a task I knew would be very easy for me. But I really didn’t want to waste time playing games. I knew Glissando would be conducting his own investigation, and he had more resources than I did. He could get people to check airlines and passenger manifests, view video footage of airports and so on. He had people all over this country and others working for him.'

He paused, waiting for Lando to say something, when he didn’t Hennessey took
another deep breath, ‘but there was one more reason for taking the assignment.’

‘What?’ Despite himself Lando was intrigued.

‘I wanted to see how low I could sink. I wanted to see whether I could actually hurt an innocent woman. Taking the contract was a challenge, a challenge to my conscience. I wanted to see which would win, my morals or my depravity. I wanted to see if I was
that
evil.

Well, I soon found out. Although I never had any intention of killing her I wanted to be able to hurt the woman but I couldn’t, everything in me screamed
don’t
do it.
  I’ve never been indecisive, I do what I have to do, but I found I liked her, I was having fun, something I hadn’t had much of the last year or so, having to keep a low profile for so long. So that’s when I decided to return to Glissando’s first option.’

He looked at Lando a smile on his face, ‘and d’ya know, it
was
fun. I haven’t enjoyed myself so much in a long time. Not only because of the excitement, the anticipation of getting what I wanted but because
she
was fun. Witty, amusing, smart and…well, sexy.’

Lando’s eyes once more narrowed and his fists clenched as they did every time this man talked about the woman in that way. But what he’d said, well, it would take some believing. Why would this man, this killer, be so desperate to save a young girl he had never even spoken to? Why would he kidnap and terrorise a woman to accomplish that?

He recalled what Hennessey had said about having empathy with, and compassion for, the kid. He had obviously told the woman something to cause her to say that to him, maybe something from his own childhood. Lando himself knew how a traumatic childhood could affect a person in adult life.

The scepticism in Lando’s eyes would have been plain to a blind man and Hennessey gave an ironic grin, ‘yeah, I know, you’re thinking bullshit again, but it’s true. Once I had decided not to hurt the woman I thought I might as well get some
enjoyment out of the situation.

The day I beat up Maxwell she told me to come to her cabin, she would cook us dinner and tell me everything that had happened. I was elated, at last I would get the information I wanted to track down Desi without anyone getting hurt and end all of this.

I intended to listen to her story, tell her not to worry, that she had done all the right things, be sympathetic and supportive and so on. Then go get Desi, take her to Glissando collect my fee then as I said, rescue her again. Then take both women to a safe place. Where I was going to take  them Glissando, the FBI and Interpol combined would never find them. Off course that all went sour when I did what I did to Maxwell. Then I got a phone call from Glissando telling me he had sent his two goons to head her off on her way to Georgia and knew I had to act fast.

I knew if I had told her the truth, that I was hired by Glissando to track down Desi through her
, she would have flipped. I had lied to her for six days, deceived her, she would never have believed that I intended Desi or her no harm. She might have panicked, maybe called the police, maybe ran and gotten herself caught by Glissando’s men.’