Chapter 25 There Comes a Time
Her body clung to the building as the breath caught in her lungs, burning. If anyone saw her, Mehnaz knew her whole life was going to change for the worse.
“Please. Please let this work” Mehnaz pleaded into the night before she took a running start and made it to the doorway. It was shielded by the cast shadow from the glow of the car park lights and she knelt, barely breathing as she put a pocket sized torch in her mouth and opened a lock-pick kit to slide a tool out. As she brought the piece up to the lock it became clear that the door was already open. Mehnaz stared momentarily before looking around her apprehensively. It was possible someone set this up. Maybe someone was just on the other side of the door waiting for her to walk in. She couldn’t be this lucky. She peered around the door and into a corridor, dimly lit from a back room at the end, and complimented by emergency lights. At least that would keep her from being blind in the dark, and she wouldn’t have to worry about toting a torch. She tucked her torch in her belt.
Silent, she crept in, her breathing shallow. Through the half light Mehnaz slid down the passageway looking for the room she was after in the gallery. With great care she had chosen a black zip up light sweater and black leggings but was regretting the sweater decision. It looked great in the mirror, made her feel the part and had accentuated her figure nicely, but in here, under stress, she was sweating like hell.
As she rounded the corner towards her first official foray into professional theft, Mehnaz saw soft light, glass cases and freshly unpacked crates with artifacts lying unguarded on the benches. Nothing else. No one else. Mehnaz sidled over to the counter and searched amongst the items, mainly old papers. She picked up a papyrus, satisflied and smiling to her self as she held it high and stretched the scroll papyrus slightly to make sure it was the document she was after. Quickly she rolled it up gently and placed it in the black cylinder container she had brought with her.
Just as she was picking up pace nicely and headed back out, he appeared in her field of vision. Just down the hall the corner from where she had skipped so lightly just moments before she spied through the crack of an open door across the hall a man tied to a chair in the middle of a darkened room. His head was down so his face was obscured and his hair hung shaggily over his features, his arms tied behind a chair and an occasional drip of blood slipped from his chin to his lap.
“Oh Shit”. She said out loud as she gazed deeply into the darkness. As much as she reluctantly looked forward to finishing off this first night of her burgeoning career as a thief, and this job, lets face it would make or break her, there were two painful factors at play here. Firstly, she could not find it in herself to leave someone in such a state, and more obviously one does not leave someone bloodied and tied to a chair for the night. Someone had to be still around to ‘take care of him’. She looked back over her shoulder.
Maybe he deserved it she thought. Maybe him being here was a justice of some kind. Against her better judgment though, she stepped into the room, just for a moment. He looked so young. Only about 20. No matter what someone had done, at this age, it couldn’t be right that a life should be battered to death so early. It was clear from what was lying around the room things were not yet over. There were knuckle dusters, a bowl of ice, and pliers on the table at the side of the room. Hesitantly Mehnaz crept in for a closer look and at a short glance saw his hands clasped in old fashioned irons, and his ankles which suffered the same binding. Moving forward, Mehnaz inspected the cuffs.
“That’s not usual” she said to herself out loud as she twisted them looking for a way to release their hold. She took a shallow breath, leant close and whispered in his ear:
“Hey, wake up. WAKE UP”. He stirred. “Can you walk?” He nodded slightly, and Mehnaz flicked out a small knife from her boot, and started picking at the rudimentary locks. It was then that she heard voices. “I am so sorry- I’ll call someone….” she mumbled as she abandoned the irons and headed towards the door – but the approaching people were already too close. She looked desperately around to see if there was anywhere to hide. The only place was the metal cabinet on which the pliers lay. Mehnaz opened the sliding panel and sighed relief when she saw it was empty, and climbed inside.
“See, still here” assured a strong male voice to the man accompanying him.
“He is real strong and fast though, this one, or don’t you remember Cairo” cautioned his companion. “And he’s in with Viktor.”
“He was stealing from us!” Came the response. “We’re only doing what we should. Besides once he is out of the way, we’ll have the option of taking on that Viktor bloke who keeps trying to run how we do things. This one’s like his strong arm or something”
“You mean strong man” corrected his counterpart.
“Whatever” Was the reply. “I just want to find out what he came here for first, Marcus” he paused for a moment before sniffing the air loudly. “Hey, can you smell something strange. Smells like girl.”
Mehnaz willed her heart to stop pounding so loudly.
The second man, Marcus, spoke again “I haven’t been able to smell a thing since that blow up last year, but I saw some woman come through in charge of inventory today.
“A skirt in charge of a shipping project. I remember when they didn’t have a vote yet. Those were the times. I miss the simple life.” Marcus’ friend sighed.
“Listen Anthony, if we are going to do this, lets just get it done.” Came Marcus’ apprehensive voice.
“Music to my ears” Anthony said before he started yelling at the man bound in the chair. “Hey – you. Wake up!” The man in the chair roused and groaned.
Mehnaz brought her eyes to the crack in between the cabinet doors, even though she was sure she didn’t want to see what was going to happen next. Instinct told her to keep her eyes on everyone. As he raised his head, his hair plastered across his face where the blood oozed from several small gashes on his temples, cheek and nose.
The second man stepped in front of the one bound to the chair before addressing him. “Listen, we’ll make it easy for you if you just tell us what you thought was so important you had to break in to our place to steal. I mean what were you thinking. No one messes with Marcus and Anthony” The reply was a spit from the man in the chair and Mehnaz winced and Marcus punched him in the gut, causing him to double over on himself.
“Marcus – he’s all yours” came the words out of the second man’s mouth before the cabinet shook slightly under the pressure of Marcus retrieving something from the top. Wire cutters. Marcus came face to face with the man on the chair.
“Its ok. I understand. I don’t like to talk either, but you can’t treat my friends like that. Don’t worry though, I wont waste time with conversation”. Marcus made a ‘snip, snip’ action with the cutters before laughing and rising to walk behind the chair. The chair bucked as Mehnaz lost sight of what Marcus was doing and she heard groaning, before yelling and grunting. Please, please don’t tell them I’m here she pleaded mentally shrinking into herself.
There was a snap of the cutters and a sharper yell from the man in the chair. Then the sounds repeated again.
“I didn’t think you would scream so loud” Anthony mused. “I heard good things about you, but I guess when you have a man in iron the real one comes right on out.”
“Funny, I haven’t heard anything worth mentioning about you” came the taunting response “But I guess when they aren’t worth the effort…” Smack, smack, smack, came the response before Marcus intervened and Anthony was pulled away.
“Give him 15 minutes Anthony. Let him bleed. Let him think about talking to us some more, get real hungry and we’ll come back. He’s probably trying to get you to kill him before he gives up and talks.”
“You’re right” came the heavy, panting response from Anthony before he leaned in to the man on the chair and grabbed his drooped head to wrench it upwards. “That was nothing. You don’t talk
when I come back and you wait and see what kind of rage I have for you” Marcus turned to walk out of the room behind his friend but turned back to spit in the bound man’s direction before stalking out.
15 minutes Mehnaz thought. She moved silently, but swiftly, though it seemed to take forever. Sliding out of the cabinet and behind the man in the chair her heart was racing. She didn’t want to look at his hands but she had to pick the lock if she could. This guy was trying to steal from them. She had just done exactly that. Her hands were shaking as she wedged the locks open and his arm fell to the floor, the three remaining fingers dipping in the huge pool of blood on the floor. She tried not to look for the other two. She might be able to help him get out but there wasn’t time to go looking for lost digits.
“Come on. Get up!” she hissed urgently. He roused from unconsciousness and looked at her through blood matted hair.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. I missed you so much, and now you’re here” he mumbled sounding hopeful. He reached out to Mehnaz’ face.
“I don’t think I am who you think, but if you want to find her you need to stand up. I have a car just past the tree line, If you can walk, I can get you out of here.”
His face dropped and he looked pained momentarily before with great effort he rose to his feet. He slumped, obviously in pain and she worked her way under a shoulder. Together they limped towards the door, and down the corridor.
Out in the muggy air, Mehnaz was panting and struggling under his weight. “C’mon, she urged. Just a little farther”. He stumbled, dropping to his knees and taking her with him. “Get up” she pleaded, and he obliged as best as he could. She stole a look over her shoulder back at the door, only a few paces away. Still nothing, no one following them.
They made it past the concrete and to the grass stretch leading in to the trees. Mehnaz knew they were in trouble as the grass fell down an embankment. She let him fall and ran to his side at the bottom of the hill.
“I’m so sorry” he groaned as she came to him.
“You’re fine. You can make it. Just get up. The car is right there” she said pointing into the trees. A feint outline of a small red car was visible through the trees.
“I can’t. I haven’t eaten in three days. I’ve lost too much blood. I can’t do this anymore, so I’m sorry” Pain and sorrow tainted his voice.
“Don’t be sorry” Mehnaz looked up, towards the car, and spied a section of grass to the side. “Wait here” she said determined now, “I can get the car around. I can get you in the back, we can still make it. I’m not going to leave you.” Such was her nature, but as she tried to dash for the car he grabbed her arm and she fell back on to the grass. He was surprisingly strong for someone too weak to walk.
She looked up at the man’s face, bloodied and drained. His eyes shone oddly, and she thought fleetingly that he already looked so much better from just a few moments ago.
“I really am sorry, but it’s been too long” he said again and she chilled.
“Too long? What! Get up, we can go - now. But I can’t wait for you.” There was warning in her voce. Compassionate or not, she wasn’t stupid. She was going to get home and away from these crazy people tonight.
“I’m really sorry” he repeated.
“Stop saying that. Let me go and get up!”
“You seem to be a nice girl, but you are so in the wrong place” he said. Mehnaz stiffened, suddenly more fearful than she had been all night. It was then she saw his hand. The one that had been butchered was sprawled on the grass supporting his weight. Everything looked in one piece. All his fingers were accounted for.
“Your hand” she gasped. He looked at her, the moon shining brightly on his face and she noticed the cuts were clearing on his face. Her eyes widened and she tried in vain to pull her arm back from him. He tightened his grip and she winced from pain. She tried to scream but he grabbed her face, his hand clasped over her mouth. In a flash he lunged at her, teeth glistening with two long fangs startling her as he clamped down on her throat. She flailed helplessly in his grip, moaning out her cries for help. Then everything faded for Mehnaz and she fell to the ground limp, though still in his arms.
When he stood up the man was visibly refreshed, he looked stronger and groaned loudly in relief before he regarded Mehnaz’ still body lying on the grass with regret. He leant over and felt her pulse, weak and thready. A weak moan escaped her lips. Sighing, he saw the black cylinder she had carried lay on the ground next to her. He opened it with curiosity before smiling cynically.
“You did my work for me” He said before rummaging through her pockets and finding a slim purse with her license tucked into a pocket. He checked her license and stuck it in his back pocket. “Thanks Mehnaz,” he threw her over his shoulder effortlessly and slicked back his hair from his face. For the first time his face was clearly visible “Sorry about this, but anyway, I’m Matthias.” Matthias took off into the darkness towing Mehnaz with him. He would come back for the car later.