The Art of Deception Read online

  Mark shook his head as he watched Eddie walk away. This man was his best friend, but he was doing a crappy job of supporting Mark. Mark understood that his actions put Eddie’s job in jeopardy, but Eddie wasn’t even open to listening to him. How could he share with Eddie what he had found at Linda’s apartment?

  Ginger was reflecting on the fact that she almost lost her best friend. She knew that they needed to find Karen, but they had to find a way to do it without jeopardizing their lives. While she was wrapping her mind around trying to formulate a plan Mark said, “Ging, the letter that I found is the key. I need you to get it for me.”

  “I think your pain medication is a bit too strong. What the hell are you talking about?” Eddie asked.

  He laughed. “Before we were nearly shot to death I found a box of letters in Linda’s closet, but the letter at the top caught my attention.”

  “What was so special about it?”

  “It had Karen’s name and former address on it.”

  “Ok, but how will that help us to find where she is now,” Ginger asked.

  “That’s why I need you to go back and get it. It must contain some information.”

  “Mark, I love you like a brother, but did you just hear what Eddie said? I’m not going to further compromise the police investigation.”

  Mark sighed and turned his face away from her. “Well, you leave me no choice,” he said as he began to unplug the tubes that connected his body to the machines that surrounded him.

  “What’re you doing, you big idiot?!”

  “I need to get that letter and you won’t go; that clearly means that I’m going to have to do it myself.”

  Ginger watched him for a minute. She was hoping that he was just fooling around, but when she realized that he had removed all the tubes and was about to attempt to get off of the bed, she stood. “Boy, you are one stubborn man. Fine, I’ll do it, but you owe me big time.”

  He smiled slyly and rested his head back down on the pillow. “Can you call the nurse for me please? I think I need to get all of these tubes back in me.”

  Ginger shook her head as she walked out the door and down the corridor. She really hoped that this ominous letter would truly be the key to bringing this nightmare to an end.

  Chapter Seven

  Nine days missing

  Roger watched as the ambulance drove away. The pain in his hand was worsening and he knew that he needed to see a doctor. However, a man with his background could never set foot into a hospital. As far as he knew, he was on the FBI’s most wanted list: a fugitive of the law. When Angella Stanford hired him to do her dirty work, there was no way he could have refused the offer. When such a sexy and powerful woman needed to get a job done, Roger was more than willing to oblige. He wasn’t about to die for her though. So, he pulled out his phone and pressed her speed dial number. She answered on the third ring. “Is the job done?” she asked.

  “There were some complications. Douglas was shot and taken to the hospital. I’m sitting here wallowing in my own pain. I need a doctor.”

  “You need to be more careful. Where are you?”

  “Sitting under a tree across from the building.”

  “You need to make sure you’re not seen. I’m sending someone for you now.”

  With that said, she hung up the phone. The pain shooting through Roger’s hand was worsening. Just when he thought he could no longer bear the pain, he saw a blue, heavily tinted Nissan Altima pull up to the curb. Ringo got out of the car and walked over to him. His beady eyes, small head, and muscular torso always intimidated Roger. “Let’s go,” he said as he helped Roger stand. “Try not to draw any attention to us,” he hissed. As they walked towards the car, Ringo began to formulate a plan to get rid of Roger. His careless mistakes were making him a liability. Regardless of what Angella said, Ringo believed that it was time for him to go.

  They got to the car quickly and, as soon as Ringo settled into the driver’s seat, they drove off. “Roger, how could you let this happen?”

  “It’s not like I wanted it to happen Ringo. I never knew the red-head would’ve been such a fighter.”

  “Never leave anything to chance. I’m really contemplating getting rid of you,” he said while taking out his sleek silver AMT Hardballer pistol. He held it in his right hand while he used his left hand to steer the vehicle.

  They continued the journey in silence. Roger looked straight ahead and tried to remember better days. He had been in a gang since he was 12 years old, so he never had a cookie-cutter life. Death had become a part of him. In fact, his brother Gustav disappeared when Roger was 15 and rumors spread that he had been killed in a shootout.

  Roger’s background and experience caught the attention of the Society. On his 21st birthday, he received a call from the Society’s head asking him to join the security division. With the amount of money he was being offered, Roger would have been a fool to refuse. Four years later, he had become a seasoned veteran and was always the first person Ringo called for any messy jobs. That was until what had happened on Christmas Day last year.

  Roger had been called to kill a young judge who had ruled in a manner that threatened the Society’s backbone. Ringo was his partner on this assignment. They stealthily entered the judge’s apartment and found him lying in bed with a woman curled up beside him. When Roger walked closer to the bed and aimed the pistol at the judge’s head, the woman’s eyes opened and she started to scream. It wasn’t her screaming that threw Roger off, however. When he looked into her eyes he saw the eyes of his younger sister who had died in his arms ten years earlier. He froze. Ringo grabbed her in his arms and placed his hand over her mouth. He kept telling Roger to shoot, but Roger just stood there. Eventually, Ringo knocked the woman out, took the gun from Roger and shot the judge. Since that day Ringo questioned Roger’s ability to carry out his duties. The Douglas assignment had been a test and Roger had failed.

  They were now approaching an abandoned warehouse. Roger decided that he was going to defend himself till he breathed his last breath. So, he began to scan the area for any possible escape route. The entire road was a series of dilapidated and abandoned buildings. Litter covered the streets and there was no one in sight for miles, no one to run to for help. Ringo slowed the car down to a halt and quickly got out. He went around to the passenger side of the vehicle and grabbed Roger by his injured arm. Roger cried out in pain. “I’m sorry, boss. I promise it will never happen again,” Roger said. Ringo didn’t respond. He dragged Roger to the center of the abandoned warehouse and aimed the pistol at his head.

  Roger closed his eyes and pictured the face of his beautiful mother. Her enchanting brown eyes and long, flowing black hair made her the most beautiful woman he had ever known. He was sure that he was going to be reunited with her. While he became lost in his thoughts, he heard the sounds of revved engines fill the still air. He opened his eyes and noticed that Ringo, although still pointing the pistol at him, was distracted by the convoy of six sports cars that were entering the warehouse.

  Ringo lowered his weapon and turned to face the convoy. This was Roger’s only chance. Run or die. The convoy stopped and the leader alighted from his vehicle. “You lot are in the wrong territory,” the man said in a British accent.

  “What makes this your territory?” Ringo retorted.

  The man slammed his car door and strode towards Ringo. The other cars surrounded them. His jet black hair was weighed down with grease and he had tattoos along his arms. He was now right in front of Ringo, staring straight into his eyes. “Who do you think you are?” he said as he looked him over with a trace of hatred in his eyes. Before Ringo could respond, the other men came out of their vehicles and aimed their pistols at him. He was outnumbered.

  “Alright, we’ll leave,” he said as he walked over to Roger and again grabbed his damaged arm. As they walked back to the car, he whispered into Roger’s ear, “Don’t for a minute think this is over.” The pain in his arm was worsening. So, he figu
red that he may die from the excruciating pain anyway before Ringo had a chance to kill him. He held his head down and offered a silent prayer to a God he was sure wouldn’t hear him.

  As luck would have it, the leader of the gang shouted out to Ringo, “No, you’re leaving him behind.”

  Ringo turned and looked him straight in the eyes. “There is no way that that is happening,” he responded.

  Roger ducked as he heard the sound of one of the pistols go off. The bullet grazed past Ringo’s left ear, but he seemed unperturbed. “You think you can scare me with your silly tactics?” he asked.

  “Doesn’t look too silly to me. Let him go.” Another shot rang through the air, this time ricocheting off a wall of the warehouse. Ringo gripped Roger tighter, causing him to feel so much pain that he cried out in agony. Through his tear-filled eyes, the silhouette of one of the men grabbed his attention. As he looked closer, he felt a chill run down his spine. The man he was looking at was his brother who he thought died two years ago. Their eyes met and the look in his brother’s eyes told him he was going to rescue him.

  Within minutes, shots were resonating through the air. “Move, move, move. Get into the car,” Ringo shouted as he clenched his fist around the handle of his pistol.

  “Over my dead body,” Roger replied.

  “That can easily be arranged especially given the circumstances,” Ringo replied.

  Roger didn’t wait to hear anymore of Ringo’s snide remarks. He made a run for it. Running in the open he left himself vulnerable to attack. The pain in his hand was driving him crazy and by this time he had lost so much blood, he could feel his body getting weak. He looked down at his blood soaked shirt and sighed heavily. Gun shots were still ringing through the air, but in the middle of the open yard Roger fell to his knees. His brother ran over and embraced him. As tears streamed down Roger’s face, he found himself drifting out of consciousness. After about a minute, he collapsed on the floor. “His pulse is weak,” his brother said, fear ringing in his voice.

  “Put him in the car. I’m going to take him to Maciano,” said the leader.

  “Ugly man, you need to get into your car and go. You have nothing over us,” the leader shouted to Ringo.

  Ringo looked over the hood of the Altima, fired two more shots, got into the car and sped away. Roger’s brother quickly placed him in the back of his car and the convoy drove out of the warehouse with Roger fighting to stay alive.

  ________________________________________________________________

  Miguel stood at Mark’s bedside, waiting for him to open his eyes. The audacity of what Mark had done was still playing in his mind. What was even more disturbing was the news he had just heard that he desperately needed to share with Mark. “C’mon Marki-boy. I need you to wake up,” he muttered to himself.

  It seemed as though Mark’s subconscious heard Miguel’s plea because his eyes began to flutter open. “Mark, wake up man. We have to talk,” Miguel said frantically.

  “Hey Miguel,” Mark responded groggily, “Is Toya ok? What’s wrong?”

  “Marki-boy, I got some intel that could help us find this mad man.”

  Mark sat up in the hospital bed and looked Miguel in the eyes. “What do you mean? Talk to me.”

  “Remember I told you that back in the day I had gang problems? Well, I still have some links on the streets and one of them just told me about a major shootout that happened at the abandoned warehouse downtown. They spotted the guy you and I saw and the gang took a guy who worked with him.”

  “Th-th-that’s awesome. We need to find the guy!”

  Miguel looked at him with pain in his eyes. “Mark, the guy is my brother.”

  “I thought your brother died.”

  “This guy is my half-brother. My mom’s son. I never saw much of him growing up because he was about ten years older than me…”

  “This is crazy. So your half-brother works with the guy who has Karen?”

  “It sure looks like it. So, we need to find him and I have a good idea where to look. But, we can’t go alone. We need backup.”

  Mark made an attempt to get up from the hospital bed, but with all of the wires and pain rippling through his body he couldn’t get very far. “Clearly when I said ‘we’ I didn’t mean you and I,” Miguel said.

  “Who else could you have meant smartass?”

  At that point, Ginger and Eddie walked into the room. Miguel made a circular gesticulation with his hands. “This,” he paused for emphasis, “is what I meant by ‘we.’”

  A smile formed on Mark’s face. “What would I do without friends like you guys?”

  “You’d just die,” Ginger said before she covered her mouth in fright. “Sorry, ahm, I didn’t mean it that way.”

  Mark laughed. “I know, Ging. It doesn’t feel right that I can’t go with you.”

  “I know, but you want Karen back, don’t you?” asked Eddie.

  “Of course I do, but…”

  “But nothing. We’re going to get this done so that you can have the woman you love back in your arms.”

  “And so that they can pay for what they did to Toya,” Miguel added.

  “Let’s go guys. We’re going to be late,” said Ginger.

  “Where’re you guys going?” asked Mark.

  “We’re going to set this plan in motion.”

  Chapter Eight

  Ten days missing

  The cream colored walls had begun to speak softly to her. They told her the stories of people who had been trapped in this hell hole. She could tell that they were people who had begun to tear their hair out from being maddened by the solitude and filth of this despicable rectangular box. In the corner of the room she noticed that someone had been trying to dig a hole out. Their efforts proved futile either because of the sturdy wall or their untimely death. She wasn’t about to waste her energy continuing that process.

  She looked down at her pale, dirt-covered skin and realized that she was quickly losing a lot of weight. There was no way out except through the sole door in the room. Of course she wasn’t going to be able to get through that door because there was no way that a frail woman like her could overcome the brute strength of a man like Ringo. She couldn’t fathom how Angella had gotten her hands on a man like that. His callous nature, highly muscular torso, beady eyes, and tiny head that was disproportionate with the rest of his body, made him terrifying to be around. However, Angella seemed at ease in his presence and she had him wrapped around her little finger. The only conclusion that Karen could come to was that Angella was screwing Ringo. Quite simple.

  Despite how she now felt about Angella, Karen had beautiful memories of growing up with her two sisters. She was the last of the three girls and was, therefore, always viewed as their mother’s favorite. That didn’t stop them from going everywhere together and sharing each other’s secrets. They spent a lot of time in the park across the street from their home. It was such a beautiful place filled with gorgeous flowers, trees and the smell of Mother Nature. Oh, how she longed to go back there.

  Since she was two years younger than Angella and four years younger than Katherine, it was easy for them to bond. They were there for her when she experienced her first break-up in high school. She and Angella were there for Katherine when she went through a horrible divorce two years ago. They were all more than sisters; they were best friends. Everything changed the moment their mother died. Angella became bitter about life and consumed herself with her career. Her career was her life and Angella would do anything to keep it. Neither Karen nor Katherine was ever able to get in touch with her. They would always be greeted with a curt response from Angella’s secretary followed by an abrupt end to the phone call.

  Karen had always been the most emotional of the three sisters. So, this ice-cold treatment greatly affected her. Katherine was the most rational of the three. She brushed it off as a phase and assured Karen that Angella would come around eventually. One day, Karen decided that enough was enough. She neede
d to go and visit her sister. So, on a bleak summer day she got into her car and took the one-hour journey to Angella’s apartment on Creekwood Street. By the time she arrived, it was too early for Angella to have gotten home from work. So, Karen sat at her doorstep and waited.

  Four hours later she saw Angella walking briskly towards the steps that led to the apartment. Karen stood and Angella stopped abruptly. “I thought my message was clear. I don’t want to speak to either you or Katherine,” she said harshly.

  “Oh, we got that message loud and clear. I’m not standing for it Angie. I’m not leaving here until you tell me what’s going on with you.”

  “Suit yourself,” she said as she walked up the steps.

  “So you’re really going to leave me out here?”

  Angella paused with her hand on the door handle. She sighed heavily, turned around and walked back down the steps. “You have two minutes,” she said.

  “Come on Angie. Let’s go inside, please.”

  “Fine, but you need to make this quick,” Angella said as she stomped up the stairs and opened the door.

  Karen followed her into the living room.

  “Have a seat,” she said as she sat in the plush beige couch in the corner of the room. Karen sat and immediately began to try to win back the sister she once knew.

  “Angie, we’ve been best friends since birth. I’m your sister for Christ's sake! The way you’ve been treating me and Kathy is ridiculous. Tell me the truth. What’s happening?”

  “I’m doing this to protect you and Kathy. You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me.”

  Angella began to explain what really happened the evening she got her job promotion. She remembered every detail as if it had only happened yesterday; every aspect of her conversation with her boss, Patrick Grandison, was firmly etched in her memory.

  “Congratulations, Angella!” Patrick said as he walked into her office with a bottle of champagne and closed the door.

  “Thank you Mr. Grandison. This really is an honour and I absolutely love my office.”