Buzzard Bay (34 page)

he turned to plead with him, but he was standing now in the dim light; she saw a gun in his hand. Fear entered her heart. “What do you want, Grundman?” she asked.

“First, I want you to take your clothes off, and then I will hold you while you reach for the necklace.”

“How do I know you won’t let me go?” she asked.

“Because I’ll have my cock up your ass,” he told her. “That will anchor you, or I guess I’ll go over with you,” he told her.

Lena winced. She would be totally at his mercy which was something Grundman did not have much of. Still, the jewels sparkled from the lights below, so close yet so far. “What will Mark think if I come back without the necklace,” she thought. He had said this was a test. If she came back without it, he would either think she was working with Grundman and Waddell or that she had no balls.

These men seemed to think it was very important to have balls. Lena saw no humor in this; men had always held the fact that they have balls over a woman. Well! Balls or no balls, she wasn’t leaving without that necklace.

“Does it have to be up my ass, Grundman?”

“I want to hear you squeal with pain, Lena,” he licked his lips in anticipation.

“All right, Grundman, I agree, but only if you get rid of the gun and tie me to the railing.”

This seemed to deflate Grundman. His bargaining power was being tested, he hadn’t thought this far ahead, he’d been so obsessed with his fantasy finally coming true. Now the bitch wanted to negotiate. Still, he was so close. “Okay,” he agreed.

He left the balcony through the patio door and came back with one of the ropes he used to tie his girls or himself to the bed.

Lena stripped down with Grundman watching every move. She walked to the railing naked, taking only her handbag with her. She took the rope and tied it around her waist. The rope was very short. She tied the other end to the railing. It only allowed her about a foot of slack. She reached in her bag and pulled out a condom. Lena always came prepared. The condom she pulled out was especially lubricated for Grundman had in mind.

“Come here, Grundman,” she said, like calling a small child. Once he saw she was tied to the railing, he threw the revolver down beside his money and moved up close to Lena. She slapped his cock, getting a sigh of pleasure from him and making him fully erect so she could properly install the rubber on him. He was drooling from the mouth now and becoming very impatient.

“Just a minute, Grundman.” She took a lubricant can from her handbag and sprayed it up her anus. She turned herself and bent over the railing headfirst. “Please be careful, Grundman,” she pleaded, glad he wasn’t the size of Mark and Waddell. The very thought of them made her shudder.

Grundman was so excited he had no time to listen to her pleading; in fact it turned him on. He felt himself slide into her easily and went in as far as he could. Lena felt the initial pain of penetration then the lubrication took over, and she turned her attention to reaching the necklace.

he tried not to look down; fear rose in her stomach, but she swallowed keeping it down. Almost but not quite her fingers touched the necklace, but she couldn’t quite reach it. She felt her toes leave the deck and the rope stretch tight as she extended herself to the limit. Her fingertips closed around the necklace; she felt herself falling forward, the string tied to the necklace snapped from her weight.

I have it; her exultation was instantly replaced with terror. Grundman was hammering into her hard from behind now. The only thing holding her was the rope cutting into her waist. She tried to scream, but her mouth filled full of vomit gagging and leaving her gasping for breath.

Her squirming only excited Grundman more. “I’m in control, you bitch. Now I can have the money and the necklace too.” His mind elated with the prospect. When I’m finally done with you, Lena, we’ll bargain all right, we’ll bargain for your life. He felt the power of having someone’s life in his hands and imagined cutting the rope and watching the fear in her eyes as she fell away from him. He rammed into her in quick hard motions feeling the tide rising in his balls as he reached over her to pull the plastic bag over her head.

Lena felt Grundman pull out of her, and then his body seemed to slide over hers and she watched, terror stricken, as his body fell away from her.

Grundman had never felt this sensation while having sex before, not even when the bag was over his head nearly choking him to death was the sensation so intense. He was floating in the air, soaring through the sky; he reached for his cock and stroked himself off. The next sensation he felt was death.

Lena felt hands pull her back inside the balcony and vaguely saw a shadowy figure disappear through the patio door. She lay on the deck crying, unable to move. The pain in her waist broke through her fear. She looked down; the rope was gone, but a red welt showed where it had been. The necklace, where was it? She panicked thinking she’d dropped it, but to her amazement the necklace was firmly grasped in her hand. She began laughing and crying at the same time then slowly it sunk in what had just happened. “What do I do now?” she thought, getting up. She looked over the balcony railing hanging on tightly. A crowd had gathered around where Grundman had fallen.

I’ve got to get out of here. She quickly put on her clothes fixing her face and hair in the mirror before checking the apartment for any evidence she might have left. She placed the necklace and Grundman’s gun in her handbag. She looked for the money, but it was gone. “Well, whoever you are, I guess you earned it,” then left the apartment.

he placed her head against the cool wall of the elevator. She thought about the figure she’d seen leaving the balcony. She wondered who he was working for; was it Mark or Manly who had sent him? Neither of them would probably admit to doing it, leaving her in the same boat, who’s the strongest. The way Waddell had stormed out of her apartment, she might not have to wait too long to find out. The elevator stopped, and she went over to the doorman to order a taxi. She could see the crowd of people milling around outside the front door. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Some fool jumped off one of the balconies,” he told her as he whistled for a taxi.

Lena didn’t sleep very well and when she did sleep, she was woken by the dream of a man falling away from her. She was still in bed the next morning when the phone rang; she picked it up. “Grundman’s dead,” It was Waddell’s voice. “Someone pushed Grundman off his balcony last night,” he told her. “Are you going to meet your friend today?”

“You mean Mr. Bertrand? Yes, I’m to meet him this afternoon,” she answered.

“Tell him I want to see him in his office as soon as possible.” He hung up.

Lena sat looking at the phone. It didn’t sound like Waddell had killed Grundman, but she was sure he wouldn’t tell her anyway. She was sure Mark would want her in bed as soon as she arrived, but instead, he invited her to lunch on his terrace.

“I hear Grundman was killed last night. Did you get there in time to get your necklace?” I ask her.

Lena breaks down; she has to tell someone what happened. She had not realized just how shaken she was. “I couldn’t see the man who pushed him over,” she says between sobs, “but if he had not, I’m sure I’d be where Grundman is now.” She suddenly stops crying, “Did you kill him, Mark?” She looks right into my eyes.

I evade the question, “Grundman was a prick. He had no friends and made lots of enemies, any of them are capable of getting rid of him.”

Lena realizes she might never know who killed Grundman, or who had saved her life for that matter.

July played the tapes again that night in the privacy of her own room. She dreamed that Bob was on top of her and played with herself until she heard the words “July,” putting her over the top and leaving her in a sweating pile. She spent the rest of the night dreaming instead of her usual nightmare.

Manly Waddell sat in front of Bertrand’s desk. I can easily see he is upset even though he tries to hide it.

“That farm you bought over on Andros is our operation,” he tells me. “No matter what Grundman told you, that property was not for sale.”

“Is that why you killed him?” I ask.

“Don’t shit me, we both know who killed Grundman,” he says, looking me in the eye. “There are certain things people know enough to leave alone on the islands. Anything APCO is involved in, you leave alone if you value your life.”

I shrug, “The bank held the mortgage and wanted to get rid of it, I simply took it off their hands.”

“We realize Grundman may have pulled the wool over your eyes, Mr. Bertrand. The company has authorized me to pay you back your investment in return, of course, for the title.”

“Plus the $200,000 it cost me to have Grundman handle the deal?” I ask.

Waddell squirmed, “That little shit did stick you good, didn’t he?”

I shrug my shoulders, “If you want it back, it must be worth a lot more than I paid for it.”

“I don’t think you understand what I’m telling you, Bertrand. You may think you’re tough because you can kill some little leech like Grundman, but you have no idea who you are fucking with here. Even the U.S. government can’t handle these guys. You’re lucky they decided to pay you rather than kill you, or you’d be dead by now.” He is silent for a moment letting what he said sink in.

“All right, we’ll pay you the $200,000 Grundman cost you, but you take your little tin ship and get the fuck out of here just as fast as you came.”

“You don’t have any fucking idea who I am, do you?” I say to him calmly. “You think I’m some fuck pot head who pedaled a little horse on the streets of Beirut.” I’m starting to get angry now. “If it isn’t for the fact that I need you alive as a messenger boy, you’d be with your buddy Grundman in hell right now. And don’t shit me, we both know you killed Grundman, so don’t try to pin that on me.”

“You’d love to get your title and then have me thrown in jail for Grundman’s murder. Well, the tables have turned, Mr. Waddell. We’ve let the word out on the street that you did Grundman in, and we have some tapes in our possession that makes things look pretty bad for you,” I turn on the tape which includes sounds of Waddell wrecking Lena’s apartment.

“I’ve heard enough,” Waddell got up to leave.

“Sit down, Mr. Waddell. We may do some business yet.”

He hesitates and then turns to me, “What do you want, Bertrand? You might as well ask for lots, you’re a dead man anyway.”

“Like the old gunslinger said, ‘There ain’t room for both of us in town’,” I tell him. “It’s a small island. I don’t think there’s a hole big enough for you to crawl into.” I watch his eyes blaze.

“What I want is a billion in cash, and the farm is yours.”

All Waddell could get out was, “Fuck you,” before I got a chance to continue with, “Otherwise, I want half of everything you put through the farm.”

Waddell looked at me in amazement.

“If you don’t agree to my terms, we’ll simply shut you down and put our own stuff through there.”

“You’ve got bats in your belfry, man!” he exclaims.“I can see there’s no use trying to tell you fuck all. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to hang your dick as a trophy on my wall. The epitaph will read, ‘What’s left of the man they couldn’t tell fuck all’,” Waddell expounds.

I stand up and speaking very low, “If I was you, I’d hurry and tell your friends what I just said. Maybe if you suck their cocks long enough, they’ll hide you till they realize they don’t need you anymore. Either way, you’re fucked, Waddell. You’ve got no place to go and no place to hide, you’re just fucked.”

Waddell backs out of the room; one never knew what a manic might do.

The next night, a shipment of drugs landed at the runway on the Andros farm. Another plane followed close behind. All the APCO men had no idea what was going on until men began pouring out of the second plane; by then it was too late. The APCO men tried to fight back, but they were quickly overpowered. Then the men shot the tires out from under the APCO plane and loaded its contents onto their own plane. By the time the APCO people figured out what was going on and got reinforcements, the intruders were long gone.

The next day, two truckloads of heavily armed men suddenly arrived at the farm. There was a short firefight, but the APCO men were no match for this kind of firepower. They were told APCO no longer owned the property, and the new owner, Bertrand., was taking over. They were all put in an old boat and towed out to sea. Fortunately, there was a U.S. Coast Guard cutter waiting for them when they drifted into American waters.

Lena was a scared woman. Grundman was a weasel and always got her in trouble, but at least he had been there to help her work out her problems. Now he was gone. She had met a few other men during her stay in Nassau, but the government was in turmoil and most of them were fighting for their livelihoods, let alone being seen with a woman like her. That left her with two men who were bitter enemies. Sooner or later, one of them was going to decide she had sided with the other, and she was convinced they would kill her just like they had Grundman.

Waddell had come to her apartment last night, forcing himself on her. He had fucked her hard, hurting her, asking her if she enjoyed it when he rammed it into her, slapping her when she did not answer. He had climbed off her when he was done.

“I hope you got your rocks off listening to that,” he shouted to no one in particular.

“What are you saying?” she asked.

“I know your house is bugged,” he told her. “Bertrand played back a tape of us together when you told me Grundman sold him the farm on Andros.”

he watched as Waddell did up his fly and headed for the door, “You picked the wrong side, baby. That might be the last fuck you ever get.”

“I did not know,” she tried to tell him as he went out the door, but he did not stop to listen. She searched the house but found nothing except Mark’s ring.

he would give it to him when she went to see him that afternoon. She thought she would wait until after they made love. Mark was like everyone else these days, stressed out.

He was having trouble getting hard; it did not bother Lena, she had seen lots of men go through this, but to Bob it was embarrassing. He was glad Lena didn’t seem to mind. She eased things a lot. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him. In his mind, he should be able to get it up on demand. He loved sex, why did she have to work so hard on him before he could do it.