Deadline (5 page)

Trevanian thought it looked like they
were near the Afghan-Pakistani border, bounded by the mountain
range. It was likely the Safed Koh range that bordered on
Pakistan.

He unzipped his fly and emptied his
bladder while his captors observed.

Then the three Afghans in the car each
took their turns urinating into the ditch while two of them kept a
careful watch over Trevanian. As if he was much of a flight risk
out here. There was simply nowhere to run.

It would be certain death from thirst
and starvation even if he managed to escape his captors. He
wouldn’t have the first idea where to run to even if he could
escape.

The only course of action was to allow
them to take him wherever they were going. Then he could try to
talk his way to freedom at his final destination wherever that was
going to be. Trevanian prided himself on being a very persuasive
fellow.

“
Fellas, I’m not going to
be a problem. I’ll go wherever you want. Is that hood really
necessary? It’s damned uncomfortable. How much longer is this
journey?”

Surprisingly, Abbott
responded.

“
It is going to take
another couple of hours, Mr. Trevanian. The hood will not be
necessary until we get nearer to our final destination. Please bear
with us. This journey you will find in your best interests as a
newsman. We will soon be crossing the border into
Pakistan.”

“
Why the secrecy? Why
can’t you at least tell me why you are taking me to
Pakistan?”

“
My name is Dharwal. You
have been especially chosen for this assignment. Consider it a high
honor for an infidel. Now please get back in the car.”

The Lada continued on its silent
journey into the mountains of Afghanistan and Trevanian’s destiny
somewhere in northern Pakistan.

Chapter 13

Somewhere in Toronto 7
AM

THE WOLFMAN sat in front of the
computer screen and began typing the e-mail.

After grabbing a few hours sleep, he
had come into work early so he could use one of their computers to
send his message to that reporter Katie Cannon. That way it could
never be traced back to him.

He had seen this morning’s paper and
the front-page story under the by-line of Katie Cannon. He felt his
anger rise.

The bitch depicted him as a sick,
psycho killer. All these professional bitches stuck together. Their
air of superiority infuriated him.

He recalled how his father kept his
mother in line. When she became uppity he chastised her
regularly.

“
Women should be seen and
not heard. Know your place, woman,” his father would say as his
fist connected with her face.

At first he had been afraid of his
father and his anger. Afraid he would turn on him. But that had not
happened.

Instead he saw it as a valuable
lesson. His mother deserved it. She did things to bring on his
father’s wrath. She was often sneaky. She hid some of the
housekeeping money he gave her to do things behind his
back.

His mother began to take college
courses part-time during the day while his father was at work and
he was at school. He would see her doing some of the homework when
his father wasn’t around. That wasn’t right.

So he eventually told his father. His
father was grateful and rewarded him with candy and comic
books.

His father soon put a stop to his
mother’s day classes. For a few days his mother walked around
wearing sunglasses.

Then one day suddenly she was gone.
Disappeared off the face of the earth. His father told him she had
left them. Abandoned them.

“
Good riddance to the
bitch,” he said. “We’re better off without her.”

For a few months it had just been him
and his Dad. Life was better. They would often go to the movies to
see Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis or Sylvester Stallone. They
were his favorites. The movies had lots of killing and explosions.
They brought lots of thrills.

Then his Dad started seeing other
women. Most of them slept over from time to time, but didn’t stay
long.

But one of his girlfriends, named
Gina, moved in with them. Things were fine at first but after a few
months the arguments started. The shouting got to him. He kept to
his room most times when they were fighting and listened to his
music to shut out the noise.

Gina never learned. She kept provoking
his Dad. He called her a tramp and accused her of sleeping around.
He started to beat on her like his Mom. But unlike his Mom, Gina
fought back and often gave back as well as she received.

One night during a particularly
vicious beating, she reached for a heavy iron frying pan on the
stove.

Thwaack! She crashed it against Dad’s
skull. His eyes rolled and his legs gave way. He crashed to the
floor unconscious.

He remembered the commotion that
followed. The paramedics. The police. They put Gina in handcuffs
and took her away. He was turned over to the Children’s Aid
Society.

His Dad never recovered. He died in
hospital. An embolism, they said.

Gina was charged with manslaughter,
but a female lawyer got her off with a self-defence plea and a not
guilty verdict by the jury.

Again it was women sticking up for
women and he was left an orphan. He missed his Dad
terribly.

After a series of foster homes, he
struck out on his own when he turned 18. He dropped out of school
and took several low paying laboring jobs, but never held on to
them. Then he saw a recruitment poster for the Canadian
Forces.

He signed up and spent five years in
the forces. It was a life he enjoyed.

They taught him how to kill
efficiently and effectively. It was a structured life. He followed
orders and was well fed. He was able to travel.

He was stationed at several bases
across the country and served a one-year tour of duty in
Bosnia.

It was in Bosnia that he had his first
kill.

A buxom young woman he met in a
tavern. They had a few drinks. She laughed and was flirtatious.
They got along famously. She invited him back to her
place.

She serviced him like no other woman
he had met. She started with oral sex -- he felt a level of ecstasy
he had never before experienced. This was followed by passionate
lovemaking bringing him to a tremendous climax.

Afterwards she asked for
payment.

“
You’re nothing but a
common whore!” he exploded.

“
What did you expect
lover? I gave you the best sex you’ll ever get. A girl has to eat.
Surely you don’t think I’m in love with you.” She threw her head
back and laughed heartily.

“
You goddamn cunt. I
thought you liked me.”

“
I do lover. I love a man
in uniform and his money.” She laughed again.

Something snapped in his brain. He
reached down on the bed and with his large hands grasped her neck –
choking off the laugh.

She struggled. He saw the fear come
into her eyes.

He felt the power. It felt
good.

He was in charge.

Her life was in his hands. He kept
squeezing tighter and tighter till her eyeballs looked like they
would pop out of her skull. Soon she ceased to struggle and he felt
the life ebb out of her and through his body. His orgasm was even
greater this time.

He cradled her breasts one last time
and sunk his teeth into each one – leaving his mark.

He quietly snuck away from her room.
No one had seen him. The murder would be just one more whore found
in an undesirable area in a country where killing and ethnic
cleansing were routine.

The case would go unsolved, but the
Wolfman was only just getting started.

He finished typing his message to that
uppity newspaper bitch. He vowed she would be seeing him
soon.

Chapter 14

Braden Young’s Apartment
7:15 AM

THE ALARM sounded with a harsh
buzzing.

Braden Young arose from the couch
after a fitful and restless few hours of sleep. His head throbbed
like a herd of mustangs thundering through his brain.

God, I’ve got to stop this drinking,
he thought. His back ached from the uncomfortable sleeping position
on the couch.

Young padded across the room to the
bathroom and downed two Tylenol tablets trying to silence the
thunder inside his skull. Next stop was the kitchen to put on the
coffee – elixir of the gods, or at least that of
journalists!

“
Good Morning,
Daddy!”

Young turned to see his daughter Megan
rubbing the sleep from her eyes and dressed in one of his XL
T-shirts that went down to just above her knees. “Mornin’ Princess.
The coffee will be ready in a few minutes. Did you sleep
okay?”

“
Not very much. What with
everything that has happened and the uncertainty of my future, it’s
hard to rest.”

“
I know, sweetie. It’s a
lot to take in, but give it time. I assure you things will get
better. You can stay here as long as you like to get your life back
on an even keel. You need to figure out what you want to do. It’s
not the Ritz, but it’s a roof over your head. “

“
Thanks, Daddy. You’re a
lifesaver. I’m so glad you are here for me.” Megan moved over and
kissed Young on the cheek.

“
That’s alright, baby. I
haven’t been much of a father to you in the past, but I will be
here for you now as long as you need me.”

“
Daddy, I’ve always loved
you. It’s too bad it has taken this long for us to get so
close.”

Young wasn’t a sentimental type of guy
so tried to switch the topic of conversation.

“
Sorry there’s not much
food in the place, but I’ll go shopping later and stock up on some
groceries,” he said. “Being a bachelor and with the hours of my
job, I’m afraid I eat out a lot. I’m not much of a home
cooker.”

“
That’s okay, daddy. I can
do the cooking.” Megan smiled at her father.

Young opened a cupboard below the sink
and pointed to a row of cereal boxes.

“
Help yourself to some
cereal. There is milk in the fridge and some yogurt I
think.”

He grabbed two mugs from another
cupboard and began to pour the coffee. “How do you take yours? I
like mine black, no sweetener.”

“
Black’s fine with me,
Daddy. I don’t feel very sweet right now and I’m not
hungry.”

“
Like father, like
daughter, eh,” said Young. “Now tell me about this shit heel of a
boyfriend. He’s lucky he’s not here right now or I’d smash that
pretty boy face of his. It would be a long time before he got in
front of another television camera, or any kind of camera for that
matter. You will be much better off without him.”

“
But Daddy I love him. I
thought things were going so well with us. Then he started staying
out nights. He said it was work, but I began to get suspicious. I
checked his e-mail and there were notes to Heidi Harris, that
blonde bimbo who is his co-anchor. They were getting together
evenings.”

“
Are you sure it wasn’t
work related, honey? After all they are television reporters. Maybe
they were working on a story together.”

“
Yeah, the only way she
was working was on her back. I found credit card receipts in his
home office desk for dinners at fancy restaurants and rooms at the
Sheraton. When I confronted him with it, he at first claimed it was
just work. He later admitted to sleeping with her, but says it just
happened -- it’s only physical and he still loves me. It happened
all right and it happened several times. So excuse me if I find it
hard to believe he still loves me.”

Young placed his hand on Megan’s
shoulder. “Well then, Princess I think you have a big decision to
make. Whether you’re going to fight for him or cut him adrift. I
know which choice I think you should make.”

Megan took another sip of her coffee.
She looked like a lost child not knowing where to turn next.
“That’s why I came here, Daddy. I need some time away to think, to
decide what to do.”

Young reached out to his daughter
bringing her close to him and giving her a hug. “You take whatever
time you need, honey.”

Chapter 15

Katie Cannon’s Apartment
7:35 AM

ANDREW CHASE let the hot spray of
water wash over him. The tingle of the hot shower felt good. It
relaxed his tense muscles.

He thought about last night and the
tenderness and passion that passed between him and
Katie.

The relationship was great, but Chase
had a difficult time playing the charade that Katie insisted upon.
Keeping their relationship on the quiet was difficult for him. He
wanted to shout from the nearest rooftops that this beautiful woman
loved him and was all his.

He wanted to go out in public with her
to show her off. After all, while he was still a good-looking man,
he was almost 20 years older. Age was a state of mind and Chase did
not feel any age gap between them. They went together like bread
and peanut butter, smooth and homogenous.