Chapter One
The Las Vegas Strip at night. It used to be my favorite place. Now it’s an empty road filled with empty souls searching with empty eyes, all looking for something that they won’t find.
I’m looking for something else. I walk the streets every night, down the Strip to Fremont Street then back to the Strip, up Tropicana over to Eastern then down Flamingo back to the Strip and I start it all over again. Sometimes I get to listen to different music during my repeated travels but tonight the only song that is playing is The Pretender by The Foo Fighters.
I wish I could pick my own music but whatever it is that chooses the melodies of the night usually puts me in the mood for whatever I am going to run into. So this has me a little anxious. I love the song but given my history I would rather be listening to You are my Sunshine.
I crossed the road heading north on the strip past Caesar’s Palace. I stop for a moment and watch the women coming out of the Forum shops loaded down with bags and see other women fighting with their chosen partner some men and some women about the cost of items in the overpriced mall. This always brings a smile to my face for some reason. Maybe it’s because if I see them in discontent I know I’m not alone with my feelings in this world.
The crowds walk past and none of them pay attention to me. I can’t blame them I’m not much to look at these days. I’ve let myself go where I used to be quite handsome. Now I just don’t really care about what I look like. Once I find it I hope that I’ll start to care again. But until then I will continue to stay in cheap motels using cheap shampoo and if I shave more than once a week you are going to think I’m either going to court or just lost my mind. Working out constantly is my only healthy vice as of late and even that is out of necessity. I hope I find it soon. Then maybe things will make sense again.
I start moving down the street when I hear some muffled screams coming from beside one of the smaller casinos that litter this stretch of road. I sigh as the music starts to get louder and begin moving towards the sound I had heard.
The sounds were coming from a woman I realized after turning the corner and coming closer. I hate it when it’s women, children or animals. Everything has the propensity for evil but I’ve come to learn that men are the propagators of this more than anything else.
The shapes start coming into view. There are four men and the woman was giving them a good fight because one of the men let out a yelp and made a remark about her biting him again and that they needed something to gag her with.
I move quietly coming closer and closer. I changed my thought that they were men, instead they looked like boys and they weren’t local. All of them were wearing UCLA shirts and two of them were wearing matching caps. I looked at the woman and decided that I had to change my thought there as well. She couldn’t be any more then 19. She changed to a girl in my mind. It’s important for me to keep things in the perspective that makes sense to me.
I stood about three feet behind the tallest one. He’s 6’2”, lean and muscular. His strawberry blonde hair barely visible beneath the cap that cast strange shadows across his face thanks to the single fluorescent light that sat on the wall above them.
He was a handsome boy. What a shame, he should have made better decisions. The others were varied heights but none taller than the closest one and none shorter than 5’9”. All of them had the builds of athletes. None of them were bad looking and could easily be in one of the clubs here picking up a woman to do what they were hoping to do here. I’ve never understood rape. It and child abuse cause me to usually be a little harder then I should sometimes.
Strawberry was telling the others to hold her down and to find something to gag her. I started unbuttoning my shirt as the lyrics flowed out of my mouth.
“I’m the voice inside your head you refuse to hear. I’m the face that you have to face mirrored in your stare, I’m what’s left, I’m what’s right, I’m the enemy-“
“What the fuck?” Strawberry turns around quickly looking at me with a mix of wonder and anger.
“Who the hell are you? You a cop or something?”
I was annoyed that he cut the song off. There is usually a reason if I start to sing. I like my voice, it sounds good. Why don’t people just learn to listen? I finished unbuttoning my shirt and slid it off and laid it down on a clean area of the concrete we were all standing on. It was my last nice shirt. I didn’t want to mess it up, you never know when you’d need a nice shirt. The Governor’s ball was coming up after all.
“Just listen and maybe you’ll figure it out and maybe you’ll just decide to walk away.” I answered and started singing again as I start to stretch and loosen the muscles that I figured I’d be using shortly.
“I’m the voice inside your head you refuse to hear. I’m the face that you have to face mirrored in your stare, I’m what’s left, I’m what’s right, I’m the enemy. I’m the hand that will take you down, bring you to your knees.” The Foo Fighters sing the lines repeatedly along with me. We get to the third repeat cycle when Strawberry interrupted again. History had shown that if they listen to what I’m singing five times then they’d usually walk away. This disappointed me, three meant a fight. I don’t like to fight.
The boy that had been trying to cover the girl’s mouth stood up and came to the side of Strawberry. Blood dripping from his hand where she bit him.
“He’s just some nut job man kick his ass and let’s do this and get the fuck outta here.”
Strawberry was looking me over; confused but cautious at the same time. 5’7”, week’s worth of beard, pretty sure my hair was a mess and what seemed to bother him most was I wouldn’t quit staring into his eyes. I’m not large but I’m not small either and it seems to dawn on him that I’m probably not just some homeless guy. Most homeless men don’t have a toned body.
“Look man we’re just messing around with her. We know her. So just get going. This is how she gets off you know chicks.”
I looked down at the girl and she stared at me with wonder and a plea for help, but stayed quiet.
I answered with another set of lyrics. It freaks me out when these kinds of responses just come out. But you just have to go with the flow sometimes as they say.
“Keep you in the dark, you know they all pretend. Keep you in the dark, and so it all begins.”
One of the boys stayed with the girl this time pulling her up and holding her in a bear hug as the other two were now moving towards me with Strawberry.
The music started to reverberate in my head getting louder and louder. It picked up where I left off. I really wished they would’ve listened so we didn’t have to do this.
Send in your skeletons.
Sing as their bones come marching in again.
The need you buried deep
the secrets that you keep are at the ready, are you ready?
I’m finished making sense,
done pleading ignorance
that whole defense.
Spending this energy
but the wheel that’s spinning me is never ending, never ending
same old story
What if I say I’m not like the others?
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the pretender.
What if I say I will never surrender?
The one that was covering the girl’s mouth swung first as I swayed back and grabbed his wrist and twisted hard. The third one rushed in punching wildly so I dropped to my knees pulling hard with one hand while pushing up with the other and heard the first boy’s shoulder dislocate which is confirmed by his scream.
I turned on the new threat and pushed off the ground with all the strength my legs could bring and connected the crown of my skull with his lower jaw. I’m pretty sure I heard bones and teeth crack as he spun around spitting out blood and teeth.
I look at where he has spit and realize it landed almost entirely on my shirt. That’s going to be hard to clean I thought to myself as the spitter cleared his head and started to come at me again.
The music was getting louder and my blood was pumping so I side stepped his rush, reached out and up grabbing his throat and using his momentum slammed him to the ground with his head hitting first and absorbing the majority of the impact. I watch as the recognition of the night left his eyes and he passed out.
Blood started making a pool beneath him and I hope that I haven’t killed him but anything else I don’t care about. You shouldn’t try to hurt women.
Strawberry had stood in the same spot the entire time watching the quick flurry of action between his friends and me.
I saw him reaching behind his back and rushed in already knowing what was coming. As he brought the pistol up I quickly snapped his wrist on each side with both hands and the pistol flew out of his grip.
I reached out and caught it before it hit the ground, swung and slammed Strawberry across the side of his head with it. It always pisses me off when someone tries to use a weapon.
Bringing the pistol back into alignment I took aim at the last man who was holding the girl. I moved closer as his eyes got bigger with each step.
“Let her go kid.”
He did so immediately and I pulled her behind me.
“You have two choices, get your friends and get out of here or call an ambulance and the cops come and you have to explain what happened. Your call.”
“We’ll go man. Just leave us alone. “ he pleaded.
I could feel the fear seeping out of the girl and anger start to take its place.
“Okay but before you go I need you to stand really still and if you move or try anything I’ll do a lot worse to you then I did to your friends do you understand?”
He nodded his head showing that he understood as I brought the girl out from behind me. I kept the pistol aimed at his head as I spoke to her.
“Anything you want to do to him?”
“Kill him.” She answered coldly.
“Can’t do that. They deserve it but it’s against the rules. Anything else?”
She moved forward and kicked as hard as she could landing squarely between his legs. He fell to the ground and she repeated the kick twice and then aimed her next two kicks at his face.
Turning she locked her eyes on mine and had the resemblance of a rabid dog. She shifted her eyes down to the other three.
“What about them?” she asked.
“They aren’t moving much but have a ball.” I replied realizing that it may not have been the best choice of words.
She moved around kicking Strawberry repeatedly first and then toothless got it. She walked to the last one who tried to block her assault with his good arm when I pulled the hammer of the pistol back behind him reminding him that their fun was gone.
She took the remainder of her anger out on him which was a lot. I had to stop her fearing that she may kill him. Against the rules I reminded her.
Sweat was rolled down her face and her hair had started to stray out wildly with all of the activity. She looked up at me again as the music came to a stop.
“What now?” she asked me.
I relaxed the hammer and put the safety on the pistol, took out a rag and wiped it clean then handed it to her.
“Take this. Don’t shoot anyone. If you see a cop tell him what happened and give it to him. That will give me time to get out of here.”
“Where are you going? You should tell the police, you saved me.”
“It wouldn’t work out too well. Just do what I said and remember no shooting anyone.”
I went over to my shirt and picked it up thankful now that it was summer so someone walking around without a shirt wouldn’t draw any attention in the desert.
I made my way back along the strip just this time not towards Fremont St. I was heading back to my motel. I needed to shower and get some sleep. I also needed to try and clean the blood out of my shirt.
Tomorrow was another day and since the music had changed to a strange mix from The Perishers I knew my night wouldn’t bring what I was searching for anyway.
Making my way past the Excalibur I looked up and thought of the night’s activity. Pretty uneventful compared to others. Maybe things were starting to change.
Chapter 2
I woke up earlier than usual. I looked at the clock on the nightstand disgustedly as it told me that it was 3:30 in the afternoon. 7 hours of sleep wasn’t bad I just hate waking up in the middle of the day because of the heat.
I made my way to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. The man staring back at me looked lost and I suppose he was. Turning on the shower I let the water scold my skin hopefully working out the knots that resided in my shoulders. The fighting in my dreams was more taxing on my body than the actual fights I seemed to gravitate to on an almost daily basis.
20 minutes and no hot water later I stepped out of the shower and let the water run off of my body as I stared at myself in the mirror. The scar from the bullet just above my heart still burned. It was over a year old but the pain was still there.
I was new to Vegas back then and still getting the bug of the nightlife and the excitement that Vegas is known for out of my system.
I had been at Tao that night. Enjoying a night out, watching the tourists moving on the dance floor and getting a kick out of the guys hitting on the women.
The Crown Royal shots with Corona backs were going down too easy and I was having a good time. I hadn’t come to meet anyone just to take in the scenery and the music.
The hours came and went and I started to get a buzz when I decided I should probably start heading home. I started working my new security gig at a new club the next day and didn’t want to be hung over for it. Opening night for a club was a big deal here and we would need to be at the top of our game
.
I started to make my way out when the bartender Mac, my only friend in town hollered after me.
“Hey Mas you heading out?” he asked.
“Yeah gonna go get some sleep, got the opening tomorrow.”
“Yeah I’ll be there. Can you do me a favor bud?”
I gave him a sideways glance because the last time he asked me to do him a favor was to go spend the night with his dog so he could spend the night with his new woman. I didn’t see him for 5 days.
“I’m not going to take care of your dog damnit.” I answered.
“Oh shut the hell up man. You won’t ever let me live that down will you? I need you to walk Leah to her car.” He replied pointing at the waitress standing about 6 feet to my left. “She just started and her shift’s over. We’re slammed and I don’t want her heading out alone. You know the drill.”
I looked over at Leah who smiled back shyly and said “Hi.”
Looking at Mac I tipped my head and he turned around and started serving drinks again. I looked at Leah and extended my arm in a wide arc so she could move in front of me.
We made our way out and took the long way to the parking lot.
“Mac said you moved here a couple of months ago.” She said.
“Yep.”
“He calls you Mas.”
“Short for Mason.” I explained
“Not much of a talker?”
“Not really, more of a watcher.” I answered.
“Guess that’s a good thing, he said you do security. Used to guard celebrities and stuff. That must have been cool.”
It was the popular thought of people who adored the stars from afar. In reality most celebrities that actually hired guards did it more for posturing then for the actual act of security.
“It had its moments.” I gave her my stock answer.
“How’d you get into that? You don’t look like the type.” She asked while looking me over as we walked.
“Family gig. Dad was a cop and retired then got into private security. Keeping the rich and famous safe paid better then guarding your money at the bank. He started training me in a bunch of stuff when I was 6 and then sent me to a bunch of schools.”
“Why so young?”
“No need to be a victim at any age if you can help it.” I replied.
“So why’d you come here? Seems like it would be a step down from taking care of Britney or Paris.”
She was fishing for names. Another thing that people did when they found out what I did before. I let it slide knowing that she couldn’t help but be curious.
“I was supposed to be taking care of this new hotshot kid. We were moving him though a crowd and he got stabbed and died a couple of minutes later.” I answered with a deadpan look on my face.
She stopped and looked at me not sure what to say. I could see her swallow and then she looked at her feet. I couldn’t keep the joke going any longer. She took it too serious.
“I’m just kidding. Nobody died I just got tired of taking care of rich kids that didn’t really need my help.”
She looked up at me and slapped me on the arm and smiled.
“You’re an asshole.” She said laughing. “I felt really bad for a minute.”
“I know that’s why I told you the truth, I thought you were gonna cry.” I said smiling.
We started walking again and made our way down the hall that would take us to the garage. The night cleaning crew were making their rounds and when we passed them and could hear each other again I started my interrogation.
“So is it an ex boyfriend or ex husband?”
She looked at me in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not a local, your skin is slightly red cause it’s not used to the heat. You have a hotel key card starting to stick out of the side pocket of your purse and you’re walking with a little bit of a limp meaning that you haven’t had a job where you had to be on your feet all night for at least 18 months. Besides all of that there have been 6 new waitresses start at the club since I got here and Mac has never asked me to walk any of them to their car before. So boyfriend or husband?”
She stopped in the middle of the hallway and pushed the hotel room key back into her purse while looking at me.
“That’s kinda scary you know?”
“What’s that?”
“That you just picked all of that up. It’s not normal.”
“Tricks of the trade. You going to quit avoiding the question?”
“What if it wasn’t any of those and I was just a small town girl and the city scares me?”
“Then you’d be lying.” I answered pointedly as the color in her face became a deeper shade of red.
“It’s my ex boyfriend okay?”
I started to walk again and looked behind me to see her slowly start to follow. I lessened my pace so that she could catch up with me.
“What happened?”
“He didn’t turn out to be the guy that I thought he’d be. He started out nice and then fell in with the wrong crowd and changed. Or maybe he was that way all along and I just never knew it. Either way he got really possessive and started to get abusive. I called the cops and left.” She answered with a mixture of shame and anger in her voice.
“How many towns have you been in?”
“4 not including Vegas.”
“So why here? It’s not necessarily the purity capital of the country.”
“Well it was either here or Juno and I didn’t feel like freezing my ass off.”
I looked at her and saw her trying to hide the smile but when she looked at me she started to laugh regardless of trying not to. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“So I take it he found you in the other 4 towns?” I asked ending the small moment of levity.
“Yeah, I don’t know how but he did. So I figured I could try and blend in here and finally get away from him.”
“Hmm, I see. So how long have you been here?”
She thought about it for a second then answered. “About 3 and a half weeks.”
“So what did he get hooked up in? Drugs, crime?”
“Yes to both. His family’s Russian and he got mixed up with them.” She said quietly.
“So you’re from the east coast up north.”
“How’d the hell did you know that? I’m not wearing an ‘I Love New York’ T-shirt.” She said exasperated.
“The only reason people mention a nationality is because it signifies something larger. Russians mean the Russian mob. Also explains how they could keep finding you.” I said as we made our way through the last corridor before the entrance to the parking garage.
“You’re good I gotta give you that.”
“Any tattoos?” I asked.
“Me? No.”
“Not you, him.”
“Oh, sorry. Yeah he had a lot why?” she asked.
“What were they?” I asked knowing it had meaning she obviously didn’t realize.
“There was a grim reaper, a skull and a rose, some barb wire and about 7 or 8 more I can’t remember.”
“Good thing you left him.” I said shaking my head.
“How would you know that from tattoos?”
“I can tell you he’s killed someone and the rest don’t paint him in a very good light.”
“Tattoos mean that? How is that?” she asked confusedly.
“Russian mob paint their lives on their bodies with tattoos. If you know what they mean you can know a lot.”
“Jesus, I didn’t know that.” She said looking at me. “I really didn’t know any of that.”
“I believe you, don’t stress on it.” I said.
I reached forward and opened the door to the garage and walked through holding it open for her from the inside of the garage.
We were making our way to the back end of the ground floor where the employees park when I saw the door to the van 20 yards away open. Inside were three men that started to climb out. Normally it wouldn’t raise any alarms but they weren’t wearing uniforms and the van had signage stating it was from a janitorial service and the cleaning crew was already inside. The driver’s side window came down and I saw the gun in time to pull her behind me.
The shot rang out and immediately following the slug tore into my chest and my world went into a strange pattern of slow motion with amplified sounds.
I fell to my knees and pulled Leah down with me. I got up on my feet and tried to stumble with her back to the door. The second shot took me in the back and as I was being thrown forward I let go of her hand and told her to run.
Blood started to come out of my mouth and I knew that I’d been hit in the lung. I looked toward her and then back when I saw the three men running towards her. I tried to reach out and grab one of them but he kicked me in the chest and it took every ounce of strength I had not to pass out while my eyes followed them on their path to grab her. The darkness was closing in on me when I saw them take her from behind and heard her scream. The last noise I heard that night was her screaming. I still hear it.
Reliving that night always brought back feelings of anger, sorrow and failure. It was the first time I wasn’t able to protect someone.
I knew she was still alive though. I felt and dreamt it almost nightly.
She was always in a dark room but the air in the room felt and smelled like Vegas and from what I could tell the architecture of the room was common to Vegas and its surrounding cities. Sometimes the room changed, it varied in size so I figured they moved her around but it all had the same feel. That’s why I stayed in this town. She’s what I was searching for.
The cops quit looking for her a few months after I got shot and the FBI had proved to be useless which wasn’t a big surprise. It was up to me. I was responsible and I had to get her.
I opened the door to my room and took in the heat of the day. For mid June it was actually cool so I put on a pair of shorts and a tank top, bent over and tied my shoes and then closed the door behind me.
I stepped out onto the strip and started stretching trying to decide which way I would go for my run. I decided on South since I knew the night would bring me back to the north side of the strip.
I turned west on Warm Springs and made my way into the residential area when Bodies by Drowning Pool started to play repeatedly. This wasn’t the kind of sign I wanted for the start of my day.