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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Pretender or the basic storyline from which this story draws its semblance of life. TNT etc. does.
Author’s note: The quote used in this portion of the story was borrowed from a beautiful and insightful poem written by Oscar Wilde.
Hostile Environment
Chapter 4
By Callisto
Trask Enterprises
Seattle, WA
The meeting was winding down after a number of issues were finally solved with viable resolutions. Everyone around the table released a collective sigh of relief that the meeting was finally over. The tension between Gareth and Jarod was thick and rife with unstated hostility. Many of the long-time employees knew that Jarod’s days in the company were numbered and would have been surprised to see him at work in the morning. Everyone but Gareth regretted the expected loss of Jarod. He had brought a stability, intelligence and balance to the management team. The lower level employees liked his management style, his easygoing nature was perfectly suited to work with the diverse selection of personalities and garnered loyalty that didn’t have to be brought or cajoled.
Gareth was the first to rise from his seat to stretch; this was a signal to the others that they were free to leave. Slowly the other manager’s rose and each in their turn either patted Jarod on the back or shook his hand as they cast him a significant glance in grateful acknowledgement for putting their business in order. Once they were alone, Jarod turned to Gareth and said, “I believe there are a number of things we need to discuss to clear the air. How about a drive? It’s stuffy in here after being cooped up for so many hours.”
Gareth studied Jarod calculatingly. He knew the other man was up to something but he felt confident that pretty-boy wouldn’t pull anything serious on him. Gareth prided himself on his ability to read people and instinctively knew Jarod wouldn’t try anything impulsively. Gareth felt very confident that he could handle himself quite well under almost any set circumstances this guy could dish out. Mutely nodding his approbation, Gareth allowed Jarod to lead the way outside and to his car.
North Harbor-near Terminal 25
Seattle, WA
Jarod smoothly brought the dark green Ford Taurus to a stop at the deserted terminal area and alighted from the car. He stretched his cramped muscles and glancing at his companion, noticed that Gareth was standing next to the vehicle looking around nervously. Jarod suddenly began to walk towards one of the large warehouses adjacent to the wharf as a small dangerous smile crept onto his face. Jarod stopped unexpectedly and turned to face Gareth.
“I believe this will be the perfect place to have our discussion. It’s far enough away so no one from the company will accidentally overhear our conversation and it also provides an appropriate setting, don’t you think?” Jarod asked quietly.
“What is this, why did you drag me out in the middle of nowhere? What’s going on here?” Gareth asked nervously. For once his confidence was beginning to falter.
“From the smug expression on your face back at the office, I was under the impression that you possessed an unfair advantage. Now, I realize this is your modus operendi, catching your prey at their weakest to insure your own supremacy but it’s about time you were forced to prove yourself on a more level field. Besides, your reputation as a dangerous man proceeds you, I wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be interrupted.”
As Jarod was talking, several large, muscular men appeared out of nowhere and quickly surrounded the two men. Looking around, Gareth could only see one way out—the open maw of the warehouse with its massive stacks of crates and containers waiting to be loaded. One of the men approached Gareth and roughly frisked him, relieving him of his butterfly knife.
Noticing Gareth’s sudden apprehension and his less than surreptitious glance at his only avenue of escape, Jarod taunted, “come now, you’re supposed to be a tough guy. Where is your courage when faced with someone your own size?”
“What about them?” he asked, nodding at the twenty, well-muscled stevedores who had surrounded the pair.
“Don’t worry about them, they’re here to insure you don’t run away before I’m finished with you. I can vouch for their characters, something anyone with an ounce of morality would find difficult to do for you. They have agreed not to interfere—yet. Some of them have assured me that you are a real man who is merely misunderstood and only beats on his wife for practice. Well practice is over,” Jarod sneered with quiet menace as he watched the man he had previously admired, squirm at the tone of his angry disgust.
Anger and understanding flooded Gareth’s mind. Unwisely, he allowed his anger to show as he confronted Jarod with his long pent-up frustration and jealousy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never hit my wife. What has that bitch, Karen been telling you?”
Jarod stood still and watched Gareth silently as though he were looking at something slimy and filthy that had managed to slither into his notice.
“I found Elena’s earring in your desk drawer. You’ve been screwing my wife behind my back. That’s why I’m out here and that’s why I’m going to wipe this wharf with your insignificant carcass. I don’t care what your Neanderthal buddies do afterwards.”
Gareth advanced on Jarod, who easily parried the openly telegraphed move and using Kyusho-Jitsu techniques of pressure point fighting, caught his opponent and with his fingers splayed in a claw-like position, touched Gareth’s back. Gareth cried out in agony, as the pressure points and nerve clusters in his back were painfully and accurately pinched. He stumbled forward several steps and remained doubled over for a few seconds, to recover. In addition to telegraphing his moves, the expressions on Gareth’s face also broadcasted his intentions. Gareth saw his chance to finish the fight with a few decisive bone-breaking blows to effectively show this pretty-boy a thing or two and perhaps give him a permanent reminder of their fight.
Jarod, ever the pretender, waited as patiently as a spider for his quarry to step into his trap. As Gareth began to painfully recover from Jarod’s counter strike, Jarod moved to Gareth’s left and weaker side to test his ability. Gareth seeing the gambit was relieved and came at Jarod with surprising strength and speed. Jarod took the glancing blow Gareth delivered and struck him with another accurate blow paralyzing Gareth’s left side. Gareth’s arm hung limply as he looked at his appendage with confused concern. Jarod took advantage of Gareth’s confusion and quickly moved in and pinching another nerve bundle under Gareth’s other arm caused the man to bellow a suspiciously high octave scream. Gareth sank to the ground in agony.
“For the record, I have never slept with either Elena or Karen, for that matter. I have on the other hand, been watching you. I have on tape the night last week when you raped your own wife after beating her unmercifully and blaming her for your debased temper.” Gareth in blind anger rose up on his pain-racked right side and tried to ram his body into Jarod’s who again easily parried the move and delivered a hook-punch causing Gareth to fall like a sack of potatoes. Jarod walked up to one of his stevedore friends who handed him a cold glass of seawater. Jarod threw the entire contents into his opponent’s face, rousing him from unconsciousness.
“Oh, yum, that’s right lap it up. That’s wharf water and while as a rule it is usually vile, this water is special since it’s from a site that was supposedly cleaned up by your company!”
“Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?”
“You beat, raped, framed and terrorized a decent, loving and beautiful woman,” Jarod replied in a loud careful voice as though he were talking to a slow and violent child. At the surprised look on Gareth’s face, Jarod continued, “I did some additional digging through your financial records and found some interesting details. Details like the account you set up in Elena’s name to deposit skimmed funds from the company’s coffers, then redirected them to a numbered Cayman Island account. Very clever, if your theft was ever uncovered, then it would be Elena who would take the fall.”
Gareth’s pale, angry and craven expression was all he could summon by way of a response.
“I have a deal for you. Admit freely and openly in front of all these witnesses what you have been doing to Elena and I will give you the new access codes issued for your account. Take the money and run. For you own sake, don’t ever come back or try retaliating against Elena or I’ll return.”
“How did you find…” Gareth gasped incredulously. The idea that his carefully thought out plan, which took him years to perfect as well as implement, had not only been discovered but compromised, rocked him to the core.
“The original graft conducted by your former employees exposed you. You’re no financial wizard; all it took was some simple double-checking and following the trail of money assigned to each of your departments. Each should have had excessive funds but they all were experiencing impressive shortfalls in their respective budgets. At first I thought this was being done by one of the other thieves but I soon discovered the real culprit was you. Count yourself lucky that I don’t throw your worthless carcass into this sludge water. Time’s out and we’re all eager to hear what you have to say,” Jarod replied as he took a menacing step towards the still partially paralyzed, wife-beating thief.
With great reluctance and an angry scowl, Gareth slowly admitted to the years of beatings he inflicted on his wife. Generously sprinkling his confession with pathetic excuses and meaningless reasons for his behavior. When he was done, Jarod stared at him for a few moments before turning his back in disgust. Gareth, using the meager remnants of his restored energy, hauled himself up on his right side and hurled himself at Jarod. Jarod turned and delivered another hook-punch to Gareth, felling him again.
Several glasses of water were used to assist Gareth into consciousness. Jarod leaned over his prone boss and in a voice full of quiet menace stated, “This is what you’re going to do: you are going to give Elena a divorce and in the settlement you are going to be very generous. You will never see her again or attempt to have any contact with her. If you do, then the tape I’ve made of your sexual assault on her will be given to the police and portions of that tape will be distributed to the press which will negate any of the good the public thought you might have perpetrated.”
“Why? She doesn’t mean anything to you. She’s my wife and if she doesn’t object to the way she’s treated why should you?” Gareth asked breathlessly.
“As if you ever asked her if she objects! She’s your family. She’s probably the only person in the world who loves you, what kind of filth terrorizes someone who loves them? How did you like the beating I just gave you? Would you like me to return next week and give you another? Or perhaps you would prefer one of my friends give you that beating?” Watching the fear in Gareth’s face grow, the anger Jarod had been trying to keep in check spilled out. “She gave her life trying to save yours and this is what you’ve done with it? I would have given anything to be in your shoes but they killed her before she was able to get me or her own daughter out!” Shaking his head in disgust, Jarod walked a few steps away holding his hands up around his head trying to control the frustration enveloping him. “Do you think your intelligence was an accident? Well it wasn’t. You were supposed to be raised, like I was to serve but you were given a reprieve by the woman who smuggled you out. It was just dumb luck that you escaped the Centre’s ordered purge a few years ago. If I hear even a hint that you have hurt another woman again, I will come back and kill you, and that’s a promise.”
Jarod looked down at the wasted potential in this vile example of humanity and barely suppressing the urge to spit on him, Jarod stepped over Gareth’s body and walked away. For several minutes no one else moved, then one of the stevedore’s broke ranks and standing over Gareth’s body, he said loud enough for the other’s to hear, “I won’t wait for instructions from Muir, if I even see you look at your wife or any woman cross-eyed, the next night you will be curled up like this from the beat down I’ll deliver personally. We’ll be watching.”
Slowly the men all left, each giving Gareth a significant look that this wasn’t the last the he would hear from them. When they had all finally left, Gareth relaxed his partially paralyzed and battered body and heaved a sigh of relief. Just when he thought it was finally over, another figure emerged from the shadows of an adjacent warehouse. It was difficult to get a clear look at his face because the bill of his baseball cap cast another shadow across his features. The figure walked up to Gareth and stared at him curiously, saying nothing. When Gareth finally managed to look up, fear clouded his mind as he thought Jarod had returned. The figure had a similar build to Jarod but he was dressed differently.
After several minutes of silent appraisal, Gareth’s apprehension slackened just slightly as the man didn’t appear to have been involved with the prior assault.
“Please, help me. I was just mugged by a group of guys, they’re gone now but I think I need to go to the hospital,” whimpered Gareth. When he received no answer from the other man, Gareth added, “Look, I’ll make it worth your while.”
“How can you, if you say you were just mugged?” the man finally spoke in an almost friendly voice.
“I’m a wealthy man. Get me to a hospital, leave me your name and address or stick around if you want and I’ll pay you handsomely.”
A soft chuckle eased casually from the back of the stranger’s throat, he shook his head slightly and said in a slightly remonstrative voice, “Yeah, right and have you tell the cops that it was me who beat you up? Not a chance, buddy.”
Frustration was rebuilding in Gareth’s mind. He honestly intended to hold up his end of the bargain. “Look, I don’t have any money on me. Can you help me get home? Once I get there, I’ll give you money.” Desperation was evident in every word Gareth spoke. He was afraid the stranger was going to leave him alone on the dock. He hadn’t noticed the stranger, instead of moving away, inched closer.
The stranger squatted down and looked into Gareth’s face. Finally Gareth had the chance to look into his would-be savior’s face. The man had a clear face with smooth, even features and an easy smile. ‘Another pretty-boy.’ Gareth thought grimly.
“Well, I suppose by the time we get to your house, Jarod would have removed all the cameras and listening devices he planted in order to get that tape he was talking about,” the stranger stated in a still friendly manner. Fear practically closed Gareth’s throat as he heard the name of his former Financial Manager. He racked his brain to recall but knew for certain that neither he nor Jarod had mentioned each other’s name. Giving Gareth an easygoing and friendly smile the stranger said, “You know, cleaning up after Jarod has become a full time job. He leaves little loose ends all around like a messy kid. I have to admit though, this time he’s left a bigger mess than usual.”
The stranger smiled again and this time Gareth had the chance to look into his eyes which were as cold and unyielding as an Artic breeze. “You see, several months ago I almost died hating him. It was then I had my epiphany: my anger wasn’t properly directed or diversified and if I were going to prove myself, I would have to beat him at his own game. So my new mission is to spread good will where ever I go.”
“Who are you? What are you going to do?” Gareth asked in a small voice. The malevolent, flat look in the stranger’s eyes and face already provided the answer to at least one of his questions.
“My name is Alex and I came from the same place that Jarod came from. Mrs. Parker didn’t have a chance to rescue me either. Hell, I doubt she even knew or cared about me.”
“You said you hated him at one time. I think I might have something that will help you get back at him?” Gareth stated but it came out more like a question.
“Really? What is it?” Alex asked in his still friendly voice.
“If you promise not to hurt me, please I really don’t deserve this, any of this. I was just trying to defend my honor,” Gareth whined pitifully.
“Is that so? Well, show me what you have, it just might influence my decision.”
Cautious to the threat Alex posed, Gareth decided to play it safe with this nut job. “It’s in my back pocket. When I first discovered it, I had a chance to make a copy before he came into the office.”
While he spoke, Alex unbuttoned Gareth’s back pocket and took out a laser scanned copy of a small photo. It was too dark to see but Alex retrieved a tiny penlight from his jacket pocket and shined the light on the photo. Without making any comment, Alex put the photo in his pocket along with the penlight and returned to staring at Gareth. He then stood up abruptly and without warning he swiftly kicked Gareth several times in the torso and head, then viciously stomped on the man’s chest, breaking any ribs that the kicking left intact. Gareth muttered only a few shocked screams before being reduced to jagged gasps. Alex squatted down and stared the wife-beater in the face.
“Between you and me, the real reason golden-boy is so upset over this situation is because he is finally figuring out the obvious. You would think someone rumored to be as brainy as him would have stumbled onto it before now,” Alex said lightly as he tapped the picture in his pocket. “She’s one of our kind and she chose him back when they were kids. My guess is that his next destination is to find out if he’s too late.”
“Please…” Gareth muttered weakly as he felt the last of his strength slowly dissipate with the mild ocean breeze.
“Poor Jarod, he forgot about the truth contained in the quote: ‘Each man kills the thing he loves’. Now, we both know that you would never just leave Elena alone. Eventually, you would go back and slowly beat her to death just to piss-off Jarod. Fortunately, in following Jarod these past few months, I also stumbled onto a mistake I made and that would be you. I was one of the assassins the Centre sent out to kill the children Catherine Parker freed. I knew a couple of you were skipped along the way and here you are.” Reaching over Alex wrapped his left hand around the back of Gareth’s head, grasping the man’s chin in his right hand, Alex swiftly yanked Gareth’s head to one side, expertly breaking his neck. Alex straightened and gazed down at the dead man, satisfied with his work. He then weighted Gareth’s body down with heavy steel magnets that he removed from a warehouse crate and rolled Gareth’s body off the dock. The loud splash of water made a welcoming noise to Alex’s ears as he thought of the vaunted environmentalist sinking into the sludge he failed to clean up. Perhaps if the water were cleaner the authorities would have found the body. However speculation is useless since they never will.
Alex stood there for at least 20 minutes more until he was satisfied that the weighted body wouldn’t be popping back up any time soon. Then remembering, he pulled out the picture Gareth had handed him. An easy smile lit his features as he shook his head indulgently at his own thoughts. Jarod’s emotions were sneaking up on him and soon he will be too wrapped up in her, leaving Alex as the sole remaining Onisisus and the better pretender.
As Alex walked away, Kevin, the person Jarod had assigned to capture Gareth’s confession on videotape, shrank apprehensively behind some crates. He had taken a much needed bathroom break after Jarod left Gareth writhing on the wharf. By the time he returned, he noticed someone standing over Gareth, at first he thought Jarod had returned and he checked to make sure the video was still running. When he realized it wasn’t Jarod, Kevin continued to film as Alex with deadly precision, murdered Gareth and threw his body into the harbor. Kevin gingerly hid himself and his camera behind the grouping of crates he had set up to get a bird’s eye view of the action. He waited with the video still running afraid of shutting the mechanism down for fear of making too much noise and drawing the notice of the cold-blooded murderer on the wharf. Once the man had left, Kevin released a relieved sigh and decided to stay put for the rest of the night until he was certain the other man had left. Kevin turned the machine off and wondered how Jarod was going to react once he got a look at this.
Author’s note: The quote used in this portion of the story was borrowed from a beautiful and insightful poem written by Oscar Wilde.
Chapter 4
By Callisto
Trask Enterprises
Seattle, WA
The meeting was winding down after a number of issues were finally solved with viable resolutions. Everyone around the table released a collective sigh of relief that the meeting was finally over. The tension between Gareth and Jarod was thick and rife with unstated hostility. Many of the long-time employees knew that Jarod’s days in the company were numbered and would have been surprised to see him at work in the morning. Everyone but Gareth regretted the expected loss of Jarod. He had brought a stability, intelligence and balance to the management team. The lower level employees liked his management style, his easygoing nature was perfectly suited to work with the diverse selection of personalities and garnered loyalty that didn’t have to be brought or cajoled.
Gareth was the first to rise from his seat to stretch; this was a signal to the others that they were free to leave. Slowly the other manager’s rose and each in their turn either patted Jarod on the back or shook his hand as they cast him a significant glance in grateful acknowledgement for putting their business in order. Once they were alone, Jarod turned to Gareth and said, “I believe there are a number of things we need to discuss to clear the air. How about a drive? It’s stuffy in here after being cooped up for so many hours.”
Gareth studied Jarod calculatingly. He knew the other man was up to something but he felt confident that pretty-boy wouldn’t pull anything serious on him. Gareth prided himself on his ability to read people and instinctively knew Jarod wouldn’t try anything impulsively. Gareth felt very confident that he could handle himself quite well under almost any set circumstances this guy could dish out. Mutely nodding his approbation, Gareth allowed Jarod to lead the way outside and to his car.
North Harbor-near Terminal 25
Seattle, WA
Jarod smoothly brought the dark green Ford Taurus to a stop at the deserted terminal area and alighted from the car. He stretched his cramped muscles and glancing at his companion, noticed that Gareth was standing next to the vehicle looking around nervously. Jarod suddenly began to walk towards one of the large warehouses adjacent to the wharf as a small dangerous smile crept onto his face. Jarod stopped unexpectedly and turned to face Gareth.
“I believe this will be the perfect place to have our discussion. It’s far enough away so no one from the company will accidentally overhear our conversation and it also provides an appropriate setting, don’t you think?” Jarod asked quietly.
“What is this, why did you drag me out in the middle of nowhere? What’s going on here?” Gareth asked nervously. For once his confidence was beginning to falter.
“From the smug expression on your face back at the office, I was under the impression that you possessed an unfair advantage. Now, I realize this is your modus operendi, catching your prey at their weakest to insure your own supremacy but it’s about time you were forced to prove yourself on a more level field. Besides, your reputation as a dangerous man proceeds you, I wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be interrupted.”
As Jarod was talking, several large, muscular men appeared out of nowhere and quickly surrounded the two men. Looking around, Gareth could only see one way out—the open maw of the warehouse with its massive stacks of crates and containers waiting to be loaded. One of the men approached Gareth and roughly frisked him, relieving him of his butterfly knife.
Noticing Gareth’s sudden apprehension and his less than surreptitious glance at his only avenue of escape, Jarod taunted, “come now, you’re supposed to be a tough guy. Where is your courage when faced with someone your own size?”
“What about them?” he asked, nodding at the twenty, well-muscled stevedores who had surrounded the pair.
“Don’t worry about them, they’re here to insure you don’t run away before I’m finished with you. I can vouch for their characters, something anyone with an ounce of morality would find difficult to do for you. They have agreed not to interfere—yet. Some of them have assured me that you are a real man who is merely misunderstood and only beats on his wife for practice. Well practice is over,” Jarod sneered with quiet menace as he watched the man he had previously admired, squirm at the tone of his angry disgust.
Anger and understanding flooded Gareth’s mind. Unwisely, he allowed his anger to show as he confronted Jarod with his long pent-up frustration and jealousy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never hit my wife. What has that bitch, Karen been telling you?”
Jarod stood still and watched Gareth silently as though he were looking at something slimy and filthy that had managed to slither into his notice.
“I found Elena’s earring in your desk drawer. You’ve been screwing my wife behind my back. That’s why I’m out here and that’s why I’m going to wipe this wharf with your insignificant carcass. I don’t care what your Neanderthal buddies do afterwards.”
Gareth advanced on Jarod, who easily parried the openly telegraphed move and using Kyusho-Jitsu techniques of pressure point fighting, caught his opponent and with his fingers splayed in a claw-like position, touched Gareth’s back. Gareth cried out in agony, as the pressure points and nerve clusters in his back were painfully and accurately pinched. He stumbled forward several steps and remained doubled over for a few seconds, to recover. In addition to telegraphing his moves, the expressions on Gareth’s face also broadcasted his intentions. Gareth saw his chance to finish the fight with a few decisive bone-breaking blows to effectively show this pretty-boy a thing or two and perhaps give him a permanent reminder of their fight.
Jarod, ever the pretender, waited as patiently as a spider for his quarry to step into his trap. As Gareth began to painfully recover from Jarod’s counter strike, Jarod moved to Gareth’s left and weaker side to test his ability. Gareth seeing the gambit was relieved and came at Jarod with surprising strength and speed. Jarod took the glancing blow Gareth delivered and struck him with another accurate blow paralyzing Gareth’s left side. Gareth’s arm hung limply as he looked at his appendage with confused concern. Jarod took advantage of Gareth’s confusion and quickly moved in and pinching another nerve bundle under Gareth’s other arm caused the man to bellow a suspiciously high octave scream. Gareth sank to the ground in agony.
“For the record, I have never slept with either Elena or Karen, for that matter. I have on the other hand, been watching you. I have on tape the night last week when you raped your own wife after beating her unmercifully and blaming her for your debased temper.” Gareth in blind anger rose up on his pain-racked right side and tried to ram his body into Jarod’s who again easily parried the move and delivered a hook-punch causing Gareth to fall like a sack of potatoes. Jarod walked up to one of his stevedore friends who handed him a cold glass of seawater. Jarod threw the entire contents into his opponent’s face, rousing him from unconsciousness.
“Oh, yum, that’s right lap it up. That’s wharf water and while as a rule it is usually vile, this water is special since it’s from a site that was supposedly cleaned up by your company!”
“Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?”
“You beat, raped, framed and terrorized a decent, loving and beautiful woman,” Jarod replied in a loud careful voice as though he were talking to a slow and violent child. At the surprised look on Gareth’s face, Jarod continued, “I did some additional digging through your financial records and found some interesting details. Details like the account you set up in Elena’s name to deposit skimmed funds from the company’s coffers, then redirected them to a numbered Cayman Island account. Very clever, if your theft was ever uncovered, then it would be Elena who would take the fall.”
Gareth’s pale, angry and craven expression was all he could summon by way of a response.
“I have a deal for you. Admit freely and openly in front of all these witnesses what you have been doing to Elena and I will give you the new access codes issued for your account. Take the money and run. For you own sake, don’t ever come back or try retaliating against Elena or I’ll return.”
“How did you find…” Gareth gasped incredulously. The idea that his carefully thought out plan, which took him years to perfect as well as implement, had not only been discovered but compromised, rocked him to the core.
“The original graft conducted by your former employees exposed you. You’re no financial wizard; all it took was some simple double-checking and following the trail of money assigned to each of your departments. Each should have had excessive funds but they all were experiencing impressive shortfalls in their respective budgets. At first I thought this was being done by one of the other thieves but I soon discovered the real culprit was you. Count yourself lucky that I don’t throw your worthless carcass into this sludge water. Time’s out and we’re all eager to hear what you have to say,” Jarod replied as he took a menacing step towards the still partially paralyzed, wife-beating thief.
With great reluctance and an angry scowl, Gareth slowly admitted to the years of beatings he inflicted on his wife. Generously sprinkling his confession with pathetic excuses and meaningless reasons for his behavior. When he was done, Jarod stared at him for a few moments before turning his back in disgust. Gareth, using the meager remnants of his restored energy, hauled himself up on his right side and hurled himself at Jarod. Jarod turned and delivered another hook-punch to Gareth, felling him again.
Several glasses of water were used to assist Gareth into consciousness. Jarod leaned over his prone boss and in a voice full of quiet menace stated, “This is what you’re going to do: you are going to give Elena a divorce and in the settlement you are going to be very generous. You will never see her again or attempt to have any contact with her. If you do, then the tape I’ve made of your sexual assault on her will be given to the police and portions of that tape will be distributed to the press which will negate any of the good the public thought you might have perpetrated.”
“Why? She doesn’t mean anything to you. She’s my wife and if she doesn’t object to the way she’s treated why should you?” Gareth asked breathlessly.
“As if you ever asked her if she objects! She’s your family. She’s probably the only person in the world who loves you, what kind of filth terrorizes someone who loves them? How did you like the beating I just gave you? Would you like me to return next week and give you another? Or perhaps you would prefer one of my friends give you that beating?” Watching the fear in Gareth’s face grow, the anger Jarod had been trying to keep in check spilled out. “She gave her life trying to save yours and this is what you’ve done with it? I would have given anything to be in your shoes but they killed her before she was able to get me or her own daughter out!” Shaking his head in disgust, Jarod walked a few steps away holding his hands up around his head trying to control the frustration enveloping him. “Do you think your intelligence was an accident? Well it wasn’t. You were supposed to be raised, like I was to serve but you were given a reprieve by the woman who smuggled you out. It was just dumb luck that you escaped the Centre’s ordered purge a few years ago. If I hear even a hint that you have hurt another woman again, I will come back and kill you, and that’s a promise.”
Jarod looked down at the wasted potential in this vile example of humanity and barely suppressing the urge to spit on him, Jarod stepped over Gareth’s body and walked away. For several minutes no one else moved, then one of the stevedore’s broke ranks and standing over Gareth’s body, he said loud enough for the other’s to hear, “I won’t wait for instructions from Muir, if I even see you look at your wife or any woman cross-eyed, the next night you will be curled up like this from the beat down I’ll deliver personally. We’ll be watching.”
Slowly the men all left, each giving Gareth a significant look that this wasn’t the last the he would hear from them. When they had all finally left, Gareth relaxed his partially paralyzed and battered body and heaved a sigh of relief. Just when he thought it was finally over, another figure emerged from the shadows of an adjacent warehouse. It was difficult to get a clear look at his face because the bill of his baseball cap cast another shadow across his features. The figure walked up to Gareth and stared at him curiously, saying nothing. When Gareth finally managed to look up, fear clouded his mind as he thought Jarod had returned. The figure had a similar build to Jarod but he was dressed differently.
After several minutes of silent appraisal, Gareth’s apprehension slackened just slightly as the man didn’t appear to have been involved with the prior assault.
“Please, help me. I was just mugged by a group of guys, they’re gone now but I think I need to go to the hospital,” whimpered Gareth. When he received no answer from the other man, Gareth added, “Look, I’ll make it worth your while.”
“How can you, if you say you were just mugged?” the man finally spoke in an almost friendly voice.
“I’m a wealthy man. Get me to a hospital, leave me your name and address or stick around if you want and I’ll pay you handsomely.”
A soft chuckle eased casually from the back of the stranger’s throat, he shook his head slightly and said in a slightly remonstrative voice, “Yeah, right and have you tell the cops that it was me who beat you up? Not a chance, buddy.”
Frustration was rebuilding in Gareth’s mind. He honestly intended to hold up his end of the bargain. “Look, I don’t have any money on me. Can you help me get home? Once I get there, I’ll give you money.” Desperation was evident in every word Gareth spoke. He was afraid the stranger was going to leave him alone on the dock. He hadn’t noticed the stranger, instead of moving away, inched closer.
The stranger squatted down and looked into Gareth’s face. Finally Gareth had the chance to look into his would-be savior’s face. The man had a clear face with smooth, even features and an easy smile. ‘Another pretty-boy.’ Gareth thought grimly.
“Well, I suppose by the time we get to your house, Jarod would have removed all the cameras and listening devices he planted in order to get that tape he was talking about,” the stranger stated in a still friendly manner. Fear practically closed Gareth’s throat as he heard the name of his former Financial Manager. He racked his brain to recall but knew for certain that neither he nor Jarod had mentioned each other’s name. Giving Gareth an easygoing and friendly smile the stranger said, “You know, cleaning up after Jarod has become a full time job. He leaves little loose ends all around like a messy kid. I have to admit though, this time he’s left a bigger mess than usual.”
The stranger smiled again and this time Gareth had the chance to look into his eyes which were as cold and unyielding as an Artic breeze. “You see, several months ago I almost died hating him. It was then I had my epiphany: my anger wasn’t properly directed or diversified and if I were going to prove myself, I would have to beat him at his own game. So my new mission is to spread good will where ever I go.”
“Who are you? What are you going to do?” Gareth asked in a small voice. The malevolent, flat look in the stranger’s eyes and face already provided the answer to at least one of his questions.
“My name is Alex and I came from the same place that Jarod came from. Mrs. Parker didn’t have a chance to rescue me either. Hell, I doubt she even knew or cared about me.”
“You said you hated him at one time. I think I might have something that will help you get back at him?” Gareth stated but it came out more like a question.
“Really? What is it?” Alex asked in his still friendly voice.
“If you promise not to hurt me, please I really don’t deserve this, any of this. I was just trying to defend my honor,” Gareth whined pitifully.
“Is that so? Well, show me what you have, it just might influence my decision.”
Cautious to the threat Alex posed, Gareth decided to play it safe with this nut job. “It’s in my back pocket. When I first discovered it, I had a chance to make a copy before he came into the office.”
While he spoke, Alex unbuttoned Gareth’s back pocket and took out a laser scanned copy of a small photo. It was too dark to see but Alex retrieved a tiny penlight from his jacket pocket and shined the light on the photo. Without making any comment, Alex put the photo in his pocket along with the penlight and returned to staring at Gareth. He then stood up abruptly and without warning he swiftly kicked Gareth several times in the torso and head, then viciously stomped on the man’s chest, breaking any ribs that the kicking left intact. Gareth muttered only a few shocked screams before being reduced to jagged gasps. Alex squatted down and stared the wife-beater in the face.
“Between you and me, the real reason golden-boy is so upset over this situation is because he is finally figuring out the obvious. You would think someone rumored to be as brainy as him would have stumbled onto it before now,” Alex said lightly as he tapped the picture in his pocket. “She’s one of our kind and she chose him back when they were kids. My guess is that his next destination is to find out if he’s too late.”
“Please…” Gareth muttered weakly as he felt the last of his strength slowly dissipate with the mild ocean breeze.
“Poor Jarod, he forgot about the truth contained in the quote: ‘Each man kills the thing he loves’. Now, we both know that you would never just leave Elena alone. Eventually, you would go back and slowly beat her to death just to piss-off Jarod. Fortunately, in following Jarod these past few months, I also stumbled onto a mistake I made and that would be you. I was one of the assassins the Centre sent out to kill the children Catherine Parker freed. I knew a couple of you were skipped along the way and here you are.” Reaching over Alex wrapped his left hand around the back of Gareth’s head, grasping the man’s chin in his right hand, Alex swiftly yanked Gareth’s head to one side, expertly breaking his neck. Alex straightened and gazed down at the dead man, satisfied with his work. He then weighted Gareth’s body down with heavy steel magnets that he removed from a warehouse crate and rolled Gareth’s body off the dock. The loud splash of water made a welcoming noise to Alex’s ears as he thought of the vaunted environmentalist sinking into the sludge he failed to clean up. Perhaps if the water were cleaner the authorities would have found the body. However speculation is useless since they never will.
Alex stood there for at least 20 minutes more until he was satisfied that the weighted body wouldn’t be popping back up any time soon. Then remembering, he pulled out the picture Gareth had handed him. An easy smile lit his features as he shook his head indulgently at his own thoughts. Jarod’s emotions were sneaking up on him and soon he will be too wrapped up in her, leaving Alex as the sole remaining Onisisus and the better pretender.
As Alex walked away, Kevin, the person Jarod had assigned to capture Gareth’s confession on videotape, shrank apprehensively behind some crates. He had taken a much needed bathroom break after Jarod left Gareth writhing on the wharf. By the time he returned, he noticed someone standing over Gareth, at first he thought Jarod had returned and he checked to make sure the video was still running. When he realized it wasn’t Jarod, Kevin continued to film as Alex with deadly precision, murdered Gareth and threw his body into the harbor. Kevin gingerly hid himself and his camera behind the grouping of crates he had set up to get a bird’s eye view of the action. He waited with the video still running afraid of shutting the mechanism down for fear of making too much noise and drawing the notice of the cold-blooded murderer on the wharf. Once the man had left, Kevin released a relieved sigh and decided to stay put for the rest of the night until he was certain the other man had left. Kevin turned the machine off and wondered how Jarod was going to react once he got a look at this.
