The Mule

Chapter 4

Marissa braced for the impact. She let go of one crutch and tried to deflect the blow with her hand. She felt the pain of the weapon connecting with the inside of her wrist. The next one caught her in the abdomen and she fell back against the vanity. More punches were thrown and she fell to the floor. Punches were replaced with kicks to her torso. Instinctively, she curled up in a ball to protect her vital organs, which resulted in Tomas kicking her in the back instead. He stayed away from her head. They never left marks on a person's face – unless they were planning on killing them.

Eventually, the beating stopped. Tomas walked out, leaving Marissa lying on the floor, battered and bruised. She heard the apartment door close behind him. Using her crutches for support, she tried to get up but was unable to. Her left wrist hurt like hell and a cut on the underside was bleeding. She managed to pull herself across the floor to where the toilet paper roll was. Fortunately, she was able to reach it and tear what was left of the roll off. Holding the tissue to the wound, it bled through within seconds. She lost consciousness.

Marissa came to when she felt a hand on her other wrist. She opened her eyes and saw a strange man. She screamed and tried to get away from him. "Marissa, it's okay, Dr Mike was just feeling for a pulse. We didn't know if you were alive or not." It was Brian talking. "Mike is going to take care of you and treat your injuries."

"How did you...?" she asked in a weak voice.

"Tomas called me after he left. I apologize for what he did. He is never supposed to do that without direction from a superior and he will be disciplined for this."

"Brian, he said I was short – I didn't take any!"

"I know, June. We got a call from the people who helped you get ready to come back. They found the missing one after you'd left. It had fallen on the floor. It wasn't anyone's fault, just something that happens. Had Tomas checked his voicemail when the plane landed, he'd have known that. Don't worry, you won't see him again. We're moving him to another city."

"Dr Mike" - Marissa was sure it was an alias – had been assessing her injuries. He stood up. "I need to go to the car to get my suture kit. There's a couple wounds that need stitches. I don't know if that wrist is broken or not – can you get her to the hospital for an x-ray?"

"It's best not to. Too big a risk the doctor would call the police – it's pretty obvious she was beat up. We can't pass this off as a fall."

"Well, if there's no improvement in a couple weeks, it really should be x-rayed."

"All right, we'll find a way if we need to."

Brian picked her up and took her to the bedroom while the doctor fetched his kit. Marissa was in too much pain to care if she got blood on her sheets. She could replace them if it wouldn't come out.

While he sutured her cuts, Dr Mike said to her "You are going to be very sore for a while, doll." Marissa cringed at the cutesy name, but she felt that maybe he did not know everything about what was going on. The way Brian had talked to her, not out and out referring to smuggled drugs, made her think that the doctor wasn't in the loop. She wondered if the Cartel had some dirt on Mike and had threatened him to get him to come and probably keep quiet about it. "I can't give you a prescription for pain medication, I'm sorry." Marissa wondered why.

"Mike, write down what she needs and I'll make sure she gets it", Brian said to him. "June, do you need anything before we go?"

"I need my crutches. Can you please get them from the bathroom?" She didn't tell him that she had pain medication – the ER doctor who diagnosed her kidney stones and tumour had given her a script for a strong painkiller. But she couldn't tell Brian, as she didn't want him to know about the tumour.