The Aftermath

39

"I know you're awake Ms. Davis," Jim told her. "You snore."

Charlie shifted and turned her head to the sound of his voice. She was on the carpet, handcuffed with a black hood made of canvass over her head. Her legs were strapped together with rope.

Charlie cleared her throat, "What is this, a kidnapping? Fine, name a price, let's work something out and get back to our lives."

Jim Stewart was impressed. There was no fear in her voice, no wavering. "No Ms. Davis, this isn't a kidnapping. I don't want your money. I don't want anything from you except your death."

"My death? Then why am I still alive?" She asked, and again Jim was impressed.

"Because you need to be awake when you die Ms. Davis, or it doesn't go with the plan." Jim told her. "I learned at the trial that they can tell if you were awake or unconscious when the cutting begins. Something about peptides and levels of other stuff in the brain. Do you remember that part of the trial?"

She didn't move for a moment. Then she said, "Yes. Look, I don't know who you are, or why you are doing this, but you don't have to. You can walk away now. I don't know anything."

"My name is Jim Stewart, Ms. Davis, and this over here is Bobby Preston." Jim sat down on a chair they found in the empty office building. "So, now that you know who we are, no matter what you say, or how good your skills are at negotiation, even if you convince me that I have it all wrong, I'm still going to kill you. Understand?"

This time she jerked a little, but her voice remained calm, "Yes."

"Of course, there is dying, and then there is dying, isn't there. I mean, a bullet to your brain right now is one way to go. Poison, overdose, and a mess of others. But we aren't going to do it that way. We're going to do it the way they taught me in that court room." Jim told her. She strained at the handcuffs and worked her legs for a bit against the ropes.

Jim picked up a syringe. "But not exactly like that Ms. Davis. I'm not a complete monster yet. I have here a syringe full of a very strong drug. It's my own recipe. I used it many times down in South America and Central America for my country. We would use this drug to keep people quiet. Most of the time it knocks you out, but I've got another syringe here full of adrenaline, and that will keep you awake while you are being murdered."

She continued to struggle, her movements more desperate.

Jim stood up and walked over to the table they prepared. "I'm going to put the syringe with the drugs into you first. I'll use your juggler vein for that part. So if you have any prayers you want to say, best say them now, because once this drug hits you, even God Almighty isn't going to understand what you are blubbering about. Also, when I stick that needle in your neck, that is the indicator that you are about to die a long and horrible death."

"Do you know what happens after that?" Jim asked.

Her voice cracked a little this time, "You cut me open."

"No, no you are getting way a head of the game. And so was I with talking about the needle. First we strip you naked. Then we strap you down to the table. Now, I'm using what paramedics call a flat-board. They use it to keep the patient's back strait. This wasn't used on the girls, I know, but it is a good piece of wood and it has all of these holes here for the strap hooks."

"Before that part happens though, Bobby here has a request. You can just answer yes or no. You don't need to explain yourself and we won't judge you either way. Bobby wants to rape you. Well, have sex with you I guess, since we are asking your permission. This would be between cutting your clothing off and strapping you to the board. Mind you that you won't be drugged yet. However, it will be the last time in your life that you might experience something pleasurable. So, what do you say, yes, or no."