She Will Be Mine

Chapter 4: Charlie

​After attending to Des on the ground floor, I walked back to my office to make sense of this whole morning. It wasn't even ten in the morning, and my headache had already progressed to a migraine. My stomach churned at the thought of continuing at all, but I pushed through it.
​Once I made it to my office, I noticed right away that a thin manila envelope was lying on my desk. It had no return postage, no stamp, no anything. Glancing over it, I could tell right away that no fingerprints would be found on this bad boy. Pulling on some latex gloves, I set to work on it.
​Upon first looking at it, it seemed like a regular looking envelope. But upon opening, it turned to be something much more sinister.
​Inside, stuffed inside the thing, were hundreds of pictures. And they were all pictures of Des.
* * *
​The man laughed as he walked away from his apartment to the street and towards the Starbucks across from his target. He smiled as the sun peaked over the buildings of New York, paid for his coffee, and continued on his way. He watched as everyone went on their morning business, and listened for the silence that would soon be interrupted by something much more exciting.
* * *
​Littered across my desk were hundreds of photos. Looking at them, I could see that they were recent. I recognized the scarf in one picture as something Des wore last week. This man was very thorough at what he does¸ I thought as I looked through them. On the back of one photo, there was a note, in generic ink with generic handwriting. I read it slowly, trying to get anything other than the message out of it.
​Mr. Michaels, it began. Yes, I know who you are, even if you don't know me. Hopefully we can meet soon, so you can really see who you are up against. As you can see, I am a powerful man, with many resources at my fingertips. I am not afraid to do what is needed to be done. Desiree will be mine. All I can hope is you are as brilliant as you claim to be, and not interfere with my work.
​My blood boiled at the audacity of the whole thing. Every man knew that I was not going to leave her alone. This just made it all the more interesting.
* * *
​I walked down to the Chiefs office, manila envelope in my hand. I was sweating, not looking forward to the confrontation that would come out of it. His hand was gripping the envelope tightly when suddenly; it felt like a bolt of electricity zapped through him. Falling to the floor, his last conscious thought was the picture of Des in the colorful scarf.
​The building erupted in flames as Charlie fell. Officers rushed out of their offices as they saw him lying in the middle of it all. The source was easily spotted. The manila envelope glowed in the middle, flames coming out of it like it was the pit of hell itself.
* * *
​The man watched as black smoke began to rise out of the top of the Empire State Building. Smiling, he downed his coffee as the sirens began to wail and streak towards the building. It would only be a matter of time, he thought to himself gleefully. I can only hope that I took some of them out with it.
* * *
​When I woke up, I was strapped to a gurney inside of an ambulance. An IV dripped into my arm, and a mask covered my nose and mouth. I smelled vaguely of smoke. The first responder noticed I was awake quickly. "Well well," he began, his beard obstructing mouth. "You are a very lucky man Mr. Michaels."
​Quickly, images began to come to me. Des in a scarf. An elevator. Photos. I struggled against the ropes holding me down. "Hold up now," the man held me down. "You just survived a deadly fire man, don't rush it,"
​"But Des," I spoke through the mask, breathing heavily.
​The man nodded. "She's fine. We got her out easier than we could you. Everyone survived, there's no need to panic," he walked over to the side of the ambulance and filled a needle with a clear liquid. "I'm just going to sedate you until we get to the hospital. I don't want you injuring yourself.
​As the drugs were pushed into my IV, I could feel my muscles relaxing. The fog began to come over my eyes, and I gave myself over to them.