A Tale of Two Wives Ch. 03

"We've got to get Katie out of there!"

"I'll wait for you here Dan. I'm near the corner of Raleigh and 21st."

I used my GPS to find the address, about a block and half from the club. I joined Ben who was listening intently to feed from Katie's wire. He gave me a grin and a thumbs up.

"Katie's doing so well. Menard's thrown everything at her and she's stayed sweet and nice but hasn't given him an inch. You should be so proud of your wife right now."

I was proud. Katie was proving she could win the final round but I was also cross that she was in the ring at all; that she had gone to the club without telling me. I listened in to their conversation.

"So you won't even come upstairs for a few minutes to see my apartment?"

"No Robert, you know what would happen if I came up to your lair."

I could imagine her stunning smile softening her refusal.

"And would that be such a bad thing cherie? You enjoyed my touch last time we were together."

"And then felt so bad and guilty about what I had done. Robert you're a kind, generous, handsome man and I'm flattered that you want me. If I was single it would be different but I'm not. I'm a married woman. I love my husband and my daughter. I can't cheat on them Robert."

"And if I told you that your husband wanted you to be with me... that he found the idea of you and I making love to be very... arousing... what do you say... a big turn on."

"I'd say that you were fibbing Mr Menard... and I would have to hear it from my husband. He's not that sort man Robert... he'd never willingly let me go with another man."

"But he let you come on these dates... he must have known what could happen."

"He trusts me Robert and he knows that you are the sort of gentleman who would never force himself on an unwilling lady."

"OK, OK... you win. He is right. You are right. You must go back to your perfect life and leave poor Robert all alone but at least you will have one drink with me before you go.... No alcohol! I know... just lots of healthy fruit juice for the mother who is feeding. Tina... two club cocktails over here. One virgin and one very dirty."

I heard Robert's chuckle and looked at Ben in astonishment.

"Tina's there?"

"I didn't know. She hasn't spoken or been mentioned."

"But why would Menard have Tina there?"

"Maybe he wanted Katie to feel safe with another woman around. Maybe he's got some twisted thrill about seducing your new wife in front of your old one. I have no idea what this sick bastard has in his head."

There was a sudden shout from the receiver.

"Espèce de salope stupide! You've split the drinks all over her you stupid bitch."

"I'm so sorry Robert." It was Tina's voice. "I'll take her to the ladies room and get her cleaned up. Come on Katie. I'm very sorry... I've ruined your lovely top."

There was a brief pause as the women made their way to the rest room. Tina started in on Katie the moment the door was closed.

"What the hell are you doing here Katie? You know it's not safe. Robert's a very dangerous man. Do you want him to have you? Look at me? Do you want to end up as a whore? Do you want to break Dan's heart again? Does he even know you're here?"

"I had to come. I've been trying to distract Robert and he's been trying to seduce me... and last time he almost did. I couldn't let him win."

"Katie... this isn't a game... this is life and death stuff."

"I know... I know. He threatened you and our family if we didn't pay the money. We had to come up with a way of delaying him to keep everyone safe. So I went on some dates with him but this is the last one and I've won... I've proved I can beat him."

"Oh God... you did this to protect me. I dragged you all into this. I'm sorry Katie... beyond words. I've ruined my life but I never wanted to put you or Dan in danger. You don't know Robert. He won't give up and he doesn't play fair. That drink I spilled on you had enough Rohypnol to knock out an elephant. One way or another he was going to have you... just like he had me."

"And you saved me... thank you... so much."

"I haven't saved you yet. We've got to get you out of here. We can use your wet clothes as a reason for you to leave right now."

"But Robert's going to be really angry. Won't he take it out on you?"

"Maybe. But there's nothing he can do to me that he hasn't done already. Get back to Dan and your baby... don't even think about seeing Robert again."

There was another pause and the sound of a door opening and closing, then we heard Tina gasp.

"Robert!"

Katie was clearly thinking fast and hoping that someone was listening to her bug she described the scene.

"Robert, why are you and your bouncer pointing big guns at two defenseless women?"

"So it was all a trick chienne, a trick to delay me... but delay me why... so the police could arrest me... so the Colombians could kill me? Oh yes I know about their plans. They would take the money, my club and my life. But now I will disappear sooner and with a hostage. But I only need one... the other I will end here and now... but which one... the bitch who tricked me or the bitch who betrayed me. You are such a fool Tina... if you had just done as I said I was letting you go... you were free... but no... you had to go and warn this chatte mariée.''

Tina answered without a trace of fear in her voice.

"So shoot me Robert, you evil prick. No one cares about me. Katie has a baby and husband. She's a much better hostage..."

I flung open the car door and started to get out. Ben grabbed my arm but I pulled free.

"I've got to go Ben, I have to try to save them. If you go in there he knows you're a cop and someone will get killed. At least I have a chance."

Without waiting for his reply I sprinted round the corner and over to the club. The front door was locked but there was a slightly open window next to it. I shouted as loudly as I could.

"Robert... it's Dan Drew. We have to talk. I'm alone and unarmed. And I've got your money."

I waited for a few tense moments, my heart pounding, sweat trickling down the back of my neck. Finally the door opened and there was the big black bodyguard pointing a big black gun at my face. He gestured for me to enter and locked the door behind me.

He frisked me, roughly and thoroughly, then again with a wave of his gun indicated that I should go through into the bar where Robert had staged a victory scene for my ultimate humiliation. He was standing at the bar, a drink in one hand, his gun in the other.

(Apologies to all you gun nuts but I have no idea what sort of gun it was. It was big and squarish... maybe a Desert Eagle... I don't know.) He had his personal pistol out of his pants and both my wife and ex wife kneeling in front of him, naked, their clothes lying scattered beside them.

Menard spoke to me with an utterly false air of bonhomie.

"Ah, Docteur Dan... you have arrived just in time to watch your wife suck my cock. It looks as though she didn't win after all."

Katie looked at me, profoundly sorrowful.

"Dan I'm..."

Menard roughly interrupted, pulling her by the hair towards his erection.

"Silence chienne! You said you had the money, where is it? If you don't have it these bitches will die, right after I fuck them, then I shoot you too."

"Robert, I couldn't carry that much cash around. It's sitting in an account waiting for you. One phone call and I can transfer all it into whatever bank you choose... here or overseas."

"Tina... you have the number give it to him now and no more little accidents."

Tina stood, moved quickly to the reception area and copied a number from a notebook on to a piece of paper which she handed to me along with the cordless phone... her brown eyes brimming with tears.

"Make the transfer Docteur... right now."

"As soon as the women are safe Robert. Let them go and the moment they're outside the door the money is yours."

Menard pointed his gun at the two naked, terrified women.

"You are not in the position to bargain connard."

"You don't need them as hostages. You have me... a top surgeon. That's got to carry more weight. And Robert, think about it... up to now you haven't done anything that bad. You can walk out of here with the money and with me as your prisoner.... not hiding behind a woman. What sort of man does that? You can still go free Robert... but kill any of us and there'll be no money... just the police hunting you down or the Colombians, whichever gets to you first."

This was the best argument I could muster and Robert was seriously considering it. Things might have gone very differently but at that moment there was a commotion from the back of the club. We all spun round to look at the four men bursting in, all holding small sub machine guns.

For me everything happened in a blur of action. I turned to protect Katie who was still kneeling in front of Menard. She reached up and grabbed his balls, squeezing savagely. Menard staggered back, raising his gun. Without thinking I dived in between them. Menard fired and I felt something hit my shoulder so hard it felt like a blow from a sledgehammer.

I was falling on top of Katie as all hell broke loose. The noise was unbelievably loud and the smell appalling. I caught a glimpse of Ben bursting in through the front door, firing a shotgun as he came.

Then I was on top of Katie. Her face was covered with blood. I thought it was mine until I saw the wound in her forehead. Terror, pain and waves of darkness crashed over me.

But then there was light. I could feel Katie's presence all around me and her love was warmer than the summer sun. I wanted this feeling to go on forever but I felt Katie's voice speaking to me.

"You've got to on Dan honey, you've got to live for Lily. She's going to need a new Mom."

Abruptly she was gone and the darkness descended.

Tina's POV

The days that followed the Colombians' visit were the most tense of my life. My body slowly recovered from the beating Robert had given me but my mind was in turmoil. I really didn't care anymore what happened to me but I wanted Dan to be safe with his wife and his baby daughter. I'd seen their happy family pictures on Facebook and even though it hurt tremendously I always looked them up when I could get access to a computer. Dan was still my only love and I'd gazed longingly at the pictures of little Lily so often they were firmly imprinted on my brain.

After the initial shock, things went back to normal. It was a bit anticlimactic. Robert ignored me, which was good. I saw him going out a few times but there was nothing unusual about that. On Saturday evening, before my shift started, there was a fire in alley. Apparently some kids set fire to the rubbish in our bins but it was no big deal.

The next night Robert spoke to me, asking, no, ordering me to come in at 1pm on Monday, my day off. He said he had a special guest coming round and he wanted me there. My heart sank. Another session of prostituting myself for Robert's sleazy associates.

I was back in club at 1pm as ordered. Robert and Darius were there but no one else. Robert gave me explicit instructions.

"There is a young woman coming to see me this afternoon. We will talk, perhaps kiss and touch. Then if she comes up to my room you will follow with the video camera and record it all without being seen. If she refuses you will bring us the two drinks that are in the bar fridge. You will give her the one with the straw in the long glass. Soon after, when the drink has done its work, Darius will carry her upstairs and you will video me taking her on my bed."

I shook my head in disgust which earned me a vicious slap across my cheek from Robert.

"Listen to me, cunt... you do exactly what I tell you or the results will be very bad, badder than any pain you imagine." Robert relented a little. "But if you get it all right... perhaps you can take a little vacation... maybe this girl can take your place and you can go."

It shows just how low I'd become that I actually considered Robert's proposal for a moment, helping him to drug and rape some poor girl. However much he planned to punish me I would never do that. Then I saw the victim and I was profoundly shocked. It was Katie, Dan's Katie. I recognized her at once from the internet pictures. Now I understood why Robert ordered me to be here and record the seduction or rape on video. This way he was humiliating three people at once and proving his position of top dog.

I remained behind the bar. Katie smiled at me as she went past, a smile that lifted my spirits a little even in this dire situation. Did she recognize me from Dan's photos or did she smile like that for everybody?

Robert and Katie chatted for close to twenty minutes. Robert was trying all his best moves but Katie was having none of it. I could see that Robert was getting increasingly frustrated but was trying not to show it. Finally he looked in my direction and waved me over. I hurried to the table.

"Tina bring us two club cocktails... one virgin and one very dirty."

He gave me a smirk. We both knew that one of the cocktails was mildly alcoholic and the other was heavily drugged. I went back to the bar, put the cocktails on small tray and returned to the table. I'd thought about switching the drinks but the glasses were different shapes so I would have had to empty Robert's glass, pour Katie's drugged drink into it and refill Katie's with some genuine juice. There just wasn't time and Darius was watching me closely.

Only one idea came to mind. As I approached the table I pretended to trip and spilled the drinks all over Katie's top. Robert cursed at me in French and would have hit me if Katie hadn't been there. I made a fuss of trying to clean her up and led her away to the rest room.

I was hard on Katie at first. I couldn't believe that Dan would have let her come here nor that she'd been stupid enough to come on her own. When Katie told me that her dates with Robert had been a way of stalling him and protecting me I felt really bad. If I hadn't cheated on Dan and gone with Robert none of this would have happened, it was all my fault.

I was determined to get Katie out of the club, get her to safety. Her soaked top would give her a good excuse to leave but as we emerged from the ladies room to my horror, there were Robert and Darius waiting for us, both pointing large hand guns in our direction.

I had seen Robert angry before but not like this. His face was a rigid mask of rage and his eyes were glittering with malice. I've never seen anything so nakedly evil. Somehow he had heard what Katie and I said in the restroom. He must have had the room bugged. He may have even had a camera set up in there; I certainly wouldn't put it past him.

He was pointing his gun, first at Katie, then at me. He only needed one hostage and was going to shoot the other. I jumped in and pointed out that a young mother was a far more valuable hostage than a hooker. I also called Robert a prick to make sure that he killed me and not Katie but instead of shooting me, Robert decided to prolong his sadistic enjoyment. He ordered us both to strip quickly and threatened to kill us if we didn't comply.

Once we were both naked, feeling utterly vulnerable, he ordered us to kneel. I had no doubt what was coming next but hearing Dan's voice shouting from outside was a complete surprise. I wanted to scream out to him not to come in, but I was too terrified and needed him too much.

As Dan came in I felt so intensely proud of him. He was breathing hard from running but apart from that he seemed perfectly calm, unafraid and in control. He told Robert that he had the money ready to be transferred. Robert told me to fetch his account number and phone. It's ridiculous but as I went to get them I was acutely aware of being naked in front of my ex husband and being too thin.

As I gave Dan the phone and number he looked me straight in eyes and said thank you. There was no anger or hate in his slight smile only compassion and maybe affection.

Dan was bargaining hard, not just for Katie's freedom but for mine as well. He made a good case and Robert was weakening. I felt my hope rising. My darling Dan was going to save us, then it all turned into a crazy nightmare.

There was a noise from the back of the club. Four men with guns were rushing in. I recognized stocky and stubble, the other two I'd never seen. Darius opened fire first. He hit one of the Colombians then went down in a hail of bullets. There was a shot behind me and I spun round. Robert had shot Dan who was collapsing on top of Katie. If he could protect her I would protect him. I jumped between Dan and the Colombians. Something incredibly painful tugged at my side but I managed to stay standing. Two more hits, almost simultaneous, knocked me backwards and I fell. From the floor I saw Ben firing a shotgun again and again at the Colombians. He took a hit to the chest and was staggered but kept shooting. I tried to crawl to Dan but I couldn't move... I could barely breathe. I had no doubt I was dying. My last conscious thought was regret that I couldn't kiss him goodbye.

Dan's POV

When I came to I was in a hospital ward; in fact it was my hospital, where I'd worked for over a decade.

Ben was sitting in the chair next to my bed, doing something on his ipad. I tried to speak but my throat was so dry I only managed a croak. Ben smiled and passed me a cup of water with a straw.

"About time you woke up brother. You've been out for sixteen hours. You lost a lot of blood."

As I drank the water, memories came crashing down on me.

"Katie... she's..."

"She didn't make it Dan. You did your best to save her but the bullet went right through your shoulder and into her forehead. She died instantly."

It wasn't a surprise but the news still broke my heart. The pain was too much to process. I felt numb. I knew it would hit me later on and the thought filled me with fear. I moved on quickly.

"What about Tina?"

"She's alive but still in the ICU. She stepped in between you and the Colombians and was shot four times. One of her lungs was punctured but apart from that, no vital organs were hit. They're pretty sure she'll pull through."

I could see the top of a bandage under Ben's shirt.

"What about you Supercop? I saw you charging in. I'm surprised you didn't get blown to bits."

"Double Kevlar and an auto assault shotgun... never go into a gunfight without them."

"Menard? Please tell me he's dead."

"The Colombians wounded him before I took the last of them down. A stray shotgun blast finished him off."

I looked at Ben and he nodded grimly.

"Well done my friend, well done. You've done the whole world a favor. Where's Lily?"

"She's was here at the hospital with your mom until about fifteen minutes ago. Your mom took her home for a feed and a change."

Ben couldn't stay much longer. He had lengthy, carefully worded reports to write. He put his hand on my good shoulder before he left.

"Dan... there are no words for how sorry I am that it turned out like this. I wish I could do more but I'll be here for you... you know that."

"If it wasn't for you I'd be dead and Tina would be dead and Lily would be an orphan. You're the best Ben... the best friend ever."

Some of my colleagues popped in to see me which was brave of them. What do you say to someone whose wife has just been killed? All you can do is offer your sorrow, your support and your prayers. Fortunately my hospital friends were wise enough to avoid insensitive cliches. "I know just how you feel. When I lost my dog...." etc. No one knows exactly how you feel and being told about another person's losses is worse than unhelpful.

Thanks to Ben no reporters came round. Somehow the police managed to keep the whole thing low key. It was mentioned in the press as a drug-elated, gang land shooting. Katie, Tina and I were kept right out of it. You can imagine how the tabloids would have headlined the story of two naked women being shot, with absolutely no consideration for those involved. My mother came back about an hour later bringing Lily with her. All three of us were crying. I held my daughter with my good arm and sang to her. Even though the place was strange she knew my face and my voice. She settled down and went to sleep. I lay there quietly with unchecked tears streaming down my face.