Transit

"I can save you from those enemies. Succeed where I failed the last time. If you destroy me then the enemy will..."

"Shut it!" Garth spat out his words. Maria knew that her ploy was not working. Or was it? "You don't know what it's like to be poor. Be hounded by the cops for things you never did. They used to haul me in and beat me up until I confessed to crimes I never did." He stood up and the anger within him oozed out. "They shot him in cold blood."

"Who?"

"My brother!" He grasped his head in frustration. "They killed him in cold blood. He was only trying to run away from the bank robbers. He had escaped and run free and they shot him to pieces in the street."

Maria began to absorb his grief and understand. When she herself was in high school she remembered the time that a hostage had been killed by the police. An accident. Was Garth related to the victim? "I remember now" she whispered.

Garth turned and held the gun at the back of her head. "I was there with my mother waiting. We saw it happen in front of our eyes. We could see that Bobby was holding up his arms to them and then we heard the shots and he fell to the ground. My mother was hysterical and I couldn't move."

"It was an accident."

"No. They didn't care. They left him to die in the street. One cop even fired the last shot from above the bank that eventually freed him from his pain. Now you see why they are the enemy."

"But why are you doing these things?" Maria asked. Garth pulled her hair, raising her head to face him. The hurt made her cry out. "It's wrong." He looked at her face and saw the torture he was instilling into her. "I am not your enemy."

"Everyone out there is my enemy."

"I am your guardian angel remember."

"Fuck you!" He released his grip and knelt behind her, running the gun along her spine. His eyes took in the smooth form of her buttocks and the scent of her body, unclean and yet stimulating to his senses. He laid the gun beside him and opened his trousers, letting free his hardness that touched against her skin. "I'm going to fuck you angel." he whispered loudly.

Maria could feel him part her buttocks and run his fingers into her sex. She closed her eyes in anticipation and then felt his cock slide between her dry lips. Slowly he entered her and then began to pound her with each jerk of his hips. She gripped her hands tightly and re-lived the rape that she and Paul had concocted. In her mind she told herself that it was Paul. There was no orgasm rising to its climax for her, but Garth was steadily reaching his as he moaned and gripped her hips until she felt his fire shoot within her.

Garth collapsed beside her and she opened her eyes to look at him. "Are you proud of what you did? Did that do something good for you?" she asked heatedly. He opened his eyes and stared at her.

"It's what I do."

Banner and the two faithful officers who escorted him made their way through the busy morning traffic towards the old dockside estate. This time they had company, Paul Davies.

"Remember Davies, this whole thing is secret. Not a word to anyone else. Is that clear?" Banner told him. "We can do this without fuss and nobody will no any different"

Paul sat mulling it through his mind. He knew now that Banner had something to do with all of it. But Paul was only concerned for Maria. "Well, hurry up!"

Maria lay on the mattress recovering from her ordeal. This time it had been expected and she had learned from the experience. Now she waited to die.

Garth stood by the window looking out towards the river and the suspension bridge that spanned it, connecting one half of the city with the other. That morning had brought back solemn moments of the day his brother died. Memories that had been locked away in his mind for years and there was also a hint of regret for what he had just done.

"When are you going to end this for me?" Maria asked. "I'm waiting to die!" she shouted. She was beyond all panic and had become resigned to the torture and threat that hung over her.

"You ever watch the city in the morning?" he asked. "The river. The way the rising sun shines on the water? That warm soothing glow and the chaos that is all around it?" He turned to look at his captor. "You are part of all of this. Beauty among the chaos."

The double workshop doors flew open and the hail of shots rang out, echoing around the tall empty span of the room. Garth felt the bullets hit him, cutting into his flesh like hot heavy punches. Maria screamed out and curled up on the mattress. Garth took a sharp intake of breath as the pain began to reach his sensorium and looked at the two men holding their rifles. He smiled as he leaned against the wall, slowly sliding to the floor. Banner walked in from behind the men and made his way towards him. "You got me." he whispered looking up at the tall frame of Banner. He raised the gun to Banner who quickly reacted by pointing his gun. "Don't worry, It's empty." The gun dropped to the floor and Banner quickly recovered it. The magazine clip was empty.

Paul rushed in and comforted Maria. Banner stepped back and watched Garth's life drift from his body. "Go and find the others!" he ordered.

Marky Dayton lounged by his pool, relaxing into another sunny day when his cell phone rang. "Hello...Vernon, what's up?" Vernon was in a panic explaining what had happened the previous night in his office. "Look, I can deal with that. Just take it easy I'll get back to you, Ok?" Marky clicked off his phone and turned to his bodyguard beside him. "It looks like we have another body to take care of. That's not a problem."

He tapped out the number of Garth's cell phone and waited for it to answer. "Hi...who is this?"

"Guess who Marky?" Banner replied. "I am afraid Garth is not available right now. Infact I don't think he ever will be. You and I have to do some serious talking."

"What the fuck have you done Banner?"

"What I said I would do. Meet me at the usually place. Alone this time."

Paul waited for Maria in her apartment. He could hear the shower running and her cries as she washed herself clean under the soothing spray of warm water. He pushed open the bathroom door and saw her kneeling inside the frosted glass unit, realizing that all of this had come to nothing that would bring real justice. The transit rapists had all gone now. Maria had achieved half of her goals, but the manipulators would go free.

He looked down at the coffee table and three photographs of himself taken while he was on the streets over the past week. There was a letter attached to one of them which simply said:

"Your lover. These were going to be sent to the rapists. I thought you might have a use for them instead."

Maria walked into the lounge draped in her bathrobe. She threw her arms around Paul from behind him and held him tight. "These photographs?" he asked. "Who sent them to you?"

She looked at them and shuck her head. "No idea. They came hand delivered to my door the other day. Someone obviously thought about me who is part of the gang."

"Banner."

"Perhaps. Who knows?" She took the photographs from his hand and threw them onto the table. "It's over now. The rapists are gone."

"It's not over. Your boss and the others are still free." he said.

"I think we have done enough. Let's leave it at that. I don't want anymore trouble."

Marky drove onto the waste ground alone in his sports car. Banner and his two escorts had been waiting for some time before Marky drew up beside them. Marky was crazed with anger as he stepped out of his car. "Get out here you shit face!" he yelled out to Banner.

Banner stepped out and towered above Marky who looked up at him. "OK, I'm out. So what now?"

"I can drop you guys in the shit anytime I want. You fucked up good style."

"No. We got rid of a problem that you helped to start." Banner replied. "There is no problem anymore. The subways and busses are safe once again."

"What about the fucking girl and her lover?"

"What about them, Marky? Do you and Wiles want to do something about them? Get yourselves in deeper shit? Care to divulge what you intend to do?"

"The bodies. What about Garth and his crew?"

"They're gone. Nobody will miss them, because they have nobody that cares." Banner replied with a proud smile. "So it's all down to you and Wiles. And you have no evidence that we were involved now that Garth is out of the picture."

"But the girl and this guy know everything."

"Do they? I just spoke to them. Both of them have no future here. They dream like everyone else. You could help them both financially. Make their dreams come true." Banner pushed a sheet of paper into Marky's shirt pocket. "Call that a bill for services rendered. Best pay it in full if you and Wiles want to stay clear in future. You and I know how much silence costs these days. It don't come cheap."

Banner stepped back into his car and smiled at Marky as they drove away. Marky took out the slip of paper and read it. A demand for silence money, which Banner would now oversee for himself, the journalist and her lover.