*** This work is my own and may not be reprinted without permission.
THE PRO
Gantry was trolling for another mark.
The first was a young hooker new to the streets. He offered her twenty dollars for a blowjob in a junkyard not far away. She was nervous and not experienced. A runaway, she said. She'd come to the city with a bus ticket and sixty dollars in tips she'd saved. She'd only been there a month and was working for herself. He could tell because she was standing off by herself hugging herself against the chill. He could tell the other girls had run her out of their territory. She climbed into the front seat of his van and he drove to the designated spot. He made her undress completely in the back of his van before he had her take him. It pleased him that he humiliated her. If it weren't so cold he would have made her do it outside. She had the body of a child. Her chest was flat. She had little pubic hair. When she finished he pushed the tazer against her back and then gave her an injection. He was out the back door before the shock wore off. After twenty minutes of driving the drug took effect and she stopped pounding on the panel separating the back from the front of the vehicle. Naïve.
The second mark was a young junkie sitting cross-legged against the fence at Washington Square Park. He asked her if she turned tricks for drugs. She didn't even see the other girl unconscious on the floor until he had the door closed in the back of the van. He offered her the makings and watched her shoot up. Desperate.
The third was a little more difficult. Gantry had to follow him for a while because he wasn't alone. He didn't want the mark's companions to see his vehicle. Not that it would make much difference. A non-descript white van. No markings, no windows in the back. The tags were stolen and he changed them after every harvest. But the fewer mistakes the better. Mistakes were what caught you in traps. Traps like Miss Naïve and Miss Desperate were caught in now.
This one was young too. The younger the better. The bosses paid him a cut of the profits and the longer they could work, the more money he would make. He took the risks and the bosses were willing to pay well for his silence. They expected silence even if he were caught. But he hadn't been caught. He just had to keep it that way.
Finally the mark said goodnight to his two companions and was walking alone presumably to his home. He had just come from a party of some sort and was under the influence. He was giggling to himself as Gantry pulled into the next alley. He got out of the van and leaned against it pulling out a cigarette as the mark approached. He was probably nineteen, but not college material. Tall and lanky, dark hair.
Gantry lit his cigarette. "You wouldn't happen to have the time would you?"
The mark smiled. "A little after two."
"You want a lift?"
"Thanks. Maybe I will."
That was easier than Gantry thought. In the front seat of the van he pretended to offer him a smoke, but it was the tazer again and the guy never had a chance. What kind of idiot would take a ride from a stranger after midnight in New York?" Invincible.
The fourth he wasn't planning on, but she was begging. She looked like she had been beaten and she was flagging him down in the street with her blouse torn and a bloody nose. She couldn't wait to get in the van. He promised her a ride to the police department. Serendipitous.
And now he was looking for one more. One last mark before he met the taxi man. He went through one of the red light districts. There were so many and he knew them all. He was looking for someone who was standing far enough off that no one could describe him. He parked the van a little way off and stood outside it with the hood of his jacket drawn up. Finally a girl approached him. Well, girl was a loose description. This one was mid forties with a blond wig. She was "buxom" and at risk of spilling out of the costume she was wearing. She had obviously lived hard and looked older than her age from close up.
"You got an itch you need scratched?"
"Maybe. How much?"
"Twenty for a blowjob."
"I got a young girl for that the other day."
"Old girls know more about pleasing than young girls do."
"I don't have twenty."
"How much you got?"
"Ten."
"Damn." She looked over her shoulder at the other girls down the block and then turned back to him.
"Okay, but right here. I'm not going anywhere else for ten bucks."
He shrugged. "Back of my van?"
"Alright."
He backed into the van first and she followed him in. Tazer. Injection. Should have known better.
He climbed into the front of the van and pulled onto the now quiet street. Not even three hours work and he had kidnapped five people. Maybe two would be missed. Maybe the police would be looking hard for one of them. Twenty minutes later he pulled into a parking lot near Fulton Street. A taxi was waiting and followed him into an empty warehouse. The cab driver was already pulling an unconscious girl from the back seat of the car by the time he got the back door of the van unlocked. A tall blond whose head was lolling to the side. He helped put her in the van and then went with the driver to unload the other girl. Miniskirt and no underwear. She looked like a college student. He took hold of her knees and spread her legs to carry her. He knew better than to do anything other than look at her before bringing her in even though he considered it. That one would go for a high price. Reluctantly he loaded her into the back of the van and secured the door.
"I got discs too. I'll get 'em."
He watched the driver go back to his car. They knew each other only by sight. No names. It was better that way. He just got a call on a prepaid cell telling him when to meet and he would show up. The taxi was like his van. It was purchased used from a hack and looked like one of the business cabs. The ID number and tags were changed after every harvest as well. The driver returned with several CD cases and a manilla envelope and handed them to Gantry.
Forty-five minutes later he made a phone call on the prepaid cell and then backed the van through a rolling garage door into the last bay in a storage facility that rented out space. It was adjacent to a warehouse next to the Hudson River that stored and distributed liquor. The bay he backed into had boxes stacked up against both walls. The back wall looked solid, but once the exterior door was closed he pushed a series of buttons on a keypad on his visor and it lifted back to reveal a ramp into a lengthy concrete tunnel. He backed through and closed the second door and backed to yet another door then waited until that door was opened for him only moments later. He backed through the last door and shut the vehicle off as that door also rolled shut. There were fluorescent lights and multiple cameras in the ceiling of the cubicle he now found himself in. He heard the magnetic locks release on the double doors as he approached the back of the van. He opened the van doors as the double doors opened and a male in street clothes entered. Gantry knew him as Joseph, but he knew it wasn't his real name. No one knew anyone's real name here. This was not the real world. Joseph nodded to him and together they carried the seven unconscious people through the double doors and into another room off to the side. The room had ten cots and multiple cameras. The lighting was low. The floor was concrete. The walls were cinderblock painted white. They deposited the people on the cots and Gantry followed Joseph into an adjoining room. Gantry hadn't seen a room in the place that didn't have multiple cameras and magnetic locks on heavy steel doors.
*************
Julia was shuffling papers in a small office when Joseph pecked on the door and entered. "The first one is waking up. Are you ready for me to bring her?" Julia didn't even look up from her paperwork.
"Yes, Joseph."
It was Serendipitous with her torn blouse. She was awake but disoriented as Joseph led her in and invited her to sit in a chair across from Julia. Joseph introduced Julia. "This is Detective Becker. Detective Becker this is Stephanie Chase. She wants to report an assault." Joseph left the room and Julia smiled.
"Tell me what happened, Stephanie."
Stephanie looked around her, confused as to why she would be asleep on a cot. "How did I get here?"
"A citizen brought you in, but you must have passed out while you were waiting. We waited for you to wake up again. Who was it that assaulted you?"
"My... my friend's brother. His name is Andrew McCarthy."
"Was he your boyfriend?"
"No. He wanted to date me, but I said no. He was giving us a ride but he was drunk and almost got in a wreck. I got out of the vehicle because I was mad at him and he followed me and grabbed me by the wrist. He wanted to drag me back to the car, but I struggled against him and he punched me in the face. He hit me in my ribs and stomach too. I finally broke away from him, but he tore my blouse. I just flagged down the first vehicle I saw... a white van. I don't even remember how I got here."
"Are you willing to press charges against Mr. McCarthy?"
"Yes."
"You will have to write a statement now and meet with a magistrate to take out warrants against him. You would have to testify in court against him. Are you willing to do that?"
"Yes... He's tried to force himself on me before and he beats my friend too. She's afraid of him."
"All right then. I'll need to have Officer Bruce take pictures of your bruises for evidence. Will you be okay with that?"
