Page 2 of Dark Visions

His rap sheet showed multiple small crimes. Petty theft, peeping Tom, one count of possession, nothing to write home about if you were hoping to get into the bad-guy hall of fame. That all changed when Calvin decided he would beat the shit out of his girlfriend and then stalk her roommate.

The zapping, tingling sensations became stronger, and he stopped, waiting patiently for Calvin to come out the side door of the old brick building. Any minute now, any second…

He held his breath with anticipation, the weapon poised at his hip. Sure enough, Calvin Wall, a short, stocky bald man with ham-sized fists covered in blood, exited the door, rain immediately pelting his bare head.

He waited patiently for him to move closer, not giving him any time to react. When Calvin was just a few feet away, he stepped from behind the large metal dumpster, his weapon drawn and aimed directly at the shorter man’s head.

“Hello, Calvin,” he said, grinning, “you’ve been a bad boy.”

“Fuck! What the hell do you want, Kane?” he said, pretending innocence.

“Me? I don’t want anything. Laura’s brother, however, well, he wants your hide, and I’m going to give it to him.”

“No! No, you can’t do that. You’re the law. You can’t turn me over to him!”

The fear in his eyes told Kane all he needed to know. Calvin Wall was well aware of his girlfriend’s family and still chose to beat the shit out of her. Not smart to beat up the sister of one of the leading mob bosses on the East Coast and then stalk her friend and, from the looks of his hands, beat her too.

“I can, and I will,” he said, smiling. “You see, whether you’re dead or alive, I get paid. So, either I can kill you myself, which wouldn’t be as much fun, or I can just turn you over to Carlos.”

Kane saw the shadowy figures behind Calvin and smiled. The man in front of him knew. He sensed their presence almost immediately and turned slightly to see Carlos Battagla and three of his goons.

“Please, please, Kane, you can’t let them take me!” he pleaded.

“Oh, you see, I can, and I will. Slime balls like you get arrested and go into the system and then get lost somehow. You end up going out and fucking up some other poor, unsuspecting woman, and the cycle repeats itself. Carlos is just going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“We appreciate your help, Kane,” said the deep baritone voice of Carlos. A large golf umbrella covered his head, the rain not daring to lay a drop on his expensive suit. “The money will be in your account by this evening. It’s a pleasure, as always.”

“The pleasure is mine, Mr. Battagla,” he said, grinning at Calvin. “Next time, Calvin, you might want to rethink your strategy for wooing women.”

Kane Jackson turned and walked down the long alleyway toward the street, the sounds of shuffling feet and grunts of pain behind him. As he reached the sidewalk, he heard the telltale signs of a silencer fired three times. He told himself not to look back. If he looked back, he would be a witness to a murder, albeit a murder that needed to happen.

Calvin Wall was the lowest form of scum, in Kane’s opinion. He was the kind of man who took pleasure in beating women and forcing himself on them against their will. Laura Battagla would never be the same again. Her face, a mashed version of its former self, would have to be entirely reconstructed. Even then, her mental faculties, forever altered, left her with the mind of a six-year-old. All because a man like Calvin Wall was allowed to walk the earth.

Turning left, he walked down the darkened, rain-soaked street toward his loft. He passed the usual mid-morning crowd of downtown pedestrians, their lattes in hand, oversized umbrellas protecting their designer suits and handbags. Approaching the turn for his building, he spotted an ambulance in front of the office building around the corner from his home. A small crowd gathered to view what was happening.

Kane stopped, with no other option due to the crowd blocking the sidewalk, and waited to see what was so entertaining. Two paramedics pushed the glass doors open, a gurney crashing through the opening. Lying on the stark white sheets covered to her chin was a dark-haired woman with an expression of pain and terror filling her face. Long black lashes kissed her cheeks, her eyes closed to the dim light of the miserable day.

Kane looked at the woman, and his stomach did a funny twist and then righted itself, only for him to feel the familiar tingling in his arm. Being tall had its advantages. He looked over the heads of the crowd in front of him and down into the face of the woman as the paramedics rolled her past him. Her skin was ashen, void of any color at all; lines etched her forehead showed significant pain; her fists gripped the sheets at her side.

He followed the paramedics as they opened the back of the ambulance and loaded her into the vehicle.

“Miss Carter, I’m so sorry. Take as much time as you need,” said the panicked voice of a middle-aged man in a tweed blazer.

Kane’s instincts went on high alert. He didn’t like this man, and if he was apologizing, he must have done something to the young woman. Maneuvering around the crowd, he touched the arm of one of the paramedics.

“Where are you taking her?” he asked, completely uncertain of what was driving his curiosity.

“You family?” said the younger man.

“Yea, I’m her boyfriend,” he lied.

“County General. She ever passed out from headaches like this before?” asked the paramedic.

“I… I think so,” he said instinctively.

“Well, it would be helpful if you could tell the doctors more at the hospital,” said the paramedic, walking around him. He closed the door of the ambulance, and Kane found himself watching the departing vehicle, the zapping and tingling in his arm more pronounced.

Fuck!

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