“I am Momar Bata,” Nick said in fluent Arabic. “Saran Al-Kadi sent me with the woman Eliah Kader has asked for: Cala Kader. We know you do not wish to take chances. Here is the phone number Al-Kadi gave me for you to call and confirm.”
The voice grunted while taking down the phone number given. “Wait there.”
A few minutes later, a higher pitched voice, brimming with excitement came on. “I have called Saran. He says you do indeed have Cala Kader with you and the McCarty is dead. I will buzz you in. Come up quickly. Mine is the first on the right.”
“As you wish, Sir.” The buzzer announced the unlocking of the outside door. Nick gripped Cala’s arm. “I can feel your excitement, Cleaner. Take deep breaths and get your scowl ready.”
“Yes, Muerto.”
The door opened and a bearded man with white Kufi, carrying twenty pounds too much weight at his belt motioned them in happily. “I am very pleased. Saran has given me a gift I can never repay. Did you see the McCarty die, my friend?”
Nick smiled while shaking his head. “Unfortunately, I was already traveling with Cala Kader by then. She has been a problem but is now safely in your hands.”
“Yes… she and Dimah Kader have caused much loss to our family.” Eliah circled the trembling Cala, her face a mask of terrified obedience, staring only at the floor in front of her. “If she is lucky, I will find another rich suitor. She has been defiled and will fetch only a fraction of what we could have gotten for her.”
Eliah reached to take Cala’s arm. At his touch, Cala gasped and fell faint to the floor. Eliah and his two men standing to the side of Cala snorted in amusement at her collapse. The twin hollow point .45 caliber slugs from Nick’s silenced Colt tore into the heads of Eliah Kader’s personal bodyguards, pitching them to the floor. Cala straightened and punched Eliah in the groin. He screamed, falling with both hands over his injured part. Cala jumped atop him but Nick pulled her away.
“Kick’s only, Cleaner. We don’t want blood all over your clothing.”
“Of course, Muerto… sorry.” Cala went to work on Eliah, rage at the long deadly pursuit of her by the family she shared DNA with charging each kick with added power. She backed away at a gesture from Nick.
“Nice friendly hello.” Nick handed her the small bag with hooded plastic rain cover inside and a pair of surgical gloves. “Here you are, Doctor Cala. Do you still want to retrieve my slugs? If not, I’ll do it.”
“I want to do it. I bet I could be one of those forensics pathologists.”
“I bet you could to0. Make it your major. We’ll send you to any college you want to attend.”
Cala finished covering herself. She took out her probing kit and scalpel set. “I like what we do better but I might take a few classes. I liked college. It’s just that I love being with Johnny and our Addams’ family. We do everything. We’re detectives, assassins, soldiers, killers, pathology experts, coroners, and computer pros. Not to mention we feed the fish.”
Nick bound the groaning Eliah while enjoying Cala’s recitation on their skills. “You are a very sick young lady, Cala.”
“Yes… I have been corrupted. You said you had a plan for our scene. Will it still work?”
“Oh yeah. We’re on our way out, Payaso,” Nick finished his call for their ride and propped Eliah against a wall. He dipped his finger into the blood of a dead man nearest the wall. He finger painted: As-salamu alaykum in Arabic script. He added ‘Isil is jihad, Al-Qaeda is the devil!’ - all in bloody script.
“I have the slugs.” Cala made a face. “These two men stink. Perhaps we should pepper spray them before we go.”
“Good one.” Nick lifted Eliah onto his feet. He fired off an arc from his stun-gun where Eliah could see it. “I will have this pressed against your ball sack. If you make one sound while I’m guiding you to our vehicle, I will burn your balls off. Understand?”
Eliah nodded fearfully as Nick held a plastic bag open for Cala to dump her protective clothing into. Nick went to Eliah’s closet, picked out a light windbreaker, and threw it over Eliah’s restrained hands. He then wiped down everything they touched with Cala’s help. They bagged the electronic devices to take with them. Nick held the door for Cala so she could walk in front of Eliah with a solemn pose while wearing her headscarf. Nick locked and closed the door behind them. At street level, Nick held the door for Cala before jamming the stun-gun into Eliah. Johnny held the door open for them to get into the back. In seconds, they were on their way with Eliah blubbering between Nick and Cala. Nick stripped off his gloves.
Nick elbowed Eliah in the ribs. “Silence!”