05.2 Netting

Lucero sat in the library at his beautiful villa on Saturday. His bag packed ready beside his desk. His wife and kids at home. He made up his mind that this would be the last day in meeting her. This must stop. He never cheated his wife or neglected his job. He could call and tell her that he could not come because he had to attend an office meeting. He sat drinking a mate with a bombilla. On the contrary, she was extremely beautiful and classy in the act. He never got satisfaction from having sex like this before. He reached into the drawer and picked a bottle of supplements to boost his energy. His wife entered unexpectedly and for the first time he reacted briskly to clear the table. A set of black-and-white photographs lay in front of him that portrayed nudity. He dropped them into the bag hastily.

“Sorry! Did I shock you?” she asked.

“No. I am called for an urgent meeting. An important meeting. I will come late. I must go,” he grabbed the bag.

“Aren’t you changing?”

Lucero paused, “Not today. Maybe not a very important meet. It is Saturday.”

“That is your sports kit!” she noticed.

“Oh yes! I am taking it to the bank,” he got out, thirty minutes to four. Savannah took a little peep behind the curtain of the tall glass windows as he climbed the Ferrari.

Though she came out in the tennis kit, both hurried to the Mayo Lodge. A two-storey shelter that stood in ruins but interiors decent enough of the two bedrooms on the top. Sun shone bright in the afternoon. Lucero brought a bottle of red wine, his flavour, but they were fast to strip down and snuggle.

Roco climbed up the stairs and listened at the door. He could hear squeaks of the bed and blows of the bounces.

The door tumbled down on top of the bed. Marina screamed. One of them seized the naked woman. The other delivered a blow on Lucero’s head. He fell on the floor behind the bed. Marina continued to scream but soon she was silenced. The landlady next door though heard her shrieks.

Four men in balaclava masks grabbed the woman, tossed a blanket on her body like a cast net to cover with the face. “Get her dress and bring her bag!” one of them shouted.

“His bag?” asked Roco.

“No, don’t bother,” said the guy.

Roco saw a Motorola satellite handset and the car keys on the table beside the wine glasses. “His keys and the phone!”

“Bring the phone,” said the guy.

“Keys!”

“No, don’t take it!”

“I will dump it somewhere,” said Roco.

They ushered her into a brown wagon parked outside the gate and drove off. Roco jumped into the Ferrari, removed his balaclava and took off.

Lucero regained consciousness and ran out to alert the landlady. Those guys stole his car and snatched the woman. Then the landlady called the police.

Half past five; Jamal Carreon turned to Fragata 25 de Mayo from Ascasubi in his van. He noticed two police cars at Mayo and knew something had gone wrong with Marina and Lucero. Something that he had to find out. He climbed down on Lugones and rambled to the lodge. Soon he heard about a snatch and knew he shouldn’t hang around. Jamal scattered. He knew that Roco netted her to collect ransom. And Jamal still got the edge to blackmail them. Should he bother? He realised that he was too deeply involved.

Meanwhile, police at Mayo discovered those black-and-white photos in Lucero’s bag that he carried to the room. The thugs did not take that bag with them.

“She mentioned a name,” said Lucero, “I cannot remember!” he forgot, “This guy was stalking her.”

“You sure didn’t take them?” asked the police officer.

In thirty-six years of his career, he did not plunge into a situation as bad as this. His wife, his kids, his job, his clients…he betrayed them all. Everyone asked what was he doing with her! Lucero was taken into police custody and he was thankful for it because he couldn’t face his family bare naked.

Police began to look for forensics and trace the tyre marks.

Marina lay on the floorboard with her wrists and ankles tied. Her mouth gagged. She still made a lot of noise. One of them pressed down his heavy boot on her belly. She could see the leaves and the sky as the wagon moved at a moderate pace.

Ten minutes later, they came to a halt. She heard doors rolling and the wagon rolled in to a garage. They covered her face and took her into a very cold place, rather carried down the floor to a hidden place in a temperature-controlled cool room. It was a massive storage facility for packing and storing meat, awfully cold inside. A couple of guys undid her bonds, dressed her and locked her in chains fastened to a heavy crate. Dressed her, in a sense, rather with difficulty in that little white dress with all her reluctant twists. They did not even reach into her bag and pick that caftan. They took away her gold wristwatch, jewellery and the pricey exotic micro-string. Marina lay on the white tiles to the breadth of the floor.