own. Waves of pain coursed through her body when she tried to reposition herself only to realize that her arms were behind her back and pinned underneath her body. The enormous beast held her in place using a knee across her thighs and a hand pushing her shoulder into the ground. She was hopelessly pinned down.
“Hello, my little star of David,” he hissed into her face. “I’m so pleased we finally got to meet face to face. It’s been much too long. “
Riv gasped as he applied more weight to her shoulder.
“As much as I’d like to stay here and play with you, my employer would rather you and your man-friend be spared. I wasn’t supposed to engage you at all, but after dispatching your fat lackey, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to say hello, in my own way.”
Ogrodnik halted for a second as a thought crossed his mind. “How rude of me. I have not properly introduced myself. You can call me Ogrodnik. Everyone else does. When my employer approached me to dispatch your corpulent comrade, I decided to take the job on the off chance we would meet, and...” said the big man as he paused for effect. “...now we have. Had I brought my torch, I’d be tempted to finish my job here and now and to hell with my spineless associate. But alas, there will be no release for me today.“
The effects of the Taser were wearing off and through the pain, Rivka wondered at the incongruity of what her senses were telling her. The man above her was a giant. The sheer size of his features was disorienting to be near. His nose, the size of a man’s fist, the gnarled teeth beneath, like yellowed piano keys crammed into an orifice. The stench of rotting meat and sour milk pouring from his mouth when he spoke sickened her. Most confusing of all was his voice. It had the same soprano pitched tone one would expect from an adolescent boy, and his speech flowed with a melodious sing-song quality that might be considered beautiful if one could discount the repulsive nature of its source. On top of that, his vocabulary would have rivaled that of any English professor, which only underscored the monstrous intelligence of the beast on top of her.
Rivka was hard as nails when she needed to be, but fear had taken hold of her this day.
“Until we meet again, Officer Goldstein,” he said, and with that he moved his face close to Rivka’s as if to kiss her. Instead, he extended a tongue like a skin mitten and slowly licked her face from chin to forehead while an unseen hand re-applied the Taser. During the subsequent convulsion, Rivka slid down a gun barrel until the void caught her and swept her away.
Chapter 34
The pain bit into her when she opened her eyes. Even the slightest movement sent spikes of agony up through her body and into her skull. An immense exhaustion enveloped her, so she lay still, eyes closed, letting the Taser-induced miasma disperse until she could muster enough resources to reach into her pocket and get her phone. She considered calling 911 but instead dialed Elliot.
“Riv. How goes?“
The trauma of the events was catching up to Rivka. The adrenalin that got her safely through the ordeal was now receding, and when she reached for the boost that kept her strong and thinking straight, it was no longer there. Rivka had every intention of re-telling Elliot in a straightforward and factual manner what had happened. All that came from her mouth was a hollow moan.
She heard Elliot’s frantic discourse over the phone and in time gained enough composure to tell him where she was and, no, she was not hurt.
By the time Elliot arrived, the emergency teams were already on site. The first thing he saw when running toward the scene was Rivka sitting in the back of the ambulance being administered to by a paramedic.
He slowed as he approached and was hesitant to interrupt the medic/patient process. When Rivka saw him, she brushed the paramedic aside, stood up stiffly and gave him a hug. Elliot
“Hello, my little star of David,” he hissed into her face. “I’m so pleased we finally got to meet face to face. It’s been much too long. “
Riv gasped as he applied more weight to her shoulder.
“As much as I’d like to stay here and play with you, my employer would rather you and your man-friend be spared. I wasn’t supposed to engage you at all, but after dispatching your fat lackey, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to say hello, in my own way.”
Ogrodnik halted for a second as a thought crossed his mind. “How rude of me. I have not properly introduced myself. You can call me Ogrodnik. Everyone else does. When my employer approached me to dispatch your corpulent comrade, I decided to take the job on the off chance we would meet, and...” said the big man as he paused for effect. “...now we have. Had I brought my torch, I’d be tempted to finish my job here and now and to hell with my spineless associate. But alas, there will be no release for me today.“
The effects of the Taser were wearing off and through the pain, Rivka wondered at the incongruity of what her senses were telling her. The man above her was a giant. The sheer size of his features was disorienting to be near. His nose, the size of a man’s fist, the gnarled teeth beneath, like yellowed piano keys crammed into an orifice. The stench of rotting meat and sour milk pouring from his mouth when he spoke sickened her. Most confusing of all was his voice. It had the same soprano pitched tone one would expect from an adolescent boy, and his speech flowed with a melodious sing-song quality that might be considered beautiful if one could discount the repulsive nature of its source. On top of that, his vocabulary would have rivaled that of any English professor, which only underscored the monstrous intelligence of the beast on top of her.
Rivka was hard as nails when she needed to be, but fear had taken hold of her this day.
“Until we meet again, Officer Goldstein,” he said, and with that he moved his face close to Rivka’s as if to kiss her. Instead, he extended a tongue like a skin mitten and slowly licked her face from chin to forehead while an unseen hand re-applied the Taser. During the subsequent convulsion, Rivka slid down a gun barrel until the void caught her and swept her away.
Chapter 34
The pain bit into her when she opened her eyes. Even the slightest movement sent spikes of agony up through her body and into her skull. An immense exhaustion enveloped her, so she lay still, eyes closed, letting the Taser-induced miasma disperse until she could muster enough resources to reach into her pocket and get her phone. She considered calling 911 but instead dialed Elliot.
“Riv. How goes?“
The trauma of the events was catching up to Rivka. The adrenalin that got her safely through the ordeal was now receding, and when she reached for the boost that kept her strong and thinking straight, it was no longer there. Rivka had every intention of re-telling Elliot in a straightforward and factual manner what had happened. All that came from her mouth was a hollow moan.
She heard Elliot’s frantic discourse over the phone and in time gained enough composure to tell him where she was and, no, she was not hurt.
By the time Elliot arrived, the emergency teams were already on site. The first thing he saw when running toward the scene was Rivka sitting in the back of the ambulance being administered to by a paramedic.
He slowed as he approached and was hesitant to interrupt the medic/patient process. When Rivka saw him, she brushed the paramedic aside, stood up stiffly and gave him a hug. Elliot
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