The Ultimate Betrayal

The weather outside was humid with the trees standing like ghosts, only adding to Andrew’s misery. He was very anxious, sweating and fighting for sleep but couldn’t get himself to snatch some rest in spite of being dead tired.

These past few months have been rough on Andrew. He has been putting a lot of thought on his recent visit to Egypt. He was worried about his life, his own safety, his wife and the business empire they have both so painstakingly built. Andrew had stumbled onto something that could really shake the very foundation of death – something that could make the human race turn immortal and also take the lives of mortal enemies. The fact that he held the key to the path of immortality and death, made him sweat profusely. He knew they were after him, after all which living being on this planet wouldn’t seek immortality and destruction of enemies (if used correctly)? Andrew was aware of their intentions to kill him because he knew something that they have been trying to seek the key to since years past. Stumbling onto this closely guarded secret has endangered Andrew’s life to the highest level. It’s no wonder that they have set their eyes on him and want him eliminated at any cost. Suddenly with his
jaw set in a rigid line, Andrew made his decision. He must rid himself of this object, this obstruction to the natural life cycle of mankind. Toying with death or attempting to gain immortality isn’t the best laid plan.

Letting the object fall into the wrong hands would be inviting destruction all around; and that is what Andrew wanted to avoid under any circumstance. Above all else, Andrew’s main concern was for their safety. His decision made, Andrew made a move to get up from the bed and caught a glance at his wife. At 35, his wife Laura, was still an attractive woman. Looking at her shapely thighs, her flat tummy, her calm and serene face, her blond hair fanned across the pillow, her full lips and high cheek bones,
Andrew began to feel the stirrings of his loins. He wanted nothing more but to get back into bed and make sweet love to her. He knew that he has neglected her in the recent few months but he made a silent promise to himself that once he was out of this mess, Laura and he would go off for a second honeymoon. How he wished he could grant them both immortality. Sighing, he dragged himself to the washroom for a shower as he decided to make an early start and plan his next visit to Egypt.

……..

It had been a long and sweaty night for Pete Lucas sitting in the confinement of his car, an old green barracuda. Though it was old and rusted, it could give any SUV a run for its money. The sheer power that roared out from this beast gave Lucas the adrenaline boost to go for his kill. He remembered his days as an Ex-army officer in the Vietnam War and how he would kill his opponent so mercilessly. To his immense displeasure and dislike, his life in the army ended abruptly. He was hastily terminated from
the service. Lucas had turned into a sex maniac; he got his thrill by raping his victims and bludgeoning them to death. He wiped his forehead of sweat and felt the deep gash that had been made by one of his many victims in defense. Lucas was a well-built man, built to kill; he was living a good life much better than his army days earning good money as an assassin. From the corner of his eye he saw the light being turned on. Lucas sat upright and threw the cigarette he had been smoking, half expecting his victim to disappear. He knew his job; he had credible information that his prey was carrying something that was priceless. It was a simple enough hit one he had done many times before; ambush, get it and eliminate his prey. The thought of committing the act, gave Lucas a sexual high. He knew that once the thrill of the kill would be past him, all that would remain will be a strong sexual desire which he’d end up satisfying
at a whorehouse. He derived manic pleasure with the whores by beating them and making them do his bidding.

……..

As Andrew was busy in the washroom he stopped to stare at his reflection in the mirror. He realized he has aged in the past few months; he had shadows beneath his eyes, a few visible strands of grey hair, and a wrinkled forehead. He had always been a handsome man & prided himself on his looks. At 40 he had it all; he was handsome with short black hair, a broad forehead, rugged features, a heavy set of jaws, broad shoulders, a massive chest and a successful business empire. Their antiques business is something that he and his wife built from scratch. Andrew was not going to let that all go for a toss. He always kept the abominable object with himself where ever he went, for fear it could fall into the wrong hands. It had a secret code that only he and a close confidant knew. Andrew decided to meet him again in Cairo and finish off this entire business. He quickly had a shower and came out again admiring his
beautiful wife. It was 5am but he still called his travel agent and spoke to the operator

“Good morning, this is World Wide Travels. How may I help you?”

“Hello, this is Andrew from Falls Antique & Archeology LLC. I would like to book a ticket for Egypt dated 4th November. Could you please check the availability for me?”

“Sure sir. Would you be online for a few seconds?” “Sir, we have a flight for the 4th of November that takes off @ 1.15 am from the JFK airport. Will that suffice?”

“Yes please. Put me onto that flight and have the ticket sent to my office at the earliest. And please be in touch with my accounts department for the payment once you send me your bill.”

“Yes sir. I’ll do the needful and send you the ticket before midday. Thank you and have a great day ahead.”

Andrew wasn’t too hungry and decided to skip his breakfast. He left a note for his wife saying that he would be in office. He wore his black suit and his favorite blue tie gifted by his wife on their 5th wedding anniversary. He kissed her good bye. He didn’t feel right; he felt like something was out of place but brushed it off and blamed it on his anxiety. As he stepped out of his apartment he could feel a slight breeze hit his face. He continued walking to the direction of his office, his second home. Andrew felt quite relaxed, not knowing someone was waiting for him in a green barracuda.

………

Being the trained & professional assassin that he was, a stake-out wasn’t new to Lucas. Some may find it boring and some may get impatient but to Lucas’ trained mind, a stake-out only gave him more time to perfect his attack and take his prey by surprise. Lucas had the talent of going almost 72 hours on a stake-out without any sleep and could still remain alert. And what made him more lethal was his absolute and complete lack of emotions. He suddenly spotted a figure coming out of the building he had been ordered to watch. He quickly looked for the picture placed on the cluttered dashboard of his car, half expecting the figure to vanish. With the description being a perfect match, Lucas took a deep breath. This is what he had been waiting for, he could feel his muscles tightening & tensing. He knew he’d become the unbeatable hunter who never failed in hunting and killing his prey. He turned on the ignition and in one stroke; his unmatchable green beast came alive. Revving up the engine he slammed down onto the gas pedal with all his might. He could feel the rubber starting to burn the surface of the road and cause smoke to come out of the wheels. With one shift of the gear, his car zoomed towards his potential prey. Lucas was getting into a sexual high; he loved every bit of it; he lived for nothing but this insane feeling of immense pleasure he derived by killing his victims. He could feel his heart thumping
into the cavity of his massive chest. With his blood pressure rising, there was no turning back.

……….

Andrew wasn’t enjoying his morning walk to his office; with not a soul on the road he was quite alert of his surroundings. The pre-dawn darkness and serenity was something Andrew loved. But on this day, Andrew’s thoughts were elsewhere and his shoulders were bunched up in tension. He could feel the hair on his neck stand-up on end. He just about began to quicken his pace and he suddenly heard a loud noise. Andrew turned towards the direction of the noise and saw a green car zooming towards him. A sudden chill went down his spine. He uncannily knew that his final moment was here; this is what he had been dreading for a long while now. He tried to run but could not match the mean machine that had mercilessly set out to kill him. The car hit him in his knees and the force of the hit, flung him 30ft high into the air….a strangled cry of pain was all that escaped his mouth.

.………

With a loud bang and breaks slammed, Lucas heard his prey yell on being hit. He was surprised by the impact. His victim was flung right up into the air like a lifeless rag doll and fell on the hard surface with a loud thud. Lucas just sat and admired his handiwork from afar. He felt a little dizzy as his nerves started calming down from his heightened sexual state and gradually began to calm down. He looked out of his window to check for witnesses. Lucas was elated with the fact that there weren’t any witnesses. He
killed his engine, fetched a cigarette and lit it; opening the door he stood out stretched a bit and started walking towards his victim. He patted himself for a job well done.

……..

As Andrew hit the ground, he felt his body turning numb. A deep black abyss was setting in. With blood oozing out from his mouth, Andrew tried to cry for help but his jaw being completely shattered, it was difficult for him to even move his mouth; let alone yell. His shoulder and hip completely dislocated. And Andrew knew that his life was over….. Images of his beautiful wife started flashing in front of his eyes; he was elated that his last thought before dying was of his Laura. He was drifting away and he felt like sleeping. Things started to get blurry. His blood pressure started to drop, his heart was slowing down, he wanted to cling on but was helpless, tears started to well up in his eyes; his world was about to end he didn’t want to die. As he lay on the cold surface, he started to gasp and suddenly he just stared at the open sky. Death was only the beginning.

Lucas walked towards the lifeless body, there was no movement. He had no regret on his face. He just stared at his victim; he looked quite handsome before all this. He never even knew his name but that was not his problem. The lesser he knew about his victims; the more detached he became. Bending down, Lucas began checking his victims’ coat pockets, his shirt and finally his trousers but found nothing of importance. Lucas began to wonder whether this was the right man or was it a case of mistaken
identity. No, he could never go wrong. He was outsmarted by this man and now his victim was dead. With anger on his face and his blood shot eyes Lucas yelled into the sky with anger and kicked the lifeless body. He soon regained his composure and went back to his car. He had a lot to explain. Starting his engine Lucas zoomed off into the open street of New York City.

……..

Laura was irritated with Andrew; he was behaving quite weird since these past few months after coming down from Cairo, he had changed and drastically at that. He was no more loving towards her; she couldn’t remember the last time he had made love to her. She felt quite disappointed. May be he was stressed or worried. He was acting quite secretive.

She remembered how she met her husband at an antique exhibition; she had been attracted to him almost immediately. They hit it off from there and started working together in various explorations held in Egypt. She soon realized she was in love with him. Laura remembered how she proposed to him under the phoenix statue; what an unusual place it had been. She was an extrovert and did not mind making the first move. They got married in a quiet but elegant wedding with the pyramids in their midst.
Laura could feel the pharaohs watching her; it was so mystical.

Her father played an important role in her life and it was from him that she learnt to cherish and love the ancient artifacts. As a kid she would tag along with her father for every exploration he went. Laura lost her mother at a very young age and since then her father has been her support. She and Andrew decided to work together and set up their own company; Falls Antiques & Archeology LLC and went exploring the world, but Egypt was always special to her.

Coming back to reality she checked the time; it was 8.00 am and the sun was quite bright and illuminating the skyline of downtown New York. She just loved the city life and the hustle and bustle that came with it. She knew Andrew had left early to work. As she was going towards the kitchen to prepare herself a hot cup of coffee, she suddenly caught sight of a brown manila envelope and a note along with
it. As she was about to read the note, a loud noise broke the silence of the room; she realized it was her phone ringing, it must be Andrew she thought and ran to answer the call.

Laura “hello”

“Hello, may I speak with Mrs. Falls please?”

“Yes. This is Mrs. Falls. May I know who is on the other end?”

“This is inspector Burns speaking from NYPD. Your husband has met with an accident and is serious.
Could you please come to the Manhattan General Hospital?”

Laura was silent for a few seconds but soon found her voice again.

“I’ll be there” With a curt response, Laura slammed down the receiver.

Laura nearly choked when she heard him say ‘hospital’. Was this a dream? Laura slammed the receiver and quickly ran towards her bedroom and changed herself into whatever she could lay her hands on. By now she just couldn’t control herself and the torrent of emotions going through her. She shut the door with a bang and made a dash towards the Manhattan General Hospital; little did she know that her world was already coming to an end and a series of mysteries were about to unfold…….