Chapter 5: Decisions To Be Made

Nichole was almost inconsolable. Elisabeth’s death left a gaping whole. It also left a need, a hunger for revenge. Since Buck was already dead, she needed to focus and seek revenge elsewhere. Rachel embraced Nichole and said, “We are a team now. Your fight is our fight”. Margot went to the two women and joined in the embrace.

Elisabeth’s death was a catalyst for the three women. They spent many hours discussing how to locate the 2 men that were missing. They all agreed that they needed to be the ones in a position of power. The three women decided that they would focus all resources in trying to find and destroy the cause of their suffering and agony. This meant they would do whatever it took to get closure.

Elisabeth was cremated and since Rachel had no extended family other than Nichole, the burial of Elisabeth’s ashes were delayed and the ashes were placed in an urn and set on the fireplace mantel. Burial would take place later after the women were through. Essentially, the three women became a family unit.

The first decision was simple. They had to find out where Thomas and Michael had gone. They knew that Paraguay was where but finding them in a foreign country would be next to impossible. Margot, Nichole, and Rachel all decided that that was the first and most important step. If they didn’t find the three men, then there was no way they would be able to continue. Rachel suggested that they reexamine the storage under the barn as well as the filing cabinets where they had found the decoder for the financial records. One source of comfort was that the ladies had enough liquid assets to afford anything. They had more than half a billion dollars and enough weapons to equip a small army.

Rachel and Margot decided to go into the sub-basement of the barn. The barn was eerily quiet now because all the customers had removed all their horses. Once they entered the sub-basement, the outside sounds all but ceased to exist. The two decided that they would examine the walls of the sub-basement and see if there were any more hidden panels. The only thing they found on the walls were power supply conduits and occasional panels that could be activated with the correct key. Since they had not found any keys, the search was continued. Once they completed the search they opted to start on the vehicles. While the women worked, Margot asked a question that would change the way they were thinking. The question that was asked was, how did they get these armored vehicles into this sub-basement? This initiated a search for an entrance that had been missed in the initial search of the structure.

While Rachel and Margot worked in the sub-basement, Nichole searched the filing cabinets again. While looking, she realized that the filing cabinet top draw had a false bottom. When Nichole pulled on the release for the hidden compartment, the false bottom opened and revealed a set of keys on a larger key ring. Nichole grabbed the keys and relocked the cabinet. She then walked out to the sub-basement and entered. She noticed the two women talking at the far end of the area and called out to them. “HEY YOU TWO. LOOK WHAT I FOUND!” As she spoke, she jiggled the keys above her head.

ROOM 217

Thomas had to think quickly. He knew that Michael was somewhere in this wing of the hospital, but he did not know what, if any, info Michael had shared. Thomas realized he was in a very precarious position. Usually, Thomas was the one in control. Thomas, having recently urinated on himself, realized that he was now cold as well as filthy. Thomas’s attention was ignominiously refocused on the voice once again, asking if he was with “the D.E.A.”. Thomas decided that the best course of action was to remain quiet. After a brief yet pregnant pause, the director stepped forward and said, “You killed my head-nurse. I thank you for ridding me of that salacious smarmy bitch. You did me a favor, not that you will be rewarded for that!” “I still have to deal with the repercussions of her death and, that annoys me greatly.”

Thomas decided on the honest approach hoping that it would garner favor. And said, “I’m not law-enforcement”. Thomas continued; “I came down to Paraguay because my brother was being followed by a corrupt solicitous Drug Enforcement agent. I believe you may have already met my brother Michael”. The Director acknowledged that he knew Michael. The Director then asked. What happened to the D.E.A. agent? Thomas continued with the honest approach and said, “I killed the son of a bitch!”. The Director approached and held up a Zippo Lighter and said, “You understand, I need to make sure you haven’t lied.” With that the lighter was ignited and placed at the heel of Thomas’s right foot. Thomas immediately started to scream as the flesh sizzled and became crisp. Thomas begged him to stop but it didn’t stop until Thomas passed out. The director called Carlos the orderly and told him to clean up and bandage the idiot. And then The Director went to room 216.