Chapter 5

July 2009, Sudan

It didn’t take me long to find the motorcycle that had been hidden near the rocks under the cover of a tan colored tarp. I quickly checked that the bike still started and was working. I rolled up the tarp and tied it to the bike. I quickly checked the backpack I had with me and checked that the old water bottle was firmly tucked under the passenger seat. I pulled the small water bottle from my backpack. As soon as I had dragged him to the drivers seat and in a sitting position, I opened the bottle and forced some of the liquid into his mouth. I could only hope that some of it would end up in his stomach. Even a small amount of this cocktail should be enough but I still hoped that he’d find the hidden water bottle.

After all, when he woke up he would first have an immediate need to pee if he didn’t wet himself before then. In any case he would be extremely thirsty. The bottle jammed under the seat was sealed and unopened and he would certainly check it for any leaks but there would be none. I had used the needle through the roughening at the bottom and the miniature hole had then been sealed with glue. With the stuff I gave him it should look like he’d got sick from food poisoning or from bad water. Who was I trying to convince here? Most probably nobody would care, since he was known to be an arrogant and self-centered bastard even among his own. But a feared bastard. After what I had understood from his call, I had no problems with his death being painful.

Most probably all those preparations were for nothing since nobody would come looking for him any time soon. But, just in case someone came and found him, I wanted to be sure that it would look like an accident. Or stupidity of a known arrogant person. My final move was to replace the GPS device with a faulty one. Then I left the motor running so that once he would wake up the car would be out of fuel. I also left the lights on so that the already poor battery would drain out of juice. I took one final look at the scene and put on my backpack and mounted the GPS to the motorcycle before starting it and driving away along the hardened wadi.

After a moment I stopped, looked back and listened. The car was in such a sheltered place that nothing could be seen or heard. I wondered if it would have been easier to just kill him, but his disappearance would have alerted some people I didn’t yet want to be alerted. Because of the shots he would remain confused for some time and even a sip of that water would cause him diarrhea, which would make him very sick in no time. Dehydration and diarrhea is a bad companion in the desert. And if someone were to find him and check the GPS they would find it faulty.

It was getting really dark so I decided that it was time to get my night vision goggles from my backpack. I put them on and connected the GPS to the earphones. I knew that I was far from being safe myself. I had learned to ride the motorcycle with these damned night vision goggles but it was far from easy, and I’d already had a long day behind me. I started the motor and began my long drive home.

It was more than three and a half hours later when I finally stopped my motorcycle by the side of the same road I had been driving on several hours earlier. My idea had felt so brilliant when I had figured it out for the first time, but for sure I would not be doing anything like that ever again, could I avoid it. Five times I had almost gone flying with my bike since the 3-D vision was so poor with the goggles. After the last time I’d had to stop for a while, because I was shaking so badly. Now I took the glasses off, and put them in my backpack. I took a sip from a bottle of water before starting the cycle again and putting the light on for the first time. I hit the road, as I was still a long way from home.

Even if I did my best to not let my thoughts wander while I was driving the deserted road in the darkness, I could not totally prevent it. I was no stranger to death, but this was the first time I had carefully planned how someone would die. And die he would, there was no question about that. Most probably he would die from dehydration soon after he had emptied his bowels. It was not the fact the he was dying that bothered me. I had planned it, and made it happen. On the other hand, I knew that he had killed several times, and he had raped. If he ever got arrested there would be a huge risk that some of his friends would just take tens of hostages and demand that he be released. Most likely it would happen since there was no way that he would ever be convicted in public trial. But still I felt like I had just sold the last piece of my soul.

I had not always been like that.

End of summer 2004, Khao Lak, Thailand

Toey was ready to admit that I was her man and that she was my woman, but in the beginning she was not willing to go any further than that. It was a week later when I had her laying on top of me after our latest session when I decided to tell her my history. I told her about my wild high school time, about Lisa and how she abandoned me after my parents died. I then told her about Karen, our engagement and how it ended when she decided to trust other people more than me. I told her about Kathleen and my sessions at the parlor. Then I pulled her close and carefully kissed her mouth. Then I looked at her eyes.

“Toey, honey, I know that you have a past that includes working in places I visited, but it does not matter to me. Hell, I want to marry you and become a father to Pam, and I want to have children with you.”

There. It was all out now. I knew that Toey understood English extremely well but yet it took her a moment to get through the initial shock and understand what I had just said to her. Then I could see the panic in her eyes and I could feel that she tried to get away but I had my hands and legs locked behind her back. Once she noticed that I was not letting her go she collapsed to my chest and I could soon feel the hot tears over me. I kept on soothing her and giving her small kisses until she calmed down. It took a while but then she started talking.