Leaving It All Behind

"Anyway, that's what I'd do if I was going to kill you. But I think you've learned your lesson here and as long as I have your word that you'll leave Hanna alone, you'll be free to go."

Hank walked over to the cleat and untied the rope. He pulled John up a bit and stopped, "One more time John -- do you agree to leave Hanna and her family alone?"

Once more John nodded his agreement with the terms. He couldn't believe his luck. Who was this asshole? How did he know about the offshore accounts? If he was so smart to know about the accounts, why was he stupid enough to let him go?

"You know what John? I don't believe you." With those words Hank dropped Benetti into the tub up to his waist.

It took a second for John to realize what just happened. The pain was excruciating. John passed out within minutes and Hank dropped the rest of his body into the tub before sealing it up. Hank used the forklift to get the tub into the back of the pickup and started the long drive west to a remote spot he knew out near Lebanon Township.

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Miguel and Roberto Sanchez hated all Americans. The hate grew out of the fact both boys had spent four years with their mother in the U.S. picking apples in Washington and every kind of produce in California before being round up by the INS and deported back to Mexico.

It wasn't fair; for those four years they had kept out of trouble, just doing their work and taking care of their mother as her health continued to fail. Miguel and Roberto knew plenty of illegals that stole or worse, but the boys' mother kept them on a short leash, forbidding them from joining the gangs.

Then to be rewarded for all that hard work by being thrown out of the country! Their mother's health deteriorated until she passed last year. Miguel and Roberto knew in their hearts that their mother would be alive today if she had stayed and received care up north. With their mother gone, their hatred grew.

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For three years after leaving Catalonia David Carson moved from town to town throughout Central America and Mexico. He was currently renting a room in a villa owned by a retired lawyer near a small coastal village southwest of Ensenada. His sources in the States told him John Benetti disappeared just after the attempted hit. For at least a year after hearing that news, David was scared shitless, never staying in one town for more than a month. He assumed John learned about the hitman's death and decided to kill David on his own. He didn't know there were only four people in the world who knew David had nothing to fear from John Benetti, and those four never even talked about it amongst themselves.

David was walking home after another night at a local cantina. He was tired of the running, but mostly he was tired of never having any goals in his life besides getting drunk every night and hitting on the foreign girls that passed through town. David stayed away from the local girls; it was common knowledge among the expatriates that the quickest way to get in trouble with the local men was to mess with their women, whether it was someone's sister, wife or girlfriend. Sometimes it was tough living by these rules; the local ladies weren't stupid, the expats had more money than any of the local men, but David adhered to the rules.

David's mind wandered while trying to come up with some kind of plan for returning to the States. He missed his parents and his siblings; he hadn't met the two nephews who were born since he left home.

David neglected his surroundings. Before he realized it, there was a man, really a boy, standing in his way. David looked at the boy for a second before seeing the knife.

"Hey Gringo; how much money do you have in those pockets?" Roberto Sanchez enjoyed seeing the shock and moment of fear in the man's eyes. Roberto also liked using the term 'gringo', it played well to his underlying sense of these foreign pigs' bigotry.

David didn't mind losing a few pesos, he started to pull the bills from his front pocket, at the same time, he was trying to work out what he would do if the situation went downhill from here. He still practiced his moves and thought he could take this kid if it came to that. He watched the knife in the boy's hand as he handed over the bills.

"The wallet, too, Gringo."

"Fuck you -- I'll keep my wallet. You can have the money, but I'm keeping my IDs and shit. You don't want to fuck with me, kid."

David's threat left his mouth moments before he heard the 'click' behind him. He only had a chance to turn and see the moon's reflection off the blade before he felt it enter his side. "Son of a bitch, two of them" he thought before the first boy's knife went into his chest. Just before everything went black, David looked into their faces; what he noticed was the look of pure joy and satisfaction in both pair of eyes.

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Epilogue

Karin Roland was surprised when her admin came into her office accompanied by Torrie Carson.

"She insisted on seeing you right away, boss. What do you want me to do?"

"Let her in April. I'll take care of it."

April left the office, but kept the door open as she returned to her desk.

Karin motioned for Torrie to take a seat in front of her desk.

"What can I do for you, Mrs. Carson?"

"First, let me apologize for my part in what happened before. I should have apologized years ago, but I'm a coward. Being a coward is why I was a part of what happened in the first place. I was too much a coward to say "no" when Joe Benetti picked me up in a bar, brought me to my own home and fucked me in our bed.

"Then I was too much a coward when John Benetti told me I needed to convince you I was looking for my wayward husband. I'm sure you know there was never any baby. John said I either convince you or he'd kill me for my part in Joe's death."

Karin sat and listened to the woman's apology; part of her was tempted to punch the bitch in the face and break that nose again for her role in almost destroying Karin's family, another part understood how some women became tools for strong, dominant men. Once more Karin realized how lucky she was to find a man who was strong, but a caring partner; yes, Bill was in remission, could life get any better than this?

Karin pulled herself out of her daydream reverie. "Mrs. Carson, you don't owe me any apologies. If anything had happened to my daughter, I'd probably be strangling the life out of you right now. But 'all's well that ends well' and since my family is OK, you don't need to worry about us."

Torrie looked at the detective and realized she hadn't explained the reason for her visit.

"I didn't come here only to apologize, I came here to hire you.".

"Hire me to do what?"

"David was murdered last month in Mexico. His body is waiting to be claimed. I may have been worthless to him as his wife, but he doesn't deserve to be buried in a pauper's grave down there. He should be buried here in New York. Someone has to go down to Mexico to arrange for his body to be brought back here and laid to rest.

"One more thing, David left here with thousands of dollars. My aunt told me there's a possibility he might have money in a bank down there. I want you to find it. When David left the country five years ago, he took almost everything we owned. I won't try to justify my fuck up, but at the same time, a good portion of that money was mine. What will you charge me to recover what's left?"

The transparency of this cold bitch made Karin's stomach sick.

"I think you're talking to the wrong person. How about you get up, walk your ass out of my office, and never let me see your sorry ass again."