Brethren Beginnings ~ Gabriel Seeker (2 page)

Caleb looked at his watch. One of those
repeat customers would be coming by the registration desk in about
twenty minutes. Room 333 was always the scheduled meeting place.
She liked him to be prompt. Today, he definitely would be. And he’d
only stay long enough to say thanks for the memories, but I’m done.
On the one hand it felt great, liberating in fact.

On the other, he was scared witless.
Manny was unpredictable, and could make trouble for him if he felt
like it. Given how much money Caleb had made for him over the past
ten years, he figured Manny was not going to be saying
congratulations, and giving him a big send-off. He was leaving a
major hole in Manny’s secret, illegal enterprise set up at the
resort, and now he’d have to put someone in his place. That would
be very tricky, since nobody at the resort knew about Manny or his
people, and management was extremely diligent and
thorough about checking out who they hired. Manny just happened to
be better at forging documentation.

Picking up the house phone, he dialed
up his friend Mack in the operations department. “Hey Mack, how
much do you know about state-of-the-art computer
systems?”

“
You know me. I’m always
up-to-date with the latest news. What do you need?”

He gave him a rundown of Gabriel’s
requirements and his installation deadline. “That man is nuts, but
I’ll see what I can do. I’m off in ten minutes. I’ll go shopping
for you and handle the install myself.”

“
You rock, man! Swing by the
front desk. There’ll be an envelope with a credit card in it. Mr.
Seeker assured me there would be no problem, but left his business
card with it just in case. Thanks, man.”

“
You owe me a couple a beers
when it’s done, though.”

“
No problem.” With that task
handled, Caleb turned to his next one, his last
customer.

“
Carla, I’m leaving,” he
said, turning to the woman next to him. She nodded to him,
completely disinterested as she snapped her gum and spoke on the
phone.

***

The elevator doors seemed to take a
lifetime to open, and when they finally did, they seemed to take a
lifetime to close. In fact, everything seemed to slow down to him.
Everything but his heart. That raced like a hummingbird’s. He
pushed the button for the third floor and analyzed his reflection.
No matter which way he turned, he couldn’t escape it, for the
elevator was like a gilded box. Usually, he would close his eyes
until the doors opened. It wasn’t easy to look at himself for very
long. Shame would creep into his face and he’d have to turn away.
But today, he looked at himself for the whole trip. He turned to
face every wall, and since no one was in there with him, he said
aloud, “No more. You’re better than this. That’s what Gabriel said,
and that’s what you have to believe from now on.”

The doors opened, Caleb stepped out and
strode down the hall with all the confidence of a… scared little
boy. Just a few more steps and he’d be at “her” room. He took in a
deep breath and knocked softly.

He heard the click-clack of stilettos
on the tile flooring. The door swung open as she let a bare leg
peek around it. Sweeping his eyes downward, he saw her slender foot
enticingly wrapped in one of those stilettos. Her face peered out
from behind the door and she spoke. “Madame believes you are early.
Come in.” She turned and let go of the door. Had Caleb not grabbed
it himself, it would have closed right in his face. He shook his
head. He would not miss this shit at all.

“
Sit down on the chair,” she
commanded, tapping a flogger against her thigh. He remained
standing.

“
I said sit down, maggot!”
she shrilled. Her jet black hair shivered as she lost her temper,
and her delicate hands, fanning her face, belied the
viciousness of her blood-red nails.

“
I can’t stay, Madame. I’m
afraid I won’t be… servicing you anymore. I just came up here to
tell you.” Caleb clasped his hands in front of him. They were
shaking so badly, he quickly moved them behind his back. Madame
liked fear, fed off of it every time they were together, and he
couldn’t deny that he was bone-chilling scared.

“
Who the hell do you think
you are? You don’t make that kind of decision. I bought you. You’re
mine until I say you’re not, dung beetle! Now strip off those nasty
clothes and sit on the God damn chair!”

“
No,” he said quietly, and
hastily walked to the door. He reached for the handle.

“
Just wait until I tell
Manny what you’ve done! You’re in for some serious flaying, slave.
And when he’s through with you, it’ll be Madame’s turn. You’ll be
back, slave-boy. You’ll be back and regret the day you ever turned
away from me!”

Caleb turned the handle, opened the
door and closed it quietly behind him, never looking back and not
saying another word. He winced as a mad shriek emanated from her
room and something thudded against the door, but he kept on
walking down the hall. He chose to take the stairs this time. He
had a lot of pent-up, nervous energy to expend before reaching the
lobby. He looked at his watch. Fifteen minutes left of his break.
He went down one more flight of stairs, to the basement fitness
room. He took off his shirt and started pounding the punching
bag, imagining his fist connecting with Madame’s face and Manny’s
interchangeably.

Manny was gonna find out, and he wasn’t
gonna like it. Caleb paused for a minute, caught his breath, and
called Gabriel. It went straight to voicemail. “Hey, Gabriel? This
is Caleb. Working on your computer setup. It’s gonna be great. Uh,
Gabriel? I, uh, think I’m gonna need your help, sir. I didn’t, you
know, work, on my own, and I think I may have just put my life in
danger by getting out. No, let me rephrase that. I know my life is
in danger. Can you help me? Please? I pray you get this message in
time…”

Chapter Three

Caleb paced the floor of his
living room, flipping his cell phone open and closed every few
minutes. He checked the time. His watch said seven o’clock in the
evening, two minutes later than when he checked it two minutes ago.
Stir-crazy didn’t even begin to explain how freaked out he was at
this point. He’d been waiting it seemed like hours, though it had
only been one since he’d left Gabriel his dire plea for protection.
Had he gotten his message?
Maybe his
voicemail isn’t working.
Not likely.
Maybe he’s in a dead zone for cell
service.
Not likely, either.
Maybe I should just chill out.

Did he remember to lock the front door
to his apartment? He didn’t know. So he rushed over to check. He’d
locked it, thank goodness. He slunk over to his only window in the
apartment and peered out from behind the frayed window blinds,
watching for anyone he knew skulking around outside. Not a soul was
around, but that didn’t mean anything.

Manny was out there, somewhere. Madame
probably got a hold of him already and told him what had happened
earlier. Caleb had gone rogue and quit the business. Knowing Manny,
there were only two possible outcomes.  Either Manny would
contract out for someone to inflict bodily damage on him, or he’d
be so pissed he’d find Caleb and do it himself. He didn’t
particularly like either prospect.

 
If he was going to
make a go at a new life as Gabriel’s assistant, he would have to go
on the offensive and eliminate the potential threat while
protecting himself in the process. Gabriel seemed the right guy to
provide such a service.
If he would just
call back, damn it!
As he flipped his phone
open for the millionth time it buzzed in his hand. Before
answering, he looked at his caller ID. Restricted.
Great.

“
Hello?”

“
Caleb! Caleb, I need your
help,” a frantic voice whispered over the phone.

“
Phoebe, is that you? I can
barely hear you.”

“
Uh huh. Caleb, you’ve got
to get me out of here. I’m at the resort, in this guy’s hotel
bathroom. Room 214. Caleb, I’m scared. Manny threw this guy on me,
told me to play nice, and I would get paid a fortune. This guy is
freakin’ nuts! I can’t even repeat what he wants me to do, but
there’re tools. Scary looking metal tools. You just got to get me
out of here. I can’t go through with this. Not this one. I’ll kill
myself first.”

“
Jesus, Phoebe! I’ll be
right there. Pretend you’re sick or something. Throw up, moan and
groan. I’m heading out the door right now. I’ll be there in ten
minutes. Can you hold out for ten minutes?”

“
I don’t know. I don’t know.
Fly over here. If you get a speeding ticket, I’ll pay for it. Shit,
I gotta go! Hurry!”

“
Phoebe? Phoebe?” The line
disconnected.
Damn it to Hell. Manny’s
gone too far this time. Phoebe better not be hurt when I get there
or this freak is going to be wearing a colostomy bag for the rest
of his miserable life.

Caleb raced out of his apartment
complex to his car, and flew down the freeway towards the resort.
He was breathing hard; his anger barely restrained and growing by
the mile. But he wasn’t about to blow it on the road. No, he would
save up the rage for the freak that had Phoebe cowering in the
bathroom.

***

Gabriel’s evening was far from over as
he made his way back from the county sheriff’s office to his suite
at the resort. He’d spent some time cultivating contacts, securing
credentials for easy access to areas usually off-limits to
civilians, and providing his own to satisfy a curious and cynical
sheriff. If he didn’t make friends here, it would be difficult to
help protect his clients. With all-access credentials and great
relationships forged with the right people, his clients would enjoy
the highest level of protective and investigative services around.
Seeker Investigations, Gabriel decided, would become the number one
private investigating company in the state, besides Brethren
Security and Investigations, of course. Tonight, he’d spend his
time getting his servers up and running and surfing the net to
gather some basic intelligence.

He put his briefcase down on
the foyer floor and immediately saw an impressive computer system
hooked up and ready to go. Caleb came through in record
time.
Very impressive.
He checked his cell phone for the time. “Whoa! When did this
call come through? This sort of thing shouldn’t have
happened.”

He made a note to change
providers in the morning. As he listened to the voicemail message,
anger and concern welled within his gut. Caleb had broken free from
his pimp and now feared for his life. He asked for protection from
Gabriel.
I tempted him into this situation
by offering him a lucrative job with me. It’s upon me to keep him
safe and put that scum, Manny, behind bars for a good long
time.
The cell phone showed that Caleb had
called a couple of hours ago. Gabriel hurriedly called him
back.

“
Gabriel,” Caleb said
without prelude. “Thank God. Did you get my message?”

“
Yes, and I’m so sorry it’s
taken me this long to get back to you. First thing tomorrow, I’m
finding a better cellular phone service provider. So where are you
and what’s the story?”

“
Jesus, Gabriel.
Everything’s a freakin’ mess. I’m at the City Hospital emergency
room. My friend Phoebe is in pretty bad shape after some trick used
her as a punching bag. She called me to help get her out of there
before this happened, but I got to her too late. She doesn’t have
insurance, so as soon as she wakes up, she’s gonna have to leave.
I’ve got to find her a place to stay. There’s no way in hell I’m
gonna let her go back to Manny’s. And I can’t take her back to my
place. I guess I could get a room at the resort. I don’t know. My
thinking’s all messed up right now. I’m sorry to unload all this on
you.”

“
You called me for help,
Caleb. Looks like your friend needs it, too. Don’t worry. I’ll come
get you both and take care of everything. Don’t worry about the
bill. I’ll have that covered. Arrangements can be made for you both
to stay in the suite next to mine. Then, we’ll talk and make a
plan. I’ll see you in two minutes.”

“
Two minutes? You must be
joking. The hospital’s at least twenty from the res…”

Gabriel quickly closed his phone,
opting for secrecy rather than disclosure.

“
Damn it!” Gabriel shouted
as he took off his shirt. He tucked it in his belt loop for
later as he prepared for his wings’
release.  He threw open the patio doors
and walked out. His pearl-white wings unfurled and beat
furiously as he took off into the smooth night air.
This “Manny” and his whoring business are going
down.

He arrived at the hospital in a minute
and a half, alighting near a stack of dumpsters to obscure his
landing and transformation. Putting on his shirt, Gabriel then
proceeded to the Emergency Room entrance. His imposing posture
always lead others to believe he was a man of importance and
someone to be handled with all the respect a dignitary would
command. And so it was now, as he walked up to the nurse’s desk to
find his friend.

“
Can I help you, sir?” asked
one of the nurses.