Payback - The end

5:40am

The rain drowns out the night skies, slowing me down. Damn this rain. I run as fast as I can, heading towards the orphanage. I can't see too good as the rain fogs the streets, but I can glimpse the first rays of sunlight starting to appear on the horizon. I didn't have much time left.

While working on the force, I'd done a lot of paperwork. Statistically, in Amberville, a robbery takes place every 49 minutes. A rape takes place every 37 minutes. A women gets murdered every 33 minutes. Rhonda's been missing 24 hours. The numbers are against her. Time's against her. Hang on, kiddo. I'm coming.

5:00 am,40 minutes back

There's a "CLOSED" sign over Barney's Bar. I knock on the glass anyway. Persistently. After what seems like ages, Jennie peeps through the curtains. Her face tells me I disturbed her and Barney in something more than counting the pennies in the money jar. I don't care. I wait patiently as she opens the locks one after another, then push my way past her.

Inside, the jukebox strings out Carpenters' “We've only just begun”. Ironic. Barney heads in from the back room, his shirt unbuttoned. His jaw drops for a second when he sees me, but he regains his composure immediately. If I weren't an ex-cop, I'd have missed the terror in his face before his mask set in.

"Barney, you know why I'm here. I've spoken to Jimmy.. "I say it at the start so that he doesn't have to lie. I've spent too many nights here and been carried out to a cab by Barney and Jennie on too many occasions. "Just tell me where she is. I swear I won't hurt Jennie."

He understands what I'm saying. Jennie starts to cry. Barney tells her to go into the back room. She resists, but eventually gets in. We lock the room from outside. I'm a man of my word, but we don't want her coming out at the wrong time and doing something silly.

I and Barney talk. He doesn't resist as I punch him once he's done. He knows he screwed up. His confession is his apology. I go into the freezer and get a cold side of steak, bring it back to him. He gratefully accepts it and places it over his eye, which is swelling up fast.

As I leave, he calls out to me. "You sure you want to do this, Joe ? Is she really worth it ?"

I turn back towards him. "She's all I've got, Barn... She's all I've got."

He understands. "Then you better make it fast. Your best chance is before dawn. There'll be lesser security then. You may just get away with it. But, remember mate, Salvatore won't take kindly to people messing with him." I nod. We stare at each other. He nods back. This is goodbye. I head out the door.

I'm in over my head.

That's the first thing that hits my head as the cursed raindrops sting me. I'm biting off more than I can chew. I thought this was a random robbery and kidnapping. I was wrong all along. I've got myself involved in something far bigger than that.

Barney, Jimmy.. they're all connected. Back in the force, we'd heard stories of it. Organ harvestation. There's big money in it. Only thing is, you have to wait for the person to die before you get the organ.

But someone's been speeding up the process. Taking 'em directly off the streets and killing them for getting the organs. There'd been rumours that a big pharmaceutical company was involved too. We'd suspected they had the Don's henchmen on the payroll. Turns out we were right all along. Jimmy and Barney were their pointers - helping them select those they thought noone would miss.

Only this time Barney had screwed up. He'd chosen wrong. He'd chosen Rhonda.

Barney's question came back to me. Did I really want to do this ? Was Rhonda really worth it ?

5:40am

The rain drowns out the night skies. I run as fast as I can, heading towards the orphanage. I can't see too good as the rain fogs the streets, but I can glimpse the first rays of sunlight starting to appear on the horizon. I didn't have much time left. Hang on, kiddo. I'm coming.

I find the store just where Barney said it was. Plain and unassuming, and hidden away from the streets in a dark alley , it was exactly what they needed for their deeds. I use my pocketknife to open the lock. It takes me the whole of a minute. Damn rain slowing me down again.

Shift change will be in 20 minutes. The skinhead who's on guard duty is lying face down on the desk, asleep. I step up to him, remove the gun he's stuffed behind his pants. I never get why gang members do that. He never moves. I look around. 3 doors. Screw it. I turn back to Sleeping Beauty and slam my fist on the desk. He awakes screaming and, instinctively, his hand goes for his butt, where his gun was a minute ago.

There's bewilderment and a double scoop of fear in his face as he his eyes note my presence and his hands inform him he's missing his piece simultaneously. I solve one puzzle for him, jamming his gun against his cheek.

"Where's Rhonda ?" He looks at me, confused. "Which one is that ?" he asks.

I hit him across the face with his gun. I keep hitting him as teeth fly across the room and blood spurts from his wounds. He begs me to stop. How many more were here, I wondered ? "She's the one with the black mark on her right arm."

He spits out blood. Nods. "I dow dat one. She'dh in dath roomh." he says, his voice thick now. I quickly tie him up so he can't interrupt me further and go for the door he pointed out.I open the door. A long passageway greets me. I head for the door at the end of it and open it as well.

She's lying on the floor, but turns towards me when the door open. Naked as the day she was born, I can see scars on her back where she's been hit. Repeatedly. She tries to get up, but falls back down. I rush to her and hold her in my arms. She's still bleeding from where she's been beaten. I examine her closely. Inspite of myself, a sigh of relief passes through my lips. There are no surgical scars. They didn't get to her yet. I remove my bloody shirt and wrap it around her and lift her. She doesn't resist as she used to earlier. She feels like a limp rag doll. She doesn't say a word the whole time.

I head out the door. As I pass into the main room, I see skinhead still tied up and bleeding from his broken nose. He's smiling. I place Rhonda on the chair at the end of the room and go through the other two doors. The images I see flash-freeze themselves into my head. The other two were not so lucky. They lay dead on the floor, their gaping wounds hiding unsuccessfully the unnatural hollowness of their torso where earlier there were livers and hearts and other gizmos that make us all run.I head back. The kid's still smiling. I stare at my watch. The new guy'll be in shortly. I pick up Rhonda and head for the exit.

"So that bitch's your whore too, eh ? Don't worry. We been treating her really good. Ask her. Towards the end, she was ready to do anything we said just to stop getting whipped."

I stopped. Rhonda looked up at me. She was shaking. I opened the door, placed her slowly outside the doorstep where the rains wouldn't touch her. She clung on to me, scared. "It's ok, Rhonda. I'll be with you in a minute." I entered the room again. Locked the door behind me. I stared at the kid. And smiled.

He stopped smiling.

I prayed the rains would drown out his screams. I imagine they did.

15 minutes later, I opened the door. Rhonda looked up at me. I picked her up, kissed her. We ran down the alley and out into the streets. I hotwired the first car I found on the streets. A Black '69 Chevy. Perfect. As we drive away, I see 3 more distinctive punks slowly ambling through the rain and puddles, huddled under a single umbrella. That's why the change of guard was late.

I say a silent thank you to the Rain God. He had my back all along.

I turn towards Rhonda. She seems exhausted and is just lying on the backseat. She looks at me with her brown eyes. I know this isn't the best time for this conversation, but then there really isn't a better time for it.

"Rhonda... what do you think about us moving away from Amberville ? Somewhere far far away from here ?" No reply. I turn back towards her.

She doesn't say a word, just wags her tail in assent. I almost imagine she understands what I'm saying.

Momma always said dogs understood us better than other men.

We head off into the sunrise, the two of us, even as the city starts to wake up to another sorry Monday morning.

Just a man and his dog ... and the promise of a better tomorrow.