The Salome Effect by James Sajo

The Salome Effect by James Sajo

Author:James Sajo [Sajo, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-08-25T11:00:00+00:00


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Chapter 18

Monday Morning

As soon as he started driving, Robert heard the helicopters, but knew they weren’t there. Not gonna happen this way, man. Not now. Stay focused. He opened the window of the van, drowning out the sound of the imaginary choppers with the relentless roar of the highway. The frigid blast of January air throttled Robert’s senses and dragged his attention back to the present.

Robert pulled off the autostrada at the same exit he’d used when he and Mariana ate lunch on Saturday. He had decided to dump the Creep’s body in the Serio River, just outside of the town of Caravaggio.

He turned right and followed a road that ran parallel to the water. After about five minutes, most traces of the town were behind him. An occasional dusty road, like blades on a rusted pitchfork, pushed off to his left and headed directly toward the river. When Robert saw one that entered a stand of trees, he turned the van. He inched as close as he could get to the water and stopped.

He grabbed the crowbar from the back of the vehicle and started to dig along the river’s bank. The effort needed to drag the crowbar through the frozen soil felt good. He was happy to sweat in the frigid air and knew focusing his mind tightly on this project kept his emotional troubles at bay. Have to stay on task today.

He worked for an hour, pulling out the soil until he had produced a trench long and deep enough to bury the Creep. He walked back to the van and searched the Creep’s pockets. A set of keys opened the locks on the metal frame holding Salome. The Creep’s cell phone still sat on the dashboard. Gonna keep that for a while.

He pulled the dead body out of the van and hoisted the Creep over his shoulder. They called it the fireman’s carry during his military training. Robert had used it to haul two injured men away from their destroyed vehicle during that firefight in Mosul. They both survived.

No such luck for you, Robert thought as he dumped the Creep into the trench. He spent another fifteen minutes filling the hole with the dirt he’d just dug out. Next he scattered leaves and rocks and fallen branches around to mask the site.

Robert paused for an instant and looked unemotionally at the makeshift grave. “So long, shit bird.” Then he climbed into the van and drove to Verona.



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