THE TIMING, JOE PARENTE [ereader ebook .txt] 📗

he was in trouble. I had to think fast so I walked to the open window while I looked at my feet. I didn't want to be noticed. As soon as I was within an arm length of the big car, I slammed Jules right in the face. My fist screamed in pain. I hadn’t done that since I was in high school. I looked up and saw that Jules was out like a light. He didn’t know what hit him; it felt good except for my hand.

I reached over the door and hit the door locks. Running around to the blind side of the alley, I jerked open the door and halfway carried Jeff to the cab. To others on the street, it looked like someone was helping a drunk to walk.

By the time that I was able to get Jeff into the cab, the traffic loosened up a bit. We were able to drive past the limousine. I must have hit him very hard because Jules was in the same position as when I left him.

I told Alphonso only enough information to keep him from wondering. The most important thing to him was that he got his hat back.

I took him by the shoulders. “Jeff, Jeff, it’s me Brad, tell me what happened.” All I could get out of him was that he thought he was going blind. Every thing was as if it was at night. I shuddered when I heard that. I knew what he was going through.

Judy answered on the first ring. “I have him and he has the same symptoms that I had,” I said.

She sounded very relieved. “Thank God, is he ok?”
I explained. “He looks a little roughed up. I have him in the cab and it would be a good idea if we could get him in to see your doctor. See if you can call, I’ll rush him over there. He might need to stay for a while. How are things there; has Frank had company yet?”

“No not yet. It’s been quiet. -- I’m worried about you Brad.”

“Listen, I’m fine now. We got your brother. Let me take him to Doctor Carlisle and then I’ll meet you in the room.”

I said goodbye and flipped my cell phone closed and I gave Alphonso directions to the doctor’s office. I reached for the door amidst shooting pains in my right hand. I wasn’t that mad about it, feeling that Jules got what he deserved.

Doctor Carlisle helped me with Jeff as we set him up in an examination room. I had to get back to the hotel, so I excused myself but promised that I would return. With the doc’s quick examination of the hand, he assured that it was not broken. It sure felt like it.

Judy had moved the hotel’s easy chair close to the inner-door that linked room 620 to 622. When she saw me enter, her smile seemed to light up the whole room. I missed her. It felt that I had been gone much longer than the three hours it took to find her brother.

She reached up to pull me down so that I could listen to Frank answer a long awaited telephone call. Over hearing the one sided conversation; Frank sounded upset as he spoke loudly. “Why that stupid son of a bitch! I told him not to screw this up! Somebody’s fighting us on this and I’m going to find out, or it will be my ass!” -Pause. “No not now! I’ve got to question this ass hole; then we’ll meet up!”

We heard the clang of the receiver hitting the base of the telephone. Moments later, Frank’s door slammed shut.

“It seems that Frank has left the building and the shit has hit the fans.” I joked.

She stood and looked at me. “I missed you.” We kissed. “How’s my brother?”

“I think he’ll be fine but I would like to talk to him and the doctor. While we have this break, let’s go see how he is doing.” I rubbed my hand.

"What’s wrong? What did you do now?” She indicated the right hand and swollen knuckles.

“I’ll tell you about that on the way over.” I babied my hand into the right front trouser pocket. “Judy, you call the doc to tell him we are coming. I’ll work my way down to the street to flag a taxi. Meet me in front. Oh, stop by the front desk and extend the rent on this room for a few days.” I squeezed her shoulder with my good hand. “I missed you a lot.”

She turned to me and looked deep into my eyes. I could melt right there. “Did you mean what you said?”

My skin tingled. “You mean earlier?”

“Yes, earlier, when you said you loved me.”
It felt as though cupid’s arrow had struck.

“Yes.” I grabbed her with both arms as our lips explored each other’s love. At that moment, my hand didn’t hurt anymore. The warmth and tenderness of her body led us to the bed, with complete purpose we undressed each other. I wondered as I un-hooked her bra, how two people could be so gentle yet so determined to prepare for the feeling of each other’s bodies. She continued to explore as her stroking hand led me to her moistness.


THE TIMING Joe Parente

Chapter 11


Two stairs at a time, we reached the front door of the Doctor’s brownstone. He led us back to a room where a disheveled Jeff Foster was resting. His troubled deep-set eyes were surrounded by dark sockets. It looked as though he was unable to focus his sight. His strength was sapped and was not the man I had known at our first meeting. Still very confused he was able to give a slight smile as his sister touched his forehead and then kissed his cheek.

“He is going to be fine but he needs some serious rest. Let’s leave him quietly; I would like to talk to you now, out here.” Doctor Carlisle ushered us to his office. “Brad, thank God you were able to get him here as quickly as you did. He is suffering from acute anxiety and confusion. I will know better about his condition after he is able to rest, I’d say, twenty-four hours. I have given him a sedative to help with that. I considered hospitalization but I felt that it would not be in his interest to move him right now. Besides, this is very quiet here. I’ll be able to watch him tonight.”

He placed his hand on his knee. “That’s one advantage of living on sight.” He smiled.

“Did he say anything about what had happened?” I asked.

The doctor pursed his lips. “No I’m afraid that he is not able to answer any questions at this time. I didn’t want to push him. Now with all that said, I want to show you something that is very disturbing.” He asked us to follow him to his x-ray lab. “I removed this.” He showed us a clear pellet. “It’s the same type that we found in you. It also has the same micro metal ends that were on yours.”

“Has the lab report come back on my pellet?” I asked.

“No, not yet.” He walked over to take another look at my hand. “But I hope to hear from them soon. You’ll need to put ice on that.”


We were in contact with Judy’s father to explain the current circumstances. He was not happy. He did get hold of Rhoetec’s main office to cancel the project and spoke directly to Willhelm Rhorem. With our insistence, he did not mention particular reasons except that he had some doubts about the program. That gave us enough time to gather more evidence from our stand in room 622. We still had no concrete proof. Once we found out, we felt that we could go to the proper authorities.

Bill Foster wanted more information before he made a determination so we all agreed to proceed with caution.

I stepped back into the hotel lobby, if for no other reason than to make an appearance. It was as busy as ever. Jules was not in sight, so rather than stick around, I decided to check my messages in the room. There were no messages.

Judy said that she would call after an office visit to make sure that the temporary worker was doing things properly. We felt that any telephone calls coming in, should be made to the room on the sixth floor. We didn’t know how deep this thing went or if I was being watched. The other thing that we were worried about was if the telephone in my room was tapped. We were taking every available precaution when we left the room; I made sure that no one followed me.

I wasn’t careful enough. I awoke face down on a hotel carpet and with the worst lump on the side of my jaw. It felt as though someone hit me with a club. Lying in the middle of my hotel room floor, I slowly opened my eyes. Bending down above me was the biggest ear to ear smile that could only belong to one man, Jules!

“You can hit with one hell of a punch, so, I wanted to return the favor.”

“How did you know it was me?” I rubbed my jaw.

“Well after you sucker punched me, a passerby described you, besides you were the only guy that had an interest in the person I had in the back seat. I put two and two together; here I am.” He did a quick vaudeville impersonation of the end of a tap dance.

I put both of my hands up. “Ok you’ve got me, now what?”

“I think that we are even in the jaw department but now you owe me a favor.” He rubbed his jaw. “I probably would have done the same if I was in your place.”

“I’m sorry but—“

“Look Brad, I had wanted an excuse to leave this company since this Frank dude started throwing orders at me. He has downgraded and harassed me to the point that I can’t put up with it anymore. I can make more down the street than here. It’s just that I don’t like being fired. Ever since this hotel was taken over, it’s been hell to work here. I don’t like what you did to me but it is worse what they did. I believe in payback. That’s the reason you’re on the floor. Boy, you can