INITIUM NOVUM: Part 1 (11 page)

Hector wipes his forehead, brushing his hair
back.
“Laura, even I know that before every real life application, it’s
always best to test the beta test.” Hector instructs Jessica to
squeeze into the back with the undercover officers. He then climbs
into the driver seat, shifts the gear into drive, and says, “Let’s
end this bullshit.”

CHAPTER 11:

Edwin Cole sits in Dunkin Donuts, gazing out
of the window. The time is just shortly after 9:00 am. Not that
time matters to the man, as he has been up all night, wired from
cocaine and dehydrated from the bottle of Irish whiskey he’d been
drinking since about 3:00 am.

Dressed in a red and black Leatherman jacket,
he sits there, doing nothing other than staring off into the air
outside of Dunkin Donuts. His small cup of black coffee stands in
front of his folded hands, untouched, unwanted, brought only so
that he may sit there undisturbed. Words of his own design echo in
his mind: Ed Wins, Ed don’t lose. Over and over, the words loop: Ed
wins, Ed don’t lose. In the background of whatever other thoughts
he might have: Ed wins, Ed don’t lose.

At about 9:06 am, a young man in a suit walks
in and heads almost directly to the register, orders a sandwich and
a coffee, and then promptly leaves. Although, Edwin barely notices
him at first, something – much akin to a déjà vu – strikes him odd
about the well-dressed man. Something is vaguely familiar about
him; Edwin can almost swear that he knows the man. As the man exits
with his breakfast items, Edwin diverts his eyes so as to not draw
attention to the fact that he had been scrutinizing his face for
the entire duration that he had been there.

Nothing else happens for approximately fifteen
minutes as Edwin plays and replays a scenario over and over in his
head. When he is confident that there are no other options to take,
he gets up from his seat and proceeds to exit Dunkin Donuts,
leaving his coffee behind, still untouched, steam no longer rising
from the small holes in the cap.

Just as he’s approaching the subway entrance,
he looks up and notices a very prominent police presence in the
surrounding area. A closer look reveals that EMTs, as well as
police, are inside the subway responding to some incident which is
unbeknownst to Edwin. This instantly sets him upon a detour from
his preconceived plans.

Nervously, Edwin walks around the subway
entrance and away from the police activity. Inside his jacket
pocket, his hand cradles a snub nose .357, thumb caressing the
hammer, but gently so as to not cock it accidently. His eyes dart
to and fro eventually landing on the name tag of a passing cop, H.
Kelly, who makes a sharp right past him to descend down the stairs
of the subway entrance.

Once he feels that he’s in the clear, Edwin
lights a cigarette and puffs on it intensely, as if the smoke were
the cure for the situation that ails him. For blocks and blocks, he
walks with a blank expression in his wide eyes. To others walking
the streets, he appears unhinged, zombie-like even, mechanically
and systematically inhaling and exhaling stogy after stogy. The
glare in his eyes intensifies from the drying effect of the
cigarette smoke which worsens their bloodshot appearance. A white
crust begins to form around his lips due to his cottonmouth. This
does not deter him from lighting another cigarette mere moments
after finishing his last. This continues until he finally succumbs
to the dryness in his mouth and takes a swig from a small bottle of
cheap liquor he has stashed in the back pocket of his jeans. The
next stop he makes is at a phone booth to take a few bumps of
cocaine before proceeding north on the Manhattan
streets.

Fatigue and sleep deprivation begins to set
in, but he doesn’t feel it due to the potency of the narcotics he’s
been ingesting for hours now. Despite his obliviousness, the
conditions begin to take their toll on his body and mind, affecting
the latter much more drastically as time progresses and he thinks
and rethinks the thoughts currently driving him to the brink of
insanity. His obsession, all consuming, all engulfing, makes him an
unpredictable variable in most situations. Fortunately for everyone
other than those at the forefront of his thoughts, he is a man
determined to cause a specific type of harm to a specific party of
people. No one else matters. No one else is directly in harm’s way.
Not to say that harm won’t swing their way anyhow.

The chemical unbalances which occur in the
brains of psychopaths vary from person to person. Despite their
differences, there exist actual disorders, a malfunctioning of the
cranial organs in these people. Some cannot feel empathy, some see
nothing wrong with violence. While there is nothing wrong with
having anger and violent thoughts, Edwin chooses to act upon his
negative urges time and time again in the worst possible fashion.
Certain factors in Edwin’s life lead him to the enactment of his
negative urges. He understands the full implications of what he
plans to do. His plan is deliberate and calculated which should not
be mistaken for a plan that is well thought out. Simply put, he has
a certain end result in mind; how he gets there is irrelevant to
him and insignificant to the universe.

There are many things in this life known to
drive a man over the edge, but by far, love and heartache, are the
most compelling. When a man, already known for his violent and
erratic behavior, becomes obsessed with the one thing in his life
which has been a constant in such a varying and chaotic world it
becomes a dangerous situation for all parties involved. Factor in
betrayal and infidelity and what that man becomes is a shadow, not
of his former being, but of death itself.

For years, Edwin has led a life outside of the
law, selling drugs, stealing cars, and even contracted killing. He
has made a name for himself in the streets. Edwin Cole is often
compared to Edward Coleman, one of the most notorious gangsters in
the history of New York. A few months back, a lead detective
assigned to investigate and eventually bring Edwin Cole in on
sustainable charges stumbled upon a witness that he figured would
be able turn years of fruitless investigations into a promising
case. This witness was none other than Edwin’s long-time
girlfriend, Jessica Caine.

*************

A few years ago, Edwin met a tall, redhead by
the name of Jessica Caine, a waitress at Veniero’s bakery. The two
met and instantly hit it off. Edwin charmed her with his street
thug appearance and his unexpected ability to afford the same
luxuries as celebrities. As a poor girl trying to support herself
through college, Jessica quickly fell for the allure of a man who
could support her as if he were someone who had come from money.
The fairy tale soon wore off as she began to learn more about the
nature of Edwin’s character. Jealous, violent, and too often
intoxicated, Edwin true colors were bleak. While she never imagined
having to resort to helping police apprehend him, she eventually
learned, the hard way, that he would never let her leave him. Not
alive at least.

Jessica met detective Santiago while being
treated for multiple injuries stemming from a most unnecessary and
cruel beating at the hands of Edwin. It had not been the first time
he had hit her, but it had been the worst she’d ever been beaten.
Bruised ribs, two blackened eyes, a concussion, and a bloody nose,
that miraculously had not been broken, topped the list as the most
significant physical injuries she had suffered that night. Despite
the many deep tissue bruises, scratches, and cuts which her petite
frame had sustained, there was an even greater injury to her
mentality. The former Jessica, cheery, bright, energetic, and
positive laid there on that hospital gurney as a broken shell of
her old self. When Hector had arrived to question her – because
Edwin Cole’s name had been dropped and he had been pursuing a
possible lead in an ever-static case against him – about the
beating, something unexpected occurred, his heart broke. He
instantly fell for the battered, and yet still beautiful, girl. In
a matter of seconds, it became personal.

At first, Jessica would not agree to press
charges against Edwin, no matter how persuasive Hector had been.
This changed when their relationship became intimate. It started
out as a “routine check-in.” Hector arrived at her apartment,
dressed in normal clothes, with no badge on him. Jessica became
suspicious, not in an afraid way, but in a curious manner and
questioned why Hector did not have a partner with him during this
particular “check-in.” Coupled with the fact that Jessica had
already dropped the charges, she was able to piece two and two
together, and saw—in Hector’s eyes—a man who was generally
concerned for her well-being. This sweetness, one that had long
been gone from the eyes of Edwin, calmed her, nearly moving her to
tears. She initiated the physical contact, draping her arms around
his neck and squeezing him tightly. Naturally, Hector hugged her
back and, for the first time in a very long time, she felt safe.
Next, and right before they kissed, Jessica took the first step
towards a long recovery and expressed to Hector how she felt about
herself right then and there.

“Why would you want me, Hector? I’m nothing
but a fucking ragdoll,” she said to him. Her weak state hurt him,
creating a lump in his throat which would not budge even after he
tried to swallow several times. When he had regained the ability to
talk, he spoke the words which set Jessica on a path to recovery
and into a long and complex affair with the married
detective.

“You are everything that is beautiful and I
won’t leave you alone, not to be hurt again. Not ever again,” he
whispered to her.

*************

The sky above and behind Edwin darkens with
grim clouds following him north as the storm approaches the city
from south of the island. Darkness literally trails behind him.
Faint rain drops fall, one occasionally landing on Edwin’s skin and
met with indifference as if it was not felt, possibly due to the
amount of face-numbing cocaine in his system.

After walking for a span of time that both
feels like forever and only moments, Edwin finds himself on First
Ave. Soon enough, he looks up and sees that he’s arrived at Tenth
Street, one block away from his destination. His fingers twitch as
one digit curls and uncurls around the trigger of the pistol
concealed in his pocket.

In a matter of seconds, the sky opens up and
begins to pour heavily upon the Earth. This doesn’t bother him; he
walks unperturbed, intent on getting where he was going. At the
corner of Eleventh he’s struck by a commanding sensation of déjà vu
unlike any he has ever felt before. It doesn’t just feel like he’s
been there before, it feels like he’s been there before multiple
times. This feeling confuses Edwin to such a great degree that he
becomes somewhat disoriented. His bewilderment is accelerated when
he catches a glimpse of a person he swears he has seen before,
recently at that, but cannot remember when and where. Suddenly, the
mental image of a cup of untouched coffee comes to his mind. Almost
like a mnemonic, it serves to help him recall the familiar man’s
face. He had seen the man briefly at Dunkin Donuts; this was just
about fifteen minutes before he exited intent on taking the train
but forced to take a detour away from the cop-heavy subway
station.

Edwin’s eyes stay on the man, watching him as
he takes off running. If he had to take a wild guess, Edwin would
say that the man was running from the storm. Technically, he isn’t
wrong, holding merit in both the literal and the figurative sense
of things.

CHAPTER 12:

Hector foots the gas, accelerating the car
forward at an unnecessary and dangerous pace. In the passenger
seat, Laura Cohen grips the straps of her seatbelt and buckles
herself in. The two officers and Jessica sit squeezed together in
the backseat of the car with Jessica sitting by the right
window.

Given that First Avenue is a one-way street
heading north, Hector makes a right turn, then another right,
placing him and the other occupants of the vehicle on Avenue A
heading south. At about Thirteenth Street, the patchy and
infrequent drizzle becomes a full on thunderstorm. Hector
eventually makes another right turn on Eleventh Street.

Driving more aggressively than is needed,
Hector finds himself simultaneously driven by two motives, that of
defending his mistress and that of retrieving the card which Laura
Cohen had inadvertently given to the young man just a while
earlier. Both are of equal importance to him and interrelated,
although Hector has no idea of their relation in the grander scheme
of things. The card, which Will still possesses, had been intended
for a different purpose, to help track and eventually incriminate
Edwin Cole. The problem with this is the high level of unlawfulness
involved with tracing an individual in such a manner. Laura Cohen,
who was well aware of the unconstitutionality of such actions, was
the plan’s main proponent.

Today, she had been set to give Edwin the
card, the one with the bug, while under the false pretense of being
against Hector Santiago for suspicions of illegal and
unconstitutional police tactics. The card, she would have
explained, would essentially be a get out of jail free card. If
sold to him correctly, Edwin would carry the card on him at all
times.

Once Edwin possessed the card, Hector’s
boys—the ones in the back of the car—would begin to tale Edwin
until an opportunity for an arrest with the potentiality of
substantial charges arose. That chance was supposed to be today.
However, the technology was supposed to be tested prior to actual
field application, an error on Cohen’s side. Retrospectively, the
hopeful A.D.A. would have had another chance to test the
application if she had not first run into William. Hector, the
target of her agenda, would not have been where she was headed to
in the morning; he had been out all night, drinking and snorting
cocaine. This would have given her and Hector’s boys more than
enough time to test and calibrate the application’s GPS feature,
had she not mistakenly given the card to Will.