Promise Me Eternity (17 page)

“Put me down!”

“This will be an unforgettable night, I
assure you.”

She started beating his face with her hands.
“I want you to let me go!”

As there were too many blows, he had no
choice but to put her down. He wrapped his arm round her and again
picked her up like a bag of cement and carried her to the
bedroom.

“Stop trying to resist,” he said as he lay
her down on the king-size bed. “Can’t you see I’m stronger? You
don’t have the slightest chance.” He rolled on top her.

It felt like he weighed a few hundred pounds.
“Help!” she cried. “Hel—”

He covered her mouth. “You’re going to spoil
everything!” Lifting himself up to undress her, he started undoing
her buttons.

That’s when Helen knew it was for real. If
she didn’t resist him with all her might, he would most certainly
rape her and afterward might even kill her. She feverishly thought
about what to do.

She turned like a cat, so that she had her
back to him.

“Now look at that,” Robert said, smiling.
“You want it from behind?”

She jerked onto her knees and with all her
might straightened up. Being on the edge of the bed and not
expecting it, he toppled over onto the parquet. The bang was so
loud she thought he would never get up again.

Helen reckoned wrongly, though, and he was
soon up on all fours. She noticed a glow in his eyes, telling her
that the game wasn’t over yet.

She scrambled to her feet, ran out of the
room, and in less than five seconds made it to the front door. She
desperately tugged at the doorknob, but the door was locked.
Turning, she saw him moving toward her, grunting noisily. She had
no choice but to pick up a glass ashtray that was on the table and
throw it at him. “Come near me and I’ll kill you!” The ashtray
missed him by a fraction and ended on the wall, where it broke into
a thousand pieces.

Clearly, she was dealing with a madman. But
how could she rescue herself from this awful situation? “Why did
you lock me in? Where’s the key? Give me the key now or I’ll smash
everything I can lay my hands on. You’d better believe it!” She
picked up a small green porcelain statue and flung it at him.

While jumping aside so that it barely missed
him Robert let out an incredible, high-pitched sound, like a
ravished woman. “You fucking bitch! I brought that statue from
China. You’ll pay for that.”

Helen next seized an elegant porcelain
lighter, but before she could throw it at him he grabbed her hips
and was again dragging her toward the bedroom, covering her mouth
with his hand to stop her from screaming.

As he was dragging her along the hall, she
found a way to resist. She lifted her legs and pushed against the
wall. She did it so quickly that he crashed into the wall on the
other side of the hall. Then she thrust her hands back, hitting him
in the ribs. He let go of her immediately.

She ran down the stairs, into the basement.
That wasn’t the best idea, but at that moment she just wanted to
get away. She thought she might be able to escape through a
basement window.

She opened the first door and caught sight of
lots of different brooms, plastic bowls, an ironing table, an iron,
and cleaning things. She picked up a mop with a metal handle that
might come in handy.

Helen opened the other door and before her
was an unbelievably large room. The light coming from the other end
told her there may be a window within. She frantically looked for
the light switch but couldn’t find one. Turning, she saw him right
behind her, reaching for her. His eyes were smiling.

She swung the metal handle at him. Robert
Miner moved out of the way, but not enough and received a blow to
the shoulder. “Damn, you got me again! You’re quite a fighter. I
can’t believe how much that turns me on.” Again he made his way
toward her. “Don’t go into that room, please!”

She did exactly what he told her not to. She
entered the room because to her it was the only way of getting away
from him. She would have done anything to make him stop touching
her. To her surprise the light came on. Obviously it was equipped
with a sensor. But this light wasn’t white and bright, but
blood-red and thick, so the shapes in the room were barely
visible.

“I told you not to go in there!”

With astonishment she gaped at the thick
chains that hung along the wall. In some places they were equipped
with long spikes. She noticed a leather dog collar on the chain.
There was an old wooden chest on which stood a lot of metal
pincers. She also noticed a large plastic dildo. When her eyes got
used to the light, she saw more weird devices, which were obviously
for torture.

“You’re sick,” she said to him.

“I equipped this room a little while ago. You
shouldn’t have come in here.”

“Leave me alone. What do you want from
me?”

He started toward her, and she was scared
that he would grab her. She swung the metal handle, but to her
regret it got caught in the chains hanging from the ceiling. Miner
was already beside her while she was trying to free it.

“Don’t resist, darling, because I’m going to
go mad.”

She hit his face. She had already given in to
the fact that he was going to grab her.

“You hit me!” Holding his cheek he looked at
her like a scared child. For a moment, she even thought he was
trembling. Immediately she hit him again.

Again he looked at her with fear in his eyes
and cried out slightly. However, the cry wasn’t from fear or
physical pain, more like some kind of relief.

She hit his cheek with her hand a third time,
with all her strength, turning his head.

“Why are you hitting me?” he asked her,
shaking. “I haven’t done anything to you. Please, stop hitting
me!”

She suddenly realized what she was dealing
with. Her sweater was hampering her movements so she took it off
and slapped his face again. She noticed saliva drooling grossly
from his mouth.

Then the blows came one after another. The
more she hit him, the softer he became. Instead of defending
himself, he stood there, utterly still and begging with his eyes
for her to keep going. But that was the last thing on her mind.

She stopped after three minutes, when she saw
his body had started to throb in time with his heartbeat and he
lifted his hand, wanting her to go on. Only then did she realize
there was blood coming from his nose.

She could hardly straighten up. She looked at
him scornfully, trying to catch her breath.

He said, “Never … really, never have I …
never have I had such a good time. You’re absolutely wonderful.
I’ll pay you however much you want.”

“What? You’ll pay me? Do you realize how sick
you are?”

“Wait! Don’t be scared!” He crawled toward a
black chest and opened it. His checkbooks and a pen were hidden
inside. He quickly filled in a check and gave it to her. He was
scared she’d get away from him. “There you are! I hope five
thousand dollars will repay all your effort. You really are
heavenly.”

He’d had violent sex with women before,
paying them well. None of them had ever reported him to the
police.

She took the check and examined it. It was
like he said. She grimaced, disgusted with the creature in front of
her. For a moment she felt like finding a hard object and hitting
him on the head with it, knocking him out. With a cool voice she
asked, “Where are the keys to the outside door?”

He was still catching his breath. “In the
second drawer of the first cabinet on the right, next to the front
door. You can’t miss it.”

Helen bit her lower lip, thinking about what
to do with this disgusting creature. If she could, she would vomit
on him, that’s how disgusting she found him.

Then she thought of something. She picked up
the plastic dildo. His eyes, which were following her, opened
wide.

“Wwwhat … are you planning on doing?”

“I feel like killing you. Do you realize how
much you scared me?”

Robert lowered his head back, his eyes fixed
on the dildo and the closer it got, the more he shook. “I didn’t
mean to scare you …”

“But you did scare me.” She seized his hair
and stuffed the check into his mouth. She grasped the dildo and
shoved it down his throat. “Swallow your goddamn check. Swallow
it!”

Although he was suffocating, he nodded
obediently. He managed to say, “But your money …”

She pushed even harder. “Swallow it! You
goddamn scum! You should be locked up.”

When, with great difficulty, he managed to
swallow the lump of paper, she got up, put on her sweater, and
without looking at him, left the basement.

The key was where he said it would be. She
unlocked the door and left the house.

She started crying only a few yards away. She
thought about getting a taxi to the police station, but then she
wondered how she’d explain it to Simon.
How could I tell him I
was looking for a new relationship and found some mad bastard who
nearly raped me? No, I couldn’t tell him that.

Helen hurried on without even knowing where
she was heading until she saw a group of young boys staring at her,
wondering why she was crying. She rapidly pulled herself together
and hailed the first taxi that drove by. When the driver asked
where she wanted to go, she thought of the police again. But firmly
shaking her head she gave him her home address.

“I want to go home to Simon,” she added
quietly so the driver couldn’t hear her.

Chapter 29

_______________________

“Finally, we’re all present. I think we can
start now. How’s the anesthetic, Dr. Carter. Is the patient ready
yet?”

“I need only another half a minute. Then you
can start.”

Dr. Patterson also asked, “How about
allergies?”

“The patient isn’t allergic to anything.”

“Anything else I should know?”

Dr. Anita Carter didn’t want to look at him.
She could feel his reproachful eyes on her. “No, nothing
special.”

“Good. Just the kind of patients I like.” He
smiled slightly to himself.

A woman, forty-two years old, was lying face
down on the operating table, with her legs bent below her knees.
The nurse had put extra cushioning under her stomach and knees,
making it easier to get at her back to operate. The patient was
suffering from sciatica: the pressure on her nerve caused by a
slipped disc was causing her pain.

Dr. Patterson looked at Dr. Duncan. “How
about you lead the surgery today and I assist?”

Jerry Duncan nodded and took the place where
Simon usually sat. He looked at the main instrument nurse and
extended his hand, saying: “Scalpel, please.”

Twenty seconds later he made an incision on
the patient’s lower back. Anita Carter watched proudly, avoiding
Simon Patterson’s eyes. The skin into which he had cut immediately
started bleeding profusely. Jerry Duncan tried to stem the
flow.

“Lower the pressure,” Simon Patterson ordered
Anita. “Or we won’t stop the bleeding until tomorrow.”

Jerry Duncan looked at Anita and nodded, and
then with a coagulation clamp in place, he continued his work.

When the bleeding was finally stopped, he
slowly cut through the muscle and moved it away from the bone. Then
the bleeding needed to be stopped again.

With a special retractor Jerry Duncan
separated the musculature to reveal the spinal column. What
followed was the most unpleasant part of the operation, when part
of the spine had to be snipped off and later filed with an electric
drill. In this way he could get at the nerves. Simon Patterson took
care of rinsing and cleaning the incision.

Part of the slipped disc was already visible.
Jerry Duncan gripped it with pincers and partially pulled it out.
The part that remained had to be scraped out. Simon Patterson was
on watch the whole time to see that everything proceeded normally.
He kept looking at the monitors and checking things as if he had no
faith in the chief anesthesiologist.

When the intervertebral disc had been
completely removed, Jerry Duncan withdrew the retractor so that the
muscle returned to its previous position. He stitched the muscles
that had been cut at the start of the operation.

Finally he had to stitch the wound. The whole
operation had taken two hours.

In the corridor Jerry asked Dr. Patterson,
“What did you think?”

Simon’s thoughts were elsewhere. “What? I
don’t follow.” Then he clicked his fingers. “Oh, of course, the
operation. Very good. I have no particular comments.”

That made Jerry bolder. “You know, I’ve been
wanting to talk to you for some time.”

“Now?” Simon looked at his watch. “Why not?
Come into my office.”

Jerry felt so nervous that he had goose
bumps. This time he was determined to talk to him about a
promotion. He had thought a great deal about what Anita had said
and was increasingly convinced she was right. It was all about
money.

When they were in the office, Simon invited
Jerry to sit. Simon positioned himself at the window and folded his
arms like a teacher. “So, why did you want to talk to me?”

“I’d like … I wanted …”

“Yes?” Again he looked at his watch.

“Um, how can I put this? … Are you satisfied
with me?”

Simon Patterson wrinkled his forehead. “What
do you mean? I’m not sure I understand.”

“Well, if you’re satisfied with me in
general.”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Jerry swallowed the lump that had appeared in
his throat. He turned his head right and left as if his collar was
too tight. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I’m really sure
that it’s time I became an associate surgeon. You know, no longer
an assistant.”

“Ah, so that’s it?”