Chapter 4: The Grab

Chapter 4: The Grab

Gina Campanili was pissed off. She had studied hard for the history test but still not done well. The fact that her studying the night before had been interrupted by the arrival of Karl at her apartment and the subsequent lovemaking that always happened when he showed up, did not enter into her mind. She had gotten back to the studying, after all. Eventually. Bouncing on the mattress with Karl did not take all that long, she rationalized. Only a couple of hours. It was the fault of the professor for not teaching her better. Besides, history was such a dry subject.

Maybe a chocolate sundae and then a call to Karl inviting him over for a repeat performance would make her feel better. Yes, that was the ticket! Karl would commiserate with her then do that thing he did that always left her exhausted but oh, so satisfied. Busy pulling her cell phone out of her backpack, she did not hear the footsteps behind her. Nor did she see the male figure that had moved out from behind a van. Suddenly there was a cloth pressed over her mouth and nose, with a strong medicine smell. She started to struggle but had already inhaled enough of the drug to begin passing out. He held her in his strong arms and, in less than a minute, she was unconscious.

Supporting her with one arm, he opened the van door with the other, then dragged the teenager into the van and climbed in after her. After shutting the door, he slapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists then another pair on her ankles. The wrist pair fit well enough, but the ankles thick enough so that he had to force the cuffs to close enough to reach the first notch. Standard handcuffs were not made for overweight bitches! He used another pair to connect the pair on her wrists with those on her ankles into a steel hogtie. He was breathing hard. She had been heavier than he expected. And he was not as young as he once was. That damned knee hurt. Peeling off the surgical gloves, he climbed into the driver’s seat. The gloves had been a precaution, in case he had to touch something, like a car. One can never be too careful while doing such work.

The part of the parking lot around his van was still empty of students, although a few were walking to their cars in other places. He had chosen well, positioning his van between her car and the classrooms. He had also watched from a rise overlooking the parking lot as she parked her car. As she and other students going to the seven o’clock classes went in, another set was coming out. After their cars cleared out, he carefully picked a newly freed parking spot on the mostly likely path she would take, and one that had a couple tall SUV’s to help hide the kidnapping. Had she not been alone, he would have had to delay the snatch until the next night she had a class. But he had observed that she never returned to her car with another student. At least, not on the two nights he had been on surveillance.

He was well aware that it was dangerous to be making a grab in such a public area, but he was being careful. Should there be any possibility of witnesses, he would back off and try another night.

Driving slowly out of the parking lot, he felt pleased with himself. Later that night this young woman would begin to feel the terror she deserved. He sighed contently as he thought of the ordeal he had planned for her. There would be so much pain. And terror! She would come to understand the meaning of that word before the night was over. But that was only right. Her father had caused so much pain to others, why shouldn’t she feel some of it herself? Of course, when her body was eventually found – and he fully intended it would be – her father would grieve. Hopefully he would feel the kind of pain he had given so often. The Punisher hoped that man really loved this overweight bitch so his emotional pain would be very great. He deserved it.

Of course, it was possible that her father did not give a shit about her. He was a gangster, after all. Well, that would be just too bad! He was not going to worry about that possibility.

Driving carefully to assure that he would not be stopped for some frickin’ minor traffic violation, he made along the main drag until he came to the 15 Freeway. Then it was up the on-ramp and headed out of town. Forty miles farther down the freeway, he heard some noises from the back of the van and knew she was coming out of the drug-induced sleep. Soon enough she would be yelling at him and cursing. Fine, let her. No one would hear her as they drove along the freeway, and she was not going to be able to do much struggling with those handcuffs on. If she made too much fuss, he would stop someplace along the way and silence her. Maybe a gag or just a knock on the head. Didn’t matter to him.

It was another twenty-two miles on the freeway, then fifteen miles along a small road. A turnoff onto a dirt road and he was soon climbing into the mountains. He knew the area well enough to know that very few people ever came this way, day or night. It was nearing midnight when he pulled to stop in a clearing among a pine tree grove. For a while he sat there, listening to the engine making pinging noises at it cooled off and the faint sound she made as she moved around. Occasionally she whined but had stopped the few demands and threats she had made upon awakening. Undoubted were he to look back he would see her trying to get the handcuffs off. She would not be able to, of course, but watching her struggle might be interesting.

It had been a little surprising, but the bitch in the back had not made much noise. When she first awoke, she asked in dozy voice what was happening. When she became aware enough to realize that she was in a handcuff hogtie, she began screaming at him. But the curses and demands lasted only a minute. Then she was quiet. He was certain she was fully awake, but she had not said a word after the first yelling. Maybe she realized that she was in deep shit and was too afraid to ask questions or make demands that would not be obeyed anyway. He turned around in the seat and pulled out the small flashlight from his pocket.

Her eyes were wide as the flashlight illuminated her face. Her breathing was coming fast and he could guess that her heart rate was rather high. She had moved a little to back of the van, almost as if she were trying to move away from him, but the restraints had kept her from doing anything else. He shifted around in the seat and stepped into the back of the van.

She cringed as he knelt down beside her. He kept the light on her face.

“My... my father has a lot of money. He’ll pay you,” she said through trembling lips.

He could have let her think that ransom was his objective, but decided that would not do. If she thought that she would be freed once some money was paid, she would not be so afraid. And he wanted her afraid. Very afraid.

“I don’t want money,” he said quietly. He enjoyed the widening of her eyes and that wonderful look of fear that painted itself across her sort-of pretty face. “And I know who your father is.”

“You... Are you...?”

“No, I am not one of his competitors,” he told her. “But I am someone who is well aware of what your father does. And how many lives he has destroyed.”

Gina paled and looked like she was going to pass out.

He went on. “Do you know what your father does? Of course you do. Do you have any idea what those drugs he pushes onto the streets does to people? How it turns them into junkies and thieves and whores? And eventually kills them?”

She was shaking as he poured verbal abuse on her. “Maybe you even pushed some of the drugs onto your classmates? Make a few extra dollars here and there?”

“I didn’t... No...” She could barely force the words out.

“No matter. You’re here now and you are going to pay for all your father had done to others.” He lifted his voice and added, “The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children!” Then he smiled at her and quoted the Bible: “Exodus 20:5 – for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations...”

She began crying.