| |
––––––––
Everyone glanced at their watches in tiredness as the minutes stretched into hours with their heads buried in their computers. Ivan felt the urge to move from where he sat but it wasn’t time yet. Lunch break is coming ad he dint want to get up too early. He bent and went hard at work, slapping the keys on the keyboard so hard that his hard work could be heard miles away.
“Is the clock deliberately slow today? It’s only 10:00 am yet it feels like we’ve been at work all day already” the lady in the cubicle close to his said. Ivan raised his head, shrugged, and turned back to work. At 10:30 am, Valera rose off her seat and made her way to the lady’s room. No one noticed she didn’t come back until it was lunch break. And even then, no one saw her.
Ivan grabbed his briefcase at noon and walked right out the door, his face set. He didn’t share any words with his coworkers, not even a single word was shared between them as he walked straight out of the building, making his way to the cafeteria. There was a hurdle of men at the door, he recognized their topic of conversation before he recognized their names. It was almost like there was nothing else for the men here to discuss besides the promotion coming on.
Someone screamed. The hysterical scream had everyone scrambling towards the lady’s room except Ivan who looked annoyed at the disturbance. He turned around and followed the sea of people thronging the bathroom. He hated this human problem, this need to run pell-mell into the latest noise and debacle. One or two persons could have simply ascertained what was wrong, they didn’t need to make a rush for it as the swine rushed into the water in the Christian bible. There has to be something separating sapiens from swine, shouldn’t there.
He watched as Yevgeniy and Valentin struggled at the door, trying to force their way through at the same time. He understood Valentin, take Kira out of the equation and he would have taken Valera to be his mate. Such a bland word, mate, but Ivan preferred it to the more modern options available. It could refer to the act of sex as well as companionship; he loved words that seemed to have more than just the one thing to say.
“You two buffoons should step back off the doorframe before you break the door down!” Nikolai said in his heavy baritone. He is old, yet his voice still rings out like a bell and still has that strong effect. The two struggling men stepped off the door and stood to the side as Nikolai marched into the room. The tangy smell of collected pee smacked him in the face but he didn’t flinch. He has seen worse than pee, it was obvious in his stride and his general appearance; this isn’t a man to be phased by pee.
He came out a moment later, with an expressionless face, holding a small knife in his hand while pulling Genrika by the hand, supporting her frame with his. She looked flushed as though something had scared her.
“That’s an NR-40, military issue knife, what is it doing in the lady’s room?” Yevgeniy asked.
“I wouldn’t know, but it had given Genrika here a good scare,” Nikolai said. “She was face down in her pee when I found her, she needs to go home and lay down or something,” Nikolai suggested. Everyone stared at the knife, at the blade catching the light of the sun and looking even more menacing than it already did. The NR-40 has a thick plastic handle, but it was the blade that caught all the attention. One side looked like the jagged edge of a saw while the other end was thinner than a razor blade.
“Kira, can you take her home?” Nikolai asked. “By the way, the knife is clean, probably forgotten there by someone who had gone to pee,” Nikolai added to reassure the people who were looking keenly at the knife and Genrika.
“Can’t do it, I have to get back to work, the boss has me running around the clock today. Maybe Yevgeniy can do it, she will feel safe with him,” Kira said and turned back, making her way back to the office. The others were beginning to turn back now, making their way back to the cafeteria to make the most of what remained of their lunch break. Ivan did the same, walking back to grab a large plate for himself. He thought one person could have handled whatever the hysterical noise was about, it didn’t need everybody running pell-mell like hedonists to be solved.
He sat by himself and ate, downing his food quickly as though his life depended on it. He watched from the cafeteria as Yevgeniy helped Genrika into his car and got on the driver’s side. He watched them pull out of the premises slowly. He was eating alone as always but somehow, he wasn’t to be left alone.
“Penislovich, do you ever eat anything else other than those damned Blinis?” Valentin asked, sliding into the seat in front of Ivan. Ivan didn’t react, he just watched his co-worker slide into the seat while he concentrated on biting on the crusty Blinis. He doesn’t like the crusts, but the cafeteria always seemed to prefer making it that way, crusty with a hard center he has to bite into.
“Come on, I am just messing with you, have you seen Valera?”
“I have been waiting to hear news myself, she had complained about her stomach earlier and the boss had graciously given her the rest of the day off, I am surprised she didn’t say anything to you,” Ivan said.
“Oh, she had mentioned it to me, I was just messing with you,” Valentin quipped. Ivan understood the need to lie, classic human psychology. Everyone likes to think they are everyone else’s best friend and wouldn’t want to see what the actual reality is.
“I have some files I need to pass on to her, do you think you could take me to her home? I know the address, but I cannot just show up at her doorstep.”
“But I can, I have been to her home numerous times. Shall we fit that into the rest of the lunch hour?” Valentin said, standing.
“Sure, let me just grab my suitcase,” Ivan said, grabbing his suitcase as they made their way towards the parking lot.
“My car or yours?” Valentin asked.
“You really want to ride in the Lada?” Ivan asked.
“Good question,” he replied, leading the way to his German-made Volkswagen. They slipped behind the wheels of the car and made their way out of the office through the alternative exit. As he drove, he tried to engage Ivan in conversation but the more he tried, the more Ivan retreated into himself, saying very little and keeping a lot to himself. They drove for about twenty minutes before stopping in front of a small stucco building.
“Does Valera live here alone?” Ivan asked.
“Ummm, she lives with an older aunt, Ivana but the old lady works at the grocery store, come on, let’s go in and say hi.”
Ivan allowed him to take the lead as they walked toward the house. When he knocked on the door, there was no response. He knocked again, waiting for a response, waiting to hear a voice answer from within but no words came and no voice answered. Valentin made his way to the back, looking through the windows and trying to make out the occupant of the room.
“Are you sure this is her apartment?” Ivan asked.
“Yes,” Valentin called out from the back. Ivan slipped a key in the lock while Valentin was snooping through the windows.
“That’s weird,” he called out.
“What?”
“The front door is unlocked, who would leave their front door unlocked?” he asked.
“She might be in trouble, should we call the Poliysiya?” Valentin asked.
“And tell them what? That we came looking for a coworker and found her home open? How does that sound to you?” she asked.
“What do we do then?”
“She was probably too sick to think of locking her door, this is a simple matter. Hello! Valera, we are coming in,” Ivan said and walked right through the door. Valentin who didn’t think this was a good idea took a second to follow behind him, his steps careful as he tried to be as noiseless as possible. There was no one in the house, only Ivan, standing in the middle of the room, his briefcase open on the table, dark gloves on his hands, staring at the door as Valentin walked in.
“Penislovich?” Valentin asked, his mouth open, his eyes wild as he stared at the man in the middle of the room.
“Valera is dead, flushed down the toilet at the office, maggot feed right now, except, of course, her liquid remains might be toxic for whatever compost element gets to it first. But then, the good news is she won’t smell or anything of the sort, she is safe, resting,” Ivan said.
“What are you talking about?” It was then Valentin saw the clear plastic underneath his feet. He looked around the room, there were no pictures on the walls, only plain, scuffed walls. It was being prepped for painting. He saw all this as fear seeped through him, his heart beating furiously as his fears grew. He is standing in a kill zone. The realization filled him with so much dread and his mouth fell open, trembling.
“You got a flower this morning, what was written on that flower?” Ivan asked.
“Veni Vidi?”
“Yes, an Italian saying that means “I came, I saw,” but it is incomplete, did you try to find out what was left?” Ivan asked.
“No,” he replied, his eyes focused on the gun in Ivan’s hand.
“The full saying is “Veni, Vidi, Vici, - I came, I saw, I conquered,” of course, for you, you can understand why the last syllable was omitted.”
“Why?” Valentin asked. He didn’t blink, just stared straight at the gun, his brain doing a quick check of all his options.
“Stop, there is nowhere to go, by the way, this house does not belong to Valera, although I understand why you would think it is. I had managed to make a small alteration to the employee records, I see why you would think she lives here. And to answer your question, you don’t get the last syllable because you’re no conqueror, you’re just a man destined to die, here, in this room where no one will come looking for you,” Ivan said.
“Please, Ivan....”
“Oh, you know my name now? No longer Penislovich? I should shoot you in the balls, they were a waste after all,” Ivan said. You never used them, never used anything!” Ivan said.
“Please, Ivan, please...” Valentin wrung his hands together in mental pain.
“Shut up! You’re a Russian, we do not cower, we do not beg, it is all those western ideals, music, softness, everything you have learned from the west has brought you here, to this moment, with the barrel of my gun pointed at your face. This country has grown soft, a complete shadow of what our fathers envisioned,” Ivan quipped.
“I can change, Ivan, please.”
“You spent half the day daydreaming about women you work with, scouring through employee records to find their addresses but you never make the move or get to visit them. It is quite the odd thing to do, collect information for such a long time without as much as lifting a finger to do something with the information you’ve gathered. Tell me, Valentin, what kind of coward are you?” Ivan asked.
“Do you expect me to stalk and rape these women?” he asked.
“No, but whatever you were thinking, I expected you to take steps besides snooping through employee records and licking the ass of these women in the hopes of getting into their pants with some pity play,” Ivan bellowed. His voice was angry but controlled, he didn’t want anyone overhearing him from outside.
“I can change, I promise, I will get help, go through therapy, anything at all, please, don’t kill me,” Valentin begged. Ivan shook his head, sad at the man his people seem to consider a rising star. A sad sack of a man who couldn’t die with any dignity. Ivan shot him, the first shot making a huge dent in his right eye. He watched him fall slowly unto the plastic bag laid under him. Ivan walked up to him and pointed the gun at the other eye, shooting it out as well.
“When you get down to the other side, let the fathers know you couldn’t see them because Ivan Petrovich took your eyes, tell them you can’t see them because you were a poor representation of the men who have come and gone. Tell them you were no man, that your penis was an ornament dangling between your legs. Tell them you didn’t get much use out of that either,” Ivan said as he wrapped the plastic around the prone body and carried him into the bathroom, laying him gently in the bathtub. He had to get back to work before someone misses him and begins to ask questions but then again, Valera is gone, and no one is saying a thing.
He drove the car to the back of the house and parked it in the garage before walking out to the road and hailing a taxi. Everything was laid deep into the bag before he made his way out to the road and made for the railroad. The train would go right past his office building, and he would be able to sneak into the parking lot and make it appear like he had just come up from the garage.
When he walked to the stairs, Kira was standing there, flushed. He knew where she was headed, he will be heading out soon to meet up with her. His schedule is set, the day was deliberately slow earlier, but now it has become fast and he must keep up. The Angel of death was in the corridors, and no one has seen her yet.