Burying the Mongoose

  “They’re going to figure it out,” Dr. Thompson loudly said into his desk phone. 

Dr. Thompson sat at his desk in his home office. It was into the early hours of the morning. He had a woman he kidnapped in his basement. He was trying to secure help in getting a giant snake back into his possession. 

“I cannot help you,” the man on the other end said in a strong Israeli accent, “Our government stopped the work on that project.”

“You know damn well, Ephraim,” Dr. Thompson said, “That I know a lot of stuff that would be damaging to you and your government. We need this secret to stay just between us.”

“We know a lot about you as well,” Ephraim replied, “How do you expect me to be able to help?”

“I will find the snake,” Dr. Thompson replied, “I just need men to secure it and move it.”

“Move it where?” Ephraim asked.

“I have a house just off campus,” Dr. Thompson replied, “I usually rent it, but it’s unoccupied this year.”

“Not secure enough,” Ephraim replied. 

“It is not the ideal place for it,” Dr. Thompson agreed, “But I can make the basement very secure.”

“We will never speak again after this,” he said. 

“Fine,” Dr. Thompson replied. 

“We will kill you, if you reveal any of our secrets,” Ephraim said. 

“Understood,” Dr. Thompson said. 

“Call me when you know where it is,” Ephraim said, “Only on landline. Never cellphone.”

“Thank you,” Dr. Thompson said. 

The call ended. Dr. Thompson hung up the phone and collected his thoughts. He needed to get Mongoose, which he now knew was a girl called Kassie. He’d been through his class rosters for the last several years, but didn’t find a Kassie or Kassandra. Since Katie had told him she had been a student he thought it would be worth checking. He might be able to get more information on her from one of his colleagues, but with the focus on him and Katie’s disappearance he decided it would be better not to go that route. 

Kassie Keller sat across from the private investigator that the governor had hired to investigate the leak. She was nervous, but hoped she did well to mask it. The PI looked exactly like Kassie expected one to look like; he was only missing the fedora and trench coat. She crossed her legs and dangled her heel from her foot as a nervous habit. She was wearing a white button-up top, black pencil skirt and black heels. On her legs she wore black tights despite the heat outside.

“You seem like the person with the least to lose in this office,” the private investigator said with his gravelly voice. 

“I think I have a lot to lose,” Kassie replied. 

“My name is Abraham Cole, by the way,” he said.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Cole,” Kassie said. 

“Call me Abe,” he said, “You make the least money, you’re new to the game and the paper that gets the story just happens to be your old school’s paper. Why not the big paper?”

“Ask the person who leaked,” she replied.

“I think I’m looking at her,” he said, “What have you been doing after work recently?”

“I usually just go home after work,” she answered.

“But not every night?” he asked.

“No,” she said, “I mean, I have to go grocery shopping occasionally. Sometimes I’ll meet someone for dinner, but most nights I just go home.”

“Several nights ago,” he said, “you turned a different way out of the parking garage than anyone had ever seen before.”

“Yea,” she said, “I was meeting a friend at a new bar.”

“Did that friend happen to be Katie Baker?” he asked.

“No,” she said. 

“Do you know Katie Baker?” he said, “Ever meet her? Seen her?”

“No,” she answered. 

“Listen, kid,” he said, “You’re one of the prime suspects. So start coming up with evidence to prove it ain’t you. I’m going to try to piece together your whereabouts and anything you can provide will help me and you, if you’re telling the truth.” 

“I’ll see what I can come up with tonight,” she said. 

He said nothing else as she got up and left. She hoped he hadn’t noticed her starting to sweat and her foot nervously bobbing. The office had turned into a toxic environment. Every person who had an office had the door closed and locked. Those stuck in cubicles wouldn’t speak or even look at each other. The pressure she felt was like nothing she had before. She wasn’t sure if she would be fired or resign first.

Dr. Thompson had waited early in the morning outside the building that held the governor’s office and caught sight of a young woman who matched Katie’s description of Mongoose. She was wearing business clothes and black tights. Her brown hair hung loose past her shoulders. He noted the direction she came from and then drove away. 

He was waiting for Mongoose to pass on her way out of the building. He’d been there since 4:30 and it was nearly a quarter to 7:00 without any sight of her. The time had gone slowly, but he was focused on his mission. Finally, he saw her pass. Her black tights reflected the evening sun and her heels had been replaced by tennis shoes. He watched as she walked into a parking garage. 

Kassie knew her time at her current job was going to be short-lived. The PI was onto her. He could kill any possible future in politics for her. She stopped for a moment as she walked up the steps of the parking garage to rearrange her tights; she hated the archaic rule that required women to wear hosiery. She reached her level in the parking garage and walked to her blue hatchback. She drove off leaving the parking garage. 

Kassie started driving to the apartment where she lived alone. Dr. Thompson followed her trying to keep his distance. She got on the highway and he followed, but got off soon after. Eventually, Kassie turned into her apartment complex; she hadn’t noticed that someone was tailing her. She swung her car into a parking place in front of her building. Dr. Thompson parked his car in the nearest parking place seconds after Kassie had parked. 

She walked up a flight of stairs; she heard someone walking behind her but wasn’t in the mood to chat with the neighbors. She unlocked the door to her apartment and went in shutting the door behind her. She locked it again once she was inside. She started her usual after work routine. 

Dr. Thompson was very unsure of what to do next. He didn’t know if she lived alone. He doubted his ability to pick a lock. He considered what his best option was for a few minutes, realizing that he needed to do something quickly. He decided that the best option would be to knock on the door and hope she answers; he could maybe find out if she lived alone and had an idea that might lure her out. 

A few minutes after getting home, Kassie heard a knock at the door. She had just started dinner and was getting ready to change. She gave a heavy sigh and walked quietly towards the door. She looked out the peep hole and saw a well-dressed older man. She wanted to just ignore him, but decided that the decent thing to do was to open the door; she could at least turn down what he’s selling.

“Hi,” she said with an unsure voice. 

“Hi,” Dr. Thompson replied, scanning behind her for roommates, “You drive that blue hatchback?”

“Yea,” she said. 

“I just noticed as I was walking by,” he started, “that it’s leaking coolant pretty fast. You don’t want to drive it again until you have it checked out.”

“Oh, no,” she said, “Can you show me? Just let me get my shoes on.”

“Okay,” he said suppressing a grin. 

“Do you know how to work on cars?” she asked. 

“A little bit,” he replied. 

She slipped on a pair of black flats that sat by her doorway and walked out following the stranger. She thought he must be one of the neighbors; he seemed nice too. She followed him to her car. 

“What’s your name?” Dr. Thompson asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs. 

“Kassie,” she said. 

He felt confident that she was indeed the right person. They walked towards her car. He looked around and saw that no neighbors were out. He hadn’t seen any security cameras as he looked around when he got to the apartment complex. He stopped in front of her car. 

“I don’t see anything,” she said.

“There’s a big puddle under the car,” he said, “I noticed it just behind the front tires.”

She walked around the side of her car and he moved quickly. His left hand went over her mouth and his right hand jammed a needle into her upper arm. She screamed into his hand for a second before the drugs kicked in. He’d given her a lower dose of tranquilizer than he’d done with Katie. He wasn’t entirely sure if she would lose consciousness, but she’d not be in position to fight for some time. 

She mumbled incoherently as he moved her towards his car. He plopped her down on the passenger seat and fastened the seat belt around her. He looked around again and there was still no one out. A car was just coming into the apartment complex. He walked around to the driver’s side and got in the car. As an extra precaution he wrapped her wrists in duct tape before driving off. 

Kassie was coming around after being in and out of consciousness for the drive. Dr. Thompson turned off the road and onto a private road. He knew of a very remote spot that would never be patrolled at night. He’d worked with the landowner many times for research. He’d stumbled upon what he considered a perfect place to hide a body; he never expected to use it though. 

He parked his car and walked around to grab his nearly conscious captive. She hadn’t started yelling yet, but he could tell she was starting to figure things out. He roughly grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her out of the car. She grunted, but continued to be pulled by him. She couldn’t make sense of anything; something was very wrong, but she couldn’t think clearly enough to do anything. 

“Wha…” she mumbled, “What are you… what are yous doing to me?”

He didn’t respond. Her mind was clearing. She couldn’t pull apart her wrists. Someone was making her walk. There were lots of trees. She was in trouble at work. Her mind cleared further and she came to the realization that someone was going to kill her. 

“Help!” she screamed, “Help! Someone Help!”

“No one can hear you,” he said plainly. 

“Let me go, you creep,” she yelled, starting to struggle. 

He grabbed her and pushed her up against a tree. She was surprised by the sudden force. They were getting close to the small clearing and he knew that if she saw what was there she wouldn’t cooperate at all. 

“Hold still,” he ordered, “I won’t hurt you, if you give me what I want.”

“No,” she spat, “Let me go!” 

She attempted to kick him in the balls, but he dodged. He shoved her down to the ground and wrestled her until he got a good grip of her ankles. While still fighting her struggles, he wrapped duct tape around her ankles. She’d lost one of her flats in the fight and he enjoyed the sight of her tights-clad foot. He ran his hand from her foot to the bottom of her skirt and back a few times. He stood up and let her wiggle in front of him. 

“You’re Mongoose,” he said. 

“No,” she denied it. 

“I need Mongoose to give me some information,” he said, “but if she doesn’t they’ll eventually find your skeleton in these woods.”

“Okay,” she said, “I’m Mongoose. I didn’t fucking hurt anyone. I don’t deserve to die.”

“Well,” he said, “I think you hurt me, but that’s beside the point. What I want to know is where the snake is now.”

“It was moved to the zoo,” she said desperately, “I don’t know any more than that. No one’s talking to each other in the office more.”

“The zoo?” he said, “They’re idiots if they moved it there, but that doesn’t matter. You’ve given me what I wanted to know, so we’ll just go back to the car. You’ll fall asleep and wake up at your apartment.” 

“Please just let me go,” she begged.

“You’re too far away from anything for you to be saying that,” he said, “Let me help you up.”

He helped her to stand up. He held her up as she started bouncing alongside him. They slowly made their way into the clearing. With the small size of the clearing and the darkness, she didn’t see the grave until she was just a few feet from it. She started fighting and screaming, but it was too late. With all his might, he shoved her towards the shallow hole. She stumbled and fell into the grave. 

She fell head first and hit her head very hard on the compact dirt at the bottom of the hole. She saw stars and her head ached like it never had before. She couldn’t bear to open her eyes, but she felt something landing on her. It was dirt. She forced her eyes open and struggled as hard as she could against her bindings. She tried to stand, but couldn’t as more dirt was shoveled onto her. 

Dr. Thompson quickly shoveled dirt into the grave enjoying the sight of her struggling. Fighting in the woods and in the grave made her quite disheveled. There were runs in her tights. Her top was partially untucked from her skirt, which had ridden up her thighs.

“Please, God,” she screamed, “Please help.”

More dirt was tossed in on her. Her clothing was getting covered. As she kicked and struggled some fell off to the sides, but it was running out of room. Tears were falling as she felt the first shovel full of dirt hit her face. She was quietly praying and pleading. Her white blouse started to disappear and was quickly followed by her skirt. Her legs were becoming enveloped by dirt. Her feet were buried and didn’t break the surface again. 

“Please,” she begged, feeling the dirt closing in, “I’ll do whatever you want. Just let me go. Anything. Absolutely anything.”

“You gave me what I wanted,” he said, still throwing shovels full of dirt, “Now you’re just a loose-end. You should’ve kept your mouth closed. None of this would’ve happened and I’d still have my snake.”

Spitting stopped being enough to keep the dirt off her mouth. Her nose was covered next. She stared at the dark sky with terrified eyes until the dirt covered them as well. Her forehead and hair disappeared leaving her completely covered. He continued shoveling for quite a long time until all the dirt he’d dug up was back in the hole. There was a tiny mound that showed where his victim was buried. 

He slowly walked back to his car. He was exhausted and winded from all the shoveling that day. He paused for a moment and picked up the flat Kassie had kicked off in the woods. It would be a souvenir; he’d found watching her struggle desperately as she was slowly buried excited him as much as watching those three women be eaten by the snake.  

Dr. Thompson returned home and quickly walked to his office. He sat at his desk chair and picked up the phone. He called his Israeli contact. 

“Hello,” his contact answered

“The snake is at the city zoo,” Dr. Thompson said.

“Understood,” Ephraim said in his Israeli accent, “A team will have the snake secured and delivered by 0800 hours. Where is your source?”

“She’s taken care of,” Dr. Thompson said. 

“I assume that means she’s dead,” Ephraim said, “This is the end of our contact. This number will no longer work once this call is over.”

“Thank you,” Dr. Thompson said before the line went dead. 

He got up and walked to his bedroom. Katie laid on his bed. He’d loosely secured her to the bed, but made sure the binding on her arms and legs were secure. She was sleeping. Her white dress and tan pantyhose were still looking good. Her makeup was streaked and smudged. Her hair was still neatly in its ponytail. He decided not to disturb her. 

He walked down to his living and got in his recliner. His mind was racing, but his body was tired from the long day. He eventually did close his eyes and fall asleep. 

Outside the zoo, a team of four men dressed in black tactical clothing quickly were closing in on the front gate. The security system had been taken off-line. They quickly scaled the gate. Moving quietly and quickly, they approached the building they believed the snake to be in. They formed around the door as a breaching charge was placed by the man nearest the door. 

Inside a zoo-keeper, a staff member and a security guard sat around bored. The security guard had his feet up on a desk and was nearly asleep. The zoo-keeper and staff member were both women and were leaning against a wall chatting. The snake lay in a small enclosure behind them. 

A loud bang from the door and startled screams from those inside, were the sounds that welcomed the four men as they stormed the room. The women and security guard were grabbed and a chloroform rag was put over each of their faces. Once they were all unconscious, one of the men searched the zoo keeper for the keys to the enclosure while another went to secure their extraction. 

In minutes, they had the snake sedated and moved into a van. Three of the men waited in the van while the final man used spray paint to make it look like a radical animal’s right organization was behind the theft. He planted more evidence before joining the others in the van. The van sped off and smashed through the nearest gate on route to the snake’s new home.