Glass Curtain, | |||
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Chapter 62 - Dick Butterby, the psycho || All Chapters | |||
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| It seemed the wind was the only friend to Tadek Vangard.Once again he drove across the North Island,this time down to Wellington.The image of Carlos did not terrify him. -�Shit with him!�- He exclaimed once and felt so much angry he speeded the car,Ford Mondeo,to over two hundred and twenty kilometers per hour.It was sunny,fortunately and the road was dry.So he was lucky,somehow,taking also into the account he was not encountered by a police patrol.If they spotted him with that speed his driving licence would be taken away from him instantly. Everybody would be surprised by his decision of going down to Wellington.The biggest danger was just there.He did not care less this time.He was fed up,he was absolutely fed up with his vagabond life.He got already some calls from his older brother,Marek Vangard,who asked him to send containers with clothing and sport shoes,produced cheaply in the Pacific Islands and especially in Bali and Western Samoa.How could he do it when he could face either Carlos or the spies sent by Andreyev Golubin,the Russian spymaster? No,there was no way to do it for the time being.His brother had to wait.He was angry at the Americans.They got the strategy from him and dumped him into a country which was not chosen by him.Even a paradise could be a hell if one were sent to a place one did not choose.What an American,or anyone else,would say if instead of going to Paris,the town of eternal love-the french love as anybody knew-was instead sent to Greenland where no human being could be seen around? There was no chance to make love-or do sex as others prefer to say-with a polar beer! In fact,Tadek Vangard did not intend to stay long time in Wellington.Perhaps a day or two.He promissed to himself to be careful.His intention was to go to the South Island where the possibility of being a fugitive to Carlos was minimized.It was sure he would visit there Dick Butterby.He thought they had a bond of friendship and he would enjoy very much staying some time in the villa located on the cliffs overlooking the majestic Pacific.To most New Zealanders Pacific was a wonder.Not to Tadek Vangard.He felt like if he were Napoleon Bonaparte on the St.Helen Island.No passport and therefore no way to get out of New Zealand.It was so much down to Earth.How ironic was it! He,a man who emigrated in order to be a free man was instead a man being targeted by the reality to a maddening point.How many times he had to take his own mind into both of his hands the way he did it with the steering wheel of his car?! Was it not maddening? Was it not a sixth dimension? Yet there were people who would never appreciate it,anywhere around the world.Those people had nothing in their minds as just satisfying their own bellies and it ended on that.They did not care for anything,the least for the environment.With such people the planet could only be doomed... He arrived in Wellington in the early morning hours.He was approaching the mysterious Beethoven House in the vicinity of Mount Victoria ran by enigmatic Alex,the man who prefered doing what he did than being a lawyer.He smiled to himself because he knew what will be his first expierence when he will enter the house.It was already one or two minutes to seven a.m. and time for waking up the baggage-traveller tourists,by the means of the Beethoven music.There was a chance Alex himself would play the music on his large,mahogany fortepiano.It was the case,indeed.The moment Tadek Vangard entered the hostel he heard Beethoven�s �Appassionata�,played so originally and so good there was no doubt it was performed by the owner of the hostel.Some tourists awaited already in the kitchen and listened vividly.There were among them those who arrived in this hostel just for that.The legend of the Beethoven House was already international.Some tourists got the news as far away as in Asia or even Americas.The other tourists who did not care for the virtues of the sort of music as represented by Beethoven,rushed out of their beds to the shower rooms,dressed up hurriedly and were coming down to the kitchen.Everybody desired free toastes of sandwiches with jam and coffee,tea or cacao to choose from. When the owner of the hostel appeared in the kitchen he was greeted with ovation.He saw Tadek Vangard instantly. -�Hi,Tadek! I�m happy I see you alive and whole!�- He rushed to him and offered a hand shake. -�Alex,can I speak to you for a moment? I mean,just you and me.Nobody can hear us.�-Tadek Vangard got straight to the point. A concern appeared on Alex�s face. -�Of course! Let�s go to my room!�- He said. -�Hey,pals! Don�t bother and have breakfast without me! I�m back in a moment!�- He shot a few words to those who still looked at him.They went to his room which was kept a frivolous way,with many antics here and there.He closed the door behind them. -�What�s the problem,Tadek?�- he asked then. -�Nobody can know anything about me,Alex. Carlos,the assassin is seeking me and besides some Russians sent to assassinate me by a guy who was a chief of KGB and,I�m afraid,is running Russia�s new spy agency.� -�But�why they want to kill you?� -�Oh,Alex,it�s a long story! It�s a pure revenge�� -�A revenge?�What�s for?� -�I passed a strategy,a so called Beehive strategy to the Americans.If it didn�t happen the New Zealand government might have been overthrown by a communist coup and the Soviet Union forces,as well as the Soviet Union itself would still be very much alive and threatening the free world�� -�It�s hard to believe it,Tadek.� -�Please,believe me.It really was the case! -�So�why they,I mean the Yankees,haven�t taken you to the States?�Why they don�t protect you?� -�Oh,Alex,try to understand them!�I have no idea! I simply face yet another nightmare! I can�t live like that!� -�No,Tadek,whatever evil you deal with,you must face to it.You should demand a protection from the Americans! There is Embassy here in Wellington.� -�If I went to the Embassy it would be my gravest mistake.I�d be shot on the spot! I�m sure they�re waiting there for me!� -�Oh,shit! So what can I do for you!� Tadek Vangard smiled sadly to him. -�Do nothing.I just wanted to confess with someone I can trust.I feel better now.You promise you won�t say to anyone about me?� -�Sure as hell!� -�Thanks,Alex!� -�Tadek,what are you going to do?� -"I�ll stay here a few days.If you don�t mind,naturally.Then I�ll go to the South Island.I�m safer there." -�I wish you good luck,Tadek.In the meantime,be my guest and enjoy yourself!" They returned to the kitchen and had a breakfast with the travellers,many of whom were from different parts of the world,nearly from four points of the world! Then someone reached for a guitar and played some country music.They felt united as if they were brothers and sisters.If only the world could feel the same way�Why there was so much hatred among the nations of the world? Why Israelis and Palestinians hated themselves so much? Why as much hatred both the Indians and Pakistanis directed against themselves? Why they threatened themselves with their nuclear weapons? And what about Kashmir and poor Kashmir people,the nation which was split in half by the two powerful antagonists? Cry freedom,Kashmir people,cry independence! How people could be cruel to each other!! -�God,forgive them because they don�t know what they do!�- A soul of the just pierced the sky with its call. Tadek Vangard felt he was recovering from his agonies.It could happen only in such a place as was the Beethoven House.The young,friendly tourists with their free spirits,the music played on various instruments,the endless conversations and shared laugh�Simply magics! And then came the evening.Tadek Vangard went outside,to the garden and let himself to be overwhelmed with the fabulous beauty of the Wellington harbour,in the face of the city lights and the shiny stars on the sky which seemed to have been having a romance as if taken straight away from the Shakespearan �Romeo & Juliet� poem! Simply breathless! Tadek Vangard was not surprised tourists were coming as far as to New Zealand.He stayed in the garden till the late of the night,overpowered by the beauty of the night.Strangely,he seemed to have been hearing some songs from the �Phantom of the Opera� musical.The imagination,of course! It was really a night of music at least deep within his dreaming mind.And yet there was another vision within his mind before he went to the bed.That of Statui of Liberty�Somewhere there�so far away! The Statui which was beyond his reach.Yet he emigrated firstly there,to the Statui of Liberty! Because,as he promissed once to himself,he wanted to pay homage to the Statui,the one who safegurded human rights of the individual,of every individual�He promissed to himself to bring a toast to freedom once he will find himself in the vicinity of the Statui of Liberty.Perhaps he will be lucky to do it in the restaurant which as he knew was located in the crown of the Statui...No,he had a long way yet...As if he had to cross from one dimension to another one�His beloved Statui,as much beloved to billions of people,was so far away�Despite it,he did not doubt he will find himself in New York one day.The feeling was like an eternal fire which powered him against all antagonisms and even antipodes he had to deal with.He knew one day that cruel glass curtain by which he was engulfed so much will simply fall down and break into billions of pieces.He will be free,at last!� The next day was very similar.It was yet just another wonder day there in New Zealand,from the perspective of ordinary New Zealanders.The following days and nights could be so much similar,as if there was no need to bother for anything.People lived in a perpetuous peace,unconcerned and even carelless to quite a high degree. On the third day Tadek Vangard said goodbye to Alex and everyone else at the Beethoven House and went away.He managed to find himself on the ferry yet the same morning which took him to Picton.Then he just continued his travel in his Ford Mondeo.Overnight he spent in the car parked alongside a motorway.Despite that it was cold outside he did not feel like that inside a comfortable sleeping bag.He prayed only no gangsters would find themselves in the vicinity because if it were a case he would find himself in trouble.He had a very bad sleep and despite that there was still a night,not yet five a�clock,he decided to get on going with his car.He put music on and listened this time to the fabulous Barbra Streisand�s voice.She was absolutely great in her singing and he loved her for that.He thought if there were singers who would fascinate future generations Barbra Streisand was certainly one of them.In that voice of her was pure magics,unbelivable dose of sweetness,brilliant performance and incredible sound above all.She kept him awoken for the rest of the night and till the late morning.In the meantime he was nearer and nearer Christchurch and thought it realistic to get there by noon.So,perhaps,he could enjoy a lunch time together with Dick Butterby,his two children and the lady who looked after the children and the house. He reached the house indeed just around the noon.He entered the courtyard without a noice,so slowly as it was masterminded only by expierenced policemen in their patrol cars.The Dick Butterby�s helicopter was parked in the courtyard alongside two luxuary cars and yet another car which had to belong to the lady who worked in the villa.There was not a rustle being heard when he got off his car and approached the window or rather the entire wall of glass he knew there was a dining room behind it.He just wanted to make a friendly surprise to Dick Butterby.The curtains were not closed so he had a chance to see whether Dick was there or not. He looked in and�he was instantly overpowered by shock which seemed to have skyrocketed.What he saw could not be real.Both Dick Butterby�s children sat on the floor in a corner of the room and cried.The worst were the expressions on their faces,that of total horror. Tadek Vangard felt absolutely alarmed.He began to seek Dick Butterby with his eyes and saw him walking there and back in the other corner of the room.He had a gun in one of his hands.Something must have happened.Something so tragic Dick must have become mad or was just on the way towards that.If this was the case his children found themselves in a real danger,threatened by their own father.Tadek Vangard knew one only thing right in that moment,he had to act,by the means of psychological persuasions,what he knew the best.He knocked at the window.Dick Butterby stoped,looked at him and Tadek Vangard knew he made a grave mistake.The way Dick Butterby looked at him was not the one as he knew it.It was a look of a posessed man,possessed perhaps by a demon.A look of a madman.He turned the gun at Tadek Vangard,approached the glass door and opened it. -�Get in!�- He ordered with a voice which would shiver everyone.Tadek Vangard did as he was ordered and immidiately went to the children and took them into his arms.They just pressed hard to him as if he were their saviour.Only then did he saw a lifeless body of the lady lying in a pool of blood,in yet another corner of the room. -�Dick,are you crazy?! What�s that? What are you doing?�- He yelled at Dick Butterby,expressing a total agony in his voice. -�Shut up!�- Dick Butterby yelled back at him. Tadek Vangard had nothing to loose.He did not care for his own life.There was only one thing on his mind:keeping alive children of the madman. -�No,Dick,I don�t shut up.�- He said now with much a quieter voice,realising the only chance was in a psychological approach.-�Tell me,why have you killed the lady? Why do you threaten your own children?� -�It�s nothing of your business!� -�No,Dick.It�s my business,too.I want to help you to realise you should do no harm to your own children.Dick,for God�s sake,they�re your own children!� -�I don�t give them to her! She�ll never get them!�- He yelled again. Now Tadek Vangard understood,at least a bit,what was going on within the madman�s mind.He knew already,both Dick Butterby and his wife,Charlotte Stone,fought for the custody of their children in the court.He lost.It was as simple as that. -�Oh,Dick,because you lost the court proceedings you can�t harm them.� -�It�s not you to decide about it.It�s me.I have the gun.� -�But Dick�They�re your own kids!� -�Yes,my kids,but she won�t get them.� -�Don�t be so cruel,Dick.I don�t let you to harm them.� There was a sadist grin on the Dick Butterby�s face. -�You�re not in a position to prevent me from what I�m going to do.I�m going to kill also you!� Tadek Vangard realised not only the kids but also he himself faced death. -�I still believe,Dick,you won�t harm your children.Let them live!�- He pleaded.-�Please,give them a chance�� -�Give them a chance?!�You don�t even imagine what a damned family is this�- Dick Butterby bursted out.Tadek Vangard could not believe his own ears. -�Damned family?�� -�Yes,damned!�You�re going to die so I can tell you more. It�s me who killed both my fathers!�Both husbands of my mother!�� -�But why?�- Tadek Vangard thought he was hallucinating one horror after yet another.It were better if it were just that.But it was real� -�Why?�Ha,ha,ha�They both used my mother,they had lovers�I hated them for that!� -�But one of them was your real father�� -�Real or not he made so much harm to my mother.I hated him too.� -�How did it happen?��-Tadek Vangard felt resigned to the cruelity of the reality. -�When my father,John Butterby as you know,reunited with my mother-after the divorce she got from Ghandy Van Veenen-he was no longer a father to me.How could he dare to leave us and then return to us,after long years away,and look into our eyes?!�No,he was doomed in my eyes! I was seventeen years old and it was then when I decided to make a final solution.To execute him.When he went to Palmerston North I got to a car and followed him.I showed up to him on the way and had a pleasure to notice his entire shock when he saw the gun in my hands.Then there was just a shot out of my gun,directly to his forehead and I was done with him.I did not feel a sorrow because in my eyes a justice was done.What surprised me was the despair expressed by my mother.How could she feel something as this after what he has done to her for so many years?! Then I decided to do the same to Ghandy.I knew he lived in Monte Carlo with his new wife,Amalie Holtman.Once in place I observed them for a while and one day,while they filled themselves with their love,I did something what everyone saw many times on so many movies: I did a bit work under their luxuary Ferrari cabriolet and made sure the breaks were completely broken.You know the roads in Monte Carlo are dangerous,with cliffs on their sides.They suspected nothing,got into the car and moved in it,not knowing it was their last trip.They realised the breaks were broken when their car was definitely too fast going down the hilly road.It was then I approached them in a rented car and waved them goodbye with a most enjoying smile on my face I ever felt.And then their car went just off the road and down the abyss.There was explosion down there and no way to find out what was the real cause of their death.I felt triumphant but again could not understand my mother why she once again suffered so much. -'Just women.You can never understand them.'- I thought.And now this: my wife wants to take away my own children.No she won�t get them!" -�Dick,you�re a psycho!�- Tadek Vangard said and felt the situation could not be worse. Dick Butterby turned the gun at Tadek Vangard. -�Sorry,guy,I have to kill you.�- He said. At that moment there was a tremendous noise and thousands of pieces of broken glass spread all over the room.The intruder went at Dick Butterby and pushed him so strong he fell onto the floor and lost grip of the gun which turned over and over on the floor and stoped next to the body of the dead lady,the house cleaner.Tadek Vangard once again was shocked to realise the guy who now fought with Dick Butterby was�Carlos.He realised instantly Carlos must have followed him or just deducted he could find him in the Dick Butterby�s villa and simply could not swallow someone else but he could actually kill the guy he wanted to kill so badly with his own hands.There was no time to loose.Perhaps there was a chance to escape while both guys fought.They both were quite good in martial arts.Tadek Vangard just pulled the sleeves of both kids who understood somehow there was the chance to escape the evil which was happening to them and followed him.Tadek Vangard knew his car was useless.Carlos must have done a precausion.The only chance was the helicopter.They rushed to it and got inside it. -�Shit,I don�t know how to operate it!�-Tadek Vangard said aloud while trying to start the engine. -�I know how to do it.Daddy taught me this.�- Five years old Damon said. -�I know too.�- Two years older Jilianne said. -�You really know?�- Tadek Vangard looked at them with astonishment. -�Yes,we do!� -�O.K.Let�s go.Help me!� To Tadek Vangard�s total bewilderment both kids knew quite much and he could bring the machine up the sky with their help.They were about fifty meters in the sky when they saw Carlos running outside the villa.To Tadek Vangard it meant one only thing: Dick Butterby was dead.He saw Carlos getting to his car and going after them.He had to stop on the edge of the cliff when the helicopter flew over the sea.Tadek Vangard called S.O.S. via mobile telephone and soon they got two police helicopters on the side of their helicopter. Thanks to the instructions they got they could turn the helicopter around and fly towards the land and then let the helicopter touch the ground.They were surrounded by the police cars.Charlotte Stone got out of one of them and rushed towards her children who united with her feverishly.To Tadek Vangard�s relief also Herman Van Veenen arrived in yet another windmill plane. -�It was Dick who killed both,his own father,John Butterby,and your father��- Tadek Vangard announced and narrated to him what happened. Herman Van Veenen was red from agony. -�Son of a bitch!��- He just repeated endlessly. -�Are you going to say to your mother what happened?�- Tadek Vangard asked. -�I have no choice.I must�Oh,God,she�s going to suffer again,so much!��- He bursted out.Tadek Vangard said nothing.He pitted Angela Butterby as no one else in the world.Then they were taken downtown Christchurch to the police station,were interrogated,Charlotte Stone thanked Tadek Vangard for saving her children and went away,and finally also Tadek Vangard and Herman Van Veenen were free to go. -�Herman,can you make me a favour?�- Tadek Vangard asked his friend. -�Yes?�� -�Can you bring me down the South Island by the helicopter? I think I have to diseappear from the face of Earth for some time.The best is there,away from civilisation. -�No,Tadek,you better go with me back to Wellington.I�ll press my authorities to do something substantial on your behalf.You can�t be left alone anymore.� -�No,Herman.I don�t want to harm anyone yet again.Don�t you see? Whenever I go there happens something deadly.� -�Oh,Tadek,but promise me you�ll keep in touch. -�Sure,Herman.Let�s go.� -"Wait a moment,Tadek.I don't understand the Carlos' motives.He could simply do nothing and just witness the scene of you being killed by Dick Butterby..." Tadek Vangard smiled sadly. -"I think,Herman,I understand his motives and thank to God for that because this time it turned good to me and both kids.Carlos simply was overpowered by the desire of killing me with his own hands.He hates me so much he wants to ensure he kills me and no one else.He couldn't stand that Dick would do it and not he.So he had to kill first Dick and then me.It's as simple as that!" Herman van Veenen gave a grin. -"Carlos saved you this time,unintentionally,and I think he is furious now!" Tadek Vangard bursted with laugh. -"Oh,Herman,he is furious as hell!!"-He answered. Three hours later Tadek Vangard found himself on the slopes of nature,somwhere there in the heartland of Stewart Island.He watched how the windmill plane,with Herman Van Veenen on the board,became smaller and smaller,and finally looked like a point before disseapearing.He walked slowly,not caring for a direction because he did not need one.He felt totally safe perhaps for the first time since a long time.Far away from humans who proved to be vultures to him for too many times... | |||
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