RAJAH!

Morning spread blinding streams of white light across the bloody face of Mark DeSalvo.  Through bloodied and swollen eyes he determined that he was lying on the floor of his own warehouse.  A jumbled drama of last night’s events flashed through his mind.  He reached to rub the coagulated blood from his eyelids only to realize that he’d been restrained.  Bungee cords had tightly secured his hands and legs to four large heavy crates that were positioned at each of his outstretched limbs.  He lifted his head to take in the entire scenario around him.  His warehouse had been ransacked.  Broken crates were everywhere.  Gunmetal parts and packing material littered the floor as far as he could see.  A series of distant clicks broke the silence.  He stretched his neck to follow the sound when a sharp spike of pain caused him to collapse.  The bullet that hit him tore a large chunk of muscle from his shoulder.  The gash had been crudely wrapped to prevent massive blood loss, but now the pain began to well up.  A second attempt to raise his head supporting it on his left shoulder allowed him to just catch a glimpse of the source of the clicking.  In the kitchen, behind piles of black weapon parts sat Rajah and Sahid assembling an arsenal.  Mark watched as they carefully stacked each finished rifle into an empty crate. Judging by the volume of parts scattered around the kitchen, it appeared as though they were just going to sit there and build weapons until he awoke.  Again, Mark assessed the situation and tried to devise a plan for escape, but it seemed hopeless.  He was injured, weak from blood loss, in severe pain, and restrained.  Although he couldn’t think of a plan, he wasn’t dead yet.  Perhaps they weren’t interested in killing him.  He figured that if he didn’t get their attention, he might just die right there on the floor.  DeSalvo let out a few loud moans hoping to attract the attention of his captors.  His moans echoed through the vast warehouse and in no time both men were standing above him on the warehouse floor.

“Mr. DeSalvo, I see you’ve woken from your slumber,” Rajah said with a grin.

“You don’t look as pretty as you did last night, you know you really should take better care of yourself,” Rajah continued.

“My shoulder…can you untie me…I’m in pain”, DeSalvo managed to get out.

“In good time Mr. DeSalvo.  I’m sure you realize that your actions last night were rather foolish, no?”

“Why am I alive?” DeSalvo grunted.

“I have no idea, just lucky I guess.  Your failed attempt at escape caused the death of a dear friend of mine, Mr. DeSalvo.  A death I’m tempted to avenge,” Rajah threatened.

“Then kill me now,” DeSalvo said, resigned to the inevitable.

“Pleasure will have to wait Mr. DeSalvo, right now I need that package.  As you can see, we’ve made a valiant effort to find it ourselves.  Unfortunately, it’s rather like finding a needle in a haystack, do you agree Mr. DeSalvo?” Rajah explained.

“Although it was an unexpected pleasure to find the amount of hardware you have stored here.  You have quite a collection,” Rajah commented.

“Of course you won’t mind if we help ourselves to a small portion of this magnificent bounty, Mr. DeSalvo,” Rajah continued.

“I am on a tight deadline, Mr. DeSalvo.  And your actions have put me behind schedule.  My patience is running thin,” Rajah’s voice raised toward the end of his statement.