04 Heller's Punishment - Heller Read online

  Heller’s Punishment

  by JD Nixon

  Copyright JD Nixon 2012

  Smashwords Edition

  Smashwords Edition, Licence Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters and locations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or real locations, is purely coincidental.

  Also by JD Nixon at Smashwords:

  Heller series

  Heller (free ebook!)

  Heller’s Revenge

  Heller’s Girlfriend

  Heller’s Punishment

  Heller’s Decision (to be released)

  Little Town series

  Blood Ties (free ebook!)

  Blood Sport

  Blood Feud – due 2012

  Cover design by JD Nixon

  ~~~~~~

  Chapter 1

  “The word is of Greek origin of course, from deinos meaning terrible and sauros meaning lizard. Hence the term ‘terrible lizard’. But in fact that’s a misnomer, because they weren’t lizards at all. Rather, they constituted an entirely separate type of reptile.”

  Would he never shut up? I thought with a silent scream, my facial muscles aching from maintaining a polite listening face for so long.

  “They lived during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous eras.” He chuckled. “I’m sure you remember watching Jurassic Park, although I feel I should warn you that the movie was inaccurate or speculative in several key respects.”

  He paused to push his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose and a tiny bud of hope blossomed inside me that he’d finally finished his extensive monologue. But then he continued and my bud withered and died. “It’s commonly believed that large numbers of dinosaurs were then wiped out in an extinction event that hasn’t yet been agreed upon by palaeontologists. Some argue about the catastrophic impact of an asteroid collision with Earth, but others think that gradual climate change was responsible as the dinosaurs weren’t able to adapt fast enough. Most people think that all the dinosaurs died then, but interestingly though –”

  Oh no, I wasn’t falling for that again. Nothing he’d said had been interesting so far.

  “– it is believed that some of the avian dinosaurs instead evolved into our modern-day birds. So we could say that we are indeed still ‘walking with dinosaurs’ today.” He chuckled again. “And speaking of that, it’s commonly thought that mammals and dinosaurs didn’t exist together. But they actually did, although the mammals were only small creatures at that point in time, at the very beginning of their evolutionary existence. So the idea of humans and dinosaurs together is laughable.”

  Cram it, Einstein, I thought, stifling another yawn, wondering if it was possible to strangle him with his own tongue.

  His name was Elton and we were colleagues at Heller’s Security & Surveillance, a small but expanding business that offered top-shelf security and surveillance services. We were both employed there as security officers and I hadn’t worked with him before. But I was starting to understand the sympathetic glances and pats on the shoulder from the other men when Heller’s hardarse security manager, Clive, announced that I’d be paired with Elton for a weeklong job.

  Hmm, maybe Clive did this to me deliberately, I pondered. He wasn’t exactly an admirer of mine.

  Elton was a sandy-haired tall man, six-five at least, bulky with muscle but with a sensitive, even-featured face and the only security man I’d yet met who wore glasses. He was conscientious, earnest and encyclopaedic, bringing along a scholarly tome on medieval weaponry for a bit of light relief during our breaks. He seemed like a really nice guy, but I just wanted him to zip it for five minutes. Was that too much to ask? He was boring the arse off me and making the assignment painful.

  We’d been hired to supplement the security staff of the city’s natural history museum for a showing of DinoDreaming, a display of realistic animatronic dinosaurs. The museum was expecting the display to be the most popular one they’d ever hosted, hence the extra security required. Although glancing over at the two museum security staff assigned for the day, I wondered how they’d cope with much at all. One was small and past retirement age surely, his white hair carefully combed and greased with some foul-smelling cream that had probably been popular when he was a teenager. The other was an anaemic young woman with prominent blue eyes and lank, dull brown hair who looked as if she’d faint if you tapped her on the shoulder from behind. But I guess a natural history museum didn’t become rowdy too often. It was only later that I learned that both were volunteers, which explained a lot.

  The pair was both fascinated by Elton’s endless knowledge about dinosaurs, their open-mouthed attention only encouraging him – unfortunately – to pontificate further. On our arrival and before it was open to the public, we took a casual stroll around the amazing display. The huge replica dinosaurs were inanimate right then, but would later roar and move, flicking their long tails and scratching out with their claws. It would be spectacular and magical and scary. Kids would love it. My favourite was a huge egg in a nest that hatched revealing a tiny baby dino emerging.

  The dinos were housed in a lush living prehistoric garden, populated with plants that would have existed during that period. It was a beautiful setting, although Elton tutted, informing us that while the gingko plants could be traced to prehistoric fossils, the other ferns and palms were distinctly not authentic to the era, being more modern in provenance.

  “Really?” asked the washed-out young lady in breathless awe, gazing up at him with open admiration. And I’d swear that in response he grew an unneeded two inches taller, as if it had been a long time since someone had appreciated hearing what he had to say. That was kind of sad, because he was a fine specimen of a man, and undoubtedly knew a lot about . . . well, everything. But he was just so damn boring. And after another ten uninterrupted minutes of listening to him expounding about palaeobotany, during which the other two listened, rapt, I prayed to be mauled and eaten by a dinosaur just to get away from him. It would surely be less painful.

  I’d better resign now, I thought glumly. There was no way I was going to make the rest of the week with him and I wasn’t sure how tolerant our boss, Heller, would be about me stuffing up another job. Let’s be tactful and say that I didn’t exactly have a sterling work record at Heller’s.

  Finished with the plants, Elton moved on to the dinosaurs, his little audience following him, hanging on his every word. “Now the Stegosaurus is quite a fascinating creature.”

  I doubt it!

  “It was a herbivore and had a very small brain in comparison to its large body size, therefore probably needing to use its bony plates for defence. But some argue that the plates may also have been used to regulate body temperature or for display. To attract a mate.”

  The young woman blushed and giggled and he glanced down at her, surprised and pleased by the attention. She shyly turned her eyes up to him in return.

  Ooh, go for it, Elton, I smiled to myself. She didn’t need bony plates on her back to show her interest in the big man.

  “You can see that its tail was held stiffly outright and it’s believed that was because . . .”

  Bored, I wandered off, looking at the other dinosaurs by myself. It was a great display. I decided that
it would be a blast being on duty inside this room, watching the dinos strut their stuff and the reactions of the parents and children. Hmm, maybe if I stayed out of hearing range of Elton, I could make it through this assignment after all. That would be preferable to having Heller yelling at me. Again. He was sort of scary when he was angry.

  The museum’s events coordinator hurried towards us. She was a fidgety, portly woman with a permanently anxious expression on her face suggesting that on waking each day she feared for her continuing employment. She exuded a strong smell of need – she needed this display to be a success for her museum. Perhaps her annual performance appraisal was riding on it?

  “Has the entertainer turned up yet?” she asked.

  I shook my head. We hadn’t seen anybody.

  “Oh dear,” she said quietly, checking her large-faced watch. “He should have been here thirty minutes ago. I knew I shouldn’t have gone with him. He seemed so . . . flaky. I should have chosen the older man. What was I thinking? What will the Director say?”

  Distressed, she paced around, absently straightening a fern here, touching a gingko there, her mind on more pressing matters. I placed my hand on her arm when she approached me again.

  “Is there a problem? Can we help?” I asked.

  “No, no, no,” she moaned. “I’ve spent too much money on this. The Director is going to be so angry with me.”

  Unexpectedly, she burst into tears.

  “Oh, hey,” I soothed, unsure of what to do, my hand hovering over her shoulder. I settled for a couple of vague pats on her back. “What’s the matter? Maybe there’s some way we can help?”

  “Not unless you’re willing to step into the entertainer’s shoes,” she sniffed, trying to pull herself together. I felt for her. There’s nothing fun about losing it at work.

  I shrugged. “Try me.”

  She glanced at me, her eyes watery and pink-rimmed. She took a deep breath. “I hired a costume. A dinosaur costume. My plan was to have him wear it and walk around the museum, drumming up excitement and leading people upstairs here to the display. Just for today, the opening day.”

  “That sounds like a great idea.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It was a terrible idea. The costume was very expensive to hire and now the entertainer has done a bunk on me. It’s a disaster!”

  “Well, I still think it’s a fun idea.” I thought for a moment. “Maybe one of us could wear it for you instead.”

  Her eyes filled with hope. “Really? Do you think . . .? Would one of you be willing to . . .?”

  “Sure, why not? I can’t imagine that we’ll need all four of us here on duty.” I smiled at her. “My colleague and I are used to doing all sorts of things in our job.”

  And while that was certainly true for me, I probably shouldn’t have been so quick to declare the same for Elton. Because when the events coordinator rounded up the other three and proposed our plan to them, he stared at her as if she’d just suggested a threesome with him, her and the Stegosaurus.

  His eyes shot my way. “It’s highly unorthodox. I’m not sure that our boss would approve of a frivolous activity such as that when we were hired to crowd control.”

  “Elton,” I hissed, noticing that the events coordinator’s bottom lip was wobbling dangerously, on the verge of more tears.

  “I don’t want to get into trouble with Heller,” he hissed back. Oh brother!

  “It’s not that bad,” I persuaded, the veteran of many occasions when I’d been in trouble with Heller. But that was kind of a lie, because it really was that bad.

  He looked down at me unhappily. “You know, the guys warned me about working with you.”

  “What?” My mouth fell open. I was the one who needed to be warned, not him.

  “Because you’re a trouble-magnet.”

  “I am not,” I assured with great dignity. “I’m just . . . misunderstood.”

  “Please,” begged the events coordinator. “You’re my only hope. Can you please at least just look at the costume before you say no?”

  And reluctantly, Elton agreed to do that, ensuring that the other two agreed as well. She took us to a side wall where a door was cleverly concealed in one of the panels. The windowless room inside was a tight fit for the five of us and the dinosaur, a marvel of modern costumery. I’d thought it would be some cheap ridiculous foam costume, about as scary as a daffodil. But instead it was made of greeny-brown latex with well-defined sharp claws and a long tail. A separate headpiece had beady reptilian eyes and two rows of vicious teeth.

  “Wow, that’s awesome,” I said, eyes wide.

  Elton frowned. “Which dinosaur is this meant to represent?”

  The events coordinator floundered. “. . . um, T Rex?”

  “Nonsense. Can you see that it has three claws on its forelimbs? The Tyrannosaurus Rex, which incidentally means ‘king of the tyrant lizards’, had only two claws on each forelimb. And while commonly considered by a lot of people to be the most ferocious of dinosaurs, did you know that palaeontologists cannot agree on whether or not the so-called ‘T Rex’ was a predator or merely a scavenger?”

  Who cares?

  “I suggest that you may be safer to imply that this dinosaur replica is an Allosaurus, which belonged to a different scientific family to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It actually did have three claws, but in many other aspects this is a very poor and inaccurate representation. In particular the proportions are simply implausible. For example, the head isn’t large enough and the tail not long enough. And nobody can say for certain what colour the dinosaurs were, so I feel that this costume ought to come with a disclaimer.”

  The events coordinator and I exchanged a weary glance.

  “It’s only a costume, Elton,” I reminded him.

  “If you’re going to instruct impressionable young minds about the prehistory of our planet and its occupants, it should be done with greater care so that fallacies or unknowns are not presented as truths,” he lectured, earning himself another admiring flutter of the eyelashes from the young woman.

  “It’s so important to develop children’s minds properly,” she agreed, flicking back her thin hair and beaming up at him longingly. She eyed his arm muscles with such hunger that I began to wonder if she was a little less bland than she appeared. “I hope to have many children myself.”

  “It’s just a bit of fun,” I persisted.

  Buoyed by the feminine interest, Elton said, “And what precisely is not fun about learning the truth?” His young admirer nodded her head vigorously, frowning in my direction at my daring to argue with her new hero (and apparently, dream father of her future children).

  Fortunately the events coordinator stepped in. “Now, who’s the best fit?” Her gaze slid up the length of Elton’s body, not without some pleasure. “Not you, you’re far too tall. In fact, you’re far too tall for anything. No one needs to be that tall. It’s just greedy.” Her eyes passed over the young woman, dismissing her with a curt shake of her head. It was a good call. She looked as if she was the one person in the world who genuinely would be afraid of daffodils. The elderly gentleman received short shrift as well, and I could almost hear her mind flipping through the worker’s compensation claims if she used him. So, with all other options exhausted, her eyes landed on me and stayed there.

  She raised her eyebrows and I sighed. Of course it would be me. Who else? But I couldn’t help remember that the last time I’d been in costume, it hadn’t ended well for me. And I had no great expectations that this time would prove any differently.

  Taking that as assent, she began to explain the mechanics of the costume.

  Mechanics? I thought warily.

  She must have noticed the expression on my face because she smiled. “There are only two mechanisms, both controlled by this remote.” And she held up a small remote with two buttons on it. “The button on the left controls the head. It roars. Very realistic. And the right-hand button controls the tail, which flicks back and forth.”
<
br />   “It looks complicated,” I whined, now wishing it had been a crappy foam costume. At least I could manage the technology of one of those. Well, except for the zip, I reminded myself.

  “It’s not. Not at all,” she wheedled, unwilling to let the solution to her problems go easily. “Climb in and we’ll give it a test run, um . . . What’s your name?”

  “Tilly.”

  “Thanks for doing this for me, Tilly. I really appreciate it. I’m Mabel, by the way. And this is Jeffrey and Alice.”

  Elton introduced himself and we all nodded at each other amiably.

  I looked down at my uniform. “I’m not wearing this. It will be roasting inside. It’s latex, isn’t it?”

  Elton butted in. “Actually, natural latex is quite a breathable material. However, I suspect that this costume is made from synthetic latex as the natural product is expensive.”

  Yeah, yeah. “Um, I’m going to strip to my undies now, everyone,” I warned.

  Nobody moved.

  “I’m taking my clothes off, people.”

  They all regarded me curiously. Oh geez! What the hell happened to privacy these days?

  I evaluated. I had worn my sensible undies today – my panties were decently-sized plain white cotton and my bra was a sports one, useful if I needed to run on the job. In fact, there was more material in my undies than there was in some of my bikinis. I shrugged to myself. If they didn’t care, I didn’t. I had nothing to be ashamed about with my body, working hard in the gym for the last few months. So I slipped off my boots and socks and peeled off my uniform in front of them.

  “Oh my,” Elton said softly, his eyes bugging out of his head.

  Jeffrey grinned to himself, suddenly pleased with life.

  Mabel sighed. “I wish I was that age again.”

  Alice looked sad, peering down at her own chest with a disappointed frown.