Shrub-thief Web of Dark Gardens III
Welcome Dream Steem'ers to my humorous, satirical creation of the murderous international gangs of the shrub cartels.
Shrub-thief
Part II - https://steemit.com/hive-107855/@jeff-kubitz/shrub-thief-web-of-dark-gardens-ii-continued
Web of Dark Gardens III
In the last episode, Philaflora's had an escape tunnel which Ari Gnossis showed to Vlad, Carbon the Bull, as a means of thanking the Russian Airborne Death that had rescued him and Giu Onassis from the Ethiopian International Cartel. And we continue:
Natasha, eight and a half months pregnant, awoke on the floor in the darkness of the tunnel. She did not know where she was. She was groggy but sat up. And when she did her right foot touched a, it was a body!
She screamed.
Someone a few feet away moaned. It sounded like Vlad. "Vlad?"
"Natasha? You're alive. Are you shot?"
"No. Where are we Vlad?"
"Philaflora's had a secret smuggling tunnel Ari showed us and we escaped only to be met by the Ethiopians." She crawled her way towards his voice, "Are you shot, Vlad?"
"No. I was hit on the head by a brick that fell out of the ceiling during the gunfight. They must have thought me dead. My head hurts Natasha."
Natasha came upon another body between her and Vlad. "Is anyone else alive," Natasha's voice echoed through the tunnel. There was no answer.
"Shhhh. There could be wounded Ethiopians in here. We don't know where this goes."
"Do you have any lights?" Natasha whispered.
"I have my phone," Vlad reached for his phone inside his left breast pocket. He turned on the flashlight. Boris moaned, the other fellow who was tased by the Certcaesars into unconsciousness, who the gang had carried into the smuggling tunnel.
"Boss, where are we?"
"We're in Philaflora's smuggling tunnel. We took you with us. The Ethiopians ambushed us. Looks like everyone else is dead, bled to death. They took all of our weapons. Not all. There's two dead Ethiopians."
"How long have we been in here?" Boris asked.
"About seven and a half hours." Vlad replied. "Obviously no one in the Tactical Government Forces knows how we got away. Can you get to your feet Natasha, Boris?"
I couldn't help it. I saw this shrub and stole it because we needed a Christmas tree. Merry Christmas! Don't worry it's potted we'll return it to the nursery in January. They probably don't even know it's gone.
They responded by standing, Boris and Natasha. Vlad rose and the phone turned so Natasha saw the huge lump on his head. His right eye was swollen and closed.
"That's not a brick it's a cut rock." Natasha observed. "You're lucky to be alive, Vlad."
"Yeah let's pickup all ID's, personal things and weapons. It looks like the Ethiopians took all but one of the E.M.P.___'s
"There's my purse, under Serge. There's a tactical L.E.D. light in there and bandages. A girl has to be prepared in this business."
Boris helped to roll over Serge. It was tough his arms were spread, rigor mortis had set in on their seven dead. They finally got the personal effects from the bodies. They also searched the Ethiopians and took what they had.
Natasha bandaged Vlad's head. "I am happy you're alright," she cooed, "My baby would not have had a father."
"Da. But we have a big problem. The whole world knows what we look like. Thankfully it's past midnight. But we will be wanted. We have to get out of Greece. Now."
"No one will recognize you for sometime Vlad," Natasha said, "I am surprised you're not in a coma."
"As long as the injury is to my head, I am always okay. I think my subconscious mind sets me up for accidents and injuries so the fluid will circulate between my brain and spinal column. Believe it or not I feel more intelligent after a head injury for at least a few weeks."
"You ought to get an inversion table. Once I started using mine, I felt great ever since and no more accidents." Boris said.
They made their way out of the tunnel. They saw a lot of secret entrances used for snuggling on the way out that branched out a few feet off the main trunk to either side.
Eventually, they reached the end, which was concealed by trees and thick brush. They came outside from a high vertical cliff face and after they made their way to the left around the trees and shrubs, there was a natural Rock walkway down to a sea cove with a small beach.
Vlad made a phone call to Mother Russia, "Agent 164982336. The candy is ready for pickup. Seven boxes were dropped east of this location. Some of the product was stolen only one is recovered. The rest are with the thief."
"Agent 432190647 will rendezvous in 20 minutes." The phone went dead.
"20 minutes and a boat will be here." Vlad said.
"Oh, what a day," Natasha replied.
I owned a landscape nursery in Oklahoma. I went on vacation with the wife to see our families. We received a phone call our property was completely destroyed. I had named Philadlora's. If I had known that all my shrubs were wanted by international shrub cartels, I would still have it and live in the modular home in the property. I had thousands of shrub cuttings...who knew of the growth of the international Web of Dark Gardens.
The End.