The Rapist-II

Iraq.Five years ago.
The 6'3'' hulking juggernaut of Solomon's body hurled itself at Vin.Without wasting a second,Vin grabbed Solomon's arms and landed his left foot squarely in Solomon's stomach.Using Sol's momentum,Vin fell backward,pulling Sol's mammoth body with all his might.As both of them started falling,with Sol on top,Vin extended his left leg,causing Solomon to fly through the air.As Vin's back landed on the ground with a heavy thud,Solomon's body crashed to the earth too.
Solomon grunted in pain and in a flash,Vin was on top of him.He crouched and brought down the edge of his right hand with all his might on Sol's temple,rendering him temporarily unconscious.He then got on his feet and dashed to where two other sergeants were ravaging an Iraqi girl.
On seeing him approaching,one of the sergeants,Carl,stood up to confront him.When Vin came within striking distance,he flung his right fist,aiming for his solar plexus.With blinding reflexes,Vin dodged the blow,moving slightly to the right,and locked Carl's right forearm between his left arm and the left flank of his torso.He then twisted his body leftwards,smashing his fist and subsequently his elbow against Carl's chin.He followed it with head-butting Carl's Adam's Apple.Carl gasped and choked at the trauma inflicted on his trachea.Vin turned his attention from him to the third sergeant,Adrian,who was hurriedly fastening the hook of his pants.
Vin didn't offer him time to react.In a flash,he jabbed his fingertips against a point up and behind the third sergeant's jawbone,an area rich in concentration of nerves.Adrian yelped in agony,and Vin unrelentingly knuckle-jabbed him in the hollow below the thyroid cartilage where the windpipe is least protected and most exposed.Adrian screamed aloud and fell on his knees.
Vin moved towards the young girl sprawled on the ground.Her clothes had been ripped apart and her lips were bleeding,bruises and redness were all over her exposed flesh.Vin tried to help her up to her feet,when he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head.The ache started filling the insides of his skull,as blackness descended on his eyes.Just before he passed out,he could make out Solomon standing over him,with the butt of his rifle pointing at him.And he could make out the teary eyes of the Iraqi girl,beseeching him for help.

"..and when I came to my senses,they had slit her throat.They planted enough evidence to put the whole blame on me," Vin recounted in a somber tone to Marlowe.

Marlowe kept quiet,not knowing what to say and just focused on the road ahead.

"Failed,pathetic attempt at heroism," V concluded cynically.

Marlowe said finally,"It is kinda difficult to connect the dots."

"Dots?"

"You know.Fighting to save a girl.Donating to charity,and.."

"Being a misogynist sonofabitch?"

"Well,that's one way to put it," Marlowe turned towards his client and smiled with faint acrimony."It seems to me you need psychiatric help more than a legal one."

"You think I haven't had already?"

"You did?"

"Positive.The shrink said I have Affinity Deficit Disorder."

"They even got a name for this thing?"

"Not really,"Vin snapped peppily, "I just made that up.But not the seeking counselling part.Apparently,I have a book full of psychological conditions."

"And as usual,they all begin at childhood?" Marlowe's tone betrayed a stifled amusement.

"Adolescence,actually.The shrink gave me some insider jargon.Which was basically Greek for I didn't have enough sex while growing up."

"Impressive diagnosis.Simple.To the point."

"Highly accurate too," Vin smirked."Unbridled aggression due to involuntary celibacy."

"There are better ways to channel all that aggression.Sports,gymming,swimming.."

"What do you think I joined the army for?" Vin said snappily.

"Ah."

"Ah indeed.The dots finally start connecting."

"Not so fast," Marlowe's voice sounded curious."What about the charity thing?"

"Confession."

"Excuse me?"

"You know,the way they show it in movies.Big mafia boss.Breaks all kind of laws ever invented.And he periodically slips into a church to beg forgiveness and confess his sins.Except I don't believe in God."

"So you do charity in stead," Marlowe's face lit up in a half-smile of realization as the truth dawned on him."You abuse women and then engage in altruism.The atheistic equivalent of a confession."

"You connect the dots real fast,Sherlock," his client quipped.

Marlowe lapsed into momentary silence as Vin continued in his usual sardonic fashion,"Of course if you were a good conscientious lawyer,you would have pointed out that it would be way easier on my purse if I were to just stop treating women like trash.It would spare me the need for donating,as well save on my legal expenses.But you are too wily to suggest that.That will be like.. what?Professional suicide?"

The lawyer couldn't resist breaking out into a laugh."Professional suicide isn't exactly up my alley,Mr.Kent."

"Yep.It's a dying art," Vin grinned with characteristic acerbity.

"All this talk has kinda made me thirsty."

"I concur.Tell you what,Marlowe.I see a bar up ahead.Let's go get some beer."

"You sure?" Marlowe hesitated."It's getting a bit late."

"Do you have a date tonight?"

"Err..no."

"Will you be my date tonight?" Vin asked Marlowe faking such an earnest expression that Marlowe couldn't resist chuckling."Right," Vin continued,"now let's get our asses into the bar."

Little did Marlowe or Vin realize that stopping at the bar was going to leave the lawyer with his forehead split open and his client with a bullet in his stomach.

To be continued...