Claw of the Jaguar: A Romantic Novelette

By Martin Ratick

Alicia is a classical concert pianist. After a concert in Columbia,South America she is kidnapped, sexually attacked and
finally ransomed and released. She memorized the names
and features of the men who attached her and vowed she would get revenge. She developed such a hatred of men she never dated or had a relationship; then she met Phillip.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465393074

Martin Ratick

Martin Ratick was born in Massachusetts and had moved to New York City at an early age. He attended high school and college in New York City. He is a mechanical engineer and a licensed professional engineer (PE) in two states. He worked for the General Electric Company, the Apollo space program, the US Army, and the US Navy. During World War II, he was in the Seventy Seventh Infantry Division in the South Pacific. Mr. Ratick lives in Springfield, Virginia. Mr. Ratick is a prolific writer, having authored five other books: Forsaking All Others: A Love Story, Four Faces of Jezebel, Claw of the Jaguar, Faith of the Fathers and Kiss a Green Frog and Find Your Prince.

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Copyright © 2011 by Martin Ratick.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011960163

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-9306-7

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-9305-0

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-9307-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Any mention of names or places is purely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

102910

Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

In honored memory of Dorothy, my wife, my love, the light of my life

Acknowledgements

My heartfelt thanks to my daughter, Sheri Stroud, my son-in-law, Kenneth Stroud, and to the staff at Emilia Assisted Living Home especially Lani and Emma.

Prologue

The cell was dark except for the light from the small barred window high up near the ceiling and a small clear lightbulb hanging from a light cord from the ceiling. The place stank from rodent droppings and unwashed human bodies; there was a toilet and a flimsy bed on which a lumpy mattress was placed. A young woman sat on the bed; her dark hair was uncombed, and her cameo face was dirty.

From time to time, a man entered the room, and she glared at him with hazel eyes; he slapped her face, then pushed her down on the bed and raped her. Her resistance was useless against his greater strength.

So she stored his name, Diago, and his bulbous nose with warts and his high forehead in her memory.

Petro held a knife to her throat and said, If you move, I will kill you. So she lay still and recorded the scar on his right cheek and the narrow slits of his eyes.

Santiago raped her repeatedly. He had a tattoo on the left side of his neck that read Santa Maria. She stored that in her