by Mark Lashway
“What the hell do you want, lady?!” he snapped. “Get outta here! I’m busy!”
The stranger remained silent. As she brought one arm in from outside the entrance, Lando could see that it held a gun with a silencer on it.
“P-Please, lady, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that!” he gasped. “I can give you money, or whatever you want, if you just let me go. What do you want?”
The figure pointed to the hand in which he held the bug and motioned for him to hand it over. “This? This?” he asked. The intruder nodded. “Oh, OK, then, it’s yours! See? I’m cooperative and will give you whatever you want!”
After putting the bug into a pocket, the woman raised the gun and pointed it at Lando, who stared at the weapon and irrelevantly tried to guess what caliber it was. “P-Please don’t,” he whimpered. “I-I don’t deserve this. Take me to the police and have me charged. You know it’s the right thing to do. I….”
Kapew! Lando didn’t have time to really notice the small burst of light from the gun’s barrel as a sudden, hot and overwhelming shock hit his chest and he was knocked backward against his cot, cutting off his pleas.
Kapew! A second, well-placed shot also took him in the chest only a few inches from the first one, although his traumatized body didn’t lurch as much this time.
The intruder silently and calmly walked barely inside the tent and up to the slumped figure of Duke Lando to ensure that he was dead. There would be no third, point-blank shot.
The woman whom some GWIBErs knew as Betty carefully tucked the weapon back into her long dress, not bothering to retrieve the two shell casings that were somewhere on the ground in the tent. There was no need for it. Soon it would be time to gather up the second one.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Cam was walking slowly again down part of the main road when a familiar figure came from the other direction. There was the salesman smile, the flashing of pearly whites as Cam groaned inwardly. “Hey, Phil,” he said.
“Why, hello, Cam!” Utah exclaimed. “How are you doing this evening?”
“Aren’t you headin’ back a little early?” Cam asked, ignoring the pleasantries.
“Yes, I guess I am, but the competitions ended a bit earlier than expected. So all I have to do is grab a shower and turn in for the night.”
“Have you seen Ned Inkwell around anywhere lately?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I did see him in passing. I think he was heading into Little Germany.”
“Thanks, Phil.” Cam quickly headed for Little Germany, which was near. He wanted to find out from Inkwell what parts of the site he had covered. As he strode into the Germans’ stronghold, he was greeted with smiles from Gerhard and Johann.
“Cam! We had almost forgotten what you look like!” Gerhard boomed.
“Yeah, I know I’ve been scarce lately,” Cam explained, “but with all of the shit goin’….”
“Ach! We know how it is with you.”
“Has Ned Inkwell been by here lately?”
“Ja. In fact, he just left a few minutes ago after begging a dunkel out of us,” Johann said.
“Oh well, I guess I’ll have to keep huntin’,” Cam sighed. “As long as you’re givin’ out dunkel, I’ll have one for the road, please.”
With refreshment in hand, Cam said goodbye and left to look for Inkwell. Aware that the competitions were over, he would have to fit time in to go meet Shauna back at the tent. He was going to be pressed for time tonight.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Cheryl Ramirez, the fake Maria Sanchez, took special care as she moved through the side paths to Duke’s tent, though she was feeling a strange mixture of apprehension and relief this time. The thought of the job still to be done, and having to meet with Duke’s “assistants” was still causing a lot of tension with her, but the thought that the end was near and she should be on the road to somewhere else tomorrow was tantalizing. Keep your wits about you, she reminded herself. The job should be routine. It’s the creeps you’re dealing with that you need to watch.
She drew a deep, silent breath when she reached the entrance of Lando’s tent, unable to hear any activity within due to the pounding of her heart. I really just want to run away.
“Duke,” she whispered so quietly that nobody more than a few feet away would hear it. No response. “Duke!” she repeated, again to no avail.
Of course he’s not going to answer, you idiot! she reproached herself as she noticed the very dim light leaking out from under the edges of the tent. I’m supposed to just go in.
Taking one last look around to make sure that nobody saw her, she pulled back the door flap and gingerly slipped inside. The sight she encountered caused her to freeze and gasp.
Duke Lando lay sprawled on his back on the ground, his chest covered in blood, his unseeing eyes seemingly staring directly at her. His cot was just behind him, lying on its side, and a few others items were scattered about.
“Oh….my God!” she whispered in horror, then covered her mouth with her hands. The terror she felt shot off the scale when she saw a figure rise up off the ground from behind the cot. A blonde woman in a dress came to a kneeling position and when she raised a hand Maria could see that it held a gun with a silencer. Maria drew a breath as she tried to scream.
Katoonk! Katoonk! came the muted shots, which were so closely fired consecutively that the impact from the first didn’t have time to jerk her body enough for the second one to possibly miss. The initial shot hit her in the solar plexus and went most of the way through her before coming to a rest against her spine. The second one hit her solidly in the chest bone between her breasts and lodged not far from her heart. Betty knew immediately that Maria, if she wasn’t dead by the time she landed in a heap near the entrance, would be within seconds. There could be no coup de grace with this one, either.
That’s that, the blonde woman thought as she took a few minutes to arrange things, not the least bit worried that someone might come along. Taking the gun that she had just used to kill Maria, with the suppressor still attached, she placed it into Duke’s right hand and manipulated his index finger onto the trigger. The gun that had killed Duke was placed into her right hand in the same way, with its suppressor also left on. The empty shell casings on the floor were of no concern, for they had been carefully wiped down beforehand. The most that an investigator would be able to determine before the autopsies would be that the ammunition used for the two different caliber guns were all hollow points. Hollow points, unlike standard ball ammunition, were known for expansion and remaining inside a target rather than through-and-through penetration. The killer hadn’t wanted to chance a bullet passing through one of them and going on to possibly, no matter how unlikely, hit an innocent bystander somewhere. The hollow points had shown her sense of social responsibility.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
The competitions were over for tonight and Shauna was back in the tent, changing into her new blue dress and very much looking forward to having Cam see her in it. By the light of a lantern she gazed into the small mirror that had been hung on one wall, smiling at what she saw. She brushed her long hair very carefully and then put on a light coat of clear lipstick before inspecting herself once more. This is going to be so wonderful, she told herself with much determination. All Cam has to do is see a hint of my breasts, and this dress is generous like that, and he goes wild. Some furious, passionate sex would be a great way to end tonight. It’ll be a good reminder that we’re man and wife, after all….
Going over to her cot, she carefully slid down onto it so as not to rumple the dress too much. She would quietly hang around awhile. If Cam didn’t come within the next hour or so, she would go hunt him down, although that would detract somewhat from her surprise.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Cam, after much wandering, was now standing not far from Duke Lando’s tent, his irritation growing by the minute. He had walked almost the entire site yet again, but had failed to loca
te Ned Inkwell, who usually stood out. It was important for them to occasionally meet and compare notes, Cam knew, and he hated operating somewhat blind in these matters.
Hmmm, I wonder if I should go over and take a peek inside? he asked himself. No, don’t be an idiot. They’ll have to gather sometime soon, and if anybody sees me here it’ll blow our trap. Get your ass out of here now and go find Ned….
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Cam’s worries were well-founded. Almost as soon as he had disappeared into the darkness after leaving Lando’s site, a small group of men approached the place from a different direction. Tom Deville and Clay Sharper sauntered along slowly in the front, with Frank and Lyle trailing them several feet behind. Every one of them cautiously scanned the surrounding area, although it was way too early for the GWIBErs to have started wandering back to their campsites for the night.
Sharper gave Deville a wary sideways glance that his friend answered with one of his own. Yeah, Deville thought, I don’t like having these two mugs behind us either, but if we have to worry about them it’ll be later, after the job is done.
Frank gave his partner Lyle a sideways glance that was also answered with the same. These looks were slightly forlorn, however. Neither man wanted to do this and would just as soon return to the warm embraces of their new girlfriends Britt and Chloe.
Finally, the little party stood outside the entrance of Lando’s tent. Giving the area one last scan, Deville sighed and pulled aside the door flap.
The other men saw him immediately stiffen at the sight of something within. Deville shook his head and hoarsely whispered, “Fuck!”
“What is it?” Frank muttered. Getting no answer, he stepped forward and pushed by Deville to get a look. Then he whispered, “Oh, fuck!”
All of them jammed into the small entryway and gazed at the carnage inside. Things were overturned, there were blood spatters here and there, and both Lando and Maria lay on their backs opposite each other, their mouths opened in some kind of terminal surprise, their eyes open and staring lifelessly upward.
Deville and Sharper were stunned into inaction, not knowing what to do. Lyle, far more experienced in these matters, decisively said in a very low tone, “Gentleman, I have a proposal for handling this situation.”
“What’s that?” Deville whispered, not taking his eyes off the corpses.
“I propose that we all leave here right now and go back to our routines,” Lyle said. “We didn’t see any of this and we were never here, right?”
“Got it,” Deville announced, nodding. “No point in complicating our lives with something we had nothing to do with, right?”
“We’ll split up and take separate paths away from here,” Lyle suggested. Everyone nodded, and soon they were on their way.
The two hitmen shook hands as soon as they were alone, grinning broadly at their good luck. This would help a lot toward breaking with their pasts.
Deville and Sharper were slightly morose at the turn of events due to the permanent cancellation of their anticipated payday, but also felt greatly relieved just the same.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Anyone passing by would have seen the barely visible silhouette of a woman standing alone in the darkness from the occasional tiny movements that caused her ample hair to sway or her dress to rustle. But no one would notice these, nor her stocky build, because virtually everybody was out in the downtown part of GWIBE. However, there was a lone exception to this deserted appearance as Phil Utah did his last few things before turning in for the night.
Betty stood quietly outside the back of the Ace Brewing tent on an empty piece of ground that served as sort of a back yard to a considerable number of tents, the GWIBErs never having been fond of cramming their habitations closely together. The solitary figure knew that it was close to impossible that somebody would wander through here anytime soon and that she had plenty of time to think things through.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Shauna sighed and sat up on her cot. To hell with this, she thought, I can’t take the waiting. I’ll go out and look for him right now. It won’t be quite the same surprise, but I won’t have any trouble getting him back here in a hurry once he sees me in this. She giggled at the thought, straightened herself up again, then went out to look for her unsuspecting husband.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Cam carefully weaved his way along the side paths between tents and stands, employing the slow and deliberate walking that mostly eliminated noise and would give him the best chance of surprising anybody skulking around. He needed to spot Deville and Sharper, or even the fake Maria, in order to accomplish anything tonight. They had to be gathering soon to leave for their job at the abbey, they just had to be. He wanted to be able to help Inkwell’s people on the stakeout by notifying them when the gang left. Cam’s main concern was the cops and monks at the abbey. Who knew what one of Duke’s crew might do in a desperate situation when arrest and imprisonment beckoned?
His irritation at Inkwell had only grown in the meantime. Ned was nowhere to be found, as if he had simply disappeared from GWIBE. Could he have changed his mind and joined the others at the abbey? Cam wondered. He thought about it for a minute and then discounted that idea. The most likely explanation was that Inkwell had been visiting and soliciting some beers, for despite his assurances to the contrary, he had given Cam the sinking feeling that he had not put much stock in the chances of gaining anything useful here at GWIBE. He was merely humoring Cam and going through the motions.
Cam paused when he came into an area where he would be behind the Ace Brewing tent. The meager light leaking out from under the bottom of the tent told him that Utah was probably home getting ready for bed, as the man rarely stayed up into the wee hours.
Betty had frozen into her current position, staring at the Ace Brewing tent and not detecting Cam’s approach. Well, I guess I’ll do it, she told herself. It wasn’t part of the original plan, but since things have been going so well tonight I might as well add Phil Utah to the tally. He’s been trying to make people’s lives miserable, as always. He’ll be the cherry on top of the big sundae, so I might as well get on with it. Reaching into her dress, Betty began withdrawing a small .25 Automatic pistol, the only one left of the three with which she had started her spree here tonight. This one had no silencer, but there was no need for it. Even if anybody was within hearing distance for the quick, single shot, it would mean nothing since gunshots here at GWIBE, even in the dead of night, were not that unusual.
Maybe somebody will think to look in that tent in the morning, she thought, and poor Phil will be found dead, having taken his own life. He’s going to be suicided. Somebody might try to tie all of the deaths together, but it’ll go nowhere. Tightening her grip on the gun, Betty began to slowly move from her position to one side of the Ace Brewing tent. She would jerk the door flap open, rush in and give Phil one quick shot to the temple at point-blank range and that would be it for tonight.
Cam’s peripheral vision picked up the movement. His eyes being well-adjusted to the darkness, he immediately spotted the silhouette and instinctively realized that he was looking at the mysterious Betty. He didn’t fail to also see the object in her hand that he guessed to be a gun. He stepped behind a pickup truck parked close by and yelled, “Hey, you!”
Betty automatically stiffened, recoiling at being surprised. Turning almost 90 degrees toward the sound of the voice, it took several seconds before her eyes adjusted well enough to see Cam standing several yards away behind partial cover. Cam couldn’t see her eyes narrow, or her mouth crack into a crooked grin.
Cam continued focusing on the gun, wondering whether she was going to open up on him or not. His question was quickly answered as she shoved the weapon back into her dress. Then, using both hands, she pulled up the sides of her dress so the bottom of her garment was clearly off the ground and broke into a run, heading out onto the main road and toward downtown. This took him by surprise and h
e waited a few seconds before taking off after her. When he did, though, it was at a slower pace and he rounded corners very carefully in case it was all a ruse and she was looking to ambush him.
When he reached the main road, however, Cam saw that she was running full-out, incredibly fast considering that she was holding up her dress while doing so. Betty’s hair trailed wildly behind her as if in some ridiculous scene from a comic book. She was still not so far off, however, that he wasn’t able to notice that she was wearing some kind of running shoes and that she had some of the worst legs he’d ever seen. “Stop right now!” he boomed as he gave chase. She paid him no heed, continuing her sprint.
Picking up his pace, he despaired a little when she didn’t stop, knowing that he couldn’t keep up a chase for very long. Several days of bad living were coming back to haunt him as he began to gulp air and felt his leg muscles already pulling from the sudden stress. Sweat was also gushing out of him at this early stage, a bad sign. Knowing that he had very limited time in which to catch her, Cam chose to go all-out and try to run her down. Once more he bellowed a warning, “Stop where you are! Don’t run anymore!” Betty continued her flight.
As the chase continued down the main road, Cam guessed that Betty was making a terrible mistake that would be her undoing. Once they reached an area where people were gathered, he could call for help in catching her. Everyone at GWIBE knew his background and that anyone he was chasing had to be up to no good. He smiled a little at the good fortune.
Finally, some clusters of people came into view as both hunter and quarry ran furiously down the main road. Cam was so determined to catch her that he was able to tune out the pain that his body was feeling. He upped the tempo and began closing the distance between them. Now he was only about 20 yards behind and narrowing the gap. Sensing the change, Betty drew her head back slightly, took a huge breath, and then screamed “Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape! Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape! Help!”