August decided to skip the walk home in favor of walking just a little farther to the bar at the end of town. It was always good for cold beer and good food, maybe that is what he needed to start getting himself back on track.
Chapter 77
Six large boxy SUV’s traveled north on highway 75 towards Watercreek. Inside, every available seat was occupied. The vehicles pulled off the hard top onto a gravel road snaking a path between two corn fields. Dust followed behind the last vehicle giving the fleet the look of a rocket trailing smoke from liftoff. Once parked, the parade of vehicles was met by several men in a clearing. These men directed each SUV to a designated parking place in the field. A windsock blew from the barn at the end of the parking field.
A twin-engine plane made several circles around the barn judging wind and speed then touched down on a makeshift runway cut out of the end of the cornfield.
The pilot and copilot climbed out of the plane and walked toward the men standing beside their SUV’s. The pilot was immediately recognized by the men and they acknowledge the authority of the pilot as the two approached them. Each man started to straighten up a little. Removing a black silk flight jacket the pilot tossed it to the copilot and with arms stretched out mimicking the plane, the pilot took in the cooling breeze coming across the open field.
Angelina Fuentes pulled off a ball cap and let her long black hair drop and fly in the breeze and then signaled the lead driver of the convoy to follow her into the barn. A man was standing at the door of the barn dressed in tropical shirt, the stub of cigar in his mouth. As Angelina stepped through the door she stopped and acknowledge him. He reached for her hand and gently kissed it.
The rest of the group broke up and made ready to sleep beside their vehicles.
Chapter 78
Michelle pulled into the small bar at the end of town. It was the local evening hangout in the same way the diner was during the day. It was the place to go for cold beer, fried food, and many other things that weren’t good for you but made you feel better.
She parked her car up the street to avoid the bumps and scraps that often happened in these parking lots. People that new her soon learned she took better care of her car than she did herself. Walking down the street to the entrance she was already tasting the beer and a steak as rare as they allowed it to come out of the kitchen.
Stopping at the door, Michelle looked behind her as if she’d left something at the car, still finding it hard to shake the feeling she was not alone. The sun was drawing shades down on the fields she could see from this edge of town. No place to hide there, turning the other direction, she could see far up the main highway, all clear there. She decided to let her guard down a little and enjoy the evening. Walking through the door the noise of multiple TVs playing the evening Kansas City Royal’s baseball game along with just as many opinions flying rose from the crowd. Michelle lost herself in the crowd and found a table deep in the back.
Chapter 79
Driving down the highway Susan didn’t share with Saine where they were heading. She wanted one more opportunity for as many people as possible to see her with this good-looking guy. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or the few drinks she had at the hotel, but he was even better looking now than before dinner.
Once they arrived at the bar, Susan couldn’t wait to get out and walk through the tavern door with Bob on her arm. Every good politician lives for the moments when the crowds’ eyes are on them. This was going to be the end of a great day. And, if she was picking up Bob’s hints it was going to be an even better night.
Unlike Michelle, Susan parked her car as close to the entrance as she could find. She wanted everyone coming in to see that the Mayor was in the house.
Bob opened the door for her as she walked through. She started greeting people at tables as soon as she walked in. Susan pitched a few comments to the patrons about the Royals game and the heat of the day. Each comment led to an introduction of Bob Saine. He made an immediate impression on every individual. Some he already knew from his mornings at Bill’s. Susan introduced him to the ladies on purpose. She could sense their envy.
Susan was back in her high school days as she walked through the bar.
Now she was the girl that all the others wanted to be.
This was going even better than she thought.
Michelle watched as Susan worked her way through the crowd. She lost her appetite for anything when she saw Susan and Bob.
Susan eventually made her way close to Michelle and the minute she spotted her she pushed her way through the crowd, dragging Saine by the arm.
“Michelle, it is so good to see you out and about after your near-death experience.
I would like you to meet Bob Saine, he is the man who saved your life yesterday you know.”
Susan reached out and gave Michelle a big political hug. At that same time, August walked into the bar in time to see Susan and Michelle hug like old friends and Bob Saine standing alongside taking it all in.
Looking over Susan’s shoulder Michelle saw August standing in the door and there was no doubting the look of disgust on his face.
“I must be going I am sorry,” Michelle said pushing herself away from Susan.
“Don’t be silly stay and have a drink with us. You can’t run off from the man who saved you.”
It was no use on Michelle’s part to argue. Susan had her and August was already out the door before they sat down.
Chapter 80
August slumped down the steps of the bar back on to the sidewalk running parallel to the highway. The walk back up the highway towards the Court House was a lonelier one than the walk down. August knew now he lost the allegiance of Michelle and what Susan had alluded to earlier in the day was true. He was in no mood to think about Fr. Steve’s eulogy and he was half planning at this point to not even show up. Steve would understand. The more he let himself entertain that thought, the better the idea sounded. By the time he reached the Courthouse and turned down the street to his house, he’d made up his mind that he wasn't even going.
August mind raced the whole walk. How much easier things would have been if he had been killed in the jungle. He would be hailed as a martyr in a class of many of the Jesuit brothers that had gone before him. He wouldn’t have this survivor’s guilt that plagued him every day.
His struggles with women would be over.
He had accepted celibacy as a way of life a vow he maintained even not living the life of a priest. Angelina’s mother was his first temptation. She was a beautiful woman, but one that needed cared for in a way that was beyond his ability. Michelle, who he lobbied for the role of medical examiner was another issue. He had to admit there were others that might have been smarter and more experienced, but maybe not as attractive. Susan, who he battled with constantly. She was a thorn in almost everyone’s side, but no one wanted to admit it. But he knew, she liked him, and he respected her, she just always needed to be the first to know the news. She was politician twenty-four hours a day.
And little Angelina, her of all people fell victim to his curse. Every woman he felt close to or respected was turning on him or died. Never seeing Angelina since the night in the jungle he couldn’t imagine what the girl’s life would have been like. He never wanted to meet her after she was taken away from him, but he had stayed in touch with those who cared for her and raised her after Hector was jailed. Dan Faraday made sure money made its way to her and that his identity remained a secret. Now he realized he had been duped all these years.
It wasn’t until Steve pushed the issue of the two of them meeting that he finally gave in. He knew that Steve felt this would help bring him back to the priesthood, but August knew different. His salvation was with a gun not with his prayers or meeting this baby after all these years. He tried the prayers for too many years. At least carrying a gun, he had been able to provide some help for Angelina in a way he never could have afforded as a priest.
God didn’t want him now an
yway.
August wasn’t sure right now if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
August walked through the screen door but caught it just before it slammed for some reason remembering the number of times his grandmother yelled at him to not let the door slam in their old house. If she was alive, she would be one more woman he would be disappointing.
Walking to the refrigerator he pulled out a beer and a sleeve of crackers out of the cupboard. He sat at his table until the crackers and beer were gone. He turned the air conditioner to the max cold climbed into bed and pulled the covers over his head and for some reason could not stop reciting the “Hail Mary” prayer over and over in his head. He finally fell asleep covered up like a kid hiding from a thunderstorm.
chapter 81
Friday
When the morning sun shone enough light to move around, Angelina rallied leaders to the barn. She moved with cold detachment from everyone present. She didn’t make eye contact with anyone.
She regarded the men with no more concern than the bales of hay stacked in the corner. Each man in front of her was only a tool. Men new they were expendable by her and gave her a wide path, both in her orders and her physical presence. Many of them had either experienced her wrath or heard the stories surrounding the torture of those who opposed her.
The promise for following her was a life better than they ever knew in the jungle and safety for their families left behind. Not bowing to her demands meant certain death to them and a life of slavery for the survivors. Only those in her inner circle, those older men gathered with her now in the barn were aware of what motivated her. Her father, Hector hated the American they were now hunting, hatred he taught Angelina from the time she was snatched from the coward.
Angelina was a good student.
Angelina was dressed in a flowing red summer dress decorated with images of tropical flowers. Her crow black hair was pulled back off her face. Drawn back, it revealed the scars from burns down the left side of her face and shoulders. The hair was gone from behind her ear which itself was fastend to the side of her head with a diamond stud keeping it from sliding down. With her arms bared, the scars on her arm were clear. From her shoulder to her wrist her left arm looked more like melted plastic than skin. To view her from the opposite side was to see a beautiful Latin woman. To see her on the left was to see a woman who carried the scars of hatred and war.
Angelina began laying out the plans for the day. She recited the plans without notes or emotion. Each team was picked for their ability and task. The teams also knew failure was not an option if they wanted to return home when this was over. She pointed to each man, called him by a name she gave them on the spot and when their assignment was given, she ordered them out of her sight.
When Angelina finished dismissing almost everyone the only ones remaining in the barn was the same group of men she met with last night. She instructed each one again. The priest was hers to deal with, all the others were to be dealt with by the assignments just dispensed. When it was over, if she did not survive, they were to retrieve her body at all cost and take it back to where her father was hiding. Each of these selected knew, they had the hardest task of all. To return with her body to Hector was to signal failure to him. That wasn’t an option either.
Chapter 82
Angelina left the men and returned to a small pop up camper outside the barn. She removed the dress and worked her way into a flight suit and boots. When finished, she made a strong cup of coffee ground from beans she brought with her. She let the steam from the coffee form a veil between her and the view she had of the rising sun over the corn field. The field sparkled with the morning’s dew. The sun, low behind the few trees at the end of the field, cast long morning shadows across the runway and the plane. She is happy. Today is going to be the completion of revenge and retribution on the man that disfigured her as a child and sent her adoptive father to prison.
Angelina began speaking to the field as if the man she was taught to hate was standing in front of her.
“My father told me how you stole my mother’s affection away from him. When my father tried to free her and the village, you turned your Marines on my father and his workers. I know my father is not an innocent man but even a business man like father would not hold a baby over flames, bargaining for his life. But, today, you will get another chance to bargain, only this time you will look me in the eyes and loose.”
Angelina began reviewing all that she had planned and the number of people she worked into her puzzle. Unlike most puzzles, Angelina’s became clearer with each piece that was taken away.
Dan Faraday, the weak marshal who traded his loyalty for cash. Without him, they could not find Fr. Francis. Without Faraday, they would not have been able to fool Francis all these years that he was satisfying his conscience by supporting a baby he felt guilty over. Faraday was now out of the way.
Bill Colestock, he was the easiest to get to. It is so easy to manipulate a man who wants a woman he cannot have. Give him the opportunity and the means, he becomes your slave All they had to do was convince him that arranging for the poison with the flowers was all he had to do to have the pretty Medical Examiner all to himself. With the priest and the sheriff out of the way, he would be able to pursue the medical examiner.
The girl that took my place. She had a good life. She thought she was off to a new life in America. But like others, her usefulness was gone. My men are good. She died without leaving any trace of who she really was.
And the priest friend Fr. Steve, he was another weak man and easy to handle. Every holy man has something he doesn’t want anyone else to know. It only took one phone call to him and he caved under the threat. What do I care that he was a priest? The devil and I will enjoy his company”
Angelina swirled the last bit of coffee in her cup and looked at it as if it had a message for her then threw the cup and all to the ground. A man dressed in a yellow flowered shirt and straw hat watched all of Angelina’s actions. When she stepped back in her pop-up he followed her moves with thirsty eyes. He lit the stump of a cigar he was chewing without ever taking his eyes off her. Once lit he reached over took her hand, kissed it and then walked her to the barn.
Chapter 83
Susan woke up in a hotel room. Alone. She had no recollection of the night before. She was still dressed in the clothes she went out in last night. The space beside her in bed obviously wasn’t used. Her mouth felt like her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth and she was breaking into a cold sweat both from fear of how she got there and too much alcohol in her stomach.
She sheepishly put one foot on the floor and pushed herself slowly up from the bed. Catching sight of herself in the mirror, her hair was anything but perfect and her once crisp blouse was now a show of wrinkles. The message button on the room phone flashed and she pressed it.
“Good morning Susan, this is Bob. I hope you are feeling okay this morning. You were not feeling good last night when we arrived at the hotel. I thought it was best to get you a room and preserve your reputation as mayor. I had to leave early this morning for some work out of town, but we might be able to meet later tonight.”
Susan felt a little better about the situation after listening to Bob’s message. Now she just had to leave the hotel with some dignity and get herself ready for Fr. Steve’s funeral.
Chapter 84
Michelle was up early and already running over in her head all that she discussed with Susan and Bob last night. Bob seemed like a nice enough man, but he kept eyeing her whenever Susan was not looking. The way he looked at her made her uncomfortable. It was not the same way he looked at Susan. She was worried for Susan. Even though she didn’t like her, but to leave with a man like that was dangerous for any woman.
Michelle still needed to get August the report on the fingerprints. But, the odds of him even giving her the time of day after last night was slim. However, he needed to know. The idea that Bill Colestock was involved in all of this was hard
for her to stomach. The guy had always seemed so nice to her, even often going out of his way to make her feel comfortable. Now it made sense how he turned on her the other day. It will be even harder for August to accept. She had already made repeated calls to his house with no answer. Most likely he was out-right avoiding her. She would see him at the funeral and maybe able to tell him then.
She decided to shower and make herself as attractive as she could today. Maybe August would give her a second chance. If not, there was always California to fall back on.
Stepping into the shower, Michelle didn’t hear the latch on her apartment door open. The intruder sat down at her table and waited for her to come out of the shower.
Chapter 85
August was out of the house before the sun came up. He enjoyed the walk back up to the Courthouse to get his jeep. The cool morning air and the silence of the morning is what he needed after last night. The events of the week seemed to be more part of a day than a week with each day just slipping into another.
When he arrived at the Courthouse, August didn’t bother to go into the office, instead he went right to the jeep and headed out of town by way of the View café. He recognized a few of the cars parked there. He was tempted to stop in and say hi, but that didn’t work out so well last night.
He was a couple miles down a gravel county road before he decided to pull off on a pasture entrance. He sat there just off the road convincing himself that he made the right decision to skip Fr. Steve’s funeral. After all, he should be mad at him for trying to bring up old memories that clearly Steve knew haunted him. He wished Demetrius was here right now. Even though he was part of all of this, he needed his reassurance that he was doing the right thing.
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