The Dead Peasants' Contract: A Sequel to The Dead Peasants File (The Dead Peasants' Series Book 2)

by L. Craig Harris

  “Mr. Hill,” George said. “Why are you in this lobby?”

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m George Rosen. I work for Morgan Retail, and you have been warned not to be in here.”

  “Look, my wife just got a job here. I was just picking her up.”

  “Well, you can wait in the car for her and no one will say a word. But when you come in here, you cross a line that Morgan drew for you. Understand?” George waited for him to nod. “You’ve been warned, Mr. Hill.”

  Dillon and George walked out of the lobby and to his truck. “Why does Morgan care if he comes in here?” Dillon said as he climbed into the passenger side. “This isn’t competition with the store.”

  “No, but this company has been blacklisted. Morgan doesn’t want any of us doing business with them.”

  “But why?”

  “I’m going to tell you what I think it is.” George glanced over his shoulder and pulled onto the street. “There is only a couple of places where we can get insurance. Morgan doesn’t want us getting it anywhere else. I think he’s getting a kickback, or maybe he owns the companies, I’m not sure.” He paused. “He blacklists everyone else.” He lowered his voice to nearly a whisper. “It’s getting harder to find insurance for us. Pretty soon, we won’t be able to get any at all.”

  “No kidding? You think so?”

  “Oh, I know so. If we can’t get insurance, we have to play his little lottery. That’s how he’s making so much money.”

  A week later, Dillon was sitting in the surveillance room, half asleep at mid-morning. He had begun to get the hang of the job. He liked the fact that they went out into daylight and he didn’t have to stay cooped up in this room his whole shift. He had a cup of coffee in his hand and his feet up on the counter as he watched the screens for anything that wasn’t allowed.

  Suddenly his boss rushed in, out of breath. “We have a situation.”

  Dillon put his feet on the floor and checked to make sure he had his gun in its holster. “What’s going on?”

  “We have a hostage situation in the break room. I need you to get in there and diffuse it.”

  Dillon jumped to his feet and set the coffee on the counter. “Shouldn’t we call 911?”

  William shook his head. “No. No, corporate doesn’t want the media to know about this if possible. They want us to take care of it.”

  Take care of it? Dillon followed William out the door and toward the workers’ lounge. “Tell me the situation.”

  “Remember Robert Smith in human resources?”

  “Sure.”

  “Well, he hates his new position. He’s taken six of our workers hostage and is saying he’s going to start shooting them if we don’t get the media here. He wants to make a statement.”

  This news didn’t surprise Dillon at all. He saw this coming. He had caught Robert stealing from the store earlier in the summer. Robert had a college degree and worked in human resources, making sure everyone got paid correctly and on time. He was an important man in the business of the store. But that day he had tried to walk out the door with three movies he hadn’t paid for in his basket. He had walked through the self-checkout and skipped out on paying for them. Stupid movies too, nothing worth stealing. Dillon remembered that. Movies were among the things for which Dillon watched, especially if the customer went through self-checkout. Dillon figured he had taken them just for the small, cheap thrill. The guy probably felt entitled to them. But Dillon had stopped him and taken the movies from him.

  Dillon filed a routine report, and William saw it and was furious. He didn’t fire him though. Corporate wanted to make an example of him, so William demoted Robert to janitor. Janitor! He couldn’t quit because he had signed the contract, so he was stuck.

  So now he was in the workers’ lounge holding six women hostage at gunpoint. Dillon had to diffuse the situation and try not to get shot in the process. He drew his gun and held it close to his chest, pointed upward. He peeked into the doorway of the lounge. “You in there, Bob?”

  “Back off Dillon.” Robert said. “I will start shooting these ladies.”

  “You’re just making it worse on yourself. You don’t want to do this.”

  “Just fire me and tear up that contract and I’ll walk away and never look back.”

  “William told me you only have to do this job a couple of months, then you can have your old job back and all of this will be forgotten, if you give up now.” Dillon was lying, but thought it sounded reasonable. He just wanted this over without anyone getting shot. He turned to William and shrugged his shoulders.

  “I want to talk to Knowles.”

  “He’s standing right behind me. He can hear you.”

  Robert spoke a little louder. “Bring my contract and tear it up or I will start shooting. One hostage every five minutes.”

  Dillon spoke. “And then what? Kill innocent people and then get executed. Is that your plan?” He raised his voice. “Do you think you can get away with this?”

  Bang! The sound echoed out of the room. A shot was fired. Dillon’s heart jumped and the women screamed. Dillon peeked into the room, fearful of what he might see.

  Robert had fired a shot into the bulletin board. “Don’t make me start shooting these women.”

  William whispered into Dillon’s ear. “I don’t think he’d do it.”

  Dillon shrugged. “Can we take that chance?”

  Suddenly William’s cell phone rang. He answered just above a whisper. “Hello?”

  Dillon could only hear William’s side of the conversation. “Yes sir. Yes sir.”

  William handed the phone to Dillon. “It’s Charles Morgan.”

  Did he say Charles Morgan? Now Dillon’s heart was really racing, if it wasn’t going as fast as it could before. He took the phone. “This is Dillon.”

  “McGee, I want that situation taken care of. I don’t want to hear about hostages in our store getting killed on the news. I don’t want any cameras.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  “I want that man taken out.”

  Dillon didn’t respond.

  “Did you hear me, McGee?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t have guys like that, taking hostages in my store. Do you understand?” Charles raised his voice. “He’s holding me hostage. Do you see that? I want you to get a clean shot and take him out. I don’t want one hostage dead. Not one. Now you do what you have to do, and you do it now.” The call ended.

  Dillon handed the phone back to William and turned toward the door. “Bob, I’m coming in. Put your gun down and no one gets hurt.” Dillon rushed into the door, gun drawn and pointed at Robert.

  Robert grabbed a hostage who was sitting near him and put the gun to her temple. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot her.”

  Dillon put his free hand up. “Okay. I’m not.” He stopped where he was, just inside the door. “Let’s talk about this, Bob.” He looked at the hostage. “Are you okay, Leah?’ Dillon had known her for years.

  She nodded slightly, but looked terrified.

  Dillon looked back at Robert. “Do you really want to do this? Would you really hurt her?” He holstered his gun. “Look, no gun.” He raised his palms. “You’ve known her for a long time. You’ve written her paycheck! Are you going to let her husband come get her body?”

  Leah spoke softly. “I have three children.”

  “You hear that?” Dillon said. “Three children. Are you going to shoot their mother?”

  Robert kept the gun pressed to her temple. He kept a firm grip on her arm. “I’ll do what I have to.” Sweat ran down his cheeks. She had turned pale.

  Dillon stood there several minutes, contemplating his next move. He couldn’t think of a way to break this impasse. Morgan wanted him to shoot Robert, but Dillon thought that was too risky. Besides, he didn’t want to kill this man. He didn’t want to kill anybody, but he had to make sure Leah wasn’t harmed. “I’m going to back out of the room now,” he s
aid. “I’m going to see how we are doing with your contract.”

  “You bring that contract or these women are going to start dying.”

  Dillon slowly backed up and out of the door. William was standing just outside it, in the hallway. Several employees had joined him and were watching to see what happened next.

  “Well, what are you going to do?” William said.

  “I don’t know. He’s got a gun to Leah Baldry’s head.”

  “You cannot let him shoot her, you understand that?”

  “Yes I do.” Dillon glanced back toward the door. “What do you suggest?”

  “Get back in there and take that gun from him.” William raised his voice slightly. “I don’t care if you have to shoot him. Just don’t let him shoot any hostages.”

  “I get that,” Dillon said. “But it’s not that simple. I can’t just shoot him. He’s got a gun to her temple.” He turned and kept an eye on the door. “Let’s give him a few minutes to cool off. Maybe he will see that he can’t win.” He looked back at William. “Can we get his wife up here? Maybe she can talk him down”

  “Well, I don’t know.” William turned to the lady who was behind him in the hall. “Can you get Robert’s wife on the phone? Try to get her up here.”

  Robert called out from the lounge. “What’s going on out there? I hope I don’t have to shoot anyone.”

  “We’re trying to find your contract,” Dillon said, bluffing. “Just wait a minute.” Dillon stepped into the open door. “Bob, you have to show me you’re willing to negotiate or I can’t get that contract for you.”

  “What do you mean?” Robert kept the gun tightly against Leah’s head.

  “I mean let a hostage go. You don’t need all of the women to make your point.” He paused. “I think Morgan might just let you out of that contract if you let one or two go right now.”

  Robert looked over at the women, huddled against a wall to his right. “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Yeah, let Brenda go. She can’t take this stress and you know it. You know she has health issues.”

  Robert shifted in his chair. He looked at Brenda and back at Dillon. He sat for several seconds. “Okay, she can go.”

  Brenda jumped up and ran to Dillon, then past him out into the hallway. She whispered “thank you” as she went past.

  Dillon thought it best if he stayed in the room so he could see Robert and Robert could see him. He leaned against the wall to Robert’s left. Okay, he had gotten one out. Five to go. He thought it would be wise to take this slow. So long as he was watching Robert, he thought maybe he would not hurt anyone.

  He stood and waited, not taking his eyes off of him. And he waited some more. Minutes passed.

  Robert looked angry. “I’m not going to wait all day. I want to see that contract torn up.”

  Dillon wanted to remind him that he had a microchip implanted in his back. Even if they tore up his contract, they would still own him so long as it was there. But he held his tongue. “These things take time. Please be patient a little longer.”

  Nearly an hour had passed when Robert’s wife, Susan, appeared in the doorway. “What are you doing, Bobby? You’re not going to hurt anyone. That’s not you.”

  “Go away,” Robert said, tightening his grip on Leah.

  “You let that poor girl go.” Susan started to cry. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  “Don’t cry,” Robert said. “I just want out of this job.”

  “Why? It’s not so bad.” She paused. “You get to work in the air conditioning.”

  Dillon began to inch toward Robert, very slowly. Robert was obviously distracted by his wife, and this might just be his chance.

  “Talk to me, honey,” Susan said. “I can’t let you do anything to hurt anyone.”

  Robert was beginning to look defeated. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  “Just put that gun down and let that lady go,” she said.

  Dillon inched closer.

  Robert suddenly looked at Dillon. “Don’t come any closer. I’ll shoot her.”

  “No, I’m not coming any closer.”

  Robert pointed the gun up in the air and pulled the trigger. Bang! Dillon lunged at him and knocked the gun from his hand. Robert grabbed Leah, so Dillon got him in a headlock and the three fell onto the floor. One of the hostages grabbed Robert’s gun and began pointing it at Robert, Dillon and Leah as they wrestled in the floor. Leah broke free, but Robert managed to get on top of Dillon and began hitting him with pent up anger in the face. Dillon threw him off of him and stood to his feet, knocking chairs over. He was in the process of unholstering his gun to hold him at bay, but suddenly a man in a black suit came into the doorway and positioned himself right beside Susan. He had a 9mm handgun with a silencer attached. He aimed and shot Robert in the forehead twice.

  Susan cried out and fell on Robert as he lay dead in the floor. Leah and the other hostages jumped to their feet and fled the room.

  The man with the gun looked at Dillon. “Mr. Morgan told you to shoot this man.” He stared at Dillon for a moment, then turned and left the room. Dillon breathed heavily and tried to compose himself. He stood and watched Susan weeping over the body of her dead husband.

  Chapter Nine

  Another week passed and Christopher was back in the pulpit at church. He looked out into the congregation before he began his sermon. He was glad to see Dillon seated toward the back. It looked like he was by himself. Rachel was in her spot, with Stephen sitting beside her. He scanned the crowd. Travis and Julia were there too, back from Colorado. His heart sank a little when he saw Wesley and Mary Boyd staring back at him, just behind Travis and Julia.

  “Thanks for coming this morning,” he said. “Stand with me and turn to Matthew 22, eight through fourteen.” He waited while the congregation stood to its feet, then he began to read. “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are invited, but few are chosen.’

  “Thank you,” Christopher said. “Please be seated.” He waited for them to sit then continued. “This is a remarkable parable. Jesus told it during his last week of ministry in Jerusalem. His hearers were mostly Jewish, and had mostly rejected his invitation to God’s Kingdom. Earlier in the parable, those who were invited to the banquet rejected the King’s invitation. Some were just too busy and some were even hostile, mistreating and killing the messengers.

  “It would have been inconceivable to be too busy to attend a king’s banquet. It would have been the best meal anyone would get to eat in their whole lives. To simply be too busy would have been more than foolish. But the truth is, we are often simply too busy for God. And the idea of mistreating the messengers would have been shocking, but that is exactly what we have seen throughout history.

  “So the king sends his servants out to invite everyone, the good and the bad. Jesus was explaining that God’s invitation is open to everyone, even the Gentiles. God loves the whole world. His offer for salvation is open to all. All we have to do is accept his generous invitation.

  “But, then the parable takes this sharp, and perhaps unexpected, turn. The king is walking among his guests and sees a man who is not wearing ‘wedding clothes.’ So he has his attendants tie him, hand and foot, and throw him out into the darkness ‘where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

  Christopher paused for effect. “What gives? Well, in Jesus’ culture
, the king would have provided the wedding clothes. Remember, these are people off the street. Jesus is warning us that we must be clothed in righteousness if we are going to be allowed into God’s holy presence. He will clothe us if we will simply trust him. Isaiah 61, verse ten says, ‘I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness’.”

  Christopher pulled at his shirt. “Jesus will clothe us with righteousness. He paid the price for our sins so we can have right-standing with God. But most people will refuse to allow him to do this. Most will try to enter heaven thinking they are good enough on their own. Jesus says no, many are invited, but few are chosen.”

  Christopher braced himself as he stood at the front after the service. He wondered how the Boyd’s would attack him today. But they didn’t come near him. He saw them exit out the back door. He sighed with relief. Maybe he had finally satisfied them.

  Dillon came back in after the church had emptied. He walked up to Christopher as he was straightening song books and bibles in the pews. “Hey Guy.”

  “Hey Dillon, I was so glad to see you this morning.”

  Dillon shook his hand. “It was kind of a rough week. I needed some encouragement.”

  “Rough week, huh?”

  “Yeah, it got pretty hairy.” Dillon glanced over his shoulder. “What about the Morgan worker at your house. What was that all about?”

  “That was an old boyfriend coming over to see Rachel.” He shrugged. “He said he was inviting us both down to his condo in Florida, but I’m really not sure what his intentions are. I plan to keep an eye on him.”

  Dillon looked relieved. “Well, I think that’s good. It could have been worse.”

  “I guess you’re right. So tell me about your bad week.”

  “Believe it or not, I talked to Charles Morgan on the phone.”

  Christopher’s eyes grew large.

  “Any time you talk to that guy, you know it was a bad day.” He glanced behind him again. “We had a hostage situation at the store and one of the workers was shot and killed.”