by D. R. Mather
“Hey look man,” Benny said, “I was figuring on paying two grand a piece. I’m short the difference, but I’m about three days from getting the rest. Can we make an agreement if I put half down now and the rest in three days?”
“So you want a discount and you still only have half. Do I look like some kinda idiot son?”
“Okay, okay, tell you what, I’ll let you hold my latest shipment against it. It’s worth a shitload more than the guns; that I can promise you.”
“What the hell are you talking about son?”
Benny snapped his finger at Stan and Stan went off and out of the door. A minute later, he returned with a huge amount of meth.
“Well now boys, I think we can deal after all,” said the dealer.
The arrangements were made in another room. Kevin sat back down; he understood the instructions now. For some reason he had to let HIS scumbags go. And after they were gone, he had to deal Benny, Stan and Mark one nasty net loss. Kevin knew just what to do. No way were these trucks going anywhere just yet, as he was going to do this the easy way. He left the room on his belly and went around the corner, got up and made a call.
Thanks to Kevin’s ‘powers of persuasion’ it was only a matter of minutes before the ‘shit hit the fan’, as the saying goes. Benny, Stan and Mark were gone by the time the two police choppers started circling the warehouse. Thirty cruisers were there now, by Kevin’s best count, as well as a full armament of SWAT. Kevin moved his Mustang down the road a half a block just before they arrived. He made himself invisible and walked back to watch the show. Quite a show it was too. Kevin was only a few feet from the door where the men were being dragged out and pushed into a squad car. A big box filled with meth soon followed. Then Kevin heard a third chopper. As it got closer, he could see the STAR on the side. As it landed he saw the U.S. Army logo. Seemed these boys were in charge of munitions supplies; one General Raymond and one Major Lutz, according to the next day’s news. Kevin had seen enough to know he didn’t need to intervene here, and walked away. No one saw him go.
“I’m figuring their illustrious military carriers are over now, as well as their ‘free years’.” Kevin smiled as he started the Mustang and drove away. It didn’t last long though.
“What the hell?” said Kevin to the voice, even though it wasn’t present at the time. “Stan doesn’t surprise me, Mark sort of surprises me, but Benny surprises the shit out of me.” He looked up, because where else would he look? “You and I need to have a serious talk pal.”
He headed back to the motel.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Beth and Alex were sitting outside the main entrance; they had just finished a rather erotic game of snowballs and were resting on the marble bench.
Beth perked up her ear, “I hear a truck Alex and it sounded like it’s on our driveway.”
Alex stood up, “Yeah, I hear it.”
They both walked over to the area where the pavement began and listened
Alex said, “Oh, it’s on the driveway for sure, it doesn’t sound like Bill’s plow though.”
A half minute later and the puzzle was solved as a moving truck rounded the last curve and headed straight towards them. Beth could make out two people behind the windshield, and what looked to be the top of a head. The driver honked the horn long and loud three times and both Beth and Alex just about jumped out of their underwear. The driver’s side window of the truck was down and a hand was waving franticly out of it.
Alex looked at Beth, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ll be throwing out those undies tonight!”
Beth leaned over and kissed him, “You’re too sweet, do you know that?”
“I’m not sure about what I know about being sweet, but I sure know what a woman marking her territory looks like,” he said, wiping his cheek.
Beth elbowed his ribs and smiled at the people behind the wheel. Out of the side of her mouth she quietly said “Just for that, nothing for you tonight.”
Alex looked at her, “Beth we haven’t done anything yet!”
Beth still faced forward and murmured so that Alex was sure to hear it. “Keep up that one and we won’t buddy.”
Alex nearly passed out right there in the snow. It was a good thing that being out in the cold sometimes made your face all red, because Alex was able to hide his ear to ear blushing. The ‘other thing’ might not be so easy to hide. He had to think about puppies being run over by the big truck’s tires, and really fast, or else he’d need to excuse himself soon. As the truck turned the curve to the drop-off point, Beth saw that there were three people inside; a woman, a man, and a child.
“HI, I hope we have the right place. This is the Colburn Inn?”
“It sure is,” said Beth.
The driver shut off the truck and they all began to get out. Beth saw instantly that the woman was quite a way to her next child and rushed over to help her.
“Oh thank you so much, that truck was hell I can tell you.”
“I’ll just bet it was.”
Beth whipped around as the driver came up behind her and said, “Hi, I’m Billy; this is my wife Michelle and my son Brandon.”
Beth stared at them for a second while the gears spun in her brain. She looked at them.
“Billy, Michelle…I know those nam…OH MY GOD!! YOUR BILLY AND MICHELLE!”
Cindy had told everyone at the inn a lot about her home town and Billy stuck out because of her first meeting with Kevin and then again, when they were taken away to here.
Now Beth was the frantic one, only she was about to rip her face in two with her smile. She grabbed them both in a huge bear hug and couldn’t stop welcoming them.
“Kevin sent us to see Cindy,” was all Billy could get out before Beth put the pieces together.
“YOU’RE the special package Kevin was sending to Cindy?”
“Is that what Kevin called us; a package?”
Now Beth was just giggling while she talked. She grabbed both of their arms at once, “Kevin, you saw Kevin. Where is he?”
“We left him in a storage facility in Indiana. Last I saw of him he was slapping the fender of the truck and doing a really bad John Wayne impression!”
Beth was talking and doing mini jumping jacks, both at the same time. Then she heard the most ear-piercing screech that she had ever heard. She spun and there was Cindy and Roland, running full steam in her direction. Beth had to go into survival mode now; she quickly moved out of the way. Cindy couldn’t even talk, she was absolutely bawling while she was running, her arms out fully in front of her. Her tears were already hitting the sidewalk and freezing as she ran. When she hit them, she almost took the whole pile of them down, Brandon included. Somehow Cindy had managed to get all three of them in one huge hug. There was crying, and there was crying from the soul. This was from the soul. Alex moved over to Beth’s side and rubbed her back because Beth had got caught up in the ‘crying’ area. It worked its way out and across to the main door where by now, everyone was gathered. Beth could hear Cindy above the others; she heard her lips quivering as shy cried. It took over five minutes to finally calm everyone down enough to even consider speaking. Now the whole clan was in one tiny spot next to the truck.
Billy looked at Roland and Cindy, “I have something for you dear.” He walked to the back of the truck and opened it up. Cindy and Roland looked inside and their mouths both dropped.
“Courtesy Of one Mr. Kevin Chase, Ma’am,” Billy said as he bowed and stepped back.
***
It was a big moving in day. Will and Barb agreed that if Kevin paid for two rooms then by God, Cindy and Roland would get two rooms, for now at least. Let the future work itself out. Everything that could comfortably fit into room eleven for both of them was put there. The rest, including the baby things, were put into room twelve. As Billy, Michele and Brandon still had some time left before Billy had to go back, they decided to stay a few days.
During dinner, which consisted of a lovely chicken Alfr
edo, homemade bread and several vegetable side dishes, everyone was talking about the trip, Kevin, and this and that. Will was about to get a word in edgeways when he looked to his right. Judy wasn’t talking at all. She was lightly stabbing a piece of chicken and Will could see light tears rolling down her cheeks. He never did make the joke he was about to make. Instead he quietly got up, took Judy from her chair and led her out of the room.
After he got her to the living room he hugged her tight, “It’s okay, honey. You heard he was alright, didn’t you?”
She only shook her head and pressed her face back into Will. She wasn’t bawling, she was sobbing. Will looked up a bit later and saw everyone standing around him. Everyone, save Billy and Michele, came to understand that Judy had never had real love; she had found someone who loved her for the very spirit that her parents pushed her away for having. For everything else, Judy was a mature adult woman, for love though, she was still a child. She had never had to learn the loss of someone she loved; she never learned how to miss someone she loved and accept that they would be back if they had to go away. Later that evening, while Cindy and Michele were chewing the fat up in her new room, Cindy explained the whole ‘Judy/Kevin’ thing.
Judy had calmed down enough to go back and finish dinner; she even perked up some and joined in the talking. Will had kept an eye on his fireball though; he even saw her giggle a few times.
At around 8 p.m., everyone was sat in the living room. Judy was playing a card game with Brandon and Billy, when the phone rang. Billy swore to this day that Judy was at the desk saying ‘hello’ while her cards were still fluttering down to the table.
“KEVIN!!!!!!!!!”
“Hi sweetheart, miss me much?”
“Oh god, when are you coming back?”
“Soon now honey. Has the package arrived yet?”
“Oh you sneaky dog you, do you know just how much everyone around here loves you right now?”
“I’m guessing it has arrived then?” he laughed.
Cindy had waddled her way over to the phone and was trying to get a quick word in just to tell Judy not to hang up when she was done. Cindy didn’t think Judy had heard her.
“Honey, listen, I have to fly up to Manchester NH tonight. I’ll be spending a night in Bedford, then flying back down here to Indiana tomorrow. After that, it’s looking like I’m good to come home!”
Judy was beginning to get a pouting mouth until Kevin finished it off that way. Kevin knew what a lady wanted to hear.
“AAAAAAA!!!!!” Now Judy was all giggles and smiles again. “So when can I expect you back honey?”
“Well, I don’t have my calculator on me, but offhand, three days.”
Judy’s smile slipped, “Still three days?”
“Baby, I’m here in Indiana for starters, that’s two days alone if I left now. But now I’m going up to NH, and it only takes one more day. Do you think you can hold out or should I have the doctor come in with some elephant tranquilizers? Then by the time you wake up I’ll have been home for a week!”
Judy pulled the phone away, looked at it, put it back to her ear and said, “I’ll have him give me half a dose, then it should work out perfectly!”
“That’s my girl. You just hang in there for me will you? It just so happens that I can’t live without you.”
Things got a little mushy after that and Cindy backed up about five fe...ten fee…twenty feet. And she still had to turn her head away. A few minutes later, Judy called out:
“Cindy.”
She turned and Judy was waving the phone at her.
’Son of a gun, she actually heard me before,’ Cindy thought.
Judy handed Cindy the phone and Cindy said one thing into it, “Oh you just wait until you get back here mister.” She then handed the phone back to Judy.
Judy giggled as she went back to Kevin, “Told you they love you honey!”
Kevin laughed, “That was love, huh?”
The call got personal again after that.
Cindy was holding Brandon in her lap and they were planning the next day’s winter activities.
“We don’t have snow yet at home.”
“Oh no?” Cindy said. “Well maybe we can ship some from down there.”
A light bulb went off in Brandon’s head, “Hey, we have a big truck; we could bring it with us!”
Billy pipped in, “Only if we can put you in the back first, then load the snow in after.”
Brandon thought about this for a minute, “No, that won’t work, because then I’d be a Brandon Popsicle!!”
Michelle walked over and took Brandon’s hand; “Come on tiger, time for PJ’s. Say goodnight to everyone.”
Brandon waved to everyone like he was arriving at a Hollywood premiere and off he went upstairs.
Later, as everyone was moving up the stairs, Billy talked to Cindy as they went up.
“You know, I don’t know what the hell happened to our lives, but I know one thing, all of it would have ended that night in the restaurant if Kevin hadn’t done what he did. I guess we owe him everything, huh?”
“The funny thing is Billy, he doesn’t seem to ever expect anything in return, not even a thank you. It’s like he does it because he’s able to do it and nothing more.”
“Yeah Cindy, I got that same feeling as well.” They headed off to their rooms and the Inn was quiet once again.
***
At 8:30 p.m. Kevin was sitting on a plane, taxiing on the runway. He’d already made arrangements for a rental car.
Three hours later, the wheels were touching down at Manchester airport and Kevin was grabbing his backpack. This was an unexpected side trip, one the voice insisted he made. Kevin had no clue what it was all about other than he had to go to a house in Bedford, only about ten minutes from where he lived, and break up a crack ring. As Kevin was driving away from the airport, he was brooding;
“They don’t usually do things this way. They’re walking that fine line again.”
A half hour later and Kevin was parked outside of a house. He actually had to drive by his old house to get to it, so Kevin wasn’t in a good mood anymore. He looked into a window, or tried to; it was covered with some sort of sheet.
“Time to get out and earn your pay I guess.”
He got out and slowly walked around the side of the house; every window in the place was covered.
‘Fine,’ Kevin thought, ‘we do it your way,’ and he walked to the front door.
`Kevin melded through the front door and was standing in a living room. There were four men sitting on several pieces of completely gross looking furniture. He hadn’t reveled himself yet, so he was ok. Suddenly the ‘voice’ came into his head:
“Kevin, this is for you. Tonight, you get to commit a crime, this one time, without breaking our agreement.”
“WHAT? You’ve never come during a mission. What’s going on?”
“Kevin, look at the men in front of you. It’s them, the ones who raped and murdered your wife and children. It took us a while but we found them, you’ve earned thi...”
Kevin never heard another word. He instantly appeared in front of them, his rage was so deep in that instant that a small country’s entire military couldn’t have held him back. He moved like fluid. He picked up the first man he came to and actually tore the man in half at the mid-section. After that, even the voice didn’t watch. Kevin ripped and tore, tore and ripped, for perhaps fifteen minutes without stopping. When he was done, he slid against a wall, slid down to the floor and cried his heart out. Kevin was red, from head to toe. He looked like he had been painted red. What remained in the living room… well, let’s just say the police would have more than a half hours work with four men doing the job, before they would even figure out the pieces were human.
After a while, Kevin got up, looked for a bathroom, threw up, and then undressed. He used the shower, rinsed off what had gotten on his clothes, and put them back on wet. Luckily he’d had his leather coat buttoned up most of
the way; leather wiped off easier. He used a face cloth and polished his nice shoes to a shine, tossed the cloth on the floor, and left the room. As Kevin was just about at the door, he turned on the carnage he’d created and spat on it. He turned, opened the door and left.
Kevin drove by his old home slowly; he didn’t even realize he was doing it. All the lights were off except one, it would have been his bedroom once.
“I’m Sorry Mary. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
Kevin drove away.
At 2:45 a.m. Kevin entered the hotel, looked around, walked up to the desk and apologized for the fact that he wouldn’t be able to stay. He paid the room anyway, left a tip and went off to the airport.
Kevin caught an early morning flight to Indiana and was back at his motel room by 9:30 a.m. He was now running about fourteen hours ahead of time. Kevin checked the room, headed to the front office, paid, left a handsome tip and was once again in his Mustang.
“Come on baby, let’s get you home.”
Kevin entered the interstate, once again leaving Indiana in his rear view mirror.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Judy stole Brandon.
She took him from Michelle and told her that she was going to ‘occupy’ his little mind for a while. She was just finishing up with all of his outer wear when she said, “Brandon, where did you go?”
All she heard was a muffled “I’m right here!”
“Oh my, I thought I’d lost you. I panicked when I saw this pile of clothes where I left you. I thought you’d evaporated!”
Brandon laughed, “I didn’t vapor ate, I’m right here.”
Judy played the game well. “I hear you, but I can’t see you! Brandon come back please or I’ll just faint dead away!” Judy fainted dead away.
“No Aunt Judy, I’m right here!”
She jumped up and almost scared Brandon right out the top of his suit, but he was laughing hysterically as well.