by R. Chauncey
Shouldda checked before I left the Rover. I’m being a little too careless.
At exactly nine he saw the lights in the restaurant go off and a man he assumed was the owner leave by the front door and lock up. But he didn’t see Maize. He wondered if she had already left. If she had he’d have to try something else. He used the binoculars to carefully scan the area looking for her. A smile crossed his worried face when he saw her ride from behind the restaurant on an old fashion two wheel bike with foot brakes and head west.
No wonder she had such a nice shape, he thought as he watched her for a few seconds then moved out after her keeping to the dark side of the street.
Hays’ was a town short of street lamps after sundown. The few street lamps it had were all located only on one of the four corners where there was an intersection and all of them looked like something out of the late 19th or early 20th century. And they gave off just enough light for a person to stand under them and read the large print of a newspaper or the street signs attached to them. And there were only two main intersections in the town and both were over an acre from the nearest buildings.
Maize didn’t ride fast. But she did manage to keep a hundred and fifty yards ahead of Dodge.
He could have easily kept up with her. He was, like all Society soldiers, in excellent physical condition. But he had to keep an eye out for people suddenly appearing on the street. If there were any black people in Hays, he was positive there were a few even though he hadn’t seen any they were all probably well known. Seeing him running on the streets after a woman who was probably well known, would have aroused a lot of suspicion and resulted in an immediate call to the police.
By the time Dodge had run two hundred yards Maize was more than two hundred yards ahead of him, and increasing the distance with every second. He stopped after another hundred yards and raised the binoculars to his eyes and carefully looked at her.
She was wearing a dark leather coat with a hood covering her blonde hair and pair of jeans and ankle high boots that matched the color of the coat. A bag with a wide strap was on her left shoulder was on the left side of her back to avoid falling off on to the handle bars.
He lowered the binoculars, and looked up and down the street to see if anyone was on the street and watching him.
The street was empty. Not a soul within sight.
Dodge looked at the few houses across the street. He saw the dim light in the houses was coming through closed drapes or drawn shades.
Good, he thought. The good citizens of Hays like their privacy.
He quickly and quietly dashed across the street and stopped and looked through the binoculars again.
Maize made a right turn at a corner more than two hundred yards ahead of him.
He ran to the corner as fast as he could, and saw her make a left turn a block ahead of him. He ran the block, breathing heavily, and saw her riding straight ahead. He noticed she was heading for a part of Hays that didn’t have many houses close by.
“Good,” he said as he drew a deep breath and ran after her making sure to stay as close to the trees that lined the street as possible, and watching the few houses for any sign of anyone coming out. He listened for the sound of barking dogs as he ran after her but he didn’t hear any.
All inside where it’s warm, he thought. If there’re any dogs in this town the owners apparently don’t use them as outside guard dogs. That thought immediately caused him to look for motion activated lights and cameras. He saw none. A town this small wouldn’t have much need for motion activated lights and cameras. The crime rate probably amounts to no more than a few drunken fist fights in the local bars on Friday and Saturday nights.
Dodge raised his binoculars just in time to see Maize make another turn to the left. He decided to cut her off by heading across backyards. He didn’t like doing that but he couldn’t afford to lose her. She was the only chance he had of getting that chip out of his back without doing himself serious injury.
He noticed as he ran forward through the darkness none of the backyards he ran through had fences. That was good. Climbing fences would slow him down. He had gone a block before he ran into two barking dogs. But thank God they were territorial. As soon as he left the yards they were tied up in the barking stopped. He had run three blocks as fast as he could when he saw there were no houses around. He was in open country. He turned around to look behind himself and saw a door to one of the houses he’d passed open and someone come out on the back stoop. The light from inside the house silhouetted the person.
It was an older woman dressed in what looked like jeans and heavy red plaid shirt. She looked around into the darkness for a minute then walked off the stoop and over to the chained dog and unchained it.
Dodge heard a bark then saw the dog trot into the house pass the woman and the woman enter the house and close the door. He turned around and looked in the direction he hoped Maize ad gone. He couldn’t see anything in the dark. He raised the binoculars to his eyes, and saw her.
I should be wearing the night vision goggles, he thought. Too late to put them on now. I could lose Maize.
She was at least three blocks away, and was off her bike walking toward a two story dark house. He couldn’t see another house anywhere near the dark house.
“That suits me find,” he said to himself as he started toward the house moving as quietly and as quickly as possible. He stopped after he’d gone a block and looked at Maize again. She was on the front porch of the house with her bike. He saw her lean the bike against the side of the house near the front door and open her coat and reach into her pants pocket.
He hoped the darkness of the house and her reaching for a key indicated she lived alone.
I don’t want to kill anyone, but I will if I have to get this chip out of my back.
Maize opened the screen door of the house and unlocked the front door and entered stopping at the entrance without closing the door to turn on lights in what looked like the foyer.
She lives alone, he thought as he moved closer to the house. He stopped next to a clump of brushes and raised the binoculars to his eyes and scanned the house from top to bottom. By the time he looked back at Maize she had entered the house, and closed the front door. He decided to do a close inspection of the outside of the house before he checked the locks.
He quickly and quietly made his way up to the house, making sure to look around using the binoculars to see if anyone was looking at him. There was no one around.
So far, so good.
It took Dodge ten minutes to go around the entire faded brown brick house and satisfy himself she had no sophisticated alarm systems or motion activated lights. Hays, he decided, had no crime or had such a low crime rate its citizens felt safe without any of the alarm systems one found in major cities or on the homes of the rich. Plus Maize’s house was over three blocks away from her nearest neighbors. Behind the house was a wooded area that he assumed was followed by nothing but more woods or open country.
His next move was to quietly enter the house, and make sure Maize lived alone. He settled down near the backdoor steps and took the backpack he carried off his back and opened it. He took out a large white towel with eye slits he had cut into it earlier, removed his black woolen cap, and wrapped it around his face. Then he removed the night vision goggles from the backpack, adjusted them to protect his eyes from any sudden bright lights and slipped them over his eyes. Then put his black cap back on making sure no part of his face or head could be seen. He took three sheets of tissue from a small pack of tissue in the backpack he had removed, twisted them together, and raised the towel and placed them on each side of the inside of his mouth. He wanted to alter his voice so Maize wouldn’t be able to say she’d heard that voice before.
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nbsp; Not that that mattered, since most people couldn’t remember what someone’s voice sounded like minutes after they’d heard it. But there was always the odd chance that Maize just might be one of those rare people who did remember the sound of people’s voices. She hadn’t struck Dodge as a stupid woman just a friendly woman with a nice shape.
He closed the backpack, put it on his back, and removed the electric semi-automatic from his belt and put it into the right pocket of his parka. Then he walked a few yards back from the house and looked up at it. He walked around the house a second time looking carefully at the windows. The darkness giving him a sense of security he rejected. It was always best to stay on the alert no matter how secure one felt. A sense of security could disappear like a puff of smoke in a high wind when one least expected it.
Most of the windows in the house were still dark. Only the living room lights and kitchen lights were on.
He went back to the back of the house because it faced the woods and walked quietly up on the back porch. None of the wooden steps squeaked to announce his stepping on them, and looked at the lock on the steel storm door. He wrapped his left hand around the handle of the door, and pressed his thumb down on the button that had the key hole. It snapped with little noise and the storm door opened silently. That was good. Maize oiled the hinges on her storm door. Then he bent down and looked at the lock on the solid wooden backdoor. It was the typical spring action lock. He could open that within seconds using the small blade of his pocket knife. He took his pocket knife out of his pants pocket, opened the penknife blade, and stuck it into the lock and waited for an alarm to go off.
Not a sound came from within the house. There was no alarm.
Lady Luck was still with him.
Dodge twisted the knife half an inch, heard the lock click open, and gave the door a gentle push. Hoping it wasn’t bolted on the inside. It wasn’t. The door opened without a sound. Maize apparently oiled the hinges on all the doors of her house. He waited to hear a voice of protest. Not a sound of protest came from within the house, and no barking dog. He closed up his pocket knife and put it away, took his semi-automatic out of his parka pocket, and quickly and quietly entered the house. He quickly scanned the kitchen to make sure it was empty as he made sure to put his left hand against the storm door to make sure it didn’t slam. Maize might hear the storm door slam and wonder who was on her back porch.
He quickly pushed the heavy wooden door close until he heard the low click of the lock locking the door then he stepped off to one side putting a brick wall at his back.
Dodge carefully scanned the modern looking white kitchen with its dark wooden cabinets, bright floral wall papered walls, and white tile kitchen floor looking for doors that were slightly ajar. He didn’t want someone jumping out at him screaming. The last thing he wanted was a fight with some over protective boyfriend, and he certainly didn’t want to use the electric semi-automatic in his right hand and kill someone. A dead body wouldn’t do anything but increase his problems, and he had enough of them with that damn tracking chip in his back. He moved toward the open door in front of him. Ready for anything or anyone that came through the door.
He had no intention of killing anyone, and didn’t want to kill anyone, but he would if he had to. And he prayed he wouldn’t have to kill anyone.
He entered a dark dining room with a large wooden china cabinet against a left wall, a polished wooden dinner table large enough for ten people with matching chairs, and a carpet. He looked around the dining room noticing the glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling and the glass bowl sitting in the center of the dining table. He headed quickly for the open door in front of him making sure he had a clear path before he moved.
Dodge stopped at an open door that led to the living room and quickly glanced inside it to make sure there was no one in it. The living room lights were on, but the heavy beige drapes were drawn allowing only faint light to escape through the drapes to the outside. On an old upright piano he saw pictures he assumed were family pictures. He saw another door to his left and walked through it into a dark hallway. Directly in front of him off to his left were stairs leading up the second floor. He saw another open door to his right and walked toward it, and looked inside. It was a study dark and empty. The drapes on the side windows were also drawn. He entered it and looked around noticing three frames hanging on the walls behind the desk. He walked over to them and looked at each one.
Two were an elementary school and high school diploma, and the third was a diploma from a nursing school. Dodge read that one.
To Maize C. Wright for excellence in nursing and first aid.
Good for you, Maize, you didn’t lie, and damn lucky for me, he thought as he turned around and walked out of the study. He walked directly to the medium blue carpeted stairs. He took two at time, making sure there was nothing on the stairs to trip him. He stopped at the first landing to look up at the second floor. The only light came from one of the four open doors. He quickly went up to the second floor and just as quickly and quietly checked the three dark rooms. Two were empty bedrooms the third was bathroom. Then he turned his attention toward bedroom the light came from. He approached it carefully staying close to the wall. He quickly glanced into the room while standing to the side. Saw no one, but heard the sound of a woman singing coming from another door.
Maize’s waitress’s uniform was on the bed along with her other clothing and her underwear. Her flat walking shoes were on the floor next to her stockings and her boots and the bag she had carried.
Dodge walked into the room like he was her husband, looking around for anything she might use as a weapon. All he saw was the heavy brass lamp on the nightstand and a dresser with the usual things women put on their dressers and the watch she had been wearing in the restaurant. On the nightstand next to her bed he saw a phone.
Maize was singing and humming some western tune he couldn’t remember ever hearing.
He walked to the bathroom door and saw her standing naked in front of the vanity face bowl rinsing her mouth out.
He looked at the wide vanity she was standing in front of and saw nothing on it she could use as a weapon but a pink, glass toothbrush holder, a glass holder for small paper cups, a bottle of mouthwash, a box of tissue, and a hair dryer. He waited quietly for her to turn around and notice him.
She tossed the paper cup she’d been using into an open trash can, then looked into the wide three sectioned -mirror above the face bowl. She froze when she saw him then turned quickly toward him with her mouth opened and her eyes wide in fear.
“If you scream, I’ll kill you,” he said in a soft voice, raising the gun to point it at her face.
She immediately covered her large breasts with her right arm and hand and dropped her left hand down to cover her pussy. Her face went almost white with fear.
“Did you understand what I said?” he asked her with the gun still pointing at her face.
She nodded as tears began to roll down her face.
“I’m not here to harm you or rape you,” he said in a strong determined voice. “Or rob you.”
The mask, the night vision goggles, and the gun were having the effect on her he wanted. She was terrified and didn’t move a muscle.
She didn’t move just stared at him with tears freely rolling down her face.
“If you make any sound, I will kill you!”
She nodded her understanding with tears freely rolling down her face.
“Are you a nurse?”
She shook her head.
“Don’t lie to me. I saw the diplomas hanging on the wall in the study. Your name was on them.”
She didn’t move.
“Are you a nurse? Don’t lie to me.”
; “I, I use to be,” she stammered. Her mouth was so dry with fear she could barely speak.
“What kind of nurse?”
“I, I helped with operations.”
“Do you have medical equipment here?”
“No. I use to but I haven’t been a nurse in over twenty years.”
“Where did you practice?”
“In Las Vegas General Hospital. I quit to come home.”
“Why?”
“To tend to my mother. She was dying of cancer and wanted to die at home. She needed my help.”
“Listen carefully to me, and do exactly as I say. Or you will die a painful and horrible death.”
“Please, Mister, don’t hurt me. Please,” she begged.
“Did you hear what I said?” he asked. His voice was soft but strong.
“Yes, yes,” she quickly answered.
He looked at the four towels hanging on the two racks. “Are you expecting company?”
She started to lie hoping that if she told him her boyfriend was coming by within minutes he’d leave, but decided not to. “No,” she said.
“Are you lying!”
“No, no. I’m not lying. I swear I’m not lying,” she cried. Her face was streaked with tears.
“Then why the extra towels?”
“What?”
“The extra towels on the racks, why are they there?”
“I just do that. It’s a habit.”
Dodge looked at her frightened face and believed her. Everyone had established habits they never changed even though they no longer had a purpose. She was too scared to lie. “You will come out of the bathroom. Don’t come close to me, or I will kill you. Bring both towels with you. Don’t ask why. Just do as I say,” he told her. “And don’t do anything foolish. Or you die.”