Dark Red And Deadly

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Dark Red And Deadly Page 7

by Frederick Zackel


  Hartman perked up. "Alice?"

  "I just heard about Rafferty. Any leads?"

  Hartman sighed there were none. "Wanna take her up?"

  Alice was already out the door, and the startled Sheriff hustled to catch up with her.

  * * *

  Rafferty awoke at twilight on the ground near Mad Dog's corpse, the bloodied wire prong still wrapped around his hand. He yanked it off and dropped it on the ground. Incredibly weakened, he staggered into the drying house.

  Rafferty took up a water jug and drank some. He heard the sound of a approaching helicopter and so he stood by the open door of drying house. The Sheriff's helicopter zoomed overhead and flew away from the drying house.

  Rafferty stumbled outside, tried waving after the helicopter. But the helicopter kept on going.

  Rafferty was desperate. He could barely stand up. Too much blood had been taken from him.

  Rafferty looked out across the valley and saw a red plume of dust from Lester's approaching truck and the helicopter rapidly receding. His heart fell.

  * * *

  Rafferty rummaged through Mad Dog's pockets and found a book of matches. Rafferty staggered into the drying house. He found and spilled a can of kerosene all over the floor. He used the book of matches to set afire a marijuana stalk. A giant flame shot up instantly. Then the room that was filled with marijuana stalks exploded into flame.

  Rafferty barely escaped from the drying house. Within seconds, the drying house was ablaze.

  Lester was in his truck roaring up the road towards the drying house when he saw the flames shooting up from the drying house. He sped up. He was screaming incoherently.

  Rafferty grabbed Mad Dog's fungo bat and the wire prong and hid in the bushes behind the portajohn. He was wild eyed and desperate.

  Lester Rahler raced from his truck towards the drying house just before it exploded into a blazing bonfire, which sent him reeling.

  Lester saw his father's corpse in the dirt and ran to it. He cradled his dead father and wept.

  Rafferty was lying in fear in the brush behind the portajohn.

  Outraged and with murderous eyes, Lester took his shotgun from his truck and stalked after Rafferty. Lester shotgunned the bushes.

  "I'm gonna kill you!"

  Lester blasted a hole in the portajohn which then collapsed.

  "I'll track you down and kill you!"

  As the portajohn collapsed, Rafferty hid his face in the dirt, too weak to fight. He peered around remains of the portajohn and watched Lester reloading. Then they both heard the sound of the helicopter returning.

  * * *

  When Lester saw the Sheriff's helicopter approaching, he stayed long enough to trade a few shots with Sheriff Hartman. Then he ran off to his truck, which he fled in.

  The helicopter landed by the burning house. Sheriff Hartman and Alice Taylor climbed out and found that Mad Dog was dead. They spotted Rafferty as he half-crawled, half-stumbled to the helicopter. Sheriff Hartman and Alice helped Rafferty to the helicopter.

  Rafferty said weakly, "They took my blood."

  Sheriff Hartman and Alice were outraged and horrified.

  A minute later the Sheriff's helicopter flew towards a blood-red sunset.

  * * *

  Sheriff Hartman stood beside Rafferty's hospital bed, staring squeamishly at the bag of blood that hung down and ran into Rafferty's arm. Rafferty looked terrible, was bruised and battered, but was improving.

  Rafferty felt very weak. "Does he have any family?"

  Hartman said, "In Oklahoma City. A wife and three kids."

  "I misjudged him," Rafferty said. "Jack Draper was a hero. He died trying to save my life."

  A nurse came in and began replacing the blood bag with a new one.

  Rafferty asked, "Any word about Lester?"

  Hartman said, "None. How much blood have they given you?"

  "That's the third one already," Rafferty said.

  Hartman bunched his shoulders and shivered.

  * * *

  Later Rafferty was alone in his hospital room. The door opened and Ginny Hong entered with Eddie Ka’aina who sat in a wheelchair, with much of his lower neck wrapped in bandages.

  Ginny said, "Can we come in?"

  Rafferty said, "Ginny ... "

  As Ginny hugged Rafferty, Rafferty realized Eddie Ka’aina was behind her. But Eddie brushed jealousy aside. He was grateful and contrite.

  He told Rafferty, "I want to thank you for helping save my life."

  Rafferty said, "Someday maybe you'll do the same for me."

  Eddie asked, "When are they cutting you free?"

  "The doctors say tomorrow," Rafferty said. "After I get my strength back."

  "How 'bout I buy you a steak dinner?"

  Rafferty said, "And then I'll buy you one."

  They shook hands as friends.

  * * *

  At twilight Rafferty was alone in his hospital room when Alice Taylor popped in with a big bouquet of flowers, which she placed on Rafferty's lap.

  "How you doing, beautiful?"

  Rafferty smiled. "Better and better."

  "Have you ever made love atop a volcano?"

  Rafferty was amused and skeptical.

  "Is it dormant or active?"

  Alice reached under his blanket.

  "It's not dormant," Alice said.

  "Oh, I wish I could do more."

  "Then I’ll do it."

  * * *

  Exhausted, Sheriff Hartman was trudging through the hospital and met one of his deputies interviewing one of the doctors.

  "What are you doing here?" Hartman asked.

  The deputy said, "Some medical supplies are missing from the hospital."

  Sheriff Hartman found this very interesting.

  * * *

  At that same hour of night Paula Grayson answered her back door and found Jimmy Quint outside. Paula was concerned. "Jimmy! Where've you been?"

  "Mauka. I had some problems I had to get straightened out."

  Paula coaxed Jimmy into the kitchen. There she set some instant coffee in front of them. He pushed away the cookies she offered.

  Jimmy asked, "Do you know about the money?"

  Paula nodded. "Do you know where it's hidden?"

  Jimmy nodded. "Paula, I'm going to use it as bait. If it's okay with you."

  "To get the killers?"

  "They're going to come back, and I'll be waiting for them."

  "They were there last night," Paula said.

  "But they didn't find it." He was defiant. "And you can't stop me or talk me out of it."

  "I'm wondering if maybe I shouldn't join you. I've got about the same hatred that you have."

  Jimmy said with difficulty, "This isn't hatred. This is ... my duty, maybe. Maybe the first step in how I come back from where I've been."

  "Rafferty wants to see you again."

  Jimmy was surprised. "What’s he up to these days?’

  * * *

  Rafferty awoke in his hospital room in the middle of the night and found Jimmy Quint fingering and poking the blood bag hanging down into Rafferty's arm. Jimmy saw Rafferty awake and with a guilty look stopped poking the bag of blood.

  "Hi, Terry, it's me."

  Rafferty was bleary-eyed. "Jimmy?"

  As Rafferty turned on the bedside light, Jimmy jumped back and now sat in the chair by the bed.

  Jimmy said, "How are you?"

  "I'll be fine by morning," Rafferty said.

  "That's what Paula told me. I can't stay long. I got to get back up to my brother's place."

  "You can't go back up there, Jimmy. It's no good brooding like you're doing."

  Jimmy was surprised. "Oh, I'm on my way back from all that."

  Rafferty said, "Jimmy, you're in trouble with the law. You took a potshot at me in the kitchen, then you disappeared into the woods. Then you took a potshot at the deputies at your brother's garden. Resisting arrest, too."

  Jimmy was defensive. "I
can explain -- "

  "You have to explain it to the Sheriff."

  "First I got to get their killers."

  "You know who they were?"

  Jimmy shook his head. "I got there too late. But I know why."

  "The eight hundred thousand dollars Jeremiah got for selling his crop."

  "Terry, they were after the money. They didn't get it. That's why they'll come back for it. Oh. Who told you?" With haunted eyes, Jimmy added, "Well, they'll have to pay for it."

  "Are you going to try to kill them?"

  "Terry, I came to this island because I lost the love of my life." Jimmy left his chair. "And since then I've lost the only other people I've ever loved."

  "You can't do it, Jimmy."

  But Jimmy ducked out the window.

  Rafferty tried to go after him, but he still had a blood transfusion dripping into his arm. As he started peeling off the adhesives, Nurse Cheryl Park walked into his room with a portable telephone.

  Rafferty said, "Stop that man!"

  She was confused. "What man?"

  Rafferty backed off. "Aw, damn."

  Cheryl told Rafferty, "I’m sorry to disturb you, but you have a phone call."

  Rafferty, surprised, asked, "At this hour?" He answered the phone by his hospital bed. "Yes? Oh, hello, Senator." He slumped back. "Oh, I'm fine, Senator. Yes, in fact I have, Senator. He was just here. No, we didn’t talk about it."

  Cheryl Park left, closing the door behind her.

  * * *

  In his office Sheriff Hartman listened to Doctor Deanna Wu.

  Doctor Wu said, "We've got those bloodstains analyzed in Mad Dog Rahler's truck." She looked at files. "Mad Dog Rahler's blood type was received from the Marine Corps, and his son was knifed once in a Texas reformatory, so his type was also available. But the bloodstains belong to some third party."

  Hartman tried to remember. "Weren't they hanging around with some guy named Tomo?"

  "Tomo Oteas. You busted his grandfather's house the other night."

  Sheriff Hartman was lost in thought.

  Neither had had much sleep.

  * * *

  As the sun rose over Wild Banana Gulch, Jimmy Quint had set up some water-filled plastic jugs for target practice. He moved a hundred feet away, then settled down with his mini-14 automatic rifle. His first shot was great, although the sudden loud noise spooked him. He punctured a jug. But then because he anticipated the noise of the gunfire, he missed the next six shots in a row. He concentrated, fired and hit a jug of water, but then his next two shots missed. He plugged jugs with his next two shots, but missed the next five shots in a row. Finally he hit one more water jug.

  Jimmy Quint was glum. He was lousy with a gun.

  * * *

  In the darkness of her bedroom Nora Buchanan kissed her unconscious lover's face. "Forgive me." Her love was total and complete. She whispered, "I can't let you die."

  Tomo’s eyes fluttered and almost opened.

  The doorbell rang. Nora stroked her lover's arm one more time, then rose and left her bedroom. She walked like the truly despairing.

  * * *

  Nora Buchanan answered the door. She was taken aback by the bright light of the morning sun. Rafferty stood there. Rafferty still looked very weak, his face was still badly bruised, but Rafferty was very cheerful. "Nora? Nora Buchanan? I'm Terry Rafferty. We met the other night."

  "What do you want?"

  Rafferty looked over her shoulder. "Is he here? Your lover. The only man you'd steal blood for. The man you took my blood for."

  Nora said, "Why don't you come inside?"

  Rafferty stepped in. "Thank you."

  Nora closed the door behind Rafferty.

  Rafferty found and sat in a chair.

  "I was just released from County General an hour ago, and I still have to take it easy," he said. "Stealing my blood was dangerous. I mean, you can't just mug the next guy you see on the street. You have to know the person you're hitting. And you have to be professional and competent enough to extract the blood, which Mad Dog and Lester Rahler weren't. You are, however, a nurse, plus you knew I was a universal donor."

  "Why would I steal your blood?"

  "Your lover. Who else?" Rafferty frowned. "When you love somebody that much, stealing blood to keep him alive is an act of faith in the future. "

  "And what's his name?"

  Rafferty didn't know. "My first night in the islands, I saw you wearing an aloha blouse. It was beautiful. The white bird of paradise against a flaming sunset. That same night I saw a big Hawaiian wearing the identical pattern. Yesterday I went around to the tourist shops and they said it was a custom-made fabric and a very expensive pattern. You bought two and had those shirts custom-made. One for you and one for Tomo."

  "Are you going to have me arrested?"

  Rafferty didn't know. "Your lover has to go to the hospital. And you should turn yourself in, too."

  The doorbell rang again.

  Nora answered it and found Sheriff Hartman outside.

  "Aloha, Nora."

  Nora said, "Aloha, Charles. C'mon in."

  Sheriff Hartman and a deputy entered, were surprised finding Rafferty there. Hartman told Nora, "I'm here with a warrant for Tomo Oteas. Nora, you're under arrest, too, of course."

  Nora sighed. "What brought you here?"

  "Rafferty here said they used ether on him. The ether. D’you know how rare that smell is? The only place most people smell it is in hospitals. And that blood that was stolen from the blood bank. And the other medical supplies. Where's Tomo Oteas?"

  Nora gave up. "In my bedroom."

  The doorbell rang again. Because Nora was busy, Rafferty answered and found Ginny Hong and a young assistant waiting outside with a collapsible gurney.

  Nora told Ginny, "He's in the bedroom." She faced Rafferty and the Sheriff and told them desperately, "I couldn't wait any longer, so I called Ginny."

  Later Nora, Rafferty and Sheriff Hartman watched the gurney carrying Tomo Oteas going into the ambulance. Ginny approached them when the loading was finished.

  Nora said, "I've tried so hard to keep him alive."

  Ginny asked, "Are you riding with us?"

  Nora asked Sheriff Hartman, "May I?"

  Hartman relented. "All right." He told the deputy, "Ride with them. Drop him off first at County General, then take her in and book her."

  Sheriff Hartman and Rafferty watched the ambulance leave with screaming sirens and flashing lights.

  Rafferty said, "She's the Queen of Hearts."

  "She's a fool," Hartman said.

  Rafferty said, "They're always one and the same."

  * * *

  Across the street Henry Oteas crouched in his truck. As the ambulance rushed past him, he started his truck and followed it. He would not abandon his grandson.

  * * *

  The Sheriff drove while Rafferty sat alongside.

  Rafferty said, "I talked with Jimmy Quint. He came down from the hills to tell me he's up at the Quint house waiting for the killers to return to the scene of the crime."

  Hartman scoffed. "Lester is the only one left, and he's holed up mauka somewhere and you need a crowbar to pry him loose. He's not stupid enough to come out of hiding."

  "But he needs money to escape." Rafferty then wondered, "Where are we going?"

  "Mauka," Hartman said.

  "If you go mauka, maybe you never come back."

  "Maybe you not come back."

  Sheriff Hartman parked his car deep in the Quint yard, near the compost pile. Before Rafferty and Sheriff Hartman could leave the car, the police radio crackled with a message.

  Sheriff Hartman grabbed the microphone. "Go ahead, Dispatch."

  The dispatcher said, "Tomo Oteas just died."

  Angry, Sheriff Hartman fisted the dashboard. "Son of a bitch!"

  * * *

  In the woods Jimmy Quint woke up from a restless sleep and heard the police car. He pulled on some pants and grabbed up
his arsenal.

  * * *

  Rafferty and Sheriff Hartman walked towards the Quint house.

  "He was a pawn for the Rahlers," Rafferty said.

  Hartman said, "That doesn’t excuse him."

  Lester Rahler stood in their path, his feet apart and both hands outstretched holding a .357 Magnum aimed at them.

  Lester told the Sheriff, "Unbuckle your gun belt. Let it drop to the dirt."

  Sheriff Hartman reluctantly did as he was told.

  Lester said, "Now step back."

  Rafferty and Sheriff Hartman moved back.

  Lester picked up the Sheriff's gun. "Police Special. A pea-shooter. It's hard to kill a man with this, Sheriff."

  Hartman said, "We just want to stop them. We don't want to kill them."

  Lester hefted the Sheriff’s gun. "I can keep you alive for a long time, just taking my time killing you."

  Using the police special, Lester shot the Sheriff in the right leg. The Sheriff gasped and toppled over. He held his leg and tried rising to his feet, but the pain kept him grounded.

  Lester stopped Rafferty from moving at him, then shot the Sheriff in the right shoulder. The Sheriff floundered in the dirt from the pain, then laid there gasping for strength.

  Rafferty tried going to the Sheriff's aid, but Lester fired the gun at him, just missing him. Rafferty stopped in mid-stride.

  Lester said, "There's this game my daddy said his cellmate played in 'Nam whenever he took prisoners. See how many bullets it takes to kill a man."

  Lester shot the Sheriff in the other leg. The Sheriff cried out in agony. Sweat poured off his face.

  Lester aimed his gun and snarled at Rafferty, the muscles in his neck standing out.

  "You're next. Come here!"

  Unafraid, Rafferty approached Lester, whose rage spilled out.

  Lester said, "You killed my daddy -- "

  Lester sucker-punched Rafferty in the throat with the butt of the Magnum as hard as he could. Rafferty fell to the ground and started gagging and choking.

  Lester said, "Get up!"

  When Rafferty was slow, Lester kicked him in the side of the head. Then he reached down and grabbed Rafferty's forearm and yanked him to his feet.

  Rafferty sucker-punched Lester in the testicles. Lester howled from the pain. Rafferty brought clasped hands up at his exposed throat. Lester deflected them, but lost one of his guns in the process.

 

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