by Tom Schreck
Now kneeling on Newstrom's chest, throwing piston punches on his face, my shirt splattered with blood with each and every shot. His face was almost purple with blood; I noticed part of his nose had separated from the rest of his face. I wasn't in control, something else was. It came up through the center of me and wouldn't stop.
"Duffy, No! No! No!" I heard in the distance. "No! No! You can't"
Something hit me hard like a halfback running into me. I came off Newstrom onto my back. Karl stood over me panting. My vision kept going in and out. Newstrom didn't move.
"I think you killed him, Duff," Karl said, looking down at the motionless body of Newstrom.
I was barely lucid as I got up on my knees to look. Karl knelt beside Newstrom doing chest compressions.
"C'mon, Chip, C'mon you motherfucker." Newstrom spit up blood and moaned loudly. He rolled to his side and puked a mixture of blood and vomit. Karl started to shake and he looked terrified.
"Freeze! Hold it right there!" A voice from behind us interrupted whatever the hell was going on in Karl's and my head.
It was one of the troopers, all in black, and he had three soldiers with him. I knew immediately they were the three guys who jumped me in the hospital parking lot. The four of them had their assault rifles fixed on us. From between them stopped a guy in a turtleneck and corduroy slacks.
It was Dr. Theodore Martin, Karl's psychiatrist in Germany, and now the trauma/grief shrink who showed up on television after each bit of terrorism.
40
"Karl, can't you just take your medicine and leave well enough alone?" The doctor said as he paced a few feet in front of his armed guards.
"That's what you would've wanted isn't it? Well fuck you, Doc," Karl said.
"Your friend nearly beat your old buddy Chippy to death. Corporal, attend to the Lieutenant." Two of the soldiers rushed to Newstrom's side, lifted him, and carried him back to where they had been standing.
"Get him in the Hummer. We'll need medical back up," Martin said. Behind them, parked in the woods was a jet black Hummer. It must've been how they got in here in the first place.
"He's going to jail-you're all going to jail, you scumbags," Karl said.
"Karl, Karl, Karl, you really are insane. There will be no jail. There will be no media coverage. We don't exist, we don't answer to the usual sources. You watch; the papers tomorrow will report on the drill at VHS. There will be no mention of us or you or the stupid teenagers we trained. It all goes away. Just like it always does. It all goes away."
"I stopped you this time, you asshole, and I'll keep stopping you," Karl yelled at them.
"I'll give you this, Karl, you did indeed get in the way of this operation, there's no doubt. I'd have you killed if we hadn't already succeeded at well, how do I say this…keeping people from taking you seriously. Your friend there, he made it a bit more complicated, but after the debacle at Notre Dame, not many see him as credible."
"So it's on to the next project isn't it, you fucking scum," Karl said.
"Karl, there's work to be done here and where we are needed around the world. You don't see that. "
"What I see are kids dying while scumbags like you line their pockets. You go to hell. I should've let Duffy finish Newstrom."
"Karl, forget it. You can't win. Nothing has changed. You have made no difference in this entire thing. It disappears, it vanishes." He smiled and paused. "You'll especially like our next…uh…event. It will have an explosive effect on the military." He looked briefly at the soldiers. "Let's go." The four of them headed to the Hummer, to who knows where.
"You want to tell me what the hell just happened," I said to Karl who still stared at the Hummer as it pulled away. He didn't answer me. He looked to the sky and let out a bloodcurdling scream.
He sat on the ground and started to cry. When he sniffed away enough of the tears, he looked at me and said, "C'mon, Duff you get it by now. There's too many making too much to want to find peace. The money is in war. That's it, plain and simple."
I had no idea what to say. I just looked at Karl.
"People have too much at stake and as long as the machine has a way to make them fearful, the cash cow will get fatter and fatter. Martin's right. They're just on to the next project. Fuck!" Karl stood and kicked at the dirt.
"Karl, why did you pull me off him?"
"I've killed Duff. It takes its toll. I didn't want you to have to live it. Your nightmares are bad enough now." Karl looked up right at me. I didn't have a clue what to say. Karl kicked the dirt again and continued to curse.
Martin was right. The kids were back in school, the troopers had gone back to their barracks, and I'm sure the papers would have nothing to say about anything.
"Karl, you were right all along and you saved a bunch of lives today." I put an arm around his shoulder. "C'mon, buddy let's get out of here."
We headed back through the woods to the fields, toward the parking lot. The drill over, the sirens silent, and there was no longer any sight of troopers. I had no doubt the media would report a drill or a false alarm the next day. We walked along the edge of the woods by the soccer and softball fields to get back to the car.
Outside of one of the double doors there a single teacher stood there looking at us. A couple of hundred feet away, but she kept looking at us. I began to wonder if she would call another alarm and start this whole mess again.
"Duff, who's watching us?" Karl said.
"I've got no idea but I think she's had her eye on us since the woods."
"You think she saw what went down?"
"We were off in the woods so I doubt it. I guess in the confusion she could've followed from behind and saw," I thought about it a little bit.
"She could be with Newstrom," Karl said.
"Yeah or she could be a teacher getting some air." We came up on the Cadillac and Al, hearing us, got up from his nap and barked out the window. I saw Karl smile out of half his face. He got in on Al's side and Al licked him once while climbing on his lap.
"Duff, it just like when I was over there. No resolution, no closure on shit. They got away with it there and they got away with it here." Karl punched the car door. We pulled out and away from VHS and headed toward Crawford.
"Still…"
"Still, nothing Duff. Face it, I'm still nuts, and now, so are you. You've been discredited and no one will ever look at you the same way ever again. They won again," Karl said while he petted Al.
I didn't have an answer. He was right, though. I had become a crazy, punch drunk fighter everyone laughed at behind his back. These fucking assholes went on to the next town to keep their own version of terror going, and they were still making millions. Karl and I sat in silence for a long time as we took the winding roads back home toward the city. We lost and really nothing left to say.
Almost to the city line, Karl spoke. "Duffy, you promised me something."
I felt him looking at me while I drove. "I did?"
"Yeah. When we decided to do this I made you promise we could see something through to the end some time. That we could get somebody doing something wrong and put a stop to it-a complete stop to it. No bullshit, no cover ups, no ifs, ands, or buts."
"Yeah, so. You got something in mind?" Karl looked down at Al. His whole face changed.
"You bet your ass I do."
"You wanna clue me in?"
"We raid that no good fuckin puppy mill and shut it down once and for all."
"Karl…"
"Duff, what the hell do we got to lose? Everyone thinks we're nuts already."
"But Karl I don't think they're doing anything illegal."
"Yeah-and technically neither are the security firms." I didn't know what to say. I looked at Karl and I looked at Al. The idea started to appeal to me. It may not have been the guys we wanted, but it would be a chance to snuff out some evil shit. This might have been conclusive evidence I really was crazy but-you know what-I didn't give a fuck.
"All right Karl-l
et's do it."
Karl smiled and petted Al.
"We're gonna need some help you know," I looked at Karl.
"It would come in handy."
"There's probably good reason they all think we're crazy," I said.
"You don't think I know that?"
41
Karl could barely contain himself.
"Time for liberation and justice, liberation and justice, Duff!" Karl paced back and forth in the living room with Al watching him like a one-man tennis match.
"We need a plan Karl, let's go over what we know about the place."
"Yeah, sure Duff, good idea. We know they got about 40 dogs and another 10–15 puppies ready to be sold off," Karl said.
"We saw those three guys pull in there so we know there are three guys who live or work there. Hold it-"
"What is it?"
"The three guys we saw in the pick up who pulled in the gates when we went past on our way to Notre Dame…"
"What about them?"
"You remember I got a weird deja vu feeling?"
"Yeah?"
"Newstrom's three guys, the same guys who jacked me in the head. Holy shit!" I felt as crazy as people thought.
"I wonder what the hell it means. Uh, Duff?" Karl scrunched up his face. "I didn't tell you this, but when I snuck in there, I found out there were more like 10–12 guys living or working in there. Sorry I didn't give you that detail."
"That's kind of an important detail," I said.
"Yeah, sorry."
"Ten against two and forty or fifty dogs to rescue. Karl, how the hell are we going to pull this off?"
"And the guys running the place are all crew cut, tough guy types."
"Oh good."
We both got quiet for awhile. I began thinking as much as a mission like this might serve to exorcise both of our demons, it might do it by getting both of us killed. There was no way we could win against these odds.
The phone rang, jarring me out of my strategic thought..
"Duffy, for God's sake are you all right?" Trina said and she sounded desperate.
"Yeah, I think so-why?"
"You're in the news again. Something about interrupting a school emergency drill? They referred to you as delusional and disturbed or something like. Every one is worried about you."
"Great."
"Duffy, I'm worried about you."
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
"Duffy, I'm serious."
"Look, Trina, I appreciate your concern, but I don't really have time right now. Karl and I have to plan something."
"Karl-you and Karl are planning something. Oh my God…"
"Yeah, I don't expect anyone to understand. I don't care about that any more."
"What are you up to?"
"We're going to shut down the puppy mill I told you about. We're going to go in there and close it down."
"Duff-"
"Don't try to talk me out of it, Trina. We're doing it and I don't expect you or anyone else to understand. It is something we have to do for a lot of reasons."
"You think you're just going to go in there and take the dogs?"
"It might be a little more complicated."
"Complicated?" Trina sniffled.
"Well, there are about ten guys who live there we might have to deal with."
"Duffy, that's suicide!"
"We could use a few extra hands, but with my reputation I don't think we're going to find anyone. If we have to, we'll do it alone."
"Oh my God…"
She begged me to see her before we left and, like a sap, I said I would. She wanted to meet me at AJ's before we did anything and I promised her I would go. Hell, I needed a drink or two before I headed out to do something like this any way. I wasn't looking forward to hearing the bullshit from the Foursome about my mental state, my beating up of a Notre Dame Math student or anything else. Just the same, going to AJ's was just something I did, almost like a bodily function. I had been through some shit in my life, but this last month was something else and at a whole new level. Life gets pretty weird when you're uncertain about what's real and what's illusion, and for me, I wasn't sure about much. I followed the impressions of a man I knew was certifiable. Shit-according to Rudy-I was certifiable. Newstrom, Martin, and those boys had told me they were untraceable and unprovable, and everything they do and did went unchecked.
My answer to all this? Raid a perfectly legal puppy farm that-oh, by the way-is also the local center for canned and dried goods for US Soldiers overseas. I've spent my life following my gut and it's gotten me into trouble. I've lived following that gut, but now people let me know, in no uncertain terms, my gut was nuts.
"We ready, Duff?" Karl said.
"Karl I guess it's just me and you."
"And Al." Al's tail started thumping right on cue.
"Karl, before we head out there-is this really a good idea? I mean besides the danger and all, will this really make things better?"
"It just might, Duff. It just might." I told him we had to make a quick stop at AJ's because I promised Trina. He thought getting a drink and maybe asking the boys to come along might be a good idea. I told him I doubted the boys were likely to hitch a ride on our bandwagon, considering they thought we're both crazier than shithouse rats. It was almost dark, certainly close enough to insure it would be dark by the time we got out to the puppy farm. On our way over to AJ's, things started to run through my head.
"Karl, how the hell are we supposed to get through the front gate?"
"We can climb it."
"How do we get 40 or 50 hounds out climbing a fence?"
"Er…uh."
"Geez…"
"What if they got guns and shoot at us?"
"We'll be sneaky."
"Great."
People were right. We were both crazy.
42
We pulled into AJ's, and the three of us headed in. AJ would give me shit about Al, but I've got used to that. The second I stepped in the place I knew something was wrong. The place was packed.
Trina was waiting for me near the front.
"What the hell is going on?" I said. Trina forced back tears.
"I don't want you getting hurt. You may not care but other people do." She started to sob and put her face in her hands. I wasn't quite sure what she was talking about. I looked around the room and realized familiar faces filled the place. I walked to my usual spot at the bar dumbfounded.
Three rough-looking black guys with red bandanas sat on the first three stools of the bar. From behind them stepped a young black woman.
"Oh my God, Shony," The kid I kind of rescued a few years back came forward.
"Mr. Duffy, God bless you," she said and gave me a kiss and a gentle hug. "Miss Trina called and said something about you needing some help."
The three hard-looking black guys stepped around her.
"Who are you guys?"
The guy in the middle, with a Chicago Bulls hat and a toothpick, raised his eyes without raising his head and looked at me.
"Shony called us. I'm her step-brother and these two are my…uh…associates. I do anything the girl say and she say some white guy named Duffy need help. Say it might involve some muscle. Shony say you the one…the only one… came looking for her when she got kidnapped. Said you saved her life." He paused a second and looked me up and down. "That all I need to know. We here to help."
Next to the black guys sat Billy Cramer, my old karate student. He'd put on about 40 pounds of muscle. Next to him some other guy with cauliflower ears and a crew cut leaned against the bar.
"What's up, Duff?" Billy got off his stool and hugged me.
"What the hell are you doin' here?"
"Trina said you needed a hand."
I didn't know what to say.
"Geez, you got big." I couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Duff, I'm doing mixed martial arts stuff and you gotta have some upper body stuff. I ain't the skinny, pizza faced kid you stood up
for a few years ago." He smiled. He had turned into a confident young man.
"This is Timo, we train together. Timo just likes to fight." I shook hands with Timo, who barely acknowledged me.
"Mr. Duffy! The Frogman is here and at your service." Froggy took a night off from his park rendezvous. "Ms. Trina say Mr. Duffy need help. The Frogman doesn't forget." The bewilderment shifted over. I had a lump in my throat and welled up.
Next to the Frogman Doctor Pacquaio, the Philipino doctor I knew stood. A few years back, I helped a guy get social services benefits by lying on some forms, and it turned out he was Philipino.
"Hello Duffy. Long time no see you," Dr. Pac gave me a big toothy smile.
"What the hell are you doing here, Doctor?"
"You helped a friend of mine, a poor man with no home, get a place to live. From my country, and I know for a fact he's still doing well." He looked me in the eye. "That's because of you."
Standing next to the doctor was Vinci, a boxer from the Crawford Y. Vinci, way past a-not-so-great prime, but he and I had been sparring partners since our teen years. Next to him Jamal, Angel, and Shaquan leaned against the wall
"Yo, Duff, this Trina says you're in trouble and need some back up," Shaquan said.
"Trina's a bit of a worrier," I said.
"She said somethin' about raiding a puppy mill. I ain't even sure what a puppy mill is, but it don't sound like this Trina is exaggeratin'," Vinci said.
"Yeah, well."
"We're in, too," Jerry Number One said. Jerry Number Two and TC both nodded along.
"I thought you guys thought I lost it."
"Oh, we're convinced you lost it," Jerry Number Two said. I couldn't help but smile.
"Rocco will be along," TC said.
Next to them stood Mary Jo, a fellow Elvis fan who lived out in the boonies. Someone once stole her Elvis scarf-one she got from the King. I found the scum who ripped off her trailer on a one of my bad mood days. I gave the guy a beating and got her scarf and some other stuff back.