PJ muttered, “Good thing or your amazing hairdo would be ruined.”
The blonde, with a look of serious concern on her flawless face, continued, “Of course, we all know this is but the lull within the storm. The eye of Ella is passing over Hollywood at this moment. Very shortly we will experience a return of the wind and rain that has pummeled the area for the past several hours.”
A male voice from an unseen source said, “Carly, do you expect the winds to be as strong as earlier?”
“Actually, Mort, the winds on the back side of a hurricane are generally more powerful than the ones on the leading edge. Same for the rain, we expect even harder rains on the back half of the storm. The next few hours will likely be much more dangerous than what we have already experienced.”
“Carly, do you have any reports on the level of damage? We have seen video of widespread flooding from the storm surge and debris flying around, but we haven’t heard from officials about damage, injuries, or even deaths. Do you have any information?”
Another cloud of deep concern crossed her face and Carly said, “I’m not surprised that you have not received reports from authorities, Mort. It has been far too dangerous for emergency responders to be on the streets for several hours. My sources tell me that they are attempting to make some emergency runs during this lull, but that those will be limited to immediate life threatening situations and nothing else. Here on the ground in Hollywood we have received unconfirmed reports that the storm surge inflicted serious, and possibly catastrophic, damage in the area of the city on the ocean side of the Intracoastal Waterway. During the initial landfall of Ella, one law enforcement officer told me that anyone east of the Intracoastal who was not on at least the third floor of a reinforced building was in imminent danger. This assessment would be even more dire for people caught by the back side of the storm. Let’s just hope that people heeded the evacuation warnings.”
Mort asked, “Is it true that the winds will blow from a different direction as the back side of the storm passes through?”
“Yes, Mort, and that is often the final death nell for infrastructure and buildings. Structures that have been stressed for hours in one direction are suddenly stressed equally as hard in the opposite direction. This is a phenomena of the rotation of a hurricane that passes directly over you.”
PJ found herself staring at the TV, but not hearing anything more. The blonde’s words had driven home her worst fears. Jack had been caught in the teeth of the storm. She could only pray that he had found refuge in something more substantial than Cap’s Place.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Ty’s countdown was interrupted by the kitchen door banging open and the unmistakable sound of the bolt of a semi-automatic rifle slamming home. “I’m right here, Ty.” Justin’s voice was calm and firm.
Ty pivoted toward the voice emanating from the black hole that was the kitchen. His grip on Julia remained firm and he jabbed the gun barrel into her cheek. Julia was trembling. “Step out here asshole, step out here where I can see you.”
“No can do, Ty. I’m fine right where I am.”
“I’ll kill her. Step out here or I’ll kill her.”
His voice as calm as if he was ordering a burger and beer for lunch, Justin said, “You kill her and I kill you. The fact that you haven’t killed her is the only reason you’re still alive at this moment.”
By now Mooch had started to shine his flashlight in the direction of the kitchen. After panning back and forth several times, it came to rest on an assault rifle protruding from the edge of the doorway. Mooch exclaimed, “There he is, Ty. He’s got one of our guns.”
“No shit, you moron. And how did he get one of our guns? You let him, you fool, that’s how. You had one job: take care of the duffle bag. You couldn’t even do that right.”
“But, Ty, I was trying to help you catch her. We couldn’t let her get away. She needs to go with us. You agreed.”
Ty roared, “For Christ’s sake, Mooch, forget about the girl. We’ll buy all the whores you want when we get out of this godforsaken town. Just shut up and let me think.”
“But, Ty, buying women just isn’t the same. I like it when they resist. That’s the fun.”
“I’ll let you rape a whole convent of nuns, if that’s what you want. Just shut up. You hear me, shut up.”
Again, with a calm even tone, Justin said, “I think a trade is in order, Ty. I’ll bet you’d rather have the money pouches in this duffle bag,” the duffle bag came sliding a couple of feet out the kitchen door, “a lot more than you want that girl.”
Mooch lunged toward the duffle but stopped suddenly when the rifle Justin held barked several times and wood splinters flew up from the floor in front of him. Julia screamed and began to whimper. Moe called out, “Mama, they’re shooting in the street again.” He remained almost motionless on the bench.
Justin said, “Now, Mooch, I’m sure that your mother taught you not to grab at things like that. Just back up and stand there quietly until Ty and I have concluded our negotiations.” He paused while Mooch took several steps back and then he asked, “So Ty, we have a deal? You release Julia and I give back your duffle bag and its contents.”
“Oh sure, I release her and you cap me. You think I’m stupid?”
“No, I don’t think you’re stupid, your partner I’m not so certain about, but I don’t think you’re stupid, Ty. What I propose is that Julia accompany you to the back door. Jack will bring the duffle along. Mooch goes out the door and holds it open. You release Julia and Jack releases the duffle. You and the duffle go out the door and it closes. It’ll be just like you two were never here.”
Ty didn’t reply at once. Obviously, he was analyzing Justin’s proposal. Finally, he said, “What about that rifle? I suppose you’re just going to keep that to give to the cops. That won’t work for us.”
“Don’t get greedy, Ty. I keep the rifle until you two are long gone. But, if it puts your mind at ease, I can tell you that I never seek opportunities to talk to law enforcement authorities. In fact, I do my best to avoid encounters with those folks. I can assure you that this rifle will never become the subject of a ballistics examination, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
I couldn’t help but think that in some ways Ty and Justin were more alike than Justin and me. They seemed to connect in ways I would never understand.
For several seconds it seemed as if we were all frozen. Then Ty started to shuffle toward the door. He was pulling Julia along with him, the gun firmly against the side of her head. After a few feet, he turned toward Mooch and said, “You heard the man, moron, go open the door.” Mooch turned and started toward the door. I cautiously took a couple of steps toward the duffle bag. In the dim light I didn’t want to startle either one of the guys holding guns.
I was still a few feet away from Ty and Julia when Mooch opened the door. I was surprised when a small gust of wind blew in. As Mooch stepped out the door, I could see from the flashlight he was holding that it was raining again. When Ty got to the door, he stopped and, using his gun as a pointer, he said, “Push that bag over here. I’m not releasing her until I’ve got the bag.”
I pushed the bag until it was within a couple of feet of Ty. I reached out toward Julia and said, “There’s your bag. Now release her.”
He growled, “Open the bag, I want to see inside.” I reached down and slid the long zipper until the bag gaped open. Ty pushed Julia up against the end of the bar, pinning her body with his while continuing to hold the gun against her cheek. With his free hand, he pulled the flashlight from his pocket and shined it inside the duffle.
Suddenly, I was aware of perspiration running down the center of my back. Would Ty shoot Julia and me as he withdrew the bag, just out of spite? If Ty attempted to take Julia and the duffle, could Justin shoot him without hitting us? I forced my hands tight against my legs to conceal their escalating tremble. Finally satisfied by his inspection of the duffle, Ty growled, “Close it up.
” It took me a few seconds to get the heavy bag closed again.
Ty pushed Julia toward me with such force that, as I caught her, we stumbled and fell in a jumble of arms and legs. Ty grabbed the bag and jerked it outside with him. The door slammed closed. I got untangled from Julia and scrambled across the slippery floor to the door. I stood and slid closed both of the deadbolts that secure the door. Then I returned to Julia and helped her up to her feet. She was shaking and nearly hyperventilating. I wrapped my arms around her and said, “It’s over, Julia. It’s over. You’re safe now.” I had no idea how mistaken those words were.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
I walked Julia back over to the area where Moe was still lying in the booth. As we approached, he attempted to sit up. He got to about a forty-five degree angle before raising his hand to his forehead and immediately lying back down. The only utterance I heard from him was a deep moan. I wanted to go over and take a closer look at him, but Julia needed my immediate attention. I got her situated in a chair and turned on the lantern that Justin had darkened. Taking a closer look at her face, I could see a couple of bruises and a small abrasion on her cheek, but otherwise she looked unharmed. I asked if she was injured anywhere else and she muttered no. She was struggling to cover herself with her torn blouse. I told her I would go upstairs and get the sweatshirt she had worn earlier. She said thank you, but there was no light in her eyes.
As I turned to head upstairs, Justin came walking up. He laid the rifle across a nearby table and asked, “How’s she doing?”
I said, “About as well as can be expected, given the ordeal she’s been through. First her husband and now this. I’m going to go get her something to cover up with. Can you sit here with her until I get back? She’s afraid they’ll come back.”
“Of course I’ll stay with her, but they won’t come back. They couldn’t get in if they did, I saw you bolt the door.”
“Yeah, but there’s another assault rifle in that duffle bag. I saw it when I opened the bag for Ty. For all I know they could blast their way through that door.”
Justin grinned. “I’ve noticed that door over my years coming in and out it. It’s steel, in a steel frame. The two dead bolts are hardened steel. Their assault rifle is useless against it.”
“How can you be so certain?”
Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of springs and dropped them on the table. “Oh, I just have a feeling it’s going to malfunction.”
It took me a couple of seconds to understand. “You took it apart in that dark kitchen, took out those springs, and reassembled it?”
Another grin. “Jack, I could disassemble and reassemble any model assault rifle in the pitch dark all night long.”
I nodded toward the rifle laying on the table and asked, “What are you going to do with that one?”
“Well, I think we’ll keep it nearby until everything returns to some semblance of normal around here. Good insurance in case we have any other unwelcome visitors. Then I’ll probably take it on a boat ride and drop it into the Atlantic. Let the salt water return it to its base elements.”
“So, you meant what you said, you’re not going to turn it over to the police?”
“Nope.” With that Justin turned and walked over to Julia, pulling up a chair and sitting down. I could hear him talking to her in the same soft tones he had utilized to console her earlier.
Using my flashlight, I located the sweatshirt upstairs. Shining my light around, I realized that a considerable amount of water had gotten in through the roof. The ceiling was wet in several locations and it was sagging in a couple of places. As I turned to leave, I heard another loud groan above me. I realized that the wind noise had again increased considerably. I thought the storm was over earlier when it stopped blowing and raining. I had actually seen stars through a clear sky. Then it dawned on me, had the clear sky and calm conditions been the eye of Ella passing over us? If so, we were in for a pounding, just as bad or maybe worse, than the one we had already taken. Maybe we needed to reconsider our options, and fast.
When I got downstairs, I found that Justin had moved the second lantern from the bar to a position in the center of the room closer to where the three of them were. At least that area of the room seemed less gloomy. Julia, who looked to have regained some of her earlier grit, was drinking a Coke. She and Justin appeared to be carrying on a conversation with Moe, although he wasn’t responding.
I handed Julia the sweatshirt and she pulled it on over her torn blouse. She reached up under the sweatshirt. Following the sound of tearing cloth, she withdrew the remains of her blouse, which she tossed aside. She turned back toward us and said, “There, now you two gentleman won’t need to be afraid of seeing my huge breasts.” Yup, she was coming back—her breasts were anything but huge. Considering everything this young woman had been through in the past eighteen hours, I was beginning to believe she was the most resilient person in the room.
I was thinking about Julia when we were all surprised by Moe sitting upright. He was holding the bandaged side of his head. He said, in a voice uncharacteristically soft for Moe, “Damn, my head hurts. What hit me? Have I been unconscious?”
Justin replied, “Well, in spite of us telling you it was not a good idea, you went outside during the height of the storm to check on the generator. And yes, something hit you, or you hit something. Don’t know what time it is, but you’ve been in and out of lucidity for a couple of hours. That, or you were just grabbing some sleep. Something none of the rest of us have been able to do.”
Julia frowned at Justin and moved between him and Moe. She reached up with her small hand and turned his head to face her. Looking into his sleepy brown eyes, she said, “Good, your pupils are the same size. That’s a good sign. Are you dizzy?”
“Only when I breathe?” We all chuckled. Yeah, it looked like Moe was coming back to life, too.
While Julia and Justin tended to Moe, I walked over to the back door. It was obvious that the roar of the wind was returning. I wanted to open the door to see what the weather was doing and gauge the depth of the water. Maybe if the water had gone down we could get the generator started again. I stopped myself from throwing the bolts. What if Ty and Mooch were still out there just waiting? I’d been standing there a couple of minutes when Justin came up behind me. He asked, “You going to take a look at the weather?”
“Sure sounds like the wind’s kicking back up. Thought I’d take a peek, but then I’m not sure our two friends are really gone.”
“Oh, they’re gone, all right. You can bet on that, but if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll go get the rifle they so considerately left with us.”
“Shit, you’re right, Justin. What are they going to do, hang around in the parking lot waiting for us to open the door? No, they’re hoofing it down to the parking ramp looking for a car to steal. Funny, I didn’t think the city allowed overnight parking in that ramp?”
Justin smirked. “Gosh, I guess we got confused when we told them about all the cars.”
I threw back both deadbolts and pushed on the door. It opened, but not without considerable effort. The wind had picked up again and the water was higher than it had been when I last looked out. Water was now lapping the top of the second step on the back stoop. Justin took a look outside with me and then I closed and relocked the door.
He looked me in the eyes and said, “I think we’re in for another beating, Jack. When it let up so suddenly, I was afraid that the eye was passing over us. Based on the last predictions I saw yesterday, that was a significant possibility, and I think that’s exactly what happened.”
I asked, “Think the building can weather another hammering like the first one? The roof is already leaking. It must have been weakened structurally in the first round. If we lose the roof, we’re in deep trouble. This whole place could come apart.”
The look on Justin’s face said that he agreed with my assessment. Neither of us spoke for a couple of minutes. Finally, he
asked, “Where do you think is the safest location in the building? You know, safe from falling and flying debris?”
“I don’t know, maybe we could push the pool table into a corner and get under it?”
Justin shook his head and said, “I think we need more protection than that. Something like a storeroom.”
“We do have the storeroom off the kitchen. It’s got a good sturdy door.”
“That might work, let’s take a look at it.”
Then something clicked into place in my mind. “Wait, Justin, we have the walk-in cooler. I remembered Uncle Mickey telling me once that the walls on the walk-in are at least a foot of poured concrete. The ceiling, too. He found out when he was trying to run some additional electrical in there. He said he thought it was originally constructed so that it could double as a storm shelter. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.”
Justin nodded and said, “Sounds good, let’s go take a look.”
I held my arm out and stopped him from walking away. “Hey, Justin, I just wanted to admit that I was wrong about those two, Ty and Mooch. I should never have questioned your idea to confront them right away. As usual, your instincts were right on. My hesitation could have gotten us all killed, certainly Julia. I was stupid.”
His expression was impassive as he looked back at me. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Jack. Not like there is any kind of manual on shit like this. As things played out, with Moe getting hurt and all, we didn’t really have the opportunity to play offense. We had to play the game on defense. Worked out fine. Quit beating yourself up.” He gave me a friendly slap on the back and said, “Now let’s go take a look at that walk-in. It sounds like our best bet.”
As we walked away from the door, I heard something bang against it with a loud thud. The debris was taking flight again. As a punctuation to that thought, the building uttered a loud groan.
Chaotic Be Jack Page 14