The Red Zone

by Tim Green

  Leeland looked at her over his brother's shoulder. Up close, Madison could easily tell from his eyes that Luther's younger brother was completely deranged.

  "Sorry," he said, smiling at her. "It's Madison, right?"

  Madison nodded. "Yes."

  She was shaking and couldn't help herself from stealing an occasional glance at the figure of Emmit Stone lying in the bottom of the boat. She half expected him to get up and say it was all a joke.

  "Okay," Leeland said, stepping back from his brother's embrace. "Whos who, and whats what? What do you need me to do now?"

  "I think you should turn yourself in," Madison blurted out. "I can help you. You need help."

  Leeland's eyes narrowed and he looked from Madison to his brother.

  "This is what you call help?" he said.

  Luther shot her a glance.

  "She'll help," he said. "She's my lawyer. That's just what she thinks."

  "It's what I know," Madison said firmly. "And now, I'm more than your lawyer, Luther, I'm an accessory to aiding and abetting a murder if I do anything but turn your brother in to the police. Y>u'll be a defendant, too, Luther, and I can't defend you if you are.

  "This," she said, pointing to Emmit's body, her voice quavering, "is something I've witnessed with my own eyes."

  Luther looked at her as if she must be the one who was crazy. Leeland just smiled.

  "A bold chick," Leeland said matter-of-factly. "So, what are we going to do? Should I kill her now?"

  Luther came to life. "Youve got to get out of here. I mean out of the country, Leeland. I've got you a ticket to Rio, and I've got a bag of cash back at my place."

  "I've never been to your place," Leeland said. "Just tell me where it is, and where the cash and the ticket are, and leave the rest to me. If we're going to move, we've got to move out quick. When this weather hits we're not going to want to be out on the water."

  "Can we beat it?" Luther asked, looking up into the dark sky, the wind whipping at his face.

  Leeland looked up as well. A bolt of lightning lit a horizontal crack in the dark clouds to the west.

  "We can if we move now and take my boat." "What about the sheriff?" Luther asked.

  Leeland shrugged. "Just leave him."

  Luther turned to Madison. "If you cant help us, can you at least not hurt us?"

  Madison looked at him for a moment, then said, "I'm not going to get myself killed, if that's what you mean."

  "Good."

  "Smart chick," Leeland said with a wink. "You two wait here. I'll break my camp and be back. My boat is around the bend up the mouth of this river."

  "I'll come help you," Luther said.

  "No," Leeland said, his eyes distant, "you wait here. There are things you don't want to see."

  Luther frowned and tried not to imagine. He looked over to read the expression on Madison's face, and when he looked back his brother had disappeared into the jungle of overgrown trees.

  "This is bad," Madison said flatly, staring again at Emmit's body, her brown hair twisting wildly in the wind. "This is very bad."

  "There's nothing we can do," Luther said. "I can't let them take him, Madison."

  "That's the right thing, Luther," Madison said, moving up past the bow of the boat onto the dry land.

  "Do you think he'd let them take him alive?" Luther said angrily. "He won't. And he won't hesitate to kill either of us if we try to stop him, either. I hope you can see that!"

  "Yes," Madison conceded, "I can."

  For all her legal training, this was one situation for which she saw no solution whatsoever. Luther's eyes widened and Madison heard a rumbling that was not thunder.

  "Oh shit," Luther said. Madison spun around. It was Kratch standing at the helm of a battered Boston Whaler humping up and down over the foamy chop. Beside him, with a gun in his hand and a look of hatred on his face, was Cody.

  Chapter 49

  At first, Kratch wasn't sure exactly how he was going to pull it off. He did know, however, the minute Cody Grey told him that his wife was still alive, that he was going to get a chance to win the whole pot. It wouldn't be easy, because if the brother was around, he'd probably kill Kratch before he could sneeze. That was okay. Kratch wasn't as uncomfortable with the notion of a quick death as he was with the notion of doing time in a state prison. They'd maul him in there, and then kill him anyway. If Kratch was going to go down, he'd go down shooting.

  When he saw Luther and Madison on the beach, alone, it was almost more than he could have hoped for.

  "Just keep calm," he told Cody over the drone of the engine and the howl of the wind. "Don't worry about anything I say or do. My whole purpose is to get him away from your wife, even if I have to take him out to do it."

  Cody looked from the beach to the policeman. Kratch had taken off his sunglasses and replaced his suit coat. The gun was hidden, and his wandering eye made it impossible for Cody to judge the man's truthfulness.

  "It's okay!" Kratch howled over the choppy waves at the two figures turned toward him on the beach. He held his hands open to show that he meant what he said. "I don't have a gun! Everything's okay. We just want to talk with Luther."

  "Madison!" Cody called to her above the din of the oncoming storm.

  "Cody!"

  Her voice sounded small and pathetic. Cody grabbed the gunnel of the boat firmly to avoid being tossed into the water by the chop that had now become a rolling mess. Kratch drove the boat straight up onto the sandy shore about twenty paces from the sheriff's boat. The motor spit mud and water into the air behind them with a terrible scream until Kratch mercifully cut the power.

  "Calm," Kratch said to Cody.

  Cody jumped out of the boat, soaking his shoes and the bottoms of his pants. He held the .357 up in the air and churned toward his wife, never letting his eyes leave her fearful face. Luther Zorn filled his vision as well. Luther had instinctively raised his hands over his head. The Marauders player stood there, looking over his shoulder, frozen by an indecision that Cody prayed would last at least long enough for him to get to his wife. Cody's instincts still told him that Madison wouldn't be safe until he had placed himself physically between her and Zorn.

  The sand beneath his feet kept giving way. Cody couldn't move fast enough. He saw Luther's Beretta stuck haphazardly into the waist of his pants. He reached Madison and grabbed her with his free arm, pulling her tight and burying his face in her hair and breathing deep.

  "Madison," he choked, "my God."

  "I'm all right," she said, touching the side of his face as if he was a small child. He drew back just far enough for her to look up into his eyes. Cody swore he heard the bullet zipping through flesh and bone before he heard the actual explosion from the gun. Madison's face suddenly ran red with blood and tissue. Without thinking, Cody yanked her to the ground, as if he could undo what had already been done.

  Kratch let Cody get to his wife. Even Luther was distracted by their embrace, and Kratch pulled out his own weapon. He leveled the barrel at the center of Luther Zorn's back and pulled the trigger. The big gun kicked back. The bullet shattered Luther's spine and tore through his left lung, exiting with a splash of gore that covered Madison McCall's face. The big player was lifted to his toes by the impact of the bullet, but just as quickly dropped motionless to the ground.

  Kratch advanced quickly. In the moments after a traumatic event, the man with the most wits about him held a tremendous advantage. Cody was on top of his wife, shielding her uselessly, his own gun forgotten in the sand. Kratch scanned the trees quickly as he moved, assuring himself that Luther's brother was not within range. Then his attention returned to Cody, whose head was still down, frozen in shock.

  Kratch got to Luther's body and, after a brief struggle with the inert weight, was able to reach the Beretta and pull it free. He jumped up and stood with one foot on top of Cody's gun. Now the couple was completely defenseless. He had Luther's gun. With that gun, he could kill them both.

&n
bsp; Kratch panted from his exertion and forced himself to rethink everything he was about to do. He had a moment, and he knew that a moment of forethought was always more valuable than years of hindsight. He wanted to make sure there was nothing he'd forgotten. He looked around and quickly composed the tale he would tell:

  He'd say that the moment before they'd beached the boat, Cody jumped overboard and fled to the side of his wife, despite Kratch's warnings. Kratch stumbled and fell when the boat hit land. When he regained his feet, he jumped over the side and advanced toward the three of them on the beach. As Kratch approached, he realized that Zorn had his gun out. The player executed Madison McCall and her husband at close range with two quick shots before Kratch could draw his own gun from its holster and gun down the mad killer. Everyone was dead.

  The problem Kratch saw immediately was the angle of the bullets. If he were to shoot Cody and Madison where they lay, the picture wouldn't fit. The forensic people would know that they had been shot as they lay helplessly on the ground. Kratch was too careful for that, and he smiled outwardly at his own cunning. A flash of lightning accentuated his demonic grin.

  "Get up," he commanded.

  Cody looked up, his eyes glazed. Madison was more alert, and she struggled beneath him.

  "I said, get up!"

  Madison got her arm free and wiped the bloody mess of tissue and gore from her face. She coughed and gagged at the taste of Luther Zorn's flesh in her mouth.

  "Madison," Cody asked, "you're all right?"

  "I'm all right."

  "Now!" Kratch bellowed.

  Both turned their eyes to him.

  "What are you doing?" Cody said in disbelief. "Put your gun down."

  "Get up before I put a bullet in your wife's head right where she is," Kratch threatened, stepping back just beyond the fallen body of Luther Zorn.

  They rose to their feet and Kratch let out an evil chuckle. The wind blew his hair off his face and his bad eye rolled maniacally in the flashing light.

  "So smart, weren't you?" he said, raising his voice above the wind. "You and your enchilada partner, then your fucking cowboy husband. You people deserve to die!"

  "You're insane," Madison whispered. She felt the muscles in her husbands body tighten like the string of a bow being drawn taut. She knew he was going to do something, and it made her panic.

  "They'll catch you," she said loudly. She wanted to keep Kratch talking. "You can't do this. Don't do this. They'll know it was you!"

  Kratch raised the gun, pointing off into the sky for an instant to display it.

  "I didn't kill you," he said with mock simplicity "Luther Zorn did. This is his gun."

  There was a sharp electric whine, and then the hollow splitting sound of an enormous coconut being cracked open with a single crushing blow from a heavy mallet. The spear from Leeland's gun pierced Kratch's skull; half of the gleaming metallic shaft protruded from the front of his head, half from the back side. It looked like a joke store prank, too comical to be real. Kratch looked dumbfounded. He tried to turn the gun back toward his victims, but only managed to shoot off one harmless round before staggering and falling dead at their feet.

  Leeland's primal wail cut through the howling wind like an evil banshee.

  "Noooooooo! Aaaawwwwwww!"

  The sound sent a shiver down Madison's spine. Leeland burst from the trees and ran straight for the broken body of his brother. He bent over Luther and tore off his own shirt. Madison thought it was out of grief, but then she realized that Leeland was using the cloth to plug the bleeding holes in his brother's body, front and back. The rain suddenly came down in sheets.

  "Luther, Luther, Luther, noooooo!" the insane man agonized as he held Luther's head in his hands and began kissing his face.

  "My Luther, my Luther, my Luther . .

  Then Leeland looked up, his eyes ablaze, rainwater dripping from his face. He looked straight at Cody and Madison.

  "Kratch killed him," Cody yelled above the storm, as he instinctively pulled his wife closer.

  "Hes not dead!" Leeland insisted. "He's not dead yet. Help me!"

  Cody picked up Luther's legs while Leeland effortlessly carried the bulk of his brother's body by hooking his hands underneath Luther's armpits.

  "To the boat!" Leeland wailed.

  Madison followed the two men across the muddy sand in the torrent of rain. They loaded Luther's body gently into the center of Emmit Stone's boat. Then Leeland climbed aboard and carelessly heaved the sheriff's body over the other side as if it were nothing more than useless flotsam.

  "You!" he barked at Madison. "Get in here. Get on top of him. We need to keep him warm or he'll die from the shock."

  Madison looked at her husband, whose face was set in a grim mask of anger. His hair was now plastered to the sides of his head. She was afraid he might do something crazy.

  "Cody, it's all right," she said, calming him. "Maybe we can save Luther."

  "If he dies," Leeland said to them in a pitched voice, "I'll kill you both. I'll find you, and I'll kill you."

  Madison climbed in and lowered herself to the floor of the boat beside Luther. A bolt of lightning electrified the gloom and exploded with a deafening crack. Leeland found a tarp underneath one of the seats and threw it over them.

  "Get him to a hospital," Leeland ordered as he climbed out of the boat and steadied it for Cody to get in.

  "Go!"

  Cody didn't have to be told again.

  Leeland lifted the bow from the sand with Herculean strength. As Cody fired up the engine, Leeland pushed the boat out into the rolling water, wading past the floating body of the sheriff. Then he ran back to the beach yelling gibberish loudly to himself.

  It took Cody a moment to get the pitching boat turned around. Then he surveyed the dark sky, trying to orient himself east toward Canal Point. Just as he began to push the throttle open, there was another horrible shriek from the shore. Cody looked back through the rain and lightning to see the half-naked Leeland Zorn, standing on the beach holding Kratchs decapitated head like an offering to whatever storm gods swirled within his tortured brain.

  "What was that?" Madison said from her place on the floor of the boat. Only her head protruded from the tarp.

  "It's him. He's completely insane," Cody told her, turning his attention back to the boat. "Are you all right?"

  Madison nodded her head yes.

  "bu're all right," Cody said, reassuring himself that it was true. He sat down in the driver's seat of the boat and put his free hand gently against his wife's upturned face. Beside her in the pouring rain was a man he had thought was a killer, a man he was certain would now die in their care if he wasn't dead already. Cody wondered what would happen. He wondered if there could ever be a place that could keep them safe from a man like Leeland Zorn. At this moment, it didn't matter though. They were safe for now.

  Cody opened the throttle full. Madison closed her eyes against the pelting rain and the storm that had yet to play itself to an end.

  EPILOGUE:

  The jury filed into the courtroom and took their seats. Their foreman stood with a single sheet of paper in his hands.

  "The defendant will ... the defendant will sit up straight and face the jury," the judge ordered from his bench above them all.

  Luther Zorn closed his eyes briefly and did as he was told, straightening himself as best he could for a man who had been partially paralyzed by a gunshot wound. His eyes then bore into the foreman's with regal defiance. Only Madison knew he was scared. She reached over and clasped his hand. It was cold and damp where it rested on the arm of his padded electric wheelchair, but he squeezed back and held her fingers.

  With her other hand, Madison grasped the forearm of Mel Rosen. Since she had been an actual witness, she had only been able to serve as Mel Rosens second counsel during the trial. It had been her strategy and even her words, however, behind the entire defense. Luther had insisted on that.

  "On the first count of attemp
ted murder . . ." the foreman read from his paper and then paused.

  Madison couldn't help herself from looking down at Luther's face. He closed his eyes tightly and winced, as if he was about to be struck.

  ". . . we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty." Luther's face showed momentary relief, and a murmur ran through the spectators and the press. It was good news, but it did nothing to relieve the tension Madison felt. The first charge was for the shooting of Detective Lawrence. Since Lawrence had fired several shots at Luther first, without provocation, the jury's acceptance of self-defense was not extraordinary. His shooting of Gill, however, was much more of a stretch. To shoot a policeman who hadn't fired a shot was tough to defend, even though Madison had been able to portray Gill as a crooked cop.

  In fact, Madison had suggested conspiracy among Wilburn, Pallidan, Leeland, and Kratch and his men to the jury. She had hoped that the jury's knowledge of the entire story would help exonerate Luther. Madison had been around long enough to know that the whole story could sometimes do that.

  "On the second count of attempted murder," the foreman continued, "we, the jury, find the defendant. . . not guilty"

  There were several other counts as well, all of them less serious than the first two. But certainly they were significant for a man in Luther's condition. Even the smallest amount of time in jail would be incredibly painful. The jury, however, found Luther Zorn innocent on every count.

  As the judge pronounced the defendant a free man, Luther put his head back, smiled at Madison, and closed his eyes like a tired soldier giving thanks at the end of a battle. Mark Berryhill pursed his lips in a frown, but came over to shake the hands of both Madison and Mel Rosen.

  A bailiff ushered Chris Pelo and Jamal out of the crowd and through the narrow gate that separated the players in the drama from the audience. The scrawny black child was an incongruity in the adult white world of crime and punishment.

  But Luther was now his legal father, and that certainly transcended any notion of decorum. Jamal grabbed hold of Luther and hugged him tightly. Chris put his arms around Madison and did the same.