by Dave Hazel
Mykal’s heart sank because he knew Jill just threatened harm to his family. “I understand. I have no reason to screw over the President. But the only thing I want when this is all said and done is to be left alone. That’s it. Nothing more.”
“I can guarantee that,” Jill said with a friendly smile. “Do you really have the Package?”
“Yeah, I do,” he answered and tried to read Jill’s face for any deception.
“How long will it take you to go back to Towbar’s world and return with it?”
“Actually I have it here with me,” he answered and watched Jill’s face more intently. “Not here,” he nodded and pointed to the floor. “But I have it here in North Dakota. The reason why it took me so long to call was I went out into the middle of nowhere and hid it,” he lied to protect his wife. “It’s more than two hours from here. It’s a place only I know about.”
“Great, who have you had contact with since you returned?”
“Not a single person. No one is supposed to know I’m here, especially since everyone else is in Towbar’s world.”
“What about your wife?”
Mykal could see Jill was eyeing his facial expression. “Especially my wife,” he chuckled, and lied expertly. “I couldn’t do that to her knowing I have to go back there.”
“Would you like me to come with you to get it?”
“No. I’ll be back in about four and a half to five hours,” he lied.
“I’ll be right here. Before you leave, I’m going to call all my men in here and allow you to hear me tell them the assignment concerning you is null and void.” Jill grabbed the radio. “All posts, this is Dogstar One, our current assignment has been cancelled. I repeat our current assignment has been cancelled from the Top. Report to my location. Dogstar One out.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Jill repeated with a smile. “You may want to put that away.” He nodded to the weapon in his hand. “I’m going to get up and unlock the door, if that is okay with you.”
“Sure,” Mykal said with hesitation. This could be a trick. They could over power him and then torture him to get the location of the Package. Beside his .357 magnum, the only other weapons he had on him were his ice pick dagger, the ring and the two little figurines that he hadn’t had a chance to use yet.
“I had nine men posted around the building. These are my hand-picked specialists that I call the Untouchables, because they are some of the baddest bad asses on the planet,” Jill boasted. “They are all former military, and now they are a paramilitary group. These men have earned the name Untouchables because no one would be able to stand against them. Two were at each end of the hall to watch the stairwells, two were in the utility closet, my assistant was in here with me,” he explained while he unlatched the lock. “I also had two men roaming the first floor. Come in, come in,” he welcomed some of his men.
Mykal wondered why Jill or Percy talked them up so highly and put his .357 magnum back in the holster before they entered the room. Was that another veiled warning? After all the men were in the room Mykal became frightened again. He tried to think what he would do if they tried to overpower him and make him give up the location of the Package. Panic exploded in his brain when they all filled the room. It would be easy to grab hold of him and beat him senselessly. His only response would be to turn invisible and pull his two magic figurines he hadn’t used yet.
“I will go get the brief case,” he said calmly and sounded in control though in his mind he was a terror filled wreck. He looked at all the large well-dressed men he could sense they were trying to silently communicate with each other. His gut feeling told him something wasn’t right and Jill might be setting him up. “Like I said, give me a little more than four hours. I’ll try to get back sooner,” he said while making his way to the door. Mentally Mykal released a huge sigh when he stepped past the last of them and none of the men tried to stop him.
“I’ll see you when you get back,” Jill said and walked him to the door. Jill looked like he wanted to shake hands but Mykal wouldn’t get close when all the men stepped back into the hall with Jill. He feared the handshake would turn to a scuffle that would lead to his torture and death.
Mykal made his way to the elevator and his heart raced out of control. He felt he was just moments from death. Due to his increased hearing he could pick up some of the conversations.
“Should we follow him?” One man whispered.
“Shhh,” Jill whispered back. “He’ll come back. Wait.”
Mykal nearly panicked. He needed to know what their intentions were. He stepped into the elevator as if he couldn’t hear them, waved at them from the open door, and he pressed the first floor button and stepped back as if he was going to lean against the wall of the elevator and thought himself invisible. He stepped out of the elevator just as the door closed and then the elevator started downward.
He watched them all stand there eyeing the elevator door and they all broke their silence after the floor indicator changed from 2 to 1. He knew they couldn’t see him and it gave him such a sense of power.
“Percy, should some of us follow him?” One of the nine asked. “We’re great at what we do?”
“No, now everyone hold on and sit tight,” Jill replied.
Mykal found it hard to equate Percy or Purcel with Jill because he had always known him as Jill. He knew Jill was not his real name but that was what he had always gone by.
“I told him we are not going to eliminate him when he brings the Package to us,” Jill explained. “He doesn’t care to hurt the President and all he wants is to be left alone with his wife and kids. He literally had a gun pointed to my head in there and he could have killed me. He should have. His mistake.”
Mykal’s heart sank when Jill said that.
“Be on your guard when he returns because he is armed.”
“Should we follow him then?” Another asked. “By the time he gets back here there may be many people up and about.”
“I understand that, but he said he took the Package to a secret location a couple of hours away. So it’s probably in the middle of nowhere. You’ll never get away with following him in the dark because he would spot you. Trust me, he’ll be back because he wants his freedom,” Jill said. He still stood in his doorway. “Everyone listen to me, whoever takes him away, I want him to be dealt with quickly and as painlessly as possible. I like Mykal and I hate the idea of having to remove him, but we can’t have any loose ends. That’s straight from the Top.”
“If he’s such the cold blooded warrior we’ve all heard about, then why didn’t he kill you if he had the drop on you?” Asked Stan, one of the two bald men in the group.
“Great question. I know he’s a family oriented man and I told him to think about my wife and three children. It would devastate them.”
“You don’t have a wife and kids,” another said while adjusting his ear piece that was connected to his radio under his suit jacket.
“True, but he doesn’t know that,” Jill retorted which caused most of them to laugh and smirk.
Mykal was embarrassed. He had been fooled by having his emotions pricked. A seething rage started to build. Hatred was burning in his brain. He was tempted to pull his pistol and start shooting. He knew he would have to reload thus giving the others an opportunity to shoot blindly. It was possible one of them might be lucky and strike him.
“Let’s go into my room,” Jill said and turned inside the room. “I need to let everyone know,” he paused so everyone would hear him. “William is dead.”
“How? How do you know?” Dominick asked. His facial expression showed he was overcome with sadness and grief.
“Mykal told me that he killed him, and--”
“No!” Dominick raised his voice in anguish.
“Shhhh, people are sleeping,” Randy said while he grabbed Dominick’s arm. “We don’t want to wake anyone.”
“I know William was your best friend,” Jill
announced. “But William is dead. Mykal killed him. I say this only because I want to make it clear that he has it in him to kill. He doesn’t look like a choir boy, but he doesn’t look like a hardened killer either. I want all of you to be on your guard, and just be thankful he doesn’t have that giant here with him or we would really have problems.”
“We are zee Untooch-a-bells,” Pepe, the shortest of the group declared with pride with a foreign accent. “We can defea’ any foe, no?” He added. Pepe’s accent sounded French.
“Here here. I agree with my little buddy,” the Skipper said aloud with a smile on his plump face. His nickname, ‘The Skipper’, had been given to him by one of the Untouchables due to his voice sounding just like Alan Hale Jr., the ‘Skipper’ of Gilligan’s Island. He always referred to Pepe, his partner, as his little buddy just like the Skipper with Gilligan.
“I met the giant,” Jill declared. “And I have to say that we, even we, the Untouchables, would have problems with Towbar.”
“He’s gonna suffer. I’m gonna make him pay,” Dominick threatened while opening and clenching his fists repeatedly.
“No! I said I want him to be taken out quickly and with as little pain as possible. I like him and he’s making our job easy for us. Besides, the world sees him as a war hero.”
“No, that’s not right,” Dominick complained. “William was my--”
“Dominick is not to be involved in the removal,” Jill ordered the rest of the men as he opened the door and allowed them inside. “Do I make myself clear?”
Mykal slumped down on the floor against the wall. This was hard to take. He trusted Jill. He didn’t want trouble. All he wanted was his life back, but now these people were going to kill him because he rescued a Package for the President. They were afraid he might say something that could embarrass the President. For that reason alone, fear of the President being made to look bad or their fear to trust him at his word, a death sentence had been handed down on him and there was no getting the death sentence commuted.
‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’ he thought and wanted to yell. ‘It’s not fair,’ he pondered. Sudden terror caused his body to tremble. His life was effectively over. ‘I’m not gonna just lay down and let them kill me,’ he contemplated and ended the self-pity as he felt rage grow and flow through his being as if he had just been injected with something. ‘Maybe if I just take the Package back to Towbar’s world and hide it they’ll have to leave me alone until I bring it back. No, cuz then they’ll use my family to force me to return it. Damn it,’ he snarled in frustrated angry thoughts. ‘I can’t win. It’s just not fair. Hell with this,’ Mykal roared mentally as hateful retaliation grew wildly in his mind. ‘If it’s a friggin war they want, it’s a friggin war they’re gonna get!’
2.
Mykal paced the 2nd floor a couple of times and tried to think of a plan. He had an idea of what he would be walking into when he “returned” with the package. Hateful rage built with each step he took. He couldn’t tell if he was getting angry due to the ring or because of the fact that Jill betrayed him and lied to his face. Jill planned to kill him no matter what Mykal said to convince him otherwise. Jill or Percy left Mykal no other option. ‘It’s kill or be killed and I’m not gonna allow them to get me first,’ he thought and the rage spiraled out of control. ‘I’ll kill every one of these rotten sonsabitches and I’m gonna make them suffer. They’re gonna regret ever coming after me. Jill is gonna wish he never lied to me and never tried to pull a fast one on me.’
With a wild idea he rushed to his car. He put on his web belt and put the M-16 rifle in the front seat with him. He didn’t want to drive the car as invisible just in case someone saw it moving without a driver. He drove to Piggly Wiggly knowing they were opened twenty-four hours a day.
His teeth were grinding together back and forth as he thought how he wanted to deal with them. “They want to back stab me? They’re gonna friggin pay. They’ll never know what hit them. Then as far as that scumbag President, he can kiss my ass if he thinks he’s gonna get his precious Package back,” Mykal said to himself and slammed his fist on the seat. “I wanna do stuff to them to rival the friggin Sosos.”
Mykal made himself disappear and went to the door as one of the overnight workers stepped out to put a layer of salt around the entrances. He remained unseen while in the store and rushed to the general merchandise aisle. He knew what he was looking for. ‘Great,’ he thought and nodded with a smile. ‘They still have ‘em. Just what I want.’
He looked at the different sets of cutlery. There were three different brands and set sizes. He was drawn to the 15 piece block set. Mykal looked in all directions to make sure no one was around him and when he was satisfied he ripped open the plastic covering. Only one piece of the fifteen piece chef knife set would do. The wide 10 inch blade with razor sharp cutting edge was what he had his mind on.
“It looks like something right out of a horror movie,” he whispered with a blood thirsty grin. “The Untouchables my ass,” he commented as he stuck the very large knife into his waistband and covered it with his coat which made the knife disappear.
“One other thing, if it’s still there,” he whispered as an idea struck him. He made his way to the manager’s office where he had made the long distance phone call from earlier. The office door was never locked, but the lights were off and he would have to leave the room dark. If he lit the room someone would come to investigate.
Once inside the dark office he felt his way to the rear of the room where the closet was. In the closet there were many items; sweaters, boots, a broken umbrella, and the large box he knew to be there.
The cardboard box held sporting equipment for the company outings and company involvement with various leagues. There were footballs, basketballs, softballs, gloves and several baseball bats. He grabbed one of the two aluminum bats. “I’m gonna bus’ some friggin heads,” he said as he hefted the bat in his hands.
3.
Before going back inside the Ramada Inn, Mykal went to the pay phone at the other side of the parking lot. He walked there while invisible because he didn’t want to drive his car under the lights of the parking lot only to have someone see the car moving without a driver. He hoped the phone wasn’t out of order. ‘It’s too cold out to walk all that way for nothing.’
The phone worked fine and he called the Ramada Inn. “Ramada Inn front desk, this is Julie, how can I help you?”
“Hi Julie, I just need you to call a room and pass a message to them,” Mykal said. “I know it’s late, but he’s expecting this call.”
“Okay Sir, what is the room number and what is the message?”
“Please call room 214 in fifteen minutes. It’s extremely important that you don’t call any sooner. Then tell him the Package should be there within a half an hour. Could you do that?”
She repeated the instructions back to him. “Is there anything else I can do for you Sir?”
“No, but please, just wait fifteen minutes and not any sooner. And thank you.”
Mykal rushed inside the Ramada Inn and waited. He wanted to catch them leaving Jill or Percy’s room so he could see where all the Untouchables were going to be positioned. There were ten of them and they sounded like they all have had training as elite soldiers. “Hopefully they can’t fight what they can’t see,” Mykal whispered to himself while he exited the elevator on the 2nd floor.
Mykal sat on the floor in the hallway for a few minutes. He felt an uncontrollable rage brewing inside of him. He knew he felt true anger due to their plan to silence him without any recourse, but the rage he felt verge on maniacal. He imagined doing things he only believed Sosos were capable of doing. He looked down at the gold band around his finger and he was sure it had something to do with the raging emotions he had been experiencing.
When the door to room 214 opened and all the men started to rush out and go in different directions Mykal didn’t feel any fear but only hateful excitement. ‘These rotten sonsab
itches are gonna pay,’ he thought ‘They started a war with the wrong friggin person.’
“…see, I told you we should have followed him,” Louis, the second bald man spoke to his partner, Jorge. “He lied to Percy.”
“Yeah, but Percy said ‘ee drobe out to da middle of da state,” Jorge replied with a slight Mexican accent that matched his appearance. “’ee would hab seen us coming an’ dat would hab spooked him.”
“Obviously the little bastard lied. I think he’s up to something, so be on your guard Jorge.”
“Ah, ‘ee’s na gon’ be no truble,” Jorge scoffed and waved his hand as if to shoo the problem away. “Percy said ee tinks we gon’ let he go. So, no truble. You see. It be easy.”
“I don’t believe it. But I hope you’re right,” Louis said as he and Jorge walked right past Mykal. They got on the elevator and took it to the first floor.
“No, I understand why Dom is pissed off,” Jesse spoke to his partner Stan, the first bald man. Jesse was the youngest of the group and seemed to be the cockiest of them all. “William was a good friend of his. I met William a couple of times but I never had the opportunity to work with him.”
“He was definitely a good guy,” Stan replied. The pair turned right from the room to go to the far stairwell where they were positioned before. “But we are in a dangerous business Jesse, and don’t you forget that. You can’t allow your emotions to come into play. Dominick needs to drop it. If Percy says he wants him, the target, removed quickly, we follow orders despite our personal feelings. You’re new to this kid, so here is a quick important lesson for you. Leave your emotions at the door and do what you’re told. Percy gets paid the big bucks to make the right decisions. We can’t question the orders given to us pertaining to any target.”