by J. T. Baier
“Can I tell you something?”
“Yeah, of course,” Riker said.
“I’ve been scared for a long time. Ever since those guys set my brother on fire. But Coach wasn’t afraid. He was the only person in this town with the balls to stand up to these assholes.” Donnie met Riker’s gaze for the first time. “I don’t know what I believe about all this afterlife stuff. But if Coach is out there somewhere, I hope he’s looking down on us, watching. Because if I ever get the chance, I’m going to make him proud. I’m going to be brave.”
He let go of the tree and took a step forward, nearly losing his balance.
Riker steadied him with a hand on his back. “Donnie, maybe you should go home.”
“Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
“You need a ride?”
“No. It’s only a few blocks, and I could use the fresh air.”
Riker watched as Donnie wandered off toward the edge of the cemetery only swaying back and forth a little as he walked. He was still watching Donnie when a voice came from behind him.
“Guess you managed to get the better of Luke’s crew this time.”
He turned and saw a man standing in the shadow of an oak tree—a man he’d last seen in the alley holding a baseball bat. Riker’s face grew taut, but the man held up his hands, showing them empty.
“Chill. I’m just here to talk. I wanted to apologize for last night. Things got way out of hand.”
Riker inspected the man and saw sadness in his eyes. “I take down your buddies and suddenly you’re filled with regret?”
“It’s not like that. My name’s Eric Underwood.” He held out his hand.
Riker hesitated a moment before shaking it.
“When Luke told me they were going to jump you after the funeral, I told him I was out. He was pissed, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to disrespect Coach Kane like that.”
“Were you a wrestler?”
“No. But my son is. Coach meant the world to David.”
Riker tilted his head in surprise. “David? I met him at the wake.”
“He told me. Said you were a good guy. He also seems to think you might be able to help me. I guess that’s why I came over to talk to you. After what happened to Coach… I don’t know, maybe I’ve been looking for someone to talk to. Someone who can maybe do something about all of this.”
Riker inspected the man more carefully, now spotting the way he kept shifting his weight and glancing past Riker to make sure no one was watching.
“You’re him,” Riker said. “You’re the guy who was giving Coach information about the drug organization.”
Eric didn’t respond, but he didn’t deny it either.
“Help me finish what Coach started,” Riker said. “Who do you work for? What’s really going on in Kingsport?”
“That’s not why I’m here. After what they did to Coach, there’s no way I can give up any information. I’m sorry, but it’s just too dangerous for my family. In fact, we’re seriously considering leaving town. I don’t think they’ll mess with me if I just go. You should think about doing the same. The organization has got a real hard-on for you.”
Riker kept his face blank, carefully hiding his frustration. He’d finally found the source he’d been looking for, and the man wasn’t willing to talk.
“I can’t give you any information on the organization, but I can tell you what happened the night Coach died.”
“You were there?”
“Not when they killed him, but before. I guess it was my fault, in a way. Coach was there to meet me that night. I drove up and saw him parked near Grant Park, but there was another vehicle there too. I got spooked and drove away.”
“Can you describe this other vehicle?”
“I can do better than that. I can tell you who owns it. Hell, I’ve ridden in it myself plenty of times.”
“Tell me,” Riker said.
“It was Luke Dewitt’s truck. Luke was there the night Coach died.”
20
The sun was down when Riker and Megan arrived back home. Riker limped into the living room and collapsed onto Megan’s soft green sofa. He rubbed his injured leg, trying to dull the constant throbbing pain. At the same time, he tried to reconcile what Eric had told him. He’d known Luke was far from a saint, but he’d never truly believed he would have hurt Coach. If Luke really had murdered Coach, Riker needed to take off the kid gloves.
“Let’s take a look,” Megan said as she pulled a chair up next to him.
“That’s not necessary,” Riker said.
Megan shook her head. “Don’t be a tough guy. Let me see it.”
Riker rolled up the leg of his dress slacks to the knee. He unwrapped the splint, exposing a black and blue shin. A scab had formed where the baseball bat had struck and the entire lower leg was swollen.
Megan shook her head. “I’m guessing that feels just as bad as it looks.”
Riker gave her a smile. “It’s just a scratch. I barely noticed it all day.”
“Oh good. Then I don’t need to get you anything to help with the pain or swelling.”
“Okay, I could use a couple Ibuprofen if you have them.”
Megan got up. She returned a moment later with four white pills and a glass of water. “That and a good night of rest should help a bit.”
“Rest sounds nice, but today is far from over.” Riker looked Megan in the eyes. “Unfortunately neither of us will be getting any rest tonight.”
“Why is that?”
“I basically gave a big eff you to a drug gang today. They will be coming for me soon, and I’m sorry to say that they will be coming for you as well. I’ll take care of them, but I need you to get somewhere safe. You need to pack a bag with at least a week's worth of clothes and drive somewhere that you have no connection to. I should have this taken care of in a few days, but be prepared for the whole week.”
“And what will you be doing while I cower in some shady motel?”
“It doesn’t need to be a shady motel. You can go anywhere you want. Just don’t tell anyone, including me.”
“Okay then, what will you be doing while I kick my heels up on a beach?”
“In this case the best defense will be a good offense. They will expect me to hole up or run. I plan on bringing the fight to them. Picking apart the organization before they understand that they are under attack is the best option.”
“So you plan on going up against an unknown number of armed men who almost killed you once all ready? Do you even know where to start?”
“I know someone who does.”
“Go on.”
Riker hesitated. He had already involved Megan more than he wanted to. Her life was in danger and he was just dragging her in deeper and deeper. “It really doesn’t matter. You need to start packing and get out of here. They could come for us tonight.”
“I’m not doing anything until you tell me what your plan is.” Megan crossed her arms.
Riker saw that she meant it. She wasn’t going to move a muscle until she got more information. “Fine, I intend to find and destroy their drug stash. It will accomplish two goals. First off it will be a big hit to the local operation, and second it will draw out the remaining members of the organization.”
Megan’s mouth dropped half-open. She took in a breath to respond, but she pondered what Riker said instead. He waited for her to process the plan.
“Okay, I see how that could work, but there is one major problem.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ll die. I mean, I know you have training, but you’re just one man. Don’t they have armed guards wherever they are holding the drugs?”
“It will be very dangerous, and yes, I could die. If I die fighting to save this town, it will be a better cause than half the things I’ve fought for. Still I have no intention of meeting my maker any time soon. That’s why I need to make this happen now. If I attack tonight, I can catch them off guard. They’ll have no choice but to re
spond quickly. Most likely a full assault with lots of armed men. That’s why I need you to leave town.”
“If it has to be tonight, then you’ll need all the help you can get. Where do we start?”
Riker tilted his head, not sure if he’d heard Megan correctly. “You start by packing some things and heading out of town.”
“I appreciate your whole army of one thing, but I’m not a damsel in distress. I may not be able to run into a drug lab shooting up the place, but I can help.” She gave a soft kick to the side of Riker’s injured leg. He grimaced. “You need all the help you can get.”
“Look, Megan—”
She cut him off mid-sentence, “I’m going to save you some time. You are going to try to convince me that it’s too dangerous and I need to leave. That it will be easier if you don’t have to worry about me. The thing is, you convinced me that this is worth the risk. I’ve been turning a blind eye to this cancer in our town. I always told myself that there is nothing that I can do about it. Except I have a chance to do something now. I’m going to help you in any way that I can. I’m not leaving town, so you may as well accept my help.”
Riker heard the determination in her voice. It sounded familiar. It sounded like him. “You’re sure? This will get ugly.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay. Welcome to the team.”
Megan laughed. “Two people isn’t much of a team.”
“Like you said, it’s better than one. We actually need a little more help to get started.”
“Is this the part where you sort of know the location of the stash house?”
“That’s exactly what this is. When Donnie told us the story of his brother’s murder, he said they were on their way to burn the whole operation down. At the time I thought that he meant that figuratively, but they were literally going to burn down the place.”
“That’s not exactly proof that Donnie knows where the stash house is.”
“No, we need to talk to him to be sure.”
“Okay, I’ll drive. You get that splint tightened up.” Megan stood up and went to get her car keys.
“One more thing, do you happen to own a gun?”
Riker examined the small pistol on the drive over to Donnie’s house. It was a Taurus G2c. He had never used this model before—it was a budget 9mm. Although it wasn’t what he would have preferred, beggars couldn’t be choosers. The weapon was small and easy to conceal.
When they arrived at Donnie’s house, Riker pounded on the door for almost five minutes before he answered. This gave Riker plenty of time to examine the exterior of the home. It matched the occupant very well. The lawn was unkempt and covered with dead patches of grass. The paint was peeling, and a few boards hung loose on the siding. A paint can next to the front porch was overflowing with cigarette butts with many scattered on the ground around the container. A stale, ashy smell filled the area around the can.
Just as Riker pulled out his bump key to see if Donnie was passed out on the floor, a light turned on inside the house. Donnie opened the door and blinked his eyes like a man still dreaming.
“What are you doing here?”
“Good to see you too, Donnie,” Megan said.
He shook his head, pulling himself further out of sleep. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I took a nap after the funeral and I wasn’t expecting to see anyone.”
“You said to let you know if I needed your help,” Riker said. “Can we come in?”
Donnie led them into the house. He put on a pot of coffee and the three sat at his kitchen table. Empty beer bottles stood like soldiers guarding every part of the kitchen. They lined the counters and the table itself. Megan kept her hands in her lap, trying not to touch any surfaces.
“Sorry, I don’t get many visitors these days,” Donnie said.
“I’m not here to judge your housekeeping skills. I’m here because I need your help. At the funeral you said you wanted to do something. You said you wanted to be brave again. Did you mean that?”
“Every word of it. What do you need?”
“I just need some information. Where were you and your brother going the night that he was killed?”
“We were going to the source of the problem. You know where they make the drugs.”
“Wait, what do you mean by make the drugs?” Megan asked.
“I suspected as much,” Riker said. “This drug organization is up to more than just distribution. They are producing heroin. Maybe even growing it somewhere near town.”
He turned back to Donnie. “Do you think the lab is still there?”
“I know that it is.”
“How do you know they haven’t moved it?” Megan asked.
“It’s an old farm west of town. I go to the woods and watch the people come and go from there sometimes. I think of the way my brother screamed when he was burning. I remember the way his hair and skin smelt when he burned. I sit there and watch and drink until I wake up in a puddle of my own vomit. That’s how I know they still use the place.”
Megan’s eyes narrowed and her voice grew cold. “If you know where they’ve been making the drugs the whole time why didn’t you tell the police? How could you let them get away with it?”
Donnie lowered his gaze to the floor. “When they burned my brother, they told me I would be next if I ever said anything. I wish I would have said something. It would have been better to burn alive than live like I have been.”
“Don’t judge yourself too harshly, “Riker said. “Great men have broken under less. Can you tell me about this factory? I will need all the intel that I can get if I’m going to have a chance at this.”
“I can do better than tell you. I’ll take you there. I want to help with whatever you are doing.”
“I respect that, but this will be dangerous. You know exactly what can happen if things go wrong.”
“I do know, and if that’s how I go out it will be better than the life I’m living right now. I need to do this for Sam and for myself.”
Riker knew that he should try to talk him out of it. He wasn’t even sure if a drunk would be more harm than help. But he couldn’t deny a man his chance at redemption. It may be the only chance for Donnie to truly save his own life.
Megan turned to Riker. “I guess a team of three beats a team of two.”
“Okay Donnie, tell me everything you know.”
21
Riker crouched low in the woods, his eyes fixed on the road in front of him. An imposing figure stood just off the dirt road, in the middle of a wide driveway. There were tall trees and dense foliage on either side of the drive, but they did little to hide the chain-link fence around the perimeter of the remote property, or the barbed wire atop that fence. Quite a bit of security for a place in the middle of the woods north of town.
Riker watched in silence, his breathing falling into the slow steady rhythm it always did when he was on recon duty. His mind went to a strange place, both observant and passive. He instinctively kept his eyes angled away from the lights inside the property beyond the gate, preserving as much of his night vision as possible.
The man who stood guard at the gate had a relaxed posture, but he wasn’t being sloppy. Riker had to give him that. Though he couldn’t make out the man’s face in the darkness where he crouched, he would have been willing to bet this was one of the guys who’d attacked him outside the wake the previous night which made him feel a bit less hospitable toward the man.
Back at Megan’s house, Donnie had given them as much information as he knew about the layout of the facility. It was on an old farm that had belonged to the Warrens back in Riker’s day. He’d gone to school with Harmony Warren--a nice girl, if not exactly the brightest. Back then, there had been no fence around the property. No armed guard either. Apparently things had changed.
Donnie had been stoic as he gave the details. He’d told them about the fence and the guard. And a bit about what lay beyond. He hadn’t seen much before the men had stopped Sam and
him. Understandably, his attention had been focused on his dying brother from that point on rather than on potential weaknesses in the drug dealers’ fortification.
There had been one point where his eyes had lit up though, and for just a moment Riker had caught a glimpse of the old Donnie from high school. It was when he’d told Riker about the game trail that ran along the side of the property and about how he and Sam had often illegally hunted these woods. That was how they’d discovered what was going on out here, though it hadn’t been until a few years later that Sam had decided to burn it to the ground. Still, Donnie had given Riker enough of the general layout to form the rough structure of a plan. It wasn’t exactly subtle, but it might just work.
As Riker waited, his mind shifted to Luke. His oldest friend. The man who’d had a part in beating him unconscious. The man who’d lied to his face and said he’d known nothing about what happened to Coach. Now Riker knew that wasn’t true.
And earlier this afternoon, Riker had let Luke walk away, but that wouldn’t happen again. On the way out to the farm, Riker had driven past Dewitt Construction as well as Luke’s house. The truck wasn’t at either location. He hoped his old friend was here tonight. Even if he wasn’t, the attack would be sure to draw him out. Riker had promised himself that he would see justice, and he intended to do so, old friend or not. And God help Luke now that Riker knew he had something to do with Coach’s death. Regardless of what Luke had done for Riker in the past, he swore that Coach Kane would not go unavenged.
He’d been waiting in the woods for no more than ten minutes when he heard someone whistling as they walked down the road. A moment later, the whistler staggered into sight, cutting a zig-zagging path along the road as he came. The man at the gate tensed up immediately, his hand going to the butt of the pistol at his belt. But as the approaching man came closer, the guard relaxed a little.
“You gotta be kidding me. Donnie, is that you?”
“You’re damn right it is!” Donnie answered in a slurred voice. “And walking on public property too, so don’t give me any shit about not coming around here. This is America!”