by David Archer
Missing Teeth stepped aside, and so did three other men with him. Noah entered the room to find Ralphie sitting up in the bed, his tray table pulled up close and holding the remains of his breakfast.
“So you’re Rex Madison, are you? Pa told me you’d be taking over today. I guess I owe you a big thank-you; Pa says if it wasn’t for you, that dweeb Benny might’ve actually managed to kill me.”
Noah shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. All I know is that I saw a gun come out and get pointed your way, so I tried to stop anything bad from happening. Couple of deputies told me that the security tape looked like he had a good bead drawn on you, and that when I grabbed him and threw off his aim.”
Ralph grinned at him. “Well, thanks, whatever you did. All I remember is seeing that gun barrel appear in front of me and realizing that I was looking straight down it. I’m smart enough to know that means it was aimed right at one of my eyes. I’d much rather have this concussion than be blind or dead, right?”
“I’d have to agree with you on that,” Noah said. He turned and looked at the men who were standing around the room, staying out of his way. “These were your bodyguards?”
“Yeah,” Ralph said. “That’s Ronnie and Billy Jim and…”
“I don’t care who they are,” Noah said. “Not one of you had seen a picture of me, had you?”
All of the men in the room, including Ralph, shook their heads. “No,” said one of them. “Why? Was we supposed to see one?”
“Not necessarily,” Noah said, “but you should never have taken my word for the fact that I was supposed to be taking over today. All four of you stepped out of my way on my say-so and let me walk right up to Ralph, who’s laying in his hospital bed and completely vulnerable. If I were somebody other than who I am, then maybe whoever hired Benny to try to kill Ralph could have gotten to me, too. If that were the case, Ralph would be dead already, and I probably could have killed all four of you before you could react. You’re all fired. Get out of here now, before I really get pissed off.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” said one of the men. “Who do you think you are? You can’t…” The man fell suddenly silent as he dropped his eyes downward. Noah had drawn his pistol and pointed it directly at the big fellow’s groin.
“Care to bet?” Noah asked. “If I had been a killer, I could have shot Ralph as soon as I walked in and then taken the four of you down with a single shot each. Firing five shots and having to spin around once would take me about 1.3 seconds. It would take any one of you more than two seconds just to draw your weapon, and another 1.5 seconds or more to aim it at me. I’d even have time for a second shot if I missed a couple of you with the first. And even if one or two of you survived, would you really want to? Ralph would be dead; would you really want to face Jimmy?”
All four of the men were staring at Noah, and all four of them swallowed hard as they considered his last question. One by one, without another word, they walked down the hall toward the elevator and left the hospital.
“Wow,” Ralph said. “You were a little rough on them, don’t you think?”
“Not nearly rough enough,” Noah replied. “They let a perfect stranger walk into your hospital room without even checking to see if I was armed. What I said to them was true. If I were hired to finish what Benny Smoot failed to accomplish, you would already be dead. Your father has hired me to make sure you stay safe. I’m not going to have idiots like that working your security detail. As far as I’m concerned, kid, you’re more important than the president of the United States. That means I want a security detail on you that’s every bit as good as the one on him.”
Ralph let out a sigh. “Okay, look, Rex, let’s talk. See, Pa thinks I can’t take care of myself, but there’s a lot of things that I like to do where I don’t want a bunch of freaking babysitters around, know what I mean? That’s why I kinda like the guys I had, because they knew how to get lost when I wanted them to. Now, if you’re taking over, you and me got to work this out.”
Noah looked at the boy for a long moment, then shook his head. “What part of ‘I’m going to keep you alive’ do you not understand? I’m going to put together a security detail that is going to shadow you twenty-four hours a day. There will be men standing outside your bedroom door and under your bedroom window all night long, and when you get up in the morning, at least two of them will be at your side from the moment you roll out of bed until you turn out the lights again. I don’t care if you and your girlfriend are doing the horizontal hula—there will be at least two armed men within three feet of you at all times, do you understand me?”
Ralph’s face fell. “Aw, c’mon, man,” he said. “I gotta have a little bit of privacy, know what I mean? Me and my girl, we like to—you know? I can’t have a couple of goons standing around when I’m trying to get her in the mood, now, can I?”
“Sorry, Ralph,” Noah said. “But this is how it’s going to be.”
“How what’s going to be?” Jimmy Morgan asked as he entered the room, Scott Forney right beside him.
“Pa, you gotta talk to this guy,” Ralph said to his father. “He’s saying he’s gonna have bodyguards standing over me every minute of the day. Come on, Pa, I don’t need no babysitters. Hell, I already pack a gun of my own. I don’t need somebody like this goon standing over me all the time.”
Morgan smiled at his son, but then his hand flashed out and slapped the boy across the face. “You let me tell you something,” he said. “Somebody tried to kill you a couple nights ago. Now, maybe it was just Benny getting his tweak on, or maybe somebody paid him to try to take you out, like he said. Either way, we now have a situation where we can’t take any chances. We’ve got to make sure you’re safe, because you’re the next generation of the Morgan empire. What that means is, if this man right here says he’s going to have somebody standing next to you while you take a dump, you might as well just ask the guy to hold the toilet paper for you. Rex has already been through some pretty bad stuff, and he’s managed to survive it. That tells me he’s a man who can think on his feet, and that means he’s probably a man who can keep you from getting killed. He’s going to be in charge of your security from now on, and if I hear of even one time you try to give him or his people the slip, you’re going to answer to me. You got that, boy?”
Ralph’s eyes were wide and locked on his father. “Yes, sir,” he said shakily. “No problem, Pa.”
“There’d better not be,” Jimmy said. “After what happened the other night, I’m not taking any chances with you. You might not understand it, son, but you’re the most important thing in the world to me. All the rest of this could go to hell in a hand basket, but if anything happened to you I’d be destroyed. Now, Rex is the kind of man who can figure out pretty quickly what to do to keep you safe, so I don’t want to hear any more talk about you not doing what he says.”
“Yes, sir,” Ralph said. “There won’t be any.” He looked up at Noah. “Rex, I’m sorry about all that. We got no problem, I promise you.”
“We’re good,” Noah said. “I just want to do my job, that’s all.”
“And on that note,” Forney said, standing behind Noah, “I’ve got a few people waiting in the hall for you to meet. Ready?”
“Jimmy?” Noah looked to Morgan for permission, and Morgan nodded. He turned and followed Forney out into the hall, where four large men were waiting.
“Guys,” Forney said, “this is Rex Madison. Like I told you, Jimmy just put him in charge of Ralphie’s security, and he’s looking for a few good men.” A couple of the men snickered at the Marine Corps reference. “Rex, this is Jake, David, Brendan, and Shawn. I’ve been knowing them pretty much all my life, and they’re not only pretty stout, every single one of them has a brain in his head. I thought they might be useful to you because you could put one of these guys in charge of a crew and then relax.”
Noah looked them over and nodded. “That would give me one for each shift, and two guys to cover days off. Good thinking,
but don’t expect to get yourself out of this.”
Forney laughed. “Thought never crossed my mind, boss,” he said. “I’ll do whatever you tell me to do; I just thought these guys would be beneficial.”
Noah smiled at him. “Okay. For today, I want two of these men—Jake and Shawn—with me on the day shift. David, we’ll find a couple of guys to put with you for the evening, and Brendan can run the graveyard shift.” He gave each of the men his cell number and make sure they all had one another’s. “David, you call me at four, and I’ll let you know where to meet up and take over. Brendan can call you at midnight, and I’ll find him in the morning.”
“Sounds good, boss,” David said.
Brendan extended a hand, and Noah accepted it. “Thanks for this, Rex,” he said. “Scott’s been trying to get me moved up out of the grunt department.”
“Well, I’m giving you the chance because of his endorsement. The job description is very simple: we don’t let anybody hurt the kid. If that means you have to take the bullet, you do it. I suspect that would be better than trying to face Jimmy if anything happened to Ralph, anyway.”
Brendan chuckled. “I can personally guarantee it,” he said.
The two men left to go and prepare themselves for their shifts, and Noah beckoned Jake and Shawn into the hospital room. Just before he followed them, he turned to Forney.
“Think you can find a couple of reliable guys to put under each of them? And we’ll need people for off days. The last thing I need is for security guys to get exhausted, so I don’t want anybody working more than five days straight.”
Forney grinned. “Other than yourself, you mean?”
Noah shot the grin back at him. “Comes with the job, man.”
“I know a few guys,” Forney said. “I’ll have to steal them from other crews, but Jimmy won’t mind. I’ll get them all gathered up, and you can meet them this afternoon, okay?”
“Sounds good,” Noah said. “Let me know where and when.” He turned and walked into the room, while Forney started down the hall.
Jimmy was joking with the two new men when Noah got inside. “Rex, you’re already stealing some of my best guys,” he said gruffly when he saw Noah, but then he cracked a smile. “Relax, I’m yanking your chain. I told you to pick whoever you wanted, I meant it. These are good boys, here.”
He turned around and looked at his son, then slapped him gently on the cheek. “I’m gonna go,” he said. “I’ll see you at home tonight?”
“Sometime,” Ralph said. “I want to see Darlene tonight, too. She was going to come up and see me yesterday, but I told her to wait. Didn’t want her to see me looking weak, you know?”
“Damn right,” Jimmy said. “Never let them see you in a moment of weakness. You just behave yourself, and make sure you don’t give your security any problems.” He patted Noah on the shoulder and walked out of the room.
It turned out that Ralph already knew both Jake and Shawn and grudgingly admitted that he could stand having them to hang out with. “At least they’re not assholes,” he said. “I just don’t want anybody hitting on my girl or making nasty comments when we—do the horizontal hula.” He threw a grin at Noah.
Noah nodded and grinned back, then turned to the other men. “I’ll make that an order,” he said. “When Ralph and his girl are together, I want you paying more attention to what’s going on around you than to what they’re doing. Okay?”
Both men were stifling grins of their own, but they solemnly promised not to try to watch.
“Good,” Noah said. “What you carry for hardware?”
Jake swung his jacket out so Noah could see the nickel-plated Glock 40 on his belt, and Shawn did likewise, displaying a pair of compact revolvers.
“Thirty eights,” he said. “I just do better with revolvers, but they don’t hold as many rounds, so I carry a spare.”
“Fine by me,” Noah said. “Just as long as you know how to use them.” He turned to Ralph. “I’m planning to keep three men on you at all times. Two will be your shadows, and the third will be in charge but somewhere out of sight most of the time. During the daytime, I’ll be with you most of the time, as well.”
Ralph shrugged. “Ain’t like I get a say in it, right?” He tried to sound cheerful, but Noah detected a hint of resentment in the comment.
“Probably no more than I do,” he said. “Look, Ralph, this is just a job to me, but I’d really prefer if we get along. It’ll make both our lives easier, don’t you think?”
Ralph rolled his eyes but managed another grin. “Yeah, that makes sense. It ain’t like I got nothing against you, not really, I just never thought I’d be having to have babysitters again. Know what I mean?”
“We’ll do our bests to be unobtrusive. Now, you’re supposed to be getting out of here today?”
“So they told me yesterday,” Ralph said. “Doc usually comes through here around nine, so it shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Cool,” Noah said. “Meanwhile, I need a cup of coffee.” He turned to Shawn and handed him a ten-dollar bill. “They’ve got some kind of a cafeteria downstairs; I saw the sign when I came in. Go fetch us each a cup. Ralph, you want one?”
The boy shook his head. “No, but I can sure stand a Mountain Dew.”
“And a Mountain Dew,” Noah said. Shawn nodded, took the money, and left the room.
The next ninety minutes were spent just waiting for the doctor, and he finally showed up at just a little past nine. He talked to Ralph for a couple of minutes, then told him he could start getting dressed and ready to leave. “I’ll sign the release, and the nurse will be in in a few minutes. I’m giving you something for the headaches you’re bound to have, but other than that you’re good to go.”
“About time,” Ralph said. He threw off the sheet and climbed out of the bed, digging in the little nightstand for his clothes, then carried them into the bathroom to get dressed. He was out a few minutes later, just as the nurse entered the room.
“Doctor says you’re supposed to take it easy for couple of days,” she said, “and he gave you a prescription for a mild painkiller. Sign here, and here, and then you can leave.”
Ralph signed where he was told, and Noah sent Jake out ahead of them. He made a mental note to purchase some radios, the type used by other security teams, and train the men in their operation. For the moment, he just had to count on hearing any gunshots if Jake ran into a problem.
Shawn had driven his own car to the hospital, so Noah told Jake to ride with him while escorting Ralph to the Charger. The boy’s eyes grew wide when they approached the car, and he just about fainted when Noah started it up.
“Man, this is awesome,” he said. “You want to sell it?”
Noah grinned at him. “You don’t have enough money,” he said. “This is my baby.”
“You sure about that?” Ralph asked with a laugh. “Money isn’t exactly a problem for me.”
“Just trust me on this.” Noah cruised through town at normal speeds, then looked over at Ralph when they got to the town square. “Anywhere in particular you want to go right now?”
“Yeah, home,” the boy said. “I need to get changed. This shirt still has blood on it.”
“Cool. Where is home?”
“Go out to the Outpost and hang a right. I’ll show you from there.”
The Outpost was a service station and convenience store almost a mile out of town toward Eureka Springs. Noah opened the car up a little bit when they got outside the city limits, and Ralph laughed with delight. He slowed again to make the turn, but the two-lane county road was almost perfectly straight for quite a way, so he punched the accelerator and the car leaped forward, rear tires screaming.
The acceleration slammed them both back into their seats, and Ralph gripped his armrest. “Holy shit,” he yelled. “This is incredible. What’s under the hood?”
“Hemi,” Noah said. “Five hundred and forty cubic inches and over nine hundred horsepower.” He shrugged. “
It does all right.”
“All right? Dude, you gotta take this out to the drag strip. You will mop the floor with everybody else!”
Noah laughed. “Maybe someday,” he said. “Might be fun.”
“Yeah, okay, but slow down. That’s my turn up there. Hang a right.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Noah turned where the boy had indicated and saw the house they were headed to off in the distance. The driveway was almost a mile long and looked like a nicely paved road. He pulled up in front and got out, with Shawn’s late-model Camaro parking right behind him.
“You guys can wait out here,” Noah said. “He’s just going to change, so we shouldn’t be long.”
“Yes, sir,” Shawn replied, and Jake echoed him.
Noah followed Ralph into the house, and they were instantly greeted by a small, gray-haired woman. “Hey, Marlene,” Ralph said. “Just running in to change clothes.”
Marlene caught him before he could get to the stairs and grabbed him by his shoulders. “You just hold on a minute, young man,” she said. “What you mean, giving an old woman a scare like that? That isn’t good for me, you know.”
Ralph smiled and gave her a hug. “I’m fine, Marlene.” He turned her so she was facing Noah. “This is Rex—he’s the guy who saved my life. Pa hired him to run my security from now on, so you might as well get used to seeing him around.”
She let go of Ralph and instantly threw her arms around Noah. “I heard about you, I heard what you did,” she said. “Thank you, thank you so much. I’ve been taking care of this boy since he was a baby; I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him.”
Noah smiled and returned the hug. “I was just in the right place at the right time, ma’am,” he said. “But now it’s my job, so I’ll make a point of taking care of him for you.”