Reborn

by Thomas A. Watson

  Tiffany bounced over to one of average height and stopped in front of him. “So, you liked raping that little girl after you killed her family?” Tiffany asked with an evil grin. “Don’t worry, I won’t feel bad later.”

  Lashing her hand out, Tiffany sliced open his belly as Kenneth and Besseta started feeding. “I’m going to show you what your insides look like,” Tiffany told him and did just that. Never feeding on the man, Tiffany disemboweled him and then moved over and fed off the last one still standing.

  When she was done feeding, Tiffany ripped the man’s arms off and lashed out, kicking him and knocking him down. Tossing the man’s arms on his chest, Tiffany let out a contented sigh. “Okay, Besseta, I know why you rip their arms off now,” Tiffany confessed. “It’s a great stress release.”

  Tiffany turned to see Kenneth going through the pockets of the group. “So, we rob them?” Tiffany asked as Kenneth pulled out a pistol and tossed it over into a pile.

  “If you want to look at it like that,” Kenneth shrugged. “I like to think of it as redistribution of assets from the criminal element.”

  Giving an impressed nod, Tiffany bent down and helped. “That sounds so elegant,” she said, tossing over a wad of money into the pile.

  When they were done, Kenneth looked at two still conscious. “If we ever come back, none of you will live and we will know when you do evil. When the cops come, tell them why those five died and I strongly suggest you forget what we look like,” Kenneth warned as the girls tossed the cash and guns in their backpacks.

  Walking over, Kenneth grabbed his pack. “Follow me,” Kenneth said and took off. A few minutes later, Besseta came to a stop in front of a car wash and busted out laughing.

  “You are a cop, through and through,” Tiffany said, joining Besseta and laughing as Kenneth walked in one of the bays and fed bills into the machine. Grabbing the spray wand, Kenneth turned as the two walked in the bay, still laughing.

  He sprayed the blood that coated their leather riding gear, then let Besseta wash him off. Standing off to the side, Tiffany grabbed her wet hair and twisted it up, wringing the water out. “I’m glad you are on our side,” Tiffany told Kenneth while Besseta put the sprayer back. “You could be the dark criminal mastermind on all those shows, but the hero would be like, really screwed.”

  “I think I’m impressed,” Kenneth said, wiping the water off his face. “Let’s go for a run to dry off,” he suggested and unzipped the vents in his jacket and pants.

  The girls copied him and soon they were following Kenneth in the early morning hours, just zipping around Nashville.

  They were running along a four-lane empty highway lined by car lots. “STOP!” Besseta yelled out and in their minds. Kenneth locked his legs so hard, his boots dug in the dirt and he went flying. Hitting the ground hard, he rolled and cartwheeled for twenty yards. Coming to a stop, he jumped up ready to fight.

  Looking back, he saw Besseta staring into a car lot with a look of wonder. “What?” Kenneth asked, coming over and noticed Tiffany getting off the ground.

  “I want it,” Besseta stated with wide eyes, lifting her right hand up pointing.

  Following the finger, “You scared the shit out of me because of a truck?” Kenneth huffed.

  “I want it now,” Besseta said, dropping her hand and Kenneth grabbed her arm.

  “Babe, you don’t steal a car that’s talking to you,” Kenneth huffed like he was offended. “That’s just telling the car you don’t respect it.”

  Besseta let out a gasp and disappeared. Tiffany walked over to Kenneth, brushing the dirt off, “Glad I’m dry,” Tiffany said and looked in the dealer lot and saw Besseta next to a massive truck, laying her head on a gigantic tire.

  “Is that truck real?” Tiffany gasped and then heard Besseta telling the truck she was sorry.

  “Yes,” Kenneth said and took off, stopping behind Besseta as she caressed the truck. “Besseta, we need to go home and get our IDs and credit cards, we only have a little over twenty grand in cash,” Kenneth told her.

  Jerking her head up, Besseta spun around, “Suzie might be gone!” Besseta gasped.

  “How much do you think it’ll cost? There isn’t paper taped to the window,” Tiffany asked, looking at the truck. The truck was jacked up so high, Besseta’s head didn’t even reach the bottom of the doors.

  “That’s an International CXT, the largest pickup truck ever made. And this one has got to be jacked up ten inches and I guarantee you, each of those five-foot-tall tires cost over five grand. I didn’t know they made mud grip tires that big,” Kenneth told her.

  Tiffany looked at the tire Besseta was standing beside, and it was taller than Besseta. “Are you sure it moves?” Tiffany asked unconvinced.

  “Oh, I’m sure,” Kenneth chuckled. “Babe, let me run home and get a credit card. You and Tiffany can stay here with Suzie,” Kenneth offered.

  “I have a safe house here, Kenneth,” Besseta told him, turning back around and reaching up to rub the body of the truck. “Go there and get one.”

  Kenneth disappeared and reappeared. “The dealer opens at nine a.m. It’s three a.m., so we have six hours to get a credit card.”

  “Someone might get her,” Besseta whined, stomping her feet as she turned around.

  Holding up his right hand, “I swear to you, if Suzie isn’t here, I’ll spend everything we have to get her for you,” Kenneth vowed.

  “Can’t we just go break into another bank?” Tiffany suggested.

  Giving a curt laugh, “No,” Kenneth answered. “You don’t rob a bank in the area and make a large purchase. Besides, we would have to hit several small banks or one big one, I’m sure Suzie is over a hundred grand.”

  “Oh,” Tiffany said, looking at the truck. “It has a lot of shiny on it.”

  “It’s called chrome, and you’re right,” Kenneth said, looking at the chrome contrasted against the dark blue body. “Besseta, lead us to your safe house. I’m sure you can take a more direct route than I can.”

  “You know where it is?” Tiffany asked.

  “I didn’t until Besseta thought about it,” Kenneth confessed and Besseta turned around, talking to Suzie. “She has over sixty, just here in the states and I’m trying to memorize them, but haven’t really made an effort since she knows where they are.”

  “Let’s go,” Besseta said and vanished with a thunderclap.

  Reaching over, Kenneth scooped Tiffany up in his arms and took off after Besseta. ‘I knew you couldn’t keep up,’ Kenneth said in Tiffany’s mind.

  Holding onto Kenneth, Tiffany narrowed her eyes as the wind blasted them and saw they were closing in on Besseta as she weaved along the road and taking other streets. A few minutes later, they were on the other side of town, standing in front of a gated condo community.

  Walking over to a keypad, Besseta punched in numbers and the gate rolled open. “How do you know the combination?” Tiffany asked, following Besseta.

  “Every combination that’s a four-digit code is 1382, the year I was turned,” Besseta answered. “That way, I’m not remembering lots of numbers.”

  Looking around at the spaced out condos, “Are these apartments?” Tiffany asked, and Kenneth gave a snort.

  “Hardly,” he chuckled. “Think of them as really big apartments you can buy,” he told her, then waved at the cars parked at some of the condos. “Besides the fact of how they look, you can tell this is a snotty community by all the expensive cars.”

  “Oh,” Tiffany nodded as Besseta stopped in front of a condo that didn’t have any cars parked at it. Besseta walked closer as she glanced around, then bent down and leapt up to the roof. “That would definitely spook the neighbors,” Tiffany said, watching Besseta leap up on the roof.

  Walking to the crest, Besseta lifted up a roofing tile and pulled out a key. “I never would’ve thought of hiding my key on the roof,” Kenneth admitted with a chuckle.

  Jumping back down, Besseta opened the front door and jumped
over a pile of mail. Before walking in, Kenneth stopped and looked at the door and saw a mail slot. Turning around, Kenneth looked at the doors on the condos across the parking lot and saw they didn’t have mail slots.

  “The manager checks my mail and puts it in the slot for me,” Besseta said from inside the house.

  “I never would’ve caught you,” Kenneth chuckled, walking inside and had to jump over the mail.

  Tiffany was walking around and looking at the condo when Besseta came from the back carrying a cardholder. “Okay, we can go,” Besseta said and saw Kenneth arranging the mail. “Find two big envelopes from the law firm, and those will have your IDs. I had them mail them out to the safe house here.”

  “Found ‘em,” Kenneth said, continuing to sort the mail. “Let’s get the bikes and leave them here. We can take a cab to the dealer.”

  “Or we could just go there and wait for them to open,” Besseta told him as she tapped her foot.

  Hearing the tone, Kenneth looked up. “Hey, I have an idea. We could just go there and wait for them to open,” he said and Besseta stopped tapping her foot. “Then, we can pick up the bikes and head home.”

  “Great idea,” Besseta smiled as Kenneth stood up and handed her one of the envelopes.

  “Can you put that in the safe? The rest of this is junk,” he told her and Besseta took the envelope. When Besseta headed to the back of the house, Kenneth headed to the kitchen and came back with trash bags.

  Walking back into the living room, Besseta saw Kenneth and Tiffany loading the bags with the mail. “Oh, come on,” Besseta whined.

  “We can get rid of it on the way,” Kenneth told her, but did move faster.

  Carrying three bags out, Kenneth headed to a dumpster as Besseta locked the door and put the key back. “Would you be mad, if I made a detour and joined you at the dealership?” Kenneth asked.

  “No, see you there,” Besseta smiled and took off. This time, Besseta just jumped the ten-foot-tall gate.

  “I’ll see you there,” Tiffany said and took off.

  “Glad my girl finally found her ride,” Kenneth grinned and took off.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  When the sun rose, the three were sitting outside the dealership with their backs against the building. Kenneth had a laptop plugged into an outside outlet and was surfing the web. Tiffany was glad that Besseta had finally sat down and stopped climbing over the truck. When they’d sat down, Tiffany called and checked on Mickey and his family.

  “You can work on Suzie, right?” Besseta asked as Tiffany hung up her phone.

  “Most of her, but I’ve never worked on diesel engines, so I would have to learn that part,” Kenneth said, tapping the keyboard. “How’s Mickey?”

  “He said they are fine and the kids only fell in the lake once, and realized the water is really cold now. Yesterday, they had snow, but it melted off before the sun set,” Tiffany relayed, putting her phone in her jacket. “Besseta, what are we going to do when the lake starts to freeze? We can get to the house, but what about Mickey and his family?”

  Having trouble thinking, Besseta was thankful Kenneth answered. “Don’t worry, Tiffany. I took care of that and it should be there in a few days.”

  “Oh,” Tiffany said as a car pulled into the lot. The driver was heading to the back until he saw three people sitting in leather riding gear, leaned up against the building.

  Backing up and pulling over, a man stepped out of the car. “Can I help you?” he asked and then noticed Kenneth tapping away on a laptop that was plugged into the wall.

  “About time,” Besseta said, getting up as the man walked over. “I’m here to get my truck.”

  “When did you buy it?” the man asked.

  “When someone opens the door,” Besseta snapped.

  Giving a smile, “Which one were you looking at?” he asked.

  “Oh, I’m not looking. I’m buying that one,” Besseta told him and she pointed at the massive blue truck sitting prominently in front of the dealership.

  Giving off a low whistle, “That is an International GTX with less than twenty thousand miles, not to mention a ton of upgrades,” the man replied.

  “So, I’ll take it,” Besseta told him, crossing her arms.

  “Young lady, that truck is one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars,” the man replied.

  Turning from the man, Besseta looked at the truck. “I’ll give you a hundred and thirty thousand dollars, that’s my final offer. And I want it filled up with the good fuel before I leave.”

  Blinking his eyes in shock, the man wanted to tell Besseta she had just offered him more, but was too astounded to reply. He slowly turned to Kenneth, who was looking over the laptop at him. “I’ll give you some advice. Nod your head and say thank you very much. Open up and start the paperwork really fast before she gets mad and buys the dealership just to fire everyone,” Kenneth told him.

  Turning back to Besseta, the man nodded slowly. “Thank you very much. Let me open up, so we can start the paperwork really fast.”

  Reaching up, Besseta patted his cheek and smiled. “You’re sweet,” Besseta told him. “Don’t forget to fill it up with the good gas.”

  The man turned back to Kenneth for guidance. “Nod your head and say you will, and I’ll explain it to her,” Kenneth instructed.

  Thankful for the help, the man did as he was told and then pulled out a keyring, heading for the front door. Walking inside, the man just left his car running outside. “Kenneth, I want good gas for Suzie,” Besseta said, stomping her foot.

  Closing his laptop, “Besseta, that is a diesel. You put gas in Suzie, and she will break,” Kenneth told her, getting up. He walked over to the man’s car, turned it off and shut the door.

  “Well, I want good diesel,” Besseta told him.

  “Then you want number two diesel,” Kenneth said, not wanting to explain. Walking over and grabbing his backpack and shoving the laptop inside, Kenneth held out his hand. “I’ll help you take care of Suzie, so let’s go inside and get the papers.”

  Bouncing over, Besseta grabbed his hand and jumped up, kissing him on the cheek. Kenneth laughed at her excitement and held out a hand to Tiffany.

  Taking his hand, Tiffany let Kenneth help her up and they went inside where Kenneth gave the salesman his keys. The dealership was just opening up and Besseta ran outside, jumping up and down as she headed for the truck. Hitting the key fob, Besseta had to jump up to use the steps on the side to reach the door.

  Kenneth laughed, watching Besseta open the door and scramble inside. The enormous truck made Besseta look like a kid. “What are the shiny round things the steps are on?” Tiffany asked, walking with Kenneth.

  “Fuel tanks,” Kenneth told her, opening the back crew cab door on the driver’s side.

  Kenneth helped Tiffany up and saw Besseta moving the seat closer to the steering wheel. Closing the door, Kenneth walked around the front of the truck, “I sure hope she can reach the pedals,” Kenneth mumbled and climbed inside.

  Leaning over the center console, Kenneth showed Besseta where everything was and how to start it, after the glow plug light went off. When the massive engine turned over Besseta let out a cheerful laugh and put the truck into drive.

  With the steering wheel up and the seat all the way forward, he saw Besseta could reach the pedals, barely. “I feel like I’m riding on top of the world,” Tiffany laughed, looking out as Besseta pulled out onto the road.

  “That reminds me, the salesman said this thing is thirteen feet, six inches tall, so you don’t drive under anything unless it says fourteen feet clearance,” Kenneth told Besseta as she came to a stop at a stoplight.

  “This is awesome!” Besseta shouted, bouncing in the seat. They headed out and picked up the bikes. Several people stood in awe as Kenneth just picked the bikes up and handed them to Tiffany in the back of the truck. Besseta was still in the truck.

  “We work out,” Kenneth told a man who was gawking at them.

&nb
sp; Climbing back in the truck, Kenneth programed several stops in the navigation system. “Go where Suzie tells you to,” Kenneth said, leaning back in the seat.

  It was afternoon when they’d finally left Nashville and the bed was packed with boxes around the three motorcycles. “What’s with all the bullets?” Tiffany asked.

  “Need to train you two more on guns,” Kenneth said over his shoulder and then reached down and pulled out a large box. He passed it back and Tiffany let out a gasp. “You can watch this while we head home.”

  “Buffy!” Tiffany cried out, hugging the box.

  “Yep, the entire series,” Kenneth chuckled and reached back, showing Tiffany how to load the disk.

  Kenneth was very surprised at how well Besseta handled the truck, then remembered her playing on the massive bulldozer at the house. The fifteen hours home went by fast. Then, Kenneth realized when they stopped to eat, it wasn’t take out.

  Pulling through the gate, Besseta started bouncing in the seat. “I think Suzie is going to like her new home,” Besseta said.

  Reaching the end of the drive, Kenneth saw Mickey and family getting off the boat at the dock, then he felt the brakes slam on. “Kenneth, Suzie won’t fit in the garage,” Besseta stated in shock.

  “Um, yeah, that’s why the other truck is parked outside,” Kenneth said, pointing over at the Chevy Kodiak pickup. When he’d bought it, Kenneth had thought it was big, until he saw Suzie.

  “That’s not fair! Suzie can’t stay outside!” Besseta cried out.

  “Babe, I’ll start right now to expand the garage,” Kenneth promised. “We already have to do a lot of building, so it’s perfect.”

  “We build her a home first,” Besseta snapped.

  “Of course,” Kenneth laughed. “I trust you want to level the area with the dozer?”

  Putting the truck in park, Besseta turned it off. “The left side of the garage?” Besseta beamed.

  “Yes,” Kenneth chuckled. “Level the same size area we did for the garage.”

  Opening her door, Besseta launched out. To his surprise, Kenneth watched Besseta run over to Mickey and his family, hugging them. Then, Besseta picked up Bonnie and Clyde and took off. He climbed out to see Tiffany hugging the family and picking up Jack and Jill.