by Tim Moon
Koby’s Destiny
A Collin War Chronicles Story
W.C. Hoffman & Tim Moon
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, products, and events are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the authors.
Copyright © 2016
2 West Press
All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Koby's Destiny
Praying For War
Chapter 1
“Gentlemen, please put your hands together and get out those dollar bills for Destiny as she takes the main stage,” the strip club DJ’s voice boomed over Warrants hit song, “Cherry Pie.” Destiny took the stage to a chorus of whoops, cat calls, and hollers as Gary Kobyashi sat at the main bar with his back to the entertainment. His eyes were fixated on the TV screens mounted on the wall behind the bar. Normally, the TVs would have featured sports, but tonight they only replayed the same shocking footage of the riots that overtook the White House and all of Washington, D.C.
Koby had seen enough of the chaos, so he spun in his chair and reveled in the delightful sexiness that was Destiny. The brunette bombshell was clad only in bubble wrap, and at this point, it was just what he needed to get his mind off the gloomy newscast. Thankfully, the doubles of scotch had worn down the growing sense of panic that nagged him all week.
Sliding off his stool, Koby realized the last three hours of drinking had left him tipsy as hell; more so than it should have. But Koby had a pocket full of cash he knew would be worthless in the morning, so he figured what the hell. Nothing like a little T&A to make all his troubles fade away.
Walking up to the stage, Koby held up a stack of mixed bills in one hand and began to shoot them out with his fingers in a flicking motion, making it rain cash onto the front edge of the performance area. A gesture he knew would draw attention from Destiny, as well as the other guys in the room. He looked around the club, nodding with a smirk on his face, like a goddamn boss. As planned, the torrential downpour of cash was immediately noticed by Destiny. She quickly came over to pay her respects and recognized Koby as one of her regulars.
In fact, everyone recognized Koby in this town thanks to an onslaught of cheesy billboard, print, and TV ads for his electronics business.
“Thanks sweetie,” the bubble wrapped vixen said, gliding across the stage like the goddess she was. She swept the bills back from the edge of the stage in a smooth, practiced move, and then arched her back into a bridge and spread her legs open. She spun away from her admirer and bounced her ass up and down with the help of the silver pole that glimmered in the stage lights. Koby thought about how he would have given anything to be the pole at that very moment.
“Come see me for a dance,” Koby said with a wink as he walked away from the front of the stage, flashing his wad of cash. Destiny noticed the power play for what it was and smiled seductively at him.
Koby found a spot in a side booth and slid across the torn leather seat to rest against the padded purple velvet wall. Taking it all in, Koby became angry that this would most likely be the last night of decadence and debauchery he would ever experience.
A double whiskey arrived at his table, surprising Koby out of his thoughts because he never made the order. He questioned the server and she leaned in close, her tube top showing off most of her luscious breasts, and let him know that it was a gift from Destiny.
“Nice,” he thought to himself. “Very nice.”
After her two-song rotation on stage ended, Destiny hurried over to Koby’s booth. She walked up to him, swaying her hips to the new song’s beat.
Destiny reached across the small table and took his whiskey from him, taking a long drink for herself. Placing the glass back down, she set both hands on his knees and leaned in to whisper something in his ear, making sure her breasts brushed lightly against his chest. “Well hello, Gary.”
“It’s Koby, everyone calls me Koby,” he said not really caring, but ready to enjoy the banter. He wasn’t quite ready to explain his real reason for coming into Beau’s Belles that night.
Destiny pulled back smiling. “Well that’s not very fair; you call me Jessica all the time.”
“That’s your name,” he replied, smiling at the memory of the adult themed pictures he had accidentally found on her computer during a quick repair job a few months ago.
“Everybody calls me Destiny ... Gary.”
His grin widened. “Very well, Destiny.”
“Thanks Koby,” she replied as she turned around and placed her firm round ass on his lap and began to give him the experience of a lifetime.
“Destiny, I have a crazy idea,” Koby said, causing her to turn around and get on top of him. Her full perky breasts glittered with a shimmer of makeup under the stage lights that shined in his face.
“Shhhh,” she said, grabbing the back of his head and burying his face into her cleavage. He took the opportunity to make a low grumble while shaking his head back and forth. She smiled, pulling his head back to look at him. “You motorboatin’ son-of-a bitch!” she said, jokingly.
“I am what I am,” he replied. “I was thinking, if an Amish guy did this to you, would he be a row boating son-of-a- bitch?”
She glanced at him curiously as the joke went over her head. He didn’t mind. He wasn’t exactly interested in her ability to understand, or even laugh at, his jokes.
“You want to get out of here?” Koby asked, pointing towards the door.
“You can't afford that, trust me sweetie,” she replied, still grinding on his lap.
Annoyed, he pushed her gently off his lap and into the seat next to him. “No, for real. Let’s get the hell out of here. I can take you away. Away from all this bullshit, away from dancing for guys like -”
“Guys like you?” she asked abruptly.
“Did you watch the news today?” he asked over the loud music, ignoring the insult.
“Of course, it's all they’ve had on every channel.”
“This world we know, it's over. We're lucky we haven't taken the long nap yet.” Koby’s voice grew more serious and she could tell this wasn't just the drunk ramblings of a regular who wanted to take her out to the parking lot for a quick romp to forget about the lump of a wife he felt nothing for at home. This was different; there was something in his eyes, something in his voice.
“Yea, well how you gonna save the world?” she said, climbing back onto his lap. He put his hands up to stop her. She frowned at him and said, “Listen, Beau’s watching. If I’m not earning, then there will be hell to pay for you and me.”
Not wanting to piss off the proprietor of the shady establishment, Koby allowed the woman back onto his lap. After all, there were worse ways to have a conversation.
“I can't save the world,” he admitted, “but I can save you and me.”
“What? You got a bunker or something? You gonna take me down there and make me your little sex slave huh, you little freak.” Her last sentence was delivered against his groin in a way that they both knew, and felt, him enjoy.
“I’ve got a place, a safe place. Come with me.”
“Beau won't like that. He will kill us.”
“I'll take care of him,” Koby said with confidence just as the song ended. He glanced around, but no one seemed to have heard his threat.
Getting up from his lap dance, Koby handed her the entire wad of cash, knowing in a day it would be useless. “Thanks babe, that was great.”
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek and began to whisper something in his ear. Koby closed his eyes to concentrate on the words quietly escapi
ng her mouth, but was shocked by a sudden swoosh of air.
Opening his eyes, Koby saw Destiny falling back into the brass-plated railing. Beau had taken her place after throwing her aside.
“Just ‘cause you hooked me up with a sweet security system don't mean you can come up in my club kissing on my bitches,” Beau said. He invaded Koby’s personal space, hovering over him like the sleeveless, muscle bound biker dude he was. Koby sank back down into the booth. All of the joy from Destiny’s dance shriveled up and died under Beau’s glower. “I think it’s time for you to leave. You can walk out or we can carry your little eggroll ass out.”
“Um, I'm Japanese not Chinese, we don't really do the whole egg roll thing,” Koby said, frowning.
Just as Destiny had missed his earlier joke, Beau didn't find the humor in his clarification either. Instead, he grabbed Koby by the shoulder with one huge hand and dragged him out of the booth, towards the front door. Koby scrambled to gather his feet under him and barely managed to complete the final few steps on his own.
Once outside, the cold, crisp nighttime air was a relief to his lungs after suffering through the better part of the afternoon inside the smoke filled club. Koby looked up at the half-illuminated Beau’s Belles sign and made his way over to his car. Rubbing his shoulder from the pain radiating down his arm from Beau’s grip, Koby truly felt for Destiny. He hoped that inside the club, she wasn't suffering worse than he had.
Chapter 2
Koby massaged his shoulder while he waited for the laptop to boot up. He quickly dimmed the glow of the computer screen because he didn't want to draw attention to himself sulking in the front seat of his work van. Thanks to the fact that he had installed the security system inside Beau’s, he knew the cameras covered every inch of the club, dressing rooms, and management office. And since he knew Beau, he knew the big man was most likely watching the camera feeds from his office.
Koby knew if he had any chance of pulling off the revenge he’d so hastily dreamed up, he needed to patch in and redirect the camera feeds for cameras 19 through 26. Doing so sober would be a snap. Completing the keystrokes and coding drunk with a throbbing shoulder and a set of blue balls - not so much.
Koby relied on his intense muscle memory to pull up the software program he had designed for Beau’s and loop the display feeds to show the same footage from the previous night. It was the best he could do in a pinch. Simply shutting them all down would only alert security, escalate their presence, make his plan impossible.
Satisfied the temporary, yet expertly performed, hacking job was complete, Koby exited the panel work van that featured his company’s logo on the side and walked across the full parking lot to a row of motorcycles parked just outside the back door. The bikes were well lit for security and Koby knew he had to be quick. Glancing around to make sure the area wasn’t being watched, he bent down next to each of the thirteen Harley Davidsons and sliced their fuel lines, leaving the gas to drain out onto the gravel covering the ground. Koby knew doing anything more would cause a scene and this would at least make for an easy get away, in case he needed to leave in a hurry.
The idea made him chuckle softly because he knew if he wasn't leaving in a hurry, it would mean he was already dead. Or would be shortly. Beau and his boys weren't the kind of guys you fuck around with in the old days, and they were certainly more dangerous now that law and order had degraded to almost nothing. If he was caught, no one could save him.
Koby walked through the back door of the club. He had not disabled the camera on this entrance, but since it was the employee entrance and constantly used by the kitchen staff, he knew Beau would likely be paying much less attention to that particular area. Koby stopped just inside the door and donned a white dishwasher’s apron that was hanging on a hook just for good measure.
Just past the kitchen door the small hallway made a turn. Koby knew the turn would take him backstage to the dressing rooms. If he kept going straight, it would take him into the main club area. He planned on making the turn and quietly slinking into the dressing room. It would be an easy task since only the main door to the club was guarded. Once in the back, where Koby stood, employees were free to move about as they needed to.
Removing the apron, Kobe was surprised at the reverb he felt through the floor. The club’s music vibrated through the hallway while the bass thumped in his chest, like he was at a rave. Just as he made the turn, looking behind him to make sure no one from the kitchen had spotted him, Beau busted through the door at the other end of the hallway with Destiny in tow.
“I don't care how much the China man gave you; it's mine you got that!” He yelled at the girl, towering over her.
“Japanese,” Koby said under his breath, feeling annoyed and scared at the same time.
Beau continued his verbal assault with a hand around Destiny’s neck, squeezing her throat and shaking her like a tiny rag doll. “And just so I am clear, I don't give two goddamn shits about you being knocked up. You don't get time off. Shit, I can charge more for you now I bet. Lots of freaks out there, lots of freaks.”
“Pregnant?” Koby thought. A baby would complicate things, but he had come this far already and had made a promise to her.
Emboldened by the liquid courage of the Tennessee whiskey he had been drowning in all night, Koby looked around and spotted exactly what he needed. He removed a red fire extinguisher from the wall and snuck up behind Beau. Lifting the 20 lbs. of solid red metal into the air, he swung the extinguisher in an arc, while stepping around to the side of his target. The motion brought the improvised weapon up under the arm Beau was choking Destiny with and pinged as it made impact with the bottom of Beau’s chin. It sounded an awful lot like a golf ball being sent down the fairway from the tee box.
Beau’s body spun slightly, unconscious before he hit the floor. Blood spilled out of his shattered mouth and spread across the ground. Bits of broken teeth littered the floor next to him. Koby cursed at the result of what he’d done, but he was already balls deep in trouble and there was no turning back now. So, he shoved the nozzle-cone of the fire extinguisher down the front of Beau’s pants and locked the trigger open. The hissing sound of the freezing CO2 as it escaped into Beau's crotch made Koby grin. Now Beau had blue balls too. Koby was confident he hadn't killed the man, but was happy knowing frostbite would most likely keep him from sexually assaulting anymore women.
Koby looked up to see Destiny was already at the end of the hall motioning for him to hurry. He sprinted out the door, grabbing her hand as he passed her. Together they raced across the parking lot and practically dove into his van.
“You are crazy, you are so goddamned crazy. This is crazy!” Jessica repeated between panicked breaths. She sat in the front seat of the van struggling to attach the seat belt. Koby fired up the engine and sped out of the parking spot, knowing he only had a little bit of time before Beau either woke up or was discovered by one of his staff members. Then they would be on his ass like a pack of hunting dogs.
Koby stopped near the dumpsters on the side of the building and rolled his window down.
“What in the hell are you doing?” Jessica yelled. “Hurry up!”
Ignoring the impatient stripper next to him, Koby reached down into a bag tucked between the two bucket seats and removed a self-igniting road flare. Holding it outside of his window with both hands, Koby cracked the flare open. He squinted against the burst of red light that quickly illuminated the entire parking lot. Koby tossed the flare in the middle of the parked Harleys and didn't look back as he floored the accelerator. The van tore out of the parking lot with screeching tires. He turned west and raced toward his bug out location.
It took a moment longer than he expected but the explosions did not disappoint at all. The echo of the fireballs from the motorcycle gas tanks muted their escape. Koby and Destiny watched in the sideview mirrors as the multiple blasts shot skyward in a volley of blackened mushroom plumes. Each of the thirteen motorcycles went off like timed
bombs. The fuel in their reserve tanks serving as the catalyst to Koby’s ultimate ‘Fuck You’ to the man who ruined the souls of every down on her luck girl that walked into his place in need of cash.
“Oh my God, he is going to kill us,” Jessica said, her mouth falling open in the realization of the situation she had put herself in.
“He won't find us, Jess. He can't find us,” Koby said. He turned onto the highway entrance and took the southbound lane towards his destination just over a hundred miles away.
Chapter 3
Koby turned down a long driveway located deep in the forest. Jessica braced herself against the van's window as the vehicle bounced along the uneven trail. She looked at her savior as if he may have become her kidnapper. “Where in the hell are we?”
“My cousin’s place. It’s fully stocked and secluded. He was one of those end of the world prepper guys,” Koby said, reassuring her that the two-track road they rolled down did indeed have a safe ending.
“Was one of those guys?” she asked.
“Yea, was. Turns out he was right, but he never lived to see it. He caught the fever early on and just disappeared,” Koby explained. “We called all the local hospitals and Red Cross shelters, but they were just so overwhelmed it was impossible to locate him. He was a sleeping needle in a haystack.”
“Sorry,” was all that Jessica could muster.
The woods gave way to a front yard that seemed overgrown, yet still somewhat tended to. Looking at the clock on the van’s dashboard, Koby saw that it read 1:11. Koby pointed at the 1’s all in a row and told her to make a wish.
Jessica rolled her eyes. “I ain't got no wishes, but I’ve got plenty of hopes. Right now I hope this cousin of yours has some booze in here. I need a drink and a stiff one at that.”
“I got a stiff one for ya,” Koby replied with a smirk. His comment made her shake her head, but he succeeded in making a smile crack through the uncertainty and fear on her face. Then Koby remembered overhearing she was pregnant. “Destiny, are you sure you should be drinking? You know, in your condition and all.”