SEALs of Honor: Taylor

by Dale Mayer

  “Gets easier every day,” Jenny said. “Those two damn women from the office. Jesus. It was nice to shut them up. Of course, Bart didn’t necessarily want to do those two. But I wasn’t having any of that shit.”

  “So you had to take them out. They had done nothing to you and, like me, probably didn’t even know the ticket was a winner. But you still had to take them out?”

  “Debbie knew. She was bugging Bart about looking for the ticket so she could check it. She said she had a really good feeling about it. Bart and I knew at that point we would have to do something about it. The ticket had to be ours and ours alone.”

  “Sorry if a few people got in the way of your seventy-five million,” Midge said slowly. “You could have been just as happy with a portion of it, you know?”

  “Never. But I will be now. With just Bart and me.”

  “It’s not like Bart will be happy sharing with you,” Midge said with a laugh. “Why would he? You’ve killed off everybody. You know what? If he gets rid of you, nobody will know anything.”

  There was a moment of silence, and Midge didn’t even see the blow coming. But it snapped against her head, sending her flying forward into the side of whatever space she was in. It was weird, like some closet. Yet big enough that she was knocked around in it, but not big enough that she could roll over and get to her feet.

  “I wouldn’t keep saying things like that if I were you,” Jenny said.

  “Or is that the way you’re thinking about Bart,” Midge said when she could. “After all, you did kill all those people, and he knows about it. Maybe you should get rid of him, so he can’t cause you any trouble.”

  “He loves me, and I love him,” Jenny said, her voice hard and callous. “Like you’ll come between us. Do you think everybody else didn’t already try?”

  “I didn’t even know you were having an office romance,” Midge said. “I’m extremely obtuse apparently, and unaware of everything going on around me.”

  “Isn’t that the truth.” After a moment of silence, Jenny asked, “Did you really not turn me in to the boss?”

  Midge shook her head. “I didn’t know you were doing anything. I saw that you had the files and hadn’t put them back properly, but I didn’t say anything to him.”

  “Yeah, I was going to put them back properly, but I didn’t get a chance. That’s the thing. I was trying to do things covertly, since it took time, space and energy to get it all done at the right time. It was getting a little hectic there. Of course I took on more jobs than I should have. I should have kept it to no more than one a day, and sometimes it was three and four.”

  “How the hell did they find you?”

  “Bart was doing a little bit of the same thing himself. And word soon got out that a couple people in staff records would make changes for a price.”

  “That is amazing,” Midge said, still stunned at their audacity.

  “Yeah, it was a great gig. An excellent supplemental income, hidden within a regular job. Of course I had to keep the tedious day job in order to make all the excellent extras, but that was okay. Until I got fired …”

  “Okay, so why am I here now?”

  Jenny snorted. “Are you telling me that you really can’t figure that out?”

  “Well, your one attempt to kill me didn’t work, and I presume just the three of us own shares in the seventy-five million now,” she said warily.

  “Right,” Jenny said. “And you can bet, if I wasn’t sharing with seven or five, I’m sure not sharing with you. We’re just waiting for the heat to die down, so we can get the ticket, cash it in and go.”

  An odd sound came from behind the two of them. Then Midge heard Jenny talking with somebody else. Suddenly Midge was picked up and dragged out into the middle of what looked like a bedroom. She glanced around and asked, “Did you say you got your mother’s house?”

  “Yep. She passed away, and I’m the only one left. It helps to keep things in perspective. I used to have a sister, and I’d have to share this with her. But, with both of them gone, it’s all mine.”

  Midge hated to ask, but in her heart of hearts, she had to know. “Did you kill your sister, so you didn’t have to share?”

  “She was almost dead anyway. She was a drug addict, killing herself slowly with every shot. The last six months she actually sped up the process. I just made sure she had some pretty ugly drugs one day. She overdosed. It was simple.”

  “That must have devastated your mother.”

  “It did, and it sped her to the end. I didn’t even have to kill her. Which is good because too many deaths would get a little suspicious. She died of a heart attack and left everything to me.”

  Jenny’s voice held such a note of satisfaction, almost a sense of things having been righted, as if Jenny had finally gotten what was coming to her.

  Midge tried to shift so she could turn around and see where she was and actually see Jenny. But she got another blow across the head for her effort. She collapsed back down, gasping with tears in the corner of her eyes.

  “You know what? I’m liking that whole hitting part,” Jenny said. “I’ve got a lot of rage inside me, so I can just unleash it all on you.”

  Another smack came across her face and then another. Midge struggled with herself, fighting to maintain consciousness. The blows were getting harder, as if Jenny was really giving herself the freedom to let loose.

  A sharp voice behind them said, “Stop, Jenny.”

  Through her ringing ears, she heard Bart’s voice.

  Jenny shrugged and laughed. “She’s so freaking useless though.”

  “We said we weren’t doing this. It leaves scars and forensic evidence.”

  “So, we beat the crap out of her and drop her in an alleyway Dumpster,” Jenny said. “What’s the big deal?”

  “The cops are all over the place,” Bart said. “We said we weren’t going to hurt her.”

  “Why? Are you sweet on her?” Jenny asked, her tone hard. “You know I won’t tolerate that shit.”

  “No, I’m not sweet on her,” Bart said in exasperation. “She’s a bloody Goody Two-shoes. Who the hell wants to be around her?”

  Even through her physical pain from the beating, Midge could feel that statement cut deep. Was that how the office had been? Was that what she didn’t understand about everybody she worked with? How absolutely bizarre was it that all of this was going on?

  Bart chuckled. “We need a better solution for killing her. And it can’t happen too quickly. Remember that. There are an awful lot of deaths lately.”

  “So, just one more and we grab our ticket, cash it in and bug out of here,” Jenny said. “It doesn’t get any easier than that.”

  Midge vaguely wondered how they would react if they found out the ticket was in the safe at the police station. When Midge opened her eyes, she saw both people had moved into her viewing area. Jenny ran over to Bart and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Bart didn’t appear to be holding back at all. She watched in disbelief as the two of them made out right in front of her. She wanted to roll over and vomit, but she knew she’d just end up lying in it. As it was, her stomach was heaving with the heat and the pain throbbing through her head.

  “Or you could just kill each other,” she whispered, “and save us all the effort.”

  Jenny laughed. “Why the hell would I do that? Bart knows exactly who and what I am,” she said. “He needs me.”

  “He knows you are the killer. So, with you dead, he’s on easy street,” Midge whispered, trying to reach to the rational part of Bart’s mind.

  Bart chuckled again. “Hey, the least she can do is kill you first.” And then he laughed, like it was the biggest joke ever.

  Jenny smacked him lightly, thinking it was hilarious too.

  But Midge had to wonder. It sounded like something serious was in his voice. As if maybe that was his plan after all. She could only hope Taylor found her in time. She knew he would be after them as soon as h
e could. But how long would that be? They’d been here at least fifteen or twenty minutes, and she didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious. She coughed, feeling the acid rising from the bile in her stomach. Her chest heaved as she struggled for air. When she finally collapsed back down again, gasping, she whispered, “May I have some water?”

  Bart said, “Sure.” And he disappeared.

  Jenny dropped down at her side. “We’ll just throw it all over you,” she said.

  “If that’s what makes you happy.”

  Bart came back, and, reaching out, he grabbed Midge under the neck and sat her up. He held the glass for her as she reached up with her hands, taking it and drinking it. As soon as she was done, Bart pulled it away and laughed.

  “Just in case you were getting any ideas about smashing the glass in my face,” he said.

  She shook her head. “The only thing I want to do is live.”

  “Sorry,” he said regretfully. “That is the one thing I cannot do.”

  “You could,” Midge said. “You could take care of Jenny, grab the money and run all alone, keeping the seventy-five million for yourself.”

  He laughed, a big belly laugh this time. “She said you were trying to turn her against me.”

  “You mean, turn you against her,” Midge said. “I really don’t care which one of you turns against the other. It will happen eventually anyway. She’s a real liability. But why the hell would you give away half of all that money?”

  He stared at her now.

  Midge nodded. “Think about it. I don’t even want any. Go ahead and take it. Run. Cash the check, lose half of it to taxes, and the rest is yours. Free and clear.” Then she dropped back down again, feeling her chest heave and her head boom.

  Bart stared down at her for a long moment.

  Meanwhile, Jenny got angry. “You’re not listening to her, are you? I told you that’s what she would try to do.”

  He nodded, and said, “Of course I’m not listening to her. She’s a fool.” He walked into the kitchen, at least Midge thought it was a kitchen.

  She could hear water running, and then she heard sirens. They seemed to be getting closer. While she was wondering how to stay alive a little bit longer, Bart came into the room again. Smiling down at Midge, he grabbed Jenny’s neck, and—in a movement she thought for sure no one but Taylor could do—Bart snapped Jenny’s neck like a chicken. Dropping her body beside him, he said, “Good idea. See ya,” and he took off.

  Midge lay here in disbelief, staring at Jenny’s lifeless body beside her. With Bart gone, she managed to get to her feet. She didn’t have her phone, but Jenny still had hers. Midge grabbed it and phoned Taylor. “Please come,” she gasped.

  “We’re less than a minute away,” he reassured her.

  “If you’re looking for Bart, he’s trying to find the ticket, cash it in and make a run for it.”

  “I think we see him up ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  She collapsed beside Jenny and just stared. Midge didn’t even want to touch her, but she knew she needed to see if Jenny was dead or alive. When she pressed her fingers against Jenny’s neck and couldn’t find a pulse, Midge got to her feet, then slowly made her way out of the room.

  At the front door, she could hear a hell of a battle outside. She stepped out on the front porch just as Taylor rammed his fist into Bart’s face. Bart went down and didn’t get back up. She gave out a cry and raced toward Taylor. He opened his arms, and she fell into them. He held her by the shoulders and took a good look at her face.

  “Did he do that?” He looked ferocious, like he was ready to beat the shit out of Bart now, even though he still lay unconscious on the ground.

  Stopping him, she said, “No, he didn’t. It was Jenny.”

  He raised his eyebrows and looked at the house. “Then I need to meet with her.”

  He let her cuddle against his chest, her face so hot and puffy it was tight. She whispered, “You don’t have to. Bart just snapped her neck. He wasn’t going to share the ticket. He was going to keep it all for himself.”

  Taylor held her gently in his arms, his hands stroking up and down her back. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’m so sorry they got to you before I could get here.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “You and Colton were right. It was all coming down today. I’m not terribly impressed with the way it happened.” She pushed back ever-so-slightly and said, “And my face hurts like hell.”

  “Was it as we suspected?”

  “Partly,” she said. “But Jenny had a side gig going, altering staff records for people who needed higher incomes for employment verification, like when applying for mortgage loans. Or adding extra educational credits or degrees to their background data. I’m sure what she told me was just the tip of the iceberg. Bart got wind of the money she was making, and he was doing it too.

  “After she got fired, she managed to keep doing it remotely, until they changed the IT passwords, and Jenny couldn’t get in anymore. She’s the one who was hacking in. She was desperate to complete the work she had agreed to do, and her customers were getting angry because she wasn’t doing it. Then, as soon as she managed to hack back in, she found out about the ticket because she’d been in on it too, probably because of her relationship with Bart. So, at some point, she and Bart decided those winnings were just for the two of them at the end of the day.”

  “And what made Bart decide to take it on alone?”

  “I persuaded him that sharing with her was a really bad idea, since she did all the other killings. Plus, the taxman would take half of it already. He figured he was getting half of seventy-five if just he and Jenny shared the winnings. But, when I reminded him it would only be one-quarter after taxes, he didn’t like the sound of that.”

  Taylor gave a rough exclamation and then folded her gently in his arms. “Back to greed on all counts.”

  She nodded. “Even worse, apparently Jenny killed her sister so she wouldn’t have to share her future inheritance. Her mom was already sick. Then her mom, after being traumatized by the death of one of her daughters, had a heart attack and passed away pretty quickly too. Leaving the mother’s house all to Jenny.”

  “Wow,” Taylor said. “Apparently after Jenny killed once, it just got easier.”

  “I think it’s worse than that. She looked forward to it. She wanted to beat the crap out of me and throw me into an alley Dumpster,” she said painfully. “I don’t think she would have stopped hitting me. She was a real liability to him as well.”

  “Good thing Bart stopped her then,” Taylor said. “Saved me from doing the job.”

  Midge reached out and stroked his face. “I wouldn’t want you killing somebody for my sake.”

  “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. If somebody were to come after you like they did and were still alive to tell about it, I’d make sure I took him out. Bart here isn’t getting off lightly either. Not only did he kill Jenny but he participated in all the other murders.”

  “To their twisted logic, the old couple had to go. They weren’t even part of the pool, but they knew my boss and his nephew were getting all that money. Since they knew, … they had to go. Plus, Jenny already hated them. And you were right. I was supposed to die in my apartment. Jenny had it planned that Gary would be found in bed with me. They would set it up to look like I’d killed him and then killed myself, distraught over what I’d done.”

  “And you know what? That might have worked,” Taylor said. “Except Debbie called in sick.”

  “The trouble is, she probably didn’t call in sick,” Midge said. “I think she was killed, and then Jenny called it in so nobody would come looking for her. That call is what took me to work that day, so Jenny actually foiled her own plans without realizing it.”

  With a big chuckle, he tucked her up close and said, “It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s over.”

  Midge snuggled in close and said, “I hope only good things come in our lives from now on.”

&n
bsp; “It’s all what we make of it. So how about we only make good things happen for ourselves?”

  She looked up at him, then said, “Really?”

  Leaning down, he said, “I’m willing. How about you?”

  She touched her lips against his and whispered, “For you, always. I haven’t seen anybody more interesting in a long time.”

  “Well, no need to be looking now,” he said, “because I’m here. And I don’t share well.” He gave her a grin and said, “Now let’s go get that face of yours taken care of. We have things to do, and they have nothing to do with all this murder and mayhem.”

  “That sounds good to me,” she said, and, without another look at the disaster she’d left behind, he led the way to the Jeep. From here she knew things would only get better and better. After all, they’d been through the worst now, and she looked forward to seeing what good things would come their way.

  Epilogue

  Colton Edgewood boarded the military plane on the first leg of his journey overseas to the Thule Air Base in Greenland. He was okay with that, but, at the same time, he hadn’t been home long enough to really get his feet under him. And, after helping Taylor these last few days, it seemed like such a rush job. Colton had really planned on staying home on base at Coronado for a week at least.

  He’d served in a unique position in Afghanistan—as a liaison for one of the joint military teams, pulling together group training of “friendly” wars, all in a mission to foster peace and to further everybody’s education and skills. So now he was headed to Greenland for a similar operation.

  Greenland was a strategic site for the US Air Force, and he didn’t expect to be there for too long and would be heading off to Africa afterward, at least as far as he understood. For now. His orders were never firm for long. He’d get one step on a journey but would never quite know where he would go from there.

  Still he’d never been to Greenland and was looking forward to it. With a population of fewer than sixty thousand on the whole island, it was a unique corner of the world, where nobody actually owned their own land, instead buyers were granted the right to use it, and everybody worked together to make their society the way they wanted it. The population was mostly native people, and Colton really appreciated the different viewpoint they brought to the world.