A Pair of Second Chances (Ben Jensen Series Book 1)

by Brian Gore

  Amanda's face went still and white. Her hands went to her face, covering her mouth.

  "What did you think I was gonna do Amanda? Kiss 'em and ask 'em to play nice? What did you think I meant when I told you that Tyrone and his boys didn't have no idea what was about to land on 'em? How did you think this was gonna play out? We'd all sit down and talk it out like some God Damn reality show on the God Damn TV?"

  The anger in his voice startled her. She jumped when he stood up suddenly and his chair scraped back on the floor, almost falling over. He looked across the table at her, sitting there in silent shock.

  Slowly Ben leaned over and put his hands, fingers spread, flat on the table top.

  "Look girl, you want out of that Bastard's world, you better get an understanding of his kind real damn fast. You better get a real solid understanding of what it's gonna take to get you loose, and, you best decide that you're up to dealing with what it's going to take to do that... Don't, and you and that boy in there" one hand jabbed at the closed bedroom door; "are gonna take a short ride, straight back to hell. I'll help. But not if you're gonna quit on me, halfway through this mess. You make your decision, you make it quick... and you let me know." his hand angrily slapped the table top, bouncing his plate and coffee cup.

  He picked up his cup, stepped over to the stove and refilled it. Then, going to the door he opened it and whistled softly to A.H. When the dog ran outside, Ben stepped outside himself, and softly closed the door behind him.

  The sun was up strong now, with the morning shadows from the pines behind the cabin running out deep into the meadow that held the camp. A half dozen Elk grazed along the tree line two hundred yards away.

  Ben stood on the porch, leaning against a post sipping coffee and quietly watching the cows, with that year's calves still trailing along. A.H. lay beside him, head up, quietly watching the Elk as well. Along with the man he guarded.

  Behind him the door opened as quietly as he'd closed it. He heard the soft footsteps come across the porch, but he didn't turn to look.

  She stood beside him for some time before she spoke. "They're beautiful. I haven't seen those since I was a little girl" she said.

  Ben drank down the last of his coffee, tossed the dregs out across the yard and silently turned to face her, his face a blank mask.

  Looking into his eyes she told him; "I'm sorry. I know what I'm up against. I know what I asked you for, I realize that. I know it. I didn't mean to... I wasn't judging you. That's not what... you have to know... I may be a tramp and a whore, but, I'm not a... a... a warrior or a killer. Ben... I... I'm sorry if killing shocks me... If you think that makes me weak. I... it isn't something I'm comfortable with. The justification doesn't change anything. I can't just easily say; Oh yes, let's go grease 'em all! Can you understand that?"

  Her words came out haltingly... confused... agonized. Her pain and emotion would be clear to a blind man.

  Ben looked at her in a mixture of amazement and sadness. That a woman such as this should have her life taken from her, and be bound into this sort of hell, because some slimy scum with legs figured to make a profit off her...

  The rage that seethed within him at that moment, she could see smoking in his eyes. Once again she shuddered, fearful that it was directed at her.

  It was a lucky day for Tyrone that he wasn't standing there, available, right at that moment... or maybe he'd have been luckier if he had. If he had been there, right then, it would have been quick! Given time, Ben Jensen might devise ways to drag out Tyrone's eventual demise.

  "Look God Damn it!" Ben seethed. "Just because some, scum sucking pig took your life from you, forced you into... into things you hadn't the power to fight... Doesn't change who you are. You never quit. You kept trying to find a way out. You kept hoping. A woman fighting to get out of the sewer she was thrown into, been drug into, is no tramp ... and no God Damn whore! and for God Damn sure, she's not weak! Don't you, EVER, let me hear that come out of your mouth again. Not ever!"

  "The only son of a bitch in this whole deal is that miserable puke that calls himself Tyrone. That two legged filth that walks around pretending to be a man. I'll let you in on a little CertainTeed fact girl" Ben jabbed his finger at her; "Me an' Ol' Ty-Rone" he broke up the name, emphasizing the last half; "are 'bout to have us a severe difficulty; and I promise you girl, that piss ant Jamaican prick, ain't up to the task he's marked out for himself."

  "But that don't matter now. What matters, here today, is what are you going to do about it? What are you prepared to deal with? How far are you gonna go, for yourself, and for that boy." Again, his hand jabbed toward the boy, asleep inside. He'd said what he had to say. Now, he waited for her answer.

  Amanda, as she constantly seemed to be with this man, was startled by the unexpected. She'd never been shown respect, by anyone, except maybe Timmy, in her entire life. To be repeatedly shocked by the contradictions of this man kept her off balance. He owed her nothing and yet he risked everything. She'd watched him move from a raging, savage, violence to softly caressing her son's cheek. She didn't understand. She had nothing in her experience to judge him by. He was something entirely new to her... She decided, standing on that porch, watching the morning sunlight creep across the meadow, here stood the first true, Man, she had ever known.

  "I won't quit on you Ben. I'm scared to death. But, you tell me what I have to do to protect my son, I'll do it. I can't tell you I'm not afraid, or that I'm OK... but... all that matters is that I get my son a decent life. I'll do whatever I have to, for that. No matter what. I promise."

  "I believe you."

  Without warning, without even thinking about it himself; almost before the thought even entered his brain, Ben stepped toward her and wrapped Amanda, the scared girl, up in his arms. Hugging her close he whispered in her ear; "There's no reason you should believe me. There's no reason on this earth that you should trust or have faith in me; but I promise you Amanda, somehow, some way, I'll get you and your boy out of this. On my life, I swear it to you."

  Embarrassed, self-conscious, he released her and stepped back. Amanda's eyes were wide, blue and the look in them tore at his heart. She looked to him, at that moment like a small child, wanting to believe, to trust, but too scared to really commit.

  "Why?" she asked.

  "Why not?" he laughed.

  "No! Don't you make fun of me! Why would you do this? I have to know. What's in it for you?" She spoke the words in a sharp, intense voice, yet still, almost a whisper. He could feel, he could smell the fear in her. He knew what she was thinking; "Am I just trading one monster, for another?"

  "Because, Amanda... I need a reason." Ben answered her simply, as if it explained all. Yet for Amanda, it answered nothing.

  "A reason? What the hell is that? What reason? Damn it Ben... answer the God Damn question. Quit talking in damn riddles all the time!" she snapped.

  Something spooked the Elk on the edge of the meadow. They ran west and south across the open looking back toward the east as they ran. Ben took a couple steps down the porch as he watched them. He loved the smooth power they glided across the land with. God they were beautiful.

  "Please, answer me!" Amanda pleaded.

  Ben turned toward her. Calm and quiet. At least for the moment, that dark, smoking rage that shook her so deeply, was gone from his eyes. "Because Amanda, I need a reason to be alive" and he turned back to watch the Elk now reaching the far side of the meadow, disappear into the timber. She watched him smile.

  One more time with unnerving ease, he'd knocked her off balance. She'd watched this man crush four of Tyrone's thugs and then almost in the same breath, turn and gently soothe her son's fear. He thought to get her a new phone. Now, he'd calmly described how he had intended to trap those same men in a deadly ambush, and then wrapped her up in the tenderest of hugs to soothe her own fear, and speak to her of seeking out life!

  Her head was spinning so wildly she quickly sat down in one of the Adirondack chairs that
lined the front wall of the Lodge so she wouldn't fall over.

  One time after another, the man just stunned her. Where the hell had he come from? Sitting there on the porch in the morning light, she looked up at the, past his prime cowboy, now watching her with a concerned look on his unshaven face. One more time, she couldn't help it, Amanda started laughing... looking at the errant knight standing in front of her.

  "Aw damn. Your not gonna start that laughing again?! Jeeeeessus!" Ben exclaimed and stomped off across the yard toward a small barn behind the cabins, to check out the place, and see what was around.

  Not all the hunters Blythe had brought to this camp had stayed in it. He'd also operated a couple of camps deep in the wilderness, and used this location as the base from which he packed hunters into the wilderness camps in the fall, as well as summer fishing and photo trips.

  The cabins, here at the Lodge, were for the less adventurous hunters that wanted to hunt in greater comfort and sit by the fireplace drinking beer and whiskey, in the main lodge after a long day on the mountain.

  The others would stay here at the Lodge a night or two as Blythe made ready for their ride up into the mountains. Guides based here would cater to the Hunters whose hunting would be done from the comfort of the Lodge.

  The barn had stored feed for the horses and pack mules they used for those hunting camps along with those kept here for the Hunters who boarded at the Lodge. It also served to store all the tack and camp gear Blythe had used for packing his hunters up into the mountains.

  The Tack room and hay mow were empty this season. Except for a few pieces of worn out, rotted leather still littering the tack room floor, all the tack and camp gear had been hauled away to the auction after Blythe's death.

  Wandering through the empty barn, Ben couldn't stop the melancholy thoughts about his own place.

  Leaning on the rails of the attached corral, now standing empty of animals, he thought of his own corral at home, and the horses that stood in it. The feed he'd filled the bunks with would run out today, if it hadn't already. Ben realized he had to get back there and take care of those horses. It wasn't something that could wait. He'd drive back to the ranch this afternoon. With that thought in mind he headed back across the graveled yard toward the lodge.

  Chapter 23

  "I don't know Tyrone. The men at the warehouse say they left just after midnight. Just like Jamal told them to. Rashan and Kai. They haven't seen them or heard a sound from them since. They haven't called anyone. They haven't gone to their cribs and they ain't been seen by any of the whores they run with. The boat is gone from the Marina. The van is gone. It's like they just went pffft! In a puff of smoke!"

  "I don't like it Sawon. Makes me nervous when people just go pffft! 'less they disappear 'cause I say so!" Tyrone said to the man giving him the latest report on the missing disposal crew.

  "What you think mahn? This the Feds? They fuckin' with me mahn?" Tyrone asked.

  Sawon looked at his boss and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know mahn. If they just busted them we'd have heard something by now. They'd have called you to bail them out. The van is yours mahn. The cops would have been here to bust you too by now. Where's the van? Where's the boat? It jus' don' make no sense to me Tyrone. It jus' don' make no sense. Something else goin' on here. Another outfit maybe? Somebody trying to move in on you? I don't know mahn. It just don't feel like cops."

  "This shit startin' to piss me off mahn. People just vanish here. Some fuckin' cowboy kill a whole damn crew in some piss hole in Montana... all but one fool he shoot in the ass! !" Tyrone growled. "You get a crew together Sawon. You, me and six more. We gon' go to Montana, get my money, my boy and that white bitch. Then we come back here, and find that damn Rashan and Kai... if they not dead, they will be!"

  "Ok, when we leavin'?" Sawon asked.

  "We're leaving as soon as you get those bwoys loaded up mahn!"

  Sawon walked out of the condo putting his cell phone to his ear. While Tyrone grabbed one of the girls sitting on the couch by her arm, and shoved her toward the bedroom. "I'm leaving for a few days bitch. You best give me what I need to hold me over till I get back!"

  An hour and a half later Sawon pulled up in front of the Heartwood Terrace Condos, driving a black Escalade that carried him and two others. A white van with another four men on the seats pulled up behind the Cadillac SUV.

  He called upstairs to tell Tyrone the crew was loaded and ready, waiting downstairs. Tyrone zipped his pants, told the crying girl to quit her damn sniveling and get some clothes on her scrawny ass, and that he'd be back in a few days to finish teaching her how to be useful to a man.

  He picked his leather duffle off the floor, shoved a glock into his waistband behind his back and walked out of the condo, shrugging into a black leather jacket as he walked to the elevators.

  In less then an hour the small convoy was rolling along the Interstate, leaving the western fringes of the Chicago suburbs, headed for Bozeman, Montana.

  The Jamaican drug dealer pressed a button on his phone as they drove. The voice on the other end answered after the first ring; "Musa here. What you want me to do Tyrone?" That the man was nervous and uneasy was plain.

  "You don' do nothin' fool! We're on our way. Be there tomorrow. You jus' sit right where you are and let that hole in your poor ass heal!"

  The other men in the car snickered.

  "What you say that mahn's name was, that cowboy, what was the name you called him?" Tyrone asked.

  "Jensen, his name is Ben Jensen." Musa replied.

  "Where he live Musa, what's the closest town?"

  "Columbus, Tyrone, Columbus, Montana."

  "Ok. You jus' lay there Musa. We'll be there tomorrow, late afternoon." Tyrone told him and terminated the call.

  Still holding the phone he thumbed another number he had locked in on speed dial.

  The man that answered this time only gave a terse; "Yeah?"

  Tyrone responded as tersely; "Jensen, Ben Jensen... Columbus, Montana." Both men hung up the call without another word.

  As the Yukon had a few days prior, this small convoy rolled on through the night, racing toward its unknowing targets. Amanda and Timmy slept in their beds, fearful of the future, yet unknowing just how cruel that future would be.

  Sawon sat now in the back seat with his boss. Looking across the car in the dark, as they passed the lights of a Wonder Bread hauling Freightliner he asked; "Tyrone. Montana is a big damn place. This man we look for, this Jensen, he's on his home ground and he's hiding. From what you say, he's no fool. How we gon' find where he's hiding her?"

  Tyrone's teeth shone in the darkness as he grinned. "Jamal, he was a tough man, but he was a fool. He always thinks he can just use his muscle. His muscles got him dead!" Tyrone tapped the side of his head with a finger. "He don' know how to use this muscle! Not worth a damn. You and me Sawon... We don' need muscle. We'll just ask!"

  "Ask? I don' understand" a confused Sawon returned. "Ask who?"

  "Ha Ha! You got a lot to learn Sawon!" Tyrone laughed again, his white teeth flashing in the darkness. "We'll ask the man himself! Sawon! We'll ask Ben Jensen where he hide her! ha ha ha ha."

  Tyrone might know what he was thinking, but Sawon, hadn't a clue. Though it was his intention to outlive Jamal by a wide margin, to do that, he calculated he'd need to get a lot smarter. To that end, he consciously sat quietly as the Escalade hurtled through the night. He sat quietly with his eyes and ears wide open, and his mouth shut.

  They drove in one hour shifts. Even Tyrone took a turn behind the wheel to break up the monotony. Nearly every change of drivers was made at a convenience store or gas station along the way for access to coffee, restrooms, and some occasional road food.

  Twenty three hours after leaving Chicago the two vehicle convoy was approaching the off ramp into Bozeman, having only stopped for fuel, coffee and three times, to eat in truck stop cafes.

  An hour before they arrived Tyrone's phone buzzed, which he a
nswered with a simple; "Yeah" after looking at the ID on the screen.

  He listened without speaking, scribbling down notes in a small pad he took from his pocket. "Good" was the only other word he spoke before hitting the cancel button.

  He reached up and tapped Stevie, sitting in the front passenger seat, on the shoulder. "Hand me the road map bwoy". Stevie handed the folded map back over his left shoulder as he emptied the last swallow from his most recent truck stop cup.

  Tyrone opened the map to look at it for a minute before telling Amani who was now driving; "We're not stopping in Bozeman. Go on to Butte mahn, turn north on Interstate 15. Got it?"

  "Yeah mahn, Interstate 15. but I'm gon' need to stop somewhere pretty soon Tyrone. That coffee run through me like coke through a whore!" Everyone in the car laughed at the joke. Everyone except Tyrone. He just smiled and nodded.

  "Yeah. You go pull in to the next truck stop" Tyrone made a gesture with a flip of his hand; "and choke your chicken fool. We all know what you doin' in there, makin' us all wait every time. Don't tell me no shit 'bout coffee and whores!" Everyone, laughed when Tyrone made that joke, even Tyrone.

  Tyrone keyed in a number on his phone as they pulled into a truck stop on the west side of Bozeman. Musa answered on the first ring.

  "Look mahn. You just stay put. We gon' go on and take care of a few things 'fore we come get you. You wouldn' be no use anyway, limpin' aroun' with your sore ass, whimpern' all the damn time. I'll call and tell you where to meet us... maybe tomorrow. I don't know. You just keep that phone close. You understand?"

  "Yeah Tyrone, I got it. I'll sit right here. I ain't goin' anywhere."

  They fueled both vehicles there at Bozeman and were back on the road in less then ten minutes.

  Sawon looked across at Tyrone as they rolled off the on ramp and back onto the Interstate. "We goin' to talk to the man?" he asked.