Ice Cold

by Mark Graham

  “Yes,” she said.

  “I am going to have that guy who’s standing over there show you what it does. Don’t bother talking to him because he knows better than to talk to me, or anybody else I might be with,” Ice said seriously.

  “Really!?” Joyce responded.

  Ice yelled out, “Hey Stan, show this lady how this machine works please.”

  The man gave Steve a thumbs up and started some kind of machine that was near where they stood. He also turned on a machine that was closer to him which gave off a large hum. Joyce watched as something levered a entire car onto a big steel appearing belt. The car was taken in a upward direction and over to what ever the very large box was and the car disappeared from sight. Immediately she felt, and heard a very loud grinding noise kind of like somebody missing a gear when shifting, but a lot louder and a much meaner sound. Even with the ear plugs she had to put her hands over her ears seeing that Steve already had. Shorter then a minute and she could observe tiny strips, and cross cut steel coming out of the machine into what looked kind of like a big dumpster. Steve gave the guy a thumbs up and waved Joyce over to follow him.

  As soon as he was done, Stan turned the machine off, and would remain off until Steve left the building. When they were in between two of the building, and heading to the second Steve took his ear plugs out, then she did too.

  “That machine is a steel shredder. It’s large and is kind of like an overgrown wood chipper. There is almost nothing it can’t shred. Definitely nothing you find a car made out of.”

  “What do you use it for?” she asked.

  His response was quick, “later!” and opened the door for her to go into the next building.

  Whatever they did in this building they were already doing Joyce figured and put her ear plugs back in. It sounded like something very big hitting against something big. As they walked closer she saw it was some of stamping machine. Ice stopped before getting too near to the machine and put his hand stopping her from going any farther.

  “This is absolutely amazing,” Joyce said as she saw a car being put on a big steel platform, and another large piece of steel coming down with a whole lot of force smashing the car to about a foot of thickness. Then it was automatically pushed to another press which smashed in both sides, then on the the next one that smashed it a third time. What she saw come out of the other end was a big block of steel and other stuff that looked like it was about a three foot cube.

  “Watch this one,” Steve hollered.

  She looked up again and saw what looked like a brand new Peterbuilt semi tractor truck. It followed the same route as the car but the jaws of the press started out being a little farther apart and she could tell they came together with more force. She looked up and saw the operator above it all looking down at his work. She was surprised to see a block come out only about a four foot cube.

  Steve walked off and Joyce followed as he left the building and headed to the next. She figured the talk was done for now and Steve would explain everything after wards. She was correct and didn’t hear another word until they stood back from a very large cylinder that went all the way up to and through the ceiling.

  “Joyce, this is our incinerator,” Steve barked, “and don’t get too close, maybe we should back off because they are going to open that door right there.” They did as he said.

  Within a two minutes a fork lift, bigger than she had ever seen before carried a four foot cube into the cyclinder. She watched as a very thick and strong looking door was lifted. When open, the fork lift put the steel block inside onto a very large grate. The door closed.

  “Come on over here Joyce,” Steve said and walked her to the far side of the incinerator. There she watched as liquid steel was poured into large flat and long forms. Steve motioned to here again and she met him outside where Steve took his hard hat and safety glasses off. “The incinerator can be turned way up and melt almost anything in our creation. Hell, it’s a nice day out. Let’s get a coke from the machine over there and go sit on that picnic table”. They did with Steve getting a Coke, and Joyce hit the root beer button.

  “Hey, you didn’t put any money in the machine?” she asked kind of puzzled.

  “No, we have the delivery guy cause it to work without money. We give our employees good benefits. They are required to drink enough water every day. That other machine has gallons of nice cold water in it. However, a coke tastes good on occasion.

  Joyce went to sit on the table itself, and Ice corrected her. “Alway sit so one us can view what’s behind the other. Always! It’s a safety measure and you can never put your guard down; even if it’s a business you own. There are some guys who hate me and if they had the guts might want to try me out. The thing is one of them tried back just after getting out of the Corps, and the guy is still in a wheelchair. I actually felt sorry for the guy because he had to wear a hallow for almost a year.”

  “My brother gave him a great package, got him moved to Florida, and bought him quite a nice house trailer; double wide if I remember right. He also bought him a car, his wife one too, once they got moved and the guy receives three thousand bucks a month. He gets disability too, so he brings in more than four thousand every month.”

  Joyce whistled, and said, “Wow!” All for being a cripple and having your neck broke.

  “So what’s the deal about you owning some of this place?” she asked.

  “Well, right out of school I was able to buy this land for a song. Now just the land is worth millions. I kind of started a garage and hired a mechanic. Then Ted graduated from high school and he joined me. Back then money was easier to get so we borrowed, had this large and tall fence put up, the three buildings put up, and the office building. There was a cement company right next door which was operating kind of well. The owner was an old man and the two sons ended up running the place and drove it into the ground. We could see some potential so we bought it from the sons, and hired who ever was working there and they kept the place running. Since than we have re-worked the whole place and got all new employees, one at a time.”

  “And it’s turned into this” she exclaimed waving hand around toward nothing in particular. “So why are you a partner?”

  “I started the company and bought the first piece of property. When Ted threw in with me he matched whatever I put into it. We have a legal partnership and it also gives me an explanation to the IRS, since Steve is a real person. We have a lawyer and a lawyer who is also a CPA working for us. They’re worth every penny we pay them.”

  “We mutually agreed to continue splitting every thing, which we still do. My money goes into an account and when the company needs something they take out of my share. I have a great retirement system already set up. Last I knew I had millions in that account and it even makes interest. To be fair, Ted is paid an additional hundred thousand a year and a real nice Cadillac for his wife. Ted drives that piece of shit Dodge over there that looks like it’s about to fall apart.”

  “I like that” Joyce said.

  “So what is with all this machinery and how does it come in handy for your job?” she asked.

  “I brought you out here first to get your feet a little wet. Steve took on his serious role, “the shredder will take care of cars, trucks and vehicles with people in them. The press we come out with the same results as we do with bodies sometimes. Generally speaking, if I have a mission to accomplish located anywhere near here I use all three. They’re easy to use and DNA can’t be taken out of melted steel,” he smiled.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked,” Joyce said with a nervous smile. She realized Steve was gently reeling her in and she was allowing him to do so. She still thought a lot of this would be exciting. Ice would check within two weeks and see if she remained so excited. The Director had given him two missions on purpose. Both were killing and one was a torture killing.

  When Joyce saw Ice’s house she was amazed, and equally impressed. Ice showed her the inside, along with the so called
secret room. She was shocked to see the high tech security system and when he showed he could check any part of the security system, any place in the world she was impressed even more, and her mind started working on some of the things she would like to do.

  Before they settled in for the day Ice showed her his secret room.

  “Damn, Ice,” she said surprised, “You have more hardware of destruction in here as any large police department and more than an entire platoon would use in a major fire fight!”

  “Yep, I’m kind of happy with my little treasures here. With three or four other agents we would be armed enough to stop a company of soldiers; probably more.”

  Ice picked up a .308 rifle, a .40 caliber Glock semi automatic, and a nasty looking shotgun. Then he went to another drawer and gave Joyce several boxes of ammunition. It took both hands to hold it, and she had to let the boxes be supported by her body.

  “Come on,” Ice said, closing the little room up. “We’re going to get you qualified!”

  “Really!’ she replied. “Thought you were going to take me to some kind of range?”

  “Hell,” Ice responded, “We’ll make our own.”

  Ice led Joyce back through the house and went out the back door. They walked about thirty yards to what looked like a steel single track, with an upright frame on it. After Joyce put her bullets down on the ground Ice showed her how to hang a target up. There were two clips on each side of the four foot square target.

  “Hang on Joyce,” he said, “I’ll be right back. If you would take the clips out and fill them with bullets you have there.”

  Ice returned within five minutes carrying some rolled up targets and a satchel with something heavy in it, and a blanket over his shoulder.

  He put a target on the frame, then took out of his pocket what looked like a garage door opener. “Yeah, this really is a garage door opener, but I’ve rigged it to this thing.” He hit a button and the target went out twenty-five yards, he hit it again and it went to fifty yards, then hit it again and the target was one hundred yards away.

  “Okay Joyce, I’m going to put this blanket right here.” He shook it out and laid it right in front of the end of the track. “I want you to shoot at that target there three times while standing, then get down in a kneeling position and take three more shots, then lay on the blanket there and put another three rounds it it.” The rifle had a banana clip in it so there were over a dozen shells in it.

  Ice took a pair of binoculars out of the satchel bag. He then took out two pair of head gear with nice big foamed cups that would cover their ears. He gave Joyce one and told her to get ready. “Okay, three shots standing, do it!”

  She sighted the gun in as she had been taught many years before. She put three shots taking at least five or six seconds between shots.,

  “Looks pretty good from here Ice said as he lowered the binoculars. Now get in the kneeling position and take three shots, then lay on the blanket and put three more shots in.”

  Joyce did what she was told, cleared the weapon, put it down and stood up. By then Ice had pushed a button and the target returned.

  Well, well, well, it does look like you can shoot.” Ice showed her the three holes she had shot while standing and they were in a rather large group, with only one hitting the targets head, and another only took out a piece the ear. Then he showed her the kneeling position holes and they were quite a bit better of a grouping, two of the three would be a kill shot. Then he showed her the laying holes. One was almost on one of the other holes, and the other two really close. “Nice tight group there!” he said.

  Ice hit the button again. “That’s two hundred yards out. Lay down, take your time and put five holes in the target,” he said smiled.

  Joyce kind of smiled and got herself down. She checked and found that there were six bullets left.

  She got into what an expert would say was a perfect position. She did take her time with at leat a half a minute between shots. Ice watched through his binoculars and was impressed. He hit the button and the target came back. In real life the fourth shot would have be a “kill” shot, hitting the target in the neck, a point lest than a clean head shot.

  “Damn nice four shots,” Ice said, pointing at the last hole which missed the head but it only dropped her score a little.

  Ice picked up the rifle and took out the clip. He grabbed a small object that looked like, and was a small clip. Joyce could see there was at least one bullet in it. He then took out a slab of steel that Joyce could see would fit in the target.

  “Okay Joyce we’re putting this out there a hundred yards. I want you to get in the prone position,” he said and she did. Ice still held the gun.

  “This gun has one round in it. You will have to pull the cocking mechanism, so when you do the gun will be loaded and ready to go. Do that, and take the safety off before you fire. Think of it this way, you only have one shot to save your life and the life of others.” Ice stated.

  Joyce did what she was told, first getting the round chambered, then sighting in. Before she shot she flicked the safety off and twenty second later she squeezed the trigger. She jumped when the entire target exploded and she could feel the shock wave where she was. “Damn Ice,” she hollered, “what the hell was that?” She put the safety on, dropped the magazine out, and pulled the chamber back insuring there wasn’t another bullet in the chamber. She raised the gun, giving it to Ice.

  Ice was laughing, and really hard. “You should have seen you jump Joyce,” he said still laughing, “You actually jumped and your face went entirely white!”

  “That was a custom made bullet I made. It has what I guess you could say was a small explosive!”

  “Explosive, my ass!” she hollered. She wanted to do it again but figured Ice had only one with him.

  “Well, if I was your partner you would have saved my ass,” Ice responded. “We use that bullet when we really want to fuck somebody up. It works very well too if there is a gas tank, or propane tank around. Stu used it one time when he was going up against three criminals who were holed up in a trailer, and he knew they were heavily armed. He shot the propane tank on the front of the trailer and between the bullet and the tank the trailer was raised up about a foot or two and slammed back a good twenty yards. When the smoke went away all Stu could see was a couple pieces of steel which were part of the frame of the trailer. Everything else was in little pieces. We didn’t have to even take care of the bodies. The cops did show up, but a half hour after Stu left. They found body parts, but nothing to big. Oh . . . they did find a head about a hundred yards back.”

  Joyce was overly impressed and really enjoyed shooting; expecially when she could completely destroy something. She was surprised when she saw Ice hit the button and the target apparatus returned. It looked a little warped but could see they could still use it.

  They continued to shoot for over an hour. Joyce did very well with the hand gun very well at twenty five yards, better at twelve, perfect at six yards, and all the bullet holes touching at three yards. Ice knew she was aware that most gun fights happen within eight feet. With the shotgun she was perfect. At the end they had fun by loading everything and just picking up one weapon after the other actually destroying the middle of the target.

  After the day was done, Ice showed Joyce where her room was. It was a suite which included a sitting room and full bathroom.

  ~~~~~

  The next day Steve brought Joyce to the Maumee Police department. She was kind of surprised when Steve just waved at the desk sergeant and he buzzed them through a security door. They took the elevator up to the third floor, which was the top floor, walked down the hall, and Joyce followed as Ice walked through a door that was open into an office. Ice just sat down and Joyce took the other chair. The man behind the desk resembled Steve so much that he had to be his big brother.

  “This is Deputy Chief Ackerson,” Ice said nonchalantly. “Big brother, this here is my new partner. She’s a rookie and has to work with
me for a year.

  The deputy chief laughed, stood up and shook Joyce’s hand. She noticed this guy was taller than Steve and just as much fit as Steve was. “You’ll have your hands full with this doofus brother of mine. Oops, sorry, Steve does like to be made fun of. But, he’s my little brother and when we were kids we tried killing each other.”

  “I can understand that,” Joyce said with a smile.

  “You tell anybody about this Joyce and I’ll kill you,” Ice said very seriously, then broke into a big smile.

  “Joyce,” Steve started, “my brother knows what I do, but not the details. He figures that in his position he can’t know of what exactly I do. But he does know I kill people. In fact we got permission from the Director for me to do a personal hit my brother wanted done. It was righteous!”

  Joyce didn’t know what to say so she just sat there smiling. She felt a little uncomfortable sitting with these two men who she could see loved each other. She thought back to her past, which brought back memories of some things she had seen happen in her street cop days and wondered if this kind of operation was what it appeared.

  “Really Joyce,” the deputy chief said, “my brother is the best there is. Years ago I tried recruiting him but after seeing all the bull shit I had to put up with, he decided against it.”

  “Yeah, to clarify something,” Steve told her, “It was my brother who introduced me to the Director. Back then there were only a handful of us.”

  “I met your Director at an executive chief’s conference and we got to be friends. When I met him I kind of assumed he was a chief from some large department. When I learned he wasn’t even attached to any law enforcement organization I was surprised.”

  “See big brother!” Steve said with a smile, “you got your self caught up in something with that big nose of your.”

  The older brother actually flipped Steve off which surprised Joyce he would do that, especially with her present.

  “We have always acted this way with each other Joyce,” the deputy chief said, “realize it’s how we survive and relate.”