“Well, what if I was? What the hell is wrong with voting these bums out of office and starting with a clean slate? If you want to call that a revolution, then yeah, go right ahead.”
Pops stared at Ken for a long moment, as if he were trying to read his mind. “You’re preaching to the choir, son. Just remember how much money was spent to get those bastards elected. Think about it. You’re stepping on a lot of toes.”
“I don’t give a shit,” said Ken, and Jimmy knew that was true. “Somebody needs to shake things up in this country. It might as well be me. I’m just sick of the bullshit, Pops, that’s all.”
“I think most of us are,” Pops said, waving at the group. “You ladies follow me. You can sleep upstairs. It should be warm up there by now, and the beds up there are pretty decent. Bill, why don’t you see if you can get that young fella into the bottom bunk in there,” he said, pointing to a plywood door.
Surprising them all, Dunn got to his feet and headed to the door. He walked as if he were still learning how, holding his arms out for balance.
Bill yawned and stretched. “You don’t have to ask me twice. I suppose you want me in the top bunk.”
Pops nodded his head and waved Bill away as if he were a mosquito. “C’mon, bright eyes,” he said to Julie. “Let me show you to your bedroom.”
They spent the night like expectant fathers, pacing the floor, lost in their own thoughts. The room was warm and Pops had shut off the lights and lit a candle before turning in. The candlelight brought back memories of Jimmy’s time at the lake house. Three distinct snores rumbled in the next room, and Jimmy wondered how any of them could sleep. Ken, carrying a Remington semiautomatic shotgun, stared out into the blackness for long periods of time. Jimmy wasn’t quite sure of what to say to him. Patty was strictly off limits; Ken had made that abundantly clear. He had become withdrawn, and Jimmy thought it was best not to engage him. Ken would talk when he was good and ready.
The next two hours passed slowly as the snoring continued. Jimmy commandeered a bag of trail mix and munched on that, sipping from a plastic bottle of water. Outside the shack, black had warmed to gray.
“I should have stayed up at the house,” Ken said, finally. “I shouldn’t have dragged you all into this.”
“What the hell are you talking about? We’re already a part of this and we support you. Quit talking like that.”
“I’m tired of all of this running. I just can’t do it anymore. All I want is to see my wife, can’t you understand that? I can’t run for president, who the hell were we kidding?”
“You can’t talk like that. Besides, if they would’ve found you at the house, you’d be a dead man. You wouldn’t be able to help Patty or any of us.”
Ken seemed to think about this for a minute and nodded. “I suppose you’re right,” he said. “I’m not going to be able to sleep. Why don’t you curl up on the couch?”
Jimmy was tired, dog-tired. He looked over at the couch and the throw-blanket that covered it. “Maybe just for an hour,” Jimmy said, standing up from the table. He picked up his shotgun and walked to the sofa. “Don’t get any stupid ideas, and don’t let me sleep past eight. You’re going to need a nap, yourself.” He pulled back the blanket and stretched out on the couch. Jimmy closed his eyes, and sleep took him a moment later.
“Jimmy, wake up!” Julie hissed. “Ken is missing. Do you know where he is?”
Jimmy fought through the fog and was suddenly wide awake. “Missing?” he asked. “He was here just a minute ago.”
“I’ve been sitting out here for an hour,” said Julie. “You were out cold. Ken left on one of the four-wheelers while we were sleeping. Pops is out looking for him. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Oh, shit,” said Jimmy, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think he’d take off on his own.”
“You didn’t think,” Julie said, shaking her head in disgust. “You always say that. That doesn’t cut it this time. If you were tired, you should’ve came and got me. I would have sat with him.”
Jimmy had heard enough. He put on one of the camouflage hunting jackets and began to fill the pockets with ammunition. He slung a .308 Marlin over his shoulder and stepped out into the sunlight.
“Jimmy, wait,” Julie called from inside. “I’m coming with you.”
“No!” shouted Jimmy. “Leave me alone!”
“Fine then, go ahead. This is all your fault.”
Jimmy took a deep breath, slung the Marlin over his shoulder and jogged to the nearest of the ATVs. He flipped the latch and disconnected the small trailer, sat down on the seat and thumbed the ignition. Julie was now standing at the door to the cabin, scowling, arms crossed at her chest. Jimmy groaned. After a clumsy three-point turn, he was finally heading back up the trail.
The morning air was already tinged with humidity, and the sun had nearly burned through the thin clouds above. Jimmy pushed the ATV to its limits, roaring up the trail, ducking limbs and splashing across the lowlands. He was angry—angry at Ken for leaving, angry at Julie for the way she had accused him of being derelict of his duties. Mostly, he was angry with himself because he knew that Julie was right. This was on his head.
The trail seemed to go on forever, twisting around trees and across empty fields and through bogs where the trail was so rough that it rattled Jimmy’s teeth. At long last, Jimmy spotted the roof of the old barn through the trees. He cracked the throttle and flew around the sweeping bend and suddenly emerged into the open. Jimmy’s heart sank.
Pops was seated on top of a picnic table on the back lawn, and two ATVs sat on the lawn. There was no sign of Ken. Even from a hundred feet away, Jimmy could see the anguish in the old man’s expression. Jimmy cut back on the throttle and coasted to a stop ten feet from the table. He swallowed hard as he could see the tears in Pops’ eyes.
“They killed my friend,” Pops said, putting his face in his hands. “And his new wife, too. They threw them out the goddamn window. How could they do that? He never hurt anyone in his life.”
Jimmy looked up at the sky and prayed for the right words to come to him.
“And you knew,” Pops suddenly hissed. “Didn’t you?”
Jimmy thought about lying; he wanted to lie more than anything in the world, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. “Jacobs and Dunn told us not to talk about the outside world,” he said. “They were very clear about that.”
“Oh, that makes things better, doesn’t it?”
Jimmy sat where he was on the ATV, wanting to be anywhere but here. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “Everything happened so fast. I thought Dunn or Jacobs would tell you about what happened,” he paused and watched Pops circle the table, helplessly. “Have you seen Ken?” he asked. “Have you checked inside the house?”
Pops turned on a dime and pointed at the envelope. “Do you want to know how you give someone bad news, Jimmy? You give it to them straight up. Go on, open that envelope. Everything you need to know is in there.”
Jimmy felt his muscles go limp as he pried himself off of the seat of the muddy four-wheeler. He looked took three steps and noticed that the envelope was flecked with blood. He looked to Pops, but he was already walking up towards the house. Sweat dripped down the bridge of Jimmy’s nose and butterflies filled his stomach as he sat down on the wooden bench. He looked at the envelope and at the angry red stain in the middle of it. Jimmy took a deep breath and picked it up in his left hand, he pinched together the tiny steel clasps and opened the flap. He then pulled out the two sheets of paper that were inside, and out tumbled a severed finger.
Jimmy gasped and nearly leapt from the table. The bloody finger still wore a wedding band and recognized it immediately. The finger was Ken’s.
He turned to see Pops staring back at him from the back door of the house, his head hanging miserably low, his gnarled hands stuffed in his pockets. He turned and shuffled inside the house. Jimmy looked back at the table and retched. After a long, miser
able moment, Jimmy carefully picked up the blood-splattered papers and read.
He reread the letter and read it again. He lit up a cigarette and sat down on the green grass. There would be no presidential bid, not anymore. The letter had been very specific about that. They, whoever they were, would hold Ken until the day after the election. If anyone breathed a word of Ken’s abduction to the press or the authorities, they promised to deliver his head on a stick. The finger was to show proof that they meant business.
At the very bottom of the page, there was a short line of black ink that sent a cold chill down Jimmy’s spine.
The line read: Sincerely, your old friend, Mars.
Rage filled Jimmy like never before as he read the second letter, which informed Pops of Thrill and Katie’s untimely demise. The facts were spelled out with cold precision, and Jimmy had no doubt who had penned them.
Somehow, he had thought that Mars had died out in the Northwoods, that he’d been swallowed whole along with the others who had suddenly vanished without any trace. Jimmy got to his feet and stood at the table. Steeling himself from within, he picked up his friend’s finger and slipped the ring free. He placed the finger in the envelope and walked to the barn. A moment later he emerged with a shovel and walked out back and dug a two-foot hole in the soft earth. He said a quick prayer and buried the finger.
Returning to the table, Jimmy retrieved the papers, folded them up and slid them into the back pocket of his blue jeans. He saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye and saw Pops emerge from the house. Jimmy sat down and tried to collect his thoughts as the old man made his way down to join him.
Pops stopped ten feet short of the table and hung his head. “I’m sorry for going off on you like I did,” he said. “If I had paid attention to what was going on in the world, I would have already known about this. Can you forgive an old man for being a fool?”
Jimmy nodded his head and was just about to speak when he heard the unmistakable sound of ATVs approaching up the trail. “Oh, shit,” he muttered. “What the hell do we tell them?”
“What do you mean?” asked Pops. “We tell them the goddamned truth, that’s what we tell them. Look, I don’t know what you plan to do, but I’m sure as hell not going to sit here while the bastards who killed Thrill and Katie think they’ve got the one-up on me. No sir! I’ll find those dirty sons-a-bitches and make them pay for what they done. I can promise you that. You and your friends can stay here, if that’s what you really want to do.”
Jimmy thought about that. He had no idea what to do. Ken had always been there to make decisions like these and had taken that for granted. He was going to have to become their leader, and the first test of that leadership was less than a minute away. Jimmy looked to where the trail began at the edge of the woods and wondered how he should explain things to the others.
“Well,” asked Pops, stepping over to Jimmy and placing an arthritic hand on his shoulder. “What’s it gonna be? Are you going to stay here like a kicked dog, or are you coming with me to kick some ass?”
Jimmy clenched his teeth together as he pictured his old nemesis, Mars. “We’re going with you,” he said. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch.”
“Not if I get him first,” swore Pops. “Remember what I said. Give it to them straight up.”
And that’s exactly what Jimmy did.
Chapter 30
“A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.” ~ Harry S. Truman
Patty, dressed in shorts and a red cotton shirt, looked out the window as Sonya negotiated the winding back road that led north out of Rochester. Physically, she hadn’t felt better in many months. There was still some pain in her head, but her doctors had told her that was normal for a healing skull, and that she needn’t worry about it. With her appetite restored, she had to fight the urge to eat like the old Patty. She hadn’t been this thin in decades, and more than anything, she wanted Ken to see her this way. Now they just needed to find him.
Sonya had finally allowed her to watch the news and to surf the internet. The truth hit her hard, and she was speechless for a long while. Ken was running for president, and it boggled her mind. With Sonya standing behind her, Patty replayed the television interviews and saw how the whole crazy idea had been hatched. She thought that Katie Flourish (God rest her soul) had baited Ken into his presidential bid, and that Thrill Melbow (may he rest in peace) had simply added fuel to the fire, practically daring Ken to jump into the fray.
Patty wrestled with the truth and finally came to the conclusion that Ken was only standing up for what he believed was right. Why couldn’t he be president? He was a good, decent, hard-working man with more moral fiber than Washington D.C. had seen since Abraham Lincoln was elected. He was also smart as a whip and didn’t stand for any monkey business. The more she thought about it, the prouder she became of her husband. The further she read, the more likely it looked that he’d actually win the election. He had somehow managed to climb into the middle of a dead heat, and there were still four months before people went to the polls. The experts were already predicting he’d win the race in a landslide.
“President Dahlgren,” Patty said to herself. She suddenly put her hand to her mouth to conceal her smile.
“Are you okay?” Sonya asked from behind the wheel of the Toyota Camry. “We should be to Minneapolis in about twenty minutes.”
“Oh, I’m fine,” said Patty. “I just can’t believe all of this is happening.”
Sonya nodded. She also felt as if she were living inside a dream. She had known nothing about the woman seated next to her, only that she was in great need of a friend. Sonya and her uncle had rescued her from certain death not once, but twice. She had assisted Uncle Hideo in the tumor removal and had nursed this poor woman back to health, only to find that she was the wife of the man who would soon be president. The thought made her giddy with pride and excitement. At the same time, she couldn’t be happier for her patient. They would find Patty’s husband if it took them all summer.
“You’re going to love Ken,” gushed Patty. “Everyone does.”
“I love him already,” replied Sonya with a big smile. “He’s going to lead the revolution. That’s what this country needs—someone to take charge and make real changes.”
“With God’s help, he is,” agreed Patty, nodding her head. “He can do it, too. Ken’s the type of guy that take any problem, and I mean any problem, and look at it with absolute clarity. He sees things all the way through, without preconceived notions, and he doesn’t let anyone stand in the way of his decision making. The more I think about it, the more I know that he’s just the man for the job. He can do this, Sonya. You just wait!”
“You must be so proud of him. I can’t wait for him to see you.”
Patty beamed at the thought. “And I can’t wait to see him.”
They drove the last miles with Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young, playing softly on the radio. A squad car passed them, lights blazing, followed by another. Patty and Sonya exchanged a nervous look as they approached downtown Minneapolis from Interstate 94. There were people lining the overpasses, and the crowds continued to grow as they approached the blackened skyscrapers that had once stood like gleaming obelisks. Up ahead, the freeway had been blocked off, and the few cars that traveled west were being forced to exit on Riverside Avenue.
“This doesn’t look good,” said Sonya. “Look at all the cops.”
The roadblock was manned by no fewer than a hundred police officers dressed in full riot gear. Most held shotguns and rifles, and it appeared they were quite ready to use them. Banners hung from the overpasses, and Patty was speechless as she read her last name in many of them.
“Oh, dear,” Patty finally managed. “What’s happening?”
Sonya signaled her turn as a State Patrol whizzed past them. “I’m not sure, but it sure looks like the revolution has started without us.”
Chapter 31
“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” ~ John F Kennedy
Julie spent the remainder of the day in a fog of tears and denial, and nothing Jimmy said seemed to help. She loved Ken like a father and hated Mars with a passion. She lashed out at Jimmy when he explained the situation, but he had been prepared for that and plowed ahead, only leaving out the part about who had taken Ken. He thought it was better if Julie and Bill read the note on their own. Julie screamed when she got to the bottom of the page and continued screaming for nearly two minutes. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she stuck a finger into Jimmy’s chest. “This is all your fault, Jimmy! How could you have left him alone like that? You should’ve known this would happen!”
Jimmy tried to reach out and take her into his arms, but she leapt back as if he were the Devil, himself.
“Don’t you touch me!”
She staggered away, lost in a torrent of emotions that Jimmy knew he had no control over. With Pops and Dunn up in the house, he was now left alone with Bill at the picnic table.
“I don’t think it was your fault,” Bill said, sitting next to Jimmy on top of the table with his feet on the bench. The blue sky had been blanketed by high clouds, and a welcome breeze had kicked up. Bill, barefoot, sat wearing his bellhop pants and a white cotton t-shirt. He hadn’t shaved or showered in days and Jimmy was thankful to be upwind of him. “She’ll come around,” Bill added, pointing at Julie who stood a hundred yards away at the back of the barn, arms held up in the air, screaming obscenities at the sky. “She’s just got to let it all out. You know how women are.”
With nowhere to go, Jimmy felt like a caged tiger as Bill continued to talk.
“How do you think Mars found us?”
Jimmy thought about that as he stared down at the lawn. “I’ve been thinking about that,” Jimmy said with a heavy sigh. “Well, he spent a long time in the military before he got together with Pluto. I suppose he marketed himself as the man who could find Ken and offered his services to the highest bidder. I really don’t know. What I need to know is: what is his real name and where did he take Ken? Did you ever hear him give his real name?”
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