“That’s just like you. I’ve got a good feeling about this. Look at us. We’re on a wild goose chase, Jimmy. Ken is being held by that psychopath, Mars, and he’s already chopped off one finger that we know of. I don’t get it; how can you be so upbeat about any of this? Pull your head out of your ass, Jimmy. We’re in some deep shit, here.”
Jimmy felt as if he’d just been slapped. “Excuse me,” he growled. “I’m sorry if my positive attitude has offended you.”
“Oh, please, don’t patronize me.”
“I wasn’t patronizing you. I just think it’s time for you to pull your head out of your ass. How dare you speak to me that way? Why do you think it’s okay to just vomit on me like that and expect me to just take it. Get real, Julie. I’m not going to sit here and think about how shitty things are, okay? I’m going to keep thinking positive thoughts and stay focused on what we came up here to do, which is to find our friend.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” hissed Julie. “And just for the record, I did not vomit on you. I was merely asking you to accept the fact that the deck is stacked against us.”
“It sure sounded like you vomited on him,” quipped Bill from the next seat.
“Go back to sleep,” said Jimmy, gritting his teeth. “And keep your mouth shut. This doesn’t concern you.”
“Oh, yeah?” asked Sheldon from the driver’s seat. “I’d say it concerns us all. That young lady has a point there. It sounds like we’re all in some serious shit.”
Jimmy and Julie locked eyes and both stifled screams. They had been living under a microscope for too long, and more than anything, all they wanted was some privacy in which to hash out their differences.
“I disagree,” said Pops. “Jimmy’s right. We need to keep our spirits up. I’ve been in some tight spots before, and I know that nothing good comes from wallowing in self pity.”
“For your information,” spat Julie. “I wasn’t wallowing. And besides, I was talking to Jimmy, not any of you people.”
“Oh, you were wallowing, all right,” snickered Bill.
“She sure was,” agreed Pops.
“Don’t you listen to them, sweetie,” said Sheldon in his nasally voice. “You’re entitled to your opinion, and don’t you take any guff off of these guys. Maybe you should ride in the front with me. Would you like that?”
“Oh please…” groaned Jimmy.
“As a matter of fact,” Julie said, red faced and wild eyed, “I’d love to ride up front with you.”
“Julie,” pleaded Jimmy. “Come on, you can’t be serious.”
The van was suddenly on the shoulder of the Interstate and braking to a stop. “Get out and get in back,” Sheldon ordered Pops, who just shrugged his shoulders and smiled. He opened his door and stepped outside. Julie unstrapped her seatbelt and flung open the back door, and without a word, she and Pops exchanged places. Pops smiled at Jimmy as he buckled himself in.
“You could have sat next to me,” Bill said, turning in his seat.
“Not with your breath,” said Pops. “I’d rather sit in a pile of dirty gym socks.”
“Oh, that’s real nice,” replied Bill. “Tell him, Jimmy. He doesn’t need to be so mean.”
Jimmy held his hands up and took several deep breaths. “You know what?” he asked. “I really don’t care what anyone says. I’m going to take a nap now. Could you all be kind enough to leave me alone?”
“No problem,” snapped Julie.
Jimmy closed his eyes and felt his heart thudding inside his chest. He was a thousand miles away from feeling sleepy, but at least if he kept his eyes closed the others might leave him alone. He tried to get his mind off of what had just happened but was interrupted by the sound of Pops chortling under his breath. Jimmy cracked an eye open and found Pops staring right at him. Jimmy quickly squeezed his eye shut, but not before Pops broke out laughing.
“What’s so damn funny?” Jimmy asked, without opening his eyes.
“You kids,” he said, gasping for breath. “You create all of these problems for yourselves and then you get mad at the world for being dragged into them. I’ve seen it a million times. What is it about drama and young people? Seems like they go together like Scotch and soda.”
“Or peanut butter and jelly,” agreed Bill.
“Will you guys just shut up?” pleaded Julie.
“I second that motion,” added Jimmy, without opening his eyes.
There was a sudden crunch, and as the van veered wildly from side to side, Jimmy’s eyes instantly popped open. “What the hell was that?” he asked.
Sheldon fought to regain control of the van and shook his head. “Biggest goddamn crow I’ve ever hit. Look, it’s stuck to the damn wiper.”
“That is so gross,” Julie said, covering her mouth.
“Damn thing cracked my windshield,” Sheldon said, pointing to a tiny spider web on the glass. “Do you know how hard it is to find glass for one of these? Shit!”
“Crows are usually smarter than that,” said Bill. “You don’t see that very often.”
Sheldon unrolled his window and stuck his arm out, reaching around for the wiper blade. “Come on, you dirty son-of-a-bitch. Sweetie, grab the wheel quick. I can’t drive with that thing flopping around like that.”
Jimmy could feel the hot air rushing inside the van as he watched Sheldon lean way outside the van to reach for the dead crow. Julie had leaned over and had the wheel in her left hand. She was weaving and fighting to correct it.
“Oh, quit your worrying,” Pops said. “Sheldon knows what he’s doing. Go back to sleep.”
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” snapped Sheldon, suddenly settling back into his seat and taking the wheel from Julie. “I just lost my nose!”
“Oh, my God,” exclaimed Julie. “Stop the van and we’ll find it.”
Sheldon shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “I got a spare in my bag. I’ll dig it out when we make a pitstop.”
Sheldon turned in his seat, and Jimmy was horrified to see how he looked without his prosthetic. He could see Julie shrinking away and covering her face with her hands.
“You, fat boy,” Sheldon said to Bill. “Hand me a bottle of water, will ya?”
Bill turned white and quickly dug a bottle of water out of the small cooler they’d packed. He handed the bottle to Sheldon who suddenly began to cackle with a maniacal laughter. Jimmy turned to Pops, but the old man seemed totally unaffected by what had just happened.
“Ah,” said Pops. “Don’t pay no attention to him. I’ve seen him pull that trick before. He’s got a dozen of those noses in his bag. Pretty funny though, don’t you think?”
Jimmy stared at him for a long minute and shook his head. “You guys are really weird,” he said. “You know that, don’t you?”
Pops shrugged and settled back into his seat, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. “You can think what you want, but he did manage to change the topic of conversation. I should think you’d be thankful for that.”
Chapter 39
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
“Reuben,” Lowell said, sticking a finger in the young man’s nose. “I’m warning you, no funny-business. I’ll be back in a couple of days, and I’d better not find out that you’ve mistreated our guest. Do you understand me? We need him alive.”
Ken watched as Reuben nodded and did his best to look puzzled. Lowell gave Ken a worried look and finally shrugged his shoulders, sighed, and disappeared out the door. Reuben waited at the door for a long moment, and the floor vibrated ever so slightly as the elevator climbed up to the surface. Reuben continued to stand there for nearly ten minutes, giving Ken a sliver of hope to hang onto.
Two days had passed since Ken had been abducted and taken to this underground prison. Time had passed slowly, and if it wasn’t for the clocks on the wall, Ken would’ve had no idea what day it was. He was now secured to a desk chair with wheels which allowed him a very limited range of movement. Us
ing the tips of his toes, he was able to scoot his chair slowly around the main room. Large as it was, Ken could feel the walls closing in on him. He wondered about Lowell and Reuben and the countless weeks and months they had spent alone, together, down in this hole in the ground.
Reuben whistled to himself as he stood in the doorway, undoubtedly waiting to see if Lowell had really gone and left him in charge. Ken watched him out of the corner of his eye. Finally, Reuben shrugged and left his post at the door. He walked to a small storeroom, opened the door and stepped inside. He emerged a few moments later, carrying a cardboard box and a black duffel bag. He gave Ken a look of supreme satisfaction, as if everything in the world had just been righted. The look sent Ken skittering across the floor.
“You know,” Reuben said, setting the duffel and box down on top of the table and removing a pair of sophisticated-looking goggles out of the box. “I was living like a king until you and your friends showed up. I had everything I could possibly want. I had power. I also had an endless supply of beautiful women, good food and drink, fresh air and sunshine. Life was good, Ken. Life was so damn good. And then you came along and ruined everything.”
“I didn’t ruin anything,” Ken said, accepting his fate. “I’d say you did a pretty good job of that after you raped Julie and shot Burt and Venus in the back. I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“How many times do I have to tell you?” Reuben asked, slipping the goggles on top of his head. “I didn’t rape your precious Julie. She asked for it; she begged me for it.”
“That’s a line of bullshit, and you know it. So what are you going to do, tough-guy? I suppose you’re going to take out your frustrations on me. That’s impressive. Why don’t you let me out of this chair and we’ll see how big of a man you are. What’s the matter, Mars? Are you afraid of a fair fight?”
“Don’t call me that! Mars only existed in Utopia!”
“That’s some pretty messed-up shit, man,” Ken said, desperate to buy more time. His fingertips found the strapping tape that bound his ankles to the chair, and he clawed at it helplessly. “You know, it doesn’t have to be like this. You really haven’t done anything that I couldn’t forgive and forget. You can’t be punished for what happened back at Utopia; President Richter issued a blanket pardon for any crimes committed during the government shutdown. Think about it. You can let me go, and you have my word that I won’t press charges.”
Reuben shook his head and smiled. “You’d like that, huh? I’d just let you go and everything would be cool, right? You must take me for an idiot.”
Ken watched in horror as Reuben pulled a Dirty Harry-type handgun out of the duffel bag. Reuben smiled as he caught Ken’s reaction. “Relax,” he said. “I’m not going to kill you. I can’t kill you, at least not yet. Have you ever been shot by a rubber bullet? No, I suppose you haven’t. Well, the police use them for crowd control, and they’re a most effective tool. They hurt like hell, but don’t do any serious damage.”
“You’re a dirty rat bastard, Mars.”
“I told you not to call me that!”
“I’ll call you whatever the hell I feel like calling you. You go ahead and play your little game, Mars. I’m not going to play along. If you were a real man, you’d let me out of this chair and give me the chance to defend myself. You’re a real piece of shit.”
Reuben slipped out of his shoes, smiled, and carrying the black .44 magnum, silently walked across the room. He stopped at the far wall, set the big handgun down on a shelf and reached for the goggles, slipped them down over his forehead and adjusted them. He stared at Ken for a long moment with a lopsided grin.
Mars switched out the lights, and Ken was plunged into total blackness.
Chapter 40
“Everything in life is luck.” ~ Donald Trump
“I told you we wouldn’t find anything,” Julie said, standing outside the freshly reopened convenience store in downtown Ely. “But nobody ever listens to me.”
Jimmy shook his head. Julie had been acting like spoiled brat ever since they’d left the big house. He suspected he knew the reason for this, but he knew better than to bring it up. He prayed that it’d pass soon, because he wasn’t sure how much more of it he could take.
They had just gassed up the van, and the guys had gone inside to pay. Jimmy lit up a cigarette and smoked as they waited. They had spent the past two days scouring the countryside, all to no avail. As much as Jimmy hated to admit it, Julie had been right. They had been on a wild goose chase, and she had reminded him of that fact at every turn.
Revisiting the ruins of Utopia had been a sad and strange experience. They combed through what remained of the ashes and sifted through the weeds as a cool breeze blew across the lake. Everything was gone, and all that remained were the painful memories of what had happened there in the dead of winter. People had begun to return to the area, but not a single one offered any clues as to what had become of the people who lived inside the commune.
After being recognized several times, Jimmy started wearing dark sunglasses and a cap that he wore low over his forehead. He let Pops and Julie do the questioning, and he cursed their luck at every dead end. “What did I tell you?” Julie would ask when they were alone. Jimmy struggled successfully to remain calm, yet he began to question their entire relationship.
They stood there staring at each other in an uncomfortable silence. Face to face and toe to toe. There was no love in Julie’s eyes; he could see that. Jimmy was sure that she was thinking the exact same thoughts as he was. Whatever they’d had once, twice, was gone.
Jimmy heard the sound of a car rolling up to the gas pumps behind him. He heard the little engine quit and the sound of a door opening. He stared at Julie, waiting for her to tell him that they were through.
Suddenly, Julie’s expression changed. The questioning look on her face was replaced by the look of a rabid grizzly bear, and she charged past Jimmy, throwing him aside with the strength of ten Julies. Jimmy was nearly knocked off his feet, and his cigarette was broken in half. Confused, Jimmy spun on his heels as a man at the gas pumps started to scream.
Jimmy couldn’t see the man as Julie stood between them, raining a hellfire torrent of punches and kicks on the tall, thin form. “Julie!” Jimmy shouted. “What the hell are you doing? Stop that!”
But Julie didn’t stop. She ripped the filler nozzle out of the man’s hands and she began to beat him over the head with it. He continued to scream. And then he screamed her name.
And Jimmy understood.
He charged over to the gas pumps and watched as Julie continued to savage the old man—the man he knew as Pluto. Jimmy pumped his fists into the air and screamed in exultation. There was blood dripping down Pluto’s forehead as he lay on the cement, his hands cupped between his legs. He looked to be in great pain. Julie paused to fling her hair out of her eyes, took a breath, and began punching again.
Chapter 41
“The reason there are two senators for each state is so that one can be the designated driver.” ~ Jay Leno
Jessie Hogan wasn’t taking no as an answer. He explained that he and his family lived west of Minneapolis in a newly built home on Lake Minnetonka. Patty and Sonya rode in the backseat as the gruff-sounding Hogan drove the three of them out of the city in a black Hummer, pointing out his city improvement projects along the way. Patty had to admit Hogan had taken an aggressive stance in rebuilding the city. Men in hard hats seemed to be everywhere, and large delivery trucks hugged the curbs. Rebuilding the great city would be a monumental task, but Hogan assured them that it would get done and under budget.
Patty listened and commented politely, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something had happened to Ken. He should have found her by now. Both Sonya and Mayor Hogan had avoided the subject all afternoon. Patty had been so sure that she’d hear something after the press conference they’d given on the steps of City Hall. She had thrust herself into the limelight in the hopes that he’d see he
r and rush to her side. So far there had been no word from Ken or any of the others.
The husky mayor began to talk politics as they wove around the narrow road on the southeastern edge of Lake Minnetonka. As there was in Minneapolis, there were construction crews in almost every driveway.
“I don’t get it,” Sonya said. “If the banks failed and everybody lost everything, where is all of the money coming from to rebuild these homes?”
Jessie Hogan turned in his seat and smiled. “Gold,” he said. “I got out of the stock market a couple of years before the crash, and I’ve never regretted it. All of this new construction you see is probably financed by gold or silver. I can practically guarantee it. That’s something to think about in the future. I’ve got a friend in the business if you’re interested.”
Patty smiled and shook her head. All she had in the world were her name and the clothes on her back. She felt as if a great race had begun and she had missed the starting gun. Hogan wore a shiny blue suit and a pair of Hollywood-type shades. Patty chuckled to herself as she imagined Ken in such an outfit. The aging wrestler certainly hadn’t lost his flair for style.
“There’s something you should know before we get there,” Hogan said, his dimpled chin bobbing up and down as he nodded his head. “I’ve invited a few of the guys to stay with us, you know, just until they can get on their feet.”
“The guys?” asked Sonya.
“The guys from the ring,” replied Hogan. “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for them. I thought it was only fair. They’re great guys. I can personally vouch for all of them.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Sonya. “I’m single.”
Hogan turned in his seat and laughed in his gravelly baritone voice. “Don’t get your hopes up,” he said. “Most of the guys are old enough to be your dad, and some of them are old enough to be your grandpa.” He laughed heartily again as he turned the Hummer down a long, secluded driveway.
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