“He got mad. He called me an ungrateful bitch and left. I didn’t see him for like, a week after that. When he finally came back he had some dope so I forgave him. But he didn’t seem to want to talk about the cowboy anymore and I didn’t want to make him mad again. So I never brought it up again.”
It wasn’t the iron-clad confirmation Randy had hoped for, but under the circumstances he’d take it.
He’d close his case. At worst, the mysterious men with no names were unwilling accessories.
But only one man pulled the trigger. And indications were the missing men were either bit players, or got dragged into the shooting without their prior knowledge.
It was over. Tom Cohen’s killer met justice. It wasn’t the justice Randy would have preferred. For he’d rather have faced him in a court of law. He’d rather have watched the bars shut behind him and make him think about his crime for the rest of his natural life.
In Randy’s mind, Joey got off too easy.
But then again, they say a punishment should fit the crime. And he died the way Tom died.
Perhaps it was a fitting way after all.
Rachel interrupted his thoughts.
“What happens to me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Joey wasn’t much. We fought and sometimes I hated the bastard. But he was all I had. We kind of took care of each other, ya know? After CPS took my kids I tried to OD. I got high and injected ammonia into my veins. I wanted to die. But Joey called a damn ambulance for me. He wouldn’t let me die.”
“Why did Child Protective Services take your kids?”
“Because they’re lyin’ bastards, that’s why. They said I couldn’t take care of them.”
She suddenly erupted in tears.
“I want my kids back. I want Joey back. I don’t wanna be alone again.”
Randy could have done the easy thing. He could have walked away.
But that wasn’t the type of man who Randy was.
“Have you ever tried to get off the junk, Rachel? To get clean?”
“A thousand times. Why?”
“CPS was right. You’re in no position to take care of children. Did they offer you help?”
“Yeah. They sent me to a clinic. They gave me methadone. I traded one drug for another. I figured what was the sense of that? I walked away.”
“You understand you’ll never get those kids back until you’re clean. You know that, right?”
“Crap. Like that’s gonna happen.”
“You have to want it bad enough, Rachel. You have to have something you want more than you want the dope.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like my kids. I know. But it ain’t that easy. You ever been hooked, cowboy?”
“No ma’am. I know I can’t understand what you’re feeling. But if those were my kids I’d do what I had to do to get them back.”
He paused before continuing.
“Unless, of course, you love getting high more than you love your children.”
“Don’t you dare judge me, you self-righteous son of a bitch.”
“I’m just telling you what you already know.”
She started to blubber.
“I do know it. But like I said, I’ve tried a thousand times.”
“So try a thousand and one.”
“It’s hopeless without Joey. As bad as he was, he was all I had.”
“Seems to me he was part of the problem.”
“Oh yeah? What the hell does that mean?”
“You said he helped you get dope. That kind of help was the last thing you needed.”
“Yeah? What do you know?”
“I know you’ll never have a shot at getting your children back unless you get clean and stay that way.”
“You’re not listening, cowboy. Without Joey I’m all alone. And I can’t lick this monkey alone. Who the hell’s gonna help me? You?”
Most men would have walked away.
Most men would have figured it wasn’t their problem. It wasn’t their cross to bear.
But Randy wasn’t most men.
“Yes,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.
RANGER, Book 4:
Joey’s Last Stand
will be available on Amazon.com
and Barnes and Noble Booksellers
in February 2018.
Have you checked out Darrell Maloney’s new series,
The Yellowstone Event?
Here are some fun facts about the Yellowstone Calderon:
- It’s a real thing. It really does exist
- It’s a super volcano simmering just beneath the surface of Yellowstone National Park
- It has erupted in the past, and will erupt again
- Scientists believe that when it erupts again it will destroy 20 percent of the United States
- You do NOT want to be in that 20 percent
Tony and Hannah are just a couple of high school kids who happen across a woman who will change their lives forever. She’s a carnival fortune teller who warns them of a great calamity soon to befall the United States of America.
The old woman tells them it will be up to them to tell the world of the impending danger.
And to save the lives of millions.
It would be easy to dismiss her warnings as fantasy, except for the fact that she vanishes before their very eyes.
And so begins a long journey for Tony and Hannah. A journey which involves a great mystery, intrigue and danger. Not to mention threats by a government which should be trying to help them, but instead is trying desperately to keep its secrets hidden.
*************************
Please enjoy this preview of
Darrell Maloney’s new series
The Yellowstone Event, Book 1:
FIRE IN THE SKY
The Yellowstone Event series is now available on Amazon.com, at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, and from various on-line book sources.
*************************
“Come on! What do you have to lose?” she cried gleefully as she dragged Tony by his arm through the midway.
“Um… how about ten bucks?”
“I’ll give you a kiss.”
“I’d rather keep the ten bucks.”
“Excuse me, mister?”
He stopped and held her, then laughed.
“I’ll tell you what. You give me just one good reason why I should throw away good money on a fortune teller. If you can give me just one good reason, I’ll give in to your silly demands. But it’ll still cost you a kiss.”
“And what if I don’t have a good reason? What if I’m just a silly girl who wants to find out once and for all whether you’ve been telling me the truth about marrying me someday?”
“Oh, so that’s what this is all about. You’re gonna make me pay ten of my hard-earned dollars just to hear some old gypsy fortune teller say what I’ve been telling you all along? That hurts. It really does.”
“What hurts?”
“It hurts that you don’t trust me. That you’d believe some crazy old fortune teller but you won’t believe me.”
“The fortune teller has nothing to gain by lying to me.”
“And I do?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Maybe? Just what the heck does that mean, maybe?”
“It just means that you’ve been trying very hard to get to third base with me lately. And you wouldn’t be the first guy who promised marriage to get the honeymoon first. That’s all.”
Tony smiled.
“Third base? Heck, baby. I don’t want third base. I want a home run.”
The smile left her face, replaced by something akin to a little girl’s pout.
“You’re not helping your case any.”
He brushed the long brown hair from her face and kissed her on the tip of the nose. Then square on the lips.
“What if she’s a fraud? Most of them are, you know. They just say whatever pops into their minds. They can no more tell the futur
e than you or I can.”
“I’ll be able to tell if she’s a fraud. If she is, I’ll let you off the hook. But if she’s genuine, I’ll know that too.”
“Oh, so now you’re an expert on gypsy frauds?”
Her smile returned and she coyly replied, “Maybe.”
“Oh, geez,” he said as he stomped toward the purple tent. “The things I do to make you happy…”
“I know, honey. That’s why I love you so very much.”
She wasn’t quite what he expected, when she sat them at the table. For one thing, she looked… normal. She wasn’t the hideous witch he’d expected to find. She didn’t have hair growing from weird warts on her nose and huge silver hoop earrings. There weren’t bats flying around her head and the smell of cheap incense permeating everything in the tent.
She looked as normal as Tony and Hannah.
That sealed it in Tony’s mind. That proved she was a fraud. She didn’t even know enough to dress the part of a cartoonish gypsy. She didn’t even put out that much effort. How much effort would she put into reading Hannah’s emotions and verifying that yes, this guy sitting next to her was truly her one and only?
Now Tony could tell his own future. In about five minutes or so Hannah was going to go storming out of the tent and straight to the car. She’d insist that he take her home immediately. And once there she’d let herself out, slam the car door, and stomp her way up the steps to her house.
He’d be left in the car, his head still spinning, with absolutely no chance of getting lucky on this particular night.
“Good evening, Hannah. Good evening, Anthony. I’ve been wondering when you two were coming to call.”
Hannah didn’t catch it. She was too mesmerized by the woman’s eyes. They were pools of blackness, devoid of emotion.
But Tony caught it. He’d always been good at that. At noticing subtle things others missed.
“How… how did you know our names?”
It was more of a demand than a question.
“Oh, I know more about you than that, young man. Stella knows everything about you. Your past, your present, your future. I know what’s in your heart and what evil lurks hidden in your soul. I know the good in you. The bad. The secrets you keep. Now then, young man, the only question is, which things should I tell to Hannah and which ones do I keep to myself?”
His head told him she was bluffing, that she knew nothing about him. That maybe someone who knew them saw them coming and tipped her off to their names. Or that there was some other reasonable explanation.
His heart, it wasn’t so sure.
“Relax, Anthony. You need not worry, for I know what’s in your heart. This girl loves you. She wants to know if you love her as well. She wants to know if you’ll marry her someday. It is a reasonable request. And I will share with her your true intentions.”
Hannah’s jaw dropped. Literally.
“But how…”
The gypsy placed a finger to her lips. Now was not the time for Hannah to speak. For she was about to receive the answer she’d been looking for.
Tony was on the hot seat. He overlooked the fact she’d called him Anthony. Nobody, but nobody, called him Anthony. He hated the name. He thought it made him sound like an accountant, slaving away in a cubicle with his calculator and his Buddy Holley glasses.
Forget all that. How in heck did she know why they went in there?
Tony looked at Hannah. Hannah looked back at him. Both of them suspected the other of sneaking in to talk to the woman beforehand.
And each of them could tell by the surprise on the other’s face that they hadn’t.
The gypsy turned her attention to Hannah.
“You are a beautiful girl, Hannah. You are desired by many boys. During your life you will be desired by many men. But at this place, at this time, your heart and your soul belong to only one man.
“You’re here to find out if he feels the same way. You want to know if he will select you to be his bride. You want to know if he will father your children.
“The answer is yes. Yes to both questions. He will ask you to marry him, and he will be a good father to your children. He will be faithful and devoted to you. He will never stray.
“But…”
They had been gazing in each other’s eyes. Hannah smiled as soon as she heard the gypsy’s words. As hokey and improbable as it was, she had the confirmation she’d been looking for.
The “but…” stopped them short.
They immediately turned their attention back to the woman as she continued.
“But first, you must survive the great calamity. It will not be easy. You will be at great risk. Your loved ones and all of your friends will be in danger. Many of them will not make it.
“To earn your life together, to earn your children, you must survive the great calamity. You must help others to survive as well. Only then, as you walk away from the greatest death and destruction this country has ever seen, will you finally deserve the chance to become one.”
Hannah could find no words.
Tony’s head was swimming, trying to make sense of it all. But his tongue was still working.
“Great calamity? What great calamity? What in hell are you talking about?”
Hannah put her hand on his arm to calm him. She saw no reason for him to get ugly. No reason to curse at the woman.
But Tony wasn’t angry.
Tony was confused.
“Beneath the great park they call Yellowstone lies death and destruction. It is well hidden and mostly unknown. But it is there. And you… both of you, will have the unique opportunity to save the lives of many.
“But… you must not marry until after the calamity is done. To do so will cause you distractions. You will be with child. You will lose your path, and your role in what fate hath wrought.”
Hannah stammered, “What? What hath fate wrought?”
“The destruction of the United States of America.”
Now Tony was starting to get angry.
“What in the hell are you talking about, you crazy old woman? What are you saying?”
The woman took the attack in stride, as though she fully expected it. She continued to meet his gaze and merely smiled at him.
Hannah took control, as she frequently did when Tony lost his cool.
“I think we’d better go,” she said as she stood and pushed her chair back. Her hand was still on Tony’s arm, and she fairly pulled him out of his own seat.
She turned back to the gypsy and said, “Thank you, ma’am.”
The woman merely nodded, and continued to smile.
Hannah rushed Tony, who was now speechless, out of the tent and back onto the carnival midway.
They were fifty feet away when Hannah noticed the ten dollar bill still clutched in Tony’s hand.
“Wait. We forgot to pay her.”
“Screw her.”
But Hannah was nothing if not honest. Bad karma came to those who took advantage of others.
She dragged him back to the tent and swept aside the flap.
The old gypsy was nowhere to be found.
The Yellowstone Event, Book 1:
FIRE IN THE SKY
is now available on Amazon.com, at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, and from various on-line book sources.
Death Comes Calling (Ranger Book 3) Page 18