Slowly I lifted my hands into the universal sign for surrender. “Easy there, I am not due to die until tonight.” The big man tilted his head to one side, but his aim never wavered. “Sorry, I am being foolish. Please, take me to your boss. He will not be upset. Cross my heart and hope to… Well, you know the rest. If he is, you can kill me. I will even dig the hole you’ll put me in without any sniveling.”
This hoss moved his foot off my neck. He grabbed me by my shirt and hauled me up. It hurt. He pulled a few chest hairs in the process. He took the sports bag from me and led me to the boss’s office.
“Turn around. No one sees the boss without getting searched.” He patted me down again.
“You know if this keeps up, I’ll expect candy and flowers,” I said as his hands ran over my body. Nothing. Is this thing on?
“Go ahead and keep the sass up. I know just where I’ll have you dig the hole.” He knocked on the door once then motioned for me to enter with him close behind.
Sitting at his desk, Al is looking over some paperwork. He glanced at me then opened his desk drawer and placed the paperwork there. “Mr. Embers, what brings you here today?”
“You’re a businessman. Perhaps we could do some business? A little horse-trading, or a bit of bartering.”
“No offense, Mr. Embers, but based on our last dealings I don’t think it will be possible, and I am quite busy. Good day, Mr. Embers.” He made a dismissive motion with his right hand and reopened his desk drawer.”
“You’re the boss, Boss, but you might want to see this.” The hoss lifted the sports bag.
Al closed the drawer again, stood, and walked around to look in the bag. He opened it up and saw the gun he had sold me. He lifted the rifle up and with practiced hands opened the breach. He looked down the barrel and generally gave the gun the once over. “Mr. Embers, you must have some training in gun-smithing.”
“None. The day I bought it from you was the first time I had ever held a rifle.”
Looking up at his bodyguard, he said, “Good call on this one. I think you can leave me alone with Mr. Embers for a time.”
“Okay, Boss. I’ll be right outside if you need me.”
“Mr. Embers, you have surprised me. You have restored this weapon beautifully. And you did it without losing any of the patina. I don’t know of anyone who could do better. If all your work is this good, I could use a man such as yourself in my organization.”
“To be honest, it wasn’t me. You could say the rifle told me what to do.”
Al gave a slight chuckle then said, “Well, however you managed it, this rifle is worth perhaps twice what you paid for it. Do you wish to sell it back to me?”
“As I said earlier, I am looking for a trade.” Out of the sports bag, I retrieved a folder. “In here, you will find individual pictures of my family along with some vital information birthdates, physical descriptions, etc. I need some rock-solid new identities for my family new birth certificates, passports, social security cards, the whole enchilada.”
“I don’t deal in such things. And even if I did, this gun is not worth what you are asking. It’s not even close.”
Pointing to the computer on his desk, “I assume you have internet access.”
“Of course.”
“You’ll want to look up the serial number of the weapon.”
“What you are up to Mr. Embers?”
“Trust me.”
“Okay, I’ll play along.” With an amused look on his face, Al sent the rifle down on his desk and began typing away on his computer. After a minute, he did a double-take and reread the serial number on the weapon. He looked at his computer screen again. With a look of shock, he pulled open a drawer in his desk and retrieved two white gloves. He put them on with only a slight trembling of his hands. Al picked up the rifle and began to look at it with new eyes. After a minute of gazing at the weapon in his hands, he stopped and pushed a button on his intercom, “Tell Jake to get in here. I have a job for him.”
In due course, a man came into the office, “What do you need Boss?”
“Take this,” Al handed the folder over to Jake, “to Murray. Tell him I am calling in a solid he owes me. Tell him to do a Claude Rains on these people, and I want it back today before the club opens. Hurry!” Al sat back down behind his desk. He picked up the weapon again and started examining it more intently. He started, “This was in my junk box all along, and I never knew it.”
“Yep. I was lucky it called to me,” I waited for a beat. “Don’t ask.”
“I’ll say you were lucky. It’s almost the time of year when the city holds its buyback program. To think Sergeant York’s rifle was almost melted down and lost forever.” Al started examining the rifle again. He touched it as a lover strokes the object of their desire. “Mr. Embers, it will be at least a few hours before your new identities are done. You can wait out in the club or would you rather come back later, but I have more pressing matters to deal with than entertaining you.”
Checking the time on my cell phone, I saw had a few hours to kill before I am killed. An idea struck me. Talking to someone special and walking in the green one last time sounded like a plan.
It is quiet on the drive to where my mother is buried. After I parked, I took the slow walk to her gravesite. Many times since the sad and relief filled day, I have come to visit. “I tried calling you and received an upset stomach for my troubles. Maybe there are some people I can’t call on? This is all so new to me. Maybe I can’t summon you, but it doesn’t mean I can’t talk to you, Mom. I miss you. You taught me so much. How do I thank you?” We talked, well she listened, the better part of an hour. We talked about everything and nothing. I want to go to one last place before the dominoes start to fall, so I left. “Goodbye, Mom, see you soon.”
I am now at Balboa Park at the spot where my mother had pointed to my star. I have spent many hours here over the years. It is near a circle of trees ash, oak, maple, and others. I can playback their growth in my mind like a time-lapse movie. This place always gave me a sense of peace. It is quiet on a level which isn’t based on sound. After I cleared my mind, I felt right with what I would do. In the thousandfold thousand nightmares, I had of what can happen tonight never had I tried what I plan to do now. The exact outcome is hidden from me. In every scenario I played in my mind, I die. There is no reason to believe it will end any better for me, but my family will be safe. This is what is important. Yes, my family will be safe, and I will achieve the greatest of endings; I will die so my family lives.
For the few hours, I sat in the green before leaving for Saxie’s Jazz Joint and acquiring those things my family will need for their future. My final drive home was still. No music is playing on the radio or in my head. Green lights all the way, and there weren’t even any rude drivers on my route. It is as if the city itself is giving me a gentle farewell.
Walking into the house, I know I am about to face an even harder battle than with the creature. John is there already, excellent. All our luggage is near the door. It is time to tell Charlene my plan and to say goodbye forever.
“Nathan, what is this all about? My dad won’t tell me a thing.” Char is standing there with her hands on her hips, indicating she would brook no deviation from the truth absolute, complete, and without delay.
Here goes. “The man you know as Mark Galos is coming to kill us tonight,” silence hung in the air for a moment. “Don’t ask me how I know. I just do,” again I let it hang in the air for a long second. “You, Mo, and your dad are going on the run. You need to gather all the money you have squirreled away in the house. Grab all your jewelry of any real value as well. Moiraine, Honey, could you get your piggy bank and bring all the guys too. You will need them in the future, I think.” Moiraine, without question, did as I asked and ran to her room to perform her tasks. Charlene, on the other hand, fumed.
“I don’t understand, Husband Mine. You sound as if you will not be coming with us.”
“It is not the path
I must walk. My job, my duty, and my sacrifice will be to delay the monster as long as I can. Who knows I might even win.” For a man of honor, I sure have been telling a whole mess of lies lately.
“He… is… coming to kill us tonight,” surprise came to my wife’s face as she dropped her arms to her sides. “It is strange. I hear the truth in your words. Nathan, I’m frightened.”
Rushing in, I hugged my wife, not too hard, for her incisions are still fresh. I pulled back and kissed her with more intensity than perhaps ever before. It matters not John is right there and if he did, so what.
“Nathan, we can call the police. We can tell them he’s on his way.”
Still holding my wife, “In the best scenario only six cops are killed and another dozen or so crippled and we still died. The worst-case more fine cops are killed than I care to say, and we still die.” Char broke the embrace, wiped away a tear, and went about the task I had set her to do. “John, your help means a great deal. Stay true to the plan. It is the only way I foresee, which has a chance of working.”
“Nate, son, you don’t have to stay here alone. We can take him together. We don’t have to play fair like the police do. We can set up a right good ambush for the bastard. Besides, I owe him some payback as much as you.”
Reaching out with my hand, I grasped his shoulder, “John, we tried many times.” Confusion came to his face. “They all ended with all our deaths.”
“Nate, you are talking crazy, but somehow I see the truth of it.”
“I’ve come to believe when people hear the truth they know it,” After taking a breath and blowing it out hard, I said, “The truth rings true.”
Both Char and Mo returned to the living room with their respective stashes of money. Moiraine had all her guys in her arms and Charlene had a photo album in hers. I asked Char how much money she spirited away. Wow, she can pinch a penny or three. I handed Charlene a black leather pouch like the ones businesses use to make bank deposits. “In here is all the money I could squeeze out of our holdings. It’s not much.” Placing the ring in Charlene’s hand, I said, “If you have to, sell my mom’s ring. I hoped Moiraine could have it when she is old enough, but the money it could bring may be of more importance. John knows the full plan. But, here it is in a nutshell. You all load up in the car and haul ass. Pick a direction and drive. Don’t look back. Don’t wait and see, and don’t tell me where you are heading. Don’t even think about where. What I don’t know, no matter how he tortures me, I can’t tell him. This man is smart and cunning. He has evaded the police for weeks and taunted them while he did it. If you leave any trail at all, he’ll hunt you all down. This is why you are leaving your names behind. In the pouch are new identities for all of you. You need to abandon everything which might lead to you. Throw away your old IDs, credit cards, and even your cell phones. In the pouch, you’ll find a pay as you go cell phone along with everything else. Don’t, and I mean this, don’t call the house. Don’t call me. Give it a week you can call the police. If I am dead, they should know it by then. If I am dead, throw the phone away and never look back again. He will find you if you don’t.”
Moiraine threw down the guys and ran crying into my arms. “Daddy, don’t die. The mean man won’t find you if you come with us. Please, Daddy, please come with us.”
If I thought my heart was breaking before, it is now shattered in my chest. I must be strong. Their lives depend on it. I know I am right. “Moiraine, I need you to understand.”
“I don’t understand. Mommy almost died. You say you are going to die. No! I won’t understand, and you can’t make me,” she is in a full-on rage now.
“Then don’t understand, but accept what I tell you. Can you do it for me?” I am crying tears, which burned my soul.
Moiraine stopped crying and wiped at her tears and mine, “Okay Daddy, but I don’t understand.” She pulled away and started to gather up the guys. Once they were safely in her arms, she looked up at me and said, “Don’t die Daddy and kick the mean man’s ass.”
Charlene said immediately, “Moiraine, no potty mouth young lady.” Then with an accepting tone said, “But you are correct, however. Kick his ass, Nathan. I will not contemplate my husband doing otherwise. I will not.”
Smiling at what Char said and trying not to laugh at what Mo said. I guess she understood more than I had given her credit for. Putting on my best game face, I said, “Okay, I won’t die, and I’ll kick the mean man’s ass.” It is one last lie before they leave.
John had been loading up the car while all this took place. Looking at the time on my cell phone, they should have been on the road by now. With the last of the luggage in my hands, I started herding my girls out of the house. They all piled in the car and buckled up. I kissed my girls one last time and said to John, “Guard them well, John.” Then whispering, “I’ll say hi to Marlene for you when I make it to the other side.” As I said those words, I understood there is another side.
“I feel like I am abandoning you, Son,” John said through the car window. He unbuckled his seatbelt and started to open the car door.
Pushing the door closed again, I said, “Nonsense, John. You fought in a war. You know in a war a general may order some troops to withdraw while he orders others to hold the enemy off. In this war, I am the general, and I need you to keep my family, our family, safe. You have done enough in this fight. Your example gives me strength, and you gave me a cool gun with bullets and everything.” John shook his head at me as he rebuckled his seatbelt and started the car up.
Patting the car’s hood, I said to Jezebel, “Godspeed.”
Watching them drive away is one of the hardest things I have ever done. I have given up almost everything. There is but one thing left for me to give. My life, I shall place it on the altar of hope. The hope they will be safe. The hope they live long and happy lives. The hope when John passes, many years from now, it is peaceful and without pain. The hope Moiraine will find her dream and live it. The hope Charlene will find a better man than I. One who will love her and treat her right. Finally, the hope they remember only our happy times together.
“Well, Mr. K R A P, how about some mood music while I prepare for the showdown.” The Emperor’s Theme from “Star Wars Return of the Jedi” began playing in earnest on my internal iPod. “Perfect.” I walked inside and immediately got to work. The creature known as Mark Galos will be here soon. I wonder what its name actually is? My insults and curses should be addressed correctly. It would be impolite for my verbal abuse to be flung at the wrong person.
I moved the recliner, so it faced the front door. Out of the gun-safe, I retrieved John’s pistol. It felt right in my hand. After I loaded in the clip, like in every dream about this moment I had the feeling, “Okay, let’s get to work,” go through my heart. I opened the front door, so the monster would have easy access to the house. No need to have him break-in. It’s a fine sturdy door, and I wanted to save Mrs. Blake the trouble of replacing it.
I sat in the recliner, waiting for the time of my trial by fire. In my head, over and over, I kept hearing my mother’s voice saying, “with your shield or on it.” I also heard my daughter’s voice telling me to “kick the mean man’s ass.” There are other voices too. I heard voices from a thousand different conversations giving me all kinds of advice. One voice is telling me to stay loose. Another said to keep my guard up. So many pieces of advice they churned in my head. I willed them to stop and stop they did. It is quiet in my mind now. The type of quiet you heard when you are far away from the city, people, and all things artificial. The type of quiet your ears strains to hear.
“I am ready.”
As I finished the thought, a figure stood at the threshold of my door.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The creature I called a parasite stood in the shadows upon my threshold. Its silhouette showed the outline of the sledgehammer hanging at his side. “The time of reckoning is at hand. You and your family die this night,” the parasite said with malice an
d cruelty in its voice. “Do you plan on facing your death sitting down?” He stepped into the light. My face contorted in horror at what the light revealed. A smile grew on its face as it reveled in my revulsion. The air brought a horror of its own to my nose. The odor is a foul stench. It had a sweet sickly smell of rotting flesh. It is enough to make me retch. I dismissed the urgency from my body and mind. This thing looks worse than at our last encounter. It looked worse than it had in my dreams of this moment. It looks like the monster it is. Its eyes are a dull yellow. Its teeth are speckled with black flakes. Its hair is mostly gone except for patches which reminds me of a cancer victim on chemo. Its skin is mottled grey and hung loosely on its skull. Gashes on its face are there also. In the open wounds, I can see maggots crawling in the ragged openings. The insects are gorging themselves on the dead flesh. All which is left of Mark Galos’s body is the mere shell. The evil will of this parasite animates this walking corpse.
I stood and faced him. “I offer you mercy. Leave now, trouble my family and this city no further, and I will let you live. I swore revenge when the bullet hit my wife, but I will forswear the oath if you leave now. If you refuse my offer, you will face the full fury of my anger and the sting of my malice for I am a man defending his loved ones, and that gives me strength.”
The creature before me croaked out a wet and garbled laugh. “You offer mercy to the merciless. Do you think me a fool? I am more than a man now. A hundred men could not kill me, but you are welcomed to try.” It laughed again.
Well, the bluff didn’t work. This fact reinforces my personal rule against playing poker. Without thinking, I fired three shots from John’s 45. One, two, three, the rounds hit the handle of the sledgehammer. The head of the hammer fell off, and the handle splintered into a useless mass.
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