by Mark Stone
“This is Davis Whitman,” I said, introducing the pair. “I picked him up in the army and never seemed to manage to be able to put him down again.”
“I’m stubborn like that,” he answered, extending his hand to Alexis. “And you can call me Davey. Just about everybody does. Well, unless they call me ‘Lucky John’s friend’. That’s pretty popular too.”
“Sorry about that,” Alexis said. “I was just excited to see him. I don’t know if John told you, but he’s responsible for pulling me out of a pretty sticky situation from earlier today.”
“He did mention something about it,” Davey answered. “Your dickhead boyfriend had better be glad I wasn’t back there, too. Otherwise, he’d be eating through a straw.” Davey pepped up. “Hey, did you happen to hear the story I was telling earlier in the bar?” He took a deep breath. “Bullets were flying everywhere! I was standing—”
“No, Davey! Not now,” I said, breaking into his conversation. “Poor woman’s already been through enough today. Let her live.” Pushing the cooler into his chest, I let go as soon as he grabbed it. “Here. Help Alexis bring this outside. I’m sure there’s someone out there you can blab about this to.”
“And what are you going to do while I’m hauling coolers around?” Davey asked.
“I’m going to find a bathroom and meet you outside in thirty seconds,” I responded.
“Go upstairs,” Alexis asked. “Second door on the right. The ones on this level aren’t as nice, and after what you did for me today, you deserve Egyptian cotton to dry your hands on.”
“This whole place is nice,” I answered. “Almost surprisingly so.”
“Because I’m a tattooed bartender?” she asked, her eyebrows dancing upward.
“Would it make me sound awful if I said yes?” I asked, narrowing my eyes apologetically at the woman.”
“I’m used to it,” she answered, shrugging. “All this is my dad’s money. He was in the stock market when my brother and I were young. He hit it big when we were in our teens, and he moved us down here because the secretary he left my mom for had always wanted to live by the beach. She was twenty-three and never wore a bra. So, of course, she got what she wanted. And boom goes the dynamite, here we are.” She shrugged again. “I can’t complain, though. I like it here. I like my job, I like my friends, and every once in awhile, I get to have parties like this. Things could be worse.” She looked up the stairs. “Now, you be quiet when you go up there. My son, Jack, is asleep, and if you wake him up, I promise you, everything’s going to go to hell.”
I laughed politely, moving toward the stairs. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’d never allow that to happen.” Turning, I started up the stairs, unaware that before the night was over, things would indeed go to hell, and they’d do it in ways I could have never predicted, let alone stopped.
Chapter 5
Washing my hands, I rubbed them along the towels Alexis had hanging in the upstairs bathroom. Though I would never spend money on stuff like that, regardless of how many millions I’d just won, the woman had a point. The Egyptian cotton was amazing.
When I finished, I opened the door. There, standing in front of me with squinted eyes and a mop of black hair that looked like it hadn’t seen a comb in far too long, stood a little boy in Buzz Lightyear pajamas.
“Jack, I assume?” I asked, smirking at the kid.
“Perhaps,” the kid answered in a squeaky voice that spoke to just how tired he must have been. “I don’t really wanna answer that question, though, on account of the fact that you’re a strange man I met in the bathroom.”
I blanched, unsure of whether I should have been horrified or in stitches of laughter on the floor. In the end, I decided somewhere in the middle was probably for the best.
“Well, I mean, you’re not actually in the bathroom yet,” I said, as though the distinction made any difference at all.
“You’re not supposed to be here, you know,” Jack said. “My mom said this part of the house is just for us.” The little guy narrowed his eyes. “You’re breaking the rules, and my mom says only troublemakers break the rules.” He took a tiny step forward. “Are you a troublemaker, guy?”
It took all I could do not to burst into laughter. From the look on this little man’s face. He wasn’t going to take any of my garbage.
“I’m not gonna lie to you, Jack. I have been called that before, yes,” I answered, a smile stretching across my face. “But I’ve been called a lot of things, and it doesn’t mean all of them are true. It’s nice to meet you, Jack. My name is John Lucky.”
“Lucky?” Jack asked, scrunching his nose up like he’d just caught a whiff of bad fish. “That’s not a name. It’s just a word. It means fortunate.”
“That’s what I keep telling everybody,” I answered, leaning down so that me and the little guy, who couldn’t have been more than four years old, were closer to eye level. “Sorry about waking you up, kid,” I said. “Your mom warned me about that, and I thought I was being quiet enough, but I guess you’re a lighter sleeper than I figured.”
“You didn’t wake me up,” Jack said, shaking his head forcefully. “The monster in my room did. I just heard somebody out here and was hoping it was my mom. She knows how to scare them off.”
“Really?” I asked, my smile growing just a little wider. “Well, I know you don’t know me very well, and we did meet just outside a bathroom.”
“We were in the bathroom. I don’t know what your problem with the truth is,” Jack answered.
“Have it your way,” I replied. “The point is, it might not look like it right now, but I’ve done my share of monster hunting in my day.”
“What?” Jack asked, his eyes growing wide and his mouth open. “Are you serious?”
“I am,” I answered, nodding at the kid. “I’m a regular Indiana Jones.”
“Is that a place?” Jack asked. “We haven’t learned our state capitals yet.”
“Really? Don’t know who Indiana Jones is?” I asked, running a hand through my hair. “Well, you’re having a lacking childhood, but let’s climb one mountain at a time, shall we?” I stood, extending my hand toward the boy. “Like I said, I hunt monsters. I have for a lot longer than you’ve been born. In fact, a few years ago, I flew all the way to the other side of the world to do it. That’s how good I am.”
“Wow!” Jack said. “I bet they’re scared of you now.”
“Absolutely,” I answered. “In fact, they’re so scared of me that I bet they’ll run away as soon as they hear me coming. We probably won’t even see them. And better than that, I bet they’ll stay away.”
“They will?” Jack asked, grabbing my hand.
“For sure,” I said. “The monsters won’t want to come around ever again once they know I’m looking out for you.”
“And then you could teach me!” Jack shouted, looking up at me with a grin that was missing one of his front teeth. “And then I could live in Indiana Jones too!”
“Something like that,” I answered. “The monsters wouldn’t dare mess with us then.”
“We’ll kick their asses!” Jack shouted. Then, jerking, he looked back up at me. “Don’t tell my mom I said that. She doesn’t think I know those words. She also doesn’t think I know where babies come from, but I do. I even went to the cabbage patch where you grow them one time. It was awesome.”
“Your secret is safe with me, bud,” I answered.
“I’m so glad I met you!” Jack shouted. “This was such a good trip to the bathroom!” He shook his head. “I’m so glad you're here, Mr. Fortunate. This monster is so much scarier than the other ones. He just sits there and stares at me.”
“That is creepy, but you know what? I’ll bet you an ice cream sandwich that he won’t be there when we go back inside,” I said, walking to the room.
“Can you back that up?” Jack asked. “Do you have an ice cream sandwich?”
“I can get an ice cream sandwich,” I answered.
“Okay. I trust you,” Jack said. Turning, we stood at the doorway of what had to be the kid’s bedroom. He swallowed hard and I could feel him starting to shake a little.
“There’s nothing to be worried about,” I said, reaching inside and flipping up the light switch. As the light illuminated the room, I realized a couple of things all at once. This little kid had a pretty kickass room. In addition to being the size of any living room I’d ever had before I won the lottery, there were iPads, iWatches, and I’m sure whatever other kind of i-things had been invented and slipped by me. The bed the kid had was pretty huge, too, and I could imagine why he’d be afraid of waking up in a place like this. He was all by himself. Sure, his mom was outside and just a holler away, but what good would that do against the monsters Jack had created in his mind?
“See, kid,” I said, throwing my hand out and showcasing the empty room. “Told you they’d be scared of me.” I looked down at him and grinned. “You’ve got yourself a monster hunter extraordinaire right here.”
“You didn’t check under the bed or in the closet,” Jack said. “That’s where he went. After coming in through the window and staring at me for a little bit, he went into the closet.”
I followed the boy’s line of sight, first to the closet and then to the open window. “I’ll check it, don’t worry,” I said. ‘But first, let’s get this window closed. It’s not too hot in here, and besides, how could you ever stay asleep with all that noise from the party?”
It was true. Even though the window looked out to the opposite side of the house, I could still hear music, laughter, and what was probably the yelling of a bunch of drunk idiots having a great time out on the beach.
Shaking my head, I grinned. If I were down there, which I would be in just a few minutes, I’d probably be doing the same thing. I grabbed at either window—they were those fancy double kind with the gold latches and trim, The grass on the ground was dark and lush, just the kind of thing you’d expect from a swamp. And for all it’s bells, whistles, beauty, and bounty, Florida was basically a prettied-up slab of swampland.
As my eyes trailed back up the house, I saw one of those white lattices running up the side. It was covered in intertwining roses running up and down it. They were beautiful and definitely meticulously cared for, which was why it was a shame that it looked as though a lot of them had been crushed. Continuing to trail up the side of the house with my eyes, I saw a few drops of fresh blood on the windowsill.
“Are you . . . are you bleeding, Jack?” I muttered, taking everything in. Just then, I took another look at the lattice and its roses. The crushed flowers weren’t in some random order. They formed a line. They formed a path. It was almost as if someone had climbed right up and it came right through the . . . Oh, God.
“Jack!” I yelled, spinning around as quickly as I could. As I did, though, I was met with an aluminum baseball bat to the face. It hit me hard, causing me to stumble backward. Seeing stars, I grabbed ahold of the windowsill to keep myself from falling out. Blinking hard, I saw the person coming toward me. He was tall, dressed all in black, and wore a matching ski mask over his face. The bat in his hand was raised, ready to take me out.
Thinking fast, I lifted my legs and kicked him hard in the gut. He went winding backward, but the force of my kick did the same thing to me. I fell back, dipping outside the window. My forearms worked overtime as, grunting, I tightened my grip on the windowsill and pulled myself back up, depositing myself back into the room.
Looking forward and breathing heavily, I dove toward the man. He swung at me again, but I dodged it, feeling sweat bubble up on my forehead. Ducking down, I pushed into his chest like a battering ram. Lifting the tall man off the ground, I grunted as I felt him drive an elbow into the back of my head over and over. Pain shot across my entire body, but if whoever was behind that mask thought it was going to be enough to stop me, he had another thing coming. There was a little boy in this room who didn’t need me to stop, and I’d be damned if I was going to let him down.
I slammed into the wall. Every intention I had was of crushing this sonofabitch against it. In the end, I had to settle for the grunt and the way his body seemed to go limp as I slammed him hard against the wall again and again.
Finally, I pulled back, letting him fall to the ground and looking at him with hate in my eyes. I was about to unmask this dude, and then I’d really make him pay for what he’d done.
“Mr. Fortunate!” Jack shouted. Looking over at him, I saw his eyes were wide and afraid, and his finger was pointed right behind me. Turning around, I saw that I had been snuck up on. There was another person in this room, and this one wasn’t holding a baseball bat.
I barely had time to register the Taser before a second masked man drove it into my neck. The whole world seemed to grind to a halt as the electricity tore through my body in currents. The strange thing was, as it happened, I could still hear the party. I could still hear the music and laughter and the conversations of people who had no idea what was going on just a few hundred yards away from them.
Pain didn’t seem to come with the shock, though. Instead, as the Taser pulled away from my throat, I just felt empty.
My body fell to the floor, and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t move as the second person walked over to the first, slapped him, and forced him back to his feet. I couldn’t move as they scooped Jack up and started toward the door with him. I couldn’t even move as the little boy screamed to me.
“Mr. Fortunate! You have to teach me now! Teach me how to scare them off! You promised! You promised!” he yelled, his arms outstretched toward me like I was about to grab him, to save him from whatever was about to happen.
I couldn’t, though. My damn legs wouldn’t move. My stupid arms wouldn’t cooperate. But as they rounded the corner, taking that boy out of sight, I silently made him another promise. I was going to get him back. I was going to make it right.
Chapter 6
“Get that thing away from me,” I said, slapping away the paramedic’s hand as he tried for the fourth time to apply a cold compress to my neck. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate what the guy was doing or even that he wasn’t good at his job. I was sure that in a situation like this, his training taught him to do exactly what he was doing. It wasn’t even that my neck (or the rest of me) didn’t feel like it could use a bit of medical attention. Lord knows, after everything I had been through, I could have probably done with a couple of bandages and matching Tylenols. But what did any of that matter right now?
I might have been bruised and battered, but a kid was gone. Jack had been taken, and these small injuries only served as proof that I hadn’t been able to stop it.
“Would you just let the guy do his damn job, John?” Davey asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared daggers into me. I couldn’t blame him. We had moved here to get away from it all. Here we were, on our very first day in a new town, and I had already gotten myself into two separate altercations. I knew my best friend was patient with me, but even saints had their limits. Still, I had to keep the main thing in focus here, and that didn’t include whether all my ouchies had been kissed or not.
I stood up quickly, pushing the paramedic away and walking in the direction of the house. When I woke up, my head throbbing and my eyes blurry, they told me what had happened. Alexis came up to check on me and found the whole scene. I can’t imagine she took it well, but my ass had been beaten so thoroughly that even the wails and sobs of a mother who had just lost her child didn’t wake me up.
I was another twenty minutes coming to, and by that time, cops had swarmed this place in droves.
“Where are you going?” Davey asked, obviously pissed as he followed me away from the open back door of the ambulance and toward the house, which had been wrapped up in caution tape in record time. “John, what the hell, dude? You going to talk to the cops?”
“I already talked to the cops. I talked to some pimpled-face punk who looked like he was too young to know wha
t Desert Storm was. It didn’t help. I’m going to talk to Alexis,” I said, shaking my head and neither breaking stride nor turning around to look at my friend. He only wanted the best for me, and I probably wasn’t being completely fair to him. But seeing as how I’d just moved his ass to paradise, put him up in a brand-new beach house, and basically assured that he’d never have to work another day as long as he lived, I figured ‘fair’ wasn’t really part of our relationship anymore.
“There are about a dozen police officers talking to Alexis right now, John,” Davey said. “I’m not sure rushing in there, all hopped up on piss, vinegar, and righteousness is the best move here.”
“And what would you say the best move is?” I asked, ducking under the caution tape and attempting to enter. Davey’s hand grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop. I turned, my eyes wide and full of intent.
“You gave your statement. You told the cops what happened to the kid. If you’re not going to go to the hospital so a doctor can tell you you’re fine while I flirt with the hot nurse who takes your temperature, I think maybe we need to go home. This has been a long day, and we’re new here. The last thing we need to do is get involved in all of this.”
“I’m already involved, Davey,” I said, pulling my arm away from his grasp. “That’s a little boy, a kid. He’s out there, probably screaming and crying and Lord knows what else. I tried to tell that pissant of a kid cop who did this, but as soon as I said George’s name, he closed his damn book and walked away.”
“Maybe he knows you didn’t have any evidence to back up your claims,” Davey said. “You did say the guys who attacked you and took Jack were wearing masks, right? There’s no way you could possibly know it was the kid’s father who did this.”
“I don’t need to have seen his face to know it was him,” I answered, shaking my head. “Use your brain, Davey. The guy was ready to beat the crap out of this kid’s mom not four hours ago because he wanted Jack so badly. I laid him out, and now the kid is gone, and he got in some cheap shots at me, too. This is him, Davey. I know it.”