by Tom Clarke
“I told her I was working on some contract stuff for Department of State. That was all she needed to hear, I think she may see this as a pipeline for a job.”
As Darrel took a seat at the table Jim handed him a beer, “Brother, you don’t need to go any further with this. These two, they must go, but you’ve done more than enough. Don’t think you need to hang around for the heavy lifting.”
Darrel took the beer from Jim, drank half of it in one pull and replied, “Man, I can’t believe you're even thinking that! Besides, Shelly said she wanted to run away with me, so this may be my big shot.”
“Okay” Jim said as he sat down at the table shaking the smile from his face. “Here’s the plan. First, you guys load my email address to your phones, that way if something happens to mine we can still get Smileys instructions. Darrel let’s get that phone he gave us on its way to Donna, and then we are going to go pay a visit to Tyler’s doctor friend in Missoula.”
“Uhm, Jim, I don’t know how to get in touch with that guy” Tyler said.
“Don’t sweat it,” Jim said as he finished his second beer. “There’s an informant that used to work for me living in the Missoula area. He moved there about a year ago. He was big time into pills so if there’s a shady doctor in town he will know it. We will contact him while we wait for Smiley to send us the info he was talking about.”
“Then what?” Tyler asked.
“Then we go find your doctor friend, we see where he’s hanging his hat, who he’s running with, and then we reacquaint you two.”
“What!” Tyler said as he choked on his beer.
“Be cool spaz” Darrel said as he threw a kitchen towel at Tyler.
“Yeah” Jim said with a slight chuckle, “I’m gonna be right there with you, Darrel and Nico will be cover.”
Tyler looked at the three of them and said, “I still don’t understand.”
“We're going to orchestrate the meeting, you are going to approach the good doctor, ask for some more pills. If things go the way I expect he’s going to separate himself from you and then try to make a phone call to find out why you are still in play, that’s when cover, Darrel and Nico, are going to grab him.”
“How much conversation do you want him making?” Nico asked.
“As little as possible my brother” Jim replied. “We want the number he’s calling, but we don’t want him burning young Tyler.”
“So, once we have the number, then what?” Tyler asked.
“Then we find out what he really knows” Jim replied with a tinge of anger in his voice.
“Fuck yeah” Darrel said as he finished his beer and then smacked Nico on the shoulder, “Come on, give me a ride to the post office.”
Nico nodded as he finished his drink, “Yeah, I have a few things I need to pick up too. We should also go check out of our hotel.”
“Okay, look, let’s meet back here in three hours” Jim said. “Tyler you come with me, I need to drop my two killers off at boarding.” Tyler nodded and with that they were out the door.
The next morning came early with Jim kicking Tyler, who had been stuck sleeping on the floor, and yelling at him to wake up. As Tyler tried in vain to work the kinks out of his back, Jim reached down and handed him a cup of coffee. Tyler took a few sips of the coffee and as the fog started to clear he could see that Nico and Darrel were out front loading some equipment into Jim’s SUV.
As the fog of waking up started to fade another, less pleasant fog started to set in. Tyler took a large gulp from his coffee and as he exhaled, he could start to feel a dull pain beginning to develop in his bones.
“Jim” Tyler said in a sheepish tone of voice, “listen if I don’t get something soon I’m gonna get quite sick, pretty quick.”
Jim took a sip of his coffee and nodded, “When was the last time you dosed?”
Tyler sat up resting against the couch, he swallowed hard and replied, “too long.”
Jim again nodded and took another long sip from his coffee, he then tossed Tyler a pill bottle with several small round blue colored pills inside. Tyler looked at the bottle and then up at Jim with a serious look of confusion on his face.
“They’re Percocet, 5 milligrams, should be 90 of them in there, it’s the best I can do.” Jim knelt down next to Tyler, “Listen to me carefully, this should be enough to keep you from turning to shit on us and that’s all I have so don’t waste them. If you go sideways on me, Tyler, I will stake you to a tree in the middle of nowhere and leave you for bear food, do you hear me?”
Tyler nodded and then took one of the Percocet’s, “Jim I’m with you, whatever you need, I’m with you.”
The drive to Missoula took about three hours. Darrel drove Jim’s SUV, followed by Jim, who was riding his Harley, and then with Nico and Tyler bringing up the rear in Nico’s rental car. As they pulled into Missoula Jim took the exit for Van Buren Street with Darrel following behind, they pulled into a parking area where they stopped.
“Listen bro” Jim said to Darrel, who had gotten out of the SUV, “this cat goes by the name of Thor, his real name is Justin, but he likes to be called Thor. He’s an old patch holder who did some work for me, he has no idea I’m living in Montana now. He owns a small bike repair shop couple miles down the road. You guys follow me and park on the street, tell Nico and Tyler to wait outside, you come in with me.”
Darrel nodded in agreement, took a big stretch, got back into the SUV and again pulled out following Jim.
As they arrived at the bike shop Darrel did just as Jim asked and parked on the street. Nico and Tyler got out of the SUV, but stayed put, stretching their legs and watching the outside of the shop. Jim pulled his bike right up to the front of the business, he and Darrel walked in.
The shop was a single level brick building which had been, at one time, a drive-through location for oil changes. The exterior of the business looked worn and beaten with chipping paint and water damaged wood. However, upon closer inspection, Jim and Darrel could see, hidden next to a hand painted sign of a large Nordic style hammer hanging by the front door a very expensive security camera. Jim just smiled and said, “Smoke and mirrors, all just smoke and mirrors.”
As Jim and Darrel walked in they could see four very used motorcycles parked off to the side in one of the shop bays. There were some pretty beaten up chairs and the bench seat of a vehicle set around a couple of old wooden tables.
The smell of motorcycle exhaust, oil, and cigar smoke permeated the shop. Darrel tapped Jim on the shoulder and pointed to the rear of the shop where a tarp had come off a couple of motorcycle frames. Frames which had obviously been blow-torched into pieces. Jim looked at Darrel, shrugged his shoulders and just smiled.
“I’ll be with you in a minute” a deep voice boomed from behind a bike that was on a rack. Jim walked over to the bike, “Nice to see some things never change.”
The man who was hunched down behind the bike took a deep breath and then dropped the metal tool he had in his hand. As Thor stood up from behind the motorcycle he had been working on, he revealed himself to be about six-foot-two-inches tall, in his early 50’s, with graying hair pulled back into a pony tail and a long gray beard. The tattoos on his arms showed why he was called Thor. He was sleeved with Nordic images of various Gods and monsters.
Thor looked right at Jim, and it was not the look of two old friends. “I was hoping that I would never see you again” Thor said as he whipped grease from his hands with a shop towel.
Jim just smiled, “Don’t be like that sugar” he said as he turned and cast a gaze at the other mechanic working in the shop with Thor.
“Mike” Thor bellowed, “go get some coffee.” The young man stood up from behind the bike he was working on, stretched his back, and walked out the back door without saying a word. He had been working with Thor long enough not know that his boss had friends that he did not want to have anything to do with.
“How did you find me?” Thor asked as he walked over to a coffee pot and po
ured himself a cup.
“Still on the wagon?” Jim asked as he walked up behind Thor and then helped himself to a cup as well.
“Yeah, I am” Thor replied, “Now, how did you find me?”
Jim took a sip of the coffee, grimaced and handed the cup to Darrel, who walked over and took a seat on one of the beat-up chairs by the entrance.
“We make it a point to keep tabs on our friends” Jim replied.
Thor took a gulp of the cold coffee, “You still working for those faggots over at the FBI?”
Jim smiled, “No, I’m retired. Thor, I need your help with something.”
Thor looked at Jim and smiled, followed by a slight giggle. “What makes you think I would do anything to help you? There are a lot of my brothers that are sitting in federal prison because of you.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t help but notice that you’re not sitting in there with them!” Jim replied with a tone of authority in his voice. “You owe me Thor, and you fucking know it!”
Thor looked at Jim with his teeth clenched. “Don’t give me the tough guy look Justin!” Jim said. “The federal prosecutor wanted to leave your ass high and dry after the trial. If I hadn’t intervened on your behalf your so-called friends would have put you, and your old lady out to pasture, and you know it!”
Thor set his coffee cup down, “She’s gone” he said in a subdued tone.
“What?” Jim replied, “Who’s gone?”
Thor looked up and replied, “Misty, my wife. She OD on some Oxy’s about two-months ago…she’s dead.”
“Jesus Thor, I’m sorry” Jim said, “I had no idea.”
“You know she always liked you” Thor said. “Even after she found out that you were a cop, she still said that you were an okay dude.”
Jim walked over, looked Thor in the eyes, and said, “I need your help Justin. I’ve got a real situation and I need your help.”
Thor took a couple of deep breaths as he looked a picture of his wife Misty which was hanging on the wall. He nodded and said, “Okay, but you really need to stop calling me Justin. You, what’s your name?” Thor said pointing at Darrel.
Darrel lifted the cup of coffee Jim had given him, “Names Darrel.”
Thor grunted, “Flip that sign to closed Darrel. Come on, let’s go talk in my office.”
Darrel stood up, gave Nico a thumb’s up through the front window and then flipped the sign on the front door to closed. The three of them walked into a small office Thor had in the back of the shop.
Thor sat behind his old military surplus desk. Jim and Darrel moved old copies of Playboy and Easy Rider Magazine from the two chairs in front of the desk and sat down.
“So, tell me Agent Richards, how may the God of thunder be of assistance to you?” Thor said as he lit a cigar and rocked back in his chair.
Jim smiled, “I promise not to call you Justin, but you got to promise to never call me agent again.”
“Fair enough” Thor replied through a slight smile, “What do you want?”
“There’s a doctor in Frenchtown that’s selling pills, I need to know who he is, where he works, and anything else that’s of relevance to his existence.”
Thor looked across his desk at Jim and Darrel, “I thought you were retired?” he said with a sense of apprehension.
“I am” Jim replied, “this is, well shall we say, personal.”
Thor took a long drag from his cigar, “Jimmy I have not fucked around with pills since I got pinched. Ever since Misty’s OD I can’t even walk past a pharmacy without feeling sick to my stomach.”
Thor took another long pull from his cigar, “With that said it was that fucking baby rapist out in Frenchtown that sold Misty the pulls that killed her, so whatever you got in mind, I’m down.”
“Do you know where this guy works at?” Darrel asked.
“Yeah, I do” Thor replied with a serious tone of disgust. “He’s got a small doctor’s office and pharmacy near the intersection of Mullan and Hamel Road out there in Frenchtown. That piece of shit is near the junior high, every once and while you hear rumors of kids, young girls, coming and going from his office. He says that he’s paying them to work in his office, but I think it’s a cover for something else. I know a dude, good dude, whose daughter went there with a friend, when she came home, he said it was like she was drained. All she could do was sit in bed for a day or so. The poor kid has never been the same.”
Darrel looked at Jim and the two of them just nodded. Thor took another long drag on his cigar, “Bro of mine says he’s been spending a lot of time in that joint Fred’s, going back and forth to the Redwood Lodge next door.”
Darrel got up out of his chair, “Jesus Jimmy it could be another Rocket’s!”
“Okay, you guys want to tell me what the fuck is really going on?” Thor said. “I never heard of this place Rocket’s you're talking about, but the look on your face right now is speaking volumes, and not good volumes either.”
“Calm down Darrell” Jim said, “We don’t know anything right now. Let’s just stay on topic and not get wrapped up in shit we don’t know.”
Darrel sat back down, “Shit, Jim, after the ass stomping you took last time I would figure you would be the one getting kind of skittish.”
Jim just smiled, “It was all an act and you know it.”
Darrel reached out and slapped Jim on the shoulder, “Shure thing pal.”
Thor reached into the bottom right drawer of his desk and pulled out a bottle Jack Daniels and three paper Dixie cups. “Seriously Jimmy” Thor said as he poured the brown whiskey into the three cups and looked crossways at his two guests across his desk, “What the fuck is going on?”
Jim took the paper cup and shot back the whiskey. “Okay, look Thor, my man Darrel here is cool. So, it’s okay if we drop the act and talk freely.” Thor nodded his head and shot back the whiskey in his cup.
“What the hell does that mean?” Darrel asked as Thor refilled his and Jim’s cup.
Jim took a deep breath and drank down the second shot of whiskey. “When we moved out here I got in touch with Thor. After all that shit that went down before, I thought it would be a good idea to have an uninvolved third party on my side, a place Shelly and I could run to if things got weird.”
Darrel took the cup with the shot of whiskey in it and looked up at Thor who in turn raised his paper cup in a toast, winked at Darrel, and shot back his second dose of whiskey. Darrel took his shot, crushed the paper cup in his hand, turned and then threw it at Jim. “You could have told me, you ass!”
Jim nodded, “Yeah, but I promised Thor here that this was our little secret, sorry.”
“That’s all touching and what not” Thor said as he produced and then filled another paper cup for Darrel. “You still haven’t told me what is going on with this doctor, and what brings you out of that cabin you’ve been living in.”
Jim drank back another shot of the whiskey, looked at Thor and with a tone of violence in his voice said, “I intended to snatch the good doctor, take him somewhere quiet, and ask him some questions.”
Thor smiled, “Jimmy I would say that I never knew you had that in you, but the fact is that I have always known you had that in you. What did this shit stain do to earn your attention?”
“Some friends of his grabbed my old lady and I think he knows where they are.”
Thor rocked back in his chair, took another shot of the Jack Daniels, and then re-lit his cigar. “Fuck it, I’m down” Thor said. “Let’s grab that joker and bring him back here. We can hold his face against a running motorcycle rear tire until he spills it. Then I can have some fun with him.”
Jim smiled, “My man,” he said as he took another shot of the whiskey.
Just then Darrel’s cell phone started ringing, “It’s my special lady friend from DEA” he said. “Hey kitten, what’s the news?” Darrel said as he stood up and walked to the other side of the room. Jim and Thor watched as Darrel’s facial expression showed the distinct chang
e in his mood. “Okay, thanks beautiful, I’ll call you later” Darrel said as he hung up the phone.
“Jim, we may have an issue” Darrel said as he walked back over to his seat.
“Well, that’s nothing new, what did she say?” Jim asked.
Darrel looked at Jim and then across the desk at Thor. “It’s cool bro” Jim said, “Anything we need to discuss we can discuss in front of him.”
“Okay” Darrel replied, “My friend downloaded that phone and got a hit on the number. It showed up associated with a PIN register that was put in place for a gun running case DEA was doing with ATF in Phoenix. A Dominic Scherell used the phone to arrange a purchase of guns and some meth from the undercover working the case.”
Jim looked at Darrel, “Okay, so what? That’s day to day business, how’s it fit into our little paranormal cluster?”