by Todd Kirby
suggest you gather whatever personal items you can, and disappear.”
The deputy held out his hand, expecting Ratchet to give him the audio tape. Ratchet put the tape back in his vest and said, “I’ll have one of my boys sit at the first rest stop on I-75 out of town, you can meet him there at 8:00 Saturday night. If we see that the note was left, I’ll tell him to give you the tape.” After that, Ratchet stood up and said, “Nice doing business with you… ‘officer’.” Then he walked over to his bike, started it up and drove away. The deputy just sat there on the bench, deflated.
The following Saturday, Jeremy and Ratchet worked at the shop as usual, but they cut out a little early. They met Skeeter and another biker at a Chinese restaurant near the deputy’s house and hung out there until about 7:00. At that time, they rode the short distance to the deputy’s house and nonchalantly checked his mailbox. Sure enough, they saw a note in there that said ‘Mr. B’ on the outside. They went over to a gas station across the street and called the biker at the rest stop, telling him to give the deputy his tape. Then, they waited.
At about 10:00, they heard a motorcycle coming down the street, so they started theirs up. A Chupacabra rolled up to the mailbox and opened it. He took the note out and put an envelope back in, then he closed the mailbox. Sliding the note into his vest, he took off down the road. Ratchet and Jeremy took off after him, being careful not to get too close, while Skeeter and the other biker retrieved the envelope of cash and rode off to the bar. The Chupacabra led Ratchet and Jeremy across town, through the projects and on to the business district. He finally pulled up to a building and turned off his bike. Looking around briefly, he walked up to the door and knocked in a very specific pattern: ‘tap, tap-tap...tap’.
Jeremy recognized the area they were in, but he had never been on this side of the building before. If he could get around to the front and check it out, he might be able to figure out what business this was. In any case, it wouldn’t be a good idea to just ‘bust in’ at this time of night, especially with it being just the two of them. They would make a plan of action tomorrow, this was just a reconnaissance mission for the time being.
Jeremy told Ratchet, “I’m going to walk around front and see if I can recognize the specific office this goes to. If nothing else, we can come back with reinforcements tomorrow.”
“Be careful, kid.” Ratchet replied.
Jeremy wasn’t in the habit of second-guessing himself, but it was times like this that his mind wandered back to simpler days. As he walked down the dark alley toward the front of the building, he couldn’t help but wonder what Allison was doing right now. Jeremy wasn’t sure what she was talking about in the ER, he didn’t hate Christians. And the kiss? What was that all about… not that Jeremy was going to complain, but it just came really unexpected. I mean, he didn’t expect a kiss like that out of a Christian girl…
As Jeremy got to the front of the building, he didn’t recognize the office. It was one of those old, three-story buildings where the business was on the ground level and nobody knew what was on the upper levels. Could be living quarters, or meeting rooms… or anything. Jeremy memorized the building facade so he could lead the others here for sure, then he returned via the alley to the back of the building where Ratchet was waiting.
“Can you find it in daylight, kid?” Ratchet asked.
“Yep, let’s go.” Jeremy replied.
The two rolled their bikes down another alley before starting them up and driving off. When they got back to the bar, they informed the others of what happened. Skeeter had already divided up the cash in the envelope, and handed Jeremy and Ratchet their share.
Ratchet offered a plan. “They should already be spooked with the note from the Sheriff’s deputy,” he said. “I don’t want to give them too much time to react, so we’ll go back to the building first thing tomorrow. We’ll meet here at 9:00, and go over to the building around 10:00.” Everyone was tired, so they agreed to meet again in the morning and go over the specifics.
When they met again in the morning, Ratchet gave the marching orders. “It’s a business, so I don’t want to just go in there busting up the place,” he said, “but I want everyone ready in case trouble starts. We need half of you to hang out by the front entrance, not on the doorstep or anything, but close enough to come quick if something goes wrong. The other half of you need to be back behind the building in case they try to run out there. Me and the kid will go in and scope things out, just be ready.”
The posse went out in groups of two, so as not to draw too much attention, and spread out as they were directed. Ratchet and Jeremy pulled up in front of the building and parked their bikes. They dismounted and walked up to the front doors. Opening the doors, they encountered a receptionist at the front desk. “Can I help you?” she said, seemingly very sweet.
“We’re here to see ‘Mr. B’” Ratchet said.
The receptionist looked a little confused. “Do you mean Mr. Berry?” she offered.
Suddenly Ratchet froze. “Mr. Berry?” his voice broke.
“Yes, Roger Berry.” the receptionist clarified. “The Executive VP? He’s the only ‘Mr. B’ that I know of here.”
As she was talking, Roger walked in from another room and stopped. “What are you doing here?” he asked, obviously annoyed.
Before Jeremy could think, he grabbed Roger and shoved him into the wall. Jeremy punched twice before Ratchet pulled him off of Roger, saying, “Stop kid! Don’t…” But it was too late.
Wiping the blood off of his mouth, Roger smiled and said, “Miss Parker, could you please call the police?” The receptionist quickly picked up the phone and began dialling.
“We don’t need the police Roger, let’s you and I talk about this…” Ratchet offered, trying to diffuse the situation.
“Oh, we’ll be talking after the street urchin is in jail.” said Roger. “At least this explains the note I received last night.”
“What if I tell the police about your little ‘extracurricular activity’” Ratchet threatened.
Roger laughed out loud and said, “Nobody’s going to believe you Joseph, you have no credibility with the law at this point. I’ve spent my life building a reputation as a businessman, while you’ve spent yours building a reputation as a thug.”
“You’re making a big mistake, Roger....” Ratchet said, trying to sound confident.
Roger’s smile eased, and he said coldly, “Get out.”
After Ratchet and Jeremy walked out the front door, Jeremy asked, “Why’d you stop me?”
“The same reason we didn’t just go in ‘guns blazing’ in the first place,” Ratchet said. “Because this is a business, and businesses will press assault charges. You’re still on parole from those last drug charges kid, you probably just bought yourself six months in the pen.”
Jeremy dropped his head back and groaned. “Ugh...I never even thought… I was just so mad that it was Roger.”
“I know kid, this definitely changes things…” said Ratchet. Before he finished speaking, they heard the sound of sirens. “Great. Sounds like your ride’s almost here…”
It didn’t take long for the police to assess the situation once they arrived. The rest of the bikers could only look on in disapproval as Jeremy and Ratchet were both taken into custody. Ratchet would eventually be released, but Jeremy was held without bail. The combination of his past history and this current parole violation did indeed buy him some jail time.
As for Ratchet and Roger, the war was just beginning. Roger had known for a while that he was battling Ratchet and his group, but that information was a complete shock to Ratchet. Not that he needed another reason to hate Roger, but this new betrayal just added fuel to the fire. If this was a war between, say, Ratchet’s gang and the Chupacabras, then midnight bar fights would be the way things were handled. Roger’s involvement meant that Ratchet had to
go about things a bit differently.
VERSE 4
(Consequences, Consequences)
The worst thing about jail is that you can’t go where you want, when you want. Sure, they feed you three meals a day and there are some physical activities available. There’s television and a library, but the major downfall about being in jail is that you’re trapped. Want to go out with your friends? Too bad. Want to take a drive in the country? Not going to happen. Long-timers seem to consign themselves to living like zoo animals, they get so used to being in a cage that they forget how to survive on the outside. That wasn’t going to happen to Jeremy.
Six months isn’t a long time in the greater scheme of things, especially if you can make some friends. Jeremy met his first ‘friend’ shortly after entering jail. He was checking his things and getting his fashionable orange jumpsuit when he heard his name.
“Jeremy Bonds?” the voice said.
Jeremy looked up to see Ronnie Murphy in a police uniform on the other side of the gate. “Hey, Ronnie…” he said, somewhat embarrassed. “Following in your old