I have written a few short things and one 350 page novel but I did it for fun. Lots of friends and family encourage me to try and get published but if your name isn't Stephen King or John Sanford you are not going to make it without some miraculous form of intervention. Besides I don't want to do this for work. It would kill the fun I get from it. I find writing to be very cathartic.
Some of my favorite writers use song lyrics to underscore or illustrate some pertinent aspects of their stories and I have tried to do the same here.
I thought I'd submit these and the prologue for y'all consideration. I think we're all good enough friends now that you can be honest and I can take it. No need to criticize the typing and grammatical and spelling errors. I know I'm weak on all that. What I want is your opinion of this as an entertainment.
So lemme have it.
LIVE AND DIE
ON THE
BEACH
"I was born in the sign of water, and it’s there that I feel my best.
The albatross and the whale, they are my brothers.
Kind of a spiral feeling when you’re out on the sea alone,
Staring at the full moon like a lover."
Little River Band
"Please don’t say manana if you don’t mean it.
I have heard those words for so very long.
Don’t try to describe the ocean if you’ve never seen it.
Don’t forget that you just might wind up being wrong."
Jimmy Buffett
"Against the wind. A little something against the wind.
I’m older now but still runnin’ against the wind, against the wind."
Bob Seger
PROLOG
Toby Hicks sat behind the wheel of his full size Ford van. He wanted to wait until all the lights were out in the house before he went in. He figured he’d give it an hour after lights out to be sure every one in the house was asleep. He was after two people this time and he didn’t know who else, besides the two guys he was after, was in the house.
It was a shabby little house in a shabby little neighborhood and Toby didn’t anticipate any problems getting inside. Usually a place like this a child could get in with a credit card properly applied.
He was after Rick Fowler and Al Shavers, a couple of low-life car thieves. They weren’t known to be violent but you could never tell. It didn’t pay to take chances. His sixteen years as a skip tracer had taught him that much. Just when you think you’re after an easy target things can suddenly get rough, real rough. He had a nice .38 caliber scar in his side as a reminder of that. Slow and easy wins the day.
On these occasions when he had to sit in his van for long periods of time he would occupy his time checking with some of his contacts on his cell phone or studying new cases he was considering taking on. Tonight, though, he was thinking about his girlfriend, Karen Weatherley. They had been having some problems lately and he was worried that she was going to cut him loose. She didn’t like the hours he had to put in on the job and the fact that he had to leave town so frequently. She was also not comfortable with the dangers associated with his chosen profession. They had been going together for nearly 6 years and they loved each other but sometimes, just now and then, her dissatisfaction with Toby’s work would cause them major problems. This was one of those times.
Karen lived in Houston, Texas. Toby lived in a small, but comfortable beach house on the beachfront in Galveston, but at the moment he was in a little wide spot in the road called Mineral Wells. It is on the intersection of State Hwy 16 and US- 281, just west of Ft. Worth. Karen had not wanted Toby to take this case because of the fact that it meant that he’d be spending at least one night on the road and maybe two or three if his targets ran for it. He had been spending a lot of time out of town lately and this was the reason she was going through another one of her "spells".
He had tried to explain that he didn’t always have control over the locations of his assignments. When he had several cases to choose from, he’d always take a local case, even if it meant a smaller pay-day. But sometimes it was slim pickings and he had to take what he could get.
Rick and Al had bonded out of jail, after the last time they’d gotten caught, at twenty five grand each. They never even slowed down. They got out of jail, stole a car and headed north. Kip Walraven, the bondsman in this case, was one of Toby’s main contacts for cases. He was extremely unhappy about being out that much money on a couple of scum bags that he should have known would skip. He started to refuse to bond them out but they had never skipped before and they promised to stick around. Kip usually had pretty good judgment when it came to being able to tell who would skip and who wouldn’t. When he guessed wrong he didn’t handle it well. "Toby, please. I’m in a real spot here. I’m out fifty large on the two of these dirt bags. I know it won’t be your biggest pay-day but I’ve been pretty good about throwing business your way and now I need you to do this for me. Whadda ya say, pal?"
Toby thought for a while and said. I’d like to help you out here Kip, but Karen is on my back about taking all these out-of-town cases. She’ll skin me alive."
" Well maybe you need to get you a day job. I need some one on this NOW and you are the best around. I’ll call some one else but I ain’t forgettin’ that you let me down."
"No," sighed Toby, "I won’t leave you hanging. This is what I do. Karen knew when we met what I did for a living and she will just have to adjust. Don’t you worry about it, Kip. I’m on it. Do you have a line on ‘em?"
"Yeah, for now at least. I got a tip that they are in a little dung heap called Mineral Wells, just West of Ft. Worth. I don’t know how long they will be there but it’s the best information I have." He gave Toby the address of the house he thought they’d be in.
"Okay. I’ll leave now and see if I can pick ‘em up tonight. Things go smoothly I’ll have ‘em back tomorrow. If they aren’t there any more I’ll have to follow what ever trail they leave. Could take another day or two. I’ll call you and let you know how it goes."
"Thanks Toby, this means a lot to me. And good luck with Karen. She’s a sweet lady and I hope this doesn’t cause you too much trouble."
"Just another day at the office, Kip. I’ll call you tonight." and they hung up.
Karen had pitched a hissy-fit. Toby tried to explain but she was upset and that was all there was to it.
************************************************
Now the lights went out in the little house and Toby looked at his watch. 10:53 PM. He decided to give it till mid-night.
At mid-night Toby got out of his van and started walking the block and a half to the house where Rick and Al were holed up. As he walked he took out his walled and removed his Visa card and put it in his shirt pocket. Shouldn’t need any more than this to get into that cracker box, he thought.
He went around to the back door and found the outer screen door latched from the inside. He didn’t want to have to fool with cutting screens so he went around front and slipped his Visa card into the crack between the door and the jamb, above the cheesy lock and slid it down and the lock slipped back and he was in. He closed the door behind him and looked around the darkened living room. Ratty couch. Ratty chairs. Ratty coffee table. The room smelled like stale beer and cigarette smoke. Dirty clothes and trash all over the room. Holy cow, Toby thought, how can people live like this?
He stuck his head in the kitchen. A small table and four chairs in the middle of the room. Small stove and refrigerator on one wall. Sink and pantry on another wall. The sink was full of dirty dishes and the table was covered with empty beer cans, delivery pizza cartons, and over flowing ashtrays.
He went back into the living room and started slowly down the hall way. He could see that there was one room on either side and at the end of the hall was the bathroom. It’s door was open and there was a night light burning dimly on one wall. Both of the bedroom doors were closed.
He walked silently down the hall to the door on the right. He quietly cracked it open just wide enough to see inside the room. There, in the small bed, were two people sleeping. They were not covered and it was easy to tell, even in the darkened room that it was a man and a woman. They were naked. He backed out, closed the door and proceeded down the hall to the door on the left.
There was only one person in the bed in this room and Toby was able to see his head well enough to know for sure that it was a man. Hmmm. What to do? He walked over to the side of the bed and pulled his big N frame Smith and Wesson .44 special. Holding the gun in his left hand, he pointed it between the guys eyes and clamped his right hand over the sleeping fugitive’s mouth. Hard. They guy tried to sit up but Toby held his head firmly against the pillow. The startled man’s eyes flew open and he freaked out, as any one would having been roughly woken up with a big gun in their face.
He tried to speak. "Mmffh ummmff."
"Just hold real still for me now and I won’t have to add to the number of holes that you have in your head."
The guy quit struggling but his eyes remained wild and he looked completely terrified. "I’m you friendly neighborhood bounty hunter and you and your partner are busted. Are you Rick or Al? I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth and if you do anything except whisper very softly, the answer to my question, I’ll open your head up like a can of soup. You understand?"
Toby released his grip on the guys mouth and sat back a little. The guy rubbed his face and said, very quietly, "I’m Al. That’s Rick in the other room with some bimbo. Don’t know nuthin’ about her."
"Alright Al, here’s my problem. I need to go into Ricks room and get him under control. While I’m doing that I don’t want to have to worry about what you are gonna be doing in here. You gettin’ my drift?"
"Yeah, sure mister. I ain’t gonna give you no trouble." Al had not yet taken his eyes off the big Smith. "What do you want me to do?"
"I certainly appreciate your cooperation here, Al. You know the cost of ammunition for this thing is very high." he waved the big gun slightly for emphasis. "I won’t like it if I have to shoot you so here’s how we’re gonna do this. I’m going to hand cuff you to the bed frame and then, just in case you forget our little arrangement, I’m going to take a couple of wraps around your head with some duct tape. You okay with all that? (Al nodding vigorously) Good. Once I get the cuffs on Rick and get rid of the bimbo, I’ll come back and get you and we’ll all take a nice quiet ride back to Houston." Toby raised his eye brows in a question mark.
Al, his eyes still fixed on the gun, nodded his head vigorously once more and mouthed the word, "Okay."
Toby cuffed Al to the bed frame and taped his mouth. As he was leaving the room he paused at the door and pointed the .44 at Al and cocked his head to one side with his eyebrows raised in a final warning. Al got that terrified look on his face and Toby went on into Rick’s room.
He walked up to the side of the bed on which Rick was sleeping. There was an empty gin bottle on the floor and Rick was on his back with his mouth wide open and he was snoring loud enough to wake the dead. Toby assumed that he was Probably pretty drunk and would not be much of a problem. He wasn’t worried about the whore too much. He figured that if he needed to he could just give her a little peek up the bore of the .44 and she’d behave herself just fine.
He put the gun in his left hand, as he’d done with Al, and pointed it between Ricks beady little eyes. He was about to put his hand over Rick’s mouth and go in to his speech again. But with out any warning Rick suddenly jumped up and swung at the big gun in Toby’s hand.
Toby fired a wild shot into the ceiling and Rick came out from under the pillow with a big revolver. Just as Toby dropped to the floor next to the bed, Rick snapped off a couple of wild shots that went into the floor. The bimbo woke up and started screaming bloody murder. This distracted Rick and when he turned his attention to her, Toby reached up and knocked the gun out of his hand. Then he cracked Rick over the head with the Smith. It was a big, heavy weapon and it could induce deep sleep on the hardest of heads.
When he fell back against his pillow, unconscious, the woman came across Ricks body and tried to attack Toby. She got her left hand to his face and raked her fingernails from just below his ear, all the way down to his jaw. Blood began to well up in the nail marks and Toby back handed her with the his gun. Her nose exploded and blood began to gush every where. Toby pointed the gun at her and told her to sit on the floor against the wall and be quiet. Her hand flew up to her face and she yelled, "By dose, by dose!"
While Rick was still unconscious Toby cuffed him to the bed frame. He took Ricks pants off the chair and got out his wallet. He was surprise to see a low-rent scum bucket like Rick Fowler with nearly four hundred dollars in his wallet. He shook his head and took all the cash out of the wallet and walked over to the woman sitting on the floor trying to get her nose to quit bleeding.
He shoved the money at her. "I want you to get dressed and get out of here and forget all about what you saw here tonight. There is almost four hundred dollars here. Should see you through a trip to the emergency room and a couple bottle of gin."
The woman looked at him with fury blazing in her eyes. "That’s it!?! You think you can bust up my face, ruin my looks, then lay a few bucks on me and kiss me off, just like that?"
"Look lady, you attacked me. I wouldn’t have touched you if you’d behaved yourself. And I wouldn’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about my looks if I was you. You didn’t have that much going for you to begin with."
"You freakin’ creep! I know people. I’m gonna get you for this. You ain’t heard the last of me."
Toby sighed, "Yeah your right sister. But let me remind you of one thing," and he waved the gun in her face, "this ain’t just a club I’m holding here. It’s a gun, too. Maybe I could make my future a lot simpler if I just put a couple in you for good measure. Whadda ya think?"
The woman got to her feet and started putting on her clothes. She kept her eyes on him the whole time. When she was dressed the shoved the money into her purse and gave Toby one last look and stomped out of the bedroom, out the front door and down the street.
Rick was starting to roll around and groan but his eyes were still closed. Toby shook him roughly and said, "Hey, Fowler, you awake?" he gave Rick a couple of good slaps and Rick opened his eyes. "I want you to stay put while I go and see about your buddy in the other room. He must be havin’ a big-fit about now. Don’t you go away now. I’ll be right back and we’ll all take a nice ride down to Houston together. How’d you like that?" He came out with a second pair of cuffs and hooked Rick to the bed frame.
Rick didn’t answer he just looked at Toby with hatred in his eyes as Toby left to go see about Al.
He’d been right about one thing, Poor old Al was about to come completely unglued. The sound of gun fire must certainly added to his already high anxiety level. His eyes were wide open and he was struggling violently against his restraints. "Whoa, now, Mr. Shavers. No need to go gettin’ yourself all riled up. Rick and I had a little difficulty but we, ah, came to an understanding, so to speak. I want you to calm down and start getting your mind ready for the trip. I’m going to go get Rick secured in the van and them I’m coming back for you."
He went back into Ricks room and unlocked the left cuff and pulled Rick to his feet. He spun him around and pulled Ricks hands behind his back and replaced the left cuff. He marched Rick out side and put him in the back seat of the Ford van and put a set of shackles around Rick’s feet, running the chain through a steel ring bolted into the floor.
He went back into the house and retrieved Rick’s gun. Then went into Al’s room and released him from the bed and put him in the car just as he had Rick. Only he left Al’s hands cuffed in front of him while Rick’s hands were cuffed behind him.
"Hey dude, how come I gotta have my hands behind me. Man I can’t ride like this all the way to Houston. How come Al gets to have his hands in front, anyway?"
"Because Al didn’t give me any trouble. You, on the other hand, are lucky that you are still breathing. You know how close you came to makin’ me shoot you. I get the same money for you whether you are walkin’ or bein’ carried. I didn’t shoot you ‘cause I didn’t feel like doing all that paper work. Give me any grief and I can do a real number on your comfort level for this trip. You just sit still and keep quiet and things won’t get any worse."
Having both prisoners secured, he got behind the wheel and started the motor. "You boys ready to roll? Next stop, the Houston Police Department, south east station house."
As they pulled out onto the highway Toby grabbed for his cell phone. His first call was to Karen. "Hi sweetie, it’s me. I’m on my way home with a couple of dirt bags and I’ll see you later this morning."
"Oh, Toby, are you alright. I’m so sorry for the way I yelled at you last night. I still don’t like your job but I shouldn’t have treated you that way when you were leaving town on a job. It must have been and awful distraction. I’m sorry. I love you, you know."
Toby breathed a sigh of relief. "No sweat Karen. I know how you feel and I wish I could make you feel better about things. I tell you what, I’ll run these guys by the jail and get my paper work signed and then drop by Kip’s and get my money and then head on over to your place. I can probably get there by around 9:00 AM. You can fix me the worlds biggest breakfast and we can, uh, make up. What do you say?"
Good idea. I’ll see you then. Drive carefully and don’t take any guff from the bad guys. See you when you get here." and they hung up.
His next call was to Kip. "Walraven Bonding Agency," answered Kip.
"Kip, it’s Toby. I got the two targets and we are headed in. I’ll drop ‘em off at the jail and see you shortly after. Have the money ready. Okay?"
"Wow, Toby, that’s just great. You are the best. Your money will be here waiting on you. Have a good trip." and they hung up.
******
When they arrived at the south east station of the HPD, Toby removed the shackles from his prisoner’s feet and made sure both men were cuffed securely with their hands behind them. Rick had complained and moaned the entire trip but it was otherwise an uneventful ride. Then he marched them up to the sergeant’s desk and handed the officer at the desk his paper work on the two fugitives. "Hey Toby, got a couple of live one’s eh?"
"Yeah, Sarge, couple of real choir boys." he said sardonically.
"Which one did the work on your face there?" asked the sergeant.
"It was Mr. Fowler’s little lady friend. Seems she didn’t appreciate being rousted out of bed and having her john cuffed and stuffed in front of her eyes." he put his hand tenderly to his face. It hurt. A lot.
"Looks bad. You better get some one to take a look at it." said the sergeant, sympathetically.
"Yeah, I’m headed over to Karen’s just as soon as I drop by Kips and get paid."
"You ask me, you ought to get hazardous duty pay for that trip." the sarge said with a grin.
"Yeah, I’ll mention it, thanks," The sergeant handed Toby the signed papers and called for another officer to take Rick and Al back to the lock-up. Toby headed for Walraven’s Bonding Agency.
"Good grief, Toby! What’d you do, get in to a little hand-to-hand with a wildcat?" asked Kip in astonishment at the sight of Toby’s face.
"Yeah, that’s just about what happened." said Toby impatiently. "Look I’m tired and hungry and my face hurts. I just wanna get paid and get over to Karens for a little much needed TLC." and he handed Kip his paper work.
Kip looked it over and walked over to a tall file cabinet against the wall and filed the papers on Rick Fowler and Al Shavers. "You want that in cash or will a check do?" asked Kip.
"Check’ll be fine, Kip, thanks. I’ll go to the bank this afternoon when I get up." Kip wrote Toby a check and handed it to him. The two men shook hands and Toby headed over to Karen’s house.
At 9:20 He knocked on Karen’s door. She opened it up and flew into his arms. She gave him a big, long kiss and pulled him all the way through the living room and into her bedroom.
"Breakfast will have to wait big boy. First we gotta make up." she said smiling broadly at him. She looked at his face in alarm when she saw the scratches. Her eyes asked the question but he just shook his head, indicating that she shouldn’t worry about it.
He was hungry but he just smiled back at her. "Sure" he said and bounced his eye brows up and down a couple of times. "Anything you say, my sweet. But please be gentle with me. I have been awake for a day and a half now and my face hurts."
She looked at the four gashes in his face again and made a pouty mouth. "Aw, come and let momma kiss the booboo."
Some of my favorite writers use song lyrics to underscore or illustrate some pertinent aspects of their stories and I have tried to do the same here.
I thought I'd submit these and the prologue for y'all consideration. I think we're all good enough friends now that you can be honest and I can take it. No need to criticize the typing and grammatical and spelling errors. I know I'm weak on all that. What I want is your opinion of this as an entertainment.
So lemme have it.
LIVE AND DIE
ON THE
BEACH
"I was born in the sign of water, and it’s there that I feel my best.
The albatross and the whale, they are my brothers.
Kind of a spiral feeling when you’re out on the sea alone,
Staring at the full moon like a lover."
Little River Band
"Please don’t say manana if you don’t mean it.
I have heard those words for so very long.
Don’t try to describe the ocean if you’ve never seen it.
Don’t forget that you just might wind up being wrong."
Jimmy Buffett
"Against the wind. A little something against the wind.
I’m older now but still runnin’ against the wind, against the wind."
Bob Seger
PROLOG
Toby Hicks sat behind the wheel of his full size Ford van. He wanted to wait until all the lights were out in the house before he went in. He figured he’d give it an hour after lights out to be sure every one in the house was asleep. He was after two people this time and he didn’t know who else, besides the two guys he was after, was in the house.
It was a shabby little house in a shabby little neighborhood and Toby didn’t anticipate any problems getting inside. Usually a place like this a child could get in with a credit card properly applied.
He was after Rick Fowler and Al Shavers, a couple of low-life car thieves. They weren’t known to be violent but you could never tell. It didn’t pay to take chances. His sixteen years as a skip tracer had taught him that much. Just when you think you’re after an easy target things can suddenly get rough, real rough. He had a nice .38 caliber scar in his side as a reminder of that. Slow and easy wins the day.
On these occasions when he had to sit in his van for long periods of time he would occupy his time checking with some of his contacts on his cell phone or studying new cases he was considering taking on. Tonight, though, he was thinking about his girlfriend, Karen Weatherley. They had been having some problems lately and he was worried that she was going to cut him loose. She didn’t like the hours he had to put in on the job and the fact that he had to leave town so frequently. She was also not comfortable with the dangers associated with his chosen profession. They had been going together for nearly 6 years and they loved each other but sometimes, just now and then, her dissatisfaction with Toby’s work would cause them major problems. This was one of those times.
Karen lived in Houston, Texas. Toby lived in a small, but comfortable beach house on the beachfront in Galveston, but at the moment he was in a little wide spot in the road called Mineral Wells. It is on the intersection of State Hwy 16 and US- 281, just west of Ft. Worth. Karen had not wanted Toby to take this case because of the fact that it meant that he’d be spending at least one night on the road and maybe two or three if his targets ran for it. He had been spending a lot of time out of town lately and this was the reason she was going through another one of her "spells".
He had tried to explain that he didn’t always have control over the locations of his assignments. When he had several cases to choose from, he’d always take a local case, even if it meant a smaller pay-day. But sometimes it was slim pickings and he had to take what he could get.
Rick and Al had bonded out of jail, after the last time they’d gotten caught, at twenty five grand each. They never even slowed down. They got out of jail, stole a car and headed north. Kip Walraven, the bondsman in this case, was one of Toby’s main contacts for cases. He was extremely unhappy about being out that much money on a couple of scum bags that he should have known would skip. He started to refuse to bond them out but they had never skipped before and they promised to stick around. Kip usually had pretty good judgment when it came to being able to tell who would skip and who wouldn’t. When he guessed wrong he didn’t handle it well. "Toby, please. I’m in a real spot here. I’m out fifty large on the two of these dirt bags. I know it won’t be your biggest pay-day but I’ve been pretty good about throwing business your way and now I need you to do this for me. Whadda ya say, pal?"
Toby thought for a while and said. I’d like to help you out here Kip, but Karen is on my back about taking all these out-of-town cases. She’ll skin me alive."
" Well maybe you need to get you a day job. I need some one on this NOW and you are the best around. I’ll call some one else but I ain’t forgettin’ that you let me down."
"No," sighed Toby, "I won’t leave you hanging. This is what I do. Karen knew when we met what I did for a living and she will just have to adjust. Don’t you worry about it, Kip. I’m on it. Do you have a line on ‘em?"
"Yeah, for now at least. I got a tip that they are in a little dung heap called Mineral Wells, just West of Ft. Worth. I don’t know how long they will be there but it’s the best information I have." He gave Toby the address of the house he thought they’d be in.
"Okay. I’ll leave now and see if I can pick ‘em up tonight. Things go smoothly I’ll have ‘em back tomorrow. If they aren’t there any more I’ll have to follow what ever trail they leave. Could take another day or two. I’ll call you and let you know how it goes."
"Thanks Toby, this means a lot to me. And good luck with Karen. She’s a sweet lady and I hope this doesn’t cause you too much trouble."
"Just another day at the office, Kip. I’ll call you tonight." and they hung up.
Karen had pitched a hissy-fit. Toby tried to explain but she was upset and that was all there was to it.
************************************************
Now the lights went out in the little house and Toby looked at his watch. 10:53 PM. He decided to give it till mid-night.
At mid-night Toby got out of his van and started walking the block and a half to the house where Rick and Al were holed up. As he walked he took out his walled and removed his Visa card and put it in his shirt pocket. Shouldn’t need any more than this to get into that cracker box, he thought.
He went around to the back door and found the outer screen door latched from the inside. He didn’t want to have to fool with cutting screens so he went around front and slipped his Visa card into the crack between the door and the jamb, above the cheesy lock and slid it down and the lock slipped back and he was in. He closed the door behind him and looked around the darkened living room. Ratty couch. Ratty chairs. Ratty coffee table. The room smelled like stale beer and cigarette smoke. Dirty clothes and trash all over the room. Holy cow, Toby thought, how can people live like this?
He stuck his head in the kitchen. A small table and four chairs in the middle of the room. Small stove and refrigerator on one wall. Sink and pantry on another wall. The sink was full of dirty dishes and the table was covered with empty beer cans, delivery pizza cartons, and over flowing ashtrays.
He went back into the living room and started slowly down the hall way. He could see that there was one room on either side and at the end of the hall was the bathroom. It’s door was open and there was a night light burning dimly on one wall. Both of the bedroom doors were closed.
He walked silently down the hall to the door on the right. He quietly cracked it open just wide enough to see inside the room. There, in the small bed, were two people sleeping. They were not covered and it was easy to tell, even in the darkened room that it was a man and a woman. They were naked. He backed out, closed the door and proceeded down the hall to the door on the left.
There was only one person in the bed in this room and Toby was able to see his head well enough to know for sure that it was a man. Hmmm. What to do? He walked over to the side of the bed and pulled his big N frame Smith and Wesson .44 special. Holding the gun in his left hand, he pointed it between the guys eyes and clamped his right hand over the sleeping fugitive’s mouth. Hard. They guy tried to sit up but Toby held his head firmly against the pillow. The startled man’s eyes flew open and he freaked out, as any one would having been roughly woken up with a big gun in their face.
He tried to speak. "Mmffh ummmff."
"Just hold real still for me now and I won’t have to add to the number of holes that you have in your head."
The guy quit struggling but his eyes remained wild and he looked completely terrified. "I’m you friendly neighborhood bounty hunter and you and your partner are busted. Are you Rick or Al? I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth and if you do anything except whisper very softly, the answer to my question, I’ll open your head up like a can of soup. You understand?"
Toby released his grip on the guys mouth and sat back a little. The guy rubbed his face and said, very quietly, "I’m Al. That’s Rick in the other room with some bimbo. Don’t know nuthin’ about her."
"Alright Al, here’s my problem. I need to go into Ricks room and get him under control. While I’m doing that I don’t want to have to worry about what you are gonna be doing in here. You gettin’ my drift?"
"Yeah, sure mister. I ain’t gonna give you no trouble." Al had not yet taken his eyes off the big Smith. "What do you want me to do?"
"I certainly appreciate your cooperation here, Al. You know the cost of ammunition for this thing is very high." he waved the big gun slightly for emphasis. "I won’t like it if I have to shoot you so here’s how we’re gonna do this. I’m going to hand cuff you to the bed frame and then, just in case you forget our little arrangement, I’m going to take a couple of wraps around your head with some duct tape. You okay with all that? (Al nodding vigorously) Good. Once I get the cuffs on Rick and get rid of the bimbo, I’ll come back and get you and we’ll all take a nice quiet ride back to Houston." Toby raised his eye brows in a question mark.
Al, his eyes still fixed on the gun, nodded his head vigorously once more and mouthed the word, "Okay."
Toby cuffed Al to the bed frame and taped his mouth. As he was leaving the room he paused at the door and pointed the .44 at Al and cocked his head to one side with his eyebrows raised in a final warning. Al got that terrified look on his face and Toby went on into Rick’s room.
He walked up to the side of the bed on which Rick was sleeping. There was an empty gin bottle on the floor and Rick was on his back with his mouth wide open and he was snoring loud enough to wake the dead. Toby assumed that he was Probably pretty drunk and would not be much of a problem. He wasn’t worried about the whore too much. He figured that if he needed to he could just give her a little peek up the bore of the .44 and she’d behave herself just fine.
He put the gun in his left hand, as he’d done with Al, and pointed it between Ricks beady little eyes. He was about to put his hand over Rick’s mouth and go in to his speech again. But with out any warning Rick suddenly jumped up and swung at the big gun in Toby’s hand.
Toby fired a wild shot into the ceiling and Rick came out from under the pillow with a big revolver. Just as Toby dropped to the floor next to the bed, Rick snapped off a couple of wild shots that went into the floor. The bimbo woke up and started screaming bloody murder. This distracted Rick and when he turned his attention to her, Toby reached up and knocked the gun out of his hand. Then he cracked Rick over the head with the Smith. It was a big, heavy weapon and it could induce deep sleep on the hardest of heads.
When he fell back against his pillow, unconscious, the woman came across Ricks body and tried to attack Toby. She got her left hand to his face and raked her fingernails from just below his ear, all the way down to his jaw. Blood began to well up in the nail marks and Toby back handed her with the his gun. Her nose exploded and blood began to gush every where. Toby pointed the gun at her and told her to sit on the floor against the wall and be quiet. Her hand flew up to her face and she yelled, "By dose, by dose!"
While Rick was still unconscious Toby cuffed him to the bed frame. He took Ricks pants off the chair and got out his wallet. He was surprise to see a low-rent scum bucket like Rick Fowler with nearly four hundred dollars in his wallet. He shook his head and took all the cash out of the wallet and walked over to the woman sitting on the floor trying to get her nose to quit bleeding.
He shoved the money at her. "I want you to get dressed and get out of here and forget all about what you saw here tonight. There is almost four hundred dollars here. Should see you through a trip to the emergency room and a couple bottle of gin."
The woman looked at him with fury blazing in her eyes. "That’s it!?! You think you can bust up my face, ruin my looks, then lay a few bucks on me and kiss me off, just like that?"
"Look lady, you attacked me. I wouldn’t have touched you if you’d behaved yourself. And I wouldn’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about my looks if I was you. You didn’t have that much going for you to begin with."
"You freakin’ creep! I know people. I’m gonna get you for this. You ain’t heard the last of me."
Toby sighed, "Yeah your right sister. But let me remind you of one thing," and he waved the gun in her face, "this ain’t just a club I’m holding here. It’s a gun, too. Maybe I could make my future a lot simpler if I just put a couple in you for good measure. Whadda ya think?"
The woman got to her feet and started putting on her clothes. She kept her eyes on him the whole time. When she was dressed the shoved the money into her purse and gave Toby one last look and stomped out of the bedroom, out the front door and down the street.
Rick was starting to roll around and groan but his eyes were still closed. Toby shook him roughly and said, "Hey, Fowler, you awake?" he gave Rick a couple of good slaps and Rick opened his eyes. "I want you to stay put while I go and see about your buddy in the other room. He must be havin’ a big-fit about now. Don’t you go away now. I’ll be right back and we’ll all take a nice ride down to Houston together. How’d you like that?" He came out with a second pair of cuffs and hooked Rick to the bed frame.
Rick didn’t answer he just looked at Toby with hatred in his eyes as Toby left to go see about Al.
He’d been right about one thing, Poor old Al was about to come completely unglued. The sound of gun fire must certainly added to his already high anxiety level. His eyes were wide open and he was struggling violently against his restraints. "Whoa, now, Mr. Shavers. No need to go gettin’ yourself all riled up. Rick and I had a little difficulty but we, ah, came to an understanding, so to speak. I want you to calm down and start getting your mind ready for the trip. I’m going to go get Rick secured in the van and them I’m coming back for you."
He went back into Ricks room and unlocked the left cuff and pulled Rick to his feet. He spun him around and pulled Ricks hands behind his back and replaced the left cuff. He marched Rick out side and put him in the back seat of the Ford van and put a set of shackles around Rick’s feet, running the chain through a steel ring bolted into the floor.
He went back into the house and retrieved Rick’s gun. Then went into Al’s room and released him from the bed and put him in the car just as he had Rick. Only he left Al’s hands cuffed in front of him while Rick’s hands were cuffed behind him.
"Hey dude, how come I gotta have my hands behind me. Man I can’t ride like this all the way to Houston. How come Al gets to have his hands in front, anyway?"
"Because Al didn’t give me any trouble. You, on the other hand, are lucky that you are still breathing. You know how close you came to makin’ me shoot you. I get the same money for you whether you are walkin’ or bein’ carried. I didn’t shoot you ‘cause I didn’t feel like doing all that paper work. Give me any grief and I can do a real number on your comfort level for this trip. You just sit still and keep quiet and things won’t get any worse."
Having both prisoners secured, he got behind the wheel and started the motor. "You boys ready to roll? Next stop, the Houston Police Department, south east station house."
As they pulled out onto the highway Toby grabbed for his cell phone. His first call was to Karen. "Hi sweetie, it’s me. I’m on my way home with a couple of dirt bags and I’ll see you later this morning."
"Oh, Toby, are you alright. I’m so sorry for the way I yelled at you last night. I still don’t like your job but I shouldn’t have treated you that way when you were leaving town on a job. It must have been and awful distraction. I’m sorry. I love you, you know."
Toby breathed a sigh of relief. "No sweat Karen. I know how you feel and I wish I could make you feel better about things. I tell you what, I’ll run these guys by the jail and get my paper work signed and then drop by Kip’s and get my money and then head on over to your place. I can probably get there by around 9:00 AM. You can fix me the worlds biggest breakfast and we can, uh, make up. What do you say?"
Good idea. I’ll see you then. Drive carefully and don’t take any guff from the bad guys. See you when you get here." and they hung up.
His next call was to Kip. "Walraven Bonding Agency," answered Kip.
"Kip, it’s Toby. I got the two targets and we are headed in. I’ll drop ‘em off at the jail and see you shortly after. Have the money ready. Okay?"
"Wow, Toby, that’s just great. You are the best. Your money will be here waiting on you. Have a good trip." and they hung up.
******
When they arrived at the south east station of the HPD, Toby removed the shackles from his prisoner’s feet and made sure both men were cuffed securely with their hands behind them. Rick had complained and moaned the entire trip but it was otherwise an uneventful ride. Then he marched them up to the sergeant’s desk and handed the officer at the desk his paper work on the two fugitives. "Hey Toby, got a couple of live one’s eh?"
"Yeah, Sarge, couple of real choir boys." he said sardonically.
"Which one did the work on your face there?" asked the sergeant.
"It was Mr. Fowler’s little lady friend. Seems she didn’t appreciate being rousted out of bed and having her john cuffed and stuffed in front of her eyes." he put his hand tenderly to his face. It hurt. A lot.
"Looks bad. You better get some one to take a look at it." said the sergeant, sympathetically.
"Yeah, I’m headed over to Karen’s just as soon as I drop by Kips and get paid."
"You ask me, you ought to get hazardous duty pay for that trip." the sarge said with a grin.
"Yeah, I’ll mention it, thanks," The sergeant handed Toby the signed papers and called for another officer to take Rick and Al back to the lock-up. Toby headed for Walraven’s Bonding Agency.
"Good grief, Toby! What’d you do, get in to a little hand-to-hand with a wildcat?" asked Kip in astonishment at the sight of Toby’s face.
"Yeah, that’s just about what happened." said Toby impatiently. "Look I’m tired and hungry and my face hurts. I just wanna get paid and get over to Karens for a little much needed TLC." and he handed Kip his paper work.
Kip looked it over and walked over to a tall file cabinet against the wall and filed the papers on Rick Fowler and Al Shavers. "You want that in cash or will a check do?" asked Kip.
"Check’ll be fine, Kip, thanks. I’ll go to the bank this afternoon when I get up." Kip wrote Toby a check and handed it to him. The two men shook hands and Toby headed over to Karen’s house.
At 9:20 He knocked on Karen’s door. She opened it up and flew into his arms. She gave him a big, long kiss and pulled him all the way through the living room and into her bedroom.
"Breakfast will have to wait big boy. First we gotta make up." she said smiling broadly at him. She looked at his face in alarm when she saw the scratches. Her eyes asked the question but he just shook his head, indicating that she shouldn’t worry about it.
He was hungry but he just smiled back at her. "Sure" he said and bounced his eye brows up and down a couple of times. "Anything you say, my sweet. But please be gentle with me. I have been awake for a day and a half now and my face hurts."
She looked at the four gashes in his face again and made a pouty mouth. "Aw, come and let momma kiss the booboo."
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I'd buy.
