As we all looked on helplessly, I noticed another man getting out of the farthest van. Like the other two, this one was in a dark suit. Unlike the other two, he did not have on sunglasses. Even in the dim light, it was easy to see he was dark complected – or, he liked to tan like George Hamilton.
*It’s funny what weird crap your mind thinks of when you’re staring at the possibility of dying, isn’t it?*
As the new guy got closer, I saw him pull his lapel up to his face and say something. Almost instantaneously, the choppers overhead shut down the enormous search lights, dipped to the south and then sped off into the distance. Oddly, I noted that they did not have any illumination at all and that they pretty much disappeared in the dark sky once the search lights were off.
Apparently, we were looking at the king pin now….
Once more – just out of ear shot – he pulled his lapel close to his mouth and said something indiscernible. Then, he walked over to the guy with the loudspeaker, whispered something in his ear and then turned to look at us as loudspeaker guy began to bark.
“YOU OUTSIDE OF THIS ZONE MUST NOW LEAVE – IMMEDIATELY. YOUR FAILURE TO OBEY THIS ORDER WILL REQUIRE THAT WE TAKE MORE DRASTIC MEASURES. LEAVE NOW OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES…”
I don’t think the word ‘consequences’ was even completely off his lips before we heard cars starting up, saw people nearly running to others, and within seconds, a stream of red tail lights headed out and off the property… for some odd reason I thought of the old “Rats jumping off the sinking ship” phrase…
*Yet another odd, ‘Why did I just think of THAT?’ moment…*
Kelly was shivering by now. And, I must admit it – I was more than a little concerned about our plight as well. We had nothing to go on other than what we thought was a perfect plan had obviously backfired since Jim was nowhere to be seen nor were any of his deputies.
And still, we had two thugs holding someone captive with a hood over his/her head, all kinds of firearms being brandished, two dark vans filled with who knew what, choppers that had just left and to top it all off, no visible assistance.
Sheesh… how much worse could it get?
We were about to find out…
Just then, yet another van pulled up and parked over by the others. Out of it came 5-6 more guys in suits and one guy NOT in a suit but who I thought I recognized…. I did! It was the guy who had wired Kel and me up with the listening devices.
WTF??? How in the hell was HE connected to this? On top of him just being there, I could see he had an assault rifle slung over his shoulder too because I could see light glinting off the dark steel barrel that was swaying as he walked over to the man-without-sunglasses and stopped, his arms crossed as he just looked silently at all of us.
It now appeared that the leader (at least for now) was the man without the sunglasses…
He walked on over to our small group and stopped almost directly in front of Kelly and me. He then reached inside his jacket and pulled out what looked to be several papers that were folded but that he quickly unfolded and began to scan. One of his minions now stood behind him holding a small MagLight illuminating the paperwork.
“Identify yourself”, he barked at me.
I did not like his tone of voice.
“Why?” I asked – which of course caused Kelly to nearly shut off blood circulation in my arm she was gripping. I was tired by now and really tired of all the drama… I guess I wasn’t thinking but hey, I thought we deserved some answers. Sometimes you never know until you ask.
I was equally surprised that he began giving us some.
“Are you Steve Morton?”, he asked without any expression.
“Yes.”
“And is this woman with you, Kelly Morton?”
Kelly spoke this time… ‘Yes, I am Kelly.”
He looked back down at the papers, pulled a pen from his pocket and made some marks on the top sheet.
“Do you know this guy?” He nodded towards the man in the hood being held – obviously against his will – by the two big thugs with the machine pistols.
“I can’t answer that, pal. I can’t see his face.”
I noted that the techie who had wired us was looking at us stone faced. Off to his side, Bill had his gun lowered on Cy, Mort, and the rest of what I thought were Bill’s group.
A cold chill now crept up my spine as I began to figure this out. Somebody was getting double crossed this night and now I had put Kelly, Brandon and Stacy smack dab in the middle of it.
Damn!
However, I could not have been more wrong AND yet right at the same time. I just did not realize who it was who was getting punked in a very, very bad way.
“Who are you?” I asked, hoping the chill running down my spine did not crack my voice.
“Who I am is of no importance to you. Who THIS guy is however may really interest you…”
He smiled in a very cold, calculating way.
“Remove his hood!”, he barked at the two gorillas.
At first, I could not tell who it was when the hood was whisked off. Whoever the guy was looked like he might have put up some sort of fight because his face looked like it was swollen and bruised. But then, in yet another horrific turn of events I knew who it was as did B, Kel, and Stacy because they all gasped when they recognized the battered face.
It was Jim.
And it looked like Jim could barely stand.
Oh… my… god…
I felt Kelly’s grip nearly drop completely and I reached to steady her. She was now shaking even more than before… we were all speechless… Any thought of getting out of there was not gone. If Jim was in this shape and in their hands, the Calvary was NOT coming.
*Yet another odd thought now leaped into my brain… it was an old saying that I had heard my father say many, many times but for some bizarre reason not raced through my head. He used to say, “Keep your friends close – but your enemies closer…” And he would always add – “And make damned sure you KNOW who your friends are…”*
I was about to truly learn who my real friends were right then and there…
To be continued...
