Pay Up and Die (3 page)

While choking the bald driver, the large man swung his messy-haired head backwards, smashing Michael nose. Michael immediately let go and thumped to the ground in a spray of his own blood. Now he was seeing his own set of stars. This wasn’t what he originally had in mind. The pain was excruciating and his eyes were totally watered over, blood continuing to poor out of his nose. Michael tried to look up at the monstrous being and as his eyes strained to focus he realized a huge boot was coming at his temple. It connected and all the lights went out for Michael. He was face down in a pool of his own blood and unconscious.

Realizing that the “hero” was out cold the huge man re-focused his attention on the bald driver, who was still struggling to breathe through the massive fingers that clamped his windpipe shut. Spittle was flying. The beast reached his right hand to the back pocket of his blue jeans and removed a folding knife. With one hand, he deftly clawed the saw-toothed blade open. With his rock-hard forearm, he pinned the bald man against the side of the hatchback, continuing to choke him with only his left fist. The flannelled attacker spiked the knife into the temple of the bald man, instantly killing him. As brains bubbled up from the wound, the man wriggled the knife back and forth until it freed from the dead man’s head with a slurping sound. He wanted this scalp. He worked his knife down the horseshoed hairline. Maybe it would make a good prop for Halloween this year, he thought. The flap of flesh flopped down over the bald man’s face. A heinous skein of bloody meat. The large man ripped the scalp from the final threads of skin while the body crumbled at his feet. The exposed skull smacked the mulched landscaping with a squishy sound like a boot stepping into a muddy swamp. He inspected the scalp closely, turning it at different angles. Some of the ends retained hairs from the horseshoe shape, creating a gruesome curtain-like effect which pleased him. So he plopped the bloody flesh upon his head. He admired his faint reflection in the hatchback’s backseat window, like a woman trying on a dress in a fitting room.

Pleased with his horrifying image, the large man turned his gaze upon the bonus body. He chuckled to himself that there was always a hero and the hero never survived. He wondered if they would remain so heroic knowing what their chances were against him. As a battler of ill-fated “heroes” the large man was still undefeated. A champion over righteous do-gooders. He spat and then crouched over Michael’s unconscious body. The lumberjack’s head titled to the side as he scrolled through his inventory of terror, trying to decide which brutality to inflict on the unconscious man.

Behind the large man an SUV came to an abrupt halt next to the pickup truck. The door opened and the driver hurried over to the scene of bloodshed.

“What the hell are you doing?” The well-dressed man acted dumbfounded at the large man’s lack of pace, afraid that they would be discovered momentarily. “Why aren’t you cleaning this up? And who the hell is that?” He pointed at Michael lying in a pool of blood. The large man looked down at the unconscious body and then looked back at “the suit” with a grin on his face.

“And what the hell is on your head? You sick bastard. All I needed you to do was to kill Doug’s wife so he would understand that I mean business. And now we have two more bodies and a park full of smashed cars. Are you trying to give me a heart attack? We need to hurry before this place is crawling with cops. Shit, there’s probably people watching us right now through their bedroom curtains. You goddamned imbecile.” The well-dressed man was exasperated and ran his fingers through his slicked back hair, the mousse darkening his gray-peppered temples. He felt like he was hyper ventilating so he tried to calm himself down with a deep breath. Looking down at the bodies he collected his thoughts and got back to business. The large man rolled the unconscious body over and stood up.

“Wait a minute. How did he get here?” the suit asked incredulously. He recognized Michael Wright immediately even through the bloody visage. Great, he thought quickly, now how am I going to get out of this? This sick bastard will never let me keep him from his ugly craft. Think. Quick.

“Dunno. I was killing this guy here when Captain Big-britches jumped on my back. I never saw him coming,” said the large man. He despised the way the suit spoke to him. He didn’t have to answer to anyone, especially some little prick in a tie and jacket. The large man daydreamed briefly about stomping on the short, rich guy like a little bug.

“Okay. Okay. Why don’t you get out of here right now and let me handle this one for you. You need to get out of sight fast before someone sees your truck and that ridiculous uniform of yours.”

“This is my lucky shirt. I wear it for all my jobs. You don’t like my shirt?” The large man took a step towards the suit.

“It’s very nice, okay, Martin? I just meant that it is highly recognizable because you are always wearing that shirt in public.” He held his hands out in front of his chest to hold off Martin in case he made a move towards him.

“I’m shocked that you want to get your hands dirty. I thought you don’t like messy situations. Isn’t that what you call me for? To handle your messes?” Martin felt his adrenaline pumping and struggled to control his urges.

“Yeah, well, I need to finish this one for you. Your truck and that shirt stand out like a sore thumb around here. It will be harder for someone to i.d. me.” He sighed loudly. “Please. Leave now. And take off the goddamned scalp, will you? You look like a goddamned monster.”

Martin smiled and slowly walked towards the suit. He stopped right in front of the suit and leaned into his face. He wiggled his eyebrows up and down several times in mockery, the bloody hair-piece moving in rhythm. Then he began laughing and brushed into the suit’s shoulder as he walked past to his truck.

A chill ran down the suit’s spine and he closed his eyes in disgust. He waited for Martin Pike to leave, listening for the truck to drive away.

After the truck left, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then crouched down over Michael Wright’s body. He felt for a pulse and was relieved that it existed. He didn’t understand what Michael was doing here at this hour and cursed his luck for having to deal with this wrinkle. He stood up and looked around. Nobody appeared to be looking out their windows. The distant sound of a wailing siren started and he knew he needed to leave. He looked down again at Michael.

“You almost got yourself killed, buddy. You have no idea how close you came to death.”

He hustled over to the SUV and slammed the door shut. He fired the engine and screeched away quickly using all the horse-power under the hood. As the SUV turned left at the end of the park, two police cars arrived at the scene.

Chapter 5

The sun blazed through the kitchen window in the early morning. Rays of sunshine highlighting the cherry wood cabinets above the black stove. The forecast called for another glorious autumn day in the low 70’s.

Stephanie came down the stairs yawning in her bathrobe. She shuffled her fluffy slippers along the tile floor and stared out the window to take in the view of the park across the street. Everything was still so plush green but would soon turn yellow and orange and brown with the season. The warmth of the sun spreading across the smooth skin of her face. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply to enjoy the moment of peace.

It was time to make the lunches for the kids before waking them up for school. Stephanie prepared the coffee maker. She reached up in the cabinet above the toaster for a mug and then switched on the coffee maker. She knew Michael liked to take a coffee in a travel mug while he drove to work. Stephanie stopped in her tracks. She realized suddenly that Michael wasn’t here. When she woke up and saw that he wasn’t in bed she figured he had already gone downstairs to get ready for work. Now that she was downstairs and there was no sign of Michael she began to wonder where he was. The back door to the kitchen swung open and Michael entered with a huge bandage across his nose and two black eyes that made him appear to be a raccoon.

Stephanie gasped. “What happened to you? Are you all right?” She hurried over to him and raised her hands to touch his face.

Flinching back with his hands stopping hers, he said, “Don’t touch. It still hurts really bad.”

“Oh, my gosh. I don’t understand. Where were you? Who did this to you? What happened to your face?”

“It’s bizarre. I went out for that run last night.” He paused and sat down at the table. “I ended up going to the park and then something awful happened.”

“What? Michael, tell me what happened.”

“Well, I was just sitting on that bench that I love, the one by the baseball field and then, out of nowhere, this car just flies up into the park and crashes into the bushes. Before I knew what was going on this big truck pulls up and, I still can’t believe this, this guy gets out and he’s killing the man who crashed into the park.”

“He’s what? But why?”

“I don’t know, Steph. Like I said it was bizarre. Next thing I know I am running up to tackle this guy and get him off the other one who crashed...”

“Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t you just run to get help?”

“I don’t know. I never thought I could do something like that but it just happened. I saw this poor little guy getting pummeled and then I shot off to help him without really thinking about it. I just reacted.”

“Oh, my gosh. Michael.”

“And then next thing I know he head-butted me in the face and I’m bleeding all over the place. And that’s all I remember. After that, I woke up in the emergency room with two cops who were asking me all these questions and I couldn’t even answer them. It’s like I blacked out. They said when they got to the scene I was lying in a puddle of blood and the other guy was, dead.” He paused and exhaled.

“You, killed, the man?” Stephanie asked horrified.

“No, no, no. The guy who crashed into the park was dead. I have no idea where the big guy went. He must have fled because the cops wanted to know who else was involved. They figured out that I couldn’t have killed him since I was out cold. Plus they found a large boot print in the blood on the ground, so they knew somebody else was there.”

“Michael, my gosh. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I have a mean headache and, well, my nose is broken pretty bad. The doctor at the hospital said I was lucky to have been out cold because he had to adjust my nose back from the side of my face practically. He said I would have screamed and fought him if I were conscious. I just can’t believe that somebody got killed. In this town. And I was right there. It still makes me sick and scares the crap out of me to think about it.”

“Why didn’t you call me from the hospital? And how did you get home just now?”

“Well, I had no identification on me and I didn’t have my phone. So the police waited for the hospital to release me before bringing me home. They urged me to call you but I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Let me get you an ice pack and you can call out from work today.” Stephanie got up and scrambled around the kitchen as she spoke. “I can get the kids off to school and then take care of you.”

“Steph, stop. I’m okay. Besides I have to go in today for that big training session on loan recoveries. Derrick said it was mandatory and I don’t want him to have any reasons to decline our loan request, you know, besides the fact that I don’t make enough money and we are already leveraged to the hilt, and that we have bad credit scores, and everything else. Steph, I have to go to work today. I’ll be okay.”

Before she could protest two little people were standing behind Michael. The kids were both rubbing sleep out of their eyes and squinting from the bright sunshine filling the kitchen. “What’s all the noise about?” asked Andrew. His brown hair disheveled and sticking up in the back.

“Daddy, what’s wrong with your face?” exclaimed Allison. Her pajamas were all bunched up over one leg and she had a long blond hair wisped over her face. She ran up to Michael and jumped onto his lap.

“Daddy’s okay.” He flinched to catch the little girl. “I just, fell, um, last night when I went for a run. Um, that’s why I always tell you to make sure you tie your shoelaces before you run off.” He glanced at Stephanie and she pursed her lips at him for telling the lie even though she agreed it was better that the kids didn’t know what really happened.

Michael stood up and kissed Allison on the cheek before putting her down. He turned and headed for the stairs.

“I’m going to shower and head to work. I’m already running late and Murph needs a ride again so, you know, I gotta get going.” He walked up the steps and the kids and Stephanie just stood and stared at the staircase.

Stephanie sighed and the kids turned around to look at her in unison. “So, what do you kiddies want to take to school for lunch today?”

Chapter 6

Derrick Graves opened his office door and observed the cubicles surrounding the area. He overheard one employee talking on the phone and heard another one typing away at their keyboard. He was satisfied that his people came in early and got right to work. It meant he was a true leader, inspiring hard work and dedication. But nobody started as early as Derrick did every day.

He glanced across the floor and noticed two employees talking in the coffee alcove. So he made his way over to greet them.

“Good morning, Jessica. Bob. How are you both doing this morning?” Derrick helped himself to a black coffee as he spoke.

“Awesome, Mr. Graves. And you?” asked Jessica. She wore a smart business dress suit. Navy with a bright white blouse. Derrick always found Jessica very attractive even though she was a little plump in certain places.

“I’m wonderful today. Thanks for asking. How are those slides coming along for the board meeting, Bob?” He blew on the hot coffee to cool it off a bit. Then before he took a careful sip, he asked, “Do you need me to look them over and help you with the verbiage?”