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Hidden in a small room behind the drawing room, a man sat,
recording everything. With every word from Anna, the needle in one of the tiny
machines shot into the deepest blue zone and held there. He stared at the truth
detector and shivered.
Penn came in behind him. He lay a hand on the man’s shoulder to
stop him from jumping up. The man showed him the truth detector.
“Might be, she be lying, but she believes every word.” He
showed Penn another of his tools. “Aye, and the heat detector be yet in the
red zone.”
“Her granddaughter could be the means to destroy the Party, and
hold our Asian allies at bay.”
“Would seem so, m’ lord. What would ya?”
Smiling, Penn said, “Why, we take her son and
daughter-in-law.”
Creel staggered up yawning and smiling at Mike.
Frowning, Mike glanced away from the sweet look of hero worship.
“Gotta pee,” Creel said. He leaned on first the table, then
the wall. As a grinning, drooling Creel leaned towards him, Mike hurried out of
the booth. Creel staggered in the direction of the restrooms. He smiled and
blinked at the people.
The line at the restrooms parted for him, people catching at his
elbow to stop him from falling. The door was opened for him, and Creel entered
it, slipping into a booth to sit down and key in a microphone.
The Asian was speaking. Now sober, Creel frowned.
Ms VanTur was not going to like this. In fact, she was going to
scream loud enough to shatter glass. Her beloved Mike was a traitor.
JJ Hannah, a.k.a. Sue’s father, bulled his way into the house.
He stumbled to the floor and came up swinging at shadows only to fall again. A
small light came from down the hall. With a cold leer, he pushed down towards
Sue’s room and found her lying in bed, alone.
“Friggin whore,” he cried, ripping the blankets from her.
“Gimme what I come for.”
Dazed and half-asleep, she stared up at her father and watched as
he pulled out a quirt.
Arms immersed in a tub of hot, soapy water, Benny frowned. He
scowled, then, and stopped to look around.
His eye widened and sweat ran under the black eye patch to torment
the empty socket.
Benny ran for the outer door. Jason shouted at him, but he threw
the steel axle out of his way and was gone.
Mike jumped from the table. Followed by Chong, he raced away
leaving a cold and angry Creel seated alone in the men’s room.
Benny raced to the shack. Sue’s cries came through the cracks in
the walls. He smashed aside the door charging down to her room.
JJ had his pants around his ankles and Sue under him. Benny
grabbed the man by the back of the neck and threw him to the floor. JJ cried
out. He reached for Benny, and Benny kicked him in the stomach.
JJ dropped. He rolled over and flopped down, shuddering on the
floor.
As Benny leaned over Sue, JJ pulled a .38.
“Boy,” JJ said, gloating at Benny. “I’m gonna finish the
job the Judge and Doc Raleigh started at the Manse.”
Mike came up and kicked the gun out of JJ’s hands. He rammed a
fist in between the man’s shocked eyes and stepped on the thick neck. Face a
mask of dark fury, he leaned hard on the neck and JJ wailed.
“Please, mister–Sue, he’s killing me.”
“Don’t kill him,” Sue cried.
“Donnelly, no.” Benny was holding Sue in his arms. “She’s
sick and don’t need to see her father killed.” He spiked a cold look at the
whimpering JJ. “Not that we don’t appreciate the offer.”
He stroked Sue’s hair, whispering to her. “It’s OK, Sue.
I’m here now. Did he hurt you bad?”
Face buried in Benny’s chest, she shook her head.
“Whipped me, is all. You came before he could . . . do anything
else.”
Mike straightened. He blinked and opened his mouth to ask.
“Sue Hannah!" A grinning, drooling Creel hung on the door
post. “Hi, Susie. Wanna do the wild thing?”
Mike grabbed Creel before the man fell.
“I don’t think now is the time.”
“But this is the chick you been horny over.”
Mike cleared his throat. He hustled Creel out, saying, “Let’s
go to that other place. The zip joint where all the gov poms hang out.”
“But I want Sue!”
The rest of the door splintered and Creel hollered something.
Chong stepped in.
“Benny? May I?”
Benny scowled, but the man came in to stand by the bed.
“My name of Chong, Benny. Roger Chong. Mike Donnelly and I are
friends. So, for that matter, are his parents. Benny . . . I need to speak with
you about a very important matter.”
©2004 StoriesByEmail.com
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