The Peacekeepers. Books 1 - 3.

by Ricky Sides

  Jim took the precaution of hiding his supply of weapons, just in case the police searched the house. He didn’t hide the Smith and Wesson pistol. If they took it, he had another and they were sure to want to see the weapon he had used to defend himself.

  For two hours, Jim and Margaret talked about different things while they waited for the police to arrive. When they finally arrived, they took one brief look at the dead man and came into the house. Jim introduced himself, and then told the officers what had happened. The officers took a statement from Margaret, which verified Jim's statement. One of the officers said, “Well the old man verifies your story. He called in right after you did. I suppose that will do for now. If this sort of thing happens again we will have to take you in for questioning. For now, we won't be taking you in.”

  “By the way, that scumbag you killed was the leader of a gang of thugs who have been stirring up trouble in the city for the past two weeks. I doubt he will have many mourners at his funeral, but beware of his gang. They may seek retaliation.”

  Jim said, “Don't get me wrong officer. I don’t want to go to jail for killing the man, but I can’t believe this is all you people are going to do. I mean, what if I was just some hard core killer going around killing folks for kicks?”

  “If we thought that were the case you'd be dead by now,” said the older of the two officers. Noting the startled look on Margaret's face, he sighed and said, “Look Mr. Wilison, let me explain something to you. In the past three weeks, we have had thirty-one assaults, thirteen rapes and I do not even have the updated figures on burglaries and automotive thefts that have occurred. In short, we are becoming overwhelmed with the sheer scope of the upsurge in crime. We are too busy worrying about real crimes to be overly concerned about a justifiable homicide.”

  Standing up to leave, he continued, “Be sure to keep your doors and windows locked. Someone from the coroner's office will be by in a bit for the body. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some real crimes to investigate.”

  Jim sat in stunned silence and watched the two police officers leave. He looked at Margaret and said, “Maybe I should take you to your sister's house before anything else happens.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but my sister and her husband are supposed to pick me up at my house at 2:00 P.M. I'm all packed so all I need to do is be home by one-thirty.”

  Looking at his watch Jim said, “That gives us three hours to kill while we are waiting. Would you like to talk or do something else? Maybe we could do something a little more intimate?”

  Margaret looked down at the floor for a moment with a pained expression on her face. Keeping her gaze on the floor she said, “I think we need to talk.”

  Catching the seriousness in her voice, Jim said softly, “Go ahead. Say what's on your mind.”

  Margaret hesitated so long before replying that Jim was about to repeat himself, but then she said, “I was watching you when you fought those men earlier and noticed that you seemed to be enjoying it.”

  “You mean the fighting?”

  “Yes. There was an expression of pure joy on your face while you battled for your life against those three men. I was so afraid that you were going to get yourself killed that I thought I was going to faint.”

  “Don't get me wrong. I don’t disapprove of you helping that old couple out of the mess. I didn’t even disapprove of your methods. Lord knows you knew what you were doing.” She paused for a moment and looked down at the table.

  “What's really bothering you then?” Jim prompted the red haired woman.

  Margaret gathered her thoughts for a moment more then she said. “I noticed that every time you were hurting those men, you were also smiling. Did you enjoy hurting them?”

  Finally, Jim began to understand something of what was bothering her. “I see what you mean now,” he said. “To answer your question, no, I don't enjoy hurting people. I can’t explain my combat smile to you. I don’t even understand it myself. Nevertheless, I have had it for as long as I can remember. It used to unnerve my sparring partners. Since it gave me an edge, I saw no reason to break the habit.”

  Margaret looked at Jim with uncertainty written all over her face. Jim sighed and said, “You don't believe me. Well that’s OK. You still don’t know me very well, so you don’t have much reason to trust me. I won’t hold that against you. I should tell you though that I don’t feel the slightest bit of guilt about what I did to those men. They would have killed that old couple in a heartbeat if they had thought it profitable to do so. They would have killed me for interfering if they could. I actually let them off easy. I really should have killed all three.”

  This shocked Margaret to the core of her being. It was as if he had slapped her face. She exclaimed, “You can't mean that! You couldn't be that ruthless!”

  “That's where you're wrong. I could be, and probably will be in the years to come. You had best look around you. Our country is falling apart. In a couple of months there won't be any law except the law a man can enforce himself.”

  “What makes you think that?” asked Margaret with anger budding in her heart.

  “Isn't it obvious? For the love of god, woman, I just shot and killed a man outside my house. The police took two hours to get here, and when they left, I didn’t leave with them. Doesn't that tell you something?” he asked in exasperation.

  “Should it?” she asked.

  “Of course it should, because it means that the police aren't even bothering to arrest people for manslaughter now. Of course, it was justified. Yes, it was self-defense. Still, it tells me that the police are only arresting people for the most heinous of crimes.”

  He could tell from the expression on her face that she still didn’t understand. He said, “The cop mentioned several crimes that had a high priority. They were murder, rape, assaults and burglaries.”

  “Yes, I remember that,” she replied.

  ”In his own way, the cop was telling us that those are the only crimes they have the time to investigate.”

  ”I see your point, but that still doesn't tell me why you feel that in a couple of months there will be no law and order.”

  “The disasters aren't over yet. Let a few more hit in this area and there won’t even be a police department. What do you think will happen then?”

  “I honestly don't know.” Margaret looked down at the table once more refusing to meet his eyes when she continued; “I do know that I was falling in love with you. Now that I have seen your darker side, I know that I could never love you, Jim.”

  He was stunned by this revelation and said nothing to defend himself. She continued. “I have to believe what I’ve seen with my own eyes, and a few hours ago I saw you cripple three men and you were smiling the whole time you were doing it.”

  “I explained that already,” he said in irritation.

  “Yes, I know you explained it. My point is that maybe you don’t consciously realize that you enjoy hurting other men. It may just be subconscious.”

  “Look, Margaret,” said Jim in exasperation, “I'm not some nut case that enjoys hacking people up if that's what you're trying to say and to be quite frank, I resent the accusation.”

  She looked down at the table. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She said, “It's been nice, but I think I'd better go now.”

  She stood up to leave and Jim said, “I'll take you home if you want me to, but I wish you'd try to understand. I’m really not a monster. I’m just a man who understands what survival is all about. I know that in the times to come I’ll have to rely on my skills to keep me alive. There's nothing more to it than that.”

  She said, “I walked over here so I’m perfectly capable of walking home.” She walked out the door and quietly closed it behind her as she left.

  Jim stood at the door and watched her walk away. Then a disturbing thought occurred to him. He waited until she was well down the street before leaving and then he unobtrusively followed her.

  Jim was not angry with Margaret but
he was confused by her attitude. He couldn’t understand what was bothering her and was sure that she was using this morning’s violence as an excuse to pick a fight.

  Sudden motion from an alley snapped Jim's attention from his thoughts.

  ***

  Margaret was angry but she was not angry with Jim. She was angry with herself. She knew it had been unfair to accuse Jim of enjoying the violence. To tell the truth she was only vaguely aware of her real reason for provoking an argument with him.

  A psychologist could have helped her to understand that she was afraid of a relationship with a man because of the way her marriage to Bob had ended. She had almost had a nervous breakdown when that had happened. The two days spent with Jim had brought her well down the road to recovery in some ways, but set her back in others. She was terribly afraid of a relationship with Jim and had pushed him away because of that fear.

  Margaret was not consciously aware of these facts. Her mind seemed to shield her from them. She had just felt compelled to say those things. Now, as she was walking past a deserted alley, she was considering going back to Jim's house and apologizing for her behavior. He certainly hadn’t deserved that kind of treatment and she knew it.

  Suddenly Margaret sensed movement and turned her head to face the alley. She saw four men rushing at her from that alley. She recognized two of the men as the same men Jim had fought outside his house that morning. They both had their right arms bandaged up and were leering at her with undisguised lust.

  Margaret screamed and tried to run, but the two uninjured men quickly grabbed her and dragged her into the alley. For the terrified woman, time seemed to stand still. She could feel the rough hands of her assailants as they bruised her arms. She could smell their stinking breath as they forced her to the ground. She could even smell the musky scent of their lust as they ripped at her clothes.

  One of the men leaned over her. “Tell your friend who did this,” he said, and then he slapped her face, hard.

  She cried out in pain as the blood flowed from her split lip. The four men laughed at her as she begged them to let her go.

  Then Margaret thought that something was wrong with her eyes. She thought she had just seen one of the men's head blow up and then she heard the sound of a gunshot.

  The three remaining men spun in the direction of the entrance to the alley and reached for the pistols at their sides.

  Margaret scrambled away from the men until she felt something hard and unyielding behind her. Unable to get any further away from the men who had attacked her, she stopped and curled her body into the fetal position and watched as the drama unfolded. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she witnessed the battle.

  ***

  Jim had seen the four men drag Margaret into the alley. He had recognized two of the men on sight, and silently cursed himself for letting them go this morning.

  He drew the Smith and Wesson from his holster and headed for the alley. He got there just as one of the men he’d previously fought slapped Margaret hard, splitting her lip and drawing blood.

  Anger welled up inside him as he witnessed the brutal act. He set the sights of his pistol on the back of one man's head as the four marauders laughed at Margaret's pitiful cries for mercy. He gently squeezed the trigger and the nine-millimeter hollow point entered the rear of the man's skull and exited the front just above his right eye.

  Jim swiveled the barrel of his pistol toward another of the marauders. He fired two shots into his opponent's chest. He had the satisfaction of seeing the marauder go down with two red holes over the heart. Then he executed a roll and came up with his pistol pointed in the direction of the two remaining marauders.

  Bullets from the marauders return fire tore up the asphalt beside Jim. A piece of asphalt struck Jim in the forehead, directly over his left eye. The wound bled profusely and immediately blurred his vision.

  Jim was afraid to fire at the remaining marauders because he knew Margaret was somewhere behind them. He executed a double side roll to the right, and then he immediately followed that up with a forward roll. As Jim was rolling, he closed his left eye. During his next four shots, he would just have to keep that eye closed. By doing so, he could have clear vision through his right eye.

  As Jim came out of his forward roll, he was aware of the bullets flying all around him. Using the forward momentum generated by his roll, he went into the prone position and was relieved when he saw Margaret. He had been guessing as to what maneuver he needed to execute to bring him into a position that would leave her clear of his field of fire. Luckily, he had guessed correctly.

  Jim fired four rounds from his pistol with only a slight pause between the second and third shots. He saw the remaining two marauders go down.

  It was finally over. Jim slowly got to his feet and checked on the marauders, one at a time to ensure that they were indeed dead. Satisfied that they were no longer a threat, he turned to check on Margaret.

  When he got to her side, she was almost hysterical. Tears rolled unchecked down her face and she seemed to be gasping for air.

  Jim reached down to help her up just as he heard the distant sounds of sirens. When his hand touched her arm, she pulled away whimpering and said, “Please leave me alone. Please don't hit me again.”

  Looking at the livid bruise on her face, Jim said, “Margaret, everything is ok, it's me, Jim. Those men won't hurt you again.”

  Margaret looked at Jim. For the first time she seemed to see him. With his help, she climbed shakily to her feet.

  Again, the sound of sirens came to Jim's attention and this time they were much closer. He reached out his free hand to steady Margaret as she swayed on her feet. She looked at him then. Looked him in the eyes and finally truly realized who he was. She came into his arms then and said, “I was so scared; they were like animals.”

  Jim stroked the back of her head as he held her and said, “You’re ok, I’m here now and I won't let anyone hurt you again.”

  The sirens were blaring now and Jim knew that he had only moments to speak to her before the police arrived. He was under no illusions that he wouldn’t go to jail for the shootings this time. There were four dead bodies in the alley with him. He knew this time the police were sure to arrest him.

  He held Margaret tighter and tried to snap her out of the state of near shock.

  “Maybe now you understand what I was trying to tell you earlier.”

  She looked up at him confused for a moment. Then she realized what he meant and she looked down at the ground. Her cheeks turned a light shade of red in embarrassment. Finally, she said, “Yes, I said some stupid things this morning. I didn’t mean them. I was just afraid of being hurt by you, the way I was hurt by my husband. I'm so sorry.”

  Jim tilted her head back and looked into her eyes. He was relieved to see the vacant look gone. He brushed a strand of her hair away from her face and said, “I know.”

  Seeing the blood on his face for the first time she said, “Oh, my goodness, you're hurt.”

  He wrapped his arms around her waist then and pulled her close. “It will heal,” he said simply, then kissed her passionately. She returned the kiss and for a moment they were both lost in their own world.

  Jim was brought back to reality by the sound of a police officer's voice as he yelled, “Freeze!” He looked away from Margaret's face and slowly raised his hands over his head as he saw several police officers pointing their weapons at him.

  Chapter 8

  Jim knew he was in real trouble. He was guilty of killing five men in one day. The police were not very understanding about it. They were beginning to believe that he was becoming a vigilante. He explained to the officer in charge of the investigation that it had been a matter of defending Margaret and his actions had been necessary.

  Ben Richards had been with the Athens police department for ten years. During this time, there had never been five killings in a year. Now he had to deal with five in one day, all of which were carried out by the same
man, who had not even needed to reload his pistol to do it.

  Ben rubbed his forehead and looked up from the arrest report sitting on the table in front of him. He looked at Jim sitting across the table from him and noticed that he was still handcuffed to the leg of the massive oak table. He got up and walked around the table then squatted next to Jim and said, “I believe that you're telling us the truth about what happened in the alley. Mrs. Reese has corroborated your story, so you will probably be out of here in a couple of hours.”

  Jim nodded his head and said, “I am telling the truth about what happened and I'm glad you believe me.”

  Ben took a small key from his jacket pocket and unlocked the handcuffs. “Normally you would have to remain in custody until we had more information about what had occurred in the alley. In this case, I think we already have all the information we are likely to get. The men you killed were from Indiana. I assume they were refugees. They’ve been causing problems lately and were wanted for suspicion of several crimes in the area.”

  Ben walked over to his chair and plopped down wearily. He said, “Several of the arresting officers said that you surrendered without giving them any trouble. I believe that if you were a psychopath, you would have resisted arrest. But several of the men have the impression that you are a self-styled vigilante. You understand we can’t have private citizens going around killing the bad people. That’s still against the law.”

  “Believe me, I have no interest in going around doing police work. I only defend people who are in no position or condition to defend themselves,” said Jim.

  Jim looked at the police lieutenant sitting across the table from him and made a decision. He said, “I'll tell you one thing that is really the truth. As long as people don’t bother me, I won’t bother them. If I see someone beating and robbing an elderly couple, I feel compelled to do something about it. If I see someone beating and attempting to rape a woman, I feel compelled to do something about that as well. That kind of behavior bothers me.”