Merry's Marauders (Book #2 ~ Scenic Route to Paradise, refreshed 2016 edition)

by Andrea Aarons

  It was open.

  Mac checked his 9mm again. He cracked the door an inch or more and saw Junior standing a few feet inside. There was a camping lantern hanging overhead, lighting the room quite well. Junior was talking to a young man who Mac guessed to be no more than 20 years old. He was dressed gangster style in a plaid shirt. He was swaying on his feet as Junior talked but the music drowned out any words that Mac might have heard being so close to them. Another man on the heavy side was seated at a table with his head bowed to the table top. He was passed out but Mac noted the bulge under his shirt that was definitely a gun, Mac decided.

  After a minute or more, Junior was closer to Mac but his back was turned to him.

  Mac stepped away from the door and looked around. He spotted a mop thrown down in the dirt. Looking in the kitchen door again which was open not more than two inches, Mac poked Junior on the back of the leg with the mop handle. After the third prod, Junior turned around to face his assailant, thinking it was the house Chihuahua. Initially, Junior didn’t spot Mac but when he did, his lips lifted in a smile. Junior closed the door from the inside and Mac hid himself to see what the little fellow would do.

  A moment later, Junior came around from the back of the house. Mac grabbed him as he walk past the crumbling brick barbeque pit, and covered the boy’s mouth.

  “Where is she?” Mac growled. He eased up on Junior’s face so he could speak. Junior sucked air and then cursed.

  “Mac, you scared me! Merry? She’s inside and so is Angel. I didn’t know Merry was behind me, following but I’ll tell you that later,” he whispered although the music was loud enough to cover their voices. “She was roofied. They slipped her a mickey... you know a drug.” At his words, Mac stood up from his concealment. He would have run and kicked the kitchen door down, if Junior hadn’t of grabbed at him and yelled. “Wait... Listen! Everyone is wasted in there, even Angel.”

  Mac stood in full moonlight. If there had been a vigilant guard that night, he would have been an easy target. Standing, he waited for Junior to finish. Lenny was watching them from the roof.

  “Mac these guys are tough and they all pack... all of them have guns but they are really gone tonight. They’re wasted. Even the guys out front. If you go through the kitchen, it opens straight into the living room. There’s only three maybe four people in there. There are homies in the bedrooms so forget about Angel... at least tonight. She told me she wouldn’t come with me... not tonight,” Junior explained with a sad smile.

  In the gloom, he could see Mac’s impatience. “Okay, so Merry is on the couch. She is not knocked out like some of the others but she’s close. The guy with her is evil. They call him Snake and you wouldn’t be the first person he beat and shot for a lot less than a woman, but he’s wasted,” Junior said with a shrug. He looked around. There wasn’t anyone in sight and he didn’t see Lenny on the roof.

  Licking his lips, Junior said, “Mac, I can see you know what you’re doing but my suggestion is go in through the kitchen walked straight through and just pick her up and carry her out. If Snake tries to stop you shoot him if you have to but when one weapon goes off, they all go off. It could be a bloodbath. I wouldn’t suggest firing your hammer in there unless it’s your last resort.”

  Mac was in a hurry but he couldn’t help admiring the young guy’s keen eye. Still, he wanted to wring Junior’s neck. Mac said, “Lenny is on the roof. We’re going to need a diversion. I’ll bring Merry out here and over the back wall. Lenny will help me. Your job is to divert their attention if need be, away from the back wall but also away from the arroyo. Patsy is down there waiting for us.” Mac didn’t wait for a response. He walked toward the kitchen door, motioning for Lenny to meet him at the back wall.

  Opening the kitchen door slowly, Mac took in the scene. The man at the table remained where Mac had seen him last, with his face lying in filth. Junior’s chatting partner was now sitting on the floor with an empty bowl between his legs. Mac wasn’t sure what he was doing but when the fellow looked up, he just gave Mac a nod. Mac passed them and went into the living room.

  The house reeked of stale alcohol, cigarettes and urine. The living room had a lantern too but the lighting was much more diluted by the larger room. At the open front door, people could be seen outside. Without slowing, Mac saw a woman... a girl and a guy standing on the sidewalk. They looked to be arguing. Another, larger figure sat on the front stair his back to the doorway... The lump at his belt-line Mac knew to be a pistol.

  At a glance, Mac took in the living room. Two people on the floor, probably passed out from partying and one big bald guy on the couch, tattooed, shirtless and wearing leopard patterned flannel boxers. And then, there was Merry. She was the only movement in the room. Although the night was cool, her hoody jacket was gone and she wore an oversized T-shirt. Sitting on the worn sofa next to the large guy, a single cowboy boot lay in her lap. She seemed to be examining the boot but the other was on her foot.

  Mac rushed over to her. She looked up at him and smiled but there was no recognition on her face. She looked down at her boot again, thrusting her hand inside.

  Mac was furious.

  He stepped over her and poked the huge, bald couch potato laid out next to her. Merry’s attention to her boot was drawn away by Mac’s actions. Eyes wide, she shouted. “Hey Mister! Don’t fool with that guy! He is mean, mean, mean!” The music paused between songs and her final words amplified through the room as she rubbed her arms. Mac couldn’t see in the dim lighting but he was sure her arms and neck were bruised.

  Prodding the man a second time - much more violently, the guy opened his eyes only to close them again when Mac brought his fist down into the oily face with as much force as he could muster. Merry watching, frowned at Mac. The music started up again. She began digging around in her boot even as Mac scooped her off the couch and carried her by the front door, closing it with his foot as he passed.

  Merry began talking but the only words Mac heard over the music was, “Not again!”

  Going through the kitchen door, he then came around the corner of the house heading for the apricot tree. Mac handed her off to Lenny and then climbed up and over before taking her again on the other side.

  Merry talked incessantly until finally, Mac told her to be quiet. She muttered under her breath, “Rude!” but went silent still clinging to her cowboy boot.

  Mac decided to leave Lenny to oversee getting Patsy back home and possibly Junior if he showed up. Mac set Merry down next to Patsy as he went through his bag. Patsy tried to talk to Merry but she remained silent as ordered except for a periodic giggle.

  “Weeeh coco,” Patsy commented as Mac wrapped Merry in a dark velour blanket, before picking her up and setting off for the Hacienda.

  “This is cozy,” Merry said several minutes after they separated from the others, having forgotten her mental vow of silence. Mac just looked down and then up again to keep his pace and footing.

  “Hmm, where am I going?” She asked him after a moment.

  Without looking down, he answered, “You’re going home.”

  “Oh! Is it my time already? Well, that was fast! First hell and now heaven...” she giggled as she said this. Mac didn’t like the insinuation but he said nothing.

  So Merry said, “Do angels always punch the bad guy before they take someone home to heaven?”

  What? Mac processed her words and then said definitively, “Always!”

  Sighing, Merry snuggled into his chest and closed her eyes at these comforting words. After another moment, she said, “Well, then hurry up.”

  Mac smiled in spite of himself. He asked, “You are in a big hurry to get away from this place! Is life here so bad?”

  Merry’s eyes shot open. “Where have you been? Haven’t you seen all the horrible things happening? I thought you guys could see everything... It has been really terrible for a long time but lately it got even worse. Wars and rumors of wars, famine, earthquakes all the stuff. You know!”
>
  Mac dodged into a shallow incline on the trail he was on. Squatting down with Merry next to him, he hushed her as he watched the night. He heard voices.

  Merry asked, “What? Why did you stop?”

  Mac put his mouth up to her ear saying, “You must be very quiet.”

  She said none too quietly, “Why?”

  He put his hand over her mouth and spoke again into her ear, “Remember, we are in a battle. Good versus evil and we must not let evil win.” She nodded her head and he let go.

  After ten minutes or so he picked her up again. He was sure she was sleeping until she said suddenly, “All this flying around has made me seasick. I hope I don’t throw up!” Mac slowed his pace and looked for a spot that wouldn’t be in the open, to rest a minute.

  Merry said, “You remind me of someone.”

  Mac spotted a group of tallish Piñon trees and he thought they might take a quick break under these. Absently, Mac responded with, “Yes and who might that be?”

  “He’s the cute guy from that tiny little nation... Hmmm, I can’t remember. I suppose Jesus will be coming soon and dividing the nations into the sheep and the goats. I sure hope ‘ol Mac from.... um, from somewhere doesn’t end up with the goats.”

  Linking humans with goats in any capacity was extremely offensive in D’Almata culture. Mac looked suspiciously at his bundle.

  Merry said, “Why don’t you leave me here and go find out if he is going to be okay. I’m worried about it him.”

  Mac bent under the branches and set Merry on the ground before climbing underneath and sitting next to her. The day had been warm but now at 3am there was a chilly breeze. Merry cinched the blanket up under her chin. “Get going.... Huh, please,” she said hoping she sounded firm but polite.

  Mac remembered her words before he had put her down and so he replied, “Oh, don’t be worried about him. He is doing okay - like you Americans say.”

  Merry giggled. “You sound just like him! Well, I was worried... It could go very bad for him. He really needs to get right with God.”

  Merry put her head on Mac’s shoulder and fell asleep. Mac was increasingly mystified by young Merry. She seemed so smart and capable at times but then so ridiculously naive and illogical at other times. She wasn’t at all like the women from his country - not even in looks. When he overheard Patsy suggesting Sarah as a war bride, Mac had thought it an excellent suggestion. Plump, Sarah was more like the D’Almatan women, the wealthier ones. Also, Sarah was very smart and Mac admired her nursing knowledge.

  Mac reverted to Merry again when he realized it was his duty to bring her to her mother, Toni on D’Almata. It had been and continued to be a practical choice.

  Mac had thought to ask Merry how very bad could it really go? Life was busy dishing out some severe troubles right now. Of course, he knew it could get worse. Mac had seen and experienced worse. Even so, he knew Merry was speaking of eternal ramifications.

  He wouldn’t wake her, he decided as he shifted to look into her face. A glimmering streak from a bright moon fell across an eye, her nose and mouth. A strong evergreen fragrance was mixed with the smoky smell from her hair.

  The previous day, when Mac had heard that everybody at the house knew he was not going north with them, he had gone to explain his plans to Merry. Junior was in her room and they were in deep discussion of which Mac did not want to interrupt but he had remained in the hallway, listening.

  Mac was both fascinated and irritated by Merry’s simple prescription for salvation. He had never quite understood the spiritual condition and the need of mankind for a savior until he heard her telling Junior.

  As Mac rested his head against the rough bark, he replayed her words to Junior and their prayer... Mac got it! Finally, Mac realized that his good works and his historical and honorable culture were not what it took to stand right and righteous before the Great God of the Universe. Merry’s mother had tried to explain this once to him some months back he remembered but he was politely dismissive with her.

  Sitting under a Piñon tree, with Merry’s hair, smelling like stale smoke under his nose, Mac trembled in fear of God.

  What have I been thinking? His life and cavalier ways were blatantly opposite to a life of humility and gratitude to God who had made such a costly plan at His own expense for Mac’s soul.

  Merry stirred dreaming of heaven, as Mac whispered his words of repentance and of faith in Jesus’ cross and of his acknowledgment of the empty tomb.

  Chapter 18 One Day

  Patsy, Junior and Lenny came over the wall at sun up. Only Junior had any physical reserve left to stay awake and tell the others what had happened.

  Mrs. Oritz had gotten up earlier to start breakfast. Finding the generator was on, she knew Mac was in the shower. “He must have gone straight to bed afterward because he never came out to tell me what happened. I peeked in on Sarah and Merry... both were asleep in their beds up front. So what happened, Junior?” she asked. Tina, Connie and Nikki were filling plates for breakfast as Nikki was due to take the morning watch from the other two who had left the roof vacant, coming down early to hear Junior’s tale.

  “Well, we’re leaving tomorrow and I’m not going without Angel!” he began defensively.

  “Right, smart butt. You’ve been telling us that for weeks. So what happened? Did you find Angel? Mac went out of here last night ready to knock your block into next week,” Nikki said impatiently. She had to go up top but didn’t want to miss anything.

  Junior began his telling. He brought them abreast of when he and Mac spoke outside the druggie’s kitchen door. “So yeah, I told him how to go about it and know what? Mac took my advice!”

  Nikki had climbed up the ladder and sat near the top rungs with the skylight open as she ate and listened. She threw the dishtowel she had under her plate at Junior. “Quit bragging and finish the story!” she said.

  “Ask him, then,” he responded, knocking the dirty towel from his shoulder where it landed after deflecting off his head. “Anyway, go on up and quit ditching your watch. You’re gonna miss the best part.”

  Junior began to animate Mac’s actions. He said, “So Mac goes through the kitchen and I’m watching him but he just strolls, la-addy-da right past Snake’s little brother. Well... he was passed out but the other guy wasn’t. So, he was going into the livingroom and I followed him through the kitchen.”

  “Merry was on the couch like I told Mac but she wasn’t passed out. Snake put something in her drink and she had some of it but then I switched their cups.” Junior laughed and added, “Snake ended up drinking Merry’s!”

  Junior seeing Merry’s boot laying under the table, reached down and picked it up. “Anyways, she’s on the couch playing with her cowboy boot and Mac goes over to her and she ignores him. The boot was more interesting I guess!”

  Junior was looking at the boot trying to mimic Merry. Then imitating Mac, Junior says, “He reaches out to Snake, shoving him to wake up. Well, Merry starts yelling for Mac to stop because she doesn’t want anymore trouble from that bully but Mac slaps him and Snake woke up!”

  Mrs. Ortiz said in her high raspy voice, “Oh my... no, no no!” When Junior paused as the others turned to look at her, Mrs. Ortiz added, “Well, go on if you must and tell us what happened next.”

  He nodded and said, “So, Snake seeing Mac starts to get up and boom! Mac knocks his nose through the couch. Blood went everywhere. It was a decent punch and Snake is probably still out.” Junior demonstrated this last piece of information by tossing the boot aside and slamming his fist into his hand.

  Junior went out the front door just before Mac kicked it shut and walked past the beefy watch sitting on the front stoop. Junior kept walking, heading left and away from Mac and Merry and the cross street that ran over the arroyo but only a few minutes proved that no one was the wiser. Junior doubled back to find Lenny and Patsy preparing to return to the Hacienda. It was slow going with Auntie Patsy, Junior conveyed “but that was all right.
” Lenny and Junior helped her and they “stopped plenty so she could rest.” He informed the listeners.

  Later in the day when Tino and Jack showed up with the other truck, Mac got up. Tom Biggs told Mac that the newcomers had said they were suppose to take the old Ortiz pick-up back to the salvage yard but he wanted to clear it with him.

  Emily Ortiz made a fresh pot of coffee although it was already one in the afternoon. Mac, Tom, Tino and Jack sat at the kitchen table finishing the breakfast made hours earlier. In spite of the chaotic night, Tom couldn’t but notice that Mac seemed none the worse and even, jovial.

  Tino and Jack were to leave the bigger truck so it could be loaded for tomorrow. They would take the other one to be overhauled with some spare parts included for future use, from the junkyard. Tomorrow about noon they needed to return with the Ortiz truck and the four-wheel drive vehicle so both could be loaded. Mac would be taking the smaller four-wheel drive.

  “Pack your stuff and bring it when you come. There will be no dawdling after sunset,” Mac told them as they pulled away from the two-story across the street.

  Tom commented to Mac that the rescue must have gone fairly well as both Merry and Junior were back at the Hacienda.

  Mac held out his right hand. It was swollen and two knuckles were split. “I’ve killed before but I’ve never wanted to... Tom, last night I could have killed that slimy reptile. If he hadn’t been so out-of-it on drugs, I think I probably would have,” he said as they crossed the street. “I truly thank God I didn’t. I’ll leave him to God.” Mac shuddered.

  Tom wasn’t sure what Mac was referring to but he thought Emily would know so he would ask her later. “Well, they’re back now and we can get them out of here before they get themselves into anymore trouble,” Tom reassured Mac.

  Mac wasn’t so positive. He wondered if Snake would make the connection of Junior, Angel and Merry’s rescuer. He thought of asking Tino about if and when Snake might retaliate but Mac decided against disclosing any unnecessary information. Mac didn’t want to cause any last minute worries for the household.