by Jana DeLeon
Joe shoved his gun in his holster and ran to the dock, leaving Stella yelling behind him. "Wait a damn minute, Joe," she cried as she hurried behind him.
"What?" Joe asked as he yanked the tie line for his boat off the pylon.
"Take my airboat," Stella said and tossed him the keys. "You can cut straight across the marsh and get there faster."
Joe snagged the keys and jumped into the airboat. "Thanks, Stella," he yelled as he backed away from the pier.
Stella waved and yelled back, "You go get our girl, Joe. Don't let anything happen to Dorie."
Joe had just swung the boat around and was about to lay down the throttle when he heard the explosion, and the radio went silent.
"Shit, shit, shit!" he cried and pushed the throttle as far as it would go, racing away from the dock. Once he had leveled out, he yanked his cell phone from his pocket and called the Lake Charles police. He quickly relayed the situation to the dispatcher and ordered him to have that backup haul ass. An officer was down.
Even as he said it, he hoped against hope that it wasn't true, but whatever was happening out in the marsh didn't sound good.
The blast from the explosion threw Dorie and Richard onto the ground a good twenty feet from the bank. Thank God the flares were still going, Dorie thought as she looked around. The alligators had scattered after the explosion, but it wouldn't be long before they were back. Remaining on the ground, she searched the brush in the direction the shots had come from. "This doesn't make sense," she whispered. "There's no channel back there. Whoever is shooting is on foot."
"That's not possible," Richard said, staring at her as if she'd lost her mind.
The answer washed over her, quick and painful. "Maybe my dad wasn't talking about his friend betraying him," she whispered. "Maybe he was talking about mine."
"None of your friends are foolish enough to walk into the game preserve," Richard argued.
"They are if they can talk to alligators."
Joe had just entered the preserve when he heard shouting. Scanning the marsh, he saw Maylene Thibodeaux wading through several feet of water and waving frantically at him. What the hell is going on now? He couldn't think of a single reason in the world why Maylene would haul her large frame through the marsh, toting a sawed-off 12-guage, but he wasn't about to ask. He barely cut his speed and yelled, "I don't have time, Maylene. It will have to wait."
"Boy, you better pick me up," Maylene yelled back. "I'm ass-deep in gators out here and not in the mood."
Joe cursed and drew alongside Maylene. She rolled over the side of the boat and Joe sped off into the game preserve. "I have to tell you, Maylene," he said once she had righted herself. "Someone is shooting at Dorie and Richard, and there was an explosion. It's not safe for you to be here."
"Is that what all the racket is about?" Maylene asked. "I've just about had it with all the goings-on around here. You go on and do your job, Joe Miller. I'll just ride shotgun and help you out."
Apparently, Maylene meant that literally, because she took a position in the raised seat located right in the middle of the boat, shotgun cocked and ready. The seat strained in protest, and Joe hoped to God it held until they found Dorie and Richard.
"You're even smarter than I thought, Dorie," Curtis said as he stepped out of the brush and into the clearing. He raised his left hand and signaled, and the alligators moved quickly away from him. "But then all them brains has got you into a load of trouble."
"Curtis," Dorie said, her voice choked. "Please tell me this isn't true."
Curtis slowly shook his head. "Sorry, Dorie. Things weren't supposed to go this way. I ain't got any beef with you, personally, but you kept sticking your nose in my business. Just one more day and I'd have been gone with my money. Why couldn't you just leave it alone?"
"You know why."
Curtis gave her a small laugh. "Yeah. High and mighty. Dorie Berenger and her dad. Gator Bait's pride and joy, protecting everyone from the bad guys." He stared down at her. "'Course, I'm sure you know now that dear ole dad wasn't the righteous man he claimed to be. If only you could've followed suit."
"I don't agree with what my dad did," she said.
"I reckon not," Curtis said and sighed. "You really are different than most, Dorie. It's a shame you couldn't take a warning and back off. I didn't want to kill you, but now I ain't got no choice. Roland doesn't like loose ends."
She stared at the man she thought was her friend and felt her stomach turn. "How could you?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"How could I?" Curtis replied, his voice rising in both volume and range. "How could I? You, of all people, should get it. You're trapped in Gator Bait too. You really think I wanna spend the rest of my life in this hellhole?"
"No one's stopping you from leaving."
Curtis laughed. "These critters are what's stopping me from leaving. I can't talk to 'em anywhere else. You know that. I make my money from killing my family." He waved one arm toward the alligators moving restlessly around them.
"I go on a two-month bender every year after hunting season," he continued. "And I can't do it anymore. Now, I don't have to. Roland offered me more money than I'd make in two lifetimes. I can disappear and go someplace where I never have to see a gator again."
"You can still do the right thing," Dorie said. "You know I care about these animals. There aren't many who do. What will happen to them if I'm gone?"
Curtis paused for a moment. "It's a shame, but I ain't got no options. You should've stayed away." He lifted his gun and pointed it at her, his finger tightening on the trigger. "I'm really sorry."
"I've known you my entire life, Curtis," Dorie said, desperately hoping to stop his whitening finger. "The least you could do is give me a moment to say my piece. The outcome is the same anyway."
Curtis stared at her for a moment, his eyes wild, and Dorie knew she couldn't reason with him. The best she could hope for was to stall for time. Surely Joe had heard the gunshots and was on his way. It was the only chance she and Richard had, and she intended to make full use of it.
"I s'pose you're right," Curtis said finally. "Go ahead and say what you want. I've got a little time before I meet up with Roland, and I guess I do owe you something." He grinned down at them. "After all, if your daddy hadn't hidden all the evidence of Roland the first time, I'd never had gotten the deal now."
Dorie bit her lip to hold back the words she wanted to say to Curtis. Those words would only get them shot sooner, and time was everything. She looked over at Richard who stared back at her, uncertainty written all over his face. "I love you, Richard Starke," she said.
Richard's face went to dumbfounded, then incredulous, and Dorie knew he thought she was as crazy as Curtis, taking a time like this to profess her love when there was a gun pointed at her head. "You challenged me in ways that no one else could," she continued, "and you didn't treat me like a helpless female. The bond I felt with you is like no other I've ever experienced and I just wanted you to know that.”
Richard continued to stare, casting furtive glances at Curtis.
“If only we'd only had more time," Dorie said and stressed the word "time" while cutting her eyes back to Curtis. "You and I could have been great together-just like those superhero cartoons from when we were kids. You know, racing in to save the day and making those last-minute escapes while leaving everyone on the edge of their seats. But without tights. We wouldn't wear tights."
Good Lord, I'm rambling. Get control. She took a deep breath and looked Richard hard in the eyes, willing him to catch on to her plan to draw out the moment in time for Joe to get there.
Richard stared at her, incredulous. "If only we had more time," she repeated, stressing her words again.
It only took a second for his expression to clear in understanding, and he reached over and placed his hand on hers. “We were already great together, and there's not a superhero in the world who could match you. You're the woman I always dreamed of, Dorie Berenger. I
just didn't know it until now.”
Dorie squeezed his hand and gave him a small smile. She was just about to speak when Curtis interrupted.
"Jesus Christ, are you two done yet?" he griped. "This is worse than one of those God-awful soap operas. I was feeling bad about killing you, but I'm gonna be doing the world a favor."
"Just one more minute," Dorie pleaded. "I only have a bit more."
Curtis shook his head. "No way. I'm done with this. You can talk again on the other side. Capes and masks are optional." He directed the gun straight at her head and his finger whitened on the trigger.
Dorie dosed her eyes and waited for the pain she knew was coming. She felt Richard's hand squeezing hers and instantly regretted everything in her life that she would never do. Forgive me for all of my sins, Lord, she thought as her body tensed, waiting for the shot. And when it came, she almost collapsed from fear, waiting for her brain to process the injury.
Instead, Curtis began screaming in pain. They jerked their heads from the ground and saw Curtis clenching what was left of his right hand. An airboat burst into the game preserve, Joe driving and Maylene Thibodeaux perched on the high seat aiming her shotgun directly at Curtis.
Joe cut his speed on the boat to avoid full-out contact with the land, and Maylene pitched forward into the bottom of the boat and shot off her own hat.
Curtis stopped screaming and Dorie turned back to look at him. He was staring at her, his eyes cold and blank. "I'm taking you with me," he said and lifted his left hand in the air, signaling the alligators to close in.
Before he could even think about reaching for his gun, a shot rang out, deafening Richard with its blast. He turned and saw Dorie staring at Curtis, gun drawn and her expression grim. He looked back at Curtis and realized her shot was the most deadly possible. Curtis's only hand left was badly wounded. He had lost his method of communication with the beasts circling them.
With the blast from the gun, the alligators had backed away several feet and now all heads turned to Curtis, waiting for the signal that would never come. Curtis stared in horror down at the alligators just inches away from him. "No," he screamed as they began to rise up on their legs, the scent of blood already drawing them to him.
Richard leapt up from the ground, pulling Dorie with him with one hand and grabbing one of the remaining duffle bags with the other. Dorie hesitated only a moment, her gaze still locked on Curtis, before grabbing the remaining bags and rushing for the boat.
Joe had already reversed the engines and was starting to back away from the island of alligators as Dorie and Richard flung the duffle bags into the boat, narrowly missing Maylene, who was still face-down in the bottom, apparently trying to roll herself over. They leapt in beside the duffle bags and grabbed onto the sides of the boat, which lurched violently as Joe tore away from the bank.
As soon as they were a safe distance from the bank, Dorie buried her head in Richard's chest and covered her ears. Richard looked away from the disturbing sight on the small piece of land behind them and tightened his grip around her as he tried to block out the sounds of tearing flesh and breaking bones that even the noise of the boat couldn't drown out.
Joe focused straight ahead, never looking back, his jaw set and his eyes still flashing with anger. When the boat leveled out on top of the water, Maylene retrieved what was left of her hat and struggled to right herself in the bottom of the boat, using the shotgun for leverage. Richard hoped she was out of bullets.
Finally back in a sitting position, Maylene looked around the boat at everyone and glared.
"Would anyone like to tell me what in damnation is going on?" she asked. "And who the hell is the guy I've got locked in my kitchen pantry?"
Dorie stared at Maylene, not believing what she just heard. "You have a man locked in your pantry?"
Maylene nodded. "Came around earlier. Talking all nice and stuff, but he couldn't fool me. I knew he was up to something. As soon as I opened the door wide enough to invite him in, he pulled out a gun. Almost got me, too, but I was holding a jug of my special and clocked him a good one."
"What time was this?" Dorie asked, unable to keep the excitement from her voice.
"About an hour ago. I figured anyone pulling a gun on a defenseless woman that way was up to no good. It's not like I'd turn down any reasonable offer," she said indignantly. "But forcing a woman in her own home just isn't my idea of a fun romp, regardless of those damned role-playing games people are into nowadays. So I figured I'd teach him a bit of manners."
She smiled gleefully.
"And you locked him in your closet?" Dorie asked.
"Yep. Hog-tied him up and dumped him in the pantry. It's real solid, that wall. All wood, no Sheetrock at all. Then I locked him in. That's where I keep the good stuff, see. It's got excellent locks."
Richard and Joe grinned at Dorie and she knew they were all thinking the same thing. There was a huge possibility that Roland was locked in Maylene Thibodeaux's pantry. Joe increased his speed and veered off to the right, headed as close as possible to Maylene's house.
"Then I go outside," Maylene continued to rant, and I decide to take a look around his truck, since I was suspicious and all. And what the hell do you think I found in a bag in the back?"
"Drugs?" Dorie said.
"Money?" Joe threw in.
Maylene shook her head. "Hell, no. I found Buster Comeaux all trussed up like a Christmas turkey, barely breathing at all. Just as I stalked back into the house and called 911, a delivery truck went racing by my house, and then I heard the explosion. Well, that was it for me. I got my gun, jumped in the truck and headed down the road to the marsh. I don't have the patience for this much activity. Damn it, that's private property. I was trying to track down the source of the explosion when Joe picked me up."
Joe pointed to the edge of the game preserve closest to Maylene's house. The delivery truck was still there, and Lake Charles police cars surrounded it. Dorie heard Joe give a sigh, apparently relieved that Lake Charles had made it on time. He forced the boat as far up on the bank as it would go and they jumped out and identified themselves to the officers on the scene.
Giving a hurried explanation of the situation in Maylene's pantry, they hopped into police cars with the Lake Charles cops, and raced up the road to Maylene's house. Taking several deep breaths, Dorie tried to calm her nerves. Don't get too excited. There's always the chance he could have gotten away. He's been doing this a long time. This is an expert you're dealing with.
Her heart was racing as they rushed into Maylene's kitchen and saw the locks securely in place on the pantry door. Maylene hustled into the room as only Maylene could and made everyone face the other way as she twirled the combination on the lock. When it clicked open, everyone spun around just in time to see Maylene swing open the pantry door and the thin, blond man inside fall out onto the floor, still passed out cold.
Shawn Roland, captured at last.
Dorie rushed into the hospital room and hugged her dad. He was awake now and sitting with Jenny, waiting for her to arrive. Not very patiently, based on the exhausted look on Jenny's face.
Joe had called from Maylene's and told the sheriff that everything was fine. Roland was in custody, and Richard had been sent to the hospital for his gunshot wound. He also explained that they'd had to call in help from the Lake Charles game warden and arrange for armed patrol in a wide circle around the breeding area in case any of the gators ingested what drugs had been left.
As soon as Dorie was done greeting her dad, Jenny rushed around the bed and hugged her, eyeing her from head to toe.
"Thank God you're all right," Jenny said. "Where's Joe?"
Before Dorie could answer, the man in question bolted into the room, picked Jenny up at the waist and twirled her around in a circle while kissing her senseless. When he'd run out of arm strength, or maybe air, he lowered her to the floor and received a round of cheers from Dorie and Sheriff Berenger.
Joe grinned at the startled
expression on Jenny's face. "Jenny Miller," he said, "will you do me the honor of being my date this Friday night for dinner and a movie?"
The smile on Jenny's face said it all as she replied, "l thought you'd never ask."
Joe let out a big whoop and threw his arm around Jenny's shoulders, pulling her close to him. Dorie took one look at their joyous faces and felt for the first time since leaving the breeding grounds that everything might turn out all right after all. Time would heal all the old hurts and hopefully the new ones, too.
"What about Richard and Buster?" Jenny asked.
"They're going to be fine," Dorie said. "Buster has a good bump on his head and is dehydrated, but no other injuries. Dick's wounds were superficial, the kind that look worse than they are. He's lucky Curtis wasn't a better shot-" She stopped for a moment, her composure lost after saying Curtis's name.
Her dad reached out and took her hand. "You don't have to tell us everything, honey. It's all right."
"Someday, maybe I'll be able to," she said and sniffed. Thinking of everything that had happened that day, she couldn't help the smile that finally came to her lips. "I can tell you about Maylene. And you're going to love it."
A little later, Dorie slipped quietly into Richard's room. His eyes were closed, but as she eased closer to the bed, they fluttered open. "Dorie," he said.
"You're just a little woozy from the drugs, but the doctors say you're going to be just fine. They were only surface wounds."
"Roland?"
Dorie couldn't stop the smile on her face. "Locked up in the Lake Charles jail. Your buddies in D.C. are already celebrating."
He gave her a hard look. "How are you doing with that?"
Dorie shrugged. "It doesn't matter really. Roland is nothing more than another criminal to me. It's unfortunate that we're related, but that's all it is - unfortunate. We're not family, and never could be."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely," she said and gave him a firm nod. "I was wondering, you know, how I would feel if I saw him face-to-face." She shook her head and laughed. "But then the moment came, and it was like the whole situation had been this massive buildup for nothing. I looked down at that man and didn't feel a thing except relief that he wasn't going to be free any longer."
