by John Locke
Jill has no idea who killed Darryl, but it had to be someone connected to Bobby.
Which means she’s no longer safe.
Not that she had much of a chance to live a quiet, happy life in the first place. Coming here without Jack instantly raised the sheriff’s suspicions. It took him less than a day to determine her ID was fake.
Sheriff Cox said the deputy’s going to be stationed up on the hill out front?
Perfect!
Because the last thing Jack mentioned about the secret room was the small trap door under the cot. You move the cot, lift the door, and drop six feet to the concrete floor of the storage shed. Then you slip out the metal door, run to the water, and swim the fuck out of here.
So she does.
Except that when she opens the storage shed door, she runs smack into Milly Reston, the snoopy lady who brought her the broccoli casserole.
“Jesus, Emma!” Milly says. “You scared me half to death!”
“Sorry.”
“The Sheriff’s been looking for you for more than an hour.”
“What a coincidence! I was just looking for him!”
“He thinks you ran away.”
“That’s silly. Where would I go? I need to tell him something amazing. Something I never would’ve found if not for you.”
“What?”
“Jack’s secret place.”
“Really? You found something?”
“You have no idea, Milly!”
“Tell me!”
“You’d have to see it to believe it.”
“Show me!”
Jill opens the door to the shed and points to the open trap door. “Jack has a secret room, filled with treasures and detailed information about half the people in town!”
“I’ve got to see it!”
“Well…”
“No. I’m serious. I have to see it. Can you give me a boost?”
“What about Sheriff Cox?”
“Fuck Sheriff Cox!”
Jill pretends to think it over. Then says, “Okay. I guess I can give you ten minutes before telling Sheriff Cox.”
“You’re a peach, Emma!”
Jill says, “There’s a light on the left wall, by the built-in ladder.”
She boosts Milly high enough to gain access to the secret room.
As Milly hoists herself up, Jill says, “Have fun snooping!”
“You know I will!” Milly says.
She closes the trap door, and Jill runs to the edge of the water, starts wading in…
…And hears a man whisper, “Jill! Over here!”
The man says his name’s Ryan Decker, and he’s the one who shot Darryl. He says, “Stay quiet, and I’ll get you out of here safely.”
“I’ll die before I let you take me back to Bobby!” Jill says.
She starts wading toward shore, but stops cold when Decker says, “I’m a friend of Jack’s.”
She turns toward him. “Where’s Jack? Why didn’t he come?”
Decker tells her to hang onto the side of the boat and be quiet, and he’ll take her across the lake.
Except that when they get a quarter mile from the house he tells her the truth. He’s not here because of Jack, but because of Bobby. “I don’t work for your husband,” he says, “but I’m affiliated with him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m doing a job for him tonight, but I’m not on his payroll.”
“What job?”
“He hired me to blow up Jack’s house.”
“What? You came here to kill me?”
“He thinks so. But if I thought so, you’d be dead.”
She pauses a moment, then says, “You killed Darryl?”
“Yes.”
“You saw my boobs?”
“Not really.”
“Either you did or you didn’t.”
“I did. But I didn’t let it affect my aim.”
“How did you know I’d run to the lake just now?”
“I didn’t, but I’m not surprised. Bobby said you always find a way to fuck up his plans.”
“How’s Jack involved in all this?”
“He’s not.”
“So you lied about being his friend?”
“Yes.” He pauses, then says, “We’d probably be friends if I knew him. It’s just that…”
“You don’t.”
“Right.”
“You deliberately lied to me.”
“Yes. But only because I didn’t want you to run off. Your only chance to get away is with me.”
She says, “Where’s Jack?”
“Bobby’s got him.”
“Shit! I knew it. Who turned him in, the crop duster guy?”
“Yeah, Mike. I’m going to blow him up in a few minutes.”
“Excuse me?”
Ryan starts to answer, then says, “There’s too much to explain. Here’s what you need to know. Jack’s not going to make it, but you are.”
“Is he alive?”
“For the moment.”
“Can you save him?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t take me back, Ryan!”
“Quiet down! Sound carries over water.”
“Don’t take me back to La Pierre,” she repeats, in a lower voice.
“I wouldn’t do that. Not after what happened last time.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m the one Bobby hired to find you the first time you ran away. I tracked you down and told him where you were hiding. I think the reason Bobby hired Jack is because I was busy with this bomb project.”
They cling to the side of the boat quietly for a minute, then Decker says, “If I knew he was going to beat you like that I never would have let him get his hands on you.”
“Who told you about the beating?”
“He did. After Jack found you.”
“Do you know anything about Jack?”
“No. And I’m sorry things didn’t work out. But…”
His voice trails off.
“But what?”
“I think Jack did a lousy job with this whole thing. I guess he found you early, fell in love with you, decided at the last possible second to let you go. Is that right?”
She starts crying.
“It’s okay,” Decker says.
“No, it’s not. He’s going to die, and it’s all my fault.”
“It’s Bobby’s fault. And Jack’s, for not having a better plan to protect you.”
She sighs. “He’s a good guy, Ryan.”
She cries some more.
Decker waits a respectful amount of time, then says, “I need to tell you how this is going down in a few minutes. Wait. Who’s that?”
“Where?”
“Lady, coming out of the storage room.”
“Milly Reston, town gossip.”
They watch Milly walk around the house, toward the front yard.
Decker says, “That is one lucky woman, assuming she leaves the property. Anyone else in the house?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Good.”
Post-Explosion.
Present Time.
Decker powers up the boat, drives it across the lake, and runs it aground in a remote area. He and Jill get out, Decker places the weapons by a tree and scrubs the boat and guns with antibacterial wipes. He tells Jill to wait for him, then pushes the boat back into the water and drives it a hundred yards out, sets it adrift, and swims back to her.
He grabs the guns, they walk to his SUV.
“My clothes are wet with lake water,” Jill says.
“So?”
“I don’t want to ruin your seats.”
“It’s okay. It’s a rental car.”
They’re quiet till they hit the main road, at which point Jill says, “I know you spoke to Bobby on the phone. Did he say anything about Jack?”
Decker bites his lip. “How close are you two?”
“He was hoping we’d start a new life together.”
“I agreed to give it a try.”
“In return for not taking you back?”
“Yes.”
“Think you could have done it?”
“Here in Willow Lake?” She thinks a moment, then sighs. “Probably not. But I would have tried like hell.” She hesitates a beat, then says, “Is he dead?”
“Yes.”
“Bobby killed him?”
“He cut Jack’s vocal cords so he couldn’t scream.”
“And killed him?”
“Yeah.”
Decker knows that’s not completely true, but figures it’ll be better for Jill to believe it.
They ride in silence a long time. When they pass the first exit to Memphis, she says, “Jack deserved better.”
Decker takes the airport exit, but turns right instead of left. Toward the airport hotel, not the rental car return. Moments later he pulls into the hotel parking lot.
“What’re you doing?” she says.
“It just struck me you never asked where I was going. You just got in the car and rode with me all the way to Memphis.”
She shrugs. “I have no place to go. Now that Bobby thinks I’m dead, I suppose I can go anywhere.”
“You should probably get a new ID.”
She says nothing.
Decker says, “You know how to do that?”
“Not really.”
“Do you need some money?” he says.
“No. Jack gave me some.”
“You’ll want to stop using his credit card.”
“Right.”
“Um…you’re aware the credit card you’ve been using says Tallow instead of Russell, right?”
Despite the tears in her eyes, she chuckles. “Jack was better at finding people than hiding from them.”
“His paper trail was easy to follow. He did a good job with the house. I’ll give him that. But the land deed?”
She looks at him, waits for him to say it.
“Jack Russell’s loan was guaranteed by…Jack Tallow.”
She smiles. “I miss him already.”
Decker says, “I’m not a good man.”
Jill says, “No shit?”
“Yeah, you know that. But all this time we’ve been together, whether in the water or driving here from Willow Lake—you never said a word about the innocent people who lost their properties tonight.”
“No one’s innocent, Ryan.”
Maybe it’s her soulful eyes, or the hint of a smile that plays on her lips. Maybe it’s her delicate voice, or the way it comes at him like whispers through a keyhole. Maybe it’s because she’s got to start over from scratch, and doesn’t know where to begin. Or maybe it’s her beautiful face and killer body that makes him say, “You can travel with me if you like.”
She looks at him as if she has no idea what her answer will be. But eventually says, “I’d feel very safe with you…until I didn’t.”
“I’m not sure what that means,” he says.
“It means I’m drawn to men who let me down hard.”
He nods. “That, I understand.”
“You’re going to build more bombs.”
“Yes.”
“For Bobby?”
“Probably not. But I have plans.”
“Tell me.”
“You’ll think I’m insane.”
Jill says, “I’m a looner.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m sexually attracted to balloons.”
“Balloons?”
“That’s right. Your turn.”
“I’m the commander of an urban army.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ll see.”
“How will I know when I see it?”
“Look for the letters BWC.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Because We Can.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That’s okay. I don’t expect you to.”
They look through the windshield a minute, as if waiting for a light to change. Then he says, “Is there anything I can do for you before I return the car?”
“How much time do you have?”
“Four hours.”
“It would be nice to get out of these wet clothes.”
He says, “I can think of several ways to accomplish that.”
“Pick one that involves saving Jack,” she says.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s still alive. I can feel it.”
“That’s bullshit.”
She looks at him. Then says, “He’s alive, and you lied to me.”
Decker sighs. “I did lie. Again. But only because I thought it would be easier for you.”
“Or perhaps you thought it would be easier for you to get in my pants.”
He shrugs. “Either way, Jack’s doomed.”
“Help me save him.”
“I can’t.”
She opens the passenger door, starts to get out.
Decker says, “You’re not in love with him.”
“That’s true. It never got that far. But I love his attitude.”
“His attitude?”
She smiles. “It might be misguided, but Jack’s the most forgiving, the most confident, the most optimistic person I’ve ever met. No matter how bad it gets for him, he always believes things are going to work out.”
“He’s your Don Quixote, you’re his Dulcinea.”
She shrugs. “I’ve been called worse.”
“You can’t spend the rest of your life fucking balloons and crazy people.”
Jill pauses a moment, then says, “Have fun blowing up the world, Ryan.”
She exits the car, closes the door, starts walking toward the hotel.
Decker starts the car, pulls up beside her, says, “You can’t save him, Jill. No one can.”
“I know.”
“I’m smarter,” he says. “Tougher. More practical than Jack. And you are, too. You can see that, can’t you?”
“The jury’s still out on all that. But he’s certainly a better person than we are.”
“How so?”
She stops walking, turns to face him. “If I asked Jack to save you from Bobby, you know what he’d say?”
“He’d probably say ‘Yes.’”
“He would, indeed. But even more important, if I asked is it possible to save you, he’d say, ‘Of course!’”
“Which proves he’s a fool.”
“He just might surprise you, Ryan.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t know him.”
“I don’t need to. I know Bobby. So do you.”
She smiles. “You know what I think?”
He waits.
She says, “I think the world needs more people like Jack and fewer like you and me.”
“You’re never going to see him again.”
“Probably not. But that’s no excuse to get involved with an urban terrorist.”
“What if—”
She says, “Goodbye, Ryan.”
She turns away, starts walking.
He sighs. “Goodbye, Jill.”
Jack cocks his head at a vaguely familiar sound. A voice he hasn’t heard since…well, it could be weeks…months…years. Time means nothing when you’re chained to a wall in a cell in a basement that’s perpetually lit.
There’s a group heading down the hall, but the voice belongs to…Bobby. Jack struggles to remember his last name, gives up, listens as the group comes closer.
Jack strains to hear.
Bobby says, “I know this isn’t the new life you envisioned, Bill, but don’t worry, you’re not going to be here very long.”
He pauses, then says, “I sold you to the Pinetti brothers. Oh my God, look at your face!”
Then he says, “Wait. Don’t be relieved. It’s not a joke. I actually did sell you to the Pinettis. But don’t worry about Alison. I want you to know I’m going to take good care of her. Sh
e’s a little broad in the beam right now, but that’ll change. You’ll be amazed at the difference a month will make in her appearance.”
He opens the empty cell across from Jack’s. “Alison? This is where you’ll be staying. Go on in.”
She does.
“Bill?” he says. “I’d like you to meet Jack Tallow. Jack, say hi to Bill.”
Jack hisses on cue.
“Jack has been nice enough to donate his cell for the duration of your visit. He and Marcus will be leaving us shortly.”
One of Bobby’s goons releases Marcus Wisby from his cell, then drags him over, and stands him next to Bill.
Bobby says, “Bill? Do yourself a favor and take a good look at Marcus’s private area.”
Bill does, and winces.
Bobby says, “That’s what’ll happen to you if you make a sound louder than a bowel movement during the time you’re our guest. Do you understand?”
Bill nods.
Bobby says, “I’m going to test you on that right now, okay?”
He looks at Alison and says, “Remove all your clothes, dear. No, sweetheart, don’t look at him. You’re mine now. Look at me, and do as I say. Now strip.”
Alison starts to cry.
Bobby says, “Do I look like the kind of man who’s moved by tears? I’ll give you thirty seconds to get naked, or I’ll remove your husband’s penis with a chain saw.”
It takes Alison half the allotted time to get completely naked.
Bobby enters her cell, gathers her clothes, and says, “We’ll feed you once a day and remove your shit bucket twice a day. If you spill the bucket, you don’t eat that day. Sometimes you’ll spill the bucket on purpose, just to break the monotony. We understand it, but you won’t want to make a habit of it. Twice a week we’ll hose you down, and if you’ve been cooperative that week, we’ll let you use soap. The barber comes in once a week to shave you, including head, underarms, and private area. The first time you make a sound louder than a bowel movement, including crying, I’ll have my doctor cut out your vocal cords. That’s not a threat, Alison, it’s a promise. I know you think I’m a pig, but in time you’ll be so lonely for human interaction you’ll actually welcome my visits.”
Bobby turns to Jack. “How have you been getting along, old sport?”
Jack hisses, and lunges five feet toward the bars, giving Rayburn a perfect opportunity to shoot him with his stun gun. Jack’s body lurches as the electrical charge courses through him. Clayton unlocks the cell and gives Jack an injection.
When Jack opens his eyes he laughs. It comes out of his throat as a hiss, but it’s loud, and fulfilling. He’s laughing for good reason. He may be on his back, his head thick with drugs, but he’s outdoors. For the first time since he can remember, he feels the air around him. It’s cooler than what he’s lived with in Bobby’s dungeon, and he detects a light breeze that makes him feel alive.
