Vengeance is Mine

by Reavis Z. Wortham

  Cody pointed at Rachel, and Ned listened as she talked quietly.

  When she was finished, Ned remained silent for a long moment. “John, you don’t know what any of this has to do with you and Tony?”

  “I have no idy, Mr. Ned.”

  “Has Tony ever been to your house?”

  Rachel shook her head. “I never laid eyes on the man, honest. John?”

  “What, baby?”

  Her dimples appeared. “Do you realize you growlin’?”

  The phone rang with a brash rattle, startling everyone. Miss Becky met Ned’s eyes across the room. He nodded and she picked up the receiver. “Hello? Oh, hidy, Tony. Yep, she’s right here. I’ll hand her over.”

  Sam came in from the kitchen and they traded places. Her eyes softened when she took the phone. “Hey, tough guy.” She listened for a long minute, her face falling. The adults watched as she remained silent, without interrupting, shrinking with every passing minute. Conversation was low in the living room, louder in the kitchen. “All right, I understand, but remember I love you.” She hung up and took a deep breath, ready to give them only part of the conversation. “Tony got home a few minutes ago. He heard what happened and called to make sure I was all right.”

  Ned frowned. “Why wouldn’t you be all right? Never mind, how’d he hear? No one oughta know but us.”

  She hesitated. “He said the kids told him.”

  Ned felt the blood rush from his face. “What kids?”

  “Top and Pepper.”

  Ned blew up. “Sonofabitch!”

  Lightning fractured the thunderheads, irradiating the paper shades from the outside. Thunder rattled dishes in the china cabinet. The house lights fell dark. Kids squealed, waking the smaller children who began to cry.

  Miss Becky covered her mouth in shock. “I don’t even know what’s going on, and they’re stringing off in this storm…!” Shaking her head, Miss Becky stood to light the oil lamps. “I can’t believe we didn’t know they was gone. What kind of people are we?”

  Ned gave Miss Becky’s arm a pat. “I know how it is. They’ll get away from you before you can turn around.” He caught their attention. “Cody, John, y’all come outside with me where these kids cain’t hear everything we say.”

  Once off the porch, Ned stopped and scrubbed the back of his neck, staring into the darkness covering his pasture. John opened his trunk and lifted out his shotgun. “Mr. Ned, why don’t you stay here and let Cody go find them kids? They know something we don’t, and I bet a dollar it’s about Tony. Maybe them that hurt Rachel has found out where he lives and gone there for some reason.”

  “What’ll you do when you find them, John? You’re too mad to think straight right now.”

  The deputy glared down at the older man beside him. “I’ll do what I have to.” He shucked a shell into the magazine and rolled half of the shells from a pasteboard box into his big hand. He dropped them into one front pocket of his khakis, then filled the other and slammed the lid. The expression on his face was one of barely restrained violence.

  Anxious to get moving, Cody opened the door on his El Camino and put one foot inside.

  Ned breathed heavily, considering their options. “Y’all settle down for a second. We don’t know what we’re getting into.”

  “We need to do something!” Cody dipped his head into the wind to keep his hat secure. When it threatened to blow off again, he yanked it off and pitched it into the seat.

  Realizing he was about to lose his own Stetson, Ned took it off. The cool wind felt strange on his bald head. He studied on what to do for a long moment. “I don’t expect anybody to come to the house, but one of us needs to stay here. This has something to do with Griffin and he’s got something up his sleeve. Cody, you go find the kids. Right now we don’t need to be running around like chickens with our heads cut off.”

  A truck slowed on the highway and crunched up the gravel drive, headlight beams sweeping over the house and yard. The kitchen door opened and Miss Becky stuck her head out. “Ned, that’ll be Ty Cobb and Jimmy Foxx.”

  “What are they doing here?”

  “I knew they’d be home in this storm, so I called ’em to come over and set so’s y’all can go.”

  Ned almost grinned at the woman who’d been his rock for decades. “That was a good idea, Mama. All right.” He waved at the truck. “Y’all get out and come in.”

  The heavily armed brothers got out. Ty Cobb took a seat on the edge of porch in front of Thurman. “Ned, y’all go do what you need to. We’ll take care of things here.”

  Without a word, Jimmy Foxx nodded at the three lawmen, went inside, and locked the door. The kitchen went dark as he blew out the coal oil lamp on the table, leaving only a dim glow in the living room.

  Cody dropped into the seat and left to go find his niece and nephew. John shifted from one foot to the next, bleeding off energy.

  Ned heard John whine like a dog wanting off the leash. He realized it was the sound of frustration harnessed by the respect that John had for Ned’s age and position in life.

  “Mr. Ned, I believe I need to go and see what I can do to find them that hurt Rachel. I want to get my hands on ’em and anyone else who might have been a part of it. Right. Now.”

  Ned didn’t look right, standing outside without his hat. “John, we been through a lot these last couple of years. Sometimes you have to take your time breaking up a fistfight between two men, so they’ll get tired and won’t be as hard to cuff.”

  “Yessir, you been shot, and I dang near got mushed to death in that old Cotton Exchange, but Tony and that little gal of his inside there need us. You take care of people all the time and lots of them don’t even know you do it. I know you don’t want to call for help, ’cause we don’t know who’s with us or against us, but we got to do something. It don’t feel right to do nothin’.”

  Ned rubbed his head, muttering to himself. “I got a bad feeling about this.”

  “Me too. I’m afraid this is gonna be a bad night.” He wasn’t talking about the weather.

  Norma Faye cracked the door. “Mr. Ned. There’s somebody on the phone for you.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Isaac Reader.”

  “What does he want?”

  She tried not to roll her eyes. “To talk to you.”

  With that, she went back inside, but left the wooden door open. Aggravated, Ned gripped John’s thick arm. “Wait here and blow a minute until I get back and we’ll go together.”

  Instead of answering, because he wasn’t sure he could trust his voice, John nodded. Ned left him to steam and followed Norma Faye inside, slamming the screen door. He threaded his way through the crowded kitchen and living room to the telephone table. “What?”

  “Ned, listen, listen, this is Ike.”

  “I know it. What’s wrong, Ike?”

  “I was driving past the Ordway place, and somebody’s shooting.”

  Ned went cold.

  “Listen, listen, when I looked, I saw flashes in the house.”

  “You sure it wasn’t lightning?”

  “I’m sure.”

  Ned sighed, feeling his spirits fall. “All right. I’ll go check it out.”

  “You want me to meet you there?”

  “Lord, no.”

  Ned returned to the porch to see John’s car speed down the drive. His brake lights flashed, and then he took off for Center Springs.

  Chapter Fifty-five

  It was one of those early fall storms, all noise and electricity. Clouds boiled in the night sky and lighting flickered almost continuously as we rode our bikes to the Ordway place. Cool wind carried the thunder around us, and it felt like we rode through the middle of an artillery battle. We knew there wouldn’t be any rain, because the whole world smelled wet and Grandpa always said if you smell rain, it
won’t fall.

  It was hard to ride fast through the flying leaves and keep up with Pepper because one hand held my .22 rifle. I wished I’d left it back there on the porch beside Mr. Thurman, but I thought I might need it if the bad folks were coming for Mr. Tony. I’d already killed out a pack of dogs, and been in the middle of a gunfight a while back. I didn’t intend to go over there without something to shoot with.

  That’s what I figured Uncle Cody would do.

  Uncle Henry’s house was dark when we passed, so I knew the electricity went out like it does every time a storm comes through. With the pole lights out, the stores and domino hall looked different when we passed in the cold, harsh lightning. We pedaled hard up the drive and jumped off our bikes at the Ordway place. I knocked as loud as I could. Not even the dim light from a coal oil lamp lit the house.

  It took forever for Mr. Tony to answer, and I about decided he wasn’t there, until he looked out the tall, skinny little window beside the door. He opened it, reached out, and took the rifle from my hand all in the same motion, like he’d practiced it.

  “Hey!”

  He leaned it against the inside of the frame. “I’ll give it back later. What are you two doing here in this weather?”

  “We came to warn you,” Pepper said.

  Mr. Tony stepped back into the entry hall and motioned us to follow. He closed the door and locked it. He was back in his suit, except this time without a tie. His coat hung open, and the white shirt underneath glowed each time the lightning flashed. “Warn me about what?”

  “About a man and woman who came to Miss Rachel’s house looking for you.” I didn’t like standing in that entry hall, because it was right beside the wooden staircase leading to the second floor. That’s where the ghosts lived. Lightning struck somewhere nearby and seemed to shoot right through my head. “Uh….” I struggled to focus.

  Pepper shoved me. “He heard them people who beat Miss Rachel say something, didn’t you?”

  “The woman wanted to know where you were and when you were coming to Miss Rachel’s house, like you was expected there. I didn’t know you knew her.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mr. Tony stepped closer to the little skinny window and pushed the white lace curtain back with his finger. “Tell me what happened, exactly.”

  “Lemme see. She said ‘I wanted to be finished with this before Agrioli showed up so it wouldn’t be two at the same time.’”

  “Think, Top. There must have been something before that. What did she mean two at the same time?” His face was as calm as could be.

  I struggled to remember the conversation. “He said ‘He told us Washington would be here by now. I wanted to be finished with this before Agrioli showed up so it wouldn’t be two at the same time.’ That’s what he said.”

  “Do you know who the he is that man was talking about?”

  “Nossir. They didn’t say any names but y’all’s. Wait, the man was Ralph and the woman’s name was Myrna.”

  Mr. Tony thought for a long time, then gave us a half-smile. “All right. That’s fine. Now, do you two think you’ll be all right to ride back to Mr. Parker’s house?”

  Pepper cocked her head, but not enough to make her ponytail flop like she did that first day when she was flirting with Mr. Tony. “Why don’t you go with us? You can drive us there and we can get our bikes in the morning.”

  He patted her shoulder. “Because I think I need to stay here.”

  “Miss Sam probably needs you.”

  His smile slipped a little, and he looked sad. “She’s safer with your grandfather. Now,” he opened the door. Cool wind blew in, scattering leaves into the hall. “You two ride back as quickly as you can and tell your grandfather not to come over here until tomorrow, no matter what.”

  I didn’t know why, but I felt a painful lump in my chest. Pepper looked like she wanted to cry, also. There was something terribly wrong, but we didn’t know what it was. “Please go with us, Mr. Tony.”

  “No. You two go now, and hurry home.”

  He all but pushed us into the yard and the wind. Nobody in the country would turn someone out in such a storm, but we picked up our bikes and left anyway. Mr. Neal’s store was dark, but there was a car parked between it and the domino hall. When the lighting flashed, I saw it was empty.

  We were past Mr. Oak Peterson’s store when I realized I’d forgotten my rifle. A minute later, I forgot about it when I heard gunfire behind us, almost buried in the near continuous thunder.

  Chapter Fifty-six

  “That’s the house,” Michael said as they drove slowly down the oil road past the Ordway place. He stopped. “Johnny, go in the back. We’ll park and come in the front. Gimme five minutes. That should be enough time.”

  The door opened and closed. In a series of staccato flashes, they watched Johnny Machine cross a sagging barbed wire fence, holding his shotgun with one hand. He stepped behind a cedar and was lost from view.

  Michael made a rough three-point turn at a gate and went back to the country store they saw on the way in. He parked next to a smaller building. “Let’s go.” He grabbed a cut-down Browning semi-automatic shotgun from the backseat and handed the humpback to Nicky, then took another one for himself.

  Nicky followed past the store with its metal signs rattling in the wind, unconsciously ducking low as lightning split the clouds overhead. “I don’t like this weather.”

  “We don’t have any choice.”

  Leaves showered like paper snow as the towering burr oaks thrashed in the wind and egg-size acorns rattled down. One caught Nicky a glancing blow to the head. “Shit! What kind of country is this that trees throw giant walnuts at you?”

  Michael glanced up. “Shhh. Come on!”

  “Dammit Michael, he ain’t gonna hear anything over all this thunder. Agrioli’ll probably see us first.”

  Michael stopped. A flicker of motion well away from the house caught his attention. Incredulous, he thought he saw someone waving from behind an overgrown barbed wire fence. He froze and brought up his shotgun, waiting for the next flash of lightning.

  It didn’t take long. A man waved again and then ducked down behind the brush. “Did you see that?”

  Nicky pointed his shotgun in the man’s direction. “There’s somebody back there.”

  The next flash revealed an individual standing completely upright, frantically waving them over. Michael glanced back toward the dark house. “Come on. This ain’t right.”

  They hurried across the yard, guns ready.

  “You’re Michael!” The man glanced nervously at the house. “C’mere. We’re the ones Mr. Best sent to help you.”

  The two gangsters ran to the fencerow and knelt. There was no need to whisper. The wind and crackling thunder covered their voices and no one could hear from more than a few feet away.

  Michael knelt on one knee and spoke through the tangled vines. “Who’re you?”

  “Ray Marco, the one you talked to on the phone. We went by the motel, but you were gone. So we came on out here to meet you.”

  Michael thought for a moment. “How did you know where Agrioli lived? We barely found out ourselves.”

  “You don’t remember mentioning Center Springs when we talked? I called the store over there and asked where he lived. Some guy with a loud voice damn near gave me the man’s shoe size before he quit talking. So we drove out, but got caught in traffic. Can you believe it? A traffic jam out here in the boonies. We haven’t been here but a few minutes, and waited for you.”

  Michael scratched his cheek and watched the house. “Yeah, I remember. How many of you are here?”

  “Seven.”

  “You must have been crowded.”

  “It was only an hour and a half. We got a break when we got caught in a traffic jam back there. We managed.”

  Mi
chael stared hard at the house and after a moment, shook his head. “Where are your guys?”

  Marco scratched a chigger on his leg. “Scattered around. We’ve been expecting you.”

  Nicky kept the shotgun ready. “You seen anybody else?”

  “Yeah, a couple of kids on bikes. Agrioli let them in and then they took off. The kid had a BB gun or something with him, but he left it.”

  “Where’s your car?”

  “Parked down that road beside some cows.”

  Michael watched the house. “All right…hey, you said you had guys scattered around? Anyone around back?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, shit….”

  The flat bangs of two gunshots echoed. The sound was cut off with the crack and sizzle of lightning overhead, followed immediately by a thunderclap they felt in their chests, then another shot.

  “You probably have one less now.” Nicky grinned at the mistake. He didn’t know them, so he couldn’t care less. “The Machine’s back there.”

  Marco’s eyes widened. Johnny Machino was legendary in the Business. “You brought the Machine?”

  Michael cut his eyes toward the brush beside him. They couldn’t see Marco through the tangle, but both could hear the awe in his voice. “That’s him.”

  “You sent him around back?”

  “Of course I did, the same as you.” Michael pointed past Nicky. “Run around to the rear and tell the Machine not to kill the rest of these idiots. They’re with us.”

  The slender gangster crouched to run, and then stopped. “Wait, how are Marco’s men gonna know I’m with them? We don’t know each other.”

  Michael rubbed his face in disgust. “Good question. Marco, whaddya think?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Michael flicked his arm. “Run and wave your arms. They’ll know you ain’t Agrioli.”

  “But that’ll give us away.”

  Another bang came from behind the house.

  “It don’t matter now.”