She shook her head, unable to give further voice to the lie she had just told him.
“What about the other man? What’s his name? Your partner. Is he still with us?”
“Sam. His name is Sam and yes sir, he’s manning the security room. The others have been delayed indefinitely due to the storm.”
“What storm?”
“A blizzard moved in last night, closing all the roads in and out of the area.”
“Fine, then call the office and have them take the Helio. We need the bodies if we are to protect ourselves from Jacobs.”
She nodded, unsure of what to say. “I’ll do that. In the meantime, you should stay in your quarters until we can ensure your safety.”
“I will not be held like a prisoner in my own home! When I am ready to face the day, I will be down to inspect our preparations for the fight.”
“Of course, but in the meantime, it would be a good idea if you waited until we make sure you won’t suffer the same fate as your body men sir. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Fritz thought about it and then nodded his approval. She backed out of the room, closing the doors behind her.
She made her way downstairs to the kitchen to check on Sam. Together they would see how much damage the snow and wind had caused. Moving cautiously down the stairs, she stayed low, trying to avoid the windows. The heat from the bedroom was a drastic departure from the cool night air that had blanketed the downstairs. The post she had taken up all night had been warm enough, but the closer she got to the bottom of the stairs the colder it got.
Although the blizzard was still in full force outside, she wasn’t taking any chances of being picked off by a bullet from Ronald Jacobs’s long gun. The darkness helped make her feel safer but she was under no illusions about her chances if he was out there waiting and had a night vision scope mounted on the sniper rifle he used yesterday.
When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she belly crawled to the kitchen and after reaching up to open the door, she slid inside and closed it behind her. The first thing she noticed was the icy cold from the blown-out door. The wind blew savagely outside, but only small gusts of wind carrying snowflakes made it into the kitchen. She was surprised by the lack of accumulation. Jenny had expected a foot of snow would have been blown inside, but the trees and other natural buffers had kept most of it out.
Jenny’s hands were beginning to knot up in pain because of the snow and she regretted not putting on her coat and gloves. Pushing ahead on her hands and knees, she looked around for signs of an intruder, but all she found were the remnants of the sandwiches on the countertops. Satisfied, she crawled over to the security room. Knocking on the door gently she called out to Sam to let her in.
When he didn’t answer she feared she would find him inside, dead of hypothermia. Turning the knob, she pulled it open and was shocked to find it empty. Standing up, she stepped inside and pulled it shut behind her.
The security room was warmer than she thought it would be. Checking the cameras and sensors, she quickly realized they were effectively blind to the outside. Snow had covered all the cameras and the motion detectors were probably covered in snow too. But the real question was, where had Sam gone?
Stepping across the room, she opened the door on the far side that led into the staff’s sleeping quarters. Half expecting to find him asleep, she was even more surprised to find all the beds empty and free from signs of being occupied. Next, she checked the bathroom and after that, she moved through the rest of the downstairs looking for Sam. After fifteen minutes, she deduced he had fled sometime in the middle of the night. Retracing her steps to the security room, she looked around for clues as to where he had gone. She hoped Sam was just being thorough and had ventured outside to clear off the cameras and motion sensors. If that was the case, her rising anger would have to be placed in check.
On her second pass, she found a note taped to the back of the door leading to the kitchen. It was from Sam. She began to read it.
Dear Jenny,
When you read this I know you’re going to be upset with me, but I didn’t sign on to be picked off like an animal. This war we started is way out of bounds and I can no longer be a part of it. In truth, I’ve wanted to quit for a while and I’m taking this opportunity to walk away. Please understand. If you get out of this alive, look me up and maybe we can have a drink sometime.
Sam
Jenny crumpled up the note and threw it away. She could feel the heat of her anger climbing into her face. Her hands balled into fists and pounded the desk until the vibrations of her violence knocked over half filled cups. She stood up and looked at the mess she had made, which only served to reignite the fury of her betrayal. Jenny lashed out at the monitors and keyboards. Reaching down and ripping out a corded mouse, she threw it against the far wall. Her own fouled breath raised into her nostrils, her lungs sucking the air deep down. She blew it out with such velocity that her head swam, forcing her to sit down.
‘What have I done to deserve this? she thought.
Sam had been her partner for years and the work they had done together had forged a bond she thought was unbreakable. She couldn’t believe how badly things had turned in such a short time. In the course of hours, she had lost her lover and her closest friend and for what, a misogynistic misanthrope’s blood-lust for revenge? All her life she had labored at the feet of men who lorded her genitalia over her like she was a dim-witted child. Now she was faced with another problem – Fritz goddamn Washington! Forcing herself to calm down, Jenny regained her composure and went about the task of cleaning up the mess she had made. But it didn’t last. As she picked up the spilled coffee cup, her passion boiled over her again. Throwing the cup against the wall, she stormed out of the security room and marched back upstairs.
With Pete dead and Sam on the run, overnight her station in life had improved and worsened in the same moment. She would be damned if she was going to let infantile men stop her now though. Ronald and the fucking ex-cop she had missed were coming for her and Fritz. But before they did, she was going to make sure that sniveling coward upstairs wasn’t going to turn tail and run like Sam had done. Ronald Jacobs had to pay for what he had done and that fucking ex-cop was going to die by her hand if it was the last thing she did.
Moving without restraint or care, she marched through the bottom floor, then up the stairs to the bedroom where she had left him gazing at his own image in the mirror. She paused for just a beat to regain her composer, then knocked lightly on the door.
“Is that you Jenny?” Fritz hollered through the door.
“Yes, it is, so don’t shoot,” she yelled through the door.
“Come ahead then and welcome.”
She wondered at the grandiosity of his words as she pushed open the door. She hadn’t prepared herself for the images that greeted her when she walked in. In the time it had taken her to check on Sam, Fritz Washington had changed out of his khaki pants and polo shirt into his usual business attire. Now he wore a dark blue three-piece suit complete with tasseled loafers and blood red tie. He was standing next to the desk, legs apart, like a gunfighter out of the old west. His shoulders were squared, arms hanging loosely at his sides. In his right hand, she could see a large silver handgun.
Her first impression was that he had staged his whole appearance for her benefit. She wondered for the first time if Pete’s death had been nothing more than a tragedy and if the blood feud they had waged was nothing more than an exercise in the power over others. The dread she began to feel knotted her stomach and twisted her fury. She fought her instincts to lash out at the cartoon figure standing in front of her.
“I… see you’ve changed, sir. You know the storm last night shut us in, right?”
He waved it off. “Jenny, I know how this may look to someone such as yourself, but this is how I’ve dressed for battle each and every day. When Jacobs and Walker arrive, this is how I will greet them,” he said, his arms extending outward.
<
br /> “Where did you get the gun?”
He looked down at the revolver in his hand as if he was seeing it for the first time. His shoulders shrugged like a little boy whose mother had caught her son in the throes of a misdeed. “It was in the safe. After I had changed, I knew it was time to get it out. Did Pete ever tell you about what happened to my son?”
“Not really. He talked around it, but never really told me what had happened. Just that Ronald Jacobs was at fault.”
He nodded to himself as if her answer had given him great insights into a mystery he had long suspected but could never prove. He pushed aside his coat and placed the gun in a shoulder holster. Jenny’s eyes shot up when she saw the holster, but didn’t comment.
“Years ago, my son Tyler was a tool pusher on an oil derrick out in the gulf. He was young and brash and I don’t have to tell you how men can behave in that type of environment. I admit he got that job because of me. He needed to know what it was like to work hard and get his hands dirty. Ronald Jacobs was hired on as a roughneck. Over the years I’ve gotten conflicting reports as to how it happened but it doesn’t matter, the fact is he beat my son until he was unconscious and then tied him up in chains and threw him over the side.”
The last line in the story was delivered like a punch. Fritz knew how to set the hook good and deep. She felt the color drain slightly from her face as the image of his son beaten and bloody and casually tossed over the side like a bag of trash flashed into her mind. Anybody who was capable of doing that to another human existed in a realm all by themselves. She felt a twinge of fear prick her spine as she thought about Ronald Jacobs out there, hunting them like a wild animal.
“How did they ever find Tyler? I mean, he must have gone straight to the bottom of the ocean.”
He shook his head and blew out his breath, before tilting his head up to the ceiling. She could see his jaw flexing. With his teeth grinding together, he said, “That’s the real rub, Jenny. Before he threw him over the side, Jacobs tied it off short, so he just swung over the water. I heard later that sharks had flung themselves at his body all night long. The next morning they pulled him up, but the damage was done. Tyler’s brain was mush. I had to admit him to a sanitarium for his own good. Eventually, he killed himself. The doctors told me the PTSD and depression were just too much for him in the end. My wife took her own life shortly after that. So you see, Ronald Jacobs took not only my only child, but he robbed me of my wife.”
Jenny moved over to the bed and sat down. She was no longer sure her legs would support her. “Sam ran away sometime last night. He left a note, so it’s just you and me. After what you just told me, I’m not sure this is the best place to shoot it out. They have the advantage of movement and the luxury of deciding when they’re going to strike,” she said almost to herself.
“Are you familiar with the Bible?” he asked.
She shook her head. “My father was a drunk and my mother was the closet whore in the neighborhood. So no, I’m not really what you’d call a Biblical scholar. What does the bible have to do with any of this?” Her words sounded harsher in the quiet of the bedroom than she had intended them to.
“After my wife died, I began attending church. All I wanted was answers and peace. What I got was Mathew 5:38.”
Jenny stood up and started for the door. When she reached it, she paused. Her hand on the knob and with her back to him, she quietly said over her shoulder, “Pete did everything you ever asked. Now he’s dead because of a bible verse.” She turned around to face him. Her first impulse was to kill him on the spot and make a run for it.
“You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury. You know, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?’ he asked. Then he continued, “You may not like it, but you know this has to be done. He killed my wife and child and he killed your lover and my best friend. If Pete were still here, nothing would change. We spent years looking for him. It was only by luck that he found Jacobs several months ago. Now, after all the time and money spent finding him, I finally have the chance to level the scales of justice. So now you have to decide if you’ve got what it takes to finish what was started,” Fritz said. His gaze was level and steady.
The seriousness of his words began working through her body. The image of Pete tied to a chair, the blood seeping from the wounds that they had inflicted, was seared forever into her soul. Then there was the cop she had missed. It was still a sticking point to her professionally. Her blood heated and the need for retribution worked its way into her muscles. Then there was Sam and his defection. She had always known he was weak but to up and run away under the cover of darkness was a new low, even for him.
She hesitated and in that moment, Fritz knew he had her. His face fell, his eyes grew dark. He pointed at her and said, “When this is over, Pete’s death will mean something. I know it and you know it. You and I are a lot alike.”
In her heart, Jenny knew she could never walk away. “The cop is mine. Jacobs we finish together, agreed?”
He nodded.
“One other thing: from now on we’re equal in this, you and I. We work together, which means both of us have a lot of work to do before they get here. If it comes to it, we go down to that lodge and take them together. The snow will keep the tourists inside until the roads are clear.”
“And when it’s done, you are my new head of security,” he said evenly.
“Done.”
Their gazes held steady as they looked at each other.
“So what’s next?” he asked.
“We get set up and we wait.”
Sam had waited until the storm was in full force before he had made his move. The cameras were covered in snow and the motion detectors were useless after they had been destroyed the day before. The decision to leave had been made after careful thought and introspection. He didn’t like the idea of running away like a coward, but Jenny had become unpredictable and he hadn’t seen Fritz since he had gone despondently to his room.
It wasn’t the best thing for a man in his profession to turn tail and hide, but the bullet that had sent him scurrying had been his breaking point. He and Jenny had twisted and broken people’s arms, legs and fingers in order to get deeds signed over to CCO. He had even strangled a farmer last year until he had died. This was another matter altogether though.
So after the storm was in full swing, he had crept upstairs to see if Jenny was awake or not. Satisfied she had gone to sleep, Sam returned to the security room and penned the letter explaining his decision. After that, he had dressed in the warmest clothes he could find and then he ventured outside into the storm.
The wind had taken his breath away. The snow pelted his body without mercy. He stood still, allowing his eyes to adjust to the night. Luckily he had found a pair of old goggles that kept his eyes from being ripped out by the wind and the snow. He stepped cautiously to the railing and looked over it. He could make out the faint outlines of the ground below. Climbing over the side, he hesitated for just an instant before he pushed off. He aimed for a snow drift twenty feet below and jumped.
He landed flush in the middle of the snow bank. His body went in waist deep, his feet coming in contact with a boulder. Sam’s ankle twisted, sending a sharp pain up his body. He gritted his teeth and worked through the pain. Using his arms like a swimmer, he pulled himself free of the snow and began working his way around to the front of the house. It was slow going, but he was making good progress despite the wind and the snow.
It took almost an hour for him to make his way to the road which led down to the lodge. Moving slowly, he half stumbled down the steep incline until he was just outside the main body of the resort. Through the whipping snow he could see the lights from the other cabins. Buoyed by his success, he continued pushing forward until he had made it to the main lodge.
Tired, wet and cold from the snow, he made his way to the front door and pushed it open. The pain in his ankle had receded enough that he no longer gave it much t
hought. Stepping inside, he forced the large oak door closed. His body was covered in snow. Carefully stomping the snow from his boots and brushing the snow off him, Sam limped into the bar.
He found a handful of patrons at the bar, drinking and watching TV. Their eyes roved over his snow-covered clothes and noted his noticeable limp as he moved to a stool. The bartender slid down to where he now sat. Pulling a glass down, he placed it on the bar and poured him a stiff shot of bourbon.
Sam picked it up and tossed it down. The heat of the liquor moved through him, quickly warming his insides. He placed the glass gently on the bar and signaled for another round, the bartender obliging him. Sam began to remove his snow-covered outer clothing. Picking up the drink, he tossed it back and pointed at the glass for another round.
“The first two were on the house, but the next one you pay for,” the bartender said.
Sam took his wallet out and placed his credit card on the bar. “Run a tab, would you?”
The bartender shrugged and poured him another round. His hand deftly picked up the credit card and moved to the register to run it, leaving the bottle behind him.
A small petite woman looked at him from three stools down. She said, “Now that’s a man who knows what he wants out of life.”
Sam grinned and motioned her over. She slid down the bar and settled next to him.
“What’s a sailor like you doing out on a night like this?” she asked.
“Any port in a storm. Buy you a drink?” he asked.
The next morning Sam woke up next to the blond he had met in the bar. He was a little fuzzy on the details, but the one thing he remembered clearly was the hike he had made the night before. Turning his head, he looked over and stared at her naked back. Tina, or maybe it was Tonya, had been just what he had needed after the last few days. Slipping quietly out of bed, he searched the floor for his clothes. After he was dressed, he eased himself outside into the cool morning. The snow had tapered off but he could see another front moving in.
On The Devil's Side of Heaven Page 37
