by David Archer
Kate’s eyes were big and round. “I really don’t think I want to know,” she said. “Look, I gotta get to work, and you need to get some sleep. Sleep, they used to tell us in the academy, is the most important weapon in any arsenal. The more rested you are, the more effective you can be.”
“I think they stole that from the Jason Bourne stories,” Noah said. “But that doesn’t make it any less true. I’m headed for bed, now.”
“Good idea. I’ll see you this afternoon, if you’re awake.”
Noah nodded and headed for his bedroom. He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, and a minute later he was sound asleep.
He had The Dream again. He woke up in his own bed and rolled over, to see a beaten and bloodied Sarah sitting up and staring at him. “Noah, you have to find me,” she said. “You have to save me.”
“But I already did,” Noah replied. “I found you in China and brought you home.”
Sarah stared at him, with blood running from her nose and mouth. There was blood all over her clothing as well, and she simply shook her head. “No,” she said softly, “you didn’t.”
As always, that was the moment when he awoke for real. He sat up in bed and drew a deep breath, and instantly realized where he was. It had only been The Dream again, the one he had over and over since he was able to bring her home. No one knew about the dream, not even Sarah, herself, and Noah was keeping it that way. He knew enough about dreams in psychology to realize that this dream must represent something in his subconscious, some knowledge he had that he was not aware of. He suspected that his subconscious mind was trying to tell him that there was some part of Sarah that didn’t get away from the torture and interrogation in China, some part that he still had to save.
He shook it off and picked up his phone to check the time. It was only a little after six, so he rolled over and went back to sleep.
He was awakened again at nine by the ringing of the phone. He picked it up and saw that it was Scott Forney calling.
“Hello?” Noah said.
“Jimmy wants to see you,” Forney said. “Meet me in the front corner of the shopping center parking lot, the one next to Walmart.”
“What, now? Man, I’m trying to get some sleep.”
“Sleep when you’re dead,” Forney replied. “When Jimmy calls, nobody sleeps in. Meet me in twenty minutes.” The line went dead.
Noah stood and checked himself over, decided he didn’t have to have a shower right that moment, and went to the bathroom to take care of other morning necessities. A quick shave made him look presentable, so he pulled on some clothes and transferred everything from the pockets of the pants he’d worn the night before.
The big black Charger pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center right on time, and Noah had no trouble spotting the one car sitting alone at its farthest edge. He pulled up beside it and powered down his window, and Forney smiled as he looked the car over.
“Holy she-it,” he said. “Man, what a car. You build ’er yourself?”
“Nope,” Noah said. “Some of the investments I made before I went to prison paid off. I bought this and a few other things, and just blew the rest of it on that haunted house.”
“Well, it’s way cool. Listen, when we get to Jimmy’s place, just be sure to be respectful to him. Trust me when I tell you that’s not something you want him upset about. He’s going to probably tell you what a good job you did with Benny and offer you some kind of position in the organization. It won’t be quite at the bottom, but you’ll have people over you to answer to.”
“Okay, no problem,” Noah said. “Why couldn’t you tell me that over the phone?”
“Because if anyone finds out I gave you a heads-up on this, I’m going to get my own ass in the sling, and Jimmy’s got somebody who listens in on phone calls around here. Don’t say anything on the phone that you don’t want Jimmy to know about. Trust me, sooner or later it’ll come out.”
“Gotcha,” Noah replied. “So, how do I get there? Do I follow you?”
“That’s the plan. Just follow me and we’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” He powered up his window and started the car, a late-model Buick. Noah put his own window up and turned the car around, ready to follow.
The ride actually took about twelve minutes, and they came to a guard shack that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Forney stopped and spoke with the guards inside, who then motioned for Noah to go ahead and follow Forney. He eased past the guard shack and followed Forney’s Buick for another three minutes before they came to the house.
It was large, but not the kind of place you would expect some self-proclaimed king to occupy. This looked more like a large farmhouse, built to accommodate a family with a dozen or more children. Noah parked his car beside Forney’s in the large gravel driveway, then stepped out and followed him up to the front door.
Two men opened the door, and Forney stepped inside. Noah started to follow, but the men stopped him.
“Need to put your hands on the wall,” one of them said. “Nothing personal—we just got to make sure you’re not carrying.”
Noah shrugged and put his hands on the wall indicated, then ignored the indignities of being frisked. A moment later it ended, and the same man told him to come on inside. Noah followed him and found Forney waiting to lead them farther into the house.
The entry foyer led into a hallway, and then another hall crossed it. Forney took the one to the right and then immediately stepped into a nicely appointed office with Noah on his heels. Jimmy Morgan sat behind a large oak desk, and he looked up as the two men entered.
“Scott,” he said, “shut the door and bring our guest on inside. You boys want a drink? I got cold beer, I got whiskey, I got vodka, you name it. If I ain’t got it here, won’t take me five minutes to get it.”
“Beer’s fine,” Forney said, and Noah echoed him. Morgan passed them each a bottle of the most popular local brand and motioned for them to take seats in the big chairs facing his desk. When they were settled, he turned and looked at Noah.
“Rex Madison,” he said. “Twenty-six years old, grew up in Zanesville, Ohio. Several minor skirmishes with the law during your teenage years, but then you hit the big time just a little while before your twenty-first birthday. You were one of five people named as suspects in the death of DEA agent William Prior. The feds couldn’t come up with enough evidence to prosecute any of you directly for murder, so the best they could do was a conspiracy charge. I guess they thought it was going to put you away for a long time, but some federal judge decided five years was enough on a conspiracy beef. That sound about right?”
“Close enough,” Noah said. “The judge wasn’t trying to give me any leniency, though. There was some error in the paperwork when they filed the charges against me that limited the sentence to not more than five years.” Noah shrugged. “Sometimes I think I got a little angel up there somewhere, just keeping an eye on me.”
“From everything I read about you today, Rex, you must’ve been a model prisoner in Beaumont. Says the only thing you ever got into any trouble over was sneaking food out of the chow hall. I’ve known a couple people who did time at Beaumont, and they were always in some kind of trouble.”
Noah looked him in the eye. “Not sure where you’re getting your information,” he said. “I got hit up four different times and did a total of nineteen months in the SHU. First time was for insubordination when I told their psychologist she was a fat ugly cow who had no idea what was going on in the minds of men who were locked up away from society. Second time was for refusing a work detail. The job was going outside the prison to do highway maintenance, and somebody had put my name down. I didn’t have enough time in to qualify for off-site work, so I refused. I got a shot and was sent to the hole. It took them almost a month to figure out I was right and they were wrong. The third time…”
Morgan was grinning as he waved a hand to stop Noah. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said. “That was a test. I just wanted to
see if you really were Rex Madison, or maybe just somebody using his name. We can’t be too careful, you know what I mean?”
Noah nodded and shrugged. “Yeah, I get it,” he said. “I think I already proved myself, though, don’t you? Or doesn’t murder qualify?”
Morgan kept grinning, but a steeliness came into his eyes. “You seem just a little bit bitter, Madison. Something you want to say to me?”
Noah locked eyes with Morgan for a moment, but then slowly lowered his own eyes. “No, sir,” he said. “I’m just a little shook up over it. It was the first time I ever killed anybody who wasn’t trying to kill me.”
“And yet you did it,” Morgan said. “Scott, here, tells me you want to get into some good paying work, and that he thinks you might be an asset. I’ve had several other people tell me they agree with that assessment, so I decided to give you a chance. Naturally, I wanted to make sure the test was something that would show me how far I can trust you, and I think you passed with flying colors.”
Noah looked up again. “Thank you, sir,” he said. “If you have a job for me, I can promise you right now I’ll do everything I can to do it for you and do it right.”
“Cheer up, Rex,” Morgan said. “You don’t mind if I call you Rex, right? And I’m Jimmy—none of that ‘sir’ stuff. Everybody calls me Jimmy, you got that?”
Noah grinned sheepishly. “Yes, s… Yes, I get it.”
Morgan leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers together as he crossed his legs. “Rex, I’m always in need of good people,” he said. “The thing is, I’ve got plenty of people who will kill somebody if I tell them to. What I don’t have enough of is people who can think and react quickly. Now, last night, you were on your feet and had grabbed that stupid kid before my guys even saw there was a gun out. It wasn’t until you took the boy down that they realized something was going on and jumped up. Now, considering that they’re supposed to be on top of things every second so that they can keep me alive and healthy, I’m starting to wonder if I’m working with some modern-day version of the Keystone cops.” He grinned and watched Noah’s face, but there seemed to be no recognition. “Is that too outdated for you? You don’t know who the Keystone cops were? Bunch of silly characters that ran around like their heads were up their butts. Never could get anything done. What I’m saying is that I’m starting to feel like my personal security people are about that useless.”
“That’s not good,” Noah said. “I’m sorry to hear that—Jimmy.”
Morgan nodded, then leaned forward again and put his elbows on his desk. His fingers were intertwined with one another as he looked across the desk at Noah.
“Rex, you moved faster than most people could even dream of, and you realized what the threat was long before anybody else. I’ve even looked at the security tapes, and you reacted before anybody else. If you hadn’t jumped and grabbed Benny when you did, he might have gotten off a clear shot, or more shots, and managed to actually kill my boy. It certainly appears that I have you to thank for the fact he’s still alive, and likely to recover completely. Doctor says once the swelling on his brain goes down, we’ll know more, but at this point it doesn’t look like there’s any serious damage.”
Noah shrugged but added a grin. “I just did what I felt I needed to do,” he said. “I’m glad your son is gonna be okay.”
“Me, too,” Morgan said. “Rex, like I told you a few minutes ago, I got several people telling me I should try to keep you around. I think they’re right. I was already planning to offer you a job, but I’ve been thinking about this and I think I know just the spot for you. Rex, how would you feel about being in charge of my boy’s security detail? He’s going to be a lot more visible, now, and that naturally means he’s going to be more at risk. I don’t know what kind of insanity got hold of Benny last night, but it made me stop and think about the fact that there are people out there who would love to use my own son against me, if they ever got the chance. I don’t intend to ever let them have that chance, so that’s why I want to offer you this position. I’ll pay you five grand a week, and you can handpick your team from all the people I’ve got. You can take them out of my own detail, if you want.”
Noah pretended to be overwhelmed by the offer for a moment but then looked at Morgan. “Jimmy, the only problem with this is that I can’t even have a gun. I got a felony on my record, and that’s not even taking into account the fact I have to report to a federal probation officer every month. I mean, I’d love to take the job, but…”
“Apparently you don’t know as much as I thought you did,” Morgan said. “Federal probation, right? Who you got?”
“Craig Roberts,” Noah replied. “I just met him a couple days ago. He seems pretty cool, but this…”
Morgan picked up a cell phone and scrolled through its contact list for a moment, then punched one of the icons with a finger. He held the phone up to his ear for a moment, but then apparently someone answered.
“Craig Roberts? Yeah, this is Jimmy Morgan. I’m thinking about hiring one of your people and putting them on my security detail. Yeah, he actually helped keep my boy from getting killed last night, so I think he might be useful. Yeah, I didn’t think you’d have a problem with that. Let me hand him the phone so you can explain it to him.”
Morgan leaned forward and passed the phone to Noah, who took it nervously and put it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, Rex, it’s Craig,” he heard, and he recognized the voice of his probation officer. “Jimmy Morgan is looking to put you to work, huh? I was kinda hoping you’d get in with him. As long as you do what he wants, you don’t have to worry about me or anyone else coming down on you. Fact is, law enforcement around here pretty much does whatever he says, you know what I mean?”
“So, you mean it’s okay to take this job? I mean, I might have to carry a gun.”
“Yeah, I imagine you would. It won’t be a problem, don’t worry about it. Just do a good job, and good luck to you. I’ll see you next month, on schedule.”
The phone went dead, and Noah tried to look amazed as he passed it back to Morgan. “He says there won’t be a problem,” he said. “So the only thing I can say is, I’m in.”
Morgan stood up from his chair and came around the desk to shake Noah’s hand. “Damn glad of it,” he said. “I got people watching Ralphie while he’s at the hospital, but he’s likely to be released tomorrow morning. I want you ready to go ahead and take over now, though. Is there anything you need for this? I mean, do I need to advance you some money or anything?”
Noah shook his head. “No, no, I’m not hurting for money at the moment. I guess what I’d like to do is find out where I can buy some weapons, someplace that won’t ask questions?”
“Let me give you a head start on that,” Morgan said. “I’ve got a pretty good selection just down the hall.” He led the two men out of the office and a couple of doors down, then opened a steel door with a key. When it was open, he invited them inside, and Noah let out a low whistle.
The room was filled with guns. Three of the walls were lined with rifles, shotguns, and assault rifles, along with several that Noah was certain were full automatics. The fourth wall held pistols, and there were probably three hundred of them there.
“This reminds me of a gun shop I was in several years ago,” Noah said. “Are any of these for sale?”
“You need a pistol, right? Well, you pick any one you want, it’s on me. The piece, holster, your first box of ammo, I’ll give it all to you as a bonus.”
Noah stared at him for a moment, then looked around the room carefully. He saw several that he knew were good weapons, but then he pointed at a particular weapon. “That’s a Springfield Armory XD(M) with a five-and-a-half-inch barrel. Nine-millimeter version, right?”
He picked up the gun and checked, then nodded. “I was right, yeah, it’s a nine mil. How about this one?”
Morgan grinned. “For a guy who’s been away for a while, you sure know your guns.”
“First Amendment, freedom of the press,” Noah said. “They can keep us from having guns, but they can’t stop us from ordering Guns and Ammo or any other good gun magazine. And if there’s one thing I love to do, it’s read about guns.”
Morgan laughed, then busied himself finding a holster and a box of 9 mm hollow-point ammunition. Once he had Noah outfitted, they went back to his office to talk a bit more.
“Like I said, you can take your pick of my men. My boy is the most important thing in my world, so I want the best I can get taking care of him. Right now, you’re at the top of that list. I need you to add more people to it. And the first one you should add is the one sitting right there beside you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“The first thing you need to understand about this is that it’s a job,” Forney said, “just like any other job. You know what you’re supposed to do, so you do it to the best of your ability and that’s all it takes.”
“That’s BS, man,” Noah shot back. “My job is to keep his son safe. How am I supposed to do that? I can’t be with the kid twenty-four hours a day.”
The two of them were sitting in Noah’s car, which was parked on a back road. Noah had told Forney to follow him, but a mile later he had suddenly pulled over and waved out the window for him to come up to the Charger.
“That’s not what Jimmy was saying,” Forney said. “Remember he said you can take as many of his men as you wanted? He knows you can’t be on the job 24/7. He wants you to be chief of security for Ralphie, not his babysitter. That means you pick the guys who will be with him when you’re not. It’s not as bad as you think, trust me. You got me, already. Believe me, I can show you a few others you can really trust. We can build a team in no time.”
Noah shook his head and pulled on his lower lip, as if he was nervous. “Okay, okay, I get it,” he said. “So you’re like my assistant, right? Well, then, I guess it’s time you start introducing me to everybody else.”
