Wanted

by Jason Halstead

  The guards outside the American Legion Hall saw him coming and had their guns ready. They stared him down, guns pointed at him, but never told him to stop until he was within a couple of feet of them. “You’d best turn around and go where they tell you,” the guard on the right said.

  “And you’d best lower your weapons,” Carl growled at him. He looked at the other guard and winked, confusing him visibly.

  The confusion was what Carl needed. He grabbed the speaking guard’s rifle and pulled it towards him, yet angled the barrel up and away even as a burst of bullets spat out the end of it. Carl ignored the flash of heat along the barrel-it was not enough to cause a blister yet. The weapon continued its swinging arc, free now of the original wielder, and smashed the slow reacting doorman’s rifle out of his hands and to the ground. Smoothly, Carl gripped it in both hands, ejected the clip and cleared the remaining round from the chamber. He tossed it, hard, back to the man who had held it and stormed between them through the doors without a word.

  Expecting a bullet to crash into him at any moment, Carl walked down the central aisle made by tables pushed off to the sides and ignored the stunned and curious faces of the various members of Eddie’s court that were in attendance. King Eddie stared at him with a mixture of amusement and outrage. It nearly made Carl smile, but instead he just kept his face blank and eyes forward while he walked towards him.

  Carl stopped before the dais that Eddie’s throne was on. He ignored Jessie, who sat beside him looking at Carl with her own mix of emotions on her face. He refused to look at her directly, but he could tell from her body language alone that she wanted to run to him. Whether it involved slapping him or hugging him, he was not sure. Off to the other side he had seen another person that he took note of, a man wearing the same uniform as the mercenaries that had destroyed his home.

  “Eddie,” Carl acknowledged, nodding his head towards him.

  “King Eddie,” the self-styled king said, his voice grating in irritation. “What brings you here, amigo? It’s been a while since you’ve come to visit. Like to spend some time with Tara, maybe?”

  Jessie’s mouth opened a little, apparently shocked by the accusation. Carl ignored the jibe and his consort’s expression. “I see you’re keeping fine company these days.”

  Misunderstanding him, Eddie smiled and glanced appreciatively at Jessie. “Edland’s a good place to be, amigo! Going to set us up in the movie industry now that I got my own talent.”

  “Uh huh, she’s plenty good at acting,” Carl acknowledged, glancing at Jessie for the first time. He saw a hurt expression on her face, and found himself almost feeling sorry for her. Almost, until he remembered it might just be another act of hers.

  “Carl, I got somebody here who’s been dying to meet you,” Eddie said with a grin.

  On cue, the man in the uniform stiffened and stepped forward from where he had been standing off to the side. He walked over to Carl and stared at him, looking him up and down. Carl glanced at him, taking him in briefly, then returned his attention to Eddie.

  “You’re Carl Waters?” Captain Garza asked.

  Carl nodded, then turned to look at him again when he spoke again. “You killed ten of my men. What have you done with the children?”

  “You from the chopper?” Carl asked.

  Garza’s eyes narrowed even as he nodded. He reacted faster than Carl expected, but not fast enough if it had really mattered. Carl held his pistol pointed up at him, hammer pulled back even as the mercenary had reached for his own sidearm – but had not been quick enough to draw it.

  “You destroyed my home,” Carl hissed at him.

  “Hey!” Eddie called out loudly while waving his arms. “There’ll be no killing in here. No killing in Edland, not unless I call for it! Carl you put that gun away or the only blood that’s going to disgrace my floors will be yours!”

  Carl stared hard at Garza, seeing the man was unwilling to break eye contact but also noticing the way his nostril twitched with nervous breath and the beads of sweat that formed and ran down the side of his face. Carl smiled slowly before he put his pistol back in the makeshift holster the hem of his pants made. “We’ll settle up later then,” he said.

  Before Marko could respond, Eddie was speaking again. “Much better! Let’s keep this friendly, eh amigos? This is just business, si? Carl, do you have what Captain Garza is after?”

  Carl looked at him and held out his arms. “I got what you see on me,” he said. “I came here looking for her and her brother.”

  Everyone’s eyes followed Carl’s nod, ending up on Jessie. Jessie looked surprised at first, then she smiled. Carl almost believed there was a hint of genuine honesty in her eyes, but he still did not trust her.

  “Amigo…” Eddie paused, looking at the merc and then smiling. “Senor Carl and I go back a ways, an old friend. Come, Carl, let us talk in private… por favor?”

  Carl’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then he nodded. Eddie clapped his hands happily and stood up, then motioned for Carl to follow him through a door in the back to one of the offices in the building. Once inside, Eddie motioned for Carl to shut the door then sat on the desk and his smile faded.

  “Amigo, level with me,” Eddie began.

  “Cut the shit,” Carl snarled at him. “You’ve spent more time north of Mexico than I have. Your grandfather was the one who hopped the border, not you.”

  Eddie shrugged. “Wake up Carl, the United States is done. More people here that speak Mexican than English now. We have to make our own way if we want to survive.”

  Carl stared at him without flinching, “You think the US ain’t coming back when this gets sorted out? You’re dumber than you look.”

  Eddie shrugged again, “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I’ll be here and they’ll need to work with me, not against me.”

  Carl snorted but said nothing.

  Eddie sighed. “You’ll see. Might do you some good to think about who’s side you want to be on too. Take the slut out there, for example. That’s not her brother she’s got with her, it’s the brat that Captain Garza is after. You know it, and I’m betting you know where the other brat’s at too.”

  This time Carl shrugged.

  “Fine, don’t tell me. I’m not sure I want to turn him over yet myself. The Captain’s offering a reward, but I’m doing fine up here. There’s always room for more though, you know?”

  “You know who they are?” Carl asked.

  “Just a couple of kids that ran away from home,” Eddie said.

  “Couple of kids that survived a plane crash,” he corrected. “They want their bodies back, proof they died in the crash.”

  Eddie swore, surprised by the news. To confirm what Carl was telling him he asked, “Muerto?”

  Carl nodded.

  “Why?”

  “Don’t know. Their dad’s some hotshot rich bitch. Like you said, guess there’s always room for more money.”

  Eddie frowned, then chewed on his lower lip while he thought about it. “You killed some of his men? And he’s got a chopper?”

  Carl nodded to both. “A rich man that can afford something like that can afford a lot more,” Eddie observed. “They destroyed your place? You planning on rebuilding?”

  In spite of everything, Carl smirked. Eddie was forever the opportunist. “I bet you can get me the best deal on what I need, can’t you?”

  Eddie smiled. “Of course, amigo! I’ll get you the best. We can work something out.”

  “I bet we can,” Carl said wearily. “Now, what about the kids?”

  Eddie’s smile sent chills down Carl’s spine. It was a spine that had seen horrors and injustice of the worst kind, but still it trembled at the imagined fate awaiting them, should Eddie have his way. “Here’s the rub,” Carl told him. “I came here for the Jessie and her brother. Ain’t leaving without them. You want to work that into a deal, maybe we can talk.”

  King Eddie stared at Carl for a moment, shock at his demands obvious on his
face. Then he laughed, tears leaking from his eyes at how amused he was before he finished. “Carl, I’ve known you were loco for years. Nobody sane lives like that, all alone. Now you find somebody and it’s not just any chica, you fall for a slut and a couple of kids trying out life on the slum side for a thrill.”

  “I ain’t falling for nobody,” Carl snarled at him.

  Eddie laughed, driving nails of irritation into Carl’s spine. The soldier turned protector realized he had taken the bait. “Want to bet I can reach my gun and turn your head into a canoe before your call for help gets somebody in here?”

  Eddie raised his hands in a show of peace. “Amigo, I was just having some fun, relax. You don’t want to kill me. I keep this place under control. You want to see what happens without me here? Do you? No, you don’t. Stop threatening me, friend, and maybe you’ll get out of this.”

  Carl stayed silent, his right hand aching to reach for his gun. He knew discretion was the better part of valor, for now, so he waited.

  “I’ll help you out, amigo,” Eddie went on, dropping back into his more conversational tone. “Supplies and materials, but you work for me when I ask for it.”

  “How long?” Carl asked, suspicious.

  “Let’s say until you pay it off.”

  Carl snorted in derision.

  “Too quick, amigo,” Eddie said to him in a hurry. “You are too quick. Until you pay it off or three years. Not this babysitting work my men here do. I mean special things I need done.”

  “One year,” Carl bartered, “and why can’t your boys take care of your special needs?”

  “My men,” Eddie said, stressing that he considered his soldiers to be men, not boys as Carl implied, “do not have your experience, your talents and skills.”

  Carl rolled his eyes. “1 Year, I’ll train them. That’s what you get.”

  Eddie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Carl could see the greed in his eyes. He nodded after a bit, “Very well Senor Waters! You drive a hard bargain but I think I can agree to this. Then as we were before, you have your place and we have ours, si?”

  Carl nodded. “Jessie and the boy?”

  Eddie smiled. “Insurance, amigo. I trust you, of course, but my people must not think me a fool. You will have a place here, in Edland. They will stay here until your year is up. The house is yours, and they will be protected by my men that you train.”

  Carl’s eyes narrowed. After a long moment he nodded though. As far as Eddie knew, that was fine. He would sneak them out at night first chance.

  “Excelente!” Eddie said, hopping to his feet and gesturing towards the door. Carl opened it and stepped aside to let him through. Two guards outside let them pass then followed behind while they entered the large hall and Eddie returned to his throne.

  “Senor Garza,” Eddie said, though the mercenary was already showing signs of having been ready to tear down the door to follow them. “I want your helicopter.”

  “What?”

  Both Carl and Marko had spoken the same word, though both were staring at Eddie. “In exchange for the children,” Eddie explained. “You said there was a reward, no? I will accept your helicopter as payment for them.”

  “You son of a bitch,” Carl growled, reaching for his pistol.

  As fast as Carl was, the guard that had been behind him had been waiting. He drove the butt of his rifle into Carl’s spine, between his shoulder blades, and sent him sprawling to the ground. Another guard snatched up the fallen pistol and aimed it at the fallen man. Carl rolled quickly and looked at his situation, sizing it up and realizing he had run out of options.

  “Amigo, it’s nothing personal… just business,” Eddie said to him, smiling. “Please tell Captain Garza where the girl is.”

  “Fuck you,” Carl spat, slowly coming to his feet. He still had his knife and he was trying to plan on how he could use it to get a gun.

  “My apologies, Captain, it seems your stay might be longer than you’d hoped,” King Eddie said, standing back up and walking down so that he was near Carl, but not close enough to allow the man to lunge at him.

  “What about our deal?” Carl snarled at him.

  “A helicopter,” Eddie said, gesturing with his hands as though pantomiming a bird in flight. “I can control the skies, amigo! One year does not compare to that, does it, Captain?”

  Marko eyed them both shrewdly. He knew something had taken place between them, but it seemed it had worked out in his favor. His favor if he was willing to give up his chopper. He nodded, “It is a great thing to have. Oh, King Eddie, might I witness your interrogation of this man? It would soothe my wounded pride for the loss of my men.”

  Eddie smiled, “Of course. Follow me, por favor. I will personally show you to our sitio de la interrogación.”

  Carl glanced up at Jessie, briefly, and saw the shocked and terrified look on her face. Eyes wide and mouth open, she looked ready to burst into tears. He had no smile for her, but he did wink, briefly, before turning away and allowing himself to be led towards the front of the hall. Behind him he heard Jessie get up and slip on the high heels that Eddie insisted were part of her ‘uniform’. She followed behind them at a distance.

  With two guards in front, Eddie led them out of the shade of the building towards some parked golf carts that had been converted to four-seaters. Carl looked to the north, peering at the hilly regions that rose outside of town. He nodded his head and, a moment later, saw a flash of reflected light. He waited, aching to move, until it happened.

  The guard behind him made a sudden sound that reminded him of a man being kicked in the stomach. He fell to the ground and caused everyone to jump in surprise. With less than a second of space between them, a distant crack of a sniper rifle reached them. This caused everyone to freeze in fear and confusion, everyone except for Carl and Captain Garza.

  Carl had known what was about to happen though, and that gave him the edge. He leapt, knife in hand, and bore Eddie to the ground. Knife held at the self-style monarch’s throat, he pulled the man around so that Carl had a golf cart at his back. Another guard went down, clutching his hip in agony as the sound of the bullet that had claimed him reached his ears.

  “You had your chance to do this right,” Carl snarled, looking around to take stock of the situation. “Jessie, get in the cart!”

  Jessie, who was now crouched down and hiding in the doorway to the hall, looked around nervously. She hurried when she heard Carl bark, running awkwardly on her heels and twisting her ankle once just as she reached it. She fell into the seat and pulled herself the rest of the way in.

  “You work alone,” Eddie said nervously since he could feel the sharp edge of the knife shaving the skin of his neck with every breath and movement.

  “Not this time, amigo,” Carl said.

  Another shot, this one much closer, rang out. Eddie howled in pain and jerked, nearly slicing his own neck on Carl’s knife. “You idiot! Stop shooting!” he bellowed.

  The newest shooter was not one of Eddie’s men, however. It was Marko, and he was crouched behind a dumpster that he had pushed away from the wall of the former American Legion to create a hiding place. “You ain’t no good to me dead,” Carl growled at him, then pushed the heavyset man away and scrambled towards the guard with the shattered hip.

  Two more shots followed Carl, one hitting the ground near him and sending rock fragments pelting into his leg. He grabbed the fallen guard’s rifle, a civilian AR-15, and hid behind the guard while a third and fourth pistol shot hit the wounded man and insured he would never rise again.

  Even as civilians in the town were running for cover, a few of Eddie’s guards were doing the opposite and running towards the trouble. Eddie was shouting over and over to them all to “Shoot him!” though none of them were quite sure who they were supposed to shoot. Carl peered over the cover he had and squeezed a couple of shots, forcing Captain Garza to duck back. Another round from the sniper rifle pierced the dumpster, making him jump as the fragmented b
ullet hit the siding of the American Legion and sent splinters of it into his arm and back.

  “Get in the cart, Eddie,” Carl yelled, then fired some more suppressing rounds towards the pinned down mercenary.

  The other guards, seeing Eddie apparently safe, started to target the dumpster as well. It rang repeatedly with bullets that, mostly, ricocheted off of it. Occasionally one would pierce through, but the return fire came less and less frequently. Another one of Eddie’s guards went down as well, this one flattened by a round from the sniper rifle that hit him just below the neck in the center of his back.

  His clip spent, Carl groped around on the body of the dead Edland guard in front of him until he found a spare magazine. He slammed it home but missed his opportunity. Marko, realizing he was about to be trapped, slipped out the back of the temporary concealment he had arranged and, firing on the run, dropped two more of Eddie’s guards with his pistol before he managed to slip away and run off. Carl was tempted to give chase, but he saw all of Eddie’s other guards taking off after him. He shook his head at their lack of discipline and training, then realized it worked to his advantage.

  Limping from the pieces of shattered gravel that pierced his calf, he slipped into the back of the golf cart and found Jessie holding a pistol she had somehow acquired on Eddie. “Where’d you hide that?,” Carl growled, reaching down to take the pistol from her.

  She glanced at him and he thought he was going to have to fend her off. She blinked the tears out of her eyes but he still knew she wanted to leap on him and hug him. “Drive,” he muttered, knowing they had very little time. Already people were starting to stick their heads back out of buildings or from whatever they had hidden under or behind.

  “Where?” she asked, backing the cart up to give her room to pull out.

  “Get your brother first,” he said, “then we’ll head north.”

  She nodded and slammed the pedal to the floor, spinning the tire on the sandy gravel and making them all lurch in their seats as the golf cart sped off to her trailer. The governors had been removed from the engines, but it still only managed less than 30 miles per hour. Eddie moaned from his seat beside her in pain.