by Bryan Tann
The vestibule’s floor was black linoleum, with a ‘Welcome’ mat at the door, a television mounted on the wall, and chairs and couches for comfortable sitting.
At the wall there was a service window with a steel shutter blocking the view of the office and another steel door to the window’s immediate right that flung open.
A small fat man stepped into view. The little bald black man ran his stubby fingers through his thick gray beard. He stood at least four inches shorter than John.
He wore a white wife beater, black sweat pants, and black slippers. John could tell by his hard, pot belly, that the man had some power in his older, portly body. His arms had various tattoos with scripture verses and designs. His hard brown eyes glared at John from behind his scratched and tattered glasses.
“If I didn’t have that much money in my account because of you, I would have the cops here in a heartbeat for you buzzing on my goddamn door at three in the morning like this!”
“I’m sorry, sir. I really am. I just…”
“Enough of the apologies, junior. Money talks, that’s why you’re here. From what it said, you need a place to lay your head for a couple of nights until you finish the work. You can have the basement and free reign of my property. You get your shit built, I register it for you, and you’re gone. That’s the deal right?”
“Yes, sir. That’s the deal.”
“Okay then, boy. You go ahead and get some shut eye. Come and go as you want so long as you don’t fuck with my business.”
“Thank you, sir. So what do I call you?”
“Name’s Tony Brown. Everyone calls me Ruckus.” Ruckus extended his large right hand out, and with a hearty grip took John’s hand.
“It’s good to meet you, Ruckus. Sorry again for waking you.”
“Yeah, yeah, boy. Come on in the office.” When they went through the metal door, it swung shut automatically. The file cabinets, computer equipment were in pristine condition.
“Yeah. My own little slice of Heaven. Served my country, wanted a job where I didn’t have to answer to no one but me and the tax man.”
“You’re an enlisted man?” John asked politely.
“USMC,” Ruckus replied. “Basement is through the door to your left. It locks. You have the privacy you need, keys are downstairs next to the cot. You can get out to the yard from the door down there. Now I’m going to get back to bed.” Ruckus tossed John a final look of anger at his unplanned wakeup call then went through a door at the far end of the room and slammed it shut. His footsteps ascending.
“A military man, Queen? How do you know he won’t turn us in?”
“He has twenty five years active duty, he’s been retired for ten years. He has a long string of insubordinate behavior according to his military record.”
“Queen, that doesn’t mean he won’t turn us in!”
“Then work quickly and get out of here. Besides I do not believe he will be a problem. I wouldn’t have you here if I thought you would be in anymore danger than usual.”
“Fair enough.”
John opened the basement door, closed the door and locked it. He didn’t bother with the lights and just went down the stairs, pulled off his backpack, then pulled off his shoes and his shirt and laid on the cot.
“Queen?”
“Yes John?”
“Nothing.”
“I understand, John. Me too. Get some sleep.”
At ten o’clock the following morning, a yellow cab pulled up outside of the junkyard. After paying the driver, Karen Denton exited the cab pulling her leather bag with her. She wore a pair of light blue colored jeans, and a white t-shirt. Her white sneakers were completely unblemished with barely a crease on them.
“’Come on down and get your hands on Roscoe Brown’s Junk.’ Classy. Very classy,” she muttered as she made her way to door marked ‘Office’. She stepped inside and smiled hearing a velvety voice singing classical music from a distance. She walked to the office window and rang the bell on the counter.
A short, stout black man stood up from his desk. The sleeves of his white T-shirt strained against his muscular, black ink colored tattoos. His pot belly remained hard and unmoving, yet still strained the waist band of his blue jeans. His salt and pepper colored beard was a stark contrast to his bald head.
“I help you?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m looking for a friend of mine,” she answered with a small smile.
“That right?” the man asked.
“Yes. He’s a little over six feet, broad shouldered, short hair, and black. Have you seen him?”
“Not many black guys running around Idaho sweet thing.” The stout black man laughed loudly. “So you figure ole Ruckus would be able to help you out, huh?”
“Well Mr. Ruckus, he said that he would be coming here and I should come here and find him,” she said, trying her best to be convincing.
“I see. Well listen, sweet cheeks, I’m old. I’m lonely. But I sure as hell ain’t stupid, okay? Now maybe I know where your buddy is, and maybe I don’t. But I’ll tell you right now; I can smell your bullshit from a mile away. Now you come clean with me or I toss your cute little ass out of here with a boot shoved in it.” His false polite tone did little to hide the malice in his eyes. The veiled threat wasn’t a threat.
“Okay listen to me; my friend is in serious danger and unless I warn him, something very bad is going to happen. Now will you please cut the bullshit and tell me where he is please?” Her eyes blazed. Fear for what could happen if Matheson decided to stop waiting for her signal, and fear that the short, powerhouse black man would make good on his threat made her heart pound.
“Okay. Follow me,” Ruckus replied gesturing to her to come with him as he half hummed half sang a song about ‘My Girl’.
They walked out the backdoor into the yard. There was junk, literally, as far as the eye could see. Metal of all kinds, cast iron tubs, car parts, car frames, anything and everything just sprawled out into an endless field.
“My God.” She looked outward.
“Yeah. My own little piece of Heaven. I have so much metal back here that if I decided to sell out to a scrap yard, I could probably buy some land on an island. Instead I just let it sit here and sell it to people that need it.”
He led her through rows. She marveled at how he was able to navigate without even thinking about it while she knew would never find her way out if she got lost.
“He’s been at it since before dawn. Got here last night about three in the morning. I woke up at six and he was already out to work. I don’t even think he slept.”
“Did he say why he was coming here?” she asked.
“I got a message late last night saying that this guy needed my yard to get a vehicle and lay his head somewhere safe a night or two. The money that was wired in my account is enough for me not to ask questions.”
“Understood,” she replied.
They moved deeper into the yard. The man’s short legs, and overweight body was deceptive as he was able to move at a consistent pace that was tiring her out.
“How much further?” she panted as she stayed behind him.
“Aww, what’s the matter, cutie? Haven’t done enough cardio?” he guffawed loudly as he continued moving along with an agility and grace that didn’t appear to belong in a rotund body like his.
She could hear the sound of power tools being used as Ruckus led her into a clearing. She could see a garage in the distance and a figure working.
“There’s your buddy right there. Let him know lunch will be on the table in three hours.” Ruckus turned and left her to her own devices. She took a deep breath and made her way to the garage. She could barely make out what he was working on. As she got closer, John put down a strange piece of metal and held out his hand halting her.
“That’s far enough, Nurse Denton,” John called to her, pulling a tarp over whatever he was doing.
“It’s Doctor now actually. But that isn’t important right now. J
ohn I…”
“Did you lead them to me?” his eyes narrowed angrily. His perfectly defined, naked upper body glistened with sweat as he worked.
“John, listen to me okay? Please?” she pleaded.
“You got two minutes. Then I get angry,” he replied, staring at her harshly.
“Do you have your backpack with you still?” she asked holding her hand out in a defensive stance.
“Yeah. Why?” he asked quizzically.
“I’m going to do something that is probably going to work out very bad for me. But I hope that it will allow you to trust me. I’m about to betray the government, and the company; there is a tracker on your bag. When you fought Echo last night, he stuck it on there. That’s how I was able to find you,” she said slowly.
John went to his bag and began to inspect it. A small, circular object was stuck on the underside of the bag.
“Nice craftsmanship. Would love to know how it transmits without me hearing it,” he muttered.
“How did it transmit so that we couldn’t hear it?”
“Keep staring at it. I need a few seconds to analyze it.”
“Why are you staring at it?” Karen asked anxiously.
“So I can analyze it. What do you want here Nur…I’m sorry, Doctor? Huh? Why are you helping me?”
“I helped you once before remember? I’ve been there for you since you woke up. I also found out what President King’s plan is. You have to stop him,” Karen pleaded.
“It is transmitting similar to that of Morse code. Except it functions as a faint heartbeat. It only transmits once every five minutes. Drop it in the drain, it will appear as though you have taken off. Do it now, John!” Queen demanded urgently.
He took off in a blur to Karen, navigating the walk ways and their obstacles with expert precision. When he reached the edge of the property line, he leaped over the large chain link fence clearing the barbwire and landed with the grace of a man sized cat before taking off running.
“Where are you going, John?”
“I want to get it away from the yard.”
John continued to run, a big smile spread across his face when he caught sight of the fifty three foot reefer truck heading through town.
“Not too fast. Do not draw attention.”
“I won’t, Queen. I just look like a regular guy.”
“So you think.”
John slowed down to appease his companion, making sure to stay far enough back that he did not gain on the truck.
Catching up to the truck while it was stopped at a red light, John slipped the tracker onto the back of the eighteen wheeled goliath and ran back to the yard.
“No.”
“What now, Queen?”
“Do not leap the fence. Go through the front door.”
“Queen!”
“John. It is broad daylight. It is lunch time. You’re lucky that no one saw you the first time. Now do as I say.”
“Damn!”
John, as he was told, went through the front door, used his key to enter Ruckus’ office. The older man looked to John, confused for a moment then went back to what he was doing as though nothing had happened.
John shrugged then made his way to the yard where Karen was still waiting for him.
“Did you take care of it?” she asked calmly.
“Yeah. It’s done. Should throw them off of my trail. Thank you.”
“Will you listen to me now, John? We have a lot to talk about.”
“You mean how the government wants to frame Mila Hunter and the Fallen Paradigm for a terrorist attack that President Shit Head wants to perform so that he can become King Dictator Shit Head?”
“How did you know that?” Karen asked with shock in her tone, setting her bag down to the ground.
“We have detailed files,” John replied with a smirk, tapping the left side of his chest affectionately.
23
“We?” Karen asked.
“Queen and I. We have detailed files. Before we left, we jacked into your computer and we got files on what King wants to do with Mila,” John said walking past her going into the garage and pulling the tarp from what he’d covered moments prior and tossed it aside.
“I see,” Karen replied taking steps toward the garage.
John looked up to her, freezing her in place.
“Yes. We know that King wants to exploit Mila’s ability to cause an explosion on a Hiroshima sized scale and use the nation’s fear to give him absolute power. It’s not going to happen Nu…sorry, Doctor. Not in this lifetime. I’m going to get to her first and make sure this doesn’t happen.”
“Good, John. Good. I want to help,” Karen said walking forward, ignoring his look.
“You helped me escape. Thank you. And thank you for warning me about the tracking device but…but how can I know you mean what you say? How can I know that you want to help?”
“Like I said, John, I have been there for you since before you woke up. I was there for you before you were given the name John Baker,” Karen replied defiantly.
“Is that right?” he asked dismissively looking at a magazine on the nearby work bench as though he were studying it.
“Yes that’s right. Now listen John, I know that you’re having a tough time right now, but do not act like an asshole to me alright? I did what I could for you now you can afford to give me the benefit of a fucking doubt!”
“Do not say she’s right, Queen.”
“I was simply going to say that she may have a point, but we should be cautious. You need to listen to what she has to say.”
“Why?”
“Because she did help us to escape.”
“Sorry. I…”
“I know, John. You don’t trust anyone that isn’t you or your queen right now. That is understandable.” Karen opened her black bag and pulled out a battered brown leather notebook. “That is something that Dr. Newton suspected according to his notes.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. He noted that the rats that were the most successful test subjects stopped being as social as they had been. They would interact with each other, but they weren’t the same. The rats that had a Queen would isolate themselves. According to his personal notes they would become violent if he would try to force social interaction with other rats, including those with Queenless Hives to interact.”
“But why?” John asked curiously.
“Because they aren’t so much the same? Who really knows? Even the Hives with a Queen more stuck to themselves. Just the host and the Queen, they were so close. One cannot exist without the other.”
“Well having Queen live in my heart kind of makes it like that.” John chuckled.
“Oh if Queen were removed from your heart, you would live. You would just have an empty Hive. It would reboot itself, so to speak, and you would just have a Hive. But you would feel…”
“Empty,” Queen stated in unison with Karen.
“According to his notes he was able to remove a Queen from one of the rats. The rat refused food and water until it went dormant. Dr. Newton then incinerated it out of mercy. So he would do everything that he could to ensure that the Queen gene was completely removed.”
“Jesus,” John muttered, rubbing the left side of his chest protectively.
“Do not be worried, my John. I will never leave you. You will never have to live without me.”
“Do you promise?”
“Always and forever, my John. Always and forever.”
“It is quite disturbing to say the least,” Karen replied.
“Yeah, you think?” John asked looking over the metal pieces on the workbench.
“What are you building?” Karen asked stepping past him to look at the workbench.
“I’m getting the parts together to build…” John began.
“A motorcycle?” she asked with a small chuckle.
“Yes, a motorcycle. Why?” John asked defensively.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. I w
as just curious. Can I help?” she asked.
“Why do you want to help?”
“Because I’m going with you, John. I cannot go back to Fuji-O’Hara. I cannot go back to the Government. I cannot go back to any of it. I have to be somewhere,” she replied.
“So you want to be an outlaw?” John chuckled.
“I became an outlaw the moment I freed you back in Oregon,” she replied seriously.
“What do you mean?” John asked.
“Nobu Tee told me. They don’t trust me,” she replied.
“So why would they send you?” John asked, knowing the answer before he got the question out.
“Simple; it was a test,” Karen replied. “If I lead them to you and set you up they know that I’m trust worthy. If not then maybe I slow you down enough that they can catch you,” she said looking down.
“Yeah well even though it’s faster to run to where I’m going, I burn through energy too damn fast. It’s easier to have a vehicle of my own. Staying on the train line makes my movements too predictable.”
“So you will bring me with you?” Karen asked.
“I suppose so,” John replied. “Pull your weight though. And first off I need to find the engine for the bike I want. Ruckus has so much shit here it’s going to take me a little while to find the parts I need.”
“Okay,” Karen replied.
As the hours went on, John had found a majority of the parts he had been searching for and, at the behest of both Karen and Queen, decided to start building with what he had to go on while Karen searched for additional parts he could use.
“John.”
“Yeah, Queen?”
“You need to ask her.”
“About what? I told you I do not want to know about anything before you were put in.”
“Why not? Why aren’t you even remotely curious?”
“Because it doesn’t matter that’s why. I volunteered, end of story.”
“John!”
“Queen! Drop it! Goddammit! I do not want to know. Why can’t you just leave it?”
“Because it is a lie and I do not think it is good for you to just hold onto misinformation as though it is fact.”
