Jack Jr. was listening intently. "What is it you need to tell me, Bill?”
Bill continued and said, "When I met you, I lied when I told you that I was here looking into Steven and his background.”
Jack Jr. smiled and said, "Yeah, I know you were. Didn’t make much sense you looking into Steven yet still being here, he doesn’t have any family to speak of around here anymore. I was just waiting to find out why you were lying about that.”
Bill continued by saying, "I was gathering as much information as I could on you, because I wanted to recruit you to be with my people.”
Jack looked at Bill and said, "Your people? Who are your people?”
Bill sat down beside Jack Jr., "I'll tell you everything you want to know. First, let me explain a few things and let me finish before you form an opinion. When I joined the Army, I joined just like you and Steven, but for a different reason than the two of you did. I joined because I thought ‘what better place to find good men than in the military?’ And I did find a few good men until they told me my three-year stint was nearly over. I knew I either needed more time, or I needed to pick up the pace of searching out viable recruits.
“I tried to re-enlist, but they wouldn't allow me to because they said they were scaling back and Vietnam was coming to an end. So instead of them sending me back out with my unit, I got myself reassigned to the records keeping department until my discharge came through. From there, I had access to a lot of people’s files, and it gave me more to pick and choose from. When you came in looking for info on Steven, I got a little curious.
“After I'd been stateside for a while, a friend of mine still in theater inside Vietnam got word to me you’d gotten out. I came here and played the hunch that you'd show up here, and I was right. Truth is, Jack, I actively search for and need people like you with your skills. To show my good faith, and what kind of people I have with me, I took the liberty of putting a couple of people out there to find your sister and her husband, after I heard what happened to your mom and dad. We know where they are.”
All of a sudden, Jack Jr. leaped up and said, "Where are they, Bill? Take me to them.”
Bill then told Jack Jr., "Take it easy, they're not going anywhere that we can't find them. We’ll go there soon enough if you want to go. First, I need your assurance that you won't do anything stupid. I don't need you in prison; I need you with me. So I just want you to go in with a clear mind and do this where nothing can come back on you.”
Jack was sitting there listening, but then again not listening because of the hate clouding his mind.
Bill said, "Jack, listen to me. Remember when you were in the jungle of Vietnam? You survived out there for years, doing what you were supposed to. That took common sense to stay alive anyway you had to. That was something very few people could go through and then come out alive, and sane. You're special, Jack, with a special talent, and I need you. What do you say?”
Jack Jr. didn't have to think about it long, he could feel the rage building in him, he was going to set this right, so he said, "Count me in, Bill, I'm with you.”
Bill asked when he wanted to take care of the problem.
"I'm ready to go right now.”
Bill agreed that it needed to be dealt with as soon as possible, so he'd make a phone call and get updated on the status of the situation. When he came back, he told Jack Jr., they were staying in an RV park outside of a small town called Hope, Arkansas.
"How did you know to look for my sister and her husband? And how did you manage to find them so fast?”
Bill simply said, "When I heard what happened, like everything else in life, all you have to do is put two and two together, and that'll be your answer. I have a helicopter coming to take us to meet up with some of my guys.”
Jack looked at Bill and said, "A helicopter? Really?”
Bill explained, "I have quite a few guys with me, Jack, and we are all different kinds of people, skilled in all different kinds of things. We are like a machine in the sense that we all have a job to do. And when we do it, and do it correctly, it enables the rest of us to do our jobs and perform our skills more efficiently.”
Bill then led Jack Jr. out to a golf cart, they drove out to the back of Bill’s pasture. About the same time they arrived there, Jack Jr. heard the sound of a helicopter closing in from the distance. Both men walked out into the pasture where the copter landed, and boarded it, then it quickly lifted up and headed northeast.
After about an hour later, the pilot set the helicopter down in a stand of trees and cut the engine. Bill instructed the pilot to sit tight until they came back, and told him they should be no longer than a couple of hours. At the instant the helicopter sat down, a pickup pulled alongside and two doors opened, as if an invite for Jack and Bill to enter. After they got in, the driver started talking to Bill in a familiar form Jack Jr. recognized as military lingo.
Bill introduced everybody to Jack Jr., and that's when the pickup driver said, "Hello, Jack, heard a lot about you, and it'll be good working with you.”
A little confused, Jack Jr. simply said, "Thanks, nice to meet you too.”
Bill got a radio call, and the person on the other end informed Bill the male had bolted and left the premises in a late model car, but the female was still inside, and they were awaiting instructions. Bill said to follow the car with the male, and see where he landed but reminded them not to engage with him or allow him to see them.
The voice on the other end said, "Roger that, we'll let you know where he lands.”
After driving a few miles further, the pickup pulled off the paved road and followed a dirt trail just big enough for the truck until they came to where another pickup was parked in a thicket of brush.
Everyone got out and Jack Jr. followed close behind. Everybody introduced themselves to Jack Jr. and led him and Bill to where they had a spot setup to keep an eye on a camping trailer in an RV park about sixty yards away. One of the men confirmed the male was still gone, so Bill and Jack Jr. agreed this would be a good time to go in to confront Elizabeth.
Jack Jr. told Bill he wanted to go in by himself, and Bill agreed. Jack Jr. asked Bill if he had an extra radio to take with him, just in case. Bill reached in the front of the truck, pulled out a radio, and handed it to him.
“I'm going to work my way around and see what's going on inside. If I need you, I'll call, and if you see her husband coming back, just key up the radio twice and I'll hear it.”
“Okay,” Bill said, “and be careful, Jack Jr.”
Jack Jr. walked around the vehicles and into the woods for thirty yards or so, then disappeared out of sight. Smiling and amazed at Jack Jr.’s ability to do such things, they were keeping watch on the woods and also on the trailer where Elizabeth was.
After several minutes, Bill heard Jack on the radio, telling him to come on in. Bill, thinking he might be in trouble, jumped in the truck and sped to the trailer. Bill jumped out and ran inside with gun in hand, he saw Jack Jr. sitting on the floor with Elizabeth’s body in his lap. Never looking up, instead keeping his eyes focused on the body of sister he spoke.
“She's dead. Looks like she's been dead for a couple of hours.”
Chapter Three
Betrayal: to deliver or expose to an enemy by treachery or disloyalty
"Are you okay?” Bill asked
"Yeah, I'll be alright. Do we know where Roy is?” No, he was not all right, but Jack was not going to get in his head, he had a mission, and that was one of vengeance. This was the only path he could take.
"Let me make a call and see.”
After the call, Bill told Jack Jr., "This sonofabitch has a boatload of balls. My guys said he just pulled into a casino about thirty minutes from here.”
"I hope he wins before I get there, because when I see him, he's going to lose.”
"Are you sure you're up to this now?”
"Oh yeah, I want this fresh in his mind when he looks into my eyes and sees his life coming to an
end.”
Bill started to say something when Jack Jr. said, "Don't worry, Bill, I'll wait until I have him in the right place. He'll be dead and in hell before he realizes he's not breathing anymore.”
Bill smiled and said, "Okay, just remember those places have cameras everywhere.” Jack Jr. just smiled, and didn't say a word.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Jack Jr. told Bill to drop him off in the back and pick him up in the front. As Bill was turned the corner and was coming to a stop at the back of the building, he looked over and saw Jack Jr. was gone. Looking in the rearview, he couldn’t see him and he wasn’t sure which way he’d gone. All he could do was turn around and drive to the front, and wait for him.
Inside the casino, Roy was playing the cheap slots, and had no idea he was being watched. Jack Jr. was back in the shadows watching, evaluating what his next move would be, and making a mental note of all the cameras inside the casino.
Jack knew once he was finished, his main problem would be getting out without being recognized. He decided to pay a visit to the equipment room to see what he could find. Once there, he found a worker’s smock, slipped it on, and on his way out the door, he picked up a wet floor cone, and two orange street cones. Then he walked to the closest bathroom near where Roy was playing, knowing eventually he’d have to piss.
He stepped into one of the stalls, locked the door and waited, but he didn't have to wait long. When Roy stepped up to the urinal, Jack Jr. walked up behind him, slit his throat, then pulled him over in front of the sinks so he could see Jack Jr.’s reflection in the mirror. But his throat was slashed so deep, he was unable to scream or make any noise. Then Jack Jr. let him go, and he collapsed to the floor.
Jack Jr. picked up the wet floor sign and set it at the front door, and put the two orange street cones on his shoulder, to hide his face from the cameras as he made his way to the front door. Once he was outside, he carried the street cones until he spotted Bill, then walked in front of the pickup where Bill could see him, and passed on by. Bill started the pickup and followed in the same direction as Jack Jr. At the street corner, he stopped while Jack Jr. put the cones at the curb and climbed into the truck.
Once they were a good distance away, Jack told Bill the pickup may have been seen and they needed to ditch it.
Bill laughed. "If we can make it another ten miles, this truck will disappear for a while, and when it's seen again, it will be a different pickup.
Jack Jr. thought he knew what he meant by that, and figured he'd just sit back and see what happened. During the trip to wherever they were headed, Bill laughed and asked, "What in the hell is it with you and this disappearing act you do all the time?”
"Why do you think they called me the ghost in the military?” Jack said seriously.
Bill laughed, "Now I can see why. Back at the trailer, when we were walking out the door you turned around and looked at your sister and said, ‘thank you’, what did you mean by that?”
Jack solemnly answered, "Elizabeth was a lost soul, but regardless of that, she was still my sister, saying that was like goodbye.”
Bill was silent for a second, and then told Jack Jr., "Well, while you were in there taking care of business, I took the liberty of getting Elizabeth taken care of. She’ll be picked up and buried beside your parents. Is that okay with you?”
Jack Jr. looked at Bill, smiled, and said, "That'll be fine. Thanks.”
Bill replied, "Not a problem, we take care of each other.” Then Bill came up with an unexpected question. "Jack, in our line of work, we all go by nicknames or call signs, and we need to figure out what we’re going to call you, because we don't need to be using your real name. We don't want anybody else adding two and two, then figuring out who you are.”
Jack thought for a minute, and then told Bill about the times back when he was a young man and went to the jobsites with his dad. All the guys called his dad ‘Big Tuck’, and they called him ‘Little Tuck’. Since his dad was dead now, he liked the name ‘Tuck’.
Bill smiled and said, "Well, ‘Tuck’ it is. From this point forward we will refer to you as Tuck.”
Pulling into an alley, Bill rolled up to a door and honked the horn. The door slid up and Bill drove inside. A man came to Bill’s side of the truck, smiled, and greeted Bill with a handshake. Bill told him he needed this pickup to morph into a new one before it hit the street again, and the guy said, "No problem.” Bill then got on the phone and about ten minutes later, the helicopter picked them up and flew them back home.
*****
It took weeks to sort out the mess in his fucking head, and the whole damn time he was being played. The whole thing was a goddamn lie. Bill didn’t want to help him, he set the whole thing up in order to make Jack beholden to him, he used his scum of a brother-in-law to take the fall, but it was Bill who had played the whole thing.
Tuck went along with everything the man planned, because truthfully, he had nowhere else to go. However, this decision would lead to the biggest change in his life, sometimes he didn’t know whether to thank the man or kill him.
For the average person, when everything in life they've known and loved since birth is gone, they have a choice to make. They either continue to function and exist until their time comes, or they make the conscious choice to carry on with a new life wherever they find it. That's what Jack Jr./Tuck decided to do.
Bill seemed to be a wise man, and had a definite sense of organization about him. But Tuck wasn't quite sure Bill was the top rung of this ladder. And he intended to find out if he wasn't the top, who was. Tuck was smart, and he was certainly smart enough to know no matter where you go, or what you're into, there’s always somebody at the very top either collecting the money or signing the checks, and sometimes both.
Tuck wasn't convinced Bill was that man, at least not yet. Bill used the term, "Add two plus two" in Tuck’s presence several times, and it’s what Tuck was doing in assessing or measuring up Bill. Tuck was thinking about the assistance Bill just provided him in finding and solving the situation with his parents’ deaths, and the involvement of his sister. But Tuck couldn't get past the questions gnawing at his mind.
Questions like, how did Bill know his sister was involved? And how did Bill manage to find them so quickly after it happened? The first thing Tuck thought of was CIA, or maybe something even deeper than the CIA, which equated to a quagmire of confusion that probably nobody was qualified or intelligent enough to wade through and figure out.
Tuck started thinking that if Bill was CIA with all the men and resources he seemed to have access to, along with the way he seemed to be able to utilize those resources with such success, like the quickness in finding and solving the problem with Elizabeth—how would it ever be possible to have any successful spy agencies or espionage here the United States? Well, unless of course a percentage of it is known about and allowed by the government.
Tuck didn't know the answers, but he was going to find out somehow. And it may be that he had to stay close to Bill in order to find these things out. Tuck had enough confidence in himself to know if things ever got too sticky for him, he could simply disappear again. So he made the decision to sit tight and see what he could learn for a while before he got his answers in other ways.
For the next couple of weeks Bill made himself scarce. Maybe to let Tuck reflect on and gather his thoughts on what had just happened. On the other hand, maybe because Bill had other things to line up or take care of. Tuck didn't know which it was, but he knew he needed the time off for himself, so the isolation was appreciated.
Early one morning, Bill came out to the barn and saw Tuck was already awake.
"You still on military time?”
Tuck just replied, "No, I haven't been on military time in years. I guess you could say I'm on survival time. Out in the jungle, you sleep when you can, not when you're sleepy. Being stupid or letting your guard down out there will only get you dead.”
At that moment, Bill turned around
and looked at Tuck. "Is that a dig at me, Tuck?”
"Bill, why would you take that as a dig at you?”
"Tuck, like I told you before, I know men and I can read people like an open book. I can see that you have doubts and a lot of unanswered questions. All I ask is you give me another day or two, and we'll take a trip to a place that will put your mind at ease and answer all your questions.”
Tuck told Bill he'd hang around and see what happened just to satisfy his curiosity if nothing else.
For the next couple of days, Tuck hung out in the shop working on some bikes and other projects he had going.
Bill came in and asked, "You about ready to take that ride?”
Tuck said, "Sure, how long are we going to be gone?”
"Probably no more than two or three days.”
"Do I have time to get a quick shower?”
"Sure, take all the time you need.”
"Great, I'll be ready in about an hour.”
Once on the road, Bill and Tuck talked about one thing or another for a while, just to get a line of conversation started with a lot of idle chatter, then Bill opened up into more serious and detailed talk.
"When we get to where we're going, there are going to be several people that are participants of the more intricate part of our little group. These people won't answer many questions, nor do they have many answers. They are basically in place to keep the machine running, but have little to do with how everything works. They are just people with skills we need in order to stay in operation, and keep the rest of the group safe and in the game.”
During this whole explanation, Tuck listened, but then again not listening like before.
"Tuck, did you hear what I just said?”
Tuck said, "Yeah, I heard every word, Bill, but you just talked and told me nothing.”
Bill smiled and said, "Yeah, it seems that way I guess, but once we get there, you'll understand more. Before this trip is over, you'll probably be satisfied with some things, dissatisfied with other things. You'll most probably be happy about some things, and then get pissed off about other things I show you. But you have to know it all, and understand why I did things the way I did, so you'll know you can trust me and everyone we work with. It just won't work any other way. I know you're somewhat confused and a little leery right now, but that's because of the way your mind works, and it's nothing I've done to cause your mistrust. Most guys trip off into this situation, and it's months before they ever start questioning things. But people like you can see inside of situations, and you do it as soon as you get into them, and that's part of what makes you special above all others here. So just bear with me a little longer, and like I promised, all the questions and doubts you have will be put to rest, okay?”
Tuck's Revenge Page 3
