Tuck's Revenge

by Rory Flannigan

  Bill stepped in and said, "And if any of you want to know who Tuck is, I'll tell you. Tuck is the kind of guy that would pack an icicle in dry ice and haul it a thousand miles across the country, just to put it in the base of your skull, so it would melt down and not leave any evidence. Tuck is the kind of guy that if he wanted to kill anybody, he wouldn't need help to do it. So, you people are barking up the wrong tree.”

  There was a lot of dissention among the ranks of Bill’s people, and there was no sure way to quell their suspicions. They knew he was dangerous, and it made them more antsy and distrusting. Besides that, two of their own were dead, and that set off warning bells. Bill knew one way to end this dilemma was to bring in the dead and inspect the wounds on each, and see who killed who.

  Bill asked Tuck what he thought they should do with the truck out on the road with all the explosives in it, and he said he'd g take care of it then pick up the others and bring them back to the house. A couple of the guys didn’t like that idea, so Tuck told two of the guys to come along with him and they could hold the explosives on the ride back. When he said that, they both declined the offer to go along.

  "C'mon, Tuck, I'll go with you, we'll leave the girls here to cook or knit while we're gone.” They walked to the truck, and Bill stood back some distance until Tuck called him.

  "Bill, something about this doesn't look or feel right.”

  "Why, what's wrong?”

  "These explosives aren't hooked to the truck. Did you find a detonator on one of those guys?”

  "No, I searched them.”

  Tuck told Bill that they needed to walk over and see if either of the two he left in the bushes had one on them, because if not somebody had it.

  "You got two? I only heard one shot.”

  "I only shot one, but there were two.”

  They made their way over to where the sniper was setup, and found him with a .308 caliber rifle, scoped and IR (infrared) capable. They searched him and his pack out gear, but no detonator. They walked about thirty yards to where the other guy was lying with his throat cut.

  Bill asked, "Did you do this?”

  "Yeah, but I wanted to bring him in with me, but he wouldn't have any of that. So I just left him here.”

  They searched him, but again nothing as far as a detonator, but they found a radio in his backpack, so Tuck took it with him. They were walking back toward the road, when Tuck headed back to the house.

  "Hey, what are we going to do about the truck?”

  "It'll set right there until we find what they were using for a detonator.”

  "What, do you think it's there around the house somewhere?”

  "It's either around the house, or this radio that guy had is it. But I don't know which it is yet.”

  As Bill and Tuck got back to the house, one of the guys asked, "Where's the truck and the men?”

  Bill said, "We need a key to the truck.”

  Tuck pulled out the radio as he was close to the group gathered under the porch, and then he turned it on and keyed it up. From within the pack, they heard a loud squeal from a radio someone had on them.

  Bill walked over to the guy, and the guy knew he was caught and all he could do was hang his head.

  Bill said, "You have a detonator on you?”

  The guy reached in the back of his pants, and came out with a small remote. Bill handed the remote to Tuck, and then asked, “Why? Why would you betray us like this?”

  "For money of course.”

  "How much money, who was going to pay you, and who is in it with you?”

  "Just the five of us. We were going to split one hundred thousand dollars at twenty thousand each, but we had to take you out for it to get paid.”

  "Who was paying you?”

  "I never seen him before, and I don't know who he was.”

  "You know you're fixing to die, right?”

  "We all have to die sometime, Bill.”

  Bill turned to face the group. "What do we do with him?”

  In near perfect harmony, they all said, "Death.”

  Tuck pulled Bill over to the side so he could talk without anyone else hearing, then Tuck walked over to the guy. "This is what's going to happen. You're either going to watch this other guy die, then you'll tell me who is trying to take Bill out, or after he watches you suffer and die, he's going to tell me.”

  "I'm dead anyway, so what does it matter?”

  Tuck walked over to the other man who was still tied in the chair and stuck his knife about an inch inside the man’s eye socket, then started prying it out. The man was in agony, and screaming. "I can make this last for hours, so you'll know how long you have to deal with it.”

  In just a couple of minutes, the man passed out from the pain, and Tuck went around behind him, cut his ties loose and pushed him out of the chair, rolled him over on his stomach, then he reached down and severed his Achilles tendons, which instantly woke him back up, and in even more agony. Tuck reached down, grabbed the man by his hair, "You'll either tell me what I want to know, or I'll hurt you until these red ants around here eat you, while you're still breathing. Now tell me what I want to know, and I'll put an end to your pain.”

  "Okay, I'll tell you. I only know him as ‘Homeboy’, he has a big scar all the way across his forehead and he has a shitty prison tat on his arm of some bitch named…”

  Bill whispered, "Cynthia."

  The guy shook his head and confirmed it.

  "You know how to find this guy?” Tuck asked.

  "Yeah, this sonofabitch was one of the guys I told you about in my old crew when I first started this.”

  Tuck said, "I thought you got rid of those people?”

  "This guy is someone I went to school with, and grew up with. I let him stay breathing because he was going up north, and I didn't think he'd ever cause me any problems.”

  "Makes me glad I didn't have a lot of friends.”

  "Well yeah, I guess we learn as we go, don't we? Do you know where to find this, Homeboy?”

  "Yeah, he won't be hard to find. I'll make a couple of calls and locate him in a day or so.”

  Tuck turned around and reached down to the man writhing in pain on the ground, and stuck his knife in the base of his skull, which killed him instantly, then he stood and walked toward the house, and on his way by the other guy, in one fluid move, he reached out and snapped the guy’s neck.

  Bill and the other members of the group stood there in amazement at the ease Tuck could kill a man. One of the members of the group told Bill, "Nice guy, where did you find him?”

  The big mouth who messed with Tuck earlier said, "Yep, I think I'm going to like this guy.”

  They laughed, and then walked up to the porch to get out of the sun. In a few minutes, Tuck walked out of the house, and asked Bill, "You ready to go get that truck off the road now?”

  Bill said, "Sure.”

  Everyone else stood as well and said, "Let's all go get it.” One of the people told Tuck with a half grin, "I'll hold the explosives for you after you take them out.”

  Tuck had earned his place, and showed his worth to the others. He was accepted by the flock from then on. He disarmed the explosives, loaded up all the bodies he left scattered around, and took put them in the truck, except for the two members of their group that were killed. They decided to bury those bodies on the grounds.

  Bill asked Tuck how he wanted to get rid of the other guys and the truck.

  "We're down here close to the border aren't we?”

  Bill said, "Yeah, it's about an hour south.”

  "Good. I hear drug deals go bad in this area all the time.” They waited until after dark and then Tuck headed south with the truck filled with dead guys. Bill and one of the other guys followed him about forty miles down some old ranch roads until they came to a remote enough location. They poured gasoline all over it, set it on fire, then Tuck got into Bill’s truck and they went back to Bill’s place. After they got about two miles down the road, they hear
d an explosion and saw a ball of fire rise into the sky. Bill looked at Tuck,

  "Looks like another drug deal gone bad to me,” Tuck said with a smile. They got a laugh out of that as they made their way back. Once they made it back, the rest of the group was sitting around out back waiting on them. They all sat around and talked for a while until Tuck said, "I think I'll turn in, it's been a busy day. Got to get up early tomorrow.”

  Then Bill asked, "You have plans?”

  "No, but knowing you, I bet you've got something in the works.”

  Bill smiled and said, "We do have an agenda.”

  *****

  Bill was already awake and in the middle of breakfast when Tuck walked into the kitchen the next morning. Tuck grabbed a cup of coffee and they headed out back.

  "Are we going back today?”

  Bill said, "Probably tomorrow. I have someone coming in today I want you to meet.”

  "Well I hope the company today doesn't bring friends like the ones yesterday.”

  Bill smiled and said, "I'd be really surprised if that happened.”

  "Is this person coming someone you've known for a while?”

  "Yeah, I trust this guy with my life, just like I'm coming to trust you. This guy is somebody I knew in Vietnam, and he's a good man. In some ways, he reminds me of you, and I think you two will get along well.”

  "You know how I get along with other people, so don't get your hopes up.”

  Bill smiled and said, "Well, he'll be here soon, so we'll see.”

  "Well, Bill, I've seen pretty much everything here on your little ranchette between here and the front gate. If you don't mind, I think I'll take a stroll and check the rest of your place when the sun gets a little higher.”

  "That'll be fine, just watch out for the scorpions and the rattlesnakes.”

  Tuck laughed and said, "I always do.” He went into the house and returned with his knife and pistol. "You feel like a walk?”

  "No, you go ahead, I've seen the place before. And besides, I have to wait here for our guest. He should be here in an hour or so.”

  "Okay then, I'll be back in a while.” Then he stepped out, walked toward the back of the property, and disappeared into the brush.

  As Tuck was walking, he came across a small stream and the water trickling in it was calming, so he decided to sit and just relax for a while. Tuck tried to think back at the last time he was in a safe place where he could relax and collect himself for a while. And he knew those situations didn't come along very often, so he liked enjoying them when they came along. Before he knew it, he had been gone a couple of hours, and he figured he better be getting back. So he got up and started on his way back, but his instincts told him he had better check out the situation before he walked on in.

  He decided to go around and position himself where he could check out the house from a distance. As he came up to the ridge on the west side of the house, he stood and watched for activity. Tuck noticed that there was a new truck parked in front, and he wondered if that was the one Bill had been waiting on or somebody else. So he decided to stay out of sight and slip in the front door. As he reached the front, he could hear laughter coming from inside, so he knew there was nothing necessarily nefarious going on, so he opened the door and stepped inside quietly. As he was moving across the floor of the front room, he heard Bill talking to someone about him. He was saying, "He went for a walk to check the place out and he should be getting back pretty soon.”

  “You gonna kill him then?” someone asked.

  Bill chuckled. “Yeah, figure we can lay some of this shit on him and let us get away free and clear. Thought we might be able to use him, but nah, especially since we had this shit set up for too long. Boss wants him dead, so he is dead.”

  “Why all the other crap, you know at his hometown?” the man said and Tuck narrowed his eyes and pulled out his gun. He could not believe what he was hearing. Who the hell was the boss who wanted him dead? Shit, his world was falling apart and for some reason he was a target? Shit, he had only been home a few months, couldn’t have pissed anyone off too bad yet.

  “Don’t know, man, following orders, shit, you didn’t have to live in that pissant town making solid background story before the dude came home, it was hell. We give him another week, make sure he does what we need him to do in order to take the fall and then he is gone and so are we,” Bill said and Tuck frowned.

  He turned and slipped away, thinking whoever the boss was just bought a fucking war. Tuck wasn’t stupid, he needed money, and he needed help, he was going to get both.

  Chapter Four

  Torture: the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain

  As Tuck was going through Elko, a town in northern Nevada, he saw something on the outside of town. He had been on the run for months, since he didn’t have the resources that Bill and his people had, Tuck needed to work for it, and he did. For two months, he had worked in a no named shop just for money. Then he began to do his research and he was ready to figure out what the fuck was going on now, he was also looking for a little help.

  It was a motel with familiar writing on it, so Tuck pulled in to scope things out. As he walked into the office, the person behind the desk was a middle-aged man wearing non-conspicuous clothing, but what caught Tuck’s eye was the sign on the wall that was an old saying in Vietnam. "We the unwilling, led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate, die for the ungrateful.” Unknowingly he had met the man who would change his life once again, this time, in a good way.

  Tuck smiled and said, "I like your sign. Were you in Vietnam?”

  The man said, "Yep, for three years and then I came home.” The motel manager grinned and said, "They call me Boots, but name is Don Wilcox.”

  "Okay, why Boots?”

  "I imagine because that's all I ever wear are boots. I hate tennis shoes, and I don't even own a pair of dress shoes, I only have boots.”

  "Boots is a good name. Nice to meet you, Boots.”

  "Glad I met you too, Tuck. I get a good feeling about you being here.”

  "Yeah, I've just been home about a year now.” That was all it took to strike up a conversation about the war, so Tuck humored the man for a bit.

  Then Tuck, seriously tired of the game he was playing because he was ready to begin his path of vengeance finally, said, "I noticed your sign outside. Do you know Bill?”

  Don looked at him and said, "You know Bill?”

  Tuck said, "Sure do. I met Bill in Vietnam, then met up with him again after I came home.”

  Then Don asked, "Have you seen him lately?”

  Tuck looked at the man’s eyes and said, "Yeah, I saw him a few months ago when I dropped by his place.” Then Tuck pulled out his pistol, and told the man to go into the backroom. The man backed up and Tuck followed him into the room off the back of the office. There was a woman inside, and her eyes got wide when she saw Tuck and Don in the doorway.

  “Hey,” she yelled and Don looked over his shoulder.

  “Glory, calm down, everything is good,” Don said.

  “Good? Dad, you gotta be kidding me!” Glory snapped and Tuck finally took the time to look at the woman, she was gorgeous, red hair, and a full body. Damn, he thought, he would totally like to have a go at her, but there was business to take care of, and it didn’t include fucking. He took his eyes off her for a moment.

  “Glory, I got this,” he snapped.

  “Yeah I see that,” she drawled and then Tuck heard the distinctive clip of the hammer of a gun. He eyes went back to the woman and he grinned. Yeah, he could totally get on board with some of her.

  “Damn it, girl, gimme that,” Don snapped and stepped back and held out his hand and the woman shrugged and plopped it in her father’s hand.

  “Whatever, I am going out for coffee, you want some?” she asked, like having a man hold a gun on her father was an everyday occurre
nce. Tuck frowned and blocked the doorway.

  “I don’t think so,” Tuck growled, this was getting out of control.

  “You do not want to stand between me and my coffee.” She laughed and walked right up to him and pushed her way through the door. Tuck was stunned, did she not see the killer her was. What the fuck?

  Don chuckled. “Sorry, man, you aren’t gonna scare my little girl with that little gun, she can shoot a flea off a mouse. Now, why don’t we have a conversation that doesn’t involved guns.”

  Tuck turned to the man and frowned deeper, he had no idea what the fuck was happening, but somehow he had lost control over the situation, and he didn’t like it. He had a plan, and that didn’t include what was happening right now. He glared and then snapped.

  "Bill is going to be dead, I will kill him because he is trying to kill me.”

  The man smiled and said, "Deemed a loose cannon were you? I mean, that is the way Bill works, so we have something in common.”

  "Yeah, that's what he said. You too?”

  Don leaned back in his chair, folded his hands across his stomach, and said, "Well, I knew Bill was making a mistake when he took up that practice of getting rid of people he saw as threats. I tried to tell him a couple of years ago to not listen to that idiot friend of his. He didn’t like that I challenged him so he tried to have me killed too.”

  "You survived, I would assume that would mean you worked something out. What friend was that?”

  Don said, "They called him Trey, but his name was Roger or maybe Robert I think. I only met him once, but he was a smartass and didn't use his head. What we worked out was, he left me the hell alone, and I didn’t reciprocate his attempt on my life.”

  "Didn’t work out like that for me. Do you know where I can find this guy?”

  "He lives out in Carson City somewhere from what I'm told. You can talk to the people at the antique shop on the west end of town, they weren't too happy with Bill there at the end either. They might know right where to find the guy you're looking for.”