Billy Palmer

by Ronald Zastre

  What the hell was that all about?

  Manny was sitting in the middle of the road, tire smoke hanging around the car like a small, phantom fog bank.

  Am I glad I made it, or did I ‘want’ to crash, so it wouldn’t come to this?

  Manny sat there watching the smoke dissipate.

  I can stay and make a stand, get this over with, or I can keep on driving, think of something else.

  Manny put the car in gear and started slowly back up the road.

  If I just drive away, it will come to this again, I know it will.

  Manny drove up to the spot.

  “It won’t end until I do something about it,” he said quietly to himself.

  He pulling off the road, parking the Vet as far off the pavement as possible. It was out of view unless somebody looked hard. The clouds had thickened, leaving the florescent globe of the moon barely discernible.

  He clicked on the phone and tried to dial his home number, but the phone wouldn’t pick up a signal, just like Keaton had told him. He speed dialed Tainer’s cell number and the signal came back immediately. Manny only got the request to leave a message.

  “Hey Tainer, got Bat there with you, huh?” Was his message.

  Manny put the phone back down and waited.

  The phone rang within a minute. Manny picked it up, pressed talk, and put it up to his ear. No one spoke, but Manny knew he had an open line.

  “Come on Tainer, I saw Bat back at the gas station, yesterday, in the big black car. You guys operate well, that car must have cost more than the rocket I’m driving. Bat O’Brien is not in Vietnam anymore, is he Tainer? He made it back, right? You should pick your accomplishes better, or not give such a good description. He sure is an ugly little fucker. I know he’s there with you now? I know because I saw you and Bat go by the motel a bit ago.”

  Still no answer

  “He’s the one that tried to get to Cassey. How did he manage to get lucky with George? That dog probably weighed as much as he does, if you described him right and I think you did, according to Cassey. And, how come he missed me? Did I slip just at the right time, or was he still hurting from the beating George gave him?”

  Still no answer

  “Come on Tainer. I know it’s you on the line.”

  “Yes, Manny, I’m on the line, and he’s right here,” Tainer finally answered. Manny could detect a little hesitation in his voice. “That was poor judgment, though, calling him ugly. He informs me that he will now do his job with extreme prejudice. I assume he means that he will not be kind.”

  “You mean you were going to kill me kindly, and now that I’ve objected, you will do me mean spirited? I’m curious though? Now that we’re into the explanation stage, just what have I done to justify my murder in the first place?”

  Again there was no response.

  “Come on Tainer, give me your version of the justification for this. I know Bat just likes to hurt people. By the way, Bat, you listening? My wife has left me because of you, and the quickest way to regain her admiration would be to even the score about George. Not that I might get some pleasure from it myself because I loved that big old hound too.”

  Tainer didn’t respond.

  “Come on ‘girls’, talk to me,” Manny taunted. “You’re the assholes that are ruining my way of life. I figured it out, and now you don’t want to participate. You certainly are a couple of pricks in my book.”

  “Billy was a man, you’re not,” Tainer finally responded angrily. “I want his life’s story.”

  “Don’t bullshit me Tainer, you’re not interested in Billy’s life story, you’re interested in Timtown. You can tell the Vietnam story in your own words, you were there. You want his writing. All this is nothing but deflection. I read Timtown, Cassey kept a copy, and I read it. It’s a terrific story. You want to steal it to call it your own.”

  “Where do you go from here?” Tainer asked.

  “Are you talking about bargaining with me?”

  “No, Manny, you have nothing to bargain with, and you are not a brave man.

  “So you expect me to do nothing, is that what you’re hoping?”

  “There’s nothing you can do. You have nowhere to go, Manny, so I guess all this supposition is good for the soul. I talked to the police guy, Swenson, yesterday and he is pissed about you running. He thinks he screwed up and let you get away. So he is hunting you at this moment, but don’t worry, I’m not the kind of guy that would tell on you.”

  The connection went dead, cut from the other end.

  Manny put the phone down on the passenger’s seat, certain that Mark Tainer was not interested in talking to him any farther. The phone’s physiological use was gone, for now.

  Manny waited, and a couple of minutes later he saw headlights coming up the road. His first feeling was fear.

  I can back the Vet out on the road and be gone before they get to me, or I can stay and try to fight.

  Manny feels for the large canvas bag on the rear deck, behind the seats. He pulls the bag over the passenger seat and it flops down beside him. The headlights are maybe a couple of minutes away, as Manny looks intently at the bag. He watches the approaching headlights some more.

  This is the only way I’ll ever get my whole life back. Even if the truth gets told, the truth will still be that I jeopardized Cassey’s life, foolishly. Both of us will always have that hanging over us. I need to finish this now.

  Manny grabbed the cell phone, the bag, and opened the car door. It was pitch black outside because the clouds had thickened and the moon was gone. He walked to the edge of the road, snapped on the small pen light he had, and stepped into the underbrush at the same spot as two weeks before. He was fifty feet into the thick growth, moving down the same narrow game trail when he heard a car approaching on the road above. He heard Bat and Tainer’s car skidding to a stop in the gravel. Two doors opened, as Manny reached the bottom of the slope. He started up the hill, the sound of the trunk being slammed hurrying him on. He used the pen light intermittently and only down at the ground.

  “Manny, you fool!” Tainer yelled from the road. “You’re making this too easy. I knew you’d panic! I knew you’d be no match for us. But for god’s sake Anderson, why out here, why make it so easy? You can run as fast as you like, go ahead and run, Manny, you can run, and run, and run, but there is no place to go.”

  Manny could hear muffled voices from the road as he found the rock cap and turned left, still going up. Manny located the small protected place from the first trip, sat down, took the cell phone and dialed Tainer’s number.

  “Hello Manny,” Tainer answered immediately.

  “Leave me alone, Tainer,” Manny used a pleading tone. “They’re going to know it was you.”

  “Anderson, no one is going to think anything close,” Tainer laughed into the phone. “You see, you’re guilty in everyone’s eyes, and you’re on the edge of losing it. They won’t be surprised that you had to end it all, they’ll expect it. They don’t even know I’m here. Besides I’m covered Manny, no one will ever find your body. Manny Anderson is just going to disappear off the face of the planet. I’m going to do you, and no one will ever know the truth.”

  Back up toward the road, Manny could see a light, barely showing through the heavy vegetation. It was making its way down.

  “Aren’t these things wonderful?” Tainer continued. “I mean the cell phones. You and I can talk, carry on a conversation while I hunt you down. Shit, in Vietnam we couldn’t even carry radios, to heavy, lousy batteries.

  Manny could hear Tainer and Bat struggling through the thick growth, they hadn’t found the game trail in their over confidence.

  “Just think Manny, Billy and I went into the teeth of the dragon, hoping like hell we didn’t need any help because there was none. We couldn’t make a call if our life depended on it. Back then we didn’t have something like a cell phone to call for the cavalry. Damn smart of me to switch yours, huh? Geez, I just amaze myself som
etimes.”

  Manny quickly opened the bag and withdrew the compound bow and a large quiver of arrows Kenny had gotten him. He sat back against the rocks and took many deep breaths, trying to calm himself, looking for the confidence he knew he would need.

  “You got yourself into this, sport, and now there is just one way out. Why have you done this to yourself? Why and hell do something so fuckin dumb.

  Tainer is probably right. I’ve backed myself into a corner, and now there is only one way out.

  “Can you believe it Manny,” Tainer started the taunts again. “Who’d think you’d end up in a pickle like you’re in.”

  Manny saw the light at the bottom of the rock slide, and could make out two individuals down there, looking around, trying to figure which way he had gone.

  Crazy mothers. Shit if I had a rifle, I could at least nail one of them. Why am I up here with just my bow?

  Tainer and Bat just stood at the bottom of the slide a hundred and fifty yards away, moving the light back and forth, uncertain what to do.

  “Who, in this day and age,” Tainer continued, “could imagine having their worst nightmare hot on their heels, and their fuckin cell phone is no good. Got to put that in my book, the one I write after Timtown hits the shelves.”

  “Timtown, what a goddamn gold mine, and it fell right into my lap. Billy would have wanted me to have it, you know. I was his friend, not you Manny. Not your sweet assed wife either. Me, Manny, me, cause I was the one that was with Billy when he developed into the kind of man that was capable of writing that classic. I covered his ass when he had the talent forming in his brain.”

  Bat was holding something in his one hand and pointing up toward Manny’s position with the other.

  “You had nothing to do with the Billy the writer,” Tainer said as he looked in the direction Bat was pointing. “You and your turd friends didn’t appreciate him or the person he became. You denied him the basic rights he deserved, the simple act of respect, the common decency to listen to what he had to say. He came to you, asked you to listen to him, to help him with that book, his dream. That’s what that story was you know, his dream, his ticket to the life you all got, the one he worked for and never achieved. It’s your fault Manny, you killed Billy, and now I’m going to kill you.”

  Tainer and Bat spread out, circling the outcrop, angling up toward him. Manny watched patiently as the two men climbed toward him. Manny selected an arrow and notched it into the bow.

  I’m going up against professionals here. These fuckers are killers, and I’ve got to do this now and do it right.

  Manny took a few more moments breathing deeply, getting the oxygen, letting the tension flow out, getting settled for what was going to be a defining moment, or the end of his life.

  Tainer had move to within seventy yards, shinning the light around, but not spotting Manny yet.

  Manny took a couple of more deep breaths and pulled the bow up. He drew the arrow back, holding the tension, steadying himself, aiming. Manny had the bow drawn all the way back, taking careful aim.

  Make this count dammit. And he let the arrow fly. The bow gave a sharp twang, and the arrow sped on its way. A second later, there is a loud shattering of glass and the light was gone.

  “Son-of-a-bitch!” Tainer screamed, the destroyed light bouncing on the rocks. “What the fuck was that?”

  “Mark!” Bat yelled back, as Manny could hear the two men scrambling on the rocks down below. “I think that crazy son-of-a-gun has a bow!

  “Which way did it come from?” Tainer asked in a quieter voice.

  “How should I know?” Bat responded. “You had the light . . . It’s really dark out here.”

  “Oh great,” Tainer snarled, “fuckin afraid of the dark.”

  “Up your’s Tainer! I’m not an owl. How did that dip weed get that lucky?”

  “Shit, I don’t know, but let’s get this thing done, and keep your voice down, you’re supposed to be a professional for christ sakes.”

  “I don’t even know which way he is,” Bat whispered. “That guy’s screwed when I find him though. Let’s spread out, he’s got to be close.”

  Manny could hear the men talking, but it was difficult to hear exactly what they were saying, but he can tell they aren’t too happy with the situation.

  Manny waited, quietly, listening for a sound to give him another target.

  I hear you. Manny let another arrow fly, directed toward the sound of somebody stepping on a twig.

  “Gosh dangit!” Bat shouted.

  “What the hell’s your problem?” Tainer hissed.

  “He shot at me. Didn’t you hear it?” Bat said, running toward Tainer.

  “Yeah, I think so, you okay?”

  “Yeah, darn near got me, though.” Bat was breathing hard. “Went right passed my ear.”

  “Well, shut the fuck up,” Tainer whispered. “He’s shooting at the sounds, you dumb prick.”

  “Great, we got Robin Hood Two-Thousand out here,” Bat whispered back. “What the heck are we going to do without a light, huh, you answer me that one? What if he’s got one of them night seeing things?”

  “We’ll wait him out, he can’t get far, and when it gets light—”

  “Are you nuts?” Bat whined. “That’s hours from now. We’ll freeze to death out here.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you? I can remember when nothing bothered you.”

  “Yeah, well, I went to work in the cities where it’s a little more comfortable, and I got spoiled.”

  “Christ, I’m glad Palmer is not around to hear that, he’d be so disappointed.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Bat, I thought profanity was against your grain.”

  “Yeah, well I’m really mad.”

  “You going to belly ache, or get the job done? I paid you good money.”

  “Not enough Tainer. I almost got eaten by a dog, big as a car. Now we’re stumbling around in the dark, with a Suit flicking arrows our way. This wasn’t planned very good Mark”

  Tainer started to stumble on one of the rocks, the noise alerting Manny to his location.

  Manny let loose with another arrow.

  “Shit!” Tainer exclaimed, his voice following a loud thunk.

  “I heard it,” Bat shouted. “I heard where it came from. Up there, up to the left, I think he’s up in the rocks. Did he come close?”

  “Let’s get the hell out of here!” Tainer exclaimed, the sound of tumbling rocks marking his retreat.

  Manny stuck to his ground as he heard the two men moving back up the game trail toward the road.

  “Shit, they’re going back to the road, what the hell do I do now?” Manny mumbled under his breath. “They can just wait there for me, really smart Anderson.

  Manny heard the trunk of the car open, and then a few moments later another light flicked on.

  *

  “How close did he come?” Bat asked, shining the light back into the trees, toward where they retreated from.

  “Close enough, I’ve got an arrow stuck in my back pack,” Tainer answered, breathing hard.

  “He sure is a lucky guy,” Bat said.

  “He’s not lucky, you dumb ass,” Tainer growled. “That’s why he brought us here, you twit!” Tainer explained. “Remember Palmer telling us about that friend of his that was phenomenal with a bow?”

  “Oh yeah, I think I remember that?”

  “Well, shit for brains, guess who’s out there?” Tainer squawked.

  “Nah, he can’t be that dumb. There’s two of us with guns, nah, can’t be.”

  “I’m not saying he’s too smart, Bat, but he’s challenging us. We fucked up his life, good, and now he thinks he’s going to get even.”

  “Geez, dumb smuck’s got guts, maybe we should just forget this?”

  “Not hardly, you’re in this to the end now.”

  “Tainer, don’t tell me what to do, I don’t like that.”

  “I don’t give a rats ass what y
ou like or don’t like.”

  “Fuck you Tainer!” Bat moved toward the car, a defiant look on his face. “Nobody tells me what to do.”

  “You’ll do what I tell you, or else.”

  “Or else what?”

  “That time with the two little girls.”

  “Nobody’s going to believe you.”

  “You’re a goddamn deserter, Bat. Don’t you think the military would be real interested in finding your ass. They get their hands on you and then check you out, and they find that most of the time you weren’t out hunting Viet Cong, you were out raping poor little village girls.”

  “No one cared back there,” Bat stated.

  “Don’t try to bullshit me, Bat, you were damn glad Billy never found out about your dirty little secret. He would have killed you on the spot, and you knew it.”

  “Pure white Billy Palmer, bunch of crud.”

  “Regardless, we have a job to do.”

  “Stumbling around in the dark, trying to find Super Suit; thinks he’s William Tell?”

  “Yeah, well, that might be my fault,” Tainer laughed. “I guess I should have gone easier on him with all the rhetoric.”

  “What you talking about?”

  “I was kind of belittling him with all the Nam stories. I guess the poor sap took me serious and is trying to prove himself. You still have the locater right.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, give it to me. That stupid shit’s still got the phone. I don’t feel like spending any more time out here either.”

  “I don’t like being out all night either, let’s go,” Bat said, starting back into the underbrush.

  “Hold your horses Bat, let’s have some fun, first,” Tainer said, grabbing Bat by the belt, stopping him.

  “Fun’s killing him.”

  “Geez, you’re sure consistent,” Tainer said to Bat, then stepped back and shouted from the road into the woods.

  “So you’re the Bowman!” Tainer waited a moment. “Billy told me about you, but he never gave me a name. Just said he knew a guy that could hit anything with a bow. I never made the connection, Manny, but you can’t hit what you can’t see.”

  Manny shouted back. “Didn’t Billy tell you what the Bowman’s specialty was?” Manny noted the hesitation, the time Tainer was taking, thinking over the answer. It was the defining moment.