Epilogue
Chapter 26
Now
The gaunt figure at the bar didn’t want to be there. The old temptations jangled and wailed inside him, crescendoing briefly, until he willed them back down. He made a lot of hard changes over the years. Learned a lot too. Had to. Now the speed was just the tip of the iceberg. Nevertheless, the gaunt figure wanted this to be over quick.
One month ago, Charles Letz, his friend’s kid brother, had sat in this very same chair, grabbing a drink with his girlfriend before the movie started. Charles didn’t watch MMA fighting, and he didn’t know who Jack Aces was. He certainly didn’t know that Jack sat in this very same chair every Thursday night. It was the eagle’s perch. Everybody knew this. Now Charles Letz was on a ventilator, and it’s weird that he weighs one hundred forty-five pounds against Jack’s two hundred ten but everyone in the bar swears Charles swung first.
The gaunt man didn’t want to be here, but friendships were dear to him. He’d had too few. Lost too many.
The bartender watched the gaunt man sitting in Jack’s perch. He’d tried to take his order, but the thin dude just passed him a note that read “soda water.”
“If you don’t like the juice, stay outta the orchard,” the bartender wanted to say.
The gaunt figure looked down at the dirty glass, back up at the smirk on the bartender’s face. Everything takes so long, he thought. He’d already sized the place up. Two guys sitting at the end of the bar, three at the table by the big screen showing an MMA match. All eyes were on him.
“I hate bars anymore,” the gaunt man thought.
When Jack walked in and saw the skinny ass pussy sitting in his chair, he laughed. When the pussy lifted his glass like some kind of toast, right in front of everyone, Jack felt his face grow hot.
The bartender didn’t get the chance to wash that dirty glass. The gaunt man spun, smashing it against the bartender’s left temple. An elbow followed one sixteenth of a second later.
Jack Aces never sat in that barstool again.
Special Agent Mums stood up from the king sized bed in the downtown Ritz-Carlton, facing dusk twenty-five floors up. News played on the forty-two-inch-wide screen. Processed air kept the room a perky seventy-two degrees. He’d come to LA on a special case. He looked over the evidence.
The first journal, or Part One, was a ragged, stinking mess. Tests had revealed the presence of blood, urine and emesis, all of which were believed to come from the main subject of the investigation, who was most likely the author of the journals. Experts stated that the handwriting had the tight, jerking qualities of someone amped up on Type 2 stimulants. Contrary to this, the content demonstrated a presence of mind and attention to detail not likely for someone on a meth binge. This contradiction had yet to be resolved. Part One was written in the waning months of 1993. The other journal, or Part Two, was in much better condition, and was written in January of 1994.
If Deputy Director Leonerds was correct, the tale narrated in the journals was in fact a legitimate criminal case; a case that went way beyond the events described in these two pieces of evidence from the 1990s. Leonerds suspected the subject, the author, the suspect, was connected to a shadowy figure wanted by the FBI, Interpol, and numerous local police departments in a series of daring crimes that went far outside the golden borders of sunny California. Leonerds felt the author and the mysterious figure were one and the same, but he could never voice this to his superiors. The subject’s so called journals weren’t reliable. His talents weren’t believable. So Leonerds sent Mum’s on a secret mission to LA to take one last stab at sussing out the subject’s true identity.
Mum’s cell phone rang. It was Leonerds.
“Go to Capital Sports Bar, Mid-Wilshire. Seven people got their clocks cleaned last night. Including a professional MMA fighter who won’t be eating solids for a while. Eyewitnesses say one perp did it all. ”
“Another long shot,” Mums said.
“Just do it. People at the scene describe a guy who moves like lightning.”
“Check out another bar fight. Fine.”
Leonerds hung up.
It was Friday night and LA was wide-awake.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to acknowledge my research associates:
Bruno, The Zam Zam Room.
Lindy, The Formosa.
Stewie, The Casting Office.
Angela, Ye Rustic Inn.
The gold standard:
Nick and the gang, Hy-land House.
Many thanks to:
The Alameda Writers Group.
Gary Phillips, friend and mentor.
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Lawrence Maddox’s crime fiction has appeared in the anthologies Orange County Noir and 44 Caliber Funk: Tales of Crime, Soul, and Payback. Lawrence scripted the Hong Kong kickboxing flick Raw Target, and the indie musical Open House. He’s reviewed crime novels for All Due Respect, and has written for CineMontage. Fast Bang Booze is his first novella. A sequel is in the works. Lawrence is a native Angeleno and can tell you which midnight taco trucks serve the tastiest sesos and cabeza if you’re feeling brave.
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Fast Bang Booze Page 10
