The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by

by C. G. Roberts

  “Looks like you had yourself a bit of trouble”, I inquired. Gordon looked up at me, pushed his glasses back into position and replied, “Yeah, another tussle with Sully and Frankie, if you want I can tell you about them over lunch”. “Let me guess, did they use you to test the doors and windows”? He looked back at the door and then back

  to me, “For me it was just the window, they used Joey to test the door. He’s still in the hospital”. That explains the recent repair jobs here. “When they tossed me out the window, the impact broke my glasses, so now I have to use my old pair; they don’t fit worth a shit”.

  “So if you don’t mind me asking, just what exactly is this place”? Gordon went over and sat down on the bed next to mine, “This is like a last chance place for kids who never got adopted or placed in a foster home, and for those who can’t, or won’t stay out of trouble. When we turn 18 we are turned loose on society, and not a problem for the State anymore”. “How long have you been here”? “Almost two years, but in four months I get to leave this place, thank God”. Two years, that has to be rough, and to think I only have to be here six weeks. “What you’re telling is that the

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  land for misfit toys is for real”. He smiled over that one, “Yeah I guess it is”, and he checked his watch only to find out that it was no longer working. Being that close to me I forgot to tell him about my force field that follows me everywhere. “Sorry about your watch, but since I got hit by lightning, things tend to not work around me, or blow up, I forgot t tell you”. “Not a problem”, as he looked up at the clock on the wall by the door. “Let’s go grab some lunch, it’ll be nice to actually have someone to sit with for a change. The foods not real good, but there’s a lot of it, and I’ll tell you about our problem children”.

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  wAlkIng over to the mess hall as Gordon calls it

  was quiet, but I could tell that Gordon had a lot on his mind. He peeked around the corner of mess hall and said, “Good there’s only one person in line so far, let’s go”. As we got up to the front door we could hear it unlock and Gordon mo-

  tioned for me to go ahead. The inside vaguely reminded me of a diner, the smell of pasta boiling and hamburger meat cooking filled the mess hall.

  The dining area was set up with six tables each with four chairs set up in no particular order. Along the perimeter was tile, and the dining area was all carpet. We made our way to the front of the line which was a similar set up to the high school cafeteria. The choices were few but the portions made up for the lack of choice. Cheesy pasta with hamburger, French fries, bread and either milk, tea or water.

  Gordon’s’ choice of tables was the one closest to the door.

  As we took our seat, the rest of our bunkmates arrived. I kept my attention on my plate, I already heard their ban-ter over my hair. Gordon employed the same strategy. The noise level grew rapidly, as I heard on of the steroid junkies behind the counter shout, “Shut your mouth Sully”. After a few minutes I raised my head to have a peek at the rest of the flock. “Hey Gordon”, as I motioned with my head to-wards the table furthest in back, “aren’t those four the same ones that were playing cards next door”. Without looking up,

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  Gordon knew exactly who I was talking about, “Yeah, those four are always together, the one doing most of the talking is Frankie Langella, he says his grandpa was a big time mobster in Chicago, and claims he still has ties with them”. “Who is the one wearing the dark football helmet”? Again without looking up Gordon says, “That’s not a helmet”. Holy crap, that dude’s head was huge. “That would be Sully Biggs, the local muscle for Frankie”. “His name’s Sully”, I inquired? “If you were to call him Sullivan, he would crush you, so every-one calls him Sully. The guy is huge, strong, and has a mean steak a mile wide”.

  “The third one who occasionally causes crap is B.B., his real name is Baxter Butler, and he prefers B.B., and the final member of the crew is really quiet, and all I know about him is his first name, Jimmy, he got here three weeks ago”. The four horsemen ride again.

  The lunch wasn’t too bad, it had some flavor, and was definitely filling, and the tea on the other hand tasted like it was made last week. I’ll have to remember to stick with water.

  “Hey Pepe, get over here”, Frankie hollered at me from across the room. I looked over at Gordon and he shrugged his shoulders. I decided to stay put. “Hey skunk head, get your ass over here now”! One of the ex-marine muscle men behind the counter added, “Put a cork in it Frankie, nobody’s in the mood for your shit”. Frankie replied, “nobody’s in the mood for your shit either but you keep putting it on our plates”. That comment garnered a rather loud bit of laughter from the four horseman’s table.

  My eye’s felt like they were going to pop out of my head when Sully decided to get up and head in my direction.

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  Gordon’s description of him was spot on, we’re obviously about the same age, but that’s where the similarity ends. Sully had no neck which made his head look even bigger. He has short dark hair and was getting dangerously close to growing a uni-brow. I made no conscious effort to stand, but I did anyway. He was a good head taller than me, and a good 350 lbs. at least. He was now directly across the table from me, “Frankie wants you over there”, pointing at the table where they were sitting. “So I suggest you make your way over there before I do it for you”. I felt like I was in a really bad after school special. I didn’t move, but Sully was walking around the table and stopped about three feet from me.

  I noticed that he was wearing a wrist watch, so I decided to employ a bit of strategy from one of the Criminal Minds episodes. It was either that or let him hit me. I looked up at him and said, “My friend wants to tell you something”. Sully looked over at Gordon, then back at me, “I’m not interested in what your friend Gordon wants to tell me”. “I’m not talk-ing about him, it’s one of the friends in my head that tells me things from time to time, and he wants me to tell you that your watch has stopped working”. Sully glanced down at his watch, and in fact it had stopped working.

  “You some kind of freak or something”, Sully countered. “Yeah, you could say that I’m a freak of nature”. Sully got a little closer; I guess the watch routine didn’t faze him as I had hoped. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but I needed to remember to control my anger. I put my focus on Sully’s face, as he was trying to stare me down. With cat like quickness he reached out with his right hand to grab me by the throat. I took a step back and waved my hand at his, and

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  his arm immediately went down. He tried a second time but I was able to keep his arm from moving, but didn’t know for how long.

  Mr. Watkins had just stormed through the door, closely followed by the two ex- marines that served our lunch. All three of them grabbed ahold of Sully, only to have one of them being shrugged off like a bug. Sully was definitely a force. It took a minute before the three of them had control

  of Sully and escorted him out of the mess hall. I’m sure it

  wasn’t over between him and me.

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  FrAnk FInIshed Another phone call, as Don pulled into the Short stop convenience store parking lot. Don looked around for a spot where they could set up shop. “Pickens’ are pretty slim Frank”. Frank gave him a dismissive look, “Pull into the gravel just past their parking lot, and if they get curious, flash them a badge and tell them to move on”. Don did as instructed, maneuvering the van so that he had a good view of the Coast Guard base across the street.

  “Will you be able to get camera views of all three of those buildings”, Frank inquired? “Not a problem, we have the two cameras’ on the roof, and the other on tripod by the back window. Give me about ten minutes an
d we’ll be in busi-

  ness”. Frank was satisfied with Don’s efforts, “Did you get any more information on Chandler Parson’s where abouts”? Don held up a finger to indicate the he needed just a moment, “Okay here we are. Parson’s has a corporation set up in Miami, called Green Country, set up to accept donations and paid out to a number parties representing anything from clean earth to stop global warming. It looks legitimate on the surface, but most of his payouts have gone to people that used to work for him at the CIA. I should have more in a

  couple of hours”. Frank wondered what the hell was Parson’s up to, and why was Agent Boling helping his cause. “Sounds good, but also look into his personal finances’ to see if anything is related to why Boling is out here”. Don nodded as he

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  was busy at the keyboard.

  “I’m going in for coffee, you want anything, Frank asked? “Sure coffee, black, and thanks”. Frank had just got out of the van when he noticed a commotion across the street. Three

  men were trying to take some huge kid somewhere. The kid was putting up quite a fight. Frank thought to himself that Billy Speer might not be as safe as they had originally thought. He watched as the men got the kid inside another building. Shaking his head, Frank went inside, hoping to find some fresh coffee.

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  gordon wAs stIll in his chair, looking up at me and not quite sure what he just saw. The rest of the group in the mess hall continued with their lunch. It was apparent that these types’ of outbursts were common place. The only grumbling came from the four horsemen’s table, minus their biggest horse of course. “Oh crap, here comes B.B.”, Gordon said in a shaky voice.

  I was finished with my lunch and Gordon was almost there as B.B. made his way to our table. He didn’t possess the physical presence of Sully, but carried a sneer that featured a crinkling of the nose, like he smelled dirty socks everywhere he went. He got up next to me and leaned over towards me; I’m guessing he didn’t want a kiss. “Frankie wanted me to pass on that he hopes that you have a restful night’s sleep tonight”, he giggled, then B.B. and his crinkled up nose went back to his own table.

  Gordon looked around the mess hall in a nervous man-

  ner, and then said, “Let’s go outside, they’re planning some shit, and pounding you is only part of it”. I was curious, so we took our trays over to the conveyer belt, sat them down and watched them disappear into the back of the kitchen. I was wishing I could disappear that easily.

  Once we got outside Gordon motioned me to follow him. I followed him between the mess hall and the recreation

  building. He went around the back side of the Rec. building,

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  where we came upon a couple of weather worn lawn chairs that faced the Bay. The wind was picking up which made it cool, even by July standards.

  Gordon looked around quickly, apparently satisfied that we were alone. “What the hell did I just see in there”, as Gordon pointed towards the mess hall? What did I have to lose; the bullies were beating up Gordon and now planning to beat me up, so I told Gordon everything. A few times during my explanation, Gordon’s mouth literally fell open. I could tell by the expression on his face that he was having a hard time absorbing this information.

  “This is entirely too Twilight zone like, you can really move shit by focusing on it, you will it to happen”? ‘It’s true, but it’s still new to me so I don’t really have a handle on it yet, and don’t know that I ever will”. He bent over to pick up a small rock and placed it on the tree stump table that was between the two lawn chairs. He said, “Okay then, make that rock move if you can”. I think I’ve just been challenged. So be it, I put my focus on the rock; kept concentrating, then swung my arm out away from my body and the rock went flying.

  “Too cool, that rock must have gone fifty feet”, Gordon exclaimed. I too was amazed at the ease of which the rock

  took off. I was curious about what he had mentioned, not so much about pounding me, but the planning some shit peaked my interest.

  We took up temporary residence in the lawn chairs, both of us trying to absorb new information. “I get the fact that this is like a last chance housing, but what happens when we turn 18, do they just open the door and wish you

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  the best of luck”? Gordon stayed in silence for a second, then replied, “This place is run similar to a jail, mainly because most of the people that come through this place end up in jail. The big dudes’ on staff here, they’re on loan from corrections. This place was set up by family services, but is basically run by the county”.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get to be here”? Gordon didn’t look at me but kept his focus on the bay. “I was one of the few that never got adopted, I was placed in a few foster homes, but they were all disasters. The last one I was at was the worst. The couple seemed okay, but I soon found out that the husband liked me more than he liked his

  wife. I ran away and ended up here, almost two years now”. My heart sank, what a crappy way to grow up, and yet he has endured everything life has thrown at him.

  Gordon continued, “When you turn 18, they try to find you a job, so we can become useful members of society, but you normally live in one of the half way houses and end up drinking, smoking or injecting most of your paycheck”. I sensed that Gordon was bummed about this place so I changed up the topic a bit.

  “So where did they take old helmet head”, that brought a smile to his face. “There’s a room in the back of the rec.

  room set up specifically for troubled teens”. “Kind of a time out room”, I quipped? “More like solitary, and depending on what they did determines how long you stay in there”. This was like a jail, “What about if we want to go somewhere, you know to just cruise around town”? He got up from his chair as did I and we started to make our way to the front of the mess hall. “Normally once a week usually Saturdays’, we get

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  to choose a place to go, but there’s always two of the correction dudes as our escorts”. As we made our way to the front of the building, Gordon pointed to the convenience store across the road. “They will let us go there, if we’re just getting smokes or a coke or snacks. That’s the one solo trip we get to make as long as you haven’t started any crap”. As I followed Gordon’s point across the road, I noticed a familiar SUV parked off to the side of the building. I’m pretty sure that’s the same SUV that I saw when I was leaving the Hospital.

  “Let’s go in and watch some TV, twilight zone should be on”. Who am I to argue with 1960’s horror, “Cool, and later you can tell me what shit the four horsemen are planning”. “The four horsemen of the apocalypse, how appropriate, and I’ll fill you in as long as we don’t have any others around”. I was impressed about Gordon’s knowledge of the four horsemen. As I said earlier, I didn’t read a lot, but I did know about that.

  Inside the rec. hall was quiet as we were the only ones here, everyone else is probably still at lunch. There was an old couch with a couple of even older chairs flanking each side of it. Gordon grabbed the remote off the couch, hit the power button and we plopped ourselves down ready for some twilight zone.

  This one was a classic, William Shatner on a plane flight trying to convince everyone, that there’s a monster on the wing. Gordon and I were enjoying our viewing of choice. As I scanned the hall noting that we were still alone I asked, “Well, what do they have planned”? Gordon took a moment to respond, “Me and Joey were playing darts, and they were playing poker as usual, they were being loud, but

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  Frankie told them to shut up. That’s when the whisper-ing started. Between the TV being loud, two others playing ping pong and us playing darts they figured that no one would hear them”. I remember Gordon asking me about being hit by lightning when he was across the room and we were in the office. “Let me guess, you and your Vulcan hearing heard everything”.

  “I did and was explaining it to Joey, b
ut he kept looking over at them. It didn’t take Frankie long to figure it out”. “That’s why we got the crap kicked out of us; to keep us quiet, and last Friday before the storm hit, they put in the new windows and the door in”. I was figuring that the four horsemen were not done with Gordon and Joey.

  Gordon was starting to tell me their plan when Frankie came waltzing through the front door. “Well if it isn’t Pepe and the Geek”. Frankie came over to the couch and grabbed the remote out of Gordon’s hand and started changing chan-nels. “Hey we were watching that” Gordon shouted. Frankie just smiled at both of us as he pointed to some car show that was on. “And now gentlemen, you’re watching this”, as he pulled up a chair a little bit too close to Gordon for my comfort. I looked over at Gordon and he met my glance as I winked at him. I was focusing on the TV concentrat-ing, and bang, now its back on channel 32 and the Twilight Zone. Frankie looked up at the TV, then down at the remote, “What the fuck”, he said as he was changing the channel again. I waited until he was settled, then I changed the chan-nel again. The front door opened as Mr. Watkins came in. Frankie saw him and got up from his chair, “Hey Watkins, this piece of shit needs new batteries”, as he followed Mr.

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  Watkins into his office.

  Gordon took this opportunity to fill me in on their plans. According to Gordon, he heard Frankie talk about his Uncle Paulie sending him a car to use when he gets out of here. Both Frankie and Sully both have nine months before they turn 18. They have no plans on waiting that long.

  What Gordon says’ they plan to do is to rob ten desig-nated businesses, shoot whoever gets in the way, then take the money and run. I wasn’t clear how guns got in the pic-ture, but Gordon said his Uncle left him some gifts in the trunk. The key to the car is at a place that Frankie has told no one yet as well as the location of the car. I have a much bet-ter understanding of Gordon’s fear, not only for his health, but also for his life; Gordon and Joey are witnesses. To make matters worse, they’re planning to do it this Friday, when the others are being taken to a movie. Today is Monday, so there’s less than four days to make sure no one gets hurt.