The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by

by C. G. Roberts

  “I take it this is not a social call Agent Boling”. “No Director it is not. My surveillance has uncovered a rather unnerving set of circumstances which has prompted my call”. “Is this something that will require immediate resolution”, The Director asked? “The sooner the better sir. You see our prodigy sought out the other two agents with a face to face not six blocks from where I’m located, and he gave them a quick taste of his abilities by sending a large paint can flying down the road”. The Director was silent but Agent Boling could here labored breathing on the line. “It sounds as though, Agent Boling that I will have to expedite our original plans. I will have it remedied tonight. Anything else I should be aware of”?

  “No Director, but I wanted to find out how the Reenergizer machine was coming along”? “Splendidly, our staff has begun human testing this past week”. “Excellent Director, how does the machine operate”? “Very much like a defibrillator, it even has the two paddles. The only difference is that the subject must undergo a small operation to have the two

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  energy cells implanted in the body, then to recharge the body you simply apply the paddles in the same manner you would for the defibrillator. The end result is a subject with an endless supply of electricity to use as we see fit”.

  “That’s great news, plus our prodigy has high levels of telekinetic capabilities. The combination of the two would be almost unstoppable”. “Not almost Agent, he would be unstoppable. I will get back with you tomorrow to find out how tonight’s events played out”. With that being said the director ended the call. Agent Boling set her phone down and resumed her viewing with the camera.

  Knowing that the elimination of Agents Landers and Marrick would make this little towns head spin, Agent Boling regarded this as an opportunity to insure that her work could continue unnoticed since no one but Billy Speer knew that she too was an agent. She knew it was the right decision regardless of how it would play out with the local police.

  Don Marrick was fast at work gathering information at his work station in the SUV. Frank Landers was checking up on phone calls made by Parson’s to a number in Nevada. The area code was 775 which was not going to make the location easy since 90 percent of the state uses that area code. Don had provided Frank with three different numbers called by Parsons, all with the same 775 area code. Don was not able to track the calls. Apparently these calls were all land line calls which meant no cell towers to narrow down the location to

  within a few miles like he normally could. This would take

  some digging and hacking; Don loved this work.

  Frank finally had success with one of the phone numbers.

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  The person on the other end didn’t say anything just, “Yes”. “Yes Sir I’m with BMF trucking and we have a driver head-ing out in your direction but our systems have shut down and I have no way to get directions to him”. The voice on the other end replied, “Can’t he use a map”? “Why yes he could but with all the information on our computers we don’t have a town to match up with the delivery”. “Very well, hold a minute please”. Frank remained calm even though this might be what they’re looking for. His expertise though not as flashy as Don’s was quite effective in an old school sort of way. The voice came back on the line, “Okay but this is the last time, your driver should know where to go by now”. “I understand that sir, but the other driver had an accident and will be out of commission for a few weeks, so we have a dif-ferent driver to fill in for him”. “I see but this is unusual, we already had a delivery this week”.

  “That’s what I thought too, but the call came in and we’re on the way”. “The town is Round Mountain, which you know is in Nevada. So if he’s coming up from Las Vegas as usual take highway 95 north to state highway 376, fol-low it until you see the Round Mountain exit. Turn right on Jefferson and once you past the post office follow Jefferson until the paved road ends, the turn right for about three miles just over the ridge and he’ll see the guard shack”.

  “Thanks so much for your help, I’ll dispatch those direc-tions to him as soon as I hang up, Thanks again”. The voice on the other end hung up as Frank was undaunted by his lack of phone etiquette. Frank finished writing down the di-rections and turned and handed them to Don. “Here you go partner, it’s hard to trace a land line but this time old school

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  beats high tech”. Don took the paper read the contents and replied, “Are you kidding me, the guy you were talking to just gave you directions out of the blue”? Frank was smiling, “Not just out of the blue, but when you think you’re talking to a trucking company needing directions for a new driver, most people will volunteer information without too many questions”, Frank finished, in a gloating manner. Don just glared at him for a moment, “I’ll be damned, nice work Frank that was some real……Oh shit, Frank you’re not going to like this”, as Don’s Computer beeped at him telling him that he has a match for the data he inputted.

  Frank turned around to face him, “What am I not going to like, you’re killing my buzz”. “Tracing Parson’s calls and financials was easy enough, but the financial activity with him stopped about a year ago”. Frank disliked long explanations, “Don get to the point”. “You ready for this, Chandler Parsons died last August, and according to the medical report he had an inoperable brain tumor”. Frank was stunned by this news. “If he died last August, who is Boling getting calls from, I thought they were tied to Parsons”? “They were and that was able to temporarily hide the identity of the person in charge now, until I followed the money a little closer and found who ended up with the funding”. Frank was now getting impatient, “Name please”. Don let out sigh, “its Gable, John Jacob Gable”. Frank was now pissed, “you mean to tell me that the Director of the FBI is running this phony bullshit company and has Boling and god knows who else alongside him; you better be damn sure Don”. Frank could tell by the look in Dons’ eyes that he was sure.

  Frank didn’t need all of these years of experience to tell

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  him that he and Don might be in danger as well as Billy and Gordon. He knew he needed to work quickly. ‘“Don make sure you get everything backed up on a flash drive, you better make it two flash drives, then kill your computer”. Don looked up at Frank in disbelief, “kill the computer, you mean you want me to erase the hard drive”. “That’s’ exactly what I mean, make sure no one can trace anything you’ve done. I need to formulate a backup plan”. To Don this was like killing off a part of yourself, he was not pleased but followed orders anyway. “Don, do you still have that contact at the NSA”? “Sure, we keep in contact, why”? “Is he to be trusted”, Frank asked. Without hesitation Don replied, “Definitely”.

  “Before you kill everything, send him all the data that you’re going to put on the flash drive, with a message that we’ll be in touch with instructions regarding the data”. “Sure thing Frank, are you going to let me in on what our new plan is”? Frank was busy punching in a number on his phone, “as soon as I know, so will you”.

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  gordon And I made our way back across the street with our beverage of choice, mine being a Dr. Pepper and his was a Mt. Dew. There are five old fashion steel chairs outside

  the main building set up in a semi-circle with a small wooden table within reach of the chairs. The ashtray on the table was full which didn’t effect either one of us since we don’t smoke.

  The chairs are fairly rusty and looks like when they were new they were Aqua blue in color. We were the only ones outside so I figured that three of the four horsemen were inside dis-cussing pending business. We both sat and enjoyed the taste our soft drinks when I said, “When you told Agent Marrick about the diamonds coming in, I was wondering if you hap-pened to hear Frankie talk about what they will be looking for, or are they just going to steal as much as they can carry”?

  Gordon put the cap back on his drink and sat it on the table. “It’s weird because he was
saying that they will picking up three figurines of some kind and I wasn’t able to hear all of it, but what I could make out was that there are diamonds in the figurines that are being smuggled in, you know, not part of the regular shipment”. Maybe Frankie’s Uncle does have some kind underground business going on, and perhaps Frankie and the guys will be rewarded with some type job with the family business if they succeed.

  “Do you think the FBI will be able to help us Billy”? I didn’t have a pat answer for that one, “They’re going to

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  have to”. Our conversation got cut short by the sound of the door to the Rec hall opening and out steps Frankie walking out towards us. I really wasn’t in the mood for any of his shit but I had to remember to control myself. Come to think of it, it would be so much easier if I took off my gloves and nuked the four horsemen then the problem would be solved. The thought of me spending the rest of my life behind bars for nuking trash like that quickly put an end to the previous scenario.

  Frankie walked a couple of laps around us. He didn’t say a word but slowly kept walking around us. If this were musical chairs he would have plenty of options. Frankie finally stopped right in front of us. He looked over at Gordon then at me and said, “I’ve got two words for you”, he pointed a finger at Gordon and said, “Dead”, then pointed a finger at me and repeated, “Dead”. I couldn’t help myself, “What’s the second word”? Frankie looked confused, “What the fuck are you talking about Pepe’’? “Well, you said dead twice and that’s technically one word, so what’s the second word”? Gordon had a frightened look on his face, it looked like all of the blood in his face had vanished. Frankie directed his at-

  tention to me, bent down to where he was maybe a foot from my face and said, “Dead Pepe’, how’s that you glove wearing piece of shit”?

  I have to admit that when he got close to me I started to get scared, but when someone lobs a fat one down the middle of the plate, I’m swinging away. Satisfied with his scare tactics Frankie returned to take refuge in the Rec. Hall. By the look on Gordon’s face I guess Frankie’s tactics worked. I know he was more concerned than I was since his friend

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  Joey died from the beating they administered. Don’t get me wrong I’m concerned almost to the point of being scared but I’m angry more than anything else. I won’t let anything hap-pen to Gordon, so I suppose I should tell him that before the rest of the blood leaves his body and passes out.

  “Don’t sweat it Gordon, I think I can help you with the Mafia wannabes, especially if you and I stick close together. We’ll even sleep in shifts if you think that will help”. That seemed to bring a little blood flow back into his face. “I appreciate that Billy, I wish I could defend myself the way that you can”. I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t exactly defend-ing myself so much as I was just reacting to what Sully was trying to do. I have a long way to go before I get my black belt in Telekinesis.

  “So how does the sleeping arrangements go around here? Are we watched, or locked inside overnight”. “Not exactly”, Gordon replied, “They have another shift of Goons that come in to work the overnight shift. One of them stays in the Rec. Hall, and the other two are parked right outside the door of the building where we sleep, and they have two way radios”. “Of course that didn’t matter when I went flying through the window last Friday”.

  “What can you tell me about the four horsemen”? Gordon rolled his eyes in disgust, “What we have is a collection or a montage if you prefer, of murderers, drug runners and thief’s. Sully killed his entire family when he was fourteen. He used a shotgun on his parents and nine year old sister. B.B. has been selling drugs since he was twelve, and using since he was ten. Jimmy drugged his neighbors by spiking their pitcher of tea with something, and then stole

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  most everything of value in their house. That brings us to Frankie, if there’s anything missing around here you can bet that he took it. He’s the only one around here with money because he sells the stuff that he took. You can’t confront him

  about it without having to answer to Sully”.

  That was a disturbing account of our troubled residents here at Camp Crap. I felt sorry for Gordon, its bad enough not having any family and then to be put through this type of ridicule and abuse. This has been one hell of a first day already. I was more than ready for it to end except we had dinner and whatever evening activities awaited us. I was even more ready for Friday to be over. If everything played out, our two agents will take care of the four horsemen before they set foot in the jewelry store, and nobody gets hurt. One can always hope, right!

  Dinner was not too bad, Spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread sticks and I remembered to have the water this time. It wasn’t the type of cuisine that I would brag about, but not too shabby. Gordon and I worked off our dinner by watching a couple of episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. They were always good story lines even if they weren’t allowed to show any gore; they left that up to your imagination. We were the only two watching TV. Two others were playing ping pong, another pair were tossing darts, and three of the four horsemen set up residence at the usual spot, the card table. The only missing member was Sully, who was still stewing in the time out room.

  Gordon suggested we go outside as the sun was setting. He said he needed a smoke. I didn’t even know that he smoked, I’ve only known him for eight hours, so I’ll forgive

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  him for keeping that from me. We parked ourselves in the same spot outside the Rec. hall as we did earlier today. It felt nice outside, it felt like it was in the low 60’s with a slight breeze. That’s one of the benefits of living on the coast, there’s always a breeze.

  Gordon pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and lit one up. He offered me one but I turned him down. I keep remembering my dad saying, “Smoking causes stupidity”. I’m not sure what research he did to come to that conclusion. In keeping with dads’ subtle hints I never took up smoking.

  The setting sun cast an amber glow to the west. It was a rarity since most days around here are either filled with clouds or fog. We sat in silence and enjoyed the view.

  It was a little after 9 and Gordon said we had to be inside

  our sleeping quarters by 10:30, so we had some time to kill. We heard some car with those loud tailpipes spinning his way out the parking lot across the street at the convenience store. While I was watching the car take off down the road I looked back at the store and saw that the Agent’s SUV was still parked there when I saw a flash of light. “Hey did you see that”? “See what”, Gordon replied. As he turned to look at the SUV another flash of light shot out. “That, did you see that”? Gordon didn’t reply but nodded. That’s when we noticed the back door of the SUV opened up and one of the agents fell out onto the ground.

  I shot up out of the chair and took off towards the store. Before I knew it Gordon had not only caught up with me, but passed me as we got to the parking lot. We stood and looked at each other for a second when the sound of moaning came

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  from the back of the SUV. I stood in shock as I was Agent Marrick bleeding from the head, he’d been shot, but how, we didn’t hear any gunshot. “Gordon go check the front and see if I can help him. I went to the front of the store, pushed the door open and saw the clerk inside. I yelled at him to call 911, that someone had been shot.

  I saw Gordon just standing by the passenger door with his mouth hanging open. When I got next to him I could see what made him look like that. Agent Landers also got shot in the head except unlike Marrick, he wasn’t moving. I heard the moaning again, so I dashed around to the back of the SUV. Agent Marrick was on his back but seemed to recognize me, as he motioned for me to come over. As I got closer to him I could see him pulling something out of his suit pocket. He was trying to say something but couldn’t. Whatever he had in his hand, he was holding it out for me. “You want me to take this”, I asked as I bent down to him? He was trying to gather his th
oughts and finally said, “Take these……they will…….keep you……safe”. As I took them from his hand, his arm dropped to the ground, like Landers, he was dead. I didn’t look to see what he gave me I just put them in my pocket and went back around to Gordon.

  Gordon had managed to close his mouth but had yet moved from that spot, it was like his feet had rooted to the ground. “Come on Gordon, time to go, whoever shot them might shoot us as well”. That comment freed Gordon’s feet as he once again passed me as we ran back across the street as fast as we could. We didn’t stop at the chairs outside so I followed Gordon to the back of the building where we were earlier when I made that rock fly.

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  Gordon was trembling and barely managed to get a ciga-rette lit because his hands were shaking so bad. “What the hell was that Billy, did you……………oh my god, I can’t believe this”. I was as shocked as Gordon and almost asked

  him for a cigarette, that’s how upset I was. “Billy, did you hear any gunshot, I saw the flash but no noise, and the blood, oh god I never saw that much blood. Do you think it was”, he pointed in the direction of the Rec. hall. “If you’re asking if Frankie and the boy’s did this, I’d have to say no. For one thing they were still inside when we saw the flash, and two, where would they come up with silencers”? Gordon wasn’t shaking as bad and agreed with my logic with a nod and a huge exhale of smoke.

  I didn’t want to admit it, I was scared, I was concerned not only about my own welfare but for Gordon’s as well. If I was going to get help from anyone it would have been Agents Landers and Marrick……….. Then it hit me, there was only one person who knew of the other two agents being here, and by disposing of them the path was then clear of roadblocks to get to me.