The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by

by C. G. Roberts

  “Little Nicky and four goons; from what you told me, they might be up to more than just dropping a car. The

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  way they’re talking over there, it’s more than a social gathering. Crap, just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse”……………….. He trailed off as he faintly heard the passenger side door close shut. I wanted to get a closer look at the second hut as the Sheriff calls them. I made my way to the edge of the parking lot and had a pretty clear view of the second hut when I saw headlights flicker on at the back of the second hut. A car was pulling up the gravel side road. The Car turned left, away from where we were, when, “Holy shit”. I ran back to the Sheriffs car, he was still tracking what our Mob guys were doing. By the look on his face I don’t think he knew I was gone. “It’s her, Boling, just left the second hut….maroon Toyota….. I think she’s”…….. I was out of breath but got out of the patrol car and started running across Marine Drive towards the second warehouse hut. I

  heard the Sheriff cuss before I slammed the door.

  I know this has to be where they’re keeping Jennifer. I started to slow down once I realized that if Boiling left, then someone still has to be there to make sure she doesn’t

  get away. I slowly went around to the other side of the hut, away from where Boling pulled out. I heard shuffling feet behind me. I turned quickly and relieved to find out it was the Sheriff and Gordon.

  “Damn it Gordon, I thought I told you to stay in the car”? “Yeah like I want to be seen by Little Nicky and they have me sleeping with the Fishes”. I looked over at the Sheriff and gave a sympathetic shrug of my shoulders. The three of us were walking slowly around towards the back of the hut. The Sheriff put Gordon in charge of being on look out and listening for any and every thing. I stopped at the midpoint

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  of the hut. I started to put my focus and concentration on the walls of the hut. “You think she’s in there Billy”, Gordon asked in a mere whisper? I didn’t turn to acknowledge, but nodded my head and kept the focus going. I was starting to see some shadows, a lot of old pallets stacked up against a wall. I could see the source of the light.

  I slowly moved my head so not to lose the foggy sight I was trying see through. I could make out the hanging light fixture, and there was a table maybe ten feet off to the right, and, “She’s there, sheriff, she’s in there, they got her at a table”, I almost shouted. The sheriff held up a finger to his mouth to indicate that I need to shut up. I almost blew it. “Can you see who else is in there with her”, the sheriff muttered in a barely audible whisper? I put my focus back on, trying to put the excitement behind me so I could concentrate. I wanted

  to hurry because I had no clue when Boling would be back. That’s when a thought crossed my mind.

  What if that wasn’t Boling in the car. What if that was an accomplice and Boling was still in there. There was a part of me that wanted her to be there just for the satisfaction of seeing the look on her right before I turn the burners on her. I would have to be careful not to lose control. The most

  important thing was getting Jennifer out of there, and out of harm’s way if they decided that collateral damage was a

  necessary means.

  My focus was coming back online. I could see Jennifer sitting at a table. I was also able to see a spot of trouble. They had her ankles cuffed to a ring on the floor. So much for a grab and go. Now coming in to view was a big no neck guy with a crew cut, why is it always a big guy. I’ve grown very

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  tired of them lately. Maybe he and Sully could have a match to see who could bite the most cars in half. He was walking around the table, saying something to her. He reached over and started stroking the back of Jennifer’s hair. She pulled her head in protest and he slapped her across the face.

  Anger was building quickly, but how was I going to get her out. I changed my focus from the inside of the building to the outside. The inside showed me wooden framework.

  The outside was corrugated steel. I noticed a power line coming from the back of the building connected to a power pole by the first hut. That was my play.

  I ran towards the back, the Sheriff and Gordon tried to say something, but stopped so not to panic anyone inside. I notice that the power line was hooked up right above the single door. I took my plastic gloves off, rubbing them for a second, and thrust out my arms towards the power line. Blinding orange flames came shooting out of my fingers, maybe the thickness of a sharpie and headed straight for the line. The line immediately popped off the side of the build-ing sending a family of sparks scattered about the back of the building. I saw the light go out in the building. Now I wait. Come on no neck show yourself.

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  FIre wAs spreAdIng from above the door. I could

  hear faint crackling sounds coming from in the building. Come on steroid boy. The door came flying open, I heard a loud crack, I’m sure he splintered the door on the way out. Smoke was starting to pour out of the door. He looked around, trying to adjust his eyes. Too late mine were already adjusted. I saw a gun in his right hand, and just as he saw that I was standing there he was raising his gun. I thrust my arms towards him and an even thicker concentration of lightning shot out of my fingers and covered him like a fishing net. The Screams were horrific. He was running but tripped over a couple of pallets. The smell was just as awful as the sight of him engulfed in flames. He had pretty much stopped moving by the time I got to the door. Smoke was being joined by growing flames; I needed to hurry. I ran into the building and heard coughing of f to my right. It was next to impossible to see, and my lungs were burning from the smoke. I pulled my shirt up to my mouth and finally bumped into the table were Jennifer was trapped.

  I had to work quickly, she tried to say something but started coughing uncontrollably. I bent down to where her ankles were cuffed to the floor. I couldn’t really see what I was doing, so I felt for the steel ring. Focusing as quickly as I could, I moved my hand in a twisting manner like removing the bottle cap from a beer and heard a snap. I reached

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  over and grabbed ahold of her jacket and started pulling. The smoke had just about filled the building as the searing heat was getting dangerously close. I was beside her holding on to her jacket, trying to find the door but found a wall instead.

  I felt a small draft coming from my left. It had to be the door. I felt along the walls until I found the door jamb and pulled us into somewhat fresher air. Jennifer collapsed as we finally made it outside. An explosion erupted from the other side of the building. I scooped Jennifer up and carried her back towards the Sheriff’s car. I didn’t hear anything coming from her, there was no coughing, nothing, she just laid limp in my arms as I hurried back. “Come on Jennifer don’t do this”, I cried out in anguish.

  A second explosion erupted with flames shooting up twenty five maybe thirty feet. The only problem was, it was the hut next door. I finally made my way back to where the Sheriff was only to find out that my choice of tense was correct. He was here, and I didn’t see him anywhere. I hurried across the street to where the patrol car was and it was gone. Jennifer was not moving. I laid her down in the parking lot. I took off my jacket and rolled it up and placed it under her head. I desperately wanted to start mouth to mouth because I couldn’t see any movement like you would when someone is breathing.

  I should check her pulse. No dumbshit, you don’t have gloves on, you’ll nuke her. That’s when I looked down at her wrist. My hand had been holding her hand since I laid her down and I wasn’t wearing the gloves. Finally a slap of reality told me I better get started with her or risk a chance of losing her. I cupped my hand under her neck, placed my lips to hers

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  and started blowing in air, and press right below the breast bone to push the air out. I had seen my Mother perform this on our neighbor some years back. I’m hoping to have the same results as she had.

  I kept going for what seemed an eternity, bu
t was prob-ably only a couple of minutes. I stopped to wipe the sweat off of my forehead when I heard her cough. Jennifer coughed and blew out some residual smoke as I held her. She opened up her eyes, they must have been irritated with smoke as she kept blinking them. “Billy”, her eyes finally clear enough to see. “How did you”….. She started coughing again. “Don’t talk, we need to get back to Sheriff’s car”. Just then a third and much louder explosion sent ten foot chunks of roof fly-ing around us. Gordon had come around from the front of third hut. I heard him call my name, but most of it was drowned out by the sound of squealing tires, as the Canary Yellow GTO and the two large black sedans hauled ass from the side road of the first hut. The last sedan rear driver side

  tire was on fire while it tossed gravel as it slung itself back

  onto Marine Drive.

  Gordon motioned for us to follow him. “Do you think you can walk”, I asked her. Jennifer looked up at him and smiled, “I think I can manage for my hero”. “We need to scoot, the fire trucks were getting closer”. Jennifer grabbed my arm and as I turned to face her she planted a kiss on my lips. I smiled as we followed Gordon, “How did you know that you wouldn’t get electrified from kissing me”. She smile and grabbed my hand as Gordon was frantically waving at

  us to come on.

  I tried to holler at Gordon but the combination of the

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  fire, smoke and sirens, I couldn’t get his attention. He was leading us away from where the Sheriff parked at the strip mall. I took a glance over my shoulder and noticed that the Sheriff’s patrol car was gone. Where the hell did he go and why did he leave us? We followed along the front of the rest of the huts. There was a small hill just past the last hut. The three of us just made it down the hill as the fire trucks came blaring past us.

  We went about another half of a mile before Gordon

  lead us to a Chevron station that had closed up for the evening. I was getting tired. Out of the three of us, I was the only one struggling to catch my breath. We went around to the back of the Chevron so no one from Marine Drive could

  see us. We leaned up against the side of the building. Gordon was keeping an eye out on Marine drive. I looked at Jennifer but she was already looking at me. “How did you know I was there, and who were those two people that took me”? I took her in my arms and held her close. We stood there for a moment, I can’t explain the feeling of how it felt, just being able to hold her. Whatever the feeling was, I never wanted it to end.

  We were staring into each other’s eyes and without a word she pulled me in for a kiss that was like no other kiss. I really didn’t have anything to compare to since Jennifer was my first actual kiss. All I can say is, ‘Wow’. I know the kiss didn’t last that long although I was hopeful, when I heard a car pull into the Chevron’s parking lot. Whoever was in the car must be in a hurry, because when they hit the brakes they squealed to a stop. Gordon looked back at us and was calling for us to follow, but I didn’t hear a word he

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  was saying. I looked at Jennifer and she was saying something to me, but I couldn’t hear her either. I was feeling a little woozy, you know light headed in a dizzy kind of way. Jennifer’s face became blurry. I tried to look over at Gordon but couldn’t see him. I felt exhausted; I felt like I need to lie down, I felt…..Darkness.

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  I Felt somethIng warm and moist on my forehead. I opened my eyes and found myself in familiar surround-ings. I was in the Sheriff’s office on the couch that was on the far wall away from his desk. Jennifer was standing over me gently holding her hand over the wash cloth that was on my head. I started to get up but Jennifer put a hand on my chest in protest. “You need to rest Sweetie”. Sweetie, how about that, I’ve graduated from graffiti king to sweetie; I’ll take it. The room seemed to be spinning although no one else seemed to notice. “How did I get here”? Jennifer pointed to the other side of the room where I saw Gordon and an

  older woman standing next to the Sheriff. Without looking up from his desk the Sherif f said, “My wife Connie, Gordon and Jennifer put you into Connie’s car. They can explain it to you, I’ve got some calls to make”. He got up from his desk went out of the office and closed the door.

  “Well, Mrs. Sheriff, I mean Mrs. Pasco thanks for helping to get me in the car, I don’t know what happened”. “Think nothing of it son; I’ll be back in a minute, I think we all could use a cold drink”. Gordon came over and sat on the edge of the couch. “That was an awesome light show you put on dude”. He looked over at Jennifer, “If you could have seen it, lightning shot out of his hands and toasted that guy with the rifle”. Jennifer looked back at me to which I replied, “I saw what he did to you inside the hut”. “How could you have

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  possibly known that Billy, I mean it was just him and me in there”? I put a finger up to my mouth the way the Sheriff does to indicate to please be quiet. I heard Mrs. Pasco coming towards the office door. I stared at the door for a second, “She has two Dr. Peppers, one Pepsi, and a diet coke”.

  Mrs. Pasco opened the office door and in her hands were two Dr. Peppers, a Pepsi, and a Diet Coke. Jennifer’s mouth hung open; that seems to happen a lot around me. She turned back to me and said, “I’ll be damned, my boyfriends an alien”. Gordon laughed at the alien part, I didn’t mind. What got my attention was the boyfriend part. That gave me such a feeling that I can’t really describe. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever here those words. I’m so lucky that it was from Jennifer. Hell she had me when she first peaked her head in my room at the Hospital. Suddenly I felt good enough to sit up, so I did, kind of.

  Finally making my way upright on the couch with assistance from Jennifer, I started feeling my body in a way that I haven’t for a while. My head was pounding, the small of my back was tight and my left foot was throbbing. The price you have to pay for trying to run on an empty tank is mortality. Truth be told, I was thrilled not to be a fully charge battery anymore. The bumps and bruises was just a reminder that I was human. Part of me might have forgotten that fact with

  recent events.

  Nothing can quench the thirst like a Doctor, Pepper that is. I was rubbing at my head, as Jennifer pulled something out of her purse. “Here, looks like you have a bit of a head-ache”, as she dropped a couple of aspirin in my hand. I might be the alien, but I believe Jennifer may be psychic. It’s kind of

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  eerie how she knows these things, but in a comforting manner. The sheriff’s wife looked concerned as she stared out the

  window of the office. “Was it just me or did the Sheriff seem mad”, I asked?

  “Mad would be an understatement Billy. I don’t know if you realize, but your actions have put a lot of pressure on the Sheriff. It’s making it harder for him to defend you, when more stuff like this happens”. She turned to face me, “Walt thinks a lot of you Billy, so much so, that he was thinking of having you stay with us, you know, after what happened and all. But now he’s at a point where some of the higher ups in this town are putting pressure on him”. Now I was confused and concerned, “What pressure are you talking about, I mean he seemed so nice to everyone”?

  “That’s how he is Billy. He’s one that is slow to anger, but he’s almost at that point. The folks on the City Council, know that he’s been keeping close tabs on you, and to be quite frank, they want you out of town before anything else catches fire or blows up. I’ve never seen him this pissed in many a year, but believe me when I say that he’s not mad at you”.

  I felt Jennifer’s hand slip into mine a while back, and I don’t know if that was because she wanted to, or if she was trying to comfort me. I was good with either reason, but I had no clue that I was this much of a disruption in his daily duties. I guess my own personal pity p
arty clouded my judgment in matters as of late. I only wish that I would be able to make it up to him.

  The Sheriff came barging into his office, “Okay folks, just a reminder, that I’m the Sheriff, and there is to be no

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  more taking off without me knowing. If we’re to get through this, we have to work as a team, and guess what, nobody is to do anything without my say so. The Northern part of town is on fire, I’ve got some mob thugs running rampant somewhere in town, the City council idiots want me lynched or else, and to top it off”, As he turn towards the window, “She’s still out there”.

  The Sheriff laid down some ground rules for everyone. In simplest terms, not one of us is going anywhere includ-ing the Sheriff’s wife. He called in his Deputies from patrol to handle guard duty out front. It would be just them for a while as Astoria Police was busy with traffic from the fires. Detective Hargrove had told the Sheriff as soon as he could spare any bodies that he would send them over to help. There were only four active police in Astoria, so it wasn’t like the Calvary was going to save the day. We would take what we could get.

  The Sheriff told us if there was ever an opportune time try something that it would be now, if not sooner. I could see in his eye’s that he was worried, but still appeared to be ready to rumble if it came to that. Gordon was nervously buzzing about, hinting about going out for a smoke; I seconded the motion. Judge Sheriff overruled our desire and made us stay in. upon reflection I guess we would have made a couple of easy targets out there.