Savage Reckoning

by C. Hoyt Caldwell

  Dani took the turn faster than she should have and jerked the steering wheel to keep the cruiser from skidding off the road. She lost her grip on her phone in the process and grunted in frustration as it tumbled to the floorboard. She’d told Armstrong what was going on at the police station, but the connection was horrible. She had no idea if the corporal had heard her plea to help her uncle.

  Kenny awkwardly lurched forward and scrambled to pick up the phone. When he was finally able to scoop it up, the call had long since been dropped. He hit redial and then held up the display for Dani to see. Call failed.

  The deputy gritted her teeth and barked out, “Shit!”

  Chapter 61

  Corporal Maggie Armstrong sat in the passenger side of the car and said “Hello?” for the fourth and final time. Dropping the phone to her lap, she turned to the woman sitting behind the steering wheel.

  “Didn’t get all of that,” Armstrong said, “but it sounds like things have come unhinged at the station.”

  Bonnie white-knuckled the wheel with one hand and extracted a cigarette from her mouth with the other. “That’s that then. I was done in by Step’s blue eyes. My heart’s just broke in two, is what it is.”

  “You wanna call your brother in on this?”

  “What for?”

  “This is a high-level defect,” Armstrong said. “Ain’t he gonna wanna know?”

  “He’s off grid for a time. No way to pull him in on this. While this ain’t my normal vocation, I reckon I know how he’d want it to play out. He’d most likely want you to earn your pay on this, and take care of the BFSD once and for all.”

  Armstrong nodded as she opened the door. “On one condition.”

  Bonnie stared at her steely-eyed. “And what condition is that?”

  “I finally get that meet-up with Harley you promised me. My neck is far out there. I’d like to think that’d be enough to get me a sit-down with the man calling the shots.”

  “My fat ass ain’t enough for you?”

  “Your ass is just fine, but you don’t walk into the Oval Office hoping to get to meet the vice president. No offense.”

  Bonnie snickered. “Honey, that’s the nicest I’ve ever been shit on. I get it. You wanna talk to the man directing things. Makes sense. And I’ll arrange it once you get done what needs to get done.”

  Before the state police officer could get out of the car, Bonnie said, “Once you straighten things up in Baptist Flats, you and that idiot Boss get to that little airstrip off of Corn Silk Road. I’ll have transportation for y’all and a couple of extra hired guns to go along for the ride.”

  “Ride where?”

  “To where that deputy gal is headed. You’ll most likely get there before any real trouble kicks up.”

  “And where is that, exactly?”

  “You’ll find out when you get there. This’ll bring you deep in, Miss Maggie. I’m trusting you because you come to me with this information. Don’t make me regret it or else that meeting with Harley ain’t gonna be a pleasant one, understood?”

  “Understood,” Armstrong said.

  “I don’t expect Step and Kenny will pose too much of a problem.” Bonnie slapped the steering wheel. “Damn it! I wanted a piece of ol’ Step someday. Don’t do nothing to injure his eyes.”

  “You could be jumping the gun on that. You don’t know he’s working with the deputy.”

  “I ain’t stupid. You said it yourself, two fellas confessed to the killings in Baptist Flats. Ain’t nobody in jail for it, and on top of all that, Step’s been asking folks about Laura Farrow. The police in Rock Hollow caught him talking to her. He’s figured out what’s going on, and if he knows all of it, he’s working with that deputy of yours to fuck me up my round ass.”

  “I don’t know what you think he’s figured out, but if it’s set him off like you think, I expect he’s got his sights aimed a rung higher than your ass. He knows what’s what when it comes to directing Pike business. That’s more reason to get word to Harley on developments.”

  Bonnie attempted a weak smile. “I appreciate your counsel, Corporal, but Step’s a special case. He’s my mess to clean up. Neither Harley nor Boss was in favor of bringing him aboard, but I made a stink about it. I let my loins get the best of me. He’s too goddamned handsome, is what he is. Otherwise I would’ve just let him wreck his life into nothing.”

  Armstrong had no idea what the woman was talking about. “You know, Dani Savage might be useful.”

  Bonnie chuckled. “You’re kidding, right?”

  Armstrong stepped out of the car and leaned back in for one last word. “I could talk to her, give her a sales pitch. Someone like her could bring a lot to the table.”

  “Got no use for her.” Bonnie started the car. “Just kill her and be done with it.”

  Chapter 62

  Step leaned back against the truck and filled the tank with gas while Gunner staggered to the bathroom inside the convenience store. The sun was gone and a wind chilled the skinny closeout king as he watched the digital readout on the pump.

  He sneaked a peek at his phone, but caught a helping of Boss’s paranoia before he could bring himself to call Kenny. The fatass was as smart as a bowl of pudding, but he could take care of himself. Step almost felt sorry for Boss. He didn’t have a chance if Kenny got his hands on him.

  Step’s attention was directed to the cab of the truck when he heard Bones mumble out a groan. He stepped up to the open door and stared inside at the now restless stripper. “You finally coming around?”

  She managed to open one eye ever so slightly. “What’s…where’re—”

  “We’re taking a little trip.”

  She tipped her chin forward and lazily searched for her purse. “I need my—”

  “You need shit,” Step said. “You’re done with that from here on out.”

  Her other eye opened. “Done? Fuck no to that is what I say.” She attempted to scoot herself toward the door, but didn’t have the strength.

  “You’re down to it.”

  “Down to what?” she asked in a slurred bark.

  “Your last days, little girl. Them drugs you’ve been sticking in you are about to get the best of you. Doctor said so.”

  She giggled wildly and said, “There ain’t no best of me to get. Give me some so it can finish me off.”

  Step shrugged. “Ain’t got none to give you.”

  She growled weakly. “Then get me some.”

  “We got a little business to take care of first. You hold off till then, and I promise you I will take care of you.”

  “Promise?”

  “I said it, didn’t I?”

  She smiled and drool dropped out of her mouth. “Wanna fuck?”

  He shook his head. “Ain’t got the time or the stomach for it right now.”

  Bones pouted. “Remember, I used to be pretty.”

  “We’ll get’cha there again.”

  Tears fell from her eyes. “I used to be so pretty.”

  Chapter 63

  The townsfolk did not rally around their besieged police station as Otis had hoped. They heard the gunshots, and a few even ventured close to the action to get a better view, but no one stepped up to help their lawmen. Their sheriff had fired so many rounds his hand was going numb from absorbing the constant kick from the handgun.

  A black nondescript Crown Victoria with official state plates raced through the town toward the shootout, raising anticipation that help was on the way. The car screeched to a stop a block from the station and Corporal Maggie Armstrong climbed out of the passenger side, followed by the driver, her partner of six months. Both unholstered their weapons and approached the scene with caution.

  Friar was the first inside the station to see them. “A couple more are headed this way.” He took aim.

  Otis spotted them and ordered a cease-fire. “They’re law.”

  Randle carefully positioned himself to peer out the corner of the window. “State?”

&nbs
p; Otis crawled across the floor and leaned against the wall near the door. “Looks like it.”

  They all watched as the two state police officers moved slowly toward the bullet-riddled truck. One by one, Boss and his boys stepped into the open with their hands behind their heads.

  Friar barked out a laugh, followed by a raucous hoot. “Well, ain’t that a sight? They just walked up on ’em and took ’em down without a fuss!”

  Randle frowned. “That raises a question or two. I don’t know much, but I sure don’t peg Boss as the type to fold so easy.”

  “Me, neither,” Otis said, standing. With his back still to the wall, he inched his hand out to the door handle. “You boys stay on your tiptoes.”

  “What’re you doing?” Randle asked.

  “I’m gonna get a weight on this thing and see what we’re up against.”

  “You ain’t going out there.”

  “Can’t assess nothing from here,” he said, pushing the door open.

  “It ain’t a good idea,” Randle said.

  “But they give up,” Friar said.

  Otis paused before stepping through the doorway. “Clear out the back. Cut through the feed store parking lot and find you a car. Take whatever you can. Don’t let no one give you lip on the matter. You’re on police business. You understand?”

  “Not a chance in hell. Otis—”

  The sheriff cut Randle off. “Goddamn it. You gotta get on and help Dani out.”

  Randle’s face turned beet red. “I’d never say such a thing to her, but that gal don’t need no help. She’s more cop than the three of us put together.”

  Otis’s cheeks matched his deputy’s hue. “I ain’t asking you to help out a fellow deputy. I’m asking you to help out my niece. You get me?”

  Randle nodded.

  “I’ll keep the focus on me. You don’t break stride no matter what.” He stepped out the door before either one of his remaining deputies could protest.

  Randle peeked out the window one last time and then ordered Friar to follow him to the back. He pushed the emergency exit open and searched for signs of Boss’s men. When he was satisfied things were clear, he nodded to Friar, and they bolted out the door. The two deputies reached the patch of woods that led to the feed and seed store without incident.

  Otis felt a whisper of wind swirl around him as he walked across the small parking lot. In those quiet footsteps, he came to miss his wife. She nagged him near dead on more than one occasion, but he loved it. He loved her, and he loved their life together. Most folks saw them as a bickering old couple, but those same folks would be hard-pressed to recall when the sheriff and his wife ever had a real fight. They loved each other so much that every problem they had was small in comparison. There was no need to really tear into one another in ugly and hurtful ways over this and that because this and that never outweighed the desire they had that the other end each day with a smile.

  Otis holstered his weapon and stood before Maggie Armstrong. The wind intensified just the slightest as he let a smile spread across his face. When the state police officer raised her gun and aimed it at him, the smile grew bigger. He would end this day thinking of his bickering wife and how much he cherished her.

  Chapter 64

  Kenny stole a glance at Dani every chance he got and searched for something to discuss that would present him in a desirable light. They were alone in a car for God knew how long, and he felt like this was his best opportunity to show himself worthy of her attention. The circumstances they found themselves in were not ideal, but she was a captive audience for the time being. He felt he’d be a fool if he squandered all the alone time laid out in front of them.

  “You still got a bead on Step’s phone?” the deputy asked, unaware that she was being gawked at by her passenger.

  Kenny worked to unlock his stare on her and tapped the display of his phone. “Yep, he’s a good forty mountain miles north of us. Off the main road, it looks like.”

  Dani pressed on the gas a little harder.

  Kenny leaned over and looked at the speedometer. “Goodness knows. You’re going near a hundred.”

  “I’m counting on your partner driving the speed limit to buy time for us to catch up.”

  Kenny shrugged. “If he is, it’d be the first time in his life he done so. Step’s got a heavy foot.” He watched the slopes outside his windows speed by. “You take a curve this speed this high up, and we’ll take flight.”

  “Women don’t like it when men backseat drive, Kenny.”

  “That’s all well and good, but I don’t care much for passenger-seat dying, thank you very much.”

  Dani fought a laugh and in doing so caused it to come out as a girlish giggle. Hearing the squeaky chuckle come out of her mouth sickened her. Hell had been unleashed, and she was making with the flirtatious sounds.

  Kenny saw the sour look spread across her face after she let loose with a small laugh. He reached over and patted her shoulder. “You go on and drive fast as you want. I’ll just close my eyes and hang on.”

  She didn’t flinch at his touch. She welcomed it. A flood of images from her life invaded her head, all snapshots of how wonderful her aunt and uncle had been to her. She couldn’t help but feel she was racing away from them, abandoning them at a time when she could finally repay them. Just as Dani felt her resolve weakening, an image of Laura Farrow and the other mothers came to her. They were all hugging pictures of their missing girls the last time she saw them. Dani stomped the gas pedal in response.

  Kenny sat back, gripped the seat, and closed his eyes.

  Chapter 65

  They were off the main road, way off the main road. They traveled through a mile of barely traversable woods before they emerged onto a narrow strip of pasture large enough for a single-engine plane to land and take off. Two buildings, a barn and a small house, stood at one end of the strip of short grass while the other end was punctuated by a steep drop-off to a valley of farm country below.

  Gunner roused himself out of a half-slumber and rubbed his eyes. He peered through the darkness at the two buildings. “Stop.”

  Step did as instructed.

  “Honk. Twice.”

  Again, Step followed Gunner’s instructions.

  A light on the front porch of the house blinked on and off three times.

  “Honk three times back. Quick-like.”

  Again, Step followed Gunner’s instructions.

  The front porch light came on and stayed on.

  “Go on, drive up to the house.”

  Step felt his blood pumping through his veins a little faster as he shifted the truck into drive and rumbled toward the house. This was what he called his closeout rush. It was one of the reasons he did them. A man like him never felt so alive as when he was about to take a life. God help him, he didn’t want it to mean so much to him, but it did. He just couldn’t help himself.

  He slowed to a stop and put the truck in park twenty feet from the front door to the house. Gunner opened his door. “You and the whore stay put. Gotta warm these backwoods fuckers up to you before you come inside,” he said just before slamming the door shut and making his way toward the house.

  An old woman stepped outside before he could knock. They tossed a few terse words back and forth before the woman craned her neck past Gunner’s shoulder to get a good look at Step and Bones. She got out a couple more words before she disappeared back into the house.

  Gunner made his way back to the truck and motioned for Step to roll down his window.

  The window down, Step said sarcastically, “She looks pleased.”

  “She’s pissed because we woke them up. These banjo-humpers go to bed as soon as the sun goes down.” He stretched out the kinks in his back. “Me and you can go in.”

  “What about Bones?”

  “She said she don’t want no unclean bitches in her house. Something about offending Jesus or some shit.”

  Step raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? She think Jesus is plea
sed with the inventory they keep?”

  “The inventory don’t come into the house.”

  Step looked to the barn. “Why the fuck we even going into the house? Let’s just get to the barn and get this over with.”

  “Inventory ain’t in the barn, neither,” Gunner said as he turned to the house. “Not exactly, anyways.”

  Step exited the truck.

  “We gotta go in and break bread with these hill-toppers before they let us do shit.”

  “What for?”

  “Because they’re crazy fuckers and Boss put them in charge of the inventory. Either we do things their way, or they won’t let us anywhere nears the inventory.” Gunner reached the door, but stopped short of opening it. Turning to Step he said, “Hand over your gun.”

  Step’s heart raced. The thought of pulling his gun and planting a bullet in Gunner’s head crossed his mind, but that would alert the toppers inside that things had turned to shit, and he might not ever find the inventory.

  “No one gets in the house with a gun,” Gunner said with his hand extended.

  The skinny closeout king reluctantly pulled a gun out from under his jacket and handed it to Gunner. He felt his chances of saving the Campbell girl slip dramatically as Gunner turned away and knocked on the door.

  It didn’t take long for the old lady to reappear holding out a rusty tin bucket. Gunner dropped two firearms inside the bucket and pushed his way past her as he moved inside.

  Step moved to follow, but she stopped him. The woman with a dark, thick mustache and a wind-damaged face eyed the skinny closeout king suspiciously. “You believe in Jesus?”

  Step hesitated and then nodded.

  “You believe he loves you?”

  More hesitation followed by a weak nod.

  “You believe that if you love him back your soul is saved?”

  He managed a nod so weak it barely registered.

  She squinted her right eye. “Say it.”

  “Say what?”

  “Say, ‘I believe Jesus loves me and that my love for him purifies and saves my soul.’ ”