Hell on Earth

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “You sound upbeat, brother,” Gus put in from where he sat next to Johnny. “Do you think you made a difference?”

  “Maybe a small one. I hate to say this, but I have my doubts anything could save this anti-Second Amendment, anti-Blue, and pro-entitlement, pro-illegal sanctuary city hellhole.”

  “You did good, Muerto,” Johnny replied. “The gangs of Chicago are cowering before the might of El Muerto. You showed a city of sheep what one man intent on stopping these thugs can do. You delivered the lesson as a pro, making the entire underbelly of the city cringe at the mention of your name. There will be common citizens who notice the change, and the message it sent to the thugs as well as the city’s authorities. You did more by yourself than the authorities have done in decades.”

  Not for the first time did Nick take a moment to enjoy having other people in his life. “Thanks, Johnny. Without you and Gus, I think I’d blow up whole portions of the city out of complete disillusionment of what I see. I’m coming home in a couple of days. There’s a limit on my playing superhero in this cauldron of crap.”

  “Understood, brother,” Gus replied. “Come on home and let’s do some Irish at Otter’s Point for a while.”

  “Oh yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about. See you guys soon. I miss the damn family so much, I’m beginning to think I’ll have to turn in my psycho card. I’ll contact again only if something goes slimy type bad in the next couple days.”

  “Take care, brother,” Johnny said.

  “Don’t do anything now to get yourself killed, Muerto,” Gus ordered, pointing at the screen. “If you get killed, Kabong and Payaso are going to give Chicago everything they ever dreamed of for violence… and God help them… we’ll bring Cleaner Cala with us.”

  Nick snorted away his amusement. “Okay… very funny… I need all of you there on the coast to care of our extended family. As always, we take care of our own and help the Monster Squad in the north bay region. We have another generation of warriors to guide, my brothers. When one of us dies with his boots on, like Dan did, we carry on - protect and defend. I want to hear an amen, brothers.”

  “Yeah fine… amen,” Gus stated with Johnny echoing his response. “See you soon. No gangland wannabe in existence can take out Muerto. We’ll be on the beach soon, brother.”

  “You are quite correct, Payaso,” Nick replied. “I’ve achieved a rededication to what I once was here in the windy city. I will be back, brothers. Count on it.”

  Nick disconnected, feeling the killer seething inside him. He planned to haunt a few places before flying to the west coast. He had already seen a few replacement morons scoping out Leia’s Father’s store as a potential hit. If they do, I will make their deaths legendary, Nick promised himself with tightlipped certainty.

  Chapter Five

  The Homefront Beckons

  “Bitch… you goin’ to charge me? I in the ‘Black Souls’. We pay for nothing!”

  “You do now,” Leia stated.

  A hooded, black masked figure, streaking in from the outside, stabbed the speaker in quick, killing strokes. The masked man immediately stabbed the ‘banger behind the original talker, planting him in death at the feet of the third shocked thug.

  The masked man body-slammed the third thug. “No one bothers the Zhoe business. I am leaving you alive to tell the others. If any business of Zhoe connection is bothered, I will be back. Everyone in the thug organization bothering them will be killed. Do you understand?”

  The hooded thug stared down at the bodies of his compatriots and nodded with terrified emphasis. “I…I understand. Are… are you, Muerto?”

  “I am El Muerto. These people and all others in the city are under my protection. Anything reported to me will get this response, gutter-pimp! You’re young… join the service of the United States of America.”

  “I…I want out of this shit!”

  “Good choice. Go find a recruiter and join the fight. Learn skills, and learn… above all else – love for this great country! The masked figure looked toward the Zhoe family owners. “Sorry… are you ready for me to go now?”

  Leia poked the eighteen inch blade into the survivor’s throat a fraction of an inch. “We’re good, Muerto. Thank you!”

  “El Muerto… away.” I wonder if that guy gets to leave alive, or not.

  * * *

  Nick’s phone buzzed. He saw it was Grace with a green light on his call-trace indicator - no trace. “Slickster?”

  “Go home, Nick. The FBI task force is moving in with a different assignment. They will be following through on the damning evidence you sent us.”

  “I have no clue what you’re talking about. I’m editing Blood Beach right now. You’re bothering a master craftsman.”

  “Please don’t kill any more people. You’ve done everything you can do. Those two at the grocery mart were a bridge too far.”

  “Thanks for the tip, Grace. I’ll stay away from Chicago. I’ve had the news playing. I’m hearing the ‘banger this ‘Black Muerto’ left alive to tell his friends told the police the ‘Black Souls’ are done. They’re afraid to reform. All the races love Muerto, at least the races other than the gangbangers and their bosses. The citizens are fighting back and demanding to have their Second Amendment rights restored, along with a new conceal/carry law permitting citizens without a criminal record to apply.”

  “Since we received the anonymous damaging disc, the DOJ requested Tim and I go and run the task force. We’d like Marshal McCarty to go with us on a consulting basis. The big names on the disc scared a few people. They’re looking for cover. We have the warrants, Nick. We want you with us when we serve them.”

  “I might be able to get Paul to provide a military flight for me. I’ll stay under the radar. When will you and Tim get there?”

  “Tomorrow afternoon.”

  “I’ll pack a bag and meet you. Where will you be staying?”

  “We’re staying at the Residence Inn Hotel.”

  “I’ll book a room there. Want to meet at the bar? I’ve stayed there before. It’s a nice place.”

  “We’ll meet you in the bar at 6 pm, okay?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Bring all your credentials,” Grace directed.

  “Sure. Who are we going after. I know it can’t be the gangs of Chicago.”

  “Very funny. We’re investigating the network Alderman Kale runs in Palentes base of operations. No one thought it a coincidence, seeing the name of Alderman Spike Kale listed by the now deceased Tito. No surprise his gangsters made their base of operations from there. You certainly covered your tracks on Palentes. No one investigated the limo for hours after you French-fried him and his guys in the trunk.”

  “I find it scandalous a top authority in the US Marshal’s office would accuse a law-abiding citizen of heinous crimes done in a city over twenty-two hundred miles from the citizen’s whereabouts. Shame on you, Marshal… shame.”

  “Save that crap for someone not cognizant of your modus operandi, Muerto. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. This Kale guy will be a hard nut to crack legally. They’ve managed to keep Tito’s death on the back page so far. It will be front and center tomorrow. If you could pretend to arrive in Chicago earlier, we could hit his office. Kale has no idea what my little Muerto bunny did to Tito.”

  “I may be able to get in by the time you arrive for the bust. One more mention of your little Muerto bunny and you don’t ever see Marshal McCarty in Chicago.”

  “Understood. Let’s hit them at high noon. I’ll text you the address.”

  “I’ll adjust the flight.”

  “Yeah… right.” Grace disconnected.

  Nick flexed the fingers of his left hand, formerly in a tight fist. Kale would have been his target tonight. I should never have included Kale’s name on the disc. I didn’t think the alphabet soup agency people would choose him first. He immediately called Gus, who answered on the first ring.

  “I have a way into Chicago as
Marshal McCarty. The bad part is they’re going after Spike Kale and Grace wants me on hand at the warrant serving.”

  “Damn it! I know you joke about me being the ugliest black man on the planet, but that John Lewis lookalike, bald headed, squinty-eyed, pudge-ball has got to be the most repulsive slime in Chicago.”

  “Agreed. He makes you look like Denzel Washington. Spike cloned everything from that jackass, race-baiting pimp, Lewis… including his illiterate blathering style.”

  “He ain’t no protector of civil rights or race. They all want to sound like Martin Luther King, but instead, they embrace every pimp-ass, racist crap slogan opposite of ‘The Dream’. Man… I was looking forward to hearing about the demise of Spike, brother. Equal opportunity meant drug addled kids, cop killings, and extortion to Kale.”

  “Maybe someone will screw up the bust,” Nick suggested. “I could always return for an equal opportunity cleansing.”

  Gus snorted amusement. “Kabong and I will ride that trail with you, brother. I’ll let Kabong know you won’t be home for dinner tomorrow. I’ll let you inform Rachel. Good luck with that.”

  “Gee… thanks.”

  * * *

  “You’re going to what! You get your murderous Muerto ass back home here tomorrow!”

  “I love you and I miss you, babe. I can’t come back tomorrow. I need to escort this Kale dude to his deserved justice, or ace him myself.”

  “I’m going out to find and shoot Grace Slickster right in the head.”

  “The moment this Kale business ends, I’ll be back with you on the first military jet or commercial seat I can get. I hate this weather!”

  Rachel giggled. “Whenever I’m feeling low, I picture you going out on your Muerto jaunts into that subzero arctic Chicago wind… and somehow… I feel better.”

  “That’s just mean.”

  “Yeah…. I know. If you don’t get back here soon to handle the daughter of darkness, I will shoot myself in the head. Jean pledged to outdo Harding’s daughter, Alice. You remember Alice put down a bully in school with a self-defense move Harding taught her, right?”

  Nick hesitated to Rachel’s enjoyment.

  “Now the threads are coming together in your head, huh? Don’t you dare say, ‘Jean’s your daughter, Rachel!’ She converted to the dark side so fast, I never had a prayer of competing.”

  “Okay… I get it… I’m to blame. What did she do?”

  “She, as in she-wolf of the darkness clan, involved her minion Sonny, in a knockdown, drag-out fight. They confronted six fellow school mates, who were involved in beating down a new, quiet kid at school, named Justin Rivers.”

  Nick stayed silent, recognizing the Rachel trap he would be led into.

  “Oh!” Rachel stated. “You don’t want to hear about what she said when asked why she became involved, huh?”

  “Fine. I’ll play out the hand. ‘Doin’ good ain’t got no end’, right?”

  “Bingo! I had to hear it from the principal, who wanted the ones left standing punished, in spite of the deeds done by the little gangsters bullying a loner kid.”

  “Left standing?” Nick took some satisfaction as Rachel enhanced the tale. “Two against six should have won our young titans a medal. I take it the authorities didn’t accept it in the same way. I know, somehow, this is all my fault… so spit it out.”

  “Her ‘Outlaw Josie Wales’ line clouded the meek and mild mannered, new principal’s liberal bias before I was asked in. As you probably surmised, Jean and Sonny went through the six bullies like yesterday’s laundry. You have taught them well, Muerto. Luckily, three or four of them started crying for mercy nearly at the beginning. Sonny intervened to keep the daughter of darkness from doing far more than the situation required. The kid’s a treasure.”

  “He is indeed. I do know one thing. Rachel, the rogue, did not let parents, teachers, or little bullies sway her from the defense of our heroes.”

  “First off, I told Phil and Clarice to let me do the talking or I would cut their eyeballs out to play marbles with.”

  “Knowing you, Clarice was your main target of education.”

  “Absolutely.” Rachel took a moment to gather her recital points. “Of course, the bullies’ outraged parents showed to express ‘black’ outrage. I brought Gus, along with Tina. I didn’t get a chance to say much before T-Rex Tina devoured them. Gus ended it with a simple ‘your six bullies picked on a lone white child. They were showed the consequences of what they were surely taught in their own homes. I’m ashamed of you idiots, who mouth nice sounding crap, but poison your own children’s minds’. The new principal was on the fence. I could tell she was a chicken-shit, but Gus’s words, coupled with Tina’s pounding defense, chilled her. She knew I would take the case in front of the school board.”

  “Damn! I wish I could have been there. Gus didn’t mention a word of it. He planned on me hearing it from you. I bet the T-Rex was the bomb.”

  Silence on Rachel’s end made Nick smile knowingly. “Well… Ms. Above the Fray… what did you do. I know what T-Rex incited. Your silence betrays you.”

  Rachel sighed. “Fine! Tina told off this one broad, with the mouthy chip on her shoulder, to step the hell outside, and she’d show her right from wrong. The husband stepped toward Tina and I beat Gus to the punch. I channeled Lynn, jabbed him in the chest, and told him to step the hell back, Betty! Gus intervened then with the logical ‘we need to act as adults and accept the facts in evidence. Six bullies ganged up on one child. Two came to his defense. The two won their defensive action. The six bullies should be suspended for three days minimum, and warned they would be expelled if even one other bullying instance comes to light’.”

  Nick then waited but heard only the sounds of silence. “Don’t leave me hangin’, Rach!”

  “The new principal, Roberta Smithson, gave each of the bullies a three day suspension. She stood her ground, taking crap and threats, until Gus intervened. He told them to accept it or take it up with the school board, in which case we would all be there to testify, along with the facts of the case, rather than their racist discrimination crap.”

  “You did well taking Gus and Tina with you. I guess we’ll end up in front of the school board, huh?”

  “That would be my assumption after the crap the bullies’ parents spewed. Gus and Johnny are taking the kids to and from school. Gus wants to make sure no extracurricular activities happen instead of the school board hearing.”

  “Good thinking. I will finish my mission with this last bust of Alderman Spike Kale. I’m not certain why Grace thought I should be there, other than to trap me about being Muerto. Tim and Grace lead the task force, so they’ll have a lot of suits there to do their bidding. Johnny shipped the goods to Grace anonymously. The disc I gave her incriminated many people with solid facts, conversations, and financial trails.”

  “What about chain of evidence?”

  “Johnny included a note to not open it without the bosses at DOJ around. You didn’t say much about Phil and Clarice’s showing at the meeting.”

  “Phil yanked on her arm when she was about to insert herself on the menu,” Rachel replied. “When we reached the parking lot, I told her straight out not to undercut us at any juncture or there would be blood.”

  “I need to keep you and Lynn separated. I’m sensing a comingling of thought processes ever since the cruise.”

  “Oh, calm down, Betty, your vagina is showing.”

  * * *

  Nick entered the conference room with only one thought: to find Tim and Grace. The confrontation included Alderman Spike Kale’s team of lawyers, the entire task force of suits serving the search and destroy federal warrant, and a team of local police officers to cart away evidence. Nick shook his head, watching the Congressman John Lewis look alike Kale, gesturing angrily at an FBI agent, his bloated squinty eyes nearly enraged enough to open partially. The thick pursed lips, Nick could tell sprayed the agent, while Kale’s bulbous bald head jutted up and do
wn in fury. His US Marshal cohorts spotted him. They worriedly hurried to his side.

  “I know what you’re thinking, Nick,” Grace said.

  “No… you don’t. What am I doing here?”

  “We don’t want to miss anything,” Tim replied. “We’re not saying anything about anything, other than serving the federal all-inclusive warrant on Kale’s office. Someone tipped him off in time for Kale to gather his sharks, but not enough time to hide anything.”

  “I saw you stationed agents everywhere inside. Smart move.” Nick grinned. “Kale thinks he’s giving the thug staff enough time to erase everything with his rants.”

  “A little guidance would be appreciated, Nick,” Grace said.

  “Did you slap a hold on everything to do with his finances?”

  “Yes, but-”

  “Then let him rage on. Record his cooperation with a federally served warrant.”

  “We are.” Grace relaxed. “His screaming, hissy fit was beginning to make us forget what the hell we’re here for.”

  Then it happened. Kale spotted the leaders of the task force conferencing with Nick. He went ballistic at Nick’s knowing grin of confidence.

  “Who the fuck is that! What federal dipshit are you people answering to!” He charged Nick, expecting his prey to back away with frightened gestures. Instead, Nick met him with a flat hand strike at chest level that put Kale on his back, gasping in the sudden silence of the room.

  Nick watched Kale’s repulsive, painful gropings, his bloated face making guppy-like gasps for breath and outrage. “I’m US Marshal Nick McCarty, Sir. I don’t know what you think you were doing, but when assaulted, we are allowed to defend ourselves. Also, you have assaulted a federal officer in the prosecution of his duties. I will add that to your offenses because I will testify. This scene is being recorded both in video and audio. I would listen to your lawyers, Sir. They have cautioned you numerous times to stop hindering the investigation. We have agents preventing your people from destroying evidence. Get your breath. Get to your feet, and huddle with your lawyers while they explain your options. Attacking me is not one of them.”