The Road to Round Mountain II - The Alliance: By C.G Roberts

by C. G. Roberts

  Vargas ushered us over to a booth facing the highway. The smells were many and mesmerizing as my taste buds were watering the inside of my mouth with an eager prelude to food. A cute waitress came over with menus and placed them in front Vargas and myself. “What can I get you two Gents to drink”, she asked briskly? “Tea for me and I’m guessing a Dr. Pepper for him”, Vargas replied. “You two know what you want, or do you need a minute”, She asked while brushing her dark brown hair back behind her ears? “Kyla, table three and four orders

  ready”, a voice from the kitchen hollered. “Hold on, I only got two hands here”,

  she countered.

  Vargas offered, “Two country steak platters will do, and tell that guy in the

  back that he should learn some manners”, as Vargas gave a death stare towards

  the kitchen. “Coming right up sweetie”, she replied.

  It was a pretty nice place, except for the rude cook in the kitchen. The Diner

  was about half full which I guess is pretty good for bein g between lunch and

  dinner time. Looks like bathroom business is about to pick up as Vargas pointed

  to the back at the restroom sign vowing to return shortly.

  Vargas made his way back to the booth rather quickly. Honestly I’m not sure

  that I cou ld have gone to the bathroom that fast. Evidently he is gifted. Another

  guy wearing an oversized ball cap got up and headed back to the restroom as soon as Vargas came walking back. Another guy, a rather large man with dark hair tight black tee-shirt showing off his many muscles followed. The big guy looked familiar, but I couldn’t tell you from where. Boredom, lack of sleep, you can pick the reason that I was all of a sudden the bathroom monitor. I could really use some sleep, and I’m sure if that Country fried steak platter is as big and delicious as Vargas claims, then I’m sure that I would fall asleep in the Jeep soon.

  A familiar voice boomed from behind us, “Howdy boys, I’m sure glad that we were able to catch up to you”, Sheriff Pasco bellowed loud and proud. My eyes perked up with excitement upon seeing him again. For some reason, Vargas didnot share my enthusiasm. I was not concerned as I was thrilled to see my friend, and his friend Captain Ackers.

  “What are you guys doing here”, I asked with renewed energy as Vargas for some reason decided to get up from the booth. The Sheriff had his big paws planted on the table when Vargas decided to get up. I heard a noise coming from behind, kind of a hissing sound as Vargas was about ha lfway standing up. It was soft noise, and wasn’t sure where it came from when Vargas suddenly slumped

  back into the booth.

  His eyes were gazed over; when it came to me that he had been shot. The

  Captain pulled some sort of towel from his back pocket and applied pressure to

  the wound. The Sheriff helped pull Vargas to his feet as the crowd around us was becoming curious . They didn’t hear any noise, but pulling a bleeding man from a

  booth was not the normal routine for the diner crowd. “Come on Billy”, The Sheriff ordered as he and Captain Ackers ushered Vargas out the front door.

  Vargas was out of it, and I was going to ask if they wanted me to see who shot Vargas, when I saw the Sheriff and the Captain dump him in the Jeep. That movewas odd considering that they couldn’t possibly know what we were driving, when the Sheriff said, “Get to that big expedition over there and get in, Vargas was conning you to the compound only to collect the bounty”. I must have stood

  there like I had been shot as the sheriff followed with, “Get in Billy, and we’ll

  explain it later”.

  The large man that had gone to the restroom came over and got into the old Buick followed by another man who was having a smoke outside. The Captain opened the back door and gave me a shove since I was shocked and extremely confused. The Sheriff got in the other side as two other good sized men got in the

  front seat and revved the SUV to life.

  A blue Ford explorer took off from the parking lot with a purpose as did the older Buick followed by our huge Expedition. Still dazed and confused but I recognized the two in the front seat as half of the team that was sent to Astoria to help us out. “You okay there Billy”, The Sheriff wondered?

  “Very confused and still hungry”, I answered in a gruff manner. “Well both of

  those issues will be taken care of in short order. Just know this, Vargas was going

  to dump you off, take the money and run”, The Sheriff confirmed.

  46

  A tall thin man got out of the Light blue Chevy Panel Van and approached the

  Diner. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw his partner Vargas slumped over in a dark green Jeep wrangler. He made a dash inside the diner; his long blonde hair impaired his sight momentari ly as he brushed back his locks. He was unable to locate his other partner Marcus. He casually made his way to the bathroom as people were starting to gather outside and over by the Jeep.

  Marcus was in there all right, and on the floor. He couldn’t take a chance to find out if he was still alive or not, he just knew that he needed to hurry to get Vargas some medical attention. He ran back outside the diner and started getting people to help get his friend in the passenger seat so he could get them to the

  nearest hospital. He flashed a fake badge showing FBI credentials. He figured no

  one around would question him, and they didn’t.

  They were extremely cordial with directions to the nearest medical facilities; the Carson Valley Medical Center. He was familiar with the facility as there are two Doctors there on the payroll to the compound. He needed to make a call.

  The thin man thanked those who helped with Vargas and on e older lady got a blanket out of her car and wrapped it around Vargas. The keys were still in the ignition as he roared the engine, waved to the crowd and took off. A couple of

  blocks south of the Diner he made his call.

  “Yes Mr. Baily, I have him with me, he’s been shot and we are heading for Carson Valley, will you let them know we will be there in about ten minutes”. “Hendricks, you will make it in five minutes and I have activated Dr. Warricks pager, he will be expecting you. When you go in through emergency tell them he

  is Dr. Warricks patient and all will be taken care of. You stay there and call me

  when there is news to call about”, Mr. Baily emphasized.

  “I will sir, he’s lost some blood but his pulse seems pretty good”, Hendricks

  rationalized. “If there’s any chance, I want you to bring him here tonight. Once you’ve heard from the good doctor of course”. “Of course sir, I will, anything else sir”, Hendricks asked sheepishly?

  “Just one minor detail, if he doesn’t make it, neither will you, since the plan

  that was put in effect was yours. Do I make myself clear”, Mr. Baily added? “Crystal sir”, as Mr. Baily ended the call. Hendricks stomped on the gas pedal as he continued towards Carson Valley Medical center.

  A gurney awaited as Hendricks pulled into the emergency semi-circle parking. Two orderlies got Vargas from the Jeep and onto the Gurney as Hendricks pulled the Jeep around the corner and parked. He rushed in to follow as he saw Dr. Warricks wave him off to signal that this is now under control. Hen dricks would

  now wait for the news. He prayed that it was good news.

  Two hours went by when Dr. Warricks finally came out to talk to him; he was

  not smiling.

  47

  I started to ask the Sheriff a ton of questions when his phone rang. He immediately put it on speaker. “Well done Sheriff, and a nice shot by you Captain”, Thomas praised as the Captain handed Hank his Glock with the silencer

  attached. Hank smiled as he unscrewed the suppressor.

  I was stunned by wh at I just heard. “Young Billy, this must be quite the puzzling trip for you”, Thomas added. I nodded but was reminded by the Sheriff that he can’t hear you shaking your head. “Yeah, I suddenly feel like I don’t have a
clue about anything right now. Can someone explain what’s going on”, I pleaded? I recognized the voice of Adrian, only to find out that it’s Thomas, and that he is also a brother of Vargas’s only he’s dead, or faked his death as did his

  father and I think I’m more confused now than I was.

  “So, you mean to tell me that Vargas’s whole spiel was a lie, and none of them were hit by lightning”, I inquired. “The whole thing was a ruse to get you to buy into the notion of destroying the compound at Round Mountain; nothing more”, Thomas added. “The Five million for bringing him in is a bit more than nothing I would gather”, The Sheriff offered.

  To say I was confused would be an understatement as I continued my questions. “What about those others, who came after us. I mean at Burger King, at Vargas’s cabin and getting run off the road, I mean they never seem to ease up

  at all”? “Sadly they were hired by the same people, or at least one of them since John Gable burned to death in Astoria. There are more out there, waiting word to make a move”, Thomas continued.

  “So those in Astoria were hired by that Gable guy from the FBI”, I wanted

  more. “They were, including your nurse friend, “Mattie”, but my brother and his partner were very close to being able to close down their operation with the data they had accumulated.

  Fortunately for us you got rid of the big players as now they only have my Father to run the operation and I have known for some time that he has lung cancer with not much time left. Now you might understand why he has demonstrated an urgency to pull out all the stops to bring you in”, Thomas added.

  “One bit of news that is a tad disturbing, and that is that they do have one person that has apparently been deemed a success”. “What do you know about this one”, The Captain chimed in? “Only that he has completed training and is currently holding a full charge of electricity. I know that his telekinetic powers can’t match Billy’s, but coupled with a turbo charged body, he could pose a huge problem once we get there. I’ll explain more and go over our plans once we stop for the night”, and Thomas ended the call .

  That was a ton of information to absorb, and I tried the best I could, but I couldn’t get past what Vargas had told me about being inside the compound. “Follow the Air”, is what he told me. I’m sure to him it was an answer to an easy riddle, but for me it had absolutely no meaning what so ever.

  The Sheriff could see by the expression on my face that all of this information

  was a little much. “Doing okay in there”, the Sheriff asked while pointing to my

  head? “I guess, but it’s still hard to believe after all the crap we went through, that he was going to do that to me”, I countered. Then it sunk in, “My phone, Jenny was trying to warn me to stay away from something, then the phone lines died, like someone was listening to our call”, I was getting angry.

  “She was trying to tell me to stay away from Vargas, and how convenient that the lines suddenly went dead, and then my new phone stopped working but I thought it had something to do with damage from the earthquake”. I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket and turned it on.

  “Here, anybody good with these things? Vargas claimed that it wouldn’t work due to crappy reception”, as I held out my phone. Hank took the phone, pressed three different options and handed it back. “There you go, someone disabled it, you couldn’t get or make a call”, Hank explained. “Did Vargas have access to your phone Billy”, Cory wondered?

  “The only time would be the Hotel we stayed at in Reno. He was taking a shower and I fell asleep wh ile waiting my turn. I remember fiddling with it on the bed, but when I woke up it was on the nightstand between the beds”. That made sense now and my anger was building and the Sheriff could see it. “Calm down Billy, you had no way of knowing what he was up to. Just be thankful that we got to you first, before you ended up on some table all drugged up”, The Sheriff added in a calming manner.

  I just shook my head. I should have seen this coming, but what did I miss along the way that might have tipped me off. I would need more than a few minutes to figure that one out as I came up with absolutely nothing so far. Then I kept going back to, follow the air. I would need time and a lot of Dr. Pepper and some food to help with this one. Follow the air, so what was I supposed to follow the wind, and just exactly how does one go about doing that? He must mean something else, but what. This was making my headache worse. I needed to turn things off for a while and relax. I lit up a smoke and did just that. I sat back and watched the smoke travel out the open window. Follow the Air.

  48

  The call was answered immediately but any conversation would have to

  wait for Mr. Baily’s coughing spell to subside; it was a bad one. “What did….the

  well ……….Doctor tell you”, Mr. Baily uttered at barely an audible level? Hendricks

  waited for the rest of the coughing to cease. “He’s going to make it, but shouldn’t

  be moved. The bullet was deflected by one of the implants in his shoulder. If the implant wasn’t there, then it would have gone through heart. They had to take the implant out as it was pushed up against his heart. Dr. Warricks said maybe in a couple of days that he could be moved but”………………. “Bring him here”, Mr. Baily interrupted. “Bring him here now, we don’t have a couple of days to wait”, as he started coughing again.

  “Sir the Doctor said”…………………. “I don’t give a damn what he said, I pay him and I pay you, that means you follow my orders and you will. Once more for emphasis, bring him here now”, Mr. Baily sternly stated. “Yes Sir, I’ll be there in a few hours”, Hendricks reluctantly answered.

  Mr. Baily wanted Vargas in the compound where he could keep an eye on him. His antics were costing him entirely too much money to keep recommended bounty hunters on the payroll. Vargas had a decent plan. What got in hi s way was greed. Greed ranked higher than a carefully thought out plan.

  Mr. Baily knew that there were only a handful of people on the planet smarter than his son, and it threw him for a loop when Vargas suddenly appeared with the

  re-chargeable implants and a body charged full of fiery death in the form of

  electricity.

  Vargas wanted more than money; he wanted the power as well. If that meant he had to be a guinea pig to achieve that goal, then so be it. Vargas changed once his body was charged. His mind lacked the focus and the undeniable brilliance that only a genius like Vargas could bring. He focused on only two things, power and destruction, and Mr. Baily saw this change and attempted to help his son regain his former frame of mind to which his son became angry at his Father’s attempt and destroyed a large portion of the compound and escaped.

  Mr. Baily was determined to regain his son’s status of being an ally by appealing to his new found greedy nature and offer a huge sum of money to bring in Billy. It had worked too, almost at least if not for the efforts of those looking out for Billy. All is not lost though as all parties are accounted for and more importantly, on the way.

  Mr. Baily was prepared for them all. He was ready for Vargas to arrive, and he had his plan in place for Billy’s arrival as well. If anyone else had ideas of interrupting his plans, he had plans for them as well; permanent that is.

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  49

  The phone calls were flying fast and heavy between our little caravans. I decided to join in, but my phone call was to Jenny. My luck had not improved as I had to leave a voicemail, as I forgot that she was working. My smile returned as she gave me a quick text saying how much she misses me and to call her after eight PM tonight when she is off work.

  Scenarios and alternatives were being bantered about for when we arrive at

  Round Mountain. I didn’t really need a scenario for what I wanted to do. It was a

  simple plan
actually, although I might want to rethink the manner of how I get in, knowing that there is another me, or at least another person similar to me waiting and I’m sure the he has been programmed to stop me from doing any damage. This I would have to plan out carefully.

  If my nemesis was fully charged and ready to rumble then it might be necessary that I am fully charged as well. The big problem there is we’re in the middle of hilly desert country where it looks like it hasn’t rained in years, so the likelihood of being hit by lightning in a storm out here just to reboot my electrical

  reserves appears to be nonexistent. I’ll need some other manner to bring my

  levels back up as I doubt that what I have left would have little if no effect on him

  at all. Too much thinking to do, I need a smoke.

  I pulled out a smoke just as the back windows closed. A subtle hint if I do say so myself. “Sorry Billy, It’s too hot out and it’s only going to get hotter”, Cory offered as an explanation. I could see heat rising from the highway, so I could understand only I hope that we stop soon. “Where are we headed, and any guesses on how long it will take to get there”, my lack of nicotine asked?

  “Tanopah”, Hank answered. “Did he sneeze, or is that an actual name of a

  town”, The Captain wondered in a sarcastic manner? “Shut up Bill”, was all t he

  Sheriff needed to say as Hank was about to continue. “We’ve got about forty minutes or so and we’ll be stopping at El Marques Mexican Restaurant for an early dinner”, Hank ended. I checked my phone and it was almost four thirty in

  the afternoon and I didn’t care if it was early just as long as we ate for I was

  starving. I’m guessing that the country fried steak platter won’t be available at El