The Chupacabra tct-1

by Stephen Randel

  “I can already feel my concentration improving,” the gangly Big Esther said.

  “Black coffee and cigarettes do the same thing,” replied Pearl.

  “Now,” said Master Wu, “bring your arms up in front of you to shoulder height. When they reach your shoulders, drop your elbows slowly to your waist. Keep your hands relaxed. That’s very good, class. Now raise them up, again keeping your movements very smooth. That’s it. Now drop your elbows and let the hands follow them down. Remember to breathe. In on open movements, out on closed movements.”

  “This is so relaxing,” said Polly as she followed Master Wu’s movements.

  “Relaxing?” Pearl scoffed. “If some fool rolls up on me, I don’t want him hypnotized, I want him hospitalized. I don’t see how you can possibly bust someone’s melon with this weak-ass stuff.”

  “Just do what Master Wu says,” Jolene said.

  “Well, he might be Master Wu to you,” said Pearl. “But he’s just plain old Wu to me. You don’t ask an old black woman to go calling someone Master.”

  “Pearl,” Polly pleaded, “just do what he does. We’re all here for you.”

  “Just you remember,” Pearl said as she began to flap her arms up and down. “I didn’t ask for any help. This is your crazy scheme.”

  “Excellent work, class,” Master Wu said as he walked among the students and inspected their movements. “Drop your elbows down. Keep your hands relaxed.” Suddenly, Big Esther collapsed to the floor with a thud. Master Wu rushed to her side. “Back away, people.” He fanned the air around Big Esther’s pale face.

  “Oh, my God!” cried Polly. “Is she having a heart attack?”

  “I don’t think so,” replied Master Wu. His fanning of the air seemed to bring some color back into Big Esther’s face. Slowly her eyes opened, and Master Wu gently assisted her to her feet. The room of students stood in hushed silence around the wobbly woman.

  “I’m okay,” Big Esther said faintly.

  “Let me guess,” said Master Wu. “You forgot to breathe.” Big Esther sheepishly nodded her big head in agreement.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  It’s Not a Party Until Someone Gets Shot

  Later that evening, an Austin police department cruiser worked its way through the highway traffic. The roads were still congested, even though it was after sundown.

  “How much further?” Agent Diaz asked the police officer who had picked her up at the Austin airport.

  “Not too far,” the patrolman. “Should be another fifteen minutes.” Maria shifted her position in the car seat so she could lean forward and grab the file resting on the floorboard beside her feet. She winced slightly as her arm sling pulled on her wounded shoulder.

  • • •

  Inside the big white house, Jackie, Kip, Bennett, and Polly sat in the parlor. All were sipping after-dinner drinks except Polly, who cradled an iced tea. Max was curled up in Bennett’s lap, snoring and dreaming. Jackie smiled ever so bashfully as the other three raved about the meal she’d prepared for them earlier that evening.

  “Come on, guys,” Jackie said. “It was only lasagna. Ya’ll have to come by the restaurant. That’s the kitchen for preparing something special.”

  “I’d come by more often if I could pronounce anything on the damn menu,” Bennett said as he sipped his bourbon. “You just drop off a pan of what you made tonight once a week and you’ll make an old man happy.”

  “Well, I’m glad you liked it, although I think Avery just pushed his around the plate a couple of times.”

  “Don’t mind him,” Kip replied. “If it doesn’t have sugar or caffeine listed as two of the main ingredients, he doesn’t much touch it.”

  “Well, the peach cobbler in the oven ought to work for him, then,” Jackie said as she checked her watch. “Should be just about ready to pull out.”

  “Jackie, dear,” Polly said. “Thank you so much for letting the girls come around to join us for dessert on such short notice. It means so much to them. Big Esther, that’s the tall one, not the short one, had the most awful day at tai chi class. I was afraid we almost lost her earlier. And Little Esther nearly had a conniption just seeing her there limp on the floor. Not to mention poor Jolene is horribly heartbroken. Her date tonight cancelled at the last minute.”

  “Can you believe it?” Bennett said as he rolled his eyes.

  “You hush, old man,” Polly scolded. Bennett held up his hands in mock surrender. “Her much younger man dumped her for a much younger woman. She’s real upset.”

  “It’s no problem at all, Polly,” Jackie said. “Really, there’s more than plenty to go around.”

  “Still, it’s so sweet of you. Not to mention it gives me an excuse to keep an eye on Miss Pearl, what with her probation and all. That scallywag.”

  “It’s my pleasure,” Jackie replied. “Well, I think the cobbler is close.” She looked at her watch. “I better check on it.” Jackie rose to head to the kitchen.

  “Such a dear,” Polly said as she looked at Kip and whispered through cupped hands, “don’t you mess this up.” Kip frowned back at her. Suddenly, the lights in the house went dark.

  “Oh, my heavens!” Polly cried out. “What just happened?”

  “Settle down, woman,” Bennett growled. “Power just went dead.”

  “Must be the breaker,” Kip said as he got up and looked out the window. “The rest of the block seems fine. The box is in the basement. I’ll go check it. Pop, you got a flashlight downstairs somewhere?”

  “Inside the door in the kitchen that leads to the cellar,” Bennett replied. “It’s by the recycling bin.” Suddenly Max jumped from his master’s lap and raced toward the kitchen, barking and growling.

  “What’s going on, boy?” Kip called after the little dog. His question was answered by the sound of Max’s sharp whimper. A large dark man walked out from the kitchen holding Max aloft by the scruff of his neck with one hand and a silenced pistol in the other.

  “You two,” El Barquero said, motioning to Jackie and Kip with his pistol. “Sit down.” Jackie and Kip complied. “Now, where’s Avery?” El Barquero asked as he pitched the little dog across the parlor and into Bennett’s outstretched arms.

  “And just who the hell wants to know?” Bennett asked as he rubbed the growling little dog’s thick neck.

  “Not important,” El Barquero replied menacingly. “I’ll only ask you one more time. Where is he?”

  “Please don’t hurt us,” Polly said meekly.

  “Shut up,” El Barquero said calmly as he pointed the gun toward the trembling woman.

  Upstairs, Avery checked the surge protector for his computer system, hoping he hadn’t lost any material on the letter he was composing. “Bennett!” he yelled out. “Turn my damn power back on!”

  “Avery? Is that you up there?” El Barquero called up the stairs. Avery froze, instantly recognizing the sinister voice. “Bring my money to me, Avery, and I won’t have to kill you or your family. You hear me?”

  “They’re not my family,” Avery called out as he hurried to lock the door to his room. “I don’t know any of them.” He fumbled in the dark to find the duffle bag containing his equipment for just such a contingency. Avery had planned for years on how to delay an armed commando extraction team sent to capture him. He just always thought it would be Navy SEALs or the CIA, not a six-and-a-half-foot-tall Mexican assassin.

  “Avery?” El Barquero called out again. “I’m not playing around here. I want the money.”

  “Just give him what he wants, Avery!” Bennett bellowed.

  “I’m sorry,” Avery replied. “I don’t recognize that person. I’m afraid you’ve made a mistake. Come back later.” He hastily arranged various items around the room and collected the lawn bag full of money from under his bed. “I’m very busy right now,” Avery yelled as he extended a rope fire escape ladder out his bedroom window, securing the ladder’s metal hooks on the sill. “Wednesday is much better for me. Shall we make i
t, say, three in the afternoon?”

  “Don’t make me come up there, Avery,” El Barquero replied.

  • • •

  Outside the house a taxi pulled up to the curb and let four women out.

  “Stop shoving me,” Little Esther said.

  “Then get moving,” Pearl replied as she pushed her way out. “Somebody pay the man, cuss I ain’t,” she said as she slung her purse over her shoulder. “What’s wrong with their lights? Don’t people pay the electric company in this part of town?”

  “It is mighty dark up there,” Little Esther said.

  “Calm down, ladies,” Jolene said as she paid the cab fare. “Just go on up.”

  “Lovely walkway,” Big Esther said as she led the women to the door. “Could be a little wider, though.” Little Esther got to the door first and rang the bell.

  • • •

  The sound of the doorbell made Max jump up and whine in Bennett’s lap. Bennett held the struggling dog in place.

  “You,” El Barquero motioned to Jackie, “come over here. You,” he pointed his gun at Polly, “see who it is and get rid of them.” El Barquero grabbed Jackie’s blonde hair with one hand and pointed his gun at her temple with the other. “Come with me.” He began pulling her into the kitchen. “No one does anything stupid, or all of you are dead,” he whispered to Kip and Bennett as he dragged Jackie away. The doorbell rang again. Polly nervously walked toward the front door. El Barquero watched the front of the house from the darkened kitchen doorway while still holding Jackie at gunpoint. Polly tentatively opened the door.

  “What’s the deal with your bust-ass lights?” Pearl asked.

  “Non…non…nothing,” Polly stammered.

  “Aren’t going to invite us in?” The little black woman tapped her foot impatiently.

  “Not tonight,” Polly whispered. “We’re going to bed.”

  “What about dessert?” Little Esther asked dejectedly.

  “We… we already ate.”

  “What?” Big Esther asked.

  “We… we went out for sushi.”

  “Sushi?” Pearl spat. “Woman, have you done lost your cotton-picking mind? You can’t even eat a steak without it being cooked until it’s like shoe leather. And you think I’m the one with issues.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “So does this mean we don’t have to do any of that stupid meditation hocus pocus tomorrow?” Pearl asked.

  “No. Intervention is cancelled.”

  “Praise Jesus!” Pearl said, wringing her hands.

  “Heavens, why not?” Jolene asked.

  “I… I have to do my hair.”

  “At the parlor?” Big Esther asked. “We don’t have an appointment. At least I didn’t think we had an appointment. Do we have an appointment?”

  “No, I’m doing it here. Please, just leave. I have to go now,” Polly said as she closed the door.

  “Indian giver!” Pearl shouted at the closed door. “And fix your damn makeup! You look white as a bed sheet. Rats.” She stomped her foot down on the front porch. “I sure wanted some dessert.”

  “Well, that was a waste of time,” Big Esther said as she turned to leave.

  “Hold on, ladies,” Jolene said as she looked around the front of the house. “Something is going on. Pearl would never eat raw fish.”

  “And no one in this house goes to bed this early,” Little Esther added.

  “And she would never do her own hair,” Big Esther said. “It’s so strange the way she acted.”

  “You old fools are paranoid,” Pearl said. “Come on. Let’s go get some ice cream.”

  “Pearl, this just isn’t right,” Jolene said. “I think we should check it out.”

  “Check what out?” Pearl asked.

  “Something,” Jolene replied. “Anything. If there’s a problem and we just walk away, I could never forgive myself. Let’s go around back and look around. Just to be certain.”

  “All right, then,” Pearl relented as she pulled a small .38 Special special snub-nosed revolver from her purse.

  “Good Lord, Pearl,” Big Esther said when she saw the gun.

  “I thought the judge said you couldn’t have a gun anymore,” Little Esther added.

  “He said I couldn’t have a gun. He didn’t say anything about a backup gun. This is my backup. Girls, meet Judy.”

  “Judy?” Big Esther asked.

  “That’s her name.”

  “Why Judy?” Jolene asked.

  “Because she packs a punch. Come on now,” Pearl said as she opened the revolver’s cylinder to check her ammunition before spinning the cylinder with a whirl and snapping it back in place with a flick of her skinny wrist. “Follow me.”

  “Here,” Little Esther said as she pulled one of her knitting needles out of her bag and gave it to Big Esther.

  “What do I do with this?”

  “Hold it like this,” Little Esther said, wielding her other needle like a knife.

  “What about me?” Jolene asked.

  “Just stay behind us and don’t make a sound, if you can manage, you old loudmouth cradle-robbing hussy,” Pearl said. Jolene frowned. The girls sneaked their way around the right-hand side of the dark house to the kitchen. When they reached the back door, the ladies all placed their ears to the door and listened.

  “What are we listening for?” Little Esther asked.

  “Movement, voices, anything,” Pearl replied.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Big Esther said.

  “If you can’t hear anything with those big ears, they must be asleep,” Pearl quipped. “Let’s go.”

  “Go?” Jolene said. “We have to be sure nothing is wrong.”

  “That’s what I meant.” She raised her pistol and reached for the doorknob. “Inside, but real quiet-like. Take off your shoes first. Those heels make a racket.” The girls complied. Pearl opened the door and the girls slipped inside on their tippy toes. Pearl motioned with her pistol toward the door to the main part of the house. “You go that way, I’ll check the back,” she whispered. Sneaking down the hallway, Pearl found nothing out of the ordinary. Turning around, the hallway was empty behind her. “Girls?” she hissed. “Where are you?” Getting no response, she crept down the hall. Peeking around the corner into the main part of the house, she spotted a group of huddled figures standing in the dark. Pointing her pistol in front of her, Pearl inched her way into the room. Suddenly, something smashed down on her arm, causing her to drop her pistol. In front of her stood the strongest-looking man she had ever seen.

  “Over with the rest,” Barquero growled as he picked up the gun and stuck it in his waistband. “Now!”

  “Boy, I’m going to break my foot off in your backside if you don’t give me little Judy back.”

  “Shut up,” Barquero said, pushing the tiny woman across the room as he pointed his pistol at the group.

  “Please, don’t kill us,” Polly begged.

  “At least we got baptized recently,” the trembling Little Ester said.

  “That damn Mr. Wu,” Pearl said. “If he’d taught me some of that Bruce Lee stuff like I wanted, I’d rearrange this sucker’s face.”

  “Quiet!” Barquero yelled.

  “I’ve seen your face, boy. I’m your worst nightmare!”

  “Be silent,” Barquero quietly commanded as he pointed his gun right between Pearl’s eyes. Miss Pearl just crossed her arms and scowled. One by one, Barquero used zip ties to bind his hostages’ hands and feet before tearing strips of duct tape to cover their mouths. Max received the same treatment. Bennett struggled the most. He received a pistol butt to the back of his head for his efforts.

  • • •

  “That should be it right there,” the police escort said to Agent Diaz as they pulled up in front of the columned white house.

  “The one with no lights?” Maria asked.

  “Yeah. That’s the one,” the officer answered as he shut off the police cruiser’s engine.

  �
��That seem a little odd to you?” Maria asked as she exited the vehicle.

  “Little bit,” the officer replied. “It’s the only dark one on the street.”

  “Wait a minute,” Maria said. “Did you see that? Something just came out of that upstairs window on the left-hand side of the house. You go check the front. I’m going around the side.”

  • • •

  Avery hurried as he continued with his counter-insurgency preparations. But he froze when he heard the front doorbell ring again.

  • • •

  Barquero pulled Polly from the group and cut her restraints off before ripping the tape from her mouth.

  “You know the drill,” he said to her as he grabbed Jackie and pulled her back toward the kitchen. “Get rid of whoever it is, this time for good. I mean it,” he said pointing the gun at Jackie’s head. Kip struggled furiously against his bonds. “You, keep quiet,” he added, looking at Kip. Polly went to the door and opened it.

  “Evening, ma’am,” the police officer said as he looked into the dark house. “Sorry to bother you. I’m looking for an Avery Bartholomew Pendleton. I believe he lives at this address. Is he in this evening?”

  “No, he’s not,” Polly quietly replied.

  “Do you expect him back soon?” the officer asked. “I don’t mean to alarm you. Just need to ask him some questions.”

  “I…I…I don’t know when he’s coming back,” Polly stammered.

  “I see,” the officer replied as he pulled a card out of his pocket. “Would you mind giving this to him when he gets back? Have him call the number on the card. Like I said, nothing to be worried about. Just a few questions, that’s all.”

  “Okay,” Polly said as she took the card from the officer. “I’ll let him know.”

  “You having some kind of power issue with the house?” the officer asked as he looked into the darkened house again.