Rick Carter's First Big Adventure (Pete's Barbecue Book 1) (21 page)

       He knew better than to argue with her. He pretended to stamp in protest and then went back outside to do as she asked.  He could never say no to her.

      He walked down to the curb of the street, in front of the long row of boutiques and dress shops and looked up and down the street.  The street was busy, with all four lanes almost bumper to bumper but there was no sign of a taxi.  Finally, he saw one approaching, a white Crown Victoria with the letters Tampa Taxi on the side and the number 168 prominently displayed on its light-up roof sign.  He tried to wave frantically with his hand full of bags.  He felt like an idiot.  Fortunately, the driver spotted him and maneuvered through the traffic to stop directly in front of him.  Sam opened the back door and tossed in the bags, he leaned over and spoke to the driver.  “My wife’s finishing up.  She’ll be out in just a second.”  The driver nodded that he understood while he lifted a radio microphone to his lips and began to speak inaudibly.  Sam didn’t care.  He just waited on the sidewalk at the open door until she finally came out with two more bags.  It was a good thing that they were insanely wealthy.

      Sam’s attentions were on his beautiful wife, and he failed to notice the two men slowly and stealthily approach him from the right.  They had been watching him for the past few moments, but their presence had gone unnoticed.  They were just a pair of businessmen in gray suits talking to each other on a busy sidewalk under the bright glaring sun of the blue Tampa sky. 

      “Mr. Rogers.”  The tall thin one addressed him sharply, unconcerned with his rudeness or tone.

      Sam turned quickly, hearing his name spoken so formally.  “Yes?”  He asked as he turned.  His eyes met the thin man and he instantly knew the face, the tight, almost gaunt face with the tight pale lips, the thin red eyebrows, and the well-groomed red hair.  “Oh, for the love of all that’s holy.”  Sam said in disgust.  “We’re on vacation here gentlemen can you not leave us the hell alone?”

      The thin man straightened himself slightly as if he had just been affronted, but chose to pass it off instead.  The second man, the shorter and heavier set of the two, grinned and rubbed his forehead.  “Mr. Rogers,” he said, “we need to discuss this situation.”

      “What we need to do, Mr. Ball, is kiss off.  I told you no and I meant it.”  Sam became defensive.  By this time Margaret had come out and, seeing the two men beside her husband, instantly recognized the issue.  She walked up to Sam with a queenly air.

     “You two have some nerve,” She said.  “We’re on vacation.”

     “I was just explaining that to them,”  Sam added.

     “Mrs. Rogers.”  The thin man bowed slightly in greeting.  “I’m sure you have to understand that we need to settle this issue.”

      “Mr. Tabert, I believe my husband told you no last time.  In fact, I think he threatened you with a shotgun.  What’s it going to take to get the point across?”  She spoke pointedly to him.

      Mr. Ball spoke instead.  “Margaret, look you have to understand that we can’t just let this thing go like that.  We’re obligated to follow up on this type of anomaly.  And you two are about one of the biggest anomalies we’ve ever seen.  We can’t have people just porting about at free-will, no matter what their abilities allow them to do.  That just completely undoes everything we’re trying to accomplish here.  Now, as we indicated before, we’re going to have to go to our headquarters and discuss some arrangements, something to guarantee that your trips won’t interfere with our work.”  He spoke very kindly and calmly with a dash of rational thrown in for good measure. 

     Sam raised his hand in a threatening like manner.  “I go where I please, gentleman.  Look, I didn’t ask for this.  We’ve been through this.  But, I’ll be slapped silly if I’m gonna shackle myself down with your Company rules.  Margaret and I go where we please when we please.”

     Mr. Tabert looked at him coldly.  “I don’t think you understand, Mr. Rogers.  We cannot allow this to continue.”  He stood firmly, eye to eye with him and didn’t flinch.   The battle of wills was almost tangible in the air between them.

     “Or what, Mr. Tabert?”  Sam asked.  “And drop the Mr. Rogers crap.  It’s Tormodis now.”

      The taxi driver spoke up loudly from the front seat.  “Mister, are we going?”

      Sam turned.  “Just a second!”  He shouted back.  “Look, we’re late, and we’re leaving.  Just leave us alone.”  He said, and he stepped aside so Margaret could get in the taxi.  He followed directly behind her.  Before he shut the door, Mr. Tabert leaned in.

      “We will talk, Mr. Rogers.  It has to be done.”  He said, and he slammed the door shut with a loud boom that rocked the Crown Vic from side to side.  The driver didn’t wait but pulled away from the curb quickly sensing that an altercation was about to happen.

      Margaret watched the men standing there behind them on the curb watching the cab drive away.

      “What an ass.”  Sam said and settled back into the fake leather seat. 

     The driver seemed somewhat agitated.  His eyes were frantically watching his passengers in the rearview mirror.  “Everything okay?’  He asked.  He was a heavy-set man in his thirties.

      “Yeah, it’s all good,” Sam said, grabbing his wife’s hand and holding it tightly.  She looked at him with those big wide eyes.  “Say could you just take us to the Marriot?”  He spoke to the driver.

      “Sure.  Which one?”  The driver asked.

       “The one down by the bay.”  Sam quickly replied.

       Margaret was troubled “Are they never going to leave us alone?”  She asked her husband.

     “I don’t know.  They’re the most dogged two bastards I ever saw.”  He shook his head.

      “They worry me, Sam,” She said.  “I mean what can they do?  They sound serious.”

       Tormodis held her hand tightly, for his well-being as well as hers.  “They can’t do anything.  They’re just blowing smoke.  Just ignore them, honey.”  He said.  His youthful ego wasn’t impacted by idle threats from two annoying suits.  He was still young enough to convince himself and her that he could handle it.

      “I didn’t want anything to spoil our anniversary,” She said with a sad little voice.

      “And it won’t.  Don’t worry.  I’ll take you someplace tonight for a great dinner.”  He tried to sound enthusiastic.  “After all, it is our first.”  He said with a, smile and he leaned over and kissed her lightly.

      They had been married for a year.  It took four years to corner him into getting married, or at least, that’s the way he liked to tell it.  Their relationship started in 1987.  The four years before their marriage were filled with a whirlwind of strange and bizarre revelations and discoveries.  He did finish college, though. Finally, in 1991, they were married.  Now a year later they were enormously wealthy and vacationing in Tampa, Florida in 1997.  That’s how things work when you can travel through reality at will, taking advantage of historical knowledge to build a fortune in investments and land deals. The last they checked they were worth over $400 billion but that was an estimate and was subject to change each day.  It might be double that by now.

    “Where are we going for dinner, Sam?”  She asked.

     “I heard about this great barbecue place.  It’s supposed to be the best in the world.  But, it’s in Guam.”  He replied.

     “Oh, Sam you said no porting while we were on vacation.”  She seemed annoyed, but he knew better.  She was just giving him the usual hard time he got from her when he refused to obey the rules.

      “Don’t worry.  It’ll just be a quick one.  Besides, we haven’t been there since back in 1974, remember?” He looked over at her sweet eyes.

      “Don’t remind me,” She said in a low and irritating tone.

       The driver suddenly brought the taxi to a stop behind a wall of traffic.   They were stuck in one of Tampa’s favorite daily routines.  He took advantage of the moment to twist around and speak to his fare.  “Sorry guys.  It’s just some traffic, but we’ll get through it.”  He quickly turned back, his considerable size preventing him from twisting around comfortably for too long at a time.   “Say you two new in town?”  He tried a hand at idle conversation to lighten the mood, but it was clear that he wasn’t that sophisticated at it.

      Tormodis looked him squarely in the face when he twisted around and caught the driver’s features.  Something sparked a memory in his mind that was very unsettling.  He recognized the driver’s face, and it wasn’t a pleasant recognition.  “Say, fella, you been driving a taxi long here?”  He asked, ignoring the driver’s unanswered question.

      The man looked in his rearview mirror again a little shocked.  “Not really.  This is my first day solo.  I’ve been training for about two weeks.   But, don’t worry, I’m good, and I know where the Marriot is at.”  He smiled at them.

      “What’s your name?”  Sam continued to question him.

       The driver seemed a little more worried by that kind of a direct question.  “Rick,” He said.

       Sam looked at the back of Rick’s head like he was drilling holes.  Margaret noticed her husband’s sudden fascination with the driver.  “What’s wrong, honey?”  She asked.

      “I think I know Rick here.  We’ve met before, haven’t we, Rick?”  He said very rudely.

        Rick tried to twist around again, realizing something very troubling was happening.  “Mister I have no idea what you’re talking about.  I’ve never seen you before.  I just moved down here not long ago.  Maybe you’re confusing me with someone else?”

      Sam pointed at him to Margaret.  “That’s him!  I knew it!”  He said emphatically.

      Margaret was just as alarmed as the driver.  “What are you talking about, hun?”

      “That’s the same guy!”  Sam was nodding and narrowing his eyes at Rick.

      “Mister, I don’t know you,” Rick said again.

       This time, Sam turned to his wife sharply.  “He’s the guy that I met here before.  I didn’t tell you the whole story.  It was when I was sixteen.  I didn’t know I could port yet.  But, we were here on a family vacation, and I accidently ported myself out of the hotel room we were staying into the year 2010.  I remember it was in March.   I ended up on this street near a bar at night in the middle of nowhere.  Then this guy pulls up in his taxi, and I get in.  I figure I can get a ride back to the hotel.  But, I didn’t have any money.”

      Rick was listening to this bizarre story intently, realizing that not a word of it made any sense.  His passenger was spouting crazy tales and getting increasingly agitated.  And this was his first fare of the day.

     “I was alone and scared, and I didn’t know what had happened.  I didn’t have any money with me so, I ran.  But, this bastard pulls out a BB gun and shoots me square in the ass.  I mean it hurt too!  I took off running, scared to death.  I’ll never forget that face, even if it was older at the time.”  He narrowed his eyes further at Rick. 

     Rick shook his head.  “I don’t understand a word that you’re saying, mister.  I swear I’ve never met you before.”  He said as he had to turn forward again as traffic began to move slightly.

     “Oh, but you will, you bastard,” Tormodis said with an untamed growl-like voice.

     “Sam!”  Margaret was shocked at his behavior.  “Stop it.  You cannot hold this man responsible for something he hasn’t done yet.”

       Sam sat silent looking at the back of Rick’s head, trying to formulate his next words into some pithy insult.  That moment and the fright it caused him were indelibly pressed into his memory.  Margaret looked at her husband concerned.  She had very seldom seen him so worked up.  “Maybe we should just go now,” She said a little more quietly and with some hope of easing Sam’s agitation.  “Let’s go back to the hotel now and then get dinner in Guam.  You know you get overworked when you don’t eat.”  She said.

     He looked at her with the clear presence of anger in his eyes.  But, he could never look at her in anger for any length of time.  Her sweet eyes always melted his fury, and he could never tell her no.  He grabbed her hand again and nodded his head.  “Okay.”  He said.  “Grab your bags and we’ll go.”  She did as he said and then there was a bright flash of light that filled the car and temporarily blinded Rick.  When he opened his eyes again, he realized he was alone.  They were gone, and cars behind him were honking their horns at him annoyed.

     “You’ve got to be kidding me!”  He muttered.  “They didn’t even pay me.” So much for my very first day driving in Tampa, he thought.  A slow and perceptible anger began to well up from deep within him.  If I ever catch up with that little turd again, he thought.  Visions of slamming his fist into the fare-jumper’s face filled Rick’s mind as he drove off into the thick Tampa traffic.         

                 
CHAPTER EIGHT

                     
 
                 Chaos Ensues