Terror Flower (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 5) (25 page)

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Authors: Thomas Hollyday

BOOK: Terror Flower (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 5)

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“I looked behind me and saw the Coasties coming along full speed. I figured they knew something was bad too,” said Katy.

“We done right,” Smiley said.

Tench said, “Smote got to them, alerted the local Coast Guard station as well as Satter and the State Police.”

“You like that rocket, don’t you?” Smiley said. “Trouble is the Feds took it away from me. Said it wasn’t legal for me to have. They even wanted to know where I got it.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them a fellow traded it for my old Yamaha bike. I said I never saw him or the bike again. “

“They believed you?” asked Tench, with a smile.

“Who cares? I got four more of the bossmen hid up in the woods anyway and they’s a lot more where they came from.”

“You saved our lives.” As he said this to his tattooed friend, Tench thought about the irony. He wondered who the real terrorists were, this man with the shoulder fired rocket who wanted to kill non-whites, or the African doctor who desired revenge for the evil done to her country by whites. He shook his head and resolved to stick to building race cars.

“Got to keep you alive,” said Smiley, unaware of Tench’s confusion.” I want to drive the dragster.”

Katy said, “God damn it. You ain’t much of shot, Smiley. Aim the bossman at the pilot and hit the engine. God damn thing. No wonder our soldiers couldn’t hit any of the damn Cong.”

“You know these outsiders got to get used to the fact that they can’t come in here and mess with us local people,” said Smiley.

Tench grinned. He thought back for a moment to the streets in Baltimore. It hadn’t been any different there. Threats and counter threats, only in those days no rockets or airplanes filled with gasoline were used to get even. He sighed. Julie heard him and turned her head.

“I wonder what Cunningham would say about us tearing up his car?” said Tench.

“Cunningham liked to win but he lost his fair share of races,” she said. She readjusted the sling on her right arm and touched his face with her left hand. “I think he built his cars to race to win, and I don’t think he set them up to just be looked at in a museum. I think he would have been proud of us when we tried to escape those Africans with his car.”

Tench nodded, “We can put her back together again.”

“I think he would have said that the guts of the driver is what counts, not the car.”

He nodded. “You remember when you told me about the mountain and touching evil or good. I think I see what you were worried about, why we had to be apart. “

She looked at him.

He said, “People like Captain Bob and Cunningham got to the top of the mountain and touched the good. They loved for the sake of loving their cars, their boats, their homes. Your father touched evil. You were afraid that I would too, that I would do everything for money, for building an empire, that I would hurt people like he did, hate like Owerri and Stagmatter.”

She nodded. “I guess that was it. Anyway, you’ve changed. I’ll never leave you again,” she said. “The place has got to me. Too many good memories. Somebody once told me she said that if you love your home the home will love you back.”

“Captain Bob told you that,” said Tench.

She nodded.

“Then this place will be our home,” he added.

“Design and build,” she said with a grin.

“You’re just a motorhead like the rest of us,” he said. He held her close.

“Funny,” he said. “Smiley didn’t have anything but hate going up the mountain, but he touched good.”

The picture of Captain Bob came to his mind, sitting in his chair on the back lawn and proclaiming the virtues of River Sunday and his boat and dog. Tench thought about that, about home and how the old man had described home as a loving thing. Stagmatter and Owerri and the Africans had ideas of home too. The difference was that, as the old man said, you protect your home and you defend it. The Africans had become aggressive and tried to destroy another person’s home to revenge the loss of their own.

“You think the terrorists accomplished anything? Tench asked her. As he spoke, Tench was reminded of something else, of the words on a brass plaque near a bell, far off in Africa, words he probably would never get fully out of his mind.

“One person with courage would ring this bell

to warn his village of the foreign slavers.”

Julie looked at him and said, “That African doctor and her publishers are going to sell a lot of her books. I think she planned it that way. Most of these terrorists have jumbled unreadable narratives to explain their actions. Her book is well written. People will want to know why she did it.”

“Marengo was the saddest part of the whole deal,” she said. “Everybody has hate in himself but without those people coming around him, I don’t think it would never have come out in that old man. He had too much kindness in him.”

“I’m just glad I’ll never have to see Stagmatter again,” Tench said. He leaned over the railing, and said, “Smote, tell me, how’d you wreck those bomber controls?”

Smote grinned and pulled out his wad of gum. “Good for something, you know,” he said. He looked at the gum. “This gum, it stink and mess up many things, stick them up, you know. My father tell me when I was a kid that those type of American engines, they need their engine cowling open or they overheat and burn themselves up. So, I make sure with my chewing gun that the cowlings do not open up and the engine, it goes bang.”

She laughed. “Until we get the Cunningham fixed we could drive the Mustang,” she said.

Tench touched her arm again.

“You know what Captain Bob would say?”

She nodded. Then, at the same time, they said, laughing as they looked into each other’s eyes,

“Nossir, that’s the way it are.”

About the Author

Thomas Hollyday brings to life strong Chesapeake characters showcased in their stunning, unique Eastern seaboard landscapes. Reviewers praise his rich sense of place and his respect for the great machines that made our era possible. His stories resonate with a deep awareness of history and legend. The humor in life shines through as Tom draws on a comedic sense honed sharp from an accomplished cartooning background.

In his River Sunday Romance Mysteries series, Tom honors the battles for love of land that have recurred over and over in the Chesapeake Bay. Past victories and defeats created mists of legend and history which shroud the present landscapes. Throughout Tom's stories, he incorporates both the machines that have left lasting imprints and the wildlife that enriches the captivating natural landscape. His modern and timely novels feature memorable characters from the small town of River Sunday, Maryland, and reveal their compelling stories as they search for answers to achieving love, unveiling mystery, and vanquishing evil.

Tom grew up in the Chesapeake Bay, and his love for his native land shines through in every word.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of Thomas Hollyday fiction and non-fiction goes to support drinking water resources for wildlife.