Wanted (22 page)

In spite of everything, Carl smirked. Eddie was forever the opportunist. “I bet you can get me the best deal on what I need, can’t you?”

Eddie smiled. “Of course,
amigo
! I’ll get you the best. We can work something out.”

“
I bet we can,” Carl said wearily. “Now, what about the kids?”

Eddie’s smile sent chills down Carl’s spine. It was a spine that had seen horrors and injustice of the worst kind, but still it trembled at the imagined fate awaiting them, should Eddie have his way. “Here’s the rub,” Carl told him. “I came here for the Jessie and her brother. Ain’t leaving without them. You want to work that into a deal, maybe we can talk.”

King Eddie stared at Carl for a moment, shock at his demands obvious on his face. Then he laughed, tears leaking from his eyes at how amused he was before he finished. “Carl, I’ve known you were
loco
for years. Nobody sane lives like that, all alone. Now you find somebody and it’s not just any
chica
, you fall for a slut and a couple of kids trying out life on the slum side for a thrill.”

“
I ain’t falling for nobody,” Carl snarled at him.

Eddie laughed, driving nails of irritation into Carl’s spine. The soldier turned protector realized he had taken the bait. “Want to bet I can reach my gun and turn your head into a canoe before your call for help gets somebody in here?”

Eddie raised his hands in a show of peace. “
Amigo
, I was just having some fun, relax. You don’t want to kill me. I keep this place under control. You want to see what happens without me here? Do you? No, you don’t. Stop threatening me, friend, and maybe you’ll get out of this.”

Carl stayed silent, his right hand aching to reach for his gun. He knew discretion was the better part of valor, for now, so he waited.

“
I’ll help you out,
amigo
,” Eddie went on, dropping back into his more conversational tone. “Supplies and materials, but you work for me when I ask for it.”

“
How long?” Carl asked, suspicious.

“
Let’s say until you pay it off.”

Carl snorted in derision.

“
Too quick,
amigo
,” Eddie said to him in a hurry. “You are too quick. Until you pay it off or three years. Not this babysitting work my men here do. I mean special things I need done.”

“
One year,” Carl bartered, “and why can’t your boys take care of your special needs?”

“
My men,” Eddie said, stressing that he considered his soldiers to be men, not boys as Carl implied, “do not have your experience, your talents and skills.”

Carl rolled his eyes. “1 Year, I’ll train them. That’s what you get.”

Eddie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Carl could see the greed in his eyes. He nodded after a bit, “Very well
Senor
Waters! You drive a hard bargain but I think I can agree to this. Then as we were before, you have your place and we have ours,
si
?”

Carl nodded. “Jessie and the boy?”

Eddie smiled. “Insurance, amigo. I trust you, of course, but my people must not think me a fool. You will have a place here, in Edland. They will stay here until your year is up. The house is yours, and they will be protected by my men that you train.”

Carl’s eyes narrowed. After a long moment he nodded though. As far as Eddie knew, that was fine. He would sneak them out at night first chance.

“
Excelente
!” Eddie said, hopping to his feet and gesturing towards the door. Carl opened it and stepped aside to let him through. Two guards outside let them pass then followed behind while they entered the large hall and Eddie returned to his throne.

“
Senor
Garza,” Eddie said, though the mercenary was already showing signs of having been ready to tear down the door to follow them. “I want your helicopter.”

“
What?”

Both Carl and Marko had spoken the same word, though both were staring at Eddie. “In exchange for the children,” Eddie explained. “You said there was a reward, no? I will accept your helicopter as payment for them.”

“
You son of a bitch,” Carl growled, reaching for his pistol.

As fast as Carl was, the guard that had been behind him had been waiting. He drove the butt of his rifle into Carl’s spine, between his shoulder blades, and sent him sprawling to the ground. Another guard snatched up the fallen pistol and aimed it at the fallen man. Carl rolled quickly and looked at his situation, sizing it up and realizing he had run out of options.

“
Amigo
, it’s nothing personal… just business,” Eddie said to him, smiling. “Please tell Captain Garza where the girl is.”

“
Fuck you,” Carl spat, slowly coming to his feet. He still had his knife and he was trying to plan on how he could use it to get a gun.

“
My apologies, Captain, it seems your stay might be longer than you’d hoped,” King Eddie said, standing back up and walking down so that he was near Carl, but not close enough to allow the man to lunge at him.

“
What about our deal?” Carl snarled at him.

“
A helicopter,” Eddie said, gesturing with his hands as though pantomiming a bird in flight. “I can control the skies,
amigo!
One year does not compare to that, does it, Captain?”

Marko eyed them both shrewdly. He knew something had taken place between them, but it seemed it had worked out in his favor. His favor if he was willing to give up his chopper. He nodded, “It is a great thing to have. Oh, King Eddie, might I witness your interrogation of this man? It would soothe my wounded pride for the loss of my men.”

Eddie smiled, “Of course. Follow me,
por favor
. I will personally show you to our
sitio de la interrogación
.”

Carl glanced up at Jessie, briefly, and saw the shocked and terrified look on her face. Eyes wide and mouth open, she looked ready to burst into tears. He had no smile for her, but he did wink, briefly, before turning away and allowing himself to be led towards the front of the hall. Behind him he heard Jessie get up and slip on the high heels that Eddie insisted were part of her ‘uniform’. She followed behind them at a distance.

With two guards in front, Eddie led them out of the shade of the building towards some parked golf carts that had been converted to four-seaters. Carl looked to the north, peering at the hilly regions that rose outside of town. He nodded his head and, a moment later, saw a flash of reflected light. He waited, aching to move, until it happened.

The guard behind him made a sudden sound that reminded him of a man being kicked in the stomach. He fell to the ground and caused everyone to jump in surprise. With less than a second of space between them, a distant crack of a sniper rifle reached them. This caused everyone to freeze in fear and confusion, everyone except for Carl and Captain Garza.

Carl had known what was about to happen though, and that gave him the edge. He leapt, knife in hand, and bore Eddie to the ground. Knife held at the self-style monarch’s throat, he pulled the man around so that Carl had a golf cart at his back. Another guard went down, clutching his hip in agony as the sound of the bullet that had claimed him reached his ears.

“
You had your chance to do this right,” Carl snarled, looking around to take stock of the situation. “Jessie, get in the cart!”

Jessie, who was now crouched down and hiding in the doorway to the hall, looked around nervously. She hurried when she heard Carl bark, running awkwardly on her heels and twisting her ankle once just as she reached it. She fell into the seat and pulled herself the rest of the way in.

“
You work alone,” Eddie said nervously since he could feel the sharp edge of the knife shaving the skin of his neck with every breath and movement.

“
Not this time,
amigo
,” Carl said.

Another shot, this one much closer, rang out. Eddie howled in pain and jerked, nearly slicing his own neck on Carl’s knife. “You idiot! Stop shooting!” he bellowed.

The newest shooter was not one of Eddie’s men, however. It was Marko, and he was crouched behind a dumpster that he had pushed away from the wall of the former American Legion to create a hiding place. “You ain’t no good to me dead,” Carl growled at him, then pushed the heavyset man away and scrambled towards the guard with the shattered hip.

Two more shots followed Carl, one hitting the ground near him and sending rock fragments pelting into his leg. He grabbed the fallen guard’s rifle, a civilian AR-15, and hid behind the guard while a third and fourth pistol shot hit the wounded man and insured he would never rise again.

Even as civilians in the town were running for cover, a few of Eddie’s guards were doing the opposite and running towards the trouble. Eddie was shouting over and over to them all to “Shoot him!” though none of them were quite sure who they were supposed to shoot. Carl peered over the cover he had and squeezed a couple of shots, forcing Captain Garza to duck back. Another round from the sniper rifle pierced the dumpster, making him jump as the fragmented bullet hit the siding of the American Legion and sent splinters of it into his arm and back.

“
Get in the cart, Eddie,” Carl yelled, then fired some more suppressing rounds towards the pinned down mercenary.

The other guards, seeing Eddie apparently safe, started to target the dumpster as well. It rang repeatedly with bullets that, mostly, ricocheted off of it. Occasionally one would pierce through, but the return fire came less and less frequently. Another one of Eddie’s guards went down as well, this one flattened by a round from the sniper rifle that hit him just below the neck in the center of his back.

His clip spent, Carl groped around on the body of the dead Edland guard in front of him until he found a spare magazine. He slammed it home but missed his opportunity. Marko, realizing he was about to be trapped, slipped out the back of the temporary concealment he had arranged and, firing on the run, dropped two more of Eddie’s guards with his pistol before he managed to slip away and run off. Carl was tempted to give chase, but he saw all of Eddie’s other guards taking off after him. He shook his head at their lack of discipline and training, then realized it worked to his advantage.

Limping from the pieces of shattered gravel that pierced his calf, he slipped into the back of the golf cart and found Jessie holding a pistol she had somehow acquired on Eddie. “Where’d you hide that?,” Carl growled, reaching down to take the pistol from her.

She glanced at him and he thought he was going to have to fend her off. She blinked the tears out of her eyes but he still knew she wanted to leap on him and hug him. “Drive,” he muttered, knowing they had very little time. Already people were starting to stick their heads back out of buildings or from whatever they had hidden under or behind.

“
Where?” she asked, backing the cart up to give her room to pull out.

“
Get your brother first,” he said, “then we’ll head north.”

She nodded and slammed the pedal to the floor, spinning the tire on the sandy gravel and making them all lurch in their seats as the golf cart sped off to her trailer. The governors had been removed from the engines, but it still only managed less than 30 miles per hour. Eddie moaned from his seat beside her in pain.

“
Shut up,” Carl growled. “Start praying I don’t put another bullet in you and dump you off this thing when I’m done with you.”

Eddie’s nostrils flared and he struggled to keep his moans quiet as the golf cart rocked over pot holes and bumps in the rough roads. In a couple of minutes Jessie slammed on the brakes, causing Eddie to gasp in pain. Carl had already jumped free and, running a few steps to slow down, he raised his acquired AR-15 to point at the guard outside of the trailer.

“
Drop your shit and get out of my way,” Carl told him.

“
What? Who…Your Majesty! What-“ he was cut short by Carl’s rifle firing its final bullet into his skull. He slumped to the deck, leaving a trail of gore on the wall behind him.

Carl tossed his spent AR-15 to the side and paused only to pick up the rifle that lay on the sun-beaten decking beside the guard. He looked at it and shook his head, then rifled through the man’s pockets to find three spare clips. “Jesus, Eddie, an M1 Carbine? Come on,” he muttered, pocketing the ammo and then standing up to kick the door open.

It took two kicks, but inside a frightened Dustin stared at him until recognition dawned on him. “Carl!” he yelped, nearly running to embrace him.

“
Not now kid, get in the cart,” Carl said, glancing inside briefly then turning to follow him to his original seat in the back. He handed Dusty the pistol Jessie had acquired once they were seated, “Anybody with a gun looks at you funny, use this.”

Dustin nodded and then nearly fell out of the cart as Jessie pulled it around in a circle under full acceleration to race back towards the north. “Now I know why somebody else always drove,” Carl muttered as Jessie rocked the cart repeatedly with bumps in the road and dodging around buildings and other road hazards.