Chapter 9 –Pickup

 

 

The Reverend stood and watched as the 4 black SUV’s approached. They were followed by a black van and kicked up dust as they approached. The sun had just finished rising warming up the cold morning a little bit. A stiff breeze blew across the dusty plain.

 

He stood there surrounded by his most trusted men. The Strong Man was on his left and on his right stood the Ringmaster. Many of his followers stood behind the three of them and stared at the approaching vehicles.

 

The caravan stopped and the doors opened on all of the cars. All of the men carried M-16 machine guns and wore ski masks that covered their faces. All but one.

 

Mr. B walked toward the Reverend briskly. He wore a dark suit and mirrored sunglasses and as he approached his team fell into place behind him, their big guns lying on their sides as they took their positions.

 

“Where is the package?” B stated.

 

“No pleasantries? All business. Learn to relax it might help you to live longer. Take off those glasses so I can see your eyes.” The younger man removed the sunglasses.

 

“Where is the package?” he asked again.

 

“Show him the crates.” The crowd moved and created an opening. There were four stainless steel long crates sitting on the dusty ground.

 

They looked like silver caskets.

 

“Attach the devices to the boxes and place the monitors in their slots.” Two men jumped up and walked towards the crates and began following Mr. B’s orders.

 

“You really need to relax boy. You think you’re above this, you’re not.”

 

Mr. B just stared at the older man. “He looks much younger than the last time I saw him.”, he thought to himself.

 

“Sir, sir, one of their vitals is way down. Something is wrong with her.”

 

“Who is it?”

 

“The older one, Lightning.”

 

“Remove the crates.”

 

The Preacher smiled.

 

B stepped towards the older man. “We had an agreement. What did you do to her you bastard? You horrible old pervert.”

 

“You’d be best served to watch your tone boy.”, the Preacher hissed at him. “I’ll be sure to tell my friend Z all about your disrespecting ways.”

 

The Reverend stepped towards the younger man and whispered.

 

“I can take your pathetic life right now if I wanted to son.”

 

“Don’t you ever call me that again you piece of shit.”

 

The Reverend stepped towards Mr. B again and reached towards him grabbing his shirt. As he did the team behind them cocked their weapons and aimed it at the crowd behind the Preacher.

 

“If he does anything waste them all, me included.” Mr. B ordered.

 

“Well, let’s not do anything too rash boy. After all, we’re on the same team.”

 

He released the younger man and stepped away from him.

 

The team pointed their weapons down again and some of them lifted the crates into the vehicles.

 

“No, you’re wrong. We will never be on the same team. Never.”

 

“To late for that boy. You joined up. You made your deal. You made your deal with the devil. Now, one more word of advice. Try to have some fun with the ladies. They’re quite enjoyable.”

 

Some of the men behind him laughed. One of Mr. B’s team walked up to him.

 

“The packages are ready for transport and all devices are attached. They should be contained.”

 

“Good work G. Let’s go.”

 

 He walked backwards away from the Reverend and his group until right before he got into his ride. He placed his hand out of the window and made a forward motion and with that the group pulled out and left.

 

G sitting next to him asked “You gonna call Mr. A about the vitals?”

 

“No, I don’t see the point. Just drive and don’t ask so many questions”, he responded.

 

The Reverend turned towards his group.

 

“We have done our part once again and brought light to where there was darkness! Once again Tempo City has been cleansed of sin! Let’s head home!”

 

The Preacher walked towards his ride. It was a 1957 black Cadillac. He put it into gear and pulled out of the Carnival site, a trail of cars and trucks followed behind their leader.

 

 

 

Mr. A stood with his hands behind his back and stared through the reinforced plexi-glass one-way mirror and thought about what the day would bring.

 

“Let’s hope it goes smoother than last time.”, he thought.

 

His mind revisited the last and only time a heroine had been brought to the room he looked at. He was hoping for much better results.

 

He had explained to the younger man how ugly things could get but the young man didn’t understand. He hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, but he would today.

 

The older man sighed and looked at the four positions that had been set up in the large room for the women. They would each have space, but they would be close enough to see and feel each other’s anguish. They would use that against them.

 

He wondered when Z would arrive. He wondered if the women would survive. He wondered how bad it would be.

 

“Jesus, you should have left a long time ago. You know what this is about, why did you stay?” These were the thoughts that haunted his dreams.

 

A man walked up to him. He looked at him.

 

“Mr. B is on his way with the subjects and Mr. Z has arrived.”

 

“I’ll be right there.”

 

The man turned and walked away.

 

“Heaven help me.”, he thought as he walked towards what he had worked the past eight years for.


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