24(S2E11)- De Nada

24

(Season 2 Episode 11)

De Nada

Anyone who was from Cleveland called it The Gund.

Before the age of corporate sponsorship, that was its name.  Gund Arena, home to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lake Erie Monsters.

It was actually called Nationwide Arena, but if you were from Cleveland, you called it The Gund.

Elmo Kincaid was a season ticket holder on both teams, he also owned a private box for such events, and currently he had confiscated the building for a couple of hours between noon and 2:00 pm.

It was going to happen here.

Patti and Creegan walked down the long crossover between the parking garage and the arena.  One of those enclosed, suspended walkways over a busy Cleveland street.  Two men waited at the entrance.

They did not work for the arena.

They were both large men; one white, one black, wearing street clothes.  Neither was particularly well dressed.

The word thugs came into Creegan’s mind.

“Hold up,” the white one said, raising his hands.  “We’ll be taking any weapons you got.”

Creegan shook his head.  “We agreed no weapons at the meet.”

The thugs laughed.  “Yeah, right.  Everybody always agrees to no weapons at the meet, that’s the only reason meets ever happen.”

“We don’t have any weapons,” Patty said.

The thugs looked at her and both were confused by her accent.  The Black one questioned.  “You have a harpoon?”

Creegan cracked a smile.  He couldn’t help it.  Patti looked at him angrily, then back to the thugs.  “WE DON’T HAVE WEAPONS!” she annunciated.

“Oh!” They both said, understanding now.  “We still don’t believe you.  Gotta search you.”

Patty and Creegan assumed the position and the trained thugs did a thorough search.

“Wow,” the white one said.  “They really don’t have anything.”

“You can go in,” his partner said to Creegan and Patty.  “Head down to the baseline of the basketball court.  Elmo will meet you when he thinks it’s safe.”

Jim and Patty nodded and walked in through the large hallway that circles the arena and into the arena itself.

With no one in the building and nothing happening, there was a feeling of smallness.

Creegan and Patty walked down the stairs through the seemingly endless rows of chairs, then out onto the basketball court.

They stopped on the base line.

“As much as I love you, Patty,” Creegan and Patty turned as Elmo walked onto the court across from them, “I never figured you for this kind of scam.”

Patty’s eyes narrowed on her target, they were face to face.  “I never figured you for a backstabbing cunt.”

Elmo scowled.  “We’re criminals.  That’s how it works.”

“That’s a cop out,” Patty shot back.  “You know it was more than that.  You were like-”

“Like what?” Elmo cut her off.  “A father to you?  Don’t start that shit.  I did what I had to do.  Now gimme the thumb drive and we’ll go our separate ways.”

“Not that simple.” Patty stated.

“She’s right,” a woman’s voice suddenly broke into the tense conversation.  “It’s not that simple because they don’t have it.”

Elmo, Patty and Creegan turned to see a large, very frightening black man.  Standing directly next to him was a woman with near crimson hair in blue jeans and a leather coat.

Maggie.

****

The thugs had names.

The white thug was Paul.

The black thug was Lavon.

After the guy and the woman had passed their job was mostly done.  They just had to sit and watch the entrance, which was exactly what they did.  While sitting there eating their burritos.

“Hey, can I get some of that fire sauce?” Paul asked Lavon, who promptly handed it over.  “Gracias.”  

Paul smiled at his use of Spanish in light of what they were eating.

“Se Nada.” Lavon said back.

Paul looked at him confused.  “What?”

Lavon looked up from his burrito.  “I said ‘Se Nada’.  It means you’re welcome.”

Paul scowled.  “No it doesn’t.  You mean De Nada”

“No, I mean Se nada,” Lavon said irritated.  “I think I would know better than you.”

“You’re black, not Spanish mother fucker.”  Paul fired back, “Senada is like a classical music concert or some shit.”

Lavon shook his head.  “That’s a sonata, you dumb son of a bitch.”

Paul frowned.  “Well I know that Senada ain’t you’re welcome in Spanish.  Se nada ain’t nothing in nothing.  It’s De nada!”

“He’s right.”  A well spoken Cuban voice broke into the argument and both men turned, realizing all too late that they had completely failed to watch the entrance because of their argument.

They saw a good looking dark haired Cuban man in a white suit standing in front of them with his hands in his pockets.  Next to him where two more well dressed Cuban men. The Cuban men were holding Uzis.

“De nada is Spanish for ‘it is nothing’.  It would be the proper response to a gesture of gratitude.”  He said clearing up the argument.  “Now, where would I find your boss?”

****

Creegan stared in disbelief and anger.  It had to be that she was somehow mixed up in all this.  She was the bane of his existence.  “Maggie.”

“I’m starting to believe you are un-killable, Jim.”  She said with a frown.

Creegan’s face became that of pure rage and he began to move toward her.

Clay stepped out from behind her and raised a gun to Creegan’s head, stopping him in his tracks.  “Calm down, big man.”

His low dangerous voice washed over Creegan.  Creegan stopped and looked at him, “You don’t know what you are dealing with.  She is the devil.”

Clay’s mouth twitched, which may or may not have been the closest he ever got to a smile.  “Your relationship with her was personal, mine is purely financial.”

Creegan shrugged.  “Well Maggie, looks like you found the perfect man.”

Maggie puckered her lips.  “Oh that’s not true Creegan.  After all, you worked for me for nothing.”

Creegan growled at her.

“I hate to interrupt.”  Elmo didn’t.  “But what the fuck is going on.”

Maggie turned toward him.  “They baited you out so that they could kill you.”

Elmo raised an eyebrow.  “Interesting.  You have proof, bitch?”

Maggie pulled out the flash drive and raised it into the air.  Elmo’s heart dropped.  “I have proof because, as I said in the beginning, I have this.”

“I will be taking that.”  Roberto’s Cuban voice cut the air as he and his two back up men walked out onto the court, opposite from Maggie.  “After all, it is rightfully mine.”

****

Rockwell watched all of this play out through the scope of Natasha; Natasha being a Dragnov Sniper rifle, a Semi automatic weapon that looked like an AK-47 from the future.  He had gotten to the arena early and snuck in and waited.

“Well that changes everything.”  Stone was sitting in the seat next to Rockwell.

Stone was not sitting in the seat next to Rockwell.

“How do you figure?” Rockwell asked as he continued to watch.  “The plan was to take out Elmo when he shows himself, and walk away a free man.  What changed?”

Stone shrugged.  “Well the Cuban drug dealers and that dirty, dirty, bitch down there. You take out Elmo, it means the end of Creegan and Patty.”

“Who the fuck cares?” Rockwell asked.  “Once Elmo’s done I’m free, so who gives a shit?”

“You do.” Stone said bluntly.

“How you figure?” Rockwell asked, turning from his scope to look at his friend’s ghost.

“Two reasons.” Stone explained, “One, you still haven’t taken the shot, two, you’re having a conversation with yourself about why you care.”

Rockwell looked back into the scope.

“I got this.” He said as he took aim and fired.

Two shots echoed through the arena as Rockwell smoothly squeezed the trigger twice. His military training kicked in.  When against an enemy battalion, you find the leader and take him first.  This disorients the soldiers because they are trained to follow orders. The lack of these orders helps to break them.  It’s the same with Cuban drug lords.

The two shots hit the man in the cream suit within a second of each other.  He staggered, his eyes going wide, and fell.  The drug dealer’s foot soldiers watched in utter confusion.

Rockwell adjusted and fired two more quick shots.  As the Cuban guy to the right Of Roberto’s head exploded, he staggered and fell.  The last remaining Cuban decided he had made a terrible mistake and turned and started running.

“Watch the black knight.  He’s going to take Creegan.” Stone stated calmly.

“I see it.  I see it!” Rockwell responded, sweeping his gun back toward the large black man with the gun trained on Creegan.

Rockwell was positioned behind him, which made the shot tricky.  No matter how much Hollywood said the opposite, human bodies don’t stop bullets.  With that in mind, a kill shot would potentially go through the target and kill Creegan.

“Fuck!” Rockwell cursed himself.

“Take the shot.”  Stone implored him.

Rockwell took the shot, hitting the target in the upper right quadrant of his body.  He fell out of view.

Rockwell swept the gun to find Elmo but he was gone.

As was Patty.

Creegan looked up at him from the floor and did a salute before sprinting off after Maggie.

“That’s that.” Stone stated.

Rockwell grinned.  “What about that guy?”

Stone looked to see the last Cuban trying to run away up the steps to the arena.  He was very close to the exit.

“$20 says you can get him,” Stone said.

“You’re one mother fucker.”  Rockwell took a shot.

Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

“OH, THERE IT IS!” Rockwell yelled and jumped up, pumping his fist.

“Damn, he was almost out.” Stone said shaking his head.

“Yeah but he’s fucking dog food now, ain’t he?” he said rhetorically.  “Pay up asshole!”

Stone raised an eyebrow.  “I’m a mental ghost brought on by your fractured brain’s need for order.  How exactly would you like me to pay you?”

Rockwell frowned.  “Damn.  I guess you got me there.”

 “Time for the last part of the plan.”  Stone brought the focus back to the job as he always had.

Rockwell nodded.  “Pick up walk away and call the cop for clean up.”

“What’s next for us?” Stone asked.

Rockwell shrugged as he pulled out his phone.  “I’m not a plan sort of guy, but whatever it is, it’ll be fun.”

Stone followed, shaking his head.  “Fun for whom

23(S2E10)-Spinning in the Spider Webs

23

(Season 2 Episode 10)

Spinning in the Spider Webs

Elmo Kincaid hung up the phone and for the first time in two months, he smiled.

Things were finally going his way again.

The phone rang.  Elmo looked at the Caller I.D. and smiled.  It was her, the black hearted bitch who had tried to play him.

The key word was tried.  He answered the phone without saying a word.  He wanted to give her plenty of rope.

“Hello my perfect, little pet drug dealer.”  Maggie said on the other end.  “Now that we have an understanding and I have relocated to avoid more of your pathetic attempts to kill me, it’s time for me to tell you how to pay me.”

“No.” Elmo’s voice was low and cold.

There was a small pause on the other end out of obvious confusion.  “Did you just say ‘no’?”

“Yes, I said no.”  Elmo replied.

“I don’t understand.”  Maggie said out of frustration on the other end.

“No.  It’s a one syllable word that means FUCK YOU, BITCH!” Elmo said as he stood so fast his chair toppled behind him.

“Look old man, I think you have failed to grasp the situation-” Maggie was cut off by Elmo.

“NO.  You don’t grasp it.  I know you’re full of shit, you don’t have the fucking flash drive!” Elmo yelled into the phone.

“I have it, you know I have it!”  She yelled back frustrated but Elmo wasn’t listening.

“You thought you could play me?!” Elmo continued his rant.  “You honestly thought you could bluff the most powerful man in Ohio and walk away?!  I like to keep things quiet but I’m going to make an exception for you.  After I get my flash drive back tonight I’m going to find you, then I’m going to fillet you like a fresh cut fish and hang you from the Terminal Tower!”

Elmo slammed the phone down so hard the plastic piece of communication equipment shattered.

****

Before that…

Creegan watched the sun come up in the distance, illuminating the sky in a series of oranges and reds.

They were parked on the top of a parking garage downtown.  They had come here to get some privacy while they had done their best to deal with Rockwell’s leg injury.  They had bandaged it and sterilized it as best they could.

That was around four in the morning.

It was now seven.  Creegan was the only one still awake.  Rockwell had stretched out in the back while even Patty had nodded off in the passenger seat.  Creegan couldn’t sleep.

He couldn’t stop thinking.

At first he had brain stormed about a way out of this ordeal.  He feared Patty had kept him around to be the thinker.  Creegan was never the brains, always the muscle.  That should have been obvious from the first ordeal.

That should have been obvious from his constant choices to help Maggie.

Creegan touched the scar on his chest where Maggie had shot him.

He had been happy at the Bent Elbow, working for Paul and finally putting his life together.  He could have probably gotten his job back even after the ordeal with the hunters.  But now?  He wondered if Paul had rented out his apartment.  Paul probably thought he was dead.

Creegan had thrown it all away for Maggie.

Just like the train.

Just like high school.

Every time he had ended up alone and worse than before he had met her.

Creegan pulled out the phone and stared at it.

Maggie was smarter than Creegan.  Most people were and that’s why he always ended up in the gutter.

“You got a plan?”  The thick Irish voice startled Creegan who turned sharply to face her.

“I have an idea,” Creegan said looking back to the phone.  “But it’s not a very good one and it will probably get us all killed.”

“It’s the three us, wounded and exhausted and a trunk full of weapons, against the most powerful drug dealer in Ohio.” Patty said as she bent forward and scratched her eyes.  “We’re probably all going to die anyway.”

Creegan shrugged and nodded.  “I guess you got me there.”

“So, out with it.”  Patty barked.

“Elmo still doesn’t have the flash drive,” Jim began to explain.  “All of the other crazy aside, he needs to have that in order to be safe from the Rodriguez brothers.  If we had it we could draw him out.”

Patty raised an eyebrow.  “You have the flash drive?”

Creegan shook his head.  “No, but I know who’s got it and it’s not Elmo.”

“Your girl from before?  Maggie.” Patty answered her own question.  “But how do you know she hasn’t given it back to him?”

“It’s valuable.”  Creegan gave a forlorn smile.  “She shot me over five grand, you think she would hand over a flash drive that gives her control over a drug lord and his kingpin?”

Patty stared at Jim for a short time then asked.  “I don’t get it, you’re a good guy.”

Creegan looked confused, “Thanks?”

Patty shook her head, “What the hell are you doing in all this?  What the hell were you doing with a woman like that?”

Jim took a deep breath and pondered that.  “Nothing was ever good enough for my dad.  My mom was a lunatic.  Maggie made me feel special.  When you’re with Maggie, she makes you feel special”

“That was so fucking gay!” Rockwell had been awake and listening in the back and could no longer take it.  “Seriously, do you need a fucking hanky?  I can’t believe this giant fairy beat us twice!”

Creegan took a deep breath and became frustrated.  “Fuck you, Rockwell.”

Rockwell sat up between the two front seats.  “And as far as the plan goes, you are never going to convince The Muppet you have the thumb drive without proof, and we have none.  He’s got no reason to listen to us.”

Creegan reluctantly nodded.  “As much as I hate to say it, Rockwell is right.  I have been up all night trying to figure out how to get Elmo to buy it.”

“The fuck you have!” Rockwell cut in.  “You have been thinking about Maggie, you fucking sissy!”

Creegan’s face became stone.  “You are on my last fucking nerve!”

“Cut them some slack.”  Stone was sitting next to Rockwell.

Stone was not sitting next to Rockwell.

Rockwell turned.  “Fuck you, Casper!  They need me, not the other way around.”

Patty and Creegan became confused and watched Rockwell in the rear view mirror.

“Come on,” Stone said.  “Even you aren’t stupid enough to think you can do this yourself.”

“Stupid is teaming up with a chick that has daddy issues and a fucking pussy bitch.” Rockwell replied.

Patty and Creegan would have gotten mad at these comments if they weren’t so caught up in the fact that Rockwell was having an argument with himself.

 “Don’t be a bitch.”  Stone said finally.

Rockwell crossed his arms and sat back like a spoiled child.

Patty and Creegan continued to stare.

Rockwell caught them staring and got mad.  “What?!”

Patty and Creegan shook their heads, deciding it best not to put in their two cents.

Patty turned to Creegan.  “Let me make the call.”

Creegan looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

Patty shrugged.  “I have never lied to him before.  Even after all this, he still trusts me.  I’ll tell him I want back in and that I tracked down the flash drive and got it off of you.”

Creegan nodded and handed the phone to her.

****

After…

Maggie hung up the phone with a look of quiet rage.

“Something wrong?” Clay asked from the darkness behind her.

“Somebody’s fucking with the plan,” Maggie said angrily.

“I see.”  Clay said neutrally.

Maggie took a second to consider all the people that knew she had the flash drive.  She thought they were all dead.

“I left a loose end somewhere.”  Maggie said unhappily.

“We should tie it up,” Clay stated promptly.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Maggie said as she looked through her contacts for Roberto’s number and dialed it.  “We’re going to finish this tonight.  Ahead of schedule.”

****

After that…

Roberto hung up the phone and turned toward Antonio who sat on the couch drinking.  “Call everyone we have in the area.”

Antonio raised an eyebrow.  “We’re doing this tonight?  I thought we were waiting?”

Roberto smiled.  “Elmo is going to a meeting today to get the flash drive back, and we’re going to be there.”

Antonio nodded.  “Alright, I’ll put a man on Elmo and we will follow him to the meet.”

“Tonight we end this, brother.” Roberto smiled.  “Tonight we make our father proud.”

Antonio smiled weakly.  “Yes brother, tonight you will follow in his footsteps.”

They toasted to success.

22(S2E9)-Not Fast Enough

22

(Season 2 Episode 9)

Not Fast Enough

Rockwell did not enter the house.  In his mind there was no need.

His tommy-gun fired forty-five caliber rounds, which had more than enough power to pierce the wall from the outside.  With that in mind, Rockwell began to strafe along the deck pulling down on the trigger, letting bullet after bullet rip through the kitchen drywall.

A weaker person would have run or hid as the high caliber bullets wreaked havoc on the large kitchen.

The Librarian was anything but weak.

Instead, she brought herself to her feet and strafed from the inside of the kitchen, holding the trigger on the Saiga.  Loud boom after boom sounded before the shells took large circular chunks out of the wall.

The gunfire sounded everywhere as they both moved their volleys, sending wood and cabinet pieces everywhere.

This continued for a full thirty seconds.

They both reached the end of the wall ending up staring at each other through a sliding glass door.  Both of their guns went empty.

They stared at each other in amazement.

Both of them looked back at the fifteen foot stretch of wall and large number of bullet holes.  They then looked back at each other.  Somehow they had emptied their respective weapons at each other from ten or so feet away and failed to hit.

Rockwell chuckled.  “Go figure.”

The Librarian’s eyes narrowed.  “Indeed.”

Rockwell read her mind.  “You are thinking about how fast you can get a clip in that shotgun of yours.  I’ll save you the trouble, the answer is not fast enough.”

Her eyebrow rose.  “You think highly of yourself.”

 “Bitch.”  Rockwell grinned.  “I’m gonna fucking decimate you.”

The Librarian took a deep, exhausted breath.  “That is physically impossible.”

Rockwell’s face became interested.  “Explain.”

“Because,” the librarian shook her head.  “To decimate means to take a tenth of or from. So, unless you are planning on destroying me in ten percent increments, your statement makes no sense.”

Rockwell began to smile from ear to ear.  “Interesting… ten percent increments huh? That’s gonna be a tall order, but I’m up for the challenge.”

There was another half second of staring.

The Librarian ejected the spare clip and went for another.  Rockwell did the same.

Rockwell was faster.

In the millisecond before The Librarian could rack the slide to chamber a shell, he pulled Bonnie, his tommy-gun up, leveled and fired a burst.  The sliding glass door shattered and fell away.  A number of rounds found their mark in The Librarian’s Kevlar vest.  The force from the rounds was dispersed like a punch to her chest and she staggered backward.

Another bullet caught her in the right shoulder as she reeled, forcing her to drop the big shotgun.  Unbeknownst to her, the door to the basement and Don’s operation room was directly behind her.  She crashed through it and tumbled down the open staircase.

She hit the tile floor and rolled backward along it, crashing into the operating table and coming to a rest face down.

Rockwell was pleased with himself.  “Like I said, not fast enough.”

He moved through the door where the glass was.  Stone was standing next to the staircase to the basement.  “Carful.”

“Fuck off, Stone.” Rockwell replied as he passed the apparition. “It’s ass-kick o’clock.”

Rockwell came to the bottom of the stairs with his gun dangling at his side ready to move in for the kill.

The Librarian rolled over onto her back with a Walther PP-7, a small twenty-two caliber seven shot automatic handgun.  Rockwell recognized it because it was the gun that James Bond always used.

“Shit.” Rockwell uttered.

The Librarian fired her fist shot and it struck Rockwell in the upper thigh.  He yelped and grabbed his leg.  Her second shot missed.  Rockwell reacted, putting all of his effort into a leaping dive to the right, sending himself over a medicine table and crashing to the other side in a hail of pill bottles.

As he flew through the air he heard The Librarian’s gun pop off another round.  He felt a vibration rock through his gun arm and heard a terrible metal on metal sound.

Rockwell landed and grimaced in pain as his leg began to bleed.  “God dammit!  She shot me in the fucking leg.  Why does everyone shoot me in the leg?!”

 Stone was standing over him.  “I warned you, now look what’s happened to your gun.”

Rockwell looked down at the gun and saw the terrible sight.  The Librarian’s third shot had hit the clip and mangled it.

“You’re screwed.”  Stone stated.

“Fuck you!” Rockwell yelled back.  “Can’t you ever be constructive?!”

“Hey, I am your paranoid delusion.  You want me to be constructive, make me constructive.” Stone replied.

“Are you talking to me?” The Librarian asked, confused.

Rockwell shouted back from behind cover.  “Does it sound like I’m talking to you?!”

“It is a fair question.  After all, there is no one else here.” She rebutted.

Rockwell shook his head.  “I showed up in a Hawaiian shirt and a fedora in the middle of September with a tommy-gun.”

The Librarian was befuddled and shouted back.  “This is all true but I don’t understand how this justifies talking to yourself.”

“It doesn’t.  “Rockwell explained.  “It justifies the crazy, and the crazy justifies anything.”

She seemed to accept that, but the conversation had given Rockwell time to think. “Hey, any way we could make a deal?”

Rockwell knew there wasn’t.

“Of course, but why?” She asked.

“You last shot hit the drum on my magazine.  I’m out.  Listen, you spare me, I give you Patty and Creegan.”

Rockwell was not going to give her Creegan or Patty.

“Alright, your life for theirs.”  She said.  “We have a deal.  Throw out the damaged magazine”

They had no deal.

Rockwell detached the damaged clip and tossed it off the cover and into the middle of the room.

“Okay, I’m coming out.” Rockwell said before bracing the rifle against his should and gripping it tightly.

One shot at this.

Rockwell stood and brought the machine gun to bear on the confused Librarian.  He pulled the trigger.

The tommy-gun kicked and fired, sending a single bullet though The Librarian’s throat.

She stammered as her carotid artery spewed thick dark red blood.  Her eyes filled with the look of horror.

The tommy-gun had a bullet in the chamber, which protected the round from the damage to the clip.

The Librarian tried to bring the handgun up to fire on Rockwell but lost her strength and dropped the gun, lurching forward and crashing to the tile floor in a pool of her own blood.

Rockwell walked out from behind the cover then turned back to Stone.  “How about that shit?”

Stone shrugged.  “Not bad.”

Rockwell’s face contorted.  “Not Bad?!  Are you fucking kidding me?!  I just pimped the bitch with no clip in my gun and a bullet in my fucking leg!”

“She’s five foot ten and wearing a sundress.”  Stone down-played the accomplishment.

“The auto shotgun wasn’t wearing a god damn sundress!” Rockwell began.  “You know what?  I don’t know why I expect things to change. You were a fuck when you were alive and you a bigger fuck now that you’re dead!  You just pop in from your ethereal pedestal and tell me I fucking suck before popping back out again!  You know what, dickhead?  I would like to take this fucking time to remind you who’s still breathing.  Me!  That’s right, mother fucker.  Me!”

They stared at each other in silence for a short time.

“Are you done?” Stone asked.

“I’m never done, asshole.” Rockwell replied, “I ain’t ever done.”

****

“We should go.” Patty grumbled from the backseat getting antsy as the gunfire in the house had come to an abrupt stop.

“Give him a second.” Creegan said, staring at the house intently, wishing he could see what was happening inside.

“Him?!” Patty asked raising her voice.  “It’s him I’m worried about.  Give me a bitch in a sundress any day!”

“He could have killed us on the deck, but he went after her.”  Creegan explained.  “He’s here to help.”

Patty’s eyebrow went up.  “I doubt he understands the meaning of the word help.”

Jim didn’t respond, which left a short silence.  Patty was about to respond when the house exploded into beautiful orange and red flames.  The house had been made to burn from the inside and became an inferno fast.

It was at that time that they both saw him, limping across the yard toward the car.  The fire behind him scorched the skies.  It was as if hell had failed to catch the lunatic again and was throwing a temper tantrum.

Rockwell was smiling.

“You sure about this?” Patty asked as they both watched the frightening scene play out like a bad movie.

 “I am one hundred percent positive, Patty…” Creegan answered.  “That I am absolutely not sure about this.”

21(S2E8)-Rock & Roll

21

(Season 2 Episode 8)

Rock & Roll

“You think he’s going to help us?” Patty asked with her heavy accent as she and Creegan ate the sandwiches they had made for dinner.

Creegan stared at her unable to comprehend what she had said.

Patty rolled her eyes, “Rockwell… do you think he will help us?”

Jim put it together, “Oh, it didn’t look good. He wants us both dead, me in particular.”

Patty shrugged, “Screw him then, we do it ourselves.”

Creegan gave her a dirty look, “These people have guns and numbers. We can’t just punch our way out of this.”

“I’m sick of waiting!” Patty yelled at him, “We need to do something.”

“You need to get out of my house,” Don walked into his large, expansive kitchen.  “You two have been squatting long enough.”

Patty frowned at the old, pear-shaped doctor.  “We just need a couple more days.”

The doctor shook his head.  “Well, you don’t have a couple more days.  The Rodriguez   brothers are in town and they are here because they are sick of being jerked around with all this.  So, it’s time for you to stop eating my sandwiches and get the fuck out.”

Patty nodded unhappily. “All right Don, we’ll be out tomorrow.”

Creegan stopped eating.  “The brothers are here in Cleveland?”

Patty looked at Creegan, confused by his interest.  The Don nodded.  “I got a friend who still does medical work for Elmo and the brothers paid him a visit last night.”

Creegan grinned, “Now that is something.”

The front doorbell rang and Don grumbled before plodding off to get it.  “Now who the hell is that?”

Patty’s eyes never left Creegan. “What?”

Creegan looked at her. “If the Rodrigeuz brothers are here, it’s because they don’t think he has the flash drive anymore. They are here to get it and put him out of business.”

Patty shrugged, “So?”

Creegan took another bite, chewed and swallowed.  “So, we tell him we have the drive and we can force him out into the open.”

The conversation was ended by the thunderous boom.

****

She woke up freezing.

Blasted Cleveland, the librarian thought as she realized the temperature had dropped almost 20 degrees in the course of four or five hours. She pulled a long-sleeve, cotton, open shirt-like thing over her arms and got out of her rental car.  She walked around back and opened her trunk.

She found her vest and slipped it on, fastening the Velcro straps that secured it. She then picked up the weapon she had chosen; a modified Saiga-12.

The Saiga-12 was a Russian automatic shotgun. It had been modified to be smaller and easier for a woman of her frame to use. Being a shotgun, it was good for breaching situations and multiple targets, which had been the reason she had selected it for this task.

She placed a box magazine of ten shells in the gun and secured it. She then picked up a two more clips and placed them in the packets on her vest.  

She cocked the gun and chambered the first shell.

She then calmly walked down the Shaker Heights street in the night.  No one came out or saw the heavily armed female death-machine approach Don’s house.

She rang the door bell.

She waited for a little bit and then heard the door lock begin to click open.

The Librarian shouldered the weapon, aimed it at the door handle and fired.

The gun kicked against her shoulder, the door handle exploded. She heard a scream from inside before she put her foot over the threshold. It swung open and an old pudgy man was on the floor, bleeding from his destroyed hand.

She took aim and fired.  Don’s head ceased to exist.

“No!” The Librarian looked up and saw Patty screaming at her.

She brought the gun up to take her first target. Creegan suddenly appeared around the corner and grabbed Patty, dragging her backward into the kitchen.

The Librarian pushed forward, firing two quick shots as she approached. The shells struck the doorway to the kitchen and wood splintered into the hallway.

She had them cornered.

****

Creegan heard the shot and knew they had been found.

He was out of his seat a second later. He heard the second shot and Patty scream. Creegan saw the strange female assassin at the end of the hall inside the doorway, standing over what used to be Don.

She brought her gun up and Creegan grabbed Patty, dragging her backward into the kitchen as the shotgun boomed two more times.

Creegan dragged Patty behind the center cooking island, putting it between them and the killer.

“We have to go!” Creegan yelled at a slightly distraught Patty.

She nodded and they moved low along the island toward the back door.  Patty reached for the door and another boom echoed through the kitchen. The door splintered and Patty reeled backward in reaction to the shot.

Creegan knew it was now or never. He exploded forward, tackling Patty through the door.  Their combined weight splintered the door. He heard two more booms and could only hope the shots didn’t hit them as they crashed onto the wooden deck.

“Now that was fucking entertaining,” Creegan heard a voice say above him.

He looked up and saw him standing there in his Hawaiian shirt and a fedora and… What the hell was he holding?

****

“A Tommy Gun?” Stone gawked from next to Rockwell as he pulled it out of the trunk of the stolen car. “How the fuck did you get one of those?  There’re like four in existence.”

Rockwell wiggled his eyebrow. “Jealous? I have my ways.”

“Does the thing still shoot?” Stone asked about the very old gun.

Rockwell looked hurt. “Don’t talk about Bonnie that way! She will work, and I have always wanted to use her, but somebody has a thing against overkill.”

Stone shrugged, “Fat lot of good that did me.”

The booms in the distance started and Rockwell smiled. “Time to rock and roll.”

****

“Rockwell?” Creegan asked, confused.

“The one and fucking only.” He responded with a smile.

Creegan’s eyes went to the large drum feed machine gun dangling at his right side, “Are you going to kill us?”

Rockwell shrugged, “Undecided… but not till after the Muppet’s dead.  You made a good case.”

The Librarian came around the island and into the doorway.

“Hold on,” Rockwell said as he whipped the Tommy gun up and watched the Librarian’s eyes bulge.

“What’s up, bitch?!” Rockwell yelled as he held down the trigger and the ancient weapon began to fire, round after round.

The Librarian drove back into the kitchen as the forty-five caliber machine gun rounds tore the door frame and the corner of the center island to shreds.

He let off the trigger with a “Woo,” then looked down at Creegan.  “There’s a car out front, I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Creegan looked at him confused. “Are you going in after her?”

Rockwell looked suspicious. “Is that a trick question?”

Creegan decided it was best to let Rockwell do what he had to do. “Be careful, she’s got a vest on.”

Rockwell frowned. “A vest?”

Creegan nodded as he and Patty stood and moved off the deck to circle the house for the car.

Rockwell shouldered the Tommy Gun and went in after her.  “Only pussies wear vests.”

20(S2E7)-Hell Breaks Loose

20

(Season 2 Episode 7)

Hell Breaks Loose

“So, what are you going to do?” Stone asked from his corner of the room.

Rockwell’s last visitor, Jim Creegan, had given him a lot to think about.  Although Rockwell had told him to fuck off, the seed had been planted.

The door slide made that metallic sliding noise and two orderlies entered the room.  One was carrying a straight jacket.  “1314, you are being released into general populace today.  You need to put this on.”

Rockwell ignored the orderly.  “I don’t know, I have always wanted to kill the Muppet and, in the end, Creegan isn’t the reason you’re dead.  Maybe I can find out who is.”

The second orderly looked at the one holding the straight jacket.  “Who’s he talking to?”

The orderly holding the jacket shrugged.  “We work in a mental hospital.  Who knows who he’s talking to.”

Stone looked surprised.  “That’s interesting.  Didn’t figure you for the vengeance type.”

“I’m not,” Rockwell answered.  “But I think it’s time I get back in the game.”

“Alright, 1314.  Enough with the talking to yourself.”  The head orderly interrupted, “Time to put this on.”

Rockwell growled at him then stood and put his arms out.  “I just have one little problem.”

“What’s that?” Stone asked as the orderly approached him to begin putting the jacket on him.

“Well,” Rockwell began as the orderly shipped the sleeves over Rockwell’s outstretched arms.  “Breaking out, I mean I was always a shooter.  You were the fighter. I don’t have any guns here.”

The assistant orderly circled to Rockwell’s right, uneasily.  “Seriously man, he is starting to freak me out.”

 The head orderly turned toward his assistant.  “It’s just talk.  Chill out.”

“First off, you’re not that great a shooter.”  Stone said calmly in response, “Second, you were trained at the same place I was.”

“He’s talking about breaking out.”  The assistant responded worried.  “Doesn’t that bother you?”

“They all talk about breaking out.”  The head orderly said.

“Your point?” Rockwell asked Stone.

“Maybe you’re not the best fighter in the world but you’re a trained killer.”  Stone answered.  “Where do you think these guys were trained?”

Rockwell began to grin.  “Fucking,Tri-C.”

Rockwell suddenly threw his head forward with a snap, bashing his forehead into to nose of the head orderly.  The head butt was comparable to the force of a fastball hitting him in the nose.  The orderly’s nose shattered and he fell in the opposite direction, crashing to the ground.

“Holy shit!” The assistant had time to yell before Rockwell turned and leveled a front kick to his solar-plexus, sending the assistant backward into the wall and gasping for air.

“That was sloppy.”  Stone said criticizing the kick.

“Fuck you, worm food.”  Rockwell responded, pulling the unhooked straight jacket off, throwing it to the floor.

The head orderly was incapacitated and probably dead, his nose bleeding profusely. The assistant had fallen to all fours, and between gasping for breaths, he was praying.

Rockwell calmly walked over and crouched in front of him.  “You know the stories about me, right?”

The assistant stared at him with fear in his eyes and nodded.

Rockwell smiled.  “Good.  That saves me fucking time.  See, now that you know, I don’t have to explain what I can do to you, then watch you not believe me and have to prove what I can do.  With your admission of understanding, it cuts through all that fucking red tape, torture bullshit and gets right to the heart of the matter.”

“I am your fucking God.”

The assistant began to whimper.

“What I want, you give.”

Tears rolled down the assistants face.

“What you don’t give, I take.”

The assistant lost bladder control.

“Understood?” Rockwell asked.

The orderly nodded.

“Good,” Rockwell smiled.  “So, what kind of car do you drive?”

****

“A little over the top.”  Stone said as they stepped out of the car.

Rockwell slammed the door shut.  “What was?”

They stood in a large rented storage place.  Each unit had a number and a locked sliding metal door to keep everyone out.

“That ‘I am God’ thing with the orderly.”  Stone said as the two walked away from the car.

“It’s called fucking showmanship, asshole.  I always had it and you didn’t.” Rockwell said as he counted the numbers on each unit they passed, looking for one specific one.

“That right?” Stone responded coldly.

“Damn straight.”  Rockwell said, stopping in front of unit 1134.  “That’s why you needed me, mother fucker.”

“Yes, I needed you,” Stone said sarcastically.  “I can think of so many times that showmanship saved our lives.”

Rockwell unlocked the pad lock with a paper clip, having lost the key a long time ago. He grabbed the handle and pulled the unit open.

“Jesus, Rockwell.”  Stone said with wide eyes as he looked in at the guns of all shapes and sizes lining the walls of the small ten by ten storage unit.  All the guns were different, like some kind of twisted collection of hard to find extremely dangerous weapons.

Rockwell’s teeth showed as he smiled ear to ear.  “Meet my ladies, Stone.  Now, that is fucking showmanship.”

****

She watched him enter.

Two blocks down, she watched with binoculars as he walked up the street, looked both ways, then walked up the drive and into the house.

Seeing him had been a bonus.

She had tracked Patty from the events at the hospital.  She had acquired the crime scene photos as well as the file on the now-famous day, through a source and had studied them furiously.

The three she had been hired to execute had all been there that day, and although it was impossible to know the exact details of what had transpired, it was easy enough to infer.

Her first target had been Patty, deciding to save Rockwell for last since it would be the biggest challenge.  After all, she would have to break into a mental hospital to get to him.  Creegan would be the second most difficult, since he wasn’t in the crime scene data and she only knew he had been there because of her employer’s assurance.

Then there was Patty.  She also wasn’t in the file, but Elmo had told her of Patty’s involvement.  After reading the file and the large amount of unmatched blood found in random and strange locations around the hospital, she could infer that Patty had been injured.

Patty would have needed treatment, and she would have been unable to go to a hospital for fear of the police or Kincaid.  That left her to seek help through illegal channels. After some digging, she had found the house of the doctor.

The rest was academic.

Seeing Creegan had been a pleasant surprise.  Creegan and Patty had somehow linked up and were working together?  Maybe they just both knew the same illegal doctor?  The reason didn’t matter, only the outcome.

She could kill them both tonight.

The Librarian put down the binoculars and walked back to her car.

She got in and reclined her seat, deciding to get a couple of hours of sleep before night fall.

She had a busy night ahead of her.

19(S2E6)- Peace Talks

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