Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book)
Author: Julie Falatko
Date: 2016-02-02 00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Horror; Splatterpunk
Description: Snappsy the alligator is having a normal day when a pesky narrator steps in to spice up the story. Is Snappsy reading a book ... or is he making CRAFTY plans? Is Snappsy on his way to the grocery store ... or is he PROWLING the forest for defenseless birds and fuzzy bunnies? Is Snappsy innocently shopping for a party ... or is he OBSESSED with snack foods that start with the letter P? What's the truth? Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book) is an irreverent look at storytelling, friendship, and creative differences, perfect for fans of Mo Willems.
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Road

To

Darkness

Tim Miller

Tim Miller
Road to Darkness

© 2014, Tim Miller

San Antonio, TX

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Cover design by Tim Miller from Stock Image

Prologue

Tony looked around the pile of bodies. He had never seen so much death and carnage in his life. There were men with their heads blown off, limbs missing and some completely ripped in half. He looked at his rifle and figured he didn’t stand a chance against the man who did this, but he had no choice. That man was coming and Tony needed to run.

As he ran his legs burned and screamed as pain shot up his back. Blood covered him from head to toe, caking in his hair and beard. He turned to look back, but gunfire sounded behind him. Dirt kicked up around him from rounds bouncing all around him. He dropped to the ground and kept running along the dirt road.

His mind raced as his life played out before his eyes. It wasn’t long ago, he was your average nobody. Now he didn’t know what he was. Nice guy wasn’t something that came into mind. He’d done horrible things. Things he could go to prison for a long time over. He’d been beaten and tortured himself. Despite the things he’d done, it had all been for good reasons. At least that’s what he told himself at the time.

Now, running for his life through a maze of dead bodies didn’t seem like he’d made the best life choices. There was nothing he could do to change his choices. His biggest concern now was survival. At least survive long enough to finish his work. After that he didn’t care what happened. More gun shots rang out from behind him as he trudged along.

As if he wasn’t tired enough, he started up a hill. He’d gained some ground on the man pursuing him. Hopefully he could lose him on the other side of the hill. The other man was weighed down with a lot of gear which slowed him up. Though he still moved rather quickly, Tony was still gaining ground. He just had to stay out of his range so as not to end up shredded like the men on the ground. As he reached the top of the hill, he could see the man a least a hundred yards away. Tony knelt down to catch his breath. His legs were so stiff and achy, it hurt to even move. He had to keep going or die. After a minute, he got back up and started down the hill.

The run downhill was almost worse than going up. He tried to slow himself, but kept picking up speed. His head started to lean further out than his feet. He worried he’d start toppling head first down the hill and would break something for sure. Thankfully he reached the bottom at a dead run, without incident.

The road twisted around as he kept running. He looked behind but saw no sign of his pursuer. That didn’t mean he was gone, he’d be coming. Tony had considered lying on his stomach and taking a shot with the rifle. But he knew if he did that and missed, that would be it.

He followed the road around some turns and through some bushes. There was another hill, but this one had a large, metal door built into the side. It was some kind of cave or bunker. Tony reached the door and grabbed the locking wheel. Once again he took a few seconds to catch his breath. He wasn’t sure if this was what he’d been looking for, but he was out of options. This was it.

Chapter 1

Two Months Earlier

“Tony! Wake up! Tony!” The woman yelled as Tony snapped out of his trance.

“Oh hey, Teresa, sorry.” Tony said looking up.

“You were asleep at your desk again, you missed three calls!”

“I, uh... Sorry. I haven’t been feeling well.”

“If you don’t feel well, then take a sick day. You don’t sleep at work. This is your last warning,” she said before huffing off to her desk. Tony gritted his teeth as he watched the old bag walk away. He hated her. He hated this job, and this place. He was tired because the new anti-depressants he’d been prescribed made him sleepy as hell. Trouble was, he needed them due to his shitty job.

Having graduated with a Master’s in Business from the University of Texas years before, he had once been an executive for an advertising firm. He was a creative person, and his past job allowed him to use his talents. Due to the economic downturn, he had been doomed to spend the last five years in call center hell at an insurance company. Now his days were filled with listening to old people bitch about making sure their overpriced crap had enough coverage.

He hated it, he hated them and he hated his co-workers who all seemed to drink the corporate Kool-Aid. This was another reason he didn’t fit in here. His old job was with a company, but a small one. There were maybe a dozen employees and he worked autonomously. At United Property and Casualty, there were thousands of employees. The company had them all convinced they were some gifted part of society just for working there. They even had a stupid cheer they did at team meetings every Tuesday. Tony never did the cheer, which usually got him yelled at. He didn’t care. It was stupid. While he couldn’t afford to lose this job, deep down, he wished they would fire him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing of the phone ringing again.

“United Property and Casualty, this is Tony speaking, how can I help you?” He said into the headset.

“Yes, I had a question on my auto insurance bill.”

“Yes sir. I can assist you with that. What was your question?”

“Well, I just got my six month renewal, and I noticed it went up by a dollar. I’d like to know why.”

“A dollar per month, sir?” Tony asked.

“No, a dollar for the whole six months.”

“So you’re concerned about a one dollar increase, over six months? Sir, that’s not even 20 cents a month.”

“I don’t care how little you think it is! I want to know why my rate went up! I have no accidents, tickets or anything. This is ridiculous.”

Tony muted the phone and rolled his eyes. This was the kind of shit he got dozens of times a day. He could barely pay his car insurance at all, could barely make ends meet. Yet, these rich douchebags would call and bitch about a one dollar increase. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he listened to the customer ramble on about irrelevant nonsense for several minutes before finishing the call.

Thankfully that was his last call of the day. Once the call finished, which seemed to take forever, he took off his headset, logged out and bolted for the door. He worked his way through the mob of employees headed to the parking lot like sheep being herded into a barn. At forty-five years old, he couldn’t believe this is what his life had become. Just ten years before, he’d been looking at retiring by fifty. He wished he knew where it all went wrong.

The drive home took fifteen minutes through downtown San Antonio as long as there wasn’t much traffic. When he arrived home, his wife, Kim was cleaning up the kitchen. He was mostly happy to see her.

“Hey hun,” she said as she walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “I left the mower out for you, the grass in back is getting tall. Trash needs to go out too.”

“Hi, I had a good day, thanks.” Tony said. “I’ll go take care of the yard.”

“Ok. Oh, my dad came by earlier. He loaned us some money to pay the car payment.”

Great.

“Ok, cool I guess.” Tony said.

“Yeah, he wasn’t happy though. Said you need to get a second job, or find a real job.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. I make fifteen an hour at that shithole. I can’t help it most of it goes to child support and health insurance.”

“I know. He just thinks you should be able to take care of your family like he always did.”

“Well, does he realize shit isn’t like it was thirty years ago? Companies don’t just hire you, pay you an assload of money and keep you forever.”

“I know babe. He just doesn’t get it. He thinks you’re not trying.”

“So he comes over here, offers to loan us money and then bitches about it?”

“Not quite like that,” Kim said.

“Close enough. Whatever. I’ll start on the lawn.”

He changed clothes and headed outside while trying not to think about his father-in-law. It drove him nuts that he was working his ass off to take care of his family and the man thought he’s a loser. Whatever.

The mower started on the third or fourth pull. It was a pain to push, since the self-propel function was broken. He muscled it around the back yard as grass blades blew into his face. The mower got hung up on a patch of tall grass and kicked off. He stopped and lifted the mower to pull the tall grass out. As he stood back up, he saw someone looking at him.

It was a man in another yard, a few houses over. He was wearing a black fedora and trench coat. The coat struck Tony as odd since it was over a hundred degrees outside. He couldn’t quite make out the man’s face, but it was clear to him the man was staring at him.

“Hello?” Tony called out. “You need something?”

The man just stood there not moving. Tony looked around to see if anyone else was around to see the man. When he looked back over, the man was gone.

Chapter 2

The man standing before Slade was a pathetic little shit. Slade didn’t even know his real name. The punk just went by Spider. Today was not Spider’s day. Spider had an extremely simple task. His task was to stop at the warehouse and pick up the truck full of merchandise and drive it into Mexico. Once there, he’d leave the truck and pick up an empty truck to bring back. Real easy, except to Spider.

Instead of going along with his simple task, Spider decided to park the box truck outside of a crack house in Eagle Pass. Since he passed out for several hours, the truck, which was parked on a yellow curb, was towed, upon which time authorities found the merchandise-he merchandise being a dozen girls ranging in ages from twelve to seventeen. As one could imagine, the authorities were less than pleased with this find and had since enlisted the FBI to investigate.

Slade had someone deliver Spider to him right away.

“Sir, look. I was only supposed to be there for a few minutes. They must have laced my shit with something. Honest!”

“What part of don’t stop for anything were you not understanding?”

“I know man, I’m sorry. It was just supposed to be a quick stop and back on the road. I just needed something to help keep me wired for the road is all. You know how it is,” Spider pleaded.

“I never got a truck seized. And the problem with your little siesta, is it now has the Feds crawling up our ass.” Slade said.

Slade had been with the organization for seven years. He started out low level just like Spider, except he didn’t fuck up. By doing his job, as well as taking out anyone he perceived as a threat, he found himself in his current position. He only answered to one man now, and he was just biding his time until he was at the top of the food chain. Incidents like this didn’t help his cause, though. While he would deal with Spider, it didn’t change the fact they were out a lot of money. Money he would have to answer for, regardless of what street level idiots did.

“I thought the truck was clean. They’ll never trace it to us.”

“That’s not the point. The point is you didn’t do your fucking job. Not to mention, even if the Feds never come around here, you still cost us millions of dollars by losing a shipment,” Slade said.

“Look, I’ll make it up to you. Whatever you need man. It won’t happen again. Honest!”

“I know it won’t Spider. I know,” Slade said as he stood. At the same time two more men came into the room and grabbed Spider by each arm.

“Hey! What is this? What’s going on?” Spider screamed as the men pushed him into a chair.

Slade reached into his desk and pulled out a drill.

“Slade! What the fuck man? What are you doin’?”

“I’m making sure you never screw up again.”

Spider tried to wiggle away but the men’s grips were too tight. Slade pressed the drill into the top of his head and squeezed the trigger. Spider screamed as the large metal bit burned through his skull. The smell of burning flesh and hair filled the air. Slade felt it go through Spider’s skull and into his brain. Spider’s body twitched as Slade removed the drill.

“Oh shit! My furging head!” Spider screamed, his voice slurred.

Slade then pressed the drill against his temple and began drilling. Slade twitched and shook as the drill entered his skull and passed into his brain once again. The left side of Spider’s face began to droop as he kept screaming.

“No hurp me Srade. Prease? No more hurp me? I be good!” Spider said.

“I’m sorry Spider, but I need to finish up here,” Slade said.

Slade continued to drill a few more holes in different parts of Spider’s head. When he was done, the men let Spider go. He stood, but was wobbly on his feet. The left side of his face completely drooped as blood poured from the holes in his head. He tried to speak but it just came out as gibberish. Slade looked at the two men and nodded.

“Go dump him under the freeway somewhere. They’ll just think he’s another drunk homeless bum,” Slade said.

The men grabbed Spider’s arms and dragged him out of the room. Slade sat back behind his desk and picked up his phone. Now he needed to find a way to make up for that loss before his boss came to collect.

Chapter 3

Tony dressed after his shower and walked into the kitchen.

“Daddy!” Taylor squealed. She had just turned four and was sitting in her booster seat.

“Hey princess! You’re happy today,” he said.

“Mommy said we might go to the zoo tomorrow!”

“Well, I hope we can sweetie,” he looked at Kim out of the corner of his eye. Kim half smiled and shrugged. Money was tight as always. A trip for the three of them to the zoo would be a minimum of sixty dollars. That wasn’t counting food, drinks and the souvenir Taylor would want for sure. Now that Kim threw that out there to Taylor, he’d end up being the bad guy if he said they didn’t have the money to go.

“I hope we can too Daddy!”

“Ok sweetie. Have a good day. Daddy has to get to work.”

He walked over and kissed Kim on the cheek as he headed to his car. As he opened the door, Kim called to him from the doorway.

“Hey!” She yelled.

He turned and looked at her.

“Try not to worry so much, ok?”

“Sure. We can barely make the mortgage, and you make it a point to tell me how big a loser your dad thinks I am. Which means you also think I’m a loser,” he said.

“I don’t think you’re a loser. Why would you say that?”

“Your dad comes here and talks shit about me, and you have to relay everything he said. Why else would you do that?’

“I don’t know. I just—“

“Right. Don’t worry. I get it. It’s been four years since my divorce and I’m still paying for it, and will be for a long time. I wish I could undo it, but I can’t.”

“It just drives me nuts how she get so much support for one kid. My sister got less than that for three kids,” she said.

“Yeah I know. It’s the system for you. They saw I work at United P and C, so they figure I must have money coming out of my ass. Then on top of that, I barely get to see Chad. Anyway, thinking about it is pissing me off. I hate my job enough as it is, I don’t need to go in already riled up,” he said as he turned and got into the car.

Halfway to work he stopped to get gas. As he pumped the gas, he noticed a pretty Hispanic girl using the pump across from him. She looked up and smiled as she continued pumping her own gas. He glanced across the street when he saw him. Looking back quickly, the man he’d seen watching him the day before was there again. This time he was standing on the street corner across from the gas station. Still wearing the black fedora and coat.

“Hey!” Tony said as he walked toward the road. “Who are you?” He started to cross the road but a semi zipped by. When it had passed, the man was gone again.

“What the hell?” Tony said to no one in particular as he walked back to his car. When he arrived at the pump, the Hispanic girl was looking at him with concern.

“You ok mister?” She asked.

“Uh. Yeah. Sorry. I’m fine. I’m fine.” He said as he replaced the gas pump and climbed back into the car. The rest of the commute was uneventful.  H When he reached his job, he walked inside and arrived to find his boss, Teresa hovering by his cubicle, glaring at him.

“What’s wrong? I’m early,” he said.

“Come by my desk after your first break. We need to talk.”

“Talk? About what?”

“After your break I said! You’ll find out soon enough,” She said as she stormed back to her desk. Tony wondered if that woman ever smiled a real smile. He’d seen her smiling and laughing around work, but it was always some fake, contrived laugh. Though in his experience there weren’t many real people in the corporate world. Everyone had multiple faces. Teresa thought she was such hot shit, but, if for some reason the company decided to get rid of her, she’d be a broke nobody like everyone else. That’s what drove him nuts about the corporate mindset and there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Time went rather quickly until his first break. He headed to the bathroom for his first stop. As he washed his hands, the man in the fedora appeared behind him in the mirror. Tony jumped and spun around.

“Holy shit!” He screamed. This time the man didn’t disappear. He was standing just a few feet from Tony. Tony was surprised the man was shorter than he looked from a distance. The man was Hispanic with a gray mustache.

“Hello, Anthony,” the man said.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Domingo. I’ve been watching you for a long time.”

“So I’ve noticed. Why have you been following me? What do you want?”

“I want to make you a business proposition. Something much more lucrative than this place, and you can be your own boss.”

“Why would I do business with some weirdo like you?” Tony asked.

Domingo reached into his jacket and took out a stack of hundred dollar bills.

“This is for you. You just need to complete a simple task, but half of this is yours right now if you say yes.”

Chapter 4

Slade Schrader stepped out of the house and into his car. As he drove off, he took a big sigh of relief. His meeting with the boss had gone much better than expected. The boss had seen what he did with Spider and thought it was funny. He was upset about the money, but gave Slade two weeks to double the shipment. It would take some doing to round up that many girls, but it could be done.

He had men out looking for new drivers and prospects. He’d have it covered for sure. As he sat at a light, his phone rang. It was Domingo.

“Yeah,” Slade said.

“Yes sir. He went for it, just like I knew he would.”

“Good. He know what he’s driving?”

“Nope, no idea. I told him it wasn’t his concern. Better that way. He won’t be acting all crazy while crossing the border.”

“Good to hear. Set him up for a trial run this weekend. See how he does. If he works out, then we’ll keep him on board for however long.”

“Great boss. He’s a smart guy and not a tweaker like Spider.”

“Ok. Set up that trial run and keep me posted,” Slade said and hung up. That was one less headache. He arrived at the warehouse and parked in his usual spot. The big sign out front read “Ramos Medical Supplies.” It wasn’t a fake. The boss did own Ramos Medical supplies.

They produced things like neck braces, knee braces, wheelchairs, crutches and the like. They made their real money from their other shipments. In the years Slade had worked for Ramos, they had tried different products. In the early days, it was drugs. Back then he’d pick them up in Mexico and bring them back. It started with cocaine, but they had switched to crystal meth. It wasn’t long, though, before it got harder and harder to cross the border with a truckload of meth.

After they’d lost too many shipments and too much money, they tried out human trafficking. That turned out to be much more profitable. The Mexicans would pay top dollar for young American girls. Sneaking them into Mexico was incredibly easy. The only hard part was rounding up enough girls without causing a big stir. Runaways were always a good start, and picking up girls in different states ensured they didn’t bring attention to one area in a short time. It was a very efficient and lucrative operation.

Slade grew up on the south side of town and spent most his childhood on the street. Now he owned a huge home in a gated community and drove a BMW. He climbed out of the car and walked into the warehouse. Several trucks were lined up getting ready for shipments. There’d be no girls going out today. There were a few girls in the cage, though. The cage was behind the main office through a hidden door. Three girls sat there staring back at him. One was asleep. The other two just stared into space. They’d only been there a couple days, but it never took long to break them. They were still kids, easy to break.

“What brings you here boss man?” A man said to him. It was Jose, the warehouse manager.

“Hey Jose. Just met with the big guy. Getting things in order for this month. Got a new driver doing a test drive tomorrow.”

“Oh sweet. He got experience?”

“Not sure. Domingo says he’s good though, so I’ll go with that. I need to just listen to him from now on. Will save me a lot of headaches,” Slade said.

“I know what you mean. Speaking of headaches, Spider hasn’t been in today or yesterday.”

“He won’t be coming back,” Slade said flatly.

“Right.”

It was easy to forget sometimes that this wasn’t a real job. You work for Wal-Mart and your truck gets stolen or you wreck and destroy a bunch of merchandise, worse that happens is they fire you. Here there were no firings. Usually it was a body bag, but Slade figured he’d try something new with Spider. One of his friends in the Cartel had told him about it. He’d never seen it done first hand, but it worked pretty well. No body to hide, and made the guy a retard. Toss him to the street and he looked like any other homeless burnout.

“What’s the word with these girls?” Slade asked.

“They’re all fourteen or fifteen. They answered a Craigslist ad for Bieber tickets. Was like shooting fish in a barrel. Hector and his guys brought them in.

“Nice. Need to be careful with Craigslist though. Cops skim those ads too and do stings.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“Oh well. We need about twenty more in the next couple of weeks, so I don’t care how he does it.”

“Shit. Twenty?” Jose asked.

“After Spider’s fuck up, we have to make up the cash. If not, there will be hell to pay, from the top down.”

He saw the color flush out of Jose’s face. Jose had been with them for a while. He’d gone with Slade on some “disciplinary actions” so he knew exactly what Slade was talking about.

“Well, we’ll get the girls. I can tell you that. No more fuck ups from here. What’s the new guy’s name?”

“I don’t know yet. Domingo will call you later with details.”

Slade turned and got back into his car. Within a few minutes, he was pulling up to the gate to his driveway. The gate was embossed with a large, red “S” on the front. It swung open as he pulled up the driveway and into his three car garage. He wasn’t sure why he got the three car garage as he only had the one car. Perhaps it was because he could. Either way, it was late and time for a beer and some TV. Life was good.

Chapter 5

Tony returned to his desk, still not fully believing the business deal he’d just made in the men’s room. It was probably too good to be true, but when you hate your current job enough, you’ll believe anything that sounds better. He remembered his meeting with Teresa. The tone of the meeting would be much different now. He had ten thousand in cash in his pocket. Nothing she said to him would matter. It was hard to keep from smiling as he sat down at her desk.

“Oh, hi Tony. You’re just in time,” Teresa said.

“Wow, that’s new.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing. So what’s going on?”

“I need to talk to you about your attitude. You’ve never been a happy employee, not since you’ve worked for me. But you’ve been at least acceptable. Recently a few coworkers have expressed concerns and discomfort over your behaviors,” she explained.

“Concerns or discomforts? Like what?”

“Well, a few have mentioned on the way into work in the morning you scowl at them.”

“I scowl?” He asked. “Like frowning?”

“Not just frowning, but they’ve said they feel intimidated with how you look at them.”

“I’m not understanding.” Tony said. “Intimidated how? I’m a forty-five year old fat guy. How intimidating can I be?”

“Look. I’m just telling you what was said. Then there are a couple of female employees who have said you’ve made them uncomfortable with some of your statements.”

This was starting to get ridiculous now.

“What kind of statements?”

“One girl said you told her you liked her top. She said she felt you were making unwanted sexual advances to her.”

“What? That was Jenny. She had this tie-dye looking Spurs shirt on, I told her it looked cool.”

“Well unfortunately she didn’t take it that way. Then there was another girl who said you made unwanted comments about her hair.”

“Jesus Christ.”  Tony stood.

“Look, calm down.  You’re not being fired. I just need you to sign some paperwork and attend a few sensitivity classes. We can’t have you scaring and harassing our female employees. Please sit down.”

“Scaring and harassing? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Tony!”

“Shut the fuck up. I have been working here for years putting up with your shit. Your stupid side glances and your snide comments. I’m sick of you and this fucking place.”

“You want me to call security?”

“Fuck security. I don’t need you or this place.” He walked away from her desk and through the call center. As he walked by some of his co-workers’ desks. Including Jenny’s and the other girl’s, he began shouting.

“Attention everyone! Fuck every last one of you! Thank you! And Jenny, your top is uglier than your fat fucking face. You feel sexually harassed? I wouldn’t fuck you if I had a gun at my head.” Everyone was staring at him as he walked out. By the time he reached his car he was smiling. It was only eleven. He just might treat himself to a nice lunch. Tomorrow would be the first day in his new life.

He stopped at a Thai place he usually couldn’t afford and ate too much. There were a few hours to kill, since he didn’t yet want to tell Kim what had happened. May as well keep it to himself for a bit. But if he made twenty thousand a month, that would take care of the bulk of their problems.

***

Saturday morning arrived quickly. He told Kim he was working overtime, which wasn’t a total lie. Just not at United P and C. When he arrived at Ramos Medical Supply, he was greeted by Jose, the warehouse manager. Jose took him to his truck, which was a fourteen foot box truck and explained to him the route.

“So what am I hauling?”

“Medical supplies.” Jose answered.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah. What else would you be hauling?”

“I don’t know. I figured for what you all are paying me...” Tony said.

“Hey, I’m not in charge of payroll. We load the truck, you drive it to the destination and you’ll drop the truck off and pick up an empty truck to bring back. Easy enough?”

“Yeah sounds easy.”

“Just a couple of simple rules. You are not to stop for anything other than bathroom, meals, and such. No stopping at your girlfriend’s, no detours or sightseeing.”

“Got it.” Tony said, though he was still sure he’d be hauling something illegal. Maybe it was a plausible deniability thing or something. Now that the moment had arrived for his first run, he was getting a bit nervous. Though he wasn’t going to let cold feet stop him now. He just had to make this twelve hour run, and he’d get another ten grand. Domingo told him if it worked out, he’d do one load per week.

Jose handed him the route, keys and GPS unit.

“There’s a gas card in the glove box, and a satellite phone with my direct number. Any questions, don’t hesitate to call me. If the police stop you for any reason, do not consent to a search under any circumstances, no matter how much they threaten you. All the tags and logs are up to date, so no reason for them to have any cause to search. Got it?”

“I think so.”

“Good. So off you go. See you in about twelve hours.”

Tony climbed in and started the truck. As he backed out and headed onto the road, he felt both nervous and exhilarated. This job will be much nicer than answering phones and listening to people bitch all day. He could enjoy some freedom and the open road. He hadn’t felt this excited since his twenties. Still, he wondered what his cargo actually was. They’d never give him that speech about police and searches if it was all on the up and up. Was it drugs? Stolen goods perhaps? Didn’t matter. The rule was not to look and he had no intention of doing so. No point in messing up a good thing. Besides, nothing said this had to be a permanent job. Maybe after six months or so he could just retire. He’ll have made plenty of money by then.

As he headed down the highway, he turned the radio up and kicked back on his drive, totally unaware of what awaited him in Mexico.

Chapter 6

Within about three hours, Tony was driving up to the border crossing in Laredo. The line was long, being a Friday night. Seemed a lot of folks liked to head south to get their drink on for the weekend. Tony had only been to Mexico one other time when he was younger. That was before the cartels down there had completely taken over. Now going into Mexico was almost asking to be kidnapped or killed. Yet, people still did it every day.

After almost an hour, it was his turn. The Border patrol agent looked his truck over, he handed him back his manifest, and was on his way. It was that simple. He’d seen men walking around with drug dogs, but didn’t want to think too hard about what he might be carrying. From the border, it was another few hours to Monterrey, but he made it without incident. As he pulled into the lot, a man at the gate waved him inside.

He pulled up to the warehouse, and several men with rifles came running out screaming at him in Spanish.

“Salir! Salir!” They screamed. He knew enough Spanish to know it meant “Get out!”

He climbed out of the truck with his hands in the air. One of the men ran up and struck him in the stomach with the butt of the rifle. He hadn’t been hit in the stomach since he was a teenager. The blow almost made him throw up as the pain shot through his stomach, doubling him over to his knees. This was not the greeting he was expecting.

Another man walked up to him, but Tony could only see his feet as he tried to catch his breath.

“Who the fuck are you?” The man asked.

“I’m Tony.” He grunted. “Jose sent me.”

“Where is Spider?”

“Who?”

One of the other men kicked him in the stomach again, this time lying him out flat on his face. He caught a mouthful of dirt as his face hit the ground.

“Spider, dumbfuck. The driver. Spider is the one bringing loads here.”

“I don’t know any Spider. This is my test run they said. For my first day.” Tony coughed as he got back to his knees. He finally looked up and saw two men pointing AK-47s at him. The one in the middle had a short beard and sunglasses. “Honest. Call Jose.” Tony couldn’t believe Jose hadn’t let them know, unless this was part of some kind of initiation.

“We’ll know in a second,” the man said as he snapped his fingers. One of the men put his rifle over his shoulder and ran to the back of the truck. Tony heard the tailgate slide open. Another man on a forklift unloaded several crates from the truck. There were two with a red line painted on the side. Another man took a crowbar and popped the lid off each crate to reveal two young girls in each crate.

All four girls were white and none of them looked older than fourteen or fifteen. All of them were crying. Tony’s eyes went wide as he fell back into a sitting position at the realization of what he’d been carrying.

“Something wrong esse?”

“Those are children.” Tony said.

“You’re pretty smart. They’re kids, merchandise. They make us a lot of money.”

“Human trafficking.”

“Give the man a medal!”

Tony thought for a minute, trying to keep his wits. For some reason, the idea of transporting drugs or stolen goods or even weapons didn’t bother him. But teenage girls? His little Taylor was only four. What if she got grabbed by these guys? What about their dads and their families? He couldn’t hold back as the bile rose in his throat until he leaned forward and threw up.

“Jesus man, you fucking puked on my shoe. Fucking gringo.”

“I’m sorry.” Tony gasped. “I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting…”

“Yeah yeah. So this is kind of a tricky spot for us. Are you ok to drive for us? I’m not sure how much Jose explained to you. This trial run was a trial for us, not you. You get me?”

Tony looked at them for a second before it registered. Trial run for them. In other words, if he didn’t work out, they’d kill him. There was no quitting.

“I get it.” Tony said.

“I know you won’t go to the cops either. We were fucking with you earlier. Jose did tell us about you. You live in San Antonio. You got a wife named Kim and a daughter named Taylor right? Your ex lives in Dallas and her name is Judy and your son’s name is Chad, but you haven’t seen him in a while.”

Jesus Christ.

“Yeah that’s right,” the man said. “We do our homework. You decide not to show up next week, or try to be a hero and free the girls on a run, or go to the cops? We skin your family alive while you watch.”

Tony just looked at them and nodded.

“So, your truck to drive back is just over there. Take it back to the Ramos building in San Antonio and you’ll get the rest of your money. You’ll make this run once a week. It’s a good gig. All you do is drive, get paid and keep your fucking mouth shut. Beats a day job any day of the week. Now go.”

The two men helped Tony to his feet as he slowly made his way to the truck. He looked at the four girls he was leaving behind. Their eyes looked sad and distant, but one of them made sure to stare him down until he was out of site. That sad, hurt look on her face would haunt him for a while. He had just delivered her to a life of physical and sexual slavery and abuse. She’d probably be dead before her eighteenth birthday. He climbed into the truck and started the engine. As he began his journey back to San Antonio, he started thinking maybe his old job wasn’t so bad after all.

Chapter 7

It was well after midnight by the time Tony arrived back at the Ramos building. He’d shut his phone off when Kim started calling repeatedly. He didn’t even know what to think himself about this new gig, he sure as hell couldn’t come up with a convincing enough lie for Kim just yet. He would have to before he went home, though.

When he pulled into the loading dock and parked the truck, a man came out to him. He didn’t recognize the guy. He was short and Mexican and wearing a heavy metal t-shirt. The man approached Tony and handed him an envelope.

“What’s this?” Tony asked.

“Your money.” The man answered.

“So that’s it? Now what?”

“Now go home. Be here next Friday same time.” The man said as he walked off.

Tony opened the envelope and flipped through the huge stack of bills. At least they kept to their word. Twenty thousand cash, just like that. That was more than half of his yearly pay at his last job. If he could just put out of his mind the fact that he was transporting little girls into sexual slavery, this might not be a bad job after all.

He stuffed the envelope into his pocket and headed to his car. Kim was waiting up for him when he got home. He wasn’t even sure what he was going to tell her.

“Where the hell have you been?” She asked.

“I told you. I was working.”

“Until after one in the morning? You’ve never worked this late. You left early this morning. You work in a call center. Where were you really?”

“I’m serious. They didn’t have me in my usual area. They had me riding with claims adjusters helping out there. They are short on adjusters.”

“So they’re going to make you an adjuster now?”

It seemed like a good enough story, so he just went with it.

“Well, yeah. I wasn’t sure until after today but yeah. I’m going to be an auto adjuster,” he said.

“Is that like a promotion?”

“There’s…a little bit of a raise that goes with it, you could say.”

“Oh my god! That’s great!” She jumped up and hugged him tight. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I just wanted to make sure I got it first. No point in getting you all excited for nothing.”

“Oh babe, how much is the raise? Do you know yet?”

“Not sure yet. I think it’s around eight or ten percent.”

“That’s huge! Wow. This will really help us out. I’m so proud of you!”

“Thank you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just tired. I need to get to bed.”

“Of course. Get some sleep. I’ll be in in a few.”

He went into the bedroom, and into the master bathroom. He closed and locked the door as he looked at himself in the mirror. For most of his life, he’d looked younger than his age. Looking at himself now, he was looking older. He could pass as fifty-five if he wanted to. He took out the envelope and stared at the cash. This is what his life had come down to. He could be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, but all he had to do was help in wrecking the lives of innocent children and their families.

Then there was his other choice, refuse to do it and risk the safety of himself and his family. He could contact the FBI. Maybe they’d put them in witness protection. That wouldn’t work, though. They’d have to cut off all contact with all their friends and family. No way would he agree to that. Not to mention that would mean telling Kim what he was doing. She’d completely lose it. No. The best course of action for now was to do his job, and make his money. Maybe after a few months they could just slip away. He’d think of something.

He stood onto the toilet and unscrewed the bottom screws in the vent above the toilet. Lifting the vent screen, he took the envelope and placed it inside the metal box inside with the rest of the cash. Once the box was closed, he closed the screen and replaced the screws. It wasn’t the best hiding spot, but it would do for now.

After climbing back down, he went into the bedroom and got ready for bed. Kim came in as he was climbing under the sheets.

“So, you think with this raise we can finally decorate Taylor’s room?” She asked.

“Oh, I don’t see why not.”

“Great. It’s so dull looking now. It needs some color. I thought maybe we can give it like a Disney theme or something.”

“I’m sure she’d love that,” he said.

“She missed you today. I did too.”

“I missed both of you too. You think she still wants to go to the zoo tomorrow?”

“I’m sure she’d love to.”

“Great. I think we got enough money to go and do some things.”

“This is so exciting!” She said as she kissed him. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks. I’m just glad we’ll finally have some breathing room.”

She grabbed him and hugged him tight. As he returned her embrace, he kept his eyes open. When they were closed, all he saw was the men with guns kicking and hitting him as he lay on the ground. He wondered if every trip would be that way.

Chapter 8

Slade was sitting in his office when someone knocked at his doorway. It was Domingo.

“Hey Dom. What’s up?”

“I got something you should know,” Domingo said.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t ask me how, but the feds have traced the truck back to Ramos.”

Slade stood and leaned over the desk.

“What?”

“Yeah.”

“How the fuck did they figure that out?” Slade asked.

“I don’t know. Unless we have a snitch. That’s the only way. That truck was clean.”

“Yeah I know. Fuck me. I’ve vetted everyone at that warehouse. Goddammit. Have them clear it out. Get rid of the cages, any clothing belonging to any of the girls, anything. Get all of it out of there, now. You know when they are coming?”

“Could be any time. My guy at DPS said they are pretty fired up about it.”

“Shit. Get down there, make sure the place is clean. I’ll let the boss know.” Slade instructed. Domingo nodded and headed out.

Fuck.

Slade picked up the phone and called his boss.

“Yeah?” The boss said.

“Hey boss. Sorry to bug you. I have some info for you.” Slade explained about the warrant and raid. The boss was unusually quiet as he explained. He hated that. At least show some anger. When he was dead silent, no telling what was going through the man’s head.

“Ok,” the boss finally said. “You have them follow protocol?”

“Yes sir. As we speak.”

“We need to find this snitch,” the boss said. “Any ideas who it is?”

“Not at the moment. Only a few people knew about Spider. So I’ll start with them.”

“Good. Once you find them, bring them to me,” the boss said.

“Sir?”

“Bring the snitch to me when you find him. I will deal with him personally.”

This was interesting. He usually stayed hands off most of these things.

“No problem sir. I will do that.”

“Good. Get it done. I will wait for your call,” the boss said and hung up.

Shit. Slade hung up and looked out his window. He’d have to wait until after the raid to dig much further. What else could go wrong this week? At least the new driver seemed to be working out. Luis and his crew had really scared the shit out of him on his trial run.

He had a few hours to kill so he stepped out of his office and into the back room that was attached. There was a small bed, a couch and TV. It was set up for late nights of work, or if home wasn’t safe.

Today there was a girl tied to the bed with a piece of tape over her mouth. One of the advantages to being a boss, he could occasionally take a free sample. Though his boss wasn’t aware of this, which was a good thing. Slade knew not to risk pissing off the big guy, but some things were just too good to pass up. Like the little piece right before him.

This one was a sixteen-year-old one of his guys had picked up in the Midwest. She looked like your stereotypical farm girl. Big doe eyes, blonde hair in a ponytail and not a clue in the world as to what she was in for. He walked over and ripped the tape off her mouth.

“Don’t scream,” he ordered, “or I will punch you so hard, you’ll choke on your own teeth.”

The girl nodded as tears ran down her cheeks.

“Why are you doing this to me? What do you want?” She asked. “Please let me go. I won’t tell anyone anything. I promise.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. As far as why I’m doing this, there really is no reason. Because I enjoy it. Because you are beautiful and I like to destroy beauty. I won’t bullshit you. What I’m about to do is going to hurt. It will hurt bad.”

The girl began sobbing quietly. It was almost too cute.

“Please don’t hurt me. Please?”

“Shhh. It’s ok.” He wiped the tears from her cheek and brushed her hair from her face. “The good thing is, there won’t be a long, painful recovery. You’ll die when I’m finished with you and the suffering will be over.”

He took out the butterfly knife from his pocket and cut her clothes off her, throwing them to the floor. Taking the blade, he ran it up and down her body, not pressing hard enough to break any skin. Something about her soft, pale skin and the way she trembled at his touch made him incredibly excited. He was impressed she had yet to scream. Usually they started screaming as soon as they saw the knife.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

“No. Please. Don’t.”

He cut down the side of her cheek, just enough to draw blood. She pinched her eyes shut and cried as he did the same on the other side of her face. From there he took the knife and ran it across her breasts, watching how her nipples got hard at the tip of the knife’s blade. She tried to squirm away, but she was bound too tight.

He ran the blade along her stomach, drawing a line of blood all the way to her waist. She let out a cry as the blade cut the surface of her skin. He held the blade for a moment while watching her face. Her blue eyes were wide as tears streaked her face. Suddenly he inserted the knife into her pussy and thrust it fist deep. Finally, the girl screamed.

Chapter 9

Tony sat in the coffee shop sipping his foam latte and reading his Kindle. Kim thought he was still working at United P and C, but for the last four days he’d been hanging out here. He wasn’t sure how long he could or should keep up the act, but for now it didn’t matter. He took another sip as he flipped through the book. He’d never read this author before, some slash and gash horror writer with nothing but gore. Tony had never been into such books but for some reason found this one interesting.

Once he finished his drink, he read for another hour and then decided to head out. As he stood, his phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and placed it to his ear.

“Hey, it’s Jose.”

“Yes, Jose. Everything ok?” Tony said.

“Not really. I need you here now. Need you to make an emergency run.”

“What? My next run isn’t until tomorrow.”

“Not now it isn’t. We have a load that has to go out tonight. So get your ass down here. The truck will be ready when you get here.”

“But—” Tony began but Jose had already hung up.

Fuck. He stood outside the coffee shop and kicked the wall. A woman and her teenage daughter glared at him as they walked by. He awkwardly nodded to them as he headed to his car and climbed inside.

“Fuck!” He screamed. How would he explain this to Kim? Being gone all night? Nothing he could do. These guys owned him. He drove to Ramos Medical and just like Jose said, the truck was loaded and waiting for him. Jose was standing by the truck as he arrived.

“Here it is, my man. All ready to go, paperwork is in order. You’ll get paid double for this run.”

“Double?”

“Yeah, you’ll get forty grand for this one for the inconvenience.”

“Wow. Ok.”

“Is that a problem?” Jose asked.

“No, I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“Good. Now get going.”

Tony climbed in the truck, started it and pulled out of the main gate. He was on the highway within a few minutes. Traffic was unusually backed up. Probably due to an accident ahead or something. After almost forty minutes in stop and go traffic, he was finally on the road and leaving the city. When he was about ten miles south of town, flashing lights appeared in his mirror. Shit.

He pulled over, hoping beyond hope that the police car would go around him. Maybe he was on his way to another call. That didn’t happen. The police car stopped directly behind him. Fuck! Tony took a deep breath and examined himself in the mirror. Beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead. He wiped it off with his sleeve and took another deep breath. Keep cool. Just play it cool, it will all be fine.

He rolled down the window as the officer stepped up to the vehicle.

“Good evening officer. What seems to be the problem?”

“Hello sir. License and registration please.” The officer said. As Tony leaned in the glove box he saw a second officer in the other rearview mirror on the opposite side of the truck. He handed the officer the paperwork. The officer examined his license.

“This is you? Anthony Ray?”

“Yes sir. Tony is what I go by.”

“Step out of the truck for me Anthony.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Did I fuckin’ stutter? Step. Out. Of. The. Fucking. Truck.”

Tony climbed out of the truck, his throat dry as he tried not to visibly shake. He had no idea why this cop had this attitude, but it was scaring the shit out of him. He’d never had anything more than a parking ticket. Getting caught with a truck full of kidnapped girls, he’d go away for life.

“I don’t understand officer. What seems to be the problem?” Tony asked as he noticed both officers were Bexar County deputies.

“Open the truck.” The cop said.

“Excuse me? Don’t you need a warrant for that?” Tony asked, but the other officer walked up to him and shot him with the Taser. His legs buckled under him as he fell to the ground, striking his head on a rock as the current went through him. He couldn’t move for over a minute as both officers stood over him.

“Now let’s try this again,” the tall officer said. “Open the fucking truck.”

Chapter 10

Slade stood there admiring his handiwork. His naked body was covered in blood, her blood. Her body had been mutilated beyond all recognition. He systematically managed to cut her to pieces a little at a time. His sexual appetites were not something that could be fulfilled through normal channels. That was a big part of why he was in this business, the endless supply of girls.

This time he tried something new, he cut out her heart and fucked it, even ejaculated inside it. He’d fucked women’s organs before. He hoped to do it while it was still beating, but that just wasn’t possible. It was still fun though. That was the last thing he did. Other pleasures of his involved peeling her face off, cutting off her breasts and performing his own version of a hysterectomy.

He opened the closet nearby and took out several towels, cleaning himself off as much as possible. After he dressed, he went back into his office and picked up the phone.

“Hey, send some guys in here to clean up my break room. Yeah, it’s a big mess, so make sure they bring everything. I have to head out.” He hung up the phone and headed out.

Within a few minutes he arrived at Ramos Medical. Jose was sitting in his office looking as if he’d seen a ghost.

“So how’d it go?” Slade asked.

“The raid went fine. Everything was gone. I sent the new guy on a run with the girls. The feds were here and tore the place apart, but found nothing.”

“Good. I’m kind of curious. How would they even know to look here? I mean, our truck was clean, no way should they have been able to trace it here.”

“I don’t know. They got lucky I guess.”

“Got lucky. That’s possible. The problem is, cops don’t get lucky like this. I think someone tipped them off.”

“Oh yeah?” Jose began shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Who you think would do that?”

“I don’t know. Someone with working knowledge of our operation. Someone who knows what trucks are used for what shipments. I’m starting to think them finding Spider’s truck wasn’t an accident either.”

“Yeah? That sounds pretty fucked up man. I hope you find the snitch,” Jose said.

“Well, I think I may have.”

Jose jumped out of his chair and raced for the door. Slade grabbed him and threw him back in the chair, but not before slamming his face against the desk. Jose let out a scream as Slade dug in Jose’s pockets, pulling out two cell phones.

“So what is the second cell phone for?”

“That’s um, my personal one! The other one is work.”

Slade took the base of the phone and hit Jose on the side of the head. Jose screamed again.

“Ow! Fuck, man!”

“Try again,” Slade ordered.

“I’m serious! I don’t like to use my work phone for personal use.”

“So why were you trying to run off?”

“Look man. I wouldn’t rat on you or anyone. I’m no rat!”

Slade took out his butterfly knife and thrust it into the back of Jose’s hand. Jose screamed even louder this time as blood oozed from his hand.

“Tell me, or I’ll fucking skin you alive and feed you your own flesh.”

“Shit! Ok! Ok! They busted me on a drug charge. I was at a party and had an eight ball on me. I was looking at big time. So I made a deal. But they wanted everything, not just the operation, but you and the boss.”

“You don’t know who that is,” Slade said.

“Yeah, I know. They were hoping to find something today leading them to him. Spider’s truck, they did find by accident, but used that as smoke for the warrant today. So as to cover my ass. For whatever that was worth.”

“You worthless piece of shit. You know the rules! Don’t do any stupid shit that will get you pinched! Now you’ve put this whole thing in jeopardy. What about that new guy, Tommy or whatever.”

“Tony.”

“Yeah. You sent him on a run. Is he gonna run into any surprises?” Slade asked.

Jose looked away and mumbled something.

“What?”

“He might be getting stopped by some cops who may have gotten a tip on what he was carrying.”

“You fucking piece of shit!” Slade punched Jose in the face, knocking him to the floor. He opened the door, yelling to some other men.

“Hey, come in here! Take him out, tie him to the back of a rig. We’re gonna prove him up.”

Jose’s eyes grew wide as the men grabbed him.

“Slade! No! Please don’t do this! I didn’t give them nothing! Honest! Please man!” Jose screamed as they dragged him out the door.

Slade took both his cell phones and removed both batteries and smashed the phones against the table. He walked outside where the men were tying Jose’s arms and legs to two separate trucks. His arms were tied to the bumper of one box truck, while his ankles tied to another. The truck his legs were tied to pulled up a few feet so he was suspended off the ground. Slade and the other employees from the plant were all standing around looking on.

“So all of you know, Jose here was working for the Feds! He is the reason for the raid today. He has put all of our jobs and lives in jeopardy. There is only one punishment in this organization for a snitch!” Slade announced.

“Slade! Come on man! Don’t do this, please?” Jose pleaded. Tears streamed from his eyes. “I’ll go away. I’ll leave the country! You’ll never see me again!”

Slade looked up at the truck to his left and pointed with his left arm. The truck slowly began to pull forward. Jose screamed as the truck rolled forward, stretching his legs further and tighter. The truck driver accelerated as the truck lurched forward, ripping Jose’s legs from his body. The sound of flesh and bone ripping away from his body sounded like a gunshot. He screamed as blood sprayed from the two holes where his legs used to be. Jose twitched and writhed about before he went still.

“Clean it up.” Slade ordered as he walked back into the building. That was one problem dealt with. Now he just had to stop this shipment on the road from being stopped. He had no idea how to do that, other than to try and call Tony and get him off the road. He sat down in what had previously been Jose’s office when a phone began to ring. Slade opened one of the drawers and found a satellite phone ringing. Grabbing the phone, he pressed it to his ear while hitting the talk button.

“Hello?”

“Jose?”

“No. Who is this?” Slade said.

“Who the fuck is this?”

“This is Slade. Jose’s boss. Now who the fuck is calling me.”

“This is Tony. What the fuck is going on?”

Chapter 11

Tony lifted the tailgate to the truck. The two officers stood by looking on. He wanted to throw up. This was it. People do this sort of thing for years and never get caught. This organization had an entire process in place they had probably used for ages without any problems. That is until he goes on his second run with them, and here he is about to be hauled off to prison for infinity.

“That’s good. Jump on down.” The tall officer called out.

Tony looked down at the two of them standing side by side. Think! He had to do something. If he just let this happen, he’d never see little Taylor again. Kim would never so much as speak to him again. No, that was unacceptable. It was time to take a calculated risk. There was nothing to lose at this point.

He leaped directly at the two officers, throwing his body sideways, catching them both off guard as they all tumbled to the asphalt. The quiet one had reached for his gun as they fell and had it part way out of the holster. Tony heard it clatter to the ground and reached for it as the two officers attempted to throw him off. He slammed his knee into the tall officer’s side as he scrambled for the gun.

As he crawled toward it, he had to move off of the officers, thus taking his weight off them. He decided to go for it and scurried to the gun. Just as his fingers wrapped around the butt he spun around sitting upright. The tall cop had gotten to his knees and had his gun drawn. Tony leveled the gun and fired twice. At least one shot hit the cop in the chest knocking him to his back. Tony scrambled to his feet and ran over to the officer. He was gasping for air, but his vest had stopped the bullet.

Tony stood over him and fired one shot into his face, turning his head as the gun went off. He tried not to look at the body, but caught a glimpse of the bloody mess at his feet. The other officer was to his right whimpering as he tried to crawl away. Tony walked toward him as the cop looked up at him.

“Look man. Look, this is all a misunderstanding ok? You can just go on your way. I won’t say anything.”

Tony didn’t say a word as he pulled the trigger again, hitting him in the neck. The cop grabbed his neck as blood sprayed out from between his fingers. He twitched and jerked around for a minute before going still. Tony dropped the gun and fell to his knees as the realization of his actions sank in. He just killed two men, both police officers.

Until now, the worst crime he’d gotten away with was smoking some weed in college. Now he was a murderer. That would never change, no matter what. As he tried to stand, his stomach lurched as he threw up. It felt like everything he’d ate in the last month was coming up. He couldn’t stop heaving. When he finally stopped, he wiped his mouth and stood.

After a minute he realized he was still along a roadside next to two dead cops he’d just killed. Shit! He grabbed the tall one’s body by the legs and dragged him to the truck. He picked the cop’s body up under the arms and lifted him into the truck. He had to roll him over one of the crates close to the tailgate and flip his legs up and over, but he got him in. The second officer was shorter and heavier. It took him a few heaves, but he got him into the truck. Once they were both in, he pulled the tailgate closed.

Once it was closed up, he ran over to their car and turned off the lights. It was starting to get dark, so he pulled the car as far off the shoulder as he could and turned the car off. The dashcam was running, it would have captured everything. He used the butt of the gun to smash the fasteners loose and ripped it off the dash and pulled as many wires as he could with it. He wiped down the inside of the car and the door handle and got back into the truck and tossed the police dash cam inside. He started the engine and drove off.

The rest of the trip, he didn’t think too hard about what had just happened, only about putting as much distance between himself and the city. Still, something had been wrong. That wasn’t a normal traffic stop. From the time they had pulled him over, they knew exactly what they were looking for. Meaning someone had set him up. He reached for the glove box and pulled out the satellite phone. After several rings a voice answered, but he didn’t recognize it. After a short exchange, he learned it was Jose’s boss.

“What the fuck is going on?” Tony asked. “You have any idea what I just went through?”

“There was a problem with Jose. It’s been dealt with. What’s going on?”

“Two cops pulled me over and started to search the truck.” Tony explained.

“Shit. I was afraid of that. Jose had tipped them off, he set you up. I took care of him though. What happened? Why didn’t they arrest you?”

“I killed them.” Tony answered. There was a long silence from the other end before Slade replied.

“You what?”

“I killed them. I had no choice. They were about to search the truck. They’d have found the girls.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, man.”

“I put their bodies in the truck and left their car shut off on the shoulder, I may have bought myself a few hours.”

“Goddamn. You’re fucking insane.”

“I don’t want to go to prison. Jose had promised me forty grand for this run. Is that still the same offer or was he bullshitting?”

“Dude, make it back from this run in one piece and I’ll make it a hundred grand.”

“I’ll make it back. Just have my money ready,” Tony said.

Chapter 12

The men with rifles were waiting for him when Tony pulled into the lot. It was late, but they had some flood lights around the lot lighting the grounds. He stopped the truck and climbed out, only to be struck in the stomach with the butt of one of the rifles.

“We heard you had some problems,” one of the men said. The same one who did all the talking last time.

“I took care of it.” Tony grunted from his knees. “Jesus. You guys gonna beat on me every time I come down here?”

“There may not be a next time. Slade called us. He thinks you brought cops with you.”

“What the fuck? No! Look in the back.”

“Tell me what happened,” the man said, as one of the men with rifles stuck the barrel of the rifle to his forehead. “Or I paint the truck with your blood.”

“Can you put the fucking guns down?” Tony said as he went to one knee. “Open the truck and it will explain everything. I promise no one is going to jump out and arrest you.”

“Keep the gun on him,” the man said as he gestured to the other man. “Open the back of the truck.”

The other man climbed up and pulled the tailgate open. He climbed in back and looked between the crates.

“Holy shit! Man there’s two dead cops up here. They stink!” He said.

The man in charge walked toward the back of the truck and looked at it as well. The third man still had the rifle trained on Tony’s head. As their boss looked around, the man with the rifle turned his head toward the back of the truck.

“So everything cool?” The man called. Tony noticed he was relaxed and not looking at him, so decided to act. He grabbed the barrel of the rifle, and pulled it toward himself while shifting his body to the left. The man’s eyes widened as he turned back to Tony who with both hands, thrust the butt of the rifle into the man’s stomach which doubled him over. Tony stood with the gun and slammed the butt into the back of the man’s head, sending him face down into the ground.

He shouldered the rifle and spun toward the back of the truck where. as he suspected, the other gunman was just raising his gun at Tony. Without hesitation, Tony fired a volley of shots into the man’s chest sending him to the ground. He then trained the gun onto the boss.

“Whoa, whoa, easy amigo,” the man said.

“In both my trips down here, you guys have hit me and pointed guns at me. This is the last time that will happen. Do you understand?” Tony said.

“Sure man. It’s nothing personal. Just how we break in new people to make sure you don’t crack up. You killed one of my men. Slade’s not gonna like that.”

“Slade isn’t gonna like a lot of things. For now let’s worry about what I don’t like. I don’t like being ordered to do a run in the middle of the night. I don’t like be ratted out to the cops. I don’t like assholes putting their hands on me and shoving guns in my face. So give me one reason why I shouldn’t fucking waste you right now?”

“Slade will kill you. Plus you’d be starting a cross-border gang war.”

“So, you’d still be dead. Slade kills me, what do I give a fuck if they all want to kill each other. Do you want to be dead?” Tony asked.

“It’s gonna happen sooner or later. Part of this job, man.”

“Unload the truck.”

Tony stepped back while the two men unloaded the bodies from the truck, and then the crates. They got extra crates and stuffed the police officers’ bodies into them.

“Is that my return truck?” Tony asked pointing at an empty box truck.

“That’s it. So you gonna shoot us or what? You know if you don’t, I’m calling Slade as soon as you leave here.”

Tony lowered the rifle and fired a shot into the man’s ankle. He toppled to the ground screaming.

“Fuck! You motherfucker! You fucking shot me!”

“I sure did. So go call Slade.” Tony turned and walked to the truck, started it up and pulled out. He purposely raced toward both men, forcing them to dive out of the way before he hit them. He raced through the gates and toward the border. As he drove, he pounded the steering wheel and screamed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually screamed or showed any kind of emotion to that extent. The scream became more of a primal howl the longer it went. For the first time in decades, Tony felt alive.

Chapter 13

The sun was coming up by the time Tony pulled into Ramos Medical Supplies. He should have been exhausted, but he was so wired he didn’t think he could sleep again. When he shut off the truck, a large man came walking out carrying a duffel bag. Tony climbed out of the truck as the man glared at him. Tony was only five foot seven inches tall and this guy towered over him. In addition to his height, the guy looked like he was solid muscle.

“I’m Slade,” the man said. “I’m your boss.”

“Well hi, I guess. I’m not sure if it’s nice to meet you just yet.”

“Benito called me.”

“Who is Benito?”

“He’s the guy you shot in the leg last night. You really did kill those cops.”

“Yeah. Apparently you all didn’t believe me. Maybe from now on you will,” Tony said.

“Maybe you’re right. You killed one of Benito’s men.”

“They were pointing guns at me. I don’t like guns pointed at me.”

“Those are our business associates. They want me to kill you. Blood for blood.”

“Look,” Tony said. “I’m not gonna sit here and bullshit you and act all badass. You know I’m new to all of this. I drive a Volkswagen. Up until last week, my life was incredibly boring and uneventful. The most dangerous thing I did all day was eating the churros from the snack bar at work. So I’m not totally familiar with whatever street rule or whatever the hell it is you guys live buy. It wasn’t exactly covered in my new employee orientation. I’ve done everything you guys have wanted me to do. My reward for that has been money yes, but also being beaten, having guns shoved in my face and having cops called on me. So based on what little I know of this way of life; now mind you my knowledge of this sort of thing comes from shit like ‘Scarface’ and ‘Goodfellas’. Based on that little knowledge you people seem to be all about respect. Respect is based on strength in this world. So, when that asshole with the gun in my face thought I was too scared and weak to pay attention to, I took the gun away and shot his partner. They may be angry, but I’m betting I earned their respect.”

Slade looked at him and began laughing.

“Holy shit. Dude, you are fucking insane!”

Tony watched him laugh, not sure if he was about to kill him or what.

“Ok,” Slade said. “Here is your money. I’ll tell Benito tough shit. He likes to fuck with new drivers. I guess he pushed you too far. I like that. We’ve had too many spineless pussies come through here. Domingo said he had a good feeling about you.”

“So we’re good then?”

“Yeah. We’re good,” Slade said as he handed Tony the bag. “One hundred thousand cash is in the bag, just like I promised. Come back tomorrow morning. I might have more work for you. Something besides just driving.”

“Really? Like what?”

“I’ve got some things to work out. Just get back here.”

Tony took the bag and walked back to his car. When he arrived home, Kim’s car was still in the driveway. She was sitting in the living room drinking a cup of coffee glaring at him when he came inside.

“Why aren’t you at work?” He asked.

“What? Are you fucking kidding me?” She stood and walked toward him. “Where have you been? I tried calling you all night but your phone was off.”

“I had something come up at work. I got called in. Some wildfire in California. They were short one people taking claims calls so they asked me to come in. You know I keep my phone off at work.”

“Wildfire in California huh?” She was wearing a bath robe, standing with her arms crossed.

“Yes! They get them every year and we get thousands of claims.”

“So what is in the bag?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Let me see.”

“It’s just stuff I had in the car, it’s nothing important.”

He tried to walk past her, but she grabbed at the bag.

“I said let me see. I want to see what is in there. You seeing someone? Did you take a change of clothes with you?”

“No! I told you, it’s nothing. You’re being ridiculous.”

He had expected her to be at work when he got home, or still asleep at least. The last thing he’d expected was this crazy confrontation. He tried to pull away as she grabbed the bag.

“Let me see it! What are you hiding?” She screamed as she tugged on it. He pulled back, but not with any real force. Finally he just let go.

“Fine. Take it,” he said.

She sat it on the ground and unzipped it, stepping back as she looked at the contents.

“Jesus Christ Tony.” She looked up at him, her mouth hanging wide open. “How much is this? Is it real?”

“Yes, it’s very real.”

“Are you sure? How much is it?”

“This is a hundred thousand. And I earned it.”

“Earned it? How? Not as an insurance adjuster!”

“Look, it’s complicated. Ok?”

“You didn’t really get a promotion did you?”

“Can you just trust me?”

“Do you even still work at United? Did they fire you? What is going on?”

“It’s hard to explain. I have it all worked out.”

“Are you doing something illegal?”

“No! Look. I make deliveries. A few times a week, I drop these trucks off in Mexico and drive back. That’s it.”

“Deliveries? What is in the trucks?” She asked.

This was getting frustrating. She was not going to let this go.

“I don’t know. They don’t tell me and I don’t ask.”

“So it could be what? Drugs? Weapons? What if you get stopped and searched? You’ll go to prison. Will they take care of you then?”

“No one is getting arrested. God! Just let me take care of us. There’s enough money there to pay for all our bills and then some. Just try to enjoy it,” he said as he walked toward the bedroom. The past night’s events almost seemed a distant haze at this point. The fact that he’d killed two police officers in cold blood and Benito’s man, it felt like some weird dream. As distressing as it was at the time, it was barely an afterthought by now.

“Where are you going? We need to talk about this!”

“I’m going to bed. It was a long night.”

Chapter 14

Tony arrived at Ramos the following morning. Kim was already at work and had taken Taylor to daycare by the time he woke up. Slade was there when he came into the office. Domingo was standing next to him.

“So what’s going on?” Tony asked.

“So despite all that chaos the other night, you did a good job. I know I wasn’t happy about you killing Benito’s guy. Not thrilled about you killing two cops for that matter, it was all over the news.”

A lump settled in Tony’s stomach. He was so worked up and exhausted the other night, it hadn’t even registered to him they’d be on a manhunt for a cop killer. That was sure one title he never thought would apply to him.

“Do they have any suspects?”

“Doesn’t sound like it. You did good, took the camera and everything.”

“Yeah, it all happened so fast. I just didn’t want to go to prison,” Tony said.

“That’s good,” Slade said. “It’s that desire to stay alive and stay out of jail that will take you far in this business.”

“I don’t want to go far in this business. I just want to make enough to take care of my family.”

Slade began to laugh and stood.

“You’ll make plenty. You have already. I called you here because I had a proposal for you. As you know, Jose is gone. He is the one who ratted you to the cops, and he’s been taken care of. Domingo will be helping me run things from here for the time being. You did so well on that run, you’re going to help me step up our operation.”

“Step up how?”

“Instead of one run a week, we’re going to do three a week. There’s a bit of a situation, and we need to make up some ground. It has nothing to do with you, you’ve done great. But you’re going to help me get things back on track.”

“Three runs a week? The agreement was one,” Tony said.

“I’m changing the agreement. And you’re not gonna fight you way out of this one. Its three runs a week. Unfortunately the pay stays the same for now.”

“What do you mean pay stays the same?”

“It’s still twenty grand a week, but you’ll be doing three runs instead of one. Right now I can’t pay you any more, especially after the other night. It will cost a ton to clean all this shit up and keep the old man out of it.”

“That sounds like your problem, not mine,” Tony said.

“Something you are going to learn really quickly man, is my problems are your problems. You got it? If the cops are messing with me, that is a problem for you. If the boss is unhappy with me, he’s unhappy with you. If the boss is unhappy, people get hurt. People you care about, and I don’t think you want that.”

Tony considered this for a moment. Once again he was left without much choice. It was hard to believe just over a week ago he was answering phones in a call center. In that time he’d killed three men and was at the center of an elaborate human trafficking operation. The only good thing he could say was that it paid well.

“I guess I don’t have much choice.”

“Good.”

“Tell Benito there will be no retaliation, retribution or so much as a word said about my last visit. I don’t want him or any of his goons to so much as lay a hand on me this time.”

“You got it. Anything else?”

“Nope, that’s it I guess.”

“Good. Your first load will be ready in a few minutes. Just so you know, you’ll be taking anywhere from five to eight girls per run. Depending on their ages and race, they are worth anywhere from fifty to a hundred grand each. As you know, if you get caught you go to jail for a long time. If you decide to rat us out, you may get a deal, but we will find you and kill you and your family.”

“Just curious,” Tony interrupted, “Does every single thing you tell me have to be followed with a threat to kill my family? I mean, is that just a regular thing for you?”

“It’s just a way to drive the point home. And yes, you’ll be hearing it a lot until we are sure we can trust you.”

“After everything I’ve done for you so far, you still can’t trust me?”

“Sorry. It’s not something we give away in this business. Your truck should be ready.”

Tony walked over, climbed into the cab and headed out yet again on another Mexico trip. When he took the job he hadn’t realized how tiring of a drive it was. Now he was doing it three times a week. At least the money was good. He hadn’t spoken to Kim since he came home the other night. He had no idea if she was going to stay with him after learning what he was doing. Though, he saw the way she was looking at the money. He had no doubt that if she did stay, it would be the money that saved their marriage.

As he headed south, he tried to drive as casually as possible. After the last run, it was hard for him not to freak out every time he saw a police car. After this run, he would have a longer talk with Kim and figure out where she stood with things. They’d been getting gradually more distant over the past few months and this situation wasn’t helping. Maybe he’d send her on a nice vacation. That might ease her mind. As he drove he tried to think of more positive things and fun things he’d like to do with the money he was earning. Lost in his daydreams, he didn’t notice the eighteen wheeler closing in behind him.

Chapter 15

Kim stood at her register staring off into space. She was an assistant manager at a grocery store chain, but today was running register because they were short-handed. That suited her fine, as she didn’t feel like having to make any decisions. She didn’t even know what to make of her conversation with Tony. He was delivering something illegal, but wouldn’t tell her. Did she even want to know?

More customers came through her line and she pushed the thought away as she rang up their purchases. Once she finished, her relief had arrived. In her mental fog she hadn’t realized her shift was over. She counted down her drawer and headed to her car. She pulled in at the house and headed straight to the bedroom and into the walk in closet. The duffel bag was on the top shelf. She pulled it down and unzipped it, exposing all the cash. Running her hand across it, she picked up a wad of bills and flipped through it. It was all hundreds.

She dropped the bills back into the bag and stared at it. One thing she was not, and that was a legal expert. If what Tony was doing was illegal, she wasn’t a part of it. She didn’t even know what it was. This was a lot of money. It was money they could do a lot of things with. Pay off the cars, redecorate the house, and put a fence in the back yard.

Yet, because she had no idea what he was doing, she had no idea where this money came from. Did someone die over it? If it was drug money, then people did die. Could she live with herself, living high on the hog with blood money? There was a part of her that wanted to keep it and just not ask questions. There was the other part of her that didn’t think it was right.

She picked the bag up again and went back into the living room.

As she passed through she grabbed her purse and headed to her car, and pulled out of the driveway. Within a few minutes she arrived at the Salvation Army drop box. She sat in the car, staring at the bag. It was as if the thing was talking to her, telling her to keep it; to go on a spending spree and buy everything that would make her happy, and all her troubles would be gone.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. What could Tony have done for that money? Could he have killed someone? No. He was the most non-violent man she’d ever known. He didn’t even like football. Tears ran down her face as she opened the door, jumped out of the car and grabbed the bag. Without looking, she hurled it into the collection bin and got back into the car. If Tony hadn’t killed anyone yet, he was going to kill her for sure. She just tossed a hundred thousand dollars away.

It was the right decision. Tony could be mad all he wanted. Though part of her wondered if she shouldn’t have kept some of that money so she could start planning an exit strategy for her and Taylor. Divorce wasn’t her first choice. Maybe this job will be a short term thing, or maybe it’s not as bad as she’s making it out to be. Either way, it was going to be a tough road ahead, no matter how much money he made.

Chapter 16

Tony wasn’t aware of the eighteen wheeler until it rammed his bumper. The jolt shook him out of his trance as he looked up and saw the rig in his rearview mirror.

“What the hell…” he said as the rig rammed him again, this time much harder. He tried to keep control of the truck as it began to fish tail. He hit the gas, trying to speed up but the rig closed in again, hitting him one more time. This time the box truck veered to the shoulder and rolled onto its side. Tony undid his seatbelt as blood ran down his forehead. He didn’t feel any pain, but must have hit his head.

As he crawled around the cab, he looked up at the mirror. He saw a man with a rifle exiting the semi and walking toward him. Shit! The windshield was all busted up. He began kicking at it. After several blows, the windshield fell out so he could crawl free of the cab. He was at the front of the truck, unsure where the gunman was. Keeping his head down, he took off running toward the field on the right side of the road.

Gunshots erupted behind him as he ran in a zigzag pattern. One round just missed him by inches as dirt kicked up just to his left. He ran until he reached some trees and stood behind one, trying to catch his breath. Slowly he peeked around the tree and saw a second man walking through the field looking around. The first one was looking around the box truck. Fucking shit. Tony turned and kept running past more trees and down a hill.

There was a stream running along the base of the hill. He ran through it and up another hill. He turned, but there was no one chasing him. Well that was one good thing at least. The bad thing was, he just lost a load. From what he had heard, you only lose a load once with these guys. He had no ideas who the assholes in the semi were. No one told him of any rival gangs or someone who would know what their trucks looked like or anything. Guess he should have figured there’d be other hazards besides the cops.

He continued through the field until he reached a small house. There was a car sitting in the driveway. It was an old car, a 1987 Chevy Caprice. The windows were rolled down, so he climbed in and shut the door. The keys were in the ignition. This seemed way too convenient. He turned the key in the ignition, but the engine just sputtered. Then he remembered the age of the car. He pumped the gas pedal five times and turned the key again. This time the engine roared to life. There was apparently no muffler, or a crappy one considering how loud the thing was. He backed out of the driveway and onto the road.

The car drove pretty well for its age. He raced home as fast as he could without getting himself pulled over again. That was the last thing he needed. He hoped he made it before someone reported the car stolen. It took him almost two hours to make it home. He squealed into the driveway and ran inside. Kim and Taylor were in the living room watching cartoons.

“Tony? What’s going on? What happened to your head?” She said as she stood.

“Daddy!” Taylor squealed.

“Grab everything you can. We have to go.” Tony said.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Something has happened. We need to leave.”

“What? I’m not leaving. Have you lost your mind? You’re acting insane!”

He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked in her eyes.

“Listen to me! I am not fucking around. That job, those people I drive for, my truck was stolen today. Ok? The people I work for are not going to be happy. So we have to get out of here now.”

He turned and ran into the bedroom and into the closet. It took him a second to notice the bag with the money was gone.

“Kim?” He called out. “Kim!”

She came running into the bedroom.

“Stop! You’re going to scare Taylor. You’re scaring me!”

“Where is the money?”

“What money?”

“What the fuck you mean, what money? The hundred grand in a duffel bag that was up here. Where is it?”

“Oh. I, um, gave it away,” she said, looking down.

“You what?!”

“I gave it away. I was looking at it today, and its blood money. Its dirty money and I don’t want it in my house. So I took it to the Salvation Army and donated it. All of it.”

Tony stepped back, put his hands on his head and fell to the floor.

“I don’t understand. Can’t you just talk to them? I mean, it’s not your fault some guys stole your truck.”

All he could think about was every worst case scenario he’s ever seen in gangster films. None of them were pleasant. He could only imagine what they did to Jose for being a snitch. And here, Kim, in her infinite fucking wisdom just up and decided to donate the hundred grand he had worked so hard for, that he had killed for; she just gave it the fuck away.

“It’s not that simple. This isn’t the grocery store where they give you a cash violation if your drawer is short. They are big, bad people. They pay a lot, but they expect perfection. We had that money, we could have gone anywhere and be safe.”

“So you don’t think we’re safe?” She asked. The question frustrated him. Kim was much smarter than she was acting. He couldn’t tell if it was denial, or if she really didn’t understand the danger they were in.

“Safe? Kim, you’ve just killed us.”

Chapter 17

Slade sat in the restaurant cutting up his steak. The man across from him sat and watched. After a few bites, Slade looked up at him.

“Your food’s gonna get cold,” Slade said. His dinner companion was Henry Velasquez. Henry was a captain for the Bexar County Sheriff’s department, though was currently wearing a suit and tie as opposed to a uniform.

“I’m not that hungry.” Henry said.

“Well I’m buying and this place isn’t cheap. You should at least pretend

to eat it.”

“When you’re done stuffing your face, we can talk business.”

Slade took a drink of his beer and continued eating. He’d been dealing with Henry for several years. The guy was a prick. Yes, he was a police captain, but seemed to forget from time to time exactly which side he was on, or the fact that he wasn’t actually in charge of much of anything.

“You can talk. I’m listening.”

“So I heard about the incident the other night. With my two deputies.”

“Incident?” Slade said.

“Don’t play dumb. I know it was your truck my guys stopped. Now they are both missing, and probably dead.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Slade, goddammit!” Henry said as he banged his fist on the table. Not only did Slade stop and look up at him, but so did everyone else in the restaurant. Henry shifted in his seat as he realized the attention he was drawing. “Look. You guys are not supposed to kill cops. That was never in the deal! DPS is all over this thing. Your guy called one of the cops directly. So there is no record with dispatch, but I know it’s no coincidence Jose suddenly vanished. If they put me together with any of this, we are all gonna get the needle!”

Slade put his fork down and just stared at Henry. For a cop, Henry was such a spaz. The guy was only on the street for a year or so before he moved to a desk job and worked his way up the ranks. So calling him a “cop” was being generous. He was a bureaucrat with a badge.

“Henry. Let me explain something. How much we pay you a week?”

“Like ten thousand or so.”

“And what do we pay you for?”

“That’s not the point,” Henry said.

“It’s entirely the point. We pay you ten grand a week for safe passage through the county. Yet a few of your cowboys decide to stop one of our trucks anyway.”

“Yeah, like I said. Jose must have known these officers, he didn’t call dispatch or anything.”

“But they are your guys.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Do you know what happens to me if my guys fuck up?” Slade asked.

“That’s different.”

“No, it’s not. So you take our money, but our guy gets stopped anyway. Now your cowboys are both missing.”

“I know. Just saying. I’m trying to keep the heat off of all of us. But it’s gonna cost more.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I’m serious. His shit is gonna require me to get my hands a little dirty. That’s more risk. More risk mean’s more money.”

Slade sat quietly, took his napkin from his lap and wiped his mouth and sat it on the table.

“So you want more money? You want me to pay you more to clean up your fuck up? Is that it? Is that what you’re telling me?” He asked.

“It’s not my fuck up. Jesus. Are you even listening?”

“I swear, you must have completely lost your mind. You fuck up, almost get my driver busted, and now you want to come here and try and extort me? Have you completely lost your mind?”

“No, I…”

“I tell you what, Henry. You make this go away. I don’t care what you have to do. Don’t let them tie it to you or us. I know everything about you. I know where your kids go to school. I know where your oldest daughter goes to college. I even know she is being treated for a fucking eating disorder. I know what kind of tampons your wife uses.”

“You son of a bitch.”

“You’re damn right. We already pay you. So fucking fix it. Or I will cut the contents out of your skinny daughter’s stomach and make you watch. I don’t care what you have to do.”

A phone started to ring. Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“You better get that,” Slade said.

Henry put the phone to his ear and listened for a minute.

“Was there anything or anyone at all?” He asked. “Ok. Thanks.” He said as he hung up and looked at Slade. “You’re not gonna like this.”

“What?”

“South of Bexar County, so it’s not on us, they found one of your trucks. It was rolled over on the shoulder of the road and empty.”

“Empty?”

“Right. No driver, no cargo. Nothing.”

“Cocksuckers.”

“Who do you think robbed you?”

“I have an idea, and they are all fucking dead.” Slade stood and walked out of the restaurant and to his car. This was not his best week. All the girls on that load were gone. Then there was Tony, who was either dead, or he was in on it. He doubted Tony was in on it-he guy was green as hell. Highly unlikely he was savvy enough to plan something like this. Either way, he needed to be found.

The likely culprit was a guy named Sanchez. He was a former employee who stole from them a year ago and went off the grid before they could do anything about him. Before his incident, Sanchez used to gloat on how if he ran things it would be so much smoother and make so much more money and how he wanted his own operation. It was a good chance, he was resurfacing to do just that. Slade could be wrong, but his gut told him Sanchez was behind this.

He’d have to send everyone out to locate this asshole. If he could find Tony too, that would get him some answers. If Tony was in on it, he’d learn pain he never knew existed. The boss couldn’t know about this just yet. He needed to get some of this resolved so he at least had some good news.

Chapter 18

Kim grabbed as much of their belongings as they could carry and they headed out. Taylor was strapped in her booster seat. He tried not to alarm her by acting scared, but he could tell she knew something was wrong. They had a little money from his previous run, but it wasn’t near enough to get them to safety.

Best they could do was stay at a hotel until Tony could figure something out. As he backed out of the driveway, his phone began to ring. It was Slade. Fuck.

“Who is it?” Kim asked.

“It’s Slade. The boss guy.”

“You gonna answer?”

“Hell no.” He said as he silenced the phone and placed it in the console. A few seconds later it rang again. “Shit!”  He screamed as he put the phone to his ear.

“Tony. What is going on?” Slade said. “I just heard they found the truck.”

“Uhh, yeah. Some assholes in a big semi with machine guns ran me off the road. I ran off before they could shoot me.”

“No shit. Where are you now?”

“I’m uh, I’m in a safe place. Trying to get home.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” Slade asked.

“I know what happens when you lose a load. So I didn’t call.”

“You thought I was going to kill you?”

“Well yeah, why wouldn’t you?”

“Look. Just stop by the plant. We can sort this out. I have people looking for the guys who robbed you.”

“Uh, I’m not in a position to do that right now.” Tony wasn’t sure if he was just trying to lure him in and then kill him. “I need to take care of some things first.”

“What things? Tony, look. I’m not asking. Get in here and we can figure this shit out.”

Tony hung up the phone, pulled the battery out and threw the phone out the window before driving off.

“Why did you do that? What’d he say?” Kim asked.

“He wants me to go talk to him. I think it’s a trap.”

“What were you delivering Tony? I need to know.”

“I told you I don’t know.”

“I don’t believe that. You had to know. How could you not know? Was it drugs?”

“No it wasn’t drugs,” he sighed.

“Then what was it?”

“People.”

“What?” She asked.

“It was people ok? Girls. Teenage girls. Human trafficking. I drove them to Mexico and from there they shipped them to who knows where. So yes, there you have it!”

“Jesus Christ Tony. Those were children! How could you? What if they took Taylor and sent her--.”

“You think I haven’t thought of that? I didn’t know it was kids at first. They offered me twenty grand to make that first run, but wouldn’t tell me what I was hauling. We were so broke I didn’t care. I figured it was drugs or something, I’d do the run, make some money, and go home. It didn’t work that way. They wanted me to always drive for them, and they showed me the girls in the back. They were drugged and stuffed into these shipping crates. It was awful. They said if I tried to quit, they’d kill you and Taylor, and make me watch. So I did it. They paid me a lot for that last run because there were…complications.”

“Like what?”

“I think I’ve said enough for now. I don’t think you could handle much more.” Tony said. He was amazed she wasn’t coming unglued already. Though the look on her face told him none of this had quite sunk in yet.

“Where are we going?”

“I figured get to Austin and stay somewhere for the night. Find a crowded, busy hotel where no one will come near us for now. Then I’ll try to think of a plan there.”

“Oh my God. Can’t we go to the police? Or the FBI?”

“They got cops working for them. I don’t know about the Feds. These guys are well connected.”

“Jesus,” Kim said, staring out the window.

“Are we gonna die Daddy? Are you a bad guy?” Taylor asked from the back seat.

“Jesus,” he muttered as his heart instantly broke. He had always been his little girl’s hero.  “No honey. No one is going to die. We’ll all be fine sweetie.” Everything is fine.

Chapter 19

Slade wasn’t sure how the boss found out about the robbery, but he’d been summoned to see the big man. He was waiting outside in the hallway next to a guy named Hector. Hector was an enforcer, so Slade had no idea what he was doing there. Unless Slade was about to get whacked, but he didn’t think he’d committed a whackable offense. Hector didn’t look like much of a hit man. He was short and skinny. The guy was in his forties but could pass for a teenager from a distance. Close up his face looked like it had been run through a speed sander.

Hector kept sucking on some metal stick, which looked like a dog whistle.

“What are you doing?” Slade asked.

“I’m sitting here.”

“No, that thing you keep sucking on, what is it?”

“Oh, this is my vape pen.”

“What the fuck is a vape pen?”

“You know, the e-cigarettes. You put this stuff in here, and you inhale it and get the nicotine, but without the smoke. The boss doesn’t allow smoking in the building. So I can use this and there’s no smoke, just vapor.”

“Why not just smoke cigarettes?”

“I just told you dude.” Hector said as he took another puff. “It’s good. Here, try it.” He held the pen up to Slade.

“No, I’m good.”

“You sure man?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Slade said.

A man stepped into the hall and pointed at Slade.

“Boss will see you now.”

Slade stood as Hector walked in behind him.

“What are you doing?” Slade asked.

“Going in too. Boss said he wants to talk to both of us.”

Slade’s mouth went suddenly dry as he looked around. There wasn’t anywhere for him to run off to now. He was boxed in. He should have left as soon as he saw Hector. He took a deep breath and tried to keep from shaking. Getting killed was always a risk in this job. Slade had just hoped he wouldn’t see it coming when it was his turn. As he stepped in, the boss was smiling from behind his desk.

“Gentlemen, come on in. Have a seat,” he said. This was odd.

The two men pulled up chairs next to each other.

“So it seems we have a situation,” the boss said. “We have some clowns who think it is ok to steal from me, and we have a driver on the run. Is that right?”

“It seems so. The driver panicked. He figured once he’d been robbed, that we’d kill him.” Slade explained.

“Well, we would.”

“Yes, but he didn’t know that. I was able to reach him, tried to get him to come in, but he hung up.”

“You seem to be having trouble controlling your drivers here lately, Slade,” the boss said.     “Yes sir, I know.”

The boss smiled and looked at Hector.

“You know Slade isn’t his real name?”

“Ha! It’s not?” Hector said.

“Nope. It’s Bartholomew.”

“Boss, is it really…”

“Oh calm down Bart. It’s all in good fun. But yes, he was Bart when I met him years ago. A glorified punk really. It was my idea to help him reinvent himself. Worked out mostly well I think.”

“That’s awesome. Bart!” Hector said as he laughed.

“Don’t call me that.” Slade said.

“Oh lighten up,” The boss said. “Ok. Enough playing around Slade. My people tell me it was our Mexican contacts who stole our truck.”

“Why would they steal it? We were bringing it to them.” Slade asked.

“Yes, I know. They figured why buy it from us when they could just come up here and take it. Someone down there is getting greedy.”

“Motherfuckers.”

“I know. I don’t know what they are thinking. I can’t afford a war over this. But I’m not gonna let those wetbacks steal from me or cut me out either. No offense Hector.”

“None taken sir.”

“Sir,” Slade said. “How did you know about all this so quickly?”

“I’m the Lieutenant Governor. I know everything. Shit, the governor can’t find his ass unless I hand it to him.”

Slade sat back and looked at the shiny gold plated name plate on the desk. It read “John J. Adams.” The current location wasn’t his official office, but his private office in Austin. Adams spent a couple days a week there.

“I guess you have a point sir.”

“So, you and Hector will track down this driver. He’s a loose end and you know how I feel about loose ends.” Adams said.

“Yes sir. Though he doesn’t know anything about you.”

“And he won’t either. Get rid of him, I don’t care how. I’ll call Esteban down in Mexico and find out what crawled up his ass. I called this meeting because I wanted you to know that I’m aware of everything that happens. I get it. You wanted to clean this up before telling me about it. But I have to know this shit. Got it?” Adams shook his finger at Slade as he spoke.

“Yes sir. It won’t happen again.”

“I know. Let’s get to it.”

Slade felt relieved as he walked out of the office. Hector was practically skipping alongside him.

“That’s cool man. We’re going to be working together. I don’t think you ever saw me work before,” Hector said.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve heard stories.”

“Yeah. I like to be creative. I once killed a guy with a blender. I ground his dick up in it.”

“Jesus Christ. Just…stop. When we find him, just be quick about it.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Just get it over with. He’s a shmuck, but he killed two cops and one of Benito’s men. So don’t fuck with him. I don’t think he has any training, but he’s like a caged animal when he gets cornered.”

“Fine man. You’re no fun,” Hector said.

“You have no idea. I’m loads of fun.”

Chapter 20

“Stay right here,” Tony said. “I’ll be right back.” He parked the car in the Wal-Mart parking lot and ran inside. He pushed his way past several customers and worked his way to sporting goods. There was a young man there stacking boxes.

“Can I help you sir?” The kid said.

“Yes, I’d like to purchase the Remington 870 please. And two boxes of shells.”

“Sure. ID please?”

Tony handed him his license while the clerk punched his information into the computer. He hated to buy a gun at a store and leave a paper trail. But time was a factor, and he didn’t exactly know any gun dealers on the street he could call. Within a few minutes the clerk printed out a form and had Tony sign it.

“How will you be paying sir?”

“Um, cash.” Tony said as he dug four hundreds out of his pocket and handed them over. He kept looking around. There was no way Slade or any of his guys could know where he was, yet he kept looking around, expecting one of them to appear out of nowhere and put one in the back of his head. The clerk took the box containing the gun and walked with Tony to the main entrance. From there Tony walked back to the car and placed the shotgun and the ammo into the trunk before getting back into the car.

“Did you buy a gun?” Kim asked.

“Yes. I got a shotgun. In case they come for us or something.”

“How would they know where to find us?”

“They don’t. But I want to be safe. No one will hurt you. I promise.” Tony said.

“Daddy, I’m hungry!” Taylor said from the backseat.

“I know honey, we’ll eat once we get to the hotel.” Tony said.

“But I’m hungry now!”

Kim dug in her purse and found a candy bar. She handed it to Taylor who started on it right away. That should hold her over for a little bit. Everyone was quiet the rest of the drive to Austin. It was dark once they reached the city, they got fast food at the drive through and found a hotel near downtown. It was a local chain called Austin Extended Stay. He went to the desk and paid for a week in advance.

They got into the room and got settled. There were two beds, a TV and a kitchenette.

“So now what do we do?” Kim asked.

“We stay hidden for a few days, then start moving again.”

“Shouldn’t we go to the police? I mean can’t they put us in witness protection or something?”

“No! We can’t trust them. These guys have eyes everywhere.”

As they spoke, Kim placed Taylor in her bed and tucked her in. Taylor was half asleep already. Once she was down, Kim sat on the edge of the other bed and cried.

“What did you get us into Tony? Everything was fine. We were fine. We were happy,” she said.

“No we weren’t. I was miserable. Your dad thinks I’m a loser. I can’t imagine what you must think since you hear it from him all the time.”

“I never said you were a loser!”

“You didn’t have to say it! Its how you talk to me, how you treat me. When I do something good you practically pat me on the head. I’m a grown man. I’m supposed to be able to take care of my family! Not the other way around!”

“Tony? Is that what you think? You’re wrong. Family takes care of each other. That’s what a family is. It’s not one person pulling all the weight. I know you work hard. I know how much you hated your job at United. Yet you did it. You did it for us. That’s all that matters.”

He sat in the chair and placed his head in his hands.

“I really fucked up. But I’m going to fix it,” he said.

“How?”

“I’ll find a way. There is always a way. You should try and get some sleep.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll stay up and keep watch. No one is going to sneak up on us.”

As Kim got ready for bed, Tony positioned the chair near the window with the curtains drawn. They were open just enough he could see out into the parking lot and on the catwalk. He placed the shotgun across his lap and stared at the parking lot. He didn’t even hear Kim get into bed. He couldn’t sleep if he wanted to.

As the hours passed, his eyes grew heavier and heavier. His paranoia was still at its peak. Every single car that came or went, he was sure one of Slade’s men would be coming for them. After a while, he began nodding off. He propped the shotgun against the wall, and quietly stepped out of the room and walked to the lobby. He found the vending machine and bought a Dr Pepper.

As he was headed back to the stairs, another car pulled into the lot. He stood in the shadows and watched as none other than Slade Schrader climbed out of the driver’s side. A little Mexican guy got out on the passenger side. They were parked up against the building, closer to the stairs than he was. Shit! How did they find him? What the fuck was happening? His heart raced in his chest as he tossed the soda aside and made his way to the backside of the building.

Maybe he could take the back stairs and beat them to the room and get to the shotgun. He left it behind because he couldn’t just walk around the hotel grounds carrying a shotgun. As he ran about the back, his stomach tightened. He ran up the stairs and made it to the corner. He looked around and saw the Mexican guy at the room door, picking the lock.

“No. No. No. No!” He said to himself. Both men walked into the room just before four gunshots sounded. Tony knew exactly what had just happened. Tears filled his eyes as he looked around the corner and saw Slade walking in his direction with his gun drawn. The Mexican was headed the other direction. Tony turned and ran back down the stairs and to the car. He jumped in, started the engine and peeled out.

As he drove off one of the men ran behind him and began shooting. None of the shots hit though. Once he pulled onto the highway he hit the steering wheel and screamed. This was not the adrenaline filled scream like before. This was a final scream. Tony Ray had just died inside. He was about to become something else entirely.

Chapter 21

Tony pulled into an empty parking lot and stopped. Tears streaked down his face as the reality of what had just happened began sinking in. His wife and sweet little girl were both dead. They were dead because of him. He didn’t kill them, but he may as well have. Because of his own greed and ego, he brought death right to his family’s door. Now they were gone.

After almost an hour, he pulled out of the parking lot and drove back toward the hotel. As he drove past, he rolled by slowly as there were now police cars and crime scene tape surrounding the building. They were wheeling out a gurney with a tiny body bag strapped to it. Taylor. He couldn’t even see their bodies. Once he drove past he made a stop at Home Depot. He grabbed one of the big flatbed carts and filled it with several items he would need later.

He checked out and rolled his purchases out to the parking lot and filled the trunk and backseat. From there he stopped at a convenience store and picked up a pre-paid cell phone. He got it activated and logged into his Gmail account and watched his contact list download. Tossing the phone onto the passenger seat, he headed back to San Antonio. During the drive, his mind drifted away from his sadness for his lost family. All he could think about was what he was about to do.

Once in San Antonio, his first stop was his house, or what had previously been his house. He took some things out of the car and went inside. Setting up only took an hour or so. After he finished, he got back in the car and headed south of the city. There was an abandoned warehouse there. The place was condemned the last he knew. It used to be a distribution center for some farm equipment company. Now it just sat empty.

At the warehouse, he took out the rest of his items and carried them inside. It took longer than the house to set up, but he wanted everything to be neat and in order. Once he finished, he went back to the house. Parking the car in the garage, he walked inside and pulled his favorite chair about ten feet in front of the door. He took out the cell phone and dialed. Slade answered on the second ring.

“Hello Slade.”

“Tony? What the hell? I was just looking for you.”

“I know.”

“You decided to come in after all?”

“No.”

“Did you see what we did to your wife and kid?”

“Yes.”

“Ok. I’m sorry we had to do that man, but business is business. They got off easy. We made it quick. If you come in to Ramos, I’ll make sure it’s quick. You have my word. If I have to track you down, it’ll be ugly. Really, really ugly,” Slade said.

“I’m at my house now. Come and get me.”

Chapter 22

Slade was sitting in the office at Ramos Medical when he hung up the phone and looked at Hector.

“He’s at his house.” Slade said.

“So we gonna pick him up?”

“No. You are.”

“What? Why just me?” Hector asked.

“There is something off with that guy. He told me to come and get him.”

“Oh shit. We killed his family, now he’s acting tough. Happens all the time. Every time I off some dude’s kids or girlfriend he gets all big. I still kill him though.”

“Well so it shouldn’t be a problem for you to go take him out. Don’t even bring him back here. Just kill his ass so we can move on.”

“All right boss. I’ll go take care of him. Should be easy.”

“Good. Call me when it’s done.” Slade said as Hector walked out. Once he was gone, Slade dialed the Lt. Governor.

“Hey boss. Our driver should be out of the picture in an hour or so. We took out his family earlier, they were just in the way. He’s at his house now. Hector is gonna take care of it.”

“Good. This is taking way too long.”

“I know, I apologize. Any word with the Mexicans?”

“I have a meeting with Esteban later this week. He seemed oddly cheerful.”

“That doesn’t sound good. Watch your back sir.”

“Of course. That stupid wetback isn’t gonna get the best of me. I don’t care how far he rose in the criminal ranks or how much money he has. If it wasn’t for me and this business, he’d still be herding goats for ten cents an hour.” Adams said. “So just get this asshole taken care of. We need to clean all this up and get back in business. I need campaign funds when I run for Governor this fall.”

“It’ll get done sir. I’ll call you as soon as I hear from Hector.”

Slade hung up the phone and started reading a magazine on his desk. He tried not to worry about all the problems the company had been having the past few days. He’d seen some hiccups over the years, but never anything this bad. The magazine was one of those entertainment rags. There were interviews with movie stars and some shit about upcoming releases. He stopped going to movies when the comic book people took over.

He always liked a good war movie. There hadn’t been a good war movie in a good ten years or more. Most actors these days were pussies anyway. He couldn’t imagine what kind of war film they’d even do now anyway.

He tossed the magazine aside and lit a real cigarette. Hector and his vaping shit cracked him up. Electronic cigarettes. That was some shit right there. They going to have electronic chewing tobacco next? Or maybe electronic pipes. He might actually try an electronic pipe. As he took a puff of the cigarette, he picked the magazine back up. There was a whole article about some kid who became a millionaire on YouTube. He tossed the magazine aside and decided he was no longer cool in his old age, though he wasn’t all that old. He’d always felt older than his years. His phone ringing pulled him out of his deep thoughts on pop culture. As he picked up the phone, he saw it was Hector.

“Is it done?” Slade asked. There was no reply at first, only breathing. “Hector?”

“Hey boss,” Hector said, but he sounded like he was straining to speak.

“Hector. What’s going on? Is it done?”

“I’m supposed to give you a message.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What message? Did he get the drop on you?”

“Tony said to tell you there are things worse than death.” Hector grunted.

“Oh really? Like what?”

There was a rustling sound and more breathing. This time, he recognized the voice as soon as it came on the other line.

“Like me.” Tony said and hung up.

Chapter 23

Tony sat in his chair waiting. He knew Slade would be coming for him soon. It took exactly thirty minutes. He hadn’t heard a car pull up, so Slade must have parked down the street. Once the door knob began to turn, Tony tensed, hoping everything worked like he’d set it up. As the door slowly opened, he could tell right away it wasn’t Slade. Slade had sent the Mexican.

The guy had a gun in his hand. The man pushed the door all the way open, which set things into motion. There was a loud click as the sledge hammer swung from the left side, striking the Mexican on the top of the head. It was meant to hit him on the side, but Tony had set it up for Slade. The Mexican was so short, it clipped the top of his head but it was enough.

The gun went off as he fell back. The bullet fired into the ceiling. Tony jumped on him before he could recover, knocking the gun away. They tumbled to the floor, with Tony on top. Tony began wrapping duct tape around the Mexican as he struggled. By the time the man regained his focus, Tony had him wrapped in tape.

“Let me go motherfucker!” The Mexican yelled.

“You’re not exactly in a position to bark out orders,” Tony said as he sat back in his chair.

“I’ll tell you whatever the fuck I want. Let me out of here or I’ll kill you bitch.”

“You were going to kill me anyway. As a matter of fact, I’m about a hundred percent sure Slade sent you here with the sole purpose of killing me.”

Tony watched his face. He could see it began to register making threats wasn’t going to help him.

“Ok. You’re right. He did. Let me go and we can forget all about this. I’ll tell Slade I killed you and you can go on and do whatever.”

“Really? You’d do that? Make him think you killed me?”

“Yeah. I would. No one would fuck with you again. I promise man. You have my word.”

“Oh, that’s quite comforting.” Tony said as he stood and walked over to the man and knelt down next to him.

“So you give me your word on that?” Tony asked.

“I do man. I swear on my dead grandma’s grave. I’ll walk out of here now. You’ll never hear from us again.”

Tony considered it for a moment, stood and kicked him in the stomach several times.

“You think I’m fucking stupid! I watched you guys go in that hotel room and kill my family! You think you’re going to walk out of here? You’re out of your fucking mind. Fact is, by the time we are done tonight, you’ll be begging me to kill you.”

Tony dragged him into the garage and stuffed him in the trunk of his car. He pulled out of the garage and headed to the warehouse. As he drove, his mind was on one thing and one thing only. While he had hoped to get Slade, he was at least glad he grabbed this one. This man helped kill his family, so he should be taken care of as well.

Once they arrived at the warehouse, he dragged the Mexican inside and strapped him to a workbench before cutting the tape loose.

“What the fuck are you gonna do?” The man screamed.

“I’m going to torture you,” Tony said.

“You can’t do that! You know what Slade and his guys will do to you?”

“They won’t do shit. And I’m pretty sure you’re not much more than the hired help. He doesn’t give two fucks about you,” Tony said as he cut away the man’s clothing until he was completely naked. He wheeled a cart over that contained a car battery and some wires and cables. He took one of the cables and clipped it to the man’s scrotum.

“What are you doing? You playing with my nuts man? You some faggot?”

“Oh. I’m playing with them all right.”

“Don’t do this man. Please! Come on!”

Tony ignored him as he attached another cable. Once both were connected, he went to the battery and picked up another cable that had a dial attached to it.

“Ok buddy,” Tony said. “Hang on.”

Tony turned the dial to the right as the current coursed through the man’s testicles. He screamed the shrillest sound Tony had ever heard before as his body twitched and gyrated on the table. Tony turned the dial back and the man stopped. He was breathing heavy as he looked at Tony.

“Come on man. Don’t do this,” he pleaded.

Again Tony ignored him as he cranked it back up. This time spit shot out of the Mexican’s mouth as he twitched and flopped on the table. After several rounds of this, Tony dug through the man’s pockets and took out his phone.

“Here. Let’s give Slade a call. Let him know how you’re doing,” Tony said.

He found Slade’s number on the contact list and dialed it. Once they completed the call, Tony took the battery out of the phone and tossed it aside. He removed the clips from the man’s nuts and took out a large tool that looked like a big set of pliers.

“You know,” Tony said. “My uncle used to own a hog farm.”

“So, what do I give a shit?” The man was covered in sweat now and panting so hard Tony thought he’d hyperventilate.

“Well, this tool is what they would use to castrate hogs with. Would you like to see how it works?”

“No! Don’t man! No!”

Tony took a knife and made an incision on the man’s scrotum.

“You see, I’m doing this because it doesn’t take a lot of balls to shoot a woman and little girl in their sleep. So I figure you’re not going to be needing these.”

Tony inserted the tool into the opening as the guy screamed worse than earlier. He wiggled and cried as Tony used the tool to pull on one of his testicles. With a ripping sound, it tore free as the guy kept screaming. This time he didn’t even sound human. Tony sat the detached testicle aside and went to work on the second one.

“No! No! No! No!” The man yelled. “Please! Ahh!” He screamed again as Tony twisted and pulled the testicle free.

Tony walked up to him, holding one of the testicles up to the hanging light he’d brought with him.

“Wow. These are much bigger than I’d have suspected.” Tony said. “You know. I have been incredibly rude.”

“Fuck you man. Fuck you,” The Mexican said. By this point he was actively crying.

“No seriously. I haven’t offered you anything to eat. Here.” Tony jammed the testicle into the man’s mouth. He struggled and tried to spit, but Tony shoved it in and duct taped his mouth shut.

“There you go. Chew it up good. Don’t want to choke or anything.”

The man thrashed and struggled about before closing his eyes and holding still. Tony saw the man’s jaws moving to indicate he was finally chewing.

“That’s better. Chew it up real good, then swallow. Need your protein.”

It took the guy quite a while, but he eventually chewed and swallowed his own testicle. Though as soon as Tony pulled off the duct tape, the man threw up all over himself.

“Aww, what a waste. That’s ok,” Tony said. “We’ll eat more later. Right now, let’s see what kidneys look like.”

Chapter 24

Tony stood over the Mexican’s bloody body. Throughout his “operation” Tony had removed one of the man’s kidneys, he’d cut open his stomach and disemboweled him, fed the guy his own testicles and many other things. There was a pile of bloody organs, flesh and tissue on the end of the table dripping onto the floor.

Somehow the guy was still alive. His screams ended quite a while ago. The only sounds he made now were whimpers and gurgling sounds. Tony looked at his bloody face and knelt down by him.

“You know fella, I don’t even know your name.”

“Hector,” the man whimpered.

“What was that?”

“Hector,” he said a little louder.

“Oh. Hector. Well it’s nice to meet you. It’s too bad we had to meet under these circumstances. But hey, you killed my family. So here we are. Ok. I’d say we’ve had enough fun for one night. Are you ready to die now?”

Hector slowly nodded his head.

“Just kill me. Please?”

“Well yes. I have just the thing.”

“Will you make it quick?”

“Oh certainly. It will be very fast.” Tony said as he walked over to another table. He bent down and came up with a gas can. He went back to Hector and began pouring gas all over him. Hector’s screams started up again.

“No! No! Not like this! No! Please!”

“Stop whining. It’ll be quick.” Tony said as he took out a book of matches, lit one and tossed it onto the table. Hector screamed as the fire instantly engulfed his broken body. He twitched and flopped for just over a minute before he stopped moving completely. Tony let him burn for another minute before picking up a fire extinguisher and putting Hector out. Smoke rose off Hector’s charred remains. Tony hadn’t realized how bad burning flesh smelled.

The smell was worse than road kill that had been sitting in the sun too long. It was almost nauseating. He walked outside and got some air. As he stood outside, the sun was beginning to come up. He watched the sunrise as he thought of how he would take care of Slade. As bad as it had been for Hector, Slade was going to get it much worse. As he strode across the parking lot, an armadillo ran out of a bush and across the lot. He hadn’t seen one of those in a long time.

He went inside scraped Hector off the table and into an empty fifty five gallon drum sitting in the warehouse. He hosed off his work area and figured it was time to bring Slade. Tony intended to make Slade tell him who his boss was before he died. Tony had no intention of stopping with just these two. Everyone was going to pay.

Before he’d left with Hector, he’d reset the front door trap in case Slade showed up while he was gone. As he got closer to his house, he noticed a car parked just past his driveway. The front door was closed and there was no immediate sign of anyone. Tony had set a trap or two around the back of the house as well. Tony got out of the car and grabbed the tire iron and slowly crept around the back of the house. As he reached the side of the house, he heard someone grunting and panting. Around back there was Slade, lying on the ground, having fallen victim to one of Tony’s traps. This one had been an old trick he’d read about in a book by a former Marine. He’d taken a twelve gauge shotgun shell, some metal tubing and a nail. By burying the tubing and the shell together with the point of the nail resting on the primer of the shotgun shell, the device became a homemade landmine as soon as Slade stepped on it.

Half of Slade’s right foot was bloody shreds. He was lying on the ground holding his leg, his face as pale as a sheet. Tony was already standing over him before Slade had seen him.

“You motherfucker!” Slade said. “Where’s Hector?”

“You’ll find out real soon.” Tony said before hitting him across the face with the tire iron. He drove the car into the garage, and dragged Slade inside and taped him up as well. He was much larger and heavier than Hector, but Tony managed. Once he got him to the warehouse, he repeated the ritual of cutting Slade’s clothing off and strapping him to the table. Once he had things set up, he shoved a smelling salt up Slade’s nose and watched him gasp back to life.

“What the fuck?” Slade said as he struggled against his restraints. “You little cocksucker. You better let me up from here. I will fucking gut you like a pig.”

“You guys love to make threats when you’re helpless. I’d think you’d be a bit nicer.”

“Fuck you. There’s your nice. You know, I had fun killing your wife and kid. I’m the one who put the bullet in your little girl. She woke up at the last second and looked right at me. She goes ‘daddy? Where’s my daddy? No! No!’ Hahaha. I put the gun right to her forehead and watched her brains spray all over the room. I think I still have some on my shoes.”

Tony didn’t want to show Slade that he was getting to him, but he couldn’t listen to anymore. He gave Slade a backhand across the face. Slade yelped as Tony’s fist connected.

“You’ve talked enough. You’re going to help me though. You’re going to tell me who your boss is.”

Slade began laughing.

“You dumbass. I’m not telling you shit. You can go fuck yourself. You gonna kill me? Then kill me.”

Tony went over to a barrel, reached in with his gloved hand and pulled out a charred skull. He sat the skull on Slade’s chest.

“Here’s Hector. You wanted to know where he went.”

“Jesus, fuck! Get that thing off me!”

“What? You don’t like it? He screamed a lot. Then he just started crying a lot. Was pretty pathetic. I hope you put on a better show.”

“He was a pussy,” Slade said.

“We’ll see.” Tony bent down and picked up a large, plastic jug and unscrewed the cap.

“What…what’s that?”

“Hydrochloric acid.”

“What the fuck man. What are you gonna do with it?”

“Inject it into your asshole.”

Tony took a large syringe, but with no needle attached and inserted into the jug. Once it was filled with acid, he inserted it into Slade’s asshole. It took a few minutes because Slade kept flopping around.

“Stop squirming,” Tony said.

“Fuck you!”

Tony finally got it inside and pushed the plunger just slightly, as a small amount of acid shot into Slade’s ass.

“Ohhhhhh!” He shrieked. “Oh shit! Fuck! Fuck! It burns! It burns! Holy shit!”

“Now. Let’s try this again. Who is your boss?”

“Fuck you you little bitch! Hahahahaha!” Slade said.

Tony shoved the syringe in deeper and unleashed more acid into Slade’s asshole. This time Slade howled.

“Fuck! Fuck! No more! Please!”

“It’s gonna hurt next time you shit.”

“Mother fucker!”

There was a rumbling sound coming from Slade’s stomach. Tony pulled out the syringe and stepped away as Slade defecated himself all over the table. It was thin and runny. Slade screamed the whole time.

“You burned my asshole raw you bitch! Oh fuck. Oh fuck me!”

“Slade. You just shit yourself. That’s not very cool of you.”

“That fucking hurt man. Stop doing this shit. Come one. I wasn’t really gonna kill you,” Slade said.

“Right. God, you guys think I’m such an idiot. That really pisses me off.”

Tony took the syringe, while grabbing Slade’s penis. He pressed the opening into Slade’s urethra and pushed the plunger. Hydrochloric acid streamed into the shaft of Slade’s dick. This time he screamed so loud his voice went hoarse. Tony stood and watched Slade twitch and gyrate with amusement. Once Slade calmed down, Tony leaned back in.

“Who is your boss?”

“Ok. I’ll tell you. If I tell you will you stop with that shit?”

“Sure. Just give me a name.”

“Adams. John Adams. Our Lt. Governor.”

“Are you bullshitting me?” Tony said, holding up the syringe.

“No! No man! I’m serious. It is really him. Has been all along. The guy is dirty as hell. He’s got his hands in about everything.”

“I don’t believe you.” Tony grabbed his dick again and pressed the syringe against it.

“Man! I’m fucking telling you. Please!” The “please” came out as a high pitched squeal. “If I was gonna lie to you, why pick him of all people. Huh? The guy has more money than God. He has a private office in Austin. That’s where he does his side businesses from. It’s on Third Street, three twenty-five Third Street.”

“Well. Ok then. I guess he’s my next stop.” Tony sat the syringe down on the table behind him and picked up a hand held circular saw and pushed the button.

“Hey!” Slade said. “You said you’d stop!”

“I said I’d stop with the acid.” Tony said as he started sawing into Slade’s jaw.

Chapter 25

Lieutenant Governor Adams sat and chewed his steak. He was at a fundraiser for his upcoming campaign. The food at these things was always incredible. Everything he needed to become governor was in place. He was in the perfect position to make a run, his businesses were doing well and the state’s voters seemed ready to make a change.

There were only a few loose ends that needed tying up, but that should be taken care of by the end of the day. Actually, there was only one main loose end, whoever this driver was. He should have heard back from Slade by now, but there had still been no word. Slade was usually pretty efficient in these things. Plus he had Hector with him. Oh well, he wasn’t going to worry over all that now. Life was definitely good. His meal was interrupted by a young couple who approached him.

“Lt. Governor? Could we get a picture with you?” The young man asked. He had to be in his twenties. The kid was wearing what must have been a new suit and tie. His pretty wife wearing a flowery sundress.

“Yes, of course.” Adams said. He stood next to the couple as his assistant snapped a photo on their cell phone. “Thank you for coming,” Adams said as he flashed his winning smile. They beamed as they walked away.

Adams sat back down and was about to take another bite when one of his aides tapped him on the shoulder.

“What?”

“Phone call for you, sir.”

“I’m eating my lunch. How long have you been at this job?”

“You’re going to want to take this call, sir,” the man said.

Adams got up and walked outside with his aide, who handed him a phone.

“Yes?”

“Sir. It’s Henry.” The voice on the line said.

“What’s so goddamn important, Henry, that you had to pull me away from my lunch?”

“My men found two of your guy’s cars by some house. One was parked a little further down. Someone called in a gunshot. We found no guns, but around the back of the house was a small crater and a shotgun shell. Looks like someone made some kind of bomb out of it. There was blood and bone fragments lying around too.”

“So did you find anyone?”

“No, but Slade’s car was right in front of the house. There was no one home. My guys forced entry and about got caught in some kind of booby traps. What the hell have you guys been up to?” Henry said.

“You let me worry about that. Slade was just supposed to take care of a problem.”

“Well, if I had to guess, it looks like your problem took care of them.”

“Shit. And you can’t find any of them?”

“Nope. None of the neighbors saw anything either.”

“Whose house is it?”

“Some guy named Anthony Ray. In his forties. Was working at United Property and Casualty up until a few weeks ago.” Henry said.

“Can you have one of your guys pick him up?”

“We can keep an eye out. He could be anywhere.”

“He’s some clown who has no idea who he is fucking with!”

“Look. I’m doing what I can. I figured you’d want to know.”

“Shit. I have my meeting with Esteban tomorrow. I don’t need this shit.”

“Sorry boss.” Henry said, but Adams hung up.

Goddammit. Fucking Slade. He had one fucking job. Adams opened the door and grabbed his aide.

“Get my car. I have to get back to Austin. Something has come up.”

His aide nodded and went on his way. The car pulled up after a few minutes and Adams climbed inside. They were near Dallas, so it would take a few hours to get to Austin. He tried to call Slade and Hector, but both phones went straight to voicemail. He called one of his aides back at his office.

“Yes. Jerry. I’m on my way back there. Find out everything you can for me on an Anthony Ray. I want to know anyone he has in the area, family, friends, or anyone. Find out where he likes to hang out, where he spends his money and his favorite fucking food. Can you do that?”

“Yes sir. I’ll have it ready when you get here.”

Adams hung up and looked out the window. Everything was going perfect. He was not going to let some loose cannon or incompetent assholes ruin it. Nothing was going to keep him out of the Governor’s mansion. Nothing.

Once they arrived in Austin, he went to his office. Jerry was waiting and handed him a flash drive.

“Everything you asked for is on there, sir.”

“Good.” Adams said as he walked in to his office and closed the door. As he plugged in the flash drive and pulled up Anthony Ray’s information, he was disappointed to find he had no other family in the state. His last known relatives lived in Vermont. He could be running, but no way was this guy on the run. Not if he just took out Hector and Slade.

He’d get someone on it and get this guy taken care of before his meeting with Esteban. Last thing he needed was some pissed off driver running around fucking things up. Adams closed the laptop and stood. After tomorrow, it would be smooth sailing through November. He just had to keep it all together just a little longer.

Chapter 26

The past few weeks had been a blur for Tony. Which was odd seeing that before he started driving for Slade, his life felt like life was in slow motion. The ad agency he worked for had been his dream job. He had people working under him. He had creative control over projects. He could even set his own hours. On top of all that, the money was great. He was pulling in six figures a year after only two years working there.

Then there was the crash. In September 2008, the stock market took its biggest dive in decades. They were all told at work not to panic, that everything was fine. Despite his bosses’ constant reassurance, Tony knew something was wrong. He could see it by the strained looks on their faces. One of his managers was suddenly taking sick days, a lot of sick days. The most telling thing was the projects, or lack of them. He went from managing almost a dozen at a time, to just five or six, and then only two or three. Tony explained to his own people the agency was just spreading out the workload more, but he knew.

They hung on until late 2010. There had been no overt warnings other than the signs he had noticed. One day the bosses called everyone in for an employee meeting to announce they were closing the doors. They all had thirty days. Just like that, his life had turned upside down. Over the next few years, Tony and Kim maxed out every credit card they could get their hands on. Once that was all dried up, the bills started piling up.

Both their cars had been repossessed. He’d driven a fairly new Cadillac Escalade, and Kim had a BMW. Now he was stuck with the shitty Dodge he currently drove. Getting the job at United P and C had been a huge break for them, though it was barely enough. That and he was little more than a corporate drone. When Domingo offered him all that money, no telling what he may have done for that kind of money.

So here he was. All that money had cost him everything in such a short amount of time. He pulled in at Ramos Medical without drawing any attention. The gate guard had seen him enough times, he had just waved him on in. Apparently word hadn’t gotten out among the employees yet. Just as well. He pulled right up to the plant and parked. Reaching under the seat, he took out Slade and Hector’s guns and tucked them into his pants. He did his best to cover them with his shirt. If someone wasn’t looking too closely, then it wasn’t too obvious.

Before opening the car door, he caught a glimpse of himself in his rearview mirror. His beard had grown in fully and his hair was longer. With everything going on the past several weeks, he hadn’t paid much attention to his appearance. Though the beard made him look about ten years older.

He climbed out of the car and walked into the warehouse. Once inside, he wound his way toward the back and through the sliding door. As he stepped inside he saw several cages containing teenage girls. Two men were standing guard, but actually they were more like sitting guard. Before either of them could stand, Tony shot each of them in the face. To his amazement, none of the girls screamed. They just looked at him. One finally spoke up.

“Did you come to get us out?” She asked.

“Kind of. Come on.” He opened the cages and let them out. There were four girls total. They followed him through the sliding door and out the back of the warehouse. There were a few more men back there, but Tony shot all three of them before they knew what hit them. He shot the lock off the back gate and looked at the girls.

“Run,” He said and walked to the side of the building. The girls took off while he found the large natural gas tank. He positioned himself about fifty feet away and fired a shot into the tank, dropping to the ground immediately. He covered his head waiting for a big explosion, but nothing happened.

The slide was locked back showing it was out of ammunition. He tossed it aside and pulled out the other gun. This time, staying on his stomach, he fired several shots at the tank, on the fifth shot the tank exploded. He placed his arms over his head as shrapnel and debris peppered his body. There was a secondary explosion as something in the building blew up. He ran back to his car, climbed in and sped away.

In his rearview mirror he could see the building burning. He was sure he’d killed dozens of people inside, but he didn’t care. None of them were innocent. There were no innocent people in this organization, including himself. Needless to say, this should rattle John Adams’ cage. He didn’t want to go after him directly, there was no doubt he had plenty of security. Best thing he could do would be to make Adams come to him. Draw him into this darker element where he’d be vulnerable. Tony had always wanted to stick it to the Man. Now he could take down the Man himself.

As he drove off, he considered the next move. This one would require a bit more finesse, but he could do it. So far, he had been both lucky and one step ahead of the game. Had he done this from the beginning, Kim and Taylor would still be alive. Nothing he could do about that now. Now everyone will feel his pain.

Chapter 27

“Goddamn Motherfucker!” Adams yelled as he hurled his phone across the office. One of his aides came running into the office at the sound of the commotion.

“Is everything ok sir?”

“What? Is everything ok? No! Everything is not ok dumbass!” Adams said. The aide looked confused as Adams pulled a handgun from his desk and shot the aide in the face. He fell to the ground as Adams circled around him, stood over him and fired several more shots into the man’s body, emptying the gun’s magazine. His security and other aides stood around open mouthed. Adams threw the gun down and looked around.

“What the fuck are you all staring at? Clean this shit up! Anyone else have any stupid questions?”

They all went back to doing whatever they’d been doing earlier, while his security team began removing the aide’s body. The phone call had been from one of his employees to inform him that Ramos Medical had been blown sky high. Most of his workers were dead. Many of his trucks were destroyed. Plus the authorities were going to find the cages. He wasn’t sure how many, if any, girls were in the cages. No way could he get close to any of it now. Local police and DPS had the whole block closed off.

Not that he couldn’t throw his weight around to get there, but it would raise a lot of questions. Questions he didn’t need to be dealing with at the moment. His first thought was Esteban and his crew were behind it, but his guy said there was an older white guy snooping around just before the explosion. When Adams asked why no one bothered to check who this guy was, the dumbass didn’t have an answer. Good help wasn’t hard to find anymore, it was impossible. Everyone was so complacent these days. Unless you specifically told them to do something, they were happy just wandering around in their own little world.

So, it wasn’t Esteban. It had to be this Tony asshole. Adams couldn’t figure out how he took out his two best operators, and then managed to walk into his plant in the middle of the day and blow the place to pieces. Goddamn it. He was going to lose millions over this, maybe more. So much for everything being in place. It was time to call Krautenhammer.

Krautenhammer was an operator he had used many years before. The guy was freelance so he had no loyalties to anyone. He was also serious overkill. That is why Adams was so reluctant to use him. The guy was not subtle at all. If his mark was sitting in a restaurant, Krautenhammer would go in shooting, not caring who he hit. He always got his mark, but usually also took down a dozen other people in the process. Adams had no idea how the guy wasn’t in prison, but it didn’t matter. He picked up the phone and made the call.

“Ya,” the man on the other line answered.

“Yes. This is Adams. I need the Kraut.”

“You know Kraut price, yes?” The other man said in a thick German accent.

“Yes. I’m well aware of the cost.”

“Good. You no pay, Krautenhammer takes hammer to you.”

“I will pay. Money is not a problem.”

“Good. I make sure you understand. I will text you fax number. You send the mark’s name and photo and any other information. Krautenhammer will start on it tonight.”

“Tonight. That’s fast.” Adams said.

“Him very efficient. Any questions?”

“No. I’ll wait for your text.”

Adams hung up and waited several minutes before the text came through with the instructions. There was also an account number for him to wire money. Adams followed the directions carefully, faxing the documents and wiring the cash. He included a note in his fax. He told the Kraut to make it hurt. Once he was done securing the Kraut’s services, he called for his driver and walked outside to his car.

Even though the air in the car was on full blast, Adams couldn’t stop sweating. He wasn’t usually a sweaty person, but the events of the past few days had taken their toll. Once they were on the road, his phone rang again. It was Esteban. Why in the fuck would Esteban be calling him when they had their meeting tomorrow?

“Hello,” Adams said.

“So you send this burn out to try and kill me? That is the best you can do?”

“What?”

“My guys caught some old white guy trying to sneak into my place. Who else would he work for? That your plan? Take me out before our meeting?”

“No! I didn’t send him. This guy is a former employee. He just blew up my main plant and warehouse. Check the news in my area, I can’t even get to the place.”

“So what, you can’t control your people?”

“I sent my best guys to take care of him. Somehow he got to them first.”

“So you expect me to believe this. The great and powerful John Adams let some low level employee get the best of him?”

“Look, I don’t want a war here. I know you don’t either. Why would I send him, of all people, to kill you? Hell. You did me a favor. If you guys haven’t already, go kill him. I won’t be mad. Hell, skin him alive while you’re at it. This guy has cost me millions.”

“You do have a point. My men are having some fun with him now. He claims you sent him.”

“I imagine he would say that. Trust me. I know taking you out wouldn’t help things for me anyway. One of your captains would step in and it’d be like starting all over. I assure you, I did not send him.”

“Okay then. I will have my men peel the flesh from his bones. We’ll make a movie for you and send it to you,” Esteban said.

“Now that would be some fine entertainment,” Adams said and hung up.

Well that was one headache he didn’t have to deal with. Shit. He’d just hired Krautenhammer for nothing.

Chapter 28

Tony ignored the gate guard at the Mexican warehouse and crashed through the gate. Men came running and as he had hoped, Benito came running out as well. Several men were carrying rifles. This wasn’t the best way to make an entrance, but he was tired and didn’t feel like arguing with a gate guard. He just hoped Benito would listen to what he had to say.

He stepped out of the car as the men yelled something at him in Spanish.

“I need to talk to Benito,” Tony said, but the men kept screaming. “Benito! I need to see Benito!”

“Who says I want to talk to you, puto!” Benito said from behind his men. He stepped through and glared at Tony. “You got a lot of balls to come crashing into here like this. That, or you’re just stupid.”

“I know it was your men who robbed me.”

“And how are you so sure?”

“It just makes sense. You guys are tired of being the middle men and want a bigger piece of the action. I have a proposal for you and your boss.”

Benito stood and laughed. The rest of his men laughed along with him.

“A proposal? What kind of proposal could you have? You’re a fucking driver.”

“So you haven’t heard anything about what’s happened with Adams’ operation in the last twenty-four hours?”

“No, I been kinda busy. Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“I killed two of his best operators, including Slade. Then I blew up their main warehouse at Ramos Medical.”

“How did your stupid ass do that? First time you came here, you were scared shitless.”

“Things have changed a bit since then.”

“All right. Come with me. We’ll talk.” Benito said.

Tony walked toward him as Benito pointed toward the door of the building. Benito fell in behind Tony as they walked. Just before they got to the door, Benito struck Tony on the back of his head with the butt of his gun, knocking him to the ground.

Freezing cold water woke Tony up. Everything was hazy as he tried to make sense of what was happening. Last thing he remembered, he was driving. Now he was hanging by his arms from a hook. His hands were bound together with a plastic zip tie, and his feet could barely touch the ground. Worst of all, he’d been stripped naked. Several men were standing in front of him. One had a bucket of water. Before Tony could register anything the man flung the ice cold water onto Tony’s naked body. He let out a gasp as it stung his flesh.

“What’s going on? Where’s Benito?” Tony asked.

“You stupid fucking gringo. You think our boss wants to talk to you?” The men laughed as one of them jammed a cattle prod into Tony’s stomach sending ten thousand volts through his body. Tony saw stars while he twitched and jerked helplessly as the men laughed. The man with the cattle prod was a large Mexican with gold teeth. There was a shorter Mexican standing behind him.

“Come on man. You got to play with the last one. It’s my turn!” The short one said.

“It’s your turn when I say it is,” The big man said as he gave Tony another jolt. Spit and slobber flew out of Tony’s mouth as the electricity coursed through him. Tony began to realize he’d taken things a step or so too far. He should have just quit after blowing up Ramos. But he wanted them to pay, all of them. No one gets a pass. He was willing to use these guys as a means to an end, but that was now off the table. But first he had to get out of here.

“Ok, you can try it,” the big man said as he handed the cattle prod to the little one.

“Haha. All right. I’m gonna stick it up his ass!” The little one said.

“You’re a sick fucker, homes.”

“Yeah, I know!” The little one said as he circled around behind Tony. He jammed the prod in between his ass cheeks. Tony tried to struggle, but he was too weak. He couldn’t lift himself at all. The prod went off sending the powerful jolt through his behind causing Tony to jerk backward. He felt like his spine would snap, he jerked so hard. Once he pulled the prod out, Tony’s bowels let loose as shit sprayed out of his ass. The little Mexican didn’t get the cattle prod clear on time.

“Oh! You asshole! You got shit all over this man!”

“Well what did you expect when you shove it up his ass?” The big one said.

“I don’t know man. I didn’t think he’d shit all over it. Here.” The little man held the shitty end up to Tony’s mouth. Tony pinched his mouth shut and pulled his face away. “Come on man, open your mouth. I want you to suck the end of this. Suck it like you’re suckin’ a dick. I bet you like to suck dicks.”

He smeared it all over Tony’s face, but Tony wouldn’t open his mouth. He could feel the warm feces against his lips and beard. The last thing he wanted to do was let that thing into his mouth, with or without shit on it. The little man kept taunting Tony with the prod. Taking a deep breath, Tony mustered enough strength to lift his legs and kick the little man across the room. The guy almost left his feet as he flew backward, dropping the cattle prod as he fell back several feet and flopped onto his back. His head hit the floor with a loud Thud! And he stopped moving.

The big man walked over to him and bent down.

“Holy shit, dude,” the man said.

“Is he dead?” Tony asked.

“No. You knocked him out man.” The big man stood. “You shouldn’t have done that. You thought it was bad before. Now we really gonna play.” He raised the cattle prod and walked toward him. Tony took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Chapter 29

Krautenhammer watched the police and firefighters sifting through the rubble that once was Ramos medical. He had gotten the call less than an hour ago. By all accounts, this should be an easy job. Some middle aged guy who decided to play gangster too late in life and bit off more than he could chew. Somehow, this guy managed to nearly take down an entire operation. This was why Krautenhammer worked alone. There was no one to drag him down with them.

He had already checked Tony Ray’s house, and there was no sign of him. His phone buzzed with a text message. It was from his associate. The client had called them. Tony Ray was in Mexico. Some cartel guys had him down there. It was no problem. Krautenhammer had gone head to head with the cartel before. They did not frighten him.

As he started the car, another text came through. This one saying the client wants to cancel the job. Krautenhammer replied with one word. “No.”  The drive took several hours, but it was not a problem.

Krautenhammer began killing as a boy at the age of thirteen in the city of Cologne, Germany. His father died when he was an infant. His mother had trouble making ends meet, so in his teens he took to the streets. He’d first stumbled across the man he knew as Uncle Dieter. Uncle Dieter took better care of him than his mother ever could. He bought him food and other needs. All the boy had to do for Uncle Dieter was deliver envelopes of cash each week. There were a few dozen of them he dropped off. Young Krautenhammer didn’t know what the money was for and didn’t ask.

All was fine the first few months, until on one delivery, some guy tried to rob him. At first he’d thought it was a joke. Everyone around town knew who Uncle Dieter was and wouldn’t dare cross him. But this guy stuck a knife in Krautenhammer’s face and demanded his knapsack full of envelopes. At first he turned and ran, but the man caught up to him and tackled him.

The man was bigger and stronger than the boy, but Krautenhammer wouldn’t give up. The boy bit the man hard on the arm, drawing blood and forcing him to drop the knife. The boy picked up the knife and thrust it into the man’s neck. He’d never seen so much blood in his life. It sprayed everywhere. It got onto the boy’s clothes, in his hair, on his shoes, and everywhere else. He grabbed his knapsack and ran back to Uncle Dieter’s pub.

“What happened to you?” Uncle Dieter asked.

“Some man jumped me. He had a knife. I bit him and stabbed him with his knife Uncle.”

“Did he get any of the money?”

“No Uncle. I got away with all of it.”

Uncle Dieter stroked his beard and patted the boy on the head.

“Good. You did good. I gave you this job as I figured no one would suspect a boy with so much cash. I suspected wrong. But you are still of use to me.” Uncle Dieter took him upstairs and gave him a change of clothes. Over the next few weeks, he found out who the man he’d killed was. It was a man from a rival gang who had been looking to move in on Uncle Dieter’s territory. It was then he received his new assignment.

“You will go to this man, his name is Kristof. He’s at the address on this paper. You go see him and tell him you have message from Dieter. He will trust you because you’re a boy. Tell him you need to see him alone. You get close to him, and shoot him, then you run out the back door. Do not stand around or wait for his men to come in. You understand?”

“Yes Uncle,” the boy said as he nodded.

“Good. Now go.”

The address was a restaurant. Krautenhammer stepped inside.

“Can I see Kristof?” He asked the man at the counter. “I have message from Dieter.”

The man nodded and walked him into the back room. Kristof was a fat, old man sitting at a table eating a large steak.

“What is this?” Kristof said. “Dieter sends a child to do his business? I guess that makes sense. Taking him out will be like child’s play,” Kristof and his men burst out laughing.

The boy held firm and tried not to let his nerves show. It would be years later before he realized just how much danger he had been in during this meeting.

“Dieter said for me to give you message in private.”

“Oh he did, did he?” Kristof said.

“You can give him message in front of me, boy.” Kristof’s henchman said. Kristof waved him off.

“It’s ok. What is the boy going to do? Beat me with his stamp collection?” The men laughed again as the henchman stepped outside.  “Ok. We’re alone boy. What is this important message?”

The boy took a few steps closer, so he was now just feet from Kristof, pulled the gun from his knapsack and shot Kristof between the eyes. He fired two more shots for good measure and ran out the back door, just like he’d been instructed. He ran all the way back to the pub without ever looking back. He ran inside and slammed the door shut. He turned and saw Uncle Dieter sitting at a table with a group of men playing cards. They all looked up at him in surprise.

“Uncle Dieter,” Young Krautenhammer said. “It’s done.”

The thoughts faded as he arrived in Monterrey. As the compound came into site, he parked far enough away not to be seen. He grabbed his binoculars and rifle and climbed a nearby hill. From that vantage point, he could see everything at the compound. There was a car there matching the description of Tony Ray’s car. He was in the right place. Now he just had to wait for the right time.

Chapter 30

Adams’ caravan pulled through the front gates. There were armed guards there waiting for them. One of the guards pointed toward a small road that wound around the back of the building. They followed the road to a small shack sitting a few hundred yards away from everything. Coming down here hadn’t been Adams’ first choice, but he couldn’t hardly risk escorting a bunch of drug lords around South Texas and being seen with them.

He insisted on bringing his security detail along, which Esteban had granted. They arrived outside the small building and were greeted by more men with guns. One of his security guards stepped out and let him out of the SUV. Adams climbed out and adjusted his suit and walked toward the shack. As he stepped inside, Esteban was seated behind a table. He stood and walked over to greet Adams.

“Jonathan. So good to see you old friend,” Esteban said as they shook hands. In all the years Adams had known Esteban, the man hadn’t aged a day. His hair was still jet black and he appeared to have no wrinkles. Adams was fifty-eight and Esteban was close to him in age. He was tempted to ask him his secret, but there were more pressing issues.

“Hello, Esteban. Good seeing you as well. It’s unfortunate it’s under these circumstances.”

“That is true. So what can we do to resolve this?”

“You can stop hijacking my trucks for one. Though after yesterday, I’ll be out of business for a while.” Adams said.

“Yes, that is very unfortunate. I do apologize for the way I’ve initiated this whole transaction. I should have come to you first.”

“That would have been nice.”

“You see, I have other businesses as well. This is the only one in which I am the middle man. I do not like that. It’s too easy to be cut out down the road, and my piece of the take is just too small. It’s simply not worth it for me. As you know, quitting isn’t an option. So I figured we simply move into the supply side.”

“And you planned on doing this by stealing from me.”

“It was a risk, yes, and a foolish one. So instead, I’d like to buy you out.” Esteban said.

“Buy me out? Who says I’m selling?”

“Oh, come on, Jonathan. You’re running for governor, maybe even president in a few years. Why would you want to still do this? Especially now? You have to rebuild. I already have the facilities. I’ll give you fair value for your trouble and you can move on with your political career.”

Adams sat and considered it for a moment. It would be one less thing he had to worry about. He could use the cash from the sale toward his campaign. Though, he did like to borrow one of the girls from time to time. He could always take care of that some other way. But he knew another thing that appealed to him about this line of work that he would miss was the danger. Part of him felt like an old west outlaw. That thrill wasn’t something he could obtain running for office.

“Just what do you consider to be fair value?”

Esteban took a piece of paper and wrote on it. He folded the paper and slid it across the table to Adams. Adams unfolded it and looked it over. His blood boiled the instant he read it. It was a large zero.

“Is this a fucking joke?”

“No my friend. No joke.”

“You call me all the way down here to insult me? You don’t know who you are fucking with!”

“I’m afraid I do.” Esteban held up a flash drive. “On here, is a recording of every single phone conversation we have had. Every piece of correspondence and your own security videos, since some of your men will flip for a few dollars. You take my offer, or one of these gets sent to every media outlet from here to Dallas.”

“You fucking cocksucking, bean eating bitch!” Adams yelled as he stood, pounding his fist on the table. One of Esteban’s men took a few steps closer, causing Adam’s men to encroach as well.

“Now, now, no need for insults. Please, sit down.”

Adams looked around at the confrontation about to take place and sat back down.

“Look, I might just send this to the media anyway. You’ll be ruined. Federal investigations and all sorts of fun stuff,” Esteban said.

“And you don’t think they’ll come after you too?”

“So what if they do? They can’t touch me down here. I own the police here.”

Adams could feel the blood rushing to his face.

“What do you want?” He asked.

“I want you to go back to Austin and never come back here again. You’re done with this business. Run your other legitimate companies, run your politics, whatever it is you do. I’m doing you a favor. But I’m not paying you a nickel to walk out of here. Just get up and walk away. I know many in this business who would have loved that opportunity. I’m offering it to you.”

Before Adams could respond, one of his security guards ran into the room.

“Sir, we need to get you to a secure location now,” he said.

“What is going on?” Esteban asked. “What’s the meaning of this?”
Some of Esteban’s men came charging in as well.

“We need to get you to the bunker sir. Something is going on,” one of them said.

“What’s happening?” Adams asked.

Several security men grabbed both of them and dragged them out to the SUV’s and threw them inside. The SUV’s peeled out, kicked a huge dust cloud into the air as they headed for Esteban’s bunker. In the distance, the sound of automatic gunfire echoed through the compound.

Chapter 31

Krautenhammer returned to his car and popped the trunk. He slid his large flack vest over his head, and swung a heavy backpack over his shoulders. In the middle of the trunk sat his minigun. He had personally modified it. It was a short barrel, but normally too bulky for practical use. He’d rigged a smaller power supply to the base and set up the ammo to feed from the backpack. It had worked wonders on the firing range. Now was a good time to see how it worked on human targets.

He walked up to the front gate, with the gun slung over his right side. The man at the gate had was holding a rifle at the ready. Before he said anything, the man saw the gun at Krautenhammer’s side. As he tried to move into position, Krautenhammer fired a short burst into the man’s torso. The gun made a sound like paper tearing extremely loudly. The gun fired around four thousand rounds per minute. With that short burst, the man’s upper body was ripped to shreds.

Krautenhammer walked up and looked down at the guy admiring his work. He looked at the minigun and smiled as he walked through the gate. There were other men moving about. He was shocked at how long it took for anyone to notice him. Finally one man yelled something in Spanish. Krautenhammer turned and fired, tearing the man in half. Several more men came running up as he let loose with his longest burst of rounds yet. Before any of them got a single shot off, he’d blown them to pieces. He fired another burst at their dead bodies, leaving nothing left but a large pile of organs, blood, bones and tissue.

Off to his left another man looked on in horror. He sat his rifle down and put his hands in the air. Krautenhammer was not in the business of taking prisoners. He fired a burst into the man’s face, turning his head into a bright, red mist. By now, the rest of the men were running for their lives. A gunshot ricocheted just a few feet in front of him. He spun around to see a shooter on the roof of the warehouse. He fired, knocking what was left of the man off the roof.

He fired at a parked car near the warehouse. It burst into flames, sending three men running out from behind it. He mowed them down with another volley of gunfire. One of the gunman ran directly in front of him and fired at Krautenhammer with an AK-47. He dodged to his right, but one round clipped his left shoulder, knocking him back. The flack vest absorbed most of it, but he’d have one hell of a bruise later. Krautenhammer returned fire, blowing the man’s legs out from under him.

As he walked up to the man, he could the guy’s legs were mangled shreds of meat and bone. The guy was sobbing as he crawled away from Krautenhammer. He stood over the man, looking down at him.

“Where is prisoner?” Krautenhammer asked as he removed the picture from his pocket. He held up Tony Ray’s photo. “This man.”

The man on the ground pointed toward the warehouse. Krautenhammer nodded and fired into the man’s head from just a few feet away. His head exploded like a watermelon at a Gallagher show. Brains and blood got onto Krautenhammer’s shoes.

“Dammit. That was a new pair,” he muttered to himself as he walked toward the warehouse. He kicked open the main door and sprayed gunfire into the room before entering. As he stepped inside, he saw the remains of several men strewn throughout. Footsteps sounded from his right, he turned and fired, but whoever it was had run off. Oh well, he didn’t have time to mess with him. He walked through the warehouse looking behind boxes, pallets and doors. Most of the rooms were empty. There was one empty office with a half-eaten pizza on the desk. He looked around but there was no sign of anyone.

There was one back room where he found two large cages. Inside the cages were a dozen young girls and women. All were naked and many were crying. It wasn’t something he was expecting to see. He figured he’d come across drugs, but not this. He looked the girls over and opened fire. Some of them managed a scream before being blown to pieces. Skin, blood and hair was caked along the bars by the time he was finished.

He left the room and checked the other rooms and doors throughout the warehouse. Occasionally someone was hiding in a room or under a table. He shot them without a single word. Finally there was one room left he hadn’t checked. Something told him that is where he’d find his mark. Slowly he walked toward the door and turned the handle.

Chapter 32

Tony was awakened by the sounds of gunfire and screaming. The two men torturing him even looked startled. One of them said something in Spanish and ran out the door. The other held his gun up and pointed it at the doorway, his back to Tony. Every bone and muscle in Tony’s body was screaming in pain. He couldn’t even feel his fingers and hands, they had gone numb a while ago.

His body was covered in blood and blood was running down his face. They had beaten him and done things to him he didn’t think were possible. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. The tormentor was just a couple feet in front of him. Mustering a single burst of energy, he threw his legs in the air around the man’s neck. He tightened his legs around his head and pushed up with his legs.

The leverage was just enough to put some slack on his arms. He lifted his hands up and off the hook and leaned forward, using both fists to smash the man in the face. They stumbled around the room, the man giving Tony a bizarre piggy back ride. They finally toppled to the ground. Tony wrapped his arms around the man’s throat and squeezed as hard as he could. The man kicked and struggled as Tony tightened the chokehold. The man finally stopped moving, but Tony held it for at least another two minutes before deciding the guy was dead.

He dug through his pockets and found a pocket knife. He used it to cut the zip tie off his hands. Wiggling his fingers, it felt like pins and needles being jabbed into his hands. Carefully he removed the man’s clothes and put them on himself. The shirt and pants were just a little too small but was the best he could do. The boots fit ok. He grabbed the gun and reached for the door, but then it swung open, almost hitting him. He jumped back and aimed the rifle at the door. There was a large man standing before him. The guy was tall, with slicked back blond hair and he was holding a large machine gun. Tony had never seen a gun like that before. He also noticed this man was the only non-Mexican he’d seen at the compound.

“Who are you?” Tony asked.

“I am Krautenhammer. I was hired to kill you.”

Tony looked over the man’s shoulder and saw nothing but dead people lying out in the warehouse.

“Did you kill all of them?”

“I did. Makes job interesting.”

“Wait. Before you kill me. Do you know who it is that hired you?”

“No. Each client gets a number. We don’t ask names.”

“You were hired by John Adams, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas. He’s running for Governor this year.” Tony said. He looked for something to register on the man’s face, but his expression didn’t change.

“It does not matter who hired me. I get paid to do my job.”

“Yes. And you think this guy likes loose ends? He will have you killed the second you’re finished with me.”

“He wouldn’t be the first to try,” Krautenhammer said. What kind of name was that, anyway?

“No, but you don’t think he has the resources? He’s got the Texas National Guard, the Texas Rangers, DPS, he can have them all after you and cover his own tracks. You honestly think he’s going to let you walk away? No one walks away from this man.” Tony explained. “And I can help you find him. He’s here.”

“He is?”

Not as far as Tony knew, but he was buying time.

“Yes, he had some meeting with the boss here or something.”

“Look what I did to these men. Why you think I need your help?” Krautenhammer asked.

“Because I know where he is.”

“I tell you what. I like challenge. I’ll give you a head start to find him. If I find you before you find him, I kill you. Sound good?”

“That’s not exactly what I had in mind,” Tony said.

“It is the best you get. Or I kill you right here.”

“Well, I guess I’ll take the first one.”

“That’s what I thought.” Krautenhammer stepped aside. “You have five minute head start.”

Tony took off running through the warehouse and headed for a side door. The floor was covered in blood and remains of bodies that had been blown to pieces by Krautenhammer. As he reached for the door he heard a scream. A Mexican jumped him from the side, wielding a knife. Tony put up the rifle and blocked the knife as he stepped backward. His foot stepped through a pile of blood and guts causing him to lose his balance.

Both men toppled backward, landing in a pile of gore. There must have been five or six bodies’ worth of bloody sludge there. The Mexican wasn’t giving up though. He lunged at Tony again, who connected with a right cross from his back. Tony climbed on top of the guy, mounting him and began punching him repeatedly. He didn’t have time to fuck around with this guy. Krautenhammer would be coming any minute.

The Mexican bucked, sending Tony flying head first onto a dead man’s bloody torso. There was no head, just a ragged stump inches from Tony’s face. Both men were covered head to toe in blood and gore as they continued to tussle on the floor. The man got on top of Tony trying to choke him. As Tony gasped for air, blood dripped from the man’s face into Tony’s mouth. Tony immediately gagged and heaved as he threw up all over the Mexican who jerked backward.

Tony grabbed him by the hair and stuffed his face into the severed torso lying nearby. The Mexican struggled and fought for air as Tony held his head firmly onto the bloody insides, placing a knee in the back of his head. After almost a minute, the man stopped moving. Tony grabbed the rifle just as rapid gunfire sounded from behind him. Krautenhammer was coming.

Chapter 33

Tony got up and ran out the door carrying the rifle. He turned and fired a couple random shots in Krautenhammer’s direction and kept running. He ran around the back of the building, following the dirt road. He was pulling ahead of the big German, who couldn’t keep up carrying that huge rig. Though it would only take one burst to blow Tony into dust, so he kept running. There was a small shack down the road. Tony ran past the small wooden structure. Krautenhammer’s gun would rip through that thing.

Behind the shack was a hill. Tony lumbered up the hill as fast as he could. He was starting to run out of breath as his legs and back were burning. Tony wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep going. Just past the hill was another hill, but there was a metal door on the side of it. He reached the door and turned the wheel, but it didn’t move. Fuck. He took the rifle and fired some shots into the door until it swung open.

Holding the rifle in front of him, he stepped through the doorway. The structure was some kind of bunker. There was a long tunnel angled downward with a floodlight every dozen feet. He heard footsteps ahead. Without seeing who or what it was, he fired in the direction of the sound. He dropped to the ground as return gunfire came his way. From his stomach he fired several shots down the tunnel. It was a cramped space, so there wasn’t much room to move around.

He got up after a few seconds and ran further into the tunnel. The bodies of two men in suits were lying on the ground. Carefully, he stepped over them and kept going. Krautenhammer had to be coming in soon. He’d lost sight of him after the first hill, but there was no doubt he was still in pursuit.

He came to another metal door, this one opened as soon as he turned it. Slowly he pulled it open as gunshots ricocheted off the door.  He leaned around the door with the rifle and fired a burst and leaned back. There were a few more shots, and then he heard the clang of magazines falling to the ground. They were reloading. He swung the door open and opened fire. There were several men in various stages of reloading. Tony shot them all before any of them could get another shot off.

As they fell to the ground, he heard someone whimpering. Tony turned and saw an older white man in a suit cowering in the corner. He walked over and kicked the guy. Once the man looked up, Tony recognized him right away. It was John Adams, the Texas Lieutenant Governor.

“Holy shit,” Tony said. “You really are here.”

“Jesus Christ! Who the fuck are you?” Adams asked. He looked horrified as if he was staring at the Grim Reaper himself. Tony realized he was covered in blood, guts and dirt. He could only imagine how he probably looked.

“I’m your driver.”

“I thought you said you had him under control!” Adams yelled at someone behind Tony. He turned and there was a Mexican man in the other corner holding his shoulder as blood poured through his hands.

“They did. I don’t know how he got out.”

The steel door swung open as Krautenhammer stepped inside. Tony jumped back as the German stepped into the room.

“Here you go.” Tony said. “This is the man who hired you and will kill you.”

“Oh. So you were no lying.” Krautenhammer said as he looked at Adams. “So you plan to kill me, do you?”

“I hired you to kill him you stupid Grout!”

“Him say you plan on killing Krautenhammer. Him say you leave no loose ends. I leave no loose ends.”

“Did he tell you that?” Adams stood and brushed off his suit. “No shit he’ll say anything to stay alive. Jesus! Can’t even buy a good hit man these days!”

The Mexican man stood and walked toward them, pointing at Krautenhammer.

“You hired this man? You brought this man to my place, have him shooting up my men?

“Not like that, Esteban.” Adams said. “I hired him to find this jackass. You guys caught him first and I couldn’t reach Adolf here to call him off in time.”

“And you didn’t bother to tell me this? So I could take precautions?”

“Like I knew he’d come in here and blow the place all to hell,” Adams said.

“You stupid old man,” Esteban said. “I should have had them shoot you as soon as you arrived.” Esteban lunged at Adams as they both toppled to the ground. They yelled and screamed as they tussled around on the floor. Despite his injured shoulder, Esteban seemed to be getting the upper hand.

Tony looked at Krautenhammer, who looked back at Tony and shrugged. They watched the men roll around a few more minutes before Krautenhammer grabbed Esteban and threw him to the side.

“You grab him,” Krautenhammer said, pointing at Esteban. “I’ll get this one.”

Tony grabbed Esteban and pulled him to his feet. Krautenhammer dug through his backpack and took out a pair of zip ties.

“You just happened to have those?” Tony asked.

“I always come prepared when I work.”

“Is there some kind of hoodlum survival kit or something?”

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind.”

They had both men’s hands bound in front of them as Krautenhammer began leading Adams back through the tunnel. The walk back to the warehouse was excruciating. Adams kept going on and on about how powerful he was and what he’d do to them. They both ignored them as they reached the warehouse. As they walked through, Esteban looked horrified by the carnage.

“My God. You did all this?” Esteban asked.

“Yes I did.”

“Jesus Christ,” Adams said. “You’re a fucking animal.”

“You’ll see.” Krautenhammer said as he led them to the same room where he’d found Tony. They stripped both men and hung them over the hooks. Tony figured this room must be their all-purpose torture room. Not many people keep meat hooks hanging around. There was a large workbench and toolbox along the side wall. Krautenhammer dug through it and handed Tony a set of pliers and a box cutters.

“I want this one,” Tony said pointing at Adams. “He killed my family.”

“Ok, I no blame you.”

Adams jerked around on the hook as he started yelling again.

“Tony! Don’t do this. I’m sorry about your family! I didn’t tell them to do that! I can pay you. I got money! Tons of it. You can have you as much as you want. People will be looking for me! You don’t want to do this.” Adams pleaded.

“Oh, but I do,” Tony said as he raised the box cutters to Adams’ face. “I finally found something I’m good at.”

Chapter 34

Krautenhammer killed Esteban rather quickly. He apparently wasn’t all that into torture. Esteban hadn’t suffered all that much, but Tony didn’t care. Adams was crying and blubbering gibberish after a few hours. Tony had cut out both his eyes, and cut off the man’s nipples and fed them to him. He used the pliers to squeeze each of his testicles until they burst. Even Krautenhammer thought he was going too far.

By the time Tony was done, Adams hung limp from the hook. The black holes where his eyes used to be stared straight ahead. He couldn’t believe the guy was still alive, but that was typical of assholes like him. They seemed to stick around forever no matter what you did to them. Adam finally began gasping in short quick breaths. Tony watched as this went on for a minute or two then stopped suddenly. Adams was dead.

Tony tossed the bloody box cutter to the ground and sat down along the wall and put his head in his hands. After a minute, he gathered himself and stood. There was a small mirror in the tool box. The kind on a handle for looking under things. He picked up the mirror and looked at his reflection. Besides being covered in gore, he could no longer recognize himself.

“Very impressive,” Krautenhammer said. Tony wasn’t sure what to make of that compliment.

“Thank you. I think.”

“I’m a trained killer. I can’t torture well. I kill as efficiently as possible,” he said, holding out his thumb and forefinger pressed together. Something he was obviously proud of.

“You going to kill me now?” Tony asked Krautenhammer.

“Why would I kill you?”

“You were hired to for one. I’m a witness or loose end or whatever.”

Krautenhammer looked around the room at the two hanging bodies.

“I think there’s been enough killing for one day. Besides, I’m hungry.”

“So that’s it?” Tony asked. “You’re just gonna leave?”

“That’s right. You should leave too.” Krautenhammer said as he turned and walked out the door. Tony sat and stared at Adams’ body. Despite having avenged his families’ deaths, he felt emptier than he had when all this started. Killing all these people did nothing to ease his pain. Deep down, he’d hoped Krautenhammer would put him out of his misery, but no such luck. Tony walked out of the room and through the warehouse.

Once he was outside, he followed the dirt road out of the compound. There was nothing but wilderness and desert all around. So he walked. There was no sign of Krautenhammer, he’d wasted no time in getting out of there. As he walked, he noticed some vultures flying overhead. At first he ignored them, but after a few hours they seemed to be following him. Yet he kept walking. The heat was relentless as the sun beat down on him. He didn’t know how much longer he could go, but would walk for as long as he could. His body would run out before the road did, and that was fine with him.

A Note from Tim Miller

Hi everyone. Thank you for taking the time to read my book “Road to Darkness.” I truly hope you enjoyed it. Whether you enjoyed it or not, I would like to invite you to take a moment of your time and head to Amazon.com and/or Goodreads.com and write a short review with your thoughts.

Reviews are extremely helpful for authors for a variety of reasons. The most important of which, they give us your immediate feedback. I read all of my reviews, good or bad, and take all the readers’ input into consideration upon improving my next book. Writing isn’t just me telling you a story, but it is you joining me on a journey. So I want to make sure that journey is enjoyable for each of you. Thank you all again for allowing me to do what I love.

Your friend,

Tim Miller

Also by Tim Miller

The Hand of God

Revenge of the Three

Dark Exorcist

Blood Slayer

Family Night

Hell Texas

Night of Vengeance

Bloody Bank Heist

The Country Club

About The Author

Tim began writing at a very young age. As a teenager he would write short stories of horror to entertain himself and his friends. Not knowing at the time this would one day lead to his dream of becoming a published author. Tim has studied various religions and psychology as evident in the "Hand of God" books and "Dark Exorcist."

From there, Tim began to venture into the realm of splatterpunk and extreme horror, which kicks the gore factor into overdrive. With the release of "Family Night" Tim has been off to the races. He has released several bestselling titles that are sure to turn your stomach.

In addition to writing, Tim is also trying his hand in acting. He has been cast in in the feature film, "Zombie Reign" which starts filming in the fall of 2014.

You can follow Tim on his website at http://timmiller.org and on Twitter @TimMiller2011

"If you are looking for a writer who writes for the extreme horror fan, then you have found your guy in Tim Miller. " -- Digital Macabre

"Family Night will take you on a horrific rollercoaster ride." -- Gadget Girl Reviews

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

A Note from Tim Miller

Also by Tim Miller

About The Author