C.O.T.V.H. (Book 1): Creation (19 page)

“
Grandpa what did you just do?” Jake asked his face going white. “You just pulled a gun on a cop! You can’t do that! I mean, seriously Grandpa, you can’t do that!”

Cort laughed. “Jake my boy, I’m not shooting a cop. Even if he is paid off by one of the most crooked sons of bitches, the world has ever known. I just did that to buy us some time and maybe get a few more cops here for backup. I don’t want that little bastard claiming I resisted arrest and shooting me in the back. He had a nasty look about him and I’d rather be locked up than dead.”

“
You really think he would have shot you?” Jake asked his face filled with both excitement and fear.

“
I wouldn’t put anything past Riker, and at least two of those so called ‘lawyers’ were packing. Knowing Riker, he’d do just about anything to have me out of the way, and he’s got the money to do it.”

“
We’ve got to find dad!” Jake exclaimed. “He’s the only one that can help us.”

“
Yeah well . . .” Cort said, walking over to the phone. Picking it up, he began dialing numbers. After a few rings, Ben Morris picked up.

“
Yello!” Ben answered as he always did.

Sorry ‘bout this kid.
Cort thought to himself. “Benny. It’s Cort. Listen, I’m in trouble and I’m going to need some help.”

“
Ah hell Cort. What have you gotten yourself into now?”

Cort swallowed deep. He had to find just the right words to explain this. “Well, I uh, I pulled my .357 on a crooked cop and a bunch of high powered lawyers.”
Oh, you’re on a roll today old man!
He thought to himself.

“
You did what?!” Ben yelled into the phone.

“
I know, I know. But what else could I do? I had to buy some time. Riker’s trying to get hold of Jake. Claims he has full custody rights.” Cort began pacing around the room as he listened to Ben breathing heavily on the other end. He glanced out the window his eyes growing large as three more cruisers pulled up in front of the house. Four cops stepped out each with shotguns in their hands.

“
You damn Bishops. I swear - every chance you get, one of you puts me in a bind!” Ben yelled into the phone.

“
Yeah, yeah.” Cort rolled his eyes. “Listen Benny, I’m running out of time here. You’ve got to get a hold of John and tell him what’s going on.”

Ben let out a deep breath. “Cort, I don’t know where John is. I haven’t seen him since Albuquerque, almost three weeks back.”

“
What do you mean you don’t know where he is?” Cort asked his voice filled with shock. Things with John were a lot worse off than he had thought.

“
John kinda split ways with Talon and me after that. He, uh . . . well . . . let’s just say he’s running with a different crowd nowadays.”

Cort talked very slowly so that Ben would know he was dead serious. “Ben. Listen to me very carefully. Who is watching my son’s back?”

“
Wesley Turner.”

A loud pounding began on the gate outside, followed by a voice demanding Cort come out with his hands up. Cort barely heard it over his pounding heart.
God anyone but that psychopath!
“Turner? Bloody Wes Turner and his group of scumbags are the only ones watching John’s back? Ah, shit Ben! This is bad, really bad! Why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t
someone
tell me?” The pounding on the door grew even louder.

“
I’m sorry Cort. We should have, it’s just that . . . well I was hoping John would find his own way back home. Listen, it’s a long story, Cort. And from the sound of things, you don’t have time to hear it. Listen, I’ll do what I can from my end, I’ll contact Henry Anderson and see what he can do, but you make damn sure you don’t get yourself shot. Although it would make my life infinitely easier, we can’t afford to lose you.”

Cort nodded as if Ben could see him. “Alright Ben, but when I get out of this you and Talon have some explaining to do. I need to know
exactly
what is going on with my son. Do you understand?”

The gate banged even louder as something massive slammed into it.

“
Yeah, Cort, I understand.” Ben said, quietly.

“
Well, Ben, it looks like I’m all out of time. I guess I’ll call you from jail. I better go before a SWAT team rips my damn door down.” He hung up the phone and looked over at Jake. “I’m sorry son. There’s nothing I can do.”

“
What about Dad? What did you find out?” Jake asked, completely ignoring the now enraged pounding on the gate.

“
Later. Later.” Cort said, dismissing him and peeking out the window again.

“
Grandpa I know you know something. What is going on with, Dad? Who’s Bloody Wes Turner? Is Dad in trouble?” Jake said, raising his voice.

Cort would rather not do it this way, but he couldn’t put it off any longer. “I don’t know kid. I’m not going to lie to you. All I can tell you is that I talked to him last night and he didn’t sound too good. Sounded very tired. But other than that, as far as I know he’s fine.”

“
So he’s okay?” Jake asked. “They haven’t killed him or turned him?”

Cort gently grabbed his grandson by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. “No son, he’s just fine. I would tell you if something like that happened. I promise.”

Jake nodded solemnly and looked away. “At least he’s okay.”

A pounding at the backdoor started as well. “There’s not a vampire on earth that could kill your dad kid.” Cort walked over and peeped out the blinds. There were now at least a dozen cops outside. Most were wearing body armor.

“
Grandpa, are you going to go to jail?” Jake asked.

“
Hmm?” Cort said absentmindedly pulling away from the window he had been looking out.

“
Jail, Grandpa, jail!” Jake yelled at him.

Sometimes Cort forgot that his grandson was still so young and needed things clarified. “Oh that? Yeah. You can’t pull a gun on a cop and not go to jail. Even in Texas. But don’t sweat it son. I’ve been locked up a time or two in my life. Ben will figure something out and get me out in no time. But until we can figure out just what the hell we’re going to do, you’re going to have to go stay with your other Grandpa for a bit.”

“
But I don’t even know him! I don’t want to stay with him! Dad always said he was a miserable, mean old son of a bitch!”

“
Watch your cussing.” Cort said, walking down the hall to the gun vault. He pulled his keys out and shoved each one into its lock then with a grunt pulled it open. He pulled out the .357 he had shoved back into his waistband and set it inside then pulled another gun from an ankle holster and set it next to it. When he was done he slammed shut the heavy door, turned the locks, and handed the keys to Jake.

“
You take good care of that son. I don’t want these cops getting into that vault and robbing me blind.” Jake shoved the key ring into his pocket. “Now listen to me very carefully. Your grandpa is a
very
evil man.”

Jake started to say something but Cort held up his hand silencing him. “I’m not kidding Jake. Don’t you trust him for one minute. He’s out for one person and one person only. Himself. Blood or no blood it doesn’t matter. Do you understand?”

Jake shrugged his shoulders. “I guess so . . .”

He’ll learn soon enough.
Cort thought. “Best go pack some clothes before they get inside. Once they do, you won’t have much time before the lawyers haul you away.”

Jake ran into his room and began packing. Two of the windows in the kitchen shattered and a police officer’s voice carried in over a megaphone demanding he open the door.

“
You ready kid!” Cort yelled through the house. “These guys aren’t going to wait all day!”

Jake rushed into the living room his bag slung over his shoulder. Cort gave him a firm grab on his shoulder and smiled at him. “It’s all going to be okay, kid. We’ll get all this figured out and I’ll see you in just a few days. Now I want you to go in the living room and keep your hands above your head.”

Jake nodded nervously.

Cort took several deep breaths, walked over to the front door, and turned all the locks. He opened it slowly and then turned the locks on the gate pushing it open with his foot while keeping his hands high in the air. There were at least fifteen cops outside, all with their guns pointed in his direction. “I ain’t armed!” He screamed at them. “Don’t shoot!”

“
Get down on the ground!” The cop with the megaphone yelled.

Cort grunted as he landed on his knees. They popped and groaned, but somehow he managed to keep his hands high in the air. He prayed deep down that none of these men had itchy trigger fingers.

Minutes later Cort was handcuffed and in the back of a squad car. He watched helplessly as the lawyers escorted Jake to the back of a brand new Lincoln Town Car. The one named Murphy took Jake’s bag from him and tossed it to the front yard. He gave Cort a one handed salute and a smile as he shut Jake’s door.

“
Yeah smile you little son of a bitch.” Cort said, aloud. “You’ll get yours. You can’t work for the devil and not get burned.”

Chapter 10

Jake

Lubbock, TX.

April 9, 1995 8:17am

Jake watched the houses of his street speed by as the car he was now trapped in pulled away from his life in Lubbock. For the second time in less than a year, he’d been ripped away from everything he knew and cared about.
Is this what my life will be like from now on?
He thought to himself.
What’s the point of ever caring for anyone or anything if you’re just going to get ripped away from it?

“
What’s going to happen to my Grandpa?” He asked the silent men on either side of him. Both men continued to stare out the window, neither of them bothering to answer.

“
Ah come on guys. The least you can do is answer me.” Jake said, looking at the cold, glaring eyes of Mr. Murphy staring back at him from the rear view mirror.

“
Just sit back and keep your mouth shut.” Murphy replied with a snarl. “We’ll be at the airport soon.”

Jake smiled inwardly. Keeping his mouth shut was the last thing he was going to do.
Time to play the kid card.
“An airplane? Cool!” He exclaimed. “I’ve never been on a plane before! Man this is going to rock! What kind of plane is it? Is it a jet, or a single engine? What color is it? Man I sure am hungry, you guys wouldn’t happen to have something to eat would you? Wow look at that car over there! I bet it goes real fast! Could you turn the air on? It’s getting too hot back here.” On and on he went the entire thirty-minute drive to the airport. The white knuckled grip Mr. Murphy now had on the steering wheel and the grinding motion he was making with his teeth just made Jake complain and ask questions that much more. This was the most fun he had in a long time and it didn’t stop once they had boarded the plane. For the next four hours, he did his best to drive the three men nuts. He kicked their seats, pushed every button he could find, say he needed to use the bathroom every thirty minutes. By the time they landed, all three men’s faces had turned beet red.

The plane landed in a small airstrip surrounded by trees. “This doesn’t look like New Mexico.” he said, stepping off the plane onto the tarmac. “Where the heck are we?”

“
None of your business.” Dolan said, grabbing him by the arm and shaking him violently. “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you!”

Maybe I should stop pushing.
Jake thought to himself as Dolan shoved him into a waiting suburban.

An hour and a very quiet car ride later Jake’s eyes grew large as saucers as the car pulled up to a very large chain link fence. Behind it stood the biggest house, he had ever seen in his life. It looked like a castle out of medieval times. The property was surrounded on all sides by a fifteen-foot high razor wire fence with giant floodlights protruding from dozens of different poles. Heavily armed guards patrolled the grounds with automatic rifles and German Sheppards. Jake’s first impression was that it looked very much like a prison.

On three sides of the property was a mass of solid trees. As he stared at them, he almost felt as if something was staring back at him. A sickening feeling grew in his gut. He had a very good idea of why his grandfather had so much security.
Monsters in the night . . .

Two guards approached, checking the IDs of the men in the car. After they were cleared one spoke into a walkie-talkie and the two sets of electronic gates pulled open. After the car pulled through, they were immediately closed back. “Whatever you do boy, don’t try to climb that fence.” Opening his mouth for the first time, the lawyer known to him as Mr. James, barked at him. “They’re electrified with a few hundred thousand volts. You’d be dead before you even realized your hand had touched the wire.”

After exiting the car, they led him through a large set of heavily fortified doors that looked as if they could withstand tank rounds. Immediately inside was a massive room with a two large staircases. Standing in the middle of the room wearing a large gray frock was an older man with slicked back gray hair and an annoyed look about him. “He’s your problem now, Paul.” Murphy said, shoving Jake towards him.