Road to Darkness (12 page)

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.