Soul Hostage (2 page)

At the words, Joey froze.  In an instant, the relaxed figure that had been laughing was gone.  It was replaced by a cold, emotionless, unmoving form.  This was the scene for a few long seconds.  All of a sudden, his hand holding the gun shot out and the barrel was pressed against the old man’s forehead.

I don’t know if the feeling of the gun barrel pressed against his head or the vision of his brains splattered over the back wall quieted the old guy.  But whatever it was, he calmed down and stared straight into Joey’s eyes. 

Everything was still for another bit which I am sure seemed longer than it really was.  Judging by the silence that filled the room, everyone’s eyes were locked on the pair at the back of the room.

I could see, or at least imagined I could see, Joey’s finger tighten on the trigger of the Glock.  This continued and my body tensed up in anticipation of the coming gunshot.  My tension was amplified by the others and filled the room until it was suffocating.  This tension added to the feeling of weirdness about the old bum’s reaction. 

He actually smiled.  Here he was with the barrel of a Glock 17 pressed into his skull about to blow a hole through his brain, and he was smiling!  Not only smiling, but he started giggling.

“A hundred and ninety-six dollars!”  He cackled.

For a moment, the only sound came from the old man with the gun pressed against his head. 

Then there was the explosion. But this explosion was not the kind I had expected. The sound of merriment coming from the old man joined with a booming laugh bursting from Joey’s chest. 

“You forgot about the coins!”  He managed to squeeze out between his laughs as he lowered the pistol.  The old man had a red circle where the gun had been pressed against his forehead.

Joey continued to chuckle as he shook his head and looked at the old guy. “Crazy old fuck!” He looked at me as if seeking confirmation of his diagnosis of the old man’s mental condition. 

Before I could make any comment, the strange old guy said, “I know where you can get more than a hundred and ninety-six dollars.”  The numbers set off the crazy laughter once again. “A whole lot more!”

This time, my partner did not join in.  Instead, he stepped closer to the man.  It was obvious that his interest had been captured by the promise of a big score. 

“Okay, I wanna hear more.  But I’m only gonna tell yuh once, if I think yer fuckin’ with me then I’m gonna put a bullet in yer face, old man.”  Joey straightened himself to his full five foot six inch height as if to emphasize the seriousness of his threat.

“Oh, I have no reason to lie about this.” The old man was clearly pleased to have someone listening to him.  “I know of a place where we can make a huge killing.” 

Joey grinned broadly but without warmth.  “Um, ‘a place where
we
can make a huge killing’?  I ain’t real sure ‘bout this
we
part, but you got my attention.  I wanna hear exactly what yer talkin’ about.”

I took a few steps in their direction.  “Joey, you can’t be seriously thinking about what some old drunk is saying.” 

Still grinning, he looked at me and said, “Thomas, I am shocked at yer lack of respect for yer elders.  I just wanna hear what mister … uh …”

“Stoaffer.  My name is Louis Stoaffer.”  His whole body straightened with pride at the sound of his own name.

“Okay, Mr. Stoaffer, let’s hear yer story.”          Joey’s voice suddenly had a tone of genuine concern    and interest.

“Joey, we don’t have time for this.” I could see the start of something bad.  “Let’s just grab the money from the register and get the hell out of here.”

“Uh … Thomas is it?”  The old guy, Louis Stoaffer, turned his unnaturally bright blue eyes on me.  “Thomas, if you just allow me a few minutes of your time, I am certain that you will find it worth your while.”

I felt like this Stoaffer guy had changed right before my eyes. Seconds earlier he had been a barely coherent crazy old drunk with some kind of disturbing glow about him, and now he was coming off like someone who could be our key to the big time.  Of course, I was not ready to accept the idea.

Joey was standing there with a big grin on his face.  I just started shaking my head.

“So whadda yuh think?” He looked at me, and I knew he had already made up his mind.

“I think you’ve already decided to follow a crazy old drunk on some wild goose chase.”

“So whadda yuh think?”  Joey repeated with a wider grin.  “It ain’t like we got lotsa great ideas.”  

He actually seemed to be enjoying the whole thing.  It must have been boyish enthusiasm for adventure or something.  It kind of made you forget that he had just beaten a man to death with a bag of coins.

I glanced over at Louis Stoaffer.  He was no longer shaking like some speed freak.  If anything, he now seemed to be relaxed.  And the strangest thing was his face that had been pale and pockmarked now looked a lot more normal.  Any further consideration of the old guy’s change in appearance was pushed aside by a noise from our audience of hostages. 

“Excuse me, gentlemen, but…” The businessman, who had been looking impatient at being delayed, was now walking toward us. 

Before the man had taken more than three steps, Joey whipped around, raised the gun, and fired a bullet into the place where there had been a nose.  His body stayed upright for a few seconds.  Then his knees gave way and the body tumbled forward.

All of this happened so quickly that the room was absolutely silent for a few seconds as the body twitched on the floor.  Then a scream from the young mother broke through.  Her scream was from being scared by the sound of the gun not from seeing what had happened. Luckily, an aisle full of bread and cookies blocked the view of the hostages. The last thing we needed was for the group to get hysterical.

Right then I realized that Joey’s plan was to kill all of these people before we left the store. That actually made sense.  They had seen us very clearly and could give the police good descriptions.  Logically, killing them would be the way to go.  But I wasn’t here to kill people.  I could justify robbery, burglary, mugging, extortion, and a whole lot of other stuff.  But murder was different. 

“Okay, if you think listening to some crazy old drunk is going to pay off, I’ll tag along.”  I said quickly to Joey.  My words were to distract him rather than show any true optimism about the plan of action.

Before anyone else had a chance to speak, Louis Stoaffer cleared his throat and announced enthusiastically, “Great!  It’s settled then.  Shall we get started?” 

Joey and I and maybe everyone else in the room stared at the old man as he continued, “So what should we do with these fine people?”  He nodded toward the group of hostages and then turned his gaze to Joey.  “Any ideas?” he asked with a wink.

It seemed to be another inside joke where I was on the outside.  

Joey answered with a wink of his own, raised the pistol, pointed it in the general direction of the terrified hostages, and started to slowly swing it between them.

“Hold on!”  I surprised myself by stepping forward.  “I have a better idea.” 

Louis Stoaffer looked at me with a sort of amused expression.

I looked around the area quickly and not seeing what I wanted moved into the office. All the while, the others watched me with confusion.  Well, not everyone looked confused.  The old man continued to look on with amusement.

On the concrete floor in the corner of the office, I found what I wanted and quickly returned to the other room.

As I moved toward the others, I quickly flipped through the magazine.  It was some movie magazine with lots of pictures of famous actors.   There was a picture of Brad Pitt with George Clooney. I considered using this one, but they were too well known to work.  Finally, I saw an advertisement with a couple of guys standing around a truck supposedly discussing the great gas mileage and dependability of the vehicle. 

“Okay, I want everybody to look at this picture and describe the two men.” I walked closer so that they could get a better look. 

The blonde leaned near so that she could see. “Okay, there is one thirty-ish looking guy with brown hair and a light brown beard.  He’s kind of husky. And…”

She was interrupted by the young mother.  “And the other man is older with dark black hair.  He might be the other one’s father…”

The elderly man spoke up, “No I think he’s an insurance salesman.”

“It doesn’t matter what his job is!  I want you to describe him!”  My comment came out more loudly and more impatiently than I had intended, and the people in front of me recoiled a little.

After a moment, the elderly woman spoke up to correct her husband. “No, he looks too athletic to be an insurance man.  Look at those muscles.  He is very fit.  I think his hair looks a little fake like maybe he’s wearing a toupee.”

“Yes! Her husband agreed with her.  “You’re right, Gwen.  He looks like he works out.” 

“Good! What else?”  I was actually enjoying this.

“The younger guy has no wedding ring but the older guy does,” the blonde observed.

“Interesting point,” I commented lightly. 

The humor was not lost on the others as they laughed enthusiastically. For a brief instant, everyone seemed to forget the dangerous predicament in which they found themselves. Joey quickly stepped forward to remind them.

“Good thinkin’, Thomas.  Better to have a false ID than a pile of bodies” Joey said, and the laughter instantly stopped. “Anyways, looks like we’re all havin’ a good time here. So as long as we’re gettin’ to know each other so good, I want ev’rybody to give me their driver’s licenses.” 

For a few seconds, no one moved as if confused as to what they should do.

“I want yer driver’s licenses!”  Joey cleared up the confusion instantly. He turned to Louis Stoaffer.  “You too.”

With a flash of a smile, the old man responded, “I have to apologize. I lost that important document about ten years ago.”  His chuckle was shared by Joey. 

Licenses were quickly removed from purses and wallets and passed forward to Joey who made a show of looking at each carefully. 

“Oh, Jennifer, put on some weight, haven’t you?” He commented to the blonde woman.  Her reaction was a brief look of cold hatred before lowering her eyes.

“Okay, Jennifer, William, Gwendolyn, Laura, and…” Joey looked at the children with a puzzled expression.  “What’re the kids’ names?”

Laura looked up with a face full of terror and appeared unable to speak.

Joey continued, “Oh, it don’t really matter.  What alluh yuh should remember is we know yer names and where yuh live.  What my very smart friend here did was show yuh the description to give tuh the police.”

He looked around at his audience who appeared to be listening carefully and so he continued but in a louder voice, “Now, jus’ so we understand each other, if I look in the paper or watch the news in the next coupla days and see a little drawing that don’t look like those fags in the magazine, I’m gonna come back here to-” He pulled a license out of his hand.  “I’m gonna come back here tuh four forty-five Almond Drive.”  The elderly couple looked up with the expected frightened response.  “And then, I’m gonna pay a visit to… Well, yuh got the idea.”

“What about him?”  The blonde asked indicating the old man.

“Whadda yuh mean?” Joey answered impatiently.

“How should we describe him?” 

I could see the genuine confusion on her face as well as sense Joey’s growing annoyance. “Don’t you think the police will know what he looks like?  I asked quietly.

She turned her eyes to me.  “Well, I’ve lived here since I was six-years-old, and I have never seen him before.  So I don’t know that the police have.”  The others nodded in agreement. 

“Well, I guess you can tell them whatever you want about him or just leave him out.  I don’t expect him to be with us too long any way.”  I turned to see the old man smiling at the slightly-veiled threat.

I felt a little uneasy with the news that no one there had seen Louis Stoaffer before then.

Before I had much time to consider this fact, Joey broke in, “Okay, let’s tape them up.”  He produced rolls of silver duct tape from somewhere. 

We quickly went to work on them.  For my part, I tried to place the tape as gently as possible without hurting anyone. This effort was not made by Joey as I heard squeals of pain from the elderly woman. 

As I taped her hands, feet, and mouth, the            blonde woman glared at me with the same hatred she had        earlier directed at my partner.  Once done with her, I looked into the very frightened eyes of the children as I stuck strips of tape across their mouths as gently as possible.  It was not a sight that was easily forgotten.   

Once we were finished, Joey looked over all the tape as if he didn’t quite trust my dedication to the job. When he was satisfied that they were secured, he asked, “Okay, yuh ready to get outta here?”

Just as I was about to answer, I looked towards the old man snatching rolls of peppermint candy off the shelf and shoving them in his pockets.  Then something caught my eye from beyond him outside of the front window.  The same two cops that I had seen earlier were walking slowly by.  Luckily, they seemed completely uninterested in anything that might be happening inside the store. 

Without waiting any longer, Joey moved next to Louis Stoaffer and grabbing the back of his arm just above the elbow pushed him toward the door at the back of the store. 

And I followed.

Chapter 2

You want to hear something funny?  I kind of looked up to Joey. It was not like I had to stand on my toes or anything.  I mean, he was about five six, and I am just about six foot tall.  That was supposed to be a joke. 

Anyway, I looked up or admired him for his total lack of restraint.  Joey did whatever popped into his brain.  He did not care about  right or wrong or what other people might think or who could get hurt. That is total freedom, and it sort of made Joey and I complete opposites.  Besides the fact that I am a lot taller than him, Joey looked sort of Mexican and I am too thin and too white.  We definitely made an odd couple. But the differences went deeper than appearance. I worried about doing things I knew were wrong and then worried about getting in trouble for doing things I knew were wrong.  But   Joey did not care about anything except doing what he wanted to do