The Devil's Right Hand (19 page)

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Authors: J.D. Rhoades

Tags: #Romance, #Thriller, #Mystery, #north carolina, #bounty hunter, #hard boiled, #redneck noir

BOOK: The Devil's Right Hand
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The blood pounded in DeWayne’s temples and
the sickness came back in a wave. Suddenly, he wanted another hit
of the thick white smoke worse than anything else in the world.
“Jesus,” he said. You are one twisted bitch.” He lowered the
gun.


Just drive,” he said wearily. “We’ll
get some more. Then we’ll go find Crystal.”

She smiled brightly, like a child promised a
trip to the candy store. She dropped her hand from the steering
wheel to squeeze his thigh. “Now you’re talkin’ baby,” she said.
She put the car in Drive and returned her hand to his leg. “Now
you’re talkin’”.

 

Raymond looked up as the door opened. He saw
the heavy silver cart from which the meals for the entire floor
were distributed by a cheerful young black guy dressed in the light
blue coveralls that were the uniform of the hospital’s service
staff. The last time Raymond had seen him, the man pushing the cart
had been dressed in a flannel shirt and a baseball cap.

“‘
Bout damn time,” Raymond
said.


Took some time to figure out how to
get in here,” Billy Ray said. “We lucked out, though. Fella that
works the kitchen’s a customer of ours. He let me, ah--borrow this
here cart for a little bit.”

Raymond smiled. “Never though I’d see you
deliverin’ meals to shut-ins, Billy Ray,” he said.

The man grunted. He reached beneath the cart
and pulled out a pair of Tec-9's, stubby semi-automatics that
looked like oversized pistols. Long magazines stuck out from in
front of the trigger guards. “50 round mags,” he said, “and these
are converted to full auto.” He pulled out a silencer and screwed
it onto the perforated barrel. He handed the pistol to Raymond, who
took it with his free hand. “What about the cuffs?” Raymond
demanded. “A fifty round mag ain’t gonna do me much good if I’m
still tied to the bed.”

Billy Ray reached under the cart and pulled
out a pair of long-handled bolt-cutters. “Watch the door,” he said
as he began working on the handcuffs with the cutters. Raymond held
the Tec-9 awkwardly in his left hand, tilting it slightly sideways
facing the door. Billy Ray grunted as he chewed on the handcuff
chain with the cutters. Suddenly, with an audible snap, the chain
parted, leaving Raymond with a single cuff and chain dangling from
his wrist. He transferred the gun to his right hand. “Alright,” he
said. “Now where do we go?”


Delmer is downstairs in the car,”
Billy Ray said. He took a cell phone out of the pocket of the blue
coverall. “I better call and make sure he ain’t gone to sleep.
There’s some clothes for you in the cart.” Raymond located a pair
of blue jeans and a shirt on a shelf inside the cart as Billy Ray
dialed. As Billy Ray spoke urgently into the phone, Raymond
searched the closets. “Hey,” he complained. “The sonsabitches took
my shoes.”


It’s a warm night,” Billy Ray said.
“An’ we gotta go.”

At that moment, the door swung open. The
blonde nurse Raymond had seen earlier chatting with the cop
entered, holding a silver clipboard. Her blue eyes widened in shock
as she saw Raymond out of bed and the guns in his hand. She dropped
the clipboard which rattled noisily on the floor. Billy Ray strode
quickly to the woman and yanked her towards him. He spun her around
and wrapped one arm around her from behind. As the cop came into
the room, he raised the pistol in his other hand and stuck it
against the nurse’s ear. Raymond raised his own gun and pointed it
at the cop. “Don’t do nothin’ stupid,” he said, “or he’ll scatter
this bitch’s brains all over the room.” The nurse moaned in
fear.

The cop raised his hands, as if placating
them. “Easy, there, fellas,” he said softly. “Let’s don’t do
something that everybody’s going to regret.”


Good idea,” Raymond said. ‘Whyn’t you
start by takin’ your gun outta the holster. With your left hand,
two fingers. Or I’ll do somethin’ you sure as hell will
regret.”

The cop hesitated a moment, every instinct
warning him against giving up his weapon. Billy Ray yanked the
nurse against him again, hard. She squeaked in fear, too frightened
to scream. The cop shook his head. Slowly, he reached over with his
left hand and unbuttoned the holster. He awkwardly removed the
pistol, holding it between thumb and forefinger.


Now put it on the floor. Slow.”
Raymond said. “Then slide it over here with your foot.”

The cop bent over, his eyes never leaving
Raymond’s face. He placed the gun on the worn linoleum. He slowly
straightened up. “Okay,” he said. “Now what?”


For you?” Raymond said. “Nothin’”. He
pulled the trigger. The silenced pistol chattered. A line of red
holes appeared across the the cop’s chest. This time the nurse did
scream.


Damn,” Billy Ray grimaced. He shoved
the sobbing nurse towards the door, holding onto her collar with
one hand and holding the gun into the small of her back with the
other.


He still had a radio,” Raymond
shrugged. “He’d be on it as soon as we got outta the room. An’ I
ain’t takin’ no cop along with us.” He followed Billy Ray out the
door and into the hallway. A male nurse coming out of the room
across the hall gaped at them as they came out. “Get back in
there,” Raymond ordered. “And stay there.” The man obeyed, leaving
the long hallway empty for the moment. Raymond knew that wouldn’t
last; the hospital was a hive of activity at all hours of the day
and night.

He looked at the ceiling. A row of widely
spaced sprinklers ran down the center of the hallway, interspersed
with heat and smoke sensors. “You got a lighter?” Raymond said.
Billy Ray released the nurse long enough to fish a cigarette
lighter out of the breast pocket of the coverall. Raymond flicked
it on and held it up, directly under one of the sensors. After a
few seconds, a loud klaxon horn blared, its ear-splitting honking
repeating over and over. The sprinklers began spewing a soaking
mist of water into the hallway. The nurse screamed again as the
drenching downpour immediately soaked them to the skin, plastering
their clothing to them. People began spilling into the hallway,
nurses pushing patients in hospital beds and wheelchairs.


No more water,” Raymond whispered,
“but the fire next time.”


Let her go,” Raymond said, motioning
to the nurse. “She’ll only slow us down.” Billy Ray obeyed, shoving
her into the crowd.

 “
He’s got a gun!” she screamed,
and the crowd became a mob, pushing and shoving to get away from
the water and the armed men. It was a scene of utter chaos, with
people stumbling into one another and gurneys and wheelchairs
colliding.


Where’s the stairway?” Raymond
shouted.


Back this way,” Billy Ray said,
backing up. He fired a quick burst into the ceiling above the
crowd, increasing their panic before the two men turned and bolted
around the corner. They located the stairway marked “authorized
personnel only” and plunged down it, four steps at a time, past
three floors and the lobby floor to the basement level. They burst
out into a dimly lit hallway.


Which way?” Raymond panted. The
sutures across his side blazed like flames.


I dunno,” Billy Ray said. “This wasn’t
how I planned to get out.”


Fuck,” Raymond said. He jogged down
the hallway past a line of battered vending machines. He had to
stop and catch his breath. It was then that he noticed the sticky
wetness along his side. He looked down to see a slow seepage of
blood coming through his shirt. Billy Ray pulled up alongside of
him. He noticed the blood and grimaced.


Man,” he said, “We get out of here, we
better find you a doctor. I know a guy…”


Later,” Raymond grunted. He saw a
heavy pair of metal doors at the end of the hallway. He walked over
and pushed them open. The doors led to a small grass courtyard with
a rusty metal picnic table. The lights of the parking lots
glimmered beyond. “C’mon,” Raymond said. “We gotta get out of
here.”

 

CHAPTER NINE

 

Keller sat on the couch, drinking a beer as
Marie cleaned up in the kitchen. She had asked him to stay for
dinner. The meal had been a hectic affair, with Marie spending half
her time trying to talk to Keller and the other half trying to
ensure that more food got into her son than ended up on him. Now,
with dinner over, Marie had banished them both to the living room.
Keller took a sip of his beer and stared at a baseball game on TV
without actually watching it as he listened to Marie clattering
around in the kitchen. Ben seemed absorbed with a set of brightly
colored wooden blocks a few feet away on the living room floor. It
was such a normal scene that Keller felt out of place, like a
visitor from another planet.

Keller looked up to see the boy
standing in front of him, a thin book in his chubby hands. “Read,”
the boy said simply. Feeling a little foolish, Keller took the
book. It was a dog-eared and jelly-stained retelling of the story
of the Little Engine That Could. The boy clambered up on the couch
beside him and pointed to the book. “Read,” he said again, a little
impatiently. Keller sighed, opened the book and began to read. He
had gotten to the point where the Little Engine was puffing up the
hill and was reading the Engine’s mantra of “I
think
I can, I
think
I can,” trying to pitch his voice with a
suitably strained inflection, when he looked up and saw Marie. She
was standing in the kitchen door. She had covered her mouth with
her hand to stifle her laughter but her eyes were
dancing.


You’re enjoying this,” he
said.


You better believe it,” she said.
“Tough guy.”


READ,” the boy ordered, then added,
“tough guy.”

Keller sighed and went on. When the book was
finished, Marie applauded. “C’mon, little man,” she said, sweeping
Ben off the couch. She gave Keller a quick peck on the cheek. “It’s
time for a bath and then to bed.”


I wannanother book,” the boy
complained, but allowed himself to be led towards the bathroom.
Keller got up and stretched. “Stick around,” Marie said, waving him
back towards the couch. “After that, you probably could use a
little grownup conversation.”

Keller got another beer and sat down. He
tried to sort out what he was feeling. What was going on between
him and Marie seemed like a betrayal of Angela. But he knew there
was no commitment with Angela, no relationship to betray. He
thought again of Angela’s word that he was always looking for a
damsel in distress. If so, he seemed to have no luck whatsoever in
finding them.

After the boy was bathed and safely tucked in
bed, Marie came back in and sat on the couch. Keller put his arm
around her and she snuggled into the hollow of his shoulder. “It
was sweet of you to read to Ben,” she whispered, and kissed him
lightly on the cheek.


He didn’t give me much choice,” Keller
said.

She laughed. “He’s not shy about letting you
know what he wants,” she said. “Just like...” she trailed off.


Like his father?” Keller
said.

She bit her lower lip, then shook her head.
“I don’t want to talk about him,” she said.


Okay.”

Something in his tone made her look at him.
She put a hand on his chest. “Jack,” she said. “I’m not trying to
shut you out. Really. It’s just that--hell, I don’t know.” She
paused for a long moment. “Talking about him makes me feel bad,”
she said, “and I want to feel good right now, okay? I haven’t felt
this good in a long time.”


Thanks,” Keller said.

She laughed and kissed him again, harder.
“You’re welcome,” she said. “Besides, I want to find out more about
you.”

Keller willed himself not to tense up. “What
do you want to know?”


Oh, hell, I don’t know,” she said
lightly. “Where’re you from? What’re your folks like? Stuff like
that.”

Keller took a deep breath. “I’m from
Charleston. My grandmother raised me. Next question.” He cursed
himself inwardly for the anger he couldn’t keep out of his
voice.

She was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she
said. “If it’s something that makes you feel bad, it’s not fair to
ask you to talk about it. I guess.”

Keller shook his head. “No,” he said, “don’t
be sorry. You didn’t know. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like
that.”


No,” she agreed. “But it’s okay.” she
moved closer to him and began rubbing his neck. Keller closed his
eyes, letting her strong fingers relax the tension in him. Finally,
he opened his eyes.


I never met my father,” he said. “Mom
said he was a sailor from the naval base. She said he was killed in
Vietnam. I don’t know if that was true. Truth was--kind of a
flexible thing with my Mom.”


She left you?” Marie whispered. Keller
nodded, unable to speak further. She pulled him close and kissed
him deeply. His hand came up to caress her hair and she moaned
softly.


You can’t stay the night,” she
whispered as they broke the kiss, “it wouldn’t be right for Ben to
see you--well, you know.” She kissed him again. “But you can stay
awhile longer.”


What about--” he gestured towards the
boy’s bedroom.


Already asleep,” she said. “And when
he’s down, you could stampede a herd of buffalo through his room
and he wouldn’t wake up. But we’ll lock the door,” she said, “just
in case.” She stood up and took his hand, leading him to the
bedroom.

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