The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by (17 page)

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went back to his patrol car. “Mr. Watkins, do you think I  would be able to make phone call”, as I pointed across the  street towards the payphone? Mr. Watkins check his watch,  then looked up at me, “I would say it’s rather late but for  some reason my watch stopped working”. I shrugged my  shoulders as an effort to apologize. “Well, I don’t think going  over there would be such a great idea right now, but if you’ll  follow me, I’ll unlock the mess hall for you, there’s a land line  in there behind the counter. Gordon and I will wait outside

for you”.

The padlock gave a quick squeak but opened on command, and Mr. Watkins opened the door for me and pointed  to the far corner behind the counter. There were just enough  lights on to make my way behind the counter. The phone  was an old wall mount like we used to have in our kitchen.

As I picked up the receiver I heard the dial tone and reached into my jacket pocket.

The phone rang twice, “Hello”. Just hearing her voice made me feel so much better. “Hi Jennifer it’s me Billy I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time”. “Not at all, I just got home from work about ten minutes ago. It’s good to hear your voice”. Wow I couldn’t believe it, I guess she really does like me. “It’s good to hear your voice too. If you’re busy I un-derstand but I was wondering if you were free about 1:00 pm tomorrow? “Will this be like a date before our official date”?

“I guess you could say that, you see the Sheriff is taking me  to the point tomorrow and I’m going to spread my parent’s  ashes in the Columbia so I was wondering if you would be  with me for the informal ceremony”. “Why Billy that is so  sweet. It would be my pleasure to be there with you”. Oh

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man I think my heart is starting to melt again. “I can’t wait,  oh by the way, I’ll be the one wearing gloves”. I could hear a  faint chuckle. “Okay, well I can’t wait to see you, gloves and  all; see you at one, good night Billy”. “Good night Jennifer”.

If all were true to form I should be standing tall, whistling perhaps, and smitten with joy as my Mother used to  say. Most of this was true, I was standing tall, even with the  faltering balance from the boot on my left foot. If there were  such a thing then yes I would say I was smitten. I didn’t realize I was smiling until I got to the front door of the mess hall,  and saw my reflection in the window. I thanked Mr. Watkins  as he locked up the mess hall and proceeded to tell us to go  and head for our sleeping quarters.

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24

the evenIng rItuAl
 
of getting ready for bed was  not much different from my house. The only difference was  I usually didn’t have to wait on five or six people to finish  brushing their teeth before I could. On my way out of the  sink area I passed Frankie who whispered, “Dead Pepe’’. He  really needed to expand his vocabulary up a couple of notches. I had no response and didn’t give him the satisfaction  of even looking in his direction. The concern I had earlier  in the evening about the sleeping arrangements were settled  somewhat with the addition of an extra staf f member being  inside the building with us. With the two staf f personnel  keeping watch outside and one inside with us I was fairly  sure Frankie and his thugs might be somewhat hesitant to  start any crap; at least I hope so.

I can see why Gordon recommended this particular  bed, it just happened to be right next to his. I did take the  bed for a test run. After stretching out for a few seconds, I  realized that this bed was not much more comfortable than

a sleeping bag. It could be worse I suppose, my bed could’ve  been next to Sully’s. The Staff person at the door wasn’t  very tall as much as he was thick. I think even Sully would  have a hard time trying to get past him. He gave us the  lights out in ten minutes speech; well not so much a speech  as is was a commandment.

Gordon and I were sitting on the edge of our beds facing

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each other as Gordon leans in towards me. “Hey, why didn’t  you tell the Sheriff about what Frankie and the boys have  planned for Friday night? I saw that you only gave the Sheriff  one of the flash drives too, what are you going to do with it”?  Trying to maintain a barely audible voice like Gordon did I  replied, “I’m much more concerned about what Agent Boling  could do to me, than what the Four Horsemen can do. Plus  the Sheriff sounds like he hates her and that will keep him  busy trying to get in her way. I think I might be able to help  on Friday’s matter. Now for those of us who want to, we can  go to the movies Friday night”? Gordon scanned his surroundings then returned to me. “Yeah we get to go, but one  of the steroid staff members always go with us. What’s your  plan; do you really think you can help”? “I think so, but I’ll  have to figure out a few details first”. Just as I finished, B.B.  came walking between our beds.

B.B. was turned facing Gordon and leaned over to say,  “Frankie says sweet dreams and to enjoy them because they  might be your last”. That comment scared the crap out of  Gordon and with good reason, for what they did to him last  Friday. I could tell that Gordon’s hand were shaking, “Leave  him alone, he doesn’t have to put up with your crap”. Damn  where did that come from. I don’t ever recall talking back to  anyone in that manner.

B.B. slowly turned to face me. “Look skunk head, you  either shut your mouth or I’ll do it for you”. For whatever  reason, that didn’t faze me in the least. Okay I knew the reason, I just wanted B.B. to touch me somewhere for a little  shock therapy. “Well then I guess you’ll have to shut it for  me B.B., and do they call you B.B. because you’re not able to

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pronounce your own name”? I hoped that would do it. B.B.  looked up towards the front door where the staff guy was  setting up for the night. I didn’t see it coming, he threw a left  hook that connected square on my jaw. With a quick snap of  electricity, B.B. went flying over Gordon’s bed and crashed  to the floor.

After a few seconds of moaning, Staff steroid had no-ticed the unexpected light show and came running. He stopped where B.B. had landed, and waved off the residual smoke that coming from B.B. I got up from my bed and went around to see for myself. I could sense a trend as the smell hit me. It seems that losing control of your bowels is one of the side effects of touching me. And what a foul smell it was. I shouldn’t have egged him on like that. The whole purpose was to be able to buy Gordon and myself some time.  With Sully stuck in the time out room, and B.B. needing a change in shorts, I was confident they would not attempt anything tonight. Okay, somewhat confident.

I could see the name badge for staff steroid, it was Malloy.  He was helping B.B. back to his feet as the others came close to see what had happened. That’s when B.B. started yelling,  “he Tased me, he Tased me”. In a sense he was right, except that I had no weapon to speak off. Malloy turned to me, “So who’s gonna tell me what the hell happened”? Before I could get a word out, Gordon chimed in. “B.B. threatened us, then he hit Billy in the jaw”. Malloy told B.B. to hit the showers and get rid of that smell, then bet over to have a look at my jaw. He was starting to touch it when I hollered, “No, don’t do that”. “Why the hell not, I need to see where you said he hit you and so far I don’t see squat”, Malloy replied. Gordon

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stood up and whispered in Malloy’s ear. Malloy stood up  looked at me and then back at Gordon, “Really”. “Go check  with Mr. Watkins he was trying to keep this quiet”, Gordon  responded. “I’ll be back in a couple minutes, try not to zap  anybody while I’m gone”.

I’m sure that last part was for my benefit. I know that Mr.  Watkins had wanted to keep my condition quiet, and probably could have if not for Frankie and his gang. I was hoping  for a quiet night. I think the only way that’s going to happen  is when I leave this place. Only five weeks and 6 days left, my  how time flies.

After about five minutes Malloy came back inside from talking to Mr. Watkins. He walked over to Gordon and me.  He sat down on my bed, just as B.B. came in from the show-ers. “Any more out of you tonight, and I promise, I will use my Taser on you”. B.B. remained speechless with his head hanging low as he went over to his bed.

Malloy set up shop so to speak in between my bed and  Gordon’s. He got comfy in his chair as he plugged in his headset, and started watching his movie of choice. I couldn’t tell what the movie was as I was facing him while in bed. I was dead tired, and wanted nothing more than to sleep. We should be able to get some rest now that the reinforcements are here. Of course the reason they are here had a lot to do with me. If I didn’t decide to go talk with the other Agents, they would still be alive. My mind was spinning in numerous directions about how my actions have affected others. It’s going to take some time, to deal with all of this. Oh, and then there is Friday night to deal with. Maybe I won’t be getting that much sleep after all.

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25

tuesdAy mornIng cAme
 
and went without inci-

dent. The breakfast consisting of pancakes and fried potatoes was entirely too filling, especially when you haven’t slept  much. Frankie and his thug monkeys were suspiciously quiet,  which was fine by me, I was ready for a break. Gordon and I  killed some time walking around the buildings while killing  some cigarettes. I was still trying to figure out why I got light  headed after smoking. All Gordon would do is laugh at my  apparent disorientation after lighting up.

Gordon had a lot of questions about how I don’t feel  any physical pain, like when B.B. popped me in the jaw, and  when Detective Hargorve went for my throat. What he really wanted to see was for me to take my gloves off, and shoot  excess lightning at something and watch it fry. I could go  for that myself but I didn’t want to waste any since I didn’t  know how long it would stay in me, or if it just went away  after time.

It was cloudy and a bit of mist was noticeable on the chairs out front of the Rec. Hall. It was rather dreary look-ing out here. I could understand why everyone with any sense was inside. They had quite a crowd across the street at the convenience store. I didn’t notice any open parking spots. Well nothing draws a crowd in for a good sale like a double homicide.

One of the staff was on his bullhorn announcing that

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lunch was being served. Almost like royalty being summoned  for the midday feast; except for the bullhorn, which quickly  dissolved my image for Pomp and Circumstance.

The lunch menu consisted of Navy beans, fried potatoes  and cornbread. Two out of the three were pretty good. The  cornbread was dry as dust. Gordon and I had our dessert  outside, a couple of Marlboro’s finest. I was getting the hang  of this smoking thing, I remembered not to light the filter  this time.

The Sheriff pulled into the drive parking alongside the  Rec. hall. He was wearing a dressier version of his normal uniform, complete with dress jacket and a different looking badge than he normally wears. His hat was even a more mili-tary type with a shiny brim, instead of his wide brim hat. My appearance paled in comparison, but in my defense, all my good stuff was burned.

“Hey Sheriff, looking mighty spiffy today”, I comment-ed. “This old thing, I only wear it when I don’t care how I look”, he said with a smile. “You Boy’s about ready, I’ll go tell  Watkins and we’ll get going”. I started to get a little quea-sy feeling in my gut. Part of my nausea I’m sure was not helped by the cornbread, but most of it was saying my final goodbye’s to my parents. The only good part of this was that  Jennifer would be there and I was really looking forward to that part of our journey.

Inside the Sheriff’s patrol car was impressive. A rifle holder, and the rifle itself I couldn’t tell you what it was. He had a mini computer monitor mounted by the dashboard,  2-way radio, and a couple of dozen assorted light switches scattered about. I was in the passenger seat as Gordon was

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in the back, hopefully not feeling like an arrested criminal.

“Billy, How much does Gordon know about what’s going on”, The Sheriff said in a soft tone?”, “He knows what I  know”, I replied. The Sheriff wrinkled his nose as we were  pulling out onto marine drive, “Billy Speer, have you been  smoking”? The jig was up and there was no escape, “Gordon  got me hooked”, as I laid the blame as far away from me as  possible. “Thanks a lot snitch”, Gordon chimed in from the  back seat.

The Sheriff pulled out the flash drive I gave him, from his jacket pocket and plugged it in to the side of his monitor, and turned the monitor to where I could see it. The screen

was entirely too busy with information for me to make out  what I was looking at. “What is all this”. The Sheriff shook  his head and replied, “Damned if I know Billy, There’s so  much data on this thing I thought my computer was going  to explode. However there are some legible folders on this  thing like multiple phone records, financial records, and a  map with directions to a place in the middle of Nevada”.

The legible part had far too much information for me  to take in, more or less the rest of the flash drive. I started  to wonder how much information on that drive was related

to Agent Boling. Since both of the other agents were murdered last night, I’m sure the majority of it had her activity  all over it.

“Did you ever find out what happened at the convenience store last night Sheriff”? He gave me a rather odd  look, “Son you know what happened”. “I know, what I mean  is there anything official coming from Agent Boling”? “As  a matter of fact, oh fussy britches, did send me a copy of