“You never cease to change do you? Once a paranoid always a paranoid I guess.” Melissa joked to no one in particular as the sheriff's truck disappearing down the road.
“That must be why I love you.” She said to herself.
She waited for ten minutes and then followed.
It started to rain again. Barett’s mind traced back and forth through the clues he had so far as the gray rain thudded against the windshield. After a thirty minute drive up Highway 101 he came to the exit that lead to Old WA 9 road and a minute later he arrived at Bob’s house that sat at the edge of the lake. There were a few more cars around than there should be.
Bob was a strange duck. His house was small but very upscale. It was tucked away into the towering green trees on the shore of Lake Quinault. Barett had never figured out where or how Bob had made his money, but you could always find the guy hanging around the one and only town bar/restaurant early every morning gathering stories and gossip like a fly the never fails to show up for a picnic. Bob was in everything but never did a thing. Strange how he always seemed to have a lot of cash stashed somewhere.
Looking around as he drove up Bob’s driveway, Barett easily spotted the small group of people gathered together.
"Just like flies." He thought.
They were standing outside the big five bay garage/barn-like building Bob used to meticulously store all of his ‘toys’. His backhoe was out in the rain and muddy which Barett instantly thought was odd. Bob was selfish with his stuff. He never brought it out because he never did any work but that wasn’t the point. He drove around in a beat up Chevy while the nice cars and other large equipment just sat inside the bays with diapers wrapped around the oil pans like they were plaited with gold. The only way Bob would have his precious backhoe out in the rain was because he was dead.
But he wasn’t. It wasn’t Bob because he was sitting in a puddle crying like a two year boy who had lost his mommy. The small crowd parted for the town sheriff to reveal the gruesome scene.
He wasn't expecting this. He was speechless and taken by total surprise.
Someone, by the looks of it had used the backhoe to plant a telephone pole in front of the barn and then had taken someone and crucified them in a St. Peter’s cross style.
Barett just stared dumbfounded with everyone else. What the hell was this!
The body looked like it was a part tiger. It was big and shirtless and hung upside down, the head about 2 feet off the ground. Words were written clearly across the chest of the body for everyone to see, in the same blue marker that as was found on Luz, the girl that got sandwiched between the bus and Cadillac. The words were “John Darling”. Here was another dam Peter Pan reference. He know this because he had been reading it. But there was more this time. Above the man’s feet was a wooden plaque with writing on it just like what Pontus Pilot had done when he ordered one to be placed above the Christ when he was crucified. The writing on this sign here was also in three different languages. Two of them Barett could only guess what language they were but the third appeared to be Latin. It read Puer Aeternus.
The morbid crowd followed three steps behind as Barett moved closer to get a better look. The man’s face was bloody mess and Barett's fear was confirmed as he looked closely at him. Again it was someone he knew from the University. It was Thomas Ramsden. Big Tom, as he called him, was a fellow grease monkey professor and boxing partner Barett had worked out with back in Everett. They had gotten along marviously.
It looked like someone had beaten him pretty good before hanging him up. No an easy task mind you.
As Barett continued to examine and look for clues, the body moved.
“Holy dog fart! He’s still alive you idiots!”
Barett moved quickly to start removing his friend from the make-shift cross when an all too familiar sting slammed into him, biting hard into his back. It was followed by a sound in the distance of a sharp crack in the woods.
The caliber was big but his armor had stopped it.
Barett was pissed! Someone was playing with him and trying to finish Tom off in front of his eyes. The crowd of people wisely remembered that they had some better place to be at that minute and scattered. Barett was along as a human shield. He spun, pulled his .45 and scanned the forest. He heard shots, but this time they weren’t aimed at him. Then Melissa’s voice cracked over the radio.
“ Barett! I have a problem here!”
More shots. Two? No three different guns were firing.
“BARETT, GET YOUR . . .”
Boom echoed a shotgun.
Then silence of the falling rain was all he heard.
What does Barett do?
16 comments:
Barett realizes that Mel is in trouble and that moving quickly againest the possible three perps was his only real option. Running like mad at top speed, pistol in his right hand, shotgun in his left he dodges and ducks, weaving his way into the forest towards Mellisa's location. Leaving behind " Big Tom" and the others. He thinks to himself, everyone will get shot, kill shots if possible. He'll have time for questions later if they live. Right now his mind is going a million miles an hour. Someone went to a lot of effort to set this up. Bob the owner of the land seemed much more upset than he should have been, Barett plans on interrogating him most aggresively. He suspects that there are three or more targets in the woods, as soon as he can get some cover in the forest tree's he will drop to his belly, change directions and prowl over to where the first shot came from, threading the silencer on the end of his .45 cal he wants to take them by surprise if he can. Using his military training he searches for traps and trip wires and other nasty's that maybe lurking in the forest. Barett turns off the radio for now, not wanting to give away his current location.
He is hoping that someone back at bob's has enough sense to call for an ambulance. His senses on fire, and revenge on his mind, he forces himself of concentrate and breath in and out, just like in training," the more you hurt in training the less you bleed in combat" he remembers his father saying. Focusing on staying alive and getting Mel out of here is the top priority, no other things matter. Barett manages to control his breathing and clear his thoughts, and put on his " Warriors Face". He is ready for them, and hopes that they are not ready for him.
Brett, I have done my best matching your description of the safe house and its location. If you don’t like anything, of course you are free to change. I am just filling in the blanks as best as I can. Let me know what you think.
1. Who would Barett thinks knows him and where he has been?
a. No one from Neilton should know anything about Barett or the Coontail brothers. He is guessing this has come from the outside. Both big Tom and Luz come from the City of Everett Washington where I am saying Barett worked at the Vehicle Research Institute under the Department of Engineering Technology at Western Washington University. http://www.etec.wwu.edu/ There is a naval military base in Everett called Naval Station Everett and is considered the navy’s most modern facility with about 6000 sailors and other personal assigned there. The University does some work with the military so there are a few connections that he is sure would like to find him.
b. There were a number of really pissed of people back at the University who might want to go after him, i.e. parents, the Dean, a few female coworkers, students.
2. I assume that he told no one where he was going, so how would they find him?
a. Military connections and surveillance
b. Dumb luck
c. Terra cards
d. ????
3. If they are after Barett, and killing people for info, are they bounty hunters that are after him and the brothers?
a. With Luz, it may have just been one crazy coincident, but now with more clues and his friend big Tom at the scene, Barett can be sure that someone is wanting to get his attention by hurting the few people him was close to back in Everett. It has to do with the party problem because both Tom and Luz were directly involved with that. While Tom just got a slap on the hand, Luz was expelled from the University, but she was the type of girl who could bounce back from anything.
4. I have not read the Peter Pan story, but did some research, Puer Aeternus means eternal child ( another peter pan reference, upside down hanging ( Peter the Apostle ) I'm looking for info on the Lost Boys gang/ bounty hunters/hate group.
a. Hook hates Peter Pan for everything he stood for, eternal youth, recklessness, vanity, adventurousness, and fearless spirit. Likewise, Peter pan never lost, ever. And he was unaware of any personal fears whereas Hook knew of his mortality and uncontrollable fear of the crocodile. Peter had the power of flight while Hook did not and this gave Peter a huge advantage.
b. Wendy and John Darling were Peters friends that hook used to get at Peter, hoping to change the advantage to his (Hook’s) favor.
Barett pushes hard through the wet and heavy underbrush. The forest floor is unstable under food but he makes good progress. The glaring problem is there is almost no way he can move quickly without making a lot of noise. Bushes, thick tree branches and ferns all cling to him like Velcro leaving him soaked to the very bones. Yet, the rain helps mask his sound.
As he pushes hard through the pathless underbrush up the small hill, the sonic crack of bullets puncturing the air continues to sound. A few kick up dirt and plants around him but his weaving in and out makes him an impossible target to hit. He doesn’t see any traps or wires anywhere. In fact it looks as if no one has ever been through this dense forest growth.
He burst out into a clearing 20 by 50 feet. In the clearing are two men in the rain. One is throwing what looks like the limp body of Mel into the back doors of a sexy black short bed crew-max Toyota Tundra. The think stinks of money. The other figure was standing at the edge of the clearing looking down the hill with a M110 SASS in his hands. They both have a look of surprise on their faces as Barett bust out of the forest into the clearing.
What does Barett do?
Barett rushes at the guy with the MI10 sass, firing at his head with the .45 cal, dropping 5 rounds at him then the last two rounds at the guy tossing Mel into the toyota. Barett's plan is to overrun the guy with the big gun, hoping to take him down quickly. finish the guy with Mel. Take the extra guns and hunt down the third perp. Looking all the time for more perps and traps, he will of course make sure that Mel is ok before proceeding.
Barett lets five bullets fly at the bigger guy with the M110 SASS. Two of his shots hit the guy right in the center of the forehead causing him to stumble over backwards. The hits were solid but Barett is guessing the guy is not out of the picture yet.
But he is in full swing of an adrenaline rush and spins to his left to let two more bullets fly. However, as the hammer slams down on his sixth shot the gun jams hard. The man standing by the truck dodges nonetheless as he jumps into the driver’s seat. As the diesel engine roars to life, the sound of the M110 shooting cracks a five round burst through the rain.
What does Barett do? His gun has jammed. He has a good 20 feet to the truck and the man who is lying down on the ground with a bloody head is opening up with everything he’s got on him.
Barett opens up with the shotgun, pumping three rounds at the guy with the Sass, and two rounds at the tires of the truck, then he dodges and rolls for cover. Reloading the shotgun and unjamming the colt .45 behind some trees. He is looking to make sure the truck doesn't get away, but knows that killing the guy with the big gun needs to happen first. So if the shotgun blasts havn't finished him yet he will shoot it out till he's down, then deal with the truck.
Barett hears the obvious fleeing of the Toyota truck as it takes off done the muddy road out of the clearing. Both his shots hit the tires but his attention was drawn again to the man with big gun. The guy just would not die.
Barett and the gunmen had moved back into the trees for a little more cover. Barett would use dodge behind tree trunks to avoid the burst of bullets that would rip apart the vegetation. Then he would counter attack with his one assault, mover ever closer as the gunman, who was obviously trying to retreat, moved back into the forest.
After three rounds of exchanging gun fire, Barett grabbed a small log and threw it to his left while he dodged and hid to the right. The gunman fell for the decoy, spraying the rolling log with bullets. A smile of success flashed across his dark brown eyes as he saw, what he mistook as Barett roll to a dead stop.
Before realization hit him of his fatal error, five bullets found him from above from Barett’s .45. Barett had move right and then jumped up into the trees and then flipped high into the air right over the gunman, showering him with hot lead.
Rain continued to fall on the long figure in the forest. Teeth gritted in anger Barett Coontail stood over the corpse of this unknown enemy. The sound of the truck could still be heard with his hyper-sensitive ears but it was fading fast.
What next?
Barett grabs the gun and any ammo he can see. Cutting his throat to make sure things don't change. He looks for a route thru the woods to cut off the truck. He will run at top speed to get close enough to make some shots and hopefully get a license number and model. Marking the spot by breaking a lot of branches on his way out. He heads out towards his best route. Running at top speed.
Barett flings the M110 SASS and heads back through the clearing and down the mud road. Even though he has not been in this area before, it is not too far from his ranch. The tracks are headed east into the mountains along the side of the lake. He is just about ready to give up any hope of catching this guy because of lost time when he comes across his Landcruiser knocked sideways off the road. It looks as if the Toyota rammed passed it to get away, judging by the black paint marks but the Landcruiser is a tank and appears to only have some bad cosmetic damage done to it. It will take about 5 minutes to get the thing out of the trees and turned around.
Rain is starting to fall heaver now but the fading hum of the fleeing black Toyota can heard echoing back from the deeper forest. Barett is guessing it is about half mile away. They have already killed two people he knew. He can easily guess what they would do to Melissa.
What is his move? Driving is going to be a little tough so if you go after them make three control roles to see if you can catch up.
Barett Barely makes his first roll but the others are very good. He manages to get the landcruiser up and hauling on the road, pushing the limits of the modified suspension and upgraded 302 engine he put in, but haul that little Yota does.
He plans on ramming the rear passenger side of the truck, which should push it out of control and allow him to shoot out the tires, if he gets a clear shot at the driver he will take it.
The two trucks sped eastward up the mountain dirt road that wasn’t so much a road but a ribbon of mud under the heavy rain. Their speed was such that one may question its safety on a freeway. The Landcruiser plowed through the mud and skids close to the edge of the road hitting against the trees. But Barett is a skilled driver and he keeps control and increases his speed. It takes Barett about five minutes to catch up to the black Toyota. The dirt/mud road is almost like a tunnel running under the forest foliage. There isn’t a lot of room to maneuver. Barrett floors the gas pedal to ram up into the passenger side, attempting to knock it out of control. Just before hit makes contact, the driver of the Toyota swerves right and slams on his brakes. Metal cracks and twist as the two vehicles hit hard. The landcruiser hits straight on plowing into the back the black truck. Brakes in thick mud have very little use. Mud flings up all over the windshield blind Barett for a second as the wipers work to clear the window. The impact launched the truck forward and the drive floors it.
Barett, hearing the other engine rev up, likewise accelerates. With the mud smeared off his windshield Barett watches as the Toyota approaches a sharp bend in the road. The speed they are traveling is just too fast for it and Barett knows it. The drive attempts to slow down but this alone causes him to lose control. The back end slips and fishtails to the left for a second until the back end hits sideways into tree. This rockets the back of the truck, effectively turning the truck into a spinning projectile of metal and tires, crashing through the foliage like a rock through a paper window. It hangs for a second then disappears down.
The lake is directly in front of him! Barett too is going to fast down the muddy, raining road. There is no traction in his tires for breaking. He is now on the same slippery spot that the Toyota was in a mere second before. Barett can see through the whole in the trees out into the gray rain and waiting lake. He swears. This isn’t going to end well.
What do you do?
Barett slams on the brakes, jams the transmission into reverse and guns the engine, this will cause the landcruiser to twist and shake, but stop him faster in the mud it's a trick the mud boggers use. If he can't slow down for the corner, he is going to aim for the opening in the forest and make a controled desent into the lake.
The trick works and the landcruiser slides violently to the left of the road. Jumping out Barett runs forward to the spot and looks down a six foot drop off into the lake. That water looks to be five to six feet deep here when the Toyota nosedived into the drink. The bed of the truck is sticking up out of the water while the front end is mostly submerged. He can’t see any movement inside.
What does he do?
Barett slips off his shoes, jacket and shirt, keeps the pistol in its holster and leaves the rifle in the landcruiser. He jumps into the water and leads for the back door of the truck. Using his dagger knife butt he is going to attempt to break the window that mellisa is by and pull her out. If she is concious, he will pull her to the shore and then if she is good go back and get the driver out. He really wants someone to interrorgate/ torture either way he is ok. I mean you just don't go kidnapping a law officer and not expect some repercussions.
The window breaks easy enough. Melissa is out cold and looks to be in bad shape. She is bleeding into to water all over her face, arms and chest. Barett carefully extracts her out of the truck and takes her over to the shore. The man in the driver’s seat is obviously dead.
Leaving Melissa on the shore, Barett knows time now is critical. He races back to his landcruiser, grabs his first aid kit and radio’s in his location for help and a tow truck.
Running back down in the incessant rain, Barett works on stabilizing Melissa. She has head trauma, broken ribs, and it looks as if both arms are also broken. When the driver of the Toyota truck lost control and plowed into the lake, he hit a rocky bottom head on.
Melissa needed to get to a hospital. The problem was there wasn’t one close by.
After fifteen minutes or so of waiting, Barett heard the sound of sirens approaching in the distance. Leaving Melissa again, he ran up to the road and grabbed this CB. He held the mike to his mouth thinking about what to do. He could call in a helicopter if he wanted to from Seattle. They could land down at the resort lawn without much problem. But then he would be drawing attention but he knew Melissa needed proper medical care soon. Taking the Toyota down to the resort might also be a good place to investigate it better. But did he want to search with onlookers? Barett was pisses as all get out that his lead had died, both of them.
What is he going to do? He can almost smell some answers here but they are annoyingly out of his grasp.
Barett knows that he can't do much more for Mellisa now, she is going to need medical attention. But since they are not life threating he is going to meet the ambulance down by the resort, let them take mellisa to the hospital under a police escort and see if he can get anything from the tiger. The lead is to hot to let emotion overrule good sense and the chance of catching these guys, they have made some fatal errors. So if he is lucky he can get a better line on where to go.
Carefully he carries Mellisa up to the landcruiser and braces her in, then slowly down the hill he goes to the resort.
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