BOOK TWO -
80 ********
I'VE HEARD ABOUT THAT LITTLE
"TRIP TO THE WOODSHED" THINGY
******** The group made good time
getting up north to the 'digs'.
Fortunately, it was still early in
the season so there were plenty of spaces available.
THIS campground was a bit larger
than the one the group had just been in,
and was virtually still vacant.
It was nestled in the high country
of north central Missouri in a very
wooded area and set on a
medium-sized lake.
BUT NOBODY was here for the scenery.
************
"BRENDA.....everyone ok?"
"All the rigs are in place
and being set-up"
"OK. JAKE?"
"Yeh, Derek."
"Gonna be dark soon. Wait...
ANTONIO, how far are we from this place?"
"About six-seven miles, near as I can tell Derek."
"Ok. JAKE.
How about we get a re-con team over there
and the rest of us grab dinner."
"I'll get them moving...
there's a diner couple miles up the road."
"OK.
Antonio. You hear any more?"
"Nada Derek. Nothing new.
My source is stalling them...
but he tells me they are VERY antsy."
"I don't doubt it. Okay everybody.
let's do dinner."
But..nobody was very hungry.....
MEANWHILE
"You ok, Bear?"
Rico, sitting tight against me with his arms
around my shoulders...whispered into my ear.
The television was on low
but I wasn't paying any attention.
Just sitting on the couch,
and picking lint out of mah mind or what was left of it
would be mah guessy.
"Yeh..I guess."
"I think I'm gonna go outside for a bit.
You be ok?"
"Yeh, Boo. I be okay."
"OK! Ah be back in a bit."
"WAIT," I said
while getting up quickly.
"I'm coming too."
"You don't have to."
"Yeh. I know, but..."
I think we BOTH knew...
I didn't wanna be alone and he
took my hand as out the door we went.
We stood on the stoop for a minute.
Everything SMELLED SO GOOD
after the rain.
NOT as good as Rico, of course...
but good. FRESH, misty fresh.
WE both just gulped big
bunches of air. "I tellya Boo. After that batcave thingy.
THITH ith HEAVEN. Smells SO good."
"YEH, I know.
Okay, c'mon Bear. Let's nosey around,"
and he took my hand and led me around
the corner of the house. "Hmm...Wonder what that is,"
he leaned down and
whispered to me.
"What?"
"That."
Directly behind the house and back a bit
was a pretty good-sized wood building.
A small barn or shed of some sort.
We hadn't seen it before because it was on the
opposite side of the house from the mine.
"C'mon, but. BE CAREFUL, Bear."
I grinned. "Yeh Yeh."
"OH! Feeling BETTAH are we Bear,"
Rico grinned.
"I wouldn't go THAT far," I grinned back.
"Okay. Well, I bee's glad..."
which provoked a kithy on cheek.
Hehehe as we walked over to a small door
on one side of the front of the shed
which was unlocked.
"GEEZOPEEZO," Rico said after getting inside.
"Place ain't EVAH bin cleaned, Bear."
"WHEW! Ah nevah SEEN so many cobwebbies,"
as I agreed it was pretty grubby in heah.
"Careful, Bear. It's pretty dark in heah."
There was electricity. But Rico had tried the switch by the door and ALMOST nada.
Evidently the bulbs were burned out.
All but one
and it didn't give much light
so it was still fairly dark inside.
The inside was a mass, OR MESS,
of stuffies all strewn about
all higgelty-piggelty.
At the back there was another room evidently
with the door leading into it
between stacks of bales of straw.
"Careful Bear."
"YEH YEH!"
"You twitkuss. Just the same Bear,
be careful. It's hard to see in heah."
"You too, Boo."
"Boo...Hoo?"
"OH GEEZ! Rico," and that was just about the
first giggle I had emitted in quite some time...
and while I was lollygagging
Rico walked toward the back to scope out
that back room and I was still giggling...
when I took a step and stumbled.
"WHAT...the HELL?"
I landed KERPLOP, almost on and definitely
next to...SOMETHING.
"OH MY GOD!"
I hollered.
"What?"
Rico hollered back.
I couldn't answer him.
I was too busy barfing.
"BEAR. C'mon. YOU OK?" OH crapola geezo.
UGH!
It was a body.
Hard to see in this light,
or lack thereof..
but as I fell over it
I got the impression it was a woman.
"GOD DAMN. LOVE A DUCK!"
I heard him and then I heard him coming.
FAST.
"WHAT?"
"OH GEEZ! C'mon Bear.
WE GETTIN'
OUTTA HEAH!"
"WHAT?"
"Well. I know where Frankiepoo is.
AND HE AIN'T...
GOIN' NOWHERE!"
"WHAT?"
"You DON'T WANT TO KNOW!"
"YES I DO!"
"NO YOU DON'T!"
"YESSSSS!"
"NOOOOO!"
Hmmm. OKAY.
On second thought,
"OK. I DON'T!"
"C'MON. BEAR," and Rico GRABBED
my hand and YANKED me forward.
We made like hockey players.
I was still a bit queasy
when we got back outside
and was gulping for air.
"GEEZ!"
I wrapped myself around him.
"God. Whooooooo, Rico."
"Yeh. Ah knows, Bearski. So, who was that
YOU found?"
We sounded like a couple of third graders
after a class excursion into the woods.
"What YOU find, Freddie?"
"NEAT STUFFIES, Jerry.
A lizard. A DEAD TURTLE...
What YOU find?"
Only this was NO class trip
except for the fact that I did figure
THERE WOULD BE A QUIZ LATER.
(assuming there would be a later,
and at this point that was
far from certain.)
BUT. NUFFIN to take home to display
PROUDLY at dinner.
"HEY. LOOK WHAT I FOUND TODAY?"
Sending SIS to dah BAFROOM. Causing
epithets from MOM, and...hehehe.
"I don't know. A woman I think.
TRUST ME BOO.
I would have been MUCH happier
if it had been a turtle or sumfin.
But yeh I think a female.
I didn't recognize...
HELL, hard to tell between no lights and barfing and all..."
"BETCHA,"
Rico exclaimed.
"What?"
"Betcha it's Fayrene."
"Ya THINK?"
"Stands to reason.
Frank and a woman.
He had been HUNG by the way....
Strangled and hung,"
He informed me.
"GEEZ, Boo...by WHO I wonder."
"Wundah Woman, prolly.
Her henchmen anyway."
"WHO ARE these people, Rico?"
and suddenly...
I was frightened again.
TERRIFIED! Out of my wits.
"I don't know Honeybear...
I REALLY dunno.
But Bear?
WEE'S GOTTA GET OUTTA HEAH!"
"YEH Boo. I know, please."
I had JUST turned to start to
head back to the house...
or whatever you call it
when suddenly I noticed.....
"Rico...
R I C O!"
"What?"
"LOOK?"
"WHAT?"
"OVER THERE,"
and over the grove of trees
that sat a few hundred yards
to the north we saw the smoke
in the distance.
"Whatcha think Boo?"
"I think it's a fireplace
ORRR a furnace,
Bear?"
"YEH and DAT means..."
"A HOUSE BEAR."
"A house BEAR?"
"BEARRRRRRRR."
hehehe.
"YEH Boo, and a TELEPHONE,"
I said grinning.
"YOU GAME?"
Rico asked me.
"HELL YEH, Boo."
"LET'S GO THEN, but BEAR?"
"YEH?"
"You stay real close tah me, Bear.
NO methies.
You STAY CLOSE TO ME. PLEASE!"
"YEH YEH YEH!"
"BEAR?"
"NO PROBLEM BOO.
NO PROBLEMA.
I ain't letting you outta mah sight
for NUFFIN."
"Otay,"
and he grinned.
"C'mon den,"
and we started off...
Bear and Hoodlum.
heading...we knew not where,
and into...we knew not what.
But heading off we were.
Scared to be sure,
but...it would appear our choices
were sorely limited...
and so we went, moving through
the trees...slowly, painfully,
and headlong into
potential disaster.
But we didn't know that.
Not then. Not yet.
MEANWHILE
"OK...Gang...
JAKE. Any word from the re-con yet?"
"Hold on, Derek. I'm tryin' to get Mark
on the line now."
"BREN.
You got any word from the hospital?"
"Yeh. Everyone is the same,
holding their own..
but that is about it."
"OK. Antonio...anything new?"
"I just made contact with my source,
Derek. He says he just got another call
from Connie.
She is getting frantic."
"OKAY."
"He said he told her he would have
something ready for them by tomorrow
afternoon. He said she was NOT happy
but seemed to settle for that."
"OK then. We got a LITTLE time.
Jake...what's up?"
"HOLD ON a minute Derek..."
He said, cell in his ear.
"OKAY."
Everybody was hunkered down
on the picnic tables or thereabouts.
Jake, Kenny, Jack, Bren...
all on cell phones..
Feelie, Rose, Elke, Charlotte,
Marj, Peggy.
EVERYONE seemed to just keep
moving around.
Nobody talking much.
Some looked almost catatonic and
sorta having mechanical reactions.
The PAIN was palpable.
The FEAR was TANGIBLE.
THE STRESS. Almost unimaginable.
Elke especially kept CONSTANTLY
on the go...trying to keep up
everyone's
spirits...
most assuredly including her own..
"Frankie Honey? You ok?
WHAT ABOUT YOU, Tess?"
"Yeh Mom. We ok. How is Kenny?"
"Worried Honey. Worried SICK!"
"WE ALL ARE, Mom,"
and Frankie Mac began to
move over
to be with his brother who was having one hell of a time...
seeing Jake taking all this so hard...
while continuing to try his
DAMNDEST to function.
"Derek."
"Yeh, Antonio."
"I just found out WHO is with her."
"YEH?"
"YEH, and you AIN'T gonna like this,
or at least PART of it."
"What part?"
"The part about two of the people
with them.
My source told me he asked her for the
identities so he could arrange for new
ones. ID'S Passports and stuff...
as Connie had asked for and?
Two of the people with her
are...
Joe and Hannah Petersen."
"SHIT," That was Brenda.
"YEH."
"I wondered why I hadn't seen them
around for a couple days...
just the gal that works for them,"
Bren said.
"YEH, and that also explains how these people knew you all were here,"
Derek offered....
"A story there, I would bet...and WHO ELSE, Tony?"
Derek asked.
"Connie of course,
her two brothers,
three other males. Thugs that I assume
she hired...probably cousins or something. Plus Dotty, Nicky, Chance, and somebody named Teddy"
"WHAT? This was Brenda again.
"TEDDY?"
"Derek looked at Brenda.
"WHO the SAM HILL IS THAT?
BREN!?"
"OH MY GOD."
"What?
You know who it is?"
"Yeh. A young guy, just a kid really.
He works at the restaurant
down from the campground.
He was trying to help us.
He is a friend of Chance."
"How did he...?"
"I don't know Derek.
I didn't know he was anywhere around.
"
"SO," Antonio said. "Derek. That is the ten."
"At least, if they want ID packages,
that says at least for now they are all still alive,
Derek. But, that is ten not twelve."
"Wonder if that means?"
"Not sure Derek."
Antonio looked grim, catching Derek's meaning.
"But these ten are all still alive anyway."
"YEH. So far, but..."
Bren said, slowly.
"Yeh. But for HOW LONG?" Derek said, grimacing.
"DEREK. Mark wants to talk to you. He thinks he
has something," Jake told him. ***********************************************************
MEANWHILE
***********************************************************
Rico and I made our way through a small wooded area. It seemed like forever, but didn't really take that long...
Prolly gone faster if we weren't trying
to walk while wrapped around each other. OKOK, but we were SCARED, boys and girls...
SCARED SHITLESS...
and MORE than a bit traumatized by all this.
Then we got to a clearing.
We could see an old country road
over to our left and in the distance we could see a house...with smoke coming from the chimney. WE STOPPED and stood looking around.
"Whatcha tink Bear?"
I looked at him.
"I don't know, Boo.
Something.
Maybe.
Maybe it's just paranoia,
but...
sigh..
I don't know, Boo.
I just dunno.
I'm really scared, Boo.""Yeh. Me too.
WE GOTS tah be careful Bear."
"YEH," and we just stood there,
thinking, assessing, and talking in whispers while hanging on to each other for dear life. We started walking...REAL SLOW,
trying to keep a close eye on the house and the yard.
We had gotten about half way there....
when we heard something.
"GIT DOWN BEAR"
and I dove for the ground.
We were only a few yards from the road
by now. "What?"
I asked him..
He was crouched way down
right next to me..
"CAR. Truck. Sumfin Bear
and it STOPPED."
"YEH?"
"YEH.
Right over there just beyond those trees."
"OK."
I hadn't heard NUFFIN
cept mah knees rattlin'. We waited.
"Boo?"
"SHHHHH Bear."
Pfui.
"Bear," Rico whispered.
SOMEBODY CUMMIN',
C'MON."
He grabbed my hand, PULLING ME UP...
and we MADE TRACKS back for the trees
where I stood in his arms..
puffing and panting...
trying to do it quietly. GEEZ.
"SHHHHH. Bear?"
He whispered in my ear.
"GOTS to be VEDDY quiet Bear."
"YEH,"
I whispered back.
Thoooo not intelligent sounding,
but I didn't FEEL exactly intelligent
about now..
I felt FRIGHTENED.
As we stood leaning against a tree
peering out...which was kind of stupid
I suppose...
both of us...
huddled behind ONE tree.
ONE...and it wasn't even that big a tree...
and it was the first one in line at the edge
of the grove. Then we could hear footsteps in the brush.
"SHIT, BEAR..."
He whispered,
and then part of a human form came into view.
WHO would possibly be out here?
NOW?
TOO LATE to go anywhere else.
We would be heard and seen.
We huddled down.
Who was this?
Was it her? Them?
Looking for us?
DID THEY KNOW WE HAD ESCAPED?
I could see the legs of someone coming closer...
and closer, closer. Then,
"RICO?
BEAR?"
ALL OF A SUDDEN, there he was.
Mark from the CMU.
OH GOD.
I DIDN'T DARE YELL
but I felt like whooping.
WHOO HOO..shhh..
heheehee.
I RAN AROUND THAT TREE
RUNNING UP TO HIM...
and I
hugged the BEJEEBERS out of him.
******************************************************
"Mark?"
"YEH. DEREK!
I GOT RICO, AND BEAR.
THEY BEEN THROUGH IT DEREK.
REALLY THROUGH IT BUT,
they okay." "OG!"
Mark handed Rico the cell
but instead of Derek he got...ROSE.
"RICO?
RICO?
OH MY GOD! BABY BABY...
OH RICO, WHERE'S BEAR.
WHERE'S MAH BEAR.
(She was hollering and crying and...) BABY BABY,
OHHHH RICO BABY.
Honey? YOU OK?" and it went on like that.
"YEH YEH. AUNTIE ROSE.
WE OK. WE KOO. PLEASE...
PLEASE DON'T CRY AUNTIE ROSE!"
He handed me the phone and now
Rose started crying...BIG TIME.
A mixture of grief,
RELIEF,
happiness,
and I suspected...
a TINGE of
"OH BEAR. YOU made your Rose SOO worried and YOU are SOO TOAST."
Hehehe.
But for now she was crying at gale force.
Then I started.
Then Rico wrapped himself around me
and HE was crying
and I mean REALLY crying. All the pent-up tension, stressie, FEAR
just LET GO....
and that made ME REALLY cry,
even harder and when I looked at Mark,
and at Jeff who is another FBI agent,
behind him. By god. THEY had tears in THEIR eyes too.
A big bunch of soggy thithies we ith.
YETHY WE ITH.
"OK OK ROSE."
and I handed the phone back to Mark and just let
Rico hold me. OH GOD...
we going home...
WE GOING HOME..
W E G O I N G H O M E...
HOME to mah precious housie,
but first.
Grrrrrr.
*********************************
It was about ten minutes
before I caught sight of the hooties. Bunches and bunches of HOOTIES. Rose, Elke, Feelie, Charlotte, Tess....
hehe..well Tess don't count
in the HOOTIE department.
Marj, Peggy, and Maria. I got SMOTHERED...
just put a posie in mah folded paws.
Lol.
Rico and I got MOMMIED, almost to DEFF...and it felt THOOO good.
THOOO good,
but...there was STILL the little matter
of...grrr.
ANOTHER pair of HOOTIES.
DERANGED HOOTIES.
FRIGHTENED HOOTIES.
ON THE RUN HOOTIES.
the WURST kind of hooties.
Trust me.
*******************************
Mark and Jeff had filled Rico and I
in on what was going down...
and since it was nearly
dark by now,
it was decided to wait 'til
almost daybreak. Let them be seepies in their housie.
That housie..
THAT HOUSIE!
THE ONE WE, AND I, HAD BEEN
HEADED FOR. GOOD GRIEFUS.
I about SHIT A BRICK when I found
THAT out.
Rico looked at me. I looked at him.
"We wudda been part of
dat smoke, Bear..."
"Yeh. FURNACE FODDAH!"
GLEEP
"Hey BOO...
she mighta thot she wath seein' a GHOST." "HEHEEHEE, yeh.
She must tink we DEAD and all.
UHHHH....BOO!"
"BEARRRRRRR"
Too Early for Halloween. Drat.
"MAYBE..."
"DON'T EVEN GO DERE BEAR.
'sides I don tink these agents would let us."
"DANG IT!
Nobody lets Bears have ANY FUN any moah..."
"BEARRRRRRR!"
"YEH. Ok ok. Drat piffle,"
and that set us off again.
We was huddled and giggling, and kithies. STRESS! Yeh...dat's it. STRESS!
Giggle giggle.
OR perhaps we just IDJITS.
************************************
and Derek sent the S W A T team in
to get in position while Rico and I, and the GURLS,
all went back to the campground...
AND A HOT SHOWER and comfy beddies,
OR SO I THOUGHT. GRRR.
AFTER of course we showed them where we
had been and Frank, who wath still
just hanging around...and the other one.
NOT HAPPY they was, but...
there you have it.
*******************************
"We still got hostages in there,
Bear. Rico. We got to be VERY VERY careful. We have GOT to bring them ALL out ALIVE, AND! I WANT THAT BITCH ALIVE TOO...
put her on the SKEWER."
I knew where I wanted to put her, but...
"What happened, Derek.
What was all this about?
WHY?"
"Don't have ALL the answers yet, Bear,
and anyway. YOU need rest, and you mah fine furry Bear,
need to be LOOKED at...
and YOU TOO, RICO."
GRRR. But...dere wath NO stopping that old curmudgeon,
OR Rose, OR them udder Hooties...
hehe
and so we were whisked off
to the local veterinary clinic and checked... OUT or rather checked in. DRAT.
I just wanna go home.
PIFFLE.
"CONCUSSION. A bad one."
PFUI,
and Rico had that gunshot wound.
Infection.
PFUI.
So dere we were.
while the HOOTIES got to have
all the funzies..
PFUI PFUI PFUI...
NO FAIR.
But overnight we wath incapacitated.
BUT HEHEEHE...
we had a double room
and only one bed got mussed
hehehe.
Mussed BAD too,
but we wath good doobies...
cause I have heard dem Nurses
get ROWDY if you be NAUGHTY in their 'pital lol.
Besides. They gave us DRUGS.
Urgh and out like a light we wath,
eventually.
OUT and all snugglied.
but OUT.
PFUI.
*******************************
I MISS ALL THE FUN...
ith a conspiracy 'gainst Bears,
I surmise.
**************************************************************
SOOO, boys and girls. Rico and I
missed the action. BUT... I heard ALL ABOUT IT
and SO SHALL YOU.
**********************************
But not right now.
Dem druggies making me seepy.
Hehehe
***********************************
BOOK TWO
"THE LE MAIRE CHRONICLES"
COPYRIGHT © 2013
by
Dylan S Le Maire
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
|
TDC = THE DUSTYBEAR CHRONICLES - CH 80 BEAR TAKES A CHANCE ( 5th in the series)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment