Killer Be Killed Read online

  Roslyn surveyed their options in an instant. She felt Hattie do the same.

  One more Red Scarf stepped out from behind the flapping laundry.

  “She send you to keep tabs on us?” Roslyn asked.

  “More’n that,” Purple Scarf said. Internally she fell, plunging into an icy river. This was how you die, said the mole in his darkest of voices.

  “Fred,” Purple said to a bald brute with hoop earrings. “You have a stun feature on your gun?”

  “No, Ed, I do not,” Fred said.

  “What about you, Ned?” asked Ed, the Purple Scarf.

  “Nope,” answered Ned.

  “Tie ‘em up and we’ll take ‘em back to boss lady,” Ed said motioning for Ned and Fred. “We’ll find those diamonds after all.”

  A swoosh was followed by a scream. Claws extended, Puff swooped down and latched onto Ned’s chest and shoulders, wrapping his tail around the man’s neck. With a squawk, Puff tore his spiny break into the man’s eyeball and ripped it out. Ned screamed even louder and spun around in circles trying to get free. Hattie dove and Roslyn spun and drew. Roslyn aimed for Ed’s purple scarf. Her shot hit him in the throat and he fell back off his feet. With a thick splash his head landed in a mud puddle.

  Hattie rolled and barely missed a laser blast from Fred. She twirled and slapped him beside the head with the sword. He dropped and fell face first.

  That left one Red Scarf holding up his hands in surrender. He took a couple of steps toward Roslyn. She should have caught it, but she was too busy relishing in the quick victory. He caught her with an upper cut in the chin. Her teeth snapped together and she joined Ed in the mud puddle. Two more Red Scarves joined the fight and Hattie was captured.

  Roslyn awoke in a hotel room. The room tilted and swooned and everything took on a hew of grey. The lights were too bright, but it was just the sun coming in golden bars across the Da’akwood floor. She wasn’t alone, there were many faces staring at her. It took her a moment to recognize the significance of the red scarves.

  Star pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. “How we feeling, Roslyn?”

  “You really think you’ll get away with this?” Roslyn asked. “Where’s Hattie? Where’s Puff?”

  “We’ll get to that, don’t worry,” Star said, fluttering her eyelashes.

  “If you’ve hurt either one of them,” Roslyn said through gritted teeth. “I swear to the Birds, I will kill you.”

  “Wow,” Star said, nodding impressed. “Religion only goes so far, huh.”

  “They’re going to come looking for me,” Roslyn said.

  “I know,” Star said, with a goofy grin. “I count on it.”

  “If they come in force? Seriously? The reds are going to stop Dogg, Wyatt, T – Brown and Drago?” Roslyn held up her hands.

  “This isn’t a tent. It was built the way it was for a reason,” Star said with a wink. “You see, dear, it’s come down to the hard fact that you simply cannot be allowed to live.”

  “You’d need an army to beat us,” said Roslyn.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you. I’ve got more coming,” Star said with a smug leer. “Thanks to the diamonds you stole from me, which I took back.”

  “Are they all going to have names that end in Ed?” Roslyn asked.

  “Those aren’t their real names, silly child. You ask too many questions, girl,” Star said and stood. She straightened her shirt and jacket and left the room.

  Roslyn sunk her head back into the pillow and closed her eyes.

  When she opened them next, the golden bars had climbed the far wall. She tried to sit, but her arms wouldn’t move; neither would her legs. She was bound to the bed.

  Her mouth cracked open, like peeling back cobwebs. Her head ached slightly behind her eyes. The things she agreed to do for a glass of cold water made her blush.

  A sick and frantic feeling welled beneath her ribs, pushing her heart into her throat. Was Puff dead? She reasoned that as long as she was alive, Hattie would be as well. But Puff had plucked out one of their eyes. They shot dogs for less back on Earth. Sorrow bled into rage. She checked her wrist shackles for slack. The Da’akvine tightened with her struggle. They were already on pretty tight. A bitter acid oozed up her throat and coated her back teeth in bile.

  The mole had been right for once. Or had it been right all along? She got wrapped up in its whirlwind. She’d lost. Surely Talbert would save them. But the consummation of that felt eons away, if not improbable. Today is a good day to die, she remembered hearing somewhere. No it wasn’t! Today was a horrible day to die. She yanked her legs for slack but they tightened by the movement.

  Where those footsteps? Someone was coming. She decided to play at being still unconscious. Her eyes closed just as the door opened. The sound of shuffling and walking in boots moved across the room.

  “Roslyn,” said Star rather loudly. She couldn’t help but give a start and open her eyes.

  “Good, you’re awake,” Star smiled.

  “We had a deal,” Roslyn said. “Where’s my dragon, and don’t tell me you scared it off again.”

  “Didn’t I tell you? I like that dragon,” Star said, pulling the chair back up to the bed. She was alone now. No scarves. “You’ll be happy to know, Roslyn, your Peter got away.”

  “Puff,” Roslyn corrected. She tried to gage whether she was lying or not. Why would she lie?

  “Happy now?” Star smiled.

  “And Hattie?”

  “Oh, she’s in the next room. Pretty much in the same predicament. Only Ted’s taken a liking to her and keeps finding reasons to adjust her blanket or pillow. He’s getting bolder with each pass,” Star said.

  “And you allow him to do that?” Roslyn asked. “You have no respect for women?”

  “Of course I don’t allow it,” Star snapped. “It’s why he hasn’t raped her many times over. But he’s sure enjoying pulling up that blanket. Don’t worry, I warned him.”

  “So this is the kind of person you are?” Roslyn asked. “To think, I admired you once.”

  “It’s funny,” Star said, her expression shifting gears. “I see something in you, as well.”

  “Oh, Elvis Christ,” Roslyn said moaning.

  “What? It’s true. You’re reckless and stupid, but you got what most men don’t have out here, you got balls, kid,” Star said with a sad look in her eye.

  “Gee, thanks,” Roslyn said, staring up at the ceiling.

  “Why don’t you come work for me?” Star said and leaned back in the chair to give her space to think. “Be my protégé.”

  “What?” Roslyn said. “This is how you recruit people?”

  Star laughed. “If I untie you, will you accept my offer?”

  “Are you ape shit crazy?” Roslyn said. “Don’t answer that.”

  “You’re just still pretty green, that’s all,” Star said. “To survive out here, you have to be this way. Especially as a woman. I’m sorry, as much of an equalizer a gun is, we’re still vulnerable.”

  Roslyn felt very much confused. This woman was a master manipulator. Or did she really mean what she was saying, which felt pretty damn reasonable. It was an odd sensation, like petting the dragon for the first time.

  “Now all you have to do to have the job is to show me your loyalty,” Star said, holding a knife to cut the Da’akvine. “Tell me where those diamonds are.”

  Roslyn released air through her nose as a form of laughter. “Then I guess I’m not the right gal for the job.”

  “You will be paid very well as my right hand,” Roslyn said.

  “How about we make those diamonds my signing bonus?” Roslyn suggested. Star tilted her head and considered her.

  “Maybe you’re right, Roslyn,” Star said with a sad dip to her voice. “Maybe you’re not the right gal after all.”

  Star stood, brushed off her long, silky skirt and strode in heels to the door. She opened it and Ed, Ned, Ted, Fred and Zed entered the room.

  Zed, the last Red S
carf to enter, carried a leather pouch that he unrolled on the nightstand. It was full of tools.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Roslyn knew instantly that they didn’t plan on renovating the room. The renovations were going to be on her. How long would it take them to find the diamonds? But would that even be enough to stop them from doing permanent damage? No doubt, Star would want to make an example out of her.

  Ned wore a patch over his eye. He still had dried blood all down his cheek and shirt. Did they have a supply of patches handy? But that wasn’t her prime concern. The mole was hosting a family picnic and all his nasty cousins had arrived, drunk and rowdy and full of dread. She’d give up those diamonds now, if she thought it would do her any good. But no. The mole explained it very precisely. Would they really hang her body parts from pikes in the street? She wondered.

  How much of this was her fault? She couldn’t think about that right now. Zed ran his finger along the row of sharp items in various shapes and forms.

  “Name the job, Mistress,” Zed said, favoring a metal pick.

  “No, something blunt,” Star said. “We’ll hobble her.”

  Purple Scarf Ed nodded and grinned slowly. The bottom of his face was dark in stubbled shadow.

  “What do you need from me?” Roslyn heard her voice say aloud. Was there a whimper? Yes, said the mole. No there wasn’t, countered Roslyn.

  Zed methodically strode to the fireplace and fetched a celery log. Motioning at Ted to untie her left leg while he untied the right.

  “I’m serious,” Roslyn said. “I’m sure we can talk about this.”

  “Okay,” Star said, stoically. “Where are your diamonds?”

  “You took our diamonds, remember?” Roslyn said.

  “The truck load you stole from me,” Star said, shaking her head. “I won’t ask again.”

  Roslyn closed her eyes. Shut up, you pesky mole!

  Once free, her legs instinctively wanted to kick. But she suddenly thought of Hattie in the nearby room. They’d kill her next. Right after they killed Roslyn. She could feel all of them, frozen, waiting on what she would or would not say next.

  She felt the hard, slimy log against her ankles. Opening her eyes she watched Ted tie her legs together with the log between the ankles.

  Zed left the room.

  Star stepped forward and slapped Roslyn hard across the face. Roslyn stared up at her defiantly. Star slapped her again. Roslyn spat and stared. The pain only angered and stiffened her.

  Zed entered dragging a mallet behind him. Roslyn’s insides broke. She’d tell them anything. She knew she couldn’t bare this. This would ruin her. She’d never fight again. She’d hobble back to Earth or Shiva and beg for sanctuary.

  Star stepped back and nodded to Zed. He lifted the heavy mallet with two hands.

  “Fuck you!” Roslyn screamed.

  Then it came. It was so blinding that she hardly felt it after the initial crack. Whiteness and then redness filled her eyes. But then it came, the pain. It shot up like lava from her leg to her heart and through her very ghost. All that she’d lost came slithering up behind the initial damage report. Oh God, it was not good. She tried to scream but something kept her from it. She couldn’t hold back the water dripping from her eyes, though. Suddenly her nose was very runny. Her mouth filled with thick mucus. Her guts rumbled and fell. The dull ache had begun to throb and grow steadily in intensity. She tried to glance at her ankle but couldn’t quite lift her head far enough to see. Her bound arms wouldn’t let her lean forward. She barely had the strength to move at all. She could feel that it was not where it was meant to be. It was twisted and dangling, held together only by skin. She clutched onto the shackles; her knuckles white. She fought the sparkling dots not to pass out. But then a voice told her that it would be the best for her if she did.

  “I’ll tell you,” Roslyn spat, mucus flying like a bulldog,

  Star stepped forward, looking bemused and triumphant.

  “It’s right between…” Roslyn spat again and yelled, “Fuck and You!” Then it all went black.

  *

  Talbert

  Talbert finished his hundredth pushup slowly. His arms shook and sweat fell into the dirt from his forehead. His hands were caked in sparkling dirt. A voice whispered in his ear that he shouldn’t have let the girls go out alone. They were quite capable of fending for themselves, but not against seven mercenaries, well trained, angry and thirsty for revenge. In his defense he’d been asleep when the girls left. They left a note but there was no time on it. The pushups served to clear his mind.

  A squawk preceded the door flap rustling as Puff swooped into the tent. Perched on Roslyn’s cot, he stomped up and down while furrowing his wings and squawking loudly.

  “What’s wrong?” Talbert asked, standing. He cleaned his hands in the bucket and threw on a shirt and his gun. Puff lead him to the alley the girls were jumped.

  There were blood spots in the dirt. Talbert searched the ground for more clues. A scuffle definitely took place there. Talbert looked at Puff, perched on a post.

  “Does this blood belong to one of the girls? Hattie or Roslyn?” Talbert asked, feeling almost silly but desperate.

  Puff shook his head violently from side to side.

  “Well, shit,” Talbert grinned, amazed at the dragon. “Where are they? I’m guessing Star Belly did this?”

  Puff nodded and flew up into the air. A laser bolt shot past his wing. Talbert spun and saw a bearded man aiming his shotgun at Puff. “Them’s good eatin’!”

  Talbert strode toward the man, drew and shot him between the eyes. As the man fell over stunned, Talbert kicked him in the ribs. He felt them give.

  He followed Puff toward Star’s hotel. They stopped at the parking garage. Peeking around the corner, Talbert counted three Red Scarves patrolling the neighborhood.

  “Where do they have the girls?” Talbert asked. Puff took flight, but Talbert grabbed his ankle. Puff tumbled but managed to land on his arm.

  “They’ll see you. I’m sure they’re looking for you too,” Talbert said. “Let me just ask you, have you scouted this place out yet?”

  Puff shook his head no.

  “Okay,” Talbert said, peeking again at the hotel. “You came straight to me when they nabbed them, then?”

  Puff nodded.

  “Good. That’s good,” Talbert said, thinking. “They’ll be on the second floor.”

  Talbert grunted and switched his gun from stun to kill. “This has to end in blood. No other way around that fact.”

  Talbert went to see Wyatt and Drago first.

  “I’m done stunning these mother fuckers,” Talbert said, looking at Wyatt. He never once looked at Drago. “Bring Bubba here along, we can always use the extra body. He makes a good shield.”

  “Fuck off,” Drago said. But he swallowed and blinked when Talbert turned those deadly steel peepers at him. “I don’t get what your problem is with me, man.”

  “Didn’t you start this?” Talbert said finally, after a long stare down.

  “I was doing my job,” Drago said. “You had no problem forgiving Wyatt for doing his job. There’s more to it than that.”

  “Like what?” Talbert asked.

  “Like maybe you’re jealous of me and Roslyn?” Drago said.

  Talbert scoffed and shook his head. “You think that’s it, huh?” That thought was far from true. He loved Hattie. Right?

  Wyatt had finished charging his pistols and nodded that he was good to go. Drago strapped on his holster and gun and snatched a jacket.

  “We should go fetch Dogg and Grace,” Wyatt said on his way out of the door flap.

  “Of course,” Talbert said. “I just came to get you first in case you needed to be persuaded. I know Dogg is always up for a fight.”

  *

  “I swear, Mr. Brown,” Dogg said, standing in his door way in a nightshirt and socks. Luckily it was just long enough. “I cannot get a day’s respite with you people compulsively finding t
rouble.”

  “You wanna sit this one out, Dogg?” Talbert asked. “I’d understand.”

  “Hell no. Why would you suggest such a thing?” Dogg acted insulted.

  “Well, I just thought,” Talbert began.

  “I’ll come on one condition,” Dogg said, fishing his pants off of the back of a chair.

  “Okay?” Talbert said cocking his head.

  “We play for keeps this time,” Dogg said. “No more of this stun bullshit.”

  Talbert showed him his pistol. It was set to kill. Dogg’s thin pale lips spread and curled. He coughed and cleared his throat.

  Dogg knocked on the bathroom door. “Looks like our dear friends have gotten themselves into another pickle, darling. They need us to kill some folks with them.”

  “Okay,” Grace’s muffled voice came from within. The door flung open. She stood in a long silky robe, her hair fussed like a rat’s nest and her eyeliner ran down her cheeks like she’d been crying. She didn’t look upset though, just the opposite.

  “Is time to fix my hair, or no?” Grace asked.

  “Well, do hurry, darling,” Dogg said, buttoning up his freshly pressed shirt. He then covered this in a red velvet vest, followed by a black sports jacket. He struck a dandy figure, until he strapped on his nickel-plated guns. Now he looked dangerously dapper.

  As they marched toward the other hotel in town, they debated strategy.

  “May I suggest, we simply kick in the doors and end all of this horseplay on the spot,” Dogg offered.

  “They’ll hold a gun to Hattie’s head and then what?” Talbert said.

  “Or Roslyn,” Drago added. “I’m out when they do that. And they will do that.”

  “We need to figure out which room or rooms they have them in,” Wyatt said.

  “Do they keep a ledger?” Talbert asked. Wyatt nodded.

  “Can you gain access to it?” asked Talbert.

  “It’s on their computer. There’s no way to hack it because obviously there’s no network, because there’s no web here,” Wyatt said.