The Scorpion's Tale (13 page)

“Aren’t you still afraid of him?” Steven
asked.

Billy smiled faintly. “No, man. I’ve got
terminal cancer so I don’t have a future. Besides, I’ve screwed up
everything I’ve touched, and I don’t give a shit about dying. If
you want to go after this psycho, good luck. I still have the
present that maniac sent me. He went to the trouble of mounting my
ear, like a bug in amber.”

Steven appeared confused. “So, is there
anything concrete you can tell me?”

“Yes,” Billy nodded, smirking. “I got a
glimpse of his face. It was very tan. His shirt was open and his
chest was white. There was a straight tan line under his chin. It
looked bizarre.”

Steven made a face. “Anything else?”

“I did see him standing next to the car for a
few seconds. He was about six feet tall.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, as he was holding the gun I stared at
his right hand that held my life in the balance. I noticed his hand
was also very tan with a large white space on his ring finger.”

“Like a wedding ring?” Steven asked.

“No. It was large and oval, more like a
college ring.”

Steven stood and collected his bag and looked
at his watch. It was almost four o’clock. Billy stood too. “Thanks
for the information, Billy,” Steven said as they shook hands.

Billy removed a piece of paper from the front
pocket of his shorts. “Here, take this with you. You’ll need
it.”

Steven inspected the paper and looked
inquisitively at Billy. “What’s this?”

Billy smiled. “Have you ever been to
Roatan?”

“No,” Steven answered. “Is that near Las
Vegas?”

Billy howled. “No man, it’s in Honduras.

“What’s Roatan got to do with me?” Steven
asked.

“That’s where you’re going next. If you want
to find the Scorpion, you’re going to have to find Joaquin Ordonez,
who is probably the one man in the world who can help you. To find
Joaquin, you’re going to have to meet Pablo Munoz first, which
means you’re going to Roatan.”

“Can’t you send me directly to Joaquin and
cut out the middleman?”

“I don’t know how to find Joaquin. You need
to go through Pablo.”

“How will I find Pablo?”

“Don’t worry. He’ll find you. I’m texting him
now.” He held up his phone to show Steven. “Everyone in Roatan
knows Pablo. Just get down there.”

Steven nodded his thanks to Billy.

“Good luck,” Billy said, as they both walked
together toward the end of the summit.

Steven looked at Billy with a puzzled
expression on his face. “Aren’t you walking back with me?”

Billy stopped and shook his head. “This is as
far as I’m going. I’m sticking around to escort the fine looking
women whenever they’re ready. They told me they’re hanging around
for the sunset, so I said I’d walk them back to their car. They
seemed appreciative. Who knows–I might get lucky.” Billy smiled as
he looked in their direction and patted his Playboy.

“Good luck with the ladies,” Steven said.

Billy nodded appreciatively. “Watch your
ass.”

Steven slipped past a large boulder, walked
past the women, and disappeared from Billy’s view.

The trek down the summit was no less
treacherous than the ascent. By the time he reached the gully,
Steven’s calves were burning and he could no longer see Billy or
the women, who were the only remaining hikers on the summit.

Steven spotted a solitary figure walking
toward him. He was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, and
sporting a dark beard. As they came within a hundred feet of one
another, Steven could see he was lean, rugged, and in excellent
physical condition. They both slowed to greet each other.

“Howdy,” the man said.

“Howdy,” Steven replied.

The hiker wiped the sweat from his brow with
the back of his hand. “Have you been to the summit?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m just returning.”

“How was the view?”

“Spectacular.”

The man nodded in agreement. “I figured it
would be. Is it crowded up there?”

“Nope,” Steven said, keeping his answers
terse, as he did not want to engage in a lengthy conversation. “I
think there are four people up there.”

“Much obliged. You have yourself a real fine
day.” The hiker touched the brim of his baseball cap. Steven
watched him walk past, and continued watching him for twenty yards.
The hiker walked at an even pace, never looking back.

When Steven reached the trailhead, Harry was
sitting in the shade of a large, striped beach umbrella, sipping a
tall glass of iced tea. The umbrella could not have been more out
of place in this rugged desert setting. Harry had a collapsible
folding table set up in its shade. There was another glass on the
table next to a big pitcher of iced tea and an unoccupied folding
chair next to Harry, which both beckoned to Steven.

Harry motioned toward the empty seat. “Come
refresh yourself in my oasis!”

Steven tried hard not to laugh, but it was
impossible. He settled comfortably into the chair and accepted a
tall glass of the cold, refreshing iced tea.

“Hope you like it,” Harry said. “It’s sweet
tea, southern style. I made it myself.”

The cold liquid chilled Steven’s throat.
“Absolutely delicious. That certainly hit the spot.”

“Hey, it’s the least I could do. You’re
paying me by the hour for sitting on my ass, and I felt guilty
about it! How was your hike?” Harry asked.

“Beautiful. It was everything the brochure
said it would be and more. It definitely was harder than expected,
but the view was worth every minute of hardship.”

Steven sat with his eyes closed, savoring the
moment.

“Meet anyone interesting?” Harry asked.

Steven cocked his head toward Harry and gave
him a questioning look with one open eye. “I said hello to a few
hikers, but I didn’t make any friends.” He took another deep sip of
tea and swallowed hard. “Why’d you ask?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “No
reason.”

Steven heaved a sigh. His thoughts were
beginning to wander. His next task was to research Roatan on the
Internet. Come to think of it, Steven couldn’t even place Honduras
on a map. He wondered if it was near Argentina, the only South
American country that he knew about, thanks to an eighth grade
research project.

---------------

The solitary hiker approached the three women
on the summit and introduced himself with a friendly grin. “Good
afternoon, ladies. Are you having a wonderful time out here?”

The women smiled politely at the man with the
baseball cap and glasses, but said nothing.

The hiker continued, undaunted. “My name is
Pete, Pete Tana,” he said in a heavy southern drawl. “I am a
part-time guide for the park.”

The young women continued staring blankly at
him, obviously uninterested in his company. Their apathy didn’t
faze him in the least.

“Today is my day off, but I love this place
so much, that when we have a perfect day like this, I still come up
here.”

The women finally managed a smile and
unenthusiastically introduced themselves.

Pete moved closer to the edge of the peak,
where the women were sipping their wine on their blanket. “If y’all
are ready to head back to the trailhead, I can point out a route
that might be a little easier for you on the descent.”

The woman sitting closest to him smiled and
finished her wine. “Actually Pete, we were planning to stay and
watch the sunset.”

Pete looked into the distance as he spoke to
her. “Miss, I hope you will not mind me saying so, but I think that
is a bad idea. It gets extremely cold after sunset and you are not
properly attired. Second, coyotes come out at night. There are even
a few cougars that hunt here. But mostly, there are some awful
weird people after dark. I would feel pretty darn lousy if
something happened to you pretty young things on my watch.” Pete
smiled earnestly at the women, who looked back blankly. “I would be
happy to help you gather your gear, and as I said, I will show you
the easiest path. I am going to spend a few minutes cleaning up the
area and then I will make sure you return safely to your cars. How
does that sound?”

The young woman furthest from Pete reached
into her backpack and withdrew an open bottle of white wine and
poured three glasses. As she reached for a fourth glass, Pete
suddenly noticed the butt of a gun in the backpack. He also saw her
guidebook, written in Italian, and a necklace around her neck
bearing a pendant that contained the cursive lettering “CPH”.

“Come join us for some wine, Pete, while we
consider your offer.”

“No thank you, ma’am,” Pete said. “I never
imbibe on the summit. I want my senses sharp, and I get high on the
view. But I really must insist that you get going down the trail.
You can finish your wine at the trailhead.”

The ladies could see Pete was all business.
The young woman in the middle of the blanket frowned at him as she
sipped her wine. “We’re big girls, Pete. We came up here to see the
sunset, and that’s what we’re going to do. Besides, we already have
an offer to walk us down, from a gentleman on the other side of the
summit.” She pointed past a formation of rocks about thirty feet
away. “We just need to get him when we’re ready to go. You don’t
have to worry about us. We’ll be fine.”

The other two women nodded their heads in
agreement and the one pouring the wine placed the unused glass in
her backpack. Pete noticed she kept her hand inside, near the
weapon. “Pete, I really don’t believe you own this park, so why
don’t you finish your ranger work and leave! We’ll be fine.”

In perfect Italian Pete said: “I apologize
for the intrusion.” One of the girls responded in Italian and then
cut herself short.

Pete groaned loudly and looked down at the
blanket despondently. He said in Italian: “I was hoping you would
not understand me.” As the words left his lips he withdrew a
Beretta M-9 equipped with a silencer, and fired a single shot into
each of their heads before they could react. He walked over and
shot each of them again to ensure they were dead. He rifled through
their bags and collected their identification, finding several
passports for each. Behind the woman who did the talking, he found
a miniature hi-tech transmission system, which he also collected.
He removed the necklaces each wore underneath their blouses, which
had betrayed their true identities. Finally, he took the parabolic
antennae they were using to eavesdrop on a nearby conversation.
“Amateurs,” he thought. He stuffed the items into his backpack and
made his way to the other side of the peak. As he walked he
returned the Beretta to his backpack and withdrew a different gun.
He slung the pack over his shoulder and soon spotted Billy
Veeksburn, dozing on a blanket nearby.

“Pete” sat on a flat rock, a few feet away
from the slumbering private investigator. He picked up a few small
stones and threw them at Billy, one of which hit him directly on
the head.

Billy sprang off the blanket, cursing. “What
the hell!” Billy had fallen into a deep sleep and was a bit
lightheaded. He sat up and noticed the man sitting on the rock.

Billy sat still, attempting to focus his
eyes. ”Did you throw that damned rock at me, dude?”

“I certainly did, William,” the man
replied.

Billy squinted and put on his prescription
sunglasses, taking a harder look at him. “Do I know you?” he
asked.

The man chuckled. Billy noticed he was
holding something off to the right side of his body, and started to
stand to get a better look at what he was concealing.

The man abruptly raised the gun. “I would
prefer you sit down, William. I will only take a few minutes of
your precious time, since I know you do not have much time left. By
the way, how is the ear? Do you still have my trophy?” He grinned
as the color drained from Billy’s face. “I would hate to think it
had lost its sentimental value over the years.”

Billy slowly sat down. He had carelessly left
his guns in his zippered backpack, which lay out of his reach. He
glanced longingly at the bag, knowing he could never retrieve it
fast enough. It might as well have been back in Vegas.

The man with the baseball cap sensed Billy’s
thoughts. “Block it from your mind, William. You will not get near
your armaments.”

“How the hell did you know I’d be here?”
Billy groaned.

The Scorpion shrugged his shoulders. “You
already know from past experience that I am omniscient!”

Billy remained quiet and looked out over the
valley. Not a bad place to die, he thought. The Scorpion had
allowed Billy to get close one time and live. Now he needed to make
his final peace with the Lord. He sighed deeply. “Well, I guess if
I’m gonna meet my maker, it may as well be right here.”

“You truly are amusing, William. I will grant
you it is a lovely view, but over-rated. I have seen far better.
Besides, I would not be inclined to believe you are heading in that
direction.” He chuckled as he pointed up to the sky. “I have no
doubt you will be taking the express lift to the cellar, you poor
old sod!”

Billy continued staring into the distance,
contemplating the things he had planned to do with the rest of his
short life. He thought of his two black Labradors, faithfully
waiting in the yard for him. No loving wife. No adoring children.
Just two old dogs who’d probably starve to death without their
master.

“William–I trust you had a nice meeting with
Mr. Capresi?”

Billy nodded, reluctantly coming back to
reality. “It’s Billy, not William, if you don’t mind. And yes, he’s
a good guy.” He looked up at his assailant. “I did what you told me
to do when you took my ear. Why show yourself to me?”

The Scorpion smiled. “I hope I have not
disappointed you, William.”