Tuck's Revenge (2 page)

“Son, couldn’t be more proud of you,” his
father said to him in his ear as they were saying goodbye. Jack
leaned back and smiled at his father, he was the type of man Jack
wanted to become, a good man with a family who worked hard. This
was his first step in making that happen. The men were like mirror
images of each other, both tall, over six foot, both with broad
shoulders from working on the farm, and both were handsome as all
git out; at least that is what his mother said repeatedly.

“Thanks, Dad,” Jack muttered and then held
his father’s eyes. “Couldn’t be more prouder of you either.”

They had a solid relationship, none of the
rebellious crap some teens went through, and besides, his father
never would have stood for it. He was hard but fair, and Jack loved
him with everything in him.

“My boy,” Haley Tucker said with tears in her
eyes. His mother was the picture perfect version of a Texas woman.
Soft and loving, she wore denim jeans and a checker shirt just like
every other day Jack could remember. But it was her long blond hair
that always caught everyone’s attention, it was the color of wheat,
and always pulled back into a ponytail, it didn’t matter, she
looked like a Prom Queen anyway.

“Ma,” Jack muttered and took her into his
arms, yeah he had to bend over, just like his dad, but it was worth
it to smell her shampoo one last time.

“Now,” his mother whispered, “know you can’t
be writing every other second to let your mama know you are safe,
but lie to me and tell me you are gonna write every second you are
free to humor me.”

Jack grinned and leaned back. “Course I will,
you are my girl, aren’t ya?”

His sister made a noise and he turned. She
looked just like their momma, petite, blond hair, and wholesome. “I
thought I was your favorite?” she sniffed.

Jack laughed and pulled her to his side and
looked down at both women who meant more to him that anyone in the
world. “You both are, no one will ever be as good as you.”

“Well,” Haley sniffed. “Your future wife may
have something to say about that.”

It was a battle for his mother. He was
growing up too fast, and he knew it since she said it time and time
again. She had tried to convince him to stay at home and find a
nice young woman to settle down with instead of joining the Army.
He had declined, he wasn’t ready to settle down. She should have
known it since during high school he was popular with the girls.
Day and night they called, and his mother would roll her eyes
calling him the Casanova of the school. None perfect though, his
mom told him to settle for nothing less and he reminded her of that
when he signed up.

“There ain’t no one here who is perfect for
me. I need someone like my ma.” He always teased and Haley still
would beam her smile and nod every single time.

“Besides, when I find her I will make sure
she knows about my mom and sister and how important they are.
Nothing is gonna change that.” Jack laughed and kissed both of them
goodbye. He didn’t realize how much was going to change when he
left, or he would have done something—anything different.

When Vietnam had started and Jack being Jack,
and his father’s son, he felt a sense of responsibility to help
defend his country. So did his best friend, Steven. The two did
everything together and truthfully, Jack couldn’t remember a time
when they were not best friends. Hell, Steven could have been his
brother since his parents were lowlife scum who didn’t care where
he was half the time. Steven spent more time at his home than any
place else. Stood to reason why the two enlisted together. So Jack
turned to see his father speaking quietly to Steven who was also
nodding.

“You too, you make something of yourself,
they have no part in your future,” his father said and then slapped
Steven on the shoulder. His mom and sister tearfully hugged his
best friend as well and then they were off.

The Army was hard, and they didn’t give a
fucking rat’s ass the two boys had grown up together and they
separated them into different squadrons. But Jack being Jack made
sure his best friend knew where he was and he kept track of his
best friend too. So after only being in the military for a year,
and during that time seeing the worst of humanity in the Vietnam
War, stood to reason that when he heard his friend was MIA he had
completely lost it. He went off the deep end and became the killer
the US Army was paying for. His father and mother wouldn’t know
anything about this since he’d stopped writing. They only knew
their boy had suffered a loss.

It had been a little more than eight years
since Jack Jr. had been home, and there were several glaring
changes since he'd been gone. On the bus ride home, he noticed the
change in the landscape that used to be familiar, now among the
familiar were new things like supermarkets where farms used to be,
parking lots where pastures lay, and houses were built where the
old motorcycle trails used to be, and where he and Steven learned
to ride their dirt bikes.

His homecoming was tearful with his parents
and Tuck knew he had a lot to account for, he had fallen out of
touch with them, mostly because he didn’t want them to know the
kind of man he had turned into, one hell bent on killing the
bastards who took his best friend.

“My boy,” Haley cried when he stepped off the
bus. They had known he was coming home and of course they had met
him, they were the first people he saw when the bus pulled to a
halt. Jack dropped his bags and for the first time in eight years,
he felt his mom’s arms wrap around him. He instantly buried his
head into her neck and sniffed, the scent of her shampoo had not
changed, home—she smelled of home. Fuck, he was not the same man,
but for the first time in a long time, he wanted to be.

His father hung back. Jack knew why, he was
studying him. He looked to see his father’s sharp gaze look over
every inch of him. He was different, bigger, more muscular, and
harder, the lines in his face were the key and his father took in
every inch of it. He was a man now, but that didn’t mean he didn’t
want his father’s approval. He did, he needed it. With a nod, his
father walked toward him and grabbed his arm, pulling him into a
hug.

“You are a man now, and no matter what
happened you are still our son.” His father whispered into his ear,
“We will make it through.”

His father had known, the years of fighting
and the toll they had, and Jack relaxed in his father’s arms and
let him take the weight of the last eight years off him. The
killing, the death, everything that scored a mark on his soul was
lifted; all because his father, in his few short words, accepted
the change and hardness in him now.

“Where is Liz?” Jack muttered and his father
froze.
Well shit, something else that had changed he didn’t know
about
.

“We will discuss it later, your ma has made a
nice big welcome home meal and we ain’t spoiling it,” his father
growled and then slapped him on the shoulder again. “Let’s get you
home.” Together, with his mom on one side and his dad on the other,
they went home, right where he had hoped he would finally find
peace. Instead, it was the last thing he would find.

During the next two days he had been busy
getting his stuff sorted and receiving guests from the town who
welcomed him back. His mother had cooked up a storm the whole time,
making all of his favorites from his youth to show how much she
missed him, and whenever the subject of his sister came up,
everyone avoided it. Finally, he got his dad alone.

“Come on, Dad, tell me,” Jack had insisted
without hesitation, his father knew what he was talking about even
though he had walked into the barn and said those words without a
greeting.

Jack Sr. sighed and picked up his pitchfork
and stuck it into some hay and moved it to the horses stall.
“Nothing good gonna come outta this,” he muttered and his dad had
been right, but it still had to be said even it had not been any of
their fault.

Jack’s father told him Elizabeth had gotten
married over five years before, and was living about ten miles from
there. Jack Jr. was eager to go see her, and asked his dad to take
him. But Jack Sr. fell sort of silent, and was reluctant to take
him there. Finally he divulged the reason for his reluctance, and
explained to Jack Jr. Elizabeth unknowingly married a man that
turned out to be domineering, and it was rumored he had hit her in
the past. Elizabeth asked Jack and Haley to stay away and not
interfere with the relationship because it just enflamed the
situation. So it had been nearly two years since they’d seen
her.

“You gotta be shitting me!” Jack snapped.
“Liz don’t put up with that shit.”

“Boy, she did,” Jack Sr. said slowly. “Been
down there ten times or more trying to get her to see reason, she
just won’t. Your mother has been beside herself for years, and so
has everyone else in town. All of us tried to help her but it just
doesn’t work. Saw a counselor, said if Liz don’t want help she
ain’t gonna take it. We have to wait.”

“Bullshit,” Jack muttered. “I don’t have to
wait for nothing. No one is gonna do that to my sister.”

“Listen, boy, you need to give it time, she
will hear you are back. Maybe she will come here. You don’t want to
go there, that sonofabitch is mean, and he will take it out on our
girl.”

Jack agreed to wait, he needed to get his
shit together and figure out what he was going to do in the future.
His father had already told him the property next to theirs was for
sale, and Jack was already considering putting in an offer. He
needed peace, and maybe this was where he could get it.

It took three weeks for his patience to run
out and when it did, Jack saw firsthand what the fuck his father
was talking about and it pissed him off.

Jack Jr. called out several times, but nobody
answered or came out, so he honked his horn, and tried to rouse
anyone who might be inside. Between the horn and the dog barking,
it managed to bring someone to the door.

The front door swung open, and out stepped a
man about six foot four and weighing at least three hundred pounds.
He looked dirty and it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few weeks.
He sort of reminded Jack Jr. of himself when he first came out of
the jungle in Vietnam, and when he spoke, Jack Jr. knew right off
he wasn't going to like the bastard.

"I'm looking for my sister, Elizabeth."

The guy got a shit eatin' grin on his face,
"You must be little brother Jack?”

Jack Jr. kept his composure. "That's right,
where is she?”

"She's in the house cooking my dinner right
now."

At that point, Jack Jr.’s composure abruptly
ended. "Well, you look like you could miss a meal or two, and I
want to see my sister, so why don't you call for her, or better
yet, go tell her I'm here."

The guy stepped off the porch, the
shit-eatin’ grin gone, and walked toward Jack Jr. But before he
could reach Jack, Elizabeth barreled out the door, jumped off the
porch, and ran to Jack Jr.

“How long have you been home?” she asked and
smiled.

“Just a few days. I went to mom and dad’s and
they told me where you were living.”

Elizabeth’s husband walked up and interjected
himself into the conversation. In a smartass tone, “I’m your
brother-in-law, Roy.”

Jack Jr. reluctantly shook hands with his new
brother-in-law, and in an attempt to have a test of strength, Roy
clenched his hand.

"Were you in Vietnam?” All the while, he
continued to squeeze Jack Jr.’s hand tighter.

"Yeah, was there for eight years. I don't
guess you went, did you?"

Roy glared at Jack Jr. when he asked, "What
makes you think I didn't go?"

Jack Jr. replied, "You just seem a bit weak
and soft around the middle, that's all."

Roy quickly jerked his hand out of Jack Jr.’s
and with an angry tone told Elizabeth to go check dinner.

Elizabeth looked back and forth between Roy
and Jack Jr. “Dinner is done and sitting on the stove. Why don’t
you go in and eat while I sit and talk to my brother.”

Roy started to say something when Jack Jr.
interrupted and glared at Roy. “Sounds like a good idea. Why don’t
you go eat while I talk to my sister.”

Visibly angry, Roy turned around, walked back
into the house, and slammed the door.

Jack Jr. looked at Elizabeth, and she looked
back at him, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Before
you say anything, I am in a bad situation, but it’s something I
have to work my way through, so please don’t get in the middle of
it.

They stood silent for what seemed like hours
as Jack Jr. started at his sister. “Why the hell have you not been
over to see Mom and Dad in so long?”

“We don’t have a running vehicle, and Roy
isn’t working at the moment. Besides, Roy and Dad don’t get
along.”

"Mom and Dad said you had some kids now, and
Mom wants to see them, and I'd actually like to meet them."

Elizabeth got a sad look on her face, “The
welfare people came and took the kids away from us almost a year
ago, and I was ashamed to tell Dad and Mom.”

“Where did they take them to?” Jack Jr.
asked, his stare had turned distant and dark.

“Roy’s parents,” Elizabeth said, visibly
becoming upset at having to tell Jack that information and knowing
he’d tell their parents.

Jack Jr. didn't want to press the issue any
further until she was ready to talk more about it. “Well, guess I
better go. Anything you need me to do for you?”

"Just be there when I need you. I'm glad
you're back home, now I can go forward with what I've needed to do
for a longtime, knowing you are here for me."

Jack Jr. assured her he would be there
whenever, for whatever, at any time day or night. Then he climbed
in the pickup and drove away, without an ounce of knowledge on what
he would eventually face.