Wanted (21 page)

Carl walked through the town nodding at the occasional person he came close enough to. Edland had grown since he’d first started coming here to trade. It was far and between, but more and more people kept showing up and staking a claim. Some wanted to try out ranching, others farming, others had their own idea of business in mind.

It was one of those that Carl ran into by accident. He had meant to cross the street first, but soon found himself fending off the solicitous invitations of several scantily clad women that worked at The Oasis. The Oasis was part bar, part restaurant, and eight parts whorehouse. He extricated himself from them carefully, trying not to lash out angrily or draw too much attention to himself. He knew the owner, Tara Redmon, and was hoping to not be identified just yet.

A few buildings up Carl managed to slip into the Edland General Store, run by another acquaintance of his, a black man named Clarence Mills. Clarence had been a Marine in Iraq who a younger Carl had stricken up an odd friendship with. When they went their separate ways they tried to keep in touch, but contact became less and less frequent.

“
Hey,” Carl said when the former Marine looked up at him and let the toothpick he had been chewing on drop from his mouth. “What’s going on?”

“
Shit!” Clarence swore, hopping up from his stool and moving his considerable bulk around the counter to hurry and look outside. Carl watched him, curious. He looked outside as well, then turned to raise an eyebrow questioningly.

“
Word’s gone out,” Clarence told him. “You’re a wanted man bud. King Eddie says you’ve got some kids you kidnapped.”

Carl swore. “King Eddie is full of shit,” he grumbled. “That why the guard took my guns at the gate?”

Clarence shook his head. “Naw, they’s doing that to everybody these days. Safety for the people or something. Horse-shit, if you ask me.”

Carl nodded. He’d have made a stink about it if it mattered, but he had another pistol tucked in the small of his back and he felt confident he could do more with his knife than any of Eddie’s men could do with a brigade of infantry. “Some other guy’s behind this,” Clarence added. “I didn’t catch who, but he came in on a helicopter that landed over near the stables.”

The stables were where Eddie’s son, Mickey, kept the horses the town used for patrols and for work. The other barn was set up only a little different – it held the people Eddie was selling as slaves. Seemed to be a growing business too, being a slaver.

“
Eddie’s goons bring in a girl and a kid the other day?” Carl asked, having heard enough.

Clarence nodded. “Yeah, they showed up. King Eddie’s got her tied to his ankle. Ain’t seen the boy though – might be Eddie tossed him in the stables. Hey… those ain’t the kids they say you took, are they?”

Carl gave the store owner an expressionless stare. Clarence held up his hands and shrugged. “Okay man, whatever. Look, a man’s gotta make a living. Ain’t much I can do for you but I ain’t gonna sell you out. You know me better than that!”

Carl smiled. “Yeah, but that don’t mean what you don’t know can’t be used against you. Sounds like I need to go have a talk with Eddie.”

“
You go in there you ain’t coming back out. Not unless it’s feet first, that is,” Clarence warned.

Carl nodded, staring out the dirty window in the front door. He saw a few men who looked out of place, men with rifles. They were surrounding the store. “Guy with a helicopter, you say?”

Clarence nodded, eyes widening a little as he looked past Carl and picked out the same thing the ex-commando had seen.

“
See you around, Clarence,” Carl said, pushing open the door and stepping outside. “Take care of yourself, brother.”

The door slammed shut behind him, pulled by old squeaky springs. Carl turned down the road and kept walking, seeming to ignore the poorly blended in guards that all but scrambled to keep up with him. Finally, as he approached the former legion that now served as city hall, two of the men broke away from the sides of the road and hurried over to step in front of him.

“
Carl Waters?” one asked as a formality.

“
Yep.”

“
Come with us,” the other said.

“
We going in there?” Carl asked, pointing towards the hall.

“
No.”

“
Then don’t get in my way,” Carl said as he pushed between them.

The two guards, off balance by his surprise movement, recovered and stared at him for a moment. Then they hurried after, one reaching out to put his hand on Carl’s shoulder in an attempt to halt him. Carl sighed, stopped, and then turned and drove his fist into the man jaw, catching his squarely and dropping him to his ass.

The other guard scrambled to bring his rifle to bear from where it hung on the strap across his shoulder. Instead he found himself staring down the barrel of Carl’s pistol with the rifle only half way up. The other guards were rushing forward, but stopped quickly when they saw the standoff.

“
I’m going to head in there and have a talk with your boss. You want to pick this up when I come back, you stick around,” Carl told him. He glanced behind the guard at the others and added, “Goes for you boys too.”

The man on the ground groaned and picked himself up slowly. He spit out some broken pieces of a few teeth and wiped the blood from his chin, grimacing in pain as he touched himself. He looked up, stunned by the rapid exchange, and saw Carl glance at him and offer a cold smile.

“
Sorry about the teeth,” Carl said, then released the hammer on his pistol and slipped it beneath his coat while he turned and started to walk again. His back itched anxiously with so many guns behind him, but his hunch paid out and none of them tried to harass him again.

The guards outside the American Legion Hall saw him coming and had their guns ready. They stared him down, guns pointed at him, but never told him to stop until he was within a couple of feet of them. “You’d best turn around and go where they tell you,” the guard on the right said.

“
And you’d best lower your weapons,” Carl growled at him. He looked at the other guard and winked, confusing him visibly.

The confusion was what Carl needed. He grabbed the speaking guard’s rifle and pulled it towards him, yet angled the barrel up and away even as a burst of bullets spat out the end of it. Carl ignored the flash of heat along the barrel-it was not enough to cause a blister yet. The weapon continued its swinging arc, free now of the original wielder, and smashed the slow reacting doorman’s rifle out of his hands and to the ground. Smoothly, Carl gripped it in both hands, ejected the clip and cleared the remaining round from the chamber. He tossed it, hard, back to the man who had held it and stormed between them through the doors without a word.

Expecting a bullet to crash into him at any moment, Carl walked down the central aisle made by tables pushed off to the sides and ignored the stunned and curious faces of the various members of Eddie’s court that were in attendance. King Eddie stared at him with a mixture of amusement and outrage. It nearly made Carl smile, but instead he just kept his face blank and eyes forward while he walked towards him.

Carl stopped before the dais that Eddie’s throne was on. He ignored Jessie, who sat beside him looking at Carl with her own mix of emotions on her face. He refused to look at her directly, but he could tell from her body language alone that she wanted to run to him. Whether it involved slapping him or hugging him, he was not sure. Off to the other side he had seen another person that he took note of, a man wearing the same uniform as the mercenaries that had destroyed his home.

“
Eddie,” Carl acknowledged, nodding his head towards him.

“
King Eddie,” the self-styled king said, his voice grating in irritation. “What brings you here,
amigo
? It’s been a while since you’ve come to visit. Like to spend some time with Tara, maybe?”

Jessie’s mouth opened a little, apparently shocked by the accusation. Carl ignored the jibe and his consort’s expression. “I see you’re keeping fine company these days.”

Misunderstanding him, Eddie smiled and glanced appreciatively at Jessie. “Edland’s a good place to be,
amigo
! Going to set us up in the movie industry now that I got my own talent.”

“
Uh huh, she’s plenty good at acting,” Carl acknowledged, glancing at Jessie for the first time. He saw a hurt expression on her face, and found himself almost feeling sorry for her. Almost, until he remembered it might just be another act of hers.

“
Carl, I got somebody here who’s been dying to meet you,” Eddie said with a grin.

On cue, the man in the uniform stiffened and stepped forward from where he had been standing off to the side. He walked over to Carl and stared at him, looking him up and down. Carl glanced at him, taking him in briefly, then returned his attention to Eddie.

“
You’re Carl Waters?” Captain Garza asked.

Carl nodded, then turned to look at him again when he spoke again. “You killed ten of my men. What have you done with the children?”

“
You from the chopper?” Carl asked.

Garza’s eyes narrowed even as he nodded. He reacted faster than Carl expected, but not fast enough if it had really mattered. Carl held his pistol pointed up at him, hammer pulled back even as the mercenary had reached for his own sidearm – but had not been quick enough to draw it.

“
You destroyed my home,” Carl hissed at him.

“
Hey!” Eddie called out loudly while waving his arms. “There’ll be no killing in here. No killing in Edland, not unless I call for it! Carl you put that gun away or the only blood that’s going to disgrace my floors will be yours!”

Carl stared hard at Garza, seeing the man was unwilling to break eye contact but also noticing the way his nostril twitched with nervous breath and the beads of sweat that formed and ran down the side of his face. Carl smiled slowly before he put his pistol back in the makeshift holster the hem of his pants made. “We’ll settle up later then,” he said.

Before Marko could respond, Eddie was speaking again. “Much better! Let’s keep this friendly, eh
amigos
? This is just business,
si
? Carl, do you have what Captain Garza is after?”

Carl looked at him and held out his arms. “I got what you see on me,” he said. “I came here looking for her and her brother.”

Everyone’s eyes followed Carl’s nod, ending up on Jessie. Jessie looked surprised at first, then she smiled. Carl almost believed there was a hint of genuine honesty in her eyes, but he still did not trust her.

“
Amigo
…” Eddie paused, looking at the merc and then smiling. “
Senor
Carl and I go back a ways, an old friend. Come, Carl, let us talk in private…
por favor
?”

Carl’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then he nodded. Eddie clapped his hands happily and stood up, then motioned for Carl to follow him through a door in the back to one of the offices in the building. Once inside, Eddie motioned for Carl to shut the door then sat on the desk and his smile faded.

“
Amigo
, level with me,” Eddie began.

“
Cut the shit,” Carl snarled at him. “You’ve spent more time north of Mexico than I have. Your grandfather was the one who hopped the border, not you.”

Eddie shrugged. “Wake up Carl, the United States is done. More people here that speak Mexican than English now. We have to make our own way if we want to survive.”

Carl stared at him without flinching, “You think the US ain’t coming back when this gets sorted out? You’re dumber than you look.”

Eddie shrugged again, “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I’ll be here and they’ll need to work with me, not against me.”

Carl snorted but said nothing.

Eddie sighed. “You’ll see. Might do you some good to think about who’s side you want to be on too. Take the slut out there, for example. That’s not her brother she’s got with her, it’s the brat that Captain Garza is after. You know it, and I’m betting you know where the other brat’s at too.”

This time Carl shrugged.

“
Fine, don’t tell me. I’m not sure I want to turn him over yet myself. The Captain’s offering a reward, but I’m doing fine up here. There’s always room for more though, you know?”

“
You know who they are?” Carl asked.

“
Just a couple of kids that ran away from home,” Eddie said.

“
Couple of kids that survived a plane crash,” he corrected. “They want their bodies back, proof they died in the crash.”

Eddie swore, surprised by the news. To confirm what Carl was telling him he asked, “
Muerto
?”

Carl nodded.

“
Why?”

“
Don’t know. Their dad’s some hotshot rich bitch. Like you said, guess there’s always room for more money.”

Eddie frowned, then chewed on his lower lip while he thought about it. “You killed some of his men? And he’s got a chopper?”

Carl nodded to both. “A rich man that can afford something like that can afford a lot more,” Eddie observed. “They destroyed your place? You planning on rebuilding?”