Switchback End of Ch1

Before Carter opened the door he cupped a hand to the glass to see the pick-up still on the sparsely-lit parking lot. He didn’t think his assailants would be dumb enough to be tucked-in close to the diner; they’d want as much room as swinging a pool cue would require. He reckoned if none of them had emerged before he’d taken twenty steps, then they’d all charge at about the same time.

          He opened the door, turned, and said in a loud, clear voice, ‘Night, Maria, tell Frankie I’ll see him tomorrow.’ Then he closed the door and waited until the lock engaged before he took the first of those twenty steps.

          At step nineteen and around half way to his car he heard hurried footsteps from behind; the one farthest away was making his move. Step twenty brought the second of them from the shadows to his left, and the third from between his car and their pick-up.

          The one behind was almost on him so Carter spun to see Baldy stop running and swing his cue horizontally at head height. He raised his left arm to stop the blow and the cue snapped in half, its loose heavy end skittered across the parking lot and disappeared into the shadows. Carter showed no sign of pain as he strode forward and hit Baldy flat on the nose with his right forearm. He heard the crunch of bone as the man’s feet shot from under him. His head flew back and he hit the ground and stayed there; his face already a mass of blood.

          The swush of another cue soon followed and Carter instinctively ducked and rolled forward toward the diner to put space between his second attacker and him. When he stood again, Red Sox had already made up the gap and swung his cue in an overhead arc. Again Carter raised his left arm, and again, just like the first cue had snapped in two, this one had also. He saw Red Sox look first at the flimsy bit he still held, and then at his downed buddy. The third guy, Dumpy, was fatter, slower, and still ten feet away when Carter let fly with his right foot and caught Red Sox deep in his crotch. A right uppercut under the man’s chin followed and took him clean out the game.

          Two down, one to go.

          Dumpy swung his cue with little or no conviction, and at least two feet farther away from Carter than he needed to be in order to hit him. Carter took three steps and landed a straight right to the lower part of Dumpy’s jaw and another crunch of bone sounded followed by a spray of blood and broken teeth. Dumpy then joined his two cronies on the parking lot tarmac.

          Carter dragged them one by one over to the pick-up, he pulled back the tarp to see a fair-sized buck with all four legs hogtied. There were three crossbow bolts buried deep in its left flank and a single gunshot wound in its neck. And to make sure of a kill, they had also cut its throat.

          He hauled each of the hunters onto his shoulder and dumped them next to their prize. He searched them and took all the cash they had, four-hundred and sixty-two dollars in total. He took the rope they used on the deer and tied their hands and feet together. Next he used the keys he’d found in one of Dumpy’s pockets and searched the cab. On the rear window was a locked rack that held three foldaway crossbows and six bolts in slots, with three empty slots which held the ones in the buck. In the glove box he found a dozen unused small Ziploc bags and a larger Ziploc bag that contained at least one-hundred dollars’ worth of marijuana and several ready-rolled joints. And under the large bag was a loaded Colt forty-five with one spent round, that Dumpy probably didn’t have a licence for.

          Carter took some of the bag’s contents and filled three of the smaller bags with it and put one in each of the three amigos pockets. He then left the bag and the gun in plain view on the dashboard before he wiped down the cab and everything else he touched. He covered the three men and the buck with the tarpaulin sheet and made two phone calls, the second of which he knew would go to voicemail. After he ended that call he picked up Dumpy’s pool cue and went back to where Maria waited inside the diner.

          She switched off the lights and opened the door. ‘Wow,’ she said, handing him his ID and gun. ‘Dat was amazing,’

          Carter handed her the cue and pulled out the wad of cash. ‘The guys hoped you’d take this as an apology for their rudeness and them breaking two of your pool cues and two of your mop handles.’

          She placed the cue behind the door and locked it. ‘Mop handles?’ she said.

          Carter removed his jacket and tore away the duct tape that held two twelve-inch lengths of wooden mop handle to each of his forearms. Maria smiled and applauded his ingenuity as the first of his phone calls arrived on the parking lot.

          ‘I figured you’d already missed your bus so I called you a cab. And because those three nice people are paying for it, be sure you tip the driver well.’

          Maria rose onto her toes and pecked Carter on his cheek as he bent a little. ‘I change my mind,’ she said. ‘Don’t catch all de bad guys for me all at once. With you around I think we are all much safer.’ She climbed in the cab and wound down the window. ‘And don’t tell Frankie about tonight, he already worry too much.’

          ‘Only if you’re sure.’

          ‘I am,’ she said, then rolled up the window and waved as the cab drove away.

          Carter collected the remains of the pool cues and put them and the tape and broken mop handles in a dumpster at the side of the diner. He started to walk back to his Taurus when a police cruiser showed up.

          ‘Hey, Carter,’ said the cop as he climbed out.

          ‘Evening, Clive.’

          ‘I got your message, what gives?’

          Carter pointed. ‘I thought this looked a little odd just sitting here parked-up with no one around and the diner closed. So I checked it over and found a loaded gun and a large quantity of marijuana in the cab, and there’s a dead deer in the back. Oh, and three guys that just might need some hospital treatment’

          ‘Jesus, Carter,’ Clive said. ‘Any witnesses?’

          ‘No. None that would back them up, anyway.’ He checked his watch to find he wouldn’t make the KFC now, so he’d have to get Henry Caine at his apartment. ‘I gotta go, got an appointment with a rapist and some of his friends. But remember…’

          ‘Yeah I know. I was driving by when I saw the pick-up so I stopped and checked it out.’

          Carter smiled, climbed in his Taurus, and left.