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The Tessarae Inn |
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Regrets In Jade Tones
PART III FRAGILE CONFESSIONS
CHAPTER 23 RJ was uncharacteristically quiet. They were trying to fly under both the police and Wyatt Cooper’s radar. The old clunker RJ was driving and the clothes they were wearing meant no one in this neighborhood even gave them a second look. The speed at which RJ was able to get his hands on the old truck made Todd question exactly what kind of business enterprises RJ operated after hours. RJ pulled up near Pier 43 and cut the engine. He pulled out his gun and inserted a clip. Todd felt the smooth surface of the gun in his hand. He was not a huge fan of guns especially after his fairly bloody encounter in Ireland a few years ago, but there are times when you have to step up to the plate fully loaded. He slipped the gun in his pocket. “Did you ever think that she was the only thing we had in common?” “Téa? Kind of hard to forget considering your homicidal tendencies and all, Manning.” “What I mean is, did it dawn on you that this really is bad karma coming back to get our junky asses.” RJ exhaled and turned toward him slightly. “The children are safe. And I know what you’re thinking. You think you have to lose Blair to balance the scales. I don’t know if you deserve her. I’ve stopped asking those kinds of questions. All I know is that I’m not letting Blair pay for one ounce of treachery I’ve perpetrated on this world. So if it is bad karma I’m going to kick its ass and find her.” RJ opened the door and got out. Todd took a deep breath then followed suit. RJ was right. The fear of what they might find in the next warehouse or the next or the next was making him slow and drained. He’d seen Wyatt’s prison report and the report of what was suspected about the man but never proven. Wyatt Cooper was the worst possible combination of intelligence and violence. The image of Blair hurt, bruised and torn seared his soul in places he thought he had cut out years ago. How much time had he wasted devoting his life to hurting her? So much wasted time. Finally, he understood what she meant before. Surviving was the hard part. If she was dead then they may as well bury him too. She had been the strong one all along. He and RJ spotted the car at the same time. Wyatt was somewhere close. At least that bitch Téa had finally coughed up that much information. Wyatt went to water when he was troubled or backed into a corner and the model of car he was driving. They eased along the periphery of the abandoned building. It was huge. Wyatt could be hiding in a hundred different places. He eased through the door. He moved silently. The building was a circus of dangerous places and objects. Rusted rails, sharp pieces of scrape metal, air so filled with debris you could see it as you breathed in and out, ladders leading to catwalks high above the ground, weapons posing as discarded tools, the detritus of illegal drug use scattered about—rubber strips, used syringes, discarded pipes—and alcohol bottles of every size and description. It was like the foyer to hell and Blair was in here somewhere. A piercing sound ricocheted against the corrugated metal walls of the building. For a moment something swelled up and occupied every part of his consciousness. It was Blair. She was alive. Todd moved toward her voice. He had experienced moments like this before. He felt overwhelmed with feelings. Everything about the world became crisp and vivid. He felt invincible. It was not a question of IF but HOW he would survive. This time was different, though. It was Blair. Whatever bargain he had to make with fate to spare her, he would. If he had lay down his invincibility then that was a small price to pay the piper. A horrible animalistic growling sound that was somewhat like a scream filled the huge space. There was movement. Todd slipped into a small alcove created by two huge metal chests leaning against each other at sixty-degree angles. He waited. Blair ran past him and he reached out for her but then Wyatt limped right behind her. “Stop, Blair, or I will shoot you. You ungrateful bitch. You may as well let it happen now or I will just take you later. There is no safe harbor.” Just as Wyatt stumbled past him, Todd stepped out and knocked him on the back of the head. Wyatt fell like a sack of old potatoes. Todd called to Blair but she kept running. She was running like her life depended on it. She was running for light. He kept calling to her. Suddenly she seemed to recognize his voice. She slowed down, stopped then turned toward him. If he didn’t believe in love; if he was half as cynical as he pretended to be; if his soul really was ten sizes too small as so many people said, his heart would still have lurched toward her at that moment. She looked at him with such a mixture of pain, anger, triumph, relief, joy and love, especially love, that for a moment the weight of the combined emotions held him immobile. There are moments in life when he was convinced that even the devil had to believe in love. A crashing cascade of pain seized him and made his knees buckle. He pitched forward. He was dazed, his vision was blurry and pain shot up and down the full length of his body. He tried to move but he couldn’t. “Damn that felt good,” crowed Wyatt. “I’ve been wanting to cold cock this crazy mf for years now. Blair, if you leave, I will kill him.” Todd tried to get up. He heard Blair rushing back to him even before Wyatt yelled his threats. He wanted to scream at her to run, but he couldn’t find his voice. Blair run. Blair live. Blair… She fell to her knees and reached out for him. He felt the softness of her hands. She positioned her body to protect him from Wyatt. He managed to lift his head. Slowly he was coming into his right mind. He eased his hand toward the pocket of his jacket. As he looked at her, his vision cleared slowly. He oriented his head toward the door and stretched his neck and tried to signal her. He wanted her to leave, to run right out of that damn door and not stop until she was home safe. Run, Blair, run. “You promised, remember?” she whispered. “You promised to live for me.” Wyatt yanked her to her feet. “Ain’t love beautiful? You’d die for him. He’d die for you. Damn it’s like one of them romance novels or something.” Blair retched her arm out of his grip and stepped back. “Téa wouldn’t die for you that’s for sure.” “You don’t know anything about what….” “Where is she? Why isn’t she here? Why doesn’t she have your back?” “This gun is feeling warm in my hand, Blair. I wouldn’t go out of my way to upset me if I were you. Now give me a minute to tie up your own personal crazy mf and then we can finish what we started with an audience no less. I’ll even give him some little cards with numbers to hold up to rate my performance. He can use his wuddle toes.” “Do you think your hot nuts will have had time to cool down by then? I hear that’s painful.” Wyatt growled then lunged for her. Todd rolled over and came up with the gun pointed straight at Wyatt’s heart. Wyatt stopped and grinned. “Now, look what we have here. A Mexican standoff? You shoot me. I shoot her. You get to live if you can call what will be left of your life living. Drop the gun or I kill her.” “Don’t listen to him, Todd. He’s not that crazy.” Todd calculated the odds. He knew that Blair was trying to distract Wyatt. The problem was that the man was both vicious and crazy but he wasn’t stupid. Todd had no doubt in his mind that Wyatt’s threat to shoot Blair was not an idle one. What could he afford to lose? He couldn’t afford to lose Blair. He dropped the gun. “Kick it away.” Todd did and it spun across the floor in an explosion of loud metallic sounds. Wyatt grinned and shook his head. “And most of all would I flee from the cruel madness of love; the honey of poison flowers and all the measureless ill. That’s Tennyson. It never pays to love somebody, Manning. Makes you weak. Makes you vulnerable.” “I’m not sure if I agree with that,” said RJ strolling into view. His arms were outstretched and he clearly had no weapon. The long coat he was wearing moved in synch with each step. “Now who the fuck are you?” “I’m RJ Gannon. Téa didn’t tell you about me? I’m hurt.” “You’re that rank bitch Toni’s pussy, ain’t you?” “I don’t take kindly to anyone disrespecting my woman.” “You must stay in a perpetual bad mood then.” “Somewhat like you, I suspect.” “Téa told me you were a piece of shit.” By this time RJ was next to Blair. He stepped in front of her while pushing her further behind him. “Well, that’s not completely accurate. See after Téa finished screwing Todd over there she decided to move on to something bigger and finer.” Todd cut his eye at RJ. “Well, in fairness there was a dorky cop in between but he was a transitional relationship between mediocre and heaven sent.” “I thought Blair's personal mf was the one who was supposed to be crazy.” The statement seemed to remind Wyatt of Todd. He suddenly pivoted and pointed the gun at Todd, who was easing to his feet. Wyatt aimed his gun square at the center of Todd’s face. “Blair, come out, come out wherever you are,” said Wyatt in a singsong manner. “Or I’m going to put a hole right through your true love’s big ass head.” “She’s not coming anywhere,” said Todd. “This is between the two of us. Leave the civilians out of it.” “Civilians. You are so good with the bon mots. I guess you want me to let you go over there and get your gun so we can have a shootout in the OK Corral showdown sort of thing.” “Mine’s bigger than yours.” “Dead is dead.” “And this is over,” said Blair stepping from behind RJ with his gun drawn. She pulled the trigger. The gun dropped out of Wyatt’s hand and he slumped forward grabbing his chest.
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