Dead Man Running (11 page)

"Y'all
treated me like dirt.  I'll show you.
"

The man place
d
the gun to Wiley's mouth. 

"
Oh no, he's going to shoot him!
" screamed Jan.

The limo pull
ed
up. 
Distracted, the man's eyes shift
ed
for a second from Wiley to the car.  In that moment
Wiley's mouth
assumed its shark-like dimensions
and he
bit
the man's arm up to his shoulder. 
He gingerly removed the bloody gun from his mouth
and tossed it into the street
.

With a jerk and a slurp, the arm
wa
s gone.  Blood gush
ed
from the
empty space
. 

The bum
look
ed
at Wiley and then start
ed
screaming.

"
He ate my arm!  He ate my arm!
"

Elias hustle
d
Wiley and Jan into the limo.  Chi st
ood
there
, frozen,
staring at the man, who
wa
s now on the ground bleeding profusely. 

Passersby began to stop, stare in wonder
.
  Most pulled out an electronic device to call 911 or film the scene for upload to
social media
.

"
Chi, come on, man!
" Elias shouted.  Still, Chi did not move. 

"
Come on!
"

Chi still doesn't move.

Elias jumped into the limo. 
"
Screw him.  Get
us
the hell out of here
, Mook
!
"

The limo
shot
off. 
Chi
, still in shock, pushe
d
past the crowd now gathered around the bleeding man.

The limo zoom
ed
uptown.  "
Now I know what happened to that reporter
," said Elias.  He looked over Wiley before giving Jan his full attention.  "
And you knew all about this.
"

"
Ben needs to eat.
"

"
He ate the woman reporter?
"

"
Of course, he gets hungry like anybody else.
"

"
Girl, you or I get hungry, we get
us
a sa
mmech
.  He eats people or their body parts!
"

"
Ben is becoming more alive.  You said it yourself
:
he's a better candidate now.
"

"
Don't get too used to him, old Ben will be gone in another six days.
"

"
What do you mean?
"

"
What do you mean, what do I mean?  We told you.  We don't need him after Tuesday.  I can take over then.
"

"
Oh.
"

"
We just gotta get past tomorrow's debate and we'll be home free.
"

"
What do you plan to do to him?
"

"
We'll dump his ass in the ocean.  Maybe he can
find
Nemo
and eat him
.
"

Jan laugh
ed
politely. 
Unseen by Elias, she gave Wiley's hand a comforting squeeze
.

Chairman Simmons interrupted the witnesses' testimony.  "Mr.
Turnbull
, why not report the crime to the police, give up Wiley and this fraud?"

Turnbull looked away, head down, and finally looked back at his colleague.  "I had the fever.  I was going to be a member of Congress, no matter what.  We only had a few days before the election. 
It didn't matter to me about the man's arm.  It didn't matter to me that Wiley killed the reporter.  I just wanted to be a representative and nothing would stop me."

"You had a very callous attitude then, Mr. Turnbull."

"It would take a while for my eyes to open, Mr. Chairman, but they did."

"Yes, evidenced by the fact that you are here.  Please continue."

The door chime
hummed deeply
in the
Arabian
Magic Shoppe
as Chi
entered
. 
Hamid
st
ood
behind the counter
as an assistant stacked
bottles on
a nearby shelf
.

"
I was wondering when you'd show up.  So, you know what he eats
," said
Hamid
.

"
I know what he eats.
"

"
Now you want it that he doesn't eat what he eats.
"

"
I saw him tear a man's arm off!
"

The assistant doesn't stop her stacking.
 
Chi leaned in close to
Hamid
.  "
Can
I say that in front of her?
"

"
Say what?  She hears customer complaints all the time.
"
He shrugged.

"
About people being killed?
"

"
Worse than that.  One time a customer complained when my goat pooped on their Persian rug.  Man, it was hard getting that stain out!
"

"
Anyway, what can I do about Wiley?
"

"
He's always going to eat.
"

"
How do I stop him?
"

"
Only, one way.  You need to hack him up.
"

"Take him apart?"

"He ain't Frankenstein.  You don't get to unscrew his parts.  You need to h
ack him up. 
With a hatchet
or saw
.  Pretty simple.
"

Chi nodded.  "
Yeah.  Simple.
"

Capshaw
headquarters
wa
s empty except for
the candidate
.  She ha
d
on her coat and she
wa
s at the door to the apartment
, poised to leave
. 

Just as she reache
d
for the doorknob, the door sw
ung
open. 
Her campaign
manager
Humphrey
entered
.

"
I've got some news.
"

"
Can it wait
? 
I'm late for
the Black Republican
s
meeting.
"

Humphrey close
d
the door.
  "
No, Delores, I have something that can save your campaign!  I just got a call.  The person is saying Reverend Wiley
wa
s involved in the death of a reporter and also had something to do with the incident in front of the World Affairs Club this morning.
"

"
You
'
r
e
saying he killed someone?
"

"
Exactly!
"

"
If he's a
murderer
,
that
would give us the election.
"

"
Well, I wouldn't go that far, this is
Harlem
.  But it should at least make the race tighter.
"

"
G
et to the press.  Tell them we have an important announcement to make.
"

"
My source says the police are investigating.
"

"
We'll downplay that.  That would gain Wiley votes.
  Half of
Harlem
is under
police
investigation."

At
the opposing campaign headquarters another meeting was in progress.  In the large conference room sat
Jan, Elias, Wiley and Mookie
.  C
hi enter
ed
the room.

"
Where you been?
" asked Elias.

"
He tore somebody's arm off.  I had to make sure that
the
police w
ere
n't interested in him as a suspect.
"

"
Are they?
" asked Jan.

"
No.  They think the guy's a terrorist that blew his own arm off
,
"
he lied. 

Using a throw away cell purchased at a bodega h
e
had called the police, tying Wiley to the maimed man in front of the World Affairs Club and the missing reporter.  For good measure he anonymously called the Capshaw campaign.

"
Did he say anything about Wiley?
"

"
Plenty.  I don't think the cops believed him, though.
"

"
What makes you say that?
" asked Elias.

"
The way they were laughing gave me a clue.
" 
Chi
sat,
point
ed
to Mookie.
  "What's he doing here?"

"
We've been talking strategy about tomorrow's debate.
"

"
Talking strategy?  With him?  Ain't that like playing solitaire by yourself?
"

Elias
stared at him for several beats, shook his head.
  "
Whatever, man.  We came up with a plan for tomorrow.
"

"
Yeah, we got a plan
," said Mookie.

"
There's no way Wiley's gonna win that debate.
"

"
No way
," echoed Mookie
.

"
We need to cut the debate short.  Have him show up but somehow there's no debate.
"

"
Yeah, show up but no debate.
"

"
So, Mookie came up with the idea of cutting the power to the hall.
"

"
Yeah, cut the power.
"

Chi looked at Mookie.  "
Do you know how irritating that is?
"

"
Yeah, when I lose power, I never can find my flashlights.  I end up walking down to the Korean place for some candles.
"

Elias spoke, cutting off Chi before he could engage Mookie.  "
Mookie, quiet man.  No power, no debate.  We hold tight till Tuesday.  We'll win in a landslide.
"

"
Then you get rid of Wiley?
" asked Jan.

"Glub, glub, glub," smiled Elias.

"
That's what I want to talk to you about.  I think we need to get rid of him now!  Man, he's eating people!
"
said Chi.

"
Our candidate was defending himself
,
"
said Elias.

"
He ate his arm!
"

"
I feel like eating something right now myself
,
"
said Mookie.

"
What about the reporter?
" asked Chi.

"Nah,
I ain't no cannibal
, man
,
"
Mookie deadpanned.

"
What about her? 
She broke into Wiley's house
," said Elias.

"
Come on, man.  You and I both know
this is wrong
.  We got to do something about Wiley before he kills someone else.  You don't want that blood on your hands, do you?
"