Road to Darkness (4 page)

             
              Chapter 9

     Tony sat in the coffee shop sipping his foam latte and reading his Kindle. Kim thought he was still working at United P and C, but for the last four days he’d been hanging out here. He wasn’t sure how long he could or should keep up the act, but for now it didn’t matter. He took another sip as he flipped through the book. He’d never read this author before, some slash and gash horror writer with nothing but gore. Tony had never been into such books but for some reason found this one interesting.

     Once he finished his drink, he read for another hour and then decided to head out. As he stood, his phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and placed it to his ear.

     “Hey, it’s Jose.”

     “Yes, Jose. Everything ok?” Tony said.

     “Not really. I need you here now. Need you to make an emergency run.”

     “What? My next run isn’t until tomorrow.”

     “Not now it isn’t. We have a load that has to go out tonight. So get your ass down here. The truck will be ready when you get here.”

     “But—
” Tony began but Jose had already hung up.

     Fuck. He stood outside the coffee shop and kicked the wall. A woman and her teenage daughter glared at him as they walked by. He awkwardly nodded to them as he headed to his car and climbed inside.

     “Fuck!” He screamed. How would he explain this to Kim? Being gone all night? Nothing he could do. These guys owned him. He drove to Ramos Medical and just like Jose said, the truck was loaded and waiting for him. Jose was standing by the truck as he arrived.

     “Here it is
, my man. All ready to go, paperwork is in order. You’ll get paid double for this run.”

     “Double?”

     “Yeah, you’ll get forty grand for this one for the inconvenience.”

     “Wow
. Ok.”

     “Is that a problem?” Jose asked.

     “No, I just wasn’t expecting it.”

     “Good. Now get going.”

     Tony climbed in the truck, started it and pulled out of the main gate. He was on the highway within a few minutes. Traffic was unusually backed up. Probably due to an accident ahead or something. After almost forty minutes in stop and go traffic, he was finally on the road and leaving the city. When he was about ten miles south of town, flashing lights appeared in his mirror. Shit.

     He pulled over, hoping beyond hope that the police car would go around him. Maybe he was on his way to another call. That didn’t happen. The police car stopped directly behind him. Fuck! Tony took a deep breath and examined himself in the mirror. Beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead. He wiped it off with his sleeve and took another deep breath. Keep cool. Just play it cool, it will all be fine.

     He rolled down the window as the officer stepped up to the vehicle.

     “Good evening officer. What seems to be the problem?”

     “Hello sir. License and registration please.” The officer said. As Tony leaned in the glove box he saw a second officer in the other rearview mirror on the opposite side of the truck. He handed the officer the paperwork. The officer examined his license.

     “This is you? Anthony Ray?”

     “Yes sir. Tony is what I go by.”

     “Step out of the truck for me Anthony.”

     “I’m sorry?”

     “Did I fuckin’ stutter? Step. Out. Of. The. Fucking. Truck.”

     Tony climbed out of the truck, his throat dry as he tried not to visibly shake. He had no idea why this cop had this attitude, but it was scaring the shit out of him. He’d never had anything more than a parking ticket. Getting caught with a truck full of kidnapped girls, he’d go away for life.

     “I don’t understand officer. What seems to be the problem?” Tony asked as he noticed both officers were Bexar County deputies.

     “Open the truck.” The cop said.

     “Excuse me? Don’t you need a warrant for that?” Tony asked, but the other officer walked up to him and shot him with the Taser. His legs buckled under him as he fell to the ground, striking his head on a rock as the current went through him. He couldn’t move for over a minute as both officers stood over him.

     “Now let’s try this again,” the tall officer said. “Open the fucking truck.”

Chapter 10

     Slade stood there admiring his handiwork. His naked body was covered in blood, her blood. Her body had been mutilated beyond all recognition. He systematically managed to cut her to pieces a little at a time. His sexual appetites were not something that could be fulfilled through normal channels. That was a big part of why he was in this business, the endless supply of girls.

     This time he tried something new, he cut out her heart and fucked it, even ejaculated inside it. He’d fucked women’s organs before. He hoped to do it while it was still beating, but that just wasn’t possible. It was still fun though. That was the last thing he did. Other pleasures of his involved peeling her face off, cutting off her breasts and performing his own version of a hysterectomy.

     He opened the closet nearby and took out several towels, cleaning himself off as much as possible. After he dressed, he went back into his office and picked up the phone.

     “Hey, send some guys in here to clean up my break room. Yeah, it’s a big mess, so make sure they bring everything. I have to head out.” He hung up the phone and headed out.

     Within a few minutes he arrived at Ramos Medical. Jose was sitting in his office looking as if he’d seen a ghost.

     “So how’d it go?” Slade asked.

     “The raid went fine. Everything was gone. I sent the new guy on a run with the girls. The feds were here and tore the place apart, but found nothing.”

     “Good. I’m kind of curious. How would they even know to look here? I mean, our truck was clean, no way should they have been able to trace it here.”

     “I don’t know. They got lucky I guess.”

     “Got lucky. That’s possible. The problem is, cops don’t get lucky like this. I think someone tipped them off.”

     “Oh yeah?” Jose began shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Who you think would do that?”

     “I don’t know. Someone with working knowledge of our operation. Someone who knows what trucks are used for what shipments. I’m starting to think them finding Spider’s truck wasn’t an accident either.”

     “Yeah? That sounds pretty fucked up man. I hope you find the snitch,” Jose said.

     “Well, I think I may have.”

     Jose jumped out of his chair and raced for the door. Slade grabbed him and threw him back in the chair, but not before slamming his face against the desk. Jose let out a scream as Slade dug in Jose’s pockets, pulling out two cell phones.

     “So what is the second cell phone for?”

     “That’s um, my personal one! The other one is work.”

     Slade took the base of the phone and hit Jose on the side of the head. Jose screamed again.

     “Ow! Fuck, man!”

     “Try again
,” Slade ordered.

     “I’m serious! I don’t like to use my work phone for personal use.”

     “So why were you trying to run off?”

     “Look man. I wouldn’t rat on you or anyone. I’m no rat!”

     Slade took out his butterfly knife and thrust it into the back of Jose’s hand. Jose screamed even louder this time as blood oozed from his hand.

     “Tell me, or I’ll fucking skin you alive and feed you your own flesh.”

     “Shit! Ok! Ok! They busted me on a drug charge. I was at a party and had an eight ball on me. I was looking at big time. So I made a deal. But they wanted everything, not just the operation, but you and the boss.”

     “You don’t know who that is
,” Slade said.

     “Yeah, I know. They were hoping to find something today leading them to him. Spider’s truck
, they did find by accident, but used that as smoke for the warrant today. So as to cover my ass. For whatever that was worth.”

     “You worthless piece of shit. You know the rules! Don’t do any stupid shit that will get you pinched! Now you’ve put this whole thing in jeopardy. What about that new guy, Tommy or whatever.”

     “Tony.”

     “Yeah. You sent him on a run. Is he gonna run into any
surprises?” Slade asked.

     Jose looked away and mumbled something.

     “What?”

     “He might be getting stopped by some cops who may have gotten a tip on what he was carrying.”

     “You fucking piece of shit!” Slade punched Jose in the face, knocking him to the floor. He opened the door, yelling to some other men.

     “Hey, come in here! Take him out, tie him to the back of a rig. We’re gonna prove him up.”

     Jose’s eyes grew wide as the men grabbed him.

     “Slade! No! Please don’t do this! I didn’t give them nothing! Honest! Please man!” Jose screamed as they dragged him out the door.

     Slade took both his cell phones and removed both batteries and smashed the phones against the table. He walked outside where the men were tying Jose’s arms and legs to two separate trucks. His arms were tied to the bumper of one box truck, while his ankles tied to another. The truck his legs were tied to pulled up a few feet so he was suspended off the ground. Slade and the other employees from the plant were all standing around looking on.

     “So all of you know, Jose here was working for the Feds! He is the reason for the raid today. He has put all of our jobs and lives in jeopardy. There is only one punishment in this organization for a snitch!” Slade announced.

     “Slade! Come on man! Don’t do this, please?” Jose pleaded. Tears streamed from his eyes. “I’ll go away. I’ll leave the country! You’ll never see me again!”

     Slade looked up at the truck to his left and pointed with his left arm. The truck slowly began to pull forward. Jose screamed as the truck rolled forward, stretching his legs further and tighter. The truck driver accelerated as the truck lurched forward, ripping Jose’s legs from his body. The sound of flesh and bone ripping away from his body sounded like a gunshot. He screamed as blood sprayed from the two holes where his legs used to be. Jose twitched and writhed about before he went still.

     “Clean it up.” Slade ordered as he walked back into the building. That was one problem dealt with. Now he just had to stop this shipment on the road from being stopped. He had no idea how to do that, other than to try and call Tony and get him off the road. He sat down in what had previously been Jose’s office when a phone began to ring. Slade opened one of the drawers and found a satellite phone ringing. Grabbing the phone, he pressed it to his ear while hitting the talk button.

     “Hello?”

     “Jose?”

     “No. Who is this?” Slade said.

     “Who the fuck is this?”

     “This is Slade. Jose’s boss. Now who the fuck is calling me.”

     “This is Tony. What the fuck is going on?”

Chapter 11

     Tony lifted the tailgate to the truck. The two officers stood by looking on. He wanted to throw up. This was it. People do this sort of thing for years and never get caught. This organization had an entire process in place they had probably used for ages without any problems. That is until he goes on his second run with them, and here he is about to be hauled off to prison for infinity.

     “That’s good. Jump on down.” The tall officer called out.

     Tony looked down at the two of them standing side by side. Think! He had to do something. If he just let this happen, he’d never see little Taylor again. Kim would never so much as speak to him again. No, that was unacceptable. It was time to take a calculated risk. There was nothing to lose at this point.

     He leaped directly at the two officers, throwing his body sideways, catching them both off guard as they all tumbled to the asphalt. The quiet one had reached for his gun as they fell and had it part way out of the holster. Tony heard it clatter to the ground and reached for it as the two officers attempted to throw him off. He slammed his knee into the tall officer’s side as he scrambled for the gun.

     As he crawled toward it, he had to move off of the officers, thus taking his weight off them. He decided to go for it and scurried to the gun. Just as his fingers wrapped around the butt he spun around sitting upright. The tall cop had gotten to his knees and had his gun drawn. Tony leveled the gun and fired twice. At least one shot hit the cop in the chest knocking him to his back. Tony scrambled to his feet and ran over to the officer. He was gasping for air, but his vest had stopped the bullet.

     Tony stood over him and fired one shot into his face, turning his head as the gun went off. He tried not to look at the body, but caught a glimpse of the bloody mess at his feet. The other officer was to his right whimpering as he tried to crawl away. Tony walked toward him as the cop looked up at him.

     “Look man. Look, this is all a misunderstanding ok? You can just go on your way. I won’t say anything.”

     Tony didn’t say a word as he pulled the trigger again, hitting him in the neck. The cop grabbed his neck as blood sprayed out from between his fingers. He twitched and jerked around for a minute before going still. Tony dropped the gun and fell to his knees as the realization of his actions sank in. He just killed two men, both police officers.

     Until now, the worst crime he’d gotten away with was smoking some weed in college. Now he was a murderer. That would never change, no matter what. As he tried to stand, his stomach lurched as he threw up. It felt like everything he’d ate in the last month was coming up. He couldn’t stop heaving. When he finally stopped, he wiped his mouth and stood.

     After a minute he realized he was still along a roadside next to two dead cops he’d just killed. Shit! He grabbed the tall one’s body by the legs and dragged him to the truck. He picked the cop’s body up under the arms and lifted him into the truck. He had to roll him over one of the crates close to the tailgate and flip his legs up and over, but he got him in. The second officer was shorter and heavier. It took him a few heaves, but he got him into the truck. Once they were both in, he pulled the tailgate closed.

     Once it was closed up, he ran over to their car and turned off the lights. It was starting to get dark, so he pulled the car as far off the shoulder as he could and turned the car off. The dashcam was running, it would have captured everything. He used the butt of the gun to smash the fasteners loose and ripped it off the dash and pulled as many wires as he could with it. He wiped down the inside of the car and the door handle and got back into the truck and tossed the police dash cam inside. He started the engine and drove off.

     The rest of the trip, he didn’t think too hard about what had just happened, only about putting as much distance between himself and the city. Still, something had been wrong. That wasn’t a normal traffic stop. From the time they had pulled him over, they knew exactly what they were looking for. Meaning someone had set him up. He reached for the glove box and pulled out the satellite phone. After several rings a voice answered, but he didn’t recognize it. After a short exchange, he learned it was Jose’s boss.

     “What the fuck is going on?” Tony asked. “You have any idea what I just went through?”

     “There was a problem with Jose. It’s been dealt with. What’s going on?”

     “Two cops pulled me over and started to search the truck.” Tony explained.

     “Shit. I was afraid of that. Jose had tipped them off, he set you up. I took care of him though. What happened? Why didn’t they arrest you?”

     “I killed them.” Tony answered. There was a long silence from the other end before Slade replied.

     “You what?”

     “I killed them. I had no choice. They were about to search the truck. They’d have found the girls.”

     “Jesus fucking Christ, man.”

     “I put their bodies in the truck and left their car shut off on the shoulder, I may have bought myself a few hours.”

     “Goddamn. You’re fucking insane.”

     “I don’t want to go to prison. Jose had promised me forty grand for this run. Is that still the same offer or was he bullshitting?”

     “Dude, make it back from this run in one piece and I’ll make it a hundred grand.”

     “I’ll make it back. Just have my money ready,” Tony said.