Hell Followed With Him

I walked out of the office and unhooked the car batteries from the leads on the underside of the floor. Then I went back inside the office, pulled the stun gun from the gym bag, and hit Jim with enough volts and amps to knock him clean out.

Then I undid the Duct Tape from his wrists and ankles, and drew my own pistol, a Springfield XD-40, from the back of my belt, below the windbreaker I wore. Once it was in my hand, I placed his little .32 right beside his hand, then stepped back towards the door.

It was only a few moments before he came around. He saw the pistol, and grabbed it.

"Think very carefully before you decide to use that last bullet, asshole."

He froze as he saw the big bore of the .40 S&W pistol pointed at his head. "You givin' me a chance?" he asked, hopefully.

"If you want to call it that. This pistol is unregistered, since a friend of mine bought it in Arizona. That means the cops don't have any ballistics on record for it. That pistol, on the other hand, was bought off the street, probably from a gang member. Am I close?"

Jim's eyes grew wide as I was speaking. "That's what I thought. Don't say anything, Jimbo. Just listen. You have one shot left in that gun. Now, from the carnage already in here, you're looking at consecutive life sentences for killing your own crew. Maybe even the Death Penalty, since you killed them while they were tied to their chairs. Now, you can take the chance that the cops would believe you, a guy with a rap sheet a mile long, or you can run. No, wait. Actually, you can't run from this. You see, I just used a burner phone to call in an anonymous tip that shots were fired, and I saw a large black man entering the warehouse shortly before said shots were fired. I gave them your exact description. You just got out of jail this morning, asshole. What do you think the cops are going to think?"

Jim looked at the gun in his hand, then at my own gun, aimed steadily between his eyes. "You won't get away with this!" he snarled at me.

"You have two choices, Jim. You can shoot me, or you can use the bullet on yourself, since when I leave this office, the door will close and lock automatically. Sure, the cops will have to bust it down when they get here, but I seriously doubt that they'll believe your story."

With that, I backed out of the room, my gym bag over my shoulder and the gun still pointed at Jim's forehead. He was frozen in place, until once outside, I hit the button which closed and locked the office door. I stood there for a good ten minutes. Then I shrugged and turned to leave. As I did, I heard a muffled shot from inside the office.

I turned back and looked inside. Jim had the gun in his mouth, and the back of his head was a bloody mess. Oh fuckin' well.

He never realized that I was bluffing about calling the cops. It would be Wednesday at the earliest, most probably, before he and his crew were discovered by the property security guard.

I then removed everything I'd rigged up, removing the car batteries, then the automatic door closer/opener, and the auto-lock. Once all of that was done, I lugged it all out to my car and threw it all in the trunk. Once that was done, I realized how strangely calm I was.

I drove home on autopilot, since I was still numb from what I'd done, and the "choice" I'd left for Jim. If he had aimed his gun at me, I would have blown his brains out with the hollowpoints in the XD. I knew it was a risk, but I also knew that Jim, at his core, was an arrogant, selfish prick who wasn't nearly as smart as he thought he was. He'd done 90 days in County. He wouldn't have lasted near as long in Folsom.

When I parked in the driveway, and lugged my bag inside, I finally allowed myself to feel something.

The door was barely closed before I fell to my knees and hanged my head. The fatigue hit my like a Mack truck as my whole body shook all over.

"Baby?" Latisha said tentatively as she came into the living room from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm here," I said shakily.

"Oh my God, boo!" she cried out as she fell to her knees with me, throwing her arms around my neck and holding me tightly as I finally lost the last hold on my emotions. I had never killed anyone before, but in the space of a few minutes, I'd taken four lives, and then basically forced a man to take his own life in addition to my own four counts of First Degree Murder.

"Hold on, baby," she said softly, then got her cellphone and dialed a number. I couldn't make out what she was saying, but if she was calling the cops to come get me, I wouldn't have blamed her.

I looked at my wife with tears in my eyes. "It's done," I whispered as she Ended the call.

"I know, baby. It's ok. Everything's going to be ok," she said with her own tears threatening to fall. She held me close again, and I clung to her as if she was my only lifeline.

"They can't hurt you or anyone else anymore, sweetheart," I said as I held her close.

"Shhh, baby. It's ok. Come on over to the table. I have dinner ready, and I cooked your favorite." So saying, she stood up, and I stood up with her and held her hand as she led me to the dining room.

Once I was seated, I heard the front door opening and closing, and turned to see Malcolm coming towards me with a concerned look on his face.

"Don't worry, man. Whatever happens, it ain't coming back on you," he said as he clapped me on the shoulder. "I've been there, so if you need to talk, I'm here for you. Family comes first, brother, and you're Family."

So I confessed everything to my brother-in-law and my wife. I felt a weight lift from me as I unburdened my soul. Malcolm listened intently, as did Latisha. She hugged me close after I finished, kissing me softly.

"Thank you, Steve," Malcolm said with a nod of respect.

Epilogue: A Horseman No More

Life slowly got back to normal. I had plenty of vacation time accrued at work, so I took all four weeks of it, and Latisha took four weeks of vacation with me. We went to Hawaii for a Second Honeymoon, and I was finally able to find peace with what I'd done. Latisha also knew that I would never do anything like that again, unless something horrible happened to her or our baby.

That's right, when we arrived home from our vacation in Hawaii, she started getting morning sickness again. A quick trip to her OB/GYN let us know that she was indeed pregnant, but that we would have to be careful, as the miscarriage had increased her chances of losing the baby this time around, too.

However, we were happy for the first time in a long time. We had laid the demons to rest, both figuratively and literally.

Malcolm was as good as his word. Nothing came back on me from the murders in the warehouse. The official story was that Jim had most likely found out that Geoffrey was a rat, and started suspecting the rest of his crew, too. In a fit of paranoia, he'd killed them all. Then when he realized what he'd done, he had turned the gun on himself.

When I heard about all the other things he and his gang had done in College, I felt really justified in what I'd done. It seems that Latisha wasn't their first rape, but like this time, the previous times had been swept under the rug. They had never spent any length of time in jail, and no time in prison whatsoever. Malcolm was able to dig deep into their past, and the fallout from what I'd done was nicely diverted. The Mayor and Police Chief had called it a multiple murder-suicide by Mr. James Gables, and nobody questioned it.

Did I murder them? I guess it all depends on how you look at it. They were college Frat boys who never grew up or learned from their mistakes.

I only hope that in the end, they realized just how much they'd hurt others, and that they would spend the rest of eternity in Hell.

Oh, as for ADA Amanda Ramirez, she had her own troubles. When things came to a head, her connection to the rape gang was confirmed after an anonymous tip to the DA's office. After an intense investigation, she came clean about fudging things in their favor to get them the plea deals, and was subsequently disbarred and charged. She was tried and convicted of several Conspiracy charges stemming from her contact with the formerly alive assholes. She was given ten years in prison when all was said and done. I hope she likes eating carpet.

Now here I sit with my wife beside me as we watch TV, her belly showing how close she is to having our baby daughter. Life is good now. She still works for Walker Advertising, but I left the data entry firm and started my own IT business. I've had some pretty famous clients so far, and word has spread about my ability to build good computers at way less than Retail. Thank you, Fry's Electronics.

I rub Latisha's belly as I lean over and kiss her. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, honey," she replies.

Yes, life is indeed good! I love my wife and daughter, and would do anything to protect them. If that means that my soul itself be the price, then so be it. But unless or until that happens, the Horseman will rest. I pray that he is never needed again.