Mr. Ed instinctively knew that it would be a bad idea for him to be seen with Victor Vaughn from here on.
“You do what you see fit,” Mr. Ed said when he stepped into the rental, “Have a good one.”
“Likewise,” Victor Vaughn said. If it wasn’t for the guy tied up to the tree it might have seemed like a conversation between two old friends that had gone hunting at night.
Mr. Ed looked in the back mirror when he drove off and he saw that Victor Vaughn was bent over the trunk of his car, probably taking out some tools.
1
Mr. Ed was surprised to find outthat the road back to Martossa was blocked by the deputy.
“Just a random check,” the deputy says, while checking the rental papers, “What were you doing out of town?”
“I went for an early morning stroll,” Mr. Ed says, prying if the guy was already reported missing, “No law against that, right?”
The deputy hands his papers back and waves him through, without saying so much as a single word.
*
That same morning the boys didn’t have anything better to do and they biked down to the store close to the Martossa Inn. The soft chewy candy that they used to munch on was 10 cents cheaper than in the other stores. Besides, they didn’t have much else to do that day.
Not much was going on though: the old Mercedes was still gone and Mr. Ed was not in sight either. After an hour they were about to go home to play video games, but somehow they got this feeling that they should stick around just a little longer. Brandon was the one to stay back and observe the inn, while the others biked off in different directions.
*
After thirty minutes the last of them returned to the tree across from the Martossa Inn. There was no sight of the Debt Collector in town.
“Maybe he skipped town already?” Brandon says.
“My mom says that he always stays for three to four weeks,” Bobby says.
“That is strange,” Bradley says, “And usually there are these extremerumors about this or that, but this time: nothing.”
“Video games,” Tommie-Lee says.
“Just hang on,” Brandon says.
It’s then that they see the crummy Mercedes turn around the corner. The Debt Collector gets out -- it looks like he had rolled around in the dirt.
“Like he dug someones grave,” Tommie-Lee says softly. If it was any other person that would probably bethe way to crack a joke about it, but in this case chances werethat he actually did kill someone.
2
The next day the disappearance of the guy was all over the news and it turned out that he also had a name: Felipe Owen. He turned out to have been some office worker without too much of a social or family life. The Sheriff stated that he was most likely one of those lost souls who had looked too deep in the bottle and had gone off to kill himself at the darkest hour of the night. There was one woman who stated that he might have been struggling to cope with modern life, like so many men that were build to be cowboys and more apt at dealing with horses and guns than the softer skills that are needed for our day and age.
Felipe Owen definitely hadn’t been one of those men though: if he had lived in the 19thcentury he might have become a telegrapher or worked the post office. The reporter asked if the guy didn’t have any family in town. The Sheriff said that there was and the family had stated that there hadn’t been any contact for months. The police had gone through the apartment and it had seemed like this guy had just gotten up and headed out: there were no indications of foul play.
*
Mr. Ed realized that things had gotten out of hand, but at least there were no leads pointing towards him or Victor Vaughn. Mr. Ed wasn’t sure though how to control a guy like that. If he was back in Moac it would be simple: he would get a few guys to talk some sense into this guy. He could get a few of those guys over to Martossa, but that would draw too much attention. Mr. Ed thinks: this one needs some ingenuity.
3
Felipe Owen was the uncle of Bobby. When the word had gotten out the boys stayed in contact via walkie-talkies. The other boys assumed that Bobby would be so struck with grief that his walkie-talkie would be off.
They were all surprised when they heard Bobby’s voice: “Let’s just meet at the usual,” Bobby said, “The junk yard with the cars.”
“He bobbie-man,” Bradley said, “You alright.”
“I’m okay, I guess,” he said, “I just need to get out of the house.”
*
For the boys things had gotten very real over night, since it weren’t just stories about bad things that happened to other people that they didn’t know too well. They didn’t know Felipe Owen and Bobby also didn’t care too much for the man, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was that it was as if the Debt Collector was closing in on them. In a way it was as if circling around them and this was the last victim that had been close, but not close enough to paralyze them with fear.
“My family doesn’t seem to believe a word of it that my uncle killed himself,” Bobby says, “He mostly kept to himself, but he just wasn’t the type to do something like that.”
“Then what do they think has happened here?” Bradley asks.
“The Debt Collector,” Bobby says, “When we were on that stake-out yesterday, it really looked like he had just dug someones grave.”
“That was a weird co-incidence….” Tommie-Lee says.
“That guy just has something to do with it,” Brandon says, “Your uncle goes missing the same night that this scary creature doesn’t go back to his hotel for the night.”
“What if it’s true?” Bradley asks.
“What do you mean: what if,” Tommie-Lee says all agitated.
“The question is: how can we find out?” Brandon asks.
“We can look for traces,” Bradley says, “Inspect the outside of that dude’s car.”
“Looking for what?” Bobby asks, and he turns all pale, “Blood? Pieces of clothing?”
Bradley nods, realizing that that might actually be a very painful experience for him. He also thought something else because he had his share with heavy stuff and muddling through: Painful, yes, but it will help you process what has happened in the long run.
4
Victor Vaughn wasn’t worried: this hadn’t been the first time that he iced someone and it sure wouldn’t be the last. The circumstances were worrisome though. He usually acted out of duty or towards some greater good. This one had been different though, since there was no need for any involvement on his part, other than the fact that he didn’t trust that Mr. Ed guy.
It was all the reason to keep this guy close, but he just hadn’t expected that he would go quite this far to establish and maintain this kind of proximity. The whole idea of leverage hadn’t come to mind, but it might come when he would find himself cornered or strapped for cash.
Victor Vaughn needed to catch some air and that’s why he got in his car and he drove to the edge of town. At the end of the road there was the lot with the junked-up cars.
*
“Look who just turned onto the lot,” Brandon whispers, “This is like a sign, guys: we need to investigate this guy’s car.”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to just walk over and check it out a little,” Tommie-Lee says.
“What do you guys think?” Brandon asks.
“I guess just looking couldn’t hurt,” Bradley says, “You in?”
“I don’t know,” Bobby says, “What if I like see blood or pieces of clothing…. I think I will freak out for real….”
“Stay back, it’s ok,” Brandon says, “Then you can be the lookout.”
*
The car was battered and beat up. They looked around all they could, but except for dirt and more dirt, they couldn’t find much of anything.
“I think I can pry the lock of the door, you know,” Tommie-Lee says, “Then we can open the trunk from there.”
“I don’t know,” Bradley says, “It’s kind of risky.”
“You’re going to tell me that you’re not the least curious?” Brandon asks.
“Okay, I admit to that….”
Tommie-Lee used his army knife and a paperclip; cracking a lock wasn’t as easy as they made it seem in the movies and it took him a good fifteen minutes. He quickly opened the door and pulled the release for the trunk.
“O man,” Tommie-Lee says, “It feels like that guy is watching or something.”
“What are we looking for exactly?” Brandon asks.
Inside the trunk they saw two barrels of gasoline, a large collection of all kinds of knives and a whole lot of guns. There were also what looked like ancient devices of torture, but before they had a chance tostudy everything in there they hear someone yell in the distance:“What the hell!”
“O, shit,” they all say and all of them run back to the cars where they usually hang out, “Grab your gears, guys.”
Victor Vaughn ran towards his car and pulled a shotgun out the back of his trunk. By luck the guys had their bows and arrows ready.
“You kids made a huge mistake,” Victor Vaughn yells, “A huge….”
The guys didn’t wait for them to be shot at. The first arrow came from Bobby and it pierced Victor Vaughn’s shoulder. The second pierced his other shoulder. The third hit was a rock from the slingshot that hit him right in the head. The fourth hit was another rock that hit him on the knee. The fifth was an arrow that pierced his hand.
“I’ll be back,” Victor Vaughn yells, while retreating, “You better believe it.”
The boys grab all the stones they can and they drive him back to his car. They don’t stop there and by the time he’s about to drive off all of his windows are shattered, except a small one in the back.
“You guys think this was smart?” Brandon asks, while they are still trying to catch their breath.
“My dad says that bad guys respect strength,” Bradley says.
“Even when it comes from a bunch of kids?” Brandon asks.
“I don’t know,” Bradley says.
“We’re fried,” Bobby says in a scared voice, “I know it.”
“Don’t move ahead of yourself now, son,” Brandon says, “That guy had it coming for a long time.”
*
What the boys didn’t know was that Mr. Ed was still plotting his revenge and it so turned out to be that he came across the site of the agency that employed Victor Vaughn as a bounty hunter. They have a listing of all active bounty hunters in the area and Mr. Ed hires a guy by the name of Malcolm Thompson.
Mr. Ed puts out a $10.000 reward for a dead or alive on Victor Vaughn a.k.a. The Debt Collector.
5
Malcolm Thompson was very interested in the 10k that Mr. Ed had offered for Victor Vaughn. Malcolm Thompson once served as mayor in Martossa, but he was so bad to the bone until there was one night in July that it was so hot and miserable that something just needed to give. That night it had rained slightly and then it stopped, but by that time people were so riled up that a whole posse formed out of thin air. The Sheriff and his two deputies couldn’t do much to stop what the posse had on their mind (and secretly they might have been of the same mind).
When Malcolm Thompson had been elected to office it had been by a majority of 74 percent. It had much to do with the fact that he had been a decorated war hero and that he didn’t come from town seemed much less important. If he had been, then the people of Martossa might have had an idea of what would have been coming for them: tyranny.
Much like anywhere else, or come to think of it, maybe even more than anywhere else people were accustomed of politicians lying wherever they could, while taking bribes left and right. What Malcolm Thompson had established in just a few months wasn’t a whole lot of lies, but he had turned the government of Martossa into a de facto military regime. The kind that tended to be headed by a man with absolute power.
How he had gotten away with it, no one really knew, but he had managed to instill a culture of fear with his subordinates. They in turn demanded absolute loyalty of all citizens. There was one thing though that Malcolm Thompson couldn’t control and that was the warm, hot and miserable weather of July that seemed to drag on longer than during other years during that faithful year.
In a way, this heat wave was like a cloak or wall between him and his subordinates. Malcolm Thompson saw that he lost his grip by the day. When there was one day that was even worse than all the others, his subordinates simply deserted him, all of them.
It was during that night that the posse rounded up after heavy rain of just 15 minutes that did little to cool the people down, but it gave them clarity of mind as to what they needed at that time. There were no words spoken between any of the people, but they had one thing on their mind: the lynching of Malcolm Thompson.
Much like any man of his caliber, Malcolm Thompson somehow picked up on the angry mob that was after him. He grabbed the escape bag that he always kept by the front door and he skipped town. By the time the posse had reached his house they found it empty and it was the mother of Bobby who said: “The weasel must be gone.”
By that time it started to pour and it lasted for one night and one day. The people took it as a sign that that had been the end of it.
*
It would be an understatement to say that Malcolm Thompson didn’t feel much like going back to Martossa. He was sure that they wouldn’t be too happy to see him, but on the other hand, if he brought their new tormentor to them in a cage – he figured that it might ease their judgement. The other reason was that he could sure use the 10k.
6
Connie Moore was among the first to spot Malcolm Thompson driving around town. He had gained some pounds, lost some hair, but she was sure it was him. The rumor spread and the Sheriff got air of it: he summoned Malcolm Thompson to the edge of town and told him not to come back. His deputy escorted him to the edge of town.
Malcolm Thompson waited until the deputy was out of sight, then he turned his car around.
This time Malcolm Thompson had more luck and he spotted the guy that fitted the description. The person was just getting out of his car. Malcolm Thompson had half a mind to gun this guy down then and there, the catching alive seemed more of a challenge. He wrote a note and slipped it under the windscreen: payback 5 pm car junk yard, edge of town, signed MT.
*
Victor Vaughn figured that the note came from the boys that he had it out with the other day. He figured that MT stood for something like Mighty Teens.
Victor Vaughn went down there at five, this time wearing two revolvers on a belt. The guns were for backup though, he brought his own bow and arrow, because he wanted this one to last.
7
When Victor Vaughn turned on the lot at five, he was genuinely surprised that the boys weren’t there. He thought: those little punks chickened out.
“Who the hell are you?” he brisks at the guy who’s at the far end.
“I’m your 5 pm.”
“You?” Victor Vaughn asks, “You’re a dad of one of those punks?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t,” Victor Vaughn says, and he’s getting vexed, “So how you want to do this?”
“Man to man,” Malcolm Thompson says, “Just like they did in the Wild West.”
“Turn at 3.”
*
They both turned at two, but Malcolm Thompson did it a fraction of a second before Victor Vaughn. He managed to shoot him in the knee. Next he shot him in the hand when he went for his gun.
“Where on earth did you learn to shoot like that?” Victor Vaughn cries out in pain.
“What do you think?”
The boys were there the whole time and somehow Malcolm Thompson registers it when when Brandon said “We better split.”
Victor Vaughn managed to shoot Malcolm Thompson in the belly (he aimed for the heart). He turned around and shot Victor Vaughn in the head. The blood was already coming up from Malcolm Thompson’s mouth and he thinks: off all the places this dump is where I end.
The boys saw what happened and they saw Malcolm Thompson collapse across from Victor Vaughn.
“They killed each other….” Tommie-Lee says.
“No shit….” Brandon says.
“We better split still,” Bradley says, “What if one of their friends shows up and think it’s us….”
*
The boys alerted the Sherif and he immediately came down with his two deputies following in separate cars.
“Malcolm Thompson,” the Sheriff says, when he turns the fella over with his foot, “To see the light of day.”
“I think he’s dead, Sheriff,” the deputy says.
“It’s an expression, you idiot,” the Sheriff says, “If he was any more dead he would nothing more than a pile of dust.”
“What do you figure this guy did here?” the other deputy asks.
“I have no idea,” the Sheriff says, “Making amends?”
“Neither of them will be missed, that’s for sure,” the first deputy says, “So what should we do with them?”
“Call the coroner,” the Sheriff says, “I assume that neither of them has any relatives that give two bits that these two are gone.”
“People might want to see these two for themselves,” the second deputy says, “You know, to keep rumors from spreading that these two are still around.”
“Sharp thinking,” the Sheriff says, “We give the town five days, until Friday. Then at a town meeting we can celebrate that Martossa has finally been set free.”
*
The next day Mr. Ed heard the news. He hadn’t withdrawn the 10k yet and he hadn’t met in person with Malcolm Thompson. As far as anyone knew they never had any business. Mr. Ed ordered one of his men to erase all digital traces that he had ever dealt with any bounty hunter.
Mr. Ed was fully aware that the luck that he had just had tendency of not coming back twice. He was playing with the idea of donating the 10k to the local church. It was just that there was no way for him to do that without people finding out about it.
He needed a third man to do this for him. The 10k would clear his conscience.
