This podcast may not be suitable for young listeners. Steve Lily Journal, entry
number eleven. Leonard Kates was a son of a bitch. He had been
all his life. When Leonard was seven, he robbed a lemonade stand with
a knife in his hand. Throughout his primary years, he would shake down
every kid in the neighborhood for lunch money, paper out money, and yard
cutting money. Money the other kids had earned in an honest way, savings
for bicycles and skateboards, and even college tuition were emptied when Leonard went on
his rampage just through the streets. He was bigger and meaner than the rest
of the kids. No one had the guts to stand up to him.
The trick to saving money in the North Memphis neighborhood where Leonard proud was not
to have any money on you when he caught you. Leonard graduated from his
minor thefts and shakedowns to bigger prey. As he aged. He spent time
in juvenile detention, but he was so mean as a teenager the authorities would
let him out early because he was beating the hell out of all the other
kids in the facility. At twenty two, he arribed a convenience store on
South Parkway. It was a sixteenth robbery in his life of crime. The
clerk shot him as he was leaving the store with his pockets full of cash.
The wound in his leg festered for three days. He should have had
it treated, but he knew that gunshot wounds were reported to the cops,
so he laid in his room, suffering and hoping the half inch round hole
in his thigh would heal on its own. It only got worse, though.
His stepmother found him unconscious laying on blood silk sheets. She had no
knee was even home, but on her once a year walk through the filthy
house, she discovered her step son alive, still breathing, but sick from
a severe infection. She knew she had to call an ambulance, but she
didn't need the heat showing up inside the home. The drug addicts don't like
the cops in their houses, so she called a friend and both women pulled
Leonard's unconscious, two hundred and fifty pound body outside that night. From there,
they loaded him in the back of a van, and they drove him
a few blocks from the house and pulled him out onto the sidewalk of another
neighborhood, and then she stopped at a phone booth and called an ambulance.
His stepmother would never see Leonard again. She overdosed three years into his thirty
year prison term. His father never visited him in the joint. Leonard was
granted parole when he had completed twenty years of his sentence. He discovered there
were meaner and tougher dudes than him and the joint, and he kept his
head down and followed the rules. He got out for good behavior, an
accomplishment for Leonard Kates. Within two years, Leonard had a decent job in
an average apartment and had met a woman who actually loved the unlovable Marlene had
grounded him, and Leonard was becoming a good citizen, despite the pull that
lingered calling him back into crime where the easy money lived. The opportunities and
temptations, though, were around every corner, and it was hard on him
not to rob a place or to break into some East Mephist home where the
upper class live. But with pure discipline, he held us ground and he
kept working. He didn't want to lose his wife. Marlene was important to
him, but the drawback into crime was stronger with each passing week. He
didn't want to go back to prison either, but he felt himself given in.
He knew it was only a matter of time before he would be making
that easy cash. It was natural to him and he was following his instincts.
He had to make sure not to get shot this time, though.
On a summer afternoon after work it was a Thursday, he drove and he
looked at the parking lot of a liquor store that he had watched for weeks.
Only one car was parked in front. It was too easy, and
he caved. It would be a quick job in and out, and the
couple would have money to do a little extra. He would knock off this
one and see how he felt afterwards. So he parked his car on the
side of the building so that the car wouldn't be seen by anyone inside.
In the store, Leonard walked to the back shelves and wrapped his hand around
the neck of a bottle a brown liquid that he had never heard of,
and then he reached into his back pocket to extract the ski mast that he
would use to disc guys's face, but it wasn't there. The snub nosed
thirty eight was in his waistband, right behind the button on his jeans and
covered with his shirt. He could feel the weight of it pressing against his
belly. He argued with himself whether to go ahead with the stick up without
the mask, and then he thought better of it. After replacing the bottle
to its shelf, he left the store and drove home. He could hit
the store or any store next week. His patience and now mature criminal mind
saved him that afternoon, but it would be more than that to completely change
Leonard Kate's He entered their small apartment depressed and out of sorts. For a
moment. Back in the liquor store, his adrenaline had peaked, anticipating the
thrill of taking down the place. It had been twenty two years since he
felt that thrill. Coming off that sort of high was a letdown. Without
the memory of the robbery fresh in his mind to relive a few times through
the coming days, and in his patience, he knew he had plenty of
time to rob a place he would look forward to. That that would have
to do for now. Why do you look so sad, his wife said,
and she kissed his cheek did you have a bad day at work?
Leonard said nothing. He threw his jacket across the back of their sofa and
then flopped down in it while kicking his size thirteen boots up onto the coffee
table. Boots off the table, mister, she said, a supper is
going to be ready in a few minutes. Go wash your hands. I
have a surprise for you. Go on now. Leonard reluctantly lifted his frame
from the couch and headed to the bathroom, where he washed his hands in
face and walked back into the small kitchen. The light wasn't on, and
he wondered if the power had gone out. Rounding the corner operating the living
area. From the small kitchen, he saw a table lit by two candles,
and then the glow was his favorite meal in a Pyrex dish, and
that was surrounded with their best and only fake china from Walmart Silverware, neatly
arranged on napkins. His wife sat at the table grinning. She had the
best smile of any woman he had ever known, he thought, and she
beckoned him to sit with a gesture of her hand. What do you think
are you hungry? She said? Leonard had never seen anything like this in
his life. It had taken him two years of marriage to get used to
a woman cooking for him. His life before had been jump food when he
could get it, and then prison cuisine, never meals cooked specifically for him.
Well, this was out of his element. He had no idea how
to react. What the hell's going on? He asked. It was his
usual suspicious way of thinking and speaking. No one had ever treated him this
way. No one had ever treated Leonard Kates like a human being. This
is a special night, she said, Why don't we eat, and then
I'll tell you the surprise in a minute. They ate the meal, and
Leonard was full. Marlene sighed with impatience as he dug in for a second
helping of lasagna. He had forgotten there was a surprise. When there was
plenty of food available, you ate as much as you could get in your
crawl. There were never guarantees when the next meal would happen. Old habits
never die. Finally, full, Leonard wife his mouth and laid his napkin
on the table. No, all thoughts of the botched robbery had been stolen
by his wife's kindness. He had forgotten the thrill and now looked at her
in the glow of the candles. I know that we never talked about this,
and well it just happened. His wife looked down at her lap with
a sinister grin. What happened? What are you talking about? You're going
to be a father. The doctor told me today that I'm already three months
along. The nurse even did an ultracent and she thinks you're going to have
a daughter. You're going to have a baby, he asked, We are
having a baby, she said. Leonard Kate's life changed in that moment.
Crime would never enter his mind again. He wasn't going back to prison.
Nothing was going to screw this up. The chair hit the wall behind him
because he had gotten up so fast. Marlene, startled by the noise,
wondered if he was angry until he was on one knee next to her.
Slowly he lowered his head to her lap so that his ear was only a
fraction of an inch of skin and flesh from his new daughter, and he
whispered, You're what I've been waiting for all my life. Kate's wasn't a
son of a bitch anymore, and in an instant he transformed into the best
husband and father the world had ever known. The trails at Fort Pillow State
Park north of Memphis were not the most difficult to walk, even with an
added way to full backpacks. They were still easy for the hikers who had
hundreds of miles logged throughout the past three years. There were hills, but
none that were longer than fifty yards or so. It would not give this
pair of hikers the proper training they needed to be prepared for the Grand Canyon
Rim to Rim hike, only three months away, but it was all that
was available in their area, so they used the trails to train as often
as they could. The Grand Canyon Hike, dreamed up by twelve year old
amandicates started the previous year she read a story about hikers who had accomplished the
Rim to Rim hike in a magazine she found in the school library. After
weeks of pestering her father about doing the hike, he finally made a few
calls and found a guide service he could afford, and he booked the trip.
The father daughter hiking team already had the gear that they would need for
the trip, with a few exceptions, so now the only thing they had
to do was train. According to the outfitters, they both needed to be
able to walk an incline for a mile without stopping. There were no hills
like that close to where the hikers lived, so they joined a local gym
and trained on treadmills. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. Leonard looked
ahead and watched his daughter take on a fort pillows steep incline. Her tenacity
was admirable. He thought back to the day that he walked into the liquor
store and would have robbed the place had he not forgotten his mask, and
he thanked the spirits for that error. Had he taken down the store,
he would likely be in prison now, and he wouldn't be seeing this.
Life had changed. A couple of lateral movements to other companies and a promotion
or two, and he was now in the middle class with a mortgage,
a car for him and Marline, and a daughter in a Memphis area of
private prep school for girls. He was over a stretch, but he just
worked harder to give them the life that he wanted them to have. And
Leonard spend every free minute with Amanda. He knew as she got into the
teens, she would begin to pull away from Dad and mom. Now was
the time that he would have her attention. Now was the time to leave
an indelible mark of a father on a daughter. He would keep her as
far from the life he had grown up in as possible, and so far
it was working out. On this training week end, they would be at
the park overnight. They would find a camp spot toward the end of the
day. The pair settled on a cleared and level spot close to Coal Creek,
and they pitched their tent. After supper, they looked into the camp
fire and talked until near midnight. Leonard didn't follow the current teen culture,
and he had no idea what or who Amanda was talking about, but he
nodded his head and commented when she took a breath. He didn't care,
and neither did his daughter. He was happy for the fact that she would
talk to him about things, and she was happy that he listened. In
mid sentence, Leonard looked at his daughter and he saw that she had nodded
off. He smiled and got her up and ushered her into the tent and
got her secure in her sleeping bag. He crawled in and he did the
same, and they both immediately went to sleep. Something jerk Leonard's arm.
He thought it was a Manda rolling over, but the nudge was too abrupt,
was almost violent. Reaching for the light hung from the tent roof,
he flipped it on and he looked over to make sure Amanda was covered.
There was an unusual chill on the clear June night. Amanda wasn't there,
and neither was her sleeping bag. Well, maybe she had gotten up to
use the bathroom, but he had to check on her though. Standing over
the smoldering coals of their campfire, he looked around the site for a light.
He knew that she would use a flashlight to find her way to a
private place to pee. There was no light, Amanda, he yelled.
The explosion of activity that broke the silence made him jump directly in front of
him and at the edge of the trees, more than four huge shadows went
from a distinct outline in the available light to nothing as they burst away into
the woods and down the ridge from the campsite. Leonard clicked on his light
and pointed it in that direction, and then he ran to the trees,
stopping before heading down the ridge. The noise to animals were making was absurd
in his mind. Nothing moved like a dozer through the trees like that in
these woods. And then the furthest point that his light would show any detail.
In his last glimpse of their movement, he saw Amanda's sleeping bag dragging
the ground behind one of the animals. Hanging out the open end of the
bag was his daughter's socked feet. Leonard, fully dressed, ran back to
the tent and tied his boots on. With the light strapped to his head
and a flashlight, he sprinted to the tree line and baled off the ridge,
running full speed in pursuit of his daughter. He didn't know what he
was chasing, but he knew for sure that he would kill every one of
these people or animals that had taken his treasure. He would kill every last
one of them. Hook Johnson pitched Steve Lily a beer from the Igloo cooler.
Lewis Shanks had just opened one and was in no need of a fresh
soda. An additional more than ten people sat in lawn chairs or stood close
to the grille, talking and laughing, And then the smoker were pork ribs,
butts, and shoulders, Steve started the fire early that morning. There
was no way to cook in a trailer park or have a cooler full of
beer and not draw a crowd. The men knew this ahead of time,
and they bought enough meat and beer for the occasion. This wasn't a cook
for the trailer part. It had been planned for the three squatch hunters and
friends, but as all things go on a trailer park, everyone was wandering
over. You think we bought enough beer, asked Lewis. There's two cases
in that cooler, the private stashes in the house when this one runs out.
Had inside and refill your hand, said Hook. That's right, said
Steve. Lily, but don't let any these crackheads in my house be stealthy
about refilling your hand. Are you afraid someone's gonna steal that nice sofa that
Lily lays on all day? Asked Lewis. Well we would see them if
that happened, said Steve. They're brave, but I don't think they want
to work hard enough to steal that big ass piece of furniture. I'm more
concerned with the Civil War and the art. Well, you're a cultured man,
Steve, said Hook. What's that art worth now six dollars. It's
an investment, Hook, said Lily. Give it time. That stuff will
be worth twelve dollars by the time I retire. I'm doubling my money.
Sounds like a solid retirement plan, said Lewis. I might want some of
that action. Listen in larn boys, said Steve. Changing the subject,
Lewis asks Steve, you know all these motherfucker Steve, you live here too,
Lewis, how many of them do you know? Not many fucking freeloaders,
said Lewis. He finished his beer and walked to the cooler to recan
his hand, and when he came back, he said, if many more
show up, I'm gonna start running these people off. I don't mind sharing
our food and beer, but there dudes walking around here with a beer in
each pocket like they owned the place. You need to build a fence,
man. I think I'll try an experiment, said Steve. Oh shit,
said Hook. Lily walked over to a group of men that he knew.
They lived on the other side of the trailer park, but he had become
friends with them. They were immigrants from Mexico, and no less than twenty
of them lived in one single wide trailer two rows over. Steve had been
changing a fuel pump in his truck the year before and was having trouble with
it. His cussin could be heard all over the neighborhood with busted knuckles wrapped
round of Budweiser. He had taken a break and sat with Lily, that's
his dog, on the tailgate of his truck. Several of the Mexicans walked
by. One of the Mexicans, who spoke English, asked Steve what the
problem was with his truck, and in ten minutes six Mexicans were hovering under
his truck and under the hood helping him fix it. Thirty minutes later,
the diesel engine roared to life and the job was done, and Steve showed
his gratitude by telling them to take the whole cooler with a half case of
beer remaining on ice, and in that gesture a solid friendship form. They
spent many weekends in Steve's backyard during the hot months, sitting in the shade
and having a few cold beers and getting to know each other. Steve approached
the Mexicans, how many of these people do you boys know, asked Steve.
Ah, maybe half of them. I don't think the other half live
here, Steve, you want us to ask him to leave? It was
Isabel Garca. Steve didn't know many Mexicans, but of the ones he knew,
Isabel was the easiest to communicate with. Isabel was the de facto leader
of the immigrants who lived in the area. He was to go to guy
for illegals. He found them jobs and gave them a place to stay while
they were in the States working, and he got a small percentage of their
checks each week in cash in return for his services. Isabel didn't live in
the trailer park, at an nice house in a lower middle class area of
Memphis, but he was at the trailer park several times each day making sure
his men were working and behaving and not drawing attention to themselves. That was
important for his business. His mission was to help the men work and send
money home and get home, and they were ready to leave. It was
a business and he watched over it like a hawk. Isabel, I can
run them off, but I need to get this head off the smoker and
insight so I can help Angela get it ready to serve. If it's not
too much trouble, can you take control of this crowd for me? Said
Steve. You ain't no problem, boss, said Isabel. He turned to
the four men with him and said something to them quickly and ghibly. Immediately
they followed Isabel into the growing mass of people to begin thinning the uninvited guests.
Steve headed for the smoker and he pulled two shoulders off the grill and
headed inside with ANGELA, Hey, boys, if this gets right in,
can you fellows step in and calm everybody down. Isabel's about to start asking
people to leave, Steve, said Lewis and Hook as he walked onto the
back porch and vanished into the house. Lewis looked at Hook and said,
oh, this is a great experiment. Shit's about to hit the fan.
Brother Hook nodded but didn't reply. They both sat back in their long chairs
and watched for the festivities to commence. Isabel had spoken to three of the
party crashers, and they complied with his request by walking toward the front of
Lily's trailer with their friends in tow. But the fourth one looked to be
a bit more difficult, and Hook knew this guy had had run ins with
him before, and he knew this was not going to end well. It
became a certainty when the man called Isabel a fucking Mexican, and before Hook
and Lewis could react and move toward the coming altercation, the man ran his
hand up the small of his back and produced the knife that looked like a
ky bar, and he stabbed down at Isabel's head. But before he could
bring the knife down, Isabel stepped into him while turning his back to the
man, pushing the attacker's momentum backward, and in one motion, he gripped
the man's knife and brought it down over his shoulder. Hook heard the distinct
crack, and he knew that Isabel had hyper extended the man's arm at the
elbow, dislocated the bone and tore a few ligaments. The knife fell to
the ground and it was snatched up by one of Isabel's buddies. The two
men who had been standing behind knife man began to move forward, just in
time for Lewis and Hook to arrive back up, said Louis, and they
complied. The four Mexicans standing behind Isabel never moved or changed the expressions on
their face. Isabel reached down and he helped the knife man up and pointed
him toward the front yard. Without a word, the three party crashers walked
away. The crowd now were only neighbors from the trader part As a cool
move, Isabel said, Lewis, were you in the military or something?
Nah said Isabel. I picked that up somewhere along the way. Come on,
said Hook, everybody grab a cold soda. Food's going to be ready
any time. Lewis looked at the Mexicans. Put your chairs over here,
boys, sit with us, he said. Isabel said something to the others
in Spanish, and they walked back to the area where they were standing before.
Isabel walked back to the smoker with Hook and Lewis, and he sat
down in an empty chair. Tell him to come sit with us, said
Louis. Ah, they don't speak English. It's not comfortable for them.
They're okay over there. Steve and Angela walked back onto the porch and off
into the yard towards the table that sat in the middle. Come and eat
fellas Steve said, and then turning to Lewis and Hook, he said,
looks like the crowd then. Now thanks for that, Isabel. I'll be
back in a minute, and he walked inside to help Angela bring out more
items. By eleven pm that evening, only five people remained in the yard.
They sat in long chairs, listening to the Memphis traffic in the distance
and the buzzing locusts singing from the trees. Smoke from a quickly made fire
in the pit rose into the cloudless sky with only smoldering below. Angela sat
next to Steve and they both set across the fire from Lewis Hook and Isabel.
I'm sorry you had to deal with that guy today, Isabel said Steve.
I didn't know him, had no idea he'd do that. Some people
are just stupid. I wish I could have seen your ninja move though.
Yeah, that was impressive, said Hook. I don't think I can make
that move, said Lewis. I'm not agile enough. I guess he'd just
have to stab me. Oh, you'd have shot him the second he called
you a fucking Mexican, said Hook. Y'all would have done that. Lewis
agreed. But they're not be in jail about now, so it's a good
thing Isabel was here. They talked for another thirty minutes, watching the planes
fly in and out of the Memphis Airport. Isabel got up to leave.
I'm gonna go, fellas I might see my kids before they go to bed.
Thanks for the food. My friends had a great time, he said.
Come on back anytime, said Steve. You know I'm here if you
men ever need anything. Is about nodded and began folding his long chair.
Steve's burner phone rang, Hook and Lewis knew what this call was about.
It was the phone only used for Squatchkill admissions. When Steve hung up,
he said, we got some work boys. We gotta leave now. Why
does he always call at night? Asked Hook? How about a daytime gig
now? And then? Shit, I need some sleep. That's why they
passed a big bugs killer. How about we take your excursion. We always
take my excursions, Steve. She's getting some miles on her. Maybe we
need to start a team vehicle fund and get something fresher, said Hook.
Damn, that's a good idea, Hook said Lewis. I'm going in and
getting my ship. I'll meet you boys out front and five. We don't
have far to go, Steve said. As they walked towards the trailer.
Lily followed. She knew when these jobs started and didn't want to be left
outside all night. Lewis headed toward his trailer while Hook sat looking into the
coals of the dying fire and contemplated the universe. He hadn't noticed Isabel still
standing next to him. What sort of work did you guys do, asked
Isabel. Hook, a bit startled, said we hunt problem wildlife for the
government. It's just a side job, not a full time gig. But
we got to go when they call. So you'll hunt predators here in Tennessee.
Isabel said, yeah, you wouldn't think there would be many here,
but we stay pretty busy, said Hook. Oh that's cool. Is to
pay any good? That's not bad, or we wouldn't do it, said
Hook. You guys hunt like mountain lions and coyotes and stuff. Yeah,
something like that, said Hook, trying to be as obscure as he could
be. He wanted this conversation to end. Yeah. I started hunting codys
when I was a kid in Arizona. My father took me a lot.
We had a lot of fun. I still hunt them now. Do you
know there are as many codies in this area as there are out west?
Oh? Yeah, they're everywhere, said Hook. I have my rifle in
my car. What if I came along with you guys. That's not a
good idea. It gets kind of harry out there if there's a big pack
of cooties. Maybe another time, Isabel said Hook, hoping that would end
the conversation. Hell, yeah, you can go, said Steve, who
had just stepped off the porch with two rifles and his other gear strapped in
various places on his body. You can bring your rifle, but we have
some weapons you might prefer. Where's Louis Hook? Lewis was already back at
the excursion loading his gear. Isabel headed toward Lewis in the vehicle. It's
a bad idea, Steve. That man has a family. I hope this
is an easy gig because someone's going to have to keep their own Isabel said
Hook. Hook. This is as bad as they get, said Steve.
Multiple targets and a little girl missing. We're gonna need an extra hand,
and Isabel can handle himself, right. You saw that today. That fucker
isn't afraid of anything. Yeah, but he thinks we're hunting coyote, Steve
said, Hook. We'll explain the whole thing to him before we get out
of Memphis. If he wants to back out, we can drop him at
his house. I think he's gonna one in on this. That dude's meanerd
and shit and he likes making money. That's a good combination for us.
All right, I'll let you do the talking. I'm tired of talking,
said hook. Leonard Kate's crouched behind a thick growth of vines and briars.
Based on what was happening in front of him, and for a moment,
he wished he had not been so quick to chase after whoever had taken his
daughter. But if he hadn't chased the kidnappers all night through the woods,
he wouldn't have an eye on Amanda. And in spite of not having a
weapon to try to get his daughter back, he was glad that he had
chased them down. It was better to know than not to know where she
was being held and have a weapon. But now he had to think.
He had to make a plan. There was no way that he could take
on the whole crowd of creatures that milled about the creature nest. There had
to be twenty, maybe more. These things were some sort of ape,
but not an ape. They walked straight up on two legs, yet their
movements would often look like apes. They had been loud when he first approached
the nest, and after losing the creatures and his mad six hour long chase,
he heard the strangest commotion over a ridge. He eased to the crest
and looked over to find this pack of wild animals seemingly celebrating the capture of
his daughter. After moving down the slope a bit and taking up the position
that he was now in, he saw what they were, and he knew
that he just couldn't walk in and fight his way to Amanda. An hour
passed and Leonard saw the beasts one by one began to lay on leaf betting
and go to sleep. Only two remained awake. He assumed they were the
lookouts, but to his surprise, the last two laid close to Amanda and
appeared to drift off into sleep. A man to fault with the vines that
had been wrapped around her body to secure her, but she couldn't break free.
One of the lookouts would sit up and growl at her when she made
enough noise to annoy him. Leonard thought he saw her chest heaving as she
wept. There was his daughter in the hands of a vicious looking creature,
and there was nothing he could do about it. Frustration began to build.
He had to move, get out of earshot of the nest and call for
help. Leonard moved so slow back up the hill that it took him an
hour to travel fifty yards to the crest. The sun was shining through the
trees. Not knowing how sensitive the creature's sense of hearing was, he chose
to be as quiet as a mouse, along with keeping any vegetation that he
could find between himself and the nest. And when he reached the top,
he descended to the bottom of the ridge and he climbed another. He had
to make some phone calls, and the hire he was in elevation, the
better, he thought. The chances of getting a cell phone signal were.
Not knowing the phone numbers of the local Fish and Wildlife office or the sheriff's
office, he dialed nine one one, and he waited, and when the
call ended, he felt no better about the situation. They took him serious,
and they were sure his daughter was in danger, but they didn't believe
that creatures were holding her hostage. It was plain to Leonard that they thought
he was crazy, but they would send someone to the area now. But
the next problem was finding him. Leonard didn't know where he was, and
he couldn't give them a location. He remembered crossing a gravel park road at
some point during the chase, but that was hours ago. All he could
tell them was that he had not crossed the Mississippi River. He was still
on the Tennessee side. He knew that for sure. He thought he was
somewhere between Coal Creek Chute and the river. It was the best he could
do. Cell Phone location technology was sketchy. They might locate him within a
mile or two, but that was it. The dispatcher asked him to start
walking and call her back when he hit a road or a trail. Leonard
would not leave his daughter. They would just have to find him. It
would take hours, if not a whole day and night, and he knew
it. His only hope was that the creatures would slip all day and not
wake until dark. The sun would set in ten hours if they found him.
After that, he knew whatever the animals had in store for his daughter,
and he could only guess what that was. He would not be in
a position to get her out. His last resort would be to charge down
on them and try to grab her. But that was hopeless and he knew
it, and he prayed that help would soon arrive. Nine hundred miles away,
in an obscure office building and under the business name of an accounting firm,
Agent Read placed an incident report on Agent blues desk. He looked over
the high points and he said, let's activate our Memphis team and get them
moving to the site. Get the man's location with our satellite and send him
straight to him. We don't have time to gather a full intel package.
If they don't make it there soon, that little girl's not gonna make it.
It's already done, Chief, said Agent Red. They're en route as
we speak. Well, good work, Red, How soon can they be
there? They're close to the site now. They should make contact with the
father anytime. She said, Well, how did they get there so fast?
Asked Blue. Orange and Red got a hit in the state park last
week. We picked up some Facebook chatter about encounters in the area. They
began scanning the area for creatures, and boy did they find them. It
appeared to be a larger than average clan. They were gathering intel for the
Memphis team. Last night they were watching the clan on infrared and actually watched
the creatures take the girl from the tent. We were going to recommend sending
the Memphis team in next week anyway, but this suspend things up a bit.
Agent Red stood in front of her boss with an air of accomplishment,
but worried look in her eyes. Had Orange and Green not found this clan,
I doubt we would have a chance of getting this child back. We
got lucky on this one. I would say the chances are still low,
but we have a chance. If anyone can get it done, it's the
Lily Crew. I activated them last night, and I was going to brief
you this morning in our meeting. Well, I agree those guys are savages,
and if they can get to her, she might just come home.
Good work. Read to keep me posted on the mission, said Blue.
As his eyes skeptically scanned the report. He imperceptibly shook his head and thought
of his thirteen year old daughter at home. Everyone knew it was a long
shot to save this child, but at least with the Memphis team there,
the odds were not zero. They were close, but not zero. The
Memphis crew stepped out of the excursion into a muddy field. The excursion was
stuck. The intelligence they had received showed the clan south and west of Crutcher's
Lake, an oxboat north of a more recently formed oxboat called Cold Creek Chute.
The squatch nest was between the river and the chute, on the ground
that appeared to be elevated out of the water. To get as close as
possible and to avoid long hours of walking, the team opted to get the
vehicles as close to the nest as possible, something they rarely did. The
gravel roads were a gift from heaven, but it was the short drive back
south in the fields that caused them problems. They had almost made it to
the spot where they wanted to park when the excursion tires sank into the deep
gumbo and began to spind. It wasn't that much further and they could worry
about getting the excursion out after the job was done. Whenever the team had
guests hunting with them, either for the hell of it or out of necessity,
explaining what they were about to do was usually a touchy subject, and
most people thought they were full of it and putting them on a snipe hunting
joke. But that was not the case with Isabelle. And we aren't hunting
coyotes, Isabel. We're going to kill some bigfoots, Steve had said in
a matter of fact way. Shortly after they were on the road, there
was a long silence in the car for several minutes. None of them spoke
a word. They were letting Isabel process the words he had just heard,
but the time was getting short. Hook was about to drive past an exit
that would take Isabel home, so he asked, all right, do you
enter out, Isabel. I'm in man. You know I've seen bigfoot before.
I know they're real. And when I saw the weapons you had in
the back, I knew you weren't using that stuff on cootees. It had
to be something bigger. Just tell me what you need me to do.
I'm in, said Belle, sitting back in his seat, laying his head
back on the headrest. Okay, said Louis. Steve, get us up
to speed on what we're walking into. Agent Red says that there's a pack
of squatches up close to Fort Pillow. This would normally be an op that
we could plan. But there's a little girl taking from a campsite a few
hours ago. They're still getting a heat signature on her, so she is
alive. Now we need to get her out, and taking bounties is not
an objective today. Getting this girl back is all we need to do,
said Steve. Lewis reached back and snatched the laptop from Steve's hand to look
at the satellite image that he was looking at on the screen, and he
pondered the screen, running his finger over the glowing light in his lap.
Then he handed the computer back to Steve. I count twenty two squatches,
Steve. They're all asleep. That kid does appear to be alive, he
said, and he moved his eyes back to the road in front of them.
Twenty two said hook, that's what it looks like, said Steve.
Not another word was said in the excursion until Isabel said we can take them
with their gear on and now loaded down with rifles and ammunition, the team
of four walked to the edge of the trees. They stopped. Steve pulled
a phone from his pocket and after a few keystrokes, he hit sinned and
waited What are we waiting on, asked Lewis. Leonard's phone vibrated in his
pocket. A text from a number he didn't recognize. Waited to be read.
Walked three hundred yards due north and tcr light was the message. Leonard
looked at his watch. It was nine fourteen am. He had made the
call to nine one one only thirty minutes ago, and then moved back to
keep an eye on his daughter while the creature slept. How had anyone found
him that fast, he thought? And who had sent the text? He
knew if he left the area he might not find his way back. Leonard
was great on trails, but not a good navigator in the woods without landmarks
or trails to follow. He replied to the text message, I can't leave.
I won't be able to find my way back to the spot. Our
response came back immediately. We know where you are and where your daughter is.
We have a plan to get her out. Walk three hundred yards north,
we will explain reluctantly. Leonard slid down the hill slowly and began making
his way in a large, sweeping loop so that he could begin his trek
north. In thirty minutes, he saw a small red light ahead in the
trees. Men were standing there. He adjusted course towards them, and the
Memphis squatch Hunters came into view. Are you okay, asked Lewis. Well,
I'm fine, but those fuckers have my daughter. I'd have gone in
and got her. But there's a bunch of them, said Leonard. Well,
hell, there's twenty two of them, said Steve, and he held
the screen of the laptop in front of Leonard's face that he could see.
And there's your daughter, and she's alive. Now, what's your name,
Leonard Kates. My daughter's name is Amanda Leonard Kates from Humes High School,
said Hook. What, yeah, I went to Humes for two years.
I didn't finish. There was a brief moment of disbelief from Hook and Steve
as they stood there looking at the man who had shaken them both down for
cash more than once. And while Hook and Steve had not gone to Humes
High School, they knew exactly who they were talking to. Leonard had made
the rounds and taken several hundred dollars off kids in the neighborhood. You owe
me exactly sixty two dollars and fifty cents said Hook. What the hell are
you talking about, said Steve. How did you get the number sixty two
fifty huck? I cut yards for a month to make that cash. When
I was twelve, said Hook. I was on my piece of ship bike,
on my way to the Schwind store to buy a new one, when
this asshole grabbed me on Summer Avenue and beat the hell out of me and
then took everything out of my front pocket. Then he stalked on my bike
and I had to walk home. Hook turned to Leonard, But you didn't
get all of it, you son of a bitch. I had another hundred
dollars in my back pocket. You didn't get that, you chicken shit thief.
The rest of the guys were astonished that this conversation was even taking place.
None of them knew what to say. Hook and moved closer to Leonard,
almost like he was about to knock the shit out of him, but
Steve stepped between them. No one looked more stunned than Kate's. It was
a lifetime ago for him, and he had not thought of those years in
some time, but he remembered Hook and immediately began to apologize. Look,
man, I'm sorry about all that I was a bad kid, and I
heard a lot of people, But I'm not that way now. Now my
daughter is in there. You guys gonna help me get her out or not?
Well, why do you think we're here, asked Lewis. How about
you white boys settle your shit later. There's a twelve year old girl in
there surrounded by squatches. Now what are we gonna do? Leonard looked back
at Hook. I'll make all that up to you. Hook, just please
give me a hand and help me get my daughter out. A warm sense
of empathy washed over Hook. He put his hand on Leonard's shoulder and he
rocked him back and forth. All right, let's go get her, said
Hook. Please tell me how did you fellows get here so fast? Said
Leonard. We'll tell you later, said Steve. Take five minutes and tell
me everything you can about what's going on in that nest, and then we're
going to come up with a plan. After Leonard relayed the details, the
team gathered around the hood of Hook's excursion and threw together a plan. There
would need to be a distraction, so two of the men would approach from
the north and start making noise to wake the squatches up and get them to
come investigate. Well, not all of them would come, and they knew
that several would stay in the nest or they would flee south toward the river,
and that meant that the other two would have to work their way south
of the nest and catch the squatches that fled in an ambush. The big
question was how many beasts would go each way. There was no way to
predict their reaction to the commotion to the north, but at the moment it
was the best plan they could come up with, and in the middle of
the mayhem that was about to ensue, someone had to rescue Amanda. They
didn't know if the squatches would try to protect their hostage or run, leaving
her behind, but they hope for the latter. Now, Leonard, put
this in your ear. You're going to be able to communicate with us on
this device. Take this rifle in these three magazines. Now, I'm going
to assume you know how to use a rifle, said Steve. I know
how to use a rifle, said Leonard. Okay, now I want you
to go back to the place where you were watching the nest. If anything
comes your way after the creatures start moving shoot them, but only if they're
coming your way. Now, remember that your daughter will be in the middle
of all this to check your fire, and do not shoot your daughter.
Steve, do you think this is gonna work, asked Leonard. Well,
we won't know until we try. I'm hoping to keep these fuckers so busy
that they forget about your daughter, and if they do, I want you
to get down that hill and get her out. But I need to let
you know that if one of these beasts gets a hold of you, you
will not survive, said Steve. Make believe they have sixty dollars in their
fucking pocket, said Hook. You're gonna have to be that mean again.
Let's get Amanda out, said Leonard. I'm going to kill as many as
I can find. That's my boy, said Steve. Lewis and Steve left
first. They would move in a wide arc and circle south behind the nest
and set up as close as they could get. Hook and Isabel would provide
the distraction. They walked into the hot summer Delta forest. Give me a
set route, said Agent Blue, poking his head into the situation room.
Orange, Green, and Red sat at a table and watch the events on
a seventy five inch monitor that hung on the wall at the end of the
table. Illuminated figures began to enter the woods. Two stopped a few hundred
yards into the woods, while three began making a wide easterly arc around the
nest. They're moving into position, said Red. You want to watch the
show with us? I think I will, said Blue. Are you seeing
any activity from local law enforcement since the nine one one call? Nothing,
said Orange. Lily and his crew are on their own. It's probably better
that way, agreed, said Blue. Of the three figures who had been
moving to the southern end of the nest, one broke off, taking an
abrupt right and heading west. He was moving slower now, and the observers
correctly decided that he was climbing an incline and moving slow so as not to
be detected. The two figures to the north had apparently settled into their positions
fifty yards from the nest. The southern team kept moving. Have they ever
taken on this many creatures, asked Green. No, said Red, But
this mission has one objective. This isn't a kill mission. But did you
explain that to Lily, asked Orange. I did, said Red, But
we all know what he's going to do if he can get the girls safely
out. Yes we do, said Blue, Yes we do. Looks like
they're set up, said Green. Here we go. Turn on the audio
to their calms, said Blue. Connect us. The red figures on the
screen were motionless. They were waiting. All hell was about to break out
in the delta? Are we set asked Hook over the calms. Leonard spoke
up in a whisper. What if they had straight west, we'll loser.
Then there's a bluff over there. They'd have to jump thirty feet down onto
a sandbar, and then they'd be in the river. They won't go west,
said Steve. Now get ready, Leonard, and talk to us us
and let us know if they do something crazy before they get to us,
got it, said Leonard. Okay, hok, you and Isabel start making
some noise. Get them moving, Steve. Why haven't we seen any centuries
around, said Hook. They don't have any lookouts. That's awful strain.
I don't know, but I haven't seen any on the infrared. If they
were there, we would have seen them start making some noise, said Steve.
All right, here we go, said Hook, and the columns went
dead. Hook produced a smartphone from his pocket and pulled up a music out.
He clicked on a selection of Mexican mariachi music. The trumpets and the
squeeze box and the guitars began to play, and then he turned the volume
up as loud as he could, and he placed the phone in the fork
of a dogwood sapling. Hook looked over at Isabel and smiled, and with
an ear to ear grin, Isabel gave Hook a big thumbs up. They
each moved away from the phone, taking up positions with a clear killing field
in front of them. Can you hear that, Steve asked Louis. It's
better than you singing, said Louis. You wish I was singing. Loggin'
low, said Louis. As going to get Harry. Above the nest,
Leonard watched as several of the Squatches were rousted from a good sleep. They
were rubbing their eyes and scratching their asses, seemingly pissed that they had been
woken up by an intruder. Half of the beast moved to the north end
of the gigantic nest and stopped to listen to the mariotchi music. The other
half were just now beginning to stand. One of the beasts walked over to
Amanda and screamed at her. She burst into tears. It was the first
time Leonard had seen her face since she had been taken. She was dirty,
and she looked exhausted, but she was alive. He breathed a sigh
and moved the scope to the head of the animal that had screamed at her.
Now, Leonard, I know you want to start shooting, but trust
me, you need to wait. Do not shoot at anything unless they come
at you now. We need to get in there and get your daughter.
When these nasty things start moving, and if you shoot now, they're gonna
likely come at you now. We can't help you if that happens. Steve's
voice over the comms was soothing and confidence building. Leonard eased his finger out
of the trigger guard and he waited. Isabel, I'm going to move up
twenty yards and start talking to them. This music isn't working. Let's get
them close before you shoot. Make the shots count, said Hook. Isabel
watched the big man start us walk forward. When Hook stopped, he began
calling the Squatches every foul name he could think of. He screamed at them
for a solid minute. They heard the creatures coming at them. Now,
Isabel tightened his gript on the aar ten and begins getting the woods with the
scope. Isabel, you see that big oak tree between us out front.
You take everything to the right of that tree, and I'll take everything to
the left. They're coming. A huge, water swollen trunk of a tree
stood out among all the others in the area. When Isabel looked at it,
behind it, he saw the second squatch he had seen in his life,
and it was twice the size of the animal he had seen years ago.
He allowed the creature to creep up even with the tree, keeping the
red dot centered on its nose, and when the rifle bucked into his shoulder,
he got to see the creature's head explode. Chunks of brain, skull,
and sinus cavity rained down on the leaves. He heard Hook shoot twice.
Good shot, Ambre said, Hook, stay alert. The image of
the creature's face before it exploded revolted Isabel. The beasts were the ugliest things
he had ever seen. Moore would be a pleasure. He was starting to
have fun. We have a problem. Houston Lily's voice came over the coms.
Not a single squatch as heading to Lewis and me. We're coming to
you, Hook, I guess we'll come at him from behind. We're heading
your way. Don't shoot us. Only two creatures had made it to the
team to the north side. Everything was quiet. Hook thought that they should
have heard a stampede coming at him, but there was nothing. Steve,
I'm not seeing anything other than the two we took down. Hook immediately looked
at his portable monitor, which showed the satellite image. He could see the
twenty who were left, but they were moving slow. They were spreading out
a little, creeping toward his position. Where's the kid, he said,
I don't see her in the nest one of them. Hazar broke in,
Leonard, I'm moving down the hill. I'm going to fall in with the
others. Steve and Lewis were running now, and when Steve broke in on
the coms, it was obvious by breathing. Don't come down the hill,
Leonard. Follow that ridge as far as you can to the north. We
need you up there and try to keep pace with that pack of squatches.
Or what about Amanda? Leonard screamed. We're gonna get her now, Just
go now, said Lewis. Leonard jumped to his feet and started running.
He found a wildlife path on top of the ridge, making it easier than
fighting through the brush. He kept pace with the pack, but still couldn't
see Amanda, and a deep dread washed over him. He had to get
to her. In Steve's mind, they had to squeeze this pack and get
them grouped together so they could begin killing them faster. If he and Lewis
could push them from the south while Hook and Isabel advanced from the north,
they would eventually meet and it could possibly be a slaughter. He didn't want
to think about the bounties and the huge money that would be the payout if
they were able to kill twenty two squatches and one mission. But still,
as he ran, he was trying to do the math in his head to
come up with a total. The numbers stopped computing in his mind when he
found a man a sleeping bag lying in the middle of the nest. Nope,
we're here to get this girl out, he thought. Forget that money.
In front of Lewis, he saw a squatch jogging along like it was
getting its daily exercise in Lewis picked up his pace a bit and then stopped
and shot the creature in the bag, dropping it to the ground, but
it was still alive. Lewis started running again, and he never stopped at
the bleeding, infurious big foot. As he ran by, he put two
more rounds in the thing's neck and head. Leaves were kicking up behind Lewis
shanks. He was running. Damn, Louis, slow down, you're making
me look bad, said Steve. In front of Lily were two creatures who
had turned and were facing him. That's when he picked up the pace and
ran faster toward them. Now they didn't expect that. Most things run away
from them, but this crazy human was coming full speed. They didn't know
how to react. That's when two rounds each snapped their heads back and they
dropped to the ground in heaps. Steve ran by the newly made squatch corpses
and yelled into his might now feel better, Lewis. No one knew the
number of squatches left alive, so they had no way to know how many
were left to do battle with. But one thing was certain. One of
them had Amanda under its arm, and if the five men began randomly shooting
at anything that moved they might hit the girl. Steve stopped abruptly, and,
not hearing any shots fired, began to speak again to the whole team.
Boys, we can't shoot with reckless abandon the girls under the arm or
one of those monsters. If you're gonna have to pick your shots. Shooting
discipline has never been more important. Does everyone copy? In the years since
they began hunting Bigfoot, they had never had to be conscious of where they
play their shots. This was an added dimension to the game, a life
and death game. A voice they knew but didn't expect to hear became audible
in their earpieces. It was an agent read guys, you have sixteen creatures
equal distant between your two teams. They're bunched up together, with four standing
at the perimeters. The child is in the arm of the creature on the
far west of the group. The creatures closest to your man on the northwest.
If he can get close and make a kill shot, you can open
up randomly on the group. Do you copy? There was a brief silence
before Lily responded, why am I hearing you on our walkie talkie's Agent read,
Steve. We can talk about that later. Now get moving and think
of a way to draw the creature with the child away from the pack.
But you're thinking cap on boy. Steve hit his mike forgetting again that others
could hear them speaking. Man, I hope she hadn't heard talking about her
while we're out on these gigs, he said to the others, instead of
one of the team responding it was Agent Read again. I've heard it all,
dummy, Now get to the girl. Go. Lily was afraid to
say anything now. His face was turning red thinking about the sexual thoughts he
had imagined about Agent Read and had conveyed to Hook and Lewis over the same
communication gear that had been issued to them by the outfit for which they worked.
It was all in fun, he thought, Maybe she would understand that.
Lewis walked up to Stevens said, damn boy, snap out of it.
Any ideas on getting the girl. I can see her, the voice
was Leonards. She's the farthest away from me, but I can see the
Mexican guy just thirty or forty yards away from her. Can you take a
shot? He was asking Isabel directly I can take a shot, but I'm
never having used this rifle. I'm not confident I won't hit her. Hook.
Can you see the squatch with the girl? I can't see her,
Hook said from the northeast position, but I have at least ten standing in
the woods ready to be cut down. They're just standing there. I don't
get it. What do you think they're doing? Boys? Isabel thought about
the situation. He also thought about his daughters at home and how he would
feel if his girl were draped under the arm or one of these filthy animals
start shootin' Hook. I have a plan, Isabel said, while he moved
the rifle in his hands to his back. I right, Isabel say?
When he heard Hook say? When shouted Isabel through the mc Steve, Lewis
and Hook began firing at the same time. All three had eyes on beasts
that held the twelve year old girl in its arms, or they knew it
wasn't in their field of fire. Shots also rained down from the ridge from
Leonard. He had held off as long as he could. The beasts went
crazy and se charged in various directions, looking for the source of their pain.
Isabel, keeping his eye on the beast, and holding the girl,
reached into the back of his shirt and extracted a knife. It was a
long blade he kept on him while dealing with the lowlife that lived in the
places where his people lived and harassed them constantly. He pulled the knife cleanly
from the leather sheath strapped to his body. He leaned forward, knife in
hand, and sprinted straight at the big mail holding the little girl, And
when the monster saw him coming, he dropped the child and charged back at
the crazy Mexican. At the last moment, Isabel dropped to the ground and
slid between the legs of the giant bees like he was sliding into third base,
and he sliced upward while gliding in the slick mud below the leaves,
and when he came up on his feet on the other side, he turned
and prepared for another charge. The creatures testicles had not been completely cut away
from its body. They hung in a nauseating hanging mass of blood and flesh
where he had sliced opened the scrotum, but left both testicles hanging free in
the open. They dangled a foot and a half where they had seconds before
been nestled tightly against the creature's body. It had not even turned to face
Isabel. It was in too much pain. Seeing his chance and with the
beasts facing the other way, Isabel jumped onto the squatch's back, climbed to
its shoulders and wrapping his right arm around the front of the beast's head and
then pulling the sharp blade across the animal's throat, severing its windpipe, its
gut tube, and apparently both corroded arteries. Blood began to soak his sleeves.
The animal's head tilted backward, hitting Isabel in the nose. He released
his grip and landed on both feet, ready to deal with another attack that
never came. The squatch dropped to its knees and then fell face first in
the leaves, had never took another breath. Isabel brought his rifle around from
his back and brought the stock to his shoulder and yelled into the might I
had the girl kill them all. Leonard, at that point, abandoned his
position and ran full speed down the steep hill. Several squatches still remained on
their feet. Lewis saw him running straight into their field of fire and immediately
told the others to stop shooting it. Took a minute for the bullets to
stop flying, but when they did, Leonard broke out on flat ground with
his rifle at his shoulder. He was trying to get to Amanda, but
as he ran he caught three squatches by surprise, and killed them as he
ran past. When he had reached Amanda and Isabel, the team resumed the
squatch slaughter until the remaining beasts lay on the ground, none of them were
moving. When he reached his daughter, he scooped her up in his arms
and he held her tight. Isabel watched the reunion with a tear forming in
his eye. He had been terribly afraid of taking on an animal as vicious
and as big as this sasquatch was with a knife, but the results were
priceless to watch. Can you believe we killed twenty two of these? Mother?
Lewis checked his mouth before the vile phrase came out. A young girl
was in hearing distance. It's a new record, said Hut. It's a
new record for heads and dollars, said Steve. Good work fellas said agent
red in their earpieces. After the adrenaline phil last ten minutes, they had
once again forgotten that their calms were being monitored by others. Steve Lily's face
began to turn red again, thinking about the trash he had talked about Agent
Red. You know their Agent Red. I was just playing. If you've
ever heard me say anything racy about you know this mass around out here.
That's all it is. Forget it, Steve. She cut him off in
mid sentence. You can explain if we ever meet, but from now on,
you keep your mouth shut about what you think my boobs look like.
Is that clear to you? Alone in the office with her coworkers, she
was trying her best not to laugh, and the others and the command center
were silently laughing with her. You fellas need to concentrate on getting Leonard and
his daughter to their car so they can get home. And by the way,
your excursion has been moved to the gravel. Just walk on out and
get those two on their way home. You still have work to do at
this sight if you want to be paid well, Ears sufficing loeu of heads
this time, asked Steve. Ears are acceptable. They heard Agent Blue say
in the background of whatever room they were talking from, exceptional job men.
You will hear from us again soon. All right, let's get you two
to the car, said Hook, looking over at Leonard and Amanda. Father
and daughter followed them into their vehicle at the trailhead, where they dropped the
pair off. Amanda hugged each man for a long time, thanking them for
saving her. You need to thank your father, said Hook. He followed
you all night through some of the nastiest woods a man can crawl through.
He knew where you were being held, and if he had not done that,
we wouldn't be here. Your daddy saved you. Amanda jumped into her
father's arms. Can we go home now, Dad, Let's go, he
said, and he walked her to the passenger door and opened it and strapped
her seatbelt over her shoulder. He walked back and stood in front of Hook
Johnson. He reached in his pocket and held out a one hundred dollar bill.
Keep it, said Hook, You're not the same person I knew way
back then. I have a good life, Leonard Kates, you have a
lot to be proud of. Leonard nodded and stuffed the bill into Hook's shirt
pocket, and he got in his car and he drove away with his daughter.
At five fifteen pm, the excursion pulled into the parking lot of the
crew's favorite Chinese buffet. The men piled out and walked inside, and after
eating a mountain of food, they sat in silence, looking at their plates
and sipping their drinks. What'd you think about that today, Steve asked Isabel.
It was a good day, mane would you do another hunt? Asked
Lewis. I'd do it again right now if you had something lined up,
Isabel said, So you liked it, Hook stated, it wasn't a question.
Yeah, I can't explain why I liked it. Maybe it's the action.
But Jeff, you guys need an extra hand on one of these again.
Give me a call. But I'm curious. What's a bounty on a
side squatch where you're gonna find out in a day or two when they pay
us, said Steve. I'll call you when the money shows up. We're
gonna split it with you. How much do you think hunting these things as
worth? Let's say per head. Dude, If I can make five hundred
dollars ahead, I would do the squatch hunting thing all the time, Isabel
said, grinning at the others, never once thinking that anyone would pay five
hundred dollars for a predator bounty. Their Mexican friend didn't know it yet,
but he was about to get a quarter cut of a four hundred and forty
thousand dollars payment. There was no doubt now that Isabel Garza would be the
new fourth member of the Memphis squatch hunting team. The four men got up
from the table and walked to the counter to pay their bill. Hook dropped
the one hundred dollars bill down on the counter that Leonard has stuffed in his
pocket. Was a meal worth that ass whooping Leonard gave you when you were
a kid, asked Lewis. Hell, yeah, it was worth it.
Steve broke in. Maybe he'll whip your ass again and we'll get another feast
out of it. Na, it wasn't worth it at the time, said
Hook. I'll never forget what that guy did to me that day. But
it's funny how things come full circle if a man'll wait long enough. Well,
you got that right, said Lewis.