Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome to the third installment of Fiction Friday. Tonight,
Speaker 1: we're going to read the first a couple of the
Speaker 1: first scenes from a book that I've recently read called
Speaker 1: No Good Man. It is a book authored by Rebecca
Speaker 1: Lee Wesson, who has contributed to this channel in the
Speaker 1: way of a short story. If you remember, just a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, I uploaded a video called The hat
Speaker 1: Man that is authored by Rebecca Lee Wesson. She's really
Speaker 1: a good writer. This book is I don't know the
Speaker 1: genre that you would classify this book in, maybe neo Western,
Speaker 1: but as I read the book, I'm thinking No Country
Speaker 1: for Old Men and Fargo and maybe some kind of
Speaker 1: Quentin Tarantino screenplay. It's that good. It's NonStop action. It
Speaker 1: has got so many twists and turns. Reader, you'd like
Speaker 1: to kind of just get engrossed in a book where
Speaker 1: you just have to you have to go to the
Speaker 1: next chapter, then you have to go to the next
Speaker 1: chapter to see what's going on. This is one of those.
Speaker 1: Rebecca and her publisher have given me permission to read
Speaker 1: these two scenes. You'll hear in this reading how action
Speaker 1: packed this book is. Let me say that this podcast
Speaker 1: should be considered not for children. Adult how do you
Speaker 1: say it? Parental discretion should be advised. Kids under I
Speaker 1: don't know eighteen, probably shouldn't listen to it because of
Speaker 1: the language, the violence, and there is a bit of
Speaker 1: sexual innuindow, it's not graphic at all. She's very tasteful
Speaker 1: in this book with that kind of stuff. There is
Speaker 1: language and violence, and to me, it makes it a
Speaker 1: good book. So I hope you all enjoy this. All
Speaker 1: of the information you'll need to click links and read
Speaker 1: a description of the book is just right down there
Speaker 1: in the description. Take a look at it. Click the link,
Speaker 1: go buy the book. Hope y'all buy a thousand copies
Speaker 1: of this book and put her get her in a
Speaker 1: place where the algorithm on Amazon catches this book and
Speaker 1: really gets it going. No good Man by Rebecca Lee Wesson,
Speaker 1: All Right, here we go, Saturday, October fifth, Solemn City.
Speaker 1: Jedediah stood in the open door of the Bluebird Saloon.
Speaker 1: Despite the rural surroundings, the molded silver heels of his
Speaker 1: black snakeskin boots spitelessly reflected the daylight outside. On the
Speaker 1: left heel was a cold snake with its head upright
Speaker 1: on the right heel was an angel. Her wings were
Speaker 1: extended to her sides, and her face was morning. He
Speaker 1: pulled his white shirtcuffs down through the sleeves of his
Speaker 1: tailored suit jacket, knowing they would be stained red soon
Speaker 1: and the shirt would have to be replaced, but he
Speaker 1: did not mind. It was not unusual for business to
Speaker 1: get bloody. He pushed a lock of gray hair that
Speaker 1: had fallen into his eye back into his head full
Speaker 1: of black, and adjusted his sunglasses further up to the
Speaker 1: bridge of his nose. He cracked his heavy knuckles and
Speaker 1: felt the residual aches from the scuffle a minute ago
Speaker 1: fade from his right hand. Behind him, outside on the
Speaker 1: gravel were the bodies of eleven men, Each of them
Speaker 1: wore blue jeans and matching black polos with the logo
Speaker 1: of a private security company over the left breast. On
Speaker 1: the ground in the distance, a security drone with the
Speaker 1: same logo blue sparks erradically. Four of its six propellers
Speaker 1: were smashed from its fall to Earth minutes before, and
Speaker 1: the camera on the underbelly looked like a shattered robotic
Speaker 1: eyeball that had fallen out of its socket. Four of
Speaker 1: jetted die as men stood over the limp bodies, watched
Speaker 1: him and waited instructions. Two more set their sniper rifles
Speaker 1: back into the padding of their hard plastic cases, snapped
Speaker 1: them shut, and joined the others. Horace the seventh Man
Speaker 1: leaned against the driver's door of his black Lincoln truck
Speaker 1: with his arms crossed, looking privileged and resentful about that
Speaker 1: for some reason. Like Jeddediah, his men had been given
Speaker 1: many nicknames over the years, but the Desert Parish Boys
Speaker 1: was the only one that stuck. The DPBS had shaved faces,
Speaker 1: cropped haircuts, and wore tailored black suits with a silver
Speaker 1: snake pennant pin to the left lapel. If they had
Speaker 1: a dress coat. Horace lazily abided by it. He wore
Speaker 1: black jeans and a leather jacket. His hair was long,
Speaker 1: and his face needed a shave, and his attitude needed
Speaker 1: an adjustment. The Bluebird Saloon in Solemn City, Texas, was
Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty miles mostly west and a little
Speaker 1: south of Dallas. It sat alone on a plot of
Speaker 1: dirt as big and white as the eye could see
Speaker 1: in any direction, and was too far from anywhere to
Speaker 1: get any business. There was no stoplight, no gas station
Speaker 1: within twenty miles, and no jobs, not even at the saloon,
Speaker 1: which had invite only customers just three times a year.
Speaker 1: Three times a year, a security cable buried three hundred
Speaker 1: yards east of the saloon under the dirt at the
Speaker 1: end of the gravel drive notified the twelve security guards
Speaker 1: posted in and around the saloon if vehicles were approaching.
Speaker 1: Three times a year, security cameras and a security drone
Speaker 1: helped with the other directions. Three times a year, a Corvette,
Speaker 1: a Maserati, two Mercedes G five fifties, and two Rolls
Speaker 1: Royces arrived and parked on the northern side of the saloon,
Speaker 1: their collective width wider than the establishment itself, but the
Speaker 1: security precautions were redundant. A half blind man could see
Speaker 1: a person or vehicle approaching for miles away, and a
Speaker 1: shrewd one would learn to hear them way before that.
Speaker 1: This far out in the flatlands, the only sound on
Speaker 1: such a weather free day was a light wind. Once
Speaker 1: that was taken out of the equation, hearing a trespasser
Speaker 1: was simple arithmetic near silence minus the sound of a
Speaker 1: light wind plus the distant sound of rubber on gravel
Speaker 1: equals uninvited guests. Nevertheless, the twelve security guards were Texan,
Speaker 1: which meant they were accustomed to courtesy. They expected that
Speaker 1: if Jedediah Warcrep paid the Bluebird's Lune a visit, he
Speaker 1: would use the driveway like a gentleman. But the guards, however,
Speaker 1: cultivated by Texan etiquette, were not good at math, and
Speaker 1: in the hills freckled with shrubs. Five hundred yards north
Speaker 1: and south of the saloon. Two sniper trained dpbs, lying
Speaker 1: on their stomachs with their eyes in the scopes of
Speaker 1: their M two's did not give them a chance to
Speaker 1: retry the equation. The third time that year the saloon
Speaker 1: saw customers. The snipers each fired a single shot from
Speaker 1: their locations. When the first two guards fell simultaneously onto
Speaker 1: the gravel in front of the entrance, more security guards
Speaker 1: were alerted and then imprudently ran to check on their
Speaker 1: comrades and fell shortly after. This continued for the first
Speaker 1: minute until the four internal security guards also alerted and
Speaker 1: went into the open. All four were shot upon exiting
Speaker 1: the saloon, but only three met the gravel. The fourth
Speaker 1: leaped back inside, while the sniper in the south swatted
Speaker 1: the scorpion off the lens of his scope that had
Speaker 1: caused him to hit the man in the upper thigh
Speaker 1: instead of the head. By minute two, there were thirteen
Speaker 1: spent bullets, eleven big dead bodies, one dead drone, and
Speaker 1: a more or less clear entrance for Jedadiah, who drove
Speaker 1: his blacked out Bentley Moulson down the long driveway several
Speaker 1: minutes later like a gentleman. Unless the wounded security guard
Speaker 1: had maintained an extraordinary sense of calm and dexterity in
Speaker 1: the situation, in which case he may have been invited
Speaker 1: to become a DPB. Jedediah expected the man to react
Speaker 1: predictably and out of fear, which is exactly what he did.
Speaker 1: Somewhere around minute four, when Jedediah was out of his
Speaker 1: vehicle and two steps from the entrance of the saloon,
Speaker 1: the guard jumped in front of him from behind the
Speaker 1: doorframe with his gun pointed, eyes wild and mouth screaming.
Speaker 1: Jedediah grabbed the nose of the gun, yanked the man forward,
Speaker 1: and knocked him out with a train punched to the temple.
Speaker 1: The guard fell to the floor inside the saloon, where
Speaker 1: around minute five, he died in his sleep from the
Speaker 1: bullet he took to his femeral artery. From the open
Speaker 1: door the saloon, Jedediah could tell the establishment was a
Speaker 1: prop It had everything someone would expect to see if
Speaker 1: they accidentally wandered in. Everything besides customers. It was windowless
Speaker 1: and lit in a way that suggested it was always
Speaker 1: six o'clock at night. On the southern wall to the
Speaker 1: left of the entrance was a polished wooden bar top
Speaker 1: with a handful of red pleathan swivel stools underneath it.
Speaker 1: A square TV VCR was mounted in the corner of
Speaker 1: the ceiling where the southern and western walls met, and
Speaker 1: was playing a college football game recorded about forty years earlier,
Speaker 1: judging by the attire of the coach talking to the players.
Speaker 1: The grainy footage was cut off by black and white
Speaker 1: horizontal lines that pushed and pulled each other over the
Speaker 1: screen for a few seconds, then disappeared and showed the
Speaker 1: game again, the teams now in the middle of play.
Speaker 1: Behind the bar was a wall stocked with unopened bottles
Speaker 1: of liquor. Next To it was a refrigerator with a
Speaker 1: transparent door that displayed bottles of beer that were likely
Speaker 1: warm because someone in the props department had forgotten to
Speaker 1: plug it in. The western and northern walls were covered
Speaker 1: by framed Doseki's mirrors, and underneath them were square tables
Speaker 1: like the bar top had probably been polished once years
Speaker 1: ago and not since. On the top of the table,
Speaker 1: closest to the door was a remote control for the drone,
Speaker 1: and next to it was an open laptop that relayed
Speaker 1: the drone's footage until its robotic eyeball was shattered. Three
Speaker 1: of the chairs around the table had been pushed out,
Speaker 1: and the fourth had been tipped over completely. When the
Speaker 1: men sitting in them rushed outside. Jedediah stepped over the
Speaker 1: guard's body into the saloon and felt the hollowness of
Speaker 1: the wooden floor underneath his feet. He stood still next
Speaker 1: to the overturned chair, listened to the quiet, and waited.
Speaker 1: After a long empty pause, a muffled voice came from
Speaker 1: underneath him. Jedediah scanned the wooden floorboards in the room
Speaker 1: and then walked behind the bar and lifted the black
Speaker 1: rubber floor mats one by one until he found a
Speaker 1: metal handle, and when he pulled it upwards, a rectangular
Speaker 1: wooden door lifted with it, exposing a wide and well
Speaker 1: lit stone staircase. The basement of the Bluebird Saloon was
Speaker 1: handsomely decorated and five times the size the bar itself.
Speaker 1: The floors were stoned and stained oak. Wainscoting covered the walls.
Speaker 1: A giant iron and frosted glass dome light was mounted
Speaker 1: in the center of the ceiling, where the wainscoting continued
Speaker 1: in egg shell white. On one wall, six polished steer
Speaker 1: horns were mounted into oversized coat hangers. Each one held
Speaker 1: one cowboy hat and one jacket, several of which were
Speaker 1: leather and beaded in Southwestern patterns. On two other walls
Speaker 1: were framed paintings of cowboys doing heroic things, and underneath
Speaker 1: them were tall leather seats angled toward each other with
Speaker 1: circular side tables in between. Opposite the staircase was a bar,
Speaker 1: and behind it was a timid looking female bartender. In
Speaker 1: front of the bar and plasticy short skirts were five
Speaker 1: more young women. Judging by the emotional drain on their faces,
Speaker 1: Jedediah assumed they were not there by choice. In the
Speaker 1: center of the room was a circular poker table with
Speaker 1: a green felt cover. It was scattered with poker chips,
Speaker 1: cigarette trays, and six sets of folded playing cards, and
Speaker 1: six tumblers with ice cubes melting in brown liquor in
Speaker 1: the matching armchairs surrounding the table where the imperious gray
Speaker 1: haired men as the Big Boss six at their third
Speaker 1: and final poker game of the year. Five of them
Speaker 1: looked anxiously toward Jedediah and the four dpbs, who entered
Speaker 1: the space unhurriedly. The six Man craned his head over
Speaker 1: two layers of neck fat to see the uninvited guests
Speaker 1: behind him, and then scoffed and lit a cigarette jet
Speaker 1: did the devil of the desert himself? The fat man said,
Speaker 1: with smoke billowing out of his mouth and nose. I
Speaker 1: see that ugly face of yours survive the estate fire.
Speaker 1: I heard your folks burn till their flesh fell off
Speaker 1: the bone. Jedediah took his sunglasses off and put them
Speaker 1: in the inside pocket of a suit jacket, and then
Speaker 1: stood by patiently while the fat Man continued, Have you
Speaker 1: been a busy boy? Haven't you in the hospital for
Speaker 1: a whole year? Then taking care of your daddy's affairs
Speaker 1: around the world after that, how's it feel to wear pants? Uh?
Speaker 1: Think you handle all that responsibility? The fat man chuckled
Speaker 1: in the silver bolo around his neck absorbed into one
Speaker 1: of his chins, which wiggled when he spoke. I'm surprised
Speaker 1: you didn't come to visit us sooner. We've been waiting
Speaker 1: what three years for this moment, hadn't we? The fat
Speaker 1: man asked the older man at the table, who exchanged
Speaker 1: nervous glances. Jeeddiah grin. How's my sister jal She's crazy
Speaker 1: as hell, fucked in the head like you, the fat
Speaker 1: man said. I hate the bitch, but I agree with
Speaker 1: her on one point. What's that The six of us
Speaker 1: will be a hell of a lot richer once you're
Speaker 1: in the ground. The fat man dropped his right hand
Speaker 1: under the table. He brought it up quickly again, holding
Speaker 1: a revolver. The others at the table recoled as he
Speaker 1: tried to turn and shoot Jeadiah behind him, but his
Speaker 1: bulging stomach kept him from aiming properly. Dead he moved
Speaker 1: his arm as far as it would go in Jedediah's
Speaker 1: direction and fired, sending a bullet into a wall, nowhere
Speaker 1: close to its target. He tried to shoot again, but
Speaker 1: his finger got wedged in the trigger guard and prevented
Speaker 1: it from resetting. You fat son of a bitch. A
Speaker 1: man on the other side of the table hissed, may
Speaker 1: as well throw your cards, adding fuck you Pickney. The
Speaker 1: man hissed back, and then squealed in pain when the
Speaker 1: DPD twisted the gun out of his hand. You must
Speaker 1: be weighed Huckabee Section five, Jedidaiah said to the fat man,
Speaker 1: who cradled his finger into his chest, which makes you
Speaker 1: holt Rollerson Section six, Jededdiah said to the man on
Speaker 1: Hukabee's left, Glenn Marshall section one, Earl Pinckney section two,
Speaker 1: Roy Clement section three, and Jim Allen Section four. The
Speaker 1: six men followed Jedediah with their eyes their expressions full
Speaker 1: of dread and contempt as he passed clockwise behind them
Speaker 1: and tapped his finger on the back of each of
Speaker 1: their chairs. Are you touch any of us? And you
Speaker 1: got the entire Texas police force in every chapter of
Speaker 1: the Texas Hell Hags to worry about, Hukerby said, angrily,
Speaker 1: with a cigarette pointed at Jedediah, who ignored him. Slavery,
Speaker 1: drug and weapon trafficking, murder, and corruption, theft, Jedediah said,
Speaker 1: listing the things from their collective resume as he passed
Speaker 1: behind Huckaby's chair. Again, Oh, for fock's sake, you're no
Speaker 1: better than us. I heard you threw a man off
Speaker 1: his own skyscraper in Tokyo because the deal didn't go
Speaker 1: your way. Huckabee said, Did you come all the way
Speaker 1: to Solemn City to compare negotiations strategies or is there
Speaker 1: a point of this fucking visit? Jedediah stopped behind Rollerson again,
Speaker 1: smiled agreeably, and looked at the men around the table.
Speaker 1: Where is it? He asked politely. Hookyby charted, come on, Jed,
Speaker 1: we both know you ain't getting the rock. My offer
Speaker 1: is three million dollars, Jettadiah said, are you out of
Speaker 1: your mind? Hookerby asked, with his eyebrows raised in amazement,
Speaker 1: how much are you worth? Boy? Forty fifty billion, he
Speaker 1: pretended to count the fingers of his injured hand, by
Speaker 1: my calculations minus half. Your sisters cut to us that
Speaker 1: rock's worth at least twenty billion. So unless you're going
Speaker 1: to offer us a fair value. Go in and kill
Speaker 1: yourself already. We'll throw the stone in your grave for free,
Speaker 1: take our cut of your state, and be done with
Speaker 1: you and your bitch sister. What do you say? Whoever
Speaker 1: tells me gets to live, Jeadiah said to the group.
Speaker 1: Now wait a fucking minute. Now, Huckabee said, with his
Speaker 1: bloated hands in the air, Holt Rolison won today. Half
Speaker 1: the stone is on its way to his place in Abilene.
Speaker 1: Earl Pinckney blurted it out. Alan's brother keeps the other half,
Speaker 1: but we don't know where. Pickney looked down at the
Speaker 1: table and avoided the glare of the other men. Rollerson
Speaker 1: threw his stack of chips and cards across the table
Speaker 1: at him, and Jim Allen put his face in his
Speaker 1: hands and shook his head. Damn you, Earl Rollison shouted,
Speaker 1: if anyone puts a hand on my Darla, Holt, everyone
Speaker 1: has put their hands on Darla, Huckabee said, laughing heartily.
Speaker 1: Rollerson scowled, damn you, Wade, he said. I would have
Speaker 1: hung you next to them Mexicans when I had the chance,
Speaker 1: but you'd have broken the damn tree in half, you
Speaker 1: fat fucking pig. Rollerson stood up and grabbed a bolo
Speaker 1: around Huckaby's neck and then pulled it until his face
Speaker 1: turned blue. Jedediah watched them momentarily and then turned to
Speaker 1: one of the dpbs behind him, Asom tell Horace it's time,
Speaker 1: and the biker a some asking his cell p onto
Speaker 1: his ear. If he's there, he dies Asom nodded. Another
Speaker 1: DPB walked behind Rollerson and dragged him back into his
Speaker 1: seat by his collar, and Huckabee pawed at his neck
Speaker 1: to loosen the bolo Asum ended his brief call and
Speaker 1: dropped the phone into his pocket. Then he joined the
Speaker 1: three other dpbs, each of whom stepped behind one of
Speaker 1: the men at the table and stood patiently. Jedediah removed
Speaker 1: a large revolver from his belt and stepped behind Huckabee,
Speaker 1: who craned his neck to see what was going on
Speaker 1: behind him. Then he started to protest, you cycle path,
Speaker 1: You're going to start a war over a fucking rock.
Speaker 1: We're a fucking empire. You can't do this. Jedediah pushed
Speaker 1: a gun into the back of Huckaby's head and pulled
Speaker 1: a trigger. The rest of the men at the table flinched,
Speaker 1: and the women at the bar screamed and huddled together.
Speaker 1: Huckabee's large body leaned forward over the table. Dreams of
Speaker 1: blood from the back of his head, traveled down his jaw,
Speaker 1: in his chin, and dripped onto his playing cards. Away
Speaker 1: Pickney pleaded from across the table. You said I'd get
Speaker 1: to live. Jedediah stepped behind Rollerson and nodded at the DPBS,
Speaker 1: and before any more complaints could be heard around the table,
Speaker 1: they shot them in in front of them. When five
Speaker 1: more bodies leaned over the card table and turned the
Speaker 1: green felt top red, two of the dpbs hoisted their
Speaker 1: guns and walked to the women. The first DPB dug
Speaker 1: into his pockets. He removed two car keys, four keyless
Speaker 1: entry fobs, and two glocks he had taken from the
Speaker 1: dead security guards, and then placed it all on the
Speaker 1: bar top. The second DPB added Wade Huckabee's revolver and
Speaker 1: three more glocks to the pile, and then he addressed
Speaker 1: the women. These are fully loaded glock nineteens. The other
Speaker 1: ones a double action revolver with fivellets in the cylinder
Speaker 1: point and shoot any questions, he asked. The women exchanged
Speaker 1: glances and shook their heads, and after a long pause,
Speaker 1: the bartender took their stilettos off and stood up. She
Speaker 1: grabbed a key and a gun, and then walked hesitantly
Speaker 1: past the table of dead men and up the staircase.
Speaker 1: The other women did the same. The men listened to
Speaker 1: the sound of their bare feet running across the ceiling
Speaker 1: above them, and when they heard the sound of luxury
Speaker 1: vehicles leaving in a hurry, Jedediah pulled a cigar from
Speaker 1: his breast pocket and lit it. He put the revolver
Speaker 1: back on his belt, took a long puff of his cigar,
Speaker 1: and drew a large knife instead. Then he lifted Huckabee's
Speaker 1: head up by the forehead. A few minutes later, his
Speaker 1: white shirtcuffs were stained red and the shirt would have
Speaker 1: to be replaced, but he did not mind. It was
Speaker 1: not unusual for this business to get bloody. Vit drive
Speaker 1: of the Rollerson estate was shaded by a canopy of
Speaker 1: long established live oaks. Their branches were like interlaced fingers,
Speaker 1: with leaves so thickly woven together they blocked out most
Speaker 1: of the fading sunlight as horror drove underneath them. Near
Speaker 1: the white stone mansion. At the end of the drive,
Speaker 1: the tall trees turned into a manicured lawn that was
Speaker 1: painted yellow orange by the dying October. Light. Trimmed hedges
Speaker 1: framed the mansion bright orange and pink latanna filled in
Speaker 1: every gap, and surrounding the home as far as the
Speaker 1: eye could see was a green acreage dotted with evergreens
Speaker 1: and desert willows. It looked like a postcard, Horace thought,
Speaker 1: wondering how many bodies were buried underneath it. The driveway
Speaker 1: curved into a massive circle, wherein the landscape center circular
Speaker 1: topiari surrounded a fountain of baby angels pouring infinitely from
Speaker 1: a golden pot of water. At the top of the circle,
Speaker 1: in front of the entrance was a Harley Davidson patch
Speaker 1: together with used replacement parts. The Texas hell Hogs had
Speaker 1: more than enough money to buy the newest models, but
Speaker 1: Horace knew that wasn't their style. He entered the circle
Speaker 1: counterclockwise and part behind the bike, somewhat relieved by his
Speaker 1: assumption that the hell Hogs had sent a prospect or
Speaker 1: someone insignificant to make the delivery. But when he turned
Speaker 1: his engine off, his hands began to shake anyway. He
Speaker 1: closed his eyes to steady his breathing, and then counted
Speaker 1: to seven. One he was eleven years old. Again, the
Speaker 1: rusty hinges on the screen door down the hall from
Speaker 1: his bedroom squeaked and rubbed together disagreeably in a low
Speaker 1: to high pitch, waking him up. Two, the cry of
Speaker 1: hinges reversed from high to low, and the plywood frame
Speaker 1: closed again. He pulled his blanket up to his his
Speaker 1: heart beat so intense it made little waves in the thin,
Speaker 1: tattered material. Three he stared at the dim light pouring
Speaker 1: through the bottom of his closed bedroom door. He could
Speaker 1: hear a thumb trying to start a lighter repeatedly, and
Speaker 1: then heard the sound of a cigarette being inhaled. The
Speaker 1: tape on the bottom right of the NASCAR poster next
Speaker 1: to his door lost its stick, and the corner curled
Speaker 1: up and bobbed freely. Four the footsteps dragged forward slowly
Speaker 1: down the hallway, and the corner of the poster flooded
Speaker 1: like a paper hand, beckoning Horace out of bed and
Speaker 1: out the window to safety. But any movement he may
Speaker 1: now had to be calculated, or the old metal springs
Speaker 1: in his little bed would object and squeak and ruin everything.
Speaker 1: Five He rolled off the mattress silently and slid under
Speaker 1: the bed. The footsteps shuffled closer to his door, and
Speaker 1: he held his hand over his mouth. He would not
Speaker 1: let himself cry. If his daddy came into the room.
Speaker 1: Maybe this time he would fight him. Six. The shadow
Speaker 1: of his daddy's shoes stopped outside the door, and Horace
Speaker 1: bit into his hand to hold back a whimper. Seven
Speaker 1: his daddy coughed and mumbled to himself, and the shadow
Speaker 1: of his shoes shuffled forward into the living room. And
Speaker 1: when Horace heard the TV switch on, he let out
Speaker 1: a quiet sob of misery and relief. For the first
Speaker 1: night in a week, he would be okay. Horace opened
Speaker 1: his eyes again, feeling calmer than before. No one was
Speaker 1: pointing a gun at him, and the property was still serene.
Speaker 1: He opened his door, stepped down from the truck, and
Speaker 1: drew his gun, and then looked around as he walked
Speaker 1: up the stone path to the pillared entrance. And in
Speaker 1: a state that well maintained, there was always somebody, a gardener,
Speaker 1: a maintenance man, or pool boy, all probably with their
Speaker 1: own quarter somewhere unseen on the property, but it was
Speaker 1: empty and oddly quiet, like the staff had since the
Speaker 1: inevitable arrival of Jedediah and fled someplace out of sight.
Speaker 1: Even the wind in the trees began to die down
Speaker 1: and slip away to safety. The heavy front door of
Speaker 1: the mansion had been left open slightly, and horace slid
Speaker 1: through its sideways. On the left wall of the entry
Speaker 1: was a giant framed mirror. Underneath it was a pear
Speaker 1: shaped vase with the top as narrow as a beer
Speaker 1: bottle and a midsection as wide as a tractor tire.
Speaker 1: And on the right wall was a hanging rug that
Speaker 1: displayed a woven scene of laborers in a green field.
Speaker 1: A chandelier hung in the center of the ceiling, and
Speaker 1: underneath it was a circular wooden table with a vase
Speaker 1: full of blue and red flowers. And beyond the table
Speaker 1: was a double staircase that arched over a short hallway
Speaker 1: leading to another part of the home, and under the
Speaker 1: arch was a bearded man in a black leather cut
Speaker 1: with his back to the door. The top rocker on
Speaker 1: his cut said Texas hell Hogs MC. The bottom rocker
Speaker 1: said Texas Hooligan's MC. They were patched in a half
Speaker 1: circle above and below the head of a wild hog
Speaker 1: with a cigarette in its mouth, and on either side
Speaker 1: of a hog emblem were two smaller square patches TX
Speaker 1: on the left and VX on the right. And the
Speaker 1: biker's right hand was a small black box, and in
Speaker 1: his left was the thigh of Darla Rollerson, a big
Speaker 1: haired blonde woman who had her excessively made up face
Speaker 1: smashed into his Horace closed the door behind him and
Speaker 1: waited for the heavy thud to interrupt their moment. Darla
Speaker 1: let out a surprise yip and pushed the biker away
Speaker 1: and quickly closed the top buttons of her pink sweater,
Speaker 1: looking suddenly reserved. Heard of a doorbell, jackass, the biker said,
Speaker 1: and then groan when he saw it was Horace Billy.
Speaker 1: Horace said, confused, why isn't someone from section six delivering
Speaker 1: the rocks? Because my boss is Roy Clement and he
Speaker 1: was the last keeper. Now I'm delivering the rock to
Speaker 1: the new keeper. Holt Rollerson. You're really fucking slow horse.
Speaker 1: You know that it's not supposed to be you, Horace said,
Speaker 1: running his hand through his hair nervously. Just give me
Speaker 1: the rock and leave. I'll say I didn't see you
Speaker 1: or what, pretty boy, You're gonna kill me? You know
Speaker 1: I don't want that, Horace said. I'm not giving you shit,
Speaker 1: Billy said. He reached his hand in the front of
Speaker 1: his pants and adjusted himself, and then winked at Darla,
Speaker 1: who had her back pressed against the wall of the arch.
Speaker 1: I ought to just kill you, Horace, then this business
Speaker 1: with the rock can finally be over with. He shook
Speaker 1: the box in his hand and began to walk around
Speaker 1: the table toward the door. Kill me, What the hell, man,
Speaker 1: Horace said, matching Billy's steps on the other side of
Speaker 1: the table. Horace, I don't like you, Billy said. Don't
Speaker 1: nobody like you, not even Joan. When Jed's did she
Speaker 1: don't need you anymore, So I'll just shoot you right
Speaker 1: here in miss Darlas's pretty house, and then wait on
Speaker 1: Jed and shoot him too. Then I'll take off. When
Speaker 1: I get home tonight, I'll sleep sound as hell, knowing
Speaker 1: I got a worker at paycheck coming my way. Horace
Speaker 1: felt his hand start to shake again. We had a
Speaker 1: fucking deal, he said, No, you had a deal with Joan.
Speaker 1: Now she lied and you believed her. That's on you, brother,
Speaker 1: Billy said, shrugging indifferently. Plus, you're betraying Jed. You know
Speaker 1: what it makes you, makes you a snitch? A snitch,
Speaker 1: Horace shouted in disbelief. I was a snitch for your club.
Speaker 1: Can't trust to snitch, compedre, Billy said, with his back
Speaker 1: to the front door. Before Horace could react, Billy drew
Speaker 1: a pistol from behind his cut and fired at him.
Speaker 1: Horse dropped down and slid behind the giant vase under
Speaker 1: the mirror with his bicep searing in pain. Darla screamed
Speaker 1: and fell to the ground with her knees to her
Speaker 1: chest and hands over her head. Horace looked around the
Speaker 1: vase and fired back, grazing Billy's shoulder with a bullet.
Speaker 1: He shot again when Billy duck behind the circular table
Speaker 1: in the center of the space, this time hitting him
Speaker 1: in the knee, and Billy howled and pulled the table
Speaker 1: backward onto its side, crashing the vase onto the ground
Speaker 1: and sending dirt and pedals sliding toward the front door
Speaker 1: along with the black box. You shot me in my
Speaker 1: fucking knee, man, Time out, Billy shouted from behind the tabletop,
Speaker 1: moaning and panting time out for real, man, it's not fair.
Speaker 1: I wasn't expecting a fucking gunfight. I got to reload.
Speaker 1: As Horace inched toward the table with his gun pointed,
Speaker 1: the front door swung open and slammed into the wall.
Speaker 1: Jedediah stepped inside with four dpbs behind him. He kicked
Speaker 1: the overturned table past Horace and into the staircase, and
Speaker 1: then grabbed Billy by the neck and raised him into
Speaker 1: the air. Billy grabbed onto Jedediah's hand and swung his
Speaker 1: boots around wildly, his oxygen depleted kicks, aiming desperately for
Speaker 1: something to hit. Jedediah closed his fist tighter and held
Speaker 1: Billy in the air until his face turned blue and
Speaker 1: he stopped moving. Then he let the biker's lifeless body
Speaker 1: drop to the ground in a moment of bravery. Darla
Speaker 1: pulled out her cell phone. When the sound of the
Speaker 1: first number dialing echoed through the entrance, she let out
Speaker 1: a horrified squeal and whimpered. Jedidiah walked over to her
Speaker 1: and took her phone out of her hand called them.
Speaker 1: Jedediah ordered he finished dialing one one and then gave
Speaker 1: the phone back. Darla looked up at him with rivers
Speaker 1: of black mascara running down her cheeks. She took the
Speaker 1: phone and backed away under the arch and then vanished
Speaker 1: around the corner on the other side. One of the
Speaker 1: four dpbs picked up the black velvet box at his
Speaker 1: feet and opened it briefly, and then removed a device
Speaker 1: the size of a lighter from the bottom of it.
Speaker 1: He dropped the device on the ground and crusted with
Speaker 1: his boot heel, and then he tucked the box under
Speaker 1: his arm and waited at the door with the others.
Speaker 1: As the sound of sirens started to grow in the distance,
Speaker 1: Jedediah walked to Horace and put his hand on his shoulder.
Speaker 1: Horace looked back apologetically. He held on to his bleeding
Speaker 1: bicep with his right hand and hoped for a sliver
Speaker 1: of sympathy he knew was not coming. I don't know
Speaker 1: you lately, Jedediah said quietly. He reached for Horace's lapel
Speaker 1: and removed the snake pendant, and then turned around and
Speaker 1: walked back outside with the rest of his men. Humiliated,
Speaker 1: Horace wiped his eyes with his bloody hand and stared
Speaker 1: bitterly at Billy's dead body on the ground, dreading the
Speaker 1: storm of ramifications he knew would be coming. All right,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining me on this fiction Friday. I enjoyed
Speaker 1: reading those two scenes from this book. Again. All the
Speaker 1: information you need to buy this book is in the
Speaker 1: description below. I'm also going to post it on Facebook.
Speaker 1: I don't post many things on social media. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's kind of boring to me. Whenever I post stuff
Speaker 1: on Facebook, it's something silly. But I will put this
Speaker 1: on Facebook. I'll put it in the description here. Mike
Speaker 1: put it on Instagram. I have an Instagram account, might
Speaker 1: put it on I'll put it on all the things
Speaker 1: that I have on account with and you can find
Speaker 1: it there. So thanks for being with us tonight. I
Speaker 1: certainly appreciate it. We'll see on the next podcast. Thank you.