This one is not humorous, but it's a short one-shot ficlit just the same. It's written in 1st person from the perspective of a cab driver who briefly got on Mike's wrong side. It's also written in 'present tense', very different from my usual style. Hope you enjoy and thanks for your continued support.
Hack Accompli
"All right, hold it right there. Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly."
The stern voice catches me off guard, but I do as he says. As I carefully turn around, I find myself at the end of a .38 special and looking into the angry blue eyes of an older man in a raincoat and fedora. He's pissed and has reason to be. I'm standing in his living room looking at two people, bleeding and lying on his floor.
"I'm…" I begin, but the man's stare shifts to the pair, a young man and a younger woman. I see a large lump in his throat form as he swallows. "I'm a cab driver. That's my taxi outside. I brought that guy here," I say as I point to the man who is holding his hands over his lower abdomen. There's blood seeping through his fingers. He's conscious, but struggling to breathe and sweating profusely.
The older man looks back at me while still pointing his weapon. "What's your name?"
"Harry Tellman," I answer. "Look, the guy got out of my cab and came inside…"
What have I walked into? The gun in front of my face unnerves me to no end. The older man is angry, but there is something about him. I can tell he is rational, trying to figure out what all has happened.
I continue. "He said he had no money on him, but would come back with some. When he didn't return, I wanted to find out what was going on. I knocked on the door and noticed it was ajar, so I stuck my head in to see if I could catch the guy and get my cash."
The older man still has his gun fixed on me. Suddenly, another man, this one balding and dressed in a suit, comes through the front door. He, too, has a gun and stops as he sees me. Now I have two men pointing pistols my way.
"Mike, we saw the suspect fleeing from your back door. Tanner is in pursuit and we've got back-up…"
The bald man stops when he notices the couple on the floor. "Oh, I'll call for an ambulance," he adds solemnly. Looking back at me he asks, "Is this guy an accomplice?"
Accomplice? No, I'm just an everyday Joe trying to earn a buck – just a run of the mill hack.
"I don't know yet," the older man who had just been identified as "Mike" replies. "He says he drove Steve here in his cab and was looking for his fare." We both watch the third man leave the way he came. I don't understand why he isn't using the phone on the end table to get an ambulance.
Mike returns his attention to me. "I need you to turn around and put your hands behind your back."
"But.."
"No `buts'. They need attention," he says with a crack in his voice as he reaches for his handcuffs. "I'll sort you out later."
"You a cop, then?" I ask as I put my hands behind my back.
"Yes, I didn't identify myself, but you'll excuse me for that as I am in my own home." I hear the click of the cuffs around my wrists and know I have no other options for the moment. "Take a seat on the sofa and don't move."
Mike rushes to the pair. He gently lifts the girl into a sitting position. I can see blood smeared on her face as well as a large bruise forming on her cheek. He gives her a hug. "Are you hurt, sweetheart?"
"Oh, Daddy. It was Peter. He came over and wanted to talk. I thought it would be okay, but then he got angry. Before I knew it, he hit me. And then he got the knife. Oh, Daddy, if Steve hadn't come when he did, I don't know what would have happened. Steve tried to tackle him and knock the knife away, but Peter stabbed him and ran." She looks at the young man – I now have his name pegged as Steve - and starts to cry.
At that point, Mike, clearly the young girl's father, hunches over the man from my cab. "Hey, Buddy boy, what do you have going on there?" he says as he tries to lift Steve's hand away from the bloody wound near his stomach. The young man flinches and fights back.
"No," is his craggy response. "Hurts too much." He draws a deep breath and then tries to put on a braver face. I'm guessing it's for the girl's benefit. He struggles to sit up, but Mike pushes him back with his hand. "I'll be all right."
"Stay still," Mike instructs as he looks at the wound. "It doesn't look bad, but I don't want to take any chances." The older man fetches a towel from a nearby bathroom. Once again kneeling, he slides it underneath Steve's hands to cover the wound. "Okay, hold on to this tightly. Norm has called an ambulance. Guess you'll be making a round trip to the hospital, then?" Knowing nothing more he can do, he gives the young man's forearm a squeeze.
I see Mike sigh as he sits back and regains his composure. He glances at his daughter as she scoots closer to Steve and leans near his shoulder.
"Jeannie, are you sure you're okay? Peter didn't stab you or cut you somewhere?" Mike asks as he reaches for his daughter's chin. He looks distastefully at the blow she took at the hands of this `Peter'. The thought of this guy makes me angry and I don't even know him.
"He tried to. He tried to slash me," she describes as she moves her arm out mimicking what would have been the action. "He got my blouse," she says with a sob.
Mike looks at Jeannie's midsection. He sees the rip in her pink blouse and the scrapes on her skin. At that moment, I think Mike will explode. He turns around and glares at me, shooting daggers my way.
Out of nowhere the second man reappears. "Mike, Tanner and the other boys have caught the suspect. I'll keep a watch out for the ambulance and send it up. Are they okay?" he asks as he looks at the couple.
"I think so," he says, trying to not to excite his daughter. He then looks back at me.
"All right, Mister, what was it, Tellman? Why don't you tell me what happened? Start at the beginning. When and where did you pick up your fare?"
I look over at Steve. At that moment, I really wish I had done my shift at the airport or at a hotel somewhere.
I begin. "It was at the hospital. He came out of the front door and flagged me down. He gave me this address and then hopped in the back. He didn't say anymore, but I could tell he was in a hurry. He didn't look too well, even then. Of course, he looks worse now."
Steve glances over to me and frowns. That is the first time we had eye contact since he left my cab. Mike notices the interaction and asks, "Does this match, Steve?"
"Yeah, he's the cabbie. He picked me up from the hospital."
I let out a breath of relief, but Mike ignores me.
"You left against medical advice, Buddy boy," he adds, almost scolding. I nod my head as I knew there something wrong with the guy when I picked him up. "But we'll talk about that later."
Mike turns his focus back to me. "All right, Mr. Tellman. Then what?"
"He said he didn't have his wallet, but could get the fare from the house. I watched him walk up to the door and knock. No one answered and I thought, `great, no wallet, no cash and no one home.' But then he opened the door and walked in. After a few minutes, he didn't come out. I got a living to make and I needed to get going, so I went up to the door to get the cash. It was partially opened, so I went in."
I take a hard swallow, remembering what I saw next. I am nervous and my mouth is suddenly dry, but I continue. "I saw some guy running out the back. Then I saw those two on the floor and then you walk in. All of this happened within a few seconds."
"Can you describe the man who left?" Mike asked.
"Maybe, I don't know. I can try."
"Okay, good enough." Mike reaches into his pocket and pulls the key to the cuffs. "I do want you to make a statement to either Detective Haseejian or Tanner before you leave. You got caught in the middle of something here and I'm sorry."
Relieved that I am no longer considered an accomplice, I rub my wrists and sit back on the sofa.
"So it's definitely Peter," Mike says aloud, more to the couple than to me. "Jeannie, I'm sorry. He seemed like a decent fellow. I don't know what happened."
"He's one of those insanely jealous types," Steve chokes. "After dinner here last night, Jeannie gave me a goodnight kiss on the cheek as I was leaving. It was nothing," he says and then looks over to the girl. I notice then he drops his eyes. Maybe not `nothing', I think, but that doesn't justify unleashing what happened here. "I think that was the last straw for him as far as I was concerned."
"Steve, save your strength," Jeannie interrupts. "I should have seen the signs, Mike. He was so controlling. He was trying to take me away from my friends."
"So he followed Steve home and knocked him out at his own doorstep. Thankfully his neighbor came home and got him to the hospital." Mike seemed to be piecing the story together as he spoke. "I'll tell you, Buddy boy, your neighbor calling me at midnight from the emergency room was the last thing I expected."
Steve nods slightly as Mike looks at the front door, willing the ambulance to arrive. Then a question strikes him. "Answer me this, Steve. It was dark and you didn't know who had hit you last night. How did you figure it was Peter?"
Steve lets out a painful chuckle. "Garlic."
"What?" Mike asks.
"Jeannie had made spaghetti for us, remember? And then she had garlic bread with it. So this morning, I'm lying in the hospital bed and I have this flashback and remember that I smelled garlic when I got hit."
"You know, you could have called," Mike counters almost dryly. "You didn't need to leave the hospital like that. I'm just grateful they called me when they found you missing and saw your note. All it said was 'Jeannie'."
Jeannie wraps her arm around Steve's shoulder and gives him a gentle hug. As pale as Steve was, I swear I see him blush.
"Yeah, well. I wasn't thinking. And Mr. Tellman is right. I didn't have my wallet or my badge. I just wanted to get here. The hospital was close by and he was kind enough to be at the front door when I came out."
I could swear I see a slight smirk on his face and then I roll my eyes. Kind enough? Next time, I'm definitely taking my shift at the airport.
Sirens interrupt my thoughts. The ambulance is finally here and I see one of the detectives I was told to talk to. I get up from the sofa to get out of the way so they can bring the stretcher over to Steve. I figure maybe I should go outside to wait when Mike yells out, "Mr. Tellman, how much does he owe you?"
"What?" I ask. Oh yeah, the fare. A whopping $2.50. Like Steve said earlier, the hospital was fairly close by. "Nevermind. You have other things to worry about. I'll give my statement and be on my way."
Mike walks over and shakes my hand. "Mr. Tellman, I see Detective Tanner there. He'll take care of you. And again, I'm sorry for the problems today." The angry eyes are still stressed and concerned, but I can tell that I am no longer the enemy to him. For me, that's a relief.
"No problem whatsoever. I'm sorry it happened and hope those two will be okay."
Mike nods his head thoughtfully and returns to the pair.
I watch the stretcher carrying Steve get loaded into the ambulance. Mike and Jeannie are not far behind. His arm is around his daughter, protecting her now and perhaps making up for the fact he wasn't there to protect her earlier. I see them follow Steve into the ambulance and take a seat. The doors close and they leave.
I realize then if I hadn't been at the hospital drop-off zone and taken Steve here, this Peter may have done something far worse to Mike's daughter. She's a cute girl who didn't ask for any of this. Most guys are decent, but every so often, a gal can come across a real winner. I realize then that perhaps I did have a part helping save this young girl today. Suddenly the $2.50 seem like chump change.
After making my statement, I get back in my cab. I flip my `available' switch on. I've lost an hour now, so I need to make up for it. I start for the more lucrative airport, but then do a u-turn and make my way back to the hospital drop off zone.
Being at the hospital mattered earlier this morning. It just may matter again. And besides, maybe I can find out how things turned out for those three – and if they need, I'll give them a ride home.
