Chapter Twelve
Take the money and run
As I stood in the warehouse with a dead guy and a cop pretending to be dead I thought over and over again what I would tell Fungus. It had to be a good story because he had a pretty good bull detector. And if he got wind of what I was doing he'd have mine and my brother's tails. Like I said before I had already grown one back and I wasn't in the mood to do it again. Suddenly the door flew open and in stepped Fungus, Randall, and Deigo. Grasped in Randall's hand was the bag of stones. He set them down by the door and Fungus began to survey the damage of Mr. Spot's demise.
"What happened in here, Mr. Neon? We're gone for twenty minutes and you go crazy and blow away Mr. Spots and Mr. Green! What's wrong with you?" I thought all three of his eyes were about to pop out. Fungus looked like he'd just been kicked up the tail. I started telling my story to try and save mine and hopefully the cop's life.
"After you guys left I was going to use the john and in burst Mr. Spots. He had his gun drawn and was screaming about how he was going to kill all of us all and run off with the goods. He was calling me every name in the book and he had his gun pointed in my face. I had to stop him, so I spun around and knocked him off his feet. When he got back up I finished him off. What was he doing here anyway? I thought he was going with you."
Fungus looked at me. Then at the dead Mr. Spots, and back at me. "He said he'd keep you company. He didn't feel like riding in the car. He said it looked a little too crowded. We didn't think anything of it. We just thought he didn't want to go. That psycho, I had a bad feeling about him from the start." In his frustration Fungus kicked the "dead" cop. "Ow!" The corpse screamed. Fungus jerked back and looked at me. "You said he was dead!" He paused for a moment and then continued. "You dirty rat! Nobody, nobody double-crosses me! You hear me?" With that he drew his gun and took aim at my head. It was a silver Magnum. The sunlight that filtered in through the windows made it sparkle like a diamond. Its beauty was wasted on me. "You're gonna' wish you had of killed that cop. First I'm gonna' waste you. Then your brothers. Then the cop! Ok. 1-2 *BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM*
That one second seemed to stretch out forever. My life flashed before my eyes as the bullets flew. Then the look on Fungus's face turned from pure rage to extreme surprise and pain. Fungus fell dead in front of me. The shiny silver revolver was still clutched in his blood splattered hand. I turned around to see Randall and Deigo holding their smoking .45's in their hands. The empty bullet casings rattled on the concrete floor as they fell. They both looked at me and smiled. I looked over at Fungus and then at Randall and Deigo. I smiled at them and walked over and hugged the two.
"Like you said, Val. Nobody messes with my brothers." The smile on Randall's face disappeared. He raised his gun back at Fungus. He was struggling to grab his gun and shoot us. "Why won't you just die!" *BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK* Fungus's head exploded in the shower of bullets. The walls were covered with his bright purple blood. His body convulsed in pain as the floor was splattered with blood from his headless neck. When it was over, Fungus's mutilated dead body laid in a sea of purple blood on the floor. Mr. Green was dead in a corner, and Mr. Spots was on the floor near a pile of boxes. The room was starting to stink.
I walked over to the cop and took the blindfold tape off his face. "You alright man?" He looked at me and then he notice the new dead guy on the floor. "What happened?"
"He was going to kill us all and these two over here blew his brains out. It was self-defense. I swear." He looked up at me and smiled, he could tell I was joking about the last part. I turned around and faced Randall and Deigo. "Ok. Let's get him untied. After Al gets here we sneak him into a car or something and drop him off on our get away." "He's just a kid; he shouldn't have to die over this. This is our mess." Deigo looked over at me, "He knows what we look like, we can't just let him go, right."
"Don't worry guys; we're going someplace special after this, remember." I winked at them. "We don't need to worry about him. What we need to worry about is Al. He's going to be so mad things could get ugly. If things get tough rough we might have to kill him. He can be extremely violent. We may be close friends, but my family is more important. He aint' gonna' kill me and my family. I hope he just knows that."
A loud knock came at the door and we all scattered. I walked over to the door I could hear the sound of guns cocking. I reached the door and looked out through the eyehole. It was Candy. She was standing outside in a beautiful green dress. She had a pair of suitcases and her purse. I opened the door and let here in. "Hey, baby. I can explain everything." Before I could get out another word she caught sight of the blood stained battlefield in the warehouse. "Oh, my god! What's going on in here! Val what have you done?" She dropped her luggage by the door and turned around to run. I grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her. "Don't worry honey." I pointed at Fungus and Mr. Spots, "They tried to kill us and they would have killed you too. We need to get you and Marvin out of here."
"Just let me get Marvin untied and we'll get out of here." Randall, Deigo, and me walked over to Marvin. I flinged out my switchblade and started cutting through his restraints. Suddenly I heard Candy scream for help. I whipped around to see Al had snuck in and now had Candy in a death grip with an Uzi against her head. "No, Al. Please don't do this; she doesn't know anything about you. She doesn't know anything about any of this! Let her go. Don't you even think about killing her! You kill her and you die next. Repeat. You kill her and you die next."
He looked at me with a twinge in his eye. "What about Fungus? You killed him!" I looked at him and screamed louder. "He tried to kill us Al! I can't have that; he might have killed you too. Weather he's your son or not. It's the same with MR. Spots. Please Al, let my baby go. Al, please!" If Al didn't cooperate soon, I knew I'd have to do something. "This girl is clouding your mind Val. I'm going to be doing you a favor. If there is anything else you'd like to tell her you better do it fast." He smiled and readied the gun. I couldn't do anything. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I stared at my little angle and cried. She'd be dead any second and I couldn't do anything. It was the worst feeling I'd ever felt. I collapsed to the floor in torment. *BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.*
"No! Candy, baby!" I screamed ripping the gun out of my jacket ready to blow Al's legs off. As I looked up, there stood Candy next to Al's dead body. His body had five red bullet holes in it. Blood poured from the gun shot wounds like water from a faucet. A large puddle of blood began to form under Al's dead body. Candy jumped away from him before it got on her shoes.
Deigo walked up next to me and put one of his hands on my shoulder, "I told him in his office, nobody talks to my family like that." He was laughing. I looked at him and smiled. "Thank' Deigo"
"Don't mention it."
I looked over at Candy. She looked at me. Our eyes met and we ran to each other. We embraced and kissed. "Oh, honey! I'm so sorry this happened! Please tell me you forgive me!" She kissed me on the lips, "Of course I forgive you. After all this time, I have to forgive you. I love you too much not to." I looked at her. Her face glistened in the soft light of the warehouse. I kissed her again. "Come on, guys. Get Marvin, let's get out of here!" Randall and Deigo both nodded. I grabbed the bag of diamonds and we all walked out to Al's car.
As I stood in the warehouse with a dead guy and a cop pretending to be dead I thought over and over again what I would tell Fungus. It had to be a good story because he had a pretty good bull detector. And if he got wind of what I was doing he'd have mine and my brother's tails. Like I said before I had already grown one back and I wasn't in the mood to do it again. Suddenly the door flew open and in stepped Fungus, Randall, and Deigo. Grasped in Randall's hand was the bag of stones. He set them down by the door and Fungus began to survey the damage of Mr. Spot's demise.
"What happened in here, Mr. Neon? We're gone for twenty minutes and you go crazy and blow away Mr. Spots and Mr. Green! What's wrong with you?" I thought all three of his eyes were about to pop out. Fungus looked like he'd just been kicked up the tail. I started telling my story to try and save mine and hopefully the cop's life.
"After you guys left I was going to use the john and in burst Mr. Spots. He had his gun drawn and was screaming about how he was going to kill all of us all and run off with the goods. He was calling me every name in the book and he had his gun pointed in my face. I had to stop him, so I spun around and knocked him off his feet. When he got back up I finished him off. What was he doing here anyway? I thought he was going with you."
Fungus looked at me. Then at the dead Mr. Spots, and back at me. "He said he'd keep you company. He didn't feel like riding in the car. He said it looked a little too crowded. We didn't think anything of it. We just thought he didn't want to go. That psycho, I had a bad feeling about him from the start." In his frustration Fungus kicked the "dead" cop. "Ow!" The corpse screamed. Fungus jerked back and looked at me. "You said he was dead!" He paused for a moment and then continued. "You dirty rat! Nobody, nobody double-crosses me! You hear me?" With that he drew his gun and took aim at my head. It was a silver Magnum. The sunlight that filtered in through the windows made it sparkle like a diamond. Its beauty was wasted on me. "You're gonna' wish you had of killed that cop. First I'm gonna' waste you. Then your brothers. Then the cop! Ok. 1-2 *BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM*
That one second seemed to stretch out forever. My life flashed before my eyes as the bullets flew. Then the look on Fungus's face turned from pure rage to extreme surprise and pain. Fungus fell dead in front of me. The shiny silver revolver was still clutched in his blood splattered hand. I turned around to see Randall and Deigo holding their smoking .45's in their hands. The empty bullet casings rattled on the concrete floor as they fell. They both looked at me and smiled. I looked over at Fungus and then at Randall and Deigo. I smiled at them and walked over and hugged the two.
"Like you said, Val. Nobody messes with my brothers." The smile on Randall's face disappeared. He raised his gun back at Fungus. He was struggling to grab his gun and shoot us. "Why won't you just die!" *BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK* Fungus's head exploded in the shower of bullets. The walls were covered with his bright purple blood. His body convulsed in pain as the floor was splattered with blood from his headless neck. When it was over, Fungus's mutilated dead body laid in a sea of purple blood on the floor. Mr. Green was dead in a corner, and Mr. Spots was on the floor near a pile of boxes. The room was starting to stink.
I walked over to the cop and took the blindfold tape off his face. "You alright man?" He looked at me and then he notice the new dead guy on the floor. "What happened?"
"He was going to kill us all and these two over here blew his brains out. It was self-defense. I swear." He looked up at me and smiled, he could tell I was joking about the last part. I turned around and faced Randall and Deigo. "Ok. Let's get him untied. After Al gets here we sneak him into a car or something and drop him off on our get away." "He's just a kid; he shouldn't have to die over this. This is our mess." Deigo looked over at me, "He knows what we look like, we can't just let him go, right."
"Don't worry guys; we're going someplace special after this, remember." I winked at them. "We don't need to worry about him. What we need to worry about is Al. He's going to be so mad things could get ugly. If things get tough rough we might have to kill him. He can be extremely violent. We may be close friends, but my family is more important. He aint' gonna' kill me and my family. I hope he just knows that."
A loud knock came at the door and we all scattered. I walked over to the door I could hear the sound of guns cocking. I reached the door and looked out through the eyehole. It was Candy. She was standing outside in a beautiful green dress. She had a pair of suitcases and her purse. I opened the door and let here in. "Hey, baby. I can explain everything." Before I could get out another word she caught sight of the blood stained battlefield in the warehouse. "Oh, my god! What's going on in here! Val what have you done?" She dropped her luggage by the door and turned around to run. I grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her. "Don't worry honey." I pointed at Fungus and Mr. Spots, "They tried to kill us and they would have killed you too. We need to get you and Marvin out of here."
"Just let me get Marvin untied and we'll get out of here." Randall, Deigo, and me walked over to Marvin. I flinged out my switchblade and started cutting through his restraints. Suddenly I heard Candy scream for help. I whipped around to see Al had snuck in and now had Candy in a death grip with an Uzi against her head. "No, Al. Please don't do this; she doesn't know anything about you. She doesn't know anything about any of this! Let her go. Don't you even think about killing her! You kill her and you die next. Repeat. You kill her and you die next."
He looked at me with a twinge in his eye. "What about Fungus? You killed him!" I looked at him and screamed louder. "He tried to kill us Al! I can't have that; he might have killed you too. Weather he's your son or not. It's the same with MR. Spots. Please Al, let my baby go. Al, please!" If Al didn't cooperate soon, I knew I'd have to do something. "This girl is clouding your mind Val. I'm going to be doing you a favor. If there is anything else you'd like to tell her you better do it fast." He smiled and readied the gun. I couldn't do anything. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I stared at my little angle and cried. She'd be dead any second and I couldn't do anything. It was the worst feeling I'd ever felt. I collapsed to the floor in torment. *BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.*
"No! Candy, baby!" I screamed ripping the gun out of my jacket ready to blow Al's legs off. As I looked up, there stood Candy next to Al's dead body. His body had five red bullet holes in it. Blood poured from the gun shot wounds like water from a faucet. A large puddle of blood began to form under Al's dead body. Candy jumped away from him before it got on her shoes.
Deigo walked up next to me and put one of his hands on my shoulder, "I told him in his office, nobody talks to my family like that." He was laughing. I looked at him and smiled. "Thank' Deigo"
"Don't mention it."
I looked over at Candy. She looked at me. Our eyes met and we ran to each other. We embraced and kissed. "Oh, honey! I'm so sorry this happened! Please tell me you forgive me!" She kissed me on the lips, "Of course I forgive you. After all this time, I have to forgive you. I love you too much not to." I looked at her. Her face glistened in the soft light of the warehouse. I kissed her again. "Come on, guys. Get Marvin, let's get out of here!" Randall and Deigo both nodded. I grabbed the bag of diamonds and we all walked out to Al's car.