THE ONLY EASY DAY IS YESTERDAY
"The Journey of Jeremy Keller"
by OldScout
Part 29Duncan MacLeod's phone rang, he looked at it sitting on the corner of
his desk. It rang again. Duncan reached for it and hesitated, the ring was the
same as always, but somehow he knew there was something happening. It rang
a third time. He picked it up and listened for a moment then said "MacLeod."
"Mac?" a familiar voice said "Hey it's Richie, how ya' doin'?"
Mac smiled, it was just the kid. "I'm fine, Richie. How about you?"
"I'm ok." Richie replied, then said "Mac, I met somebody on the road
who says you and he have a mutual friend."
MacLeod sighed. "I think I know, a new one of us. Tell me his name."
A puzzled silence game from the other end for a few seconds then
Richie replied "Keller."
"Are you with Ophelia too?"
"How'd you know?" Riche replied dumb-founded "Mac, do you know
her."
"I met her once. Richie, watch your back, and don't bring them here."
"You didn't have to tell me either." Richie stated. "Where then?"
Duncan thought for a second then said "Do you remember were I ah,
'trained' Felicia?."
"You mean the old..."
Duncan cut him off "Yes, that's the place."
"Not holy ground?"
"The place I mentioned, Richie. I have my reasons."
"When?"
"Tonight, at nine."
"Ok, I'll see you then."
Duncan sensed Richie start to hang up and said quickly "Oh, Richie."
"Yea?"
"Don't be early."
"Ok, Mac." Richie said slightly confused then disconnected.
Duncan listened to the click of Richie hanging up then waited for a
moment before hearing a faint second click.
Richie hung up the pay phone and looked around the small service
station they had pulled into. Their bikes were parked across the lot, but only
two remained. "Damn." he said under his breath and turned toward the store
front. Keller was just walking out drinking deeply from a bottle of Lipton's Ice
Tea. Richie called to him "Where'd Mandy go?"
Keller looked around and shrugged. They both looked down the road
and across the street where they saw a crowed, run down biker bar. "Shit!" was
the dual reply as both men raced toward their bikes.
The bar was surrounded by motorcycles of all types, nice new Harleys,
to beat nearly unrecognizable choppers. There weren't, however, any of the
foreign racing bikes that Richie was partial to. Luckily, Richie was driving a
tall motor cross bike with knobby tires and knuckle guards. It stood out, but
didn't have nearly the stigma amongst these people as the expensive "rice
rockets". The bike Mandy drove was parked at the outer edge of the flock, and
the two men could feel her presence as soon as they pulled up.
Keller drew little attention in his camouflaged field jacket and black
leather gloves, however, Richie's dirty, but still bright, blue and white leather
motorcross jacket immediately turned heads. Jeremy ignored the stares and
made conversation as they walked in "So did you get a hold of MacLeod?"
"Yea, he's going to meet us tonight at nine."
"Great, all we have to do is stay in one piece until then."
Richie turned to Keller "What's with you and Mandy? You seem to
have a very distant relationship. Why did we follow her over here?"
Keller looked around "I'm afraid that if I left her before we find Lynx,
more people would die. I don't think she's too discriminating about what she
does to anybody who stands in her way."
"And you feel responsible for putting her on this path?"
Jeremy was scanning the crowd for their companion. "Something like
that."
They both spotted her at the same time, she was just sitting down with
a group of particularly nasty looking patrons.
The biggest and greasiest of the group eyed Mandy up and down.
"What can I do you for, little lady?" Some of the others at the table smiled at
the lame twist of words.
Mandy looked at the mountain of flesh next to her. "I'm looking for an
acquaintance of mine. Drives a bike with a cat painted on the tank, his name is
Lynx."
The man seemed to give the matter some thought then said "You know,
I may be able to help you out. Why don't we step out back and see what kind
of arrangements we can come up with?"
Mandy smiled sweetly "Do you know the man or not?"
"Tall guy, blond hair, short fuse. Yea, I know him." He then leaned
closer to Mandy "Now, what do you say we go out back and you show me just
how much you want to find him?"
It was all Mandy could do to not turn from the rancid, stale smell of the
man's breath. She leaned in close to him and ran her hand up the inside of his
thigh. A very large smile crossed his face until he felt something cold against
his skin.
"Do you know what the femoral artery is?"
He looked down to see a razor sharp dagger had just cut through his
pants without him feeling it. He shook is head "no", not knowing what the
woman's target was.
"The femoral artery is the main artery feeding your legs. If I cut it,
you'll bleed to death in five minutes. And I do know how to cut so that even a
turnacate wouldn't help." Mandy whispered.
"What do you want?" he stammered, seeing the coldness in her eyes.
As Mandy was talking to her new friend, someone new came into the
bar, he and Jeremy recognized each other at the same time. Jeremy
immediately dove toward Richie knocking him to the floor. Lynx pulled a
semi-automatic pistol squeezing off two rounds towards where Jeremy had
been. The bullets hit two people standing at the bar. Jeremy rolled across the
floor and came up with his .357 getting a shot off as Lynx fled out the door.
Mandy saw her prey fleeing out of the bar and leaped after him. She
knocked people aside and one waitress to the floor, spilling beer everywhere.
The door was too far away so Mandy headed straight toward the nearest
window. She leaped to a chair, its table, then through the large, plate glass
window. Splinters of glass exploded in all directions as Mandy burst through,
landing on Lynx.
The big biker wasn't expecting someone to come through the window at
him, but he was able to stand his ground. He ducked and turned into the
person like a football player pushing off a tackle. He pushed her away as he
staggered back from her momentum.
Mandy hit the ground and rolled to her feet coming up with her knife
held out in front of her. The glass had done it's damage, her face streamed
with blood from cuts on it and her head. A long gash across the top of her head
lifted part of her scalp, blood flowed freely from the wound and down the side
of her face.
Lynx would not have recognized Mandy if he had seen her in the bar,
but this way, with wild short hair, face covered with blood and open wounds,
and wild fire in her eyes, is how he saw her just before Rita slit her throat.
"Hi, Lynx, remember me?" she hissed, spitting blood between her teeth.
His eyes went wide, "No, it can't be you!"
"I told you it wasn't over." Mandy brought her knife forward and lunged
at him.
Lynx jumped back and wildly fired at Mandy, missing her once and
hitting her once in the side of the stomach. More shots sounded from behind
her as Jeremy made it out of the bar. Lynx turned, dropped his gun and ran
dead out for bike.
Mandy wobbled after Lynx then threw her dagger just as he mounted
his Harley. The knife missed its mark, but hit him low in the right shoulder,
catching mostly in his jacket. Lynx gunned the gas and flew out of the parking
lot, barely missing the cross traffic he hadn't watched for.
Mandy's strength gave out and she dropped to her knees as the world
around her started to spin in pain. She heard the sound of approaching bikes
then felt a strong arm around her waist. Jeremy effortlessly lifted Mandy to the
back of his bike.
"My weapons." Mandy gasped.
"Richie's got your stuff from the bike." Jeremy responded "The dagger
stuck in Lynx."
"I'm losing a lot of blood." Mandy said weakly. "You don't have a lot of
time to hide me."
to be continued.....