Chapter 13 – What You Owe Me

Reese led Joss to the spot on the hill where Finch, Bear and Antonia were waiting to execute the next part of his plan.

The Coach smiled softly when he saw how reluctantly his friend let go of the Auto Shop teacher's hand, so that she could greet them. "It's good to see you, Ms. Carter."

"It's good to see you, too, but I think after tonight you can call me, Joss, Harold," she replied, gently squeezing his arm. "Thank you."

She turned to Bear, scratching him behind the ears. "Thank you, Bear." The Security Head began twisting his body as though he was going to roll on his back, but a death stare from Reese – and the not so subtle cocking of the Cafeteria Lady's weapon - stopped him and he simply nodded.

Joss then turned to Antonia, but before she could say anything, the Mob Enforcer rose up on her hind legs, hugging her. "Thank you, Toni," Joss whispered, her voice heavy with emotion as she put her arms around her childhood companion.

Antonia closed her eyes and pressed her head against Joss' chest. "We're blood, sisters. If anyone's going to kill you, Jossy, it's going to be me."

Joss laughed and kissed the top of her head. "Good to know. Nothing says family like death threats and automatic weapons."

"And," Reese held up the ends of Joss' rappelling cables with a rakish grin, "now it's time for some family planning."

The Auto Shop teacher raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that's not what 'family planning' means, John, but I can't wait to see what you have in mind."

XXX

"I'm not going to kill you, Alonzo. At least not yet."

As Quinn blearily opened his eyes, they sharpened in fear as the person he knew as kind and gentle Charlie Burton slowly approached the man lying on the chapel floor. For the first time in his life, Alonzo Quinn looked into eyes as evil as his own.

"Jocelyn will want to see justice served, and she will – for a while. You'll be arrested, arraigned, begin that long, torturous path through our legal system. But make no mistake, your days on this Earth are numbered. It's just a question of when I decide to end it."

Clumsily the School Board Head tried, and failed to sit up. "Who are you? Really?"

"I'm disappointed, Alonzo. You of all people should recognize a kindred spirit."

"No…" Quinn shook his head as the realization hit him," You? You can't be! Elias is- but you're a good man!"

"And until this evening, I would have said the same thing about you."

As Elias zip tied Quinn's wrists and ankles, the School Board Head cried out, "I can give you whatever you want! Money! Power!"

"You don't understand, Alonzo. There's not enough money or power in this world to repay your debt. You tried to destroy someone good and pure and infinitely precious to me." He placed duct tape over Quinn's mouth, pulled him up by his hair, then whispered in his ear. "For every minute, every second she suffered, you will suffer one hundred thousand times more. Then, and only when you breathe your last agonized, tortured breath, will you finally give what You. Owe. Me!"

Slamming Quinn's head down on the chapel floor, Elias smiled. With horrified fascination, the School Board Head watched as Carl Elias morphed back into that kind and gentle English teacher. Charlie Burton turned and walked out of the chapel.

XXX

They quickly separated into two groups: Finch, Joss and Antonia on one side of the stairs, Reese and Bear on the other.

Reese knew that their attackers would come in waves; the hotheads and newbies first, followed by the strategic thinkers and the veterans. If Mr. Burton was right about only Quinn leaving the country, it meant that Simmons was staying to take over his organization; the men would want to prove their worth and loyalty to him.

Smoke pouring out of the chapel would have alerted police and fire departments, but Machine High had a huge sprawling campus, with only pathways leading you from one building to the next; it would be several minutes before they reached the hillside, and Reese knew that they could be captured or dead by then.

"Another cinema minute, Reese," Bear mused, as Mr. Burton joined them in their hiding place.

"Cinema minute?" the English teacher asked, watching Reese complete the final preparations.

The Cafeteria Lady smiled grimly. "Countdown clock says 30 seconds left, but that 30 seconds lasts five minutes in the movies. Waiting is like a cinema minute."

They waited, and then finally, Bear cocked his head and tapped the communications device imbedded in his paw. "Footsteps, Finch."

"We're ready, Bear," the Coach replied.

As the first group of men charged down the steps, Joss and Mr. Burton pulled the cable lying on the stairs taut, and the men tripped over it, tumbling to the stone plaza below. Reese and Finch then pulled on the cable tied to the lamp posts – they had been loosened while they waited – sweeping the next group of men forward and down the steep steps as well. There were screams of agony as heads split open and bones snapped, knees were wrenched and shoulders were dislocated.

Bear and Antonia leapt into action, their sharp teeth and powerful jaws severing tendons and crushing limbs while their attackers lay sprawled on the stone plaza. Finch darted among them, taking the weapons from the groaning and bleeding men while Mr. Burton zip tied their wrists and knocked them out with the butt of his pistol.

The Cafeteria Lady and the Auto Shop teacher kept up a steady barrage of fire, Joss utilizing the weapons bag while Reese took the weapons that Finch collected from the fallen men. He smiled softly at how easily Joss switched from one weapon to the next, the unique sound of each piece alerting him to when she made a change. They kneecapped the next wave of men, then held off the ones who took cover.

Just a few more cinema minutes, Reese thought, a few more minutes.

Finally, sirens and flashing lights announced the police's arrival.

A voice echoed through a bullhorn as the officers cautiously made their approach. "Surrender! It's over."

Not yet, Reese thought. Not until he found Simmons.

XXX

Alonzo Quinn lay on the chapel floor, shaking in shock, pain and rage.

There was a scraping sound and as the School Board Head twisted his body around to see where the noise was coming from, the cover to the long unused baptismal pool opened.

A bloody apparition slowly emerged, cut Quinn loose and carefully removed the duct tape from his mouth.

The two men exchanged a long look.

Placing a gun on the floor next to his boss, Patrick Simmons slipped out of the chapel's back exit.

Next, I Am Not Alone will be posted on December 12.