Page 14 of Archie

On their way home, both of them having been all over the town several times today working, he was able to meet up with a few of his jags to see if they would mind very much helping out the police department. He had ten volunteers and three more that offered to end his life before he made it. Archie was hard-pressed to tell them no, that he had to go to prison when he heard how much Douglas had upset his wife.

They were cooking out after the meeting. After telling Larry what he had for him, the man was grateful. He and Carrie sat in the living room, neither of them speaking just sitting back with their eyes closed to rest. He thought that he could stay like this forever, but there were things that he had to get finished up before he thought he’d have time to go to bed. It was sad when he had to schedule his bedtime nowadays. He wasn’t at all happy with the way their personal life kept getting put on the back burner when they needed time off. When his brother, Weston, showed up at their home the next morning, neither he nor Carrie were in the best of moods. Weston seemed to understand and was willing to help them out.

“I found a place for the two of you to go for a week. It’s actually one of your places that Dad had purchased. As it’s a rental, all I had to do was not renew their lease agreement and have someone go in and have the place cleaned up so that the two of you can use it. As a matter of fact, when you guys return, Nash and Sunny are going to go there too. It’s a very nice home. Staff will be there all the time and there is no phone service nor internet.” Carrie said that it sounded too perfect. “It is, actually. While you’re there, I only need one thing from you. There are a couple of buildings there that, as a family, we should buy. It’s a port that we can use to bring in produce and take out what they’re going to be selling. There are nine people, a family that are all willing to work in the warehouse if we help them sell their wool. They raise goats there.”

“How have they been selling it before?” Weston told them. “So they had ships going out, but they’re undependable. I can see that. Getting their products to the market would be a timed item. How much do you think the buildings will go for?”

As he and his brother worked out the arrangements on the buildings, Carrie was taking notes. She’d always been good at keeping him on track by doing that, and this time was no different. Once Weston had all the details worked out, he gave them tickets on the next flight out and gave them the information on the house. Archie was almost too excited because he was waiting for the other shoe to be dropped, and it did not happen. That was how things were going now for days and neither one of them was able to rest. Even when they went to bed, one or both of them were sound asleep before the other was. It was terrible.

It took them most of the next day and into the evening to work out the things that needed to be done to leave. A passport was needed for him as Carrie already had one. Since he’d never been out of the state much less the country, he was lacking a great many things that were needed to travel out of the country. That alone should have made him happy, but he was continually waiting for something to pull the rug out from under his feet and tell him that he wasn’t going. Right up until they were boarded on the plane did Archie feel like they might be taking a much-needed vacation.

The plane landed in what he could only think of was paradise. There were palm trees all around the airport. Colorful homes and buildings all around the little place they’d landed. Even as far as he could see, which was far by his guesstimates, there were clear blue skies and sand. Even in the little building next to the airport where people picked up their luggage, there were tropical plants and beautiful paintings, as well as sand all over the floor, where it was swept in by the wonderful breeze that seemed to keep everyone and everything cool. They decided to stop off at one of the little cantinas to have a few appetizers as well as a glass of wine before heading to the house. He couldn’t believe that the two of them were finally here, even though it had only been a few days since he’d learned about it. Archie decided that he was going to show his beautiful wife the best time that he could, without thought to ghosts, leaps or things going on at home.

There was a limo to pick them up when they were finished. Weston had arranged for them to have the same driver for the rest of their stay. Also, in the limo with them, there were maps of the island they were on as well as places that he’d made them reservations at so that they could enjoy the local cuisine. They were going to do just that, too. Enjoy the fuck out of the place.

By the time they were about to pull up in front of the house, he was having doubts again. Things were going just too well for him to believe everything he’d been told about the house. Almost as soon as they were in the drive, he knew that his brother had been wrong about the house. It was much nicer and larger than he’d said. It looked like it could hold a large family, with children too, and not have to overwork the household. Christ, the thing looked like it had been the island built around it. It was that perfect.

“Let’s tour the grounds before we go in.” Archie would do anything for Carrie, and even though he wanted to make sure that the bedroom they were staying in at least had a bed—he really needed to get out of the Danny-downer mood, they were shown the back deck and the sea that came right up to the steps to the boat dock. “Oh, Archie, this is perfect. Look how far you can see across the water.”

They ate their dinner of seafood and fresh fruits in the little screened patio that was near the water. The breeze kept them cooled off, and the smells coming from the flowers that surrounded their yard were enough to make them both heady. Archie, new to having things go right for a change, didn’t let the rest of the evening get tangled up in his thoughts. He was here to have a good time with his mate and damn the things going on around him.

Chapter 8

“When he makes it to the prison, he’ll be put into solitary confinement as soon as he arrives. He’ll spend the next fifty or so years there, only having time out of his cell for one hour a day in thirty-minute time slots where he can go outside. He will never have contact with another person for his life stay. Even his meals, which will be given to him through an opening that can only be accessed when there is a tray—there is a chip on the trays that he gets—in it will be his only way to be fed. If at any time he doesn’t return the tray, he will not receive another tray with food until such time as he does.” Wrangler asked how he was supposed to be let out into the open yard. “Through a door that is locked on the outside by a hinge and locking system. I’m proud to say that no one has ever gotten back out into the yard nor into the cell unless we’re aware of it.”

Wrangler watched the mechanism as they worked it. He had been sent here by Nash to make sure that there wasn’t going to be any kind of escape made by Douglas. The man wouldn’t be allowed any visitors for the first five years due to his record, nor would anyone speak to him on the inside. If he was ever ill, then he’d be drugged, and a doctor would see him while he was out. While Wrangler could see all kinds of things that could go wrong with that, they seemed to have a good backup plan in place so that he’d not be able to get out. All his toiletries, as well as mattresses and blankets, would be changed out when he was in the yard when necessary. Also, the shower was right in the cell with him so there was no need for him to leave the area even for that. Any personal items, candy bars, or whatever were added to his cell while he was out in the yard when they arrived for him.

It sounded like they had this the way that it should have been. All locked up and made so that their prisoners couldn’t get out, nor could they interact with others and be able to do them harm. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Douglass would kill anyone that got close to him. Douglas was a horrific person, and he wasn’t going to change just because he was in prison. Wrangler was still at the prison when Douglas was brought in.

Wrangler was about as tense as he’d ever been, even being around his own mother. The jaguars that had helped put him into the van that brought him here were helping again when he was taken into the prison. Even going so far as to follow him all the way down the hall to his new home.

Wrangler didn’t envy him at all. He knew that if he had to be couped up all day like that, he’d go insane. Douglas was smiling the entire time, like he had a big secret that he was keeping that would, somehow get him out. He’d gladly kill the man just to make sure that Carrie was safe from him. The man was a monster, and there was no denying that he’d come after Carrie if given the chance. He didn’t understand how someone could hate so harshly. His mother and grandfather had been the same. He began to wonder if there were more people like them in the world. It was sad if that was true.

Once he was locked in his cell, Douglas tried all the doors. He had a moment of fear when he jerked on the door to the cell, and it moved. The guard with him laughed, saying that it was like that so they’d have a little false hope. He thought it was great, diabolical, but fun nonetheless.

After he laid down on his hard steel bed, just a sheet of metal that had been soldered to the wall, with a thin mattress, Wrangler left. As far as he was concerned, Douglas was no longer a threat to his family. If he ever got out, any or all of them would kill him where he stood. His thoughts were that the man should have been killed a long time ago. There would certainly be a lot less deaths because of him being free.

On his way home, he stopped to get some breakfast. The guard that had been showing him around had told him that Little Drop of Happiness had the best pancakes in the world. Wrangler took it as a challenge to go and see if he was right.

As soon as he was seated, he looked over the menu and decided that he was going to have the pancake special. It was five pancakes, three strips of bacon, two eggs, sausage, and coffee. He didn’t drink coffee, so he was glad that he was able to substitute it out for tea. Not his favorite either but he could drink it more than he could the other stuff.

He was just cutting into the fluffiest pancakes he’d ever seen when the waitress, her name tag said her name was Mel, put a note on the table. When he started to ask her what was going on, but she cut him off and started talking about how she’d bring by his bill to him in a minute. To take his time. Thinking her odd, he waited until she refilled his little water pot of hot water before he read the note.

“Kitchen. At gunpoint. Help us. Please.”

Standing up, he asked where the bathroom was, and that he’d be back. She pointed to the door that was right next to the kitchen door where she’d been coming out of and made his way there. Only he didn’t enter the bathroom but let his cat take him and was happy when she pushed open the door to the kitchen for him.

It was then that it occurred to him that she was a cat, too, however, she was a lion. Being closer to the floor as his cat, he noticed that she not only had a chain of metal around her wrist but her ankle as well. This would prevent her from shifting. If she did, she’d lose not only her wrist but her ankle as well. More than likely bleeding out in the process. Whoever was robbing the place had done their homework to know what to expect, except for him. He was the odd man out today.

Making his way into the kitchen as quietly as he could, he could smell fresh blood. Seeing another waitress sitting on the floor with the same chains on her, she pointed to her left, telling him he supposed that someone was in that direction. He made his way there, but she stopped him before he could step around her.

When she put out her hand, it was shaking. Thinking that she wanted him to bite her for a connection, he put his mouth over her hand and waited. At her nod, he licked the area before biting down on her soft hand. She didn’t make a sound but nodded when he closed the wound.

“The rest of the staff is in the cooler, with the exception of the manager. The others have been in there a long time, and I’m worried that they will die. Can you hurry this along so that I can get them out?” He told her that he’d do his best and asked her how many people were in the place. “There are eight of us that work here. Four employees in the cooler, the manager, cook, me and Mel. Then, there are four men with guns. They’re waiting for the morning rush so that they can get more money. I don’t know what they think is going to happen to them. Every one of the morning rush is police officers and guards from the prison. You’re the first regular person that has been in here in months.”

It didn’t take him very long to take the man holding a gun to what he assumed was the chef out. Tearing his throat out, the man was long dead before he hit the floor. The man was so grateful that he bowed at him, then grabbed up the other waitress and left the kitchen area.

Moving to the other end of the kitchen, Wrangler encountered two more men and killed them both as well. There was only one more that he’d have to deal with, and he had to ask the young woman where he might be. She told him that he was sitting at the manager’s desk, holding her on his lap with a gun to her head as he fondled her.

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