Kory Mantra: Saved by the Bella - Part 3

Kory was driving way over the speed limit. He was too pumped up to worry about the cops.

The house was a few miles north of Bella’s place, on a country road. The nearest neighbor was at least a hundred yards away. When he saw the red pickup turn into the long driveway, Kory cut his headlights. The road completely disappeared for a couple of seconds, until his eyes adjusted. But there was little moonlight. He just hoped he could negotiate the right turn into the driveway without going off into the deep ditch. And in the meantime—what if a deer ran out in front of his car?

He slowed down, straining to see the driveway, and carefully turned in. He could have just driven by, located a pay phone, and called the police. That would have been the safe thing to do. But what if this was the wrong guy? How could he be sure he hadn’t lost him in traffic? He had seen three or four red pickup trucks along the way.

The man driving the truck had already gone into the house. Kory got out of his car. He would sneak up and look through a window, and hopefully be able to determine if he had the right guy. Then he would go find a pay phone and—.

“—hold it right there!” shouted a big, deep voice.

A powerful beam of light blinded Kory. He froze.

“You’re trespassing!”

“Uh, I’m sorry. I guess I’ve got the wrong house. I was looking for John Smith,” said Kory, grimacing slightly at the thought of his stupidity. Couldn’t he have come up with a better fake name?

“Yeah, right.”

The flashlight got closer and closer, until it was six inches from Kory’s eyes. Hot, rancid breath blew spittle into his face as the man spoke.

“You know what I’ve always wanted to do?”

Kory was about to say ‘What?’ when he heard a metallic click in his left ear. Then he felt the hard, cool muzzle against his temple.

“I’ve always wanted to take a big pistol, and put it up to a man’s head, and squeeze the trigger—just to watch his brains blow out the other side,” he said, laughing. “Don’t that sound like fun?”

“But wouldn’t your neighbor hear the shot? Wouldn’t he call the police?”

“Nope. Not unless he’s still up—which is doubtful. And even then, his hearing aid would have to be cranked up all the way. But don’t get your panties in a wad, Boy. Daddy wouldn’t be too happy if I killed you just for sport. He likes to do the killing himself. But I could tell him you made a run for it—and that’s why I shot you in the back. Wanna make a run for it, Boy?”

“No, thanks.”

The man chuckled. “Let’s go.” He pulled the gun away from Kory’s head and jammed it into his back, and held it there all the way to the house.

The red pickup was a big Dodge Ram Diesel, with dual rear wheels. About a $50,000 vehicle, thought Kory. Parked in front of the truck were a brand new, dark blue Mustang, and a black Harley. These people must have some serious money, he thought.

They walked across the wooden porch, and the man keyed in the security code and opened the front door.

The music of Steppenwolf was so loud it nearly blasted them back out the door. An old hippie-looking man with a beard, wearing a blue jean jacket, was standing in the middle of the room playing air guitar and screaming, “Born to be wild!” He caught a glimpse of the two men out of the corner of his eye, grabbed the remote off the coffee table, and muted the sound system. “Who’s this, Bobby?”

Kory finally got a good look at his captor. Bobby had a long strand of beef jerky hanging out of his mouth. No wonder his breath stinks, thought Kory.

Another man came rushing into the room from the side hallway. “I’ll tell you who he is. He’s the guy who attacked Evan tonight. Too bad Evan had to die. But he went and did something stupid, and was about to get himself arrested. So, I had to take him out, and save the merchandise.”

That must have been what he took out of Evan’s truck, thought Kory.

“Yeah, you done good, Son,” said the old man. He turned to Kory. “Billy is quite the marksman.”

Billy picked up a long, black object that was leaning against the wall by the fireplace. “These babies are high-tech. They make them out of aircraft aluminum tubing. I can hit the bulls-eye at 250 feet.”

Kory had never seen a modern blowgun.

“The dart comes out at 350 feet per second,” said Billy. “I use a special poison from South America. At first it just makes your body go all numb. Then your heart stops.”

“Yeah,” said Bobby, “it’s fun to sit on the back porch and watch Billy pick off stray dogs.”

“You know what? I’ll just show him how it works,” said Billy, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a thin metal case.

“Put them away, Billy,” said the old man.

Billy ignored him. “And just to make it fair, I’ll give him a good running start.”

“I said ‘No!’” The old man backhanded Billy, nearly knocking him down. “Put that thing away!”

That was close, thought Kory. But he feared his life expectancy was less than thirty minutes.

“Bobby, go out in the garage and get a couple of them tie-wraps,” said the old man.

When Bobby came back with them, the old man said, “Now, tie his hands behind his back, and then tie his ankles together.”

Kory had seen these heavy-duty tie-wraps being used on cop shows. It took a sharp knife or a pair of wire cutters to get the things off.

Bobby put a tie-wrap around Kory’s wrists, fed the tip through the self-locking end, and pulled it tight—nearly cutting off the circulation. Then he sat him in a wooden chair and put the other tie-wrap on his ankles.

Kory figured that if all three men were to leave the room for a couple of minutes, he might be able to hop to the door before they could catch him. But even if he somehow made it out of the house, Billy would surely nail him in the back with a poison dart. He had seriously miscalculated the danger of the situation. Why hadn’t he just driven by the house and called the police?

The old man slowly paced back and forth in front of his uninvited guest. “I need some information. And you,” he said, reaching into his pants pocket, “are going to give it to me.” He pushed a button on the knife and the blade popped out, ready for action.

Kory still had Evan’s knife in his pants pocket. Nobody had bothered to pat him down. But with his hands tied behind his back, what good would it do him? “Okay. What do you want to know?”

“Billy tells me that Evan had been dating a woman named Bella, and that you had dinner with her tonight.”

Kory looked at Billy. He didn’t remember his face from the restaurant. Maybe he was watching from the bar. “Yes, that’s right. I did have dinner with Bella. But I just met her for the first time tonight. I don’t really know her.”

“Then why did you follow her home?”

“I wasn’t following her—I was following Evan. I saw him drive out of the parking lot as she was leaving. I suspected he was going to follow her home. Turns out, I was right.”

“What did she tell you about Evan?”

“Just that she went out with him one time, and when he asked her out again, she said ‘No.’ After that, he started stalking her.”

“What did she tell you he did for a living?”

“She said he was a plumber.”

“She didn’t say anything about drugs?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Good.”

“You don’t believe him, do you Daddy?” said Bobby.

“Yes, I do. He’s got an honest face. And I always trust my instincts,” said the old man, as he casually walked around behind Kory’s chair.

Kory suspected that the old man was about to cut his throat. If he hadn’t met Bella tonight, he wouldn’t be about to die. But at least he had saved her from Evan. And now she would be okay. Have a wonderful life, Bella, he thought. He wished he could have gotten to know her much better.

A loud siren started blaring, in front of the house. The old man and his two sons ran to the front windows.

“It’s my truck alarm,” said Billy, taking out his keys. He clicked the remote several times. “It won’t turn off.”

“Well, go out there and shut it down before some cop happens to drive by,” said the old man.

But no sooner than Billy had opened the front door and taken a few steps, he ran back into the house. He nodded at Kory. “His car rammed into the back of my truck.”

All three men glared at Kory, as though he had summoned his car, ala Night Rider. Then they ran outside and frantically worked at silencing the alarm. (continued…)

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