John: The Senior Killer Read online

  John: The Senior Killer

  Robert C. Waggoner

  Copyright 2006 by Robert C. Waggoner

  Smashwords Edition

  Prologue

  “Candice, I declare this is the finest afghan I’ve ever seen,” a perfect voice for an old lady was heard.

  “Oh go on with you. That old thing. I made it twenty years ago when my dear husband felt the chill upon him,” she replied in a likewise creaky voice of her eighty plus years.

  “I know dear,” as she fingered the material, “but such design and color.”

  “I’m glad you like it and I would like to give it to you for a present.”

  “No, I couldn't accept such a fine gift and it was your husbands. I don’t want to take something you can remember him by,” she said with an eye on his victim.

  He was dressed like an old woman. A perfect disguise as it was his profession. Now he had his sights on ending Candice’s life. She was too old and time for her to move on. Under his long dress in a special holster on one leg, a Marlin spike lay ready to end her life. On the other leg a hammer in another holster waited for use against the head of the Marlin spike. Now it was time to put it to use.

  Candice said, “I insist you take it. I know you are moving to Redding and I’ve no need for it here in Barstow.”

  Changing the subject he said, while rubbing his neck, “I have been having trouble with my neck muscles lately and the doctor suggested a neck rub would do a person good. Do you ever have a stiff neck Candice?”

  “Oh my yes, even now I feel a tightness there.”

  “Let me show you how the doctor showed me to rub the stiffness out,” as he slowly rose up and moved behind her. From his dress pocket he took out a bottle of Efficascent Oil. He showed her the bottle and said, “This is camphor plus menthol and it feels wonderful on the skin and relaxes the muscles.”

  Candice looked at the bottle and smelled the contents as she removed the lid. “My, this is nice and I love the smell. Do you mind putting some on my neck?”

  “Not at all but could you unbutton a few of your buttons so I can reach your neck easier? Candice did as she requested and soon he had a nice view of her neck and where the spinal cord entered the skull. “Please lean you neck forward a little dreary so I can better rub your tired old muscles.” He began to slowly rub the oil on her skin and soon the room smelled like camphor.

  “My, that is nice and feels so warm. Already I feel better.”

  “This only takes a few minutes,” he said as he reached for the spike with one hand and quickly grabbed the hammer with the other as Candice gave off little moans of delight. He had the spike by the sharp end and was rubbing with the heel of his hand while placing the sharp end next to the entry hole to the brain. He practiced this many times on a mannequin and gave the blunt end of the spike a blow sending the tip straight up into her brain. In one second she was dead. The oil fell from her hand to the old rug. He wiped off the spike on her old dress and returned it to the leg holster as well as the hammer. He picked up the bottle of oil and placed it in his bag; walked to the door of the tiny house and looked back once at the former Candice from Barstow, California. She was leaned over in her rocker with arms hanging down. She never knew what hit her.

  Walking with a cane he closed the door quietly and slowly walked down the street to his old non - descript car. He didn’t care if someone saw him, he was just another old lady in a world that was fast becoming aged and he meant to whittle the old folks down a little. Like in his favorite book, “Sherlock Holmes” says to Watson: “The game is afoot.”

  Chapter 1

  Precarious was not the word Brad Pratt was thinking about. Stupid might be more like it. A roaring sound in his ears both from the sea and the wind made him think of being out here on a day like today; and the salt air and spray from the waves crashing into the rock, sent the pungent smell of the sea into his nose like someone using an inhaler for an allergy. It was a November afternoon with the tide coming in and hanging by his fingertips onto the rock wall of a sea stack proving he still had it after all this time. His mate, lying flat on the top of the rock, coal back hair flying in the wind stared at him through equally colored eyes without expression. His hands were numbing up and what footholds he had were not going to last long if he didn’t move. Up was the only way to go; down was to be thrashed against the rock from the pounding waves coming through the narrow gap into a bowl like cove from which he foolishly decided to prove he could climb the vertical wall without the use of pitons or such useless things. His ego always got the best of him and this time was no exception. He glanced down at the angry sea stirred up by the coming storms known as the Pineapple Express during this time of year in the Pacific Northwest.

  Sweat dripped into his eyes and looking up again he saw a small smile raise her brown cheeks implying, what now big boy? You got yourself in this mess and now you get yourself out of it. Her grin pissed him off and with renewed determination he spied a finger hold and moved up a foot closer to the top. His heart pounding but his breathing normal he methodically made a plan and scampered to the top rolling over on his back as both his dog and his mate climbed on top of him while he let out a crazy laugh. He was soaked to the skin from first jumping into the water from the top at slack tide and from the spray from the waves crashing into the wall as he began his accent to prove he could still do it.

  Lying on his back with Sujin on top of him brought back the nightmares that plagued him since Afghanistan. He lay wounded in a small cave completely delirious from the infection in his leg. To keep him quiet she lay on top of him with her hand over his mouth as the sounds of the Taliban crossed the rocky mountain trail. If found, she didn’t want to think about what they would do to the both of them; stories of captured enemy made her shudder and move her knife in her other hand closer to his jugular vein. First she would cut him and then herself if discovered. Sounds of rocks rolling down the mountain as they walked by; little conversation was heard, mostly just an occasional grunting as someone slipped on the narrow trail and more than one had met his Allah on such trails in the rugged mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

  He was still moaning from the fever, but the howling wind masked his sounds as all was quiet except the wind. She waited a few minutes more to make sure all was clear. His moaning stopped as he fell into a deep sleep. She crawled to the small opening cautiously to peer out and see if they had left a trailer behind as they usually did with mountains full of caves. She sniffed the wind and lay waiting for the next thirty minutes or so before she crawled back to check on the wounded American soldier. There was nothing on his person to say who he was. However, she could tell by his uniform and haircut he was American. Where did he come from and when she found him lying face down on the rocky trail she thought he was dead. Listening for a heartbeat through his back she heard the steady beat of a heart that was strong and regular, albeit fast. He was not small and it took all her strength and effort to drag him to a cave just large enough for a body to fit the opening. He must have sensed someone helping him as once she stood him up the pain of his leg must have brought him around, he used his hands and arms to drag himself into the cave only to pass out again as she followed him in. Going through his pack and pockets she found some meds. Totally unfamiliar with the names written on the meds, she discovered some packs with antibiotic written on them.

  Part of her originally mission to Pakistan was for humanitarian reasons. The basics of first aid she knew, and quickly she opened the pack and shot him in his white butt with the injection. Next she looked at his wound in his thigh. The bullet had missed the femur and passed through the muscle and exited cleanly. He’d administered first aid to himself and had stopped t
he bleeding. She wondered how far he had traveled since being wounded. The old bandage she removed was smelly and caked with dried blood. From her pack she took some precious water and washed the wound. Applied a new bandage from his store of meds and waited for him to regain consciousness.

  Coming back to the present she rolled off him and he sat up with a grin on his thin lips and a satisfied look from his deep blue eyes. From the first time she looked into his eyes she saw the look of intelligence and quickly learned how fast they could change to a look of a killer. At present his eyes had the warm look of a man in love with everything that was him and with him. They stood up and went down the south side of Fish Rock and along the ledge leading to the seashore. The eastern edge of the rock pathway at high tide was under water. Stuck on the rock at high tide was a six hour wait. Swimming was not an option as a strong rip tide made swimming a deadly hazard.

  Walking in front with Sujin just behind him and his dog already on the beach sitting by a man who was scratching his ears, Brad Pratt knew trouble was in the making as he stepped onto the beach. Looking first at the tall man and then to the sky he took stock of the weather. The wind out of the southwest and heavy clouds promised a night of stormy weather on the southern coast of Oregon. He felt a chill and it wasn’t from the storm as he knew his expertise was needed once more. Each time he promised his mate it would be the last one. But she knew as long as he was able he would put himself in harm’s way to do his duty for his nation. He came from a long line of military career men and it was natural for him to follow in their footsteps.

  He took a deep breath of the heavy salty air and walked boldly to the man standing with his back to the wind with one hand in his Burberry and the other on the dog’s head. His slacks had a crease still sharp with the pants legs rolled up with boots on gave him the look of a sinister mob man in Chicago watching his men take the stealing accountant out onto Lake Michigan for a nightly swim with cement shoes. His medium white hair blew in the wind like wisps of angel hair. As they approached Steve Lewis he never broke his stoic expression but turned and they all walked down the hard packed beach where it turned to soft sand too far from the high tide mark, past Devils Kitchen and up the trail to the bluff where he had his beach house.

  His other dog, the mate to his male German shepherd stood guard at the perimeter of his southern property boundary. No private individual could own the beach next to the ocean, but by special permission he was granted a quarter acre on the bluff overlooking the ocean. As they topped the trail to the house, Sujin took from her pocket a remote and clicked the button much like an electronic key for your car releasing the lock and security. Literally the only way you could sneak into the property would be from the air and it would be a rare day indeed for a parachutist to land with wind blowing most every day of the year. The security was necessary as he had a bounty on his head from Al-Queda. Before he and Sujin had left Asia, he finished up the job he was assigned. Intel had determined a base camp for hundreds of trainees based deep in the mountains needed eliminating. With a GPS it was Colonel Brad Pratt’s job to pin point the location for strategic bombing. He couldn’t have accomplished it without Sujin’s help.

  The rain began as they made their way to the unusual and unique beach house that looked more like a World War Two bunker than a house. It was in fact an earth house half underground and half above perfectly round with bullet proof windows encased in an I-beam steel construction. The whole structure of the house was built on steel I-beams as was the roof where one inch steel plates were covered by cedar shakes. Split cedar siding gave the natural weathered look as the whole structure blending in nicely with the environment. A fort might be a better description of the house, but no way was Brad going to not protect him and his family against an intruder. The grounds were heat censored and most of the time at least one of the dogs were on guard outside. They were trained not to attack, but to warn the occupants of the house someone was coming. A push button located in various locations around the house where the dogs could use their nose to push an alert button if unwanted beach combers chanced by.

  Making their way down the stairs through the front steel door programmed for his and Sujin’s eye sprung open upon recognition. The female, Sandy stayed outside and Rocky the male came in with the master and his guest.

  Not a word had been spoken as Brad went directly to the bathroom to take a shower while Sujin went to the kitchen to make some green tea with her special added herbal medicine. At thirty three she was a trained Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor among other things. Sujin noticed how dark it was getting as the rain lashed the windows sending long worm like rivulets down the tinted glass. From the oven which had been kept warm for homemade biscuits filled the air: a fresh baked bread smell, like at grandma house. She placed some on a tray while the water was coming to a boil on the island stove.

  Burberry stood at the south window overlooking the sea. Large sea stacks dotted the sea while high sand dunes faced east of the littoral zone. Tall beach grass was waving in the wind as the storm began. These windows were special: you could see out, but you couldn’t see in. At first one felt exposed but after a while your mind settled down and enjoyed the view.

  In the front entry way he had taken off his boots and rolled down his pants before walking into what constituted the living room. He crossed on a Tan Oak hardwood floor a color which the name came from. He wondered how to break the news to Brad. His superior briefed him in Washington before he was flown out on special jet landing in North Bend where a car was waiting for him. Driving down highway 101 to Bandon he took the Beach Loop Road past the golf course turning off to the west through some scrub weather beaten pine trees down a dirt sandy road where he wondered if he would make it as the bottom of the car more than once drug on the rutted road. At the end of the pine trees a cable crossed the road keeping the curious out with a bold sign: “Beware of the Dogs” Next to the lock in a box where one needed a combination number to open the gate he dialed in the number and proceeded to the house stopping in a graveled area for parking outside the secure area. From there he realized no one was home as the dog sat and stared at him without moving. He took the trail down to the beach and looked both south and north finally spotting another dog on top of a sea stack about two hundred yards from the mouth of the creek emptying into the sea. He looked at his watch and it was just after four pm Pacific Time. He was dog tired from the meeting and the long flight in a private Gulf Stream where he only cat napped from coast to coast.

  He heard Sujin in the kitchen as he turned to sit on a low sofa made out of driftwood and cleverly covered with cushions. It looked uncomfortable but sitting down he felt like he was at home in his Lazy Boy recliner. He looked around seeing the seascapes photos nicely framed hanging on the divider wall between the kitchen and living room. The photos were taken by Sujin and she was a professional photographer popular in Asia and in particular her home country of South Korea. In the center of the house stood a wood stove giving off the type of heat that made the body feel good. Brad burned mostly wood pellets in this day and age of hard to find firewood, but occasionally he would burn some drift wood picked up while out running up and down the beach for his daily exercise.

  Next to the kitchen stood a small, old wooden table incongruous with the furnishings with four similar type chairs sat waiting for someone to occupy them. This was for the rare guest to eat at as not far from the wood stove, a low table sat Asian style with floor mats to sit on. A combination of American and Asian blended well with the house and occupants. Sujin came into the living room carrying the tray of biscuits and the strong smell of green herb tea. She looked at him and then to the floor table giving him the choice of the floor or the old wooden table next to the kitchen. He looked at the floor and she placed the tray and sat each place with tea with the biscuits in the middle. After placing the tea pot and cups she returned the tray to the kitchen and walked back taking the stairs down to the basement where the bedrooms and other rooms were
located.

  Burberry felt alone and relaxed from the barely noticeable sounds of the rain slamming against the windows as by now the storm was showing it stuff. He closed his eyes and saw the red dots of eye strain blinking like stars in the night. At sixty he wasn’t young anymore, but like his wife told him he was as active as a young man fresh from boot camp. That is when he met her when he was on leave out of boot camp in South Carolina. It was summer time and some of his friends were going swimming and he needed some swim trucks. A smile crossed his face as he flashed back walking into the boutique along the sea shore. She was helping another customer as he perused the swim trunks. The next thing he knew after she asked him if she could help him find something, he turned and looked into her deep brown eyes and white teeth.

  He never went swimming with the boys, but on her days off and at night he swam with her. A year later they were married and for the last thirty five years it was mostly a happy marriage with two kids now grown and gone with their own lives and careers leaving just the two of them home alone.

  A voice saying, “Steve how about some tea,” woke him from his subconscious dream. Standing next to the stove stood the man he hoped could bring security and comfort back to California.

  “Yes, I would love some,” as he stood up and took off his over coat and handed it to Brad. As Steve watched Brad he thought his looks never changed. His tall lean body was as fit today as he knew it years ago. Brad hung it up next to the alcove and returned to the low table sitting down cross legged and waited for his guest to do the same. Sujin came up wearing sweat pants and a T shirt that said, “I love the Beach” across the front of it. She was small like most Asian women, but under her sweats hard muscled legs matched her upper body from years of yoga and Tai Chi left their mark. Steve knew her prowess in martial arts as one time strolling on the beach with Brad, she told him some of her back ground, but only enough to leave him with the knowledge she could and can take care of herself in a time of need.