chapter ten

Elroy Edwin
“In perfect perspective of someone’s life is living under the false conclusion that life is…”
“I’m sorry but what the fuck are you talking about, dude? And I need meat right away, dude!” one Russell Bird is exhaustingly saying to Brian as they’re working at an A&W.
“Oh uh…how many?”
“I just need what’s on that screen, so yeah…” he points to a mini TV screen. He rushes around with metal spatulas grabbing meats as another worker fixes up the burger buns with the miscellaneous materials in record timing.
“I just have one question though…?” the person he’s talking to, asks him as they’re speeding through the work.
“Shoot…” Brian replies as he’s just finishing up.
“You’re like an executive or something important, right…an up top officer dude, person…?”
“I suppose in some way I might be on some level”,
“Than why the hell would you be working a job like this when you could be doing…?”
“When I could be doing what? Wasting my time with suits or trying to live life by the only way real life is most real, you know”,
“Why are you still here, Pip?” Brian asks solemnly.
“I’ve been working here for sometime now…this is all I know and plus, it’s easy, dude”,
“Can I ask you something?” Brian asks as he starts sweeping the floor, seeing him nod.
“How do you do it? Live double lives?”
“I…I um…” he looks everywhere, looking down, breathing heavily.
“It doesn’t get any easier by thinking about it but it’s a struggle to also maintain this life…the life I like living…you know, just getting stored and shooting the shit, dude”,
Days later, the first snowfall floats to the ground by the storm loads as Pip is knee deep in it, watching the traffic as there are no cars so he jumps away.
“It’s clear, dudes!”
“Alrighty boys, after we run out, you take cover behind there”, Brian points behind a dilapidated building.
“Now! Bring ‘em around, one for each of us, okay”, someone is handing out egg cartons as the snow breezes through the red fingers and shaking lips.
“Elroy…stay behind me…” Pip big brotherly instincts say.
“Dude…it’s me”, they all than burst out with eggs in one hand, one after another throwing eggs at the front side of a rival high school.
Just days later, in a field, Elroy sits alone with painted covered-cover alls, gripping a paint ball gun. He begins running intensely with confidence backing his just cause as he’s being chased by a long legged, green tipped hair styled young and growing girl.
“Any day now…” he says than turns in those last mili-seconds she shoots, painting his chest, making him fall, causing her to fall onto him in the process.
“Now what…?” they stare swimmingly into each other’s eyes.
Hours later at Brian’s personal mobile headquarters this is disguised to look as a normal bus.
“There’s a reason why you’re here…according to your instructors and superiors you’re the best of the best, next to your brother and several others, Jetson”, Elroy stands from at attention to Brian, who’s calmly walking about, looking through the tinted windows and listening intently to the song ‘Wait and bleed’ by Slipknot.
“What would that reason be than, sir?”
“Because I need someone I can rely and most of all…trust…trust is something that I think is running on fumes these days, Jetson”,
“What would you like for me to do, sir?” and Brian gently, quietly and staring at a black and white photograph of a girl.
“This one is different so I need you to…” Brian stares at the floor.
“To do what exactly…? And everyone of them, it never mattered one bit were different in any way possible, almost every way possible, mind you, so…”
“She knows the ways and takes every known action to cover every paper trail or track known to man to hide from or because we trained her to think and react on reflex to do so, Jetson”, Brian than sips on his water bottle.
“I think I might have an idea, sir”
“I don’t want to know, just get it done in what fashion you deem to fit as quietly, please”,
“Permission to speak? Sir”,
“Why the hell you askin’ me? Dude…settle down…” he smirks.
“My brother, what’s he up to?...like where is he?” and a phone rings. Brian picks it up, smiling and looking at him, blinking rarely than everything stiffens in his cheek bones and lips.
“Now, don’t worry, Elroy”,
“Brian…what’s wrong?”
“We have strong intell that some tactical C.I.A operatives have um…took him and the person he was with…at the time”,
“Why would they care about…”
“They think that the person is or has some connection with the 9/11…” and in seconds Elroy walks out.
“Dude don’t! Don’t do anything I know you’re going!...ah shit…” Brian runs after Elroy and pulling him aside violently.
“Okay! I fucking know what you’re going and hell, if I could, I’d go with you but that doesn’t negate the fact that he’s under C.I.A tactical lock down in Cuba of all places and you think that you! One person can just walk in there and some how walk out with him? Is that it?”
“Maybe not on those levels but perhaps I have a different idea as to get him out”, he turns.
“You walk out that door and your alone, Jetson!” he walks out of his view just as three high ranking officers stand behind Brian.
“What is it now!?” he shouts, turning and huffs.
“I think you need to see this, sir”, one of them hands Briand detailed reconnaissance photos of work plants and ammo depots in South America.
“How the shit does something like this happen without anyone’s fucking intelligence out there!?! I mean for fuck sake, you people are supposed to be watching places like these”, he walks to his office in the bus.
“Get him here and I mean yesterday”, then he starts beating his hands together.
“Now! Now people!”
Months later in the fall of 2003 where several high ranking officers are having their monthly annual briefings.
“So, we’re all in agreement that at the beginning of the start of the war in every populated city areas across the country. Various people will take action with varying arms to pursue mundane fortunes at various banks to draw the city’s police forces away from their stations so we can than destroy these stations and pick off or capture these police peoples”, they than each individually raising their palms silently, looking to each other.
“Ah, so on to other business…” he slides one folder away and slides another in front of him as he sips or gurgles his streaming coffee.
“Strict policy prohibits us from negotiating from with terrorists and other forms of peoples but does that necessary describe the organized crime folds…of course the laws on the matter are uncertain but there’s always a loop hole around them nonetheless, look at Bush, hah”, and some members smirk or exhale smiling.
Hours away, in a different time zone, in and around the Middle East’s Egypt’s Suez sunny and hot canal, a senior high ranking battle group commander and field marshal holds a satellite phone, looking out on the canal with his sun glasses.
“We maybe the last but certainly not the least battle group ready in formation and ready to ship back to the mainland, sir…” he stands and listens to the waves.
“Before that does indeed happen sir, I would like to request to speak freely, sir?”
“If this battle group stays and helps out here until further notice or till the war begins and we come in like a pincer movement or caldron tactic?” he listens as flies start to buzz about around his face.
“Yes…yes…thank you, sir, yes, you won’t regret this, I assure you”, another plain clothes officer steps up behind as the high ranking officer turns to see him.
“You know what to do and try to keep it quiet for once”, inside Brian’s headquarters’ with him hanging up his cell phone, the young and stern back Arielle, with a cast still wrapped around her forearm, stands at his door, knocking lightly.
“They’re here, all of them…you remember what to do?”
“Now…which one called in the air strike, again?”
“That’s not necessarily the best topic just yet, however you may not want to give some optimism on the front of when exactly we’re launching, to keep up morale”, she stares at the back of his head as he’s speed reading through some of his lines.
“So, how’s everything?” she bends her head with a squints in her right eye.
“Uh…you know, we’ve been doing this whole song and dance for nearly ten years now and I think that’s the first time you have ever asked me or anyone else that particular question”,
“Your point…?” he turns, gesturely fixing her eye glasses and brushing her hair out of her eyes.
“Well, lately after the 9/11, you’ve been acting some what out of character…” she watches as he slows down to lean against his desk, standing.
“You can talk to me, you know if something’s bothering…” and all lights go black.
“Sh…” he holds her lips with his index finger.
“Maybe the powers out or…” he shakes his head slowly as he pacefully walks out alone right in the split second as he steps through the doors arch way, a dozen of heavily armed tactical gear wearing people immediately corners him.
“Hands up!” they say as three argue amongst themselves in whispers behind several.
“Fuck this shit!” the one arguing pushes himself through and grabs Brian violently, ripping his black mask off.
“Eye for an eye, you piece of…” he’s interrupted by Brian seeing a bright red beam centered in where the man’s eye used to be. They all look behind the doors to see the young and surprisingly tough, carrying a Chinese made rocket launcher, aiming and readying it to launch.
“Brian, would you be a darling and collect their weapons…” she stays as the roofing of the ventilation systems collapses all around her with a dozen more of tactical gear people.
“Nevermind, just…” she slowly turns the other way, distracting the other dozen enough for Brian to run for it. Reacting only, they fire, mostly mixed shots passed or whistling by his ears.
“No! God dammit!” one snaps, pulling out his side arm, cocks it with an already attached silencer on it but in seconds before he could shoot him, Arielle had thrown a large piece of glass through his fibula. Making him down to one knee, she shoots through his cranium and out his eye sockets, hitting the other guy in his other eye ball.
“Ahhh!” he screams as he shouts his weapon blindly about as they all look behind seeing dozens and dozens of army and marine tactical teams pour through every if any other orphus around them.
“By the order of battle group commander Moke, you, Brian Pollet please step aside…” they each aim at Arielle.
“This is a proposal to you, if the president himself doesn’t show himself or herself to relieve him of command, personally, young Arielle’s fate will be left up to…” he’s reading a sheet when in an instant he rips it away, taking his side arm and shooting him in the crotch.
“I am in charge here! So…” one punches Brian across the hallway.
“His rank supersedes yours, Colonel…now please move…” he’s staring at Arielle, breathing heavily as they each aim at him, with their pointers floating about around him. He stares than blinks really hard, moving out of the way. They escort Arielle, brushing her away as they aim cautiously as well at her in the same fashion as with Brian.
“Kill him…” one of them says.
“No!...” she scrambles about to get to him as they surround her, caging her away slowly as she accidentally pulled one’s pin off a grenade with her thumb unwittingly than in mid-movement pushes the person as far to Brian than diving in the opposite direction, feeling the course of the pushing of the grenade going off. She immediately draws her gaze back, scanning that part of the hallway for his presence and seeing no one but the tacticals scrambling about.
“Enough!” one clubs Arielle on the back of her head as she smirks. Minutes later with Elroy who’s huffing through his problems, bumping into everyone, trying to get home as moments flood in and out of his sister Angelica and brother Pip. The vibrator on his cell phone goes off violently in his jacket pocket and with quick reflexes his arm, without knowing reaches and answers.
“Jetson here!”
“I have a plan!” he hears Brian.
“We’re gonna do what Kennedy should’ve done…” weeks later, during Yellowknife’s wintery twilight that dims the most incorruptible light. Two young, warm attired with tacky colored toques and gloves are playfully tossing snowballs or chasing one another about in the snowing snow.
“So, tell me young dude; what do you want in life?” they stare timidly into each other.
Back in Cuba where Arielle’s captors have unwittingly escorted her in orange jump suits with chains holding her at bay. She is standing amongst two heavily armed guards, walking helplessly and in seconds, she trips on herself. Having help from the guards, she intentionally pockets keys and in mid-movement, unlocking her wrists, twists the neck of one guard while using the cuffs as a stabbing weapon, gauging the other’s nasal captivity. She violently unshackles herself and starts running as loud sirens and alarms sound off as she can feel and hear in the distance a lot of guards coming. She comes to a corridor where four baton handling American guards come whipping one way, with one arm. She wraps her arms around one’s shoulder, holding both her feet onto another’s head. She whips herself downwards, tossing two forward while the others baton the one’s in rolling form, hitting their back sides. They in seconds, without caring, try to hit her but she reacts quicker and flips up with both batons and literally smacking theirs away. She rolls past them, using a baton on an electrical cord, sliding the entire way as guards open fire and miss. She makes the landing, hiding about ammo cases and tanks, she looks about, hearing and seeing several American as well as Canadian military police running around her than she notices a tank in front of her.
“So, she’s been here for less than an hour and you lost her…” two military police captains are talking, stopping to see a loose tank tracking towards them than pauses.
“You don’t think she…” one points as it stops and fires its cannon as the MPs dive for cover.
“Son of a bitch!” they scream as they see several tanks being pushed by with so much force that so few tanks fly over head buildings behind them.
“Dude! Just jump and…” one officer jumps, opens up the hatch seeing Arielle, he reaches as Arielle tosses up a grenade.
“Jesus!” the officer screams as he looses his balance.
“Christ!” Arielle yells exhausting as the force grenade implodes, blowing the tank fifty yards away, through buildings and other solid objects.
“Finally!” and in those last breathes of silent seconds all power goes black with only whispers of soldiers walking with each other.
“What the f…” louder sirens and flashlights sound off as crashes and tremors feel about the entire base area as soldiers all around are scrambling every which way.
“Hey kid! What’s happening?!” one soldier asks another passerby.
“It’s war! War! All around!” the soldier than runs off while the passerby stands, watching him run than with a silencer on his pistol. He with no facial movements shoots the soldier in the back of the head and walks away. He walks, pulling out a hand held walky-talky, turning it on, slowly walking and blinking as he walks through a corridor.
“West coast of compound clear”, and in seconds a large explosion tremors the entire area, creating a large hole, gapping its walls to the outside as the mines around the area are all missing. One man walks through the smoke and settling debris, stands in the still gap, holding up his walky-talky.
“Green, I repeat green”, in seconds large tremors and close explosions sound as the sirens are muted and the scrambling people become less and less. Soldiers, armed tactical geared persons now populate the facility with bullhorns as parachute soldiers break through the ceilings.
“We are apart of the Canadian armed forces here on a exercise, repeat…” the standing man walks what appears to be aimlessly, innocently through prisoners barracks. Just as the young Pip is examining the outside of one room, no visible weapons on him, only a satchel and watch. He circles the door and sees a familiar nervous habit than he bursts into the room, seeing five people, four sitting and the infamous General Moke standing.
“You’re late”, he says as he turns when enters behind Elroy, a bright light breathing Brian, stands with several dozen men and women all holding their position.
“Am I?” he nostalgically walks, breezes past Elroy.
“Why are you here?” he points a single pistol at him.
“You formally requested the president please stand up, well, I may not be standing, but hey…” Brian hands signed documentation and legal dossiers as Franchesca Mannerheim steps behind Brian.
“Its true! I’m his legal council since the beginning”, Moke points like seeing a ghost.
“Now sit, please everyone as I’ve got something to say to all of you” they stare blindly at him, breathlessly almost without blinking, watching Brian move.
“Okay, sit! Please”, they each sit, arms against one another’s still staring.
“People, you’re being rude and staring…” Brian only notices the familiar cheek bones and scar tissue of one David Webb sitting with tightened restraints and taped mouth watching him.
“Why is he here?!” he points as David with what energy and strength left jumps at him with restraints.
“Because he’s the only witness to your crime…”
“As is she…” Brian points to Franchesca.
“How about you? Oslo yet again, caught!” Brian shouts in front.
“Okay, we are all here today to answer an on-going question that till today I’ve personally asked and found a plain solution”,
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“All of us here today represent worlds of the country that in some ways control or influence…make you have the most respect in South America by Cuba…Elroy with your involvement as some kind of a leader with most of the young recruits…Arielle as head of most of the science departments all across any departments in the world, you lead a lot of people this and that way without thinking…”
“Okay, we understand, you point being?”
“Like music we’re like music notes trying to make a good song…at first you have those angry moments where you just want to smash your life away and say fuck it but you just want to finish it…and in the end you get one great fucking song…understand”,
“Now, let me see if I can understand what you’re vaguely referring to…” they each squint to each other, looking at Elroy.
“Go on…”
“Cooperation, I believe the word is however the question remains, when the fuck is the invasion?” Moke smirks as soldiers walk in, aiming.
“Yes, we all work together to make this work except for…” he stands in front of David.
“We need the room, now…” the soldiers scramble with heavy breathing as they each escort the people out of the room, leaving only David and Brian.
“He knows who you are, Brian…he knows and perhaps seen plenty of evidential shit to incriminate your soul till kingdom come…” a cigarette bearing Marshal stands close to David as they stare at each other.
“You can’t use him in any form what so ever to accomplish anything for the war effort so why is he still breathing life…?” they circle each other.
“I was 15 and it was my first time out on the field…walking through your house, seeing the happy pictures, smelling that generic normalcy feeling of a family done right just before…I burst in to your room and a round in the chamber went off and I was too shocked to see the both of you to aim properly and…”
“And…you dumb buck tooth son of a…” Brian with great speed and grinding teeth grabs him by the neck, squeezing his jugular to a life or death moment.
“Why do you people always fixate on appearance…people like you are always supposed to walk in a straight line, have blue eyes, blonde hair and the fucking straight white teeth and pink gums without any sign of cavity or grueling root canal activity, the worst or perhaps the longest grueling torturous act of modern cruelty known to mankind. Of course, you people never fully embraced the thought of HEY why not think of me in this light! And think if I was in a car accident or beaten up with an after affect of facial disfigurement or lost teeth or crazy eye thingies but no! Not you mister I live in a 3 story house with two garages with the perfect family so yes!” Brian loosens his grip as they both take in deep breathes.
“I took them away from you, yes I’m that guy. I am an evil psychotic, maniac, double vision crazy engine person…evil, I am evil, yes, I can admit that, everything I’ve seen and done after that has been a rollercoaster of a ride from all things bad to worse but that doesn’t clear you of your very acute history of varying criminal activities which compared to mine, wouldn’t necessarily scratch the surface on my history so in other words, fuck you, you Nazi born, supposed mob person son of a cock sucking mother fucker…” Brian points a cocked and ready silenced pistol.
“Having said all this, I feel a sense of closure so, well you know…”
“Wait! Wait! No! No! You shoot me and you won’t know where he is!”
“Rothman…?”
“You don’t shoot me in exchange for the whereabouts of Rothman?”
“Okie dokie, I won’t shoot you…” he safeties the weapon and tosses it behind him out the door.
“Um…he’s rooming with one Remus Thatcher in Israel, some where in Israel, so…let me go…” he sits casually back with a sweating smirk.
“You know, he was right when he first met you…” Brian stands closer to the door.
“Who…?” with a smirk himself, Brian rolls his eyes as he walks away just as a hand picks the pistol up, walking closer to David’s widening eyes.
“Your with them too…?” the heat of the sun’s vibrant wavy hues brighten Milo’s unshaven jaw with his sweating stare he sits in front of him.
“What are the odds…?” he smiles as he flicks the safety and looks back at him.
“Like old times…” Milo stares, staring at the floor.
“Times changing…” he looks back and holds it up and shoots him in the forehead, spewing out blood as the head bobs back and forth as Milo gently sits the weapon down and walks away.
Hours later in the heating and sweating Haifa, Israel where a rum sucking Tucker Rothman sits in a sweating room with a beating fan struggling to flow the air. A door opens with someone rubbing his right thumb against his right middle finger tip walking and sitting in front of him.
In the same moment in a calm perfect snow fall in Yellowknife, a so called perfect moment, Elroy stands in front of this girl.
“I have to tell you something…”
“Elroy, you can tell me anything…”
“I’m in love with you, Lola Rothman…” he keeps his eyes down and looks back with tears and biting his lips.
“That’s not all though…” and the snow slowly falls everywhere around them.