“Yeah, he won’t shoot if he can recognize us.”

They flipped switches as they walked through the house, finally going down the lighted hall.

They saw Godoy on the bed and stepped close to wake him.

Godoy groaned and slowly sat up. Felipe opened his eyes and felt his heart race as he saw the two apparitions through blurred eyes. Two large, silhouetted demons loomed over him, backlit by the hallway lights.

“Colonel Godoy, it’s us, Jesse and Johnny. You, uh, want us to come back?”

Godoy rubbed his face and winced as he tightened his stomach muscles. “No, you stay.” He realized that he had no pants on, and covered himself with a pillow. “Wait in the living room. I will be there in a moment.” The Barbosas left the room. Felipe slid from the bed and hobbled to the bathroom. He turned on the shower as hot as he could stand it, then got under the spray and felt the heat ease his stomach. Two times sharp pains almost doubled him over, but he leaned against the shower wall until it passed. He got out and dried himself as he checked his pale, hairless stomach in the full-length mirror. Dark colors were faintly visible below the skin, like blossoming storm clouds. In a few days his stomach would be mottled, the color of eggplants and avocados. He dressed in loose khaki pants and a pullover shirt and went to the living room to sit across from the Barbosas, who slouched on the couch.

Felipe held one hand on his stomach, “Bobby Mata ambushed me, beat me with a club, like the coward that he is.”

Both brothers nodded, not smiling now. They knew about rupturing kidneys and lacerating bowels, about making people lose control.

“Did you shoot him?” asked Jesse.

“No. As I said, he surprised me, taking my gun away before I knew he was there.”

“Sounds like him.” Johnny said as he readjusted the bandage over his eyebrow. “All that talk around town about how tough he is, how bad he’s supposed to be. It’s all a bunch of crap.”

“Yeah,” said Jesse, “We’re gonna get him one of these days, show him who’s bad.”

Johnny said, “Yeah, give him what he’s got comin’.”

“That is my plan,” said Felipe.

“What?” Said the brothers.

“I want the two of you to get him. Get him and bring him here, to me.”

The brothers looked at each other, “You want us to kidnap Bobby Mata and bring him here?”

“It is your only job now. Find him and bring him here. You are to do nothing else, understood?” They nodded. Felipe continued, “When Mata is here, the three of us will enjoy ourselves, then you may finish him - slowly. I will pay you ten thousand dollars apiece.”

“Ten thousand dollars?” asked Jesse, “Not pesos?”

“United States currency.”

Jesse said, “We’ll get him. Johnny and I’ll start on it today.”

“Bring him in the back door. I will leave it unlocked until you get this done.”

The Barbosas left the house and drove away. Jesse slapped his leg and grinned, “Can you believe it? We’re gonna take down Bobby Mata, get rid of our biggest pain-in-the-ass, and get paid for it? Twenty thousand dollars? Must be our lucky day!”

Johnny adjusted the black bandage a little higher on his forehead, “Yeah, but let’s make sure Mata doesn’t know we’re coming, or that twenty thousand won’t be nearly enough, you know?”

Jesse stopped patting his leg. “Yeah, I know.”

***

Anda Tumecas awoke in the cave, refreshed but starving. Her stomach felt hollow and she realized it had been two days since her last bite of food. She sat at the cave mouth and looked over the brown draws and rough hills until she was satisfied there was no one near. Anda left the cave and walked toward the spring, thinking of the strange dream she’d had...

She was in the cave, looking out on a world of green. Waving grass covered the earth as far as she could see. The hillsides were sprinkled with stands of oak, and tall pines grew on the crests. Patches of snow still lingered under the trees. The draws ran with clear water, and the sky had large numbers of birds flying in the cold air. Anda felt the warmth of the animal skin clothing she wore. Behind her, against the back wall of the cave, were other women busy with various activities.

She looked outward again and watched men dressed in skins hurrying toward a great beast moving slowly up the draw directly below Anda’s cave. The men moved fast, most of them holding several spears as they covered the ground like silent, racing wolves. The beast was close enough for Anda to smell, a smell not unpleasant, but wild. She studied the huge animal. Reddish-orange hair covered the huge body. Its nose was a long, snake-like trunk, and two great tusks curved out from either side. Each was almost as long as the beast’s body. It stopped by the stream, pulled up some grass with its trunk and as it raised its head, Anda saw that its eyes were red.

The men reached it then, running close and stabbing at its stomach and sides, yelling and dancing away as the beast turned quickly for all its bulk and swung its trunk and tusks at the small creatures harrying it. One man, tall and lean, ran in close, almost under the beast’s front legs. He thrust the spear upward, penetrating the thick hide and going deep. The beast bellowed and the man shoved harder, almost burying the entire shaft into the animal. It shuddered, staggered and fell with a crash.

Tags: Billy Kring Thriller
Source: readsnovelonline.net