Perception

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-one.

When life comes knocking I close the blinds and pretend I’m not home.

Unknown

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   Mercury jumped up and would have dashed away again if Petra hadn’t grabbed her arm.

     “Slow down Mer. Where’s the fire?”

     “Back at camp. Some yahoo has a gun pointed at D’s head demanding money.” Her small face swung to me. “I’m off to The Corner Store for help, just like you always said.”

    The Corner Store was an all night convenience shop two streets over; a lot of Roman’s men liked to hang out there.

     “Good, take this. Tell them to get a message through to Haka.” I pulled off the eagle standard and threw it to her. “Don’t be afraid to throw mine or Pete’s name around either.”

   She nodded and ran off.

   I left Mark who was trying to gather up all the fallen groceries to chase after Petra. As I approached the silent, wary crowd, I could hear Jacobs’ soothing tone mingled into Samson’s imploring one as they both begged for Delilah’s life.

   “Just get me the god damn money and all will be sweet,” a man demanded.

   Pushing my way to the front of the crowd, I joined them in stunned silence as I watched the drama unfolding. His name was Malcolm. Troye had described him as some snotty-nosed upstart who had come south looking to make a name for himself. If that was true, he was going the wrong way about it.

   “We gave you all our money. It’s not much, but it’s all we have left,” Abraham stated, pointing to the small pile of notes at his feet.

  “You’re holding out on me old man.” Delilah squirmed as Malcolm rubbed his dirt chin against her hair. “She is a pretty little thing. Bet she won’t look so pretty with a hole through her head.”

   “Don’t hurt her!” Samson cried as Malcolm twisted the barrel against her forehead.

   “We’re telling the truth; there’s no money here. Do you think if any of us had any money we would be living here?” Abraham argued.

   “Didn’t you see the eagle as you came in, numb nuts? We’re under Roman’s protection,” someone yelled out.

   “But he is not here, is he? Like he would give a rat’s ass about any of you anyway. From now on, I’m the one you will be paying for protection - starting now!”

   “Come, put the child down. This isn’t the way to get what you want. If you have to have a hostage, take me instead. Just let the child go.” Jacobs moved to take half a step closer, but Samson grabbed his arm.

    “You’ve to let her go. She’s got the most wonderful singing voice. Sing for him D,” Petra called, stepping forward.

    Grabbing her arm, I haled her back and hissed, “Are you nuts? Do you want to get her killed?”

    “He’s using a .32 automatic,” she hissed back then called louder, “Go on, sing.”

    Delilah shook her head minutely.

    “So?” I demanded, jerking on her arm again.

    “It’s the same model Murphy uses.”

    Murphy had to have been the worst criminal in the history of forever. How he had managed to stay outside of prison for so long was a mystery. Anything that could go wrong would if Murphy was around, hence the name. He had managed to lock himself inside a car boot once while trying his hand at stealing car speaker systems. He managed to shoot himself three times in the foot. That was before he had bought his newest weapon.