* * * *
Marion had hated Vietnam. He had nightmares about it for years. There were still times when he woke from sleep, dripping with sweat with the memories of war. But it was also the only time he had ever felt the intense fire of life burning within him. He sometimes wondered if the intensity of life during war was too much for the normal human to stand. The withdrawal from the burning clarity caused the problems that war veterans have, just like the withdrawal symptoms of the heroin addict. The one main difference was that war veteran lived with the withdrawal for life, while the drug addict could eventually leave the affects of the addiction.
Marion hunted. It wasn't the same intensity as war, but life and death were at stake, even if it was only an animal's. He looked at hunting like the methadone treatment for the heroin addict or the nicotine patch for the smoker. It was a way to tame the nightmares of war. When Jeffrey came to the Vets Club asking for help, Marion had to go. Up in the tree house, he scanned the neighborhood with night-vision goggles. John dozed behind him, waiting for his watch. He reached nervously for his bow, the fire of life starting to burn within him. At first, he was upset when Jeffrey had said no guns. He had not wanted a stray bullet to hurt anyone. Marion now relished the idea of getting close enough to a killer to attack with an arrow.
Marion prayed the killer would come. He had hunted deer with John and knew what they could do with their bows. In the house, Ben and Jeffrey had bats and knives. Ben was the legion baseball coach. Marion had seen Ben hit a line drive so hard it had broken the hand of the pitcher when he tried to catch it. He didn't know much about Bob or Betty, but they had been fast and precise on the radio calls. Marion's biggest surprise had been Makinen. After dark, he had watched James slip through the neighborhood as silently and quickly as a ghost. Marion had not seen James carrying any weapons when he left the house that night, but he projected the same lethal presence of his old gunnery sergeant. The man had served in the Korean War and was on his second tour of duty in Nam when Marion met him. There had been many times in Nam that Marion had been scared, but no matter what was happening, fear had never been an option when Gunny was watching. When Gunny was around, the only emotion Marion had was pity for the enemy.
Marion shook his head to remove the memories. He reconed the neighborhood. Again, he wished the killer to show. He knew the killer was a coward; otherwise, he would come at you straight on, man to man, and not attack young girls. He wanted to see the scum's eyes as he saw his own death coming. Marion knew if the killer came, he would die. He had seen death in Makinen's eyes before he left on scout, and he knew the others would not hesitate to kill.
Marion saw a small truck pull up at the end of the block from Jeffrey's house. Into the radio he said, "Base, this is lookout. Ute pulled in at end of block. Doesn't match any of the neighbors' vehicles." Marion sensed John ease on up beside him. He knew John would be checking the area behind the house in case the killer would use a disturbance out front to sneak in the back way. Marion saw a shadow move at the end of the block and recognized the lethal motions of James.
Over the radio earphone he heard James whisper, "Negative on the Ute, it's a damn TV reporter." Just then the cameraman turned on the camera light and the intense beam flashed across the night-vision goggles, blinding Marion. "Damn! John, watch out for the light. I'm blinded."
It took minutes for Marion to rub the vision back into his eyes and even longer before he could see any distance. By the time he could see what was going on, Jeffrey was on the sidewalk yelling at the reporter and cameraman. Glancing down the road, Marion saw an old Chevy pickup idling closer with its lights off. "Base, this is lookout. Chevy pickup coming in with its lights off." Jeffrey must have had the radio ear piece still on because he stepped to the side to look down the road past the TV crew. The cameraman, seeing Jeffrey's movement, swung his camera down the block. The light from his swinging camera caught James in mid-stride as he raced through the yards to check the truck. Marion heard the squeal of tires and the truck's brights turned on. The truck backed into the night leaving only the smell of burnt tires behind.
Marion saw Jeffrey pull the camera away from the man and throw it to the ground. He heard the words, "You God damn fools! You God damn fools!" coming from Jeffrey as he pushed the TV crew toward their truck. He saw Bob come out of the house and grab Jeffrey, holding him back. With Bob holding Jeffrey, the TV crew started to scream back at him. The yelling kept up until suddenly the TV crew realized they were surrounded by the neighbors. They moved between Jeffrey and Bob and the reporters. The crowd didn't say anything, standing there, some in their nightclothes, watching the TV crew. They just moved closer and closer to the crew, backing them up to their truck.
After the reporters left, the neighborhood settled back to the stillness of the night. It was after midnight when the TV truck showed up again. It drove quietly down the street. Stopping by the broken camera, someone got out, grabbed it, and they drove off.
* * * *
The old man went to the VFW for a beer. He had been sure that with the cop dead, he would have a clear shot at taking Lori. When he had seen the TV reporters harassing Lori's father, he was positive he could sneak in the back and take her. Then that strange figure came out of the dark towards his truck.
It had taken him until noon to find out where Lori was staying after she had left her apartment. He didn't understand why the high he got from the slow killing of Jenny and Pike had worn off already. The delay in finding Lori put his nerves on edge. He had known it was too dangerous to try to capture either Kawalski or the cop. But God damn it, he needed the fix of torturing someone. Without Lori waiting for him in the basement, he had been so tempted to try to stop someone in the street to bring back to his house.
He took another sip of beer and closed his eyes. He remembered the feel of Jenny's heart in his hands and the wonder he had felt when he placed his own hand red with her blood over his chest. He took another sip and thought of watching the throbbing motion of the sticks he had placed near Pike's heart and lungs and timing his own pulse and breathing to match. He felt again the merging of his body with their dying bodies. The thrill! The high!
A chill passed through the old man as he remembered the lethal shadow he saw surge toward him out of the night. Who or what was that shadow? What right did it have in interfering? He didn't fear the shadow he saw in the camera light. He had never really felt fear in his whole life. It was more a resentment of the shadow's interference with his plans. He had cowed to his father and then his wife not out of fear, but an avoidance of someone strong enough to keep him from his pleasure and to give him pain. His glass was empty.
He went to the bar to get another. For the first time he heard that Jeffrey had stopped by for help. He became angry at being thwarted. He gulped his beer. He would add Jeffrey and the others to his list. But first he would get Lori. He could imagine the pleasure of drinking with them in sympathy after Lori disappeared. Maybe he could keep her body in the chest freezer he just bought and installed in his basement. He could spend many nights drinking with them as they wondered what happened to her, hoping she was still alive.
This time, he ordered a whiskey with a beer chaser as he planned amid the loud noises of the busy bar.
* * * *
_The light. The hands. The silent room. A barely audible_ swoosh _and a card turns over. The harsh glaring light from the lamp highlights the exposed card._
Rain clouds with a heart that has three swords piercing it points away from the shadowy figure behind the deck.
_The hands flex, the figure sighs, the ambiguity of the card pervades the dark, silent room. Darkness._