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#Post#: 2953--------------------------------------------------
Haunted by the Past - Chapter 19 - A Chaotic Plan
By: RampageSports Date: March 8, 2016, 7:01 am
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Author's Note: The Spenser, Hawk and Susan Silverman characters
belong to mystery novelist Robert B. Parker. Mr. Parker is one
of my favorite authors, and his work is a major influence on the
the way I write. Whether I even come close to mimicking his
style is open to considerable debate, but I have chosen to use
his characters in this story as something of an homage. My goal
is to handle them as lightly as possible and to maintain them as
Mr. Parker created them. Any failure on that front is
completely my own.
[hr]
Haunted by the Past - Chapter 19 - A Chaotic Plan
The first stage of my journey was getting to the Parkway, but I
had driven only a few miles when my cell phone rang. Though the
feature has been commonly available for a while now, my recently
purchased Subaru Outback was my first experience with built in
hands-free calling. I like it well enough, but there are times
I yearn for the days when being out on the road meant you were
alone and unreachable.
The display told me the caller was Spenser.
I punched the button on the steering wheel and said, "What?"
"I just thought you should be made aware that you're being
followed."
I thought he was being cute, and I expected to look up and see
his familiar Ford Mustang in my mirror. Instead, I found a jet
black, late model Audi TT.
Wanna take a guess at whose car that is?
I chose the Outback because it's comfortable, roomy,
well-appointed and reasonably quick. Also, I grew up in a
family where buying a new car consisted of getting the latest
model of the station wagon we already owned. The only thing
that changed the pattern was the arrival of the minivan.
Goodbye, Chevy Caprice. Hello, Ford Windstar. So, the desire
for practicality and cargo space is etched in my soul, even
though I had nothing to haul.
Danni liked practicality, too. She just liked hers with a
little zing.
The TT had a reasonable amount of cargo space... less than the
Outback, but plenty for her needs. It had four doors, just like
the Outback, and both vehicles had every safety device you could
think of. In fact, the Audi had a world class all-wheel-drive
system, which was actually a Subaru hallmark.
The big difference was that the TT could go from zero to sixty
in less than six seconds, while the Outback had extra cup
holders and a map pocket behind the sun visor.
Truth is, her car was gorgeous and sleek, and it looked fast as
hell, even when it was standing still. Ordinarily, it was a
pleasure to behold.
I did not feel that way now, however.
I didn't offer Spenser any sort of response. I just stared out
the windshield and stewed.
"She has a stake in this, you know," he said. "You can't just
shut her out."
My secret strength is that I have learned to harness my runaway
rage. An emotion that would normally cause me to self-destruct
instead becomes a weapon. When my blood is boiling, I will do
anything at any time, and my unpredictability makes me seem
invincible. I'm not, and deep down I know it. But even when my
fury puts me in a bad situation, my actions are so sudden and
direct, no one knows how to deal with me.
My super power did have a vulnerability, though. People who
knew me well enough knew how to pierce through the rage. In
this case, Spenser was leaning on what I'd gone through the last
time. How I'd felt when my very existence was at stake, and I
had no control over anything.
I glanced in the mirror again, catching sight of the Mustang in
line behind Danni.
"I can't put her in danger," I said weakly.
"She is in danger," he said. "Nothing you can do about that."
"But she can't just walk right in there."
"I could say the same thing to you."
"I'm going. That discussion is over."
"I noticed," he said, "but if we're going to do this, it might
be good to have a plan."
"Like what?"
"Well, first of all, I don't think the caravan approach is the
best way to make the trip."
I sighed, agreed and disconnected. My route from RSI to the
Garden State Parkway had just taken me through Rumson, and I
looped back and led the group to Danni's house.
Well, I don't think house quite covers it. True, by the
standards of her neighborhood, Danni's home was rather modest.
By my standards, however, it was a castle.
Though I had only seen it from the outside, it's sheer size
clearly supported my view of things. The home sat deep into
what had to be an acre of property, where a long, crushed stone
driveway emptied out onto a circular parking area large enough
to hold about six vehicles. The house measured roughly a
hundred and fifty feet across and a hundred feet deep. Multiply
that over two floors, and you get roughly thirty thousand square
feet of living space, just for little ol' Danni.
The structure was clad in a mixture of stone veneer and pale
green vinyl siding. The stone was mostly shades of grey with
the occasional pop of red or brown to give it life. In many
ways, the look reminded me of Danni herself. The face she shows
the world is simple, muted and elegant. Put her in a room with
her RSI teammates, and Danni is not the first one you notice.
Others — such as the fierce Emma, the charismatic Anna Kendrick
or the sleek and stylish Ashley Tisdale — make up the shiny,
eye-catching face of the group. Each of them has definitively
and repeatedly proven she is much more than window dressing, but
it's the way Danni manages to maintain her power and dignity in
their presence that sets her apart. They can burn hotter and
brighter, but none of them is quite as steady and constant as
she is. And though her look may be more subtle, she is no less
beautiful. Moreover, her understated style somehow magnifies
her strength. She's the one that pulls the team together —
almost as though she has her own gravity. Take her away and the
group immediately becomes much less than what it was.
Danni is not the first one you notice, but she's the one who
draws you in, in the end.
All of this sort of makes me wonder what the inside of the house
looks like. After all, I had seen the other side of Danni. The
side of her that appears when we meet in the cage — and also
when we spar outside of it.
Though that Danni lacks the grace and elegance of the public
version, she is no less powerful.
The estate — she hates when I call it that — is fronted by a
stone wall with a slight, stylish S-curve to it. On the far
left of the wall, there was an access gate. A camera and an
entry panel were visible on the left side, but no code was
required. Instead, Danni carried a small, nondescript black box
on her key chain. The box contained a transmitter that set off
the gate when it got close enough.
I pulled over a few car lengths short of the driveway. Danni
went around and activated the gate as Spenser dropped in behind
me with Hawk in the passenger seat. The iron mouth swung open,
and we trooped in like ants on the march.
We gathered in the parking area in front of the house. I
stepped out and narrowed my eyes at Danni.
"I hate you," I said.
"Heard that before," she retorted.
I let the banter go at that, because I didn't want to lose my
edge. The situation was taking on a different feel now that we
were all... well, maybe not on the same page, but at least
reading from the same chapter. That was all well and good, but
I was still on a mission. Giving the mission an actual purpose
was probably a good idea, but I couldn't lose sight of how it
started. I wanted my anger — needed it — when I came
face-to-face with my enemy.
As Spenser laid out his plan, I let my mind repeatedly come back
to images of Powers and Rat Face. Each time one of their faces
came into focus, I could feel the heat in my veins.
I was becoming someone — or maybe something — I hadn't been for
a very long time. Something I had left in my past, but had
never forgotten how to be.
The first thing we discussed was timing. It was still early,
which would mean the club would not be open yet. But we had a
long drive ahead of us. The trip to Trenton should take less
than forty-five minutes in good conditions. Weekends, weekdays,
morning, noon or night, I had never found such conditions to
exist. I have a brother who lives in a nice area just outside
of Trenton, and I have never made the trip to his house in under
an hour. With rush hour coming on, this particular journey
would likely take quite a bit longer. Things should be in full
swing by the time we arrived, so timing would be no issue.
The plan itself wasn't all that complicated. Spenser and Hawk
planned to mingle anonymously with the crowd. As far as we
knew, Powers was not aware that they were even here, and there
was no reason to share that information with him if we didn't
have to. My task was to confront Powers and push him. To get
under his skin and trigger his infamous temper. If I could get
him talking, then he might let something slip.
So, burst in, cause chaos and make people hate me. It was like
I was born for this job.
As we prepared to leave, we agreed to reduce our little parade
to two cars — Danni and I in one, Spenser and Hawk in the other.
Then we broke up, and I walked straight back to the Subaru.
"Why do you get to drive?" Danni asked.
I shook my head without looking at her as I pulled my door open.
"Don't push your luck with me, b*tch," I shot back.
We both climbed in and away we all went. First stop was the
bank, where I withdrew a sizable amount of money. I wanted
things to go as simply as possible until I chose to complicate
them, and nothing works better than cold cash for easing the
way. I put the money in my pocket and tucked my purse behind my
seat. I told Danni to do the same. The bags would only be a
hindrance, where we were headed.
The trip went smoothly as I drove south down the Parkway, then
west on I-195. I was just starting to think we were going to
have to kill some time after all, when the traffic hit as we
approached the Turnpike. Cars that only seconds before had been
flying along at over seventy miles an hour were suddenly moving
slower than the average person could walk. It took forever to
get past it, and, by the time we got clear, I no longer had to
worry about losing my edge. I had enough anger stored up to
last a lifetime.
I crawled into Trenton and eased my way along Broad Street. I
turned left on Stark* and was overwhelmed by the sight of the
New Jersey State House — the most useless building in the entire
state. The only good news was that they'd built it mere feet
from the Delaware River. So, we could cling to the faint hope
that Pennsylvania might invade and take it off our hands.
Much of Trenton suffers from a bad reputation, brought on by
just a few bad areas. But then, just blocks past the State
House, one was reminded that the reputation was richly deserved.
For this was the point where civilization ended, and the
emptiness and decay of this stretch outweighed anything good the
rest of the city had to offer.
Half-way down Stark, I wheeled into the gravel lot outside The
Old Warehouse. The building was a leftover from a long-defunct
freight rail operation, and it looked like no real effort had
been put into it since. Somewhere along the way, someone got
the idea to try throwing a layer of yellow paint on it. But
years of additional neglect had allowed the paint to peel...
revealing large swaths of the faded brick beneath. The end
result looks like a giant block of ancient, moldy cheese.
The most depressing part was that it fit in perfectly with the
buildings that surrounded it.
The lot was crowded but not packed, and I parked the Subaru
close to the road. Spenser and Hawk had dropped off, giving
Danni and I time to get inside before arriving. We had all
agreed that the four of us walking in together might draw
attention we would prefer to avoid.
I turned and looked at Danni.
"Last chance to get out of this," I said.
"I've come this far," she said. "No point in backing out, now."
I tried to smile in a reassuring manner, but I doubt it came off
as I hoped.
"Listen," I began, "this is a different sort of place. I was a
different person, when I was fighting here."
"I know," she said.
"No," I said. "I don't think you do. I've changed, but this
place is still the same. If I'm going to make this work...
well, I mean... you may see me do things tonight you wouldn't
expect."
She nodded solidly.
"I understand," she said cautiously. "Do whatever you have to."
"Don't worry about me. I can handle myself," I said. "If this
goes wrong, you just get the hell out of there and do whatever
Spenser and Hawk say."
"I'm not leaving without you."
I turned and looked her square in the eye.
"I plan on the two of us walking out of there together," I said,
"but if it goes south, you get out, you understand? You let
Spenser and Hawk worry about me."
She watched me for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"Okay."
"And one last thing," I said. "No matter what happens in there,
stay close, stay safe... and make sure you stay out of my way."
[hr]
*The Stark Street concept is borrowed from author Janet
Evanovich and her Stephanie Plum series. To my knowledge, no
such street exists in Trenton, NJ.
[hr]
Character Reference
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Richelle_100x120.jpg
Name: Richelle Winterfeld
Nickname(s):
Background: Owner of the RSI stable, former underground fighter
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Danni_100x120.jpg
Name: Danneel Harris
Nickname(s): Danni
Background: RSI stable leader, reigning DEF welterweight
champion
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Emma_100x120.jpg
Name: Emma Watson
Nickname(s): Dr. Watson
Background: Reigning FAC featherweight champion, training
partner and romantic partner of Tiffany Mulheron
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMUU1zUWZkbWxjT2s[/img]
Name: Anna Kendrick
Nickname(s):
Background: ESL welterweight contender
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Ashley_100x120.jpg
Name: Ashley Tisdale
Nickname(s): Ash, Tiz, Blondie Girl, Sharpay
Background: ESL bantamweight contender
#Post#: 2954--------------------------------------------------
Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 19 - A Chaotic Plan
By: BadAssBunnies Date: March 8, 2016, 9:14 pm
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[quote author=Rampage Sports link=topic=428.msg2953#msg2953
date=1457442073]
So, burst in, cause chaos and make people hate me. It was like
I was born for this job.
[/quote]
Love that line.
The suspense is building nicely and I can't wait for the next
chapter.
#Post#: 2956--------------------------------------------------
Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 19 - A Chaotic Plan
By: RampageSports Date: March 9, 2016, 12:14 am
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Thanks, Becca. Richelle's skill set may be limited, but she
knows what she's good at. :)
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