A little dead? 8 (330 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.5 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Allyson (View user info) at 2006-09-18 23:47:43 EDT
a little dead? 1 http://www.ubersite.com/m/92917
a little dead? 2 http://www.ubersite.com/m/92962
a little dead? 3 http://www.ubersite.com/m/92978
a little dead? 4 http://www.ubersite.com/m/93031
a little dead? 5 http://www.ubersite.com/m/93082
a little dead? 6 http://www.ubersite.com/m/93133
a little dead? 7 http://www.ubersite.com/m/93166
Astoria, Queens, 10:30PM
"JIMMY!"
"JESUS!!"
Jimmy Wade's almost asleep in front of his TV when his apartment door practically explodes inwards and a ragged, bleeding man tumbles through onto the floor. He's about to go for the revolver he keeps in his bureau, but his eyes widen once he sees who it is.
"D-Danny?!"
"Jimmy..."
Danny keels over onto the front room's tasteful carpet, finally letting his strength give out. The hold all on his back practically crushes him but he's too exhausted to care. All he can do is look at his old comrade with weak, helpless eyes.
"Help..."
Jimmy gets up and starts walking in one smooth movement, all fear and trepidation disappearing. As a medic in the Rangers his first instinct was always to the welfare of his men, no matter when or where they were. He shoves the hold all to one side and runs practiced hands over Danny, pulling his trench coat off.
"Fuckin' Hell..."
His jaw drops as he sees the patchwork of bruises and cuts all over Danny, not to mention the ugly looking stab wounds on his leg and arm. He takes only a few second to decide what needs to be done, even if he hasn't seen Danny for almost a year.
"C'mon."
Strong arms hoist Danny to his feet and he just goes with it, letting Jimmy drag him to the spare bedroom. Wade places him on the bed and starts stripping him, shaking his head in disbelief.
"One year... one year and you turn up with this shit..." He finishes stripping him and addresses Danny directly before he leaves. "You always were a pain inna ass."
Danny tries to chuckle but just spits up blood. "An'... an' were dumb enough... to stick wit' me..."
Jimmy snorts and heads for the kitchen, to the First Aid kit he keeps under the sink. Of course the ex-medic would never dream of living anywhere without his gauze or bandages or painkillers, expert in their use as he is. By the time he gets back to Danny the Iceman's slipping in and out of consciousness, but he still knows his friend's there.
"Jesus Danny..." He starts preparing a needle with morphine, knowing that Danny can't be awake for what he has to do. Besides, he needs rest; his body must be exhausted, not to mention his mind. Still, he needs some answers.
"The fuck happened to you?"
"Look... look inna... inna bag..."
Jimmy stands up and drags the heavy bag into the room, opening it quickly. Danny can't see him, flat on his back as he is but he smiles as he hears that same appreciative whistle he gave, followed by an equally over-awed: "Fuck!"
Jimmy suddenly floats into his line of sight, jaw slack and eyes wide.
"The fuck did you do, Danny?"
Danny wants to talk, he wants his friend to know everything. Already he knows that he'll need Jimmy's help for what he has to do, amongst others. But now... now he's so tired.
"I... I sleep first... then... then tell you..." He takes a shuddering breath as the needle slides in, and his head slips to one side.
"... everything..."
"Is sir enjoying his stay?"
"Excellent fuckin' room service."
Jimmy chuckles as he walks into the spare room, tray of food in his hands. Bright sunlight fills the room after he opened the curtains, letting Danny sleep almost the whole day. In that time he'd laboriously cleaned and dressed his wounds, dozens of them ranging from welts where he'd been punched to the four-inch deep knife wound on his leg. The whole time he'd been asking himself the same question.
"What the fuck happened, Danny?"
Danny's eyes slide over to his friend as he sits next to his sick bed, food set to one side. Jimmy's looking at him with obvious concern, knowing Danny well enough to know whatever he's into, it ain't good. But he can't spare anything now. The only way to do this has to be honesty.
Only way you treat your friends.
So he tells him. He tells him about the outfit, about his career in the "problem-solving" industry. He tells him about meeting the only woman he's ever loved, then having a kid who he loved even more, and about coming home one day to find them burnt to charcoal.
He tells him about his latest contract, how by some cosmic coincidence he's found out that it wasn't an accident; that his family murdered, and that he's going to kill everyone who had a part in it.
And he tells Jimmy Wade that he needs his help, and that they're going to California.
Jimmy listens quietly for an hour as Danny talks, asking questions only occasionally. The whole time he just sits and watches, drinking in all the facts even if he can't believe some of them. Once Danny's finished he sits in silence for a few second, head bowed in deep thought.
"You're going to go all the way with this, aren't you?"
Danny just nods firmly, face solid. He has no idea who Della Vega's supplier is, although he's probably connected to one of the cartels there, and that means a whole new world of trouble. But that doesn't matter now. For months he's been aimless, lost and broken, unable to come to terms with what had happened to Rosalia and Felix. But now...
Now you can get even. No, scratch that... you can just make them suffer, like they did. All of them.
"The money, that belonged to that Diaz guy?"
"Yeah. Some kinda deal, but I got the buyers as well." Danny shrugs, tiny, mischievous smile on his face. "Million bucks, Jimmy. Would you have left it behind?"
Jimmy snorts in amusement, crooked smile on his face. Hell no he wouldn't have. Since leaving the Rangers he'd bounced from one job to another like a lot of old soldiers, unable to adjust to the mundaneness of civilian life. Right now he's working as a cook in the Greek restaurant downstairs, the apartment coming out of his wages, which isn't too bad. But it ain't combat, and Danny knows that's what he wants.
Soldiers don't change. They need war, or they just wither away.
"Nah, guess not. Just that you're gonna need a lot of cash for what we got planned, and we're probably gonna need some extra backup too."
Danny smiles genuinely at his friend, feeling his spirits rise a little.
"We?"
Jimmy returns it and slaps Danny lightly on the shoulder looking into his eyes.
"Rangers Lead The Way."
Danny grasps his hand and the two men shake hands, Japanese-style, a silent, unshakeable bond being made between them right there.
"Fuckin' right they do."
Appalachian Mountains, 11:53AM
For someone born in the desert, Danny's always had an affinity for mountains. He's seen a lot in his time, mostly in the Rangers. He's seen the rugged, black-forested ranges of the Balkans, one of the only places left in Europe where packs of wolves still roam at will. He's been up the scorching, endless mountains of Afghanistan, peaks so high and numerous that they seem to go on forever, capable of hiding an army. But he's never been to the Catskills.
And now, standing a thousand feet up and looking out onto the green trees that stretch all the way to the horizon, he has to admit, it's pretty damn impressive.
"He said midday, right?"
He turns to see Jimmy sitting on the hood of his sedan in front Benny's hunting shack. It's a typical oak-and-pine box with a single chimney and a little shed to one side for firewood. A dirt tracks winds its way up this hill for half-a-mile from the road, ending up here, at this house and this breathtaking view.
"Yeah."
Jimmy shrugs, not really concerned. Santos is very rarely late.
It's been four days since Danny collapsed onto his floor, and he's healed up remarkably well. Then again, Danny's always had knack, a necessity where he'd grown up, and served in the Rangers. The worst streets and wastelands of Nevada had one thing in common with battle: if you were weak, you died. F you were wounded, you dealt with it and moved on. Lingering on it just made you weak.
So it had only taken a while for his wounds to heal, for him to get his strength back. Now there's only a slight, irritating ache in his leg where Diaz's blade went in, now an ugly red scar to add to his collection. After Jimmy had agreed to go along with him, Danny immediately asked about another close friend of theirs, the best shot in their squad by far. Danny wants Benjamin Santos because they'll definitely need a man like that where they're going.
And because if you want to go to war, you need to arm up.
Ben Santos certainly looks more like his mother than his father. The squat, powerfully built half-caste looks like any other Mexican but his mother was Irish Catholic. Danny, Jimmy, Benny and he others in their squad always pondered exactly the fuck they'd ever got together.
But that grin: pure Emerald fucking Isle.
"Ya look like shit, Danny."
"Fuck you, Benny."
The two men chuckle and embrace each other, separated for a long time. Danny had been their squad leader back in the Rangers, he and Jimmy, but there was never really any question of command. The three of them had been as close as brothers under fire, they and a handful of other Class A rejects who seemed to congregate in Delta squad. They learned to read each other's eyes like books, anticipate their movements and those of their enemies. Their personal pain and problems became the squads, and they were as close as any family out there. In that kind of squad, you didn't need command; the trust was enough.
Back in the day...
"How you doin', Jimmy?"
Danny stands back as the two men embrace as well, sitting down on the couch. Jimmy goes over to the cabinet to fetch some booze while Benny sits, forearm son his knees in urgent curiosity, studying Danny.
"So what the fuck is this about, Danny?"
Danny smiles knowingly as Jimmy plants the glasses down, pouring them all a glass of Scotch.
"You want it straight?"
Benny nods, never a man to bullshit.
"I'm going to war. I want you to come with me." He nods to Jimmy before Benny can even speak, knowing he'll be behind him. "Jimmy's in, we want to know if you're in as well."
Benny's eyebrows arch and a smile spreads across his face. Danny can't help but follow suit, the bastard's grin always being infectious. Still, there's a glint of concern behind those eyes, as there should be.
"Define 'war'?"
Danny downs the Scotch without taking his eyes off him and just like he did with Jimmy, he tells Santos everything.
"Jesus, Danny... this is fuckin' unbelievable!"
"You're fuckin' tellin' me!" Danny pours himself another drink, then tops up the other two. Also like Jimmy, Benny had been smart enough to keep quiet and just listen to the facts. But that didn't mean he hadn't been just as bowled over. "But that' the story Ben, all of it. You can make what you want of it."
There is, however, one thing neither Danny nor Jimmy had mentioned yet: the million in cash.
Wait... wait to see the first reaction...
Benny sighs heavily and scratches his head hard, as if it's massaging his brain. He has to admit, it's damn tempting. He's been working as a Wal-Mart security guard for a few months now, drifting from job to job with little enthusiasm. He'd even taken on some muscle work for a few crews he knew of, but that hadn't lasted long. Now... now he's just bored.
"Sounds good Danny but... but you need a lot of green for an op like this."
Danny shrugs, playing nonchalant perfectly.
"That ain't a problem." He doesn't go into more details, and the look he gives Santos tells him not to question it any further. Santos returns it and looks into his drink.
"So wadaya say?"
Benny thinks for about two seconds. "I'm in."
Danny smiles and nods to a grinning Jimmy, who hustles into the bedroom. Benny frowns and looks over his shoulder as Wade manhandles the heavy hold all out of the room and drops it onto the table. He stands back and Danny opens it up, and Santos' jaw hits the fucking floor.
"JESUS FUCK!"
"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, too."
Benny watches open mouthed as Danny piles wads of cash into two separate piles, stopping when each one is about half a foot high. He pushes on in Benny's direction, the other towards Jimmy.
"There's two hundred grand in each one, for both of you. The rest we'll need for the job but this..." Danny pauses, eyes flickering briefly to the floor before looking over the faces of his two recruits, shaking his head a little. "I couldn't ask you two to do this shit without giving you something."
Benny picks up a wad and flicks through it, smiling at the stack of hundreds. But the smile fades a little as he looks back to Danny.
"Why didn't you say before you had all this cash?"
"I had to know you'd come without it." Danny sees the brief flare of irritation on Ben's face, anger that he'd been played, if only a little. But then it fades, replaced by that solid, honest camaraderie they'd all felt, and would never leave behind. "I figured you would... but I had to know."
Benny smiles lopsidedly and puts the wad down, relaxing into his couch and sipping his Scotch. He nods once, not going to take this any further, and gets to business. Like Danny he can already feel the tension coming back, that great feeling of getting ready for a mission, the expectation of combat almost as strong as the experience itself. But before they can even get to that...
"You got tools?"
Danny shakes his head, one of only two things holding him back right now. The other he'd have to handle later, but getting hold of firearms... well, Benny had been their best shooter.
"Nah, not yet. Actually thought you'd help us out with that." He holds up his glass in a mock salute. "Always were a fuckin' gun nut."
Benny smiles and shifts a little more comfortably in his eat, now his turn to be all knowing. As usual the iceman's gut instinct was right, in fact was more than right. And now at least he'd have a chance to use his collection, and from what Danny had told him, they'd be using all of it.
"Well... I think I can help ya out..."
User Reviews
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-09-20 15:30:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by paint_it_black (user info) at 2006-09-19 21:13:04 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Allyson (user info) at 2006-09-19 19:16:10 (#)
Ranking: 0
vibrators are fun
i mean...
what?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-09-19 18:20:03 (#)
Ranking: 2
good god, you want it every day?
geez, i'm gonna have to buy you a vibrator.
_______________-
um, you ARE aware that jonny x is a 60yr old pervert with suppressed homosexual tendencies aren;t you?
and he's also a little bitch who emails bart when you post something bad about him?
-------
and you know this...how?
BIG talk....from such a tiny little alter.
Submitted by paint_it_black (user info) at 2006-09-19 21:13:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Allyson (user info) at 2006-09-19 19:16:10 (#)
Ranking: 0
vibrators are fun
i mean...
what?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-09-19 18:20:03 (#)
Ranking: 2
good god, you want it every day?
geez, i'm gonna have to buy you a vibrator.
_______________-
um, you ARE aware that jonny x is a 60yr old pervert with suppressed homosexual tendencies aren;t you?
and he's also a little bitch who emails bart when you post something bad about him?
And you ARE aware ITS NOT COOL TO INTERNETS FLIRT WITH ANYONE
Submitted by Allyson (user info) at 2006-09-19 19:16:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
vibrators are fun
i mean...
what?
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-09-19 18:20:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
good god, you want it every day?
geez, i'm gonna have to buy you a vibrator.
Submitted by St_Jimmy (user info) at 2006-09-19 10:38:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for a character named Jimmy
Submitted by paint_it_black (user info) at 2006-09-19 02:24:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
co comment
Submitted by supadupapupa (user info) at 2006-09-19 01:02:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I think that Jack can help you out with the publishing thing, he's been into that scene before...
Submitted by Allyson (user info) at 2006-09-18 23:51:04 (#)
Ranking: 0
Also, i have a question for you Uber, does anyone know of any good publishers? I'm looking into getting this thing published, when it's all said and done. And yeah, i'm taking alot of your critiques, and fixing up the story. So, comment away, and help me make this great. If you do, and IF this gets published, (wow, that's alot of ifs) i will dedicate it to whomever helps me out.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-09-19 00:47:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2006-09-19 00:39:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by Allyson (user info) at 2006-09-18 23:51:04 (#)
Ranking: 0
yeah, no action in this ep, sorry about that.
see, you can only have so much blood and gore for so long, and then it has to wind down.
there's one, maybe two more episodes left, until i finish the next full installment.
Also, i have a question for you Uber, does anyone know of any good publishers? I'm looking into getting this thing published, when it's all said and done. And yeah, i'm taking alot of your critiques, and fixing up the story. So, comment away, and help me make this great. If you do, and IF this gets published, (wow, that's alot of ifs) i will dedicate it to whomever helps me out. """
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2006-09-19 00:07:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Allyson (user info) at 2006-09-18 23:54:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"F you were wounded,"
damnit. no matter how much i edit it, i don't see the obvious mistakes till i post it.
I must have read this fucking story a billion times, and i'm not seeing the STUPID mistakes.
DAMNIT
Submitted by Allyson (user info) at 2006-09-18 23:51:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
yeah, no action in this ep, sorry about that.
see, you can only have so much blood and gore for so long, and then it has to wind down.
there's one, maybe two more episodes left, until i finish the next full installment.
Also, i have a question for you Uber, does anyone know of any good publishers? I'm looking into getting this thing published, when it's all said and done. And yeah, i'm taking alot of your critiques, and fixing up the story. So, comment away, and help me make this great. If you do, and IF this gets published, (wow, that's alot of ifs) i will dedicate it to whomever helps me out.