Slayings and Loan

Bill had always heard that when a person is about to die, their life tends to flash before their eyes. He only thought of this morning, this lousy fucking morning.

This morning had come way too soon. It seemed lately that the mornings always came too soon for him. Bill Wilcox rubbed his eyes and debated whether to get out of bed or just go back to sleep. These months since his wife left him were bad enough, but the events of yesterday were the final nails in his sanity coffin.

Since the banking crisis that started in the eighties, it was hard enough being the president of a small independent bank. The robbery yesterday afternoon just seemed to make it worse. The paperwork that he had to fill out for the local police would keep him busy for weeks, then there was accounting for the FDIC, FBI, Federal Reserve, and several other federal and state agencies. Defusing booby trapped nuclear devices with a child’s toy tool set would be easier, and a lot less stressful.

“I might as well get this day over with.”

He sighed deeply as he rolled out of bed. He plodded over to the window and pulled open the heavy curtains. The bright sun lit the Texas plains as far as he could see. He had managed to keep the major parts of his ranch after the divorce, but just barely. The Ever Exalted Ball Busting Bitch from Hell May She Get Brain Herpes and Die, Theresa Diane Wilcox, or The Bitch for short, took everything that she could get from him. The only thing she didn’t get was the kids, whom she didn’t even want, and this ranch.

Luckily, the only reason that she didn’t get the ranch was because his father still legally owned it. Apparently, Bill’s father didn’t like The Bitch from the first moment that he met her. His father had let them live there but kept the ranches under one of his companies, so Bill didn’t even have the title.

His father’s company made Bill pay one dollar a month in rent on the ranch to keep it legal on the books. His father said that when he died, Bill would get the company, then he would own the ranch. That is if he didn’t go back to The Bitch, may she rot in hell.

“Fat Chance of that,” Bill muttered to himself. “Fucking professional poker players in Vegas is apparently lots more fun than being a bank president’s wife. Oh, well.”

Bill wanted to linger in the shower but realized that he was late, so he dressed as quickly as he could. Because he was running late, he realized that he would only have time for a cup of coffee this morning. Maybe he could have someone get him some breakfast after he got morning meeting with the Texas Rangers over with.

Talking to the FBI later in the day would also be fun. Would be as fun as a gum scraping he thought. A good friend from the Texas Bankers Association told him about the time that his bank was robbed. After the FBI was done with all of the investigations, his friend asked the agents if he had colon cancer. When the agent asked why, he quipped, because you went so far up my ass, I hoped you would have noticed. Bill had smiled at that.

Bill went to the large kitchen and saw that his housekeeper had the coffee made. Rosa always had coffee ready when he came down to breakfast. Breakfast had always the one time of the day when he could really think and get ready for the day. He had always looked forward to it. Alas, today it wasn’t meant to be.

Bill’s housekeeper, Rosa Gomez, was at the range pouring batter onto a griddle. She was a short, thin Hispanic woman who had worked for his family before he and Teresa even got married. Even when Teresa was in the picture, the kids always thought Rosa was more their mother than their own mother was. Rosa’s son was just finishing college in Austin and would be attending law school at Harvard in the fall on a full ride scholarship. Rosa’s husband, Alex, had died of cancer before Chris was born. She was basically alone now, so not only did she work for his family, in a way this woman had adopted his family as her own.

“Hello, Senor Bill. I hope you slept well. Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes,” Rosa said, flipping a pancake into the air like a master juggler might flip a chainsaw. “Clare and Chris will be down in a few minutes. I’ve given them the ultimatum. Down here in five or the dog eats your breakfast! ”

“That will get them running,” Bill said, grabbing a coffee mug. “I’m running late so I’ll just have coffee today, Rosa. I’ve to be at the office early. The Rangers and the FBI will be by today to see how much damage the robbers did to the bank. I probably won’t be home for dinner either so don’t set a place for me. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day. Can you pick up the kids for me this afternoon? Chris has soccer and Clare has Kung Fu practice.”

“No problem Senor Bill. I have to go to Kroger for groceries today so I’ll pick them up on the way back. Do you want me to make sure the kids are in bed when you get home?”

“No, I shouldn’t be that late. If they keep me later than I think, I’ll call and let you know.”

Bill downed his mug of coffee with one gulp and headed toward the back door. Passing by Rosa, Bill grabbed her in a bear hug and kissed the top of her head.

“If you were twenty years younger I’d marry you,” Bill said as he let her go and grabbed a piece of bacon that Rosa had fried up earlier. He crunched on the bacon and said, “But would you have a poor bank president for a husband?”

“I wouldn’t marry you because your heart couldn’t take the strain of the honeymoon. I’d be a widow again before I had a chance to be your wife! Now go to work so you can make lots of money. You will need it so you can give me a raise. I’ll have to get my Niño through law school so a raise would be great,” she hinted. “That way, if I change my mind and marry you, he can write me a good pre nup,” she said with a smile.

Bill laughed so hard that he almost choked on the bacon. He managed to swallow the piece with a little cough. “Why do you need a raise to get David through school? Doesn’t he have a full ride?”

“Yes, but a raise would allow me to tell him that I don’t have any money to give him if he asks, even though I would. As a lawyer, he has to learn when people are lying to him. I just want to give him some practice,” she said.

Bill laughed again and grabbed another strip of bacon. Rosa playfully swatted at his hand with her spatula. As he turned to leave, he thanked his lucky stars that his father had hired such a good woman to help take care of his family all those years ago. Rosa had kept him going after Teresa left. She had given the children a shoulder to cry on. She’d saved them all. She’d kept them a family.

“Goodbye, beautiful,” Bill called over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

“Flirt!” Rosa replied.

As Bill got into the car, he realized that he would have to take the truck today so Rosa could have the car to pick up the kids. He didn’t want to take the truck because it was having some engine problems, but it couldn’t be helped. He would just take the back way to work. The truck was having some kind of engine problems and couldn’t get over forty miles an hour. Going forty on a Texas interstate was like playing Russian roulette with six loaded chambers.

Bill headed down the long country road turning on the radio to try to clear his head. He had to get ready for the day that he knew he was going to have. He had written a paper about this very scenario when he had taken his finance and banking classes in grad school. He knew what was going to happen, but he always hoped in the back of his mind that it would never happen to him. Paperwork never bothered him. It was part of the job, so he just plowed ahead and got it done. What Bill wasn’t looking forward to was the feeling of failure creeping into his conscience.

Bill was the youngest president that the First Texas Savings and Loan had ever had. He’d often heard other employees talk in the break room when they thought he was out of earshot. Most of the employees of the bank thought the only reason that he had gone to the top so fast was because his father was such a big wheel in town. Being Suma Cum Laude in graduate school and having both a MBA and a Master’s degree in finance had nothing to do with his quick rise. It always went back to Bill’s old man. Sometimes being a Wilcox in this small town really sucked.

Bill was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed seeing a van on the side of the road. The hood was up and steam was coming out from the open hood. A young woman in her late twenties was looking at the engine with a look of total hopelessness. Bill knew he was already late for his meetings and thought for half a second of driving on. If he had, however, he could never call himself a Texan again. This road was lightly traveled and cell service was crap. She would be out here for hours if he didn’t stop. His pride wouldn’t let him drive by. The Rangers be dammed, he would just be late. He pulled over and made his way to the woman.

“Can I help?” Bill asked as he approached the van. He noticed that he seemed to have startled the young woman. Apparently she had been staring so intently at the engine that she didn’t hear him approach. After a second she responded.

“I guess so,” she replied. “I think one of the hoses has broken. The van seemed to overheat, then smoke came out from under the hood. I have no idea what I’m looking at and, when I tried to call for a tow, I couldn’t get a signal.”

“Yep, for some reason there’s no cell service out here. We call it El Triangle Diablo,” Bill said in his most sinister voice. “Cell signals enter, but they never leave.”

She laughed and a beautiful, friendly smile crossed her face. Bill had to rethink his estimate of her age. She now seemed much younger than he had first assumed probably no more than twenty one. He felt he needed to get his eyes checked. His distant vision was getting bad, or maybe it was just him getting old.

“My name is Bill Wilcox,” he said, extending his hand. “I’m on my way to work, but I can give you a quick lift into town. Charlie owns the local dealership and he’s a good friend of mine. He’ll get one of his men to pick up your van and get you fixed up.”

“Why thank you, Mr. Wilcox, is it?” the woman said extending her arm and shaking his hand. “My name is Amber and you’re now my prisoner!”

Before the smile could leave his face and a look of surprise could take over, Amber twisted his arm with a painful wrist lock. Bill saw the door of the van burst open as four men wearing balaclavas, body armor, and carrying machine guns jumped out. As the four men took up positions to cover all the directions that anyone could have come from, a tall, sandy haired man with glasses exited the van.

While the other men were focused on looking for a non-existent rescue party, the tall man quietly took a bite of an apple as he sauntered over to Bill. The man looked at Bill as a person might look at a new car that they aren’t sure if they want it or not. Finally, he stopped chewing on the apple and spoke.

“Are you Bill Wilcox, President of the First Texas Savings and Loan?” the man asked, taking another bite of the apple.

“No, I’m not. My name is Jim Rogers,” Bill said, using the name of his best friend from college. “I have no idea who this Bill Wilcox is. Will you let me go, please? If you let me go, I promise I won’t go to the police.”

Bill felt the pain in his wrist increase as the man took another bite of the apple. The man then looked at the apple as if he saw a worm in the portion that he had just bitten off. He threw it far across the field as he continued to chew. He then nodded to Amber who decreased the pressure on Bill’s wrist.

“I’ll ask one more time. Are you Bill Wilcox?” the man asked, wiping his hands on his pants. He started to reach behind his back and Bill started to flinch. Bill had seen enough movies to believe that the man was reaching for a weapon. Instead, the man pulled out a cloth and took off his glasses. He cleaned the lens, acting like he had all the time in the world. He put the glasses back on and looked at Bill, waiting for a reply.

“I told you, my name is Jim Rogers. I work as a real estate agent in Lubbock. I don’t know who this Bill Wilcox is.”

The man sighed and took his glasses back off. He placed the glasses and the cloth in a breast pocket, then with the same hand gave Bill a backhand strike to the jaw. Bill dropped to the ground like a sack of flour falling off a shelf. Bill felt as if several of his teeth were loose.

“Mr. Wilcox, my name is Joshua Tranor. I’m the leader of the Christian People’s Revolution, or CPR. A small faction of my group robbed your bank yesterday,” Joshua said, a smile crossing his face.

“We require large amounts of money for our revolution. We know the people of this nation will support our cause, one way or another. Your little institution didn’t have enough capital for our next project, so your family will supply us with the rest of the money we need. If they don’t, they’ll never see you again. Oh, by the way, if you deny that you’re Bill Wilcox one more time, we’ll go to your house. I’d hate to find out what their grandfather would pay to have Claire or Chris back in one piece.”

The color drained from Bill’s face and he realized that Mr. Tranor had him. He swallowed hard and whispered, “Okay, Okay, I’m Bill Wilcox. Please, just leave my children alone.”

Joshua reached back to his pocket and pulled out the glasses. As he put them on, he looked at Bill with a smile.

“Relax Mr. Wilcox. We’re not animals! We’re soldiers. We don’t make war on children if we can avoid it,” Joshua added with a smile. “Your admission of your true identity just made the kidnapping and torture of your children unnecessary. Amber, if you please.”

back down and applied a new lock to Bill’s sore arm. The pressure on his wrist made Bill stand up quickly in order to keep the wrist from snapping. He felt cold metal wrap around his wrist. Amber commanded him to put his other wrist next to the one she had. She also informed him that she would break his wrist is he didn’t comply. She did not need to worry; Bill was a beaten man since they mentioned his children.

As Amber started to turn and march him to the van door, he saw Joshua remove a device from the engine that was making the smoke that he saw earlier. Joshua then closed the hood and got into the driver’s door. Amber shoved Bill headfirst into the van, but didn’t follow him in. She asked Bill where his keys were and fished them out of his jacket pocket after he told her. Although she didn’t enter the van, the four armed men did. Four sets of guns pointing at him didn’t make him feel any better.

“Take care of his truck, then meet us at the pickup point in two hours,” Joshua said.

“Yes sir!” Amber said, then crisply shot out. “For the cause!”

“Yes, for the cause!” Joshua replied as he started the van and sped away.

After a while, the van stopped. Bill felt that they had been driving a lot longer than the two hours that Joshua had told Amber. He then realized that a person tends to lose track of time when they have four guns pointing at them. The only thing that bothered him more than the guns was his full bladder. Bill hadn’t pissed his pants since that party in college and, to his credit; he hadn’t been drunk since then either. He wondered if they would let him take a leak or if they would make him piss himself. He started to ask if they would let him piss, but he didn’t get the chance. It seemed that Joshua was reading his mind because at that moment one of the men opened the door on the side of the van. Joshua turned around in the driver’s seat.

“I need to take care of some urgent business and I bet so do you. You’ll record this statement for me, then one of my soldiers will escort you to take care of your other business. It’s been over two hours and I don’t have a camel bladder. I bet you don’t either,” Joshua said with a smile.

“Yes, Sir! I got to piss pretty badly,” Bill replied.

“Well then, let’s get this business over with, then you can relieve yourself! “

Joshua placed a piece of paper on a clipboard as one of the men reached into a pocket and pulled out a small recorder. Joshua nodded to the man then said, “You may begin, Mr. Wilcox.”

Bill read the statement, not really hearing the words that he was saying. He was trying to think of a way to get out of this situation alive. If that meant doing what these assholes wanted, he would; however, if he could get away, he would take it.

Bill finished the statement and sighed. The soldier rewound the tape to make sure it had recorded, then handed the recorder to Joshua. Joshua smiled and said, “Thank you, Mr. Wilcox. Mr. Smith will now escort you to go urinate. He’ll undo your hands so that you can take care of business. Please don’t get any ideas, Mr. Wilcox, because we always can go with plan B.”

“I won’t do anything. Please just leave my family alone,” Bill whispered.

The man named Mr. Smith helped Bill get out of the van. Bill was surprised to see that they had stopped on top of an old country bridge over a small river. As he looked around, Bill couldn’t see any other signs of civilization for as far as the eye could see. He realized that these guys knew what they were doing.

Mr. Smith motioned for Bill to turn his back to him so he could undo the handcuffs. As he felt the pressure leave his wrists, Bill was somewhat relieved. He rubbed his wrists to ease some of the aching and started to stretch some of the kinks out of his back. Just then, the barrel of Mr. Smith’s gun prodded him, reminding Bill to get busy.

Bill unzipped his fly and started to take a leak. It was one of his longest leaks in years. His teeth had truly been floating, but now he felt somewhat better. Bill was amazed how a good piss could make a man feel better about his situation. If these guys would allow him to do some basic things, maybe he might make it out of this situation after all.

Bill knew that his old man would pay the ransom. Once Bill was free, his father would get the Texas Rangers to hunt these bastards down. His father had a lot of clout in Austin, and these guys would pay.

Joshua walked up beside Bill and looked out at the water. He unzipped his fly and also urinated off the side of the bridge. Joshua started to whistle and looked the other way. Bill had to smile. Kidnapper and victim both taking a leak off an old bridge in Texas would make almost anyone smile. What was even funnier was that even though he probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill Bill, Joshua acted with proper men’s bathroom etiquette. Even if a person were thinking of killing someone, one just didn’t look at another man’s junk. If he wasn’t so scared, Bill would have laughed. Joshua finished with a shake and zipped his pants.

As Joshua turned to walk away, Bill thought, I might just make it through this. Then Bill heard a hammer being pulled back on an automatic pistol.

“Oh, Shi..”