The rain was letting up now. The prison transport caravan had been driving along now for about an hour and a half. For the most part, the drive was quiet. The guards talked amongst themselves about which girls they were fucking on the side, while the one guy in the group said they should be loyal to their wives or girlfriends, like he was. That was Paulson. He was young, only about 25. He was eager to make a career, marry his high school sweetheart, have her pop out a few kids, and do his forty years on the job so he could retire. He had it all planned out.
The other guard scoffed. The lead CO, aka the driver, laughed the hardest, “Young and dumb. You’ll learn kid. You’ll learn soon enough.” The driver, Briggs, looked in his rearview mirror and directly into Jasper’s waiting eyes. “So, Connor. You got a girl that’s gonna miss you when you’re gone?” Briggs held Jasper’s stare as he waited the response.
The bus went quiet, with just the sound of the steady rhythm of the windshield wipers. Jasper shook his head. No way he was giving Briggs any details about his life. Jasper knew assholes like Briggs. Briggs was the kind of guy that probably went and fucked the women that were lonely while their men were away doing time. The shame of it is that their men probably told Briggs all about the women they loved back home. Briggs was a special kind of hunter, and Jasper could smell the stink of him from a mile away.
“Nope. I don’t have a girl, or a dog. Left all that love behind once I got locked up.” Jasper was still looking at Briggs through the mirror. The rain had settled into a light drizzle.
“Well, everyone needs someone, Jas – even up until the end.” This was Paulson, the romantic, speaking.
As if on cue, they heard the throaty roar of the bikes. Briggs checked his mirrors as the other guards looked back behind them, “Shit. These friends of yours, Jasper?”
Jasper turned his head back to look. They were Brass Bonds, and shit was about to go down. Only problem is, Jasper didn’t know who was in on it, and who wasn’t. Georgie didn’t give him all the details. All Georgie said was, “Be ready. It’s happening during the transport. Get out of the van, and get off the main road. There’s a side road with a bike hidden. Get on it, and ride off as fast as you can.” There was only one problem. Jasper’s hands were still cuffed in front of him.
Jasper looked back into the review mirror. Briggs was looking directly at him, then shifted his eyes toward Paulson and nodded. Then he blinked slowly and deliberately, twice.
Two minutes, and it was about to go down. Great. Now Jasper knew Briggs was in on it. Briggs was probably the one asshole he wished wasn’t involved, but beggars couldn’t be choosers during an escape attempt.
Only four bikers approached the van. One held back, while two positioned themselves to the side of the van, and one cut the van off. Briggs probably could have run any one of them off the road, but he chose to just slow the van to a stop. As he slowed, Paulson opened his mouth, “Hey … wait, what … “
BAM! Jasper head butt Paulson at the bridge of his nose. Blood pooled out of his nostrils, and he fell back against the seat. In an instant, the three other guards were on their feet and pulling Jasper from the van.
As the van slowed, the bikers had stopped the bikes short, leaving marks on the road. Then they all got off their bikes and headed toward Briggs, who was holding Jasper by the arm.
“You know … this guy is worth some money to Whitey. Maybe I should just take him right to him, since that’s where he’s headed anyway.” Briggs pulled his gun faster than anyone could realize, spun, and shot Paulson right in the head as he was struggling to get out of the van. Paulson dropped dead on the spot.
“Holy shit!” Jasper couldn’t believe his eyes. No one should have gotten killed. All they needed to do was get roughed up a bit, and set him free. With a quick jerk, Jasper pulled away from Briggs and ran over to Paulson to grab his keys, gun, and anything else useful. Briggs was pre-occupied with shooting the bikers as they scrambled, and turned to skid away, leaving the perfect getaway tracks. The passenger guard, CO Clark, pulled his gun and shot at them. Together they killed three out of four bikers. One managed to get away.
“Sonofabitch Briggs, I told you to wait! Now look at what you did.” Clark screamed at Briggs.
The two of them turned to face the remaining guard. It was the quiet old timer, Monroe. Poor bastard.
“Dammit. You know you should have retired like a year ago, right? Now you’re gonna die on this dirt road, you old stupid fuck.” Briggs said.
Monroe was standing there, gun pointed out between Briggs and Clark. His eyes were wide with shock. His tired old arms (that no doubt had arthritis) trembled as he pointed the gun. Clark was right. Monroe should have retired, and he would have never been there. He could have been home with his wife and dog, half asleep on the couch.
“Dr … drop your weapons.” His old voice croaked.
Clark smirked and looked at Briggs. Briggs looked at Clark and shrugged. They both lifted their guns and pointed them at Monroe.
“Don’t shoot him!” Jasper came from around the van with Paulson’s gun in hand. “Lower your weapons. Do not shoot the old man. That’s not part of the plan.” Slowly, Jasper moved to get a better shot of both Briggs and Clark. Statistically, he wasn’t going to be able to shoot both, but as Jasper understood it – no one should be shooting at him.
Briggs laughed. “Don’t shoot the old man? Jasper, are you nuts? Don’t you understand what this is? Bad enough we got a runaway biker.”
Clark laughed too, “Don’t worry about him. Whitey will kill him once he goes running back to the bar.”
Jasper laughed now, “Oh yeah? You guys know those weren’t Whitey’s guys right? Whitey’s guys never would have fled like that.” He pointed the gun at Clark. Clark was the better shot.
“Jasper, we’re getting paid to get you out. But we’ll get paid if we bring you in to Whitey, dead or alive.”
While he didn’t show it, Jasper was confused. Georgie put this plan in motion. Did Georgie just sell Jasper out to a couple of thugs that were actually working for Whitey?
“Guys, I just want to get out of here and do what I gotta do. Let me take the old man with me as a hostage. This way it looks better. You two can head back. Tell them what happened.” Jasper kept his arm pointed at Clark, but glanced quickly between the two men.
“Hell. You really are confused, aren’t you? You being locked up in that cell make you stupid, Jasper?” Then Clark looked to Briggs, “What do you think? Should we tell him? We should tell him, right?”
Briggs was nodding and grinning eagerly, “Oh, you tell it. You’re so good at breaking bad news.” Briggs bounced happily on his toes, and Monroe shook as he pointed his gun at him.
“Ok, so here’s the story, Jasper. Whitey’s expecting us to bring you in. We’re not officers, we just play them on TV, see?” Briggs was nodding in agreement. Clark took his hat off and tossed it near the van, but continued, “You’re right. Those bikers were not Whitey’s guys. He said you’d be smart as a whip. That one that got away, well, we’ll have to find him when we’re done here and take care of that loose end. But your friend, Georgie, now that’s a smart guy.”
Clark lowered his gun. As far as he was concerned, Jasper wasn’t going to shoot him, and Monroe had no shot of hitting a moving target. “Georgie wanted this to look like the Brass Bonds came and got you. That way, the cops would go sniffing around Whitey and blame him for this …” Clark looked around, then grinned proudly, “…massacre. Hot damn, I’m a good shot!”
Briggs nodded and smiled to Clark, as Clark continued, “One problem. We got a better deal from Whitey. So …” He paused again for dramatic effect, and Briggs steadied himself and pointed the gun at Monroe, “… After I kill this old bastard here, Briggs and I are going to either kill you and bring you back dead, or you can play nice, and we’ll bring you back alive. Now, if I’m a betting man, you’ll opt to go back alive. So, which is it … dead or …”
BANG! Before Clark could finish his sentence, Monroe shot at Briggs. He shot him in the face, but the bullet tore through Briggs’ cheek instead of killing him. Briggs turned to shoot Monroe, but Jasper was faster. Jasper’s piece rang out, and the bullet hit Clark in the neck, the blood pumping fast like a fountain. Just after Jasper shot at Clark, he spun fast and shot Briggs in the chest three times. Briggs stumbled backward and hit the ground. He lay there, gasping and wheezing for breath, until he faded away.
Clark was bleeding out. His eyes were still open and dimming, but he was still lingering. Jasper ran over and kicked his gun away, then stood over Clark.
“Hot damn. Guess I’m a pretty good shot, too.” Clark grinned and nodded weakly, his teeth covered in blood that was now spurting up from his mouth.
Jasper walked away from him and headed toward Briggs, who appeared to be dead. Kicking his gun away as well, Jasper glanced at Monroe. “Old man, you dead?”
Monroe weakly held up his left hand. Jasper caught sight of the wedding ring on his finger and frowned. “Shit.” He made his way to Monroe and grabbed his radio. He stuffed it into Monroe’s hand and put his finger on the button. But that was it, he didn’t stick around to see if Monroe got help. Jasper stuck to the plan and headed down the dirt road, toward the bike that should be there, waiting for him.