Norman tosses a packet of photos onto the table in front of Wren and heads to the cabinets to start setting the table. Wren opens the packet and starts looking at the pictures in disbelief.
“How did you get these?”
“Digital cameras are a wonderful thing, pictures almost in an instant. But it did take two of us to get them all after you left yesterday.”
“I see I can’t let the two of you be alone together either.”
They all sit and eat their breakfast together in relative silence as Wren looks at the pictures then bunches them into a pile while she finishes her meal. After breakfast she sees them both off to work then sets about cleaning the kitchen. She spends the better part of the morning going over the pictures and working out how to get into the home before gathering the necessary tools into her backpack. The afternoon is spent cleaning her weapons and preparing them for the night's work. She feels the trepidations that come before each kill amplified by the fact that her own family is now very much involved. She would prefer they were not but she also knows that there is no stopping them at this point. Though she would still prefer to do this alone and is more than half tempted to do just that.
Norman arrives home as Wren is finishing the assembly of the jacket gun. He heads on into their room as Wren starts putting her gear into a duffel bag for later. Norman reemerges from their room dressed in dark blue jeans and a tight black tee shirt, a look Wren had never seen on him before but one that definitely suited him well. Margaret arrives soon after heading to her room and reemerging fifteen minutes later in a denim skirt and a tank top carrying a duffel bag much like Wren’s.
“Well, are we all ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“Dinner silly.”
“Oh, I hadn’t really thought about dinner. Let’s go then.”
They all go out to dinner and bum around some stores for awhile until it is starting to get dark then Norman heads the Buick toward Fenton and the remains of the farm for the women to change unnoticed. They both slip behind the shipping container to change so they can give each other a hand with their suits while Norman pulls the fuse to the dome light of the Buick. Once suited up Wren takes out her pistol and holster wrapping them around her waist and snapping the quick release buckle in place. She follows with the jacket gun securing it to her lower arm allowing the trigger cord to dangle for now. She slips on her shoes as she watches her mom do the same.
They emerge from behind the container looking like twins in flat black rubber. Norman watches them as they walk toward the car Wren obvious by her weapons though she is a good inch taller than her mother. He is amazed that in their current dress it is purely obvious just how much alike they are. They have the same bounce to their step, the same exaggerated sway to their hips, the same ramrod straight confidence to their posture. Without a word they enter the car and Norman drives them to Clarisse’s house. They go past slowly checking the lights from the road as they pass. The traffic is almost non-existent at this time of day and making a right down Euclid he stops alongside the alleyway leading behind the house and two shadows leave the car.
Norman pulls off as the two shadows disappear amongst the other shadows. Wren hooks the trigger cord to her finger as they go, slowly and cautiously flitting from shadow to shadow Margaret staying close to Wren at all times. They slip unnoticed past several houses until at last they are standing beside Clarisse’s detached two car garage. Wren fits her night vision goggles allowing her eyes to adjust to the familiar green glow and slowly rises up to look into the window on the door. Peering around she sees absolutely nothing inside, only an empty garage. They make their way across the yard to the house and Wren starts to climb her way up the post of the back porch. She figures the least likely windows to be booby trapped will be the upper ones. Once there she tries the window, finding it locked. She draws her saw blade from her pack and sets to cutting the latch on the window. Knowing there is no one home she cuts quickly only worrying about noises that a neighbor could hear. Once the latch is cut she puts away the blade and opens the window. Carefully she swings her legs into the room and draws down the glass. Turning around the sight before her shocks her enough to make her gasp. The room is completely empty. Slowly and cautiously she crosses the room and enters the hall beyond. Again there is nothing, no pictures, no furniture, nothing at all. Every room on the second floor is exactly the same, she makes her way down the stairs, her heart racing with each step as she does. With her heart pounding in her ears she starts making her way to the back of the house to let her mother in the back door. Just like the floor above the house is completely empty. She opens the door and Margaret steps in with her.
“Do you have any idea where the computer is?”
“No, to be exact I don’t know where anything is.”
Margaret looks around and realizes just what Wren is meaning as the sight registers in her own mind.
“Where is everything?”
“She did say it would be a spur of the moment move.”
They finish looking through the main floor and find the living room packed full of boxes and furniture and an open space at the sofa with two large suitcases sitting beside it. They start searching the labels on the boxes looking for the one marked as containing the computer.
“Wren I got it.”
Wren fights her way around the boxes and helps her mom lift the tower out. In a few minutes the case is open and Margaret is removing the hard drive. They are just resealing the box when a flash of light enters the house from the back. Quickly Wren opens the basement door and pulls out her flashlight and starts down the steps motioning her mother to stay with her. The basement is just as deserted as the upstairs and she very quickly realizes that there are few places to hide. Her mom climbs behind the furnace and water heater and Wren quickly climbs inside the clothes dryer. They can hear someone walking around upstairs the unmistakable sound of high heels tapping their way around on the hardwood floors above. As Wren sits inside the dryer she hers a zipper from across the room and wonders just what her mom is up to. Scared to be in the position she is in if Clarisse finds her, Wren climbs out of the dryer and heads back toward the steps, shaking her head as she passes her mom. The door opens at the top of the steps and the basement lights come on.
“Well either you are down there or you have left my house so let's make this a fair fight and not shoot me before I find you.”
The sound of the heels now start down the steps and Clarisse comes into view. She looks around as she comes down and finds Wren leaning up against the clothes dryer.
“The Predator I presume?”
“Clarence Murphy by birth I presume?”
“Introductions made, now what’s next for us to do?”
“Well you said you wanted a fair fight. I’ll set down my weapons which will give you time to remove your heels then it’s a fight to your death.”
“Confident aren’t you? Since you know who I am I would assume you know I’m also a man.”
“You're male, but you’re no man. A man respects women and Clarence didn’t. He hated them because he wasn’t one.”
Wren removes her jacket gun, setting it on the dryer then her pistol and holster while Clarisse removes her shoes. They come at each other at a full run, Wren ducking to the side at the last minute while leaving her leg in Clarisse’s way. Clarisse trips face first into the concrete floor. Wren pounces upon her, driving her heel deep into her back. Clarisse screams out in pain as she flips over knocking Wren to the floor. Clarisse rights herself and tries to come down on Wren the same way but Wren is too quick for her and dodges to the side so instead Clarisse again hits the concrete floor.
“Damn it,' I said a fair fight!” All I want to do is get on with my life!”
“I am fighting fair, why we are even on your home turf. Unlike all your victims or should I say sacrifices?”
Wren lets Clarisse get closer to her and as she draws back to take a swing at her Wren back flips out of her way landing on her feet as Clarisse stumbles from the lost contact of her swing. Wren high kicks her in the chin placing the sole of her foot directly into her jaw. A definite cracking sound is heard as she makes contact. Clarisse drops to the ground holding her jaw and the left side of her face. Wren looks down upon her in her agony and with a slight leap lands both feet upon her ribs.
“Your life? What about the lives of all the others? What about the mother you intended to rip from her children? What about the life you took from me? Paybacks a bitch isn’t it?”
Clarisse swings her legs and knocks Wren to the floor and rights herself again then as she lifts her foot into the air there is a slight buzzing and in a spray of blood she falls to the ground her knees collapsing under her own weight.
“The Predator agreed to fight fair, but I didn’t!”
Margaret now stands in the corner of the basement an old Thompson machine gun with a silencer in her hands.
“I claim vengeance for all the mothers whose daughters' lives you took from them.”
“And I claim it for all their husbands and lovers.”
The sound of a shotgun fills the room as Clarisse’s head is filled with shot. The scent of gun powder and blood fills the small room and Norman reaches out his hand to help Wren off the floor.
“I told you two I didn’t want you involved!”
“And we told you, you would have company in Hell.”
In a few minutes the Buick pulls out of the garage behind the house and into the ally.
“What do we do now?”
“For the evening, Wren and I change out of our superhero suits then how about we hit a club or two.”
“A few questions first. Mom, where did you get that gun?”
“Thirteenth birthday present from dad.”
“And Norman, why did you turn up in the house?”
“I got worried about you two, I saw her pull into her garage and go into her house and it just seemed to be taking too long. She left the garage door open so I just pulled in and closed it. And by the way I now know why you don’t like to talk about your hits.”
Norman drives down the road while the women change in the back seat. Once out of their superhero suits he heads back to Margret’s apartment so they can change into something more appropriate. Margaret drags Wren into her room and starts throwing clothes and shoes at Wren until they find something for her to wear. Wren comes back out in a shiny metallic red micro mini tube dress with a white leather bolero jacket and white platform sandals. Margaret in a pair of metallic blue skin tight pants that leave nothing to the imagination and barely come over her buttocks. A matching tube top under a white fishnet sweater and six inch clear sandals. Norman just stares at them wondering where they are going.
“I feel a little out of place with you two.”
“I think I can help you out as well.”
Margaret disappears to her room and soon returns, handing Norman a pile of clothes. Wren turns him toward their room and gives him a playful push. Before long he reemerges in a pair of tight black leather pants that like Margret’s leave little if anything to the imagination, with a black mesh tee shirt and black boots.
“I hope the boots work with this. They seemed the best match.”
“Norman you are absolutely stunning, I see why Wren keeps you in bed so much.”
“Don’t get too tired on me tonight lover boy because you are going to be busy later.”
Norman blushes and they all head out the door. They all pile into the Mustang and head off to a club on Margret’s directions. Wren soon knows where they are headed as she has been here before. They walk up to the door with Norman’s arms around each of their shoulders. The doorman stops them for identification and they start in with him giving Norman a thumbs up as he puts his arms back around the women.
Inside they find a table and Norman heads to the bar to place their orders.
“What can I get you stud?”
“Stud?”
The bartender looks at him and with a cock of her head toward the women and gives him a wink. He thinks fast and realizes what she means and figures out what to order the women.
“Oh yeah, I need a Coke, a Manhattan and I’ll have a screwdriver.”
“One of them’s driving home huh?”
“Maybe, but she’s pregnant with my baby.”
“Congratulations, stud.”
He takes the drinks back to the table and hands them to the women with an odd look from Wren.
“You're pregnant, no more booze for you until after birth.”
They stay until early in the morning, sometimes talking and sometimes all three of them dancing together. At three in the morning they walk back into the apartment, Margaret tipsily walking back to her room carrying her shoes and a lustful looking Wren leading Norman back to theirs.
It’s noon before they are all up with even Wren sleeping past eleven. She calls up her uncle Jacob after breakfast and arranges to meet him on the following Saturday at his church in Rapid City. They all spend the day together just hanging out and visiting stores with Wren’s list just as a last check before they leave. Though they were up late the night before they do it all over again with Wren urging a visit to uncle Mike’s. Wren sits restless in the seat next to Norman every time one of the women are up on the stage bouncing and dancing in her chair.
“You want to be up there don’t you?”
“Am I that obvious?”
“Between the bouncing in the chair and the stuff you packed in the trunk, yes.”
“You found my bag?”
“Go grab it and have a last fling with the stage.”
She kisses Norman and practically runs out of the club. She returns ten minutes later and sits back down with her bag.
“I talked to Bill and he said no problem. I can have the stage in about thirty minutes, which is just about long enough to change.”
She pops up out of her seat and grabs Margaret by the arm and gives her a tug.
“Come on Mom, we're up next!”
“I don’t think so Wren.”
“You drug me into the sky to jump out of an airplane, so now it’s your turn.”
They leave with Wren leading her semi-reluctant mother around to the employee doors off to the side. Half an hour later the house lights dim and the two identically clad women appear on the stage. They stand directly in the middle with Wren standing more to the front and her mom in her shadow. As they stand there mirroring each other's position the music starts surprising most everyone there with “Me and My Shadow.” Wren Starts dancing around the stage with her mom paying close attention and repeating everything she does. Soon they are removing their leather jackets and tossing them back behind them. Their Shirts soon follow with their skirts leaving them dancing in their underwear and heels. It’s obvious when Margaret starts to loosen up as she puts her back to Wren’s in the middle of the stage as they tease the crowd. With their backs toward each other they let their bras fly to the rear of the stage and they start teasing the guys along the catwalk. Before long they are holding each other up with their backs as they remove their underwear. They finish out the song dancing back to back along the stage and leave arm in arm their hips swaying as they strut out the back curtain.
“Well ladies and gentlemen that's Big Mike’s first and exclusive, a mother and daughter stripping team!”
“Well, mom, how was it?”
“Definitely a rush, maybe more than jumping out of a plane. But I never would have done it without you.”
Five minutes later the two women are back with Norman at his table dressed and grinning from ear to ear. While the eyes of most of the men watch them as they sit down Norman gets many a thumbs up.
“I think it’s time to pay our check and head for home.”
“Got you covered, Bill said not to worry about it.”
They head for home, the women giggling almost the whole way. They all say their good nights and head for bed.
The three of them wake late again but still manage to make it to church, all three praying their rosaries after mass. When Father comes up to them.
“I see the three of you each week and always you pray before and after mass but you never take communion. Is there something I could help you with spiritually?”
“It’s kind of complicated, Father.”
“And no offense but we really have to be able to trust who we talk to.”
“Would it help if I told you I was sent to talk to you by Father Jacob Robbins?”
“Aye, that it would, and in that case if you have a lot of time I’ll go first.”
“Jacob said I should take you to my office or come to your apartment. It would be very confidential and you may all three stick together.”
“Your office would be fine.”
They all enter his office, it's bright and smells of incense. He sits down in a heavily padded chair and the others sit down on a large sofa opposite him.
“Well father it all started on May the sixth…”
Wren left nothing out and brought him up to the very present moment with Margaret and Norman each confessing their parts to him as well where and when they fit in to the narrative. Margaret also took care of confessing all her sins since she was a child going out with her dad. By the time they are done the sun has dipped low in the sky. They receive their penance and their forgiveness then they all at once ask Father out to dinner. They drop Father back off at almost ten and head back home in much better spirits than they have been in a long time.
The next morning Norman and Wren see the container loaded and sent on its way to Peru and then head off to Chicago to deposit the money from the sale of the farm and Norman's practice, they spend the rest of the week just seeing the sights and goofing off. When they get back the last two weeks are spent selling off the Mustang and the bike and packing and shipping anything that wouldn’t fit in the container. Soon they are arriving in Peru, and they spend a week filling out forms for the government and picking out the last of their supplies.
It takes a week of truck and burrow rides to reach what is now their mountain top home. Wren knowing it would be faster to take the helicopter with the shipping container but also knowing it will be easier on their bodies to slowly acclimate to the altitude by taking the burrows.
Now their camp has been set for a week and she stands looking down into the clearing mist of the valley below her at the burrow train bringing her crew of workers and students up from Cuzco.
“You alright honey?”
Sometime during all this time of staring into the valley Norman has managed to finish the coffee and slip up behind her carrying a cup for her.
“Yea, just remembering.”
“It’s all in the past, honey. And all forgiven remember. Is that your help coming around the turn into camp now?”
“Yes, I guess I should go introduce myself and get them set in place. Would you mind making me a sandwich so I can deal with these early birds.”
“Sure thing.”
Wren starts down the ancient road across the city to the other end where the students and workers will be camped. She wonders what they will be like especially since she had been told before they left that her cataloger would be staying with them on the mountain, it puzzled her and she hoped the extra person would make good company seeing as they would be their neighbor for the next two years. She wishes leaving hadn’t been so hard and she couldn’t understand how her mom could keep from crying at their parting. She arrives at the second camp just as the lead burrow comes into view.
“Hola, Senora James.”
“Hola, Manuel, I see you have brought the new population to this city.”
They both start to laugh but Wren is cut short as the rider of the first burrow dismounts and steps towards her.
“I told you I would not lose you again.”
“Mom!, but how?”
“I called Dr. Hernandez and asked if he needed a librarian to catalog the finds. He said he did and I applied for the job. He accepted my application owing to the fact that I am your mother. He felt a mother and daughter would work well together up here and now here I am with my six burrows full of stuff.”
“I’m glad you’re here mom.”
If you have enjoyed the story and would like to leave a review I can add to the cover when it goes to print all my contact info is on my site. If you would like to help support my endeavors that information is there as well. MauraAlwyen.com
Thank you for reading Victim 18 and there are other stories to come!
Maura
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