Frank Klus - Azaleas Don't Bloom Here

With the outside Hogs, who he was calling ground Hogs, out of the picture Chad called Ray, Cassandra, and Wrenn over for a little pow wow. He still wanted Foote on the roof for extra security. They met in the parking lot behind the Suburban.

A few minutes later Armstrong came near the room. “All right. We’ll get Piggy, but you surrender Pamela as soon as you’re free.”

“Sure,” came the answer; both sides sure the other was lying.

Armstrong went over to Schmidt’s room and gave the secret knock, but no one answered. He called for Schmidt, but there was still no answer. Suddenly three shots were fired from inside through the door, just missing Armstrong. Ray and Cassandra came running over to see what was going on. Wrenn watched for Colderon. They all looked at each other in bewilderment. Armstrong called Foote and let him know to watch that door too. At once Colderon came barreling out of his room, pushing Pamela in front. Moon and Murph followed and shot upwards toward Foote. Foote took cover, but Moon and Murph were shot at from the four on the ground. Moon panicked and dropped his weapon. Murph shot back and was killed. Colderon then sped out of the parking lot, but drove erratically and then stopped. Pamela came screaming out of the van. Colderon then jumped out and began shooting at Pamela. Pamela went down, and then Colderon went down in a hail of bullets. They all rushed to see what happened to Pamela, but she was all right.

Pamela was breathing hard, but was calming down. “He put his gun away, and so I opened the door to jump out. He tried to grab me, and then pulled his gun out, but I jumped out when he hit the break.”

“That’s why he was driving so erratically,” Wrenn said.

“Yes. I knew I had to act fast. I figured I’d be as good as dead anyway, so I tried to jump out. Then he shot at me. I knew he would, so I ducked and just lay on the ground.”

Ray and Cassandra went after Moon, but couldn’t find him. The weapon he dropped was gone too.

Ray came back to report to Armstrong. “I don’t know where he is, but he’s armed. Should we go after him?”

“We may have a bigger problem in Schmidt’s room. Be on the alert.”

Chad called Foote. “I was shooting at Colderon,” Foote said. “When I looked back for the other guy, he was gone.”

The five carefully made their way toward the room of their captives and found the door wide open. Inside, the two doctors were dead. Schmidt had his throat slashed and Grifton had been shot. The assassins and Piggy were gone.

Armstrong went to Eugene’s room and gave the secret knock. “That you, Armstrong?” came a voice from someone, but not Eugene. “You gave away the secret knock. Here’s the new deal—ha ha—let us go and I don’t harm your friends; otherwise, I’ll kill them.”

Armstrong recognized Piggy’s voice. It appeared they were in an even worse position than before. Now they had Eugene and Sandra, and an armed pointman on the loose.

Armstrong needed to do something quickly. It was now five o’clock and the manager or owner would be coming in at six. There was no telling what he’d do when he found out what was going on. Armstrong had to make a quick decision, and conferred with his comrades. Pamela was sent to her room so as to be out of danger. Wrenn was sent to Colderon’s white van. Armstrong called Foote, and everyone understood what to do. Foote stood right over the door with his rifle trained on the area just outside.

“All right, Piggy. We’ll do it your way. Come on out.”

“It’s a trap,” yelled one of the ground Hogs.

“Shut up!” Piggy yelled, but he was still wobbly from being shot, as well as the chemicals the doctors used on him.

“Put your weapons down on the ground where I can see them,” Piggy demanded. The four did so. Sulke, with hands tied behind his back, emerged first, followed by Piggy, holding a piece to Eugene’s back. Then came Sandra, followed by the two ground Hogs.

“Anybody tries anything, and Sulke dies. Understand?” Piggy yelled.

“Everything’s cool,” Armstrong said, reassuringly.

“You, on the roof,” one of them yelled. “Put your weapon down.”

“Anyone shoots,” Piggy yelled, “and Sulke gets it. Get it?”

There were shouts of “Okay.”

While this was going on Ray slipped into Eugene’s room and came out a minute later, nodding affirmatively.

Armstrong’s phone rang.

“Chad, I just spotted that escapee. He’s armed with a revolver. He was hiding in the bushes next to the office. He’s sneaking around to the side of the building.”

“Can you get a bead on him?” Armstrong said, speaking in a low voice.

“Not yet.”

“Keep your eye on him. Take him out when you can.”

They got to the cargo van, but the doors were locked. They turned around and saw Armstrong smiling while twirling the keys around his finger. Piggy and the other two guys looked around but didn’t see anyone else.

“It’s a trap,” one of them yelled. “I fucking knew it.”

“Shut up,” Piggy yelled back.

Then Piggy began yelling at Armstrong. “Give me those keys, Armstrong. Where are your friends? I told you I’d kill those two if you try anything.”

“Relax, Piggy. I’ll give them to you.” Armstrong was calm as he walked toward the van, twirling the keys around his index finger a little faster now. Piggy gave the gun he was using to one of the ground Hogs, whispering instructions.

Now Piggy was smiling. “Doesn’t matter what your game is, Armstrong. I’ve got orders to kill Sulke. It’ll just be plain ole fun to put a bullet in him.” Grinning, his white teeth shining against his dark lips, he held out his left hand to take the keys. Armstrong, still grinning and twirling, let the keys fly off his finger just as he approached Piggy.

Piggy just grinned at Armstrong. He laughed, and looked over to one of his Hogs, “Do Sulke now.”

Armstrong was unfazed as a shot from Wrenn rang out and Piggy collapsed to the ground. Moon got spooked and came running from the building to take dead aim on Armstrong, but missed. His revolver had poor range from that distance. Now exposed, Foote drew a bead on him, and took him out.

Sandra screamed, and Eugene was frightened out of his mind. The guy with the gun aimed right at Eugene’s head and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

Ray came over. “Need some help? This one works,” he said as he calmly shot the gunman. The last guy fled and headed to Pamela’s room. He figured his only chance now was to grab Pamela and make his escape. He pushed through the broken door and saw Pamela standing there. He smiled and moved to grab her but Pamela pulled the gun from her back and shot him dead.

Ray came running over, saw what happened, and smiled.

“He didn’t give the secret knock,” she said calmly. “They surprised me the first time, but this time I wasn’t taking any chances.”

Eugene then bent over Sandra, who had fainted, and helped her up. Pamela came out, saw Sandra on the ground, and came running over to them. But everyone was okay.

Eugene turned to Chad in astonishment. “You knew that gun wouldn’t fire.”

Chad smiled. “It was the same gun I gave to Dr. Schmidt. I didn’t trust him with a loaded weapon so I removed the clip and put an empty one in instead. I left him with one bullet in the chamber. When we entered his room we saw the two dead doctors. Our three prisoners were disarmed, but I must have missed the knife one of them had. He probably cut himself free, surprised Schmidt, and slit his throat, taking his gun. He probably got Grifton to wake up Piggy, and then shot him with the only bullet he had.”

“But Eugene had a gun too,” said Sandra. “He had the gun when I opened the door.”