Frank Klus - Azaleas Don't Bloom Here

A man yelled, “COME! QUICKLY! RUN! FASTER!”

They were about ten yards away from freedom, then, just as suddenly, “GET DOWN! QUICKLY! ALL THE WAY DOWN!” More gunfire from both sides.

The gunfire stopped, but no one told them to get up. Suddenly, a different voice said, “Get up!”

Eugene and Sandy looked up, and Gene’s mouth opened. “Stu!”

“Hello, Eugene.” Stuart Everson stood on the other side of the border with a dead militiaman at his feet. Everson held a small handgun at his side, barrel pointing at Eugene.

Eugene and Sandy got up slowly; Eugene looking at Stu, quizzically. “Stu, what’s this about?”

“Who is he?” Sandra asked.

“My boss and my friend.”

“Hello, Mrs. Casimir.”

Sandy was confused. “Since when does a friend hold a gun on a friend?”

“We are friends, right, Stu?” Eugene said, a bit unsure of things.

“Come over here, Mrs. Casimir. Your husband is very worried.”

“No. I’m not going back. He coerced me into marrying him and killed my husband. I’m not going back! I’m never going back!” Sandy’s face was red and stained with tears.

“What’s this about, Stu?”

“What do you think it’s about, Eugene? You shouldn’t have gotten involved with those two. You had a good life here. Maybe you still can.”

“You mean Hell House, don’t you? Were you responsible?” Stu just stood nonchalantly in front of them. His gun was still pointing at Eugene. Then Stu cleared his throat.

“I suppose I owe you an explanation. I work for Alberto Martinez. Do you know who he is?”

Eugene frowned and breathed as hard as when he was running. He just nodded affirmatively. “He’s the head of NOGOV,” said Eugene.

“He’s the most powerful man on earth,” Stu said. “He’s more powerful than the President, Congress; oh, hell he is the government. He’s the government, the courts, the media. He’s everything. He’s God on earth.”

Sandra’s mouth was agape. Eugene felt defeated. “I just don’t understand, Stu,” Eugene said. He was desponded, defeated, and teary-eyed. “You were my friend.” His voice was broken, but he continued through the sobs. “You were so kind to me when Catherine died. You offered me a promotion. We ate at your house. Why? I don’t understand.”

For a moment Stu started to lower his weapon and felt the sting of regret; but then he rubbed his face, raised his weapon, and looked stern. “Stop this behavior. It’s indignant. Our so-called friendship was at the insistence of Alberto Martinez. He wanted to win you over; win you away from Zinney. I was the carrot, but now I’ve got the stick,” he said with a smile. Eugene’s head was lowered. Sandra grabbed hold of Eugene and put her head on his shoulder. Stuart continued.

“I’ve known Al for a long time. He led a group of crime lords. He was involved in drugs, gambling, and prostitution. I was his lieutenant. One day Al comes to me with his brilliant idea. Why not make all this legal? No sneaking around; no hiding from the FBI; no hiding from ATF. Make it all legal, and make more money than ever. There was just one problem. He was small-time to NOGOV. It was run by another Mafia guy who legitimized himself by taking over the banking system. Name was Solariano. Martinez knew him, and got himself in NOGOV as his security chief. When he became President of NOGOV he was in a position to get Congress to change the laws. First he got the business community to see this as a way to start making money again. They would have done anything. Congress passed the law legalizing all this stuff; Martinez financed my little company; he got a kickback; and I’d owe him a favor or two.” Everson stopped to check Eugene’s reaction.

“Is this the favor he wanted? Bring me back?”

“That’s only the second favor. The first was to make you my number two. I didn’t like that idea. Rodriguez was a good man. You were a problem. That silly little populist head of yours,” he said with a sneer. “When you frowned at my proposal I was ready to storm right on out of there, but I couldn’t. I promised Al you’d be my second in command. He arranged to finance Raul’s startup in the same business in another city. He had to be replaced. It had to be you. He told me to offer you a house in the fortress if you hesitated at taking the job. It was way more than you deserved.”

Eugene was mortified. “But the lawyer. You got me a lawyer to protect me. He’s the one who made trouble for Casimir.”

“I never got you any lawyer. I just told you that so you’d go anywhere I wanted. Then I got a great idea—stick you in Hell House—only I wasn’t supposed to know about that. I had to figure out how to convince Casimir to stick you in there. So I pretended to be the lawyer. Created quite a mess,” he said with a sneer. “Leaked your situation to the part of the press that Martinez didn’t control. It did the rest. Then Casimir figured out what to do before Martinez did.”

“You bastard!”

“The truth is, Eugene, I always hated you. You whiney little populist shit.”

Everson turned toward the woods. “Captain!”

Kostroma and two of his men came out of the woods, wearing big grins on their faces. Kostroma whipped out his pocket phone and pushed his contact button. “Mr. O’Reilly, Kostroma here.”

(Pause) “Yes sir, I have them. Mr. Everson was responsible. It went just as you planned. They were only thirty feet from the border. He was our last hope.”

(Pause) “Well, that is good news sir. I’ll relay that to Mr. Everson. Are you on your way, sir?”

(Pause) “Great! I’ll have them frisked and ready to be brought back.”

Kostroma turned to Stuart Everson. “Mr. O’Reilly killed his brother and his wife. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“What about those other Blues? Armstrong and his friends?”

Kostroma just shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Take them in the woods and frisk them.”

“Hold your arms up,” said Kostroma to Eugene and Sandy. “March,” he said pointing to the woods.

They re-entered the woods on the north side. Armstrong, Foote, and Wrenn weren’t coming to the rescue. There were still shots being fired in the distance. It looked bad for the two of them. Eugene was mortified. If Pamela’s exposé on Old America’s future wasn’t enough to convince Eugene of the reality of the world he had longed for, then Everson’s betrayal was the final nail in the coffin for any desire to return. And they were so close. Kostroma disarmed Eugene just as Dennis O’Reilly pulled up in Sandy’s rental.

Dennis, who was not smiling, got out, and turned to Stuart Everson. “Good job, sir. I can’t thank you enough for your cooperation.”

“Take them both to Alt House,” Everson said. Dennis looked perplexed and Sandy began crying.

“But Alt House is closed,” Dennis said.

“Not anymore. Martinez’s orders. Apparently they fixed their problem. Well sort of. They’re guessing at the right dosage of some drug. Keeps them from dreaming. You two,” pointing at Eugene and Sandy. “You belong to Martinez now. I just let him know I have you. He’s personally taking charge.”

Sandy screamed. “No. I’m not going back. I’m not going back to Jaydan ever again. I’d rather die out—”

“Cut the dramatics girlie. You aren’t going back to your husband. Martinez has other plans for you. Smile now,” Everson said to Sandy. “Just think, you’ll be the wife of the most powerful person on earth.” Sandy screamed in horror. Eugene was hangdogged. Dennis whipped out a pair of cuffs. “Put your hands behind your back,” he demanded.

Dennis circled around back of them with handcuffs in hand. By this time Everson had put his gun away and Kostroma and his men had lowered their weapons as well. Dennis cuffed the despondent pair and led them towards the car that Sandy recognized as her own.