All hands went up.
“Yes! Democracy in action. Long live the Republic. It will be I, El Muerto who shall do the cutting while my assistant, the El Kabong shall do the bleaching.”
“Wait! What about my deal? I told you everything… and… and it all checked out! Just make it quick!”
“Uh oh. Gerald has called into question our deal. Rewind the tape, El Kabong. Let Gerald hear what went on during negotiations.”
John placed his tablet where Kensky could see it clearly, playing him his words ‘Bite me’ when offered the quick ending. Kensky began to sob.
“Mer…mercy!”
“Show of hands. Who wants mercy for poor old serial killer, Gerald?”
No hands.
Nick moved to Gerald, opening the old bleached wound and continuing to cut evenly down to the killer’s groin. Kensky screamed in horror as his intestines flopped out to the floor. He passed out once again as John poured bleach over his entrails. Kensky came to with help four times over the next hour until a blood vessel popped in his brain, his last vision - the Unholy Trio waving goodbye at him.
“My goodness,” Nick said. “If we executed heinous murderers like that, I’d bet murder of any kind would drop ninety-nine percent.”
“Small doubt about that,” Gus said. “John and I will bag him if you do cleanup, Muerto.”
“Deal.”
“Should we bury him?”
“We’ll dump him in the woods. He’s already been stripped. I don’t want his clothes to get caught in any poor creature’s teeth.”
“Very compassionate, Muerto.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Payaso. We’ll leave his Toyota along the way. We bleached it clean already.”
*
“What the hell is this?” Gus gestured at the three vehicles parked outside the mansion’s driveway gate. “Did Rachel call you?”
“Nope. I think it might be a good idea by the looks of those people to give her a call and find out why we’re the last to know about visitors camped here on the road. I’m glad we came home early.”
“Cala did not call me either,” John informed them.
“That’s because she wasn’t concerned about you, John.”
“Did Tina call you, smartass?”
“No, but I’m married to Tina. That’s different.”
“How is that different, all knowing Payaso?”
“Because married women would rather whine about their husbands not calling and telling them where they are instead of calling and finding out.”
“Enough. El Muerto must call his beloved,” Nick said while connecting. He felt relief hearing Rachel’s voice. “Hi honey, I’m home. Why is there a boycott outside our rental?”
“I knew you were busy, and I didn’t want to worry you. We’re fine. I alerted the police. They have a car come buy once an hour. Deke, Tina and I handled it.”
“You’re killing me here, sweetie. What did you and your cohorts handle? Usually when someone tells me they handled something, the aftermath isn’t hanging around on the sidewalk in a group of six angry looking men of Middle Eastern origin by the looks of it. Are these Kader androids?”
“Yes. I would have called you though if I was having any problem. Deke took them at the door, and stopped them from walking right in. The twelve gauge pump in my hands coupled with nasty mouth Tina drove them away.”
“Hey! I resemble that remark,” Tina called out in the background.
“Anyway… we’re okay. I reported them to the police. They sent a patrol car by to tell those shit-heads in no uncertain terms what they can and cannot do, one of those items was moving their asses off of my property. Come on in. I bet you’re tired.”
“I’m relieved everyone is okay. I’m glad Bill is with Dimah or I’d be thinking they tortured our location out of her. Would you make the call to Dimah and check whether they had any trouble down there?”
“Right away.”
Nick turned to Gus and John. “It’s a Kader family reunion. Obviously, they have plans for Cala that don’t involve her staying with El Kabong. What say you, Kabong?”
“It is too bad we are so far away from the storage freezer in Carmel Valley.”
“I was thinking the same thing. Rachel says the police have it covered. They moved them back beyond the gate, and have roving patrols making sure they stay there. What say we slink in, sip a couple of Bushmills, eat a little food, shower, and hit the sack? We’ll play with the Islamists tomorrow morning after the thoughts of running them over with the car leave my head for a time.”