Dr. Snip Ch. 14

At this thought he heard a bang from the other side of his truck.

Dave sprinted around to discover a big man in a black leather coat, just withdrawing a three-foot long sword from one of his tyres.

With an angry hiss the air escaped, and the truck settled down a few more inches.

'What the fuck are you doing?' he screamed at the man who was in the process of ramming his sword into the next tyre.

The man ignored him, and plunged the razor sharp blade into the white walled tyre.

Dave had been a trucker for many years, and had come across his share of nuts.

A nut with a three-foot long sword was a first, and he knew he needed an equaliser before he got close to him.

Dave jumped up into his cab and grabbed his Smith and Wesson "Dirty Harry" revolver from the glove box.

It was intimidating, as he intended when he bought it, more than one thug had looked at its cavernous bore and run.

Holding it in two hands he pointed it at the maniac and bellowed 'Stop right there, one more move and you are history.'

To his complete surprise the man did just as ordered, and sheathed the sword in a hidden sheath in his greatcoat that ran down his spine.

'No problem Dave, I seem to have immobilised your truck anyway,' said the man in a quiet deep voice.

'Lets go and grab a beer and I will try and explain my actions,' he continued calmly to the man holding the gun on him.

'Explain your fucking actions, what the fuck kind of stupid accent is that you stupid fucking idiot.

Do you know how much those tyres cost?'

'Yes, I looked that up before I came here, I estimate it will cost you approximately $15,000 to replace them, plus lets say $5,000 for your inconvenience.

As you are a nice bloke lets make it $30,000 total' said the man, reaching into his coat pocket.

Dave was so tightly wound that this action made him jerk on the trigger, and with a sound of thunder the revolver fired at point blank range.

'Sorry about that I didn't mean to startle you,' said the man into Dave's left ear.

At the sound of the gun Dave had involuntarily blinked, and therefore missed seeing Steve disappear as he jumped the few feet to be by Dave's side.

'AAARRgggggg, wha' the fuck, Jesus mister I shot you, how come you aren't dead?'

'Clean living and quick reflexes,' said Steve offering a big wad of cash to Dave.

This wasn't a Nut, nuts didn't stay calm and they certainly didn't hand out big lumps of cash.

Dave was a reasonable man and lowered the gun, he took the cash and flipped through it quickly.

There did seem to be $30,000 and he decided it was enough for him to listen to this " Nuts" explanation.

Dave was sitting opposite the man nursing a beer, and wondering what had occurred to make their paths cross.

'Let me tell you a story,' began Steve.

'One wet miserable day an eighteen-wheeler was travelling along the interstate minding its own business; when the car ahead of it blew a tire. The driver of the rig had little time to react, but managed to avoid running over the much smaller vehicle.

However this caused his rig to jack-knife on the wet road and he slid to a halt blocking all four lanes.

As was to be expected there were numerous collisions, as cars rear-ended each other in the ensuing pile up.

Surprisingly enough no one was seriously hurt, until a school bus rear-ended a petrol tanker.

This changed everything in an instant, and a fireball washed over the entire scene burning everyone in a 300-yard circle around it.

40 children died as well as all those involved in the accident.

The only man to survive this was the lorry driver, but he was a broken man from then on and never drove again.

He descended into an alcoholic spiral; and eventually died in an ally in Houston only two years later.

'A sad tale stranger, but I haven't heard of any such accident,' said Dave sipping his beer.

' It was only a tale Dave, only a tale and I'm sorry I had to damage your rig but it seemed the thing to do.'

'You know my name, what is yours?' asked Dave.

'Snip, Dr. Snip to be precise,' replied the man in his strange accent that Dave now realised was British.

'I've heard of you, I should have guessed when I saw that fucking great sword. What are you doing in America?'

'Interfering as usual,' replied Steve grinning at the bemused driver.

'Nice to meet you Dave, but I must be off, he said rising to his feet.

'Take your time about replacing those tires, there's a good chap.'

Dave watched as the man walked across the parking lot, until a gust of rain seemed to make him disappear.

Steve had jumped to the destination of the school bus, and stood quietly under a tree and watched as the happy children swarmed off the bus and into the school.

It wasn't that he didn't trust fate not to persevere in endangering the lives of those children.

It was more because he didn't trust fate as far as he could throw it.

When the last of the kids disappeared into the school, he jumped back to Alison in a far better mood than of late.

He needed to talk to her so jumped them both back to his home in England.

They sat around his kitchen table drinking a cup of tea, while he told her of his change of direction.

'I think I have been stretched too thin lately, what with being involved with Stephen and then Stefan.

I think it would be best to leave them to the 26th Century, whilst I concentrate on what I do best.

This will mean me seeing less of Angel and Gloria, and I intend to tell King Richard that I cannot accept the honour of becoming a Lord of Britain.'

Alison was shocked to hear all this, although as a woman and the future mother of Steve's child, she was honest enough to admit a certain relief that he was going to see less of her two main rivals for his love.

However it was such a turn around from last week. She just had to ask him outright why he was doing this.

'Are you doing this for me Steve, because I don't want you to give up your love for Angel and Gloria just to keep me happy.'

'No my darling girl, I am doing this for me.

Dr. Snip was becoming too powerful and I am trying another way to fulfil my mission.

I have no doubt that Snip will be needed in the future, but for a while I want to rescue kids from the more mundane dangers of life,' he answered kissing her lovingly.

He turned towards his computer and put the search engine to work.

To be Continued...