Bounty of Flesh

"How do you want to play this?" Justin asked while lowering the tailgate on the back of his pickup truck.

"Well you read the file, this prick ain't going easy." Gilbert answered, dragging his gear bag to the edge of the truck bed. "Go in hot. Lay his ass in the dirt."

Justin Hernandez draped his bail enforcement agent badge around his neck and turned to watch the sun rise over distant pines. Gilbert Swatz just methodically unpacked his weaponry from his gear bag. They were parked half a mile away from the only house set at the top of a private driveway deep in the Cumberland Mountains of West Virginia. After a hard three months of tracking, they finally found themselves just two steps behind their quarry. Dale Moony was an American stereotype, a misfit child warped by the cruel hand of fate and a neglectful mother. His mother was an addict, drunk, a barfly that clung to the fast and rancid fringes of a local motorcycle gang out of northern Ohio. She migrated with a few key members to a chapter violently gaining ground in middle Tennessee, ingesting all manner of narcotics and slamming beers, howling at the moon and getting passed around among the biker gang. Moony never knew who his father was just a faceless outlaw in a dim lit bedroom shoulder to shoulder with the others as his mother had another train ran on her. So no one was surprised that he followed the same grim road as the hard men dragged through his life. He was a soft child, sometimes mockingly referred to as sponge-like. That's exactly what he was, a sponge soaking up all the criminal knowledge and violence that saturated his childhood. Dale Moony was out on his second drug charge within several months, skipping on a twenty-five-thousand dollar bond.

Justin finished strapping on his bulletproof vest and leaned against the front of his truck, lighting a cigarette. He pulled his ten power binoculars up to his face and scouted the trees near the top of the hill, masking the only house for miles.

"We just need to separate him from his boys and that pussy will lay flat for us." He suggested to his partner Gilbert. "Probably has that psycho Rooster with him."

"That's who that whore described back in Delbarton. Tall ugly sumbitch with a pair of scissors tattooed under his left eye." Gilbert responded. "Locals ain't gonna back us up on this one so we need to get on top of that crazy fucker right from the jump."

Gilbert Swatz had called an hour earlier to notify local law enforcement of their presence and their intentions, only to be met with open resentment. Bail enforcement was an unpopular profession among some police agencies who didn't appreciate foreign enforcers sneaking around their back yard making clumsy arrests. Justin Hernandez slammed a full magazine into his Glock 17 and racked the slide on it loading a round into the chamber, then a quick press check before he holstered it. They both carried pistols strong side carry but considered them their last resort. Even though the laws of their profession danced in the gray area of legal ambiguity lethal force was a slippery slope. Not to mention frowned upon when a fugitive was delivered to the coroners instead of the jailhouse. Justin then loaded seven non-lethal rubber slugs into his Mossberg 590 shotgun. Gilbert in turn loaded his Remington 870 shotgun the same and pocketed a few extra rounds.

"well..." Gilbert sighed looking up the hill at the task before them.

Justin shouldered his shotgun and led the way into the heavily wooded area alongside the driveway. Their plan was to snake up the hill through the trees just close enough to get visual confirmation that their prey was indeed in that house. A quick trek meant a slow one that would take them nearly fifteen minutes to cover. Gilbert, the eldest of the two paused halfway up leaning against a tree to catch his breath as the nearly vertical hike accelerated his heart rate. Nearly twenty years younger than his partner Justin trudged on. He gazed through his binoculars again once he got roughly thirty yards from the house. There were three choppers and a touring bike parked alongside a muddy Honda Civic right off the front deck. He whispered the tag numbers into a mini tape recorder that he kept in his back pocket. Gilbert crept beside him using his own binoculars to peep through the front curtainless windows. An odd upward angle didn't yield much so Gilbert wordlessly motioned for them to inch closer to the far left side of the Honda away from the large bay window.

"I need to get higher. Can't see shit but the ceiling." Justin hissed, duck walking to the furthest corner of the deck.

Gilbert waited for his partner to hoist himself over the guard rail and nestle up right beside the edge of the huge front window, before cursing under his breath and shuffling over to join him.

He watched Justin slowly chance a quick look through the window and felt his stomach knot up as he registered the confused look on his face. Justin craned his neck a little to get a better view, unsure of what he was seeing.

"What?" Gilbert hissed.

His partner didn't answer at first, but his posture relaxed, and he turned and cupped his hands near the glass getting an honest look, then he stepped back with a huge grin on his face.

"I don't know Gil..." was all he could manage.

Gilbert knew he couldn't vault over the deck's guard rail as nimbly as his young Hispanic counterpart, so he crouched and swiftly sprinted up the few steps. It took a minute to register what was happening as the shock sent blood rushing to his brain. Then there was a relief as the two bounty hunters finally laid eyes on their target. The house was just another flop house that the biker gang used for drug deals so it was sparsely furnished. Dale Moony was seated on a battered couch with his pants around his ankles, head back as a chubby whore gave him a blowjob. There was also a biker completely naked from the waist down slamming into her from behind doggy style. Two more biker soldiers stood off to the side chugging beer, hooting and cheering while waiting for their turn. Rooster sat in a folding chair at the far side of the living room talking to a young college aged kid, possibly about the bags of pills piled on the card table between them. The young kid smoked a cigarette nervously shaking his head and talking with his hands a lot. Rooster just eyed him with a loose unfriendly smile on his face.

Gilbert watched Dale with a fistful of the girl's dirty blonde hair shove her face down harder onto his lap, forcing his cock deeper down her throat as his buddy slapped her reddening ass and began to hump faster. He then shook off the lustful hypnosis and looked over to his partner who just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Justin pulled back the pump on his shotgun to hand load a breeching round designed to destroy the locks and hinges on doors. Gilbert nodded, stepping back and watching as the twelve-gauge breeching round erupted out of the shotgun's barrel punching the lock completely out of the door. The younger bounty hunter kicked the door and launched into the room without hesitation.

"Bail enforcement agents don't fucking move!" Gilbert Swatz hollered following right behind his partner.

Everyone startled and froze except the soldier behind the girl he just tightened his grip on her hips and pushed into her one last time obviously finishing. Justin Hernandez grabbed him by the collar of his vest and snatched him back off her.

"You bitches again?" Rooster growled. "Thought we lost you assholes back at the state line."

Hernandez swiftly crossed the room and leveled his Mossberg shotgun at the seated man's face.

"Relax." Gilbert cautioned. "Moony turn that girl loose and get your britches up."

"C'mon fellas I already paid at least let me finish." Dale whined.

"Fuck these assholes Moony they ain't cops keep fuckin' that slut's mouth." Rooster crowed. "Hell, you see Kyle got his nut off."

The girl squealed and scurried behind the nervous college kid who obviously brought her.

"Awe come on Brittney." Kyle laughed standing and pulling his pants back on. "Rooster already paid let my brothers have a turn."

"This shit is over everybody shut the fuck up!" Justin roared taking control of the room. "Dale we don't like asking twice. Zip up and let's fucking go."

Dale Moony hesitated, assessing the severity of the situation. Both bounty hunters gave him ice so he stood and jerked his dick at them a few times before complying.

"Losers." He sulked. "You could've had a turn too."

The elder bail enforcement agent grabbed him by the collar and shoved him up against the wall, he quickly cuffed his hands behind his back intending to search him once they had him outside. Three biker soldiers stood back behind the couch glaring at them with open hostility, but none dared make a move not while on the wrong side of a shotgun. After all Dale Moony wasn't actually a member, just a civilian that liked to party with them. A fun guy but not worth the legal trouble. Not wearing the club patch than you ride alone, Godspeed. They cleared their throats and went back to casually drinking their beers.

"This is bullshit." Rooster declared.

"Sir we don't know what's going on can we please leave?" The young man seated beside Rooster meekly asked.

"No." Gilbert answered. "What are you even doing here? You two looking to join this charter?"

"Fuck no." He blurted.

"Watch it Brian." Rooster threatened.

"Brian listen we're not here for anybody but that asshole right there." Gilbert softened his tone while aiming a thumb at Dale. "So everybody just stay cool and we'll be on our way here. We don't give a shit about whatever this is. It's weird but we don't care."

"Yeah, everyone control themselves and let us take Moony on out of your hair and you can get back to spit roasting your little party pig there." Justin reassured them.

Kyle and the other two soldiers just grunted and dispersed into the kitchen for more beers. Brian hastily helped Brittany pull her shirt over her head then grabbed his backpack and shoved the frightened girl in the corner behind himself. Rooster flexed his jaw muscles out of aggravation weighing the consequences of standing down to a couple of assholes loosely associated with the law.

"Fuck it. Sometimes you just gotta go through it." He concluded, sparking a cigarette and waving them off.

"Bullshit! Come on man you gonna let these assholes just take me? What are you scared of them?" Dale bellowed.

***

"Look guys I know what it looks like, but I promise you I wasn't running." Dale Moony began pleading from the back seat. "Just blowing off a little steam before I go in for a while. Figured I'd have to do at least a few months this time..."

"Already a few months past your court date and two states over, yeah fuck you Moony." Justin snickered, rolling his window down to smoke a cigarette. "What was that back there anyway? How old was that girl?"

"That little cutie get you going?" Dale laughed. "That little shit Brian brings her along when he's trying to score some pills and needs a good price. Charges us a few bucks to let us run a train on that slut. Relax she's legal and totally into it."

"He pimps his own girlfriend out to you social rejects?" Gilbert asked steering the truck down the hill and back toward town.

"She ain't as innocent as you two pricks might think." Dale answered. "Yeah she just turned nineteen back in August but that little girl was built for fucking. You see that ass or those big tits a swinging when Kyle was pounding into her from behind?"

"Gross." Justin retorted, blowing smoke out the window.

"No, no really I once saw that hot bitch get wasted at some bar one time and got fucked by at least twenty of my biker bros. I'm talking rag doll. They had that short thick bitch in the back room airtight full of dick just about all night..."

"Really? This the kind of shit gets your pecker hard you sick fuck?" Justin interrupted.

"Some broke down couch in a dark back room and that squealing whore with a dick in her ass and pussy, while they fight over stuffing a third dick in her mouth."

"Enough, put it away Dale." Gilbert snapped. "We're going to gas up back in town and then we're heading back to Nashville non-stop. Save those memories for your spank bank."

After a twenty minute drive Gilbert eased the pickup truck into the closest gas station lot near the interstate.

"Gotta take a shit boss." Dale Moony announced as they pulled up to the pumps.

"Seriously?" Gilbert groaned. "You can't hold it until we at least get down the road away from your little gang buddies?"

"Sorry chief I had a few rails of coke and a pint of whiskey for breakfast, I'm not too big on restraint." Dale chuckled. "Hey maybe you two could spring for an honest meal while we're here."

"If we can get back on the road in under ten minutes without you fucking around I'll buy you a couple of breakfast sandwiches." Justin said exiting the truck and opening the rear door to unbuckle Moony.

"Fair enough." Dale grinned.

It was still early morning, so the small station was full of pickup trucks and cargo vans, morning commuters stopping to fuel up before a hard day's work. Gilbert got the pump working then turned to scan the lot. Three women stood beside an aging Chevy Silverado parked near the air pump at the far end of the parking lot, two squat and homely brunettes and a tall busty blonde between them. They were identically dressed in the local uniform of working class West Virginia, jeans and zip up hooded sweatshirts, and they were all three staring intently at the bounty hunter's truck. One by one they began to raise their hoods over their heads.

"Still early for Halloween ain't it?" Gilbert asked. "These bitches are spooking me."

"Yesterday was October first. I know it doesn't quite feel like it yet." Justin answered.

"Oh no. Oh shit..." Dale moaned softly stepping down from the truck's backseat and laying eyes on the three menacing women looming just twenty-five yards away. "Hey guys we gotta go."

"The fuck you griping about Moony thought you had to make?" Justin asked while double checking that the handcuffs were still secure.

"See that tall bitch down there, the blonde one with the big tits?" Dale nervously pointed with his chin. "She's a witch. You hear me a fucking witch!"

"What's the matter that little filly break your heart?" Gilbert snorted.

"No dumbass!" Moony barked "I mean she does like weird shit with dead animals, curses and hexes and shit."

"You too? Celebrating too early. Tell you what, knock it off and we'll get you a pumpkin and some candy at the next stop." Gilbert chuckled.

"Funny asshole. Look I'm not talking about no Halloween bullshit." Dale hissed. "Couple of weeks ago she came to Rooster looking for some pills, can't remember what kind, but he didn't have any so he faked her out with some other shit. She came back the next day pissed off, cussing and promising to shrink our dicks and kill us and all this other shit."

"Did it fuck her up mentally or something?" Justin asked.

"Listen." Moony went on. "I guess Rooster promised to make it up to her with some oxy or something that night. She lives with her parents on the other side of town, so he goes over later that night alone and without any pills. You probably heard how crazy Rooster can get right? Turns out he was still pissed about her calling him out and cursing him too. Anyway, he somehow gets them all drunk and showing them a good time and all."

Gilbert sighed loudly looking over his shoulder at the three women who still hadn't moved. "You really need to edit this story."

"What he burn their house down or piss on their toilet seat or something?" Justin asked.

"From what I heard he fucked her mother." Dale announced shaking his head somberly. "On the way out they say he killed her cat too. A black cat."

Justin gingerly grabbed him by the shoulder and caringly looked him in the eye. "Moony are you fucking retarded? This really your attempt to get out of facing justice?"

"Ask around jerkoff. She's got one of those crazy girl names like Amber or something." Dale shrugged him off. "Word is she put a hex on her ex-boyfriend and the bitch he was cheating on her with. Either that or she straight up murdered them. Found'em both in a cornfield naked with their eyes gouged out and a bunch of weird shit carved into their skin."

"Justin take Stephen King in there to take a shit so we can get out of here." Gilbert snickered.

"Come on Dean Cunts, maybe you can catch a nap on the way back." Justin Hernandez steered him toward the building.

The fuel pump clicked to signify that the truck's gas tank was full. Gilbert turned to reach for it.

"Shit!" He recoiled as a tall blonde stepped from the other side of the fuel pump. "I didn't even see you move how the fuck..."

"Hey. My names Amanda but folks call me Mandy." She introduced herself with a smile in her voice. "Was that Dale Moony you had in the back of your truck?"

"Maybe." Gilbert answered looking the curvy five-foot eight blonde up and down. "You're a good looking woman, real pretty face and all, but those eyes are a little crazy."

"That's real sweet of you to say." She stepped closer letting him feel her body heat. "That means you probably know Rooster too huh?"

Gilbert Swatz backed against the truck sensing her invading his personal space in an attempt at seduction. "Can't really say that I do." He answered coyly glancing at his wedding band for strength.

"Just ain't seen him in a while is all. Hoping everything is ok." She lowered her tone inching closer and letting her breast accidentally brush against his shoulder. "Is everything ok?"

Her blue eyes burned into him with a muted contempt, but her lips pressed together in a playful smile. Gilbert backed into his side mirror trying to make space. "Mandy I don't know what you're after but we have to get going here soon." He managed.

She threw her head back and nearly cackled, tapping him on the chest rather firmly. "Relax lover boy I'm just making nice, no worries."

Without saying another word she turned and sauntered back to her truck leaving Gilbert Swatz confused and strangely aroused. She winked as she drove past him in the Chevy heading toward the side of the building where the restrooms were. Approximately one minute later Justin Hernandez stumbled around the corner of the building rubbing his eyes furiously. Gilbert ran to him and caught him under the armpits before he could collapse.

"What the fuck happened?" Gilbert shouted hysterically. "Where's Moony?"

Justin just leaned over and retched sinking to his knees. "Those two ugly cunts jumped me." He spat. "Blew some kind of dust in my face then shoved a stun gun in my balls. I went black for a couple minutes at least."

"Oh fuck! They snatched Moony didn't they? That little prick was telling the truth." Gilbert sprinted to the side of the building and was met by a mocking silence and the taste of regret. No Dale Moony.

"Those crazy bitches are long gone." Justin followed behind him, wiping spittle from his mouth. "Gotta call the local police, they are gonna love this."

***

It had been a long grueling afternoon of humiliation and frustration for both Justin Hernandez and Gilbert Swatz following the "Incident," as the locals had come to call it. Their employer Kenneth Waters, a self-proclaimed new age hippie and normally quite agreeable, shouted his disappointment over the phone all the way from Nashville, Tennessee. He instructed them quite eloquently to dare not bring their asses home without Dale Moony dead or alive. The local police department offered no sympathy, only snickering behind their backs and heavy sarcasm. They were aware of an Amanda Colson who was rumored to have cursed and or murdered her ex-lover, but a swift trip across town to her last known address did not prove fruitful. Two bewildered seniors sputtered about her moving out last summer and had not been seen since. A perfunctory canvas of the surrounding area turned up nothing. Mandy was a ghost who no one knew how to find, and as the sun slowly dragged west, everyone knew Dale Moony faced the potential of becoming an actual ghost. Those women aimed to leave him face down in a cornfield somewhere.