No Rest For the Wicked, Aaron Solomon [grave mercy .TXT] 📗

No Rest For the Wicked

Chapter One

Cindy

“We meet again, old friend.” I said to my good pal, Iki as I walked through the door of the train crew office at Cicero yard. “Cindy! Or should I say Thrasher.” Iki replied with our secret pawshake we used to do every time we saw each other back in Wisconsin. “What brings you here to the yard?” “Didn’t you hear, Silly?” I said. “I graduated from the conductor training center about a month or so ago and I was assigned to you as my crewman.” “No shit! Really?” He exclaimed in surprise. “Hey. I didn’t spend all those years train watching and looking in railroad history books for nothing.” I answered, flashing him a wry smile. “Wow.” He said. “I remember it was only I year ago I brought you and your compatriots out of that fire and now I finally have someone else I’ve known to work under my wing for once. Well, we’d better get a move on. We’re working the 9:45 manifest to Gainesville. Scheduled to leave in about four minutes.” “Lead the way, Mon Capitan.” I responded as I followed him out into the core of the yard and over to our train on the ready track led by SD60M 9876 and with ES44AC 3212 behind it in the trail position. I took shelter from the late August heat in 9876’s sweet air conditioned cab and took my place in the conductor’s chair as the cab signal indicator soon changed and we were then steadily on our merrily way toward Naperville and points north to our destination.

Chapter Two

Iki

I cruised lightly down the city streets in my Camero, sighing with relief as I turned the corner on 45th street toward my condo on 125th after a long and hard day’s work around the clock till we returned to Cicero yard at 8:14 PM that night. It was now nearly around 9:02. I soon pulled into the parking lot of my place and made my way into the elevator up to the fifth floor where I steadily headed down the hall to room 521 and turned the key in the lock. I pushed the door open and the usual calm and collective expression on my face turned to bewilderment and confusion as I saw the place was an absolute wreck with many items scattered in various places around the room. It looked like a twister had just made its way through town. The room was darkened and an eerie silence filled the air as I called out Lilly’s name after closing the door behind me. I turned on the light in the bedroom and nearly shrieked in sheer horror and despair. There, lying stiff on the floor in a pool of crimson red, was the queen of my heart, Lilly Solomon. “Fuck!” I exclaimed and rushed over to her, lifting her head up under my arm and feeling all over her; desperate to find at least one sign of a pulse but I unfortunately turned up with none. “Oh, god! No!” I screamed, slamming my fist down hard on the floor as many thoughts and memories began flashing through my mind from the first day we met and the proposal all the way up to when I first decided to move to Chicago about nearly another year or so ago. I examined her lifeless body and found she had been stabbed twice in the upper torso and shot in the chest. Who would do such a horrible and twisted thing to a quiet and peace loving individual such as her and why? I needed answers and I would stop at absolutely nothing to get them no matter who or what stood in my way.

Chapter Three

Cindy

I slept in late the next morning which, thankfully, was on a Saturday; being absolutely ecstatic and grateful I had chosen to work for a company that was still big enough to do business with daily trains and service on weekdays but just about every weekend or so let most of their employees off and gave them a bit more freedom in their schedules than any other railroad I’ve seen here in the country. I was just heading off into the world of dreamland when I was startled awake by the sudden sound of my door buzzer. I groaned as I slowly rose to my feet and clambered down the stairs of my good sized duplex to the door where I opened it to reveal my faithful companion, Iki standing rather glumly on my doorstep but then quickly tried to straighten up and brighten his facial expression as soon as he saw me. “You sure don’t look like you’re enjoying your weekend.” I said observantly. “Come on in and maybe we could see just what the problem is.” He gladly obliged and followed me into the living room where he took a seat next to me on the sectional and sighed before slowly speaking. “Lilly’s dead.” He said, referring to his mate who I had met and formed a pretty close knit relationship with during the time he had first moved here and joined our railroad nearly two and a half years ago. “Someone broke into my place and slaughtered her in cold blood and now I don’t know what to do.” “Deep breaths, compadre.” I comforted. “Do you have at least an idea who could have done such a thing?” “Not a clue.” He replied. “Lilly was so sweet, so docile. Rarely did she ever make enemies with anyone that she ever came across. Unless…” “Go on.” I assured. “Unless someone took her out just to try and get to me.” “Ah. The smoking gun.” I said. “Don’t worry, my friend. I have the perfect guy for the job who can help us with this.” I rushed up the stairs to dress in my usual off duty attire along with my Chuck Taylor hi-tops and soon returned with Iki heading out the door to our vehicles on our way to the police precinct downtown.

Chapter Four

“Detective Fisher’s office?” I asked the desk sergeant as Iki and I serenely strolled into the 27th precinct of the CPD. The heavyset coyote peered at us over a pair of rectangular framed spectacles before motioning with his head to my right and saying, “Three doors down to your left.” “Thanks.” I replied and made my way down the hall quickly with Iki and followed his directions to the letter until I found the door already wide open and stepped in, making sure to knock three times first to get his attention before slowly taking a seat in the two chairs in front of his desk. “There she is! My little superstar!” My big brother, Kiba said as he turned around to greet me with about the biggest hug I think any dog has ever done in canine history. “What’s cracking, Cinders?” “Not much.” I answered simply. “But I believe my friend here has something to tell you about a situation that’s going on over on his end.” “I just simply want a few answers from the guy who knocked off my wife.” Iki said. Kiba nodded. “Oh, yes. About that, we’ve been working on that case for a few solid hours now and came back with a few prints the assailant happened to leave all over the crime scene.” He showed us a mugshot of a very psychotic looking wolf with mud brown fur and eyes as black as coal that burned deep into my very being every minute I glanced at the photo. “The prints came back as a pretty positive match for Vernon Riches. He’s apparently a not too bright but pretty ruthless street thug who used to go around torching places like some kind of freakish pyromaniac. I believe you too have already met.” “What? No. Impossible.” Iki objected. “I had him locked up and the key thrown away just last year. The five of us did.” “Turns out he got free on parole nearly six months ago.” Kiba retorted. “Yeah. I know. The criminal justice system’s fucked right now but there’s not a damn thing either one of us can do to try and fix it unless we can somehow turn up a miracle worker.” “I can knock him off the grid for sure and make him an even lesser problem for all of you guys. All we need is the location on where he’s currently held up and your sis and I are in business.” “He’s taken refuge at a rundown motel somewhere just east of the city limits.” Kiba said. “I’ll give you the address details on your way out. The best of luck to you, Oath Keepers.” “Thank you, Detective.” Iki saluted and we headed back down the long hall toward the main entrance of the precinct and made our way outside to our vehicles as we prepared ourselves to close in for the kill of a lifetime.

Chapter Five

Cindy

I gathered the rest of the group together and we quickly made our way in Kella’s car over to the motel over in Naperville just a little ways from the city as Kiba said. We exited the car, guns drawn, and made our way in through the double doors of the small three story building until we ran into a few of what looked to be three to five armed mercenaries inside. Quickly grabbing some cover behind a nearby wall, I cocked my M9 Beretta and fired off four shots at the opposing wolves, hitting one in both the chest and throat and another twice in the temple before finally the rest of us had laid waste to just about every one of them left in the room and moved up the stairs onto the next floor to begin searching the various rooms for our star attraction. “Hold it right there, asshat!” Iki called out to a figure dashing down the hall. Fortunately, we didn’t have to go very far to make contact because there, frozen dead in his tracks right at the far end of the hallway was the new bane of both mine and Iki’s existence, Vernon Riches. “Well, well. Would you look who it is?” He said with his back turned the entire time. “The famous Oath Keepers and I meet yet again face to face. Iki, was it? Tell me how it felt to see the one you held so close and so dear fade away into the great beyond.” “You sonuva bitch!” Iki spat. “You think you can commit an act of murder on someone close to me and get away with it? You’re a dead wolf! DEAD!” “We shall see who is.” Riches answered, finally turning around slowly. “What’s say we have an old fashioned draw. Whichever one of us has the quickest paw, gets to walk home scott free from this whole deal like nothing even happened in the first place.” “I’ll do it.” I cut in quickly before Iki or anyone else had a chance to respond. Iki looked at me with a shocked expression plastered on his usual cool and collective face. “Cindy, are you sure about this?” He asked. “They didn’t nickname me ‘The Lightning’ on the basketball team for nothing, ya know.” I responded. “Alright. Then it’s settled.” Riches said. “Holster your weapon now, little lady. Let’s see what you’ve got.” I did exactly as I was instructed and then came the waiting game. My right paw anxiously hovered over my gun as every second on the clock ticked by and Riches and I coldly stared each other down and began taking short, baby steps around each other left and right. Finally, within only a moment’s notice and faster than the speed of sound,