Read Online Renewal 5 - an Untimely Fall by Jf Perkins - Free Book Online Page B

wait to hang...” Bill made an awkward half turn to the waiting police, who were working hard to hide their smiles. “Lieutenant Jackson, I hereby deliver the prisoner, Jerry Doan Jenkins, into your custody.”
    The tall, broad commander stepped forward. “I accept the prisoner, Jerry Doan Jenkins, into State custody. He will be transported to an officer of the court immediately.”
    “Thank you, Lieutenant. He was stinking up our woods.”
    Two officers stepped forward to place handcuffs on the Judge. He waited until the last possible second before he dove headlong at Bill’s wounded leg. Kirk moved in that spooky fast way of his, making contact with the Judge’s shoulder a bare instant before Bill’s dogwood cane made contact with the Judge’s ear. Bill yelled with the pain of his thigh muscle’s protest that the rapid movement, and Kirk somehow transitioned from diving tackle to standing on the Judge’s back without anyone seeing how he did it. Kirk used his left foot to hold the Judge’s face in the wet leaves until the cuffs ratcheted shut, and stepped calmly to the side. The officers dragged old Jerry Doan Jenkins to his feet and none too gently chained him to the bench in the back of Bertha number one.
    The Lieutenant issued orders, deliberately putting his least upstanding officers in the back with the Judge. When everyone was loaded for the trip back to the capital, Jackson shook Kirk’s hand, clasped Bill’s left shoulder, and said, “I still owe you, Mr. Carter.”
    “Be safe, Lieutenant. The Judge is a snake in the grass.”
    “Yes, sir. See you at the trial.”
    The two police rigs departed without delay, wallowing across the field. Bill listened with satisfaction as the diesels spooled up on the main road and faded into the distance.
    ***
    Seth wedged the pickup into the narrow space behind Bill’s house and squeezed himself out through the partially open driver’s door. Jeffry slipped out the other side with no trouble. Bill’s wife, Aggie, had already gotten the news that Bill was injured and had asked the people of the community to give them some peace and quiet. Bill would have been embarrassed to be seen in such a weakened state, she well knew, along with the kind of attitude he could develop if he was caught with his pants down, so to speak.
    Terry followed directions from the guard and pulled Big Bertha into the barn on the west side of Teeny Town. Feeling a bit possessive of the diesel monster, he deliberately kept the keys in his pocket and walked out the door on the town side of the building. He headed straight for Bill’s house, mostly out of the close bond he felt for the man, and his promise to John that he would keep Bill safe. He found Seth and Rob pulling Bill out of the pickup bed on an old Army-style canvas gurney.
    They wound through the house, up the stairs, and carefully slid Bill onto his own bed. The mayor of the community was an inch away from a long sleep, and the men took their leave as quickly as they had arrived. Terry was the last out the door, but Aggie called to him to wait for her downstairs. Since he had no idea what to do next, Terry figured that was as good as any plan. He was thinking about a long nap himself.
    Up in their room, Aggie inspected Bill’s wounds carefully, and then wrapped them up in fresh bandages. Convinced that he was in no real danger, she switched from concern to anger.
    “William Milton Carter, what are you doing getting into gunfights? You’re supposed to be the Carter who talks, not the one who fights!” Aggie emphasized her words with a shaking finger in her husband’s face.
    “Couldn’t be helped, My Dear.”
    “Bullshit! I got the short version from John. And I’ll get the long version from Terry. It was your choice to fight.”
    “If you saw what I saw, you’d know I had no choice at all. We’ve got fifty good people here who those assholes would love to tie onto a wooden cross and burn alive. What does this all mean if