Renewal 9 - Delay Tactics Read Free Page A

strongly, since it was their own flesh and blood at stake. The employees, however, were not always treated well and lived with the jealousy of being considered lesser men than the family members themselves. They would generally spill the beans if treated decently. Bill seriously hoped they were looking at a lackey on the emergency room bed. They could really use some information.
    Sue finished her work and left the man with a fully bandaged leg. He looked around the room, probably trying to guess what would happen next. He rattled the cuffs against the bed rails in reflex. He couldn’t reach his head to wipe away the sweat trickling into his eyes.
    Bill turned to the room. “Everyone, come take a close look at this man on your way out. If you see this man limping around within a mile of here without an escort, you will shoot him.”
    The milling crowd formed into a line and filed past the bed. He was  forced to endure a long series of hateful expressions and a smattering of hostile comments as the room slowly emptied. Terry, Kirk, and Aggie remained with Bill at the bedside. Sally sat quietly in one of the row of plastic chairs by the wall. Terry wanted to go to her, but there was still work to be done.
    “Well... I guess you know where we stand on people who try to burn our town,” Bill said. “Let’s start with your name.”
    “Fuck you.”
    “Ok, Mr. You. Let me introduce you to my brother, Kirk. Personally, I’d prefer to have a polite conversation to learn what I want to know. Kirk here is not so interested in polite. He’s keenly interested in knowing what he wants to know, and I can tell you from past experience, he really has no limits to what he will do to get that information. You’re looking a simple choice, really. You can answer the questions, or you can suffer more pain than you ever knew existed.” Bill said it very calmly, as if he were simply explaining how to plant a seed. “Do we understand each other?”
    The man nodded in a rapid, jerking motion.
    “Good, now what’s your name?”
    “Cooper. Jared Cooper.”
    “That’s better, Mr. Cooper. Maybe your day won’t be so bad after all,” Bill said. “Who are you working for?”
    “Wyatt Jenkins.”
    “And?”
    “That’s it. I swear. He came by the feed docks and offered good money for an easy job. All I had to do was follow those men and carry the gas can.”
    “Well, since Mr. Jenkins is short on men these days, I need to know who the other men were.”
    “I don’t know. A couple of guys I knew, but they were like me. Hired off the docks,” Jared Cooper said.
    Terry nudged Bill’s arm to get his attention, then whispered the name of the man he had recognized in Bill’s ear.
    Bill leaned forward and said, “I’m not sure I believe you, Mr. Cooper. Why would you come out into the country in the middle of the night with people you don’t know? Dig deeper.”
    “Ok... There were some Talley boys... And some Coxes in the bunch.”
    “What was the plan?”
    “Wyatt Jenkins said you burned down his place, that you deserved the same. We were supposed to set fire to as many places as we could. When we got tangled up at the gate, somebody sent me and the other boys down the hill while they kept your people busy.”
    “Did Mr. Jenkins tell you that the reason we burned his place down was because he kidnapped Dusty Baer, tortured him nearly to death, and then dumped him out of the back of a moving truck. You know Dusty?”
    “Sure. Everybody knows Dusty. Good man.” Jared replied with a wince.
    “Well, Dusty didn’t make it. He died right in the bed you’re occupying, covered in Jenkins branding iron burns.”
    “I didn’t know. I’m... Sorry, sir.” Jared had turned a ghastly shade of white.
    “All right, Mr. Cooper. I’m about to make a decision about your fate. Do you have anything to say that will make me think you deserve to live after you attacked my people and my town.”
    “No, sir. Now that I know the whole