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Positions of Authority
By MBH
He shined the flashlight in Rob’s eyes. “The forties are over. You’re dressed like a goddamned secret agent.” Rob tipped his hat and began walking again through the sparsely lit field. Rob stalked at the heels of the wobbling flashlight.
They finally stopped at the crest of a little hill, at the bottom of which lay a brick ranch house. “Is that it?” asked Rob
“Yeah…that’s the house.” The other man’s breath hung in the air. He turned, “You got a smoke?” Rob handed him a cigarette and lit his own. The two retreated a bit out of sight and sat down on the damp grass.
“Jeez, I’m gonna get sick,” Rob complained, his exhaled smoke lingering in the thick black. The other man shook his head. The pair finished smoking in silence and stood. The other man put the flashlight into his belt and produced a smaller one. Exactly twenty minutes later, the pair again rounded the crest and descended upon the house. Rob followed the silent man somewhat quietly until they reached a back window.
The man handed Rob the smaller flashlight and began fiddling with another gadget. Rob turned on the dim red light, letting him finish the preparations. He placed the glasscutter on the window and soon had it open. Before he turned it off, the man shined the light on Rob’s sweating face and helped him through the window into the huge well-furnished living room. Rob opened a glass display cabinet to exam an antique pipe and a flintlock. The man grabbed Rob by the shoulders and swung him around to face the hallway. “Remember our job. Don’t fool with all that,” he whispered harshly.
Rob nodded his head and pulled his revolver from his belt. The man again shook his head, “and a revolver too. Jesus, you went all the way, didn’t you?”
Rob shrugged, “I couldn’t go incomplete.”
The man pulled his automatic from his own belt as he followed Rob. They came to the master bedroom, where a man and a woman lay asleep together in satin sheets. Rob positioned himself on the side where the woman lay. Both aimed their weapons. “She’s pretty,” Rob whispered.
His partner nodded his approval. A moment later, he broke the tense silence. “Police! Out of the bed!” The woman opened her mouth but stopped when Rob put his finger on her lips and his gun to her head. His partner grabbed the utterly surprised man and rolled him out of the bed. The woman calmed down and looked as though she was deciding the reality of the situation.
“This is no dream,” Rob began, still pointing his gun at her. He continued with a deeper voice, “Your husband is under arrest for-“ He looked at his partner, who had the man on his knees and his hands bound behind his back.
His partner didn’t even skip a beat, “Sexual harassment.”
The woman turned to Rob, shocked and confused. He shook his head, “Yeah.”
His partner leaned in and whispered to his prisoner, “our employer doesn’t tolerate theft.” A wave of remembrance came over their prisoner’s face. His face grew wide, his mouth slowly opening. He began to shout in a desperate crescendo, “No….No!...No!” Rob’s partner forced the man into the bathroom, and shut the door.
The woman clutched the sheets and quietly called to her husband, occasionally stopping to let out a confused whimper. Rob still pointed his revolver at her, “He’s being processed by officer Gill.”
A few dozen blows of wood to bone echoed from the bathroom, followed finally by the loud splat. The woman opened her mouth to scream but stopped again at Rob’s advice. He motioned with his gun for her to get up. She was led into her bathroom, where she was at last gagged; the sight of the red hurricane that just blew through her once clean tile was just too much for her. She was made to stand on her husband’s battered corpse. Officer Gill twirled his nightstick around, “take her mugshot, Officer Rob.”
Rob smiled and aimed carefully, “turn to the right!” The woman slumped into the tub.
“Did I hear you call me officer Gill?”
“Yeah. Nice prop by the way, the old-timey stick.”
Gill snorted out a laugh “Go check the rest of the house will ya?”
Rob nodded his head and left Gill to the cleaning. He checked down the hallway and came to the display cabinet again. He picked up the pipe again but noticed something was wrong. The ball shot was missing.
He swung around to see a small boy in his PJs, holding the flintlock up at Rob. He stood there, with gun cocked, very resolutely. Rob slowly put his hands up. “Wait a minute, kid. I’m a police officer.”
The boy aimed more carefully.
“I’ve got a-“ He steadily pulled a badge from his trench coat pocket. “See? Badge.” The boy was silent for hours.
A gunshot, the boy fell dead. Gill stood in the hallway, “what? Not like we’re on clean up.”
Rob shivered and looked at the floor. He swallowed; “Thank god for hardwood, right?” rolled out in an empty voice.
A while later, Gill slid the shower curtain over the three bodies. He looked at his watch, “about that time.” The pair walked out the front door to see a car making its way towards the house up the dirt road. Gill looked around the spacious ranch. “This is some nice property.” Rob nodded his head. The black car finally stopped, letting out two large men. As one opened the trunk Gill stuck his thumb behind him, “In the master bathroom.” The two men entered the house as Gill and Rob were heading back up the hill.
After reaching the top, Rob handed Gill a cigarette and lit his own. As they walked back to their car, Gill added “the badges were a nice touch.”