Mana Pool Snippets - Keystone

Part 4

“Who’s out there? You’re trespassing on pri—“ He raised his rifle poised to fire at anything in the front yard, but was interrupted.

Good thing the alien and terran were to the side. The mercenary raised his plasma pistol and pressed it to Morgan’s right temple. “Ah, shit,” Morgan said, then the human looked. Jaruka stood a foot taller than Morgan, wearing a grey shirt, brown cargo vest, dark brown cargo shorts, and sandals. “You…”

“Evening,” Jaruka whispered. “Walk inside, slowly.”

Hatred surfaced on Morgan’s face. “Hell no.”

Figures. Jaruka pressed a button behind the pistol under the hammer. Green light lined the sides and seven-bullet cylinder, enough to generate heat and radiate out the barrel, onto Morgan’s skin.

“Okay. You win. I’ll cooperate.”

“Good thinking. Do it quick or your head gets splattered across the wall.” Andrea gasped. “Figuratively.”

Morgan backed up, the pistol still pointed at him.

“Close the door, would you?” Jaruka said after all three entered. Andrea closed it and stayed close to Jaruka.

“I know you,” Morgan said. “You’re that alien hanging out near Lake Skinner. The same hanging around the winery.”

“So does every knucklehead out there you people call hippies and lowlifes.”

He took the gun from Morgan. “For a fact, this is more like a peashooter than a formidable weapon.” Jaruka aimed the barrel at the floor, but raised his foot and stepped on it to cause a horrible bend.

“Hey, that was my father’s,” Morgan protested.

“He’s dead ain’t he? Sit down.”

Morgan did as told onto the couch.

Still keeping the pistol pointed at Morgan, Jaruka unlatched from his pant hooks a white cable tie he snatched from the police a while ago. He liked the invention. He tied Morgan’s hands behind his back.

“You make another word and things will get ugly,” Jaruka said. “Where’s your wife?”

Morgan gulped and said nothing.

Jaruka pushed the pistol to Morgan’s forehead. Andrea took a breath. “Relax, kid. Now, where is she?”

He was able to make him look toward the stairs.

“Good human,” Jaruka said. “Stay there and don’t do shit. Scream if he does something stupid, kid.” He still aimed the pistol right to the second floor.

Jaruka found Beth in the bedroom hiding in the closet, but no violence was done. He calmly assured her that nobody would die tonight and wanted to straighten things out. Offering his hand didn’t work either. Andrea called out saying the same thing, and oddly that worked. Jaruka walked behind Beth down the stairs, to the couch, and had her hands tied too.

“You’re decent, for humans,” Jaruka said.

“W-Why are you here?” Beth asked, yet she didn’t cry.

“You can guess why. Me, well, I have an itch to get rid of.”

Andrea sat in a chair far from her parents, holding her tail in both her hands.

He placed the pistol on the coffee table and noticed Morgan flinch. “Ah, ah, ah. No funny business. One false move and I’ll still pull the trigger. Can’t have that, won’t we?”

“Do you even know how many laws you are breaking right now? Do you even know any American laws?”

“This isn’t about your country. This is about your daughter. Right?”