HOSTIS (Now On Webnovel and Coming Soon To Goodnovel and Meganovel)

Turnabout Is Fair Play

Turnabout Is Fair Play

Auto Garage, Fourth Street, Unknown City, Unknown State...

     Under cover of darkness, a lone figure draped in a black hooded sweatshirt and clad in denim jeans and moved about with white sneakers made its way through a small alley where an auto body shop remained open. The on-duty worker had been a moderately skilled mechanic by the name of Harrison Tucker who had been notorious for being a stickup man before he was caught and imprisoned before getting his job at the shop. He often bragged to anyone who would listen among his coworkers about the scores he took before he was caught and how he would do things differently if he ever dared to venture back into a life of crime again.

What he didn't know was that his bragging and careless selection of his work jumpsuit had gotten the attention of an unintended party that had been heavily invested in seeking him out. The way the police saw it, Tucker had been a bit too chatty and the wrong person seemed to show up at the right time. Or at least that's what the official report had been. They were on to Tucker for a while after discovering the jumpsuits matched the uniform of the mechanics from the shop not too far from the diner. It was also the nature of the crime that screamed "talentless armature" and then some.

The figure slipped into the back of the shop, mindful of the cameras and intent on causing bodily harm to the men inside. A black mask hid the face of the would-be assailant as the figure continued to move about in the shadows. It wasn't long before one of the mechanics came into view.

Tucker, was alone drinking his daily supply of beer and working on an old model car for a few hours before he found himself shot, once in the back and again in the neck as his body collapsed amid his workplace. Blood stained the jumpsuit and sprayed all over the shop floor before he took his final breath.

The shooting seemed to alert a second mechanic who seemed to have come out of the backroom with a gun of his own, but he'd been right in the line of fire from the lone figure and was hit with a series of shots before his body collapsed onto the ground leaving a pool for fresh blood for whoever walked into the place to find.

The figure in jeans and white sneakers vanished after the shooting. A clean getaway as the officers arrived at the scene upon hearing reports of the shooting. Their initial plan was to haul Tucker in for questioning but made their move all too late. The dead accomplice had been on the list as well but there was little they could do about him now. Both men were D.O.A and more questions remained.

Of course, the two robbers picked up at the scene of the initial crime began to sing like canaries once they noticed their "leader" was good and dead.

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Open Road, Unknown City, Unknown State...

Alexei awoke to find he'd fallen asleep on the side of the road with his lover's gray jacket draped over him and a bottle of half-drunken vodka beside him. It was clear how he spent the night as he took a few moments to get used to his surroundings before settling into the seat and placing his hands on the wheel. His pale blue eyes glanced toward the glove compartment before he put the key into the ignition.

The previous night had been something for the books. He started the engine in time to hear yet another familiar tune Lonnie liked to play when driving. A small smile filed across his face for the first time in a long time as he took off down the road and headed into a local gas station. He had enough of that previous town to last a lifetime.

{"What's your name?"} crooned the radio. {"Who's your Daddy, is he rich like me?"}

Lex recalled Lonnie explaining the group responsible for this tune being referred to as The Zombies and that it was called Time Of The Season.

It wasn't a terrible song at least and reminded Lex of Lonnie. More distinctively the part of the song asking "Who's Your Daddy?"

Shaking off the effects of sleep, Lex turned into the station and parked at the nearest gas pump. Normally he hated being the one to get gas. Socializing had always made him uncomfortable but seeing as he had no choice these days, he pulled on Lonnie's jacket and walked inside the gas station.

"I need $20 on pump 3," he said after approaching the nearby counter.

The clerk, a seemingly heavy-set older man with graying facial hair, wearing thick black horn-rimmed glasses and a red and black checkered shirt seemed absorbed in the news segment he was watching via a small television on his side of the counter and simply nodded while taking the cash.

The news report had indicated that two mechanics were found dead possibly linked to an attempted robbery that failed and resulted in the near shooting death of the hero of the hour missing doctor Hadrian Rawsone.

Lex had only been seconds from taking his leave but had wanted a pack of Lonnie's "cancer sticks" for the road. He'd gotten used to smoking them and at the very least they reminded him of the man he couldn't help but love.

"It's an awful shame about what they Mechanics tried to do to their own town as if getting your car fixed wasn't risking some form of robbery by them types already." muttered the clerk.

Lex nodded in agreement knowing how he felt after coming from the shop himself.

"Defiantly thieves the lot of them." he found himself saying.

"Well, it's a good thing that Doctor Rawsone was there for them people and whatnot now he's back home with his little wife I'd wager." said the clerk turning back to his television after accepting payment from Lex.

On his way out, Lex heard the television mention that the formerly missing Dr. Hadrian S. Rawsone had been recovered following the attempted robbery and had successfully thwarted the plans of said robbers in the process.

He stopped before leaving and turned back to the clerk.

"The missing Doctor, he's been found?" he inquired with an arched brow.

"That's what they said." replied the clerk in his yokel accent, "Found him the same day as the robbery at the diner and flew him to get treatment, but that was a while ago."

Tears nearly burst from Lex's eyes as he took in the image of the man he believed to have been dead only a few hours ago.

"Lonnie," he said before walking out leaving the clerk to scratch his head and turn his attention back to the television he'd been watching.