Donny tossed the coffee from his cup to the ground beside the picnic table with a snap of his wrist. He put the cup down and looked around at the scenery. Despite the fact that he was surrounded by some of the most gorgeous landscape in America, he was bored.
Part of the reason for his boredom was because he was used to a lot more activity than he had seen over the past two days. Taking their time, because of Sonny's injuries, they had been on the road for two days, traveling only four hours a day in one-hour increments. The rest of the time Sonny was sitting around or sleeping.
The slow pace would require them to take sixteen days to reach home. This was still better than waiting two or three weeks for Sonny to be healed enough to handle a direct trip home.
They had reached the south campground of Zion national park. This was a rugged land with a landscape unique to it. Tall rocky uplifts rose from the flat ground to reach the sky. Erosion had etched jagged features by removing the softer stone. Rubble created by landslides littered the base of the escarpments. The surrounding plain was filled with wild grasses turned brown by the heat of summer. Cottonwood trees stood as if watching the slow geological processes as work. No one could visit it, without feeling overwhelmed by it.
Sonny watched his brother with an amused grin on his face. He knew that his brother was sitting there wishing he had a horse and could take a long ride instead of being stuck in a campground.
Sonny said, "Calm down and enjoy the scenery."
"I'm bored," Donny said.
"Just think how bored you would be sitting around Pepper's apartment waiting for me to heal," Sonny said.
Donny asked, "Are you ready to tell me what happened while I was gone, and you were back in Los Angeles?"
"I guess so," Sonny answered.
There were still a lot of things that he was trying to come to grips with about the past month. The hardest was coming to accept the fact that he had killed four people. He still had nightmares about the shooting in the hospital.
"I suppose I ought to start with the robbery," Sonny said.
Donny said, "Now you're starting to sound like Hank."
"Did I ever tell you about the time that Hank found himself in a tree with a Bobcat?" Sonny asked with a grin.
"No, and if you do, I'll hit you in the stomach where you got shot. I'm marrying into that family and I'll be hearing that story on every family occasion from now until doomsday," Donny said.
Sonny laughed.
"Don't laugh too hard. I'll be inviting you over," Donny said.
Sonny nodded his head and then said, "That day started like any other. I went to work and sat behind the register ringing up the purchases of hookers, drug addicts, and homeless folks. That store didn't have the best clientele. Anyway, I had been there for about an hour and a half when the two gang members showed up. I could see that they were nervous and acting odd. They kept standing so that their faces wouldn't be visible to the surveillance cameras.
"I knew they were up to no good. I took out my cell phone and snapped off those two pictures that you saw. I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking at the time other than a general belief that having photographs of them would come in handy."
"I can understand that," Donny said.
Sonny said, "I nearly wet my pants when they pulled out their guns. I picked up that piece from under the counter and just aimed it at the center of mass of the nearest guy. When it went 'click' after I pulled the trigger I remember thinking, 'Oh God.' I was totally convinced that I was going to die. I was never so scared in my entire life. I guess I wasn't the only one scared there. That guy threw an arm up to cover his face. He couldn't see me at all. To tell the truth, I think his gun was aimed at the ceiling. I wasn't paying attention.
"Thinking that I had a simple misfire, I turned the gun to the second guy. He covered up his face and was pointing his gun three feet over to the right of me. I pulled that trigger and heard a second click. At that moment in time, I would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that I was a dead man.
"Well, I wasn't going to die alone. I tossed the gun at the nearest guy and climbed over the counter to go after him with my knife. I figured that if I could get his gun that I would have a chance. I think that he thought I had actually shot him when the gun bounced off his head. He literally turned and ran off while firing back at me. That's when I got hit the first time."
"Jeeze," Donny said.
Sonny said, "You know how in the movies they always show heroes getting shot a dozen times and they are still running around?"
"Yes," Donny answered.
"Don't believe it. I knew I was shot and I was not running anywhere," Sonny said. "It felt like someone had taken my legs right out from under me. I was falling to the floor when I got hit the second time.
"I was lucky. They were at the door of the store by that time and still not taking time to aim. If one of them had paused, even for just a fraction of second, to take aim, I would have been dead. They were about fifteen feet away from me and I was basically defenseless."
Donny said, "That has to be most horrible feeling in the world."
"You can't imagine it," Sonny said, "I laid there on the floor for a full five minutes before someone came in and found me. I couldn't tell you who it was. I think it was a woman, but I'm not sure. Whoever it was called 911 and then left. I don't remember too much after that until waking up in the hospital. I do remember talking to a policeman and two medics working on me. The policeman kept asking me about who had shot me. I remember thinking that I didn't want my last words to be about a couple of assholes."
Donny smiled and said, "I know what you mean. You really wanted to tell everyone what a great brother I am."
Sonny snorted and said, "No. I wanted to ask them to bring a stripper to show me her titties."
"Great last words," Donny said.
"I can't tell you how happy I was when you and our uncles showed up. That hospital bed was lonely. I really didn't think I needed the gun Uncle Joe gave me, but I can tell you that I felt a whole lot better having it around," Sonny said.
It had been very difficult keeping that gun from being found. He had to keep hiding it in different places when the nurses can into the room to do things. Under his pillow wasn't a safe place when they changed the sheets. In the drawer was safe until they started straightening up his stuff.
Sonny said, "I'll never forget that night when the three gang members came into my room. I was just lying there, wide-awake in the dark room, thinking about the robbery. The only light was from the window and it wasn't much. When the door opened, I knew there was a problem. I can't tell you why I knew that ... just that I did. Maybe it was the noises they were making were wrong, or the smell of them was off. I really don't know. I grabbed the gun and hid it under the sheet.
"When the first one pulled out his piece, I brought that gun up and shot him dead center of the chest. I can tell you that the other two were surprised as hell. They stood there looking at the guy I shot for what felt like forever. While they were staring at him, I was fumbling with that damned gun."
Donny frowned and said, "I didn't think to tell you about it."
"It looks like a semi-automatic, but it isn't. That's the kind of surprise you don't want in the middle of a gunfight," Sonny said. "I got the next round in the chamber about the time the second guy was raising his pistol. I shot him dead center of the chest. The third guy got a shot off that went into the bed right next to my head. I shot him.
"I can still see the surprised expressions on their faces. It was like the idea that I would defend myself was incomprehensible to them."
Donny said, "As far as I can tell, the members of those gangs think there are two kinds of people in the world — gang members and sheep. You weren't either of them."
"You might be right," Sonny said.
"So what happened next?" Donny asked.
"I left the room thinking that I had to get out of there. For all I knew, there could have been a dozen more gang members hanging around the hospital. Truthfully, I wasn't even thinking about the police," Sonny answered, "I don't know where the nurse was, but she wasn't anywhere in sight, and I wasn't about to hang around to find out. I hit the stairwell running.
"I went down to the second floor. By this time, I was starting to recover my wits. I kept thinking that there would be a gang member by the exit of the hospital and that I couldn't go out that way. I really didn't know what to do. I went out and scouted around the second floor. I guess to everyone there, I looked like a patient wandering around rather than a guy on the run.
"I found a little balcony. There was a telephone pole that came up right next to it. I looked around to see if there was anyone below. There wasn't, so I tossed the gun to the ground. Like an idiot, I jumped over to the telephone pole. Let me tell you, that was a mistake. I should have just jumped to the ground."
"You've mentioned that a time or two," Donny said.
Sonny said, "When I hit the ground, I picked up the gun and skedaddled it out of there."
"I've got to know one thing," Donny said. There was one question that had been bothering Donny for the longest time and he had never had a chance to ask it.
"What?"
He asked, "How did you call Uncle Dan?"
"You're not going to believe this," Sonny said, "I found a homeless guy passed out behind the parking garage."
Donny said, "Don't tell me you rolled a drunk."
"No. He had a cell phone sticking out of his pocket."
"You're kidding!"
"No. I swear ... he had a cell phone. I borrowed it, and called Dan," Sonny said.
"I never would have believed it," Donny said shaking his head. "I know what happened while I was here. What happened after I left?"
"Dan decided that he had to make sure that I wasn't a suspect in whatever happened to the gang. He was convinced they would hang me based on circumstantial evidence unless I had an ironclad alibi. He kept telling me to be surrounded by police whenever something was about to happen.
"I turned myself in with a lawyer right there beside me. They put me in the hospital as a result of some song and dance by the lawyer. He is a good lawyer. Even while the police were taking me into custody, he was screaming lawsuit. I had no idea how terrified of lawsuits the LAPD is.
"I stayed in the hospital for two days and the doctors released me. The cops had to decide if they were going to put me in jail or let me go. The lawyer convinced them to let me go," Sonny said.
"Lucky you," Donny said.
Sonny said, "The plan was that Calvin would act like my guardian angel. He was never much more than a hundred yards away from me at any time."
"The gang member who got shot in front of the hospital made the national news," Donny said.
Sonny said, "Calvin shot the gang member who had come to the hospital. While I was in the hospital, he was on top of a building down the street. He had been about to leave when he saw some members of the gang drop him off there. He watched as they gave him a pistol, so he knew he wasn't there to sell cookies door to door."
"He made a good shot," Donny said.
"Yes, he did. He's going to have nightmares about that, too," Sonny said.
Donny said, "Now you're out of the hospital, what happened next?"
"I had a problem when I was released from the hospital. I knew Uncle Dan was going to pay the gang a visit that night. I had nowhere to stay where I could establish an alibi, so I decided to try to get a restraining order against the gang. I figured that if I was in the county clerk's office that would give me a pretty good alibi. They gave me the bum's rush and I left with a stack of forms. I headed over the police station barely getting there before Uncle Dan unleashed his wrath on the gang," Sonny said.
"That was impressive," Donny said. "We're going to have to hear the story of that from Hank. He'll tell it in all of the gory details."
"That's a story that will take a weekend to tell," Sonny said shaking his head.
"At the least," Donny said.
"I figured hanging around a police bar was about as good of an alibi as I could get, without being too suspicious. I didn't know the detective working the case hung out there, too," Sonny said.
Donny said, "You're underage."
"No one ever asked me for an ID," Sonny said shaking his head. He grinned and then added, "I guess they don't figure someone who is too young to drink is going to hang around a police bar to do it."
"I guess not," Donny said.
Donny asked, "How did Calvin manage to blow up the gang members, when they tried to shoot you in the hotel?"
"I don't know," Sonny answered. Seeing the expression on Donny's face, he added, "We didn't really have a chance to talk much. We figured that it wouldn't go well for him if he was seen with me so we were left with texting each other on 'throw away' phones."
"I can see that," Donny said.
Sonny said, "There was another attempt on my life that Calvin stopped. That was another drive by attempt after Uncle Dan burned down a couple of their drug houses. Calvin shot the driver while I ran like hell to get out of there."
"It sounds like you were having a rough time," Danny said.
Sonny said, "I didn't go anyplace except the police bar. It wasn't easy getting around while keeping Calvin informed about what I was doing."
"So what were you doing at the police station when you go shot?"
Sonny said, "Detective Saperstein had learned about the visit by Uncle Dan, Uncle Joe, and you. He didn't know who you three were, but he wanted to find out. The nurse clearly remembered Uncle Dan because he was smoking. He had called me to come down to his office to answer some questions the day that I got shot. It was purely by chance that I ran into him outside the police station."
"You were lucky," Donny said, "Uncle Dan said that Calvin never saw them drive up until you had already shot them."
"I haven't talked to any of them since that afternoon," Sonny said.
"Uncle Dan and Uncle Joe were a little angry that you had gotten shot," Donny said.
"I saw the video on the news while I in the hospital," Sonny said.
According to the news stories, witnesses were saying that the individuals responsible were homeless men. There wasn't a consistent description of the men, but the stories told by witnesses were remarkably similar. Two homeless men had shuffled up to the parking lot pushing shopping carts. They had suddenly started throwing Molotov cocktails and bombs at the gang members. Everything after that point was confused.
"Then you know as much as I know," Donny said.
Both men were quiet while they looked at the magnificent view from their campsite. Both of them had a lot on their minds.
Sonny broke the silence. "This thing has really messed up my head."
"In what way?" Donny asked.
"I killed four men. I know of at least six that Calvin killed. I couldn't even hazard a guess how many men Uncle Dan, Uncle Joe, and Hank killed. It weighs heavy on my mind," Sonny said softly.
"I wish I knew what to say to you," Donny said.
It seemed to him that there wasn't much to say. Sonny had acted out of self-defense. Calvin, Uncle Dan, Uncle Joe, and Hank had done what they had done out of family loyalty. Donny knew that he would have been right there with them if he hadn't been sent back to the ranch.
"There's nothing to say," Sonny said.
Donny smiled at Sonny and said, "Imagine that ... your big brother is at a loss for words."
"Will miracles never cease?" Sonny said feeling a little better.
"It sure is pretty out here," Donny said.
"Yes, it is. I'm feeling a little tired. I think I'll get some sleep," Sonny said.
"You do that," Donny said, "I'll hang around here and see if we get any neighbors."
"Thanks," Sonny said.
"For what?" Donny asked.
"For letting me talk some of this stuff out," Sonny answered.