"just turn around and slowly walk back to the room where you came from," he said. we didn't argue. bear hit me in the back with the barrel of the gun as we entered the motel room.

"hey!" i said.

"shut up, or i'll blow your spinal column away!" he said.

"who are you anyway?" i asked.

"captain nicely," he answered. god, was he two hundred pounds of ugliness.

"carlee."

"it's ok honey, it's ok." bear made us sit on a bed, then he pulled a cell phone from his pocket. he dialed

"got 'um, miss boling. no, no problem. yes, wait just a minute. hand me your purse miss," he said to me. he rummaged through it and said, "mccord, carlee, yes, no, the boy is with her. no unharmed, twenty six or seven, wait, ok, twenty seven. will do." he put the phone back into his shirt pocket.

"now, do you care to explain," i said.

"we wait," bear said.

"we're at a disadvantage, captain nicely, you know us but we don't know you."

"that works for me," bear said. "my boss will be over soon. my instructions are to see that you stay right here." he pointed the shot gun at me. sidney wiggled up closer to me. bear watched, but didn't do anything. half an hour passed. the door opened, and this lady, girl, walked in. bear jumped to his feet. she was over six foot tall and skinny. her hair was very blonde and cropped short, her face contained at least three horrible scars, one went down her left eye, part of the brow was missing, it continued to her chin, she appeared to have a contact lens in that eye. her blue eyes were piercing. sidney hugged me tightly around the waist, she was scaring him.

"kidnapping is a crime, miss mccord," she said.

"i've comitted no crime, ma'me, sidney came with me of his own accord and the person seeing after him seemed relieved."

"she wasn't when she called my office," the tall lady said.

"must have changed her mind then," i answered, with an obvious bit of sarcasm. my phone rang. "may i answer that?" bear looked at skinny. she nodded.

"hello."

"carlee, you're late," came the voice of pork over the phone.

"i know that sir," i replied.

"you're not alone are you?"

"no."

"is sysco there?"

"i think so."

"shit, be nice girl, i'll be there as soon as i can, be nice, she's a hit man, lady." i hung up.

"how soon before your back up arrives, miss mccord?" she asked.

"soon, miss boling," i answered.

"i will make my conversation as brief as yours on the phone. the people who work for me are protected by security, so are their families. the word we got was that you snatched the boy, if this is disputable in your mind, i'm sorry, we're taking the boy and we strongly suggest that you get out of town."

she meant it.

"no!" sidney yelled. "i'm staying with carlee."

"you don't work for me kid and you don't have any choices," sysco said.

"they don't treat me good, lady, i'm staying."

"that will be up to your dad, son. now, come with me." sidney ran straight for the bathroom, closed and locked the door.

"shit!" hollared bear.

"it's ok louis, just go out to my car and bring in the tools!" she shouted. "and you, you sit your ass back on the bed, mccord!" louis burst out the door, and burst back in backwards quicker than he had left. he landed against the wall and fell to the floor.

"what in the goddamn hell is going on in here!!" pork pie shouted. louis bounded off the floor and grabbed his shot gun. pork pie kicked it out of his hands and it landed about eleven feet to his right. he knocked sysco over with his right hand, she landed on the bed with me. louis reached for his left pants leg.

"watch his hand pork!!" i yelled.

"push him carlee, push him!!" he hollared. my foot recoiled to his back leg, and he tumbled over to the floor. pork reached down and retrieved a pistol for louis's leg holster, pointed it at him and held him at bay.

"you're making a big mistake, anderson," sysco said.

"no asshole, you've made one, fuckin' with my friend," he replied.

"carlee!!" sidney yelled.

"it's alright baby, it's alright," i told him. sysco stood, towering over pork.

"this ain't your business, pork pie," she said.

"fuck you sysco, goddamn you, get on the horn and get that son-of-a-bitch sypes back here as soon as possible."

"no, he's got work to do."

"look, you motherfucker, i'll have him towed back if i have to, it's my truck. and get that ugly bastard out of here before i shoot him," he added. "i mean it sysco!"

"go on louis, i can handle this," she said, as she motioned him out.

"miss bolin, i can......."

"just go louis, call terry and tell him what happened, tell him everything's alright. now go."

"no louis, you tell him to turn my fuckin' truck around and make it back here as quick as he can, he's fired."

"you can't fire him pork pie, he works for me."

"and you work for me!" he shouted.

"i rent from you, you contemptuous old bastard, i rent your trucks."

"if you had room for another scar on your face sysco, i'd make one goddamnit, you did rent my trucks. now get 'em all back to me by noon tomorrow. find yourself some other trucks.! i mean it sysco!" he added.

"now pork pie," she smiled. "look man, we offer security to our guys, that's all. terry's old lady called us and said that his kid had been snatched, we just did what we promised the guys, how the hell did i know she was your friend." her voice softened. "get the kid out of the bathroom carlee, i need to talk with him, we need to talk with him."

i got up and knocked on the door. asked sidney to come out. "no one's going to hurt you baby, it's over, please come out," i said. the door unlocked and sidney stood, frightened, in the doorway.

"hey kid, sidney, damn good to see you again," pork said.

"hi mr. anderson, good to see you too." sidney ran to pork pie and hugged him around his big belly. pork pie had on his regular hat, i wouldn't know him without it. sidney started to cry.

"now, now, goddamnit, i know it's been a hell of a night sid, being kidnapped and all, but it's ok now."

"carlee didn't kidnap me, mr. anderson, she bought me new clothes, and boots." he kicked them up for pork to see.

"and damn fine lookin' they are," he smiled. "and was carlee goin' to take you home with her?" he asked.

"i would like that."

"that wasn't my question kid."

"what the hell is this anyway, pork, if i were going to take sidney home with me, i wouldn't have stopped at this damn place," i responded.

"i know angel, just proving a point."

"for who, your business associate?!" i was angry. "since when do fucking security people carry sawn of shotguns in the first place, and if i'd have spit in louis's face, do you think he wouldn't have shot me?!"

"now baby, calm down," pork said.

"don't you tell me to calm down, pork pie anderson. i'm perfectly goddamned calm. calmest goodamn person in the goddamn room. if you're trying to appease this bitch, and if you're trying to piss me off, you're doing a first rate job."

"business is business miss, and i've known the porker a lot longer than you have," sysco replied. i was totally confused. whose side was pork pie on?

"ok, ok, let's get on with this thing, we're scaring sid," pork calmly said. "where is sypes, sysco?"

"toledo."

"you call sid's guardian.."

"whore," sidney said.

pork looked at him with an annoyed expression.

"as i was saying, call terry's friend and tell her you got everything under control, tell her we have a call into terry and the kid will be staying with me until he gets back."

"that may do, but mavis threatened to call the police if we couldn't find him."

"so, tell her we've found him, she can talk to him over my phone," pork pie responded, as if the problem were solved.

"we don't need the police," sysco said. "let's just drive over there." i picked the shot gun off the floor, and bolted seven casings from it.

"this is illegal, you know," i said to sysco.

"what ain't," she answered. outside, pork pie was driving a mini-bus, not a mini-van. "you takin' your show on the road pork pie?" sysco asked.

"i just came by this, it suits me, it was cheap and comfortable. now git in, and i don't need any wise cracks." we drove back to terry's, parked out front and proceeded to the mail boxes. i knew the box for terry, and buzzed it. nothing. "do it again baby," pork pie said. still nothing.

"she was here a few hours ago," i said.

"gimme that goddamn shotgun!" pork pie snarled.

"calm down pork," i said. "who your nearest neighbor sidney?"

"mrs. benson, she lives next to us."

"beverly?" pork asked.

"yes," sidney asnwered. pork pushed mrs. benson's button. no response.

"what the fuck is this shit!" he hollered. "if that fuckin' bitch called the cops....we're all in trouble." he glared at sysco.

"yes?"a feeble female voice answered.

"open up," pork said. "we need to get in the sype's apartment."

"i can't do that, you'll need to contact the super," she said.

"by god!!!"

"quit grumbling pork pie, for christ's sake. mrs benson," i said, "sidney is with me, and he doesn't have his key, could you please beam us up?"

"sidney?" she asked.

"please mrs. benson, let us in, we think mavis walked out." she let us in. "thank you mrs. benson." i said.

"god almighty, it's as hot as a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire," pork pie said as we entered terry's apartment.

"it smells too," sysco added.

"what in the hell do you pay your drivers anyway sysco?"

"a hell of a lot more than this dump costs," she answered. sidney looked embarrassed. i hugged him.

"it's ok baby. mr. anderson will get you a new apartment, a nice one, i promise." sidney smiled.

"nearer the school?" he asked.

"by the school, if we can find one," i answered.

"goddamnit!" yelled pork pie. "pack all this shit up, right now. sid is gonna come and live with me."

"i want to live with carlee," sidney said.

"well she's welcome too, it's up to her, but you and your dad can live at one of my places sid. i'll put you through high school and law school and you can sell drugs for sysco, deal?"

"sidney smiled. "and can i have a new watch?"

"i'll buy you an atomic watch kid."

"bambi?"

"shit, i'll get you one with a picture of god on it if you want, i know this guy that's got hundreds of them runnin' up both his arms."

"carlee," sidney stammered. i bent over and hugged him.

"what, baby?" i knew pork pie anderson well enough to know that these living circumstances rivaled his, when he was growing up. i didn't know about sysco boling, and really didn't want to. we packed up all the "shit", as pork pie called it. and filled the back of pork pie's "pig mobile" as we would later call it. the nation was secure. for the moment.....