Rock had just come out of another “establishment” when two guys met him outside by his car. Each of them carried an iron pipe about 18 inches long, something they liked to use to intimidate people. Didn’t seem to work well with Rock though. “Stop nosing around in things that don’t concern you”, said one man. “Yeah, or maybe we need to teach you not to get involved,” said the second man. I don’t think he should have said that to Rock who was twice the size of that second man.

“I think you need to be taught some manners little man,” said Rock casually. The man swung his pipe towards Rock. He grabbed it, pulling the man in closer and one punch knocked him flat on the ground, and out. The first man then attacked but Rock used the pipe he took and stopped the other man’s pipe, then he again grabbed it and soon that man was on the ground as well. He then carried them back inside and tossed both of them on one of the tables. “Hey!”, said an older gentleman, “I was winning!” Rock stood up straight and said, “you want to complain?”

The man never said a word. “Now, I asked before, I want to talk with the owner of this place,” said Rock, “and I mean now!” Rock was soon being escorted to the main office, a very beautiful room, with a man sitting at a very large desk. There were screens around the room so the man could see everything that went on in his “place”. “Okay, you’re here,” said the man, “looking for a job?” “I got a job already,” said Rock, “I’m looking for a man.” “Yes, I know, but I could use someone like you, right here, nice steady job and double your present salary,” said the man casually.

“I doubt it,” said Rock, “I get 10K a month, plus commission. Now, what about Harold Stanton? You obviously know him or you wouldn’t have sent those ‘boys’ out to talk with me. A mistake that surprised me.” The man looked at Rock. “I’ll still double your salary,” he said casually, “now forget Harold, you’re going in over your head.” “You’ll have to talk with my boss about that, he wants Harold, including what he’s up to,” said Rock, “he’ll pay good for information. And he does not like when people try to warn him or threaten him.”

“I’ll say it again,” said the man, stroking his mustache, “you are getting in way over your heads. Stay out and you won’t get trampled.” “My boss does not like threats, I told you that,” said Rock with an angrier tone, “he has more muscle backing him than you could dream of, and he is here to stay, perhaps even taking over your territory, just for fun. Now, let’s go downstairs.” The man got up and went to press a button under his desk but Rock moved the desk out of the way so fast the man didn’t have time to do anything. Then Rock grabbed the man and nearly had to drag him downstairs where I was waiting at the entrance.

“So, you don’t want to cooperate,” I said. The man looked around and saw men all over the room, with guns out, and a couple others taking pictures of the guests. It was a good night, the governor was there, the mayor and other officials and most had been speaking out against places like this. “As I told your man here, stay out of this, you are in over your head and you will get buried quickly if you stay around,” said the owner. “Anyone that wishes to leave better do so now, or you won’t be able to,” I called out.

People got up and left quickly except the workers. “That means you people too,” I said again, but no one else left. I nodded and my men started trashing the place and gathering any money they found. Rock and I took the owner back to his office so he could open his safe for us, which he did reluctantly, though one hit from Rock made him more cooperative. After the safe was open Rock knocked out the man and we took everything in the safe, including a number of files. Then off we went. Driving away Kat asked if we got anything good.

“There might be something helpful on these discs”, I said, “but probably nothing too interesting. Important things will be stored somewhere else. We were just trying to be annoying to him tonight, now we have to watch him and see what he does.” “Is he the man we want then Steve?”, asked Jennifer. “No, but he is involved,” I said, “there is someone bigger behind this. And I think the main reason here is Harold works in that top secret research facility. Someone wants information from there, or wants to sabotage something they are working on. This is not a simple kidnapping, they are making sure that Harold cooperates.” Just then our light starts blinking. “There we go,” I said, “he’s making a phone call already, let’s listen in.”

To Be Continued.

©2021 Steve McLeod.