Free Tuck's Revenge by Rory Flannigan Page B

a
minute?”
    "Sure, what do you need?”
    "The other night after we left, some of us
got to talking about our situations. We decided we need a new
leader. Someone who knows what he's doing, and is more interested
in taking care of business than going out for revenge. We were
wondering if you might let us join up with you?”
    "I need men with me, but how do I know I can
trust you?”
    The guy said, "We do as we're ordered. We are
soldier’s fighters that need a leader. I can't prove you can trust
us any more than you can prove we can trust you. But in time, it
will come naturally.”
    "You know how to ride a bike?”
    The guy said, "Yeah, most of us ride, but we
haven't had the opportunity lately because we've been playing
soldier in military vehicles, but we can ride I assure you. Most of
us don't have a bike like you have, but I can see what we can come
up with if you'll let us ride with you.”
    "Okay, go see what kind of men you can gather
up. We need only men we can trust, and ones that can think on their
feet. I'm still working on getting a base of operations other than
this poor guy’s motel. I think he's already had all the excitement
he wants from me, so I'll probably be moving to a new location
soon, but I don't know where.”
    That's when the guy said, "We know several
good men who will come with us, they just don't want to play army
all the time. We want to live and have some fun, then take care of
business when we need to. We were being used as a Hit Squad with
these other guys, and we were wondering why we got to the point of
eliminating more people than we were recruiting? Lately, we’ve been
in a position where we didn't really want to be, but we didn't know
how to get out without becoming another one deemed a loose cannon
like you were. We agreed to join up to be part of a cohesive group,
not an eventual statistic that was only here to further an Ideology
of others that sit in judgment.”
    "Well, if you’re with me, we will be a group.
But we will be a group that is in place to take care of problems
within the organization. We have a lot of things to do, and some of
those things aren't going to be pleasant. But we have to clean up
this mess before we can start anew a different way, and hopefully a
better cohesion and understanding about who we are, and what we
need to mean to each other. Things are going to get ugly for a
while, and unsavory things will have to be done to get this the way
we need it done. But after we clean it up, all we'll have to do is
maintain it.”
    The guy told Tuck, "Hey, that all sounds
good. How soon do you want all the guys together?”
    Tuck looked at the motel manager and said,
"Can you stand for me being around here a few more days?”
    The manager smiled and said, "Sure, man,
you're welcome here as long as you need.”
    "How about meeting here in a week?”
    "That'll be great. We'll see you in a week.”
They shook hands and headed for the door. And as they were leaving,
Tuck said, "By the time you get back, lose the military shit and
put on some real clothes, and come back on your bikes.”
    The guys smiled and said, "Sure will, and
we'll see you in a week.”
    *****
    Tuck said, "Well we’ve got a lot of decisions
to make, and I'm glad you're here to help. It seems a lot of the
people like and trust you.”
    Boots said, "It's because some of these
people within the organization I've known for years. Even before
there was an organization, some of us were friends and working with
each other.”
    "How attached are you to this motel? I mean,
would you consider serving on the Council, sort of be my eyes,
ears, and even my voice when I can't be there?”
    "It would be my privilege. We can put someone
older here to run it, and I could go wherever we need to go.”
    "Fine then, it's settled. You'll be in the
Council, and I won't have to worry so much about what's happening
there.”
    After the week passed, Boots and Tuck had a
Council picked out, and were waiting for members to