A Very Good Man by P. S. Power Read Free Book Online

Proving Jake's point. No one who wasn't crazy...
  The debate started then.
  Quietly.
  After ten minutes Jake put his weapon away and started dragging the bodies out. He'd made a mess and dried blood stained. Then he washed up and followed Ken and Sammi into the kitchen to help with the dishes. They were already working, the light wouldn't wait after all. Those would be needed in the morning after all and people died all the time, it wasn't a good reason to skip out on the task.
  Just before they were done getting the dishes all onto the wooden drying racks, they used six of them, large things that Burt had made early on, another shot came from the living room. Jake motioned them to the floor as he turned to run in, crouched low. Trying not to get shot, he poked his nine millimeter, a dull black, held in his left hand, into the room and peeked in, only his brown left eye around the frame. He knelt close to the ground. One of Holsom's crew, Smelly, laid on the floor, wet glistening in the dull light from where the top of his head had been. He had a gun in his hand, and it seemed that Dave had taken exception to it. Good. Now he wouldn't ever have to bother learning the man's real name.
  That should have illustrated the point well enough, but most of the people wanted to give them another chance anyway. Throwing someone out into the night was... Harsh, and no one wanted it to happen to them later, so they argued against it as a precedence. In the end the three remaining men were allowed to stay. Jake would have fumed, but didn't bother. He'd probably still have to kill them all. The vote had been... instructive though. Not because of who voted for letting them stay, that was nearly everyone. No, it was the dozen people that had voted against it that caught his attention.
  Nearly half the cleaners did, right off the top. No hesitation even. Tipper and Dave led the way, and both the other team leaders, Vickie and Carl. Vickie's screamer, a fifteen year old boy named George did too and the old guy from Carl's team, Barry. At least thought that might be his name. The man was ancient, pushing fifty at least maybe older. He was good though. The rest voted with everyone else.
  The others that could see the problem for what it was made less sense.
  Lois, the older kitchen lady and Burt voted against letting the men stay. So did Carley, but since she hated all men, that kind of made sense. The other two... Sammi and Ken. They went last too, even knowing that the vote would be going against them and that doing it would make enemies. It was clear they were making a point. Jake got it at least. Sammi spoke for them both.
  “They're dangerous and lazy. If we let them stay it's going to come back and bite us later. We should take them out back and shoot them right now. If we don't, we're going to regret it. I'll do it myself if someone will lend me a firearm?” It was too dark to make out her facial expression and she whispered, but the tone didn't sound teasing.
  Jake didn't speak his mind, but that about summed it up. Maybe he could sneak the girl a shotgun later? No one would blame a little kid for executing the men, right?
  He, personally, would sleep easier if they were dead. It felt nice to know that at least a few other people could see that too. It worried him that more didn't.
  It worried him a lot.

Chapter Two
 
 
 
The screaming woke Jake up with a start, a flash of cold poured over him and he considered freezing even while his body moved, grabbing the sidearm under the mattress he slept on. It was trapped under the right edge, the handle of the forty-five sticking out. That meant the whole thing came clear of the holster easily. He rolled to the right so that his back would be to the wall. He'd done this often enough that the move was almost smooth now. Not really fluid, but pretty good for having been asleep. He brought the weapon up and automatically thumbed the safety, cradling the thing in both