Some Men Need Killing

Men kill for many reasons: jealousy, power, wealth, and vengeance among them. The desire for vengeance, more than any burden of the soul, has a bitter taste while endured and sweetness like none other when satisfied. Hoping to reduce the darkness in his soul, Tony traveled to South Carolina to kill Alfred Rheiner, the father of the brothers who attacked Jack while he was in ninth grade, and Sandy three years later, while she was a senior in high school. Tony would love only a few women in his lifetime although none with greater intensity and consistency than Sandy. His plan to kill the father of the Rheiner brothers was for Tony merely a logical extension of his desire to retaliate for the attack on Sandy. And yet for Tony this meant far more than revenge. There could never be justice in his world if anyone who intentionally harmed Sandy was alive and happy. As he drove to South Carolina he savored the killing he was about to commit and he thought about the attack on Sandy that motivated him—and in many ways defined him. It was the day after Thanksgiving, a time when family and friends gather to celebrate life. Tony was playing three-handed pinochle with Jake and Enrico when Jack rushed in and shouted, "The Rheiners are attacking Sandy, Tony!" "Where?" Tony demanded, as he rushed forward and grabbed the car keys from Jack's hand. "The Oaks," Jack replied, as blood from his nose and mouth dripped on the Persian rug in Enrico's den. Tony drove Jack's car to The Oaks, a hangout for high school and college students, at a dangerous speed with Jack and Jake not far behind. Enrico remained behind, thinking it best not to appear at so common an event as a fist fight among young men. Tony pulled up as close as possible to the entrance and as he ran into The Oaks he noted that the brothers were seated next to their dates in a booth not far away. For a young man his size, Tony was quick and agile as he demonstrated by grabbing a pitcher of ice water after taking only one step inside the hangout. With a continuous movement of athletic beauty he took only two more steps before smashing James Rheiner directly in the face, shattering the glass pitcher into hundreds of pieces. Carl Rheiner occupied the right side of the booth and before he could respond to the attack Tony struck him squarely in the face with the back swing of his powerful right fist. Because Carl was still conscious and a possible threat, Tony beat the hell out of him with rapid downward punches to the head, breaking his nose and jaw, and spreading the blood of violence even onto the screaming dates of the brothers. Tony had moved rapidly, surprising friend and foe alike. His enemies reacted next as he felt a wooden chair smash against his back and shatter. He turned quickly and extracted his eight inch knife from its sheath with his left hand, expecting to use his right fist and arm as both a weapon and a shield while reserving his knife for killing, if that was needed. Four young men stood in front of Tony like wooden soldiers. They were anxious to defend the Rheiner twins, their fraternity brothers. But they lacked experience in violence, especially against a formidable adversary who had demonstrated a love for brutality and had quickly seized a weapon. One fraternity brother held the remnants of the chair, so Tony went at him with a frightening rage while holding the other three at bay with his knife. After two blows from his right fist the young man was on the floor and barely conscious as Tony kicked him repeatedly in the face, spreading teeth and blood across the floor. If they had any hope of defeating Tony, it was lost when Jack struck one of the three standing fraternity brothers in the left knee with a savage swing of his baseball bat. Jack had arrived with Jake, who now stood at the entrance with a pistol in his right hand. It was pointed at the floor. Jack and Tony had vowed they would settle the score for the attack by the Rheiner brothers on Jack three years earlier. The four fraternity brothers who accompanied James and Carl Rheiner home for the Thanksgiving break didn't know this or of the capabilities for violence Jack and Tony possessed. More importantly, they didn't know of Tony's feelings for Sandy when they engaged in rough house pushing and shoving of a young girl who they frightened to tears. But they were learning, and the lesson was not yet complete. Now that there were only two fraternity brothers standing, Tony taunted them. "Okay, you two fucking cowards, how do you want it—Jack's bat or my knife?" Both young men were crying and one urinated as they held their hands in front of them with their palms facing out. They looked at the blood, teeth, and exposed bones of their four fallen friends and pleaded for mercy. "I swear to God, I didn't touch her. The Rheiners did it all—please don't hurt me," shouted one of them. "He's right! He's right! For God sake, don't kill us," added the other. Tony was enjoying it. "Jack, if either of these cowards move, I'll slit their throats. Your job is to break four legs—see if you can do it with four swings." Jack was up to the task and when he finished his bat was literally dripping blood. Even Jack and Tony's friends were sickened by the violence that had been displayed. Still, they expected all that they had seen when Sandy, Tony's Sandy, was treated inappropriately by six young men; and when the same six men behaved stupidly, roughing up Jack whose father was an Italian criminal, when he tried to protect her. And yet, there was a surprise in store as Tony turned and said, "Nobody harms Sandy without getting cut." He moved toward the Rheiner brothers with fury in his eyes.