Where to Now?

WHERE TO NOW (SAMPLE READ) Len stayed while TJ and Josie explained the situation, to a visibly upset Mama Nettie. She had felt insulated, from the things she was exposed to in the projects. All of a sudden, it was back in the form of Billy Jack. The same man responsible, for the death of her namesake, and granddaughter, was somehow included. This was going to be difficult for her to digest, but Mama Nettie was a strong resilient lady. She had proven that over and over. Why should she have to prove it? This dear lady had been through so much in her life. Why, now, did she have to face this evil called Billy Jack? Guilt crawled all over Len’s being. He felt responsible. He felt guilty. He felt helpless. What could he do? The only thing he could do. All of them had to move forward and either let, or make, Billy Jack play out his vendetta. Over and over, he replayed the day in his mind. When he came to work this morning, he was concerned about making money. As the day wore on, he was concerned about how he was making money. Len longed for the time, when he practiced the kind of law; he thought was important. Suddenly, out of that time, comes some man. They call him Billy Jack. Had Len left the Solicitor’s office a few months, maybe even days, earlier, he would not have been the prosecutor on the Billy Jack case. Billy Jack likely would have walked away from everything—a free man. None of this would have happened. Today would have been totally different. Everyone would be living their normal lives. Len Arial would be lamenting his situation tomorrow, just like he did today. The real tomorrow would be very different. He stopped at the Piggly Wiggly, and got a cup of coffee, for no particular reason. Len sat in the coffee area, of the grocery store, trying to put himself in Billy Jack’s place. What was he thinking? Was it just revenge? Did he have something else in mind? Who was this man—Billy Jack—that had taken over their lives? Were they in real physical danger, or was the end game simply fear and terror? Could Billy Jack’s retribution be satisfied with terrorizing his victims, and then one day, simply go away? Len was conscious of being tired. His brain’s synapses were to the point, of firing in the wrong direction, or so it seemed. There was his own family that he had not even addressed. If Billy Jack knew as much about both families, as it appeared, chances were; he considered TJ’s family the most vulnerable target. Len was much closer to TJ’s family than the reverse. TJ and Josie knew Anna and his daughters, but that was the extent of it. Anna actually met Josie, when she was working on a drive for a cancer center at MUSC. There existed a level of respect, between the two women. Anna would always feel that she was blessed by being legitimate upper class. She was not racist by any means. Any type of separation by race was not legitimate for her, and she taught that to her daughters. Anna would interact on a work and social basis, but there would be few people, who had the same strata as a Coligny. There was very little traffic, when Len pulled on to the connector. It would be a quick easy drive into the peninsular and his condo. Tomorrow, he would work on all the things; they had discussed. In the morning, he could hopefully work out some way to explain this to Anna. Her first reaction would likely be that this was his fault, for not leaving the Solicitor’s office sooner. In most of the negative things in their relationship, Anna tried to make them his responsibility, so much so, that he barely listened to her anymore. In truth, he just did not like her very much. She was an intelligent beautiful woman, even more so, at this age, than when they first met. She had dated several men, but there were no marriage prospects. Perhaps, in her self-described world, her station was above any prospective mates. On the other hand, maybe, it was easier to pursue her life, with the financial support of her ex-husband and her father. Headlights did not show up on the well-lit connector, like they would in total darkness. This should have been an advantage in looking for problems. It wasn’t. Len checked his rear-view mirror. There were headlights moving very much faster, than his fifty miles per hour. Before he could react, the highlights appeared to be in his back seat. It was a big heavy SUV, with dark windows. Len’s mind raced to come up with some reaction. He tried to accelerate, and exit on the off-ramp, about halfway across the two mile connector. As he pushed the accelerator down, his car lurched forward. The big SUV had hammered his right rear. The off center impact sent his car spinning. Len let the car take its course, and just tried to keep it from crashing into the concrete walls, on the side of the bridge. His car did a complete three hundred and sixty degrees, before Len was able to regain control. He was pointed in his original direction. The black SUV passed by, and stopped in the middle of the right lane, about sixty yards up the connector. Len stopped also, and for several seconds, the two vehicles waited on each other. Several cars went by, in the left lane, looking curiously at the two stationary vehicles. One went by blowing his horn. The driver was yelling at him. What now? The SUV was blocking the off-ramp. Len did not trust his skill to go backwards on the one-way lanes. The SUV had no such compunction. It started backing toward him, straddling the white line, separating the two lanes. It was going faster and faster. In an effort to avoid the unequal collision, Len accelerated to his right. He was trying to squeeze past on the right side, where a bicycle lane gave him more room. His reaction was too soon. The SUV’s driver saw what he was trying to do. With a quick right turn, the SUV made contact at Len’s left rear door and fender. It pushed the smaller car up against the concrete wall, and pinned it there. For several seconds, the two cars sat side by side. Len could not exit any door of the vehicle. His mind was racing, while the passenger side front window, of the SUV, gradually came down. There was a black man with short hair and a big toothy smile. He had on sun glasses. Very deliberately, he made the same gesture Billy Jack had made earlier. He continued to smile, while he raised a huge .44 magnum revolver. Len almost jumped. The Glock: his brain said “get the Glock.” He steadied himself, and opened the console. The gun was in his hand, and pointed at the man, only five feet away. His antagonist’s smile disappeared, much faster than it appeared. He made no effort to fire his pistol, but dropped out of sight. At the same time, the SUV’s tires started spinning. With tires screeching, the SUV went down the connector, and turned on the off-ramp going into West Ashley. Len sighed and leaned hard against his seat. After several seconds, he looked at the Glock. The extractor was in, meaning there was no round in the chamber. After insuring the gun was readily available, and having the poise to take hold and aim, he had not armed the weapon. In a shootout, he would have had no chance. That must not happen again. The terror was escalating much faster than he expected. Len and TJ had to escalate even faster. But escalate how? Where to now?