Chapter 3
A Simple Drop
When the night of the drop came both Otto and Mordy were a bundle of nerves. The thing had to go down flawlessly and Otto made Mordy promise to keep his mouth shut but he was already pissing him off since he showed up with the briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. Otto resorted to chain smoking. It kept him sane. Mordy paced the graveyard like a show lion at the zoo and waited for the guy.
“What possessed you to bring up Pippy?” Otto finally said.
Mordy turned to answer but still kept up with his pace. “Strategy my friend. If we asked about Pippy it would take the thought out of The Horse’s head that we knew he was dead.”
“The guy knows we looked in the box, Mordy.” Otto said as he blew smoke through his nose.
“That Trojan Horse ain’t privy to nothing.”
“He’s probably wondering whether he could trust us or not which is why we gotta deliver extra special on this assignment and do right by The Horse.”
“Agh fuck him and his stupid parable, the hell does that mean, wipe your ass by thinking about it?”
“It’s a warning plain and simple, don’t deviate from orders.”
“So why doesn’t he just say that, what’s with the riddle?”
“He shouldn’t have to say anything. In this thing, you follow orders and don’t question them.”
Mordy wasn’t listening. “My friggin’ wrist is itching the shit out of me. I had an uncle who had chronic eczema. He almost committed suicide over it.”
“See, this is exactly my point.” Otto said.
“What?”
“Our orders didn’t say anything about handcuffs Mordy. Why can’t you just follow simple directions?”
“It’s just a little precaution is all. You’ll thank me later.”
Otto shook his head. It was like throwing water on a rock. Nothing stuck.
“We got a real shot here. If we can pull this off we can get out of this shit hole and move on to bigger and better things just like the guy said.” Otto added.
“You’re preaching to the choir, Otto, I’m on board a hundred and ten percent. It’s a simple pickup and drop-off. He gives us the envelope, we give him this briefcase and we are home free.”
Otto seemed satisfied for now and continued to smoke.
No more than a few minutes had passed when Otto watched Mordy sit on a headstone and start to examine the briefcase. Finally, he held it up, “Wonder what’s in it.”
Otto just gave him a death stare. “Don’t start that shit again. I’m serious.”
“I’m not, we’re just talking here. Can’t we just talk. Prostulate a bit?”
“It’s postulate.”
“Aren’t you curious what’s inside?”
“Ain’t the question whether I’m curious, all I care about is the exchange going nice and smooth.”
“Fine.” Mordy looked away.
He turned back to Otto. “Who is this guy we’re meeting? I mean, why is he so important to The Horse?”
“If the orders didn’t say, then I don’t know, and since the orders didn’t say, then I don’t know.”
Otto fantasized about hanging himself from the apple tree but didn’t think the branches would hold his weight and to make matters worse he was down to only a couple of smokes left in his pack.
When he finally saw the guy step from the shadows just after nine, Otto couldn’t have been happier. The guy wore a beige windbreaker and khaki pants with matching loafers. He was older than he expected. Sixties maybe, but built like a heavyweight. He had a paunch which stuck out of his open jacket but that was to be expected given his age and metabolism. The guy only had hair in the shape of a horseshoe with a bald shiny dome that looked hand waxed. Otto walked a bit toward the guy and Mordy followed a few steps behind, chewing on his lower lip. Mordy did his best to look tough and important.
“Who the hell are you two?” The guy said, cranky and annoyed.
Otto was about to speak but Mordy beat him to the response. “We’re The Horse’s men.”
The Man eyeballed them hard, “You two fags?”
“Fags?” Mordy said. “No, I’m saying we work for The Horse.”
“Yeah I heard that. So where’s the thing?” The guy said.
“We have it.” Otto said and motioned toward the briefcase cuffed to Mordy’s wrist.
“What’s with the cuffs?” The guy grumbled.
Mordy leaned into him. “Just a secondary protection.”
“Against what?” The guy said.
“Thieves.” Mordy shot back as if it was the greatest idea since sliced bread.
“That don’t solve nothing. All they gotta do is chop off your hand and they get the case.”
Mordy didn’t think of that.
“The Horse said you got something for us?” Otto interjected.
The guy pulled out the envelope and held it in the air and Otto and Mordy stared at it like it was an oasis in the desert. That little envelope was their golden ticket and once it got into their hands the drop was done and they could go home winners.
“Gimme the case, you get the paper and I get to eat. I got White Castles in the car.” The guy said.
Otto nodded to Mordy who went to work on the lock as the guy waved a crooked finger at him. “And tell that fat horse next time we do a drop we do it at a titty bar where I can get my balls tickled. There’s one up on Main. Dollar a tickle. I don’t like graveyards. I got enough spooks following me from things I done prior and I don’t need to frequent one of their damn social clubs.”
Otto placated the guy. “We’ll pass that along.”
Mordy was having trouble getting the cuffs off. He leaned over to Otto and half whispered, “The key doesn’t fit in the lock.” If looks could kill Mordy would be in a box. Otto snatched the cluster of keys from his hand and tried to find the right one.
A few minutes had passed and the guy was growing impatient. “I can’t take my pill until after I eat.”
“Sorry about this, just give us a second.” Otto pleaded politely.
The guy mumbled something under his breath then looked around the graveyard. The place was in shambles. Cracked gravestones. Unmowed grass and busted fences. Then he noticed the apple tree.
“Son of a bitch.” The guy said. “That’s an apple tree.”
Mordy looked. “Yes sir, that is an apple tree.”
“It’s blooming in a graveyard.” The guy said and thought for a minute. “That’s disgusting, who the hell would eat an apple that sprouted from the same soil mixed with rotting people.” Mordy turned to the guy and offered his two cents. “Maybe it’s not to eat, you know. Maybe it was planted just for show.”
“Maybe it’s a bad omen.” The guy said.
“How do you mean?” Mordy said.
“Like as a sign this drop is a bad idea.” The guy shot back.
Otto chimed in as he struggled with the lock. “Why is an apple tree a bad omen?”
“I had one once. Years ago I planted a pack of apple seeds I got from the dollar store in my backyard. I took time to find the right spot so just enough sunlight would hit and they’d have enough space to stretch. I watered them damn seeds every day so the soil wouldn’t get too dry. I raised that son of a bitching apple tree like it was a bastard kid I ain’t never had. When it sprouted, I pruned it. When the bugs came, I whacked them. And finally when it was ready to bear fruit, my wife after twenty years decided to start sucking off her doctor on the side. She ain’t got no teeth, which I’m sure he loved. Anyway, the doctor met with an accident but my wife went through with the divorce out of spite. I didn’t give a shit about anything in that house except for my apple tree and she took it from me. Apple trees for me are bad luck.”
Otto shot Mordy a look like this guy might not be right in the head.
“Certain things in life you don’t mess with and a man’s apple tree is one of them.” Mordy said buttering up to the guy. “That was a savage move on your wife’s part if you ask me.”
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The guy slowly turned from the tree to Mordy. “Savage?” His eyes immediately seemed to turn a darker color, like when a wolf sees something he might want to eat.
“Not her, I meant just the situation in general.” Mordy clarified. Otto watched the guy just look at Mordy. Almost through him. He had small eyes which by now had gone black. There was something about the guy, despite his age he seemed more than just a bag man.
The guy just smiled a cold icy smirk and changed the subject. “How’s that case coming along?”
Otto could kill Mordy for this, “Are you sure these are the right keys?” He whispered. “There is a slight chance I brought the wrong set with me.” Mordy whispered back.
“How many different sets you got?”
“Seven.”
“Seven?”
“Eight. Actually.”
“What are you a fucking elementary school custodian?”
“What’s the story fellas?” The guy chimed in. “Shit or get off the pot.”
“Well, unfortunately. It looks like my partner took the wrong set of keys.”
“Oh. Yeah, that is unfortunate.” The guy said.
“I’m really sorry about this sir. This was kind of my fault and I just want to own up here, I did in fact take the wrong keys.”
“These things happen, don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“We appreciate you understanding.” Otto said.
“I understand perfectly.” The guy said. “We’ll just have to hack it off.”
“Good idea, maybe we can find a rock and bust the chain.” Mordy said.
“No, I meant the hand. Hack the hand off.” The guy said, still holding a cold smile.
Mordy and Otto let out a nervous laugh and waited for the guy to join the laugh as well. Only he didn’t. Instead he pulled out a Rambo looking knife from the small of his back which looked more like a midget saw a landscaper would use to cut down a shrub. The jagged edge glistened in the moonlight and he proudly twisted it so they could see both sides of the blade.
“Let’s just hold on a second now.” Otto said.
“Any of you know how to tie a tourniquet?” The guy said.
“Sir, please put down the knife, it’s starting to make me a little nervous.”
But the guy just stood there.
Mordy whispered to Otto. “Otto this guy is not gonna take my hand.”
The guy looked at Mordy. “You called my wife a savage. By rites I got carte blanche to take your hand, your cock and your balls if I so choose.”
“You said ex-wife. I was siding with you.” Mordy shot back.
“She’s a cunt but she’s my cunt, I never said I didn’t love her.” The guy said.
Otto stepped in. “Sir, I promise you my friend didn’t mean anything by it. Sometimes he just don’t have no common sense. I’ve learned it’s a medical thing. The truth is he’s got a condition.”
“He’s right. I got ADD.” Mordy added.
“Look, it’s the case I want and I ain’t got time for alternatives. I’m not leaving this joint on an empty stomach and with no case so make this easier on all of us and lay your arm over on that headstone and I’ll hack it off with one good blow. Don’t worry, I done this before. I got good aim. And I’ll even let you keep the hand. If you get to the emergency room fast they should be able to sew it back on. I might have some duct tape in the truck just to get you by.”
Mordy looked at Otto. His eyes pleading for help.
Otto thought hard about what to do. His only card was to continue to try and reason with him but before he could get another word out he got suddenly smashed in the forehead by the butt end of the steal knife.
Otto went down. His eyes watered. He held his head which by now had started to bleed. He was shocked the old man could strike that fast.
Mordy was no match for the guy who wasn’t leaving without that case. He grabbed Mordy’s cuffed hand and pinned it against a gravestone, pushing his square back up into Mordy’s abdomen, nearly suffocating him.
“Hold still you little shit.” The guy raised the saw high in the air and brought it down on Mordy’s hand but missed. The blade sparked as it connected with the stone. Mordy was terrified but he couldn’t move, the old bastard had him pinned.
“Please sir, don’t take my hand!”
The guy paid him no mind.
He raised the saw high in the air again, aimed it just right this time, the wrist in his full view and was about to strike but then Mordy noticed the guy wore a sudden look on his face like he was about to say something then changed his mind. His eye’s suddenly widened. He never knew what hit him so suddenly, but his legs turned to jelly and he dropped to the ground like a bucket filled with coal.
Mordy started to breathe again and found a dazed looking Otto standing over the guy with a shovel in his hand. Mordy looked at his hand which was still intact and made the sign of the cross with it.
The guy was on his belly not moving.
Otto bent down and saw the back of his head was indented like a machete taken to a coconut. Mordy looked and saw as well. “You brained him. You fucking brained him good, Otto.”
“See if he has a pulse.” Otto said. His eyes still bugged out. He clutched the shovel in case the bastard’s adrenaline kicked in.
“Pulse? What do I know about a pulse? You want me to check his blood sugar too?”
“Just do it Mordy. Fucking improvise!”
Mordy knelt down beside the guy and put his two fingers on his neck just like he’d seen in the movies a dozen times.
“I don’t feel shit.” Mordy said.
“Jesus Christ Mordy. I killed him.”
“Fuck him, that prick, he had it coming. He was gonna take my hand. My right hand. That’s my jerk off hand. You ever try beating it with your left? It ain’t the same feel.”
Otto exploded, threw down the shovel and grabbed Mordy by the shirt and shook the shit out of him, “You son of a bitch, you had to provoke the guy?!”
“I didn’t do nothing!”
“You had to run your mouth about his wife when The Horse specifically told you not to. It’s your fault I had to do this. It’s your fault I had to kill a guy.” Otto looked at Mordy who didn’t fight back. He just looked like a confused high school kid that just found out he got his girlfriend pregnant.
Otto let him go.
He went for his pack of smokes and lit one. It calmed his nerves for a few seconds but his forehead was killing him. He checked to see if it was dented. It wasn’t but there was a quarter sized lump right in the center of his head.
The cigarette dangled from his lips as he bent down and went through the dead man’s pockets and pulled out a wallet. He found a driver’s license. When he read the name and saw who the guy was, he just slumped. “This is Carl Burrow.”
Mordy turned to him, “Don’t play games Otto. I ain’t got the stomach.”
“This is The Meat Grinder.” Otto said, as he got to his feet and showed him.
“Oh sweet Jesus. I mean this isn’t the kind of guy, guys like us just whack out. The old bastard is with the Mattituck Gang. A fucking hit squad. What are we gonna do Otto? I’m mean we are in a real heap of shit now.” Otto thought hard and fast and looked around on the floor and found the envelope.
“We’re gonna deliver this to The Horse and make like this thing never happened, what choice we got?” He picked it up and put it safely in his pocket.
“What about him, what do we do about The Meat Grinder?” Mordy said.
Otto just pulled on his smoke. “We do what we do best, we dig another hole. We dig the best hole we ever dug.”