LaFiamma? A Marine?
By Etch
Part Three
A noise on the porch woke Levon, "Ten-thirty... bout time you got your body here, boy," Levon mumbled sleepily as he stumbled to the door, totally forgetting his partner's orders about not opening the door to anyone who might come calling.
"'Hey, LaFiam..." Levon started, Joe's name catching in his throat when he saw four Marines in battle fatigues standing under his porch light. The cowboy snapped awake, suddenly remembering LaFiamma's words.
"We know," replied a sweet voice, to the left, "he's probably exhausted by now from being used by our great illustrious Colonel. Or is it the other way around." Paddock laughed. "We never did know who was fucking who."
Levon swallowed hard, Joe's description of Paddock fit the man, and if they knew Joe wasn't here, that meant they were here - for him.
"'Course with General Swietoniowski there, they might not get to bed... less the Old Man insists on a threesome," Boldly pushing past Levon, Paddock walked into the cowboy's living room. "Then again, my friends and I thought we'd see just what kind of a lover our old Captain has for himself now. You sure don't look like much. You are his lover, though... right?" Paddock demanded, gesturing to the three men who had followed him into the house. "My informants are rarely wrong."
"I believe you gentlemen are...." Lundy started, wishing LaFiamma would hurry, remembering too late that Joe said he might not be there and not to wait up for him.
"He's calling us - gentlemen!" Cardinal laughed, grabbing the Texan by the shoulders and giving him a sloppy kiss on the neck. "LaFiamma tell you about the game he invented?"
"Yes, he did," Levon asked, a quiver in his voice, fear in his throat.
"Good," Lieutenant James Tomas Paresley IV chortled, clapping his hands together, "then you know what's coming ...don't you?!" And before Levon could react, Paddock embraced the cowboy pinning his arms to his sides. "STRIP EM!" The Lieutenant shouted gleefully, grinning from ear to ear as Mikey and Cardinal stripped off Levon's boots, socks, jeans, shorts.
"You... you can't do this," Levon protested as his bare feet hit the cold wood floor.
"Hey, Sergeant Lundy, we are doing it," Warsaw laughed, loving this part of the game. Making a man dizzy, twirling him one way and then another as his shirt is stripped off.
"Where shall we put him... gentlemen?" Paddock teased, pushing his already hardening cock up against the cowboy's bare thigh.
"Outside... outside... he has a swing on his porch," Mikey yelped, clapping his hands together. "We can stand him on the swing and tie his hands at the top! Man this is going to be the funniest time we've had in a long time," Mikey Loomas purred, running to hold the door open as Paddock lifted the stunned Texan off his feet and walked to the porch.
Standing back, looking at how helpless the Texan was, strung up like a fly caught in a spider's web, they burst out laughing and gave each other the high five.
"I get the front," Paddock shouted, starting the game, "you guys divide up the rest. One... Two... three... GO!"
Joe had explained the game. But it wasn't until the Texan felt a tongue licking up each side of his leg... a mouth nibbling on his butt... one of his balls being swallowed into a mouth... that he understood why the prey is driven to unconsciousness. The pleasure is so great, so intense your brain can't handle it. He wondered if anyone's brain had ever exploded.
Lundy moaned with the pleasure of it. He heard a voice, repeating over and over again, 'it's so good, god, its so good,' and he knew it was his voice. Twenty minutes into the game, Levon was babbling. Forty minutes into the game, the cowboy's head rolled from one shoulder to the other, stars... gold, and red, shooting off behind his closed eyes. He didn't know how much more he could take, couldn't keep focused, couldn't... but when they reached up to his hands, his eyes popped open.
"Don't stop...., please don't stop yet," the blond cowboy muttered, wanting the pleasure. Enjoying the pleasure.
"Suck him off, Paddy!" Mikey yelped, excitedly, anxious to see his friend swallow the Texan's cock, working it with his throat.
Levon's body jerked forward and back as he exploded hot liquid into Paddock wanton mouth. Then he was still. Too still, Cardinal thought, lightly touching the blond on the nipple to see if he would get a reaction.
"HE'S OUT! Come on, let's get him into the bedroom," Paddock said gleefully, stepping up to the swing to release Lundy's wrists.
"BBB... bedroom, what you talking about?" Cardinal asked nervously, looking from Mikey to Warsaw and back again. "The game stops when the prey whites out. That's the end. We leave him here for LaFiamma to find."
"Are you kidding?! Leave this specimen of a hard-on unfulfilled... mine of course, not his. No way, gentlemen... come on, help me get him down. We can relieve ourselves in his ass, and listen to him scream for mercy at the same time... it's a pleasure like you've never experienced." Lieutenant Paresley looked around, "What you guys chickening out on me!? Mikey? Look how hard you all are... come on!"
The three backed away, silently realizing that the stories they had been hearing about this man were indeed true. Nodding to each other, they scooted into the ranch house, grabbed their clothes and exited the back door, dressing as they went.
"Guess its you and me, cowboy." Paddock said, licking his lips, slinging the limp Texan over his shoulder, he ambled back into the house, kicking the door shut with his foot
"Just you and me, cowboy," Paddock sang as he walked down the hall looking for the bedroom.
"Here we are. Let's see..." he said, tossing Lundy onto the bed. "Shall we start face up... or face down... sure a dilemma," Paddock chuckled, turning the blond onto his stomach. "I just had it in my back pocket here... oops, no pants right." Moving off the bed, Paresley trotted to the door and looked for the package he had tossed down the hall when he burst through Lundy's door an hour or so ago. Spotting it next to his left foot, he reached down picked it up, and unwrapped it as he walked back to the bed.
"I love you guys and your four-poster beds. Makes these tethers work a lot better... an ankle here, a wrist there and you're done."
"Huh," Lundy moaned, lifting his head, when Paddock jerked his arm out. "Wha? What you doing?" Levon asked groggily, his eyes growing large as saucers at the hard-on flopping on the bed inches from his face.
[][][][][]
"Don't you think we should call LaFiamma?" Warsaw asked fearfully. Stopping at the edge of the woods, looking back and seeing the tall handsome black carrying LaFiamma's partner in the house.
"I got a wife and kids, man," Cardinal chirped, "we call, we could be accomplices. "We... we can wait and see if he shows up for work in the morning."
"Damn, where's my belt buckle," Warsaw quizzed looking around. "My dad gave that to me. It's from Poland. I can't leave without it," Jon said sorrowfully, this night was turning into more than he bargained for.
"The Captain is in a meeting with Generals Smith and Swieton... whatever his name is. You want to disturb them." Mikey asked, crouched behind a tree.
"If it was my partner that Paddock had, you're darn right I would." The Polish officer replied. "My belt buckle... did you see it?"
"There was a shiny silver thing on the floor by the coffee table.... In there!" Michael Parsons Lyst answered, pointing back toward the house. "Warsaw, let it go, you can't go back in the house, what if he finds you?"
"It's from Poland! It was my dad's!"
"Okay," Cardinal squawked, " we'll get the car and bring it into the driveway, lights off. Get in and out as fast as you can."
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"You like that do you, cowboy?" Paddock mused, grabbing handfuls of blond hair. "You ain't going no place, dude. You're tied tighter than a hen at roasting time." Skillfully holding Levon's head in place, Paddock used his other hand to guide his cock across the blond's face, pushing into nostrils, ears, under the jaw line... and finally into the mouth. "You best lubricate that good. Or it's going into your ass raw... red hot and dry."
"Yeah... why don't we just do that... lover of LaFiamma! Let's just break open the anus and start some fissures a' bleeding here. You know what fissures are, don't you?" Paddock chuckled, moving around on the bed to position himself between Lundy's legs. "Fissures... those little... sometimes big... cracks in the skin that happen when something too big goes into or out of an area that is too small. Scream all you want, Lundy, ain't nobody here but you and me."
[Oh, god, Joe, forgive me. Forgive me for not waiting, for not listening.] "AAARRGGGGHH"
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Jogging around to the back of the house, Warsaw took his shoes off, tied them together and laid them around his neck. Cautiously, noiselessly, the Pole edged into the house, through the kitchen, down the hall to the living room. A scream from the bedroom stopped him cold. He plastered himself against the wall, steeling him against the screams of pain coming from the bedroom.
Jon's eye caught a reflection of light on the living room floor. He quickly dashed across to pick it up, accidentally bumping the coffee table as he bent down to pick up his prized belt buckle. Again he froze, his eyes darting around the room for a place to hide as he heard Paddock say, 'looks like someone came back for the fun, don't go way now.' Finding no mirrors or pictures that would bounce his reflection to the entry, Warsaw made a quiet dive for the back of the sofa, bringing his knees to his chin.
Lying on the floor, Warsaw eyes were glued to the bare feet on the floor on the other side of the couch. Holding his breath, he didn't dare breath for fear of discovery.
"Maybe the guy's got a cat. Probably needs one with a barn that big. Hey, what's this?" Paddock replied, stopping to look at an open box on Lundy's desk. Picking up the pocket watch that Caroline Lundy had given her husband, JTP twirled the chain around his finger. "Well, well, you never know where you're going to find a kinky sex toy."
Warsaw looked at his watch, waiting five minutes, then ten, before slowly, quietly getting to his feet. He quietly, step by step, began retracing his way to the back door. Suddenly Warsaw stopped, Pad had left the bedroom door wide open, could he get past without the tall, husky, hairy man seeing him. He paused for only a moment before the decision was made for him. A blood curdling scream from the gentle man they had tied to the swing, and the sight of a bloody cock being withdrawn from that man, spun Jonathan around and he made a dead run down the hall and out the front door, letting the squeaky screen slam behind him.
"Well, cowboy," Paddock whispered, leaning his lank body across Lundy's back, "Looks like there was someone in the house after all. Bet he got a good show. If he's a runner, he'll be calling your friend and mine. We still got time to play though... takes a while to drive out here."
Barely conscious, pain shooting through his body, Lundy's head jerked at the musical sound that came from Caroline's watch when Paddock opened it.
"Uh, soo... this is recognizable, eh? Another lover? Wife maybe? Why don't we just turn you over, and see what this little chain can do to bring you off."
Jumping off the bed in anticipation of more pleasure, Paddock gleefully twisted the naked cowboy's body as he first transferred the tethered ankles to opposite bedposts. Moving to the headboard, the deranged abuser straddled Lundy's chest, allowing his cock to bang into the detective's face as arms, wrists were retied.
"Like that do you? Why don't we just give you a taste?" Paresley suggested laughing, letting his cock fall across Levon's lips.
Levon's, "Ohmygod, NO!" was trapped in his throat as bloodied flesh jabbed its way in. The Texas gasping for breath jerked from side to side in an attempt to dislodge the man. Then he was still.
Pulling his cock free, Paddock bent down and whispered, "Don't worry dude, I ain't going to kill you - yet! We still got time for the grand finale .. and don't worry about screaming for it... I'll be kissing you while I push in .. deep and far... right up to your navel."
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[Geez, I'm out of practice for a four mile run. Wait till I see those guys who were suppose to wait for me.] A persistent honking, than a siren alerted him to someone, something coming up behind him. Slowing to a walk, and than stopping, Warsaw swallowed hard as a Harris County Sheriff car pulled along side him.
Excitedly mumbling in half English, half Polish, Jon pulled out his wallet, but instead of taking out his Minnesota drivers license, he handed them a card that LaFiamma had jokingly made for him once, but that had proved lifesaving on more than one occasion. It stated that he was from Poland, in the U.S. doing training with the Marines in San Antonio.
Frustrated in their attempts to communicate, one of the deputies got on the radio to ask for a Polish interrupter. Within minutes a patch was made to a sleepy language professor from Rice University, and Warsaw was explaining only that he got in to Houston and someone holding a poster at the airport said he would take him to the address he had.
Handing the crumpled slip of paper, with the hotel name and coded phone number on it to the deputy, Jon faked total astonishment when the officer pointed to the paper and said this is at the airport. "That? Airport?"
Jon watched as the back door of the police car was opened and he was offered a ride. "NO, NO.... I didn't do anything wrong? NO."
"It's okay," the overweight deputy said, "we will take you... to this address."
"NO...no.... in my country... you ride with police.... You never seen again!" Warsaw exclaimed wide-eyed backing away. Jon glanced at his watch, god he had to get to the Captain. "You sure... you not take me to jail... throw away the key."
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LaFiamma's tanned, limp body lay across the black body of his former lover. It had been the most wonderful, sensual experiences they'd ever had together. They were relishing in the joy of making love without pressures, without demands, when the call came. "I'd like to do this again sometime, Sir," Joey whispered, sucking on a chocolate earlobe.
<<*Loud ....KNOCK...ING... !*>>
"What is it? Come, Gerald," Smitty called, his hand sliding under the sheet to his young lover's groin as he sat up.
"It's...." Gerry began, shocked at how General Smith looked. He had seen them in bed together many times before, but never had he seen such euphoria on Smith's face. "For Captain LaFiamma. It's Cardinal. Paddock... has Lundy!"
"OH, SHIT!" LaFiamma roared, throwing back the sheet. "Is he still on the phone?"
Swinging his legs off the bed, he motioned to Gerry to get his clothes, wondering how many times in the past that the man had done this same thing... getting clothes for Smith's lovers.
"LaFiamma... Cardinal... slower, man... Bird man... use your language." Joey listened intently to Carroll's half talking, half-sobbing report being given to him Portuguese.
"Where are you now? Come to the Airport Marriott. I'll give you back to Gerald, he'll tell you where to come and how to get up here. You don't talk to anyone! You hear... No cops, Bird man!"
The detective-Marine handed the phone back to Gerald, red mad fire burning through his veins. The light touch of his old lover did nothing to extinguish the pain he felt. The pain he knew his partner was encountering at the hands of this sadist.
"Cardinal, Mikey, Warsaw and Paddock went to Lundy's ranch tonight," Joe said slowly, too angry to even make a move for the clothes next to him. "They tied him in a standing position on his porch swing. Paddock took the front, Cardinal the back, and the other two on each side. It took an hour of seduction before he finally blacked out. The three took off when Paresley said it was off to the bedroom now. Their last vision of him was carrying Lundy over his shoulder into the house." That thought, of his partner totally helpless, spurred the Italian into action.
Standing LaFiamma began reaching for his clothes, knowing he should be moving faster. His partner's life depended on his speed of action. He also knew things had to get done in order to save that life.
"Gerald... I need you to put out another code... Code RED ... PD ...CV - Houston. Handsome! I need a med-vac to transport me to Lundy's ranch... the 41st Combat Support Hospital has some in the area... get one! When people start checking in, I want Lundy's house cordoned off. Closed tight. No cops. No media. Same for the hospital... a corner we can isolate. Lundy is the only witness we have to Paddock's rape assaults. I want him isolated... I will notify my civilian Lieutenant later." Joey rattled off orders as he dressed. "How many have checked in from the first Code Red?"
"Twenty-five, so far," Carrot-Top replied trotting into the sitting area to his laptop, "and that includes two Med-Vac choppers."
"25!" Joey yelped, stopping in his tracks, half way to the door. "That many?"
"I told you, you were a good Marine, Joseph," Smith said, wrapping a blue silk robe around his wet glistening frame. "Should have more than a hundred..., if you need them. Handsome puts out an order that he needs help... they'll come. I told you they would."
The General caught Joey by the shoulders, jerking him backwards, turning him around, saying, "you did a lot more in the Corps, son, than just suck cocks. I'm sorry if that is all you remember doing. You did a lot of good things for a lot of people. I am honored to have enjoyed your company in and out of bed. Anything you want... on any radio... just say 'General G. W. Smith has ordered it... and you'll get it. Now get going... Gerald and I will see that BTGH is made ready for Lundy."
It took Joey a minute to translate BTGH into Ben Taub General Hospital, remembering that they have the best Trauma Center in the area.
KNOCKING....*POUNDING*... on the door.
LaFiamma jogged to the door, as he opened it Warsaw fell into his arms. "Cap.....cap.....pad....lund.... blood...."
"Easy, Jon, easy. Take it easy," Joey replied as Smith raced to his side, they half carried the exhausted ex-Marine to a chair. Slowly the story of what happened came out, the same details that Cardinal told, but also the escapade in the house and what he saw. Of the cops that had picked him up, but dropped him a couple blocks from the hotel. They had followed him as he ran. He hadn't been sure if he was going to make it to the hotel before they believed or disbelieved his story and tried to stop him. He said he zoomed through the lobby to the stairs and got on the elevator on the second floor.
"Wolf, Hummer and Hawk still downstairs?" Joe asked, turning to look at Gerry. "Good, take care of this man, and tell them I'm on my way down. Time's a wasting. Paddock's had Levon for a couple of hours already. Radio Hawk on where the chopper is picking me up."
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Gracefully emerging out of a crowded elevator at a slight jog, Joey did a fast walk toward the entrance. Giving a low whistle of alert to his men, Joe watched Hawk turn in his direction, nudging Wolf as he turned. Reaching the group, Joey looked at the two cops. [Great, a couple of airheads with big mouths picked up Warsaw.]
"Your unit outside?" LaFiamma asked, without missing a step, he continued through the group to the parked police unit idling in a No Parking Zone. Against the protest of the officers he reached in for the microphone that lay on the dash.
"Dispatch. 9215. Patch me through to Sergeant Gutierrez." Joe waited impatiently, drumming his fingers on the top of the car, knowing his partner could be dying by a Marine's hand, or more likely the Marine's cock. Estaban came on at the same time a parked camouflaged Hummer emitted a signal indicating a call.
"Estaban! LaFiamma. You still know that guy with the bloodhounds? ... Great! Call this number... tell them you work with me... then meet me at the address they give you with the man and his hounds. And amigo," Joey replied earnestly, "A cowboy's life we know... depends on this."
"Captain..." Hawk called as Joey tossed the mike back into the police car, "the chopper will pick you up about a half mile down the road. The Pollock told them where a field was for landing."
"You mean the cock-and-bull story that Polish guy gave us was the truth?" One of the officers asked.
"Yeah! And the seconds he lost by having to run those last blocks may cost a man his life," Joey roared into their faces, oblivious to the tourists going in and out of the Marriott. "You just better hope that your stupidity doesn't cost a man his life, or you will have a hundred Marines in your face!"
[][][][][]
Giving directions to Lundy's ranch as they drove, Joey also gave them a description of Estaban. He knew he could count on Hummer and Hawk to get things done. Creating a small dust cloud, the Hummer roared to a stop on the empty lot opposite the idling chopper.
Joey bolted from a side door running full speed for the open door of the chopper, knowing all too well his partner could already be dead at the hands of this maniac. He paid no attention to the person inside the chopper who called his name, he just reached for the hand and jumped. As the bird took off, he looked around, "Jody!? Amy? Sal? What are you guys doing here?" Astonished to see paramedics he knew.
"What are we doing here?! We beat out two other Med-Vacs as soon as your Code Red came through. We know Handsome doesn't put out a Code Red unless something heavy is going down." Amy answered, reaching out to shake Joe's hand.
"Who's the CV involved?" Sal Dillard quizzed.
"I'm a Houston cop... a detective... the CV is my partner, Levon Lundy. Who's your pilot I need to give him..." Joe began, looking between Sal and Amy to the pilots.
"Levon Elmer Lundy?" One of the pilots echoed... "I went to Texas A&M with a Levon Lundy."
"That's him," Joey started, "just follow the..."
"Hell, I know where he lives," came the answer, "I used to buzz him and Fooler all the time."
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"Come on, cowboy, wake up!" Paddock yelled, slapping the blond across the face. "Come on, it ain't no fun if you're unconscious... the watch chain around your cock too much.. or maybe it was my bloody cock down your throat, huh? The Captain's going to be really mad when he sees you, but the pleasure was all mine... all mine, Sergeant Lundy, all mine."
Leaning back on his haunches Paresley looked at his handiwork. The Texan was covered with blood. His face. His chest. His genitals. The rectal bleeding had stopped, but what had come out was now smeared in delicate, sensuous areas of the groin, chest, neck and face. "Our Captain... will walk in here and blow his cool. Yes, Sir, Captain Handsome will think I cut you up good. It has definitely been a pleasure, Lundy. Definitely a pleasure. You want to sleep a bit, go right ahead... yup... rest up... get yourself rested for the next push... the one that blasts right through your rectum into your colon, making the biggest the hole the doctors will ever see."
Moving onto his knees Paresley leaned over the blond cowboy, dropping his head down, extending his tongue, Paddock lightly stroked Levon's neck. The tongue flicked around the Adams-apple up to the chin, along the bloodied lips which to Paddock's surprise opened. "What? You want more, do you?" The tormentor whispered, "or is that what LaFiamma does to arouse you?"
Lundy's eyes shot wide open, he struggled against the knee prodding his balls, against the tongue pushing into his throat. "Hey, boy... you invited me in." Paddock laughed, pulling back. "Ready for the final finale, are you? The big push... where this hard-on I've been saving pushes through the top of your rectum into your colon and explodes out your navel. You ready for that pain, cowboy?"
Roughly grabbing Levon's buttocks and lifting the man off the bed, Paddock aimed his cock for the prize he'd been waiting for... grinning he watched the head of his cock disappear.
Levon bit his tongue against the pain, silently praying that his lover would get there soon. An unfamiliar sound caught his ear, and in spite of the pain, and the trickles of blood he felt wetting the bed under him, Levon tilted his head to listen. [Lord, I hope that chopper I heard is real.]
"What! You hear somethin'?" Paddock demanded tilting his head back to listen. "A chopper? HE'S CALLED OUT CHOPPERS!!?"
Paddock listened again. It was indeed a chopper, a military chopper, hovering close. "Damn you, LaFiamma! You are spoiling my fun again!" Pad roared at the top of his lungs, moving off the bed, and hotfooting it into the living room to find his pants, shirt and shoes. Picking up his under shorts, he made one last stop in the bedroom. "Just so you know who did this, Handsome, I'll leave my monogrammed shorts as a signature."
Quickly looking around for the pocket watch, James T. Paresley spotted it on Lundy's stomach. Reaching for it, forgetting that he had wrapped the chain around the cowboy's penis, he was taken aback when it resisted. Looking down he fumbled with it, though he knew he was losing precious minutes, he wanted this watch.
As bloodied fingers unwrapped the watch's chain, Lundy muttered, "Please Paddock... no more. I'll... I'll do whatever you want... please don't put it in me again."
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The chopper hovered over a truck convey waiting for a break to set down on the highway in front of Levon's driveway.
"Hell!" Joey shouted, "I didn't know there was this much traffic out here in the middle of the night. We gotta get down, man!"
"To hell with it! We're going down," one of the pilots shouted back. "You four take off what you need and I'll go back up, when I see you coming through the trees I'll set down again. Maybe your Marines will be here by then to hold back the traffic."
Cars, trucks, skidded to a halt as the large helicopter landed on the two-lane road a few feet from the start of Lundy's gravel driveway. Tapping the pilot on the shoulder, Joey shouted, "Pass the word... this is a closed operation... no cops... no media."
"You got it, LaFiamma," came the shout as Joe disembarked behind the uniformed paramedics.
Racing up Levon's driveway, ahead of the paramedics who were running with a basket gurney laden with medical equipment, Joe took the Texan's front steps in one leap. Down the hall, rounding the corner into the bedroom, Joey grabbed hold of the doorframe to keep from gagging at the sight before him. "Oh, Mary, Mother of God... may he be alive." LaFiamma gasped, staring at the man he loved, blood everywhere.
Amy, Jody and Sal brushed past him, busily getting to work on their patient. "He's alive," Jody whispered softly, pressing two fingers to Levon's throat.
Sal grabbed Levon's wrist, holding it while he cut the leather tethers binding the cowboy to the bed.
Words that would overshadow LaFiamma's own nightmares, burst forth from his partner's lips. "... please... no more...can't take no-more...."
Tightly through clenched teeth, tears running down his face, Joey said, "Paddock... I'm going to kill you - one piece of skin at a time."
Sal's head jerked up, "Paddock? James Paresley did this? This is his handiwork?" The medic growled angrily.
Joey merely nodded, his eyes watching Jody slowly, meticulously checking her patient, cleaning, washing body parts so she could check for damages. Looking over her shoulder at LaFiamma, she replied gently, "foreign matter in the mouth... that's all so far... looks like he was smeared with blood for show."
"Paddock's claim to fame is rupturing the rectum, and releasing his erection into the colon," Joe answered, stepping forward away from the wall, moving to the end of the bed.
Looking at Sal, Joey asked, "You know him?"
"KNOW HIM! I WAS ENGAGED TO BETTY SUE!" Sal spat out angrily, "I was with her mother... when... when we had to identify Betty. I want in on his castration!"
The voices around Levon drifted in slow. There was one voice he latched onto, "Joe?" Levon croaked through a swollen throat.
"Levon," Joey called softly, gently, moving quickly from the end of the bed to the left side. "Don't talk partner... paramedics here."
Lundy felt the tender touch of Joe's fingers along his jaw. "He... he's got... Caroline's watch."
"The watch Caroline gave you for your anniversary before she....died?" Joe asked, not sure he should have used the word died.
"He wrapped the chain around my... he used... I... I opened the door... for them." Levon said hesitantly, eyes closed, too afraid the voice he had latched onto would disappear if he opened them.
"Hush up, cowboy... let the paramedics here, transport you to the Trauma Center. I know these people, Levon... they'll take good care of you."
Standing, relief that Levon wasn't dead sweeping over him, LaFiamma nodded to Jody, then to Sal. "Keep me posted. You can contact me through this number," Joey said, writing the coded phone number on a corner of her clipboard. "Wait a minute. I need something of Paddock's for the bloodhounds that are coming."
"Found these on the floor," Jody answered, handing Joe a pair of blue shorts with the initials JTP on them.
"Absolutely beautiful... blondie..." LaFiamma retorted winking at her. "You always were you know... beautiful." He said with a grin.
Walking onto Lundy's front porch, while the medics prepared to transport his partner, his lover, Joe stood looking at the porch swing, leather tethers still hanging from the rings of the swing. "Damn murderer came prepared for everything."
"Captain LaFiamma, Sir," a voice from the past called.
Turning toward the voice, Joey stared in disbelief at the fifteen or so Marines standing in Levon's driveway. "Charlie...?" Joe started, "what the hell you doing here?" Looking around the area, LaFiamma discovered that Hummer, Wolf and Hawk had arrived. Obviously, Joe thought, the Marines had landed. And beyond, off to the side, the Italian saw Estaban and a man who looked to be a hundred.
Charles Farmingham stepped forward. "Your orders, Sir... this is a closed operation. No cops. No media... we have a team to take care of the crime scene. Get evidence to the court martial. We're putting a team together for the hospital... third floor... end of the hall, Sir... per your request."
Joey's eyes skipped from face to face. Each man was someone he had worked with on past missions or had helped train. "Sure hope, no one left a wedding," he said jokingly, as he walked down the steps.
"Rehearsal, Sir," someone blurted near the end of the line. "Was glad to get away."
It took LaFiamma a second to remember that was code for: my in-laws are in town, thanks for the respite.
"Okay, so you all know where I stand on this matter... in real life... I am Houston cop... a Detective for the Major Crimes Division. The CV is my partner! He is the only living witness the Marines have to Paddock's dastardly deeds. I want him protected at all costs! No one! And I mean no one, outside of the hospital staff, myself... and this cop!" Joe blasted, pausing momentarily to point out Estaban, "this cop... Sergeant Estaban Gutierrez... is the only cop allowed in Lundy's room until you hear further from me."
"YES, SIR!" Came a chorus of response.
"Okay, let's get the bastard!" Joey shouted, tossing the under shorts to Wolf. "Let the dogs get a whiff of this. Let me know when you find a trail leading out."
Estaban stood next to the two men who had met him at the driveway, awed by what he saw happening in front of him. All these men had worked with or for LaFiamma when he was in the Marines. All respected him... enough to even leave a wedding rehearsal to come to assist him, not even knowing what it was until they got here.
"How much head start does he have? Is Renegade... Mum, here?" Joe asked scanning the group of men.
"They are already in the woods," came the answer somewhere in the ranks.
"Joey..." Amy called, as she descended the steps, followed by Sal and Jody, tenderly carrying Levon in the basket between them.
Only those standing close to him, saw the misting in the eyes of their Captain as he turned. LaFiamma stood still waiting for the paramedics to reach him. Joe heard Estaban's gasp of surprise at seeing the blond detective's bloodied face and bandaged wrists.
"He's worried about the watch, Joe," Amy said upon reaching him. "Something about 'that man' hiding it where it will never be found."
"Joe?" Came a hoarse croak from the stretcher.
Dropping to his knees next to his partner, his lover, LaFiamma's men got a first-hand look at the bond between Lundy and LaFiamma. Lightly touching his lover on the jaw as he had done in the bedroom, Joey whispered, "Levon. I'll get Caroline's watch, don't worry."
"But... but he said ... you'd never find..."
"Partner... you know how persistent I am," Joey answered, his hands not leaving his lover's face. Smiling to himself as he heard several Marines next to him echo, "oh yes, we know how persistent he is!"
Nodding to Amy, LaFiamma bounced to his feet, and waited until the medics were well up the driveway before he asked, "Anyone here on detail when Paresley tried to smuggle that contraband into his friend in Ginnia."
"I was, Sir," a black-haired Asian American said, stepping forward.
"How was the contraband smuggled in?" Joe asked quietly, looking directly into the man's face.
The Marine gulped, looking around somewhat embarrassed.
"WELL - MARINE! HOW - DID - HE - DO - IT?!" Captain LaFiamma shouted, stepping nose to nose to the man.
"In... in his ass, Sir. Like a tampon... in a plastic bag... with a string. Sir."
"Thanks, son," Joey found himself saying, patting the man on the shoulder.
"CAPTAIN! THE DOGS GOT THE SCENT! LEADING AWAY FROM THE BARN INTO THE WOODS!" Wolf hollered from the side of the house.
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Paddock rested against a tree, panting. Looking at his wrist, he discovered he had forgotten his watch, and he sure wasn't going back to Lundy's house to look for it. Nor was he going to pluck the other one out. He had worked too hard to get it into his special hiding place. He'd never had to run for his life before. He had always had time to lay back and relax and watch the reaction of his prey when they came to... if they came to. He looked at the moon reflecting off the lake in front of him. It had to be two or three in the morning by now. 'bout the time his dad would be getting up to go out for an early morning fish. He hadn't seen his dad in years. Didn't even know if the man was still alive. But he remembered his father never slept more than three or four hours a night. The old man was always, always awake when he tried to sneak in late.
Moving down to the lake in front of him, JTP unbuttoned his shirt, and splashed cold mountain water onto his hairy chest. Staring down at the dried blood entwined in his chest hair, he tried once again to cup his hands and splash water onto himself in an effort to remove the evidence of the crime that he carried with him.
"Wish I could have seen LaFiamma's face when he walked into that bedroom. Bet he damn near collapsed. Whatever happens, it was damn fun. Would have liked to have had his woman, but the Captain's man... just as good. Just as good." Buttoning his shirt, he started back up the hill towards the meadow.
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"Damn, LaFiamma, I ain't used to running like this," Estaban huffed. "Let alone in the dark.". Looking over at LaFiamma who looked barely winded, the Mexican cop asked, "what's going to happened when we catch this guy? You turning him over to Beaumont?"
"Beaumont? This is a Marine matter, Estaban. Didn't you hear me give the No cops order? I'll let Joanne know in due time. You're here as a guest. If you want out... you'll be in detention until I'm done."
"I didn't say I wanted out, LaFiamma. Just wondering why you asked me?"
"I asked you, because you are one of the few cops other than Lundy I trust. What's going to happen to his guy? What did you do to Serpentine. That and worse, my friend. Much worse."
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Paddock froze in his tracks, listening, tilting his head one way and then another. "Dogs? They got dogs after me?"
Somewhere to the far side of him came a song...
"..we got Paddock in a corner tight..
he's gonna be our dinner tonight..
Hon-ney, start cookin, I'm fine,
Hon-ney, start cookin, I'm fine."
"..we got Paddock in a cor..ner tight!
He's gonna be a dinner tonight.
Hon-ney, start cookin, I'm fine.
Hon-ney, start cookin, I'm fine."
Hearing the cadence, Wolf called back over his shoulder to Joe and Estaban, "He's between us and Renegade... listen."
Joe asked if one of the dogs could be let go, and it was, dashing full speed into the early dawn. The Marines, even Estaban, picked up the song, echoing back and forth, until several minutes later, they came upon the dog's tail waving above the prairie grass. Paddock was trapped under its paws, being loved to death with a long slurpy tongue.
"Get him on his feet," Joe ordered sharply, stepping back as Renegade and Hawk jerked Paddock to his feet.
"Where's the watch?" Joe demanded curtly, holding the palm of his out to the rapist.
"Try and find it, Captain?" Paddock growled back boldly.
"The pocket watch... Paddock! Hand it over now... and you might live a little longer." Joey growled loudly into Paddock's face, his eyes catching sight of Lundy's blood crusted in the man's matted chest hair.
Ripping open Paresley's shirt, Joe asked for a scissors and a baggy.
Estaban hadn't seen anyone carrying anything, yet into Joe's hand was placed a small scissors. He watched LaFiamma cut a huge patch of bloodied hair from Paddock's chest.
"See that this gets tested," Joe said to no one in particular. "Shave it all off! ... before you deliver him."
"Shave it! You can't do that! I got my rights!" Paddock growled, swallowing hard, fear he hadn't felt before tightening in his belly.
"You don't exist anymore, Paresley. You are a non-person. By this afternoon... you will be bunking in Leavenworth."
"Leaven...worth?"
"Leavenworth! Now, you going to hand over the watch... or do I take it from you?"
Wolf watched his Captain shake himself, a tremor like a jumper does before a race. He motioned Estaban back, and Renegade and Hawk too.
"What's going on?" Estaban whispered, not understanding why they just didn't wrestle the guy to the ground and search the dude.
"You ever seen LaFiamma mad? Really, mad," Wolf whispered back. Watching the cop shake his head no, Wolf continued, "well, you're going to now. And cop... anything that goes on here. Doesn't leave this place."
Estaban watched in amazement. He doubted if he would be able to explain what happened next to anyone, and if he could, they wouldn't believe him anyway. He watched Joe give a slight jump barely a half-inch off the ground, that wham-o... he was in the air, both feet hitting Paddock square in the groin, then back to his stance. The ex-Matamoras cop swallowed, there was a hell of a lot more to this Italian from Chicago than anyone in Texas knew about.
"Get him on his feet!" LaFiamma barked at the two Marines behind the moaning suspect. "Strip em! Go through his clothes!" Joe demanded.
"Nothing here, Captain." Hawk answered, holding pants and a shirt with pockets turned inside out.
"You didn't have time to hide it before you left. And you wouldn't be able to get back to retrieve it, if you did. Reckon we will just have to do a body search." Joe snarled, a devilish twinkle coming into his blue eyes. "You got those pinchers he used on Betty Sue, Hawk?" LaFiamma asked, holding his hand out to the side.
Paddock gulped as a long-nose pliers was placed in his former Captain's hand.
"That will do."
"You can wrap a chain around Lundy's cock giving him excruciating pain. You implanted a staple pullers into a breast of a sweet young woman engaged to a Marine paramedic... so I see no reason why I can't clamp this onto your balls and pull it down to your ankles." Joe said in a tight controlled voice, each word sliced with rage.
"The... the watch... it's... it's in my ass," Paddock stammered, his eyes moving with the hand that held the large red tool.
"Then grab your ankles, you stinking bastard!"
Estaban watched in anticipation as the naked man did as he was told. Joe walked around behind the man, kneeling, using a tool that the Mexican could not distinguish, he probed into the man's anus. When a half smile began to form on the Italian's face, the detective knew his friend had found Lundy's prize possession.
Joe slowly retracted the watch, which was tightly wrapped in a small plastic sack. Handing it to Hawk, he gave orders for the crime boys to look it over and then said he would need it when he went to the hospital later. Still squatting, Joe played catch with the pliers.
"Nooo... you can't... I... told you where it was," Paddock pleaded, his eyes wide.
"Did Lundy plead like that when you wrapped this chain around his cock and lifted him off the bed? Did Dave Swietoniowski plead like that when you rammed your cock through his rectum? And what about Betty Sue... how did she plead? You took her life Paresley, and for that you are going to pay?" LaFiamma growled sarcastically, staring at the two sacs in front of his face.
"If... you don't feel you can do it, Captain... I'd be more than honored," Renegade said softly from behind him.
"Thanks, Renegade... but this guy's mine!" And with that, Captain Joseph A. LaFiamma, USMC, gripped the red-handled pliers firmly in his fist, opened them slightly and clamped a small piece of loose flesh. Joe waited a second or two, to let Paddock think he had changed his mind, before he yanked the flesh downward, felling the man to his knees.
"NNOOOOOOO!" The scream echoed around the lake scaring early pre-dawn fishermen; drifting back into the yard around Lundy's ranch house, Marines in maroon tee shirts gave the high-five to each other upon hearing of Paddock's capture.
Captain LaFiamma stood up. "March him back as he is. Blindfold him - Gag him when you get to the ranch. Take him into the Marriott through the back entrance. Wrap a sheet or a robe around him. Tell anyone who tries to stop you that he is on his way to a shiravee."
Turning his attention to Paddock, Handsome said, "now you are on your way to be court-martialed. And believe me, what Smith has planned for you is nothing compared to this."
Straightening his clothes, letting his men step in and take over, Joey looked at Estaban. The Hispanic gave him a shrug, and then a smile. "This is why I can't be a cop in Mexico anymore... too much rough stuff. Bosses didn't like it."
"This is why I agreed to be a Marine for ten days. Think Beaumont would let me do this? No way!"
"One thing, LaFiamma?"
"What?"
"Can we walk back?"
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End of part Three