Ice Cold Read online

  It only took a few minutes for the cops to get their killer into the car, and down the street. Ice felt relieved actually because some times crowds out side of a bar can be quite dangerous to deal with. Ice knew the cops felt the same way. Ice was taken to the police department and put into an interrogation room. “Stay put and somebody will be around to talk to you,” the cop told him as he slammed the door behind him leaving Ice in cuffs and alone sitting in a room with one table and two chairs. It didn’t take him long to figure out his chair and the table were both bolted to the floor.

  After ten minutes a man with a shirt and tie came in. Ice could see his detective shield on his belt, and no gun in his holster. The man came around Ice’s side of the table, told him to get up and then unlocked and removed the cuffs. “Have a seat Steve,” the cop said. Ice had carried ID saying he was exactly who he was since he was in Maumee.

  “We’ve checked your history and it doesn’t come up with wants or warrants on you. Care to tell me what happened,” the cop asked him calmly.

  Ice didn’t feel threatened as of yet, so figured he’d play it cool and land on the safe side. “Yeah, but don’t I get my rights read to me?”

  “You don’t need them Steve, just tell me what happened?” the cop stated sternly.

  “Well, I decided to check that bar out and found out when I went in there that it was a black bar, and I was the only guy who was white; so took the smart way out and left. Within a matter a seconds this really tall guy jumped out and tried to stab me with the biggest knife I think I’ve ever seen. Didn’t give me time to think so I shot him in the face twice and guess it must have killed him,” Ice said, looking sincere, and giving the cop exactly what he asked for.

  “Your story checks out with the cops who brought you in,” the cop told ice. “In fact, when I ran your name on the computer I noticed a couple little notes and such, and know you might be who it says you are or you might not. But in your case it is in fact a homicide for self protection. The cops got you out of there just to neutralize the crowd. We get called to that bar a lot so there is never any time that our cops aren’t far away. With you, you’re lucky. The cops were actually observing that man, he goes by the name Spike. They saw the whole thing go down. This Spike is a real character and we’ve been trying to get the goods on him for a long time. The two cops that brought you in actually told me to tell you, “thank-you” and give you an ‘atta-boy’. Please consider that done,” the cop said smiling and standing up. “Now get out of here, I have work to do.” The cop lead him down a couple halls to door with a man standing just out side the door. “That guys one of our detectives and will drop you off at your car. My suggestion is you don’t go near the bar again for a long time.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Ice said, shaking the detectives hand before leaving. To him it was a great relief to be out of there so soon and not having to dodge the cops until this assignment was done. He thought the problem with this one was that it was in his own town so had to be extra careful. He didn’t care if one his many ID’s got burned, but he couldn’t very well erase himself. On second thought he realized he could even do that if the need should arise. He would be careful in the future though not to volunteer for a job around here any place again.

  ~~~~~

  Ice woke up the next morning with his two dogs licking his face. Right away he knew they needed to go out side. Ice put on a pair of sandals, went downstairs and to the back door and let the dogs out. About the same time his mind went to the word KISS, and he realized that was the answer with Horacio. The term meant “keep it simple stupid!” That brightened his morning and an easy solution came to mind.

  After showering and having a quick bowl of cereal he was out the door and in the Impala he still had. He immediately went to his brothers junk yard to find a vehicle he could use. After looking for fifteen minutes he found just what he wanted to find. It was a two-and-a-half ton pickup with a large, strong grate on the front. His brother had taken it in trade for a bunch of used parts. Ice knew it ran good because he’d used it a month or so before for surveiling a guy at a truck stop. The plates were still on it, but he didn’t care if they were the right ones or not.

  From there he slowly started driving around in search of Horacio’s car. He stopped at the a local hardware store to get a large blue tarp. When he went in he found most of them were sold out, but they still had a really big one that might be big enough to wrap the front and sides of a pickup truck. As long as it was big enough he didn’t care. He also knew from the size that he would only be able to use it once since in the wrapper it looked quite small. But he knew from experience he would never be able to fold it up and ever be the same size again.

  If Horacio wasn’t out and about he could be at one of three places. The first place of course was his home, the second the bar, and the third his girl friends. Horacio changed girl friends frequently, but he seemed to always go back to the woman who was the mother of his kids. Ice struck out at the first two places so he went in the direction of the girl friend. Ice had plenty of time so he backed the truck into an alley just down the street from where the girl friend lived at the end of a dead end street.

  After sitting there for about an hour he saw Horacio’s car being driven toward the girlfriends house. Horacio’s two surviving body guards were in the front seat with no sign of Horacio himself. Ice thought Horacio must have grown a pair of balls to be left alone at the girl friends. After a half hour Ice could see Horacio’s car returning and it appeared there was someone in the back seat. Ice started the truck and put it in low gear. As the car approached Ice pushed the accelerator down and popped the clutch. The truck jumped forward smashing into Horacio’s car knocking the driver over to the far door. Before anybody could come out of their houses he jumped out of the truck and ran to the car. Both men in the front seat were dead, both crushed into each other. Ice ran around the other side and ripped the rear door open to find Horacio quite bruised up and apparently in shock. Ice pulled him out and tied his hands together and wrapped his mouth with duct tape. He threw Horacio over his shoulder and dumped his body into the back of the truck. Once he got back into the driver’s seat he noticed several people coming out of their houses along the street. Ice knew the collision had to have made quite a noise. He took off down the street quickly, then as he turned onto the main road he dropped it down to the speed limit. He carefully drove the truck back to his brother’s lot and took Horacio out and put him in a shack near the back of the lot. Once Ice had him inside he taped both Horacio’s feet, then his hands, then taped them together. He then wrapped his mouth shut again to insure the man could not yell. He turned the small window air-conditioner on that sputtered like the one he used a few days before, at the motel. Ice figured the cooler it would be in there, it would be easier for him to work. It would also drown out any noise Horacio might try to make. He checked and could see Horacio was still kind of in shock but was a live. Before leaving Ice grabbed the tarp and threw in into the shed and locked the door. He drove the truck around to the large car and truck washing bay near the main building. After spraying the back out real good, he poured chlorine over the bed of the truck then rinsed it out well. After parking the truck where it was where he found it, he walked over to the office and garage building, and grabbed a cup of coffee, sitting down in an easy chair in front of his brother’s desk.

  “What the hell you got going Steve?” Ted asked. “You look a little un-focused and confused?”

  “Don’t worry big bro’,” Ice replied, “I am not confused or un-focused. Just a little impatient and I have a deal going down I can’t finish until tonight.”

  “Really?” Ted asked.

  “Yeah, and just so you know, keep everybody away from the small shed back there near the back fence.”

  Ted asked, “Anything I should know about?”

  “You don’t want to know, and if you ask me no questions I can tell no lies.” Ice replied with a smirk.

  “Oh, one of t
hose things huh? Are you in trouble again and need your little brother to bail you out of it?” Ted asked.

  “Nope! I got it under control. Just stay away from the shack for a couple hours and I’ll remove what I have there then.”

  “Okay!” Ted answered with a smile.

  “But it might benefit you to be home, or with someone after you leave here by at least nine this evening,” Ice said with a shit-eating grin. Ice knew his brother knew, but he also knew his brother didn’t want to know, so all was well. That’s what good brothers do after all.

  “I just need a couple cups of coffee, a little conversation, and a look around, then I’ll be out of your hair for awhile,” Ice softly said.

  “Am I going to see you tomorrow or some other time?” Ted asked.

  “I’ll be back one of these days, I just don’t know when exactly.”

  A couple hours later, Ice drove his Chevy over to the the shed. When he got to the door he heard Horacio trying to kick the side of the building. “Dumb ass,” Ice said under his breath.

  Ice found Horacio in almost the same place he’d put him. Somehow Horacio had maneuvered around and got his face scrapped and he had blood running into his ear. “You’re fucked Horacio!” Steve hollered and laughed. He took a small needle, one he had taken from someone’s diabetic pack. The needle had a substance in it that would knock Horacio completely out for an hour. Ice then unwrapped the blue tarp and unfolded it half-way. He quickly rolled Horacio up, not wanting to get any blood inside the truck, and threw him in and took off.

  On the back side of Steve’s property there was a large barn which actually had a basement below it. Very rough condition but if anybody looked they would find some very suspicious tools. Ice dragged the tarp into the barn then down the cement steps. In the middle of the room was a block and tackle with a chair and hook where he could reach it. Ice dropped the tarp on the ground, un-wrapped it, and pulled the chain down and around Horacio’s ankles. He hooked it, then pulled on the other end of the chain until Horacio’s mouth was horizontal to Ice’s chest. The rest of his body was above and easy to reach. Ice unfolded the tarp all the way and centered it below Horacio. The tarp was so big that he didn’t have to worry about getting anything outside of the perimeter of it. Ice told the unconscious man, “Dexter needs some lessons in true torture,” with a very obnoxious, crazy laugh. Ice was going down, down into his other person. The first thing he did was go over to a beat up old cabinet, unlocked it and took out a canvas bag that was quite heavy with any and all the tools he might need. After setting them out on a table about six feet from the body he went back out to the car and poured himself a large cup of coffee; then returned and sat in a lawnchair waiting for Horacio to come around. Half way through his cup he got up and cut off the arm restraints and ripped the duct tape off from around Horacio’s head. “Dang,” he thought when he saw the tape had removed hair, skin, and the surface of Horacio’s large lower lip.

  Ice continued to drink his coffee and remembered some of the things he’d done to the small village several days before. He got a smirk on his face that remained until he fell asleep that night.

  After another ten minutes Ice finished his coffee and went over and picked up a machete. He went over to Horacio and slapped the unconscious man several times trying to get Horacio conscience. It took another five minutes or so to completely revive him. Ice grabbed a bottle of water he had on the table, went over to Horacio and brought his head up so he could drink, and poured the water into his mouth until he choked. Ice dropped him, while he coughed several times, getting the water out of his lungs.

  “What the fuck?” Horacio moaned, his eyes starting to clear.

  Ice went over to the bench and picked up another needle and poked it into Horacio’s butt and pushed out the drugs in it. Within seconds Horacio was fully aware and actually energized. Again he said “What the fuck?” but more plainly this time. “Who the hell are you and where am I?” Horacio sputtered. Ice was glad to hear the man finally getting pissed. He would feel things so much better.

  “You’re the asshole I am going to put into a world of shit,” Ice said, almost hollering at him. Ice felt himself being comfortable in a world of being on the edge of very angry and quite calm at the same time. He felt his pulse and it was just right. He was well trained and so was his body.

  “Fuck you, you piece of white scum,” Horacio yelled at him.

  Ice had the machete again and approached the body. As soon as Ice was within range of Horacio’s reach he grabbed for Ice’s shirt. In one easy motion the machete came around and sliced off Horacio’s arm just above the elbow.

  “Mother-fucker,!!!” Horacio screamed.

  “You don’t ever touch me you piece of shit. Never!” Ice had put his really pissed mood into place.

  Horacio started crying and yelling, “it hurts!”

  Ice approached him again and Horacio must have instinctively put his other hand out to ward off Ice’s approach.

  Again the machete circled and sliced off Horacio’s other arm just below the shoulder. Ice laughed at him as he screamed. Ice threw the machete under the table and grabbed a small torch. He lit it and immediately cauterized Horacio’s two stumps. Horacio continued to scream and holler, and finally passed out from the pain. Ice knew he had plenty of time and needed as much time as he could to cover what the representative thought of revenge.

  Ice went out to the car and found his camera in the case on the seat. It was a digital camera and that was all he needed. He went back and took a couple of pictures of Horacio’s body hanging there. There was still some blood dripping out of one of the stumps so he got his torch again and did a little more roasting.

  He went out and poured himself another cup of coffee, went back and sat in his chair, just waiting. He thought he needed to remember to bring a radio, or a head set with him next time. Ice then checked himself, remembering he had to keep aware of sounds that might be of somebody in the area. This kind of work he almost always did alone. If there ever became a witness, he would have to kill him and/or her too. It was at least a mile to any building from the barn and he had motion detectors wired on the fence line, which if they went off it would cause a bright strobe light to go off near where the table was.

  Ice heard Horacio start to whimper and finally asked, “Why did you do this to me? I don’t even think I know you.” Snot was running up his face and into his hair.

  “Well my fair black man,” Ice started calmly, “it seems like your crimes have found you out.” Horacio only whimpered in quite a bit of pain. “You mistreated whores, and other people who you cared nothing about, and finally . . . you dumb ass, you beat up one of our great politicians. Remember the limo and the guy in back with one of your girls?”

  “Yeah,” Horacio moaned out, “but why all of this?

  Ice answered, “Well you did some dastardly deeds and you pissed off the wrong people. You and I aren’t done yet and you’ll soon think you were a lot better off now than you will be then.”

  “No man!” I learned my lesson. I’ll stay away for that shit and pay you anything to stop. I’ll even pay the politician to get you off me,” Horacio whined in a half whisper. Being upside down was getting the best of him.

  Ice reached up and got another hook and chain and wrapped it around Horacio’s body, under his arms, or what was left of them. He pulled the chain until Horacio’s head was almost even with his feet, putting him in much worse pain and he went unconscious again. Ice reached over to the end of the first chain and let it go, resulting in Horacio hanging up right instead of up side down. Ice felt so kind for giving the guy a break.

  Ice got a rag and wiped Horacio’s face and hair off. It made him sick to see such a big grown man whimper and cry with so much snot running all over the place.

  Ice waved some smelling salts under Horacio’s nose and Horacio forced himself awake.

  “Oh, I think I do recognize you ass-wipe” he hollered in a crying sound. “You just wait. One of
my men will do all these same things to you!” It sounded to Ice like the man was getting bold again, so he decided to proceed.

  “I am going to do things to you that you won’t like at all my friend. I am going to tie your ankles to two rings in the floor which will spread eagle you. If you fight I’ll take off the nearest leg. Got it?”

  “Yeah, you fuck!” Horacio yelled, “Do it . . . I can take anything you have, you mother-fucker.”

  “Shame shame now,” Ice said being in a smart ass mood. He stabilized each leg so the feet were about two feet apart.

  “Shit man, I thought you were going to stretch my legs as far as they possibly could go. Damn,” Horacio said just loud enough for Ice to hear. He almost sounded thankful Ice thought.

  Ice cut and ripped everything off of Horacio that he was wearing. He needed access to every place on his body to be able to work on it.

  Ice started by loosening one leg and bending it up so he could get to the sole of his foot. He picked up a 1 X 4 with kind of a handle carved at one end. Ice held the leg and started slapping the bottom of Horacio’s foot very hard. He continued until Horacio seemed to be screaming for his life. Iced then did the same with the other foot and hit on it too, making a point of hitting that one twice as long as he did the first. Horacio was screaming a long time until he stopped. Ice needed a break and though Horacio did too, so he went over and got what ever was left of his coffee, wandered around the basement of the barn to just check stuff out.

  Ice went back and forth at leisure and tortured Horacio in little ways here and there. When he was done, his body was quite screwed up. His cheeks were gone by use of a power sander. Dang battery tool came in so handy Ice thought. While he was at it he also sanded off Horacio’s butt cheeks. There was blood every where and when Ice took a step, he seemed to hear a squish. “Well Horacio, the out side of your body is really messed up so I guess all I have left is the inside.” Horacio was hardly responsive but did look up at Ice with the one eye he had left.