Page 44 of Vortex

I’ve dragged Guardrail to the land by the pet crem as I want construction underway for Jamie’s practice. I discussed it with Pres, and we both agree that if we break ground on this new project, it will help with any future claims on the plot. All the permits and legal stuff are good as things stand at this moment, so we need to get started as soon as possible. The sooner we get started, the sooner we'll get it finished and Jamie can get all the equipment in place.

Apart from it being a sound business proposition, it will be a Godsend for the community. Although we’re not a large town, there are more than enough people to put a strain on the medical services that are currently available.

Watching Guardrail and Noah mark areas out from a set of blueprints, they look very professional. They certainly don’t look like two bikers wandering around in a field, that's for sure. They have lasers set up, string lines, and paint marks sprayed at strategic points. Watching them from the back of the pet crem, I’m more than a little impressed.

Noah has everyone watching him lately whenever Allegra is around. He is like a puppy when they are in the same room. He has a serious crush on her, and although he knows it isn’t going to be more than that, he can’t help himself. It’s amusing to watch. He could be one of the wolves from the old-time cartoons that whistle at a pretty girl. Vortex and Allegra are both aware. Neither sees it as a problem. Allegra doesn’t tease Noah about it, and as bad as we bikers are, we don’t either. Young love, eh? Who wants to mess with that?

Turning to walk back inside the crem, I stop short when I see movement by one of the furnaces. We’ve been busy lately, and they are due for what we call ‘a deep-clean’. We’ve shut one down for a couple of days so it is completely cold when we do it. There’s a patch of sunlight just in front of the furnace, beaming in from the open rear doors. Just getting himself comfortable in that warm patch is Percy.

I swear he looks bigger than the last time I saw him. I don’t know much about snakes, but he looks magnificent. That poor bastard who got squashed by him must have spent his last moments in absolute terror. As magnificent as he looks at a distance, he must be freaking terrifying up close and in that situation. I wouldn’t want to be any closer than I am now.

Mary-Lou steps into the back room, and I hiss at her to stop where she is. She glances at me with a confused look, and I nod toward Percy.

“Oh my fucking God! Look at the size of that thing. I was kinda hoping he’d moved on, but I guess he likes it here, huh? I can’t imagine what it must have been like stumbling on him in the dark.” She takes several careful sidesteps in my direction and without taking her eyes off Percy. He turns and watches her every move without so much as a blink. If they even blink, that is.

“I thought we’d agreed that we walked around in pairs after he dispatched our intruder?” I ask Mary-Lou, without taking my eyes off Percy, and without blinking until my eyes dried up.

“Well, we’d assumed that he was nocturnal, so yeah, when we open and close. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of him during the day. He might move silently, but he isn’t fast or small, is he? Not something you’d easily miss.”

“You know what they say about assume? It makes an ASS of U and ME. We either get someone in to catch him and remove him, or everyone walks around in pairs.” I know there are people out there who do this type of thing for a living, and they earn every cent they charge when it comes to a beast like Percy. They can have that freakin’ job.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want him caught. You never know what might happen to him or where he might end up. He’s a fine specimen of his species. What type of python is he, do you think?” She tips her head to one side as she studies him.

“The big type, I’d say. I think the Reticulated Python is the largest, and the Rock Python is the most aggressive. I used to watch them catch them in Florida on that TV series. They’re mad is what they are.”

“I did that for a while, but I didn’t have the mentality for it. I was too cautious, and someone was going to get hurt because of it. You have to be a bit unhinged I think, to be any good at it. I saw some big ones, but personally, I never saw one as big as Percy here.” I swear she smiles at him as she watches him.

Suddenly, Percy looks towards the rear doors and then slithers away towards the furnaces. Neither is currently on, so he should be okay, but man, can he slither.

“Jesus, look at him go! They didn’t move that fast in Florida. He must be one of the rare breed Athletic Pythons, for fuck’s sake.” Mary-Lou takes a step closer and grabs my arm, causing me to jump as I wasn’t expecting it.

“What the fuck? Get off me,” I shout, just as Guardrail and Noah walk in.

“Whoa. I saw nothing,” Noah grins at us as Mary-Lou jumps back.

“We fucking did! Percy was sunbathing over there. He must have known you were coming. He slithers like a fucking athlete. I wouldn’t want to go up against him in the hundred meter dash.” Mary-Lou watches the area that Percy went as she says this, but Guardrail and Noah state they didn’t see anything.

“The pair of you can just go and watch the CCTV with Bull when you get back. It might be too dangerous to have him running loose anymore. He wasn’t afraid of us standing here watching him. That’s scary in itself.” I give an involuntary shudder that doesn’t go unnoticed by Guardrail.

“He’s got you spooked, Cannon. I think it’s all in your head and you’re just trying to cover up getting caught with the lovely Mary-Lou here.” Before I get chance to launch myself at him, he’s slipped out the back door where he came from, with Noah laughing and hot on his heels.

“Assholes. Wait till I catch up with them later.”

“Cannon. Come see this,” Noah states as he pokes his head around the door once more.

Walking to the back door, I look where Noah is pointing. Two men are on the land looking at what Guardrail and Noah have been marking out. When they see Guardrail heading their way, they run back to an SUV and drive off, no doubt to report to Brandon Smiles and his investors.

Back at the clubhouse and sitting with Pres in his office, we discuss the morning's events at the pet crem. Pres isn’t surprised or interested in the two guys checking out the land. It was to be expected, and what is there to hide anyway? The Percy thing has him intrigued, however. He’s sent Bull to scour the CCTV so he can see Percy for himself, so to speak. I’ve tried to tell him that the footage won’t do him credit, but he doesn’t want to go to the crem and sit around for hours waiting for the real thing.

Bull appears with his laptop and raises his eyebrows at me as he walks in. “I found the footage Cannon told us about and a little extra, too.” Placing his laptop in front of Pres, I scoot around the desk so I can watch what extra he’s found. Seeing Percy sunbathing, you can just catch my shadow in the frame. It shows Mary-Lou joining me. When he slithers off, just before Guardrail and Noah show up, he looks even faster on the footage than in real life.

“Look at him go. That’s one big motherfucker, and he’s freaking fast.” Pres whistles to emphasize his statement.

“Watch this next bit I found from the previous evening after the place was shut.” Bull pulls up another clip, and we watch expectantly.

At first, there’s nothing, then a rat scurries into the shot. It stops in the center of the floor, has a sniff around, and gives itself a quick wash. It carries on across the floor but not around the edge of the room, as I thought rodents did for some reason. I probably picked up that nugget on the Discovery Channel or some animal documentary. It’s passing the furnaces, at a respectful distance from them and at a good clip, when Percy shoots out and snaps it up.

That strike was damned fast, and Bull looks at us all before stating, “That strike was approximately four feet, which according to my research puts him around twelve feet. I think he’s bigger than that, though. I’ll do some measuring with the other footage and see what I can come up with. Everyone at the crem needs to be very aware of their surroundings. We know what he’s capable of, and that does not seem to be any way any of us would want to go. One other detail that should be considered. I don’t think Percy has reached his full potential.”