Hunter's Game
an excerpt

The streets outside Custer County Hospital were quiet in the early morning of June 22nd, 1985. Not that there were much in the way of streets anyway. A single semi-major highway passed the hospital on one side, and across that street was a strip-mall consisting of a florist shop, a pizza place, and a candy store with a bar flanking either end. Otherwise, the area consisted of the lonely industrial makeup of the rural Midwest. A lonely place to some, a quiet place to others.

A quiet that was broken, as it so often was, by the distant rumble of a motorcycle engine. The few folks outside the bars didn’t even look up, even as the motorcycle arrived and pulled not into the parking lot for the strip mall, but into the lot for the hospital. The driver, a tall man with blue flames decorating his leathers, dismounted casually as he picked up the plain leather saddlebags in a single motion. A few of the newer nurses stared as he strolled casually into the hospital, shaking out his mane of blonde hair as he removed his helmet. He was a handsome man, with a slight air of the androgyny that was so popular and considered attractive at the time. He gave the nurse at the front desk a sly wink as he made his way across the loby to the elevators. She smiled at him as the doors closed, then casually called up to the desk in the Maternity Ward to let them know the courier had arrived.

He may not have drawn stares in the loby, but his somewhat flamboyant appearance did draw negative stares from the more conservative three families waiting outside the maternity ward for news of the newest additions. He paid them no mind though, and walked straight to the desk, where a young co-ed sat, trying to look professional.

“May I help you sir?” She asked, with only the slightest hint at wanting to be anything more than polite. He smiled easily at her, a smile that she was sure had charmed a hundred other girls, but that didn’t keep it from working on her.

“Yeah, I need to give you guys these” He pulled several bound envelopes from his saddlebags “Pick up whatever you’ve got to send out, and I’d like to talk with Maggie.”

Her face fell slightly. Why he would be interested in that old cow was beyond her. Maybe it was a job thing. She took up the envelopes and began distributing them between the various doctors.

“Maggie’s a bit on the busy side right now. We’ve got three mothers in there, and two of them are in hard labor now.”

He nodded.

“I’ll wait. It’s a bit on the important side. Besides, I need your deliveries.”

She blushed as she handed him the few envelopes that they needed to send out. But he just smiled his easy smile and sat, suitably far enough from the families to not bother them, to wait for the head maternity nurse.

On the other side of the room, two men were sitting nervously next to each other, playing some sort of card game. One looked up, and, after making sure that his in-laws weren’t watching, gave the courier a nod of recognition. The Courier returned the nod and then returned to watching the room, listening. An older woman came over to see what the two men were doing.

“Honestly. How you two can sit there playing that game while your wives are both in Labor.”

“Take it easy, Miriam.” Said the one who had acknowledged the Courier. “It’s not like there’s anything else we can do but wait. I’m sure Cora wishes she had something to do between contractions.”

Miram rolled her eyes. “She brought one of those damn fantasy books into the room with her. Though I don’t think she’s doing much reading.”

“Your turn, Andy.” Prompted the other man.

Andy placed a few cards down and then turned back to Miriam.

“Probably not. But there’s no telling, from what I hear. Maggie was a midwife for a while in Seattle before she came here, so I’ve heard plenty from her over the last few weeks when she came over to see Cora.”

Miriam gave a satisfied nod. “At least you’re getting good advice, then. Even if you do play those fool games. It’s bad enough that you and Hank play, but you’ve got your own wife playing.”

“Nothin’ wrong with a husband and wife sharing a hobby.” The other man said quietly.

Miriam sighed and gave up on whatever diatribe she was about to unleash on Andy. Obviously the other man was there as much to support Andy as to support his own wife. Miriam walked away and rejoined the other family members waiting.

“Thanks, Hank.” Andy muttered. The other man smiled a little in acknowledgement.

“It’s true. Sometimes I think Maria and I wouldn’t have so many problems if she could come to the games.”

Andy shrugged. “It’ll be okay. You’ll see. Once your child gets here, you won’t have much time for the games anway. I don’t reckon any of us will.”

“Probably not.”

The Courier’s evesdropping was interuppeted by the arrivial of a small but dominating woman. Heavy black glasses aged her face considerably, and the courier knew that she only wore them so that people wouldn’t question her youth.

“What is it, Owen?” she snapped.

“Come on, Maggie. You know why I need to talk to you.” He gave his trademark smile, which had no effect on the midwife nurse.

“I think you’d know if I had any news.” She said with a sigh. Her brown hair was somewhat messy from the pressure of the night. She glanced over at the families and dropped her voice.

“Both mothers are fine, but not too near. It may be hours yet before we know if it’s one or both.”

“Then I guess I need to find an excuse to stick around. We need to know, Maggie.”

She shook her head.

“I’ve got to get back there. Cora’s about ready, I think. But we already knew about her.”

Owen’s mouth quirked. “Andy knows about the, um, situation there, doesn’t he?”

Maggie frowned at Owens amusement, but nodded.

“Hank’s the one I’m worried about.”

“It will be fine.” Owen said with genuine concern. “Maggie, I’m sure you can keep Hank from doing anything stupid.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” She gave him a rare genuine smile, then raised her voice.

“If you can wait, I can get you the updated files after the child is born.”

He made an only slightly exaggerated glance over at the nurse at the receptionist’s desk. “I’m sure I can find some way to pass the time. I’m in no hurry.”

And with that, Maggie returned back behind the doors of the Maternity ward and Owen moved to a seat closer to the desk where the young nurse sat, blushing slightly.

* * *

Two hours passed before Maggie passed back through the doors to tell Andy the good news.

“Andy… It’s a boy.”

The family waiting on Cora’s birth gave whoops and hollers of congradulations, though Andy just smiled. Maggie opened the door wider to let him go visit his son and wife. She looked over at Hank.

“It shouldn’t be long now, Hank. Maria’s doing fine.”

Hank smiled as he looked up to give her a nod of thanks.

Maggie looked over to the reception desk, only to see a different nurse there and no sign of Owen. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Julie, where’s Pam?”

“She’s on her lunch break.”

“I’ll bet she is.”

“Something wrong, Maggie?”

“No. I’ve got to get back.”

Owen and Pam had indeed returned within the half hour it took for Maggie to return to tell Hank that his own son had been born. As Hank cheered with his family before heading in to see his boy, Maggie and Owen locked gazes once, and she gave the barest of perceptible nodds. Owen returned the acknowledgement and stood.

“Before she came to the door, did Maggie leave anything back there?”

Pam blushed as she smiled up at Owen again.

“Just the one envelope. Here you go.”

He gave her a cheeky wink.

“Thanks. See you later.”

He took the last envelope and put it in his saddle bags and departed the room, leaving the families to celebrate the births of the two boys. Two boys who had a far different destiny than anyone in that room besides Owen and Maggie really understood.

Owen left the hospital as carelessly as he had arrived, but he didn’t return to the road immediately. With a slight glance over his shoulder, he crossed the highway and pulled up next to the pay phone outside the strip mall.

With practiced ease he input the code for his calling card and then a well dialed phone number. The expected cranky voice answered.

“Wagner Treasures. Who the fuck is calling at three in the morning?”

“Lovely to talk to you too, Roxy.”

“Owen? So we have news?”

But Owen’s response was cut off as a wire wrapped itself around his throat. He dropped the receiver as he clawed back, seeking out the hands holding the ends, or the face of his assailant.

“I should take your head clean off, Elf!” hissed a guttural voice behind him. He could hear Roxy’s calls on the phone. His head swimming, he grabbed blindly for the phone to try to tap out a response, but, and how he did this without loosening his grasp Owen didn’t know, the assailant kicked his hand away.

“Oh no. Your silence is message enough.”

His vision began to fade. Owen knew he was going to loose this fight. With one last push of effort he managed to reach his attacker’s face and felt his nails come away wet with what he hoped was blood as he heard his attacker curse roundly.

But then his sight faded completely, as did the few sounds on that quiet night. The last to go was Roxy’s voice calling to him on the phone.

“Owen! What the fuck is going on? Owen!”