PART TWO
When we walked outside, a cattle truck idled where Dahl’s desk had previously been. Peters and I were the last to step inside. The truck held some thirty-something security guard wearing full tactical gear, rifles pulled over their chest. The truck departed soon after, and as I peered through a metal slit in the truck, I swore I could see Milky through the red dust that was kicked up, standing in the brush.
As we drove, the soldiers joked and chatted with each other. The dirt road eventually turned into a paved two way road, and the odd car passed us as we weaved through the thick jungle.
When we emerged from the forest, we were driving along the coast. Not far in the distance, I could see the Pasteur de Blanc hotel sitting adjacent to the shore. My stomach twisted.
We pulled into the parking lot, and the back door flew open. Drummond stood there, a curled cowboy hat on his head. He had a bullet proof vest over his red-dirt stained dress shirt and bolo tie.
”Okay men. You secure the lobby, then spread out and search the rooms for our girl. Peters and I are going with Florin to have a talk with Louis.”
The lobby was filled with screams when the staff and tourists saw Dahl’s army charge in. After a call that it was “clear,” did we move in. I pulled my shirt collar close to try and cover my face. The lobby was beautiful, white and modern. The back of the building was open, and the ocean looked like a giant framed painting. A gentle breeze blew in from the window. Workers lay on the ground, hands flat on the floor in fear, moving to the corner one at a time as directed by the guards. Dahl moved behind the receptionist desk towards an employee elevator in the back. The doors opened to a bellboy cowering in the corner.
”Please don’t kill me, please, I—“
“Shut up! Damn! Where’s your boss?” Dahl held a revolver with a long barrel out, pointing it an inch from the bellboy’s head.
“M-M-M-Margaret, she’s in the l-l-lobby…” the bellboy was shaking violently. Dahl slapped the top of his head with his empty hand.
”The owner! Where’s Louis?”
“I-in his office! It’s on the top floor! The ninth floor!” He pointed at the button panel. Peters and Dahl stood still, guns drawn on the bellboy.
“What’re you waiting for? Press the fucking button.” Dahl was closest to the panel, but he stepped aside to allow the bellboy to access it. The elevator began to move. Dahl scoffed and and looked to me for sympathy.
”You believe that people pay for this kind of service?”
When the double doors opened, Dahl stepped out, and Peters kicked the bellboy onto the floor, his rifle still trained on him. I stepped over the bellboy and joined Dahl as he threw the wooden door to Louis’s office open.
When the door opened, a shot came from inside. I dropped to the ground in fear, but Dahl fired off five shots back in quick succession. Louis was crouched behind the desk, popping up only briefly to return fire. On Dahl’s final shot, Louis cried out.
”STOP! STOP! I SURRENDER!” He stuck his hands up from the desk and slowly stood up. His shoulder was bleeding.
Dahl threw the empty revolver at Louis’s face before hurriedly waddling in. Louis shouted out in pain.
”I surrendered you fat fuck! You fat fuck!”
“Fuck you, Louis. FUCK YOU!” Dahl pulled another revolver that he had apparently been keeping in the back of his pants. Peters pulled the bellboy into the office room, and I stepped in as well. For some reason, the window of the room faced towards the parking lot instead of the ocean.
“Where’s Little Daisy Dahl? Where’d you put her? Where is she?” Dahl was sputtering in anger again.
”You won’t get her Drummond. Don’t be hasty. My men are holding her in a room right now. If you make the wrong move, they’ll kill her.” Louis towered over Dahl, and his black hair was clinging to a split in his forehead where the revolver hit him.
Dahl squealed in anger. He lowered the revolver, paced in a circle, and then picked the empty revolver from the floor and threw it at the bellboy’s face.
“I’ll kill your bellboy. Take your men out of that room where Little Daisy Dahl is or I swear to God I’ll whip him through the streets and see him hanged.”
“Hey, Dahl, you can’t say that…” I started.
“Shut up, boy! What do you think it takes to save a cow?”
“And who is he?” Louis pointed at me.
“That’s the government, Louis. That’s right. The goddamned EIA. He’s part of CATL.”
Louis looked me up and down.
“The EIA is responsible for this raid as well?”
”I’m just trying to find a rabbit.” I replied.
”A rabbit? The EIA attacked my hotel over a fucking rabbit?” Louis’s voice was thunderous.
”No, I’m not… Look, I’m sorry, but Dahl told me he’d help me if I came here.“
“Shut the fuck up Florin! Yes, the EIA is overseeing this. We can kill you if you don’t call your men off of Little Daisy Dahl. You and your bellboy.” Dahl was pointing his gun at Louis again.
”Usagi and I are ready to die before we give you your bitch cow.” The bellboy looked around wildly.
”No! I’m not! I don’t want to die!” Usagi cried. Dahl snapped his fingers twice and Peters kicked the empty revolver across the floor to him. He threw it at Usagi’s face again.
”You shouldn’t have blocked my proposal, Drummond. This could have all been avoided.”
“You’re going to destroy our economic integrity with this resort. That might mean nothing to you, but it sure as shit means something to me.” Dahl barked angrily
“Economic integrity? Is this a joke?” Louis laughed, ignoring the gun pushed against his chest. “This entire territory is kept afloat by government grants. If anything, I’d be helping the place bring in revenue for once!” Louis began to laugh even harder. He looked to me. “You know, I tried to make a deal with him for Daisy? He hoards that milk for himself. If he utilized it properly, the money we could have made… a fountain of youth right here in Kalima. We would grow so fast, we might have even became the fifty-first state.”
“I like the flag with fifty stars,” Dahl growled. “These cows grew on MY land. My family’s land. And your development would destroy any chance of another Little Daisy. You’d see this land torn apart. Once we could successfully breed her, this territory would have more money than anything your fat tourists could bring.”
“My development would destroy the land? That honor belongs to YOUR family Drummond. We need to use Daisy before she’s dead and we lose our chance to capitalize on her. The Dahls saw to it that we would never have another.”
”Shut up, Pasteur. Shut your fucking mouth.”
“Florin, was it? If you represent the EIA, you know I’m right. You know I speak the truth.”
I blinked. Louis looked befuddled.
”You don’t know? You don’t represent the EIA.” Louis sighed in exasperation. ”You don’t seriously think their investigation went nowhere do you?”
“I’m really just trying to find the rabbit.“ The situation was spiraling out of control. I needed Dahl to get his cow back so I could get back to Puka Ranch and find Milky.
“Stop talking Pasteur. Stop talking now!” Dahl punched Louis in the gut. “Tell your men to step away from Little Daisy!”
”It was the Dahls who raised the rabbits, Florin.”
”Can you please tell Dahl where Daisy is? Please?”
”Listen to the boy, Pasteur.”
”The Dahl’s rabbits decimated the plants that created cows like Daisy.”
“Please just tell Dahl, I really need to get back to work.”
“The rabbits ate all of the plant before any pregnant cow of the generation could get to it. Daisy was the last to be born before then. The gene lived on through the rabbits, Florin.”
"I really need to find Milky. He's sexually mature.”
Louis had been staring over the top of Dahl’s head to look at me, but Dahl tackled him to the floor in anger. He leveled the gun at Louis’s head.
”Last chance, Pasteur. Are you going to die for this shithole?”
”Florin! The Dahls bred the rabbits to keep the gene alive. That’s how the outbreak started. And even now, th—“
Dahl shot three times directly into Pasteur’s temple.
”Holy shit, Dahl! You shot him!”
“Grow up, boy. This is a war.” Dahl turned to Usagi who wailed in terror.
”202! I think she’s in room 202! Please! They told us not to go in there! Please don’t kill me!” Usagi had peed his pants.
Dahl chuckled. “Only a fool dies for a hotel. Smart boy.”
Peters moved the rifle from Usagi’s head. We made our way back to the elevator. Usagi remained curled on the floor watching us leave in fear. I mouthed “sorry” to him as the elevator doors closed.
“Listen, if you could just use some discretion about all of this… we just don’t want this incident getting around.” Peters spoke earnestly.
The guards had already been called to the second floor. They stood on either side of the room’s door, rifles ready.
”Hold on, men. No need to rush in.” Dahl smiled and held up a grenade he pulled from his coat pocket. “This should clear out that room real quick.” He handed it to one of the guards.
We stepped back, and only two guards remained. One readied the door, opening it with a hotel card, while the other rolled the grenade inside. They jumped back just before it could detonate.
After a muffled explosion, the door swung open. The two guards carefully moved in, checking every angle of the room. After twenty seconds of silence, one stepped back out, mask pulled down.
”Mr. Dahl… you should…” He fell silent. We stepped inside.
The inside of the room was completely destroyed. The sliding glass door had been blown open, and the curtains drifted in the wind. The room was bereft of guards, but chunks of a cow were strewn across every inch of the room.
”DAISY! LITTLE DAISY! NO!” Dahl fell into a silent slump. The guards all hung their heads solemnly in reverence. I felt uncomfortable so I looked down at my shoes as well.