Just Look

By Gary Mckinley

A collection of short stories written in the past 5 years by the author, pacy and interesting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Mckinley
• Release date: Feb 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201514785

Book preview

Seattle

Jerry Marshall knows what he likes, he likes sex, he likes sex with women dressed in uniforms. Uniforms like nurses, police women, women in army uniforms, oh yes.

Women in uniform.

Jerry scans his computer, the internet, it seems, caters for all tastes, extreme or otherwise. He has narrowed it down to six possibles, but he is leaning towards the blonde, he can see from the photographs in the ad that she has a variety of uniforms and looks very, very good in the two photos she has posted.

Jerry works in an investment bank in Seattle, not one of the rain makers, just in administration but he does okay. Middle management, clears over a hundred and twenty thousand a year, pretty good. He is married to Angela, one child, Aaron, good kid, now eleven.

Jerry is forty three years old and bored out of his tiny middle management mind.

He knows it was a mistake to marry Angela twelve years ago, call it desperation call it needing, wanting, but don't call it love.

Aaron arrived a little over a year after the marriage, now Jerry knew he was the glue holding them together, Angela is two years older than Jerry and is a primary school teacher, call it desperation, call it........... oh hell.

Not long after Aaron was born Angela lost interest in sex, with Jerry at least.

The thought of his wife having an affair was faintly amusing to Jerry, he would not be jealous not even a little bit.

Well, eleven, no twelve years in, nobody was going anywhere.

Jerry had been using prostitutes for five years now and it fulfilled his needs completely, Angela did not seem to notice he had stopped asking for sex, well pleading, and for five years they had shared a bed but no sex. Odd how the time just passed between them, friends with a child, but just friends.

Jerry places the call and arranges to meet Sam, short for Samantha she tells him, at her apartment at six pm.

`Nurse,` he tells her when she asks his preference for tonight.

Jerry calls his wife and tells her he will be a little late, no problem, it`s never a problem. Never a fucking problem, well it`s a problem with a lack of........

At five thirty Jerry leaves his office and drives ten minutes to the address Sam has given him.

Jerry has seen quite a lot of the women on the internet more than once, but this is the first time here and his excitement is building.

Sam is all he had hoped for, small, blonde and sexy as hell in the nurses uniform.

Jerry has her leave it on while they have sex and it feels, great. Better than he had expected and he feels like a young stud all over again. She is expensive but what the hell, he can afford it.

Afterwards he lies on the bed while Sam cleans up, he goes into the bathroom to clean up himself, he feels, as they say, a million dollars.

Still in his underwear Jerry goes back into the room to find Sam sitting on the bed next to a stocky dark haired man.

Jerry is stunned, `what, what the hell, you the next? I mean.....`

The man says, `shut the fuck up Jerry. Sit down there,` and points to a chair Jerry sits down, his stomach turning and churning.

He starts to say something.

`I said shut it,` says the man.

`You can call me Frank, Jerry, now we're friends. Jerry, you and me we're going to the ATM across the road and get ourselves. some money. Then tomorrow you're gonna meet me and bring five thousand dollars in cash, just for me, you know as we're friends.`

Jerry starts to rise from the chair.

`Fuck this` he says.`

An automatic pistol has appeared in Franks hand, `don't do anything stupid Jerry,` he says.

`Why should I give you a cent?` says Jerry, `Sam is on the internet and I've left a note of this address on my computer and I'm not stupid enough to bring anything personal with me, you can't blackmail me.`

Frank smiles slightly, `brother it`s all on film and it goes on the internet tomorrow if you don't turn up. Besides you going to give me your ATM card when we go down to your car, the car registration,  drivers permit, got it?`

Frank smiles again, they do this scam maybe four or five times a month. For two years it has

worked. Frank can assess what a guy will pay just from the telephone call, he's never wrong.

Jerry, if that`s his real name, he'll find out soon enough, can afford an easy five, six thousand, easy. Maybe a little more when he sees the car.

A little bluster a little fuck this, fuck you and then reality, its worth the money and worth the peace, continue life as normal, got to be worth it.

Frank never double dips, it`s one hit and the mark is left alone forever.

Frank says, `look Jerry its one hit, you make the payment you never see, or hear from us again, okay, we good, lets hit that ATM.`

Jerry looks at Frank, he feels it, the boil.

Jerry had a shit childhood, drunk, violent father, sober, violent mother. There is something inside he has fought his whole life to suppress.

Jerry has a temper, in school, he was expelled twice for fighting, not just playground spats, serious, beat him to death shit.

In college Jerry had almost beaten a mugger to death for real, since then he had just pushed it away never touched another living soul, never.

But now it boils out of him and he lurches towards Frank, fists balled, face red and angry.

Frank has never fired the pistol, doesn't even know if the safety is on or off, but the pistol is loaded and he acts on reflex, points and pulls the trigger. Three shots hit Jerry, the last as he is almost on top of Frank.

`Christ oh Christ,` shouts Sam.

Frank and Samantha drive away from the apartment within five minutes. The room is rented by the week they have nothing personal there, nothing at all.

`Okay, okay,` says Frank as they drive slow and steady south out of Seattle, `okay, calm down baby, we are out of it, nobody knows it was us.`

Samantha knows they leave no trail but the shock, the blood, the death will be with her forever.

They cleared out the rooms they had rented to live in and everything was now in the car. They have cleared out of places in a hurry before. They have a long history together, grifting, scamning, stealing.

`But, they find DNA, all that stuff,` she says.

`No, no, we're not in the system,` he says.

`These people aren't magic, we're free and clear, no trace. Jesus he came at me from nothing, never happened before never will again.`

`Oh no Frank, no more, no fucking more.`

But Frank knows she'll cool down, they`ll stay somewhere nice in San Francisco, they have a hundred grand to play with, and after a rest she`ll come round, she`ll be good.

A month, two months go by in San Francisco, they have spent time in the cafes, on the beach, like kids almost. 

Nothing on the news about the man in Seattle, free and clear, no trace.

Frank starts Samantha again but gently just once or twice a month, two, three thousand from the mark, they pay up like good boys and Samantha starts to feel better, the scam is golden, they can continue and save for her dream, the two of them, beachside in Costa Rica, Frank working a few days on the boats maybe.

A low cost secure life, warm and safe, maybe think about marriage, well, let`s not get too far ahead.

Frank was right, the mark suddenly turning like that was just a one off, it`ll never happen again, and so it seems.

Frank has told Samantha they have over a quarter million stashed away, they don't, barely forty thousand dollars left. Frank likes to gamble and he's not very good, not good at all. While in San Francisco he had blown a good part of their savings.

Frank and Samantha have settled in Atlanta for a while. Atlanta is a big city with a massive throughput of people, many staying only a few nights.

They have stuck to the tried and tested formula and even feature uniforms again in some of the ads. Samantha is blond, brunette, different photos, different ads, different sites.

This however is the last night in Atlanta, Frank has decided they will move on after this, he is thinking Maine, all those old goats hot for the attention of a sexy nurse, oh yeah.

Samantha says that they are getting used to the heat, maybe she does not want to leave Atlanta right now.

Frank tells her just another year of the scam, they'll have enough money to retire,

Frank doesn't tell her he's just lost another four thousand dollars on a horse race.

They have almost given up on a mark that night when the phone rings.

The caller says his name is Tom, he arranges to meet Sam at ten thirty at the hotel. Sam will call him back to give him the room number. 

Frank quickly arranges to rent a room, they have an arrangement with the night manager.

Sam calls Tom back and all is set, sexy nurse again, what is it with the nurses and these guys?

Tom arrives on time and pays the money, no problem, always money in advance he knows. Tells her she looks stunning, the sexiest nurse he has ever seen, he needs to urinate, goes into the bathroom and she hears him void his bladder.

Tom returns to the bedroom and slowly undresses never taking his eyes off his nurse.

You can undress now he tells her and moves toward her, his arousal is obvious.

As a they finish Tom tells her, great, you are just great, the best of the best.

`Baby I have to pee again,` he says and goes into the bathroom.

Tom in the bathroom thinks he hears the door of the hotel room open and close, maybe, maybe not, he`s not sure.

He comes out of the bathroom wearing a towel and holding the gun he hid there earlier.

Frank is sitting on the bed as usual and looks up startled to see the gun, he reaches behind him but Tom says, `No, buddy, no.`

He extends the gun towards Frank, `you'll never make it, nobody`s that fast.`

The gun Tom is holding has an ugly looking snout, silenced.

Sam seems stunned and just looks down at her hands grasped in front of her, the knuckles white and stretched tight.

Frank is still shocked, `look, look,. he stammers, `I don`t.......`

`Where's the camera shithead?` says Tom.

`What, what camera?`

Tom shoots Frank in the leg, the lower leg, blood spurts, runs down to his foot, pools on the carpet.

Frank shouts, `oh Christ,` he is panting with the pain.

Tom reaches over and puts on the television. `Hey man not so much noise.`

Suddenly Sam is sick, vomits onto the carpet in front of her, starts to get up, `just go to the....`

`Stay where you are, right there,` Tom waves the pistol in her direction, `stay just where you are.`

She is shaking, wild eyed, but she sits down, looks at the vomit Not pretty. She feels bad, so very, very, bad.

`Okay man, where`s the camera, tell me now or it`s the other leg, the knee this time, you`ll never walk right again.`

Frank says nothing just pants like a dog, saliva dripping from his mouth.

`Fuck, fuck,` he finally says.

`Okay, you,` Tom points the gun at Sam, `where is the camera?`

She points immediately to the dresser top, looks like a clock, neat.

`Good, good, so far.`

The smell in the room is disgusting.

`Where you staying?` says Tom.

Frank groans again, but no answer.

Sam starts to speak, but Tom says, `here,` he points to a pen and paper on the dresser, `write it down.`

She gingerly gets up and goes to the dresser, writes out an address.

`Hope your not lying honey.` he says.

She shakes her head and sits back down on the bed, she is shaking, flecks of vomit still on her lips, she stares down at her hands.

`Who the fuck are you man?` says Frank, `look take the money I've got few grand on me, there's more at the apartment, shit,` he gasps again and holds his leg, tears are squeezing out of the corners of his eyes.

`Who are you?` whispers Sam.

`You killed my brother.`

`The guy in Seattle,` she forces the words out clenching her fists.

`Yeah, the guy in Seattle. I know what he liked so eighty five nurses later I find you.`

`It was a mistake, really a mistake we're going to Costa Rica, you can't just kill us,` she is crying, shaking her head from side to side. `No no.....`

`Thing is I do this for a living,` says Tom, `Jerry was the white sheep of the family.`

Tom smiles and shoots them both. He dresses quickly.

Tom takes the camera and wipes down the apartment. He looks down at Sam, what is it with sexy nurses?`

He should know, he's seen enough of them.

Anna

Anna was held on the Kiltan ship, a grand space cruiser. Kiltan civilisation had spread across space from the old Kiltan and Semil empire, still human but only just.

Millenia had passed, but the expansion was still continuing. There would never be enough worlds, the demand for living room was insatiable. So many planets had been conquered, laid waste, redeveloped into home planets for the Kiltan.

Anna was Tonar the only part of the galaxy to resist the Kiltan forces so far.

Only eighteen planets were left to Tonar peoples, only eighteen.

The Tonar science and technology was ahead of that of the Kiltan and the wars so far had been fought by drones sent by the Tonar system to the front line of Kiltan expansion and Anna knew that the Kiltan forces were massing at that front line and had penetrated their defences.

An almost unbelievable tech failure had led to her ship being captured, thus she was now held on this cruiser in a brightly lit cell.

She was also strapped to a work table, the three Kiltan doctors looking down at her.

Anna knew of her homeworld's plans to deploy the latest fusion tech to the front line and cause such a destructive event it could halt Kiltan expansionism for a hundred years, maybe longer.

This would give her people time to evolve new solutions, new devices, the excitement was growing in her home system in the combination of fusion and gravitational waves, but they needed time, there were advances being made every day and this would be the Tonar salvation.

The Kiltan wanted to know everything she knew, of course.

They had sophisticated drugs to make her tell them.

They also had a problem, from previous encounters with Tonar worlds and prisoners, they knew of the programming, the genetic development.

Anna looked at her captors, she had simply become comatose and useless to them whatever chemical was injected into her.

Anna would resist as long as she decided she should, but not if things became violent or too many chemicals were forced on her.

Anna knew one of the greatest advances made by her her people was to change her survival instincts.

At will Anna could shut down completely and simply die. The process was secret and the Kiltan knew only that it happened.

The doctors, specialists in the Tonar peoples had seen it before, too many times. They had never had any success in prising secrets from these people, the more they pressed there came a point where the prisoner just switched off and died.

`Anna, we know you can close down but we are doctors we have no ill will towards you, you could help us to lower the escalation of tensions between our peoples and prevent an all out war. Talking to us, talking between us could be a first step. Small step perhaps but in taking such a step you could save so many lives.`

Anna is thinking, they are scared of us. Only one defeat in millenia and we inflicted it. Our technology scares them.

Anna knew her ability to close down confused and frustrated her enemies, it was her greatest weapon, a passive but overwhelming advantage, perhaps the advantage she needed to survive. She had another advantage but perhaps she wouldn't need it.

`There is little to say doctor, you want to expand into my homeworlds, we the Tonar people do not want this. You think you have overwhelming force to execute your will, your wants. There is nothing to discuss. Unless you stop reinforcing the front line here, go back to the fault line and stop, then stay there, confrontation is inevitable.`

`Anna, we can come to an accommodation here. Share the space, the Tonar peoples do not have to disappear.`

`You want to kill us all doctor, depopulate then repopulate. we saw the results in the Holomill systems and others.`

`Anna, please understand we could not even discuss with those people, we were attacked, attacked at all levels.`

What the hell did that mean, thought Anna.

`Doctor release me now and pull back, you may yet survive, I will say please. I have no desire to see loss of life, even my own.`

`Anna, perhaps we can show you what truly overwhelming force means.`

A holographic projection on various scales appeared, the number of space cruisers was astonishing and the spheres that generated so much power to back them up. Spheres that if detonated on or near a plant would destroy all life, neutron waves that would carry to other worlds. Massive destructive power on a scale even she had not envisaged.

Anna said nothing, what was there a to say. A little more time, Deus, a little more time.

Obviously the Kiltan communications people know that most of what they said and showed her could and would be sent back to Tonar.

The fusion weapon should be deployed from Tonar in two standard days.

Anna decided to close down and sleep.

The next morning the doctors were there again, smiling down at her, ` Anna we have a new proposition for you but first something to relax you.`

The pen inject touched her skin and a chemical entered her bloodstream.

Annas natural defences went to work to neutralise the chemical, but this time she did not experience the tightening, the feeling of swelling and then relief as the pressure stopped. There was increasing pressure and a headache but then blinding pain. She had never experienced pain like this, not during training or conditioning, never.

The doctors observed with obvious satisfaction, they turned away from Anna and talked in subdued tones she could not hear.

Anna began the process of shutting down.

It was as natural for her as sleeping, but not this time, the process refused to start and the pain began to increase again.

The doctors turned back to her.

` Anna, things are changing inside you, your defences are not working, you feel this, no?`

Although the lead doctor was the only one who ever spoke to her, the one with the startlingly blue eyes, she knew they were all asking the question, they were actually quivering.

I feel it, thought Anna, she supposed it was only a matter of time until a way, a neurochemical was found that neutralised her abilities.

She started the process of closing down again, again the pain and the struggle inside her. This was not happening as it should, she felt a little dizzy, in the corner of the cell high up the air seemed to dance and sparkle.

Maybe, she thought.

The doctor, the one of the three who did all of the talking, his identification said Px5, maybe that was code for blue eyes, said, ` Anna we have some time, then the drugs we give you will force you to talk to us. They are painful and the side effects could be permanent I would like to spare you that. I will wait two standard hours and you can tell us what we want to know voluntarily, or not. I would want to spare you the pain, I am a doctor, not a monster, please speak to us. You have two hours until we return.`

The doctors left the cell, the light seemed to brighten, Anna felt her heart beat, clear and loud.

The light in the cell seemed to shimmer again, she could not be sure, she still felt a little

dizzy but there was hope, she knew.

The enemy could not know, could not find out about their plans, everything depended on a massive shock attack with all the enemy strength in place, a loss of that magnitude would wipe out a hundred years of development.

Then gravity keeps us apart forever.

The lights faded and brightened again.

So they had found a way to stop her closing down and a way to stop her neutralising. Maybe she could stay silent long enough to allow the plans to go ahead on time and stop the Kiltan forever.

The Tonar scientists were working on the greatest discovery of recent times well, almost. Had they made progress, maybe, the research progressed every day.

She could not let them force it from her.

Anna knew the doctor had lied, the history of Kiltan expansion was simply to take over habitable worlds by any means necessary, usually the destruction of the indigenous population, sooner or later, there was no sharing, no accommodation just millions of deaths.

Anna knew that if she could not close down the Kiltan had won, won here and now anyway.

Maybe, maybe. She knew Tonar scientists were close to it.

Less than an hour later the Px5 doctor arrived back in the cell with two Kiltan guards and a senior officer This officer walked over to Anna and administered a shock probe. Anna convulsed and vomited.

`That`s a warning, besha,`a Kiltan word, an insult.

`Give her the chem doctor, now, now, said the officer. 

`But I said she could have....`

`I said now,` the officer waved the shock baton at the doctor.

`I will not repeat the order.`

The doctor stepped over and pressed the pressure jector against Annas neck.

Anna fought the chemical as it tried to put her into a cooperative trance.

`We can't wait for this,`  said the officer, and again shocked Anna, again she vomited.

Anna could not fight the violence, the pain, the neurochemicals.

`When is the offensive planned?` shouted the officer.

Anna fought again, she bit down hard and the air seemed to dance again.

The officer gestured to the guards and she knew now there would be sexual violence. She felt the urge to talk to them to tell them of the plan.

She bit down again, the air danced again,