EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4

by Tony Mastrolacasa

  As the two guys in the front seats stepped out of their truck, Larry and Enzo felt their confidence rapidly wash away. It was obvious that the passenger was just a kid, but both of them were absolutely strapped and it looked like their equipment wasn’t just for show either. They were smiling and they appeared genuinely happy to be here, but they definitely weren’t here for a simple social visit.

  “What the hell are these two all about?” Enzo asked.

  “I hope this isn’t about Joe slapping those two kids around.” Larry said. “I was actually a little surprised when they didn’t say anything more about it.”

  “Shit… maybe.” Enzo said.

  “Damn it, Joe and your hot headed bullshit!” Larry said, growling through his teeth. “I just know he stole that kid’s stupid fuckin’ auger too.”

  They continued watching as the man and boy tilted their seats forward and let their travelling companions out of the back. First a man got out from the passenger side. He had a military style rifle as well, but his puffy green parka and goofy orange toque completely blew any attempts he was making to look formidable.

  “Ha! Look at that clown.” Enzo said with a smirk.

  The man that stepped out from behind the driver’s seat, however, quickly wiped the smile from Enzo’s face. This guy was basically a soldier. From the camo green uniform to the multitude of guns, every inch of him meant business. Without saying a word this guy was screaming, ‘Come mess with me, see what happens.’ Whatever else happened today, Larry and Enzo would most definitely not be messing with him.

  “What about that guy, Enzo?” Larry asked. “You wanna call him a clown too?”

  “Fuck… me.” Enzo said. “We could be in trouble here, man.”

  “Yeah, I think we’d better go tell Mick about this right now.” Larry said, turning to leave.

  “Hang on, there’s somebody else getting out. We might as well get a look at all… Well, hello, sweet cheeks.” Enzo said, cutting himself off and directing all of his attention to this interesting new development.

  The last person to get out of the Bronco was not at all what they were expecting. It was a tiny little woman in a stylish white parka complete with a fur trimmed hood resting on her shoulders. She had a cool little rifle with her as well, but it was obvious that she was uncomfortable holding it.

  “She look at all familiar to you, Enzo?” Larry asked as he continued to study her more closely.

  “Not really, why… should she?”

  “No way…” Larry said.

  “I know, right?”

  “That’s not what I meant, Enzo. We gotta go right now.” Larry said, quickly turning around and rushing off.

  “What the hell’s the matter with you, man?” Enzo asked as he hurried to catch up.

  “Did you know the LaFavre brothers before all this, Enzo?”

  “Who?”

  “Mick and his little brother, Tom… their last name is, LaFavre.” Larry said, clarifying.

  “Oh… No, not really.” Enzo replied. “I mean, we all worked at the mine together, but we never hung out or anything. After we all got laid off I didn’t see them again until I got hooked up with Xander. They were already working for him.”

  “So, you got to know them after the first nuke back in August?” Larry asked.

  “Yeah, when Sudbury was still okay.” Enzo replied. “Why?”

  “Well, I can’t say for sure, but… I think that was Tom’s wife.”

  Chapter 8

  “You’re still messing around with that thing, George?” Sydney asked, stepping into the cabin. “I thought you said you were gunna toss it in the lake.”

  “Yeah, I know. I intended to, but I just couldn’t do it.” George replied. “I was bored out of my mind sitting around in here. Gwen finally told me to find something to do or she’d find something for me. I figured this was as good a time as any to take another look at it.”

  “Damn, George, that’s what you call taking a look?” Sydney asked. “You sure you’ll even remember how to get it all back together?”

  “Ha! I can give you a solid ‘maybe’ on that one, Syd. Not everything I took off will be going back on though. A lot of it’s messed up.”

  Sydney removed her coat and boots and stepped into the living room. George was sitting at a fold up table that he had set up by the window. As head of ‘weapons maintenance and storage,’ he normally used this station to service everybody’s firearms, but today his focus was on one weapon alone. On the table in front of him, in what only could be described as a million pieces, sat a Barrett M82 .50 calibre semi-automatic rifle. He was currently trying to figure out how to remove what remained of its muzzle brake, the absurdly large recoil reducer mounted to the end of its barrel.

  After they had defeated the invading gang, the group had spent days searching through the surrounding forest collecting weapons and ammo. When Stu happened across their leader’s Barrett, he thought that it had probably been destroyed beyond repair, but he brought it back to the cabin anyway. He would leave its fate for George to decide. His buddy since college had always considered himself an amateur gunsmith, so Stu decided he’d give him a chance to prove it. George was not happy with Stu’s decision. After one epic failed attempt and several mangled fingers, he had finally given up and thrown it in a closet where it would be forgotten for months.

  “What’s the point of even trying to fix it, George?” Sydney asked, pulling up a chair beside him. “The guys only found something like 20 cartridges for it anyway.”

  “No, I found four more boxes for it in the glove compartment of that Dodge.” George replied. “We’ve got 65 rounds total, so it’s worth salvaging.”

  “Well, it looks like we put the right guy in charge of weapons.” Sydney said.

  “Ha! Yeah right. If I can figure this thing out.” George said. “You really did a number on this beast.”

  “That beast was about to do a number on my husband.” Sydney said.

  “Actually… I think it might not be that bad, Syd. I mean, that scope over there was completely destroyed and it took the entire picatinny rail with it. This thing will never have a scope mounted to it again. Same story with this muzzle brake. One of your bullets cracked it and bent it off to the side. The barrel’s muzzle might be collapsed a little right on the end too, but I think I can file that out. I thought another bullet had struck the barrel up at this end, but you can see that you actually only hit the shroud here. I think it might have saved the barrel. I’ll know more once I get this damn muzzle brake off.”

  “Are you saying I hit it three times?” Sydney asked.

  “Three times that I can see, yeah.” George replied. “You must have scared the shit out of the guy holding it.”

  “Well, he scared the shit out of me.”

  “Ha! Yeah, I suppose.” George said with a laugh. “Pass me that small flathead screwdriver, will ya?”

  ◆◆◆

  “Nice of you to come so quickly, guys.” Hal said as he removed his jacket. “I know the weather hasn’t been great.”

  “Not a problem, Hal.” Stu said as he, Corey, Brian and Stacey took a seat at the kitchen table.

  “Did you need Leo to sit with us, Stu?” Hal asked. “I can have Liv give him back to you.”

  “No, that’s fine. Let the kids catch up.” Stu replied. “Leo’s strictly a spare on this one.”

  “George gave me a bottle of that enzyme fuel treatment you were asking him about, Hal.” Brian said, digging it out of his pocket. “He said you owe him 12 bucks.”

  “Oh, that’s awesome, thank you. I’ve already gone through the last of my fuel stabilizer.” Hal said, accepting the small blue bottle of liquid gold. “Tell George to expect an e-transfer next week.”

  “Ha! I’ll do that.” Brian said. “There’s plenty of fuel around, but without that stuff it’ll all be useless soon.”

  “That’s the good stuff, Hal.” Stu added. “There’s enough in that little bottle there to treat the ta
nk in your truck 15 times, so use it sparingly.”

  “Will do, Stu.” Hal said. “I’ll measure it out myself.”

  “See that you do because he doesn’t have many bottles left.” Brian added. “When it runs out we’re all on horseback, my friend.”

  “Is Nora joining us, Hal?” Stacey asked.

  “No, she had to run off.” Hal replied. “We didn’t know there’d be five of you coming, so she’s down getting a third cabin ready for you.”

  “That’s great, Hal, thanks.” Brian said.

  “Nora’s invited you all up to the house tonight for dinner, by the way.” Hal said. “She’s got a couple of moose roasts marinading.”

  “That sounds wonderful, Hal, thank you.” Stacey said.

  “How far from those Sudbury guys are these three cabins we’re staying in, Hal?” Corey asked.

  “They’re at opposite ends.” Hal replied. “Those guys are staying in cabins one and two on the west side where the bulk of our cabins are. You guys are in cabins 10, 11 and 12 on the far east side along the shore. You’ll be separated from the others by around 100 metres. The boiler shack and the woodshed are in between you and everybody else.”

  “That sounds pretty much perfect.” Corey said.

  “I thought you’d like that.” Hal said. “We were keeping those three cabins vacant, so we didn’t need to run as much hot water through that heat loop. They were just being kept a few degrees above freezing. Takes a little pressure off the system and we don’t have to run the boiler quite so hard.”

  “They’re warm now, though, right?” Stacey asked.

  “Oh yeah, you don’t have to worry about that. We’ve got their valves wide open now. They’ll all be plenty warm by the time you guys get down there.”

  “Any idea where they are now, these Sudbury guys?” Stu asked.

  “Well, two of them are supposed to be out chopping firewood, but you never know with those guys. The other two have the morning off, but they mentioned heading out on a hunt this afternoon.”

  “Alright, I guess that’s fine, but tomorrow I’d like you to ground them.” Stu said. “Not just them, everybody. If anybody wants to go out ice fishing that would be alright, but nobody leaves the resort, okay? We need to know where everybody is at all times. It’s for their own safety and ours.”

  “Are any of your family members staying in those cabins, Hal or are all up in the house with you?” Stacey asked.

  “Rob stays up here with us because he lives here year round.” Hal replied. “Hess and her family were just visiting when this all went down, so they’ve been staying in one of the cabins down there with the others. They’ve been planning to move into the house, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

  “Hal, would you be able to get your family together for a meeting before dinner?” Brian asked. “We can lay out what we’re thinking and figure out exactly how this should be handled.”

  “Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem.” Hal replied. “Hess is just finishing up in the greenhouses, so she should be here soon. I’ll ask her, but I’m sure she’ll be fine with coming up to the house a little early. I can’t imagine Nora having a problem with it either.”

  “Brian, Corey and I will be standing watch by the gates tonight until morning, so we’re planning to catch a little nap this afternoon.” Stu said. “We’d prefer it if you gave your guards the night off. The three of us should be alright on our own unless you and Rob want to join us.”

  “I’ll go talk to the night shift guys when they get out of bed.” Hal replied. “Rob, Nate and I are supposed to be on guard duty today until supper time, so I’ll ask them to cover our shift instead. I’ll let them know they can take off when you guys show up.”

  “Where did Rob and Nate head off to?” Corey asked.

  “They went down to stoke up the boiler, get everything nice and toasty.” Hal replied, offering Stacey a little wink.

  ◆◆◆

  As soon as everyone came inside, Olivia had taken Leo by the hand and led him into the sunroom at the front of the house. It faced towards the treelined road to the south and was probably the quietest indoor space on the property. The two of them hadn’t seen each other in quite some time and they were both eager to catch up in private. Leo wasn’t sure if Olivia was into him or not, but he had a feeling that he was about to find out.

  She’s gunna spin around and plant one on me. I just know it!

  When they reached the sunroom, she simply turned around and asked about his tactical gear. Olivia had no intention of doing all of Leo’s work for him. There was no way that she would be making the first move. She wasn’t above using her feminine charms to persuade Leo to do so, however. She still didn’t know if he was interested either.

  “Where did you get all of this cool stuff, Leo?” Olivia asked as she ran her finger tips provocatively down his arm. “You look like a SWAT guy or something.”

  What are you doing to me, girl?

  “Uh… Really? I was going for urban commando.” Leo replied with an awkward laugh.

  “Either way, it looks awesome.” Olivia said.

  “Thanks. I got my rifle and gun belt from the OPP. I have a Kevlar vest on under all this that came from that same cop too. The rest of this stuff I picked up here and there.”

  “Some of this stuff is from the police? You didn’t…?”

  “…No, of course, not!” Leo was quick to reply. “I didn’t want to say anything, but the cop I got this stuff from was killed in a car accident. We happened to come across his smashed up cruiser, so I took it all off of him.”

  “That’s so badass.” Olivia said.

  “Yeah… I guess.” Leo said nervously.

  My God, she’s beautiful.

  “Actually, the Kevlar has already saved my life once.” Leo said.

  “Seriously? Like… for real?”

  “I honestly don’t know where I’d be if it wasn’t for this vest.” Leo said, rapping his knuckles against his chest.

  “You’ve had such a different experience than I have, Leo. You’ve been out there fighting wars and I’ve spent the last six months basically bored out of my mind.”

  “Liv, I’d like to show you something, but it needs to be kept private, just a secret between you and me. You need to swear to me that you won’t tell anyone.”

  “Okay, Leo.”

  “You have to swear, Liv.” Leo said again, insisting that she say the words.

  “I swear, Leo, I won’t tell anyone.”

  Leo unzipped his ammo vest, took it off and set it aside. His hoodie came off next and then he began pulling the bottom of his shirt out of his pants.

  I don’t know where you’re going with this, handsome, but I’m into it.

  Leo lifted his shirt up, exposing his Kevlar vest and twirled his finger over the right side of his rib cage.

  “Do you see a little tear around this area here somewhere?” Leo asked.

  “Shit…” Olivia said, poking her index finger into it a little. “You’re saying this a bullet hole?”

  “Yup. I got hit during the biker war back in my hometown.” Leo replied. “It hurt like hell and it knocked the wind out of me, but it didn’t go through.”

  “That’s incredible. You are so lucky.”

  That’s so freakin’ hot!

  “I know. It scared the crap out of me. I got back down behind cover and pretended that I needed to reload. Everybody was so busy and everything was so chaotic that nobody even noticed. Even my dad missed it and he was standing right beside me. Anyways, I didn’t see any blood, so I figured I was okay.”

  “Your parents don’t know about this?” Olivia asked.

  “Nobody does. If they did they’d never let me go outside again.” Leo replied with slight chuckle.

  “So, you never had it checked out? You’re not worried about it?”

  “Well… it started to get really sore, so later on I asked our friend, Carl, to take a look at it. He was serving as our medic at the time, so I
thought he might know what to do. The area was bruised really bad and there was some swelling, but he said none of my ribs were broken. He figured I’d be alright, but if the pain started to get worse I should let him know.

  “Carl said the bullet was from a small calibre handgun, probably a .380. He even plucked it out of my vest and gave it to me. He told me to hang onto it and consider it a good luck charm. I have it in one of my bags, so I can show it to you later. I asked him not to tell anyone and he never did.”

  “Sounds like this Carl guy is pretty cool.” Olivia said.

  “He was the coolest. He was killed a few days later when we were defending George’s cabin.” Leo said.

  “That’s so sad.”

  “Yeah, life can really suck sometimes.” Leo said. “I guess the reason I wanted to show you this is because… I kind of wish that I was bored these past six months. It’s true that it was all kind of exciting at first, being treated like an adult and stuff, but it turned really bad really quick. I’ve seen some terrible things, Liv… horrible, disgusting things. I’ve lost so many people that I cared about. Be happy that you’re safe and sound here with your family because out there… it can be a serious nightmare.”

  Olivia had heard enough. She absolutely had have some physical contact with this guy. She came in and gave Leo a big hug. It wasn’t long before they were both feeling like they would like to make the hug a little more interesting Leo, always the gentleman, quickly regained control of himself and slowly released her though.

  What’s a girl gotta do to get a kiss from this guy?

  “Olivia are you guys up front?” Hess suddenly called out as she approached.

  “We’re in the sunroom, Mom.” Olivia called back. “Just looking for a little privacy, please.”

  Hess stopped herself from continuing into the sunroom before she saw something that she couldn’t unsee.

  “Leo, your father and his friends are heading down to their cabins now.” Hess said. “He said he’d see you down there.”