“Now that we know Mick and his guys all had handguns hidden on them, it’s obvious that they were planning something with these people.” Corey added.
“Actually, that reminds me.” Stu said. “Those two retired sergeants, Dan and Russ, they came over to talk to me just before I walked back down here. They told me the pistols they collected from Mick and his men were all U.S. Army issued Sig Sauers.”
“Army issued?” Brian asked.
“I’m pretty sure the public can buy them too, Stu.” Corey said. “When those guys were collecting them up, I had a look for myself. They’re P320s in coyote tan. The U.S. military calls them M17s. Every gun store sells them now.”
“Yeah, they mentioned that, but they showed me that the controls on these ones are all tan in colour.” Stu said. “Apparently, the P320s that Sig makes for the public all have black controls on them, regardless of what colour their frames are. The controls on the Army specific models, though, are all tan. The triggers, mag releases and slide locks on the Sigs that those guys had with them were all tan in colour. That means they were manufactured exclusively for the U.S. military. They seemed to be pretty sure of it.”
“Shit…” Brian said as a terrifying realization suddenly dawned on him. “We might still have a serious problem here, guys. You remember me mentioning that CSIS was supposed to look into some Xander guy?”
“Yeah, but you said you guys didn’t know much about him.” Stu said.
“That’s true, but we did have one thing on him.” Brian said. “The RCMP said that he was suspected of stealing of a lot of military equipment. They told us that hundreds of U.S. Army weapons had gone missing in the Sudbury area. Understandably, the Americans were really breathing down their throats about it. The RCMP wanted us to take a look before they allowed the FBI to expand their investigation into Canada.”
“Fuck me.” Corey said. “Is that enough to make you think this Xander is the same guy?”
“What are the odds that two guys named Xander would have Army issued firearms in the Sudbury area?” Brian asked.
“Shit.” Stu said. “We do still have a problem. We have to get home right away. We’ll quickly warn Hal about all this and then we are outta here.”
“You think those guys are coming back?” Stacey asked.
“I don’t know, Stace, but the fact that those guys are roaming around looking for a new place to call home is making me really nervous.” Stu replied.
“Does it make sense to you that Tom would just abandon his brother like that, Stacey?” Brian asked.
“I really have no idea, Brian.” Stacey replied. “They were never very close, but now that they’re with this Xander guy… who the hell knows?”
Giving the situation exactly five seconds of further consideration, Stu made his decision.
“Corey, you and Stacey go over to my place and grab Leo and the Bronco. Load up all our gear and then drive back here to grab Brian’s and your own. Brian and I will jog back up to the house and talk to Hal. When you’re all done down here, come pick us up and we’ll say our goodbyes.”
“This is gunna be really bad.” Brian said.
“Not as bad as it’ll be if Xander’s gang shows up and Hal’s people are all moping around unprepared.” Stu said.
“…or if they’ve already found our place.” Stacey added.
◆◆◆
Stu and Brian jogged back up to Hal and Nora’s house and knocked timidly on the door. They could tell that the family inside was suffering terribly. Their wails of anguish easily spilled outside.
As they waited patiently for someone to answer, Stu took the opportunity to take a look around. He was relieved to see that Dan, Russ and Collin had taken up guard duties at the gates. They had seen Jamal and Seth escorting all of the families back down to the cabins earlier. Stu could only hope that they would all stay away from cabin number one for the time being.
Brian had insisted on dragging the four bodies into the cabin and out of sight, but they hadn’t done anything with the ridiculous amounts of blood that had leached out of them. The cabin’s deck was still a grizzly mess and the snow could only hide so much.
As Brian went to knock again, the door opened a crack and Rob’s face appeared.
“I’m sorry, guys, but now’s not really a good time.” Rob said.
“We understand, Rob and we’re truly sorry, but we need to talk to you and Hal right away.” Brian said. “We’re leaving for home and we need to tell you guys why.”
“It’s vitally important that you hear this.” Stu added. “It won’t take long.”
“Alright…” Rob said, looking back into the house with a grimace. “You guys mind waiting outside? You don’t want anything to do with what’s going on in here right now.”
“Yeah, we’ve been there, buddy.” Stu replied with a grimace of his own.
“That’s fine, Rob.” Brian added.
The door soon opened again and Hal and Rob came out to join them. Hal was obviously having a more difficult time with the loss of his sister than Rob was. His eyes were already bloodshot and his face was a puffy red mess. No doubt, Stu assumed, Hal had been torturing himself with the decision he had made to give Hess the handgun. In the end, the decision had cost Hess her life.
It was not an entirely unfamiliar feeling to Stu as well considering he was the first link in the chain of gift giving. The fact that Hess had made her own bold, yet completely misguided decisions today was entirely lost on both of them.
“Fellas… please make this quick.” Hal said. “My wife’s losing her mind in there. I’m barely keeping it together myself.”
“We understand, Hal.” Brian delicately said. “This whole thing is just terrible.”
“We’re really sorry, Hal. Hess was a courageous woman. She didn’t deserve this.” Stu added.
“She was a damn fool.” Hal said. “She called me head strong, but she was even worse. I should have known she was up to something.”
“So, you guys had no idea she was planning something like this?” Brian asked.
“She never said a word.” Rob replied. “We had no idea she… would try…”
“…It’s okay, guys.” Brian said, seeing that Rob was starting to lose it now too. “If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past few months, it’s that you can drive yourself nuts trying to figure out what could have been done differently.”
“Nora was just telling us that she had caught that Mick son of a bitch gawking at Hess a few times.” Hal said. “This has got me wondering if he…”
“…Don’t torture yourself, Hal.” Brian said. “You said it yourself, she was a strong woman. If anything got out of hand she would have told you guys about it. I’m sure she had good reason to hate that asshole, but I’m also sure that he didn’t lay a hand on her.”
“Did she get him?” Rob asked. “Is Hess the one that ended his miserable life?”
“Oh, I’m sorry… didn’t I say earlier? Yeah, she got him.” Stu said. “She put a bullet right through the back of his head. It was actually an impressive shot from around 15 metres away.”
“Huh… We just learned that our sister was a competitive shooter down in Niagara.” Hal said. “Glad to hear she got one last bullseye.”
“We got the rest, but not before one of them fired back into the cabin.” Brian said.
Brian’s addition was the truth, of course, but it didn’t feel that way… to either of them. Leaving out the specifics of Hess’ death was a necessary evil, but it made Brian and Stu feel like liars, just the same. They all had more pressing matters to deal with than dwelling on details that none of them could change, no matter how regretful. They were both relieved to learn that Hal wasn’t interested in getting into the particulars of his sister’s death either. He quickly changed the subject himself.
“Rob tells me you guys are leaving.” Hal said. “What’s the rush?”
“Well… your Army friends made an unsettling discovery today, Hal.” Br
ian replied. “Those Sudbury guys all had military spec handguns on them. I think that this Xander guy is the same man that the RCMP was looking for. You remember me mentioning that arms smuggler last night?”
“Yes… I do.” Hal replied. “Shit, you think we have a damn warlord living around here somewhere?”
“We don’t know for sure, but it’s got us worried.” Brian said.
“We need to get home to our families, guys.” Stu said. “For all we know, they could have already found our place by now. You heard Mick last night… We’ve got a nice plowed road leading straight there.”
“We can’t do any trading for a while.” Brian said. “We need to call off all meet ups until the spring, so we don’t leave any tracks behind.”
“The first day the road is cleared of snow, though, you can expect us back to check in on you.” Stu added.
“Okay, guys, that sounds like a good idea.” Hal said. “All it’ll take is one or two good snow storms and your trail will be covered up again.”
“Those assholes already know where we live though.” Rob said. “They don’t need a trail to find us.”
“That’s why you’re gunna put every gun you have on that entrance and keep it guarded 24 hours a day.” Stu said. “If Xander and Tom do intend to come back here they won’t be alone. You’ve got to be ready for them.”
“You should have more than enough meat to last you a while and there’s plenty of fish in the lake.” Brian said. “Don’t allow anyone to take a weapon out hunting unless you get desperate, guys. Keep them all here where they can be used to protect your people.”
“Make sure you search through the cabins those guys were staying in.” Stu said. “Guaranteed, they’ll have a bunch of ammo hidden in there. Stacey told us that she left her rifle and a spare magazine hidden under the sofa in your sunroom. She said you guys can keep it. It takes the same 9mm ammunition that all of your pistols use.”
“Mick’s cabin is a bit of a mess, though, guys.” Brian said apprehensively. “The bodies are all in there, so only send in people that can handle that sort of thing.”
“Alright, guys, we get it.” Rob said.
“What about the veggies we owe you?” Hal asked. “I don’t feel right not holding up our end of the bargain.”
“You don’t worry about that, Hal.” Stu said. “In the spring, we’ll come back and see what you’ve got for us.”
“After making the deal with you guys, we haven’t even put a dent in my wife’s preserves yet.” Brian added. “We’ll have plenty to keep us going for a few months.”
“Don’t come out our way, guys.” Stu said. “We need that plowed road covered with snow again as quickly as possible and it needs to stay that way until the spring.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll stay put.” Hal said. “Listen, Nora has already harvested that kale that we were gunna send you home with tomorrow. Stop off at the first greenhouse there and take it with you. There should be four bushels on the ground. Take them all.”
“Thanks, Hal, we’ll do that.” Brian said.
They turned around to the sound of the Bronco making its way up the driveway.
“That was quick.” Stu said. “They’re already packed up and ready to go.”
“Damn, you guys are in a hurry.” Rob said.
The truck came to a sliding stop and Leo quickly jumped out and ran towards them. Startled, both Stu and Brian placed a hand on the butt of their sidearms.
“I just gotta say bye to Liv.” Leo said as he ran past them.
Stu looked over at the others and shook his head while exhaling loudly.
“Freakin’ kid… Scared the hell out of me.”
Chapter 14
The next day, when the sun was at its highest point in the sky, Xander and the 11 other men of The Company headed over to Linda’s place on foot. The trucks were left behind, as Xander felt that the sudden arrival of ‘moving vans’ might send the locals into a panic. He also made a point of telling his men to carry their rifles slung over their shoulders instead of in their hands, again to assuage their fears.
They would first get these people under control and separated. If shooting one or two of them was what is took to make that happen quickly, so be it. Two trucks and campers would then be brought down, brusquely loaded up with the expatriated and driven off.
Bray and the others hadn’t been told every aspect of Xander’s plan, of course. As hardcore as he knew his men to be, the meat of some matters was better left for the iron stomachs of his top guys to digest alone. As one of his trusted captains, Bray would normally fit into this category, but his prior association with these people had effectively disqualified him.
Xander assumed that Bray would eventually be okay with it, but Mars had been adamant that he be left in the dark. Brayden Ward could be a serious badass, but he could also have a conscience. What they intended to do today was no place for a guy with a heart. Accordingly, the heartless Xander, Mars, Tom and Easton would handle that particular part of their day on their own.
Xander arrived at Linda’s driveway with Bray on his left and Mars on his right. The rest of his men stood back a few paces spread out shoulder to shoulder. All of them knew that something wasn’t right, as not a single soul was in sight. Looking towards some of the other cottages did nothing to change that. To Xander this could only mean one of two things. Either Bray had messed up and scared them all into hiding or none of these women could tell when it was noon without a functioning clock. Xander’s chauvinism never even allowed him to consider a third possibility.
“Where’s the hell’s your girlfriend?” Xander asked, turning to Bray.
“I don’t know, man. I’ll go knock on her door.” Bray replied.
“Hurry the hell up. It’s cold as hell out here.”
Before Bray took a single step, Linda’s front door opened. As Linda stepped out onto her porch, she was soon joined by three other women. Xander and his men were surprised to see that all four of them had a rifle slung down by their waists. Looking at some of the other cottages, Xander noticed that both of her neighbours were opening their front doors as well. Each of those porches would soon hold two additional women also armed with rifles. Before a single word was spoken, eight women were facing Xander and his men. All remained silent and expressionless as they held their matching rifles at the low ready position.
“What the hell are they up to, Bray?” Xander quietly asked.
“Hell if I know.” Bray replied. “I had no idea they still had weapons.”
“Those are the automatics that those North Koreans had with them.” Mars said. “Shit, Xander, these crazy bitches must have gone into that barn.”
“Tougher bunch than you two.” Xander said. “I suppose they have the keys to our trucks too.”
“To hell with them.” Mars said. “We’ll thin them out the old fashioned way… Save us the road trip.”
“What’s going on here?” Xander shouted out, ignoring Mars’ premature declaration.
“What’s going on here is you’re being evicted.” Linda shouted back. “Every single person living here has an assault rifle now and plenty of bullets. I assure you that the eight of us you see here are only the beginning.”
This information caused the firing line of men behind Xander to look around nervously. They slowly separated themselves a little as their eyes continuously panned their surroundings. Wherever the others were hiding, they were doing a fine job of it, as none of them spotted a single one of them. Even Mars and Bray couldn’t resist having a slight look around. Xander’s eyes, however, never left Linda and the three women standing confidently beside her.
“We were hoping to work with you.” Xander said, completely unconcerned. “Bray figured we could help out around here and survive the winter together. We thought you might be a little more appreciative for what we did for you last night.”
“We don’t want you here and we don’t need any more of your help.” Linda said. “The only reason we’re ha
ving this discussion right now is because we do appreciate what you did last night. You’re being given a chance to leave unharmed and with all of your stuff, but if you refuse…”
“…If we refuse, what? You’ll mow us all down?” Xander asked with a smirk. “Bitch, please… My men are professionals. If I order them to open up on you ladies you all die and your kids will be left to wander the countryside hungry and alone. You might hit a few of us, but you won’t get us all. Are you prepared to die today, Linda?”
“To keep you out and my friends safe, hell yes, I’m ready to die.” Linda replied. “I don’t think you’re willing to die for your men, though, Xander. You guys showed us who you really were last night. Do you honestly think we didn’t hear you assholes laughing at our friends as they screamed with their clothes on fire? Do you really believe we didn’t spend the entire night getting ready for you lot to show up?”
Xander considered the situation for a moment longer.
We’re in a shit position here, standing out in the open like a bunch of damn fools. There’s no telling how many of those North Korean rifles survived the fire. Even if only half did her numbers still double ours. Screw it, we don’t need this shit. We’re not leaving empty handed though.
“If we leave, we’re taking those plow trucks with us.” Xander said.
“I’m only gunna say this one more time.” Linda said. “You can take all your stuff with you. That means your snowmobiles, your gear and what’s left of that moose your man shot. The plow trucks and those little yellow pick ups that Bray gave us stay here. If I hear one more word about it, Carol is going to put a bullet right between the eyes of whichever one of you dicks she had targeted. Your friends may be professionals, but mine’s an Olympic medalist in the biathlon. You know… the winter event with all the shooting.”
“You gave them your Minecats?” Xander quietly asked Bray.
“I needed to sweeten the deal a little to get them to let us stay.” Bray replied. “The deer wasn’t exactly enough to do it. I figured we’d just steal them back in the spring.”
EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4 Page 22
