by Hunt, Jack
“We’ll leave early in the morning.”
“Doesn’t matter. You can’t stay.”
Ryan walked into the room. “You owe me.”
“I owe you nothing.”
Ryan picked up a lamp. “Really?”
“Ryan. Put it down.” He dropped it on the floor and it broke. Thomas hurried over and picked it up and called him a dickhead.
“Thomas. If money is an issue, I can…” Alex fished out of his pocket what little he had. In all the commotion back in Elizabeth City he’d scooped up his wallet but there was only a couple hundred inside.
“Money’s no good now.”
Ryan roamed the room looking around. “Tell me, asshat, if the feds shut you down, how have you managed to afford this? The last time I spoke to you, you were couch surfing.”
Thomas set the broken lamp on a side table. “I have my means.”
“Yeah? Let me guess, that got anything to do with dealing?”
“I don’t do that anymore.”
Ryan laughed as he ran a finger across the top of the fireplace mantle. It was covered in a thick layer of dust. “And a leopard can change its spots. There’s no way you could afford this place even if you were renting. The feds froze my bank account; they would have done the same with yours. And barring some girl, friends weren’t exactly a priority of yours. So c’mon. Who owns this crack house? I saw the needles in the bathroom.”
Thomas narrowed his eyes. “You need to leave. Now!”
“Shit for brains, I’m not going anywhere until you give me some answers.”
The sound of tires crunching over gravel got Thomas’ attention. He shot across the room and looked out the front window. “Oh shit.” Without saying another word he shot out of the room and went upstairs. Alex took a peek and saw two Jeeps, four people in each, one of them had a cowboy hat on, and was a hulk of man. He was also packing a handgun in the front of his jeans.
“Thomas! Don’t make me come in there,” he bellowed out.
Ryan double-timed it up the stairs and Alex wasn’t that far behind him. They found Thomas in a bedroom zipping up a bag full of clothes. He scooped up an AR-15 that was leaning in the corner and slung it over his shoulder. The bedroom, if it could even be called that consisted of one queen-size mattress on the floor, two pillows, and clothes strewn all over the place. “What the hell is it with everyone finding me?”
“That’s why the feds found you. You were good at hacking, shit at covering your tracks,” Ryan said. “Who’s that outside?”
“Some very bad people.”
“Let me guess. The ones who paid for this place?”
“Ten points for you, Ryan,” he said, pushing past him and jogging down the steps. He went into the kitchen and scooped up the beer from the fridge, cracked one open, downed it then tossed the can and made a beeline for the rear door.
Before he got within spitting distance, Ryan closed it with his foot then locked it. “Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?”
“Get out of the way, Ryan.”
“Who’s outside?” Alex asked again.
“You don’t want to know. Now I’m telling you, move, before we all end up dead.”
Ryan shoved him. “He asked you a question. Who is he?”
“Travis Delmar, but everyone knows him as Cowboy.”
20
California
Elisha looked on in horror at the sight of kids with third-degree burns. Many had lost parents, brothers, sisters and spouses in what was now being called the American bombings.
It seemed like every minute another ambulance, police cruiser or volunteer truck rolled up and wheeled out a victim. It felt like she’d stepped into something akin to World War Three. The ever-prevailing sense that they weren’t safe lingered among the survivors. What would happen next? Who was behind it? Rumors swirled; accusations flew only adding fuel to the rage.
Outrage was directed at the government more than a foreign country.
Politics, religion, all of it was blamed and yet no one really knew why.
It was a mystery and one that didn’t seem to matter, only survival.
With her arm in a cast, and her belly full, she was beginning to feel human again.
She and Liam roamed Lucchesi Park, strolling past tents erected by families doing their best to take care of their young. They’d come to learn that huge swaths of Petaluma had been reduced to rubble, most of it in an instant, the rest from the fires burning out of control and spreading. The fire service had done the best they could to keep the areas around the shelters safe but even they were having to fall back on the old way of putting out fires.
In the black of night, pockets of fire throughout the city provided ample light. N95 air filter masks were handed out for those not wishing to inhale the smoke that was drifting throughout the city like fog. Of course there weren’t enough — so some chose to use bandannas or resorted to tearing shirts into pieces and wrapping them around their children’s faces. The air was thick, almost unbearable but it wasn’t like getting out of the city would be any better.
“So you think your parents would travel this way?”
“I’m not sure. Hell, I don’t even know if they’re alive.”
The thought crushed her heart. It was one thing to lose a brother but parents? She wasn’t sure she could come back from that.
“How did he die?” Liam asked. “Michael, I mean?”
She looked at him as they walked among a sea of white eyes from faces blackened by smoke. “He was four years older than me. On the night of his graduation, he and a group of friends hung out together. They were supposed to stay local, go to a friends home. Instead, they took a boat out. The details are still foggy as to whose speedboat it was but they were drinking. It’s believed from eyewitnesses that the driver tried to perform a high-speed turn.” She paused. “It flipped.” Her chin dipped. “The driver apparently wasn’t wearing a kill cord which is meant to stop the boat in an emergency. I’m not sure it would have helped. The boat crashed into a jetty, and everyone on it died.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Not as sorry as my father. Michael didn’t die instantly but landed in the water. He was knocked unconscious. By the time the Coast Guard got there he had drowned. My father was one of the team who responded that night. He didn’t know who it was until he turned him over.”
A pause.
“Holy shit. And he never quit the coast guard?”
“Quit?” She snorted as she shook her head. “That’s not in my father’s vocabulary.” She took a deep breath. “But it was the final nail in the coffin with his marriage.”
“But your mother couldn’t have blamed him.”
“No, she didn’t but that didn’t stop them from assuming that’s what the other was thinking. She encouraged Michael to go with them that night. But she didn’t know that’s where they’d end up. And my father, well, that’s part of the reason why he won’t take a desk job. He says he has to be out there. Trying to save people. What he won’t admit is that he’s really trying to save his son.”
They stopped walking and looked across the lake. Fires from nearby homes reflected on the surface, dancing orange tongues, that might have appeared beautiful if it wasn’t under the circumstances.
“That’s messed up.”
She gave a strained smile. “That’s life I guess.”
Crease lines formed on Liam’s brow. “Were you close to him?”
“Michael?” She nodded. “Yeah. I looked up to him.” She smiled. “He watched out for me. He uh…” She blew out her cheeks. “He was going to join the Coast Guard after graduation.”
“Is that why you joined?”
“Maybe.” She reached down and picked up a pebble and tossed it across the surface of the water. “When my father heard Michael was planning on following in his footsteps, he was overjoyed. When I told him, he was against it.”
“Against?”
She shrugged. “He wanted me to do somet
hing else. Anything else.”
“But you went ahead anyway.”
Elisha noticed a young girl playing by the water with her brother. They couldn’t have been more than six. A mother nearby watched them like an eagle.
They turned to head back to the parking lot when the staccato of gunfire erupted.
Liam put an arm around Elisha and pulled her to the cover of a nearby tree.
People screamed, many dropped to the ground thinking they were under attack from foreigners, but that wasn’t it. Two souped-up black sedans with tinted windows tore away as a police cruiser took off at a high rate of speed after them.
Sirens wailed and grew distant before they considered moving.
Stumbling to their feet they made their way to the lot just in time to witness the aftermath. At least twenty people, young and old, had been gunned down, many no longer moving, others crying out in agony.
21
North Carolina
Thomas looked as if he was about to blow a gasket. He slung the strap of the duffel bag over his left shoulder and raised the rifle at Ryan. “Step aside, I won’t ask you again.”
“Really? You put me in jail, now you want to shoot me?”
“I will do whatever I—”
He soon changed his mind when Alex pressed the barrel of his handgun to the back of his skull, then reached around and took the rifle out of his hand and gave it to Sophie.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked.
“Keep it out of his hands. Both of them.” He nudged Thomas into the living room. “Both of you assholes take a seat.”
“Hey,” Ryan piped up.
“You egg him on, it doesn’t help.”
Thomas got all theatrical. “I’m telling you right now Alex. You are making a big mistake. This guy is fucking loco. He won’t think twice about killing us all. Now, if you want the gun—keep it, but I’m getting out of here,” he said rising from his seat only to be pushed back by Alex.
“Start talking. Who is he?”
“I just told you. Crazy.”
“Who is he? And what’s he want with you?”
“Who fucking cares? You’re all going to California. What does it matter to you?”
“Maybe because of our son.”
Ryan and Sophie looked at him. “Um.” He cleared his throat. “What I meant to say is this little jerk-off had a reason for dragging our ass here, and both you and him seem to know a lot about what is going on right now. So for now you’re coming with us.”
Thomas balked. “With you?”
“With us?” Ryan protested.
“Yeah, you want to run that by me again,” Sophie added.
“Not to California. Just for now. Geesh.” As he turned away, a brick was lobbed through the window and landed a few feet away.
“Shit,” Thomas said. “I told you. We are all gonna die. At least give me my gun and let me go out like a man.”
“That would require you being a man,” Ryan retorted.
Thomas flipped him the bird.
“Everyone upstairs. Now!” No one hesitated except of course Thomas who tried to make a beeline for the rear door but was quickly pulled back by his collar. Alex shoved him toward the stairs.
“Oh c’mon man!”
Alex gave a nod toward the stairs with his handgun. Thomas huffed and double-timed it up. At the top to the right was a washroom, to his left a small spare room that was piled with cardboard boxes, then directly ahead the master bedroom. “So… what’s this guy want?” Alex asked.
“Blood.”
“Yeah. Okay. What does he want?”
“I don’t know.”
“Spit it out, ginger boy,” Ryan said.
He groaned. “After the feds froze my account, I needed to make some money.” He stared back at them. “I had debts. He was one of them. I was planning on paying him off but uh…”
“You opted to do a runner and screw him over, didn’t you?” Ryan cocked his head.
“I was going to pay it back. All of it. I just needed some time…” he trailed off.
“How much do you owe him?”
“A hundred grand.”
“That all?”
He pursed his lips.
“Is that all?” Alex asked again.
“And a kilo of blow.”
“Shit,” Alex said. He walked over to the window and looked out. There were eight, some male, some female, all of them dressed in hunting gear like they had just stepped out of the woods. Cowboy was easy to identify; he was wearing a cowboy hat. He was a beast of a man, six foot, tiny eyes, a granite chin and not the kind of person you’d want to bump into at night. “What’s the deal with the camo?”
“He likes to hunt.”
“How the hell did you end up owing him that much money?”
“My reputation.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Like I said, it was before the feds moved in and shut me down. Had I been up and running I would have easily been able to bring in that kind of money and I was for a time. Cowboy was my connection.”
“The ransomware,” Ryan said. “You laundered it through him.”
“I couldn’t exactly walk into a bank with it, now could I?” He glared at Ryan. “He took a cut. Well, we ended up doing some other business but that’s neither here nor there.”
“What kind of business?” Alex asked.
“He would give me some blow up front. He knew I was good for the money. Problem is with all the cash coming in, I kind of lost track and blew most of the money on escorts and drugs, and…”
“Now you owe him,” Sophie said.
“Yeah. Look, I would have paid him back but the feds froze my account.”
“You idiot,” Ryan said, running a hand over his head as he crossed the room.
“Well now he’s coming for it,” Alex muttered, his back pressed to the wall. He peered out by pulling down one of the blinds. Fiery backyard torches that residents had inserted into the ground all throughout the neighborhood lit up their faces. They stood in front of their mud-caked Jeeps, shouting out without a care in the world. One of them was carrying a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and was taking a swig from it every few seconds. He noticed they were carrying hunting rifles, the kind that could take down a deer at fifty yards.
“All right,” Cowboy yelled. “Gave you the opportunity.”
Thomas leaned forward. “Sophie. Please. Give me my gun.”
Cowboy raised two fingers and gestured for two to go around the right side of the house and another two around the left while he moved in. Alex crouched down and lifted the window, then motioned to Sophie to give him the rifle. He checked that the magazine was full and loaded a round into the chamber, then set it down. He removed his jacket and ruffled his hair to make himself look like he’d just woken up.
“What the hell is all that racket?” Alex shouted out.
Cowboy glared. “Where’s Thomas?”
“He’s not here!”
“Who are you?” Cowboy asked.
“A friend, watching over the place. He left this morning.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“Who are you?”
“I told you. A friend.”
“Then friend, you won’t mind if I look around.”
“Ah, it’s too late. I’m trying to get some sleep. Come back later. I’m sure he’ll be around then.”
He heard Thomas snort behind him. Cowboy turned and looked at his pals then looked back up. “I think you’ve misunderstood. I’m coming in. Now if you’re telling me the truth, you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“There’s nowhere to hide,” Thomas whispered.
Alex’s brow furrowed and continued talking. “Why would I worry?”
Cowboy stared up at him and let out a laugh. “Exactly. I’m coming in.”
Before he took one more step, Alex scooped up the rifle and stuck the barrel out. He squeezed off a r
ound. The retort of the gunshot splintered the air. The bullet tore up grass inches from Cowboy’s feet. “Like hell you are!”
“You mutha—”
He lifted a bolt action rifle and Alex pulled back, waving for them to get down.
The loud chorus of gunfire reverberated around the building as the first shots rang out. Bullets lanced the walls and windows from all sides, sending shards of glass all over the room.
Alex waited for the storm to pass. It did.
“Hey asshole, you still alive?”
Thomas looked at Alex. “I told you he’s nuts.”
Alex replied, “Alive and kicking!” then spun around with the rifle and took out one of the tires on the Jeeps, then followed through with another shot to shatter the windshield. The echo of returning gunfire was deafening.
One more time it stopped. “Oh, I can go all night.”
“Funny. So can I,” Alex replied by firing another round which punched through a tire on the next Jeep. Each one was highly targeted, purposeful shots. He was already thinking ahead. Outside he could hear one of them throwing a tantrum.
“My Jeep. Not the Jeep!”
Sophie shuffled over, staying low. “Alex. Even if we get out of here, we won’t be able to get to the vehicle because they’re beside it.”
“I know.” He turned and took another shot. Several of them took cover and looked as if they were about to return fire when sirens wailed, and the throbbing lights of a police cruiser cut through the night. Two cruisers raced toward them, brakes screeching, back ends whipping out and coming to rest at an angle. For a brief second, Alex thought it was over. That’s it. Curtain closed. Lights out. Anyone with a lick of common sense would have dropped their weapons, surrendered and called it a night.
Nope. Not these idiots.
If he hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes he wouldn’t have believed it.
Maybe it was because of the events that had unfolded or simply because this guy truly was out of his mind, but he strolled calmly over to his Jeep and without missing a beat, reached into the back and exchanged his bolt action for what looked like an M4. Cowboy palmed a magazine into it and took up a spot behind a Jeep and opened fire on the police with a three-round burst. The windshield was lanced, a side mirror shattered and one of the cops was hit. He went down gripping his neck, yelling at the others who dropped behind their cruisers and returned fire.
