“What the hell is this place?” Asher said dryly. “Look at them all.”
About ten feet beyond the second man, there were at least three other shooters aiming out the window. None of them were firing their various rifles, and she had no way of knowing if they were all together, but they’d trained their sights on roughly the same target.
Grace finally glanced out the window holes. Outside, about five blocks down the canyon created by the buildings of lower downtown Denver, a huge black rock sat in the street, partially butting against one of the brick structures. Some of it was underground, and a good chunk had been scraped off the sides, but it was obvious the round-shaped black orb was an object from outer space. From where she stood, it appeared thousands of people had come to pay homage to it. They crowded tightly around the base of the rock, with thousands more waiting in the rows of trucks in the streets. Several huge cranes also tried to go over the people. One of the crane arms rose from a sixteen-wheeled truck on the street below. Its arm reached out over the rock, reminding her of a tiny fishing pole above a huge meatball.
“I think we’ve found what we’re looking for,” she said dryly.
She’d said it loud enough for three or four of the snipers to overhear her. She realized the mistake when she drew her attention back inside the office. The eyes of the men were now trained on her.
Asher whispered, “You shouldn’t have said we were here for the rock.”
St. Charles, MO
Ezra only needed about ten seconds to figure out who was responsible for what was taking place in the gun department. The men behind the counter wore navy-blue polo shirts or dark blue windbreakers. The white block letters TKM were prominent on their attire. No Bass Pro workers were anywhere in sight as guns were loaded into waiting green carts.
He leaned closer to Butch. “I think we missed our buying window.”
Butch pursed his lips then ripped off his hat and waved it around. “Hey! Leave some for the rest of us!”
A few spectators harrumphed from nearby, signaling support for the statement. Others clapped and hooted. Ezra sensed a rising tension all around, as if the watching and waiting wasn’t a voluntary pursuit for other shoppers.
One of the men in the blue polo attire stepped in front of the counter. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are operating with the approval of your mayor, the governor of Missouri, and, we’ve just learned, the Secretary of Homeland Security. TKMSS, or Tikkanen Kinetic Mining Security Services, has bought out the entire inventory of this store, which local authorities have graciously saved for us. We’ve done the same at your Walmart and the mom-and-pop gun stores here in your fine city. I assure you this is for your own protection. The men and women of my organization are now responsible for your security, a duty we take very seriously.”
Butch craned his neck to see the man. “We can take care of ourselves, thank you. Let us buy what we need before you clean it all out.”
The guy in charge was as tall as Butch, but quite a bit skinnier. He didn’t look like a warrior, but Ezra didn’t think he looked like one, either. It was dangerous to make assumptions. The scowl on the man’s face suggested he didn’t want to deal with men like Butch. Everything he knew about TKM suggested they were people used to getting what they wanted. Even the wandering man back on the muddy riverbank near Alton seemed insulted when he and Butch refused his offer.
“Butch,” he whispered, “we shouldn’t antagonize them.”
Butch spun around. He looked at him first, then at Haley. “I’ve always said we need weapons if we’re going to survive out on the road, or on the boat. Or in a house. You know we almost died, even with guns, when we ran into those pirates. If these mercs are allowed to clean this place out, we’ll be at the mercy of the world.”
Ezra agreed with every word his friend had said. Except there were only three of them, and about twenty heavily armed contractors. If they bragged they’d received the blessing and support of every level of government outside the store, his chance of changing their minds was probably close to zilch. It was far safer to get out of the store with what they had and hope to find weapons somewhere else.
Still, he had to say something. Rather than give Butch only bad news, he turned toward the man in the polo shirt. “We’ll pay double face value for a pair of ARs. I lost mine when I came into town. The police took them right off our backs.”
The man glared, trying to see him across a smoky room. The guy was probably in his mid-thirties, with slicked-back black hair, a pointy nose, and tanned skin. As men shifted in front of him, Ezra caught sight of the large pistol holstered at the man’s side. His impression shifted from busybody bureaucrat to a man who was unafraid to stand in front of citizens and forcibly remove firearms from them. He knew the guy would never agree.
Polo guy spoke to the whole room, not only to Ezra. “I’m sorry, we can’t make exceptions. I will say, though, if you have any firearms you’d like to sell to us, we will be very generous with our offers. Our fellow citizens need us to provide their security, and you can help us help them.”
This time there was some clapping in support.
After watching with amazement as some of the citizens walked their personal weapons up to the counter, Ezra spoke under his breath. “I tell you, everywhere we go seems to find a different way to endanger our lives. If that guy is in charge of protecting us, and these people think he’s on the level, I’m going to go ahead and declare we’re doomed, you know?”
He shifted on his feet, expecting some reply from Butch or Haley, but when he turned, they and the cart were gone. “Yep, we’re doomed.”
Chapter 16
Denver, CO
The thing that struck Grace while looking out the tenth-story windows was how some of the people down on the street had already been shot and left for dead. Miners moved around the bodies like current around boulders in the rapids. As her focus returned to the office space and the snipers looking at her, she put up her hands to signify her peaceful intentions. Then she said the craziest thing she could think of. “I’m with the National Park Service. We’re considering whether to declare this a new national park.”
They gave her blank stares.
“You know, because it represents a literal piece of history for our nation.” She laughed, trying to stoke a similar reaction in the men. She took it as a minor victory they looked at her but didn’t point their rifles in her direction. “In any event, we aren’t here to stop anyone, or interfere with anything, okay? In fact, maybe you can help us. We’re looking for the TKM headquarters.”
An older man stood up. He’d been six or seven cubicles down the row. “I’m with TKM. Why are you looking for us?”
Grace’s people-watching skills kicked in. She noted how most of the men went back to their posts, looking outside, rather than watching her. At first blush, she was glad to see them look elsewhere, but it also meant the TKM man carried some weight in the sniper nest. She fought the urge to shrink in the face of the armed man, who remained at his station. Instead, she walked down the next row, seeking to get closer.
“Hi. As you can see, we’re with the park service. As I told the other, um, gentleman, I’ve been sent to investigate the possibility of turning this location into a federal park. I just need to speak with someone in charge.” She put on her professional smile, the one she broke out when dealing with ignorant park visitors.
The man was dressed in desert camouflage shirt and pants. His rifle sat on top of two walls of the cubicle. It was patterned with muted mustards and browns, painted to match the man’s dress code. It wasn’t a military uniform, however. “The head office guys are over in that building behind the dig site.” He pointed down the street, beyond the rock.
“The one with windows?” she asked. The building was at least as high as the one she was in, but unlike most of the other structures surrounding the asteroid piece, its windows were smaller and mostly intact.
He nodded and thumbed in that direction. “You’re
going to want to wait a few days, though. All our people are down there at the rock doing important work.”
One of the other snipers hissed.
The TKM man laughed. “Not everyone likes the fact we got here first.”
“No one does!” a man farther down the line shouted.
“No one does, apparently,” the man added in a cordial tone. “But we all get along.”
A concussive explosion nearly knocked her hat off. One of the closest men had fired a shot down into the crowd and the low ceiling seemed to amplify the concussion. A second man stuck his head up next to the shooter. “Hit.”
She figured the other man had been on the ground, using his binoculars to look outside. Suddenly, she came to terms with the fact there was a small army on the floor with her.
“Well, we’ll try to get over there.” She took a few steps directly away from the row of windows, but she hesitated before leaving. Instead, she got the attention of the TKM man again. “You aren’t going to shoot us in the back, are you?”
He laughed sympathetically. “Only if you threaten one of my men. It’s what we’re all doing up here. There are a hundred other guys from a hundred other companies on the top floors of other buildings surrounding the rock. I have no intention of shooting someone like you, but I can’t vouch for these others. Be careful down there.”
She blinked. “That’s the nicest thing anyone from TKM has ever said to me.”
The man smiled, then seemed to study her. “You know, you look familiar. Have you been on the TV or something?”
“Nope,” she said too fast. “I’ve been driving for the past few days. I haven’t even seen a television since the sky fell.” Grace turned around and ran into Asher.
“Go,” she said quietly. “We’ve got to keep moving.”
They hustled back to the stairs, but the door flung open as they arrived. Two more men came through. One of them reflexively pointed at handgun at her, but then continued toward the windows.
Once clear, she threw her back against the inner wall of the stairwell. It helped relieve the tension and frustration of the last few minutes.
“You all right, Grace?” Shawn asked with concern. “You handled yourself well in there.”
It hadn’t felt that way. The gunshot totally threw off her game. Her heart hadn’t slowed since the blast and now she was winded from the fast exit. She rubbed her hands together to bolster herself.
“We have to find another way to reach the other side of the rock. I don’t trust any of those men not to shoot us in the backs. We’ll stand out, too, with our ranger hats and uniforms.”
On the way down the steps, she weighed the costs and benefits of ditching the uniforms. They would give them far more credibility when they reached the TKM headquarters, but they might be magnets for trouble on the way there.
She had ten flights to think it over.
St. Charles, MO
Butch and Haley sped the cart down a side aisle with the conspiratorial speed of two teens pulling a prank. At first, he worried they were doing it to annoy him, but he spotted a TKM man pushing a cart even farther ahead. As Haley got Liam out of the basket and placed him and his leash on the ground, Ezra figured out what they were planning.
“No,” he hissed.
The dog sprinted ahead once given his freedom, and it went right for the exciting new man with the accuracy of a torpedo in the water.
Ezra knew what was going to happen next but had no idea why Haley was doing it. The puggle barked excitedly as it approached the man, which made him halt with obvious surprise. He bent over to pet the brown ball of fur, but he froze in place as Haley and Butch arrived.
When Ezra caught up, he found Butch shielding Haley’s little pistol as he aimed it at the TKM man’s stomach. While Butch covered the man, Haley stepped on Liam’s leash, then picked him back up. When she stood up, she flicked her head sideways to get her loose bangs out of her eyes. Both of the youngsters acted like what they were doing was no big deal.
“We don’t want any trouble,” Ezra said, arriving late.
Butch spoke in a low voice, but with force. “We only want to buy those rifles in the cart. This lady needs one, and so do the two of us.”
The man took a step back. He was a middle-aged, medium-build, average-looking type of guy, but he sported a well-manicured handlebar mustache that could have come from an Old West movie. “Be my guest. Not sure how you’re going to get them out of here, though. The only people buying guns today are dressed like me.” He tugged at the TKM letters on his shirt pocket.
That threw Butch off his plan. Ezra saw it. The man saw it. Ezra decided to step in and swing for the fences. He yelled loud enough for those nearby to hear him. “Hey everyone, who wants some rifles?”
The words brought shoppers in from six aisles over. Within moments, there were twenty men from multiple directions drooling over the firearms. Butch wrapped the little black pistol in his shirt, but kept it pointed in the man’s direction. To the arriving shoppers, he added, “We only need a second to pick out a few.”
Ezra picked up a little shotgun and handed it to Haley.
“Screw the peashooter. I don’t want anything so dainty. I want this.” She ignored the offered shotgun and pulled out a wood-grained AK-47. Haley’s eyes lit up as she brushed her cropped orange fingernails along the stock. It was about all she could do with the dog still in her arms.
He looked around, not sure how much time they had. The men he’d summoned were about to descend on the cart like buzzards at fresh roadkill. “I respect your choice, I really do, but I’d recommend taking an AR-15 instead.” He shuffled through the boxes of ammo at the bottom of the cart, noting the lack of 7.62x39. “They didn’t put any ammo for it in here. There’s lots of 2-2-3, though.”
She looked at him like he’d crushed her dreams. After taking a few seconds to think it over, she gently placed the old school AK into the basket and pulled out a modern sporting rifle along with a small 50-round carton of ammo. “I guess this will be all right.”
Ezra snagged a similar style rifle, his own box of ammo, and then looked at the nearby men. “The rest is yours.”
If he’d thought about it, he might not have shouted so loud to bring in so many customers. It probably wasn’t his smartest move considering it was a panic-buying situation. As expected, they converged on the cart like it was carrion.
“Holy shit!” he blurted as he took a few steps back.
The TKM man was already gone.
“We have to go,” he said to Butch.
He tossed his rifle in Haley’s cart and pushed it toward the front of the store. The guns had already been unlocked by the TKM men behind the counter, so he was free to load it on the spot. It was a recognizable error on the part of those men, as guns weren’t supposed to be loaded inside the store. As he put more of the pieces together, he recognized he’d created a powder keg.
Sure enough, the second he saw the checkout lanes, a muffled gunshot came from behind them.
“Damn!” Haley said with a jump.
The employees didn’t wait around to see who was shooting. As a group, the five or six green-shirted people ran for the front door. He pointed to them. “We’re going straight through the front doors. Don’t stop!”
More shots cracked from the store aisles. It started here and there, but it grew in intensity with every second.
“Should we leave the cart?” Haley squealed, now holding Liam like a little football.
“We’re taking it,” Ezra replied.
“You’re the boss, E-Z,” Butch said, running alongside Haley while hunched over.
When they passed the checkout counter Ezra stood up and looked in the security camera. He slowed the cart, pointing to what was inside. “I’ll pay for this later!” he shouted.
He’d wrestled with the idea of being labeled a thief ever since he and Butch had borrowed those two bikes. He believed he’d done enough to make it clear to whoever might be watching the se
curity tapes they weren’t sneaking the supplies out the door like common crooks. Whether anyone would find him to collect payment was irrelevant. If nothing else, he envisioned returning them when the disaster was over since it was the honorable thing to do.
The giant pane of glass in the front window collapsed as they ran through the front doors. Shouting and gunfire burst from multiple points in the store, suggesting a major gunfight was in progress. They were the spark which had set off the bonfire.
“Where to?” Butch asked.
Ezra pushed the cart by him. Ahead, in the lot, a few men in blue shirts got out of their trucks, obviously concerned about the constant rattle of gunfire. They blended in with the sensible patrons running to escape the battle, as well as what appeared to be every green-shirted employee heading for their cars.
He led them along the front of the store, past the fishing boat department and around the corner of the building. Once they were out of the line of sight of the mining company people, he halted and sucked in some air.
“My God,” he panted. “What were you two thinking? You could have gotten seriously hurt.”
Haley hugged Liam. “It was horseshit they wouldn’t let you two have your rifles. I didn’t think they should be able to get away with it, so I gave Butch my Walther P22. I didn’t think anyone would start shooting, least of all those regular guys.”
“Me, either,” Butch admitted.
“I guess they didn’t believe those guys could protect them, either. You two didn’t know it, but you tapped into some serious anger in there.” Ezra glanced back toward the corner of the building. “Let’s load these rifles, then we need to find a safe place to hide. Once things calm down, we can get this stuff back to the boat.”
Haley bounced up and down with excitement. “I know where we can go!”
Impact Series Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 72
