“Now where are you going?”
“Back to the tree line to tie up. Better for us to walk than have that stink settle in our bedrolls and these guys shouldn’t have to smell it either.”
Willy turned and followed her. With a look back, the scowl on Sam’s face look made it clear he didn’t appreciate the further walk, but he turned and rode behind them. Gina turned, flashed Willy a grin and rode to the tree line. With the horses tied, and girths loosened, the three walked back to the top of the slope. Without showing themselves, they crawled on their bellies until they could look down on Charlie’s barnyard/backyard. To their surprise, there were a couple of mountain bikes and several horses. Someone had built a fire in the permanent fire-ring at the edge of the patio. A cast iron pot sat on the grate with a man busy stirring whatever was in it. A man and a woman lay stretched out on chaise lounges apparently asleep.
Movement from the closest silo caught Gina’s attention, and she nudged Sam’s arm just in case he’d missed it. He reached inside his shirt and pulled out the binoculars. Holding them to his eyes he studied the situation, and Gina saw that a slow smile crept across his face.
“What? What do you see? Do you know them? What do you think they’re doing down there?”
“I do. At least some of them do look familiar. I don’t recognize the two walking patrol, but the guy at the fire is Jesse; Charlie’s youngest and one of the men at the silo is Don. He’s Charlie’s oldest. Let’s just watch them for a bit until we know what’s going on.”
Willy stretched out on the ground and let out a soft groan, “My mind didn’t forget how to ride, but my body sure did. I don’t have anything that doesn’t ache right now.”
“Just wait until tomorrow. You’ll probably wish that you’d listened to Journey. The thing is that now you need to ride every day to loosen up those muscles and condition your body.”
Willy had his eyes closed, but nodded, “I don’t plan on walking or riding in a wagon, so I guess I’ll learn to survive.”
“As much as you’re likely to be doing in the future, you’ll adjust quickly, or you’ll have to take up gardening,” Sam told him with a chuckle. “Stay home with the women.”
Willy nodded and smiled, “Now that has some possibility. Right now it sounds pretty good.”
“After an hour of watching, Sam and Gina had seen the two on patrol come in and wake to two sleeping people and trade places. They were able to see that one of them was indeed a woman as they had thought and maybe one of the two on the first patrol was also. Sam had studied the four with the binoculars and hadn’t recognized them. No one down below was behaving as if they were under any duress or being held captive. They worked together as a group, supporting each other.
When Joe and the other man from the silo walked, back to the patio, carrying the weight of full sacks of grain over their shoulders Sam thought it was time to introduce themselves.
He rose to his knees, cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered, “Joe and Jesse McGrubber! Hello, the house!”
Immediately, the sacks of grain were dropped, and rifles that Sam hadn’t seen hanging off their backs were produced and aimed in their general direction.
Sam dropped down onto his stomach before someone could take a shot at him. “Well, that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.” He raised his head to see what effect his shouting had produced. There wasn’t a soul in sight. The two sacks of grain lay where they had fallen. Both of the chaises were empty, and the two walkers were out of sight.
“This is our land, and you’re trespassing!”
“Joe? This is Sam Akins. I know where your father is.”
“Dad? My father’s alive?”
Gina watched the one man come out from behind the utility shed. His rifle was resting on his chest. He was looking up the slope they were laying on. She pulled her head back down just in case it was a ruse.
Sam poked his head up for a quick look, “He’s very much alive. He’s with my brother John. Can we come down there?”
Joe walked to another man who had stepped out from behind a large planter. They seemed to be having a conversation.
“It’s a good thing we aren’t the bad guys. We could pick them off while they stand there.”
Sam nodded and continued to watch them. “I suppose the idea that someone could sneak up on them hasn’t occurred to them. They probably think that getting home made them safe.”
“You said we. How many of you are there?”
“Four of us. My wife and Willy Jones. You must remember him? From St. Regis?”
“You said four. Who else?”
“Just a friend. I’m going to leave him up here for our security if that’s alright with you.”
Gina lifted her head and watched. She saw both men nodding, and one turned and said something she couldn’t hear to someone hiding behind him. Two more men and the one they thought was a woman stood up from various hiding places in the yard.
“Come on down. Keep your hands where we can see them. One wrong move and our sniper will take great pleasure in taking you all out.”
“Sniper?” Willy whispered. “Sure you don’t want Gina to stay up here?”
“I know this kid, and unless he’s gone rogue, he’d never shoot without provocation. Whatever you guys do, keep your hands away from your guns.”
Sam pushed himself up to a kneeling stance, and with his hands held away from his side, he rose to his feet. He watched as Gina and Willy did the same.
Walking three abreast with their hands as Joe had instructed they started down the slope. At the bottom and at the edge of the dirt parking area they stopped and waited for Joe to call them forward.
“Holy cow,” Gina whispered, “A couple of those are barely adults.”
The man that had done the talking walked closer with another close behind him. He stood twenty feet away, his rifle held in a relaxed position, but still accessible. “Well, I sure didn’t expect to see you. You said my father is with John? Why didn’t he come with you guys? Is he hurt?”
“No. In fact, he and John, as well as some of our other people, are in the process of moving. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve had some changes around here, and it’s not a safe place to be.”
To the west, the silhouette of the volcano stood out in stark relief against the blue sky, casting a shadow over the valley. The cloud of black smoke hung as a reminder it was there just waiting for the perfect moment to destroy everything around it.
Joe nodded, “We’ve been watching it and trust me, with the rumblings we’ve felt the past couple of days, we wondered how safe we are here. We were waiting for Dad to return. At first, we’d thought he was out hunting or something, but when he didn’t come home at any time during the past few days…well, of course, we thought the worst.”
“If you’ve been here that long, you must have just missed his leaving here. He showed up at the ranch about a week ago.”
When the breeze changed direction, it carried the smell of something good cooking on the fire, “Smells like we got here just in time for dinner,” Sam said with a laugh, “and it doesn’t smell like MRE’s or precooked food.”
“Stew. You’re welcome to join us, and maybe we should sit down and talk,” Joe said. He raised his arm and waved, at something back up the hill.
Sam and Gina both turned to see a figure jogging down the hill a rifle cradled against his chest. “Is that Kenny?”
Joe nodded, a sheepish grin crossed his face, “Yeah, he’s our sniper. Go ahead and call your person in and we’ll sit and discuss what we’re doing over a bowl of stew.”
Sam flushed and had the grace to look embarrassed, “We don’t have one. There’s just us as Kenny will tell you when he gets down here. I was hoping it would encourage you not to shoot us if you thought someone else was watching.”
Joe laughed as if Sam had just told the biggest joke, “You’re in luck because we are almost out of ammunition. Kenny is the only one with a full magazine.”
“I guess we all got lucky then.”
One by one Joe introduced his friends to Sam, Gina, and Willy. Because Sam had already met Jesse and Kenny, he started with the others first. The woman and man who had been sleeping at first were Betty and Calvin Deter, a married couple trying to get to Spokane.
Then there was the person that Gina couldn’t decide if it was a he or a she. Her hair had grown out, but at one time it had been purple, now it had an inch of brown showing at the roots. She looked like at one time; she would have fit the punk rocker persona. Dressed in all black that had seen better days and she still wore a worn leather collar around her neck.
No one was more surprised than Sam, when Calvin introduced her as Joe’s girlfriend, Tammy. Sam’s mouth dropped open as he looked at Joe. Joe flushed and kept his mouth closed, but it was obvious he wasn’t sure what to say in his defense, but he was visibly upset by something.
She smiled at them, “Tammy. My friends all call me Tammy.” She moved to stand beside Joe, and gave Gina a look that Gina couldn’t quite figure out. To Gina, she thought the girl was warning her off as if Gina would possibly have designs on Joe.
“I’ll be a surprise for his father I think, and probably not the hometown girl he was expecting his oh-so-upright son to bring home.” Tammy’s words were said with a sneer and Gina wondered what was going on. Joe’s attitude wasn’t one that Gina thought conveyed any sort of a relationship. If anything he treated the girl with disdain and Gina wondered if she was an old girlfriend, but that wouldn’t explain why he’d brought her to the farm.
“Yeah, some surprise,” Joe frowned when he said it and walked off, roughly pulling his arm free from Tammy’s grasp. Tammy stared at him chewing on her bottom lip.
It was apparently an ongoing conversation that no one else was privy to, but having met the straight-laced Charlie, if Tammy was indeed his girlfriend, Gina could guess why the girl looked worried. Gina had never tried to judge people on how they looked on the outside, but she could already see where this couple could be a problem down the road. They had been lucky that so far they had little if any discord in their group, but she could see that changing with the addition of Joe and Tammy.
“Hey, Sam!” A young man said as he jogged into the yard, “I thought that was you up there, but I didn’t want to surprise you and get myself shot,” Sam shook the hand that Kenny held out his direction and introduced him to Gina. He grabbed Gina’s hand and pumped it, “Wife?”
“Wife!” Sam said without explaining. Sam turned to Willy.
“I already know Willy from the restaurant in St. Regis. He used to turn a blind eye when I and some of my friends used to go in and play the machines.”
“Guess those days are over,” Willy told him, with a laugh.
Sam was watching the only person he hadn’t met yet. The man was older than Joe and Sam didn’t think he was a college friend, but maybe someone they had picked up somewhere. The man, unlike the others, was dressed in an assortment of someone else’s cast-offs or he had robbed a clothes line somewhere. His hair was greasy, and his blue eyes didn’t have any form of welcome in them at all. Sam didn’t like the way his gaze raked over Gina when she was introduced to him.
“My eyes are up here,” Gina said and pointed up, as he mouthed her name.
Slowly he took his gaze from Gina’s chest to her face. She saw him react when he saw the burn marks and a look of revulsion crossed his unshaven face.
The others all laughed when they heard what Gina said to him, but he didn’t. He glared around as if taking stock of the new arrivals. Willy stood up just a little taller as he was being scrutinized and returned the guy's hard stare.
Willy deliberately held his hand out to the man, “Willy Jones. I didn’t catch your name or where you were from.”
The man ignored Willy’s hand and scowled, “I didn’t say where I was from, names Roy.” As soon as he spoke his name, he gave Sam a nod and walked off, “I’ll be watching, so you guys can have your little reunion,” he snarled over his shoulder.
Before Roy could get out of hearing distance Joe yelled at him, “Hey Roy, where’s your buddy, Arlus? I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him for two days. I hope he remembers we work as a group and not independently. When you see him, tell him I want to have a face to face.”
Roy had quit walking when Joe had hollered and turned, as Joe spoke, Sam couldn’t help but notice the way the man’s hands curled into fists. “I ain’t his damn keeper. Maybe he went to find that uncle of his.” He turned and stomped off, his rifle hitting on his back with every step.
Sam noticed the gun hadn’t seen much care with the dull finish and to his eyes, it looked rusty in spots. He looked at Joe, “You said you guys were almost out of ammunition?”
Joe nodded, with a heavy sigh he said, “We are.” He laughed, “I would never have believed we could have used it all up, but we did after the second firefight. So, Kenny has a full magazine, and the rest of us have a couple of bullets each. I was counting on Dad being here because he used to reload for my .06 and Jesses’s 30/30.”
“What about him? Did you see his ammunition or just take his word that he was out? What about this other guy?”
Joe, flushed as if he had already made a mistake and only hearing it from Sam reminded him of it, “I didn’t see it. He told us he was out and wanted more. I told him we didn’t have any, and that’s when he wanted Kenny’s rifle. As you can tell, Kenny didn’t give it to him. He and Roy pretty much keep to themselves. They stand watch, and they both have done a little hunting with no results, but they’re gone, and it makes camp just a little more pleasant.”
“What do you want me to do Joe? Go back on my shift or what?
Joe looked at Calvin, “Go ahead and finish your shift. I guess Roy is going to be taking Betty’s so she can either help Tammy or get some sleep.”
“Oh, I’ll help Tammy in the house,” the woman said and followed Joe’s girlfriend into the house.
With only the six of them left at the fire, Sam leaned toward Joe, “Where did you pick up Roy? He doesn’t seem very hospitable.”
“Oh, he’s not staying. We found them just the other side of Drexel, or I guess I should say that they found us. Roy said they were on their way to Mullan to catch up with Arlus’s family, and we expected them to keep going once we turned on the road here, but Roy said he thought they’d spend a few days and rest up. So far, he hasn’t made any mention of them moving on.” Dan rubbed his hands together as if he were excited, “Now tell me about the old man. Is he okay? We were worried when we got here and thought he was hunting until we found his wagon and the horses missing.”
Willy leaned close, “I don’t trust that guy and not just because he has an aversion to touching my black skin. I didn’t like the way he was ogling Gina either. There’s something I don’t like about him, and I’m usually a good judge of character.”
Kenny laughed, “Glad it’s not only me and Jess. He and Jesse have been butting heads the last two days. Jesse and I share this one rifle and watch the area from up top, and Roy has been insisting he is the one to use it. Seeing as it’s mine and the only full magazine we have, I chose to let Jesse split the shift every four hours.”
“He’ll be gone soon enough as soon as we tell him we’re leaving.” Joe looked at Sam, “We are leaving together aren’t we?”
“Of course. Until he’s gone though, I prefer not to say to where.”
“I can understand that. The sooner he leaves, the sooner we can get started.”
Gina grabbed onto Sam’s arm, “Does anyone else hear that?”
Chapter Fourteen; Girls and planes!
Sam listened, and by the look of consternation on his face, he was trying to identify the sound. He nodded, “What the hell?”
Joe grinned, “That would be Sierra, Kenny’s girlfriend.”
The buzzing grew louder, and Sam scanned the sky overhead until he finally saw a single-seat ultralight circling overhead. He was
surprised when an arm waved down at them and Kenny stood and gave her a wave toward the grain field. As she circled, Kenny and Jesse went out to meet her.
Sam watched the lime green plane lose elevation until she went behind a small rise. “How is that happening?” Sam thought the idea of having aerial surveillance was good, but how did she carry enough fuel. He wondered about sending the women to fly over the Saint Joes Valley to check on John.
“It’s Sierra’s. From what Kenny says, she’s been flying that thing since she was nine. She does her own mechanic work as well. Sierra flew it here and had been doing some surveillance for us and she helped us avoid the gangs on the way here. We were worried that one of them had followed us, so she was up doing some reconnaissance.”
“That’s a good idea, but don’t you think someone could be following her here?”
Joe shook his head and looked smug. “Nope. She never comes in the same way twice, and sometimes she puts down in the far pasture unless one of us waves her in here.”
“Where does she find aviation fuel? I would think it would be hard to come by, but the better question would be, why does it still run? Wouldn’t the ignition be fried?”
“Slow down with the questions. You’re making me a little nervous here.” Joe laughed, but he had a certain amount of distrust in his eyes when he looked at Sam.
To have Joe and his brothers have the least amount of suspicion was troubling to Sam. They needed to form a relationship without having to worry about having someone always having to watch their backs. For Sam and Joe to get off on the wrong foot would be a disaster.
“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to pry. To see an aircraft with the capability of flying is amazing. None of us have the ability. Now give any of us a horse and some cattle, and we’ll shine, but flying…not a chance in hell you would get me up there under an umbrella with a motor. I know there are some motorcycles and four wheelers that run because we’ve already seen some, but to see that thing gives me hope that we can keep better track of what’s going on out of our area.”
Beyond the New Horizon (Book 3): Living on the Edge Page 20
