by Robert Boren
“Slow down,” Scotty shouted. The step mother tried to get up, but Scotty kicked her in the head, and she dropped down, breathing hard, wide eyes afraid to look around.
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” Bree said, looking scared now. “I was only kidding.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll just scare her a little,” Scotty said, trying to calm her down. It didn’t help much.
“Here?” Howard shouted back as they approached a clearing with some trees.
“Yeah, pull around so we’re headed out,” Scotty said.
Howard made a wide turn, and then parked.
“Grab step mom, Howie,” Scotty said. “I don’t think she’s out now. Careful.”
Howard came back, opening the door and locking it back. Then he grabbed the stepmother by the under arms. She started kicking and screaming. Howard dragged her down the steps to the dirt, and then pulled her a few feet further. Bree hurried out the door too, looking terrified.
“Don’t hurt her too bad,” she said. “Really.”
Scotty came up behind Bree and pulled out his hunting knife. He slit her throat. She fell to the round and looked up at him, shocked and gurgling, drowning in her own blood. The stepmother screamed, and Howard twisted her neck, breaking it. She fell to the ground.
“Dammit, Scotty, did we really have to do this?”
“Make our marks,” he replied. “This was an added bonus. It’ll feed the narrative of our movement.”
“They’ll know we weren’t with them,” Howard said.
“So what? They’ll figure out this wasn’t planned. They’ll put two and two together when they find the motorhome at Wally World. You’re just upset because we didn’t get any play time.”
Howard shook his head, and the men put their markers on both victims. Then they pulled the bodies over under the row of trees.
“Still hungry?” Scotty asked.
“Yeah,” Howard said.
“Good, let’s eat before we take off, then.”
“Seriously? What if somebody comes?”
“Nobody can see us here, and nobody heard, either, because we didn’t have to shoot them,” Scotty said. “You need to lighten up a little bit, Howie. It’ll be days before they get found.”
Chapter 11 – Home Movies
Charlie and the Sheriff sat in the shade of the awning on Kurt’s rig, drinking lemonade that Mary had just made for them. Kurt came down the steps of the coach and sat down next to the Sheriff, and Mary followed him out with a pitcher and a few glasses.
“I’m going to take this over to the girls,” she said. “It’s getting a little warm.”
“Thanks, honey,” Kurt said.
“Yeah, thanks, this is good,” Charlie said. The Sheriff raised his glass and nodded in agreement.
“George and Malcolm down in the dungeon?” Kurt asked.
“Yeah, saw them follow Jerry down there a little while ago,” the Sheriff said. He took a sip of the lemonade. “Damn, this tastes good.”
“You still apprehensive about them, Sheriff?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Obviously they’re on our side in the war. When the focus is on that, I’d say we’re better off having them here. I’ll get a little worried when the focus goes onto the dungeon.”
“If Scott is really dead, how can that be dangerous?” Kurt asked. “You heard what Howard said.”
“I was talking to Jerry this morning,” the Sheriff said. “He’s been doing some research on his own. Sounds to me like there’s a better than even chance that Scott is still around, and still active.”
“What do you think those two would do to put us in danger?” Charlie asked.
“Use us for bait, or set up a situation where our safety isn’t the highest priority,” the Sheriff said. “They’ve done it before.”
“You really think they’d put us in danger? After what we’ve been through with them?” Kurt asked.
“Well, maybe not, but we know something of their character. They pay no attention to the relative guilt of participants. That Sadie Evans thing is a good example. We studied that one during one of my Continuing Ed classes. They treat their operations like a war. Works well when it really is a war, as we’ve just seen. Works lousy when some of the people involved are less guilty than others. The person who only drove the getaway car may not deserve the death penalty.”
“I don’t know, Sheriff,” Kurt said. “I’m a pretty good judge of character. They seem more than alright to me. We would’ve lost Jeb if it wasn’t for Malcolm.”
“So I heard,” the Sheriff said. “Like I said, in warfare, these guys are good to have around.”
“Still not getting the apprehension, I guess,” Kurt said.
“I understand it,” Charlie said. “In a civil society, the police aren’t also the judge, jury, and executioner.”
“These guys aren’t the police,” Kurt said.
“Malcolm was the police during the Red Dagger event,” the Sheriff said. “He should’ve been prosecuted for that. The department finally got enough pressure to make it tough for him to stay on the force, but there are detectives out there still using this guy, and looking the other way when he goes too far.”
“So what do you want to do?” Kurt asked. “Kick them out?”
“No, it’s too late for that,” the Sheriff said. “Just keep your eyes open, and remember what we’re fighting to preserve. Our laws mean something, as does the Bill of Rights. Question them when you think it’s warranted. Keep at least a thin layer between them and our inner circle.”
Malcolm and George were still down in the dungeon. There was so much to look through. Heidi left the room after seeing the personal effects of the victims. Jerry finally left, too. He could only take the feeling he got down there for so long. That left Malcolm and George alone. They’d just finished looking through all of the drawers in the workbench area, and Malcolm took pictures of all of the bulletin boards with his phone, focusing in on certain pictures in particular.
“Any of this surprise you?” George asked.
“The fact that it still exists, and was found by somebody who’ll let us look at it - that surprises me. Can you imagine what would happen to all of this evidence if Barney and Friends got down here un-supervised?”
“I was talking about the evidence itself. Obviously we’re lucky that some friends found it, and we got to it before the local PD got here.”
“You think they’re our friends, George?” Malcolm asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes, I do,” George said. “It’s not okay to play around with their safety. I mean it.”
“I know, I know,” Malcolm said.
“So why the comment?”
“Oh, nothing, I just noticed the way that the Sheriff looked at us,” Malcolm said. “It’ll be okay, really. I think we have a significant partnership with these folks, at least until this war is over. I can tell how much you want to get involved.”
“It shows, huh?”
“Yeah, and I’m feeling it too,” Malcolm said. “I may play a little fast and loose with the rules, but bottom line, I love this country. If there’s anything I can do to keep it from going down the tubes, I’m right there with you.”
“Good,” George said.
“These folks are going to need our protection, you know,” Malcolm said.
“Why?”
“The son is still alive. He’s been active since that nuke attack. I’ve seen his markers on more than one victim since then. I’ll lay you ten to one he knows that his place has been compromised, and I’ll bet that he’s going to react.”
“How could you know all of that?” George asked.
“Mostly a hunch, but I’ve learned to trust them over the years.”
“He’d be crazy to try to take these folks,” George said.
“Look at the environment we have now,” Malcolm said. “Perfect for these creeps to operate in. There’s way too much wartime mayhem going on for the authorities
to spend time chasing them around, and they know it. We need to keep an eye out for reports of possible new victims.”
George was silent for a few minutes, thinking. Then he glanced over at the embalming table, and saw it had cabinets under it. “Hey, look, more storage. Wonder what’s in there?”
The two of them walked over. George opened the first cabinet.
“Holy crap, look at all of these VHS tapes,” he said, pulling out the box. “And these super eight film reels.”
Malcolm’s eyes focused on them, and he got an intense look on his face. “Wonder if there’s a projector and a VCR around here?”
“Let’s keep looking,” George said.
Howard and Scotty were traveling towards St. Louis. The miles rolled by easily. Both men had been silent for a while. Scotty was watching Howard’s expression, trying to gauge how far back into the life he’d gotten so far. Howard looked over and caught him watching.
“What?” Howard said.
“You thinking about that girl?”
“Bree?” Howard said. “Yeah. We didn’t even get a chance to strip her. Maybe you shouldn’t have slit her gullet so fast.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get another plaything soon enough.”
“We won’t get enough time with the next one either,” Howard said.
Scotty started laughing.
“What’s so damn funny, Scotty?”
“I’m sitting here trying to figure out if the old lifestyle has taken hold in you again, and you’re more into it than I am.”
Howard got a grin on his face. “Alright, you found me out, jerk weed. This is what years of repression does to a man.”
“Why’d you stop after I left?” Scotty asked.
“Why’d you leave?”
“You know why,” Scotty said. “Cindy was starting to figure it out. She kept wanting to come out to the RV Park when I wasn’t around. I had to get her out of the area, and I had to let things cool down for a while. The timing worked out, too. All the old folks were gone by that time. The park was empty except for the occasional overnighter.”
“Cindy,” Howard said. “Always wanted a piece of her. Soccer mom types are the best if you can get them.”
Scotty looked at him, offended. “She was my wife.” Then he cracked up, and Howard joined him.
“She was you’re cover,” Howard said. “I always knew that. She was fine, though. Where is she now?”
“She really was in Jersey when that bomb went off. I was lucky. I was on a business trip.”
“You lucky son of a bitch,” Howard said, laughing again. “So she vaporized?”
“Close. Same with the kids.”
“You don’t sound too upset about that,” Howard said.
“I didn’t want the kids,” he said. “She tricked me into that. Bitch was supposed to be on the pill.”
“I could believe that once, but you had three.”
“Well, after the first one, I figured what the hell. Good cover.”
“You never got to love them?” Howard asked, studying his face.
“Oh, I enjoyed them sometimes. Especially Jacob. He had a nice mean streak.”
Howard rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. I love my kids, and I loved my wife. If it wasn’t for that damn cancer, I’d still be with her.”
“How did you keep her from finding out?” Scotty asked.
Howard started to laugh, almost hysterically.
“What?”
“She knew, dummy,” Howard said. “Don’t you remember how I met her?”
“No, guess not.”
“She was Sherry’s best friend.”
“Oh, yeah, forgot about that,” Scotty said. “Sherry never mentioned anything about that.”
“She earned her wings with Sherry,” Howard said. “Once the first kid came along, that was the end, though. It changed her. No more nonsense after that, but she always enjoyed hearing about anything we were up to.”
“I can’t believe you told her,” Scotty said. “I probably would have killed both of you for that, back in the day.”
“You would’ve tried, pipsqueak.” Howard said, laughing.
“Guess what?” Scotty said, a smug grin on his face.
“What?”
“You’re back. We’re gonna have fun.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea, Scotty,” Howard said, getting serious. “I’m not happy about this. I had a good life. I was on the wagon. It was going to stick. You had to bring it back out again. This will be my ruin.”
“A tiger can’t change his stripes, Howie.”
Howard sighed. “Ah, forget it. It is what it is.”
“How much further to St. Louis? I’m getting anxious.”
“Couple more hours,” Howard said. “Where do you want to go?”
“Near a University again,” he said. “Works every time.”
Jane and Jasmine were keeping watch on their laptops, still sitting in the barn. Jake walked up. “Think it’s time to get some Wi-Fi going?” he asked.
“Don’t tell me, let me guess. You’ve got the hardware in the back of your bobtail,” Jane said, grinning.
“Yep,” he said.
“Well, I have no problem, as long as it doesn’t slow Frank down right now,” Jane said. “We might want to wait until he’s got that names file.”
“I can do the setup and placement of the access points before connecting up to the modem,” Jake said.
“You might not want to make it too permanent,” Jasmine said. “It’s likely that we’ll have to leave after the next phase of the battle.”
“Oh, I know. Not a problem,” Jake said. “When we leave here, we should take everything we can carry, too. Lots of stuff here that we could use, and I’ve got plenty of space in that bobtail.”
“Here comes Jerry,” Jane said, looking over. He was coming at them at a full run, his iPad in his hand.
“Malcolm and George still down there?” he asked, trying to catch his breath.
“They didn’t come out this way,” Jasmine said. “Maybe they left through the kitchen, though. Why?”
“New victim, with the same markers as the Nighthawk victims,” he said. “Kansas City, yesterday.”
“Oh, no,” Jane said. “He’s heading this way.”
“Maybe,” Jerry said. “I’m going back down.”
“Nothing’s happening up here, so I’ll join you,” Jane said.
“Me too,” Jasmine said. They went to the trap door and started down. “You coming, Jake?”
“Nah, I have enough trouble sleeping. Talk to you later.” He walked back towards the trailers, working out the Wi-Fi layout in his head.
“Malcolm! George! You guys still down there?” Jerry asked.
“Yeah,” Malcolm said “What’s up?”
“New victim in Kansas City. Yesterday. Looks like it might be this guy.”
He came down the steps, followed by Jasmine and Jane.
“Where did you see that?” George asked. Malcolm started walking over.
“Internet,” Jerry said, holding up his iPad.
“I didn’t think we had Wi-Fi,” Malcolm said.
“This is an LTE model,” Jerry said. “Check it out.” He handed the iPad to Malcolm.
Jane looked over where George was standing. He was stringing film onto an ancient looking movie projector. “You’re going to watch those movies?”
“Of course,” George said. “We want to watch the VHS too, but I couldn’t find a VCR down here. Seen one anywhere?”
“No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody in the group has one,” Jane said. “I’m going to leave when you turn that on.”
“Probably a good idea,” George said. “It’s not going to be pleasant.”
“I think this is him, George,” Malcolm said. “I smell a rat, though.”
“What do you mean?” Jerry asked. “You think it’s a copycat?”
“No, the body was too easy to find,” Malcolm said. “He used to at least try
to hide things. He loved the cat and mouse. This is an advertisement.”
“Why would he do that?” George asked.
“Not sure yet,” Malcolm said. “But if I’m right, there’ll be another one soon. My guess is he’s preparing to come back here, but wants to put out a signal that he’s going somewhere else.”
Charlie, Kurt, and the Sheriff came down the steps.
“What’s going on?” the Sheriff asked. “We saw Jerry run over here.”
“It looks like Scott might still be alive,” Jerry said. “I found a story about a killing. Looks like his markers.”
“When?” the Sheriff asked.
“Yesterday…Kansas City.”
“Howard thinks this guy’s dead,” Kurt said.
“I’m afraid that your friend is mistaken,” Malcolm said. “I’ve seen other killings since the New York Harbor attack that look like his MO. Here, Sheriff, take a look.”
The Sheriff walked over and took the iPad, reading, and scrolling, as Charlie and Kurt looked on. Then Kurt noticed what George was doing. “You’re going to show those old Super 8s?” he asked.
“Yeah, if this thing works,” George said. “Any of you guys have a VCR?”
“I used to,” Charlie said. “Left it at my park.”
“Me too,” Kurt said.
“I haven’t had one of those in years,” the Sheriff said. “Might ask Jake. He’s got a lot of stuff in that bobtail.”
“Walmart still carries VHS players,” Jerry said. “Maybe it’s time to sneak into town again.”
“I think I’m ready,” George said, looking at the projector. “Looks like the best place to show it is on that white cabinet over there.” He pointed to a tall metal double door cabinet, painted white.
“I’m getting out of here,” Jane said.
“I’ll probably be sorry, but I’m going to stick around,” Jasmine said. “This is fascinating.”
“Okay, girl, I’ll see you up top,” Jane said, as she walked towards the steps.
“Here goes nothing,” George said. He flipped the switch, and the projector sprung to life, shining on the cabinet. It was out of focus, so he started to turn the main lens. It sharpened, but then the bulb went dark.
“Shit,” Malcolm said. “Afraid of that.”
