by Ramy Vance
“We were raised in an era of tolerance and diversity. No one is better than anyone else. So now we’re a generation of conformists.” He gestured again to the corpses.
The trucker looked at his friends.
One of the other truckers reasoned, “Well, two murder charges. It’s not like we’re ever getting out if we get busted.”
The first trucker shrugged in agreement and cocked his gun.
Reuben closed his eyes and waited for it. Then, boom. The bullet pierced through him, and he fell to the ground in agony.
“You asked for it,” the trucker yelled as they all got in their trucks.
Reuben—Wednesday, February 8, 2:01 p.m.
Reuben came to in the helicopter hangar. Buzz opened the driver’s door and showed off the cockpit.
Reuben felt sick just looking at it.
Buzz and Martha got their emails. Then Buzz continued answering Reuben’s question about whether he had created the helicopter by himself. “Mostly. I had a bit of help with the cosmetics. But this baby should get us to Detroit in forty-five minutes, maybe less.”
Martha looked at him dubiously. “Under an hour? Commercial flights do two.”
“Yeah, half of that’s prep and half ‘cause they’re slow. We can hurry and get there quicker. What are you waiting for? Get in.”
Martha shrugged at Reuben, and he cocked his head dismissively. “Doesn’t surprise me. I’m not looking forward to a bumpy ride in this thing.”
Martha boarded the aircraft. “Eh, maybe it won’t be so bad.”
Reuben spotted a pail on the side of the room. “Trust me, if Buzz’s golf cart driving is any indication, this will be hell.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Buzz said.
Reuben raised an eyebrow and grabbed the pail.
Buzz watched him deftly enter the helicopter and strap on his seatbelt, pail at his knees. “We’ve done this before, haven’t we?”
Reuben just nodded, and Buzz jumped up into the pilot’s seat. “That is so extraordinary.”
Martha strapped in and glanced over at Reuben cuddling his pail. “I guess I should get one.”
“No, you’ll be fine,” Reuben said.
“This time thing is so weird,” she said.
He stared out the window as the plane lurched into motion. “You think it’s weird? Try living it.”
The plane took off, and Reuben pulled out his phone to call Aki.
Chapter Forty-One
Reuben—Wednesday, February 8, 4:25 p.m.
Reuben and Buzz met up with Aki in the parking lot. Aki passed out guns to the guys. Reuben grabbed his, but while Buzz protested, Reuben cocked his. Then, he saw a beer bottle lying on the ground about ten yards away. He aimed and shot the bottle, which shattered.
Aki handed the second gun to Buzz, then raised her eyebrows at Reuben. “Not bad for a tech guy.” She ran her tongue over her lips.
“You know, I have a few skills packed away for a rainy day,” he said.
“Clearly.” She pulled out her gun and aimed at the beer bottle next to it. She shattered it, too.
“Not bad yourself,” he said.
She looked him over. “You know, when I first met you, I thought you were…”
Reuben grinned. “A nerd?”
“Well…yeah,” she admitted. “But you surprise me. What else have you got tucked away in there?”
Reuben cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure if that was an innuendo or a reference to his earlier comment.
Martha cocked her gun and shot a tree. “Can we get moving before these thugs kill innocent officers? I mean, you’re on federal government time and all.”
“Or should we book you two a room instead?” Buzz teased.
Reuben blushed, and Aki cleared her throat. “Let’s get moving.”
The group piled into the Kia and set the earlier plan into motion. They would block the vehicles and hijack them.
Reuben used the drive to advise the group on the pitfalls of the operation. “These guys are armed and dangerous. They’re not going to take being hijacked lying down. We’ve got to be ready. If we approach these guys and they’re ready for a shootout, what do we do?”
Aki nodded approvingly. “Good thinking. What should we do?”
Reuben pursed his lips and played the scene back in his memory. What could they have done differently? “Let’s not try to get into the vehicles with them,” he said. “Make them come to us.”
Martha frowned. “How do we do that?”
“We stick together and hold them up,” Reuben said. “Disable all the vehicles first, but don’t separate. Keep an armed wall. Buzz, don’t leave. Stay behind as backup.”
Aki stared at Reuben. “I like your thinking.”
He winked. “I’ve been around a bit.”
“Ugh,” Martha groaned softly.
They arrived at the border crossing, and Buzz blocked off the two lanes.
Reuben got out and instructed the ladies. “Remember, an armed wall. Buzz, stay behind us for backup, and for God’s sake, don’t be afraid to shoot. I’ve seen you shoot dozens of times.”
“Not humans,” Buzz said.
Reuben smirked. “Believe me, you’re fully capable of it.”
The three friends stood as an armed wall, and together they approached the first trucker.
“Keep me covered,” Reuben said.
He walked up to the driver’s side, and Martha pulled the trigger and shot out the tires. Reuben remembered back to college when he’d trained to be a door-to-door phone salesperson. He lasted an entire day, but they taught him a technique he’d never forgotten. They were supposed to knock on a door, and in a bored, perfunctory manner, demand to see the homeowner’s phone bill. When the owner retrieved it, the salespeople were to compare the rate with the rate they were offering. If their rates were lower, they were supposed to say, “OK, I’m with the phone company, and I’m going to sign you up for a new rate plan. If you can just fill out this sheet for me here, please.”
It worked. Well, for everyone else. Reuben couldn’t get a single person to switch. But he’d always remembered that technique. It came to him now as he prepared to hijack this vehicle. He affected a bored, perfunctory demeanor and tried to open the driver’s door. It was locked.
He banged on the window with his gun. “Open the door,” he said, surprised at how much he sounded like Marshall.
When the driver hesitated, Reuben kept eye contact with him but reached down and shot another tire.
“I said open the door,” Reuben calmly demanded.
Martha yelled from the other side of the truck, “Stand back. Stand back.”
The other truckers protested. “What the hell?”
Aki yelled, “I said stand back.” From her spot on the other side of the truck, she aimed and shot the second semi’s tire.
“Christ, lady,” one of the other truckers yelled.
Reuben knew better than to take his eyes off the trucker he had cornered. “Out of the truck. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
In another lifetime, he would have been quoting a movie line. But he hadn’t said it because it was in every shootout ever. Considering his circumstances and his history, it just made perfect sense.
The trucker obeyed and stepped outside. He held up his hands. “What do you want?”
Reuben gestured with his gun. “I want you to join your friends over there, scumbag.”
The trucker sighed, and Reuben led him to the group where the women had them cornered.
Once they had the three at gunpoint in a crowd, Aki ordered them to the side of the road. “Our business is with you, not the rest of the border. Move it.”
They silently did as they were told. Reuben got up into the cab of the truck and attempted to move it. But semis are a different animal, and everything he did just made the engine roar unhealthily.
“You’re gonna strip the engine,” the trucker yelled. “Let me help you.”
Reuben tri
ed again and finally waved the trucker over. “Nothing funny.”
“I’m not trying anything funny. I just want to move this along, and no one’s going anywhere if you tear this thing to hell. Plus, it’s my rig, and I don’t know what your plans are, but I’d like to get it back one day. So it’s in my best interest to tell you how to take care of it.”
“Fine.”
He stood outside the cab. “OK, so the first thing you want to do, is…see that red button right there?” He pointed toward a large red button that hung from the wiring under the console. It didn’t appear to be connected to much of anything. “Yeah.”
“The vehicle’s in safe mode. Means nothing can happen unless you pull out of safe mode.”
Reuben frowned. He had never heard of such a thing. But he’d never driven a diesel before.
“To get it out of safe mode, you got to rev the engine and then push the safe mode button.” The trucker held up his hands. “I’m not trying nothing funny, and I don’t want you to shoot me, so I’m going to step away.”
He shut the door, and Reuben revved the engine. Then he pushed the red button. Nothing happened. What the hell?
Then it did.
A high-pitched beeping sounded. The trucker had lied. He had just detonated a bomb.
“Oh fuck,” Reuben muttered as the blast tore his skin to pieces.
Chapter Forty-Two
Reuben—Wednesday, February 8, 5:01 pm.
Reuben came to as Buzz blocked off the border crossing with the Kia. He turned to Martha and Aki. “We’re clear on the plan?”
“Clear,” Martha said.
“Got it,” Aki said.
Buzz’s and Martha’s phones beeped that they had a new email, but they disregarded them.
Reuben turned to Buzz. “Keep us covered.”
Buzz saluted him with his gun.
The trio got out of the car. Reuben stood in the middle, flanked on both sides by the women. He cocked his gun, and instead of going to the driver’s side, he stood in front of the hood and pointed the gun clear at the windshield. He stared the driver in the eye and pulled the trigger at the windshield, and then without looking down, shot front tires on both sides.
The driver exited the vehicle. “Look, we’re all good.”
“No, we’re not,” Reuben said, steely-eyed. “As long as you're working for Pout, we are definitely not good.”
The trucker’s faced paled, and he stammered. “How did you—”
Reuben waved his gun. “Get your ass on the side of the road, dickhole.”
The other truckers got out of their vehicles, and without moving, he yelled, “On the side of the road, now. Hit the pavement. On your faces. Let’s go, move it.”
The other truckers hesitated, and Reuben rolled his eyes and shot the tires off the second vehicle.
“Jesus,” the second trucker muttered. “He’s crazy.”
All three of them hit the ground on the shoulder.
Reuben glanced at Martha and Aki. “Keep ‘em covered.”
He knew better than to try to move the vehicle, especially now that he knew about the bomb. He jumped in the driver’s seat and saw the “safety button.” He remembered learning how to disarm a bomb at Buzz’s. He fumbled with the wires until he neutralized it. Then, he needed to find out what was in that truck. He grabbed the keys out of the ignition and decided to check the back. But as soon as he got out, he noticed that the tables had turned on the side of the road.
Two truckers now wrestled the two women, trying to get control of the guns. Reuben rushed to help. But before he could get to them, one of the truckers pulled out a giant knife from his boot. The blade glistened and even made the tiniest whistle as it was unsheathed.
He turned to Reuben. “Time for your little sister-wife-girlfriend to die. You get caught up with snakes; that’s what happens.”
Reuben aimed his gun and pulled the trigger. He hit the trucker in the arm, but it was enough to get him to release Martha. The other one had Aki cornered with his hands clasped around her throat.
“Where’s…” Before Reuben could finish, the Kia drove off. Reuben saw a petrified Buzz held in the driver’s seat at gunpoint. Reuben was torn between who to save. Buzz was likely toast. But Aki… Reuben suddenly remembered all the sparring he had done with Martha.
Martha was busy keeping her assailant at bay. Reuben busted out his moves and knocked the trucker off-balance.
“What the…” The trucker released Aki, and she slid to the ground to catch her breath. The trucker turned to him with a toothy grin. “You want some of this?”
Reuben stared him in the face and raised an eyebrow. “No, I prefer to deal the cards, thank you.”
He held his gun in the man’s face, but not before the Kia came plowing back toward them. “Shit.”
Buzz was still driving, and the trucker in the passenger seat motioned for him to stop. Before the vehicle had even come to a stop, the trucker jumped out to confront Reuben.
But Reuben was already there. Using his combat training, he quickly knocked the trucker to the ground. “You OK?” he asked Buzz.
Buzz was clearly shaken, and Aki had recovered. Martha had kicked the crap out of the trucker who had held her at knifepoint. Reuben watched as he lay on the ground moaning. All in all, things were going quite well this time around. Then the moaning trucker grinned and pulled out two small, concealed pistols from his boots.
You’ve got to be kidding me…
“Run,” Reuben shouted.
The Kia was too far away to hop into, so they hit the ground on foot, trying to get as far from the highway as possible. Within moments, all three truckers had fully recovered and climbed into the Kia to give chase.
Reuben spotted an abandoned warehouse on the side of the road. “Come on, guys.” He gestured toward the side of the building.
They all stood and caught their breath. He tried a door, and to his surprise, it opened. The foursome stepped inside the warehouse. The first thing Reuben noticed was the smell. It smelled like animals. Buzz clicked the door behind them. They were safe. For now.
It was a large room that looked like it had been used for gatherings but now had no real evidence of the sort. They knew the truckers weren’t far behind them, and they had little time. They wanted to take them down, but they needed cover as well.
There was a small storage closet, and Buzz stepped inside it. “I’m going to hide in here. Gun fights are not my thing.”
“Someone needs to cover Buzz,” Reuben said.
“Martha,” Aki said, shaking her head at Buzz, “why don’t you establish a post with him?”
Martha pulled out her gun and reloaded it. “I can do that.” She disappeared into the closet and the locks clicked.
That left him and Aki. He noticed a high catwalk off to the side with a metal door. “Let’s go up there. Might be a window in there where we can watch for the truckers.”
“Good idea. Let’s check it out.”
She followed him up the stairwell. Beyond the metal door was a small office that had a window that looked out at the entry to the warehouse. The room appeared to have at one time been a sound room. An old sound board sat against one wall, and boxes were stacked high on a shelf. They shut the door behind them and locked it.
“I wonder what this place was.” She flipped on a bare bulb.
“I couldn’t tell you.”
She peeked into some of the boxes. “Christmas decorations…and CDs.”
“CDs?” He chuckled as he made his way to the window. “I didn’t think anyone even had those anymore.”
She pulled out a case and laughed. “Garth Brooks, Roping the Wind. You feel like two-stepping?”
Reuben chuckled. “I don’t think there’s room in here for one-stepping, much less two.”
She laughed and put the CDs away. It was quiet up here, and a glance out the window showed it was quiet outside too. No sign of the truckers in the Kia. Where were they? Why were they waiting? Surel
y they weren’t calling in backup to finish off him and his friends. Or even worse—they couldn’t be arming the microwave bomb in the back of one of the trucks, could they? They needed mesh and stuff first, right?
When Reuben turned back around, he saw that Aki had found a tiny mirror and was examining a wound on her side. “Is it bleeding?” he asked.
She dabbed it with some old napkins she’d found. “Yeah.” She turned to him and grabbed the bottom of her shirt. “Do you mind?” She moved to lift her shirt.
He blushed and looked away.
She laughed. “You can look.”
He turned back to her, and she was in a silky burgundy bra, and he saw something he didn’t expect to see. Stretch marks and scars from previous battles. They crawled up her sides. He had pictured her topless a million times, and every time, he always imagined an impossibly flat and toned stomach and silky-smooth skin.
She was flawed and more beautiful than he thought possible. Seeing her like this burst a bit of the fantasy and shifted it into something more real. More desirable.
He knew then that he loved her. Not just the fantasy of love, all filled with impossibly perfect sex and a lifetime of never fighting. But something much more real.
Much more desirable.
He gulped and tried to act natural as she tended to another wound.
He watched her, and he wanted to tell her how he felt. “Aki, I…”
She met his eyes then, and her lips seemed to quiver. Or maybe it was just Reuben’s imagination. They suddenly found themselves standing very close to each other.
“Reuben,” she said softly and continued to take in his eyes. “I can’t explain it, but there’s something about you. Something…”
Now they were even closer, their lips a few inches apart as they reeled each other in with their eyes.
She shook her head and then the moment was broken, but they were still standing close to each other. “Reuben, I’ve got a boyfriend.”
A loud boom resonated through the warehouse.
“We know you’re in there,” one of the truckers yelled from outside the building.
