by Robert Boren
“Roof duty,” Jake said. “We’re keeping an eye out for the bad guys.”
“Oh,” she said. “I wish the world would get back to normal. It’s not good for people to live like this too long.”
“I know,” Jake said. “What parts of the park have you seen so far?”
“Just the clubhouse, and the area right around our rigs.”
“Okay, then I’ll take you to the barn, and then the basement,” Jake said. “The lounge is down there.”
“The lounge?”
“The bar area I told you about last night,” Jake said. “You like to drink?”
“Of course,” she said. “Not this early in the day, though.”
“Yeah, it’s a little early,” Jake said. They entered the wide door of the barn.
“Stays pretty cool in here,” she said.
“Yeah. That’s Gabe’s backhoe there.”
“Saw that yesterday, in the back.”
“Yes, it’s come in handy. We towed it from his park in Colorado.”
“The one that the tank was coming to?”
“Yeah,” Jake said. “See that tow truck?”
“I’ll bet that comes in handy too,” she said.
“That’s part of the dark side of this place. The part I didn’t want to go into last night.”
“Why didn’t you?” she asked.
“Your aura,” Jake said. “You’re of the light. I wanted to soak it up last night, but you need to know what’s here.”
“Are you the only spiritual person here?” she asked.
“In the way you mean, yeah,” Jake said. “Trish has her moments. So does Mary and Dobie. How about your group?”
“Only Jamie, but she’s got it strong.”
“I picked up on that,” Jake said. “She knew who Dobie was right away. Very perceptive.”
“Well, I picked up on you right away. You have a light aura too,” she said, getting closer to him. “Why wouldn’t you stay last night?”
“I don’t want to take things too fast,” he said. “It’s been such a long time for me.”
“What was your wife like?”
“She was a lot like you,” Jake said. “Probably part of the attraction.”
“I was drawn to you like a moth to a flame.” She turned to him and they embraced, kissing tenderly.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Jake said.
“Me too,” she said, brushing his hair to the side, staring into his eyes. “I’m already in love with you.”
“I feel it too, but we need to take our time,” Jake said.
“Understand,” she said. “So tell me about the tow truck. Don’t hold back.”
“That was used in the Nighthawk Road killings,” Jake said as they approached it. Frankie shuddered as she looked inside, and backed away from it.
“Wow,” she said, looking faint. “Lots of residue on this thing. What do you know?”
“The killer used it to capture stranded women on the road. We found out from research done by Malcolm, Jane, Jasmine, and others here,” Jake said. “It’s registered to Earl Wilson.”
“Earl Wilson?” she said, starting at him and then at the tow truck. “I’ve read about him. Very evil person.”
“You heard about Scotty, right?”
“I heard some people talking about him in the clubhouse yesterday,” she said. “They sounded relieved that he was dead.”
“With good reason,” Jake said. “He wanted to take this place back.”
“It belonged to him?” she asked.
“Yeah, and his father Chet before him. Chet was the original Nighthawk Road killer.”
“Why did Scotty care about this place?” she asked.
“The dungeon,” Jake said, grim look on his face.
“Is that where they took the militia men?”
“Yes,” Jake said. “I won’t take you down there. It’s a wicked place.”
“Where is it?”
“Under a trap door in the basement,” he said. “I can only stay down there for so long. We don’t have to go in the basement if you’re too sensitive.”
“I need to know what’s here if I’m going to live in this place,” she said. “You know they have tornados around here, right? We’ll end up down there from time to time no matter what. If I can’t take it, I need to know.”
“Okay,” Jake said. They walked towards the trap door between the tow truck and the workbenches. “I actually enjoy the lounge. There’s just enough hint of wickedness to make it entertaining. Kinda like New Orleans.”
“Oh, you feel New Orleans that way too?” she said, grinning. “I always have. My friends think I’m nuts.”
They went down the steps into the workshop.
“Wow, this is nice,” she said. “I’ll bet you’ve used this room quite a bit.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Best place to work on electronics. It’s my home away from home.”
They went through the door into the lounge, with the bar towards the wall, and the kitchen to the right. General Hogan was sitting on one of the couches in the middle of the room, watching TV.
“Hi, General Hogan,” Jake said.
“Jake, how are you?” he said, standing. “Hi, Frankie.”
“Oh, you’ve met?” Jake asked.
“He’s been with our group in the past,” Frankie said. “After General Walker disappeared.”
“You know what happened to him, don’t you?” Jake asked.
“Yes, we found out when those awful videos hit the internet.”
They were silent for a few moments. Jake broke it.
“I’m giving Frankie the grand tour,” he said.
“Well, don’t mind me,” General Hogan said. “Enjoy.”
“Okay,” Jake said.
“That’s a nice bar,” Frankie said, looking at it. “Reminds me of an Elk’s Lodge my dad used to drag all of us to when I was a kid.”
Jake glanced back at General Hogan to see if he was paying attention. He was watching the news TV. “How you handling it here?” he whispered to Frankie.
“I feel it. I think it’s what you feel. Makes me want to have a drink and be bad.”
“Yes, it’s a lustful feeling. I got plastered down here once. It was fun.”
“Really?” she asked. “You don’t have a drinking problem, do you?”
“No, no,” Jake said, smiling. “That was after Trish and Terry got married. It was a post reception party. A bunch of us tied one on that night. I was tending bar with Rosie and Je…shoot.”
“You’re crying,” she said.
“Jeb and Rosie,” he choked briefly. “I’m really worried about them. I miss them so.”
She hugged him. “Don’t worry, we’ll get them back.”
“I hope so,” Jake said. “Let’s keep going.”
They walked into the kitchen.
“This is strange,” she said. “What’s with the fake windows?”
Jake chuckled. “We’ve been speculating about that ever since we got here. Can’t answer.”
“What’s back there?” she asked, pointing at the door to the right of the bar.
“There are bedrooms and a bathroom back there,” Jake said. “See that lump in the carpet there? That’s the trap door to the dungeon.”
“Oh,” she said, moving away from it. “I don’t want to go down there.”
“Me neither,” he said. “We can get to the kitchen from here. See that long corridor?” He pointed in the opposite direction from the bar. They walked into it.
“It’s dark in here,” she said.
“A little,” Jake said. “We got a hell of a pantry right under the kitchen. Lots of supplies.”
“Wow, you’re not kidding,” Frankie said as they walked into it, looking at the shelves full of cans and bags and boxes. “Must get old carrying that stuff up the stairs.”
“A little,” he said. They went up the stairs to the kitchen. Frankie froze at the top.
“What’s in
here?” she asked.
“You know, the usual,” he said, looking around.
“In there,” she said, pointing to the walk-in freezer. “What’s in there?”
“Oh shoot, forgot,” Jake said. “We wrapped up Saladin’s body and froze it. It’s way in the back, covered up by a bunch of stuff.”
“Oh,” she said. “Why’d you keep it?”
“We didn’t want his forces to know he was dead yet, but we wanted evidence that we killed him,” Jake said. “Might not matter anymore.”
“It still does,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Why do you say that?” Jake was startled.
She paused for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said. “The thought just flashed into my head and I spoke it.”
“You’re more sensitive than I am,” Jake said. “Shall we?”
“Sure,” she said, following Jake into the clubhouse. Kurt and Mary were sitting in front of the TV, watching the video feed from the drone.
“Hi, Jake,” Mary said. “Nice to see you again, Frankie.”
The two nodded and smiled. Kurt looked over, then looked back at the screen.
“Nobody around?” Jake asked as they walked over.
“Nah, quiet as a church out there,” Kurt said. “We might be having fish tonight. Just saw General Hogan’s boys bring a big stringer from the lake.”
“There’s a lake?” Frankie asked.
“Yeah, I’ll take you back there. Nice spring, too,” Jake said.
“If you go back there, take a gun with you,” Kurt said. “Just in case.”
Frankie got a grim look on her face. “Why?” she asked.
“This drone doesn’t give us one hundred percent coverage,” Kurt said. “Remember what happened yesterday. That battle started when Clint’s kids were back there fishing. None of them were armed. Not good. They were lucky.”
“Okay,” Jake said.
“You mentioned the General’s kids? He has children here?” Frankie asked as they walked away. “Those privates I saw hanging out by the Humvee?”
“Yeah. One of those kids is the general’s son, and the others are his childhood friends. They spent a lot of time at the general’s house growing up.”
“Oh, so he plucked them out of where they were stationed when things went crazy?”
“Yeah, from what I’ve heard,” Jake said. “Want to check out the stuff in back? The lake and the spring?”
“Why don’t we just go to my rig and have something cool to drink,” she said.
“Okay,” Jake said. “We’re taking it slow, though, remember.”
“We’ll just make out,” she said, smiling, her long hair blowing in the breeze. “You can handle that, can’t you?”
Jake flashed her an embarrassed smile, and they went there together.
***
It was getting towards dusk. Terry and Trish were sitting up on the roof of the barn with Heidi and George. Terry was turning a wrench, tightening down the baseplate for the satellite dish.
“Do we know which way to point this thing?” Trish asked as Terry slipped the dish over the base.
“No, we’ll have to work with your dad on that,” he said.
“Want me to call him?”
“We’ll do it in the morning,” Terry said. “It’s getting too dark, plus I saw him follow Frankie into her rig.”
“You did?” she asked. “When?”
“Late afternoon,” Terry said.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It was before you came up here,” Terry said.
“Oh. You don’t think…?”
“I hope so, but that’s none of our business,” he said.
“Oh, I know,” she said.
George’s phone rang. He answered it.
“General? What’s up?”
“Hey, George, just heard from Ned Branson. They’re in town.”
“Good,” George said. “We’re just about done up here. They coming over?”
“Charlie’s going into town to pick them up. Maybe you should follow him.”
“Not a bad idea,” George said. “We’ll be right down.”
“See you in the clubhouse,” General Hogan said.
Frank slipped his phone back in his pocket.
“Ned’s here?” Heidi asked.
“In town, George said. “The general wants us to go with Charlie to pick them up.”
“Okay, sounds good,” Heidi said. She got up and headed towards the ladder.
“Terry, if you stay up here, don’t open fire on the vehicles that are gonna show up, but stay sharp. Just in case somebody followed them.”
“No worries, George” he said. “I’ll see you later.”
“Be careful,” Trish said.
George followed Heidi down the ladder and into the clubhouse. Charlie and Kurt were leaning against a table talking to General Hogan and the Sheriff.
“We ready?” George asked.
“Yeah,” Charlie said.
“We have anybody watching other than Terry, just in case some bad guys show up?” George asked.
“Yeah, Jackson and Earl are on the short roofs, and three of Clint’s people are manning the .50 cal in that armored semi-trailer,” Kurt said. “John Harper is also out there, patrolling with those killer dogs of his. Everybody knows what to watch for.”
“Perfect,” George said. “We know where Ned and his men are?”
“Just down the road from Howard’s place,” Charlie said.
“Okay, let’s go,” George said. Charlie and the Sheriff rushed over to Charlie’s SUV. George and Heidi went to their Jeep. They drove out the front gate into the darkness.
“Wonder how much fuel is left at Howard’s place?” Heidi asked. “Maybe we should take some.”
“Good question,” George said, eyes peeled on the road ahead. “Wonder if Howard had kids?”
“I hope not,” Heidi said. “Don’t need more of that kind of attention.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” George said. “Wish my night vision was better. Damned old age.”
“Why don’t you let me drive?” Heidi asked.
“I don’t want to stop now, but you could drive back home,” George said.
“It’s a deal,” Heidi said. “How well do you know this guy?”
“Very well,” George said. “You’ll like him.”
“How about his men?”
“I don’t know who’s with him,” George said. “If it’s true that some old-timers rejoined, I might know some of them.”
“You look like something has you worried,” Heidi said, looking at him as he focused on the road. “You’ve been like this all day.”
“I’m worried about Malcolm,” George said. “You know how close we are now. Like brothers.”
“I know,” she said. “Sometimes when you two are together it’s hard to break in.”
“Sorry,” George said.
“It’s okay,” Heidi said. “I view him differently now than I used to.”
“You trust him more?”
“I know he’s unpredictable, but I understand him more than I used to, and I know how he feels about you.”
“He doesn’t get why we aren’t married yet,” George said, chuckling.
“I’m working myself towards talking about that,” Heidi said.
“I’d love it,” George said.
“Careful what you wish for,” Heidi said. “You might not look at me the same after I tell you everything.”
“I already have a pretty good idea what you went through,” George said. “That was a long time ago. Nothing you can tell me now is going to push me away.”
“I’m still scared,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about it until after we’re done with all of this.”
“What if we’re never done with all of this?” George said. “We could be in a state of war for the rest of our lives, you know. Human history is full of times like this.”
“I know,” she said. “D
on’t think that’s what we’re facing, though. We’re going to win this thing and go on with the rest of our lives.”
“Hope you’re right,” George said. “Here’s the town.”
“More lights on than last time we were here at night,” Heidi said.
“People feel safer, what with the war winding down and the local killer gone.”
“Sherry,” Heidi said. “Hope she doesn’t have more family rattling around, waiting to come out of the woodwork.”
“Malcolm doesn’t think she does,” George said.
“Oh shit,” Heidi said. “Look, Howard’s place is open.”
Chapter 8 – Old Friends and New
Charlie’s SUV pulled up next to the collection of Humvees in the school parking lot, down the street from Howard’s truck stop. George and Heidi pulled up behind him in their Jeep. They got out and walked to the men huddled by the end of a vehicle, looking at a map.
“They’re here, Ned,” one of the men said. Ned stood up straight and turned, seeing them.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said, grinning ear to ear. “How you doin’, brother?” He rushed over to George and gave him a hug.
“I’m great,” George said, smiling. “This is Heidi, and that’s Charlie and the Sheriff.”
“Great to meet you all,” he said.
“Nice to meet you,” Charlie said, shaking hands.
“Sure is,” the Sheriff said, looking Ned up and down.
“You Sheriff of this burg?” Ned asked.
“No, a little town called Panguitch in Utah,” the Sheriff said. “Overrun by the enemy, I’m afraid.”
“Nice area,” he said. “That’s near the place where we lost General Walker.”
“Yes,” Charlie said. “That happened at my wife’s RV Park.”
“I’ve got a few of your old friends with me,” Ned said to George.
“Is that who I think it is back there?” George asked, looking over the group.
“Hey, Franklin,” an older man said. “You still alive?” He was tall and thin, with a wide mustache and a shaved head.
“Spence, you old son of a bitch,” George said, grinning. “They let guys like you in this outfit?”
“Damn straight,” he said. “Wedgie is with us too. He’s probably out looking for food. He’s gotten a little bigger since the last time you saw him.”
“I’m over here, you knucklehead,” said the huge man walking up. He had a butch haircut, clean shaven, carrying too much weight, but still muscular.
