by Robert Boren
“I’m going to have a big bruise,” Jerry said. He pulled Jasmine to him and kissed her. “Glad we let you girls show up.”
Frank got up and Jane was next to him, pulling his shirt out of the way.
“Damn, these things work really well against a small pistol,” he said.
Jane threw herself at him, hugging him and kissing him.
Chester hobbled across the street towards the group.
“Get down!” Jeb shouted from the roof. Everybody hit the dirt, and Jeb fired the hunting rifle three times. They all turned and saw one man on the ground and two more staggering forward in agony. Jeb fired again, sending one of the men flying backwards. The other man shuddered and fell.
Then there was silence. Everybody looked around nervously, waiting for another attack.
“I think that’s it,” Jeb shouted from the roof. “Don’t see any other movement.”
“I’ll get the Doc out here,” Charlie said. “Earl, you with us?”
“I’ll be alright, Charlie. It’s a flesh wound. Missed the bone, thank God. I’m more worried about the Sheriff.”
“Sheriff, can you hear me?” cried Charlie. He lifted his head slowly. He was in pain, but he smiled. Then his smile turned, and he started to cry.
“That bastard shot my nephew,” he croaked between sobs.
“Where is he?” asked Charlie.
“In the jail,” the Sheriff said.
“Anybody else in there?” he asked.
“Some creep named Lewis, but he took off this morning, with about ten men. They headed south on the highway.”
Chester walked over to the Sheriff and put his hand on his uninjured shoulder.
“Glad you made it out of this alive, old friend,” Chester said.
“Wonder if they were going back to the RV Park?” asked Jackson. “They’ll get a big surprise if they do.”
“We would have heard the gunfire from here, I suspect,” Charlie said. “Doc is on the way, and the paramedics will be here in a few seconds. They‘re over at the firehouse…that’s only a block or two away.”
Just as he said that, the paramedic vehicle came into view. It drove right onto the park next to them. The two men leaped out.
“Who’s hurt?” asked one of them.
“Earl,” Charlie said, pointing. “And the Sheriff, of course. There’s somebody shot in the Sheriff’s station, too. Probably dead, but we aren’t sure.”
“Let’s see if Officer Simmons had the key to those padlocks in his pocket,” Jerry said, looking over at the chains that were holding the Sheriff up. He went over to his body and started going through his pockets. He brought out a key chain and a loose key.
“That looks like a padlock key to me,” Jackson said. “I’ll give you a hand.”
The two men walked over to the Sheriff, joined by the paramedics. Jerry tried the key. The first padlock opened, and the men steadied the sheriff. The key worked in the second padlock too. The men slowly lowered the Sheriff to the ground.
“Better get a tourniquet on the Sheriff’s arm,” Chester said. “Lot of blood coming out.”
“Who wants to go into the Sheriff’s station with me?” asked Jerry.
“Me,” Jasmine said. Jackson nodded too, and they walked across the street. Jerry pulled the door open slowly and peered in. There was blood on the floor. Somebody moaned.
“Sounds like somebody is alive in here,” Jerry said. They all rushed in.
The deputy was lying in a pool of blood. It appeared that he was shot in the stomach. He moaned again.
“I’ll tell the paramedics,” Jackson said. He ran out the door. The doctor was just pulling up, and he motioned him over. The doctor rushed into the jail. He looked the Deputy over. He had a grim look on his face.
“He’s bad,” said the Doctor. “We need to get him to the hospital now.”
The paramedics moved the ambulance in front of the Sheriff’s station and came running. They got the deputy on a gurney and loaded him quickly into the back of their ambulance. Then they took off, siren wailing.
“Who else is hurt?” asked the Doctor.
“The Sheriff is hurt pretty bad,” Jerry said. “He’s out on the playground across the street. Earl was shot too, in the thigh. Looks like a flesh wound, though.”
The doctor left the station house and trotted across the street. He saw Earl sitting up. His thigh had been bandaged, and he was smiling.
“Hi, Doc,” he said. “I’m okay, but the Sheriff’s in bad shape.”
The Doctor kneeled by the Sheriff.
“Sheriff, can you hear me?” he said in a loud voice. The Sheriff nodded, his eyes barely opened. There was a tourniquet on his upper arm and a bandage below.
“This wound probably isn’t going to kill him, but he’s been out in the sun too long without water.
“I gave him some water about ten minutes ago,” Frank said.
“He needs to get to the hospital too,” the Doctor said. He pulled out his cellphone and dialed.
After his call, he put his cellphone back in his pocket, and looked at Earl.
“I’m going to take you to the hospital as well,” the Doctor said. “We don’t want to risk an infection. I want to take a good look at your wound.”
“No problem, Doc,” Earl said.
Jerry and Jasmine came running back over. They got close to Frank and Jane and whispered.
“There are two other deputies in the station,” Jerry whispered. “Both dead. Somebody hanged them inside the jail cell.”
“Oh, no,” Jane said. “That animal.”
“Anybody else in the jail?” asked Frank.
“Not that we could see,” Jasmine said. “The place was ransacked, though. They were looking for something.”
“I know what they were looking for,” Jerry said. “There were gun registration papers all over the table. After they were done with us, they were going to go around and collect weapons, I suspect.”
“They might have tried,” Jeb said, walking over to them. “I know a lot of people here. No way would they be handing over their guns to a police officer from Arizona. They would have blown him away.”
“Nice shooting up there, Jeb,” Frank said. “You saved our butts again.”
Jeb nodded and smiled.
“You might want to radio the Major and let him know about Lewis,” Jerry said.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Frank said. He trotted over to the squad car and got into the driver’s seat.
“A couple of you guys want to help me get the bodies off the roof?” Jeb asked. Charlie and Jackson and Jerry nodded, and they took off towards the buildings.
Frank picked up the microphone on the radio as Jane walked over.
“Major Hobbs? Come in.”
There was a few seconds of silence. Then a click.
“Hobbs here. Frank?”
“Yep. Anything going on there?”
“No, it’s been quiet. We heard the gunfire from town. Everybody alright?”
“Earl got hit, but not bad. The Sheriff is in bad shape, and so is the Deputy. The Deputy is on the way to the hospital now, and then they’ll be picking up the Sheriff.”
“How about Simmons?”
“Jasmine and Jane took care of that creep. Jeb took out his snipers up on the roofs with his bow and arrow. We might have a problem, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Lewis is out. He was here in the morning. He took off towards the south with about ten men before we got here.”
“Who told you that?”
“The Sheriff. Obviously they aren’t planning to hit the RV Park, at least for now, or you would have seen them already.”
“Do you know what they were driving, Frank? The drone is still in the air.”
“I’ll ask the Sheriff and get back to you.”
“Okay, talk to you soon. Out.”
Frank got out of the squad car and shut the door. Jane hugged him.
“You okay?” Frank ask
ed. “Does it bother you killing Simmons?”
“That doesn’t bother me a bit,” Jane said. “That creep didn’t deserve to live. It bothers me what they did to the Sheriff. And I keep seeing you getting shot again and again in my mind.”
“I’m sorry I tried to stop you from coming,” Frank said.
“Don’t worry about that, Frank,” she said. “I understand. It’s alright.”
“Let’s go see if the Sheriff can tell us what Lewis was driving,” Frank said. They went back across the street to the Sheriff. The doc was kneeling by him, trying to make him comfortable.
“Sheriff, can you talk?” Frank asked. His eyes opened up slightly, and his head turned towards Frank.
“Not too much, Frank. He’s pretty weak,” the Doc said.
“Just one question,” Frank said. “Did you see what Lewis and his men were driving when they left?”
The Sheriff nodded yes, and smiled.
“Class C,” he croaked.
“Motorhome?” Frank asked.
The Sheriff nodded.
“Perfect, thanks, Sheriff. I’m going to go radio the Major….the drone is still in the air. Maybe they can find him.”
The Sheriff smiled at Frank and nodded.
Frank trotted back across the street to the squad car and got on the radio.
“Major Hobbs?”
“I’m here Frank. What did you find out?”
“Lewis and his men left in a Class C motorhome.”
“Class C – that’s the kind with the cab in the front, right?”
“Yep.”
“Well, I doubt if there are many of those out and about. I’ll get the drone headed down south, and see if the CO will put some choppers in the air to look as well. Thanks Frank.”
“Welcome, Major. Watch the front gate. They might try to use that motorhome as a Trojan horse.”
“We’ll watch for it. Out.”
Jeb and Charlie and Jerry and Jackson came walking around from the back of the building, carrying several rifles and some boxes of ammo.
“They had some nice stuff,” Jeb said. “Looks new. We ought to go over to the sporting goods store. I’ll bet they just stole them from there.”
“You’re probably right,” Frank said. How far away is it?”
“About four blocks down Main Street. I’ll load them in the back of the SUV and take a ride over there, after the Sheriff has been picked up.”
“Good,” Frank said. Just as he was saying that the ambulance drove past them and pulled back into the park. The paramedics jumped out of the car and pulled the gurney out of the back. They got the Sheriff loaded and into the back in seconds. The ambulance took off, and the Doctor walked across the road to his car, with Earl following him.
“Frank, I’m needed at the hospital, and I’ll take Earl so I can make sure his wound is alright. You guys can come pick him up in about an hour….or I can bring him back to the RV Park.”
“Alright, Doc, we’ll play it by ear. Be careful.”
The Doctor nodded, and both men got into his car. They took off.
“Where are the bodies?” asked Jane.
“In the Library, just inside the double doors,” Jerry said. “Didn’t want any kids to run into them in the street.”
“You took the weapons off of them, I trust,” Frank said.
“A couple of them had pistols,” Jeb said. “And you already know about the hunting rifles.”
“Wonder if there is a coroner here that can come get the bodies?”
“Yes, there is,” Charlie said. “I’ve already called them.”
“Good,” Frank said. “You wanted to go to the gun shop, right?” Maybe we should go over there now.”
“Frank, I think we should gather up those gun registration records from the Sheriff’s station,” Jane said. “We don’t want those falling into the wrong hands.”
“Good idea,” Frank said.
“Listen,” Jeb said.
The sound of a chopper was approaching quickly.
“Take cover,” Charlie said. “We don’t know who that is.”
The chopper can into sight. It was the chopper that had taken Officer Simmons away. There was the sound of machine gun fire.
Chapter 8 – Let’s Hit the Saloon
Machine gun fire filled the air.
“Get into the Sheriff’s station,” Charlie cried. The all ran for it, and slipped into the door and back away from the windows. Except Jeb.
“Where’s Jeb?” asked Jerry?
The machine gun fire was all over the place. It was like somebody was just shooting wild, not trying to hit anything in particular.
“Whoever is manning that chopper has no idea what they are doing,” Jackson said. “They should have tagged a couple of us.”
Then there was a big bore rifle blast. Then another.
“Jeb,” Frank said, rushing off towards the window. He looked out, and saw the chopper starting to reel over to one side, out of control. Jeb rushed in the door.
“Get down, we don’t know where that thing is going to crash,” he shouted.
“What did you do?”
“I took out the pilot and copilot with this rifle. It’s got a nice scope.”
They could hear the chopper’s blades slowing down, then they could hear the sound of impacts as the rotors hit the street. Then there was a loud crashing sound…breaking fiberglass and metal. The engine stopped. There was silence.
“We’d better get out there,” Jeb said. “That didn’t land hard enough to kill everybody inside. Somebody was in the back trying to fire that machine gun.”
Jeb and Jerry and Jasmine slipped out the door cautiously. Jane was checking her M-16, and Frank his Winchester. They went out, and were followed by Jackson and Charlie. They saw the chopper laying on its side, smoke coming out of the engine compartment. One of the pilots was hanging out of the broken front window. They saw Jerry and Jasmine run out towards the wreckage, trying to avoid any openings in the fuselage. Jeb got behind a car on the street, where he had a good vantage point of the wreckage, including the side window with the broken machine gun barrel sticking out. He brought the rifle up and looked through the scope, ready to fire.
“Let’s go over there to the other side,” Frank said. “Then we can stop anybody that comes out.”
“I’ll follow you,” Jerry said. “Better let me shoot, though. It would be nice to take somebody alive from this one. That .44 mag will shred them. They might live through it if I shoot them.”
“I’m going over next to Jerry,” Jackson said.
“Me too,” Charlie said. They ran over in a crouch and got next to him.
Frank nodded. They ran down the street, and around the back of the wreckage. They found a cement trash can holder and got behind it, and aimed their rifles at the wreckage.
“Jerry’s going in,” Frank said.
Jerry got to the opening and looked in. Then he signaled Jackson and Jasmine to come over. The gathered around. Jerry put down his AK-47 and grabbed something. He pulled, and a body came sliding out. Charlie dropped his weapon and leaped over to give him a hand. The person wasn’t conscious, but he didn’t look dead either. Jasmine held her M-16 on the man while Jerry frisked him. Jackson looked around the wreckage for more people, and then went up front to check out the pilot and copilot. Jerry got finished searching the person, and then turned and gave the thumbs up sign.
“Let’s go,” Frank said. He and Jane ran over.
“He’s still breathing,” Jerry said as they all gathered around and looked down at him.
“Geez, he’s only a kid,” Jane said.
“Pilots?” Frank asked.
“Deader than a doornail,” Jackson said. He looked over at Jeb. “How did you manage to tag them both in the forehead while they were in a moving chopper?”
“Damn good scope on this rifle,” Jeb said. “And this rifle is smooth as silk. I think I’ll try to make a deal with the gun shop when we go over there. I want t
o keep this sucker. It’s better than my rifle. Weatherby….top shelf.”
“I have one of those at home,” Frank said. “Didn’t want to bring it. I was afraid we’d get the guns taken away from us. That’s a $2000 dollar rifle, at least.”
“Hey, let’s focus, folks,” Charlie said. “Let’s get the Doc over here to look at this kid. I’ll call him.”
“Yes, you do that,” Jane said.
Charlie got on his cellphone and dialed.
“Doc?” he asked.
“Yeah, this Charlie?”
“Yep. Did you hear the chopper?”
“Sure did.”
“It was the one that Officer Simmons escaped from. The pilots both bought it, but there was a kid in the back manning the .50 cal. He’s still alive. Can you come over?”
“Sure, be there as soon as I can, and I’ll send the paramedics now.”
“How are the rest of our people?” Charlie asked.
“Earl’s fine. He won’t be out of action for more than a day or two. The Sheriff is going to make it too. He just needed an IV to get him hydrated again. The Deputy is in bad shape, though.”
“Is he going to make it?”
“Probably, but he’s going to be in ICU for a few days. I’m sure Simmons thought he was dead.”
“Well, get the paramedics out. At least some of us will hang out until you get here.”
Will do, Charlie.”
Charlie put his phone back in his pocket.
“The doc is going to call the paramedics first,” Charlie said. “He’ll follow along later.”
Everybody looked at him and nodded. The paramedics drove back over in just a couple of minutes. They pulled up next to the wreckage and ran over with their bags.
“Was he thrown out of the chopper?” asked one of the paramedics.
“No, but he probably rattled around inside quite a bit,” Jeb said, laughing.
“You think this is funny?” the paramedic asked.
“He’s the enemy,” Jeb said. “I shot the pilot and co-pilot, and that’s what brought down the chopper. This kid was firing that .50 cal at us before I made it crash.”
“Oh,” the paramedic said sheepishly. “So why didn’t you just shoot him?”
“We need information,” Charlie said.
