Vigilante (Book 2): Into the Fray

by Cliff Deane

  “Walt, move your hand, or I will break your fingers. I can’t drive with you trying to play grab-ass all the time.”

  “I love it when you talk tough like that Jo. It really turns me on.”

  She slid to a stop in front of Al’s, grabbed his hand from her inner thigh, and bent the palm backward until he yelled, “Damn, please let go! That hurts.”

  “Keep your hands to yourself, or I will report you to the Captain.”

  “Now wait a minute Jo; you used to love me. We have been partners for three years, and you used to let me touch you.”

  “Walt that was one time when you got me drunk, and Bill and I were fighting. I didn’t know what I was doing, and you act like we were lovers. This has to stop, or I can’t be your partner.”

  His face got red, he tensed up, and he had to calm himself down before he said anything. He had loved Jo from the first week he met her. She was five feet four inches tall, a buck twenty and dark brown hair. She had a figure that really turned him on, in her uniform, or wearing street clothes.

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I promise to be good from now on.”

  “Seriously, Walt, if you grab me one more time I’m reporting you. I want to be your damn partner, not your lover, and if you can’t live with that, then we can’t work together.”

  “I’ll be good. Now let’s get some burgers.”

  They walked into Al’s and sat in the back with both of them facing the door, a habit that helps to keep Police Officers alive. Germaine, the waiter, came over, took their order, and poured them two glasses of water.

  “You guys are late tonight. It’s 11:00 and the chef went home.”

  “Germaine, turn the TV to Fox News and tell Al to cook them himself.”

  “We don’t want no stinking FOX News on in this place.”

  “You give me a rash of shit every day, and you still change the channel to FOX. Why don’t you just do it and save the stress for something else in your life,” asked Jo?

  “Because I like it when yo’ face turns that white girl’s red. You must have some Injun blood in your family. Now, Walt, there has some Black blood stirring around in his family tree. One of my homeboys got in there somehow back in the day.”

  “Screw you, Germaine. If I wanted my ancestry checked out I’d go to that damn place on TV all of the ti…”

  “Walt, shut up. The announcer just said that China had done something wrong to the USA. Shut up and listen.”

  The FOX anchor said, “We have just received news that the International Money Fund, the United Nations, and the Common market have dropped the US Dollar as the World Currency and switched to the Chinese Yuan. Reports indicate that China has bribed many of the influential leaders of those organizations to force the change. The DOW Jones has plummeted all day due to the speculation and closed over 5,000 points down. Unnamed sources in the Whitehouse tell us that the President will close US trading until further notice to help stabilize the market.”

  “Bill’s Dad has been warning us to buy silver and gold for years. Bill, thought it was stupid. I’m glad I bought over ten thousand Dollars’ worth of silver five years ago. Silver has tripled in value while gold has only doubled.”

  “You know me; I’m a prepper. I have silver and gold coins plus enough food, ammo, and guns to start a small country.”

  “We have a six month’s supply of food, but I wish we had bought some ARs and more semi-auto pistols. We only have three shotguns, two lever action 30 30s, and my 9mm Ruger and Keltek. I should have purchased a couple of Glocks and two AR15s.”

  The TV got much louder just as Germaine brought their burgers, fries, and drinks to them.

  “Breaking news! Russia just invaded Belarus, The Ukraine, and the three Balkan countries. They have also placed their ICBMs on alert to launch if any country interferes with their invasion. Jack Terry, the Secretary of State, has logged a complaint with the UN and the President has called President Putin to register a personal complaint on behalf of the countries being invaded.”

  “Jack, we had eight years of military buildup during the last administration, and now we see this sad state of affairs just three years into Susan Barren’s foreign policy disaster.”

  “General Maddox, what is your take on this situation?”

  “We had the Russians and Chinese contained for six years, and now this piss poor excuse of a President has delivered the world to the Commie bast….”

  “Sorry, the feed from the General was cut short. We will try to reconnect later in the program.”

  The announcers continued to analyze the two situations as Jo and Walt ate their burgers and fries.

  Jo’s watch beeped, and she said, “Time to get our asses back to work.”

  Jo’s father in law, Bob Karr, was an ex-Army Officer who retired after 30 years serving in the 82nd Airborne. He had lived around the Fort Campbell area on and off most of his adult life and settled down in the Middle Tennessee area with his wife. She died the same year Bob retired and left him a lonely man with too much time on his hands. His home, on a small farm, was located a few miles south of Dixon Springs, Tennessee, which was on a piece of land trapped in a loop of the Cumberland River. The area was called the Horseshoe since its shape resembled a horseshoe thanks to the meandering river.

  Bob was a staunch conservative and felt that America was falling apart thanks to liberal Democrats. He was proud of what was accomplished during Trump’s two terms to make America strong again; however, most of that progress was destroyed by the current liberal President. Iran tested a nuclear weapon just two years after her election and had stockpiled ten by the end of her third year in office. Bob had little confidence in the current government or world powers to stop evil in the world.

  He purchased the old home and 50 acres to get away from the day-to-day BS in the world. He didn’t have a TV much less Cable or an iPhone. He got his daily news from FOX radio.

  There were only a few families that lived on this peninsula bounded by the Cumberland River, and he liked it that way. He was friendly to his neighbors but had no real friends.

  The bad news that night concerning the change to the Yuan being the world’s currency and the Russian invasion scared him. He knew his liberal son wouldn’t listen, but he had to try to talk some sense into him. He thought if he failed, he would try talking to his daughter in law. She had a good head on her shoulders.

  “Dad, yes I watch the news.”

  “Son, the fucking Ruskies are invading half of Europe. Only nukes will stop the bastards. Come on down here now. When the nukes fly, Louisville will be a war zone in three days.”

  “Yes, it’s bad out there, but I’m not panicking and moving my family to Tennessee. President Barren will somehow handle this mess. The damned Republicans caused this by scaring the Russians and Chinese with our military buildup during the Trump administration. I hate that clown looking bastard.”

  Son, you have to list…”

  “Dad…Dad…Can I say something? I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world, and no, we’re not coming to the farm. This will blow over as it always does.”

  “Look, son, I know we don’t see eye to eye on politics, but I want you and your family to be safe. The Chinese Yuan is now the world currency. The dollar won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on, and we will be at war tomorrow. Please bring your family down here to the Horseshoe before the food supply dries up and the riots start.”

  “Dad, you watch too many of those prepper shows on TV. Look, I love you, and we’ll visit at the end of the month. Goodbye”

  Bill looked across the desk, saw his friend Dawn, and said, “My old man is off his rocker. He thinks it’s the end of the world, the Russians are coming, and my family needs to head down to his farm in Tennessee.”

  Dawn looked both ways, laid her hand on top of Bill’s hand, and said, “Bill, why don’t you join me for drinks at my place when we get off. Tell your wife you are pulling a double shift and I can make
you forget your troubles.”

  Bill looked over at the nurse with her cleavage staring him in the face and the tight white slacks and said, “Dawn, that sounds awful good. Let me think about it.”

  “Bill, I don’t want to break up your marriage. We will be friends with benefits.”

  “So you aren’t husband shopping?”

  “Hell no. I just want to get you in bed and have some fun.”

  “You are a brazen hussy.”

  “Wait until I show you some of my skills in the bedroom.”

  Bill knew he shouldn’t be having this conversation, but he knew Walt had the hots for Jo and Jo wasn’t the same anymore toward him. He needed a friend. He looked across the counter, squeezed her hand, and brushed against her as he passed behind her.

  “Why Bill, that was a sneaky way to touch me. You have to come by my place after work.”

  “Maybe,” Bill said as he reached for a document in front of her and pulled the boob graze trick.

  “Don’t get too greedy at work. There are cameras everywhere and remember your mom in law works here on day shift.”

  Bill turned red as he said, “I’ll meet you in the janitor’s closet by Room 203 at 1:00 am sharp and see if you’re all talk.”

  “It’s a date.”

  They walked out of Al’s to their patrol car when Walt said, “Jo, something doesn’t look right across the street. There is a man in the car with the engine running in front of Patriot Firearms, and another is watching the road from inside the shop. Hell, it’s almost midnight they should be closed.”

  “Damn, you are right. It’s a robbery. I’ll call it in.”

  They ducked below the top of the parked cars and went up the street before crossing quickly behind the parked car. The driver must have seen one of them because he honked his horn and pulled closer to the door. He had barely stopped when two masked men came running out of the gun shop with their arms full of weapons.

  “Police, stop and raise your hands.”

  The driver poked a handgun out the window and started blasting away at the two Policemen who had to duck behind a car. This gave the other time to drop their stolen booty into the car’s window and come up shooting.

  Jo saw a thug’s leg below a car, took aim, and shot him just below the kneecap. He was down for the count as his Mac 10 skittered across the street. Walt ran from his hiding spot drawing fire and ducked behind a pickup. One of the robbers moved to get a shot at Walt and exposed himself to Jo’s field of fire. She pulled the trigger and shot the man squarely in the chest twice.

  The driver honked again for the last man to get in the car, but the man ran back into the gun shop. The car sped off with both Jo and Walt taking shots. The car swerved and crashed into a street sweeper that had been abandoned when the gunfire erupted.

  “That son of a bitch is going to take hostages, yelled Walt as he saw Jo run up to the door.

  Jo crouched down and slowly pushed the door open to see one man lying on the floor and another slumped against a display case holding his side with blood everywhere. She cautiously walked into the shop while keeping the display case between her and the back of the store. Walt followed ten feet behind her.

  There was complete silence until they heard, “Please don’t kill me I have a wife, kids, and grandkids. You can have everything, and I won’t press charges.”

  “Shut the fuck up old man before I cap your fucking ass.”

  Jo looked up into a mirror and saw the thug holding the owner with a pistol to his head. She looked around the store, and she didn’t see any more people just a body to her left.

  She whispered, “Walt, cover me. I’m going around the display case. Shoot him when he sees me and turns.”

  “Be careful.”

  Jo crawled below the line of sight to the far end of the display case to a position ten feet past the robber who held the owner as a human shield. She slowly rose to an upright stance while keeping the perp in her gun’s sights. The man caught a glimpse of her before she could fire and moved the hostage to block her shot.

  “Shoot bitch, and you’ll kill the old man.”

  The not so bright criminal forgot that he had turned away from her partner and exposed his side. Walt was twenty feet from the man and decided to go for a body shot. He breathed out, slowly squeezed the trigger with the tip of his finger, and he shot the man in the left arm with the first shot and the side of his chest with the second shot.

  Jo took a step forward to make sure the perp wasn’t a threat when she heard, “Jo,” and then the thunderous sound of several gunshots filled the small room. She felt two extremely painful impacts to her chest. As she fell to the floor, she fired back at the perp who had remained hidden behind a gun safe. One of her bullets hit him in the left eye and blew a large chunk of his skull onto the wall of the gun shop.

  The perp got off a wild shot at Walt before Jo shot him and grazed Walt on his left arm below the shoulder. It hurt like hell and Walt held pressure on it while he called in that a policeman was down. He no sooner keyed the mic than he heard their backup arrive. Several policemen came into the shop with guns drawn, searched the back room, and secured the crime scene.

  He ran over to Jo and checked to see if she was still alive. She was groggy but still breathing. She was alive because both slugs had hit her body armor.

  Two EMTs rushed in, and Walt sent them to Jo first to make sure she was okay. They checked her out, loaded her into the Ambulance along with Walt, and headed to the hospital.

  The Lead EMT said, “Thank God the bullets struck her vest. Either one would have probably killed her. Now let me look at your scratch.”

  The Ambulance arrived at the hospital, and she was rushed to the emergency room to check for any serious damage. She started to wake up as they wheeled her through the hallway and asked for her husband.

  One of the nurses asked, “How do we find your husband?”

  Jo’s voice was weak, but she said, “He works here in Emergency. He’s Bill Karr.”

  Bill heard her voice and ran to her side yelling, “That’s my wife. What happened? Has she been shot?”

  Walt was being examined in the next room. He shoved the Doctor away, walked into the room, and said, “Bill, her body armor stopped both slugs. We stopped a robbery in progress, and one of the bastards was hiding when we thought all of the perps had been accounted for. He shot both of us, but Jo killed him and ended his miserable life.”

  “Thanks, Walt,” Bill replied.

  “Mr. Long, get back in your room and let the Doctor stitch you up. Bill, you need to go to the waiting room. You know you shouldn’t stay here while we work on your wife.”

  Bill was holding Jo’s hand when she said, “How big was the truck that hit me? My chest hurts. Damn it hurts. Is Walt okay?”

  “Yes dear. Your partner only has a minor wound to his arm, and you are going to be back on your feet in a few days.”

  “Damn this hurts.”

  The nurse inserted an IV and said, “It won’t hurt much longer,” as she injected a pain shot into the IV port.

  “Bill go! We’re taking her to X-ray and then the Doctors will check her out. The body armor took most of the force. We just need to make sure she doesn’t have any cracked ribs or soft tissue damage.”

  “I know, but she’s my wife.”

  “Bill, go sit in the waiting room. Now!

  Bob was pissed when his hardheaded liberal son wouldn’t listen, so he dialed his daughter-in-law’s cell phone number. The phone rang, but Jo didn’t answer. He tried a couple of times then decided to call their home number. The phone rang a couple of times, and then he heard, “Hello, this is the Karr residence. May I ask who is calling this late at night?”

  “Missy, this is Papaw. Please put your mom on the phone.”

  “Papaw, I want to talk with you.”

  “Darling, I’ll talk with you later. I’m in a hurry. Please put your mom on the phone.”

  “Mom is at work.”

&n
bsp; “Please get Will. Hurry. Please.

  “Yes, Papaw.”

  “Will! It’s Papaw. Come to the phone.”

  Bob could hear Missy yelling for Will, and then Will answered the phone.

  “Hey, Papaw, are you watching the news? We stayed up late to see the war. The shit is about to hit the fan.”

  “Will, this is going to get bad real quick. I tried to talk your hardheaded dad into coming down to the farm before it gets real bad, but he wouldn’t listen to me. I’m tryin’ to reach your mom.”

  “Papaw, mom is at work and won’t be home until in the morning. I’ll let her know to call you.”

  Bob thought for a few seconds and said, “Son, we’ll be at war or attacked sometime in the next few days. If anything happens you know to come down to the farm.”

  “Papaw, I still have the Bugout bags you gave us for Christmas, and I have added a few things to them. When Mom and Dad get home, I’ll try to convince Dad to take us down to the farm.”

  “Will, remember there is a map to the farm that keeps you off the main highways on your way here in all of the Bugout bags. Use that route if things get bad. I think we will be hit with several EMP bombs first then all out warfare.”

  “I’ll make sure all of our bags are ready and do my best with Dad.”

  “Son, I love you and Missy and Jake. I wish I were there to bring you down here, but that is your Dad’s shot to call. Remember what I taught you and stay safe. Let me talk to Missy and Jake.

  “Bill we’re taking your wife to her room. She’ll be as good as new in a few weeks. She has severe bruising where the bullets struck the vest. She’ll be a little drowsy after the pain medicine takes effect, but you can talk to her now. We’ll keep her overnight and should release her by noon tomorrow.”