“Yeah, I see someone peeking out the front window near the bottom and hiding behind a curtain,” Tony answered. “How in the hell did Kirk spot them?”
“The only one who’s been with Poppa longer is Nicole,” Shawn reminded him.
Lowering the binoculars, Tony kept his eyes on the house as they drove past. “Shawn, I don’t want to mess up and get someone hurt,” Tony mumbled in a breaking voice.
“Hey,” Shawn said, looking over at him. “If Poppa thought that, you wouldn’t be with us, so get that thought out of your head. You do what he says, like he says, and you don’t have to worry about that.”
Slowly, Tony started to smile. “Yeah, Poppa would know,” Tony finally said, feeling much better.
Reaching over and patting Tony on the chest, Shawn pointed out a parking area near a small stream. “That’s where you head for if you get separated,” Shawn told him.
“Poppa called it a rally spot,” Tony blurted out and Shawn just nodded with a grin.
Turning onto the road that would take them into Conway, Arthur called out to stop at the edge of town. They saw Shelia jump out and run over to a garbage can before pulling out a camera on a tripod. When she climbed back in, they pulled off.
They were heading back to one of the home improvement stores to get the stuff they had boxed up several days ago. The only place they’d visited repeatedly had been the truck terminal and Shawn really wanted to stop that. It was totally random to everyone, except to Arthur of when they would go back to get stuff they left behind.
“Truck ahead opposing lane,” Arthur called over the radio and Tony pulled his AR up again.
“Remember to watch behind us,” Shawn said, glancing at the mirrors.
“I am,” Tony answered when Shawn saw a shiny truck heading toward them. Nobody slowed and Shawn saw people waving from the truck as it passed them. Behind the truck was a small trailer that was loaded down.
Watching the truck in his mirror, Shawn saw shopping bags in the bed of the truck. “Somebody’s been shopping at Walmart,” Shawn laughed.
“We won’t go there because there’s food,” Tony said as they turned, heading into the home improvement center’s parking lot.
“Like Poppa said, we will grow our own food,” Shawn nodded, feeling his heart speed up. Arthur had always told them that when they revisited a place was the most dangerous. For the life of him, Shawn couldn’t figure out why people would fight over this stuff when there was stuff to get all around here.
By no means was he stupid. Shawn knew that the man Arthur had shot hadn’t been talking about Vicki’s cat. Thinking that someone would do that to a little girl made Shawn’s blood boil. Now, most in the group were armed and it just didn’t make sense to attack a group that could shoot back.
They rounded the store and pulled past the loading dock to the drive-in door at the corner of the store. As Arthur slowed, Shawn couldn’t help but be awed in his memory of Arthur. When they had added the new trucks and trailers, there wasn’t going to be enough room for all three to pull in and face the front roll-up door.
Without telling anyone, Arthur just backed the Suburban with the trailer into the store and guided it down one of the aisles. The speed and ease with which he did it made everyone jealous, that Arthur could drive a trailer backwards better than they could forward.
Shawn came to a stop behind Andrea and saw Arthur get out and was thankful that Nicole wasn’t in the baby sling. Arthur locked the door he had pried open and walked back to the Suburban. “Rally point, backup route,” Arthur called over the radio. “Will feed the babies and then return tomorrow.”
“Oh fuck,” Tony gasped, hearing the code that someone hostile was around. Looking around with wide eyes, Tony begged. “Can I chamber a round?”
“Hell, no!” Shawn snapped, seeing the Suburban pull away. “You’ll shoot one of us with as nervous as you are.”
Nearing the door, Shawn saw the rock Arthur had placed there to keep it closed. “Oh, shit!” Shawn cried out, making Tony levitate out of his seat. Turning to the building, Tony saw Arthur squatting down beside a stack of shipping pallets behind the building with Donald and Daisy beside him.
“What the hell is he doing?” Tony gasped as they followed the Suburban out of the parking lot.
“Something I’m sure somebody won’t like,” Shawn said, picking up speed and heading back out of town.
Crouching down next to the pallets, Arthur scanned the trees behind the store slowly. Not seeing anything, he glanced at Donald and Daisy and saw they were looking at the door he had used to get in the store. “Yeah, I know someone’s in there,” he said softly.
Crouching over, Arthur moved back along the store to the loading docks and looked around for movement. Unless the ambushers were a big group or very lucky, the kids would make it to the rally spot. There were literally dozens of different roads that they could take.
Not seeing any movement, Arthur climbed up on the dock and eased over to the pedestrian door. This was their third visit to this store because it’d taken two trips just to get the big stuff he’d needed. All the stores he knew they were coming back to, Arthur had always left another door unlocked and if it wasn’t unlocked, he could get inside easily.
With the dogs beside him, Arthur gently turned the knob and sighed as the door opened. Letting the dogs in first, Arthur eased in before closing the door. “Heel up,” he said softly, passing the dogs and they moved along with him.
It was beyond dark as he moved into the store and stopped, letting his eyes adjust. When he could make out the aisles, Arthur pulled his AR to his shoulder and headed across the store to the door he had opened. That was the best ambush spot.
Halfway across he froze, hearing voices far off. Glancing down, he saw the shadowy forms of the dogs looking to the front of the store. Moving down the household aisle, Arthur weaved around some of the boxes they had packed, praying the kids hadn’t left anything to trip over.
Reaching the first cross aisle, Arthur turned to head toward the voices that were getting louder. “I’m telling you, Chase, they knew we was here,” Arthur heard and moved down the paint aisle, heading to the front of the store.
“How, Levi? We put the rock back and that little piece of paper,” Chase barked.
“Hello, boys,” Arthur mumbled to himself.
“You saw how fast they took off?” Levi asked. “I’m telling you, they knew we was in here.”
“Bullshit, that Arthur ain’t a ninja,” Chase argued. “We’ve seen them check on buildings before and then come back. You watch, they will pull back and load up all these storage bins and boxes. Every time we watched, they always loaded big stuff first. They were just checking the area. We’ve seen them do that plenty.”
Reaching the end of the aisle, Arthur eased out and looked toward the exit doors past the checkouts and saw two figures looking outside. With more than enough light now, Arthur eased closer to make sure they were alone.
“We should try to join them again,” Levi said, looking out the door.
“Arthur knows he has a good thing and ain’t going to let two hard legs join up,” Chase shouted and punched Levi in the shoulder. “We take out Arthur and that husky kid, and we can take over that group. He’s done taught them to drive, so we can just sit back and make them go out and get what we want.”
“I want that redhead,” Levi chuckled and Arthur fought not to pull out a knife. “I bet she’s going to scream.”
Moving past the return counter, Arthur eased past the checkouts while holding his AR on the two figures outlined in the light coming in through the door.
He saw Chase sneer at Levi. “You can have that little girl. I want that dirty blonde,” Chase said and then turned to look outside. “She can’t be twenty yet. I just hope Arthur hasn’t put the stank on her yet. He don’t seem the type, but you never know.”
“If this don’t work, let’s join up with that group down near Morrilton,” Levi suggested as Arthur was ab
out to pull the trigger, but stopped.
“Fuck that,” Chase snapped. “I ain’t nobody’s bitch. I join anyone, I’m joining up with that group in Mayflower. They don’t have the size yet, so I can get in near the top.”
“I’m just saying, if this don’t work out because what people that are left, talk about Arthur just smoking folks who piss him off,” Levi said. “Nobody wants to move around Clarksville.”
“You can move around, dumbass. Just don’t try running game on anyone if you see those trucks moving around,” Chase said.
Levi turned to Chase and took a breath to speak when the other side of Chase’s head exploded out and blood hit Levi’s face. Before he could turn around, “Boy, you so much as twitch and the dogs will get supper early,” Levi heard and knew that voice.
“Now, get on your knees and you might live through the day,” Arthur told him, moving up and putting the suppressor on the back of Levi’s head. As Levi knelt down, he saw the two Rottweilers move in front of him. Both had their teeth bared, giving off low growls.
When his knees touched the floor, Levi felt his AR pushed off his shoulder and heard it clatter on the floor. “We just wanted to join,” Levi whimpered, feeling his legs get soaked. “There are crazies out there that just attack and people are staking out claims.”
Patting Levi down, Arthur tossed a revolver and a pistol to the side and then stepped back, avoiding the growing pool of piss between Levi’s knees. “Where is the group in Morrilton holding up?” Arthur asked.
“All I know is they are near the river,” Levi answered, never taking his eyes off the dogs.
“The Mayflower group?”
“They ain’t in the city. They are just north, set up in a building just off the interstate,” Levi replied, closing his eyes and praying that Arthur would let him go.
Thinking for a minute, “What about the two groups here in Conway?” Arthur bluffed.
“I don’t know about any groups here,” Levi blurted out and felt the suppressor against the back of his head. “Look, man, people have seen your trucks and know to stay away. I only know of regular people around here. One guy shot at you last week and you shot up the store and then burned it down. Shit like that makes people leave you the hell alone.”
Remembering the sniper that had taken a shot at him, Arthur nodded and pulled the suppressor off Levi’s head. “I have an idea where they are,” Arthur lied. “What about Russellville?”
“After you dropped those two in front of that grocery store, anyone that was in a group just up and left. Now I know a few crazies there, but not where they are,” Levi answered and felt relieved. “Just so you know, there are people out there going gangster like it’s the wild west. That’s why we wanted to join up with ya.”
Levi felt a sharp pain explode inside him as Arthur kicked him in the left kidney. When he hit the floor, Levi felt pain in each arm as the dogs latched on. “Cry out and the dogs start the attack,” Arthur said calmly. “They are just holding you now.”
Forcing his eyes open, Levi saw his wrists in the dogs’ mouths as they pulled back, playing tug of war. “You wanted to kill me and hurt my kids,” Arthur said, grabbing his radio. Pressing the transmit key, “Return, babies are fed, use alternate route,” he called out.
“Returning,” Andrea answered.
Putting the radio back on his belt, Arthur asked. “Why didn’t Chase want to join Morrilton?”
“You do the shit work,” Levi panted as the dogs kept the pressure constant. “They told us we would have to bring in two women each before we could join, and we couldn’t have any women at the clubhouse until the next one joined.”
“How many are they?”
“We ride around and stuff and only met them twice,” Levi grunted, feeling Donald step back and pulling harder. “I know they have five, but we only talked to Skip and some kid-.”
“Dean,” Arthur finished and Levi nodded. Arthur snapped his fingers and the dogs let go of Levi’s wrists and he cradled them to his chest.
“Please man, let me go and I swear, you’ll never see me again,” Levi begged.
“Oh, I am, don’t worry,” Arthur said, glancing out the front door. “I want you to tell everyone, this corridor of I-40 belongs to me.”
“I will, but you should know that people already know about you. Not your name, but about the group of trucks riding around and call you the ‘Caravan’. And you need to keep a lookout because there is still army at Fort Smith. We were there a week ago.”
“Yeah, I heard them on the radio,” Arthur said. “They have a bunch that are sick. That’s why they didn’t pick up these outposts around here. I have to ask, why haven’t any of you got in those army vehicles like those Strykers?”
Stopping his grunting, Levi looked up at Arthur like he was stupid. “The army still has choppers up. I seen with my own eyes, someone take one of those wheeled tank things in Ozark. As they rode down I-40, it blew up and one of those Apaches flew over.”
“Yeah, that would put a stop to that,” Arthur nodded, seeing his group pull in.
“It happened in Little Rock also. We talked to a group that ran out of Little Rock. You touch the Army’s stuff, they know.”
Looking down at Levi, “Not if you unhook the transponder, dumbass,” Arthur chuckled.
“People have tried,” Levi winced as he moved his hands.
“Well, I took a five-ton and they never found me,” Arthur grinned, seeing his group pull through the parking lot.
Levi looked up at Arthur in disbelief. “The truck at that checkpoint near Clarksville?” he asked and Arthur nodded. “We thought the army came back and got it, since most of the gear was gone.”
“Nope, I took it,” Arthur smiled and started walking off. He stopped and turned to Levi, “Sorry, forgot something,” Arthur said, pulling the trigger and Levi jerked as the bullet hit him in the chest and Arthur moved his rifle, squeezing the trigger again and watching the bullet slam into Levi’s face.
“Don’t ever think about fucking with my kids,” Arthur growled, spinning on his heel and broke into a jog. Bringing his AR to his chest, Arthur turned the mounted light on as he jogged to the back roll-up door.
When he rolled the door up, Arthur saw the vehicles parked outside and walked over as Andrea stuck her head out of her truck. “Was someone inside waiting?” she asked.
Turning to her as Shelia climbed out of the driver’s seat to the passenger side, “Yeah, we knew them,” Arthur called out as he opened the door. “It was Chase and Levi who wanted to join up with us.”
Andrea gave a shudder as she pulled her head back in the truck and Arthur climbed in, putting the Suburban in gear. Pulling up, Arthur put the Suburban in reverse and backed inside while cranking the steering wheel and guided the trailer into the first cross aisle.
He looked up to watch Andrea drive past and then Shawn pulled inside as Arthur climbed out and looked back at Vicki. “You think we should watch the babies in the truck or breakout the playpens?” he asked.
“Did you shoot somebody?” Vicki asked.
“Two.”
“Keep them in here, in case we have to leave fast,” Vicki answered, shaking a bottle to mix the formula. At the house, the babies now drank goat’s milk.
Nodding, “Call over the radio when it’s time to change out,” Arthur said, shutting his door and saw everyone was already out, turning on lights and setting them around the trailers.
“How did you know?” Shawn asked, walking over.
“Fishing string I had in the door jamb was gone, but the obvious markers were all put back,” Arthur answered. “There are two bodies by the front door. I’ll need your help with them before we leave.”
“Just leave them,” Shawn shrugged as Kirk and Pat drove the forklifts off the trailers.
Walking off, “Then nobody will see them,” Arthur huffed. “Tell Kirk and Pat to load my trailer first. We are getting the stuff outside we were coming back for, but this is the last time we c
ome to this store.”
The group moved with practiced precision and soon, Arthur’s trailer was stacked front to back with storage bins and boxes. Then they started filling Shawn’s trailer as Shawn went to find Arthur. He found Arthur talking to Jim and Betty who were watching out the entrance door.
Walking past the registers, Shawn glanced over and saw Levi but couldn’t remember the other one’s name, but knew the face. “Knew you were trouble,” Shawn mumbled and walked behind the return desk.
“Poppa,” he called out over the desk. “Your trailer is full and mine shouldn’t be more than a quarter full when the rest is loaded.”
Patting Jim and Betty, Arthur turned and headed around the return desk and saw Shawn looking down at something. Climbing over the return desk, Arthur looked under the counter and found Shawn was staring at a safe. “Wonder what’s in it?” Shawn asked with a grin.
Pulling a flashlight from his belt, Arthur knelt down and shined the light at the safe and then stood up and walked from behind the service desk. “I’ll be back,” Arthur called over his shoulder and Shawn turned back, looking at the safe and then back across the store and saw Arthur heading for some tools.
Ducking into the tool area for a second, Arthur stepped back in the front cross aisle, heading back. When Arthur got closer, Shawn saw he was carrying something in each hand as the AR hung under his right arm.
Walking back in the return area, Shawn saw Arthur was carrying a ball-peen hammer and a huge metal punch. Kneeling down, Arthur put the tip of the punch at the two o’clock position on the combination dial and raised the hammer up, hitting the punch rod hard. A metal ring sounded out as the dial popped off the safe and skidded across the floor.
Putting the tip of the punch into the small hole left by the dial, Arthur aimed the punch to the right and hit it with the hammer one time very hard. Pulling the punch out, Arthur dropped the punch and the hammer before grabbing the handle and turned it.
Shawn jumped back when the handle turned and watched as Arthur opened the safe. “Just papers and a money bag,” Arthur answered, standing up and patting Shawn on the chest as he walked off.
Viral Misery (Book 1) Page 36
