The Emerald Virus

by Patrick Shea

  The door closed as Noah drew his 9mm and stepped forward. The RV started moving forward with the rear tires spinning out of control. The militiaman under the RV rolled out quickly and followed Noah into the RV. The driver had not taken the time to latch the door.

  As the driver turned to look at him Noah fired three shots to the driver’s left and yelled for him to put his hands up.

  Noah had seen a handgun on the console between the seats and he hoped that was the only weapon in reach of the driver, he didn’t want to kill him, at least not yet. Noah swept the weapon onto the passenger side floor.

  He held his handgun to the driver’s forehead and said, “Hello Rick, we seem to have a problem don’t we?”

  “No, we don’t have a problem. All I wanted to do was leave the park. I’m tired of you and your holier than thou attitude. I don’t know why you just couldn’t let me go. This is your fault.”

  “I think I’ll disagree with you, but we’ll talk about that. And we’ll talk about the fact that you’ve been helping out Turner’s gang as well. I think you’re in serious trouble Rick.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with me talking to whoever I want to talk with. You can’t control that or punish me for talking.”

  “We’ll have to see about that. I do know that you just tried to kill one of my men and for that you are going to face consequences.”

  “All I did was defend myself. Two men with snow masks and weapons were blocking the road and I thought they were going to kill me.”

  Ted Green had joined Noah and said, “Noah, they’ve taken Tim to the lodge and they’re getting the doc to see how badly he’s hurt. Let me cuff Rick and if you’ll drive I’ll watch him. We’ll have to use one of the more secure rooms in the lodge to keep him, and I’ll post guards.

  “After he shot Tim I don’t think we’ll have trouble finding men to guard him. Some of them will be hoping he tries to escape.”

  Thirty minutes later Ted and Christian joined Sam and Noah in Sam’s RV.

  Noah started by saying, “As soon as we arrested Rick I called Shelly and told her what had happened. I told her to get out now and she said she would.”

  Sam added, “I called Danny to let him know what had happened and that we had told Shelly to run. He just called back to say that he had called Shelly ten minutes ago at half past six o’clock, coincidentally that’s the time he calls each evening. Bob Turner answered her phone. He told Danny that he thought he would ‘borrow’ Shelly for a little while, but that he wouldn’t hurt her since he wanted to trade his man for Shelly, and he wanted Danny to make the exchange.”

  Noah picked up the conversation by saying, “I can only guess that Rick was on the phone with Turner when the shooting took place. His cell was in his hand when I went in the RV. We knew that would be the only thing that could go wrong and apparently it has. Now we need to talk about what to do next.”

  Christian said, “If you are looking for a legal opinion I can only tell you that as an authorized police force, or in this case a force of militia, you can legally use whatever force you deem needed to resolve the problem. We put only reasonable force restrictions on our police and in those instances where you know ahead of time that the other party is armed and prepared to use those weapons against you, there are no restrictions. Police couldn’t be effective under more restrictive rules.”

  Ted then said, “I don’t think we have a choice, we need to make a trade with Turner. I don’t like it, but I don’t for a second believe that keeping Rick for trial is more important than saving Shelly’s life.”

  Sam looked up and asked, “Does anyone have a problem with following Ted’s recommendation?”

  Noah said, “I agree with Ted, we don’t really have a choice. Shelly risked her life for us, and because of her we were able to get Rick to make his move. We owe her now.”

  Christian said, “I agree, but how did you know it was Rick and why didn’t you just arrest him?”

  Noah answered, “I had narrowed the list down to four possibilities earlier today. I asked Ben to help me and I made a point to have a conversation with Ben just outside of each of the four RVs. We talked about the need to move fast since we were going on the offensive and would attack Turner.

  “I then beat on the door to the RV to see if I was interrupting a phone call. After each person answered the door I asked them questions about where we might live in the spring, and I always mentioned Opportunity as a possibility.

  “I tried to make it look like a permanent home was just an excuse to talk about Opportunity and the surrounding area, but my real goal was to learn more about the area for when we attacked.

  “The problem was that two of the men I talked to both reacted with visible nervousness, both were smallish, and both had a bunch of books in their RV. I didn’t know which of the two it was.

  “I even snuck a look at Rick’s cell phone when he was making coffee, but it didn’t show any outbound calls at all. He must have a second phone he used for talks with Turner.”

  Ted added, “He did, and the phone in his hand when we arrested him had daily calls logged to Turner’s number. He had two other phones as well. I don’t know why but we found three all together.”

  Christian said, “I see, it all makes sense, but now we’re going to pay for the one risk we took. Couldn’t we have waited for another day or two and gotten Shelly and Danny out first?”

  Noah said, “That’s solely my fault. We could have waited but I was so anxious to catch the insider that I minimized the risk to Shelly. I didn’t think for a second that the person would jump immediately. In fact Ted and I talked about waiting a day or two before we set up the blockade. I wish now we had done that.”

  Sam said, “Noah, don’t beat yourself up. If you hadn’t done what you did Rick would be gone and Turner would have grabbed Shelly anyway. If that had happened we wouldn’t have anything to offer as a trade. Doing things this way may end up saving Shelly’s life.

  “We have to get to the evening meeting. I think I should tell the group what happened. There is no need for discretion any longer and I think they all deserve to know.”

  When Sam walked into the lodge Colleen said they had two additional newcomers. Sam asked for newcomers and a young couple raised their hands.

  He said, “My name is Andy and this is Suzanne. Until recently we were with the Phoenix group, we had just decided to go to central California when Charlotte White told me what was happening.

  “We decided we would come here instead. We’ve been trying to catch up to Charlie and his group but didn’t quite make it. Charlie, we do want to thank you for clearing the roads for us though.”

  The group laughed and Charlie said, “Andy, you’re more then welcome. Come the next storm, I’ll let you lead.”

  Sam said, “Andy, were you the deputy at Phoenix, the one that called me and warned me about additional renegades joining the Turner camp?”

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “I talked with Charlotte and she mentioned that you and a group of twenty or so RVs left Phoenix together. What happened to the rest of your caravan?”

  “Charlotte asked me to not say anything about this to them. She was concerned that since some of the Phoenix group had already joined Turner that others might call one of those people. I couldn’t argue with the logic, so Suzanne and I simply told the others that we were going to go our own way and see if we could get to know one another. After we left the group we parked one of our RVs and here we are.”

  Sam said, “Thanks for coming to help us. But you’re just in time for some bad news.”

  Sam then told the group what had happened that afternoon and evening, and that Shelly was being held prisoner. She promised the group that they would get Shelly back and everyone seemed to agree that trading prisoners was the best option.

  Sam didn’t know when Danny would make it back, but they believed Turner wouldn’t make the exchange without him.

  Chapter Thirty Eight: The Lock-Up />
  Monday night: Turner’s Saloon, Opportunity, Montana

  Shelly sat tied to a bar stool next to Bob Turner. The stool had a small back and Shelly’s arms had been threaded through the back of the stool and her wrists handcuffed together. She had three belts wrapped around her legs, and hooked underneath the stool. She wasn’t going anywhere without the bar stool.

  She had been trussed like this for the past three hours, ever since Turner had burst into the RV pointing a shotgun at her. He and three of his men had stayed out of her reach while they brought her into the bar and strapped her to the stool.

  Since then they had been having a great deal of fun at her expense. Turner had ripped the front of her blouse open, but had at least left her bra in place. It was more revealing than she wanted, but it was better than nothing.

  She had been drenched in beer most of the night, and the more the group drank, the more beer they poured or spit on her.

  She sat calmly through all of it. She almost smiled at their attempts to verbally abuse her. It was obvious that none of them had been in the Marine Corps. She was as worried as she had ever been, but she was not going to show it. She knew through experience that she could handle a lot of pain and she was spending her time preparing for things much worse than this.

  She watched the group throughout the night. It was pretty easy to tell which of them were in the habit of drinking themselves to sleep, or into a stupor, and which ones would stay around for the show. What she didn’t know was who, and how many, would be participating in the show.

  Turner had been drinking slowly but steadily all evening, as he always did. Once in a while he would look at her and smile, or would grope her, but never for very long. He never said a word to her.

  He did tell everyone around him that he was going to put her in the lockup later that night, and anyone who wanted to join her could do whatever they wanted with her. He did put some restrictions on that. He told them that they could not be armed so she could not take any weapons from anyone, and they had to be alone. She would be handcuffed, but that was all.

  Turner always smiled when he explained the rules and some of the men looked like they were going to take him up on his offer. One of them was a guy Turner called Blackie. He was as mean looking as anyone in the group and wore motorcycle gang clothing. Chains on the waist and dangling from the shoulders, sharpened iron studs about an inch long affixed to bracelets on each wrist, a black bandanna, black leather trousers and a black leather vest wore open to display some gruesome tattoos, and he wore heavy black riding boots.

  He had a long scar going from the right side of his abdomen upwards to the left side of his chest. It looked like a long slash from a big knife. He also had two smaller scars on the left side of his stomach that looked like bullet wounds. They impressed even the meanest of the group.

  He had a punk girl friend with red and blue hair, huge false eyelashes, torn blue jeans and a halter top that also allowed her to show off tattoos. She had rings on all of her fingers, both ears, and one in her nose. She also had bruises on one side of her face and an almost healed cut on the other side. She was cute and she knew it.

  They both came by every thirty minutes or so and she laughed while Blackie poured beer on Shelly. Her name appeared to be Hottie since that was all anyone called her, and she seemed to love flirting with Turner, who was the only one in the room who would risk being near her. Blackie wore Bowie knifes strapped to both legs and two shoulder holsters, one under each arm, each one carrying a 1911 model .45.

  Blackie didn’t look like he was anxious to shoot someone. But he did look like a man who was quite comfortable and very experienced in the business.

  He never said anything to Shelly; he just stared at her with cold black eyes.

  About eleven o’clock the two of them came to the bar for two more drinks, this time Blackie looked at her and said, “Baby, I’ll be coming for you later tonight.”

  Hottie pouted at him and said, “Blackie, you don’t need her, you got me anytime you want. Why would you want this slut anyway, she don’t even smell good.”

  Blackie smiled and said, “I just want to show her who’s the boss. But that’s going to light my fire so you better be ready for me when I get back.”

  Hottie smiled and said, “Baby, I’m always ready for you.”

  So Shelly started watching the two of them more closely. The more she watched the more she worried. Not only was he mean, but he was drinking very little. He would take a sip from the beer can periodically, but the can always tipped to the same level. He never needed to turn the can up to get a drink. He was going to be sober when he came for her. Shelly didn’t believe for a second what he said about saving himself for his punk girlfriend.

  At one o’clock most of the men and women had either left for the night or had passed out in place. Bob Turner called a couple of his lieutenants to help him put Shelly in what he called the lockup. It was a room with no windows that you entered from behind the bar. It had three steps going down to a concrete floor and it was about fifteen feet on each wall. It had been used for storing cases of beer, but was empty now.

  As the men started to drag Shelly and the bar stool she said, “Bob, I really need to pee badly.

  Turner laughed and said, “As far as I’m concerned you can pee anytime you want to. You’ll just have to do it where ever you happen to be when the urge overcomes you.

  He laughed again and his men took Shelly into the lockup and released first the belts and then the cuffs. They then put the cuffs back on Shelly’s wrists, but in front of her. Two men stood back and held guns on her the entire time. They left with words of abuse, and Turner assured her there would be at least two armed guards on the other side of the door all night.

  Shelly immediately tried the door but found it to be old, hard and thick. The hinges were not visible from this side, and she had heard at least two deadbolt locks click in place when the men left. There was no ventilation in the room and she didn’t see any hope for escape.

  About thirty minutes later she heard a ruckus outside, and a lot of laughing. She backed against the far wall when the door was opened. One of the biggest men in the group came into the room with a smile on his face.

  He walked up to her very cautiously and said, “I’m here to enjoy your company. I don’t think you can take me, but I have every intention of taking you.” He must have thought his innuendo was cute because his smile got broader.

  Shelly took a quick step towards him and his smile disappeared as he jumped back.

  She said, “It looks to me like you aren’t at all sure of yourself, I wonder if you’re worried about the fight or about being able to actually do anything afterwards. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait and see.”

  He wasn’t smiling now, but he didn’t let himself get angry either. He moved in slowly and he looked like he might know something about hand to hand fighting.

  Shelly moved to her right and as he took a step towards her she reversed her direction, by planting her right foot, and kicked out and to the left with her left foot. She hit the front inside quarter of his right knee with power and the knee bent the wrong direction as he crumbled.

  She then fell on him with her hands clasped together and hit him in the head with the sides of her cuffs, using all her weight. He was out cold and bleeding heavily from the head wound.

  Her wrists were both bleeding from the handcuffs, but she didn’t think either was broken. However, she knew she wouldn’t be able to make that same move more than one more time tonight. Her wrists wouldn’t put up with it.

  She quickly bent down and went through his pockets looking for anything she could use as a weapon. All of his pockets had been emptied, but he had a belt on with a good sized buckle. With her hands cuffed she couldn’t do anything but fold the belt and sit on it.

  She wouldn’t survive any kind of inspection but as long as they didn’t make her stand up she might get away with this.

  She then grabbed his
head wound and smeared the blood down the left side of her face. She wanted the next man to attack her to think she had been hurt.

  She wondered if they would notice that he wasn’t wearing the belt he started with. She thought for a second and then, as quickly as she could, she undid her jeans, squatted over him, and peed on the front of his jeans from the waist to the crotch. She didn’t think this was what Turner had in mind but it sure was going to work out for her.

  She then zipped up quickly, pulled the man slightly towards the door using his hands and arms, and sat back on her stool and yelled, “Come and get this bad smelling S.O.B., I think he just peed all over himself.”

  The door opened slowly and she said, “I’m over her against the wall, I’ll stay on my stool if you’ll just get him out of here.”

  Two armed men entered while she stayed seated with a slight smile, but with her head slightly tilted to one side.

  She said, “He told me he was real anxious to use that thing tonight, although to tell you the truth, I don’t think this was what he had in mind.”

  One of the guards backed out the door and said something. A second later two more guards came in. One of them stood to the side with a gun on Shelly.

  He said to the other two, “Each of you grab an arm and pull him out of here. We’ll drag him over to the fire, but if he smells too bad I’ll throw his ass outside for the night, I don’t care how cold it is.”

  Shelly was alone for the next hour or so.

  When the door opened again Blackie walked in and turned to the guard as he said, “Keep this door closed and locked. If she yells at you it will be for help, and there won’t be any for her, or you’ll answer to me.”

  The door closed and locked and Blackie said, “Well, you look like hell. From what I’ve heard of you I don’t believe you’re as beat up as you look.”

  As Blackie walked closer Shelly hopped off the bar stool and said, “If you know what’s good for you, don’t do this”, she had the belt wrapped around her right fist with the buckle out.