by Phoenix Hays
Joe tossed and turned in his chair. He struggled to get comfortable.
“Joe. Look, Joe.”
Is that Dad’s voice?
“Wake up, Joe,” Victor said. “There’s a solar panel farm up ahead.”
Joe’s eyes opened just slightly. They needed a second or two to adjust to the light from outside. The van was cruising along at a decent clip. The family had left the mostly flat landscape of Ohio far behind them and were now following a highway that curved through tall hills and mountainous terrain.
“Dad, I have to go to the bathroom,” Joe complained.
“You’re going to have to hold out as long as possible, Joe,” Victor said.
Mary reached back to the second row of seats and handed Joe a pad of paper. “Here. Draw or something to take your mind off it.”
Joe took it and slouched in his seat – the corners of his mouth curved downward. He started a drawing of the family fishing back at the lake.
A few minutes passed. The urge hadn’t left the boy. “Dad...”
Victor sighed.
“Hang on, Joe,” he said. “There’s a rest station a few miles up. We’ll stop if there is nobody else there.”
The van sped down the highway and approached the rest stop. Victor slowed and guided the van onto the access road leading to the small building. There were no people around it, and the entire parking lot was vacant. Rolling into a parking spot near the station, Victor stopped the van.
Victor turned around in his seat. “Sit tight.” He opened the armrest and removed his pistol and its holster. Joe watched his father get out and slide the holster onto his hip before Victor closed the door behind him. He walked around to the rear of the van and opened the hatch. There was a shuffling sound followed by a click, and then a loud snap of metal hitting metal. The hatch closed. Victor walked back around to Joe’s door. He opened it, and Joe saw that he was now carrying his semi-automatic rifle.
The man looked seriously at everyone. “Everybody goes. Stay close to me.”
Each family member followed the order and got out. Victor locked the doors. He led the group toward the station in silence.
They approached the station, and Victor started talking while scanning the area.
“We are all going into the men’s side,” he said. “There will be fewer stalls for someone to hide in. I’ll go first to make sure it’s clear. Your mom and I will stand right outside the door. When you’re done, it’s your mom’s turn.”
Just as stated, Victor disappeared into the men’s room. A moment later, he returned.
“OK. No messing around. Get done and come out. We’ll be right outside.”
Joe walked into a stall and did his business. When he walked out, Ayrin was already standing near the sinks. He walked up to one and washed his hands. He dried his hands with some paper towels from the dispenser on the wall. Ayrin followed Joe out of the bathroom, and Mary walked in. A few minutes later, the family hurried back to the van.
“Hey! Get away from there!” Victor yelled, then broke into a run.
Joe didn’t see what was going on at first. As his dad got closer to the van, he saw that a man was kneeling next to the vehicle. The stranger frantically grabbed a gas can sitting on the ground, stood quickly, turned and ran. A car just beyond the van was parked idling with the passenger door open.
“Get in, get in!” the driver yelled.
The man jumped in and closed the door. Tires squealed as they began to take off.
Victor raised his rifle to take aim, but the car was already merging onto the highway. He lowered the rifle, defeated. Walking up to the van, he yanked a tube from the gas inlet. A siphon. He threw it on the ground.
“Son of a—!” Victor yelled. He pulled his ball cap off, wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, and put the hat back on.
Mary reached the van with Joe and Ayrin at her heels.
“How much did they get?” Mary asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Victor grumbled. He walked up to the driver’s door and unlocked the vehicle. The family finished getting in as he turned the key in the ignition. They all looked at the gas gauge in the cluster. As the van came to life, the needle rose and stopped below the quarter tank mark.
“Everybody buckle up,” he said. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Joe said. His shoulders slumped beneath the weight of his guilt.
“Not your fault, son. People are desperate, and we just happened to be where someone could take advantage of us. We’ll be more careful next time. Besides, we’re all here together and safe. That’s the important thing.” He made a sideways glance at Mary, who gave him a half smile for the effort.
Victor’s words took the some of the edge off of the melancholy in the van. The vehicle rolled away from the rest station and back onto the highway. Once again, it picked up speed, and they left the rest station behind them.
CHAPTER 12
Patrick looked around the large conference room deep below the surface of Site B. The monitors on the wall were dark, and the table was empty. He had spent the last few minutes trying to absorb what he had just been shown.
The door opened, and Duke stepped through it.
“Patrick! I take it Clarence did a good job bringing you up to speed on ATS?”
“Duke, this is mind boggling. I have so many questions about—“
“All in good time, my friend. If you are up for travel, I’d like for you to join me on a trip back to Memphis. We are going to be interviewing applicants that have responded to my offer of providing jobs at the north office.”
“I would be happy to,” Patrick said. “I’ll do whatever I can to help ATS succeed.”
“I know these past few weeks have been tough, and I hoped today would reinvigorate your spirit. Come on, we have to leave right away.”
They exited the conference room, headed out to the large round chamber and then back into the stainless steel hallway. The elevator door opened and returned them to the shack. They walked out into the early afternoon sunlight and headed toward the driverless car parked there. After closing the doors, the vehicle pulled away. Patrick turned back to look at the small building.
“Duke, this is crazy enough that it just might work.”
The CEO smiled. “With hard work from every team in our company, it will.”
Within minutes, they were back on a small plane and were speeding down the tarmac. The two men felt it angle up as it pulled away from the ground.
***
Just outside of Memphis on I-40, the van’s engine sputtered.
“Crap,” Victor said under his breath.
Joe leaned forward to see what was happening. He felt the van lurch from the stumbling motor and watched his dad exchange a wide-eyed look with his mom.
“C’mon, keep going,” Victor said.
The engine revved between episodes of sputtering and then finally died. Victor moved the gear shift lever on the steering column and Joe saw the glowing D fade as the N brightened. He looked at the speedometer and watched the needle drop. 50. 45. 40. It was agonizing to watch the passing trees outside slow down. With the power steering gone, Victor muscled the steering wheel to the right and guided the van closer to the shoulder of the highway.
They rolled slower and slower to the inevitable stop.
“Well, that’s that,” Victor said.
“What do we do now?” Joe asked.
Victor looked around at the field on either side of the highway.
“Well,” he said. “Looks like it’s time for an afternoon stroll. Hop on out and meet me in the grass near the back of the van.”
Mary, Joe, and Ayrin did what he said. Victor opened the rear hatch and started unloading the van’s contents onto the shoulder of the highway. A lone car heading the other way passed them on the other side of the median. Joe listened to the car’s engine fade away behind them. Victor pulled a bag from the van and set it next to the family’s
tent.
“We’re camping, Dad?”
“It wasn’t exactly in the plan,” Victor said. “But it’s better to have it and not need it than the other way around, don’t you think?”
The boy nodded.
When most of the bags and luggage were out, Victor pulled something from the van that the family hadn’t seen before. He lifted the strange cage-like object out and put it on the concrete.
“I made this little guy before we left. Thought it might come in handy.”
Joe watched Victor kneel down and begin unfolding the cage. His dad raised one wall after another and linked them together. A metal arm with bike handle bars swung out to the front of it. Large rubber tires were attached to each of the four lower corners.
It almost looks like a shopping cart.
He watched his dad grab the ammo bag and lift it into the cart. The tent was next followed by the clothing bags and food. When everything of importance was loaded, the man reached for an over-sized backpack. Joe recognized it as his dad’s “go bag.” Its various compartments bulged from the internal contents. A small axe hung from the lower section of the pack. A hunting knife was attached to the bag’s left side. Victor pulled the support straps across his torso and snapped their buckles. He slung his rifle’s strap over his shoulder and turned to his family.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Without another word, the family started off. Reaching the top of the next hill, Joe and Ayrin stopped to look back at the family’s van. It seemed so small from this view.
“I wonder if we’ll see the van again,” Joe said.
Ayrin shrugged.
“Come on, stay together,” Mary called out.
The kids turned back to catch up with the parents, and the group headed over the crest of the hill.
Minutes of silent walking transformed into hours. Joe noticed that the shadows of the trees were starting to cover the highway. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
“It’s starting to get dark,” Mary said. “We need to find a place to camp for the night.”
“Yeah,” Victor said. “Let’s head over into these woods a little and see if we can’t find a good spot before it rains.”
Following Victor, the family took a hard right away from the road and hiked into the woods. Joe watched his dad struggle to pull the heavy cart across the uneven terrain. Ayrin saw the pride well in Joe as he watched his father.
Droplets of rain began making their way through the canopy of leaves above them. Victor stopped and looked behind them.
“I can’t see the highway anymore,” Victor said. “Let’s find a place to set up.”
“What about that spot?” Mary pointed to a natural clearing to their right.
“Sounds good to me,” he replied. “Looks big enough for the tent, anyway.”
They plodded toward the clearing and began to set up camp. Victor removed the clothing and food bags from the cart and pulled a tarp free. He unfolded it on the flattest section of ground in the clearing. He unzipped the tent bag, pulling the rolled up tent through the opening. Ayrin watched as Joe grabbed the tent’s support poles and started putting their sections together. Another rumble of thunder rolled through the air.
Victor held onto the edges of the tent, threw his arms forward, and it partially unrolled before hitting the ground. Shifting it in line with the tarp, he started running the poles through their sleeves on the tent. Once the tent started to stand, Mary untied the sleeping bags and threw them inside. Their coordination transformed into a mad scramble as the light rain turned into a downpour, Mary threw the last bag into the tent and everyone ducked inside.
Ayrin blinked. The tent was up and filled with the Bayhams’ supplies. Rain pounded the fly on top of the tent. Victor was arranging the bags of clothing and food while Mary was filling the air mattresses with a pump. Joe shivered under his wet clothes.
“Joe, why don’t you go over in the corner and change,” Victor said as he tossed the boy dry clothing.
Ayrin turned away as Joe changed clothes and listened to the conversation that started up between the two adults.
Mary craned her neck in Victor’s direction. “What are you doing?”
“It’s time to talk about how to handle these,” Victor said.
“I don’t think—”
“Look,” he said, “The rules have been followed with the BB gun. We are going to need to depend on each other from here on out, and I’m afraid these are going to be needed sooner or later.”
Victor stood up holding his two rifles. Both were black but while one looked very simple with a long, smooth barrel, the other resembled something the military might carry. He walked over to where Joe was sitting. Ayrin moved over and sat down next to the boy. Victor crouched in front of them and set the two guns down on the floor of the tent.
“I want you to think about what we’ve talked about with your BB gun,” Victor said. “What’s the first rule of guns?”
“Don’t point them at anything you don’t want to destroy,” Joe said.
“Correct. Why?”
“Because you always assume they are loaded.”
“Good. What’s the second rule?”
“Always keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot,” Joe answered.
Ayrin nodded.
“Yup. And the third rule?”
“Always be aware of your surroundings, especially what is in front of, around and behind your target.”
“Alright, good. Now pay attention. There may come a time where you need to be able to use this. He slid his pistol from its holster and pointed at the hand grip. This button will eject the magazine.”
Victor pressed it and the magazine slides out of the handle.
“If there is still a round in the chamber, you remove it by pulling the slide back.”
Victor did so and the bullet popped out.
“Now to load the gun,” he picked up the bullet and brushed it off, “you press the bullet down into the magazine like this.”
Victor slid the round down and into the magazine.
“This holds seven rounds. You push it into the gun until it clicks into place.”
Victor did so.
“Then you chamber a round by pulling the slide back.”
A click could be heard from the slide being pulled back. Victor let go of it, and the gun made a clack sound from metal slapping metal. “But right now, the gun won’t fire. Do you know why?”
Ayrin looked at the gun trying to figure out why not.
“Does it have a safety like my BB gun?” Joe asked.
“Exactly right,” Victor said and smiled. “There is a small tab above the handle that you have to push down.” He clicked it down. “Now it will fire.”
Victor clicked the safety back on.
“Remember, the safety is just a mechanical device to stop the trigger from pulling. It can fail. Don’t put all your trust in a safety.”
Victor put the pistol into his holster and picked up his long rifle. Victor raised the rifle to allow the sling to go over his shoulder and slid the weapon behind him. He picked up the remaining rifle.
A flash of light outside was followed by rolling thunder.
“This is a bolt action .22.” He held it sideways for them to see. “The magazine is here.” He pointed to a tab sticking out of the bottom of the gun in front of the trigger. He pushed the tab forward and a small block fell out of the gun into his hand. “This magazine holds 10 rounds. You load them the same as the pistol.” He showed them the top of the magazine and then pushed it back into the rifle. “When you are ready to load the gun, you lift the bolt and pull it back.” He did so and showed them the opening in the side of the gun that this created. “Watch closely.” As he slid the bolt forward, the kids saw the bullet move up into the chamber as the opening closed. “Now the rifle is loaded. The safety on this rifle is on top behind the trigger.” He pointed the gun away from them and shows the safety. He slid the button forward and a
red dot appeared where the button had been sitting. “Now the safety is off.” He pushed the safety back down, reengaging it. “Understand?”
Joe and Ayrin both nodded.
He placed the .22 back on the ground and picked up his semi-automatic rifle. He held the weapon up so the side faced his audience.
“This rifle has the same concept.” He ejected the curved magazine from it and held it up for them. “This magazine holds 30 rounds.” He slid it back into the rifle with a click. “To load a round, you pull this handle back.” He held the rifle with his right hand as he took two fingers and gripped a tab on the top of the gun. He pulled it back away from the gun. It reached its maximum length and he let go. It snapped back into place with a thunk. “Whenever you load a gun like this or the hand gun, you let go. Don’t hold onto it. Clear?”
The kids nodded again.
“OK. Let’s get ready for bed.”
Joe and Ayrin got up and climbed onto their air mattress. Just before closing his eyes, Joe looked back to his dad.
Victor turned and walked over to Mary. She had been watching them from the parents’ mattress. A tear ran down her face. He tried to give her a reassuring nod. He walked up to her and put his free arm around her shoulder.
After setting the firearms down, the couple tossed blankets onto the beds as everyone covered up, trying to stay warm. A driving rain battered the tent throughout the night and a crack of thunder interrupted their slumber from time to time.
CHAPTER 13
Rain drops ran across the airplane window next to Patrick. Morning sunlight through a break in the clouds shone off the metal surface of the small plane landing at Memphis International Airport.
Patrick shielded his eyes from the bright light as he and Duke disembarked and got into a familiar-looking luxury four door sedan. Patrick noticed that this one actually had a driver and shot a look at the CEO.
Duke smiled at Patrick.
“We are doing everything we can to avoid bringing attention to ourselves as you can imagine one of our driverless cars might, so we have to keep some of our breakthroughs to ourselves.” He chuckled. “We won’t be flying, either.” Duke turned to the driver. “OK, Mr. Campos, let’s get going.”
