“Not to mention another 300 rounds of 9mm between us.” Brian added.
“Yeah, I’d say we’re good.” Corey said.
“You guys are talking like this could get bad.” Stacey said. “I thought that crap you guys are wearing was just for show. You said this was only a visit to have a chat with these Sudbury guys and try to settle things down.”
“It is, Stace.” Stu said. “Nobody’s shooting anybody. It’s just nice to be prepared.”
“Well, we prepared the hell out of this one.” Brian said.
“All armed up and no one to shoot.” Corey said, lowering his head and shaking it slowly to convey his disappointment.
“Dipshit.” Stu said as they all chuckled.
“Brian Baker is good to go.” Brian said as he set the butt of his rifle back on the floor.
Brian had traded his Canadian C7A2 for Carl’s American M16A3. It was also capable of fully automatic fire, but it had one very distinct advantage over its Canadian counterpart. The U.S. military equipped their weapons with the ‘Trijicon Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight,’ a far superior riflescope. Only Corey, as a former military man, recognized the ‘ACOG’ scope as such though. Brian chose the M16 simply because it had belonged to his friend and it made him feel better knowing that a piece of Carl was always with him… a very deadly piece.
Brian also carried a Glock on him now, the OPP issued 17M that Stu had originally given to Stacey back in Monroe. Stacey never did get the hang of shooting it and Brian needed one, so she had gladly handed it over. It sat on his hip in a holster that he had found among the dead gang members that had attacked the cabin. He wasn’t particularly good with it either, but Stu insisted that everybody carry a secondary weapon.
Stacey’s was cradled behind her back in a carbon fibre sheath. Unlike those of her teammates, however, the business end of her weapon was shaped like a tiger’s claw. Her karambit knife had been with her well before she had ever even heard of an EMP. She may have had a semi-automatic Tavor X95 bullpup in her lap, but Stacey’s karambit was every bit her primary weapon. To call it anything else would be an admission that you didn’t know anything about Stacey. Despite being a petite 26 year old mother of one, everyone knew full well that she was probably the most dangerous person in that vehicle.
“Stacey and Corey are good to go.” Corey said as he holstered his Beretta 92FS in the front of his chest rig.
Corey was very familiar with the C7A2, having served for years in the Canadian Army. He felt it was an excellent combat rifle and he was happy to have one of his own. He and Stacey had also recovered five 9mm Browning Hi-Powers, the Canadian Army’s long standing service pistol. He was carrying one of them as well, but in a fight it would be his third choice. Corey was of the opinion that the Hi-Power’s best days were well behind it and he considered it a crime that the Canadian military still hadn’t replaced it with a more modern weapon system.
Back in Afghanistan, he had always been mildly envious of the Beretta M9s that the American soldiers carried. Now that he had one of his own he realized that he was right to be jealous. The 92FS or M9 in its military configuration, was an outstanding firearm and Corey had no intention of replacing his with anything. Only a lack of what he considered an adequate number of Beretta mags caused him to carry the Browning as well.
With the combat uniform and armour equipped battle rig he wore, complete with loaded magazines across the chest, Corey was ready for anything. He knew they weren’t going to war today, but he certainly looked the part. If anybody started anything with him or his friends, though, they would regret it… instantly.
◆◆◆
“You got your new little friend on you?” Hal asked.
“Yeah, it’s in the pocket of my fleecy, but I’ve gotta figure out something better.” Rob replied. “The damn thing is bouncing around all over the place in there.”
“Ha. Yeah, mine’s in the pocket of my parka, but that’s no good either.” Hal said. “Eventually, it’s gunna fall out and scare the hell out of everyone.”
“Look out! He’s got a gun!” Rob said, mocking panic with his hands in the air.
“Shush, you idiot! Keep your voice down.” Hal said while looking back towards the cabins. “I told Nora about it last night. She said she’d be able to make us a few of them shoulder holsters like the ones detectives wear on those police shows.”
“Oh, that would be awesome!” Rob said. “Dibs on Starsky.”
“How old are you?” Hal asked, looking at his 38 year old little brother while shaking his head.
“How old are you?” Rob asked his 45 year old big brother in return.
“You can go ahead and be Hutch too, moron.” Hal said as he chuckled and turned his attention back towards the road.
“Shit, I hope the snow that dumped on us last night isn’t screwing them over too much.” Hal then said. “I should have put this off a few days.”
“You did the right thing, Hal.” Rob said. “Those big ass 4X4s of theirs won’t have any trouble in this crap.”
“I hope not, Rob. If they’re not here soon, though, I think we should probably head out in the truck. See if they need a hand.”
“Just give in another hour and then we’ll see, Hal. It’s a beauty day out. It’s probably just slow going out there.”
The two Weyr brothers remained standing at the front gates, waiting for the group from George’s cabin to arrive. When Hal woke up and saw the amount of fresh snow they had gotten overnight he immediately regretted the decision he had made. He shouldn’t have asked his friends to come. He knew his sister would have gone ballistic, but she wasn’t the one out there risking her neck in the middle of nowhere.
Hal still didn’t quite understand why Hess was being so insistent about them coming to help. He figured that she was probably just being overly concerned for her daughter’s safety, but Olivia didn’t seem worried. The others appeared to have calmed down about it too. Hess, though, was still behaving very strangely.
◆◆◆
Hal didn’t know it, but Hess had been having her own difficulties with the men from Sudbury. It seemed that one of them, the 36 year old Mick, had taken a bit of a shine to his younger sister. It didn’t seem to matter to Mick that she was a happily married woman with a husband and daughter nearby. Soundly rejecting his vulgar advances also didn’t seem to affect Mick’s willingness to keep up with the unwanted attention. On the contrary, it only seemed to motivate him to take the behaviour even further.
Hess had been very careful not to mention anything to her husband or brothers, but the secrecy was taking its toll on her. She simply couldn’t bring herself to say anything and risk having it turn into an armed confrontation. Nate was a fine and reasonable man, gentle and civilized. He was perfectly capable of handling the situation like an adult and turning the other cheek. He would make sure that his wife and daughter were always accompanied and work vigilantly to keep them all separated. Nate was a fine and reasonable man, but he was still a man. Eventually, not having the means to defend his wife’s honour would take its toll on him too.
Hal and Rob, on the other hand, would handle the situation in an entirely different way. If they knew what was going on, they wouldn’t think twice about marching straight down to their cabins and kicking them all out on their miserable asses. As nice as it would be to finally be rid of them, Hess knew that a reaction such as that could only end in one way, with a potentially deadly fight. Putting an end to the teasing and sexual inuendo wasn’t worth risking the lives of her family, so she had maintained her silence.
Days later, Mick was emboldened to start making physical contact, finding ways to touch Hess in some way. A brush here, a slap there, nothing that would send her into a panic, but certainly not enough to satisfy Mick for long. That still wasn’t enough, though, for Hess to finally admit that she needed help with the situation… Not yet anyway.
Then finally, one quiet night while walking back from the greenhouses by herself, Mick h
ad snuck up from behind and grabbed her by the waste. He nuzzled into the back of her neck and pushed into her with his hips. He would allow Hess to wiggle away, but only so he could catch her again and prolong her torment. The entire psychotic episode reminded Hess of a killer whale tossing a helpless seal around… before finally consuming it.
When he placed a hand over her mouth and began pushing her towards the trees, however, it became obvious to Hess that this was no game. The next phase of Mick’s assaults had begin and she had no intention of allowing that to happen. As he groped at her and continued to force her deeper into the forest, she struggled desperately to get away. It took an enormous effort, but Hess finally managed to wrench her arm from his grasp and run for her cabin. Mick didn’t even bother to pursue. Instead, he simply smiled and watched her run. Her time would come and they both knew it.
Hess had finally had enough. She was scared out of her mind now, but she had no intention of starting this war in the middle of the night. In the morning, she would gather with her family and speak to them about it. While the guys went over to deal with the animals from Sudbury, Hess would watch from a distance with a rifle trained directly on Mick’s face. She didn’t give a damn what sort of agreement they came to either. The moment she felt that her family was safe, she would take that shot.
That night, with her husband fast asleep beside her, she let the plan roll around in her head repeatedly. Each circuit brought with it additional details, little nuances that would improve her chances of success. No matter how many iterations Hess thought up, though, she just couldn’t think of a way that would eliminate the danger to her family completely.
That’s when a second and far more promising idea came to her. If she could somehow show her big brother that Mick was a threat, Hal could be convinced to ask his friends for help. Stu was infinitely better prepared to handle an armed confrontation than Hal was. It may have been the most selfish thought that Hess had ever entertained, but she felt that it was the best option… for her anyway. Stu’s people could deal with these losers for them and she wouldn’t have to risk the lives of her family.
With that settled, she now needed to find a way to create a little conflict in camp, one that would make Mick’s group out to be the bad guys. They needed to be clearly at fault without it being so egregious that Hal and Rob would react in an extreme way. The next morning, the idea walked right out in front of her.
It was a familiar sight, one that she had seen on several occasions particularly on the nicer mornings. As she sat alone by her lakeside window, she saw Tucker Green and Billy Campbell head out onto the frozen lake. Popping her head out of the door and glancing towards Mick’s cabin, she noticed that they were all outside watching the 19 year olds as well. Tucker carried their tackle and two small fold up chairs while Billy carried their fishing rods and a far more interesting item. It was a special tool that nobody else at the resort had and Billy had just recently found… an ice auger.
Late that same night, with nothing but the cold February winds stirring, the plan that Hess was banking on was put into motion. One silent trip to the Campbell’s back deck to make a withdrawal, followed by another to Mick’s to submit a deposit and her transaction was complete. Now Hess only needed to wait for her unwitting ‘customers’ to perform their checks and balances.
The next morning, as Hess laid in her warm bed, the sound of men shouting stirred her from her sleep. As she quickly got up and ran to the door, the argument suddenly intensified. She looked outside just in time to see the first punch being thrown. A small smile crossed her face as a single thought crossed her mind.
You’re done for, asshole.
◆◆◆
“Hey, guys, come take a look at this!” Rob shouted with excitement as he pointed off to the east.
Hal had walked away to speak with several families that had volunteered to do a little snow shovelling around the resort. He was just bringing them all over to have them start at the gates when Rob began calling out to them. Hal and the others immediately ran over to see what was going on.
“Wow! We gotta get ourselves one of those.” Hal said.
“I know!” Rob said, enthusiastically agreeing.
Still far up the road, a vehicle was approaching on their left. What made it so interesting was that it was barely even visible behind the two enormous waves of snow being thrown to either side of it. As expected, the V-blade mounted to the front of the Bronco was really putting on a show. All of the families stood and watching in awe at the magnificent spectacle.
“What is that, Uncle Rob?” Olivia asked as she set her shovel down.
“That’s the snowplow on the front of their Bronco, Liv.” Rob replied. “Pretty cool eh?”
“It’s incredible!” Olivia said. “It looks like one of those videos of a train plowing through the snow.”
“Ha! Their blade works the same way, actually.” Rob said. “Want to help us shovel out the gates?”
“Sure!” Olivia replied, excited that Leo might be in the Bronco with them.
Aside from being incredibly cool, plowing snow with a tapered V-blade offered two main advantages. Primarily, it prevented them from constantly having to get out and change the angle of the blade. It also threw the snow far enough to their sides that the road didn’t end up getting continuously narrower as the winter progressed.
Unfortunately, the V-blade also had one rather glaring disadvantage. The vision directly out front was narrow, but fairly clear. To their sides, however, visibility was almost zero. Along with the three metre high walls of snow at 10:00 and 2:00 o’clock, there was also an impossible amount of snow dust flying about. The problem was only exacerbated by the cold making the snow extremely light and powdery. This took Stu’s field of vision down closer to 11:00 and 1:00.
This flaw was made abundantly clear to all of them as the Bronco continued past the gates at speed. As a result of this unfortunate miscalculation, all of the spectators on their right soon found themselves coated in a fresh layer of snow. Most realized in time what was about to happen to them, but other than shielding the smaller kids and turning away, they were helpless to prevent themselves from being struck by the wall of snow.
“Uh… Dad…”
“Shit… Yeah, I know.” Stu said, realizing too late that he had just missed their stop. “I hope I didn’t hurt anybody.”
He eased off the accelerator and brought the Bronco to a gentle stop in the middle of the road. Then he placed the truck in reverse and began preparing his apology.
“Is everyone alright?” Hal shouted as he got back up and brushed the light fluffy snow off of his head and shoulders.
Instead of hearing the ‘yes’ from the crowd that he was hoping for, he received a far more satisfying response. Slowly, one after the other, the people in the crowd all started giggling. Within a few seconds of realizing that everyone was fine the giggling evolved into full on laughter. The snow was very light, so none of them were in any real danger. Knowing this, the parents encouraged their kids to take it in all stride and enjoy the one interesting thing that had happened to them in months.
As the Bronco reversed to a stop beside the gates, the crowd erupted into wild applause. Olivia stood and cheered as well, all the while staring squarely at Leo as he smiled back at her from the passenger seat.
◆◆◆
“What the hell is going on up there?” Mick asked as he and Larry came around front.
“Some plow truck out on the road just blew snow all over those fools.” Joe replied, coming back down the hill with Enzo. “It just came back to the gates.”
“Doesn’t sound like they’re too upset about it.” Mick said.
“No, I think they liked it.” Enzo said.
“Friends of theirs maybe?” Larry asked.
“Could be.” Mick said. “You wanna go take a look? Me and Joe gotta go get ready for our shift on the axes.”
“How long we gunna put up with this shit, Mick?” Joe asked. “When are
we gunna just take over this place and get it over with?”
“I told you, meathead, not until Xander and my little brother get back with the others.” Mick replied. “Xander left pretty clear instructions about that, Joe.”
“They’ve been gone for three days already.” Joe said. “When the hell will that be?”
“What the hell do I look like to you, a fuckin’ psychic?” Mick asked, starting to get annoyed now. “We don’t know where the others are exactly, remember? It’s gunna take them at least a day or two to find them and then who knows how many more days to get them all down here.”
“That’s if they didn’t have any problems getting through that snowstorm.” Larry added.
“Exactly.” Mick said. “Maybe they’ll be here in a few days. Maybe it’ll be a few weeks. There’s no way to know.”
“Fuckin’ bullshit.” Joe said, mumbling just loud enough to be heard.
“Larry, Enzo, just get up there and see what’s going on, for fuck’s sake.” Mick said in frustration.
“You got it, Mick.” Enzo said.
“You wanna go against Xander, Joe?” Larry asked as he turned to leave. “Haven’t seen him kick the living shit out of anyone in a while.”
“Just go, Larry, you asshole.” Joe said. “I won’t have any problem kicking your ass.”
◆◆◆
Stu plowed through the mess he had just made of their driveway and apologized to everyone as he drove past. Then he parked the Bronco over by the house. As the guests/residents of Weyr Resort gathered around, Stu stepped out and greeted his friends. Leo got out and was instantly received by Olivia. All of these people had seen Stu and Leo before, but none of them had ever seen them dressed like this.
This was the first time any of the men from Sudbury had seen them though. Larry and Enzo had stopped half way up the driveway while the Bronco was being parked. Out an abundance of caution, they both felt it prudent to watch from a distance. They were glad that they did.
EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4 Page 10