EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4

by Tony Mastrolacasa

Stacey’s face immediately became a river of tears as the reality of the situation suddenly struck her. Her abusive beast of an ex had been living just down the road the whole time and she had no idea. If she had of come to visit these people during the past few weeks she would have run right into him. He may be gone now in body, but in spirit Tom was right there in the room with her.

  “Are you alright, Stacey?” Corey asked, gently taking her hand.

  “Ye… yeah.” Stacey sputtered. “I just need a minute… This is, huh… a lot.”

  “None of them will ever hurt you or Emma again, Stace.” Corey said. “I promise you that.”

  “Th… thanks, babe.” Stacey said.

  “Did any of you actually witness this fight?” Brian asked. “Are you certain that it actually even happened?”

  “Hell yes, it happened!” Nate said, jumping in now. “I saw the whole thing go down. Tom was quite a bit bigger than Mick, but I’d say Mick definitely got the better of him. Tom’s shirt was all blood stained when it was over. Tom and Xander were out of here less than an hour later. Mick and the others were cussing them out to high hell as they rode up the driveway.”

  “It doesn’t surprise me that those two would get into a fight.” Stacey said, regaining her strength. “They were always in a spat about some stupid thing. I’ve seen them go at it lots of times. That’s the LaFavre family. They’ve never given a damn for anybody but themselves.”

  “What about this Xander guy, Stacey?” Brian asked. “Do you know him too?”

  “No, I don’t remember hearing that name before.” Stacey replied. “If he’s mixed up with Tom and Mick, though, you can bet he’s good for nothing too.”

  “Okay, that settles it then.” Hal said. “Those guys are still gunna be trouble.”

  “We’ll talk to them tomorrow.” Stu said. “Tonight, we’ll just keep watch and make sure everything stays quiet.”

  “Tomorrow morning, just like we planned, you guys will start getting all of the families up to the house.” Brian said. “Don’t say anything to them about Stacey or her association to all of this. The fewer people that know about that, the better. Just tell them that we’re expecting a fight and bring them up here one family at a time. Space them out, so it doesn’t look too obvious. Leo will remain here to help with security.”

  “When those Americans get up here make sure they all get a rifle too, Hal.” Stu added. “If they’re U.S. Army we need to use them.”

  “We’re not still telling those Sudbury creeps to behave or get out, are we?” Corey asked.

  Stu answered plainly, precisely and exactly how Stacey and all the others were hoping.

  “No, this will definitely be a, ‘get the hell out,’ type of deal.”

  ◆◆◆

  “…And that, my friend, is why it’s the greatest western of all time.”

  “You have got to be kidding me, Hal. ‘Saddleman’… that’s your favourite western?” Stu asked.

  “Not just western, Stu, it’s my favourite movie, period.” Hal replied.

  “Have you even seen a Clint Eastwood movie? Have you ever seen any other movie at all?”

  “Ha! I’ve seen plenty.” Hal replied. “None of them can hold a candle to Saddleman, buddy. The exploits of marshal turned outlaw Dirk Wade will live on in infamy.”

  “Ha! If you say so, pal.” Stu said with a chuckle. “I’ll have to take your word for it because like 99.99 percent of the world, I’ve never seen it. Pretty cool that you remember all of those lines though.”

  “Yeah, I must have watched that DVD 100 times.” Hal said. “I can quote pretty much the whole damn thing. I only gave you a short sample.”

  “The fact that you kept it short is what I appreciate most, Hal.” Stu said with a grin.

  “Ha! You old prick!”

  “Well, it’s gotta be getting close to 1:00 a.m.” Stu said. “Time to wake up those two.”

  “Brian, Corey… up and at ‘em fellas.” Hal said.

  “Who could sleep with two carrying on all night?” Corey asked as he stood up.

  “Sorry, Corey, but Stu needed a lesson in classic cinema.” Hal said. “Brian looks like he didn’t have any trouble sleeping.”

  “I’ll go give him a boot.” Corey said. “The greatest movie of all time is ‘Spaceballs,’ by the way.”

  The guys had been out on watch since the dinner party broke up. It was very quiet out, so they had been taking turns sleeping in twos for a couple of hours at a time. With nothing more than one of Nora’s quilts to keep each man warm, actual sleep had been hard to come by. Brian had somehow managed though.

  Corey walked back to Stu and Hal with Brian stumbling behind. Brian still had his quilt draped over his shoulders.

  “Coffee?” Hal asked.

  “Affirmative, Hal. Tango Mike.” Corey said.

  “Tango Mike?” Hal asked.

  “Thanks much.” Corey said, clarifying.

  “Ha. Just keep it simple for us civilians, Corey.” Hal said, chuckling as he poured coffee into Corey’s cup.

  “Roger that, Hal.” Corey replied, not even trying to stop himself.

  “It’s freakin’ cold out here tonight.” Brian said, coming in for a cup of his own.

  “Yeah, I always find it’s colder on cloudless nights.” Hal said.

  “It’s not just you, Hal.” Brian said through a yawn. “It’s a fact, a natural phenomenon of mother nature. Without cloud cover at night, the warmth from the day freely rises into the upper atmosphere cooling the ground more rapidly. A thick blanket of cloud works to deflect the heat back down to Earth.”

  “Even when you’re drowsy you can still find a way to bore the hell out of everyone.” Corey said with a smile.

  “Thanks a lot.” Brian said. “We gotta talk about something.”

  “Bri, you ever notice how Corey talks like G.I. Joe whenever he’s got all his gear on?” Stu asked.

  “I did notice that, Stu.” Brian replied, looking over at Corey. “Let’s talk about that for a while.”

  “Negative, Tango Mike.” Corey said.

  “Ha! You guys never fail to entertain.” Hal said.

  “Actually, I do have something on my mind.” Brian said. “I’m really digging through the archives here and it’s not much, but I still think it’s worth mentioning.”

  “More CSIS shit?” Corey asked.

  “Roger that, Corey, more CSIS shit.” Brian replied. “Hal, this Xander guy that you mentioned, the guy that took off with Tom, what can you tell me about him?”

  “Big fella. Strong as hell.” Hal replied. “The others definitely seemed to show him respect. I mean, Tom and Mick are big men too, but even they didn’t interrupt Xander when he was speaking.”

  “So, you’d say he was in charge of their little gang?” Brian asked.

  “Oh, no question.” Hal replied. “When those two took off, I’d say Mick was next in line in their chain of command.”

  “What have you got, Bri?” Stu asked.

  “Well… I seem to remember a ‘Xander’ showing up in our database.” Brian replied. “Someone up in Northern Ontario was suspected of setting up some kind of arms smuggling thing. We were still waiting on the file from the RCMP, but I definitely remember that they wanted us to look into some Xander guy. They figured he was responsible for some high jackings too, but I never saw any details.”

  “Well, it’s worth keeping in mind at least.” Stu said, unimpressed. “The Mounties were looking for a guy named Xander.”

  “I told you it wasn’t much.” Brian said. “We could go back to talking about the damn weather.”

  “No, I think we’re good.” Corey said.

  “Thanks again for allowing Leo and Stacey to stay in the house tonight, Hal.” Brian said, happy to move along to the next subject. “I hope it doesn’t put you and Nora out too much.”

  “No, it’s fine.” Hal replied. “It was a good idea suggesting that Hess’ family spend the night too. Hess and Nate have already got
a room set up anyway. Stacey and the kids have got a cozy little slumber party going on in the sunroom.”

  “Leo is sleeping in the same room with Liv and Stacey?” Corey asked. “Interesting.”

  “Oh yeah and why’s that, Corey?” Stu asked, curious as to what twisted thing his friend was thinking.

  “Your 15 year old son is sleeping between two attractive young women, Stu.” Corey replied. “One of which might even be his girlfriend by now. Does that somehow sound like a ‘sleep inducing environment’ to you?”

  “Ha! Liv will behave herself, Stu.” Hal said. “Don’t let G.I. Joe over there get to you.”

  “Oh, I’m sure Liv will be a perfectly well behaved young lady, Hal.” Corey said. “It won’t prevent Leo from being up all night anyway.”

  “He’ll be just fine, you jerk.” Stu said.

  “You might have to feed him a Tylenol and toss him in the lake in the morning though.” Brian added, catching onto what Corey was getting at.

  “Finally!” Corey said. “Someone remembers what it was like to be a teenager.”

  Poor kid. Twice in less than 24 hours. He’s gunna be miserable.

  An hour later, at around 2:00 in the morning, Corey noticed some movement up the road to their left.

  “Bogey, 9:00 o-clock.”

  Calmly and cautiously, they turned to see a lone figure walking slowly down the road towards them. None of them raised a weapon, but Corey and Stu had already flipped their safeties to the ‘fire, semi-auto’ position. He was still 200 metres off, but already they could see that the man was armed. With the sinking moon directly behind him now, his shadow and that of his rifle extended out a good 20 metres in front of him.

  At 100 metres, the absolute stillness of the night began to be broken by the rhythmic sound of snow crunching under the man’s boots. Once he was in range, the man finally called out to them announcing his approach.

  “It’s just me, Hal. Take it easy. Just coming back from another unsuccessful hunt.”

  “Okay, come on in.” Hal shouted back.

  “That’s Mick. I’m sure of it.” Hal then whispered.

  Once the calling back and forth began, there was very little chance that any game animals would still be in the area. Knowing this, most hunters would choose to sling their rifle over their shoulder and concede defeat. It was also considered a common courtesy for hunters to adapt this carry technique when approaching other people. Mick, however, chose to keep his rifle in the two handed ready position. He wasn’t the type to admit defeat easily and he certainly wasn’t what anybody would call courteous.

  He came up to the gate and stopped.

  “Hi, Hal.” Mick said with a smile. “Frigid one out. I don’t believe I’ve met your friends yet.”

  “Evening, Mick. This is Stu and…”

  “…It’s a little late to still be out hunting, isn’t it?” Stu asked, immediately shutting down the small talk.

  “No, not really.” Mick replied without even noticing Stu’s curtness. “There’s a good reason why night hunting used to be illegal. There’s usually a lot of activity after dark. With this moon so bright and pretty, I can see forever. Hell, I probably had you guys sighted in from a half a kilometre away.”

  Was that a threat?

  “Well, not sighted in, but you know what I meant.” Mick said, pretending that his poor choice of words wasn’t deliberate. “It was really quiet out though. Nothing’s moving, so I figured I’d head back and call it a night.”

  In reality Mick had seen all kinds of game animals, more than he’d seen in a long time, but he hadn’t raised his barrel towards any of them. That wasn’t really the purpose of his quiet stroll up the road at all. He was out completing a far more important task. He knew full well that Hal’s new friends would be out standing guard tonight and he assumed that Stacey would not be among them. Mick remembered that she always hated the cold. There was no way she’d be standing out here all night. By getting this inevitable meeting out of the way tonight he figured that he might be able to prevent Stacey from seeing them at all.

  To that end, he had walked seven or eight kilometres up that freshly plowed road, only to turn around again and walk seven or eight back. He had taken the opportunity to see if these newcomers lived nearby, of course, but his main objective was to manufacture this seemingly random encounter right now. The fact that they would see him returning from the direction of their home was only a side bonus.

  “Oh yeah.” Hal said. “Well, better luck next time, Mick. We always appreciate the effort.”

  “That’s no problem, Hal. Just trying to pitch in.” Mick said. He was speaking to Hal, but his eyes never left Stu.

  “You normally hunt along the road, do you?” Stu asked.

  “Not normally, no, but you guys did a nice job of plowing out this road here.” Mick replied. “Animals don’t like to walk through the deep snow any more than we do. They’ll be using this as their own personal highway soon. I could have followed it for who knows how far. I suppose I would have ended up at your place eventually.”

  The guys said nothing. They simply stood and stared at the man with the hunting rifle held down at his waste. Stu chose his words very carefully while he considered what he had just heard.

  If that was meant as a threat, it was your second… and your last.

  “Mick, is it?” Stu asked, taking a single step forward. “I’m just gunna be honest with you and then you can go off to your nice cozy bed.”

  Stu knew that this was normally where Brian took over, but that wasn’t going to happen. Not this time. Brian’s sense of diplomacy and of reason just didn’t seem to fit the situation quite right, so Stu decided to handle this in his own unique way.

  “Please, Stu, go ahead.” Mick said with a humourless grin. “I’m all ears.”

  “If we see you or any of your buddies head out that way again… we’re gunna come out after you. Then we’ll escort you back to your cabins and wait while you pack up your stuff and leave this place.”

  “Well, that’s not very neighbourly of you, Stu. Hal, you okay with this?” Mick asked, his gaze still fixed on Stu.

  “These guys are here to help with security, Mick.” Hal replied. “If they say someone’s got to go, he goes. They have final say in these matters.”

  “Well, ain’t that a hell of a thing. Here I was, trying to provide for the community and you threaten to kick us out.” Mick said, feigning outrage.

  “It’s not a threat, Mick, it’s a promise.” Stu said. “Here’s another promise. I’ll be at your door at 12:00 p.m. tomorrow. When I arrive, I’ll expect all four of you to be there. I’ll also expect to see three rifles leaning against the wall outside your door. I’ll be expecting all of the residents here to hand in their firearms starting with you guys.”

  “You expect a lot.” Mick said, expressionless and completely unconcerned.

  “I do, but that’s not all.” Stu said. “I’m gunna need all of you to hand me the keys to your snowmobiles too. I figure we might as well pull their spark plugs while we’re at it. The next time you ride them will be the day you decide to leave and go live someplace else.”

  “Well, fuck me sideways.” Mick said, finally averting his eyes and turning them towards his host. “Looks like you’ve hired yourself a good old fashioned dictator here, Hal.” Then redirecting his gaze back to Stu, Mick asked, “Anything else you’d like, Señor Casto?”

  “Not tonight, no.” Stu said, struggling not to chuckle at the question. “Just know that noncompliance to anything I just told you means immediate eviction from the resort. We’ll wish you luck, put together a nice care package for you and send you on your way unharmed. As long as you don’t head off in that same direction you just came from, no one will pursue you or hinder your efforts to find a new place to live.”

  “Alright… I guess I’ll say goodnight then.” Mick said as he motioned to walk past. “See you at high noon.”

  Without another word, Stu and the gu
ys stepped aside and let Mick walk past. They watched as he continued on down to the cabins. As soon as he was approximately 20 paces away, Mick lifted his rifle up and onto his shoulder, so that his muzzle was pointed backwards in their direction. The ‘shoulder carry’ was another well known and common way for a hunter to carry a firearm, but it was never meant to be used when there were others standing directly behind.

  All four of them instinctively moved to get out of his rifle’s line of sight. They would never know it, but the sound of snow crunching beneath their feet as they scurried out of the way, would put one final grin across Mick’s face.

  “That is one evil son of a bitch.” Brian finally said. “None of that fazed him in the slightest.”

  “No shit.” Corey said. “See you at high noon… Who says that?” Corey asked.

  “You seriously expect to find their rifles sitting outside tomorrow, Stu?” Hal asked.

  “Not a chance.” Stu replied. “I doubt they’ll hand over the keys to their sleds either. I’m just trying to motivate him to give up on this place… make him think he’s leaving on his own terms.”

  “If they do hand them over, though, that will be an entirely different scene.” Brian said.

  “Well, it would make escorting them outside the gates far easier.” Stu said.

  “You still giving them the boot? Even if they do what you want?” Hal asked.

  “Hal, the only reason we’re not dragging those assholes out by their feet right now is out of respect for your family and the others.” Stu said.

  “There’s no sense creating a disturbance this late at night.” Brian added.

  “I do have a question for you, though, Hal.” Stu said. “Are those true log cabins down there?”

  “None of them are real log cabins, no. They’re all sided with rounded off 2x8s… Why?”

  “Well, I hate to tell you this, Hal, but there’s a small possibility that we may have to turn one to swiss cheese.” Stu replied. “If they were made from full logs our bullets might not have been able to penetrate. We would have had to smoke them out first.”

  “Since they’re not, though, you don’t have to worry about smoke damage anymore.” Corey said, smiling and patting Hal on the shoulder. “That’s good news, right?”