by Tom Jones
Arcades gave a rather shaky laugh, but the vixen could tell that the fox was a bit upset. The fox shook his head as he tried to fight back showing too much emotion, “I’m sorry, Jackie. We’re doing the best we can.” The vixen grabbed the fox again, confident in his abilities to protect her, and said, “We’ll be alright.” Arcades, successfully able to stave off his emotions, refocused himself back to loading more magazines. For the time being, the fox was focused on loading as many STANAG magazines that he could. After all, he did have plenty of weapons that used such magazines. Jackie stood close to the fox as he continued to load more and more magazines, and she turned around to see what Jason was up to. The vixen was unable to see the wolf, but she was able to see the damage the Mustang took: The damage was not severe, but there were some bullet holes that were visible on the roof of the car. Jackie was rather surprised to see that the windscreen of the Mustang was not damaged in the shootout, and she also did not see any damage to the vehicle’s hood. It seemed as if the Mobile Task Group was more focused on trying to kill the wolf than to disable his vehicle.
Jason, finally finding the proper hex key set he needed, took the XMP-1 from the roof of the Mustang, and he began trying several hex keys to see which one was capable of undoing the fasteners which held the scope on the XMP-1’s top rail. The first key the wolf tried was too big, but the second key just so happened to be the correct size. The wolf unscrewed the fasteners, and he was soon able to remove the scope from the weapon. After removing the scope, Jason pressed the power button on the scope to disable it; he did not want to waste any battery power that would prove to be useful in the future. With the scope now detached from the XMP-1, Jason removed the magazine from the weapon and pulled the charging handle back to eject the round which was still held in the rifle’s chamber. The wolf caught the round in his hand, and he loaded it back into the STANAG magazine which was partially empty. Jason looked at the XMP-1, and he noticed that it still had the flip-up sights which were to be used as backup sights for the weapon when the electronic scope was not present. Even though the XMP-1 lacked its scope, it would still be usable enough as a regular rifle. It was not like the XMP-1 was a weapon that either the fox or the wolf preferred anyways, the HE compartment of the weapon would be unusable since they did not have ammunition for it, and it only provided unnecessary bulk to the weapon. The rifle itself was still worth keeping anyways; After all, it was still a fully functional assault rifle in its current state. The wolf deposited the rifle back into the trunk where he retrieved it from and went to bring the scope to the fox.
Jason approached Arcades from behind and said, “Hey Kurt. I got you the scope and the hex key I used to take it off.” The fox turned around, and he was holding two magazines in his right hand. Arcades sat the magazines with the other magazines he had filled up, and he retrieved the scope and hex key from Jaosn, “Thanks. I have about eight magazines filled up so far. You should take a few for yourself. Do you have a 5.56 gun in your car?” Jason replied to the fox, “I had an MP5K, and that’s out of ammo.” Arcades said, “You’d be better off if you use a 5.56 gun instead of 9mm. Here, put that MP5K in the 4Runner. I’ll give you a STANAG-compliant gun. Do you have one in mind which you’d like to use?” Jason thought for a moment, but he was indecisive. Arcades grabbed a weapon from the trunk of the 4Runner, a Heckler & Koch HK433. The fox commented on the weapon as he handed it over to the wolf, “You remember this gun, right? You’ve used it before. Take it, and take four magazines with you.” Jason took the HK433, and he looked at it, “Yeah, I remember this one alright. It’s not that compact, though. It’s a full-sized carbine.”
Arcades now noticed the damage on the Mustang, “Darn… The Mustang’s all shot up. Does it still run alright?” Jason looked to his right, and he could see that the Mustang did have damage caused by the gun battle from earlier, “Sorry ‘bout that, Kurt.” Arcades shook his head, “I’m not mad. My problem is that if the cops are looking for us, then they’ll be able to spot our car easier. We’ve gotta get that car out of sight.” Jason took a deep breath and spoke, “Well, I suppose that’s even more of a reason as to why we shouldn’t go through Mobile. There would be more people there to see that car and get suspicious.” Arcades shook his head as he still looked at the car, “Yeah. I suppose going to Florida really is our only option. We ought to take Route 98 again. If we stay on the highway throughout the night, then we should be able to get there before the break of dawn. Wait, what time is it right now?” The wolf was not wearing a watch, so he looked inside of the Mustang to see the vehicle’s clock, “Your car says that it’s about two-thirty in the morning.”
The fox took a deep breath as he thought about the best strategy he would take, “Right… Okay… Here’s what the plan is: We’ll take Route 98 to get to Pensacola, and we’ll stop there. We’ll find a hotel or somewhere we can stay at for the time being, and we’ll get some sleep there. I’m not sure where the Foundation expects us to be going, but we didn’t run into them when we were in Florida yesterday. What do you guys think about that?” Jason gave a nod, “I think that’s probably the best thing we could do for the time being. We just need to stay low for a bit, and they’ll likely have a harder time finding us. All we need to do is just not draw attention to ourselves.” The wolf turned to Jackie, and he asked her for her opinion, “What do you think, shela?” The vixen voiced her concurring opinion, “Sounds like a plan to me.”
Arcades grabbed the rest of the magazines that he loaded in one hand, and he grabbed his Salient Arms GRY with his other hand, “Yeah? I guess it’s settled, then. I guess when we get everything back and loaded in our vehicles, then we should be going.” The fox then looked over to Jackie and said, “If you can, try and get some sleep in the 4Runner. It pains me that you have to endure this situation with us. It seems like whenever you meet up with us, something not that great is happening.” The vixen shook her head, “It’s not your fault Kurt. I already said I’d rather be here than all alone on the streets.” Arcades could not help but smile at Jackie’s reply, “Thanks…” Jason spoke up after he put the rifle and the magazines back into his vehicle, “I’m ready when you are, mate. I’ve all my gear where I need it.” Arcades gave a nod to the wolf, “Yeah? Let’s get moving.”
Chapter 8
Visitors
“We should stop here,” Arcades said over his Kenwood radio as he pulled into a rather secluded location. Jason replied to the fox within seconds, “Aye aye, Kurt.” The fox decided to park in a location that was neither heavily wooded nor urban, and he also parked a few meters away from the road just in case a passing motorist would become suspicious due to the two vehicles parked off the side of the road. After Arcades came to a complete stop, he looked to his left to see the wolf pull up in the Mustang. As Jason stopped, Arcades turned off the engine, and he looked out of his windscreen to guess as to what time it was. Though his 4Runner had an integrated clock positioned on top of the dashboard, he was not paying attention to the display. The fox looked at the sky, and he could see that it was just about dawn. Looking to his left, Arcades could see that Jackie had fallen asleep during the ride. The fox did not want to wake the vixen, so he quietly disembarked from the vehicle.
As Arcades stepped out of the 4Runner, he saw that Jason had just exited the Mustang as well. The fox approached the wolf and spoke, “I’m not sure how long we’ll be safe here, but we should last longer if we don’t draw too much attention to ourselves.” Jason gave a nod, “For sure, but are we just going to abandon our vehicles here?” Arcades looked directly at the bullet holes on the roof of the Mustang, and he pointed to the roof to make his statement to the wolf, “I’m pretty sure driving around with all of those bullet holes would attract at least some attention.” Since there was more light than earlier, the wolf was now able to see the damage on the roof of the car, “Ah -- blimey… Yeah, I see what you mean.” Arcades motioned back to the 4Runner and continued speaking, “And we can’t really use the 4Runner, either; we
already know that they’re looking for it in Alabama. Since we’re in Florida, we should be safe for the time being provided that law enforcement doesn’t decide to look for us here.”
Jason asked a question, “Is that why we had to leave the state?” Arcades nodded before he replied, “Uh-huh, yeah. At the most, the Alabama Highway Patrol would be looking for us if it got to that point. They’re not really allowed to do their duties outside of the state. The only agencies capable of doing that are federal agencies like the FBI, DEA, CIA, ATF, and some others.” The wolf shook his head as he smiled, “Why do you guys need so many of those agencies?” Arcades shrugged, “Couldn’t tell you.” The fox began speaking again to get the conversation back on track, “What’s important to remember is that state law enforcement cannot directly operate outside of their jurisdiction, so they would have to either notify the other state agency or get a federal agency involved. That stuff takes a bit of time, so as long as the Foundation isn’t planning on setting up a story to tell the cops, then we should be fine here for the time being.
The wolf presented another question for the fox, “Say, Kurt. Are we just going to go out there unarmed?” Arcades said in response, “You remember how we both have concealed weapons permits?” Jason was beginning to infer as to what the fox was talking about, “Yeah.” The fox spoke again, “Florida will honor our licenses from Alabama, but we need to make sure our weapons are concealed. You can’t openly carry in this state like you can back home.” Jason decided to make the best of the situation, “I suppose it’s better since it’ll give us less of a chance to get detected. After all, you said draw the least attention, yeah?” Arcades replied, “I guess it’s better if you look at it that way, and I guess we should pick out what we’re going to take with us, shouldn’t we?” Jason did not object to the fox’s suggestion, so Arcades led the wolf to the back of the 4Runner. Before the fox opened the trunk door, he remembered that Jackie was still sleeping in the passenger seat of the SUV, “Here, be quiet. She’s sleeping.”
Arcades slowly opened the trunk of the 4Runnner, and he kept his hand on the rear door as the struts pushed it upwards. The fox waited until the door opened as far as it could before he removed his hand from the rear door. As quietly as the fox could, he went through all of the guns he brought while the wolf stood in silence and watched. After a good few moments of looking, Arcades retrieved two handguns: A SIG Sauer P365 and a Smith & Wesson Performance Center M&P9 Shield 2.0. Arcades held out the two handguns, and he allowed the wolf to make a choice, “Which one do you want? They’re both chambered in 9mm.” Jason visually examined the two concealable handguns, and it did not take him too terribly long to make a decision, “How about that one? What is it?” Arcades realized which handgun the wolf chose, “That’s the SIG Sauer P365. It has a magazine capacity of ten rounds, so let’s try and not waste our ammunition. Last night got pretty nutty, and we don’t need a repeat of that.” The fox held out the hand which held the handgun, and he allowed Jason to take the weapon. Arcades examined his own weapon, the Smith & Wesson M&P9 Shield 2.0, and he brought his attention to the Smith & Wesson Performance Center logo on the handgun’s slide. Arcades indeed had some type of affinity for Smith & Wesson products, even if it were not their firearms he was most accustomed to.
Arcades went back to the rear of the vehicle, and he worked on locating a box of 9x19mm ammunition. After another few moments spent searching, the fox retrieved a box of SIG Sauer ‘Elite Performance’ 9mm ammunition. Arcades commented as he looked at the box, “You know, all of these companies plaster buzzwords like ‘elite performance’ all over their products. It’s kind of funny in my opinion.” Jason returned a comment of his own, “Whatever sells, right?” The fox nodded, and he opened up the box of ammunition, “I guess it’s effective enough. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother to put those buzzwords on the packaging. Either way, SIG Sauer ammunition should be good enough. You are using a weapon made by the same company, just so you know.” Jason found the magazine release button on his handgun, and he pressed it as he kept his left hand on the bottom of the pistol grip in order to catch the falling magazine. The wolf held the magazine in his hand, and he noticed that it was a double-stack magazine. Jason commented on the detail, “A double-stack magazine for a gun this small?”
Arcades was in the process of loading eight rounds into his M&P9 Shield 2.0’s magazine as he heard the wolf speak, “Yeah, that’s something that SIG decided to do for that gun. My handgun here only holds eight rounds and one in the chamber. I’m going to chamber a round into my gun so I’ll have as many rounds as I’ll be able to fit into this thing.” The fox stepped aside, and he made space for the wolf to be able to load ammunition into his own magazine, “Here, we have plenty of rounds in this box. You should start loading some rounds into your gun.” Jason approached the back of the 4Runner, and he waited for the fox to move his tail out of the way before he started taking the handgun rounds from the box. As the wolf loaded rounds into the magazine of his handgun, he paused for a moment to watch Arcades: The fox held the slide open of his M&P9 Shield 2.0 and locked it back. Once the slide was locked back, Arcades took a single round from the box, and he manually loaded it into the chamber of the handgun. After the handgun in the chamber, the fox pressed the slide release lever to close the slide. Finally, the fox flipped the safety lever upwards and inserted the loaded magazine into the handgun. With the pistol now ready to fire, albeit for the safety lever engaging the handgun’s manual safety, Arcades reached back into the 4Runner to pull out something else he would need.
As the fox dug in the mass of equipment he brought, Jason went back to continue loading rounds into the magazine he had. Around the same time the wolf was able to completely load his own magazine, he saw what the fox had gone to retrieve: Arcades was now holding a unique looking polymer holster. The wolf did not remember ever seeing the holster before, “What’s that, mate?” Arcades spoke to the wolf as he demonstrated the holster to him, “It’s a holster that I can use with a tucked shirt. Here, I’ll show you how it’s done.” Arcades started by removing his belt, and he placed it aside as he lifted up his polo shirt. The fox inserted the holster directly in front of his slim torso, “This type of holster only works if you have tight pants or shorts.” After the fox placed the holster where he wanted it, he grabbed his handgun and inserted it into the holster. Jason continued to watch as the fox tucked in his shirt to cover up the gun, and he put his belt on to cover the clip where the holster latched on to his shorts. After the fox finished, he asked a question, “Can you see the handgun imprint?” The wolf looked closely, and he could barely see where the handgun was kept, “Not really. You should be fine.” Arcades felt satisfied enough with the way he had his holster set up, “Alright. That should work. Are you done loading your handgun yet? You still need a holster for yourself.”
Jason presented the fox with his loaded magazine for his P365, “I just finished, mate.” Arcades looked at the magazine and then asked the wolf a question, “Do you want to load one in the chamber?” Jason replied by grabbing one more round from the box, and he held the slide open with one hand as he inserted the round into the chamber with the other hand. The wolf let go of the slide, and it closed with the round in the chamber. Finally, Jason inserted the magazine into his weapon, and he held it while making sure not to point it at the fox. When Arcades saw that Jason was done, he said, “Alright. I have a few options for you, but how would you like to try out the method I’m using right now?” The wolf looked down at his own clothes, and he was dressed in a similar manner to the fox with the only difference being that Jason was wearing footwear. Jason decided that he would accept Arcades’ offer, “Sure thing.” Arcades went back into the rear of the 4Runner to search for another holster, but he would have to get one that would fit with the P365 in mind.
After a good moment of searching, the fox found the holster he was looking for. The holster looked just about the same as the one he was using for himself, and he presented
the wolf with the holster, “Do you think you got it, or do you need me to help you put it on?” Jason remembered the process Arcades took to put the holster on for himself, “I think I should be good. Here, I’ll have a go at it.” The wolf took the holster that Arcades was holding out for him to grab, and he started by removing his own belt. When Jason’s belt was off of his waist, he placed it on the rear bumper of the SUV to free up the use of his hand. The wolf then untucked his polo shirt, and he placed the holster in his waistband while making sure that it would clip on to his shorts. After giving the holster a good tug and feeling to see if the holster was a good enough fit, the wolf felt that he was satisfied with the setup. The wolf took the SIG P365 which he had on the rear bumper of the SUV, and he inserted it into the polymer holster. After the weapon was secured in the holster, Jason tucked his shirt back in and put his belt back on. Arcades gave a satisfied nod and spoke, “Good deal. Looks like we’ll both be able to carry in the same way.”
Jason asked the fox another question, “What else are we going to be needing?” Arcades went back into the trunk yet again, and it did not take him long to pull out two of his keyrings, “Take these; just in case.” Jason recognized many of the handcuff keys on the keyring which the fox handed to him, but before he pocketed the keys, the fox spoke, “Just to let you know, it’s pretty much a felony in this state to conceal those keys. However, I’d also only recommend using those to escape the Foundation if they get you. Like I said, it would probably be best for us to comply with the police if they do give us issues. If I were you, I’d have those hanging off of a carabiner. It shouldn’t be something that’d draw too much attention to us. I’m not sure too many people would know what these keys are even for.” The wolf decided that he would listen to the fox’s suggestion, “Do you have a carabiner I can use?” Arcades reached back into the 4Runner and pulled out two of them, “Here, you can have one.” Jason took the carabiner, and he latched it on to one of the belt loops on his shorts. When he looked up, he saw that the fox had the same idea as well.