by Warren Ray
“We’re hijacking the trucks. Is that not enough?”
“Hell no! Not when there’s also a couple of hot girls. And once we’re done with them, we can sell ‘em. Trust me these girls are worth good money.”
Butler leaned forward. “They’re that good looking, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. And from what I gather, they were some kind of prostitutes.”
“Prostitutes huh? Now they don’t sound so hot.”
“Trust me, you’d never know it by looking at them. And they’re young. I mean, they’re like sixteen or seventeen.”
Butler leaned back in his chair and gave it some thought. They came to Winnipeg when they heard the Shadow Patriots came here to get supplies. They thought they’d be able to take advantage. So they came pretending to want to join them. However, they were growing tired of waiting and were actually getting ready to leave when Cole Winters had arrived last night. Butler couldn’t believe his good fortune when he learned they’d be driving trucks filled with supplies worth tens of thousands of dollars. Now their luck had improved even more with the addition of two attractive girls. Fowler was right when he stated they were worth money. There was a growing sex trade happening, and they could sell them after having their own fun.
“Alright, we’ll take them on one condition,” said Butler.
“What’s that?”
“Only if it’s easy. The trucks come first, then the girls. I don’t want to get into a gunfight with this guy. I’ve heard he’s pretty damn lucky.”
“Fine. All I want is a chance,” said Fowler as he rubbed his hands together.
Chapter 28
Washington D.C.
Stormy Robinson reached for the coffee decanter and remembered she was out. The former model with the long raven black hair cursed aloud. She needed coffee first thing in the morning to get herself going. She didn’t have the mindset to go to the grocery store, so she decided to go to the coffee shop. She threw on a pair of baggy gray sweatpants, to go along with the white t-shirt she slept in. She took a quick look in the mirror and used her fingers to comb out her messy hair. Satisfied, she grabbed her keys and hopped into her white BMW.
With all the excitement over the last couple of days, she’d forgotten to go grocery shopping and more importantly, to buy coffee. Never did she imagine her life would change so drastically when she had decided to leave New York and come help her friend Kyle Gibbs. The idea of assisting in the capacity she had been doing was both surreal and exciting. Never before had she experienced such a high as she had when she took down Perozzi’s man in the parking lot. It wasn’t some competition where you can tap out to a referee. No, this was the real thing with real consequences.
She’d done some crazy things in her life but nothing like this. Having grown up in Minnesota, she was a tomboy and liked to ride dirt bikes and skateboards. She was always trying to keep up with her cousins who kept daring her to do dangerous things. They lived near an abandoned rock quarry and would often go swimming there. One day, she jumped from a forty-foot cliff, which was higher than even the boys dared go. This alone put her in the coolness category with the boys.
She pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop and was glad it wasn’t too busy. She decided to spoil herself and ordered a Mocha. She usually didn’t get sugary drinks as she kept to a strict diet to maintain her athletic figure.
She looked around the place , and was disappointed when she didn’t see anyone on a laptop. The days of hanging out at a coffee shop to use the free Internet were long gone, as was the Internet. Strange thing to get rid of but if you want to control the population, you can’t have the free flow of information.
Stormy set the troubling thought aside and remembered what Green told them last night about killing his commanding officer in hand-to-hand combat. Talk about a life or death situation. You either win or you die. Now that was the ultimate in fighting, and she briefly experienced it the other day. Of course, she knew in the back of her mind that help wasn’t too far away. Still, it was dangerous and thrilling.
She broke into a smile thinking how different John was from the men she had dated in New York. They had expensive toys and pretended to do dangerous things to impress the ladies, but in reality, they were nothing but posers. John, on the other hand, was the real deal. Brave, loyal, selfless and kind. An appealing combination that added to his good looks.
“Robinson,” yelled the barista.
She snapped out of her thoughts and grabbed the drink. She then exited the shop and got back into her car. She took the lid off and her mouth watered as the mocha vapors rose to her nose. Every delicious sip warmed her mouth as she drank the creamy liquid.
After leaving the parking lot, she started heading home and wasn’t paying attention to how fast she was going. It was an easy thing to do in this car, because it was so smooth and quiet. Besides having just purchased it before moving down here, she wasn’t used to driving. She always used the subway and taxicabs in the city.
A loud siren sent a charge up her spine, and she looked in the mirror to see a cop behind her.
“Oh, fudge,” she said aloud.
She pulled into a quiet residential street. She set her coffee down and grabbed her license and insurance card. She then looked in the mirror to run her fingers through her long black hair and combed out a few more loose strands.
The cop got out of his cruiser. Stormy figured he was about five-foot-seven and weighed a buck sixty. She learned to size people up while taking martial arts. Her instructor told her to always make a habit of it in case she ever needed to take someone out in a hurry.
She lowered the window and gave him a big smile. “Good morning officer.”
The officer’s eyes grew when saw how attractive she was. “Morning, Miss. Uh, the reason I pulled you over, was because you were doing forty-five in a thirty mile per hour zone.”
“I was? I’m so sorry. The car’s new and quite frankly, I’m not used to even driving.”
“You have New York tags. Are you visiting?”
“I just moved here,” said Stormy as she noticed him looking at her chest. She then remembered she had forgotten to throw on a bra.
“You need to get new tags.”
“It is on my list. I just haven’t had the time yet.”
He knelt down to her level, which was an unusual move for a cop. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
Usually, Stormy would think this was a pickup line, but he genuinely looked puzzled. “Well, I have done modeling work, so maybe something like that.”
“It’ll come to me. May I see your license and insurance card?”
“Oh, sure, got it right here.”
The cop stood back up. “Stormy Robinson? That’s an unusual name.”
She was used to the response as she’d gotten the same comment all her life. “I was born at home during a blizzard.”
The cop laughed. “Your parents must be pretty cool.”
“Yeah, they are,” she said as she watched the cop call her name into the radio mic attached to his shoulder. He didn’t walk back to his car as was typical but stayed there so he could keep talking to her. He obviously liked her, and she thought she might get out of the ticket.
The cop snapped his fingers. “Were you on the cover of Muscle and Fitness?”
Stormy’s mouth dropped. “I was.”
“I knew it. I knew that I knew you from somewhere. That was a great cover. You looked amazing. If memory serves me, you were wearing a yellow bikini.”
Stormy had to think back to which cover he was referring to, as she had done covers for various magazines. Not that it mattered, because she had made such an impression on him that he remembered a cover that was more than a year old. Say goodbye to this speeding ticket, she laughed to herself.
“I was wearing a yellow bikini. You’ve got a heckuva a memory.”
“Hey, I never forget a pretty face.”
“Well, thank you.”
“Listen, I w
on’t write you up, but please pay attention and get those new tags,” said the officer as he handed back the license and insurance card back to her.
“I will. Thank you, so much.”
The officer started walking back to his cruiser and Stormy was just getting ready to hit the window button when she heard his radio come alive. The cop stopped in mid-stride and paused for a moment before turning around. He came back to the window and said, “Miss Robinson, I’m sorry, but there’s a warrant out for your arrest.”
Chapter 29
Jackson Michigan
Scar, bothered by the negative results of the last two operations, headed to the cafeteria. Each operation had seemed like it would be a simple task, but they had failed both times. It wasn’t like he sent inexperience guys to do the job. Hell, if Bassett and Nordell couldn’t get it done, then it was just a streak of bad luck. Bad luck or not, he would try for a third time tonight. This time he’d send just Bassett and Burns to cross the border before sunrise and let them scout out the supply line.
The one good thing that had happened over the last few days was they had gathered more fuel. Bill Taylor kept the men busy by siphoning gas out of the Jijis’ vehicles that sat on the interstate. They had plenty of fuel to take a large number of citizens across tonight. If the western border was penetrable, then that’s what they would do. It would certainly lighten the food demand and stretch those rations out.
After grabbing a cup of coffee, Scar headed outside to get some air. The sun was out, and it was starting to warm-up. He walked to the back parking lot and sat down on a bench. He looked at Winters’ truck which Reese had been driving.
The twenty-year-old white Chevy Silverado hadn’t been washed in close to a year. The windshield had a crack that ran along the bottom from one end to the other. Both sides shared numerous scrapes and dents with rust spots on the wheel wells. Surprisingly, the gray interior was clean despite the dashboard fading from the onslaught of the sun. To top it all off, it was now covered in mud from yesterday’s escape from the Jijis who were chasing Reese and Nate.
Scar let out a laugh at how her wild driving skills had come in handy. Poor Nate didn’t look too good after that ride. His bruised body appeared worn out after being bounced around.
Scar took a sip of coffee and let out a sigh. It had been four days since Winters drove that truck and he needed to return soon. The streak of bad luck started the night they had stormed Mordulfah’s compound. They needed a win. Otherwise, morale would begin to slip if things didn’t start changing.
He wouldn’t blame the men if they lost faith as it was challenging to keep psyched up while in constant danger. If he needed to step aside to change things, he’d be more than happy to do so. Not that he thought it would ever come to that because he had no doubt Winters would return.
Scar coughed on his coffee thinking if not for the mission, then certainly for Reese. She was too good of a catch not to come back and collect. He told her that, and he meant it. It wasn’t every day a hot twenty-year-old falls in love with an older man with no money.
Scar took another sip of his coffee when he heard the door open. He turned his head to see Reese coming outside. Her Colt M4 hung from the sling on her back as she walked over on her crutch.
“Hey, Scar,” said Reese sitting down.
“I was just thinking of you.”
“You were?”
“Yep. Just thinking about Cole and when he’ll come back…for you,” said Scar as he motioned his hand to her.
“Glad to see you have faith that he still wants me.”
“C’mon, I told ya, you’re a catch.”
She flashed him a smile. “I’m going crazy waiting though, which is why I was going for another drive. I thought I’d try to find, like, a hose and wash her as well. You wanna come with?”
“As tempting as it is, I got other things to do.”
“Can’t they wait?”
Scar thought about it for a moment. He thought it prudent to check the borders to see if anything changed after yesterday’s event in the Proving Grounds.
“Tell ya what, as long as we can visit the border guards, I’m in.”
“We can do that.”
“You got a radio.”
“In the truck. Batteries all charged.”
“Let’s go.”
Scar followed Reese to the muddy truck and heard her crutch land in the back before getting in.
“How much longer on the crutch?” asked Scar after he shut his door.
“Doc thinks only a few more days.”
“How does it feel? You look like you’re walking better now.”
“I am but kinda screwed it up the other night.”
“In Port Huron?”
Reese let out a scoff while she started the truck and revved the engine. “Yeah. I never should have asked Meeks to take me along.”
“He never could say no to a pretty girl.”
She flashed him another smile. “I knew there was a reason I wanted you to come along.”
“Hey, who doesn’t like compliments?”
“Right? Now hang on,” said Reese as she stomped the gas pedal and peeled out of the parking lot. “Where to first?”
“Head over to Nordell’s place. I’m sure he’s got a hose we can use.”
“Cool.”
Reese tore through the quiet streets and arrived at Nordell’s in no time at all. She pulled into his driveway and spied a hose hanging off to the side of the garage.
“Let me see if he’s home,” said Scar as he opened the door.
After a few knocks, Nordell came outside.
“Hey, Gunny. Reese wants to wash this beast and needed a hose.”
“She does? That thing?”
“Just go with it,” whispered Scar.
“Alright,” said Nordell as he waved to Reese. “I got a bucket and sponge you can use in the garage.”
“Awesome,” cheered Reese as she approached the garage.
Scar watched as Nordell got her set up and wondered just how silly it was to be doing this. He then remembered what Nordell said the other night while they were in jail about how eating in that restaurant made you think everything was normal.
Now, here they were, out in the driveway on a beautiful morning with a truck in need of a bath. It was an ordinary thing to do, and it did tend to make you forget, if just for a moment.
“What’s on your mind?” asked Nordell. “You didn’t come over here just to wash that piece of junk.”
Scar laughed. “Don’t let her hear you say that.”
“I won’t,” said Nordell as he watched Reese spraying the mud off the side.
“We’ve got enough fuel to take some people across tonight.”
Nordell nodded. “Good. Lighten the load on the food supply seeing as how we’re struggling in that department.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Not all missions go as planned, Scar.”
Scar nodded.
“How many you thinking?”
“We can easily do ten vehicles depending on the size.”
“I’ve still got some short church buses laying around, and they run on gasoline.”
“What are those, like, fifteen passengers?”
“Around that depending on who we put in there. I’ll get with Badger to see how much fuel he’s got and tell him to have it all available by nightfall.”
Scar liked what he was hearing and knew he could count on Nordell to have everything ready. He knew the people and knew the order in which they needed to go. He’d been in charge of them from the get-go and had assigned “Block Captains” to expedite things.
Chapter 30
Washington D.C.
An arrest warrant was the furthest thing from Stormy’s mind when the cop pulled her over for speeding. Her heart began racing after hearing those words. Apparently, Lawrence Reed still wanted her and Perozzi’s influence stopped at the water’s edge, or the restaurant’s edge, as the case my be. Reed�
�s reach and determination in finding her were more than she had considered. Since Perozzi prevented her arrest the other night, she figured that was where it would end. She began cursing at her naiveté. She should have known better, and she should not have been driving anywhere.
No way could she let herself be arrested. No doubt, they would question her, maybe even torture her to get what they wanted. She’d never see the light of day again.
Options? She couldn’t outrun him with her car, so she had only one option, and it had to be physical.
She took a deep breath to calm down and then formed the biggest smile she could muster. “A warrant? That’s so weird. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure it’s a mistake, but I still need to take you in. If I don’t, they’ll literally have my hide.”
“Okay. Well, I don’t want to get you in trouble. Should I lock my car?”
“We’ll wait for a tow truck, so you won’t have to worry about that.”
Whenever Stormy modeled, she always played a character and right now, she was playing a cooperative weak-kneed girl. She was already planning the moves she would make.
She’d never been arrested before but thought for sure he’d want to frisk her. Any excuse to put his hands on her. Guys were all the same when it came to wanting to put their paws on her, especially out at the bar scene.
She opened the door and climbed out.
“I need to search you. Do you have any weapons or anything sharp that I need to know about?”
She continued smiling. “I do not.”
“Okay, so put your palms on the hood.”
She leaned against the fender and put her hands on her car. His hands then touch her shoulders and then down her back. Then came the icing on the cake for him as he slid his hands under her boobs. She regretted not putting on a bra. He then moved down her waist and groin area. Pig! She could almost hear his heart pounding in his chest from the excitement. If she were a betting girl, she would guess he was aroused. Perfect distraction.