Half an hour later they were back in the store, the two of them. Randy still felt that the interior of the store was the best place for the horse, since looters were once again starting to show up to rummage through the merchandize.
Looters who might decide to ride away on Trigger while Randy was busy inside.
He’d already lost his best friend. He didn’t want to lose Trigger too.
The air in the store, already stifling hot, was made worse by the smell of Tom’s decaying corpse. Added to that was the smell of Trigger’s droppings. It wasn’t a pleasant place to be, and was going to get worse by the hour.
But Randy was on a mission.
He let Trigger wander freely throughout the store as he made his way to the warehouse in the back. There he found a small piece of plywood on a pallet rack and pulled it down, then dragged it to the hardware section.
Randy had always been good with his hands, and even made some of the furniture which adorned his apartment. He was more comfortable with powered saws, but could use a hand saw as well as anybody.
He cut the plywood into a rectangle about eighteen inches wide and four feet high. Then he took a new jigsaw from the shelf and rounded the edges across the top.
He left the hardware department and made his way to the office supplies, where he found a permanent black marker.
Here Lies
THOMAS
DAVIS
COHEN
of the
TEXAS RANGERS
He died doing what he loved.
Here lies a true Texas hero.
He will be missed.
Randy was embarrassed that he couldn’t remember Tom’s birthday. And until that point he didn’t even realize it, but he also didn’t know what day it was. Had it been two weeks since the world went dark?
Or two years?
In the end it didn’t matter.
The marker summed Tom up nicely, with or without dates.
Randy’s first inclination was to bury his friend beneath the oak tree, adjacent to the small retention pond behind the store.
But it occurred to him that he’d seen that pond overflow its banks many times during heavy rainstorms. And he didn’t want Tom’s marker to be washed away in a future flood. Or even worse, the body to be unearthed and swept away as well.
When he rolled Tom’s body over and prepared to pick him up, a medicine bottle rolled free from the dead Ranger’s grasp and joined two others which were lying beneath him.
Randy suddenly remembered the old woman who’d sent them here.
And he decided he couldn’t, in good conscience, leave Tom’s mission unfulfilled.
Randy also noticed, on the floor beside the body, a candle and cigarette lighter.
He picked everything up and made his way to the pharmacy.
The pharmacy had been ransacked, of course, and all the narcotic drugs were long gone. Most of the rest were still there, though, and through some effort he was able to find the three medications the old woman was looking for.
He filled the three bottles to the brim, hoping they’d last the old woman awhile. At the same time, though, he didn’t want to take too much. Surely there would be others coming along who would be in need of the same medications.
Trigger was getting restless by the time he returned, after seeing a rat run across the aisle in front of him.
Randy tied the shovel to his rifle sheathe so it would be out of the way, its scoop just over the big horse’s right shoulder.
Then he hefted the body of his partner and friend and laid him gently across the saddle.
Ranger Tom would be taking his very last ride.
Randy led Trigger out of the store and along the city streets to a park six blocks away.
They’d ridden past it the day before, and Randy had noticed three fresh graves in the northeast corner of the park, covered with flowers.
There were no markings to indicate who they might be, but Randy suspected a family member or close friend might have placed them there.
The flowers were a good indication they were well loved, whoever they were.
He thought it would be a fitting gesture to have Tom join them, so he wouldn’t be alone.
Perhaps the same people who left the flowers on the three graves might leave some on Tom’s next time as well.
Chapter 26
Randy held the reins of his trusted pony and looked down at the grave of Tom Cohen. He closed his eyes and said a brief prayer.
Dear God Almighty, please take this man under your wings and watch over him. He was a good man, a peaceful man, who gave himself to others time and time again. He has earned a chance to rest. And if it be Your will, I ask you to let me avenge his death. Help me to find the man or men who did this. Let me deal with them on your behalf. I know what you said about vengeance being yours, Lord. But please, make me Your instrument, for these are men who have lost the right to walk upon this earth….
That was it. He said all he had to say and ran out of words.
As an afterthought, he added a final word to his prayer: Amen.
He’d seen more than his share of death, lost more than his share of friends. But this was somehow different.
He’d felt a lot of grief when his parents died. He’d felt he could have made their last years easier, more pleasant, if only he’d known. But they’d both died suddenly of natural causes. There was nothing he could have done to save either of them. He knew that and accepted it.
With Tom it was different.
With Tom, if he’d done things differently, if he hadn’t suggested they separate to cover more ground, he’d have been there. He might have prevented his partner’s death.
Now he was alone again. He’d failed in his efforts thus far to find Sarah. The vision of her still haunted him when he closed his eyes each night. But perhaps he wasn’t meant to find her. Perhaps it was his destiny to have only those fleeting memories of her.
His family was gone. The one girl in the whole of Lubbock he wanted to find and protect was out there somewhere, but he knew not where.
And now his partner was gone as well.
He couldn’t bring back his family. He couldn’t find Sarah.
But he could find the man who’d gunned down Tom.
As he mounted up, he looked one last time at the crude marker he’d made.
He was once again ashamed he couldn’t remember Tom’s birthday.
But it didn’t matter much. The marker said enough.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, buddy. But I promise that as long as it takes, I’ll avenge you.”
As the sun dipped low in the sky behind him, Randy wheeled Trigger around and rode off toward 55th Street. He had a delivery to make.
Chapter 27
The following day Randy hit the streets extra early. He now had twice as much ground to cover, after deciding to finish the sweep across Tom’s neighborhood as well as his own. From now on he’d alternate days, and at the same time would increase his presence as he rode back and forth between the two places.
And something else he’d do as well: in addition to spreading blackout and survival instructions, he’d work Tom’s homicide case. He certainly wasn’t qualified to do so. But somebody had to.
He didn’t want the murder of his best friend and partner to fall through the cracks.
Today was muster day. He had to be downtown at noon for the Ranger meeting. And it would be the hardest one he’d attended thus far.
But now… now he had a job to do.
The first three doors he knocked on went unanswered.
Thankfully, there was no tell-tale stench coming from any of them. He certainly didn’t want to start out his day by having to burn a body.
At the fourth house, a family of four was sitting under a tree waiting for him.
He tipped his Stetson as he approached them, in the way a cowboy of old might have greeted a young woman on the street.
Texas was a place where cowboys still took gr
eat pride in their heritage. Tipping one’s cowboy hat was just one of the traditions. The “howdy” rendered by the man of the house was another.
“How can we help you, stranger? We can spare a bottle of water if you like.”
“No, thank you, sir. I’m a Texas Ranger. Maloney is my name. But please call me Randy.”
“Well then, Randy. What brings you to our neighborhood, knocking on doors?”
“These days it seems to be the only effective method of spreading the word. I bring you news from the mayor of Lubbock.”
“Do tell?”
“Yes, sir. The city is under emergency law. The mayor wants people to know they will not be prosecuted for taking food and water from stores or trucks. As long as it’s only food and water, and they only take their fair share.”
“Thank you, Ranger. That’s nice to know. To be honest, we’ve already been taking a little bit of water. But it’s nice to know we don’t have to sneak around and do it in the dead of night anymore.”
“I’ve also been asked to spread the word that the city water will be on soon. It’ll be contaminated at first, though. So when it starts running, let it run for several minutes to get the contamination out of the pipes.”
The children suddenly smiled and started jumping around. They couldn’t have been happier if Santa Claus himself just dumped a bag full of toys on their front lawn.
“There’s one more thing,” Randy concluded with. “I’m looking for the people who shot and killed my partner a couple of days ago. If you don’t mind, I’d like for you to keep an eye out for them.”
The broad smile left the man’s face and the children grew quiet again.
“I’m truly sorry for your loss, officer. And we’ll certainly help if we can. What do they look like?”
“I don’t know, sir. But they should be easy to spot. They’ll have his horse. It’s a Palomino colt the Rangers purchased from the Rocking J ranch a couple of years ago. He’ll have their brand on his flank. He’s got a perfectly shaped black diamond just below his left eye.”
“I’m well armed, Ranger. Want me to shoot them if I come across them?”
“No, sir. Please don’t. But please let me know if you happen to see such a horse.”
“We will, I promise. But how do we find you?”
“I live too far for you to walk, and I’m never at home during daylight anyway. If you see them, write your house number on something yellow. Anything at all. A yellow piece of paper, a yellow towel, anything. Write your house number on it and tack it to the utility pole at the end of the street. I’ll ride up and down the avenues every couple of days as I make my rounds. If I see something yellow with your house number on it, I’ll come back and talk to you about what you saw.”
“Yes, sir. That sounds easy enough.”
“Thank you for your help. You folks be careful. This world of ours is turning pretty dangerous.”
“Yes, sir, we will, and you do the same.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, and Ranger?”
“Yes?”
“I hope you find the bastards.”
Chapter 28
Randy checked his watch at 11:15 and decided it was time to head downtown. He turned Trigger and set off at a slow trot. He’d go no faster, mindful that dry pavement could be slippery for horses.
And because he certainly wasn’t in any hurry to share bad news with the rest of the Company.
Several of the Rangers beat him to the muster, and were already talking about Tom Cohen. Tom was well-known for his lack of riding skills and had always taken a lot of grief from the other Rangers about it.
“So, Tom never did show up at the last meeting? The rumor I heard was that his horse went lame and he tried to jack him up and change the leg, but he couldn’t find the lug nuts.”
“Are you kidding? He’s probably hoping his horse would go lame, so he could shoot it and get back on his bicycle.”
“Well, I heard he’s been trying to trade his horse to a Lubbock PD officer for one of those noisy little go-cart police cars they’re using.”
When Randy rounded the corner and approached them, all joking stopped.
There was something about his face. Something about his demeanor.
His shoulders were slumped, he was obviously exhausted, and he looked as though…
Well, as though he’d lost his best friend.
Protocol called for Randy to notify Tom’s commanding officer before sharing the bad news with the men.
He stepped off his horse and dropped the reins. Trigger would walk across the street to graze in the courthouse square, but he wouldn’t wander off.
“Where’s the major?” Randy asked to no one in particular.
Someone replied, “Upstairs in his office.”
Randy walked into the building and up the staircase.
The men left behind looked at one another. But no one speculated about what might be troubling Randy.
Each had his unspoken thoughts.
And each prayed he was wrong.
Randy followed the major downstairs to start the muster, an agonizing fifteen minutes after the usual start time.
By that time, the men assembled on the building’s steps were fit to be tied.
“I have some very bad news,” Major Shultz said. “Ranger Cohen was ambushed a couple of days ago. Randy laid him to rest at the park on 54th and Utica.”
A couple of the men openly cursed. A couple more bowed their heads in silent prayer. Most just stared into space, shocked by the news.
Major Shultz looked at Randy and said, “Tell them what you told me.”
“There’s not much to tell. I went to his place looking for him. He wasn’t home, so I put a note on his door, and spent the rest of the day canvassing the neighborhood.
“The note was still there the next morning. He never came home. I went back to canvassing, and finally found a woman who asked him to go to the Walmart to refill her medications.
“He never came back. I found him on the floor of the Walmart. He’d been shot in the back of the head.”
Randy held center stage for several minutes as his fellow officers asked one question after another. Most of the questions he had no answers for.
“Any idea whether it was one shooter or more?”
“No way of knowing. As far as I could tell, there was only one shot fired.”
“Shell casing?”
“Didn’t see one. But to tell you the truth, I didn’t feel much like looking.”
“Did he draw his own weapon?”
“No. It was still holstered. It looks like they snuck up behind him.”
“I don’t suppose there were witnesses?”
“If there were, they were long gone.”
“What about his horse?”
“Also long gone.”
“Did you pray over his grave?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for that.”
There was a lull in the questioning. Major Shultz took that to mean it was done and took over once again.
“It looks like the primary clue to catching this guy is his horse. Are all of you familiar with him?”
Some of the heads nodded. Some shoulders shrugged.
“A Palomino. Randy reminded me that he has a black diamond beneath his left eye. He’ll be branded with the Rocking J brand.”
Someone in the back thought of another question.
“How about next of kin?”
Shultz looked back at Randy, as the man who knew Tom the best.
“No one answered the door either time I went by there. I believe he was between girlfriends.
“As far as his family, they all live in Corpus Christi.”
Major Shultz added, “I’ll contact Ranger HQ. The detachment in Pearland can dispatch a rider to notify them.”
He began to choke up, and paused for a moment.
Tears were contagious, and a couple of the other hardened Rangers started to tear up as well.
<
br /> After he regained his composure, Shultz continued.
“As much as I’d like to pair the rest of you back up for safety’s sake, we’ve got too much ground to cover. And we need to maintain a larger presence. We’ll continue to go solo unless directed otherwise by Austin.
“However, let this be a reminder to all to be extra cautious. Trust no one. Check your back often. If you encounter hostiles, show them no mercy.
“Because it’s highly unlikely they’ll show you any.”
Chapter 29
Steve Peters hated the idea of leaving his secret hideaway. It was safe, it was secure, and it had nearly all the creature comforts he enjoyed before the blackout.
While the world around him was in turmoil, while his fellow citizens were killing themselves in vast numbers, he was eating microwave popcorn and watching movies from his extensive collection of videos.
Really, the only thing he was lacking was female companionship.
He’d put a lot of thought into finding a young woman and bringing her into his domain with him.
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
For Steve had never been a man who attracted women. Truth was, he repelled them with an abrasive personality and a selfishness which told the women he dated they’d never come first in his life. That he was far better than any of them. And as such he should be showered with all the perks befitting a king.
Because, after all, any woman Steve brought into his life would be but a bit player and nothing more.
She’d be there for his personal satisfaction. For cleaning and cooking and… other stuff.
He couldn’t find a woman using his looks or charm, because he had little of either.
At some point very soon, he’d take one by force.
But first he had another need to take care of.
The need to get rid of Major John Shultz.
He had nothing personally against the Company C commander. Not necessarily. In fact, he kind of liked the guy. Shultz had an easy going personality which Steve had always admired but never had. He was the type of guy who always had a kind word to say about anyone. Who made friends easily. Who was always around when somebody needed help. He was everything Steve wasn’t.
A Whole New World: Ranger: Book 2 Page 8