Stealing Second (The Amendments Book One 1)

by Nicholas Antinozzi

  We found the guns stashed under bales of hay and by the time we left, each of us carried at least one firearm. Even Violet, despite her tender age, carried her mother’s gun. Cathy now carried a lever action rifle and I carried Daryl’s shotgun. There were now seven of us, and many of those who remained decided to head back for their homes. I couldn’t blame them. Most were the oldest of our group and I was happy to see them leave our group. They had seen enough death. After they had eaten, they began to scatter like fallen leaves. We walked to the woods behind the barn and with Ace leading the way cautiously made our way to the south.

  The red-headed kid was named Neil; he was fresh out of high school. His family had disappeared while he was out chasing a milk cow that had wandered off their farm. He was a nice kid but had very little experience handling firearms. Ace outfitted him with a small revolver and gave him a quick lesson on how to fire it. Ace warned him, “Our lives depend upon you carrying that sack. Don’t you dare lose it.”

  Neil’s eyes grew large; he swallowed hard and nodded his head vigorously.

  The portly farmer’s name was Jack. From the moment we met, I found him to be frequently sarcastic and critical of others. His wife had been taken captive the day before and like us was determined to free her from the FEMA camp. He carried a semiautomatic hunting rifle and two semiautomatic handguns in a pair of hand-tooled holsters. On his back was a pack similar to my own. He occasionally sipped something from a pint-sized flask and brought up the rear of our contingent. As large as he was, Jack looked to be as healthy as a horse.

  The dark-haired woman was named Lisa, and she was the last of our group. Once we set out, she shadowed my every movement. She was attractive and looked to be of Asian descent. She wore a black t-shirt over tan cargo shorts. Her legs were toned and she looked as firm as an Olympic athlete. She carried a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun that she claimed had been given to her by her grandfather. She wore a school backpack over her slender shoulders and the straps accentuated a pair of grapefruit-sized breasts. I caught Neil staring at them on more than one occasion.

  I followed Ace and Lisa followed me. Behind her was Neil. Cathy and Violet followed him and Jack followed them. Every now and again, I caught Cathy eyeing Lisa suspiciously, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she wasn’t just a bit jealous. Ace seemed to have a good sense of direction and we headed well east into no man’s land before we once again turned south. We occasionally crossed narrow highways and gravel roads, but not without pausing to make sure the coast was clear. Once we came upon a small homestead and a frantic woman began shooing her small children into the house. That was the only sign of life we encountered for the rest of the afternoon. Our rest stops were short and our pace was steady.

  It was nearly twilight when we stopped at an abandoned farm on the far side of Harris. The little town was only a few miles from North Branch and we all agreed that this was as good a place to camp as any. The dilapidated farm was well off the beaten path and at least a mile from its nearest neighbor. There was a solid-looking outhouse behind the garage next to two rusted cars on flattened tires. The house appeared to have been empty for a few years, but it had that look of a home that had been seized by a bank. The place was littered with the odds and ends that families leave behind when they could give a shit about who the next owner is. Inside, there were two ratty queen-sized beds and an ancient sectional couch. A battered dining room table sat on the far end of the living room near the kitchen. There were no chairs, but someone had set sawn logs on end around it to serve that purpose. The floor was strewn with empty beer cans and I imagined the local kids had claimed this place as their own. We even found some pots and pans and plastic dishes in the kitchen cupboards.

  With darkness still an hour away, Ace built a small fire in a steel barrel and salvaged a cooking grate from the oven. Cathy and Lisa began preparing dinner, with Lisa chatting amiably and Cathy grunting one word replies.

  I took Ace aside and we walked down to the double-car garage. Once we were inside, I turned to face him. “What do you think we should do once we get there?” I asked. “Aren’t you worried they’ll just lock us up?”

  He nodded. “I’m hoping to find a dump truck to drive through the gates. If there are towers, I might be able to take them out. I don’t know. I’ve been kicking it around all afternoon and that’s the best I can come up with. What about you?”

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out a roll of cash. “I’m hoping this will help. Do you think we can buy the freedom of our people?”

  Ace stared at the money and whistled. “Maybe,” he said, “if you had about ten more of those.”

  “I’ve got more than that. Please, just answer my question. Do you think we can buy their way out?”

  Ace ran his fingers through his hair and stared up at the house. He squared his jaw and his eyes darted around inside his head. “Yeah, I think they’ll do it. If you’ve really got that kind of cash, I think they’ll take it. But how do you propose we make the switch? They’re going to want to double-cross us. You know that, right?”

  I did know that and I had been thinking of little else all day. I had been thinking of how Bob had tricked us into leading him to members of the rebellion. I couldn’t allow that to happen, not again. “You seem like a pretty smart guy, Ace,” I said. “I want you to think up a plan to make the switch. I’ve got about twenty more rolls of cash buried outside of Milaca. I’ll need to have someone drive me out there to dig it up. We’re going to have to figure out how to make that possible.”

  Ace looked at me and raised his chin. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but where did you get that kind of money?”

  “That’s a long story.”

  “We’ve got plenty of time. I want to hear it.”

  I laughed. “Okay, I’ll tell it to you. Actually, looking back, it almost seems like it was a dream. If I hadn’t brought along a couple of rolls, I’m not so sure I’d still believe it actually happened to me.”

  “What, did you win the lottery or something?”

  “No, it was nothing like that. I was set up as a stooge to haul that money out of a prepper’s compound outside of Milaca. Some friends invited me to join them up there when the shit started hitting the fan. Well, when we got up there, my friend’s brother told me that I could spend the night, but that was it. I hadn’t contributed to their camp and I was cool with that. I really only wanted to get out of Minneapolis and make it out to my parents’ farm.”

  “Where is that?”

  “Pine City.”

  “That’s where I live. We just moved up there. Huh, small world. Go ahead. I’m sorry for interrupting.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, seeing the pain flash in Ace’s eyes as he thought of his family. “Well, it was getting late and I noticed this good-looking gal checking me out. Her name was Madison and her ex-husband belonged to the group. We got to talking and she asks me if she could tag along with me when I bugged out of there in the morning. What was I going to tell her? Something happened up at the gate and the whole bunch of them picked up their guns and ran to see what the commotion was about. So Madison says this is as good a time to leave as any and she asks me if I’m ready to go. I said I was ready if she was and she led me to one of these RV trailers they had parked out behind the house. She went inside and handed me out that backpack I’ve been wearing. The damn thing must’ve weighed a hundred pounds. She grabbed a knapsack and a rifle and led me out into the woods.”

  “What was inside the backpack?”

  “I didn’t know. I asked her, but she told me to trust her. She was pretty hot and I wasn’t thinking clearly, so I just followed her like a dumb puppy. That pack got heavy fast. It didn’t take long before the others found out we were gone and I’m sure they figured out what had happened. A bunch of them hopped on ATVs and started combing the woods, looking for us. I was pretty scared.”

  Ace smiled and shook his head. “You thought she had a thing for you, didn’t ya,
Gary?”

  “Of course I did. What was I supposed to think? I’ll bet you would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes.”

  “No, I wouldn’t have,” Ace said, clapping me on the shoulder. “I’m a married man. I don’t think my wife would approve of me hooking up with another woman.”

  “It wasn’t like we were hooking up. She wanted to get away from there and asked if she could tag along. Really, it didn’t seem all that different from what we’re doing right now. I’m sure your wife would understand.”

  “You’ve never met my wife. No, I’m sure she wouldn’t understand.”

  “Really, and what are you going to tell her after we get them out of there tomorrow?”

  “I’ll tell her the truth. And I’ll have you there to verify my story. What’s the name of the little girl up at the house?”

  “Violet?”

  “Right, Violet. Imagine Violet after she’s all grown up. That’s my Rachel. I could see her doing exactly what Violet did back there at the farm. She’s as hard as nails and tough as old leather. I’ll bet she could lick most of those soldiers in a fair fight. That’s why I’m in such a hurry to find her. I just pray to God that she keeps her big mouth shut long enough for us to get her out. Anyhow, there I go interrupting again. Go ahead. You and this Madison are on the run and the preppers are chasing you on their ATVs? I don’t blame you for being scared.”

  “How many kids you got?”

  “We’ve got three, two boys and my baby girl. Penny is only four years old, but she can damn near saddle her own horse. The boys were hers from another marriage. She was a widow when we met, but I’ve been raising those boys like they were my own for six years. Pete is seven and Paulie is nine. They’re good kids, the best a guy could hope for.”

  That was when I decided to tell Ace everything. I had already decided not to tell him or anyone else about the gold. I had been about to lie to him about what was inside the pack. I was going to tell him it was full of cartridge boxes. Once he opened up to me about his family, I felt certain I could trust him. I told Ace about how Madison and I had evaded capture. I went on to explain how Madison had lured me up to Clay’s house and how they planned to leave me for the preppers. I told him everything, about the gunfight, about how Clay and the preppers had been killed and how Madison had been wounded. I relived my long ride out of there on Clay’s ATV and eventually got to the point where I found myself at the campground.

  “Are you going to tell me what was in the backpack, or what?” Ace asked, rolling his eyes.

  “Not yet,” I said, giving Ace a wink. “First, I took Madison’s knapsack in front of the ATV, opened it up and dumped it out. There were twenty-nine rolls of cash inside it, just like the one in my pocket. That one is two thousand dollars. I have another one in my pack.”

  “Holy shit, really?”

  “I’m not kidding. But that’s nothing. I hauled the backpack over and opened it up. What do you suppose was inside of it?”

  “How the hell would I know?”

  “Three big gold bars. I’ll bet each of them weighed a good thirty pounds.”

  “Sweet mother of Jesus! Are you kidding me?”

  “I swear to God I’m not. I just want you to know that I already promised Violet a share. I could give a couple bundles of cash and the rest we can use to barter. None of it will mean a thing to me if I lose my family.”

  Ace nodded. He began pacing inside the musty garage, but I could see he was growing excited. “This just might work, Gary,” he said, pumping his fist into the air. “Do you have any idea how much money those bars are worth?”

  “No,” I said, “but I’m guessing millions.”

  “Hell yes … maybe even tens of millions. I knew I liked you the minute our eyes met. I said to myself, ‘Ace, there’s a good man.’ I’m not like that, Gary. You can ask my wife when you meet her; she’ll tell you. I’m slow to trust people and I’ve always been like that. I want to thank you for sharing your secret with me and I promise to keep it to myself. Who else knows about this?”

  “Just Violet … I didn’t tell her mother.”

  “That’s probably a good thing. I don’t trust her. She’s been giving poor Lisa the stink-eye all afternoon. She’s got a thing for you and it isn’t just in your head like it was with that Madison. You just be careful around that one, you hear? She looks sort of crazy, if you ask me. Okay, let’s get back up to the house and I’ll get thinking on how we can make the trade with the guards. I’ve got to be honest with you. I don’t much care for trading in stolen booty. That’s probably a sin, but I figure under the circumstances that the good Lord will forgive the both of us.

  I thought about what Ace had done out on the farm and I must have shuddered. Ace turned on me and raised a finger in my direction.

  “I just want you to know that thing I did back there with the heads? I wasn’t just some crazy guy with a meat cleaver. I did that to scare the soldiers who might have decided to come after us. I wanted them to think twice about it.”

  “I’m pretty sure they got the message,” I said, but I was really thinking how strange it was that he had picked up on that. It was as if Ace had read my mind.

  Ace laughed. “Come on, buddy, let’s go get us some chow.”

  “Buddy is dead,” I said, “but I’ll go eat with you.”

  We walked out of the garage and found the grate was empty and the fire still burning. Ace knocked the grate off the barrel and covered it with the dented lid of a trash can. “We best not take any chances,” he said, pointing up to the sky. “You never know when one of those things is going to fly over.”

  We hadn’t seen or heard a drone all day and I wondered about that. “I didn’t see any today, did you?”

  “Not a one, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t up there. We have to assume they are and try to do whatever we can to stay under cover.”

  “I didn’t hear much shooting today either. Do you suppose there’s a chance that the government is backing down?”

  Ace shrugged. “I noticed that too, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. My guess is that they’re regrouping. These camps they’ve built, they can only hold so many people. Once they fill up, they have to either build new ones or move the prisoners to other locations. That’s what I’m most worried about.”

  I followed Ace up to the house and we stepped inside. Whatever sense of optimism I had felt was gone. His words hung heavy in my mind. If what he said was true and they did move the prisoners, finding our people would be almost impossible. They had cooked our dinner in a big kettle they had salvaged from one of the cupboards. The kettle had turned black under the flames and dinner had a familiar, but unusual smell. Cathy stood above the kettle and smiled at us as we walked into the kitchen.

  “Something sure smells good,” said Gary. “What’s for dinner?”

  “Soup,” said Cathy. “I hope you like it.”

  “I love soup. What kind is it?” Ace asked, peeking into the kettle.

  “Special recipe. Actually, you might call it iced tea soup.”

  “Iced tea soup?”

  Cathy’s smile faded. “The cans of soup we had were condensed and we didn’t have enough water, so we had to use iced tea. I’m sorry, but there was no other way. There’s chicken noodle, beef vegetable, bean and bacon, and wild rice soup in there. Actually, it isn’t too bad once you get used to it.”

  I stood in the archway that led to the living room and turned to see the others. Neil and Violet were sitting together on the sofa staring blankly into their plastic bowls. However, Jack and Lisa were sitting at the table eating their soup with relish. Jack looked up at me between bites. “Hey, it ain’t too bad,” he said. “These gals might be onto something.”

  Cathy dished Ace up a bowl. “There’s bread on the counter and plenty of iced tea,” she said, handing him the bowl.

  Ace took the bowl and gave Cathy a smile. “Thank you,” he said. He then shot me a goofy, frightened look and it was all I co
uld do not to laugh.

  “Say when,” Cathy said to me.

  My empty stomach rumbled and I knew I would have eaten that soup if it had been prepared with orange juice. I waited until she had filled the bowl and thanked her. She stuck two slices of bread and a plastic spoon into the bowl and carried it over to me. And then she did something strange. As if we were a married couple, she stepped close and tilted her head up to me. She then closed her eyes and puckered her lips. Without thinking, I bent over and gave her a quick peck, nothing more.

  Cathy opened her eyes and gave me a warm smile. I nearly spilled my soup as I turned away. The expression on Lisa’s face was obvious and she quickly dropped her eyes as I walked into the living room. Cathy had just claimed me and everyone, except Violet and Neil, had witnessed it. I walked to the table and sat next to Ace.

  “You’re right,” said Ace to Jack. “This is pretty good.”

  Cathy appeared from the kitchen carrying a bowl in one hand and a plastic cup in the other. She placed it next to my bowl and sat down. Lisa dropped her spoon and picked up her bowl and joined Neil and Violet. Jack gave me a sharp look across the table.

  “I knew this was coming,” said Ace. “I tried warning people, but nobody listened. That’s why we moved up to Pine City. I said they’re going to come after our guns, but people wrote me off as a conspiracy theorist and I gave up trying. I hate to say I told you so.”

  “I’ve been warning people about this for years,” said Jack. “But you’re right, Ace, people didn’t give a flying fart about the truth. I could see it in their faces. They actually felt sorry for me. Poor Jack, he’s one of them now. That used to drive me bonkers. The writing was on the wall for years and just about everyone denied seeing it.”

  “I saw it,” said Ace. “They wanted our guns. The damn Chinese wanted our guns. This thing isn’t going to end until we’re all helpless to defend ourselves and we have a one-world government.”

  Jack nodded his head. “You’re half right. They’ve got a plan, but we’re not part of it. Why do you think they’re fluoridating the water? What about the mercury in our immunizations? What about the chem-trails? Ace, they’ve been slowly exterminating us for decades. People have got to realize that. There is no place in the brave new world for free-thinking folks like us. Once they’ve taken over, we’re all doomed.”