by Robert Boren
“Thanks so much for being here,” Hendrix said, shaking hands.
Nelson bent down to kiss Maria, and then took his wife’s hand and left, the security detail following.
“Well that was certainly a surprise,” Maria said.
Hendrix smiled at her. “I thought you’d like that.”
“It was exciting,” she said.
“What do you want to do now?” Hendrix asked as they stepped into the elevator.
“Is that a trick question?” Maria asked, turning towards him. He took her into his arms and they kissed passionately as the elevator traveled down.
“Well?” he asked.
“I want to stay in bed for most of the day,” she whispered.
“Oh, really now?” Hendrix asked.
She got next to him and whispered in his ear. “It’s a good time. You’ve got work to do.”
“You mean?”
She nodded yes.
He moaned. “Let’s hurry.”
They rushed out to the car and drove home.
Maria rushed towards the garage door.
“Hold it,” Hendrix said.
“What?” she asked. “Aren’t you in a hurry?”
He chuckled and caught up to her, unlocking the door. He pushed it open and picked her up.
“Oh!” She giggled. “I like this.”
He stood just inside the threshold and kissed her, then put her down.
“I’m so much in love with you,” Hendrix said, feeling himself tremble.
“You are,” she said. “I feel it whenever I’m with you. I can’t believe we found each other. This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” She pulled him in for another kiss, moaning as he took hold of her and hugged her tight. They broke the kiss and rushed upstairs to the bedroom, clothes coming off as they went. Hendrix was beside himself with love as he watched her naked form climbing on the bed.
“Your face is so flushed,” she said when she turned towards him. “You okay?”
“I’m more excited than I’ve ever been in my life,” he said.
“You are? Even more than the first time?”
“This time’s for real,” he said as he joined her on the bed.
“Because we’re married?” she asked has he came over her.
“And because we’re working on our family,” he said, settling on top of her.
“Oh, God,” she swooned. “I love you so much, Kip.”
They flew into ecstasy, focused on only each other, lost in their passion, then laying back, passion still strong but too tired to keep going.
“You’ve made a mess of me,” Maria said.
“Yes I have,” he said. “You mind?”
She giggled. “We’re not done yet.”
“We’re done for a while,” Hendrix said. “I’m not seventeen anymore.”
“Nor am I,” she said.
“Want a snack? Or maybe some champagne?”
“We have some cold?”
“I put a bottle in the fridge before we left.”
“Tricky,” she said. “Sure.”
“Be right back,” he said, throwing on a robe and rushing down the stairs. He got the bottle out of the fridge and grabbed two glasses, then noticed Maria’s phone on the counter with a call memo on the screen. He picked it up and put it in the pocket of his robe.
Maria came out of the bathroom, using a washcloth to take her makeup off. “Geez, you should have told me my makeup was so screwed up.”
“I like you that way,” Hendrix said. “Especially after what we just did.”
She flashed him a shy smile as he opened the champagne and poured them each a glass.
“Thanks,” she said as she took a sip from her glass. “It’s good.”
“Ought to be,” Hendrix said. “It wasn’t cheap. Oh, you had a call flashing on your phone.” He pulled it out of his robe pocket and set it on the dresser.
“Uh oh,” she said, picking it up. “Don’t recognize the number. They left a message.”
“Go ahead and listen to it if you want to.”
She nodded, hit the playback button, and put the phone to her ear, eyes wide.
“Oh no, what happened?” Hendrix asked.
She put the phone down. “Celia. She escaped.”
Chapter 26 – Interrogation
The dirty, primer gray pickup truck raced for the entrance to the Fort Stockton RV Park.
“Shit, Kelly, that’s Jasper and Earl,” Nate said.
“I know,” Kelly said. He turned to the crowd. “Women and children, run towards the back of the park. Armed men get ready.”
“Is this an attack?” Clancy asked.
“Don’t know yet,” Kelly shouted.
Kyle and Jason ran back over with Junior. Eric and Kim came out of the office with Francis and a few other people.
“What’s going on?” Eric yelled.
“Two guys who Chris said were turned by Simon Orr just showed up,” Kelly said. “We don’t know what the situation is yet.”
The truck rolled to a stop. Jasper and Earl came out with their hands up.
“Don’t shoot!” Jasper said, looking at his friends with guns drawn.
“Clancy, keep an eye out for anybody else coming,” Moe shouted.
Kelly, Junior, Nate, and Fritz approached slowly.
“Chris said Simon Orr turned you guys,” Kelly said.
“They had us convinced to join their militia, until we overheard them talking,” Earl said. “They’re planning to come here and take your weapons.”
“Yeah, we ain’t gonna stand with that. Not for one second,” Jasper said. “Honest. Our guns are behind the seat in the truck. We aren’t carrying. You can frisk us.”
“We will,” Fritz said. “Cover me, boys.” He walked over and frisked both men. “They’re clean.”
“Okay, c’mon, let’s go talk,” Kelly said. “In the clubhouse.”
“I’ll keep watch,” Clancy said.
“Make sure we have the tanks on alert,” Jason said.
Kelly rushed over to Jason. “Call Curt and tell him what’s up.”
“You read my mind,” Jason said, phone already in his hand. “Find out how many men this Simon Orr character has.”
“Yeah, that’s job one,” Kelly said.
“You think we can trust those guys?” Kyle asked.
“Don’t know,” Kelly said. “Maybe after things have settled a little you guys ought to join us. Show us some of your police interrogation skills.”
Kyle laughed. “Yeah, maybe those detective classes I took will come in handy after all.”
Jason shook his head as he walked away with his phone to his ear.
Kelly joined the others in the Clubhouse. Jasper and Earl were sitting in chairs against the far wall, the other men standing in front of them. Kelly grabbed a chair and brought it over. He sat down in front of them.
“How many men does Simon Orr have?”
Jasper and Earl looked at each other. “We saw about thirty,” Jasper said. “They’re at a dilapidated factory north of Penwell, off I-20. Orr said there were more on the way.”
“They coming here?” Nate asked.
“I think so, but they won’t just bust right in during broad daylight,” Earl said. “They know they’re not strong enough.”
“You guys should hit them,” Jasper said. “Before they get much stronger.”
Kelly and Junior looked at each other, then back at Jasper.
“You wouldn’t be leading us right into a trap, would you?” Junior asked.
“We’ve fought together,” Jasper said. “Drank together. Hell, we saved your ass at Texas Mary’s, remember?”
“I remember,” Kelly said. “What does Simon Orr’s militia want to do?”
Jasper and Earl looked at each other again, nervously.
“C’mon, dammit,” Nate said.
“They want to gather up as much equipment as they can and take it into Utah,” Jasper said. “To some base th
ey’re putting together near Capitol Reef National Park.”
“Why?” Fritz asked.
“This is gonna sound crazy,” Earl said. “You got to believe us.”
“Go on,” Kelly said.
Suddenly the Dr. Knudsen started CPR on Chris, on the table in the other side of the room.
“Dammit, we’re about to lose Chris,” Junior said, looking over.
“No,” Jasper said, tears forming around his eyes. Earl shuddered as he looked over, choking up.
“Answer the question,” Kelly said, his focus intense.
“They told us it was to defeat the Islamists in that state,” Earl said, “but then we overheard them saying they were gonna give it to the Islamists for a whole lot of money.”
“It’s the God’s honest truth, Kelly,” Jasper said. “I heard it too.”
“Chris just died,” Dr. Knudsen said, pulling the blanket over his face. “I’m sorry, guys.”
“Brenda’s going to take this hard,” Kelly said, fighting back tears.
“What happened with Chris?” Nate asked.
“We got to this abandoned factory,” Jasper said. “Simon wanted to wait for his other people to show up, so he could bring them here. Chris wanted to keep going, to join you guys as quickly as possible.”
“What about you two?” Junior asked.
“Simon Orr told us he wanted to link up with you guys and join the fight here, then enlist you to go to Capitol Reef for some big battle,” Jasper said. “We believed him. We were okay with waiting there for a couple more days.”
“When Simon’s people showed up, Chris got real standoffish,” Earl said. “He didn’t like them.”
“Did you?” Nate asked.
Earl got an ashamed look on his face, then looked down. “I thought they were okay, until this afternoon.”
“Chris decided to leave because of the new folks?” Kelly asked.
“He was already leaning that way,” Jasper said. “He didn’t trust Simon Orr. You know Chris. He’s not exactly a joiner, and he has a solid gold bullshit detector. We should’ve picked up on it.”
“Go on,” Fritz said.
“So Chris took off with his sister,” Earl said. “We got suspicious when Simon Orr and a few of his men disappeared all of a sudden. We snuck up and listened in on a few of them talking after Simon left.”
“They caught us,” Earl said.
“What happened then?” Nate asked.
“They ain’t alive anymore,” Jasper said. “Their buddies might be coming this way now.”
“No way,” Earl said, glancing at him. “They know they’re not strong enough to take this group on.”
“How do you know we’ll let you stay?” Fritz asked, “or let you live, for that matter?”
Earl and Jasper looked at each other with terror in their eyes.
“No, we’re not with them,” Jasper said. “I swear.”
“What do they know about us?” Kelly asked.
“They know you have tanks, and they heard about Curt’s stuff,” Earl said.
“You tell them?” Junior asked, moving towards them in a menacing fashion.
“Cool your jets, Junior,” Kelly said. He looked back at Earl. “How’d they find out?”
“They must know somebody who saw,” Earl said.
“Yeah,” Jasper said. “If they’re really selling hardware to the Islamists, they might have heard it from them.”
“I’m not buying this,” Junior said. “Maybe we ought to gut these two and hang them from the gate post out there.”
“Dammit, Junior, I told you to cool your frigging jets,” Kelly said.
“Our friend is laying there dead,” Junior shouted. “He said these guys are turned.”
“He didn’t know what we found out,” Earl said. “I swear. He’d already left with his sister by the time we found out.”
“You believing this crap, man?” Junior asked. “Really?” He looked from one to the other, spoiling for a beat down.
Nate and Fritz looked at each other, then at Kelly.
“What?” Kelly asked.
“I think the good-cop, bad-cop routine worked,” Nate said. “They’re telling the truth.”
Kelly and Junior looked at each other.
“What do you think, Junior?” Kelly asked.
Junior exhaled and laughed. “Yeah,” he said. “Sorry, guys. We had to. You know.”
Jasper and Earl looked relieved and got out of their chairs.
“Wait a minute, we ain’t done,” Kelly said. “I want to know everything you do about their base and the people there.”
“Sure, no problem,” Jasper said, sitting back down.
“Hey, Nate, go get us some paper and pencils, okay? We’re gonna need these guys to draw some stuff.”
“Got it,” Nate said. He rushed out the door.
Brenda came in, breaking down when he saw Chris’s covered body. “Oh no!” She ran over to Kelly and they embraced, both of them crying.
“We’re so sorry,” Jasper said, breaking down himself. Earl looked at them, numb look on his face.
“Did they do it?” Brenda asked, nodding at Jasper and Earl.
“No,” Kelly said. “We don’t think so.”
“Simon Orr’s going to come after us, isn’t he?” Brenda asked.
“He might,” Kelly said. “Don’t worry, we’ll take him.”
Nate came back with the paper and pencils.
“Okay,” Kelly said. “First, let’s see what the facility looks like. Jasper, you go over there and draw. Earl, you go over on that side of the room and do the same.”
“I thought you believed us,” Jasper said.
“We’re gonna be cautious,” Kelly said. “Sorry. I’d hope you’d do the same with us if the situation was reversed.”
“He’s right, Jasper,” Earl said. “C’mon.”
They went to opposite ends of the room and got to work.
Jason walked to the door with Kyle and motioned to Kelly and Junior. They rushed over, Brenda by Kelly’s side.
“You get Curt?” Kelly asked.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “He’s only about ten minutes away now.”
“Good,” Junior said.
“You get the lay of the land from Jasper and Earl?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah, we think so, but we’re still being cautious,” Kelly said.
“What’d they say?” Jason asked.
“They overheard some of Simon Orr’s people saying they want to sell our weapons to the Islamists in Utah for big bucks,” Junior said.
“Jerk weeds,” Kyle said. “When Curt comes back we ought to go kick their asses.”
“We don’t want to go waltzing into a trap, guys,” Junior said. “We got Jasper and Earl drawing their base for us.”
“Separately, so they can’t collaborate,” Kelly said.
“Sure you’ve never been a cop?” Kyle asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Kelly laughed. “No, but we’ve been on the receiving end of those tactics.”
“Yeah,” Junior said.
Jason laughed, shaking his head. “Well, I’m impressed, man.”
“The new folks settled yet?” Kelly asked.
“Getting there,” Kyle said. “We’ve got a pretty powerful force brewing here, even before we get additional help from Nelson and Ramsey.”
“Damn straight,” Junior said.
“We need to screen anybody new they send us,” Kelly said.
“Yeah, I agree,” Jason said. “Too many moles in too many places.”
“Truck coming!” Clancy shouted from the roof. “No, two trucks. One of them’s a bobtail.”
The four men ran out to the gate and checked.
“Hey, guys, it’s Curt,” Clancy shouted. “That off-roader of his is hitched to the bobtail. He’s riding on it.”
“Yes!” Junior said, wide smile on his face.
The two trucks pulled to a stop just inside the gate. Curt climbed out of the Bar
racuda and unhitched it from the bobtail, then backed it away and drove it next to the office, aiming the M-19 down the road. Then he rushed over to meet Amanda and Sydney as they got out of the cab.
Dirk and Chance trotted over to them.
“Curt,” Kyle said. “How you doing?”
“Just fine, pencil neck,” he said. “You remember Sydney and Amanda, right?”
“Only met Sydney,” Kyle said. “Good to see you again. Nice to meet you, Amanda.”
“Glad you’re here,” Jason said. He glanced at Curt, catching him with his eyes on Amanda. Curt noticed, face turning red.
“They finally met, huh?” Jason asked Sydney. “I figured there’d be sparks flying.”
“You trying to marry this boy off?” Amanda asked. “Same old Jason.”
“Yeah, shut up pencil neck,” Curt said.
“Pencil neck again,” Junior said. “Welcome to the group.”
“Yeah, welcome,” Kelly said. “This is my woman, Brenda.”
Brenda looked at him, misty. “Still gives me a tingle when you call me that. It’s disgusting.” She turned to Amanda and Sydney, smiling. “So nice to meet you. Welcome. I’ll introduce you around after you get settled.”
“That’d be great,” Amanda said. “You know where Don is? Sydney’s going crazy.”
“Shut up,” Sydney said. Amanda laughed.
“You’re sweet on Don, huh?” Dirk asked. “I figured that was coming.”
“Here he comes,” Chance said. “Let’s get back to camp. I need to rest a little.”
“Yeah,” Dirk said. “For sure.”
The two walked to their truck, nodding to Don as they passed him.
“Go get her, man,” Dirk whispered. Chance cracked up.
“Everybody’s teasing us,” Sydney said as Don got to her. “It’s embarrassing. We haven’t even done anything.”
“Don’t let them bother you,” Don said. “Their hearts are in the right place. Heard you saw action on the way over.”
“Yeah, we got attacked, but Curt saved the day with that crazy off-roader of his,” Sydney said.
“Well thank God for that,” Don said. “I worried the whole time you were gone.”
“Don’t say that so loud,” she whispered, glancing around. “Bad enough as it is.”
“Sorry,” Don said. “Look.” He nodded at Curt, walking with Amanda by his side.