by Noah Rea
Later that day a heavy foreboding anxiety attack swept over me. I had been concerned for Otis and the others because whoever sent the last guys might want revenge or try to save face. Now this anxiety for him just bubbled up from I don’t know where. Deb sensed my moods with amazing speed and accuracy. And she asked what was wrong. I couldn’t tell her any more than what was happening to me, but the fear was for Otis and his family.
So I called Otis, and I casually asked what was going on.
“Not much,” he said. “We’re trying to decide some of the same things we talked about before you left. Some things have changed and some not.”
He asked where we were and what we were doing.
“All is well except Deb hasn’t been as nice to me as I thought she should be.”
He laughed.
Then I got into it.
“Really, what have you done? Did you make the building more secure?”
“We covered all the windows that were shot out and bricked them over front and back. The only glass left was in the front and back doors.”
I asked him if he had opened the truck stop and changed any personnel policies. I told him I felt more people should be there at all times or had they improved security.
“In fact, we have.” He answered. “We put additional and better motion sensors out by the street. Once we had all the improvements done we opened with a big banner out by the street advertising free drinks for one afternoon. We have two people working up front at all times and one more in the back on the security monitors except third shift. We have an alarm out front for vehicles that come off the street. We have new monitors just inside the front door to show any vehicle that turned in off the street and other monitors showing different parts of the parking lots and all around the building.”
They had improved their perimeter alarm system on the other three sides off the road so if someone walked in, they would know about it when they were about one hundred yards out, and they would be on the monitors immediately.
They were still serving meals and still doing other things pretty much the same, though the opinions were pretty evenly divided about whether or not to have the restaurant open to the public. Nearly everyone wanted it open for family and maybe a few friends. But if they put up a secure window for fuel payment and locked the doors to all but family, they would not have any traffic inside, and it looked to him where they were headed.
“Why all the detailed questions?” Otis asked.
“I am afraid for you and yours. The people who had been sent in before didn’t expect any serious resistance and got careless. It won’t happen the same way again, and the people who sent them may be shamed into revenge. I had an anxiety attack over you guys. It rarely happens but it’s often an accurate precursor of some kind.”
Otis just listened and didn’t say a word.
“Jim said the last guys were well-trained ex-military. The FBI was probably aware that you sold off helicopter parts. They want the black box badly. The next guys may not want parts of the helicopter but parts of you. They had to be really embarrassed. Then there could be foreign country buyers who would love to one up the US government. There are a lot of potential problems.”
When I finished unloading on him and he was still silent, I asked if he was there.
He answered in the affirmative and didn’t answer for a while.
“Tilly had premonitions sometimes, and she was usually right. She had one last night. She saw people shooting and coming in both doors. I don’t know what all that means except I’ll be here tonight. We’ll recheck everything and redouble our efforts to be safe. You get here in one piece. I can’t wait to see you.”
And with that, he was gone.
“What do you think he’ll do?” Deb asked.
“I have no idea but he’s had two warnings. I don’t believe he’s ignoring them. He probably was acting on Tilly’s concern before we called, but maybe he’s acting on mine too.”
“Do you think I had overreacted?”
She shook her head no.
“We haven’t talked about this stuff for a few days, Deb. What do you think about the whole situation?”
She was slow to start but did want to tell me how she felt.
“I’m relieved Jim had given us some cover, but Ben’s picture is still out there, and there might always be potential for trouble,” she said. “Not so much from police or FBI now, but the killers are still out there, and they probably aren’t buying any of the changes. Their desire to get Ben will not likely be any less.
“I’m afraid for Otis, too. Those guys who died there were serious killers. They made a mistake and paid for it. No one else who’s sent there will make the same mistake. They’re probably going to come in angry and want to prove something. I think they ought to close the truck stop at least for a while. Maybe tear it down and move back off the road to build another one. I don’t know, but they are too exposed to trouble right there. For the local folks they’re fine, but not for thugs from out of town.”
I asked her if she wanted to rethink moving there.
“No, we’d have to be careful wherever we went, but Otis’s family would help us look out for trouble. The land would give us a lot of space from any road if we wanted it,” she said. “It would be possible to have a family compound in the middle of acreage and have sensors up that would tell us if anyone is closer than a mile. It would be pretty awesome. I want to have a place where it’s just us for at least a mile. And be at least a mile off the road. Even if we had a mile-long dusty driveway, I would rather have that to feel safe.”
I kissed her on the forehead. “Ok, I want it too, and I’ll try to get it for you.”
We went to bed early and got up early. We went through security and were at the gate an hour early.
We had a good and uneventful flight. Uneventful was welcomed these days. Stress had really drained us, and we could feel it coming back now that vacation was over. We went to the motel, checked in and dropped off our luggage.
Then we headed out to the truck stop. It did look safer with all the new brickwork. Once inside we noticed it was darker but more security measures were evident. Otis et al were taking this seriously, and we were glad.
We ordered lunch and talked to the many well-wishers coming by. We were almost done when Otis showed up.
“Good to see you guys. Are you still married?”
“So far, so good.” I replied.
“I just about left him on the French Riviera.” She said.
“That happened to me about thirty years ago,” Otis said. “That wasn’t Tilly’s favorite stop.”
One of Otis’s grandsons came by and asked how I was feeling and laughed real loud all the while eyeing Deb.
“Deb and I like the improvements you’ve made. How many people do you have here at all times?”
“During the day we have several, but don’t think the daytime will be when they call next time. If they do, they will find about ten or so. Some of the younger ones are learning auto repair from Will, so the shop is seeing more activity than it probably ever has. And we have alarm buzzers out there. We put a travel trailer out by your semi. It has separate sleeping quarters and bathrooms on each end so two couples can sleep there well. It has improved walls, and there is an alarm out there also. If the people inside see trouble coming, they can easily call for help. We have some concrete barriers set up several places so those coming out of the trailer can be well protected. We have three inside stocking, cleaning, and making improvements.”
“We hope that is enough, but we have some pretty serious cover and firepower. We have a few of the full auto rifles the first guys gave us close by. We have really improved our video and perimeter alarms. When someone comes off the road especially at night, we get a good look at them a minute or two before they get close to the building. We have electric locks on the doors, and the new safety glass will be much harder for them to shoot out. We should have several minutes before they get inside.
In that time we should have help from the trailer people and the shop.”
“Wow, you have done a lot. Has there been any discussion about being closed at night?”
“Yes, but we are the only truck stop for quite a ways in both directions, and our fuel sales at night are still pretty strong. Oh, I about forgot. We are keeping at least one repair guy in the shop 24-7 now so he can get a gun and we can get help from there at night too.”
“So that would be at least six at night.”
“Yes, I hope that is enough.”
“Me too! Deb and I will take our turn. How does the trailer rotation work?”
“Each person does three or four nights every third week. We just got started so it will likely change, but we didn’t like moving every night. We will see.”
Deb and I signed up for our turn. “That would average about four to six nights a month. That isn’t bad. It shouldn’t be too hard on any couple.”
Betty was there, and she had volunteered to take us around to the different places they believed would make good home sites. One looked really good, but it was a little closer to the foot of the mountains. Betty agreed with the location, but she said the closer you get to those mountains, the more snakes you will have.
Deb was not interested in that, but she did ask what kind of snakes.
“Nonpoisonous and poisonous. If you bring some nonpoisonous ones like the King Snake to your house and let them live around it, they’ll keep the poisonous ones away.”
“I’m not sure I’d like that,” Deb said and looked at me with a grimace.
They didn’t bother me much and usually were not an issue, so it was up to her. We found another place that was off the road about a mile. It was away from the mountains and a little closer to Phoenix than the rest of the land, but we weren’t sure. We thanked Betty and headed for the motel. We didn’t know what to do.
The next morning we decided to look at some houses to rent and see how we felt about that. We found a couple that were interesting.
Will called saying a black SUV was seen cruising by at a slower-than-normal speed for that road. All the windows were dark including the windshield. “It looks like the bad guys are getting ready.”
“Shouldn’t we put some concrete barricades out front to keep people back from the front door a little farther? Maybe block off the whole front so they park at the end and walk half the length of the building to get to the door.”
“We had talked about that. I will try to get that done today. You guys stay away from the highway.”
“We will.”
We reconsidered the rent houses we had looked at and compared the safety of each one.
“I think the second house would be great, but it’s visible from the highway and too close,” Deb said.
“I agree. Plus it has a nice sunroom, but all that glass faces that way so it’s easy to see who’s in the house.”
One was more secluded and had a privacy-fenced back yard.
“We could put a dog back there and get the owner to do some landscaping in the front to create barriers,” I said. “They would probably pay for the material if we did the work for free.”
“Probably. That would be fun. I would love to have flower beds and maybe mix in some vegetables. I could finally get some work out of you.”
“You get everything out of me you want, so quit complaining.” I said.
She laughed and kissed me.
We called Otis to tell him what we were considering. We told him there was so much going on, we were thinking about renting for now and taking our time. He liked the idea.
“We don’t want you to think we aren’t interested in the land and building a house, but it has become obvious it will take much longer than we want to stay in a motel or even an extended stay.”
“Afraid of hurting my feelings?” Otis asked.
“We just want to be careful and make sure you know we are very grateful.”
“I know. You kids do what is best for you. We are all glad you are here and we want it to work for you so don’t worry about us.”
With that we called the property manager. We put the contract in Deb’s name since she had good credit and I didn’t have any credit. We got the keys and went shopping for a bed, a TV, a coffeemaker, and a microwave. The refrigerator was OK, but we thought we might put it in the garage and get a better one later. Tilly called to tell us not to buy linens. She was covered up in them. She’d be out before dark and load us up.
“With all this and a good woman, what more could a man need?” I said.
“Am I the good woman you are talking about? And any old good woman is good enough for you?”
“Probably.”
I got a light punch on the shoulder and an angry play look.
Time went too fast, and it wasn’t long until Deb and I packed a bag and some guns and headed to the trailer. One of Wills grandkids, James and his wife Sarah were at the other end. I loaded our guns with gloves on so I didn’t leave any finger prints on the shell casings.
We played cards with them that evening and had a good visit. They had been married for over a year and were trying to start their family. She had been on birth control for a number of years, and her OB told her she should have changed up and not been on medication so long. They and the OB were hopeful.
“Just have fun,” Deb said. “Why did you get married in the first place? You wanted to be together and have fun, right. Don’t lose sight of that. The kids will likely come in due time.”
It was a little noisy on their end of the trailer just before I went to sleep. I guess they took Deb’s advice. We didn’t make quite as much noise but we had our fun. Just before I went to sleep I teased Deb about her being an authority on having babies. She said that Catholics know a lot about babies and they talked about it often.
The second night we were there the alarm went off. I jumped out of bed and grabbed my guns. It was almost 2:30 a.m.
Two plain cars had sped into the parking lot with one going to the back door and one to the front. Otis was at the counter and a nephew, Jack, was restocking some shelves. When the sensors went off and they saw the two cars on the monitors, Otis locked both doors, got behind the counter, and hit the alarm. Jack was there with him. Will was in the surveillance room and came running. Aaron had been working in the shop and was right behind Will. That was four inside and four outside. We hoped it was enough.
I just barely beat Deb to the door. James was just ahead of me. We saw a car between the pumps and the back door. Four guys were getting out with guns. They were in a hurry. Thankfully, they were not looking our way and didn’t see us. We made it to the close barricades quickly and squeezed through them to the next set. Then they opened fire on the back door expecting to blow out the glass. It held up amazingly well, and we opened up on them. One went down immediately.
The other car was at the front, and they blew through the front door open almost immediately, which surprised all of us.
Jack had an M50, and he tried to clear the front door. Otis, Aaron and Will had M16 .308s and tried to clear the back door. One of the guys in the back ran behind the car and the other two turned their guns on us.
We hit one who went down pretty quick. When he tried to recover his gun, we shot him again and he was still. The far guy took a few more shots at the back door and ran through it. The guy who was behind the car tried to follow but we dropped him. The guys coming in the front lobbed two grenades behind the counter.
Then they followed the grenades and rushed back in. Otis and Jack, who were behind the main counter, dove to the sides of the shelving behind them. The grenades went off with their legs still exposed some. Will and Aaron were behind the other counter and Will was the only one up shooting over the counter, and he hit a couple of the bad guys. One hit him. Jack couldn’t move much, but he picked up his gun and kept firing. He and Aaron helped Will finish two of the guys inside.
James and I ran to the car at the back of the store, James shot u
nder the car and hit the guy in his ankles. He went down hard and we finished him off. We hid behind the car and tried to help with the guys who ran inside. One of the guys dove back out through the back door onto the ground. He rolled over on his stomach to see who was there. Deb and Sarah hit him first with James and I right behind. He was done. So the back door was secure.
I ran to the door and could see a couple of guys shooting through the front door. There were two on the floor not moving. I motioned James to follow, and we ran around the building. When we got to the front corner, we could see the two guys still shooting in the front door. One would peak around the corner shooting and would then jump back while the other one would shoot alternating. Deb and Sarah got where they could see the front door through the back door and they were taking some shots. Jack was shooting around the end of the main counter, and Will was leaning up against the shelves still firing. Aaron was shooting through a gun port hole. James and I both shot the guy with his back to us, and he lunged forward halfway into the doorway. The other guy turned to shoot at us and then dropped his gun and raised his hands.
We got close to him and then waved him inside. James checked the car to be sure no one was in it. He took the keys. I made the guy lay down by his still friends. I heard someone behind the main counter call 911 for ten ambulances.
I heard a loud moan from behind the counter. James and I used one guy’s belt to tie up our captive. I ran to the counter while James kept an eye on him. Otis and Jack were clearly hurt. They had tried to dive behind the shelving when the grenades were thrown. The woodwork saved their upper bodies from most of the damage, but their legs were mangled.
Clearly dazed but with eyes open and looking around, Will was sitting behind another counter and leaning against the wall. He was bleeding and sitting in blood still holding his rifle. I gently took his gun and told him to relax as much as he could. I told him an ambulance was on its way to help him.
We tried to put tourniquets on Otis and Jack to stop the bleeding. We put a cloth pack on Will’s chest and with pressure stopped most of the bleeding. We hardly had that done before the ambulances arrived. The police were right behind them. James grabbed the full auto guns and headed for the shop. He was back in a few minutes with bolt-action rifles.