The Hunter

by Kurt Robinson

  After he grabbed everything he needed out of the safe he closed the door and spun the dial. Then he turned to the right and bent down to open a tote where he kept some more hunting stuff. He only needed one item out of it and that was a camouflaged backpack. It was laying on top, so he pulled it out and put the top back on the tote. For now, he put his knife, the sharpener, and both ammo pouches in there to carry upstairs. He partially zipped it up and then grabbed his rifle and pistol and walked back upstairs.

  Once upstairs, he walked to the recliner where everything else was sitting and set the backpack on top as he gave April a smile. Next, he walked back out to the garage to set his rifle and pistol on the four-wheeler so they could get accustomed to the cold weather. He checked the battery and gas in the four-wheeler before they left for dinner earlier, so that was already taken care of. After he sat them on the four-wheeler, he pulled out two aluminum loading ramps that attached to his tailgate so he could load the four-wheeler in the morning. He sat them on floor next to his truck.

  John was about to go back inside, where it was warm, until it hit him that he should probably throw some salt on the driveway close to the garage so it would be easier to load the four-wheeler in the morning. So he hollered down the hallway at April, telling her he was going to throw some salt out. He shut the door that led into the house and then opened the garage door. He grabbed a bag of salt with a scoop in it he kept next to the garage door and stepped outside in the falling snow to throw salt on the ground. It only took him a few minutes and he was back inside.

  After going back in the house, he went into the kitchen, but not before taking off his wet boots, to make himself a sandwich for lunch tomorrow. He was a simple man; he liked just a plain ham and cheese sandwich on white bread, but with double ham and cheese of course. Once he made that, he put it in a sandwich bag and then in the refrigerator. He grabbed a bag of Doritos and dumped some into a Ziploc bag. He also grabbed a few peanut butter crackers. He took those and put them in the backpack on the recliner. He would put his water in the backpack in the morning with his sandwich.

  He was now finished preparing for his hunting trip tomorrow. He would have to get up extremely early because they wanted to be there in the tree stand before the sun rose. The sun would rise around 7 a.m. in the morning so they wanted to be in the tree stand at least a half hour before the sun came up. So to be safe, considering the bad weather, they planned on leaving at about 4:30 in the morning to give themselves plenty of time to get there. John and Adam were both in for a short night of sleep.

  The new place they were heading to was about a thirty-minute drive North on I-75. That would take them part of the way, then they would have to get off a few exits before Williamstown and trek the backroads to get to the new location. It was supposed to stop snowing around 2 a.m. Therefore, John and Adam thought they would be okay on the interstate. The other roads however, they would have to play by ear.

  After he put the food in his backpack, he went behind the couch and hugged his beautiful wife from behind. She smiled and put her phone down as the dog sat up and looked at both of them with his tail wagging.

  “I love you, baby,” John told her.

  “I love you, too,” she told him.

  At about that time, Derby stood up, leaned up to John, and began licking him in the face. They both laughed as John said, “Yeah, yeah, I love you too, buddy.” John then began to pet Derby as he sat back down on the couch and rolled over on his back so John could rub his belly. April did the same as Derby’s back leg went crazy.

  They were both tired, so after they finished giving Derby his much-needed attention they got up, turned off the TV, turned off the lights, and went to their bedroom. Derby knew it was time for bed too, so he walked over to his bed that sat in a corner of the living room and laid down on it, he was well trained. John and April closed the door behind them after they entered the bedroom and began to undress and put on their pajamas.

  John turned the TV onto SportsCenter for background noise; but it was mainly to preview tomorrows College Football matchups. They got into bed and moved close together. John held his wife whom he had loved since high school. They met freshman year and began to date sophomore year and had been together ever since. He played football and she was a cheerleader. After high school, he worked a few different jobs until he found a good one at Toyota. April, however, went to college at Georgetown College to become a high school teacher. Her favorite subject had always been history, so she now taught U.S. History and History of Kentucky at one of the local high schools in Georgetown.

  They married after she graduated and got her full-time job. They were both twenty-four when they married and they wouldn’t change anything for world. The past five years had been perfect for them. They wanted and were finally set to start having children. So, April being pregnant was completely planned and they had already begun building and painting the nursery in an upstairs bedroom. They were very excited to become parents, something they had wanted since high school, but were patient enough to wait until everything was ready for that next chapter to begin.

  “What are you doing?” April asked with a smile.

  “Nothing, just rubbing your stomach to let our future baby boy know that I’m here,” John told her.

  “Boy? Don’t you mean girl?”

  “Nope, pretty sure I mean boy. My future football player.”

  “Ummm, we are having a girl. That way I can have someone to go shopping with, do her hair, and paint her nails for her. She will also be a cheerleader, just like her mommy,” April told him, sounding stern.

  “Shopping? You can do that with Sarah.”

  “That’s different than shopping with your daughter. You get to buy her cute little outfits and everything. Plus, I think you’ll like having a daughter, she’ll be daddy’s little girl.”

  “I suppose so, but a son can play football and I can teach him to shoot and hunt with him.”

  “Babe, girls play sports too and shoot guns and hunt.”

  “You don’t.”

  “Umm, I was a cheerleader and I’ve shot guns with you.”

  “Uh, cheerleading is not a sport and you’ve shot the twenty-two like once.”

  “Whoa, cheerleading is a sport! You compete against other squads and you win, just like other sports,” she explained.

  “You get judged and then awarded points, you don’t score points on your own,” John explained his reasoning.

  “You have to be in perfect form and do everything right. They take points away when you mess up. So, yes, you get points based on what you do.”

  “You still don’t-“

  “Why don’t we just agree to disagree on that one,” April insisted so she didn’t have to hear anymore.

  “Okay, babe, I’m sorry. But we’re having a boy,” John said as she swung her arm around to give him a little smack on his arm, but he grabbed her and began tickling her. They began giggling and laughing and then that turned into kissing. He kissed her neck lightly as she gave out a soft moan. They made love before they went to sleep.

  Four

  Friday - 11:19 P.M.

  Sarah Hart was lying in bed, with her phone in her hand and the TV on, but Adam was still in the living room on his phone trying to get someone to answer on the other end. She knew something was not going right at work. As much as she wanted to ask him what it was and try to make him feel better, she couldn’t. Sarah knew that he was not allowed to discuss his cases or anything of the sort outside of work. However, Adam had changed quite a bit since he joined the force when he was twenty-years-old. Sarah didn’t necessarily like how he changed, but she still loved him. He used to not be so inappropriate around people, but slowly over the years with the police, he had turned into someone who he thought was better than everyone else.

  Sarah didn’t know why and, even though she tried, could not get it out of him. Little did she know that she was right, he was becoming someone he was not. But, it wasn’t because of the job
. It was because of his side job. Since becoming a police officer, he had met an older, more seasoned cop, who showed him the ropes. That officer also showed him some of the wrong ropes. They confiscated drugs and weapons from busts, but did not turn all of it into evidence. The older officer had contacts and began showing Adam how to sell everything back out to criminals on the black market to make extra money. They kept their identity a secret, had they found out that Adam and his mentor were police officers it would have turned out bad. Eventually Adam took over after the older officer retired just a few years ago. Adam now ran everything and recruited other officers from his department and other departments, some were old friends and some were new ones who said yes because of the extra money. It wasn’t that hard to persuade them.

  Obviously, Sarah had no idea about any of that and never would if Adam had anything to do with it. It was his little secret. Sarah just cared about him, loved him, and wanted him to be safe on the job. They had been married for ten years already; they got married less than a year after they got out of high school and never looked back.

  Adam was getting angry because he had tried to call Cavanah, Levinson, Travers, Sharp, Owens, and Wilson. None of them answered and he was about to lose it, he only had one more number to dial, Lewis. He tapped his name on the screen and the phone rang.

  Officer Lewis just finished dragging Owens’ body to the backside of the cars, next to Sharp and Wilson’s bodies. He laid them side by side in a straight line, while he just piled the four bodies of the henchmen. He was about to gather the UMP45s when his phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw who it was. He was very hesitant at first and wasn’t sure if he should answer, after what Cavanah told him. However, he also knew it was past the check-in time. He got an uneasy feeling in his stomach and then caved; he hit the green indicator on the screen to answer the call.

  “Hello?” Lewis answered cautiously.

  “Lewis! What the fuck is going on? Why haven’t y’all checked in yet?” Adam demanded.

  “Well we’ve had a little problem, boss.”

  “Problem? What do you mean problem?”

  “A shootout kind of problem.”

  “The fuck are you talking about!?”

  “They knew we were cops! They gave us cases full of paper and then started firing at us. Sharp, Owens, and Wilson are all fucking dead! It’s a complete fuck-up!”

  “They’re dead?” Adam asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Goddamnit! Where the fuck is Cavanah?”

  “Well they went after the two that got away. One was the head guy and the other his girlfriend or something.”

  “They drove away?”

  “No, we shot up their cars and they took off on foot in the snow. I guess they haven’t found them yet because they ain’t back.”

  “You fucking idiots. Who went with Cavanah? Where are you?”

  “Levinson and Travers. I’m cleaning up the mess at the warehouse. We killed four of them in here. The cars are fucked,” Lewis explained.

  “Fuck me! See if you can get a hold of Cavanah and tell them to come back there. Just let the cold kill the two that got away.”

  “I don’t know, he seemed pretty set on getting them. They took the cocaine with them. He wants them because they killed our men and took the coke.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Adam said. He thought for a brief second and then said, “I’m coming now. Keep trying Cavanah and tell them I am on the way. We cannot let them get away with that coke if they have it. I’ll be there as soon as I can in this fuckin’ snow.” Lewis then heard a beep on the phone, which indicated that Adam had hung up. He then tried to call Cavanah.

  Adam looked at his watch, saw that it read 11:31 p.m., and grabbed his coat off the couch in the living room before walking back to his and Sarah’s bedroom. He walked in fast, over to the dresser, and opened the bottom drawer. He grabbed his personal pistol, a Glock 31 Gen4 .357 with a laser, and a knife in its sheath. He left his department issue on top of the dresser, but grabbed his badge, just in case.

  “What’s wrong?” Sarah asked, sounding scared, knowing something was wrong by his urgency.

  “Something came up at work and I have to go right now,” he told her.

  “Now? In the snow?” She asked.

  “Yes, don’t worry. I should be back in the morning.”

  “Well what about John? You need to call him and tell him you can’t make it. Or I can do it, if you want?” Sarah asked him.

  “Yeah, why don’t you do it? Call April and tell her to tell John I’m sorry. I need to make a few calls on the way there.”

  “Okay, babe, I’ll call her when you leave,” she said and then stood up from the bed to meet him near the door.

  “I gotta go, babe,” Adam said and tried to walk away, but Sarah held onto to both of his arms.

  “Hey, listen to me. You be careful, you hear me? You call me when you get wherever you are going. I know you can’t tell me, but call me and let me know you made it there safe. Don’t scare me, let me know you are alright. I don’t know what you have going on at work, but you check in with me. I want to know you are alive and well, baby,” Sarah explained to him.

  “I will, sweetie. Don’t worry about anything. I’ll be fine in the snow and I have good men with me at work if something goes wrong. So, don’t worry, I’ll see you tomorrow. I gotta go. I love you,” he said and then gave her a kiss on the lips and walked out the bedroom door.

  Five

  Friday - 11:42 P.M.

  John and April Watkins had fallen asleep and John had set his alarm for 3:15 a.m. so he could get up, get dressed, and have everything ready to go when Adam got there. They were sound asleep when April’s cell phone rang on her nightstand. At first, neither one of them heard it, but by the third ring, April woke up and realized what it was. John woke up too. She reached over, grabbed her phone, and answered.

  “Hello?”

  “April, I’m sorry to call you right now,” Sarah Hart began, “but something came up for Adam at work and he won’t be able to go hunting with John tomorrow. Apparently, it’s an emergency and he already left. He’ll be out all night he said.”

  “Oh ok, I hope it’s nothing too serious. Hope he’ll be okay out in this snow too.”

  “Yeah, me too. I almost didn’t want him to go. But, I know he has to.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be okay, Sarah.”

  “I told him to call me when he got to where he was going and to check in with me.”

  “Well then I’m sure he will.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Don’t worry yourself, Sarah. He’ll be okay. He’s good at his job. I can come over in the morning, if you want?” April asked.

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll be fine. Just tell John that Adam can’t make it tomorrow and he’s sorry.”

  “Okay, I will.”

  “Alright, bye, April.”

  “Bye, Sarah.”

  April hung up the phone and set it back on her nightstand, and turned to John.

  “Who was that?” John asked, waiting for her to finish.

  “That was Sarah. She said Adam had to leave for work and won’t be back until tomorrow. He can’t go with you tomorrow now.”

  “You’re kidding?” John asked the rhetorical question. “Well that sucks!”

  “I know.”

  “Guess I’ll go by myself then. I was hoping we could go check out this new spot together.”

  “I know, babe.”

  “Well, his job calls for that kind of stuff, I guess.”

  “Yeah, will you be okay going alone in the snow? And to a new place?”

  “Yeah, I should be fine. That’s why I’m leaving early, I’ll drive slow and take my time. I know the address, so I’ll put it in the GPS. I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay, babe. Just be careful.”

  “You know I will.”

  They kissed once more and went back to sleep.

  Six

  Friday - 11:5
3 P.M.

  The snow was very heavy as Adam drove as fast and as cautious as he could. He had only gone a couple miles and had not reached the interstate yet. He feared that a drive that should only take about thirty minutes would probably take twice as long. The warehouse where the now botched deal took place was in Corinth, Kentucky. You could reach the small rural town via Interstate 75 North quickly or US-25 North for a more scenic and slower drive. At this point US-25 was probably covered in snow; the interstate however was probably a little clearer. Nevertheless, Adam had his truck in four-wheel-drive and was heading for the interstate as fast as he could with his high beams shining through the snow.

  He had his phone plugged in, charging, and sitting upside down in the cup holder in between the front two seats. He reached down and grabbed it and searched for Cavanah’s number in his phone log, found it, and pressed the call button. He held it to his ear, while carefully watching the road, and waited as it rang. Concentrating on the road, he let it ring until it went to voicemail. “Fuck!” he yelled and then hung up and put his phone back in the cup holder. He decided to just concentrate on driving until he got to the warehouse.

  Cavanah, Levinson, and Travers trekked through the hard falling snow. They could still see some tracks in the snow, but they were being covered quickly. They had their flashlights shining in front of them trying to spot Mr. Mob Guy and his female companion. They saw nothing. The snow was falling so thick they might as well had been walking without any lights; they could barely see in front of them. Their feet sank to their ankles in the deep snow, higher in some spots, and Levinson and Travers were getting frustrated.

  “This is fuckin’ ridiculous!” Levinson yelled through the snow. “We’re never gonna find them in this!”