Rain continued to fall as Eric watched. The infrared image degraded significantly during heavy downpours, but worked well enough in light drizzle to follow what the trespassers were doing. Moments later both people took off in the inflatable, leaving the anchored powerboat unattended; surprising behavior this early in the morning.
His little piece of Chesapeake heaven, with a view of the water, now had two boats marring it; though neither looked like boat trash. He knew Tess would be leaving after the storm. Besides, she was interesting as a person. Enough so he could put up with looking at her boat until the storm passed. Maybe he should stop trying to piss her off, he'd have to think about that while he got rid of the other boat. He didn't like the overstated opulence of the Rambo-like, fish-killing machine; it offended him as much for its design as it did by blocking his view. In daylight he'd investigate further, until then it was time for a dose of sleep to rest his blurry eyes.
Once in bed, just before drifting off to sleep he wondered how Tess would react to her new and closely anchored neighbor.
Andy & Jennifer - East Texas
Distant thundering awakened Jennifer from a light sleep. Deep, restful sleep had not been possible lately—not with weird weather and a guest in the house. A flash of white light lit her bedroom through the blinds, and she counted sixteen seconds before she heard the thunder. When she looked to see the time she found her nightstand clock was dark. Another shadow of darkness, where there should have been light from the bathroom night-light, confirmed there was no power.
She got up, went to the window, and raised the blinds to find no lights visible; the neighborhood was a black void. By the bedroom door she found her purse and dug in it searching for her cell phone. When she woke the phone, its screen lit up the room with a dim, white light, "No Service" and "4:10A.M." were displayed. Before returning to her bed she looked in on Andy and found him fast asleep. She felt envy that he could put aside everything and sleep so well.
~~~
"Earthquakes in Texas?"
"The wind is shaking the house," Jennifer answered, realizing it as she spoke. She went to the kitchen window to find trees bending from a strong, gusty wind in the weak light of dawn on a cloud-covered world.
Andy joined her at the window. "Wow, now it's hailing! Looks like popcorn coming out of the lawn. Big ones."
"Unless the forecast changed overnight it's going to be like this all day, leading up to the frontal passage tonight. I have an emergency hand-crank radio in the garage, so we can get some updates."
"Might be handy to know what's coming."
"I'm not sure what to do about breakfast."
"I thought these accommodations came with room service."
"It would be better if they came with electrical power. Cold cereal may be our only choice with the electric stove not working."
"In that case go fiddle with your radio. I'll cook us a hot breakfast."
"Andy, if you think you can find the way to my heart with food, all I can say is Good Luck. Historically, mankind has had to fight to get enough to eat, now it's a fight to keep from eating too much, especially in my family."
"It's not the food I cook that I'm counting on to win your heart, it's the charm with which I serve it."
~~~
The WhisperLite Backpacker stove held Jennifer's smallest skillet as if the two were designed to fit together. To the skillet he added olive oil, red bell pepper, onion, and a potato; all the veggies diced. The ingredients crackled under the lid. Every minute, or so, he flipped the contents holding the lid on with his other hand. After ten minutes of cooking he added two eggs and a few more shakes, with a lid on the skillet to mix up and cook the eggs, then he announced, "Breakfast is served."
He slid half of the pan’s contents over a slice of bread on one plate, the rest over the bread on a second plate and handed it to Jennifer sitting at the table. "My one-pan, 007, Special Veggie Scramble—shaken not stirred. It usually tastes better than it looks."
"Really? This is great having a hot breakfast; it's much better than cold cereal. Cooking with that handy stove, you do display some charming efficiency; more intellectual than heart winning." Jennifer smiled mischievously, and added, "A worthy effort, keep trying."
"Oh, I plan to do that all right. What did the weatherman have to say?"
Jennifer looked at him with a troubled expression on her face. "The radio seems to be working, but static fades in and out making it impossible to understand the weather report. No news, no electricity, and no cell service, so it's our best guess what's coming next."
"It's about the same as only knowing there's a hurricane somewhere over the horizon, huh?"
"But it's cold, which is just the opposite of hurricanes. The store is probably isolated by floodwaters by now, so I'm not even considering trying to go there. Normally I would stay at the farm, but that may be awkward for you. My parents are friendly, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind you being there; though they'd probably put you to work."
"Jennifer I'm not afraid of work. If you think going to the farm is best let's do it now, and hope your parents don't mind. This storm seems to keep getting worse—we've already been caught in a flood and lost your truck."
"Okay, if you're up for it. I'll tell you about Mom on the way, it's about food, so you'll be interested. Besides, Dad will want to put yesterday's proceeds from the store into the safe, so I needed to stop by there today anyway. Once we get there we can decide whether to stay, or not, and if you feel comfortable with it," Jennifer said as they finished eating.
"We might need to take some extra clothes and the food we brought from the store, right?"
"Good idea. You want to start loading the stuff from the store while I gather things around here that we should take?"
"No problem, my favorite pastime is gathering things to eat. All my stuff fits on my bike, so I'm going to take it too, since the flatbed has plenty of room." Once everything they wanted to take was loaded Jennifer helped Andy tie a tarp over the pile to protect it from the rain.
~~~
Jennifer got the truck rolling on the wet and flooding streets, though it felt like the suspension had rusted in place whenever they hit a pothole hidden by the water.
"It's Tye and . . .?"
"Rebecca. Dad calls her Reb, and so do most of her friends. Maybe we shouldn't tell her you're a Yankee right off."
"Do people still take that seriously down here?"
"We do. One thing about Mom you should know, Dad and I constantly try to get her to cook in moderation. Now I know you like to eat, but please don't encourage her, you'll still get more than enough."
Con, Gus & Ela - Unaweep Canyon, CO
Sometime after midnight Ela drifted into a troubled sleep in the reclined front passenger seat, awakening in fright at any noise before drifting off again. The motor she had heard last night went past them without slowing and eventually faded into the distance, but she kept listening for it and any further gunshots. Eventually, the dueling snores from her mother and "new guy" Gus had worn her down with the monotonous droning.
Ela came awake again in the predawn darkness, this time because the motor really had come back, and was loud enough to hear over the snoring. She sat up, listened, and then turned to shake her mom awake. In the dim light of the dash clock she mistakenly nudged Gus instead.
Gus awoke suddenly to a hand on his shoulder. He tried to sit up, but the blankets piled on him restricted his movements. Then Ela’s soft female voice stopped him, "Sorry, but the motor noise is back."
Hearing a female voice jogged his memory; he was in a vehicle with two women. Then the high-pitched whine of a two-cycle motor broke through to his consciousness. Gus and Ela stared at each other in the dim light, concentrating on the motor as it grew louder and then faded away. Only the sounds of Con's peaceful snoring and the morning's breeze through the trees remained.
"After you went to sleep last night we heard gunshots and then a motor starting up; it went past us towar
d Gateway. This morning it sounds like the same motor coming back from Gateway," Ela said.
Gus looked at his surroundings, the woman still sleeping beside him, and the one in front of him telling him the news. He carefully extricated himself from the blankets and clothing that had been piled on top of him and got to his knees. He wanted to get out of the car. He needed to breathe some fresh air and see if it would clear his thinking processes, so he could better deal with what he'd just heard.
Ela, seeing him on his knees looking around, surmised he was looking for his shoes and jacket. "Gus, Mom put your outer layer of clothing behind you near the back hatch. I think your boots are back there too. Just pull on that wire loop to open the hatch when you want out."
"Thanks," Gus said, looking at Ela and wondering how he was going to move without waking her mother.
Again Ela seemed to know his thoughts, "Just so you know, my mom is near deaf without her hearing aids. I need to wake her anyway, she’ll want to know what's happening; she thinks it's a snowmobile."
Con came awake to Ela’s gentle shaking. She looked up to see her daughter and Gus looking down at her, and then pulled the blanket over her face. "Good morning, now please go about your business and give an old woman a minute or two."
Con, her hearing aids in her pocket, heard some talking she didn’t understand exactly, but guessed they were words of morning greetings. That was followed by mumblings from Gus as he moved toward the hatch, so Con moved as far forward as possible to give him room. A minute or two later, when she felt the car move and the hatch close, she uncovered her face.
Ela watched Gus leave and said, "The coast is clear, Mom."
"Sorry, I didn’t hear you, hold on while I get my ears on." Con fished the case containing her hearing aids out of her pocket and inserted the aids in her ears, one at a time. She followed up by cupping a hand over each ear listening for a squeal to confirm they were operating. She looked up to see Ela watching her and felt a rush of embarrassment about her disability, then quickly looked down and moved the bedding enough to get one side of the rear seat up.
"Mom, the snowmobile came back this morning," Ela said, as soon as her mom had finished.
"How long ago?" Con asked, her embarrassment forgotten at this bit of news. "We need to get dressed and ready ourselves for anything from rescue to robbery."
Ela just looked at her mom. "Are you—" she was interrupted when the hatch opened.
"I just heard gunshots!" Gus said leaning in. Ela heard more shots as Gus spoke, and held up her palm to her mother while she listened.
Con could see they both were listening intently. Closely watching her daughter’s eyes she saw her squint intermittently. Con could tell that Ela didn’t like what she was hearing; she turned to meet Gus’s eyes and could tell he too was alarmed.
"Damn, that sounds like a battle," Gus said.
Con crawled past him out through the hatch and closed it, "Gus, please go sit in the backseat and give me another minute of privacy. Be back soon."
Ela started organizing the interior, trying to find her extra layers of clothing and getting the seats cleared and upright to return the car to day-mode. Gus opened the back door and started to get in.
"Hold the fort Gus, I’ll be right back." Ela got out as Gus got in.
Gus found himself alone and took the opportunity to get his thoughts in order. In a usual workday bits and pieces of information from his crews, customers, and contractors were constantly coming to his awareness, and he made his living putting it all together to get the job done right. His ability to listen to, think about, and act on that information made the difference in getting the job done on time, and keeping the cost under the price he had bid. He knew he was good at it. Now he needed to use those skills in a totally new context, maximizing his chances of survival instead of profit.
Abe had surprised and damned near killed him, he couldn't afford to dismiss any more warning signs. Hearing gunshots brought disturbing new information to the reality of his situation. This morning's firefight, not so far away, could only be considered a warning. He considered it no different than the thunder he'd heard from the storm clouds that had rolled over the mountain four days ago. A danger heard, but not seen, is a danger nevertheless. After hearing the first shot he knew it meant trouble, and not just for the other guy.
The amount of gunfire had been intense for more than a minute, and then stopped. Gus knew of no hunting scenario that could possibly explain so much gunfire, not during bow season, nor in the dark, long before legal light for hunting. It could have been someone defending against a full-on predator attack, but since no wolves or grizzlies inhabited the area it limited the possibilities of that scenario. Maybe a black bear, but with more than one gun firing as rapidly and as long as it had this morning, it just didn't fit with his experience. Black bears in camp were usually run off with waving arms and shouts, no need for more than a couple shots in the air, if that. In Gus's mind the only predator requiring so much shooting was of the two-legged variety.
Though it had sounded like more than one caliber had been involved, all of it had sounded like pistol or small caliber fire. It sure didn’t sound like the booming of big-game rifles used during rifle season. This had more of a 4th-of-July sound to it; pops in quick succession with a few louder than the others. The most plausible possibility he could come up with was that it was a classic attack-at-dawn scenario, by the snowmobile rider coming back to finish what had started last night.
The front doors opened simultaneously, Con took the driver’s seat, Ela the passenger's seat, and then they both turned to look at him. Four identical green eyes, one pair with more character-lines framing them, studied him much the same way the bull elk had done at first. Gus realized both of these women were scared of the gunshots, in general, and of him, in particular.
"Before anything else, I want to thank you both for taking me in last night. I would have died if you hadn’t. I live in Grand Junction, own a concrete contracting company based there, and mean no danger to either of you. When the storm hit I had just started a week's vacation of hunting elk. I'm worried about the gunfire we heard just as much as you are, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't hunters."
Con saw Ela studying Gus intently and decided to jump in before her daughter had a chance, "You’re welcome, and thank you for trying to reassure us; it sounds like I made a good choice for a sleeping partner last night."
Con watched both Ela and Gus try to hide their embarrassment at her last remark. She started the engine to warm up the car. Once all the noise of the engine and the heater came on her ability to understand speech went down, so she watched their body language with great interest.
Though Gus looked a bit haggard and bearded, he might clean up pretty well and be more than presentable Con decided. She also noted that he owned his own company. It showed initiative and drive, both good qualities in a man. That Gus felt the need to reassure them that he meant them no harm went a long way too; her momma bear instincts were forever at the forefront of her conscious mind, until she got Ela safely out of this situation. Her first impression of Gus was a good one.
"Looks like the storm has passed, stars and a clear horizon are good signs," Gus said, addressing both women by looking from one to the other. "Cold and breezy, though."
"I don’t think my mom can hear you while the fan is going, so don’t feel like she is ignoring you," Ela said.
Gus looked at Con who smiled back at him, but said nothing. Not sure if he felt comfortable talking in front of her when she couldn’t understand him, he decided to keep his answer short, "Okay."
Ela decided to take the opportunity to give Gus the rundown of the last several days, starting with the weather and finishing with the news of the attacks and martial law, to which Gus listened intently without comment.
Con timed shutting off the engine and heater fan with when it looked like Ela was finished talking to Gus, she knew Ela would make sure Gus understood their situation in detail
. And when it became Gus's turn to talk Con wanted to hear his opinion of what they should do next. "You two hatched the plan of the day, yet?"
"Not really, but I think I should go check out the source of the gunfire, someone may need help. Besides, I'm tired of being surprised by what's going on during this storm," Gus said.
"You have anything to defend yourself with other than that bow?" Con asked.
"Not much, only a knife."
"In your planning process please keep in mind that my pistol and I are not leaving my daughter’s side until this is over and she's safe," Con stated flatly.
"Whatever 'this' is," Ela interjected. "Look, the two of us are going on our fourth day in this car, we’re damned near out of food, but we finally have clear weather for the moment. We don’t know how long that will last, all three of us should go for help, now."
Con looked at her daughter with pride and backed her completely, "I agree, but I think we need to eat what's left, for our strength, before we take off. While we do that it gives us time to hatch a plan with a clear objective."
"There may be some food left in my pack, I’ll get it," Gus offered and got out.
"We need to put on all the clothes we have and then some, it’s freezing out there," Ela observed.
"I thought about that, we can use the sleeping bags. We can cut slits in them, so we can get our hands out, and wear them like ponchos. On these bags the zippers go both ways, so we can unzip them enough from the bottom for our heads to get through," Con said as Gus got back in the car.
"Brilliant, Mom!" Ela said, with a radiant smile.
Gus looked back and forth at the two women, "What did I miss?"
"Mom figured out how to keep her and me from freezing to death. It wasn’t cold when we left home, so we're not dressed for blizzard conditions. We’re going to use the sleeping bags like ponchos, after we tailor them a bit."
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