Lost Shadows

by Warren Ray

  “Wow,” said Collette.

  “Look we need to get going, so Butler doesn’t think there’s anything wrong,” said Winters.

  “We’re going after him?” asked Collette.

  “Damn right, I need that truck back.”

  Laney pumped her fist in the air. “Yes, I love it.”

  “Besides if we take off now, he might come looking for the trucks in Sabina.”

  They nodded in agreement.

  “Is Fowler still in the cab?”

  The girls nodded.

  “Okay, let’s get him out, and I need you guys to hurry. As soon as Butler stops, I’ll come around and take him out. Okay?”

  Winters pulled Fowler out of the truck and dragged him into the tall grass. He told Collette to go before slamming the door. They had already been out of Butler’s sight too long, and he didn’t want to miss an opportunity in case he stopped to wait for them to catch up. It was imperative to take him out before they got to Duluth. No telling if he had people waiting for them.

  Winters picked up speed and began to laugh as the wind blew through the holes in the windshield. There were three of them and had a nice tight grouping for someone running. Considering the tense moment, Collette’s aim was damn good. Neither of them panicked and they had charged in without hesitation. That was an incredible moment for them. No longer were they innocent shadows but determined fighters.

  He turned on the interior light and saw the bullet holes through the passenger door and a couple in the seat. He nodded in approval. Good thing he figured out what they were up to, otherwise, he’d be dead. That would have haunted them for the rest of their lives.

  Chapter 43

  Winters was behind Collette as they drove on US 2. They had caught up with Butler and she was following about a hundred feet behind. It didn’t appear as if he had stopped to wait for them because it took quite awhile for them to catch him. They had been following him for over two hours and had already gone through Grand Rapids, Minnesota. They were closing in on Duluth, which was the last place Winters wanted to go with three trucks loaded with valuable supplies. People still lived there and were probably just as desperate as the rest of the Midwest. It would be too dangerous to show up with loaded trucks, two of which were being driven by teenaged girls.

  Collette tried to signal Butler to stop, but he was either ignoring her or was aware it wasn’t his friends. They could have had a coded signal and he was leading them into a trap.

  Winters pulled the map off the dash to decide just how far he would be willing to go, then if Butler crossed that red line, the third truck would be forfeited. Since they didn’t know who was meeting Butler, it wasn’t worth going any further and putting themselves in danger. The problem was there weren’t a lot of roads to take before they got to Duluth. There were only two decent options, one was State Road 73, which was coming up fast, and the other was State Road 33. He had decided on the latter giving Butler one more chance.

  He ran his finger over to Wisconsin, which was just east of Duluth. They would be at the very top of the state with a straight shot onto the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This was ideal because it would be just less than three hundred miles across the UP and then another two hundred miles down the state to Jackson.

  It wasn’t appealing to take these girls to a war zone, but driving back to Iowa before going to Jackson would make it a twelve hundred mile trip. Of course, the girls would do whatever he asked of them, so that wasn’t the question. He just didn’t want to get them involved, but at this point, it would be foolhardy to not keep going.

  They flew by the State Road 73 exit and had just another twenty miles to try to get Butler to pull over. Deciding to get in front of the girls, Winters swerved into the other lane and waved as he passed by them. Winters turned his lights off and on a few times to no avail and vowed to stick to his red line decision to abandoned the third truck. The loss of the vehicle would hurt especially since it contained most of the food supplies.

  The exit to State Road 33 was just a couple of miles away, and Winters let off the gas to put some distance between them and Butler but not enough to raise suspicions. Little by little, they were falling further behind. Winters would turn the headlights off before turning and then disappear into the night.

  The overpass was just ahead, and Winters let out a scowl when Butler’s brake lights lit up the dark. He was slowing down to take the exit.

  “Well, there goes that plan,” thought Winters. They weren’t going to Duluth after all. The third truck was back in play but so was his initial concern over meeting other people. The nearest town was Cloquet, Minnesota, which was five miles south. It was a small town and most likely deserted. There was nothing to do at this point but see where Butler would take them.

  Ten minutes later, Butler was finally pulling over by taking a right into a parking lot in front of a closed down office building on the outskirts of Cloquet. The building measured a hundred and twenty feet. The parking lot in front of the building was only two lanes. One was for parking and the other as a right-a-way with an entrance and exit.

  Winters took his time turning into the narrow lot and wanted to keep some distance between the trucks. Butler stopped after passing the entrance to the building, so Winters parked at the beginning of the building. Collette smartly followed suit and stayed behind him.

  Winters pulse quickened waiting for Butler to get out of the truck. Was this his place? Did he live here? Or was this Fowler’s place and he was supposed to get out and open the door? Butler then started honking the horn. Winters was unsure what this meant. Was Butler honking at him or was there was someone in the building, and if so, how many?

  Deciding it was best to keep the headlights on to blind anyone approaching, Winters jumped out and ran back to the girls.

  “What’s going on?” asked Collette in a nervous tone.

  “Not sure. Listen, turn the headlights off, put your holsters on and grab your goggles. Slip around the corner of the building and be ready.”

  The horn beeped a few more times convincing Winters that this was a meet. He jumped back in his truck and powered up his night-vision goggles before taking out his new Glock. He threaded the suppressor onto the barrel while focusing his attention on what was happening in front of him.

  Butler remained in the truck and hit the horn a couple more times. Whoever was here wasn’t expecting him. These people could either be friends of Butler’s or his buyers. Cochran said the buyers were a bunch of scary people.

  The headlights behind him went dark, which meant Collette and Laney were out of the truck.

  Winters kept staring at the door until it finally opened. Four shirtless men exited the building carrying weapons. They belong to a street gang, as everyone had what could only be described as gang tattoos covering their bodies. They talked to Butler for a moment before one of them started coming his way.

  Chapter 44

  Cloquet Minnesota

  A shirtless man came up and banged on the door. He was a lean, muscled man with a tattoo on each side of his face and host of others covering his body.

  “Are you Cochran?”

  These were the buyers, and this one didn’t know who Cochran was. Winters answered in a muffled tone while pushing the door open to climb out.

  “Yeah, I’m Cochran,” said Winters as his body tensed.

  Tattooed started towards the back. “Where’s them bitches you got?”

  Hitting the pavement, Winters kept the door open and flipped his goggles down before catching up to him. He took a quick deep breath to try to slow down his heart rate.

  “Where are they?” he asked again in a frustrated tone.

  “Got in ‘em in the back, man. They’re tied up and ready to go if ya want a turn,” said Winters playing on the man’s desires.

  “Good. Cause I got a train waiting for them inside.”

  Running a train was slang for when a group of guys stood in line to have sex with the same girl. Winters knew
the term but didn’t know how many it meant. “Cool. How many are ya?”

  “There’s eight of us. Think these girls can handle it.”

  Winters jerked his head back. His job just went from doable to more difficult. “Are they asleep or something?”

  “Yeah, man. Hell, we were all sleeping till you guys showed up.”

  Winters heard enough and raised the suppressed Glock and pointed it at the back of Tattoo’s head just as he went to pull the cargo door open. He depressed the trigger once, and it bucked in his hand followed by a muffled spit. The front of the man’s head exploded splattering blood and flesh onto the cargo door as it rolled up. Winters let the body fall to the ground unconcerned where it landed.

  He was satisfied with the suppressor. The report had been minimal and further disguised by the cargo door opening. It was, however, louder than you’d hear in a Hollywood movie.

  The sound of footsteps caused Winters to turn around to find Collette and Laney rushing in wearing their night-vision goggles. Neither of them spoke and breathed in measured paces while shouldering their M-4’s. He motioned them to follow him to the front of his truck.

  Another man had appeared outside as they began looking at the supplies in the back of the truck. This left three more inside who would be able to barricade themselves, which meant an extended gun battle. It wasn’t ideal, but he didn’t have the patience to wait for the others to join them.

  He turned to Collette and Laney. “I want you guys to swing around to the other side of the road till you’re in the middle of the trucks and get on the ground. Don’t fire until I signal you. Once you fire, your position will be exposed, so you’ll need to move to another one.”

  “What’s the signal?” asked Laney.

  “I’ll turn the headlights off.”

  “What about you?” asked Collette.

  “As soon as you guys are in position, I’ll open fire and take out what I can. The ones I don’t hit will scatter. There’s three more inside. That’s why I want you to stay hidden. You’ll have the perfect line of sight. Got it?”

  They gave short jerky nods.

  “Remember girls, we own the night,” said Winters tapping on his goggles trying to give them a confidence boost. “Now, go.”

  They took off and swept around before stretching out on the asphalt in the middle of the road. Winters pulled his M4 into his shoulder and stepped in front of his truck. He flipped the weapon to full auto and applied pressure to the trigger.

  The parking lot lit up with muzzle flashes and a deafening barrage of rifle fire. Two guys instantly fell to the ground dead, both taking multiple rounds to the chest. Another in the truck turned around with a pistol. The pistol jumped twice in his hands with one bullet whizzing by Winters, as he emptied his magazine on the gang-banger. He took numerous hits before dropping dead.

  The one managed to run back inside while Butler jumped into the cab of his truck and started to drive away. This was an unexpected move, one he didn’t have an answer for. Losing that cargo would make this gun battle a useless endeavor and a waste of time.

  Winters ejected his empty mag and fished out another. He slammed it in and started for Butler but was cut off by gunfire from inside the building. It was time to get the girls involved, so he turned the headlights off.

  Collette opened fire at the building firing in full-auto shattering all the windows. Winters nodded in satisfaction and was pleasantly surprised when Laney took off after the escaping Butler. She ran right up to the driver’s door and started shooting inside the cab. Seconds later, the truck’s movement began to slow down, and she hopped on the running board to open the door. Butler’s body tumbled onto the asphalt. She then crawled inside and threw the truck into park.

  All that was left were the four men barricaded inside the building. Collette continued to keep them at bay, but she had nothing to hide behind, and they would soon fire on her position.

  Winters thought of a quick solution and ran to the back of his truck finding just what they needed. He grabbed a long carrying-case before jumping out of the truck and running out to the road. Laney had just begun to suppress the enemy fire from her new position while Collette moved to a different one. Winters reached her just as she was about to open fire again.

  “Wait. Don’t expose yourself,” ordered Winters as he put the case on the ground.

  Collette bobbed her head at him. “What is that?”

  Winters opened the case.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  “It is indeed,” said Winters just as the men inside began to return fire at Laney’s position. He could see the muzzle flashes from their rifles. Winters hoisted the RPG to his shoulder but then remembered when they fired one at the police station in Detroit. They were further away than this and still felt the concussion. “Let’s back up a bit,” said Winters.

  He looked over at Laney and waved her back. She saw the RPG and scurried away. Collette was first across the road and into another parking lot. Winters sidled up next to her and put the launcher back on his shoulder. The men inside were firing blindly as Winters pulled the trigger. The rocket flew out with a swoosh and fire entrails lit up the night as it zoomed towards the building. It took a couple of seconds before impacting into a massive explosion.

  Debris began raining down on the road and bouncing off the asphalt, so Winters dropped the launcher and got on top of Collette to protect her.

  After it stopped raining down on them, Laney came running over yelling.

  “That was friggin awesome. Look at it. It’s, like, all gone.”

  Winters helped Collette up and turned to see the building partly demolished and on fire. There would be no survivors. The flames began reaching the two trucks.

  “C’mon let’s get those trucks out of the way.”

  Collette reached hers first and began backing it up out on the street. After moving them, Winters checked for damage only to find paint burned off the front of his.

  “Did you see me stop, Butler?” Laney asked in an excited tone.

  “That was impressive,” Winters said putting put an arm around her shoulder.

  “I knew I had him. He, like, never even saw me coming and I fired right into the truck.”

  “Both you guys did great. Collette, you moved to a new position just when you needed to.”

  “Sergeant Hicks trained us on that,” said Collette.

  “Did he now?”

  “Oh, yeah. We ran those courses a bunch of times.”

  “It shows. Now listen, I need to ask you guys a big favor.”

  “Yes, we’ll drive the trucks to Jackson,” said Laney.

  Winters raised his eyebrows.

  “You want these trucks, and you need drivers,” said Laney. “Of course, we’ll help you.”

  “We’ll do anything for you, Cole,” said Collette.

  “Well, alright then. What do ya say we get the hell out of here? No telling if there are any more bad guys around. Laney that truck’s yours,” said Winters pointing to the one she shot at. “Keep the headlights off.”

  Winters didn’t stop worrying until they were through the town of Cloquet and on State Road 210. He wanted to get as far away from Duluth as possible before the sun came up. They would need to pull over and get some rest before they went much further. Their adrenaline would be waning, and fatigue would set in after such a long and eventful night.

  A dizzy, tattooed gang-banger crawled away from the burning building and got up on his feet. He was shaken and not thinking clearly but knew enough to go for help. He took a few steps and had to catch himself from falling over.

  The sound of engines revving in the air snapped his head back to reality. He aimed toward the end of the building but found his coordination floundering. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought he was drunk the way he stumbled around the building. He was just in time to see three moving vans pulling out onto the street and head east.

  “Who the hell were they? Was it those
bitches that Butler kidnapped?” he asked aloud.

  Whoever they were, they were stealing a payday and making their escape. He needed to get to his crew and stop them. He fell into his white Caddy and fired it up. It took all his strength to pull down on the gearshift. He floored the gas pedal and squealed the tires as he swung onto the road. Help was five miles away, and he would have to hurry if they were to have any chance of catching up with them. If anyone could do it, it was their leader, Big T. He was the baddest among them and tenacious as hell.

  Chapter 45

  Hanover Michigan

  The temperature hadn’t dropped much since the sun had gone down a few hours ago and Meeks was glad he’d worn his tactical chest rig rather than a vest. It was hot, and he was out of breath after jogging across empty fields for the last fifteen minutes. He flipped up the thermal goggles and grabbed a bottle of water. He took a few gulps before offering it to Amber. She shook her head and grabbed her own. Meeks chuckled knowing she didn’t want his cooties.

  They were on the other side of the border, way past Pulaski Road where they usually brought the convoys across. They’d been out for over an hour and was surprised the separation between the Jiji guard post was much broader than usual. They had never seen it like this before and thought something was up. They hoofed it up and down the field on both sides to see if they could spot any hidden Jijis. It would have been impossible for them to hide since Meeks was wearing the thermal goggles, which picked up the smallest of heat signatures. Not finding any, the concern was the enemy had changed tactics. Meeks had decided to jog a couple of miles west to make sure they hadn’t moved into a different position.

  “So glad we came this far,” said Meeks sarcastically.

  “You’re not tired are ya?” kidded Amber.

  “Not enough to fall behind you.”

  “Oooh. I sense I’ve challenged your manhood.”

  “Ya damn right, you have.”

  “Well, the way I heard it from Reese, is that she beat you that night you guys were on the run.”