by Scott Blade
Harvard started the engine and backed out of the side street and started driving.
“Where are we going?”
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled a small object out. She handed it to Widow.
“To find someplace to play this.”
He held the item up. It was the cassette tape from the answering machine.
“How did you get that?”
“I snatched it while you boys were acting like apes.”
Widow smiled at her.
“This is impressive.”
“I know. ”
“Problem. Where the hell are we gonna play it?”
“You know what machine will play this?”
“What? A tape recorder. Don’t they use the same tape size?”
Widow said, “Where we gonna get one of those?”
“There’s an electronic store. I remember seeing it by the train depot.”
So, they drove for fifteen minutes, taking a left and a right and stopping at stop signs and finally arrived back at the train depot.
Widow saw the barbershop.
There was an electronic store right there on the corner. It had flat screen TVs in the window, all playing the same program.
They found a parking spot and parked the Jeep and got out.
They walked on the sidewalk and Widow stopped out front. He said, “Let me borrow your phone.”
“Sure.”
Harvard handed over the phone.
“Is there a passcode to unlock it?”
“It’s 6556.”
“Ok. I’ll meet you out here.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to the barber shop.”
“Why? You look like you just got a cut?”
“I did. I’m going to ask if he’s seen your husband. This is the only barber in town. If Jackson is here and gets his haircut, this guy will know. ”
“That’s smart,” she said. “Ok. See you out here in a minute.”
Widow walked along the sidewalk, passing a woman with a baby in a stroller, and several other pedestrians and entered the barbershop.
The barber was alone.
“Hey. You again? You not satisfied with your cut? Want your money back?”
“No. Not at all.”
Widow rubbed a hand across the short, clipped sides of his head and smiled.
“So what can I do for you?”
“I have a question to ask.”
The barber walked over and moved to one of the empty barber chairs. He sat in it and faced Widow.
“Shoot.”
Widow pulled up the phone and the photo and showed it to him.
“Do you know this man?”
The barber looked at the photo. Recognition on his face.
“What’s it to you?”
“It’s important that I find him.”
“He owe you money or something?”
“Nope, but he may be in danger.”
“What kind of danger?”
Widow ignored that and asked, “Have you seen him?”
“I need to know why you ask? The details. He’s one of us.”
“One of us? ”
Widow stopped looking at the barber and then turned his head and looked around the shop. At the front was a wall covered in photos and awards and one framed American flag.
He turned back and asked, “You military?”
“I was. A lifetime ago.”
“Air Force?”
The barber nodded.
“That’s right. I was a pilot in the Gulf.”
“No shit.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m Navy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You can’t tell?”
The barber looked him up and down.
“To be honest, no.”
“It was a long time ago. I’m out now.”
“I like Navy. Yeah, I know the guy. His name is…” the barber looked away, scratched his chin.
Widow stayed quiet.
“Jack or something,” the barber said.
“When’s the last time you saw him?”
“They were in here like a month ago.”
“He wasn’t alone?”
“He comes in with his roommate.”
“Roommate?”
“Yeah. Another airman.”
“You know what they’re doing here?”
The barber shrugged.
“I don’t ask questions about top secret stuff.”
“What makes you think it’s top secret?”
He laughed .
“Why else would anyone come way out here?”
Widow asked, “You got an idea about what they do?”
“I don’t. But there’s like a dozen guys. They’re never out in public all at once. I imagine they’re here manning something. Probably work in shifts. That’s why I only see two of them at a time.”
Widow nodded.
“Do you know where they live?”
“I don’t. Sorry.”
“Is it the motel row?”
The barber didn’t ask what that was. He knew. Obviously.
“That’s my guess.”
“How long have they been here?”
“I only started noticing them about two months ago.”
Widow said, “Thanks for your help.”
“What kind of trouble he in?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Widow asked, “Can I ask you another question?”
“Sure.”
“What’s the deal with the grave?”
“What grave?”
“The unmarked one. On Ignominy Avenue?”
“Why you wanna know?”
“It’s curious.”
“Not sure I should tell you that.”
“Why not? ”
“You’re an outsider. That’s town business. Sorry.”
“I got into a lot of trouble over at Mable’s about it.”
“You didn’t ask her about it, did you?”
“Yeah. I did.”
The barber shook his head like in disgrace or disapproval.
“You’d better be on your way then.”
Widow nodded and turned and told the barber goodbye.
At the door, the barber said, “Mister.”
Widow turned and stared.
“That boy may not be Navy, but he’s one of us.”
Widow stayed quiet.
The Barber said, “Whatever trouble that boy’s in, you help him out, then you come back here, and I’ll tell you about that grave.”
Widow left and made his way back to the sidewalk, where he expected Harvard to be waiting around for him, but she wasn’t there.
Chapter 24
H ARVARD WASN’T THERE because she was waiting at the curb with the Jeep. The engine was running. All the window’s down. The a/c was cut off. She looked at home in it, like she belonged.
But her facial expression was something different.
Widow walked up to the driver side and looked at her. She was holding a tape recorder, brand new. It was right out of the package. There was a torn open package tossed on the passenger side footwell. There was another one in the cup holder from the batteries.
Widow said, “What?”
“You have to hear this?”
Widow leaned in and said, “Play it.”
Harvard got closer to him, and she put the tape recorder between them and hit rewind first. When the tape reset back to the beginning, she hit play.
Bridges’s voice came over the speakers after a beep sound. It was distorted and airy like she was in a big open field .
“Cole! Answer the damn phone!”
A pause filled with static and then she spoke again.
“Cole. Call me as soon as you get in. We found three corpses out here. This was no accident. They were executed.”
More silence filled the recorder.
Widow heard Wagner in the background.
“Is he
there?” Wagner asked.
“I’m leaving a message.”
Bridges came back and said, “Cole, there are three bodies out here, burned to a crisp. Two of them were hogtied with barbwire. One looked like he was stapled to the cabin. Or nailed. It’s a grisly scene. Someone murdered these guys.”
Bridges went silent for a long moment like she was looking for the words.
There was a sound in the background, distant like a car passing. It sounded like an engine roar.
Wagner asked, “You hear that?”
Silence again. The sound was gone.
Bridges came back on.
“Make sure to call me asap, Cole! These boys were murdered. And it looks like it was the Air Force boys from out on Tucker Road.”
Widow looked at Harvard.
“Air Force boys. It doesn’t mean that Jackson was one of them.”
She had tears in her eyes. Then she put her fingers up to his lips, telling him to keep quiet.
She let the finger hang there, and so did he.
There was more .
Bridges called out, “Wagner!”
“I see him!”
Then there was inaudible yelling and screaming.
Bridges must’ve slipped her phone into her pocket, left it on.
Widow heard the distinct sound of a motorcycle engine rumbling, like the ones he heard from Bill and Dorothy’s sons.
Suddenly, there was a loud BOOM!
Followed by another and another and another.
“Gunshots,” he said.
Harvard nodded.
The phone went dead, and the answering machine beeped and hung up.
“That’s it,” Harvard said.
“The Air Force guys. Jackson may not be one of them.”
“He’s dead,” she said.
Widow reached in through the open window, grabbed her, and pulled her close. He hugged her tight.
Chapter 25
A FTER A LONG TIME, Harvard pulled herself together and wiped her tears away. She ended up hanging off the steering wheel of the Jeep.
Widow stayed where he was until finally she came around and asked him to get in.
He offered to drive, but she refused. Said that driving calmed her.
They drove around the town for another twenty minutes, without stopping or without speaking.
Finally, Widow spoke first.
“What do you want to do?”
Harvard breathed in and breathed out.
“I want to kill them. The men who did this to me. The men who killed my husband. I want to burn them all.”
“Okay.”
She stopped the Jeep, pulled it off the road. A Chevy honked at her and then passed.
“Are you going to help me?”
“Of course. ”
“I’m not talking about arresting anyone. Do you want to think about it?”
Widow didn’t have to think about anything.
“I’m not a cop anymore.”
“What do we do with this?”
She showed him the tape recorder.
“Technically, you stole it. It could be painted as obstruction of justice. These guys committed murder.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“Maybe not, but your boy will need his mom.”
“Yes. Of course. So, what do we do with it?”
“Give it to me.”
She handed it over.
“I’ll make sure it gets back to the deputy.”
He slipped the recorder into his pocket.
She said, “How are we going to find them?”
“I have an idea of where they’re going.”
“Where?”
“The Air Force installation out there.”
Widow pointed northwest.
“You believe there’s an installation here?”
“You said it yourself. Jackson is here. He must’ve been sent out here for some reason.”
She said nothing.
Widow said, “Besides, I just confirmed he was here.”
“How do you know?”
“The barber.”
“The barber?”
“Yeah. I asked him if he saw Jackson. Military guys don’t go to salons. He’s the only barber. ”
“Some go to salons.”
“Not any I know.”
“So what did he say?”
“He knows him. Told me there’s several. They work out at the installation. That’s got be it.”
She said, “Why did they do this?”
“I’m not sure. Guess we’ll have to leave one alive so we can ask him.”
“How many are there?”
“Don’t know. But I think they’re the bikers that Cole talked about. Think they drove into town disguised as bikers. Some kind of cover.”
“Why?”
“I think they’re after whatever’s being hidden at that installation.”
She looked down at the radio and then the dashboard and then back at Widow, stared into his eyes.
“So then Jackson didn’t lie to me. He did. But I mean he didn’t ditch us.”
She patted her belly.
“No. He didn’t. He was stationed here. I’d say it’s a can’t-tell-anyone kind of situation. You told me that you’re out of the Air Force for a year now?”
“Yeah.”
“He couldn’t tell you.”
Another tear streamed down her face, and she lifted her sleeve up to her nose, wiping it. She sniffled.
“Sure, you wanna do this?”
“I’m not sitting out! ”
“I didn’t suggest that.”
“Good ‘cause you’re not getting me to.”
She paused a beat and then she said, “Where do we go?”
“We don’t know what the enemy looks like. We don’t know how many there are. We don’t know exactly where they are. And we don’t know who they are.”
“Sounds like a dream op.”
Widow looked out the window.
Harvard said, “We know where they’re headed.”
Widow said, “We know they’ve not gotten there yet.”
“How?”
“If they’ve gotten there then they’ve already got what they want. I’m thinking that whatever they’re after won’t fit on the back of a bike. We’d probably have seen it on a big truck.”
“Not if it was digital.”
He paused, stared at her.
She said, “The Air Force has a lot of valuable digital information. If we’re assuming that my husband was tortured and killed to get information, it might’ve been the kind that comes in gigabytes and not metric tons.”
“You’re right.”
“So what do we do?”
“We go to the installation. Hope we’re not too late.”
She started the Jeep up, took her foot off the brake. Widow said, “First take me to the gas station. ”
Harvard looked at the fuel indicator.
“We don’t need gas.”
“It’s not for gas.”
“Why are we going there?”
“We gotta assume these guys are armed.”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m going to need firepower.”
“Gas stations don’t sell guns.”
“I’m not going to be buying one.”
“What?”
“Go to the gas station. You’ll see.”
“Okay.”
She drove off.
Chapter 26
A N OLD GREEN TRUCK cruised up to the parking lot of a local market. Lareno was behind the wheel.
Dorothy and Ethans sat in the backseat. Ethans was snug and close to her. He had a big arm hanging around her like a bear hugging its prey.
They’d just loaded the beers into the back of the truck.
Lareno had stayed in the cab while Ethans walked Dorothy into the market, shopped with her, and waited for her to pay for everything. And he watched her carry the cases of beer out to the truck and put them i
nto the back by herself. It was a struggle. It took her longer than he wanted. But in the end, she did as she was told. She smiled at everyone who said good morning to her.
No one asked about Ethans. She figured that they just assumed him to be one of her sons or a cousin or nephew, maybe.
She walked out of the supermarket with her shoulders slumped and a heavy heart. She had seen her sons murdered in front of her and her last chance to escape, to tell someone, to cry out for help was gone.
She and Bill were as good as dead. She knew they weren’t going to let them go. No way. They’d murdered her sons. They were up to no good. They weren’t going to leave witnesses.
But what could she do now?
Lareno started the engine, and they drove out of the lot. He double-checked the faces of the pedestrians in the lot to make sure that none of them looked at Dorothy and started questioning who she was with.
No one did.
Just then, Lareno’s phone rang.
He picked it up and drove one-handed back through the downtown streets, back to Dorothy’s house.
The phone rang again, and he answered it with his free hand.
“What?”
“It’s Warrens.”
“Yeah? Did you find Giles?”
“I found him. He was at the cabin like Major said, but…”
“But what?”
“He’s dead.”
“How?”
“It looks like the poor bastard ambushed the cops here.”
“Yeah?”
“And there’s more than one. There’s a trooper here too. ”
“Yeah?”
“So, they all shot each other. From the looks of it, he got the marshal first, then he and the trooper exchanged fire. Now they’re both dead.”
Lareno said nothing.
Warrens asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“Leave them. Doesn’t matter now anyway.”
“Understood. Want me to join Arnold? Look for the other airman?”
“No get back to the house. We move in soon.”
Warrens gave an affirmative and hung up the phone.
Lareno did the same and drove on.
Three turns later; he noticed that Dorothy was staring out the window at a Jeep Wrangler up ahead.
He stayed behind them and then decided to turn behind them. Her eyes stayed locked on the car.
Lareno looked in the rearview at Ethans.
“Ethans.”
Ethans looked back at him.