Chapter 13
The next morning Cooper got up early and threw dirt over what was left of the ashes from the huge fire he'd built. He didn't want anyone coming upon the shack and thinking someone was living in and around it. He decided to take a few weeks and let the shock of Kerry Larson's death die down a little in Red Mountain. He had the names of the other three men so he didn't have to get in a real big hurry to kill them. He knew they would be there when he was ready to go after them.
It was during that time that he decided to spend some time with Ashley. A few days after he killed Kerry he cleaned up and went to Ridgecrest. When he got there Ashley was very excited to see him.
When they were alone she pulled him aside and whispered, "Oh, my gosh, Cooper!" I saw it on the news about Kerry Larson. Everyone in Red Mountain and the Rand area are upset about how he was killed." Cooper said, "Yeah, well, he deserved everything he got. It wasn't any worse than what he did to Dalton. Nobody made a big deal about it when Dalton was killed."
He told her that he found out the names of the other three men in the vigilante group. He said that Kerry gave them to him before he killed him. He told her he needed her to find out everything she could about them, where they lived, where they worked and what they did in their spare time. He gave her the names and Ashley said, "That's not a problem. I'll go on the computer and I can get some information about them from there. If I have to, I'll drive over to Randsburg and talk to the waitress again. She'll give me everything she knows." Cooper thanked her, and after he relaxed a little, they began enjoying their time together.
They had developed a good bond with each other and were treating each other very much like boyfriend and girlfriend. Cooper never pushed Ashley to do anything she didn't want to do. He always showed her total respect. He never brought up what had happened to her when she was with Charley. He knew that was part of her life she wanted to try and forget. It didn't make him feel any different about her, she was a beautiful person to him and that's all that mattered.
For the next few weeks Cooper would leave the dogs at the shack while he went into town and visited with Ashley. They went to the movies together and spent time having lunch at a few of the local fast food restaurants. Their kissing tuned into make out sessions and soon they were in a full-fledged relationship. The empty feeling he was having from missing Dalton had been temporarily transferred into semblance of happiness while he was with her.
Ashley was finally starting to feel good about herself again. She realized that someone could really care about her for who she was and not who she perceived herself to be. As twisted as their relationship might have been, it was good for the two of them. They felt like they had each other to lean on.
At the end of the second week of spending time with Ashley she was able to find out what he needed to know about the three men on his list. Cooper just listened as she read what she had written down on a tablet.
"I found out that Jim Larson was the guy that was pushing everyone to go to your house that day and kill you and Dalton. He's fifty eight years old and his wife's name is Janelle. His hair is short and he has a stocky build for his five foot ten inch frame. He's retired and doesn't do much, but piddle around his property. He got everyone to join the group when he told them he'd been around when Joshua Bailey killed the three men in Red Mountain. He told the men that Joshua lived in the same house and also had a large killer dog just like Cooper and Dalton. He believed there was a connection and that the boys had killed Jacob and Lisa Smallwood. He got everyone really fired up to go to your house that day."
"One of the other guys in the vigilante group was forty eight years old Frank Townsend. He lives in a small house in Johannesburg. His wife died about five years ago from cancer and his kids moved away. He works at the China Lake Military Base in Ridgecrest. He's five feet nine inches tall and he keeps his head shaved. He wears a baseball cap just about everywhere he goes. The trouble is he doesn't go very many places. He just watches television once he gets home from work at night. He's deathly afraid of all snakes and especially rattlesnakes. He has a pretty boring life. He was best friends with Jacob and Lisa Smallwood and he was just looking for revenge for his best friend and wife's death."
"Ted Summers is married and has two kids that still live at home. They are both girls and they go to the local high school. He controls every aspect of his wife Judy and his two daughter's lives. He seems to be a control freak. He works in Ridgecrest for a construction company as a foreman. He's real cocky and just drives around in his company pick-up all day spouting out orders to people. He also wears a baseball cap most of the time. He's fifty two years old and six foot one inch tall. He spends a lot of his days off in the desert riding his dirt bikes."
"Mark Silvers is just plain weird. He doesn't work and just lives off of disability and what little work he can get paid under the table. He has a drinking problem at times and has gotten a few D.U.I.'s. over the years. He's been married and divorced a few times and not living with anyone right now. He's five foot eleven inches tall and pretty skinny. He has a couple of big dogs and lots of guns and ammunition. He calls himself a Patriot and has told people that he'll be ready when the Muslims or the Communist try to take over America. He joined the vigilante group because he had nothing else to do and felt like it was for a good cause."
Cooper thanked Ashley for her help, "When I get through with these guys they'll wish they stayed home that day instead of joining that stupid group." Before he left, he told her he was going to be busy for a few weeks and not to get upset if she didn't see him for a while. He left and went back to the shack. When he got there he sat down on the couch and thought about the four men he was going to go after. He decided his next target was going to be Ted Summers.
A few days later Cooper found out where Ted Summers' office was located in Ridgecrest and went there and put an application in for a job. While he was there, he was able to become friendly with the secretary and after talking to her for a while was able to ask her a few questions about how it was to work with Ted Summers as the foreman. She rolled her eyes and said, "The guys say sometimes its good and other times he's a hard nose and you can't please him." He asked if it would be possible to come in on Saturday and talk to Ted about a job in person instead of handing him an application. She looked on Ted's schedule and told him he was off that coming Saturday and Sunday so it would have to be the following week. After hearing that news, he told her he would be back next week and thanked her for her help.
On Friday night Cooper decided he would camp out at the place where he'd parked Charley's truck until he was able to meet up with Ted. He packed up the dogs and headed to Red Mountain. When he got there he switched trucks just before dark and drove by Ted's house. He had a couple of his dirt bikes strapped down in the bed of his truck ready to go bright and early the next morning.
Once Cooper knew he was going out into the desert the next day he went back to his campsite and waited until almost daylight. He didn't sleep at all that night as he sat up and thought about Dalton and how he was going to get his revenge on Ted Summers.
When it was time to go, he threw some ropes in the bed of the old truck and went to a spot and parked where he could watch for Ted's truck as he left. Ted was up early and left at the first light of day. Cooper pulled out not too far behind him and followed him at a safe distance.
He kept a close eye on Ted's vehicle, as he turned off on a dirt road and headed deep into the desert. It took about thirty minutes for Ted get to where he was going before he parked and got out. He quickly started taking the chains and locks off one of the dirt bikes and unloaded it.
Cooper had parked a long distance away and could just barely see the figure of Ted as he unloaded one of the bikes. He was so busy with what he was doing that he hadn't noticed that Cooper had followed him to his favorite riding place.
When Ted rode off in th
e distance on one of his bikes Cooper took the dogs, grabbed the gas can, from the back, the duct tape, put a rope around his shoulder and hiked up ahead to where Ted parked his truck. He broke the window and opened up the door and had the dogs pile in the cab with him. He brought some extra water and food for himself and the dogs just in case he was going to be there all day. There was a five gallon can of gas that was full and sitting in the passenger side of the pick-up. That's when Cooper knew Ted would be coming back to fill up his tank or possibly get on the other bike in a few hours.
They waited in the truck until about ten o'clock when they saw a dirt bike coming from way off in the distance. Cooper had the dogs jump out of the truck and they all found a place to hide in the sage brush not too far away. Cooper said to the dogs, "Get ready boys, here he comes." The dogs were anxious as they lay down like they always did before they went on an attack.
When Ted got close to the pick-up he parked the bike next to it and took off his helmet. He then noticed the broken window of his truck. He immediately began cussing and kicking the dirt in anger. He started looking in all the different directions for the person that had done that to his truck.
Cooper waited until he thought Ted was the most vulnerable and then gave the dogs the command to attack, but not kill. They blindsided Ted and knocked him to the ground. He immediately started trying to pull the pistol that he had tucked his pants to kill snakes with, but it was too late. Samson had him by the throat and Skeeter had him by the arm in a matter of seconds. Once the dogs had him under control, Cooper calmly walked over and picked up a hand size rock and hit Ted across the head with it. Not enough to kill him, but just enough to stun him and calm him down.
He was lying on his back so Cooper flipped him over on his stomach and then wrapped the duct tape around his hands a few times so he couldn't get loose. He also taped his feet together and put a couple of strips of tape over his eyes and mouth. Once he had Ted where he wanted him, he took his time and started doing everything very methodical.
He tied a rope around Ted shoulders and then tied it firmly to the back of the dirt bike. He put gas in the bike from the can before he started it up. When he had Ted firmly attached with the rope to the bike he got on the dirt bike and started dragging him through the desert behind the bike. He sped up to about thirty miles per hour and Ted's body was flipping from one side to the other as he bounced off of the sage bushes and rocks. Cooper made a few figure eights and drove across anything that looked like it would beat Ted's body up. He did that for about ten minutes before he drug his dirty, limp less body back to the pick-up.
At that point, Ted's body was pretty broken up and he wasn't trying to fight it anymore, but he was still alive. Cooper then got behind Ted's back and lifted him up and into the truck and put him in the driver seat. He taped his hands to the steering wheel so he couldn't jump out. He took the gasoline from the five gallon can and poured the rest of it on Ted and throughout the cab of his truck. He also threw some of it on the outside of it. He unloosened the rope from the bike and lifted the bike up and threw it in the bed of the truck with the other one.
When he was through preparing everything he went over to Ted and ripped the duct tape from his eyes. "I just want you to know that the young guy you and your vigilante friends killed was my twin brother. He didn't have any weapons on him when you guys shot him in the back." Ted was able to open his eyes for a second when Cooper told him that.
He untied the rope from Ted's body and rolled it up and put it around his shoulders. He had the dogs get back as he lit the gasoline on fire and the truck instantly went up in flames. He threw the five gallon empty can in the bed of the truck. He took his gas can with him as he and the dogs quickly headed back to his pick-up.
There were a few explosions from the gas tanks and the five gallon can as they made their way back. When they got to the truck he quickly drove back to the main road. Once on the main road he then headed north to the ravine. On the way back he said out loud, "That's two of those pieces of crap Dalton, just three more to go."
Back at the ravine he took his time and changed vehicles and then headed back north on 395 toward the shack. He passed a few police vehicles and a fire truck going in the opposite direction. He figured they were headed out in the desert to where he'd just killed Ted Summer about twenty minutes earlier.
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Nightcrawlers: Reign of Terror Page 14