Bug Out! Part 12: RV Alliance (11 page)

“What’s
far far
away?” she asked.

“Somewhere I’ve never been active,” Scott said. “Pacific Northwest, for instance. Or Idaho, or Montana, or even Canada.”

“Oh,” she said. “Well, I can’t go back home, so I’m good with whatever you want to do,” she said. “You really want to eat Kraft Dinner?”

“You have something else in mind?”

“Yeah, I saw the restaurant when we drove in,” she said.

“I don’t know, Cindy. You might have been on TV,” Scott said.

“I wasn’t on the story we saw earlier.”

“We didn’t see all the stories, remember?” Scott said. “We saw it after the story was kinda old.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Cindy asked. “They probably have good burgers. I could eat a horse.”

“Okay, we’ll risk it,” Scott said. “But keep a low profile while we’re in there. No loud talking.”

“I can do that,” Cindy said. “If it’s really as dead at the pool as Kerry was saying, maybe we can hit the spa later.”

“Hmmmm, what would you want to do there?” Scott asked, a nasty grin on his face.

“Never you mind,” she said. “Let’s go eat.”

They changed clothes and headed for the door.

“Where are you going, Scotty?” Kerry asked.

“I’m going to take Cindy over to the restaurant.”

“Oh,” he said. “Can I still have Kraft Dinner?”

“Yes, you go ahead. We’ll be back later. Clean up after yourself, okay?”

“I will, Scotty,” he said.

The couple walked into the night, heading for the lighted buildings at the front of the park.

“Wow, deadsville,” Cindy said. “Wonder why?”

“It’s the middle of the week,” Scott said. “And this place is off the beaten path. Wonder if the restaurant is open?”

“Good question,” Cindy said. Scott held the door open for her. The lights were on, but nobody was around.

“Hello?” Scott called.

“Just a minute,” a woman’s voice said.

“That sounds like the same woman who was running the check-in desk,” Scott whispered.

“Hi, there,” the woman said. “You want something to eat?”

“You’re working the front desk
and
the eatery?” Scott asked, smiling.

“During mid-week, yeah,” she said. “They’re in the same building, so it’s easy enough. Pick which ever table you’d like, and I’ll be with you in a moment. The menus are at the tables.”

“Okay, thanks,” Scott said. He escorted Cindy to a table next to the windows. “How’s this?”

“Perfect,” Cindy said, sitting down. Scott sat down across the table from her, and handed her a menu. She opened it as Scott took one himself.

“Yes! They have burgers,” she said. “That sounds so good.”

“Seriously,” Scott said. “I’m really hungry all of a sudden.”

“I know,” Cindy said. “Hope she’s a good cook.”

Sue walked over to their table. “Anything to drink?”

“Just a diet coke here,” Scott said.

“I’ll take the same,” Cindy said.

“Okay,” she said, turning to leave.

“Wish they had cocktails,” Cindy said. “No matter, though. There
is
some booze in the coach.”

“Really?” Scott said. “I never got a chance to check out what’s in there.”

“There’s a bottle of gin and a bottle of vermouth, also vodka and Jack Daniels.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t take that stuff out of there,” Scott said, chuckling. “I know you like gin.”

“How’d you know that?” she asked.

“I could smell it on you the night I bought the coach,” Scott said.

“Oh,” she said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was kind of a turn on.”

“Why?” she asked.

“It suggested a certain
morally causal
attitude,” he said, laughing.

“I’ve heard that line before,” she said, smiling. “A movie or something.”

“Yeah, it was a movie. Here she comes.”

Sue walked over with the soft drinks and straws. “Know what you want to eat?”

“Burger and fries here,” Cindy said.

“Make that two,” Scott said.

“Great,” Sue said. “How do you want them cooked?”

“Rare,” Cindy said.

“Yeah, almost bloody for me,” Scott said.

“Okay, be right up,” Sue said, walking away.

“She doesn’t like to chit chat much, does she?” Cindy asked.

“Nope, she thinks we’re on a date,” Scott said, smiling.

“I guess we kinda are.” Cindy sucked coke through her straw. “So where are we gonna go?”

“Well, I threw out a few places. Any of them interesting to you?”

“I’ve been to Boise before,” Cindy said. “Nice town. Small enough to be relaxing, but large enough to get lost in.”

“Well, then we ought to head there,” Scott said. “It should be far enough away. We really should trade in this coach, though. Sooner or later that RV lot will sell the one that I swapped plates with. That will make for a much better APB.”

“APB?”

“All Points Bulletin,” Scott said, smiling.

“Oh,” Cindy said. “Duh.”

“You beat yourself up a lot, don’t you?” Scott said.

“Oh, I suppose,” she said. “I haven’t had an easy life. It’s been a roller coaster a lot of the time.”

Scott laughed. “And now you’re with me. Oops.”

Cindy got a sheepish grin on her face. They were silent for a while, staring out the window onto the dark RV park. The moon was out, but it wasn’t full. White clouds floated in front of the crescent.

“That’s pretty,” Cindy said.

Sue walked out with two plates and set them down in front of the couple.

“Wow, you don’t scrimp on the fries,” Cindy said, smiling.

“I doubt we’ll get any other customers tonight, so I just divided up what I cooked between you two. Careful, they’re really hot. Just out of the fryer.”

“Thanks,” Scott said, looking at her and smiling. She made eye contact and looked away too quickly before she turned and walked away. He watched her all the way out.

“What, you interested in her now?” Cindy asked.

“Did she seem nervous to you?” Scott asked.

“No, not really,” Cindy said. “Why?”

“She didn’t like making eye contact with me just then,” Scott said.

“A lot of people are like that,” Cindy said.

“You’re probably right,” Scott said. They dug into their burgers.

***

In the kitchen, Sue’s heart was racing. She took one more glance into the dining room. They were eating their burgers and chatting. She hurried into the office and shut the door, sliding the bolt over. Then she looked frantically through a pile of papers from the last couple days of business. There it was. Sheriff Branson’s number. She called. No answer. It went straight to voice mail. She whispered into it.

“Sheriff Branson, this is Sue from Uncle Jaspers. A couple came in. I think it’s the one you’re looking for. Call me back as soon as you can please.”

She waited for about ten minutes, on pins and needles. No call back. She went back to the restaurant. “How you all doing?”

“It’s great,” Cindy said, smiling.

“Yeah, very good,” Scott said.

“I’m glad,” Sue said. “Want me to add this to the bill for your space? You can settle up when you leave.”

“Sure, no problem,” Scott said. “Thanks. How late is your spa open?”

“As late as you want,” she said. “Enjoy.”

“Will do, thanks,” Scott said.

Sue slipped back into the office and locked the door. She checked her phone. No message.
Where is he?
Then she remembered the others. Gabe. She rifled through the papers again, until she found his registration sheet. She punched the number into her phone. It rang a couple of times, then clicked.

“Hello?” Gabe asked.

“Hi, Gabe, this is Sue from Uncle Jaspers. I think Chet’s son is in my dining room right now.”

***

Malcolm and Ted had been following the FBI’s black SUV for two hours. Columbus to the Indianapolis suburb. They were only ten miles away.

“You think we’re gonna find it?” Ted asked.

“Hope so,” Malcolm said. “Depends on the attendant at the storage lot. You know Scott didn’t use his real name.”

“Should we have Gabe stay where he is, or should we tell him to start for Kansas?”

“Oh, I suppose we could tell him to start back for Kansas,” Malcolm said. “We could meet up with him after we’re done here.”

“Want me to call him? I’ve got his number.”

“Sure,” Malcolm said.

Ted hit the contact, and waited. “Busy,” he said.

“Probably talking to the folks back at the park,” Malcolm said. “No problem. We can get with him later.”

“You really think Agent Williams will let his guard down around us?”

“Not a chance in hell,” Malcolm said. “Pity. We’d find Scott a lot quicker if we worked together.”

“I know,” Ted said. “When this gets over, I want to talk with that SAC who shut me out. They have enough on Agent Keith now to know that he was full of crap.”

“We did provide some reason for concern,” Malcolm said. “Let’s not forget that. I’ve bent the rules quite a bit.”

“Oh, I know,” Ted said. “But in the grand scheme of things, your work has been positive.”

“Thanks,” Malcolm said, glancing over at him and smiling. “There’s the off-ramp we want.”

They followed the black SUV down the ramp, and through a series of suburban streets, heading from residential to industrial after a couple miles.

“There it is,” Ted said, pointing as the black SUV parked in front.

“It looks deserted,” Malcolm said as he pulled in two stalls down. They got out of the Jeep and met Agents Williams, Simone, and Weiss.

“Doesn’t look like anybody’s here,” Agent Williams said as they walked to the office door. He pulled on it. “Locked. Crap.”

There was a door bell. Malcolm pushed it, and they could hear a buzzer going off inside. They waited. Nobody showed up.

“What now?” Ted asked.

“Let’s call the number,” Malcolm said, pointing to the sign with a 1-800 number on it. He punched it into his phone. “Direct to voicemail, and the box is full.”

“Let’s go to the police station,” Agent Williams said. “Follow me.”

Everybody got back in their vehicles. The police station wasn’t far away. They parked in back.

“Small department,” Malcolm said as they walked to the door.

“Yeah,” Agent Williams said. “Let me do the talking.”

“No problem,” Malcolm said.

They walked into the reception room. The watch commander saw them and rushed over to the counter. “Can I help you gentlemen?” He asked, looking nervous.

Agent Williams pulled out his FBI badge. “FBI. We would like to search a storage unit at EZ Storage.”

“This about the cop killings?” the watch commander asked.

“Yeah,” Agent Williams said. “There’s nobody at the lot.”

“Yeah, we know,” the Watch Commander said. “I’ll go get the chief. He’ll want to talk with you guys.”

“Okay,” Agent Williams said. He watched as the man scurried off. He came back with a burley looking older man with a handlebar mustache and a belly flowing over his belt.

“For what do we owe this visit from the FBI?” the man asked with a sarcastic tone. “I’m Chief Hanson.”

“Hello, Chief Hanson. I’m Agent Williams. We need to search a storage unit at EZ Storage. The one that belongs to the cop killer.”

“Well, then you’ve got the same problem we have, Agent Williams.”

“What’s that?”

“We don’t know which unit to search,” he said. “The attendant got beat to a pulp by the first victim in the shootings. He’s in a coma.”

“Oh,” Agent Williams said. “Surely there’s somebody else who can help.”

“We don’t know what name the shooter used to rent the storage unit,” Chief Hanson said. “The owner is on his way here, but he lives in Akron, and he probably won’t be much help anyway. He can get us inside, but then it’s a crap shoot.”

“Why is that?” Agent Williams asked.

“He’s not a hands-on type of guy,” Chief Hanson said. “He’s already told us he doesn’t even have a password for the computer system there. We’ll be waiting until the attendant wakes up. If he wakes up.”

“There aren’t any other employees who know the system?” Agent Williams asked

“There was. He was one of the shooting victims. He’s dead.”

“Who was that?”
Dobie asked, getting up from the dinette in his fifth wheel. He didn’t like the look on Gabe’s face.

“Remember Sue at Uncle Jasper’s?” Gabe asked.

“Oh, the one you were making time with,” Dobie said, chuckling.

“That was her. She thinks Scott is at her park right now.”

“Shit,” Dobie said. “She call the cops?”

“She left a message for the sheriff who talked to her yesterday, but she can’t raise him.”

“Uh oh,” Dobie said. “What do you want to do?”

“Go help her,” Gabe said.

“We’d better call Malcolm,” Dobie said. “We shouldn’t just go.”

“Okay,” Gabe said. He hit Malcolm’s contact on his phone, and put it on speaker, setting it on the dinette table in front of Dobie. He slid into the bench seat opposite Dobie. The phone rang and rang.

“He’s not picking up,” Dobie said. “Dammit.”

“We’ve got to help her,” Gabe said.

“C’mon, Gabe, we’re hours and hours away. She’s on the far end of Missouri.”

“I know,” Gabe said. He got up and paced. “Maybe we should call George. Our home park is closer, and besides, they need to know that Scott is so close.”

“You don’t think Scott would risk going to our park, do you?” Dobie asked.

“Who knows,” Gabe said. “He’s off his rocker. You know that.”

Gabe’s phone rang. He looked at it. “Malcolm.” He put it on speaker.

“Gabe, what’s up?” Malcolm asked.

“I got a call from Sue at Uncle Jasper’s RV Park.”

“Okay, calm down,” Malcolm said. “What happened?”

“She thinks that Scott is at her park,” Gabe said. “What should we do?”

“Don’t go blasting over there,” Malcolm said. “If we know he’s there, we’ll get a good bead on him. He’s heading west.”

“What if she’s in danger?” Gabe asked.

“She call the cops?”

“She called Sheriff Branson,” Gabe said. “He isn’t picking up. She left him a message.”

“Shit,” Malcolm said. “Wonder if he’s in custody or something?”