Bug Out! Part 12: RV Alliance (23 page)

“We’re going down there,” he said. “We’ll take that camper and leave.”

“Okay,” Kerry said. “I’m hungry.”

“Me too,” Scott said as he started the Jeep. They drove down the winding road, out of sight of the camper until they were on the valley floor. Scott watched the camper windows as they drove up. The old woman looked out, and then closed the blinds.
Perfect They’re scared.
He pulled up next to the camper and stopped the engine, checking his pistol. He got out of the driver’s seat and slipped it into his back waistband, under his shirt. “Stay here,” he whispered to Kerry, “but come when I call you.”

Kerry nodded back to him.

“Hello? Anybody there?” Scott called.

“What do you want?” an old man’s voice asked.

“We’re lost,” Scott said. “We’re out of water. Can you help us?”

“Follow the road by the stream. You’ll hit the highway in two miles.”

“Open the door,” Scotty said. “Please.”

“No chance,” the old man said.

Scott’s anger started to build. “I can make you open the door.” He pulled out his pistol. The woman watching him from the window moved away quickly.

“Go away,” she cried.

“Dammit,” Scott said. He stomped over to the Jeep, pulling back the soft top in the rear, opening the compartment. He shined his phone light inside. There was a tire iron in there. He grabbed it and went to the door of the camper. He pried on the door, and it popped open. Scott pulled his pistol and pointed it inside, and then saw two barrels pointing at him. Shotgun! He tried to back off to the side when the old man fired, hitting him in the left shoulder, throwing him to the ground.

“Scotty!” Kerry yelled, getting out of the Jeep and running to his side in the darkness. Scott leveled the pistol and fired, hitting the old man in the gut. The old woman screamed, and then Scott heard several small rounds being fired. Kerry froze, turning his head down to him, blood pouring out of the side of his head.

“You old bitch!” Scott yelled as Kerry fell dead next to him. He got to his feet and tried to aim his pistol again in a blind rage. The woman let loose with several more shots from the small revolver, hitting Scott in the side. She continued to pull the trigger, clicking, empty. He screamed with pain and ran to his Jeep, starting it and driving away as quickly as he could, not able to use his left hand at all. “I’m not done yet!” he screamed to himself as he drove into the darkness. Blood was flowing out of his shoulder and his belly. He raced for the highway and hit it, peeling out down the road, dizzy, weakening.

***

Gabe rushed into the police station, heading for the watch commander’s counter. “Sue?” he asked.

“Oh, I know who you mean,” he said. “You a friend?”

“Yeah, I’m Gabe,” he said, out of breath.

“Okay, relax,” he said. “I’ll call back there.” He got on the phone and had a hushed conversation as Gabe dropped himself in a chair against the wall.

“She’ll be right out,” the watch commander said. “Officer Shockney will follow you guys back out to her RV Park.”

“Great,” Gabe said. He watched the door, and then it opened. He’d had Sue on his mind ever since he left her park. Seeing her now sent a shudder through him. She smiled when she saw him and rushed over.

“You don’t mind if I hug you?” she said.

“Are you kidding?” he said, taking her into his arms. She sobbed against him. “That was so scary.”

Officer Shockley came out. “You Gabe?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Gabe said, breaking the embrace and shaking hands.

“Good, let’s go,” he said.

They walked out the door together. “What about your car?” Gabe asked.

“I’ve got to get somebody out there to pump up the tires. They let the air out before they tried to get me in my room.”

“We’ll send a tow truck over later,” Officer Shockney said. “Don’t you worry about it.”

“Thanks, officer,” she said. “You’ve been so nice.”

“Part of the job,” he said. “I’ll get behind you. Go ahead on.”

Gabe nodded and took Sue to the rental car, opening the passenger door for her.

“This your car?” she asked as he got in.

“No, this is a rental that Ted Crowley brought,” Gabe said. “Long story. I’ll tell you all about it when we’re settled.”

“Your friend with the fifth wheel is already at my park?”

“Should be,” Gabe said. “Wonder where Scott is?”

“They found his Class C when I was at the station, but he was gone. They think he’s in a Jeep, in the brush north of town.”

“How close is that to your RV Park?”

“Closer than I’d like,” she said. “Take that road. It’s a shortcut.”

“Okay,” Gabe said, making the right turn. “Dark back here.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Don’t worry, it’s a safe road. The park is only about a mile away.”

“Good,” Gabe said.

“Where’s Malcolm?”

“He was following Dobie’s fifth wheel when I split off from them. Ted’s further back. He got hung up with the FBI outside of Indianapolis.”

“We’re getting close,” Sue said. “You’ll see the lights any minute.”

“Still looking pretty dark.”

“Uh oh, the lights aren’t on,” Sue said, looking over at Gabe, worried.

“Don’t panic yet,” Gabe said. “Could just be the help. Who usually turns them on?”

“Whoever’s in the office when it gets dark,” she said. “Eddie’s probably home now. Should be my other employee.”

“There it is,” Gabe said. “The coaches have lights on.” As they approached, the park lights went on.

“Good, somebody switched them on,” Sue said. “Go around to the front. Make a left here and then a right at the end of the fence.”

Gabe nodded and made the left. “Your park is pretty full now.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Weekend crowd was showing up when I left last night.”

Gabe made the right turn and drove to the driveway, pulling next to the office and parking. They both got out and headed for the office door. Officer Shockney pulled up behind them, but stayed in the car, talking on his radio.

“Eddie, you’re still here?” Sue asked. “You must be tired.”

“I’m good,” he said, leaning against the counter. “Wanted to make sure you made it back okay.”

“This is Gabe,” Sue said.

“I figured,” Eddie said. “Nice to meet you in person.”

“Likewise,” Gabe said. “My friends get here yet?”

“Yeah, they’re in the same spot you guys had last time,” he said.

Skip came out into the front of the office. “Sue, you’re here!”

“Yes, I’m here,” she said. “Thanks for covering for me. Both of you.”

“Well, I’m just doing my usual shift,” Skip said. “Eddie did the heavy lifting.”

The door opened and Officer Shockney walked in. “Just got off the radio. Scott tried to take a camper away from an old couple. Got himself shot up pretty good. He just got picked up, passed out in a ditch on the side of Summit Road.”

“He in the hospital?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Don’t know if he’s going to make it. Lost a lot of blood.”

“What happened to the old couple?” Sue asked.

“The old man is in critical condition. Gut shot. The old woman came out without a scratch. There was a dead teenager at the scene. The woman said she shot him with her .32 revolver.”

“Wow,” Gabe said. “We should tell Malcolm. The hospital knows to secure this guy, right? He’s slippery. Real slippery.”

“Yeah, they’ve got two officers guarding him, and he’s cuffed to the bed,” Officer Shockney said. “He’s not in good enough shape to escape, though. They’ll be lucky if they can keep him from slipping into a coma.”

Malcolm walked in the door with Dobie. “Hey, guys,” he said. “Heard some chatter on the news.”

“Malcolm Davis?” Officer Shockney asked.

“Yeah,” Malcolm said.

“Good to meet you. I’m Officer Shockley of Cameron PD.”

“Good to meet you,” Malcolm said, shaking his hand. “This is Dobie.”

“Pleasure,” Dobie said, shaking hands.

“Hey, you look familiar,” Officer Shockney said. “Did you do some K-9 training videos?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Dobie said.

“They were great,” the officer said. “We don’t have anything but blood hounds in our department, but I’ve been training my own guard dog at home. You still in the business?”

“Had to leave it behind, when our town got overrun by the enemy,” Dobie said. “Still got four of my dogs, though. One of them is with me, out in my trailer.”

“Really?” the officer said. “Love to meet him.”

“It’s a she, named Duchess,” Dobie said, smiling. “It would be a pleasure. Been a while since I’ve been able to talk dogs with anybody.”

“Where are your other dogs?”

“Guarding our home base in Kansas,” Dobie said.

“Well, first things first,” Gabe said. “Scott got captured.”

“He did?” Malcolm asked.

“Yeah,” Officer Shockney said. “Tried to take a truck camper away from an old couple tonight. They were armed.”

“Really? Where is he now?”

“In the hospital, under guard, fighting for his life. Got a shotgun blast to the shoulder and several .32 pistol rounds in his torso. He’s a mess.”

“You know who this guy is, right?” Malcolm asked.

“He’s the guy who took the girl from this park, and tried to kill Sue.”

“He’s the last of the Nighthawk Road serial killer clan,” Malcolm said. “We’ve been tracking him for a long time.”

“No way, really?” Officer Shockney asked.

“Really,” Malcolm said. “Remember those YouTube videos of the attempted kidnapping in Columbus?”

“Yeah,” the Officer said, sitting down. “If that’s the case, this is huge.”

“Yeah, prepare for the onslaught of media coverage,” Malcolm said. “We’ve got a member of the Serial Killer Task force and an FBI agent on the way here now. They’ll want to go to the hospital.”

“Okay,” Officer Shockney said. “You won’t get anything out of him tonight. He might not live, you know.”

“He’s hit that bad, huh?”

“Yeah,” Officer Shockney said. Just then his lapel radio squawked.

“Officer Shockney, you there?”

“Yeah,” he said, turning his head towards the device.

“Found that missing girl and the female suspect about half a mile from the barn. Both dead.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” the radio squawked. “Coroner’s making his way out there now, but it’s really dark. We found evidence of the killings in that barn, too. Blood in front of the motor home. A real mess. The blood is being analyzed now, but it’s pretty obvious where it came from.”

“All right, thanks,” Officer Shockney said.

“Eddie, is that family still here?” Sue asked, horrified expression on her face.

“No, they went home,” Eddie said.

Headlights flashed into the window of the office as a car pulled up.

“That’d be Ted,” Malcolm said, grinning.

The door opened, and Ted walked in with Agent Williams, surprised to see so many people in the office.

“Malcolm, how are you?” Ted asked.

“Great,” Malcolm said. He introduced them to the others in the room.

“You guys haven’t heard what happened yet?” Officer Shockney asked.

“No,” Ted said.

“Scott’s in custody, at a hospital,” Malcolm said, grinning.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you all about it,” Malcolm said. “Let’s head to the restaurant. I’m starving.”

“Me too,” Agent Williams said.

Dobie, Agent Williams, Officer Shockney, Malcolm, and Ted left the office. Gabe stayed behind.

“You gonna be okay, Sue?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “Let’s take a walk around the park, okay? I need to see that my place is okay.”

“I know how you feel,” Gabe said, smiling. They walked out into the night together.

To be continued in Bug Out! Book 13, coming soon!

Bug Out! Part 12
copyright © 2015 by Robert G Boren. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any format without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Thanks to Laura Thomas for editing this book!

Robert G Boren is a writer from the South Bay section of Southern California. He writes Short Stories, Novels, and Serialized Fiction. Most of his work is about people from the South Bay.