Bug Out! Part 9: RV Ambush (15 page)

“Why’d you leave?”

“You know why,” Scotty said. “Cindy was starting to figure it out. She kept wanting to come out to the RV Park when I wasn’t around. I had to get her out of the area, and I had to let things cool down for a while. The timing worked out, too. All the old folks were gone by that time. The park was empty except for the occasional overnighter.”

“Cindy,” Howard said. “Always wanted a piece of her. Soccer mom types are the best if you can get them.”

Scotty looked at him, offended. “She was my wife.” Then he cracked up, and Howard joined him.

“She was you’re cover,” Howard said. “I always knew that. She was
fine
, though. Where is she now?”

“She really was in Jersey when that bomb went off. I was lucky. I was on a
business
trip
.”

“You lucky son of a bitch,” Howard said, laughing again. “So she vaporized?”

“Close. Same with the kids.”

“You don’t sound too upset about that,” Howard said.

“I didn’t want the kids,” he said. “She tricked me into that. Bitch was supposed to be on the pill.”

“I could believe that once, but you had three.”

“Well, after the first one, I figured what the hell. Good cover.”

“You never got to love them?” Howard asked, studying his face.

“Oh, I enjoyed them sometimes. Especially Jacob. He had a nice mean streak.”

Howard rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. I love my kids, and I loved my wife. If it wasn’t for that damn cancer, I’d still be with her.”

“How did you keep her from finding out?” Scotty asked.

Howard started to laugh, almost hysterically.

“What?”

“She knew, dummy,” Howard said. “Don’t you remember how I met her?”

“No, guess not.”

“She was Sherry’s best friend.”

“Oh, yeah, forgot about that,” Scotty said. “Sherry never mentioned anything about that.”

“She earned her wings with Sherry,” Howard said. “Once the first kid came along, that was the end, though. It changed her. No more nonsense after that, but she always enjoyed hearing about anything we were up to.”

“I can’t believe you told her,” Scotty said. “I probably would have killed both of you for that, back in the day.”

“You would’ve tried, pipsqueak.” Howard said, laughing.

“Guess what?” Scotty said, a smug grin on his face.

“What?”

“You’re back. We’re gonna have fun.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Scotty,” Howard said, getting serious. “I’m not happy about this. I had a good life. I was on the wagon. It was going to stick. You had to bring it back out again.
This will be my ruin
.”

“A tiger can’t change his stripes, Howie.”

Howard sighed. “Ah, forget it. It is what it is.”

“How much further to St. Louis? I’m getting anxious.”

“Couple more hours,” Howard said. “Where do you want to go?”

“Near a University again,” he said. “Works every time.”

Jane and Jasmine were keeping watch on their laptops, still sitting in the barn. Jake walked up. “Think it’s time to get some Wi-Fi going?” he asked.

“Don’t tell me, let me guess. You’ve got the hardware in the back of your bobtail,” Jane said, grinning.

“Yep,” he said.

“Well, I have no problem, as long as it doesn’t slow Frank down right now,” Jane said. “We might want to wait until he’s got that names file.”

“I can do the setup and placement of the access points before connecting up to the modem,” Jake said.

“You might not want to make it too permanent,” Jasmine said. “It’s likely that we’ll have to leave after the next phase of the battle.”

“Oh, I know. Not a problem,” Jake said. “When we leave here, we should take everything we can carry, too. Lots of stuff here that we could use, and I’ve got plenty of space in that bobtail.”

“Here comes Jerry,” Jane said, looking over. He was coming at them at a full run, his iPad in his hand.

“Malcolm and George still down there?” he asked, trying to catch his breath.

“They didn’t come out this way,” Jasmine said. “Maybe they left through the kitchen, though. Why?”

“New victim, with the same markers as the Nighthawk victims,” he said. “Kansas City, yesterday.”

“Oh, no,” Jane said. “He’s heading this way.”

“Maybe,” Jerry said. “I’m going back down.”

“Nothing’s happening up here, so I’ll join you,” Jane said.

“Me too,” Jasmine said. They went to the trap door and started down. “You coming, Jake?”

“Nah, I have enough trouble sleeping. Talk to you later.” He walked back towards the trailers, working out the Wi-Fi layout in his head.

“Malcolm! George! You guys still down there?” Jerry asked.

“Yeah,” Malcolm said “What’s up?”

“New victim in Kansas City. Yesterday. Looks like it might be this guy.”

He came down the steps, followed by Jasmine and Jane.

“Where did you see that?” George asked. Malcolm started walking over.

“Internet,” Jerry said, holding up his iPad.

“I didn’t think we had Wi-Fi,” Malcolm said.

“This is an LTE model,” Jerry said. “Check it out.” He handed the iPad to Malcolm.

Jane looked over where George was standing. He was stringing film onto an ancient looking movie projector. “You’re going to watch those movies?”

“Of course,” George said. “We want to watch the VHS too, but I couldn’t find a VCR down here. Seen one anywhere?”

“No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody in the group has one,” Jane said. “I’m going to leave when you turn that on.”

“Probably a good idea,” George said. “It’s not going to be pleasant.”

“I think this is him, George,” Malcolm said. “I smell a rat, though.”

“What do you mean?” Jerry asked. “You think it’s a copycat?”

“No, the body was too easy to find,” Malcolm said. “He used to at least try to hide things. He loved the cat and mouse. This is an advertisement.”

“Why would he do that?” George asked.

“Not sure yet,” Malcolm said. “But if I’m right, there’ll be another one soon. My guess is he’s preparing to come back here, but wants to put out a signal that he’s going somewhere else.”

Charlie, Kurt, and the Sheriff came down the steps.

“What’s going on?” the Sheriff asked. “We saw Jerry run over here.”

“It looks like Scott might still be alive,” Jerry said. “I found a story about a killing. Looks like his markers.”

“When?” the Sheriff asked.

“Yesterday…Kansas City.”

“Howard thinks this guy’s dead,” Kurt said.

“I’m afraid that your friend is mistaken,” Malcolm said. “I’ve seen other killings since the New York Harbor attack that look like his MO. Here, Sheriff, take a look.”

The Sheriff walked over and took the iPad, reading, and scrolling, as Charlie and Kurt looked on. Then Kurt noticed what George was doing. “You’re going to show those old Super 8s?” he asked.

“Yeah, if this thing works,” George said. “Any of you guys have a VCR?”

“I used to,” Charlie said. “Left it at my park.”

“Me too,” Kurt said.

“I haven’t had one of those in years,” the Sheriff said. “Might ask Jake. He’s got a lot of stuff in that bobtail.”

“Walmart still carries VHS players,” Jerry said. “Maybe it’s time to sneak into town again.”

“I think I’m ready,” George said, looking at the projector. “Looks like the best place to show it is on that white cabinet over there.” He pointed to a tall metal double door cabinet, painted white.

“I’m getting out of here,” Jane said.

“I’ll probably be sorry, but I’m going to stick around,” Jasmine said. “This is fascinating.”

“Okay, girl, I’ll see you up top,” Jane said, as she walked towards the steps.

“Here goes nothing,” George said. He flipped the switch, and the projector sprung to life, shining on the cabinet. It was out of focus, so he started to turn the main lens. It sharpened, but then the bulb went dark.

“Shit,” Malcolm said. “Afraid of that.”

“Don’t worry,” George said. “There were a couple extra bulbs in the case. I’ll change it. Could one of you guys hit the light over that workbench? It’s too bright over by the cabinet.”

Jerry nodded and pulled the chain on the light, then came back over by George. It took a few seconds to change the lightbulb.

“Ready?” George asked.

Everybody gathered around silently. George hit the projector switch again, and it whirred into motion, the picture hitting the cabinet. He turned the front lens until the image on the cabinet was sharp.

The picture showed the wall next to the cells. It was brightly lit, and the light beam moved as the camera panned.

“Sun Gun,” Charlie said. “Used to have one of those.”

“Look at that girl,” Jasmine said. “She looks only about sixteen.”

An old man was bringing the shivering naked girl over to the wall. He turned her front to the wall, and fastened her arms to the cuffs hanging there. The camera moved around for a second, and then stabilized.

“I can’t see his face well enough,” Charlie said.

“Somebody just put that camera on a tripod,” Kurt said.

“Wonder what year this is?” Jasmine asked.

“Good question,” the Sheriff said. “Look, he’s turning around.”

“Hell, that’s Chet,” Kurt said. “I remember that shirt, too. This is late 1960s or early 1970s. I can’t believe it. Don’t you recognize him, Charlie?”

“Not really,” he said. “But I only saw him once or twice. He was really Ger’s friend. I just went with him to hunt a time or two.”

“There’s the other guy,” Charlie said. “Is that a paddle he’s got in his hands?”

“Looks like it,” Malcolm said.

“It’s got bolts sticking out of it,” Jasmine said. “Geez. I don’t think I can watch this.”

“Why don’t you go back up top, honey,” Jerry said. She nodded and left.

“You guys sure you want to hang around?” George asked. “This kind of thing can stick with you for too long.”

“Maybe Kurt should stay around until this second guy turns around,” Malcolm said. “He might know who it is.”

“Oh, that has to hurt,” Jerry said, hiding his eyes as the grainy figure on the screen hit the girl in the rear.

“Sick,” Charlie said.

“It’s going to get worse than this,” the Sheriff said. “You sure you want to stick around for this?”

“No,” Charlie said. “But I think I should.”

“How long is he going to keep hitting her with that?” Jerry asked, tears forming around his eyes, shining in the reflected light from the image.

“There’s no reason for you to hang around,” George said to him.

“I can take it,” he said. “Wait till you see that footage from Hilda’s park. It’s worse.”

“Finally,” Kurt said. The man left the screen. The girl was passed out. She was no longer standing. She was hanging by her wrists, motionless.

“Shoot, here he comes again,” Charlie said. “Clothes off now.”

“Yeah, same with the other guy,” Kurt said. “This is gonna get rough.”

“C’mon, man, turn around,” Malcolm said.

“Watch, he’s turning now,” the Sheriff said.

“No!” Kurt said, squinting, trying to make out the features. “Don’t you guys recognize him?”

“No,” Jerry said. “Who is it?”

“Howard.”

“Howard?” Charlie said. “
That doesn’t make sense. He knew we’d find this.”

Kurt had a shocked look on his face, and leaned against the wall, thinking. George shut off the projector.

“I’ll bet Howard didn’t know about the movies still being here,” Jerry said. “If you take those out of the equation, it might make sense that he sent us here.”

“Yeah, if he’s out of the life, it’s like the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head,” Malcolm said. “How hard did he push you guys coming here?”

“Let’s back up a little and think about this,” Kurt said. “He had no idea he’d ever see me again. It’d been years. I haven’t been here since Hilda’s husband died; in fact it’d been several years before that, because Ger was sick for a while.”

“You remembered the place, though, right?” George said.

“Both Kurt and I remembered it,” Charlie said. “On the drive here from Colorado. We thought we would just be overnighting here, and then continuing on to the east a little further.”

“So you guys went to Howard’s truck stop and asked him if it was still open?” Malcolm asked.

“Yes,” Kurt replied. “He said the place was deserted, Scotty was dead, and there were no heirs left to take it over or sell it. He helped grease the skids for us to set up here.”

“How?” Malcolm asked.

“He said that the local government would gladly allow us to take it over,” Kurt said, “as long as we started paying taxes on the place. We sent a team out here and found that it was salvageable, so we made a deal with the locals. It’s actually deeded to us now.”

“Interesting,” Malcolm said. “Been back to the truck stop lately?”

“Dobie went into town to get a fifth wheel hitch for his truck,” Jerry said. “He got the referral from Howard for the place. Don’t know if he stopped by to say hello to Howard or not.”

“Maybe we ought to go pay Howard a visit,” George said.

“Ten to one he’s gone,” Malcolm said.

“Why do you say that?” Kurt asked.

“That job in Kansas City,” Malcolm said. “It’s pretty tough to pull a daylight grab in a busy area by yourself. The girl got snatched a block from the University. You need somebody driving for you while you subdue the victim.”

“You don’t think Howard’s involved? Isn’t he a little old for that?” Kurt asked.

“How old is he?” George asked.

“Oh, about mid-sixties, I’d say,” Kurt said. “About my age.”

“That’s not too old,” Malcolm said. “Need I remind you of your recent battle participation?”

Kurt smiled. “Okay, you’re right. You can’t count us old codgers out.”

“I hope this whole thing isn’t a set up,” Jerry said, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Seems like us showing up was pretty random to me,” Charlie said.

“Oh, it was,” Jerry said. “But remember why Frank had me put those firewalls on everybody’s PCs?”

“Wait, you guys have had a cyber-incursion?” George asked.

“Yeah, and the more I think about it, there’s no way it wasn’t Scott,” Jerry said.