Tread Fearless: Survival & Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 4) (52 page)

Smiley came sauntering up with Holt, followed by the three men who were with him in the container. He didn’t have Adam’s rifle with him, so John figured he must have locked it up in the container. As for
the nickname, it did the man justice. The fierce scar pulled up from the corners of his mouth by more than an inch, giving him a permanent grimace-like smile, even when he wasn’t smiling, like now. To John, the man looked a little bit like the Joker from the Batman series, though he knew better than to say such a thing.

“You’re a brave man to come here like this,” said Smiley. He spoke with a slight lisp, but his annunciation was clear and smooth. The doctor who sewed the boy’s cheeks back together did a fairly good job of it, but he clearly wasn’t a plastic surgeon. John wondered why Smiley liked the scar enough to keep it. The two men stared at each other for a moment before Smiley said, “Your name is John?”

“It is,” replied John.

“And you want your stuff back . . . right?” he said, and laughed. The men around him also laughed, as if on cue.

John didn’t laugh. He just looked at Smiley and waited for the pace of the conversation to settle back down. When everyone stopped laughing, John said, “I don’t care about the stuff. I just want my guys back.”

Smiley cocked his head and stared at John for a moment before saying, “What do you have to trade?”

“Me, as a start,” said John, as he held out his hands.

“He’s got more than that,” said Holt.

Smiley turned to face Holt and said, “Go and sit with the prisoners.”

“What?”

Smiley took a deep breath and yelled, “GO SIT WITH THE PRISONERS!”

Holt looked taken aback, but he turned and obeyed the command. John, and most of the men present, watched him slink away with his tail between his legs. “Jasper! You go with him. Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“Sure. No problem, chief,” he said to Smiley. And to John he said, “See ya, John. Good luck.”

John nodded his thanks in reply, and waited for Smiley to resume the dialogue.

Smiley looked perturbed by how Jasper treated John, and he said, “I don’t need you. I don’t even need your men . . . more mouths to feed and all that. But that Pete guy . . . he tried to kill one of my guards. And for that, I’m planning to add him to the track.”

John didn’t see that his review of the events, but it wouldn’t surprise him. Pete wasn’t one to give up quietly. But somehow, he knew Smiley was exaggerating the claim, making it more than it was to avoid making a deal with John. “It sounds to me like you don’t even want a payment,” said John.

“It looks to me like you don’t have payment to offer,” said Smiley

“You’ve already collected your tax,” said John. “You can keep what you already have, including the van. Just let my guys go.”

Smiley looked surprised at John’s reference to “tax,” and it obviously irritated him. “Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do!” yelled Smiley.

John let the air settle once again, and watched as Smiley struggled to resolve the conflict within him. After everything was calm again, John said, “I’ve taken nothing from you. And in payment for passing through your area, you can keep the van and all the equipment. You said the guys didn’t mean anything to you, so let me leave with them. It will be a win-win for both of us.”

“Don’t talk to me about win-win. Straight up win is all I care about,” snapped Smiley.

“Sure. That’s fine. Call it what you want. What do you want in exchange for my men?” asked John.

“Your men,” snorted Smiley. “They’re my men, now.”

“Okay. What do you want in exchange for
your
men?”

Smiley put a hand on his forehead and said, “Tucker, go put a hole in the van.”

“Huh?” replied Tucker, a tall, thirty-something man standing quietly behind Smiley.

“I said, GO SHOOT THE VAN! Shoot the engine, please,” added Smiley, as if to be considerate with the last part of his command.

“No problem, boss,” said Tucker, and he strode over to the van. When he was about ten feet in front of the van, he removed a long hunting pistol from a custom leather holster and loaded a round. John recognized the weapon as a Contender, but he didn’t know the caliber. At least he wouldn’t know the caliber until he heard it fire. But from the looks of it, it was definitely a high-caliber model.

When loaded, the man took careful aim with one hand and fired. It was a single loud report, and definitely super-sonic. John figured it to be .223, which meant the van was toast. It would be impossible to repair, and he couldn’t help but wonder why Smiley would so wantonly destroy it. John figured he was probably trying to prove his point about how powerful he was.

John heard a door open and turned to see Holt standing on the back steps of the house. But after a brief look around, he quickly went back inside.

Satisfied with his work on the van, Tucker returned to the group and stood next to Smiley. Smiley pointed a finger at John and said, “Now shoot John.”

“Huh?”

“Are you deaf? I said . . . SHOOT . . . JOHN! Shoot that man – RIGHT THERE!” screamed Smiley, as he pointed a finger at John.

“Okay, boss,” said Tucker. The man pulled out the pistol once again, opened it, loaded it with another round, and held it up. Tucker’s hands shook, and he looked away.

“Give me that,” snapped Smiley, and he grabbed the pistol from Tucker. Smiley raised the pistol, cocked it, and fired. The pistol clicked on an empty chamber. John didn’t flinch, or move so much as a single eyelash, though he really wanted to know what was going on around him spiritually. However, he had a very strong impression that he needed to stand fast, to stay connected with his body and trust.

Smiley cursed, opened the breech, ejected the round, and held out his hand for a new one. Tucker pulled a fresh round from his shirt pocket and handed it to Smiley. Once loaded and cocked, Smiley leveled the gun at John’s chest and fired. Again, it only clicked.

This time, Smiley turned around and faced Tucker. He then re-cocked the pistol, pointed it at his obviously frightened subordinate, and fired the weapon. This time the gun went off, and Tucker crumpled dead to the ground. Smiley cursed and threw the gun to the ground. He turned to face John while pulling out his own pistol from the small of his back. John saw that it was Pete’s .40 Smith and Wesson, and waited to see what would happen next.

Smiley lifted the pistol to shoot, and when his hand was chest high to John, his eyes rolled up in his head and he fell to the ground. John knew he was dead before he hit the dirt, but the other men had no idea what just happened to their leader.

They gathered around Smiley, thinking at first that he had only fainted. One of the men tried to revive him, and when Smiley didn’t come around, he knelt to check him for a pulse. His face turned white, and he looked at John to say, “He’s dead.”

“Yes he is,” said John.

“What did you do?” said another man. He then lifted a shotgun at John, and he too fell dead to the ground. Before he even stopped moving, the other two men threw down their guns and ran to the house. John followed them.

When John reached the back door, he heard the front door slam and figured someone was still running. John found Holt lying dead on the living room floor, his pistol gripped tightly in his hand. Jasper was sitting in the folding chair next to the card table. He had a blank look on his face, as if he was trying to understand what just happened.

“Jasper,” said John, “are you okay?” He heard Pete mumbling under the tape, and asked, “Do you have a knife?”

“Yeah. Sure. Here you go,” said Jasper, and he stood and handed John his pocketknife.

“Thanks,” said John, and he proceeded to cut Pete and the boys free of their bonds. Pete was the first one free, and he quickly pulled the tape off his mouth and grabbed Holt’s pistol.

Pete turned the gun on Jasper, but John said, “No, Pete.” And then gently lowered Pete’s gun arm. “Jasper’s fine. Leave him be.”

“And the others?” asked Pete.

“Dead or gone I think,” said John.

“This piece of garbage,” said Pete, as he kicked Holt’s body soundly, “said they shot you.”

“They tried,” said John. “I’m guessing Holt tried to shoot you?”

“He did, but when he raised his gun he just fell dead to the floor.”

John nodded and said, “You boys alright?”

“We are now. Thanks, dad. I knew you’d come for us,” said Adam.

“Yeah. We all did. We knew you’d save us,” said Marcus, as he wiped tears from his eyes.

“Corbin? You good?” asked John.

“Yeah, I’m good Mister A. Can we leave now?”

“Soon. I agree, this is a bad place. But we have work to do first. The company isn’t far from here . . . about a mile or so away. We need to find replacement transportation first though,” said John.

“What do you mean?” asked Pete.

“They shot the van,” said John.

Pete grunted and said, “Never liked that van anyway. But what about our weapons and stuff?”

“Take the boys to the shipping containers out back. Collect what you want. I’ll see if I can scrounge up some wheels. You go on ahead. I need to talk to Jasper for a minute,” finished John.

Pete nodded and said, “Let’s go boys. Follow me.”

When Pete and the boys were gone, John pulled up a folding chair and sat across from Jasper. He handed the young man his knife and said, “You gonna be okay?”

“What just happened? One minute you were a prisoner, and the next you’re in charge. And what happened to Holt? I’m guessing the same thing happened to Smiley when he tried to shoot you,” said Jasper.

“They’re dead. Gone from this life, anyway,” said John. “But you’re not. You’re a good man, Jasper. You’ve been given a second chance. Now what are you going to do with it?”

“Can I go with you?” he asked, looking serious, and all but pleading with John with his expression.

John was about to say no, but Jasper held up a hand and said, “There’s something different about you, something mystical. I don’t know what it is, but you have super powers, or something like it, working for you. And I don’t have any place to go . . . anyone to find. I want to go with you, John. I want to learn from you, to understand your ways. Take me with you. I’ll earn my keep. I swear it. You won’t regret it.”

John sighed and said, “I can’t speak for the company, but I’ll petition them on your behalf. Is that good enough?”

“More than good enough. It’s awesome,” said Jasper. They stood and John was surprised when the young man gripped him tightly with a hug. In that contact, John knew Jasper would be an asset to the company. It might take some convincing to have the company accept him, but John already felt that they would come around.

“Alright,” said John. “Let’s go find some transportation so we can leave this place.”

John, Pete, Jasper and the boys got right to work. John used Holt’s radio to raise Paul, but it took some serious convincing to get him to bring the company up to Smiley’s place. Paul was absolutely convinced that John was being forced to call them out. But with Jenna’s help, that being through their personal code words, Paul relented. Still, it was a nervous arrangement for them to consider, and John was patient.

While they waited for Paul to arrive, Pete had everyone move the bodies. “No time for burial,” he said. “There’s too much to do.” And John agreed. They tossed them in the pump house shed and forgot about them.

With Jasper’s help, Pete opened the shipping containers and began selecting and sorting supplies. Jasper then helped John pick the best of the available vehicles to replace the van. They settled on a white Chevy
pickup, one with a crew-cab and a shell. The color bothered John and Pete, but no one understood why. They loved the truck, and thought it beat the van, hands-down.

An even better vehicle addition was Jasper’s dirt-bike, a KTM 450. At first John wasn’t keen on the idea of him riding, but then Jasper offered to serve as their forward scout. John liked the idea of Pete being closer to the company, but he wasn’t sure Pete would approve of Jasper being their only set of eyes and ears.

But when they discussed it together, Pete agreed the bike would be a great early warning system for the company. However, he still insisted on staying ahead of the company, to add another layer of security, and be better able to help Jasper without committing the entire company.

With the bike came a trailer to carry spare parts, fuel, and other supplies. Much to Paul’s consternation, he was to pull the trailer with the dually. After finding a suitable trailer hitch, they were hooked up and ready to roll.

John wasn’t even tempted to remain on the property overnight. The darkness around the boarders was always pressing in on him spiritually, and he was eager to get moving again. The entire place felt like it was about to collapse in on itself. At least that’s how it felt to him spiritually, though it could do the same physically for all he cared. So, the sooner they left, the better.

The company recovered everything they lost, and then some. As for Jasper, he was immediately voted into the company. But it was a moot point after John offered his official endorsement. Still, everyone was impressed with the twenty-five year-old, dirt-bike racer from Amarillo. He was always eager to help, and wiling to prove his worth whenever possible.