B.B.U.S.A. (Buying Back the United States of America) (34 page)

When they were far over the Atlantic Ocean, Sarah looked around. Both boys seemed to be sleeping peacefully. When she looked over at Joyce, they held eye contact for a while, giving each other a sorrowful look of mutual unexpressed sympathy. Sarah knew that Joyce was having her own thoughts. Leo was her only child and their bond had always been something very special. Sarah managed a weak smile and tried to look hopeful. She then turned her head and closed her eyes. She wanted to spare Joyce from trying to look strong and optimistic for her. She was far too worried to sleep, but she would try to rest. She had no idea what lay ahead of them beyond their very long flights.

Powerful premonitions flooded her mind. She could see glimpses, just partial flashes of images. Her gift did not always relay clear concise pictures, merely perceptions of feelings, smells, fear, alertness, pain, and the unmistakable sounds of gunfire. The fear of knowing a disaster was in store, but realizing she was helpless to avert it was crippling. Sarah forced the images and sounds from her mind and began praying earnestly for assistance, strength, and protection for her loved ones.

Bob had his men ready at six in the morning. They did not get to enjoy a full breakfast, as he was too anxious to get to Custer. They stuffed their faces with several doughnuts and drank orange juice and coffee at the motel’s free continental breakfast bar. No one seemed inclined to talk much. As soon as they had all grabbed some food, they went to the van.

This time Ervin sat up front in the passenger seat, holding the little map and brochure and acting important. All of them knew exactly where they were going, but Ervin gave directions anyway.

Florin had contemplated disappearing in the middle of the night, but reluctantly stayed with the other men in the event that he could assist Leo and Doug if it became necessary. Bob turned right at the junction of Highway 93, a couple of miles outside of Challis.

Marcus laughed at the name of the convenience store located at the intersection. “Look, there’s Hickie’s Quicky.” He turned to John. “Bet you’d like to stop in there for a ‘Hickie’s Quicky,’ huh?”

Before John could answer, Bob made his dour reply. “Sorry Marcus, we have more important things to do today.”

Ervin pointed out the “Land of the Yankee Fork Visitor’s Center” on their right as they headed up the scenic Salmon River towards Sunbeam. Three deer were grazing on the grass in front of the building, and at first they didn’t think they were real until the buck jerked his head up and looked curiously in their direction. They drove up the highway, following the twists and turns of the Salmon River until they reached the overlook at the old Sunbeam Dam. They stopped at the restroom, and then turned to the right, driving up the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River. The narrow, paved road was filled with potholes and had many sharp turns. It was beautiful scenery, as the sun was just beginning to poke over the mountains. Little bits of steam rose from the Yankee Fork as they continued up the road. A big buck mule deer jumped into the road and Bob had to hit the brakes and swerve to avoid hitting it.

The paved road ended in two miles, and they found themselves on a wide dirt road that seemed to be cut through the middle of miles of piled river rocks. The entire area had been dredged. It was not unusual to find relics of old mining towns in Idaho. Bob eased off the throttle as they approached what seemed like some old, freestanding buildings at the bottom of a hill where a Forest Service Guard Station was located. The wooden sign at the side of the road welcomed them to Bonanza. He brought the van to a stop as they tried to figure out from the map where Custer might be located. The map showed a spot further ahead where an old ‘gold dredge’ could still be seen. The town site of Custer seemed to be approximately two miles beyond that. He drove ahead at a slower pace following the road as it curved to the right.

They crossed Jordan Creek. The men were restless. Bob warned them to prepare themselves. Hopefully, this would be their final confrontation with Leo. He told them that Leo could have company; after all he had lived in this area and would know people. They had no idea what this “Custer” would be like and if they were in the town or just in the area. They knew that Doug would be with him and they must be very cautious. The men un-holstered their weapons and made sure they were fully loaded and ready for action.

Doug awakened from sleeping for the second time. Leo had let him sleep an extra two hours the first round and he appreciated it very much. The sun had weak beams peeking over the surrounding mountains. Leo could see his breath. No clouds could be seen in the clear sky.

Doug stirred and glanced at his wrist watch. When he noticed the time, he shot up and looked out of the tent to see if his friend had fallen asleep. Leo looked at Doug’s big tired eyes, straining to focus in the sudden light, and was glad he had let him sleep longer. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You were snoring so loudly I knew you needed your beauty sleep. Besides, the sun is up now and I would have had a hard time sleeping myself. I started a little fire here. Do you want something hot? I have hot water here if you want some.”

“Sure, brew me up a cup while I get dressed, OK?”

“Okay, lazy butt!”

“Lazy butt?”

“Heck yes, you’ve slept more than twice as much as I did and you are still asking me to wait on you too.”

“You’re impossible, Leo. Remember this is your crazy adventure. I’m just nice enough to come along to protect your sorry ass.”

“So far, the only one that I feared might shoot me was you last night when I was returning from the Pfeiffer house.”

“You know you are full of shit, don’t you? It’s too early to try and get the upper hand in a conversation with you. Don’t you have any coffee instead of cider? I really could use something with caffeine.”

“There you go again buddy; remember, I’m not your servant. No, there isn’t any coffee. I didn’t bring any because I don’t like coffee and never even thought about it.”

“See how you are Leo, always just thinking about yourself.”

“Hey man, if you want caffeine, why don’t you try some Mtn. Dew? I had one a little while ago, they’re like drinking a slushy. Actually, it was pretty darn good.”

Doug shuddered. “Cider will be fine.”

“Good, I already poured you a cup.”

Doug got dressed and joined him outside the tent. “Man that ground is hard.” He reached back and rubbed his lower back.

“Yeah, another good reason I didn’t wake you. The two hours I slept, I found the ground to be frozen and hard with little rocks poking me through the sleeping bag.”

“So you admit that you are getting a bit soft in your old age?”

“You’re the one that brought it up first, and I’m not the one massaging my aching back right now.” Leo retorted.

“Waah! Here’s a dollar, go call someone who cares.”

“I’ll take your dollar and do that very thing, just point me to a phone.”

“How do you do it man? No matter what is said you always have to have the last word?” Doug lamented.

“I guess I’m just that good.”

“You’re that arrogant, all right.”

“No, you’re wrong. You have my self-confidence misconstrued with arrogance. A simple error, but I’ll forgive you, over time.”

“Man Leo, I’m not going to stand here and bullshit with you all day. I have to go take a piss.”

“Go ahead, I’m not stopping you, just remember to wash your hands when you are done.” The familiar pattern of their old banter gave Leo a few moments of ease. They could go on for hours like this, and often did. For a few seconds they forgot their predicament.

Doug gave his friend a look of disgust and walked over to the nearby aspen trees to water a young sapling. Afterwards, he walked to the spring and began rinsing his face and hands with icy water.

“Hey, bro, you might want to finish up quickly. I think I hear a car coming from the Bonanza side.”

“Sure, I bet I already have a target on my back too.” he chortled.

“Quit playing with yourself and listen. I’m serious, Doug!”

He quit splashing the water and listened intently. “Shit, you’re right, I hear a vehicle too.” He jogged back to the stone cabin and helped Leo kick dirt on the fire. For a moment it began to smoke, and then it was totally smothered with loose gravel and sand. Leo placed his two rifles out on the sleeping bag that he had used to wrap himself in during the coldest part of the night. Both guns were fully loaded and operational. Doug reached in the tent, extracted a second sleeping bag, and he threw it on the ground within the confines of the stone walls. He would use it to kneel on if he needed to shoot. He grabbed his loaded .30-06 and an extra box of shells. Leo reached into the tent and grabbed the small duffel bag that held the extra rounds of ammunition for his guns and the shotgun should it come down to close quarter fighting.

“I can sense it. It’s them. Can you feel it?”

Doug nodded in agreement as he removed the lens caps off his rifle’s scope, then carefully wadded up the sleeping bag to provide maximum padding under his knees as he prepared himself for a shoot-out.

A greenish min-van became visible about a half mile down the road as it rounded the corner where “Chinatown” started below the Custer town site. Leo left his .30-30 on safety but brought the gun up to look at the van through the powerful scope.

“Is it them?”

“I can’t tell for sure yet, but I certainly have a feeling that it is.” They watched the van approach cautiously. When the van rolled by the gift shop and the museum, Leo could make out the driver. “It’s them!” The van’s two front windows were rolled all the way down. He could see that there were four men, perhaps even five. Only the front two men were illuminated enough by the rising sun to be able to identify them. “The man in the passenger seat was one of the guys I fought on the west coast.”

“Are you ready?”

“Yes! I’m eager to get it over with.”

“What’s the plan? Do we just start wasting them?”

“No! Remember, one of them may be Florin. Don’t shoot him. If they stop I’ll try to reason with Bob. If they make evasive movements, shoot them in the leg first, okay? I don’t want to have to kill anyone unless it is our last resort.”

“Got it,” Doug half whispered.

The van crept further down the street, its passengers scouring the neighborhood for signs of Leo and Doug. Leo watched them through the scope. They were eyeing every old building. The van eventually came to a stop just past the gift shop. The side and passenger doors opened, and two men got out, and immediately unzipped and unbuttoned their jackets. They acted as if they weren’t entirely sure what to do. The van began moving at a snail’s pace again, on up the road in the direction of the Pfeiffer house and the old mill.

“The man walking over towards the museum is Florin. Remember not to shoot him.”

“Okay.”

They were whispering now, and trying not to move much or even breathe loudly. The second man had walked back behind the gift shop when Leo lost sight of him.

“Keep an eye on the gift shop, should that second dude reappear. I’ll watch the van. I’m not worried about Florin.”

“Right.”

The van was going about five miles an hour as it passed the Pfeiffer house. The brakes jerked the van to a complete stop when the driver noticed Doug’s truck. Leo and Doug could hear the men talking, and then the van was thrown into reverse, and shot back to the gift shop. Bob backed the van up on the far side of the gift shop, so that it could not be seen from the Pfeiffer cabin. Leo got a glimpse of Florin behind the museum, hiking up the mountain at a good pace. Once he reached the pine trees he would be out of sight. Florin was already nearly level with the stone cabin and on the same side of the mountain. Perhaps he was trying to break away from the group.

Doug whispered, “Look.”

Leo glanced back at the gift shop. Four men were assembled nearby. They had their handguns drawn. He looked closely at them through the scope. None had rifles. “We were right, they only have handguns.”

Doug gave him the thumbs up sign.

Bob motioned for the tall man that was riding in the passenger seat and another man to go towards the museum. Bob and the remaining man walked behind the gift shop, approaching the Pfeiffer house from across the road. The tall man headed up the hill in the same direction that Florin had gone, while the other man stayed on a trail at the base of the hill, taking him through some foliage in the direction of the Pfeiffer house. Leo was more concerned with the tall man getting a vantage spot above them than with the man standing on the trail at the base of the hill. That guy would be in clear view as soon as he passed through an area of trees and undergrowth. He wouldn’t be able to sneak up on them from there.

Bob and another man stayed close to the creek and surfaced behind the old stable building, directly opposite the Pfeiffer house. They would have excellent cover if a firefight erupted, as that side of the road was scattered with several huge metal mining displays that had come off the various mills and mines in and around Custer. Due to their immense weight they were permanently left outside even after the museum and gift shop closed for the season. Leo and Doug moved over to the left front corner of the stone cabin. They feared that they could become an easy target should the tall man spot them. They had to stay in the best cover possible from the left side and bottom of the mountain.