Bug Out! Part 11: Motorhomes on the Dark Road (23 page)

“What can I get for you gents? Coffee all around?”

“I’ll take coffee, water, and a burger,” Malcolm said.

“Same with me,” Ted said.

“Tamales any good?” Gabe asked.

The waitress laughed. “Well,
this is
the Midwest. They ain’t bad considering.”

“Okay, I’ll try one,” Gabe said. “With a coke. No coffee.”

“I’ll take coffee and a tuna melt,” Dobie said. “And a water too.”

“Okay, be right back with the java,” she said, smiling.

“Excuse me, guys, while go take these calls,” Ted said, as Malcolm slid out of the booth.

“Might as well trade places,” Malcolm said. “He’s liable to have more calls.”

Ted finished with the phone calls and then disappeared into the rest room for a few minutes. He came back and slid in next to Malcolm as the coffee arrived.

“Well?” Malcolm asked.

Ted had a grim look on his face. “Nothing on Agent Keith yet. He hasn’t surfaced. They put an all-points bulletin out on him. For arrest.”

“Why?” Malcolm said.

“The DNA came through already. His DNA was in the coed.”

“No, the FBI agent raped the victim?” Dobie asked.

“I’m not surprised,” Malcolm said. “Agent Keith is a bad character. Or maybe he
was
a bad character.”

“If he’s still alive, he’s setting up a trap for us,” Ted said. “I’d bet money on it.”

“We could send Duchess into the house first,” Dobie said.

“Maybe,” Ted said.

“What about Bailey?”

“Yeah, DNA came in on her, too. Same as the earlier victims. Got to be Howard and Scott.”

“Geez, Howard was doing a college girl?” Dobie asked. “That guy was older than me by at least fifteen years.”

“We got more about Bailey,” Ted said. “She was a basket case. Been bounced from one college to another. Parent’s pretty much disowned her. Strange, because she was good in high school. Got straight A grades, never in much trouble. Somewhere along the line she just snapped.”

“Met somebody in college who was a bad influence, I’m guessing,” Gabe said. “It happens.”

“Bonnie Parker was a good student in high school,” Dobie said.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Malcolm said. “Anything more about the coed?”

“She was an innocent,” Ted said, face grim again. “This is so sick. She’s almost kidnapped by serial killers, and then somebody who’s supposed to be safe rapes her and uses her for bait. She gets killed in the process. It’s times like this that I hate my job.”

“This change our plans any?” Gabe asked.

“No,” Malcolm said. “But we aren’t going to find anybody alive at the house.”

“You sound pretty sure about that,” Dobie said.

“Yeah, Malcolm,” Ted said. “You know something I don’t?”

“Think about it,” Malcolm said. “Agent Keith attempts to hide the fact that he’s involved in the incident at the jogging path. Who do you think he was trying to hide that from?”

“FBI, obviously,” Ted said, his mind working. “I get it. You think he wouldn’t be hiding from the bureau after doing the setup. He did a bad job, though, remember.”

“I didn’t say he was smart, I said he was dead,” Malcolm said, chuckling.

“We’d still better be careful when we get to the house,” Dobie said. “Maybe Agent Keith is dead, or maybe he’s being held captive. Scott and Howard might be the ones laying the trap.”

“True,” Malcolm said. “That’s possible, but I still doubt it.”

“Why do you doubt it?” Dobie asked.

“Scott is after his RV Park in Kansas,” Malcolm said. “He’s not after us specifically. I suppose he might want revenge for Sherry.”

“He doesn’t know, unless Sherry called him during the battle,” Ted said.

“Why do you say that?” Dobie said. “Wouldn’t it be all over the news?”

“We made a deal with the local PD and the local news folks, to protect this operation,” Ted said.

“How’d you pull that off?” Gabe asked.

“With great difficulty,” Ted said. “The FBI helped.”

“Would have been worse if Sherry was famous,” Malcolm said. “Right now this just looks like a small town incident. People in town probably think there was a meth lab in the building.”

“There was,” Ted said. “That’s why there were so many people there. Sherry wasn’t focused on the game much anymore. She’d line something up from time to time, but there’s only been a few in the last year and a half. Probably targets of convenience. All of them were customers of the drug business, from what we can tell. Could have owed her money.”

The food arrived, and the men ate silently.

***

“The fridge is cold now, Scotty,” Kerry said. “Didn’t take too long.”

“Not bad for a gas fridge,” Scott said. “Ice still hard?”

“Mostly,” Kerry said, touching the bags.

“Good, put them in the freezer section, okay?”

“Okay, Scotty,” he said. “Does the TV work?”

“No generator,” Scott said. “We’ll go to an RV Park in a few days, and we’ll have electricity there. You can watch movies on my iPad when I’m gone tonight.”

“You going away tonight?” he asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah, for a few hours. You can stay here. Don’t worry. If anything bad happens, you can call me.”

“We gonna cook something?” Kerry asked.

“You remember how to make Kraft Dinner?”

“Yeah, Scotty, I can make that. We have milk and butter in the fridge.”

“Good, why don’t you find a pan and start working on that? The stove should work.”

“Okay, Scotty,” Kerry said. He went to work. Soon the motor home was filled with the smell of cooking.

As Kerry was cooking, Scott took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the history. He found Cindy’s number and called.

“Hello?”

“Cindy?” Scott asked.

“Is this Scott?” she asked.

“Sure is, honey,” Scott said. “Still free tonight?”

“Yes,” she said. He could hear her smacking her gum. “What do you have in mind?”

“Dinner, perhaps?” he asked.

“Love it,” she said. “What time are you coming over?”

“Soon,” Scott said. “Just want to make sure Kerry has his supper.”

“You leaving him in the motor home?”

“Yeah, it’ll be no problem,” Scott said. “We got permission to stay in the storage yard for a few nights.”

Cindy laughed. “Drew. He always was a softie.”

“Yes, he’s a nice guy. See you in a while, Cindy.”

“Looking forward to it,” she said. Scotty put his phone back in his pocket.

“It’s done, Scotty,” Kerry said.

“Great. You turn off the burner?”

“Oh! Not yet,” Kerry said. He turned it off, and got down bowls.

“None for me, Kerry,” Scott said. “I’m going out to dinner with Cindy. Put the leftovers in the fridge when you’re done.”

“Okay,” Kerry said.

Scott climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“We going somewhere?” Kerry asked.

“No, I’m just charging up the house batteries for a while,” he said. “So you’ll have light after it gets dark.” He walked over to kitchen counter, switching off all the lights but one.

“What are you doing?” Kerry asked.

“See this light?” he said, pointing to a small dome light over the middle of the room.

“Yeah,” he said.

“You leave this one on while I’m gone, but don’t turn on any of the others. There should be enough battery to run this light the whole time.”

“Okay, Scotty,” he said, going back to eating.

Scott let the engine run for about twenty minutes and checked the house battery level. Not all the way charged, but close enough. He went into the bathroom to shave and brush his teeth and hair.

“I’m leaving now,” Scott said to Kerry. “Remember what I said - call me if you need me. I’ll have my cellphone on. You remember how to use the iPad?”

“Yeah, Scotty, I remember.”

“Good, then you can watch a movie or read one of the books I downloaded for you, okay?”

“Okay,” he said.

“When you get tired, just climb into your bunk.”

“Can I take the iPad up there?”

“That’s a good idea,” Scott said. “I’ll put it up there for you.” He tossed it up there.

Kerry nodded and watched as Scott opened the coach door.

“Be good,” he said as he left. He locked the door, and went over to the station wagon, grinning to himself.
Time to have some fun.

Continued in Bug Out! Part 12, available now in the Kindle Store!

Bug Out! Part 11
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.

In 
"Never A Loose End"
, they all come together, racing towards their frightening destiny.

George and Malcolm are both targets, marked for death, but why?

Follow George and Malcolm as they dash through the Southwest in their 
Motorhomes.

Who will survive? Will the hunted be brought down, or will they become the 
hunters
 instead?

Note: This full length novel carries a hard R rating, unlike the PG-13 Bug Out! series. "Never A Loose End" contains graphic violence and sex. Discretion is advised.