Family Reunion "J" (26 page)

Neither of them had seen Jimmy, and they both worried that the crazies overran him. Jay drove slowly out of the complex looking for any sign of him. Auddy was crying, not a debilitating episode, just the slow tears of another loss as they left Jimmy behind.

The first part of the day was dicey at best. They had pushed through the darkness, and Ben’s genius lighting system kept most of the crazies at bay. A few attacked the back of Auddy’s truck whenever she lagged behind Jay too far, but never advanced toward the cab, fearful of the burning light.

With both Business 501 and its bypass bridges blocked at the Waccamaw River in Conway, Jay retraced the route she had used on her way south. It took time to weave in and out of the crashed vehicles, bodies, and other debris left on US 544, but they eventually made it to US 90. It took them northeast and off track, but there was no other choice. US 90 was not a well-traveled road. Twelve miles outside of Conway it came to a junction with Route 22. The traffic coming from North Myrtle clogged up the 22’s westbound lanes, but again they managed to get through on the eastbound side.

They arrived back at US 501 about four miles north of Conway. Traffic in the northbound lanes had thinned considerably and when they crossed over to the southbound lanes, it was no problem. Now they only had twenty or so miles to get back to Sparky’s and find out if Jon and Gwenn had waited.

Jay pulled over and stopped the SUV and Auddy followed suit in the pickup. The old pickup sputtered, gasped, and lurched forward a little when Auddy released the clutch before the engine shut down completely. She got out, saying, “Sorry, I’m still getting the hang of the manual transmission.”

Jay nodded. “Kind of a crash course, huh?”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Auddy shot back, smiling at her mom.

Jay stood with her hands on her hips looking toward the north. “I think we ought to be ready for anything when we get to Sparky’s.”

“Okay, what exactly does that mean?”

“We go in my vehicle, have our weapons at the ready and our eyes on the lookout.”

Jay chose a second nine millimeter from the box of stuff Auddy had liberated from Charlie’s store. They both were far from experts and Auddy was at a loss as to how to remove the magazine from one of the semiautomatics.

“Mom, how do you get the thing with the bullets out?”

“Push in on the button down by the trigger guard, and it’s called a magazine.” Auddy pushed the button and the magazine fell out and clattered on the ground.

“Oh crap.” She bent over and retrieved it, and came up with an exasperated look on her face. “Mom, this is just temporary, right?”

“What do you mean, sweetie?”

“This,” she said, pointing around her, then down at the box of guns.

“I don’t know Auddy, honestly I am just getting past the fact that you are with me. Now, I guess we go home, then up to Philippi. Then we will figure it out from there.”

“But what about dad? It will be impossible for him to get back home from Seattle.”

“I wouldn’t count your father out quite that quickly. He can be very resourceful, especially when it concerns us.”

“Okay, let’s go. There’s no room for all that stuff, or I’d say just ditch the truck for good.”

“Ditch my truck? Ain’t no way, I just learned how to drive it.”

“Okay, we’ll come back for it once we’re sure it’s safe.”

“That’s funny momma—‘when it’s safe.’ Any idea when that will be?” She meant it to be funny, but she saw the tears well in Jay’s eyes. “Oh crap, I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

Jay waived it off and smiled as she wiped at her eyes. “No, it’s just that you ‘momma’ed’ me. It is unbelievably cool that I get to hear that again.”

They got in the SUV and headed for Sparky’s.

As the building came into view, Jay strained to see if there was any activity. They always hid the vehicles from sight, but Jay looked for the signal that Ben had told her he would leave if things were good. Then she saw the fish flag was flying, which meant that at least it appeared things were okay.

They pulled up to one of the gas pumps, stopped the vehicle and got out. Tami opened the door and shouted to them. “Park around back, right next to the building.”

Jay and Auddy got back in and drove around the building. When they parked, Ben and Jon came out of the back door and greeted them.

“Hey there Jay, and this must be Auddy?” Ben said.

“Hi,” Auddy said and nodded at Jon, who she had met before but hadn’t seen in years.

“So, anything interesting happen since I left?” Jay asked. Jon looked at Ben with eyebrows raised, questioning if he should say anything.

“Why don’t we go inside before we get into that?” Ben said as he opened the door for the ladies.

When they entered the dining area, it was immediately apparent that something interesting had occurred, and was still occurring. Two men stood behind a guy that looked incredibly like Danny Trejo, the famous actor tough guy. The Trejo lookalike was bound to a wooden chair in the middle of the room. The two guys behind him had their weapons pointing in his direction as if he might break his bonds at any minute. Another man Jay hadn’t met stood in front of the angry-looking dude tied to the chair.

Everyone turned when they came in, then looked to Ben. “They’re the folks I told you about. Jay here came down from West Virginia and had some interaction with the Winston-Salem gang.” As he said this, he nodded at the man in the chair.

Jay held up her cast. “Yeah, totaled my bike and got this as a prize. Well, technically it was Buffalo Bob’s bike, but I digress.”

The man standing in front of “Trejo” pointed at him. “Does this one look familiar?”

She shook her head. “Never got close enough to see who was behind the scope of the rifle that was trying to do me bodily harm.”

Ben introduced Richard and his men to Jay and Auddy. “Richard is one of our own. He heads up our outreach program.” Ben chuckled as he lost the battle to keep a straight face.

“Actually I am nothing more than another cog in the machinery that used to make up the federal government. Ex-DOJ,” he said.

“I was a fingerprint analyst for the FBI before going to the private sector, so I won’t judge you too harshly,” Jay replied.

The man in the chair seemed to be taking in his surroundings without much concern. For someone tied to a chair, he looked abnormally calm. He said, “It wasn’t me. I never stood perimeter guard duty. I just run the bar.”

“You mean the brothel, don’t you?” Richard snapped his head around and spittle sprayed from his mouth as he spoke with loathing and venom. “We caught him raiding a liquor store in High Point. We killed several of his men, gave them all a decent burial, and marked the grave with a warning to the rest of his gang. We dug this one’s grave right there with the others and left his jacket hanging on the marker.”

“So, they don’t know you have him?” Jay asked.

“Not unless they dug up the grave, and believe me, this group doesn’t do any work they can avoid. So, yeah, I’d say they are unaware we have him. Why?”

“Well, I’m fairly certain they are holding the sheriff and some others from Mount Airy. I was thinking a prisoner swap.”

Richard held up his hand to stop her. “No, this one has seen too much of our operation. He is not going back with that information.”

Even that statement didn’t seem to bother the man in the chair. It seemed obvious to Jay that Richard meant this man’s future was going to be short-lived. The man just stared at Richard, his black eyes almost amused.

“He seems to be taking this news pretty well,” Jay pointed out.

“Oh, he thinks I’m bluffing, but he will come around after a more thorough discussion.” Richard said it with a smile that sent a chill down Jay’s entire body. Whatever Richard’s intent, Jay was sure he was not bluffing. He motioned the two men behind the bartending pimp. They produced a hand truck, ran it into the back of the chair, strapped him in, leaned him back, and rolled him toward the door.

“Jay, can you give the names of the people you suspect were taken by this asshole’s gang? It may help me in my interrogation.”

“Sure.” She went to the table, scribbled down the names, and gave them to him.

“Ben, we’re going to take him to my place. I’ll come over tomorrow to fill you in.” And with that, Richard turned to follow his men out the front door.

“That guy worked for the feds all right, but the three initials of his outfit weren’t DOJ,” Jay said after the front door closed. “I’d bet the farm on that, and by
farm
I think you know what I mean.”

Ben shook his head. “I can neither confirm nor deny that statement. I just know that I’m glad he’s on our side. I’ve known Richard for several years, never knew much about his work. When the flu bug hit the states, he came to visit me and told me to get stocked up and ready for a bad stretch. When I asked how bad, he said he wasn’t sure, but that it could be worse than the depression. He owns property north of here and we both belong to a loose confederation of landowners that met occasionally to discuss politics and socioeconomics.”

“An organized militia or just a bunch of preppers?” Jay asked intuitively.

“No, a militia would imply that we had a purpose, and although many of us around here would probably be considered preppers, we were, and still are, just good neighbors who look out for each other.”

Jay accepted what Ben said at face value, but his answers were a bit vague, and she was sure that was his intent. “I understand,” she said, willing to let it go for now.

They enjoyed a good dinner with the entire group. Jay counted thirty-two people of all ages and ethnicities. Before eating, Jay and Auddy went and collected the pickup truck, then hid it in what Ben called “the car park.” The car park included four semitrucks with trailers and two or three dozen other vehicles hidden in trees with a military camo net covering the entire area. They were just finishing their food when Gerald and two other men about his age came in.

“Everything good?” Ben asked.

“Yes, no one followed them up 22, we went all the way to the junction of 90 like you said to, didn’t see a soul.” Gerald answered Ben, but he was looking at Auddy while he spoke and noticeably tried to strike a manlier pose.

While Auddy didn’t notice Gerald’s attention, Ben did. “Boy, you look at me when you’re talking to me. And quit staring at our guests, it’s impolite.” Then he turned toward Jay and Auddy. “Ladies, I apologize for my son’s bad manners.”

Auddy reddened a little and Jay just waived it off without comment. Ben turned his attention back to Gerald and the other two. “Now, you boys get some food, then go relieve the watch up on the north side.” Gerald gave Ben the stink-eye for embarrassing him in front of Auddy, but when Ben gave it right back, Gerald looked down at his feet. “Yes sir.”

Jon looked on and smiled. Amused by the fact that the entire world was coming apart and yet the hormonal young men were still concerned with only one thing. “Some things will never change, Ben. Cut the kid some slack.”

Auddy slammed her hand down on the table, which got everyone’s attention. “Dammit, I just shot my boyfriend in the chest with a shotgun because he was eating our neighbor! What in the
hell
are you all smiling about?” The tears came on strong as she turned an even deeper red. She got up and ran from the room.

Now it was Ben’s turn to feel embarrassed. “Jay, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, and I, I…”

“It’s okay Ben, we’ve all been through the mill in the last week and a half. I’d better go check on her though.”

The room went quiet and everyone did their best to get past the awkward moment.