Fuel (Best Laid Plans Book 1) (38 page)

“Good.” His cousin said when he was done, giving him an apologetic smile. “Sorry to boss you around, but I'm going to wait here and keep an eye on these guys. You know what to do, right?”

“Right.” Trev rushed back and retrieved Lewis's wagon, pulling it past the bandits' campsite. With their ears plugged and their eyes covered hopefully they wouldn't realize he and his cousin had a thousand pounds of food and other valuables with them. With any luck the thugs would assume they were a patrol from Aspen Hill and wouldn't follow them up the canyon and try to cause trouble.

It took a while, but he finally got both wagons far enough up the road away from the campsite that even if one of the thugs managed to get free he and Lewis would be able to continue on without being seen or followed. Once he was done he returned and nodded to his cousin.

Lewis nodded back and made his way over to the former gunman, yanking the plugs out of his ears. “Consider this a warning,” he said. “If I catch you out here again I'll shoot you on sight. I'd suggest you head down to Price and make a new, preferably law abiding, start in the refugee camps there.”

His warning given Lewis replaced the earplugs then turned and hurried back to the road, starting up the canyon for their wagons. Trev followed, checking over his shoulder to make sure the thugs were still tied up just before they rounded a bend. “Is it okay to leave them there?”

“For them or for the town?” Lewis asked. Trev shrugged. “It'll have to do, since the only alternative is killing them and I haven't seen anything that suggests they deserve to die. Razor robbed you but let you pass once he had your stuff, right? So we return the favor.”

“Return the favor with my own stuff,” Trev grumbled. “We just took their weapons and my backpack.”

His cousin nodded. “I don't like to consider myself a thief. We took your things back and we took the weapons so they couldn't threaten other innocents. That's good enough for me.”

Speaking of which . . . Trev pulled out the handgun he'd retrieved and handed it over to his cousin. “Is this a .45?”

Lewis pulled his night vision goggles back on and looked it over. “Yeah, a Glock 21, 13 round mag. Although this one only has four bullets left.” He looked up and Trev saw a flash of teeth as his cousin grinned. “Would you say that's karma? You lose a .45 and get one back, and in the bargain Aspen Hill is a little bit safer.”

Trev liked the thought of that, although it was kind of annoying to only have one magazine for the gun when he'd had extras for his 1911. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers. “You'll let me borrow some of your ammo, right?” He'd left his back with the cache.

“Sure.” Lewis glanced over his shoulder, looking a bit uncertain. “Do you think we should tell the town those guys are tied up out here?”

That same thought had been bouncing around in his head, and Trev sighed. It was a couple miles to town from here, which meant an hour to walk there and back if he hurried. After watching their former neighbors gleefully loot their shelter it was tempting to just say forget them and keep going. “It could be risky, but it's probably the right thing to do,” he said with a sigh. “Can you watch the wagons and keep an eye on their camp too?”

His cousin nodded, so Trev shucked off his reclaimed backpack and handed over his rifle, then broke into a trot back down the road. The bandits were still where they'd left them, squirming in their bonds, and Trev hoped they didn't have any friends lurking out in the darkness. He was now unarmed aside from one of Matt's cans of bear spray and Lewis had the goggles and the body armor. If he needed to see he could use a flashlight, but he preferred to use moonlight and not risk it.

An hour to give the town a heads up about some tied up thugs, and then when he got back they'd still have to push on as far as they could up the canyon to get well away from town and any danger of possible thieves lurking around before they could finally stop to sleep.

It was going to be a long night.

End of Book One

The story continues in Shortage,

Book Two of the Best Laid Plans series.

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