Un-Connected (12 page)

“Great job, kid,” Otis said and then turned
to me. “OK. I knew your trouble with family wasn’t the whole truth, but our
niece said they looked pretty scary, and their black SUV looked evil.”

I stammered an apology to Otis and said it
was way worse than I had told him. Someone was trying to kill me and now Deb,
too. I told him the reason I didn’t tell him everything was that it wouldn’t
seem true, and we didn’t want to bring him into our mess. We were very conflicted
about it and were so grateful to him and his family. I told him I hoped he
would not take our lack of candor as a slander but as an attempt to spare them
trouble. I told him we would be on our way as soon as we could to change
clothes.

“Not on your life,” he said. “You make a
stand right here. Are you a Christian?”

“Yes, but not a very good one.”

“Son, there are things about you we knew as
soon as we saw you. I have been a good judge of character for at least fifty of
my years. Those are bad people, and you need to quit running from them.”

“I’d love to, but people get killed messing
with them.”

“I have a story to tell you sometime. But for
now all you need to know was that several years ago Tilly had a dream about a
couple coming here on the run from some bad people. In the dream she was asked
if she would help them, and she said she would.”

He paused for a moment. “So it meant we all
are going to help. The whole clan. Some of the young ones don’t believe all the
stuff Tilly tells them, but they are good shots, they know how to duck live
fire, and they aren’t afraid. Son, you are among friends and family. This can
be a tough land, but it can also be a tough land to pry somebody off of. You
need to stand right here, and we will help you slug it out.”

I talked to him about all the kids and about
how we were sure these people were killing all across the US. How they were not
people to mess with. I told him I was scared to bring all his family in to
this.

He told me they were fighters down to the
babies crawling on the floor. He said if they could ride a bicycle, then they
could shoot a gun.

“These people are trained assassins probably
with full auto rifles and who knows what else.”

We had this conversation back and forth for
fifteen minutes, and he finally said he would not be dissuaded and he wanted us
to stay. He told me there were Korean, Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan veterans
in the group, and this was just family.

Otis said he had friends he had known for
seventy-five years who would stand with him in any fight he got into. He said
he would not call on them normally, but if things got really rough, they would
be there.

Finally, I looked at my new bride. “We both
know they are crazy, but we would probably be safer with them.”

She nodded “yes”, so the deal was done.

I asked him what he had in mind. He said the
niece had asked them for a phone number in case they showed up. The guy wrote a
number on a napkin with no name. I think she should call them.

“
What!
Otis, have you lost your mind?”
I raised my voice in surprise and fear.

He looked at me for a second and then
laughed. If we know they’re coming we can be prepared.

“But how do you get prepared for people like
them?”

Otis told me to follow him. In a room off the
garage and behind the store was a heavily paneled room that you entered through
a hidden door. It had security monitors and electronic surveillance, which was
beyond what this place presented off the street. But that wasn’t close to all
they had in the room. One whole wall was rifle after rifle and handguns and
shelves underneath with ammo.

“Take your pick of anything here, but I have
one I picked out for you to use.” Otis slid open a wide drawer with extra-heavy
shelf sliders. From the drawer he pulled out a .50 caliber. He asked me if I
had ever shot one of those, and I hadn’t. He handed Deb a small box, and he
handed me the gun.

“Let’s go shoot it,” he said.

When we got out by the truck, he pointed way
off in the distance to a sign with a big yellow circle painted on it. He told
me it’s what they practiced on. So I put out the bipod legs and dropped the gun
gently on the ground.

Otis took the box from Deb and opened it,
revealing about a dozen shells. “There aren’t many bullets in here, but you
don’t normally need many with this gun.”

I took a shell and slid it into the chamber
and locked the bolt. I told Otis I was a little afraid of the kick of the gun
but felt better about the shock-absorbing butt on the stock. I asked how far
away the target was, and where the gun was zeroed.

Otis smiled. “It’s about three hundred yards,
and it’s zeroed at the sign.”

I settled in to get used to the gun and scope
and after a few seconds pulled the trigger. The noise and recoil were enormous.

Otis read the big yellow circle with his
binoculars and laughed out loud. “Great shot. You’re probably about three
inches to the right but good on elevation. Our son used to shoot that way. It’s
zeroed for Will, but our son would have to aim just a touch to the left as you
do.”

Then Otis asked me if I wanted to shoot it
again, and I didn’t.

“I have a plan,” Otis said. “Let’s all get a
good night’s sleep, and my niece will call them in the morning. We’ll tell them
you just drove in here and you’re in the bathroom right now. It should make
them scoot in here quick as they can, and we’ll be ready for them.”

I started to protest again.

He held up his hand in a halt motion. “We
want to do this. This isn’t our first dance, and half the guns on the wall will
punch holes in body armor.”

All I could say was, “Please don’t get anyone
in your family hurt.”

“I won’t. Follow me back inside.” He said
he’d get some other guns for Deb and me as backup to the “big boy” as he called
it.

“Do you want big boy back inside.”

“Put it in your truck,” Otis said. “Here’s
what I think we should do. My niece will call them back in here like calling a
coyote. When they get here, they will probably park somewhere here behind the
pumps, and when they jump out to run inside to look for you, then you can pop
their engine with big boy. At that point they aren’t leaving with the evil
machine. Then you can pop any of the guys you want, but you will have to hurry
because we all want a shot at them.”

I was amazed how he could talk about this as
if it was a game.

“How many will be here?”

He laughed. “About half those at the
wedding.” Then he said, “Just kidding, but there will be enough, and we’ll be
ready.”

I put big boy in the truck and hurried inside
to get Deb and me ready. I picked an AR15 in .308 and a .44 magnum Desert
Eagle. I got Deb a rifle like mine and a Glock with .357 Sig caliber. We got a
bag of ammo and headed to the truck.

I stopped in the doorway. “Otis, how high
does the gun shoot at the distance from the truck to the building.”

“I’m not sure, but I think it’s about three
inches.”

“What time do you want to start?”

“We’ll talk over breakfast but probably
midmorning.”

Deb and I settled into the truck for the
night, amazed at the events of the last few days. I was a newlywed, and Mrs.
Adams and I were about to get into a gunfight. I told her I would not soon
forget this day. We tried to watch a movie, but our minds weren’t on it. We
tried to read but that was no good either.

The night was clear, and the stars were
bright. When the moon came up, we could see a little to walk around.

“Why don’t we go for a walk?” Deb asked.

“Let’s go out to the yellow sign.”

“OK.”

I loaded the Desert Eagle and her Glock and
away we went. We walked slowly so we didn’t get into any cactus or anything. We
could see but not real well. Finding the sign in the dark without a flashlight
might be hard, but getting back shouldn’t be since the store was about the only
light that bright, and we would just walk straight to it.

When we got to the sign, there were a number
of bullet holes in the back but only one in the front. They used white paper to
cover it over without taking the last paper off. The paper on whatever board
this was had to be three quarters of an inch thick or so. They must have used
the sign somewhat frequently.

We sat down by it and again just marveled at
the day. She kissed me with a forever kiss, and I was a happy man. We sat there
holding hands for a long time and then walked back to the truck. I hated to
sleep in the top bunk, but this was no ordinary night and we needed to sleep.

We awakened early, energetic, hopeful, and
scared. We rushed in to breakfast, where a lot of family and guns were around.
One of the young guys asked how I felt, and nearly everyone had a big laugh.

Deb and I had seen an old school bus at one
back corner of the building with all the windows out. I asked Otis why the bus
was there, and he laughed. He told me below the windows on the inside the seats
had been taken out, and there were two layers of three-quarter-inch subflooring
glued to the walls from the windows to the floor.

“No one would notice the gun portholes in the
side unless they looked real close,” Otis said. “There’d be at least five of us
in there with our heads down when they drive in.”

No weapon they carried would penetrate the
wall, so they’d be safe, as I’d asked.

He paused for a moment. “Do I look a little
fatter today?”

“I have to admit you do.”

Otis patted his tummy. “I’m wearing some new
Class III body armor I got just last month. The counter is lined, so anyone
behind it would be pretty safe. It also has gun portholes. Several will be
inside with me. He pointed out a ten foot rolling counter that had been rolled
to the street side wall and was perpendicular to the doors.  That is lined as
well and there will be at least three behind it.  Everyone will be hidden
except me. All you need to do is make the SUV un-drivable so they don’t leave.”

I just about choked. “So they don’t leave?” I
was thinking that these people were really nuts. “Otis, are you really sure
this is a good idea?”

“Yes,” the whole roomful said excitedly.

So they were
in
every nutty one of
them.

I prayed really hard for the first time in a
long while when they brought our breakfast. I told God I was really sorry I had
been so self-reliant and forgot Him. I asked Him to please not let any of us
there get hurt and to help Deb and me get some relief from these black SUV
people.

“Amen,” everyone said.

They left us alone while we ate our
breakfast. We didn’t talk much, but I did tell her I loved her and was so glad
she was Mrs. Adams. We talked about how amazing Otis and his family were. How
it seemed they’d lived for this day. They acted as though it was a family
picnic. I told Deb I was still scared and wasn’t sure where I wanted her to be.
I wanted her to be safe.

“I’ll be with you, silly.”

When we finished, Otis asked us if we were
ready or wanted to wait for a bit so our food could settle. I said maybe a
little, and he looked at his watch and announced to us all that the niece would
call at 9:33 a.m. It would not be an exact time so as not to look suspicious
and only God knew what would happen next.

Deb and I went to the restroom and then the
truck. We were as ready as we knew how to be. I had big boy on the ground on
the opposite side of the truck where the gun barrel was in front of the tire
and under the front bumper. Being in the shade would make it hard to see. That
was until I shot the thing. The ball of fire was amazing. Very nervous, we got
a drink and settled in, and then 9:33 a.m. came. We didn’t expect anything
right away, but everyone was in place early. The bus people were in the bus.
The people inside had ridden together, so there would not be many cars there.
One of them brought a motor home and parked it at the pumps as if it were ours.
It seemed they thought of everything.

But they didn’t. And neither did we.

About the time we saw a black SUV top a rise
about ten miles away, a black helicopter zoomed in low and fast coming over the
mountains. It slowed before it got to the store and started its decent.
Thankfully, it came in on the other side of the truck and behind the gas
pumps.  They apparently didn’t see us. They landed about thirty yards to the
left of where Otis thought the SUV would stop.

My heart was pounding so loud, I thought Deb
could hear it. She was flushed and quiet. As soon as it got within about three
feet of the ground, two guys jumped out wearing black SWAT-type clothing and
headed for the store. The helicopter landed, and a third guy got out walking in
the same direction following them. None of them were looking our way or at the
old school bus.

I aimed at the jet engine cowling just below
the rotors. I adjusted my aim a click lower and pulled the trigger. The noise
of the gun was enormous but nothing like the noise of the engine when the
bullet hit. The explosion was loud, and the shrill whine of high-speed metal on
metal was deafening. The rotor shaft locked up almost instantly, and the blades
snapped off. The three guys were on the ground.