Part 12 (1/2)

She thought about that for a minute. ”You're right, we should run,” she agreed.

Sighing with relief, he said, ”You really had me worried there, girl.”

”Well, you fight anybody,” Amanda said.

”Not if I can help it, and if I do I try to stack the odds in my favor,” Nathan told her.

Amanda looked up at him. ”We came around that corner and those bangers wanted some trouble and you gave it. There were more than you.”

”They left me with no choice. They were going to kill us. Remember, never give up your gun. No matter what the other guy says. Even if they are holding me with a gun to my head, never give up your weapon. Once you do I'm dead and you're dead. Try to shoot them, run, but don't give up your gun,” he told Amanda.

”Really,” she said.

”Amanda, think. Why would a man who's holding a gun to your friend's head or demanding you drop your gun let you go if you do? You aren't a threat anymore, therefore you're dead,” Nathan said. ”The death they will give you makes a gunshot seem kind,” he added.

”Like Momma,” she said, looking down.

”Hey squirt,” Nathan said, making her look up. ”You remember, you're with me and if I'm still breathing the fight is on. And don't forget we've got that dumb dog,” he said, pointing at Ares.

”He's not dumb,” Amanda shot back.

”You said he was, for licking his b.u.t.t,” Nathan reminded her.

”Well I'm sure it's important to him. He does it all the time, so leave him alone,” she said.

”That's my little firecracker,” Nathan said.

Out of the blue, Amanda asked, ”Who were the girls I saw in your friends' folder?” The disdain was evident in her voice.

”Huh?” Nathan asked, hearing the tone.

”Just give me the thing and I'll show you,” she said and he handed her the tablet. After it was on she turned it to him. ”These?” she asked with more than a little att.i.tude.

”Oh, those are old girlfriends,” Nathan said. Then he saw her counting. ”Twenty-four,” he said.

”You've had twenty-four girlfriends?” she asked.

”No, I've had more. Those are just the ones I dated for a while,” he said. Then she started to pull up each one and question him as they walked through the woods along a dirt road. They stopped mid-morning for a break and continued on. The entire time the inquisition continued. When Amanda finished with the girlfriends she moved to his friends and kids, asking a ton of questions about each.

It was just after noon and Nathan was getting ready to call for lunch when they came around a bend and he saw a car in the distance. They had seen a few stopped cars on the back gravel roads but Nathan didn't like the looks of this one as he raised his binoculars. Amanda never stopped asking questions as he looked the car over carefully.

”Amanda, turn it off and be quiet,” he said.

She heard something in his voice and turned off the computer pad and looked up. ”It's a stopped car. We've seen like a billion,” she said.

”It's a cop car and I swear there is a bullet hole in the winds.h.i.+eld,” he said as she put the tablet in her tote bag.

”Oh man, does it have some holes in it,” John said beside him. Nathan lowered his binoculars and looked at John. He was using his ma.s.sive binoculars. ”Someone shot that car all up,” he said.

”Let me see,” Nathan said, holding out his hand for John's binoculars. When John pa.s.sed them over, Nathan noticed they were Marine 20-100x70s. ”Jesus, you can see Mars with these d.a.m.n things,” Nathan said, lifting them up to his eyes. He felt like he was standing right in front of the car. ”Yep, it's shot to s.h.i.+t,” he said, looking at the front of the cop car.

”Let's go around,” Jasmine said.

”That's going to take some time and add fifteen miles to our trip,” Nathan said, still scanning the car and the surrounding area.

”Screw that, let's go this way,” Amanda said. ”If someone is there we'll crank a gat on em,” she said, making Nathan lower the binoculars and look at her.

”Excuse me,” he said.

”Yeah, we'll just crank a gat on em,” Amanda repeated.

”Where did you hear that?” Nathan demanded.

”Those bangers you shot,” she answered, adjusting the AK on her chest.

Shaking his head, Nathan handed the binoculars back to John. ”Don't bunch up. I'll take this side with Amanda; you two take the other side,” he told John and Jasmine.

They progressed slowly down the road and when they were about a hundred yards away from the car Nathan noted some sh.e.l.l cases on the road. Then he noted tractor tire tracks. Keeping his weapon ready, they approached the police car and a familiar smell crept into Nathan's nose. As he moved around the side he saw something covered up with a tarp behind the car.

Easing around, he told everyone to stay as Ares came forward on high alert. Ares was just looking around wanting to know what all the tension was about. Moving over to the tarp, Nathan crouched down and pulled it back to find an officer shot multiple times in the chest. Nathan threw the tarp off and didn't see his duty belt or weapon. Leaning over, he touched the officer's chest, confirming he didn't have a vest on.

He looked around, keeping in a crouch.

”What is it? He's dead,” Jasmine said.

”Don't be loud,” Nathan said in a low voice. ”Who covered him up and where's his rig and weapon?” he asked, standing up and moving slowly around the body. ”Ares, search,” he whispered. Ares looked at him then at the woods in front of him. ”Ares, search,” he commanded and Ares just looked at the woods and trotted towards them, stopping in the ditch. He turned to look at Nathan then at the woods.

”You guys stay on this side,” he told the three and moved to Ares. He heard someone behind him throw up as he eased up to Ares. He thought he saw something about twenty yards in, so he ventured deeper into the woods, wondering why Ares wasn't leading him. When he reached the spot he found out why.

It was another officer and she was dead as well. ”Search” only told Ares to find a live body, not a cadaver. She was a stocky female. And unlike the other officer she was in tactical gear.

He grabbed her M-4 and called the others over. Laying the rifle down, Nathan spotted her wound on the inside of her left thigh. ”That probably got the femoral artery,” he said, undoing her Tac vest and pulling it off. Then he pulled off her s.h.i.+rt and took her concealed vest off, throwing it in the pile.

He heard the others coming up behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the three were just staring at him with blank faces. He looked down at Jasmine's feet then looked back at the officer's feet. OK, that's close, he thought, taking her boots off and throwing them in his pile. Seeing her backup pistol, Nathan took it off and it joined the pile. Lying next to the officer was a notebook with some supplies. Opening the notebook, he found it was a handwritten journal. He skimmed the final entry.

”What happened?” Jasmine asked.

”It says in here,” Nathan said, laying the notebook on the body. ”Someone on a tractor came by and shot the first one. This one stayed here for at least two or three days and then they came back and got her,” he said, not finding anything useful in the supplies.

”What are you doing?” Jasmine asked.

”Getting her stuff. She doesn't need it anymore,” Nathan said.

”You can't desecrate a body like that,” she said. Totally taken off guard, Nathan fell off his heels onto his b.u.t.t. Ares moved over and found food that Nathan had pa.s.sed over. Ares didn't see the need to waste it.

”Oh I see, so when you are shot down the road I have to look at you and say I'm sorry we didn't take the dead cop's stuff so you could help us defend ourselves and you got shot.' Is that it? Because in case you haven't noticed we aren't going to be buying a lot of tactical gear like I'm wearing,” he pointed out.