Lowering the bucket, Arthur moved along Rudy’s truck, scraping the side as he scooped up the stiff body. “I’ll get the gun later, but I have to move you,” Arthur told the body, raising the bucket up. He drove into the woods and dumped Rudy out, then drove back and parked the track steer.
“Dogs,” he snapped and they ran out of the woods, falling in around him as he headed for the back door.
“You did so good doing chores,” Arthur praised, taking Nicole out of her baby sling. She gave a squeal as he put her in the carrier. “We have to get you some food and more diapers, then figure how we are going to do some stuff around here to make it safe.” Nicole just looked at him as she chewed on her fist.
He carried her with him to his office and set her on the desk as he went to the gun safe. Opening it up, he grabbed a suppressor off the top shelf. Arthur had three suppressors the government knew about, but over a dozen that they didn’t. The one in his hand was one of those. It was his own design and worked better than the ones he’d bought.
At one time, he’d considered patenting it and leasing the rights, but hadn’t wanted the thugs in DC breathing down his neck. Next, he grabbed a dual mag pouch for the AR. Clipping it on his left hip in front of the 1911 magazines, he shoved two magazines in the Kydex holster.
Stepping into the living room, he grabbed his AR and took the suppressor that was mounted off; it was one the government knew about. Putting the better one on, Arthur put the other in the gun safe and then checked his AR over. When he was done, he turned and saw Nicole staring at him in wonder.
“Yep, anyone messes with you and I’ll skin them alive,” Arthur sang out and Nicole giggled. Seeing his digital camera sitting in its cradle on his desk, Arthur picked it up and snapped two pictures of Nicole. “Gotcha,” he grinned at her.
Shoving the camera in his thigh cargo pocket, Arthur turned around and closed the safe. Reaching up, Arthur took a black felt fedora hat with a three inch brim off the top of the safe and put it on. “You like my hat?” Arthur asked Nicole and she just gave him a toothless grin which Arthur took as yes and picked her up.
As he carried Nicole back to the kitchen, he noticed the living room looked like chaos with all the stuff he had brought over for Nicole. “Uh oh, we will have to clean the house when we get back,” Arthur said, walking into the kitchen.
Pulling bottles out of the dishwasher, he fixed the last two and then made sure the last diapers and wipes were in the diaper bag. Holding up the pink diaper bag and looking at it, he turned to Nicole. “We are so getting another diaper bag,” he said in a serious voice that tickled Nicole.
Turning away from Nicole to the diaper bag, “I can’t walk around with a pink bag, Nicole,” Arthur told her with a fake scowl that amused her even more. Putting the baby sling on, Arthur slung the AR over his head to let it hang under his arm.
“Kit, Kat, stay,” he said, grabbing his keys off the key rack. “Donald and Daisy, come,” he commanded, heading to the front door. He armed the pad he had just put up and then walked out, locking the door. Walking to the garage, he patted the baby sling as he looked around. Where he lived he rarely heard signs of civilization, but knowing what was going on in the world made the sounds of nature more distinct. What he did notice was there were very few birds chirping.
Opening the back of his Blazer, “In,” he commanded. Donald and Daisy jumped in the back with ease. Closing the door, he moved into the garage and climbed behind the driver’s seat. He looked down as he started the engine to see Nicole looking up at him, completely content. Backing out he gave a sigh, looking at Wendy’s BMW.
“I found us a baby,” he said softly and then put the Blazer in drive. Pulling down the driveway, he saw he’d left the gate open yesterday.
“Nicole, why didn’t you tell me to close the gate?” he asked, driving through the gate and then pushed the remote clipped to his visor.
When he passed Nicole’s house, Arthur tilted his head to the house as his left arm cradled Nicole. “We are doing good, guys,” he whispered.
Driving north on small dirt roads that only locals would know, it took over twenty minutes for Arthur to reach a cabin rental area south of the hamlet of Murray. The area was only ten miles in a straight line but twenty by road, and Arthur had not taken the straightest route.
Passing houses of people he knew, Arthur would slow and look at their houses for any signs of life but didn’t stop. At one house, he thought he saw someone but didn’t know who lived there, so he didn’t slow. Never going over forty, Arthur was sure if anyone saw him it might make them nervous, since he was going so slow. But he was worried about rounding a blind curve and finding it blocked. Needless to say, Nicole was making him overcautious.
He stopped half a mile from the small store that
