Over the internal speakers, Morgan asked everyone to gather with us. Before taking a seat, I saw the large coffee urn was still a third full. I didn't know how old or thick the coffee was and didn't care. As I drew a full cup from the spigot, several others from my crew lined up behind me. I surveyed the crowd and didn't see Shane.
"Has Shane and his crew returned from Chicago?"
Several people said no or shook their heads. Morgan added, "The crews looking for horses and equipment aren't back either."
"Okay. Let's start at the beginning. Morgan and Andrea, please add details to what I heard outside."
Andrea spoke, "There were seven of us adults and nine kids below sixteen. They separated us and locked us in the six cells. It was tight and uncomfortable, but we were only in there for two days until Ed and his crew returned. They fed us and left plenty of food and water before they cleared out. Several people I was surprised to find joining the rebellion apologized sheepishly. Morgan and I talked about who left with Masters and we made a list." She passed copies around. "It looks like eighteen left plus Joe and Ronnie."
Morgan cut in. "But from what we heard while we were locked up, Suzie Robard, Glen Whycoff and his boys, Allen and Adam, were roughed up and forced to go along. Apparently, they didn't know about Tim and Nate's plan until then. Kim Whycoff was adamant about going with her brother, but Glen and the boys didn't want to leave. They shouted and resisted to the end."
Ed spoke loudly, "Now the question is, when do we go after what they stole and rescue the four that were kidnapped?"
I was tired. "My gut feeling is soon. But we need to get rested and discuss the situation at length before we go off half-cocked. The leadership committee will meet tomorrow afternoon at two. Think about our options and try to reach a decision by then. You folks working on inventory, please try to complete it before then, if possible."
My buddy wasn't in the crowd. "I'm surprised Shane and his crew aren't back from Chicago."
Ed completed a yawn then replied, "Haven't seen them. They should have been back today at the latest unless they had problems." He put his arm around Marilyn's waist, and they headed upstairs to their room.
After a late-night shower together, Kira and I lay in bed. I turned to her. "If those knotheads, Nate and Tim, had been forthcoming and said they wanted to leave. I would have split the food supplies with them seventy/thirty. Instead they stole about half; that's a lot more than their rightful share. Ed's hot to chase after them to get it back. He's willing to kill some of them if we must. All that just to bring some food and ammunition back. I don't like it."
Kira pushed me over onto my back and straddled me. She kissed and licked down the side of my face and neck. "You need to relax and get rested. And I know just how to make that happen."
The orange globe of the morning sun poked above the treetops as I turned and walked back inside Deliverance. The cool silence helped clear my head before I strode to the dining room for breakfast. Although Kira had relaxed my body in a most enjoyable way, my mind continued to wrestle with our plight for several hours until it finally shut down from exhaustion.
After gauging the two fuel tanks that weren't empty, I learned less than nine hundred gallons of gasoline and ninety-one hundred gallons of diesel fuel remained. Tim's group had taken five hundred gallons of diesel. I would have gladly allowed the people who left twenty-five hundred gallons as their rightful share. That's what they got for sneaking instead of asking.
A few minutes after noon, Shane's group called for the gate to be opened. I met him outside at his truck and learned they'd had two flat tires on a set of duels on the over-the-road box trailer. "We lost most of a full day finding new tires and changing them by hand. Once we got to the warehouse, everything proceeded as planned." He leaned back against the warm hood of the pick-up. "It's a good thing we took the diesel-powered fork lift from here; those battery warehouse lifts were all dead. They're ruined from sitting idle for so many years."
I asked, "Are there enough food items left to make another trip worthwhile?"
He shook his head but then added, "We about cleaned out the dry foods. But in the sporting goods section, Verlie found pallets of survival food. You know, the stuff those doomsday preppers used to buy. It's the Patriot Pantry brand that advertized the food was guaranteed to be good for twenty-five years. We brought one pallet just in case it's needed, but there's eleven more still there." Then he asked, "How did your trip go; did the repairs you planned get done?"
"They did, and I'll tell you about that later. But first we have other problems. There's a leadership committee meeting scheduled for less than two hours from now, at two p.m."
I briefly brought him up to speed on the Masters and Robard situation. He was as disappointed in their sneaky, ungrateful, behavior as I was. Shane's crew went inside to join the lunchtime crowd. Before we joined them, I told him to leave the dry foods on the trailer instead of hauling them inside Deliverance. I hoped we had enough food stored inside to last past spring when we'd make our move to Missouri. Then the trailer could be hauled south without the food being rehandled several more times.
The leadership committee was seated in the
