JR thought for long moments, then nodded her agreement.
Chapter V
Running No More
The next morning, Sam said, “We need an outhouse, can’t keep running into the woods every time we need to take a dump, or we’ll freeze our tushes off this winter.”
“And,” JR added, “don’t forget a bed for Mona. She can’t continue to sleep on a pile of blankets on the floor. That store where we got our mattress had some nice twin size beds. And while we’re out lets search for that shelf unit for the indoor food storage?”
“Okay. And we’ll get two more for the storage shed. It’s crowed because everything is piled on the floor then on top of that.”
After eating breakfast, they drove to Kalispell to the home improvement warehouse they’d visited before. While Sam loaded lumber for two new small projects onto a metal cart, the women took a cart and gathered hardware, nails, and screws per Sam’s list.
JR left her rifle near where Sam was sorting lumber and told him they’d take their materials to the truck, then back it and the trailer inside to where he was sorting through the stacks of well picked over lumber.
Approaching the truck, the women stopped talking as Smokey slinked and growled. JR and Mona halted when two men stood and rushed from behind a green pickup with handguns pointed at them. Another man and a woman scurried from hiding and passed them heading for the open overhead door where Sam sorted lumber inside. JR knelt beside Smokey and whispered, “Go to Sam, run to Sam.” She stood and moved between the gunmen and Smokey as he raced away. She turned sideways, palmed her handgun in the holster, pulled the barrel away from her leg, and pulled the trigger. twice After the gun blasts, she turned and raised both hands with open palms toward the gunmen. One of the gunmen cursed her as he lunged forward and threw a hard punch to JR’s stomach. She doubled over and dropped to her hands and knees and retched on the asphalt parking lot. As she gasped and attempted to breath, he took her handgun, then grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the green pickup. The other gunman pushed Mona ahead of him to the truck. Both women’s hands were secured behind them with plastic cable ties before they were forced into the back of the crew cab truck. The lead gunman turned and fired two shots at Sam’s truck’s front left tire. JR’s hopes deflated along with the air gushing from the ruined tire. At least she’d been able to warn Sam of the danger closing in on him.
The man and woman heading toward Sam were surprised by JR’s gunshot behind them and failed to react to Smokey flashing past them.
Sam was startled by the gunshot, it meant trouble had found them once again. He dropped the 1” X 12” board he held and ran ten feet to his and JR’s rifles. Smokey stopped beside him as Sam heard two more shots in the distance. More shots were fired before bullets hit the stacked lumber beside him. Kneeling behind the cart, he aimed at the first person he saw pointing a gun toward him. From a hundred feet he put two bullets in a man’s chest. A dark haired woman screamed, then turned and ran, weaving and bobbing from side to side as she sprinted away through the open doorway. Sam’s next bullet hit her high on her left thigh and she stumbled, fell, and rolled to the right out of sight. Sam ran toward the front of the building with Smokey at his heels.
The green Chevy’s driver stayed behind the truck’s cab and yelled at Sam standing inside the building behind the door frame. “I’m Riley Hooper. You killed my brothers and you’re gonna die for that. I’ve got your women and if you want em come and get em. But don’t wait too long or me and my friends will fuck em to death.”
The green Chevy pickup started with a roar and smoked the rear tires to where the wounded woman hobbled away from behind a lone parked car. The trucks passenger door opened, and she clambered inside as the truck sped away across the huge parking acreage.
Sam followed them with the rifle scope but was afraid of hitting his women with a ricochet. All he could do was follow them and hope for the best.
Sam and Smokey moved outside the warehouse door. They ran to the truck to give chase until Sam saw his truck’s front tire was flat. He turned helplessly and watched the green truck speed away with JR and Mona inside. In hindsight he realized he should have shot the tires on the green truck instead of letting it get away. In frustration, Sam raised his right fist and cursed Riley Hooper. Hooper left no doubt of what was instore for JR and Mona. Riley Hooper’s fate was sealed; he and all the people with him were going to die. There would be no quarter given. Hooper and his friends would be treated exactly like his brothers and their cronies were.
Sam’s only clue to JR’s location was the sign near Charlie’s place pointing to the scrapyard; he hoped Riley Hooper was part of that bunch. But if that was the right place, he figured driving up that road would likely get him killed before he could accomplish a rescue. The women’s only hope was for him to attack from hiding after nightfall. At that moment, he wished he was a bit older and had bad assed military training. Instead he’d do
