They had only walked for a few minutes when Tom heard a familiar bark. “That sounds like Duke.”
Rick asked, “You had a dog? You never mentioned a dog.”
Tom laughed. “Duke just showed up a couple of months before we left for Hawaii. He became the dog who wouldn’t leave. Jackie fed him behind Granny B’s back. She never liked the dog.”
They listened, and a minute later, Duke howled his customary howl that said he’d jumped a rabbit or treed a squirrel. Tom said, “I guess he didn’t like us as much as Jackie liked him. Let’s get back to the bunker.”
Jackie saw them coming across the opening in front of the cabin and challenged them, “Stop! Or I’ll shoot.”
“Sis, I know you saw us. Stop trying to impress Rick.”
Jackie joined the others on the front porch. “Well, what did you find?”
“There are a bunch of trucks and SUVs parked in front of the house, and someone I didn’t know was guarding the place.”
Rick said, “I don’t think this bunch is the gang from Ashland.”
That got Tom’s attention. “How so?”
“The man looked like an Oregon redneck, not a tattoo-covered biker with a chain on his wallet and a doo-rag.”
“I’ve seen several people from Jock’s gang and killed them. They had a lot of tattoos, and all but one wore a doo-rag and had the chain on their wallets.”
Jackie squinted her eyes and rubbed her jaw. “Why does it matter? Let’s ambush the bastards and take back our home.”
Tom turned and snorted. “It would be nice to know how many there are, and do they have more people coming and going? I have no problem taking our home back, but we need to know what we’re up against. We also need to dig up some of the weapons, food, and gear we have stashed around the ranch.”
Rick was surprised. “I know you mentioned that you were preppers but burying supplies is a bit extreme, isn’t it?”
“No, not at all, if you want to survive and can afford it. Grampa started out small and grew the project over the years. I came into some money several months back and purchased some better weapons and many of those boxes of survival food. I even had the supplier put the food into plastic barrels and ship them to Klamath Falls, ready to bury. We drove over and picked them up, so no one would know about the purchase or what was in the barrels. I also bought a small backhoe to dig the holes.”
Rick had a question but listened patiently. “How deep are these drums buried? I’m not a fan of shovels but have been intimate with a few in my life.”
“The drums are usually buried standing up with the top of the drum at least a foot under the ground. I have a map my grandpa made, and we kept adding to it.”
Rick couldn’t help but chuckle. “I suppose the map is hidden in the house.”
“Yes and no. There are three copies. One is hidden in the house's basement, another is hidden down by the creek in a hollow tree. The last and most important one is behind a brick in this cabin’s fireplace. Each of us also knows where a couple of the drums are buried.”
Rick then asked a question that made Jackie and Tom cringe. “Where are the shovels? Let’s dig up some real food.”
“Crap,” Tom slapped his leg.
“I don’t like the sound of that. Crap means bad.”
“We don’t have any shovels. They’re all in the barn,” Tom moaned.
*
Chapter 18
Southern Oregon – East of Ashland – “The Ranch”
Granny B stood just inside the doorway, heard the laughter, and then groans. She walked out to join them. “What’s all the commotion about? You know we’re only a half a mile or so from the ranch.”
Jackie slapped her forehead. “Sorry, we were talking about digging up some of the hidden barrels of supplies when we figured out we don’t have any shovels.”
Granny B stood there with wide-open eyes, speechless. “I told your grandpa to hide some shovels over twenty years ago when I pointed this problem out to him. Now, where did he hide them? Oh, mercy! I can’t remember.”
Rick and Tom drew their hunting knives at the same time. They saw each other’s long-bladed blades and laughed. Tom said, “Let’s go dig some dirt. Could a couple of the ladies come with us to help move the dirt? Grab some pans and that bucket by the well. I know where two are buried on the other side of the well. We’ll get them first and then get the map. ”
Granny B reached up over the door on the inside of the cabin and handed a stainless steel rod with a handle on one end to Tom. He had a puzzled look and then smiled. “This is a probe to find the barrels.”
“Bingo,” said Granny B.
Brenda’s foot was still hurting, so only Sam and Jackie followed the men to the first dig.
Tom walked to the well and then looked at the half-red ball poking its light through the heavy foliage. He paced off ten paces heading east and then twenty paces north. He pointed to the ground and stabbed the rod
