somewhere along the road to Denver, didn’t you?” he asked.
“Why should I tell you anything?” he said, as he spat out more blood onto the deck.
“Well, if I tire of this, I’ll turn you back over to Charlie, that’s why.”
“Please do that,” Charlie said. “I love kicking the crap out of traitors.”
“You see,” the Sheriff said. “Is that what you want?”
“You idiots think your army is still intact. Boy do you have a surprise coming. You’ll eventually end up on our side.”
“Cut the crap, son,” the Sheriff replied calmly. “What happened to the rest of Private Jenkin’s group?”
“Jenkins didn’t know it, but we killed all of them. The only reason we kept him alive was to get to you assholes.”
“Why did you want to get to us?”
“Supplies, and revenge.”
“So you’re part of the militia,” the Sheriff said.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, Barney?” Defiant, he stared at the Sheriff.
The sheriff shook his head.
“Alright, I’m done. Go ahead, Charlie.”
Frank and Jerry looked at the Sheriff with disbelief. He shot them a ‘shut up’ glance.”
Charlie walked over again. “You are one special kind of stupid, aren’t ya?” he said. Then he punched him again, drawing more blood.
Jerry leaned over towards Frank.
“I’m impressed,” Jerry whispered. “These two old coots are doing the classic good cop/bad cop routine….and they’re doing it well.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Frank whispered back.
“Where’s your base, cretin?” Charlie yelled, his face about an inch away from the private.
“Stuff it, old man,” he replied. “You’re dead already, and you don’t even know it yet.”
Charlie hit the private again, and then there was a rifle shot. The bullet tore into the private’s shoulder.
“Hit the dirt!” Charlie yelled. Everybody jumped off the deck and into the bushes, looking around for where the shot came from. The traitor cried out in pain, still sitting on the bench.
Chapter 03 – Collector’s Item
“Where did that shot come from? ” yelled Jane.
“Stay down,” Frank said, crawling to a place where he could see more. “Lucy!”
The dog ran over, tail wagging. She sat down next to Frank and looked around.
“I’m in a good place to shoot from, and I’ve got one in the chamber,” Jeb said. “If Lucy sees them, tell me where.”
“Yeah, me too,” Earl said.
“Anybody hit?” Jasmine asked.
Nobody responded, but the prisoner moaned.
“The traitor is about to pass out,” Charlie said. Then there was another rifle shot, and the prisoner fell off of the bench. Lucy’s head jerked around and she focused on a point by the swimming pool.
“Swimming pool area,” Frank said. “She’s looking over there.”
“Got him,” whispered Jeb. He fired, and a man fell off the roof of the pump building.
“Think he was the only one?” Jane whispered.
“I don’t know,” Frank said.
“Probably,” Jeb said. “There were no more than ten soldiers in that chopper…..I’m pretty sure of that, and we’ve killed that many, by my figuring.”
“Yeah, counting the two that they killed,” Jerry said. “I think we’d better find all the bodies just to be sure.”
“I’m with you on that,” the Sheriff said. “I just hope that chopper didn’t radio for help to somebody.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Gabe said. “It’s not giving me a warm fuzzy feeling. Not one bit.”
The group slowly came off the ground, looking around warily. Mary poked her head out the window.
“Anybody need a doctor?” she asked. “Maybe your prisoner?”
“He needs a grave digger,” Jeb said. “That last shot hit him square in the heart. He was dead before he hit the deck.”
“None of you guys got hit?” she asked.
“Nope,” Jeb replied.
“How are we so lucky?” Jasmine asked.
Nobody answered that…..they were all afraid to jinx themselves.
“Alright, let’s fan across this meadow and get a