Chapter 4

While Greg and Amelia were having sex, a good night’s sleep, and a trip to see the O’Connells following breakfast, Gunther and Joey were not so fortunate. Ed had eventually arrived in the van, and the cold and shaking pair had been able to dry off, change clothes, and get some mostly warm food to eat along with some coffee that was reasonable hot. When they had finished, Chip had further instructions for them.

“The Boss says to take a break until daylight. I’ll keep an eye on the signal from the broad, and you can catch up to her in the morning when you’re able to see better,” Chip told them on the their cell phone.

“You expect us to stay out here all night?” Gunther groused back.

“You can sleep in the van. Ed has a friend coming to pick him up, as the Boss wants as few people involved in this as possible. Also when you catch the broad, you can use the van to bring her back. The boss wants her alive too,” Chip told them, which wasn’t something that Gunther wanted to hear.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gunther mumbles in an upset voice before disconnecting. “We’ll see about that,” he told Joey after hanging up.

The van was only slightly more comfortable to sleep in than it would have been to sleep outside, and they needed to move it from where Ed had picked them up to a better parking spot for the night. Ed’s ride finally did show up, and he departed, leaving the two searchers to spend the night in the van, where the breeze coming off the Ashley was all that kept them company.

It was in fact well after sunrise when Chip called them again. He had napped in the room at the back of the bar where his equipment was set up, but he had kept track of the signal by checking on it every so often. His news was better than those in the van expected.

“WHAT?” Gunther snarled into the cell phone when it woke him.

“Wakey ... wakey!” Chip told him in a bright voice, though he was as tired as they were. “It’s time to get back to the search for the bitch. Go and find some breakfast first though. She seems to have gone to ground a bit after sunrise and hasn’t moved in the last couple of hours.

“After you eat, call me back, and I’ll give you her exact location,” he added. They eventually found some place to eat after driving several miles. However, Gunther was in no hurry to get back to work, so they sat and had seconds before calling Chip back from the van more than an hour later.

“Where have you guys been? No body answered your cell, and I’ve called three times,” Chip complained, when they finally called him.

“We left the phone in the van. The place was crowded, and we didn’t want anyone hearing anything about our search,” Gunther told him in excuse, but that was all it was.

“Okay, she hasn’t moved in the last hour or so. Here’s what you need to do to find her. Get on Rutledge Avenue and go north to Mount Pleasant Street. Turn left on it and drive toward the Ashley. You’ll run into Riverside Drive. Turn right onto it and in a short distance, you’ll hit Sunnyside Avenue where you turn left. It turns into Lownders Point Drive. When you get there call me back,” Chip told them and disconnected.

“Out chasing ghosts again,” Joey mumbled in an unhappy voice as he started the van.

“Yeah, but at least it’s light now, and we’ll be able to see her if she’s out there,” Gunther told him, but he didn’t sound all that happy either, as Joey pulled out of the parking lot, and they turned up the street to find Rutledge Avenue.

It required more than half an hour and several wrong turns for them to reach Lownders Point Drive. Gunther was seriously pissed by then.

“We’re there,” he told Chip on the cell phone in a grouchy voice.

“Yeah, I’ve been following you on my screen. Can you see where the swamp grass comes up close to the road?” Chip demanded in a surly voice, as he was tired of the search also.

“Yeah, we can see that.”

“That’s where she’s hiding. Throw some stones or something out into the grass, and see if you can get her to move,” Chip told them.

“What the hell would she be doing out there?” Joey wondered.

“How the hell should I know. Grab some of this gravel and start tossing it out into the grass to see if we can flush her,” Gunther told him as he drew his pistol.

“The boss wants her alive,” Joey reminded him.

“Yeah, alive but not necessarily whole,” Gunther replied with a malicious grin.

“She is pretty fast, isn’t she?” Joey asked and drew his own gun before picking up a number of good sized chunks of gravel. They both began tossing gravel randomly out into the grass near the road.

They soon got more of a response than they were expecting, when a very large river rat burst out of the grass and headed away from them at an angle. Both men were startled, but fired at the animal, more in shock and surprise than anything else. The animal was pushed sideways by the impact of the two bullets, and flopped over dead, skidding a few feet from its momentum.

“What the fuck was that?” Gunther demanded as the sound of the shots faded away, but at the same time Chip was on the phone demanding to know what was going on.

“What the hell did you idiots do? I just lost the signal from the broad, and what were those shots that I heard,” he demanded in an angry voice.

“We were just attacked by some big animal,” Gunther was telling him, as a police cruiser pulled up, and two Officers got out with their hands on their guns.

“Place those weapons on the ground and step back away from them,” the first Officer directed. Joey immediately did as directed, but Gunther wanted to argue.

“Come on you guys, we were attacked. We were just defending ourselves.”

“Place your weapon on the ground and back away from it,” the second Office directed in a sharper voice, as both officers drew their weapons.

“Okay ... okay!” Gunther agreed, placing his pistol on the ground and backing away. The two Officers advanced to the grounded weapons.

“What is going on here?” the first Officer demanded.

“We were attacked!” Joey squealed in a strained voice.

“Attacked?” the second Officer asked doubtfully.

“Yeah ... some big animal charged out of the swamp at us. We shot it in self-defense,” Gunther told them.

“Big animal?” the second Officer asked just before spotting the body of the river rat.

“That animal on the ground. It’s too large to be a beaver, and it don’t look like one either. Don’t know what it is,” Gunther told them.

“That’s a river rat, and a rather large specimen at that. You said that it charged out of the swamp at you, is that correct?” the first Officer asked.

“Yeah, that’s it, charged right at us out of the swamp,” Joey agreed.

“And you just happened to have your pistols out, is that it?” the second Officer asked in a doubtful voice. During all of this, the cell phone had been quiet.

“Just what are the two of you doing out here anyway?” the first Officer asked as he knelt to pick up both pistols before removing their magazines and ejecting the round in the chambers of both weapons. That was when the cell phone came to life.

“Have you seen anything of the canoes coming downstream yet?” someone on the phone asked in a loud voice.

“No, we ain’t seen anything yet. We was attacked by a river rat,” Gunther answered.

“Well, keep a lookout. They’re late already, and none of them will be able to qualify for the race at this rate,” the voice told them. Of course, the Police Officers had heard this.

“The Bosses older kids are trying to qualify for some canoe race, but I guess they aren’t very fast,” Joey told them, improvising.

“Are the two of you bodyguards?” the second Officer asked in a doubtful voice.

“Yes,” Gunther instantly replied.

“Let’s see your licenses and pistol permits,” the first Officer demanded, and both Officers kept their pistols on the two men as they reached for their wallets, but neither made any sudden moves and soon had their wallets out to show them the requested documents. The officers used their body cameras to record the documents before returning them and the unloaded pistols.

“There was no harm done out here, but closer into town, discharging those pistols could put people in danger,” the first officer told them, before turning to his partner.

“Get an evidence bag and disposable gloves out of the trunk, Chuck. We’ll need to turn that rat in to see if it had rabies. Those things can be dangerous,” he finished. Joe and Gunther didn’t look happy at the prospect of them taking the rat away to be examined, but said nothing fearing that the police would ask more questions that they didn’t want to answer.

“One of you needs more time at the range,” the second Officer told them after picking up the dead rat and examining it. “One of you hit it in the head, but the other one hit it in its mid section,” he continued as he dropped it into the evidence bag his partner was holding. The gloves went into the bag also before his partner sealed it.

“Yeah, more range time,” Gunther agreed, as the two Officers got back into their cruiser after placing the sealed evidence bag in the trunk. They backed up a short distance before turning around and driving off.

“They’re gone,” Gunther said into the phone.

“You two get your asses back here pronto. The Boss wants an explanation of what happened out there,” Chip told them before disconnecting.

“Let’s get the hell out of here before those cops decide to come back with more questions,” Gunther told Joey in a disgusted voice.

“We been chasing a fucking river rat all of this time,” Joey said in a discouraged voice, having put things together, as they entered the van to return to town and the bar. Later downtown, they parked the van in a lot near the bar and walked to it.

“Where the hell is the body?” the Boss demanded, as they entered the back room.

“There wasn’t no broad,” Gunther told him.

“Well, what the hell went on out there,” the Boss demanded in an angry voice. Gunther went over what had happened that morning before any more questions were asked.

“So you shot this rat thing – both of you?” the Boss demanded when he finished.

“Yes, I hit it in the head, but Joey hit it in the mid section. That was when Chip asked what we had done, and complained that he had lost her signal,” Gunther told him.

“We been chasing a river rat all of last night. That’s why we never saw her,” Joey said in a discouraged voice.

“Where is the FUCKING BODY asshole?” the Boss screamed at them in a very distraught voice.

“The cops took it. They said that it probably had rabies, and they put it in an evidence bag, real careful like. They even used gloves to pick it up,” Gunther told him, before adding, “How the hell did those cops just happen to be out there?” but received no answer.