Chapter 26

While I waited for Thia, I dug out my go cams. I could use them for surveillance of my parking areas. I made a mental note to myself, if I survive this, I want to build a trap. Flip a switch and have a four inch spike bar flip over the entrance to my lot. If I couldn’t do that, I could at least put up a sign warning people of the non lethal threat. But I didn’t have time to do that at the moment. I also wanted to let the bad guys get that close before they got trapped.

Spike bars where like a small dog. Their value was in the warning they gave all parties involved. They also gave their pit bull buddies a chance to attack while the target was distracted but not feeling threatened.

If the assault on my place were to be done by a militarily trained force, they would cut my power first. Thereby neutralizing, or at least mitigating my home field advantage. Sensors and video requires outside power. Or so you would think, and it was true of my house at that moment. Once upon a time I had thought about a battery backup system, but discarded the idea as too expensive. Suddenly it didn’t seem all that expensive after all. At that moment it would likely pass the cost benefit test.

I went outside to move anything, that could be used as cover, out of my driveway. Assuming the bad guys had done their homework, which I was sure that they hadn’t, they could just drive in and use their SUV as an assault weapon. Drive up and right through my fake walls. Those walls located where the bay opening once had been.

I wasn’t expecting that, since it could disable their escape vehicle and worse yet it would leave then trapped between two brick walls. It could end up being a shooting gallery, with gun thug targets.

I walked around the building while making a list of things I could do once Thia arrived. I didn’t want her there, but my theory on life was use everything, and everyone who came your way. Not to use them in a bad way, if it could be avoided, but use them when necessary.

While I was outside Thia drove up. I let her exit her car, then I kissed her right out in plain view. I also helped her carry her two black canvas tote bags into the house.

“We need to go to my storage building,” I said.

“Lock the door, and let’s go,” she said. Thia didn’t waste time wanting the whole story. She had started her career as a Paramedic. She knew how to prioritize things.

It was a ten minute drive to the storage building. We collected a single large black backpack. It was the twin to he one I kept at the car wash. The difference was that the bag we recovered from the storage building was not Empty. It was heavy as hell.

On the way home we went through the drive in window of a highway fast food restaurant. Since they were not going to be able to keep us under a prolonged siege food was a low priority item. It was going to be a quick strike, or a complete failure. I honestly wasn’t taking it all that seriously. Since I wasn’t a seventy year old lady, I was expecting them, so there was going to be no surprises. The best tactic was to lull me into being careless. Something that I felt was not likely to happen.

Then again how professional were gun thugs from a sleepy college town. They were likely to only be proficient in a drive-by shooting. Those were used to send a message, not to actually kill anyone. I had lots of reasons to be confident, but I also knew that accidents happen. What was good for one side, was most likely a complete disaster for the other. It was all a roll of the dice in the end.

When we arrived back at the car wash, Mica was parked in the drive.

“How long you stayin?” I asked.

“Till the shit is over,” Mica said.

“Then I guess we need to make it an ambush site,” I suggested.

“I hate that the timing is up to them,” Thia said.

“They think they have till end of day tomorrow. I figure they have a leak or someone actively looking out for them in the state police. But not locally, so they don’t know it’s a bluff.

The state guys are not going to want the DEA looking at their lack of progress, so somebody is going to come tonight or tomorrow. They will be here without any prior intel. To be honest, my guess is the gun thugs from the Chapel Hill will mount the operation, but it’s going to be run with a state cop cover. So it’s going to he a strong attempt all at once, one concerted effort. So we don’t need to give them an easy target. Desperation is a lousy motivator.”

“What if they decide it’s too dangerous?” Mica asked.

“Then it’s a no go. The time passes, and they will know it was a bluff. They might decide to hit me,” I said.

“No,” Mica said. “You believe that this is likely to be the outcome of this, so I’m going to trust you. That’s because you are sure that the Professor is the head of the Chapel Hill Mafia.”

“The Chapel Hill Mafia, what an imagination,” I answered.

“Well you will know for sure in a couple of days,” Thia said. “Now let’s eat dinner. Mica we didn’t expect you, but we can find something I’m sure.”

“While you guys do that I’m going to unpack.” I said. Then I removed a short barreled rifle from the back pack. When I removed the scrap of a military surplus blanket from it, a .30 caliber, M1 carbine of Korean war vintage appeared. After I had the rifle out of the back pack, I worked the action. I then removed six 30round banana clip type magazines from the pack. I opened a large box of ammunition and began to load the clips. I had bought it as surplus while I was chief of police. It came from the Draper tactical unit’s supply. I paid full price, so it never went to auction. It was however the least used weapon in the arsenal.

As I ate my dinner I leaned against the brick wall of the kitchen. I placed the extra .30 caliber ammunition on the kitchen counter. After dinner it was still a couple of hours until dark. There was no reason to wait for dark to stage a drive by shooting, so we stayed alert.

“You know the city’s street light illuminate your parking area in front,” Thia said. “That’s a good thing.”