Chapter 8

11:45 PM:

Bella Vista, Arkansas:

Ana:

I just pulled my panties and shorts down when I heard someone yelling at the teller out in the store.

"Give me the fucking money, or I will blow you away, you old hag! Check the bathrooms!"

I quickly pulled up my shorts up and picked up my purse. I stepped up on the toilet and waited. I heard the men's bathroom door being kicked in and then the women's. I was crouched there shaking as I pulled my pistol out when I heard several gunshots and a window being shattered. The door closed and I heard more firing. Climbing down, I went to the door and peeked out. I could see someone lying on the ground, a pool of blood forming around his body as more gunfire sounded and a bullet ripped through the bathroom door.

I jumped when the door splintered, and I felt my bladder let go. Standing there, I waited for the gunfire to stop, but it didn't. Suddenly, the counter was being torn apart, as bullets ripped into it. I could tell it was some type of automatic weapon. The man I had seen behind the counter flew backwards and out the window behind him as I watched in shock while he was murdered.

I saw movement and the door was yanked open and a man was in the doorway. He was clutching a gun in his hand, and then he was gone. I heard tires screeching so I put my pistol away.

Matt:

I yanked the .44 from its holster as the girls around me hit the ground. I was raising my pistol when a man burst from the store and ran for the car. He jumped into the car, and it zoomed out, peeling rubber as it shifted gears. I took aim to fire, but held my fire as I saw Jenny in the doorway. She ran across to us, and I took her in my arms.

"MATT!" she cried as she hugged me.

"Shhh, it's ok. But you have to remember, it's Jason. Remember, all of you, we must use the new names," I said.

"I know, sorry," she replied as she whipped her eyes.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yes, the bullet just missed me," Jenny said.

I kissed Ana, and as I released Jenny and pulled my holsters off. I passed them through the window. "Hide these," I ordered.

"Got them," Marybeth said, and added, "We will remember."

"Thank you Mary," I said as I heard sirens coming, and I asked, "Who called?"

Mary stuck her head out and replied, "I did. I put your guns under the bed. Ana, hand me yours."

Ana handed Mary her purse, and she disappeared inside,

Before I could answer, a police car barreled in, and I walked over as they bailed out. One of them was pointing their gun at me.

I held up my hands as I said, "Officers we called it in."

"ALL OF YOU ON THE GROUND NOW!" the policeman shouted.

I knelt and watched as the cop advanced on me and searched me. He found my speed loaders and asked, "Where's the guns?"

'Shit!' I thought and then said, "My guns are in the RV. Where I keep them when I don't need them."

"Shit! There are people in there. Chase, cover that RV, Guns inside."

Vickie stormed over to us, with her twin Jessica right behind her, "Hey ASSHOLE. The bad guys went that way!" she screamed as she pointed down the road.

"Shut up! Both of you, on the ground, NOW!" the cop replied.

"WHAT! I will not, now you release him, he is a retired federal marshal. Unless you want your ass handed to you by his old bosses," Jessica said.

"Right now he is a suspect ... all of you are," he replied.

"We got two down inside, Jenkins is dead, and I recognized the other. It's the Crandle kid. That means Wilson and Ark were probably with him," the second policeman said as a Crown-Vic pulled into the parking lot.

The car came to a stop, and a woman stepped out. She walked towards us, and I admired her curves as she came to a stop and said, "What's going on boys?"

"Sheriff, we got us a murder here, he..."

"My husband is not a murder," Maria said as she walked over.

"Ma'am, I will have to ask you to stand back," Sheriff Billie Mathews said.

"Sheriff, my husband is retired FBI. Check his wallet and it will have his retired police carry permit," Maria said.

"Hand me his wallet, deputy Grimes," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied and dug into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet.

I watched as it was passed to the Sheriff and waited as she dug through it and found my license, and my carry permit.

"Let him up, Grimes. Now, what is a retired federal officer doing in my neck of the woods," she asked.

"Passing through," I replied as I rubbed my wrists.

"I see, and how did you come to own a hundred thousand dollar RV?" she asked.

"That was my parents," Maria replied before I could say anything.

"Really ... and they just gave it to you?" she asked.

"No, my parents were killed in a car accident. We sold the house, and kept the RV and Hummer. We are heading to our home in California with our friends. The trailer has stuff, we wanted to keep," Maria said as she took my hand.

"Ok, now what can you tell me about the murders?"

"My wife's friend, Jenny; and our friend, Vickie; had already gone inside to buy snacks. Vickie came out with the coffee for all of us while Jenny used the bathroom. Then this corvette pulled in and two men get out and went inside. The driver kept the engine going, and I assumed it was a beer run. That's when it went to hell in a hand basket. I didn't have my guns on me, and the car took off heading north. After the car was out of sight, Vickie came running out, and I was consoling her when your deputies pulled in and tried to accuse me of the murder. Then you showed up and now you know the whole story," I replied.

"I see," she said as she handed me my wallet, and I put it away.

"So what now?" Maria asked.

"Now we fill out the paperwork, you sign them, and we try and catch them," Billie said.

The deputy passed out clipboards with the papers on it, and we filled out what we saw, did and not do. We signed them and then waited to be released.

It was three hours later and all I wanted to do was get the hell out of there. Mary was sound asleep in the back, while we stood around outside. We watched the cops do their shit. Around four, I said fuck it and walked over to the Sheriff. She was talking on her radio.

I waited for a break and said, "Sheriff, I'm out of here. We are going to go find a motel and crash."

"Stay in town, we may need you to ID the robbers. I am heading out to where they have barricaded themselves in their cabin," she replied as she climbed into her car.

I watched her pull out, and I muttered, "Like hell, we are."

Going to the girls, I said, "Ok, let's mount up, and get the hell out of dodge!"

"Dodge? What is Dodge?" Jenny asked.

"It's an expression. It means leave one's location in a hurry," I replied as I snickered and I led her up to the RV, and inside with my hand on her ass. As we entered the RV, she looked over her shoulder at me and smiled as she twitched her buttocks.

Maria handed me a cup of coffee as soon as I closed the door. I drained it and passed it back to her. Kissing the girls I waited until Vickie and Jessica climbed out of the RV and went to the Hummer. I waited until the twins were inside, and then I fired up the RV as Maria placed a second cup in the holder for me.

We pulled out and headed north and passed out of the State of Arkansas and into Missouri. I was traveling just under the speed limit and around dawn, we were well into Missouri and heading for the Oklahoma-Kansas boarder.

I was yawning like crazy, when Maria came up and sat beside me.

"Mathew, there is a rest stop coming up. Pull into it. You need sleep," she said.

"We need distance," I replied.

"Yes we do, but you need sleep as well. We worked hard all day yesterday, and now you have driven all night. We want you to stop and rest," she said with concern in her voice.

"All right, I will pull over," I replied. I flicked the signal on, and exited the highway. We pulled into the RV section and stopped. I shut down, and climbed out of the seat. When we reached the door, it opened and the twins came bouncing in. We locked up, and went upstairs to bed after setting the alarm and turning the AC units on.

The alarm went off six hours later, and we crawled out of bed. Mary was up already and ordered us to take showers and had the food ready for us. We climbed out of the RV and stood around stretching. After a few minutes, the twins went to the Hummer after they kissed me. We climbed back into the RV, and we drove back onto the highway and headed for Oklahoma and passed into the state around dusk. We stopped as we were passing through a small town and pulled into a Super-Wal-Mart. We went inside, and I let the girls do some shopping while I headed to the pawnshop that was next to the store. I was looking around the stuff that was for sale and found a brand new nail gun and compressor. I bought it and then walked back to look at the guns that were for sale.

They had a few shotguns, some rifles and pistols. I was looking through them and found he had two SKS, and I asked, "How much for the SKS's?"

"Two fifty, I also have some spare ping clips for them and cases. No ammo," he replied.

I stood there thinking for a second, and I remembered what Judy's dad told me. My eyes looked over the rest of the weapons, and I spotted a colt python under a .444 Marlin, so I said, "I will take the .444 marlin, the two SKS's and the colt python."

"Need to see your id, and there is a five day waiting period," he replied.

I pulled out my license, and my federal permit, and his eyebrows went up.

"I see. You will take them, now," he replied as he picked up the paperwork and started filling them out.

He finished the first paper and slid it to me. I was signing it as he said, "If you like the SKS's, Jake McCormick's place across town has five more. They've got a lot of gear that went with them."

"Really? I will check them out. How do I get there," I asked as I passed the paper back?

"Just head northwest out of town towards the lakes. It will be the last building on the right," he replied as he finished up the paperwork.

I signed the paperwork he slid over to me, and then I paid for the weapons. He helped me carry them out to the RV, and I stored them in the back. We were chatting as the girls came out, and I helped loaded the forty bags. I asked if they bought out the store, and they laughed as I shook the pawn dealer's hand. We headed out of town, and I stopped at the second pawnshop and picked up the five SKS's and two Mossberg 930 SPX shotguns with pistol grips. The eight shot weapon was sweet looking. The only problem was, I had no ammo for it, so while I was paying for them. The twins went back into town to Wal-Mart and bought me a thousand rounds of 12 gauge for them.