Chapter 5

I woke the next morning in the chair still gripping the beer bottle in my hand. The sun was barely up but I was wide awake. I set the coffee to brewing and went to the shower, and then I grabbed a shave. I almost passed on doing it 'till I remembered the lunch meeting I had today. I went to the kitchen and marveled about how silent the house was, because I could see all kinds of birds in the trees and even a few crows on the ground in front of the cabin. Man this was great, no crow opera in the mornings anymore. I couldn't stand it and went to the front door and opened it to actually find out for myself what the noise level was outside. I opened the door and almost immediately closed it. Damn, and I thought the noise level was bad at my old place, this place sounded like a zoo with all the animal noises. I wasn't about to be stupid enough to do that again. I will stay inside where it's quiet till I had my morning quota of coffee.

I remembered I needed to clean one of the M-sixteens and keep it near the door, just in case I needed it for an emergency. Abe had taken his with him when he left. I figured I might as well convert one while I was cleaning it. My federal permit would let me have it fully automatic, and I also wanted to see the reworked forty-five Abe had bragged about his friend doing. I went to the big wall freezer and swung it away from the wall, pulled the cross lever, and flipped the light switch on. The hiss was a little louder this time or at least it seemed that way to me. I went to the sub door and undocked the first one of two and as I bent almost double to get into the armory, I wondered why Abe had put two doors instead of just one.

I pried the lid off the top case and immediately realized that these things were still packed in the original packing grease for wet or humid climates. The smell that hit me upon opening brought back a lot of bittersweet memories. I got into the box of rags and soaked one with the cleaning fluid. Then I wiped the outside down in preparation to tearing it completely down to clean. Damn I hated this stuff, but I had spent a month working in the armory on base with five other unlucky stiffs, cleaning case after case of these things. That's how I learned the difference between the smells of the packing greases.

I dug through the boxes till I found the conversion kits and set one on the tool bench. I finally got the damn thing clean and broke open the kit and spent the next twenty minutes of trial and error 'till it came back to me how to put it in right. I finally got it all back together and ready to fire so I loaded one of the magazines that was handy and went outside. I walked down the hill toward the lakes and found a large tree and tried it out half expecting it not to work.

As it turned out, I didn't have anything to worry about and the thrill of shooting on full auto was a helluva rush after all these years. I went back to the armory and reloaded several of the mags and stacked them on the bench.

I pried the lid up on the box containing the forty-fives and found that they had been re packed with more modern packing. I pulled one out and cleaned it in about ten minutes and spent another fifteen looking for the magazines for them. They were in a box behind the AKs. I loaded six of them and cleaned up my mess. I grabbed the sixteen and clipped on the shoulder harness, grabbed all the loaded mags, and headed for the front room. I piled it all on the couch and went back and closed everything up. I swung the freezer back against the wall and grabbed everything off of the couch. I leaned the sixteen against the front door and took a mag and the forty-five out to the same tree. This I had noticed was of the Second World War issue, so I knew it was better than a lot of the newer styles. I had noticed when I cleaned it the action was glass smooth and the trigger pull had been lightened considerably.

I loaded the mag and pulled the slide back hard like a normal army issue and almost busted my own nose. My hand slid clear off the action it was so light and smooth. I had to be a little more careful next time; I wouldn't want to break my own nose. Damn that smarts, I thought, as I aimed it at a mark I made in the bark of the tree. I fired and the trigger pull was about half of the normal specs. It still had the same kick but it was accurate as hell. I fired it till it locked open and walked to the tree, and all the hits were right in the mark except for two and I figured I had pulled as I shot. I was going to keep this in my bedroom for use in the house if I needed it. I headed back in and went to wash up and get ready to go to town for my lunch meeting.

I cranked the Jeep and headed down my driveway and almost ran over the deputy that stopped me yesterday.

"What the hell are you doing walking up here Bruce? Didn't you get your message across yesterday?"

"No, Harry it isn't that. The commissioners sent me up to remind you about the meeting and to make sure you made it. I tried to tell them you said you would be there, but you know how politicians are."

"Do the commissioners in this state run the sheriff's office or is it just because they have no sheriff right now?"

"In this state, if an elected official dies while in office, the commissioners run the department until another is appointed by the Attorney General to fill the term. Then the commissioners have no say how the office is run. Since you're obviously headed to town, can I get a ride back to my car?"

"Sure, Bruce, jump in and I will keep you from overheating walking up the side of the mountain."

"Harry, are you planning on smoothing out the road to your cabin? Ole Abe hated company and never wanted anyone up there. I sure hope you aren't going to act like he used to toward lawmen. Heck you're one of us and you know we don't set out to purposely pick on anyone but I know it happens. Abe was a loner and didn't particularly like anyone. I tried to get permission to fish in one of the lakes and he run me off as soon as I got to his door."

"I am not Abe, but I dearly love my privacy and will probably just leave the road like it is. That way, no one will be knocking on my door unless it's an emergency or they are lost or something. Hell, Bruce, why do you think I bought the jeep from Abe? I may relent and smooth parts of it out a little, but not to the point to where a car could drive up it. Well here's your ride and you can tell them I will be there for the lunch date. I have some running to do so I may see you later."

He got out and I waved to him as I headed down the road to town. He seemed to be a very good deputy, but if I was in his position, I would have told the commissioners to do their own legwork instead of wasting a deputy's time when he could be answering calls. I went to the storage place to see if my stuff had arrived yet, and as I figured, it hadn't gotten there yet. I went over to the local electronics store to see about switching my cell number, and find out how to hook up some kind of antenna or a booster system at the cabin. I had to be able to be reached when I started working in the area.

I got a pleasant surprise there when they switched my area code and I was able to keep the same number. The booster system was a total loss though, but I did find out that there was a cell tower less than five miles from the cabin on the other mountain peak. It seems that about everyone out here uses cells and they had towers all over the place. I was told even in the worst weather the one near me had never gone down. I did buy one of those signal boosters that fit in the phone and was guaranteed to extend the signal from my phone ten miles further that what it already reached. I immediately called Mark and gave him the new area code so he could reach me if needed.

Since it was about noon, I headed over to the steakhouse for my meeting and free dinner. If a politician was buying you a meal, you could bet he was carrying Vaseline with him somewhere. I had a feeling I was going to get the shaft somehow, and I really wasn't looking forward to this lunch date with a whole bunch of them. I got out of the Jeep and went into the restaurant and the smells of cooking steak made me hungry. I saw several men in suits sitting at a large back table and headed that way. When I walked up to the table, a man about sixty or so stood up and shook my hand and introduced everyone. Three were commissioners, one was the prosecuting attorney, and the other one was from the city managers office. I sat and ordered coffee and waited for someone to tell me why I was here. The oldest one whose name was Mike or Mick or something was evidently the one chosen to do all the talking and he was doing a good job of it to everyone but me. I sat for about ten minutes and stood up to leave and headed out the door to the Jeep. The one whose name was Mick caught up with me as I was opening the door to the Jeep.

"Harry, where are you going? I thought we were going to talk?"

"I came for the lunch and to listen but no ones said a word to me. If I called you to lunch and ignored you, you would leave too. I suggest that next time you people want to talk to me, call on the phone 'cause I won't come to town for nothing again."

"Mr. Hanson, please accept my apologies for the way I treated you. I wanted to wait till after lunch to talk business, and to totally ignore you like I did was inexcusable. Please come back in and have lunch with us. I promise I will include you in any conversation this time."

"Well, Mick, I will come back in but let me warn you that if you or any of your friends pull something like that again, I will leave and I will tell all of you what I think about your politeness toward strangers and new residents. I am nobody's lackey and won't be treated as such by anyone."

I followed him back into the restaurant and immediately saw him nod toward the other men as he sat down. Now what the hell was that all about, I wondered? If I didn't know better, I would think it was a deliberate setup to see my reaction and how I would act in that kind of situation. Now this was something I understood and I could play this little game too.