Chapter 50

It was a quiet evening; pre-exam testing was scheduled for Thursday, Friday and in unusual Saturday classes so the girls were deep in study. Ching Lee and Marcy were in the kitchen; Lorrie and Vicky were in the living room. Jen was in the office working on her laptop.

I was in the kitchen working on supper. A food store run was a sure thing for tomorrow; we were scraping the floor of the cupboard to get supper tonight. We girls had to worry about our figures so salad was main course tonight with tomato soup and crackers. Everyone took a break to eat.

After supper I decided that I was going to do the grocery run tonight. The Food King was open all night. I finished the list and asked if anyone needed anything, then I wrote down the special requests.

When I arrived at the store, Channel 14 news was set up off to one end of the parking lot interviewing shoppers about the high price of groceries. Luckily they were busy as I went into the store.

I spent the next two hours shopping. I picked up a lot of extra things for the house; six girls had many more different needs than a house with just a couple. I ended up with two full rounded up carts. Six hundred dollars later and now in bags I was glad the pickup was a crew cab, I had the back floor and the seat filled up. I even put the heavy bags that were full of cans in the back.

When I came out of the store I noticed a group of Spanish speaking men standing off to one corner of the building. They were laughing and carrying on as well as drinking. I kept an eye on them as I was loading the truck. I returned the carts to the rack and as I headed to the truck two of them headed to the truck to meet me.

I arrived at the truck a moment before they did; I turned to put my back to the truck facing them.

The lead one pulled a knife, "Give me your keys and your money or I'm going to cut you up," he said.

"Are you sure you want to do that? It's my truck; I just bought it and I kind of like it," I said.

He lunged at me in reply. He must have thought I would frighten and run. He had one surprised look on his face as I grabbed his hand. In a move I had taught for years I twisted his hand and arm then with an upward thrust shoved his own knife into his heart.

As he was going down his partner decided it was time to get into the act. At the same time the other two made the same decision and started towards the truck.

Number two was just as dumb as the first one but a little more of a showman. He made a wide amateur swing with the knife that I easily dodged and then he lunged at me. I side stepped the lunge and hit him across the bridge of the nose as hard as I could, breaking his nose. I added a palm thrust, driving the bones into his brain and killing him instantly.

The other two were close by then; they must not have had any weapons and thought they could win with their fist. A kick in the nuts doubled over the first one; he went down hard. I spun grabbing the arm of the second one doubling it behind him, breaking his elbow and shoved him head first into the door pillar of the Ford truck, knocking him out.

I reached into the truck for the extra cuffs that were in the consol, putting a set on each of the living ones.

I called 911, telling them the location and to send two ambulances, the police and the coroner. I then called Jenny and told her to bring my shoulder rig, the Glock, and a light jacket to cover it all. I also told her to bring the Crown Vic and one girl and to do it now, saying it would be self explanatory when she got here.

I could here the sirens just as the Channel 14 camera crew arrived carrying their portable camera with a light person.

The reporter said, "We got it all on film from the tower camera; we had it up and were recording some filler for a report. That was some fast action. We already sent it to the station for the 11 o'clock report. Are you OK, can we do an interview?"

"I don't think it would be good for me to make a statement until after the police get a report," I said.