Jones Guardians of Rockport

1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-1-6678-8399-1
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 1, 278 Seiten

Reihe: Guardians of Rockport

It's been three months since the government collapsed and so far, Doug Chapman has been able to keep his family alive amongst a nation in chaos. After battling an outlaw motorcycle gang and rescuing his pregnant daughter from a band of marauders, he was ready to settle into a familiar routine and try to survive in a world without modern conveniences. But that is not an option as a bloody cattle war is now raging within Calumet County. Doug and his band of Rockport Public Safety Officers are once again needed to keep the peace in a violent and dangerous world.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jones, David

Leseproben

Chapter 2

“Harrison Lieutenant to Deputy Chapman.”

“Harrison Lieutenant to Deputy Chapman.”

“Go ahead for Chapman,” replied Doug into the handset of the Ham radio unit mounted in his kitchen.

“Doug, we are headed out to the Palmer farm. Apparently, Mr. Palmer confronted some thieves early this morning and some shots were fired. He thinks he may have hit one of them.”

“Roger that, keep me updated if you need me to respond.”

“Will do, Lou out.”

The wildland fire truck left the firehouse with the three on-duty public safety officers. Lou was the officer in charge, while Ryan drove and Jessie rode in the back seat. The Palmers’ small hobby farm was located just a few miles outside of town and they sent a neighbor to report the matter once the sun came up. They had purchased the small property just a year earlier after they both retired as school teachers. Like many, they could foresee bad times ahead and wanted a small, sustainable piece of property. Their daughter had recently fled Milwaukee and was staying with them.

It had been three months since the collapse and calls of this nature had increased significantly. While most of the rural folks were generous and looked out for one another, there was always a small element that preyed upon their neighbors. In times such as these, stealing food and other essential items was a deadly game to play. That reality contributed to the early collapse of the urban centers across the nation where there were far more people than the resources could support. When the supply chain fell apart, it was every man for himself.

As the public safety pickup pulled onto the farm, they could see Mr. Palmer waving at them from the back of the property near the chicken coop. Ryan stopped the truck by the house, about fifty yards short of the farmer. As a firefighter and a now a law enforcement officer, he knew better than to drive up directly to a designated or expected position. It was always safer to park in an advantageous location and approach on foot so he could observe the environment.

As Lou and Ryan walked up to Mr. Palmer, Jessie hung back near the farmhouse because she saw the eyes of a young child peeking around the porch railing.

“Hi there. What’s your name?” asked Jessie to the young girl, who was acting shy but really wanted the attention.

“I’m Emma. I’m five years old. This is my little brother Buddy. He is only two,” said the little girl while holding up the correct number of fingers.

“It’s nice to meet you, Emma. My name is Jessie.”

“Are you going to arrest my dad again?”

Not sure what the girl was talking about, she asked a few open-ended questions.

“I wasn’t planning on it. Did your dad do something that would get him into trouble?”

“I don’t know. The cops always arrest him. He gets angry sometimes.”

“That’s too bad. Was he angry last night?”

Hearing her children speaking with Jessie, the child’s mother opened the screen door and told them both to come inside the house and eat their breakfast.

“Good morning, ma’am, I am Officer Wolf.”

“I know who you are,” the woman said with a scowl as she stepped out onto the porch with her arms folded.

Jessie took a closer look at the woman. It had been five years but she could see the face of her childhood nemesis in the woman before her.

“Kendra Grant,” she said softly to herself as she was recalling the time she spray-painted graffiti on her locker and was caught by Brad.

“I guess they will just let anyone be a cop these days.”

“Kendra, a lot has changed since high school. I’m sorry for anything I may have done to you. I was not in a good place back then.”

The woman didn’t seem very accepting of the apology. “A zebra can’t change its spots,” said the woman in a nasty tone.

Trying hard not to point out that zebras don’t have spots, Jessie moved on to the topic at hand.

“Kendra, we were called here about a shooting last night. Your little girl said something about her daddy being angry.”

“Earl has nothing to do with the situation last night. That was just some thieves trying to steal our chickens.”

“I guess I never realized you were related to the Palmers. Your last name was Grant in high school.”

“They were my foster parents. I moved in with them my junior year after my dad went to prison.”

It never occurred to the fifteen-year-old Jessie that other girls in her class may have faced significant life challenges as well. It seemed the two were more alike than she realized, which was probably why they quarreled.

“I didn’t realize that. Is the kids’ father staying here as well?”

“No. Earl is only Buddy’s father. Emma’s dad was some low-life that was in the grade ahead of us in school.

“I guess I don’t remember you being pregnant in high school.”

“I dropped out my senior year and got my GED.”

“Emma seemed a bit worried about Earl. Is everything ok?”

“You know me, I always liked the bad boys. After I turned eighteen, I left Emma with the Palmers and moved to Milwaukee to be a dancer. I hooked up with Earl, the bouncer at the club. After we had Buddy, we came back here and got Emma so we could start a family. Anyway, like I said, zebras can’t change their spots. Earl wasn’t cut out to be a family man either and he resented the fact that Emma wasn’t his kid. We fought a lot, and Emma saw him hit me a few times. I eventually had enough and got a restraining order. We were living at the Joy House when the collapse happened.”

“Is that a women’s shelter in Milwaukee?”

“Yeah. It was a safe place until the collapse. Things got bad fast and Earl came to my rescue. We stayed with him for a few weeks but he returned to his old ways pretty fast. You know, zebras and all. He said if I tried to leave him again, he would kill me and I knew he meant it. His little brother had a good heart and one night, when Earl was passed out drunk, he helped us escape. The trip up here was dangerous and we never would have survived without him.”

“Sounds like you have been through a lot. I’m glad you made it out of Milwaukee.”

“Little Emma has seen a lot, but she is a tough kid. When Mr. Palmer shot at the thieves last night, she just assumed it was Earl coming to get us. She worries about that a lot.”

“I see. Kendra, if you ever want to talk about things, I’m available. I think you will find me a little more approachable than when we were kids. I better go check on my partners now and see what’s going on with Mr. Palmer.”

Kendra nodded but kept the scowl on her face as she walked back inside to her kids. As Jessie walked up to the chicken coop, she saw Lou taking notes while trying to clarify the story.

“So let me see if I have this all down correctly. You have had chickens stolen twice before over the last ten days. About three o’clock this morning, you heard a suspicious noise by the chicken coop. You came out to investigate with your .22 rifle. You yelled “who is out there” and gave a warning shot in the air. A dark figure standing by the cornfield took a shot at you, and the bullet hit the windshield of the car you were standing next to. You returned fire and heard a yell. The dark figure then turned and entered the cornfield and you saw a second man run from your chicken coop with one of your chickens. Anything else?”

“No. That’s about it. I didn’t want to move my car in case you needed it for ballistics or something. I watched a lot of CSI before the collapse so I thought you would want me to leave it where it was. That’s why I had the neighbor go report it.”

That was good thinking, Mr. Palmer. Although we no longer have a crime lab to send things to, it’s always best if we can examine evidence before it is contaminated or altered. Officer Wolf, can you please investigate the bullet hole in the windshield while Ryan and I take a look at the cornfield for possible evidence?”

“Yes sir,” she replied, knowing that they would be checking the cornfield for a body or at least a blood trail.

“Mr. Palmer, can you please show me the car and where you were standing when you took the shot?” she asked, both for information but also to remove him from the search of the cornfield.

“Sure can,” said the mild mannered, retired math teacher.

As the two looked at the windshield of his Toyota Prius, there was a small crack in the glass reminiscent of a rock hitting it on the highway. The hole did not completely penetrate through the thick laminated safety glass. Upon further examination, she could see a small caliber piece of lead embedded in the windshield. Taking a folding knife from her cargo pocket, she dug the slug out of the glass and held it in her hand.

“I was standing about three feet from the car when they shot at me. That’s when I shot back. I just got this rifle from my neighbor. I have always been very anti-gun, but after getting our chickens stolen over and over again, I just didn’t know what else to do. I have to feed my family, after all. I never thought I would shoot at a human, I just intended to shoot in the air. But when they shot at me, I just fired back without thinking. I sure hope I didn’t hit anyone.”

As he was starting to get emotional, Jessie placed her hand on his arm to calm him. “Mr. Palmer, it looks like you did everything right. In times like these you need to be able to...