Chapter 44

44

"What in the hell?" Scotty said in shock as the last of us came inside and I bolted the door.

"You, could you help me with this please?" I said to Brooklyn as I grabbed the reservation podium.

"Name's Mario," he said.

"Mike," I said.

"What the hell is going on?" he said as we dropped the big piece of furniture down sideways. It was heavy, easily a hundred pounds. With it propped against the door, no one was getting in without a fire axe.

"What did we just see?" came another voice.

It was Papa Bear. He had an accent. I was going with Swedish as he was the size of a Viking.

"First go the lights? Now a killing?" he said.

After I made double sure the heavy podium had the front door well barricaded, I went to a front window and flipped a blind. There was no one out there on Main Street. Just Big Joe. He was still lying there in the gutter in front of the grocery store.

"Can't we help him? Maybe he needs CPR. Does anyone know CPR?" said Daisy, suddenly looking out the window beside me.

"No, Daisy. He's gone," I said. "He was dead before he hit the ground and whoever shot him is still out there."

"You heard what he said, right?" Mario said. "They're killing everyone? Who the hell are they ?"

I shot a look over at Jodi and Colleen, who were standing beside the booth, telepathically messaging them to keep their mouths shut.

"Any ideas what this could be about?" Scotty chimed in.

"I used to be a cop," I said. "This looks like a hit to me. Maybe a drug hit. The cartels are very sophisticated. They will cut the power, jam the cell sites. Even act like cops. They're all paramilitary now. Very well funded, highly sophisticated and highly trained."

I said this because the script had changed, I knew.

We were on this ride together now. That we all had just witnessed that murder meant that not just Jodi and Colleen, but myself and everyone else in the room were all marked for death as well.

We were also cornered together and if war had taught me anything, cornered people, like cornered rats, will turn on one another.

If I was to play this to save as many people as possible, I would have to keep up morale, to keep people as hopeful as possible for as long as possible.

Even if that meant lying.

I also thought my explanation sounded pretty convincing. I wasn't lying about the paramilitary part. There definitely seemed to be some professionals doing this. Cutting the power and cells was no joke. Nor was popping the big man from a distance. I wasn't a Hollywood sound engineer, but the clacking sounds I heard were from a submachine gun, probably the Heckler & Koch MP5. And those usually only had iron sights.

"Sophisticated? What's so sophisticated about that?" Mario said, pointing out at the body.

"You see or hear the shooter?" I said. "That guy was shot more than once in the head from a distance with a silenced gun. That's called highly trained."

Mario peered at me.

"You used to be a cop?" he finally said. "Then why don't you head out there and start arresting people, huh? Do your job."

"Did you not hear the man, Mario?" Papa Bear said. "Which part of the term ‘used to' do you need help with?"

"Screw you," Mario said. "This party was for you. Now we got a damn cartel hit squad here! We can't even call the cops with the damn phones out. And there's a blackout! What the hell are we going to do?"

"A cartel hit?" Scotty said. "You think they were after Big Joe? Definitely some drugs going on up at that Pinewood that's for damn sure. But enough for a cartel to do all this? All the way out here in the boondocks?"

"No, that's not right," said Daisy. "Sure, there were drugs in there, but Big Joe had nothing to do with them. He was a real good guy. He was a high school football coach up in Southwick for years. Plus, his brother died of drugs. He never touched them."

"Maybe they came into the bar for whoever was dealing them and he was a witness to the hit," said Papa Bear.

Daisy nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds right," she said. "They didn't want to leave witnesses."

"That's not good," I said, looking out the blinds again.

"Why not?" said Daisy.

"Because now we're witnesses, too," I said.

"He's right," Scotty said. "We saw them kill Big Joe. But at least we didn't see any faces, right? Maybe they're already gone. I mean, you don't think they'd come in here, do you?"

"Let's not find out, Scotty," I said. "Go to the kitchen and lock the back door."

Papa Bear came over next to me to look out the window as Scotty ran off. He offered his hand. "Mathias," he said.

"Mike," I said, shaking his hand.

"Why don't we all just leave? Get out of here?" he said. "I have a truck on the other side of the bridge."

I looked at the big man. They would kill him if he left. Stop him at one of the checkpoints and take him into a custody he wouldn't survive.

He couldn't leave. He just didn't know it.

"No," I said. "I don't think so, Mathias. Stay here or at least don't leave yet. I think that sniper is still out there. I think you should stay right here."

"How do you know the sniper is out there?" Mario said. "Were you a psychic cop?"

"I'm a still alive cop," I said. "And I plan to stay that way. You want to get shot, have at it. I'm staying right here until further notice."