AFTER THE DUST SETTLED (Countdown to Armageddon Book 2) (24 page)

     “Maybe I shouldn’t tell you what Jordan said last night.”

     The mischievous smile on Sara’s face made Linda curious.

     “Just what did my son the big turd say?”

     “He said he was going to teach the baby to call you ‘Granny Goose.’”

     Linda went back to the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “Oh, you just wait until he gets up. I’m going to beat that boy silly.”

     “Don’t be too hard on him. When I got up to relieve Joyce he stirred a bit and then woke up. He’s all stiff this morning, and in a lot of pain.”

     “Why?”

     “From lifting hay bales all day yesterday. He said he used muscles he’s never used before.”

     “I’ll be sure and give him some ibuprofen with his coffee this morning.”

     Tom tied Bonnie to the hitching post by the back door and came inside.

     “Smells good in here. Nothing like the smell of bacon frying to get a man moving in the morning.”

     He looked around.

     “Everybody else still sleeping?”

     “Most of them. Seems you and Scott wore everybody out yesterday.”

     “Ah, hard work’s good for ‘em. They’ll get up, as soon as that bacon smell starts drifting down the hallway. It’s like a pretty girl in a short skirt. It’s kinda hard to resist.”

     “Oh, listen at you, mister feisty pants. Didn’t last night get it out of your system?”

     Sara, from the other room, reminded Tom and Linda they weren’t alone.

     “I’m here, you two, in case you’ve forgotten.”

     Linda blushed and Tom chuckled. “You’re cute when you’re red.”

     Tom was right about the bacon smell. Before he finished his breakfast, everyone except Joyce had stumbled into the kitchen for coffee and food. Joyce had just gotten off security detail two hours before and would sleep right through breakfast, bacon smell or not.

     It was a good thing Linda made plenty of extra.

     After breakfast, Linda walked Tom outside to tell him goodbye. The rest of the group gave them their privacy, except when Hannah rushed outside to hug him and thank him for what he was doing.

     “Ah, shucks, it ain’t nothing. John’s one of us now, he just ain’t here is all. And I’m sure he’d do the same for me.”

     Linda kissed him goodbye and told him to be careful. Then she opened the gate to let him out. Scott had already moved the mesquite tree at the end of the drive, and he and Linda waved at him as he rode off into the early morning sun.

-51
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     An hour and a half later, Tom slowed Bonnie to a walk and drew closer to a checkpoint blocking the road.

     A sheet of plywood leaned against two sawhorses. Spray painted across the plywood were orange letters.

             STOP! OUTSIDERS NOT WELCOME.

     Behind the barricade were two armed men. Tom didn’t recognize either one.

     “Hold up there, mister. State your business.”

     “I’m headed to Johnson’s Drug Store to buy some medicine.”

     “Johnson’s Drug Store is closed. Has been for a spell. Are you familiar with it?”

     “Tony Johnson and I have known each other for years. And I shopped there even before he ran it. When Frank, his father, was still alive. What’s with the roadblock?”

     “Trying to keep out strangers from San Antonio. They been coming up on horseback, or on bicycles. Some on foot. Coming up here looking for provisions. We ain’t even got enough food for our own families, let alone strangers and theirs.”

     “Well, I ain’t after no food. Just need some medicine is all. And I ain’t from
San Antonio. I live eight miles from here, off Highway 83.”

     “Before or after the Cutler Ranch?”

     “Just east of it.”

     The two men whispered between themselves, obviously debating whether Tom was enough of their own to pass by.

     A third man walked up behind them.

     “Let him through.”

     He was obviously the man in charge.

     Tom rode past the barricade and up to the third man, then leaned over to shake his hand.

     “Hello, Keith. How have you been?”

     “Been better, Tom, but it don’t do no good to complain. I’d have guessed you to be dead. Haven’t seen you since this whole ruckus started.”

     “No. Had some trouble at my place one night. A couple of fellas trying to take stuff that didn’t belong to ‘em. Since then I’ve just been hunkered down and laying low. I’m just coming to town now because I need medicine.”

     “Well, the Walgreen’s been busted into, and so’s the CVS. They’ve both been picked at, but if you can find what you need, just help yourself to it.”

     “Thanks, but I’d rather deal with Tony Johnson if he’s still around. He still lives in the house next to his drug store, right?”

     “Last I heard. He’ll be happy to see you’re still alive. We’ve lost so many of our own, Tom, it’s nice to see an old face.”

     “I know what you mean, Keith. Thanks for getting me in the door.”

     “I hope these boys didn’t give you too hard a time.”

     “Nope. Not at all. They’re just protecting what’s theirs. I understand.”

     “You take care, my friend. I hope you can find the medicine you need to get you better.”

     “Thank you, Keith.”

     Tom gave Bonnie a small kick and rode the rest of the way into town. It was still. Deathly quiet.

     He rode up to Johnson’s Drug Store and tied Bonnie to a small tree outside it. Then he took a pouch off the back, behind the saddle, and carried it to the house next door.

     He didn’t go up to the porch, though. He suspected it was a good way to get shot.

     “Hello in the house,” he said in a loud voice. Tom Haskins here, looking for Tony.”

     Tom saw a curtain move in the front window, then heard a deadbolt unlock. The front door opened and a familiar face came out.

     “Well, I’ll be damned. As I live and breathe, it’s old Tom Haskins. It’s good to see you, Tom, I figured you were dead.”

     “Yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”

     “Come on in. Get out of the sun.”

     “Okay, but just for a minute. I need to do some business and then head back.”

     In the living room, Tony sat across from Tom and said, “Okay, Tom, what kind of business?”

     “I need some medicine. Some amoxicillin. However much you think is safe to spare.”

     “Well hell, that would be all of it. Ain’t nobody asked me for any, so I guess nobody else needs it. I reckon the two big drug stores downtown have enough for everybody else. You got an infection of some kind? You didn’t catch the clap again, did you?”

     Tony smiled. It almost seemed out of place under the current situation.

     “Not me, it’s for a friend. He’s in bad shape, and he’s allergic to penicillin.”

     “Well, I’m sorry for your friend. I hope he pulls through. Let’s go next door and see what we’ve got.”

     Tom looked around. “Where’s Cathy? I might as well say hello to her too while I’m here.”

     The look of pain on Tony’s face told Tom he’d stepped in it with both feet.

     “Oh Jesus, Tony. I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

     “I’m sorry too, Tom. She was a wonderful woman. But she couldn’t handle it. She chose her own way and went peacefully. And I know I’ll see her again someday.”

     Tony took his key ring from a hook by the front door. The two walked in silence to the drug store next door.

     “I’ll get the amoxicillin from the back. You’d never be able to find it. Look around and grab whatever else you think you might need.”

     Tom looked, but didn’t see anything the group was hurting for. So he left it all on the shelves.

     Tony returned with a plastic bag full of bottles.

     “Like I said, nobody else has asked for this stuff, so you can take it all. It’s not doing anybody any good collecting dust on a shelf.”

     “Thank you, Tony. I wish I had cash money to pay you. But I spent it all on provisions.”

     “Oh, hell, Tom, you don’t have to pay me. Besides, money’s no good any more anyway. All the banks are out of business, I hear probably forever. Consider this a gift, from one old friend to another.”

     Tom hefted the pouch onto the counter and opened it. He took out two large zip lock bags.

     “Eight pounds of beef jerky. I made it myself, and I don’t mind telling you it’s damn good.”

     He could see Tony’s mouth water, and wondered how long it had been since he had a decent meal.

     “Oh hell, I told you, Tom. You don’t have to pay me.”

     Tom threw Tony’s words back at him.

     “It’s not payment, Tony. Consider this a gift, from one old friend to another.”

     Tom stuffed the medication into the empty pouch and rolled it closed. Tony walked him out to the front of the store.

     “Is there a place where Bonnie can get a drink before we head back?”

     “The water plant is still down. Take her around back. There’s a stream back there. I’ve been getting my water from there and boiling it over an open fire.”

     Tom mounted up, then leaned over and shook his friend’s hand.

     “Good luck to you, my friend. The worst is over now. It won’t be easy for a long time, but we’ve made it this far. We can go the rest of the way.”

     “Good luck to you too, Tom. Don’t be such a stranger.”

     Tom tipped his hat and rode Bonnie around to the stream to let her fill up before the two hour ride home.

-52-

     When he was twenty minutes away from the compound, Tom reached down and pulled the walkie talkie from his saddlebag. He stopped under a shady oak tree to let Bonnie catch her breath and sample the tall grass beneath the tree while he turned it on.

     “Scott, this is Tom. You out there?”

     “Tom, this is Joyce. Scott’s sleeping so he can get out tonight. How are things with you?”

     “Everything’s good. I got what we needed, and I’m on my way back. Should be there in about fifteen, twenty minutes.”

     “Okay. We’ll have the gate open and the welcome mat out for you.”

     A short time later Tom rode into the yard. He was just barely off his horse before Linda was upon him, wrapping her arms around him and gushing, “It’s about time you made it back, Cowboy. I was worried sick about you.”

     “Well, I thought I made pretty good time.”

     “You did,”
Jordan said while walking up behind them. “She’s just a worry wart is all.”

     “You hush, young man!”

     Jordan chuckled as he climbed aboard the Bobcat to put the dead mesquite tree back at the end of the driveway.

     “Did you miss me, little darlin’?”

     “Yep. Sure did.”

     “How much?”

     “A bunch.”

     “Words are cheap. But did you miss me enough to make me a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch?”

     “I think we can probably arrange that.”

     “With sliced jalapenos and chopped onions?”

     “Hey, don’t go pushing your luck now…”

     Tom left Bonnie to graze for a bit and took Linda’s hand, and they walked into the house.

     Joyce woke Scott up when Tom returned, as he’d asked her to do. He got up just long enough to ask if Tom’s mission went well, and if he encountered any problems.

     Then he went back to bed. He had his own mission later, and it would require him being up all night.