Followed by the enemy, Hilda, Gabe, and Earl continue their trip home to Kansas. Attempts to lose the enemy failed. Hilda called Charlie in a panic, and he raced to her, getting there just in time for a road battle. Scott showed Howard and Bailey films of notable historic murders, which his father and Rupert Smith did in the 1940s. Islamist Fighters attacked the Kansas RV in a lead-shielded semi-truck and attempted to use nerve gas. Malcolm and Kurt saved the day, hitting the attackers from behind before they could complete their attack. Howard forced Scott’s ex-girlfriend Sherry to run his truck stop until their return. Malcolm convinced her to provide information, using the VHS tapes of her participation in Nighthawk Road murders as blackmail. Malcolm led an attack on Sherry after seeing the extent of her evil on the VHS tapes, leading to a large fire-fight in town.

Scott and Howard’s attempted co-ed abduction near the university was foiled by pepper spray. Numerous students shot video during the altercation, and the video went viral. The following night, Scott, Howard, and Bailey tried to silence the potential victim, and FBI Agent Keith killed Bailey and captured Scott and Howard. Agent Keith planned to set a trap for Malcolm using Scott, but things went wrong. He got shot by Howard, but returned fire, shooting Howard as he died. Scott stuffed Agent Keith and Howard into a freezer and left Columbus with his retarded brother Kerry, heading for his storage locker in Indianapolis. He bought a motor home from Cindy and was having dinner at her house when her ex-husband appeared in a rage. Scott killed him and had to shoot his way out of town, taking Cindy with him. Malcolm and Ted left for Columbus with Dobie and Gabe, hot on Scott’s trail.

Chapter 1 – Date Night

It was getting dark when Malcolm
turned onto the off-ramp for Cameron, Missouri. Ted’s rental car and Dobie’s fifth wheel followed. Uncle Jasper’s was just outside of town, but they had to drive through the business district to get there. It was a nice looking town, Malcolm thought to himself. His phone rang.

“Hi, Malcolm, it’s Gabe. You know where you’re going, or do you want us to take the lead?”

“Maybe you guys should take the lead. I’ll let you pass.”

“Okay, Malcolm. See you soon.”

“Later.” He put his phone back in his pocket and pulled over, Ted following suit. They watched the big fifth wheel pass them, then got behind it.

After getting through town, they were back in the country for a short distance, and then there were signs for Uncle Jasper’s. They were as goofy as the name. Dobie made the wide turn into the driveway and drove to the staging area. Malcolm and Ted parked in the angled parking spaces next to the office, and they all met in front of the door.

“I’m bushed, glad we’re finally here,” Ted said.

“You and me both,” Malcolm smiled. “Do we all need to go in?”

“Nah,” Gabe said. “I know the owner, so I’ll go in. Dobie, you can take Duchess out.”

“Okay, thanks,” Dobie said. He walked over to the trailer. Malcolm leaned against his Jeep and looked at Ted.

“Any more news?”

“No, Malcolm, not since we talked at the diner.”

“The bureau sending anybody to look for Agent Keith?”

“Probably, but they don’t know where the house is,” Ted said.

“We can tell them if you want.”

“Let’s play it by ear,” Ted said. “You’ve got me convinced that the house is gonna be empty. We’ll be back on the road again in short order, I suspect.”

Gabe walked into the office. It smelled of beef stew, and a woman was humming as she puttered around, out of sight of the front desk.

“Hello?” Gabe called out.

“Be right with you,” she said.

“Okay. It’s Gabe.”

“I figured,” the voice said. She appeared in a moment, drying her hands with a paper towel. “Sorry, I was cooking.”

“Sue, right?” Gabe asked. “It’s been a few years.”

“My, you have a good memory,” she said, smiling at him. “I remember seeing you only a time or two.” She was still an attractive women, with medium length gray hair and a friendly face.

“Yeah, that’s what I remember,” Gabe said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here. We probably met at one of the RV Park Association’s meetings.”

“Probably. So, you need just one RV space, right? Room for two cars?”

“Yeah, it’s a fifth wheel.”

“How long?” she asked.

“Shoot, you know, I’m not sure. I think about 33 feet.”

“Close enough,” she said. “I’ll give you guys a large one. How long are you staying?”

“Just overnight,” Gabe said. “We’re on our way to Ohio.”

“We’ve had a lot of people passing through lately,” she said as she filled out the tag. “Not sure why.”

“Route 36 is one of the better ways across the Mississippi now,” Gabe said. “That’s probably why.”

“Oh,” she said, pausing, looking at him. “Geez, I should have figured that out. Maybe I ought to be advertising. Haven’t done that since Steve passed.”

“I was sad to hear about him,” Gabe said. “We were more acquaintances than friends, but we gravitated to each other at the meetings.”

“I remember. There were a few friends he used to talk about. Charlie was his closest friend there.”

Gabe’s face brightened. “Charlie’s with our group.”

“Here?” she asked.

“No, back at our home base in Kansas. Several of us who had parks overrun by the enemy ended up there.”

“My word,” she said. “Who are the others?”

“Kurt and Hilda,” Gabe said.

“I remember Kurt. He was married to that lovely black doctor. Can’t place Hilda, though.”

“She was Jer’s wife.”

“Oh, I remember Jer,” she said. “He passed?”

“Yeah, cancer,” Gabe said.

“There was another one… can’t remember his name, but he hung around with them too. Name started with a C, I think.”

Gabe’s eyes narrowed. “Chet.”

“Yeah, Chet. What’s wrong?”

“We’ve found out a lot about Chet. The RV Park that we’re in used to belong to him.”

“Bad things?”

“He was a serial killer. Had a dungeon under his place.”

“My word,” she said, eyes getting big.

“Ever hear of the Nighthawk Road Killer?”

“Why, yes,” she said. “That was close enough to scare us here,” she said. “That was Chet?”

“Yeah,” Gabe said.

“Wow,” Sue said. “Surprised that didn’t make the news.”

“We’ve been sitting on it,” Gabe said. “We couldn’t let the enemy find out where our group was.”

“You’re
that
group?” she asked, eyes widening. “The one that’s been attacking them?”

“How’d you find out about that?” Gabe asked.

“Internet message boards,” she said. “There aren’t enemy fighters nearby, are there?”

“No, they’re pretty much done,” Gabe said. “This trip is related to Chet’s son.”

“He’s in Ohio?” she asked.

“We think so.”

“Why do you care?” she asked.

“He knows we’re at his RV Park. He wants it back, and he’s as dangerous as his dad was.”

Dobie walked in. “Hey Gabe, what’s taking so long?”

“Sorry, been flapping my jaws again,” Gabe said. He looked back at Sue. “I’d better be off.”

“Okay, nice talking with you,” Sue said, smiling.

“My pleasure.”

Gabe walked out with a map and the tag.

“You didn’t tell her too much, I hope,” Dobie asked as they walked to his rig.

“Probably, but she’s part of the old association. She knew Charlie and Kurt and Chet.”

“Should have known,” Dobie said, shaking his head. “She’s cute.”

“Well, that’s the other reason I talked to her for a while,” Gabe said, looking embarrassed.

Dobie drove the rig into the park, Malcolm and Ted following. They found the space and pulled in.

“You gonna unhook the truck?” Gabe asked.

“Only if I need to in order to get her level,” Dobie said as he climbed out of the cab. “We need to put the slides out to accommodate everybody.”

Gabe met Ted and Malcolm next to the rig as Dobie was getting the slides run out and the utilities hooked up.

“You were a while,” Ted said. “Problems?”

“No, I was just talking to the owner,” Gabe said. “Her late husband knew Charlie, Kurt, Chet, and me.”

“Chet?” Malcolm said.

“Sure,” Gabe said. “He hid his personal life pretty well, apparently.”

“You didn’t spill too much, did you?” Ted asked.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” he said, looking uncomfortable. “I told her about Chet being a serial killer.”

Malcolm got a worried look. “How well do you know her again?”

“Not all that well, but I knew her late husband pretty well. I saw him a few times a year during the heyday of the RV Park Association.”

“Was he close to Chet?” Malcolm asked.

“No, not really,” Gabe said. “Chet, Chester, and Jer were part of the older set. Charlie knew them the best of anybody we have left now.”

“Jer?” Ted asked.

“That’s Hilda’s late husband,” Malcolm said.

“Oh, I thought she was with Charlie,” Ted said.

“Only recently,” Gabe said. “I hope I didn’t screw up.”

“Well, don’t worry about it,” Malcolm said. “But be a little less talkative in the future, at least until things are back to normal.”

Dobie walked out. “All set up.” He looked at Gabe’s expression. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Malcolm said.

“I might have spilled too much to Sue,” Gabe said. “I need to be more careful.”

“Oh,” Dobie said. “I wouldn’t worry about it. We’ll only be here until sunup anyway.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Malcolm said.

“Well, I’ll go get the beds set up,” Dobie said.

“Good, I’m tired,” Gabe said. “I’ll help you.”

“Okay, we’ll be in soon,” Ted said. He looked at Malcolm. “Let’s take a walk.”

“Yeah,” Malcolm said. They wandered into the cool night.

“You really worried about him saying too much?” Ted asked.

“In this case, I think it’s fine, but it’s a good idea to get him thinking a little more,” Malcolm said. “We’re about to go into the city, and we’re liable to run into FBI agents.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Ted said as they strolled along. “Nice park.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Think we should contact the FBI before we go to the house?” Ted asked.

“They haven’t contacted you again?”

“No,” Ted said. “They probably don’t know where to start. Agent Keith wasn’t one to share information, so they’re going from a dead stop on this investigation.”

“They’re trying to find witnesses from the jogging path,” Malcolm said.

“That’s what I’d do,” Ted said.

“There’s somebody you’re forgetting about.”

“Who?” Ted asked. Then his face changed. “Shit. Sheriff Branson.”

“Yeah.”

“I forgot all about it in the excitement of that battle last night,” Ted said. “I’ll call him right now.” He took his phone out of his pocket and hit the contact.

“Branson.”

“Hi, Dick, it’s Ted.”

“Glad you called,” Dick said. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of Agent Keith since last night. No luck. Nada. He’s not returning my calls.”

“You heard about what happened at that jogging path in Columbus?”

“Yeah,” he said, pausing for a moment. “Shit. That was Agent Keith?”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Ted said. “We’re pretty sure Agent Keith is dead.”

“Small loss,” Dick said. “Nothing on the news about it. Nothing from any of my usual sources either, and they know I’m interested in this guy.”

“Can you keep quiet?”

“Of course, Ted. What’s going on?”

“FBI did ballistics and DNA from the scene. You know the two girls got killed, right?”

“Yeah, that part made the news,” Dick said. “One of them was on the lam due to a rape charge. The other was the victim in that aborted kidnapping.”

“Yep. The coed got raped shortly before the incident. She had Agent Keith’s DNA in her.”

“Son of a bitch,” Dick said. “What a jerk.”

“He also tried to rig the scene to make it look like Scott’s girl shot the coed. He screwed up. Left his print on the barrel.”

Dick laughed. “Figures. So who shot the coed?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say Scott or Howard,” Ted said. “Gun was registered to a dead person in Michigan. They’re trying to figure out if there’s any connection to them. Oh, and by the way, Agent Keith’s gun shot Scott’s girl. Her name was Bailey Simpson.”

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