B.B.U.S.A. (Buying Back the United States of America) (8 page)

The kids cleaned up the dishes in the kitchen and returned to “the boy’s room,” as Leo referred to the family room, since it mainly consisted of a large TV with two game consoles connected to it, and three separate standalone computer stations. He had a computer in the middle of the room and each of his sons had their own computer station on either side of him. Leo was still pretty protective of the boys and insisted on being aware of where they went on the internet and who they talked to. All three had active World of WarCraft accounts, and Sarah could remember many nights that the three boys were up well past bed time, in order to finish one last battleground and say good night to their guild members. He enjoyed the time and interaction with his sons and the “boys’ room” was one of his favorite places to be on a cold winter’s night.

Sarah went back to the living room and opened the blinds to see if David had arrived yet. She wanted to go over the security system and let him know a bit about what was going on. She had hired a security company to make nightly patrols and had called to stop the newspaper. While waiting for David to arrive, she reluctantly retrieved her .25 semi auto pistol from the gun cabinet at the back of the closet in the master bedroom. Sarah checked to make sure she had two loaded clips and placed the loaded gun and extra clip in her purse. She removed a thousand dollars from the little fire safe within the opened gun cabinet and placed it in an envelope. She wrote David’s name on it and placed it on the upper shelf of the gun cabinet next to several boxes of ammunition.

She really did not like guns much, nor did she really see the need for them, unless someone truly depended on hunting deer or elk in order to survive. Leo seemed to like guns but was extremely cautious with them. Both agreed that all firearms in the house should be kept safely under lock and key, so they had invested in the large gun cabinet. ‘Cabinet,’ as they referred to it was really a misnomer as it was a big metal gun safe with a combination lock. Several hand guns and rifles were kept in the cabinet.

Looking at the firearms in the cabinet, Sarah was reminded of the first time her husband took her target practicing with the pistols. He had told her not to expect to hit the target on her first try, and not to be too disappointed if she did not hit it at all. She smiled to herself as she recollected Leo’s facial expression when she hit the soda can at 25 yards with his big .357 magnum, and then pulled the trigger a second time and again hit the can.

He had said, “Holy cow! Give me that pistol. That’s enough practice for you!” Leo was unable to hit the can with the remaining four bullets and jokingly blamed her for sending the can so far out of range with her first two shots.

She had always been a natural shot with pistols and rifles. She had shot her first six point buck in a snow storm from a distance of about three hundred fifty yards with the old .30-30 caliber open sight rifle. Leo had advised her not to try, as the distance was too great for the old rifle. She argued that she was a good shot and only needed to know how much the bullet would drop at that distance. He estimated it would drop at least a foot. She glanced at the big buck and turned to her husband with a very serious look on her face. “I bet I can drop him with this old rifle your uncle gave you, but if I do, I want two things: an apology from you for doubting my ability, and a brand new .30-30 rifle with a scope like you have on your rifle.”

“Okay, deal.” Leo looked at the still retreating buck through the binoculars, then let out a short sharp whistle. The buck took one step and turned broadside and angled his ears in the direction of the sound. Sarah aimed about a foot above his left shoulder and gently squeezed the trigger with her right index finger. The gun fired, she heard the noise of the blast, felt the kick of the gun on her shoulder, and then saw the buck leap straight into the air.

The big buck ran about fifteen yards and collapsed. It was a good clean kill shot. She pierced both lungs and nicked the heart. The older buck would not have tender meat, but, the boys’ much preferred jerky anyway.

With that remarkable shot, Leo took Sarah out to purchase her first new hunting rifle; a nice new .30-30 with scope and, a pink custom stock. Sarah figured that no man would be caught hunting deer with a pink firearm, ensuring no one would mess with her rifle. Once the scope was properly sighted, no one other than Sarah ever touched it.

The doorbell rang. Sarah turned on her heels and left the bedroom. She was sure that it was David, but took her purse with her just in case she needed to retrieve her pistol. As expected, David was alone at the front door.

Sarah welcomed him in, and promptly locked the front door. After a little small talk, Sarah took David to the security unit in the hallway near the front entrance to explain the codes and how it worked. David had house-sat several times since they installed the security system, but as always, David just seemed so lackadaisical that she felt it necessary to explain it to him again. She handed him a business card, with the name and phone number of the security agency she had recently hired to patrol the area a couple of times each night. David assured Sarah that he remembered how to operate the security system and even remembered the code. He then wrinkled up his forehead like he so often did when he was confused. “But why hire a security company?”

Sarah glanced in the direction of the boys’ room and then motioned for David to follow her into the master bedroom. She led him into the giant walk in closet with the gun safe still open, and she handed him the .38 pistol. David, still perplexed, held the pistol like it was something the cat had coughed up. Once Sarah was sure she had his undivided attention she continued. “Let me explain. I don’t want to alarm you or the kids, nor tell you anything that could be used against you. One of our friends has been murdered. Leo thinks he knows who did it. He is currently out of town trying to work things out with the agency that did it, but he fears for our safety, so we are leaving town for an extended vacation.”

David, still staring in disbelief, and holding the pistol with his thumb and forefinger, cleared his throat. “Who are these bad guys?” and “How is Leo going to work things out with this agency?”

Thinking it had been unwise to hand David a loaded pistol, she gently took it out of his hand and laid it back on the upper shelf near his envelope of cash. “I’m not sure, and I do not want to tell you too much for fear of endangering you. Here is what you need to know. We did nothing wrong, but we may have information that links the murderers to the crime. Leo is not certain whether or not the murderers know that we might have information about them, so he is sort of feeling them out to see if we really are in danger. What you need to know is that Chris, Traykie, and I are going to fly to my Dad’s place in Texas tomorrow and then eventually we hope to meet Leo in Mexico. I’ll tell you nothing more and you’ll have nothing to hide. Freely tell anyone that wants to know, where we are going and what we are doing.”

He nodded, and released some of the pressure on his wrinkled forehead as Sarah handed him a key ring and piece of paper. “Here are the house keys, the spare car keys to both the Expedition and the Bravada, and the combination for the gun safe. Here on the top shelf is an envelope with one thousand dollars in it for you. If we are gone more than a month I’ll wire money to our office manager, Natasha, to get to you. I have already added you to our insurance policy so feel free to drive our vehicles and save your gas. In the envelope with your money is a Chevron gas credit card if you need it. Feel free to take this .38 pistol to the guest room with you if you want to keep it handy, but I don’t want it lying around while the boys are still here tonight. I understand if this is overwhelming, and I’ll understand if you choose not to accept this job, but I need to know right now, one way or the other, so that I can line up someone else if you are no longer interested.”

David’s frown returned to his face. “This is really weird! Of course I’ll do it. What would anyone want with a house-sitting brick layer? Why didn’t you tell me all of this on the phone?”

Sarah sighed. “Leo is pretty paranoid. He thinks our phones might be tapped.”

David held back a laugh. “He must have watched too many episodes of ‘America’s Most Wanted.’” He shrugged his shoulders and continued, “This is too weird. You want me to house-sit and watch the cat for a month or perhaps more, and watch out for some ‘bad guys’ while Leo works out things with the ‘agency’ and you all eventually vacation in Mexico? Is there anything else that I missed?”

She could see that she had lost David. He was no longer taking things seriously. Oh, well; there was seldom anything he took very seriously. “I left a list of reminders on the dining room table. Don’t forget to feed the cat and water the plants once a week, okay? You know Bart will be lonely and probably bug you to death for affection.”

“Okay, as long Bart doesn’t bite me again. I know he only does that for attention, but it is quite a surprise when you’re not expecting it,” David lamented.

“In all honesty, Sarah, I think I have more to worry about from your attack cat, than I do from Leo’s ‘bad dudes.’”

She smiled. “If we communicate with you at all, it will be through your private post office box in Boise, or through our office manager, Natasha. Do be careful, and I hope you do take some of this seriously. There is nothing in this house that isn’t insured, or cannot be replaced, so, please don’t do anything dumb or heroic, okay?” David nodded. “If you don’t feel comfortable with the .38 pistol just please leave it locked in the gun safe.”

David looked at Sarah endearingly, and relaxed his forehead. He was an odd man by normal standards, but a likeable and loyal care-free friend. He was in his early fifties and mostly bald. His short stature was deceiving. David was well built with solid muscles acquired from years of brick laying and riding his bicycle as his primary transportation device. He once flew up to Anchorage, Alaska, just to bicycle all the way down the Alcan Highway, through Canada, the lower forty-eight States, with an eventual ending destination of the Panama Canal. That particular trip ended when he ran out of money at the Mexican border. When asked why he did it, he simply responded, “Just for fun.” David was a care-free spirit. He often said life was too short to worry. His motto was, “less is more,” meaning the less he had, and the less he had to worry about, the more fun life was.

He was a stone mason by trade, but had learned most phases of construction by trial and error. He believed he could always find work if he needed it. David usually only took part time employment as his needs were few. He never kept a steady job but blew with the wind and went wherever he felt like going at that moment.

Sometimes he would just load up his bicycle with his tools and a sleeping bag, and take off for a month or two at a time. He would travel around doing odd jobs for people as he toured whatever State he happened to be in at the time. He built fence for ranchers, repaired chimneys, retaining walls, laid bricks, roofed houses, chopped or cut down trees, dug up roots, or whatever else provided some pay.

David finally gave Sarah a look of understanding. “Don’t worry about me or the house. Life is too short to worry. Go do what you must, and I’ll see you when you get back.”

Sarah hugged David and told him she still needed to make it to the bank, and asked if he would be all right with the boys and the cat while she was gone for about an hour. He agreed and went in to the boys’ room to see what games they were playing while she ran her errands.

At the bank she withdrew seven thousand in traveler’s checks and took another two thousand in fifty dollar bills. She was careful to stay under the ten thousand dollar mark, as Leo had previously warned her about all the required IRS paperwork. She certainly did not want to waste any more time filling out what she deemed to be unnecessary bureaucratic red tape.

She took another half hour stopping by the real estate office, giving Natasha some last-minute instructions and signed the legal paper work authorizing her to be the acting Broker in her absence. On her way home she stopped by Pizza Hut, picked up two large meat lover’s pizzas, and hurried home. David, Sarah, Traykie and Chris had an enjoyable evening eating pizza and playing games. Most of all they laughed, and Sarah forgot about her worries.

The next morning Sarah placed her pistol back inside the gun safe and locked it. She and David packed all the suitcases in the Ford Expedition, gathered the boys, and made their way to the Boise Airport. David hugged her and the boys’ goodbye. He watched them till they were separated at the TSA security check point and then headed back to the parking garage to retrieve the Expedition. He liked feeling needed and was sincerely glad to help out in any way possible.

He hopped into the Expedition and enjoyed hearing the big V8 engine rev up. He pulled out of the parking garage and paid the two dollar fee for the limited time the vehicle had been parked, and got on the freeway heading back to Sarah’s house, totally oblivious to the car that pulled in behind him.

Leo entered a small coffee shop and he ordered a ham and cheese omelet with a tall glass of chocolate milk. The waitress stared at him for a second, “You sure you can pay for this?” she asked.

For a second, he felt both humiliated and insulted, and contemplated just getting up and leaving, but he knew he needed the sustenance and did not want to make a big scene. With an agitated look on his face, he unzipped the side pocket of the Oregon Ducks duffel bag he had placed next to him in the booth, and retrieved a fifty dollar bill. As he placed the bill on the table, he nearly made a snide comment in retaliation to the presumed state of his financial affairs, but resisted, realizing that her question should not be taken personally, as it probably had more to do with his current appearance and the less-than-prosperous neighborhood surrounding the small restaurant. Instead, he just asked the waitress politely if she could please bring him a copy of the morning paper with his milk.