The Emerald Virus (49 page)

    
“Are you sure we should stop watching those guys?”

    
“I think having someone from the group to question will prove better for us.
Hang on, I’m on the way.”

    
Jack moved as quickly as he could as he walked four blocks before he started
looking for a car. It wasn’t hard to find one. Most houses had places to hang
the keys inside the garage door. All he needed was to find a car in a driveway
to avoid the noise of opening the garage door.

    
All he could do was shake his head about Heather. He had no idea how she had
got the upper hand on the man but he was looking forward to hearing the story.
Why someone would have made himself known to Heather without holding a gun on
her didn’t make any sense to him.

    
Jack pulled up to the RV to see a man tangled into a ball hanging half in and
half out of the back window of the Outback. He had to laugh at how Heather had
trussed him up but it looked efficient. He left the man there while he went
inside.

    
Heather had tears streaming down her face and she was shaking like a leaf. She
was surprised to see Jack so soon and said, “Jack, I’m sorry, I was hoping to
get back to normal before you got here. I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

    
Jack hugged her and said, “Don’t worry about what you look like. A lot of
people get nervous after the fact, that’s not surprising. I’m only worried
about what happened to you, catch your breath and tell me the story please.”

    
Heather held on to Jack for a few minutes and then sat down on the sofa and
told Jack everything that had happened. She finished by saying, “Jack, when he
was pointing that gun at me my knees were actually shaking and I thought I was
going to wet my pants. I’ve read about people doing that but I thought it was
just stuff for stories, but it really happened to me. I didn’t know I could get
that scared.”

    
“I’m really sorry you had to go through that, but you did a remarkable job. Most
people would have simply done what he told you to do without a thought of
risking harm by trying to take the gun away from him.” And he smiled and said,
“I’m starting to think I did the right thing by bringing you along.”

    
Heather looked up and said, “You’re starting to think that? What do I have to
do to convince you anyway? And she smiled halfway and Jack knew she was going
to be okay. He still couldn’t believe she had pulled this off. He certainly
wasn’t going to criticize her in any way.

    
He went to the car and brought Topper into the RV. He said, “Heather, I have to
compliment you for imagination. I think you have truly immobilized this guy.
It’s a little unorthodox but very effective.”

    
He kept him cuffed as Heather had done and told Heather to keep her gun pointed
at him. Jack then drove the RV to the first cross street and turned left, drove
for a mile, turned left onto a small side street, and backed into a tree lined
driveway. The RV now looked like many others that would sit forever outside of
their owner’s house. It was now almost dark and Jack put all of the window
shades down.

    
He told Heather to lead the way to the backyard of the house and he pulled
Topper along with him. As he had hoped, the lawn furniture was still sitting
out. He dusted the snow off of three chairs and sat them facing each other.

    
Jack said, “Topper, I’m assuming you called your friends and told them you had
followed Heather to our RV. Since I was watching the house I know they hadn’t
left yet. But even if they did and they’re looking for you they would have to
start looking in every backyard in town to find us. So I think it’s safe to say
you’re on your own.

    
“It’s also safe to say that neither Heather nor I care if you continue to live.
I haven’t yet decided on that, and I may wait until I talk to the ladies you’ve
held captive before I make the final decision.

     
“Then on the other hand, if you don’t cooperate with me I’m willing to kill you
on the spot. Do you understand me?”

    
Topper spoke to Jack for the first time and said, “I think your going to kill
me no matter what, so I don’t think I’ll talk to you at all.”

    
Out of nowhere Jack saw Heather with a knife in her hand. She didn’t hesitate
but plunged it into the top of Toppers thigh. He screamed like a banshee and
when he stopped screaming Heather said, “The best reason I can think of for you
to talk is so I won’t keep stabbing you with your own knife, asshole.”

    
Jack didn’t react or say a word, he did wonder for a second what in the world
he had created in Heather and then he smiled to himself because he realized
that he had helped create a very self-sufficient young lady who was quickly
learning the disadvantages of hesitating.

    
Jack said, “Heather, please pull the knife out of Topper, but get ready to put
it back in the other leg if he doesn’t open up to us.”

    
Topper looked at both of them and said in a pained voice, “I think your both as
crazy as those other two loonies. I can’t believe she stabbed me. Do you have
anything for the pain?” He was moaning as he talked and his face turned pasty
white while sweat formed on his brow.

    
Jack didn’t say a word. He walked to the back door of the house and broke in. A
minute later he came out with a bottle of Vodka. He poured half of it over the
wound, and then handed the bottle to Topper, who was screaming again.

    
After a couple of minutes and a couple of drinks Topper said, “Gus, the smaller
guy, was responsible for giving the RVs to survivors. When he realized early on
that he was going to be a survivor he started planning for this. He was living
in the Bronx and they must have prepared twenty RVs for survivors.

    
“He picked out three good looking women and told them that he was a survivor
also and he was getting a group of twenty or so people from the Bronx together so
they could act as a group and take care of each other. He told them if they
wanted to be part of the Bronx group they should wait until the deaths were
over and go to Forest Park. He would meet them where Forest Park Drive
intersects with Memorial Drive. He even set the navigation system for them so
they wouldn’t get lost.

    
“He reminded them that people would come at different times so they might see a
big group or a small group to start with.

    
“Then he recruited a couple of men to join the group. I guess when I came
roaring up on my big Harley with chains on my jacket he thought I was the type
of person he was looking for. I thought I was tough, but I had just stolen the
Harley and I never rode with any gang. Gus didn’t’ know that of course.

    
“He had planned on three women and three men, but one of the women didn’t show.
The other guy, he’s called Red, is a real bad ass. He’s a lifelong gang banger
and he immediately stepped up and claimed the other woman. They both promised
me that they’d help me find a woman for myself, but I didn’t believe them. I’ve
been planning on taking off on my own, but I just haven’t left yet.”

    
“At the park we left the women’s RVs and taped them up and brought them here
with us. The house belongs to a relative of Gus’s and he made a big deal of
taking the women to Sawmill Pond to this mansion. It ain’t a mansion, but it
works for the time being.”

    
Jack thought all of this was pertinent, but not overly helpful, except for the
verification of the number of men to deal with. One of the men must have gotten
careless because one of the women had been able to send that message. Whoever
it was apparently had not fessed up.

    
He asked Topper if either of the guys were computer literate.

    
“Red can’t even turn one on, but Gus worked in a computer store and he’s good
with computers.

    
Jack had brought a couple of dish towels out with the vodka and now stopped to
tie one around Toppers leg to stop the seeping. Heather had missed major
arteries and Jack thought Topper was lucky. He didn’t believe Heather had a
clue where the arteries were located.

    
“Okay Topper, that’s a nice start, now I need you to tell me about the living
arrangements in the house and how they decide when to go to the RVs.”

    
Topper described everything he could remember and Jack grilled him until he was
sure Topper hadn’t left anything out.

    
Jack asked Topper why they hadn’t seen him leave the house.

    
“I walked through the backyard to pick up a car on that street. I had seen a
nice sports car when I was driving around and I wanted to drive it.”

    
Topper had insisted that he never called anyone about Heather, and while Jack
didn’t believe him Heather showed him Topper’s cell phone and the call history which
showed he hadn’t made a call in two weeks.

    
An hour later the two of them were back watching the house. Topper had been
left cuffed to a pipe at the dealership. Jack promised to come back for him
after they had dealt with Gus and Red. Topper asked what would happen to him if
Jack and Heather were killed. Jack calmly told him he would either starve to
death or he could chew off his own hand to get free.

    
On the drive back to the house Jack asked Heather where in the world she had
learned to stab someone in the leg.

    
She shyly said, “I hope that’s okay with you, I know you didn’t tell me to do
it, but I thought you would be thinking of doing something to him to make him
talk, and I didn’t want you to think you were always the one that had to do the
hard things. I took the knife from him earlier and it had a short blade on it.
I stabbed him as hard as I could because I was afraid it wasn’t sharp enough to
go in.”

    
Jack reached over and squeezed her shoulder and told her she had done just
fine. But she didn’t have to worry about taking care of him. He was now
convinced that she was everything he could have hoped for. All he could do was shake
his head and quietly thank her parents for how they had raised this kid.

    
Jack explained to Heather what he had in mind and what her role would be.  It
was now eleven o’clock and the last light in the house had gone off about ten
minutes ago.

At
midnight Jack left the house by the back door and moved through backyards until
he was out of sight of the house. He crossed the street and moved into and
through the backyards on the opposite side of the street until he was looking
at the house from the back. He watched for thirty minutes and saw no movement
at all.

    
Topper told them that Gus and Red usually drank themselves to sleep each
evening. Jack was hoping that held true for tonight. He then moved into the
front yard and looked through the front windows from between the bushes. He
couldn’t see anything at all.

    
He wasn’t sure where the two men were sleeping. Topper had told him they slept
anywhere they wanted to. But they didn’t trust the women so they kept them
locked in the RV. Topper had no idea if they were tied up or chained up or
what.

    
Jack walked quietly through the side yard, into the neighbors yard and out to
the street. He moved quickly to the other side of the RVs and pulled out a tech
lock pick set he had picked up from a police station two days ago. Fortunately,
both RVs had driver-side doors. It took him a long time to figure out how to
open the door to the RV, but he finally heard the thunk that told him the lock
had opened.

   
He was sure the interior light would come on as soon as he opened the door but
there was nothing he could do about it. He pulled the door open and climbed in
as quickly as he could, closing the door behind him. The light had been on for
maybe five seconds, which wasn’t bad he thought, but he had made too much noise
closing the door. He sat as still as he could waiting to see if anyone in the
house or the RV was awake.

    
All of the privacy shades were in place so he couldn’t see out, but neither
could anyone see in. Heather would call him and his cell phone would vibrate if
anyone came out of the house.

    
Five minutes later Jack very quietly moved through the RV to the bedroom. The
bedroom door was open and there was a night light shining from the bathroom. It
gave enough light so he could see the bed and a person sleeping in the middle
of it. She was covered with multiple blankets and Jack couldn’t tell anything
about her.

    
He hated to, but he got as close to her as he could and then put his hand over
her mouth and held on tightly. She came awake and started to struggle, but
almost immediately stopped. Jack loosened his grip as he said very softly, “I’m
a friend, I’m here to help you but we have to be very quiet. Do you understand?
Her head nodded a couple of times and Jack released his hand.

    
He continued talking softly, trying to put her at ease, “Are you hurt so that
you can’t walk or run?” She shook her head. “I’m going to take you out of here,
but we will move very quietly and very slowly. I have a friend waiting to help
you, just hang in there for a little longer.” She nodded, but still didn’t say anything.

    
Jack continued, “My name is Jack Sweeney, what should I call you?”