The Rule of Three (20 page)

“No, it’s just that—”

I slammed on the brakes as the carriage stopped in front of me.

“What’s happening?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s probably nothing.” Or it could be something.

I put the car into park. In my rearview mirror I caught sight of somebody climbing out of the back of the truck. It was Brett, shotgun at the ready, walking forward. He hesitated for just an instant at the open window of my car.

“I’ll see what’s happening,” he said.

He was an action hero and I was sitting in my car, waiting, practically hiding.

“Slide over,” I said to Lori. “You take the wheel. I’m going to check things out, too.”

I climbed out and rushed after Brett, catching up to him as he reached Herb standing in front of the first car. Howie came up from behind. Ahead of it was the barricade I’d passed by three times earlier in the day. It was no longer unoccupied. Behind the cars I could see a few heads, and I thought I could make out rifle barrels. Suddenly I felt exposed. Maybe it would have been better to stay in the car.

“There was nobody there even when we came back to the farm with the extra people,” I said.

“Doesn’t look like there’s many of them,” Brett said.

“I don’t know how many there
are
,” Herb said, “only how many I can see.”

“Look, we must have more firepower. We can take them,” Brett said.

“Not without casualties,” Herb warned. “I’ll try to negotiate a way through.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we just went another way? That road is open,” Howie said, pointing to a side street.

“We don’t know what’s down there other than that the road is narrower and the houses closer together. It could be a trap that this barricade is directing us into. Besides, we don’t have much time before dark. We have to get back. I’ll go and talk,” Herb said.

“You shouldn’t go alone,” Howie said.

“I’m not. Adam’s coming with me.”

“You’re taking the kid instead of me or Howie?” Brett asked.

I had to agree with him—why me?

“It defuses tensions if we send an old man and a kid. It’s the best chance we have. If there are problems, you turn this little circus around and make a run for it.”

“But what about you two?”

“Don’t worry about us. If something goes wrong you won’t be able to help. Howie, I want you to stay up here, but first let people know what we’re doing. Brett, you go and secure the rear of the convoy.”

“I’m not turning and running away,” Brett said.

“I’m not talking about you running. If this blockage is designed to stop us, we can be attacked and it’s going to come from the back. I need you there to take care of it. Understand?”

“Okay, sure.”

When they left us alone, Herb told me to run back and leave my gun in the car.

When I protested that this seemed like exactly the wrong time to ditch a weapon, he promised we were going to talk our way through this.

“The last thing you want to do is spook them,” Herb explained.

I ran back along the line and pulled out my pistol as I got to the car. “Here, take this,” I said as I handed it to Lori and ran back to Herb.

“Let’s go.” He put his hands up in the air and started walking forward, and I did the same thing.

We moved slowly. As we closed in I started to count. There were six men at the barricade, and at least three of them had rifles.

“You just listen and nod,” Herb said. “Agree with everything I say.”

“I wasn’t planning on starting an argument with anybody.”

“Neither am I, but if problems do develop, if there’s gunfire, drop to your belly.”

He stopped and I did the same.

“We’re unarmed!” Herb yelled. “Can we come forward to talk?”

“Take off your jackets and shirts!” a man yelled back.

That surprised me. Herb took off his jacket, dropped it to the pavement, and then started to undo the buttons of his shirt. I pulled mine off over my head. Standing beside me Herb looked old, almost frail, and I felt exposed and vulnerable. Why had Herb taken me along? Why had I agreed to come with him?

“Okay, you can come forward!” a man yelled.

We raised our hands again. I could feel the sweat streaming down my back. We stopped at the first car. Two men advanced, their rifles pointed directly at us.

“Could we put our arms down now?” Herb asked.

“We’ll tell you when you can do that,” one of them barked. He was trying to sound confident, but I could tell he was scared. Herb was right.

“Sure, of course. I’m good at following orders or I wouldn’t be here,” Herb said. “I’m Herb, by the way. This is Adam.”

The two strangers exchanged a nod. “Okay, get in here, Herb and Adam,” the nervous one ordered.

Herb moved and I stumbled after him as we were escorted behind the barricade. My feet felt like they were weighted with cement, my mouth dry from fear. I was terrified.

There were five other men standing behind the cars. Only the first two guys had real rifles. A young-looking third guy had what looked like a pellet gun. The other four were all armed with clubs or knives. Two were at the barricade watching our caravan; the others were staring at us.

“We’re here to deliver a message,” Herb said.

“We’re listening.”

“We’re willing to pay you a toll to let us by.”

“What sort of a toll?”

“We have eight cows and are willing to let you have one of them,” Herb said. “That would feed a bunch of people.”

“And eight cows would feed us eight times as long,” the nervous guy’s partner said.

“Nobody is going to give you eight cows,” Herb said. “But you know, we’re going to be coming along this way a lot in the next few weeks. If you got one cow eight times, you would end up with eight cows and nobody would have to shoot each other. What do you think?”

“I think we need to talk among ourselves,” our interrogator said. “Herb and Adam, don’t move.”

“Can we lower our arms and sit down?” Herb asked. “Please?”

“You just stand there and—”

“Let them,” a guy with a knife interrupted. “The old guy looks like he’s going to collapse if he doesn’t sit down.”

“Thanks so much,” Herb said. He lowered his arms and slumped onto a picnic bench.

I eased onto the seat beside him and then lowered my arms as well.

“But don’t try anything!” the knife carrier barked. “We have our eyes on you.”

They backed away and formed a little huddle, glancing at us every now and then.

“You okay?” Herb said under his breath.

“I could be better.”

“Remember what I said—drop flat to the ground if it goes bad.”

“But it’s going good, right?”

“Not so good. Listen.”

I turned my head to try to make out what they were saying, but I couldn’t hear any more than a stray word or two. I shrugged.

“I can’t hear the words, but I don’t like the tone,” Herb whispered. “They’re fighting among themselves, and when that happens the most aggressive voice usually wins.”

The argument stopped and the men came toward us—at least three of them did—while two others ran off, including our friend with the knife. Why would they run away? There could only be one reason: they were going to get more people, and that couldn’t be good.

“Get up!” their spokesman ordered.

I jumped to my feet and Herb slowly got up with a groan. He wobbled and I reached out to support him.

“Thanks,” he said. His voice was weak. Was he all right?

“If you two want to live, you will do exactly what you’re told to do.”

“We will,” Herb said. “Please don’t hurt us.”

“You won’t get hurt unless you do something wrong. The kid stays here, and you’re going to walk out and wave your people to come through the space we’re going to open up.”

“What if they don’t come?”

“You better hope they do. If they don’t come, you two are
dead
.”

“You’re going to kill us?” Herb asked.

“If we have to,” the man said. “We want all the cows.”

“Look, they’re not just going to roll over and give you what you want. They have guns and they’ll try to stop you,” Herb said.

“We have weapons and the element of surprise, and we have you two, so that gives us the advantage.”

“They’ll fight. People will die,” Herb said.

“People are going to die if we don’t have enough food. We’ll take that chance. Go out and wave them forward.”

“I’m not feeling good,” Herb said. “Can I have a drink of water or—”

The man pushed Herb. “Get going or you’re going to be feeling a whole lot worse!”

“I can’t—my chest—” Herb staggered and doubled over.

I grabbed him to stop him from falling down. We had to get him to a doctor or—

Suddenly Herb straightened up and spun around. He had a gun in his hand! I had no idea where he’d pulled it from. Maybe a holster on his ankle.

The leader started to raise his rifle.

“You move that another inch and you’re done!” Herb yelled.

The man froze. They all froze.

“Drop your weapons,” Herb ordered.

Nobody moved. Our captor cleared his throat and spoke up. “Look, gramps, there are five of us with three guns. You can’t shoot all of us before one of us gets you.”

“This is a fully automatic pistol that can fire its whole clip in three seconds. The first two shots are for you, the third is for the gentleman beside you with the twenty-two, and then I’ll take out the young man with the pellet gun. Maybe he hits me with a pellet or two before I cap him, but I can live with a couple of dents in my skin.”

“You think you scare us?” the boss man with the big rifle asked.

“If you’re not scared, you’re stupid. Shooting you might put you out of your misery.”

“You really think you can kill somebody?” he asked.

Herb laughed. “How do you figure I got these cows to begin with? We’re coming back from a raid on a farm up the road, you idiots. They’re
my
cows now, and I won’t even lose sleep over killing three
more
people today. You want to try me, go ahead—raise the rifle just a shade and see how fast you’re dead.”

“I’m putting mine down,” the other rifleman said. He bent and placed his weapon on the ground. The man with the pellet gun did the same.

“Now I just have one target,” Herb said. “Put it down
now
or die.”

The man grumbled but then gave in.

“You two put down your clubs and come over here, too,” Herb ordered, and the two men on the barricade dropped their weapons and reluctantly shuffled forward. “Now step back four steps, slowly, keeping your hands where I can see them.”

They did what they were told.

“Now take off
all
your clothes.”

“What?”

“Take off all your clothes, right now.”

“I’m not taking off my pants!” the leader said defiantly.

“Do it or die,” Herb said. “I don’t care if you live or die, but
you
should.”

“I’d rather die.”

“You’ll get your wish. Of course when the bullets start flying there’s no telling who else might get hit.” Herb swung the gun back and forth so it swayed from man to man.

“Just do what he says!” the youngest guy said.

Quickly they all started to undress until the five men were standing there, naked. They were being held at bay by an old guy and a kid, neither of whom was wearing a shirt. It was a pretty ridiculous scene, like a game of strip poker that was going horribly wrong.

“Now all of you roll that car away to let our vehicles by.”

As a unit they rushed over to one of the vehicles. One of them jumped inside and the other four pushed the car, clearing a lane.

Herb told me to go out and get the caravan moving.

I raced away, passing the barricade and running into the open, waving as I ran. “Come on, come on, quick!” I screamed. When Judge Roberts’s Chevy started in motion I grabbed our shirts and Herb’s jacket and ran back to the barricade. The center car had been moved, making a big gap for us to pass through.

“Now all of you get going!” Herb yelled to his naked captives.

“We can leave?” our tormentor asked.

“Of course you can.”

“And you’re not going to shoot us in the back?”

“If I was going to shoot you it would be easier to just do it now instead of trying to pick off five moving targets. Go, before I change my mind.”

They all hesitated for a split second and then they were off, bumping into each other, running away fast until they disappeared behind the fence and into their neighborhood. At that same instant the first car in our convoy came through the opening. Herb waved them forward.

I handed Herb his shirt and jacket. “Thanks. Now grab those rifles and get into your car!” Herb ordered.

When my Omega came through the gap with Lori at the wheel I jumped in on the passenger side, landing on the seat, the rifles under my arm. I pulled the door closed with a loud thud.

“You’re okay!” Lori cried.

“Yeah, sure, I’m fine.”

“What happened to your shirt?” Todd asked.

“They wanted to attack us, but we got their guns.” I held up the two rifles, like they were trophies.

“That still doesn’t explain what happened to your shirt,” Todd said as I pulled my top back on.

“I’m just so glad you’re safe, that we’re all safe,” Lori said. “Do you want to drive?”

“You’re doing fine. I’ll keep watch.” I pulled one of the rifles off the floor.

What I didn’t say was that my hands were still shaking so badly that I didn’t think it was smart for me to drive right now. I’d just be a passenger—well, more than a passenger. Riding shotgun had a whole different meaning now.

23

It was a new experience to be woken up by a rooster, but there it was, in Herb’s backyard, along with the chickens, eight cows, three horses, and Mr. Peterson.

I stood in my kitchen looking out through the window at the little farm beside us. I wanted to go over, say hello, and see how the animals were doing. Maybe I could say hello to Lori as well. But it was still too early, only six o’clock. I knew what I could do to kill the time. Last night I’d had my recurring dream about flying. Maybe I could do more than just dream: I could work on making that dream real.