Unthinkable (Berger Series) (4 page)

The man pointed the shotgun away. “Looks like you boys have seen some trouble,” he said with a twang. “If you walk over here with your hands where I can see them I might have some supper for you.” Evan took a step, and realized Yoshi was still frozen. He went back and gently took his friends elbow. Yoshi shook himself free and walked as well as he could towards the house. The man rested the shotgun against the door frame. “If you try anything stupid, you’re dead,” he said. He quickly patted down the pair. “I’m Tom Jasper,” he said, stepping back and putting out his hand.

“Evan Berger,” Evan shook his hand, “and Yoshi McCarthy.” Yoshi hesitated before putting out a trembling hand.

“It’s okay son,” said Tom, taking Yoshi’s hand in both his and looking him in the eyes. Yoshi looked away. Tom let go and yelled for two more plates as they stepped into the house. A teenager stepped away from the front window, holding a rifle. He looked at the pair before disappearing into the next room.

“You boys might want to clean up before supper,” said Tom. He led them behind the stairs and into a mudroom before leaving them alone. A pair of sinks stood against the wall below a large mirror. Evan hardly recognized himself. His hair was spiked where blood had dried in it. Two days of scuff were caked in blood and dirt and that motif continued through his clothes and arms. A rip he hadn’t noticed before gaped in his t-shirt. Yoshi stared in the mirror at his own appearance, just as bloody and dirty. Evan grabbed the soap and started scrubbing his hands, arms and face. There were bruises and cuts on his arms and wrists and Yoshi had a footprint on one of his arms. Evan remembered falling to the pavement…he pushed the memory away and turned off the water.

Tom stepped back in when the water stopped. His smile was friendly and welcoming. “Maybe now you won’t scare the little ones,” he said, looking them over. He led them back into a dining room heaped high with fried chicken and mashed potatoes. A woman and four kids were already eating. Tom introduced the family. The teenager with the rifle had a twin brother. The littlest one, Emily, stared openly at Yoshi until her mother corrected her. Evan dived into the meal, inhaling his food until his stomach hurt. He looked up from his plate to his hosts. Katie, the wife, sipped a glass of water. Tom sat back watching his family. Katie put the glass down and stood. The two girls automatically stood and started helping their mother clear the table. Evan offered to help, but Katie smiled and shook her head.

“Let’s go in the other room and talk. Nathan, Noah, come join us,” said Tom as he led the way into the living room. Tom sat in a large overstuffed armchair. The twins took the small loveseat next to him. Evan and Yoshi perched across from them on a sofa. Tom reached for his front pocket, but stopped. “Just quit smoking. So, why don’t you boys tell me what happened to you?”

Evan spoke first and recounted everything that had happened since they left St. Louis. He started with Yoshi telling him to leave, to the cop, to the recent ordeal.  Tom leaned forward to listen. Evan mentioned the phone call that suggested they go to Wyoming. When he finished Tom sat back and looked at Yoshi.

“So what happened to you while your friend here was in the basement?”

“About the same, sir.”
Yoshi stared at the floor.

Tom watched Yoshi as he spoke. “That’s the Lee family. We don’t deal much with that town. The family runs everything there and I’m sure they were just happy to jump on a couple of strangers. Now that there doesn’t seem to be much of a government I supposed they feel it’s in their rights to openly run the town.”

“They certainly didn’t give us any opportunity,” said Evan. “What’s with the Marine thing?”

“Her dad, two brothers and son were all Marines. All but one of them died. ‘Suppose that’s the one thing besides family she feels any loyalty too.”

“Yoshi’s dad and oldest brother were in the Marines, his brother was killed in action, his dad died shortly afterward,” said Evan, looking at Yoshi.

I’m sorry about your family,” Tom said to Yoshi.

“It was a long time ago,” Yoshi didn’t look up. Silence stretched out.

“Thanks for dinner,” said Evan at last.

“Yes, thank you,” added Yoshi glancing at Tom before staring back down at the floor.

“You looked rather worse for wear and we had some extra. You boys can spend the night here. I’ll see what I can do for you for supplies.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Yoshi looked back up at Tom.

“You won’t get far if I don’t,” Tom said, standing. “Why don’t you boys go on and get some sleep. Nathan?” One of the twins led them up the stairs. Evan felt every step dragging him down with exhaustion. Or maybe it was the good meal.
Probably both. Clean clothes lay on the single bed in the room. Nathan wished them goodnight and closed the door. They changed into the clothes; a little baggy on Yoshi, remarkably close to a fit on Evan. Yoshi didn’t look at Evan as he slid into the far side of the bed. Evan climbed in too.

“Evan?” Yoshi didn’t roll over.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t talk about my family.”

“Um, okay,” Evan faced the other wall. His friend always had been a private person. Yoshi started snoring. Evan smiled. It had been so long since they’d slept in the same place. It was surreal, really lying in this strange bed somewhere in mid-Missouri. Yoshi whimpered in his sleep and thrashed a bit before settling into other dreams. Evan resisted the urge to wake him and closed his own eyes. Whatever had happened Yoshi would tell him when he was ready.

Evan woke to the smell of bacon and the light of dawn peeking through the window. He stretched against the aches. Evan had a feeling he’d be aching for a long time. Yoshi was gone along with the dirty clothes. With a shrug he found the bathroom and headed downstairs.

As he looked into the dining room he saw Yoshi talking to Tom at the table. He was struck by a memory; coming down the stairs to find Mom and Dad quietly discussing something. Then, like now, the conversation stopped when they noticed Evan. Tom got up, the chair scraping against the wooden floor. Evan tried to shake off the feeling that he’d reverted back to nine years old and
smiled as he entered the room.

“How are you feeling this morning?” asked Tom as he poured a cup of coffee.

“Better than I expected,” said Evan, taking a seat.

“That’s good to hear,” Tom slid the cup across to Evan. It was stronger than he usually made it, but
good. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to stay here longer. Yoshi’s sprained his ankle and it would be best if he gave it a chance to recover.”

“Okay,” said Evan. He saw Yoshi had his foot up on a chair with ice on it. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’ll live,” said Yoshi with a smile that didn’t meet his eyes.

“Well, good,” said Evan, “you aren’t allowed to die on me.”

“It’ll take more than a couple rednecks to do me in.” The smile stayed in place, but something flickered in his eyes and he quickly looked down at his ankle and adjusted the ice pack. Evan looked into his coffee. It wasn’t right, seeing Yoshi hurt like this. “I’ll be fine in a couple of days,” said Yoshi, not looking up. Evan didn’t answer.

Katie walked in with plates of eggs and bacon. “The kids already ate,” she said. When everyone had a plate Tom bowed his head to say grace. As Evan bowed his head he tried to remember the last time he’d said grace over a meal.
The last Easter with his parents? Or had they said grace that Christmas with Yoshi and Ryan? Yoshi had insisted he go; it was only two months after his parents had died. It had been as good as he could have hoped, surrounded by family, even if it wasn’t actually his own.

Evan looked up, realizing he’d been lost in his thoughts. Everyone else was nearly finished eating so he quickly shoveled in the last few bites. “What can I do around here to help?” he asked.

“I’m sure we can find you something,” said Tom with a smile. Katie helped Yoshi limp into the living room. Evan was surprised at how easily he went along; normally Yoshi hated sitting when others were working. But then, what was normal now?

The next few days passed quickly for Evan. Mostly he helped out Nathan or Noah. They didn’t mind showing Evan what to do on their farm. Yoshi continued to sulk. Evan wanted to know what had happened to him; he’d had bouts of being quiet, but never like this. Evan certainly felt changed by his experience, but already it was slipping into the past like a nightmare upon waking. Evan couldn’t find an opportunity to question. Katie or someone was always around during the day and at night he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Around a week after their arrival Tom took Evan out to a fallow field. He told Evan to stay put a few yards in front of a tree. The tree stood alone near the bottom of a small hill. Tom walked up and put a target on it. Reaching into his pocket, Tom pulled out a small revolver and put it in Evan’s hands. “It’s an S&W Chief’s special .38. Ever shoot anything like this?” It was a snub nose revolver, about the size of Evan’s hand with a wooden handle.

“No, I had an automatic before. Yoshi taught me some.”

Tom nodded. Out of another pocket he pulled a handful of bullets and showed Evan how to load. Evan nervously handled the gun.
Better get over that now
, he thought.

When Tom was satisfied that Evan could load it he took the gun from his hands. Taking careful aim he squeezed off a shot. Evan’s ears rang from the retort, but he saw that the farmer had hit squarely in the middle. “Normally I’d say to wear hearing protection, but you might not have that chance. Take a crack at it.” Tom handed the gun back to Evan.

Evan looked down the short barrel and squeezed the trigger like Yoshi had shown him. His hand jerked as he fired. There was no sign of hitting anywhere near the tree. “Try again,” said Tom. “Think, breathe, hold, fire.” Evan adjusted his stance. “You and Yoshi, you’re close?” asked Tom.

“Yeah, we were college roommates. We’ve known each other…” he looked down the barrel “about five years now I guess,” answered Evan. He adjusted his grip and pulled the trigger. This time he was pretty certain he hit the tree.  His ears rang.

“Let’s see where you hit.” Tom took the gun and gestured toward the target. “Seems he’s healing pretty good for how bad he was hurt.”

“Well Yoshi always was stubborn.” Evan admitted as he trailed behind. He wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans.

“So, do you know what happened to him?” asked Tom as they reached the tree. It was half-dead, all sparse branches and knotted wood.

“No.
Probably just got a worse beating for fighting back.” Evan saw that he was just high of the target.

“Closer.” Tom led the way back up the hill. “Were he and his brother close?”

“Ryan was his last living family member, what do you think?” asked Evan, getting irritated at the questions. He turned and faced the target and Tom handed him back the gun.

“What about your family?”

“Parents have been dead two years,” Evan took aim again.

“So Yoshi is your last family member, in a way.”  Evan fired, worse than before. He glared at Tom.

“I guess. Where are you going with this?”

“This time imagine it’s someone pointing a weapon at Yoshi. If you don’t fire first they’re going to kill him.” Evan closed his eyes for a moment and pictured Travis. He opened his eyes and aimed again. This time he was on target, if not dead on. “That’s good enough for now.” Evan handed the gun back to Tom. They turned toward the house. “I just want to make sure you know he’s depending on you as much as you’re depending on him.”

Dinner that night was quiet. As they finished Yoshi pushed his chair back, stood, and walked as normally as possible around the room. There was still a definite limp, but he could walk. “I think tomorrow we should take off again.” Tom and Katie shared a look. “Don’t worry about me,” Yoshi flashed his best smile. “We’ll be okay, right Evan?”

“Sure,” said Evan, trying to smile.

“You can stay as long as you want,” said Katie, hopefully.

“No, thank you,” said Evan, “Yoshi’s right. We should go.” He looked up at Yoshi. Yoshi patted his shoulder in thanks.

“Well, all right then boys, we can’t keep you if you’re determined to go.  Why don’t you head on up to bed. That way you can get an early start,” said Tom.

“Thanks, I think we will,” Evan got up from his chair. He gave Yoshi a look and Yoshi followed him up the stairs to their room.

“What’s the matter?” asked Yoshi as he closed the door. Evan sat on the edge of the bed and pulled his shoes off.

“Are you sure you’re up for leaving?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Yoshi turned away to change.

“Well you’re still limping, for one.”

“You just don’t want to leave,” said Yoshi without looking at Evan.

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Evan. He came around the end of the bed to face Yoshi.

“I didn’t stutter. You like to be comfortable. Here is comfortable. Well Ryan gave us a mission and I’m going to Wyoming if I have to go by myself.” Yoshi looked up angrily at Evan.

“You aren’t walking by yourself.” Evan crossed his arms.

“If you come, you come.” Yoshi turned and pulled the covers back.

“What the hell,
Yosh?” Evan looked down on his friend as Yoshi made himself comfortable.