We sat outside on the grass and waited for him to come back. I was feeling good still and was just sitting there checking my weapons when Zane asked me "So you are going to kill Sledge and his friends tomorrow?"
"Yep. That's the plan."
"Good. Is Sherri going to be okay now?"
"I don't know Zane." I thought about it for a few beats and added "Probably."
He didn't say anything about that. I had pulled my weapons and dumped each round, looked at it, and then reloaded. Everything felt right but I still had to make sure. I was sitting there spinning the cylinder for the hell of it when Zane told me "The crows came last night."
"Yeah?"
"Your wife is the Asian one right?"
"That she is."
"She hates my mom."
"Yep. She does."
"Why?"
"Not enough time to go there now Zane. How did she look?"
"Mad."
I laughed. Then I heard Lee coming. "Okay. He's on his way back and he's alone. Stand about ten paces from me and off to my left when he gets here.
It took him another two minutes to arrive. I practiced drawing a few times just to make sure everything was flowing right. It was. We were also being watched. I felt it but I couldn't figure out from where yet.
"That you Gardener?"
I bit down the first reply I thought of and went with "Yeah. Just me and Sledge catching the evening breeze.
He stopped dead and I heard him draw his weapon. "Is that so?" He replied flatly.
"No. Put your gun away. Your scaring Woof."
"Woof growled from over by Zane.
"C'mon Lee. Lets do this."
He approached slowly and didn't holster his weapon until was about ten paces away. When he came to a stop in front of me he handed me a manila envelope and said "Anyone ever tell you that you're an asshole Gardener?"
I took the envelope and stuffed it in a pocket. "Actually yeah."
"So whats your plan?"
"I don't know yet Lee. Do you know we're being watched."
"Yes. They run night patrols here. Why?"
"No reason. See ya in the morning deputy."
"One more thing Gardener. He handed me a cell phone that was bigger and bulkier than the normal ones. "Sat phone?" I asked.
"Yes indeed. My number is in the envelope. Stay in touch." Then he walked away. I watched him go. The sonofabitch had out exited me. Damn. I hated that.
"Lets go people." I still loved saying that. I started walking towards the parking lot. "We're going to sleep near the truck tonight."
I like Gardener, sleeping where he likes,not where his enemies expect him,rings true.
ReplyDeleteHow long does G hang onto the phone? Knowing he is just Sledge v2.0 for the Feds?
ReplyDeleteInteresting the crows are back for Zane. Today they started putting up the electronic countermeasures that keep the crows from roosting in the trees behind the office. They got so bad a few years back it took a Bobcat to scrape up the Crow crap every morning and people were afraid to go to the park. Think "The Birds".
ReplyDeleteReally like the story.
Jim in MO.
energyecon,
ReplyDeleteYeah. That's a good way of putting it. In their eyes he's just another version. Probably even sold it in a meeting as being more cost efficient and a link to a group they are interested in.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteI suppose they tried owl decoys. I have a crow call that I use to call them. Crows have regional differences in their languages too. Their vocab is around 20 words...probably more. They can count up to 10 or so too. Smart birds.
Believe it or not they crapped all over the decoys. It's actually a recording of several things played in a loop. an owl's hunting screech, a hawks call, a crow's distress call, and something else, a Pterodactyl I think. It is the most annoying noise you have ever heard. Works pretty good. They roost a block away and crap all over everything over there.
ReplyDeleteJim in MO.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteYeah. We used to have a roost across the street then a new house and west nile thinned them out so they were almost gone. They made a come back and surprisingly, years later, a group still comes to that house every day to visit.
My FIL's neighborhood had a buzzard problem. We are talking some really nasty crap there.
I pay attention to crows and blue jays, they have excellent sentries and once you learn the local calls they tell you what is going on in the neighborhood ( if it is of interest to crows,that is).
ReplyDeleteCrow sentries yell warning for anything they see as a threat which includes people. The warning is 3 caws. Come over here and check this out is 4 caws
ReplyDeletepeople in cars are not a threat,and my local crows don't react until someone exits the vehicle. There also seems to be a tonal difference for different threats.
ReplyDelete