299 Days: The Collapse by Glen Tate Read Free Book Online Page B

said. He shook Grant’s hand and said, “Go tell Scotty to come in here so I can thank him in person. Then go home.”
    Grant shook Chip’s hand. He shook Ted’s, too. “No problem, guys. Happy to help.”
    Grant walked out quickly. This was not the time to chat. He motioned for Scotty to come in, and told him, “Chip needs to talk to you. I’ll take your position until you come back out.” Scotty nodded. “See you in a while,” Grant said to him.
    It was still quiet out by Scotty’s truck. He came out of the store after a few minutes, and gave Grant the thumbs up, and Grant did the same. When Scotty got back to his truck, Grant said, “Keep your phone on.”
    “Yep,” Scotty said. Grant walked back to his car. Bobby was gone by now. He turned around and drove home.
    On the drive home, Grant started to wonder if he had just become an accessory to the illegal transfer of firearms. Yeah, probably. But the cops had other things on their plate right then. There weren’t any cops around waiting to arrest him. Or so he thought. He saw red and blue flashing lights in his rearview mirror, and then heard a siren. Oh shit. The cop was right on him. Grant had a loaded AR in the passenger seat. Oh shit. He got very nervous; shaking-hands kind of nervous. He started pulling over. His life might pretty much be over right now.
    Grant had a decision to make in the few seconds that it took to pull over. Would he shoot the cop? No, he quickly decided; he would go to jail. Then Grant realized there probably weren’t any jails anymore, not for something like having a loaded gun in the car. He’d walk.
    The cop car behind him sped past him, followed by a couple more. They must be going to the capitol. Thank God. Literally. He had been saying that a lot today.

 
    Chapter 48
    “Because this is my first gunfight.”
    (May 5)
     
    By the time he arrived home, Grant had calmed down from his near encounter with the police. To say he was thankful to have made it back home alive and not arrested was an understatement.
    He pulled off onto a side street by the entrance to the Cedars. It was dark and deserted. He transferred his AR from the passenger seat into the trunk. He didn’t need Lisa or a cop seeing that. He took off his pistol belt and put that in the trunk, too. He noticed that here, near his neighborhood, the sirens were much quieter because it was a few miles farther from the capitol than the gun store. In fact, inside the houses in his neighborhood, he imagined his neighbors couldn’t even hear the sirens. That might explain why most people in this area really didn’t think much was going on.
    Grant headed into his neighborhood. When he got near his house, he hit the garage door opener. What an evening. And it was only getting started.
    “How was Len’s?” Lisa asked when Grant walked in. Thank goodness she reminded him of the excuse he had used.
    “Fine,” Grant said. “We’re fine tuning our patrol ideas. Are the kids OK?”
    Lisa nodded. “Cole wants ‘Dad to tuck,’” she said, referring to Cole’s word for tucking in.
    “Will do,” Grant said. “It’s the best part of my day. Are you OK?”
    “Yeah,” Lisa said. “Why?”
    “There’s a lot of scary stuff going on,” Grant said, “and I want to make sure you’re OK. I love you, Lisa.”
    “Love you too, hon,” she said with a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think the neighborhood patrol and police probably have this temporary situation under control, don’t you?” She had heard the faint siren sounds and that made her nervous. She was fishing to get his real thoughts.
    “Oh, yeah,” Grant said, “I think things are fine. Hey, I should get tucking.” He didn’t want to tell her what he really thought. It would just be another argument.
    Grant went upstairs and tucked in Cole. He loved that kid so much. He was so innocent. All he wanted in life was his dad to tuck him in. That’s really all Grant wanted, too. But you can’t have tucks