B00C74WTKQ EBOK by Lloyd Tackitt Read Free Book Online Page A

dishes to pack into boxes, enough to prepare meals for everyone, and cleaning supplies for washing up, organizing the girls as well as any quartermaster sergeant; Adrian’s opinion of her kept climbing.
    “I’ll ride in the back to keep an eye on the girls,” she told Adrian. “If I need you to stop I’ll bang on the cab window three times. If I bang more than three times you better look around and figure out what’s wrong, because more than three means something is bad wrong, but there’s too many things that could go wrong to have a signal for each of them. There are five girls I trust with a rifle. I’m going to set them each up with a loaded rifle, just in case. If the trouble is bad enough you may hear us shooting instead of me pounding on the cab.”
    Adrian simply nodded. Seems Racy has taken charge of me, too.
    When Adrian didn’t reply, Racy climbed into the back of the truck. After a moment, she yelled, “We’re ready when you are!”
    Two hours before daylight Adrian pulled away from the house. He was halfway surprised that Racy hadn’t set it on fire too. As he drove off he looked back in the rear-view mirror and saw flames eating at the dark window coverings. Girl’s a regular arsonist. I sure don’t want to get on her bad side. If that son of a bitch with the broken arm doesn’t wake up soon and get out he’ll burn to death. Bastard deserves it.
    Adrian stopped the truck, opened the door and leaned out “Racy, did you see if the guy upstairs was still there before you set the fire?” he called.
    “He left before we got back. Wouldn’t of mattered to me though.”
    Adrian closed the truck door without a word and drove off again. Nope, don’t want to get on her bad side.
    Adrian drove until the engine started to sputter from lack of wood gas. He pulled off the road, then shifted into all-wheel drive and slowly drove well back into the trees. There he shut the engine down. The sudden stillness and silence was a relief, although he hadn’t realized until that moment that how loud it was.
    Adrian opened the cab door and stepped out. He stood and stretched as high as he could, his arms reaching up and his back bowing as he got to his tip toes. A shudder of a muscle spasm ran down his body as his muscles almost groaned with relief at having movement again.
    Racy came around from the back of the truck, rubbing her eyes. “Why’d we stop? Everything okay?”
    “Time for a break, and we need to gather more wood for the gas generator. Tell the girls we need all the wood we can put in the back. Small pieces that will fit in the generator tank.” He pointed back the way they’d come. “The road is that way, tell the girls to stay out of sight of it, and to keep the noise down. Don’t want to alert anyone nearby any more than we already may have. We’ll stay here for a couple of hours. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to fix up a quick meal too. Then we’ll get back on the road.”
    Adrian called Bear out of the cab and said “Wait here.” Turning back to Racy he said, “Bring the girls by to meet Bear. I want Bear to get the idea they are not enemy, and for the girls to understand the same thing about him, that he’s no enemy to them. While you make introductions, I’m going to take the horse out and water him, then walk around a little out there. Don’t let any of the girls shoot me, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “Oh, and tell Bear to come find me when he’s met all the girls. Just tell him to ‘find Adrian.’”
    An hour later Adrian came back to the truck, Bear stayed out on the perimeter. Adrian moved the horse to a spot where he could graze and hobbled him, leaving a bucket of water nearby. He found all of the girls sitting around a fire, eating. Adrian sat down with them and one of the girls handed him a plate that had already been prepared and waiting. Adrian took his time eating, thinking the situation they were in over bit by bit. When he finished his plate he said, “Good food, whoever