Whatever It Takes by Mike Staton Read Free Book Online

team.”
    “Right. Got it,” Karl said. “Well, let’s get going Sarah.”
    “Oh, the joys of working with the elderly,” Sarah said in a playful tone. She’d also teased Percival for being older than her at times. Karl certainly didn’t seem to mind the jab at his age.
    “Let’s go, young’un.” Karl walked off, moving to circle the dealership.
    “Alright, kiddo.” Percival walked in the opposite direction. He approached the dealership from straight on.
    The lot was mostly empty. The cars remaining looked as though they were firebombed and little more than the frames remained. The front of the dealership was littered with glass and debris. The large plate glass windows that once protected the showroom floor had been shattered long before Percival and his team had arrived. It created a crunching sound as he and Evan moved across the large, empty room. Percival still couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following and watching him.
    “Where to, boss man?” Evan asked. He had lowered his hunting rifle and had it loosely cradled in his arm.
    “Don’t know entirely. I guess we pick a hallway.” Percival clicked his flashlight on, holding it in one hand and a pistol in the other. Several hallways stretched away from the showroom, leading deeper into the building. The further they moved from the showroom, the darker it was going to get. “Your instincts tellin’ you anything?”
    Evan shrugged and started walking toward a random hallway.
    Percival wasn’t about to complain. He didn’t know in which direction to begin their search and the one Evan had chosen seemed good enough to him.
    The walk down the hall led them deeper into the building. They walked past ruined and ransacked offices. Many had glass fronts that were now shattered. Not a single one had anything worth looting beyond a pen or two. There wasn’t a zombie either, nor the rancid smell that came with the walking corpses.
    After nearly half an hour of searching what were obviously the individual offices of salesmen and finance officers, Evan and Percival found their way into the maintenance bay. They passed the littered customer area and pushed past the doors labeled ‘Employees Only.’ Inside were racks of tires, cans of oil, boxes of parts and a trio of lockers.
    Percival ignored the items of car repair and walked straight to the lockers. The first was smashed beyond the ability to be opened. The second had its locking mechanism snapped off, and the door hung open showing an empty locker. The third was what drew Percival’s attention at all. It was still secured with a dust covered padlock.
    “Jackpot.” Percival smiled at Evan. He handed his flashlight to the youth and holstered his pistol. He pulled his crowbar from his duffel bag and jammed it between the body and shackle. “Can I have some light here?”
    “You shouldn’t have given your light away then,” Evan quipped. He turned the light onto the crowbar and lock. “You realize tha’s probably still locked for a reason, right?”
    “It’s in pristine, but dusty, condition. If someone had had the time to loot it, it would have been looted with the other two.” Percival gave the crowbar a sharp twist. The lock groaned as the shackle was pried up out of the body. Percival couldn’t resist grinning as he removed the lock and pulled the locker open. “Whoa.”
    Inside the locker were a dozen handheld two-way radios. Each sat in a little charging station. “Yeah. This was still locked for a reason alright.”
    “Want to bet that they don’t work?” Evan panned his flash light up and down the rows of radios.
    “Sure. Two shifts of watch once we get back to the campus says they still work.” Percival picked one of the radios out of its cradle.
    “You’re on.” Evan watched.
    Percival clicked the radio on. A green light immediately blinked to life. He took his flashlight back from Evan and directed its beam to the top of the radio, checking to see what channel it