Original Work Barry The Fairy.

Walking up the trail and around the bend Barry searched for a place to stash the money and weapons. Finding a good place between two trees he placed his loot inside and rolled a good sized rock over the top to hide the evidence. Then, he dragged several juniper deadfall’s into a clear area and began breaking down the dry limbs and twigs. First he build a good solid bed of dried grass, then twigs, and finally some small limbs. The rest of the material he broke down according to size and left three piles of flammable wood. Once completed, he picked up his rifle and pack then headed towards where he had left the woman and her children.

Arriving at the location he found no one there. Damn, they done run off! Can’t blame them though considering the events and gunfire. He thought. Knowing he had to find them before the narcos or police did, Barry began looking around for some sign of what direction they had taken. He quickly found their trail from all the disturbed rocks, crushed grass, and broken twigs. Like rat s—t in a sugar bowl! He thought grimly. Barry had followed their trail no more than 50 yds when the terrified woman stepped out from behind a small clump of oak saplings. “Oh thank God it is you! I wasn’t sure who would be coming after us so I moved the children into a denser grove of threes right over there.” She said pointing out the direction. “And where is my husband?” She asked with a direct stare.

“Ma’am I wish I had some good news for you, but I don’t. Your husband died a brave man trying to save you and the kids but he didn’t make it. “ Barry explained. He couldn’t tell if she was buying the story or not, but hoped she would since people always want to believe the best of their family even though the evidence was seldom there. She stood there for a moment then looked Barry in the eye and asked; “Did he? Lance never was the brave type. Always thinking of himself and others be damned, that’s what got us into this mess. He was a handsome man, but as my father said on many occasion, he was worthless.” She compleated. “I’d like to see him one last time.”

“I’m sorry Ma,am but there is no time. We have to go now. With all the shooting, some of it from assault rifles, the area will soon be occupied by cops and narcos. You don’t want either one of them to find you. One will kill your kids, and the other will take them into CPS and it will be a while if ever, before you see them again. We have to move now. Do you have people around here, or is there a safe place for you where they don’t know you maybe?” Asked Barry.

“We don’t know anyone around here, Lance was trying to get a new start, he did that a lot. My family is too far away from here, so I don’t really know where we could go.” She concluded.

“Where is home? Where is your family?”

“Ponca City Okla.” came the reply.

“That’s a bit over two hundred miles from here. I can’t take you there, but I can get you there. There is a town about fifty miles up the highway that has a nice motel, and a Wal-Mart across the street. I can leave you there with enough money to get cleaned up, get new clothes and a bus tickets back home. You can say Lance deserted you a couple of towns back and it took you a while to get enough money to get back home. Of course you’re gonna have to find a way to deal with your kids and their memories of today’s events. It won’t be easy, but it will beat your other options, which amount to nothing.” Said Barry.

She looked suspiciously at Barry for a moment, then her eyes hardened and she opened her mouth to say something.

Barry jumped in with: “I know you don’t know me, and have no reason to trust me, but you’ve gotta remember that I saved your lives when I could have, and probably should have just walked away. No body but me would have ever known. If you don’t want any help outa this mess, you’re not gonna have to take any from me. I can’t afford to be caught here, and neither can you. With or without y’all, I’m leaving here pronto, so make up your mind.” Barry said softly but firmly.

“You’d just leave us here?” She asked.

“I can’t save you from yourself, and I’m not gonna try. Just tell me what you want and we will be done with it.”

“How much can you afford, and what will it cost me?” She asked.

“I took a bunch of money off those narcos, so it will be quite a lot, and it won’t cost you anything. All I want is for you to get those kids to safety, quit running with white-trash, go to church, and live a decent life for the kids. I realize that is a lot to ask, but you should still try.” He finished sarcastically.

Cut to the core the woman sagged on her feet ashamed to look at Barry.

“OK, let’s go.” she said.

Barry deposited the family near the road then went back to his prepared burn site. Placing the drugs and the husband’s wallet on top of the tender pile, then he began to pile the smaller then larger wood on top of the drugs until all the wood was in position. Using the butane lighter he carried, Barry set fire to the pile and stepped back. It was a windless day, so there was no fear of the poisonous cloud being carried toward and people. Birds would suffer, but what could he do? Seeing that the fire was going to catch well, Barry turned on his heel and began the walk back to his cashe thinking “Bet this is the most expensive fire I’ll ever start.” With a laugh.

The End

 

The End? What about a little romance? Barry, her, the kids, and all that money? Shake-and-Bake family or at least a quicky.

 

Sorry, I am no good at writing romance. Won’t write about sex. Barry just wants to get out of the area without any baggage. He moves to a small place near Trinidad Colorado where he mostly hunts, fishes, and makes several million buying and selling oil on the internet. He will be a quiet old man that comes to town every now and then. No one will know anything about his past.

I might bring him back for more shooting though.

 

I'll take what I can get!

 

Barry’s eyes snapped open and he was instantly awake and alert. Having slept with the cabin windows open to the temperate conditions outside, the snapping twig had brought him to full alert. It came to mind that his extracurricular activities might have caught up with him. His cur dog that never barked and had adopted Barry sat at the foot of the bed with one paw on Barry’s closest ankle. Using hand signals Barry directed him down on the floor then under the bed finishing with a closed fist indicating “Stay”.

Barry lay still listening for further indications of an uninvited visitor, and only heard a feint rustle of leaves indicating an unknown presence. Barry being the careful sort had planned for something like this, and on the bedside chair leaned his .243 Win rifle, and a pistol grip shotgun loaded with #1 buckshot, camo coveralls, hat, and an old LBE set from his Texas Nat;l Guard days.

Barry sat up and silently donned the clothing and LBE, slung the rifle over his back and picked up the shotgun and eased over near the window to gaze out at the predawn morning. He could not see or smell anything, so he removed the thermal scope from his pack and turned it on.

 

Different approach to the story but I enjoyed it. Thank you for the time and effort. Would like to see more of it.

 

Barry quickly scanned the outside of his cabin and found two indistinct blobs of thermal trace in the front of the cabin and one in the back. Looks like I planned wrong thought Barry as he quickly but silently moved to a closet and replaced the .243 with a suppressed and thermal sighted Colt AR carbine and another set of LBE kitted out with loaded magazines for this rifle. Using his red lens light, Barry removed a mag loaded with M855a1 ammo and made sure the second mag of 855a1 was handy if needed. Keeping low and behind the log walls Barry moved to the book case and rechecked the angles before sliding it out of the way to reveal his safe room and tunnel entrance. Barry snapped his fingers and the dog came trotting over to join him in the hiding place, and Barry slid the book case closed.

Having secured the animal Barry then turned on his camera monitor and discovered there was no power. Not a good sign. Barry thought as he calmly switched on the auxiliary Battery system and the screen sprang to life. Watching the screens Barry was able to pick out two more thermal blobs that moved in closer. What bothered him more than the unwanted company was the fact that there were so few of them. If it were the authorities, the place would have been swamped with armed cops. This was different. The men were too cautious. Were they scouts for a larger force of cops, or something else? Being just four, Barry was confident he could deal with them, but he had no desire to engage LEOs in a firefight. Either side could easily cut off his power to put him at a disadvantage. Which one was it?

One man eased up on the front porch and tried the door knob. Finding it locked, he removed a lock picking set and took about a minute to open the lock. He whispered something into the mic on his headset then tossed in a flash bang. The instant it went off, the back door was breached, and everyone entered leaving no one outside to guard the scenario or provide support of any kind. Probably not cops thought Barry as he switched to the interior cameras hidden around the house.

The men quickly searched the house while speaking a mixture of Spanish and English. Finding nothing they regrouped in the living room and began to discuss their options. They were obviously narcos, and Barry wondered how in the devil they were able to find who and where he was. I thought I’d covered all my bases, but I must have screwed up somewhere. But where?!?! He thought. No matter, I have to deal with the here and now.

Barry moved down the tunnel and came out inside the Spring House. Opening the door a crack he could see the area was clear of intruders. He moved silently away from the structure and into the woods, then circled around to come up close to the house but positioned to keep the men from escaping back down the entrance road. They came out and stood on the porch further discussing options, then separated into two groups to search the property thoroughly. They found nothing then returned to the house swearing and arguing. Barry’s mind flashed back to the action that probably brought them here.

Just over a year ago one of the local girls, a decent one by reputation had been at a party with school friends. One of the local young idiots that had crashed the party and slipped in a fentanyl laced pill that had killed the girl. Her parents and everyone in the local area had been devastated by this tragedy and demanded action. It turned out that the guilty party was a state official’s son and was able to beat the charges with rehab, counciling and community service. This naturally enraged the community but they were helpless against the system.

 

One Year Ago.

Barry had been tracking Moonbeam Owen’s for nearly three weeks now. “Moon Bat” as Barry liked to think of him, was haphazardly following his court directed recovery regimen. Any time Moonbeam could sneak out or dodge his rehab classes or therapy sessions, he did, connecting with his drug addled buddies behind an old warehouse for a good time. It would seem that getting high, petty theft, and street corner begging was all he was good at or for. The little slob was also supplied by a steady flow of cash by his mother. She appeared to be his major enabler and this was unlikely to change.

Moon Bat was slithering down the street heading to (Barry assumed) his supplier. He had just received some cash from Momma, and was, in his shiftless manner headed somewhere. Thinking he was being stealthy, Moonbeam was constantly looking about in a nervous manner trying to avoid The Man as he liked to think of the police. Moonbeam was pure trash, and had a reputation of turning other kids to the drug life, and slipping roofies to unaware teenage girls at parties. That was the preferred way for him to score, and he used it as often as possible, passing STDs wherever he struck. Pure garbage.

Truth was, some of the local patrolmen were indeed looking to bust Moonbeam. The needless death of a decent girl done in such a remorseless and callous manner had really set them off. The little jerk had sat smiling during the short trial, knowing in advance the fix was in. It was almost as if he dared someone to do anything about the killing. That part had angered Barry most of all, and that was why he now sat on his blacked out Stealth mountain bike that he had procured for this operation. Quiet and much faster than his prey, Barry could go just about anywhere on it. Between the bike and his disguise, Barry fitted in many places he went when tracking this scumbag.

Barry lowered his NVGs and began following Moonbeam in almost total silence. Keeping his distance and being sure not to silhouette himself Barry trailed behind his target until they reached a known intersection where drug peddlers were known to ply their trade. There he saw Moonbeam shake hands with one of the pushers then slowly put his hand into his pocket. But that wasn’t all Barry saw. A nondescript sedan sat just down the road a bit and Barry saw it rock slightly during the transaction. Cops! Thought Barry as he froze in place. It would not do to get seen or photographed here, and from his position unless there was another observer he was safe but couldn’t follow Moonbat as he went down an alley away from the drug peddlers.