Home Invasion - J. A. Johnstone [87]
Sitting in the middle, Callahan twisted his neck to look back at the burning ranch house. “By God, I got a score to settle with them FPS varmints now, too, and I intend to settle it!”
“You’ll probably get your chance,” Ford said. “But for now, you’re coming with us while we check out things in Home.”
Knowing that it was possible they were being watched and that a small army of cold-blooded killers might be moving to intercept them at that very moment, the four fugitives headed west across the Texas plains, into the dwindling light of a dying day.
BOOK FIVE
CHAPTER 36
Except for a few fluffy white clouds over the mountains to the west, Sunday morning dawned clear and beautiful. It was a late summer day with a hint of coolness in the air that presaged the autumn and winter to come.
The Federal Protective Service troopers manning the checkpoint on the state highway approximately five miles east of Home had painted the words STOP HERE in big letters across the westbound lane of the highway. A couple of orange traffic cones were set up behind the words. One of the black RVs was parked beside the road to serve as the command post for the checkpoint, and also as a place for the men who weren’t on duty at the moment to sleep, eat, and chill out.
As the sun rose, two men in full gear were standing beside the road, watching for traffic. There hadn’t been much. Not many people other than the media were going in and out of Home these days, and the troopers didn’t have to worry much about the media, although they checked all the vehicles. The reporters were on their side.
Hector Reyes stifled a yawn. It was contagious. Adam Sutherland, on the other side of the highway, yawned, too. Hector grinned across at him.
“I don’t know why we’re out here,” Adam said. “Nothing’s gonna happen today. Everybody knows they can’t get away with bringing guns into town.”
“You can never be sure of that,” Hector said. “Sometimes things happen to surprise you.”
Adam shook his head. “Not on this mission. Nobody even wants to come to this backwater town anymore. It wouldn’t surprise me if the whole place just dries up and blows away in a few years.”
“Me, neither,” Hector agreed.
Adam suddenly stiffened and peered off into the distance to the east. “Something’s coming,” he said. “Can’t tell what it is yet.”
Hector stepped out into the road and shaded his eyes with his hand. The sun hadn’t been up very long and was still low to the horizon.
“Looks like a truck,” he commented a moment later.
“More than one, I’d say,” Adam responded as he joined Hector in the middle of the highway. “Looks like a couple.” He shrugged. “Not too surprising, I guess. The people in Home may not have their guns anymore, but they still have to eat. I’ll bet those are grocery trucks.”
“Maybe.” Hector shrugged. “We’ll find out in a minute.”
It was true. The trucks advanced at a steady speed, the growl of their engines audible now in the early morning air.
Adam started to frown. “Are … are they not slowing down? Surely they’re not going to try to bust through here!”
But then he relaxed as the whine of brakes joined the engine sound. The two trucks slowed gradually. Adam and Hector moved to opposite sides of the road again and covered the vehicles with their assault rifles. The sound of the brakes grew louder until the pair of trucks finally came to a stop. The front wheels of the first one sat on top of the words painted on the highway.
Adam walked toward the driver’s door while the man behind the wheel rolled down his window. “You’ll have to step out, sir,” Adam called up. “These trucks and their contents will have to be inspected before you can continue, by order of the Federal Protective Service.”
Hector came around the front of the truck and stepped up beside him. Adam didn’t do more than glance at him. Most of his attention was centered on the man behind the wheel of the truck.
So he never saw the silenced pistol in Hector’s hand. He just felt the