CHAPTER TWO

GRANT SMITH

Grant Smith was divorced, a drug addict, and the only white member of a Mexican gang who specialized in car theft and drug trafficking. His brain was fried on meth and on this particular morning he was completely delusional. On this day, the first day of the rest of his life, and also the last, he had convinced himself he had a chance of getting back with Jan, his ex-wife. He understood he had screwed up and caused his beautiful sweet wife, to kick him out of their home. In a fit of rage he had beaten her and their son. He had decided with meth induced reasoning, ‘if I only had a chance to talk to her, she’ll come back to me. I’m making great money. If I don’t tell her where the money’s coming from, she’ll be okay.’

Some days Grant would sit and watch Jan’s house, waiting to get a glimpse of her, hoping she would see him and come over to talk, and everything would be like it used to be. However, it never happened. If she did see him, she would hurry back into the house.

Earlier that morning, he was watching Jan’s house when the teenage girl who lived next door and always babysat for Jan, went into the house. A few minutes later, a spotless, double seated, bright red, Toyota pick-up pulled up with some bicycles in the back. Her new boyfriend knocked on the door, Jan came out and they left. Grant followed them up Big Cottonwood Canyon. They pulled into a campground where another couple put their bikes in the back of the truck, got in with them, and the 4 of them drove up the canyon. Grant had never been up this road. This is where all the rich people went in the winter to go skiing. In the summer these same rich snobs would go hiking or mountain biking. He followed the pick-up as it drove up the steep paved road until they had passed all the ski resorts. Grant had a plan; he would follow them and when he caught up with them he would take Jan away from the new boyfriend and convince her to let him move back in their house, but he would need a bike. As soon as they parked, Grant turned sharply around and went back to a rental shop, he had passed a few minutes before, beside one of the ski resorts.

‘I’ll rent a bike and follow them down the mountain. When they stop, I’ll take Jan and persuade her to come back to me. I’ll tell her I’ve got a new job making good money and I can now take care of her and our son. If the big guy gives me any problem, I’ve got my pistol in my back pocket,’ he thought with a smirk on his pock marked face.

The owner of the rental shop, Steve, almost laughed out loud when he saw Grant coming through the front door. “I want to rent a bike for the day.”

“Which one do you want,” said Steve? He thought ‘this guy is a joke; he’s wearing a t-shirt and thongs! I’ll bet he doesn’t have a helmet either. He’s probably never ridden a mountain bike in his entire life.’

“I’ll take that red one,” Grant stuttered, pointing at the most impressive and least sensible bike for a person his size.

Steve thought, ‘I knew it. That’s the worst bike in the shop, but it’s red and shiny. All the novices pick that one. I paid $100 for it,’ He said, “Great choice. Do you want to rent a helmet?”

“No, all I need is the bike.”

“That will be $50 for the day and a $250 deposit.”

Grant was getting desperate; he needed to hurry back to the parking lot before Jan and the others started down a trail, so he would know where they went. He peeled off 3 of the hundred dollar bills that was part of his share of the last car heist and gave them to Steve.

“When you bring it back, I’ll refund your $250,” said Steve as he gave him a receipt and thought, ‘I hope he doesn’t bring it back.’

Grant shoved the bike into the back seat of his car and tore back up the mountain. As he pulled up to the parking lot, he saw Jan’s new boyfriend standing beside a trail sign, looking back toward him. Grant panicked and tuned back out of the parking lot, hoping that the boyfriend would quit looking at him and go down a trail. As he pulled back on the road, he saw the boyfriend mount the bike and go down the trail. Grant went on down the road until he found a place to turn around and went back up to the parking lot. ‘It’s a good thing I got here when I did, because there are lots of trails. If I had not seen him beside the trail sign, I wouldn’t have known which trail to take.’

Grant jerked the shiny red bike out of his car banging it against his car door and scratching some paint off. He jumped on the bike and sped down the same trail without checking out the brake handles on both on the handle bars.

When Grant was a young boy he had a bicycle with the standard brakes. The ones where you pedaled backward and the brake engaged on the rear wheel. He assumed this rental bike’s brakes worked the same way. When he rode his bike he always pedaled as fast as he could go and loved the feeling of speed as the air rushed against him but he had never experienced any hills of any size.

He pedaled as fast as he could go until he realized he was going much faster than he had ever been on a bike. ‘I probably should slow down,’ he said as he reversed his pedals and nothing happened. His speed was still increasing as the trail followed the steep hill downward. He realized that the handles on both handlebars must be brakes. However he didn’t realize one was for the front brake and one for the back brake. He squeezed one of them as hard as he could. It was the front brake and the next thing Grant knew he was tumbling down the hillside and then sliding on his hands as he finally stopped. The dust was so thick he couldn’t see at first. His mouth was full of dirt, pebbles and other stuff. He rolled over on his back in the brush and looked at his hands. They were dirty and bleeding. It reminded him of when he was a boy and crashed his bike and slid on the gravel and sidewalks. He picked the rocks and bigger pieces of sticks, grass, and other material off. He then wiped his bloody hands on his pants. His knees were scratched and bleeding. It hurt so bad he almost passed out. Then he remembered what he was doing. His anger and the drugs still in his system combined to stimulate his adrenalin. He screamed as loud as he could and cursed his ex-wife and her boyfriend, the bike, the hillside and the heavens above. Grant then stood up and located the bike a short distance away. He still didn’t know what caused the crash. He figured it had something to do with the brakes. He mounted the bike and experimented with the handles and discovered that one was the front and one was the rear. When he applied the front brake the front dipped. ‘Well that would be what flipped the bike!’

He painfully gripped the handles and started down the trail again being careful to keep his speed under control. He was thinking that he probably should slow down again when the trail took a sharp turn. He hit his rear brake handle, too late, the front wheel hit a jagged rock beside the trail and he was airborne. The next thing he knew he was flying through the air with a big, sticky bush coming up at him.

Grant lost consciousness when his head hit the ground. The pistol flew out and landed beside a squirrel sunning himself. The squirrel immediately jumped to a nearby tree, scampered up to a safe height and began chattering furiously. Grant slowly regained consciousness but he couldn’t remember what he had been doing and where he was. The noise of the squirrel’s profane chattering registered in Grants brain and he thought it was a rattlesnake. He forced himself to stand up and the resultant pain triggered his memory. The squirrel saw the movement and stopped chattering. Grant didn’t know where the rattlesnake was so he stood there until he saw the red bike. He forced his way through the brush to the bike. ‘This is just great! What else could go wrong,’ he muttered as he climbed back up to the trail dragging the bike behind him?’ The bike had sailed with him through the air, and luckily wasn’t hard to find. The shiny red bike was starting to look a little tacky. Scratches pretty much covered the bike and it wasn’t very shiny anymore. Grant was bleeding out of multiple cuts on his legs, feet, arms, and face, but there wasn’t anything serious that he could see. ‘I should have worn my long pants and sneakers,’ he swore.

Painfully, he climbed back on the bike and drove on down the trail, this time at a slower clip. He didn’t realize his pistol had fallen out of his pocket and was lying back in the brush. He thought how lucky he was to avoid being bitten by the rattlesnake.

The more he thought about it the madder he got. ‘Who does that guy think he is? That’s my wife! I should just shoot him as soon as I find them!’ He felt his pocket for the pistol and with a sinking feeling realized the pistol was gone. That led to the realization that Jan wouldn’t ever come back to him and there was no way he could do anything to Jan’s boyfriend. ‘What do I do now,’ he thought.

The trail was steep and Grant crashed again and again. He was depressed and his strength was just about exhausted. It was all he could do to apply the brakes to slow down. ‘I’ve got to stop and rest.’ The trail had dropped into a thick stand of pine trees and was almost level for a change. He saw a big bushy tree coming up beside the trail. It had what looked like a nice soft bed of pine needles under it. With the last of his strength, he stopped, threw the bike down and lay down on the pine needles. They weren’t as soft as they looked but he didn’t care. He lost consciousness as his head hit the pine needles.

Grant didn’t know that he was only about 50 yards from his goal. His ex-wife, Jan and her boyfriend, and the other couple were sitting on some rocks just the other side of a big rock and some trees that lined the trail.

COLE

Cole Taylor was a 29 year bachelor. He had been trying to find that perfect young woman to marry since he was 20 years old. He considered himself a pretty decent person. He made enough money to support a family. He didn’t have any vices like gambling or using drugs. He didn’t smoke or drink and he even went to church most Sundays. He was honest in everything he did. So far he had just not found the woman that he wanted to share his life with. He worked out daily and at his last checkup, his doctor had told him that he was in excellent condition. Women at work and church were always flirting with him, but he couldn’t find one that he wanted. He usually had a casual date every weekend; but rarely would ask the same woman out for a second date and so far 2 times were the most he had ever asked a girl out. He was about to break that record. He had asked Jan to go for mountain bike ride on Saturday. It would be their 3^rd date; maybe she was the one to finally get serious about. His best friend Aaron Johnson and his girl friend, Rachel, came along to make it a foursome. They were going to take a trail through the mountains above Salt Lake City. The scenery was unbelievably breathtaking and the weather promised to be perfect. The high temperature in the Salt Lake Valley would be close to 100 degrees, while the temperature at the trailhead at the top of the mountain ridge would be about 70 degrees. The weather forecast called for bright clear skies. There would be some air pollution in the valley, but in the mountains the air would be clean and fresh with a scent of pine. The trails start as high as possible, close to 11,000 ft. From experience Cole knew the best way to enjoy a long trail ride without pumping uphill all day is to take 2 vehicles, leaving one at the bottom where the trail ends and drive up the hill with the bicycles and leave the second car where the trail starts or trailhead. When the bike ride ended, you drive back up to the trailhead and pick up the other car. The true bicyclist pumps his bike up the hill and laughs at the “pansies” that pass them with bicycles in the back of their trucks.

Cole picked up Jan at her home. He had already put his mountain bike in the back with one he had rented for Jan. They drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and pulled into the first parking lot. Aaron and Rachel were waiting for them. This was the end of the trail they would ride down that started at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. They loaded their bikes in the back of Cole’s truck and climbed in and the 4 of them headed up the road.

They unloaded the mountain bikes at the trailhead parking lot. From here the ski resorts and most of the mountain peaks were below them. Surprisingly the parking lot was half empty, even though there were 4 different trails that started from this parking lot. Aaron led the way with Cole bringing up the rear. Cole started to mount his bike, but he received one of his famous “Bad Feelings”. He stopped and just stood there watching a car speeding up the road. It was the only thing moving. The car pulled into the parking lot and turned back onto the road and accelerated back down the hill. The “Bad Feeling” went away so he turned and started down the well used trail after the others. ‘The lot would probably be full within a few hours.’ He quickly caught up with the others.

It was a bright, sunny day. The air was clean, pure and refreshing. The trail was great, it led them down ridges and valleys, through groves of quaking aspen and fir trees, through meadows, sometimes surprising deer, moose, elk, and numerous small animals. They sped for mile after mile through unspoiled scenery as they coasted down the mountain. They stopped for a rest where the trail followed the ridge line down to a top of a sheer cliff. The cliff dropped over 200 feet into jagged rocks below. The trail made a sharp turn and went down through the trees. It was a small clearing with the steep hillside covered with a blanket of thick fir trees on one side and open space over the cliff, slabs of vertical rock below and the valley and hills beyond. They sat on the warm rocks, enjoying the beauty of the snow covered peaks of the Wasatch Mountains.

As Rachel sat down, she saw some coarse light brown hair on the rock. “What kind of hair is this?”

“A marmot, a squirrel, a deer, a mountain lion,” guessed the 4 friends.

Aaron said, “It really doesn’t matter, it’s gone now.”

“Nooooooooooooo, I don’t think so,” said Cole.

“What do you mean,” asked Jan?

“I don’t want to scare you, but I can feel something watching us from the trees.”

“Are you serious,” asked Aaron?

“Serious as a heart attack; for as long as I can remember I’ve had this kind of gift or something. I sometimes get premonitions about things. I’ve learned to always follow them. I could take the rest of the day telling you about times when I had a feeling like this. Sometimes it’s a feeling to pull over and stop in my car. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this feeling when I was hunting. Every time it would happen, I would stop and look in the direction where I thought it was coming from, and there would be something watching me. It could be a deer, coyote, or elk. It has always been something big, not like a squirrel. In fact I had a bad feeling as I was starting down the trail. You three had already started down the trail when I got a sick feeling. I stopped and looked back at the road. I watched an old beat up blue car pull into the parking lot, turn around and drive back down the road. The feeling went away when the car turned around.”

“My ex-husband has an old beat up blue car, said Jan! “I wonder if it was him.”

“I don’t know. I just know that there’s something in those trees watching us.”

“What do you think it is,” asked Aaron?

“I’m guessing it’s a cougar. It was probably sunning itself on that rock where Rachel found the hair and hid in the trees when it heard us coming down the trail.”

“You’re freaking me out,” said Jan!

“Me too,” said Rachel. “What should we do?”

“I don’t think we’re in any danger. A cougar attack is rare and a cougar attack on a group of people is unheard of.” With the reassurance from Cole, they all relaxed and enjoyed the warm sun.

Cougar

Cole was right, there was a young cougar lying in the trees, 30 yards away from them. He was also wrong; the young cougar had instinctively targeted the smallest of the group to attack. The black tip of his tail twitched back and forth as he stared intently at Jan. The bigger person beside her kept looking at him and distracted him from his target. He knew that the person couldn’t see him, and yet he kept looking at him. He didn’t know that cougars don’t attack groups of people. He only knew that he was starving and the four people looked like an easy meal. His mother had driven him from the family den and his father had stolen his last two kills and each time would have killed him if he had hesitated over the dead deer. The cougar was almost 2 years old and nearly fully grown. His father was following him and wouldn’t stop until the young cougar left his father’s 20 square mile territory. The old tom cougar had been following the young cougar, heard the people coming down the trail and retreated to the next ridge to wait until the people went on down the trail.

The saliva was dripping out of the corners of the young cougar’s mouth. The biggest person wasn’t looking at him now. His attack was only moments away when he heard the clunk of a mountain bike hitting the ground and a heavy sigh from something as it lay down only a few yards away from him. The smell of blood reached his keen nostrils an instant later. The blood acted like a powerful magnet to the cougar as he quickly retreated in the shadows of the trees and followed the blood smell. He saw the bicycle and hesitated, but his hunger took over and with a roar the young predator pounced on the prone body just like a kitten would pounce on a mouse. He clamped his muscular jaws on the throat of the man and broke his neck with one smooth motion. He immediately began to hungrily eat the man.

Jan

Jan was talking about her life. She had been married to a man who beat her and her little boy. Her divorce was finalized 6 months ago. Her ex-husband was such a louse that the judge issued a restraining order at the same time the divorce was finalized, and wouldn’t’ even give her ex-husband visitation rights to see their son. Cole knew Jan was divorced and had a 2 year old son. He didn’t know she had been beaten by her ex-husband. They listened as she told them about how afraid she was of her ex-husband and his crazy jealous rages. She still sometimes saw him parked down the street, watching her.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was following me now!”

At that moment, they heard a roar from the other side of a big boulder. “What was that,” asked Jan and Rachel in unison?

“Cougar”, said both Cole and Aaron in response.

“How do you know,” whispered Rachel?

“I’ve gone to a lot of BYU football games. Each time they play that sound during the game. It’s the sound of a cougar,” answered Cole.

“Is it going to attack us?”

“I think if it was going to attack us, we would have heard the roar as he rushed us.”

“Then what do you think is going on,” asked Aaron quietly?

“I think we should go up the trail. It doesn’t sound like it’s very far away. How about Aaron and I push our bike in front us back up the trail until we can see it.”

Jan and Rachel looked at each other, “Oh no you don’t, we’re going with you. We’re not staying here while you brave guys go out of sight up the trail!”

They heard what sounded like a 350 pound slob attacking a pile of dessert coming from the other side of the boulder.

“Well, let’s go,” confidently said Cole.

The four of them walked up the trail. Cole and Aaron were in front side by side pushing their bikes. Jan and Rachel followed closely behind. They rounded the boulder and first saw a long tail whipping back and forth. They then saw the outline of a huge cat. It was a mountain lion biting, ripping, and swallowing. It was so intent on its meal it didn’t see them.

“Hey,” yelled both Cole and Aaron.

The mountain lion crouched and glared at them for what seemed like a long time. They expected it to run away as fast as it could go. After all it was a wild animal. The young cougar didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t even close to being satisfied. These people wanted him to leave so they could have his kill!

“Hey, get out of here,” shouted Cole!

The cougar decided he should leave, but not without a few more mouthfuls. He dropped his head and ripped two more mouthfuls of Grant. He stood and glared at the four people again, crouched, licked his fangs and took another bite. He then walked into the trees without looking back at them.

“I think that cougar just flipped us off,” said Aaron.

“I think you’re right. He didn’t seem to be afraid of us. Did you notice how skinny he looked?”

Aaron responded, “I’ve read a lot about cougars. That looked like a young cougar to me. When a young cougar gets almost full grown, his mother forces him out of her den and it has to fend for itself. Once it leaves the den it has to get out of its fathers territory quick. Its father will kill it if it gets a chance. I’ll bet this one is on his way out of his father’s territory and is having trouble finding enough to eat.”

“He went into those trees over there, but he didn’t go far. I can feel him watching us. He’ll come back and finish his meal as soon as we leave.”

“Are you sure he will wait until we leave,” asked Jan.

“That’s a good question,” said Cole as they walked up to the half eaten man lying under the bushy pine tree.

“That’s my ex-husband,” shouted Jan!

The man’s face was scratched and bloody, and facing backward in an unnatural angle but hadn’t been touched by the hungry cougar.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I will never forget his face. I wonder how he found us.”

“The blue car I saw at the trailhead must have been him. From the looks of his arms and legs and the bicycle he must have crashed several times. That bike was probably clean and shiny when he rented it. Look at it now! It looks like he has been riding it through the brush and over a cliff. He must have been so beat up and tired that he picked this tree to rest. The cougar that was watching us probably heard him drop the bike and lay down and followed his nose to your ex-husband.”

“Do you think the cougar would have attacked us if Grant didn’t show up with a better target,” asked Jan?

“I don’t know, maybe, we’ll never know. The question is, what do we do now,” asked Cole?

“What do you mean,” questioned Aaron?

Thoughtfully Cole responded, “A man is found dead on a mountain trail. He is mostly eaten by a cougar. His ex-wife and boyfriend just happened to be on the same trail and found the body. Since cougar attacks on extremely rare, who do you think would be the prime suspects?”

“But we didn’t do anything wrong,” shouted Jan!

“We were with you and can back you up every step of the way,” explained Aaron with agreement from Rachel.

“As I see it, we would be at the mercy of the prosecutors’ office. If this was assigned to a young aggressive attorney who wanted to capitalize on the publicity of a dead man whose body was eaten by a cougar, we would be in deep trouble. And since most young prosecutors work for low wages and hope to use the position as a springboard to a prestigious law firm or political office, we would be in big trouble. This poor love sick man was killed by his ex-wife and her boyfriend and the body was then eaten by a hungry cougar. We would be guilty until proven innocent and there is no proof except our statements. At the very least we would be in court for a long time and it would take a lot of money. It might bankrupt all of us,” recited Cole.

No one said anything for what seemed like hours. It was more like a few minutes when Cole said “I don’t want to rush you, but I just heard some voices, there are some more people on bicycles coming down the hill. We only have a few minutes to make our decision. Here is my suggestion. We take Grant and his bike and throw them over the cliff. That way if he is every found, we were at the very least on a different trail.

“I’m with you, we have to hurry before they get here, or else hide him and the bike until the bikers come by,” said Aaron.

Jan seemed to be in shock, “I just don’t know. He’s my ex-husband, I don’t want to just throw him over a cliff!”

Rachel chimed in, “I want to throw him over the cliff and get out of here!”

That seemed to bring Jan out of her indecisiveness, “Yeah, me too, let’s get moving. I’ll help with his bike.”

With agreement from all involved, Cole and Aaron each grabbed an arm of Grant and drug him to the top of the cliff and threw him over. They watched him bounce down the rock face, hit a rock at the bottom and bounce off into the brush. Jan pushed his bike off and it followed Grant’s path to the bottom but landed on another rock and was clearly visible to anyone looking down from the top of the cliff.

They hurried back up the trail to get their bikes. They looked for any sign of what had happened. There was some blood on the pine needles, so Cole kicked more pine needles on top of the blood. They mounted their bikes and started down the trail.

The young cougar had been inching toward them in trees when they grabbed his half eaten meal and drug it down the trail. He watched them throw it over the cliff. He knew where his meal was headed and how to get to it. The people were in the middle of the shortest route to his meal so he immediately wheeled around and bounded down the hill toward a game trail that led around to the side of the cliff face and then down to the base.

Cole was leading the group as it dropped down the mountain ridge beside the cliff. The cougar was so intent on reaching Grant at the bottom of the hill, it almost ran into Cole. At the last instant, the cougar saw Cole and leaped across in front of him.

Cole saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and hit his brakes just in time to see the cougar fly in front of him with 18 inches to spare! The cougar landed and bounded into the thick brush. Cole came to a stop and the others stopped behind him.

“Did you see that?”

“Did we see what,” asked Jan?

“A cougar just jumped in front of me. If I hadn’t seen a movement out of the corner of my eye, I think I would have hit him! I’ll bet it’s the same one!”

“I don’t understand how you can make the connection,” said Rachel.

“I didn’t get a good look at it, but it looked skinny like the one we saw eating Jan’s ex-husband. I’ve hunted all over Utah since I was 12 years old. I’ve never seen a cougar before. Today I’ve either seen 2 cougars or the same one twice.”

“Why would the cougar be running across in front of us,” asked Aaron?

“It seems to me that if I wanted to get to the bottom of the cliff where we threw Grant, that is the direction I would take. There is probably a game trail running down the hill beside the cliff.”

“I don’t want to think about it any more,” complained Jan.

“I agree,” said Rachel.

“If you’re all ready, let’s go,” said Cole as he stepped on his pedals and coasted down the trail. The others silently followed.

They reached the campground below and were loading their bikes into Aaron’s truck.

Cole said, “I think that we should move the car and ride down a different trail and be sure we’re seen there. I don’t want anyone seeing us here. If some one discovered the body, we need to be seen on a different trail. Let’s finish tying the bikes down, get my truck and come down a different trail.”

When they pulled back into the trailhead parking lot to get Grant’s truck, Jan identified one of the cars parked there as Grants. Luckily it wasn’t blocking Cole’s truck car. Both trucks drove down to another parking lot where another trail ended. An hour later, they were back at the same trailhead parking lot and going down a different trail. They heard the sound of a siren wailing up the canyon.

“Do you think they found the body already,” asked Jan?

“Could be, the bike could be seen from the cliff. If one of the people coming down the hill behind us had a cell phone and saw the bike from the cliff, they could have called 911.

“By the time we reach the end of the trail the police should have had time to retrieve the body and take it into Salt Lake City. Let’s ride for awhile and stop and talk about it where we can be seen by some passing bicyclists,” suggested Cole.

Cole saw a clearing with a fire pit and some rough benches. He pulled over and the rest followed. “How about a rest, lunch and a small fire” asked Cole cheerfully?

Rachel said “I’m not hungry, but I could use a rest.” Both Jan and Rachel were pale and looked worried and scared.

“I think that it’s time to set back, talk about it and make sure we have our facts straight so we all tell the police the same story.” Jan and Rachel looked at each other and than at Cole and Aaron,

“What do you mean,” said Rachel?

“Assuming that we don’t run into any police before we get home, the police investigators will check into Grant’s history and find that his ex-wife lives in the area. They will come to see you and since neighbors and the baby sitter know that you went for a bicycle ride, the police will want to talk to us as well. No big deal, all you have to do is say we went up to the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon and came down trail No. 658. Some other bikers passed us when we were having lunch but we didn’t see anyone else until we got back to the campground. Jan, was Grant ever in trouble with the police?”

“He was in trouble all the time! The police weren’t able to prove anything, but they were always coming by the house before the divorce to question him about all kinds of things.”

“That’s good, the police will investigate his death, but they will really be thinking it’s just another slime bag off the streets. We still need to have our story straight. The facts are just like they happened up to when we dropped off the car, and then just eliminate the part of the trip where we first started down the trail. We rode for a long time and then stopped, had a campfire and lunch, talked, look a nap, and then came on down the trail. We heard the far away siren while having lunch. Since none of us are carrying a watch, we really don’t know what time it was. We picked up Jan at 8:30 AM and got home at what ever time we get there. None of us have our cell phones, they’re in the trucks.”

“Probably the first thing that you need to do is to act surprised when you hear that Grant had an accident and is dead.” Let’s see a look of surprise and a little grief. Your son’s father is dead. He is a creep but still your son’s dad. Good job, that look is perfect!”

“Ok, Jan what do you say when they ask you about your ex?”

“He was crazy jealous and followed me sometimes.”

Cole asked, “Why did you and your ex-husband get a divorce?”

“He changed after we were married for a few years. He lost his job, got involved with drugs and a gang. He beat me and our son, and I was afraid of him.”

“What do you think he was doing in the mountains?”

“I would guess that he followed us up the mountain and when he saw us unload our bicycles, he went back to a rental shop to get a bicycle so that he could follow us, but probably took the wrong trail.”

Does he ride a bicycle a lot?”

“I have never seen him ride a bicycle or even heard him talk about it.”

“Be careful how you answer their questions. We don’t know that he died or any details about his death until they tell us.”

Cole and Aaron gathered some limbs and started a fire in the fire pit. Soon the fire was snapping and crackling.

“Ok, how about going through the questions that we think the police will ask. Practice until it’s automatic.” With that comment, they heard the sound of bicycles coming down the trail.

“Relax, we are having a wonderful time,” said Cole as he smiled and said “Hello” to the 5 people on mountain bikes as the coasted past them and on down the trail. Each of the 5 yelled greetings as they went by. “Have a nice day, how are you doing, beautiful day, hello, goodbye.”

They sat around the fire, looking at each other thinking about what had happened and what was going to happen.

“Let’s go through it again,” said Cole. After a couple of hours of going back through the expected questions, it was time to change the subject. Aaron kept the fire going as he gathered small dead limbs and branches. The temperature was perfect with the smoke and a small breeze to keep most of the bugs away.

“I guess it’s probably time to go” said Jan, “the babysitter expects me home pretty soon.”

They got up, stretched, and got ready while Aaron made sure the fire was out. Then it was on down the trail. In the campground where there truck was parked, a Salt Lake County Sheriff’s truck was parked. As they pulled up, the unformed officer hailed them and asked them “how was the ride?”

Cole responded “it was perfect. We had beautiful scenery, beautiful weather, and most important, beautiful companions!” Both Jan and Rachel blushed and laughed. Until Cole’s comments, Jan and Rachel looked worried and scared. Now they were smiling and looked completely at ease.

The officer told them to “have a nice day”, and walked back to his truck, got in and pulled out on the road and was gone.

“Do you think that he suspected us,” asked Rachel?

“I think that he’s just looking around. If he had suspected us of Grant’s murder, he would have questioned us,” answered Aaron.

They loaded the bicycles in the back of the Aaron’s truck and drove back to the trailhead parking lot.

The same Sheriff’s department officer pulled in just as they were unloading Cole and Jan’s bikes. He came up to them, pointed at Grant’s car and asked, “Anybody know who that car belongs to?”

Without hesitation, Jan said, “my ex-husband has a car like that.”

Chapter One

This Blog is intended for the enjoyment of those who are invited to read it, referrals, and those who happen upon it. The contents remain the sole property of E. M. Lowe and any coping or publishing for a wider distribution for commercial purposes is prohibited without my consent.

JUSTICE FOR ALL revolves around just a few people.

Cole Taylor and Aaron Johnson accidently become the original Robin Hood when circumstances dictate a decisive course of action or inaction. The choice is made and Robin Hood is reborn in Utah.

David Rizzo, a Salt Lake City police detective who watches Robin Hood evolve and nurtures their development.

Rick Lopez, an illegal alien from Mexico working undercover for Rizzo.

Frank Cook, a TV reporter who recognizes what the Robin Hood phenomenon truly represents and rides it to the very top of his profession.

The setting is at a future time frame not too many years from now.

There are three beginnings for the story. I will try to avoid confusion by presenting ”Beginning b” and “c” at the end.

COVER PAGE

TITLE JUSTICE FOR ALL

MARKET COMMERCIAL FICTION

SUSPENSE/ACTION

PATRIOTIC

WORD COUNT 90,000+

NAME MEL LOWE

Mel1965@gmail.com

801-368-0338

JUSTICE FOR ALL

Vigilantes

The Lear Jet, owned by Midas Air, was cruising at about 500 miles per hour. The 2 pilots had been dispatched to pick up 2 men, Cole Taylor and Aaron Johnson, at the Millionaire terminal in Salt Lake City’s private airport, and take them to the Newark Liberty International Airport. This wasn’t unusual; Midas Air was flying people back and forth across the USA almost every day. In fact the Lear was only one of their fleet of private jets.

“This is the only way to travel,” said Aaron.

“You’ve got that right,” answered Cole.

“Did Rizzo tell you why we needed to get to New York City so fast?”

“He mentioned we had an interview with a TV Newscaster, but I really don’t understand what’s going on. It should be interesting,” said Cole.

“This interview isn’t going to show our faces, is it?

“I’m sure they’ll screen our faces.”

“I sure hope so. Does it seem a little strange that we’re here, in a Lear Jet, going to meet one of the top newscasters in America?”

Cole replied, “Every morning I have to pinch myself to see if I’m dreaming or if all this is really real. The first couple of times we snuffed out some bad guys, it seemed like it was a dream, and with what has happened lately; it’s like a James Bond movie we’re James Bond!”

“What are we going to tell the newscaster?”

“Rizzo told us to be ready for his questions, but didn’t tell us what they would be. I’m guessing he will ask about how we became Robin Hood and maybe something about our favorite experiences of killing criminals. That sounds weird, our favorite experience of killing someone.”

Aaron cautioned, “We will need to be extra careful talking about what we’ve done. If we give out too many details the FBI or some bad guys could find out who we are. Do you think this interview will be on nationwide TV?”

“Yes, I don’t know why Rizzo thinks this is the time, place, and method; but we’re committed to follow his lead. We started killed bad people by accident, in fact, if you remember, the first time we didn’t actually kill anybody. That cougar killed Jan’s ex-husband, but we knew we would be blamed so we covered up the fact that we were there when the scum bag died. The assassination that I’m most proud of is one of the first ones, remember the little blond girl that had been snatched by the pedophile?”

“Who could ever forget the interview on TV with that cute little girl? The little girls’ parents and the reporter were all crying!”

------FLASHBACK------

Billy Ray Thornley

Cole got in his truck and drove by Billy Ray’s house. The target was sitting in the front yard with a beer in his hand watching the young school kids walk by. Cole drove down the street and parked. He watched Billy Ray through the passenger side mirror. It was a hot summer day and Billy Ray was sitting in a lawn chair under a tree in his front yard, he was totally focused on the kids. He was talking to them and seemed to be asking them to come into his yard for something. It was probably a promise of some kind of treat or something. There was a grocery sack on the ground beside him on the ground. The main group of kids had all passed his house. A little girl with long blonde hair, who was probably 7 or 8 years old, was skipping down the sidewalk by herself. All of the other kids were out of sight somewhere in the next block. Billy Ray walked over beside the fence, he offered the girl something, she reached out to get it and Billy Ray grabbed her arm, with his other hand he covered her mouth, scooped her up, and quickly rushed back into the house. Cole was sickened at what he had just witnessed. ‘No time like the present’, he said as he put on his gloves, started the truck, and did a screeching U-turn and pulled up beside Billy Ray’s house. He took his tire iron from under the seat, jumped the dirty white picket fence, and rushed to the house. He tried the front door, it was unlocked. He stepped inside and saw Billy Ray sitting on the couch holding the little girl with one hand over her mouth while he was trying to get her clothes off with the other hand. He was holding the girl’s legs tight between his legs. The little girl was frantic. When Billy Ray saw Cole he stopped and menacingly said, “Get out of my house!” Cole didn’t respond, instead he walked up to the pedophile. Billy Ray glared up at Cole but his hands were full with the little girl and he made no move to protect himself as Cole hit him across the forehead as hard as he could. Billy Ray collapsed with blood gushing out his nose and the gash. The little girl was knocked to the floor and sat there crying and looking at Billy Ray and then up at Cole.

Cole dropped to one knee and said, “It’s alright, you can go home now.” She sniffed, stopped crying, stood up with Cole’s help and said, “Ok.” There was some of Billy Ray’s blood on her dress, hands and legs.

Cole looked at Billy Ray, he looked like he was in pretty bad shape, the blood was coming out of the gash in his head, but at a reducing rate. Cole could see a little squirt of blood every time his heart pumped. Cole figured that he would be dead in a matter of seconds. He walked to the front door with the little girl, opened the door and walked her to the front gate. The little girl started down the sidewalk and turned around toward him. Cole waved at her and smiled. She smiled back, turned and stared skipping down the sidewalk. ‘I think that she’ll be ok, but I have to get out of here. She’s young enough that her description of me and my truck will hopefully be skimpy at best.’ He looked around and there was nobody else in sight. He jumped in his truck and returned to the office.

------PRESENT------

“I get tears in my eyes every time I think about that little girl,” reminisced Cole. “Do you remember Oboma the terrorist.

------FLASHBACK------

OBOMA

Cole drove past the convenience store and noticed that Oboma was behind the counter and staring back at him as he drove slowly by. The look sent a chill down his spine as he pulled on down the street and parked. He settled down to watch out the rear window through the binoculars. After about an hour, two men, of the many coming and going, walked down the street toward him. As they got closer to the motor home, he recognized one of them as Oboma.

‘This may be easier than I thought’. The doors all locked automatically so Cole walked to the front door and unlocked it. He picked up a 9 MM pistol, the silencer was already attached, chambered a bullet, and flipped the safety off. He stepped back away from the door and waited. Through the one-way windows he saw one man step to the front of the motor home and look around. Oboma stepped up to the door and tried the latch. When it opened, he looked at the other man. The man at the front of the motor home looked around and nodded, Oboma quickly stepped inside with a wicked looking knife in his hand. The door swung shut banging against the frame. Oboma glanced at the banging door as Cole, standing in the hallway, put a bullet in his chest. The 9 MM bullet threw Oboma against the wall.

‘Damn, I hope I can get somebody to clean up the blood’, thought Cole. The other man heard the noise from inside and assumed that Oboma had stabbed whoever was in the motor home. He walked back to the door, looking all around, grabbed the handle mounted beside the door and jumped inside. Cole didn’t give him time to react to the body on the floor. A shot to his chest sent him flying on top of Oboma. Cole quickly shut the door and looked back toward the store. The steady stream of people were still entering and exiting the store oblivious to the drama up the street. It didn’t appear that anyone had noticed what had happened. These people coming and going were acting out a script designed to allow Oboma to leave at any time he wanted. They were probably part time actors and full time terrorists.

Cole dropped into the chair behind the driving wheel and pulled the “Tank” into traffic. ‘Where do I get rid of these guys,’ he thought? He pulled around the block looking for a big bush or tree that was close to the street.

‘There it is’, he thought as he pulled up against a huge lilac bush that stuck out toward the street. It had been trimmed so that it didn’t stick out into the street, but provided a thick canopy of branches and leaves and an opening underneath. He opened the door and rolled the two ex-terrorists out and under the bush. They were both dripping blood. They had made a huge mess in the “Tank.” Luckily the floors were all covered with laminate. It should be easy to clean.

------THE PRESENT------

Aaron remarked, “That was the fist time one of our targets came after us. The whole terrorists attitude thing makes me hope we get a chance to take some more of them out. Do you remember the first time we used the poison? I was able to get 2 people from Rizzo’s list at the same time.”

------FLASHBACK------

RHONDA ROBERTSON

Aaron would follow Ms. Robertson and enroll in the exercise facility where she went daily. Ms. Robertson was pulling out of her estate as Aaron drove down the street. He backed off and followed at a discreet distance. He thought that he knew where she was going, but he kept her in sight just in case. Her driver pulled up in front of USA Fitness, jumped out of the car and opened the rear door for Ms. Robertson. She got out and went inside. The driver pulled the car into the parking lot facing the front door and sat there with the motor running. Aaron had pulled into the parking lot as Ms. Robertson was getting out of the car. He got out and went into the building. He could feel the eyes of the body guard/driver on his back as he opened the door. Inside he got his first good look at Ms. Robertson. She was checking in at the front desk. She was a middle aged woman and even at her age of maybe 50 years old, she was a knockout. She looked Aaron up and down and gave him the “I’m available” look. Aaron turned away and told the attendant that he was looking for a place to exercise and to get back in shape. Ms. Robertson laughed and said in a sultry voice, “you look to me like you’re in pretty good shape already.”

Aaron turned and looked at her again and trying not to think about the fact that she was old enough to be his mother, winked and said, “You’re the one that doesn’t look like you need any exercise.”

“We need all kinds of exercise,” she purred.

Just then the door opened and a young Arnold Schwarzenegger clone stepped in and said, “I’m ready for you Rhonda.”

“Maybe we can get together sometime,” she whispered to Aaron as she brushed beside him pressing her breast against his arm. Ms. Robertson followed the clone through the door. Aaron looked at the young attendant, smiled and said, “What’s that about?”

The attendant, her name badge said Jill, laughed, “She’s had at least 5 husbands and is currently looking for the next one. We call her Elvira. You may not be qualified for her. You need to be rich and in bad health.”

“Well, I think I fail the test on both counts. Is she always …. Like that?”

“Every time I’ve seen her meet a man in here, it’s the same. It’s almost like she practices her lines, her body movements, and her closing line as she rubs her breast against the targets’ arm”, she said as they both laughed.

“Does she come here every day?”

“Just about every day during the week she comes in at 10:00 AM and leaves at 1:30 PM. Her car will pull up in front at exactly 10:00 AM. She’ll come in and check for any male prospects. About the only time she misses is if she has to go have a little more nip and tuck at the plastic surgeons. If you fit her qualifications, you could probably go home with her.”

“No thanks, I’m happily married so I’m not applying. Is it possible to learn where she will be so I can try to avoid her?”

“I don’t know exactly what she does in the exercise rooms, but she reserves a suntan booth for 11 and then she uses the sauna from 11:30 till 11:45 AM. After that it’s a shower and make up. “We laugh about her daily schedule. She needs an hour and 45 minutes to shower and prepare her face for the hunt.”

“The hunt?”

“The hunt for the next husband.”

“I’m going to be coming in at about the same time for awhile. I’ll try to avoid her,” said Aaron. “Anything else I need to know?’

“We supply bottles of water, just help yourself from the cooler.” Just then an executive type came in the front door, looked at both Aaron and Jill like they were something that had crawled out from under a rock, ran his card under the sensor, and without speaking went into the locker area as the door clicked open.

Aaron looked at Jill, “maybe we should hook him up with Elvira.”

At that comment Jill exploded, “Very good, in fact they were seeing a lot of each other for awhile, but it seems their romance has cooled off. He’s an arrogant prick, his name’s Poulson, and he builds houses all over the area. I’ve heard that he’s married, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he chases every attractive woman who comes in here. He even hit on me once! I was so surprised I laughed. He was insulted and has ignored me since. ”

“Does he come in here at this time every day as well?”

“He misses some days, but probably 3 out of 5 days during the week he’ll be here at this time.”

Aaron went back to the lockers and then into the rest of the building. He wanted to see the layout of the entire facility. The sauna and suntan room was next to the locker room. He went into the door marked Suntan to see how it was set up. There was a dressing room with an unlocked locker for clothes and a swinging door that locked leading into the actual suntan booth. It was being used at the time. There were some gym shoes on the floor and a bottle of water on the table. The sauna was next to the suntan room and it was set up in a similar fashion. First a small room with lockers, a table with towels, and a door marked SAUNA. There was also the standard warning about temperature and how long to stay inside. He examined every room for cameras and didn’t see any. If there had been cameras in place, he would have to make sure he didn’t appear in a home movie doing anything incriminating. Aaron had just enough time to get up a good sweat and take a shower before time to go meet with Cole. He looked in the main equipment room; Poulson was running on a treadmill. A half full bottle of water was on the floor beside him.

At lunch, Aaron told Cole about following Ms. Robertson to USA Fitness and how Poulson also showed up.

Cole told Aaron, “I wondered where he went. I was in his show room talking to a salesman when he came out of his office and told everyone that he was going to work out.”

Aaron sat looking at his hamburger, “I have an idea. We may be able to kill 2 birds with one stone!”

“I’m listening.”

“What if we could poison one of them and put the blame on the other one?”

“Go on, you have my attention.”

“Ms. Robertson goes into the suntan booth and then into the sauna. Both times her water bottle is outside the room. If I could get a water bottle with Poulson’s fingerprints on it, we could fill it back up with water and some poison from our new case, and substitute if for the real water bottle. She would expire and the police would discover Poulson’s fingerprints all over the bottle. With a little luck he would be convicted. If he got off, we would have to think of something else for him. The front office attendant told me that Poulson and Robertson

had some history but don’t get along now. I would rather try to get both of them at once, but I don’t know if Poulson would give me an opportunity to switch water bottles.”

“I like it!”

“I’ll go in every day until I get a bottle with his fingerprints? It may take a couple of days or weeks. The critical thing is to get a bottle with Paulson’s fingerprints on it.”

Friday lunch, “finally, I got a water bottle with Poulson’s fingerprints. Each day he had his water bottle, but he hangs on to it. One day he threw it into the trash but by the time I could get to it, there were 3 bottles and I couldn’t tell which one was his. Today, he threw it in the trash and left, nobody else was in the room. I went to the trash bucket and carefully grabbed it by the cap and took it to my locker. I wrapped it in a cloth and tried not to wipe or smear the fingerprints. If he and Ms. Robertson are both there Monday, I’ll try to make the switch.”

“Have we decided which poison to use?”

“I figured that because of her age, the heart attack would be best. She appears to be in good physical condition, but I hear about lots of people who are in prime condition having heart attacks or strokes all of the time,” said Aaron.

The weekend passed and Monday morning after a short discussion with Cole, Aaron took his workout clothes and headed for USA Fitness. He had put the amount of poison in the bottle per the instruction book for heart attack. They figured Ms. Robertson would’ve been drinking water during her workout, so he thought that the bottle should be about half full. It should take 15 to 30 minutes after drinking the poison before the victim collapsed. Aaron planned on leaving as soon as he had made the switch. It went like clockwork. Ms. Robertson came in at 10 AM and started her routine. Ms. Robertson and Poulson snarled at each other as they passed in the main exercise room. She went into the suntan booth just after Poulson arrived. Aaron gathered up his stuff and walked back to the locker room, made a detour into the tanning room, saw Robertson’s half full water bottle, switched bottles and then continued on down to the locker. He took a quick shower and left. As he went out the door, he noticed that Jill wasn’t at the desk. She wasn’t there when he had checked in either. He didn’t know if the security system recorded everyone who passed through the locked security door each day, but if it did, he would be questioned by the police after the murder was discovered. There was always a chance that the police might not even check for fingerprints and assume that the death was caused by natural causes. If that was the case, Poulson would have to be handled separately.

Cole and Aaron met for lunch just down the street from USA Fitness. They were eating when an ambulance came roaring by with lights flashing and siren blaring and turned into USA Fitness. The ambulance was followed by a police cruiser. A few minutes later, the ambulance came back, lights off and no siren. There was no hurry since the passenger was dead.

The police investigation classified Ms. Robertson’s death as natural causes until her water bottle was checked for fingerprints. Poulson’s fingerprints were all over it. He was arrested, prosecuted, and convicted of the murder of Ms. Robertson.

------THE PRESENT------

“Rizzo got congratulations that he passed on to us from all over the country on that one,” added Cole. “Of everything we’ve done, I

think the Salt Flats Shootout was the operation that really put steam in

the Robin Hood movement.”

------FLASHBACK------

Salt Flats Shootout

Cole received a call from Mr. X, “there’s a meeting between the Mexicanos and the Soul Power gangs.”

Rizzo called Cole; we need to talk tomorrow night.

At the trail-head the next night, “The two biggest gangs in the Salt Lake Valley are meeting Sunday night at midnight. It’s going to be 4 miles south of Interstate 80 Exit 6, just east of the Nevada state line in the Bonneville Salt Flats. It would be a good idea to get out there and set up. It’s as flat as a table and a dirty white color. You could hide behind a white sheet, 100 yards away from the spot they’re meeting and they would never see you. Since it’s after dark, we could have a problem if any of them are using night scopes. If you’re satisfied that you can pull it off go for it. If you want more time, there will be another time and place. One more thing, I assume that the motor home will be used and one of you will be parked on the Wendover side about a half mile away to the west of the off ramp. After the cars gather at the off ramp, my undercover man will slip away and run down to where you’ll be parked, he’ll come to the door, knock 3 times, wait 10 seconds and knock once more. Let him in and treat him well. His name’s Mickel; if he’s not Hispanic or doesn’t give you his name, shoot him. Good Luck and I’ll see you Monday night.”

Gang War

“I would expect them to have someone at least watching the freeway off ramp Sunday and maybe Saturday as well. This is open territory so there will be people out there driving around over the weekend. We can drive out there, drop one of us off and come back. The other one can

come back after dark and set up where he can see the off ramp. In both cases we don’t have to shoot them all. One shot and the leader drops, his people and the others will all pull their guns and start shooting. At the off ramp, the same thing will happen. When the shooting stops, we pick off the last men standing. Which position do you want,” asked Cole?

“I think that I would rather ambush the gangs on the off ramp, but I’m willing to take either one.”

“I would rather be out on the salt flats, so that’s settled.”

Cole and Aaron told the girls that they had a business meeting Monday morning, so they would have to leave early Sunday morning. They had discussed options and decided to take the motor home. In the case of a fire fight, the plate armor and bullet proof glass would stop any thing that the gangs would be using. They would drive out on the salt flats and drive exactly 10 miles straight south. They would then drive back 5.9 miles. Cole got out with his rifle, night scope, cream colored blanket, some empty bags, a small shovel and his hunting pack with snack food and water. He moved a few yards to the left of the vehicle tracks and quickly dug down into the salt until he had a fox hole deep enough to be comfortable in. He filled several of the bags to provide a rest for the rifle.

“Ok, take off, come back and get me after the gangs at the exit are taken care of. I’ll start the fight here as soon as they appear to be comfortable. Who ever is finished first will hear the shooting of the other. Good luck and good shooting,” said Cole.

“Good luck to you,” Aaron drove back to the freeway. They didn’t have to worry about making tracks. There were lots of tracks around. Most were partially filled in with the drifting salt crystals. In a few hours, the tracks of the motor home would be partially filled in as well because a steady wind was blowing across the flats. He took the west bound land and drove the 6 miles into Wendover, Nevada. Aaron turned around and found a rocky knoll where he could see I-80 east bound toward Salt Lake City. With his binoculars, he had a perfect picture of the Exit #6 off ramp. He planned on waiting until dark and then driving slowly back down the freeway shoulder until he was about 300 to 400 away from the ramp. From there he would have a clear shot at the cleared area where the gangs would be waiting.

Just before dark, several cars exited and drove south toward Cole. Aaron watched as they drove until they went out of sight. A few minutes after the lights blinked out, they blinked back on as the cars came roaring back to the ramp and headed back to Salt Lake City. An hour later, a lot more cars exited the freeway and stayed there in the cleared area beside the pavement ramps. 2 cars drove toward Cole. Aaron pulled back on the freeway with his lights off and slowly drove down the shoulder. There wasn’t much traffic. Aaron was a little concerned about the possibility of a Utah state trooper getting curious about him, but none came by. He had forgotten about the undercover guy, when he heard 3 taps on the door, then another one. He drew his 9 MM and opened the door. A young Hispanic man with 2 pistols under his belt stepped in. The young man looked at the pistol pointing at his nose about a foot from his face and raised his hands.

“What’s your name?”

“Mickel.”

“I was told to shoot you if you weren’t Hispanic and if you gave me the wrong name,” said Aaron as he lowered his pistol. “I’m Aaron. Sit down and make yourself comfortable. There’s a pair of night goggles in the case over there. Put them on and adjust the magnification wheel on the right side, it will give you a close up look at what’s going on. It’ll be nice and clear with green shading. When the shooting starts, the muzzle flashes will probably give you a headache.”

THE MEETING

Jose Garcia and Billy Williams each rode with 5 of their closest people in separate cars south from the freeway for 4 miles. Jose was driving and when the odometer said 4 miles he applied the brakes and left his lights on. Billy’s car pulled up facing Jose’s car and left his lights on as well. Billy told his men to grab the chairs and set them up. Jose did the same. The chairs were set up in the lights of the cars facing each other. 12 chairs were set up, Jose and Billy walked toward each other and stopped when they were close enough to shake hands. They stood there and looked at each other for several minutes. Each wanted the other to make a move of some kind. They were looking into each other eyes. Jose and Billy both decided that enough was enough, time to do something. They both winked at the other and both laughed. They shook hands and sat down. All of the others stood staring at the rival gang members. Jose and Billy both felt at ease. They both believed that this meeting was going to make history. The two biggest gangs in West Valley were going to cooperate, work together, and become bigger and stronger. Billy was telling Jose about his dream of absorbing all of the little gangs. He grimaced, sneered and said, “They will join us or die.” At that instant, Jose heard a “Clap” in the distance. An instant later, he watched Billy’s face crumble. Too late, Jose realized the “Clap” was a silencer. One of Billy’s men drew his pistol and shot Jose in the chest. Jose’s last thought was, ‘This is a set up, Mickel has tricked me!’

THE BATTLE

By 11 PM Aaron had seen a lot of cars pull off the freeway. He had lost count of the number. Two of them drove straight south. If they veered to the right or left, Cole would not be in firing range. With the old tracks going straight, they had assumed that the gang bangers would follow the tracks and stop within Coles range. At that distance, Aaron couldn’t see what was going on. He got ready; he pulled his rifle and attached the night scope. He opened the little shooting window in front and lifted the rests into place. Through the scope, he could see the Mexicans and blacks standing around in groups of 5 to 10. There were probably 30 to 40 people there. They were warily watching each other. Suddenly, they all tensed; Aaron figured they had heard gunfire from the south. Aaron squeezed the trigger and a big black guy with silver chains and a nasty scar on his face fell over. From the position of his mouth, Aaron assumed that he was screaming. At that point all hell broke loose. Aaron watched as every person there pulled out his gun and started shooting. The Mexicans were getting the best of the blacks, so Aaron knocked down a few of the Mexicans. It was down to 3 Mexicans still standing. Aaron calmly picked each of them off. When one would fall, the others would fire at the bodies lying around thinking that there were still some who were still shooting at them. Another fell, the last guy was shooting as fast as he could into each body that looked like it still held life. And then there was none standing!

Aaron watched for a few minutes through the scope. No one moved. He pulled onto the freeway and started toward the exit. As he pulled off, there were bodies everywhere. None of them were moving. He pulled through them trying to avoid running over any of them. He opened his windows to listen for any shooting coming from the south; he couldn’t hear anything.

As his odometer approached 4 miles, he slowed down. He saw a man standing in the tracks beside the two cars. Thankfully it was Cole. There were bodies lying all around the cars. Cole got in and said, “Nothing better than a good plan. What took you so long? I was done here and could hear shooting for a long time…maybe 2 or 3 minutes!”

Laughing Aaron said, “Cole I would like you to meet Mickel.” Aaron then told him exactly what happened up at the exit ramp. Cole then related what had transpired since he got out of the motor home.

“When you left me, I got down in my fox hole and settled in. I made a chair in the wall of the fox hole and it was almost comfortable. I was thinking that I took the wrong position. You were in a nice climate controlled chair watching the sun go down in beautiful, barren western Utah. The only vegetation was a few scraggly bushes along the road and off in the distance. In the hole, I was getting hot, especially if I put the blanket over me. I saw 2 cars coming toward me, so I put the blanket over my head and hoped they wouldn’t run over me. They only missed me by about 20 feet! They turned around somewhere to the south and came back toward me. This time they were closer. I figure probably 10 feet this time! Anyway, any miss is as good as a mile. I could see the lights gathering at the exit ramp. Then I saw the two sets of lights coming toward me. I hoped their odometer was the same as ours. They pulled up about 100 yards from me. The cars pulled up facing each other. 6 people got out of each car. Somebody put 12 chairs folding chairs up, in the light. One of the cars was facing me, its lights raised hell with my scope. I turned off the night scope until most of the shooting was over. Anyway, Jose and Billy Williams stood there and looked at each other for a few minutes, laughed, sat down and were talking. It seemed to be a nice quiet meeting, so I decided it was time to liven it up a little. I wanted to see if I could line them up so that I could get them both with one shot, but they didn’t cooperate. Billy Williams had this sneering look on his face, so I shot him first. Then like you described, all hell broke loose. I shot out the lights in the car facing me so that I could turn the night scope back on. By that time there were only 2 black guys still standing. I plugged one and the last one was shooting in all directions. One bullet came awfully close to me just before I dropped him. I was still watching them as I saw you start coming this way. They’re all dead. I picked up a few of the better 9 MM pistols for our collection. I also picked up my cartridges and filled in the fox hole. We need to get back on the freeway and head for the office. Can you imagine the publicity when this carnage is reported? I hope it takes a little time so that our tracks are at least partially filled in?

Aaron pulled back through the bodies strewn around the clearing between the cars. “I think that I only ran over 1 of those bodies but he probably doesn’t care.”

As they drove down the ramp and onto the freeway, Mickel said, “I don’t believe what I just saw. How could 2 guys take out about 40 heavily armed gang members? Who are you guys?”

“I’m afraid that we can’t tell you who we are. There are some newspaper stories about us, they call us Robin Hood.”

“Robin Hood, you’re kidding! Everybody is talking about you! I’ve read all the reports in the paper and watched the stories on TV when I could. That’s so cool. I can’t believe that Robin Hood is a couple of white guys! I just knew that you had to be Hispanic!”

“It’s true, a lot of what you read in the newspaper is slanted and sometimes complete fiction, but in the case of the stories about Robin Hood, they’re pretty much accurate,” said Aaron.

“It’s our turn to ask you the same question, but before we do, please don’t tell us any names of your police contact. You’re obviously undercover. Anyway, tell us about you and how you got to be here tonight.”

“My police contact gave me a code name to use, so I’ll use it when I get to that point.” Mickel went through his life starting when he and his family came to America. He told how he was questioned by a policeman who offered him a chance to work undercover for him. He finished with how he told “Paul” about the meeting and was told not to go, and when he said there was no way out of it, he was told to sneak out of the “Killing Zone” and go back to the motor home.”

It sounds like your police contact is looking out for you. I’m glad you got the word. How did you manage to not be included in the group that was meeting out away from the rest of them?

“When I got the word from Paul to find a way to stay away from the meeting, I tried to get excused from the meeting, Jose got really mad and even though I had been his number 1 for years, he decided that I was a coward and he didn’t want me to be in the Elite circle that was going to make history as they met with the 6 from the other gang. The rest of the gang all picked up the idea and wouldn’t talk to me or even look at me. When I went to take a leak and snuck down under the overpass, I don’t think anybody missed me at all. In their minds, I was already dead. They figured that Jose would find a reason to have me killed. Jose wouldn’t tolerate any cowardice or hesitation when he ordered something to be done. Good thing he got mad at me, or I would be dead.”

“Yep, if you had been in either group when the shooting started, you wouldn’t be sitting here talking to us.”

“I just can’t believe it. I’m sitting and talking to Robin Hood. It would be so cool if I could tell somebody.” He hesitated and added, “You

know, all of my friends were members of the gang. The only people left who I considered friends other than “Paul” are my family. I wonder what “Paul” has planned for me now.”

“I would guess this would be a perfect time to become a legal American and go to college and get an education. Going to school somewhere a long way from here would be a good idea I would think,” said Cole.

------THE PRESENT------

“That was a close one. Mickel nearly died that night. After the Salt Flats Shootout Robin Hood copy cats popped up everywhere. One of the favorite stories from Rizzo was about the two guys on motorcycles.”

------FLASHBACK------

ROBIN HOOD ON A HARLEY-Copycat #32

Sara Billingsly was on her way from her home town of Lander, Wyoming; to The University of Nevada at Las Vegas. She pulled into a rest area in southern Utah. She was thinking about how exciting it was to be starting college. She was finally leaving Wyoming and she hoped that she would never return to her family’s ranch outside of Lander except for visiting.

The rest area appeared to be almost empty. The only vehicle was an old beat-up pickup truck parked at the end of the parking area where some people park for a nap. The traffic on the freeway gave her a feeling of safety, although it was a little spooky to be here with no other people around. The buildings, a standard rest area bathroom with HIS and HERS on opposite sides and a Kiosk that told about the history of the area. A feeling of foreboding struck her as she walked toward the bathroom. ‘Little girl from Wyoming on her first trip alone afraid of her own shadow! Snap out of it you ninny,’ she told herself as she squared her shoulder and opened the door marked HERS!

She pushed the door inward and stepped into the dimly lit room, her

eyes adjusting to the reduced light inside. The mirror was a piece of polished aluminum that wasn’t really a mirror at all. A movement caught her eye. ‘There was someone already in here!’ A rough hand covered her mouth before she could scream. Another person moved toward her. She thought to herself, ‘I should have paid attention to the bad feeling that I had when I started toward this building! Now I’m going to be raped, beaten and maybe killed, and I was having such a good day!’

Sara had always wondered how a person would cope with being forcibly taken by someone. Now she knew the feeling of utter helplessness, as she heard them talking about what they were going to do to her.

“Lets take her clothes off in here and do her, then we can take her out and bury her, me first”.

“No it’s my turn to be first!” The sound of motorcycles, pulling up outside, disturbed their argument.

“Be quiet; hold her still until those motorcycles leave.”

Sara, realizing that this could be her last chance, relaxed to build her strength and then waited for some sound to tell her that the motorcycle riders were in the building. She felt her captors release a fraction of the tension that she was held under. They were probably thinking that she had given up.

“What’s happening out there?”

“I’ll go look.”

“No you retard, if you go out that door, they may see a man coming out of the girls’ bathroom and wonder what’s going on! Now be quiet.”

The sound of footsteps, then the squeaking of a door that needed oiled came to Sara’s consciousness. She arched her back and kicked as hard as she could. She grabbed a finger that was across her mouth with her teeth and bit down as hard as she could. The hand pulled away, just long enough for her to get out a muffled scream.

“She’s a fighter isn’t she?”

“Would you be quiet you idiot, they’ll hear you.”

The sounds of footsteps were coming around the building. Sara felt a feeling of hope. She couldn’t see anything until there was a shaft of light as the door burst open and two big shadows stepped in. The hand on her mouth tightened.

“Our sister needed to go to the bathroom. She’s an epileptic and needs help. I have my hand over her mouth so that she doesn’t disturb anyone.”

“Really, how about removing your hand so that we can hear what she has to say.”

She heard the sound of what she recognized as a pistol being cocked.

The hand slowly moved off of her mouth.

“They’re going to rape and kill me, please help me,” Sara blurted out as quickly as she could. She was then almost deafened by the explosions, as the arms that were holding her released her and she fell to the floor. Something hot and wet was on her face.

“Here, let me help you get up. We’re sorry, but you’re probably going to want to clean yourself up a bit. We’ll take these guys outside and wait for you. Take your time. If you have any questions, before you come out, please just yell, we’ll be able to hear you. Are you ok?”

Sara thought that the two men with black leather jackets, red bandanas on their head, and tattoos all over every exposed bit of skin as the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen. “I think that I’m ok, I’ll just wash up and use the toilet and come out.”

She stood there tying to pull herself together. She turned on the water and washed off the blood from her face and hands. The blood on her clothing was going to have to wait. ‘I’ll get some clothes from the car and change; I hope the blood will come off.’ There were no paper towels so she dried off with toilet paper. It made her feel a little bit guilty using up all of the toilet paper on just drying off. She used the toilet and the last of the toilet paper. She could hear the motorcycle riders talking outside.

‘It was time to go out and visit my rescuers. Am I ready for this?’

The two men were standing beside the concrete trash cans. The plastic lids had been removed and 2 legs and feet were sticking up out of two of them. A trail of blood led from the bathroom door to the trash receptacles.

“How are you doing?”

“I think that I’m alright, how can I thank you?”

“You just did”, said the bigger of the two. He had tears in his eyes.

“Don’t pay any attention to that big baby, he cries when a waitress tells him to have a nice day. You look a little wobbly, maybe you should sit down.”

“I think I’m OK, what now?”

“Well we’ve been talking about that. We’ve been reading all about Robin Hood up around Salt Lake City. When the highway patrol gets here, we want you to tell them that Robin Hood rode up on a Harley and saved you,” laughed the smaller black leather coat.

“Are you for real? Are you really the Robin Hood everyone has been talking about?”

“We’re not the same Robin Hood that has done all those fantastic things, but we figure that the bad guys don’t need to know that. There’s a car pulling in the rest area now, and the 911 people told us that a highway patrol guy should be here in about 5 more minutes, so we’ll be going now.”

Sara, in her meanest voice, said, “don’t you dare leave yet, come here!”

They came over and Sara gave them each a bear hug and a tearful “Thanks again, I can never thank you enough!”

The big guy with tears streaming down his face said, “Now look what you’ve done, I can’t even see, where’s my damn bike?”

“Goodbye, remember us and stay out of empty rest areas.”

Sara went out to her car as a car full of people pulled up. They started to get out, spotted the legs sticking up from the trash receptacle and saw the blood. One of them asked Sara, “are you ok?

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

The doors slammed, the car backed up and sped back to the freeway.

Sara opened her suit case and pulled out some clean clothes. She changed in the bloody bathroom, and was walking back to her car when a highway patrol cruiser pulled up with his lights flashing.

“911 dispatch tells me that there was a problem here.” He had a look on his face that told Sara that he wasn’t sure there was a problem.

“Yeah, 2 guys grabbed me and told me that they were going to rape me and kill me.”

The officer with a smirk on his face said, “and?

“They’re over there.” Sara pointed behind her toward the 2 sets of legs pointed upright. One set was spread into a V.

Sara stepped away from the officer so he could see the legs and watched his face. The smirk faded into a classic look of stupor and then surprise. She wished that she had pulled out her camera, the look was great.

The officer fumbled with his door handle but couldn’t seem to be able to grasp it, he was stuttering something like “just a a a minute, I I need to ask ask you some questions.” Finally he was able to open the door, but forgot to unlock his seat belt. Sara was trying not to laugh out loud, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“This is serious business young lady.”

“You’re telling me that this is serious business, I’m the one that was nearly raped and killed! I’m just so happy to be alive and well and I just can’t keep the smile off of my face.”

“Did you put those legs in the trash receptacles?”

“Well Duh, do I look strong enough to do that, Robin Hood put them there.”

The officer pulled his shoulder radio over in front of his mouth and spoke into it, “We need an ambulance at rest area #107; there are 2 dead bodies. There’s no hurry. We also need a crime scene team to go over the rest area,” to Sara he said, “Maybe you should start from the beginning.”

Sara told him exactly what had happened up to the description of the motorcycle riders. “They were riding Harley Davidson Motorcycles and they had black leather jackets, but other than that I can’t remember what they looked like.”

“Just about every motorcycle rider in the world wears a black leather jacket. Are you sure that you can’t tell me anymore?”

“Oh yes, there is one other thing, they said to be sure to tell you that ROBIN HOOD RIDES A HARLEY and, “God Bless America!”

“The police encourage anyone who may have witnessed anything about the murder to call their local police office. The police are offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the so called Robin Hood.”

------THE PRESENT------

“It’s interesting that the police keep offering a reward for information and the amount keeps getting bigger!”

The pilots announced over the intercom, “Please buckle your seat belts, we’ve just been cleared to land at New Jersey’s Liberty International.”

Cole looked at Aaron, “I would rather face a cougar or a drug dealer than go to that interview.”

“Me too.”