Page 43 of Garr

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” nodded Auggie. He and Charlie walked away to grab the crates, two other men joining them along the way.

“Assholes,” muttered Tila. “I’d like to put my foot up his ass.”

“Don’t worry. We’re going to help them out,” smiled Hazel. As they carried the crates back toward them, the men noticed two women standing near the engines.

“Hey! What are you doing?” asked Auggie.

“Oh, sorry,” smiled Sophia Ann and Macie. “We were just admiring your big engines. They’re really cool looking.”

“Yeah?” he smirked. “Well, stick around, and I’ll show something even bigger and cooler later.” The women giggled, nodding at him as he walked away.

“Why are men so stupid?” asked Macie. “I mean, not all. But that one is definitely stupid.” Sophia Ann just laughed, shaking her head.

“Come on. We’ve still got work to do.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“They have two pontoons that will be in the middle of the parade,” said Hazel, pointing on the bayou route. “We’ve made sure the trackers are on them, so they should be easy to find in the parade. Sophia Ann and Macie were able to place devices on the engines that will stall them when appropriate. You’ll have about eight minutes to get the boats in front far enough away, and the boats behind them stopped and moved away.”

“Eight minutes is good enough,” nodded Garr. “What about weapons? Where are they?”

“Here,” said Macie, sending a photo to the large screen. “We noticed the seams along the pontoons. They’ll have weapons that are stored within the pontoons, and they can open from the top. There are plenty of storage spaces for them. The men on the boats will be dressed as elves, and we have reason to believe so will Marilu Harris. Brockman will be dressed as Santa, seated on the throne of the second boat.”

“How do they think they’ll get away?” asked Samson.

“There’s a third boat,” said Sophia Ann. “A high-speed jet boat. It can go nearly one hundred miles per hour. I think they plan to get onto that boat and head toward Mexico.”

“Where is the boat?” asked Garr. Macie smiled at her fiancée, then looked at Sophia Ann.

“Well, it was parked at the marina near the General Store. I’m guessing that they planned to have a man waiting there who will bring it to them.”

“Wait, you said itwasparked there,” said Garr. “What do you mean ‘planned’?”

“That’s right,” grinned Macie. “It was. It’s now parked in the police impound lot, being searched for suspected drugs and weapons. There are so many boats at the marina right now. They’ll have trouble figuring out which one they can steal and get away in.”

“And what if they do?” asked Samson.

“They won’t,” smiled Finley. “They’re going to meet a brick wall. Well, technically, it’s a steel wall, but you know what I mean.”

“I don’t think I do,” he frowned. Garr laughed, slapping his back.

“Don’t worry, brother. They won’t be getting away. In fact, it would be doubtful if any of them leave the bayou alive.”

“Georgie tracked down some of the orders for weapons from the companies that Brockman has been working with. They’ve agreed, on threat of federal prosecution, to hold off on fulfilling those orders. He won’t have anything to back him up,” said Macie.

“We’ve also been able to stop two more mass shootings that were planned,” said Eric. “It is possible that there are more, but we’ll stop those as well. We’ll do anything we need to do to end this madness and the killing of innocent people.”

“We can’t do anything on empty stomachs,” said Luke. “Let’s head over and have dinner. We’ll wait to hear what Cam and the team come back with.”

With the sun slowly setting, the air was brisk, temperatures around the bayou dropping. Walking along the paths, Jonas stopped in his tracks.

“Jonas? What’s wrong?” asked Garr, holding Macie’s hand. He looked down and laughed. “That’s Alvin. He’s friendly.”

“Friendly? He’s an alligator!”

“He knows he’s an alligator,” said Trak. “Come, Alvin. We need to get back to Tammy and the children.”

“Tammy and the children?” frowned Jonas, looking at the man as if he’d lost his mind.

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