Page 52 of JoyRide

“Did the doctor say when you can come home?” asked Tammy.

“Not yet. Still some bleeding. Few more days and I’ll be healed.”

“Harlan told me you got shot,” said Virgil.

“Druggies up near the Canadian border. They didn’t like me none.” Travis laughed. “All dead now. My kids put them out of their misery.”

Virgil raised a dark eyebrow.

A call came in on the sheriff’s phone while we were talking to Travis, and I listened to it. We had to leave in a hurry. “Gunfire at the market in Ethridge.”

“Be careful, y’all. We’re short-handed and can’t afford anybody else being shot or beat up and off work.”

“We’ll be careful,” I said.

SaveWay Market. Ethridge.

Sirens screaming, I pulled into the parking lot of the market and could see at a glance that the owner of the store had the kids boxed up behind a couple of parked vehicles. We’d shopped in the Ethridge market a couple of times, but I couldn’t remember the owner’s name.

All the customers had been cleared out of the lot and the owner—crouched down behind the cart corral—was doing his best to hold the kids at bay until we got there. Luckily, this market was only about ten minutes from the Cut Bank Hospital, and we’d wasted no time getting here.

I jumped out of the squad and circled around to come at the kids from a better angle. The punks fired a shot at me and missed. If they hit any of us it would be by sheer fuckin accident. Hard as hell to hit anybody in a gunfight with a pistol.

I ducked down and told Virge to stay in the squad.

Ted pulled in behind me and parked. Tammy hopped out and squatted down next to the Bronco to take cover.

Not good at following orders, Virge hopped out of the squad and as soon as the kids saw him, they fired a couple of shots at him. A miracle shot hit him in the leg and knocked him to the pavement.

I charged out of my spot to get a clear look at them, fired twice, and they cranked off about three shots each. I took a round in my shoulder and hollered when I went down.

Tammy screamed like a banshee when she saw me fall. She ran at them and opened fire.

She dropped two of them—dead as dirt.

From where I lay on the pavement, I couldn’t see the other two, but I could hear them yelling and running away from the store.

“I’ll get them.” Ted hopped into the squad and went after the two runners while Tammy ran over and dropped down next to me.

She held me in her arms, sobbing, “Don’t die, Harlan. Don’t die.”

“Not planning on it, Tam. Call an ambulance. Virge is hit in the leg. I saw him fall. See if you can help him.”

She fumbled around with her phone and put the call in. Kind of in a daze, and I didn’t want her to go into shock. I needed her to get us out of this mess.

“Go over to Virge and put pressure on his leg, Tammy. Can you do that for me?”

“Yeah. I’ll do it. I nearly freaked for a minute, but I’m okay now.”

Ted roared back into the parking lot and jumped out of the second squad to help Tammy. “Can’t see them. They’re running through the bush on foot. Need the dogs.”

The ambulance pulled in right behind Ted and the paramedics got to work on me and on Virgil. Getting us on stretchers and shoving us into the ambulance.

“Ted,” I hollered before they slammed the doors on me, “Get the witness statements and help Doctor Olsen when he comes.”

“Copy.”

“Shit. I don’t want to leave Tammy on her own with Ted. She’s kind of upset after killing those two kids.”

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