7. The Enemy

In this chapter we meet the people who are after Chrissy and Emily.

Billy Groover sat at his computer and added up the numbers again. He smiled. He liked what the numbers told him. They told him he was going to make a lot of money that year. A lot of money. Not with his used car business. He wasn't making money on that at all. In fact, he was losing money on his used car business. But that was okay because his used car business was just a cover for his real business, which was growing marijuana and cooking methamphetamine. He also imported and distributed cocaine and heroin. And business was good.

A man stepped into Billy Groover's office. “The sheriff's here to see you, Billy,” he said.

Groover sighed. Leave it to the sheriff to spoil his good mood. “Send him in,” he replied.

Sheriff Karl Horst walked into Billy's office and sat down. “Hey, Billy,” he said with a big smile, “How's it going? Business good?” He leaned back in the chair in front of Groover's desk.

“What do you want, Karl,” responded Groover with a touch of impatience.

Sheriff Horst's smile faded only a touch. “I need another meth lab,” he said.

“Another one?! I just gave you one three weeks ago!”

“Hey, I need to make another drug bust to show the people of this county that I'm doing a good job as their sheriff. You want me to get re-elected, don't you?” he said with an annoying, toothy grin.

Groover sighed and answered, “Fine. Let me see which one I can spare and I'll get back to you. In the meantime, how's the search for that woman and her kid going?”

“What search?” answered Horst with a shrug, “I'm not looking for them. They're your problem.”

“You're not looking for them?! What the hell am I paying you for?!”

“You're paying me to look the other way while you run a drug business in my county,” he answered dismissively, “I don't work for you, Billy. Use your own boys to look for them. My deputies have enough to do.”

“That b***h and her brat could bring down my whole operation if they get away!” said Groover angrily.

Horst shrugged again. “Like I said. They're your problem.”

“Yeah? Well, if I go down, I'm taking you with me!” He shook his finger at the sheriff. “I've got enough dirt on you to put you away for twenty years!” Now Groover was the one smiling.

The smile faded from Horst's face. “Alright, alright!” he said with annoyance, “I'll tell my deputies to keep an eye out for them and I'll increase the patrols in that area. But I'm not organizing any manhunts. Like I said, my deputies already have enough to do. Where were they last spotted?”

Groover shouted, “Payton! Get in here!”

A man stepped into the office. “Yeah, Boss?”

“Where were those two spotted last?”

“They're in the woods over by County Road 4. We think they're hop-scotching from woods to woods. We've got three vehicles patrolling over there looking for them, but we need more man-power to catch them. That woman is shrewd! She figured out right away that we were tracking her phone.”

“I can't believe you guys let a woman on a chick-bike get away,” Horst chuckled, “With a passenger no less.”

“Chick-bike or not, she knows how to ride that thing!” Payton retorted, “And she knows how to throw rocks, too! Blake had to get five stitches in his head.”

“Why don't you guys go into the woods after them?” asked Groover.

“There's a lot of woods out there, Billy,” answered Payton, “It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. We'd be chasing shadows in the woods.”

“Can't we track them down? What about Jimmy? He's a hunter, isn't he?”

Payton laughed. “Jimmy's idea of hunting is to sit in a deer-stand all day with a case of beer. One of these days he's going to blow his own foot off.”

Groover turned to the sheriff. “How about you, Karl? Don't you have someone that you can use to track fugitives?”

“Yeah, we have a guy on call that used to be an army ranger, but he's expensive. And he's not 'in the loop' if you know what I mean. He might ask questions. The less people we involve with this, the better. We just need to keep a close watch. They can't stay in those woods forever. They'll need to come out for food and water eventually. Like I said, I'll increase patrols in that area and I'll have a deputy tell the residents to keep an eye out for them. They won't get away.”

“If they do, we're all in big trouble,” warned Groover, “Just remember that.”

Author's Note

Suggestions and constructive criticisms are always welcome.

Reviews

[Nienor Niniel]

Finally we see exactly who these fiends are. Nice touch, having the in-cahoots sheriff requesting a lab to bust, in order to look good. It's cynical, but with a ring of truth.

[Craig2591]

Thank you.