Insurgents

22

"You know your pap has been out there all night and all day. He's probably exhausted."

"Him and me both." She said, showing no sign of guilt. I drove her to the PFPFP and after I'd dropped her off I called John to tell him I was on my way.

"Good, it's getting interesting." He said. "She went back to that house off twenty and picked someone up. I'm not sure where they're going now, I think they're heading toward Cleveland. Get on the road and I'll let you know where we wind up."

I was on route 6 almost to Cleveland when John called. "Yes, this is very interesting indeed." He said. "We're in front of National Custom Gunsmith."

"Really? Did they go in there?" I asked.

"No, that's what's strange." He said. "It looks like they're doing surveillance on the place. They're not very good at it either. They're just sitting there with binoculars watching the front door. Pretty obvious. And I'm up the block watching them."

"I wonder if anyone's watching you." I said.

"Actually, that's a good question. When you're talking about Dennis Reston it's really not that far fetched."

"Why?" I asked. "You never told me what you found out about him."

"He didn't bite when you went in there talking about Freddie, so I didn't think he had anything to do with all this." He said. "I guess I was wrong. Dennis Reston is a local guy who was a spook in the eighties. CIA supposedly. Anyway, he retired a few years back and opened the gun shop."

"Why would Gretchen be watching his shop?" I asked.

"I haven't got a clue." He said.

"You still tired?"

"I'm getting a second wind. I want to know what these ladies think they're up to here. I mean Gretchen's got at least three of her friends involved. I wonder why she needs all that manpower?"

"You mean woman power." I said. I pulled off the freeway and stopped at a traffic light. "The thing that seemed weird to me was, you know, the casual nature of the whole thing. I mean there they were, these woman sitting around a living room, watching this guy getting tortured on the TV, and they were drinking wine. Like it was American Idol or something."

"That's cold-blooded alright. I wonder where that video is now."

"You gotta figure it's either at the house off route twenty or at Gretchen's place." I said.

"Those are two places we know are empty right at this very moment." John said. "As soon as you get here, I think I'll go on a little easter-egg hunt."

"Sounds like a good idea." I was pulling up behind him. "That's me, I'll take over from here. Be sure and let me know if you find that video."

He told me he would and that he was going to search Gretchen's place first. "If you even think they might be headed toward that general area, call me. I'm counting on you." He said. I told him not to worry.

Looking out my passenger window, I could see Gretchen's Honda between two trees and the side of a Goodwill store. They were watching the gun shop alright. It wasn't long before I saw the Honda's taillights flash and they were moving. I put my car in gear and went after them.

After they'd made a couple of turns I realized that they were following a dark silver Cadillac Escalade with a red W sticker on the back window. Eventually the Caddy pulled into a strip mall and Gretchen parked on the street in front. I made a quick left down a side street and, when I was sure I was out of sight, turned around and came back down, parking in a place where I could see Gretchen's Honda and had a clear view of the strip mall. Dennis Reston had gotten out of the Escalade. He was wearing tan slacks and an Orioles baseball cap. He went into a coffee shop called The Sipping Point.