Black Market Merchant - Chapter 176: Westside of Town

When Eva found Lisa, Lisa was just starting to cross the dam after leaving the ERM’s jobsite. At first Lisa was concerned as to what might have happened seeing that Eva was running towards her, but that feeling soon passed. Eva explained the situation briefly while they hurried back towards the storage units.

“We were getting our third and final load of the ammo and onto the cart what Henry spotted them. They were coming from the road leaving to the market area of town and didn’t appear to be acting suspicious. Almost like they had been doing this on a regular basis. They were dressed casually like before, and though they hid them well, we could tell they were armed with guns. Oh, a horse was pulling their covered cart too.” Eva chuckled at this point. “That was actually my first time seeing a real horse!”

“That is new.” Lisa replied. “I’ve seen stray dogs, cat, and chickens all over town, but a horse is unexpected. This might make it easier to track them. What else did you find out?”

“Not much.” Eva answered as they entered the Powerhouse building. Lisa was already armed with her katana that was on its magnetic belt hanging casually over her wide hips, but due to the nature of the situation, being armed with her .45 caliber pistol would also be a wise choice. Meanwhile, Eva continued explaining the situation. “They merely pulled up to their storage unit and started unloading boxes that looked to be the same type as before. Of the six men that showed up, they hardly spoke to each other. That alone made them suspicious to me.”

“What about our storage unit? Did you guys finish moving the ammo or lock it up in the unit for the time being?” Lisa asked as she tucked her pistol into the back of her knee length tan shorts.

“We finished loading the all the ammo onto the cart and brought it back already. Tayvon and Henry finished pushing the cart back here and they left the cart, still loaded, on the first floor before coming back to join Wayne and I too watch. Willis had closed up our storage unit and locked it like we did the night before.” Eva explained. “When I left the others, it looked like those sketchy men were nearly finished doing whatever they came to do. We need to hurry though; I am worried that those guys will get into trouble. They aren’t the most covert of people.”

“As long as they keep their distance, I am sure they will be just fine.” Lisa replied reassuringly. “After all, they aren’t supposed to confront those sketchy men anyway.”

“I hope that they don’t.” Eva sighed.

Moments later they arrived at the place where Eva had left the four men and found that Henry was the only one waiting for them. He was fiddling around with the ends of his shoe laces impatiently.

“Henry, where did they go?” Eva asked.

“Those sketchy guys left just seconds after you left, Eva. Wayne, Willis, and Tayvon are following after them after they left the storage unit’s property.” Henry replied as he jogged over to join the two ladies. “The sketchy men were headed back the way they came and the other three are following them as we planned.”

“Let’s hurry then.” Lisa said while excitedly turning on her heels. “This is a big moment, and we can’t let it go to waste!”

The three of them left the property and started jogging down the sand strewn road. If Lisa were on her own, she would have run at twice the speed, but she still needed to keep her secret and not leave them behind. As they made their way through the town and towards the market area, Lisa began to wonder if they were going the right way. There were countless streets and alley ways that Wayne and Tayvon could have gone to follow the sketchy guys and their cart.

“You guys said you had a plan to follow them, right?” Lisa asked looking sideways at the two panting alongside her.

“Sort of.” Henry replied as he skirted around a plainly dressed woman carrying a covered basket. “We agreed to follow them and watch for what direction they started off going in. When they turned, I was to remember where they did and come back to the storage units. Then the next time they turned Tayvon was to remember the area and then come back to it once they turned again. By then Wayne hoped that they wouldn’t have much further to go and if they turned again Willis would be our last chance. We hoped that if it came to that you would be able to figure out where they were generally heading. After all, you know this side of town better than we do.”

“Wayne came up with this idea?” Lisa asked shaking her head, be it either to hold back her laughter or disbelief. “Its rather silly but I can’t deny that it could work. I have some idea already as to where they might be going, but the actual location I haven’t yet been able to find out about.”

“So, how far did… you end up going… Henry?” Eva gasped tiredly trying to keep up with the more in running shape duo.

“The next intersection, the one right after that shop with the big metal sign, Fogle’s Corner Shop was the name if I recall.” Henry answered as they split and weaved around a group of shoppers.

“I haven’t even gone back once to visit Mr. Nakamura since I’ve been here in town.” Lisa sighed in thought upon hearing the shop’s name. “And now that we found all those guns and ammo, I really don’t need to buy munitions from him. Though he did seem particularly knowledgeable about the Mad Dogs movements and habits, of which I should probably be more informed on anyway. Perhaps I’ll stop by on the way back and see how he’s doing.”

When they reached the intersection in question, they turned right in the opposite direction of Fogle’s Corner Store and headed down an uncharacteristically cleared street. This street was no wider or more important looking than the others in town, but Lisa could tell that someone had purposefully cleared it off. There were no cars, large piles of trash or even too much sand left lying in the road. ‘Who had done the clearing or what the purpose was for the clearing was, still remained a mystery as they traveled down it.

They hadn’t gone more than a block when they saw Tayvon jogging their way. Seeing the group coming his way a bright smile appeared on his sun darkened features. He stopped jogging and waved them on to hurry up as he caught his breath.

“Perfect timing.” Tayvon called to them as they gathered in the street. “Wayne, Willis and I already found the general location of where the sketchy guys are headed. Its just outside of the western end o town, or so we think.”

“The western side of town?” Lisa repeated as she thought back to the first time she came to The Damn. “But isn’t it all just dried out farmland?”

“That’s what we thought too when we came out of the town buildings. However, the road forks ahead and to the right and north, there was a large, gated building.” Tayvon answered. By now they all had started jogging again as they listened to him. “I didn’t get much closer to see what kind of building it was but in stead came to find you guys.”

“I see. Good job.” Lisa replied before asking, “What was Wayne going to try and do? Follow them into the fenced in gate? I hope not. We don’t know the situation and he could get in trouble.”

“Oh, let hurry then!” Eva whined as she broke out into a faster jog.

After a few moments, the rotting storefronts and sad looking town townhomes ended abruptly and the sprawling, dusty farmland appeared. It looked no different then the last time Lisa came by here. Only this time there wasn’t any fog to block up the entire view of the outskirts of town. To their right there was indeed a large building that stood alone from any other buildings, however, this wasn’t what made the mansion unique. It was the fresh, bright green grass that was growing on a golf course beyond the mansion. It stuck out like a sore thumb in comparison to the tan sand scrubland and sandstone rocks beyond.

The three ERM volunteers were taken back by the sudden change of unfamiliar scenery but Lisa wasn’t as swayed. This was starting to become a pattern for the Mad Dogs. It now seemed to her that anything of importance to them was being kept well maintained.

“I need to find out who is in charge of all these grounds keeping projects.” Lisa thought as she moved on ahead of the others. “Once I take over the gang and town, whoever is in charge of the work will be most useful to me.”

The road had a slight curve in it and Lisa was leading the way. Two minutes later the four of them came within sight of the fenced in gate. Immediately Lisa was on high alert! There were armed guards standing outside the gate.

“Everyone, stop!” Lisa hissed holding out one hand.

“What is it?” Eva asked in a hushed voice.

“I don’t think they see all of us just yet but get off the road and behind that large boulder.” Lisa replied motioning to the rock. She too then stooped low and dropped to one knee. “I’m going to sneak ahead and see if I see any signs of Wayne. It obvious they already spotted me.”

“What should we do?” Henry asked turning back from the boulder. “We can’t just sit around here.”

“I’ll think of something. Just stay hidden for the moment. If you hear anything like gunfire or someone approaches you, run back to the dam, got it?” Lisa replied.

All three of them nodded, though the two men looked like they would rather come along with her. Then leaving them behind she started walking casually down the road towards the gate.

As she came closer to the gate, Lisa looked at the two guards armed with assault rifles. They too had spotted her but remained at their posts and kept a wary eye one her. Normally coming head on towards a clearly hostile location would be a stupid idea. Most would try sneaking around the area or using some fantasy skill to scope the place out from afar, but not Lisa.

Being the former cyborg soldier, armed with multiple weapons and a bullet repelling body, approaching head on to ask them directly what was beyond the gate was a ballsy, logical move. She had no intention of fighting them, but just in case, she had already taken her katana off its magnetic strip and now had it tucked up into the inside of her left sleeve to where her palm could hold it in place.

“Stop right there!” One of the guards called out to Lisa. She was now only a dozen meters or so from the gate. “I don’t recognize you. State your business.”

Lisa pushed back the brim of her tattered Yankees hat and gave a charming smile. “I’m just out for a walk and seem to have become separated from my walking buddy’s. Have you seen two younger looking men both are a little short than me?”

“No, no one has been here all day.” The guard on the right replied promptly. He then pointed the barrel of his rifle at her and motioned in the direction from which she came. “I suggest you look elsewhere. This place is off limits.”

“I see. Well thank you anyway.” Lisa answered calmly holding her smile. Then slowly she turned around and started back for where the others were waiting.

“Hmm, they are obviously Mad Dogs.” Lisa thought peeking back over her shoulder at them. “I could see their arm bands were just like the ones Xander’s men wore. Though I don’t think they were lying about no one being here. Perhaps Wayne is alright, but where could he have gone?”

“Psst! Over here!” A voice suddenly called to her.

Looking carefully to her left she spotted Wayne and Willis. They were covered in mud and sand, laying prone beneath a large bush!