Free Buzzard Bay by Bob Ferguson

and had no problem getting the documents they needed to become American citizens, just part of the job.
    They crossed the Canadian border passing themselves off as hunters, thus bringing their own firepower with no questions asked. They planned to go out the same way. They rented a van at the airport and drove four hours north to the hotel the outfitter had rented for them. It was on the edge of town, so every morning the outfitter came to the hotel to pick them up, and every day there were never more than three hunters that went with him. The explanation was that the other men had contacted a severe illness.
    The outfitter didn’t complain; it was less hunters for him to look after, and the money was the same. Ginter and Henekie spent the first week acquainting themselves with the area and spying on their targets. Bill Shonavon and his wife lived just on the outside of town. They learned that he did welding in the winter to supplement his income. They deliberately broke the trailer hitch on their van, taking it to Bill to fix. They found out that he lived there with his wife, no kids left at home. They discovered that he did not have a dog and just about anything else they wanted to know.
    He charged them an exorbitant price to repair the hitch, but they didn’t complain; the information was well worth every penny. They found out that Dale and Pearl Drinkwater lived twenty miles to the east. He did custom work, mainly crop spraying. Learning he had bought his equipment in the States, they went to visit Dale, Ginter pretending to represent the company. The rest were clients wanting to see Dale’s equipment. Dale was so happy they picked him; he never even thought to check with the company. He treated them royally, bringing them in for supper. Dale loved to talk, so they let him, making it all the easier to carry off the charade and learn what they wanted to know.
    But this Green guy proved more difficult. The information on each client they had originally been supplied with gave no indication he was any less naive than the others. This dossier also told them that his wife was in the Bahamas with their son. The daughter was away at college. They learned he was staying alone in his mother’s farm house. Ginter and Henekie went looking for the place and found it to be remote and situated on the edge of a deep valley. Green wasn’t home so they stopped at a neighbor’s house about a mile down the road. He was a rough-looking sort who told them he didn’t see much of this young Green.
    “Moved in here a few years ago and blew all his mother’s money then moved on. Just like a lot of them young fellas, he come in here setting the world on fire and then pulled out with his tail between his legs. Now he’s back sucking on his mother’s tit. Heard he lost his wife.” The old man’s eyes lit up, “Damn fine-looking woman.”
    “When’s the best time to catch him home?” Ginter asked.
    “He don’t go out much at night. Some people say he just sits there and drinks himself to sleep.” Ginter thanked the old man, and they drove away.
    Ginter didn’t seem to pay much attention to Green after that; he even went hunting a few days. “I think we should do it tonight,” Ginter told the men his plan, “we’ll end up at Greens’ and burn the house with all the bodies in it. That gives us all day tomorrow to say goodbye to our outfitter friend, check out of the hotel, and head for the city just as we normally would.”
    “There’s a storm coming in here,” Henekie warned them. “That doesn’t give us much time if Green’s not home.”
    “You worry too much, Henekie,” Ginter waved his hand. “It’s too goddamn cold to go anywhere. He’ll be home.”
    The Drinkwaters were first; they came to the door smiling, letting them in. It had been quick and merciful; they were not cruel, they just had a job to do. There was no blood, no mess, the bodies were placed in body bags they had brought with them and thrown in the