Free Holding Their Own: A Story of Survival by Joe Nobody Page B

condescending remarks while finishing his meal.
    Terri gave him an aggravated look and said, “Bishop, just be quiet. I don’t sit and make fun of your baseball players constantly grabbing their crotches and spitting all over the court, so either leave or hush up.”
    He managed to keep quiet for the next few segments, but additional criticisms soon followed before he caught himself and looked over to see Terri staring at him harshly.
    Bishop decided if he were ever going to sleep again with both eyes closed he had better shut-up. It took all of the discipline he could muster, but he managed to make it through the rest of the program without additional comment. He even recovered a bit when he made Terri a bowl of microwave popcorn. When the winners were announced, Bishop didn’t say a word. He watched Terri out of the corner of his eye, and when she wasn’t looking, snatched at the TV remote. He was too slow. He then decided to try another approach, and using the tone of “a man and his castle,” told her, “My turn to pick a program.” This was a tactical error on his part as her response was a barrage of high velocity couch cushions. He retreated quickly to the bedroom to lick his wounds and regroup, smiling all the way.
    He decided to clean one of hi s rifles until he was sleepy and went to pick one out. As he was looking through the gun safe, he saw the original “speed gun” Richard had purchased for him years ago and bad memories came flooding back.
     
    Bishop entered his first match three months after he and Richard had hatched their plan. It was a local affair, and only about 40 shooters signed up. He entered three different competitions that all involved running through a “course” and shooting at several targets.
    He finished in the top ten in all three events, and managed a close third in one . He later joked with Richard that the giant “Northside Gun and Range” patch on the back of his shirt had caused him discomfort and impacted his times.
    The following week was the best ever for Northside , and Richard put Bishop full time on training. He purchased competition guns for rifle and shotgun based events, commonly called 3-gun matches.
    For the next 10 months, life had been grand. Bishop worked hard and spent countless hours on refining his technique and scores. He won his first local event a month later and placed in the top 50 in his first national event. Richard paid for him to go to Fort Benning for the nationals, where he placed in the top 20 in two different competitions.
    Business at Northside continued to grow every month.
    Bishop landed after flying home from a national event in Phoenix where he had won for the first time . He hadn’t called Richard because he wanted to surprise him with the big trophy, but as he arrived, he noticed several police cars in the lot. He parked quickly and ran toward the main building, only to have his way blocked by a big cop.
    “Sorry buddy, you can’t go in there - Crime scene.”
    “Officer, I work here . What is going on?”
    “You work here? Hold on.”
    The officer stuck his head inside the door and yelled at someone to come out. A man in a suit appeared and introduced himself as Lt. Davis, HPD Homicide.
    Bishop really didn’t remember much after that except that Richard was dead . He had been killed during an attempted robbery.
    The police never did make any arrests in the case, and the entire matter made Bishop’s blood boil to this day. Richard’s son took over Northside and sold the business within two months of his father’s death. The new owners had no interest in competition shooting and judged Bishop to be an unnecessary expense.
    He was back to looking for a job when Spider called and asked him to come to Iraq.
     

Cleveland , Ohio - August 4, 2015
A n Unwelcome Gift
    On t he morning after Senator Bose’s press conference, the police headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio was presented with a group of 21 Hispanic men. They were herded up the