Free Renewal 8 - War Council by Jf Perkins Page B

there’s no reason to keep hurting, and I’ll say he’s just feeling bad about something.” Sally looked up and made sure she looked us all in the eye for a moment. “I want you all to hear this. We’re in hard times, and bad things are going to happen. We do the best we can and we move on. We don’t have the luxury of carrying stuff around with us like we used to. Nothing we can do but move on. So when I say to you, Arturo, that it ain’t your leg hurting you, I mean look around in your head until you find what is, and let that thing go. As soon as you do, you’ll be running like a deer again.”
    Sally walked to the loft doors and whistled into the darkness. The soft thuds of Bear’s paws sounded on the bare dirt, and seconds later he was in the loft, panting softly. Little Jimmy ran right up to the dog and wrapped his thin arms around Bear’s massive head. “I’m glad to see you, big buddy!” Jimmy said with delight. Bear pulled his jowly lips back into a grin, making us all forget the serious speech for a moment.
    “Bear, you being afflicted with the same male equipment as these gentlemen, I want you to keep ‘em company tonight. Seems one of our guests don’t think much of dogs.”
    Bear woofed once.
    “All righty then. Goodnight ya’ll.” Sally turned towards the steep stairs and walked to the opening in the floor, and said one final thing. “Forgiveness is the only real magic.” And she was gone.
    We watched her cross the yard and enter her house. The homemade screen door slapped hard as she let it go. We were left with a great deal to consider. We ate chili instead.
     
    Chapter 8 – 10
    Kirk was angry. It was so simple. He was riding under a canvas tarp in the back of the Junior Dragon’s truck, wedged among the random gear and junk at four in the morning. All he had to do was kill this asshole and bury him in the woods. No one would ever find him, and no army of white-robers would feel the need to come to Kirk’s land to fight. Bill had made it clear, though. “Find out where he’s going and what he has when he gets there. We’ll have to clean up that mess sooner or later, so we need to know what we’re up against.”
    Knowing Kirk’s penchant for easy and deadly solutions, Bill had made the point repeatedly, just to keep Kirk from doing exactly what Kirk so desperately wanted to do. Knock on the window, wait for the truck to stop, and put a bullet in this idiot’s head. Instead, he lay low, waiting to see where he would end up. Kirk fumed. Bill didn’t trust him to let the man live, but he somehow trusted Kirk to escape with his hide intact from Dragon HQ. Here’s hoping... Kirk thought.
    Any minute, something could happen that even Bill would not be able to deny. Someone could look under the tarp. If that happened, Kirk was certain that person would die, and the Junior Dragon would die by sheer misfortune of knowing Kirk was there. That would be too bad.
    As it turned out, the white-robers were just as bad at security at home as they were in Nashville and the Jenkins farm. Gary Tucker, Jr. drove his truck right through his father’s front gate and into the five car garage. Kirk stopped breathing as the truck’s engine died, and the door opened. He sent all his energy into his body and senses, preparing to strike like a cobra if the tarp moved. He heard the wooden door, presumably leading into the house open and close, waited ten seconds and slid out of the truck. The sky through the eastern window was just turning from gray to a peach color as Kirk made his silent steps across the polished concrete floor. The garage held three exotic sports cars, and one empty slot, besides the truck he had just left. A long set of cabinets and workbenches lined the back wall, neatly covered with reloading equipment and small machine tools. Kirk had a decision to make.
    He pressed his ear to the door leading into the house, and hearing nothing, he decided to make his way inside. The other option