CHAPTER TWO

Sarah watched doubtfully as the two young men struggled to put up one of the two tents they'd brought. She and Kylie had been unpacking the other supplies from the SUV while Erik and Travis started on the tents. She began to suspect these two had never been camping in their lives. She and Kylie exchanged amused glances then attacked the other tent. It wasn't long before they had their tent up and ready to go. The two guys frowned at them in irritation.

"I thought you said you weren't a camper!" said Erik accusingly as he turned to Sarah.

"I'm not, but I was a Girl Scout for four years and we did learn how to put up a tent," smiled Sarah smugly. "Which is more than I can say for you Navy guys!"

"Ha. Ha. Ha," replied Erik still scowling. "OK, since you two are so adept, you can put up the other tent too!" He and Travis then flopped down onto the sandy ground and watched the girls expectantly.

"Fine," said Sarah with a shrug. "Then you guys can fix dinner!"

The four had driven north to Maryland to camp in the Greenbelt Park. It was less than 15 miles from Washington so they wouldn't have to spend most of their weekend driving to a more distant campground. If things didn't go well, it would be simple enough to pack up and go home.

The rangers did warn them that sometimes the weekends could get rowdy. Being so close to a large metropolitan area, the park tended to attract more than its fair share of troublemakers but they hadn't had any really serious problems so the four decided to take a chance. The ranger suggested they try one of the camping areas near the Blueberry trail. They were a little more remote and often quieter. So, off they went. They found a lovely secluded spot where no other campers had taken up residence. The weather was proving to be cool and rainy so they were hoping there wouldn't be many others camping over the weekend and they could have the area all to themselves.

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Grimes spent most of Saturday working for Buck so now he had some cash in his pocket and he was ready to party. He headed to a club where the music was loud and the drinks cheap. Two guys sitting next to them were talking to the bartender about a party they were heading to. They were trying to convince him to sell them some vodka. When the bartender seemed reluctant, Grimes added his voice to theirs until finally the man gave in and sold them a bottle.

"Thanks, man," said one of the men with a broad grin. "You aughta come with us. It'll be great!"

"Where you going?" asked Grimes trying to decide if this sounded more appealing than just hitting the local bars.

"Place 'bout 10 or 15 miles from here called Greenbelt Park. Ron here, is good friends with one of the rangers up there and they always let us in for nuthin'. And believe me, the girls always appreciate some fresh meat. C'mon it'll be a blast!"

Grimes considered this awhile longer then shrugged. Why not? "OK, give me the directions and I'll meet you there. I got some stuff I need to finish up first."

After writing down the information, Grimes went out to his Chief. He gently ran a hand along its smooth, sleek curves grinning happily. Damn, he loved this bike! He turned to the saddlebag behind the seat and opened it. Reaching in, he first pulled out an old Sony walkman tape player. He'd had it for years and refused to move on to more modern CD or MP3 players. He set it aside figuring he'd use it while working on the motorcycles. He reached back into the bag and this time he carefully pulled out a 9 mm handgun. He'd bought it shortly from some guy on the street after they started allowing him out. His smile grew hard as he thought about the weekend. Going to a park was a great idea. There were lots of people in parks. He looked at his gun again, caressing it lovingly. And some of those people did not deserve to live. He replaced the gun and nodded slowly. Yes indeed, this could be one hell of a weekend.

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Grimes stood fuming by his motorcycle. He had made it to the park with no problem and found Ron and his group by following their loud, throbbing music. There were about ten or twelve people there including several women who seemed open to any and all who paid them attention. Grimes noticed that they occasionally disappeared into the woods with one or another of the men returning fifteen or twenty minutes later laughing and looking slightly disheveled. Well, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Rick and his buddies had hired some whores to come along to provide the entertainment. Grimes took a deep swig of whiskey from the Styrofoam cup someone had handed him. He'd been drinking steadily since he'd arrived and he found his irritation mounting. God, what was he doing with this group of assholes? They were stupid and treated him like he was as stupid as they were. They had no idea.

They were sitting around a large campfire and two of the men were trying to sing some Michael Jackson song. Two others had gone off again with a couple of the women. Grimes thought about this as he watched another woman saunter over towards him with a smoldering leer on her overly made up face.

She settled down next to him and leaned in close. Grimes could smell the cigarettes and whiskey on her breath. "Hey there big fella," she cooed into his ear as she pushed her ample breasts up against his arm. "I ain't seen you here before. Maybe we should go someplace a little…quieter and get to know one another better, if you know what I mean…" She trailed off suggestively.

Grimes froze. He'd never been very comfortable with women; was never quite sure how to behave. He turned and stared hard at her then roughly grabbed her breast. The woman blinked in surprise and he could see confusion and a little fear in her eyes. "Hey!" she cried out in shock jerking away from him, "Watch it, asshole! That hurt!" He just continued to stare at her until she hurriedly climbed to her feet and moved on.

That had pretty much been the beginning of the end as far as he was concerned. The other women avoided him completely and the men all regarded him suspiciously until Ron finally came over and suggested maybe it was time to leave.

Furious and humiliated, Grimes stalked off to his motorcycle and prepared to leave. He had parked the Chief away from the other vehicles in the dark shadows of the surrounding brush. Fuming he paced back and forth as if trying to make up his mind. He should get his gun and shoot every one of those SOBs right in the head. Every damn one of them. He took a deep breath. No, not that would be stupid. There were too many of them. He looked around. The dreary weather had apparently kept other campers away. Too bad. He looked at his saddlebag and opened it figuring it wouldn't hurt to just check the gun. He opened the flap and frowned. The bag seemed oddly empty. He reached around and his hand felt the cold, solid metal of the gun and the box of ammo but that was it. Where was his Walkman! Anxiously, he looked around the ground to no avail. He began to breathe more and more heavily as his anxiety and anger both began to escalate dramatically. Some son of a bitch had stolen his tape player!

He stood uncertainly for a few moments, then drew out his gun with a shaking hand. He looked around. Who could have stolen it? One of the people at the party? He frowned as he thought about this. No, he didn't think so. He'd arrived after everyone else so no one saw where he hid his motorcycle and he didn't see any of them leave in this direction during the course of the evening. He began to walk through the woods. Maybe there was some hiker that stumbled onto his motorcycle and stole his Walkman. If there was, Grimes would sure as hell find him!

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Sarah snuggled contentedly into Erik's strong arms as they all sat around a small campfire. The guys had cooked a decent dinner of hamburgers and corn on the cob, after which they'd taken a hike up Blueberry trail. Now, darkness had settled over the woods and the warmth of the fire was keeping the chill at bay. Maybe camping wasn't so bad after all, she thought drowsily. If only those stupid people in the other campground would turn down their loud music. She sighed looked over where she could see Travis and Kylie sitting together on the other side of the fire. All of sudden she noticed Travis looking alarmed and staring behind her.

"Hey!" said Travis in surprise and Sarah turned to see what had startled him. She felt a frisson of fear run down her back as she spied a man, his eyes wild and furious staring at them, a gun held tightly in his hand.

"Where is it!?" the man demanded in a harsh voice. He was breathing heavily as he glared at each of the four in turn. "Which one of you took it!"

"Hey man," said Erik as he slowly gained his feet. "What are you talking about? Calm down! We didn't take anything."

"LIAR!" spat the man now raising his gun and with no warning fired his weapon at Erik, a blossom of red forming in the middle of his forehead. Sarah stared in horror as Erik collapsed beside her. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run away. She wanted to be anywhere but here but she couldn't move. It was if her mind had shut down and was no longer able to control her body. She sat frozen in fear staring at Erik's body sprawled at her feet.

"I'm not gonna repeat myself," snarled the man again. "Where it it!"

"Please!" said Travis, his voice shaking, "We don't know what you're talking about! Maybe if you tell us what you lost we can help you find it."

"We're telling you the truth," said Kylie desperately."Please, don't hurt us!"

The man just stared at her. He knew she was lying. They were all liars. He lifted the gun and three more shots rang out in the cool, damp night.