He decided it would be safer to go most of the way right down the middle of the road, leapfrogging from car to car in silent sprints. This would be safer than using the yards and potentially happening upon a dog or someone awake and alert. He spotted the first car he would make and ran to it in a crouched position. He sat next to the BMW and listened for a long minute. He smelled the stench of a body, or bodies, inside and willed his nostrils shut. Hearing nothing, he made it to the next car. This he repeated over and over until he was near his neighborhood.
Now, he changed tactics. Inside his head, he had a map of which yards he could traverse, without dogs, from the edge of his neighborhood to Gus’ house. He had chosen a route that began between the barricades. He knew this and the roving patrol were his most dangerous obstacles. But, he had a plan to distract those on the barricade. At the edge of a building that housed a pizza parlor, he laid out a small canister filled with gasoline and unrolled a long fuse he had fashioned with cotton rope. He sprayed WD40 along its course, hoping it would be enough to keep the fuse lit without making it burn too fast. He lit it, sprinted behind the building, and hopscotched across a vacant lot and several yards until he made it to the midpoint of the barricades.
A little earlier than he’d hoped, he heard a muffled roar and caught the glimmer of light from the gas can igniting. He’d positioned it so that just a little light would be seen from the barricades. His plan was that they would at least focus on their attention to the light. If he was lucky, they’d send a man or two to investigate. He sprinted across Division, running low, and made it to the first yard he’d chosen. He paused here, listening and scanning for any evidence that he’d been seen. Finding none, he continued.
He was in Gus’ yard five minutes later. The house was black and silent. He found the side door entrance and tried the handle. Unlocked! He couldn’t believe his luck. Even now, he leaves his door unlocked? What a fool! He turned the handle slowly, opened the door without a sound and crept inside.
He had once been over Gus’ house for a dinner party and had a good idea where the master bedroom was. Since then, Gus had divorced and now lived alone. He ghosted through the kitchen, being careful to walk on the balls of his feet so he moved almost noiselessly. He pivoted to the left and moved down the hallway. He found Gus’ bedroom door open and went inside.
He heard Gus’ heavy breathing from the bed across the room. Cooper paused again to listen. Silence. He glided alongside his bed. He punched the pistol’s muzzle against Gus’ head.
Gus awoke with a start. His eyes squinted trying to see what was going on as Cooper shined his flashlight into his face, blinding him temporarily.
“It’s me. Cooper.”
He choked in fear, “Coo… per? Whh…aaa…tt?”
“I only have one question for you. Why?”
As he regained his sight, Gus’ eyes flew wide when he saw the pistol’s bore looming an inch from his head. Cooper heard the man’s bowels let go and quickly smelled the stink.
“Whhh—yyy, what?”
“Why did you betray me?”
“I ddd—didn’t betray you!”
“You turned me in. I saw you that night when those men attacked.”
Gus averted his eyes, looking down. He paused, breathing rapidly. “I’m sorry, Cooper. I really am.”
“Not as sorry as you’re gonna be,” Cooper fumed.
“I just thought what you did was wrong. Lying about this whole thing.”
Cooper drove the pistol into his forehead so hard it pushed Gus’ head back into the pillow, “I didn’t lie! You dumb bastard! Have you ever known me to lie? About anything?”
Gus body shuddered, “Well-lll, no. But… it is so hard to believe.”
“So, you doubt me and call the military? Send them after me… and Jake!”
Gus’s eyes darted back and forth, searching, “I’m sorry, Cooper. I guess I didn’t think. I hope…”
“There’s only one hope of yours I’m going to fulfill. Do you want to know what that is?”
“Wh…aa…t?”
“The hope you had that you’d never see me again. You won’t. But, you won’t ever see anyone again either,” Cooper said and pulled the pistol back a few inches, readying to fire.
His finger began depressing the trigger when a whimper to his right stopped him. He looked.
In the light from his small flashlight, soft blond curls framed a terrified face. Gus’ daughter. Her eyes shone wet and her body was shaking. She looked like she had seen a monster.
“Please, don’t hurt her,” Gus pleaded meekly.
“Leave!” Cooper yelled at her.
She remained unmoved. Instead, she let go with loud sobbing. She pulled a pink blanket to her mouth. Her eyes grew wider and looked him in the eye. Cooper saw something in those eyes that shook him to the core. Innocence. Her terror spoke volumes about the innocence she still had. Like Jake used to have. She hasn’t seen too much. Yet. Cooper lowered his head for a second and the pistol drifted a few inches lower. Then, he inhaled, and looked once more at Gus.
“I’m going to leave now. I want you to remember two things, Gus. I want you to remember what you did to Jake and I. Driving us from our home and exposing my boy to horror after horror. I wish I could make you see what we’ve seen and do what we’ve had to do.” The pistol shook in his hand as he raised it once more to point to Gus. He willed himself to lower it, “But, I won’t do that to your daughter.”
A stricken, weak, smile crept onto Gus’ face, “Thh…ank you.”
Cooper’s lips dripped scorn in response, “Don’t thank me. Thank her. The second thing I want you to remember is that I can come back someday to finish this. You better hope nothing happens to Jake that makes me think about coming here again,” Cooper’s eyes blazed and Gus’ body shivered, the blankets quivering.
He continued, “And, I need you to do one thing. The authorities better believe I’m heading to Sacramento to hide out with my family down there.”
“Yes, sure,” Gus gulped excitedly. “They will.”
Cooper looked at him sternly, “If they come after me toward the coast, I will come back and next time, you won’t even wake up. You got it?”
Gus’ head nodded furiously. Cooper stifled the urge to smile as Gus bought the misdirection—Estacada lay toward the mountains to the east of Portland; while the coast was to the west.
Cooper turned and walked to the door, he paused and whispered to the still shaking girl, taking her chin in his hand, “You just saved your father’s life. You understand that?”
Her wonderstruck eyes looked up at him, “Yes,” she breathed.
“There’s still mercy in this world, will you remember that for me?”
She nodded gravely.
He gripped her chin harder, his voice louder in desperation, “Will you?”
“Yes. I will. I promise.”
With that, Cooper was gone.
Cooper made it back to where the others were holed up without incident. He found Dranko on guard duty, about an hour before sunrise. He pulled the door open for him and he looked at Cooper expectantly.
“No, I didn’t kill him. And, no I don’t want to talk about it.”
Dranko nodded, “You better get some shuteye.”
Cooper bedded down and was asleep in minutes; he’d never forgotten the soldier’s trick of being able to sleep whenever, and wherever, the opportunity emerged.
After what seemed like minutes, Dranko’s boot was jostling him awake, “I let everyone sleep an extra hour. You need to be alert today,” he said as he continued moving about the room and waking the others.
Cooper stretched himself out. Not as young as I used to be. Few hours’ sleep after a night of action is telling me that this morning! He mused to himself and rolled onto his side so he could watch Jake wake from his slumber.