"Yeah, she does that to Ares and he walks away from her," Amanda said.

"He's a smart dog," Nathan said, looking sideways at Emma. "Find out what she means by it."

"How?" Amanda asked.

"Ask her?"

"Nathan, she only says a few words and her favorite one is No.'"

"Well, ask her brother and sisters then," he said, moving back to the cart. "That kid's weird," Nathan said getting back to work.

He was packing more stuff into the cart when he heard someone walking up. Turning around, he saw Jasmine carrying a box. She stopped beside him, and said, "Nathan, I went to search the shed by the cabin, you know, to look for-" Jasmine paused and Nathan nodded his head in understanding. "Well, I didn't find more but I think you need to see what I did find." She opened the box.

"Whoa," Nathan gasped.

Jasmine smiled. "These what I think they are then?" she asked.

"Yep, those are 5.56 suppressors," Nathan said, pulling one out and drooling over it.

"There are six more boxes like this one and some of them have different numbers on the side," Jasmine said. "So can we have suppressors now?"

Nathan studied the suppressor then looked back in the box and pulled something else out. "I do believe so," he finally said.

"What's that?" Jasmine asked, pointing at the piece of metal in Nathan's hand.

"It's a special flash suppressor that goes on the rifle, and the suppressor screws onto it," Nathan said, handing it over. "Show them to me," he said, walking past Jasmine and heading to the small shed.

Jasmine spun around and walked beside him. "Is it a lot of work?"

"Those in that box aren't. You just have to unscrew the original flash suppressor and put that one on," Nathan explained.

"So we can still leave tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, I don't see why not, but why are you in such a rush?" Nathan asked as they reached the small shed.

Jasmine put the box down and grabbed Nathan. "Nathan, these guys' family will eventually come for them. Granted, the woman said none had been here, but these pieces of s.h.i.t supported them and those family members will be expecting stuff. We have found kids' and women's clothes so these guys weren't just getting stuff for themselves," Jasmine told Nathan.

"I know, but there is a lot of stuff here we can use," Nathan said, pointing to the box at her feet.

Letting out a sigh, she said, "Yes, but eventually people will come looking for them and we shouldn't be here. h.e.l.l, they could be looking for them now."

Opening the door to the shed, Nathan bent down and picked up the box and carried it in. "Yes they could, but if we leave before we're ready we could just as easily die out there as right here," he said, putting the box down. He saw a small work bench with an M-4 in a vice. A pipe wrench was on the flash hider and the barrel was really scarred up. "Please tell me you didn't do that?" Nathan asked, pointing at the weapon.

"h.e.l.l no, I found it like that," Jasmine said. "I see and know how you treat weapons so I wouldn't even try that."

Nathan chuckled, shaking his head, "These guys were true idiots then," he concluded.

Jasmine walked over to the work bench and lifted up a notebook. "Only on some things," she said upon scanning the notebook. She turned it to face Nathan so he could see the writing. "This is a list of stores they planned to hit. Beside each one is the address of the owner or manager. It's quite detailed and well thought-out," Jasmine said as Nathan took the notebook.

"Holy s.h.i.t," was all Nathan could say.

"Yeah, there are gun stores, sporting goods stores, over a dozen jewelry stores, and if you notice, most are crossed out."

Nathan nodded in agreement. Reaching over, Jasmine flipped to the next section. Nathan looked at the top of the page reading "Cops" in big letters. "This is a list of cops' addresses and again you can see some crossed out," Jasmine said, fighting off a shudder.

Nathan flipped through the pages and was at a loss for words. Names were crossed out and several pages were filled with notes. In another section Nathan found "People who prepare" written at the top, and other sections labeled "Trouble People," "Pay Back," and several others. All had lists of names and address with some already crossed out. "f.u.c.k me," Nathan mumbled.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you," Jasmine blurted out. "This group had a hit list for supplies and securing the area around them, and I can bet you money the rest of their families knew about it. They might not know where they were operating from, but they knew the plan. Do we really want to wait around for them?"

Nathan closed the book. "We leave tomorrow, but Jasmine, I really don't think we have much to worry about." Jasmine took a breath to speak but Nathan held up his hand. "Think about it. If these guys trusted their families then they would be here helping. Now think about the type of men that were out here. Do you think the families would risk trying to find the evil f.u.c.kers? h.e.l.l, my money is on the fact that their families are too scared of them."

"You willing to take that chance, especially after all we've seen here?" Jasmine asked.

"Yes I am," he replied. "We have time and a true gift here."

Throwing her hands up in the air, Jasmine huffed, "Fine, show me how to do the guns then," she complained.

"No, I'll do them. You go and get the cart loaded," Nathan said. He gave her a list of stuff to put in the cart and what the others needed to look for in the stacks of supplies.

Late that afternoon, the group sat around the table as Nathan laid out the route, using back roads and logging trails. When he was finished, Jasmine looked at him. "How long?" she asked.

"We will get to Howard's dad's farm in seven days," he said and got groans from around the table.

"Why not take 78?" Howard asked from behind him.

"Because it's a four-lane highway and will be full of people."

Jasmine looked at the map carefully. "If we did take it, how many days would it take?" she asked.

"We'd make it to the state line the fourth day and to Howard's family farm on the fifth," he said.

"You didn't even look at the map," she snapped at him.

"What, you don't think I wouldn't have added it up and planned that route?" he asked with a ton of att.i.tude.

"So you laid out two routes?" she asked.

"No, seven. With the first one I gave as the safest, and the last the most dangerous," he said.

"That's two days added for trying to be safe," she said in disbelief.

"It won't matter if we get there or not if we die," he said, stressing the last word. "We are pulling a fancy wagon with kids in it. If we get in s.h.i.t we will have to kill or be killed. Running is not really an option anymore."

Jackie leaned over. "We can surrender," she offered.

"Look what happened last time," he said sharply and Jackie recoiled. "If you go with me, we live or we die, but we don't surrender. There is no Geneva Convention here. They will do what they want, as you've seen," he said and she nodded.

"What if we travel at night?" Jasmine asked.

"What?" Nathan asked.

"Well, you have us carrying the d.a.m.n night vision stuff; let's use it. We've seen very few people travelling at night and I bet not many will have night vision," she offered.

"Well ..." he said, not convinced.

Jasmine put her hand on his arm. "I know you want to take the safe route. I do too, but two days?" she pointed out.

"Jasmine, we'd be in Mississippi by now if I'd taken the fast route," he said and she lost her smile. "Fine, I tell you what. We head down and try a night of travel. If it works, we'll stay on 78, and if not, we'll get off," he said and she nodded. "No matter what, we are off before we get close to the state line. We cross on a tiny bridge in the middle of nowhere."

Seeing n.o.body objected, Nathan stood up. "Let's eat and get some rest and leave tomorrow," he said. They all nodded and went to make sure everything was ready while Jackie started some supper. Nathan went back to the shed and finished up on the weapons. Everyone in his group was armed with an M-4; in Howard's group, his sons had M-4s and Howard and Jackie had AR-15s. All the weapons had suppressors, scopes, tactical slings, lights, lasers, and forward grips.

Nathan had found several AR-15 "pistols" with ten-inch barrels. He took the uppers off of three and put them on M-4 lowers for Amanda, Casey, and Natalie so their rifles had ten-inch barrels. Then Nathan dug through the stack of weapons till he found two 10-22s. Taking them to the work shed, Nathan used a dye set to thread the barrels and mounted suppressors on them. Next he did the same for the sniper rifle.

The .338 Lapua was an excellent round, but very expensive, so Nathan had little hope of finding more as they traveled. He was sorely tempted to take a case of .308 because that was a very common round, but decided to just take a case of .338.

After supper, Nathan led his group out to the meadow and let them shoot their rifles. Unless someone was close, they wouldn't hear the suppressed shots. Howard led his family over and joined in with them. After everyone had shot a few hundred rounds, Nathan took them back to the tables to clean their weapons.

The new kids worked in silence, except for Emma. She just ran around laughing and showing her teeth to Nathan, which still freaked him out. When everything was done, Howard and his boys set up a few camp showers for everyone.

Nathan was sitting at the table going over the sniper rifle and spotting scope with John when Emma came over and pulled on his shirt. When Nathan looked down, Emma pointed at her tummy. "p.o.o.p," she said.

"Well, go to the bathroom," Nathan said, pointing at the blanket they had thrown up for privacy.

"Tee-tee," Emma said and grabbed her crotch, crossing her legs.

"You can take care of both at the same time," Nathan said, pointing again at the hanging blanket.

Casey came over to Nathan. "She can't squat down. You have to hold her up," she said.

Nathan's eyes got big as he looked around for Natalie, Amanda, or Jasmine, but didn't see them. Looking back at Casey, he said, "You do it."

"I'm not big enough," Casey said.

"Well teach her how to squat down then," Nathan said in a panic.

Casey smiled at him. "She just pees on her clothes."

Nathan let out a sigh and stood up. Emma showed him her teeth as she held out her arms to be picked up. "Why do you bare your teeth at me? You want to bite me?" Nathan asked, unsure if he wanted to pick up the little girl but doing so anyway.

Hearing a soft giggle, Nathan looked down at Casey. "That's her way of smiling at you," Casey explained.

Holding Emma out at arm's length, Nathan studied the curled back lips and exposed teeth. "If you say so," he said, pulling Emma to his chest and heading to the hanging blanket. He turned around to see Casey just standing there. "Hey, you need to show me what to do," he said. Casey smiled and followed Nathan to the area behind the blanket.

Nathan put Emma down. "Okay, so let's do this," he said with conviction.

Casey bent over, clasping her fingers together at arm's length and forming a seat. "Do this so Emma can sit down," she commanded. Nathan grabbed Emma and sat her in his hands as he bent over. Casey giggled. "You have to pull her pants and pull-up down first," she said.

Grumbling, Nathan put Emma down and did as he was told. Picking Emma back up, he held her in the makeshift human swing. Emma held on to his arms and started giggling. "Hey, we're here for business so no laughing," Nathan snapped, which only made Emma giggle more.

It felt like Nathan was bent over for hours holding onto little Emma, but it was actually only a few minutes. Emma barely had any weight to her, but staying bent over was not helping Nathan's tired back. Finally Emma looked up at him. "She's done," Casey informed him.

Nathan put Emma down and was reaching to pull up her pants when Emma bent over at the waist, a.s.suming the position. Stepping back, Nathan gasped, "What the h.e.l.l."

Casey walked over with the toilet paper. "You have to wipe her," she told Nathan, holding the roll out.

Panicked, Nathan looked at Casey then at Emma, who was still bent over. "Oh, now this is too much," he said as Casey shoved the roll in his hand. Feeling humiliated, Nathan pulled off a handful and did the deed. Finished, he pulled up Emma's pants and she turned around and held out her hands. "You can walk, I've seen you do it," Nathan said gruffly, looking down at her.

Casey walked over and hugged Nathan's leg. "You have to pick her up and give her love and tell her she did a good job," she said.

Nathan closed his eyes and started dreaming of digging a hole and hiding in it. Sighing, he picked Emma up and hugged her, telling her she did a good job, without much emotion. Emma squealed and kissed his cheek. To Nathan it was an open mouth drooling on his cheek, not a kiss. Looking down at Casey hugging his leg, Nathan tilted her head back so she could see his face. "From now on, when Emma is around me you are to stick close and tell me what to do," he said.

Smiling at Nathan, Casey squeezed his leg in a hug. "She likes you."

"She has a funny way of showing it," Nathan said, reaching down and picking up Casey in his other arm and carrying both back to the table. He spotted Jasmine, Amanda, and Natalie with towels wrapped around their heads.

Jasmine frowned upon seeing Nathan carrying the two. "We were looking for them so they can take a shower," she informed him with more than a little att.i.tude.

Putting the two down, Nathan stood up and scowled at Jasmine. Seeing the look, she actually took a step back. "Listen, woman!" Nathan barked. "I've been humiliated and I'm not in the mood. Let me tell you something: when a kid a.s.sumes the position to be wiped you know right then: you have no dignity left," Nathan snapped as he turned and stormed away.

Everyone at the table watched him, mouths agape. Amanda asked Casey, "What was that about?"

Shrugging her shoulders, she said, "I don't know. Emma just had to go to the bathroom."

Emma ran over to Amanda and gestured to be picked up. Reaching down, Amanda picked her up and waited. Seeing Casey was finished with her explanation, Amanda huffed. "That's all? I've taken her to the bathroom before, so what's the big deal?" she asked, looking around the table. To her surprise, Howard and his wife were laughing, as was Jasmine. "What's so funny?" Amanda demanded.

Jasmine shook her head. "Only Nathan," she replied as Casey leaned over to Amanda.

"Amanda, Nathan didn't wipe her real good but still used like half a roll of paper," Casey whispered loudly.

Jasmine walked over and took Emma from Amanda and held her hand out to Casey. "Let's go get cleaned up so we can leave," she said, leading them away to the showers.

Amanda spun around, looking at John for an explanation. John just shrugged his shoulders. "What? I don't know," he told Amanda, who threw her hands up.

"Boys," she cried out, heading to the tent they had set up for their group.

John went back to the chart he had drawn up for bullet compensation. Nathan had explained it was called a D.O.P.E. chart (Drop On Previous Engagement). "Girls are so weird," he mumbled.

Chapter 11.

Day 16 Feeling defiled and humiliated, Nathan had fallen asleep on the picnic table. Hearing song birds, he cracked his eyes open and looked around to see John and Howard's boys sitting at the other picnic table. Lifting his arm up, Nathan read his watch. 5:18. Laying his head back down, Nathan tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. He had stayed up late packing and preparing for their trip.

The wagon they were taking was going to be hauling several hundred pounds of supplies; he'd made a small area, padded with blankets, for Emma to sit on or lay down. Since she was so small, Nathan didn't even factor in her weight. He was certain he had taken c.r.a.ps that weighed more than her.