Tipping Point (6 page)

She zoomed in on the video as he got further away, and watched his retreat for as long as possible. She wasn’t too thrilled with herself for not having binoculars and emergency gear. She hadn’t packed the truck with that stuff yet. Once she got it home again, she wasn’t taking it anywhere else without the basics.

Eventually she got into the truck and did a U-turn to head back home. She was almost there when her phone rang. She used the hands-free to answer it.

“Hey Kirk. I was just wondering if you were okay. What’s going on?”

“We ran out of gas. They couldn’t fill the tank at the rental agency, and we haven’t been able to find a station that’s working. We’re in some place called ‘Gravetown’ or something. Everyone says they’ve run out because of all of the people coming up from Orillia and Barrie. I guess those places are in shutdown now too.”

Mac almost laughed. ‘Gravetown,’ indeed.

“Okay, find a restaurant that’s open and then call me with the cross street. I’ll bring you some gas. At least you’re in a relatively safe place. It’s called Gravenhurst, by the way. I’m about ten minutes from home. I need to switch vehicles and put the jerrycans in the trunk. I can be there in probably an hour. Grab a coffee or something to eat and just relax.

“While you’re stranded, try to borrow whatever cash you can get from your credit cards. Normally I wouldn’t recommend that as financial advice, but those cards won’t be working for long, and there’s a good chance you’ll never have to pay it back.”

“Yeah, okay. Makes sense. I’ll tell Leigh. See you soon. And thanks again.”

“It’s not a problem, Kirk. We want you guys up here with us where you’ll be safe. Or as safe as possible. See you in an hour or so.”

Shortly after the conversation ended, Mac was pulling into the driveway. Cameron came out to see what was happening, and helped her load the car as Mac explained about the phone call from Kirk.

“Do me a favour while I’m gone. I had a little altercation with some ass-wipe who tried to follow me home. I really hate leaving you here alone, even though I did everything in my power to make sure he couldn’t follow me back here.

“I’ll probably go in to the cop shop tomorrow to fill them in on what happened, but I couldn’t afford to take the time today.

“Anyway, what I want you to do is activate the sensors. I won’t be gone long, but it’s probably going to annoy the ever-loving hell out of you. We haven’t had a chance to set it up properly, so I don’t doubt that it’s going to be set off constantly by every little bush and blade of grass, but you have to monitor every beep.

“Load one of the Glocks, put it in a holster, and wear it on you every minute that I’m gone. This guy is seriously off, and he’s a sneaky bastard. Chances are, if he saw me come this way, I’ll see him on my way to Gravenhurst. He won’t know it’s me, because I’ll be in a different vehicle. If I see him, I’ll call you and turn right back around to deal with him. A short delay in picking up Kirk and Leigh isn’t going to hurt them. They’re in a safe place.

“Damn. And I was in
such
a good mood, too!” Cameron gave her a look.

“You were?”

“I’ll tell you about it when we’re all tucked in for the night. Oh, speaking of which, I got you a sort of present. I was going to test out both of the ones that I bought, but I’ve developed an attachment to one of them already.” She handed Cam the Gerber, still in its box.

“Oh cool! What’s yours like?” Mac flipped up the tail of her shirt and pulled it out.

“Wow. These are both awesome. I prefer the black, though. Why couldn’t I get mine in black?”

“He only had that model in the Coyote Brown and Olive Drab. It’s got its own sharpener right in the sheath, though. You get a feature I don’t have. Well, crap! I just realized I didn’t buy anything to sharpen the rest of this stuff. Guess I’m going to have to go back. Maybe I should call him first.”

“You have his number?” Cameron was obviously surprised.

“What? Your mother can’t get hit on?” Cam rolled her eyes.

“That is
not
what I meant. You get hit on all the time, even when you’re dressed like a slob. Most women do. What I meant was, you actually still have it? You don’t usually even let a guy
hand
you his number. You’re pretty blunt about it.”

“Well, this was a bit different.” Mac couldn’t help the look that crossed her face.

“He had green eyes,” she continued. “What can I say?” Cameron’s mouth dropped open in complete shock.

“I’ll tell you about it later.” With that she pulled away.

Mac chuckled the whole length of the driveway, pleased at dropping a bombshell on her daughter. It had certainly been an eventful day. Now all she could do was hope that the major events were over with.
God
, she thought,
two hours. Just let me get this over and done with in two hours!

Then she rolled her eyes. It wasn’t that simple. She was probably going to have to go into Bracebridge to refill whatever gas they used. Hopefully she could just hit a station on the highway, but somehow she doubted it. Those would be the first hit by anyone travelling north.

It might be better just to head back to Rosseau. It was closer to home, and she knew it had fuel. It also gave her the opportunity to get the other stuff from Neil’s store. She’d take a look at his card again when she got to Gravenhurst, and see what his regular hours were.

The trip away from the house was uneventful, and she made it to the highway without seeing Gerry’s vehicle, or any other vehicle for that matter. Kirk texted her with the street crossing they were closest to, and by then she was only twenty minutes away. She called Cameron’s VoIP line using the hands-free, and everything was still fine there.

When she did get in touch with Neil, she intended to ask him if he knew the kid from the hardware store. He might have a line on some leverage she could use against him in the future, though if he was new to the area he might not be in touch with the surrounding families. Gerry gave off the impression he was a local, and possibly from one of the big, white-trash families that populated certain areas. She might even recognize the name, since families tended to sprawl a fair distance in Muskoka and Parry Sound.

She ought to know. She came from one of those families. She just had no intention of rejoining them. Thankfully the only people who would recognize her now were people she could trust. Once she let them know she was around, she intended to make sure they knew she didn’t want her family members aware of her presence. Most of her friends wouldn’t associate with her family anyway. She came from a long line of scum, and had walked away to create her own family. She’d been gone so long she doubted they’d remember her first name, but why take chances?

5

E
XPLANATIONS ARE IN
O
RDER

Mac pulled up to the restaurant closest to the street corner Kirk had mentioned. It was apparent they’d been watching for her, because they popped out less than thirty seconds later.

“Hey guys. Did you run out completely, or is the car here? I don’t want to be filling a tank in front of a bunch of people hungry for gasoline if I can help it.” Kirk and Leigh got into the car and gave her directions to where they’d had to abandon their vehicle. It wasn’t far away, and it was off the highway.

“It was actually starting to sputter,” Leigh said, a little breathless. Today had apparently been an adventure for her, too.

“Yeah. We kind of just let it look as though we were parking it when we went to look for gas. We figured if anyone thought we’d run out, they might break into the car thinking we’d be gone a while. I came back here to check on things a couple of times just to be sure.”

“Probably for the best. This isn’t exactly a crime-ridden town, but by the same token there are still people who steal, and teenagers are teenagers everywhere.” She opened up her trunk and handed Kirk a full jerrycan.

“You might need to put in a second one later, but maybe we can stop somewhere else to do that. We can get on the road now, and if you start getting too low shoot me a text. I’ll get us into an area where we can safely add another can. We definitely do not want to be doing this on the main road.

“We’re going to stop in Rosseau and see about getting fuel there. It’s a town that’s not on the main highway. Not even close. It’s actually the back way to our place. I have to stop to see a man about a whetstone, too.

“No, that wasn’t a joke. I’ll fill you in at the same time I fill in Cameron, but we really have to get everything done and get back to the house as soon as possible. I had a bit of a situation with a local boy earlier today that still needs to be dealt with, and I don’t like leaving Cameron alone there without having everything set up and properly tested.

“Not to mention the fact that I haven’t had a chance to tell her the whole story yet, so she’s probably freaking out a little bit.”

Mac took out Neil’s card and entered all his info into her cell phone so she could call from the road. His hours showed that they would make it back in plenty of time. The store would be open for a while yet.

“You guys ready?” Kirk nodded as he handed her the empty jerrycan.

“Alright. Follow me. I suggest staying pretty close, seeing as it’s dusk now, heading for full dark. Terrible time to be driving, but better than hanging around here.” She waited for them to get buckled in, and then headed out for home.

She used voice-dialling to call Neil’s business line, and a ridiculous flutter started up in her belly. When his voice came on the line, she grinned.

“Sharper Image,” he said abruptly.

“Hi Neil. It’s Mac. If this weren’t a business call I’d be talking to you on your cell, but I have to stop in and pick up some sharpening supplies.”

“The other Mac! No problem. I’m open for another couple of hours yet, and I’m always here to close things down.”

“Great! Can you have a couple whetstones and maybe a kitchen sharpener or whatever ready? I don’t know when I can get back to your store for other things we might need, but we can’t do without those, and I’m in a sort of rush. I had a situation with a local boy today, and I want to get back to the house to keep my eye on things.”

“Can do. Do you know who it was?” Mac suddenly noticed how good it felt to talk to him.

“His name is Gerry and he works as a cashier at the hardware place just down the road from your store. He kept trying to get me to give him my address, and I finally called down the manager. That wasn’t enough to deter him. He tried to follow me home. Didn’t work so well, whatever his intentions might have been. I shot a picture of him with his car’s licence plate in it, along with my location, to both the OPP and his employer. A short message was attached.” Neil whistled.

“How did you manage that one?”

“Facebook, if you can believe it. Of course, I also started video-streaming my conversation with him via UStream. Managed to talk him down, and waited until he completely disappeared from sight before I headed back to my place. It’s doubtful he’ll find it, but things aren’t set up the way I want just yet, so I’m stuck worrying until I’m sure I can protect Cameron.”

“Of course you are. I would be too. I’m pretty sure I know who you’re talking about, and who his father is. If he’s who I think he is he’s not from bad stock, but he’s a worthless shit despite that. Excuse my French.” Mac had to laugh.

“No worries. I’ll warn you now. I swear like a drunken sailor half the time.” Neil’s laugh just rolled out of him.

“Well, thank Christ! A woman after my own heart.”

“Could be,” she said bluntly.

“And up-front, too. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Okay, you’ll probably be here soon, so I’ll get everything ready for you. Can you call me later tonight? I’d like to know about this crazy, prepping, potentially psycho, fouled-mouth, honest woman I’m seeing so much of today.” Her grin spread from ear to ear as she laughed along with him.

“Be careful what you wish for, cowboy.”

“Oh, I’m wishin’, I’m wishin’. See you soon, Mac.”

Twenty minutes after hanging up with him, Mackenzie was pulling into the parking lot of his store, and she wasn’t surprised to find she hadn’t caught her breath yet. He just kept sending her into a tailspin.

Kirk snorted at the sign when he got out of the rental, and Mac smiled at him.

“Don’t worry. He knows. He bought the store as-is, but he knows his stuff. You should come in. You’re both going to need top-of-the-line survival knives. And I don’t mean the kind with a compass on the end that carries waterproof matches. Those are okay for everyday stuff in the city or whatever, but they won’t stand up to the kinds of things you’ll end up having to do with them.” Mac could see Kirk hunch his shoulders slightly. She’d hit that nail on the head. Every young man wanted a Rambo knife.

“You’ll love these, Kirk, believe me. He’s got KA-BARs.” At that he brightened, as she’d known he would. A decade of playing video games had taught him to love military equipment, and to find out he would soon have access to a KA-BAR was like telling a kid he’d have free rein in the candy store.

“When we get home and get things settled a bit, I’ll tell you a story I read about how it got its name, unless you’ve already heard it.” Kirk looked at her with new respect. It was obvious he’d never had an inkling how deeply she’d gotten into the whole prepping thing.

“He has real ones?” Mac laughed.

“They’re not rare or anything. I’ve got one on me right now, in fact. Bought it today along with a Gerber. I’ll have him show you what I gave Cameron. The Gerber will puncture plane fuselage,” she was saying, as she stepped through the door.

Neil’s head snapped around and his eyes locked with hers as soon as she walked in and he heard her voice. Now
that
was worth coming into the store for, she realized.

“Hey,” he said gruffly, then cleared his throat.