The Fiercest Enemy by Rick Reed

Author:Rick Reed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2020-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Jack got in the passenger side. A shotgun was mounted on the dash. An ancient Motorola radio was mounted on the floor with a yellow happy face sticker on top of it. Someone had written in magic marker on the smiley face, “Make My Day.”

The Tahoe was at least ten years old. The brown and tan paint gave it the profile of a sheriff’s vehicle but the faded colors said it had spent its life in the sun and harsh weather. The front passenger seat didn’t show much sign of use, but with as small of a department as Shaunda had there wouldn’t be a partner riding shotgun. The driver’s side seat springs were sunken deep from the weight of someone three times the size of the petite Shaunda Lynch. Her predecessor must have been a very large man. Or woman.

Shaunda backed out and instead of heading toward Linton she turned left on the gravel road that ran along the railroad tracks. Her expression was unreadable. She wore no jewelry, earrings, gold chain, rings. A simple leather thong was tied around her left wrist. She tugged on this as she drove in silence. Jack knew she must have a dozen questions about what they found in the Jeep. She was bright enough to know he hadn’t told everything in front of Rosie. He had the impression that she was trying very hard to show him she was tough. Trying too hard. She had a biting way of talking to everyone, even her friend Rosie. He noticed Chief Jerrell had the same habit. He’d seen the way Shaunda and Chief Jerrell snuck peeks at each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking.

They were headed northwest, with nothing around them but trees, farm fields and railroad tracks. Jack saw combines out working in a few of the fields and asked, “Why aren’t all the fields being tilled?”

Shaunda pointed to a large tract of land to their left between the road and the railroad tracks. “That’s the Oberman place. They can’t get in their fields for maybe another week if the rain holds off. It’s been cold, but the problem is the moisture. The ditches running along the tracks are steep but not deep enough to keep the ground from being flooded. If the ground is too wet when they plow or till it will just turn to hard mud when it dries. The ideal time to till is when the soil is dry on top and moist an inch or so below.”

She changed subjects. “I told you something you didn’t know. Now you tell me something I didn’t know. You can start with what it was you weren’t telling me in front of Rosie?”

“What?”

“I told you Rosie can be trusted but I can understand you holding back,” Shaunda said.

“I told you we found a campsite about fifty yards from the Jeep. I didn’t want to get into much with Rosie there. Best not to share too much with civilians.” He

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