Ring of Fire(137)
Pieter and Jan fell in behind him.
"This works out well. We only have to split it three ways, not five. Gerd and Christopher aren't joining us," Hermann snorted. "Poor Christopher is dead and Gerd ran off like a girl months ago."
"He was weak. Good riddance." Pieter spat.
"No," Jan stated flatly.
Hermann turned to look at Jan. He stared for several moments before finally backhanding Jan. "Do I always have to prompt you? Will you ever just spit it out without encouragement?"
Jan rubbed his chin and smiled. "I saw him."
Hermann stopped and pointed his shotgun in Jan's face. "For God's sake, man. I think you like it when I hit you. No more games, talk!"
Jan lost the smile. "When we were in the Gardens. He was there. I don't think he saw me."
"Or the rest of us?" Pieter asked.
Jan shrugged.
"Damn!" Hermann hollered. "He might have already grabbed it!"
"I doubt it, sir. He's too soft, and probably has nightmares about that old man. If it is indeed gone, we can always sneak back into town and beat it out of him."
Hermann nodded. "I think I'll send Jan by himself. He'd attract less attention. We'll worry about that if we can't find the sack. We still need to get away from town."
* * *
"No, it's not a missing persons issue. He took off. He took my shotgun, too, and who knows what else!" Dave shouted into the phone.
"So this is a robbery? He lives with you . . ."
"Look, who else is on duty?" Dave got frustrated.
"Fred Jordan."
"Put him on." Dave rubbed his temples. Hopefully Fred would see it as a more urgent situation.
"Fred here, what's up?"
"Fred! My boarder, Gerd, has taken off with my shotgun."
"When did you last see him?" Fred asked.
"We were at Thuringen Gardens. I turned to talk to Tom and he took off. I came home an hour or so later, and he wasn't here, and neither was the shotgun."
"Okay. Any idea where he might have gone?" Fred continued, the sound of scribbling audible in the background.
"Not really. I don't think he really had much to drink, either." Dave was glad he didn't have any. He wanted a clear head.
"Does he have any beef with Tom? Did you or Tom say anything that might have pissed him off or something?"
Dave paused for a moment before answering. "No, I don't think he had any problem with Tom. I'm thinking," Dave sighed. "Tom mentioned some missing men from Jena. New guys brought into the Army. He thought they might have deserted."
"All right. I heard that from Tom as well. They sent out a few guys on bikes, but didn't see anything. His boys in Jena have been told to be on the lookout, in case the deserters went that way. You think he joined them?"
"I really have no idea," Dave sighed, knowing the frustration in his voice was too obvious.
"Hey, we'll figure this out, try to relax a little. Tom was going to send some of the new recruits on a combined field exercise and search party. I don't think they're going to find much on foot, though. This counts as enough of an emergency to use the truck. I'll be at your place at dawn. Be ready to roll when I get there." Fred hung up the phone before Dave could say anything else.
Dave went to the closet in his room and yanked the door open. He pulled his M-1 Garand out of the back and headed for the kitchen. He field stripped it and began cleaning.
* * *
Hermann squinted in the near darkness. The moon was out, but not full.
"I think we just head west from here," Pieter whispered. The area looked familiar. A faintly visible road wound its way east and west.
"We'll wait here until morning. We won't be able to find the loot without light, and I'd rather sleep now so we can grab it, leave, and get as far away from Grantville as possible."
* * *
Gerd's legs burned like fire. He didn't know how much of a head start Hermann and the rest had, but he was determined not to miss them on account of not running fast enough.
He had scouted the route once before. It was shortly after Gretchen had set most of the detained soldiers free. He was given the benefit of the doubt at the time for being new to that group of mercenaries. Luckily, no one seemed to know about the horrors he was complicit in committing with the likes of Hermann. Before being picked for Dave's tree-trimming crew, he took a day to find the sack of gold and other trinkets that he helped steal from the old man west of Jena. Jan had hidden the sack in an outhouse, so that Hermann and others wouldn't be forced to "share" with other mercenaries, or have it outright stolen. Gerd had located the sack, and then left it in place, buried in the same sort of filth that desired it. Gerd still had no idea where the old man got all the loot from. It didn't matter if the old man had ten times as much, Gerd thought, it wasn't worth taking a soul. Taking a soul and damning another, he thought.