Kombat Kids by GhostRyder
Chapter 39: Live Ammo

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Jap and Jacky stood to the side of the front door embracing each other, Jap crying softly into his lover's chest. The rest of the team filed past followed closely by the two adults who had arrived with them. The young Ensign and the enlisted man both had a quizzical expression on their faces, wondering what was with the two teenagers, both surprised at the public display of affection and emotion. Jap and Jacky remained by the front door, long after the others had entered the house, finally Jacky spoke softly; "You okay, I know you gotta feel bad about the way things worked out. There weren't nothing you could do about it, if I hadn't heard you on the radio, they woulda caught us completely by surprise. As it was, I don't know who won."

The front door opened and the Gunny stepped outside, looking at the two young boys for a second or two before saying; "You boys okay, you been out here for awhile and they're about to start the debrief in twenty or so minutes."

Jap pulled away from Jacky's chest turning so the Gunny wouldn't see his tear streaked face before saying; "Thanks Gunny, yeah we're okay, we were just talking about the exercise."

The Gunny moved the two or three steps to where Jap was standing and grasped the shoulders of the boy, turning him so he could look into his eye's; "Jap, listen up, I'm only going to say this once. You got nothing to be ashamed about, you did your job and did it well. You probably don't know this, but you were the only one who was able to give the rest of the team a warning. Bobby had a full fire team out front and all seven of them got taken out before they knew what was going on, so relax boy, ya done good."

Jacky looked at his lover; "How do you think I took out the aggressor who got you guys so quickly, when I heard you yell into the radio I scoped your position and saw the sailor standing there so I blasted him. I'm just sorry I wasn't fast enough to stop him before he got all of you guys."

The Gunny smiled at the two; "Let's go men, get your weapons down to the arms room and get your butts down to the Cavern. And Jap, calm down, you did good."

The boys followed the Gunny's orders and racked their weapons and then moved quickly to the Cavern. When they got there, it was surprisingly very quiet, neither the SEAL Team nor the Unit One members were saying very much. About ten minutes after the two snipers sat down, the Gunny entered and ordered; "Tention on deck!" Sailors and Unit One members alike stood to attention as Matt followed by Lieutenant Commander Ketchum and the Gunny entered the Cavern and moved to the lectern positioned before the north wall of the Cavern. Matt stood behind the lectern and said; "At ease, before we start the de-briefing, I want to thank the members of Boat Team 22 Bravo for participating in tonight's exercise. I think that I can safely say that both the Unit One members and the Naval contingent gained from the exercise. Saying that, I'll now turn the debriefing over to Lcdr. Ketchum, Commander Ketchum."

As the debriefing continued, it became clear that there was no clear winner for the exercise. While the SEALS were able to make it to the Arms Room and opened the vault door, the two SEAL's who remained effective were taken out by the three-man security detail stationed in the Arms Room as they attempted entry. The fact that the SEAL Team was able to make it as far as they did exposed some glaring weaknesses in the Unit One overall security protocol.

Two thirds of the way through the de-brief, the actions of the sniper teams were discussed by Senior Chief Bailey; "The Alpha Sniper team was taken out by hostile forces approximately six minutes after the start of the exercise. The team sniper was able to shout a partial warning, which was heard by all stations. The mistake discovered here was the team's lack of security, while the Bravo Team had three security personnel assigned to them, the Alpha team had only a single rifleman to provide area security. In the situation they were in, it should have been just the opposite, Alpha Team being out of the mutual support envelope should have had a minimum of four security personnel assigned to them." The Senior Chief looked directly at Jap before continuing; "The one mitigating factor here was the Alpha Sniper, upon hearing the first of his team being taken out immediately attempted to call out a warning over the Unit’s radio. While he was only able to call out 'C' before he was rendered ineffective, it was enough of a warning to allow the Unit to effect internal security protocols and direct additional fire teams to the affected locations. This warning also allowed the Bravo Team Sniper to locate and render ineffective an aggressor who would have been able to use the Alpha Teams equipment to neutralize additional outside support from the Unit One fire teams.

The debriefing finally ended at 08:30 and everyone was sent to breakfast, Jap feeling a little better about his part of the exercise, filled his tray and found an empty table where he and Jacky could sit and talk over breakfast. Shortly after they sat down, one of the SEAL's walked up and asked; “You guys mind if I join you?"

Jacky nodded his head and pointed to an empty chair. When the Sailor was seated, he looked over at Jap and stuck his hand out and smiled; "I'm BM1 (Boatswains Mate First Class, E-6) Jack Howard, sorry I had to shoot you in the back this morning, but you're buddy got me back for you."

Jap looked at him, shook his head; "I didn't even know you were there until I heard your first round take out my security guy. You scared the shit out of me when you dropped into our hide after taking us out, you're really good."

Howard smiled; "Not good enough, your other sniper took me down almost immediately, that was some mighty fine shooting on his part."

Jacky smiled and said; "Thanks, but you were a big old target in my scope, even though it was close to my max range for night time shooting, I could hardly miss with you standing up like you were."

Howard turned to Jacky and frowned, then he gave a short laugh; "You're right, that was an awful dumb stunt I pulled. To tell you the truth, I never even considered a second sniper close enough to see me and I guess I was showing off a little to the 'Amateur's' we were going against. Good shooting, and I mean that." Howard looked over at Jap and said; "You did good too, Jap's your name isn't it, you was quick to try to give out a warning, that really fucked us good."

For the first time in many hours, Jap smiled; "Thank you Petty Officer Howard, that means a lot to me. It just pisses me off that I let us get taken out so easy."

Jack gave out with another short laugh; "Easy my ass, it took me an hour and a half to make my approach on you guys, the only reason I was able to take you out was because all of you looked at the compound for some reason. That's when I got your security guy, then you, then your spotter. If it hadn't been for that, I would have had a hell of a time taking you all out."

Jap looked at Jacky; "Shit, I guess we have a whole bunch to talk about now don't we Ba . . . Dude." Both Jacky and Jap blushed, which wasn't lost on Howard, before Jacky responded; "Yeah, looks like the next time we need to send a full security team out with whoever is outside the wire.”

The two boys and the SEAL took their time over breakfast, the boys telling the Sailor about the Unit and the then listening with rapt attention as Petty Officer Howard talked about his training and experiences as a SEAL. Before anyone realized it, it was going on 10:00 and the two boys and the adult were yawning.

Jap looked over at Howard; "We got to go clean our weapons, I don't know about Jacky here, but if I don’t find me a bed soon, I'll fall asleep sitting here and 'Bert' will still need cleaning." The boys shook hands again with Petty Officer Howard and said their Goodbye's.

The boys then stood, picked up their trays and deposited them in the scullery and then walked up the stairs to Arms Room. Only a few of the Squadies opted to clean their rifles in the Arms Room, the rest took the necessary supplies out to the range and were performing their cleaning and maintenance there. This left the main work table open for Jap and Jacky to disassemble, clean and lubricate their Barrett's. As the fieldstripping and cleaning procedure was similar to the Model 99 single shot rifles they had been using, they were both finished in a little over a half hour. Both boys went to their room in the berthing compartment and stripped down to skin, Jap climbed into a bottom bunk followed quickly by Jacky. Jacky spooned up behind Jap and draped his arm over his smaller lover, kissed him on the cheek and then both boys were asleep before they could say goodnight. The boys of Unit One and the SEAL team members spent the Saturday (late afternoon after everyone crawled out of their racks) and all day Sunday working together. Jap and Jacky had a shoot out with the SEAL Team sniper, Jap lost by one point and Jacky came in third two points behind the Sailor. Both groups were impressed by the other and several new friendships were made.

While the Unit One boys and The SEAL Team members were working together, Launy Prince was working on his father to let him off the family property. Launy knew better that to just take off without his father's permission, what Don Prince would do to him was not something Launy wanted to contemplate. Launy had been on the receiving end of too many beatings under normal conditions to risk what his father would do to him now. Launy had been toeing the line, doing anything and everything to get back in the good graces of this father, and that Sunday he saw a chance to maybe get away from the house, and more importantly away from his father for a few hours. Don Prince was all spun up about how he was being kept out of most places because of the restraining order baring him from any place a Unit One member or their family was. Prince needed parts to repair one of the forklifts he used in his lumberyard, the one place in the area that carried them, English Heavy Equipment, was owned by the father of a Unit One member. Even if he sent one of his employees to the English garage, he'd already been told that his business wasn't welcome there. The only alternative was to go all the way to Walla Walla, a good 60 miles away to get the required parts. As Launy wasn't old enough to drive yet, that left Delbert available to make the run. Launy pleaded with his older brother to ask their father to let him ride along with him, anything to get the fuck away from his family, especially his father.

Delbert, followed by Launy walked into Don's office at the lumberyard, their father looked up from some paperwork he was doing and noticed Launy. Don just looked at him for a few seconds before turning to his oldest boy; "What do you want Del, I'm busy right now and I ain't got time to mess around."

"Well daddy, I'm going to need some help picking that stuff up in Walla Walla, is it okay if I take Launy with me?" Delbert asked.

Don Prince scowled at Launy than looked at Delbert; "Go ahead, but you keep him on tight rein or it'll be your ass. I ain't going to stand for anymore shit from him, if he gets out a control while he's with you, it'll be your ass I'm comin after. Understand?"

Delbert swallowed before saying; "Yes sir, I understand and I promise he won't cause any problems."

On the way out of the yard, Launy saw Bill Jordan walking toward them on the side of the road, turning to Delbert Launy asked; "Can you stop for a minute Del, I just want to see what Bill's doin?"

Delbert, not being in any great hurry to get back to the lumber yard anyhow only grumbled a little before pulling the big Daimler Chrysler Dodge van over to the side of the road. Jordan seeing the Prince Lumber Yard logo on the front door of the van ran up to the passenger side door and got a big shit eating grin on his face when he saw Launy and Delbert. "Hey dudes, wassup?" Were the first words out of his mouth, Bill was not known to be a great conversationalist, actually everyone considered him just slightly smarter than a box of rocks, small rocks at that.

Launy with his own dopey grin seemed to be really happy to see Bill; "Nothing much, my dad finally let out from under his thumb to help Del with a pick-up in Walla Walla."

"How come you goin all the way to Walla Walla, can't you get what you need in Moreland or Kenasco?' Bill asked.

Launy shook his head no; "The only place that carries what we need is English Heavy Equipment and they already said they won't sell to us, the owners faggot kid belongs to Unit One. So's we got a go to Walla Walla to pick up the parts."

"Shit, them dirty faggots are really fuckin things up around here, I can't even go to the movies cause some Unit One cocksucker's relatives work there. I am so fuckin tired of the filthy bustards."

Delbert spoke for the first time since stopping the van; "I hate to agree with you Bill, but I know what you mean. It seems that every time I try to go to Chaney's for a beer, one of them faggot Bateman's or their queer loving asshole buddies are there and that fucking Eddy runs me off cause of that restraining order. Fuck man, I'd like to be able to get hold of some of them little sons -a-bitches and make them scream."

Delbert was getting nervous sitting alongside the road, all he'd need was his father to see him sitting there instead of en-route to the parts place; "We got to get movin, my daddy wants these parts back quick so we'll talk to you later."

Before he could put the transmission in drive Bill asked, actually pleaded; "Let me go with you guys, I'm about to go out of my mind around here. I'll sit on the floor in back and help you pick up them parts you're goin after, please?"

Delbert thought about it and figured "What the fuck." Looking at Jordan he said; "Okay, hurry up and get in we got a get going." Bill Jordan opened the side door and jumped in, a stupid grin on his face, he was happy for the first time since before he went to jail. Del put the van in gear and accelerated toward US 12 and Walla Walla.

When the Unit was dismissed Sunday afternoon, Jacky Hoffman caught a ride into Moreland with Jap and his father; he lived several blocks away from Jap and planned on stopping at the DownTown Shopping Mall. The DownTown was the old center of town and was made up of a square block of small shops, bars, restaurants, business offices and the small city's one theater. Jacky was still wearing his MarCams; he had already changed into blue jeans and a T-shirt when he went looking for Jap. Well he found Jap; he was still in the swimming pool, while he was talking to him by the edge of the pool Clint Davidson gave him an 'Atomic Wedgy' (you know, where you grab hold of the back of a guys skivey's and try to pull them over the top of his head while he's still wearing them). This not only surprised and pissed him off, but it made him lose his balance and he toppled into the pool. When he broke surface, he made for the edge of the pool with every intention of ripping Clint's head of and shitting down the stump. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and Jacky was restrained until Clint beat a hasty retreat out of the pool cavern and found the nearest adult to stay close to until Jacky calmed down. Naturally, those were the only street clothes Jacky had with him, so he changed back into his MarCams, all the while thinking of ways he could stick it to his friend Clint. When Jap's dad picked them up, he asked why he was still wearing his MarCams, when Jap, who didn't help any by laughing all the way through the explanation, told him, naturally he started laughing also. Jacky sat in the back seat all the way to town with his arms folded across his chest and doing his impression of the Sphinx.

After Mr. Peterson stopped by the curb of the DownTown around 16:30, Jacky relented a little by thanking Steve Peterson for the ride and giving Jap a quick kiss on the cheek before de-assing the vehicle. Waving to the two Peterson men, he turned and entered Crafts-R-Us shop; he had saved up the necessary $35.00 plus the 8% Washington sales tax for an Academy Model of a M60A1 Main Battle Tank. Jacky's one hobby besides the Unit was constructing plastic models of U.S. Military Vehicles; it usually took him a month to a month and a half to complete one. He paid extraordinary attention to detail and had pictures of two of his models published in a nation wide model magazine for which he was justifiably proud. After making his purchase, he left the store and headed home along Stephens Road. For the next three days, that was the last anyone would see of Jacky Hoffman.

When Jacky didn't arrive home by 17:30, Bill Hoffman started wondering why his son was late getting home from the Unit One weekend; he decided to wait awhile longer before he'd start making phone calls. At 18:45 Jacky had still not gotten home, he called Matt Bateman to see if his son was still there; "Matt . . . ." This is Bill Hoffman, is Jacky still out there?" . . . . "No, he hasn't made it home yet, I thought I'd try you guys first . . . ." "Sure, thanks, I'll call you after I find him, bye."

Not really worried, but wondering why Jacky hadn't called to tell him where he was and when he'd be home, he called the Peterson home; "Hi Steve, this Bill Hoffman, is my kid there? . . . No . . . When did you see him last? . . . 4:30, damn, what the hell is going on here? The craft shop is only fifteen minutes away, he should have been here by now, . . . Okay, sure, I'll call you when I find him, . . . Thanks, bye."

Bill punched in the number for Matt Bateman again; "Hi Matt, I think something's wrong, I just talked to Steve Peterson and he said he dropped Jacky off at the DownTown Craft store at 4:30. That's only fifteen or twenty minutes from here and I'm starting to worry, . . . Will ya, thanks guy I owe you one, . . . I got my cell with me so I'll call you if I find him first, . . . Okay, bye."

Bill Hoffman told his wife Bev about being worried about Jacky and that he was going to go look for him, after kissing her, he went out and climbed in his pickup and headed for the DownTown.

While Bill Hoffman was starting his search, Matt called Keener, George, the Gunny and Justin to the lounge and told them that Jacky was missing. He asked the adults to grab a vehicle and start a road search, turning to Justin; "I need you to man the communication room, while we're out looking, you handle communications for us. I want you to activate the Alpha Call List and ask anyone with a driver's license to get on the road and start looking for Jacky. We'll be in the HUMVEE's so you can reach us by radio, any questions Justin?"

Justin shook his head no as he started towards the control room; "No sir, I'll have the net up in five minutes."

The four men went to the garage and fired up the HUMVEE's and headed toward Moreland. Matt punched Bill Martin's number into his cell. When Bill answered the phone he quickly briefed him on what was going on and that Bill Hoffman had asked for their help. Bill Martin remained quiet for almost a full minute before saying; "I surely do hope this hasn't got anything to do with the Princes, I hate to think about what them assholes are capable of." The sheriff was quiet for another thirty seconds; "Here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to put out an 'Amber Alert', if I'm wrong, no harm done, if I'm right, it could mean the difference between a live Squadie and a dead fourteen year old boy. Can I contact you at this number?"

"Yeah, but I also have one of the Unit's HUMVEE's, our net is on 47.4 MHz, that may be the best way to get hold of me or the others while we're looking. I have Justin manning the control room back at the house, so if nothing else you can contact me through him." Matt said.

While the Amber Alert was being initiated by the Denton County Sheriff's Department and the Unit One members and their family's were out scouring the city, Del Prince was driving the Prince Lumber Yard van west on a dirt road heading deep into the Yakima Indian Reservation cursing silently to himself, wondering how he could let things get so far out of hand. In the back of the van Bill Jordan and Larry Alcorn, who they had picked up after dropping the parts they had gotten in Walla Walla at the lumber yard were sitting on either side of a bound an gagged Jacky Hoffman. Jordan had a bloody lip and Alcorn had a broken nose from the brief fight Jacky had put up before he was overpowered by Delbert. All three of the older boys had been surprised by the fight the younger boy had put up and that just pissed them off even more than they were when they first saw him walking down Stephens Drive. At first they were just going to punch him out, nothing that would leave marks, just pummel him a bit to show those Unit One faggots what they could expect if they kept fucking with the Princes and their friends. After Launy took a shot in the balls, and the other two got their bells rung for them Del, the biggest of the bunch laid Jacky out with a punch to the jaw. Moving quickly, he caught Jacky's unconscious body and literally threw him in the back of the van, then grabbed Launy and stuffed him in the front seat. Pushing the two wannabe whimpering tough guys in the back of the van, he slammed the sliding side door and looked around, not seeing anyone; he climbed behind the wheel and drove off. All this had taken place around 5:00 PM, now it was going on 7:30 PM and he was starting to worry about what he was going to do with the kid. "Shit," He thought. "Why'd I let myself get talked into this shit?" The only thing he could think of doing was to get rid of the kid, well he had time to figure things out when he got to 'The Camp' near Toppenish Ridge, if worse came to worse, he could blame the whole thing on Launy. Don Prince was ready to believe his youngest son was stupid enough to start shit like that.

The Sheriff was sitting in his office trying to figure out what the fuck was going on, he knew that even in a small town like Moreland, child abduction was not unheard of. He didn't think that's what this was, by the physical description he had of Jacky Hoffman, he was a large boy, not the usual victim profile. His thoughts led him back to the Princes, if it was them; one or more of the Prince kids had done this on their own, without consent or knowledge of their father. Don Prince was a lot of things. One thing he wasn't though was stupid, and anyway you looked at this, it was pure stupidity. At 7:15 PM, his phone rang, picking up the receiver he said; "Sheriff's Office, this is Sheriff Martin. Okay, great, give me that address again, thanks I'll get back with you as soon as possible. Bye."

Grabbing his hat he left his office and yelled for Tommy to go with him. Climbing in his Sheriff's Unit he started it up and activated the emergency lights and siren and accelerated out of the parking lot fast enough to burn rubber.

Tommy looked at his father and asked; "What we got dad?"

Sheriff Martin quickly explained; "About 17:15 today, ten year old Caleb Johnson was sitting on the steps of the LDS Church on Stephens, he said he heard tires squeal, then three or four men jumped out of a high top van and started to fight with a boy wearing a uniform. One of the men, bigger than the others hit the boy in the face and the boy collapsed, the big guy picked him up and threw him in the van and then they all drove off heading south toward I-82." The Sheriff stopped talking for a minute while moving through heavy traffic at a red light. "The kid had been carrying a bag that he dropped when the fight started, after the van drove off, Caleb went over and found a fairly expensive model kit and some paint in the bag. Caleb took the bag and found his father and told him what happened, his dad called the Moreland Police and reported the attack. After I initiated the Amber Alert, the Moreland Police contacted me, we're going to go and talk to young Caleb and see what he can remember."

After talking to the boy Caleb, and his father, the Sheriff had Tommy drive while he got on the phone with the Yakima Police, the Yakima Highway Patrol barracks and the Yakima Indian Nation Tribal Police and briefed them all on what they were looking for. The only information he received was from the Tribal Police, one of their Units remembered seeing a vehicle like the one described by young Caleb heading south on US 97 just after it entered the reservation. The Sheriff then contacted the Highway Patrol and asked them to put out an all points bulletin for the white van. He made sure that he stressed that the vehicle may have a company logo painted on the front doors of the van. He also warned them to take care in approaching any van they stop due to the potential for violent resistance from the occupants.

The last call he made was to Matt Bateman; "Matt, it doesn't look good, we got a witness and he positively identified Jacky as the boy who was attacked and taken away in a high top white van. I'm headed over to the Prince's house to see who's there and what kind of vans they use. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. If you don't mind, get hold of Bill Hoffman and let him know what we got, just don't say anything about the possibility the Prince's are involved." After disconnecting, he looked at his son and said; "I wished I was faster last summer and blew that fucking bastard’s head off, this shit would never have happened if I had."

Tommy looked at his father; "That's bullshit dad, if it wasn't that piece of shit Launy, it would have been one of the other cowardly son of a bitches. As long as the courts keep letting asshole like Launy Prince and his buddies run free, someone's always going to suffer, all we can do is try to keep them from getting away with it more than once."

As they turned off the road, they pulled up behind a high top Dodge van, like the one described by Caleb Johnson. Bill and Tommy got out of the cruiser drew their hand guns and turned on their flashlights; Bill remained by the front right fender of their car while Tommy moved to the cab and shined his light in it. After checking the interior of the van, he turned off his light and holstered his weapon. Bill did the same and the two men went up to the front door and Tommy pressed the doorbell, the sound of "There's no place like home" being chimed could be heard by them. After waiting for a full two minutes, Tommy rang the door bell again, both men heard Don Prince yelling; "Just a fucking minute, God damn it."

About 30 seconds later the door was yanked open and Don Prince looked at the Sheriff and his Deputy before saying; "Just what I need, Barney Fife and his deputy Gommer, what the fuck you want now."

Bill Martin saw that his son was about to respond so he put his hand on his son's shoulder signaling him to remain silent. Bill looked at Don Prince before saying; "Mr. Prince, a boy was abducted this afternoon by four men driving a van that was identified as being identical in appearance to the one sitting here in your driveway. The description of at least one of the abductors matches that of your youngest son Launy, we want to talk to him and find out where he was at the time of the abduction."
Don Prince looked stunned, then quickly recovered before saying; "I got no idea what you're talking about, both my boys went camping over in the Blues this morning. I think what you're doing is just trying to fuck with me and my family, and I won't stand for it. I want both of you off my property and don't bother coming back unless you have a warrant." With that he slammed the door in the men's faces and turned off his porch lights.

Bill and Tommy got into the Sheriffs Unit and drove off Prince's land pulling to a stop across the road from the entrance. Bill picked up the microphone for the radio and ordered one of his Deputies to take up position where they were to stake out the Prince Compound. Until this was over, Prince and his property would be under twenty-four hour a day surveillance.

When the deputy assigned to keep the Prince house under surveillance arrived, Bill directed his son to head out to the Bateman Place. He knew the shit was just about to hit the fan and he wasn't looking forward to it.

Arriving at the Bateman Compound, he saw Jap, David White and his son Phil through the open garage door loading the back of a Unit One HUMVEE. As he watched, Jap ran back to the elevator and carried his big ass rifle and was just about to place it in the back seat area of the big vehicle when Sheriff Martin spoke; "Exactly what do you boys think you're going to do?"

The sound of the Sheriff's voice startled the three boys badly enough that his son almost dropped an AR-15 he was loading into the back of the HUMVEE. The boys all turned to face the Sheriff and Tommy, Phil and David blushed and Jap just looked determined. All three boys were in forest patterned MarCam, and all three wore LBE harnesses with full ammunition pouches. Before the boys had a chance to respond to the Sheriff's question, he moved to Jap and opened one of the ammo pouches he wore and pulled out a magazine. When he got a look at the ten round magazine, he almost shit, taking a closer look at the boys, all of their ammo pouches had magazines in them. Looking at the magazine he held, he saw that the top round was not one of the blanks that were used for the exercises. It looked like the magazine had ten cartridges with 600 grain .50 caliber bullets; he didn't need to look at the other four pouches to know they also contained a magazine in each, loaded the same way.

Looking at Jap then his son and David he spoke softly; "First, I want you boys to remove your LBE's and place then on the floor right now." As the boys complied with his order, he continued; "Who's got the keys for this vehicle?" When his son blushed and held his hand out with a set of keys, taking the keys, Bill shook his head and said: "God damn son, you ain't even got a license, if you got stopped out on the highway you woulda been tossed in the clink quicker than shit. I don't even want to think about what would be said about all the hardware and live ammo you boys got packed in there."

Jap spoke for the first time; "They got Jacky, they got my boyfriend . . . ." Jap couldn't continue he started crying, deep soul racking sobs, tears cascading down his face completely beyond his control. The small boy dropped to his knees, totally unable to continue.

The Sheriff knelt down along side of the young man and pulled him into a hug; "I know what you're going through son, but you just can't do it this way, you go out there and start popping people with that big ass gun of yours' and you'll end up hating yourself. Tommy had to stop me from killing that son of a bitch Prince boy last year, and I'm glad he did, otherwise I would have been a murderer if he hadn't. Listen to me Jap; we're going to get your friend and lover back to you, safe and sound, that's my promise to you.

Jap was finally able to calm down, but never really stopped crying, he looked the Sheriff in the eyes and nodded his head yes.

The Sheriff stood up and said; "All right, I want all this gear, ammo and the firearms put back in their proper storage locations, then I want you all to meet me in the lounge." Turning to Tommy he ordered; “Tom, you make sure my orders get done then bring them to the lounge, I'm gonna go find Matt and the Gunny so we can figure out what we can do next."

On the way into the house, all the Sheriff could think of was what would have happened if he and Tommy hadn't driven up when they had.

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