around elementary school age.? Impressions came to her swiftly: the woman at a big wooden table in a kitchen; a couple of kids sitting there with books or something in front of them. A small holding tucked away in the bush…With all of it came a sense of urgency, go go go…
Her eyes snapped open. “Go straight there,” she said. “Forget the coffee.”
“Oh my God,” Tammy said, her voice thick with emotion. “Is that where he is? Have we found him?”
“I didn’t get anything about Jerry. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t there. I can be shown a lot or a little about what’s happening.” She could hear the frustration in her own voice. “Sorry, you know the way it works.”
Scott started the engine. “When we get close, we’ll make sure we’re armed. Keep one of the rifles at your feet, Tams, and we’ll take handguns.”
The very thought of it made Georgie feel sick. Guns, kidnapping, a life-or-death dash to save her brother…this wasn’t what she expected when she hit the road with her gypsy caravan.
Life or death . Those words had come so readily to mind, she had no doubt that they were true. She sat back and watched the road unwinding ahead of them, looking out of the window at the grey sky and the rain on the windscreen.
Hang in there, Jerry, she thought. Just hang in there.
~~~
They decided to play it as though they had no idea that Jack and Sarah Smith might secretly be crazy preppers who had Jerry imprisoned in some kind of Doomsday bunker. They would start with a phone call asking for help with radio contact and see where it led.
Tammy had been busy jumping from one preppers forum to another and reading the posts, and had bookmarked a bunch of Kentucky prepper blogs and groups. Jack and Sarah Smith had posted a number of times, and had joined in a thread about using radios for contact when communications collapsed. It would be logical that someone might approach them for advice. She looked them up in the local phone directory and keyed the number into her cell phone.
They waited until they were ten minutes out from the Smith place before pulling over to get the guns ready, and Tammy hit the green call button. “It’s early,” she said, glancing at her watch. “But if they’ve got kids; they’ll be up.”
Sure enough, the phone was answered almost immediately by a woman’s voice. “Hello?”
“Am I speaking with Sarah?” asked Tammy.
“Yes.”
“Sarah, my name’s Tammy Dyson. I work for the Johnny B. Goode RV Empire. You bought a second-hand 4WD from our lot, about six months ago, and had it fitted out with a few options.”
“Oh!” The woman’s voice warmed, although it held a note of caution. “Yes, of course. Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing wrong with the vehicle,” Tammy hastened to assure her, “or the sale. But we have run into a bit of a problem.” Her eyes met Georgie’s. “You met Jerry, I’m assuming, when you were there?”
“Yes, he was lovely. Very helpful.”
“He drove one of our new units down here to Kentucky yesterday morning, and unfortunately, he’s now missing. We believe you and Jack know a bit about radios and surveillance, so we were wondering if we could ask for your help?”
“He’s missing ? Like, he’s just disappeared?” In the background, there was a muttered question in a male voice, and they could hear Sarah giving a quick explanation. She came back on. “You think he came down to see a prepper family here?”
“We don’t know whether it’s a family or an individual, but the last GPS reading for the truck was in northern Kentucky.”
“Northern Kentucky.” She sounded puzzled. “But that’s miles away. What brought you down here?”
“A possible sighting,” Tammy lied. “The thing is, Sarah, we’re quite close to you now. Do you think we might pop in and talk?”
“You’re here? ”
“Maybe ten miles from you. But look, if it’s too early, that’s okay. We can make it later.”
“No, no,
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