Black Market Merchant

“We are taking all of this?” Eva asked looking wide eyed at the weapons stash. “Don’t you think someone will come looking for all these valuables and get us into trouble?”

“Hmm, not likely.” Lisa replied. She then rubbed a finger across the hood of the electric truck. “There is a lot of dust that has accumulated in here. If anyone from this town owned and planning on using the goods here, they would have done so by now.” Then looking at the streak her finger made in the dust, Lisa remarked, “Oh, this is a much darker green than thought. Ya, this dust proves no one is coming back for all this.”

“If you say so.” Eva sighed. “Its just that a lot of people hold grudges, and I don’t want to get caught up in something unnecessary. Especially if that somebody is as well armed as this storage unit suggests.”

“Relax Eva.” Tayvon scoffed. “Lisa is probably right. Look at this can of beans, it says it is from seventeen years ago. That’s three years before the power went out in town.”

“Is that even still edible?” Wayne asked coming over to look at the cans with Tayvon.

“It should be.” Tayvon replied looking over the can for any ‘Best By’ date.

“I have a better question.” Henry asked putting the sleek looking 1911 pistol into his back pocket. “How are we going to get this truck to move? I mean is it even worth the trouble?”

“Is it worth the trouble?” Lisa repeated as if she was shocked hearing him saying this. “Of course, it is! Think about what having this truck means. Not only could we transport things better in town or abroad, but with its mounted machine gun, we could protect ourselves far better from gangs or bandits. I had passed through many towns before getting to here and many residents in those towns said they were often attacked by them.”

“I guess you are right.” Henry replied. “So, what are we going to use to move all this food, guns and supplies? The truck or the cart we made?”

Lisa thought for a moment. The truck would be the obvious answer; however, it probably wouldn’t be a smart move to drive it around town in broad daylight. If the gang saw it, or someone else reported it to the gang, they would likely be confronted by the gangsters much sooner than they would have hoped or even wanted to be in the first place. This wouldn’t help her goals at all if she wanted to continue taking over the gang if relationships dwindled further than they already were.

“We will use the cart first and get the ammo out of here.” Lisa replied. “We can try sneaking the truck out of here with the guns once nightfall comes. I don’t want anyone seeing that we have any of this just yet, especially not the truck. At least not until we get the truck to the eastern side of town or locked in the Powerhouse. Driving it around on this side of town would bring unwanted attention to ourselves.”

“Alright, I think I see what you mean. Better safe than sorry.” Henry replied. He then broke out into a cheeky grin, “I do want to try driving it. No one my age in town has ever done that before.”

“That isn’t the only reason to use the cart either.” Lisa added. “You know how we have those two Gator transport vehicles on the first floor on the north side of the Powerhouse building?”

“Yes, I remember them. They have dead batteries, and didn’t you try charging them last week?” Henry asked.

“Yep, those batteries are useless. I wanted to let the ERM use them so they wouldn’t have to have everyone walk to and from the dam and the slope.” Lisa said giving a sigh. “I am also worried that the truck won’t start either for the same reason.”

“Couldn’t we just try starting the truck now?” Wayne asked as he was listening in on them.

“We will later.” Lisa replied looking his way. “The doors are locked, and I don’t have anything to try and either pick the lock or anything to try and unlock the door by wedging the window. I don’t want to break the glass, even though I doubt I could. I think that glass might be bullet proof.”

Over the next hour they gathered up almost half of the ammo. Lisa wanted to get the largest caliber ammo back to the safety of their base first. Naturally because it was the most dangerous and powerful, but also because she had seen the gangster that came with Jackson, were carrying gun that used this ammo. The cart couldn’t hold all of the ammo and allow them to cover it with the tarp that was originally from the truck, so it looked like it was going to take three trips just for the ammo alone.

“Looks like we got our work cut out for us today.” Wayne remarked as he stacked the last box of 7.92x39mm bullets on the cart.

Eva and Tayvon covered the stack with the blue tarp as Lisa gave her reply. “Yes, it is going to be a lot of walking. However, I couldn’t be happier that we found all this. Just from guessing by counting what we have seen in here so far, I would say there is at least $400,000 worth of goods, guns, and ammo. As for the truck, I have no idea what it could be worth. Which would make that number be much higher.”

“$400,000!” Wayne and the other three all said in unison.

“That is just my guess, but it is all worthless if we can’t sell it. However, we aren’t selling anything except for maybe the camping gear and a few other odds and ends. All of this is going to be considered an investment. We can’t sell the guns or ammo here anyway. Otherwise, it might end up being used against us.”

“Still, that is a lot of money! Do we really need all these guns?” Henry asked.

Tayvon closed the door the storage unit and put on the broken lock to make it look, from a distance, to still be secured. Turning he gave a thumbs up to the others.

Lisa picked up the front hitch of the cart and started pushing it out of the storage unit grounds. “Yes, we will need them. Not just to protect ourselves but the town as well. Remember I am trying to take over the Mad Dogs and not all of them are going to be willing. I just need to find a way to convince enough of them to join me and these guns just might be the trick. Although, I don’t want it to come down to using them if I have too.”

“Lisa, you sure do have some wild ideas. Taking over a gang is not something I would consider doing. Especially that we just overthrew the Black Rats, and they were terrible to us. Why do you even want to take them over?” Wayne asked.

“Hmm, mainly because I will need the manpower and resources they have or have access too. Also, because as you may have noticed, fighting in a massive gang war only causes death and destruction.” Lisa sighed as a faraway look drew across her face. “I’m not against fighting or war, but its something that I would like to put into my past. I’ve have killed plenty for the military and I want nothing to do with them anymore or killing if I can help it.”

“How exactly are you going to do it? Take them over I mean.” Henry asked.

“My plan is still in the works. I have made a few contacts and relationships with the gangsters, but nothing that will secure my position as a leader candidate.” Lisa replied. “Though I have a few ideas.”

After returning to the Powerhouse building Lisa and the others saw that Sadie was training Zane and he wasn’t looking to be having much success. Sadie was having him practicing a particular fighting pattern of doing short jabs and boxing like defensive takes with his Tigger claws on. Though his jabs were only hitting air, he looked wore out and was sweating a good bit. He had his shirt off and his back, chest, and arms we shinny all over. This might have been attractive some if not for the nasty, still red scars on his side and that he had almost no muscle tone. The lack of nutrition from living in this starving town had done its toll on him and his rib bones were easily noticeable.

Lisa, however, was pleased to see that Sadie had chosen this fighting style for Zane. Whenever the two of them had spared, Zane was always overextending his reach and going for crazy, wild arching swings. This reckless behavior not only wore him out to quickly but left him open for counter attacks and less time to respond to his opponents next moves.

The group then unloaded the ammo into one of the bottom floor’s empty northern rooms. Lisa had said that she wanted to leave one empty for the truck, but the other room was good enough for storing the ammo. Lisa had also mentioned that the breakroom wasn’t going to be of any use to them either and since it had a lockable door, that it would be a good place to keep the guns they weren’t going to be using.

As they finished unloading the cart Lisa spoke, “Well, I think you guys can handle getting the rest of the ammo, guns, food and supplies. I still need to go check on the progress with the road. I told Gillian I was going to be coming today too.”

“That’s fine, we can handle the rest. It’s not all that hard anyway.” Henry replied as he picked up the cart to pull it. “I do have a question, what do we do if those sketchy people come back to that unit?”

“Oh, hmm, let me think.” Lisa replied as she tapped her chin in thought. “Ok, I want you guys to immediately hide the unit we are working on and lock it with an unbroken lock. There was a few we found earlier, right?”

Tayvon nodded and Lisa continued. “Good. Next, I want you guys to hide in a place where you can see them working but not close enough to see what they are working with or even hear them. I want to ensure that they aren’t suspicious that they have been found out. Once they are done and go to leave, just follow them as far as you can but don’t get close or go anywhere that could put you in danger. If anything seems unsafe, just leave. I can pick up their trail next time.”

“So, you just want us to scout them out?” Wayne asked. “Not actually find out what they are working on?”

“Yes. Its no doubt they are working on something worth keeping a secret. What is important to me, is to find out where they are getting the stuff from.”

“I see. That way we can get the whole operation and not just the supplies.” Tayvon replied. “Do you think it’s something illegal or valuable? Though I don’t think this town has anything like that.”

“I’m not completely sure myself.” Lisa replied, half telling the truth. “That’s what we will find out eventually, if they do come back.”

The group and Lisa soon split up and each headed to go their destinations.