Tipping Point (18 page)

Mac put a bucket of water in with the goats for the time being. They already had grass to eat, but she tossed in some green hay to make sure they were okay. They would have to provide elevated troughs for food and water later.

Cameron moved the rooster partition and added another one, so she could get the new rooster settled in, while Leigh and Kirk started on a second goat pen. Mac decided to deal with the gates when she got home, and instead left for Allan’s place.

The first thing Allan did when she got there was ask her if she wanted a beer. Mac smiled at him. He hadn’t changed a bit. She was happy to accept it, though. It had already been a long day. They sat and chatted sociably for a little while before Mac brought up the reason for her visit. As she expected, he had no intention of going anywhere.

“Power is fine. Even if it goes down they’ll get it fixed. Whatever is happening in Toronto doesn’t mean jack shit up here. Just like when we lose power, it doesn’t hit them.”

No matter what arguments she presented, he didn’t budge. There was no way he was coming back to the farm with her that night, though he promised to come for a visit if he was out that way with his cab.

“Allan, try to keep your fuel tank full if nothing else. Once you see them run out of fuel here, you might start to think differently about all this. If you change your mind, here’s the directions. You’ll need them anyway, if you plan to visit. The only problem is, you’re not going to be able to see the damn driveway. Everything is concealed.

“If you get to the exact mileage I’ve written down in the directions, just walk onto the property. The sensors will cover a pretty big range once we have them set up in the next few days, so we’ll be alerted that you’re there. Expect a possibly-armed welcoming committee. If the cameras are in range, we’ll know it’s you, but if you’re off on the mileage or something you might come in on an area that the cameras don’t cover.”

“Jesus, Mac. Getting a little paranoid in your old age, don’t you think?”

“Bite me.” He laughed.

“No way. I tried that once. Your reaction wasn’t what I was hoping for. I’m still not sure my balls ever recovered.”

“That’s what you get for trying it while I was sleeping. I’m glad to see you learned your lesson. Alright. Even if you’re not coming back with me, I’d still better get going. I really do hope I’ll see you there one day. Once the pool table is set up, I’d love to shoot some rounds with you. It’s been a long time. Some canasta would be good too. I can’t find anyone else to play it with me, and I’ve forgotten the damn rules!”

“I’ll come by.” Mac gave him a hug as she was leaving, wondering if she’d ever see him again.

“Look, Allan, if you start to see signs that I’m right, and you don’t have the gas to get to the farm, buy all the groceries you can and pack up some shit so you’re ready to go. When the shit really hits the fan, I’ll come back and check up on you. I’ve got fuel stockpiled with stabilizers added to it. I’ll be mobile for a long time after everyone else runs out.

“You’ll have to come back with me if that happens, because Cameron is already worried about you. Once she knows you’ve got no power, gas, and probably food, she’s going to lose her mind. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Get going. And tell Cameron I’m fine.” Mac waved farewell as she climbed into the truck. She was glad she’d waited to go to the feed store until after seeing Allan. This way she’d be able to fill up both the truck bed and the trailer with green hay and everything.

When she was fully loaded she called Neil to let him know when she’d be home.

“Did he take you up on your offer of free room and board?” Mac had to laugh, since the hard work made the term ‘free’ a little bit loose.

“No, the stupid bastard did not. Drives me bonkers to see these people just stick their heads in the sand. I don’t know how it is they can’t see what’s happening right in front of them.”

“Well, that’s the vast majority of the population, honey. As long as they’re able to sit in their homes and watch TV, they think nothing is wrong. It’s when that television no longer has an output that they go nuts.” Mac sighed.

“When you’re right, you’re right. Okay, I should be there soon. God, I can’t wait to see you. I’ve been going nuts all day thinking about you, and it only got worse with everything that happened this afternoon.”

“Same here, honey. I’ll probably get there about an hour after you. I’ll see you then.” Mac pressed the button on her steering wheel to end the call.

She was almost home when she saw the green Civic behind her. She’d gone back to the feed store in Huntsville, so she’d taken Aspdin road west from there. Now she was supposed to head south from Rosseau to get to the farm. Instead she took 141 west until she was able to turn south onto Clear Lake Road, which led her back to the main road heading toward Bala.
Right back where we started
, she thought.

It wasn’t until she checked her phone and saw that she had no signal that she got a bit nervous. She wasn’t sure if the cell towers were down, or if he had a signal jammer, but both possibilities resulted in the same issue. All he had to do was steal her phone if she managed to do anything with it.

It wasn’t long before she had her answer regarding his plans for her. He pulled up alongside the trailer and slammed into it, jarring the truck a bit. Then he sped up and came up level with her rear wheels.

Mac was astonished that he would think his tiny little car could cause her real problems. She supposed if she didn’t know how to deal proactively with an attempt to run her off the road, his maneuvers might be bothersome, but that was about it. As it was she slowed a bit and took the opportunity to steer into him, shoving him across the oncoming traffic lane. She managed to plow him off the road and straight into a tree.

She slowed the truck to a stop and got out, her gun in its holster nestled in the small of her back. Tucked in to the left of it, was the sheath of her knife. Her phone was discreetly concealed as well, though she had turned on the voice recorder. She might not be able to transmit, but she’d damn well record this conversation. Or part of it at any rate.

Her legs felt a bit shaky as she walked back towards the Civic. The front end was totalled. Hardly surprising considering the speed at which they had both been travelling. She walked cautiously around to the driver’s side of the car. Mac could see the partially-deflated air bag in front of Gerry. She stepped forward and yanked open the door.

“Yo, shithead. You awake in there?” A groan came from the seat behind the wheel. She pulled out her knife and slashed at the airbag to get it away from his face. He seemed fine, except for the scrapes from his impact against the airbag.

“We need to have a little talk Gerry, so shake your head and listen up. You want to tell me why you thought it was necessary to try to run me off the road? Maybe you’d like to explain to the cops again, what you’re doing following me and jamming my cellphone signal? I assume you realize those are highly illegal in this country.” She had noted the presence of the jammer on the floor.

“Fuck you. I don’t give a fuck if it’s illegal. Now you’re gonna pay for wrecking my fucking car, bitch.” He tried to open his seatbelt, but apparently it had jammed.

“Get me outta here, ya cunt. I know you’ve got a knife. I saw it.”

“I don’t think so. You can just stay in there and hope it’s not the cops who find you like this. That jammer violates federal law, not just local or provincial. Only feds are supposed to have them, and you sure as fuck don’t qualify. Hmm. Maybe I should get my friends from the OPP to come and assess the scene. What do you think?”

“Fuck you.”

“Wow. You truly have a way with words. No wonder the girls are falling all over themselves, trying to get into your pants.” Her sarcasm obviously hit its mark, because he started trying to force his way through the seatbelt, jerking his body against it in his fury.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you if you don’t get me out of this car right fucking now!”

“Uttering death threats. The hits just keep on comin’, don’t they? You really are a stupid motherfucker. I won’t even have to bother reaching in and turning off that jammer, because I can walk away and drive out of range. Assuming you still have a working cell phone in there, you’ll have to turn off the jammer to use it. Looks like you can’t reach it from there, though.

“Thankfully there are no ‘duty to rescue’ laws in Canada like they have in France. I’m perfectly free to walk away and leave you here to rot. Especially considering the fact that you’ve already threatened to kill me. I wouldn’t let you out now, even if it were a crime not to help you.”

“You fucking cunt. I just wanted to fuck you before, which was better than you deserved. You shoulda just let me have my due, but now I’m gonna have to kill you when I’m done with you.” By that point he had managed to pull out a pocket knife, and had started sawing away at the belt webbing. Mac turned off the recorder on her phone. No point in allowing the data to embed where it might be retrieved some day. Then she pulled the Glock from its holster, and pulled the slide back to chamber a round. She aimed it at Gerry and rested her finger alongside the trigger guard. Then she whistled sharply to get his attention.

“I think you should probably calm down, Gerry. Bullets are not something with which you should fuck. They tend to be somewhat faster than the average human.” The stupid bastard decided to sneer at her.

“Look who’s breaking the law now.”

“Really? You sure about that? Occasionally a citizen is given authorization to carry if there is a verified threat to a person’s life, based on a law enforcement officer’s confirmation that they can’t provide adequate protection. Seeing as two of my oldest friends are OPP constables, you can see where it might be possible that I would, indeed, have an ATC.

“Now, fold up that pocket knife, Gerry. That’s it. Now toss it over here by me.” He complied, in his own way, attempting to throw it at her head. From his seated position, however, it didn’t accomplish much.

“You know, Gerry, just when I think I’ve seen the dumbest that life has to offer, someone comes along and changes my mind. You currently hold that record. Now, you’ve managed to saw through some of that webbing, so you should be able to break out of that seatbelt given enough time and effort. I just have no intention of being around when that happens.

“I told you this afternoon that I’d be the one enforcing any restraining order, not the cops. The next time you come after me, I will not hesitate to put a bullet in you. You’re a clear and present threat to my continued existence as far as the law is concerned. Your problem is that nobody realizes I’m more of a threat than you are. You know nothing about me, and going after someone you don’t know is just stupid. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to protect myself, and as you can see, I’m the one who’s still alive.

“Later Gerry,” she sang out, as she backed away from him. Even when she had to head up the slight incline to the road, she didn’t turn around until her heels touched the gravel. She pulled the slide back half-way, dumped the bullet into her hand, and re-holstered the weapon. When Mac got to her truck, she stored her weapon as per government requirements, removing the magazine, and installing the trigger guard. She put the knife in the moulded pocket of the driver’s side door, just in case.

Technically speaking, she shouldn’t have even had the gun with her. If it was found in her vehicle, she was in some major shit. She had authorization to transport only, and in Canada that meant going to and from a shooting range or competition, going by the most direct route possible. Nothing else.

All of what she’d told Gerry was the truth, so far as it went. She certainly hadn’t told him she had an ATC. Only that it was plausible, and she was more than happy to let him go on thinking she would always be armed. In the near future that would be the case anyway.

Now she was stuck trying to figure out what to do about the collision. She had damage to her vehicle that would match the paint scrapes on the Civic. If he chose to whine about being knocked off the road, it would put her on the defensive. Not a position she intended to be in.

She could talk herself out of anything he might say about a gun, and she had the recording to prove his threats this time. It was entirely possible she
could
get authorization to carry at this point, if they didn’t arrest the little shit.

Not that she really believed there would be time to process it. By the time she got approval for something like that, she could already be dead if she bothered to wait for it. One would hope the exceptions could be expedited. If not, it made the exceptions pointless.

She was going to have to contact Gilles. Maybe he could get someone out there right away so they could find the jammer. It was a serious violation of the Radiocommunication Act, and under normal circumstances she would hope it meant a long prison term. As it was, she was only doing it to keep her own ass out of the sling until such time as the sling no longer existed.

It had taken her a lot longer to get home than she’d planned for, what with the scenic drive and the incident with Gerry, so she didn’t have much time before Neil would be there. She needed to call Gilles right away, and then let the kids know what was going on. They sure as hell didn’t need this right now, but then nobody ever needed a psycho following them around.

Gilles tried to press her on meeting her at her place for a statement, but Mac promised him she would head to Parry Sound to deal with it as soon as possible. She sent him the recording to corroborate her phone statement, mollifying him somewhat. At first he’d been a little pissed at her for leaving the scene, until she told him about the cell jammer. She blatantly lied about the level of the threat she felt to her safety, seeing as she only mentioned the knife she had on her.

“I did tell him that if he came anywhere near my house he would be meeting Mr. Glock,” she said, knowing that if he brought up a gun she was covered. They weren’t going to take his word over hers. Not only was she friends with a cop, but he was already on file as being a threat to her.