The Chosen Ones: Book 3: The War

9

"Police! Come out with your hands up!"
Zipper emerged from his shop cautiously, arms raised. He came out staring at a smiling Matt, Phil and Shannon.

"Michaels you son of a bitch!" He yelled.
The three friends couldn't stop laughing. Zipper grabbed his shotgun "I should fucking shoot you right here." He said, although this time he had a wide smile on his face. He could take a joke with the best of them.

Phil looked around and saw Zipper's red F250 loaded up. It was packed high and tight with different household items. There was a CLOSED sign to go along with a FOR SALE sign in the window.

"Going somewhere, man?" Phil asked him.
"Getting the hell out of here." Zipper replied.
"Why you leaving?" Shannon asked. She couldn't help but feel sad by the sudden news.

"Well, first of all, it's just time. I've been here my whole life. And second, the shit I'm giving you today? I don't want to be here if someone comes looking for me." He replied.

He led them right inside his shop to three wooden crates. A big difference from when he led them to the back of the shop six months ago to do the deal. He popped the latch on all three crates.

"That's all your C4 in that one. Be careful with that. The second crate there has your spools of wire and all your bricks of clay. You'll stick that clay to the building and stick that wire in the clay. Run it as far as you can and space it out."
"Got it." Matt said.

"This last crate is a going away present. I got this grenade belt, holds eight of them. And I threw in some homemade pipe bombs for good measure."
"Sweet." Shannon said.
At that moment Tyler came running out of the truck. He grabbed Matt's leg and stared up at Zipper.

"How you doing little man?" He asked.
"Fine." Tyler replied.
"Shit Matt, he looks just like Amy." Zipper remarked.
"Yes. Yes he does." Matt agreed.

Matt and Phil loaded the crates into the back of his truck. Zipper handed Shannon a silver tin. He took the lid off revealing two small black electronic pieces.

"This is the detonator." He explained. "Lift the cover, press the button. Boom."
"Sounds simple." Matt said.

"Well, it is. This other piece here is the receiver, looks kinda like an old cell phone doesn't it? This is synced with the detonator. Press the button on the side and you'll see a red light. That means it's activated. You'll need to stick this receiver on one of the pieces of clay on the side of the building, doesn't matter where. Then the detonator is activated. Any questions?"

They shook their heads.
"I hope you erased your search history." Matt said with a grin.
"Destroyed is more like it." Zipper replied. He pulled down the roll up door and locked it. "So this is where we part ways Matt. You've been overly generous, I thank you for that."

"You don't have to thank me. We appreciate you." Matt replied.
"Why did you do this for us?" Shannon asked. "You could have said no, or gone to the police."

"I said before. You're good people. Whatever you're doing, whoever you're doing it to? I'm guessing they deserve it." He answered. "As for the police? Shit, you know me better than that, Shan."
Shannon hugged him. "So where you going?"

"Haven't decided yet. Somewhere down south maybe." He eyed her up. "Why don't you come with me?"
She smiled. "Maybe I'll look you up. I got some unfinished business first."
"I'd hate to be on the other end of that." He said with a huff.

The guys shook his hand and thanked him again. They pulled out of the lot the same time as Zipper, heading in different directions.