Return To LA

Chapter 9

                      Three cars pulled into the parking lot, all from different directions. At least one had been actually in the lot, and in the dark. When the cars came in from the street, it came out of hiding. James, Walt and Robert, and Brenda were almost to the cars when the appeared. Just as quickly as they appeared, doors opened, and several men stepped out with guns and started firing. The parking lot lit up with the flash of flames belching from the barrels of the rifles. Almost as quickly as the cars and men appeared, The group ucked behind several cars. James and Walt tried to return fire. But the hail of lead pounding the cars they were behind was too intense. It took a second or two, but James and Walt recognized the sound of one of the guns being fired at them. They knew it was a BAR, or Browning Automatic Rifle. One look at the holes made by the 30.06 rounds in the cars confirmed it. Suddenly it got quieter. He was reloading. Now was the time. Walt and James Looked at each other from behind the respective cars they were hiding behind. Together the stood up and fired. In a matter of second they unleashed their own hail of gunfire. Their .45 caliber rounds rounding their targets. The BAR man went down along with at least one other shooter. Just as quickly as it started. It was over. The sound of the gunfire hung in the air like the smoke from the guns. The four friends stood up as the cars backed out leaving the dead man to lay with his gun.

The rest of the night was spend with the police explaining what happened. Robert talked his Caption, and got him to let them go so they could get some rest.

James, Walt, Robert, and Brenda found themselves back in the dinner trying to figure out how they could have known where they were. They sat at the same table they had been in earlier. Robert noted he could see the pay phone from where he sat. Which got him to thinking. Yes, he had seen someone using it about an hour before they left. Plenty of time to set up an ambush. They agreed that what had probably happened. Someone was paid to let them know where they were. After more coffee they decided it was time to head home. Robert's caption had given him the day off. So he went with them to Walt's place. They then spent the day resting and taking turns standing guard while the others sleep. About late afternoon Robert said he had to be going, and get ready go to work the next day. James and Walter and Brenda spent the rest of the night going over everything they knew. One question the came immediately to mind was where did they get the BAR, It's not a gun just anyone can get, and most civilians wouldn't know what it was. While the gun troubled them, the bigger problem what was Philip Drossel's connection to James. The sound of the familiar gun going off had intensified James' nightmares. Again James found himself back in the war, This time waking up several time sweating and crying. All Brenda could do was hold him and try to comfort him when he woke up. When morning came James was a mess. He had hardly slept, and what sleep he did get was good sleep. He woke with a pounding headache, and upset stomach. Brenda and Walt spent the day helping their friend recover from his bad night. Eventually James slept again. This time it a much better. Walt had called Robert and gave him a report on how James was doing, and see if he'd come up with anything on the BAR. Robert reported that they had.

"The amory outside of LA was robbed several weeks ago, Several BAR's along with aumination, and several other large capacity guns, along with the ammo to feed them, were taken. "

"Great, Just what we need, A mob boss with military firepower. I'll tell James when he wakes up." Walt replied.

"Walt, Don't tell James yet, But I think I may have finally found a connection to him and Drossel. I need to check out some old reports and evidence boxes first."Robert confided to Walt.

"Sure, no problem. We'll see you tomorrow." With that they hung up.

James finally stirred from the first decent sleep he'd had in a several days.

After doing necessary things in the bathroom, he joined Walt and Brenda i the Kitchen. He kissed Brenda on the cheek as he sat down next to her.

"Thank you, Both." he said quietly as he started drinking his first cup of coffee. Brenda leaned over and kissed him. Walt acknowledged his friends thank you by saying it no problem. They spend the rest of the night resting and listening to the radio.