The Assassin

The Rifle

                                                             Chapter 9

                                                              John Ellis

                                                               The Rifle

During the drive back to campus the next day, John Ellis stopped at the K-Mart as we passed it along the highway. "I'll only be a few minutes. I want to talk to a friend who works here.

Then I'll take you back to the dorm." He parked the van out front and went in. I followed him. His friend worked in the sporting goods department. It was in the back of the store.

John Ellis and his friend talked for a few minutes. His friend then took him to the gun rack and showed him the rifles that were there. John Ellis didn't buy anything. He couldn't afford one. They were too expensive. Then we left the store and returned to the van.

John Ellis sat in the driver's seat. I sat in the passenger seat. I told him, "There's no need in buying a gun. You don't even know how to shoot one." We sat there in silence for a short while. Suddenly someone spoke to John Ellis from his side of the van.

"How are you doing?"

The two of us looked to see who it was.

It was a white male. He was no older than either of us. About eighteen. He was standing slightly to the rear of the driver's door and just behind John Ellis. He was just a few feet away. I had to turn to look backward to see him.

The man was dressed in clothes much like our own. His hair was dark and long. He hadn't shaved in several days and had a mustache. He made no effort to identify himself.

He seemed slightly tentative. He didn't display the aggression of someone with authority. He didn't act like a cop. He and John Ellis looked at each other without saying anything for a short period.

The man then spoke again. "I saw you in the sporting goods department. I overheard you talking to the clerk. You wanted to buy a rifle, but you couldn't afford it."

John Ellis then spoke for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter. I have some guns that I'm selling. Are you interested in buying one?"

John Ellis answered, "Maybe. What do you have?" "I have everything that you could possibly want. I have a trunkful of them. Rifles if you're interested. They don't cost as much as those in the store. I can sell them cheaper."

"Are they stolen?"

"It doesn't matter. Are you interested in buying one?"

The man motioned for John Ellis to follow him to his car. He was driving an old green Oldsmobile that was parked nearby.

I stayed in the van. The trunk of the car was opened, and I could see from where I was that it was filled with guns.

I heard him ask, "Would you like to buy one? I saw you looking at the rifles. I have one that is almost brand new."

I realized that John Ellis intended to learn how to shoot one whether I helped him or not. He had decided that he would learn on his own. That was why he was talking to the clerk about buying a gun.

And now he was doing the same thing with a man that he didn't even know in the parking lot of the K-Mart.

"Could I see it?"